Renegade Homecoming- Little-known Facts!
**Spoiler Alert**
The character ‘Angus’ is revealed to be the adopted son of Holec. It is said that the Renegades killed his parents. Though not mentioned in movie, Angus’ birth father was actually Commander Atwood from the 1991 original film. Note# In Trespassers canon, Com. Atwood was killed in the photo comic ‘The Spectre of Holec’ which takes place shortly after the events of the first movie.
Though the ‘flashback’ scenes appear to have been culled directly from the ’91 movie, it’s actually mostly made up of alternate takes, deleted sequences and even some newly shot ‘branching’ footage.
The original ‘Zodiac’ shirt worn by Tasker in the first film actually makes a number of appearances in the film. The first appearance is when Tasker is looking for appropriate attire following his release from Prison. Though initially considered, Tasker opts for the blue ‘Demonic Bastards’ shirt as his signature garb. The second appearance is during the closing credits where Doc adopts the shirt as his own, thus graduating to symbolic ‘Renegade’ status.
There is much symbolism in the film. It could take volumes to point out all the symbolism, but some of the less-subtle examples are:
1. Like the first film, Tasker changes his clothes mid-way through the film. In the ’91 movie, Tasker discardes his black ‘company’ shirt and adopts his more liberal ‘Zodiac’ shirt, symbolising his rebellion. In this movie, Tasker discards his prison blue shirt and changes into the ‘legend’ Tasker, complete with the signature shades.
2. Doc, just like his father, made a video testimonial, thus symbolising his continuing the work of Dr. Roberts. Doc also is seen at the end of the film wearing Tasker’s old ‘Zodiac’ shirt. The symbolism here is either Doc’s becoming a Renegade like Tasker or as a tribute to the man who restored his father’s name.
The movie’s structure also has many similarities to the 1991 original. For instance, both have a climactic fight scene and both end with a question as to whether good actually triumphed over evil.
There was originally supposed to be an elaborate prison break scene in the movie in which Tasker and a fellow inmate named ‘Dutch’ were to escape from prison. The idea was scrapped and the Dutch character dropped.
Of all the classic characters from the first film, five of them return for this film. Of these five, three are played by the original actors. The three being Karl Sawyer (Dr. Roberts), Kurtz (Shane Michaels) and Tasker (Jason Stewart). Storm, originally portrayed by A. Joseph Baird is now played by Jimmy Hat. Holec, like the first film is played by one or more mystery actors, always credited by a question mark.
Gary Flanagan, who portrays Governor Perkins also sang and composed the original song, ‘Still I Stand Tall’ used as the unofficial theme for Doc.
Gary Flanagan’s appearance was literally ‘mailed in’. His scenes were self-shot at his home in New Brunswick and sent via-mail. In fact, though he and the director have been internet/pen friends for over a decade, they have never actually met face-to-face.
The character of Governor Perkins mentioned that he was once a science professor. Perkins made his first appearance in the 1996 “Trespassers Series” novel An Heir to Evil as a sinister scientist known as Professor Perkins.