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Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind production of My

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind.

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Speaker 1: My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Seth Nicholas Johnson.

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Speaker 1: That's right, because Joe McCormick is out on parental leave.

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Speaker 1: We're happy to inform everyone that he is now the

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Speaker 1: proud father of a baby girl and the whole family

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Speaker 1: is doing great. But he's going to take a little

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Speaker 1: time off from the podcast here and we'll return, uh

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Speaker 1: and really basically no time at all before long at all,

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Speaker 1: Joe will be back and he'll tell us all about

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Speaker 1: his adventures. Yeah, but congratulations to Joe and to his

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Speaker 1: wife and I guess to their new child. Congrats, congrats

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Speaker 1: on being born young one. Well, today's episode is going

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Speaker 1: to be a volume eight in a continuing series. This

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Speaker 1: is the Stuff to Blow Your In tradition of Anthology

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Speaker 1: of Horror Um this series. In this series, what we

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Speaker 1: do every year is we lay out a challenge to ourselves.

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Speaker 1: In the past, it's been Joe and I, but this year,

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Speaker 1: at kind of the last minute, Seth was able to

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Speaker 1: jump in and uh and be a part of it

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Speaker 1: as well. But the basic challenge has always go out

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Speaker 1: into the world of TV anthology series, especially horror and

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Speaker 1: sci fi series, and find something that is not only

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Speaker 1: entertaining but also raises a question worthy of discussion on

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Speaker 1: the podcast. And sometimes that question might be very ultimately,

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Speaker 1: kind of small, maybe not the kind of thing that

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Speaker 1: we would normally tackle, certainly as a full blown episode.

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Speaker 1: Other times it might tie into stuff we've talked about before,

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Speaker 1: but yeah, kind of just a quirky challenge and something

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Speaker 1: seasonally appropriate for Hawley. Has it always been television? Have

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Speaker 1: you guys ever done movies or radio or any other

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Speaker 1: kind of anthology bits. I think we dipped into film

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Speaker 1: a little bit because last year or the before I

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Speaker 1: picked one off of an anthology film, one that had

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Speaker 1: a killer cat in it. Uh So, so we have

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Speaker 1: gotten a little bit into into anthology films. Haven't really

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Speaker 1: got into radio. Someday, someday, There's plenty of opportunities out

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Speaker 1: there and plenty of anthologies. It's a, it's it's it's

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Speaker 1: a wonderful format for storytelling. I think it's a. Isn't

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Speaker 1: there a new one on Netflix this year from Gilliermo

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Speaker 1: del Toro Capital Curiosities. I want to say, as of

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Speaker 1: this recording. It's it's just dropped or some of the

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Speaker 1: episodes have just dropped, so I'll be checking it out tonight. Ditto, ditto.

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Speaker 1: But oh, but speaking of Netflix, well we'll get to that. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: But the anthology series are an interesting animal because, like

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Speaker 1: you said, there have been so many of them, and

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Speaker 1: every year when it's time to poke around for something

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Speaker 1: to cover and on the anthology of horror series, I'm

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Speaker 1: always just astounded by how much there is. How much

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Speaker 1: I mean, because there are the big shows that everyone knows.

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Speaker 1: I mean, everyone's familiar with the Twilight Zone and it's

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Speaker 1: Multiple Resurgency. Uh, there's of course the classic Outer Limits

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Speaker 1: and then the nineties Outer Limits, tons of episodes there.

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Speaker 1: But there's so many additional shows that have in many

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Speaker 1: cases have sort of fallen through the cracks of time,

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Speaker 1: and you there were one or two even then. I

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Speaker 1: looked up for this show where I'm like, oh, that

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Speaker 1: sounds like a fascinating topic idea. They really I think

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Speaker 1: it was let's see, what was it episodes of a

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Speaker 1: show called the dark Room or dark Room, and I

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Speaker 1: could not find them streaming anywhere. Looks like NBC was

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Speaker 1: streaming them online for a little bit, but are not anymore. So, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: there's just a lot of stuff out there. And of

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Speaker 1: course one of the great things and the the just

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Speaker 1: quirky things about anthology series is you're always going to

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Speaker 1: have ups and downs. We can have those really strong

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Speaker 1: episodes with great ideas, uh, and then you're gonna have

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Speaker 1: the some some less impressive installments. You're gonna have the

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Speaker 1: episodes that clearly got maybe a little more of the

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Speaker 1: lion's share of the budget, and others that were more

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Speaker 1: you know, bottle episodes and so forth. But but I

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Speaker 1: love the idea of failure because often failure goes hand

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Speaker 1: in hand with experimentation, and if you never try to

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Speaker 1: push boundaries, you'll never fail, but you'll never make anything

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Speaker 1: great either. So I I like people swinging for the fences,

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Speaker 1: going big and sometimes it doesn't work, but at least

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Speaker 1: you tried, you know. And that's that's how you get

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Speaker 1: good things. Yeah. And it's the and and it is

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Speaker 1: that that that varied topography of quality and going for

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Speaker 1: different things, having different creators, different authors involved in a series,

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Speaker 1: that the result and you're getting the ones that like

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Speaker 1: really match up with your expectations and your and your

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Speaker 1: in your taste. You just have to endure the ones

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Speaker 1: that don't hit that mark for you personally, m for sure.

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Speaker 1: So on that note, UM, you know, we've got a

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Speaker 1: couple picked out here today. I picked one out, You've

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Speaker 1: picked one out in the past. A lot of the

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Speaker 1: episodes of that we've looked at in the Anthology of

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Speaker 1: Horror series are kind of like a lot of the

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Speaker 1: films featured on Weird How Cinema stem from the twentieth century.

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Speaker 1: But the first selection here today, the one I picked out,

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Speaker 1: is not only from twenty first century, it's actually from

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Speaker 1: earlier this year. It is the episode Bad Traveling off

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Speaker 1: of season three of Love, Death, and Robots on Netflix.

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Speaker 1: I was actually really excited you picked this because typically

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Speaker 1: I'm not a Netflix subscriber. It's just not you know,

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Speaker 1: I subscribe to other streaming services, but just Netflix isn't

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Speaker 1: one of them. And um, I had heard of this,

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Speaker 1: and I had seen stuff, and as a big animation fan,

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Speaker 1: I wanted to see it, but it just hadn't come

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Speaker 1: up in my life yet. So this was a great

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Speaker 1: excuse for me to buckle down, turn it on and

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Speaker 1: watch it. And I was I was thrilled that This

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Speaker 1: was my first exposure to actually watching an episode of Love,

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Speaker 1: Death and Robots. Yeah, this one. I really enjoyed this.

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Speaker 1: This is a series that started in twenty nineteen. Uh.

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Speaker 1: The principal show runners or Tim Miller and David Fincher.

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Speaker 1: This particular episode directed by David Fincher, but also with

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Speaker 1: Frank Balson, Jerome Den Jene and Jennifer you Nelson. You

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Speaker 1: know more about the creation of animated material than I do,

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Speaker 1: so I don't. I it's easier to have that idea

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Speaker 1: in mind, like what is the director of a movie

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Speaker 1: look like? You see them setting in the movie director

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Speaker 1: chair and shouting cut and so forth. It's harder. I

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Speaker 1: don't have an image that I can easily go to

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Speaker 1: for what does the director or directors of an animated

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Speaker 1: installment or movie look like? I mean, it's it's honestly,

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Speaker 1: it's It's extremely complicated and really varied from not only

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Speaker 1: from project to project, but even within a project. I'll

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Speaker 1: give you an example. There was a show I was

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Speaker 1: working on. Oh, if folks don't know, I have a

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Speaker 1: background in an animation, mostly for television and film, and

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Speaker 1: um one of the jobs I was doing, I was

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Speaker 1: working on a show called Cake. Okay. It was an

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Speaker 1: actually it was a kind of an anthology. It was

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Speaker 1: a bunch of a quick shorts stitched together, um kind

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Speaker 1: of liquid television style. This was on f x X

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Speaker 1: and that you can find out in Hulu. Now it's

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Speaker 1: a great show. I like Cake. Um. But anyway, one

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Speaker 1: of the shorts that I was the director on wentz

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Speaker 1: and was uh clipped out of the show and then

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Speaker 1: submitted to the Sundance Film Festival where it played. And

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Speaker 1: I was really happy about that and everything. But because

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Speaker 1: I was listed as a director for the television series,

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Speaker 1: that was one distinction. But as soon as it played

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Speaker 1: in theaters, the guy who had created this show had

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Speaker 1: to contact me and be like, hey, Sundance is calling

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Speaker 1: me the director. Can I call you the animation director?

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Speaker 1: And I'm like, I don't care, go ahead, buddy. And

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Speaker 1: it's and that's the thing. It's that like there are

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Speaker 1: these like little like distinctions between just just even like

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Speaker 1: you know, unions and stuff like if this played on

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Speaker 1: a screen, it's different than what if it's played on television.

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Speaker 1: Did you direct the actors, did you direct the animators?

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Speaker 1: Did you just direct everything? You know? Did you direct

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Speaker 1: a storyboard artists, which is probably the most important actual

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Speaker 1: like traditional director's job there is when it comes to animation.

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Speaker 1: So so yeah, it's it's very um, it's varied, and

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Speaker 1: also there might be four or five different directors based

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Speaker 1: upon whether or not one person actually watched all those

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Speaker 1: different tasks. Well, I I've I've very much enjoyed Love,

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Speaker 1: Death and Robots, Uh, for the most part. With the

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Speaker 1: caveat that it is it is an anthology series, so

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Speaker 1: you're gonna get those the shifts in in overall quality

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Speaker 1: and you know, stuff matching up to my taste or not.

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Speaker 1: Like some of the stuff that they have on the

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Speaker 1: show is maybe a little bit more mo sho military

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Speaker 1: sci fi than anything I'm into these days. Uh. Some

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Speaker 1: cases that the animation is is very good. Other times

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Speaker 1: the animation is amazing, though amazing animation animation episodes don't

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Speaker 1: always match up with like amazing script episodes. But but

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Speaker 1: that's all right. It's a it's a showcase. It's a

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Speaker 1: spectacle the animation and this one is amazing though really beautiful,

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Speaker 1: and um, whenever I see something like this that's really

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Speaker 1: advanced computer generated animation, I often think to myself if

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Speaker 1: I was somehow able to project this as a film

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Speaker 1: for someone in like the nineteen thirties, nineteen forties, what

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Speaker 1: would they think it is? Like? What they think that

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Speaker 1: these are just like odd oddly shaped actors. Would would

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Speaker 1: they realize that, yes, it is animation, but they would

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Speaker 1: have no idea how it was made. Would they just

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Speaker 1: dismiss it as like, oh, this must be like the

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Speaker 1: next new rotoscoping technique, and that's it. They don't think

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Speaker 1: that it's actually as advanced as it truly is. It's

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Speaker 1: it's it's just an odd experiment. I can never really

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Speaker 1: get my head around. Yeah. Yeah, because for most of us,

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Speaker 1: we've we've we've grown up watching at least some of

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Speaker 1: it play out like we've seen. If you were old

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Speaker 1: enough to to see the first toy story, like you've

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Speaker 1: you've been around for a certain degree of the evolution

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Speaker 1: of computer generated imagery and computer generated animation. But yeah,

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Speaker 1: like with um younger viewers, you've just you're just born

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Speaker 1: into it and like here it is, and then how

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Speaker 1: would how would people in older generations have responded to this?

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Speaker 1: So each season has had it's uh, it's it's episodes

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Speaker 1: that stand out to me Um. There were a couple

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Speaker 1: of Joe Landsdale adaptations in season one. I believe the

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Speaker 1: Dump and the Tall Grass that might have been in

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Speaker 1: the season one and reason two. There's an episode titled

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Speaker 1: The Drowned Giant. There's a funny one title of the

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Speaker 1: Automated Customer Service. So yeah, some of the episodes lean

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Speaker 1: more funny. Other episodes get really serious, almost too serious,

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Speaker 1: and and some are more just like pure artful spectacle. Now.

