Speaker 1: Hello. My name is Jason Concepcion and I'm Rosie Knight,
Speaker 1: and welcome back to Xtra Vision of the podcast where
Speaker 1: we dive deep into your favorite shows, movies, comics, and
Speaker 1: pop culture. Coming to you from My Heart podcast, where
Speaker 1: we're bringing you two episodes a week, every Tuesday and Thursday.
Speaker 2: In today's episode, in the Airlock, we'll step it out
Speaker 2: of that airlock and into the time capsule to talk
Speaker 2: Scott Pilgrim takes Off, one of the best TV shows
Speaker 2: of the year on Netflix right now. It's incredible. In
Speaker 2: the omnibus, I'm gonna be talking about why this particular
Speaker 2: adaptation works and how it differs from other adaptations we've
Speaker 2: seen before.
Speaker 1: But first let's pop open the time capsule to recap
Speaker 1: Scott Pilgrim takes Off.
Speaker 2: So, if you have seen in Scott Pilgrim Versus the
Speaker 2: World That's right, then you likely felt or read the
Speaker 2: first episode or read the comics you were like, oh,
Speaker 2: I know what's going on. This is use beautifully animated remake,
Speaker 2: and it's stunningly animated by Science Saru, and I'm sure
Speaker 2: that's exactly what the creative team wanted us to feel.
Speaker 2: We meet Scott, his bandmates Stephen Stills and Kim Pine,
Speaker 2: his friends Young Neil, his seventeen year old girlfriend Knives
Speaker 2: Shower Boo Scott, boo but yeay Knives. We love Knives,
Speaker 2: but boo Scott, she's seventeen. After he falls for a
Speaker 2: Netflix DVD delivery girl, Ramona Flowers, he ends up in
Speaker 2: an awkward situation at the Battle of the Bands where
Speaker 2: Knives is there and Ramona's there and it's just like
Speaker 2: the movie and Ramona's first evil X shows up Matthew Patel,
Speaker 2: and you think, oh, okay, yeah, we get it.
Speaker 3: Scott's gonna beat.
Speaker 2: Him and it's gonna go on like we think. No,
Speaker 2: Matthew Pettel beat Scott in the first fight at the
Speaker 2: Battle of the Bands, and Scott is seemingly killed and
Speaker 2: turned into a pile of coins, which I legit screamed
Speaker 2: when I saw it, like I was like, what the fuck.
Speaker 2: I was like, oh my god, this is absolutely not
Speaker 2: what I thought it was. And onto episode.
Speaker 1: Two, Episode two, you'd think it certainly. Matthew Battel thinks
Speaker 1: that his defeating Scott would get him entree into the
Speaker 1: heart of one Romona Flowers, but no, Roona's rejects him
Speaker 1: and blames herself for Scott's death. But don't do that, Ramona, also,
Speaker 1: don't do that. Don't waste your time thinking about this guy.
Speaker 1: But whatever. Gideon getting Graves, mister billionaire tech billionaire, guy
Speaker 1: at the center of everything, gives up his company. Ramona
Speaker 1: decides to go on a search for Scott, who she
Speaker 1: believes might be alive somewhere. This must be faked or
Speaker 1: where could he be. Matt takes over getting in Graves's
Speaker 1: company and takes on the role of the new billionaire
Speaker 1: in the.
Speaker 2: World, which is great. The idea that you can just
Speaker 2: you you just win in a fight and then you're like,
Speaker 2: I'm the leader, I'm the CEO of Yeah, I have
Speaker 2: c we do that. Can we just go? Can we
Speaker 2: just go and fight?
Speaker 1: Sign this contract? Remember in the contract you said you
Speaker 1: would give over everything, Gideon, And he's like, okay, yes,
Speaker 1: we said, and this is where we should mention one thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they got every actor from the Scott Pilgrim movie to
Speaker 1: reprise their role in Scott Pilgrim takes off everybody.
Speaker 2: It's it's unbelievable.
Speaker 1: It costs.
Speaker 2: Yes, Chris, you're talking about some of the biggest names
Speaker 2: that have gone on to do these incredible things since.
Speaker 4: Then, King Wells has been Karen Coulkin, Award winning, award
Speaker 4: winning Kieran Culkin.
