...so I'm working on a podcast series with some guys from work. we shoot the shit about nerd culture over wings and beers. that's pretty much the format. anyway, we are compiling an episode with a twofold topic. everyone's commented at length about how nobody expected star wars to amount to anything, but there are quite a few examples of films, video games, tv shows, music, and whatever else where serendipitous circumstances (good casting, perfect timing vis a vis culture at the time, etc.) turned something that should have been average at best into a staggering success. on the other hand, there have been quite a few films/games/whatever that seemed to have everything going for them, but either a change of directors or unanticipated political changes or some other combination of circumstances just doomed them to utter failure - or worse, forgettable mediocrity. kind of like how last action hero really wanted to be a witty, well-written send-up but nobody in the revolving door of creators could figure out just how straight to play it, so it ended up almost killing 90s action movies. can you think of any examples of either and maybe explain what you think went right/wrong? any contributions will be appreciated, and any I actually use will definitely be credited. thanks.

Weird Al mentioned that UHF tested through the roof for Orion, better than the first Robocop. The studio planned to make a franchise around him. They released it in the summer as a tentpole film. Summer of 89. Summer of Batman, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Ghostbusters II, Back to the Future II, etc.

ouch. I really like UHF, too, but against those? yeah.

What about dragonball evolution? It's got a couple of decent actors on the cast, it was produced around the time when special effects were already capable of showing guys that can fly fast and shoot big lasers from their hands, and the franchise it was based on had a built-in rabid fanbase. It's not like the source material required a deep, meaningful story with twists and turns - all dragonball movies follow the same formula: evil villain appears/kicks the shit out of everyone/protagonist powers up by defeating the villain. They really had very little excuse as to why they managed to piss off the demographic they were after.

Or Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. It had a good story that is accessible to people who don't know shit about videogames, the voice cast was full of Hollywood A-Listers, and the CG was workable (it looks crap now, but it was good enough at the time.) It still performed below expectations. Maybe because when you put Final Fantasy in the title, the people who are going to see it expect Final Fantasy with swords, guns, swords that are guns, and giant dragons. Advent Children sort of proves it - the movie was just 50% fight scenes and 50% epilogue to a 3-disc playstation game. Yet it made big money.


On the other hand: Shaolin Soccer. Stephen Chiau is already big in his home turf (he regularly beats even Jacky Chan's movies on the box office), but his early movies were not suited for the west as they depended on a hybrid of slapstick, wordplay, and Hong Kong-specific pop culture references. Moviegoers at that time were even critical of films that use big budget CG, as most of the movies that tried were crappy fluff trying too hard to look like Hollywood films (they hated it because it was crappy, and partly because they consider big budget Hollywood as the enemy.)

Shaolin Soccer managed to get so big outside of Asia because of the Internet. And then after the rest of the world got wind of it, the influence sort of went back to Asia and influenced a whole bunch of crappy sports/martial arts hybrid films (there have been movies like that before but you can easily tell if a film was aping Shaolin Soccer, like when its posters boast about being "in the same vein as Shaolin Soccer." or when the story concerns shaolin masters that have the same uniform.) It even got a lot of kids interested in the sport. Usually it was the sport that gets people interested in a movie, not the other way around.

Right now Chiau is enjoying a good brand name because of Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle, to the point that people will check out CJ7 even though it wasn't really a Stephen Chiau-style film. He didn't even get bad rep for being one of the producers of Dragonball Evolution.

If you've got the UHF DVD, listen to the commentary. That's where he tells the story. He goes into more detail about how Orion was kissing his ass as they though that he'd be their big movie star for years to come and how they wouldn't look him in the eyes after it tanked.

Maybe Legend with Tom Cruise would fit the bill as could have been big but wasn't? He was a hot commodity after Risky Business and this followed after. Whimsy/fantasy is usually a category that almost always has a problem at the box office and this fell into it.

UHF was ok but I don't remember it being one of those where I left hoping they would make more. Star Wars however blew my mind when I saw it at the theater. I hadn't seen anything with such good special effects. On the other hand, us kids had talked it up so much that we were able to get the folks to take us to the drive in to see it again. That second time was so boring it felt good to get to the second feature (Logan's Run) We all went to see the Empire Strikes back and it was ok but I thought Yoda was dumb. By the time the third one came out we ended up going to the wrong theater and instead saw Staying Alive with John Travolta & Olivia Newton John. Years later I did see the third one and it would have easily topped Staying Alive. This is something I have to be careful talking about as I have many friends where the Star Wars movies were are so much more than what I got out of them.