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Speaker 1: Bad Traveling is based on a story by contemporary English

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Speaker 1: author Neil Asher, who I've I've never read, but I

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Speaker 1: recognized his name from various sci fi titles that I've

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Speaker 1: seen online or in bookstores. There's another episode in this

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Speaker 1: series based on one of his stories, Mason's Rats. That's

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Speaker 1: also quite good. Also a highlight from season three. But

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Speaker 1: while that one is funny, Bad Traveling is quite serious,

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Speaker 1: quite grim. Um and if you need any further evidence

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Speaker 1: of that, uh. Andrew Kevin Walker of seven Fame wrote

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Speaker 1: the screenplay for it. That's nice that, Uh we got

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Speaker 1: a nice little reunion then since was directing, Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's each is the voice talents of Troy Baker, Jason Fleming,

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Speaker 1: uh and uh and and numerous others, and I believe

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Speaker 1: Blur Studios was the principal animation studio on this one,

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Speaker 1: but Tacit Sign Studio is also credited anyway. The setting

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Speaker 1: of the story is a fantasy twist on the age

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Speaker 1: of sales and the age of big ships, with a

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Speaker 1: crew of sailors braving an alien ocean hunting for something

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Speaker 1: called a javel shark. I believe there's some some sort

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Speaker 1: of a large, fierce sea creature that they're out there hunting,

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Speaker 1: and later on it's revealed that they're hunting them for oil.

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Speaker 1: Ships are often lost in this UH in this pursuit,

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Speaker 1: and they often and then doing so, they experience what's

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Speaker 1: called bad traveling. That's the sailors slang for a bad voyage,

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Speaker 1: and so of course our story is going to involve

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Speaker 1: some bad traveling. The ship in our story encounters a

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Speaker 1: terrible storm and is quickly boarded by a monstrous giant

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Speaker 1: crab called a fanapod, which take which kills multiple crew members,

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Speaker 1: takes up residents low deck and UH lots are then

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Speaker 1: drawn drawn among the crew see who's going to go

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Speaker 1: down and deal with the monster, and this character Torn

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Speaker 1: winds up with the duty. Now this is where the

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Speaker 1: plot gets clever. The fanopod, we learn, is not just

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Speaker 1: a big monstrous crab. It also can use the bodies

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Speaker 1: of human dead to speak. So there's this grotesque scene

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Speaker 1: where it picks up I think, just like the like

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Speaker 1: the upper half of a dead sailor and begins to

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Speaker 1: speak through its mouth in in like a garbled dead

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Speaker 1: man's voice and uh. And this is kind of a

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Speaker 1: nice twist that also seems to channel attack of the

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Speaker 1: crab monsters in a fun way. It also reminded me

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Speaker 1: of that scene from the film Independence Day where a

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Speaker 1: Brent Spiner playing a scientist gets captured by one of

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Speaker 1: the aliens and is also used in a very similar

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Speaker 1: way like a little puppet to communicate to the humans

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Speaker 1: what they're actually here for, what they want. You know,

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Speaker 1: it's a it's it's it's it's a beautiful little uh

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Speaker 1: little tool. You know, it makes perfect sense, and it

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Speaker 1: kind of gives you kind of that logic of the

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Speaker 1: babblefish where I guess babel fish depending on how you

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Speaker 1: pronounce it from the Hitchhiker series. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I

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Speaker 1: hadn't thought of those connections, but yeah, totally so This

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Speaker 1: twist also changes things a bit because suddenly the fanopod

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Speaker 1: is in a position to lay out what it wants

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Speaker 1: to make demands, and Torn is actually in a position

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Speaker 1: to make a deal with the monster. So the fanapod says, okay,

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Speaker 1: I want you to sail me to Fadeen Island, which

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Speaker 1: we're told is a heavily populated island. And if we

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Speaker 1: don't have to really guess at what a monster like

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Speaker 1: this wants with a heavily populated island, clearly wants to

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Speaker 1: eat a bunch of people. Clearly it's a bad thing.

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Speaker 1: But the fanopod is making the this offer, and uh,

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Speaker 1: Torn is listening to it, and they kind of come

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Speaker 1: to terms. Okay, he'll do this in exchange for his

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Speaker 1: own life, So you're not allowed to eat me, fanapod.

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Speaker 1: And also, I need the key that was in the

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Speaker 1: captain's pocket, um, the captain that you just ate. And

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Speaker 1: so the fantopod like barfs up some remnants of the

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Speaker 1: captain and he gets the key, which he uses to

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Speaker 1: unlock the captain's pistol. And he then he uses the pistol,

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Speaker 1: which I believe is the only pistol in the ship,

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Speaker 1: to claim control over the ship UH to sort of

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Speaker 1: put the mutinous other crew members in check, at least

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Speaker 1: for the time being. But then he puts the question

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Speaker 1: to the crew, puts it to a vote, even what

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Speaker 1: are we going to do? There's this monster in the

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Speaker 1: hold of the ship that wants to go to a

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Speaker 1: heavily populated island and and do you know, god knows what,

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Speaker 1: but probably eat people. What should we do? Should we say,

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Speaker 1: should we agree to this and yes, deliver the fantopod

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Speaker 1: to Phaytan, or should we instead drop it off at

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Speaker 1: a nearby deserted island. So there's a great deal of

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Speaker 1: turmoil over this. Some crew members, maybe more than a few,

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Speaker 1: simply want to give the monster what it wants. Meanwhile,

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Speaker 1: it becomes clear that the monster has even more or

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Speaker 1: ravenous ideas in mind. The monster is clearly apparent now

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Speaker 1: and the depths of the ship are soon crawling with

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Speaker 1: these palid crabblings that look a lot like um like

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Speaker 1: the sorts of crabs you'd find living around UH deep

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Speaker 1: sea thermal events. And I'm not going to spoil how

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Speaker 1: things turn out, but it's a it's a fun action

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Speaker 1: horror ride. The central monster the Fantopod is a real

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Speaker 1: grotesque treat, And yeah, you're left trying to figure out

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Speaker 1: where it's gonna land. Essentially, who's gonna win. Is it

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Speaker 1: going to be this this monster or is it going

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Speaker 1: to be the humans and is Torn or any of

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Speaker 1: the other crew members going to be able to stand

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Speaker 1: up and uh and and and prevent some horrible fate

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Speaker 1: falling on the unsuspecting people of Fate in Ireland. It's

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Speaker 1: also got a lot of really fun kind of like

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Speaker 1: logic deductive twists happening from people to people. It reminds

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Speaker 1: me of like kind of like those like old um

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Speaker 1: riddles where it's like, hey, someone stole these pastries at

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Speaker 1: one make sure they handle this coin and put it

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Speaker 1: in the bucket of water. We'll figure out who the

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Speaker 1: liar is. Like, it's it's got some real like, hey,

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Speaker 1: we have to figure out a way not only to

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Speaker 1: cope with this monster, but cope with one another. Let's

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Speaker 1: use some logic, let's use some planning to kind of

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Speaker 1: try and figure that out. And it's yeah, it's just

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Speaker 1: it just unfolds beautifully. It looks beautiful. The story is fun.

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Speaker 1: This the science fiction speculative fiction elements are a lot

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Speaker 1: of fun. It's it's great all around. Yeah, And I

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Speaker 1: can easily recommend this one as a as a first

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Speaker 1: Love Death Robots episode to watch for anyone out there

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Speaker 1: who hasn't checked out the show, because, like I said,

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Speaker 1: some of the episodes skew a little bit dark for

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Speaker 1: my taste, uh and some are more humorous, And I

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Speaker 1: feel like this one is is a serious piece but

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Speaker 1: also a good balance of of darkness. Yeah. The the

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Speaker 1: only kind of like um Copia I'd give anyone is

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Speaker 1: that it's it's quite gory, but it is cartoon gore,

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Speaker 1: So you know, I guess that that's left up to

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Speaker 1: the viewer and their own kind of understanding of themselves.

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Speaker 1: But to yeah, the worst thing you Cara have to

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Speaker 1: deal with is a lot of blood and guts. Cartoon

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Speaker 1: blood guts, but blood and guts. Now, when it comes

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Speaker 1: to the science of this episode, I think the interesting

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Speaker 1: science angle on Bad Traveling is that what we have

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Speaker 1: here as a tale of a devastating invasive shipborn organism,

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Speaker 1: and this whole scenario serves as kind of a fantastic

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Speaker 1: exaggeration of the very real history and present reality of

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Speaker 1: shipborn invasive species. They are multiple avenues by which invasive

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Speaker 1: species and then includes plant species and animal species have

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Speaker 1: been and are still being spread through human activities. These

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Speaker 1: as outlined in twenty eight teens Animals and Human Society

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Speaker 1: by Colin G. Skeins and Samia are took SATI include

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Speaker 1: species introduced for aesthetics, as game species for biological control,

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Speaker 1: and for fur as popular lations of feral domestic animals

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Speaker 1: as pets thoughtlessly released into the wild, and of course

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Speaker 1: animal and plants stowaways uh and while these also occur

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Speaker 1: via airplane uh one of the main examples throughout human history,

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Speaker 1: one of the Big Woman's has of course been ships,

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Speaker 1: the holds of ships, the insides of ships, but also

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Speaker 1: the the outsides of ships. Um. Now with with with

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Speaker 1: airplanes though they include a specific example of the brown

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Speaker 1: tree snake um and this is essentially the snake on

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Speaker 1: a plane par excellence. So this particular snake is native

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Speaker 1: to eastern and northern coastal Australia, eastern Indonesia, Papua New

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Speaker 1: Guinea and many many islands in northwestern Melanesia. But the

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Speaker 1: brown tree snake is only mildly venomous to humans, but

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Speaker 1: it's venom is apparently one times more toxic to birds

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Speaker 1: than to mammals. According to biologists Brian Fry of the

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Speaker 1: University of Queensland, the round snake has been particularly rough

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Speaker 1: on the bird population of Guam, which had apparently reached

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Speaker 1: aboard Australian troop transports during the Second World War. Fry

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Speaker 1: also points out that the United States was and I

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Speaker 1: believe still is, flying military planes from Guam to Hawaii,

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Speaker 1: and brown snakes have been intercepted at Hawaiian airports in

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Speaker 1: the past, So the potential is there for plane based

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Speaker 1: introduction of this species to the Hawaiian islands as well,

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Speaker 1: if we were to say, let our guard down now.

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Speaker 1: I wasn't able to find anything offhand that that really explained,

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Speaker 1: like how how are they hitching up hitching rides on

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Speaker 1: these planes? But one reason might have to do with

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Speaker 1: the fact that they use something called lasso loco motion,

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Speaker 1: which allows them to easily climb large smooth cylinders. So

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Speaker 1: it sounds to me like one possibility here is that

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Speaker 1: this is a snake that is just exceptionally good at

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Speaker 1: crawling on and perhaps into airplane uh and uh and

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Speaker 1: is of course a curious creature on top of that.

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Speaker 1: But when we're talking about animal stowaways, especially ships again

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Speaker 1: play a huge role, with rats and mice standing out

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Speaker 1: is is probably one of the best and most destructive

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Speaker 1: examples of creatures that have spread with humans to every

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Speaker 1: continent except Antarctica, where I believe the only invasive species

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Speaker 1: currently is a variety of muscle, and these likely traveled

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Speaker 1: there by ship as well. I'm surprised Antarctica has one too,

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Speaker 1: but that makes perfect sense. Yeah, yeah, most things are

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Speaker 1: that that we bring with us are not gonna be

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Speaker 1: able to get a foothold there, but muscles seem to

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Speaker 1: be the current exception. Now, when we're thinking about stowaway species,

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Speaker 1: and we're often thinking about creatures that sneak aboard or

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Speaker 1: are accidentally included in or on a ship and then

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Speaker 1: introduced to a destination or stop upon the way. Uh

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Speaker 1: So the mouse rat example isn't the only template though.