Speaker 2: Like, there are so many unbelievable people who kind of
Speaker 2: careers almost started here. I mean when pre Lawson played
Speaker 2: MV Adams in the original movie, she was like nineteen,
Speaker 2: she was a baby. So yes, we are now living
Speaker 2: in a no Scott world in a Scott Pilgrim TV show,
Speaker 2: and this is so bloody cleverless because really, Brian Ley, O'Malley, Ben,
Speaker 2: David Garvinsky, they've realized that the best thing you could
Speaker 2: do in Scott Pilgrim is make Scott a side character
Speaker 2: and we basically get to explore all the different interesting
Speaker 2: people that are surround Scott who we've met in the comics,
Speaker 2: we've met in the movies. So one of those people
Speaker 2: is sweet young Neil, and Young Neil has been inspired
Speaker 2: into action after Scott's death. He's worried that his life
Speaker 2: is going to end without him doing anything, so he
Speaker 2: decides that he's going to write a screenplay. He struggles
Speaker 2: to write it, but in the middle of the night
Speaker 2: he sees a mysterious person and suddenly the screenplay is there,
Speaker 2: so he's like, did I write it? Did I not
Speaker 2: write it? And he is very sucked into this, which
Speaker 2: he calls Scott Pilgrim's precious little life. And while he
Speaker 2: is writing or not writing that, Ramona and destigates Scott's
Speaker 2: death and finds out via security footage from the battle
Speaker 2: of the band's venue that he was pulled into a
Speaker 2: portal before.
Speaker 4: Matthew could strike.
Speaker 2: Love that, and we get one of my favorite series
Speaker 2: moments here, which is Ramona and her evil ex. One
Speaker 2: of her evil ex is Roxy, who she dated in
Speaker 2: college and she said it was just a phase. In
Speaker 2: the movie, they have a huge fight, beautifully animated by
Speaker 2: Science Seru. But the best thing is they make up
Speaker 2: because Romona actually takes responsibility for the fact that she
Speaker 2: treated Roxy super callously and kind of just left. And
Speaker 2: the show starts to reveal its true colors here, which
Speaker 2: is this is a show about Ramona. Romona gets to
Speaker 2: be the hero. Ramona gets to exist outside of just
Speaker 2: being a trophy for Scott. And Ramona also gets to
Speaker 2: be held accountable and help the people in her life
Speaker 2: that she might have let down get some closure, and
Speaker 2: we get to see that really huge moment and reunion,
Speaker 2: and then we see Gideon Gideon Graves, who's real name
Speaker 2: really Gordon.
Speaker 4: Goose, Gordon Goose, finish him, Gordon Goose, and he seeks
Speaker 4: refuge in none other than Scott Pilgrim's enemy, Julie Powers played.
Speaker 2: By Aubrey Plaza, who works in the coffee shop and
Speaker 2: she works everywhere.
Speaker 1: Works and then put works in air quotes.
Speaker 2: She done, she works, she works, she works. Yeah, she
Speaker 2: just turns up everywhere. But guess what now, Gordon Goose
Speaker 2: and Julie Powers are a little team and that leads
Speaker 2: us into the next episode.
Speaker 1: So Ramona is now on a mission to find out
Speaker 1: about this portal. So she decides next to confront her
Speaker 1: one of her evil exes, one of the League of
Speaker 1: Evil Exes, the famously brooding actor and skateboarder Lucas Lee,
Speaker 1: to see if he's involved in this, played by none
Speaker 1: other than Captain America Chris Evans.
Speaker 2: And by the way the way they animate, there is
Speaker 2: a skating sequel in this episode. There is probably one
Speaker 2: of my favorite scenes from.
Speaker 1: It looks like SX tricky, Like it's really great.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's so stylized and so beautiful. And of course
Speaker 2: Lucas is an actor, so why is he in town. Well,
Speaker 2: he's been cast a skull, that's right in the movie.
Speaker 1: So Lucas has been, as mentioned, has been cast in
Speaker 1: the movie based on Neil's screenplay titled Scott Pilgrim's Precious
Speaker 1: Little Life, the very one that imagined Scott's life as
Speaker 1: if he'd actually beaten Matthew Patel will as well. Scott's
Speaker 1: sassy roommate is cast as himself, which is a wonderful move.
Speaker 1: But of course there must be chaos, there must be action.
Speaker 1: Lucas is caught dating the actress playing knives. Enter the paparazzi,
Speaker 1: who are just interested in everything that Lucas does. There
Speaker 1: ensues an action sequence in which Lucas must fight them off.
Speaker 1: After a long grueling battle, Lucas and Ramona patch things up.
