WEBVTT - Listener Mail: When Twilight Falls On NGC 891 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:06.600 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:10.200 --> 0:00:13.399 Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind Listener mail. 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:16.560 This is Robert Lamb and this is Joe McCormick. And 0:00:16.600 --> 0:00:18.840 it's Monday, the day of each week that we read 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:22.280 back messages from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind email address. 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:24.720 If you are a fan of Stuff to Blow your Mind, 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:27.680 Weird House Cinema, all the episodes we do on this feed, 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:30.360 and you have never gotten in touch before, why not 0:00:30.520 --> 0:00:33.839 write in? You can reach us at contact at stuff 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:37.560 to Blow your Mind dot com. We appreciate all different 0:00:37.640 --> 0:00:40.440 kinds of messages, but especially if you have something interesting 0:00:40.479 --> 0:00:44.040 to add to a topic we've recently talked about. Uh, 0:00:44.200 --> 0:00:46.440 let's see Rob. If you don't mind, I'm going to 0:00:46.560 --> 0:00:50.120 kick things off with a response to our series on Dust. 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:51.199 Let's have it. 0:00:51.560 --> 0:01:00.880 Okay. This comes to us from Stephanie. Stephanie says, Hello, Robert, 0:01:00.960 --> 0:01:05.400 Joe and JJ. Longtime listener, first time writing. It's springtime 0:01:05.440 --> 0:01:08.039 in the Northern Hemisphere and that is why I could 0:01:08.040 --> 0:01:12.120 not believe that zero mention was made of pollen during 0:01:12.160 --> 0:01:15.400 the Dust series. Did I just miss it? I listened 0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:17.720 to Stuff to Blow Your Mind at bedtime, maybe I 0:01:17.800 --> 0:01:21.520 snoozed right through it. In my native German language, pollen 0:01:21.680 --> 0:01:27.760 is called blutenstalb, which literally translates as flower dust. I 0:01:27.800 --> 0:01:31.040 looked this up and the translation I got was blossom dust, 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:33.440 which I think means the same thing, but sounds to 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:37.280 me even more elegant in English. So thank you for 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:41.039 sharing that, Stephanie. We did briefly mention pollen as a 0:01:41.120 --> 0:01:43.600 major constituent of dust, I think, in part one of 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:46.600 the series, but we certainly did not go into great 0:01:46.600 --> 0:01:49.520 detail on it anyway. After this, Stephanie goes on to 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:51.760 say some very nice things about the show. I'm not 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:53.200 going to read all of them because it would be 0:01:53.200 --> 0:01:56.560 somewhat embarrassing, but I will say among these nice things, 0:01:56.600 --> 0:02:00.560 she mentions that she enjoys Weird House Cinema episode even 0:02:00.560 --> 0:02:03.640 though she has seen almost none of the movies we cover, 0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:06.680 and I assume from the message also means that she 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:10.320 does not plan to see them, and she likes that 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:13.720 Weird House Cinema episodes tend to be long. We will 0:02:13.720 --> 0:02:17.480 certainly take that. We you know, like, for whatever reason 0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:19.080 you want to listen to them. That's great. 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:19.359 Though. 0:02:19.800 --> 0:02:22.200 I got curious about this because we actually hear this 0:02:22.400 --> 0:02:24.720 a lot from listeners, don't we rob from people who 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:28.279 say they're not really interested in watching the movies themselves, 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:31.920 but they still enjoy listening to the Weird House episodes. 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:34.399 Yeah, we do hear this from time to time. I've 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:38.040 not conducted account but enough that it is a trend. 0:02:38.120 --> 0:02:40.240 It's at least a subset of Weird House listeners. 0:02:40.520 --> 0:02:44.000 I'm curious to learn more from fans like this, like specifically, 0:02:44.040 --> 0:02:47.400 what is appealing to you about Weird House cinema if 0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:50.160 you're not really very interested in weird movies or in 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:50.840 movies at all. 0:02:51.440 --> 0:02:53.280 I mean, maybe part of it is, like we watch 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:56.240 them so they don't have to. I don't know. Yeah, 0:02:56.280 --> 0:02:59.919 maybe it's our witty banter. Maybe it's our bits of 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:01.680 film trivia. I don't know. 