Run For Your Lives Podcast Episode 176: Independence Day: Resurgence

[00:00:00] Hey everyone, welcome to the show. I'm Daphne. And I'm Pake. And this is the Run For Your Lives Podcast. This episode is a holiday special coming at you a little bit early. Well not

[00:00:45] early. It's right on time for the holiday, but we're coming back a little earlier than we initially were going to come back for the season to cover the science fiction disaster film Independence Day, Resurgence directed by Roland Emmerich released June 24th, 2016.

[00:00:59] It's been a little while since we did an Independence Day for Independence Day special. And just like the last ones we have so much fun with obviously to make it perfect, we have

[00:01:06] to bring back the same guest we had on that one to once more see what President Whitmore has got going on for the Independence Day against these harvester aliens. Ben Beck is here again to discuss this film. Hey, I'm excited to be back to

[00:01:24] talk Independence Day once again. Yeah, it's been a few years which is crazy that we didn't see it right into the next year. It was like, oh yeah, we've still got to do that. We've got to have been back for it.

[00:01:34] It's been a few years but you guys have not gone a year letting me forget that I once did the whole speech from President Whitmore. Well, I was just going to bring that up to anyone that

[00:01:45] listened to the first episode for Independence Day. You'll remember that it was the only thing that's ever been copyright stricken when I post this to YouTube. Yeah, it's the only copyright dangling we've ever got on our YouTube channels because of the music over that

[00:02:00] section. Yeah, that's I forgot you guys didn't tell me that. That's right. It made it to the YouTube. It made it to the RSS but it didn't make it on your YouTube channel. No, it's still

[00:02:10] on there. All it was is I couldn't monetize the video. Oh, so it is still on the YouTube page? Oh yeah. You know what, I put a lot of work into that. I had fun with that and

[00:02:24] I remember sending it to you guys and being slightly embarrassed about doing it. And then the more I thought about it, I'm like, no, like I love that speech. I'm not going

[00:02:32] to be embarrassed about it. It was so good. It was great. All of it was wonderful. The inflection on every part, every word, it was wonderful. Well, I've seen that movie that first one so many times that I like I had that speech practically memorize and then

[00:02:51] you go to this one which not nearly as much. In fact, rewatching it, I realized how much I had forgotten about this movie. Yeah, I think I've only seen this movie one

[00:03:05] other time and that's when it was in theaters. I don't know if I ever watched it again. Yeah, I didn't. Yeah, I think yeah, I rewatched it last night. And I honestly, I

[00:03:16] think I realized then I was like, yeah, I'm like, you know, I think this is the first time I'm watching this movie since it released. But I do remember being excited about it when it came out. Because I was a fan of the movie.

[00:03:31] They wanted to do a sequel after the success of the first one. Script ideas were getting passed around from like 2001 on. They really couldn't get it worked out though, until, you know, more recently, the biggest issue was Will Smith was

[00:03:48] supposed to do it. Then Fox wouldn't pay him what he wanted. So Emmerich had to rewrite things and kind of cobble it together. You mean Fox wasn't willing to pay up that wild, wild West money? No. No. He wanted 50 million for two movies.

[00:04:12] For two additional or for two, they were going to make two additional movies, Resurgence and another one. Well, there are books that have been written because I owned one after the fact of this after after this movie came out.

[00:04:29] So there were so there was one book that came out right around the time of the first movie called Silent Zone, I think it's called because I did I did buy and read that book because of being a fan of the first movie.

[00:04:40] That one is a prequel. That one takes place before Independence Day and it largely focuses around Dr. Oaken. OK. And like his experiments because he was locked up in, you know, he was below ground in Area 51. And then there were two additional books that came out.

[00:04:59] One was a number of was I think if I remember correctly, five or six years after the events of the first movie and it takes place out in them like the Mojave Desert, like it's it's very centralized, it's not worldwide like the movies.

[00:05:15] And then there was one final book that came out right before Resurgence that kind of filled in a lot of the gaps of things that happened between between Independence Day and Resurgence. Did Emmerich have any say in those books at all?

[00:05:33] Oh, Emmerich was a co-author on all OK. OK, cool. Yeah. And Emmerich was a co-author on all of them because he's the one and he's since come out. I know they've said like this franchise is dead, there's not going to be any more

[00:05:44] movies. But I think Roland Emmerich, I think, has said a number of times. He has ideas for a third movie. Yeah, I was going to bring that up. I don't have notes about it, but I did read some articles before coming on here

[00:05:53] so about because the way that this movie ends, which we'll get into. I mean, we're getting into conversation a little bit. That's fine. Is I mean, they basically set it up with like a halfway cliffhanger

[00:06:04] where they're like, and now we're going to take the fight to them credits. And then it's like, well, nothing else happened from that. So I did a little digging and yeah, it's like Emmerich wanted to do this as a trilogy.

[00:06:15] But this movie just did not get the reception that it was supposed to get. And they just pulled the plug on it. And so he's he's given some like interviews and stuff. I read like some ideas of what that

[00:06:28] third movie in the trilogy was supposed to be like. And it was going to be a much more grand scale galactic war with the humans teaming up with other alien species. And building hybrid alien weaponry to fight back.

[00:06:39] Like it was going to be a huge epic space battle kind of thing. And then just so much time has gone by and everything got pulled or even now Roland Emmerich is like, I don't usually do sequels anyway. And it's been too long, so I don't care anymore.

[00:06:52] Hearing that whole idea for what it was going to become, I'm actually really glad they didn't do it. Right. It would have been too much. This was his first and I think only sequel that he's ever done. And he even said in an interview

[00:07:09] when Will Smith couldn't do it. I should have bailed. Yeah. I mean, and that's the thing, like it's not that will couldn't do it. It's that he wouldn't do it. Now he wouldn't. You know, there's there's a difference. He did have a film in conflict as well.

[00:07:28] Yeah, I can't remember what it was. Suicide Squad. Oh, yeah. OK. Right around 2016. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Well, he made the better choice. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not going to lie. And to be honest with you, had they brought Will back, I feel like it would have been.

[00:07:46] I don't know because like the first movie made him a star. But it was also they also kind of wrote it around him. You know, because they wanted to use that movie to make him a star. I think that was actually part of his contract for that movie,

[00:08:01] was he was supposed to be a focus of the film. I have a feeling they probably would have done the same thing for this one and it would have taken away from so much of the movie. Yeah.

[00:08:11] You know, I think it worked out better with it being his son Dylan. Although it's not his actual son, it's a step son. But still, I think it worked out well, focusing on the children this time around. I have this feeling his character would have been killed off.

[00:08:30] I think I can see that. I could see that. Yeah. I mean, he did make a brief appearance in a portrait for all of what? Two seconds. Yeah, in the White House. Yeah. I mean, and he's definitely mentioned.

[00:08:47] He's he's talked about because you can't talk about the events of the first movie without mentioning Stephen Hiller like it's. Yeah. Right. Well, there's a lot that we can talk about. I'm hoping that this conversation is going to help me determine

[00:09:03] how I really feel about this movie because. I'm not really sure. I've thought about it when I was rewatching it and I. Yeah, I don't know. I mentioned the books that were written and how Roland Emmerich had a part in those books.

[00:09:20] I did read Silent Zone and I do remember actually enjoying that book. It was also 1996 and I was in high school, so I didn't know any better. It'd be interesting to go back and read, read that book now

[00:09:32] to see if I still feel the same way about the story. But, you know, if there's not going to be another movie made, I'd like to see Roland Emmerich maybe still tell his story. I'd love to see this turn into a comic book series. That could be interesting.

[00:09:46] Like team up with like like IDW or one of those comic book, you know, those same ones that do like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Star Trek and all those other, you know, franchise comics. I'd love to see independence.

[00:09:59] They turn into a comic book series just to continue that. If you really want to tell that story in that grandiose way that you had an idea for, do it in a comic book. Yeah, yeah, it might sit better. Yeah. Yeah. When I was reading about

[00:10:15] like the intergalactic stuff, I'm just like, we've done this before already with different. Yeah, like they are basically going to take some like one of the ships and like turn it into a black hole that like the AI would give them instructions on how to like take

[00:10:29] the technology and reverse it into becoming a black hole that would help them travel to the other side of the universe or whatever. And it's all this. It's like that's a huge step, even from resurgence to that. There's a lot to go into that.

[00:10:42] The alien tech, the alien that they rescued tells them ways that they can fold space so that they can just travel from one to the other creating. There is definitely going to be a folding a piece of paper with a pencil through it.

[00:10:53] Put a pencil through it and that's how they go through. And then they end up running into Sam Neal and there it's fish burn and Sam Neal's eyes are bleeding even though he doesn't have eyes. And oh, wait, I'm going in the van. Horizon shit. Sorry.

[00:11:04] No, because I feel like it's already been done. Like this type of thing has already been done. And personally, the CGI in this movie in some cases, it just doesn't hold up. And so I can't picture that. Yeah, I mean, we'll get into it anyway.

[00:11:26] And I probably should do our production notes and get us off to the races here. It was filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, London, UK, including the Tower Bridge and the final battle took place in the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, which is where they filmed Independence Day.

[00:11:49] Well, the whole the whole final scene for both movies take place outside of Area 51. Yeah. Yeah, same place. So they filmed it in the same place. Emreck directed the original film. In fact, I mentioned this was his first sequel. The budget for this was 165 million.

[00:12:08] It grows three hundred and eighty nine point seven million, which for other movies would be fine. But for this type of movie, they are not expecting to double what they put into it. They're expecting like a billion dollars. They're expecting eight or nine hundred million, not almost four.

[00:12:28] Yeah, you need to you need to triple or quadruple what you made on a big budget film like this. Absolutely. So it was 120 minutes long. Paik, give us that IMDb synopsis. Two decades after the first Independence Day invasion, Earth is faced with a new extra solar threat,

[00:12:48] but will mankind's new space defenses be enough? Well, there we are. Yes and no. Oh, I have thoughts on this. I have thoughts on that. It's like, we're doomed. We need this AI help so it sits in a room and just goes,

[00:13:05] you can do it. And then they did it. It was a high tech cheerleader. Yes, just be honest. I think it's interesting that none of us saw this after the first time. I forgot the ending for some of the characters, so I was like, oh,

[00:13:26] I forgot that happened. There's finality points for some of the characters. And then there's one or two characters, or at least one I can think of from the first film, who we get nothing on. Jeff Goldblum's other half, Constance. Yeah. What happened to Constance?

[00:13:46] OK, so in the book, she passed away. There's no mention of her whatsoever in this movie. He is with this other person and then they kiss at the end. And I'm thinking, can you just tell me what happened to Constance? That that's what I'm interested in.

[00:14:04] I don't need this gratuitous love story thing going. We already have that with two other characters. So I don't need that with this. But I mean, you went you went out of your way to and God, and I can't remember.

