When y’all mentioned the Sword of Damocles, my brain went instantly to the '90s Canadian series “Made in Canada” (known as “The Industry” in the US). It was about a production house and one of there productions was called “The Sword of Damocles”. It was a parody of Xena and Hercules. Damocles was half man, half bull! There is a clip near the beginning of this youtube clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycGzFlkbOiY
The whole point of the Sword of Damocles is that the position of the ruler is tenuous. The sword is held up by a thread.
The Game of Thrones inverted the metaphor, but kept the concept, with the Iron Throne, which was forged from the blades of the vanquished. The throne threatened wounds and even death on those who would sit upon it.
So, if you find yourself about to use a Sword of Damocles trope, use “sitting on the Iron Throne” instead. (People will understand you around about April.)
My reason for never reading Game of Thrones feels lamer and lamer every day. I should just suck it up, choke back the negative associations and read it, right?
Me too. …and with some surprisingly subtle and nuanced (for a robot) voice work by GWC fav Vin Diesel, you’d think there’d be a good chance of sparking their interest. Heck, it’s a giant robot. We know they like them!
Coming off of his TV work, The Iron Giant was Bird’s labor of love and it shows. The only (misguided) person I’ve known not to love it said that it was “too moving” and that she “didn’t want to think” during a “cartoon”. She is now dead to me. 
It was greatto hear a ref to the muppets… My son was in the car when I was listening to the cast and when e heard mahna he said that lol. He is only 19 months just Learning to talk… So great for him to geek out early. Since I introduced him to muppets even before seasme street :…
P.S I have the ewok song stuck in my head now thx
I’m not sure what negative associations you have with this great series. I can safely say that even unfinished as it is that it is the best series of books I have ever read.
Love Ratatouille. Saw it in the theater with the kids if I recall.
Patton Oswald does great as the voice of Remey. But when he was cast (if I remember) as the voice they didn’t know that he’s actually a huge foodie (food connoisseur ). A happy coincidence.
That really enhanced his performance I think. The sensuous way he talks about food really came through.
Also love Peter O’Toole as the voice of food critic.
EDIT: P.S. My mom used to make awesome ratatouille. Very tasty (but not stacked up fancy like in the movie.)
Definitely. It can be a be a bit confusing at first because there’s a score of major characters, but that pays off in a really rich story.
I’ll also interject that I never had trouble remembering main and secondary characters. You get a good idea of who is who, and only minor characters really run together. I know in some larger series I’m always trying to figure out who and what is related and where was that?, but that was never a problem in that series for me.
Also, the back of the books break it down for easy reference. I know some people get to the end of the first book and curse and scream because they wish they’d known that when trying to sort it out earlier.
Boy, was I pissed when I saw that. It’d probably have been easier to retain everything if I read it straight through, but I had put it down for a while to read something else.
Another minor annoyance: there’s a major plot thread that happens completely off the map. I wasted a bunch of time hunting for the Free Cities.
I really love Patton Oswalt. As I recall, Bird heard him doing his Black Angus steakhouse bit on stage and just loved how he talked about food in his comedy act. Here’s the Fresh Air interview with the two of them that I heard:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11510006
I was disappointed that there wasn’t enough of Patton talking in the movie…for my taste anyways.
And Patton was also just on Jimmy Fallon reading from his new book. The passage he read was apparently about a D&D game he was in long ago where his character got transported to another plane.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/205675/late-night-with-jimmy-fallon-patton-oswalt-part-2
Yes! I love that NPR interview with Patton O. I was gonna post it, so I’m glad you did.
Little-known fact: called the Free Cities because they are free from cartographers.
It’s times like this I wish we could favorite comments here.
Have to agree with you. Although many of the Season 3 episodes were completely catastrophic from a story-point view, episodes like the last named “Nightsisters” (about Dark Side Witches from the EU-known planet Dathomir) explore themes and characters deeper than any movie can. Since we know that especially Chuck is into Star Wars Comics, maybe he (and more GWCers) haven’t given The Clone Wars a try.
Anyway regarding the discussion that started after Audra presented the list of the most pirated TV series of 2010:
Since I found ways to download and watch TV series from North America (most German series are telenovelas, traditional-granddad-type series etc. and suck anyways) over the Internet my consume of TV (telly) has pummeled to a minimum of sport events and some political cabaret.
As Audra mentioned for international enthusiasts like me, waiting a year or more after the US broadcast for a new episode of LOST or Fringe, it would be hell. The main reason is not that I want more and more episodes instantly for my sake of consuming it, BUT to talk about them with the international fan community and experience it at the same time. I don’t know how long the Australian GWCers would have to wait for the airing of their favorite series, but I assume that they also didn’t hold their breath as long.
