Ep. #336 - Supergirl, with Glen Weldon

Dan McCoy

[0:00] On this episode, we discuss Supergirl.

Elliott Kalan

[0:03] Starring Popeye's famous fried chicken and biscuits.

[0:06] Was there anything else in this movie? Don't know, don't care.

[0:30] Hey everyone, welcome to the Flophouse. I'm Dan McCoy.

[0:39] I'm Stuart Wellington.

[0:41] I'm Elliot Kalin.

[0:42] And we've got two very exciting things going on today.

[0:45] A special guest and another thing that Dan's going to tell us about.

[0:48] Stu, why don't you introduce our special guest first?

Stuart Wellington

[0:50] I would love to, Elliot.

[0:52] We are joined today by the co-host of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour and an author

[0:58] and just an all-around great beefcake.

[1:01] That's right, Glenn Weldon.

[1:03] Hey, Glenn.

S3

[1:03] Hey, guys. Thanks for having me.

[1:05] Grateful to be here. Glad and grateful.

[1:07] It's grateful to be here.

Elliott Kalan

[1:09] Thank you so much.

[1:10] We are super excited.

[1:12] This is a super show with the super expert about super things.

[1:16] But I'm also excited because, Dan,

[1:17] you're operating under sort of a Harrison Bergeron handicap right now.

[1:21] Can you please explain it to us?

Dan McCoy

[1:22] Okay, so the thing that you were referring to is the thing I thought it is.

[1:25] The exciting news on my end is that I'm in the midst of a strong hay fever attack.

[1:30] It started early this morning.

[1:33] I've tried several things to shake it, changing my clothes, taking a hot shower,

[1:38] having two different types of, no, three different types of allergy medicine,

[1:42] which is probably not a good idea to mix them, but it was that bad.

[1:46] Should make for an interesting show.

[1:47] Yeah, I ran the, what are you, the filter, the air filter.

[1:50] I went outside for a while.

[1:52] I took a nap.

Elliott Kalan

[1:53] Dan, I imagine you had a changing clothes montage about allergies

[1:57] where you would, like, step out of the changing roof,

[1:59] and then you would sneeze, and then Audrey would shake her head no,

[2:02] and you'd go back in and then come out in a new outfit and sneeze,

[2:04] and she'd shake her head no.

[2:05] Is that what happened?

Dan McCoy

[2:05] Yeah, yeah.

[2:06] That's exactly what happened.

[2:07] No, what happened is I keep trying things and thinking, like,

[2:09] oh, that feels good for, like, about five minutes,

[2:12] and then I start sneezing uncontrollably again.

[2:15] You may not hear it on the podcast.

[2:19] I've recently purchased myself a cough button.

[2:22] Now I know it says a cough button.

[2:23] I'm going to off-label use it for sneezing as well.

[2:27] Just as long as you know that the warranty does not apply if you use it that way.

[2:32] But anyway, let's turn back to Glenn, who, among other things,

[2:35] literally wrote the book on Superman.

[2:38] Superman, an unauthorized biography, correct?

[2:42] The unauthorized biography, Daniel.

S3

[2:44] Yeah, yeah, it's a book.

[2:46] There are several, including one that came out, like,

[2:49] eight months before mine did by Larry Tai that made the front cover of the

[2:53] New York Times book review and kind of ate up the space for it.

[2:56] Really?

Dan McCoy

[2:57] I only ever heard about yours, which I did read.

[3:01] I read that one.

[3:02] I read the Batman book as well, but I think it would not be unfair to say

[3:07] that Superman is foremost in your heart amongst the major heroes.

S3

[3:13] Yeah, certainly.

[3:14] I mean, like, he's the first.

[3:15] He's the primal.

[3:15] He's the best.

[3:17] He is very, very difficult to write because you have to kind of make, give him a challenge.

[3:22] And writing that book was figuring out what makes him tick and what sets him apart besides his power set.

[3:29] And basically, I came up with two things.

[3:30] One, he puts the needs of others over those of himself.

[3:32] And two, he doesn't give up.

[3:34] And when you write a Superman story that misses either one of those two things, you're not writing a Superman story.

[3:39] I will say, though, that writing the second book, The Caped Crusade, Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture, was a lot more fun.

[3:45] Because the Superman book was basically work for hire.

[3:47] It was basically the 75th anniversary is coming up.

[3:50] We need a book.

[3:51] So I basically, you worry that you're writing a 75,000 word Wikipedia entry when you write a book like that because you're just trapped by continuity and by chronology.

[4:02] And so the second book was more a chance to kind of dig in and be a little bit more analytical and pull back.

[4:07] But, yeah, I'm a nerd.

Stuart Wellington

[4:09] And sorry to interrupt, Glenn, but just to fill out your top three, we have Superman at the top.

[4:13] Number two has got to be Carnage.

[4:15] Number three has got to be Pit, right?

[4:18] Dale Keown's Pit.

[4:19] Really?

[4:19] Dale Keown's Pit?

[4:20] Okay.

Elliott Kalan

[4:21] Okay.

[4:22] Interesting.

[4:22] Hulk with longer hair.

[4:24] Yeah.

S3

[4:24] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[4:25] Actually, I have a tattoo of the swift and powerful monarch of the ocean, Aquaman, as Ted Knight used to say it back in Super Friends.

[4:33] Yeah, Aquaman was kind of my nearest and dearest because I grew up thinking I wanted to be a marine biologist, going to school to be a marine biologist, failing at being a marine biologist.

[4:44] And, yeah, so I really always loved Aquaman.

[4:48] Maybe it was the blonde hair and black eyebrows.

[4:50] It was kind of trashy to me.

Dan McCoy

[4:51] Well, I mean, failing to be a marine biologist is at least better than failing to be Aquaman, which usually results in drowning.

S3

[5:00] Yeah, well, I mean.

[5:01] It's a very good point, Daniel.

[5:02] Yeah.

[5:02] It was my nickname on the swim team, and I thought it was because I was so fast, but it's because I would go into the water and sink like a rock.

[5:08] So everybody would make fun of me for that.

[5:10] I didn't realize they were making fun of me, which is the story of my life.

[5:13] And I also talked to fish.

Elliott Kalan

[5:14] Yeah, you did get disqualified from the races because you were riding a giant seahorse.

[5:17] That's true.

[5:18] That's true.

Dan McCoy

[5:18] I had one flying fish on each of my feet.

[5:22] That sounds amazing.

[5:25] So this, I mean, the movie we watched was Supergirl, not Superman.

[5:28] Well, Dan, what do we do on this podcast?

[5:30] Let's just say our re-mail real quick.

[5:30] Well, hold on, hold on, hold on.

[5:32] Okay.

[5:32] Let me.

[5:33] Okay.

[5:33] Sure, yeah.

[5:34] All right.

Elliott Kalan

[5:34] Why tell the audience what we do?

[5:36] No, no, no.

Dan McCoy

[5:36] Well, I mean, some would argue why interrupt me when I was doing also an introductory thing.

[5:42] I mean, that's another way you can look at it.

[5:44] Good point.

[5:44] So.

[5:45] L.A.D.'s got hay fever.

[5:46] Chill out.

Elliott Kalan

[5:47] I'm dealing with enough.

[5:49] Hay fever.

[5:50] Leave that Dan alone.

[5:51] Oh, okay.

[5:51] Joke I said before the recording.

[5:53] Say it again now.

Dan McCoy

[5:54] Ooh, it's still hot.

[5:55] It's still good.

[5:55] Oh, man.

[5:55] No, what I was going to say is, now, the book was about Superman.

[6:00] We are talking about the movie Supergirl from 1984, because this is the Flothouse podcast

[6:07] where we watch a bad movie and we talk about it.

[6:09] Thank you, Elliot.

[6:10] But the interesting thing about your book on Superman is, you know, it's called a biography

[6:17] and you do that by sort of tracking the different iterations of Superman through the comics and

[6:24] radio serials and shows and theater and movies.

[6:29] And in that, of course, you touch on the expanded Superman universe.

[6:36] And Kara Jor-El is, of course, Superman's cousin.

[6:40] And so that is about, that is more backstory than Supergirl gives you before thrusting

[6:47] you into this movie.

[6:48] So maybe we should just get into the movie.

S3

[6:50] Yeah, it was made in, well, it came out in 1984, right on the heels of Superman 3, which

[6:56] was, let's just say, a disappointment, both financially and critically.

[7:01] It made $60 million, but still.

[7:03] And the Salkins, when they bought the rights to Superman, they bought the rights to a bunch

[7:07] of Kryptonian characters, including Supergirl.

[7:09] So they were thinking, OK, so if nobody's buying Superman anymore, let's pivot.

[7:14] Who runs the world?

Elliott Kalan

[7:15] You have to imagine a meeting at the Salkin headquarters where they're looking at all the

[7:19] characters and they're like, do we do a Supergirl movie or do we do a Beppo the Supermonkey movie?

[7:24] I was pushing for Beppo.

[7:26] We don't want to work with another monkey.

[7:28] Let's just, let's just, let's just use, I assume they must have made a movie with a monkey

[7:32] at some point.

[7:33] Let's just, let's do, and someone's like, what about Streaky the Supercat?

[7:38] People don't want to see cat movies.

[7:39] Not realizing that Garfield, A Tale of Two Kitties would be a huge hit many years down the

[7:43] line.

S3

[7:44] I was waiting for the Comet the Superhorse pole, but it didn't come.

Elliott Kalan

[7:48] And Comet was the one who became a person and fell in love with Supergirl, right?

[7:52] This is also true.

[7:52] Yes.

[7:53] Oh, the old Superman comics were, the thing is, this movie is really crazy.

[7:58] But then I think about the old Superman comics, which were crazier.

[8:00] Like the, one of my favorite Superman stories is, is it called Superman's New Power?

[8:04] Where he learns how to shoot a tiny Superman out of his hand and then starts getting jealous

[8:08] of how much affection the tiny Superman is getting?

S3

[8:10] It totally is.

[8:11] That was, that was a time in, we're talking about the Silver Age now, when they just kind

[8:16] of kept building out his world and adding new characters because it was about pure imagination.

[8:22] It was about, it was aimed at kids, right?

[8:25] So you're just telling fanciful stories.

[8:27] And, but that is also the thing that kind of let people start gravitating over to Marvel

[8:33] more because Marvel was directing itself at older teens and adults.

[8:38] And so there's more to chew on in a Marvel story than there was in a DC story at the time.

Stuart Wellington

[8:44] Now, I love-

[8:44] So that's one more reason to be mad at tiny Superman.

[8:47] Yeah, another reason.

Elliott Kalan

[8:48] Now, I love, I love Marvel Comics.

[8:50] I'm a Marvel zombie going way back.

[8:51] It's in my bones.

[8:52] But now that you've mentioned that, I never realized before, it, Marvel Comics is kind

[8:56] of comics for kids who are old enough to be ashamed of masturbating, I guess is what

[8:59] it comes down to.

[9:01] Like every Marvel superhero from the 60s carries around this deep guilt and shame that only

[9:06] can come from the knowledge that they can give themselves sexual pleasure and aren't supposed

[9:09] to.

[9:10] Interesting.

S3

[9:11] Right.

[9:11] Because the DC heroes were all about, I want to fly fast.

[9:15] I want to be the best.

[9:16] I want to be the strongest.

[9:17] And Marvel books at the time were about guilt, alienation, feelings of self-loathing.

[9:24] So it was more teenage than kid.

[9:26] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[9:26] Yeah.

[9:27] And later on, they were all about pouches, right?

[9:29] And accessories.

[9:29] Later on, they were all about pouches.

Elliott Kalan

[9:31] Yeah.

[9:32] And then the 90s, Marvel was a very pouch-based company.

Dan McCoy

[9:34] Now, with regard to the goofiness, getting back to Supergirl, the goofiness in this movie,

[9:39] I really love the goofiness in this movie.

Elliott Kalan

[9:41] Wait, you thought this movie was goofy?

Dan McCoy

[9:43] To me, the goofiness is honestly the best part, except, and sort of a related problem.

[9:51] The related problem is the lack of interest in adequately setting up anything in the film

[9:57] or explaining, like, any sort of internal consistency about what's going on or, like,

[10:03] how old Kara is and, like, you know, like, what exactly her deal is.

[10:10] I don't know.

[10:10] We'll get into it.

Elliott Kalan

[10:11] I have a theory about this, and we'll see if the plot bears me up.

[10:14] There was a certain point in this movie where I was like, this movie feels like the National

[10:18] Lampoon X-rated parody of Supergirl.

[10:21] But with all the sex taken out of it.

[10:22] Like, there's so many situations she gets placed in where I'm like, there's a different

[10:26] version of this movie that I do not want to see, where this leads to her having sex with

[10:30] something.

[10:31] And I don't, and it felt like that.

Dan McCoy

[10:32] Well, but also, that's interesting, because, like, it feels, the movie does feel like this

[10:38] sort of, like, 70s key party, and then a Supergirl movie just sort of broke out in the

[10:43] middle of it.

[10:44] It's got this sort of, like, you know, 70s going into the 80s, I mean, this is 84, but

[10:48] it's still got that vibe, like, sort of, like, slacker, like, drugs in the rec room feel,

[10:56] something about it.

[10:57] And, like, the guy who wrote it mostly wrote a bunch of Muppet show scripts.

[11:02] Yeah.

[11:03] And it's got that kind of, like, burning end of the hippie era, like, vibe about it.

Elliott Kalan

[11:12] Now that you mention it, I never noticed Faye Dunaway's character is basically Miss Piggy.

[11:17] Like, it's basically if Miss Piggy was the bad guy.

Stuart Wellington

[11:19] All right.

[11:20] Yeah, she's incredible.

[11:21] Wait a minute.

[11:22] She's incredible.

[11:22] She is incredible.

S3

[11:23] We are getting ahead of ourselves, but I will say this.

[11:26] To my knowledge, nobody involved in this thing was queer or queer identified, but every scene

[11:32] between Faye Dunaway and Brenda Vaccaro is giving you major queer vibes.

[11:37] And it's not just because of the casting, because you've got Faye Dunaway and Brenda Vaccaro,

[11:40] you're halfway there.

[11:41] But because of those roles, you've got Diva and Brassy Broad.

[11:46] You've got the Diva.

[11:47] So, Crawford is, I'm sorry, Faye Dunaway's playing, like, the Crawford, the Betty Davis,

[11:52] and Brenda Vaccaro is serving you Joan Blondel and Rosalind Russell.

[11:57] And then you add the fop to it, you know, with Peter Cook.

[12:01] Yeah.

[12:03] He's giving you George Saunders or whoever played Uncle Max in Sound of Music.

[12:09] Like, he's giving you that.

[12:10] Put those three together, and that, for the queer community, is like what Maiden Mother

[12:13] Crone is to the straight community.

[12:16] It's Diva, Broad, and Fop.

[12:18] And that's why those scenes have a power.

[12:20] They're the most fun part of the movie for me.

Elliott Kalan

[12:22] It does feel like somebody was like, what if a superhero fought Absolutely Fabulous?

[12:27] Yeah.

[12:28] 100%.

[12:30] So, I guess, Stu, you should tell us what this movie is about.

Stuart Wellington

[12:32] I'm going to be driving this car.

[12:33] Obviously, y'all are the experts, so feel free to interrupt me.

[12:37] So, the movie opens with a very smoky credit sequence.

[12:41] It's pretty great.

[12:42] And then, you know, we open Media Res in a futuristic jizz city populated by hippies.

Elliott Kalan

[12:51] It does look like it is built out of dry jizz.

[12:54] You're right.

[12:54] It's called Argo City.

[12:56] But, you know.

S3

[12:57] It is Argo City.

[12:59] And canonically, in the comics, it's a big chunk of Krypton that flew off intact because there was a bubble over it.

[13:05] Originally, it was supposed to be just an air bubble, but that's not how space works.

[13:08] So, they rejiggered it so it would be the leader, who was Zor-El, who was Zor-El's brother.

[13:14] He created a dome around the city back when it was still on Krypton because he was afraid of germs.

[13:18] So, sure.

[13:20] And that dome...

[13:21] He was the Halle Mandel of Krypton.

[13:23] That protected the city.

[13:25] And then, they realized that the ground was turning into kryptonite.

[13:27] So, they covered the ground with lead sheets, which just is toxic.

[13:32] So, I don't know what they were thinking there.

[13:34] And then, meteors penetrated the city and everybody was dying.

[13:40] So, Zor-El and Alora, played here by...

[13:43] Alora's played here by Mia Farrow for a hot second.

[13:48] Rocketed Kara to Earth.

[13:50] And she was the younger cousin to Superman and she got adopted.

[13:53] It's a whole thing.

[13:54] But this is a much different vibe because this Argo City looks more like if you cross, like, Mall of America

[14:00] with, like, Sedona and, like, an open plan elementary school, like, from the 70s.

[14:06] Yeah, maybe some Logan's Run is in there, too.

[14:08] Some Logan's Run in there, sure.

Elliott Kalan

[14:10] Oh, yeah.

[14:10] And all of the backstory that you just gave us explains how they just talk about Krypton

[14:16] and the people on Krypton as if that planet didn't explode and kill everybody.

[14:20] Yeah, yep.

[14:20] Like, they're just like, oh, yeah, my cousin's at Earth.

[14:22] And it's like, where are you?

[14:24] Like, how are you not dead now?

[14:25] What's going on?

Dan McCoy

[14:26] The movie doesn't make any effort to, like, let you know.

[14:31] Yeah.

[14:31] No.

Stuart Wellington

[14:31] Any of this.

Dan McCoy

[14:32] And it, like, it's weird because it has the same thing that the original, the first Christopher

[14:39] Reeve Superman has, which is like, okay, we're going to start out with this Krypton stuff.

[14:44] You're going to get your big, big name stars here.

[14:48] This is mostly where you're going to see Peter O'Toole.

[14:51] And as you say, Mia Farrow's there for a second.

[14:53] But it did learn the lesson, I guess, from Superman that, like, that stuff is boring and we should

[14:59] get through it fast.

[15:00] But it didn't replace it with, like, any sort of exposition that made sense.

[15:04] Like, it's just like, uh, wait, hold on.

[15:06] So some of you are still alive and you also know that Superman is on Earth and famous for

[15:11] some reason?

[15:12] Like, I'm not sure how that happened, but sure.

S3

[15:15] Yeah.

[15:16] Yeah.

[15:16] And, like, the, these people seem remarkably chill because they're all in, like, flowing

[15:22] togas and tunics, which is how science fiction films kind of convey to you, oh, this is, this

[15:28] is, this is, this, in Star Trek, this would be the pleasure planet that they go to that

[15:31] holds a dark secret or that, you know, Wesley stepped in the geraniums or whatever.

[15:35] And that would cause, cause the plot.

[15:37] And it's, and the whole design of this, if you think about it, the Superman films, the

[15:41] Kryptonian design is angular, it's crystalline, it's hard here.

[15:45] It's a, it's a female-led film.

[15:47] It's more organic and kind of softer and rounder.

