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Speaker 1: Too Much Information is a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome to Too Much Information, the show

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Speaker 1: that brings you the secret histories and little known fascinating

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Speaker 1: facts about your favorite TV shows, movies, music, and more.

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Speaker 1: We are your two mavens of minutia. I'm Alex Heigel

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Speaker 1: and I'm Jordan. Run Talk Jordan. Today we are talking

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Speaker 1: about a film that looms large in the annals of

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Speaker 1: nineties animation, despite the fact that it had nothing to

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Speaker 1: do with Disney, Pixar or even Studio Ghibli and was

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Speaker 1: in fact mostly overlooked on its upon its release. We

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Speaker 1: are talking about Earn Gully, the movie that made a

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Speaker 1: generation believe a logger could become a tree fairy, a

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Speaker 1: hideous yet sexy pollution monster could sing show tunes, and

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Speaker 1: Cheech and Chong could put aside their differences to play

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Speaker 1: a set of Beatles. I distinctly remember this movie growing up,

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Speaker 1: mostly because I think, as is very common, I was

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Speaker 1: terrified of hexas. Yes, the aforementioned sexy pollution monster. Um

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Speaker 1: let'should be your next DP sexy pollution. So that's the

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Speaker 1: hashtag for this episode. No, No, we cannot do that.

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Speaker 1: We will get people tweeting very weird erotica at us.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, we'll get up. We'll touch on that later

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Speaker 1: metaphorically not literally. Yeah it's bad. He's really, really, really scary.

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Speaker 1: And I think if I had not seen Who Framed

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Speaker 1: Roger Rabbit and Judge Doom took up space in my nightmares,

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Speaker 1: it would have been hexas the same with you. I'm trusting, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean I probably more so. You know, people say,

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Speaker 1: oh my god, that movie totally traumatized me as a kid,

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Speaker 1: than they kind of laugh, like I'm not laughing. I

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Speaker 1: like that movie scared the hell out of me in

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Speaker 1: a way that still haunts me. And I think a

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Speaker 1: lot of it is because I grew up in a

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Speaker 1: really rural area and the house I lived in was

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Speaker 1: and so five year old me wasn't able to distinguish

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Speaker 1: between logging in a rainforest and logging in my own backyard.

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Speaker 1: So I lived in constant fear that this massive deforesting

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Speaker 1: machine was just gonna come and try to kill everyone

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Speaker 1: I know and loved. That thing is creepy. It's like

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Speaker 1: a panzer machine or something like. It's like it's it's massive. Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean so, I I actually distinctly remember having a

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Speaker 1: conversation with my parents about like making a plan if

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Speaker 1: this word happen, if like this machine helmed satanic glop

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Speaker 1: of glue showed up, Like this is what we would do, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I had. It's like it was a fire escape plan

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Speaker 1: and there's a what if Hexas comes to our woods plan.

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Speaker 1: I think Hexas fused with the big tree killing machine

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Speaker 1: is just one of the most terrifying images of my childhood.

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Speaker 1: I mean, is everything about this movie was so unsettling.

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Speaker 1: All those red x is on the trees that looks

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Speaker 1: like some kind of Blair Witch project hex symbol, that

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Speaker 1: the ferry was hutch and it was like yeah, yeah.

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Speaker 1: And then even the sound design, with like the rumble

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Speaker 1: of the machine in the background and the guys screaming

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Speaker 1: through the megaphone just kind of echoing off in the distance.

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Speaker 1: It was just all so threatening. Oh and the creepy

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Speaker 1: cave painting hand things at the beginning, just oh my god,

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Speaker 1: I hate all of this. I mean, honestly, my memory

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Speaker 1: of the details on this movie might be a little

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Speaker 1: fuzzy because unlike most of the movies well, I mean yeah,

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Speaker 1: unlike so many of the movies that we discussed on

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Speaker 1: this episode. I haven't rewatched it. I started watching some

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Speaker 1: YouTube clips and I couldn't get any further. So I

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Speaker 1: think it's like, it's not like a particularly good movie,

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Speaker 1: but it's but people like remember. I really think most

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Speaker 1: people of our age group remember it because it crossed

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Speaker 1: so many lines in terms of what's acceptable for kids movie.

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Speaker 1: I feel like, although I will say, revisiting this movie,

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Speaker 1: I was shocked by the number of big names who

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Speaker 1: worked on it. I mean, obviously Robin Williams, I had

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Speaker 1: no idea, Christian Slater, Elton John, Jimmy Buffett like Raffi Raffy,

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Speaker 1: I guess is the most predictable um alright. Well, from

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Speaker 1: the incredible fourteen hours of reportedly improvised dialogue Robin Williams

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Speaker 1: provided for his role as Batty coda to Jeffrey Catt

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Speaker 1: friend of the program, Jeffrey Katzenberg's ruthless attempts to crush

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Speaker 1: the film before he made it to theaters, to the

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Speaker 1: surprisingly star packed soundtrack, Here is everything you didn't know

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Speaker 1: about Fern Gully stray up Um. The only good Australians

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Speaker 1: are A. C. D. C and Nick cave til the

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Speaker 1: note um Olivia and Sean Uh Distant four. Much like

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Speaker 1: another beloved animated flick from the nineties, The Rescuers down Under.

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Speaker 1: Fernley began life down Under off to a great starts, tremendous,

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Speaker 1: some tremendous riding there great Uh. There's a guy named

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Speaker 1: Wayne Young settled near the surf community of Byron Bay

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Speaker 1: in Australia after hopping around with his now ex wife

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Speaker 1: Diana and their children from mekan Nos to Ibitha, to

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Speaker 1: the same schells to Bali, and he fell in love

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Speaker 1: with these stories that Diana would tell their children that

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Speaker 1: centered around animals and the environment. I don't know what

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Speaker 1: kind of life he had set up that he could

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Speaker 1: just hop around to all no ideas, tropical places, no idea.

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Speaker 1: He does not have a distinctly extensive CV. Well, he

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Speaker 1: worked on crocodile dundee, so maybe he's got those bucks,

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Speaker 1: dud bucks. The first major protest to stop the logging

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Speaker 1: of the last forests happened right here. He told the

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Speaker 1: Paris Review the continent is nine odd percent in permanent drought,

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Speaker 1: but this is subtropical. As you mentioned, his producing credits

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Speaker 1: included crocodile Dundee, which is the film that catapulted Australia

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Speaker 1: into the national consciousness the entire continent. Yeah, nothing else

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Speaker 1: had succeeded to evade all of our consciousness but that

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Speaker 1: movie The Guy with the Knife. People in the eighties,

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Speaker 1: all these investment bankers were like, guys, have you guys

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Speaker 1: heard of this Australia, Get me a reservation at dorsea

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Speaker 1: until a tan man with a knife and a hat. God,

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Speaker 1: that movie is so weird. A car? What's that car?

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Speaker 1: Come on? Um? I can't find anything else that Diana

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Speaker 1: has written before or since. I think she may have

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Speaker 1: done like business writing or copyrighting. There's like or someone

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Speaker 1: with her name name did. Anyway, she she wrote a

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Speaker 1: series of short stories based on her bedtime tales that

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Speaker 1: would become the screenplay Differ. And so they've been working

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Speaker 1: on this thing since the late seventies, but they were

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Speaker 1: ahead of their time. They had to wait until the

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Speaker 1: zeitgeist caught up. And I'd like you to all journey

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Speaker 1: with us now to the magical time in the early

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Speaker 1: nineties when celebrities were first flocking to the cause of

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Speaker 1: global warming as it was called back then, conservation and

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Speaker 1: broadly capital t capital e the environment. Ah. This was

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Speaker 1: an era when Sting posed with an Amazonian tribal chief

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Speaker 1: on a magazine cover, which must have been traumatic for

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Speaker 1: that man. Imagine being flown to New York to be

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Speaker 1: photographed any Lebowitz or someone with this pale, thin englishman

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Speaker 1: next to you. Um. Kenny Loggins wrote a song called

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Speaker 1: Conviction of the Heart that he told me Al Gore

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Speaker 1: once deemed the unofficial anthem of the climate change movement.