Speaker 1: She helps him sneak out the studio, and just as
Speaker 1: an agent is dropping him, Lucas assures Ramona that he
Speaker 1: has nothing to do with the portal. We also get
Speaker 1: like a wonderful flashback in which we see how Lucas
Speaker 1: and Ramona first started their relationship. It's actually like quite touching,
Speaker 1: and it brings up something that I love about this series,
Speaker 1: which is, you know, Scott's a dick and he's very careless,
Speaker 1: and that's there in the comic, and that's there in
Speaker 1: the movie, and that's there in this But also this
Speaker 1: is a story about breakups, about breakups and being young,
Speaker 1: about how do you about how when you're young you
Speaker 1: feel everything like ten times because you're feeling it for
Speaker 1: the first time, and you get breaken up with and
Speaker 1: you feel like, this is the worst thing that ever happened,
Speaker 1: and how could this be done to me? And you're
Speaker 1: such a the person who broke up with me is
Speaker 1: such a villain. And then all of a sudden, it's
Speaker 1: your turn to break up with somebody and now you're
Speaker 1: the villain. And this story encapsulates those feelings about what
Speaker 1: it's like to all of a sudden be on the
Speaker 1: other side of it where you have to be the
Speaker 1: bad person that tells someone that you don't have the
Speaker 1: feelings anymore, and what that is like, and how that's
Speaker 1: just like a part of life. And I think it
Speaker 1: does it really well. It's so winning. It's so great.
Speaker 1: Back to our story, enter evil ex todd Ingram envs
Speaker 1: superpowered vegan boyfriend, of course, deriving his power from the
Speaker 1: power of veganness. He decides to audition for Scott by
Speaker 1: arriving through the portal. This leaves Ramona thinking very suspiciously
Speaker 1: about what's going on, and we're onto the next episode.
Speaker 2: So from here things get even more meta, where Scott's
Speaker 2: ultimate evil x Envy from class at Demonhead played by
Speaker 2: Brie Larson, is cast as Ramona in the movie, as
Speaker 2: Wallace is cast as himself. He's on the set all
Speaker 2: the time and he decides he's gonna seduce Todd and
Speaker 2: that goes well for them. They have a little affair,
Speaker 2: and then just when it seems like the movie might
Speaker 2: get made, Matthew Patel returns and reveals he is the
Speaker 2: new studio owner and he shuts down production on Scott
Speaker 2: Pilgrim's Little Life, but young Ile's friends suggest to him,
Speaker 2: why don't you turn it into a stage play where
Speaker 2: you play Scott. How about that? Don't worry about Hollywood,
Speaker 2: just do that, my friend, And then we're on to
Speaker 2: the next episode. Only three left. Now things are getting crazy.
Speaker 1: Every episode has an incredible action set piece. That is,
Speaker 1: it feels like it's like twenty percent of the episode,
Speaker 1: and each of them you think you've seen them all,
Speaker 1: and you think, if you understand Scott Pilber, that you're
Speaker 1: going to know what the action se'es. And they're not
Speaker 1: like that. Each one is like its own different flavor.
Speaker 1: You mentioned the Lucas Lee skateboarding scene. Every one of
Speaker 1: them is different in its own way. We meet up
Speaker 1: again now with Gordon, who is transitioning to being this
Speaker 1: homeless guy who is crashing at somebody else's house and
Speaker 1: doesn't have a job and doesn't have a lot to do.
Speaker 1: But Gordon has kind of struck up a interesting friendship
Speaker 1: with none other than top Hollywood actor, although kind of
Speaker 1: on the downside of his career, Lucas Lee. Meanwhile, Ramona
Speaker 1: has decided to confront Julie. She reveals that Gordon, who
Speaker 1: has been crashing at her place, has been too depressed
Speaker 1: to do anything at all, literally.
Speaker 4: Anything at all, any plans.
Speaker 2: He's just sitting around being friends with Lucas Lee.
Speaker 1: They head back. As head back to Julie's place, they
Speaker 1: suddenly notice a robot that has been a lot of
Speaker 1: different places is also there at Julie's What's this robot?
Speaker 1: Doing here. The robot, once Ramona notices it, just leaves,
Speaker 1: just gets up and leaves elsewhere. Stephen and Knives come
Speaker 1: up with an idea for, as Rosie mentioned, the stage
Speaker 1: play version of Scott Pilgrit's Precious Little Life. Ramona figures
Speaker 1: out that the Katayangi Twins, the Evil Ex's part of
Speaker 1: her Evil X league, created this robot to be vegan
Speaker 1: and it created the portal. Then sex Ba ba bomb
Speaker 1: drops a bombshell on Ramona. Neil didn't write the play.