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Speaker 1: According to Grasping at the Roots of Biological Invasions by

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Speaker 1: Whom at All from the Journal of Applied Ecology in

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Speaker 1: two thousand and eight, quote, stowaways include organisms that foul

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Speaker 1: the holes of ships, are transported as seeds or resting

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Speaker 1: stages in soil attached to vehicles and in the ballast water,

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Speaker 1: as well as in shipping containers, cargo and air freight.

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Speaker 1: So for instances, the authors point out the brown there's

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Speaker 1: a variety of brown seaweed sargasm medicum, and this is

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Speaker 1: a great example of the stowaway species thought to have

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Speaker 1: spread from its native Japan to northern France, UH, the

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Speaker 1: English South Coast, and to the Netherlands via first the

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Speaker 1: the contamination of commercial oyster shipments, but then just via

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Speaker 1: drifting plants once they were they had made it basically

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Speaker 1: to the other side of the world. The authors here

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Speaker 1: also share that very that vessels provide numerous interior and

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Speaker 1: exterior possibilities for species to spread. You know, oftentimes you're

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Speaker 1: dealing with a big ship. You have a lot of

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Speaker 1: literally a lot of moving parts, uh, lots of nooks

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Speaker 1: and crannies, lots of different say, you know, examples of

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Speaker 1: cargo that are being brought aboard, human beings brought aboard.

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Speaker 1: But one of the most pervasive avenues by which a

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Speaker 1: creature might stow away, particularly applies to aquatic species, is

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Speaker 1: that they foul the holes um of boats and ships. Quote.

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Speaker 1: A detailed survey of alien species introduced by shipping into

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Speaker 1: the North Sea region revealed that stowaways, mainly crustaceans and bivalves,

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Speaker 1: were found in nine of whole samples, but in only

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Speaker 1: thirty eight percent and fifty seven percent of ballast water

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Speaker 1: and sediment, respectively. And then they site a study by

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Speaker 1: Goalash from two thousand and two. So species need not

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Speaker 1: climb inside the hole to use it as a means

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Speaker 1: of traversing from one far flung island to another, from

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Speaker 1: one continent to another. They only have to affix to

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Speaker 1: the outside of the vessel, which is, you know, ultimately

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Speaker 1: this artificial island that's gonna drift rather steadily from one

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Speaker 1: place to another. Now another animal that comes up though

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Speaker 1: in UH. In these UH discussions of of stowaway creatures

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Speaker 1: or boreal monkeys have also been known to spread to

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Speaker 1: various places as invasive species, and while there are accounts

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Speaker 1: of monkeys taking up residents in ships rigging, it seems

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Speaker 1: like most of these introductions were via monkeys kept as pets.

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Speaker 1: But still there have been accounts even from this century

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Speaker 1: of monkeys stowing away on vessels, such as a two

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Speaker 1: thousand fourteen report of monkeys who boarded a cargo vessel

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Speaker 1: in Malaysia and then arrived in the Netherlands. Now I

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Speaker 1: think in this case the monkeys were caught and caged

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Speaker 1: in transit and then handed over to in the Netherlands

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Speaker 1: to um some zoo officials once they arrived. One of

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Speaker 1: the challenges to stowing away is of course being able

428
00:23:56,280 --> 00:24:00,760
Speaker 1: to survive a lengthy sea voyage in often harsh conditions

429
00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:03,840
Speaker 1: without any kind of dependable food sources. And this of

430
00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:06,240
Speaker 1: course brings us back to rats and mice, because rats

431
00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:09,280
Speaker 1: and mice have of course excelled at this because they're

432
00:24:09,280 --> 00:24:12,680
Speaker 1: great at not being seen. They're also great at finding

433
00:24:12,760 --> 00:24:16,040
Speaker 1: food to eat, and so they're they're just highly skilled

434
00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:19,919
Speaker 1: at living in humanity. Shadow be that shadow on land

435
00:24:20,359 --> 00:24:22,440
Speaker 1: or on a ship at sea. And there are plenty

436
00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:26,560
Speaker 1: of other great examples or horrible examples of invasive species

437
00:24:27,320 --> 00:24:30,800
Speaker 1: uh using ships as an avenue to spread to new places,

438
00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:34,320
Speaker 1: and invasive earthworms are a great example spreading via transper

439
00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:38,679
Speaker 1: reported soils and plants. Birds can also stow away. I

440
00:24:38,760 --> 00:24:41,639
Speaker 1: was reading in a book on on house sparrows about

441
00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:44,440
Speaker 1: how the house sparrow is thought to have spread aboard

442
00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:47,760
Speaker 1: Roman ships, and this is how it's supposedly reached Great Britain.

443
00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:50,280
Speaker 1: So in the real world, we don't have anything quite

444
00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:53,679
Speaker 1: like the Fanta pod. That's uh that that's you know, fighting,

445
00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:55,840
Speaker 1: it's a giant creature that fights its way aboard a

446
00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:58,760
Speaker 1: ship and then demands that it be taken somewhere else

447
00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:01,960
Speaker 1: that has like a wilful and tension of of spreading

448
00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:07,600
Speaker 1: to a known distant um destination. But I mean, on

449
00:25:07,640 --> 00:25:10,080
Speaker 1: the other hand, this is these are any of these

450
00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:12,199
Speaker 1: real world examples we're looking at. These are creatures that

451
00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:16,240
Speaker 1: are following their genetic imperatives. They're taking full advantage of

452
00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:19,560
Speaker 1: new environments. Uh they might and that might and they

453
00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:23,080
Speaker 1: might never have reached otherwise. And it's and it's also

454
00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:28,080
Speaker 1: not completely without an analog in like the non human world,

455
00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:31,560
Speaker 1: because of course you have uh natural rafts that occur

456
00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:34,800
Speaker 1: here and there through history that are thought to have

457
00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:37,959
Speaker 1: been the way that that certain animals spread say two distant,

458
00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:41,760
Speaker 1: far flung islands, or or even from from a large

459
00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:44,720
Speaker 1: body to another large body. And so you know, they're

460
00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:47,720
Speaker 1: not it's not like the animals are doing anything sinister

461
00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:51,040
Speaker 1: as our then apod is doing something the sinister. Uh,

462
00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:54,120
Speaker 1: they're just taking advantage all of their environment or there

463
00:25:54,320 --> 00:25:56,440
Speaker 1: to a sense being there in a sense being taken

464
00:25:56,440 --> 00:26:01,080
Speaker 1: advantage of by their environment, accidentally becoming oh ways, accidentally

465
00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:03,399
Speaker 1: being cast on a ship and then cast on a

466
00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:06,840
Speaker 1: farm tour. It is fascinating to think about, uh, this

467
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:11,639
Speaker 1: natural migration of beings compared with um, you know, human

468
00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:14,360
Speaker 1: influenced migration, like like like even all the way down

469
00:26:14,359 --> 00:26:19,160
Speaker 1: to things like oh berries, you know where like us

470
00:26:19,160 --> 00:26:21,479
Speaker 1: as humans, one of the ways that the berry seeds

471
00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:23,959
Speaker 1: move is we will consume them. They passed through our

472
00:26:24,119 --> 00:26:27,000
Speaker 1: our intestines and boom, you know, these plants and now

473
00:26:27,040 --> 00:26:29,840
Speaker 1: move their seeds from one location to another by our

474
00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:32,680
Speaker 1: aid you know, or other animals of course. But then

475
00:26:32,720 --> 00:26:34,639
Speaker 1: you just add something as simple as, oh, we invented

476
00:26:34,680 --> 00:26:37,080
Speaker 1: the wagon. Oh now we can go further. Oh now

477
00:26:37,119 --> 00:26:39,280
Speaker 1: these berries can go further. Oh now even vent to

478
00:26:39,320 --> 00:26:42,520
Speaker 1: the ship. Now we've invented whatever. You know. Now we've

479
00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:45,480
Speaker 1: mented the airplane, Now we've mented the rocket ship. Now

480
00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:48,760
Speaker 1: we have brought raspberry seeds to Mars. What does that mean?

481
00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:52,520
Speaker 1: You know, like just these like little little things that

482
00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:55,240
Speaker 1: we're doing and not in every case it's not a

483
00:26:55,280 --> 00:26:58,880
Speaker 1: bad thing, I'm sure in many cases. This migration of species,

484
00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:01,840
Speaker 1: whether they be plant or animal, is a good thing,

485
00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:05,600
Speaker 1: but both for our you know, existence as as humans,

486
00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:10,000
Speaker 1: but also uh, for their own ability to thrive. But

487
00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:12,720
Speaker 1: the hard part is, let's let's go back to this, uh,

488
00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:16,800
Speaker 1: this crab, this giant you know, semi sentient. Well, I

489
00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:21,000
Speaker 1: guess it's it's it's fully sentient. It's um monstrous. Let's

490
00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:24,000
Speaker 1: just go with monster crab. Let's go with this monster crab.

491
00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:29,640
Speaker 1: Perhaps wherever its original location is, where its species evolved,

492
00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:32,520
Speaker 1: there was some sort of predator that kept it in check,

493
00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:34,880
Speaker 1: there was some sort of environment that kept it in check.

494
00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:37,240
Speaker 1: Everything was fine. But as soon as we get that

495
00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:39,480
Speaker 1: giant monster crab on a boat, we put it in

496
00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:42,399
Speaker 1: an area where that that other elements isn't there, and

497
00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:45,240
Speaker 1: it can just you know, take our bodies and use

498
00:27:45,280 --> 00:27:48,600
Speaker 1: them as puppets. It's odd. Yeah, these are great points

499
00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:51,760
Speaker 1: because yeah, yeah, clearly, in the case of especially seed spreading,

500
00:27:51,800 --> 00:27:56,879
Speaker 1: but also parasites and other examples like traveling via another organisms,

501
00:27:56,920 --> 00:28:00,800
Speaker 1: movement is just an evolved tactic that you'll find in

502
00:28:01,119 --> 00:28:05,719
Speaker 1: various organisms. It's just that human technology and human activity

503
00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:11,400
Speaker 1: exaggerates everything and it creates radically new avenues that can

504
00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:14,280
Speaker 1: then be exploited by the animal as it would exploit

505
00:28:14,320 --> 00:28:18,480
Speaker 1: any any environment that it could actually gain gain a

506
00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:22,000
Speaker 1: like a claw hold. And yeah, we we just have

507
00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:24,440
Speaker 1: to keep an eye on it, you know. Sometimes it's good,

508
00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:27,080
Speaker 1: usually it's bad. Keep an eye on it. So that's

509
00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:30,880
Speaker 1: that's my selection and science tie in for this Anthology

510
00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:34,960
Speaker 1: of Horror episode. But I'm very excited about about your selection, Seth,

511
00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:37,840
Speaker 1: because yeah, this is uh, this comes from a series

512
00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:39,920
Speaker 1: that we haven't covered on the show before, and I

513
00:28:39,960 --> 00:28:43,600
Speaker 1: had not watched any of these episodes until this year.

514
00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:46,479
Speaker 1: I watched two or three of them. Yes, this is

515
00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:50,080
Speaker 1: from Tales of the Unexpected. I'm guessing most people probably

516
00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:53,280
Speaker 1: haven't heard about this. Maybe maybe if you're British perhaps

517
00:28:53,360 --> 00:28:56,600
Speaker 1: you've heard of it more. But um, first of all,

518
00:28:57,040 --> 00:28:59,800
Speaker 1: let's let's dump things realed down for for Americans here.