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:05.080 Yeah, hard to say, but yeah, let us know if 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:08.919 you want to share your thoughts. Also, Stephanie mentions that 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:12.240 she likes how core episodes of the show combined things 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:16.200 like poetry and other sort of cultural things with the 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:20.000 scientific topics we talk about. And I appreciate hearing this 0:03:20.040 --> 0:03:22.520 from Stephanie because I think this is in fact a 0:03:22.639 --> 0:03:26.360 primary value that our show provides. There are a lot 0:03:26.400 --> 0:03:29.560 of great science shows out there, hosted by many of 0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:33.520 them hosted by scientists, by people with direct subject matter expertise, 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:36.880 which frankly, we don't have. We are not scientists, and 0:03:36.960 --> 0:03:39.640 it took me a while to realize that. I think 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:42.080 one of the main distinctions of our show is that 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:45.440 we are not scientists. We're sort of humanities people and 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:48.680 arts people who love science and are very interested in it. 0:03:49.160 --> 0:03:52.080 So we work hard and try our best to understand 0:03:52.120 --> 0:03:55.080 the subject matter and get the technical details right. But 0:03:55.240 --> 0:03:58.920 we approach the scientific content with a lot of you know, 0:03:58.960 --> 0:04:01.280 with arts and humanity brains, and a lot of the 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:05.680 connections we make are specifically across that divide to the 0:04:05.800 --> 0:04:07.560 arts and to literature and so forth. 0:04:07.960 --> 0:04:09.840 Yeah. Yeah, a lot of times, I mean, we're sharing 0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:13.000 our research journey with you, our creative journey with you. 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:15.840 We become interested in these topics, and the shows kind 0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:19.160 of about us sharing our interests. But also, yeah, we're 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:22.280 journalists to a flaw. We may go off on a 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:26.159 related tangent in a given episode, and you know, I 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:28.120 think hopefully that's part of the appeal of the show 0:04:28.160 --> 0:04:28.559 as well. 0:04:28.839 --> 0:04:32.279 Anyway, at the end, Stephanie says, be well, and she 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:35.920 adds a ps saying, your editorial meetings would be fun 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:38.200 to listen in on. How do you decide what to 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:40.320 take up as a topic on the show? What is 0:04:40.360 --> 0:04:44.640 your guiding principle, Stephanie, I think this might not be 0:04:44.720 --> 0:04:47.920 the most riveting answer, but I think this is the truth. 0:04:48.000 --> 0:04:50.200 Most of the time. It's literally as simple as one 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:52.719 of us gets interested in a subject or a question, 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:55.479 and we make a judgment that it would be good 0:04:55.480 --> 0:04:58.640 subject matter for the show. So it's like two criteria, 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:01.279 like number one, is this interesting to us? And number 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:04.240 two do we think it would potentially be interesting to listeners? 0:05:04.360 --> 0:05:05.680 And that's about. 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:08.080 It, Yeah, pretty much. I mean we just kind of 0:05:08.080 --> 0:05:10.640 go back and forth, you know, and who's sort of 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:13.920 taking the lead on a selection. And also I think 0:05:13.920 --> 0:05:16.960 there's a you know a great deal of trust where 0:05:17.040 --> 0:05:19.960 if one of us says, all right, next episode, we're 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:22.320 doing it on I don't know, frog feed, you know, 0:05:22.400 --> 0:05:25.279 to the other one, we might we might initially wonder 0:05:25.800 --> 0:05:27.880 is there really an episode in frog Feed? There might 0:05:27.920 --> 0:05:31.160 not be, this doesn't sound all that interesting, but we 0:05:31.240 --> 0:05:34.360 tend to trust that the other person is interested because 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:36.880 they have found some ankle or they have figured out 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:40.479 how it's interesting, and I mean it always that always 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:43.000 ends up being the case. Yeah, And in general we 0:05:43.040 --> 0:05:46.000 always find that, you know, you follow any topic, you 0:05:46.040 --> 0:05:48.800 dive into any topic, you'll find the interesting things about it. 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:51.800 I'm trying to think what criteria actually end up with 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:54.279 us most often ruling outer a topic. I would say 0:05:54.320 --> 0:05:57.159 the most common reason we decide not to do a 0:05:57.200 --> 0:06:00.719 topic is that we can't actually find very reliable sources 0:06:00.760 --> 0:06:01.159 on it. 