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Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is Rob Lamb.

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Speaker 3: And this is Joe McCormick.

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Speaker 2: And in today's episode of Weird House Cinema, we're going

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Speaker 2: to dive into the world of East German science fiction

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Speaker 2: with the 1976 space opera In the Dust of the Stars,

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Speaker 2: a movie that is I think one part Eastern Bloc

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Speaker 2: Star Trek and also one part glamorous Euro disco fever dream.

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Speaker 2: I'm even tempted to compare it a little bit to

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Speaker 2: Mario Bava's Planet of the Vampires in terms of its

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Speaker 2: aesthetic obsessions, though a very different sort of film, really.

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Speaker 3: I would compare it strongly to Planet of the Vampires,

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Speaker 3: though I think the main reason I'm doing that is costuming.

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Speaker 3: The leather-based space attire, that's a thing there and here.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: There are no monsters, no aliens, no undead beings in

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Speaker 2: this particular film. I guess its plot is in many

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Speaker 2: ways a lot more grounded, but also very golden age

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Speaker 2: sci-fi as well.

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Speaker 3: Well, I guess maybe there are aliens, but they're all

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Speaker 3: just humans.

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Speaker 2: They're all just humans. Yeah. There's not even like an

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Speaker 2: old school Star Trek attempt to sort of, you know,

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Speaker 2: gussy them up with, you know, a few forehead wrinkles

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Speaker 2: or a slightly different ears or nose. And in a way,

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Speaker 2: you know, I think we see a lot of this

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Speaker 2: in golden era sci-fi, and it's also the kind of

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Speaker 2: thing we see in Dune, right? Where, you know, we

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Speaker 2: acknowledge that Earth is the origin of human beings, but

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Speaker 2: by the time that we're engaged in the dynamics of

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Speaker 2: the Dune universe, humans have occupied other planets, they've forgotten

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Speaker 2: other planets, and we have just separate human cultures on

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Speaker 2: different worlds engaging with each other. So I've been wanting

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Speaker 2: to cover some East German sci-fi for a while here.

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Speaker 2: And I don't remember if I first came across this

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Speaker 2: particular title on a disc that I rented from Videodrome

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Speaker 2: many years ago, or if I picked up on it

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Speaker 2: from Deaf Crocodile. We'll get back to Deaf Crocodile. Put

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Speaker 2: out the excellent Blu-ray that you can get of this film.

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Speaker 2: Or if I saw something about it on the Eternal

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Speaker 2: Family Instagram account. Eternal Family is a streaming website. that

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Speaker 2: I've been enjoying. And they have a great Instagram page

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Speaker 2: where it's worth following just if you want to learn

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Speaker 2: about strange new films with weird dynamics. And certainly a

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Speaker 2: lot of European films and East European films, fun account

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Speaker 2: to follow for sure, regardless of if you end up

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Speaker 2: actually subscribing or not. So either way, you know, we're

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Speaker 2: talking about Mercury and we're getting a little spacey in

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Speaker 2: our core episodes of Stuff to Blow Your Mind. And

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Speaker 2: I think that might have been part of what put

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Speaker 2: me in the mood for some retro sci-fi, but also

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Speaker 2: some practical effects and some spacey music. So this one

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Speaker 2: ended up being the perfect pick.

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Speaker 3: Some people have compared this to space operas like Barbarella

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Speaker 3: or Star Crash. I think it is a little bit

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Speaker 3: distinct from those because it is more serious-minded than they are.

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Speaker 3: It is trying to trying to tell a philosophical story

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Speaker 3: and confront issues through the lens of science fiction, the

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Speaker 3: way like, you know, Star Trek, the original series did that.

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Speaker 3: You already compared it to Star Trek. And I think

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Speaker 3: it has a lot of that flavor. It's, uh, you know,

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Speaker 3: there are discussions of moral and ethical dilemmas in the movie. Uh,

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Speaker 3: and so, so it's got that going on, which I

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Speaker 3: don't think is really true of star, uh, star crash or,

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Speaker 3: or certainly Barbara.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: But but but I can see the comparison in terms

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Speaker 3: of style and aesthetics, which leads into an interesting contradiction,

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Speaker 3: I think, in the nature of this film. Rob, I

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Speaker 3: wonder if you were thinking the same thing I was.

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Speaker 3: By the time you get to the end, you realize

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Speaker 3: this film has a very it's a strong moral and

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Speaker 3: political message against a kind of wealthy, oppressive decadence. And yet.

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Speaker 3: the aesthetic virtues of the film are basically all in

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Speaker 3: the expression of that decadence. Have you thought about that?

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Speaker 3: Like the movie is great mainly because of like, look

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Speaker 3: at all this terrible stuff that the, the bad guys

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Speaker 3: get to wallow in.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's true. The, like the discotheque scenes, um, uh, yeah,

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Speaker 2: the space decadence, uh, you know, along with the costumes, like, yeah,

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Speaker 2: these are some of the main points of the film

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Speaker 2: that are pulling us in. Um, But then, yeah, but

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Speaker 2: then the message is very, very interesting to take in

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Speaker 2: as well as we'll get into. Like one of the

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Speaker 2: things about it is that, of course, this is an

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Speaker 2: Eastern Bloc production during the Cold War. We're certainly I

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Speaker 2: think a lot of our listeners have have consumed a

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Speaker 2: lot of media that was produced on the other side

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Speaker 2: of the Cold War. And we know the sorts of

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Speaker 2: geopolitical messages that are either overtly or just sort of

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Speaker 2: subconsciously baked into those visions. And here we get to

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Speaker 2: see something from the other side, but it's also presenting

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Speaker 2: exactly the sort of scenario that could easily be presented

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Speaker 2: in the West, you know, vilifying the East. And here

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Speaker 2: it's presented in the East, vilifying the West.

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Speaker 3: Well, yeah, on either side of the Cold War, you

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Speaker 3: could say, I'm making a movie that's against the concept

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Speaker 3: of oppression. And you could say, I'm talking about the

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Speaker 3: other guys.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: When in reality, like both sides are in on it.

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Speaker 2: And I think that's one of the things that makes

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Speaker 2: the movie work so well. It doesn't feel like you're

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Speaker 2: watching some sort of a hollow expression and regurgitation of

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Speaker 2: some sort of a state-mandated political message. It doesn't feel

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Speaker 2: like propaganda. It feels like a legitimate attempt to make

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Speaker 2: an intelligent science fiction film that is also packed with,

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Speaker 2: let's see, mystery, action, espionage. so much modern dance and

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Speaker 2: then just dancing seventies Euro disco glitz. It's just, it's

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Speaker 2: got it all.

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Speaker 3: Totally. I wasn't trying to be too critical of the

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Speaker 3: film by, by pointing out that contradiction, but I think

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Speaker 3: you do have to acknowledge that it's there. Like the,

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Speaker 3: the movie does engage deeply with the meaning of aesthetics

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Speaker 3: and fashion and the aesthetics of the, the good faction is, is,

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Speaker 3: mostly very functional with a few exceptions they do have

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Speaker 3: those weird like leather jumpsuits they go to the party

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Speaker 3: and um but mostly that's just very practical and functional

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Speaker 3: whereas the aesthetics of the villains which are an extension

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Speaker 3: of their villainous ethical qualities uh are great they're like

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Speaker 3: awesome weirdness.

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Speaker 2: Yeah yeah well this will be this will be fun

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Speaker 2: to sort of continue to toy around with as we

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Speaker 2: discuss the the characters in the plot All right. Well,

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Speaker 2: if we already have you a bit interested in the

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Speaker 2: possibility of viewing In the Dust of the Stars, well,

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Speaker 2: Def Crocodile has put this one out on a two-disc

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Speaker 2: double feature along with Signal, a space adventure. They share

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Speaker 2: the same director, as we'll get into. And this looks

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Speaker 2: like a very nice combo. I see people are very

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Speaker 2: pleased with this package. This version of it from Def

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Speaker 2: Crocodile is also streamable on the excellent Eternal Family app.

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Speaker 2: along with various other streaming applications also have it for rent.

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Speaker 2: And there are some older releases. There are some older streams.

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Speaker 2: But this one is definitely high quality. I think this

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Speaker 2: is definitely the one to seek out. The Def Crocodile

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Speaker 2: release looks absolutely great here. Now, be advised. Joe and

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Speaker 2: I had a time with this one. And this is

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Speaker 2: not the fault of the movie at all. I don't

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Speaker 2: know whose fault it is, if it's truly anybody's fault.

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Speaker 2: But in both of our streaming experiences via different sites,

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Speaker 2: we found that the English subtitles came by just really

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Speaker 2: fast and furious, especially in the latter portion of the picture,

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Speaker 2: making it at times hard to follow what people were saying.

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Speaker 2: And I myself had to keep going back sometimes to say, OK,

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Speaker 2: what did they just say? I've got to read that again.

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Speaker 3: I'd say for me, the main issue was it you're,

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Speaker 3: you're correct. They did kind of appear and disappear very quickly,

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Speaker 3: but even more than that was there was a long

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Speaker 3: delay between the character saying something on screen. And then

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Speaker 3: that text being represented in the subtitle, sometimes a delay,

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Speaker 3: it felt of like five to 10 seconds. So the

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Speaker 3: dialogue in the subtitles is like significantly lagging behind the movie.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. And then it's a very visual movie. So it's like,

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Speaker 2: If the subtitles are a little extra hard to read,

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Speaker 2: like I'm sorry, but there's also like interpretive dance happening

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Speaker 2: amid like a sculpture garden. There are people getting their

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Speaker 2: hairspray painted. There are visuals I need to take in

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Speaker 2: as well.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. So like you said, it's not the movie's fault

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Speaker 3: at all. But I don't know. Whoever has uploaded that, please,

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Speaker 3: please correct that because it's a great movie worth watching.

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Speaker 3: But that subtitle issue really did make it difficult.

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Speaker 2: All right, let's go ahead and get into the people

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Speaker 2: behind this film, starting at the top with Gottfried Kolditz,

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Speaker 2: director and writer, lived 1922 through 1982. German filmmaker who,

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Speaker 2: in East Germany, worked his entire career in the state-run

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Speaker 2: DEFA studio, D-E-F-A, established in Russian-occupied Germany in 1946 and

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Speaker 2: continued up until German reunification. Kolditz wrote and directed a

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Speaker 2: variety of genres, a number of films from fairy tale

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Speaker 2: films and red westerns to his notable science fiction films,

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Speaker 2: all these from 1956 through 1979.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I was reading about at least two other sci-fi

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Speaker 3: movies he made that I was kind of interested in

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Speaker 3: checking out.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, one of them is Signals of Space Adventure. That's

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Speaker 2: the other film on the Death Crocodile two-disc set. And

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Speaker 2: that one also looks really, really cool. That one, I think,

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Speaker 2: has maybe more overt 2001 A Space Odyssey vibes to it,

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Speaker 2: but also some its own sort of funky twists as well.

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Speaker 2: And then there's at least one other non-space opera sci-fi film,

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Speaker 2: The Thing in the Castle, which was, I believe, his

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Speaker 2: final film. And this was his next-to-last film, so we're

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Speaker 2: reaching the end of his filmography with this particular picture.

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Speaker 2: As for the Red Westerns, this is not really a

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Speaker 2: subgenre I was familiar with, but these are Westerns set

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Speaker 2: in the American West, but made in the Eastern Bloc,

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Speaker 2: and typically entailing socialist, anti-capitalist, and anti-imperialist ideas. And, you know,

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Speaker 2: this makes sense. It's like, you know, Westerns from the

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Speaker 2: West were popular, you know, quality entertainment. Those were finding

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Speaker 2: their way in. And so there was an impulse and

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Speaker 2: a mandate even to produce this sort of content domestically

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Speaker 2: for the domestic audience.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, exploring the same genre tropes, but maybe with different

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Speaker 3: ideological content Yeah.

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Speaker 2: I've never seen one, but now I kind of want

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Speaker 2: to check one out. There's also, I'm reading, there's also

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Speaker 2: a distinction that is sometimes made between Red Westerns and

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Speaker 2: Austerns or Easterns. And sometimes the term is used interchangeably,

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Speaker 2: but these are generally influenced by Western styles, by Western pictures,

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Speaker 2: but set in Russia or some other Soviet state, generally during, say,

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Speaker 2: like the revolution or during the following civil war. But,

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Speaker 2: you know, very much a Western in terms of its

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Speaker 2: vibe and its style, but with a different and a

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Speaker 2: different time and place, which reminds me a little bit

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Speaker 2: of our discussions about Witchfinder General is essentially a Western.

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Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, totally. Witchfinder General is a Western. I mean,

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Speaker 3: in almost every sense except the setting and, you know,

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Speaker 3: the feeling of the music, the chases on horseback, the

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Speaker 3: handheld gunplay, except it's, you know, matchlock pistols instead of

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Speaker 3: the revolvers. It's all there.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: All right, so that's the director, and also he has

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Speaker 2: a writing credit. We also have Joachim Hellwig, who has

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Speaker 2: a dramatization credit of 1932 through 2014. German actor and director,

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Speaker 2: active from, I think, 59 through 1990. Not credited on

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Speaker 2: all the databases for this film. All right, now getting

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Speaker 2: into the cast here. Basically, I'm going to divide these up,

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Speaker 2: but we're going to get a little spoilery here. And again,

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Speaker 2: this is a film that's really, I think... rewarding to

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Speaker 2: go into cold. I went into it really not knowing

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Speaker 2: much about it other than some of what its visual

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Speaker 2: motifs were going to be. But yeah, discussing the cast here,

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Speaker 2: we're going to have some mild spoilers about what's going

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Speaker 2: to unfold in the plot. So we have a crew.

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Speaker 2: We have the crew of a spaceship. This is what,

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Speaker 2: the Sinro? Is that the name of the ship?

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Speaker 3: Quite confusingly, I think also the name of the planet

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Speaker 3: they come from.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Confusing, but also simple. I don't have to, like,

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Speaker 2: I just have to remember one name. The Sinro crew

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Speaker 2: from Sinro.

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Speaker 3: That's right. These are the Sinro cosmonauts. Their ship is

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Speaker 3: called Sinro. I think their civilization or planet is Sinro.

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Speaker 3: Maybe the ship is called Sinro in the sense that

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Speaker 3: it's just like Sinro ship number 19. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So starting at the top on the Sinro, we have Akala,

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Speaker 2: the commander.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: The captain, if you will, the commander, Akala, female captain here,

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Speaker 2: played here by Jana Brekova. And she lived 1940 through 2026.

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Speaker 2: Czech film actress with a long career stretching from 1953

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Speaker 2: through 2009. We previously discussed her in our episode on

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Speaker 2: the 1978 Czech Beauty and the Beast film. I do

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Speaker 2: not remember this particular character offhand. This is the one

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Speaker 2: where the beast is essentially like a bird man. Um,

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Speaker 2: and it's very, very cool. A lot of very, um,

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Speaker 2: fetching Gothic vibes to the film, but she plays the

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Speaker 2: blonde stepsister in that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Uh, but her filmography is full of interesting looking films,

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Speaker 2: including 1973 is Ms. Golem 1976 is I killed Einstein gentlemen.

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Speaker 2: She was also in 1957. Um, uh, let's see Stenata,

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Speaker 2: which was co-written by Milos Forman. who she was married

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Speaker 2: to from 58 through 62. Hmm.

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Speaker 3: Okay.

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Speaker 2: So, uh, a solid presence as our captain here. Um,

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Speaker 2: most of the crew is female in this. So in

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Speaker 2: many ways, the casting and the presentation here feels like very, um,

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Speaker 2: very ahead of its time, you know, certainly comparing it

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Speaker 2: to some of the other space films that were happening

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Speaker 2: at the same time.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's right. Um, the movie, uh, The

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Speaker 3: movie depicts our main crew of cosmonauts as generally just

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Speaker 3: like very cool about sex and gender. There's just assumed

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Speaker 3: basic gender equality and it doesn't really even seem to

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Speaker 3: be a point worth considering or talking about to them.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. The people that they encounter certainly have more of

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Speaker 2: a hedonist kind of vibe to them. Certainly the Cyrano

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Speaker 2: people seem to be very sex positive and there seems

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Speaker 2: to be a lot of gender equality there. And, but

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Speaker 2: it's not presented in a way that's like, like harped on,

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Speaker 2: you know, it's like, they don't really feel like they

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Speaker 2: need to, you know, hit it over the head too

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Speaker 2: many times.

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Speaker 3: It just feels like that is their culture. That's not

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Speaker 3: even something they think about anymore. And they're also, I

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Speaker 3: would add onto this, they're also just kind of like

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Speaker 3: casually polyamorous. Like it seems like the crew are just

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Speaker 3: having multiple relationships between each other. And this is not a,

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Speaker 3: a problem that anybody cares about. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Or for the most part presented in a way that's

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Speaker 2: supposed to be, you know, scandalous or, or even titillating, um,

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Speaker 2: you know, outside of one sandwich we'll get to, but yeah. Um, but, uh,

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Speaker 2: but yeah, it's, it's, it's a very interesting presentation that

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Speaker 2: feels very, um, uh, grounded and, and mature and, uh,

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Speaker 2: in its own way.

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Speaker 3: Now, but I say that, I mean, that, that is

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Speaker 3: the Sinro crew within the crew that lots of like

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Speaker 3: weird uh sex and gender dynamics emerge once they interact

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Speaker 3: with the the teamian people.

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Speaker 2: Yeah yeah all right so more about the members of

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Speaker 2: the sin row here we also have the navigator zuko

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Speaker 2: and he is played by alfred struva who lived 1927

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Speaker 2: through 1998 a german actor who worked extensively on east

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Speaker 2: german tv and for uh defa he had a long

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Speaker 2: run on the east german tv series Zahn um Zahn,

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Speaker 2: or Tooth for a Tooth, which is apparently a series

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Speaker 2: about a dentist, and he plays the dentist. I was

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Speaker 2: trying to remember, is there a Western version of this?

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Speaker 2: I can't think of a single sitcom that was about

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Speaker 2: a dentist.

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Speaker 3: No, nothing's coming to mind.

