If you grew up with Cartoon Network, chances are you might have a favorite action cartoon of theirs whether it was Teen Titans, Samurai Jack, Ben 10, or Sym-Bionic Titan. My personal favorite is Generator Rex. From the punk rock attitude to the tight worldbuilding and action sequences, I'd say it's easily Man of Action's magnum opus. But why do I open with this factoid about me?
Well, it started when I was on my walk back from the local dump when an orange USB drive caught my eye. Now, I'm no stranger to peculiar litter being found on the side of the road, but this was a bit different. It looked clean and unused which had me wonder why it would be tossed in the first place. Whatever the case, I decided to take it back with me on the trek. I got home and turned on my computer, then inserted the USB so I could see if there was anything interesting, after a quick antivirus scan just to be on the safe side of course. Fortunately, the drive was clean, so I carried on.
It held a single .avi file titled "Lonesome". The preview image of the video was blank, so I had nothing to go off of but the file name. Gripped by the typical bit of curiosity that happens in these tales, I double clicked on the file, and it opened in VLC Media Player.
The video started with a clip of the earth and a massive explosion kicking off with Revolution by Orange, which made me realize that this was, in fact, an episode of Generator Rex. It was odd to see the intro sequence play first rather than start off with a cold open like the show usually does, but I passed that off as a little quirk. At least until something else happened.
The title stayed there for 15 seconds then hard cut to the interior of Providence, specifically Dr. Holiday’s lab, which was in mass disarray and dark to the point where you’d have to squint to make out the scenery. No music was playing, only a long, ambient droning noise. Then Rex walked in with a worried look on his face. His colors were duller than they usually were in the show and his animation was close to movie quality smooth.
Rex called out to the empty lab. "Holiday? Six? Bobo? White Knight? Anyone here?"
I couldn’t help but notice he sounded genuinely worried, as if the VA was undergoing immense fear himself.
It cut to a POV shot from Rex’s view, which was animated like one of those found footage films. Distorted moans were heard, causing Rex to stop and look behind him. For a split second, I thought I saw a silhouette of some type of entity. It didn’t look anything like any of the EVOs seen throughout the show, though the appearance was so brief I didn't know what it could have looked like.
Rex got to the briefing room, and it was just as derelict as the rest of the place. The only difference is there were several limp bodies all over the place. There was a bit of blood on some of them, albeit not hyper-realistic. Rex looked to the large screen where White Knight usually showed himself and it turned on by itself, fading in with static. The static then switched to one of the live action promos for the show. In this promo in particular, two kids were arguing about something while a third kid held a camera only for them all to see the multi-faced EVO from the first episode attack, prompting them to run away to safety. Well, that’s how it originally played out. In this twisted rendition, a car came flying at them as soon as the EVO was seen, and before they could react, they were crushed by the car. The camera cut to black as the car landed, but the screams of agony and crunching of bones and flesh played crystal clear before being cut off by a silhouetted face. A hushed voice was then heard after 8 seconds of silence:
"You couldn't."
Just then it cut to Rex holding his chest in pain as a slowed down, echoing voice played in the background. His chest then burst open with bloodied metal tendrils that latched to the floor, which disturbed me since usually the machines Rex builds are an outer layer instead of internal. Blood ran down the tendrils as Rex struggled to break himself free.
Rex then woke up in a cold sweat in his trailer. For a brief moment, I was thankful that it was all just some twisted dream and hoped that everything was okay. Rex got up and walked out of his trailer, only to find the rest of the plant empty save for the bodies of the other Providence defectors, all of whom were pale and had the usual bit of blood. The slowed down voice returned as the lights began to flicker.
"No…" Rex whispered with deep sorrow. "This can’t be…"
Rex ran out of the plant as fast as he could and formed his Boogie Pack, taking to the skies. It was a pitch-black night. No stars, no moon, nothing to speak of. All that was visible on the frame was Rex flying around. He landed in the nearest city and saw that bodies were strewn everywhere, pale and somewhat bloodied like the others before. Rex looked around, unable to comprehend the situation, as that silhouetted entity formed behind Rex. It was in the shape of what appeared to be a seraph and the only thing visible in its inky black form were two white eyes. It spoke in a faint whisper:
"You failed to save them."
Rex turned around and saw the entity. With a look that can only be described as a mix of fear and anger, he formed Smack Hands and tried to hit the entity, but they proved ineffective. The hands broke apart likely due to the immense stress Rex was going through.
"I don't believe you...I cured the world..."
"You never got back the Meta-Nanites. The Consortium had defeated you. You were sent into a coma for the past five years. The earth was at the mercy of them, and all life perished, but they banished you to this realm that only I inhabited. No light. No life. And the worst part of all…the blood is on your hands. The blood is on your hands. The blood is on your hands."
The last scene in question
The entity kept repeating that phrase as Rex fell to his hands and knees turning away from it, and the captions for VLC Media Player turned on by themselves to display the phrase. I didn’t even know this video had captions. The background faded to black while Rex had his saturation cranked up to the max and that moaning voice came back growing louder gradually until the video froze, the audio skipping and the phrase "The blood is on your hands" written in red and repeated in the inky blackness Rex and the entity were left in. I had to turn the player down to 10% to hear it normally. Then after 20 seconds of this, the episode ended and the credits rolled.
The credits were dimmed in brightness and the zoo theme didn’t play. Instead, it was The Lonely Man by Joe Harnell, but slowed down considerably. When it got to the voice credits, it all turned dark to the point the background art was barely visible, and Rex was the only voice credited. It held on longer than usual, then went back to "normal" after that.
The Cartoon Network Studios logo stayed still and dim. Only the sounds of old radio static and distant screams of agony could be heard along with an active buzzsaw. And after that it cut off.
I stepped away for a bit to attempt to comprehend what it was I just watched. I know the show is notable for its darker subject matter in comparison to other action cartoons at the time, but this was practically diabolical for the standards of the show. I’m not sure if it was some actual lost episode kept on the cutting room floor at Man of Action, or if it’s some high quality fanwork that might have proposed a bad alternate ending for the show.
One thing I know for sure is that I’m keeping this with me. I’d rather not have anyone else exposed to this through internet uploading or selling it on eBay because who knows what could happen to others who see it. I will share a screenshot, but that’s about it. I still enjoy Generator Rex all the same, no question, but this is an experience that will remain burned in the back of my mind for years to come.