by Renaud Bédard
SAVAGE TALES THE MOVIE
by Renaud Bédard



From the distant Savage Land to Everglades country, things don't always go according to plans for everyone, and sometimes unbelievable things happen to them; and if you are really lucky, some of those legends occasionally collide and clash together in the most astonishing incredible way

Out of Savage Tales comes the one known as the Man-Thing, in reality the biochemist Theodore "Ted" Sallis who developed an experimental formula to create new super soldiers for the government, and falling into a spy ring setup, he chooses to inject it on himself rather then let the experimental treatment fall into the wrong hand of A.I.M. As Ted was trying to escape from his captures, he accidentally ran off the road, plundging his speeding car into a deep waters as the formula was starting to transform him, and adapting him to the environment of a desperate drowning man right at the bottom and in the middle of dirty swamp waters

On the other end, there is the one known as Ka-Zar, and his loyal friend Zabu, from a prehistorical race thought extinct for millenniums, one of the last saber-tooth tiger on the planet. Born Kevin Reginald Plunder, his father led an expedition to Antarctica in the search for a rare Anti-Metal element, later to be known as Vibranium, which they found in the jungles of the Savage Land, a remote volcano-heated valley, where some prehistoric creatures still roam. When ruthless agents tried to steal Lord Plunder's stash of Vibranium, he left for refuge in the Savage Land with Kevin. However, but the father was killed by natives of the Man-Ape tribe. But despite all that, Kevin was saved by the sudden appearance of a great saber-tooth tiger. Zabu took Kevin with him under protection, and the Man-Apes called him Ka-Zar, meaning "Son of the Tiger". The boy grew up in the Land of Mists alongside Zabu, who taught him how to survive

Individually they are all great characters, but together, both Marvel legends, and possibly others, have everything to gain by interacting with each other, and make a real spectacular movie event that would be remember for all times

- SCENES FROM THE FILM -

I would start with Ted Sallis getting set up and escaping while injecting his own formula just before plunging in car into deep waters, and looking like he was going to drown at the bottom of that swamp, and agents looking for signs of life and on their way to leaving, with some strange movement in the water happening and suddenly appearing under the dark waters what seems like red eyes blinking. The next scene, would send us back a few decades into Antarctica with Lord Plunder and his son Kevin arriving by small plane on an expedition to search for a rare metal, and when the father died and Zabu saved the boy, way would advance in time and see the child growing up and learning how to survive in the savage land from his saber-tooth protector. Back to present, scientists would seek out the man known as Ka-Zar to help in a desperate search for Ted" Sallis with a secret that in the wrong hands would be catastrophic. As they would all arrive to a Florida airport where the search would get under way after a little commotions with some enormous prehistorical tiger braking out of his cage and security trying to shoot it. The first appearance of the Man-Thing creature would eventually happen with a little clash with Ka-Zar, and it escaping into the wilderness without at first any knowledge of who it really was. And from the mind of the beast from his own flashback memories, we would learn of what really happened to Ted Sallis and those agents that tried to set him up... And in the end of the movie Zabu could possibly be dying after getting mortally wounded, and right then, we could learn that it is a female, pregnant, and before dying she would have the time to give birth and see her healthy cub in the harms of Ka-Zar which would promise to care for it as Zabu cared for him as a child

Dès lointaines terres sauvages au pays des Everglades, les choses ne vont pas toujours accordément aux plans pour tous, et parfois des choses incroyables leurs arrivent; et si vous êtes vraiment chanceux, quelque une de ces légendes occasionellement viennent en collision ensemble d'une façon des plus étonnante et invraisemblable

Dès fables sauvages vient celui connu entant que le Man-Thing, en réalité le biochimiste Theodore "Ted" Sallis qui développa une formule expérimentale pouvant créer de nouveaux super soldats pour le gouvernement, et en tombant dans le guet-apens d'espions, il choisit de se l'injecter en lui-même, plutôt que de laisser le traitement expérimental tomber entre les mauvaises mains de A.I.M. Lorsque Ted tenta de se sauver de ses capteurs, il fit une sortie de route, plongeant à grande vitesse son véhicule dans de profondes eaux, juste au moment où la formule commença à faire son effet, le transformant, et l'adaptant à l'environnement d'un homme désespéré en train de se noyer dans les profondeurs d'une eau sale au milieu d'un marécage

De l'autre côté, il y a celui que l'on surnomme Ka-Zar, ainsi que son loyal ami Nabu, d'une race préhistorique supposément éteinte depuis des millénaires, un des derniers smilodon sur la planète, un grand tigre à longues dents. Né Kevin Reginald Plunder, Son père mena une expédition dans l'Antarctique dans la recherche d'un rare élément anti-métal, plutard que serait connu comme le Vibranium, qu'ils trouva dans la jungle des terres sauvages, une vallée lointaine réchauffé par l'action volcanique souterraine, là où quelques espèces de la préhistoire survivaient toujours. Et lorsque d'impitoyables agents tentent de voler la réserve Vibranium de Lord Plunder, il prit refuge avec son fils dans la terre sauvage, mais le père fut tué par des membres d'une tribu d'hommes singles. Mais malgré tout, Kevin fut sauvé par la soudaine apparition du grand tigre préhistorique à dents longues; et Zabu prit Kevin avec lui sous sa protection, et les hommes-singes l'appela Ka-Zar, voulant dire "Fils Du Tigre". Le garçon grandit dans les terres brumeuses avec Zabu qui lui montra comment survivre

Individuellement ils sont tous de grands personnages, mais ensemble, ces deux légendes, et possiblement d'autres, ont tout à gagner d'interagir entre eux et de faire un vrai évènement cinématographique spectaculaire à se rappeler pour toujours

PS: Please release in hardcovers, Man-Thing Marvel Masterworks volume 1, collecting his stories from Savage Tales 1, Astonishing Tales 12 to 13, Adventure Into Fear 10 to 19, and Man-Thing 1, from 1971 to 1974