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Speed Racer (2008)
2 Plays1 minute ago
This week on the Everything Actioncast, Zach and Chris hit the track to discuss 2008's Speed Racer, which just arrived on 4K.
Based on the classic anime series and directed by The Wachowskis, Emile Hirsch stars as Speed Racer, who races for his family's Racer Motors. Tempted to become sponsored by Royalton Industries, Speed's refusal causes Royalton CEO E.P. Arnold Royalton (Roger Allam) to sinisterly reveal the truth that all of the biggest races are fixed, and it's all just a conspiracy to manipulate corporate stock prices. Determined to prove Royalton wrong and take down the criminal activity, Speed teams up with Inspector Detector (Benno Fürmann) and the mysterious Racer X (Matthew Fox). Zach and Chris discuss the movie's hyper-vibrant visual style, the nonexistent physics in the racing, ninja fights, the overly complicated corporate plot, and more.
You can grab the new 4K of Speed Racer or rent it on Prime Video or Apple TV. Next week, with Nicolas Cage back as a live-action superhero in Spider-Noir, we're revisiting his prior turn as Johnny Blaze in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.
We want to hear your comments and feedback. Send them all to contact@everythingaction.com. Also, let us know your movie suggestions for us to discuss.
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Transcript
Intro
Introduction & Speed Racer's Cultural Reassessment
00:00:19
Zach Sheets
Hello and welcome to the Everything Action Cast podcast week of May 18th, 2026. I'm your host Zach.
00:00:25
Chris Prime
I'm your co-host, Chris.
00:00:27
Zach Sheets
And this week we're hitting the track with Speed Racer. because it came out in 4K this week. Kind of the culmination of its big kind of cultural reinvention or reassessment. You know, when it first came out in 2008, it was critically slammed, did not make a lot of money, but in the years since, it's become like this huge cult classic. Like people are like, you know, re-looking at rethinking about it.
Speed Racer vs. The Matrix & Anime Adaptation Debate
00:00:52
Zach Sheets
And it's considered like one of the best like movies of that year. And like,
00:00:57
Zach Sheets
up up there with like the which like the the matrix movies like the wachowskis for some people
00:01:05
Chris Prime
Okay, I'm not sure where that gets comparison, but I would say for an adaptation cartoon, it's fine.
00:01:14
Zach Sheets
yeah like like you're like yeah like like uh anime adaptations or like anime like live action versions of cartoons it's like people like definitely one of the best ones
00:01:25
Chris Prime
But it could be like up there with the original Matrix?
00:01:28
Zach Sheets
Not the original Matrix, but...
00:01:31
Chris Prime
Okay.
00:01:37
Zach Sheets
Yeah,
Visual Style & Non-Linear Storytelling
00:01:41
Chris Prime
I don't Even then, I'm like...
00:01:44
Zach Sheets
I would put all the Matrix movies ahead of this one, but this movie... The theater is still... On a visual level, it's absolutely insane what the Chowskis did.
00:01:59
Zach Sheets
And I do love that, like, Warner Brothers were, like, were thinking they were going to get, like, this, like, kind of, like, normal, like, kind of big family-friendly movie. And then the Wachowskis were, like, we're going to do, like, an avant-garde, destroy every filmmaking paradigm.
00:02:15
Zach Sheets
Like, it's like cubism, but for movies.
00:02:18
Chris Prime
Yep. It's got like a lot of interesting like creative design choices that other movies save this for... like It's like, this is their big moment to show like an artsy shot shot or like like a crazy storytelling method that's like unconventional, like non-linear.
00:02:37
Chris Prime
This movie, it's like certain origin scenes are shot out of order, and then... It's like, I get non-linear approach as if it's episodic, but there's just like the pacing literally speeds at the end, where it's like, they slow down on like the slow parts, but then the the slow parts where they should slow down, they just speed up again. I'm like, what?
00:03:03
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Well, yeah, nonlinear, and it's also, they were they the big thing is there's no like normal transitions. It's all just like, if all just flows constantly, it's like one thing.
Visual Assault & Family Dynamics
00:03:15
Zach Sheets
like it's just Instead of transitions, it's just like, it's the people's heads fly past the screen, and go and it goes like a different scene, or like the yeah the past and the future are like playing in the same together, and it's just like, it's all it's all just like crazy visual, like,
00:03:31
Chris Prime
You to like rewind one part just because I couldn't figure out if this was like a future event happening or like a what if and then you realize it's both.
00:03:45
Chris Prime
It's got...
00:03:45
Zach Sheets
Was it
00:03:46
Chris Prime
interesting choices that like they not a lot of movies do this and I it's it's it's fine I think now just because people have learned to it' like it's different than normal storytelling but I get why at the time when someone's trying to to describe Speed Racer and you're trying to describe the like how you got how you experienced it it just seems crazy
00:04:11
Zach Sheets
Well, I mean, yeah, like what it's it's just like, it's absolute visual assault. Like, if you're not if youre prepared for the visual assault of this movie, you're go be like, what the fuck is happening?
00:04:15
Chris Prime
yeah
00:04:19
Zach Sheets
What is...
00:04:20
Chris Prime
like do not Do not adjust your screens for saturation.
00:04:20
Zach Sheets
Yes.
00:04:23
Chris Prime
This movie is oversaturated. It's just going to be like blaring colors. and then
00:04:28
Zach Sheets
Yes.
00:04:29
Chris Prime
It's going to feel like at times someone's changed the movie to something else. like It's just like complete like commercial bu bumper quality like visual gags that just feels like someone's little brother literally grabbed the remote and threw on, like, the Disney channel. Like, maybe not even Disney, like, Nickelodeon channel.
00:04:49
Chris Prime
Just for, like, a wacky sequence. And then it goes back to something brutal, like, like a sibling's death. And you're like, what?
00:04:58
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Yeah. totally Also like, yeah, totally. It's like, it just shift it like it kind of shifts gears a lot too.
00:05:05
Zach Sheets
i mean, and then, you know, like right from the start, like the opening so sequence where like, like speed is, uh, i guess I guess it's like their local track. It's like Thunderhead.
00:05:15
Zach Sheets
which they i say It's like right down the street from them. It's in the same like town or city that the Fracers live in. Because they because like Rex used to go there all the time. and brought He brought Speed there to race there.
00:05:28
Zach Sheets
But Speed's racing at that track. And then there's flashbacks to what happened to Rex. Which is like a super well-known story because all the, every, every announcer is like, is talking about it.
00:05:44
Chris Prime
It's crazy that, like, everyone is telling this gossip thing during this match, and as if, like, they haven't seen it before, but everyone is telling their story internationally for all their listeners, who, I guess, are just, like, not there? But it seems like everyone's there.
00:06:03
Zach Sheets
Well, this feels like it's not like you know it's not a Grand Prix race. It's not like, I don't know. This doesn't seem like a big like league race. It seems like just like and like like a local race. But it has like has like international attention. It's like multiple nations are listening to this like local race. It'd be like if like you have like like a dirt track near your your you're like in your town. It's like, oh, and like there's like 50 different countries like listening to this dirt race. Yeah.
00:06:30
Chris Prime
also They don't really state countries in this movie, which I don't mind. like It's very... like you this This is not America. This isn't Japan. This is just vague location.
00:06:40
Zach Sheets
Yep. Race world. It's everyone. It's just like everything is racing.
00:06:48
Chris Prime
But I think they do that in the original. I think only in the... Actually, no. Not in the original, too. like In the manga, they just... like Like, Speed's not really called Speed in the Japanese version. He's called, like, Go-Go.
00:07:02
Zach Sheets
hmm.
00:07:02
Chris Prime
Go-Go, like, Deski.
00:07:05
Chris Prime
And the family's just called, like, the Deski family. And everyone has, like, proper names. and Not just, like, Speed and Pops and Mom. It's, like, they have, like, actual names.
00:07:13
Zach Sheets
yeah yeah
00:07:17
Chris Prime
I think Trixie's the only one in that family with, like, a real name. You know, like, everyone everyone's, like, hey, I'm... I forgot, like, what the brother was called.
00:07:25
Zach Sheets
well like the older the older bros rex and then but then but then they named the youngest kid spritele
00:07:28
Chris Prime
See, like, that's barely a full, like, a real name.
00:07:34
Chris Prime
also want to get into the point where, like, do they just keep having kids, like, every nine years out of grief, like, getting ready for one? 18? 20?
00:07:42
Zach Sheets
I was going to say it too, like the the age gap between the kids is like really weird. because like Rex is like, what?
00:07:49
Chris Prime
eighteen
00:07:49
Zach Sheets
18?
00:07:50
Chris Prime
twenty
00:07:51
Zach Sheets
I think we're supposed to assume like he's the same age Speed
Racing Conspiracy & Car Design
00:07:54
Zach Sheets
is like in this movie. like When he like left to like... yeah yeah to like
00:08:00
Chris Prime
So like 19 maybe?
00:08:02
Zach Sheets
Yeah. And then Speed was like, what? 6 or or something? 8 maybe?