[15:51] Um, but, uh, it's really poorly designed because there's one point where Kara is walking and

[15:56] she has to walk through a school to get to where she's going.

[15:59] She has to, like, walk up the steps.

[16:01] It's just not, uh, well-driven.

Elliott Kalan

[16:03] Well, and also the fact that, the fact that, that, that their, uh, their city is powered

[16:07] by a billiard ball-sized device that can easily get thrown through a window that's

[16:11] destroying the city.

[16:12] Let's get to that.

Stuart Wellington

[16:12] Let's, uh, yeah.

[16:13] Let's get, let's get back on track.

[16:15] So, uh, we're introduced to Zoltar, who is making a tree out of jizz using his magic

[16:20] stick and magic ball.

Elliott Kalan

[16:21] He would eventually go down to Earth and turn Tom Hanks into a big guy.

Dan McCoy

[16:25] Uh, yeah, he has, like, this, like, like, what basically is, like, a, I don't know,

[16:31] like a, like a, uh, paperweight, a glass paperweight, uh, carrot that he's using as, like, a 3D

[16:37] printer to make sculptures.

[16:38] It's 3D printing, exactly.

[16:40] Yeah.

S3

[16:41] Um, and he's wearing this, this 1983 Chess King sweater that, oof, boy, it's, it's actually

[16:49] more of a tunic, I now realize, because it's cinched at the waist, but oof, oof, that thing.

Stuart Wellington

[16:53] It feels like a precursor to a classic drug rug.

[16:56] That's true.

[16:58] And, uh, and Zoltar, uh, has a conversation with Kara, who, uh, Kara Zor-El, who is, uh,

[17:05] curious, and they talk about, I don't know, like, they talk about, uh, the, the city and,

[17:11] like, the power source that he's holding, because that little ball he's got, that's the Omega

[17:15] Hedron, Hedron?

Elliott Kalan

[17:17] Omega Hedron, which is, which I do love, or he says Hedron, because he says English, I

[17:21] guess.

[17:21] Yep.

[17:21] But, uh, I, that's a real Jack Kirby-esque name, which I love.

[17:24] Yes, that's true.

[17:25] Like, you know, in a New Gods thing, you, I could totally see Orion fighting Calibac over

[17:29] an Omega Hedron, and I would be like, great.

[17:31] So I love that name.

[17:33] Uh, Zoltar and Supergirl here have a real Doc Brown-Marty McFly relationship.

[17:38] Yes.

[17:38] Very much.

[17:38] Where it's just taken for granted that a teenager is friends with a, with a kind of, with a kind

[17:43] of slightly sinister inventor.

[17:45] Now, yes.

Dan McCoy

[17:46] And this is also, I mentioned, so I mentioned my question about Kara's age, uh, earlier,

[17:51] and, uh, Stuart made a face, I think he thought it was weird, but the reason I'm saying this

[17:55] is, like, here in the early scenes, right, like, she seems, like, beyond young and naive,

[18:03] like, she seems, uh, you know, like, none too bright or something, like, there's something,

[18:08] like, she seems like a child, like a, like a real child in this, where she's like, uh-huh.

Elliott Kalan

[18:12] She's supposed to have that kind of, like, angelic naivete.

[18:15] Yes.

[18:15] Right.

Dan McCoy

[18:15] But it manifests in her, like, sitting, like, cross-legged on the ground, like, 3D printing,

[18:21] uh, uh, dragonflies and such, and, and then, like, once she gets to Earth, she, I guess,

[18:30] is supposed to be going to a private school, although it's left, like, it's left...

Elliott Kalan

[18:37] It's a boarding school, right?

[18:38] It's a boarding school.

[18:39] It's a public boarding school.

[18:40] Like, many, it's a, many towns have public boarding schools that everyone has to go to

[18:44] and live at, so the parents can keep having key parties.

[18:46] But the actor...

[18:46] It was the late, it was early 80s.

[18:48] You know.

Dan McCoy

[18:48] But the confusing part of it is it's never said outright, like, it could be a college.

[18:53] I think it's supposed to be just a private school.

[18:55] But Helen Slater herself, she is 21 when this movie is made, and her love interest is, like,

[19:04] the groundskeeper who's around, who the, who Faye Dunaway is also interested in, and I

[19:10] guess they kind of make her age ambiguous partly because of that.

[19:14] But it leads to this, like, weird, I don't know, like, disjoint that I'm like, okay, what,

[19:20] what am I supposed to believe here is going...

Elliott Kalan

[19:22] There's a love triangle between a groundskeeper who's probably in anywhere from 25 to 35, Faye

[19:28] Dunaway, and a teenage girl.

[19:30] Yeah, it's, I mean, it is like the movie The Tale with Laura Jern, which is about a, which

[19:35] is about a young girl being exploited.

[19:37] Yeah, it's very strange.

[19:37] But on the other hand, I'll raise you, and I'll raise this question again when we get

[19:41] to the point where she goes undercover as a boarding school, private school girl.

Dan McCoy

[19:44] Why did she do that?

[19:46] Yes.

[19:47] Well, we'll get there, but yeah, yeah, I also have that question.

Elliott Kalan

[19:50] But, yeah, her age is very, is very definitely ambiguous.

[19:53] She's somewhere between, I'm guessing, 16 and 27.

S3

[19:57] Yeah, all right.

[19:57] And the script does not give her much to do except play sort of guileless and kind and trusting,

[20:05] which is just not, and, and, you know, it's not, but it's not, but it's not,

[20:07] it's her first role.

[20:08] It's her first film role, Helen Slater, before Billie Jean became legend.

[20:12] She was a folktale.

[20:15] And, and she's on the screen with Peter O'Toole, who I, you know, he's game.

[20:19] He's certainly game.

[20:20] But like, I think his agent just said, look, Marlon did Superman.

[20:24] He made a mint.

[20:25] He bought an island.

[20:26] Don't you want an island?

[20:27] And so he, he is, he has to say words like Omega Hedron and binary shoot over and over

[20:34] again in this thing.

[20:35] And I just, it just, uh, what would you guys think of him?

[20:38] I mean, he was fun.

Elliott Kalan

[20:39] I think he's, I mean, he's, oh, Peter O'Toole is so charismatic and he's really that like,

[20:44] he really is able to, even when he's playing drunk Zoltar later, he's still able to like

[20:48] do it with a certain amount of style.

[20:49] But it was also like, to be honest, if I was going to be in a movie, I'd love to be saying

[20:53] words like Omega Hedron and binary shoot and things like that.

[20:55] Maybe he was having a great time except for the sweater.

[20:58] Yeah.

[20:58] But, uh.

Stuart Wellington

[20:59] And obviously when he shows up later on his drunk Zoltar and he just keeps saying squirt

[21:03] over and over.

[21:04] I'm like, dude, fucking cool out.

Dan McCoy

[21:07] Well, the other thing about Peter O'Toole's character, and I'm sorry that I'm about to

[21:11] like step on Stuart's job a little bit here, is he hands, he hands the power source for

[21:16] the whole city over to Kara and she's like playing around with it.

[21:22] Uh, the, she makes this, um, bug that creates like starts flying around.

[21:28] I guess she's created life.

[21:29] It like, it opens a hole in the city that's, I guess, covered with a tarp.

[21:33] The, the void of space.

[21:36] Like the.

Elliott Kalan

[21:36] The city, the city is made out of like greased paper or it's like rice paper, like a Japanese

[21:40] house.

[21:41] Yeah.

[21:41] It's Saran wrap.

Dan McCoy

[21:41] The MacGuffin like shoots out into the, into space, uh, going to earth.

[21:46] And like all this happens in such a way that I'm like, oh, some other shoes got to drop

[21:51] later where Peter O'Toole planned all this.

[21:53] He knew that like.

Stuart Wellington

[21:55] Yeah.

[21:55] Cause it's like, otherwise it's this dumbest.

Elliott Kalan

[21:58] And you're thinking like a modern movie.

[21:59] You're thinking a modern movie result.

[22:01] She goes to the phantom zone.

[22:02] He goes, I wanted to get caught here.

[22:04] It was all part of my plan to be caught and imprisoned.

[22:06] But no, this is a dumb eighties movie.

[22:08] Things just happen, man.

[22:08] This is the stupidest way to kick off a movie.

Dan McCoy

[22:12] Cause it's like, oh, okay.

[22:13] Uh, we're, we're hurtling through space.

[22:16] Uh, I guess your bug is going to get rid of our power source.

[22:19] You're going to have to go to earth.

[22:20] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[22:21] Elliot, I feel like, I feel like in the writer's room for this movie on the, on the whiteboard

[22:26] in big letters, it just said, things just happened, man.

Elliott Kalan

[22:29] I mean, there was probably a real feeling of like, how do we make Kara responsible for what

[22:35] happens so that she has to be the one who goes on this adventure?

[22:38] And they do it in the, in the dumbest way.

[22:40] I mean, like you see it in, in lots of kids movies where someone will like accidentally

[22:44] hit the wrong switch on a machine and that puts, launches them on an adventure.

[22:48] But it's like, that's the thing is this movie, it's hard to tell.

[22:51] And maybe I think of it as a kid's movie cause I watched it many times as a kid and yet remembered

[22:56] only two things from it.

[22:57] One of them being that Faye Dunaway's house has a skull on its door.

[23:00] It's one of the two things I remember from the movie that like, this movie feels like

[23:04] both a, it feels, it is kind of too dumb to be a movie for grownups, but it is too

[23:08] weird to be a movie for kids, but it's the kind of thing I could buy in a kid's movie

[23:11] where it's like, oh, here you go.

[23:13] Hold this thing.

[23:14] I got it.

[23:15] Whoops.

[23:15] And now the adventure begins.

Dan McCoy

[23:16] Except I can understand like, you know, whatever, space camp accidentally sending everyone into

[23:21] space, right?

[23:21] Like that's one where.

[23:22] You understand that?

Stuart Wellington

[23:23] Damn, why would they have a working rocket at space camp?

Dan McCoy

[23:26] But I mean like that is like a much more, for as dumb as that movie is, it's a more

[23:31] carefully set up mistake where you don't necessarily like blame the kid for what happens.

[23:36] Like here, you know, I don't know if, if Kara pushed a button that sent her to earth and

[23:41] launched her on a mission.

[23:43] Great.

[23:43] You know, accident.

[23:44] But here she's like endangered her and the remaining people of her planet.

[23:50] Stakes are too high.

[23:51] Yeah.

Elliott Kalan

[23:51] And she, and she knows she has just a few days before the city shuts down, which again

[23:55] makes it weird why she decides to enroll at a private school and just hang out with the

[23:59] students there for a while.

[24:00] Yeah.

S3

[24:01] Yeah.

[24:01] It's Mia Farrow who gives us the stakes because she says, our lights will grow dim and the

[24:05] very air we breathe so thin, which is really putting a happy face on your imminent death.

[24:11] Our lights will grow dim.

[24:13] That's what she's concerned about.

[24:14] And the air will be slightly thin.

[24:15] But as soon as she says that, that's like, and that's a production wrap on Mia Farrow,

[24:19] everyone.

[24:20] It's like she is gone.

Elliott Kalan

[24:22] She gets a big title credit for the fact that she's in the movie for about a minute

[24:26] and a half.

Stuart Wellington

[24:28] And she, so of course, as we, as we've already addressed, Kara fucks around with the wand,

[24:34] makes a giant mosquito thing or dragonfly thing.

[24:37] They lose the power source.

[24:38] Shit is looking grim.

[24:40] So Kara decides the only way to fix things is she climbs into a magical egg that takes

[24:44] her out of the town while everybody watches her float away.

[24:47] Which is just lying out there.

S3

[24:48] Which is just lying in the middle on a balcony.

[24:50] It's like, that is some OSHA business.

Elliott Kalan

[24:53] It's a real, it's a real Montessori space city where they just leave the activities out

[24:57] for people to gravitate to.

[24:59] And they're just carefully curated, but you know.

Stuart Wellington

[25:02] And at the same time, Zoltar's like, oh, well, this is my bad.

[25:06] So you guys can all die.

[25:08] You're going to die soon.

[25:09] I'm going to go to the Phantom Zone and I'll never die.

[25:11] And I'm like, what?

[25:13] Did you plan this then?

[25:15] Zip, zip, but I'm gone.

[25:17] Yes.

[25:17] Yeah.

[25:18] So now cut to, oh, and while she's in this magic egg, it takes her on a trippy voyage

[25:24] from inner space, which we learned they're not in outer space.

[25:27] They're in inner space.

[25:28] Don't quite know what it means.

[25:29] I don't see Martin Short anywhere.

[25:34] But like, you know, there's like a light show going on outside.

[25:37] It's very exciting.

[25:39] Cut to the planet Earth and a, let's say, I had trouble describing this couple, but it's

[25:46] Selina and Nigel.

[25:47] And we already talked about them a little bit.

[25:49] That's Faye Dunaway and Peter Cook, did you say?

Elliott Kalan

[25:52] That kind of explains the couple.

[25:54] It's Faye Dunaway and Peter Cook at their most Faye Dunaway-ist and Peter Cook-ist and

[25:57] their magicians.

[25:58] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[25:58] And they're playing people called Selina and Nigel.

[26:01] Yeah.

[26:03] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[26:03] And they're like lounging about in the park, picnicking on a, like a tiger fur.

Dan McCoy

[26:09] Yep.

[26:09] As you do.

Stuart Wellington

[26:11] Yeah.

[26:11] And they're talking about dreams of world domination and black magic.

[26:15] We learned that they're sorcerers.

Dan McCoy

[26:17] Well, again, here, this is another place where the movie feels too tired to do any of the

[26:24] legwork that would set any of this up.

[26:26] And according to Wikipedia, there was a longer introduction of these two characters initially,

[26:33] which may have helped a little, but as it is in the movie.

[26:36] No need.

[26:36] Well, as it is in the movie, it's basically just like, as you know, we are both magicians

[26:41] and I'm teaching you the black magic arts and you want to take over the world.

[26:45] Anyway, oh no, what's that?

[26:46] Coming out of the sky.

[26:47] Yeah.

S3

[26:48] I own the Blu-ray, which is, which has the director's cut, which is 20 minutes longer,

[26:55] where we get a lot more of this scene, a lot more of the sort of air ballet that's coming

[27:00] up and a hell of a lot more.

[27:02] One could argue, and I will too much more of the, the bulldozer crane terrorizes the city,

[27:08] which just goes on forever already.

Elliott Kalan

[27:10] Although it is, although I will say, I'll stand by it.

[27:12] That bulldozer gives the greatest performance in the movie.

[27:15] Because I was like, I was like, I get it.

[27:17] This bulldozer is, he is an evil bulldozer.

[27:20] And like, I understand it, but we'll get to that.

[27:22] Sort of killdozer.

[27:24] Dan, Dan, does he reach the level of killdozer?

[27:26] No.

[27:27] Okay.

[27:27] Theodore Sturgeon was a special kind of genius.

[27:29] And though killdozer is, yes, not his greatest work.

[27:32] That would probably be what, more than human?

[27:34] I would rather not you compare this maimdozer at best to the killdozer.

[27:38] Sort of gently cradled dozer.

[27:40] But, uh.

[27:41] Yeah, it's actually, it's more of a, it's more of a menacing nanny dozer.

[27:43] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[27:45] So falling out of the sky like a meteor with a symbiote in it comes the power source.

[27:51] The mega hedron just lands in their lunch.

[27:53] The cheeser.

Elliott Kalan

[27:54] The addition of the food that it lands in instantly makes this an okay way to get it to me.

[28:00] And if Peter Parker had had like an ice cream and the symbiote meteor had landed in that,

[28:04] I would have been like, okay, you know what, Sam Raimi, I'm buying this now.

Stuart Wellington

[28:08] Uh, yeah.

[28:09] Yeah, if he was making up a big pot of eggs erroneous and the symbiote landed right in there.

Elliott Kalan

[28:13] Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[28:15] He's having an ironic hipster fondue party at his loft and it flies in through the window.

[28:20] Yeah.

[28:21] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[28:22] Selena realizes that the orb may well be the answer to all of her problems, financial, power, etc.

[28:31] So Selena takes off in the car.

[28:34] Kara comes flying out of the nearby river in full costume.

[28:38] Now you're probably wondering, wait, the last time we saw her, she was in an egg and there was shit going on.

[28:42] Well, they do not explain how she got from point A to point B, but it makes sense, I guess.

Dan McCoy

[28:47] Or how the clothes change.

[28:48] That's the main thing.

[28:49] The clothes, let's not, I mean, you know, I guess the idea for Superman, right, is that the costume is made out of his swaddling clothes that he was in.

[28:57] Exactly.

[28:58] Meanwhile, Kara just shows up just like, uh, I guess, like, you know, my cousin Supes has one of these, so I packed one when I head off for Earth.

S3

[29:06] Yeah, she keeps exhibiting that non-canonical superpower of just the instant change.

[29:12] And it really bugged me as a kid.

[29:14] It bugs me now.

[29:15] You know, the same thing with the front roll-up S-Shield in Superman 2.

[29:20] Bugged me then, bugs me now.

[29:22] The fact that they had the Phantom Zone villains kind of point and a little white laser came out of their fingers for no reason, because they already had heat vision.

[29:30] All of that stuff is, uh, it just doesn't make any sense, but, uh.

Elliott Kalan

[29:33] I will say, uh, I never really thought about it until now how silly it is that Superman is wearing his baby blanket.

[29:39] Yeah.

[29:39] Does he ever mention that to people?

[29:41] People are like, nice costume.

[29:42] He's like, yeah, that's my baby blanket.

Dan McCoy

[29:43] I mean, he's doing it as an advertisement for, like, just the strength of Kryptonian millinery.

[29:51] Like, just, like, being able to.

[29:52] Oh, okay.

Elliott Kalan

[29:53] So he's like a, he's a brand ambassador.

Dan McCoy

[29:54] Yeah, like, the textiles they make on that planet are so strong.

[29:58] It's not frayed.

[29:59] It doesn't smell like baby.

[30:01] You know, it's, it's great.

Elliott Kalan

[30:02] It doesn't smell like baby.

[30:04] Because, I mean, it's made out of it, but it doesn't smell like it.

S3

[30:06] But, I mean, in the film's defense, they did put those primary colored, like, shiny blankets in the pod.

[30:13] And we see her go off.

[30:14] And if we had a scene of her, like, you know, stitching together a costume, that would be really boring.

[30:20] Yeah.

Elliott Kalan

[30:20] And real quick, guys, you can explain this to me.

[30:23] As a Spider-Man fan, I'm a big fan of watching the heroes ditch their own costume.

[30:26] But I wonder if there's, if even they made, like, a big, even if they showed her in her regular clothes,

[30:31] and then there was, like, a glowing light, and then it changed her into a costume.

[30:34] It's one of the things where it still wouldn't make sense, but at least they would have made, like, a spectacle or an introduction.

[30:38] Sure.

[30:38] Here, it definitely feels like they're like, yeah, she's in the costume now.

