Invaders from Mars (1986)
DJ & Matt discuss the trivia behind the 1986 Horror, Sci-Fi film "Invaders from Mars" starring Karen Black & Louise Fletcher.
Recommendations: "The Faculty" (1998) and "The Monster Squad" (1987)
Next Time: "Elvira: Mistress of The Dark" To Be Released on 10/31
Transcript
Okay.
Speaker B:Oh, hey there folks.
Speaker B:We're in the season of falling leaves and all that is spooky.
Speaker B:And well, the arcade kids, they are trying to figure out what they're gonna dress up as for this, this spooky season here and get started.
Speaker B:I thought we would take a moment to talk about what we remember as little ones pretending to be.
Speaker B:What did you want to say, Matt, before I stepped all over you?
Speaker A:Oh, I was just gonna say, speaking of the, the kids, why is Hector across the street wearing that, wearing that old, that Halloween mask?
Speaker A:Michael Myers?
Speaker A:Okay, you want to talk creepy?
Speaker A:I hope this is for Halloween because that kid scares me.
Speaker B:I mean that, that might be just one of Lula May's old boyfriend's outfits.
Speaker A:But a little short.
Speaker A:But you know what?
Speaker A:No judgment.
Speaker B:He just wants to be like his dad.
Speaker A:Sometimes I wonder if all these kids want to be like their dads, if you know what I mean.
Speaker B:I mean, most of our arcade kids would probably have supervised visitations.
Speaker B:I'm.
Speaker A:I think most of them are probably Lula Maze, but I'm not gonna get into that.
Speaker B:However you slice it.
Speaker B:Oh, is that a horror movie pun?
Speaker B:So we've got.
Speaker B:Now, Matt, it's nice that you went all out here and you put out the fake COB website.
Speaker B:Or at least I hope these are fake.
Speaker A:Yeah, I, I put them all over here and then over this door and they're all broken.
Speaker A:Like that guy who keeps coming in.
Speaker B:Yeah, he's been asking to use the bathroom.
Speaker B:I told him that that's for paying customers only.
Speaker A:Okay, you do know that's not the bathroom, right?
Speaker B:What?
Speaker A:That's the basement.
Speaker B:We have a basement?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:And no, I'm not going down there because every time that guy goes down there, I, I swear I hear things.
Speaker A:And yeah, but it's the.
Speaker B:But it's the buddy system.
Speaker B:And yeah, I, I won't let you go down there alone.
Speaker B:Don't worry.
Speaker B:But for, for now, I think we should just keep the, the RC Cola machine pressed up against the door because then he can't get out.
Speaker A:Hey, that, that worked well.
Speaker A:Okay, but if it starts smelling.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Anyway, I want to know what you did for Halloween when you were a kid.
Speaker A:Because I don't want to think about the basement.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker A:So what did you do?
Speaker B:Oh, well, yes, that's a good idea.
Speaker B:My folks big on the Halloween's.
Speaker B:Probably because my mom was maybe, I don't know, a couple feathers in her head, feathers in her hat away from handing out the, the Bible tracts, but.
Speaker A:Oh, was your mom, like, one of the ones when the little kids knocked that they handed out like the New Testament.
Speaker A:That was always fun.
Speaker A:You always knew what.
Speaker A:What house was gonna get egged.
Speaker B:She.
Speaker B:She was in good humor when we were younger, but by the time I was in high school, she.
Speaker B:She wasn't having it.
Speaker B:Although it might have had something to do with a neighbor showing up at her door in the.
Speaker B:In the all natural, if you know what I mean.
Speaker B:But they needed medication, so that's another story.
Speaker A:But I made her hate Halloween.
Speaker A:That's so sad.
Speaker B:Maybe.
Speaker B:But they.
Speaker B:They weren't.
Speaker B:What do you call it.
Speaker B:Her type.
Speaker B:Anyways, so I.
Speaker A:Of.
Speaker B:Of the trick or treats that I remember, I think most of the time, I didn't have very expensive costumes.
Speaker B:I think I remember my last Halloween when I was, like, maybe 10 or 11, because at this point, we were.
Speaker B:We were getting ready to move.
Speaker B:Mom and dad had sold our house, and we were moving, and I was the last kid at home, so I felt a little older than I was because I was all by myself at that point.
Speaker B:But I remember myself okay.
Speaker B:I remember that's when it used to get cold this time of year.
Speaker B:I mean, everyone talks about.
Speaker B:They're old enough to remember when the temperatures were more extreme and whatnot.
Speaker B:And I'm old enough to say I remember when it snowed on Halloween, but it was cold enough out that one of the last Halloweens that I went trick or treating.
Speaker B:I remember my costume makeup practically freezing to my face, and it was pretty terrible because I was a very poor excuse for a costume.
Speaker B:I was basically Casper the Friendly Ghost.
Speaker B:And I don't know if you've heard this theory, but the.
Speaker B:The.
Speaker B:The theory is the artwork that Casper is based on is.
Speaker B:Is essentially Richie Rich.
Speaker B:Not colored in.
Speaker A:Okay, thank you.
Speaker A:I actually.
Speaker A:Okay, this is horrible, but when I was a kid, I. I would read, like, Richie Rich comics.
Speaker A:God knows what.
Speaker A:Why.
Speaker A:But I literally thought that Casper was, like, his ghost.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:So hubby and I have this joke, of course, that Casper is basically the story of a child actor overdosed and became.
Speaker B:Overdosed and became a ghost.
Speaker B:Just like in the Christina Ricci movie.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Which I watch faithfully every year.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So that's what I did was I. I used to dress up as Casper.
Speaker B:And I will tell you, I. I answered my own question where I was of the generation that the glow in the dark stuff was real popular.
Speaker B:You had the glow sticks that became popular at concerts and raves and whatnot.
Speaker B:And, of course, how do you activate a glow Stick, you shake it and you bend it.
Speaker B:Well, I.
Speaker B:As a kid, I.
Speaker B:What?
Speaker B:As a kid, I wondered if you bend it one way to turn it on, what happens if you bend it the other way?
Speaker B:And fortunately, I did that in that little experiment.
Speaker B:Honk in the bathroom because it broke open over the sink.
Speaker A:Oh, okay.
Speaker A:Well, at least it bend over the sink and not all over you.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So that was my tale of the Halloweens.
Speaker B:And what do you remember from your ute?
Speaker A:Oh, my stars and garters.
Speaker A:Well, I remember.
Speaker A:So I remember being a race car.
Speaker A:I think it was a race car driver or a boxer or something that got in.
Speaker A:My dad basically was like, we're not buying you a costume here.
Speaker A:Let's get into your mother's makeup and make you look manly.
Speaker A:So there was that.
Speaker A:And then my utmost painful memory is when I had to do the whole.
Speaker A: Like, it was like: Speaker A:And I actually fell asleep through the movie.
Speaker A:Oops.
Speaker A:I was.
Speaker A:But come on.
Speaker A:I was like maybe six.
Speaker A:So I was C3PO with one of those horrible sweaty masks and the.
Speaker A:The whatever that plastic thing is that you're supposed to wear and the party.
Speaker B:The party store tablecloth.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:And it did not fit right.
Speaker A:It was horrible.
Speaker A:And it was raining, and so I had to wear these big boots with it, these big rubber Wellington boots, and trudge around and I just.
Speaker A:Oh, it was horrible.
Speaker A:I hated it.
Speaker A:And I never wanted to wear those masks again.
Speaker A:But I also remember when I was 13, I think I was 13, I was in eighth grade, so it was like 13 going on 14.
Speaker A:And on Halloween, I. I couldn't afford a costume.
Speaker A:We were dirt poor.
Speaker A:We were lucky that we were.
Speaker A:It was.
Speaker A:We were coming out of just being homeless.
Speaker A:So I took one of my mother's mumu dresses and I did my hair and I put on some makeup and I put on the dress.
Speaker A:And I went to school in eighth.
Speaker B:Grade dressed as Mrs. Roper.
Speaker A:As a girl?
Speaker A:Well, I probably.
Speaker A:But like, okay, all right.
Speaker A:And obviously the kids that were on the bus with me knew it was me, and they just made so much fun of me over it.
Speaker A:But when I got to school, my teachers literally did not realize who I was.
Speaker A:They thought I was this little girl.
Speaker A:And it was hilarious.
Speaker A:It was absolutely hilarious to me with the teachers.
Speaker A:But yeah, the kids, they didn't think it was as funny as the teachers did.
Speaker B:I mean, you can't get much gayer than a protocol Droid.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:So, like, I went from being a gay droid to being a girl at school.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:I mean, while at least in hindsight, it.
Speaker B:It wasn't in more recent years.
Speaker B:Because if you did that today.
Speaker A:Oh, my God.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Very different conversations with mom and dad.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Like, Christy Gnome would show up at the school, and it would just be.