I recall when Star Wars first came out, it got really bad reviews. Despite its budget and aesthetic quality, it was still fashionable to pan as juvenile and lowbrow anything in the science-fiction genre.
The original Star Trek tv series when it came out also received abysmal reviews, and only received the legitimacy it deserved over the years due to its enormous popularity (I was only 3 years old in 1966, but Allan Asherman in his book The Star Trek Compendium quotes a number of the reviews from TV Guide and elsewhere).

The movie St Elmo's Fire in 1984 had just about every up and coming "brat pack" star of the early/mid 1980's and unexpectedly bombed abysmally despite its star power. (And rightly so, it was an awful movie.)

And huge big-budget epics like Waterworld and The Postman that were expected to reap huge box-office went horribly the other way.

One I loved, Eddie and the Cruisers(1984) bombed in the theatre, but then gained great popularity when it gained exposure on cable. (Two others starring Michael Pare that I loved, The Philadelphia Experiment and Streets of Fire also were enjoyable movies that ranged from bomb-status to very mild success.)

Wag the Dog(1997) and The China Syndrome (1979), were two movies that enjoyed unexpected enormous success because they portrayed fictitious crises that actually occurred simultaneous with their release.

Another of my favorites that fits in the "nerd-culture" category is Buckaroo Banzai. That again performed poorly in the box-office but later became profitable and gained cult status.

One that followed a similar trajectory that didn't work for me was Big Trouble in Little China. Director John Carpenter said that was the movie that made him leave mainstream film-making, due to the rejection of what he considered, while unconventional, a very good film. Again a case of a movie that only received widespread recognition long after its release and commercial failure.

I would like to thank everyone for their input. except wondy. the global vegan agnostic marxist media conspiracy (that's VAMM to you uninitiated out there) said your points are all invalid as they consider you their... I think the phrase they used was 'class enemy'? anyway, thanks for playing, everyone. all good examples, but I think UHF, spirits within, and the postman are the ones that kind of stand out the most in my mind.

You're welcome.

here. you can tell this is our first episode; we'll definitely be working from outlines in the future. enjoy. thanks doc and som especially, but everyone's suggestions were taken into account.

You still live in Cleveland?? How have we never met face to face?? I thought you moved to michigan or some shit

no I was at BGSU for grad school but I've been back in the Cleveland area since the end of 2010.

Doog, Sammitch just doesn't want to meet you. Because you snore.

I'm surprised you could hear over your farting

my farts are silent, but deadly.

we'll figure something out, dooglas. if you're on the east side my store is at eastgate.

recorded episode 2 last week; it was going to be a star wars two-parter. well it still is one, I guess, we just ran out of time to get the second half recorded. just looking for some opinions on a few things.

1.) the prequels - I know, I know. but are they just objectively shitty films, or do they suffer from the core fandom having grown up since the originals? are we blind to some of the same quirks in the originals simply because we were kids at the time? if we could watch the originals for the first time right after the prequels, would the prequels seem to suck as much?

2.) what are you optimistic they'll get right with 7 through 9? based on lessons learned from the prequels, displacing potentially problematic expanded universe stuff to the 'legends' canon limbo, different creators on board this time... better than the prequels, at least?

3.) many fictional universes that are extremely popular in western cultures have comparatively limited pull in other societies. somehow, star wars seems to transcend those cultural divides, to say nothing of language barriers, generational differences, etc. how and why? what makes this particular world so appealing to so many people?

any opinions are welcome, even if I have to extensively paraphrase them to keep it a pg-13 podcast...

#1 I wouldn't say that they're objectively shitty films overall. They're just full of shitty parts, but as a whole they do a good job of expanding the story. Remove the bad acting parts from some of the actors, minimize the cheesy romance, take out the bit about midichlorians (there's no need to explain the technicalities of the force, anyway), while focusing more on the politics and machinations of Palpatine and you'll have a good prequel trilogy. They probably won't have enough to fill in 3 movies, though. Maybe they can pad it with more lightsaber fights.

#2 lightsaber fights. More of them. and J.J. Abrams will have an excuse to fill the scenes with sparks and lens flares. (odd bit of info. I don't know why J.J. Abrams is addicted to lens flares, but movies and specials started going hogwild with the lens flares when HD became a thing. It's one of the scenes/effects that help showcase HD resolution.)

