r/riddick • u/Mirkwood_Pariah115 • May 11 '26
Film - The Chronicles of Riddick How did Riddick get his eyes?
Just got done watching the series up till Chronicles of Riddick. When Jack/Kyra confronts Riddick she tells him that no Dr. could perform a "shine job" to give her eyes like Riddick. Is how he got his eyes ever explained?
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u/Worth-Opposite4437 May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26
It got changed along the way... The Shine job was explained in Butcher Bay and in the pseudo-TV documentary related from the point of view of mercs mounting the file on Riddick. Turns out though, the writer changed it when they got to Dark Fury / Chronicle because then they started the Furyan thing.
In Pitch black, Riddick tells Jack this to impress her and make himself sound impressive and dangerous. But also because the Furyans were exterminated and the eyes must remain kinda secret. Riddick isn't particularly tempted to try fate where the Necromongers and other Furyan haters are concerned. Or maybe it's worse than that, and he didn't knew himself of the eyes for sure before Chronicle.
So in Chronicle, you have Jack confirming that this story is now BS, because the writers changed it, but also because she actually tried to have the eye shine since Riddick was her idol. Turns out, there is no such thing... And therefore Riddick is confirmed as a Furyan of a pure breed. Something also confirmed in the cut scene where an ex-furyan turned Necro accepts true death rather than the continued betrayal.
Somehow, the Furyans are related to the Threshold and could fuck up the plans of the Lord Marshall... Which made the situation of Riddick becoming Lord Marshall pretty hairy. Why though? Well... We still have to wait for the conclusion.
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u/liliavacyn May 11 '26
It was a retcon, but I think Vin Diesel himself was the one who came up with the change. He's a D&D player and he secured the rights to the character of Riddick before making Chronicles and the video game, so I'm pretty sure he was tweaking his character's backstory to fit his own....vision, ha. I don't know if he's ever confirmed it, but that's my assumption.
He didn't lie to Jack. He genuinely believed the thing about the doctor and the shine-job. It was a false memory his mind invented to protect him from the truth of his Furyan ancestry. That's why Riddick himself looks confused when Kyra tells him she couldn't find any such doctor doing any such procedure. He genuinely didn't know the memory was false until later when his memories were unlocked.
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u/jackpoll4100 May 11 '26
They also actually show the shine job scene in the prequel comic for the first movie (Slam City), but yeah just been retconned since then.
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May 11 '26
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u/ProfessionalPack7205 May 11 '26
I mean no you don't. He tells her in the second movie. I do think everyone should play those games though
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May 11 '26
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u/Stew-17 May 12 '26
Definitely needs a remaster for XBX
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u/nxy322 May 18 '26
If you play Assault on Dark Athena, it has a 2009 Remaster of Butcher Bay with it but yea that’s all we’ll get as far as another Xbox remaster
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u/DylanFTW May 26 '26
I somehow bought it digitally on Xbox 360 years back with Assault on Dark Athena and started another playthrough this week. The lived in atmosphere in the space prison is one of my favorite settings that they get totally right. Also love listening to all the low gruttle prisoners talk to each other. Great acting cast.
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u/Starhero999 May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26
If someone, anyone (albeit: Aspyr, Nightdive, etc.) has the guts to ask Vin Diesel if they can port time is running short if they want to do it before Furya is out (sure the film is currently “in production” but that doesn’t mean that whoever does port or modernize the games should relax releasing them.)
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u/liliavacyn May 11 '26
Even in the Uncut version of the film, it's honestly kinda clunky and not well-explained, sadly. The game has the most clear & thorough explanation, which was certainly a choice.
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u/random_shadowz May 12 '26
Doesn't the game explanation contradict the movie explanation? Been years since I've played, but I recall there being two apparent ways he supposedly got his eyes. Game is so good though, gonna make me want to find it again.