Speaker A:Yeah, so.
Speaker A:So, yeah.
Speaker A:Crazy times.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:Well, that darn VCR is blinking, so I might as well.
Speaker A:You know, I swear that guy in the basement, like, put a tape in there.
Speaker A:I'm telling you, it's him.
Speaker B:We'll have to do a background check and see if he's had government employment.
Speaker B:Okay, I will go ahead and press the play button.
Speaker A:Whoa.
Speaker A:Oh, my God, my head is spinning.
Speaker A:What the hell are you wearing?
Speaker B:Did that fix your migraine or did it start a new one?
Speaker A:I don't know, girl.
Speaker A:I feel like I just smoked a doobie.
Speaker A:Well, I've never done that, though.
Speaker A:I've never done that.
Speaker A:Don't do drugs, kids.
Speaker A:Oh, but if I had, that's how I would feel right now.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:And, well, that darn vcr, it.
Speaker B:It's blinking, so let me just let it.
Speaker B:Let it do its thing.
Speaker C:Good evening, time travelers.
Speaker C: You've landed in: Speaker C:First up, tragedy struck the nation when the space shuttle Challenger exploded just 73 seconds after liftoff, claiming the lives of all seven astronauts on board.
Speaker C:Overseas disaster hit the Soviet Union.
Speaker C:The Chernobyl nuclear meltdown sent a radioactive cloud across Europe and changed the conversation about nuclear safety forever.
Speaker C:In the Philippines, the people power revolution forced Ferdinand Marcos to flee, ushering in the presidency of Corazon Aquino.
Speaker C:The US Launched airstrikes against Libya in response to state sponsored terrorism.
Speaker C:And finally, the Iran Contra scandal rocked the Reagan White House, revealing secret arms deals and covert funding.
Speaker C:1986 also welcomed some future icons.
Speaker C:Lady Gaga, Robert Pattinson, and Kit Harrington, while we sadly said goodbye to Hollywood legends James Cagney, Cary Grant, and Desi Arnaz, marking the end of an era in classic film and television.
Speaker A:I don't know if Cary Grant and Kit Harington are.
Speaker A:Was a good exchange.
Speaker B:Well, that reminds me.
Speaker B:I think I remember what's wrong with me?
Speaker B: Because I lived through: Speaker B:Yeah, no joke.
Speaker B:I was in second grade, and we were waiting for the launch, and we went to gym class and came back to see our teacher devastated.
Speaker B:And fortunately for Us.
Speaker B:She was a touchy feely person because we had a group hug, so.
Speaker A:Well, that wouldn't go over these days, right?
Speaker A:Yeah, that.
Speaker A:I. I actually.
Speaker A:I think I was at home watching because I didn't go to high school, actually.
Speaker A:So I watched it on TV and did not understand at first what I was seeing.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And then when I did, it was.
Speaker A:It was just something that messes you up as a kid.
Speaker B: But more importantly,: Speaker B:So we're back to the future.
Speaker B:And with that, here's the theme.
Speaker B:The past is present, and you're gonna want more.
Speaker B:Insert video of DJ playing air guitar here.
Speaker B: Yes,: Speaker B:So, Matt, if we were these sort of folks that were outgoing and wanting to be in public.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B: things would we get up to in: Speaker B:Like what'?
Speaker B:@ the theaters?
Speaker A:That is a really good question.
Speaker A:Okay, so we kind of been here a little bit before, but.
Speaker A:Top Gun, huh?
Speaker A:Do you want to see Top Gun?
Speaker B:I mean, the other guys.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:The answer is no.
Speaker B:Although I hear that there is a really powerful woman who plays the girlfriend in that.
Speaker A:Oh, my God.
Speaker A:Kelly McGillis.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:She's.
Speaker A:She was so cool.
Speaker A:One of the hottest lesbians ever.
Speaker A:Oh, my screen just went black.
Speaker A:Oh, there we go.
Speaker A:Time does not work well with computers.
Speaker A:Let's see, then we have a Crocodile Dundee.
Speaker B:That's not a knife.
Speaker A:This is a knife.
Speaker A:Oh, my mom and I watched that so many times.
Speaker A:Platoon.
Speaker B:They had Michael J.
Speaker B:Fox in it, didn't it?
Speaker A:Platoon.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:You know what?
Speaker A:I think I. I know it had Charlie Sheen in it.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:But it was about Vietnam.
Speaker A:Yeah, I just remember it was a really, really tough movie.
Speaker A:And then Karate Kid Part two, which is the one where we got to.
Speaker B:Go to Japan, which I think was the best installment.
Speaker A:I. I really liked it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And then we had Star Trek 4.
Speaker B:The Voyage Home, which is where we saved the whales.
Speaker A:The best Star Trek movie to date still.
Speaker B:You like Italian and you.
Speaker B:You love Italian.
Speaker A:Actually, it's.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:It's funny because a couple years, Just a couple years ago, we were down in Alameda and I. I kept saying, we need to go to the nuclear Wessels.
Speaker A:Didn't go over well with some people, though.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And then there was a movie that I. I really liked and had Terry Farrell from Star Trek Deep Space Nine.
Speaker B:I mean, she wasn't it yet, but that's like one of her earliest films.
Speaker A:Which one?
Speaker B:Back to School.
Speaker B:Rodney Gingerfield.
Speaker B:She played his son's Girlfriend.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker B:Now you're gonna have to watch again.
Speaker A:I will have to watch.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker A:But only.
Speaker A:Go ahead.
Speaker B:I was gonna say, speaking of powerful women, what.
Speaker B:What was the next movie?
Speaker A:So we have Aliens with Sigourney Weaver, which I actually want to watch the entire franchise again.
Speaker B:Sigourney Weaver could narrate the story of my life.
Speaker A:Oh, she is so cool.
Speaker A:And when she did Galaxy Quest, oh, my God, that was.
Speaker B:This is a badly written episode.
Speaker A:She's like, I have one job.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:It's stupid, but I'm gonna do it.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And then we had the Golden Child with Eddie Murphy, which was another one my mom and I actually ended up watching over and over and over, over.
Speaker B:And that was the reason why Eddie Murphy wasn't in Star Trek 4 was because he did the Golden Child.
Speaker B:They originally wanted him to be in the Voyage Home.
Speaker A:Really?
Speaker A:I did not know that.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I'm glad he did the Golden Child.
Speaker A:And then we have An American Tale, the animated classic with Somewhere out there, which introduced a whole new generation to Linda Ronstadt.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:In fact, that.
Speaker B:That was when I was growing up.
Speaker B:That was a period when my parents would give me a videotape for my birthday.
Speaker B:And I also.
Speaker B:I remember getting a copy of An American Tale for one of my birthdays.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker A:Han.
Speaker A:I remember when it was so easy to like, give CDs and movies for birthdays and stuff.
Speaker A:Now it's just like, what do you do?
Speaker A:Here's a fandango gift card.
Speaker A:Good luck.
Speaker B:Yeah, let me.
Speaker B:Let me venmo you.
Speaker A:Right, right.
Speaker A:And then we had Ruthless People, which is something we.
Speaker A:One of the ones we saw last season.
Speaker A:Yes, yes.
Speaker B:That's when we learned when plus side Housewives can get in shape in the basement.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:I'm looking forward to being kidnapped by a cute couple.
Speaker A:So, yeah.
Speaker B:We got to keep it pg, remember?
Speaker A:Right, right.
Speaker A:And then we have Invaders from Mars.
Speaker B:Oh, what's that?
Speaker A:Interesting.
Speaker A:I don't know, but I don't want to see it.
Speaker B:Oh, well, I. I don't think we have a choice because that darn vcr, it's blinking again.
Speaker B:I don't really have a choice.
Speaker B:We gotta let it play.
Speaker C: ay is a remake of the classic: Speaker C:With help from the school nurse, the boy enlists the aid of the US Marines.
Speaker C:It's Invaders from Mars.
Speaker B:It's a funny thing when this guy on The VCR starts talking.
Speaker B:It's like we go into lockdown mode.
Speaker B:I tried to go to the bathroom on one of our breaks and the door was still locked when he was talking.
Speaker A:Oh.
Speaker B:Oh.
Speaker A:So I didn't even hear him talking, but I can just imagine what he said.
Speaker B:Hey, I swear, I take the medication to keep away the voices, but I still heard him.
Speaker B: Well, so here we are,: Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:Well, we're gonna go ahead and tell you the story, the setup here.
Speaker B:So Invaders from Mars.
Speaker B: It was released in: Speaker B:Is that Toby or Tob?
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:It's a good question.
Speaker B:I mean, if you wanted it pronounced Toby, I would assume that you would spell it correctly, so.
Speaker B:But Toby Hooper is a remake.
Speaker B: from Mars is a remake of the: Speaker B:It stars a bunch of people you've probably never heard of, but Hunter Carson as young David Gardner, a boy.