[30:43] And you're like, why?

[30:43] And they're like, did you see the poster?

[30:45] This is what she wears.

[30:46] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[30:48] So you guys can help me here.

[30:50] Has she been in contact with Superman this whole time?

[30:54] Nope.

[30:54] Yeah.

[30:55] Nope.

[30:55] Okay.

[30:55] So she just knows her cousin left as a baby.

[30:59] Yeah.

Elliott Kalan

[30:59] I think they get, well, they know that he's on Earth.

[31:03] Yeah.

[31:04] And, but later she says, right, oh, Clark Kent's my cousin, so maybe they get Daily Planet delivery at Argo City.

[31:10] Yeah.

S3

[31:10] Well, I mean, Zoltar knows a lot about Earth.

[31:12] He knows about horses and trees.

[31:14] So, obviously, I just imagine he's just kind of monitoring Superman.

[31:17] That's my fan way.

[31:18] Oh, okay.

Stuart Wellington

[31:19] You're filling in the blanks for the movie.

[31:20] I like it.

Elliott Kalan

[31:21] Yeah.

[31:21] And also they speak English at Argo City and she instantly knows English when she gets here.

[31:25] So there's that too.

[31:25] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[31:26] Okay.

[31:27] So she flies out in full costume.

[31:29] She starts exploring.

[31:31] She crushes some rocks.

[31:32] She flies all over creation.

S3

[31:34] All over some, you know, stock footage of like, okay, well, there is some parallel here.

[31:40] Because when Zod, Nan, and Ursa in Superman 2 landed near a very similar river, if not the exact same river, Ursa fried a snake with her eyes because evil.

[31:50] And Kara lets a flower bloom with her heat vision because good.

[31:54] Oh.

[31:55] And there's a real, I think the wire work part of this is kind of impressive.

[32:00] Like, it's actually really good aerial ballet stuff.

[32:02] But then as soon as you cut to the, like, she's just kind of hovering in front of a nature documentary, it just looks cheap again.

Elliott Kalan

[32:07] But, no, the flying effects in this look really good for the most part.

[32:11] Like, it's better than Superman, I would say.

[32:14] Gesundheit.

[32:15] I haven't seen Superman in a while.

[32:16] But, like, as a kid, the Superman movies, I know the tagline was, you will believe a man can fly.

[32:21] But, like, as a kid, I was like, buddy, it's a movie.

[32:24] Like, it's not real.

Dan McCoy

[32:26] I've been using that cough block, Elliot.

[32:28] So that Gesundheit is going to make you look crazy.

[32:31] You're right.

[32:32] Sorry, everybody.

Elliott Kalan

[32:32] Let me put in a little true believer box here.

[32:35] Asterix.

[32:36] Dan was sneezing off camera.

[32:38] Don't send in for your no prizes, everybody.

[32:41] Suffering Stan.

[32:42] He's suffering from allergies.

[32:44] But the flight stuff looks really good.

[32:48] There's a couple of effects things in this that look much better than the movie should have, frankly.

[32:52] And speaking of flying.

Dan McCoy

[32:53] It cost $35 million, and that's $84.

[32:57] Yeah.

[32:58] So that's, you know, it's a pretty big production still, even after, you know, Superman 3 not doing so well.

[33:06] It made, like, $14.

[33:09] So it was not a success.

Stuart Wellington

[33:12] Yep.

[33:12] Yeah.

[33:13] So after flying around for a bit, it gets dark.

[33:16] She ends up landing in a somewhat abandoned city street.

[33:20] And a truck pulls up, and two fellows, one of them being Matt Frewer, Max Hedrum himself, comes out.

[33:27] And the other being kind of a not Randy Quaid.

[33:30] Yeah.

[33:30] Very close to Randy Quaid.

[33:31] Exactly.

[33:32] And one of the little Easter eggs for the true fans there, a little Easter egg for the fans there, is Matt Frewer is wearing a A&W shirt, which is a Diet Pepsi, or not Diet Pepsi, Dr. Pepper product.

[33:44] And there are other Dr. Pepper products referenced throughout this movie.

[33:48] So Matt Frewer and this fellow.

[33:50] Is that an Easter egg, Steve?

[33:52] It's a little Easter egg for the fans.

[33:54] Yeah.

[33:55] So he and this fellow, you know, they're the first people that she has met on Earth.

[34:01] She is naive.

[34:02] And they, of course, attempt to assault her.

[34:06] And when pressed about it, they say that's because that's who we are, which is really weird.

[34:12] It's really weird.

[34:13] And so she just, you know, she beats the shit out of him, which is great.

[34:16] But it's still, like, a weird threat this early in the movie.

Dan McCoy

[34:19] Let's move past this very quickly, but it is very strange that they have this scene of, like, these are clearly men who want to assault her.

[34:28] And I will not make light of that, but I will, like, make light of the movie's depiction of it, where they seem to be, like, very pleased about this fact.

[34:37] Like, they might, like, put it on a sign on their truck.

[34:40] Like, this is what they're doing.

[34:41] They're just driving around terrorizing people at night.

Elliott Kalan

[34:45] I mean, there's a lot of 80s stuff in this, which is cities are bad.

[34:50] Cities are full of crime.

[34:51] Truckers are scary.

[34:53] Truckers are bad.

[34:53] You can't trust them.

[34:55] And, you know, there's something kind of redneck-y about them.

[34:57] And in the 80s, rednecks were, you know, were always bad guys and scary.

[35:01] But also, like, it's supposed to be, I assume, empowering.

[35:03] Supergill takes care of them so quickly.

[35:05] But they are so one note in their dedication to attacking her that even after she has used her freeze hurricane breath and her wind breath and her heat vision, the bad guy still pulls a knife and tries to go after her.

[35:17] And it's like, dude, what are you doing?

[35:19] Just give it up.

S3

[35:20] And I have to imagine that if you were the A&W executive who had sold, like, I secured, we're in a Supergirl movie.

[35:30] And then you're sitting there in the audience as a man who basically is wearing the A&W logo like it's his superhero insignia on his chest.

[35:37] His would-be assault.

[35:39] Like, it's, that kind of went pear-shaped.

Elliott Kalan

[35:42] I imagine he takes the rest of the A&W office crew to the movies to see it.

[35:47] And he's sitting next to his boss.

[35:48] And he's just sinking down in his seat.

[35:50] As the scene goes on, his boss is getting mad and mad.

Dan McCoy

[35:52] He's like, you never told me that what kind of character should be wearing this shirt.

[35:57] He's like, I didn't think I had to.

[36:02] Anyway, moving on.

Stuart Wellington

[36:03] So, moving on to our other plot.

[36:06] Selena is throwing a pretty dope-ass party in her abandoned amusement park home.

S3

[36:12] Which is really biting the Joker style in a big way.

[36:14] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[36:14] Exactly.

[36:15] I just assume all DC villains live in abandoned amusement parks, right?

Dan McCoy

[36:19] Well, and of all the weird stuff that happens in this movie, I have to say that the thing that Audrey kept coming back to is apparently they're paying a mortgage on this abandoned movie.

[36:29] They are just squatters.

[36:31] They have bills to pay.

Elliott Kalan

[36:32] Yeah.

[36:33] They're paying a mortgage.

[36:34] And as we see later, they keep the haunted house that they live in turned on.

[36:38] Yeah.

[36:38] Like, it's still functioning when someone stumbles into it.

[36:41] So, it's all around.

[36:43] It is some interesting choices for these two ladies to be making about their living space.

Stuart Wellington

[36:47] Yeah.

[36:47] Selena lives with Bianca, who is her, I guess, like, sidekick?

[36:54] Major Domo?

[36:55] I don't know how to describe this character.

Dan McCoy

[36:57] I mean, it's kind of like, you know, I don't know.

[37:00] If, like, only two of the Golden Girls lived together and they were witches.

Elliott Kalan

[37:04] Yeah.

[37:05] Bianca is your mom's friend who drinks a little bit more than your mom.

[37:08] Right.

[37:09] Like, that's what her role is.

[37:10] Yes.

[37:11] And they both dress well and they're a lot of fun.

[37:14] I mean, they're, to be honest, like, when I was a kid, I'm sure I did not find these scenes entertaining that are just the two of them kibitzing like middle-aged ladies.

[37:23] But now, they're clearly the highlight.

[37:24] They're the best part by far.

[37:26] Easily, yeah.

[37:27] Yeah.

S3

[37:27] And Faye Dunaway is not, I mean, you would think, okay, she's just camping it up.

[37:32] She is, but there's a naturalism to her camping it up.

[37:36] Like, it doesn't feel like she's pushing too hard.

[37:39] She knows exactly when to push hard.

[37:41] Power of shadow up here.

[37:42] But, like, here, it's just two gals sitting around having cheesecake.

Dan McCoy

[37:46] And the lighting for her is great, too, because there's just constantly, like, a bar of light across her eyes while the rest of her is morning shadow.

[37:55] They are blasting her like she's Gloria Swanson.

[37:57] Yeah, that's great.

S3

[37:57] And there are scenes where the lens is smeared with suet.

[38:00] It's just, you cannot make her up.

[38:02] Yeah, it's wonderful.

Elliott Kalan

[38:03] The other strange thing about their house is they're clearly in an abandoned haunted house, but they also have just, like, a little kitchenette off to the side that they spend a lot of time in.

Stuart Wellington

[38:11] And they, so they're throwing this fun party with all of her, I guess, she describes them as, like, her soldiers of the night.

[38:18] I'm guessing other people are interested in the occult.

[38:20] And they're, like, riding the amusement park, like, trains into the room.

[38:25] It's a lot of fun.

[38:26] Everybody's got tiki drinks.

Dan McCoy

[38:27] But, again, this feels like a party out of, like, the ice storm, though, too.

[38:31] Like, there should be shag carpeting and a hi-fi going.

[38:33] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[38:34] Oh, sure.

[38:35] And, I mean, like, Nigel shows up and he mentions they saw Supergirl.

[38:40] And Selina's like, I don't give a shit about that.

[38:41] I got this orb.

[38:42] But she doesn't say as much.

[38:44] And then she demonstrates her new power by letting Nigel flirt with a woman who's drinking a tiki drink.

[38:50] And then she is mean to the woman and transforms the garnish into a scorpion, which, that's another little Easter egg for all you fans out there.

[38:57] A scorpion bowl is a tiki drink.

[38:59] Okay.

Dan McCoy

[39:00] Again, I don't know.

[39:05] It's more of a cheeky shag.

Stuart Wellington

[39:06] But, yeah, this part, I do like that that's her first, like, demonstration of power, just being mean to one person for no reason.

Elliott Kalan

[39:14] Before that, she uses the power of the Omega Hedron to turn on her car without her keys.

[39:17] Right.

[39:18] Oh, yeah.

[39:19] So there's that.

[39:20] She's really making the most of this thing that powers an entire interdimensional city.

S3

[39:24] Right.

[39:24] Yeah.

[39:25] And it's important, theoretically, that the thing she's holding the Omega Hedron in, called the Coffer of Shadow, which is this giant lead gargoyle thing, is getting bigger.

[39:34] Again, stakes.

[39:35] Stakes, people.

Stuart Wellington

[39:36] Yeah, and she's mentioned before that her goal is world domination.

[39:42] But I like that she keeps her, like, day-to-day goals pretty grounded.

[39:49] So we cut back to Kara.

[39:51] It's the next morning or early afternoon.

[39:54] She wakes up.

[39:55] She's in the woods.

[39:56] She follows a kid to a softball game.

[40:00] This is a very exciting part of the movie.

[40:02] You have a very excited audience.

[40:04] And my favorite character, of course, a big stuffed panda that is being thrown around by the enthusiastic crowd.

[40:12] And then somebody hits a softball.

[40:14] You know, they hit a foul ball.

[40:16] It goes off the pitch and strikes a handsome groundskeeper in the back.

[40:22] And normally you'd think, oh, he got hit by a stray ball.

[40:26] It would hurt.

[40:26] Nope.

[40:27] He does not break his stride.

[40:28] It just bounced right off his little back.

[40:30] And that guy will come up later.

[40:31] That's Ethan, of course.

[40:32] That's Ellis from Die Hard, the hottest man in the universe.

Elliott Kalan

[40:35] Yeah, he's the Diet Coke time of the movie where every single woman just cannot, when he's around and his shirt is off, they just cannot focus on anything else.

[40:44] And their brains have melted out of their ears with lust for them.

Dan McCoy

[40:46] He's not given much of a character to play here.

[40:48] But I will say he is, like, far more handsome than the character of Ellis from Die Hard would suggest.

[40:54] He shows the power of, like, a lot of, like, glycerin sweat that makeup artists put on him in Die Hard.

[41:00] How unappealing he is there compared to here.

S3

[41:04] Yeah, and, you know, for years, Ellis and Die Hard will be your go-to Hart Bachner pull.

[41:10] But, I mean, I've always, for some reason, identified him more with this particular role.

Stuart Wellington

[41:17] So, Kara watches this.

[41:20] She watches a game.

[41:21] Obviously, she gets this great idea.

[41:23] So, she transforms again.

[41:25] She changes her clothes and her hair.

[41:27] And she infiltrates this boarding school.

[41:29] This boarding school that I'm assuming is associated with the softball team.

Elliott Kalan

[41:33] They do so much work to get her from waking up in the woods to walking to the school.

[41:39] And yet they do no work explaining why she decides to join the school.

[41:42] They're like, how is she going to find it?

[41:44] She's got to follow this kid to the game.

[41:46] And then the ball to the school.

[41:48] It's a little rise of Skywalker right there.

[41:50] Artifact to artifact.

[41:51] Get her there.

[41:52] Okay, now she's going to join the school.

[41:53] Why?

[41:54] We don't have time for that.

[41:54] We showed her see the school.

[41:56] We don't need to reason.

Dan McCoy

[41:57] Yeah, and this is also one of the other scenes in the movie where you're like, okay, how much does Kara know about Earth?

[42:05] Because apparently she knows enough that she takes the opportunity when the dean leaves to use her super speed to type up a recommendation letter from her cousin, Clark Kent.

[42:19] And file it properly.

[42:20] Yeah, and file it.

[42:20] So she knows that that is a necessary part of the process to get into the school.

[42:25] But later on she doesn't know what a handshake is.

[42:28] She seems confused by a bra later.

Elliott Kalan

[42:30] Yeah, she thinks a bra is some kind of weird, but she knows the correct format for a recommendation letter.

[42:35] Someone would write their cousin to get into a private girls' boarding school.

Dan McCoy

[42:39] Although I'm not sure who's paying the tuition even so.

[42:42] That's another.

Elliott Kalan

[42:42] I mean, also the fact that she needs a name and she's like, I'm Linda.

[42:46] And then she looks at a framed picture of Robert E. Lee that is on this man's wall and goes, Lee.

[42:50] And it's like, what kind of school is this?

[42:52] This is like a Midwestern school.

[42:54] Why is there a picture of Robert E. Lee on the dean's wall?

S3

[42:57] Well, because the principal is a deeply unpleasant man.

[43:00] Just a toxic dude who is angry at everything.

[43:03] It's very true.

[43:04] He hates his job.

[43:05] And his name is Danvers, which is a little worrisome if you know the comics,

[43:10] because that is the name of the family that eventually adopts Linda Lee from Midvale Orphanage.

[43:15] So, like, I don't want this dude to be your dad because he's such a dick.

Stuart Wellington

[43:19] He is a dick, but I like that the performance has a little bit of layers.

[43:24] Like, he's like an ineffectual dick.

Elliott Kalan

[43:27] Well, maybe he's like, maybe it's a little Easter egg that he's the child of Mrs. Danvers from Rebecca.

[43:33] And that explains why he's had such a hard time of it.

[43:36] Yeah, so listeners are keeping track.

Stuart Wellington

[43:38] That's one Easter egg for Elliot, two Easter eggs for me.

[43:41] Whoever gets the most Easter eggs, of course, gets the Easter egg feast at the end.

Elliott Kalan

[43:47] Oh, yeah, I forgot.

[43:48] It's literally an Easter egg hunt.

[43:50] Oh, I forgot about that.

[43:51] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[43:51] Yeah.

[43:52] So, of course, the dean is interrupted by Nigel, who is the warlock from earlier.

[43:59] I guess his day job is he's a math teacher, English teacher.

[44:01] I don't remember.

Elliott Kalan

[44:02] He's like a math and computer sciences teacher.

Stuart Wellington

[44:05] Yeah.

[44:06] So, Kara decides she's going to go undercover, as I already mentioned, Linda Lee.

[44:10] She is the cousin to Clark Kent.

[44:12] And she becomes roommates with Lucy Lane.

[44:15] That's right.

[44:16] The kid sister of Lois Lane.

[44:19] Did I get that all right?

S3

[44:20] Yep.

[44:20] And she's got, like, Lucy Lane has, like, a sideways baseball cap and, like, the sweatpants.

[44:24] And she's very, like, serving Joe in Facts of Life.

[44:27] Very, like, might as well have, like, a little slingshot out of her back pocket.

[44:32] You know?

[44:32] That's kind of the vibe she's giving off.

Dan McCoy

[44:34] Glenn, do you know if...

[44:36] Is Lucy Lee a character from the comics or is invented for this movie?

S3

[44:39] Nope.

[44:39] Lucy Lane's real.

[44:40] She was Jimmy Olsen's boyfriend.

[44:42] Absolutely.

Elliott Kalan

[44:42] She's as real as any of these characters, Glenn.

[44:45] I know you've been swimming in these waters a long time.

[44:47] No, no.

[44:47] I'm sorry.

[44:47] That was my...

[44:48] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[44:49] No, no, that's...

Stuart Wellington

[44:50] And actually...

[44:51] Now, you brought this up.

[44:53] You mentioned that she's Jimmy Olsen's girlfriend.

[44:56] Now, as we've already addressed, they are high school kids.

[45:00] So how does Lois Lane feel about a Jimmy Olsen who I believe is a grown man?

[45:07] My wife wanted to know, how does Lois Lane feel about her kid sister fucking an older guy?

S3

[45:13] Well, he's a cub reporter.

Stuart Wellington

[45:15] He's, you know, we don't know how old he is.

[45:16] Well, that's the other thing.

[45:19] Another grown man and a teenage girl.

[45:21] Jimmy Olsen.

Elliott Kalan

[45:22] It was a different time, Stu.

[45:23] This was 1984.

[45:24] It was the Cold War.

[45:25] People didn't know if they were going to be nuked by the Russians at any moment.

[45:27] They had to make the most of it.

Dan McCoy

[45:29] Jimmy Olsen as a character in general is kind of confusing, right?

[45:33] Because, like, here he's played by the same actor who was in the other Superman films.

[45:38] And by this point, yes, he is clearly a full-grown adult man, which raises some troubling questions in this film.

[45:46] But Jimmy Olsen, the character, I'm always like, okay, he's a boy reporter.

[45:51] Like, the way that, like, Tintin's a boy reporter, and I have the same confusion about that.

[45:54] And I'm like, does that mean he's just, like, a really young reporter, or is he a literal boy?

