192 DEALER'S CHOICE!

192 DEALER'S CHOICE!
Micah threw gobs of money at the gang and asked for a specific sub-genre, and his gamble paid off! The gang talks 1970s sci-fi movies! Also discussed: The Rings of Power, Three Thousand Years of Longing, and Vanessa's birthday!

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Oh, I'm sorry, did I break your concentration somewhere between science and superstition such sights to show you strange aeons. Welcome to strange aeons radio. That's Eric over there. Hello. That's Vanessa over there. Hello. I'm Kelly. We are recording this. On Vanessa's birthday. It is my birthday. Happy birthday. remembered. I'd like to point out that you asked us if we could record this a little early today because it's your birthday. Yeah. And you showed up late. Just say no. Lack of disrespect. Wait a second. No. disrespect and the lack of respect. It's so early. I can't think straight and yet you decided to sleep in a little bit. I did not sleeping at all. I gotta wait way in advance. I just sleep because I did not go to sleep until two. I am very tired. But it's because I was prepping for this awesome show. Well, tell us this. If you can share. I know mom's listening. Oh, my God. This is? We are recording this early. So you can get on with the festivities, I assume. Yeah. And can you share what the festivities are? So I don't know if you guys knew this about me. But I really liked dinosaurs. Like a lot. And hanging out with him right now. I'm just gonna let that lie. But yeah, so there's in south of Seattle, some in some warehouse. There's like a big installation where you can go and check out like, big scale dinosaur attractions. And then there's a VR part where you like, put on a headset, and it's like, I'm Walking with Dinosaurs. So yeah, so the last like entry is at a certain time. And so I needed to push this back a little earlier, so I could make it. I have seen the advertisements for this. It looks like a lot of fun. And I await your reveal. Yes, I'm stoked. I can definitely talk about that. At some point. Yes. Yeah. Not quite yet. Not quite yet. But yes, I will definitely give my review of the dinosaur experience. It's a wonderful example of because, you know, I think that's pretty cool and fun of the nerd level sitting. For your birthday. I'm going to museum. I can identify with that. I've, well, it's so funny, because it's like, I don't want to do anything that's gonna make me tired. And I want to stay out late and I don't want to socialize. So my, the number of activities of what I would do on my birthday are pretty slim. It's like, okay, I can go for a hike. That's fine. If the weather's good. I can see a movie, but I've seen them all. So what's left seen all the movies? Oh, my God. I can rewatch them a time. Okay. I've never felt more connected to you than you saying on your birthday. I don't want to stay out late. That's it? No, I think after I turned 30 I that just all of a sudden I was like, I'm tired. I just didn't tired now you're turning 31. And it's all downhill, right? Yes, yes. Forever. For all of time. I will be 31 He'll be great. Well, the big thing that came on this weekend, I don't know if you've watched or if you have any interest in watching is the two episodes of Lord of the Rings that dropped. I sure did. You do. Okay, what do we think of this? Oh, well, um, I thought it would be garbage because Amazon sucks at making good properties. Good. Halo sucked. Wasn't Amazon. Oh, isn't that was that? That was paramount. Okay, well, there's lots of there's lots of we all know, there's awful awful atrocities made by Amazon because they have a lot of money and they don't super care. So I was like, it's gonna suck up a lot of money a lot of money. And it was really good. I felt like it was super solid. I don't even like Lord of the Rings that much. I hate the extended editions. I'm like, fucking move on with it. Please. I don't need a third angle shot of fucking Gandalf, but it's fine. Um, yeah, I had a good time with it. Um, well, we'll see kind of where it goes. But so far I was really really impressed. What did what did you guys think? I liked it. Yeah, I didn't love it. But I liked it. I I know that this will probably piss a lot of people off. I just never get into Game of Thrones, but I never got into Game of Thrones, like the books and all of that. Sure. And Ah, Lord of the Rings was a big part of my reading experience as a kid, I remember my brother giving me the trilogy when I was like 11. And saying, Here you go, whoa. And so that was that was. That was something that I, I think probably I took going into this was I like, I know these names, and I like a lot of what I'm seeing, some of the effects were a little shaky. Some of the acting I thought was a little shaky. But I was like, Okay, I'm definitely interested in who this mysterious Meteor man is, Oh, I love watching everyone on the internet, like, yell at each other over it. And like, Well, I'm gonna just take what's happening in the music and apply that to my thoughts of who this will be. And at this point, I'm probably team. Gandalf, but just because the music is so whimsical, but who knows. And I, you know, he's a different name, though. Like, this is this. I thought this was the summer relient. Adapting are still part, which is crazier even thinking about this? No, I mean, what is crazy is Amazon paid half a billion dollars for the rights to the footnotes of Lord of the Flies. Okay. Similar alien has already been purchased. They don't have the rights to that story. Whoa, I did not see how you could possibly adapt that other than like, like 20 years of TV shows. And you would vote, you would have to adapt it like. I mean, you'd have to look at it as history texts, and then make an original story that is happening with these events going on or something like that. So this is really just, you know, they don't I don't think they have the rights to the name Gandalf. So that's why I don't think they can use it. I really don't think that's him. I think we'll find out that he is either a new character or they're going to push because the age of the wizards, Gandalf and Solomon and all that was the age of the beginning of the Lord of the Rings, ar 38. And this is yandell shouldn't be around. Yeah, so long time before the Lord of the Rings movies. I sit kinda in the middle with it partially because, like something like that, like I didn't realize this Footlights because as soon as I saw it announced, I know I'm going to watch it. So I really don't read anything about anything like that. I want to watch that much. Mine was similar, except I had a teacher. Start we had a teacher that read the Lord of the Rings to us and like the second or third graders waiting for it. So yeah, I'm with you in that it's seeped in the my life. And it I've my biggest problem I've having with it so far hasn't been story has, it's just kind of a tone. It feels more like the Hobbit movies than the Lord of the Rings, movies. And the Hobbit movies to me were largely a failure. The Lord of the Rings are fucking brilliant, absolutely amazing adaptations of those books. But the hobbit tried to do more with the books and was there Yeah, and didn't necessarily succeed in a lot of the things. There's some great stuff. And that that works really well, especially the casting of some of the doors. But this feels a little like that. And there are moments where I realize how much they're spending them going with the effects where that was also the problem I had with the Hobbit and had a sheen over it just felt so shiny. Yeah, like brightness. Yeah, there are shots of the lead. Forget the character's name the woman who glad real Yeah, that almost looked like they've put zoo filters over her face or something to sort of make her look more ethereal. I don't think it necessarily so it's it's I'm waiting on story. We'll see where the story goes. Because they really have just started stuff. So I'm not going to battle the idea of all of this doesn't seem perfect right now. But I hope it pulls back on the sheen, which I'm sure it won't because they spent a fucking portrait it's the most expensive TV show ever produced. Well, I wonder if I wonder if we'll see a difference in the look of it as the show continues. So because we're in a good part of the first stage here and as we move into Sauron showing up in in the footnotes, they talk about Sauron. ingratiate himself kind of goes undercover and gets in with a group of people who are building the rings and that's how he creates that one ring that rules them all kind of without them knowing. So you know that's if I were to guess with anybody else who's guessing whose Meteor man is Sauron seems the most likely to me right? plot wise. Like if if they are going off of, but I don't think that's gonna be it either. I think that The fact that he's, he's being tended to by the hard foots that I think he's going to end up being some kind of force for good. Somehow. So did they know how the rights to the word Hobbit? Well, by this time, if God, I'm such a fucking nerd, I'm fascinated because I couldn't get through them, the harvest wouldn't have existed. By this time, yet, the hard foots would have been their ancestors. And there are a number of different hard foot races that would eventually become that's why they evolved a little different. And they live a little different. Yeah. Yeah, I never want to get laid again. Never want to go anyplace. And they're more traveling. Right? Worse. Yeah. Cuz I, I kind of figured it's because we're so much further back in time that they'd be called a heartbeat. But I also was like, well, maybe that's a family name. Because they always had like, the different family sex of The Hobbit. So I was like, okay, like, maybe it's that. But yeah, I just don't know, because I never read them. So I'm fascinated. So this is all stuff that you that that does exist in Lord of the Rings. It exists as footnotes. So it's like literally like a sentence or two or three or 10. Okay, exactly, right. I mean, it really is a testament to how important he is to the fantasy genre that, you know, people are willing to pay half a billion dollars to get the rights to a few scribbles he made to keep his own story straight in his own head. Well, Amazon, I think he's doing a whole big push for number of Lord of the Rings. pieces, because I think more stuff is coming out. And I'm a huge fan. Apparently, Lord of the Rings. he spearheaded buying, figuring out what he could get to do something with it. Yeah, that's part of where it's coming from. Oh, interesting. I was the first one. I heard this to say, I don't need another fucking Lord of the Rings. We got a good Lord of the Rings. And this is, you know, obviously not a new adaptation to that. So I'm like, Oh, I think I'm