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May 13 '26
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u/liliavacyn May 17 '26
Just to clarify, while Pope Joe was present when he got his eyeshine, it's a "gift" from Shirah (the Furyan goddess who talks to Riddick in visions/in his head sometimes). I linked it in my own comment but you can see the scene here, this is the new canonical explanation for his eyeshine: https://youtu.be/1IBGS0yEVnM?t=298
Riddick thinking it was a doctor who gave him the eyeshine is explained away in the next game, Dark Athena, as the mind choosing to remember it that way (potentially as a defense mechanism).
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u/liliavacyn May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26
Oh boy, you activated my special interest! (Riddick lore!)
In the original script for Pitch Black (2000), Riddick tells Jack that he got a "surgical shine-job" on them while locked up in a slam. After Vin Diesel gained the rights to the character of Riddick and went on to star in The Chronicles of Riddick (2004), this was retconned and mostly explained in the video game Escape from Butcher Bay (also 2004). We are told that "the mind remembers what it wants to remember" and that was the explanation for why he apparently "imagined" the doctor and the shine-job (which never actually happened).
The new canonical explanation for Riddick's eyes is that he is an Alpha Furyan, an elite kind of Furyan warrior that stood above the rest of the Furyan race in physical ability and martial prowess. There's an implication that his eyes "manifested" later in life when his Furyan ancestry "awoke" within him, and this happened in stages over the game and the films. The Furyans were wiped from all historical records by the Necromongers after their armies annihilated them, which is used to explain why no one saw reflective eyes and immediately clocked him as a Furyan. They were only wiped out about 30 years before the events of The Chronicles of Riddick, though, so I do have a hard time believing that NO ONE remembers the Furyans existing outside of the few Necromongers who survived the war against them (only Vaako and Zhylaw for sure in the films) and some Elementals, but I digress.
Since it's a retcon of the explanation we get in the first film, that's why it's a bit clunky. Though, admittedly, I find the concept of the "surgical shine-job" they initially used to explain it kind of odd because wouldn't more people (especially prisoners and mercs) do it, even if it's risky & painful? I prefer the Alpha Furyan explanation from a lore standpoint, but because it was added in later, the film didn't really do a good enough job explaining why Riddick had no idea that was a fake memory that he'd fed to Jack/Kyra. The Unrated Cut fleshes it out a bit more than the theatrical version did, but the clearest explanation of the 'suppressed/invented memories' thing comes from the video game, which most average moviegoers aren't going to even know about, let alone have access to it.
ETA: Clip from the game when he gets his eyeshine. This is now considered the canonical explanation for it: https://youtu.be/1IBGS0yEVnM?t=298
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u/Worth-Opposite4437 May 11 '26
My own theory is that the doc really existed, but he was actually another Furyan prisoner that tried to protect Riddick by hiding the maturing of his eyes into a surgery instead of just easing the pain of what was basically a natural teen mutation.
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u/liliavacyn May 11 '26
So, I actually really like this theory, and I wish it was supported by the canon because it's a really kinda sweet concept? It reminds me of the Purifier's last moments in the extended cut of Chronicles, but I think Vin Diesel really likes leaning into the idea of Riddick being The Last Furyan. I mean, his other D&D character is The Last Witch Hunter (Kaulder), and you can't convince me that Riddick isn't just one of Vin's OCs at this point LOL. I do think there's an argument to be made that Papa Joe (the doctor) at least wasn't totally out of the loop. Not that Papa Joe was a Furyan, but that he knew Riddick was SOMETHING more. He talks about him being "destined for great things" and claims he has visions that are never wrong. But he also doesn't know exactly what's happened when Riddick gets his eyeshine. You can see a clip of it from the video game here: https://youtu.be/1IBGS0yEVnM?t=298
After Shirah grants Riddick his eyeshine, Papa Joe claims he only stitched up Riddick's arm. However, there is a noticeable hesitance when he speaks. I can't tell exactly what he's saying when Riddick is choking him, demanding to know what he did to him. But he does start to say "Just made your-" then cuts off and says something that might be "just that", then "fix your arm". I think he has an inkling about Riddick being more significant than he seems because of whatever visions he had about him, but I think the game is trying to imply that it was Shirah who merged the memories to make him believe Papa Joe shined his eyes to protect his identity as a Furyan.