3. Star Wars is popular across cultural and language barriers because LASER SWORDS goddamnit.

Back to one in a bit, as it's the meatier part of your queries (hehe, sounds like 'queer').

2)As I've said before, the reasons that Abrams is a terrible director for Star Trek make him a good choice for Star Wars. A good eye for pacing and action if not story. I want it to be wish fulfillment for all ages and not just a merchandising ploy to make kids have their parents buy them the latest lightsaber.

3)Lucas used Joseph Campbell's writings on the Hero's Journey as the basis of his story. Campbell claims that all cultures share certain elements in their folklore. Even with it being foreign, it is still familiar and, therefore accessible. Plus, laser swords.

1)There are many reasons why the prequels are shit and the originals aren't. I'll admit that nostalgia is a big part of it, but not all. First, I'll point out that kids who grew up when the prequels came out fucking loved them. I'm not surprised by that. What I'm not seeing that the originals had is that now, ten years + later, they're not going back to them as we did with 4-6, at least not that I've seen. They've left them behind as all other flash in the pan blockbusters are.

The biggest reason, though, is that the George Lucas of the 90's and 2000's isn't the same as the one in the 70's. The most obvious being that The Phantom Menace is the first film he'd directed since the very first Star Wars film. There's a twenty year gap between his directing jobs. It's like letting a doctor operate on you after he hadn't practiced medicine in twenty years. Yeah, he's visited the hospitals and even talked about the future of medicine and its importance; but he hasn't even done a physical in two decades. And we're not talking about a great doctor either. He was good to take out your tonsils; but if there was a major problem like your heart, you're seeing who else is on call. (Hey, how about that Jewish doctor, Speilberg? Can we get him?)

On top of not having directed a movie in decades, his first one is an FX heavy movie using technology that he'd never personally used. Yes, Lucas helped spearhead and even create, through ILM, CG effects for films; but he'd never actually made a movie himself with them. The last film he made used matte paintings, scale models, and animatronics. He didn't even try to dip his toes in to get used to the process with a smaller film with a few green screen shots. He did a movie that was like 90% CGI.

Lucas doesn't understand that sometimes it's what you can't do that helps create a movie. He'd complained over and over that FX weren't where they needed to be with the original trilogy to give him everything that he wanted. So they had to sacrifice and change certain things. Low budget directors like Carpenter will tell you that's where a lot of creativity comes from. Think of how different Jaws would be if the fucking shark had worked. Not getting everything you want can actually be good for the finished product, especially if you don't even really know what it is you want as the vast archives of contradictory Lucas interviews proves. As the saying goes, "Art isn't created. It's abandoned."

Finally, the Lucas of the prequels had no passion. He didn't love movies anymore. It was all clearly about $$$. He held a tight grip over something that he claims to love but really didn't give a shit for anymore (as the sell to Disney proved). Before he let other creative people take their shots and we got The Empire Strikes back. A fucking brilliant movie. Return wasn't as great because he came back in with "Hey, let's have some tribal teddy bears! That'll sell some fucking toys." When Lucas is out of the picture, or at least sidelined, the product is better. The prequels were shit, but the Clone Wars cartoon was damn good. The EU books and Dark Horse comics brought some great creators and stories to fandom, all without Lucas's help. He's a guy who just didn't get it. He never understood why Boba Fett was popular. Hell, he wasn't even convinced that his own movie was going to do well at all. He got lucky with Star Wars and forgot that it was the creative people he let in to help him that really created a huge franchise. He tried to capture lighting in a bottle for the prequels. He didn't make films as good as the originals, but he walked away with a shitload of money. I guess he won after all.

Great analysis, doc. You guys should do the podcast together. Seriously

I honestly would like you to conference-call in on an episode in the near future, doc.

Probably not a good idea. The work week pretty much expends all the energy I have that prevents me from yelling out 'fuck' every other sentence.

Plus, I'm real busy with my Jazz Tap classes.

It's a podcast. I'm pretty sure the use of the word fuck is allowed

thedoctor will have to practice yelling out "birds and bees" instead of "fuck."

honestly I allowed two iterations of 'bullshit' in my last one; I don't think I'll hold guests to the same standards. I've thought about having doc call in at some point in the future; I also am really thinking about doing an all-about-zombies episode at some point and seeing if grimmers will phone in some valuable opinions.

I may in the future. There is still the issue of my Jazz Tap classes.

I think an interesting topic would be comparing the successes of Star Trek vs. Star Wars. Laying out the definitive elements that make Star Trek appealing, as compared to the core elements that make Star Wars have a big following.