[00:14:17] I got to double check this just to see if. Just to see because I think, yeah, OK, I was right. So they went out of their way to CGI in Robert Lose. Who had passed before this movie was made. But you couldn't just make mention of Constance.

[00:14:43] You couldn't have like you couldn't have Jeff Goldblum's character say just happened to say like, oh, since my wife passed away. Would have been you could have thrown in one line right to give us some kind of closure on. Can't. No, they couldn't. Oh, man.

[00:15:04] I feel like we've talked about a lot of it already. Oh, there's so much more we can do. There's so many things. Um, so let's get started with some points. Not really like a top three ban just we have points.

[00:15:20] I mean, yeah, I mean, I still do mine is like that. I pick like three main points, but then I've got so many other notes. We'll just free for all it. But we'll pick places to start. So it's it's been a while since I've been on.

[00:15:32] But I know the fun of your show. I'm right. I listen and just not on. Yeah. Yeah. Do you want me to start or do you guys want to start? Choose where we start. So so I want to say one of the things I remembered

[00:15:46] about first watching this movie that I didn't know how I felt. And then upon watching it again, giving it a lot of time. Again, I saw this movie when it first released in 2016. And this is my first time. So I gave this movie about eight years to breathe.

[00:16:02] I think one of the things I actually appreciated more upon the second time is the the interesting note of the fact that alien technology is now part of our everyday lives. Like they found a way to it wasn't just, hey, let's rebuild the world the way it was.

[00:16:20] Let's take advantage of this. And, you know, I love how they say like the president, the new president is like, well, we're under a great deal. Like countries are at peace. Meanwhile, David Levinson is with gorillas in the you know, in Africa. There's been no war for 20 years.

[00:16:38] I'm like, oh, this movie is fiction. Got it. And everyone's having a wonderful family moment. The world is all healed and it's a beautiful place with rainbows and unicorns. Yeah, but I do like I appreciate the fact that like this is now.

[00:16:55] You know, this is a new earth. This is a new it's basically if you were looking at this as the MCU, this is a new timeline. You know, this is there's advanced technology. They figured out a way to adapt it not just for the sake of weaponry,

[00:17:10] but for the betterment of mankind. Like I did appreciate that element of the story. Oh, yeah, it's cool. Because of course they would you have all this technology and stuff laying around after that first fight. And it's like obviously they're way more, you know, capable

[00:17:28] than we are and adapt in a lot of ways. I was like, let's let's take those things and figure out how we can adapt those and make them, you know, our society forward. And of course, like all these countries are getting along

[00:17:41] and there's peace among all the like the different countries and everything. Of course, there will be because the entire world came together in 1996 to defeat an alien invasion. The first country that goes against everybody is going to be wiped off the fucking planet.

[00:17:56] Yeah. Sorry, I don't know if I forget if you swear. No, no, no. We we are an explicit podcast. So the moment like let's just say, for example, like Russia goes against the rest of the world again.

[00:18:10] It's like, well, now you're not just like you have no allies. You are on your own. So of course, you're not going to go against the rest of the world. You're going to claim peace. So yes, like it makes a lot of sense that everybody is together.

[00:18:22] Yeah. Yeah. I found it very interesting, though, when this new alien comes along there is all this push like to attack it based on what happened last time. And half of the people want to attack it and other people are like, no, we should wait.

[00:18:41] Which but they choose to attack it. I I understand. Because you are you're kind of driven by an unknown fear in that moment. You've been living for 20 years in peace. And now all of a sudden there's this unknown thing. You don't want to relive elements of the past

[00:19:01] because that's what they did last time. They don't want to repeat the same mistake. They don't want to try and communicate when all of a sudden it's going to like just start attacking the world because that's what happened last time.

[00:19:12] They don't want to take that risk, but in a sense that they don't. And this is one of the issues I do have with the movie is the fact that they fire the laser at the ship. It goes down. They claim this AI from it.

[00:19:29] But it's never really focused on that they almost by doing that, they almost caused their own extinction. They don't focus on that. It's like, oh, we got it. Everything's good now. Like no, you almost screwed everybody. Yeah.

[00:19:44] And if we have to celebrate, there has to be a big celebration. And if it wasn't for Dr. Levinson and Thor's brother. Yeah. Jake. If it wasn't he is Thor's brother. I know Liam Hemsworth. Yes. So if it wasn't for David and Jake going against orders

[00:20:05] and going to get it, you would have never survived. If it wasn't for Jake going against orders and going to get David. Yeah. This would not have happened. It's in his nature to. Not follow the rule sometimes and think about the greater good,

[00:20:26] which which leads me to another point, but I'm going to save it because what if you guys might have it before I can do it? But yeah, that's pretty much my first point is I really appreciated the second time around the whole element of incorporating,

[00:20:41] taking all this alien technology and incorporating it into, you know, everything. Never mind. I'll I'll save it. I'll save it for later because somebody else might bring it up. But that's it. That's that's my first one. Who next? I can go next if you'd like either way.

[00:21:03] OK, so. I realized the first time I watched this movie that I was focusing a lot on the people that didn't come back, the people we didn't get instead of thinking about the people who did return the different characters that we did get to see.

[00:21:22] As I wanted to talk a little bit about that. This is a movie that had the same director as the first one, which doesn't always happen with sequels. So that does like set the stage for it being especially with Roland Emmerich because we know he does disaster.

[00:21:42] He does it well. But we did get Dylan Hiller, who of course is the step son, and he's followed in his stepfather's footsteps. Jasmine became a doctor, which I which I did enjoy. Yes, I love that. I love that for her because

[00:22:04] I feel like everything that happened, she took that as like a catalyst to be the person she wanted to be and go to school and do everything. Um, he got. Okan, who I thought was dead. I don't know about you guys, but I thought he was dead.

[00:22:23] Oh, I thought he was could put completely. Yeah, I thought he was dead. Patricia, of course, who became a pilot like her father. Exactly. And President Whitmore, we got him as well. Julius, which of course is David's father, is he wrote a book, which I thought he's

[00:22:48] that was funny. Those scenes are funny. We see David, of course, is out meeting with gorillas. I yeah, warlords. I can't even how he ended up out there. I don't know. But the difference that we see is that he's not.

[00:23:09] The conspiracy theorist person that he they treated him like in the first movie where they were always treating him like they didn't want to listen to him. But he was right. And now they put more trust in him.

[00:23:24] Yeah, except for the whole like been mentioned earlier shooting the AI thing ship out of the sky where he's literally going, I think this is a completely different situation that might be an ally. How about we don't do it?

[00:23:34] And they're like, yeah, that's a great idea, David Levinson. But how about instead, you know what, David? That sounds great. Fire. Yeah, that's a really bad idea. OK, a really bad idea. I like that we also got the throwback to Russell, whose name was on.

[00:23:54] They had a list of people who died way back and his name was there. And so I liked that throwback that just that little thing. What I didn't like is I don't understand why May Whitman could not have been approached to play.

[00:24:11] Patricia, she played her in the first movie. So it's nothing against Michael Monroe, who did fine. I just would have appreciated even though I guess maybe May Whitman doesn't live up to the, you know, glamorous look they were going for. I don't know.

[00:24:32] I read some things about that. I would have preferred her in the role if. But from what I understand, she wasn't even approached. I think I do my Roxy Riker like that. And I think you bugged me. I think you hit the nail on the head, too.

[00:24:47] I think it's they may kind of grew up to look different from what she did as a little girl. They needed somebody who looked like an adult version of that little girl and may didn't anymore, which sucks because May Whitman is a great actress. And she is.

[00:25:06] I would have loved to have seen her come back. Yeah, but I mean, neither of the kids were because I don't think Dylan was the same. Not at all. Either they did not. They didn't reach out to him either. They cast somebody else. Yeah. And that's fine.

[00:25:22] I think there's a difference between need and want. And I think they wanted a specific thing. Well, and I also and I also think too, like when it comes to child actors like May for the first movie, you're not looking at a child actress

[00:25:38] who has a huge career because you're not going to at that point. May Whitman also didn't really get a big break until Scott Pilgrim, which came a number of years after. Right. Well, she was also in arrested development. It came out after an end of stay for sure.

[00:26:00] But it was before 2010 was Scott Pilgrim. It was before. Yeah, that's right. 2010 was yeah, it was before this movie. So I don't know. I don't know why they didn't choose her. Maybe she just didn't have a big enough career yet at that point that they wanted somebody with.

[00:26:13] But then again, I don't know what the other. Michael Monroe is in It Follows that I know her from. We've covered it on this podcast. She's fantastic. I think she's awesome. I just was so curious why they didn't. Yeah, why they didn't go for it.

[00:26:33] I personally would have loved to see May Whitman return. But again, it's that Scott Pilgrim connection where any time anybody from that shows up, I'm like, I love you. Just like so. Yes, usually we get like a five minute monologue about Scott Pilgrim. You guys see this movie?

[00:26:51] It's great. You know, Pakey and I could speak to do this whole podcast and nothing but Scott Pilgrim quotes. Oh, yeah. Exactly. But we're not going to do that. We're going to say that. Daphne's cutting that right now. Yeah. But I wanted to also bring up Robert Loja.

[00:27:09] We get that little glimpse of him. That was actually his real life wife that was with him that was part of that. And the movie was dedicated to him at the end of the credits because he passed away. I think he passed during the filming of the movie.

[00:27:29] But I think that scene is A.I. I think I don't think that's or CGI, not A.I. I don't know if that's really him or not in the movie. You know what? Let's find out. Yeah, I don't know if that's if that's really him or not.

[00:27:44] I could be wrong. Maybe it was they did use him. In the movie. But it looked it looked CGI to me. It looked CGI to me as well. Oh, no, it was him. It was filmed shortly before his death. Oh, OK. All right. So then I'm wrong.

[00:28:01] But it did. But there were other things besides that that looked a little. Yeah. Not great. So anyway, that's my point. I just wanted to bring up some of those connections that we got, you know, the people that we got to catch up with. Yeah.

[00:28:21] Yes. For my first point, I'll break down a little bit deeper into kind of what we usually do, like a character analysis, but not on like a huge, huge character, but definitely one of the most important characters, especially from the first movie,

[00:28:33] but even here was the return of President Thomas Whitmore. And just seeing where he's at, like we get this kind of they don't play into it too much. Like you I was kind of hoping for more explanation, right?

[00:28:46] Playing a big part in like the denouement of this movie, but it didn't was this whole like mind melt mind connection that was left lingering from certain survivors of the first attack Whitmore being one of them, of course, Okan there. And then the warlord

[00:29:04] was it a tommo tommo? Umbu too. Umbu too. Yeah. They have that like connection from like specifically like dealing with like being like grappled by the aliens or whatever and there's like this lingering thing to when now the aliens are coming back.

[00:29:19] It's starting to seep into their brains and it's almost like this like connection, even if the aliens aren't meaning to because then they're like writing down like the things that the aliens are thinking about, which is this fear of this AI and this other entity.