Speaker A:David Gardner.
Speaker B:David Gardner, a boy who notices strange happenings after a UFO lands near his home.
Speaker B:No, it had nothing to do with the lead paint in the.
Speaker B:The room that he slept in.
Speaker A:That was a horrible room.
Speaker A:But we'll leave it past that.
Speaker B:With paranoia and campy horror.
Speaker B:The film reimagines a classic Cold War nightmare for the Reagan era, which of course is when the.
Speaker B:The remake that we're discussing now.
Speaker A: Yeah,: Speaker A:What?
Speaker A:The Cold War Reagan era was already a nightmare.
Speaker A:You didn't have to reimagine it.
Speaker B:But anyway, I mean, you couldn't leave your house without checking your skirt length, because in those days, she had it coming.
Speaker A:Well, right.
Speaker A:And don't forget, you had to know how to hide under your desk in case.
Speaker B:And you might have been in potentially back then.
Speaker B:You might have also been at risk of being let go from your job if you were carrying a bun in the oven, if you know what I mean now.
Speaker A:Or if you were gay.
Speaker B:Huh.
Speaker A:We didn't have any rights back then.
Speaker A:But moving on.
Speaker B:So if you want to read the next part.
Speaker A:Oh, sure.
Speaker A:You know what?
Speaker A:David's normal world in small town suburbia, if that's what you want to call it.
Speaker A:Which was quiet and safe and predictable.
Speaker A:But soon his father and other town people began acting strangely after visiting a sand pit behind his house.
Speaker A:Interesting, but for a boy who once lived in security, the changes are terrifying.
Speaker A:Would be terrifying for anyone to have a spaceship.
Speaker A:But anyway, his safe home becomes unrecognizable and is setting the stage for a child versus alien survival story.
Speaker B:Kind of reminds me of an episode of Cheers.
Speaker A:Oh, really?
Speaker B:They.
Speaker B:They.
Speaker B:There is this episode where I think it was.
Speaker B:What's her name?
Speaker B:The.
Speaker B:The.
Speaker B:The one that was Savic in Star Trek.
Speaker A:To Kirsty Alley.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:I forget Kirsty Alley's character's name, but it was Kirsty Alley and Rebecca.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:So Rebecca is talking to the regulars at the bar and Cheers, and she's like, there was this movie on the other night.
Speaker B:I don't remember the name of it, but everyone was talking about the weird things that were happening when people would go into the barn.
Speaker B:What was the name of that movie?
Speaker B:And then someone says, don't go in the barn.
Speaker B:So moral of the story, don't go into the sand.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker B:So the inciting incident.
Speaker B:Say that three times fast.
Speaker B:Comes when David realizes the people around him are being taken over.
Speaker B:They're being possessed.
Speaker B:They're being brainwashed.
Speaker B:Somehow his parents, his teachers, and even local police fall under alien control.
Speaker B:And suddenly the boy who was never listened to must carry the weight of uncovering and fighting an invasion no adult will believe.
Speaker A:Okay, so a couple things, right?
Speaker A:So first off, the thing.
Speaker A:So basically, I don't think this is a big spoiler or anything because it was, what, 40 years ago practically now.
Speaker A:So the thing that they stick in the back of their neck, right, to give them control is like 6 inches long.
Speaker A:And it's like by the time you got that in them, like, their brain would just be mush.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:I mean, there's no way they'd be able to survive that because it was, like, awful.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:But then we both of us also watched the original.
Speaker B:Original, right.
Speaker A: bout the original from, like,: Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:The neighbor girl.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And they're like.
Speaker A:I don't know, she was playing and all of a sudden she just collapsed.
Speaker A:And like.
Speaker B:Well, it's worse than that.
Speaker B:Her.
Speaker B: I don't recall in the: Speaker A:No.
Speaker B:Well, they don't mention much the.
Speaker B:The background of the characters.
Speaker B:They're just simply this nuclear family.
Speaker B:Mom, dad, kid.
Speaker B:But dad has a day job, of course.
Speaker B: don't mention it much in the: Speaker B:And the wife says, since when have you Worked for the phone company because that's one of the covers that they use for a government job.
Speaker B:Just like when somebody is a CIA person, they'll say the.
Speaker B:They're in the greeting card business.
Speaker B:So if someone works for the phone company, they might have a government job.
Speaker B:But in the 86 version, they don't really focus much on what the dad does for a living.
Speaker B:In the 53 version, they do say that he's a scientist from the beginning.
Speaker B:That's why the boy has a keen interest in telescopes and stargazing and whatnot.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A: led in the blanks more in the: Speaker A: I've also thought about, the: Speaker A:Even in the, the newer one, the dad, he was stern and he was scary, but he was still kind of like, hands off.
Speaker A:But in the first one, the dad comes in and sits down and the boy asked him a question and he just backhands him across the room.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:And the mom comes in and she's like, what's going on, dear?
Speaker A:Why don't you go get dressed, David?
Speaker B:Well, that just tells you that.
Speaker B:That.
Speaker B: That: Speaker A:Well, yeah, by the way, he grabs her arm and yanks her around even when she still.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:And then throws her in the sand pit.
Speaker A:That was fun.
Speaker A:But it, it's just.
Speaker A:It's so like.
Speaker A:It was like, it, it made it in.
Speaker A:In one respect, it made it more like, oh, dude, this is.
Speaker A:These aliens aren't even playing around.
Speaker A:Where in the newer one you're just like, okay, so.
Speaker B:But the other difference I noticed is that we.
Speaker B:Maybe nowadays we have more experience with acting possessed characters.
Speaker B:I don't know, maybe it's more informed.
Speaker A:Maybe we have more experience with acting because let's just say that these were not brilliantly cast, right?
Speaker B:Because in 53, they acted very quote, unquote wooden.
Speaker B:Once they had had their little experience with the aliens in the pit, they.
Speaker A:They.
Speaker B:They basically acted like zombies to an extent.
Speaker B:But, yeah, there's.
Speaker B:There's another important difference between the versions that we'll discuss later.
Speaker B:Because of course, we have to get into the cast for some folks to appreciate those differences a little bit more.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker A:Although I do want to point out one quick thought.
Speaker A:Aliens in the 19.
Speaker A:In the, in the version that we watched, like the newer version, how on earth did those creatures build a spaceship?
Speaker A:Because they had, like, two big legs that they stood on and Then they had like these little flimsy things and then a couple flippers.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Like, how did you build a spaceship?
Speaker B:I mean, they looked like the inspiration for one of the Monsters Inc.
Speaker B:Characters that Pixar came up with.
Speaker A:Yes, exactly.
Speaker A:Anyway, do you want.
Speaker A:Do you want to hear about the director?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B: the look and the feel of this: Speaker B:Matt, who was the director and what was their government name?
Speaker A:Well, Willard Tobe we're gonna go to for this.
Speaker A: Hooper was actually born in: Speaker A:And he developed a love of filmmaking using his father's 8 millimeter camera and studied at the University of Texas.
Speaker A:So he earned his place in film history as a visionary.
Speaker A:Horror and.
Speaker A:And genre cinema, basically.
Speaker A:So guess what?
Speaker A: His: Speaker A:Written by Kim Hennel.
Speaker A:They actually wrote that.
Speaker A:I mean, what do you write?
Speaker A:It's just like half.
Speaker A:Like an hour of a woman screaming.
Speaker A:Anyway.
Speaker A:But it basically redefined.
Speaker A:Redefined, like visceral terror on a shoestring budget.
Speaker A: , and the Fun House in: Speaker A:So, I mean, this guy did like some serious work that still freaks us all out to this day.
Speaker A:And of course that one was executive produced by Steven Spielberg.
Speaker B:Oh, big.
Speaker B:Anyway, big, big pockets.
Speaker A:Very big.
Speaker A:Throughout later decades, he remained really active in horror and sci fi and he directed films like Life Force and of course, Invaders from Mars, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, and numerous, numerous television projects.
Speaker A:But in his personal life, he's married three times, so obviously his marriages were horror films as well.
Speaker A:And he had one son.
Speaker A:And then sadly, he passed away at.
Speaker A: ,: Speaker B:Oh, Matt.
Speaker B:In that body of work there, there was another Star Trek connection, if you can imagine.
Speaker A:What?
Speaker A:No way.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So I'm gonna ask you, you.
Speaker B:And then of course, I'll answer.
Speaker B:So among others of his films, Mr. Cho, Hooper was responsible for bringing us the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Speaker B:And I'm going to ask you, Matt, what is the Star Trek connection with Texas Chainsaw Massacre?
Speaker A:Oh, Lord, you always ask me these questions and then I'm.
Speaker A:And my brain Goes, well, that's that.
Speaker B:That's because I enjoy my nerd brain farts here.