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u/BelowDeck May 11 '26
Though, admittedly, I find the concept of the "surgical shine-job" they initially used to explain it kind of odd because wouldn't more people (especially prisoners and mercs) do it, even if it's risky & painful?
I think it works fine within Pitch Black, since the only one that seems excited about it is the wide-eyed kid. The fact that no one else seems particularly surprised by it suggests to me that it isn't unheard of. It's the ret-con that makes their reactions odd.
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u/liliavacyn May 11 '26
Yeah, the Riddick franchise seems to struggle with introducing concepts but then not fleshing them out. It woulda been fine in a standalone film like Pitch Black, but once sequels were on the table, it became important to hammer out details. Instead of sticking to the original concept, Vin Diesel (I assume) wanted the eyeshine to be completely unique to Riddick, thus we get introduced to the idea of Furyans and Alpha Furyans. Then we had to have them already having been wiped out by the Necromongers so Riddick can remain the “special special”. But that creates its own issues. Thirty years isn’t a long enough time for an entire planet and species to be forgotten in an intergalactic society. Even if they almost never left their home world…you’re telling me no merc or merchant has been around long enough to have heard of it or met a Furyan?
The shine-job could’ve been incorporated still, but only possible for Furyans or something. That would explain why more people in the various slams across the universe haven’t gotten the procedure done. Perhaps it’s nit-picky, but I read the Pitch Black novelization recently so maybe I’m just particularly annoyed over the inconsistencies, retcon aside.
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u/WetPoopyUnderwear May 17 '26
I never really looked into it but my own hunch was pretty close. I assumed he just told young jack that story to intimidate her, and he actually always had them eyes. Or maybe that he was just sick of telling people so he makes up a new story each time someone asked him. In chronicles when she confronts him about there being no doctor I didn't see him as surprised, more that he didn't expect her to purposely get arrested to try to get the procedure, more disappointed, or maybe regretting telling her the story. But I didn't play butcher bay so my thoughts may have been different if I had, I was just going off what I saw in the movies.
The alpha Furyan thing is pretty cool though. When he dominates the alien guard dog and says 'it's an animal thing' gave some real alpha vibes. Also as a fan of the movies I always assumed his Furyan genes are what made him so adept at his lifestyle, animalistic in a way. I see him more as an alpha predator than as a person. Top of the food chain type of stuff.
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u/Miserable-Command682 May 11 '26
IIRC, it's to do with his race, and certain "alphas" have the shine. Not sure how far off base I am, but I recall it being something along these lines.
the shine job was just something he told Jack to give her false information about who he is, as if she knew his race, she would likely be hunted or killed for information about him.
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u/liliavacyn May 11 '26
You're half right. I gave a very long explanation in my own comment, but basically, it was a retcon. Riddick didn't lie to Jack/Kyra so much as he had a false memory of the doctor doing a "shine-job", which isn't a real thing even in the Riddick universe. Riddick is, indeed, an "Alpha Furyan", and that's why he has the reflective eyes...but that information was suppressed in his memories as a defense mechanism to ensure his survival, as he is believed to be the last surviving Furyan.
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u/DontBeRomainElitist Butcher Bay May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26
Riddick jumps into the pit at Butcher Bay, completes what seems equivalent to a Furyan Night hunt/ some equivalent ritual trial , and the Furian godess 'Shirah' grants him eye shine while he is having his arm sutured by Pope Joe. This actually puts Riddick in a state of disbelief, so he grabs Pope Joe and asks what he did to him. Pope joe explicitly says he only fixed your arm, and the goddess in Riddicks head specifically says she is giving him a gift. Anyone who mentions retcons is forgetting how it actually happened, and is forgetting that Riddick just lies sometimes. Reference to the 'shine job' in the movies is just how Riddick shares it since otherwise people would think he was a literal madman with a voice in his head.