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Speaker 2: We have horror movies about dentists, but I can't think

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Speaker 2: of a relatable presentation of a dentist, for the most part,

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Speaker 2: in Western or certainly American media. At any rate.

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Speaker 3: Unfortunately, when I think German dentist, I think of Marathon Man.

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Speaker 2: Exactly. That's what we're used to. Or it's like Corbin

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Speaker 2: Bernson as the dentist, right? Horror movie stuff. Or Little

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Speaker 2: Shop of Horrors, that sort of thing. So, yeah. Alfred

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Speaker 2: Struve playing Zuko here. This was his only science fiction role,

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Speaker 2: but I really loved him in this. He's great as this.

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Speaker 2: He's a calculating, skeptical navigator.

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Speaker 3: Very calm.

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Speaker 2: Very logical, but not devoid of passion either. I thought

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Speaker 2: he was a fine performance here.

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Speaker 3: Very sympathetic guy. I liked his presence a lot. He

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Speaker 3: looks in the face like a little slightly more weathered

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Speaker 3: Ray Liotta. I thought that a few times, but I

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Speaker 3: don't know. He has a calming, mature face. well-meaning energy,

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Speaker 3: despite the fact that he is the most skeptical and,

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Speaker 3: you might argue, distrustful of the crew members.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. All right, the next crew member, I'm not

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Speaker 2: sure what her actual role is on the picture, I mean,

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Speaker 2: on the ship, but..

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Speaker 3: I only know the role of the previous... Oh, no,

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Speaker 3: and the Doctor. The Doctor, yeah. The previous two and

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Speaker 3: the Doctor. What Mew, Thaub, and Rall do, I have

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Speaker 3: no idea.

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Speaker 2: Mew is played by Regina Heinste, born 1950, German actress

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Speaker 2: of stage and screen, mostly stage, though. Her TV and

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Speaker 2: film credits go from, like, 72 through 92, and this

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Speaker 2: is certainly the film that stands out, at least for,

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Speaker 2: you know, larger international audiences. Her character here, Mew, is

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Speaker 2: at times sort of a mesmerizing nymph who engages in

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Speaker 2: expressive nude modern dance numbers in immaculately lit spaceship rooms.

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Speaker 2: It'll It'll be interesting to discuss her sequences later. Other

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Speaker 2: times she's just a member of the crew, you know,

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Speaker 2: fully dressed and doing, you know, pushing buttons like they're

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Speaker 2: all doing aboard the spaceship.

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Speaker 3: I wondered if that dance number was supposed to be

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Speaker 3: a normal part of her personality or if that was

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Speaker 3: a lingering effect of the kind of disco brainwashing that

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Speaker 3: they get from the teamians.

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Speaker 2: I have some thoughts about this when we get to it,

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Speaker 2: but I think it is like a modern dance number.

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Speaker 2: sort of expression of where she is mentally at this moment.

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Speaker 2: like she's trying to express herself but she also has

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Speaker 2: this weird mental block that she can't get past yeah

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Speaker 2: um and this is she's not the only character that

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Speaker 2: will just spontaneously break out into dance in this sequence

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Speaker 2: sometimes there's dancing going on in the background but refreshingly

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Speaker 2: sometimes like main characters will just suddenly break into dance

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Speaker 2: and i love it But yes, Regina Heinze here, also

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Speaker 2: a painter, founded an independent theater company, and also directed

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Speaker 2: for the stage.

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Speaker 3: Cool.

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Speaker 2: All right, let's move on to Thob. Another great name.

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Speaker 3: Gotta love Thob. Not quite as much as Ronk, but

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Speaker 3: I mean.

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Speaker 2: Thob and Ronk, yeah. This is Thob. He's a member

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Speaker 2: of the crew here, and he is played by Leon Nemchik,

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Speaker 2: who lived 1923 through 2006 here. Polish actor with a

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Speaker 2: very long and distinguished career in Polish cinema and television

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Speaker 2: with some key international breakthrough roles, such as his lead

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Speaker 2: role in Roman Polanski's Knife in the Water from 67.

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Speaker 2: His other films include 59's Night Train, 83's She-Wolf, 85's O.B. Oba,

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Speaker 2: The End of Civilization, and David Lynch's Inland Empire in 2006,

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Speaker 2: right there at the very end.

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Speaker 3: Interesting.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. So, Thob is a lot of fun because Thob

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Speaker 2: is initially, or at least in the early goings of

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Speaker 2: the film, presented like, oh, maybe he's going to be

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Speaker 2: the comic relief character. And he sort of is. He

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Speaker 2: gets a little more of the funny moments.

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Speaker 3: He gets to pull some faces when he sprays the

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Speaker 3: alien aerosol into his mouth.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. He gets those moments. But he's also ultimately

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Speaker 2: presented as a balanced and serious character. There's no real

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Speaker 2: true comic relief character. There's no Droppo in this film.

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Speaker 3: He also has comedic horniness at the alien party, but he, uh,

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Speaker 3: but yeah, ultimately he, he, he's pretty useful in the end. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Uh, let's see, we have, um, Illich, the ship's doctor

386
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Speaker 2: played by Sylvia Popovici, who lived 1933 through 1993, Romanian actress,

387
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Speaker 2: who other, her other films include 65's Forest of the

388
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Speaker 2: Hanged and 74's Fleeting Loves. And then we also have

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Speaker 2: the crew member Raul played by Violetta Andrea, And she

390
00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:07,440
Speaker 2: was born 1941 Romanian actress who we have previously mentioned

391
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Speaker 2: on the show because she was in the Romanian Soviet

392
00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:16,740
Speaker 2: French 1976 co-production rock and roll wolf. Whoa. AKA mama.

393
00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:18,420
Speaker 2: She played the swallow.

394
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Speaker 3: Okay. One of the more minor roles there, but yeah,

395
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Speaker 3: but still, yeah. Uh, Did I tell you that we're

396
00:22:26,180 --> 00:22:28,820
Speaker 3: still listening to Rock and Roll Wolf in our house? Actually,

397
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Speaker 3: my daughter just, there had been a long lull where

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Speaker 3: I think it kind of went out of her brain.

399
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Speaker 3: And about a week or two ago, she was like,

400
00:22:36,730 --> 00:22:38,330
Speaker 3: I want to listen to Rock and Roll Wolf. She

401
00:22:38,390 --> 00:22:42,430
Speaker 3: remembered it, retrieved it from the void. And we were like, okay.

402
00:22:42,510 --> 00:22:44,520
Speaker 3: And it's been like every day since then.

403
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Speaker 2: Audio only? Or do you like view it as well? Audio.

404
00:22:47,560 --> 00:22:50,560
Speaker 3: I mean, we're like basically streaming the whole movie, but

405
00:22:50,600 --> 00:22:52,640
Speaker 3: just listening to it on audio.

406
00:22:52,820 --> 00:22:55,280
Speaker 2: Yeah. Wow. Y'all have like the number one rock and

407
00:22:55,300 --> 00:23:00,119
Speaker 2: roll wolf, um, fandom household, uh, in America. I love it.

408
00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:04,190
Speaker 3: She does love to say which characters everybody is like, uh,

409
00:23:04,570 --> 00:23:07,750
Speaker 3: your mama Rada. No, you're the donkey. No, you're no,

410
00:23:07,790 --> 00:23:12,070
Speaker 3: you're TT Suru, but nice. You ever, you ever hear this? Uh,

411
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Speaker 3: this is the thing that, uh, my child does. She,

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00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:17,380
Speaker 3: she likes to say you're the villain of this movie

413
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Speaker 3: that I like, but nice.

414
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Speaker 2: Oh, that's wonderful. Does she have any thoughts about the swallow?

415
00:23:24,140 --> 00:23:25,240
Speaker 3: Swallow doesn't come up a lot.

416
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Speaker 2: Okay. All right. Minor character, like you said. All right.

417
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Speaker 2: So that's the crew of the Sin Row. That's the

418
00:23:32,070 --> 00:23:36,110
Speaker 2: full crew. And there are a lot more Temians to discuss,

419
00:23:36,250 --> 00:23:39,390
Speaker 2: but I'm just going to highlight two key Temian characters.

420
00:23:39,430 --> 00:23:41,350
Speaker 2: They're the main ones who we encounter. They're the main

421
00:23:41,550 --> 00:23:44,950
Speaker 2: antagonists of the film. The first one we encounter is Ronk.

422
00:23:45,190 --> 00:23:49,490
Speaker 2: We referenced this name already. And Ronk is played by

423
00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:54,550
Speaker 2: Milan Belli, who lived 1931 through 2019. A Serbian actor

424
00:23:54,609 --> 00:23:57,510
Speaker 2: who also appeared in some Red Westerns. He's in The

425
00:23:57,570 --> 00:24:01,970
Speaker 2: Thing in the Castle, as well as the 1973 Nazi-ploitation

426
00:24:02,030 --> 00:24:05,969
Speaker 2: film She-Devils of the SS, which I believe is like

427
00:24:06,010 --> 00:24:09,750
Speaker 2: a German production. A lot of those are like Italian

428
00:24:09,790 --> 00:24:11,909
Speaker 2: productions or Spanish productions, I think, but this one is

429
00:24:11,970 --> 00:24:14,780
Speaker 2: actually like a German production. Anyway, those are some of

430
00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:17,980
Speaker 2: the other films he was in. Ronk is a lot

431
00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:19,840
Speaker 2: of fun. I can't wait to talk about some of

432
00:24:19,859 --> 00:24:20,639
Speaker 2: these Ronk scenes.

433
00:24:21,010 --> 00:24:23,990
Speaker 3: He's a good nasty villain here. Uh, so much depends

434
00:24:24,070 --> 00:24:25,250
Speaker 3: upon a man named Ronk.

435
00:24:27,990 --> 00:24:31,149
Speaker 2: And then we also have this character that is, uh,

436
00:24:31,230 --> 00:24:34,450
Speaker 2: what the chief or the boss, um, depending on whether

437
00:24:34,470 --> 00:24:38,740
Speaker 2: you're listening or reading the subtitles. And he is, he's, he's,

438
00:24:39,119 --> 00:24:43,000
Speaker 2: he's essentially like our, um, our capitalist strong man, but

439
00:24:43,100 --> 00:24:47,740
Speaker 2: also a, a whimsical and fabulously over the top hedonist. Uh,

440
00:24:47,780 --> 00:24:51,129
Speaker 2: he's kind of like the, the, the teamian, um, the

441
00:24:51,170 --> 00:24:52,810
Speaker 2: local Temian emperor in a way.

442
00:24:53,270 --> 00:24:53,490
Speaker 3: Yeah.

443
00:24:54,350 --> 00:24:54,530
Speaker 2: Yeah.

444
00:24:54,570 --> 00:24:59,090
Speaker 3: We see him in a constant state of hyper stimulation

445
00:24:59,130 --> 00:25:02,760
Speaker 3: of the senses. It's like, he can't come to, he's like,

446
00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:05,220
Speaker 3: it's like the movie crank, you know, except he's just

447
00:25:05,300 --> 00:25:10,619
Speaker 3: gotta be constantly imbibing like weird art or sexual stimulation

448
00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:13,700
Speaker 3: or loud, strange music or all of the above.

449
00:25:13,720 --> 00:25:16,520
Speaker 2: Yeah. Or a synthesizer that makes people dance in the

450
00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:19,240
Speaker 2: next room for you. That sort of thing. Oh yeah.

451
00:25:19,260 --> 00:25:22,609
Speaker 2: So much weird stuff. So this character, who we're going

452
00:25:22,710 --> 00:25:24,770
Speaker 2: to have a lot of fun discussing, is played by

453
00:25:24,869 --> 00:25:30,830
Speaker 2: Eckhard Schall, who lived 1930 through 2005, German actor and

454
00:25:31,190 --> 00:25:35,150
Speaker 2: director of stage and screen, often associated with the work

455
00:25:35,190 --> 00:25:40,409
Speaker 2: of German playwright Bertolt Brecht. And he was married to

456
00:25:40,450 --> 00:25:44,050
Speaker 2: Brecht's daughter, so they actually had a family connection. His

457
00:25:44,090 --> 00:25:47,550
Speaker 2: other films include 61's Mother Courage and Her Children and

458
00:25:47,570 --> 00:25:51,450
Speaker 2: 72's Despite It All. This was his only sci-fi film.

459
00:25:52,869 --> 00:25:54,560
Speaker 2: I mean, I guess maybe there were just only so

460
00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:58,980
Speaker 2: many sci-fi films being made in the system at the time. But,

461
00:25:59,960 --> 00:26:02,680
Speaker 2: I mean, it seems like a missed opportunity. I wanted

462
00:26:02,700 --> 00:26:06,060
Speaker 2: to see this guy play other sci-fi and certainly horror

463
00:26:06,380 --> 00:26:08,859
Speaker 2: and other speculative sort of roles. But as far as

464
00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:11,100
Speaker 2: I know, this is the only one. It's mostly more

465
00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:13,340
Speaker 2: historical stuff and dramas and so forth.

466
00:26:13,780 --> 00:26:16,100
Speaker 3: I love this guy. He can really kiss a snake.

467
00:26:16,920 --> 00:26:20,929
Speaker 2: So, God, so much snake kissing. And great costumes. This

468
00:26:20,970 --> 00:26:23,170
Speaker 2: guy gets great costumes and gets to do a little

469
00:26:23,470 --> 00:26:27,180
Speaker 2: bit of his own modern interpretive dance. And speaking of

470
00:26:27,220 --> 00:26:29,760
Speaker 2: those costumes, I do want to just go ahead and

471
00:26:29,800 --> 00:26:32,000
Speaker 2: mention the name of the costume designer. I don't have

472
00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:35,540
Speaker 2: anything really deep to share about them. I think this

473
00:26:35,580 --> 00:26:38,780
Speaker 2: is also their only sci-fi or fantasy film. But it's

474
00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:41,140
Speaker 2: the sort of film where you really get the impression, man,

475
00:26:41,180 --> 00:26:43,500
Speaker 2: the costume designer got to really cut loose here. They

476
00:26:43,520 --> 00:26:46,960
Speaker 2: got to design a bunch of just... What do people

477
00:26:47,010 --> 00:26:53,520
Speaker 2: in a space opera... Where to a wild party. Imagine

478
00:26:53,540 --> 00:26:56,600
Speaker 2: getting that assignment after just doing a bunch of historical

479
00:26:56,700 --> 00:27:00,240
Speaker 2: epics and maybe some red westerns. But the costume designer,

480
00:27:00,400 --> 00:27:03,830
Speaker 2: I was going to say their name, Catherine Johnson. Again,

481
00:27:03,869 --> 00:27:07,190
Speaker 2: I think this is their only sci-fi film. And then, oh,

482
00:27:07,470 --> 00:27:10,109
Speaker 2: the composer. This is going to be fun to mention

483
00:27:10,150 --> 00:27:13,350
Speaker 2: as well. Because this film has a great score and

484
00:27:13,390 --> 00:27:15,210
Speaker 2: a great theme song that plays at the beginning and

485
00:27:15,250 --> 00:27:19,070
Speaker 2: the end. And the composer here is Karl Ernst Sasa,

486
00:27:19,450 --> 00:27:24,430
Speaker 2: who lived 1923 through 2006. German composer whose work composed

487
00:27:24,490 --> 00:27:28,890
Speaker 2: more than 500 film soundtracks for DEFA and also composed

488
00:27:28,990 --> 00:27:33,680
Speaker 2: new scores in the 60s and 70s for various silent films.

489
00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:39,100
Speaker 2: This included 1921's The Golem. His background was in traditional

490
00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:44,440
Speaker 2: orchestral arrangements, but he turned to electronic sounds in like

491
00:27:44,460 --> 00:27:48,359
Speaker 2: the 50s, 60s and 70s. Wendifa wanted their own electronic

492
00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:51,800
Speaker 2: scores to compete with the sounds that were emerging in

493
00:27:51,840 --> 00:27:56,740
Speaker 2: various avant-garde Western German films. So they're like, the enemy

494
00:27:56,830 --> 00:28:01,130
Speaker 2: is using synth technology. We must utilize our own synth technology.

495
00:28:01,670 --> 00:28:03,850
Speaker 2: And so there's actually an interesting story here because this

496
00:28:03,869 --> 00:28:08,550
Speaker 2: is exactly what ends up happening. So he ends up

497
00:28:08,730 --> 00:28:13,399
Speaker 2: using what was essentially like the Eastern Bloc answer to

498
00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:19,760
Speaker 2: some of the Western German synth technology. The Eastern Block Subchord,

499
00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:25,199
Speaker 2: I believe it is pronounced, that's S-U-B-H-A-R-C-H-O-R-D, developed in East

500
00:28:25,260 --> 00:28:30,080
Speaker 2: Germany during the 1950s. And very few of these still exist.

501
00:28:30,119 --> 00:28:32,050
Speaker 2: And I don't think very many were made at all.

502
00:28:32,090 --> 00:28:34,830
Speaker 2: I've seen something like, I've seen estimates of like seven

503
00:28:34,850 --> 00:28:37,010
Speaker 2: to nine of these were made, something like that.

504
00:28:37,330 --> 00:28:37,490
Speaker 1: Wow.

505
00:28:38,010 --> 00:28:40,270
Speaker 3: So it was like the Eastern block answer to the

506
00:28:40,310 --> 00:28:40,910
Speaker 3: mini Moog.

507
00:28:41,270 --> 00:28:44,209
Speaker 2: Yeah, essentially included a couple of images here, including one

508
00:28:44,250 --> 00:28:46,150
Speaker 2: with a human being. So you can see how big

509
00:28:46,190 --> 00:28:46,850
Speaker 2: the thing was.

510
00:28:47,550 --> 00:28:48,790
Speaker 3: Um, well maybe not so many.