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:04.480 Yeah, that can be it, I mean, and we should 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:07.000 have the caveat that. There are different factors involved in 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:09.279 weird house cinema versus core, but just talking about core 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:10.200 science here. 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:11.000 I was thinking about core. 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:16.640 Yeah, I guess across the board core and weird House, 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:20.960 if we realize that a topic starts maybe becoming a 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:24.400 little bit too much of a bummer, that might deter 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:27.080 us from pushing on. But not always. I mean sometimes 0:06:27.120 --> 0:06:29.559 it's I mean, they're necessary bummers in life. You can't 0:06:29.760 --> 0:06:32.240 avoid all of them. But I know there have been 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:34.400 times where I'm like, get interested in a topic, but 0:06:34.400 --> 0:06:35.599 then I get down to it, I was like, do 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:38.159 I really want to talk about this? And so that 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:42.040 can definitely be a factor. Also, I guess We tend 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:46.119 to avoid super noozy things in part because those aren't 0:06:46.200 --> 0:06:51.039 very evergreen. They're often still developing, and if you sort 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:52.640 of get in line to cover it, then you kind 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:55.120 of you're agreeing that you're going to keep covering it. 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:57.640 And sometimes that's fun. Sometimes that's the case for us, 0:06:57.640 --> 0:07:00.560 but generally we don't do those sorts of episodes. 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:04.880 Yeah, it's the newsiest to most recent topics we cover. 0:07:05.040 --> 0:07:07.000 That are the ones that I find we need to 0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:09.960 end up coming back and like doing corrections or updates 0:07:10.000 --> 0:07:12.520 on because like something we said in the episode isn't 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:15.040 really lasting. I like it better when we can give 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:18.200 give a topic some time to sort of get some 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:21.600 second and third order commentary and analysis that we can 0:07:21.680 --> 0:07:23.960 digest altogether before we try to cover it. 0:07:24.320 --> 0:07:29.120 Yeah. Absolutely, so there you have it. Partial answer, right, Yeah, 0:07:29.160 --> 0:07:32.080 all right, Well, thanks for writing in great points, great questions. 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:33.600 Totally thank you, Stephanie. 0:07:33.920 --> 0:07:36.480 All Right, This next one comes to us from Jenny. 0:07:40.640 --> 0:07:42.800 Jenny writes it and says it's Hi, guys. I want 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:44.680 to say I love the show. I've been listening for 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:46.840 many years. I especially look forward to Weird House Cinema 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:50.120 every Friday. Your recent series on dust was really interesting, 0:07:50.520 --> 0:07:53.360 but the last episode on dust storms reminded me of 0:07:53.400 --> 0:07:55.840 one of the weirdest days of my life. My husband 0:07:55.880 --> 0:07:59.800 and I were living in Manly, Australia in two thousand 0:07:59.800 --> 0:08:02.960 and eight. One morning we awoke on what appeared to 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:05.440 be Mars. The sky was red and everywhere there was 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:08.559 sunlight it was red and at first I thought maybe 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:10.920 it was wildfires that were too close to the house, 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:13.440 but there was no smell or sight of smoke. What 0:08:13.520 --> 0:08:16.120 actually happened was a giant storm of red dust from 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:19.800 Western Australia was covering Sydney and surrounding areas. The dust 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:22.560 was high in the atmosphere and blocking the sunlight, but 0:08:22.800 --> 0:08:24.920 was not low enough to cause is shoes on the ground. 0:08:25.320 --> 0:08:28.240 The dust could be seen as far away as the 0:08:28.240 --> 0:08:30.560 coast of New Zealand. It took about two days for 0:08:30.640 --> 0:08:32.800 it to move west over the ocean. If you google 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:35.720 pictures of it, it's mine bending. In the Wikipedia article, 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:38.400 the director of Blade Runner said he was inspired by 0:08:38.440 --> 0:08:41.200 it when making the sequel. I hope you check it out. 