Slugging it out on "Celebrity Deathmatch"By Helen Lee, posted July 27, 1998 Ever wondered who would win if Hanson and the Spice Girls got in a knock-down, drag-out, no-holds-barred brawl? Or who really rules the world of late night talk shows, Jay Leno or David Letterman? MTV's clay-animated "Celebrity Deathmatch" answers those burning questions every Thursday at 10 p.m. ET. "I like to think of the series as celebrity ultimate fighting in clay," says MTV Animation President Abby Terkuhle. "You'll see celebrity likenesses, battling out whatever their issues are in the ring. It puts a new perspective on sports and event commentary." Every week, "Celebrity Deathmatch" parodies the worlds of film, television, sports, music and politics through three fantasy fights shown documentary-style-two preliminary events and a main one that usually involve lots of blood, gore, violence and tasteless fun. Recently, for example, Sylvester Stallone is literally ripped apart by Arnold Schwarzenegger. To determine Sly's level of consciousness, the referee picks up two of his severed digits, then asks Sly how many fingers he's holding up. Later, a hit from Stallone reveals the metal face of the "Terminator" underneath Schwarzenegger's skin. By the end, Stallone seems delirious as he calls for "Adrian." As it turns out, he's only trying to catch the attention of Adrian Zmed, the actor from "T.J. Hooker." Wait, there's more. "Celebrity Deathmatch" has parodied the Gallagher brothers from Oasis, duking out their creative differences; announcer Marv Albert, obsessing over a special bust-out move by Pamela Lee Anderson in her round against RuPaul; Kathy Lee Gifford; Godzilla; and Hillary Clinton, taking her anger out on Paula Jones. Marilyn Manson appeared on the very first "Deathmatch," beating Charles Manson last fall. "Deathbowl '98" aired during halftime at the 1998 Superbowl and featured the Spice Girls (Ginger included) wrangling with Hanson. Who won? Marilyn Manson returned to the ring, chain saw in hand, and slaughtered all the teen idols he could find, earning the title: "Most Evil Man in America." The series began in earnest this May when Jerry and friends slugged it out with Tim Allen the week of the "Seinfeld" finale. Where do the match-up ideas come from? Terkuhle notes, "We have a bunch of writers (including) Eric Fogel (series creator), myself and (producer) John Lynn, who meet twice a week. At the table we kick out a lot of ideas-for instance, we came up with the idea of doing one from the vault-the Rat Pack, with Jerry Lewis versus Dean Martin. We always want surprise as an element, so we consider that." MTV also offered a "Viewer's Choice" section on its website, allowing surfers to vote for matchups they'd like to see. Once script and storyboard are in place, the clay animation begins. Stop-motion photography is time-consuming and labor-intensive. But unlike regular animated shows, clay-animated shows don't need to go overseas for processing. "Daria" might take 20 weeks to process-by contrast, one half-hour episode of "Deathmatch" is finished after 8-12 weeks. The clay animation process frees up the producers creatively, says Terkuhle. "Clay lends itself to this concept. Clearly, it adds a level of humor to the bout. Besides, I don't think we could get the real people in the ring." Top of page |