519
00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:02,760
Speaker 1: Rawal Doll of course, a very famous author. We all

520
00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:06,320
Speaker 1: know rawl Doll. He wrote all kinds of super famous books, Matilda,

521
00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:08,600
Speaker 1: the which is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James the

522
00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:11,160
Speaker 1: Giant Peach. I can go on and on and on. Uh,

523
00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:15,000
Speaker 1: super famous for his children's literature. What we in America

524
00:29:15,120 --> 00:29:19,479
Speaker 1: aren't as familiar with He had many adult fiction, uh

525
00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:22,000
Speaker 1: pieces out in the world too, dozens and dozens of

526
00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:26,640
Speaker 1: short stories and and one novel as well. And maybe

527
00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:29,880
Speaker 1: maybe it's me, but I just feel like Americans didn't

528
00:29:29,960 --> 00:29:33,320
Speaker 1: really get as much exposure to these these adult pieces

529
00:29:33,360 --> 00:29:35,719
Speaker 1: by Rawal Dall. I think most Americans just view him

530
00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:38,520
Speaker 1: as just a children's author. So well, what happened for

531
00:29:38,600 --> 00:29:41,720
Speaker 1: me in particular was, Um, I was cruising around I

532
00:29:41,760 --> 00:29:44,440
Speaker 1: think this is on Amazon Prime. Originally I came across

533
00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:47,200
Speaker 1: this show and because you know, like all of us

534
00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:49,840
Speaker 1: here on stuff to blow your mind, we appreciate the

535
00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:52,800
Speaker 1: strange and the uncanny and the macabre. So I was like, oh,

536
00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:55,240
Speaker 1: Tales of the Unexpected. That sounds fun. What's that? So

537
00:29:55,320 --> 00:29:58,280
Speaker 1: I turned it on and immediately you're You're greeted with

538
00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:02,520
Speaker 1: rawl doll sit in like a little like leather easy chair,

539
00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:04,560
Speaker 1: you know, like like like with like a writing desk

540
00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:07,760
Speaker 1: on his lap, in front of a roaring fire, explaining

541
00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:10,400
Speaker 1: where this story came from. And so immediately I look

542
00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:12,840
Speaker 1: it up and it turns out, yes, rawaldl has an

543
00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:17,400
Speaker 1: enormous library of adult fiction, and uh, this series is

544
00:30:17,440 --> 00:30:21,720
Speaker 1: primarily based on these short stories that he wrote, and

545
00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:27,040
Speaker 1: it's fascinating. Um. I think they try to convince you

546
00:30:27,080 --> 00:30:30,880
Speaker 1: initially that hey, this isn't for children because these opening credits.

547
00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:35,320
Speaker 1: Who they're they're they're gorgeous and they're strange. How would

548
00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:38,840
Speaker 1: you describe them, Rob, It's kind of like, um, kind

549
00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:42,480
Speaker 1: of a James Bond casino vibe, but a casino where

550
00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:46,800
Speaker 1: the back room is filled with creepy masks and haunted artifacts. Yeah,

551
00:30:46,800 --> 00:30:49,920
Speaker 1: they show your skulls, they show your guns, they show

552
00:30:49,960 --> 00:30:52,560
Speaker 1: the silhouette of I assume what they're trying to imply

553
00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:56,160
Speaker 1: as a nude woman dancing. Um, it's it's yeah. They

554
00:30:56,200 --> 00:30:58,840
Speaker 1: they're showing you, like adult material to go, not for children,

555
00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:02,560
Speaker 1: not for children, not children. And now, to be clear,

556
00:31:02,760 --> 00:31:05,520
Speaker 1: the content itself, at least based on the couple episodes

557
00:31:05,600 --> 00:31:09,120
Speaker 1: I watched, uh, is nothing so extreme at least to

558
00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:12,560
Speaker 1: modern viewers. Uh. In fact, that some of the content

559
00:31:12,560 --> 00:31:16,480
Speaker 1: I watched was actually quite tame, like surprisingly tame. But

560
00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:19,640
Speaker 1: but yeah, that that intro seems to be saying, kids,

561
00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:21,960
Speaker 1: you should be in bed, get in bed before create

562
00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:24,280
Speaker 1: creepy uncle Dah comes out and starts talking at you.

563
00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:27,440
Speaker 1: I I can say that UM. When I first discovered

564
00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:29,320
Speaker 1: these books that this show is based on, and I

565
00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:32,120
Speaker 1: read them all, raw Dal does get pretty extreme. He

566
00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:35,840
Speaker 1: has um not only some some real violence, but more

567
00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:40,200
Speaker 1: than that, he just gets very inappropriate in places like UM.

568
00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:44,720
Speaker 1: I think he's perhaps intentionally being offensive for for the

569
00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:48,040
Speaker 1: sake of literature. But but it's in there, especially there

570
00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:52,600
Speaker 1: there there are some elements relating to UM, I don't know,

571
00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:56,640
Speaker 1: dynamics between men and women that are just dreadful. So

572
00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:59,120
Speaker 1: so you know, just just be aware that if you

573
00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:02,160
Speaker 1: do explore the adult writings of rawl Doll, there's some

574
00:32:02,200 --> 00:32:05,479
Speaker 1: inappropriate stuff in there for sure. But anyway, but what

575
00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:09,239
Speaker 1: we're what we're addressing today, it's a very specific episode. Uh.

576
00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:13,040
Speaker 1: This one is called Royal Jelly. It's the first episode

577
00:32:13,440 --> 00:32:16,360
Speaker 1: of the season two of Tales of the Unexpected. This

578
00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:20,280
Speaker 1: originally aired on March first, nine eighty let's see. It

579
00:32:20,320 --> 00:32:23,000
Speaker 1: was directed by Herbert Wise. He's probably best known for

580
00:32:23,040 --> 00:32:26,440
Speaker 1: directing the I Claudius mini series from nineteen seventy six.

581
00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:29,720
Speaker 1: And of course, this is based on the story Royal

582
00:32:29,800 --> 00:32:32,280
Speaker 1: Jelly by Ral Doll from his nineteen sixty collection of

583
00:32:32,280 --> 00:32:36,480
Speaker 1: adult short stories called Kiss, Kiss and Um. I guess

584
00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:39,120
Speaker 1: we've already briefly discussed who Raal Doll is, y'all get it.

585
00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:44,480
Speaker 1: He's super popular, super famous, best selling, wrote amazing children's

586
00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:47,600
Speaker 1: literature and adult literature too that is less well known,

587
00:32:47,800 --> 00:32:51,360
Speaker 1: at least here in America. Um. Now, this has been

588
00:32:51,400 --> 00:32:55,680
Speaker 1: adapted for television by Robin Chapman. He was an actor

589
00:32:55,760 --> 00:32:58,280
Speaker 1: and a writer who contributed to dozens of projects from

590
00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:01,000
Speaker 1: the sixties and nineties. Ums to them are British, so

591
00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:03,479
Speaker 1: when I look at his imdbeach arts and stuff, I

592
00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:06,080
Speaker 1: don't know most of them, but there's tons of it.

593
00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:11,200
Speaker 1: So clearly he's been very involved and very prolific. And uh,

594
00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:14,240
Speaker 1: there's a very limited cast in this. It feels a

595
00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:16,360
Speaker 1: lot like kind of like a stage play. And so

596
00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:18,800
Speaker 1: we only have three actors in this story, four if

597
00:33:18,800 --> 00:33:21,880
Speaker 1: you count the baby. But we have Timothy West who

598
00:33:21,920 --> 00:33:25,440
Speaker 1: plays Albert Taylor, a beekeeper and our protagonist. We have

599
00:33:25,680 --> 00:33:29,080
Speaker 1: Susan George, his wife, who has recently given birth to

600
00:33:29,120 --> 00:33:32,200
Speaker 1: a child, and she's very fraud very worried for most

601
00:33:32,240 --> 00:33:35,280
Speaker 1: of the story. We then have Andrew Ray, who plays

602
00:33:35,280 --> 00:33:39,600
Speaker 1: someone named Percy Hayward appears very briefly as a television presenter,

603
00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:42,680
Speaker 1: and that then we have a baby who is uncredited,

604
00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:44,800
Speaker 1: and of course we have the raw Doll introduction where

605
00:33:44,800 --> 00:33:47,160
Speaker 1: he of course plays himself and tells us a little

606
00:33:47,160 --> 00:33:51,040
Speaker 1: story about where the story came from. Well that that intro. Really,

607
00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:54,640
Speaker 1: I've been just almost alarmed by the intros that have

608
00:33:54,760 --> 00:33:59,040
Speaker 1: Doll in them, basically serving as like the crypt keeper

609
00:33:59,080 --> 00:34:01,560
Speaker 1: of the shows. But also I guess it's comparable to

610
00:34:01,600 --> 00:34:04,800
Speaker 1: like Ray Bradberry theater that we had in the States,

611
00:34:05,160 --> 00:34:07,320
Speaker 1: And I guess part of this again it's I'm coming

612
00:34:07,320 --> 00:34:10,399
Speaker 1: in from the American standpoint where I just knew him

613
00:34:10,440 --> 00:34:12,720
Speaker 1: as the name that was attached to like Willy Wonka.

614
00:34:13,160 --> 00:34:15,200
Speaker 1: I wasn't exposed to these other stories, and I wasn't

615
00:34:15,200 --> 00:34:18,759
Speaker 1: exposed to him as a as a person, as a

616
00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:21,120
Speaker 1: as like a person on the on the TV screen

617
00:34:21,160 --> 00:34:24,239
Speaker 1: that would be talking to me. And there's something about

618
00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:26,360
Speaker 1: these intros like they're a little bit creepy, And I

619
00:34:26,400 --> 00:34:30,279
Speaker 1: don't know to what extent they're intentionally creepy, because he's

620
00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:34,280
Speaker 1: he's in that little desk by the fire chatting to you,

621
00:34:34,680 --> 00:34:36,160
Speaker 1: but he has this I don't know, I get kind

622
00:34:36,200 --> 00:34:39,000
Speaker 1: of a creepy vibe off of him. And there are

623
00:34:39,040 --> 00:34:42,600
Speaker 1: also a lot of sort of offhand comments about either

624
00:34:42,640 --> 00:34:46,200
Speaker 1: how rich or famous he is. Yeah. Yeah, in fact,

625
00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:49,160
Speaker 1: one of the so in this introduction for this episode,

626
00:34:49,200 --> 00:34:52,160
Speaker 1: he's sitting there and he's talking about how when he

627
00:34:52,239 --> 00:34:54,880
Speaker 1: was in America he was walking around and that this

628
00:34:54,960 --> 00:34:56,920
Speaker 1: is the origin of his story. This is why he

629
00:34:56,960 --> 00:34:58,759
Speaker 1: wrote the story in the first place. He saw a

630
00:34:58,920 --> 00:35:02,640
Speaker 1: jar of royal jelly and like a fancy boutique shop window,

631
00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:06,399
Speaker 1: and it was just ludicrously expensive and he thought, wow, like,

632
00:35:06,719 --> 00:35:09,560
Speaker 1: what is this, why is this? Like what's happening here?

633
00:35:10,040 --> 00:35:11,960
Speaker 1: And so he wrote this story all about like its

634
00:35:11,960 --> 00:35:14,080
Speaker 1: effects when he did like research and stuff. And then

635
00:35:14,120 --> 00:35:18,879
Speaker 1: once it was published, his friend Dick Van Dyke sent

636
00:35:19,040 --> 00:35:23,680
Speaker 1: him a package which was several bottles of this royal jelly. Um. Now,

637
00:35:23,680 --> 00:35:26,720
Speaker 1: I believe rawl Dahl wrote the screenplay for Chitty Chitty

638
00:35:26,719 --> 00:35:29,160
Speaker 1: Bang Bang. So I'm guessing that's how they became friends.