For virtually everyone, I think Star Trek is more appealing in its optimistic vision of the future. And also its attempt to portray realistically in a detailed way a technologically beleiveable vision of the future. Star Trek in all its forms also has much more allegory to modern social and political issues, and reference to history and culture. And of course, the camaraderie of the main characters.

Star Wars I see more as lighthearted space-fantasy combined with really cool special effects, but not striving for the same level of realism as Star Trek.

Myself, I've always loved Star Trek and (yes, blasphemy, I know!) had only minimal to indifferent interest in the Star Wars franchise. I enjoyed the initial three 1977-1983 films as a visual feast, but found the storyline shallow and (particularly Return of the Jedi) nauseatingly "cute" in many segments. For me Empire Strikes Back was the best of the three.
The three more recent prequels were also great visually, but while having some complexity, had a lot of dialogue that was difficult to sit through.



I think this as a suggested podcast topic might have wider audience appeal, because geek or not, everyone is familiar with these franchises. I'm more of a layman, particularly on Star Wars, and I'd be interested in what self-described expert geeks have to say on the subject.

Regarding the first podcast specifically, I have to admit, I was completely lost during a few parts of your podcast, particularly the segments on video games (which I have no familiarity with). You on several topics referred to something by name only once at the beginning of discussing a movie or game, and I didn't catch the name of what you moved the topic to. Or made comparisons to other works and the subject became murky whether you were referring to the initial movie or game, or the one you compared it to.

There was also a bit of crosstalk where some of it was inaudible, and it wasn't clear who among the three of you was saying what.
Just letting you know, so you can maybe define the subject with more clarity in future shows.

I also wondered why you did it as an audio show, rather than taping it with a video camera, where you could post it on Youtube or elsewhere.

episode 2 just went live last night. go check it out here.

You're welcome, for taking the time to give you constructive criticism.

oh, thanks. yeah we've discussed how to make it less confusing when it comes to who's talking, but I think we just always assumed our voices were distinctive enough that a listener could differentiate without too much trouble. we'll keep looking at that. we had already recorded #2 before your last post.

I'd cut your intro music down. 30 seconds is too much. You're not a TV show. You don't have opening credits. Keep it short. People are already listening to you jaw on for an hour. Don't make it anymore tedious than needs to be.

Plus, I don't give a shit what kind of wings you're eating. It's more of a gimmick for you than for the audience. Unless you post a recipe or something somewhere, it is totally superfluous to anyone listening.

thanks for the input. I'm probably going to cut back on the music and use more little snippets like the fucking around with a microphone clips I used on either side of the intro. or just use one thirty-second clip and fade into the intro smack in the middle so there's fifteen seconds on either side. some of the music transitions are purposely a little long to eventually leave room if we need to drop ads in, but I definitely see how it kind of drags a bit when it's just the music.

the wing sauce trivia wasn't my idea, but both of my cohosts are very attached to it and I feel like I sometimes exert a bit too much of a creative monopoly so I'm gonna let them enjoy that. we will eventually have a site where we can host episodes and embed content from our various social media outlets, and I imagine that'll include recipes. we actually discussed a couple random things like that since we're starting to pull in ad revenue and will be able to open up a site with future merch potential if this whole thing takes off. if we eventually get to a few thousand regular listeners it'd be fun to sell (cheaply of course) a Nerds With Wings 'cookbook' or Terrible Theremin t-shirts just for shits and giggles. that's a long way off - if it ever happens at all - but if we do ever get to that point I don't want it to sneak up on us without us knowing where to go from there.

but again, thank you for the suggestions, and if you have any more (about specific episodes or the show in general) I'd appreciate hearing them.

Captain Sammitch


You could almost call him "Captain Sammitch 3.0", but apart from an intense training regimen and a few UFC appearances during the RDCW's hiatus, not much has changed for the premier face in the RDCW. Much of the stuff that remains the same is copied verbatim from Sammitch's previous bio.


■Persona: All-around face, bordering on heroic face, but not afraid to make a little mischief now and then. Sammitch is fiercely loyal and loves playing to the crowd. While he exemplifies clean wrestling and frowns on cheap shots, Sammitch is far from naïve and will fight fire with fire once the book goes out the window, which was very useful in winning and holding the hardcore title. Captain Sammitch can easily be considered a veteran of the RDCW by now, and that wealth of experience combined with experience from fights in the UFC and elsewhere keeps him cool as ice in the face of adversity. Though he's still more of a cruiserweight than a heavyweight, long hours of training have closed the gap a little more, and even if he's not the biggest wrestler in the ring, Sammitch is still one of the most dangerous by far.