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Speaker 1: Kenny Logans himself told you that I believe, so that

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Speaker 1: was incredible. He's one of the one of the celebrities

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Speaker 1: I interviewed once when I was at the Post. His

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Speaker 1: my absolute favorite quote from a celebrity I ever got,

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Speaker 1: was like we were talking about this and he just

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Speaker 1: like sighed heavily and he was like, I don't have

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Speaker 1: a lot of hope for the species a celebrity. Yeah, exactly,

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Speaker 1: there's your next hit, Kenny. Um. Madonna had a concert

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Speaker 1: called Don't Bungle the Jungle. Um. There's apparently a clip

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Speaker 1: of Tom Cruise telling people to plant a tree in

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Speaker 1: d C on Earth Day in just like, have you

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Speaker 1: ever planted a tree? Do it? Uh? I sent you

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Speaker 1: the rocket Fuel quote right. Yeah. Miles Teller apparently got

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Speaker 1: like he was inhaling so much of it on the

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Speaker 1: set of the New Top Gun that he he tested

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Speaker 1: for it in his blood stream. He was feeling bad

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Speaker 1: and went to the doctor and the doctor was like, well,

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Speaker 1: you've got all these like heavy metals in your blood stream.

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Speaker 1: Have you been around a lot of jet fuel recently?

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Speaker 1: And he's like yeah, as a matter of fact, yeah,

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Speaker 1: And you want to go tell Cruise because he was like, yeah, Tom,

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Speaker 1: I'm like suffering for this movie. And he's just like,

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Speaker 1: you have an all your mission. Yeah, He's like, Tom,

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Speaker 1: do you know I have I just tested for having

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Speaker 1: jet fueled my blood And Tom Cruise said, I was

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Speaker 1: born with it. Kid Ah. Anyway, So getting back to

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Speaker 1: fern Golly, unfortunately, as much as I would love to

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Speaker 1: down and you can talk about anything other than this

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Speaker 1: traumatic movie, but back to fern Golly, back to the

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Speaker 1: task at hands. The other big development that allowed fern

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Speaker 1: Gully to take off was the so called Disney renaissance

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Speaker 1: of the time, which we talked about on the Beauty

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Speaker 1: and the Beast episode, which is ironic given what we'll

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Speaker 1: talk about in a second. But the little Mermaid had

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Speaker 1: come out and jump started this new era for Disney.

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Speaker 1: And this is also right around the era when computer

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Speaker 1: animation starting to pick up steam as a relatively viable

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Speaker 1: utility for studios and Tron Yeah, relatively speaking. We talked

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Speaker 1: about this in the Beauty and the Beast episode. How

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Speaker 1: many months was it? It took the three months to

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Speaker 1: animate a chicken leg in wire frame chicken leg. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: so they're still getting the kinks out of it. But

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Speaker 1: the movie Tron actually paved the way for fern Gully

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Speaker 1: because there was a guy named Bill Croyer who had

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Speaker 1: actually worked at Disney before this on The Fox and

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Speaker 1: the Hound. And then you say he protests quit because

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Speaker 1: he didn't want to work on the Black Cauldron. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's just like a single line from an interview. He's like,

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Speaker 1: I quit because I didn't want to work on the

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Speaker 1: Black Cauldron. I mean that was a pretty famously troubled shoot.

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Speaker 1: But I just can't imagine hating something that much at

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Speaker 1: your job that you're just like, no, I quit. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it was like extrame. I guess who with it? In

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Speaker 1: the edit? Catzenburg Jeffrey Katzenberg. That is correct. Catzenberg has

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Speaker 1: been turning into a recurring villain. He's Are He's Are

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Speaker 1: Blowfeld in the show. He just keeps cropping up screwing

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Speaker 1: up movies. But anyway, this guy, Balkroyer, he works on

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Speaker 1: the movie Tron, and he decides to focus on combining

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Speaker 1: traditional and computer animation, and he formed his own studio

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Speaker 1: to do this in and I guess his first and

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Speaker 1: only directorial credit is Firmali. It was the studio's first project,

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Speaker 1: and he had a script written by a guy named

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Speaker 1: Jim Cox, who had also written the script for Oliver

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Speaker 1: and Company starring my beloved Billy joel Um. And also

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Speaker 1: I will tell him what he also did, Yes, folks,

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Speaker 1: you guess did the Rescuers down Under? Right? And I

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Speaker 1: think he also tinkered with the beauty of the b

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Speaker 1: script too. So this whole development team won on a

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Speaker 1: seven week research trip to the Amazon where they were

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Speaker 1: especially intrigued by the glowing mushrooms. Because they're glowing mushrooms,

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Speaker 1: I guess they're called ghost mushrooms, which is already this

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Speaker 1: is starting to freak me out. I don't like mushrooms.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I like eating them, but they terrify me.

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Speaker 1: They're all like part of one super neural network. They're

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Speaker 1: talking about us. I don't know. It's like a pet.

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Speaker 1: It's a pet. It's like them in dolphins. Mushrooms are

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Speaker 1: the dolphins of the lands, smart, smarter than we give

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Speaker 1: them credit for. They're the true enemy, Fight the real enemy.

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Speaker 1: A picture of a mushrooms, some shots around mushrooms. Um so,

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Speaker 1: now we returned to Jeffrey Katzenberg, the villain of eighties

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Speaker 1: and nineties animation. The biggest single mistake Croyer and company

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Speaker 1: made was pissing off Jeffrey Katzenberg. Cox apparently smuggled Croyer

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Speaker 1: into Disney with a fake name tag to point out

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Speaker 1: some animators that he thought would be good for the project.

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Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not in the weeds enough to know

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Speaker 1: about like how animators are contracted to work on projects.

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Speaker 1: But I don't know if that's illegal or not. It

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Speaker 1: might have been like contract work. I don't know if

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Speaker 1: there's a noncompete clause. They're almost surely is these days.

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Speaker 1: But um anyway, trespassing for violating security, well that's true.

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Speaker 1: Uh boy, howdy Michael Jordan's meme Jeffrey Katzenberg sang and

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Speaker 1: I took that personally, UM, I just want to shout

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Speaker 1: out to queeby Jeff because I hate you. And that

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Speaker 1: was a massive failure. Uh. Croyer maintains that Katzenberg screwed

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Speaker 1: them out of the facilities that they were trying to

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Speaker 1: rent by going behind their back and offering to pay

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Speaker 1: more to the landlords. And they did he even use

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Speaker 1: the facilities or is he just buying up every space

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Speaker 1: for for a possible animation studio all throughout the South

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Speaker 1: just cartoon villain stuff. Jack Guy is just a motivated

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Speaker 1: entirely by spite. Yeah. And so they finally landed this

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Speaker 1: old brewery in the San Fernando Valley and Coyer said

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Speaker 1: that Disney just tried to buy it out from under them.

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Speaker 1: But the other factor in here is, as ever, Robin

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Speaker 1: mother truck and Williams. Yes. Screenwriter Jim Cox saw Robin

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Speaker 1: Williams at l A Comedy Clubs and at this point

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Speaker 1: he's relatively fresh off his Oscar nomination for Good Morning Vietnam.

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Speaker 1: So Cox wrote the part of this escaped science experiment

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Speaker 1: bat Batty Coda which yea, somebody please tell us that name. Um.

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Speaker 1: He wrote it specifically for Robin Williams. And Williams signed on,

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Speaker 1: and then he also signed on to do a Latin which,

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Speaker 1: as you may recall, was also for Disney, perhaps understandably

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Speaker 1: not wanting Robin Williams starring in two competing animated projects

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Speaker 1: at the same time. Jeffrey Katzenberg tried to get him

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Speaker 1: the back out of Ferm Goaly, but Robert Williams refused

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Speaker 1: because he really believed in the film's environmental message, and

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Speaker 1: apparently he said something words of the effect of, where

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Speaker 1: does this guy get off? It's my voice? Yeah, I

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Speaker 1: just think it's amazing that I guess Ferm Goali was

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Speaker 1: his first cartoon, was Robin will first cartoon that he

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Speaker 1: ever voiced, which I just think is insane that it

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Speaker 1: took him fifteen years into his career for a guy

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Speaker 1: was such an elastic, morphable voice that he was an

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Speaker 1: actual cartoon character, right. I just don't know who, like, like,

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Speaker 1: why it took so long for someone to make him

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Speaker 1: an offer, or maybe he just didn't accept the offers. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's weird to me. Yeah, and you know you touched

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Speaker 1: on this earlier, but this movie is jam packed with stars,

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Speaker 1: maybe because it was like in vogue in Hollywood to

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Speaker 1: do like environmental projects at the time. But it's like

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Speaker 1: the Training Wheels movie for all these people who would

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Speaker 1: gone to have really like much larger careers in animation

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Speaker 1: through the nineties. It's Robin Williams first role in animated feature,

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Speaker 1: as you just mentioned. Obviously, he would go on to

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Speaker 1: Aladdin and many others. It's Elton John's first song he

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Speaker 1: ever placed in an animated feature. I literally had no

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Speaker 1: idea he had anything to do with this until reading

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Speaker 1: your outline. No clue whatsoever. Yep, and uh, obviously he

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Speaker 1: goes on to do The Lion King a few years later.

