#tmh.essay

[themisfitshistorian]

ESSAY NUMBER ONE: SIMON BELLAMY AND THE EXPANSION OF THE MISFITS UNIVERSE; WHAT YOU MAY NOT KNOW

Misfits, created by Howard Overman, aired its first episode on November 12th, 2009; what followed was a wild and unpredictable ride of a series, unlike anything that TV had ever seen before. With a cast of unique characters who get even more unique superpowers just minutes into the first episode, this show’s thirty-seven episode run would be unforgettable for most audiences. However, there is MUCH more to this series which lies below the surface.

If you’ve watched Misfits in its entirety, you may think you know everything there is to know about the series, but there is much more to be discovered. Below the surface, deep into the Misfits waters, you’ll find online shorts, long-forgotten vlogs interrupted by superheroes from the future, sinister confessions, deleted scenes within forgotten scripts, abandoned Twitter accounts, Flickr photography, and even evidence of lost media. A huge reason why I enjoy this show so much is because of how insanely deep its lore actually goes once you look past the original series. There’s an entire world of Misfits to be discovered, and in my first essay, I hope to introduce you to some of that content, provided by our beloved Simon Bellamy.

The in-character shorts uploaded online during the run of seasons one and two, shot from the perspective of the reclusive Simon, are more on the relatively well-known side of things. On YouTube, a search for “Misfits online films” brings up multiple playlists containing DVD-exclusive shorts recorded by Simon and various security cameras throughout the community centre. These shorts provide a small insight into what the characters’ lives are like outside of the episodes we know and love, and they serve to exist as sweet little extras for curious fans who just can’t get enough of the show. This isn’t all that Simon contributes when it comes to giving us the extras, though; in fact, many of these entries are directly tied to him and videos he’s made. For example, his YouTube channel contains his full tribute video to Nathan, and his Flickr account provides insights into his mind, as well as some images that casual fans may not have seen before. He also had a Twitter, as did the rest of the main cast! I find these accounts to be fascinating, as they provide a beautiful insight into what life is like for the characters outside of what we all saw on screen.

Another video of Simon’s includes a cameo from Superhoodie, who briefly interrupts his tribute to Nathan, along with a separate video, which I have yet to find again, in which Simon confesses to killing Sally in a rather sinister manner. I’ll update this post with more resources later; for now, I just wanted to appreciate Simon’s contribution to extending the Misfits universe.

Edit #1: Simon's confession can be found here! Big thanks to @merrilark for replying with the link, I don't think I would have been able to find it on my own :)

[themisfitshistorian]

ESSAY NUMBER TWO: EXPANDING THE MISFITS UNIVERSE (2/2): DELETED SCENES AND LOST MEDIA EXPLAINED

In my first post, I discussed how the character Simon Bellamy expands the Misfits universe through in-character posts which can still be found online to this day. Here, I'm continuing my discussion of the broader, unknown universe, but with two specific examples that stick out to me among the rest.

First, we have the show's deleted scenes, which you can't easily find online. This has led me to believe that many of these scenes simply weren't filmed, only written. This e-book contains the scripts for all six episodes of season one, which gives us a glimpse at what could have been; for example, an entire character is cut from the final show! Chewy, Nathan's drug dealer, comes up multiple times, and is also mentioned in the Misfits book (in Howard Overman's "Lost Scripts"), yet he never got to see the light of day.

Another character was also semi-cut from the final series; I say this because while he does appear in the series, a scene which would have given us a name to put to his face was cut. In the season one scripts, a scene in episode six takes place in the bar from episode four, which is revealed to be called "Bar X". This scene was meant to take place right after the scene where Nathan is looking for Kelly in the car park; in this deleted scene, Nathan seeks refuge at Bar X in a scene that references The Shining. Due to Rachel's influence, the bar is entirely empty, except for James, the bartender. The two talk as Nathan has a drink, and James eventually accuses Nathan of shitting in the urinals.

This deleted scene, specifically, leads into my rant about the evidence of Misfits lost media. I believe that this scene was filmed and at one point available to watch: The following screencaps are presumably taken from it:

If anyone knows where/how this scene can be found, please reach out to me; I've been searching for it constantly for two years now, every road leading to a dead end. Either these are promo photos and I'm stupid, or this scene was filmed and is now lost media, which I'm calling a search for.

My next essay will discuss more deleted scenes from both the season one e-book and Mike O'Leary's questionably-canon book, which contains Howard Overman's "Lost Scripts". In this one, I wanted to focus more on the Bar X scene, as I've never seen anyone call attention to this. See you guys soon!