■Entrance Music: The guitar hook to Peace of Mind by Boston.


■Clothing and Equipment: Standard ring attire for Captain Sammitch consists of either white warmup pants and New Balances with blue trim and a Peyton Manning jersey or black warmup pants and New Balances with white trim and his "Badass Pirate T-Shirt". Out of the ring, Sammitch is comfortably stylish, usually wearing a combination of dress casual and upscale athletic attire. For hardcore matches, Captain Sammitch wields a bo staff to great advantage.


■Wrestling Style: Again, though Captain Sammitch isn't a true heavyweight, he can easily wrestle them. He still relies on technically solid mat skills at close range and mixed martial-arts skills at arm's length, with a handful of spectacular high-flying moves in between. Sammitch's moveset is very deep - only his signature moves below can be concisely listed - and his moveset and style of fighting have been carefully arranged from films of his many bouts and of bouts featuring his rivals and most frequent opponents. The goal is to be able to predict and have an answer for as many of his opponent's moves as possible.


■Signature Moves: The Sammitch Suplex (cross-body German suplex, often daisy-chained), the Sammitch Strike (lotus blossom open-palm strike to an opponent's solar plexus), the Sammitch Spin (rapid spinning kick), the Sammitch Submission (Walls of Jericho), and the Sammitch Slam (powerbomb finisher, best from the top rope). These are only the best-known and flashiest moves in Sammitch's moveset.


■Affiliation: The faction formerly known as the Sudden Death Connection has lost several of its members, but the core of Captain Sammitch, Chewy Walrus, and Killconey is still intact and promises to remain one of the most powerful factions in the RDCW even as they continue to search for a new collective identity. Sammitch has assumed the role of the group's de facto leader after Penwing's departure, although for a long time even before then he had been a mentor and trainer for his teammates, and he is hoping to make his handful of fighters into a premier faction while also attempting to 'clean up' much of the "dirty wrestling" and cheap shots that he feels are harming the RDCW.

uploaded episode 3 - second half of the star wars convo - at http://is.gd/6BefV0. took some of the advice I was given - shortened up the music segments significantly, streamlined my intro and wrapup segments, and concentrated more on the actual discussion topics. thank you again for everyone who contributed.

sunday night we did a special episode. three women joined us and helped us examine the representation and portrayal of women in nerd culture. it was a pretty fun conversation but also a very informative one. I hope to have that one uploaded a week from this sunday.

we don't want the whole podcast to be double-episodes and super-serious topics. we're looking at doing a lot of mini-episodes about more compact topics as well, so any suggestions are welcome.

Anime: What the fuck is wrong with the Japanese?

I'm sorry. You were asking for one episode ideas.

newest episode. this one was the debate on women in nerd culture, so it's about half an hour longer than the other ones. yes, I added more music back in this time, but the dude is just getting his feet under him and was so excited when I asked to use his track that I just couldn't not use it or use less of it than I ended up going with.

for the episode following our next upload we'll be looking at examples of either characters or performances that helped bring about a paradigm shift in a genre or even in an entire medium. one fairly obvious example was when the zuckers cast leslie nielsen - a notoriously serious actor from a long list of notoriously serious movies - in airplane, which was all about skewering those over-the-top disaster flicks. comedy was never the same. similarly, die hard was supposed to have been a commando sequel, but arnold wasn't available so they ended up casting bruce willis as the protagonist and introduced a whole new type of 'everyman' action hero. any other good examples?

Does music count? What about Link Wray? Blues guitarists were already experimenting with distorted sounds and power chords before him but he was the one that people more closely associate with the sound, especially since he tied it to the whole rebellious gimmick (the pencil + amplifier = distortion thing.)

...and he once recorded the Batman theme

IN THE ASS.

Before Snarf can exit the ring, 'Kashmir' hits over the speakers and the crowd goes wild as Captain Sammitch makes his way to the ring, accompanied by Chewy Walrus, Killconey, Meeko, and Sweet Marlene. The two women are wearing black minidresses with white trim, and the three men are wearing blue jeans and black baseball jerseys with the letters O F C in white on the front...

Monroe: And he's back! Making his first public appearance since being unmasked before the wrestling world at Halloween Handjobs, it's Captain Sammitch!

Marcum: I thought he was the Jade Dragon!