digging this. Yeah, like I said, I want to see where the story goes. I'm sorta like, Okay, this, this is a nice world, they'll build their building. Let's see where it ends up. So, um, so speaking of movies that have like a weird sheen on them. Okay. Um, I saw 3000 years of longing. That's the Tilda Swinton, Idris Elba, like George Miller film. Oh, yeah. Um, there's like a number of films that have happened in the past where you're following like these little mini stories that are sort of these fantastical rewritings of moments of history or just something. And I know that Terry Gilliam had done it for some movie or another already. You. There's this film, it's hard because you don't know. They leave a really big question mark at the end. And either direction. It's terribly unsatisfying. So the journey along the way where you're being given these little interesting stories about the history of this genie, really good, beautiful, crazy, strange stories. But the main story with Tilda Swinton, like it's weird, and it doesn't really add up and it's kind of messed up. And then at the end, you're like, Am I in Speed Racer, because the grass is so green, and the sky is so blue? And it's like weird Lee made, and there's a lot of just shooting up into nothing. I'm just like, I don't know what this film is. I wasn't in love with it. Okay. Oh, well, this isn't the sounds not like studio interference, but like they let him do like, yeah, this I think this is very much like, Hey, guys, I made one for you. Now. I got one for me. Yeah, I think this I don't know if it's like it's based off of a kid's book, I think and it's something that he probably did for his kids. I don't know. It's there's a feel like a kid's movie in many ways along the way that there is a lot that is geared kind of towards that. But then there's definitely some adult stuff in there too. So yeah. So one to maybe check out depends on how much you're into that sort of fantastical like crazy storytelling sort of stuff. And you know if you're a huge why you can't be because it doesn't matter if you like the director because this is way off the mark of what he normally does. But yeah, let's not forget he did the amazing, babe to Oh, the city. Dark Caltrans really dark version. I don't think I saw it because great, really different. It's quite a different take because they have James promo on it spell it I think he's in the beginning. I remember I just remember thinking, I don't think I would take a child to see this. They'd be crying at the end of this month. Oh, no. That's not the uplifting story. I mean, I was just a little too old and a little too cool in my life at that point, because he because like, I'd seen baby, obviously. But by the time I baby two came out, I was like, That's for kids. Right? Interesting. Then I guess all I've got to say is, nope. Oh, it happened. The three of us have finally watched Nope. First, your general feelings I've thought is pretty good. The it definitely sits right in the middle of his three films. And that's going to be hard to ever top get out. But I've had, especially as a whole I that is far superior film to us. Everybody to acting and stuff is interesting that people are fun to watch and compelling, which is good, because not a lot happens for 45 minutes of the film, which you know, hey, and unlike a lot of movies that say, Well, we're sitting on character, they actually weren't setting up characters. But they did a pretty decent job. Are we gonna go spoilery on this? Yeah, if you haven't seen Nope, you know, maybe tune out for the next two minutes, or something. I don't know. spoilery. But the one thing I really really loved was the sound of the ship. Oh my gosh, every digest. Unexpected. That starts a book, what the hell is going oh my god. That is when I when I first thought and I was mentioning there are scenes that stuck with me and I cannot get out of my head. That is one of them, watching them slowly just kind of get gall in a line going up. And they're like, What the fuck is going on? But did you feel and here's where it kind of where it's not a masterpiece to me. I needed just a little more explanation. Yeah. Where is this thing from? Why is it regularly hanging out here? And why is it so distracted by flags and floppy things? But then that stuff? I didn't plan to go okay, that's just what it is. But how would they kind of how they know that though? Yes. And the part where he, you know, he knew not to look at it. And that's how you would let it pass you by based on the fact that he knew that some animals are like that. Like, this is a real fucking leap. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I kind of forgave that. Because if it's a predator, then it's kind of like, okay, I get that. And that's sort of he understands how predator animals versus prey animals kind of function. But I think the the background that I heard on, where that alien concept with it with being in the desert, and maybe this other creature, it's apparently based on actual weird random findings. Were sometimes in the desert. Apparently, people have found these huge, like jellyfish style things just dead. And so there's been this long running like, huh, is there something out there that we aren't aware of? And people have theorized about it. And so I think that's what it comes from. But he doesn't make that very clear. I forgot the name of it. But there is a ranch out in the middle of nowhere that is considered one of those. Yeah, Skinwalker Ranch. And this felt sort of like they were pulling from that idea, like the one guy driving up on the motorcycle saying, your whole place is blurred on Google Maps. Why is that? And that's one of those big theory things that people toss out going, Well, why is it blurry? Probably the people that owned and operated go hey, why don't you because you can request Google Maps to blur your things like, well, we're mysterious and weird. Let's add to that. But overall, I thought the movie was was fun. And what it should be, you know, there's nice creepy shit going on. There's interesting humor. There's just just a good movie. Yeah, I love the character flaws in it too. Like just everyone's kind of got a flaw. And it really helps make them a more full interesting person. And that's just so cool. I don't know. It felt like the real people that actually kind of cared about school well and also a nice kind of a look at how Hollywood treats its Yeah, talent. Oh, sure. Already. The the champ going crazy in everything is an obvious and obvious reference to you know, you get told what to do in this business. And if you don't, then you're out of the business and She's kind of nice to see somebody snap. There was there that did lead to another thing they thought it was like, I don't see SNL doing a skit about that. No. But little things like that. Were there. Everybody made jokes and fun about us. Like, nobody made jokes about the Twilight Zone movie. Yeah, when people are actually killed, but I can see why it's there for the purpose of the movie. Yeah. So so. Okay, well just go with this. I you know what, I wonder if that's actually a bigger commentary? Because Key and Peele were rejected from SNL. And I wonder if that's a little tiny job at like, Hey, fuck, you remember me? Fuck you. Like, but who knows? I mean, I kind of got it. I just was like, Okay, well, maybe they're just being like, Oh, it's just a referent and like, this, like extreme idea in this particular world where SNL would do something like that. But it was it was a weird, interesting moment where they're like, talking about actors that we know, in skits. Yeah, he was just bonkers. Like my brains really trying to Yeah, that was rough man, some of that scene when he's under the tears like, Oh, my God. Yeah. I did revisit on a film. And it relates to something that we'll be talking about later with something else, but it brought me after watching that it brought me back to Nightmare on Elm Street, three Dream Warriors. Which what I really wanted to watch was Nightmare on Elm Street for because I had heard some film reviewers talking about how great it was, like, I don't remember it being great. They were saying, you know, that was their favorite. They were the right age. When that came out. They saw it in theaters, and they were like, I love this movie. 12 probably okay, that I could see that. I mean, these films are kind of all I was 15 or 14 when the first one came out. So you know, that is the right age to be watching these kinds of movies. But us so an aside, Nightmare on Elm Street. All of the movies are on HBO Max, except for four. Oh, weird. Yeah, so 12356 The new remake and Jason versus Freddy. Oh, weird. All of them on there. Except for part four. That's like Phantasm two. Yeah. So anyway, I ended up really, really liking this part three, and I've always liked it, but I thought I kind of liked it because it was the right age and it had dock dock and the return of Nancy and all that stuff. But I still like it for all that stuff. John Saxon, fucking great in this as her dad who was the sheriff was turned into a complete alcoholic mess because his wife was killed and his daughter was crazy and all of that stuff. And I thought the kills were really good. And I think this is maybe I had thought this was the last one before Freddy got kind of silly. But these film reviewers were saying number four was the last one where he was still scary. There were a couple of couple of good funny lines. It it very much reminded me of the Rick and Morty episode where they have that Freddy Krueger look like chasing them and all he does is coming to get you batch. You know, board he looks up directors he says batch an awful lot. And that was just started in this movie because it's all welcome to prime time pitching. All of that stuff might have been in that. I guess I would disagree a little bit with that group. Because I don't know three or four or five years ago, I watched the whole series one through the New Nightmare. And I think the one is the only scary one. I think one still holds up as having some fucking creepy ass move the body bag in the hall and some of that stuff and Freddy is flat evil to sort of a weird misstep for the Freddy character. Whatever else you think of the movie, The Freddy character is way off base and that one in three I think is where for me where he became becomes a jokester, like the Welcome to primetime pitch and the lines like that because he didn't say anything like that in the first movie. And I didn't think three or four even when I originally saw one was the only one that I thought was scary and saw three or four you know, in my teens didn't think they're scared like wow, these are really silly. Fun. I like three I'll say as I've gotten older I look at things a little more like with this