639
00:35:29,600 --> 00:35:34,239
Speaker 1: But yeah, so, um, I guess you'll you'll find out

640
00:35:34,280 --> 00:35:36,239
Speaker 1: when when we tell you more about this story. But

641
00:35:36,400 --> 00:35:38,759
Speaker 1: it's it was very strange that the first thing that

642
00:35:38,880 --> 00:35:41,279
Speaker 1: rawl Dal did when he received this these bottles of

643
00:35:41,360 --> 00:35:44,319
Speaker 1: royal jelly, is he drank them. All down. That was

644
00:35:44,760 --> 00:35:49,000
Speaker 1: that was his initial reaction. And U with that, I

645
00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:51,320
Speaker 1: think like you were saying, is this supposed to be creepy?

646
00:35:51,440 --> 00:35:53,760
Speaker 1: Is it supposed to be funny? It kind of reminded

647
00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:56,120
Speaker 1: me of the introductions that Alfred Hitchcock used to do

648
00:35:56,160 --> 00:35:59,520
Speaker 1: on Alfred Hitchcock's Presents, where it is like it's leaning

649
00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:01,640
Speaker 1: into them Cobb a bit, but also trying to be

650
00:36:01,760 --> 00:36:04,280
Speaker 1: kind of like, you know, like, oh, I'm your friendly uncle,

651
00:36:04,600 --> 00:36:06,600
Speaker 1: but I'm also gonna make some a Cob jokes in

652
00:36:06,680 --> 00:36:11,080
Speaker 1: here too, Like that's that's that's the vibe I was getting. Yeah, Yeah,

653
00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:14,200
Speaker 1: and there's and there's also very much a dry British

654
00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:24,239
Speaker 1: wit to it as well. Yeah, but let's let's begin

655
00:36:24,280 --> 00:36:27,839
Speaker 1: this story. So, like I said, Albert Taylor is our

656
00:36:27,880 --> 00:36:32,600
Speaker 1: primary protagonist here, uh that this episode begins with Albert Taylor.

657
00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:37,000
Speaker 1: He's an apiculturist at k A, a beekeeper, and we

658
00:36:37,080 --> 00:36:40,200
Speaker 1: see him wandering amongst the hives on his on his

659
00:36:40,280 --> 00:36:43,799
Speaker 1: property and love andly examining them and and just be

660
00:36:43,960 --> 00:36:46,399
Speaker 1: being a friend to the bees. You know. It all

661
00:36:46,400 --> 00:36:49,759
Speaker 1: seems very very pleasant and and fun and kind of

662
00:36:49,800 --> 00:36:52,960
Speaker 1: like pastoral. It seems great. Yeah, and and again Timothy

663
00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:56,720
Speaker 1: West in this role. Tremendous actor that's been in tons

664
00:36:56,760 --> 00:36:59,719
Speaker 1: of things, like a lot of theater work as well.

665
00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:01,680
Speaker 1: He's one of these guys where if you've watched any

666
00:37:01,680 --> 00:37:04,600
Speaker 1: amount of British TV or film, you've likely seen him

667
00:37:04,640 --> 00:37:07,400
Speaker 1: at one point or another. He is still active today

668
00:37:08,040 --> 00:37:10,800
Speaker 1: hundred and forty two IMDb credits and he's been active

669
00:37:10,800 --> 00:37:13,680
Speaker 1: since nineteen fifty nine. And then we soon we are

670
00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:17,080
Speaker 1: second and pretty much only other actor in this uh.

671
00:37:17,760 --> 00:37:20,719
Speaker 1: Albert walks inside and he sees his wife and their

672
00:37:20,719 --> 00:37:24,520
Speaker 1: newborn child, and um, this is Mabel Taylor, the character.

673
00:37:25,040 --> 00:37:28,359
Speaker 1: She is having a terrible time trying to get their

674
00:37:28,440 --> 00:37:31,640
Speaker 1: daughter to just have some milk, but you have some food.

675
00:37:31,760 --> 00:37:35,120
Speaker 1: You know that she's very very worried that the daughter

676
00:37:35,239 --> 00:37:38,399
Speaker 1: is malnourished, that she isn't eating, and that basically she's

677
00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:40,840
Speaker 1: just losing weights, that she's not doing what babies should

678
00:37:40,920 --> 00:37:43,080
Speaker 1: be doing. They've checked with all the doctors. All the

679
00:37:43,120 --> 00:37:45,439
Speaker 1: doctors say no, no, no, she's fine, just give her time,

680
00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:48,560
Speaker 1: she'll come around. But but this mother is just, you know,

681
00:37:48,680 --> 00:37:51,120
Speaker 1: at her wits end. She she's very very worried about

682
00:37:51,120 --> 00:37:55,440
Speaker 1: this baby. And the actor here Susan George also a

683
00:37:55,440 --> 00:37:57,880
Speaker 1: pretty big name for the time period. She was in

684
00:37:57,880 --> 00:38:02,080
Speaker 1: such films as seventy one straw Dog Entered the Ninja.

685
00:38:02,400 --> 00:38:05,520
Speaker 1: She was also in Venom. This was the Killer Snake

686
00:38:05,600 --> 00:38:08,680
Speaker 1: movie with Klaskinski in it that uh we covered on

687
00:38:08,719 --> 00:38:13,360
Speaker 1: Weirdow Cinema. Uh So, Albert is very excited. He sits

688
00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:16,400
Speaker 1: down and he's about to be on television. You know,

689
00:38:16,480 --> 00:38:19,000
Speaker 1: he was interviewed by a local newscaster. They were doing

690
00:38:19,040 --> 00:38:21,520
Speaker 1: a little story on him with his bees. So so

691
00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:24,000
Speaker 1: he's like, you know what, I'm gonna watch me on television.

692
00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:26,319
Speaker 1: He's kind of ignoring his wife, kind of ignoring his child.

693
00:38:26,440 --> 00:38:28,680
Speaker 1: He's like, no, no, I'm on TV. Let's watch. Let's watch.

694
00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:31,279
Speaker 1: The wife's like no, and she gets the baby and

695
00:38:31,360 --> 00:38:34,640
Speaker 1: she leaves. So that sits down. He's watching himself be

696
00:38:34,719 --> 00:38:37,680
Speaker 1: interviewed and to talk about his bees, talk about his hives,

697
00:38:37,719 --> 00:38:40,960
Speaker 1: talk about his honey, and um. He kind of the

698
00:38:41,360 --> 00:38:44,320
Speaker 1: television interviewer kind of asks Hi all of these questions

699
00:38:44,360 --> 00:38:47,120
Speaker 1: that start to give him in real time watching himself

700
00:38:47,160 --> 00:38:51,080
Speaker 1: these ideas, particularly about royal jelly. On the show, he

701
00:38:51,120 --> 00:38:54,480
Speaker 1: describes royal jelly as this substance it's it's like a

702
00:38:54,640 --> 00:38:57,680
Speaker 1: nutrient dense food that you give to be larvae, but

703
00:38:57,719 --> 00:38:59,760
Speaker 1: it's so powerful that it's only given to the worker

704
00:38:59,800 --> 00:39:03,720
Speaker 1: law eva and drone larva for just three days. However,

705
00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:06,880
Speaker 1: the queen larvae they get just an unending supply of

706
00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:10,719
Speaker 1: this throughout their entire develop developmental period and thus their

707
00:39:10,760 --> 00:39:14,120
Speaker 1: increased size and development changes and all that stuff. But

708
00:39:14,120 --> 00:39:16,560
Speaker 1: we'll get more into that, into the science. So so

709
00:39:16,600 --> 00:39:19,160
Speaker 1: this this sparks an idea in his head and he goes,

710
00:39:19,200 --> 00:39:21,680
Speaker 1: why didn't I think of this sooner? You know? And

711
00:39:21,760 --> 00:39:24,200
Speaker 1: that's that's all we see for now. Now, for future

712
00:39:24,239 --> 00:39:27,040
Speaker 1: AMA fans out there, you might remember the episode where

713
00:39:27,040 --> 00:39:31,040
Speaker 1: we find out where slerm comes from, the popular soda slerm.

714
00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:33,440
Speaker 1: We find out that it is essentially the uh that

715
00:39:33,560 --> 00:39:36,320
Speaker 1: it comes it is a product of these alien be

716
00:39:36,480 --> 00:39:39,920
Speaker 1: like creatures. And then there is royal slerm, which is

717
00:39:40,040 --> 00:39:45,000
Speaker 1: essentially the alien equivalent of of royal jelly. Yes, great episode.

718
00:39:46,520 --> 00:39:51,320
Speaker 1: So uh, the baby is suddenly uh eating better, putting

719
00:39:51,320 --> 00:39:54,839
Speaker 1: on weights. Albert has has told his wife Mabel, Hey,

720
00:39:54,880 --> 00:39:56,799
Speaker 1: I'm gonna handle all the baby's feedings from now on,

721
00:39:56,880 --> 00:40:00,120
Speaker 1: don't you worry. I got this and she's exhausted, so

722
00:40:00,200 --> 00:40:04,279
Speaker 1: she's she's happy for the health absolutely, and uh, this is,

723
00:40:04,360 --> 00:40:07,759
Speaker 1: you know, pretty obvious. But Albert has been putting royal

724
00:40:07,840 --> 00:40:11,120
Speaker 1: jelly into the baby's milk. I would say, uh, spoilers

725
00:40:11,120 --> 00:40:13,319
Speaker 1: from now on, but there's really no ending to this,

726
00:40:13,600 --> 00:40:17,760
Speaker 1: so there are there's nothing really to spoil. Yes, Albert

727
00:40:17,800 --> 00:40:20,279
Speaker 1: has been putting royal jelly in the baby's milk, and

728
00:40:20,320 --> 00:40:24,080
Speaker 1: he's deliberately hiding it from his wife. So um, Mabel

729
00:40:24,120 --> 00:40:26,680
Speaker 1: puts two and two together. She figures out that something

730
00:40:27,040 --> 00:40:29,800
Speaker 1: is being added to his daughter's milk. She first suspects beer,

731
00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:33,280
Speaker 1: which I think is pretty funny, but no, no, Albert

732
00:40:33,280 --> 00:40:36,960
Speaker 1: reveals that he has been feeding royal jelly to their daughter. Um,

733
00:40:37,239 --> 00:40:39,799
Speaker 1: and she's aghast and she's like, no, no, I'm very

734
00:40:39,840 --> 00:40:42,200
Speaker 1: worried about this, you know, should you be doing this?

735
00:40:42,200 --> 00:40:43,640
Speaker 1: This seems bad? And he's like, no, no, it's no

736
00:40:43,719 --> 00:40:47,560
Speaker 1: big deal. I've been consuming gallons of it for years.

737
00:40:50,080 --> 00:40:54,120
Speaker 1: It's specifically, he's been taking it before the baby was

738
00:40:54,160 --> 00:40:57,319
Speaker 1: born to make him more fertile and virile, and he

739
00:40:57,360 --> 00:41:02,719
Speaker 1: gives the royal jelly all the credit for making him

740
00:41:02,800 --> 00:41:05,719
Speaker 1: him fertile enough for them to have their child. So

741
00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:08,839
Speaker 1: he's like, this, this child is thanks to the royal jelly. My,

742
00:41:08,840 --> 00:41:11,360
Speaker 1: my morality, this this is all thanks to the jelly.

743
00:41:11,440 --> 00:41:15,120
Speaker 1: It's all the royal jelly. And so here's my favorite

744
00:41:15,120 --> 00:41:17,120
Speaker 1: part of this, my favorite part of this. When he's

745
00:41:17,120 --> 00:41:20,080
Speaker 1: starting to like go into his like reveal of all

746
00:41:20,480 --> 00:41:23,120
Speaker 1: what he's been doing and sneaking the royal jelly into

747
00:41:23,200 --> 00:41:26,759
Speaker 1: the into the baby's milk, consuming gallons of it himself,

748
00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:31,279
Speaker 1: he starts to ever so slowly, ever so like you know,

749
00:41:31,640 --> 00:41:38,120
Speaker 1: delicately make little buzzing noises, like just a little conversational like, so,

750
00:41:38,200 --> 00:41:41,000
Speaker 1: what does this is. It's just like a little just

751
00:41:41,040 --> 00:41:44,279
Speaker 1: a little little extra buzz now and again, and it

752
00:41:44,360 --> 00:41:47,239
Speaker 1: just kind of builds and builds till by the end

753
00:41:47,320 --> 00:41:50,239
Speaker 1: he is just full blown buzzing, buzzing. And we looked

754
00:41:50,280 --> 00:41:53,400
Speaker 1: down at his collar or yeah, his his cuff of

755
00:41:53,440 --> 00:41:56,080
Speaker 1: his shirt, and he's got a little b hair just

756
00:41:56,160 --> 00:41:58,880
Speaker 1: kind of like tufting out through like the cuff of

757
00:41:58,880 --> 00:42:02,040
Speaker 1: his shirt. And it's so wonderful, and the wife's getting

758
00:42:02,120 --> 00:42:03,960
Speaker 1: very scared. She doesn't know what to do about this.

