Pandemonium Reigned Script Pages

Hey guys! Gala here.

Roger wanted to share some select pages from Pandemonium Reigned with all of our Archive Regulars to pair with our After Show. Again -- I couldn't believe the connection that Pandemonium had with Narrow Margin. Even though this script was written before I was born, I've heard so much about it, so it was awesome to be there when the revelation was revealed in real time!

To start off, here's the front cover and the title page. This was the Second Draft, dated April 10th, 1991.

I love that ouroboros dragon design...

ROGER:  "Quentin disliked me using that design, and told me he didn't like when writers did art stuff like that at the beginning of a script. He advised against it. He's right, of course, but I didn't care. I mean, I had to go through a lot trouble back then to put that on there. There was no clip art back then, no photoshop. The original was cut from an old book I had and taped onto the cover and xeroxed. To me back then the design was a signal to the reader that they were about to read a mythic fable, and that the theme was an ouroboros, which today sounds so pompous and up my own ass, just like the falootin' title. But I was young, and that's when you're supposed to be up your own ass, and I was."

Roger picked 5 segments to share with you all. First up, we have the segment titled "BOXER".

ROGER:  "Here we can see an early version of Dane throwing the fight, which would later find its way into Pulp Fiction. Dane eventually became Butch, and instead of a taxi driver there was a character written specifically for Quentin to play who picks him up after the fight. I left out page 7., which is the fight itself. I remember Quentin telling me that after Raging Bull there was no point in trying to shoot a boxing match, and to just cut straight to leaving the fight, which is how it is presented here. It's worth noting that the name Dane Coolidge is a family name, as I am a relative of the western pulp novelist. Apparently he had a son our family never knew about named Butch, who would eventually be played by Bruce Willis."

Segment 2 is "HOTEL".

ROGER:  "Eventually, Dane goes to the hotel where he meets Christine, his weepy and nervy fiancé. Christine wasn't originally written as French, and became Fabienne after I had directed Killing Zoe and while we were prepping Pulp Fiction and Quentin met Maria de Medeiros. I think it was a wonderful casting choice and her beautiful accent brought the dialog to life and made Fabienne's annoying written qualities and her character completely lovable."

Segment three has a fan favorite ... the GIMP!

ROGER: "Here we have the original gimp scenes. I can't say that I know where the gimp came from. I was writing it as though I were watching it. The next thing I knew he was in a pawn shop being run by white supremacists, I had no idea that they were going to suddenly pull out a gimp. It just happened without my planning it. I have since been told by a cultural researcher preparing a book on kink history that the term "Gimp" in BDSM has been traced back to Pulp Fiction, and when I was asked how I came up with the term, I told them that it came from my sister-in-law, Molly, who was in a car accident and broke her leg and during that time we all started calling her The Gimp. This was around the time I was writing, so I pulled the term into the script when Zed pulled that guy out of the box, and voila! Originally, Quentin asked me to play the Gimp, but I knew that he would somehow punk me on set while I was locked up in vinyl BDSM gear. Though, I would have been great playing the Gimp, I originally wanted Bruce Campbell to play the part because I figured he would be able to get a performance through the leather mask and ball gag."

Next up, the train station...

ROGER:  "I had recently visited the beautiful Central Station in Los Angeles, and was inspired by the L.A. Noir of it all. I knew I wanted to get onto the train with the gangsters. I knew I wanted a train to be out of control. I knew I wanted chaos in the end. None of this made it into Pulp Fiction. We threw it all away."

Segment 5 is the train...

ROGER:  "Here, we have the section which draws heavily from Narrow Margin, in noir-ish kinship. The entire train sequence is all rope-tightening, and Peter Hyams is truly inspirational when it comes to rope-tightening big screen action, which is why I leaned so heavily into his guiding arms while writing this. Gangsters on a train are fun. Trains that are out of control are...fun! (I love Runaway Train for the same reason, and I'll bet I owe it a debt of usage as well.)"

And then, of course, the end...

ROGER:  "Before I started writing I wanted the final shot of the movie to be a train barreling out of control through the darkness, destined to crash and destined to kill all on board. I may have written this final scene first. The DISSOLVE TO: was the big gesture here."

Thanks guys for stopping by! Let us know if you liked seeing script pages from the material we talked about. Also, make sure to chime in over in our community chat about what you'd like to see in the Aftershows. And also figure out those 3 clues that we gave you for next week!

And, since it's been much requested, here's a clue for the Video Vault in our next Aftershow...

The vaulted film was discussed in Season One but left on the cutting room floor. It's from an acclaimed Filipino director we covered last season when we were heavily in our exploitation era -- but this time, the protagonist has both arms (and plays the villain!).