Of course, as soon as the Amazon.co.uk store has the Season DVD box for sale, there is nothing holding me of buying it instantly. The long advertisement breaks here (6-7 minutes after every 15-20 minute segment) also make me enjoy the episode as a file without any interruption all the more.
That there are so many geek-affiliated shows on it doesn’t surprise me. Or did you ever listen to a watercooler conversation about a show like…CSI? 
How are you other people listening to the cast and living outside of the United States experiencing your weekly TV fix?
OH. MY. GOD.
Forgive me if I end up with a wall of text… but Ratatouille? What a GREAT film to kick off your animation arc. Y’all talked about the technical and artistic side of the film on the cast, so I won’t go there but I just thought I’d post about why Ratatouille was one of the most incredible experiences (notice I didn’t say movie) of my life.
I was lucky enough to grow up in a household where food was celebrated and prepared at home almost every single day. My mother was a chef and she taught me the importance of cooking at home and showed me how enriching cooking could be for the soul. For me, this movie was like an amazing meal distilled into a motion picture. Pixar did such an incredible job exploring the joys of food. I loved the juxtaposition of how Remy, a rat (something we try to keep out of the kitchen) played against the themes relating to the passion of food.
Rarely does a film take my breath away. Ratatouille did it TWICE. The first time was the scene where Remy is experiencing the flavours of food as sound, colour and shape. I could almost TASTE the dish he was describing, absolutely brilliant! The second was the scene when Anton is taken back to his childhood. That was probably my favorite scene in cinema ever. I was so taken aback by how utterly perfect that scene was that I could not breath for a few moments afterwards.
And then you have Gusteau’s philosophy that ANYONE CAN COOK. Truer words have never been spoken. To this day, I am simply floored by just how intimidated some of my friends are by a kitchen and I always tell them that anyone can cook, then I try and teach them to cook!
It saddens me that most people today do not know how to cook and simply take shortcuts like buying overly processed food in a box or just grab fast food most of the time! Food is something we need to celebrate! We need to learn where our food comes from, what goes into it and how to prepare it correctly! If more of us did this we’d save money AND be healthier! /soapbox
Anyways I hope your guys cover at least one Miyazaki film during this arc. (Spirited Away plz) I am sure everyone has a movie they want covered though!
I don’t know if I missed it in your news section, but I learned that this month or next month Mass Effect (ME) will be released in a PS3 format. I do not have an XBOX, so I have suffered the ME discussion deprived of ME goodness. Hopefully, I will have an opportunity in the near future to participate in ME discussion as a person who plays . . .
The part where the food critic tastes the ratatouille? Brilliant. Tears in my eyes, joy in my heart.
I wanted to listen to the 'cast on Monday afternoon, but my iPod sputtered out Sunday night and I had to make alternate arrangements to listen to it. Finally got to it today. Lots of fun, guys. Especially Audra’s Picard riff.
I agree that we need more ways to consume the entertainment we enjoy. I love on-demand viewing. I love streaming things from Netflix and Amazon VOD. That being said, I think it’s outrageous that Microsoft packages Netflix streaming into XBL Gold, which in and of itself is a scam (I have lots of angry thoughts about XBL Gold).
I get the idea that shows can wink and smile about their promos, but I think it can compromise artistic vision. It’s like NPR. Would you rather pay for something, or would you rather have it become infected by multi-billion dollar companies that become strictly associated with the show(s) you love? This also applies, when considered, to GWC itself.
Also, I’m not sure that what a random person watches matters unless you’re a Nielsen household. I know cable companies can view DVR data, but I’m not sure that they do or that it factors into overall numbers. And while I do sometimes skip commercials (that’s half of what DVR is for), sometimes I leave them on and dink with the computer during commercial breaks. I know SyFy’s twitter feed had a brief pity party about DVR’s.
Yes, Caprica would have been better if it hadn’t been related to BSG. It felt like a square peg. They could have sold it as its own hard sci-fi show and expectations, and perhaps reactions, might have been different. Ultimately, the show was trying too hard to shoehorn the mythology of BSG into a show that wasn’t originally conceived that way. And like I’ve said before, it needed to hit its stride much more quickly. BSG was nails right out of the gate. Caprica took so long to really get going and had a rough middle of the first half-season. Real rough. It didn’t have that luxury. Once again, like with Dollhouse, I don’t understand why these shows are rushed out half-baked. Finish the concept. Fine-tune it. And just maybe you’ll have a better, and more successful, show.
Sean’s Hedonism Bot is wonderful. Just wonderful. And his Star Wars revision request is correct. So correct. The “Jub Jub” song needs to come back.