759
00:42:03,960 --> 00:42:06,359
Speaker 1: He's like, no, no, no, it's wonderful. And then he

760
00:42:06,480 --> 00:42:09,760
Speaker 1: picks up the baby and they turned towards the camera,

761
00:42:10,200 --> 00:42:13,840
Speaker 1: and it's one of those like really corny uh freeze

762
00:42:13,880 --> 00:42:18,400
Speaker 1: frame super effects filled zoom in shots on the baby

763
00:42:18,480 --> 00:42:20,560
Speaker 1: where it's supposed to be like, oh no, the baby

764
00:42:20,640 --> 00:42:23,480
Speaker 1: is a larva or something. It's never it's not my

765
00:42:23,640 --> 00:42:27,160
Speaker 1: clear at all. Yeah, you can't really see the baby

766
00:42:27,200 --> 00:42:31,160
Speaker 1: all that well, but it's like a sudden like kind

767
00:42:31,160 --> 00:42:34,319
Speaker 1: of blurry graphic or PIXELI graphic effect. I don't know.

768
00:42:34,320 --> 00:42:36,160
Speaker 1: The baby maybe looks like the baby on that Black

769
00:42:36,400 --> 00:42:39,480
Speaker 1: Sabbath album cuff or something. It's that more be like

770
00:42:40,120 --> 00:42:43,480
Speaker 1: um but but but it's it's so sudden, and then

771
00:42:44,120 --> 00:42:46,880
Speaker 1: her scream is such like I don't know. The tension

772
00:42:46,920 --> 00:42:50,760
Speaker 1: builds are just right to where even though the actual

773
00:42:50,760 --> 00:42:54,920
Speaker 1: effects are are basically non existent scene, it's still shocking

774
00:42:54,960 --> 00:42:57,080
Speaker 1: and it's still like it's still kind of hits you.

775
00:42:57,120 --> 00:42:59,080
Speaker 1: At the very end, it's like, oh god, this this

776
00:42:59,160 --> 00:43:01,560
Speaker 1: is horrible. No, it's it's it's a perfect little like

777
00:43:01,960 --> 00:43:06,600
Speaker 1: horror anthology punchline, just and that's it. Nothing else to see, folks,

778
00:43:06,640 --> 00:43:10,960
Speaker 1: move on. Yeah, this this was a solid ending. This

779
00:43:11,040 --> 00:43:13,279
Speaker 1: is far more solid than the episode that the other

780
00:43:13,320 --> 00:43:15,560
Speaker 1: episode I watched was one. I think it was called Taste,

781
00:43:15,920 --> 00:43:20,000
Speaker 1: about a wine snob who essentially he ends up getting

782
00:43:20,000 --> 00:43:23,600
Speaker 1: into a competition if he can guess the precise winery

783
00:43:23,719 --> 00:43:27,000
Speaker 1: that a wine came from. He he's going to get

784
00:43:27,040 --> 00:43:29,839
Speaker 1: to marry the other guy's daughter. So it does have

785
00:43:29,920 --> 00:43:34,959
Speaker 1: like creepy misogynistic uh notes to it, but it doesn't

786
00:43:35,040 --> 00:43:37,760
Speaker 1: end in anything horrible. At the end, he's caught cheating

787
00:43:38,239 --> 00:43:40,560
Speaker 1: at the game and gets wine poured on his head.

788
00:43:40,640 --> 00:43:42,040
Speaker 1: So when I saw that, I'm like, well, I don't

789
00:43:42,080 --> 00:43:43,239
Speaker 1: know if any of these are really going to be

790
00:43:43,320 --> 00:43:45,799
Speaker 1: horror enough, but you assured me. It's like, oh no, no,

791
00:43:45,840 --> 00:43:49,920
Speaker 1: this episode has it, and yeah, implied mutant be baby

792
00:43:50,280 --> 00:43:53,959
Speaker 1: definitely seals the deal. If you read the story, it's

793
00:43:54,040 --> 00:43:57,359
Speaker 1: um even more subtle and implied uh more or less.

794
00:43:57,400 --> 00:43:59,960
Speaker 1: The the written word and this uh you know tell

795
00:44:00,000 --> 00:44:03,879
Speaker 1: television adaptation are very similar. The only differences, of course,

796
00:44:03,920 --> 00:44:06,160
Speaker 1: like the internal monologue that you kind of hear from people.

797
00:44:06,200 --> 00:44:09,680
Speaker 1: In particular, you can hear Mabel thinking to herself, does

798
00:44:09,719 --> 00:44:13,399
Speaker 1: my husband look more like a bee today? You can

799
00:44:13,400 --> 00:44:15,840
Speaker 1: hear her like in the very end, being like, oh no,

800
00:44:15,960 --> 00:44:18,680
Speaker 1: my child is turning into a larva. I can see

801
00:44:18,719 --> 00:44:22,200
Speaker 1: the larva elements of my child. It's all very internal thought.

802
00:44:22,360 --> 00:44:25,520
Speaker 1: It's not like, you know, monster makeup, which which would

803
00:44:25,520 --> 00:44:28,880
Speaker 1: have been fun too, but definitely a different kind of story.

804
00:44:28,920 --> 00:44:31,680
Speaker 1: Are there lots of zs in in his dialogue at

805
00:44:31,680 --> 00:44:33,200
Speaker 1: the end? I believe so. It's been a while since

806
00:44:33,239 --> 00:44:38,040
Speaker 1: I've read it, but I believe so little subtle buzzes. Uh. So,

807
00:44:38,080 --> 00:44:40,920
Speaker 1: so let's get into some science. The first thing I

808
00:44:40,960 --> 00:44:43,239
Speaker 1: was thinking to myself and I, this is just like,

809
00:44:43,280 --> 00:44:45,080
Speaker 1: you know, one of those things. I was like, wait,

810
00:44:45,719 --> 00:44:49,759
Speaker 1: isn't honey bad for babies? I know honey isn't royal jelly,

811
00:44:49,800 --> 00:44:52,200
Speaker 1: but I have heard very clearly that you should not

812
00:44:52,320 --> 00:44:55,439
Speaker 1: give honey to babies. So I looked that up real quick,

813
00:44:55,440 --> 00:44:57,640
Speaker 1: just to like put my mind at ease. And yes,

814
00:44:58,000 --> 00:45:01,600
Speaker 1: it is widely agreed upon by new tritionalists and pediatricians

815
00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:04,600
Speaker 1: that babies younger than one year old should not be

816
00:45:04,680 --> 00:45:07,840
Speaker 1: given honey. Basically, it's as simple as an infant immune

817
00:45:07,840 --> 00:45:10,000
Speaker 1: system isn't yet strong enough to fight some of the

818
00:45:10,040 --> 00:45:13,440
Speaker 1: bacteria that a non infant anyone above the age of

819
00:45:13,440 --> 00:45:18,279
Speaker 1: one can easily handle. Uh. Specifically, it's Clostridium bacteria which

820
00:45:18,280 --> 00:45:21,480
Speaker 1: can cause infant botulism, so you know, terrible. And this

821
00:45:21,560 --> 00:45:24,680
Speaker 1: bacteria thrives in soil and dust, which means it can

822
00:45:24,680 --> 00:45:29,279
Speaker 1: contaminate certain foods and in particular honey, So uh you

823
00:45:29,320 --> 00:45:31,480
Speaker 1: know that. By the way, this also includes any processed

824
00:45:31,520 --> 00:45:34,920
Speaker 1: foods that use honey like a honey, graham, crackers, etcetera.

825
00:45:35,000 --> 00:45:37,880
Speaker 1: And uh. Once again, there's no risk for an immune

826
00:45:37,880 --> 00:45:42,160
Speaker 1: system over a year old. But I satisfied my curiosity

827
00:45:42,200 --> 00:45:44,640
Speaker 1: by just looking that up real quick, and I was correct.

828
00:45:44,840 --> 00:45:48,600
Speaker 1: Do not give honey to anyone under one year of age.

829
00:45:49,000 --> 00:45:51,759
Speaker 1: But like I said, honey is not royal jelly. What what?

830
00:45:51,760 --> 00:45:54,360
Speaker 1: What's the difference between honey and royal jelly? Yes, you

831
00:45:54,400 --> 00:45:58,200
Speaker 1: find them both in a hive, but there's obviously big differences.

832
00:45:58,920 --> 00:46:01,600
Speaker 1: Let's start with honey. Honey, as we all know, is

833
00:46:01,640 --> 00:46:05,320
Speaker 1: a sweet, viscous liquid made up of nectar from flowers

834
00:46:05,360 --> 00:46:08,120
Speaker 1: by the way of a multi step process involving multiple

835
00:46:08,160 --> 00:46:13,040
Speaker 1: honey bees. It's primarily used to feed the colony. Uh.

836
00:46:13,080 --> 00:46:15,879
Speaker 1: This is their primary source of carbohydrates, and it also

837
00:46:15,920 --> 00:46:18,680
Speaker 1: provides basically just all of the energy that the colony

838
00:46:18,719 --> 00:46:21,720
Speaker 1: needs to go out and find pollen to to breed

839
00:46:21,880 --> 00:46:25,680
Speaker 1: to whatever. All that stuff is fueled by honey and

840
00:46:25,960 --> 00:46:29,800
Speaker 1: in particular their carbohydrates from the honey. As an aside,

841
00:46:29,800 --> 00:46:32,279
Speaker 1: I was also looking up I don't know about you, Rob,

842
00:46:32,400 --> 00:46:35,319
Speaker 1: but I I have the notion in the back of

843
00:46:35,320 --> 00:46:38,360
Speaker 1: my head that I would love to be a beekeeper someday,

844
00:46:38,440 --> 00:46:42,839
Speaker 1: like like like I have ambitions to be um an

845
00:46:42,880 --> 00:46:46,000
Speaker 1: apiculturist at some point in my life. And so I've

846
00:46:46,000 --> 00:46:47,600
Speaker 1: looked this up in the past to be like, wait,

847
00:46:47,600 --> 00:46:50,080
Speaker 1: if we're taking the bees honey, don't they need that honey?