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Speaker 1: It is composer Alan Silvestri's first animated feature. He's you know,

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Speaker 1: he's one of those like Arry Goldsmith. Uh, Thomas Newman

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Speaker 1: Utility Player soundtrack guys in Hollywood. He's done all kinds

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Speaker 1: of stuff. He would go on to do Leelo and

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Speaker 1: Stitch and The Polar Express. I think there's our first

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Speaker 1: Hanks connection sing. Uh. Tim Curry's first animated feature, which

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Speaker 1: boggles my mind. Another living cartoon character. He would go

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Speaker 1: on to do Wild thorn Berries and three rug Rats films.

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Speaker 1: What was he in Rugrats? Yeah? Hell yeah? On buss

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Speaker 1: of Us Uh, No, I don't remember. I don't remember

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Speaker 1: what he want. I just saw it on his IMDb um.

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Speaker 1: And lastly, Tommy Chong's first animated feature, Uh, cheech Marin

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Speaker 1: had done Yes, Folks Oliver and Company. I believe he

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Speaker 1: plays a chihuahua, because that's just soft, soft Hollywood racism.

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Speaker 1: It's really cute. I think that they they this is

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Speaker 1: the first time they'd worked together for six years. In

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Speaker 1: six years, Yeah, they had had a falling out in

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Speaker 1: the mid eighties because I guess cheech Mare thought Tommy

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Speaker 1: Chong was an egomaniac, and Chong had directed all their

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Speaker 1: movies and he wanted to be the soul writer. But

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Speaker 1: I guess the split came when Cheech wanted to record

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Speaker 1: a parody of Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA called

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Speaker 1: Born in East l A. And Tommy Chong didn't want

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Speaker 1: to participate because he had nothing to do with that,

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Speaker 1: and he fell offended that he was just gonna be

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Speaker 1: relegated to backing vocals. And then I think, and then

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Speaker 1: I think Cheech Baron actually made a movie without Tommy

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Speaker 1: Chong about the plot of this song Born in East

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Speaker 1: l A. Where it was just like a guy's mistaken

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Speaker 1: for an illegal migrant and constantly trying to outrun deportation,

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Speaker 1: which is I feel like weirdly relevant from mid eighties movie.

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Speaker 1: Yeah that was like eight Good Lord, but who knew

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Speaker 1: he contained so many multitenests. So it's got Cheech and Chong,

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Speaker 1: but you forgot some other huge names that are in

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Speaker 1: this that still boggle my mind. Christian Slater is in

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Speaker 1: this as the alpha fairy pips Christa's I don't know

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Speaker 1: if they're related or what, but the guy that kind

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Speaker 1: of is skeptical of the human in their midst. The narrator,

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Speaker 1: who's also Magi Looney I think is a name went

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Speaker 1: on to play Sarah Palmer in Twin Peaks, and the

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Speaker 1: character Ralph who's one of the dopes in the woodcutting Machine.

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Speaker 1: He's played by a guy named Jeffrey Blake who was

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Speaker 1: later in Forest Gump. He's Jenny's jerk activist boyfriend who

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Speaker 1: slaps her and then Forest comes over and and um

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Speaker 1: and lets him know. Um. And there's Pamela ad Lawn

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Speaker 1: too's in a bunch of stuff. I knew her mostly

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Speaker 1: from Louis. Yeah, she's just like an anonymous fairy and

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Speaker 1: she's I think the voice of Spinelli in Recess and

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Speaker 1: a bunch of other stuff. She's amazing in Sergeant Bilco

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Speaker 1: with Steve Martin, one of my favorite names movies. Um,

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Speaker 1: but you've also neglected to mention, quite shamefully, the voice

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Speaker 1: of Zach the Woodsman who gets shrunk down to the

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Speaker 1: size of a ferry, the main guy in this movie.

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Speaker 1: He's voiced by an actor named Jonathan Ward, who was

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Speaker 1: the kid in Mac and Me. Do you remember Mac

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Speaker 1: and Me? Oh? Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's it's this critically

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Speaker 1: maligned I mean, that's being too kind. This really savage

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Speaker 1: non off of et from the late eighties, and I

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Speaker 1: only knew about it because it was this, as you said,

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Speaker 1: this recurring gag on Conan. Whenever Paul Road would come

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Speaker 1: on Conan to plug a new movie he was in,

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Speaker 1: he would set up a clip from obsensively from the

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Speaker 1: movie that he's promoting, and they would just play the

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Speaker 1: same clip from Mac and Me of this kid I

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Speaker 1: think in a wheelchair creating on a clip. Make sure

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Speaker 1: that movie is like also famous for being the one

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Speaker 1: of the most naked and early examples of product placement,

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Speaker 1: because there's a whole bit in it about how the

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Speaker 1: aliens are obsessed with McDonald's. Well, well yeah, well yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's called Mac and me. I think that was part

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Speaker 1: of it. Yeah, I mean I think they saw what

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Speaker 1: ET did, not only with the aliens, but with the

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Speaker 1: Reese's pieces product placement, and we're like, oh, let's get

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Speaker 1: some of that alien marketing dollar goodness. And yeah, no,

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Speaker 1: I think you're right. It had a profit sharing agreement

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Speaker 1: with the Ronald McDonald children's charities. That's cute. Well they

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Speaker 1: got negative got him. We're going to take a quick break,

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Speaker 1: but we'll be right back with more. Too much information

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Speaker 1: in just a moment. But yes, God bless Robin Williams.

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Speaker 1: We can't say that enough. Um, we should really strive

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Speaker 1: to do this in every episode. But here comes a

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Speaker 1: quick Robin Williams lightning round. I guess he ran into

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Speaker 1: George Lucas at Lucas's Skywalker Ranch while he was recording Batty,

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Speaker 1: and George Lucas asked him when he was up to

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Speaker 1: Robin said, oh, you wouldn't be interested, George. It's about

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Speaker 1: the environment, you know. I couldn't find a verification for this,

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Speaker 1: but the commonly recited bit of trivia from this movie

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Speaker 1: is that the character of Batty initially only had something

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Speaker 1: like eight minutes of screen time, and Williams just improvised,

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Speaker 1: like fourteen hours is the figure I keep reading of

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Speaker 1: dialogue and just turned that in. Yeah, and they were

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Speaker 1: just like, well, now we have to make more space

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Speaker 1: for the bat Uh you mean do that on a

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Speaker 1: Laddin too, if like is the famous one where they

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Speaker 1: just turned him loose in the studio. Yeah. Young told

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Speaker 1: the Paris Review in this aforementioned feature, I find so

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Speaker 1: funny when Robin started riffing, he would come up with

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Speaker 1: something that would just be that much funnier, that much

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Speaker 1: more impactful. I sat in amazement. It worked the same

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Speaker 1: every scene. He would absorb the shot, do the script,

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Speaker 1: and then launch into variations. And he talks about in

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Speaker 1: the same article there's the scene where Battie flies Christian

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Speaker 1: Slater's character to that horrifying panzer tank forestry machine. And

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Speaker 1: he said in the recording studio, I told Robin just

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Speaker 1: do every military charge cliche that you can think of.

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Speaker 1: He did ten NonStop minutes. Well he did just come

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Speaker 1: off a good morning Vietnam, So maybe some of them

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Speaker 1: are already I guess, But Yeah. Screenwriter Jim Cox had

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Speaker 1: a great line about Robin Williams. He said, writing for

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Speaker 1: Robin was like writing for a jazz musician. It was

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Speaker 1: like seeing a virtuosa musicians spin out a solo. It

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Speaker 1: built in this way that was just a static and

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Speaker 1: at the end, it was like watching someone go to

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Speaker 1: the edge of sanity. His voice became tiny and he said,

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Speaker 1: somebody pulled me back, pulled me back. It was like

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Speaker 1: he was so far out he didn't know how to

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Speaker 1: get back to reality. You're not to get like unnecessarily

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Speaker 1: dark in this episode, but there's that character is grim.

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Speaker 1: He's terrifying. Young says that was always a part of

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Speaker 1: Robin's comedy repertoire how stupid and up human beings are,

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Speaker 1: and Courrier would add that the character is a metaphor

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Speaker 1: for nature, mistakenly or not mistakenly damaged by human interference.