scare me if it was happening and I'm able to get scared. In three he he cuts the kids tendons out and walks him out onto the edge with like a marionette. Yeah, and I was fucking terrified. That's pretty grim. That is a good That is the the creepiest scene in that movie. Definitely. Yeah, there's still moments in three and four once you get to five boy when you bring in Alice Cooper and God it's so bad I think knew my nightmares pretty good too, but it's very different of its time to I remember seeing a nightmare not too long ago and I was thinking Robert England definitely subscribes to the idea of there are no small pots, a small actor because his his outgoing message when they call him is, please leave a message but I plan on being gone for no long time. Um, yeah, so I had mentioned previously that I checked out orphan in prep of seeing Oh, yeah, orphan first kill anticipation here. Man, I, um, well, I was a little like, Okay, first of all, you it's hard to take that actress and then pretend like she's younger slash This is a prequel prequel, but it's the same actress is the same actress from a movie 10 years ago. supposed to look like a 13 year old or something or younger? Oh, yeah. Like 11? Maybe? Did you bother to research and see how old the actress actually she's got to be 40. She's got to be. She's definitely in her 30s and you're just watching me going? Does anybody think that she really is like a kid in this because that's ridiculous. Even the age here are they I think they tried. And they the worst thing that they did, though, is from the back and sides. It is always a little girl, like a little kid as a stand in. And then every time they wrap around, it's her head. Adult head. doesn't work at all guys. Like there's just the effects. I mean, cuz it's first kill. And it's going back to like a different story of hers. I'm like, Why didn't she just pretend to be a little older? Because she doesn't have to stick with that specific age. So it was really weird, like decision wise. And then I will say this film was very unexpected. There is a you think you know where this might go? And they're setting you up. And then they're like, No, nevermind, not at all. even remotely. It was in a good way. It I think in the best way it could have been for this. Yeah, like it really twists around. I know it's not a good movie is really not, but it makes it watchable. And it makes it not predictable, which I was a fan of. And you actually end up kind of almost rooting for moments, which is kind of cool. So that's cool. Yeah, I was I was impressed by that. Because the first one I was like, fuck this little girl like punter. I mean, this adult upon her all the way. Yeah, this is all based on, you know, a true story kind of about a a woman who got who looked like a child and was adopted into a family and then oh, no, I did not know this from like the 1930s or something like that I never adopted that would be much more interesting story. The FDA, I mean, I've definitely heard of people who like, like runaways and stuff who find in the paper, like kids that look like them and have disappeared from when they were little little and then inserting themselves. Like I know that has happened. But there's no documentary about that. Yeah, disturbing. When that kind of one of the plotlines and that detain type thing? Oh, yeah. All right. Well, I did have Lord of the Rings down to talk so inserted in one house of the dragon. Oh, interesting game of thrones, and I wasn't too sure if I was gonna watch this or not. The commercials maybe, you know, watch the first three episodes now. And it's pretty good. It's, it started off a little. I don't know what's going on here. And then by episode three, they pulled in all the intrigue and stuff. And you've got a Matt Smith Doctor Who character playing the villain of this series. He's really good at it. And the woman in the cast as she's supposed to, she's 15 In the movie, but she's like 22 or 23. She don't like it. Said 15 I was like really? She's 13 She's creepily young looking. Yeah, but she's also pretty damn good. And carries the weight of being the new, badass woman in this series quite well. So I'm intrigued where it's going, which should be fun. Hey, I love hearing this because so I watched the first episode, just to see, you know, is this something new? I'll get into and I couldn't do it. And then I talked to our buddy Phil. Last night actually. And, and I had said, I just read this review this had part two. The part one wasn't great, but Part Two brings it all in for all you Game of Thrones fans, it feels like Part Two sucked. And I'm, I'm less interested now than I was when I started the first or this new season. Wow. Now you're saying that you're liking it a lot. So this is I mean, tell me they're doing something? Yeah, I had the opportunity to check it out as well. And it's very lower than iron. Sorry, Jesus. It's very Game of Thrones, it feels like it continues that spirit. And so if you liked Game of Thrones, then you're going to be in for a treat. And if you didn't like Game of Thrones? I don't know. I don't know. Like, I've probably probably not. But Matt Smith is incredible. I do think actually, all the actors, and a lot of the characters are really interesting. So that definitely drags you through it. Because you're like, well, where the fuck is this gonna go? And they do kind of, they seem to be leaping through time pretty regularly, which I think is healthy for this kind of a story. So you're not like, meandering in this one moment? Forever? It's like, okay, no. And then like, a year later, or whatever, sorry, two episodes? Not three. But yeah, the second I did like the second one, because it what made Game of Thrones, so interesting. At least, I know, it was not the sex. It wasn't the battles, although it has probably one of the best battles I've ever seen on film, anywhere with the Battle of the Bastards. But the it's the political intrigue, it's the Thrones or Game of Thrones. And I think they've, I think they hit that well, because there's a setup for what the king should do. And then the king gives in to his baser reactions, makes the wrong choice, which you can see will be on par with the execution at the end of season one of Game of Thrones where that one thing leads to all the shit that happens, right. And I think that one choice is going to lead to all the shit that happens. I found it really satisfying to watch a show where like a person and power like the the king is not very good, but not in a way that is like really drastic, like, Oh, you're evil or all your awful. It's like, you can see where he could have been good or might almost be good, but he's not. And that's such a subtle, interesting line to ride. So rewinding just a bit speaking of great battle scenes, I when Power Rings of Power, when that started with the kids in the stuff I was like, I am going to hate this scene was the Battle of the elves in the orcs, more gods, crew and all that and I was just like, I think I might fucking love this. Yes, that's pretty good. Yeah, the kids were a little intolerable, but it's brief, brief. And then rewinding all the way back to last episode. I think, Eric, when you were you were talking about I believe the new child's play. Oh, yeah, I forgot to bring something up. And I wondered how you guys saw it. I don't know if you'll remember this, Vanessa. But throughout the movie, they make a big point of the kid remember has a hearing aid, right? Yeah. And they do nothing with that. Yeah, that was really weird. I mean, as a filmmaker, you know that this is here, because this is going to play a part in the third act, right? It's checkups, hearing aid or something. Yeah, I was just thinking. They do like one scene or something where he can't he don't remember, the movie left such an impression on me. I can't remember why. But they did something with it. But it had nothing to do with what it should have been. Right. And that when I said, Vanessa earlier when you're talking about the 3000 years longing, that had to be a studio interference thing, right? Where the writer who seemed to know what he was doing in the beginning of that child's play script, right. They didn't pay that off. And that feels like the studio came in and said, oh, we need this a lot bigger. Can we have explosions and fire? That guy was just like, Yeah, your boss. Yeah. That's so funny that you mentioned this. I have completely forgotten that was even a part of the plot at all. I just remember watching it and that was what really pissed me off was there was something going on here and it was not paid off. Studio stopped him from. Yes, yeah. We also talked about the lead. Aubrey Plaza. She was born in 84. So she was plenty old and I guess she was like, well, she's like 33 When the movie was made well you know if you're not wanting your 21 day stretch this is this it's not in their best best interest to cast that young looking actress. Yeah, so smokin hot. Yeah, I yeah, I find it just uncomfortable because I'm so used to her also coming from the past roles she's played, where she's just like, basically either April from Parks and Rec where she's just like a pissed off team or in any of the other subsequent roles where she's completely irresponsible, completely not self aware mom, not the world not a good mom just trying to scrape it together and working two jobs just to help her kid I also watched a Aubrey Plaza RIA that reacts to thirsty tweets. Oh, God, like I'm pretty sure this is going to be a whole bunch of people just saying they want me to run them over with my cars and crap like she wasn't far off. Correct. Correct. So yeah, that's the that's the reaction she elicits on screen is hot woman you want to hurt yourself? Right? Well, that's she's got a real when Wednesday atoms vibe to her. Okay, so let's take a little break so I can cool off from all this hot Aubrey Plaza talk. And then when we come back, we're digging into Micah's choice Yeah. Which is 70s science this is space 1999 Eagle One spaceship control we can jettison the cockpit engines then link them up. It's mini Eagle One in visual contact. Control lookup is underway Eagle One rescue phase is complete. Space 9099 Eagle One spaceship comes with three inch figures assembly required you from Mattel. We have returned. We're talking 70 sci fi from mica who made a sizable donation to choose our sub genre for us. And I'm going to start you guys. Fine. I was so excited because mica best right? Yeah, no. I go way back. And I thought, man, what am I going to talk about this? There's so many films in this sub genre that I love. Is this the time I use to talk about Logan's Run Oh or or any of the other ones. Maybe some of the Star Wars rip offs that came out immediately after like Starcraft or something? Yes. No, I