[45:58] And it seems like the comics, you know, change that around a lot.

[46:02] So maybe that's part of my confusion.

[46:03] But I don't know if there's a more definitive answer about what Jimmy Olsen is.

S3

[46:10] Nope.

[46:11] Nope.

[46:13] The other thing is that, you know, Linda Lee is, I'm sorry, Lucy Lane, is wearing a sweatshirt for the school that says MVH.

[46:22] It's called Midvale High.

[46:23] Midvale, I think, is one word, and does not deserve a V.

[46:26] So I don't know what's going on there.

Stuart Wellington

[46:28] Dan, could you put that in goofs, thriefs, maybe?

[46:30] Yeah.

[46:31] When it comes out.

[46:32] For our listeners who can't see at home, there are multiple fist marks in Glenn's drywall from all these fuck-ups.

S3

[46:42] And it's also clearly not a high school.

[46:44] It's a boarding school.

[46:44] So, yes.

[46:45] Yeah.

Elliott Kalan

[46:46] Jimmy Olsen, it makes me mad that he's there.

[46:50] I mean, and not just because he is a grown man dating a high school student, which is horrible.

[46:54] But that also, this is the continued dorkification of Jimmy Olsen, who, in the old comics, is such a troublemaker and is always getting into, like, always getting himself into big problems than being like, Superman, bail me out of this.

[47:06] And I really miss the, like, rascal Jimmy Olsen.

[47:09] And here's my theory about it.

[47:11] In the old comics, Jimmy Olsen wears a bow tie as a way of showing that he's, like, a troublemaker, young kid, and not one of these stodgy old people wearing long ties.

[47:20] But by the time the, like, 60s and 70s rolled around, you can't change a character's clothing.

[47:25] That would be crazy.

[47:26] But a bow tie by then means a nerdlinger.

[47:28] So then he becomes, like, kind of nerdy, boring Jimmy Olsen.

[47:31] Glenn, does that square with your scholarship at all?

S3

[47:33] Well, in the 70s, he grew out his hair.

[47:36] He got a pantsuit, a leisure suit, and big bell bottoms.

[47:40] So, yeah, they changed him around.

[47:41] I think the bow tie guy went away in the late 60s, early 70s.

[47:47] But he's back now in a really great series, Jimmy Olsen series.

[47:51] It's a lot of fun that is kind of incorporating all the weirdness that used to happen to Jimmy Olsen.

[47:54] He got turned into a turtle man.

[47:55] He grew, you know, 80 feet.

[47:57] All that stuff is back.

[47:58] And that's a really great series.

Elliott Kalan

[48:00] Okay.

[48:00] Then maybe, you know what?

[48:02] I should apologize to Jimmy's bow tie.

[48:04] Thank you so much for all this time.

Stuart Wellington

[48:07] Jimmy's bow tie.

[48:08] Okay.

[48:09] So, Kara, we get some scenes of Kara and Lucy hanging out at school.

Elliott Kalan

[48:14] Kara, mainly, she's on the hunt for an artifact that she needs to keep her parents and the rest of the city alive.

[48:20] But then she's mostly using her powers to, like, save people from pranks.

[48:23] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[48:24] Protect Lucy from pranks from bullies who I think are on their same team, right?

[48:29] Yeah.

[48:30] That makes sense.

[48:30] More in the same field hockey uniforms?

Elliott Kalan

[48:32] Yeah.

[48:32] Well, it's like, you know, they're all, you can hate someone.

[48:36] Maybe Lucy is a starter and they don't like her for that or something like that.

[48:41] In Teen Wolf, you had a basketball competition between two teams from the same school.

[48:46] Yeah.

[48:47] And that was the championship.

[48:48] So, it really doesn't make any sense.

Stuart Wellington

[48:49] So, right around now, Selena is using, decides to make a love spell to ensorcel the most successful groundskeeper in the town.

[48:59] That's Ethan, as we've already mentioned, played by Ellis from Die Hard.

[49:02] And she casts a spell on him and tricks him into coming out to her amusement park.

[49:10] But then she gets distracted and he kind of wanders off in, like, a fugue state.

[49:15] And Selena's concerned because the rules of the spell will be that if the first person he lays eyes on or something is who he will fall in love with.

[49:25] So, she's like, can't have that happen.

[49:27] So, she then ensorceles a construction vehicle to chase Ethan around town and bring him back to her.

[49:33] Go, Elliot.

Elliott Kalan

[49:34] Now, Stuart, I think you're glossing over what's really the most important part of these scenes involving a love spell and an evil bulldozer.

[49:41] It's more of an excavator or a digger, I guess.

[49:43] Which is that before this happens, it's a three-day weekend from school.

[49:47] And Lucy is like, come with me, Kara.

[49:49] And she goes, no, no, I'll stay here.

[49:50] And Lucy goes, okay, I'll see you later then at Popeye's.

[49:52] And I went, what?

[49:53] Hold on.

[49:54] Does Midvale have, like, a local diner called Popeye's?

[49:58] That would be a coincidence.

[49:59] But they can't certainly be going to the greatest of all fast food franchises, Popeye's famous fried chicken and biscuits.

[50:04] That can't be possible.

[50:06] Well, lo and behold, Kara runs into them on the street and they are in Popeye's.

[50:11] And Jimmy makes a big show of handing out each of the items on the Popeye's menu to the people at their table.

[50:18] And for this whole sequence, they're standing around this Popeye's.

[50:21] And I just thought, finally, a movie has seen me and is speaking to me and my interest in Popeye's and that particular franchise.

[50:27] Do I wish it was a better superhero movie?

[50:30] In some ways, yes.

[50:31] Because Popeye's deserves a better superhero.

[50:33] But in some ways, no.

[50:35] Because I kind of don't want great superhero action getting in the way of me looking at that Popeye's.

[50:39] So I'm torn.

[50:40] And this is a scene that really, I was of two minds about it for exactly those reasons.

Dan McCoy

[50:44] It's also probably a better food choice for them than the diner that was advertising live lobsters.

[50:49] Yeah.

[50:50] Absolutely.

[50:51] In the Chicago area.

S3

[50:52] In the Chicago.

[50:53] The Chicago lobsters.

[50:55] The Popeye's comes back because, you know, the crane, whatever it is, is chasing Ethan through the streets as he's dazed.

[51:02] There are some actually impressive near misses.

[51:07] The stunt people kind of seem like really talented because it's sometimes there was.

[51:11] Now, maybe they're doing that with foreshortening the perspective or something.

[51:14] But it seems like this crane comes really close to people.

[51:17] But then when eventually, eventually, eventually, Kara decides to intervene, she watches this unfold for a very long time.

[51:25] Lucy decides to intervene before Kara does, which is crazy.

[51:28] It doesn't make any sense.

[51:28] Which is crazy.

[51:28] It doesn't make any sense.

S3

[51:28] But when she eventually changes into Supergirl, she does so atop the Popeye's sign.

[51:36] She straddles it like a colossus.

[51:38] And, like, that is the money shot of the film.

[51:40] That is, like, it is so odd.

[51:43] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[51:44] But she also, like, so she, yeah, she waits a long time to get involved.

[51:48] Then she does all that she can, like, from a distance using, you know, heat vision and blowing things or whatnot.

[51:54] So she's not seen doing any of her superheroics.

[51:58] And she rescues this guy and takes him off.

[52:02] Like, it's all, like, why are you concerned about keeping this a secret?

[52:09] Like, this is a place that already has a Superman.

[52:12] They love him.

[52:13] You know?

[52:14] They're not going to be confused by you wearing the exact same clothes and having the exact same, you know, like, powers.

[52:21] Well.

[52:21] I mean, they might, well, they'll be confused, but they're not going to be, like, mad about it.

[52:25] They'll be like, oh, great, another one.

[52:27] You know?

Stuart Wellington

[52:27] Well, what I would say, the first time she, the only other time that she had encountered humans, they attempted to assault her in the street.

[52:37] So maybe she was like, I need to change what I look like.

Elliott Kalan

[52:40] So it's like Steve Martin in The Jerk.

[52:42] She thinks it's the clothes that were the problem.

[52:44] Like, when he's like, these cans.

[52:46] He hates these cans.

[52:48] But because it is, there's a lot of this movie that, and you see it in a lot of action and superhero movies, where they're following the form of the thing but not the function of the thing.

[52:58] Where it's like, a superhero has a secret identity, so she's got to go undercover at this school and she can't let anyone know she's Supergirl.

[53:04] But the movie has given you, but in regular comics and in movies, that follows the function of, I live on this planet, so I have to lead a normal life.

[53:13] I don't want to just be walking around in my costume all the time, and I don't want to endanger my loved ones.

[53:16] Whereas the Supergirl, she's just visiting.

[53:18] There's no reason.

[53:19] You know, she's not sticking around.

[53:21] She has to leave.

[53:22] So, yeah, it makes no sense why she would establish another identity, why she would care if people know who she is.

[53:27] Like, if I was her, I would have gone straight to the president and been like, I'm from another planet.

[53:31] I'm looking for this thing.

[53:32] I need you to help me.

[53:33] Or I guess I'll blow up Mount Rushmore or something.

[53:35] Look, I just need your help.

[53:36] Like, there's no reason for her not to go on TV and be like, hey, I'm Supergirl.

[53:39] I know who Superman is.

[53:41] Go find this thing for me, and I'll tell you.

[53:43] Like, it's, you know, there's no reason.

Dan McCoy

[53:45] I mean, even if she does want a secret identity, like, helping out in the situation is not going to endanger that.

[53:50] Like, when she's Linda Lee, she's a brunette.

[53:54] And when she's Supergirl, she's blonde.

[53:55] No one can see through that.

Elliott Kalan

[53:57] Yeah, it's impossible.

[53:59] People never change their hair color or else no one would ever recognize them.

S3

[54:02] Yeah, and the whole primary colored costume thing would seem to work against I need to disguise myself by kicking up some hay.

[54:08] It seems like you need to pick a lane on there.

Elliott Kalan

[54:11] But I think it must hit her with so much guilt that Lucy Lane, an ordinary teenager, jumps into the cab of this out-of-control construction equipment to save a man while she's just standing off to the side watching.

[54:24] Unless it's one of those things—I always wondered this about Superman.

[54:27] There's this scene in Superman Returns, I think it is, where he stops a bank robbery, and those guys have that huge, like, artillery gun that they're firing at him.

[54:36] And I was always like, why does Superman care about property laws?

[54:40] He's so powerful.

[54:41] Like, why does he really care about the banks problem?

[54:44] You would think he would be spending all of his time stopping runaway volcanoes and things like that.

[54:48] But so with Supergirl, maybe she is such a godlike being that she looks down on this, and she's like,

[54:53] Huh, that handsome man's being chased by that excavator.

[54:56] This amuses me.

[54:57] I'll see what happens.

[54:58] He's but an ant to me.

[55:00] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[55:01] Well, she saves him anyway.

[55:03] She tears off the shovel part of the construction vehicle that is carrying Ethan.

[55:09] I think it's called a maw.

[55:11] I think that's the technique.

[55:12] Oh, yep.

[55:12] And she whisks him away and quickly changes back to her, what, Linda?

[55:21] Lucy?

[55:21] Linda?

[55:22] Linda Lee persona?

Elliott Kalan

[55:24] Both characters have double L names, and they make a joke about this earlier where the dean is, like, confused.

[55:30] And it's like, it never occurred to them that the filmgoer might also be confused by the names that sound almost identical.

Dan McCoy

[55:35] Yeah, and we hear him, now that he's in love, we hear him, like, pitch a little woo.

[55:41] And the thing about this guy under this love spell is suddenly he starts reciting, like, poetry to her.

[55:49] Yeah.

[55:50] And, I mean, it, you know, it sparked a few questions in my mind.

[55:56] I mean, mostly, did he know poetry before, and now he's just in love, and he has poetry?

[56:03] Or, like, does the spell somehow switch his personality over to a guy who, like, says a lot of poetry?

Stuart Wellington

[56:11] And also, the other thing...

[56:12] Looney Tune rules.

Dan McCoy

[56:13] Love is represented by either poetry or him acting kind of dumb.

[56:19] Him, like, being like, where's Linda?

[56:21] I love Linda.

[56:22] I gotta get back to Linda.

[56:23] Love does make people dumb.

[56:24] Yeah, yeah, but I am...

[56:25] My primary mode of expressing love is, like, I have to get back to Audrey.

[56:32] Where is Audrey?

Elliott Kalan

[56:34] Yeah, a real poochy type thing.

[56:37] Where's Poochy?

[56:38] What's going on?

[56:39] There's a...

[56:40] His personality change during this love spell was so baffling, because the first time we

[56:43] see him, he's like, yeah, I don't know.

[56:45] Hey, I don't like talking about myself.

[56:47] To Selena.

[56:47] Very much more the type of guy I would imagine who would try to date a high school student.

[56:51] And then he turns into, like, this kind of intellectual Ethan.

[56:55] Yeah.

[56:55] And it...

[56:57] Yeah.

[56:58] But then after the spell wears off, he's still suddenly this smarter guy.

[57:01] So I don't know what they were going for.

[57:03] Unlike everything else in the movie, which is just crackerjack plotting and...

[57:06] There's probably...

Stuart Wellington

[57:07] Yeah, there's probably a Flowers for Algernon moment after the movie when he loses it.

Elliott Kalan

[57:13] Well, he looks at his mouse, which has fallen in love with another mouse, and it's like,

[57:17] I'm sorry, Algernon.

[57:19] That's what I meant.

Stuart Wellington

[57:21] Oh, uh...

[57:22] Okay.

[57:22] Well, that's fun.

[57:24] So, uh...

[57:26] Selena and Bianca nod into this.

[57:28] So they decide to put a curse on Kara.

[57:31] Uh...

[57:31] Always hating on the woman, not the man.

[57:33] Absolutely.

[57:34] Uh...

S3

[57:34] And, um...

[57:36] Selena says, what good is a sword if it's not unleashed?

[57:39] And it's like, that's not what you do with a sword.

Elliott Kalan

[57:41] No.

[57:42] Oh, it's my second favorite line in the movie after, of course.

[57:45] I'll see you later then at Popeyes.

[57:47] At Popeyes.

[57:47] Yeah.

[57:48] She says, a sword unleashed.

[57:50] And yet, it's just like, what do you think...

[57:52] What do you think these words mean?

S3

[57:53] I think the line was probably unsheathed, and she just got it wrong.

[57:57] That's my working theory.

[57:59] But it doesn't make any sense.

Stuart Wellington

[58:02] So they unleash kind of like an invisible force thing,

[58:08] kind of like what I'd imagine the thing from Evil Dead 2

[58:11] that's always chasing people around looks like.

[58:13] It basically causes a lot of wind, and stuff flies all over the place.

[58:16] And Kara uses a stick and electricity and defeats it.

Elliott Kalan

[58:21] Yeah, I like this.

[58:23] It's like a lamp pole.

S3

[58:24] Yeah, she takes a straight lamp, and she flies up into the clouds.

[58:27] It is a stick.

[58:27] I like that.

[58:28] I like her pose as she's carrying the stick up into the lightning.

[58:33] She turns it into a lightning rod and brings it back down.

[58:36] And the effect is that very Forbidden Planet cartoon lightning thing

[58:42] that it seems like for a long time,

[58:45] that's all we could do with lightning in movies,

[58:47] is to just kind of do that fakey-fake Forbidden Planet effect.

[58:51] But before that, they are monitoring this whole situation,

[58:56] Bianca and Selina, with a mirror that does not provide sound.

[58:59] And you are reminded of when this film is set by terms of,

[59:04] by epithets thrown by these characters.

[59:06] Dingleberry, Space Cadet, on the case of Lucy Lane.

[59:10] And here, where's the wimp?

[59:13] And the spin that Faye Dunaway puts on the word wimp,

[59:16] it's like it does not have the letter I.

[59:18] It is just wimp.

[59:19] Where's the wimp?

[59:20] As if she's never heard the word before.

[59:23] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[59:28] So, of course, oh man, I got, oh yeah.

[59:32] So, Kara.

Elliott Kalan

[59:32] So, this, oh, I mentioned this magic mirror must have been a huge influence on Tim Burton

[59:37] when he made the first Batman movie,

[59:39] since so much of that consists of Joker watching television

[59:42] and getting mad at the things Batman is doing on TV.

Stuart Wellington

[59:46] So, Kara notices that the, that this whole interaction causes a little bit of a reaction

[59:52] with her magical bracelet that I guess she's using to track the Omega Hedron.

[59:59] In theory.

[1:00:00] Yeah, in theory.

[1:00:01] So, she follows, she follows the kind of vibes from the Omega Hedron to Selina's hideout.

[1:00:08] Right before, right before she decides to, or tries to confront Selina,

[1:00:12] Ethan shows up.

[1:00:13] He's sick with love for this teenager.

[1:00:15] And he proposes to her.

Elliott Kalan

[1:00:18] She flew there.

[1:00:19] So, did he also fly there?

[1:00:20] Or is he even hanging around an abandoned amusement park hoping that,

[1:00:24] that this girl from a school that's, I guess, across town would show up?

[1:00:28] Yeah, that's some alpha level moves.

Dan McCoy

[1:00:31] Well, this is also one of the places in his lovesickness that,

[1:00:36] where he just comes across, like his love,

[1:00:37] his version of playing love is just sort of like,

[1:00:40] sort of be like kind of, I don't know,

[1:00:43] diffident and like, sort of like, here, come, please, please, sit with me.

[1:00:49] Please, take a ride.

[1:00:50] Please, please.

[1:00:52] Yes.

Stuart Wellington

[1:00:54] Yeah, and he proposes to her, which is odd.

[1:00:57] Moving fast.

[1:00:58] Okay, whatever.

[1:00:58] Yeah.

[1:00:59] Yeah, moving fast, but whatever.

[1:01:01] Then Selina shows up and she is not having it.

[1:01:05] So she and Kara have a little showdown that features bumper cars heavily.

Elliott Kalan

[1:01:09] And Selina does some-

[1:01:11] And those bumper cars are in the shape of three football players.

[1:01:15] Yeah.

[1:01:15] They are the most, they are the most amazingly detailed bumper car sculpts that I've ever seen.

[1:01:20] Yeah.

[1:01:20] And I gotta say,

Stuart Wellington

[1:01:21] And Selina also has this move where she like,

[1:01:23] creates a whole bunch of mirror images of herself.

[1:01:25] It's pretty great.

Elliott Kalan

[1:01:26] That's the only other thing, the only other thing I remembered about this movie from when

[1:01:29] I was a kid was that, that effect, which still looks really cool to me, where she turns

[1:01:33] into a bunch of kind of shimmering, half-translucent Selinas.

[1:01:38] That and the fact that she had a skull painted on her door, only things I remembered from when

[1:01:41] I was a kid about this movie.

[1:01:42] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[1:01:42] No, this sequence, I think, is fun and genuinely looks kind of cool.