Speaker 1: How could he have written the play? He woke up
Speaker 1: and then he had a tire screenplay. There's no way
Speaker 1: that happened. Somebody's like Okham's Razor, Neil, you didn't go
Speaker 1: to sleep and wake up with a full screen play
Speaker 1: on your computer. Somebody else wrote it? Who did it?
Speaker 1: Who could have done it? Finally, whom Scott does show
Speaker 1: up on Romota's doorstep, validating her theory, but with a
Speaker 1: twist that he claims he set the whole thing up himself.
Speaker 1: And we're on the next episode.
Speaker 2: Dune, And in the perfectly named penultimate episode to Scott
Speaker 2: two Pilgrim, which is just so good, we learn that
Speaker 2: Scott's future self is the one who pulled him through
Speaker 2: the portal because in the future after you know, Scott
Speaker 2: defeated Matthew and the Evil exes him and Ramona got
Speaker 2: married yay, happy ending, No, because they ended up getting
Speaker 2: a divorce. So future Scott wanted to pull young Scott
Speaker 2: out and say, don't even get into it, man, Like,
Speaker 2: don't even try to win her over, because you're all
Speaker 2: end up heartbroken and you end up.
Speaker 4: Like me Scott.
Speaker 2: Young Scott doesn't buy it, but I think it's a
Speaker 2: really interesting deep episode where we get to have this
Speaker 2: kind of conversation about the fear of commitment and like
Speaker 2: what if your life doesn't go the way you expect
Speaker 2: it to, and you know, it's kind of the ultimate breakup,
Speaker 2: the breakup after you've been married, Like it's a show
Speaker 2: about breakups throughout your life, and this one has just
Speaker 2: destroyed this guy and kind of turn him into like
Speaker 2: an old man Logan type kind of Lono in a
Speaker 2: dystopian universe, hanging out with the Captain Yagi twins and
Speaker 2: their robot. And the sad truth is that he just
Speaker 2: can't get through to Scott even though it's it's like
Speaker 2: I get it but Scott is just like what you're
Speaker 2: talking about, Like, I don't know what's going on. And
Speaker 2: then we meet old man logan version of Ramona, who
Speaker 2: are gonna call future old romonaat by the way, she
Speaker 2: looks great, dude, truly, she's looking looking stunning, and she
Speaker 2: helps Scott get back to the past, also revealing it
Speaker 2: was her who wrote the screenplay because she love Scott
Speaker 2: and she wants him to remember the version of their
Speaker 2: life that they could have if they won. And they
Speaker 2: came together and we're very happy, even if it was
Speaker 2: just for a little while, and we're on to the phenal.
Speaker 1: Scott and Ramona figure out that none of the Evil
Speaker 1: Exes are behind any of this. During the play, things
Speaker 1: go from extremely chaotic and crazy when a deranged even
Speaker 1: older Scott, even older Scott teleports Scott, his friends, Ramona,
Speaker 1: and the League of Evil Exes away, revealing that he's
Speaker 1: the mastermind behind this whole thing, because like, why not
Speaker 1: throw in an extra Scott? We need an extra Scott
Speaker 1: m hm.
Speaker 2: At this point, we got so many Scotts, so many Ramonas.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, because what's something I didn't mention is that
Speaker 2: when Scott and Ramona get back from the past to
Speaker 2: the past, and they think everything's okay. They can't kiss,
Speaker 2: that's right. It's like a force field that's stopping them
Speaker 2: from kissing. And that is what even older Scott has created.
Speaker 1: Why because he doesn't want Scott, young Scott, any version
Speaker 1: of his previous selves to fall in love with Ramona.
Speaker 1: He wants Roona out of his life so he doesn't
Speaker 1: become this twisted and sad old man who can't get
Speaker 1: over the fact that Ramona doesn't want to be with him.
Speaker 1: Although does she not want to be with him? This
Speaker 1: is another I think this is another asterisk in his career. Scott,
Speaker 1: even older Scott, thinks that Ramona broke up with him,
Speaker 1: when actually Ramona's like, wait, aren't we just like on
Speaker 1: a break? Like didn't I just want to take.
Speaker 2: Time anyway, Yeah, which is really funny because in the books,
Speaker 2: which are really great they and I believe the first
Speaker 2: the first volume is called Scott Bilgo's Prescious Little Life,
Speaker 2: And something I really love about them is like they
Speaker 2: do just they go on for so long that you
Speaker 2: get to spend lots of time with these characters. And
Speaker 2: there is just like a year where Scott and Ramona
Speaker 2: just like aren't together and that kind of stuff happens,
Speaker 2: And I love the idea that in this like Ramona
Speaker 2: is like, like we can get back together, we can
Speaker 2: do the work. But older Scott in the future has
Speaker 2: just given up. He's like, no, we got divorced.