[00:29:33] And there's that connection. And so I was like, it didn't really play like, yes, like they had that little moment where Umbu too is explaining like reading the script and being like, oh, they're afraid of this and they get to that.

[00:29:45] And I guess it plays into like the actual connection in the mind wasn't used to like backfire on aliens or anything. Just a random thought that they could have done more with that. But it was interesting to see like Whitmore was having those flashes.

[00:29:59] He was trying to decide, like, am I crazy or like, does this mean something? But he decides to go off of it. He says like somehow somehow he knows because he can tap into what's going on the aliens.

[00:30:10] He's like that first ship wasn't one of theirs, but they're still coming. And it's going to be a lot worse than the first time. To where he crashes the new president's speech to warn people, but then as the aliens are about to like make land.

[00:30:22] So it like sends him kind of into a quick little coma or whatever. It knocks him out pretty good for a minute. It was good to have him back. I was like, what kind of role is he going to play?

[00:30:33] And so it was cool that he got to, I mean, in a way save the earth twice. Although he didn't quite finish the job in the second time. That sounds like mission success with a question mark because like he does fly the bombs into the ship.

[00:30:47] He blows up the queen or so you think, but she shields herself. But like it should be over. Then they see like the other aliens are still attacking something's wrong. But I guess like he still blew up the mothership.

[00:31:01] So then she was just left to adjust herself like. Well, that wasn't even the mothership. That was yeah, it was. It was it was a small portion of the mothership. Yeah. You know, it was kind of like her little cruiser that broke off of the mothership.

[00:31:17] But the mothership was what was on. Yeah, the mothership was what was connected to the like literally sitting at the top of the earth. Yeah, yeah. Or across the entire Atlantic Ocean. It was real big.

[00:31:28] So like, so I guess the question is like, does Whitmore's sacrifice actually hold up? It's like, is it worth sacrificing himself if, you know, she survived? I mean, the ship was gone. That that ship was.

[00:31:40] And it brought her out of the open to where she could be brought down after more final battle. But but, you know, he felt that that was what he was supposed to do, which I thought was interesting him and Patricia going back and forth.

[00:31:51] And like, no, I'll do it. No, I'll do it. You don't you let him do it. Don't you let her do it? Don't you? It's like, well, I think his name was Matthew was this. Matthew. Yeah. Agents. Oh, I was like, well, yeah.

[00:32:02] Clearly we see where your loyalty lies, because after both of them are giving you opposite orders there, he sides with Whitmore and pulls Patricia aside and lets him get onto that ship with the the bait on it to take off.

[00:32:17] Oh yeah, it could have been a total post credit scene where like after everything happens and everybody celebrates, Patricia comes back to Matthew and like, oh, you're fired. Yeah. Can I just point out the actor in that scene?

[00:32:31] Gbenka Akanakbi, he was huge on The Wire, which is a series I don't think either of you have seen. Nope, not yet. But he plays a really big part in The Wire. Nice. It was great to see him in this role and something bigger than just TV

[00:32:49] because he's mostly known for television. Yeah. And then I'll talk about two more like scenes quickly that like Whitmore were huge callbacks to the first movie with him. First is this iconic, you know, the alien speaking through a person by

[00:33:04] wrapping the tentacles around and it's this time, you know, Whitmore is being used in that way. And the way that he locks himself in there knowing that that's what's going to happen to him. But he's like, we have this connection.

[00:33:14] That's what's going to happen if I go in there. I know that. Let me like he was so willing to sacrifice himself at any turn. He's like, even if I don't make it out of here, use this right now to get answers that you need.

[00:33:26] And he's just like willing to go for it. But it was cool that they used him as a kind of vessel of redoing that scene in a different way. And then, of course, he had to have another rousing Whitmore speech in the like hangar there.

[00:33:41] I thought it was a weird choice to have him end it with going today is our Independence Day resurgence. But you know, what are you going to do? I liked the way that they used his speech in the opening. Yeah. Just in the opening of the movie.

[00:33:57] Like. Seeing the like the Queen's phase, like, oh, they're salty. They always are so salty about what happened in the first one. Well, it's it's very interesting too, because it's kind of like I forget where I heard this from. But one of the first ever.

[00:34:12] I don't know if this is from a movie or like how much truth to it there is. But one of the first ever broadcasts that from the planet of Earth from anywhere that could have ever reached into outer space is actually Adolf Hitler's speech.

[00:34:28] So if there were any aliens out there and they did intercept any transmissions from Earth, the first thing they would see is Adolf Hitler. So I kind of get like it's a little bit of a play on that, that these aliens are seeing this rousing speech

[00:34:45] from somebody who was in charge, like, and that's that's what they're taking. You know, because it's I've heard people say, like, if aliens ever are out there and do intercept anything from Earth, the first they're going to see is Adolf Hitler and they're coming for us.

[00:35:00] Like it's Hitler's going to screw us over years after he's been dead. But I do want to say to on take on your point too with President Whitmore and how like he he was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice.

[00:35:13] One of the things I really did appreciate about his character is the fact that he learned something even though he's not. He's only kind of referenced once in the movie. President Whitmore learned something from Russell Case. And that is his sacrifice is not for the world.

[00:35:31] It's for his children. Because he even tells Patricia, I'm not doing this to save the world. I'm doing this to save you. That's a lesson from Russell. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And how poetic that he goes in the ship the same way. Yeah. Russell did. I'm like, OK.

[00:35:54] They were those little things like that that tied you back to the first movie. They were just different little things that I saw and felt the same way. Yeah. And yeah, there are a few fun callbacks that I like.

[00:36:08] I'm getting ahead of myself with another point a little bit. But another way was just callbacks that they played off comedically with undercutting your expectations is having Jake walk up and just sock the alien in the face.

[00:36:20] But instead of knocking it out, he's just like, oh, I should have run. I want to I want to say real quick, too. In terms of Russell. So this is kind of on the topic, but off the topic.

[00:36:34] So I had the opportunity to meet Randy Quaid this year because I moderated a National Lampoon's reunion panel with Chevy Chase, Randy Quaid, Beverly D'Angelo and Dana Barron. And over the years, Randy Quaid has built a reputation for being someone who is batshit crazy.

[00:36:58] I want to say it and I want to put it on the record. Met him. And he was incredibly nice, incredibly nice, very sweet, very willing to talk. I brought up Independence Day and how much I love that movie and his character.

[00:37:15] And he was very appreciative of hearing it. So I just want to say to anybody who might be listening, if you have an opportunity to meet him, do not be afraid. Go and talk to him because he is.

[00:37:25] I think he was going through some things at that time. And I think his wife had a lot to do with that, too. I think she was very influential in a lot of decisions and tangents he was going on. But he seems to be mentally clearer now.

[00:37:45] And so I will say, if you have an opportunity to meet Randy Quaid, do not be afraid by what you've heard. Go and talk to him. He's very sweet. Nice. And you can start your conversation with all right, you alien assholes.

[00:38:02] I don't know if that's true, but you can try. Worth a shot. All right. So, Ben, yeah, what's the next point or thing you want to talk about? So keeping on the character element. One of the things I noticed, too, is that. The next generation of characters.

[00:38:24] Not all of them kind of fell into the trope of being their parent. Which I liked Patricia very much did. She her father was her hero. You know, she wanted to follow in her father's footsteps.

[00:38:40] She became a she became a pilot then went from the Air Force into government, working in the White House under the president, which there is a there's an argument to be made that had these aliens not come back, she could have been a president.

[00:38:53] You know, she within another 10 to 15 years, she could have been running for president herself. Yeah. I think she. Yeah. She also got. A more like stable job so that she could take care of her father because her father was. Not well, yeah.

[00:39:14] But, you know, again, like I said, I think that she could be president. She still could. I mean, in all honesty. Yeah. But then, you know, the kind of breaking away from the trope, you have Dylan who comes in and, you know,

[00:39:29] Stephen, his father was stepfather was kind of he was the rule breaker. He's the one that stole the helicopter to, you know, to go rescue Jasmine. You know, he was military to the fullest. He followed orders, but he was willing to break the rules when needed to.

[00:39:48] If it came to somebody cared about or something that needed to be done. Dylan on the underhand was by the book like he didn't. He was not like that. The rule breaker was Jake. Yeah, Jake was the definitely that like kind of renegade rebel character.

[00:40:03] Yeah. So I thought it was interesting. You got to establish that kind of care. There is this movie had a lot of tropes. It was troping a lot of ways. And I think just the introduction of Jake as a character was definitely that.

[00:40:13] Like we got to make sure we established he's the capable but edgy lead who will ignore orders, but he saves lives so it's OK. And yeah, yeah. Yeah. But on the other hand, you know, again, continuing with somebody else who was not referenced in this movie at all.

[00:40:27] And rightfully so, I don't think he needed to be was Harry Connick Jr.'s character from the first movie. And if we got and if we got anybody in this movie who kind of filled that role, it was Charlie. Yes.

[00:40:42] Who was I was so afraid that he was going to die because I couldn't remember. And I'm watching it. They can know I know he's going to like it's going to happen. Charlie is such an interesting character to me because it was like

[00:40:55] he had zero game, but his charisma stats were all the way up. Oh, yeah. He's got the charisma stats maxed. He just doesn't know how to use them. Right. No. You know, and it's he's got the confidence just not anything else to back it up really at first.

[00:41:17] Ben, I agree with you too, because if you but I also think that it also showcase this whole thing showcases that the packing order is still in place. Like Stephen Hiller could never be what he wanted to be

[00:41:33] because he was going to marry a stripper and all of these things that reasons why like he wasn't the person that was going to advance. Yeah, his stepson is a hero or because he's he's a hero in his own right. His stepfather was a hero.

[00:41:53] He has more opportunities than say Luke and Charlie. Like there's still a packing order very much in place there. Yeah, that existed before. I just like I like the fact that they didn't follow tropes that yeah, you know, the character that Jake portrayed in this one wasn't Dylan.

[00:42:11] Like he broke away from that and they didn't throw him into like, oh, he's the same. Great in the great in the military, but willing to break the rules like his stepdad. Like I'm glad that he became his own person. Yeah. And he didn't fall.

[00:42:28] They didn't fall into that trope of making him Stephen. Yeah, me too, because I think there's always pressure in the real world. There's always pressure for kids from their parents usually to grow up and be like them.

[00:42:43] And so it but it doesn't always happen or even often happen. So I think showing that that you can grow up and be like your dad or you can grow up and not be like your stepdad, that it's kind of a realistic way of how the world works.

[00:43:01] I do. I will say this and pay sorry if this deals one of your callbacks you have when we get to this section. But when Dylan says let's go make some fireworks.

[00:43:11] I thought that was a great callback to when Stephen has Dylan at the end of the first movie and says, didn't I promise you fireworks? Oh, nice. And the fireworks were the reigning of the ship, the debris of the ship.

[00:43:21] Like that was that was Dylan's way of saying like we're going to we're going we're going to destroy these guys. Yeah, that was great. This is fireworks. Dylan also had a get ready for a close encounter, which I was like points. Yeah.