00:08:08
Chris Prime
Maybe 8? Because I think like, uh, Sprital is supposed to be like eight nine
00:08:13
Zach Sheets
Yeah. So it's like every 10 years they have a kid.
00:08:16
Chris Prime
Which I get, they're spacing it out. It's a tough economy, I guess. But...
00:08:19
Zach Sheets
but But then also they they adopted the monkey yeah one point. It's like, we're going have a we're go a third kid. Also, we're adopt the monkey.
00:08:26
Chris Prime
They don't bring that up. they don't and I don't think... Maybe in the manga they just say something, but... I never question why this family... that This family that doesn't seem like they have a lot of money... Afford everything.
00:08:39
Zach Sheets
That's what I was wondering, too, is how do the racers live? Because I guess props...
00:08:43
Chris Prime
Well, you to keep winning.
00:08:45
Zach Sheets
Yeah. The entire income relies on speed winning races, apparently.
00:08:49
Chris Prime
But then also Pop sells design car designs, because that's also why they bring it up that like heat the Mach brand is so like little because like they keep winning, but like no one buys them because all the bigger competition parts pushing them out.
00:08:52
Zach Sheets
Cars? Yeah. Hmm.
00:09:10
Zach Sheets
but Also, there's the global conspiracy but of racing.
00:09:15
Chris Prime
Which, I think the Wachowskis were like, basing this on real events, because like calling out the race industry.
00:09:23
Chris Prime
But like every company starts owning different teams. So it's not just the one team they own. It's like they own multiple teams.
00:09:31
Chris Prime
Like, Talladega Nights sort of did it better with, like, how they sponsored everything, and then it's not, like, corrupt. They just, like, but you need a win in order for your brand to make sense to be on, like, your car. But no one does a brand car. It's like, well every car in this universe needs, like, a logo in order to get that sponsorship, so they see it on camera.
00:09:51
Chris Prime
But
00:09:51
Zach Sheets
oh yeah the Yeah, no one has logos. It's all... All the cars are the personality of the driver that's in them.
00:09:57
Chris Prime
Yeah, it's like whatever, like, illegal art they can just put, like, parts on it. You know, it's like, oh your car has, you know, this fin. Or, like, hey, you're, like, a snake guy We'll put, like, snake color, like, trim on your car.
00:10:07
Zach Sheets
the snake guy. Mm-hmm.
00:10:10
Chris Prime
It's like... And then, and I gotta look at it again, of the details, but, like, there's some stuff on these cars that make the car very, like, not ergonomic. Or very aerodynamic. It's like, you know, it's a brick.
00:10:21
Chris Prime
I put a brick on my hood. It's like, what? No wonder you lose...
00:10:25
Zach Sheets
Well, later I mean, later a guy has like like a Viking warhammer under his car. so wait
00:10:31
Chris Prime
But I don't think that, in that race though, that's not for speed. That one is for, like...
00:10:34
Zach Sheets
No, that's like pure that's like a pure like battle race.
00:10:37
Chris Prime
Yeah, so that makes sense. But other cars are, like, built for speed and they're just like, yeah, no wonder you guys aren't winning.
00:10:46
Chris Prime
That's why, like, eventually all, some of the cars look very similar. Like, they always have, like, sort of, like, what works frames. And then they have like little odds and ends. But they didn't really get into that. And I'm not a big car guy to tell you like which one is the most supreme design currently.
00:11:00
Chris Prime
But it would have been fun if someone drives one of the old like Ford, like the 4T kind of style car, almost like a a wacky races thing, where it's like... It's like Richard Roundtree joins the track and he drives his old like champion car, but it's like super not ready for like the the the modern ever racing.
00:11:22
Zach Sheets
Yep. Yeah, it's one it's like an old Le Mans car or something.
00:11:28
Zach Sheets
Well, I mean, but also, like like like, the cars are... I mean, they they should basically just be like, they they're basically hovercrafts or like, because they have, there's like no friction at all on the wheels. There's no physics. Like they can just, they can do spins. They can flip through the air or they can like do like any sort of maneuver you can, like in the tracks are like, it seems like they have like just like ice. like kind like Like physics is just like, you just, you just slide it on the tracks like as as fast as you want and just spin out, like go however you want.
00:12:01
Zach Sheets
Which yet like at least like the car-foo, which is basically like they're like fighting each other with cars.
00:12:07
Zach Sheets
Which, I mean, a little bit and we get in the first race, but like definitely as the movie goes on, that's like there's there's more and more car-foo, where it's just like, we are we're doing like fight scenes, but they're like we're fighting each other with cars.
00:12:19
Zach Sheets
We're doing like martial arts fights.
00:12:22
Chris Prime
Yeah, it's... The car combat's interesting just because it's... it's got like, it's unique from the other kind of racing movies we've ever seen. Like a fast, at this point, it's like fast and furious movies have taken over.
00:12:36
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:12:49
Chris Prime
but I think it's, it transfers later into the video game. Uh, I want to talk about that, where, like, how the Speed Racer on PS2 is, like, an underrated racing game.
00:13:00
Chris Prime
If you ever watch the clips later, it's, like, F-Zero, but you can do, come like, car fighting, where it's, like, you need to be at the right angles and then hit them at the right things to do your car to do, like, attack moves.
00:13:12
Chris Prime
So it's not just, like, Spy Hunter. It's not just ramming them and shooting them with things. It's, like, you have to play a little defensively and then, like, speed ahead and know the track to jump on them. But like I guess that's like that's like the weird thing about this in-universe story is that you can fight like that, but you're not racing.
00:13:34
Chris Prime
You're just battling cars. And I think that's...
00:13:36
Zach Sheets
Yeah, it see it seems like its it seems like the the the best strategy is to like destroy every opponent you on the race, and then you win.
00:13:44
Chris Prime
But it seems so weird that like Speed's the only one who doesn't do that until he starts playing that way.
00:13:44
Zach Sheets
like
00:13:50
Chris Prime
you You know what i mean? Like, the the first thing that he was like, I can do it purely without any tricks. Like, I'm i'm just a good driver.
00:13:55
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:13:56
Chris Prime
So, for the first, a good part of the movie is him not doing it. But then it's like, oh, he embraces, like, fighting, car fighting.
Sponsorship Offer & Visual Style Analysis
00:14:03
Chris Prime
And then that's how he kind of wins at the end?
00:14:07
Chris Prime
So, what's the message? It's not like he gave up his, like, play dirty tactics. If anything, like, he just had to play less dirty than the but main dirty guy.
00:14:20
Chris Prime
But then and in the end, it's like, well, everyone that race was playing dirty, so go hard. Like, he went harder in the final round in in his tactics than he did playing the death race version of the race.
00:14:35
Zach Sheets
Yeah, i mean he limits more people in like that final Grand Prix than like in like the rally race. it's like The illegal rally race, yeah.
00:14:41
Chris Prime
where where you can use Where you can use all the gadgets you want at certain spots, and like... The race people have to know that. They just said, yeah, like, we we like how, like, people get crazy in that Death Valley.
00:14:57
Chris Prime
And it's not like it didn't kill anyone. It's like the last victim last known big victim was Rex Racer, so... How's that not named after him or something tragic?
00:15:09
Zach Sheets
the the racer cave, it's the the skull cave, like me that, like, is, like, so, like, stylized.
00:15:11
Chris Prime
Yeah.
00:15:18
Zach Sheets
It's, like, an evil skull.
00:15:21
Zach Sheets
And also, like, the, the, the when they when they go into the ice tunnel, like, that's the most, like, i feel like that's the most, like, get visually insane. Like, it just becomes, like, avant-garde.
00:15:31
Zach Sheets
Like, you can't you can't even tell what's happening anymore. It's just, like, colors flying around.
00:15:37
Zach Sheets
In that like last leg of the rally where they're in the ice game.
00:15:40
Chris Prime
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:15:40
Zach Sheets
It's just like, what is even happening anymore? like it's it's It's too stylized. It's just like, we've gone we've gone past we've gone plaid we're like god it's We're too far into like the create like the visual insanity
00:15:57
Zach Sheets
But we should we should jump back we should jump back to So at after the first race, that race... Speed wins, but he intentionally doesn't break... He's going to break the track record, but he intentionally doesn't because it you like he wants to keep Rex's record attacks.
00:16:13
Zach Sheets
But then he still wins, and he's he's getting bunch of sponsored opportunities. And then we get... Royalton shows up. EP Arnold Royalton, who owns Royalton...
00:16:24
Zach Sheets
I don't know if it's the biggest company in the world, but way it's like one of the top biggest companies.
00:16:28
Chris Prime
One of the top.
00:16:30
Zach Sheets
And then he wants to... i don't know. if He doesn't want to buy race. He just wants to like sponsor speed. like he's He's like, I not i don't want and don't want to like break up your your kind like your family and like use You just race for
00:16:49
Chris Prime
I think because, well, he does sell it as it's a winning formula. Why would I mess it up secretly while, you know, doing other things? Because he does... I don't know, this movie's got like a big thing against like stereotypes. It's like, this rich person turns out to be evil.