511
00:28:48,870 --> 00:28:53,010
Speaker 2: Okay. Yeah. It's, it's, it's pretty big. Uh, you know, very,

512
00:28:53,030 --> 00:28:55,170
Speaker 2: it looks very space age in its own right. This

513
00:28:55,190 --> 00:28:58,610
Speaker 2: could have been included on set, uh, on the spaceship

514
00:28:58,650 --> 00:29:03,330
Speaker 2: in this movie and it would have looked perfectly fine. Um, I, uh,

515
00:29:04,140 --> 00:29:07,550
Speaker 2: So this is the instrument. This is the technology that

516
00:29:07,590 --> 00:29:10,290
Speaker 2: he used to create this score or to create portions

517
00:29:10,330 --> 00:29:13,870
Speaker 2: of this score. And one of the reasons that apparently

518
00:29:14,290 --> 00:29:16,190
Speaker 2: is that you don't find many of these left in

519
00:29:16,230 --> 00:29:19,230
Speaker 2: the world and so few were produced is I was

520
00:29:19,270 --> 00:29:22,530
Speaker 2: reading about this in an article on the website for

521
00:29:22,550 --> 00:29:25,910
Speaker 2: the Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology. And they shared

522
00:29:25,950 --> 00:29:30,620
Speaker 2: that Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev condemned electronic music as a

523
00:29:30,660 --> 00:29:35,480
Speaker 2: cacophony that was incompatible with socialism. And so that led

524
00:29:35,520 --> 00:29:37,950
Speaker 2: to people saying, all right, well, we can't make any

525
00:29:37,990 --> 00:29:41,470
Speaker 2: more of these. These are incompatible with social media. but

526
00:29:41,690 --> 00:29:45,710
Speaker 2: it creates a very unique soundscape for this film. And

527
00:29:45,970 --> 00:29:51,310
Speaker 2: I just continually found the musical score, just, just fascinating.

528
00:29:51,930 --> 00:29:55,540
Speaker 2: You know, sometimes it's directly involved. Like when our, our,

529
00:29:55,650 --> 00:29:58,900
Speaker 2: our strong man here, the boss, the chief is, playing

530
00:29:59,260 --> 00:30:02,580
Speaker 2: some sort of synth that makes people dance. It's made

531
00:30:02,640 --> 00:30:03,620
Speaker 2: out of Christmas lights.

532
00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:04,400
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah.

533
00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:07,220
Speaker 2: And then we get some cool sort of space-age sound

534
00:30:07,260 --> 00:30:11,230
Speaker 2: effects that I'm assuming may have originated with the same technology.

535
00:30:11,770 --> 00:30:12,030
Speaker 3: Yeah.

536
00:30:12,870 --> 00:30:15,610
Speaker 2: And then we have a haunting vocal theme song as well,

537
00:30:16,070 --> 00:30:17,450
Speaker 2: but I couldn't find out much about this. I don't

538
00:30:17,470 --> 00:30:20,860
Speaker 2: know who's singing it. I'm assuming the same composer is credited, though.

539
00:30:29,830 --> 00:30:31,610
Speaker 3: Okay, are you ready to talk about the plot?

540
00:30:32,170 --> 00:30:34,970
Speaker 2: Let's do it. Let's get into In the Dust of

541
00:30:35,010 --> 00:30:35,430
Speaker 2: the Stars.

542
00:30:36,370 --> 00:30:40,170
Speaker 3: So today we're not going to do as granular a

543
00:30:40,390 --> 00:30:43,420
Speaker 3: recap as we sometimes do. That makes more sense with

544
00:30:43,460 --> 00:30:46,180
Speaker 3: some movies than others. I think instead today we'll kind

545
00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:50,540
Speaker 3: of switch between summarizing and then discussing individual elements.

546
00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:52,860
Speaker 2: You think we'd get granular since it is dust.

547
00:30:53,280 --> 00:30:54,200
Speaker 3: Dust of the Stars.

548
00:30:54,220 --> 00:30:54,280
Speaker 2: Yes.

549
00:30:54,600 --> 00:30:57,160
Speaker 3: Well, you know, there are some scenes in this that

550
00:30:57,180 --> 00:31:00,800
Speaker 3: are just technobabble while they're piloting a spaceship and stuff,

551
00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:05,400
Speaker 3: so that makes less sense. But the general setup for

552
00:31:05,420 --> 00:31:08,600
Speaker 3: the story goes like this. Our heroes are a group

553
00:31:08,620 --> 00:31:12,100
Speaker 3: of cosmonauts. They're identified as the Sinro crew. Again, Sinro

554
00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:15,060
Speaker 3: is used as the name of the civilization they come from,

555
00:31:15,100 --> 00:31:16,900
Speaker 3: I guess the planet they come from, but also the

556
00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:20,260
Speaker 3: name of the ship that they're on. And then the

557
00:31:20,320 --> 00:31:25,510
Speaker 3: crew includes Akala, the commander, I would say the crew,

558
00:31:26,090 --> 00:31:28,890
Speaker 3: even though they have a commander, it does not feel

559
00:31:28,990 --> 00:31:33,230
Speaker 3: strongly hierarchical. There sometimes seems to, it feels like it

560
00:31:33,330 --> 00:31:36,470
Speaker 3: operates through democratic consensus, sort of.

561
00:31:36,950 --> 00:31:37,170
Speaker 2: Yeah.

562
00:31:37,900 --> 00:31:41,320
Speaker 3: And then there's also Zuko, the Navigator. These are the

563
00:31:41,380 --> 00:31:43,660
Speaker 3: two most important characters in the crew, I would say,

564
00:31:43,700 --> 00:31:47,680
Speaker 3: but the others are Rall, Thob, Illik, and Mew. And

565
00:31:47,700 --> 00:31:50,060
Speaker 3: I think Illik is the doctor. The other three don't

566
00:31:50,080 --> 00:31:53,520
Speaker 3: know what they do. As I mentioned earlier, the dynamics

567
00:31:53,600 --> 00:31:57,040
Speaker 3: of the crew are interesting. They treat each other basically

568
00:31:57,100 --> 00:32:01,850
Speaker 3: with professionalism, but they're also just kind of openly polyamorous

569
00:32:01,890 --> 00:32:05,130
Speaker 3: with each other. Unless I was missing something, it seemed

570
00:32:05,190 --> 00:32:12,070
Speaker 3: that at least Zuko and Akala and Mew simultaneously were

571
00:32:12,110 --> 00:32:14,610
Speaker 3: in relationships with each other. And this seemed to be

572
00:32:14,650 --> 00:32:16,550
Speaker 3: understood by everybody and not a big deal.

573
00:32:16,570 --> 00:32:21,000
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, or possibly another way of looking at it is, like,

574
00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:24,000
Speaker 2: Zuko and Akula seem to have a relationship, but then

575
00:32:24,020 --> 00:32:26,180
Speaker 2: there's a scene where Mew has just come out of

576
00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:29,540
Speaker 2: the shower and is, you know, prancing around in, like,

577
00:32:30,140 --> 00:32:33,300
Speaker 2: just some sort of a spaceship towel. And this is

578
00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:36,920
Speaker 2: not presented in a way that, like, she's gozering or anything. Like,

579
00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:38,880
Speaker 2: she's acting out of sorts. Like, this is just how

580
00:32:38,940 --> 00:32:42,970
Speaker 2: Mew behaves, and there's nothing scandalous about this.

581
00:32:43,310 --> 00:32:48,190
Speaker 3: And she kisses Zuko on the mouth like that's normal. Yeah. Yeah. Like, just, yeah, whatever.

582
00:32:48,230 --> 00:32:51,390
Speaker 3: It's every day. So anyway, that's our crew. At the

583
00:32:51,410 --> 00:32:53,870
Speaker 3: beginning of the film, the cosmonauts have been dispatched to

584
00:32:53,890 --> 00:32:59,210
Speaker 3: the planet Tem 4, T-E-M 4, to investigate a radio

585
00:32:59,350 --> 00:33:03,360
Speaker 3: distress call that they received. But when they arrive at

586
00:33:03,380 --> 00:33:06,580
Speaker 3: the planet, they are forced into a crash landing by

587
00:33:06,640 --> 00:33:11,440
Speaker 3: some kind of electromagnetic interference. And Akala, the commander, saves

588
00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:14,160
Speaker 3: the ship from disaster by taking manual control.

589
00:33:14,720 --> 00:33:18,480
Speaker 2: And during all these early sequences, I think Kraftwerk fans

590
00:33:18,520 --> 00:33:20,720
Speaker 2: especially will love this because we get a lot of

591
00:33:20,810 --> 00:33:23,490
Speaker 2: synth sounds and we also get a lot of counting

592
00:33:23,530 --> 00:33:26,830
Speaker 2: in German from the computer and the computer voice. And

593
00:33:26,890 --> 00:33:28,770
Speaker 2: like this alone had me hooked.

594
00:33:29,270 --> 00:33:33,590
Speaker 3: Yeah, robotic German voice saying numbers. And then also on screen,

595
00:33:33,630 --> 00:33:37,130
Speaker 3: there are these printers that are constantly printing out feeds

596
00:33:37,210 --> 00:33:40,560
Speaker 3: of paper, just a continuous stream of tear off paper

597
00:33:40,580 --> 00:33:43,780
Speaker 3: that it doesn't look like there's anything on it. It's

598
00:33:43,820 --> 00:33:46,790
Speaker 3: just like constantly rolling out. And I was like, man,

599
00:33:46,830 --> 00:33:48,990
Speaker 3: is it doing that the whole, like, six-year journey or

600
00:33:49,010 --> 00:33:50,970
Speaker 3: whatever that they're on a spaceship?

601
00:33:51,450 --> 00:33:53,190
Speaker 2: I mean, this is a movie. It's clear they did

602
00:33:53,230 --> 00:33:56,930
Speaker 2: not have all the money in the world. But I

603
00:33:56,990 --> 00:34:00,140
Speaker 2: did really like the sets, especially the spaceship set, which is,

604
00:34:00,900 --> 00:34:03,900
Speaker 2: you know, has these sort of chairs that, I don't know,

605
00:34:03,940 --> 00:34:06,120
Speaker 2: you could easily compare to, like, a dental chair, I guess,

606
00:34:06,140 --> 00:34:08,540
Speaker 2: but didn't look, I don't know, I don't know what

607
00:34:08,580 --> 00:34:11,590
Speaker 2: an East German dental chair in the 1970s looked like exactly.

608
00:34:11,680 --> 00:34:14,630
Speaker 2: So maybe this is exactly it, but it felt a

609
00:34:14,670 --> 00:34:17,330
Speaker 2: little bit different to me. So I totally bought that

610
00:34:17,370 --> 00:34:20,670
Speaker 2: these are just spaceship chairs and, you know, whatever kind

611
00:34:20,690 --> 00:34:22,930
Speaker 2: of like keyboard technology they have in front of them

612
00:34:22,989 --> 00:34:25,660
Speaker 2: also felt nice and analog. It just felt, and it

613
00:34:25,680 --> 00:34:26,430
Speaker 2: felt very comfy.

614
00:34:27,260 --> 00:34:28,839
Speaker 3: You know, I think the movie looked good. It didn't

615
00:34:28,860 --> 00:34:30,520
Speaker 3: look to me like it was done on the cheap.

616
00:34:30,580 --> 00:34:34,239
Speaker 3: It looked like a, you know, a well-realized science fiction set. Yeah.

617
00:34:34,560 --> 00:34:36,560
Speaker 2: I would say in some of the, when we get

618
00:34:36,719 --> 00:34:39,819
Speaker 2: into the teenian sets, you know, you can, you can

619
00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:42,270
Speaker 2: see the wood grain a bit and you can, you know, there's,

620
00:34:42,350 --> 00:34:46,370
Speaker 2: there's no denying like how these, sets were built. But

621
00:34:46,590 --> 00:34:50,549
Speaker 2: they're also so lovingly made. They do completely suck you

622
00:34:50,590 --> 00:34:51,230
Speaker 2: into the setting.

623
00:34:51,710 --> 00:34:53,759
Speaker 3: There was one funny thing. I know this isn't a

624
00:34:54,360 --> 00:34:56,899
Speaker 3: budget or production design issue, but there was one little

625
00:34:57,480 --> 00:35:01,010
Speaker 3: technical goof I caught. Remember when they're wheeling out the

626
00:35:02,050 --> 00:35:04,640
Speaker 3: electric chair, the brain electric chair torture scene?

627
00:35:04,660 --> 00:35:05,660
Speaker 2: Yes, the torture scene.

628
00:35:05,880 --> 00:35:08,020
Speaker 3: And so the chair, like, comes out of this thing

629
00:35:08,060 --> 00:35:10,700
Speaker 3: in the wall. But if you look, you can see somebody, like,

630
00:35:10,860 --> 00:35:13,000
Speaker 3: pushing it out with a stick and then pulling the

631
00:35:13,020 --> 00:35:15,379
Speaker 3: stick back to make it scoot. Yeah.

632
00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:19,780
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, we do learn some things about how

633
00:35:19,820 --> 00:35:23,950
Speaker 2: labor works. If I was being very generous, I might say, well,

634
00:35:23,989 --> 00:35:28,109
Speaker 2: there's somebody, an enslaved person is back there pushing over

635
00:35:28,130 --> 00:35:28,450
Speaker 2: the stick.

636
00:35:29,550 --> 00:35:34,670
Speaker 3: So unbeknownst to the crew of the CINRO, when the

637
00:35:34,750 --> 00:35:39,029
Speaker 3: radio interference begins as they approach the planet, we get

638
00:35:39,050 --> 00:35:42,759
Speaker 3: to see operators working in some kind of underground control room.

639
00:35:42,840 --> 00:35:47,120
Speaker 3: And they are deliberately, we realize, sabotaging the visiting spacecraft.

640
00:35:47,660 --> 00:35:50,380
Speaker 3: They're doing this on the command of a bearded wolfish

641
00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:53,020
Speaker 3: man in a silver and blue uniform. This is going

642
00:35:53,040 --> 00:35:53,560
Speaker 3: to be Ronk.

643
00:35:53,739 --> 00:35:53,959
Speaker 2: Ronk.

644
00:35:56,060 --> 00:35:59,259
Speaker 3: So once on the ground, the cosmonauts are greeted by

645
00:35:59,300 --> 00:36:01,940
Speaker 3: the inhabitants of the planet, the Temians, who send a

646
00:36:02,180 --> 00:36:05,359
Speaker 3: vehicle and a servant to welcome them. Maybe we should

647
00:36:05,390 --> 00:36:08,290
Speaker 3: do a brief aside to talk about the vehicles. The

648
00:36:08,350 --> 00:36:13,850
Speaker 3: Sinro spacecraft is interesting. It's not very unusual in terms

649
00:36:13,870 --> 00:36:17,140
Speaker 3: of its general design. It's a long cylindrical ship tapered

650
00:36:17,160 --> 00:36:20,180
Speaker 3: to a point like a traditional rocket, but it has

651
00:36:20,200 --> 00:36:23,710
Speaker 3: a couple of elements that make it feel unusual. It's

652
00:36:23,790 --> 00:36:28,469
Speaker 3: kind of like a clockwork automaton. It has these continuously

653
00:36:28,630 --> 00:36:33,460
Speaker 3: rotating greebles whirring around its circumference. And this just gives

654
00:36:33,520 --> 00:36:35,840
Speaker 3: it a strangely pre-modern feel.

655
00:36:35,860 --> 00:36:40,060
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And almost at times it felt like

656
00:36:40,100 --> 00:36:43,450
Speaker 2: a church steeple, you know. Yeah. It's a cool vibe.

657
00:36:44,880 --> 00:36:48,219
Speaker 3: Also, in a minute, we're going to see a Temian

658
00:36:48,360 --> 00:36:51,450
Speaker 3: surface vehicle with wheels, which I think is just a

659
00:36:51,630 --> 00:36:55,090
Speaker 3: garbage truck or maybe a dump truck with plywood sci-fi

660
00:36:55,110 --> 00:36:57,790
Speaker 3: shell built around it. And this can be a great solution.

661
00:36:58,090 --> 00:36:59,989
Speaker 3: If you're trying to make a sci-fi vehicle, just take

662
00:37:00,030 --> 00:37:02,469
Speaker 3: a truck and build some stuff on the outside.

663
00:37:02,489 --> 00:37:05,009
Speaker 2: Yeah, and for me, and again, I am not the

664
00:37:05,050 --> 00:37:11,339
Speaker 2: intended audience, but separated somewhat via time and space, I don't,

665
00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:15,720
Speaker 2: I'm not recognizing whatever like East German or Romanian utility

666
00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:20,779
Speaker 2: vehicle is underneath, um, like the, the plywood. Uh, so

667
00:37:21,360 --> 00:37:23,680
Speaker 2: it just looks convincingly alien to me.

668
00:37:24,160 --> 00:37:27,620
Speaker 3: Yeah. So the CINRO lands, the cosmonauts disembark and they're

669
00:37:27,640 --> 00:37:31,180
Speaker 3: wearing these yellow EVA suits with bulky red helmets and

670
00:37:31,219 --> 00:37:35,970
Speaker 3: face plates. They immediately remove just like yoink that off YOLO,

671
00:37:36,010 --> 00:37:37,430
Speaker 3: some gulps of the atmosphere.

672
00:37:37,630 --> 00:37:39,430
Speaker 2: They tested it. They, they, they know it's good.

673
00:37:39,790 --> 00:37:43,120
Speaker 3: Works fine. Uh, now I wanted to also mention the

674
00:37:43,280 --> 00:37:46,580
Speaker 3: landscape used for this part of the film. It, I

675
00:37:46,620 --> 00:37:49,879
Speaker 3: like it a lot. It's this weird chaotic terrain of

676
00:37:49,900 --> 00:37:55,049
Speaker 3: hardened soil. And then these eroded dry channels looks like

677
00:37:55,110 --> 00:37:58,870
Speaker 3: a place where like a hundred streams once flowed in

678
00:37:58,910 --> 00:38:02,930
Speaker 3: parallel and now everything is dry. Uh, I'm not positive,

679
00:38:03,010 --> 00:38:04,710
Speaker 3: but based on, I was digging around, I found a

680
00:38:04,750 --> 00:38:07,830
Speaker 3: couple of blog posts talking about the movie. And based

681
00:38:07,890 --> 00:38:11,190
Speaker 3: on that, I think maybe this was shot in Romania,

682
00:38:11,250 --> 00:38:16,480
Speaker 3: possibly at the Berca Mud Volcanoes, B-E-R-C-A Mud Volcanoes. And

683
00:38:16,540 --> 00:38:19,360
Speaker 3: I looked that up and saw some shots of landscape

684
00:38:19,420 --> 00:38:20,660
Speaker 3: that looked a lot like this.

