|
The Mummy Returns (2001) Novel |
|
|
|
|
|
|
I’ve reread the novelization of The Mummy (1999) by Max Allan Collin and took notes on what was different between the novel, the film and what the audience may or may not know about the characters and certain scenes. I’ve decided to do the same with The Mummy Returns novelization too.
I’ll start off by reminding everyone that novelization is always completed before the film is released. They do this so that the book will hit the stores before or just as the movie hits theaters in order to make the highest profit. Because of that you may notice that certain things (like the dialogue, characterization, scenes, etc.) don’t always match up with what was filmed. This is because the author uses the early draft or a finalized (sometimes not always the revised) version of the film’s screenplay as their primary road map to turn into a novel.
Anyway, here are my notes along with my thoughts on a couple of things, and on the spot research.
~~**~*~**~~
Where did we last left off and what has happened since then?
The Mummy (1999) film ends with Evelyn, Rick and Jonathan riding off into the desert to civilization, while unknowingly their camels’ saddlebags are filled to the brim with the gold and jewels of the pharaoh’s treasure. However, in its novelization it adds a bit more by hinting that after Dr. Terence Bey’s death, Evelyn was made the curator of the Cairo Museum of Antiquities.
The Mummy Returns novelization starts off with a excerpt from chapter 6 of Curse of the Pharaohs: Myth and Mystery (Bemhridge Press, London, 1930) by Dr. Evelyn O'Connell. From it we learn that….
Though holding a doctorate in library sciences, Dr. O'Connell was known as a leading expert of her day in the fields of archaeology and Egyptology. The daughter of noted Egyptologist Howard Carnahan—who with Sir Gaston Maspero discovered Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1922.
Dr. O'Connell was curator of the Cairo Museum from 1925 until 1927, when she retired to raise a family with her husband, noted explorer Richard O'Connell; in later years, Dr. O'Connell was curator of the British Museum.
Wait, Evelyn being the curator of the Cairo Museum in 1925 isn’t possible. At that point she’s still a librarian and that’s a year before The Mummy begins.
How old is Alex O’Connell?
In both the film and novelization Alex is 8 years old.
In order for Alex to be 8 years old he would’ve had to be born in 1927, meaning that The Mummy Returns takes place in 1935. After all, The Mummy starts off in 1923, when Rick is a legionnaire battling the Tuareg nomads at Hamunaptra. But it is three years later, in 1926 that the film truly begins because we’re introduced to Evelyn and her brother.
This would mean that Rick and Evelyn got married right away and had Alex immediately.
In the novelization, Evelyn being the curator of Cairo Museum in 1925 is incorrect. How could she be when she was a librarian and Dr. Terence Bey was still alive because The Mummy hadn’t even started?
The same can be said when the The Mummy Returns film mistakenly states that it’s 1933 because that would mean Alex should’ve actually been 6 years old. At the same time, the film does correctly stated that it was “the American chaps who found it [the chest] nine years ago all died, horrible deaths.”
Why was Evelyn having strange dreams and visions?
We don’t know the month or day of when the novel and film begins, but we do know that the year is 1935. According to the Egyptian calendar it’s also the start of a new Egyptian year, which is the Year of the Scorpion.
Rick points it out, “Evy, the first of these strange dreams…you had it exactly six weeks ago, right?”
She confirms it and Rick continues on, “Six weeks— which just happens to coincide with the Egyptian new year.”
Impressed, she said, “I knew you’d been researching.”
“Egyptian new year, baby—a.k.a., the Year of the Scorpion.”
Where does Evelyn and Rick live at?
They live a few miles west, in the lushest countryside to be found so near the city [London] in a Tudor-style manor house.
They arrived in England through Croydon airport. It opened in 1920 and was UK’s only international airport (especially during the interwar period). It was also Britain’s main airport, handling more cargo, mail, and passengers than any other UK airport at the time.
From Croydon to London the trip would taken about 45 minutes for them to reach their home. Considering that Evelyn also worked at the British Museum, it would makes sense that they lived in London. The novel even confirmed it later on.
I don’t know why The Mummy Returns wiki lists that the O’Connell Manor is in Oxfordshire. Because it would’ve taken Evelyn about an hour and thirty minutes or more to get to the British Museum which is in London.
What happened to the Book of the Dead and the Book of Amun-Ra (Book of the Living)?
Meela Pasha was also having strange dreams and visions of her past self, Anck-Su-Namun. She joined the cult whose intent it was to see that the High Priest of Osiris Imhotep be resurrected and conquer the Earth.