00:17:04
Zach Sheets
this This rich, pompous British man is surprisingly evil.
00:17:11
Zach Sheets
But yeah, his like he brings it to like his his like head like is main building, and it's like that's just the insane sequence. of' just like all the like It's like racers are training underwater and like on giant hamster wheels. and There's like a million people on segues.
00:17:30
Zach Sheets
which Which I think, I don't know if it's the same person who's copied and pasted like a million times, but it kind of feels like that.
00:17:37
Chris Prime
Yeah, it has a it has sort of like that low budget commercial for like a candy or like a cereal. Whenever they have like a factory shot in this movie, there is like so many copy paste like so extras that it's that like.
00:18:00
Chris Prime
It reminds me Willy Wonka, or like you know the the Johnny Depp Willy Wonka, where it's just like they went heavy in just overloading, so there's no like quality, but it's quantity of noise.
00:18:03
Zach Sheets
Like a Tim Burton one. yeah
00:18:13
Chris Prime
that's like There is so much like visual overload that, as a kid, this makes sense. It's like, ooh, because it's supposed to be like just like noise. It's not supposed to be like looking at this. But you really find that this world is cartoony. like It's got that... like you you I get like the opening race is already like bending the laws of physics, but then it's like, in this world, like there are no safety concerns. Everyone is like bouncy and and like shiny. and I feel like
00:18:44
Chris Prime
it becomes like a German like music video of like some techno thing, you know, like if, if they just, if they, if you see this movie, these for the scene and remove the like sound muted and then just play like German techno, it matches.
00:18:49
Zach Sheets
it
00:18:58
Chris Prime
It just feels like, like Aqua should be playing in the background or something.
00:19:03
Zach Sheets
has that like early 2000s music video aesthetic. Yeah. Yeah. like two early two thousand s like music video like ascetic
00:19:09
Chris Prime
yeahro yeah I want to say like Euro trash music where it's just like club music should be playing and then it should just have like a big bass and then out of nowhere just like horns.
00:19:12
Zach Sheets
yeah
00:19:18
Chris Prime
So like that there's like a visual striking style that I recognize from just European music videos and and like dance clubs. But it's weird to think this is a speed racer movie and it's meant for kids.
00:19:32
Zach Sheets
Yeah. hu
00:19:35
Chris Prime
But yeah, I feel like the one big flaw is that anytime the movie doesn't have like a direct dialogue between Speed and his family, or or like Speed not driving, it has like the crazy, like okay, we can't like let kids like calm down, so let's just over-stimulate them with like wacky visuals.
00:19:56
Zach Sheets
yeah Just like tons tons of stuff in the background, tons of colors, like flashing lights or, yeah like a million people in a Segways or, yeah, crazy background visuals.
00:20:07
Chris Prime
this Is this also the part where the... No, that's later. that's That's way later. Because they come back to this later and they like kind of do a reversal where they play around with colors even more.
00:20:19
Chris Prime
But during this time, it it feels like if you told me this was like a Jetsons movie, I'd believe you.
00:20:25
Zach Sheets
Oh, yeah.
00:20:26
Chris Prime
like if you This movie works better if you think of it as like a movie that's like the Jetsons and you just replace certain things and they filmed it the same exact way. I'll be fine with it. the fact that it's Speed Racer movie and it has such a like sheen to it that I'm like, okay.
00:20:42
Chris Prime
I get that they want to mimic like an anime. They want to mimic a very specific error of of anime and tone. But they also want to shoot it as if it's like a CW drama.
00:20:56
Chris Prime
Like that like low budget lighting. So like it'd be really bright. But some of the actors are like just not well lit. or sometimes they're too well lit for like an indoor shot. Like it makes it seem like they're out in the sun. And I'm like they're just in an office.
00:21:10
Chris Prime
So it's a little distracting.
00:21:10
Zach Sheets
Well, I mean, everything's green screen.
00:21:11
Chris Prime
Yeah. yeah
00:21:14
Zach Sheets
feel like there's like not like there's like barely any like real like sets or this movie. It's all just like crazy screens.
00:21:19
Chris Prime
Oh no. Yeah. They they left never left like a warehouse. This whole whole movie was filmed in a warehouse.
00:21:26
Chris Prime
I was saying, like, your but my brain couldn't stop, like, not looking at the difference, at least in my, like, DVD quality capture. It just, I probably want to see how it is in the Blu-ray to see how much it pops and how, like, steady it can look.
00:21:41
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:21:41
Chris Prime
But in the DVD quality, I think you lose out on, like, the spectacle
Emotional Monologue & Family's Legal Troubles
00:21:46
Chris Prime
of it. Because, like, If this you saw this quality and you thought this was for like a pre-show to a Speed Racer ride, I'd be fine with it, too.
00:21:57
Chris Prime
Right? If it's like a roller coaster, it's like the Speed Racer roller coaster, and you saw like a a weird factory tour video, and you're like, okay.
00:21:58
Zach Sheets
yeah
00:22:07
Chris Prime
That's cool.
00:22:08
Zach Sheets
Well, I think we were talking before we started, too, like, I feel like yeah the only other person that that does that kind of does movies like this is, like, Robert Rodriguez. Like, the Spy Kids movies. yeah like but yeah but Like, this has, like, i don't know, 100 times the budget of a Robert Rodriguez movie.
00:22:23
Chris Prime
Mm-hmm. huh
00:22:24
Zach Sheets
Because Robert Rodriguez is, like, doing it in his backyard on on a laptop.
00:22:31
Zach Sheets
But it has it's that same, like, it's all, like, just like, just insane visuals, like, nothing nothing's real. it's all It's all, like, super cartoonish.
00:22:43
Zach Sheets
It's all green screen, it's, like, throwing the actors onto a green screen.
00:22:47
Chris Prime
Yeah, it's like, it's everyone sort of like being blocked off certain sections of this room filming their scenes. And then there's no like depth.
00:22:59
Chris Prime
They kind of, they film things at an angle to mimic the depth, but you know everyone was like filming like certain parts and then they layered it together. You know, like, even if they're in the same room in the shot, I feel like they weren't there. They're just filming to, like, nothing, and then they just, like, insert it, each frame, like, each group together.
00:23:20
Chris Prime
You see that more so in a fight scene that takes place that takes place outside, where they're fighting outdoors, and it's just, like, everyone's having their own one-on-one fight, and they kind of, like, push it together all one frame, and I'm just like, this this is not.
00:23:38
Zach Sheets
but i do yeah do we do have but like so wrote it to an opera, it's like, I, I, I, yeah, let me, let me help, let me help your family. Like race for me. Like I'll give you a bunch of money. And then,
00:23:51
Zach Sheets
the racer family leaves and then speed goes back is like, I'm sorry. I like, he has this like extremely heartfelt monologue about well like racing is like, it's basically religion to his family. And like this story about his, he and his dad, like watching a race after, after his brother died and how it like, I'm like, get the spark of the racing love.
00:24:09
Zach Sheets
And then he's like, but I have to, I have to decline your offer. Royalton is like, you idiots. Let me tell you what racing's all about and what it's actually about.
00:24:22
Chris Prime
The true racing.
00:24:24
Zach Sheets
And then, like, what like like at least five-minute monologue about, like, the global conspiracy about racing and where it's all fixed and it's it's all just about, like, stock prices. tim many if like Like, whoever wins, it like, that company, like, gets their stocks, like, bumped up.
00:24:40
Chris Prime
And then just sort of like the consequences of things. And I i couldn't tell at the time this is like a what if or an actual thing. Then turns out it actually happened. Like everything he described is just sort of like he he knew how like it flows. It was very like dark.
00:24:56
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Because, because cause like, I know what you're thinking, Speed. You're going to try to race in Fiji and prove me wrong. Well, it's not going to work. You're going to lose. Your family's going to get sued.
00:25:08
Chris Prime
and And it's like all came true. Like everything apparently. Because then it ends with like. The aftermath of that.
00:25:13
Zach Sheets
getting sued. Yeah.
00:25:14
Chris Prime
Yeah.
00:25:15
Zach Sheets
Yes.
00:25:15
Chris Prime
That's why I was like wow. like that That's the scene I rewind. Because I was like oh no that that was it. i I didn't think that was like a. Like a scenario. like it Usually something happens like that.
00:25:25
Chris Prime
It's like a dream scenario of what like could happen. Because it's shot as if. It's like. Because it's shot like in the background.
00:25:32
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:25:33
Chris Prime
So you watch it unplayed.
00:25:33
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:25:35
Chris Prime
But the fact that like. that's actually what happens and it saves you time from like going back and forth of like the past and the future. But then like the movie does that again, where it's like, they'll just go to the flashback. So then it's like, I don't know where I, you kind of like know where you came from. there's, but like this one scene, it's like a flash forward while in the present.
00:26:01
Zach Sheets
yeah
00:26:02
Chris Prime
i don't know. It's very interesting take.