848
00:46:50,160 --> 00:46:53,600
Speaker 1: Like that's theirs, right, And that's part of being a

849
00:46:53,600 --> 00:46:56,600
Speaker 1: beekeeper is knowing where that that level is. If you

850
00:46:56,640 --> 00:46:59,399
Speaker 1: do take too much of the bees honey that they're

851
00:46:59,400 --> 00:47:03,120
Speaker 1: providing for for their their beehive, then yes, you can

852
00:47:03,160 --> 00:47:05,440
Speaker 1: starve a colony, and you shouldn't do that. You have

853
00:47:05,480 --> 00:47:08,520
Speaker 1: to be very careful and and and very mindful of

854
00:47:08,560 --> 00:47:11,000
Speaker 1: how much you're taking from them. So anyway, that's just

855
00:47:11,040 --> 00:47:15,439
Speaker 1: an aside. Yeah, my understanding is that with the source

856
00:47:15,480 --> 00:47:17,440
Speaker 1: of the varieties of bees that one is going to

857
00:47:17,480 --> 00:47:20,400
Speaker 1: be raising, Yeah, there is a certain surplus level that

858
00:47:20,440 --> 00:47:22,720
Speaker 1: you can harvest, but there are other varieties of bees

859
00:47:22,760 --> 00:47:25,640
Speaker 1: that we don't raise for their honey, that don't produce

860
00:47:25,960 --> 00:47:29,440
Speaker 1: that sort of surplus um. But but I agree with you. Like,

861
00:47:29,480 --> 00:47:32,200
Speaker 1: even watching this episode of Tales of the Unexpected, the

862
00:47:32,239 --> 00:47:36,560
Speaker 1: early parts before things get creepy, you see him out there,

863
00:47:36,600 --> 00:47:39,279
Speaker 1: you know, tending to his hives. And there's a great

864
00:47:39,320 --> 00:47:42,239
Speaker 1: scene in it too, where it's the actor himself just

865
00:47:42,280 --> 00:47:46,080
Speaker 1: out in a field among actual bee hives and without

866
00:47:46,080 --> 00:47:49,160
Speaker 1: any protective gear he's opening one up and checking things out.

867
00:47:49,600 --> 00:47:52,239
Speaker 1: And uh, that's scene in particular. It made me feel

868
00:47:52,320 --> 00:47:54,080
Speaker 1: what you were talking about. It's like I could do

869
00:47:54,160 --> 00:47:57,520
Speaker 1: this right, I could. Well, I could retire and and

870
00:47:57,600 --> 00:48:00,719
Speaker 1: just raise bees in a field. This this feel appropriate,

871
00:48:00,760 --> 00:48:03,279
Speaker 1: This feels like like something worth doing. Someday. I'm going

872
00:48:03,320 --> 00:48:05,399
Speaker 1: to do this someday. I've looked into it. I've looked

873
00:48:05,440 --> 00:48:07,880
Speaker 1: into how much it costs for like you know, buying

874
00:48:07,880 --> 00:48:10,280
Speaker 1: a colony, how much of costs like buy a b suits.

875
00:48:10,520 --> 00:48:13,439
Speaker 1: I have a lavender garden here on my property that's

876
00:48:13,480 --> 00:48:17,000
Speaker 1: nothing but a field of lavender, and I I think

877
00:48:17,040 --> 00:48:18,640
Speaker 1: that will be make my honey. It will I will

878
00:48:18,680 --> 00:48:22,200
Speaker 1: have lavender flavored honey. That's gonna be my goal someday.

879
00:48:23,320 --> 00:48:27,320
Speaker 1: But but like we said, royal jelly is not honey

880
00:48:27,400 --> 00:48:31,160
Speaker 1: at all. Royal jelly is a milk like substance which

881
00:48:31,160 --> 00:48:33,480
Speaker 1: is secreted from the glands and the heads of the

882
00:48:33,480 --> 00:48:36,640
Speaker 1: worker bees, and it's made to feed the b larvae.

883
00:48:37,120 --> 00:48:40,239
Speaker 1: So and this includes all the larvae, the drones, the workers,

884
00:48:40,280 --> 00:48:43,200
Speaker 1: the queens, um and just like it was actually mentioned

885
00:48:43,239 --> 00:48:45,880
Speaker 1: in the story, this was a d accurate from the story.

886
00:48:46,320 --> 00:48:49,240
Speaker 1: The drones and workers are only fed for three days

887
00:48:49,239 --> 00:48:53,200
Speaker 1: with royal jelly, but the queen it just is continually fed.

888
00:48:53,600 --> 00:48:56,640
Speaker 1: Uh just all the royal jelly you can have throughout

889
00:48:56,640 --> 00:49:00,839
Speaker 1: their whole development process. So facts all look this up

890
00:49:00,840 --> 00:49:03,239
Speaker 1: and it's absolutely true. So up to that point in

891
00:49:03,239 --> 00:49:05,400
Speaker 1: the story that these are facts that Roll Doll is

892
00:49:05,440 --> 00:49:09,279
Speaker 1: giving us. Royal jelly is composed of about sixty seven

893
00:49:09,320 --> 00:49:13,600
Speaker 1: percent water, twelve point five percent protein, eleven percent simple sugars,

894
00:49:13,840 --> 00:49:17,360
Speaker 1: six percent fatty acids, and a three point five percent

895
00:49:17,640 --> 00:49:22,840
Speaker 1: ten hydroxy two desinoic acid. There are also some trace minerals,

896
00:49:22,960 --> 00:49:27,720
Speaker 1: vitamins and antibiotic components that other people have of course

897
00:49:27,760 --> 00:49:31,319
Speaker 1: claimed also in this short story that are very beneficial

898
00:49:31,360 --> 00:49:35,040
Speaker 1: for you. Uh so you know, I mean the nutritional

899
00:49:35,120 --> 00:49:38,280
Speaker 1: input truly does have an effect from this royal jelly

900
00:49:38,320 --> 00:49:41,440
Speaker 1: onto the larvae. And it's actually really fascinating because this

901
00:49:41,480 --> 00:49:45,279
Speaker 1: isn't super common amongst species. A worker larva and a

902
00:49:45,400 --> 00:49:49,160
Speaker 1: queen larva are identical. From a DNA standpoint, there is

903
00:49:49,200 --> 00:49:53,359
Speaker 1: no difference between a worker and a queen in let

904
00:49:53,360 --> 00:49:56,640
Speaker 1: their larval stage, but because the queen larva is given

905
00:49:56,640 --> 00:49:59,359
Speaker 1: more nutrients by way of royal jelly, the queen has

906
00:49:59,400 --> 00:50:04,280
Speaker 1: a complete different developmental trajectory. Most importantly, the queen develops large,

907
00:50:04,600 --> 00:50:08,880
Speaker 1: active ovaries, while the worker bees they are completely sterile.

908
00:50:08,920 --> 00:50:11,960
Speaker 1: They have no ability to to use their ovaries for anything.

909
00:50:12,560 --> 00:50:15,120
Speaker 1: And it's it's it's it's not common. I was trying

910
00:50:15,160 --> 00:50:17,600
Speaker 1: to find up other species that have this, this this

911
00:50:17,640 --> 00:50:20,800
Speaker 1: process where basically you can almost turn into not a

912
00:50:20,840 --> 00:50:24,920
Speaker 1: different creature, but like a different kind of being. Just

913
00:50:24,960 --> 00:50:27,600
Speaker 1: basically on did you get extra nutrients when you were

914
00:50:27,600 --> 00:50:30,520
Speaker 1: a child. And it's not a common thing, but it's

915
00:50:30,600 --> 00:50:34,160
Speaker 1: it's a percent true with royal jelly and these b larvae. Yeah,

916
00:50:34,200 --> 00:50:37,120
Speaker 1: it reminds it reminds me of various morphs that you find,

917
00:50:37,239 --> 00:50:40,720
Speaker 1: say among some species of salamanders, where they'll be certain

918
00:50:40,840 --> 00:50:45,319
Speaker 1: environmental factors that may include things like like density of

919
00:50:45,360 --> 00:50:49,880
Speaker 1: population or exposure to water that that can result in

920
00:50:50,440 --> 00:50:54,040
Speaker 1: different morphologies, particularly a one ver I want to say,

921
00:50:54,080 --> 00:50:56,720
Speaker 1: I may be misremembering this, but I think the tiger

922
00:50:56,760 --> 00:51:01,960
Speaker 1: salamander that can develop a cannibal morph where basically there's

923
00:51:02,000 --> 00:51:05,200
Speaker 1: there's one salamander with an extra big mouth for eating

924
00:51:05,200 --> 00:51:09,040
Speaker 1: other salamanders because it's responding to the there being too

925
00:51:09,120 --> 00:51:13,640
Speaker 1: high of a population density versus available water or something

926
00:51:13,680 --> 00:51:16,080
Speaker 1: to that effect. But yeah, in terms of this though,

927
00:51:16,080 --> 00:51:18,480
Speaker 1: it's just like you got more of the special food

928
00:51:18,520 --> 00:51:20,960
Speaker 1: than everyone else, and so now you are destined to

929
00:51:21,000 --> 00:51:25,399
Speaker 1: be this uh, this this high producing reproductive morph as

930
00:51:25,400 --> 00:51:28,960
Speaker 1: opposed to a normal worker. Yeah, it's it's absolutely fascinating

931
00:51:29,480 --> 00:51:32,759
Speaker 1: and uh as this story implies, and also from just

932
00:51:32,880 --> 00:51:35,960
Speaker 1: Rall Doll's um you know introduction where he was given

933
00:51:36,040 --> 00:51:39,359
Speaker 1: jars of the stuff by by Dick van Dyke um.

934
00:51:39,520 --> 00:51:43,000
Speaker 1: Humans do consume royal jelly for a wide variety of

935
00:51:43,520 --> 00:51:46,640
Speaker 1: purposes and claims. Primarily when I was looking this up,

936
00:51:46,680 --> 00:51:50,279
Speaker 1: I found claims that it can help with hay fever, diabetes,

937
00:51:50,480 --> 00:51:55,360
Speaker 1: menopausal administruation symptoms, obesity, and dry eyes. And I'm not

938
00:51:55,400 --> 00:51:57,320
Speaker 1: going to leave you on the edge of your seats.

939
00:51:57,360 --> 00:51:59,880
Speaker 1: There is no evidence that royal jelly will help you

940
00:51:59,880 --> 00:52:03,920
Speaker 1: with any of these issues or any others. People do

941
00:52:03,960 --> 00:52:06,560
Speaker 1: take it there, you can buy it very easily, but

942
00:52:07,040 --> 00:52:10,919
Speaker 1: from every scientific study I could find there there is no, no, no,

943
00:52:10,920 --> 00:52:13,480
Speaker 1: no evidence that they actually can help you in a

944
00:52:13,560 --> 00:52:17,600
Speaker 1: in a meaningful way. So, um, you know, I mean

945
00:52:17,680 --> 00:52:21,040
Speaker 1: Albert was right. There's no adverse effects to consuming royal

946
00:52:21,120 --> 00:52:24,359
Speaker 1: jelly and giving it to your baby, but it's also

947
00:52:24,520 --> 00:52:27,520
Speaker 1: not gonna do anything for you, so you probably shouldn't

948
00:52:27,560 --> 00:52:29,560
Speaker 1: take it, you know, But that's just me. I'm not

949
00:52:29,600 --> 00:52:34,120
Speaker 1: a doctor. Talk to your doctor about your taking royal jelly.

950
00:52:35,320 --> 00:52:38,280
Speaker 1: Uh talk Talk to your doctor about taking royal jelly.

951
00:52:38,360 --> 00:52:41,200
Speaker 1: Talk to you, to your doctor, your child's doctor before

952
00:52:41,239 --> 00:52:44,080
Speaker 1: you even think about giving it to an infant, and

953
00:52:44,160 --> 00:52:47,880
Speaker 1: in general, don't get your parenting advice from from a

954
00:52:47,920 --> 00:52:51,040
Speaker 1: horror or sci fi anthology series. Yeah, I can say

955
00:52:51,200 --> 00:52:53,879
Speaker 1: very clearly that you shouldn't give most things to an

956
00:52:53,880 --> 00:52:56,680
Speaker 1: infant child, which I could just say that very very

957
00:52:56,800 --> 00:53:00,200
Speaker 1: very simply. Um. So, there are a couple of you know,

958
00:53:00,400 --> 00:53:05,360
Speaker 1: adverse uh um issues that can arise by taking royal jelly,

959
00:53:05,600 --> 00:53:08,359
Speaker 1: but it's it's just this typical allergic stuff. You can

960
00:53:08,360 --> 00:53:12,160
Speaker 1: get hive sasthma or or even anaflexus, which you know

961
00:53:12,239 --> 00:53:14,920
Speaker 1: could be life threatening and are very bad things. But

962
00:53:15,040 --> 00:53:18,120
Speaker 1: it's just standard allergy stuff. So yeah, it's not gonna

963
00:53:18,200 --> 00:53:21,399
Speaker 1: hurt you, probably, but you probably shouldn't take it because

964
00:53:21,400 --> 00:53:24,160
Speaker 1: it's not gonna help you either, so so don't worry

965
00:53:24,200 --> 00:53:28,279
Speaker 1: about it. You know this This episode is curious though,

966
00:53:28,320 --> 00:53:31,839
Speaker 1: because it it does seem to be looking at there

967
00:53:31,880 --> 00:53:33,520
Speaker 1: at least a couple of themes that I see in it.