Speaker 1: That's it.
Speaker 2: There's nothing else to do. So it's really an interesting
Speaker 2: kind of treatise on like commitment and how much you're
Speaker 2: willing to make things work and how much you'll fight
Speaker 2: for someone, and whether Scott even really wants to be
Speaker 2: with Rona if she's fighting for herself rather than him
Speaker 2: fighting the exes, So it's really interesting and they're in
Speaker 2: like some strange limin or space. But luckily there are
Speaker 2: three Ramonas as well as three Scotts.
Speaker 1: So the evil exes try to fight, even older Scott
Speaker 1: because he wants to kill everybody and also wants to
Speaker 1: make sure that his past self never falls in love
Speaker 1: with Ramona. Ramona decides she's done running from her life
Speaker 1: and she's accepted the choices that she's made and she
Speaker 1: embraces her older self, merging to become Supermona. She sends
Speaker 1: older Scott back to the future and successfully kisses Scott Pilgrim.
Speaker 1: They return to the play just in time to catch
Speaker 1: Gordon because shouts out to Knives, who figures out that
Speaker 1: this is where you're gonna find everybody all together, the
Speaker 1: Evil Exes, everybody. They're gonna be at ass play because
Speaker 1: there's the live stage play that's happened. They're all gonna
Speaker 1: be there. Meanwhile, Matthew, worn out by all the drama,
Speaker 1: decides to return his properties and focus on being a
Speaker 1: stage actor. Luke is, showing he's not just a pretty face,
Speaker 1: takes up work as a barista, which he enjoys with, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's this is so good.
Speaker 3: I love the way that in the you know, in
Speaker 3: the in the movie.
Speaker 2: In the books, when the Evil Exes are killed, they
Speaker 2: become piles of coins that dead or whatever. I love
Speaker 2: that they were like, here's what happens if they didn't die.
Speaker 2: And there's you know, Lucas is like a barista and
Speaker 2: everyone's going now watching him do his fancy like milk
Speaker 2: shaw and he's looking all hunky and his ape friend.
Speaker 4: It's so good.
Speaker 1: Roxy helps Todd train to keep his vegan powers sharp
Speaker 1: and then check that cut of Yngie Twins continue to
Speaker 1: work on Robots, Wallace finds love in Paris after splurging
Speaker 1: his film money on a vacation, and knives joined sex
Speaker 1: but ba Bomb as keyboardist as it shouldn't have been,
Speaker 1: with Envy occasionally joining when she wants to. Ramona continues
Speaker 1: her work as a stunt double because she's a badass
Speaker 1: and that's what she should be doing. In a mid
Speaker 1: credits scene, just when you think it's all over, Gordon
Speaker 1: and Julia back at it, seemingly plotting against Scott and
Speaker 1: Ramona as we head into a possible season two.
Speaker 2: Love this show. I loved Scott Pilgrim already. I love
Speaker 2: Scott Pilgrim the movie. That was a hugely formative movie
Speaker 2: for me. I love that soundtrack. I still listen to
Speaker 2: it like all the time. I have course played as
Speaker 2: Romona Flowers when I used to walk at the comic shop.
Speaker 2: But I think this surpass is it.
Speaker 1: It's really really great.
Speaker 2: Massively because it's so good, it's so surprising, it's so funny.
Speaker 2: But then again, it doesn't work unless you have the
Speaker 2: other pieces as companion work. So this, to me is
Speaker 2: the perfect kind of adaptation. I think, if you're doing
Speaker 2: the third, if you're doing the second or third reimagining
Speaker 2: of a character, actually reimagine it. And this was done
Speaker 2: with Brian Ley O'Malley, who is the creator who's been
Speaker 2: listening to these conversations for twenty years, you know, since
Speaker 2: the books came out, and I think him and Ben
Speaker 2: David Garbinsky did such a good job making this accessible, beautiful,
Speaker 2: really well made animated series that should have been released
Speaker 2: weekly like X Men ninety seven. If that, even if
Speaker 2: you just dropped the first episode and then had a break,
Speaker 2: the conversation that would have happened around it.
Speaker 4: Would have been so fantastic.
Speaker 2: And I mean, what an achievement to be able to
Speaker 2: get all the cast back when that is just such
Speaker 2: a massive, massive effort to get these huge Hollywood stars. Also,
Speaker 2: another thing I love about it is that I love
Speaker 2: the fact that they give Matthew Patel like this whole
Speaker 2: character arc because he's the first person who gets killed.