00:26:04
Zach Sheets
Well, in the opening, too, it's like, it kind of feels like everyone like, remembering. Like, the entire family is, like, remembering, is having, like, flashbacks at the same time. Where it's, like, Speed's remembering Rex, and then, like, Mom's remembering Rex, and, like, Pops is remembering Rex.
00:26:19
Zach Sheets
And then they go to, like, a different, like, flashback scene.
00:26:19
Chris Prime
m
00:26:24
Zach Sheets
And then he's literally like then, like, Speed's, like, literally racing the ghost of Rex.
00:26:28
Zach Sheets
Which yo know rex Rex may or not have become Racer X, who's played by Matthew Fox.
00:26:37
Zach Sheets
Which I'm trying to think, Lost was, i think, almost almost done almost done.
00:26:41
Chris Prime
two thousand five
00:26:43
Zach Sheets
It was like two tu more seasons of Lost were going on.
00:26:44
Chris Prime
yeah
00:26:47
Zach Sheets
i get I feel like he's like trying to match like the like anime style, like the kind of like that like stereotypical like anime like stilted talking style for all of us.
00:26:58
Chris Prime
He's trying, but like, if you watch the cartoon, Racer X has that mannerism.
00:27:02
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:27:05
Chris Prime
Also, I want to oh point out that they actually invited the voice actors of Speed Racer and Trixie in the kind the first race. like They're the commentators.
00:27:14
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:27:16
Chris Prime
so like This movie does a good job of honoring the past to some degree. and It's not like they do have that stiff frame early anime animation, so everyone moves fluently.
00:27:29
Chris Prime
and then They kind of like are aware of... like just how silly things are. i mean, they have to, because it's a kid's movie, and they really do want to get too serious, but...
00:27:38
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:27:43
Chris Prime
Having, like, kind of, like, this is, like, Japan-approved, like, they worked with some companies, this is, like, not, like, a like an abandoned project that they just, like, scooped up.
00:27:57
Chris Prime
Kind of gives that, like, a little bit of authenticity for, like, what's gonna happen next in the movie. cause it starts very like, hey, here's like Speed and his classic car. Here's Speed and like, you know, his proper attire.
Casa Cristo Race & Ninja Attack
00:28:09
Chris Prime
Like it's it's accurate. And then watch him basically lose and then have like this sad moment in the Speed Racer family again.
00:28:18
Zach Sheets
like yeah like their Their life has been destroyed. like they're like They're getting sued. the like the the like Speed lost the Fuji race.
00:28:27
Chris Prime
I don't know in the greater lore if that happens too. Like in in some other race, he because normally he doesn't lose, but if he loses, it's like, you know, it's pretty big.
00:28:39
Zach Sheets
But then he gets off but then it gets offered guess, expose... a chance to i guess expose like the like the corruption of the racing world by teaming up with Racer X and then
00:28:51
Chris Prime
the detective inspector.
00:28:52
Zach Sheets
it Inspector Detector. And and i is it Tejo or Tejo? Rain?
00:29:03
Chris Prime
I'm going to Rain. hit Just call him Rain.
00:29:04
Zach Sheets
Yeah. who like So like, ray is like they I know that like they want me my i got my company to lose, that my stock prices go down.
00:29:14
Zach Sheets
But then if we win, they'll go up and then we can stop royalty from buy my family's company.
00:29:19
Zach Sheets
So they all they all team up to like go into... It's the Casa Cristo, the rally race that killed Rex.
00:29:27
Chris Prime
Which is, of the races, it's not prestige. It's not like a... I mean, it's televised and all that, but it's not regular...
00:29:35
Zach Sheets
it's not like a it's not It's not part of the World Racing League. It's just it's like its own separate thing.
00:29:38
Chris Prime
Right. It's like another...
00:29:40
Zach Sheets
yeah
00:29:40
Chris Prime
its another it's its own thing, yeah
00:29:44
Zach Sheets
and Like we said before, this is where you can you can you can outfit your car with like all kinds of gadgets. and like All other races have crazy weaponry. and then Speed has mostly like defensive stuff. He has shields on his his tires. He has like a dome that covers his like cockpit.
00:30:00
Zach Sheets
he's got He's got standard jump jets.
00:30:03
Zach Sheets
like spike spikes on his wheels. He can, like, reinflate his wheels. There's a whole, like, it's face it's basically a like a James Bond, like, Q segment where, like, it's like, Racer X's girlfriend's like, here's all the gadgets we gave you, Speed.
00:30:15
Zach Sheets
It's all the different buttons. Remember what letter corresponds to what gadget? Because it doesn't say, there's no, like, pictures. that It's just, like get to remember the letter.
00:30:23
Chris Prime
Yeah, it's got, the thing is, like, with that, it's like, so you soup, you illegally souped up this car that, uh, in the original thing, the dad did that.
00:30:24
Zach Sheets
is this.
00:30:37
Chris Prime
That was just part of the dad's, like, oh, no, wait, like, races get tough, so I built a whole bunch of weaponry. Like, they justified in this universe by saying the spies did it, where, like, in the original, it's like, the dad did this.
00:30:53
Zach Sheets
Yeah, and then all and then a bunch of the other races have, like, yeah, like, it's, like, there's it's it's like it's, like, different, like, don't know, like, it's, like, the Warriors or something, where it's just, like, all these different, like, super distinctive, like, crazy gangs are, like, hired to try to kill them all. It's, like, it's, like, Vikings, and, like, it's, like, the the Snake team, and then it's, like, a team of, like, like the, like, pink ladies from Greece. Yeah.
00:31:20
Zach Sheets
and they're all it's all they're all like They all got paid to like try to kill Speed Racer and the rest of the team.
00:31:27
Zach Sheets
But I think...
00:31:27
Chris Prime
what what what What did you think about some of the racers?
00:31:28
Zach Sheets
I think...
00:31:32
Chris Prime
Like, you think it was in a variety of not just like sexy European people trying to kill speed?
00:31:38
Zach Sheets
I think... yeah i think it was like a fun... like maybe Maybe they could add like like one or two other like like like weird teams, but I think the... Especially especially like the like the Viking guys who are like in... Well, they're in like a German... It's like a beer hall, but then they're Vikings.
00:31:55
Zach Sheets
And they get painted in fur. They're like, oh my god, fur! I think they're all... The gangster guy, Cutter, is like... Or Cruncher, is kind of paying them all. He's like the go-between between Royalton and all these racers.
00:32:13
Chris Prime
I don't know if he is part of Royalton's hierarchy. It seems like he's got his own business that happens to align to this business.
00:32:25
Zach Sheets
well because see was
00:32:25
Chris Prime
like They never talk, right?
00:32:27
Chris Prime
They never have a scene together.
00:32:29
Zach Sheets
I think they talk on the phone or like he's like see like they see each other like once maybe or is like i yeah feel I feel like everyone was like pay them all to like take them on speed I want them all dead like make sure they don't finish this race
00:32:46
Zach Sheets
But then Cruncher was also torturing Rain before, in his mobile office, which is kind of an awesome reveal where you think he's in a building, and it's revealed to be a trailer the beginning.
00:32:59
Zach Sheets
And
00:33:00
Chris Prime
That was cool. like Like, there are some, like, again, this movie does is pretty good for just, like, subversive shots.
00:33:08
Zach Sheets
then he has tank. Yep. i see
00:33:08
Chris Prime
wait, wait, wait, wait.
00:33:11
Chris Prime
But, it's got that classic gangster look to it where you thought it would be, like, in London or something. Then it's, like, psych, it's actually a mobile base. And then it's just full of nonsense.
00:33:22
Chris Prime
Like his whole crew is just like, this is pretty funny because in the original, it's like at that time, gangsters were real in like 15, 20 years ago, like that type of gangster.
00:33:34
Chris Prime
Cause it came out in the sixties, you know? So everyone, the last, the people who wrote that all grew up on like that kind of culture 20 years prior.
00:33:36
Zach Sheets
no
00:33:43
Chris Prime
If you think about it, if this movie takes place in some modern time, that would have been an eighties gang.
00:33:49
Zach Sheets
Yeah, they they should have been like punks or something.
00:33:52
Chris Prime
Yeah, that that should have been just like a whole bunch of like street taggers or something like that. Like, that's how silly it looks like to us, which is like makes sense to them.
00:34:03
Chris Prime
So having someone that's like, oh, they are they retro? Are they a retro gang?
00:34:08
Chris Prime
Because like there are many planes in that universe, but this guy chooses to be like an English gangster.
00:34:15
Zach Sheets
who who loves piranhas. That's of his main things. like It's like, these piranhas are my babies.
00:34:22
Chris Prime
I mean, I get it. It's nice to have hobbies, but I thought that would come back later in a big way.
00:34:27
Zach Sheets
Yes, it's never, it's like, it's just like, he but he forces like his one guy to like stick his finger in get his finger eaten off by like the piranhas. and like That's like the last we see the piranhas.
00:34:37
Zach Sheets
yeah But then yeah, the the whole like middle of the movie is is like this it's like this big rally race where it's like multiple environments. They're in the desert, and then they go in end up in like the the mountains. and Oh, between stages, it's two days. They they end up in... like If they're in second place with at the end of the stage one, because the snake guys are in lead...