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Speaker 1: He is so unbelievably sympathetic. And there was a wounded

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Speaker 1: animal like Batty inside Williams terrifying. It was an animal

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Speaker 1: that an experimented on by humans, you know, an electrode

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Speaker 1: coming out of the side of his head. I mean

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Speaker 1: it was I know, he's supposed to be the comic

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Speaker 1: relief of the movie. But Jesus, he was terrifying and

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Speaker 1: he was loud, and he was unpredictable, and it just

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Speaker 1: was I found it really uncomfortable to watch. As much

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Speaker 1: as I love Robin william I don't think my parents

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Speaker 1: explained that to me when I was a kid, Like,

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Speaker 1: why does the bat have a thing coming out of

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Speaker 1: his head? I don't think they Yeah, how would you

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Speaker 1: explain that? I mean, it's kind of like, let's just hope,

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Speaker 1: let's just hope it doesn't come up people. Yeah, why

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Speaker 1: do human beings do that to other living things? Yeah? Uh?

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Speaker 1: And they're still doing it. Elon Musk is doing it

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Speaker 1: to monkeys who go insane and kill themselves. Um. Yeah. Everyone.

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Speaker 1: Williams and the rest of the cast members worked for

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Speaker 1: scale because they were also passionate about the film's message,

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Speaker 1: which is kind of nice. And this is where the

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Speaker 1: Williams grudge against Disney from the time comes in. He

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Speaker 1: was working on his sort of ill fated passion project,

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Speaker 1: which was this Barry Levinson flicked Toys, which I love that.

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Speaker 1: He was a fairly famous flop um and he feels

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Speaker 1: so good though, and he didn't want Disney using his

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Speaker 1: license to sell merch directly telling them I don't want

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Speaker 1: to sell anything, as in burger king, as in toys,

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Speaker 1: as in stuff, and stipulated his name and Genie's likeness

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Speaker 1: could only be used in a maximum of the advertising

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Speaker 1: materials for Aladdin. Decently promptly went ahead and used the

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Speaker 1: voice and image of Genie to do exactly that, and

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Speaker 1: reportedly this is a bunch of l A Times articles

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Speaker 1: came out about this. They reportedly calculated exactly how to

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Speaker 1: take up a full quarter of any given promotional materials

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Speaker 1: ace with the character's likeness, and Williams was so piste

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Speaker 1: off by this he avowed never to work for Disney again,

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Speaker 1: and Cassenberg tried to buy forgiveness by sending him a

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Speaker 1: late period Picasso. I don't know why I said. Picasso

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Speaker 1: like that Picasso. I like Jeffrey Catsenberg is now the

424
00:23:38,359 --> 00:23:41,320
Speaker 1: voice in perpetuity. Is he gets the cigar chomping mogul

425
00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:44,520
Speaker 1: voice Williams, He still pissed at me. Send him a

426
00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:48,600
Speaker 1: Picasso one of the late ones, though, one of the

427
00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:53,600
Speaker 1: news nothing good. Yeah, but yeah, I guess that was

428
00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:56,920
Speaker 1: not good enough for Robin. I mean, if he's taken

429
00:23:56,920 --> 00:24:02,520
Speaker 1: a stand against presumably like materialism, sending a very expensive

430
00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:06,080
Speaker 1: blue Yes, maybe not the way to go about it.

431
00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:10,200
Speaker 1: Maybe make a large donation to like the Robal McDonald foundation,

432
00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:14,120
Speaker 1: which is still hurting from mac and me demanding that

433
00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:20,040
Speaker 1: they covered we will never financially recovered fromage. But in

434
00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:25,119
Speaker 1: after Jeffrey Catzenberg was fired from Disney, Joe Roth, his replacement,

435
00:24:25,200 --> 00:24:28,479
Speaker 1: apologized to Williams in I think an open letter right

436
00:24:28,480 --> 00:24:31,200
Speaker 1: in the L. A. Times, and they got Robin to

437
00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:33,560
Speaker 1: come back to do the voice of Genie for the

438
00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:36,720
Speaker 1: sequel to Aladdin. But you you say that there's a

439
00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:39,280
Speaker 1: flip side to the stary that Robin wasn't just taking

440
00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:42,720
Speaker 1: a stand against materialist. Yeah, you know the dirty secret

441
00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:45,160
Speaker 1: of half of the Times. When you see an unnamed

442
00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:49,080
Speaker 1: source quoted in any major publication, especially in entertainment, it's

443
00:24:49,119 --> 00:24:51,800
Speaker 1: someone from the company. It's like a PR person who

444
00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:54,359
Speaker 1: doesn't want to be named. So the opposing voice in

445
00:24:54,400 --> 00:24:56,919
Speaker 1: all of these L. A. Times things is some company

446
00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:00,280
Speaker 1: source who basically positive that Williams was up, that he

447
00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:03,240
Speaker 1: worked for low pay on the first Aladdin and was

448
00:25:03,359 --> 00:25:07,160
Speaker 1: using this whole kerfuffle as a sort of moralistic excuse

449
00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:10,440
Speaker 1: to as leverage for the next one, And it is true.

450
00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:11,960
Speaker 1: I don't think he made very much on the first

451
00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:14,360
Speaker 1: A Lad and obviously it blew up and he got

452
00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:16,760
Speaker 1: something like a million or two million to come back

453
00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:19,359
Speaker 1: and do the sequel. Um that even sounds low to me.

454
00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:22,159
Speaker 1: I mean not only for you know, Disney money, but

455
00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:24,720
Speaker 1: just a success of that size. Well, I don't think.

456
00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:26,480
Speaker 1: I think the second one was direct to videos, so

457
00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:28,560
Speaker 1: I don't think. I don't know that he could have

458
00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:31,920
Speaker 1: gotten points on the on the theatrical for that. Anyway,

459
00:25:33,119 --> 00:25:39,280
Speaker 1: to our second favorite person film, Tim Curry, Baby, I'm pissed.

460
00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:42,280
Speaker 1: So Shout Factory just put Out is putting out this big,

461
00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:45,600
Speaker 1: lavish thirtieth anniversary reissue of this on Blue Rain hasn't

462
00:25:45,640 --> 00:25:47,639
Speaker 1: come out yet, so I wasn't able to find like

463
00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:50,080
Speaker 1: all the commentary tracks, which is usually where you get

464
00:25:50,119 --> 00:25:53,240
Speaker 1: the good dirt. But another thing that I've heard about

465
00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:56,840
Speaker 1: this movie is that Tim Curry was so terrifying as

466
00:25:56,840 --> 00:26:00,920
Speaker 1: hexas that in test screenings he actually like literally frightened

467
00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:02,800
Speaker 1: children to the point where they were like, you got

468
00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:06,640
Speaker 1: to redo some of this, man, You're going too hard. Yes,

469
00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:11,000
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean if you were one of those

470
00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:15,320
Speaker 1: children very much. So I think he'd just come off

471
00:26:15,320 --> 00:26:19,600
Speaker 1: when did the um? When did it come out? So

472
00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:22,119
Speaker 1: he was in that headspace he had gone show method

473
00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:27,040
Speaker 1: to play Pennywise. He couldn't shake it off. Um Yeah.

474
00:26:27,119 --> 00:26:29,240
Speaker 1: They also apparently had to cut some of the lyrics

475
00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:33,520
Speaker 1: to his big musical show piece, Toxic Love because they

476
00:26:33,560 --> 00:26:36,960
Speaker 1: were just too horny. And you gotta do everyone you

477
00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:40,080
Speaker 1: know now for our segment, stop pause the podcast and

478
00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:43,560
Speaker 1: go google something. Go look up the recording of him

479
00:26:44,119 --> 00:26:47,680
Speaker 1: singing this song live, because it is incredible. It is

480
00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:52,280
Speaker 1: Frankenfurter or Grade. It's funny. I always thought that watching

481
00:26:52,280 --> 00:26:53,760
Speaker 1: this movie as a kid, I always thought it was

482
00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:56,919
Speaker 1: David Bowie. I always think because I watched Laborrith a

483
00:26:56,920 --> 00:26:58,560
Speaker 1: lot at this time, and I always thought the voice.

484
00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:02,679
Speaker 1: And I guess Bowie always kind of slightly resented Tim

485
00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:06,199
Speaker 1: Curry for I do not know that the Frank. I mean,

486
00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:08,520
Speaker 1: that's maybe I'm reading a little too much into it,

487
00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:10,840
Speaker 1: but I think he thought that all the rocky horror stuff,

488
00:27:11,080 --> 00:27:13,840
Speaker 1: oh it a lot stood on his shoulders. For all

489
00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:16,520
Speaker 1: the gender meaning stuff he was doing with Ziggy so

490
00:27:17,280 --> 00:27:20,480
Speaker 1: interesting that I had them confused at the time. Um,

491
00:27:20,520 --> 00:27:22,919
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm unable to confirm. Well, now, let me

492
00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:25,720
Speaker 1: ask you. I was trying to find the original lyrics

493
00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:29,879
Speaker 1: to I don't think they were cut from the film.