[1:01:47] Like, you know, you gotta forget the fact that, you know, being hit by a bumper car,

[1:01:52] while certainly would probably hurt, is not the mortal danger this movie tries to make it out to be.

[1:01:59] I mean, that it's literally the point of bumper cars is to be hit by the other cars.

[1:02:04] Or, you know, you gotta ignore, like, you know, Supergirl throwing a bunch of,

[1:02:07] a bunch of, like, metal bars in fast motion to create a, like, a fence around, a cage around Selina.

[1:02:16] It's not maybe the most effective thing that Supergirl could do with all of her powers to subdue her,

[1:02:21] but great.

[1:02:21] It's a great, like, you know, comic book-y thing.

Elliott Kalan

[1:02:24] Yeah, she had to do it to inspire the same thing that happened in Spider-Man 3 with Venom, remember?

[1:02:29] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[1:02:29] Yeah, I mean, it's not like Selina's powers are based on her being able to, like,

[1:02:35] like, if they put her in a cage, she's still gonna be able to do magic shit, right?

Elliott Kalan

[1:02:39] Well, maybe she needs to make really big hand gestures, and she just can't quite get the wingspan that she needs.

S3

[1:02:46] Now, I always love the fakey-fake language that movies and television come up with for magic,

[1:02:52] and here, Faye Dunaway memorably delivers the line,

[1:02:56] Sikaraka, Faka, Sku.

[1:02:59] And I would argue that Sku is where that whole thing takes a dive.

[1:03:02] Like, I'm with ya, up at Sikaraka and Faka, but, like, Sku just doesn't have the juice it needs to have.

Elliott Kalan

[1:03:09] No.

[1:03:10] The rest could be some kind of ancient Latin-y type language, but Sku, certainly.

S3

[1:03:15] Plenty of apostrophes, you know, in there somewhere, but not in Sku, no.

Elliott Kalan

[1:03:20] That reminds me of an old, there's an old Jack Benny show where, I forget the name of the guy he had who would, like, sing,

[1:03:26] he had a male singer on who was part of the cast and who would sing songs,

[1:03:30] where he sings Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo, because I guess Cinderella had just come out,

[1:03:33] and hearing a grown man singing that song, it's like, oh, this song is nonsense.

[1:03:38] This song doesn't make, this song is just made up, crazy made up words,

[1:03:42] and that was the feeling I had here with her magic.

Stuart Wellington

[1:03:45] So Ethan is in danger, so Kara picks him up in the bumper car

[1:03:49] and takes him to a beach somewhere where he is promptly knocked out with a coconut to the head.

[1:03:54] That is not a joke.

[1:03:55] Dan McCoy wrote this scene.

Elliott Kalan

[1:03:57] Selena sends that coconut.

[1:03:59] It's not like it's a random coconut.

[1:04:00] I love it, too, because she's like,

Dan McCoy

[1:04:01] She's like, that should keep her busy for a while or something like that.

[1:04:05] And it's just like, that's your plan?

[1:04:08] Yeah, we gotta hit her boyfriend with a coconut.

Stuart Wellington

[1:04:12] Yeah, so they're watching, Selena, Bianca, and then Nigel are all watching this through the mirror.

[1:04:18] Nigel breaks the love spell by cracking open a nut and flicking out a spider.

[1:04:23] Not a euphemism.

[1:04:25] Yeah, yep.

[1:04:26] Ethan and Supergirl get in this conversation.

[1:04:30] They argue, but it isn't until they kiss.

[1:04:34] Or wait, is this when they kiss and Ethan realizes that Linda is Supergirl and Supergirl's Linda?

[1:04:41] Something like that.

Elliott Kalan

[1:04:42] Yeah, somewhere around here.

[1:04:43] Maybe that happens later.

[1:04:45] No, no, I think that happens around here, because there's no other.

[1:04:48] After this, it's just nonstop action and Phantom Zone stuff.

[1:04:52] I wouldn't call it nonstop action, but sure.

[1:04:55] Well, start and stop action.

S3

[1:04:58] I think that's when Ethan gets whisked away.

[1:05:00] Because Nigel is using the Burundi wand, which is pure, unadulterated evil.

[1:05:07] Okay.

[1:05:07] And naming your evil wand after an entire country.

[1:05:10] I mean, we don't do that anymore.

[1:05:12] Yeah, it's not nice.

[1:05:13] It's not the Spanish flu.

[1:05:14] We're not using Spanish flu anymore.

[1:05:16] So, like, can we just...

Stuart Wellington

[1:05:17] It was not a good look.

[1:05:19] So, he...

[1:05:20] And they take him away.

[1:05:22] He, like, literally just teleports to a bed where he is chained up.

[1:05:27] Yummy, yummy.

[1:05:28] Uh-huh.

Elliott Kalan

[1:05:28] There's also something funny about being like, this object that I got is all powerful.

[1:05:33] I can control the world with it.

[1:05:35] The whole plot of the movie hinges on it.

[1:05:36] Nigel being like, I got this thing, too.

[1:05:38] It's pretty powerful.

[1:05:39] I can do stuff with it.

[1:05:40] It's like, why are you introducing new magic, Nigel?

[1:05:43] Like, what are you...

[1:05:43] Come on.

[1:05:44] What are you doing?

Stuart Wellington

[1:05:44] Yeah, what is this, a Christopher Nolan movie?

[1:05:46] We don't have to keep introducing new shit.

[1:05:48] What is this, cats?

Elliott Kalan

[1:05:50] Come on.

[1:05:50] We have our characters.

[1:05:52] Let's see a plot already.

Stuart Wellington

[1:05:54] Yeah.

[1:05:54] So, I do love that this...

[1:05:56] Like, I do love how much this world domination plot still revolves around Selina capturing Ethan.

[1:06:05] Like, that's...

[1:06:06] Like, the whole world's your oyster.

[1:06:08] But whatever.

[1:06:09] Yeah, he's great.

Elliott Kalan

[1:06:09] It just sticks in her craw that Ethan is in love with this other person now.

[1:06:12] That makes perfect sense.

[1:06:13] Well, let's...

[1:06:14] I mean, hold on.

Dan McCoy

[1:06:15] Let's back up and take a little examination of that.

[1:06:17] Because, like...

[1:06:19] Not to get on a high horse, but I feel like this movie does have, like, some of that Catwoman issue.

[1:06:24] Where, like, you know, the Halle Berry Catwoman, they're like,

[1:06:27] Okay, this is going to be a female-led superhero movie.

[1:06:30] So, clearly, the bad guy has to be Sharon Stone, evil cosmetics manufacturer.

[1:06:36] So, and here, in Supergirl, it's not quite as egregious as that, but it does feel like,

[1:06:41] Okay.

[1:06:42] You know, we've got this female-led superhero movie.

[1:06:45] Great.

[1:06:45] We're going to put a female villain in?

[1:06:47] Sure, I understand that decision with that.

[1:06:49] Like, and now what we're going to do with that is, in addition to the villain wanting world domination,

[1:06:54] there's got to be a love triangle between...

[1:06:56] Like, they have to both like the same man, you know?

Elliott Kalan

[1:06:59] And, like, there's...

[1:07:00] It would be weird if Clark Kent and Lex Luthor were trying to date the same person,

[1:07:06] and that's what the movie was about.

[1:07:07] Yeah.

[1:07:07] Yeah, I guess.

Dan McCoy

[1:07:08] I mean, like, it is a little fun to, like, put him in the traditional, like, damsel in distress role.

[1:07:14] I'm not going to say, like, there's not, like, a little joy in the silliness of, like, all of it.

[1:07:19] Like, let's really do this.

[1:07:21] Let's, like, reverse everything.

[1:07:22] Let's make him, like, almost a non-character the way that, unfortunately, many girlfriend characters are in movies.

[1:07:28] But it also feels like you don't need it, man.

[1:07:31] Like, you're making adjustments that aren't necessary here.

Stuart Wellington

[1:07:35] And it's kind of fucked up that this character, that the Ethan character, up until that point,

[1:07:41] was, like, magically coerced to be interested in Supergirl.

[1:07:46] Yeah.

[1:07:46] Like, I think she even kisses him before the spell breaks, maybe?

[1:07:50] It's kind of fucked up.

Elliott Kalan

[1:07:51] Yep.

[1:07:52] Well, I don't, which, I mean, she doesn't know that he's under a love spell, I think.

[1:07:56] But it is weird that we, the audience, know that.

Dan McCoy

[1:07:58] Well, also, I feel like there are other, like, elements that...

[1:08:02] I can track all of the choices that led to, like, one big, like, sort of problematic result, you know?

[1:08:10] Because it does feel like, okay, we're going to cast Faye Dunaway in this because, you know,

[1:08:16] if we're going to do a female-led superhero movie, why not give a woman also have the chance to really bite into a villain role?

[1:08:23] And, like, let's also have her be, like, the big name of, like, the main cast.

[1:08:29] You know, Peter O'Toole's a glorified cameo.

[1:08:31] Let's make, like, she's, like, the...

[1:08:33] Well, they're very much following the...

Elliott Kalan

[1:08:35] They're following the Superman, the movie thing of you have a Kryptonian that's a big name,

[1:08:39] you got a villain that's a big name, so you can have a newcomer who is the hero.

[1:08:43] Yes.

Dan McCoy

[1:08:43] But the result of this is, like, the idea that, like, okay, we're going to have Faye Dunaway,

[1:08:50] this middle-aged actor in a love triangle with this other actor who's supposed to be very young,

[1:08:58] over this man kind of makes it feel like...

[1:09:02] The movie's like, kick it to the curb, old lady.

[1:09:05] Oh, witch lady.

[1:09:07] You're middle-aged sexuality.

[1:09:08] Fuck that.

[1:09:09] Supergirl's here.

[1:09:11] Like, and I know that I'm reading a lot into it at this point,

[1:09:14] but it is like you make all these small decisions and then an unintended consequence comes out.

Elliott Kalan

[1:09:19] Yeah, yeah.

[1:09:20] I don't know that it's that...

[1:09:20] Very TikTok-based consequence.

[1:09:22] Yeah.

[1:09:22] I don't know that it's that unintended a consequence.

[1:09:25] That's true.

[1:09:25] I think you're giving them more credit than they deserve, but I will say the math works out.

[1:09:29] The Gardner is roughly the median age between Kara and Faye Dunaway.

[1:09:34] It works.

[1:09:35] The math works.

S3

[1:09:36] Yeah, and the character of Supergirl, I mean, like, there is some empowering messages in this film

[1:09:41] that completely get undercut by the climax, and we'll talk about it when we get there,

[1:09:45] but the character of Supergirl has always been geared toward girls.

[1:09:51] From the jump, she was there to accompany, you know, Superman, and her entanglements were

[1:09:57] always more emotional and romantic than physical, just because, you know, romance comics were

[1:10:01] going out of style, and they wanted to hold on to women, so they introduced a lot of female

[1:10:05] versions of male characters who usually didn't have a lot of personality, but, you know,

[1:10:11] they made up for not having a lot of definable personality the way they made up for the fact

[1:10:14] that Superman didn't have a definable personality, surround him with a lot of weird shit,

[1:10:18] and so they just surrounded her with the super horse who also was in love with her, and all

[1:10:22] these romantic antagonists.

[1:10:24] So when people, when the Supergirl series on the CW came out, and people were complaining

[1:10:27] that it's like, it's so female and soft, and why can't she just be a badass?

[1:10:31] It's because that's in the DNA of the character, and all the conflicts in this film are not

[1:10:38] really physical.

[1:10:39] They are emotional, and the climax of the film is Supergirl telling Selena she doesn't have

[1:10:43] any friends, which is just mean-grazing.

Elliott Kalan

[1:10:47] It's just, it's like, it's...

[1:10:48] The fact that it's the same climax as the Muppet movie?

[1:10:51] Yeah, it's a little strange.

[1:10:52] It's a little bit strange, yeah.

[1:10:53] But I would say, that's, you raise a good point, and Dan, you raise a good point, and

[1:10:58] I'm gonna not argue against it exactly, but say that, like, there is something, they do

[1:11:03] it badly here, but there's something a little refreshing to me, almost in the return to that,

[1:11:09] that what is a misogynist traditional thing when it's done poorly, that, like, I get tired

[1:11:14] of female heroes where it's like, she's just like a male hero, and just as tough as a male

[1:11:19] hero, and just does everything the male hero would, but she's got a vagina instead of a

[1:11:23] penis.

[1:11:23] Yeah.

[1:11:23] And it's like, there is something to having a female hero who takes on, who has strength

[1:11:29] from feminine characteristics, but again, they do it poorly.

[1:11:31] No, I agree with you.

Dan McCoy

[1:11:32] I was, I didn't say it, but meant to, that, like, you can give them credit for, like, trying

[1:11:39] to, not just being like, okay, we're gonna do a Superman movie, but with a female lead.

[1:11:46] Like, they do, it's clear that they thought about, like, okay, how does this change the

[1:11:52] movie?

[1:11:53] And don't just map it on and be like, but at the same time, yes, they do it badly is

[1:11:58] the problem.

[1:11:59] They do it badly.

[1:12:00] They don't think it through.

Elliott Kalan

[1:12:01] And the thing is, at the time this movie came out, 1984, like, to do a Superman movie, but

[1:12:05] with a female lead doing all this Superman and stuff, would have been a new and exciting

[1:12:08] thing.

[1:12:08] Like, that, it would have been aliens, to a certain extent.

S3

[1:12:10] Yeah, yeah.

[1:12:11] And it's tough, it's tough to do female characters who aren't gonna spend their entire time punching

[1:12:17] people, because, like, with Wonder Woman, that's a contradiction in terms.

[1:12:21] Like, she is a warrior for peace, right?

[1:12:23] Yeah.

[1:12:23] She fights so that people won't fight anymore.

[1:12:26] Mm-hmm.

[1:12:26] So, the way you get around that, because, again, all the stuff that's essential to Wonder

[1:12:30] Woman is that she works through compassion and truth and love.

[1:12:32] It's very gender essentialist.

[1:12:34] So, the way you get around that is the way you do it in the first female, the first Wonder

[1:12:37] Woman film, where she shows up with a rocking badass soundtrack and she kicks ass.

[1:12:43] That's a way you kind of get, you incorporate what's essential about the character without

[1:12:47] making it so sexist and essentialist.

[1:12:50] Yeah.

[1:12:50] Mm-hmm.

[1:12:51] That makes sense.

[1:12:52] Anyway.

Elliott Kalan

[1:12:53] I think, and it all, like you're saying, Dan, I think it comes from, like, strong character.

[1:12:58] Yeah.

[1:12:58] You know, rather than, like, trying to check a box off, you know.

[1:13:01] Strong female character.

Dan McCoy

[1:13:02] But, yeah.

[1:13:03] Well, I mean, clearly, we four men, three of whom are straight, are the best people to

[1:13:08] unpack all of this.

Stuart Wellington

[1:13:11] Yeah, of course.

[1:13:12] So, now that Selina has captured Ethan, she again betrays Nigel and then magics up a fortress,

[1:13:19] a mountain fortress in the middle of town, which everybody seems quite perplexed by.

[1:13:25] So, Kara shows up to save the day.

Elliott Kalan

[1:13:27] Rightfully, she decides that her world domination will begin in Midvale and that will be the new

[1:13:31] center of power for the planet.

Stuart Wellington

[1:13:33] And it also...

[1:13:34] Again, it's like, she doesn't seem that interested in the actual world domination part.

[1:13:39] I feel like that's a drag.

[1:13:40] Like, she just wants to do whatever she wants at the moment.

[1:13:44] Like, I don't know.

[1:13:44] And by the way, when...

Elliott Kalan

[1:13:45] Much like certain former presidents, she does not want to be in charge.

[1:13:49] She just wants to have permission to do whatever.

Dan McCoy

[1:13:52] When Kara flies back to Midvale, by the way, she, like, flies over, like, New York City,

[1:13:56] I think.

[1:13:57] Like, it takes a long time.

[1:13:58] I'm just like, how far did you fly the dude away to take him to safety?

[1:14:04] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[1:14:05] You gotta get that bumper car out of there.

[1:14:09] So, she flies back.

[1:14:11] She sees this beautiful palace, which I honestly have to say, I kind of miss the abandoned amusement

[1:14:17] park hideout, but that's okay.

[1:14:20] So, we have this fortress, and Ethan is chained up, and then she immediately is trapped in a

[1:14:26] prism and flipped off into the Phantom Zone.

S3

[1:14:30] Now, is she trapped in the Phantom Zone, or is that diamond just transporting her to the Phantom Zone?

[1:14:39] Bit of a contradiction in the canon here, because in Superman 2 and Superman 1, the Phantom Zone is that

[1:14:44] swirly little diamond.

[1:14:45] Yeah.

[1:14:46] But here, it's just like the Jitney to the Phantom Zone.

[1:14:49] Yeah.

[1:14:50] And it's like, well, which is it?

[1:14:52] Because, I mean, otherwise, like, are we saying that the three Superman villains never made it to the

[1:14:57] Phantom Zone because they missed their turn?

Dan McCoy

[1:14:59] I was also confused, like, as soon as she arrives, like, that thing shatters, and she falls out on the

[1:15:04] ground.

[1:15:04] And I'm like, if that is just a transport, is that the way it works?

[1:15:07] Is it just, like, two pieces of glass that are pressed together with a Supergirl sandwich?

Elliott Kalan

[1:15:12] Yep.

[1:15:14] The, uh, the, I imagine it was a, it was a poor Charlie type situation where, uh, for the, for the

[1:15:20] Phantom Zone criminals, where they did not have, they didn't have the right toll on them to get off.

[1:15:24] So they just have to ride back and forth between Krypton and the Phantom Zone for all eternity.

[1:15:28] So she never returned?

[1:15:29] They never returned.

[1:15:30] Here's the thing.

[1:15:31] The Phantom Zone stuff, when she first appears in it, her just walking through this, like,

[1:15:36] blasted wasteland with her costume on and the lighting kind of, like, that whole sequence

[1:15:41] until she has to crawl through mud, which was gross for them to do that to the character,

[1:15:45] that whole sequence works really well for me as, like, she's at the lowest ebb and now she's

[1:15:49] in a place that her, her natural inborn abilities of optimism and, and, uh, kind of gooey,

[1:15:56] angelic naivete don't work here anymore.

[1:15:58] So this, this is a visual that works really well for me.

S3

[1:16:00] Yeah, I agree with you, Elliot, except there's a lot of it.

[1:16:03] Uh, there's a lot.

Dan McCoy

[1:16:04] She's wandering for a long time.

S3

[1:16:06] Well, if, if there was such a thing as a verbal macro, this goes on for a while would be something

[1:16:11] we'd be using a lot in this movie.

Dan McCoy

[1:16:14] Yeah.

[1:16:15] And then Peter O'Toole shows up and, like, this is the only time I think in film going

[1:16:20] history where I've been like, ugh, Peter O'Toole's back.

[1:16:22] Cause it, cause I know that like, like this is like the fun part of the movie is like the,

[1:16:27] the, you know, the more campy stuff with the Faye Dunaway, just like sort of hanging around

[1:16:33] being evil.