Speaker B:But the connection that Texas Chainsaw Massacre has with Star Trek is that it's not even someone who appeared on screen.
Speaker B:The narrator of Texas Chainsaw massacre was one Mr. John Larroquette, who of course got his rise to fame in the 80s on night court, but he was also in Star Trek 3 as one of the Klingons.
Speaker A:That's true.
Speaker A:I remember that.
Speaker A:I remember seeing that and I'm like, really?
Speaker B:But to this day, apparently John Larroquette has no lost love for the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, even though he got paid to do the narration.
Speaker B:He's not a horror movie fan.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker B:Like Sandra Bullock, not admitting to working with Lindsay Wagner.
Speaker A:Oh, see, I would have loved Lindsay Wagner.
Speaker A:I had the biggest late and crush but love of her.
Speaker B:And unrelated I saw on social media recently.
Speaker B:Did you know that Lindsay Wagner is related by marriage to Linda Gray who played Sue Ellen Ewing?
Speaker A:No, I had no idea that they were married.
Speaker B:Well, related by marriage.
Speaker B:So Lindsay Wagner's uncle is married to Linda Gray from Dallas.
Speaker B:So Sue Allen is technically Jamie Summers, aunt by marriage.
Speaker A:Wow, that's.
Speaker A:That's pretty cool.
Speaker A:When I was a kid, I actually wrote somebody that was supposed to be like, who claimed to be Lindsay.
Speaker A:Lindsay's like goddaughter or something like that.
Speaker A:And so I thought that was pretty cool.
Speaker A:But of course she didn't.
Speaker A:She stopped writing me, so.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Well, I was going to buy one of those sleep number beds until Lindsay Wagner stopped doing the commercials.
Speaker A:Yes, that's right.
Speaker A:You protest that sleep.
Speaker B:So of course, as we know, that takes a boatload of talent to pull off something like a movie.
Speaker B: d the Invaders from Mars from: Speaker B: ar that was a fixture in this: Speaker A:What did she play?
Speaker B:Well, most notably, many people know her from the flight attendant in Airport 75, but a little background on Ms. Karen Black.
Speaker B:She was born in Illinois, the land of Lincoln, and she was born in 39 Park Ridge, so that's possibly one of those Chicago suburbs.
Speaker B:And of course, she's an American actress.
Speaker B:She's also a screenwriter, a singer and a songwriter.
Speaker B:She's probably done some of those things in the movie she's been in.
Speaker B:And she became a standout star of the 70s in the New Hollywood.
Speaker B:That's when we Got away from the studio system, and people were free to work for whoever would give them a paycheck.
Speaker B:Well, she's known for playing bold and eccentric but unforgettable characters, and she shined in both big studio hits and daring independent films.
Speaker B:Independent films.
Speaker B:Karen's fearless talent and unique presence made her a cult favorite.
Speaker B: ortunately, More recently, in: Speaker B:But I will say I will.
Speaker B:We'll talk about how many movies we've seen with each of them in it here.
Speaker B:I didn't expect her just because her most iconic roles she played as a brunette.
Speaker B:So we get.
Speaker B:We get a blonde school nurse, and you don't think, oh, my God, that's the lady from Airport 75.
Speaker A:Well, not only that, but she was such an ingenue in this one.
Speaker A:I was like, what?
Speaker A:Really?
Speaker B:You sell those mom jeans?
Speaker A:She's like, I'm.
Speaker A:I'm a blonde white woman and I need this little boy to save me from the evil aliens.
Speaker B:I can't hand out medicine, but I've got band aids and Tums.
Speaker A:I was expecting her to, like, just like, smack, smack people, but nope.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Because the, the, the dad in the 50s trained a generation of nurses that believe.
Speaker B:What doesn't kill you.
Speaker B:What.
Speaker B:What's the saying?
Speaker B:What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
Speaker A:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker A:And then, and then her character in the original one was played by.
Speaker A:Was a doctor.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So there's.
Speaker A:There's like a kick ass doctor.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:That.
Speaker B:That's one of the adaptations between the generations of the film.
Speaker B:It's like, okay, women had more power in the original film.
Speaker B:She was a doctor when she was approached with the boy that had a few problems going on at home, let's shall we say.
Speaker B: But now, of course, in: Speaker B:But she's a school nurse, so.
Speaker B:Okay, that's allowed.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:I guess we'll give her a pass.
Speaker A:She's blonde.
Speaker A:She's.
Speaker A:But as long as she's a nurse and not a doctor.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker B:She doesn't even get her own sitcom unless she becomes a lawyer.
Speaker A:That's true.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So what were the top films that Karen Black was in there, Matt?
Speaker A:Well, let's, let's first start out with saying do.
Speaker A:Well, you see it.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:But she was in.
Speaker A:I was gonna say, do you know how many films she's in?
Speaker A:Yes, you do.
Speaker A:She was in 163 films.
Speaker A:And that is just the Films that she was credited for and that were like actual like releases as films.
Speaker B:I was gonna say that that doesn't include the films that were on 8.
Speaker A:Millimeter, not to mention even like the TV.
Speaker A:Yeah, like all she just, she prolific career.
Speaker A:I think she kind of just took anything and that's okay.
Speaker A:That's what you do.
Speaker A:Anyway, her top five grossing films ready.
Speaker A: Five Easy Pieces in: Speaker A:I have never even heard of this movie, but wow, that's pretty good.
Speaker B:Five Easy Pieces sounds like a drag queen troupe.
Speaker A:Well, I was gonna say it sounds like a horror film because it's like, oh here, let's make.
Speaker B:There's a piece here.
Speaker B:There's a piece here.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Connect.
Speaker A: nd then the year before that,: Speaker A:Oh, the counterculture classic.
Speaker A:And actually that helped launch her career.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And then of course in 74 we have the Great Gatsby, which was with Robert Redford, who we recently lost and Mia Farah, who you know.
Speaker A:But anyway, it was an adaptation, of course, the novel.
Speaker A:And then the big one that we all know her from.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A: Airport: Speaker B:Help you church.
Speaker A:Nobody flew the next year.
Speaker B:But at least I remember from that.
Speaker B:That's the airport movie or the air travel movie.
Speaker A:The.
Speaker B:That didn't involve saving the day with a bobby pin.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Or, or having a nun troop.
Speaker A:That.
Speaker A:Or.
Speaker B:Or an old light or an old white lady speaking jive.
Speaker A:I could have sworn.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A: n I was watching the original: Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:Because there was a, there was a character that was like, oh my God, is that her?
Speaker A:But no, it wasn't.
Speaker B:It was just the, the clone of every housewife.
Speaker A:Exactly.
Speaker A:Same hairdo.
Speaker A: ad the trilogy of Terror from: Speaker A:You've seen it, right?
Speaker A:The one where it's like.
Speaker A:That's the original like down the hallway thing or under the bed.
Speaker A:The little, the little crazy doll that was under the bed that chases her around and keeps like stabbing her with the spear.
Speaker B:Oh, that's probably the movie I saw as a kid and didn't remember what it was called there.
Speaker B:There's a movie that I'm trying to remember forever in a day now where this lady has a baby and nobody wants to see the baby because it might have been possessed.
Speaker B:And there's a scene in the movie where the baby's in a suitcase and it cuts its way out.
Speaker A:Okay, so that, that was probably Ally McNeil, because when the baby cut his way out, it was uma chaka.
Speaker A:Uma chaka.
Speaker A:Remember that?
Speaker B:Not quite.
Speaker B:But it's time to compare our scorecard cards.
Speaker B:So we, we've, we've got our Karen cards, as we would call it this time around, because it's, we're talking about Karen Black and she would, well, she'd be the leading lady, I guess, in this film because she's got the most screen time.
Speaker B:But sadly, I'll say that I've only seen two Karen Black films.
Speaker B: ard many things about Airport: Speaker B:Haven't watched it yet.
Speaker B: ilm called Capricorn One from: Speaker B:And this is sort of when this was made.
Speaker B:The Planets of the Apes series of movies was in its heyday.
Speaker B:So Capricorn1 tried to cash in on that sci fi movie fame.
Speaker B: And this was directed in, in: Speaker B: s, Do: Speaker B: stories go, I actually liked: Speaker A:I can't watch that, Dave.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:But I recently listened to Barbra Streisand's official Licensed, because there have been many fixed before now authorized autobiography.
Speaker B:And I know it's authorized because she reads it.
Speaker B:And when Karen Black was in Capricorn one in 78, Barbra Streisand could have saved herself a lot of time waiting for her future husband.
Speaker B:Because if she had just hung out on the set of Capricorn One, which sadly was about six or seven years after she divorced Elliott Gould, she could have met her future husband because James Brolin was in Capricorn 1.
Speaker B:Oh, with Elliot Gould.
Speaker B:So those are the two meager two Karen Black films that I've seen.
Speaker B:So, Matt, how many have you seen and what do you have special memories of?