[00:43:36] So but then I'm again like I liked. I loved seeing more of Dr. Oaken in this movie because I did again, I read that Silent Zone book, which is all about Dr. Oaken and, you know, I really enjoyed reading that because it gave me a better

[00:43:52] understanding of Dr. Oaken. But now I was I remember watching the movie being like, oh, he's alive. I'm excited by this because I like that character and like see like and finding out more like he actually has a partner

[00:44:07] who's been taking care of him this whole time and that didn't get in the way of the story. You know, it just added more to his character. Right. So I I've really enjoyed it. I like the fact that like some tropes were broken. Others were enhanced.

[00:44:24] I don't think there were any that were like monotonously repeated. Right. Yeah. And his partner was actually in the first movie. He just didn't have any lines. He was the actor. Yeah. The character was there. That's fine because I had to go look that up.

[00:44:41] I'm like, was he in the first one? He was. It's just it wasn't part of the story at that time. No, he's just a background actor. Yeah. Yeah. That's fine. But that's pretty much it. I just wanted to dive a little bit more under the character development.

[00:44:58] My next point I quote David, they like to get the landmarks. I want to talk about how Roland Emmerich likes to destroy everything in his movies and some of the things that we got to see in this.

[00:45:14] First, I have to say we did get a lot more practical effects in the first movie, which I appreciated so much more. CGI has come a long way, but I don't know that this movie showcased the very best of CGI. At times, things were good.

[00:45:32] But then there were other parts that I just thought, yeah, this is on a green screen and it kind of didn't need to be. But OK, one thing that stood out to me is in the original movie, we had that blast that comes down

[00:45:50] and then blows everything up when Jasmine and the dog and her son are trying to get out of town. And you see everything just blow up and just. I feel like we also got that in this movie, but it was a little bit different.

[00:46:05] And I liked it because it wasn't just about let's blow something up like from the top down. It was basically blowing up the street. But then there were things raining down because they had been pulled up to the gravity on that ship. Yeah. And then smashing down.

[00:46:23] I liked that what goes up must come down. I thought that was clever. But I also look at it as a callback because of the way that it started like that whole sequence of effects started with one building and a beam coming down. But it was different.

[00:46:42] But I liked it because it was it was a callback, but it was still really good. And you know, I'm watching it and I'm thinking, OK, this really reminds me of 2012. Well, it should because Roland Emmerich did that one too. And he knows how to destroy the world.

[00:47:02] Yeah, you mentioned it. He's he's really good at disasters and huge destruction in movies to where, yeah, it is something like this movie's got ups and downs for me for sure. But one of the biggest things that I really appreciated was this

[00:47:18] kind of initial impact or like the big destruction scene is this like gravity shift kind of thing. It's something I don't know if I've seen before and I thought it was really I mean, it was really well done aside from some of the CGI and stuff

[00:47:33] that was a little wonky here or there. But it was the idea of it was really cool. And I think it was executed mostly really well. I I personally want to know what Roland Emmerich has against New York City. Right. Because I think in every movie he's made,

[00:47:52] with the exception of maybe Moonfall. Oh, Moonfall had its. OK, all right. If there's moments in New York, I haven't seen that movie yet. So I don't know if there's moments in New York there or not. But I mean, day after tomorrow, 2012 Independence Day, Independence Day resurgence, Godzilla.

[00:48:11] What does this man have against New York City? Right. I don't get it. I love New York City. Well, as I said, to quote, to quote David, they like to get the landmarks.

[00:48:25] And I think at the point that he says that it has to do with London Bridge, like is collapsing and it's like, yeah, he does everything. I mean, it's you know what you're getting with him. It's going to be crazy at times. But I loved it.

[00:48:45] I loved the ship flying overhead very much like it did in 1996 when everything just started to get dark. And you knew what was happening. And so it's seeing it happen again. It was like, OK, yeah, there is that feeling of. Yep, shit's about to get real here.

[00:49:10] I really enjoyed that. Um. Some non-effect things. Julius driving a bus across the desert reminded me very much of when we had the RV running across the desert. I have issues with this. But with the school bus was saving the day. The entire. I love Judd Hirsch.

[00:49:38] Don't get me wrong. Yes. Him being in this movie was unnecessary. It was it was unnecessary. It was the him ending up on the salt flats outside of area 51 was incredibly forced. Yeah, how did he get there? Like why was he driving out there to begin with?

[00:50:00] Why would it make him divert from the road with everybody else? No, it was it was so forced and so unnecessary. It was how do we cobble together some weird plot device to get Jeff Goldblum to safety? That's what it was.

[00:50:18] See, what no one knows is Julius put one of those suitcase tags and like it's it's glued to David. So he knows where he is all the time. So he knew that he was out there and he had to do it.

[00:50:33] He's got an apple tag on on David. He's got an apple tag on David. Is it that far fetched when you see what happened in this movie? Really, truly not. What, that they ended up out and that he ended up out in the salt?

[00:50:45] Yes, it's incredibly far fetched. It is, I know. So why an apple tag is not that far fetched if you if you. But also, I mean, even. Jeff Goldblum's I mean, David's reaction to why is there a bus coming across and then he finally realizes it's father.

[00:51:04] I'm just like, it's it's just such a weird side story that I don't know. It's like we've got to get John Hersch in this movie for reasons like put it is like what does he do in the movie? He has no connection. He doesn't see his son really.

[00:51:17] I don't know. But make him do ultimate babysitter duty and he's driving across the country on a school bus full of children. Now, I will say the one thing that did come out of that entire scene with Julius and the kids was the fact that I didn't realize

[00:51:34] it at the time who was in that scene. Teeny tiny little and that's McKenna Grace. Yeah. Oh, yes. OK, so let me let me say this. Yes. So let me just say this. OK. I I love Joey King. I think she's great. McKenna Grace, they're amazing.

[00:51:53] How the hell do they film everything that they're in? Because I swear they're in everything that's being advertised. I don't know how it how it's possible, but they are. Yeah, because this is Joey King before the big break that they had to.

[00:52:08] So yeah, like it's yeah, it was cool to see like some of those. Oh, hey, I recognize these these these kid actresses here. And so that was that was cool to see. But but still as much as I enjoy Joey King or McKenna Grace,

[00:52:22] I'm like, were they needed in this movie plus the other random bus load of kids? No. No, it was completely unnecessary. And I'm trying to figure out where I know Joey King from. I'm trying to figure out what else they're in.

[00:52:34] And I just saw one thing that I immediately remembered them from, and that's bullet train. I think Joey's big break was one of the Zach Bragg movie. Wish I was here or wish you were the one that he did after.

[00:52:50] Just blanked on a garden state, that one he did after Garden State. They did an episode of Robot Chicken, too. Yeah, Joey King did the kissing booth movies on Netflix, which are very big if you're a teenager.

[00:53:03] I don't know. But yeah, like just going back to the point. Oh, the princess. That's right. You know them from that too. Yeah, I just the whole thing with Julius, like I love Judd Hirsch. But that that whole storyline just felt incredibly forced.

[00:53:21] I feel like it was a way to, you know, they were trying to bring back as many people as they could. So they had to get Julius in there somehow. And making him look.

[00:53:33] Don't get me wrong, I think it's very sweet that at the end of the movie, he says to these kids, you guys should come stay with me. And they're like, yeah, we'd like that. But that didn't need to happen.

[00:53:41] No, like we could have taken that entire plot pulling out. It didn't. It's not that it didn't need to happen. It could have been done differently. He didn't need to end up out on the salt flats with David. That's where the biggest disconnect for me comes from.

[00:53:57] If he if there was a big scene where Julius was driving like through debris, the same way they were flying through it. And he saved the kids that way. And like they were kind of on their own thing. And like that's one thing.

[00:54:10] But to. Ending up out on the salt flats with David was just hugely forced. Suspension made no sense whatsoever. The only good thing that came out of it was that alien queen falling in front of the bus.

[00:54:26] Like, right? But why was the queen so obsessed with that bus? Yeah, that's another question I had too. Did you think it was a banana? Like what is happening here? Why? Yeah, why was it so fixated on that bus?

[00:54:39] So I would love to wait until my next point, but I feel like based on what we've just said, I feel like I need to say the following based on what I read from Roland Emmerich and having to rewrite the script and everything.

[00:54:56] What I feel like is this movie had a lot of big ideas. And then they added things in to get to the big ideas, even if they didn't make sense. What about that random ship that was out going for gold?

[00:55:13] And they just happened to be out there and they stayed to monitor. Like the purpose they served, yeah, it was like, so we had a countdown clock on exactly how long they had until it was too late. Yeah. But yeah, this kind of a.

[00:55:24] Yeah. Which it was funny with like that cast where on the ship, because I was like, are these supposed to be? I was like, are these supposed to be bad guys? And then Joshua Mechel walks in. I was like, yeah, obviously they are because he's in it.

[00:55:35] Yeah, I'm like, OK, and I don't even know what his character's name is. I just call him Jared because he was on the walking dead. And can I can I also just say for that particular scene going against suspension of this suspension of belief.

[00:55:51] A huge laser is drilling to the molten core of the planet and is this close to hitting it when that laser stops. The ocean will fill it in. Yes, which means the Atlantic Ocean. Pretty much. Yeah, that boat is going into that. They are dead.

[00:56:12] For the hundred million dollars they think they're getting. They are dead men. And it's going to literally almost drain the ocean because it's a mile wide hole. Yeah, that has to be that has to be filled in. And it's in the middle of the Atlantic.

[00:56:29] So of course, the ocean is going to fill it. Yeah, the Atlantic Ocean is done at that point. It's it's going to fill in that it's the Atlantic Ocean is going to be a mile wide because it's going to fill in that hole.

[00:56:43] And yes, again, suspension of disbelief, I know they're fine. They're heroes. No, they're everything's fine. Yeah, they're dead. Let alone all the Megalodons that are going to come out of that hole because they burned so deep. Oh, yeah, everything from Hollow Earth is coming out of there now.

[00:57:01] They're all coming out a whole new mess on it. Roland Emmerich just created a multiverse of movies. He did and he didn't even know it. Or maybe he did and that was his plan along. Maybe. Who knows? Yeah, I.

[00:57:17] It reminds me of something that was once said about walking dead where. Sometimes it feels like they want to do these great gags so they write storylines around it so they can do them. That's kind of what I felt like with this movie at times is that

[00:57:32] oh, we want to do this, so we have to have this and this. And so we'll just write this into it and it'll be fine. But. I don't think it was fine. I think there was a lot of excess.

[00:57:45] There's a lot of weird like side pieces that were going on that I don't think were necessary. A lot of loose threads that were just. Freight, they shouldn't have been there. All they really needed to do was have the aliens come back and. And fight.