decided to try something I've always wanted to see. And that's on me, you guys know. But the 70s It's so lush. It's a big beautiful field. Yeah, well, I chose the terminal man. The second of the three releases is that the terminal man computer will be powered by an atomic power pack implanted in his show. starring George Segal from number one is lateral force. One Corona, a computer expert who agrees to undergo experimental surgery. Like a roller coaster when she started he can't stop with nightmare results I'm sure it depends because other user base is now the terminal in 1974. Okay, I can find no budget. It had a box office of $224,542 Oh my. Well, that's just us, but it only had a couple of disastrous us shillings. So the Rotten Tomatoes critics have it at 53% and the audience has it at 43%. It was based on the novel novel by Michael Creighton, who of course, did Jurassic Park Westworld timeline all of those movies that we love. And the script was written and directed by Mike Hodges who did Flash Gordon. He wrote directed Damien omen to he wrote the black rainbow. So this guy's a good writer. He's a good director, and I thought I was gonna love this. At stars George Segal 129 credits including King rat roller coaster and 2012 Joan Hackett lots of TV in the 60s and 70s. She was also in the escape artists the possessed and she passed away from cancer at the very young age of 49. Amen. And then it also stars Donald Moffett 121 credits, including earthquake clear and present danger. He played the Android REM in the Logan's Run TV series. But he was Gary the boss in the thing. John Carpenter's The Thing, the guy who yells you know, get me out of this fucking couch. So, I read the story in high school when I went through my Michael Creighton kick. And I remember really liking it is a very slim volume, but I liked it a lot. Harold Benson is a computer scientists that his mid 30s. And he has something that is called psycho motor epilepsy following a car accident that he was in a few years earlier. So he gets the seizures, followed by blackouts. And then he wakes up hours later with no memory of what has happened. But what has happened is he has he goes into a violent rage, and beats people nearly to death. Wow. When this comes up, when the movie starts, he has beaten two people nearly to death on two separate occasions and was arrested beating a third one. And he is a prime candidate for an operation to implant an electronic brain that pacemaker in his brain that is supposed to control the seizures. Oh, there is one doctor in this group of doctors who are trying to get this done. Janet Ross, who is not interested in this, she's like I do not think this is going to work is puts the patient at risk. And I don't think it's going to have any kind of help on him. Because through all of her research and testing with this particular guy, Harold, she's come to the conclusion that he's psychotic, so won't have any effect on his violent tendencies. She is voted over over voted and voted. And the team of doctors decide to go forward with the operation. So a big chunk of this movie, this movie's kind of split into three acts Weird, huh? Have you guys ever heard of three but the the problem with this is the acts are all kind of dull. So the first act we we meet him and the doctors and then it goes into the doctors discussing his case for a lot of this first act of talking about the ramifications of the surgery, and all that and then we go into the actual surgery was consists of implanting 40 electrodes into his brain that can sense when the aura of his seizure is coming on. And that then releases a tranquilizer into his bloodstream. So the anger is nullified. That's the that's the whole kind of idea of what they're doing. He's got this little atomic battery power pack that is implanted into his shoulder. And that's going to power the electrodes. All this is a ton of tech and medical jargon. And that is because Michael Craig Yeah, exactly. So then after the surgery, we go into this, the second act, which is them doing a battery of tests on him and seeing if any of this work. So this entire time, he's kind of he's kind of confined to this hospital, but it's not like a It's not like a mental hospital or anything where he would actually be confined, it is a regular hospital, and he has a cop stationed outside his room. That seems safe. And it's just like, well, this, you guys are asking for something to happen with budget cuts, I know what you're gonna do. So they, they activate the electrodes one by one, and we see how he reacts to them. And really what you start feeling is, is pity for this guy, because she's talking to him. And they're in a room by themselves. But there's a one way mirror where the other doctors are doing things, and she'll, she'll ask them a question, and then the doctor will press a button, and he'll just start crying. And you're like, this seems kind of cruel and unusual. Because it just, they're just putting him through all these feelings that he's not really feeling. And you can tell the doctor was questioning him is this Janet Ross, and she is very, very uncomfortable with all this. But the whole point of it is to kind of show you that she is she's slowly being convinced that maybe this could work that they're able to actually control his stuff. But he starts going through the seizures, and then they the seizure triggers the tranquilizer and it works on him. But it's happening more and more often in the hospital. He's going into the seizures more often than he was without the surgery. So Dr. Ross is starting to get a little suspicious of this. And she decides to, to kind of I guess, interrogate him on her own, and she knows what she's Looking for and it turns out she's right. He's initiating the seizures himself. Because she's getting a shock of pleasure. Every time that tranquilizers happens. So oh my god, he's making the thing happen. And of course, her fear is that he's going to somehow short this out or be on constant thing. It's kind of a it's kind of a addict type of relationship he's got with this thing. The more he does it, the more he needs it. And he's able to get past the pain and all this stuff, and the tranquilizers and all that. So anyway, he managed to, he manages to escape, of course, shocking. We go into this third EQ. Now all of this stuff is kind of interesting. But that's because I'm, I'm telling you in four minutes, what took you know, 20 minutes of each of these acts to go through, and it's kind of like, we could have done something else in here. Finally, though, he escaped and he goes on this a bit of a rampage. He runs on, he runs into this gal he knew before he went in, and she liked him. And so she's like, Oh, it's been so long. Yeah, you can stay with me. And of course, he goes insane and kills her in her room and pretty decent scene where she's on the waterbed waiting for him. And he starts getting the seizure, and he breaks the mirror, and then uses a shard of the mirror to start stabbing her to death on this waterbed. And he also punctures the waterbed. So there's water and blood and all this stuff. So, so like, basically, the tranquilizer just isn't working anymore, or he's accused because of the addictive personality of it. He's built up such tolerance to it now that it doesn't do anything. Oh, interesting. Okay. And because of his psychotic tendencies, he comes out of the seizure. And there's very little remorse or anything for what he's done. He just realizes, well, I did again. Did I do there? Sorry. So and then, of course, he's decided he's got to go after Dr. Ross, of course. So he, he, he hunts her down in her house and all this stuff, she does this one thing, which I thought was cool. And I'll get to why that was cool. But she, she's got her up against the the kitchen counter. And she whacks the microwave on. And then short circuits, the atomic package shoulder, and he goes running out in pain and all this stuff. And so that is the one thing that I did like about that there's some really interesting stuff going on. And all this because it's Michael Creighton, so he's always talking about, you know, cutting edge technology and all of his books. This one was written in 73. So this kind of stuff was cutting edge technology. And quite honestly, microwaves were kind of cutting edge technology. The microwave she has on a counter is the size of a refrigerator. It can heat one plate in it, but it takes up about 40 square feet. So not only is the surgery cutting tech, but Benson the characters, computer scientists also right so when he's not in a psychotic rage, he's doing all these things to fuck with the people who are after him, like getting all their personal info and screwing up their bank accounts and shit like this, which I imagine, was pretty terrifying in 1971, we've all become used to it, we probably shouldn't be. But this was all all quite new. The problem is that the movie has some cool ideas that are not executed as well as the book and overall is just rather dull. There was a bizarre climax in the cemetery, which I don't remember from the book and I'm sure it's just done as a visual thing where he kind of crashes a funeral. And then Dr. Ross is trying to talk him down he's got a gun and there's a helicopter with a police sniper and all this stuff and of course they take him out and he falls in the grave that was open, which I imagined is horrifying for the poor family that were actually going to bury someone they loved and we're all standing around while this is going on. So like we paid good money for this whole coffin on top of that as it is a great shot though of look looking up from the grave and all these cops show up and it is a it is a weird scene because the cops look like something out of Thx 1138 The way it's shot. They're wearing face masks that are all reflective and stuff like that. And that looks like there's there's something else going on in this movie. I won't get into that too. But the tagline is, Harry Benson is let me start over to Harry Benson is a brilliant computer scientist for three minutes a day his violently homicidal who pretty much a schedule your stuff around. Some trivia, Michael Creighton was fired from writing the screenplay due to the fact that his script did not follow the novel which he had written called So now oh my god, that's beautiful. My guess is he was like, Listen, I'm gonna change a few things around guys technology is moving fast and all this and they were like, Hey, we bought a book and we want that book. During the surgery, which is being done in a bunch of students, you've seen this kind of scene where they're on the operating table, and then they've got the students above looking through windows and everything. There is a voice that is commenting on the whole thing and