494
00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:32,719
Speaker 1: I think they were cut from certain releases because there

495
00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:35,399
Speaker 1: are people out there who were like depending on which

496
00:27:36,080 --> 00:27:38,480
Speaker 1: you know. This is also in the era when Blockbuster

497
00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:41,679
Speaker 1: was like the power behind the front of video stuff,

498
00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:45,439
Speaker 1: and they would demand different cuts of films with stuff

499
00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:48,840
Speaker 1: cut out. So I think depending on which home release

500
00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:52,200
Speaker 1: you had at the time, there are less horny lyrics

501
00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:54,720
Speaker 1: in it. I found these lyrics that I again haven't

502
00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:57,359
Speaker 1: revisited since I was five or six. I'd like, how

503
00:27:57,400 --> 00:28:00,359
Speaker 1: I go? If you can, I'm not but give you.

504
00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:02,120
Speaker 1: I'll give you. Maybe we can do that. I can

505
00:28:02,160 --> 00:28:06,199
Speaker 1: try my Orsen Wells impression, which we're work shopping for

506
00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:09,480
Speaker 1: a future episode. The lines are I feel good A

507
00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:14,000
Speaker 1: special kind of horny flowers and trees depressed and frankly

508
00:28:14,119 --> 00:28:18,439
Speaker 1: bore me. I think I'll spew them all with cyanide saliva,

509
00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:22,520
Speaker 1: pour me a puke cocktail, and take me to the driver.

510
00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:25,479
Speaker 1: I see the world with all the creatures in it,

511
00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:28,840
Speaker 1: I suck them dry and spit them out like Spinach.

512
00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:32,639
Speaker 1: Does Horny have a different definition that I don't know about.

513
00:28:33,160 --> 00:28:35,720
Speaker 1: I don't know, But that's just the fact that that

514
00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:39,000
Speaker 1: made it. You know, small fledgling company definitely didn't have

515
00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:41,640
Speaker 1: the infrastructure that Disney did. But the fact that that

516
00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:44,120
Speaker 1: landed on somebody's desk at some point and they were like,

517
00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:49,080
Speaker 1: this is fine. Um, We've touched on this earlier. Folks,

518
00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:52,160
Speaker 1: Do not turn off your safe search results if you're

519
00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:58,480
Speaker 1: gonna image search hexas. There are so many pornographic tom

520
00:28:58,560 --> 00:29:03,840
Speaker 1: of Finland beefca illustrations of that sludge monster. But I

521
00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:05,800
Speaker 1: don't understand how. I mean he's either a puff of

522
00:29:05,840 --> 00:29:08,560
Speaker 1: smoke or a puddle of sludge. How is he beefcake?

523
00:29:08,680 --> 00:29:11,880
Speaker 1: I think it's the first time he like anthromorphosizes, like

524
00:29:12,280 --> 00:29:16,120
Speaker 1: he goes from group to skeleton to like big Jay

525
00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:20,480
Speaker 1: Leno Chin beefcake character. And that's the image that people

526
00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:25,200
Speaker 1: have glommed onto online for their graphic fan art. Um

527
00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:30,120
Speaker 1: Curry talks about this in ten He did an interview

528
00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:35,040
Speaker 1: or a panel appearance at fan Expo Canada. Uh and

529
00:29:35,080 --> 00:29:37,320
Speaker 1: there's an interview in this when someone asked him about

530
00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:39,680
Speaker 1: for Youngali and he says, I was glad to do

531
00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:42,640
Speaker 1: it because it was all about being eco friendly. I

532
00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:45,560
Speaker 1: was a little unhappy because they drew the character based

533
00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:48,880
Speaker 1: on my face and it wasn't at all kind. But yeah.

534
00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:51,360
Speaker 1: So one of the people that they did successfully poach

535
00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:54,280
Speaker 1: from Disney was a woman named Kathy Zelinsky, who was

536
00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:58,000
Speaker 1: the supervising animator for The Little mermaids Ursula, which is

537
00:29:58,040 --> 00:30:02,680
Speaker 1: a pretty straight arrow progression you go from Parcela to Hexas.

538
00:30:02,720 --> 00:30:05,120
Speaker 1: But Young said that they had to kind of tone

539
00:30:05,120 --> 00:30:07,440
Speaker 1: her down. He said, we had to keep Cathy in

540
00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:10,040
Speaker 1: a box or she would have scared the hell out

541
00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:12,400
Speaker 1: of the parents too. I did not know any of

542
00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:14,400
Speaker 1: this about her, but she is a fascinating woman. One

543
00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:17,400
Speaker 1: of her formative influences with a Night on Bald Mountain

544
00:30:17,440 --> 00:30:20,360
Speaker 1: segment from Fantasia, which is sort of ground zero for

545
00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:24,640
Speaker 1: terrifying being in an children's movies. You remember that, I don't. Probably,

546
00:30:25,320 --> 00:30:27,640
Speaker 1: I probably was oppressed with that as a kid. She

547
00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:29,680
Speaker 1: might be one of the only animators, at least the

548
00:30:29,680 --> 00:30:31,160
Speaker 1: only one I know, to have worked on a cult

549
00:30:31,280 --> 00:30:35,240
Speaker 1: nineteen eighties horror movie called eight Knight of the Demons,

550
00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:37,800
Speaker 1: which is not very good, but she does this beautiful

551
00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:40,920
Speaker 1: animated sequence at the beginning of it Um and a

552
00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:44,640
Speaker 1: bunch of Disney stuff. She narrowly missed the opportunity to

553
00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:49,080
Speaker 1: become the first female animation supervisor at Disney, but um

554
00:30:49,280 --> 00:30:51,480
Speaker 1: Zelinski went on to work for Hunchback of Notre Dame.

555
00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:54,200
Speaker 1: I believe she did Frollo, which is what is her

556
00:30:54,200 --> 00:30:56,800
Speaker 1: thing about fire, so she did follow so she would

557
00:30:56,800 --> 00:31:00,720
Speaker 1: have done the hellfire sequence, which is like common cited

558
00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:03,400
Speaker 1: is something that also should not belong in a children's movie.

559
00:31:04,480 --> 00:31:07,320
Speaker 1: You'll remember. It's when he sings about being super horny

560
00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:09,800
Speaker 1: for Esmeralda in like a church and thinking that he's

561
00:31:09,800 --> 00:31:12,040
Speaker 1: going to be damned for it. You know, there's like

562
00:31:12,040 --> 00:31:14,840
Speaker 1: there's like actual fire flames going in the background. She

563
00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:18,000
Speaker 1: worked on a bunch of dreamwork stuff and Frozen that's

564
00:31:18,040 --> 00:31:21,840
Speaker 1: not fire. Yeah, say, maybe she mellowed in middle age.

565
00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:24,240
Speaker 1: She currently works on The Simpsons, and she can always

566
00:31:24,280 --> 00:31:28,800
Speaker 1: rest on the laurels of her horrifying sludge monster being

567
00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:32,320
Speaker 1: the ground zero for the sexual awakening for a pretty

568
00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:36,280
Speaker 1: significant chunk of the Internet apparently, and the other significant

569
00:31:36,320 --> 00:31:39,040
Speaker 1: chunk credits David Bowie and Labyrinth. There you go, Yeah,

570
00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:43,720
Speaker 1: the two genders. And having said all that we'll be

571
00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:46,520
Speaker 1: right back with more too much information right after this

572
00:31:57,160 --> 00:32:02,280
Speaker 1: quick cast rundown and the yes, I mentioned Christian Slater

573
00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:06,040
Speaker 1: and Samantha Mathis they played two of the fairies. Uh,

574
00:32:06,160 --> 00:32:09,720
Speaker 1: Samantha Mathis, I actually forgot about this until you mentioned.

575
00:32:09,760 --> 00:32:13,360
Speaker 1: It was River Phoenix's girlfriend at the time that he died,

576
00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:17,080
Speaker 1: and she was with him when he Um died inside

577
00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:21,080
Speaker 1: the Viper Room club on Hollywood about a year and

578
00:32:21,120 --> 00:32:24,760
Speaker 1: a half after this movie came out. Um, So that's

579
00:32:24,800 --> 00:32:29,760
Speaker 1: deeply sad, adding to the deep feelings of sad I

580
00:32:29,800 --> 00:32:34,240
Speaker 1: have surrounding this movie. Um. She had also dated Christian

581
00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:37,840
Speaker 1: Slater for a time and acted with him in Pump

582
00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:40,480
Speaker 1: Up the Volume in nine, and they would act together

583
00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:44,240
Speaker 1: again in Broken Arrow in and we're gonna get into

584
00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:47,000
Speaker 1: fantasy casting now. I guess to play the role of

585
00:32:47,200 --> 00:32:49,959
Speaker 1: the fairy Krista. I don't think we've said her name yet.

