Speaker 1: Welcome back, midnight viewers to Father Malone's weekly round up.
Speaker 1: I'm Father Malone and with me parsing through the waves
Speaker 1: of streaming services is my co host Ripley. Jean. Say
Speaker 1: hi to the folks. Ripley. There she is, and here
Speaker 1: we are once again. We're going to go with the
Speaker 1: most current choice of the week, and then we'll get
Speaker 1: to our individual picks. Because you're the co host, you
Speaker 1: can decide the order when you're the host. Never okay,
Speaker 1: this one's still in theaters, though I'm pretty sure you
Speaker 1: can get it on any streamer right now, though it's
Speaker 1: going to cost you in more ways than one. Remember
Speaker 1: when James Cameron took a meeting at twentieth Century Fox
Speaker 1: and he wrote on a whiteboard alien, and then at
Speaker 1: the end he wrote S and then he drew two
Speaker 1: lines through the S, turning it into a dollar side.
Speaker 1: That man was a prophet or is it profit fit?
Speaker 1: I'm technically your dad, so every joke to you is
Speaker 1: a dad joke.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: As popular as Aliens was, that pluralization craze just never
Speaker 1: really took off. Maybe it was a unique occurrence here
Speaker 1: to help solidify that theory is twisters s plural more
Speaker 1: than one, though there was more than one in the
Speaker 1: first film, so it doesn't really make sense. I mean,
Speaker 1: in Alien there was one alien. So when you called
Speaker 1: it aliens and a fuckload of aliens showed up, it
Speaker 1: made sense anyway.
Speaker 3: Twisters, Gosh, whatever's in there, it's big and it's moving fast.
Speaker 4: Drive God, fort it's Tyler Rowens calls himself Tornado Wrangler.
Speaker 5: If you feel it, I said, if you feel it.
Speaker 6: All right here?
Speaker 5: Oh she's perfect, she's gorgeous.
Speaker 6: You thought you'd could destroyed a tornado, We never had
Speaker 6: a chance.
Speaker 1: You want one.
Speaker 2: You don't face your fears, you're rid them.
Speaker 6: We got to dance, dance?
Speaker 2: Was that it?
Speaker 5: Nope.
Speaker 1: Back in nineteen ninety six, when the trailer for Twisters
Speaker 1: hit theaters, it was pretty exhilarating. It resonated along with
Speaker 1: Backdraft as far as ideas that had just been sitting
Speaker 1: around forever without any cinematic attention. Storm Chasers Tornadoes sounds
Speaker 1: like a million dollar idea or a two million dollar idea,
Speaker 1: which is what Michael Crichton got for that pamphlet of
Speaker 1: a screenplay that required on set rewrites at a cost
Speaker 1: of one hundred thousand dollars a week by the likes
Speaker 1: of Joss Whedon and Steven Zaleen. Now, this definitely wasn't
Speaker 1: the first time a trailer over promised on a premise.
Speaker 1: What was gripping to me wasn't the CGI devastation or
Speaker 1: that fucking cow. It was the tense use of the
Speaker 1: film's prologue, young Helen Hunt and her family trying desperately
Speaker 1: to survive when the tornado hits, the father just holding
Speaker 1: on for dear life. I thought it was pretty harrowing.
Speaker 1: It's less so in its full state in the film,
Speaker 1: which was never really sure why it was other than
Speaker 1: they kept dropping black frames into the trailer as if
Speaker 1: the lights were going off and on, which was super
Speaker 1: effective and missing from the film. But then that film,
Speaker 1: to me, is wildly disappointing overall. Why are there villains
Speaker 1: an evil science team? The film has the biggest, most
Speaker 1: ferocious antagonist in history, but I guess it's not looking
Speaker 1: to make a few bucks, so it isn't as evil
Speaker 1: as carry always. Oh my god, this was my first
Speaker 1: experience with Philip Seymour Hoffman. My god, they made me
Speaker 1: really dislike Philip Seymour Hoffman suckage. Ugh, that film has
Speaker 1: barely anything to do with twisters because in decades later
Speaker 1: and there are no returning characters, and there are only
Speaker 1: a couple of clumsy callbacks to the original film. By
Speaker 1: the way, is there no other frame of reference with
Speaker 1: tornadoes than the Wizard of Oz? The evil science team
Speaker 1: in this one has another Dorothy. But now we've got
Speaker 1: three new components, tin man, scarecrow, and lack of vision
Speaker 1: of the screenwriter. What's the plot this time? Instead of
Speaker 1: Helen Hunt losing her father to a tornado as a
Speaker 1: young girl, we get our lead character, played by Daisy
Speaker 1: Edgar Jones. She's like a waspy mirror sorvino. She bungles
Speaker 1: an experiment that leads to the death of three of
Speaker 1: her friends, including her boyfriend. In a prolong set five
Speaker 1: years ago. One of the friends that get sucked up
Speaker 1: into the sky is Kiernan Shipka Sabrina, the teenage witch.