00:35:02
Zach Sheets
What's his name? Snake Oiler? this is The main, like, snake guy?
00:35:07
Chris Prime
Yeah, I forgot the guy's name.
00:35:09
Zach Sheets
But, uh, this is when, just, like this night like, the night between the races, it's just, like, when you think things can't get any crazier, uh, ninjas show up.
00:35:20
Zach Sheets
So it's, like, I don't know if Royalton hired them or Crunchy hired them, but, like, someone hired ninjas to attack everybody. Yeah.
00:35:26
Chris Prime
That's true. it It doesn't really have a, like, no one claims responsibility.
00:35:32
Zach Sheets
But then also, like, so, like, the entire racer family showed up, though, too, because they saw they saw speed racing in this race on TV. And it's like, well, we have to go so we have to Casa Cristo and stop you or, like, confront you.
00:35:48
Chris Prime
Actually, let's go back a little bit. Let's talk about the Queen of Conta Cristo shoots a race gun. a starter gun. And it's like, what country is this?
00:36:00
Zach Sheets
Casa Cristo? Is it named after the country?
00:36:03
Chris Prime
But like, in any kind of country where like, the race is such a big thing where the Queen comes out, like the English Queen doesn't go to like a race and shoot a like a gun. And also it's like,
00:36:14
Chris Prime
this planet also like what up not planet but it's like so alien like is it so like nondescript culture of like everything it's got like greek african italian like like design that i'm like oh is this in space is this speed racer take place in enough like if i saw an alien i'm like okay yeah no this makes sense this is valeria basically
00:36:39
Chris Prime
Because, like, it wouldn't surprise me if they told me Speed was racing on another planet, and then they the family's like, all right, prepare the rocket ship. We gotta go.
00:36:48
Zach Sheets
yeah
00:36:51
Zach Sheets
yeah could yeah yeah all all these different environments could have been like just like yeah different planets like the desert planet and the mountain planet and then it'd be more like an f-zero movie
00:37:01
Chris Prime
Yep. Again, it wouldn't be surprised. And it feels very if you think of it like that, a Jetsons F zero, like it it makes sense. I feel like they just went all the way with the concept and don't just ground it in reality.
00:37:15
Zach Sheets
But i do I do love... So when it didn't show up, I do love that all of a sudden, like on top of being like like awesome race car drivers, like everyone can also like fight off ninjas. like They're all like very competent fighters.
00:37:28
Chris Prime
I mean, the ninjas are like comical, like.
00:37:28
Zach Sheets
And then...
00:37:33
Chris Prime
I don't know. Birthday ninjas.
00:37:36
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm. i do I find it funny that the the one guy who would, the next year would be in a movie called Ninja Assassin, and is like destroying ninjas, is the one guy that gets like taken out by the ninjas.
00:37:48
Zach Sheets
Like Ray gets like, it's like para like paralyzing, toxin gets like drained into his mouth.
00:37:48
Chris Prime
Yeah, he's the one who gets poisoned.
00:37:54
Zach Sheets
But we also we also get the great reveal that Pops is a former wrestler.
00:37:59
Chris Prime
that That actually is true in the in the book and all that. It's like his big thing of why he got into mechanical like engineering and all that. like He was a world wrestler and champion, and then he's just like, all right, like I can't keep doing this.
00:38:14
Chris Prime
So that's canonical. That's not like a just for the movie.
00:38:18
Zach Sheets
But then he's doing all kinds of like insane wrestling moves on his ninja...
00:38:23
Chris Prime
Man, it's ninja. I don't know. We don't we never really learned about younger Pops in his wrestling days. He could have just been fighting ninjas all the time. But we also know nothing about this world. It could have just been like a random occurrence.
00:38:36
Zach Sheets
Yeah. well Well, apparently ninjas are common that like, like pops has like an opinion on ninjas.
Racer X's Identity & Corporate Politics
00:38:42
Zach Sheets
He's just like, like, yeah like these ninjas aren't what they used to be.
00:38:46
Zach Sheets
that work Like, like John Goon is like classic, like, like Trixie's like, were those ninjas? And then pops is like, we're like nonjas.
00:38:58
Chris Prime
Yeah, I didn't mind that line. It's fun. Like, i I think John Goodman is a really good cast for pops.
00:39:04
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Yeah.
00:39:05
Chris Prime
It's such a, like, dead-on accurate that I think if people didn't like this movie, they still agree that, like, he was, like, the, the like, big part of, like, how well this is. Same thing Susan Sarandon.
00:39:15
Chris Prime
I mean, she kind of just sits out a lot for this movie, but she's great.
00:39:21
Zach Sheets
yeah she gives it like the like the like the like like emotional like the the the very little like emotional like both parts in it is like all of her scenes like where she's like talking to speed or talking like the like the other like or just like watching rex leave stuff like that
00:39:38
Chris Prime
you know When Rex leaves, she kind of just runs with it. She's like, okay, well, bye. Did Did she know he left? at
00:39:44
Zach Sheets
And then, like, he left and then he became, like, a corporate, like, he joined, like, a corporate team, but then he was, like, murdering people. he was, like, killing people on the track.
00:39:55
Chris Prime
Yeah, I don't know.
00:39:55
Zach Sheets
Or, like, horribly horbly damaging them.
00:39:56
Chris Prime
I don't know that was a cover-up. I don't know if that was a cover-up to something greater or he legit went bad. I have no idea. They never like fully explained that.
00:40:04
Zach Sheets
Yeah, I don't know if that if if he had already taught like if he had planned or planned on like like you know like faking his death and becoming Racer X before that, or if he was like going down this bad path and then like Inspector Detector was like, hey, why don't you do something good and like help me take down like like this corruption of the of the racing?
00:40:24
Chris Prime
I don't know if he did it because he did enough corruption and he his only way to win was to play dirty.
00:40:30
Zach Sheets
because Because that's like the whole thing is like, like, he got this, Rex got this reputation of like, oh, he's like, he's the dirtiest driver in the league. He's taking up people. He's like, just like taking people out left and right. in Like these like horrible moves.
00:40:43
Chris Prime
Turns out he was, and then he was like, all right, time to go good.
00:40:47
Zach Sheets
It's like, all right, I've, I've almost killed enough people. i should, I should do some good now. I'll, I'll fake my death and then traumatize my family.
00:40:58
Chris Prime
Which, great plan.
00:41:01
Zach Sheets
And ill yeah, i'll get I'll get plastic surgery to look like Matthew Fox.
00:41:05
Chris Prime
Oh, by the way, they tell you this at the end of the movie.
00:41:07
Zach Sheets
Yes. Well, they do a lot of teasing. Speed confronts them. It's like, man, and I racing together. We've been doing that forever. I feel like we knew each other's moves. It's like, I don't know. That's weird.
00:41:24
Zach Sheets
And there's like that scene like like after the Grand Prix, like when they go like they go back to Thunderhead because Speed's like angry racing. He's doing like a like footloose, like angry driving, like angry dancing.
00:41:36
Zach Sheets
But like Wrex shows up and then they hit like they have like this like confrontation. He's like, are you Wrex? And then takes off his mask. and It's like Matthew Fox is like, oh, I guess you're not.
00:41:48
Zach Sheets
You're that guy from Lost. Yeah.
00:41:50
Chris Prime
I get that the plastic surgery makes you look different, but shouldn't you sound the same?
00:41:55
Zach Sheets
I guess he's practiced to have like a different voice. yeah there's there's There's no like IMF like Mission Impossible style like like voice modulators in this world.
00:42:06
Zach Sheets
there everything Everything else exists, but not that.
00:42:09
Zach Sheets
But yeah, there's also there's a reveal like at the end of the legal cross-country rally, they win, but then Reigns is like, hey, psych. where my but My plan all along was to help my father like raise our stock prices, and then we we were going to sell the royalty anyway.
00:42:29
Zach Sheets
Now we just give our money for it.
00:42:32
Chris Prime
So yeah, it was just like and inflated merger. Like it was a business deal and that the whole whole like other part of the kidnapping and all that was just sort of play into this grand plan. Like he like Rain was playing Racer X, who was like, did he play the government or the invests the investigation?
00:42:55
Chris Prime
i feel like that's like that crime to do, right?
00:42:55
Zach Sheets
it's
00:42:58
Zach Sheets
Inspector Tector works for the corporate crimes division of the central intelligence bureau, which I don't know what government he answers to. If it's like a UN thing, where it's like, it's like international, it's like Interpol.
00:43:12
Zach Sheets
It kind of feels like that kind of feels like it's Interpol where it's just like, like a global, like he has global authority.
00:43:18
Zach Sheets
But then what, what countries even exist in this world? Who knows?
00:43:21
Chris Prime
Who knows?
00:43:21
Zach Sheets
maybe It's all, it's all it's all it's like it's like a one It's like a one government world.
00:43:22
Chris Prime
Who knows what that means?
00:43:27
Zach Sheets
or maybe there's no government. Who knows? It's like a cyberpunk thing where it's corporations.