Upon finding where Imhotep was buried the cultists also found both books. Meela kept the Book of the Dead, but threw the Book of the Living into the pit of scarabs so that it couldn’t be used again to kill Imhotep.
At the pit—from which the stench of human flesh and charred beetle wafted like foul incense—Meela paused and, as if discarding a used tissue, flung the priceless object [the book of the living] down into the foul, smoky darkness of the hole. Not missing a beat, the woman and her bodyguard moved on, ignoring the chitter of scarabs below.
Fun Fact: Meela’s surname is listed as something else in the wiki: Meela Nais.
I’ve actually tried to look up where exactly does it reveal that Nais is her last name, but I couldn’t find anything. There’s nothing in the film’s script posted online that states her last name. I even checked IMDb (Internet Movie Database) to see if in the cast and crew section if it has the actress Patricia Velásquez credited as Meela Nais, but it doesn’t either.
Unless in the end credits of the film itself, they might’ve credited her as Meela Nais? Okay, I watched the film again and this time I paid attention to the end credits. And no, it’s just Meela / Anck-Su-Namun. I have no idea where everyone got that Nais is her last name, but I would like to have that mystery solve.
Who is Lock-Nah?
He’s Meela’s personal bodyguard and chief enforcer of the Cult of Imhotep. In the novelization he’s described as a tall, muscled man with chiseled features and hard dark eyes. He’s cruel, sadistic and prefers violence over peaceful approaches.
Lock-Nah wore the same red turban, flowing dark robe and loose white garments as the various guards serving both the Curator and his mistress, Meela.
When, how and why did Rick get a tattoo?
According to Rick, “This got slapped on me back in the orphanage, in Hong Kong.”
When Ardeth saw it he tells Rick that he’s a Knight Templar because he not only bear the Masonic mark, but knew the code phrase for it:
“Were I to say to you, my friend, ‘I am a stranger traveling from the east, seeking that which is lost…'”
“Without thinking, in a somewhat robotic fashion, O'Connell said—and heard himself saying, as if from a distance, “I would reply, ’I am a stranger traveling from the west. It is I whom you seek.'”
Rick doesn’t seem to remember why he got the tattoo or who put it on him. And when Ardeth asked how he even knows the special phrase he says…
“I don’t know. It’s some saying I’ve known since I was a kid. Long as I can remember.”
It could be possible that one of Rick’s parents could’ve been a Knight Templar. According The Mummy novelization of the first film, all we know of his mother was that she was American, but his father Jack O'Connell was an Irish-American explorer. With his Irish heritage it would’ve made him the most likely parent to be a Knight Templar.
What does Rick’s tattoo look like?
And the knight’s hand, holding the scepter in the image, bore that same tattoo—the pyramid formed of mariner’s compass and falcon’s wings, centered with the eye of Horus—that O'Connell had worn since childhood!
In the first film Rick had a small tattoo, the Eye of Horus, an ancient Egyptian symbol bringing fortune, protection and good health. It was on Rick’s hand (between his thumb and index finger), but was absent in the second movie. That’s because the screenwriters decided to change the tattoo and moved it onto Rick’s wrist (which was usually hidden by his leather wrist band) to expand the story for the second film by giving it a more meaningful purpose.
Also, in The Mummy Returns novelization Rick apparently got the tattoo as a kid in a Hong Kong orphanage. While in The Mummy novelization he grew up in an orphanage in Cairo, Egypt. There’s a bit of inconsistency because either the writer forgot that detail from the first novel or they retconned it. I think it’s the former.
Who are the Knights Templar?
For many long centuries, the Medjai had stood watch at Hamunaptra, guarding against Imhotep’s return; had Knights Templar during the Holy Crusades learned of the Scorpion King, and kept guard here?
Basically, during the Holy Crusades of Europe, some of the Knights Templar – that had served in the wars – learned of the Scorpion King’s existence and turned to watching over the Oasis of Ahm Shere.
They recorded their own existence in the form of bas-reliefs on the walls of the golden pyramid within the Oasis, depicting instructions on how to slay the Scorpion King by using the golden staff known as the Scepter of Osiris.
The Knights became known by the Medjai as warriors for God and protectors of mankind, and fellow brothers-in-arms worthy of membership.
What does Alex put in the chest to make it seem like the Bracelet of Anubis was still in there?