telling the students what's going on. The man who's doing that is Jason when Greene best known for being the voice of Boba Fett in Star Wars Episode Five, The Empire Strikes Back. Wow, he's no good to me dead. Mounting the surgery. So this is the weirdest thing. Okay. There's a bizarre scene where Benson is rifling through a closet and there is a radio playing on the on the dresser next to it. And what it is playing is an advertisement for Scientology. And this advertisement for Scientology plays over the whole scene. It's like, two minutes long. It is a full advertisement for Scientology. And at first I thought that they making some kind of comment about Scientology because it's, it's a real advertisement. And it's very strange. But then I was like, Look, any publicity is good publicity. This had to have been put in by one of the filmmakers who thought you know, we'll just listen, you guys have joined this new church. And I'd love if everybody here on set wanted to join it. I'm just gonna play this little radio ad. Make up for yourself. But uh, take this personality test. Yeah. Sounds good. Ether owns you've got in your body. Right? You guys heard of the Satan's live in the middle of the planet? No. So I thought it was really strange. I did some research on it. There's very little talk about it, probably because Scientology clamps down very hard on any conversation about Scientology. So the only things that have really been said around like film forums, you know, nerds that are going this film is a is a Scientology propaganda film. Because at the variant there, it's bookmarked by these two weird scenes of like an eye hole in a cell opening up in an eye looking in, and then somebody's talking. In the first scene, where it happens at the beginning of the film. You think they're talking to Benson, but it happens after he's dead. The eye hole opens up and there's an eye and a guy says something like what are you looking at? They're coming for you next. And closes. I was like, What the heck? It's a very strange film. I did. I'm happy I saw it. No need to ever watch it again. But I don't know. Just a very strange, strange film all around. Sounds like it. Thanks, Micah. Wow, that's, um, that's gonna be a hard act to follow. That just sounds like it has so many very fun twists and turns. But I love that like weird use of technology. So I went with a film that Mike actually suggested to me Oh, wow. So I thought you know why you don't give up? Awesome. Donation. Really good fan. Good friend. Sure. Why not? So I went with the 1977. Film, Capricorn One, the most important events in recent history. What if it never really happened? We found out two months ago. It won't work. You guys would all be dead. Three weeks. What if man's greatest technological achievement was a multibillion dollar fraud? Something's wrong, something big. They know I'm onto it and they try to kill me. This is Capricorn One. All we've got to do is get in any city, any place there people. The only way that truth can come out is if they live long enough to tell us how do we know this hasn't already happened? How do we know it won't happen again? Capricorn One Rated PG. You mean the documentary? Oh, I have notes on that. Yeah, have you both seen it? For a while but yeah, I saw it just recently again, so fresh in your mind. Um, so this was a Rotten Tomatoes score of 62% from critics and 50% from audience. The budget was actually pretty low. For a film like this. It was considered to be an independent movie and it was just under 5 million. Considering what the film is box office of 12 million At least it was directed and written by Peter Himes. So you would know him from 25 different things including running scared time cop, the relic End of Days and the Musketeer I'm also starring. I'll kind of go through some of the leads here. But there are a lot of people in this movie, but I am too young, I guess to know who they are. I just can tell from the way the camera lingers that they're famous, or you know, at least one of them. That's right. Yes. So, Elliot Gould is probably the biggest name maybe at this point. Maybe not. He plays a reporter. He's been in 193 things, including the film mash Ocean's 11 movies. He was in the long goodbye. He was in the player. He also plays Jack Geller, which is the gallery's dad and friends. And he does a lot of stuff. He does like three to five films a year. He's just, I didn't I couldn't even like parse through his IMDb because there's just so much stuff. Also starring James Brolin, who is one of three astronauts. He's kind of the lead astronaut Brubaker. He's been in 141 things including Westworld. Amityville Horror, he was in 115 episodes of something called Hotel, which I do not know. And 170 episodes of Marcus Welby, MD. I also do not know Sam Waterston. And that is in this new place of the third, the second astronaut Peter Willis. He's been in 379 episodes of Law and Order da Jack McCoy. So you would probably know him from that if you don't know him from that 94 episodes of Grace and Frankie where he is one of the leads, or 25 episodes of The Newsroom or certain serial mom, so you choose. And last but not least, the third astronaut is played by one OJ Simpson. He has 36 credits to his name, including the Naked Gun movies. He was in Towering Inferno. He was in 67 episodes of something called first and 10. And he's also known for definitely not murdering his wife. So he started an amazing long running courtroom drama in the mid early to mid 90s. Yet we all tuned in for that. Also, in it, there's Hal Holbrook Karen Black, David Huddleston, Brenda Vaccaro, there's just a lot of people who come and go the plot. So we start off in this big, big mission that's underway. It's its launch day. And there's a ton of fanfare and excitement. Mission Control is calling out a play by play of what's happening, like the astronauts ate this for lunch. And so and so is this and the blood pressure's this and now we're moving into this area. So there's kind of narrating what's happening as you're seeing it. The press is in attendance to watch this launch. In kind of the small stadium seating area, including the Vice President of the United States. There are three astronauts, Brubaker Willis and Walker who are doing the very like American walking down the runway. Everyone's like, Oh, you're very right stuff. Countdown is started. They get they get into the what is it the ship and an engine, they're joking around with the crew and an engineer gives them a special gift. And they're like, Okay, well, we're going to take this with us. And this is a mission to Mars. So this is going to be the first manned mission to Mars. They close up countdowns going, they're all buckled in there pressing all the buttons and knock knock knock. Somebody's out the window, though. Like, what? They open it, they go get out now. They're like, what? No, no, no, no, get out now don't doesn't explain anything. So that all three of them, you know, pile out. And we get this kind of cross cutting between like the countdown and everyone excited about the rocket going off. And the astronauts going down a hallway, the astronauts getting on a bus, the astronauts getting on a plane and as they're like off in the air, the rocket, the spaceship takes off. And you know, everyone's like, Oh, yeah. clapping, clapping, clapping. And it's like What the actual fuck is happening? So they are taking to an abandoned military base in the desert. And they're Callaway, who's kind of the head of the mission to Mars tells them that there was a faulty problem with the rocket, the life support system would have killed them very early into the flight. It was made cheaply and effectively. And so if he left them there, they would have died. However, if they canceled the mission, America's waning interest would in space exploration would result in the as a death nail into the NASA space missions and probably the program as a whole. So he begs them to help him keep the dream of space alive. by faking a live recording of the Mars landing on a set that they've made, and by doing a public space to family phone call, months later, when they're supposed to be calling their family as they're returning to Earth. They are pretty torn and like, What the hell, this is a bad idea. And they're really hemming and hawing about this, even though he's giving like the speech of his life. And then he's like, Well, okay, but I didn't want to mention it's not me who did this, but somebody did this, but your your wives and families are on a plane right now. And there's a device on the plane. And if you say, No, the device will go off, and your families will die. So they agree to do it. Month pass, they are just hanging out in this base, wasting time waiting to do a big fake live recording. We actually hear their voices though, giving feedback to mission control about how everything's going and checking in talking about how the instruments are doing. They had been pre recorded during test flights, and the NASA is playing it back to NASA. So no one else knows what is happening. Everything is going pretty smoothly until one technician notices there's a problem with a signal. It doesn't appear to be coming from space, but maybe somewhere on Earth. And he's not sure that he thinks his equipment is faulty until he brings it to Callaway, his attention and Callaway is like shut up into your job. And he's like, Well, that's a weird reaction rather than being like, oh, send an engineer. So he starts complaining about this sort of thing that happened to him at work so weird to his dear friend Caulfield, which is played by Elliott Gould. And his friend happens to be a reporter. They're playing pool and he's, you know, bitching about this weird thing that happened and coalfields like, huh, sounds like a tough day man. Caulfield gets a phone call about something hit and then he comes back to the pool game and dude is gone. Just gone. answers like what the heck happened? So he calls the dude, no one answers the phone. Phone number does not exist. He goes to the apartment where his friend lives. There's a woman living there. She's got a bunch of mail that has her name on it with the addresses. There are records showing that she has lived there for months. When he calls his job. No one has ever heard of him. This technician does not exist. Caulfield is suspicious. The more he digs in to try and figure out what's happened, all of a sudden, things are trying to kill him. So his car breaks down starts speeding up to like a zillion miles per hour. And he's trying it's a big scene of him trying to not crash into things and we've been swerve and his brakes not working. And then of course, he goes off a bridge into the water so easily survives. Apparently, someone tries to shoot him the police are planting