[1:16:33] And then like Peter O'Toole stuck in the Phantom Zone.

[1:16:36] I'm like, okay, well this is just like a complication we got to get through.

Stuart Wellington

[1:16:39] And, and again, he's, he's kind of like, he's broken and seemingly drunk and he keeps saying

[1:16:46] squirt over and over, which again is a Dr. Pepper product.

[1:16:49] Just like A&W.

[1:16:51] Easter egg.

[1:16:52] It's like Stuart racked up another one.

[1:16:54] Oh man.

[1:16:55] Oh man, I got a whole barrel.

Elliott Kalan

[1:16:57] It seems like, it seems like saying squirt and stuff that Peter O'Toole is working so

[1:17:02] hard to make us, make us the audience think that Peter O'Toole, the actor does not know

[1:17:07] what it's like to be a drunk alcoholic and we're like, Peter, just be, be, you know,

[1:17:11] you can do this.

[1:17:11] He's trying so hard to do like a non-alcoholics version of someone who's drunk.

S3

[1:17:15] There are moments, even though I love these movies, superhero movies and all this kind

[1:17:18] of stuff, there are moments when a really world-class actor like Peter O'Toole is reduced

[1:17:23] to going squirt, squirt.

[1:17:27] It's like when in, I think it was Winter Soldier where Robert Redford says, hell hydra.

[1:17:31] And it's like, oh, don't, don't, don't, please just leave it to it.

[1:17:35] It's like, it's like, you'll remember this when you're playing with your Mego Batcave

[1:17:40] action figures and your dad who's been trying to get you out in the yard to throw the old

[1:17:45] pigskin around, but has just not been able to do it.

[1:17:47] And he comes in and he gives up.

[1:17:49] So he gets down on his knees and he picks up one of your action figures and goes, so

[1:17:52] which doll is this?

[1:17:53] Is this Spider-Boy?

[1:17:54] And you're like, it's no, I don't, don't patronize me.

[1:17:58] I don't need you here.

[1:17:59] You just go out.

[1:18:00] You just go, it's, it's, and also A, they're, they're action figures, not dolls.

[1:18:03] And B, there's no such thing as Spider-Boy.

[1:18:05] And C, I can tell you didn't say the hyphen.

[1:18:08] There's a hyphen in Spider-Boy.

[1:18:09] It doesn't exist, but there would be.

[1:18:10] And I can tell you didn't know.

Elliott Kalan

[1:18:12] You're like, dad, it was a very deliberate choice that Stan named him Spider-Man and not

[1:18:16] Spider-Boy.

[1:18:17] Exactly.

[1:18:18] But do you know what I mean?

[1:18:19] It's just, it's beneath him.

[1:18:20] Oh yeah.

[1:18:20] It's the having to, it's, it's, it's like watching someone make a movie in a language they don't

[1:18:25] really speak and they're doing it phonetically and they can't pull it off as well as Antonio

[1:18:28] Banderas and the Mambo Kings.

[1:18:29] And it just doesn't come across.

[1:18:31] But the flip side of that is my favorite thing about everyone having to be in superhero movies

[1:18:35] now, which is then the behind the scenes interviews where an actor who clearly does not give

[1:18:39] a shit about the X-Men has to talk about the meaning of the new mutants or whatever.

[1:18:43] And like why, why, why Magneto is the heart of, of militant rebellion, you know, against

[1:18:49] oppression or something like, I do love having them, seeing them being forced to like take

[1:18:55] material seriously that they do not care about.

[1:18:57] Whereas like when you, it feels like there's no other type of movie where there's an assumption

[1:19:02] on the part of the audience that the people making it should love and understand every

[1:19:07] aspect of the thing that they're doing.

[1:19:08] Like Tom Cruise, when he made the firm, he wasn't like, oh yeah, of course I love John Grisham's

[1:19:13] novels.

[1:19:13] All of them.

[1:19:14] I've always been a big Grish head, you know, ever since I was a kid.

[1:19:18] To see Peter O'Toole kind of, and all of them kind of like having to, yeah, it feels

[1:19:24] like they're, they're in a, they're, they're swimming through a culture that they don't

[1:19:28] really understand.

Dan McCoy

[1:19:29] I mean, at its, at its worst, this movie like feels like whoever, you know, like all was

[1:19:36] involved in this or that part of the, of making the movie is like comics are dumb.

[1:19:41] Like we're holding ourselves above, like let's not make a comic book movie.

[1:19:44] Let's make this other movie that we want to make.

[1:19:47] Like at its worst that you, you feel a little bit coming through at best.

[1:19:52] All the stuff that doesn't feel like it should be in there does feel like it should be in

[1:19:58] there.

[1:19:58] Cause it's like so weird, which is what comics are.

[1:20:01] And like the fact that it feels like this like cultural stew of like what people thought

[1:20:06] you wanted to see in a comic book movie.

[1:20:09] Maybe it wasn't one comics fan, but what people thought like what could be more comic books

[1:20:13] than like, I don't know, chasing like whatever weird cultural fad is in the air at that time.

[1:20:18] So, I don't know.

Elliott Kalan

[1:20:20] It really makes you realize how good Judi Dench is that she makes a lot of stuff that I'm

[1:20:25] sure she doesn't care.

[1:20:26] I'm sure she doesn't care about the Riddick canon, but she's so, she always felt like in

[1:20:31] Artemis Fowl or whatever, but she always kind of sounds like she, she cares about it.

[1:20:34] I don't know.

[1:20:34] She's really good.

[1:20:35] When in Artemis Fowl, when she goes top of the morning to you as, as part of the leprechaun

[1:20:40] police force, I'm like, yeah, in another, in another actor's hands that would not have

[1:20:44] come off as believable.

S3

[1:20:45] Yeah.

[1:20:46] And Glenn Close in Guardians saying, fire the necroblasters.

[1:20:49] I mean, you know, I'm always going to.

Elliott Kalan

[1:20:52] There was, there was a part in, oh, who is it in, in the last Mission Impossible movie?

[1:20:57] Who's the, why am I forgetting her name?

[1:20:58] Is it Angela Bassett?

[1:21:01] Who's the, I forget who's the, like, is it, there's a part where she's like, she's like,

[1:21:05] they've gotten a hold of the, of the hydrogen bombs or whatever.

[1:21:07] Like, you have to get those warheads.

[1:21:09] And I was like, that's what I wanted to see.

[1:21:10] I want to see her talking about this stuff as if it matters.

[1:21:13] Like.

Elliott Kalan

[1:21:14] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[1:21:15] So back on Earth, Selena, Selena takes Jimmy Olsen, Lucy, and Nigel all captive and puts

[1:21:21] them in little cages in her, in her lair.

[1:21:24] Yeah.

S3

[1:21:24] But before she does that, Stu, she, she rides through town in the saddest motorcade, the

[1:21:29] tiniest motorcade.

[1:21:31] It's not even a motorcade.

[1:21:32] It's a, it's a car with some motorcycles next to it.

[1:21:35] Yeah.

[1:21:35] And the teens think they can stop her by protesting.

Elliott Kalan

[1:21:39] They're protesting her.

[1:21:41] Already there is a, she's within, she's just a lot of people.

[1:21:44] She created that mountain like minutes before.

[1:21:46] And already there's like, she has a secret police force and a vintage car that she drives

[1:21:50] around in.

[1:21:50] And the teens have made posters to protest.

S3

[1:21:53] They should have hired fewer protesters and a lot more cars just to give it a little bit

[1:21:58] more.

[1:21:58] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[1:22:00] But, but in addition to their fortress upgrade, they also, my notes also point out that Selena

[1:22:05] and Bianca both look incredible now.

[1:22:07] Like they, their, their wardrobes have gotten an upgrade.

[1:22:10] Yep.

[1:22:10] And their shoulder pads.

[1:22:11] Yep.

Elliott Kalan

[1:22:12] Yeah.

[1:22:13] With the motorcade, it's almost like they had a certain number of cars and they crashed

[1:22:17] them during the, the construction equipment on the rampage sequence.

[1:22:20] And they're like, why did we do that?

[1:22:23] We needed another car for this.

Stuart Wellington

[1:22:27] Yeah.

[1:22:27] Uh, yeah.

[1:22:28] So Kara and Zoltar hatch a plan to escape the phantom zone.

[1:22:32] I think she gives him, uh, she gives him some confidence and they decide to sneak around a

[1:22:37] whirlwind by crawling along a cliff.

[1:22:41] Uh, and then Selena starts shooting fireballs at them and, and Zoltar makes the ultimate

[1:22:47] sacrifice and get, gets whisked away in the whirlwind.

Elliott Kalan

[1:22:50] And I'm not totally sure how that helps anybody.

[1:22:52] It just is a way of getting out of the movie.

[1:22:54] Yeah.

[1:22:55] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[1:22:55] I mean, it doesn't, I mean, look, you know, 50% of them don't make it.

[1:22:59] So I, I'm not saying that's nothing, but it also doesn't seem to be as hard to get

[1:23:03] out of the phantom zone as advertised.

S3

[1:23:05] Yeah.

[1:23:08] And Slater gets a chance to do some acting here.

[1:23:11] She's trying to convince, uh, O'Toole to, you know, get out of the phantom zone.

[1:23:15] She gets to be, uh, defiant, which she hasn't had much to do.

[1:23:18] She's just been around being sympathetic and now she gets to do, uh, to be angry and, and,

[1:23:24] um, resolute, which is, which is good to see.

[1:23:28] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[1:23:28] Yeah.

[1:23:29] She tries to inspire him and like wake him from his drunken, uh, reverie or whatever.

[1:23:34] Right.

Elliott Kalan

[1:23:34] Now, uh, Glenn, is Zoltar a character from the comics?

[1:23:37] Nope.

[1:23:37] Or is that in, cause his name sounds like you're saying like a grownup side.

[1:23:40] What's your idea of what a Kryptonian name would sound like?

S3

[1:23:43] Well, I mean, I think canonically that there's some like hyphen er or hyphen L or like, you

[1:23:50] know, the single name stuff.

[1:23:51] I don't, I mean Zod, sure.

[1:23:53] But he was general Zod.

[1:23:55] So anyway, I don't have a definitive answer for you.

Elliott Kalan

[1:23:58] Okay.

[1:23:58] It just seems like, cause it does seem like one of those, like we were just talking about

[1:24:01] forcing the actors to say nonsense for her to have to be like Zoltar.

[1:24:04] And it's like, you could have given him a name that sounded more like a name.

Stuart Wellington

[1:24:08] Go on, girl.

[1:24:09] You can.

[1:24:12] So Kara returns to the fortress to stop Selina.

[1:24:15] She is out of the phantom zone and she wants to save her friends.

[1:24:18] They battle.

[1:24:19] And this is pretty exciting cause Selina is using the power of that Omega Hedron to summon

[1:24:25] up the power of shadow.

[1:24:27] And we get a giant monster.

[1:24:28] We get a floor that seems shaking and there's lava underneath.

[1:24:33] And then the, the, the giant shadow monster even picks up Kara and needs her like a piece

[1:24:38] of dough.

Elliott Kalan

[1:24:39] Which they, which they show us by, they are literally distorting the video image of Kara,

[1:24:45] which if this, there's something like, if it was, that's one of those things where it's

[1:24:49] like in the right context, if this was like a video drone type thing where it was like,

[1:24:53] the new flesh is the broadcast image.

[1:24:55] When I destroy this image, it destroys you.

[1:24:57] I'd be like, that's a cool effect.

[1:24:58] But here it just looks so goofy.

[1:24:59] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[1:24:59] This is one of the moments where I'm like, this has got to look amazing on Blu-ray, Glenn.

S3

[1:25:03] No.

[1:25:06] You'd be surprised.

[1:25:08] This is the moment when a super girl tells her that she has no friends and that Daryl

[1:25:13] wants his sweater back and nobody likes you and, and nobody's going to ask you to prom.

[1:25:20] It's just, it's, it's, and this is also the point where she gets saved by not one, but

[1:25:26] by two dudes.

[1:25:26] First, Ethan covers up the Omega Hedron in the lead coffer of shadow, which cuts out

[1:25:33] off Selina's power.

[1:25:35] And then she hears Zoltar telling her to, you can.

[1:25:39] And it would be great if it was just something she did herself, you know?

Dan McCoy

[1:25:43] Yeah.

[1:25:43] And it's also one of those things that is just a nonsense movie thing where it's like, well,

[1:25:48] I don't have the strength to fight anymore.

[1:25:50] Oh, I got some words of encouragement.

[1:25:52] Now I feel better.

[1:25:53] It just doesn't work that way.

Elliott Kalan

[1:25:55] Usually I would have to have the villain anger me to the point where I would tap into my

[1:25:59] rage bonus.

[1:26:00] Yeah.

[1:26:00] Uh-huh.

Stuart Wellington

[1:26:01] Yeah.

[1:26:01] And do the like Hulkamania, like heavy breathing thing.

[1:26:04] Yeah.

Elliott Kalan

[1:26:04] Exactly.

Stuart Wellington

[1:26:05] Where you're like, oh shit, you're done now, kid.

Elliott Kalan

[1:26:07] Now, something I've noticed in a lot of movies in general, but especially movies from this

[1:26:11] time, is that the movie seems to get cheaper as it goes on.

[1:26:15] So like, they clearly spent a lot of money on Argo City and the early flying effects.

[1:26:20] And then by the end of it, they're like, yeah, just get a puppet monster and just kind of

[1:26:24] half dissolve it in there, like whatever.

[1:26:27] And do you think this was a matter of them like not thinking the audience would necessarily

[1:26:30] sit through the whole movie?

[1:26:32] So you better keep them entertained with big production effects.

[1:26:35] Because usually when you tell a story, you kind of want it to amp up.

[1:26:38] So that it like, the ending is the biggest thing, but I wonder if they're just like, hey, if

[1:26:42] we got them by this point, whatever, the movie's almost over.

[1:26:44] Just get them the hell out of here.

[1:26:45] Can't get a refund now.

[1:26:45] You just have to hold on to them.

[1:26:47] Oh, yeah.

[1:26:47] Too late, suckers.

[1:26:48] Once you sit through the shadow monster puppet, you cannot get a refund.

[1:26:51] Read the fine print on the back of the ticket.

S3

[1:26:53] Well, they didn't have access to CGI, so they couldn't make these kind of superhero movies

[1:26:58] that just devolve into complete CGI nonsense in the last act.

[1:27:01] They had to just take a Muppet and a fog machine and some litter.

Elliott Kalan

[1:27:07] Now you made it sound heroic.

[1:27:09] I will say, though, if you watch WandaVision, they're really experimenting.

[1:27:13] They're using red glowy stuff now instead of just blue glowy stuff in the Marvel movies.

Stuart Wellington

[1:27:19] So, yeah.

[1:27:21] So, Kara creates some kind of like a whirlwind thing that turns the shadow monster onto Selina

[1:27:27] and then they both get sucked into the mirror at the end.

S3

[1:27:30] Yeah.

[1:27:30] Bianca got a raw deal here.

[1:27:32] Yeah.

[1:27:33] I mean, like, Bianca was reluctant throughout.

[1:27:36] She was trying to be the voice of reason.

[1:27:37] Now, maybe the movie is saying, you know, if you go along with it, you deserve exactly the punishment that the main villain does.

[1:27:46] But it just seemed like, oh, I don't think Bianca deserved that.

Elliott Kalan

[1:27:50] And Bianca, in some ways, yes.

[1:27:52] But she's really playing the kind of good German role in this where it's like, you're just standing by.

[1:27:56] All it takes for evil to win is for Bianca to do nothing.

[1:28:00] And that's what she's doing for most of the movie.

Stuart Wellington

[1:28:02] You got to enjoy that motorcade.

[1:28:05] So, you deserve this.

Elliott Kalan

[1:28:06] This is the payment.

[1:28:08] Someone's been eating all of the cake and Snackwell's cookies that I assume Selina has been whipping up with her magic when you've been off screen.

Dan McCoy

[1:28:15] Yeah.

[1:28:15] But, I mean, that is basically the end.

[1:28:17] I mean, she says goodbye to her gentleman friend and flies back off to the city, which, you know, I mean, great.

Stuart Wellington

[1:28:25] And flying back to the city, you mean she flies directly into the river and then arrives home and the dark city gets bright again.

[1:28:34] That's right.

[1:28:35] Rufus Sewell's Dark City?

[1:28:36] Dark City.

[1:28:36] Sorry, Rufus Sewell.

Dan McCoy

[1:28:39] Alex Proyas movie?

[1:28:41] Yeah.

[1:28:43] Okay.

[1:28:43] It's all the same movie, Dan.

Elliott Kalan

[1:28:44] Those are just different details about Dark City, the movie.

Dan McCoy

[1:28:47] So, that was a long discussion of what happened in Supergirl because there's a lot to talk about.

[1:28:53] There's a lot to talk about.

[1:28:54] And it's over two hours long.

S3

[1:28:56] Yeah, it is.

[1:28:56] Yeah.

[1:28:57] It does not need to be.

[1:28:58] It was originally two hours and 25 minutes.

[1:29:00] So, good Lord.

[1:29:01] I can't imagine.

[1:29:02] Sure.

[1:29:03] Yeah.

[1:29:03] So, let's.

[1:29:04] Was there an intermission in your version, Glenn?

Stuart Wellington

[1:29:06] Was there an intermission somewhere in there?

[1:29:07] No.

S3

[1:29:08] There was the whole scene in Midvale High.

[1:29:11] That is a de facto intermission because you can get up and leave and miss all that.

Elliott Kalan

[1:29:15] I guess what we're all saying is not a wasted second.

[1:29:18] This thing is lean.

[1:29:19] They cut that fat to the bone in this movie.

[1:29:21] Everything has a reason for being in there.

[1:29:23] Yeah.

[1:29:24] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[1:29:25] Let's go right into Final Judgments.

[1:29:27] Whether it's a good, bad movie, a bad, bad movie, or a movie you kind of liked.

[1:29:31] You know, I don't know.

[1:29:33] It straddles bad, bad.

[1:29:35] I mean, I guess it's bad, bad.

[1:29:37] Like, there's like stuff I kind of like in there too.

[1:29:41] Or sorry, not bad, bad.

[1:29:42] Sorry.

[1:29:42] It straddles good, bad movie you kind of like.

[1:29:44] Like, it is a lot of fun to watch.

[1:29:45] It is Goofy and Faye Dunaway and, oh, I forget the other ones named the actor who did.

[1:29:57] Brenda Vaccaro?

[1:29:58] Yeah.

[1:29:59] But, I mean, the three baddies are all fun.

[1:30:03] Oh, yeah.

[1:30:03] Peter Cook.

[1:30:04] Peter Cook.

[1:30:04] Well, no.

[1:30:04] I met the woman, but I can't remember her name.

[1:30:08] Anyway, it doesn't matter.

[1:30:10] The three baddies, they're all great.

[1:30:12] As long as.

