The Devil you don't know stars in new homegrown 
fantasy series The Collector

John Mckay 
Canadian Press 

Thursday, May 27, 2004

Actors Chris Kramer (left) as Morgan Pym 
and Ellen Dubin as Jeri Slate are 
shown in this undated handout image from 
The Collector. (CP Archive/HO/SPACE)



TORONTO (CP) - He was a 14th-century monk in Nuremberg. 
So how did Morgan Pym become the Devil's collector of souls in modern-day Vancouver? 
It's a long story and will begin unfolding next Wednesday night when The Collector, starring 
Chris Kramer and Ellen Dubin, debuts on Space: The Imagination Station. It is the latest in 
a long line of made-for-syndication fantasy-horror-sci-fi series being shot in Canada. But 
The Collector is different. 
It's not only filmed in British Columbia, but it takes place there, too. No generic settings, no 
American money. 

But back to Pym. 

As portrayed by Kramer, he's an enigmatic immortal whose job is to remind people who had 
made earlier deals with the Devil that their time is up. Time to pay the Devil his due.

It seems that back in 1322, Pym fell in love with the beautiful servant girl Katrina, who lived 
hear his monastery. But when she came down with the plague, he cursed God and sold his soul 
to you-know-who in exchange for a decade of earthly happiness with his love. 

Ten years later, Katrina dies and Pym - hoping to track down her soul some day - makes his 
own hellish deal: In exchange for immortality, he promises to collect the souls of those unfortunate
people who had also made a 10-year bargain that had expired. 

Which brings us to Vancouver today. 

Satan has collectors in each city, you see. 

In the debut episode, Pym sees a woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to his lost Katrina. 
He then renegotiates with Satan. He wants the power to give those clients a 48-hour break before 
their souls are sucked down to Hell . . . 48 hours in which they could win redemption. 

Now the Devil's always interested in a deal and laughingly obliges. 

"Life can be so predictable when you're omniscient," he sighs wistfully, agreeing, if only to amuse 
himself. Now Pym has a new, more optimistic mission as he tries to convince otherwise doomed 
souls that they have a chance to see the error of their ways and gain salvation. 

Of course, he doesn't always win, something the "ole debbil" was counting on. 

"I would chalk it up to his pride," Kramer says about the arrangement. "You know, thinking that he 
can win every game and every fight." 

The Devil, by the way, is played by a different person each week. Pym - and viewers - will have to 
watch out for the character whose eyes briefly glow red. Kramer isn't sure if the creators deliberately 
took the premise of the hit U.S. series Joan of Arcadia - in which the heroine sees God in different 
guises each week - and turned it on its ear. 

Also unclear is whether there is a bit of a showbiz in-joke when investigative newspaper reporter 
Jeri Slate of the fictional Vancouver Star begins to look into Pym's case. She has, after all, 
uncovered a peculiar pattern of famous people disappearing after 10 years of celebrity. Fleeting 
fame? 

"That's very funny, I never thought of that, living in the land of Los Angeles where they get 15 
minutes," says actress Ellen Dubin, who plays Slate. "At least they got 10 years of fame!" 

Dubin's reporter character is also a single mom with an autistic child (named Gabriel, perhaps 
symbolically), who never speaks but constantly draws pictures that may connect him to the 
Devil's plans. 

But why would anyone ever make a deal with the Devil these days? We've all seen the stories 
where he screws you in the details. You want to live forever? OK, eternal life . . . as a plant! 

"I know, but we want it all," muses Dubin. "We want the money, the wine, the women, the song. 
We're human beings, we all have flaws." 

Kramer agrees. 

"In the moment, we're not thinking clearly. And in these cases, he does add his own little deal on 
the side." 

Although The Collector has none of the crew that created that dark, bleak mood for Chris Carter's 
Millennium and X-Files series that were also shot in B.C., there is a similarity in the look. 

Dubin credits their director of photography, Henry Chan. 

"He's got this really good eye for making it a little edgy, a little darker, with the way he uses colours 
and light. And yes, there's definitely an influence from those shows. 

"There's just something a little off, which is very appropriate." 

As for keeping it Canadian - the locales, the currency - Kramer says that despite the risk to a possible 
export sale to the United States, the creators made a conscious decision. 

"Europe and overseas, I don't think they're too concerned. They really like to see films and television 
shows that use the geography that we have over here," he says. 

But as for the Americans? 

"I hope they can look past that and enjoy the show." 

Fourteen episodes have already been filmed and, although The Collector hasn't aired anywhere yet, 
it's already been green lit to resume production on 13 more in June. 

Update: The Collector premieres on June 2nd in Canada.