[00:58:03] I mean, it didn't have to be we're going to drill a hole or we're going to do this. We're going to have to fight the aliens again. OK. Let's do that. Don't get me wrong. I like the idea of them drilling to the core of the earth

[00:58:16] to stop to shut it down because that's literally you're hitting the power button on the planet at that point. So like I appreciated that story. Like I thought that was interesting. Scientifically, I thought that was interesting. But yeah, there's just there's so much in it.

[00:58:31] Even the alien AI that they rescued, I feel like was a bit of a MacGuffin. Like it just didn't really feel like that needed to. Oh, we have a. The ally we need and then. Really. Because yeah, because exactly like what did it do?

[00:58:49] Other than tell them they had allies and they created a resistance. Just give it some pom poms. It's all. Yeah. I gave them hope. Yeah, it was like the cheerleader. I mean, it would have. Now she's coming for me and you must protect me now.

[00:59:05] Yeah, it would have had a much bigger role in the third movie. I get that. Absolutely. Yeah. But in this movie, it just it felt like it was just like it was another one of those loose threads.

[00:59:17] I think looking at it maybe as a second movie and not like like a second movie in a trilogy instead of the second movie and it's just a sequel does make things make a little more sense. But there are still those things that I just question.

[00:59:35] Did you want it to be longer? And so me for whatever reason. I feel like I feel like it was a wasted opportunity to have President Whitmore come out and say, like last time there was no there was no hope last time, but we stood our ground.

[00:59:53] We came together and we we won and we can do it again. Only to rely on an alien AI. To help them win. I feel like they could have taken the alien AI out and they would have just done it again.

[01:00:09] They would have somehow banded together to defeat this big alien presence the same way they did before. And it would have had a bigger meaning than. Again, just using this alien AI, which kind of felt like a flimsy. It's just writing a solution pretty much.

[01:00:31] You know, I'd like to know what the plans would have been, like what the plans were for the movie that would have had Will Smith in it. Just because I'm curious. Because I don't think he would have done the movie

[01:00:46] if it wasn't going to be good, like I feel like. I think he wouldn't have been interested, even interested in doing it unless it was going to be. I feel like it was probably one of those situations

[01:00:56] where Emoryk and Devlin, because Devlin works with Emoryk quite a bit. And Dean Devlin was one of the writers on this as well as the first one. I feel like this was one of those opportunities. This is one of those situations where they were like, oh,

[01:01:07] you know what, we've never done a sequel before. Let's do one, but let's make it bigger. And then their aspirations were bigger than their intentions. Yeah. And I do think had Will Smith come back for it, they would have made more money.

[01:01:22] Oh, he would have been a draw. Would have got it would have brought people. They probably would have made probably double what they made just because of him. I mean, they had having Goldblum back in helped, but it still wasn't. Yeah, that's not enough.

[01:01:35] I think having Goldblum and Pullman. Yeah, we're both. And because Pullman coming back as president Whitmore was a huge draw. I know for me personally to watch this movie. Yeah, because he still is to this day my all time favorite movie president.

[01:01:52] Yeah. So like I'm not just movie president, actually like fictional president. He's my favorite. Very close to Terry Crews in Idiocracy, which is kind of the world we're living in now. Anyway. So it's you're right. Will Smith coming in probably would have doubled what this movie made. Yeah.

[01:02:16] I think so. But I still believe his character would have died if not in this movie in in the 30th. No, I think he would have died in this one. Yeah, I feel like he would have died because the next one would have been about the kids,

[01:02:32] you know, the next generation. Well, that was one of those things in that article that I looked at about what would have been in a third one. And Emre said that he wanted to focus on Jake and Dylan being the leads for the third movie as well.

[01:02:46] Yeah, I do think this movie would have introduced them. But the third one would have been all about them. And it would have made you care even more about them. If we knew, you know, a third one is coming.

[01:02:59] And I don't know, I just think it would have been better. I think, yeah. I do want to say, though, of the new cast that we got, Cilla Ward was great as President Lanford. But, man, I love anything William Fincher is in

[01:03:15] anytime he pops up and then seeing him actually getting sworn in as the president. Yeah. Immediately. And he just is like, my life is changing before my eyes. And here I am. I'll put my hand on the Bible and say, yes. Surprise, the entire line is just gone.

[01:03:30] All right, Adams, you're up. You're up. If there was any one good thing, though, that came out of this alien AI that I think again was wasted, it was the fact that we got Dr. Oaken completing the movie.

[01:03:42] He got the last line in the movie and it was, we're going to go kick some alien ass. Yeah. And that's how the movie ends. And I'm like, OK, that's fun. Yeah. That that alien sphere that AI coming from another race, which was, I guess, the mythicals,

[01:03:58] which is led and ruled by Rhett and Link because they sent their assistance. They sent their assistant, Jenna, down to Earth to give that news. Wait, was Jenna the voice of that AI? Jenna Purney from Really? The mythical is the voice of the AI sphere.

[01:04:13] Oh, that is a great connect. I wondered where you were going with that. Yep. See, now I wish it was cotton candy, Randy. We got to save the Earth, Daddies. Yeah. Do you want to know a secret? But, yeah, no, the voice, the AI was. Was Jenna Purney?

[01:04:34] That's awesome. I didn't know that. Yeah. That's great. That's great. I was wondering where you were going, making the connect with the mythicals. I'm like, what? What the mythicals? What? Oh, what are you? Yeah. And their assistant came down in the form of a little AI

[01:04:50] sphere to help the humans. It's a much better sphere than what you get in phantasm. The sphere in phantasm will take you out. I was going to say that'll kill you. It will. Oh, it doesn't talk. Yes. My next point more like not really casting,

[01:05:06] but talking about more characters. Jake and Dylan mainly just more. We've talked about them a lot, but some other thoughts I had on them. Of course, the first time we see Dylan, I was like, should we be letting a train into the White House guys? Yeah. Jesse T.

[01:05:25] Sure. Which, yeah, is maybe. I just watched the newest episode of the Boy 2. Playing a train on the boys, which I haven't seen episode. Is it five? Five was today. Yeah, I haven't seen the newest one yet because yesterday went to starting the new season of the bear

[01:05:39] and watching some dimension 20. But I will get to it today. Yeah. So it's funny because like being being into the boys now and they're like, I wouldn't have known him back when in 2016 when this came out. So then watching it again is like, oh,

[01:05:52] now I recognize the actor. And then having Vivica A. Fox come back to reprise the role of Jasmine. Even it was just for her to fall through a building and die, which I guess is kind of allsy. I don't know, bring her back just to kill her off

[01:06:08] in a destruction sequence. But she died in a kind of a sacrificing way. Like she stayed behind to get her patient out. And it was another kind of mirror to. The first movie again, you talked about with Steven getting in a helicopter to go find her.

[01:06:22] And this time, you know, Dylan is in a ship in a, you know, you know, plane going after her. And this time he is not able to save her. But he used his clout to get someone to go try to rescue her

[01:06:37] like how quickly whatever he said they listened to. And that isn't something that his stepdad dealt with at all. Yeah, he had to go steal a helicopter. The line from Steven in the first one. Yes. The the. Frenemy. Ship that turns into the bond between Jake and Dylan,

[01:07:01] where we learned that they went through training and stuff together. And there's this rough history between them. There's a lot of these mentions early on of Jake almost killing Dylan and you know, it was like, oh, God, this is going to be

[01:07:13] whenever we have to meet in person again, it's going to be awkward. And that's the first thing is the first time they interact in person, this movie is Dylan just laying him out with punch to the face. Which I like that Jake was kind of that character, though.

[01:07:26] He was like, I deserve that 100 percent. And he plays it off and doesn't make a big deal about it. And a little bit later on, I'm just like, I guess he's, you know, Dylan's able to forgive him and work with him pretty quick.

[01:07:39] Maybe he just needed to get the punch out of his system. But also, you know, the looming end of the world and major tragedy puts things into perspective a little more than whatever their beef was, but that they team back up

[01:07:50] and become a really strong like bond and team through this movie, which would have been something cool. Like we've talked about to see if they would have done that third movie as then with them as the leads to see how that would have played off.

[01:08:03] But I don't know if I really want to see a whole third movie anyway after. It's like probably good without all that. Let's say against suspension of disbelief, the fact that, you know, breaking the rules and stuff is like we literally just saw

[01:08:17] they were like on the moon base and Jake stole military equipment, stole a ship and flew back down to earth and got David. He went on this Charlie with him. So I mean, they like broke rank, but like that's like

[01:08:31] you're dismissed from the service after doing something like that. And instead they're putting them on planes to go and fight the is like we've just completely forgiven and forgiven everything you've done. Go. But that whole base got taken out.

[01:08:43] And honestly, he and Charlie survived because they were reckless and did went against orders. Well, yeah. But it's just that suspiciously things like the way things would work. It's like those guys wouldn't be on the mission. They wouldn't be soldiers anymore after the things that they've done.

[01:08:58] No, no. Although in a time of war, I guess strange things happen. Maybe. Yeah. I don't know. Well, not just times of war, but times of desperation. I mean, look at the first movie. You know, they were so low on pilots that a drunk became a pilot.

[01:09:16] Yeah, it's a crab duster. Yeah. And the same thing in this movie where they have the orders any able body person put a gun in their hand and send them out to where we have Floyd with a fucking gun, which was so great. I did enjoy that.

[01:09:32] OK, Floyd, his whole arc in this movie. Can we just talk about how ridiculous it is? He just wanted to be helpful and nobody wanted any of it. No. But out of everybody, he ends up teaming up with him, but instead and then by the end,

[01:09:49] he's like, you have the heart of a warrior. It's like, it's the nicest thing. It's the nicest thing ever. Funny thing about Nicholas Wright is he and James A. Wood were involved in writing the script for better or worse. They were involved, which I found interesting.

[01:10:09] He I Floyd. He's credited really low on like the list of characters, but I felt like we saw a lot more of him than we did some of the others who were credit ahead of him. I felt like his role. I mean, going back to Julius again,

[01:10:26] I feel like his his role was more important than Julius in this. Yeah, absolutely. I agree. I mean, there is an actual arc that mattered where he was like the like cowardly, you know, guy working with David,

[01:10:38] who didn't want to have to deal with anybody or do anything. It's so funny, too, because in that relation to when I remember rewatching this movie, I couldn't remember Floyd ultimately, what happens to Floyd. So when I first started rewatching this movie

[01:10:51] because he's like this guy that comes in, he's like this stuffed up lawyer type person who comes in and he's talking to David. I'm like, oh, crap, he's going to be sitting on a crapper and getting by a T-Rex. Right. Yeah, exactly.

[01:11:04] That's what he kind of reminded me of. Yeah. David invited him to come out and and meet the warlords like, so come on, come on out. And I was just like, no, I'd be sitting in the car. I would not want to get out.

[01:11:19] Look at that. No, not happening. It was just funny that like his pal in the movie becomes who to and but having him like trying to find a way to help and nobody because he's just not worthy of anything.