[1:30:12] Brenda Vaccaro.

[1:30:13] Brenda Vaccaro.

[1:30:14] Yeah, as long as it's all focused on them and they're doing stuff, I enjoy it.

[1:30:19] I like the silly old 80s effects that are actually pretty good in a few places and then sometimes not.

[1:30:28] And, you know, comic book movies don't all have to be The Dark Knight.

[1:30:32] I don't want them to all be The Dark Knight.

[1:30:33] I like a lot of weird stuff too, and this is a weird movie.

[1:30:37] So, I don't know.

[1:30:39] I liked it okay.

[1:30:40] Stuart, you look like you got feelings.

Stuart Wellington

[1:30:43] Yeah, yeah.

[1:30:44] I would say this is definitely a solid good bad movie.

[1:30:47] It's goofy.

[1:30:49] There's parts of it that I kind of like.

[1:30:52] And I do like how, despite being two hours long, they clearly spend no time explaining what is going on for the first 20 minutes, which is great.

[1:31:03] And, yeah, some of those scenes are pretty fun.

[1:31:04] And it's a fun, goofy superhero movie to laugh with your friends over.

Elliott Kalan

[1:31:09] Yeah, I'd call it a good bad movie.

[1:31:11] Watch it with your friends.

[1:31:12] On the other hand, it does have a scene set at Popeyes, so I guess I have to name it.

[1:31:17] Best picture.

[1:31:18] Sorry, Amadeus.

[1:31:19] This is Supergirl's year.

S3

[1:31:23] And for me, it's a movie I kind of like.

[1:31:25] I mean, obviously, for all the reasons we've enumerated, especially Faye Dunaway's performance, which really rides a very difficult line.

[1:31:34] And I kind of, even when she devolves into the sycophagus of it all, she's still Faye Dunaway.

[1:31:43] And, yeah, it's a lot of fun.

Elliott Kalan

[1:31:45] She's great.

[1:31:46] I'm going to take this moment to do something we've done a few times in the Flap House, which is take a dump on the Razzie Awards, which nominated Faye Dunaway for worst actress for the movie.

[1:31:56] And Faye Dunaway is doing exactly what this movie needs her to do, and she's doing it really well, and, like, it's a really fun, like, it's a really fun performance.

[1:32:04] It's exactly the right performance for this movie.

[1:32:06] And the Razzies can suck it.

S3

[1:32:08] Yeah, absolutely.

[1:32:10] And, you know, we live in a magical world where there's such a thing as fast-forwarding.

[1:32:15] So you can, I mean, this is, I cannot bear the Midvale High stuff.

[1:32:21] It just goes on forever.

[1:32:23] So, like, you excise that stuff, and this is a tight, really fun little movie.

[1:32:29] That's true.

Elliott Kalan

[1:32:30] There is no reason you have to sit, you've just kind of unlocked, I feel like, a cheat code to bad movies.

[1:32:35] There's no reason you have to sit through the whole thing.

[1:32:37] Like, no one's going to catch you.

[1:32:39] Yeah.

[1:32:44] Hey, kid.

Dan McCoy

[1:32:46] Your dad tell you about the time he broke Stephen Dorff's nose at the kid's choice awards?

S3

[1:32:52] In Dead Pilots Society, scripts that were developed by studios and networks but were never produced are given the table reads they deserve.

Stuart Wellington

[1:33:00] When I was a kid, I had to spend my Christmas break filming a PSA about angel dust.

[1:33:04] So, yeah, being a kid sucks sometimes.

S3

[1:33:07] Presented by Andrew Reich and Ben Blacker.

[1:33:10] Dead Pilots Society, twice a month, on MaximumFun.org.

Elliott Kalan

[1:33:15] You know, the show you like, that hobo with the scarf who lives in a magic dumpster.

[1:33:22] Doctor Who?

[1:33:22] Yeah.

[1:33:27] Hey there, beautiful people.

[1:33:28] Did you hear that good, good news?

S3

[1:33:31] Something about the baby Jesus?

[1:33:33] He's coming back!

Dan McCoy

[1:33:34] Or, do you mean the fact that Apple Podcasts has named Fanta one of the best shows of 2020?

Elliott Kalan

[1:33:41] I mean, we already knew that we was hot stuff, but a little external validation never hurts, okay?

S3

[1:33:46] Hosted by me, writer and journalist Jared Hill.

Elliott Kalan

[1:33:50] And me, the ebony and trantress myself, Javel Anderson.

Dan McCoy

[1:33:55] Fanta is your home for complex conversations about the great areas in our lives, the people, places, and things we're huge fans of, but got some anti-feelings toward.

Elliott Kalan

[1:34:04] You name it, we fan-tie you.

[1:34:06] Nobody's off limits.

[1:34:07] Check us out every Thursday on MaximumFun.org, or wherever you get your slayworthy audio.

Dan McCoy

[1:34:13] The Flophouse is sponsored in part by many fine products and services, like this one, that Elliot will talk about right now!

Elliott Kalan

[1:34:23] Hey guys, now more than ever, storytellers and content creators are challenged with producing more video content, and at a higher quality, than ever before.

[1:34:30] Tell me about it, I'm having so much trouble keeping up with all my video content that I'm making.

[1:34:34] But, you can keep up with the growing demands for modern video content without sacrificing your vision with stock media from Storyblocks.

[1:34:41] Storyblocks is dedicated to being the world's best royalty-free stock media subscription service.

[1:34:46] It's got an ever-growing library with over 1 million high-quality stock assets, including 4K HD footage.

[1:34:52] They've got After Effects and Premiere Pro templates.

[1:34:54] There's music, there's images, there's sound effects, there's so much more.

[1:34:56] They've got affordable subscriptions, plans, and tools.

[1:34:59] And, with the Storyblocks unlimited all-access plan, you get unlimited downloads of everything in their library.

[1:35:05] So, even if your subscription has ended, you can still keep everything that you downloaded.

[1:35:10] Storyblocks, we got some free log-ins for it to try it out.

[1:35:13] And, for those of you who watched our Teen Wolf live show, you'll know that there was a brief intermission where Dan sang for two minutes over stock footage about how he needed to pee.

[1:35:22] Dan constructed that himself, I think, purely using Storyblocks footage, and it was amazing and beautiful.

[1:35:28] And, Dan, how was your experience working with Storyblocks?

Dan McCoy

[1:35:31] You're correct.

[1:35:32] The visuals that went with my song about peeing were all from Storyblocks, and I did not want for anything.

[1:35:40] All the ideas I had, they had great options for it.

[1:35:44] So, A-plus Storyblocks.

Elliott Kalan

[1:35:47] Everything in that one from waterfalls to people clinking their beer signs to some kind of whimsical clown.

[1:35:53] Was the clown dancing?

[1:35:54] I can't quite remember.

Dan McCoy

[1:35:56] Yeah, it devolved a little bit.

[1:35:57] I think there was maybe an Elvis impersonator there at one point.

[1:36:00] I'm not sure.

Elliott Kalan

[1:36:00] There was like a flash dance-style dancer at one point.

[1:36:03] It was really, it was beautiful.

[1:36:05] And, we can give all of the credit to Storyblocks.

[1:36:08] Go ahead, explore their library, and subscribe today at storyblocks.com slash flop.

[1:36:13] Again, that's storyblocks.com slash flop.

Dan McCoy

[1:36:18] Also, we are sponsored in part by HelloFresh, which lets you skip those trips to the grocery store and makes home cooking easy, fun, and affordable.

[1:36:27] And, that's why it's America's number one meal kit.

[1:36:31] Eating healthier has never been easier with low-cal, carb-smart, vegetarian, and pescatarian options every week.

[1:36:38] And, no matter what you choose, every single recipe is packed with fresh produce sourced directly from farmers.

[1:36:46] HelloFresh's Easy Eats offering has tons of quick and easy meal solutions like 10- to 20-minute meals, low-prep recipes, and quick breakfasts and lunches.

[1:36:55] Perfect for your busy schedule.

[1:36:57] I had some HelloFresh, you know, they gave us some samples.

[1:37:02] Very nice of them.

[1:37:03] I very much enjoyed them.

[1:37:04] Sometimes I'm a scoffer.

[1:37:06] I like to make my food complex.

[1:37:09] I make it hard.

[1:37:10] I want it to be a big project.

[1:37:11] And, everyone would say, good job, Dan.

[1:37:13] Look at all that work you put into that food.

[1:37:15] But, you know, life isn't always like that.

[1:37:17] Sometimes you want it a lot simpler.

[1:37:19] And, HelloFresh was a lot of fun to make these tasty meals.

[1:37:24] And, it was a snap.

[1:37:26] Go to HelloFresh.com slash flop 10 and use code flop 10 for 10 free meals.

[1:37:44] Stuart, I believe you have a Jumbotron.

Stuart Wellington

[1:37:49] Jo-jo-jo-jo-Jumbotron.

[1:37:52] Coming out of the Jumbotron zone, it's me, Stuart Wellington, with a hot new Jumbotron for your ears.

[1:37:58] Hi, flop fans.

[1:37:59] I'm Bex, a.k.a.

[1:38:01] Potato Lady Podcast Reviews.

[1:38:03] A few months ago, I accidentally became a podcast reviewer on Twitter.

[1:38:08] Now, I have a long list of good indie podcasts, and I think it'd be cool if I could connect listeners to new pods.

[1:38:16] So, if you're looking for new and enjoyable ear content, please follow me on Twitter and or Instagram at B-E-X-G-O-O-S.

[1:38:29] Bexgoose or Goose.

[1:38:31] Feel free to at me for specific recommendations based on your interests.

[1:38:36] Also, there's more info in the pinned tweet on my profile.

[1:38:41] So, follow Potato Lady Podcast Reviews on Twitter at Bexgoose to get podcast recommendations.

Dan McCoy

[1:38:50] Yeah.

[1:38:50] I am looking for better ear content because right now my ear mostly just has wax in it, which is not very good.

[1:38:58] Hey, I realized that...

[1:39:00] Good for candles.

[1:39:01] Very good for candles.

[1:39:02] It is very good for candles.

[1:39:04] Some ways back, we did a behind the microphone, which can be found in the bonus feed if you are a MaxFun donor member.

[1:39:16] And we did a little trivia game, and I just realized I've had it in my inbox to do this for a long time, and I keep missing it every time.

[1:39:25] I apologize so much to the people involved.

[1:39:28] I was supposed to shout out my team, which won that game.

[1:39:33] That was part of the big prize is us shouting them out.

[1:39:38] But I don't want to...

[1:39:39] Sorry, that makes it sound so belittling.

[1:39:42] I'm belittling the idea of a shout out being a prize from me.

[1:39:46] But I just want to say thank you to Pat, Les and Monica, Anastasia, Josh, and John for being my team and riding the Dan McCoy train to victory over the evil Elliot Kalen.

[1:40:04] Yeah, that was really fun.

[1:40:06] I had to say the friendly game.

[1:40:08] I don't know what one says to be evil.

[1:40:11] Well, I don't know either, Elliot.

[1:40:12] Maybe you need to look inside yourself.

Stuart Wellington

[1:40:13] Yeah, I mean, the strange thing was it wasn't even required that you were evil.

[1:40:16] You were just evil.

[1:40:17] Yeah.

Elliott Kalan

[1:40:19] Oh, now I feel bad.

[1:40:20] Look at his face.

[1:40:21] Guys, guys, by marriage, I'm half evil.

[1:40:25] So I just, you know, evil has had it too hard for too long.

[1:40:29] You know?

[1:40:29] Yeah.

[1:40:30] What am I talking about?

[1:40:30] Evil is rampant around the world.

[1:40:32] Evil's having a great time right now.

Dan McCoy

[1:40:34] Before we get back to the show, any personal plugs you guys have?

Stuart Wellington

[1:40:39] Yeah, please, if you get a chance, you can support my...

[1:40:43] So in addition to being a world-class podcaster, I also have a little side hustle where my wife

[1:40:50] and I own a couple of bars.

[1:40:51] And you can support them by going to visit them.

[1:40:53] That's Minnie's Bar in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, or Hinterland's Bar in Kensington, Brooklyn.

[1:40:58] You can also email hinterlandsbarmerch at gmail.com to get in on our selection of T-shirts,

[1:41:06] hoodies, and bandanas shipped right to your door.

[1:41:10] Your door.

Dan McCoy

[1:41:14] You sound like you're figuring something out.

[1:41:17] Yeah.

Elliott Kalan

[1:41:17] That was the activation code for a brainwashed assassin somewhere in America.

[1:41:21] Yeah.

[1:41:21] I'd like to promote three things.

[1:41:23] Number one, Sharko and Hippo, my children's book from fall of last year.

[1:41:27] Still out there.

[1:41:28] Please pick it up for the child in your life or the person with a childlike level of entertainment.

[1:41:33] There's also my comic book, Maniac of New York.

[1:41:35] Number two comes out in March.

[1:41:37] There's a second printing of the first issue.

[1:41:39] It was coming out in March.

[1:41:40] It was a big hit seller, and so it might be hard to get that first issue.

[1:41:43] In March, pick up number one and number two.

[1:41:45] I hope you're going to like it.

[1:41:46] Patton Oswalt likes it, and if he likes it, I think you're going to like it too.

[1:41:50] Number three, less a plug and just another thank you to everybody who watched our Teen Wolf live show.

[1:41:55] It was a big success.

[1:41:56] We really felt loved by our fans, and we really appreciate it.

[1:41:59] So thank you.

Dan McCoy

[1:42:01] Yeah.

[1:42:01] I got another plug, but if anyone has a way to get rid of hay fever, just let me know.

[1:42:06] I did all those things I said before.

[1:42:08] I've been drinking this thing, put some hot water with some tea, some ginger, honey, lemon, turmeric.

[1:42:16] There's some pineapple vinegar in there.

[1:42:20] Hey, Dan.

Stuart Wellington

[1:42:20] Dan, I actually have a thing to help you.

[1:42:26] What's that?

[1:42:26] It's a little trick.

[1:42:28] First, you got to open the door.

[1:42:30] Then you got to get on the floor.

[1:42:33] And then you got to walk the dinosaur.

Dan McCoy

[1:42:35] I'll try anything once.

[1:42:38] Anyway, now that that's been established, I guess, back to the rest of the show.

[1:42:48] But let's move on now to letters from listeners like you.

[1:42:53] Who knows?

[1:42:54] Maybe.

[1:42:55] Maybe.

Elliott Kalan

[1:42:56] Did you send in a letter?

[1:42:57] If you did, then possibly.

[1:42:59] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[1:43:00] And if you're not, it's not our fault.

[1:43:03] Got to be in it to win it.

[1:43:05] Anyway.

Elliott Kalan

[1:43:07] You tell them, Dan.

[1:43:08] You tell them.

[1:43:09] You get at them for not sending in letters.

Stuart Wellington

[1:43:11] Just like Wayne Gretzky always said, got to play the game to score some points.

Elliott Kalan

[1:43:16] Guys, if I can, letter writers, learn from my mistake.

[1:43:19] When I was young, I had a certain amount of envy for Zeb Wells, the Marvel Comics writer who won the Marvel Comics talent search and became a professional comics writer.

[1:43:27] And I was like, oh, I should be writing Marvel Comics.

[1:43:30] I didn't even enter the contest, everybody.

[1:43:32] I didn't do the basic minimum to win.

[1:43:34] You know what?

[1:43:35] Good on you, Zeb, for actually getting some skin in the game.

[1:43:38] And me, I guess I'm living in the wreckage of those mistakes.

[1:43:43] So, letter writers, if you want to be part of the show.

[1:43:45] Just years for you.

[1:43:45] Yeah.

[1:43:46] Just write a letter.

[1:43:47] It takes no time.

[1:43:48] And Dan will only wait years to get around to answering it.

Dan McCoy

[1:43:52] So, this first letter is from Joe, last name withheld, who writes,

[1:43:57] Hey guys, I want to preface this with, this is entirely my fault.

[1:44:02] I couldn't find my earbuds, so I was listening to the prequel mini through my phone's speaker.

[1:44:09] While on one of your back and forth runs, my wife walked by, stopped, and said,

[1:44:13] Is that Ted Cruz on your phone?

[1:44:15] Why are you listening to a Ted Cruz podcast?

[1:44:18] I immediately had to stop the playback, rewind, and find out which one of you three she thought

[1:44:23] sounded like the junior D-bag from Texas.

[1:44:26] That's it?

[1:44:27] All right.

[1:44:27] So, who do we think?

[1:44:30] Who do we think it is?

[1:44:31] Who do we think?

[1:44:32] No one wants to.

Elliott Kalan

[1:44:32] Probably.

[1:44:33] Probably me.

[1:44:35] I think my instant reaction to Ted Cruz's voice is always for my eardrums to spontaneously

[1:44:39] shut down.

[1:44:40] So, I don't really remember what his voice sounds like.

Dan McCoy

[1:44:43] Sadly, Elliot, it was you.

[1:44:45] It was you.

[1:44:46] Wow.

[1:44:47] Wow.

Elliott Kalan

[1:44:47] Probably just because of my heavy Texas accent.

Dan McCoy

[1:44:52] Yeah, yeah.

[1:44:52] Yeah, you're twang.

[1:44:53] Yep.

[1:44:53] Definitely.

[1:44:55] So, Joe asks, is there anyone that someone said you looked like or sounded like that you

[1:45:02] couldn't see or even just totally offended your sense of self?

[1:45:06] Thanks and love the content.

[1:45:07] Joe, last name we thought.

[1:45:08] Well, I assume Ted Cruz is your answer to that, Elliot.

[1:45:11] That's pretty.

Elliott Kalan

[1:45:12] I mean, I've been...

[1:45:12] Certainly jumped the list.

[1:45:13] Yeah.

[1:45:14] I mean, there's literally a video on YouTube.

[1:45:16] I don't know if it's still there.

[1:45:17] That's titled Elliot, Kalen, and Dracula Dead and Loving It that someone put up, which

[1:45:21] is just a nerdy looking guy in Dracula Dead and Loving It.

[1:45:24] So, like, any nerd or whiny voice I get compared to.

[1:45:28] So, like, something I learned early on when I was a young man is no one ever likes being

[1:45:33] told, hey, you look like this person or you sound like this person.

[1:45:35] Yeah.

[1:45:35] Unless that person is the most attractive person that you can imagine.

[1:45:40] Yeah.

[1:45:41] You know.

[1:45:41] This is a...

[1:45:41] No one likes to be compared to someone else.

Dan McCoy

[1:45:43] This is something that they...

[1:45:44] Our network mates, Jordan and Jesse Go, they have a rule, which is do not tell someone that

[1:45:52] they look like someone famous unless that person is famous for being attractive.

Stuart Wellington

[1:45:55] Unless that is the reason they are.

[1:45:58] Because...

[1:45:59] Yeah.

[1:45:59] But that's not the point of the question.

Elliott Kalan

[1:46:00] The question is for you to spill them dirty deets, dude.