685
00:38:21,239 --> 00:38:23,780
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you're correct on this. And I was

686
00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:26,170
Speaker 2: looking around for other films that might have taken advantage

687
00:38:26,210 --> 00:38:29,190
Speaker 2: of this location. And one of them is actually another

688
00:38:29,270 --> 00:38:33,310
Speaker 2: picture on my list of potential Weird House Cinema selections.

689
00:38:34,010 --> 00:38:39,200
Speaker 2: A full moon movie from 1994 called Dark Angel the Ascent. Oh, yeah.

690
00:38:39,219 --> 00:38:42,839
Speaker 2: It's like a fallen angel fantasy comedy. And I didn't

691
00:38:42,860 --> 00:38:45,180
Speaker 2: have time to really peek around in that picture and

692
00:38:45,200 --> 00:38:49,360
Speaker 2: see what and where they might have filmed in Berka.

693
00:38:49,420 --> 00:38:53,080
Speaker 2: But maybe they used it for some of the hell

694
00:38:53,120 --> 00:38:58,469
Speaker 2: scenes there because it is a very apocalyptic, alien-feeling landscape.

695
00:38:58,910 --> 00:39:04,180
Speaker 3: Yeah. So only one crew member stays behind on the

696
00:39:04,219 --> 00:39:06,600
Speaker 3: ship while the others go out to meet the Temians.

697
00:39:06,840 --> 00:39:10,910
Speaker 3: That's Zuko, the navigator. There's a brief conversation between Zuko

698
00:39:10,989 --> 00:39:15,230
Speaker 3: and Akala, the commander. Zuko tells, I'm sorry, I keep

699
00:39:15,250 --> 00:39:17,930
Speaker 3: saying their names differently. It's Zuko and Akala is what

700
00:39:17,950 --> 00:39:20,670
Speaker 3: I'm going to try to say. Zuko tells Akala to

701
00:39:20,710 --> 00:39:24,630
Speaker 3: be careful. And she says, what you mean is be mistrustful.

702
00:39:25,700 --> 00:39:28,919
Speaker 3: We could read this as a personality difference, but You know,

703
00:39:29,080 --> 00:39:31,259
Speaker 3: I kind of interpret it as differences in how these

704
00:39:31,300 --> 00:39:35,580
Speaker 3: characters express duty they're very job oriented you know they're

705
00:39:35,600 --> 00:39:38,340
Speaker 3: trying to do a good job i think akala feels

706
00:39:38,440 --> 00:39:41,180
Speaker 3: that it is the duty of the cosmonauts to be

707
00:39:41,360 --> 00:39:45,740
Speaker 3: diplomatic with alien peoples and that includes coming open-handed assuming

708
00:39:45,800 --> 00:39:50,140
Speaker 3: friendliness that kind of thing whereas Zuko feels a duty

709
00:39:51,239 --> 00:39:54,450
Speaker 3: to be involved in protecting the crew and keeping options open.

710
00:39:54,890 --> 00:39:58,350
Speaker 3: And he actually cites the regulation handbook to justify his

711
00:39:58,390 --> 00:40:00,989
Speaker 3: decision to remain on board the ship. Apparently one crew

712
00:40:01,030 --> 00:40:03,819
Speaker 3: member is supposed to stay behind when a party leaves

713
00:40:04,540 --> 00:40:07,299
Speaker 3: for safety. This is very Star Trek style, citing the

714
00:40:07,340 --> 00:40:12,080
Speaker 3: code like this. So all of the crew, except for Zuko,

715
00:40:12,219 --> 00:40:14,340
Speaker 3: go down to the surface to meet the teamie in

716
00:40:14,380 --> 00:40:18,470
Speaker 3: Welcome Wagon. They are greeted by a single woman alone

717
00:40:18,610 --> 00:40:21,930
Speaker 3: who seems kind of serious, even a little bit sad.

718
00:40:21,950 --> 00:40:23,860
Speaker 3: Is this the character named Chita?

719
00:40:23,880 --> 00:40:29,839
Speaker 2: I believe so. Yeah. And she's she's wearing. I know

720
00:40:29,860 --> 00:40:33,600
Speaker 2: her mode of dress feels less spacey, less space opera.

721
00:40:33,880 --> 00:40:39,330
Speaker 2: And I don't know, we're maybe supposed to already infer

722
00:40:39,370 --> 00:40:43,190
Speaker 2: this is some sort of like indigenous mode of dress. Um, she's, uh,

723
00:40:43,250 --> 00:40:46,069
Speaker 2: you know, an indigenous member of the local, of the

724
00:40:46,170 --> 00:40:47,430
Speaker 2: local planetary population.

725
00:40:47,969 --> 00:40:51,509
Speaker 3: Though at first we're not given any indication that that

726
00:40:51,550 --> 00:40:53,359
Speaker 3: would be anything other than Temian.

727
00:40:53,680 --> 00:40:53,819
Speaker 2: Right.

728
00:40:53,860 --> 00:40:56,219
Speaker 3: Like this is just the Temian planet, right? Yeah.

729
00:40:56,580 --> 00:40:56,739
Speaker 1: Yeah.

730
00:40:56,780 --> 00:40:59,880
Speaker 2: There are more revelations ahead regarding like who's Temian and

731
00:41:00,180 --> 00:41:01,280
Speaker 2: what does it mean to be Temian?

732
00:41:01,660 --> 00:41:04,600
Speaker 3: Yeah. So she leads them into the buggy and they're

733
00:41:04,640 --> 00:41:07,730
Speaker 3: taken to an underground base to meet the Temian leader,

734
00:41:07,910 --> 00:41:09,770
Speaker 3: or at least though they think this will turn out

735
00:41:09,790 --> 00:41:11,710
Speaker 3: to be the second in command. But this is the

736
00:41:11,730 --> 00:41:15,750
Speaker 3: bearded fellow named Ronk. And again, the audience is going

737
00:41:15,770 --> 00:41:18,549
Speaker 3: to recognize this was the guy commanding the sabotage of

738
00:41:18,610 --> 00:41:21,700
Speaker 3: the Sinro that caused the crash landing. But the cosmonauts

739
00:41:21,760 --> 00:41:25,339
Speaker 3: are oblivious to that. Some interesting things about the scene

740
00:41:25,360 --> 00:41:28,120
Speaker 3: where they meet. I don't know if it's supposed to

741
00:41:28,280 --> 00:41:32,080
Speaker 3: read this way. But to me, this place instantly screams

742
00:41:32,200 --> 00:41:34,540
Speaker 3: Bond villain. It's a Bond villain lair.

743
00:41:34,800 --> 00:41:36,220
Speaker 2: Yeah, big soundstage feel.

744
00:41:36,520 --> 00:41:42,180
Speaker 3: Yeah, it feels underground, extravagant, no windows, vaulted ceilings, long

745
00:41:42,280 --> 00:41:47,020
Speaker 3: hallways with sliding doors, gold everywhere, creepy art. It reminds

746
00:41:47,060 --> 00:41:48,100
Speaker 3: me of the base in Dr.

747
00:41:48,160 --> 00:41:51,660
Speaker 2: No. Yeah, yeah, I can see that.

748
00:41:51,910 --> 00:41:55,510
Speaker 3: They come across an artistic flourish that's a little ominous.

749
00:41:55,930 --> 00:42:01,400
Speaker 3: There are decorative hanged men wearing Abstract suggestions of human

750
00:42:01,460 --> 00:42:05,940
Speaker 3: bodies carved in rock hanging from the ceiling from cords

751
00:42:06,160 --> 00:42:07,390
Speaker 3: suspended by the neck.

752
00:42:08,310 --> 00:42:14,410
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it does give us a moment of concern here.

753
00:42:14,930 --> 00:42:16,950
Speaker 2: And I was kind of wondering at this point, it's like,

754
00:42:17,230 --> 00:42:21,350
Speaker 2: what is it? Is it just art or are these

755
00:42:21,370 --> 00:42:23,920
Speaker 2: like alien beings? We don't know yet. We just got here.

756
00:42:24,320 --> 00:42:25,180
Speaker 2: But I guess it's just art.

757
00:42:25,840 --> 00:42:28,219
Speaker 3: I mean, I think it is just art, though. Ultimately,

758
00:42:28,260 --> 00:42:31,989
Speaker 3: I think it may go to, we may understand it

759
00:42:32,390 --> 00:42:35,130
Speaker 3: differently later when we look back on it and see, oh,

760
00:42:35,190 --> 00:42:39,729
Speaker 3: it's part of an aesthetic culture here that prizes domination.

761
00:42:41,890 --> 00:42:44,969
Speaker 3: So anyway, we're about to get some emergency furniture. When

762
00:42:45,090 --> 00:42:48,950
Speaker 3: the cosmonauts arrive, a squad of uniformed Temian men salute

763
00:42:48,989 --> 00:42:51,810
Speaker 3: them hello. And then Ronk comes into the room. And

764
00:42:51,830 --> 00:42:55,190
Speaker 3: then a group of women servants wheel in a fancy

765
00:42:55,290 --> 00:43:00,009
Speaker 3: chaise longue. How do you say that? I think I'm

766
00:43:00,030 --> 00:43:05,350
Speaker 3: saying it right. They bring in the chaise longue and

767
00:43:05,489 --> 00:43:09,290
Speaker 3: he promptly spreads himself out on it like Austin Powers.

768
00:43:10,739 --> 00:43:15,200
Speaker 3: The pose is hilarious. He's propped up on one elbow like, well, hello.

769
00:43:16,500 --> 00:43:18,419
Speaker 2: I giggled both times I watched this scene.

770
00:43:18,560 --> 00:43:22,710
Speaker 3: Yeah. And then the Temian servants scoot in more furniture

771
00:43:22,730 --> 00:43:28,750
Speaker 3: and we're kind of disco chase long, long get longs. Man,

772
00:43:28,790 --> 00:43:31,750
Speaker 3: that word, that word's killing me. Disco chase longs for,

773
00:43:31,930 --> 00:43:35,169
Speaker 3: for each cosmonaut. They all sit down awkwardly. Thob keeps

774
00:43:35,210 --> 00:43:37,710
Speaker 3: like sliding all the way down the curve on his

775
00:43:37,790 --> 00:43:39,350
Speaker 3: until he was supine. Yeah.

776
00:43:39,390 --> 00:43:41,790
Speaker 2: This is the scene where you begin to suspect that

777
00:43:41,830 --> 00:43:44,009
Speaker 2: maybe Thob is just going to be here for comic relief.

778
00:43:44,890 --> 00:43:48,140
Speaker 3: And finally, they are offered mouth spray. This is a

779
00:43:48,200 --> 00:43:52,859
Speaker 3: recurring theme. It's a part of Temian hospitality and party culture.

780
00:43:53,320 --> 00:43:56,610
Speaker 3: You get these differently colored and differently flavored bottles of

781
00:43:56,630 --> 00:44:00,049
Speaker 3: aerosol spray that you squirt into your mouth. And so

782
00:44:00,230 --> 00:44:02,450
Speaker 3: Ronk hands them out and they just take them. They

783
00:44:02,469 --> 00:44:04,710
Speaker 3: just take them and go, okay, gonna give them a squirt.

784
00:44:05,930 --> 00:44:09,380
Speaker 3: Ronk explains that blue is sweet, red is a little spicy.

785
00:44:10,200 --> 00:44:13,400
Speaker 3: I honestly didn't know for sure by the end of

786
00:44:13,420 --> 00:44:16,859
Speaker 3: the movie. Is this more in the food and drink category,

787
00:44:17,040 --> 00:44:19,320
Speaker 3: or is this kind of a drug? Is this like a,

788
00:44:19,340 --> 00:44:22,660
Speaker 3: you know, comparable to a tobacco product or something? I

789
00:44:22,700 --> 00:44:24,260
Speaker 3: really couldn't tell. Yeah.

790
00:44:24,400 --> 00:44:26,779
Speaker 2: I went back and forth on this because yeah, everybody's

791
00:44:26,800 --> 00:44:29,109
Speaker 2: huffing this stuff. And at first I thought it was

792
00:44:29,150 --> 00:44:32,090
Speaker 2: at least a purely recreational thing, you know, drug or not,

793
00:44:32,550 --> 00:44:34,370
Speaker 2: you know, maybe it's like a quick flavor blast and

794
00:44:34,410 --> 00:44:36,649
Speaker 2: it's just part of their culture of meeting people like here,

795
00:44:36,710 --> 00:44:40,430
Speaker 2: have some, have some mouth sprays. Um, later we do

796
00:44:40,489 --> 00:44:45,009
Speaker 2: see more examples of actual traditional food. Um, But these

797
00:44:45,050 --> 00:44:49,390
Speaker 2: also seem equally recreational, like they're pastries, you know, and

798
00:44:49,530 --> 00:44:52,490
Speaker 2: special sweets and all. That made me think, well, maybe

799
00:44:52,530 --> 00:44:57,219
Speaker 2: these sprays are both a recreational thing and their primary

800
00:44:57,300 --> 00:44:59,759
Speaker 2: nutrient source. In the same way that you see these

801
00:44:59,820 --> 00:45:04,540
Speaker 2: various sci-fi pictures from the era, like, well, very much

802
00:45:04,640 --> 00:45:08,160
Speaker 2: like Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, where the Martians have

803
00:45:08,239 --> 00:45:10,670
Speaker 2: pills for all their meals. It's like, here are your

804
00:45:10,690 --> 00:45:12,970
Speaker 2: food pills, and that's just how you eat in the future.

805
00:45:12,989 --> 00:45:16,110
Speaker 2: That's how you eat in space. So maybe the food spray,

806
00:45:16,210 --> 00:45:19,109
Speaker 2: these are food sprays. Maybe that's exactly what it is.

807
00:45:19,130 --> 00:45:20,790
Speaker 2: Sounds great.

808
00:45:20,870 --> 00:45:23,210
Speaker 3: I'd love to replace food with pills.

809
00:45:25,460 --> 00:45:29,359
Speaker 2: But yeah, our newcomers, they just kind of like, they

810
00:45:29,380 --> 00:45:31,739
Speaker 2: try them out. But after a while, they're totally on

811
00:45:31,780 --> 00:45:32,799
Speaker 2: board with the technology.

812
00:45:34,160 --> 00:45:36,279
Speaker 3: So anyway, yeah, they get down to business. I mean,

813
00:45:36,300 --> 00:45:38,700
Speaker 3: they squirt. A good bit in their mouths for a

814
00:45:38,739 --> 00:45:42,189
Speaker 3: while here. They get down to business. Akala explains why

815
00:45:42,230 --> 00:45:46,210
Speaker 3: they've come, and Ronk somewhat glibly tells them that the

816
00:45:46,290 --> 00:45:49,029
Speaker 3: distress call was just a mistake and the Temians have

817
00:45:49,190 --> 00:45:50,310
Speaker 3: no need for assistance.

818
00:45:50,910 --> 00:45:54,380
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think he later expands on this and says, like, oh,

819
00:45:54,420 --> 00:45:56,860
Speaker 2: you know, we had just installed a new system and

820
00:45:56,920 --> 00:45:57,940
Speaker 2: we tested it out.

821
00:45:58,020 --> 00:45:58,239
Speaker 3: Yeah.

822
00:45:59,040 --> 00:46:01,940
Speaker 2: And yeah, so just disregard that. That cry for help

823
00:46:01,980 --> 00:46:03,430
Speaker 2: was just a test. Don't worry about it.

824
00:46:03,690 --> 00:46:06,569
Speaker 3: The test says, help us please. Yes. Instead of this

825
00:46:06,650 --> 00:46:07,150
Speaker 3: is a test.

826
00:46:07,210 --> 00:46:07,370
Speaker 1: Yeah.

827
00:46:08,330 --> 00:46:11,489
Speaker 3: Uh, so Thob responds that they they've really come a

828
00:46:11,530 --> 00:46:14,410
Speaker 3: long way for such a short answer, which prompts much

829
00:46:14,510 --> 00:46:20,710
Speaker 3: laughter from the team. He ends like, yeah, Dusty's good. Um, but, uh, anyway,

830
00:46:21,250 --> 00:46:23,950
Speaker 3: Akala seems a little annoyed, but she says in that case, okay,

831
00:46:23,989 --> 00:46:26,259
Speaker 3: they're going to leave and they do. So the cosmonauts

832
00:46:26,300 --> 00:46:27,839
Speaker 3: head back to the ship. So it seems like this

833
00:46:27,860 --> 00:46:29,000
Speaker 3: could all wrap up pretty quick.

834
00:46:29,020 --> 00:46:29,180
Speaker 2: Yeah.

835
00:46:29,280 --> 00:46:35,850
Speaker 3: Uneventful. Meanwhile, We see armed Temian soldiers watching on from

836
00:46:35,910 --> 00:46:39,070
Speaker 3: behind a drawn gate. They are dressed in these orange

837
00:46:39,130 --> 00:46:43,680
Speaker 3: jumpsuits with bizarre three lobed helmets. Look like some kind

838
00:46:43,719 --> 00:46:48,180
Speaker 3: of marine gonads or something. These weird helmets. And they're like,

839
00:46:48,219 --> 00:46:50,000
Speaker 3: why did the boss let him go? You know, shouldn't

840
00:46:50,020 --> 00:46:54,700
Speaker 3: we be vaporizing them? Well, maybe Ronk is planning to

841
00:46:54,800 --> 00:46:57,520
Speaker 3: snipe the cosmonauts on their way out. But whatever plans

842
00:46:57,560 --> 00:46:59,299
Speaker 3: he had, we never get to find out what they

843
00:46:59,340 --> 00:47:04,060
Speaker 3: were because Ronk gets his boss on the radio. And

844
00:47:04,080 --> 00:47:07,589
Speaker 3: his boss, somebody we haven't met yet, tells him there

845
00:47:07,630 --> 00:47:11,009
Speaker 3: is no violence allowed. They need to flatter the cosmonauts

846
00:47:11,110 --> 00:47:13,969
Speaker 3: into leaving. And they're going to have to invite them

847
00:47:14,010 --> 00:47:18,030
Speaker 3: to a big midnight party and show them a good time. Now, initially,

848
00:47:18,050 --> 00:47:20,870
Speaker 3: this part I did not really understand because it was like,

849
00:47:20,950 --> 00:47:23,759
Speaker 3: the cosmonauts are about to leave. They're about to leave anyway,

850
00:47:23,800 --> 00:47:26,140
Speaker 3: so why do you need to further convince them to leave?