[01:11:30] And then when he said every able bodied person, give him a gun, we got to do something. And he goes out there and all the soldiers are ready. And he let's do this. Bum and fires off on accident and everybody's looking at him like, fucking Floyd.

[01:11:41] But then he's the one that comes in guns blazing and like takes out the alien there, you know, whenever they go back to where the sphere is to OK. And I love that moment because then like he's almost perfectly bad ass.

[01:11:53] And then like one of the tentacles wraps him and he gets the like scream and then you're like, you almost stuck the landing. Almost. Yeah, missed it by that much. Yeah. In some in some ways, he reminds me of a cross between Melvin from Tremors.

[01:12:15] And I'm not sure what other character. But he there's something about him that reminds me of Melvin. I don't know why other than maybe he's just he was just annoying at times. However, I found him and like annoying in a charming way. Yeah.

[01:12:32] Whereas Melvin is not annoying in a charming way. Yeah, I agree with you, Daphne. Like he his character was a bit annoying. But you know, going back to that whole Jurassic Park reference, it's like

[01:12:43] is he annoying is in like, oh, I hope he gets eaten by a T-Rex or is he annoying? And oh, I hope he doesn't get eaten by a T-Rex. And he turns out to be the second of like, oh, I hope he doesn't get eaten by.

[01:12:54] He's able to make something of himself. How do I protect all these extra characters like Charlie and him because they're they're the ones that get killed and I didn't want them to. Yeah, because I enjoyed what they what they brought. And yeah, which a throwback again with

[01:13:17] I was a weird tangent coming off of I was talking to Dillon, but that's fine. But yeah, but like so before they go into the big ship, it has their own ecosystem and stuff, which is a cool idea. Again, good to see some of that.

[01:13:29] But like the little dogfight and then the battle out there, they had that. I thought that battle scene was cool. Having the near pass maneuver between Jake and Dylan was actually a really cool shot. You can thank me later. No, I'll thank you right now. Yeah.

[01:13:44] And then having them go inside and just that whole thing of like their idea that it just is like it's one thing and then another where they think they have the upper hand and then something else happens.

[01:13:56] It was just a constant like fail, fail, fail, fail, fail until they found the right answer where they get in there and hit like a hit with like that EMP and drop. The bombs don't go off and then they're kind of trapped in there.

[01:14:06] So they have to hijack the other ships, which I like that moment. Jake distracting the aliens by showing them literally how exactly pissed he is about their past activities, which gives the others the time to hijack the ships.

[01:14:21] Then yeah, I got that like that callback to Will Smith's punching the alien in the first one with Jake going for it and not working, which I thought was funny. Just like, wow, I should have ran.

[01:14:32] Then they do manage to get out barely make the escape because of Charlie because Charlie had that his own arc of being like I said, like that really awkward. He's like a look at the hot Chinese girl. That's who I want.

[01:14:42] And I'm going to just puff myself up way past any point of confidence that I should ever have and go talk to her. And it's just awkward. Like he's like, I'm 23 and a half. You're like, ow, that hurts. Like I'm embarrassed for you. I'm yeah. Oh, man.

[01:14:58] That was a rough one. But then to see him with her being the pilot in his ship there as he's shooting and the choices he makes to go back and save them and the like saving shots. And like, he really proves himself to be a legitimate badass.

[01:15:12] You see something in her eyes. She was like, fine, I'll give this we've a shot. Like, OK. I will start with dinner. I was just going to say, these like works. Do you want to try that maybe? Yeah, how about dinner first? How about dinner first?

[01:15:29] But like to the point that like he's proved himself to the point was like this whole like, you know, rain being his like dream girl actually could become a reality for him now because he didn't have a really good arc himself and proved himself to be capable.

[01:15:43] Yeah. Yeah. I just didn't want them to kiss because that would have been just fans. And yeah, the last note I had on that was Jake and his control dives. Sure loves those. But yeah.

[01:16:00] I think one of the only other points I have left to make is I want to I want to actually talk for a minute about the aliens themselves. Because I'm conflicted on this. So we get a name for them in the first movie.

[01:16:15] It was harvesters use the first time in this one. I don't remember. I don't know. I don't see. I don't even think that's what they're called. I think that's just the subsection of these aliens was the harvester. Like she was a harvester queen.

[01:16:28] I don't know if the aliens that visited in 96 were harvesters. I don't know. I could be totally wrong about that because they make mention that. Oh, the first ship in the, you know, one of the ships in the other one

[01:16:40] or the mother ship must have had a queen, which is why all the other ships, you know, and then I says nobody's ever killed in a harvester queen. Nobody's ever killed a harvester queen. Yeah, because I don't remember ever seeing there's obviously somebody

[01:16:54] in a control panel room because that's who they flip off in the first movie. But it's not a queen. It's just another. You know, it's a temp. So specifically, the aliens that are on earth.

[01:17:09] So we see there is a prison set up for these aliens, which makes sense because there's bound to be survivors of all of these crash things. And this is where they keep them at. Here's where I'm confused. You had the means to capture and incarcerate these aliens.

[01:17:31] You've been keeping them there all this time in incarceration. You know, full well, these are battle suits that they are in. Why would you not? You know how to open them because you did it to one. Why are you allowed?

[01:17:47] It's like letting a knight in shining armor wear his armor while he's in the jail. Like, why would they? It made no sense to me that they're still wearing these battle suits. Yeah. It while they're in incarceration, like, you know how to open them.

[01:18:01] You know, just in case they come out of it, that they will be. Yeah. Well, we don't want any harm coming to them. No, take them out of these things. Like, why after 20 years are they still sitting in there?

[01:18:14] Like, I don't like you kept them in the battle. What's I mean, maybe Emmerich and Devlin did it for the sake of like keeping a visual aesthetic to these to these aliens. But we know from the first one what they look like outside of it.

[01:18:30] So I don't know why. And even then the only ones that we got. Were like the couple that escaped because President Whitmore let them out because they that he could talk to them. You know, and like that whole scene would have been so much different

[01:18:47] if they weren't wearing that armor. Yeah. I did like the way that Umbutu dispatched one, though, with his knives. Yeah. Again, it was like one of those moments where like to get a cool visual, we have to completely get rid of like logic and other things. Yeah.

[01:19:02] Because Umbutu showing off his whole like you have to get him from behind. Like they paid off that line by having him do that. But again, and then they did it. Yeah. And then they did it further with the queen, too.

[01:19:15] Yeah. They had to shoot the queen from behind. Yeah. Yeah. But but to your point is like to see him do that. It's like, oh, that's cool. He said he that's how he killed a bunch as you got him from behind.

[01:19:23] Then we see him do it in action. Awesome. But then to do that, you have to throw out the logic and then like but then they're all in their suits while in prison in order for that visual to get to be like that.

[01:19:34] But Roland so what they wouldn't be in their armor. Well, let's put them back in their armor then. Roland, nobody's going to buy that. Dean, nobody's going to say where he comes in and says behind and they cut this out. Dean, nobody's going to question it.

[01:19:48] I promise nobody's going to question it. Roland, they're talking about it on a podcast. I told you they questioned it. So you want to know what goes on sometimes in these rooms where they're coming up with ideas

[01:20:04] and and I just want to know what were they were they drinking that day or did they have. Dean, damn it. Just put them back in their suits. Well, worry about it later. You know, but then like the other kind of escape from logic is the queen herself.

[01:20:22] Like why? I get it. The queen needs to be bigger. But did Roland like have a synapsis and go back to Godzilla and make her a kaiju? Like I didn't. I don't know. Well, even like when she have like generals

[01:20:39] or other high ranking aliens to go after it. Because like that was the idea like whenever the sphere comes online and the queen can see where it is and then suits up and goes after it. And I was like, oh, the queen's going after it.

[01:20:53] And then I had to have a moment. I was like, is that the queen? And then later I was, oh, it was. I was like, I would think she'd send like a high ranking general or something to go and destroy it versus her herself

[01:21:03] knowing that if she is killed, the whole group is gone. Well, not like not even just send generals like you have once like her shields go down and she creates that whole big shield around her of other ships. Why didn't you just send those ships?

[01:21:20] Yeah, to destroy the bomber. So you know, if the queen dies, the entire hive mind dies. Yes. So she's going to take it upon herself to go single-handedly into this battle so their whole hive mind dies if she does.

[01:21:32] My lady, you know, if you die, we lose, right? I got this. It's fine. It's all right. I got this. It's fine. Dean, the queen. No, sorry. Do you want the same where she falls in front of the bus

[01:21:49] because we're keeping this in if you want that same. That's exactly it. Dean, if we want them splashing vomit on the bus, it's got to be this way. Damn it, Roland, you're right when you're right. You're right. Sorry.

[01:22:07] Ben, I want you to do an improv episode of Willhelm where you talk out the creation of this movie. You know what? Dean and Roland. I'm not going to lie, Daphne. I didn't think about this before, but now that you say this,

[01:22:21] like I already do like Willhelm watches and reviews. Maybe I do need to do a series of episodes of like what happened in the writer's room. Yeah. And it's just me and one or two other people just improving what these writers were talking about.

[01:22:40] But what about this character? Who? You know what? You're right. All right, welcome. The first movie you need to do is the happening. Oh my God. OK, Paik, you're going to play the role of M. Night. Play the role of. Let's figure out how this happened. Ready? Go.

[01:23:00] Oh my God, I think I need to work on this. I really do. It could be fun. It could be fun. Just bring on different people to play, play the role of different writers and directors. Yeah.

[01:23:11] Anyway, yeah, I just wanted to kind of focus a little bit more on the aliens. Like it's. It felt like they tried to give us a little bit more lore of the aliens, but in doing so. Yeah, they kind of let logic get away from them

[01:23:26] a little bit. Yeah. And like it was like, yes, it's clever that, yes, there are. There's a prison with these aliens in them because there would be survivors. But logic got away and we let them keep their armor. Like it's, you know, it is what it is.

[01:23:45] But that's probably my last point. I don't really have anything. I feel like we have talked about everything. I have one note left. I mean, out of everything, I have one note left and it's really only probably. Well, no, maybe Ben, you'll be interested in this too.

[01:24:04] So when this movie was dubbed for Japanese audiences, Jake's voice. Is done by Tatsuya Fujiwara, who you may know as Nana Harashuya. From Battle Royale. He does the voice of Jake, the guy that played Shuiya. It's been a long time since I've seen Battle Royale.

[01:24:32] Yeah, Shuiya is the main character in Battle Royale. Yeah, it's been a while since I've seen Battle Royale. Yeah. Nice. Yeah, that's the only thing. Yeah, I don't I don't really have another big point because I had one like my last point would have been like alien stuff.

[01:24:48] And like Ben and then just other stuff that I've said has kind of filled that in to where I'm trying to see if I have like just so my last one would be just other random notes I had, which I've covered. Most all of those as well.