Speaker 1: I can never decide if she's a good actress or
Speaker 1: if I just feel proud of her like a surrogate dad,
Speaker 1: having watched her grown up on Mad Men. I don't know.
Speaker 1: Someday I'll figure that out. Daisy Edgar Jones has to
Speaker 1: come back to the storm chasing life after five years,
Speaker 1: and when she does, everything's changed. Now there are teams.
Speaker 1: There's a good team and a bad team. But Witch
Speaker 1: is witch doesn't matter. They're both insufferable. Glenn Powell leads
Speaker 1: the YouTube group of wacky folk. They've got drones, they
Speaker 1: got fireworks, they got trucks that drill themselves into the ground,
Speaker 1: even at an airport. No spoilers, but if this film
Speaker 1: was at all interested in reality, Glenn is going to
Speaker 1: spend a long time speaking to the TSA and other
Speaker 1: government agencies. As the credits are rolling, this twisters. It's
Speaker 1: not a good movie. The effects are superior, and it
Speaker 1: looks fucking fantastic. This has more beautiful Americana than three
Speaker 1: Michael Bay films put together, and the scenes of destruction
Speaker 1: are admittedly spectacular, but you know what it cost one
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty five million dollars. It better look fucking great. Though.
Speaker 1: I will commend the film for not making the grievous
Speaker 1: mistake of including a scene with the shining playing at
Speaker 1: a drive in. That was the first time I noticed
Speaker 1: the phenomenon. I'd rather be watching the film. The characters
Speaker 1: are watching than the film with them in it. I
Speaker 1: think Twisters is actually superior to the first film, but
Speaker 1: it's far more frustrating because in the middle of the
Speaker 1: second act, Daisy Edgar Jones and Glenn Powell dispense with
Speaker 1: their teams for an interlude with Jones's mom, played by
Speaker 1: the always welcome more Tyranny. Put her in more things.
Speaker 1: She's always solid in drama or co remember her in
Speaker 1: news radio? Remember her? On er nuff said. Anyway, the
Speaker 1: scenes between the two leads they hint at a far
Speaker 1: superior film. Once they stripped it of action movie and
Speaker 1: romantic comedy cliches, it became a movie about two people
Speaker 1: finding each other through a shared obsession. And suddenly there
Speaker 1: were stakes, Suddenly there were characters. Suddenly I cared, and
Speaker 1: then the teams came back, and it's a race against
Speaker 1: time and blah blah blah. I checked out. Like I said,
Speaker 1: it's better than the original in a lot of ways,
Speaker 1: but I hated that movie. So it's not really a recommendation.
Speaker 1: But I suppose if you don't want to waste your money,
Speaker 1: then it is a recommendation. But I am not recommending Twisters.
Speaker 1: See it for free. When you want to see it.
Speaker 1: Of course you didn't like it. The concept of wind
Speaker 1: confused is you. We're gonna do my selection next because
Speaker 1: you just keep picking bangers, so we're saving that for last.
Speaker 1: I don't know why first equals best to you. Phoenix
Speaker 1: doesn't open for the undeads. She's the headliner. You're the headliner,
Speaker 1: your Phoenix. I'm the undeads. I'm the juicy fruits. I
Speaker 1: did used to rock Amene Papadar. It was green and
Speaker 1: a foot high. You would have loved it. And here's
Speaker 1: something I loved. It's on Max right now, so it's
Speaker 1: free if you subscribe. Seeing Alien Romulus last week got
Speaker 1: me pondering the career of fedde Alvarez, particularly his American debut.