851
00:47:26,160 --> 00:47:29,120
Speaker 3: I think maybe the party is going to be necessary

852
00:47:29,180 --> 00:47:34,340
Speaker 3: for a little ultrasound brainwashing to clean up the situation

853
00:47:34,360 --> 00:47:34,580
Speaker 3: a bit.

854
00:47:34,600 --> 00:47:38,090
Speaker 2: Yeah, because I think they realize that Akala is suspicious.

855
00:47:38,739 --> 00:47:40,430
Speaker 2: And even though she says they're going to leave, I

856
00:47:40,590 --> 00:47:42,570
Speaker 2: think she's already mentioned, well, it's going to take us

857
00:47:42,590 --> 00:47:44,210
Speaker 2: a couple of days to get the ship ready to

858
00:47:44,250 --> 00:47:47,440
Speaker 2: take off again. And they know that there's she's going

859
00:47:47,460 --> 00:47:49,680
Speaker 2: to poke around. She's going to maybe go somewhere she

860
00:47:49,719 --> 00:47:52,710
Speaker 2: shouldn't go, see some things she shouldn't see. And therefore,

861
00:47:52,730 --> 00:47:55,029
Speaker 2: we need to do more than just tell them they

862
00:47:55,070 --> 00:47:58,629
Speaker 2: need to leave. We need to make sure that they

863
00:47:58,690 --> 00:48:00,930
Speaker 2: forget about their suspicions entirely.

864
00:48:01,760 --> 00:48:06,300
Speaker 3: Also, we later discovered that the Temians are very anxious

865
00:48:06,500 --> 00:48:10,549
Speaker 3: about the idea that the Sinro crew has been conducting

866
00:48:10,610 --> 00:48:14,450
Speaker 3: reconnaissance they're very concerned about like aerial photographs and all

867
00:48:14,510 --> 00:48:17,890
Speaker 3: that yeah uh and so like there's even an interrogation

868
00:48:17,930 --> 00:48:20,440
Speaker 3: scene about that later so they could be trying to

869
00:48:20,560 --> 00:48:33,620
Speaker 3: to preempt anything like that happening yeah Anyway, uh, so

870
00:48:33,739 --> 00:48:36,840
Speaker 3: Ronk invites the crew of the ship to return in

871
00:48:36,880 --> 00:48:39,040
Speaker 3: the evening for a Temian party where there's going to

872
00:48:39,060 --> 00:48:44,250
Speaker 3: be food and drink, drugs, dancing, debauchery. Uh, Kata comes

873
00:48:44,310 --> 00:48:47,310
Speaker 3: to their spaceship with a big key ring and each member,

874
00:48:47,370 --> 00:48:49,670
Speaker 3: each crew member gets this kind of penis shaped key

875
00:48:49,750 --> 00:48:51,150
Speaker 3: as an invitation to the party.

876
00:48:51,489 --> 00:48:54,549
Speaker 2: Or it's a T for Temian. It's just the style. Oh,

877
00:48:54,610 --> 00:48:55,570
Speaker 2: that's the other possibility.

878
00:48:55,590 --> 00:48:57,700
Speaker 3: Maybe my brain is in the gutter, but again, I

879
00:48:57,760 --> 00:48:59,420
Speaker 3: think it thematically makes sense.

880
00:48:59,660 --> 00:49:00,900
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Yeah.

881
00:49:00,920 --> 00:49:05,360
Speaker 3: Um, So the crew accepts the invitation and all of

882
00:49:05,420 --> 00:49:09,080
Speaker 3: them go to the party, except for, again, the navigator Zuko,

883
00:49:09,200 --> 00:49:12,890
Speaker 3: who once again stays behind on the ship. And by

884
00:49:12,910 --> 00:49:15,770
Speaker 3: the way, there was a thing that happened earlier while

885
00:49:15,810 --> 00:49:19,110
Speaker 3: the rest of the crew was away. Zuko detected evidence

886
00:49:19,210 --> 00:49:23,180
Speaker 3: that the crash location. was caused by the Temians and

887
00:49:23,700 --> 00:49:27,819
Speaker 3: that the Temians of Tem of Tem, T-E-M of Tem 4,

888
00:49:27,820 --> 00:49:31,779
Speaker 3: however you say that, the other planet, or sorry, Tem

889
00:49:31,780 --> 00:49:34,170
Speaker 3: 4 is the planet they're on right now. He figured

890
00:49:34,210 --> 00:49:39,020
Speaker 3: out that they're receiving orders from a different planet, Tem 3.

891
00:49:39,020 --> 00:49:41,600
Speaker 3: But Akula says, you know, it's going to take a

892
00:49:41,660 --> 00:49:43,760
Speaker 3: long time to get the ship ready for takeoff anyway,

893
00:49:43,820 --> 00:49:45,780
Speaker 3: so might as well go to the party. So everybody

894
00:49:45,820 --> 00:49:49,620
Speaker 3: except Zuko goes. Time to talk about this party. I

895
00:49:49,660 --> 00:49:53,100
Speaker 3: think the stylistic centerpiece of the movie, wouldn't you agree?

896
00:49:53,780 --> 00:49:56,460
Speaker 2: Absolutely. I think this occurs, like, it's really only like

897
00:49:56,460 --> 00:49:58,940
Speaker 2: 20 minutes into the film that we end up here.

898
00:49:59,340 --> 00:50:02,580
Speaker 2: And at this point, you realize, if you had any doubts,

899
00:50:02,820 --> 00:50:05,580
Speaker 2: it has been 20 minutes well spent because this party

900
00:50:05,600 --> 00:50:09,359
Speaker 2: scene is just amazing. Yes, it's every... everything you could

901
00:50:09,380 --> 00:50:13,620
Speaker 2: possibly want. This is where those Euro disco vibes really

902
00:50:13,660 --> 00:50:15,420
Speaker 2: begin to kick in strongly.

903
00:50:15,910 --> 00:50:18,910
Speaker 3: So it has dancers, lots of dancers. I mean, it's

904
00:50:18,950 --> 00:50:21,790
Speaker 3: almost like more dancers than party goers.

905
00:50:21,830 --> 00:50:24,410
Speaker 2: Yeah, they clearly brought in at least one dance troupe

906
00:50:24,469 --> 00:50:25,790
Speaker 2: to realize this sequence.

907
00:50:25,930 --> 00:50:30,569
Speaker 3: Yeah. So dancers in like faux ancient Egyptian costumes and

908
00:50:30,610 --> 00:50:35,840
Speaker 3: makeup style with jeweled metallic bikinis draped with sheer gowns.

909
00:50:36,580 --> 00:50:41,380
Speaker 3: There is like There are these gold framed suspension chairs

910
00:50:41,460 --> 00:50:44,120
Speaker 3: hanging from the ceiling and people just twirling around in

911
00:50:44,200 --> 00:50:48,379
Speaker 3: them under weird trumpet shaped paper light fixtures and other

912
00:50:48,400 --> 00:50:53,989
Speaker 3: kinds of East German deco luxe accents. Meanwhile, the cosmonauts

913
00:50:54,200 --> 00:50:59,250
Speaker 3: arrive wearing red leather jumpsuits with wide collars and bell

914
00:50:59,310 --> 00:51:03,670
Speaker 3: bottoms on the pant legs. These jumpsuits are everything. I

915
00:51:03,870 --> 00:51:08,109
Speaker 3: love them. Everybody should. National emergency. We've got to issue

916
00:51:08,150 --> 00:51:10,510
Speaker 3: a pair of these to every person in the country.

917
00:51:10,850 --> 00:51:14,270
Speaker 2: These are amazing. I love a good jumpsuit, a good

918
00:51:14,310 --> 00:51:19,110
Speaker 2: sci-fi jumpsuit in the picture. They have this dark red color.

919
00:51:19,170 --> 00:51:22,419
Speaker 2: They have these big belt buckles. The ladies look great

920
00:51:22,460 --> 00:51:25,460
Speaker 2: in these. And even Thob looks super cool in this getup.

921
00:51:25,820 --> 00:51:28,620
Speaker 3: Thob was made to wear this thing, baby.

922
00:51:29,980 --> 00:51:33,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, these look amazing. Great costumes. And certainly this is

923
00:51:33,200 --> 00:51:35,220
Speaker 2: an area where I can definitely compare it to Planet

924
00:51:35,239 --> 00:51:38,290
Speaker 2: of the Vampires. If for no other reason, because Planet

925
00:51:38,310 --> 00:51:41,810
Speaker 2: of the Vampires, they're just great costuming, like great, like

926
00:51:41,969 --> 00:51:47,440
Speaker 2: kind of like fashionable leather looking spacesuits in here. This

927
00:51:47,480 --> 00:51:49,740
Speaker 2: is evening wear. It's not spacesuits. It's just your evening

928
00:51:50,080 --> 00:51:52,400
Speaker 2: wear jumpsuit. And yeah, it looks amazing.

929
00:51:52,820 --> 00:51:54,980
Speaker 3: Now I can't verify it's real leather. These might be

930
00:51:55,020 --> 00:51:56,380
Speaker 3: like Naugahyde jumpsuits.

931
00:51:56,540 --> 00:51:59,529
Speaker 2: Yeah, I have no idea if they sourced it or

932
00:51:59,680 --> 00:52:01,569
Speaker 2: in universe what it could be made from. It could

933
00:52:01,590 --> 00:52:04,590
Speaker 2: be they just printed these out. Like it's like the, uh,

934
00:52:04,610 --> 00:52:07,569
Speaker 2: you know, replicator on the star Trek, uh, vessels where

935
00:52:07,590 --> 00:52:09,650
Speaker 2: they just like, okay, we need jumpsuits for the evening.

936
00:52:09,710 --> 00:52:12,270
Speaker 2: What color? Uh, let's go dark red belt buckle. Yes.

937
00:52:12,350 --> 00:52:12,549
Speaker 1: No.

938
00:52:12,670 --> 00:52:13,650
Speaker 2: Yes. Print them out.

939
00:52:14,430 --> 00:52:17,830
Speaker 3: Awesome. Uh, so also at the party, there's plenty of food.

940
00:52:17,870 --> 00:52:21,469
Speaker 3: There's a buffet full of pastries and cut fruit and flowers.

941
00:52:21,510 --> 00:52:24,879
Speaker 3: And the buffet line is just covered in snakes, got

942
00:52:24,950 --> 00:52:28,500
Speaker 3: giant boa constrictors coming down from the ceiling and just

943
00:52:28,600 --> 00:52:30,400
Speaker 3: crawling on the dishes. Yeah.

944
00:52:30,500 --> 00:52:33,940
Speaker 2: Like, um, Not in a Indiana Jones and the Temple

945
00:52:33,980 --> 00:52:36,850
Speaker 2: of Doom way. Like we're not, we're not, it's never

946
00:52:36,870 --> 00:52:39,210
Speaker 2: suggested that people were eating these snakes. These snakes.

947
00:52:39,250 --> 00:52:40,510
Speaker 3: This is an enhancement.

948
00:52:40,670 --> 00:52:43,410
Speaker 2: Yeah. These constrictor snakes are just hanging out. They're just

949
00:52:43,489 --> 00:52:46,210
Speaker 2: crawling over the table and it's totally fine. They're just

950
00:52:46,270 --> 00:52:48,210
Speaker 2: here for, for vibe and decor.

951
00:52:48,930 --> 00:52:51,550
Speaker 3: Oh, you've never had a pastry that's had a snake

952
00:52:51,570 --> 00:52:54,819
Speaker 3: slither over it. That's like an extra level of seasoning.

953
00:52:54,840 --> 00:52:54,910
Speaker 2: Yeah.

954
00:52:57,030 --> 00:53:00,350
Speaker 3: Uh, so at the party, let's see, uh, Ronk talks

955
00:53:00,430 --> 00:53:04,219
Speaker 3: to Akala about how it's foolish to just broadcast your

956
00:53:04,239 --> 00:53:07,120
Speaker 3: existence into the galaxy. Like, hello, we're here. You never

957
00:53:07,180 --> 00:53:09,259
Speaker 3: know who might show up. So he, he makes it

958
00:53:09,280 --> 00:53:11,600
Speaker 3: clear that like, you know, whatever our scientists thought we

959
00:53:11,620 --> 00:53:14,140
Speaker 3: should test our radio equipment. I didn't even think that

960
00:53:14,160 --> 00:53:15,250
Speaker 3: was a good idea. Yeah.

961
00:53:15,469 --> 00:53:15,649
Speaker 2: Yeah.

962
00:53:16,330 --> 00:53:19,609
Speaker 3: Uh, anyway, uh, Thob and the others, they play some

963
00:53:19,650 --> 00:53:23,350
Speaker 3: kind of beer pong type game where they are dropping

964
00:53:23,410 --> 00:53:26,360
Speaker 3: little ping pong balls off a table into their clothes.

965
00:53:26,380 --> 00:53:26,470
Speaker 2: Yeah.

966
00:53:27,390 --> 00:53:29,650
Speaker 3: Um, and like Bob is like dropping it into his

967
00:53:29,710 --> 00:53:32,089
Speaker 3: chest and everybody thinks that's really funny. Yeah.

968
00:53:32,150 --> 00:53:34,270
Speaker 2: He's like winning room. I'm, you know, I'm, I'm here to, uh,

969
00:53:35,150 --> 00:53:36,230
Speaker 2: to connect with the locals.

970
00:53:37,700 --> 00:53:41,600
Speaker 3: Uh, we observe Ronk and some of the other teaming

971
00:53:41,620 --> 00:53:46,000
Speaker 3: men casually abusing the servants. Uh, this is something that

972
00:53:46,020 --> 00:53:48,540
Speaker 3: just kind of happens quickly and then it moves on from,

973
00:53:48,600 --> 00:53:52,320
Speaker 3: but I think it's something that maybe our crew members,

974
00:53:52,380 --> 00:53:55,140
Speaker 3: the cosmonauts don't really see, but we, the audience do

975
00:53:55,180 --> 00:53:58,819
Speaker 3: another level of irony there. So like the woman who

976
00:53:59,040 --> 00:54:01,960
Speaker 3: first greeted them in the buggy in the desert when

977
00:54:01,980 --> 00:54:05,600
Speaker 3: they arrived, she's now serving drinks at the party. And

978
00:54:05,840 --> 00:54:08,719
Speaker 3: when she arrives at Ronk, there is no drink left

979
00:54:08,820 --> 00:54:10,920
Speaker 3: on her tray and he just slaps her in the face.

980
00:54:10,960 --> 00:54:12,340
Speaker 3: But he's smiling when he does it.

981
00:54:12,560 --> 00:54:14,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, but it is not a playful slap or a

982
00:54:14,640 --> 00:54:18,330
Speaker 2: playful smile. He has that lupine grin like this is

983
00:54:18,430 --> 00:54:21,130
Speaker 2: a there's a casual cruelty to this that makes us

984
00:54:21,330 --> 00:54:24,839
Speaker 2: if we didn't suspect it already. we begin to realize, okay,

985
00:54:24,860 --> 00:54:28,379
Speaker 2: something is not right here. These Temians are not just

986
00:54:28,440 --> 00:54:31,060
Speaker 2: about fun, crazy good times.

987
00:54:31,640 --> 00:54:34,259
Speaker 3: No, it seems like they're actually doing a lot of

988
00:54:34,320 --> 00:54:39,129
Speaker 3: nasty stuff when the visitors aren't looking. So Thob is

989
00:54:39,370 --> 00:54:43,130
Speaker 3: taken away to a weird outdoor statue park where some

990
00:54:43,150 --> 00:54:45,310
Speaker 3: of the dancers get sexy with him. I'm not sure

991
00:54:45,410 --> 00:54:48,690
Speaker 3: how far we're supposed to understand this goes, but he's,

992
00:54:48,950 --> 00:54:50,710
Speaker 3: I don't know, he's getting up to something out there

993
00:54:50,750 --> 00:54:54,590
Speaker 3: with him. Uh, and then, uh, late, but also this

994
00:54:54,910 --> 00:54:57,730
Speaker 3: is not treated like it's any problem. It's just, again,

995
00:54:57,790 --> 00:55:00,310
Speaker 3: it's a very, uh, feels like a very sex positive

996
00:55:00,370 --> 00:55:03,390
Speaker 3: culture on both sides. And, and at least that respect.

997
00:55:03,510 --> 00:55:05,859
Speaker 2: Yeah. They're not like, there's not like a strong sense of, oh,

998
00:55:05,890 --> 00:55:08,960
Speaker 2: the sirens have got Bob. What's going to happen to Bob?

999
00:55:08,980 --> 00:55:10,259
Speaker 2: It's like, I don't know. I guess Bob can look

1000
00:55:10,300 --> 00:55:13,180
Speaker 2: after himself. He knows what sort of party he's at.

1001
00:55:13,719 --> 00:55:17,920
Speaker 3: Yeah. So later we get people dancing on suspended beds,

1002
00:55:18,020 --> 00:55:22,120
Speaker 3: hanging from the ceiling and And trapeze artists falling into

1003
00:55:22,140 --> 00:55:25,300
Speaker 3: a giant net. There's just a lot, a lot, a

1004
00:55:25,360 --> 00:55:29,480
Speaker 3: lot going on. Eventually at the party, all of the

1005
00:55:29,560 --> 00:55:34,620
Speaker 3: cosmonauts start to be subjected to some kind of procedure.

1006
00:55:35,400 --> 00:55:38,200
Speaker 3: We see little frames of each one. They're not all

1007
00:55:38,260 --> 00:55:41,890
Speaker 3: standing together. They're all in different little corners of the party.