00:43:36
Zach Sheets
And then also, like, Cruncher gets arrested. and we i think we mentioned it before. like that like The big like group fight scene where everyone's like fighting Cruncher's guys.
00:43:46
Chris Prime
Which I guess is like... the big fight finale because there's no more fighting after this.
00:43:53
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:43:54
Zach Sheets
And this is also like, like a it's even more like like like, it's like, you feel like, oh, like, Trixie can fight people. and like And then, like, and then Rain finally gets to fight people after you got, like, incapacitated, like, that ninja fight.
00:44:08
Chris Prime
Well, he was poisoned and then he wore drag, which then they like skirt by that.
00:44:09
Zach Sheets
It's like,
00:44:15
Zach Sheets
yeah that That whole... don't even know what... the like They had Trixie take Rain's place, but then... i guess until he recovered, until the poison ward off, but then also like was like the the plot to... Rain switched places with his sister, so then because like they knew Cruncher was kidnap the sister, and then he was there, and then they got like and they got cruner yeah Cruncher...
00:44:42
Chris Prime
I feel like since they knew he was going to be there, just have the bodyguards already there or something. Like it rain must have gotten better during that helicopter ride.
00:44:55
Zach Sheets
Or just have Inspector Detector just be at the airport before they even take off in the Frencher's plane. Just be like, oh, he's trying kidnap me. Arrest him.
00:45:07
Zach Sheets
arrest him
00:45:08
Chris Prime
Yeah, he did a crime, so, you know, do something.
00:45:13
Zach Sheets
And also you'd be like, ray can be like oh, and also he like kidnapped me and tortured me like a couple days ago.
00:45:19
Chris Prime
But there's no evidence.
00:45:20
Zach Sheets
Yeah, I guess so. They they blew up they blew up the truck
00:45:23
Chris Prime
Yeah, so that's not a miscible, I guess.
00:45:28
Chris Prime
Which is weird because this is like this world where basically everyone has cameras and stuff. They just like forgot to film that.
00:45:37
Zach Sheets
And also, is RacerX, along with like racing, is he just like going around like a vigilante, just like blow like like blowing up like like criminal cars? is criminal like up enterprises like because he has like His car has like like six machine guns on it, he's just like going around like blowing
00:45:53
Zach Sheets
cru like crutches operations
00:45:57
Chris Prime
Uh, that's normal. in the and In the original anime, like, that's that happened. Like, it's sort of like, hey, no repercussions against doing obvious, like, vigilantism.
00:46:05
Zach Sheets
He's kind of like a Knight Rider or something. He's just roaming the country like fighting crime when he's not racing.
00:46:11
Chris Prime
Yeah, pretty much.
00:46:13
Chris Prime
I mean, that's why like it's like an excuse. It's like, no, I have the protection of the corporate law. So he can just get away with, I don't know, Blaine vehicular like problems. Like he doesn't kill anyone, even though he carries a gun he never uses.
00:46:32
Zach Sheets
Yeah, no one no one gets killed in this movie because even even though how horrible the crashes are, you you get engulfed in like a like it's like a foam kind of like like bubble that comes over you and then you're safe, I guess.
00:46:46
Zach Sheets
Well, I'm not
00:46:47
Chris Prime
though I think in the original comic, people died. like In the original and the comic, they died. In the manga, they died. But I think here, they're just like protective foam. No matter what vehicle...
00:46:56
Zach Sheets
or orfare Or a parachute. Like like Snake Oiler gets like blasted off a cliff, but he like is able to like parachute out of his car.
00:47:03
Chris Prime
Well, the foam ain't gonna protect you from that. So I think that's what they kind of said, that it has smart technology to...
00:47:06
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:47:11
Chris Prime
foam you but what happened to racer was that like a law after rex after like race like rex died they're like all right we need foam like we need sort of like material because like this famous racer bad boy exploded in a cave
00:47:23
Zach Sheets
Yeah, more safety.
00:47:31
Chris Prime
and we didn't foam him
00:47:34
Zach Sheets
And i don't I don't think that the earlier earlier cars definitely did not have any sort of film with, bla like, you know, like the one like Richard Roundtree's racing. That was, like, just like That was, like, an old-school, like...
00:47:42
Chris Prime
No. No, there's... So, that there's a shot with the rival that, like, That was mentioned. though Like, Bruno, like, the Brumar, like, engine group in their superior car. But, like, they got destroyed because, I guess, they paid to destroy that car. Like, everyone bullied that car.
00:48:03
Chris Prime
He's on fire in this black-and-white photo. Like...
00:48:05
Zach Sheets
yeah
00:48:07
Chris Prime
So, yeah, no, he didn't have the foam.
00:48:11
Zach Sheets
I love... like you knows like there's like i think i think it was during Rowlington's speech, like villain monologue. They show... like There's like stock footage where he's like it's like, oh, the old days of racing. but then It's not like racing, it's like stunt people. It's like a guy on the hood of a car like driving up to wooden... like A burning like a piece of wood and stuff.
00:48:31
Chris Prime
But we don't know, though, in this space world, if this is what racing was before them.
00:48:31
Zach Sheets
It's like...
00:48:37
Chris Prime
They're just like racing was derbies like racing. Racing is not about getting to the finish line. It was just like who can do the most laps and then not have their car explode?
00:48:48
Chris Prime
Because even in this movie, it seems like that, like no one else.
00:48:48
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:48:51
Chris Prime
If you weren't part of speed's team, your car blew up. In this whole movie, anytime there's a race, it seems like he's the only one left to win because everyone else d like like DQ, like their car blowing up and are just disqualified from like going because they can't run in the foam.
00:49:13
Zach Sheets
Yeah, like I said, like we were saying before, like, it seems like the strategy is destroy the other cars that don't like it doesn't really matter what like place you're in. If you're like the last car standing, then you you win. Like you see to like you like be the better fighter, basically, instead of like the better racer.
00:49:32
Zach Sheets
but yeah But Speed, speed he he gets an invitation to the Grand Prix from Rain's sister, who's like, i want he's a little lesson like he He got this invitation to the Grand Prix, but you you should take it.
00:49:47
Zach Sheets
And then they have to build a new car in 36 hours. They have to build an entirely new Mach 6 for the Grand Prix.
00:49:59
Chris Prime
Yeah, so the i don't know but if the that was going to be in that same race. Like, okay, like it could have been in other races, but I guess the Mach 6 was built just for Speed because he couldn't do any tricks. But here's another thing.
00:50:16
Chris Prime
He got... Speed lost that other race because the other people were doing dirty tricks because they had tricked out cars. Yeah.
00:50:26
Zach Sheets
Well, I think Speed always has like jump jets. like He has those...
00:50:29
Chris Prime
No, no, but that's normal.
00:50:29
Zach Sheets
like like Yeah.
00:50:30
Chris Prime
I think anyone could jump. Anyone could hop, but no one could do, like, the lock.
00:50:32
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:50:34
Chris Prime
felt but like Locking your car with them is, like, a richer, like, a the evil rich guy's move.
00:50:35
Zach Sheets
the the
00:50:41
Zach Sheets
The spearfish where like it latches onto like the bottom of your car, like that like clamp thing. That's like yeah that's like the illegal like weapon that people like
00:50:46
Chris Prime
Mm-hmm.
00:50:49
Zach Sheets
sort of like use
00:50:52
Chris Prime
But it's funny that, like, they haven't gotten caught with it until, like, that one scene.
00:51:00
Chris Prime
But like that's how they've been winning races and being champions. is A lot of times the Royalton group, they've just been using the hooking methods to kind of grab neighboring cars and like flinging them around.
00:51:16
Zach Sheets
but i think but I think it's also just been like, you know, it's like it's it was like it's like pro wrestling where It's like, alright, you're going win this race, so then everyone else, like, make sure this person wins the race.
00:51:29
Chris Prime
Yeah, that does make sense that they basically did a whole like fix racing.
00:51:35
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:51:36
Chris Prime
And that racing isn't about actual racing. And the point is, is that like, it's all choreographed to follow whatever Royalton does, but he's not, he's only rich enough to withstand the other rival Japanese companies, like the two other companies.
00:51:58
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Well, he he's got a deal with Hiroyuki Sonata's company, which I totally forgot Hiroyuki Sonata was this
Grand Prix Victory & Corporate Manipulation
00:52:07
Zach Sheets
movie. like, oh man this is like this it was like an early Hiroyuki Sonata movie because like no one really knew who he was at all at this point.
00:52:14
Zach Sheets
it's
00:52:14
Chris Prime
And he's barely in this movie.
00:52:16
Zach Sheets
Yeah. But he's he's got some deal with, I think he's, like, wrote his new car that the the Cannonball Taylor is driving.
00:52:27
Zach Sheets
has some sort of new part in it that like, I think here you can send out as company makes or something. So if, if, if like, if they win, it's like, Oh, it's got this, it's got this new part, this transducer that like makes your cargo like, like way faster.
00:52:41
Zach Sheets
And this company made it so that their stock will go up.