968
00:53:33,560 --> 00:53:36,040
Speaker 1: I mean one, like you mentioned, a lot of these

969
00:53:36,080 --> 00:53:41,920
Speaker 1: stories have something about um like strange relationships between men

970
00:53:41,960 --> 00:53:44,759
Speaker 1: and women, and on this one, this one in particular,

971
00:53:44,800 --> 00:53:47,960
Speaker 1: it's like the man is taking over part of the

972
00:53:48,000 --> 00:53:52,279
Speaker 1: mother's role and he messes it up so badly that

973
00:53:52,360 --> 00:53:55,279
Speaker 1: he's turning the child into another species or some sort

974
00:53:55,280 --> 00:53:58,560
Speaker 1: of a hybrid. There's that, and then there's also the

975
00:53:58,560 --> 00:54:00,880
Speaker 1: fact that it is it deals with the consumption of

976
00:54:00,880 --> 00:54:05,279
Speaker 1: an animal product and sort of paranoia over that, which

977
00:54:05,320 --> 00:54:07,759
Speaker 1: is kind of interesting to think about because we as

978
00:54:07,840 --> 00:54:12,240
Speaker 1: humans consume a lot of animal products. You think of

979
00:54:12,080 --> 00:54:15,840
Speaker 1: the baby's bottle of milk example, for example, you know,

980
00:54:15,920 --> 00:54:18,399
Speaker 1: if you're if you're if a baby is consuming well

981
00:54:18,480 --> 00:54:21,440
Speaker 1: then we've been talking about formula in these cases. But

982
00:54:22,160 --> 00:54:26,920
Speaker 1: just the basic human consumption of cow milk, the human

983
00:54:26,960 --> 00:54:31,319
Speaker 1: consumption of various other animal products. Um, we just take

984
00:54:31,360 --> 00:54:33,920
Speaker 1: most of that for granted in our in our culture,

985
00:54:33,920 --> 00:54:36,399
Speaker 1: most people don't really give this a second thought. Uh

986
00:54:36,840 --> 00:54:39,120
Speaker 1: where in the many of us don't for large portions

987
00:54:39,120 --> 00:54:42,920
Speaker 1: of our lives lives. But but in this case, it's like, oh,

988
00:54:42,960 --> 00:54:46,799
Speaker 1: we're focusing on on the b products here, and the

989
00:54:46,840 --> 00:54:51,040
Speaker 1: idea that this thing that plays a specific role in

990
00:54:51,320 --> 00:54:54,160
Speaker 1: the life cycle of the b what if what if

991
00:54:54,239 --> 00:54:58,400
Speaker 1: in consuming it it also changed our life cycle? Yeah, yeah, no,

992
00:54:58,520 --> 00:55:01,000
Speaker 1: it's I mean, it's speculative fixture. And uh, I think

993
00:55:01,000 --> 00:55:04,719
Speaker 1: it's very successful because it's based partially in reality, but

994
00:55:04,760 --> 00:55:08,840
Speaker 1: then partially of course not on reality at all. So no,

995
00:55:09,280 --> 00:55:12,560
Speaker 1: I think it was very successful, fun little story and

996
00:55:12,840 --> 00:55:15,640
Speaker 1: uh yeah, yeah, no, I'm glad we actually explored both

997
00:55:15,640 --> 00:55:19,960
Speaker 1: of these. Uh they kind of paired well together with

998
00:55:20,000 --> 00:55:24,799
Speaker 1: these uh you know, uh, humans interacting with with with

999
00:55:25,080 --> 00:55:27,520
Speaker 1: uh what what could be seen as an alien species

1000
00:55:27,560 --> 00:55:29,600
Speaker 1: to them, whether it be a bee or a giant

1001
00:55:29,760 --> 00:55:36,160
Speaker 1: therapy crab was that what it was called. Uh yeah,

1002
00:55:36,200 --> 00:55:38,960
Speaker 1: I know that they complimented each other. Well, this was

1003
00:55:39,000 --> 00:55:43,240
Speaker 1: a good, good little pairing of anthology episodes. I liked it. Yeah.

1004
00:55:43,320 --> 00:55:46,759
Speaker 1: The other one about the Royal Jelly episode here is

1005
00:55:46,800 --> 00:55:48,640
Speaker 1: that it seems like this is a template that could

1006
00:55:48,680 --> 00:55:52,200
Speaker 1: easily be used and reused in other anthologies, like they

1007
00:55:52,239 --> 00:55:56,560
Speaker 1: like basically the the misapplication of some sort of a

1008
00:55:57,120 --> 00:56:01,560
Speaker 1: folk remedy, uh, using an animal product with monstrous results,

1009
00:56:01,600 --> 00:56:04,880
Speaker 1: Like you can imagine a scenario that involves the local

1010
00:56:04,880 --> 00:56:08,799
Speaker 1: smoothie shop and I don't know, turning someone into an

1011
00:56:08,800 --> 00:56:12,600
Speaker 1: avocad of person. I don't know, something more monstrous than that.

1012
00:56:12,680 --> 00:56:15,319
Speaker 1: But it seems like a good template. Well, especially because

1013
00:56:15,440 --> 00:56:19,480
Speaker 1: I think there's the smallest, smallest element of reality to this. Like,

1014
00:56:19,520 --> 00:56:22,359
Speaker 1: for example, I've heard stories of people when they were

1015
00:56:22,400 --> 00:56:25,959
Speaker 1: on primarily carrot based diets that their skin turns starts

1016
00:56:25,960 --> 00:56:28,360
Speaker 1: to turn a little orange because of that element that

1017
00:56:28,440 --> 00:56:30,879
Speaker 1: is that is found in the carrot. And it's like, yeah,

1018
00:56:30,920 --> 00:56:33,440
Speaker 1: you shouldn't have too much of that. It can affect

1019
00:56:33,480 --> 00:56:36,920
Speaker 1: your appearance. So yeah, there there's like a tiny, tiny

1020
00:56:36,960 --> 00:56:40,920
Speaker 1: element of reality that. Yeah, speculative fiction really, you know,

1021
00:56:41,040 --> 00:56:43,640
Speaker 1: thrives on you can really blow that out of proportion.

1022
00:56:43,880 --> 00:56:46,759
Speaker 1: Oh and then of course the human um impulse at

1023
00:56:46,800 --> 00:56:49,839
Speaker 1: times to take something that that is said to have

1024
00:56:50,760 --> 00:56:53,520
Speaker 1: health some sort of health benefit, and may well have

1025
00:56:53,640 --> 00:56:56,560
Speaker 1: some health benefit, but then go so all in on

1026
00:56:56,600 --> 00:57:00,120
Speaker 1: it that you have harmful results. Like I remember researching

1027
00:57:00,120 --> 00:57:02,640
Speaker 1: an episode on pickling at one point and running across

1028
00:57:02,719 --> 00:57:04,439
Speaker 1: people that On one hand, you have plenty of people

1029
00:57:04,440 --> 00:57:06,840
Speaker 1: who are like, hey, pickled products are great. There, you

1030
00:57:06,880 --> 00:57:10,240
Speaker 1: know this is these are great traditions from culinary history,

1031
00:57:10,239 --> 00:57:13,840
Speaker 1: but also they have health benefits, And then inevitably you

1032
00:57:13,920 --> 00:57:16,120
Speaker 1: find like one person, at least one person out there

1033
00:57:16,160 --> 00:57:19,720
Speaker 1: that's like, I only eat pickled things, and even some

1034
00:57:19,880 --> 00:57:22,840
Speaker 1: pickling enthusiasts you're like, I don't know about that. That's

1035
00:57:22,920 --> 00:57:25,840
Speaker 1: maybe a bit too far. Coincidentally, when I was watching

1036
00:57:26,120 --> 00:57:29,240
Speaker 1: uh this this episode, it was airing on free v,

1037
00:57:29,560 --> 00:57:33,439
Speaker 1: which is a free streaming service with commercial breaks, and

1038
00:57:33,680 --> 00:57:36,880
Speaker 1: UH I coincidentally saw multiple ads for protein powders and

1039
00:57:36,960 --> 00:57:42,360
Speaker 1: supplements while watching this episode. All right, well, we're gonna

1040
00:57:42,360 --> 00:57:44,240
Speaker 1: go and close out this episode here, but we'd love

1041
00:57:44,240 --> 00:57:46,720
Speaker 1: to hear from everyone out there if you have thoughts

1042
00:57:46,760 --> 00:57:52,320
Speaker 1: about these two particular anthology series or the specific episodes

1043
00:57:52,640 --> 00:57:55,000
Speaker 1: that we discussed. We'd love to hear from you if

1044
00:57:55,000 --> 00:57:59,960
Speaker 1: you have other favorites from the vast catalog of horror anthologies,

1045
00:58:00,000 --> 00:58:03,000
Speaker 1: either series or particular episodes that you think should be

1046
00:58:03,040 --> 00:58:07,240
Speaker 1: taken into account next year when the Anthology of Horror

1047
00:58:07,320 --> 00:58:12,320
Speaker 1: rolls back around, let us know. Um, just a reminder that,

1048
00:58:12,560 --> 00:58:14,680
Speaker 1: uh well, first of all, yes, Joe, Joe is gonna

1049
00:58:14,720 --> 00:58:16,960
Speaker 1: be out for a little bit here and uh and

1050
00:58:17,080 --> 00:58:18,840
Speaker 1: that he will return and in the meantime, we're still

1051
00:58:18,840 --> 00:58:21,920
Speaker 1: gonna bust out some new episodes. Our core episodes come

1052
00:58:21,920 --> 00:58:26,080
Speaker 1: out on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Monday, Listener Mail, Wednesday, a

1053
00:58:26,160 --> 00:58:28,680
Speaker 1: short form artifact or monster fact. On a Friday Weird

1054
00:58:28,680 --> 00:58:31,200
Speaker 1: House Cinema. That's our time to set aside most serious

1055
00:58:31,240 --> 00:58:35,160
Speaker 1: concerns and just talk about a weird film. And yeah,

1056
00:58:35,200 --> 00:58:38,960
Speaker 1: thanks to Seth Nicholas Johnson for not only producing the

1057
00:58:38,960 --> 00:58:42,320
Speaker 1: show as he normally does, but also jumping in and

1058
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Speaker 1: uh serving as guest co host. Happy to be here,

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Speaker 1: happy to fill in for Joe while he's gone for

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Speaker 1: the next little bits. And uh yeah, if if you

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00:58:51,120 --> 00:58:53,960
Speaker 1: for some reason like listening to me talk, you could

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00:58:54,000 --> 00:58:56,880
Speaker 1: find me on Rusty Needles Record Club. It's my weekly

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00:58:56,920 --> 00:58:59,520
Speaker 1: podcast about music that I do. Go check that out

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00:58:59,520 --> 00:59:01,040
Speaker 1: if you want it. I'm sure I'll mention it more

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00:59:01,080 --> 00:59:03,640
Speaker 1: while I'm around. But if you want to talk to

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Speaker 1: this podcast Stuff to Blow Your Mind, please reach out

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Speaker 1: to us at Contact and Stuff to Blow Your Mind

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Speaker 1: dr Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio. For more podcasts for My heart Radio, visit

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Speaker 1: the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listening

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Speaker 1: to your favorite shows