1008
00:55:42,290 --> 00:55:45,330
Speaker 3: But these different frames appear on screen side by side,

1009
00:55:45,370 --> 00:55:48,730
Speaker 3: like the Brady Bunch, all standing. all together at once,

1010
00:55:49,010 --> 00:55:53,830
Speaker 3: and each guest we see has a spot of concentrated

1011
00:55:53,989 --> 00:55:57,840
Speaker 3: bright light shining on their forehead, and there's this eerie

1012
00:55:57,980 --> 00:56:02,319
Speaker 3: rattlesnake sound that plays along with it. We see that

1013
00:56:02,360 --> 00:56:05,299
Speaker 3: they are being beamed with something, something that puts them

1014
00:56:05,320 --> 00:56:09,390
Speaker 3: in a trance, and that Ronk suggests will make them forget,

1015
00:56:09,530 --> 00:56:13,770
Speaker 3: forget about the distress call and about everything else. I

1016
00:56:13,810 --> 00:56:16,230
Speaker 3: think Thob is the last guy they're able to get.

1017
00:56:16,250 --> 00:56:17,989
Speaker 2: Yeah, they had to bring him back inside from the

1018
00:56:18,010 --> 00:56:19,650
Speaker 2: sculpture garden. Yeah, yeah.

1019
00:56:19,710 --> 00:56:21,710
Speaker 3: So he was out there doing whatever, and they're like,

1020
00:56:22,010 --> 00:56:26,840
Speaker 3: get him inside. It's time to zap his brain. So eventually,

1021
00:56:27,070 --> 00:56:29,900
Speaker 3: they come back to the Sinro, to the spaceship, and

1022
00:56:29,940 --> 00:56:32,420
Speaker 3: they're dancing the new dances. Yeah, they're kind of like

1023
00:56:32,440 --> 00:56:34,650
Speaker 3: going like this. They're all very happy. Yeah, yeah. And

1024
00:56:34,690 --> 00:56:37,009
Speaker 3: they brought spray cans with them. They're still spraying the

1025
00:56:37,090 --> 00:56:38,880
Speaker 3: aerosol in their mouths. They really enjoyed this party.

1026
00:56:38,890 --> 00:56:40,759
Speaker 2: Bob, I think, was the thoughtful one because he was

1027
00:56:40,780 --> 00:56:42,259
Speaker 2: thinking of Zuko. And he's like, hey, I've got to

1028
00:56:42,280 --> 00:56:43,580
Speaker 2: bring some of this back for Zuko. He's got to

1029
00:56:43,620 --> 00:56:45,500
Speaker 2: try this. He's going to love it.

1030
00:56:45,640 --> 00:56:47,640
Speaker 3: When he gets to Zuko, he's like, do you see

1031
00:56:47,680 --> 00:56:50,299
Speaker 3: the holes in my uniform? They were burned by the

1032
00:56:50,540 --> 00:56:53,430
Speaker 3: eyes of the beautiful Temian women. Yes.

1033
00:56:54,270 --> 00:56:57,529
Speaker 2: I like that. I had not heard that before in English.

1034
00:56:57,550 --> 00:57:00,129
Speaker 3: It sounds like he was suggesting that he was being

1035
00:57:00,330 --> 00:57:01,109
Speaker 3: ogled by them.

1036
00:57:01,670 --> 00:57:01,970
Speaker 2: Yeah.

1037
00:57:02,110 --> 00:57:02,420
Speaker 3: I mean..

1038
00:57:03,150 --> 00:57:06,029
Speaker 2: I mean, it's a cool jumpsuit. There's no denying it.

1039
00:57:07,590 --> 00:57:11,479
Speaker 3: But anyway, so there is a problem. Zuko notices this.

1040
00:57:12,060 --> 00:57:14,739
Speaker 3: The people coming back to the ship have been changed

1041
00:57:14,840 --> 00:57:17,980
Speaker 3: in some way. After they get back to the ship,

1042
00:57:18,040 --> 00:57:21,660
Speaker 3: still dancing and singing, it becomes clear that something has

1043
00:57:21,720 --> 00:57:25,240
Speaker 3: happened to their minds. It seems like they are not

1044
00:57:25,560 --> 00:57:31,200
Speaker 3: able to think about or discuss certain topics, like the crash.

1045
00:57:31,930 --> 00:57:35,580
Speaker 3: or the distress call. And when these topics come up,

1046
00:57:35,680 --> 00:57:39,760
Speaker 3: generally when Zuko brings them up, the people who went

1047
00:57:39,780 --> 00:57:43,020
Speaker 3: to the party start suffering some kind of mental distress.

1048
00:57:43,100 --> 00:57:46,380
Speaker 3: Like if Zuko brings up the crash, the other cosmonauts

1049
00:57:46,440 --> 00:57:49,300
Speaker 3: just clam up and clutch their heads in pain with

1050
00:57:49,360 --> 00:57:51,780
Speaker 3: this ominous music playing on the soundtrack.

1051
00:57:52,020 --> 00:57:54,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like we get a momentary ice cream headache,

1052
00:57:54,900 --> 00:57:56,780
Speaker 2: but then just have to sort of change the topic,

1053
00:57:56,840 --> 00:58:01,260
Speaker 2: like come back to something else. They can't even mentally...

1054
00:58:01,770 --> 00:58:03,470
Speaker 2: you know, direct their thoughts in that direction.

1055
00:58:03,830 --> 00:58:07,370
Speaker 3: Yeah. The cosmonauts who went to the party often also

1056
00:58:07,670 --> 00:58:11,340
Speaker 3: repeat this line about the Temians being very fun people.

1057
00:58:11,680 --> 00:58:12,560
Speaker 2: And a little bit crazy.

1058
00:58:12,940 --> 00:58:14,800
Speaker 3: Yeah, and a little bit crazy. They say the line

1059
00:58:14,840 --> 00:58:19,220
Speaker 3: like it's been programmed into them. So Zuko knows something

1060
00:58:19,260 --> 00:58:22,460
Speaker 3: is wrong. He reveals to Akula the transmission that he

1061
00:58:22,500 --> 00:58:26,020
Speaker 3: intercepted before from Tem 3, giving orders to the Temians

1062
00:58:26,060 --> 00:58:29,480
Speaker 3: here on Tem 4. And he puts together a hypothesis

1063
00:58:29,540 --> 00:58:33,600
Speaker 3: that the people on Tim 4 are actually colonists from

1064
00:58:33,660 --> 00:58:38,470
Speaker 3: Tim 3. Akula, seemingly still operating under the influence of

1065
00:58:38,510 --> 00:58:42,090
Speaker 3: the party, whatever this happened to her brain was, she's

1066
00:58:42,130 --> 00:58:45,980
Speaker 3: not really interested in this. Zuko also has a conversation

1067
00:58:46,040 --> 00:58:49,520
Speaker 3: with Mew about the Temians. She repeats the same line

1068
00:58:49,560 --> 00:58:52,040
Speaker 3: about how there is no problem and they're very fun people.

1069
00:58:53,100 --> 00:58:57,510
Speaker 3: And then we get this random musical dance sequence where

1070
00:58:57,780 --> 00:59:02,070
Speaker 3: Mew dances naked in silhouette against this wall of dim

1071
00:59:02,170 --> 00:59:06,689
Speaker 3: yellow light panels. It's very stylish. It's an interesting scene.

1072
00:59:06,730 --> 00:59:09,730
Speaker 3: It feels like something, though, that the look of it

1073
00:59:09,770 --> 00:59:12,000
Speaker 3: feels like a James Bond opening credits.

1074
00:59:12,140 --> 00:59:17,100
Speaker 2: Yeah, it really does. It's very stylized. Very sexy and

1075
00:59:17,120 --> 00:59:20,820
Speaker 2: just very well executed. It's a stunning sequence.

1076
00:59:21,390 --> 00:59:23,310
Speaker 3: I was wondering, do you think, so you think this

1077
00:59:23,330 --> 00:59:25,430
Speaker 3: has like plot and character significance?

1078
00:59:26,030 --> 00:59:27,930
Speaker 2: I mean, I think you could go either way. There's

1079
00:59:27,950 --> 00:59:30,070
Speaker 2: certainly a strong argument to be made that they just

1080
00:59:30,130 --> 00:59:33,580
Speaker 2: included it because it's just stylish and sexy and fun.

1081
00:59:34,500 --> 00:59:37,120
Speaker 2: But you could also, because again, the other thing to

1082
00:59:37,140 --> 00:59:39,420
Speaker 2: think about is it's not the only time we have,

1083
00:59:40,680 --> 00:59:43,480
Speaker 2: you know, interpretive and or modern dance utilized in a

1084
00:59:43,500 --> 00:59:46,840
Speaker 2: way that seems to be, you know, leaning into the

1085
00:59:46,910 --> 00:59:51,070
Speaker 2: art form to do something narratively or reveal something about character.

1086
00:59:51,570 --> 00:59:57,280
Speaker 2: And so my interpretation could be here that Mew is like,

1087
00:59:57,300 --> 01:00:00,740
Speaker 2: she wants to address these issues that Zuko is bringing up,

1088
01:00:01,420 --> 01:00:03,500
Speaker 2: but she has this mental block. There's some reason that

1089
01:00:03,540 --> 01:00:07,160
Speaker 2: she can't go there. And so this brief dance number

1090
01:00:07,260 --> 01:00:14,590
Speaker 2: is like, it's displaying her attempt to express herself and

1091
01:00:14,630 --> 01:00:16,710
Speaker 2: being unable to. Because in the dance, we see her

1092
01:00:16,770 --> 01:00:19,439
Speaker 2: kind of like, you know, hitting these poses, but also

1093
01:00:19,500 --> 01:00:21,860
Speaker 2: kind of like collapsing and then getting back up again. Um,

1094
01:00:22,820 --> 01:00:25,030
Speaker 2: so I think there might be something to that, but

1095
01:00:25,310 --> 01:00:28,410
Speaker 2: also the interpretation that this is just here for, um,

1096
01:00:28,530 --> 01:00:29,810
Speaker 2: aesthetic values, I think is.

1097
01:00:29,750 --> 01:00:30,530
Speaker 3: Also pretty valid.

1098
01:00:31,250 --> 01:00:31,410
Speaker 2: Hmm.

1099
01:00:31,870 --> 01:00:33,250
Speaker 3: I guess I'm gonna have to think more about that.

1100
01:00:33,890 --> 01:00:35,950
Speaker 2: Yeah. Because it's not like there is some sort of,

1101
01:00:36,590 --> 01:00:38,310
Speaker 2: it's the sort of dance, not just like a happy

1102
01:00:38,350 --> 01:00:41,010
Speaker 2: go lucky dance number. Like there is a certain amount

1103
01:00:41,090 --> 01:00:43,920
Speaker 2: of like darkness to it. Uh, I mean, it is

1104
01:00:43,940 --> 01:00:47,860
Speaker 2: of course in silhouette, uh, but yeah, there's, I don't know.

1105
01:00:47,880 --> 01:00:51,520
Speaker 2: It seems like she's channeling some emotion here. It's, it's

1106
01:00:51,580 --> 01:00:53,920
Speaker 2: not just like, okay, we got 10 minutes to kill.

1107
01:00:54,040 --> 01:00:55,660
Speaker 2: Let's have one of our characters dance for you.

1108
01:00:56,120 --> 01:00:59,140
Speaker 3: So anyway, after this, uh, Zuko also speaks with the

1109
01:00:59,180 --> 01:01:02,780
Speaker 3: ship's doctor who is also, she's on board with, you know,

1110
01:01:02,800 --> 01:01:05,060
Speaker 3: just leaving as soon as the ship is ready. Uh,

1111
01:01:05,280 --> 01:01:08,480
Speaker 3: but Zuko knows something is wrong. So on his own initiative,

1112
01:01:09,080 --> 01:01:12,200
Speaker 3: he sneaks out into the night to explore the planet

1113
01:01:12,400 --> 01:01:16,350
Speaker 3: on his own. And here is where the movie, where

1114
01:01:16,370 --> 01:01:20,030
Speaker 3: the plot takes a turn, I think, and becomes more serious.

1115
01:01:20,530 --> 01:01:24,230
Speaker 3: Because out in the chaotic, muddy hills, Zuko finds a

1116
01:01:24,270 --> 01:01:29,010
Speaker 3: little hut concealing an access hatch that descends into the earth.

1117
01:01:29,720 --> 01:01:34,400
Speaker 3: He goes down and emerges into a vast, dark cavern.

1118
01:01:34,420 --> 01:01:38,320
Speaker 3: I think this was shot inside an actual abandoned salt mine.

1119
01:01:38,340 --> 01:01:44,090
Speaker 3: It's a very bleak and haunting set or location. where

1120
01:01:44,110 --> 01:01:48,210
Speaker 3: you've got this huge open cavern under the earth. You know,

1121
01:01:48,310 --> 01:01:50,110
Speaker 3: you can't see all the way to the ends. It

1122
01:01:50,130 --> 01:01:55,320
Speaker 3: just vanishes into darkness. And there are these very sketchy

1123
01:01:55,360 --> 01:01:59,020
Speaker 3: looking metal stairs descending in a zigzag down a huge

1124
01:01:59,100 --> 01:02:02,500
Speaker 3: flat rock wall with like no posts going down below them.

1125
01:02:02,740 --> 01:02:06,780
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. It looked absolutely nightmare fuel here. And we

1126
01:02:06,820 --> 01:02:08,950
Speaker 2: keep seeing, I think on a couple of occasions, we

1127
01:02:08,990 --> 01:02:11,689
Speaker 2: see someone take a terrifying stunt fall off of these

1128
01:02:11,750 --> 01:02:15,000
Speaker 2: with the handrails coming free. So it just feels like

1129
01:02:15,040 --> 01:02:17,480
Speaker 2: these are not well-made. Nobody should be climbing up and

1130
01:02:17,520 --> 01:02:18,160
Speaker 2: down these things.

1131
01:02:19,120 --> 01:02:23,630
Speaker 3: So down at the bottom in this cavern, Zuko discovers

1132
01:02:24,230 --> 01:02:28,530
Speaker 3: thousands of laborers working in a mine. These people are

1133
01:02:28,710 --> 01:02:33,660
Speaker 3: smashing rocks and hefting ore into carts. They're being monitored

1134
01:02:33,780 --> 01:02:38,380
Speaker 3: by armed guards. They're slaves. It turns out the very

1135
01:02:38,500 --> 01:02:43,080
Speaker 3: fun Temians are are actually the ruling class on this planet,

1136
01:02:43,100 --> 01:02:46,060
Speaker 3: not the only people on this planet. And the vast

1137
01:02:46,160 --> 01:02:48,780
Speaker 3: majority of people on this planet, it seems, the people

1138
01:02:48,820 --> 01:02:53,100
Speaker 3: who do the work that make Temian society possible are

1139
01:02:53,320 --> 01:02:56,180
Speaker 3: slaves performing hard labor at gunpoint.

1140
01:02:57,040 --> 01:02:59,040
Speaker 2: And I guess if we were to sort of try

1141
01:02:59,080 --> 01:03:01,080
Speaker 2: and apply this and try to figure out what this

1142
01:03:01,320 --> 01:03:05,150
Speaker 2: film is maybe saying politically, it's kind of like maybe

1143
01:03:05,190 --> 01:03:08,390
Speaker 2: making the argument that, okay, you have the glitz and

1144
01:03:08,410 --> 01:03:14,300
Speaker 2: the glamour and the hedonistic indulgence of Western society. But

1145
01:03:14,380 --> 01:03:17,440
Speaker 2: underneath all of it, there is oppression, and it's all

1146
01:03:17,580 --> 01:03:21,730
Speaker 2: built upon the bones of oppression. And I mean, like

1147
01:03:21,770 --> 01:03:23,850
Speaker 2: we said earlier, this sort of argument can be made

1148
01:03:24,270 --> 01:03:27,390
Speaker 2: towards any number of cultures in any number of time periods.

1149
01:03:28,130 --> 01:03:30,209
Speaker 2: I guess it's kind of how humans work.

1150
01:03:30,910 --> 01:03:33,280
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, I think you could certainly say there's some

1151
01:03:33,320 --> 01:03:38,370
Speaker 3: truth to this, that expressions of ostentatious wealth or they're

1152
01:03:38,410 --> 01:03:41,990
Speaker 3: depending on somebody else doing the hard work. And maybe

1153
01:03:42,010 --> 01:03:43,890
Speaker 3: the people doing the hard work are not getting a

1154
01:03:43,910 --> 01:03:47,790
Speaker 3: very fair deal. In this case, getting a really unfair deal.

1155
01:03:49,010 --> 01:03:52,140
Speaker 3: So I guess we should go ahead and summarize what

1156
01:03:52,220 --> 01:03:54,980
Speaker 3: we find out over the rest of the story about

1157
01:03:55,040 --> 01:03:59,060
Speaker 3: this situation. So what we discover over the next couple

1158
01:03:59,080 --> 01:04:02,320
Speaker 3: of acts is that the enslaved people here are the

1159
01:04:02,480 --> 01:04:06,910
Speaker 3: Turi who are the native inhabitants of this planet that

1160
01:04:07,160 --> 01:04:10,760
Speaker 3: is now known as Tem 4. The Temians are actually

1161
01:04:10,960 --> 01:04:15,900
Speaker 3: colonists from Tem 3 who conquered this planet, renamed it

1162
01:04:15,940 --> 01:04:19,680
Speaker 3: Tem 4, and confined its native people to lives of

1163
01:04:19,740 --> 01:04:23,900
Speaker 3: slavery in these mines because there is a mineral that

1164
01:04:23,960 --> 01:04:29,330
Speaker 3: they need that makes Temian technology and society possible. The

1165
01:04:29,590 --> 01:04:33,810
Speaker 3: Distress Beacon is that brought the cosmonauts here was not

1166
01:04:33,850 --> 01:04:36,880
Speaker 3: a mistake. The call was actually sent by a couple

1167
01:04:37,080 --> 01:04:40,660
Speaker 3: of Turi workers who briefly got control of the Temians'

1168
01:04:40,720 --> 01:04:44,860
Speaker 3: radio equipment. And the Turi have been hoping that the

1169
01:04:44,900 --> 01:04:48,320
Speaker 3: cosmonauts would bring the force of their civilization with them

1170
01:04:48,660 --> 01:04:50,290
Speaker 3: to liberate them from bondage.