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:43.719 My other comment today is on weird House Cinema. My 0:08:43.760 --> 0:08:46.800 background is in clothing and textiles. When you go over 0:08:46.840 --> 0:08:48.360 all the cast and crew. It would be nice if 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:51.240 you would include the costume designers. Sometimes you mention the 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:52.960 way that the costumes play a large part in the 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:54.720 field of the movies, and it would be great to 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:57.600 know who's behind it all the best, Jenny. 0:08:57.760 --> 0:09:00.360 Thank you, Jenny Well, first of all, yeah, about you 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:03.559 mentioning the two thousand and nine dust storms in Australia. 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:06.640 These really are crazy to look up. So if you've 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:10.839 never seen images of it before, yeah, definitely give them 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:13.120 a peek. And I can see exactly the comparison to 0:09:13.760 --> 0:09:20.199 specifically a certain scene or sequence in Danevilleneuve's Blade Runner sequel. 0:09:20.240 --> 0:09:23.800 There's like, oh, is it when he's going to try 0:09:23.840 --> 0:09:27.240 to find Decord somewhere that there's like this red environment 0:09:27.280 --> 0:09:31.360 with just like the sky is opaque and orange, and uh, 0:09:31.360 --> 0:09:31.880 I think. 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:37.880 So, yeah, I've only seen that one once and it 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:38.880 was it was visually stunning. 0:09:39.520 --> 0:09:42.960 Also, Jenny, Yes, I agree that the costume designers play 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:44.880 a huge part in the look and feel of a 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:47.640 lot of great and weird movies. And we don't have 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:50.840 time in our Weird House episodes to mention everybody who 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:52.720 contributed to a film. There are a lot of people 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:56.319 who make great contributions. But I agree that in tons 0:09:56.360 --> 0:09:59.640 of cases, especially of genre cinema, you know, fantasy and 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:01.440 sci fi and horror, the kinds of things we cover 0:10:01.520 --> 0:10:07.200 more often, costume design place an especially important and underappreciated role. 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:09.800 I know sometimes we do single it out, we have 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:12.120 done it before, but yeah, it's not like part of 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:16.600 the regular template. However, I will say that one of 0:10:16.640 --> 0:10:21.240 the two possible movies that we're going to cover next week, 0:10:21.480 --> 0:10:25.200 if all goes to plan, will definitely include a call 0:10:25.240 --> 0:10:28.079 out to the costume people on that one. Whichever one it. 0:10:28.080 --> 0:10:32.040 Is, all right, But yeah, in any case where we 0:10:32.320 --> 0:10:35.080 failed to mention a really notable costume designer in the past, 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:37.560 sorry for the oversight. It's going to happen a lot 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:40.360 because you know, films are huge projects with a lot 0:10:40.400 --> 0:10:43.800 of people making very important contributions, and they're all coming together, 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:46.680 and so we do miss mentioning a lot of names 0:10:46.720 --> 0:10:50.200 and stuff. But generally, hats off to costume departments worldwide. 0:10:50.240 --> 0:10:51.040 They do great work. 0:10:51.320 --> 0:10:53.640 Absolutely, all right, what else do we have? 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:56.880 Let's see? This next message is in response to our 0:10:56.920 --> 0:11:02.760 series about meteoric iron being used to make objects make artifacts. 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:05.840 This is from Angelo and Angelo says, Hi, Robin Joe, 0:11:05.880 --> 0:11:08.720 I just listened to your first two episodes on meteoric iron. 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:11.559 The idea of iron from meteorites being used to make 0:11:11.600 --> 0:11:15.400 weapons reminds me of the old Conan The Adventurer animated 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:18.960 series from the nineteen nineties. In that series, the main 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:22.800 bad guy is an interdimensional wizard along with his hinchmen 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:27.040 from a race of shape shifting serpent men disguising themselves 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:30.280 as regular people. Their goal is to allow their master, 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:34.320 a giant snake being, to enter our dimension. The only 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:36.920 thing that can stop them is Conan and his sword, 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:40.439 which is