Speaker A:So first, I have to shame you that out of 163 plus films.
Speaker A:You've only seen two of the iconic Karen Black.
Speaker A:At least I managed five.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:And I was like.
Speaker A:But I was like looking at her list and I'm like, I have to have seen a ton of these and nope.
Speaker A:Yeah, so I've seen five.
Speaker A: vorites of course are airport: Speaker A:And I only put that on there because it was better than the other things I've seen her in.
Speaker B:We are about the halfway mark in our show, so we're going to take a brief break from for some nostalgia, some ads, some jingles from days gone by that will remind us what life was like living through the 80s.
Speaker B:Maybe there'll be something with artificial sweetener and colors that only exist in a lab and not nature.
Speaker A:Yeah, you roll that beautiful bean footage.
Speaker A:Sat raisins from the California vineyards.
Speaker B:Sounds great, doesn't it?
Speaker B:With this lie detector, I'll prove this great looking Isuzu is a better pickup than Toyota.
Speaker B:It has more standard features than Toyota.
Speaker B:It has a double walled cargo bed, steel belted radials and a five speed transmission.
Speaker A:Transmission.
Speaker B:Toyota doesn't yet.
Speaker B:It's the lowest priced import truck in America.
Speaker B:See, you can trust me.
Speaker C:Now with factory incentives, you could save even more on the Isuzu pickup.
Speaker A:This is how many parents all across.
Speaker C:America find out about the Apple iic.
Speaker C:Parents buy their kids an Apple IIC.
Speaker B:Because Apples are the leading computers used in schools.
Speaker A:Then they discover how easy it is.
Speaker C:To set up and use, how it can help them with things like business.
Speaker B:And home finance and how that can help them spend more time with their kids.
Speaker A:Hi, dad.
Speaker B:Okay, we are back.
Speaker B:I will, I will, I will challenge you.
Speaker B:Name one other Karen Black film than those two.
Speaker A:The Trilogy of Terror.
Speaker A:Oh, actually, and I did see Easy Rider, but I barely remember anything of it.
Speaker A:But Trilogy of Terror.
Speaker A:I've seen the Zuni fetish doll thing and it's.
Speaker A:I tell you, the first time I saw it, it scared the hell out of me.
Speaker A:I was like, no, it's gonna get you run, like kick it across the room.
Speaker A:But at least she fought, whereas other people would probably just give up.
Speaker B:So, so we've introduced the leading lady and now we'll, we'll get back into the story a little bit more here.
Speaker B:So David faces escalating conflicts as the aliens spread their control.
Speaker B:Kind of like fertilizer.
Speaker B:His greatest obstacle is disbelief.
Speaker B:No one trusts the word of a child.
Speaker B:Children should be seen and not heard.
Speaker B:And externally, he's chased by the possessed townsfolk.
Speaker B:Kind of like Pod people in Invaders of the Body Snatchers and the Martians themselves.
Speaker B:And internally, he struggles with fear and isolation because he doesn't know who to trust yet.
Speaker B:And he's forced to confront horrors that he barely understands because he just a child, right?
Speaker A:And he has to like, look at the back, your neck and everything.
Speaker A:So yeah, I mean, this is crazy.
Speaker A:So guess what?
Speaker A:Okay, so the midpoint, turning, turning point, like this is when we all get going, basically, he's finally able to ally with the school nurse who's the one of the first people that actually believe him and don't think he's crazy or try to eat frogs in front of him and stuff, and stuff, and stuff.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:And eventually the.
Speaker A:And then of course, eventually military.
Speaker A:Thankfully, through dad's day job, the military believes him and everything, so that's good.
Speaker A:But for the first time, adults take him seriously.
Speaker A:And the scope of the threat expands from small town paranoia to a full blown alien incursion with massive stakes in this tiny little sand pit.
Speaker A:But what starts out basically is his nightmare is now humanity's war.
Speaker B:And to add to the illustration of the quaint little town with the.
Speaker B:The white picket fences, they've picked a kind and gentle name for that little town.
Speaker B: the name Willow brook for the: Speaker B:So it's kind of like that suburb that Marty and his girlfriend are going to have a house in in the future.
Speaker B:Willow Brook.
Speaker B:So David's flaws.
Speaker B:Now among his flaws are his youth and helpless helplessness.
Speaker A:Of course, being a child is acting, but that's a different story, right?
Speaker B:Oh, and we could talk about the actor who played him in the 86 remake as well in a minute.
Speaker B:Here, here.
Speaker B:His youth and helplessness make the danger sharper, so it amplifies the problem.
Speaker B:He can't fight physically and his fear nearly overwhelms him.
Speaker B:But yet his bravery and persistence keep the fight alive.
Speaker B:So he's stubborn and maybe he could thank his mom for that.
Speaker B:The stakes rise with every abduction, keeping the audience hooked by balancing campy thrills with a genuine child's eye sense of terror.
Speaker B:So everything is intimidating when you're not much taller than the table.
Speaker A:That's true.
Speaker A:That's the thing though, is that the actor for the first one was in line with the other actors.
Speaker A:I mean, let's face it, nobody really gave them Oscars in the, in the 50s version.
Speaker A:They were all kind of like, okay, that's a 50s movie.
Speaker A:So you just forgave them.
Speaker A:But in the.
Speaker A:The 80s version.
Speaker A:Oh, my God.
Speaker A:David was just like, I want your.
Speaker A:I want the 50s dad to come and.
Speaker B:And slap some sense into him.
Speaker A:Well, I advocate for that, but, you know.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:It's a movie, so it was acceptable in the time.
Speaker B:Yeah, but in the.
Speaker B:The.
Speaker B:The 53 version, I couldn't tell you the actor's name who played the lead child, but he reminded me of the kid in Lassie.
Speaker B:Lassie's owner.
Speaker B:But more importantly, the actor who played David Gardner.
Speaker B:David Gardner.
Speaker A:Oh, my God.
Speaker B:Which is what Louise Fletcher shouts in several scenes of the movies.
Speaker A:Oh, my God.
Speaker A:That was like her only line.
Speaker A:Pretty much.
Speaker A:I mean.
Speaker B:I mean, it paid the bill, so of course, just keep saying that name.
Speaker B:But no, the.
Speaker B:The actor who played David Gardner was actually the leading lady, Karen Black's own son, so.
Speaker A:Oh, that's true.
Speaker A:I forgot that.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Maybe they got him cheap because they come as a pair.
Speaker A:Oh, so maybe.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So we just mentioned the person, or the character rather, who shouts the.
Speaker B:The leading character's name, David Gardner.
Speaker B:And whose voice was that?
Speaker B:Who did it belong to, Matt?
Speaker A:That was Estelle Louise Fletcher, better known as.
Speaker A:Well, Louise Fletcher, who of course was a wonderful actress and a huge, huge, huge Star Trek connection, let's face it.
Speaker A:Deep Space Nine.
Speaker A:She was Deep Space Nine and then one of the most frightening characters on it.
Speaker A:But that's not her only frightening character.
Speaker A:Not only was she shouting David, God, the whole freaking movie, but she was also best known for playing Nurse Ratched, not in the weird remake that Ryan Murphy did.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:But the original Nurse Ratched.
Speaker A:And so she.
Speaker A:In One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, which earned her numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and Golden Globe Award for Best Actress.
Speaker A:So that was really something.
Speaker A:Yeah, she.
Speaker A:She's just amazing.
Speaker A:She's.
Speaker A:I've loved her, even though I hated her character because she made me hate her character because she was so good.
Speaker A:But, yeah, she's wonderful.
Speaker A:Kai win.
Speaker A:We love you.
Speaker A:We miss you.
Speaker A:She passed away a few years ago.
Speaker A:Sadly, she did.
Speaker B:And ironically, it's.
Speaker B:It's almost like the omen of us having discussed character talent and then them passing away because they're relevant.
Speaker B:I was fortunate enough to get an autographed picture of Louise Fletcher before her passing, so that is among my treasures.
Speaker B:But my favorite acting project that Louise Fletcher did was in the early 90s.
Speaker B:A show that I've talked about on a previous season of matinee Minutia was a TV series about the early Days of the Internet and virtual reality.
Speaker B:It was called VR5.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:And it starred Laurie Singer, who was the pastor's daughter in Footloose.
Speaker B:And it was just such a wonderful TV show.
Speaker B:I'm forgetting the man's name, but there's a British actor who is also in VR5 who in the 70s was in Sapphire and Steel with Joanne alumni in the.
Speaker B:In the bb, the British areas there.
Speaker A:So let's see.
Speaker A:Okay, so that would have been Michael Easton, I believe.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker B:Michael Easton played.
Speaker A:And you know, Anthony Head was in it.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:No, I didn't realize, but I can imagine the types of characters that he's played before.
Speaker A:And of course, Will Patton was in it.