1171
01:04:59,870 --> 01:05:02,430
Speaker 2: So at this point, we begin to really we kind

1172
01:05:02,470 --> 01:05:04,850
Speaker 2: of it's not quite an espionage film because nobody's an

1173
01:05:04,930 --> 01:05:08,230
Speaker 2: actual spy. But a lot of the the action in

1174
01:05:08,250 --> 01:05:11,390
Speaker 2: the intrigue here is very much in keeping with something

1175
01:05:11,410 --> 01:05:14,209
Speaker 2: you might see in a Cold War spy movie. Because,

1176
01:05:14,270 --> 01:05:18,670
Speaker 2: you know, this Zuko has been looking around. He's been

1177
01:05:18,690 --> 01:05:21,700
Speaker 2: doing reconnaissance. He's seen something he wasn't supposed to see.

1178
01:05:22,040 --> 01:05:24,580
Speaker 2: He gets captured by the opposition. And what are they

1179
01:05:24,600 --> 01:05:27,390
Speaker 2: going to do? They're, of course, going to interrogate him. Right.

1180
01:05:27,430 --> 01:05:31,010
Speaker 3: So Zuko is captured by Ronk. He's tortured for information.

1181
01:05:31,030 --> 01:05:33,840
Speaker 3: They beat him and then they place him in this

1182
01:05:33,940 --> 01:05:36,780
Speaker 3: psychic electric chair, which causes pain in the brain. And

1183
01:05:38,420 --> 01:05:41,420
Speaker 3: it's pretty messed up. I don't know exactly what it's

1184
01:05:41,440 --> 01:05:43,240
Speaker 3: supposed to be doing to him, but he clearly is

1185
01:05:43,600 --> 01:05:44,960
Speaker 3: experiencing great distress.

1186
01:05:45,020 --> 01:05:48,340
Speaker 2: Yeah. His screams are terrifying. Just ripped straight from the soul.

1187
01:05:48,360 --> 01:05:51,370
Speaker 2: So we easily buy into the fact that this is

1188
01:05:51,410 --> 01:05:52,870
Speaker 2: not a chair anyone wants to sit in.

1189
01:05:53,440 --> 01:05:56,430
Speaker 3: And then after this, they use the ultrasonic waves again

1190
01:05:56,490 --> 01:05:59,290
Speaker 3: to wipe his memory. So briefly, he's not going to

1191
01:05:59,310 --> 01:06:01,910
Speaker 3: remember what happened. Eventually, it's going to come back later on.

1192
01:06:02,310 --> 01:06:03,870
Speaker 2: I want to mention, I can't remember when it first

1193
01:06:03,890 --> 01:06:06,490
Speaker 2: shows up, but eventually in this portion of the picture,

1194
01:06:06,510 --> 01:06:09,490
Speaker 2: Ronk is going to frequently use this thing that you

1195
01:06:09,510 --> 01:06:12,470
Speaker 2: could maybe describe as a pistol wand. It's kind of

1196
01:06:12,490 --> 01:06:15,800
Speaker 2: shaped like, almost looks like a vape or something, you know?

1197
01:06:15,820 --> 01:06:16,500
Speaker 3: It's like a pen.

1198
01:06:16,660 --> 01:06:20,360
Speaker 2: Like a pen, but when he points it, it's like

1199
01:06:20,400 --> 01:06:22,700
Speaker 2: he's firing a pistol, and we get the pistol sound effect,

1200
01:06:22,760 --> 01:06:25,840
Speaker 2: and people... fall dead. I thought it was a rather

1201
01:06:25,950 --> 01:06:29,210
Speaker 2: simple way to create a sci-fi weapon, but it absolutely

1202
01:06:29,250 --> 01:06:30,970
Speaker 2: works and absolutely feels deadly here.

1203
01:06:31,890 --> 01:06:37,190
Speaker 3: Ronk uses it casually. He's just lounging about in his

1204
01:06:37,410 --> 01:06:40,650
Speaker 3: cushioned chair, like, blasting things out of the air with

1205
01:06:40,710 --> 01:06:41,390
Speaker 3: his little pen.

1206
01:06:41,410 --> 01:06:41,490
Speaker 1: Yeah.

1207
01:06:41,990 --> 01:06:45,030
Speaker 2: It's got pretty good game, but somehow it zeroes in

1208
01:06:45,110 --> 01:06:46,150
Speaker 2: on whatever he wants to kill.

1209
01:06:46,950 --> 01:06:49,290
Speaker 3: So, soon after this, there's a big scene we need

1210
01:06:49,330 --> 01:06:52,410
Speaker 3: to discuss, which is Akala's meeting with the boss. I

1211
01:06:52,450 --> 01:06:56,680
Speaker 3: know you're... jazz to talk about this. So the big

1212
01:06:56,800 --> 01:07:00,100
Speaker 3: boss of this colony on Tim four is finally revealed.

1213
01:07:00,160 --> 01:07:03,100
Speaker 3: This is Ronk's boss. He, I don't think is ever

1214
01:07:03,160 --> 01:07:06,340
Speaker 3: given a name. He's simply called the boss or chief. Right.

1215
01:07:06,910 --> 01:07:09,830
Speaker 3: When we first meet him, he is getting his hair

1216
01:07:09,890 --> 01:07:14,130
Speaker 3: spray painted blue. The boss seems to be in a

1217
01:07:14,370 --> 01:07:19,930
Speaker 3: constant state of pleasure seeking and a constant need for

1218
01:07:20,070 --> 01:07:24,210
Speaker 3: stimulation and distraction and At one point, he mentions that

1219
01:07:24,250 --> 01:07:29,430
Speaker 3: he cannot think unless there is music playing. He's constantly

1220
01:07:29,650 --> 01:07:33,950
Speaker 3: changing into weird costumes and altering his appearance. He changes

1221
01:07:34,010 --> 01:07:36,380
Speaker 3: the color of his hair multiple times in the movie.

1222
01:07:36,390 --> 01:07:38,580
Speaker 2: That's right. It's blue here. It's going to be red later.

1223
01:07:39,000 --> 01:07:44,420
Speaker 3: He's always changing his costumes into different, weird, extravagant, shiny costumes.

1224
01:07:45,000 --> 01:07:48,460
Speaker 3: He's playing strange music. He even seems to be getting

1225
01:07:48,720 --> 01:07:53,760
Speaker 3: sexual gratification from this Christmas light synthesizer keyboard that is

1226
01:07:53,800 --> 01:07:55,600
Speaker 3: sitting on his coffee table. It lights up when he

1227
01:07:55,640 --> 01:07:58,900
Speaker 3: plays it and he's going like, and then they're like,

1228
01:07:58,980 --> 01:08:01,120
Speaker 3: it's making people dance nearby, I think.

1229
01:08:01,280 --> 01:08:01,840
Speaker 2: Yeah.

1230
01:08:02,610 --> 01:08:07,190
Speaker 3: And he also just surrounds himself with weird stimulating stuff,

1231
01:08:07,790 --> 01:08:12,190
Speaker 3: unusual animals and artworks. He's kissing snakes all the time.

1232
01:08:12,810 --> 01:08:15,790
Speaker 3: He's got head boxes inside the walls with like actual

1233
01:08:15,850 --> 01:08:18,030
Speaker 3: heads in them that swivel around.

1234
01:08:18,090 --> 01:08:21,590
Speaker 2: Just kind of stare at you. A wonderful, like surrealistic

1235
01:08:21,910 --> 01:08:25,809
Speaker 2: inclusion here. There's so many weird moments in this sequence.

1236
01:08:26,250 --> 01:08:27,990
Speaker 3: His office is a hall of mirrors.

1237
01:08:28,020 --> 01:08:29,100
Speaker 2: Yes. That's a choice.

1238
01:08:30,100 --> 01:08:34,580
Speaker 3: He's also, I think, often seeking sexual stimulation. We actually

1239
01:08:34,620 --> 01:08:38,060
Speaker 3: never see him engage in sex in any way, but

1240
01:08:38,100 --> 01:08:42,160
Speaker 3: there is a general aura of sexual aggressiveness about him.

1241
01:08:42,650 --> 01:08:46,639
Speaker 3: And he's constantly surrounding himself with beautiful, subservient women whom

1242
01:08:46,680 --> 01:08:48,320
Speaker 3: he treats disrespectfully.

1243
01:08:48,340 --> 01:08:48,420
Speaker 1: Yeah.

1244
01:08:50,130 --> 01:08:54,809
Speaker 2: Akala like he is he's very flamboyant and flirty yeah

1245
01:08:54,930 --> 01:08:58,410
Speaker 2: which we get an interesting juxtaposition between that and the

1246
01:08:58,439 --> 01:09:00,350
Speaker 2: way we see him in other scenes where he's just

1247
01:09:00,939 --> 01:09:04,820
Speaker 2: uh berating and commanding his subordinates in which case he

1248
01:09:05,160 --> 01:09:08,340
Speaker 2: generally doesn't have any dye applied to his hair and

1249
01:09:08,380 --> 01:09:11,280
Speaker 2: he's more just like a like a capitalist strong man

1250
01:09:11,900 --> 01:09:14,380
Speaker 2: um but he seems to take on more of this

1251
01:09:14,600 --> 01:09:17,860
Speaker 2: flamboyant air when he's engaging with uh with other.

1252
01:09:17,740 --> 01:09:20,599
Speaker 3: People Also, more mouth spray, just constant.

1253
01:09:20,840 --> 01:09:25,940
Speaker 2: Yes, constant mouth spray. And then occasionally bursts into interpretive dance.

1254
01:09:25,960 --> 01:09:26,800
Speaker 2: We'll get back to that later.

1255
01:09:27,540 --> 01:09:30,309
Speaker 3: So it seems an interesting thing about this character is

1256
01:09:30,350 --> 01:09:33,429
Speaker 3: that he cannot be quiet with his thoughts. He must

1257
01:09:33,510 --> 01:09:39,810
Speaker 3: be constantly, sensorily bombarded at all times to be at peace. Yeah.

1258
01:09:40,810 --> 01:09:42,729
Speaker 2: So really, for many of us, he is the most

1259
01:09:42,770 --> 01:09:46,429
Speaker 2: relatable character. It's speaking to the 2026 audience.

1260
01:09:47,820 --> 01:09:49,320
Speaker 3: Are we the villains of this movie?

1261
01:09:49,360 --> 01:09:50,810
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we may be the bad guys.

1262
01:09:51,229 --> 01:09:54,030
Speaker 3: So Akala and the boss face off in this little meeting.

1263
01:09:54,130 --> 01:09:57,370
Speaker 3: He grills her about performing recon on the planet. He's like,

1264
01:09:57,430 --> 01:10:01,870
Speaker 3: are you taking aerial photographs of my planet? And she, meanwhile,

1265
01:10:01,910 --> 01:10:04,080
Speaker 3: just wants Zuko back. She's like, where did he go?

1266
01:10:04,180 --> 01:10:08,339
Speaker 3: Give him back to me. Later, she says something interesting.

1267
01:10:08,380 --> 01:10:10,460
Speaker 3: It's not in this scene, but later reflecting on it,

1268
01:10:10,540 --> 01:10:13,000
Speaker 3: she says, when I was with the boss, I had

1269
01:10:13,040 --> 01:10:15,470
Speaker 3: the feeling that I couldn't think what I wanted to.

1270
01:10:16,140 --> 01:10:20,480
Speaker 3: I think that's probably supposed to be significant. So eventually

1271
01:10:20,520 --> 01:10:23,160
Speaker 3: they do give the badly wounded Zuko back to her.

1272
01:10:23,680 --> 01:10:27,059
Speaker 3: Akula takes him back to the ship, announcing again the

1273
01:10:27,120 --> 01:10:31,179
Speaker 3: intention to leave soon. Meanwhile, there are some action scenes,

1274
01:10:31,220 --> 01:10:34,650
Speaker 3: like there's this whole subplot where Wonk tries to infiltrate

1275
01:10:34,770 --> 01:10:39,470
Speaker 3: the ship, but is foiled. Eventually, I guess moving into

1276
01:10:39,550 --> 01:10:43,190
Speaker 3: much more zoomed out summary mode here, the whole crew

1277
01:10:43,410 --> 01:10:46,680
Speaker 3: will become aware of the plight of the Turi, of

1278
01:10:46,800 --> 01:10:50,120
Speaker 3: the people of the planet and their slavery here. And

1279
01:10:50,960 --> 01:10:54,320
Speaker 3: they're going to be forced to confront questions about what

1280
01:10:54,360 --> 01:10:58,040
Speaker 3: they should do. It's, should we aid the Turi in

1281
01:10:58,120 --> 01:11:00,780
Speaker 3: rebellion against the Temians, which is what some of the

1282
01:11:00,820 --> 01:11:03,720
Speaker 3: Turi representatives seem to want. They like ask them to help.

1283
01:11:03,740 --> 01:11:07,650
Speaker 3: They say, give us weapons. But this is presented as

1284
01:11:08,590 --> 01:11:13,260
Speaker 3: a genuinely difficult question. Like, Zuko talks about how if

1285
01:11:13,300 --> 01:11:16,860
Speaker 3: they arm the Turi, Tim-3 will then send spaceships to

1286
01:11:16,880 --> 01:11:19,480
Speaker 3: put down the rebellion, and that would escalate into a

1287
01:11:19,550 --> 01:11:23,670
Speaker 3: galactic war, which seems like a reasonable concern. On the

1288
01:11:23,710 --> 01:11:26,490
Speaker 3: other hand, they feel like they can't just abandon these

1289
01:11:26,550 --> 01:11:30,060
Speaker 3: people whose plight they've discovered here, so they genuinely kind

1290
01:11:30,100 --> 01:11:30,960
Speaker 3: of don't know what to do.

1291
01:11:32,240 --> 01:11:36,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, we get a definite Cold War vibe here where

1292
01:11:36,520 --> 01:11:40,480
Speaker 2: the idea that you have a situation occurring in the

1293
01:11:40,540 --> 01:11:46,580
Speaker 2: friction zone between two superpowers. And any kind of direct

1294
01:11:46,660 --> 01:11:50,240
Speaker 2: engagement is going to potentially be disastrous because we can't

1295
01:11:50,280 --> 01:11:57,150
Speaker 2: have direct conflict between these two groups. And again, it

1296
01:11:57,630 --> 01:11:59,309
Speaker 2: is played out in a very nuanced way. Not like

1297
01:11:59,370 --> 01:12:01,979
Speaker 2: in And I love Star Trek, but sometimes they're like, oh,

1298
01:12:02,000 --> 01:12:05,220
Speaker 2: we can't possibly go into the neutral zone. That would

1299
01:12:05,240 --> 01:12:06,960
Speaker 2: be an act of war. But you know they're going

1300
01:12:07,000 --> 01:12:11,580
Speaker 2: into the neutral zone. Come on. You know Picard's going

1301
01:12:11,600 --> 01:12:13,599
Speaker 2: to do it because Picard's going to be the hero.

1302
01:12:14,160 --> 01:12:16,939
Speaker 2: Here it is not presented as a foregone conclusion that

1303
01:12:17,570 --> 01:12:21,769
Speaker 2: they are going to do the more noble but far

1304
01:12:21,810 --> 01:12:25,290
Speaker 2: more dangerous thing. Whereas, of course, in other stories, it's

1305
01:12:25,330 --> 01:12:26,250
Speaker 2: a foregone conclusion.

1306
01:12:27,189 --> 01:12:30,090
Speaker 3: So in the third act, there is also a plot

1307
01:12:30,110 --> 01:12:33,670
Speaker 3: where the Temians, Ronk, comes up with this plan after

1308
01:12:33,710 --> 01:12:35,750
Speaker 3: being tortured by the boss, by the way. He gets

1309
01:12:35,790 --> 01:12:39,680
Speaker 3: put in the psychic electric chair. Ronk comes up with

1310
01:12:39,720 --> 01:12:43,200
Speaker 3: a plan to redirect a water source to flood the

1311
01:12:43,240 --> 01:12:46,400
Speaker 3: space where the Sinrow spaceship is parked, forcing it to

1312
01:12:46,439 --> 01:12:51,860
Speaker 3: blast off and leave. So he's trying to enact that plan. Meanwhile,

1313
01:12:51,990 --> 01:12:54,950
Speaker 3: the crew of the Sinrow are trying to figure out

1314
01:12:54,990 --> 01:12:58,750
Speaker 3: what they should do. They're working together now with the, uh,

1315
01:12:59,010 --> 01:13:02,730
Speaker 3: with the, the Turi and, uh, I don't know what,

1316
01:13:02,770 --> 01:13:03,990
Speaker 3: what are some things you want to talk about in

1317
01:13:04,010 --> 01:13:06,130
Speaker 3: this third of the movie? You do want to mention

1318
01:13:06,150 --> 01:13:07,070
Speaker 3: the boss's dance.

1319
01:13:07,130 --> 01:13:09,309
Speaker 2: I'll get to the, yeah, the boss's dance is, is great.

1320
01:13:09,350 --> 01:13:10,689
Speaker 2: I'll get to that in a second, but, but first

1321
01:13:10,710 --> 01:13:14,099
Speaker 2: of all, yeah, Ronk's, um, plot to flood the spaceship

1322
01:13:14,110 --> 01:13:16,920
Speaker 2: landing zone. Like this is his answer to the whole, well,

1323
01:13:16,960 --> 01:13:20,160
Speaker 2: we can't directly attack them either because then that'll be

1324
01:13:20,200 --> 01:13:22,280
Speaker 2: an act of war. But what if the area they're

1325
01:13:22,320 --> 01:13:25,500
Speaker 2: in became flooded? Uh, you know, it's more of an indirect, um,

1326
01:13:26,170 --> 01:13:30,470
Speaker 2: environmental assault. And he comes up with this idea when

1327
01:13:30,510 --> 01:13:34,250
Speaker 2: he's about to be put into the sci-fi torture chair himself,

1328
01:13:34,790 --> 01:13:38,430
Speaker 2: which I thought was a nice detail, just showing you

1329
01:13:39,310 --> 01:13:44,680
Speaker 2: the cruelty of the Temian civilization, how it works. It's

1330
01:13:44,720 --> 01:13:48,180
Speaker 2: like anybody can wind up on the wrong side of

1331
01:13:48,620 --> 01:13:49,780
Speaker 2: the boss at any moment.