[01:25:01] Yeah, it's same year. Yeah, we saw, you know, with Okan's partner, we mentioned him that he doesn't make it, which was sad, but puts Okan in this like violent vengeance mode. Which was nice to see, I guess, just like to see

[01:25:15] like he's mentioned to have like a same sex partnership in a movie like this in 2016, which, you know, not that long ago. But still, times have been changing a lot, you know, over in recent history,

[01:25:27] but for it to be included in here, but it not be such a focal point and not distracting and not like it's just like this is just life. And I thought that was a nice like just touch to add to a character.

[01:25:38] They were so cute to like the way that they cared. They were like yin and yang and they gave each other what they needed. And I liked that. I like that you could tell how much they really cared about each other and knew each other so well.

[01:25:53] Yeah, that they were able to know what the other person needed. You know, sorry, I do have one other point, but I'll let you finish and then I'll dive into it. Cool. Yeah, because it might just like a little thing,

[01:26:07] like little notes, funny little things like Julius Levinson and his old folks home book tour, which was interesting just to see again, nothing against Judd Hirsch. He's great, but I don't know if I needed any of him in this movie,

[01:26:22] but at least to see just a little bit of that. Jeff Goldblum has a great little throwaway line that's just perfect Goldblum delivery and it's when the queen emerges from the rubble and starts making a beeline to the bus for whatever reason. She's obsessed with that bus.

[01:26:36] So all the kids and everybody's running into the bus and then the little girl or like, I think Joey King's character goes back out to grab the dog and just the way that he's so Goldblum delivers that whole like, wait, we're waiting for the dog. OK. I guess.

[01:26:57] I kept thinking that his whole Jurassic Park line there's running. Must go faster, must go faster. Yeah, it so applies to this movie. Well, it would have been fun to get that line from him again, too, because we got it.

[01:27:09] It was a nice tie in between Jurassic Park and Independence Day, the first one, because he says the must go faster line in both of those movies. Yeah. So to have him, to have him would have to have him say it in this one

[01:27:22] would have been a nice little throwback. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I love a good just Goldblumism, just his delivery is very specific and the way just like, well, we're waiting for the dog. I guess so. It's just like, yeah. Well, I mean, and now Jeff's worked with two

[01:27:35] of the Helmsworth brothers. He's just got to work with the rest of them now to complete the what is it trio? So three of them. Yeah, there's a third one. I think his name. Luke. What is? Yeah. Yeah. Luke. Yes. Yeah. I guess I think about it.

[01:27:50] It's like, yeah, I had Goldblum and Westworld. Haven't worked together yet. Yeah, he was in Westworld. Now he's just got to work with Luke. You get the Helmsworth trio. So the only other the only other thing I can think of

[01:28:03] I'm sorry, Paker, I don't know if you were finished or not. Yeah, no, I've got nothing else. Yeah. And I actually had this sitting in my mind and I meant to say it earlier and I kept forgetting it. And I just suddenly remembered it too.

[01:28:13] I don't know how you guys feel about this, but we get two key we get. We get kind of get three deaths for actually if you count the president and like the president's fine. Dr. Isaac is, you know, was sad because that was Dr. Oaken's partner.

[01:28:29] So that was sad. But as small of a character as he is, I felt more kind of weight to his death than I did Jasmine or even Whitmore. Like it felt like as big as these characters were and having them return to the movie,

[01:28:50] like I get Whitmore was a sacrifice. But for me, like I didn't feel like their deaths had enough weight. Does that make sense? It was like a huge grandiose scene that was just like, oh no anyway. Yeah, you know, meanwhile.

[01:29:05] Yeah, like, yeah, like like like Jasmine falling was kind of like, oh no, that's OK, we're moving on. Like, yeah. And then Whitmore was the same thing. It was like this huge thing. But you mentioned it kind of earlier, Peke, when the Queen survives, it's kind of like,

[01:29:21] well, you just kind of took everything away from Whitmore sacrifice. Yeah. And I didn't even feel that weighed that much then. Yeah. And any weight that it had, you just kind of. Took it away. You know, I like I felt like that again,

[01:29:37] Dr. Isaacs death had more weight to it than Whitmore or Jasmine. Right, you actually get to see like his romantic partner, like leaning over the body and crying. You're like, I feel emotions for this. Yeah. So that was it. That was that was my final point.

[01:29:53] I just felt like the deaths needed more weight, especially with the characters that were returning to this story. I think if you watch this movie, watch them back to back. Wild while drunk. Oh, OK.

[01:30:10] I think if you watch them back to back, it would have been more like you would have had more time with those characters again. I feel like we didn't get much time with them other than the president. We did get more. But with Jasmine, we barely got anything.

[01:30:27] And I feel like they could have streamlined things a little bit to give more time to people. You know, just saying. Now, I will say this and this this will be my final thought on everything as much as we've talked trash about this movie.

[01:30:50] We did pose the question at the beginning of would this conversation help us to kind of get a little clarity on how we feel? I was going to ask the same about this. You said that and I want to say this personally.

[01:31:05] As much as we talked on this movie, I was still entertained. Yeah. And I did have fun with it. Right. So would I watch it again? Yeah, I'd watch it again. Yeah, that's that's how I feel. I didn't give like kind of my initial thoughts.

[01:31:25] I know both of you had said, I don't know how I feel. Let's see how I feel when we're done talking about it. And really, I think I had my mindset then and I think it's exactly the same.

[01:31:33] Now after we've talked about it, which was it had a lot of flaws. There's a lot of weird logistical and like tangential storyline things that were a little strange. But overall, it's a perfectly fine movie that has a great

[01:31:48] like sense of humor and action in the times it is needed. And as far as just like your kind of run in the mill, like it's time for an action movie that's going to make me feel good, going to laugh in certain places. It's totally fine.

[01:31:58] Like it's not a movie. I'm like, oh, that was horrible. I never want to see it again. It's it's fun. It's like if I can be a fan of all 10 Fast and Furious movies, which I'm a massive fan of all of those movies.

[01:32:12] I can be a fan of this movie. Yeah, flaws and all. So yes, there are a lot of flaws. There are a lot of things that logically just do not make sense. Mm hmm. But I was still entertained. Yeah, that's good. Nice. All right.

[01:32:30] I think yeah, we've just about wrapped it up in stuff. But before we get done or whatever, because usually our guests don't get to stick around for feedback and stuff super often. So just in case I want to make sure to thank Ben again for coming back on.

[01:32:43] Thank you. Hanging out, talking more independent, stay with us. But then also, you know, give a chance to kind of plug some stuff. What are you been working on? What do you got coming up in the pipeline? Other people can check you out. I'm here yet.

[01:32:54] Yeah, so first things first, thank you for having me back on. It's always fun when I get to come on and just hang out with you guys and just talk movies and just be a podcast ham and goofball that I just love doing because I can celebrate that.

[01:33:10] I just, you know, I did it for independence. Actually, I didn't do it for independence day and I didn't do it for this one and that is take notes. Everything was just kind of off the off the top of the dome.

[01:33:21] So it's always fun and I always look forward to the next time I get to come back. But yeah, as for things going on, obviously, I have the Wilhelm podcast, which is the top five movies, movie reviews, celebrity interviews, such like that.

[01:33:34] Easiest way to find that just go to Wilhelmpodcast.com. There's links where you can find all the social media, all the interviews, movie reviews, all that fun stuff. Maybe even a new type of episode where I make imaginary conversation between directors and writers.

[01:33:51] Why the heck not? I think that sounds fun. I don't know. I also have the Revisited podcast, which is part of podcastica just like this is, as well as with Wilhelm. That is my friend, Kristen and I currently we are getting ready to wrap up

[01:34:06] coverage on Ted Lasso. We only have about four episodes left of that series. And then we're diving into the good place in September, which is going to be a lot of fun because holy forking shirt balls. That's going to be a good time.

[01:34:19] Neither one of us have watched it since it aired. So it's going to be a nice little revisit for that. Revisitedpod.com is where you can find that. Same with Wilhelm, where you can find all the links and everything.

[01:34:30] And then the only other thing I'll say is I have a bunch of shows and I'm going to be making appearances at and moderating at first one is Contropolis. I should have my calendar out for this. Contropolis is in the better lands New Jersey.

[01:34:42] That is July 13th and 14th. After that, I am going to be out at Galaxy Spring or Galaxy. Colorado Springs, Comic Con, that is August 23rd through the 25th. I have Terracon up in Massachusetts, which is the 23rd through the 29th of September.

[01:35:00] And till finally Rhode Island, Comic Con, which is the big Super Bowl of all shows and that is in Providence, Rhode Island, November 1st through the 3rd. So if you want to find out more about those, you can just go to just search altered reality entertainment

[01:35:17] and you'll find links to all those shows. Yeah, I'd really recommend that stuff if you live in those areas or if you travel to go to conventions for some of those things. Yeah, definitely go check out those and go see Ben do his thing live

[01:35:30] and in person on stage, moderating different actors and voice actors and everything for different shows and movies and stuff. He does an incredible job and it's a lot of fun. I've had an incredible year so far. I've already shared the stage with Alan Tudyk, Cameron Monahan,

[01:35:46] Chevy Chase and Randy Quaid. Oh, God, I've already forgotten. Oh, Tom Kavanaugh. I know I'm going to be on stage with Ross Marquan, the cast of the Police Academy of Vicki Lawrence again. But this time she's going to be doing it as her character mama

[01:36:02] from Mama's Family, which is going to be a blast. And another huge cast reunion. I'm going to be a part of in November at Rhode Island that I can't mention because it hasn't been announced yet. Yeah. Which anybody who knows me knows I'll be excited for it.

[01:36:16] So yeah, just go to check out the shows, come out and see me and say hi. Yeah, do it. And then we have the feedback phone going off. So hopefully we can have some calls, feedback messages, something from listeners, see what they thought of this movie.

[01:36:34] All right, there is a little bit of feedback this week on this special holiday episode one, of course, what we talked to Ben earlier and it was like who's going to leave a message of anybody? I said, well, Catherine's going to come through.

[01:36:48] But we will get to that one in a little bit because there are a couple of little messages from our off season, our little hiatus between seasons here about the look back special, the Riffle Awards that we ended last season on that season seven awards.

[01:37:03] So we'll go ahead and read those first, first one coming from our good friend Levi, who says, Dr. Sleep Love, yes, please. Yes, Levi, we will always give love to Dr. Sleep. Yes, we covered Dr. Sleep even before covering the shining, which we still haven't covered.

[01:37:23] But we had to do it. So Catherine, wonderful to hear from you, Catherine says, awesome episode. I had a hard time deciding if Namona was a main or a side character. But never thought about Abra. One more reason to read Dr. Sleep. Yes. It's it's great.

[01:37:44] I highly recommend reading it as I've talked about doing. Yeah, it's Abra's incredible. Reading Dr. Sleep has been interesting because there's so much that was like word for word that Mike Flanagan took for the film. But then it's also interesting that there's certain things that are very different

[01:38:03] and they've changed things around. And it's like, oh, that's cool. I like the way that like this was adapted and thinking back to it. So yeah, highly it's a highly recommended read. And then, of course, as I mentioned, Catherine also has one more for Independence Day

[01:38:17] resurgence this week to which she says resurgence was a lot of fun to watch. I loved the return of so many original characters, especially David and his dad. But there were some amazing special effects. But I didn't have the same emotional connection to most of the characters.

