Fans of Todd and the Book of Pure Evil were distraught when the show was cancelled after season two. There weren’t enough of them to keep the show on for a third season, but there were enough to contribute to an Indiegogo campaign to make an animated feature film. That film, Todd and the Book of Pure Evil: The End of the End played at Screamfest on Saturday night.
After the screening of Todd and the Book of Pure Evil: The End of the End, creator Craig David Wallace, co-director Rich Duhaney and cast members Melanie Leishman, Chris Leavins and Norman Yeung gave a Q&A. Spoiler alert: Hannah is in the movie, albeit as Hannah clones. The film will be on DVD and Blu-ray in December. Screamfest continues through Thursday, October 17.
Q: What happened to season 3 of Todd and the Book of Pure Evil?
Craig David Wallace: We got cancelled. That’s what happened there. As everybody must be aware by now, right after we got cancelled, we launched an Indiegogo campaign to make this movie. Five short years later, we finally got it made.
Q: Were you happy with your characters’ arcs in the movie?
Melanie Leishman: Yeah, I mean, I wasn’t expecting it. Craig told me at the beginning of season two that I was going to die, so I was sad about that. Then I couldn’t have imagined that it would then become tons and tons of clones and evil clones. It was pretty great.
Chris Leavins: This was the first time I’ve seen it. Great job, super impressed. It was amazing. I didn’t like the guy who played me, but other than that…
Norman Yeung: What’s up, everybody? Thank you for coming.
Q: How different was directing animation than the live action Todd and the Book of Pure Evil?
Craig David Wallace: It was totally different. Part of the directing was working with all of our fine actors here in a recording studio. We managed to record the entire thing in around five days. The songs were another couple of days over the years. So normally it wouldn’t have been such an intense period but what was really great is we got most of the cast together in one room so they were able to play off of each other in a way they wouldn’t have been able to on set, which was really great. The actual directing process was really quite different. It was really great to have such a collaborator in Rich to really flesh out the series and just work on the whole animation process which is significantly longer and more painstaking than live-action.
Q: Are there plans for a DVD of Todd and the Book of Pure Evil: The End of the End?
Craig David Wallace: There will be a Blu-ray and DVD coming out in mid-December which will also include the soundtrack to the film as well. We’re really excited about that. We’re just putting that all together as we speak.
Q: Will that include the DVD sets for both seasons of Todd and the Book of Pure Evil?
Craig David Wallace: I don’t know. We’re in a particularly interesting spot. The TV series and the feature film are distributed by two different entities. We’re trying to figure out how that all works. It’s kind of like how season one of Twin Peaks, you couldn’t get the actual first episode. It’s not quite like that but it’s kind of like that. My dream would be to be able to have a Blu-ray box set of everything all together. It might be two different things taped together.
Q: Any chance for more episodes of Todd and the Book of Pure Evil?
Craig David Wallace: There’s always a chance. Now that we have the animated film, we are certainly going out there and looking to do an animated series. We’re talking to some people. We’ll see how it goes but the future is uncertain.
Q: Was Hannah C. ever accounted for?
Craig David Wallace: Oh my God, Hannah C. must be accounted for in there somewhere. Oh, you know what? If you’re watching the television series, the final episode where we’re going through the basement past all of them, you’ll notice that Hannah A. is dead. Hannah C., there’s a hole in the pod and this weird thing coming out. It was an incubation error.
Q: How did Jenny have a photo of her stabbing Atticus on her phone when that was an alternate timeline?
Craig David Wallace: That was because I thought it would be really funny. I was also wondering if anybody would catch that. You also might ask who took the photos of all of them? What it really comes down to is that’s what I find really funny so I’m glad you picked up on that. I’ll carry this moment always.
Q: What’s up next for you?
Norman Yeung: I also write so I create stuff and I have an absurdist little stupid thing called Dating Sucks. It’ll be on the web soon enough, Datingsucksseries.com. It’s self-explanatory.
Chris Levins: I’m waiting for the series to start up again.
Rich: I have worked on adult content for quite a long time and now I’m working on a kids show. I’m excited to show that to my kids.
Melanie Leishman: I have a web series coming out called Crystal Clear and I’m developing one as well.
Craig David Wallace: I directed and produced a television series on Hulu called Freakish that’s going to be on season two.