1332
01:13:50,380 --> 01:13:53,200
Speaker 3: They don't even seem to have in-group loyalty. I mean,

1333
01:13:53,260 --> 01:13:56,750
Speaker 3: not like that would really The movie's not really promoting

1334
01:13:56,810 --> 01:13:59,630
Speaker 3: in-group loyalty either, but they don't even have that. They

1335
01:13:59,650 --> 01:14:00,830
Speaker 3: have loyalty to nobody.

1336
01:14:01,510 --> 01:14:03,750
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's at some point after this where it

1337
01:14:03,790 --> 01:14:06,410
Speaker 2: seems like, all right, the bad guys, the Temians have

1338
01:14:06,439 --> 01:14:09,300
Speaker 2: a plan that will work. We get this scene with

1339
01:14:09,340 --> 01:14:12,820
Speaker 2: the boss where he does this kind of, this is

1340
01:14:12,860 --> 01:14:16,540
Speaker 2: kind of victory dance. He's saying victory over and over again.

1341
01:14:16,560 --> 01:14:19,640
Speaker 2: And this is, again, this is in his inner sanctum,

1342
01:14:19,680 --> 01:14:23,790
Speaker 2: his office with all the constrictor snakes and funhouse mirrors

1343
01:14:23,850 --> 01:14:26,930
Speaker 2: and surrealistic art. He's wearing some sort of a toga,

1344
01:14:27,330 --> 01:14:32,050
Speaker 2: and he starts doing this spontaneous dance that involves a

1345
01:14:32,090 --> 01:14:36,910
Speaker 2: lot of squatting down and popping up and waving the

1346
01:14:36,970 --> 01:14:41,300
Speaker 2: hands around. So I really enjoyed it. Again, not only

1347
01:14:41,420 --> 01:14:45,059
Speaker 2: are ultrasound-addled space nymphs, they're not the only ones who

1348
01:14:45,080 --> 01:14:49,360
Speaker 2: get to do spontaneous modern dance sequences. Our villains do

1349
01:14:49,420 --> 01:14:49,680
Speaker 2: as well.

1350
01:14:50,540 --> 01:14:53,980
Speaker 3: Now, later on, there's a final confrontation involving the boss

1351
01:14:54,040 --> 01:14:58,500
Speaker 3: between Akala and the boss taking place in that sculpture garden. Yes.

1352
01:14:58,640 --> 01:15:01,420
Speaker 3: Where when the boss comes out, he's dressed like the

1353
01:15:01,500 --> 01:15:03,660
Speaker 3: master from Manos, the Hands of Fate.

1354
01:15:04,430 --> 01:15:07,410
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's definitely a Manos vibe to the cape, but

1355
01:15:07,450 --> 01:15:10,550
Speaker 2: it also has like this super high kind of like

1356
01:15:10,590 --> 01:15:12,309
Speaker 2: Planet of the Vampires hood.

1357
01:15:12,330 --> 01:15:13,269
Speaker 3: Yeah.

1358
01:15:13,450 --> 01:15:15,710
Speaker 2: And then, oh, his hair is dyed bright red at

1359
01:15:15,870 --> 01:15:19,590
Speaker 2: this point. So he's just cherry red hair. Styled all

1360
01:15:19,610 --> 01:15:21,680
Speaker 2: the way out. For some reason, again, it's in that

1361
01:15:21,740 --> 01:15:24,800
Speaker 2: sculpture garden again. One of the constrictor snakes is now

1362
01:15:24,960 --> 01:15:28,220
Speaker 2: on top of one of the sculptures. You know it

1363
01:15:28,260 --> 01:15:30,400
Speaker 2: didn't get up there on its own. It had some help,

1364
01:15:30,460 --> 01:15:32,670
Speaker 2: but I guess it looks really evocative up there.

1365
01:15:33,410 --> 01:15:36,210
Speaker 3: In this scene in the sculpture garden, there is a

1366
01:15:36,330 --> 01:15:40,250
Speaker 3: conversation between the boss and Akula where they talk about

1367
01:15:41,290 --> 01:15:44,770
Speaker 3: the standoff that they're in and what should happen to

1368
01:15:44,810 --> 01:15:50,520
Speaker 3: the Turi. And Akula, it seems that the Sinro... that

1369
01:15:50,560 --> 01:15:53,240
Speaker 3: their society is fairly just, you know, that they are

1370
01:15:54,280 --> 01:15:57,440
Speaker 3: idealistic in some ways and that they have a strong,

1371
01:15:57,939 --> 01:16:01,260
Speaker 3: you know, moral legal system in a way. And she says,

1372
01:16:01,400 --> 01:16:04,850
Speaker 3: our law says no one may oppress another. And the

1373
01:16:05,050 --> 01:16:08,590
Speaker 3: boss replies by doing something that real oppressors do all

1374
01:16:08,610 --> 01:16:11,110
Speaker 3: the time. He, he, he does it by saying like,

1375
01:16:11,229 --> 01:16:14,390
Speaker 3: it doesn't really matter. He says, it's a nice thought, but,

1376
01:16:14,530 --> 01:16:17,430
Speaker 3: but the Turi have no culture. He's like, you know,

1377
01:16:17,450 --> 01:16:20,269
Speaker 3: it doesn't really make a difference to them. And he

1378
01:16:20,310 --> 01:16:25,700
Speaker 3: goes on kind of like denigrating their civilizational capabilities and

1379
01:16:25,740 --> 01:16:28,200
Speaker 3: their natural way of life. And it's like, it's not

1380
01:16:28,220 --> 01:16:30,120
Speaker 3: really going to make a difference. You know, they're just,

1381
01:16:30,240 --> 01:16:33,400
Speaker 3: you know, this is what they're made for. Yeah.

1382
01:16:33,640 --> 01:16:36,470
Speaker 2: And he says that, like, after you leave, they'll probably

1383
01:16:36,510 --> 01:16:38,870
Speaker 2: remember you as gods and they'll probably worship you. But

1384
01:16:38,890 --> 01:16:41,110
Speaker 2: that's all it's going to amount to. They're going to

1385
01:16:41,350 --> 01:16:42,690
Speaker 2: be the same as they've always been.

1386
01:16:43,160 --> 01:16:46,500
Speaker 3: Yeah, but it's a thing that happens in reality, too.

1387
01:16:46,520 --> 01:16:52,130
Speaker 3: It's sort of denigrating people as imagining them as less

1388
01:16:52,210 --> 01:16:55,470
Speaker 3: complex human beings in some way, as a way of

1389
01:16:55,570 --> 01:16:59,070
Speaker 3: justifying abuse of them and denying them freedom.

1390
01:16:59,490 --> 01:17:03,110
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So it feels very true to form

1391
01:17:03,650 --> 01:17:08,300
Speaker 2: that your strongman character here would be talking about the

1392
01:17:08,360 --> 01:17:09,720
Speaker 2: local inhabitants in this way.

1393
01:17:10,140 --> 01:17:10,280
Speaker 1: Yeah.

1394
01:17:11,229 --> 01:17:13,570
Speaker 3: But I guess this brings us back to the conundrum

1395
01:17:13,590 --> 01:17:15,610
Speaker 3: that the crew of the Sinrow face in the final

1396
01:17:15,689 --> 01:17:18,450
Speaker 3: act of the movie. Like, what should they do given

1397
01:17:18,490 --> 01:17:20,810
Speaker 3: that they are part of this situation now? Like, they're

1398
01:17:20,910 --> 01:17:24,470
Speaker 3: aware of the injustice, but there are also all these

1399
01:17:24,570 --> 01:17:27,950
Speaker 3: dangers of getting involved. Like, what course of action can

1400
01:17:27,990 --> 01:17:28,479
Speaker 3: they take?

1401
01:17:28,800 --> 01:17:33,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. How can they help the enslaved Turi people

1402
01:17:33,680 --> 01:17:37,040
Speaker 2: without provoking a war between these great powers? Can they

1403
01:17:37,080 --> 01:17:39,660
Speaker 2: even provide arms without risking this? You know, there's a

1404
01:17:40,000 --> 01:17:42,400
Speaker 2: telling scene where boss is like are you planning to

1405
01:17:42,439 --> 01:17:45,560
Speaker 2: give them weapons you know and um so obviously you

1406
01:17:45,720 --> 01:17:49,960
Speaker 2: know this cold war inspired plot has uh you know

1407
01:17:50,020 --> 01:17:51,560
Speaker 2: not only does it speak to the time in which

1408
01:17:51,600 --> 01:17:54,510
Speaker 2: it was um it was written and um and filmed

1409
01:17:54,570 --> 01:17:56,770
Speaker 2: but you know has direct applications to the current state

1410
01:17:56,790 --> 01:17:58,910
Speaker 2: of things in the world as as many of us

1411
01:17:59,050 --> 01:18:01,530
Speaker 2: consider us to now be in a second cold war

1412
01:18:01,670 --> 01:18:05,509
Speaker 2: of sorts you know complete with proxy wars and entailing

1413
01:18:05,729 --> 01:18:09,230
Speaker 2: more than two great powers and also engaging in various

1414
01:18:09,250 --> 01:18:13,849
Speaker 2: other complexities unique to our time. But in the movie here,

1415
01:18:13,979 --> 01:18:17,780
Speaker 2: I guess the answer for this particular conundrum, like who's

1416
01:18:17,800 --> 01:18:21,460
Speaker 2: going to help the Turi people, ultimately seems to be

1417
01:18:21,540 --> 01:18:24,960
Speaker 2: that only the Turi can free themselves. It's not like

1418
01:18:25,560 --> 01:18:27,540
Speaker 2: they don't really beat you over the head with this idea.

1419
01:18:27,580 --> 01:18:30,940
Speaker 2: Nobody actually says that. In the end, I guess only

1420
01:18:31,140 --> 01:18:33,300
Speaker 2: the Turi could save the Turi. There's none of that.

1421
01:18:34,350 --> 01:18:36,870
Speaker 3: But they do kind of spontaneously revolt.

1422
01:18:36,890 --> 01:18:42,510
Speaker 2: They spontaneously revolt. Zuko dies and it's clear that he

1423
01:18:42,550 --> 01:18:45,210
Speaker 2: has become a martyr. And so there is this idea

1424
01:18:45,250 --> 01:18:49,070
Speaker 2: that like the oppressor in their cruelty will create martyrs

1425
01:18:49,170 --> 01:18:51,600
Speaker 2: out of their enemies. And in doing so, they will

1426
01:18:51,640 --> 01:18:57,130
Speaker 2: just fuel rebellion. Like rebellion is an inevitable consequence of

1427
01:18:57,170 --> 01:19:02,610
Speaker 2: their oppression. And yeah, so interesting to consider because that's

1428
01:19:02,630 --> 01:19:05,750
Speaker 2: the way things play out is like Zuko dies. He's clearly, uh,

1429
01:19:05,990 --> 01:19:08,800
Speaker 2: you know, he's martyred, he's held up in the air,

1430
01:19:09,320 --> 01:19:13,100
Speaker 2: carried by the people and the ship takes off again. And, uh, so,

1431
01:19:13,340 --> 01:19:17,650
Speaker 2: you know, our, uh, the crew members of the Sinro leave,

1432
01:19:17,860 --> 01:19:21,089
Speaker 2: but clearly, um, like it has begun on this planet

1433
01:19:21,150 --> 01:19:25,870
Speaker 2: and like a rebellion has started. And in time, perhaps the, um,

1434
01:19:26,030 --> 01:19:28,450
Speaker 2: the oppressors are going to be overthrown, but we don't

1435
01:19:28,490 --> 01:19:30,600
Speaker 2: see that to be clear. We don't get a scene where, uh,

1436
01:19:31,350 --> 01:19:36,110
Speaker 2: where the boss's chamber is overrun with rebels or anything.

1437
01:19:36,170 --> 01:19:39,309
Speaker 2: We don't see his spaceship crashing into a mountain or

1438
01:19:39,370 --> 01:19:42,769
Speaker 2: anything like that. It's just suggested that change may now occur.

1439
01:19:43,390 --> 01:19:45,839
Speaker 3: You can imagine that this guy does not take the

1440
01:19:45,880 --> 01:19:49,320
Speaker 3: shoe being on the other foot very well. No.

1441
01:19:50,380 --> 01:19:53,620
Speaker 2: And then we end up leaving things pretty much where

1442
01:19:53,660 --> 01:19:56,400
Speaker 2: we began them. We're going to have that haunting theme

1443
01:19:56,439 --> 01:19:59,280
Speaker 2: song that plays. And we're going to go back to

1444
01:19:59,320 --> 01:20:01,280
Speaker 2: this scene of what I guess is the dust of

1445
01:20:01,320 --> 01:20:05,840
Speaker 2: the stars, this kind of like galaxy pattern that is

1446
01:20:06,080 --> 01:20:09,540
Speaker 2: displayed on the screen, which, you know, I'm not sure

1447
01:20:09,560 --> 01:20:14,129
Speaker 2: exactly what we're supposed to think about that. Maybe that

1448
01:20:14,150 --> 01:20:16,650
Speaker 2: just sort of like considering this as like one little

1449
01:20:16,689 --> 01:20:21,290
Speaker 2: conflict that's occurring, you know, across the grand scape, grand

1450
01:20:21,370 --> 01:20:25,269
Speaker 2: star scape of human lives and human activity in this

1451
01:20:25,910 --> 01:20:31,689
Speaker 2: I guess, far future intergalactic or at least interplanetary society. Yeah.

1452
01:20:32,189 --> 01:20:34,270
Speaker 3: I don't know what that title means. Yeah.

1453
01:20:34,330 --> 01:20:36,720
Speaker 2: What does it mean? In the dust of the stars.

1454
01:20:38,180 --> 01:20:40,000
Speaker 2: Is everything in the dust of the stars? The dust

1455
01:20:40,040 --> 01:20:43,280
Speaker 2: of the stars is just like a galaxy. Is the

1456
01:20:43,300 --> 01:20:45,560
Speaker 2: dust of the stars the thing that was in the inhalers?

1457
01:20:45,660 --> 01:20:48,660
Speaker 2: Is that what everybody's juicing up on? I don't know.

1458
01:20:48,680 --> 01:20:49,470
Speaker 3: Squirting in the mouth.

1459
01:20:49,770 --> 01:20:50,010
Speaker 2: Yeah.

1460
01:20:50,870 --> 01:20:54,189
Speaker 3: What was in the dust of the stars? What's the recipe?

1461
01:20:54,210 --> 01:20:54,290
Speaker 1: Yeah.

1462
01:20:54,650 --> 01:20:57,620
Speaker 2: Alright, there you have it. I really enjoyed this one.

1463
01:20:57,640 --> 01:21:01,760
Speaker 2: I'm really intrigued to check out that other space opera

1464
01:21:01,800 --> 01:21:04,700
Speaker 2: by the same director, Signals, so I may have to

1465
01:21:04,740 --> 01:21:07,320
Speaker 2: do that at some point here, but yeah, this one's

1466
01:21:07,340 --> 01:21:09,340
Speaker 2: a lot of fun. I highly recommend it. Would love

1467
01:21:09,360 --> 01:21:12,560
Speaker 2: to hear from anyone out there who has more viewing

1468
01:21:12,620 --> 01:21:18,790
Speaker 2: experience with DEFA films and East German filmmaking and Eastern

1469
01:21:18,810 --> 01:21:22,670
Speaker 2: Bloc filmmaking because there's a lot of great stuff out there.

1470
01:21:22,689 --> 01:21:25,660
Speaker 2: I've seen a little of it, but not near enough.

1471
01:21:25,840 --> 01:21:28,260
Speaker 2: So if there are particular titles that you think we

1472
01:21:28,300 --> 01:21:31,140
Speaker 2: should consider, live action or animated, I know there's some

1473
01:21:31,800 --> 01:21:34,820
Speaker 2: notable works of animation as well, write in and let

1474
01:21:34,880 --> 01:21:37,690
Speaker 2: us know. We would love to hear from you. Just

1475
01:21:37,710 --> 01:21:41,730
Speaker 2: a reminder that Weird House Cinema, this occurs on Fridays

1476
01:21:41,790 --> 01:21:43,610
Speaker 2: in the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast feed. Stuff

1477
01:21:43,630 --> 01:21:46,150
Speaker 2: to Blow Your Mind, primarily a science and culture podcast,

1478
01:21:46,170 --> 01:21:48,530
Speaker 2: but on Fridays we set aside most serious concerns to

1479
01:21:48,550 --> 01:21:51,519
Speaker 2: just talk about a weird movie. And that's exactly what

1480
01:21:51,560 --> 01:21:54,760
Speaker 2: we do. If you would like to follow us, well,

1481
01:21:54,820 --> 01:21:58,160
Speaker 2: look us up on Instagram. We're stbympodcast. That's a great

1482
01:21:58,200 --> 01:22:00,040
Speaker 2: way to just keep up with what's going on in

1483
01:22:00,080 --> 01:22:02,929
Speaker 2: the feed. And if you want to follow Weird House

1484
01:22:02,970 --> 01:22:07,729
Speaker 2: Cinema on its own, go to letterboxd.com. You'll find us there.

1485
01:22:07,770 --> 01:22:10,590
Speaker 2: Our username is weirdhouse. And mostly what we have there

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Speaker 2: going on is just a nice list of all the

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Speaker 2: movies we've covered over the years and sometimes a peek

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Speaker 2: ahead at what's coming up next.

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Speaker 3: Huge thanks, as always, to our excellent audio producer, J.J. Poswate.

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Speaker 3: If you would like to get in touch with us

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Speaker 3: with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest

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Speaker 3: a topic for the future, or just to say hello,

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Speaker 3: you can email us at contact at stufftoblowyourmind.com.

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Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app. Apple

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Speaker 1: Podcasts are wherever you listen to your favorite shows.