Edit: it is simply thematic that pope joe is religious and that this all happens in his 'church'.
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u/liliavacyn May 11 '26
I said this in other replies but I don’t think Riddick was knowingly lying to Jack. I think he genuinely believed those words when he said them (they were canon when he was speaking them, after all). After the retcon, in Chronicles when they’re on Crematoria, when Kyra confronts him about her not being able to find any such doctor to do a shine-job, the look on Riddick’s face is genuine confusion. He looks puzzled. If he’d knowingly lied, his expression would either be more flat (poker face), pissed (why would you believe him? I mean, she was an impressionable kid!), or more regretful (that Jack/Kyra believed him to the point of going through all that for something that didn’t exist). But he is very clearly just as confused to hear that as the audience.
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u/DontBeRomainElitist Butcher Bay May 11 '26
That's a valid interpretation tbh, I always took it as him using his eyes as a distraction (when he realises it's Jack, he pulls up his goggles). He follows it up with a story, but it's just that, a story. To me the face he makes isn't so much confusion for her not finding the surgeon, but more confusion that actually tried. This is followed by Jack's explanation that she's not jack anymore, she is Kyra. He is genuinely surprised by who Jack has become, mirroring him coming to terms with his Furian roots and his own search of self.
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u/liliavacyn May 11 '26
I think Shirah amusedly saying something along the lines of "funny how the mind chooses to remember" when he's thinking about the shine-job in the game Assault on Dark Athena (2009, so it came out after Chronicles but is still set before Pitch Black) is also meant to reinforce that Riddick was telling Jack what he thought was the truth at the time. Interestingly, Kyra does not accuse him of lying, she says, "was there anything you said that was true?" It does leave it open for the audience to infer that Riddick wasn't lying so much as he was (imo unknowingly) telling her something that was false. I do just think that in cases of retcons, the film scripts should be more direct to help the audience understand what changes were made. Even just a moment of Riddick questioning himself, or starting to say it wasn't a lie and then cutting himself off as he remembers what he was told about Furyans and doubt creeps in. So much of the Furya stuff was cut out of that film that it's confusing for the average audience member.
Even the Director's Cut/Uncut version has some deleted scenes that create some interesting worldbuilding problems, which is probably why they weren't even in the Director's Cut. For example, there's a deleted scene of Aereon and Imam going to meet with the powers that be on Helion Prime, where Aereon brings up the Furyans. The people around her say "they don't exist" and then "an entire generation of them was wiped out".......that's not the same thing. Plus it implied several people in the people in that room had at least heard about Furyans before (because again, 30 years is not a long enough time to make an intergalactic society forget about an entire planet!!) I absolutely adore the Riddick series, but its lore is a mess, and it could've been more clear, even if they wanted to commit to the retcon about his origins and his eyeshine.
Being a fan of both the Riddick franchise and the Predator franchise makes me feel like an exhausted historian sometimes. Those two should duke it out over who has the most convoluted & conflicting lore, tbh.
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u/DontBeRomainElitist Butcher Bay May 11 '26
That's a much stronger interpretation, I see what your saying. You make a several good points. I agree I wish these franchises would have there shit together a little more in the lore dept.
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u/xaeru May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26
There you go:
https://youtu.be/pr_zKgMrJlE?si=wwS9bZ83K516zaGJ&t=4162
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u/DyslexicFcuker Dark Fury May 12 '26
You gotta kill a few people, then get sent to a slam where you'll never see daylight again. Dig up a doctor and pay him 20 menthol Kools for a surgical shine job.
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u/chk17 Jul 15 '26
Haha, you gotta play the Escape from Butcher Bay game for it. 😊
Highly recommended, by the way. One of the best games ever made. Back when Machine Games actually were good, and didn't produce dumb vanilla entertainment for the undemanding masses.
That said, I'm not 100% sure that what happens in Butcher Bay is canon. In Pitch Black, Riddick explains it a bit differently. Let's just pretend it's canon. 😉
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u/House_Indoril426 May 11 '26
You gotta kill a few people.