586
00:32:50,040 --> 00:32:53,800
Speaker 1: Christa lead character in this movie. They considered Winona Ryder

587
00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:58,200
Speaker 1: Jack and totally see. Jennifer Connolly starred in Labyrinth, Somebody

588
00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:01,520
Speaker 1: Labyrinth Connections, Melanique f f. I can't really see that

589
00:33:01,640 --> 00:33:03,640
Speaker 1: Meg Rice. It looks just like Meg Ryan with like

590
00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:07,200
Speaker 1: a Brunette, Dedter Hair Brunette, so I can sulily see

591
00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:09,240
Speaker 1: that they were all considered for the role of Krista,

592
00:33:09,360 --> 00:33:12,160
Speaker 1: but it went to Samantha Mathis. Meg Brian goes on

593
00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:14,959
Speaker 1: to do the leading Anastasia, which I think is one

594
00:33:14,960 --> 00:33:17,600
Speaker 1: of the last gasps of the Don Bluth studio, which

595
00:33:17,600 --> 00:33:20,520
Speaker 1: I believe was also buried by Disney upon its release

596
00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:25,000
Speaker 1: and also purveyors of deeply horrifying children's movies. Yeah, blooth

597
00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:28,240
Speaker 1: Stus is great. Also. Tone look during that phase in

598
00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:31,080
Speaker 1: the early nineties when he was writing The Twins, Peaks

599
00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:34,880
Speaker 1: of wild Thing and Funky Cold Medina into Hollywood. You'll

600
00:33:34,880 --> 00:33:38,240
Speaker 1: remember him from Ace Ventura, which is basically one of

601
00:33:38,240 --> 00:33:43,360
Speaker 1: the co leads on. He plays a lizard. He's playing

602
00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:46,840
Speaker 1: a goanna, a Goanna goanna, which is not the same

603
00:33:46,920 --> 00:33:49,520
Speaker 1: kind of featured in Yes, folks, you guessed it, The

604
00:33:49,560 --> 00:33:53,880
Speaker 1: Rescuers down Under. That is a frill nacked lizard hashtag

605
00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:56,520
Speaker 1: not all lizards. Do you know? That was Iva Gabor's

606
00:33:56,600 --> 00:33:59,920
Speaker 1: last movie, The Rescuers down Under. No, I didn't realize that,

607
00:34:00,360 --> 00:34:03,440
Speaker 1: you know what a note to go out one And

608
00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:06,200
Speaker 1: as we mentioned earlier, Chechen Sean Reunited for the first

609
00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:09,439
Speaker 1: time in six years to do this movie. Marin told

610
00:34:09,480 --> 00:34:11,359
Speaker 1: the St. Louis Dispatch at the time, it was just

611
00:34:11,400 --> 00:34:13,480
Speaker 1: like old times, but we only worked for two or

612
00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:16,360
Speaker 1: three hours, had a pizza and split It's just like

613
00:34:16,400 --> 00:34:20,280
Speaker 1: old times until I got sick of it and we leafed. Uh,

614
00:34:20,280 --> 00:34:22,440
Speaker 1: this is kind of nuts. I wasn't able to verify

615
00:34:22,480 --> 00:34:26,439
Speaker 1: this with Guinness. It's not in their official listings, but uh,

616
00:34:26,480 --> 00:34:29,200
Speaker 1: it's also sort of passed into legend, by which I

617
00:34:29,200 --> 00:34:33,280
Speaker 1: mean frequently repeated in listicals that a Spanish voice actor

618
00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:37,600
Speaker 1: name Angela dubbed all thirty two characters in this film

619
00:34:37,680 --> 00:34:40,680
Speaker 1: for the release in his home country. All thirty two

620
00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:43,799
Speaker 1: characters were that one dude in the Spanish dub and

621
00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:45,839
Speaker 1: it supposedly got him a world record at the time.

622
00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:48,759
Speaker 1: I found an interview that wasn't Spanish, but I used

623
00:34:48,760 --> 00:34:51,320
Speaker 1: to Google auto Translate because I am an ugly American

624
00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:53,919
Speaker 1: and do not speak Spanish. It was a holy dug

625
00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:56,680
Speaker 1: himself into Um. They asked him, I think he was

626
00:34:57,239 --> 00:35:00,480
Speaker 1: riding high on some other voice over hit and uh.

627
00:35:00,640 --> 00:35:03,040
Speaker 1: They asked him if he could do batty and he said,

628
00:35:03,080 --> 00:35:05,919
Speaker 1: in the arrogance of being twenty seven years old. He said,

629
00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:09,319
Speaker 1: I'll only do it if I can do all of them,

630
00:35:09,360 --> 00:35:12,640
Speaker 1: and he subsequently did all thirty two characters over four

631
00:35:12,880 --> 00:35:16,719
Speaker 1: eight hour days. God love him. Now we move on

632
00:35:16,760 --> 00:35:19,880
Speaker 1: to Songs from the Wood, which is an obscure Jethro

633
00:35:19,960 --> 00:35:25,200
Speaker 1: Toll reference for all six boomer white men in the audience.

634
00:35:25,239 --> 00:35:28,440
Speaker 1: Who will get that moving on? Truly a baffling array

635
00:35:28,440 --> 00:35:31,680
Speaker 1: of personalities on this soundtrack. We mentioned Alan Silvestri, who

636
00:35:31,680 --> 00:35:33,839
Speaker 1: was then fresh off of Stop or My Mom Will

637
00:35:33,880 --> 00:35:37,440
Speaker 1: Shoot did the score. The original songs in this film

638
00:35:37,520 --> 00:35:41,920
Speaker 1: are just random Thomas Dolby, who I just learned is

639
00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:45,200
Speaker 1: not an actual Dolby of the Dolby Dolby's just want

640
00:35:45,200 --> 00:35:47,400
Speaker 1: to keep saying Dolby, good mouth feel on that word.

641
00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:52,520
Speaker 1: He did? You remember him from She Blinded Me with Science? Ye?

642
00:35:52,719 --> 00:35:56,280
Speaker 1: He composed three of those films songs, including Robin Williams

643
00:35:56,360 --> 00:35:58,719
Speaker 1: Batty Rap, which was the same year that he did

644
00:35:58,760 --> 00:36:01,680
Speaker 1: Toys with Williams. I guess they were friends or became

645
00:36:01,760 --> 00:36:06,320
Speaker 1: friends working together. I interviewed Thomas Dolby for My David

646
00:36:06,400 --> 00:36:09,279
Speaker 1: So many David references in this episode. I interviewed him

647
00:36:09,280 --> 00:36:12,080
Speaker 1: from My David Bowie biography show because he was in

648
00:36:12,160 --> 00:36:15,200
Speaker 1: Bowie's band that he hastily assembled for a live aid.

649
00:36:15,680 --> 00:36:19,719
Speaker 1: And he's hilarious. He's like really really funny, Like check

650
00:36:19,760 --> 00:36:22,680
Speaker 1: out my interview with him, because he is super funny

651
00:36:22,680 --> 00:36:25,840
Speaker 1: and super insightful. But it doesn't forgive this truly horrendous

652
00:36:25,880 --> 00:36:28,840
Speaker 1: line from the Batty Rap. You know my name is Battye.

653
00:36:29,160 --> 00:36:32,760
Speaker 1: The logic is a erratic doesn't rhyme potato in a jacket.

654
00:36:32,800 --> 00:36:36,560
Speaker 1: I don't understand that. Toys in the attic at that

655
00:36:37,960 --> 00:36:41,600
Speaker 1: I rock and I ramble. My brain is scrambled rap

656
00:36:41,840 --> 00:36:47,000
Speaker 1: like an animal. But I'm a mammal. Mammals are animals.

657
00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:51,160
Speaker 1: That's terrible. But despite that line, he's a professor now

658
00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:55,040
Speaker 1: and I guess he made like serious money as a

659
00:36:55,120 --> 00:36:59,280
Speaker 1: ringtone pioneer for him. No, no, I have no quarrel

660
00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:04,400
Speaker 1: with Thomas good dude, good dude. Uh. Jimmy Buffett, folks,

661
00:37:04,840 --> 00:37:07,399
Speaker 1: a man who made a billion dollars by singing about

662
00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:12,000
Speaker 1: not doing anything nice. Yeah, do you know how much

663
00:37:12,080 --> 00:37:15,480
Speaker 1: money Jimmy Buffett has. It's gonna be like McCartney level,

664
00:37:15,640 --> 00:37:20,000
Speaker 1: like close to a billion. Yeah, it's wild. He co

665
00:37:20,120 --> 00:37:22,640
Speaker 1: wrote the Lizard song that tone Loake sings quote. If

666
00:37:22,640 --> 00:37:25,600
Speaker 1: I'm gonna eat someone, it might as well be you

667
00:37:25,840 --> 00:37:32,240
Speaker 1: hate Jimmy Buffett and Raffie as we mentioned, which given

668
00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:36,000
Speaker 1: his stranglehold on the children's music market, not surprising. And

669
00:37:36,320 --> 00:37:39,680
Speaker 1: there's a song in here sung by Sheena Easton of

670
00:37:39,800 --> 00:37:44,160
Speaker 1: My Baby Works from nine to five Fame, which is weird.