00:52:45
Chris Prime
Is that what they did? Because it's really confusing when they kind of go run down of how everyone is doing business with each other and what they're doing.
00:52:53
Zach Sheets
i Yeah, I think they it's yeah they had some sort of deal between their companies. where like that they If they won, it would be like, but like, reals like oh my cars my new car is the best car that out there. And also, I think Hiroyukasana is like, it like and and this part that I make is like helped, is like part is like the main part of it.
00:53:13
Chris Prime
I mean.
00:53:13
Zach Sheets
But just think it's like they like, it's like, yeah, like all all the like crazy like corporate dealings and all like like like all like this like financial stuff is like way is like way too complicated for any sort of kid watching this movie.
00:53:24
Chris Prime
Oh, no.
00:53:24
Zach Sheets
Like they would not understand any of it.
00:53:24
Chris Prime
it I barely understand it now. And I'm an adult that pays taxes and a mortgage.
00:53:28
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Yeah.
00:53:31
Chris Prime
So I can't imagine for a kid to be like, what's a corporation? And then it's like, why? why is this bad man trying to team up with these one of two Japanese people who are rivals, but then they all are all scheming together. So they're all like not good guys.
00:53:51
Zach Sheets
Yeah, well, there's that there's that reveal where, like, the original it was, like, the original five guys were, like, like it's like basically it was, like like, the Rockefellers and, like, all like all the, like, like all the like like oil tycoons in our world. Like, it's, like, they were, like, racing tycoons in, like, this world. And, the like, the original five, and they, like, manipulated everything.
00:54:11
Zach Sheets
Like, they they owned, like, the like the racing the car companies, like, whatever other companies, like, the engine companies, the power companies, and...
00:54:20
Chris Prime
Yeah, I mean, it's kind of what happened.
00:54:20
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:54:22
Chris Prime
Like, the old money. It was, like, Railroy Tycoons, Oil Tycoons, Land Barons.
00:54:24
Zach Sheets
yeah
00:54:27
Chris Prime
They pretty much... That's, like, true to today.
00:54:31
Zach Sheets
isn it
00:54:32
Chris Prime
And then, that i mean, I get, like, that's why the Wachowskis are known for was, like, kind of revealing hidden shadow figures and, like, rulers at their weak point. But it's weird that, like,
00:54:45
Chris Prime
Speed Racer didn't really do that in the comics like as much. It was there as an overarching story. But this movie condenses so much Speed Racer kind of like villain arcs into one mega movie that is like so... like they like It's like they could have made it like a Star Wars type saga where it's like Speed's beginning year, his middle years, and then sort of like his like triumphant take down the corporation.
00:55:14
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:55:14
Chris Prime
But it happens so much in two hours, which is a lot, but you know, like that, that's like at its core with speed racer story is let alone this racer X part.
00:55:25
Chris Prime
Like that's always in and out, in and out of the the episodes. But what he, what racer X was always doing was investigating all these like things and telling speeds, like we got to take out that driver over there.
00:55:36
Chris Prime
Like he's actually a bad guy or like, Hey, we got to protect this driver over here because like his sister is being kidnapped and blah, blah, blah. Like, That's the structure. That's the the classic speed racer structure.
00:55:49
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:55:50
Chris Prime
So it's there. It's just that like this movie literally speeds past the like, wait a minute, like what's been going on during this world? Like, why is Racer X the superhero slash like Batman of like racing?
00:56:05
Chris Prime
Like the known Batman where it's like, hey, aren't you world famous racer Racer X? Like, yep. And it's like, what are you doing here? It's like, you're doing crime. it's like, oh, no.
00:56:15
Chris Prime
It's like if Jeff Gordon showed up to like someone's like job and was like, I'm here to stop this like trafficking ring.
00:56:16
Zach Sheets
well
00:56:21
Chris Prime
You're like, what
00:56:22
Zach Sheets
who
00:56:24
Zach Sheets
I'm investigating corruption at this company.
00:56:26
Chris Prime
Yeah, yeah, but that's literally the point, is that he is world famous, but he hides his identity, but it's like, he still gets a check for his job, right? Like, he's at night, he's a spy, but during the day, he's both a spy and everyone knows it, like, you know what I mean? It's just, it's not even, like, a difference, and everyone's just like, yeah, yeah, he can still race.
00:56:48
Chris Prime
But he does, I don't think he qualifies for the Grand Prix, he's always in, like, the small tier races.
00:56:48
Zach Sheets
And he...
00:56:51
Zach Sheets
No.
00:56:53
Zach Sheets
yeah the only Yeah. They only got the only got one invitation for like the entire team, which is weird. like like Because like, Rain, RacerX, and Speed were a team, but then they get one invitation to the Grand Prix. It's like, alright, figure out which one of you goes to the Grand Prix.
00:57:07
Chris Prime
But Reigns is like, I'm going to sit this out. like Actually, they weren't going to compete at all because they're just like, what's the point?
00:57:12
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:57:12
Chris Prime
We're going get a payday.
00:57:13
Zach Sheets
yeah yeah Yeah, we got our payday. I'm i'm done. I don't need to race anymore. Yeah.
00:57:19
Chris Prime
But then at the end, we like the sister's like, i'm not I'm not like my dad and my brother. I'm i'm actually like, I like racing. She's the one that's like, hey, take this invite, go to the Grand Prix. I can't wait to see how pissed my my brother and my dad are going to be.
00:57:35
Chris Prime
like You're going tank your company. like what
00:57:37
Zach Sheets
Well, hopefully Roll to pay them before the Grand Prix. Because, like yeah, like if if if it...
00:57:41
Chris Prime
I don't know if this is like like... I also don't know who owns who. Royalton bought out both companies? Or did Royalton get rights?
00:57:49
Zach Sheets
I don't... roten
00:57:51
Chris Prime
I don't understand anything.
00:57:52
Zach Sheets
I think Rolitan bought Reign's company. like full it Like, he fully bought their company. But then, i think he just had some sort of deal with... He he wasn't going buy Hiroyuki's company. I think they just had some sort of agreement about like a part or something.
00:58:06
Chris Prime
Okay.
00:58:08
Chris Prime
So that, I thought like he was buying both companies, but it seems like two Japanese companies made shady deals under like circumstances that involve Royalton kind of like always maintaining top position, knowing that he plays dirty.
00:58:25
Chris Prime
And the fact that Rain got beat up by a English, a retro English gangster for this deal.
00:58:30
Zach Sheets
Yes. Yes.
00:58:33
Chris Prime
all right He was going to lose his hand in the beginning where like a crusher was going to put his hand in a tank of piranhas. Where was Rain's master plan? Like, I don't I don't know what the like, hey, like I get roughing him up. This is his second time actually getting roughed up because the first time they warned him, they like they hung him by like his legs outside a building.
00:58:57
Zach Sheets
Yeah, because like they're they're they started all they were threatening. There think it was like a lot of like threats of like, like you better you better lose the race so your your company's stock goes down so royalty can buy you at a cheap price. And then that's why he's like, well, we got to win.
00:59:11
Zach Sheets
My company has to win, so then we yeah our our stock price goes up.
00:59:17
Zach Sheets
Because they're trying to drive down the price of like his company. So it's like, I'm going to swoop in. oh like If he loses a bunch, then we swoop in and buy it.
00:59:26
Zach Sheets
But then Rain also kind of like, is like, like is like oh, yeah, go speed. like expose like Expose these guys at the end. like He's kind like, oh, right, speed, yeah.
00:59:34
Chris Prime
He switched sides.
00:59:37
Zach Sheets
and then we We were talking to like Richard Rountree. There's a weird scene where Richard Rountree goes in the locker room and talks to Speed. And Speed's like, hey, was that some race fix? he's like, yeah, probably, yeah.
00:59:51
Zach Sheets
Basically, yeah. doesn't already say it, but he's just like, you know, everyone thought that I hated the other guy, but we actually were pretty good friends. Yeah.
01:00:03
Zach Sheets
But then Richard Rountree during this final race is like, yeah! Oh man, he's doing it. He's exposing everybody. He's doing it. He's changed the game.
01:00:11
Chris Prime
But then it's like, oh, I'm going to lose my title because it's going to coil i call into question all these champions that Royalton owned. Because like I get like if that was one of the earlier races, which I still don't understand what era racing that was because that looked normal their cars look normal, not like the Hot Wheels track design they have now.
01:00:33
Chris Prime
Right.
01:00:34
Zach Sheets
Oh, yeah, yeah it looked it looks like a normal like oval racetrack.
01:00:40
Zach Sheets
like yeah Like old stock car footage or something.
01:00:47
Zach Sheets
yeah he like i get like But, the power of speed racing is like is like changing it it's like changing his mind. or making him believe in racing again.
01:00:57
Zach Sheets
And Speed does that move where he, like, Cannonball Taylor uses the spearfish, and he like is able to like flip it up flip it upside down so the cameras catch the spearfish, and then it's just like, oh my god, Royalty's cheating! Who can believe it?
01:01:11
Chris Prime
Yeah.