Speaker 1: It was a remake. My god, is there anything original? Yes,
Speaker 1: this movie. This is exactly how you remake a classic
Speaker 1: film from twenty thirteen. This is the evil Dead.
Speaker 5: Crazing You mean arlier in this book I'm on.
Speaker 6: You don't understand there was something in the woods.
Speaker 5: And think it's India WI. Now I.
Speaker 3: Released something from that book, something evil.
Speaker 7: This thing is attached to me as soul. You're going
Speaker 7: to have to kill her. You are all going to
Speaker 7: die tonight.
Speaker 6: You're lain again, not another.
Speaker 7: Time to go.
Speaker 1: The original Evil Dead is at classic no doubt, as
Speaker 1: is its sequel, and it's seql and to a lesser degree,
Speaker 1: a far lesser degree that Ash versus Evil Dead series
Speaker 1: and Evil Dead fans a voracious man. Too much is
Speaker 1: never enough. They got three movies and a TV series
Speaker 1: and they're still howling for the return of Ash Williams.
Speaker 1: So when it was announced that an Ash Free remake
Speaker 1: was on the way, let's just say fans weren't thrilled.
Speaker 1: But I remember the establishment backlash against John Carpenter's The Thing,
Speaker 1: So fuck that way of thinking. If someone has a
Speaker 1: good idea and it's not some bi committee nonsense, the
Speaker 1: fucking go for it. You actually have a better chance
Speaker 1: of improving a horror film than pretty much any other genre.
Speaker 1: And I'd gladly stick Alvarez's remake up against The Thing
Speaker 1: or the Fly. That's right, it's that good. He took
Speaker 1: this troumpe of young adults out in the woods, unleashing
Speaker 1: evil and turned it on its head. Here the group
Speaker 1: have come to the cabin to help the lead Mia
Speaker 1: played by Gene Levy, to clean up from her latest
Speaker 1: relapse in drug addiction. It's a potent setup, and it
Speaker 1: pays off over and over, and while we've all grown
Speaker 1: accustomed to the over the top, so excessive it becomes
Speaker 1: laughable levels of gore. In the avil Dead films, Alvarez
Speaker 1: wisely returns the horror to more intimate and relatable levels. Look,
Speaker 1: it's going to rain blood at some point, but it
Speaker 1: feels like an inevitability and not a cheap joke. The
Speaker 1: performances are strong across the board, and there are genuine
Speaker 1: moments of dread, and there were some scenes that, honestly,
Speaker 1: when I watched it the first time, I found so
Speaker 1: hardcore I looked away. And all those effects. They're practical,
Speaker 1: which is another nice nod to the original. They are
Speaker 1: also wildly effective. Here's the thing, this is actually a sequel.
Speaker 1: Ash's car is there rusting away when our characters arrive,
Speaker 1: and I know everyone embraced Evil Dead Rise, which I
Speaker 1: found to be just okay. I never connected with anyone
Speaker 1: in it, so it was just a matter of watching
Speaker 1: a bunch of characters run and hide and bleed and drool.
Speaker 1: But I didn't care at all what was said and done.
Speaker 1: I cared about Mia still do, still holding out hope
Speaker 1: for a proper sequel with her in it. Speaking of
Speaker 1: MIAs and now, look, I'm not trying to pit anyone
Speaker 1: against each other here, but everyone's going on and on
Speaker 1: about Mia Goth. But it seems to me like she's
Speaker 1: cultivating a scream queen persona, which to me just reeks
Speaker 1: of effort, just trying too hard. Is that a gen
Speaker 1: X thing?
Speaker 6: I don't know.
Speaker 1: But even if we don't hold that against her, lack
Speaker 1: of eyebrows is off putting. But Jane Levy, who's had
Speaker 1: a damned fine career weaving in and out of many genres,
Speaker 1: is the real deal. She is a scream queen supreme
Speaker 1: this film, and especially in Alvarez's follow up, Don't Breathe.