Monroe: The question is, which will King Snarf have to face tonight for the RDCW Heavyweight Championship?

Joined by his companions in the ring, Captain Sammitch accepts a microphone and turns to address King Snarf...

Captain Sammitch: I’d like to start out by...

Sammitch looks over at Snarf and can’t suppress a snicker...

CS: I’d like to... pffffffffft...

Sammitch holds up a hand...

CS: Just a second, just a second...

King Snarf:

CS: Snarf, buddy, could you do me a really big favor and not be within my field of view? I need to be able to keep a straight face here.

KS:

CS: Sammitch can’t hold in a snort...

KS:

CS:

KS:

Snarf sheepishly walks to a far corner of the ring and stands there dejectedly...

CS: Much better. I’d like to start out by welcoming everyone to New Year’s Evil. You can expect a couple solid matches tonight, and I’m sure you’re all looking forward to...

KS: A-hem... I believe I have some documents here that require your attention...

CS: We’ll get to you in a moment. Before I forget, I would like to congratulate the new Women’s champion, Sweet Marlene, and the new tag champions, Chewy Walrus and Killconey!

Sammitch waits for the applause to subside...

CS: That’s right, give ‘em a hand. They’ve earned it. Now I’m sure you’re all wondering...

KS: Excuuuse me...

CS: You’re really irritating sometimes, you know. Now, I’m sure you’re all wondering why I left, where I’ve been, all that stuff. Not that big a deal. I didn’t come out here to talk about myself. I’m sure you’ll get it all in an interview before too long here. I came out here to discuss the title match you’ll be watching later on this evening, and...

KS: And my request of the RDCW legal team!

Snarf angrily waves the release papers at Sammitch...

KS: I expect these waivers signed immediately, releasing me from any injuries I may inflict upon you over the course of tonight’s match!

CS:

KS:

CS:

KS:

CS: All right, Snarf, let’s see these...

An exasperated King Snarf hands Captain Sammitch the waivers...

CS: Hmmmm... you know, good buddy, these waivers also release me from any legal accountability for any injuries you might sustain in tonight’s match. Are you sure you’re okay with that?

Snarf nods, grinning...

CS: Since your ominous threats were immediately followed by a statement that you would, essentially, punk out of the match like a little bitch if you didn’t get your way, I think it’s safe to assume that these have less to do with the ‘INSANE amounts of violence’ you plan to ‘bring’ than with some half-assed scheme of yours. Possibly one even scarier than that match you did with the Hawaiian shirts.

Laughs from the crowd...

CS: See, while I most definitely welcome your ‘INSANE amounts of violence’, I’m rather disappointed that you felt the need to burden the legal team with this. To help us all along in this process, I’ve taken the liberty of bringing my own legal consultant to the ring... Meeko.

Marcum: What???

Monroe:

Meeko examines the documents and shakes her head...

KS: What? What is it?

Meeko: These statements of indemnity are very loosely constructed. I’m afraid we simply can’t offer any endorsement of a waiver with so many potential loopholes.

KS: That’s it! I don’t have to take this!

Marcum: Yeah! He’s the greatest champion in the history of the RDCW!

Monroe: Spare me...

CS: Y’know, Snarf, my wonderful legal counsel also informed me that the contract for tonight’s title match in no way prohibits me from inflicting ‘INSANE amounts of violence’ on you right now.

KS: You wouldn’t!

Chewy and Killconey snicker...

CS: The kinder, gentler Captain Sammitch hasn’t been seen since Scammiversary. If you’d like to speak with him, I’ll shoot him a memo if he ever comes back.

King Snarf backs up against the far ropes, looking nervously around the ring...

CS: But you know, I’d hate for you to be less than one hundred percent for the match. You’re gonna need every percentage point you’ve got to spare.

Snarf relaxes visibly...

CS: It really hurts me to see this, Snarf. Supposedly the greatest champion to ever wear an RDCW Heavyweight title belt, and you won’t face someone who’s still looking for his first one without some piece of paper giving you carte blanche to... to do what, exactly? I mean, if you don’t think you can win without doing something you’re not sure you can get away with in a no disqualification match, what were you thinking taking the management up on their invitation? To be honest, Snarf, as easy as it may be for me to laugh at you, I’m pretty disappointed with all the shit you’ve done to try and ‘make the RDCW lame’. Last time I fought you, you tried to leave the arena in a cab, and it took some excellent work on the part of our new tag team champions to forcibly return you to the ring. Sometimes I just don’t get you, Snarf.