[1:46:03] And even then, when you're compared even to an attractive person, what you're being told

[1:46:06] is, hey, you're not unique.

[1:46:09] There's another person more successful and famous than you who has your face.

[1:46:13] And they're using it better than you are.

[1:46:16] So...

[1:46:16] Or this case, someone else has my voice and they're using it to destroy lives and take

[1:46:20] their family to Cancun during a blizzard.

[1:46:23] So...

Dan McCoy

[1:46:23] Well, it's hard to say, like, why you might have a hang-up, too.

[1:46:26] Because, like, a lot of people...

[1:46:28] Because I have a close-cropped, dark beard, a lot of people have been like, oh, Dan looks

[1:46:32] like Riker.

[1:46:34] And now...

[1:46:34] And, like, Audrey is like, why does this bother you?

[1:46:37] Like, she, like, looked up pictures.

[1:46:39] I'm like, he's a handsome guy.

[1:46:40] He's a handsome guy.

Stuart Wellington

[1:46:40] I'm like, yeah, but Riker's such a doofus.

Dan McCoy

[1:46:43] She's like, well, I'm not saying you're a doofus.

[1:46:45] You're saying that you look like Riker.

[1:46:47] I'm like, yeah, but I can't separate it out, man.

Elliott Kalan

[1:46:49] I mean, William Frakes is a successful director of television and films now.

[1:46:54] So, you know, that's not bad.

[1:46:56] Who takes breaks, I think they call him.

Dan McCoy

[1:46:59] Stuart, Glenn, do you have anything that applies here?

S3

[1:47:03] I'll go.

[1:47:04] Let's see.

[1:47:05] Back in the aughts, I went to a comedy show.

[1:47:07] My friends wanted to sit right up close.

[1:47:10] I asked, is this guy going to do crowd work?

[1:47:13] And they were like, no, I don't know.

[1:47:14] And, of course, it was all.

[1:47:16] Crowd work.

[1:47:16] And so both, I remember this because both the featured act and the headliner came out and at one point called me the commish.

[1:47:27] Not the dude, not the commish.

[1:47:33] Because at the time I was, you know, I mean, not because, but I was a huskier gentleman at the time.

[1:47:38] I was about pushing 280 at the time there.

[1:47:40] So, and I was bald and a little husky.

[1:47:47] And I think that was the low-hanging fruit that they kind of, you know, reacted to.

[1:47:51] It was like the consent movement.

[1:47:53] But, I mean, there was like, I mean, I had glasses.

[1:47:56] Chiklis at the time had the horseshoe.

[1:47:58] I was shaved bald.

[1:47:59] It's just like.

Stuart Wellington

[1:48:00] Yeah, that's what I was going to say.

[1:48:01] Like, yeah, the commish Chiklis is a little, although weirdly, the commish Chiklis looks older than he does at the start of the shield.

[1:48:10] Yeah.

S3

[1:48:10] You know.

[1:48:11] Yeah, they didn't say the shield.

[1:48:12] And the shield was on.

[1:48:13] The commish was like, gone off the air in like, 99.

[1:48:16] It's more fun to say the commish.

[1:48:17] And you were there wearing.

Stuart Wellington

[1:48:18] Yeah, you were wearing a Wilson's leather jacket.

[1:48:20] And you had a fucking cell phone on a holster on your hip.

[1:48:24] Yeah, so that's me.

[1:48:25] The mom jeans of the commish is one of my, or the mom jeans of the shield is one of my favorite things of TV style.

Elliott Kalan

[1:48:34] Now, Stuart only gets it compared to attractive people.

Stuart Wellington

[1:48:37] I mean, when I was younger, I got compared to John Goodman a lot when I was in high school.

[1:48:42] I was also a larger, there was a larger Stuart walking around.

Elliott Kalan

[1:48:47] And you were briefly named King of England.

[1:48:50] Yeah.

[1:48:50] Due to a mix-up.

[1:48:51] It was, I mean, a bunch of people died.

[1:48:53] It was, yeah.

Dan McCoy

[1:48:55] It was more like the entire royal family.

[1:48:57] It was the laws of succession.

[1:48:58] Yeah, electrocuted.

Stuart Wellington

[1:48:59] It was a mix-up between a wire and some water.

[1:49:03] I've gotten some complimentary comparisons.

[1:49:06] My favorite was when two different people within two days compared me to Michael Fassbender.

[1:49:12] Sure.

[1:49:13] So, of course, I rushed out and rented shame.

[1:49:15] And I was like, yep.

Elliott Kalan

[1:49:17] Okay.

[1:49:17] It's me.

[1:49:19] All right.

[1:49:20] There was a brief time.

[1:49:21] There was a brief, the only, I think, slightly complimentary comparison I forgot was there was a brief time in the early 2000s when people would be like, oh, you look kind of like Casey Affleck.

[1:49:31] And now even that's been tainted forever.

[1:49:33] Yeah.

[1:49:33] So thanks a lot, Hollywood.

[1:49:35] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[1:49:36] Yeah.

[1:49:36] When I was younger, yeah, I would get John Cusack a lot, which seemed complimentary at the time.

[1:49:42] And as he's aged, it has seemed less complimentary.

[1:49:46] But he has become kind of a strange, strange man.

[1:49:51] I think he was always a strange man, Dan.

[1:49:53] I think it was just we weren't aware of it.

Elliott Kalan

[1:49:55] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[1:49:56] Okay.

[1:49:56] Well, our second and final letter is, oh, it says Roger Ebert from the grave.

[1:50:03] Hi, guys.

[1:50:03] It's your boy, Roger, or Mr. Ebert.

[1:50:06] It's nice hearing that things are still going well.

[1:50:08] You're nasty.

[1:50:09] As long as my name is still uttered, it is almost like I never pass.

[1:50:14] My ghost in the machine grows stronger with every mention.

[1:50:16] Soon I will control all internet movie reviews.

[1:50:19] Spread my word and legacy, you poor fools.

[1:50:22] And soon I will control you as well.

[1:50:24] Enjoy your final days.

[1:50:26] Two thumbs down.

[1:50:27] So that was a chilling message from beyond the grave.

Elliott Kalan

[1:50:31] Ironically, because I think he gave a thumbs down to Lawnmower Man.

[1:50:34] And yet, that's his life now.

Dan McCoy

[1:50:37] Did not like Supergirl.

[1:50:40] Yeah, he didn't.

[1:50:41] Thought Helen Slater was likable, which is true.

[1:50:44] You know, we talk about how they don't give her much to do.

[1:50:46] I don't know whether it's Stockholm Syndrome of this and Secret of My Success

[1:50:50] and Legend of Billie Jean being on HBO on repeat when I was young.

[1:50:55] I've always liked Helen Slater.

[1:50:58] I thought she was fun in this.

[1:51:00] But Roger Ebert is haunting us and will soon take control of the vertical and the horizontal.

Elliott Kalan

[1:51:08] I'm confused by how he's going to take control of what?

[1:51:12] The podcast or our lives?

[1:51:13] Am I going to wake up one day and suddenly be like, I've got to get back to Chicago.

Dan McCoy

[1:51:17] I'm Roger Ebert now.

[1:51:18] Yeah.

[1:51:18] I mean, we'll just have to wait and see what his dark design is.

[1:51:24] Hold on.

[1:51:26] Wait.

Elliott Kalan

[1:51:27] Light swinging back and forth.

[1:51:28] Erasing all the things around me.

[1:51:30] Let me get to his design.

[1:51:31] No, it's still just him sitting at a typewriter.

[1:51:33] It doesn't tell me very much.

S3

[1:51:35] He's going to close all our balconies.

Dan McCoy

[1:51:42] Let's get into our final segment, which is recommendations of movies that you could watch perhaps instead of Supergirl.

[1:51:51] But if you like the sort of thing that Supergirl is, you'll probably like Supergirl.

[1:51:55] I'll recommend.

Elliott Kalan

[1:51:56] What Dan's saying is, audience, you don't need our permission to watch Supergirl or one of these other movies.

[1:52:01] We're not gatekeepers trying to keep you from your favorite movies or whatever.

[1:52:05] Just watch whatever you want.

[1:52:06] Maybe you'll like one of these, too.

Dan McCoy

[1:52:09] I want to recommend.

[1:52:11] I watched St.

[1:52:12] Maud, the horror movie.

[1:52:15] Spooky.

[1:52:16] Yeah.

[1:52:17] It was delayed.

Stuart Wellington

[1:52:18] That's the sound effect I do whenever somebody recommends a horror movie on this podcast.

Dan McCoy

[1:52:22] I remember seeing the trailer over and over at the Alamo Drafthouse before the pandemic.

[1:52:28] And then finally a year later after seeing it like 70 times, the chance to see St.

[1:52:34] Maud.

[1:52:35] And, you know, very good.

[1:52:37] Very good movie.

[1:52:38] Mostly just two great actors going at it.

[1:52:46] Creepy.

[1:52:47] I don't know.

[1:52:47] I'm going at it by doing acting, Stuart.

[1:52:50] Don't give me that face.

[1:52:52] I don't know what to say about it.

[1:52:54] The thing is, it's one of those movies.

[1:52:55] It's very clear you don't know what to say about it.

[1:52:56] No, I know.

[1:52:57] I'm sorry.

[1:52:58] The hay fever's catching up to me.

[1:53:01] It's just a, you know, it's a very tight horror movie.

[1:53:05] It's less than 90 minutes.

[1:53:06] It's one of these movies that sort of explores the line between like madness and religious passion.

[1:53:15] And increasingly, like someone's life falling apart in increasingly dramatic ways.

[1:53:24] But I don't know.

[1:53:24] Like Frailty with Bill Paxson?

[1:53:27] Not exactly like that, but it is kind of what you would expect out of the movie.

[1:53:33] Like if you've seen the trailer, I wasn't like, oh my God, this isn't the movie I expected.

[1:53:37] But it's the best kind of version of that.

Elliott Kalan

[1:53:39] I thought this was the movie version of the show Maud.

Dan McCoy

[1:53:41] What's going on here?

[1:53:43] I'm not doing a good job.

[1:53:44] So I'll just say St. Maud, I enjoyed it.

[1:53:46] Let's move on to someone who's had just more of the right place.

[1:53:49] Stuart, what do you want to recommend?

Stuart Wellington

[1:53:52] Yeah, I'm going to recommend a newish movie that also features two great actors going at it.

[1:53:59] That's right.

[1:54:02] I'm going to recommend a movie called Synchronic that is written and directed by the Moorhead and Benson duo that made,

[1:54:11] they made, oh man, Spring and they made, what's the, The Endless.

[1:54:19] Oh.

[1:54:20] And it is a movie with Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan.

[1:54:25] Jamie Dornan, of course, beloved of the Flophouse podcast because he's a bee.

[1:54:30] The two of them play New Orleans paramedics and they start investigating or they start,

[1:54:37] they turn up a string of bodies of people who have died, not that have overdosed,

[1:54:44] but also have died under mysterious circumstances and they begin to kind of launch their own personal investigation of it.

[1:54:51] And just like the other Moorhead and Benson movies, it's a little weird.

[1:54:57] It's a little straightforward and there's some scenes in there that are unsettling,

[1:55:01] but in ways that it's hard to kind of put your finger on.

[1:55:04] The performances are fun.

[1:55:06] Check it out.

[1:55:08] Synchronic.

Dan McCoy

[1:55:09] Oh, by the way, Stu, I didn't recommend Barb and Star go to Vista Del Mar because I assumed you would,

[1:55:15] but since you mentioned Jamie Dornan, I just want to say, you know, like,

[1:55:20] obviously Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig are the driving forces behind that,

[1:55:25] so props to them mostly, but I also want to say that movie totally turned me around on Jamie Dornan.

Elliott Kalan

[1:55:31] I'm like, oh, okay, when you're a big goofball, you're so much fun.

[1:55:35] Another movie that just has two great actresses going at it.

[1:55:37] Okay.

[1:55:38] Well, Dan loves.

[1:55:38] Okay, let's not keep this.

Stuart Wellington

[1:55:39] I call them an official couple.

[1:55:41] Let's not keep this.

Elliott Kalan

[1:55:43] Elliot, do you have a...

[1:55:44] Speaking of movies where two actresses go at it,

[1:55:47] so I'd like to recommend a movie called Daisies.

[1:55:52] This is newish for me.

[1:55:54] It's from 1966, so it's new compared to other movies I watch,

[1:55:57] and it is a landmark work from the Czech New Wave, one of my favorite,

[1:56:01] and I'm going to say my favorite New Wave.

[1:56:03] I like it even more than the French New Wave, to be honest.

[1:56:05] I love Czech movies from that time.

Stuart Wellington

[1:56:07] We're going to get so many fucking emails now.

Elliott Kalan

[1:56:11] The French New Wave was the best, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[1:56:14] I'll be like, forget it.

[1:56:15] Anyway, so it's kind of like if two young women starred in the Marx Brothers movie that Salvador Dali never got to make,

[1:56:23] in that it's these two women who are doing their best to kind of like, in scene after scene,

[1:56:31] and it's not a plot-driven movie, but it's very much a scene-driven movie,

[1:56:33] kind of take apart the society around them and indulge as much as possible,

[1:56:39] especially in food, but also in like avoiding responsibility or just getting into very surreal types of trouble.

[1:56:47] And there are things that the director, whose name is Vera Chetilova, I think I'm pronouncing it wrong probably,

[1:56:53] but the writer-director, there are things that she does in it visually that are really neat,

[1:56:58] and things that she does with editing that are really neat,

[1:57:00] but it's just a real straight shot of anarchy right into your eyeballs,

[1:57:06] and I really enjoyed it a lot.

[1:57:08] So that's Daisies, and I think it's on the Criterion channel now, but I'm not sure about that.

Dan McCoy

[1:57:13] I know it's been there in the past.

[1:57:15] I've seen it as I've scrolled.

[1:57:18] And Glenn, what would you like to recommend?

S3

[1:57:21] Well, if you want to see a little bit more from Peter O'Toole without the tunic,

[1:57:25] then I would recommend the 1972 film The Ruling Class,

[1:57:29] which is based on the Peter Barnes stage play.

[1:57:33] Watch Peter O'Toole in a role that, if it wasn't written for him,

[1:57:37] he makes it feel like it was written for him, that only he could do it.

[1:57:40] He's the Earl of Gurney, who didn't think he was going to inherit the title,

[1:57:46] but his father dies suddenly, and he plays a person who believes himself to be

[1:57:52] the reincarnation of Jesus Christ.

[1:57:53] It is a very caustic and very satirical takedown of the aristocracy,

[1:57:59] with show tunes.

[1:58:00] So what's not to love?

[1:58:02] That's The Ruling Class.

[1:58:05] Excellent.

Dan McCoy

[1:58:06] Well, Glenn, thank you so much for being here and, you know,

[1:58:10] giving us a thin veneer of respectability.

S3

[1:58:16] It's, the veneer is as thin as the lead sheets line the ground of Hargo City.

[1:58:24] It's okay because, sorry, you want to say this too?

Stuart Wellington

[1:58:26] I was just going to say, it was nice to have somebody on the show who knows about superhero stuff for a change.

Elliott Kalan

[1:58:33] I was going to say, it's okay because Hargo City has a layer of kryptonite covered by a layer of lead,

[1:58:38] covered by a layer of asbestos, covered by a layer of radium, covered by a layer of hydrochloric acid.

[1:58:44] It all cancels out.

[1:58:45] It's safe in the end.

[1:58:45] There's some black mold in there too.

[1:58:47] Yeah.

[1:58:47] Oh, oh, oh.

[1:58:48] There's a lot of black.

[1:58:49] You get underneath that.

[1:58:50] There's, there's like a, there's a thin kind of plastic that we don't know gives us cancer yet,

[1:58:54] but will, and underneath that is the black mold.

[1:58:56] It's, oh boy.

Stuart Wellington

[1:58:57] Yeah, like the walls of Hargo City look like they're always wet.

[1:59:01] So that can't be good for you.

[1:59:02] No.

S3

[1:59:04] You don't want to get the damp in.

[1:59:05] You don't want to let the damp come in.

Dan McCoy

[1:59:06] Before we sign off, Glenn, do you want to plug anything in particular?

S3

[1:59:12] Well, I've listened to Pop Culture Happy Hour.

[1:59:14] It's bigger and better than ever.

[1:59:16] It's now daily.

[1:59:17] And I'm having a ball with that.

[1:59:20] I'm writing a book that's coming out in June.

[1:59:22] Actually, why did I say that?

[1:59:24] The book's written.

[1:59:25] It's coming out in June.

Elliott Kalan

[1:59:27] No, no, continue the illusion that you're writing it up to the moment of release.

S3

[1:59:30] It's a guide to how to, to conceive and launch a podcast with a lot of NPR voices.

[1:59:39] And it's, it's written on behalf of NPR.

[1:59:42] It's called the NPR Startup Guide.

[1:59:43] And yeah, that's coming out in, at the end of June.

Stuart Wellington

[1:59:47] Yeah, this, this is a really funny way for you to ask us to be interviewed for that book, Glenn.

S3

[1:59:52] Yeah, it seems like you, it's already written.

[1:59:56] NPR people, it's, I'm telling you, I, I would have, I would have, I would have, but it's just NPR people.

[2:00:02] It's a company book.

Dan McCoy

[2:00:06] We'll have to do our own.

[2:00:07] Okay.

[2:00:07] Well, thank you for being here.

[2:00:10] Thank you listeners for being here as well.

[2:00:13] Why don't you go on over to MaximumFun.org.

[2:00:16] Check out the other great podcasts over there.

[2:00:20] Tweet about us.

[2:00:21] Spread the word.

[2:00:22] Write a review on iTunes.

[2:00:24] Please make it nice.

[2:00:25] If not, you know, what's the point?

[2:00:27] Do you really want to take, take your time doing that?

[2:00:29] But until next time, for the Flophouse, I've been Dan McCoy.

[2:00:34] I'm Stuart Willington.

Elliott Kalan

[2:00:35] I'm Elliot Kalin.

[2:00:36] Also want to thank our editor, Jordan Cowling.

[2:00:38] I know Dan was meant to do that, but the hay fever got to his head.

[2:00:40] That's okay.

[2:00:41] I'm about to sneeze.

[2:00:42] That a special thanks to our special guest.

[2:00:46] And I'm Glenn Wilder.

[2:00:47] Bye.

[2:00:48] Bye.

Stuart Wellington

[2:00:48] Bye.

[2:00:49] Real quick, watch me pace this pathetic palooka with a powerful, paralyzed, and perfect

S3

[2:01:03] pachydermic percussion pitch.

[2:01:06] Yep.

[2:01:07] We're good.

Elliott Kalan

[2:01:08] I like that you guys have your own warm-ups.

[2:01:09] You have a real tongue twister and Dan sneezes.

[2:01:12] Yeah, that's right.

[2:01:18] MaximumFun.org

S5

[2:01:19] Comedy and culture.

[2:01:21] Artist owned.

[2:01:22] Audience supported.

Ep. #336 - Supergirl, with Glen Weldon

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