Speaker A:Yeah, I just.
Speaker A:Wonderful, wonderful.
Speaker B:VR VR5 was one of those one season wonder shows that got canceled and it has a cult following.
Speaker B:So if you're hearing us talk about it briefly here, you can actually go back into our archives and can listen to that discussion.
Speaker B:So Louise Fletcher, she did a bunch of movies and you've mentioned some of them already, but there were 61 of them and.
Speaker B:And since you talked last, I'll talk now.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:So her walk away, her most recognizable films, her top five films included One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest in 75, for which she won an Oscar and she won Best Actress for Nurse Ratched.
Speaker B: I think it was on Netflix in: Speaker B:They had a one season series.
Speaker B:It was actually developed by Ryan Murphy, ironically, but it was sort of the.
Speaker B:The backstory of Nurse Ratched and it was the early days of her career.
Speaker B:So it shows the dark underbelly of mental health.
Speaker B:But the show was just called Ratchet and kind of spooky.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:So the.
Speaker B:Louise Fletcher was not in that, by the way, just her character that she played.
Speaker B:So in 77 she did Exorcist 2 because they didn't quite get rid of all the demons.
Speaker B:They came back Exorcist to the heretic in 77.
Speaker B:And though divisive, it's the high profile sequel to one of the most famous horror films ever.
Speaker B:And I'm.
Speaker B:Wasn't it.
Speaker B:Oh, goodness, I'm trying to remember his name now.
Speaker B:Max von Syto, I think was in the first Exorcist film as the preacher.
Speaker B:So in 84, when I was a little one, Stephen King had a novel adapted for the film Fire Starter.
Speaker B:And Louise Fletcher was in this along with up and coming young actress Drew Barrymore.
Speaker A:And did we say up and coming talk show host Drew?
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:And not many people know, but Drew Barrymore's grandfather was a famous film director.
Speaker B:Okay, so.
Speaker A:Yeah, well, Lionel Barrymore wasn't an actor as well, possibly.
Speaker B:So in 99, because he was in.
Speaker B:I think he was in Citizen Kane.
Speaker B:So in 99, Louise Fletcher was in a film called Cruel Intentions, and it was a stylish 90s hit with enduring pop culture legacy.
Speaker A:So, you know, is this where she played Kaiwan?
Speaker B:Maybe.
Speaker B:But, you know, probably in the vein of films like Reality Bites, it's got a pop following.
Speaker B: Then in: Speaker B:Now, this has nothing to do with any sort of fashion runways, but there was a movie called Blue Steel and Louise Fletcher's character was Kathryn Bigelow.
Speaker B:Oh, sorry.
Speaker B:Kathryn Bigelow directed this film.
Speaker B:And if you have no other reason to see Blue Steel than Louise Fletcher, just know that Jamie Lee Curtis is in it.
Speaker B: e got two reasons to seek out: Speaker B:So those were Louise Fletcher's most popular films for being in.
Speaker B:And now we're gonna compare our wheezy cards.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:How many have you seen?
Speaker B:So I've seen about five films with Louise Fletcher, and of those include, of course, Invaders from Mars, as we were talking about now.
Speaker B:But there is also a movie in 83 that she did, and it starred the actress that was famously in the Mommy Dearest movie, Diana Scarwood, who played her daughter in Mommy Dearest, not Louise Fletcher, but Mommy Dearest's mother, Joan Crawford.
Speaker B:And Wallace Shawn was in this movie, and we are talking about her.
Speaker B:June Lockhart was actually 83 with Louise Fletcher called Strange Stranger Invaders.
Speaker B:So, like Stranger Danger.
Speaker B:So that.
Speaker B:And As I mentioned, VR5, the TV series.
Speaker B:And of course, everybody loved her on Deep Space Nine.
Speaker B:But those are my two non Star Trek things with Louise Fletcher that I find to be my favorites.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:I was gonna say I've actually seen 11 of her films, and I don't, sadly, even though I've seen them, I don't remember her in half of them because I wasn't, like, really aware of her until Deep Space Nine.
Speaker A:And so that includes Big Eden, which we're actually going to, I believe, be seeing later this year.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:Depends on what the basement boy wants us to do here, I guess, but.
Speaker B:And then you froze for a sec there.
Speaker A:And then the Boy who Could Fly.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah, we saw last season she was in that.
Speaker A:And then of course, Star Trek Deep Space Nine.
Speaker A:So those are my top three favorite.
Speaker B:And you know, I will say this, even though everybody knows her from her part on Deep Space Nine, I think the reason why I don't list that as my favorite is naturally, people.
Speaker B:I figure people with talent can make you not like them if they're a likable person.
Speaker B:I'm sure.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, I'm sure that there are many people in this world who would tell you if they met Louise Fletcher, that she was a down to earth, nice person.
Speaker B:But when you can play characters that are the opposite of you in your real life, it takes talent.
Speaker B:Now there's just something about.
Speaker B:Well, she started off as Vedic Win.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:Kai Win.
Speaker B:On Star Trek Deep Space Nine, you loved to hate her.
Speaker B:And she, her character was from a religious order, so she was supposed to be sort of a nun type character.
Speaker B:So I'm sure that that was the inspiration for her performance.
Speaker B:And it's not that I dislike it, but it's like this is.
Speaker B:She's just playing an alien who's a nun.
Speaker B:But it was priceless.
Speaker B:She speaks with authority and she undermines people like Major Kira.
Speaker B:Here is this, Here is this woman who has survived a revolution on her home world, which for those of you who maybe haven't read into it enough, Star Trek Deep Space Nine is basically sort of MASH in space because they've had war and they're a place where people go to get healed and whatnot.
Speaker B:But also it is a version of the history of World War II because the Bajoran people were occupied by their enslavers, the Cardassians, ergo, the Jews.
Speaker A:That's why I won't watch the show.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, the Jews and the Germans.
Speaker B:So Louise Fletcher's character, she gets to talk to Major Kira and put her in her place and she says to her things like, listen, hear, my child.
Speaker B:So of course it was inspired and very talented.
Speaker B:But not my favorite Louise Fletcher role.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker A:And I would even watch the Kardashians now because of that.
Speaker A:You know, it's, it, it disturbed me so much.
Speaker A:But yeah.
Speaker A:But hey, you know what?
Speaker A:At the end of this film, though.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So the resolution, the climax erupts in a chaotic battle between the US military and the Martian invaders.
Speaker B:They eventually make the connections and the little boy finds somebody who owes the family a favor and tanks, tanks roll, lasers fly.
Speaker B:And David dives deep into the alien ship like a kid that got loose at the mall.
Speaker B:He's just gonna go where he wants and much.
Speaker B:It's a pulpy, action packed showdown where the boy who no one believed proves he was right all along.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So do you remember the scene in the original one where like the David character, he is running and there's like tanks.
Speaker A:They do this overlay of like tanks in the background and this overlay of like aliens and all the things that have happened like leading up to where he is and he's just supposed to be running and he's just like standing in place with a camera on him.
Speaker A:It looks so, it looks silly.
Speaker A:But yeah, both of the kids.
Speaker A:The one thing I did like about the kid character, David's character in both films and is that they were headstrong and that they believe they knew what they saw.
Speaker A:They believed what they saw and they weren't going to change their story just because the adults were badgering them.
Speaker B:And we were talking about earlier that the 53 version does a little better job explaining the dad's day job.
Speaker B:Well, the little girl who's his friend in.
Speaker B:Well, in both stories really.
Speaker B:But in the 53 version, something happens to the little girl.
Speaker B:Now, just to point it out for you folks that maybe need a reason to check out these films, the little girl's dad works with David Gardner's dad at the military base.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:At the military base, because they're both scientists.
Speaker B:And so now of course, the Martians are who are controlling the townspeople one conversion at a time, has remote controlled this little girl because her dad is somebody that can fix their wagon, let's just say.
Speaker B:So not only does the little girl end up meeting her demise because they needed to have a way to explain how the people were being remotely controlled.
Speaker B: In the: Speaker B:But you, you said earlier, Matt, that that little girl disappears.
Speaker B:Well, and of course she died.
Speaker B:And I'm sorry to put you on the spot, but it's fun.
Speaker B: irl who ended up dying in the: Speaker A: Oh, in the: Speaker A:Yeah, go ahead.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Oh, she, she had a little problem with a box of matches, if you know what I mean.
Speaker A:Yes, the aliens kidnapped this child and said, go forth and set that house on fire, girl.
Speaker B:She burned her family home down to the ground.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And it's like, okay, so, but seriously, when you think about it in plot wise, like the father wasn't there, the mother, what did he, like, what did that accomplish?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A: so interesting is that in the: Speaker A:They explained that they were putting a rocket.
Speaker A:Was it the 53 or the 86, you'll know, right?