Speaker 1: They ought to put her in the pantheon of horror icons,
Speaker 1: and she has fine, healthy eyebrows. I think Evil Dead
Speaker 1: still would have worked with a different lead. But I'm
Speaker 1: glad we don't have to find out Evil Dead stop
Speaker 1: being a snob. Go watch it. I know, well, we're here,
Speaker 1: we're here now. I got to reveal something about you.
Speaker 1: Ripley can be a bit rambunctious. When we're watching potential
Speaker 1: shows and movies to cover here, for instance, Initially, my
Speaker 1: idea for this episode was to be a canine themed
Speaker 1: episode for my delightful co host, but every dog movie
Speaker 1: I put on was met with a chorus embarking in
Speaker 1: general freaking outness. So I was shocked when she positively
Speaker 1: locked onto this next pick. I mean, it's dog free,
Speaker 1: but oh my god, her pick is mine as well.
Speaker 1: I don't play much in the arena of nostalgia. It's
Speaker 1: fine re experiencing things, but too often people want to
Speaker 1: live there and that's gross. But the re experiencing itself,
Speaker 1: the flood of memories coming back, Oh boy, did that
Speaker 1: ever happen? When we randomly ended up watching this show
Speaker 1: that I used to consume like a fiend when I
Speaker 1: was eleven years old. This was serious and daydreaming and
Speaker 1: detailed doodling. That kind of a show. It was the
Speaker 1: last from producer Jerry Anderson. He's the man that brought
Speaker 1: us Thunderbirds, which sadly most will only remember as the
Speaker 1: inspiration for Team America World Police. That marionette style you
Speaker 1: all remember is on full display here, though with a
Speaker 1: twist no strings at all from nineteen eighty three Terra Hawks.
Speaker 3: The year twenty to twenty, alien forces attack Mars, destroying
Speaker 3: the NASA base. Their ships locked together to form the
Speaker 3: base from which they will launch their attacks on Earth.
Speaker 3: The Aliens are led by Zelda. Zelda and her evil
Speaker 3: powers present a constant threat to Earth one thousand feet
Speaker 3: below the battle Hawk, flagship of the Terra Hawks, an
Speaker 3: elite fighting force dedicated to the defense of planet Earth.
Speaker 3: Doctor Einstein commander of the Terra Hawks, one of nine clones.
Speaker 3: He daily commits his memory to the data dump of
Speaker 3: the Terra Hawk mainframe computer. But when Einstein dies, Einstein's
Speaker 3: experience is induced into the clone's brain and Tiger Einstein,
Speaker 3: the Cat with nine Lives, is back their devil. Pilot
Speaker 3: of Hawk Wing, Captain Kate Testlo, Gunnery Officer hawkye Her
Speaker 3: fabulous mountain home reflects her success as an international recording artist.
Speaker 3: Meet her, A and R Man Stu Dapples.
Speaker 7: What's happening still?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 7: Then? What's happening?
Speaker 3: Okay? You know this? Kate kiss her?
Speaker 6: She's late?
Speaker 7: You know again?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: The Zeroid led by Sergeant Major Zero. They have been
Speaker 3: programmed with different personalities spaceflight all right, two is that
Speaker 3: that is five to five?
Speaker 1: Why can't he be normal like the rest of us.
Speaker 3: Let's see how that kettlehawks can cope with your little talks. Finally,
Speaker 3: in suspended animation, Zelda's terrifying monsters brought from other planets
Speaker 3: in the universe to be unleashed against planet Earth. Sram,
Speaker 3: Lord of Felamy, A mighty Spoorrilla, Yury, the space Bear, Mooyd,
Speaker 3: Master of infinite Disguise. I wear many faces, but have
Speaker 3: none of my own, and many more, all being kept
Speaker 3: on ice for future episodes. Terra Hawks something for Everyone,
Speaker 3: A final message from the White House. Terra Hawks a
Speaker 3: family show that proves that you can please all of
Speaker 3: the people, all of the time.