[01:38:32] And it made the story a bit underwhelming. I'll be working on the Fourth of July. So I'm excited to have an extra special guest episode of Run for Your Lives to listen to. Yeah. Hope you like it, Catherine. Yeah. And now as you've listened to this episode,

[01:38:46] yeah, I think all three of us, me, Daphne and Ben, when he was on kind of share that sentiment that like it was it was a good movie. It was fine. But like, yeah, there wasn't that same emotional

[01:38:57] connection that you got to a lot of the characters in the first one. Even though they're the same characters, they do feel kind of underwhelming. I get that. So if you'd like to submit feedback, you can find us on Facebook and Instagram at Run for Your Lives podcast.

[01:39:11] Can email us at runforyourlivespodcast at gmail.com. If you're enjoying the show, be sure to tell your friends we are available on all the podcast players, including Apple, Spotify and YouTube. You can go to runforyourlivespodcast.com for all the links that you'll ever need

[01:39:29] and give us a review on Apple Podcasts. That's the best way to share the love and get us out there even more. We really appreciate it. We really do, absolutely. Definitely keep sharing that love and of course, speaking of sharing the love,

[01:39:42] got to give those shout outs to things going on in the podcast to the universe around us and beyond. Lots of stuff. I'm going to try not to take too long on it, but I got a lot to shout out this week.

[01:39:53] Again, we've been on like a little hiatus and break. So there's a lot of stuff going on. But then also just so much stuff coming up. We are hitting that summer show time where everything is coming out, new seasons of everything and podcastica.

[01:40:10] And it's just ever growing roster of shows and stuff is just covering everything. And it's really great. Lots of good stuff. So let's get into it. Of course, my other podcast, Strange Indeed with Rima. We are halfway through now.

[01:40:24] We are like hot on it working through the final season of Sweet Tooth. And it has been incredible. We're having a wonderful time, but also very emotional time sometimes. It's been it's been a great season, but also a heavy season. There's a lot.

[01:40:38] It's going to be sad to say goodbye to to our gusts and big man and all of those wonderful characters that that world has created for us. And I'm having a blast, but also kind of sad that it's it's ramping down so fast.

[01:40:50] Like we're going to be over before we know it. And it's like no, but I know. I'll have to read the comics. I'll have to jump into the comics after we're done to kind of get back in that world in some way a little bit. Definitely coming up.

[01:41:02] It's so the season has been amazing so far. And I'm looking forward to seeing how they wrap it up. But I'm not ready to say goodbye to these characters yet. No, not at all. Of course, over on the cast of us, which is originally the Walking Dead cast,

[01:41:20] Jason and Lucy have been continuing on their rewatch of The Walking Dead. And so most recently, they are in season three. Just getting into that arc with episode two. They had Gemma on to help them with that one.

[01:41:32] So definitely check that out as they're going through that rewatch. House of the Dragon started back up while we were on our break. So it's a few episodes in. They've had three episodes and the fourth one is this weekend.

[01:41:45] Dragon Cast has been back this time run by Wendy, Veronica and Renny. They've been doing an incredible job. So definitely check out that coverage with Veronica and Renny doing the book talk sections at the end. I mean, if anybody who knows Renny, they are an encyclopedia.

[01:42:01] Absolutely game of thrones. It's just everything. They know so much about it. So it's really cool to listen to them talk about book stuff. And yes, really great. So definitely check that out. They are also doing Alex is running the after show on YouTube.

[01:42:17] So I've been on it for the first two episodes. They're going to continue to do it just kind of like an instant reaction after there's always something that you have to get out of your system after watching the episode because it's just a lot to digest. Yeah.

[01:42:36] Lot of great Dragon cast of House of the Dragon, which I'm just loving it. Also, Cobra Kai cast coming back up that there's a new episode here. Yes, Cobra Kai season six, the final season doesn't actually come out till the 18th, I believe.

[01:42:51] So we got a couple more weeks, but they did go ahead and release an episode this week kind of recapping those first five seasons like loosely, but talking about their kind of hopes and plans and things they might

[01:43:03] like to see in this final season, things they kind of predict and went ahead and just in case there's some references to it in that final season, they went ahead and watched and covered the next karate kid that like final fourth karate kid movie with Hillary Swank.

[01:43:17] I still haven't seen it. I need to watch it also for that's the same reasons like I've been avoiding that movie. I haven't seen it because I've just heard so many things, but it's like but maybe there will be references and characters that show up in this final

[01:43:27] season of Cobra Kai and it'll just make it that much more worth it if I know what's going on. So maybe we'll see because I love Cobra Kai so much. So and if you do check out the Cobra Kai cast because they do

[01:43:37] an incredible job, Rich, Jason and Rima over there. Still slaying is still going. Kara and Penny with their Buffy rewatch season three episode 19 this week choice. Get it definitely go check that out. Lots of good Buffy stuff.

[01:43:54] Another podcast that's new that I'm super excited about is Let It Rip, which is the Bear cast talking about the FX Hulu series, The Bear, which God, I love that show so much. It's an anxiety riddled clusterfuck that I love so much.

[01:44:08] And it's just like who know that a show that gives you nothing but tension and a headache and panic attacks could be such a comfort show. But it is somehow. And it's really great. Lucy and her partner, Peter, covering that one.

[01:44:24] You might know Lucy from the cast of us doing that Walking Dead rewatch. But yeah, you can go check her out with Peter covering The Bear. They released, you know, kind of a recap of the first two seasons and then season three is up and running.

[01:44:38] And so they've released the first episode of that. And they should be releasing episode two this next week. So definitely check that out. I'm going week by week with them for now. Hopefully I'll stick with it.

[01:44:48] But with that show, it's good to kind of savor it in small pieces sometimes too. But yeah, it's been great. And then they're doing something really cool with that that aside from just covering the episodes, they are also including a cooking segment

[01:45:00] in the episodes where they're trying to cook and recreate and walk their way through some of the dishes and food from and inspired by the show, which is really cool to listen to. Yeah, that's different. Yeah. So that's been really cool to kind of hear them, you know,

[01:45:14] cover the episode and then get to jump in the kitchen with them as they go down the ingredients and cooking processes of some of these dishes, which is it's great. I love it. Something fun, something different. Over on Vampcast, we got Danny Lara and Mark going through

[01:45:29] interview with the vampire, which I still need to get into. I know. I'm such a Jacob Anderson fanboy that I don't know why I haven't. Eventually, there's just so much stuff going on. But if you are a fan of Interview with the Vampire, definitely check out their coverage.

[01:45:44] They've been killing it over there on Vampcast. Rebecca is with them this week. So go check that episode out. Cast of the Rings is getting ready to vamp back up because the Rings of Power on Amazon Prime is coming back for season two.

[01:45:59] So you can go check out Penny and Anne-Wynn over there. They did kind of a preview episode for that as well, as we're getting ready for season two to start soon. So you can check that out on Cast of the Rings. There's a lot, but I'm getting there.

[01:46:13] So podcast is busy and I love it. And of course, welcome to the Apocalypse. We've talked about several times, the improv comedy podcast over there with Randy, Jenny and Rob doing an incredible job. Just yeah, these improv characters surviving the Apocalypse, the season one finale.

[01:46:29] The final sidebar is up. It's been up for like a week or so or two weeks. Definitely check that out. It's an incredible finale. So fun. A bunch of guests, a lot of characters. It's just like a really big thing. It is very cinematic.

[01:46:40] Maybe stick around to the end of the episode. There might be a stinger. Special stuff. So yeah, definitely check that out. It's really cool. I'm excited to see what they do with season two when they come back. But yeah, it's such an undertaking and I love it.

[01:46:52] Randy is incredible with all the editing and sound effects and music. And he just puts so much into it. There's a lot of heart in there and I love it. So definitely check it out if you haven't. And then outside of podcast,

[01:47:03] of course, got to give our love to our friends at TV podcast industries. Always, always, always as they're covering the boys season four, which has been incredible as well. So you can get their coverage of that.

[01:47:15] And lastly, we'll talk about it a little bit more in a upcoming episode of this podcast will give a bigger plug to it. But we will go ahead and let you know that if you want to hear more of me

[01:47:26] and Daphne along with some good friends of ours, Jeff and Jerry, doing something a little different, not talking about TV shows or movies or anything like that, but just again, kind of a comedy idea. Just pick our brains and see who we are as people.

[01:47:39] Some podcasts were literally just get together as friends and shoot the shit and talk and chat with the underlying idea that we are trying to make each other laugh and be goofy.

[01:47:48] And we play little games and really a lot of that is just to kind of spark up topics and humor and conversation between ourselves. And it's a lot of fun. So if you just want to hear more of just like us goofing off

[01:47:58] and just being ourselves and trying to make each other laugh, it's a lot of fun. That podcast, of course, is called Buffalo Buffalo, the Buffalo Buffalo podcast. So we just launched it this week.

[01:48:08] And so if you want to go check it out, go to Buffalo Buffalo podcast.com to like links to podcast players and our Facebook page and all that. And check it out. That's maybe the one that if you stuck around this long into this,

[01:48:22] I really would love for people to check out Buffalo Buffalo and give us your thoughts. And we'd like to see what people think and we get that one going. So yeah, I urge you to go check that out and see what you think.

[01:48:32] Maybe you'll enjoy it and get some love there. But yeah, we definitely enjoy recording it. It's just a ton of fun. Something different. Yeah. And they're short, like 30 minute episodes so you can kind of just listen to it real quick every week

[01:48:49] and laugh along and hear us be goofy and fun. All right, but aside from all of that, of course, as you guys know, this was kind of a special holiday episode, but the actual next season of this podcast officially starts next week on Friday, our usual time.

[01:49:07] We are back for season eight. And Daphne, what do we bring into him next week to kick off this new season? Well, we are going to revisit the world that was created by Alex Garland and Danny Boyle back with a movie called 28 Days Later.

[01:49:22] We are going to cover the sequel to that film called 28 Weeks Later as we get to take a look at what the UK looks like after a few months. Yeah. It's a different story, different director, but in the same universe.

[01:49:43] And I think this one holds up pretty well. Yeah. But you'll have to listen next week to find out what we really think about it as we break it down. I just bring in a couple of American characters and actors

[01:49:57] that were great to see in this as well. So if you haven't watched it, definitely get on it. If you have, let us know. We'll be looking forward to feedback and stuff for that next week. Well, that brings us to the end of another fun episode.

[01:50:11] Thank you, Ben, for joining us for this one. Yeah. Thanks, everyone, for listening. I'm Daphne. And I'm Peyton. And if you have to run, you better run for your lives. Bye bye.