Speaker A:Or they're, they were putting like rockets in space to be able to defend themselves from other countries that might want to attack them with the, with an atomic bomb or something.
Speaker A:So they were putting a rocket in space, which is like.
Speaker A:Well, don't you think that if, if aliens on Mars saw that we were doing this that they might be concerned and want to come down and like.
Speaker A:And so I'm expecting them to like, talk it out and.
Speaker A:No, no, that didn't happen anyway.
Speaker A: But in the: Speaker B:Well, they say that truth is stranger than fiction.
Speaker B:And that's a perfect illustration of the times because in the 80s we were actually doing that.
Speaker B:Reagan was arming us in space because we were all going to kill ourselves program.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker B:So they, they didn't have to introduce the idea of us putting weapons in space.
Speaker B:We were already doing it.
Speaker B: hat was interesting about the: Speaker B:Basically they had, they had balls of flesh with legs and arms on board their spaceship.
Speaker B:But in the 53 version, they somehow knew or assumed that aliens who were intent upon either occupying us or stopping us had developed their own army of human like creatures.
Speaker B:And they called them.
Speaker B:And the funny thing is that they got, they pronounced their name differently.
Speaker B:It's almost as though the word was new.
Speaker B:And my, my set lights turned off and I'm just going to turn them back on spotlights 50%.
Speaker B:Okay, so, so the word that they used was mutant.
Speaker B:They called the Martian henchmen mutants.
Speaker B:They were humanoids, but they were sort of giants and clumsy.
Speaker B:But they didn't even say it like that.
Speaker B:It wasn't mutant.
Speaker B:It was mutant or something.
Speaker B:I can't remember.
Speaker A:Yeah, something like that.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B: ost humorous things about the: Speaker B: And the henchmen in the: Speaker B: was also a scene where in the: Speaker B:Before we got computers that could do CG and all that, everything had to be handmade for the set so that you didn't know what it was actually made of.
Speaker B:But it looked like from the camera's perspective, this, they blew up latex balloons to look like little nodules like you would have in an ant colony or something on the wall, so that it made the ship look somewhat organic where the tunnels leading to the ship or whatever.
Speaker B:And in one scene, one of the henchmen's running and he accidentally bumps one of the nodules and you could tell that it was very plainly just an inflated balloon.
Speaker A:Oh, what about the one that they kept like shooting and he'd like keel over and then he'd just get back up again.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:It's like he was Superman.
Speaker B:He could take a bullet.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Oh, and what, and then the Brain Martian like, oh, what the hell?
Speaker A:It's like, what the hell is.
Speaker A:And how did you guys do anything if that's what you look like?
Speaker B: I mean, to be fair, the: Speaker B: Maybe it was the: Speaker B:But you've seen Farscape.
Speaker B:Oh yeah, they had a pilot on the ship.
Speaker B:Now in Farscape, which was a Henson Company sci fi adventure where a human gets thrown into the future and he's on board this spaceship that's actually alive.
Speaker B:They, they have a pilot that's in the recesses of the ship and he looks like an alien, like tortoise.
Speaker B: artian in Invaders from Mars,: Speaker B: But in the: Speaker B:They, they, they, they basically did a head in the box, kind of like on, on Peewee's Playhouse with Jambi.
Speaker B:And they, they gave him tentacles.
Speaker A:What's in the box?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So in the resolution, David wakes up in his bed.
Speaker B:It seems that the nightmare was only a dream.
Speaker B:But the film ends ambiguously.
Speaker B:He looks out the window to see the same UFO landing again.
Speaker B:Mirroring the beginning and the cycle suggests paranoia never really ends, leaving audiences unsettled about what's real.
Speaker B:Kind of like that Next Generation episode where Riker was in an asylum.
Speaker B:He couldn't break out of the reality.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Or when Beverly was in the bubble.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Mm.
Speaker A:Oh yeah.
Speaker A:Oh, okay.
Speaker A:So anyway.
Speaker A:But basically David's arc takes him from like being a frightened child to an unlikely hero.
Speaker A:That's for sure.
Speaker A:But themes of mistrust, paranoia, and a fragile of the fragility of safety linger after the credits.
Speaker A:And Invader from Mars is basically classic, that nobody believes the kids trope, asking us to consider how quickly our safe world can be overturned when trust is broken.
Speaker A:But it's true.
Speaker A:It is one of those tropes where nobody believes the kid.
Speaker A:Everybody's like telling the kid, but then when he is basically like, hey, this is going on.
Speaker A:They're like, oh, you're crazy, crazy girl.
Speaker B:By the time they start believing the kid, the aliens already have half the town converted.
Speaker A:Well, that's the thing that it's like when it takes the.
Speaker A:The doctor or the nurse, depending on what year it is to actually pay attention and to believe and then.
Speaker A:But had this kid's father not been part of the military.
Speaker A:Uh huh.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:He would have been snatched up and converted and the military would not have come in with like 100 tanks and all this other stuff.
Speaker B:I mean, if they remade it again in more recent years, the kid would probably have to find a way to create a video that goes viral.
Speaker B:Like he uploads it to YouTube or whatever.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:Yeah, but I.
Speaker B:There's an old saying, and I don't know the origin, but they say it takes a village.
Speaker B:They took the village in this story.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So let me ask you, let's see.
Speaker A:Let me ask you a question here.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Do you think that the film's pacing kept you hooked or were there lulls?
Speaker B:I think that there were lulls.
Speaker B:I'd be hard pressed to figure out though, how to make the pacing a little bit more speedy.
Speaker B:Maybe there could have been more scenes of things going on in the ship.
Speaker B:I mean, they did show some people getting converted in the end.
Speaker B:Spoiler.
Speaker B:The school nurse ends up being knocked out and they've got her on the operating table basically for her to be the next victim.
Speaker B:So maybe if we had had a few more scenes of that, we would be able to wrap our heads around the fact that this is really a problem.
Speaker B:Because now that guy that was running the gas station, he's an alien remote.
Speaker B:And now the guy that I don't know runs the power plant.
Speaker B:So more and more people maybe would make more urgent.
Speaker A:So let me ask you one question though.
Speaker A:What did the aliens want?
Speaker B:That is a good point.
Speaker B:Because all they wanted was the People, but they had to have some goal in mind.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Like, and, but they never, even, even when they had the brain character there, which on both versions just went.
Speaker A:Didn't really do anything.
Speaker B:Huh.
Speaker A:But the, the, it was like, what, what is your goal?
Speaker A:Are you here to talk to us to find out if we're evil and.
Speaker A:Or are you are going to blow up your world or whatever?
Speaker A:Are you here to just invade because you're nasty creatures or are you like, why, why are you here?
Speaker A:What's your goal?
Speaker A:They never, they never did say we.
Speaker B:Want Steven Spielberg to direct a film to get her point across.
Speaker A:Right, Exactly.
Speaker B:We've got some other actors that don't have much screen time in this film, but they did do other things in their careers.
Speaker B:So one of the people that appeared briefly on the scene towards the end of the film, they had all sorts of scientists working to save the day.
Speaker B:Well, a, a child actor or a young adult actor who's, who's all grown up at this point, who had just been in a movie as the voice of a computer in Electric Dreams.
Speaker B:The voice of the computer, Edgar, was played by the same young man who was with Ruth Gordon in Harold and Maude.
Speaker B: one of the scientists in the: Speaker B:And also one of the people who was on the military base.
Speaker B:He was a sergeant major.
Speaker B:Sergeant Major Rinaldi, the guy with the prominent nose that was played by Eric Pierpoint, who just about five years later would be the lead alien cop in the Fox TV series Alienation.
Speaker B:George Francisco.
Speaker A:Nice.
Speaker A:I loved that show.
Speaker B:I have problems watching it now knowing that Gary Graham turned out to be a right wing nut joke job.
Speaker B:But my, my defense is that his, his castmates didn't know.
Speaker A:Nope.
Speaker A:And of course he is a Star Trek connection.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:How, how does somebody who turns out like that end up playing a contemporary of, of Sarek, one of the, the gentle voices of intelligence.
Speaker A:Well, and that Eric Pierpoint also was in Star Trek several times.
Speaker B:Oh yeah.
Speaker B:In several Voyager episodes, I do believe.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And of course, one of the other actors in The Invaders from Mars 86 was Saturday night Live's own Lorraine Newman, who of course worked along with Gene Curtin and Dan Aykroyd in the Conehead skits.
Speaker A:Oh, very nice.
Speaker B:That's why the mom was able, at the end of the, of the 86 invaders from Mars, the mom was able to do such a good impression of an alien trying to take over your planet because she'd done it before, right?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Oh.
Speaker B:So, yeah, that.
Speaker B:I think that if this were remade today, that's how it would be different.
Speaker B:The kid would get the attention of the public by making a video that goes viral.
Speaker B:He probably would have used his smartphone to film the underground lair that led up to the spaceship.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:And that would have made him even more daring and headstrong.