Speaker 2: He's a person of color, and in the movie it's
Speaker 2: like he does have a great moment, a great musical sequence,
Speaker 2: but he doesn't get much more than that, and I
Speaker 2: love that they gave him this art care. But in
Speaker 2: the end, he's like being a CEO is like really rough,
Speaker 2: like I don't want a billion dollars, Like let me
Speaker 2: just live my life as a working actor. I mean
Speaker 2: it's to me. I just think it's almost a perfect adaptation.
Speaker 2: It was totally once.
Speaker 1: It's really really great. And again, if you are a
Speaker 1: Scott Pilgrim fan and you think I know this story,
Speaker 1: you don't know how they did it this time you don't.
Speaker 1: And they did something super smart, which is make Scott
Speaker 1: Pilgrim really like a side character in his own story
Speaker 1: until basically the end, like he exits episode one, and
Speaker 1: then the entire middle of the series is about in
Speaker 1: air quotes, these side characters, their stories, the things that
Speaker 1: they're doing. There's some shocking romance in here, shouts to
Speaker 1: Wallace and Lucas, Lee Todd. And it's great. It's really
Speaker 1: really fun. It's got the energy of the comic and
Speaker 1: of the original. The music continues to be fantastic. It's
Speaker 1: just wonderful. The action is so good. It's up next.
Speaker 1: Rosie is going to take you even deeper into Scott
Speaker 1: Pilgrim takes off and tell you why it's one of
Speaker 1: the best adaptations ever yet.
Speaker 2: Welcome to another edition of the Omnibus where law, analysis
Speaker 2: and understanding come together. Today, I'm going to take you
Speaker 2: through why I think Scott Pilgrim takes off as one
Speaker 2: of the best adaptations of all time. This is from
Speaker 2: a piece that I wrote at IgM when the show debuted,
Speaker 2: and I just absolutely was blown away by the way
Speaker 2: that they chose to adapt this show. So adapting Brian
Speaker 2: Ley O'Malley's beloved comic turned cult film for Netflix seems
Speaker 2: like it would be an easy and relatively safe bet.
Speaker 2: Scott Pilgrim's a fun, dynamic story that plays with the
Speaker 2: tropes and trappings of manga and fighting games and has
Speaker 2: an immense imbolt nostalgia and fan base, not because it's
Speaker 2: been you know, nineteen years since the comic debuted, but
Speaker 2: also because of the twenty ten movie and the cast
Speaker 2: who have gone on to become some of the biggest
Speaker 2: stars in the world. In case you haven't seen Eggar
Speaker 2: Wright's charmingly stylized film or read the vibrant source material,
Speaker 2: the story centers around the titular slacker, Scott Pilgrim played
Speaker 2: by Michael Sira, who finds a girl of his dreams,
Speaker 2: Romona Flowers played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and has to
Speaker 2: fight has several Evil x's before he can date her.
Speaker 2: Since twenty ten, the love for the film and comic
Speaker 2: has only grown. The movie was one of those classic
Speaker 2: movies where it didn't really make much much money at
Speaker 2: the box office, but the whole cult hit once it
Speaker 2: hit home video, and it's kind of wild that the
Speaker 2: whole cast decided to come back for the Netflix anime version,
Speaker 2: which was animated by the legendary Science Through Studios. But
Speaker 2: what the streamer and creators O'Malley and Ben David Gribinski
Speaker 2: managed to keep under wraps is that this isn't a
Speaker 2: remake or a sequel, it's something else Entirely. During the
Speaker 2: opening twenty five minutes of the twenty eight ish minute
Speaker 2: first episode, it's easy to believe, as we spoke about
Speaker 2: that you're watching a pretty much shot for shot and
Speaker 2: beautifully animated remake of the film and the comics. We
Speaker 2: see Scott and his band sex per Bomb. They go
Speaker 2: to the Rocket, a local Toronto dive. Bar Ramona's first
Speaker 2: Evil X, Matthew to Tell played by Satya, saw our
Speaker 2: barber attacks but in a moment that, as I said,
Speaker 2: literally Mami Yell, Scott loses the fight. It's an astonishing
Speaker 2: twist that immediately reveals the show isn't what we think
Speaker 2: it's going to be, and something that the title had
Speaker 2: cleverly been hinting about all along. Scott Pilgrim is gone
Speaker 2: and we're left to follow the fallout. It's a huge
Speaker 2: swing that, after watching all eight episodes, absolutely pays off.