Speaker 1: I had an odd relationship with the Thunderbirds. I loved
Speaker 1: those ships, loved the models, loved the action, and I
Speaker 1: could not get past the goddamned Marionettes. I'm sorry, but
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty string Tech was pretty hard to swallow after
Speaker 1: Star Wars, and there was a glood of shitty kids
Speaker 1: television made in the wake of Star Wars. Jason of
Speaker 1: Star Command comes to mind, And as bad as they were,
Speaker 1: there was nary a string in sight. I know that's
Speaker 1: an odd determining factor. But I fully accepted the muppets,
Speaker 1: so it's not a puppet thing. I know it's not
Speaker 1: a puppetry thing because once Jerry Anderson dispensed with super marianation,
Speaker 1: replacing it with super macronation, that's where marionettes are replaced
Speaker 1: with hand puppets. It became a whole different thing. The
Speaker 1: distinction shouldn't matter, but it does. It gives the characters
Speaker 1: a range of movement denied in the other series. Another
Speaker 1: reason I couldn't get behind the Thunderbirds was how goddamned
Speaker 1: leftover nineteen fifty squeaky clean it was. It was like
Speaker 1: Johnny Quest. They were also goddamned earnest. I'm sure it
Speaker 1: was corny when it was being made, but by nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty three it deserved its own unique popcorn bucket from AMC.
Speaker 1: So you can imagine my confusion one early Saturday morning
Speaker 1: when a show comes on that, at first glance seems
Speaker 1: to be nothing more than a Thunderbird's clone, But then
Speaker 1: you a little closer. Not only is it employing the
Speaker 1: superior super macrination, but the entire show is a lot looser, funnier,
Speaker 1: dead layer and really odd ball. You heard that little trailer.
Speaker 1: I cut that together from what I'm assuming was a
Speaker 1: presentation trailer for affiliates who were deciding whether or not
Speaker 1: to program the show. It was fourteen minutes initially, but
Speaker 1: from it, I'm sure you've got a sense of how
Speaker 1: fucking bonkers this show was. Tara Hawks are the Earth
Speaker 1: based defending heroes. Each character has their own signature vehicle,
Speaker 1: and they're all assisted by zeroids, these metal spheres that
Speaker 1: pre date BB eight, though these actually open up to
Speaker 1: reveal faces that look very similar to that of Vincent
Speaker 1: in the Black Hole. The zeroids have distinct personalities and
Speaker 1: their own odd foibles that infuriate our lead character. He's
Speaker 1: constantly dressing down these most helpful characters for yearning to
Speaker 1: be more human. The guy freaking out on them, by
Speaker 1: the way, is a clone and he dies on the show.
Speaker 1: This is a kid's show. I'll get back to that.
Speaker 1: Hold on. So the Tara Hawks are cool, their vehicles,
Speaker 1: their army of zeroids are all totally badass, all of
Speaker 1: the models. The base is underneath the White House, which
Speaker 1: cracks open every time a ship takes off, unless they're
Speaker 1: coming up from their underwater base, in which case they
Speaker 1: create a whirlpool in the middle of the ocean that
Speaker 1: they use to fly out of. The show is incredibly inventive,
Speaker 1: It is incredibly clever, and if you love practical effects,
Speaker 1: you can't get any more practical than this. It is
Speaker 1: ambitious and serialized, and the villains on occasion are genuinely
Speaker 1: fucking scary. The main Badizelda in her offspring aren't just
Speaker 1: out and out scary, but they're androids who have chosen
Speaker 1: a human appearance. But the human appearance they've chosen basically
Speaker 1: look like apples left to dry on a window sill.
Speaker 1: They're leathery, walking corpses. They look like Gramma at the
Speaker 1: end of Texas Chainsaw Massacre too. That's what they've chosen
Speaker 1: to assimilate with. But the fact that they have it,
Speaker 1: it's easy to forget that they're synthetic because they're from
Speaker 1: a race of androids that rev volted against their slave
Speaker 1: masters and fled to Mars, and now they want Earth.
Speaker 1: This series is complicated and crazy. One of the leads
Speaker 1: is a pop star, so on occasion the show just
Speaker 1: stops for a performance. Everything is animate, the cars, the vehicles,
Speaker 1: the tools, they all have personalities and again this is
Speaker 1: a kids show. Rewatching these and yes, I watched a
Speaker 1: good twenty or so of the thirty nine episodes available,
Speaker 1: this has solidified my belief that up until recently, British
Speaker 1: people could not conceive of science fiction as anything other
Speaker 1: than for children. This, according to them, is a kids show.