drugs on him try to arrest him. And the deeper he gets into what is happening here, the worse it gets. Meanwhile, the big day arrives for the men to fake their landing on Mars, it's being recorded live. So the way that they get around this sort of difference in atmosphere is when they like jump off the ladder. There's a team there that's slow mowing it as they like slowly land onto the ground, even though in real life, they just pop. So it's nice to kind of see the inner cutting of like, what, what America is seeing and what the world is seeing versus what they're doing. And they are just so not into it. And then of course, when they get to the phone call scene where they have to call their families they just sort of like well fuck okay, I guess I'm going to do this but Brubaker the lead astronaut of the mission is more and more feeling like this is wrong. And so he says something strange to his wife during the phone call that really perplexes her Caulfield also notices that there is a strange thing that happened because of the way her face contorts and he's a reporter and he's there to report on it. He's like, Hmm, something weird is going on here too. So finally, over a year later, the mission is meant to land. By the way, I think we're about halfway into the film at this point. On the way in for the rocket. I hate shoot. I know it's okay. It's gonna be okay. But on the way in the heat shield for the rocket spaceship malfunctions and the rocket blows up. So all three astronauts are put into a holding area because they were supposed to get flown to an island where it's like, they're gonna like swim out to the thing and be like, oh, yeah, we were we made it and we're happy to be home. So while waiting to figure out what is going on, they realize they're about to get killed. Because there's no way NASA is gonna let this leak. So what they were NASA doesn't know is that these are highly trained astronauts who are physically fit and mentally fit, and they know how to break out of a room. So they sure do. And then of course, they're astronauts, so they know how to fly a plane. So they sure do fly a plane, but the plane runs out of gas and up in desert and they decide to go in three different directions to try and blow NASA off. So the big question, will they escape? Will Caulfield work out what happens and show up in the nick of time? Will there be a dust Cropper plane Chase versus black ops style NASA helicopters through the desert with a man hanging off the side? Who knows will end in the literal most ridiculous way possible? And also on a freeze frame? Hmm. Hard to say. It is ridiculous. I'm so have some thoughts on this. I think somebody had a god damn ball writing this movie. They were loving, like, I mean, the number of inspirational speeches where you're, like, genuinely touched and moved, is high. I'd say that's like 25 to 30% of the film is just inspirational speeches. It's really strongly well written dialogue. One of the astronauts is always joking around. And that's really fun Elliott gold's character of the reporter, as this kind of a CAD who like is not a great reporter, but thinks he is. He's really fun character. There's just a lot of really good strong writing in this. There's a lot of quippy back and forth, the boss of the reporter hates him. And so they have this sort of mile a minute back and forth as to like, You got to let me follow this lead. And I saw it in a movie once you're supposed to give me 48 hours and the boss is like I saw that's a movie. It's 24 hours. I want to give it to you, but get the hell out of here. There's a lot of little great moments like that. It is weird seeing Elliott Gould as the hot young guy. I haven't seen a lot of movies with him as younger. So it was strange, but that's fine. I mean, he pulls it off. He's Elliott Gould. I definitely not in my brain sees it as like grandfatherly. There's really good cross cutting and editing happening in here between different moments. So when the astronauts are working out what's going to happen to them now that the spaceship has exploded, and then we're cutting to Callaway making this speech about, you know, America has lost these great astronauts today. And like, they're just really showing like, Okay, I bet he's gonna say this now. And then he says that exact thing, and he's gonna do this now. And then that exact thing happens is really strong. It is funny to me that in this film, no one can kill Elliott Gould, no matter how hard they try, which is not as hard as they could, at one point, they drive by and shoot at him. And he has to duck to live. And I'm like, why don't they just keep shooting, he's on the ground. He's in the middle of nowhere, it'd be easy. You just walk out your car, you've got at least three more bullets in there. Well, not take much he isn't a large target. I am like, you guys are not trying very hard at this. I'm sorry. But it's really your own fault. Whatever happens in this film, there's some really cool rear slash front slash interesting projected stunt work slash plane shooting where there's a chase plane sequence and eight is really neatly shot, especially considering they have a guy hanging off one of the wings. Like it is just really well done. You feel it's there's a lot of tension and excitement. And they do a really good job considering you know, it's like there's is that really guy on there? I don't know. There is. However, the ending, y'all. Okay. So you know, when they're trying to make dramatic moments and 70s? And their answer is to put it in slow motion. And then they cut back to the scene. And then back to the slow motion. But now the slow motion is slower. And let's say you do this five times. Yeah, back and forth. Until it is so slow. At what point Elliott Gould is running. And he's got his tongue between his teeth. And I'm just like, that tongue will never make it back in his mouth, and he looks like a goofball. And then I'm like, well, they have to finish the story. No, no, they just freeze frame. And I'm like, are we out? I guess we are out of this film. So that was definitely the weakest part of this whole movie. Um, a little bit of trivia. Peter hams began thinking about this film of a space hoax. When working on broadcasts of the Apollo mission for CBS. He later reflected regarding the Apollo 11 Moon Landing, there was one event of really a norm was important that had almost no witnesses and the only verification we have came from a TV camera. So hims wrote the script in 1972, but no one wanted to make it. He says it was a greenlit after the Watergate scandal. And so he made a deal of to do it for 4.8 million. To stay within budget. NASA's cooperation was absolutely needed. There was one of the I think the producer had a good relationship with the space agency from working on future world. The filmmakers were thus able to obtain government equipment as props and despite the negative portrayal of the space agency. It did include a prototype of the Apollo Lunar Module. I bet NASA regrets that now. It was shot out and Red Rock Canyon State Park. One of the stump pilots Frank Tolman, who flew the red Stearman planes said it was the most dangerous and complex aerial sequence ever executed for a movie. Ironically, he was killed in a crash soon after filming finished. Director Peter Haynes admitted the studio mandated him to cast OJ Simpson however, he thought he was a charming terrific guy. This became the years most successful independent movie to novelizations of the film for written after this by two separate authors. One was for the US and one was for the UK. They are very similar except for following a few things regarding the reporter. The film ignited a bit of a frenzy behind the moon landing conspiracy. People who are kind of thinking oh, maybe that might be a thing. Once they saw this movie were like it scientifically credible, and they were sure, sure it had to be true. clips were used but from this film for Fox TV show conspiracy theory, and in 2020 to 2021. Somewhere in there. It was used as an Internet prank where someone recut the fake Mars landing scene and posted it on social media platforms with the headline WikiLeaks releases Moon Landing cutscene filmed in Nevada desert. WikiLeaks released no such video. And as IMB de was sure to tell me that anytime a spacecraft has flown past the moon including when China did and took photos of the moon you do still see their equipment and flag on there. So there you go, guys. Yeah, this movie really put a dent in conspiracy theory land but sure. I liked this movie quite a bit. This is not science fiction. The only reason I let this slide is because the person who donated suggested you watch this. Okay? It's a fictional story and it revolves around I'm not even sure it's fictional. Let's not go there. Oh my god. You can't? No, no. I know. Kelly will be taking us on his quest. Why the earth is flat. Next episode. Wait until you get to the edge guys. Wait until then you'll see. I thought that Why is his name escaping me the lead astronaut. Oh, James Brolin, James Brolin was maybe never more handsome than He is in this film. He is great in this film. He looks awesome. He is just like the the prototypical good looking handsome movie star Yeah, so I kind of what I think my mom had quite a crush on yeah I didn't get out of it. I got that you respected this film. Did you like it? I did. I really liked it except for the ending but I really did like it all the way through is fast paced. It was interesting. I love the way that Berlin's character navigates all the problems he gets into. And like just figures out how to escape or or deal with these different things that happen, I thought was very smart and fun, because normally you're like, oh, they get caught. Oh, you did this stupid thing. Oh, but he does like the smartest possible thing in every moment. And you're like, Yeah, you do work for NASA. Don't you remind me what year this came out? 1977 77. So what's interesting, man, I'm gonna sound like such a huge nerd on this particular episode. Yeah, you got the Lord of the Rings. And now we had we had such a science fiction thing going in the mid 60s, Flash Gordon and stuff like that was still pretty popular. All this stuff came to a crashing halt when we landed on the moon. Yeah, because it was just, it was like, Oh, it's just a rock. And this space, race, NASA and everything. They really felt that blow because all interest in pushing into Mars was just completely lost after that when we realized oh, there's really probably nothing else out here. So it took, I wonder what month this came out, but it took Starwars kind of igniting everybody on space again, to get NASA back into a place where they could get funds for going back out into space. Yeah. And I think they do a really beautiful job of explaining