made of star metal, forged by his father 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:42.600 from a piece of metal that fell from the sky. 0:11:43.240 --> 0:11:46.480 When star medal is put in close proximity, it reveals 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:49.560 the true appearance of the serpent Men. Of course, when 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:52.680 Conan strikes them or holds the star metal sword long 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:54.840 enough in front of them, the serpent Men are sent 0:11:55.040 --> 0:12:03.640 back into the other dimension from film. Throughout the series, 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:06.440 Conan makes friends and gets helped by other warriors who 0:12:06.559 --> 0:12:09.520 use a variety of star metal weapons like bolas and 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:13.240 ninja stars. Interestingly, some of the episodes were actually pretty 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:16.120 close to the Robert E. Howard Stories. I wasn't sure 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:18.360 if you were if you were aware of that show, 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:20.720 but I thought it might be interesting to you. Here's 0:12:20.720 --> 0:12:23.280 a link to the show's intro. Keep up the great work, 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:25.120 and I look forward to part three of the series. 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:28.720 Thanks Angelo, Well Angelo. I did look up the main 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:34.480 theme to the Conan the Adventurer cartoon, which is very talky, Rob. 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:36.120 Did you listen to the theme music? 0:12:37.120 --> 0:12:39.040 Yeah, I checked out part of the clip you sent. 0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:42.280 This show was completely off my radar. I this was 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:44.400 not syndicated in my childhood. 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:48.040 I genuinely can't remember if I had consciousness of this 0:12:48.200 --> 0:12:50.160 or not. It's kind of similar to like he Man 0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:52.640 and stuff, So I don't know if if I remember 0:12:52.679 --> 0:12:57.120 this specifically. But the opening theme has like a lot 0:12:57.120 --> 0:12:59.920 of narration. It's got like a guy talking who explains 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:02.960 the premise of the story. And I gotta say, maybe 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:05.760 we can feature a little clip of this opening theme 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:08.400 music as well. It sounds like a parody of a 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:15.040 nineties cartoon Theme's question. 0:13:15.840 --> 0:13:18.559 This sounds pretty good. I did look into it a 0:13:18.600 --> 0:13:20.880 little bit. I noticed that the main baddie here is 0:13:20.920 --> 0:13:25.160 like a snake wizard and in the show he's called 0:13:25.400 --> 0:13:29.720 wrath Ammon, and I was like, oh, that sounds familiar. 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:33.400 So there is a thoth Amon in the original Roberty 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:39.080 Howard Conan stories. And then there's, of course, is Thulsa 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:42.559 Doom that we also see depicted in Conan the Barbarian. 0:13:43.000 --> 0:13:45.560 This character would seem to be a combination of both 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:49.640 those characters. I think in the original stories Thulsa Doom 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:52.280 doesn't have anything to do with snakes either, but thoth 0:13:52.360 --> 0:13:55.600 Amon does. And therefore, even the Thulsa Doom that we 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:58.400 have in Coden the Barbarian is also kind of a 0:13:58.440 --> 0:14:00.000 mix and match of different elements. 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:01.760 That would make sense. 0:14:02.080 --> 0:14:04.640 But I'm not an expert on Roberty Howard. I've only 0:14:04.960 --> 0:14:07.400 read a handful of Roberty Howard stories. 0:14:07.720 --> 0:14:11.160 So I noticed something funny about the snake wizard guy 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:15.640 in this cartoon, which is okay, so you know, these 0:14:15.679 --> 0:14:19.120 are all snake They're like reptile people who were disguised 0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:24.760 as regular humans, and Conan's sword reveals their disguise and 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:28.040 reveals the fact that they're actually reptiles underneath their human skin. 0:14:29.080 --> 0:14:32.080 But the leader of them is like riding around in 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:35.640 reptile themed attire. He's got like a reptile hood on 0:14:35.800 --> 0:14:40.240 and a reptile sort of snake armor set, so it's 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:42.000 like he's giving it away. I don't know why he's 0:14:42.040 --> 0:14:44.120 bothering to pretending to be a mammal. 