Sammitch looks back at Meeko and hands Snarf back the papers...

CS: So here’s what you’re going to do. I’ll sign your waivers... just as soon as you rephrase them to specify that neither combatant slated to compete in the title match will be held responsible for any injuries directly incurred one upon the other, through any form of contact deemed by RDCW officials to be incidental to the conduct of a wrestling match, disqualifications or no.

KS: What?

Meeko: It means that you are legally responsible for anything that happens outside the constraints of the match itself. Anything before the match starts. Anything after the match ends. And, since Falls Count Anywhere was not named as a stipulation for tonight’s match, anything outside the ring.

Sweet Marlene: We know how much you love ‘making the RDCW lame’, Snarf. If you think you can dance around having to fight an actual wrestling match by looking for a loophole, you’re wasting your time. And if that’s not the case, if you were seriously hoping to intimidate us by threatening...

Chewy Walrus does an impeccable impression of Snarf’s tone...

Chewy Walrus: ‘INSANE levels of violence!’

The crowd laughs again...

SM: You’re still wasting your time.

CS: Thanks, guys. Now, Snarf, I know you’re probably thinking I’m out to ruin your fun, but honestly, all I want is a real live wrestling match. No Hawaiian shirts, no slumber parties, no ‘manly’ hugging. Just two guys in the ring kickin’ each other’s asses. I’ll sign your papers, and I’m sure the legal team will as well... just as soon as you make the requested alterations. I’m well aware this is strictly legal protection, and has no bearing on actions taken to influence the outcome of the match. And I’m not naïve enough to think you won’t still try and get away with something, but that’s okay. Just remember – there’s one of you and five of us. You’re not dealing with the Sudden Death Connection. And you’re not dealing with the babyface, law-abiding, crowd-pleasing Captain Sammitch. Not anymore.

Pops from the crowd...

CS: I believe we’ve wasted enough time talking. There’s my reply, take it or leave it. You can forfeit the match if you want, make it as lame as you want, but one way or the other, for the title or not, in the ring or not, you and I are gonna fight tonight. Don’t you still want it to count for something? It’s your choice...

short notice but because of schedule changes at work we're recording another short conversation tomorrow night. similar idea to the last one - paradigm shifts - this one specifically looks at individual video games that revolutionized their genre or the medium as a whole. I called dibs on the easiest example, Goldeneye for N64. any other examples?

Way too many examples coming to mind. Just going by favorites:

Batman: Arkham Asylum - isn't exactly the first third person beat em up, but the combat's auto counter was revolutionary and influenced many games that came after it (Sleeping Dogs and Deadpool, for instance)

Quake 3 Arena (the PC version) - I don't think it's the first arena type shooter, but it's the one that became a staple and was used more in e-sports. Also, it became the de facto benchmark for hardware. It was the Crysis of its time but unlike Crysis, Q3 actually had a fun game underneath instead of just a $60 measuring tool for e-peen.

X-Men vs. Street Fighter (Arcade, sega saturn, PS1) - X-Men: Children of the Atom was the first game that had the double jumps and screen filling supers that defined the VS. series, but XMvsSF was the first that pitted two licenses from different companies. Now we have Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, Street Fighter vs. Tekken, SNK vs. Capcom, Battle Stadium DON, etc.

Resident Evil 4 (Ps2, Wii, Gamecube, PC) - was the first in the series to improve the tank controls, made the survival horror genre accessible to a wider aucience.

Mario Party on the N64 - when it came out, rival companies started coming out with their own first party boardgame/minigame titles (Sonic Shuffle, that weird thing with Crash Bandicoot)

Devil May Cry (PS2) - is probably the precursor to the hundreds of god of war-type games. Puzzles, platforming, combo-reliant combat. An annoying "super cool" main character, and QTEs. The first one is the best example because you can still see that it was originally meant to be a Resident Evil game.

Pong.
Pac-man.

If you're going FPS, Wolfenstein and Doom have to be mentioned. There were a few FPS's here and there, but these two made people crave them. Even Lucasarts made a Star Wars FPS after these two. Super Mario Brothers saved the home console and made Nintendo a monster of a gaming company. Grand Theft Auto 3 drove the sandbox craze. Street Fighter 2 revolutionized fighting games and probably helped keep many an arcade alive during the decline years of the late 80's/early 90's.

Half-Life, now showing its age more than others, still comes to mind when talking about narrative/storytelling getting in the way of gameplay. The creators managed to tell a story with a silent protagonist and no text walls/cutscenes and did a phenomenal job of it.