Alex closed the lid of the chest and picked it up, only to discover that, without the bracelet, the thing was feather light! Quickly he took a heavy vase from a nearby table, thrust it in the cushioned chest and slammed it shut…just as his mother was rounding the bookcase.
In the novelization it was a heavy vase, but in the film, he picked a different object. He grabbed a statue of a baseball player and placed it into the chest.
Why does Ardeth Bay not call Imhotep by his name?
That’s because he (as do all Medjai) fears even referring to Imhotep by name while the mummy is still in his undead form, calling him “He That Shall Not Be Named” or “the Creature”.
Ardeth Bay in the novel overcomes this unease and reluctantly refers to Imhotep by name after the mummy’s regeneration.
How did Jonathan and Alex get the double-decker bus?
Jonathan pretended to be on the tour, earlier that day. He told the driver that he and his ‘son’ came back because they lost a small book about Tom Mix while on it, and they forgot to tip the him for his “delightful tour”.
“Would you mind terribly if my son and I stepped aboard for a moment?“ And Jonathan held out a second pound note. "Just to check our seats? It might have slipped back under, you know.”
That’s how they got on the bus without issue. While the driver was distracted by pocketing the pound notes they drove away, waving at the flabbergasted man.
After putting on the Bracelet of Anubis, how long does Alex have?
Imhotep revealed that the bracelet would kill the wearer if they do not reach the Oasis of Ahm Shere by the seventh day.
“No, young O'Connell—that is my destiny…but your problem. Here is what you don’t 'already know’: if you do not enter the golden pyramid before its apex is kissed by the sun, on that last morning…the bracelet will suck the very life from you.”
I always found it amusing that it was only seven days. The journey would’ve actually been impossible to complete in the ancient days because they mostly got around on foot. Animals and wheeled vehicles were not widely used as most goods and people traveled by the Nile river. [x] [x]
Ships and boats were their main transportation and were powered by sails, oars and sometimes both. And neither of these options were that fast compared to the modern means of transport used in the film.
Where did they find Izzy?
Five miles beyond Fort Stack—itself on the outermost outskirts of Cairo—lay the former headquarters of His Majesty’ s Air Corps. Ten years ago, it had been the province of the late Winston Havlock, and even then had been a ghost town of battered Quonset huts, with one sorry excuse for an airport hangar alongside a pothole-ridden asphalt runway, and no sign of a control tower, other than the looming dunes of the Sahara.
Where did they get that Duesenberg in Egypt?
Despite having the London manor, Evelyn never sold the house in Cairo because her work took her very frequently to Egypt. As soon as they reached Egypt they made a stopped in Cairo.
Jonathan had maintained the convertible over the years, storing it in the garage of the Carnahan family home…
Where did the Scepter of Osiris come from?
Neither the film or novelization actually clarifies where it came from.
But it can be safely assumed that it was in the Pharaoh Seti I’s treasure from Hamunaptra.
It wouldn’t be that farfetched to believe because he had given his daughter, the princess Nefertiri, the task of ensuring that the Bracelet was kept safe. So with that in mind, would he not also have had the Scepter of Osiris in his possession?
Ardeth and his fellow Medjai commanders joined up with Rick, Evelyn and Jonathan at Izzy’s place.
What does Ardeth say to the Medjai when he separates from them to travel with the others?
Ardeth Bay turned toward the Medjai commanders on horseback, touched his heart with one open palm, and then waved it, in ritualistic fashion, toward the burning sun. “Harum bara shad!”
I was curious and wanted to know what he said. So I googled the phrase to find a English translation and I got no results. I also tried finding the translations for each word separately and none of them made any sense, especially when put all together.
So, unfortunately this is still unknown.
Where did the train in the desert come from?
It was confirmed in the novelization that the cultists had used the railway Kitchener had built, to travel around and make a stop near the temple at Karnac.
But those men—whatever their exact number— had, apparently, moved on…unless they were aboard the train, which sat seemingly abandoned on the tracks, obstructing the railway Lord Kitchener had worked so hard to create before the turn of the century.
Fun Fact: When Horatio Herbert Kitchener was promoted to Sirdar (commander-in-chief) of the Egyptian Army in 1896, he built a railway (which he assigned the task of constructing the Sudan Military Railroad to a Canadian railroad builder, Percy Girouard) to ensure logistical support and used river steamers to move his Anglo-Egyptian Army down the Nile.
Later on, he made many changes that improved agricultural conditions for the fellahin and he built roads, railways, bridges, dams and hospitals.