Speaker A:So what.
Speaker A:Was there a character that you wish had more screen time?
Speaker B:I think that the little girl who.
Speaker B:In the 86 version lives, she's actually one of his classmates, and she doesn't get as much screen time.
Speaker B:But I think if they did a remake, I think that the.
Speaker B:The girl with the pigtails should have had more involvement because there's.
Speaker B:There's strength in numbers.
Speaker B:So if this kid wasn't acting on his own and there was maybe a gaggle of kids figuring this out, maybe they would have put two and two together sooner.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:I. Yeah.
Speaker A:I can't think of anyone really, that I wish had more screen time.
Speaker A:The only.
Speaker A:Only one that I, I guess would be the.
Speaker A:The general's assistant, who in both versions got, like, taken over by the aliens.
Speaker A:And, I mean, he.
Speaker A:He could have been developed more, I think, but otherwise, I think they.
Speaker A:They did a pretty good.
Speaker A:Pretty good with every.
Speaker A:Everything.
Speaker A:And I'll tell you, Louise Fletcher's part, though, aside from, like, everything out of her mouth being like, David.
Speaker A:God, no.
Speaker A:The.
Speaker A:She.
Speaker A:She just.
Speaker A:Her character was, like, everywhere.
Speaker A:Like, she was driving the bus, and then she was taking all the kids to be converted, and then she just, like everything she did, she was everywhere.
Speaker A:And they did that character so perfectly.
Speaker A:She was freaking me out.
Speaker B:And I think that the main reason why her character was so important was because she was one of the first ones.
Speaker B:The kid.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Put it together that his science teacher, which is what Louise Fletcher played, was the science teacher in the school in the 86 version, she had frogs that she had gathered from the field, which was behind the kid's house.
Speaker B:So he put two and two together that she'd been to the field where the crash landing took place.
Speaker B:So more than likely they'd already gotten to her.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:So she.
Speaker A:She just did so good.
Speaker A:So good.
Speaker A:And for those of you recognized her.
Speaker B:And for those of you who have not seen this, there.
Speaker B:There's a shocking moment in the film.
Speaker B:I'll.
Speaker B:I'll lead you to draw the conclusion, Matt, that the boy, David Gardner, is just wandering through the school trying to figure out how he can escape or whatnot.
Speaker B:And there's a scene where he's in the classroom for the science teacher.
Speaker B:He figures there's nobody in there, so he goes into the little nook behind the blackboard where the teacher's got all of her stuff, her.
Speaker B:Her mad scientist lab.
Speaker B:And what does he walk.
Speaker B:What does David Gardner walk in on?
Speaker B:She's got her back turned at first, but what happens?
Speaker A:He's trying to see if she has a spot on the back of her neck, and then suddenly she hears him and she turns around and she turned.
Speaker A:She's French because she's got a frog sticking out of her mouth with big legs and her eyes are huge.
Speaker A:And I.
Speaker A:It's one of those moments where you're just like, ah.
Speaker B:And I think the frog's legs were even moving.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And she.
Speaker B:She opened her mouth even wider like she was a snake, that it could unhinge its mouth and finish swallowing the frog whole.
Speaker A:Yeah, it was.
Speaker A:It was one of those moments where even.
Speaker A:Even though you're watching it and you're like, oh, God, this movie is cheesy.
Speaker A:It is one of those moments where you're like, yeah, so.
Speaker B:So, okay, well, the.
Speaker B:The effects of this old VCR here are starting to wear off, and we're coming to our own rewind, our own reality here.
Speaker B:So it's.
Speaker B:It's that moment in the show where we tell you about other things you might enjoy if you like films like Invaders From Mars, whether that's the 53 version or the 86 version.
Speaker B:Leave that up to you.
Speaker B:So I'm going to take you on a little jaunt about a decade later after the remake here.
Speaker B: This is from: Speaker B:He decides to investigate the bizarre happenings.
Speaker B: It's: Speaker A:Interesting.
Speaker A:That's a pretty good recommendation.
Speaker A:Well, for me, I'm going to recommend for five youngsters who find themselves up against the combined might of Dracula, the Mummy, the Gillman, and Frankenstein's monster, who arrive in town in search of a magic amulet.
Speaker A: Yes, it's going to be: Speaker A:And yes, it has the classic line Wolfman's Got Nards.
Speaker A:Have you ever seen this movie?
Speaker B:I don't think so.
Speaker A:So I. I actually was confusing it with little Monsters.
Speaker A:So now that I've seen.
Speaker A:Now that I'VE seen the, what do you call it?
Speaker A:The, the not prequel, the teaser, the trailer.
Speaker A:Now that I've seen the trailer for it, I'm actually gonna watch it for this Halloween because it looked really funny.
Speaker B:And just to clarify, I think Little Monsters was a movie that Fred Savage was in.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's a fun movie because it's basically like the monsters under my bed.
Speaker B:And when he, when he goes under his bed, he's led to an underworld.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:Well those are two pretty fun things to watch, especially during this spooky season.
Speaker B:And let's see.
Speaker B:So that's the Invaders from Mars, a campy, colorful remake with cold war undertone.
Speaker B:Because it was the 80s childhood fears added dose of 80s spectacle.
Speaker B:It leaves us wondering was it all a dream or are the aliens always waiting just beyond the sand pit?
Speaker B:Because at the end of the film the kids goes, goes into his parents room and dun dun, dun, it wasn't a dream.
Speaker A:That's so freaky.
Speaker A:So scary.
Speaker B:Yeah, that, that darn VCR is smoking and it just popped up.
Speaker B:So I guess the voice inside's got something to tell us.
Speaker B:The lights are blinking on it.
Speaker B:I, I, we'll, we'll just let it play.
Speaker C:Next time on Matinee Minutiae, a comedy horror movie starring Cassandra Peterson and Edie McClurg.
Speaker C:Upon arriving in a small town where Elvira has inherited a rundown mansion, the infamous horror host must battle an evil uncle and puritanical townspeople who want her burned at the stake.
Speaker C: It's: Speaker B:Oh, Edie McClurg.
Speaker B:That is some prime 80s there because she was the one that's told Steve Martin and John Candy off at the car rental desk in, in that road trip movie.
Speaker B:And she's also the one that told Ferris Bueller what she thought of him on the phone when he called in sick.
Speaker A:Yes, she is the quintessential 80s actress.
Speaker A:You can, you can just talk about any of the 80s actresses you want to.
Speaker A:But Edie McClurg is like she was in everything Cool.
Speaker B:And I want to say that she was the original neighbor that was on the, the TV show that Valerie Harper got canceled on.
Speaker B:Valerie?
Speaker A:Oh yeah.
Speaker B:Mrs. Mrs. Poole was the neighbor lady.
Speaker B:And then of course eventually they wrote in Sandy Duncan when they killed off Valerie Harper for asking more, asking for more money because she was a, she was a woman who wasn't getting paid as much as her co stars.
Speaker A:Yes, she is 80 years old by the way.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker A:And yes, she was in the Hogan family.
Speaker B:Oh, okay.
Speaker A:She was in the whole thing, apparently.
Speaker B:All right, well, folks, she was in.
Speaker A:Small Wonder, by the way.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:Alongside the actor who played Herb from wkrp, I think.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:Can I.
Speaker A:Can I just.
Speaker A:One quick shout out.
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker A:Can we.
Speaker A:Can we send some condolences and love out?
Speaker A:Because just acknowledging that Diane Keaton passed away today.
Speaker B:She's been in so many of my favorite films.
Speaker B:My first film that I remember with Diane keaton was very 80s.
Speaker B:But baby boom, when the.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:The woman who was every businesswoman's success story in the 80s until her friend dropped a baby off in her possession there.
Speaker B:And then, of course, the rest of the movie is history.
Speaker B:She ends up moving to the country and turning over a new leaf.
Speaker B:But Baby Boom was my.
Speaker B:My strongest, earliest memory of Diane Keaton on screen.
Speaker A:I watched that film many times.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker B:Okay, well, if you don't hear back from us before the All Hallows Eve there, everyone play safely.
Speaker B:Check your candy and make sure that you're.
Speaker B:If you're wearing a face mask, the eyes have plenty of space for you to see out.
Speaker B:And of course, as all the safety films taught us in school growing up, make sure your costume has some reflective tape if you're going out at night.
Speaker B:Okay, well, we're gonna say goodbye for now.
Speaker A:Remember, we take Venmo.
Speaker B:Thank you for listening to Matinee Minutia.
Speaker A:Our show is released on the first and third Friday of most months.
Speaker B:Find our group on Facebook.
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Speaker A:O D y se.
Speaker B:Follow us on Blue Sky.
Speaker B:DJ is at DJ Starsage at sbamat.
Speaker A:Send us an email at mat named Minutiae at gmail com.