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:47.200 I mean, maybe they wore snake armor and then you know, 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:50.600 magical curse they become snake men. But they can't just 0:14:50.640 --> 0:14:52.600 get rid of the snake armor, so they're stuck with it. 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:53.040 I don't know. 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:57.960 I already had this fitted. This is tailor can't get 0:14:58.080 --> 0:14:59.080 mammal armor. Now. 0:14:59.560 --> 0:15:02.600 It's like gives the football team the Atlanta Falcons if 0:15:02.600 --> 0:15:05.400 they were turned into like human falcon hybrids by a 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:09.240 vengeful witch, Like, are they going to abandon the mascot 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:11.640 and get new uniforms? Like no, No, They're just going 0:15:11.680 --> 0:15:15.120 to magically disguise themselves as humans and keep wearing Falcons gear. 0:15:15.440 --> 0:15:18.840 That's gotta be right, all right, Well, thanks for writing 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:22.200 in about this. I'm always delighted to learn about. In 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:25.120 this case, you animated series that I had never heard of. 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:36.520 But this is fascinating. All right, this is a fun one. 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:39.840 This one comes to us from Jeff. Jeff writes and 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:42.600 it says, greeting science humans. I think we've heard from 0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:46.920 Jeff before I seem to remember that that opening, Jeff says, 0:15:46.960 --> 0:15:50.760 I actually saw Highlander two on a date. Oh it 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:54.520 did not go well. I was making grumbling noises throughout 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:58.200 as they showed the earthly named MacLeod and Ramires on 0:15:58.320 --> 0:16:03.400 another planet. Ramires space alien, familiar with spaceship and teleportation technology, 0:16:03.400 --> 0:16:06.560 but confused by trucks, etc. And was in physical pain 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:08.760 by the end of the movie. I had been talking 0:16:08.800 --> 0:16:12.240 it up beforehand, the same actors and director awesome part one, 0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:14.400 this is going to be great. When it was over, 0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:17.160 I was outraged and demoralized. But my date didn't see 0:16:17.160 --> 0:16:19.880 the problem. She thought it was no worse than any 0:16:19.920 --> 0:16:23.360 other testosterone sci fi action movie and couldn't figure what 0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:26.280 all my sulking was about. That she couldn't see how 0:16:26.320 --> 0:16:28.560 bad it was drove me crazy. The fact that I 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:30.920 considered highland Er two to be an appropriate date movie 0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:33.840 in the first place speaks volumes about who was truly 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:37.960 at fault here, but that's another matter entirely. In the 0:16:38.000 --> 0:16:41.800 early days of the IMDb, back when the wounds were 0:16:41.840 --> 0:16:44.800 still fresh, Highlander two and Plan nine from Outer Space 0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:47.880 would swap places for worst reviewed movie in the entire database. 0:16:48.280 --> 0:16:50.440 I used to say that it was the most powerful 0:16:50.480 --> 0:16:52.640 movie I had ever seen. It had the power to 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:56.080 warp time and alter history, souring the first film through 0:16:56.160 --> 0:17:00.520 simple association. I generally appreciate a revisionist take on famously 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:03.040 bad movies, but this one hits too close to home. 0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:06.640 I still enjoyed your episode, though, to this day. When 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:09.320 I see candles lit for loved ones in a Catholic church, 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:12.040 particularly in the case if the candles have been replaced 0:17:12.040 --> 0:17:14.640 with flickering light bulbs and I can smack the top 0:17:14.680 --> 0:17:18.000 of them, I'll channel my inner Clancy Brown and quietly 0:17:18.080 --> 0:17:21.720 laugh as I pretend to snuff them out with my 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:23.919 open palm when no one else is around. 0:17:23.920 --> 0:17:26.879 Of course, Yeah, come on, now, don't be disrespectful in 0:17:26.960 --> 0:17:30.080 a church, even if you're celebrating your fandom of Highlander. 0:17:30.200 --> 0:17:33.880 Yeah, come on, it's holy ground, holy grind. It continues 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:36.760 at any rate, given that you spent two episodes on 0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:39.640 that soul crushing sequel, I am slightly less embarrassed about 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:42.639 nominating perhaps my favorite crap best of all time, nineteen 0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:45.960 eighty two's Tron for the weird House treatment. I'm not 0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:48.560 even sure I want you guys to dissect this personal 0:17:48.560 --> 0:17:51.960 treasure and somehow it actually feels too wholesome for the show. 