671
00:37:44,480 --> 00:37:47,960
Speaker 1: The song was written by Alan Silvestri and Jimmy Webb

672
00:37:48,120 --> 00:37:51,879
Speaker 1: were really one of the greatest pop songwriters of the sixties. Uh.

673
00:37:51,880 --> 00:37:55,040
Speaker 1: He wrote McArthur Park, he wrote which to Line Them

674
00:37:55,040 --> 00:37:57,720
Speaker 1: by Glenn Campbell, by the Tomic, That the Phoenix, also

675
00:37:57,719 --> 00:38:01,759
Speaker 1: by Glenn Campbell and millions of others. That's an insane

676
00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:06,040
Speaker 1: trio of people. Sheinna Eastan, el Silvestri and Shimmy Webb. Yeah,

677
00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:09,279
Speaker 1: and Elton John next as you mentioned, Uh yeah, he

678
00:38:09,320 --> 00:38:11,400
Speaker 1: wrote Some Other World, which is a co write with

679
00:38:11,440 --> 00:38:13,759
Speaker 1: a guy named Bruce Roberts, who, as far as I

680
00:38:13,800 --> 00:38:15,920
Speaker 1: can tell, is just one of those sort of jobbers.

681
00:38:16,160 --> 00:38:19,200
Speaker 1: There's a wrestling term for the wrestlers you put in

682
00:38:19,320 --> 00:38:22,359
Speaker 1: matches with um, people who are sort of fast track

683
00:38:22,440 --> 00:38:25,960
Speaker 1: to fame so that they can lose matches um and

684
00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:28,040
Speaker 1: make the other guy look good. That Guy's biggest hit

685
00:38:28,080 --> 00:38:31,200
Speaker 1: was the Donna Summer and Barbera Streisan disco duet No

686
00:38:31,280 --> 00:38:35,120
Speaker 1: More Tears, parentheses, enough is Enough and another song on

687
00:38:35,520 --> 00:38:39,000
Speaker 1: Bad Girls by Donna Summer, which is a great record. Uh. Yeah, man,

688
00:38:39,280 --> 00:38:42,240
Speaker 1: there is not much out here about this soundtrack, despite

689
00:38:42,239 --> 00:38:44,240
Speaker 1: having all of these people on it. I was desperately

690
00:38:44,280 --> 00:38:48,520
Speaker 1: trying to find, like recording information session stuff. It's just

691
00:38:48,719 --> 00:38:52,760
Speaker 1: not out there. So if you or loved one played

692
00:38:52,760 --> 00:38:55,640
Speaker 1: on the front call the original soundtrack, please get in

693
00:38:55,640 --> 00:38:58,120
Speaker 1: touch with us. I would love to talk about it. Um.

694
00:38:58,360 --> 00:39:00,160
Speaker 1: We talked a little bit about how the film was

695
00:39:00,280 --> 00:39:03,759
Speaker 1: an important way point in the transition between traditional animation

696
00:39:03,880 --> 00:39:06,720
Speaker 1: and computer work. Yeah. They used the what was cutting

697
00:39:06,800 --> 00:39:09,800
Speaker 1: edge technology at the time to generate the dense layers

698
00:39:09,840 --> 00:39:13,000
Speaker 1: of the rainforests used in all the backgrounds, and they

699
00:39:13,040 --> 00:39:17,840
Speaker 1: also did some other slightly smaller animated items like flocks

700
00:39:17,840 --> 00:39:20,960
Speaker 1: of birds. They did that through computers, but they still

701
00:39:21,080 --> 00:39:23,480
Speaker 1: mostly had to animate most of this movie by hand.

702
00:39:24,160 --> 00:39:27,799
Speaker 1: And that's a fairly common knock against this movie that

703
00:39:28,200 --> 00:39:33,040
Speaker 1: despite all the environmental themes, it used this traditional animation

704
00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:38,080
Speaker 1: style which was extremely wasteful. Uh. There were a hundred

705
00:39:38,120 --> 00:39:40,920
Speaker 1: and fifty thousand cells that were created for fereng Gully,

706
00:39:41,200 --> 00:39:43,920
Speaker 1: which is a total of thirty eight miles of artwork

707
00:39:43,960 --> 00:39:46,680
Speaker 1: if they were laid end to end. And Cryer said

708
00:39:46,680 --> 00:39:49,400
Speaker 1: at one point that they used four tons of paint

709
00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:53,000
Speaker 1: and produced sixteen tons of finished art just to make

710
00:39:53,040 --> 00:39:56,760
Speaker 1: one film. So, in other words, they used a forest

711
00:39:57,200 --> 00:40:00,279
Speaker 1: to save the rainforest. I just want to that in

712
00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:02,120
Speaker 1: the opening of the movie, with all the cave painting

713
00:40:02,160 --> 00:40:05,280
Speaker 1: style handprints, one of them is the logo for body

714
00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:09,239
Speaker 1: Gloves swimwear. It's just just a fun little bit of

715
00:40:09,280 --> 00:40:12,839
Speaker 1: product placement, which with the body glove Yeah, I mean,

716
00:40:12,840 --> 00:40:15,200
Speaker 1: what happened with them? They were everywhere for a while.

717
00:40:15,360 --> 00:40:17,799
Speaker 1: I think they're around, but I don't know. Maybe it's

718
00:40:17,800 --> 00:40:20,200
Speaker 1: backfired for them, because honestly, to this day when I

719
00:40:20,239 --> 00:40:24,879
Speaker 1: see that logo, I the coil and no idea. This

720
00:40:24,880 --> 00:40:30,319
Speaker 1: movie was such a sticking point for wow um and yes,

721
00:40:30,520 --> 00:40:32,960
Speaker 1: and the moral of this story, as with so many others,

722
00:40:33,080 --> 00:40:37,840
Speaker 1: is never bet against the House of mouse Burngali was

723
00:40:37,880 --> 00:40:40,359
Speaker 1: coming out at a busy time for animated feature. Its

724
00:40:40,400 --> 00:40:44,000
Speaker 1: original release date was November, but it was bumped back

725
00:40:44,080 --> 00:40:48,359
Speaker 1: to Apri to coincide with Earth Day because there's another

726
00:40:48,400 --> 00:40:53,040
Speaker 1: Dawn Blueth property. I think American Tail five will gooes west. Um,

727
00:40:53,080 --> 00:40:56,400
Speaker 1: and uh, Beauty and the Beast were both coming out,

728
00:40:56,760 --> 00:41:00,680
Speaker 1: and predictably, Beauty and the Beast destroy it did and

729
00:41:00,760 --> 00:41:04,719
Speaker 1: everything else maybe won Oscars and stuff. It's okay, this

730
00:41:04,840 --> 00:41:07,640
Speaker 1: is truly wild. USA Today claimed at the time that

731
00:41:07,680 --> 00:41:11,720
Speaker 1: the combined box office gross of Ferngali and the five

732
00:41:11,920 --> 00:41:16,080
Speaker 1: other non Disney animated films released to ninety two didn't

733
00:41:16,120 --> 00:41:19,960
Speaker 1: even equal a third of Beauty and the Beasts gross.