that exact thing, where he's talking about, like, you know, all this money went into the moon landing. And then after that, like, and the President showed up and gave a phone call and whatever, and then he's like, and then the next one, you know, like, people, you know, the next mission like people will like, you know, stopped watching whatever. And then the next one, people complained because it the thing enter in the whatever the space mission was special news bulletin, yeah, like, interfered with reruns of I Love Lucy. And he's like, and then the President didn't come to this event, the vice president came to this event, and he's explaining how like they're in such dire straits. However, it is weird to see that vs. NASA has all these like agents running around and like helicopters they can deploy. And I'm like, where's this like NASA money and power coming from? I mean, now it's very laughable. But it's, it was really interesting way to view though. I would say, you know, I gave a pass on them driving by him in the desert and only taking a couple of shots and then going, you know, oh, keep going because these guys were, you know, pencil pushers before they were sent out to kill this guy. But then they've got the police like in their pocket. And I'm like, How does NASA have the local bliss in their bucket? What is happening? Yeah, good stuff. I like this movie a lot. It's a fun movie. And I will say like that. Yeah, the stunts are amazing. And there's little details in here. The guy who's hanging on to the side of the plane, there's a wire and he's holding on to the plane so tight as it's like, you know, doing loop de loops and whatever that his hand starts bleeding and you just feel for him. You're like, little things like that make a movie saying that's pretty cool. Yeah, but about all I remember from Capricorn One is that video you're talking about somebody Rica and put on the internet. I remember these scenes from the movie Capricorn One, but not much more. So it sounds like that's worth every visit. Did you was this prime or? Um, yeah, but I did have to pay for it. Okay, so I think it was like two or three. It wasn't Yeah, it wasn't crazy price here. It was. It was fine. Well, we're going to slow it down a little bit here folks. Welcome to the later hours of the show. We're going to take you on a two hour and 45 minute journey into 1970 TOS Solaris based on the novel by Stanislav Lem. Not carry Kari doesn't exist, she is dead, accepted Kelvin or you are lost. Let us take you with us to Solaris, Planet of mystery, embodiment of man's latent conflict with the unknown man face to face with his conscience. And with his past. Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, who gave us the classic film Andre rubra. Must film production Yes, well the Rotten Tomatoes one and this one was significantly different. The terminal man said 92 from the critics and 89 from the crowd. Wow. An estimated budget of a million dollar ORS boy did they make that stretch? Long film, the box office scorcher of us in May $22,000. Worldwide made 135,000 Oh man. I was just playing an arthouse man, not very many. I mean, I assume it's fine because it's what like Russia and money like they don't care right. Directed by Andrea Tarkovsky, who directed mirror the steamroller in the violin, and stalker. still maintains as my favorite one from him. written by Stan slow limb from all based on stencil lemmas novels Alaris, written by Friedrich Gornstein, who wrote the seven bullet house with a turret. And of course, Tarkovsky who's involved in the writing of most everything he does. But he also wrote sour grapes and beware snakes that I want to see at your bedroom. Starring Natalie bunda, Rick, the mystery of snow queen and Bambi is childhood. That sounds incredible. Both of those Donna toss Bioness who's an Anna Of course, you know, it's a Russian actor. So of course he's in a movie with the name Anna. And Saigon and Ma Ma Ma. I'm alive. And you need your vet who is King Lear ter of the Prince of Darkness. A fairy tale told at night. There not a lot of people in this movie. Half a dozen maybe. So the film starts off with actually a really nice shot of reeds in a water and man standing by kind of looking at them and pulling back to a large field filled with fog and really haunting beautiful reminded me a lot of some of the stuff he shot in the mirror. There is group of people here they're trying to understand the message from a comment that a come cosmonaut has brought back from Solaris. So they're looking at an old tape, so they were watching a VHS tape kinda sort of very technically different looking. VHS was, remember, this is 1972. The video is the cosmonaut trying to describe what happened when they viewed Solaris. And they have some footage of it and it sort of looks like a very weird ocean. He said, There's plants and fog, and some recognizable elements. But he believes what he found was not a dead planet, but a living creature. So of course, the council immediately thinks he's hallucinating and made this all up. And well, the crew members of he gets dismissed and kind of kicked away. So they want to bring in Chris who is a psychologist, little guy to set a psychologist into space. Again, very 1972. The the main man Burton saw the life and thinks the man he's a friend of Chris's. So he's kind of talking to men to hopefully believing him. But, you know, he's not sure he's not a space guy. But it looks like he's going to have an interesting time doing this. They also have interesting technology, shown in this film where the Burton leaves and he calls Chris, basically on a driving FaceTime, phone call. So they're talking he calls them and the phone rings on the guy's TV. So he answers it on the TV. It's like a little FaceTime after this is an interesting display in interpreting arthouse films. The next scene after he hangs up, you follow Burton driving through what is Japan for a long, long time. I mean, it seems like it's four or five minute long of him just driving through the city. So I'm thinking what is like, is he trying to convey the technology of the time has been taken over by the Japanese and is also really, really, really, really big cities because it turns from day to night while he's driving. It's a long scene. That's a possible theory. Here's another theory. That sounds laughter I ready to go God damn it. Yeah, that's probably what it was. The scene is so long, probably because it's really expensive to shoot in Japan. And they wanted this scene in the movie to justify that shot of being in Japan, Korea. Okay, fine. Movie interpretation is a weird Goddamnit so they send them up into space. This is 45 minutes of the movie so far, which is interesting because reading In all the things I've ever seen on Solaris never talked about the first 45 minutes, I did not realize it started on earth. And he was sent. I thought he was on Solaris and shit went down. But no, he is sent there. So when he arrives on the planet, you don't really see any kind of a ship. You see him approaching the space station, but you'd never see whatever he is traveling in very well. Partially because Tarkovsky just didn't give a shit about the space technology. That was not his interest in this story. He had a little bit of fun in the beginning with some weird technology. But that's it. When he arrives on the space station, there's nobody to greet him, which I think seems a little strange, considering there's only like three people supposed to be three people on the station, he runs into the first guy who seems to be fairly lost and confused. He tells Chris to go, you know, just go freshen up breasts for a while we'll talk in the morning. And the space station of this one is really interesting in that it looks fairly different than a lot of space station. I mean, it's, it's, it's got the white and it's got the silver, but then there's lots of colors, too. And there, it looks maybe a little more practical than some space stations have looked as opposed to looking cool for camera. Except when he arrives it's obviously something's wrong because there's wires disconnected everywhere there's electrical, he turns off electrical current that's going to turn current and the psychologists knows, you know, this shouldn't be happening, and turn some switch. The he heads off though to explore the station. Of course, unsurprisingly, this film is often compared to 2001 Space Odyssey. He claims to have nuts Tokarski claims to have not seen it before shootings Alaris. When he did see it, he said very sterile. Interesting. Chris begins to see a woman in the station, which there aren't supposed to be any women alive left on Solaris at this point. So it's not too sure what he saw. And then he, after he realizes who it is, it's his dead wife. And it's like, how do the interactions are very odd, because she does not seem to have any clue who he is. And she is a representation of his wife who died 10 years previous. But she looks like his wife, not like someone who works on the station, right? Yep, she looks like his wife. Mix some connective tissue or something. I don't know if he, it drove him so insane to spend the night with her. But the next morning, he wakes up and says, Well, we're gonna get into this little spaceship and go down to the planet's surface. And she says, Great. So he pushes her into the launch thing. But then he closes the door and launches her into space. As you do, like, Oh, all right. That next day, the doctor who had talked before previously came up and asked him so hallucinating anything. Have you seen some strange things? And this is apparently much more graphically portrayed in the book, where a hallucination would come up, and the doctor would beat the person to death. After they realized what was going on. It's just some weird thing. Oh my god. So they were able to physically interact with these. Yes, full on flesh and bone, bleed and all that creepy shit. But the night that night, after he launches into space, she's back. She appears again. He's trying to figure out what's going on. But the remaining men in the station seem to are trying to fill them in. But they're obviously kind of vague. And it's sort of like what, there's a scene in there that I'm going with that I've just explained the entire movie, because one of his best friend, that one of the people there, the big guy he knew the best had killed himself. But he left a video. And at one point, he's watching the video and he says, now let me explain what you're going to need to worry about. And then something happens and he turns off the video and never returns to it. Dammit. I mean, you know, shits going down, so I guess he didn't have TV time. But still, it's like that seems like something important for you to watch. So there's a lot of wild