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:54.679 But allow me to make the case. All right, now, 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:55.919 I got it. We got a list of pros and 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:58.919 cons here. It's pretty long, but I'm going to it. Pros. 0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:02.280 It's another film from the peculiar era where the Disney 0:18:02.280 --> 0:18:04.760 Corporation had burned through all of Walt's ideas and was 0:18:04.800 --> 0:18:07.880 desperately trying to remain innovative and relevant, taking big chances 0:18:08.080 --> 0:18:11.400 with varying results. Black Hole returned to oz et cet 0:18:12.359 --> 0:18:17.000 all right, Jeff Bridges, Jeff Bridges, and David Warner. Spectacular 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:22.240 sound design sample included wonderful orchestral analog electronic score by 0:18:22.240 --> 0:18:27.840 Wendy Carlos, perplexing ludicrous costumes in an echo of the 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:30.280 what are You crazy? No adult is going to sit 0:18:30.320 --> 0:18:33.840 still for a ninety minute cartoon snow white naysayer story. 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:36.120 This was a huge bet on CGI in the era 0:18:36.240 --> 0:18:40.000 where the very idea was laughable. Let's see okay more 0:18:40.000 --> 0:18:43.440 pros A bizarre and never replicated style created by blending 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:46.680 actual CGI with classic animation, lighting, set design, practical and 0:18:46.720 --> 0:18:49.280 film effects, all aimed at visualizing a world most people 0:18:49.320 --> 0:18:52.720 had no interest in seeing in the first place. Cons 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:54.119 it's a terrible film. 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:56.720 I've got some thoughts about this, but let's continue with 0:18:56.760 --> 0:18:57.439 Jeff's first. 0:18:57.520 --> 0:19:01.199 Okay, the making of documentary included on the DVD is 0:19:01.240 --> 0:19:03.880 maybe more interesting in the movie itself. Their tools were 0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:07.439 so primitive they could scribble XYZ coordinates and pencil on 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:10.239 graph paper facts the documents across the country, and then 0:19:10.280 --> 0:19:12.880 they had to wait days or weeks until they saw 0:19:13.000 --> 0:19:16.280 the result printed on film. They didn't even have video 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:19.560 monitors for the computers. The live action scenes were augmented 0:19:19.600 --> 0:19:23.080 manually on a frame by frame basis. Mistakes caused by 0:19:23.200 --> 0:19:26.480 unconventional use of film created aberrant images, which they leaned 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:30.679 into within universe explanations, adding to the beauty and weirdness. 0:19:31.359 --> 0:19:33.399 When this movie came out, it was rare for anyone 0:19:33.440 --> 0:19:35.360 to own a computer or even use when at work, 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:38.280 and most people were not familiar with even the simplest terminology. 0:19:38.560 --> 0:19:40.800 As a kid, I thought this film speaks to me. 0:19:41.400 --> 0:19:44.080 It helped that most adults, including some of the cast, 0:19:44.160 --> 0:19:47.639 found it incomprehensible. It is somewhat embarrassing to admit how 0:19:47.720 --> 0:19:49.960 much it shaped my life. And career. I have watched 0:19:49.960 --> 0:19:52.880 it dozens of times and know most of the dialogue 0:19:52.880 --> 0:19:55.560 by heart, or at least did at some point. But still, 0:19:55.640 --> 0:19:58.040 it's a really bad movie. I'm pretty sure I knew 0:19:58.080 --> 0:20:00.000 it even then. It was never a movie you could 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:02.520 show to a regular person and expect them to enjoy it. 0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:06.119 But it is a fascinating, attempted moonshot of a film, 0:20:06.680 --> 0:20:10.360 filled with naive energy, both enthusiasm and skepticism for near 0:20:10.400 --> 0:20:13.040 future tech, and a lot of really bad dialogue and 0:20:13.160 --> 0:20:15.879 really bad acting by anyone not named Jeff Bridges or 0:20:16.000 --> 0:20:18.760 David Warner. And I would argue that while it might 0:20:18.840 --> 0:20:21.160 give it a run for its money, it's not worse 0:20:21.160 --> 0:20:24.520 than Highlander two. Probably. Okay, that's my pitch. Thanks for 0:20:24.560 --> 0:20:25.760 your time, Jeff. 0:20:26.000 --> 0:20:28.840 Well, Jeff, I don't know if I agree that Tron 0:20:28.960 --> 0:20:32.320 is a very bad movie. I certainly I do think 0:20:32.400 --> 0:20:35.320 there are some things about the script that don't really 0:20:35.359 --> 0:20:38.520 work as intended. Some parts of the movie are more 0:20:38.560 --> 0:20:41.879 exciting than others, but I agree with your list of pros, 0:20:41.920 --> 0:20:44.000 and I think they carry it a long way. Of course, 0:20:44.200 --> 0:20:47.200 I love the main hero and villain. David Warner and 0:20:47.240 --> 0:20:51.280 Jeff Bridges are fantastic. I also love the computerized villain 0:20:51.320 --> 0:20:55.320