734
00:41:19,960 --> 00:41:22,960
Speaker 1: Six films couldn't make a third of how much Beauty

735
00:41:22,960 --> 00:41:26,680
Speaker 1: and the Beast made. I buy that, yeah, totally. Unfortunately,

736
00:41:26,719 --> 00:41:30,120
Speaker 1: critical reception was also lukewarm um Brotten Tomatoes. The film

737
00:41:30,120 --> 00:41:33,000
Speaker 1: has a sixty three based on sixteen reviews, and on Metacritic,

738
00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:35,520
Speaker 1: it's got a sixty seven based on a similar number,

739
00:41:35,560 --> 00:41:41,719
Speaker 1: so not great. Um it didn't. It did fare better

740
00:41:41,880 --> 00:41:44,880
Speaker 1: at home though, in then in theaters according to again

741
00:41:44,960 --> 00:41:49,640
Speaker 1: the Paris Review. According to our Ferngali fanatics over at

742
00:41:50,000 --> 00:41:53,840
Speaker 1: the Paris Review, it sold uh something like two point

743
00:41:53,880 --> 00:41:57,480
Speaker 1: five million copies for about fifty million, which is pretty

744
00:41:57,480 --> 00:42:00,440
Speaker 1: good considering I think it only grossed. You could like

745
00:42:01,120 --> 00:42:04,319
Speaker 1: just made its budget back. Um, I think because of

746
00:42:04,320 --> 00:42:06,360
Speaker 1: a lot of the technology and everything, it was not

747
00:42:06,440 --> 00:42:10,040
Speaker 1: a cheap film. It grows to reported thirty two mill

748
00:42:10,360 --> 00:42:13,680
Speaker 1: worldwide on an estimated twenty four meal budget, which is

749
00:42:13,760 --> 00:42:17,400
Speaker 1: not great. Um. There's also a thing in the wiki

750
00:42:17,520 --> 00:42:20,040
Speaker 1: article that Young said that portions of the film's grows

751
00:42:20,040 --> 00:42:23,200
Speaker 1: would be donated to Greenpeace, the Rainforest Foundation, and the

752
00:42:23,239 --> 00:42:25,439
Speaker 1: Sierra Club. And I'm not sure if that actually ended

753
00:42:25,480 --> 00:42:29,080
Speaker 1: up happening, because, uh, if your film only makes eight

754
00:42:29,160 --> 00:42:31,600
Speaker 1: mill over budget, not a lot of change to go

755
00:42:31,680 --> 00:42:34,880
Speaker 1: around after that. I just love this. Uh. Slam from

756
00:42:34,920 --> 00:42:37,239
Speaker 1: the critic of The New York Times called it an

757
00:42:37,320 --> 00:42:42,000
Speaker 1: uncertain blend of sanctimonious principles and Saturday Morning carthon aesthetics,

758
00:42:42,520 --> 00:42:46,080
Speaker 1: Wolf is that? Who was that? Janet Maslin? Sounds like

759
00:42:46,080 --> 00:42:49,799
Speaker 1: a Maslin Maslin disc. I'm not sure. Actually, let's take

760
00:42:49,840 --> 00:42:52,520
Speaker 1: a look. Let's go to Jamie. Can you pull that? Yep?

761
00:42:52,640 --> 00:42:56,800
Speaker 1: Janet Maslin? Moving on? Uh, Jeffrey Katzenberg, enemy of the program.

762
00:42:56,840 --> 00:43:01,360
Speaker 1: Jeffrey Katzenberg for his part, actually he admirably ate some crow,

763
00:43:01,480 --> 00:43:04,440
Speaker 1: which is not an ecologically sound I should not have

764
00:43:04,880 --> 00:43:09,839
Speaker 1: run with that, Young Young said after Ferngully came out,

765
00:43:10,040 --> 00:43:13,120
Speaker 1: Katzenberg called me and said something along the lines of

766
00:43:13,280 --> 00:43:16,759
Speaker 1: you made the best non Disney film ever, which is

767
00:43:17,719 --> 00:43:22,200
Speaker 1: medium nice. Robin Williams gets a late period Picasso. This

768
00:43:22,239 --> 00:43:24,760
Speaker 1: guy whose career he tried to crush, gets a phone

769
00:43:24,760 --> 00:43:28,440
Speaker 1: call something along the lines of him, I imagine that

770
00:43:28,480 --> 00:43:31,920
Speaker 1: he cut out numerous F bombs sprinkled in between every

771
00:43:32,360 --> 00:43:35,040
Speaker 1: yeah and and a pissy tone to I'm sure, yeah,

772
00:43:35,160 --> 00:43:40,880
Speaker 1: of course, uh you love Olivia Newton John. Yes, Ferngali

773
00:43:40,960 --> 00:43:43,839
Speaker 1: has a distinction of becoming the first film to ever

774
00:43:43,920 --> 00:43:47,400
Speaker 1: be screened in the United Nations General Assembly Hall, and

775
00:43:47,440 --> 00:43:50,520
Speaker 1: it was introduced by Olivia Newton John my beloved on

776
00:43:50,600 --> 00:43:54,840
Speaker 1: Earth Day. Isn't this where we came in? Yeah? I

777
00:43:54,920 --> 00:43:56,839
Speaker 1: just love the idea of like KOFE and on sitting

778
00:43:56,840 --> 00:43:59,120
Speaker 1: there like why am I doing this? There's a bat

779
00:43:59,200 --> 00:44:04,640
Speaker 1: rapping at me. I've got um And we mentioned earlier

780
00:44:04,640 --> 00:44:07,719
Speaker 1: this film is getting a thirty anniversary reissue, but I

781
00:44:07,760 --> 00:44:10,640
Speaker 1: think prior to this, the last time I heard about

782
00:44:10,680 --> 00:44:14,800
Speaker 1: it was as people were dinging Avatar for basically having

783
00:44:14,840 --> 00:44:17,719
Speaker 1: the same plot, only with the military subd in for

784
00:44:17,800 --> 00:44:20,440
Speaker 1: a private logging company. Though it must be said that

785
00:44:20,480 --> 00:44:23,080
Speaker 1: Avatar could also be dgged for lifting the plot of

786
00:44:23,160 --> 00:44:28,240
Speaker 1: dances with wolves and or any other number of like, Um,

787
00:44:28,280 --> 00:44:32,720
Speaker 1: you know, white guy winds up quote unquote going native

788
00:44:33,000 --> 00:44:39,440
Speaker 1: and learned something about himself. Most importantly, he learned about himself,

789
00:44:39,640 --> 00:44:43,680
Speaker 1: not himself. Um. I have actually gained a new and

790
00:44:43,840 --> 00:44:46,920
Speaker 1: deeper appreciation for this film while doing all this research

791
00:44:47,080 --> 00:44:49,840
Speaker 1: and talking about it. I know people are not kind

792
00:44:49,960 --> 00:44:52,520
Speaker 1: because of its lack of subtlety, but if you're talking

793
00:44:52,520 --> 00:44:56,360
Speaker 1: about the animation slash big budget landscape of the nineties,

794
00:44:56,400 --> 00:44:59,960
Speaker 1: it's pretty laudable forgetting that kind of message into theaters

795
00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:03,399
Speaker 1: and into the hearts and minds of children. Um, God

796
00:45:03,440 --> 00:45:06,440
Speaker 1: saved fern Gully. Yeah, I mean, I know you're right.

797
00:45:06,480 --> 00:45:09,560
Speaker 1: Despite my intense hatred for this movie, do the trauma

798
00:45:09,600 --> 00:45:13,200
Speaker 1: scars that remain on me to this day, I don't

799
00:45:13,280 --> 00:45:16,480
Speaker 1: deny that it instill the sense of environmental responsibility to

800
00:45:16,520 --> 00:45:19,560
Speaker 1: a generation of kids. And there was a retrospective piece

801
00:45:19,560 --> 00:45:21,880
Speaker 1: of Vanity fair few years back and they called it

802
00:45:22,120 --> 00:45:25,640
Speaker 1: a millennial silent Spring, which I feel I love that

803
00:45:25,840 --> 00:45:28,759
Speaker 1: very apt So I recognize all the good that fern

804
00:45:28,800 --> 00:45:33,720
Speaker 1: Gully has done. Now let us never speak of it again, folks,

805
00:45:33,719 --> 00:45:35,960
Speaker 1: thank you for listening. This has been too much information.

806
00:45:36,080 --> 00:45:38,600
Speaker 1: I am Alex Heigel and I'm Jordan Runtog. We'll catch

807
00:45:38,640 --> 00:45:46,920
Speaker 1: you next time. Too much Information was the production of

808
00:45:46,960 --> 00:45:50,160
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. The show's executive producers are Noeld Brown

809
00:45:50,239 --> 00:45:53,520
Speaker 1: and Jordan Runtalk. The supervising producer is Mike John's. The

810
00:45:53,520 --> 00:45:56,680
Speaker 1: show was researched, written and hosted by Jordan Runtalg and

811
00:45:56,719 --> 00:45:59,759
Speaker 1: Alex Heigel, with original music by Seth Applebaum and the

812
00:45:59,760 --> 00:46:02,560
Speaker 1: Ghost Funk Orchestra. If you like what you heard, please

813
00:46:02,600 --> 00:46:05,120
Speaker 1: subscribe and leave us a review. For more podcasts and

814
00:46:05,200 --> 00:46:08,480
Speaker 1: I heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

815
00:46:08,719 --> 00:46:10,440
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.