speculation as to what these people are. Is an alien life trying to get to know them. Is it some kind of reproduction. Most of the movie is a study in a lot of ways of dealing with loss in the strange circumstances of being human. There's a really long powerful scene where the remaining people and his wife, who is still there in physical form are talking about what might be going on. What What is she? What is the thing and there's a story behind it. And so you know, she's not human partially because she can't sleep. And it's not she doesn't want to, she just doesn't know how. And there's a really interesting scene at the end of this, there's a quick moment where she's kind of upset. So she grabs a glass of water and tries to drink it. But it just spills out of her mouth, which sends her into a really strong reaction of being very sad and upset. It's like, wow, she doesn't know how to drink such but she knows that something a human does when they're stressed. Or is like, Man, this is this is some deep shit. So the most of the movies does she exist? Only because he perceives her is a belief of resistance. The only reason she's on the space station. The there's a great line in the movie that I remembered that stuck out said don't turn your scientific problem into a love story. So I'm just gonna leave it at that because talking about this film is not a plot driven movie. This isn't well this happens and this happens kind of film at all. Much like much like 2001 It's very unusual. There's a lot of weird shit. That is strange stuff going on things that are not explained, but are interesting. It's I'm very curious now to see the Soderbergh version. kind of curious what he did. It's apparently like an hour shorter. What is the running time on this movie? Almost three hours, just under three hours. And there are times that moves really quickly. And there are times it does not. And this is just on HBO. Max whole thing plus the other one is as well. This this guy is no George Clooney at all. Yeah, this is Mike. This is sort of like a sitcom husband and wife situation. The Clooney direct the one that he's in, so to work, Soderbergh. So I'm kind of curious, I guess. Yeah. I'm curious what they did with it. So the taglines let us take you with us to Solaris planet, a mystery embodiment of man's elite into conflict with the unknown man face to face with his consciousness and with his past. That's a long timeline. Yeah, yeah. The other one's much shorter for truth and courage. That should be on like, a bottle of alcohol. Yeah, I was just gonna say that makes no sense. After having to see a movie, it still makes no sense. So this is his Tchaikovsky's white most widely seen movie by a fairly large margin. But especially outside the Soviet Union. Jefferson himself reported that it's but it's the least favorite of the films he's made. Really, like much of Stanislaw Lamb, the writer of the novel was scathing adaptation of his novel did not like it at all and complain that he did not write it about people's erotic problems in space. Huge messed up. That's right. Although this is a German Russian production, the film was shot in Japan. Oh, really? Yeah. binotto Japan, apparently a lot of films have been shot there. The film is listed in the official top 250 Narrative Feature films on letterbox. So it's well reviewed on letterboxed. Tchaikovsky's rejected this is I read this before watching the movie and made it really an interesting way to watch the film. Because boy is a true trick. kowski rejected Eisenstein's montage and develop a kind of demanding long take aesthetic, which he thought was a better way to reveal deeper truths, underlining the ethereal performing moment. And boy, he does long takes. No kidding, man, it is long wild take summer. And sometimes absolutely works, or most of the time works. But a lot of times like I can, you can cut now, I was really interested in the use of color in this film, because the memories aren't necessarily black and white. They're sort of blue, black and white. And there are also moments where everything's green, like a green sheen and other films where it is flat, black and white. The ship like I said is almost all white, but it has these bright splashes of reds and other colors that is kind of unusual looking for space station movies. So I can maybe have to delve a little deeper to find out what he was doing with the color because it's such a glaring difference. It's very obviously a choice. So it's like so why did he make that choice? And at this point, I hadn't really found anybody saying Marsh beyond where the black and white represents the past. Yeah, got that. What else though? Because it's not just black and white. Why does it go blue? Why is it go green? But anyways, so Jay Cox of Time Magazine. cause the effects are scanty, no shit. The drama, gloomy philosophy of the film thick as a cloud of ozone, the plot is not at all that original either. Now, this is a modern review. And I'm going to take all modern reviewers to task on one thing, if you're watching a movie from 1970 to about a space station, yeah. And a ethereal entity that they're trying to figure out by now. Yeah, that's not very original in 1972. It's been done in different ways before, but it's also still kind of new. Yeah. And like, criticizing Bae of blood was just people stalking you in force. Yeah, I know. You've seen that 10,000 times since then. But guess what, when a blood was done, that was a new thing. So you're not fooling anybody by going. It was just so unoriginal. So Lars. And Chris bar Santee said is a haunted Ode to lost love and Solarz has few equals in all of cinema. Damn, this is an interesting film. That reviewer said something about the effects. So do you see the space station? And what does that look like? A little bit? It looks like a 1972. Pre Star Wars floating? Share? Yeah. Okay. That's the price in May a little bit. Yeah. Although the, the ocean that they used to represent when they show us Alaris is oddly interesting looking at could. At times it looked like it was an ocean at times it looked like it was something else. Like they, I don't know, if they like dish soap or something in a large pool. It just looked very interesting. So that that was kind of cool. fabric with two guys. Yeah, exactly. The effects were not the thing for this film, which makes it kind of an interesting sci fi movie. Because it's not about space. It's not about this planet. It's about humans interacting with the unknown and weird stuff going on and how we deal with it as people. So it's a it's an art film, but it's a smart one. It's really well acted. It's one of those movies you watch. And you're kind of going I don't know if I too interested in this, but by the end, you find yourself thinking about it. Two or three days later. And I that's my favorite kind of movie where it's like, even if I hate it, if it sticks in my head two or three days I've gone fuck, there's something going on, like the child's play one or talking about earlier. Can't even remember for sure if they did something with his hearing aid. Why? Because I really didn't give a shit about that film two days later. Wow. So yeah, thank you all. Thank you to Mike on that. Because this has been on my to watch list for a very long time. I'm I'm so delighted you chose this movie. So I saw it. I think for cheap at Prince Charles cinema in London. randomly. I didn't know anything about it. I just walked in and sat down. And I was like, if I hadn't seen it in the theater, there's no way I would have made it through that movie. But being forced to sit there and pay attention and be just let it wash over you by the end. It was at that point, my favorite film of all time. So yeah, like I'm I'm so excited that I want to rewatch it just based off of you talking about it. It hit me in a very weird way because of physical. I was watching this in my office, which is the hottest room in our house. And it got so hot. I felt otherworldly. Watching as weird as other world movie I'm like, I think I need to take a glass of water a glass of water. Now I stuck my head in the shower. That part's Nope. Oh my god. Well, I think we all need to thank Mike for this. This was a lot of fun. I got to see a movie I've been looking forward to seeing for a long time you get to see Vanessa the record one never seen it had not heard of it before and fake guys fake. movie with a plot. Want to thank everybody else who's liking sharing the posts and commenting sending us little messages. Ron sends me a Facebook message every once in a while usually something very funny that says inappropriate for the two of you. But he knows that. And of course you know, Danny who's working feverishly behind the scenes. Carlos who's reposting everything on Instagram. Thanks, brother. Yeah, thank you and everybody out there who's doing all that stuff and partake, participating in the value for value. Eric, we skipped yours to do Micah's. So this means your next choice. Um, and I'm going to go with kind of a continued theme. Alien horror. Alien I fucking hate maybe this colored the way I saw it. Nope. because prior to seeing it I saw that the anagram for Nope. It is am I using the right word anagram Nope. Not of planet Earth. Yes. I didn't know that. Yeah. And maybe I shouldn't have known that going in. Yeah, that that is one of those things and like them not using UFO is also Yeah, a bit of a spoiler. No, that's boiler but like it's just kind of telling, like why are they avoiding that word and then yeah, I like well, I mean, we're avoiding that word that's no longer to examine. Exactly. That is where we're at. YouTube videos are so wild. Yeah. Anyway, okay, so speaking of real quick YouTube, I'd like to welcome we seem to be going to continue to get a lot more YouTube listeners. So remember anybody out there that's listening, do the classic like and subscribe because that way you're going to know exactly when we show up and you can come over and check us out we had the fastest largest group of listeners on our last release so Wow, keep coming in and listen and more and enjoy the YouTube Enos. I do it is very mesmerizing watching us on YouTube because you get to see our little you know, audio and it's fun. All right, well, you guys heard them. We're out of here like and subscribe. Yeah. Transportation other considerations for strange aeons radio produced by Pan Am airlines. When you think of traveling think of pan and you can't think the experience. Yes, the strange aeons radio stay at econolodge ever. It's an easy stop on the road. You know? Strange aeons radio is recorded live in front of a studio audience. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a positive review on your favorite podcast. Set we will set sit is my birthday. Happy birthday. You guys remembered