What was the first sand castle that Alex made?
Now Evy pointed to the sandy earth that was the temple’s floor—specifically, to an intricately, distinctly shaped sand castle, of sorts. But this was no kid’s sand castle…“It’s the Temple Island of Philae,” she said.
Fun Fact: It was confirmed in the DVD commentary that if the sand had fully dried, the castle would have crumbled, especially when Evelyn lightly brushes some sand off of the top.
What does Izzy’s dirigible run on?
Izzy threw his hands up. “Don’t you get it—this isn’t a hot air balloon, it operates on gas! You got any helium on you? Any hydrogen in your back pocket?”
When they crash landed Rick tasked Izzy to fix it and he was able to jury-rig the blimp to take hot air.
How did the dirigible go fast?
Izzy jerked a lever and, with a whoosh!, flames shot out of home-made Buck Rogers-style booster rockets on either side of the trawler, gizmos that O'Connell had noticed but figured were functionless trappings courtesy of Izzy’s eccentric mind.
Fun Fact: In reality, the drag of the balloon would cause the the rocket-powered vessel to rotate vertically around the axis of the balloon itself. It would spin around the balloon, and the craft would not move forward.
Also, the balloon would provide so much wind resistance that the rockets couldn’t actually push it that fast. Even if they were powerful enough to move it in that speed, the balloon would either be collapsed by air resistance or torn completely away.
When Ardeth won his fight against Lock-Nah, who saved him from being shot in the back by Imhotep’s cultist ?
In the film it was Jonathan, but in novelization it was Evelyn.
Turning, Ardeth Bay saw his would-be executioner falling to the jungle floor, and looked up, seeing also his savior—Evelyn O'Connell, high in the rocks. They exchanged brief smiles and nods.
I think the film had it right, by having Jonathan be the one to save him. It fits better, because earlier Ardeth had a conversation with him if the other is any good with their respective weapons. Jonathan said he was a Fox-and-Hounds Grand Champion, but the audience (and Ardeth) wouldn’t know if he was being earnest or jesting. So by having him save Ardeth then we would’ve known it was the former.
Also, in the film The Mummy Returns, Jonathan boasted that he was named champion five times, while in the novelization, Jonathan cites that he was named champion three times.
What happened to the Curator’s arm in the wall?
In the temple there’s a large scorpion form in the wall with a hole where its mouth is at. The Curator puts the bracelet on and stick his arm into the hole, twisting it like a key. Once everything is activated he starts to withdraw his arm, but it’s suddenly grabbed from the inside. He’s screaming because something is eating his hand, which can be heard clearly by the crunching of bones and the gnashing of teeth.
The flesh on his hand gets completely stripped off. The difference in the novel is that his arm stays stuck and it’s his entire arm that gets its flesh torn off. Rick also has a bit more dialogue with him.
“Remember our cute friends in the jungle?” O'Connell said, grinning at the Curator, relishing the man’s dilemma. “Ever consider this might be their house of worship? Maybe they take offense at intrusion.”
Fun Fact: In the novelization the Curator’s name is Faud Fachry, but in the film his name is Baltus Hafez.
Besides showing you how to get to the Oasis of Ahm Shere, what else could the bracelet do?
“When I wore it, I could understand ancient Egyptian…I could even speak it!”
The film doesn’t clarified, but in the novelization we learned that was how Imhotep and Alex were able to talk to each other.
When Evelyn came back from the dead, did she come back the same?
No, Evelyn’s dialogue in the novelization implies that her soul and Nefertiri’s have merged together.
“I’m a new woman.”
“Now we can pick up where we left off, not so long ago…in my father’s palace. But we won’t have to…as they say nowadays…'pull any punches.'”
Even Anck-Su-Namun saw the difference when she:
“…looked up into the face of Evelyn O'Connell, though the eyes gazing down on Anck-Su-Namun—eyes that were on fire—belonged to Nefertiri. Yet the trio of razor-sharp points did not plunge forward, remained poised to kill but did not kill…Was the twentieth-century woman Nefertiri had become, struggling with civilized notions that would not have impaired the former Meela?
It’s interesting that Evelyn’s and Nefertiri’s souls united, while Meela’s soul was replaced with Anck-Su-Namun’s. The Book of the Dead was used for both of them, but I wonder what was the factors that cause such different results? Does the intentions of the book user determine the results? Or…
Could it be that when Evelyn died she went to Paradise and met Nefertiri there too? I suppose time doesn’t really matter in the afterlife, so what could’ve been a few minutes in the living world might’ve been a lot longer in the afterlife.