Also, Sean, have you shown the squeaker the Menomena Song video? My son just loves it.
If I had to change something from the OT, I would retcon up the mythology a little bit. Vader should be more powerful than Tarkin, and noticeably so. I’d love to see some mroe of that impatience that Anakin displays. Vader should sense something about Tattooine, and Leia, even if he doesn’t know what it means.
Also, I wouldn’t saddle the fat pilot with the name PORKINS. What kind of messed-up guy names the fat dude PORKINS?
On the topic of animation, you guys mention the introduction of CG animation, and no movie stands out more to me than Aladdin. You should watch the start of that film. The Cave of Wonders opening is so obviously not the same as the rest of the movie, and while back then we may not have taken much notice, now it sticks out like a sore thumb. I think Beauty and the Beast may have that same issue with the ballroom.
Looking forward to next week. I know I was surprised when I watched that movie again about 6 or 7 years ago and I realized what NIMH stood for. Don Bluth made some gorgeous movies.
Ratatouille-
As a professional Chef I loved this film! It really helped to bring to life the sheer joy of creation and artistry a Chef can enjoy, as well as the chaos and intensity of working in a real restaurants kitchen. And the dangers of a workplace romance… :eek:
It had the best kitchen I have ever seen in a major motion picture, as a Chef I cannot help but notice such things when watching a movie. Just as an artist will look at an artists studio in a film, or a musician will watch an actor pretending to play an instrument, I watch knife techniques and the wrist action of people pretending to sauté.
Anyways the kitchen was a beautiful recreation down to the reach-ins and walk-ins and even the floor drains and the cooking utensils, a wonderful piece of work. But the clincher for me was the food! They actually made it look real. I have never seen that before, you could almost smell it… I got hungry watching that film, nice work PIXAR.
Realistic CGI-
An excellent example of realism gone wrong is Beowulf. The detail they paid on skin pigmentation and such was extraordinary, and it was a wonder to watch in terms of what they managed to accomplish. But as a film it simply did not work because your eyes were constantly drawn to inconsistencies in characters physical movements and facial movement. It kept yanking me out of the story which I found a huge frustration, because the story was good.
And something to consider also is that comedy cannot be done with realistic CGI. If a dead-on human looking character were to do a standard cartoon style ‘take’ it would freak you the Hell out, that is why all CGI characters in comedies are caricatures and not real looking. It also allows the character designers to shorten the amount of screen time needed to introduce you to characters in the story. Because their ‘look’ tells you a lot about who they are before they even speak.
Beavis and Butthead-
The reason Beavis and Butthead looked the way it did was because Mike Judge literally did the show in his house using a animation kit he ordered through the mail. He had never done animation until he sent the original animated ‘short’ he did to MTV. Which is what kick started the whole series.
When he was contracted by FOX to do ‘King of the Hill’ he could afford to hire staff to do all of the work for him, which is why it looked so much better.
Favorite style-
Some of my favorite animated material to view is where CGI is blended with hand drawn animation. You get the best of both worlds that way.
And for me the best way to bring an animated character to life is not through realistic design, but rather through mannerisms. Posture, expression, familiar little gestures and body language. And Miyazaki is a master having his characters doing common little day to day duties around their home or vehicle that cause you to relate to them.
What brings a animated character to life is not how they look but by what they do. Making me care about what happens to a hand drawn character is a true testament to storytelling, I have cried just as much watching anime as I have at any live action film. Maybe even more…
A very good example of making you empathize with a non human looking character is of course WALLEE, you don’t even see a human looking character until over half way through the film. And WALLEE and EVE can’t even freaking talk, not really anyways. And yet you are completely emotionally invested in them, that is some impressive work.
Story over Style-
PIXAR and their good friend and ally Miyazaki both know that to create a great film you must first have a great story. A lot of CGI films hit the screen once the novelty caught on, but I bet you can’t even remember half of them can you? Why? Because they did not have the heart or emotional content of a story that someone invested a lot of time and effort into, they just cranked them out to capitalize on the craze, and that is why they are forgotten.
While the now iconic films are timeless, and watched time and again even now decades latter.
ASIDE-
Some of the worst kitchens in TV and Movies…
Star Trek: The Undiscovered No Country for Old Men. (Unforgivably bad, wanted to throw my nachos at the screen)
Star Trek Voyager- Every time I saw Neelix’s kitchen I wanted whack the set director over the head with a wok.
BBC’s Chef- Horrible kitchen, not even remotely realistic. But the show was so well written and acted that it was easily forgivable. Besides, real kitchens are very camera unfriendly. And it would be impossible to shoot a show inside a real working kitchen.