Speaker 2: Scott's failure in subs quin disappearance allows the series to
Speaker 2: spend time with its ridiculously stacked cast of characters. Highlight
Speaker 2: include Scott's seventeen year old kind of girlfriend knives Chow
Speaker 2: played by Ellen Wong, his call gay roommate Wallace Wells,
Speaker 2: Kieran Culkin, and sexper Bomb's sarcastic drummer kim Pie Alison Pill,
Speaker 2: along with all of Ramona's evil exes like the power
Speaker 2: hungry Patel Vegan Clash, a demon head drummer bass player
Speaker 2: todd ingram and the angsty lesbian hockey player Roxy Richtor.
Speaker 2: Of course, there's Ramona Flowers herself, who gets to be
Speaker 2: the hero of her own story here, rather than a
Speaker 2: trophy to be secured through a series of badass fights.
Speaker 2: That change speaks to another of the most powerful and
Speaker 2: likely divisive choices that the show makes. Grabinsky and O'Malley
Speaker 2: are constantly in conversation with viewers and readers who love
Speaker 2: Scott Pilgrim in all of its forms. It almost feels
Speaker 2: like an act of anti fan service that instead respects
Speaker 2: the audience while challenging it to grow with the stories
Speaker 2: and characters, rather than settling into familiarity. Of course, it's
Speaker 2: a maturing of the story that makes sense O'Malley published
Speaker 2: the first volume almost twenty years ago, and also makes
Speaker 2: the series stand out from other adaptations. This is an
Speaker 2: additive experience, one that weaves the characters in the world
Speaker 2: that we know with extra context, clarity, and thought amid
Speaker 2: the stunning animation and beautifully directed action that feels like
Speaker 2: another game changing addition to the Netflix slate. There's a
Speaker 2: focus on making amends and moving past the mistakes we've made.
Speaker 2: Whereas the exes in the film will with dispatched post haste,
Speaker 2: here they live on and Ramona realizes and often apologizes
Speaker 2: for the impact she had on them. Knives gets to
Speaker 2: exist out of Stockott's orbit, something that also happened in
Speaker 2: the comics, but in an entirely new way. By realizing
Speaker 2: she's a proficient musician, and with the help of Kim
Speaker 2: joins Sex bebom herself. Other characters get expanded lives. Todd
Speaker 2: falls in love, Lucas Lee finds his calling as a barista,
Speaker 2: Julie reconnects with her old lover. As Scott for himself,
Speaker 2: the show doesn't truly dispense with him, instead playing with
Speaker 2: some delightfully fun comic book tropes to send him on
Speaker 2: a journey to the future where he reconsiders and commits
Speaker 2: to his relationship with Ramona. It brings a depth to
Speaker 2: their romance that's always been a key part of the
Speaker 2: draw of O'Malley's slice of life story. That's something that
Speaker 2: the truncated timeline of the film only touched on, but
Speaker 2: Scott Pilgrim takes off embraces it. Ana Manigucci, who also
Speaker 2: scored the cult Scott Pilgrim versus the world video game
Speaker 2: craft relaxing beats that create an enjoyably chill soundscape for
Speaker 2: a quiet moment between the battles. While Hollywood is dealing
Speaker 2: with what some would call comic book movie fatigue, Scott
Speaker 2: Pilgrim takes off as a breath of fresh air. It's
Speaker 2: a reminder of how vibrant and exciting an adaptation can
Speaker 2: be when the people who love and know the source
Speaker 2: material are willing to take risks. Pretty much every other
Speaker 2: major studio could learn vital lessons from what Grabrinsky and
Speaker 2: O'Malley have done here. Let's just hope that they heed them,
Speaker 2: and maybe then the future of comic book adaptations will
Speaker 2: look bright again. And you can read that article. It
Speaker 2: ign along with many of my other articles. And yes,
Speaker 2: I do truly think this is one of the best
Speaker 2: adaptations that we've ever had. But we've had a great
Speaker 2: year for adaptations because we also got Shogun, we got
Speaker 2: House of the Dragon, which I love. So yeah, it's
Speaker 2: a good year for adaptations. Thank you for listening, and
Speaker 2: now let's do Who's Who.
Speaker 1: We like to end every episode with a series of
Speaker 1: fast moving segments. This week It's Who's Who, in which
Speaker 1: we will name our favorite multiverse slash multiple versions of
Speaker 1: the same person stories. Rosie, what's your no? I'll start that,
Speaker 1: Lena start with what Listen. Some people say, oh, multiverse,
Speaker 1: the multiverses, all these multiverse stories. Look at all these
Speaker 1: multiverse stories are very, very old, and that brings me
Speaker 1: to my selection, which I think might be the OG.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about eighteen forty three's banger Christmas Carol by
Speaker 1: Charles Dickens. Oh shit, I think it might be the OG, folks.