I don’t know, but instead of one or the other coming back, they both decided to become as one. Meela and Anck-Su-Namun could’ve done the same, but Meela willingly let herself be replaced. However, it’s possible that Meela didn’t know that she would be sacrificing her life and subjecting her soul to the Underworld to suffer. Imhotep didn’t exactly tell her what was gonna happen, only that it was time to “remind you of who you are….and who we are together.”
Why did the the Curator, and Imhotep remove their scalp?
O'Connell watched in bewildered amazement as the mummy raised a hand to his forehead, just above his eyebrows, and ripped away the scalp!
Apparently, a way to prove you are a servant of the Scorpion King is by removing your scalp. The part that had me giggling was when Rick butchered the pronunciation for “Mi Phat Ahs”, meaning “I am your disciple” to “My fat a**”
What did the Scorpion King say?
Nothing.
In the novelization he didn’t speak a word, but in the film he only speaks a few lines in Ancient Egyptian.
The first time you hear him speak is in the very beginning of the film. His army of five thousand soldiers reach the city of Thebes and he’s standing in front of them. He thrust his scimitar up high in the air, shouting “Haku Machente" as his battle cry which is loosely translated to mean “It’s hot as hell” and with that his men charge into battle.
The next time he speaks is when he’s making a pack with Anubis, the god of the underworld. Unfortunately, the audience can’t hear what he’s saying because Ardeth is narrating the prologue.
The final time is when Imhotep says he’s his servant, but the Scorpion King replies, “we shall see” and Imhotep quickly adds on that Rick is there to kill him.
Fun Fact: Arnold Vosloo, who plays Imhotep confirmed in a German Film Magazine that “We worked with a guy called Dr. Stuart Smith from UCLA and he’s an Egyptologist. He put all this stuff on tape for us and it’s kind of the closest we can come to what we think the actual language sounded like. It’s like ancient Latin. When we speak Latin now we think it’s what it sounded like, but we’re not really sure. The problem with a lot of this Egyptian stuff is words like ‘look out’ become like 10 lines. Steve would go, ‘No, no, no. Lose the first four words. Say that word and then say the last word.’ So basically, I’d end up making the stuff up.”
I bring this up because the dialogue “Haku Machente” isn’t accurate Ancient Egyptian. We have Ancient Egyptian text, but linguist don’t know how to actually pronounce it. All they can do is partially reconstruct a little bit of Ancient Egyptian pronunciation from Coptic and make educated guesses on the rest.
So what you see on film isn’t just a reconstruction of the language from a Egyptologist, but it’s also an altered and shorten version to fit into the scenes and/or make it easier on the actors to pronounced.
What does Rick command the Scorpion King to do?
In the novelization he says…
“You have to do my will, now,” O'Connell said to it—to him. “So…go to hell.” The Scorpion King’s eyes widened as the final stage of the curse of Anubis took effect, the creature exploding into black vapor—O'Connell covered his face with an arm, but no hurtful fragments of the thing went flying, no careening claws, no sailing chunks of flesh, because the king of the scorpions had disintegrated into black nothingness.
However, in the film he says instead…“Go to hell, and take your friends with you!”
What happened when Rick and Imhotep were holding onto the edge of the crevice?
In the novelization Imhotep is calling to Anck-Su-Namun to help him, but she was afraid and ran. She didn’t even want to risk it because she has already died more than once and knows what awaits for her in death. Evelyn, however, wasn’t afraid to die and didn’t even hesitant to rescue her husband.
She pulled Rick up and they both look at Imhotep, who is totally devastated. In that very moment Rick found himself wanting to reach down a hand to help his foe. But Imhotep stares at them, and something like a smile etched itself faintly on his lips. He spoke a few words in Ancient Egyptian, and then he lets go of the crevice wall, surrendering to the eternal torture of the movie’s interpretation of the Underworld.
Once they’re safely on Izzy’s dirigible Rick asks Evelyn…
“Imhotep—before he fell. He said something in ancient Egyptian.”
She nodded. “He said…'Love that lasts longer than the temples of the gods.'”
In the film, the difference is that Imhotep doesn’t say any parting words. He just looks at them with melancholy and envy before letting go.
 DamnBlackHeart · Thu Mar 24, 2022 @ 03:23am · 0 Comments |
|
|
|
|
|
