Comic Screw-On Head is an agent for President
Abraham Lincoln. He is summoned by Lincoln to track down Emperor Zombie, an
undead occultist and originally a groundskeeper at Hyde Park. Zombie and his henchmen, the vampire Madam and scientist Dr. Snap, have stolen an ancient manuscript. This will allow him access to the temple of Gung, a warlord who nearly conquered the world over ten thousand years ago with supernatural power gained from "a fabulous
melon-sized
jewel", which Zombie obviously plans to use for himself. With the aid of his manservant, Mr. Groin, and dog Mr. Dog, Screw-On Head manages to track down Zombie, but not before the villain and his henchmen find the treasure: instead of a jewel, the tomb contains a
turnip with "a small parallel universe" inside. Zombie unleashes the Demigod within, but Screw-On Head manages to defeat it in combat.
TV pilot The 22-minute pilot differs from the comic mainly in that the characters are fleshed out with backstories. Rather than a master of languages, Emperor Zombie (
David Hyde Pierce) is the first of Screw-On Head's (
Paul Giamatti) manservants, who has turned to evil despite Screw-On Head's advice. Out of revenge for his first defeat, Zombie developed what he refers to as a "petty vengeance fetish", killing the seven replacement servants after him, and before Mr. Groin (
Patton Oswalt), in gruesome ways. The pilot also featured
Molly Shannon,
Mindy Sterling, and
Corey Burton in various roles as well. On August 20, 2006,
The Amazing Screw-On Head TV pilot was aired online at scifi.com with a survey to decide whether or not the show went to series. The series was not picked up by the Sci-Fi Channel. The pilot was released on DVD on February 6, 2007. ==Awards==