Speaker 1: I think it might be the original multiple versions of
Speaker 1: yourself branching timeline story in which my brain, your gude
Speaker 1: Ebenezer Screwedge, is taken by various ghosts to see moments
Speaker 1: from his life, and then he's taken into the future
Speaker 1: to see what life could be like if he continues
Speaker 1: on his path of being a rich, miserately dick. It's
Speaker 1: a great one. It's a classic.
Speaker 2: This is incredible. You blow in my mind because also,
Speaker 2: I think in an incredibly meta take as well. It
Speaker 2: is also probably one of the stories that has the
Speaker 2: most adaptations, so each of them almost acts as its
Speaker 2: own multiverse as well. I love that.
Speaker 4: That is such a good call.
Speaker 2: Ten out of ten. Also, mup at Christmas Carol. Hey,
Speaker 2: I just need to say it's the best Christmas Carol,
Speaker 2: but I love all Christmas Carols equally. That is a
Speaker 2: very good story, and I absolutely love that pick. I
Speaker 2: think you're right that probably is the OG. Okay, I'm
Speaker 2: gonna go for Okay, it's more of like a scary one,
Speaker 2: So I'm gonna go for coral because I love Coraline,
Speaker 2: I love the little I loved.
Speaker 4: The stop motion.
Speaker 2: I think Lika did an incredible job adapting it. And
Speaker 2: I like that that is a kind of multiverse where
Speaker 2: you go to a different world to come only to
Speaker 2: basically realize we are in the right place, you know.
Speaker 2: I like that story, like your home, where you actually live,
Speaker 2: is where you should be. So I think that is
Speaker 2: a really good one. I also do think everything everywhere
Speaker 2: all at once. Man is up there with best multiverses
Speaker 2: of all time. I mean, I still remember the first
Speaker 2: time I watched that movie. Okay, another one blast from
Speaker 2: the past, but it is getting a re release currently,
Speaker 2: which I cannot wait. Is a Run, Lola Run, which
Speaker 2: we used to watch so much when I was a charasie.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and and that you kind of get these different
Speaker 2: versions of what could happen. And I really that was
Speaker 2: a that was a perennial blockbuster sleepover pick when I
Speaker 2: was growing up.
Speaker 1: I don't know why.
Speaker 3: I feel like I must have had housie friends.
Speaker 2: But yeah, we are blessed with many multiverses, not just
Speaker 2: in the Marvel and DC universe, guys, there's so many
Speaker 2: multiverses all over the place they're living. They're living it
Speaker 2: up everywhere.
Speaker 3: There's a different in it. What what are the multi
Speaker 3: versus and me and Jason, I don't know. We're probably
Speaker 3: doing something else, probably just like watching some basketball or something,
Speaker 3: just like a slightly different version of this universe. We're
Speaker 3: just wearing a different colored T shirt. You don't know
Speaker 3: how different the multiverses are. They don't all have to
Speaker 3: be crazy, you know.
Speaker 1: Do you think you're evil in any multiverse?
Speaker 4: Cash multiverse?
Speaker 2: Definitely? Come on, I would like to imagine. I would
Speaker 2: like to imagine I'm not. But if there's really a multiverse,
Speaker 2: if we're talking about like every timeline living alongside each
Speaker 2: other like string theory style, I'm sure there is an
Speaker 2: evil Rosie in one of those. Like as much as
Speaker 2: I don't like it, there's probably an evil Rosie and
Speaker 2: Jason and we probably do a really annoying podcast about
Speaker 2: like I don't know, supplements or something.
Speaker 1: Well, this has been an evil Jason and evil Rosie.
Speaker 1: And that's it for this episode. Thanks for listening. Spoiler
Speaker 1: bye x ray Vision is hosted by Jesus, Its Obscene
Speaker 1: and Real Night, and is a production of iHeart Podcasts.
Speaker 1: Our executive producers are Joelle Smith and Aaron Kaufman. Our
Speaker 1: supervising producer is a Boo Zafar. Our producers are Carmen
Speaker 1: Laurent and Mia Taylor. Our theme song is by Brian Basquez.
Speaker 2: Special thanks to Soul Rubin and Chris Laude, Kenny Goodman
Speaker 2: and Heidi our discoored moderator.