Speaker 1: Doctor who was a kid show. Now it certainly started
Speaker 1: out that way, with lessons from the Doctor for his
Speaker 1: young companions, and it certainly fucking feels like that once
Speaker 1: again this current season, Russell. But I remember watching Genesis
Speaker 1: of the Daleks. That's the fourth Doctor, the Madman with
Speaker 1: the scarf, you know, the best Doctor. That's a two
Speaker 1: part time travel episode where the Doctor is given the
Speaker 1: opportunity to wipe out the the unstoppable killing machines that
Speaker 1: the time Lords have been at war with for millennia
Speaker 1: before they were created. And it's scary and it's exciting,
Speaker 1: and it's a contemplation on genocide, no question, no question
Speaker 1: about it. It's a debate that occurs on screen, and
Speaker 1: it's a kids show. The UK television industry absolutely warped
Speaker 1: generations of young minds by showing them shows like that
Speaker 1: and like terror Ox. Now, having said that, I can't
Speaker 1: stress how good this show is, how much it demands
Speaker 1: of its young audience, how much it respects its young audience.
Speaker 1: So I guess I'm kind of recommending this to people
Speaker 1: with kids. I'd say twelve is probably the cutoff. They're
Speaker 1: probably not going to think it's cool after that and
Speaker 1: the intro age. I'm just going to leave up to you.
Speaker 1: But I can't imagine there's much more out there that
Speaker 1: could compare with this show. And it's free on Uroku
Speaker 1: right now, all thirty nine glorious episodes, you know. Before
Speaker 1: we go, I just want to mention one last thing
Speaker 1: about it. The lead character, Doctor nietin Doctor Einstein. He's
Speaker 1: constantly playing this video game, right, He's trying to beat
Speaker 1: some elusive high score. It's a running gag throughout the
Speaker 1: entire series, right, whenever he's not around the lead zeroid
Speaker 1: Sergeant Majors Zero, not to be confused with Dix Heut
Speaker 1: the French zeroid, but the handlebar mustache. Anyway, he constantly
Speaker 1: plays the video game and is just crushing it just
Speaker 1: to just to fuck with Einstein. I don't know, man,
Speaker 1: I love this show. I'm glad I rewatched it. I'm
Speaker 1: still rewatching it. I have about nineteen more to go.
Speaker 1: And speaking of going, yes, it's time to say goodbye
Speaker 1: young Ripley. You are absolutely going to watch the rest
Speaker 1: of those episodes with me. It's my TV. Fine, if
Speaker 1: you're poking working the mouse, watch anything you want on
Speaker 1: the computer. Midnight Viewers, thank you once again for joining
Speaker 1: us here at the roundup. Be sure to tune in
Speaker 1: this Friday and we have an all new Anthologies attack
Speaker 1: where Antonio Lapoor and I will be living life on
Speaker 1: the multiplane camera play of Walt Disney's classic Fantasia. Until then,
Speaker 1: I should point out that Midnight Viewing is part of
Speaker 1: the weirding Way media group and our theme song was
Speaker 1: composed by HP. If you want to support the show,
Speaker 1: the easiest way is giving us a five star review
Speaker 1: on Apple podcast It makes a huge difference. Or you
Speaker 1: can share the show or tell someone to give it
Speaker 1: a try. Although, if you're one of those rare creatures
Speaker 1: with extra money in your pocket and a end to
Speaker 1: support a show, you can go to patreon dot com,
Speaker 1: slash father them alone and subscribe. You'll get shows. You'll
Speaker 1: get shows early and commercial free and bonus content that
Speaker 1: these plebes aren't privy two and bonus content that these
Speaker 1: plebs aren't privy to plebs plebes. I heard it in
Speaker 1: a video game as plebs. I always thought it was plebes. Anyway,
Speaker 1: until next time, I'm going to leave you with a
Speaker 1: line from this pump at Extravaganza Tara Hawks, stay on
Speaker 1: this channel. This is an emergency.
Speaker 4: Show.
Speaker 5: Show Show