Thief: The Dark Project and Metal Gear Solid (released mere months apart, so I kind of lump them in together) were both hugely influential in the stealth/action genre, and a huge amount of that influence is still readily apparent; Dishonored, Splinter Cell, etc. all automatically feel familiar after getting hooked on Thief and MGS as a kid.

System Shock/SS2 (admittedly 2 was a more relevant example) grandfathered in the action-RPG-shooter games that have seen a fair deal of success. System Shock laid the foundation that has given way to games like Bioshock (obviously), Deus Ex, and even Borderlands.


But who said revolutions had to be good?

Aliens: Colonial Marines, Duke Forever and Daikatana will remain constant reminders of the shitshow audiences are sometimes treated to after remaining hopeful of the end product after years in development hell.

The most specific game that comes to mind is "Spore," showcasing how far publishers (EA) are willing to go in terms of DRM, even if it does mean totally screwing over consumers.

thank you everyone. if you're a frequent listener I'd appreciate if you'd help recommend us to your friends. our current advertising contracts are about to either expire or renew based on whether we deliver on referrals, and I'd be thrilled if you guys were able to help me bring in some business or even land new contracts with new advertisers!

uploaded the first 'paradigm shifts' discussion at http://is.gd/he1Ekg if anyone's interested.

sunday we'll be talking about reboots, retcons, and crisiseses... I'm pretty sure I know what I'll say regarding reboots in the film industry, and I've got one of my freelance inker friends talking about the various DC crises. however I'm not sure what angle to take when addressing retcons - given I'll have to define the concept for some of my listeners first, I'm blanking on good obvious examples of retcons that aren't complete reboots.

I'm going to address reboots in the film industry (and indirectly comics since they started getting taken over by film-industry execs) by using real-estate as a metaphor. the way I see it, to the current decision-makers under the business model they're running with, individual films are of a dramatically lower priority than the property itself. if you rent out a brownstone downtown and you get an occasional shitty tenant, it won't faze you all that much - in order for them to be there in the first place some amount of money's been coming your way. they were there, they trashed the place, now they're gone - you can afford to fix the apartment up before the next tenant shows up because you still have a fucking brownstone and you can still charge whatever you want even if some of your tenants are slovenly fucks. if you stop renting the place out just because it's getting trashed, eventually you won't be able to afford to hang onto it. you're getting some money either way, and at the very least you're almost always breaking even.

same thing in film - especially superhero films - these days. only it's worse because properties eventually revert if you don't use them. one of the guys who owns the smoke shop my sister works at bounces between cleveland and NYC, and he's buddies with brian vaughan. one of vaughan's sources of income right now is that he's leasing the film rights to y: the last man out to (I think) the third or fourth different production company. as it was explained to me, the film rights are bought out for six-month intervals, and if actual production hasn't begun by the end of that, the property reverts and brian still keeps his money (which I'm sure is still chump change to big-name studios). he's been pulling in about three hundred grand a year for something like five years now just off of these leasing agreements, and no one has yet started seriously working on a y adaptation. this is part of the business model - use it or lose it. even if the film is shit, you'll retain the rights because hey, sequels! if you lose too much goodwill, reboot and move over to the next craps table. at this point (and I think this was explained in one of mxy's articles as well) sony has to keep crapping out spodermens and fox has to keep crapping out x-men because if they hesitate, those properties slide over to marvel/disney, who at that point will essentially be printing their own money.

but anyway, any feedback on any of those topics is always welcome.

This is called an option. Smaller production companies who can't afford to buy a book's film rights in total instead option it with the upfront money usually being considered the down payment on the full, already agreed upon final price for the rights. They have a certain amount of time to find a larger production company or a studio to agree to a film and shell out the money needed for pre-production as well as the rest of the price for the rights. If they can't get the rest of the cash, the rights go back to the original owner unless an extension is agreed upon. Any work on scripts, designs, etc. that the option owner pays for is theirs and remains in their control even when the right revert back to the source's creator.

This is also done with spec scripts.

thanks for everyone's help with the last episode; it may not show up until after halloween because of the special minisodes we're front-loading on our schedule but I'm looking forward to sharing your input with the internets. for our next two minisodes we'll address the 'gamergate' incident which has its own fun and exciting thread over in the vidya forum, but then we'll be running down the history of monsters in pop culture - what they represent, who tells monster stories well, stuff like that. any input on either is welcome.