01:01:13
Zach Sheets
And then Man just, like, wipe Cannonball Taylor, and then wins the Grand Prix, and and then you know everyone's ever gets to celebrate then and then we talk like we said like we get the whole rex flashback of like what he did like like blew up his own car and then got like as like his plastic surgery and everything
01:01:38
Zach Sheets
and then do love it' was like like there's a super quick flash like a newspaper saying like royalty got arrested
01:01:45
Chris Prime
Yep, they're just like, that this part should be slowed down, but it happens so quick. You have to like, if thank god you could watch the movie at home. You could pause it to read everything to understand what the circumstances were.
01:01:55
Zach Sheets
Yeah, it's all kind of revealed in, like, spinning newspapers of, like, Reign's going to testify against royalty and royalty gets arrested. The Speed Family, like, is, like, you know, on top of the racing world now.
01:02:07
Zach Sheets
But, yeah, it's it's all just, like, uh... Alright, we've reached our time. We have one minute left. Alright, just throw newspapers at them.
01:02:16
Zach Sheets
And then we get the, uh...
Music, Marketing & Cultural Impact
01:02:17
Zach Sheets
the updated like Speed Racer theme for the end credits song.
01:02:22
Zach Sheets
Which
01:02:24
Zach Sheets
l LED and the decompressors is the...
01:02:26
Chris Prime
fool
01:02:28
Zach Sheets
Yeah, I don't know. That's that's the that the group that does the Go Speed Racer Go update.
01:02:33
Zach Sheets
Which i do I do appreciate that you... you like like Michael Giacchino did the score for this movie, and you hear the Speed Racer theme throughout little parts of it throughout the whole movie. There's like you know fun uses of like that.
01:02:49
Zach Sheets
You hear the Go Speed Racer Go kind of song throughout.
01:02:53
Chris Prime
Yeah, it's nice that, like, it the music score keeps consistent, and it's not too much, like, 2008, like, Black Eyed Peas pop being played, but it it leaks in at times.
01:03:07
Chris Prime
Like, i feel like, I don't know, like, the full Warner Brothers soundtrack, like, who, what was the, like, musical score, you know? Like, there wasn't, besides the theme song, there wasn't, like, another, like, I guess, like,
01:03:21
Zach Sheets
The only other song was they used Freebird when Sprintle just hopped up on Sugar, blasting through Ronald's company.
01:03:33
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
01:03:33
Chris Prime
which Which is now like you cannot think of a Kingsman anymore without thinking that.
01:03:41
Chris Prime
Yeah, most of the time it's just like. but It's like in-house music. Yeah, I'm looking up right now on Wikipedia, like the soundtrack. It's all like made by one composer who did most of like the the like tunes, but they don't really use a lot of licensed music. And if it is, it's just like small that I'm like, I don't think it's going to featured on.
01:04:05
Chris Prime
on like It's like, hey, here's like the music inspired by the movie.
01:04:12
Zach Sheets
Yeah, and then that was like, that was like that was obviously building up the big, like, tie-ins, but then was reading, like, apparently there was like $80 million worth like, tie-ins or, like, marketing partners for this movie. Because, like, Warner Bros. thought this was going like,
01:04:25
Zach Sheets
like like gigantic. like that this They thought they were one of their biggest movies.
01:04:31
Chris Prime
Did they?
01:04:32
Zach Sheets
They were like General Mills, McDonald's, Target, Topps, Mattel, Lego.
01:04:39
Chris Prime
threw everybody at this, huh?
01:04:40
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
01:04:42
Zach Sheets
They had the, like you said, like the speed like the Speed Racer game, which I guess at the time might have been like more well-received than the movie.
01:04:51
Chris Prime
Yeah, I think over time it's gonna be like remembered where it's like, hey, how crazy was the mechanics? It's like they made an F-Zero game that played like combat racing with Speed Racer. Because Because in F-Zero you just like collide and push, but in here it's like, imagine that, but like you can do like tricks and then like gadgets.
01:05:13
Chris Prime
So it's innovative. That's why it's like, it got like a 7 out of 10 for a racing game. For like, an anime-themed racing game. movie tie-in racing game.
01:05:25
Zach Sheets
And like and like everyone everyone from the movie reprises their roles too, apparently.
01:05:29
Chris Prime
Yep. If you read into it, it's like very, like, the game got well-received, and i feel like it's going to be like a cult following. I haven't really seen a copy of it in the wild, so that just tells me they either may limit a mount that's like decent, or everyone still has their copy.
01:05:45
Chris Prime
Or it's in a landfill somewhere. Who knows?
01:05:48
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
01:05:49
Chris Prime
I can tell you that like it's probably better than the Top Gun game. I like looked at like the last time we talked about the Top Gun games that like spawn from the movie that had nothing to do with like the lore anymore.
01:06:02
Chris Prime
The Speed Racer, though, is is just like... It's the movie, but played out better. Or it's like a... I don't know. I haven't played the story, but I just saw the gameplay and was like, okay, I could see myself like renting that. Or if someone had it in their house, it's like you play it.
01:06:19
Zach Sheets
Yeah, maybe in maybe like the same vein as like the Wolverine Origins game. like it's like Oh, that's that's like... Like way better than the movie.
01:06:35
Zach Sheets
Although, I mean...
01:06:38
Zach Sheets
you know speed yeah Speed Racer, i mean... Overall, like it's it's like it's like like if you if you are on board with like yeah the the visual assault that you're going to you're gonna endure, like it's it's like a ton of fun. like The car food all that stuff, is like it's it's the same.
01:06:56
Chris Prime
Yeah, it up.
01:06:58
Zach Sheets
And yeah just like yeah, the visuals, like... this like but like the like environment, like like the tracks and like all like the, yeah, the different cars and like they just like what the like totally over the top cartoonish world is just like still pretty awesome to look at.
01:07:20
Chris Prime
it holds up For just being a stylish root like interpretation of a cartoon. If you think of it like that, it's fine. But if you've never seen Speed Racer, if you don't know the original source material, if you aren't a fan of the Wachowski storytelling structure that they like to tell within their their movies, you kind of are lost. And it's overwhelming.
01:07:47
Zach Sheets
Yeah, if you're looking for traditional traditional filmmaking. Because like this like the Woodhouse is specifically set out to be like, this is going to like shatter this like the normal filming filmmaking sensibilities.
01:08:03
Chris Prime
And they they definitely did.
01:08:06
Chris Prime
Now did Warner get mad? I don't know. like they They had to know was going to get too like vivid.
01:08:13
Zach Sheets
i do I love like, don't know, the Wikipedia page is like a like a quote where like, like some executive like looked at like a work in progress like, what are you, are you insane? What are you doing? And they're like yeah, it's like, we like they like, this is the weirdest thing we've ever seen. Like, like why not? talk you Like, yeah, that's why we're making it
01:08:35
Zach Sheets
but yeah yeah mean But in Warburg, it's like, you him keep going, so... i guess it's like, alright, you it's like, you made the Matrix, I guess, we'll trust you.
01:08:44
Zach Sheets
i think, I mean, now I guess, like, you know, now now it's finally paid off after all these years. like i was like...
01:08:49
Chris Prime
Yeah, it's it's cult building up and like a generation of kids that probably like saw this, found the anime later, or found a version of Speed Racer that wasn't the movie, and then got into it and then compared it.
01:09:00
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
01:09:02
Chris Prime
cause i'm i'm only like I knew about Speed Racer. I watched the original cartoon, but like never from like the beginning. I was watching like the middle and then sort of figure things out.
01:09:12
Chris Prime
And you don't need to watch every episode. You can watch like highlights and just get everything. That gives you the overall structure. That gives you sort of like the the formula.
01:09:23
Chris Prime
Because it's a short series. only like It only came out for like a year and a half as a cartoon. But they milked it a lot. And it was one of the first animes that came to America. To the fact that Speed Race is not even what it's called in Japan. It's like Mach-Go-Go-Go.
01:09:37
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
01:09:38
Chris Prime
So it's a totally different like element. The fact that they made a speed racer at a time and that's not what, you know, like these days you can't, no cartoon, they'll import it and they call it something else like that.
01:09:51
Chris Prime
Unless the the name is very Japanese-y, it just won't. Like, Mako Go Go would make sense too, but now it's less tolerated. Now it's like, okay, you can call it Mako Go and it's just like, oh, Mako Go.
01:10:04
Chris Prime
Like, Jutsu Kaisen is a Japanese word. That's a modern day anime. It's not as sexy as like a Demon Slayer, which it translates both ways, but Jutsu Kaisen was like, no, it's called Jutsu Kaisen.
01:10:18
Chris Prime
So...
01:10:18
Zach Sheets
It was also crazy like, the anime came out in America in, like, the 60s, and we were like, oh, yeah. Like, we're into this.
01:10:26
Chris Prime
Yeah. I think because the soundtrack was so goddamn catchy.
Anime Debut & Street Legality of Modified Cars
01:10:31
Chris Prime
Like, if the theme song didn't catch, this song would not, this series would picked up. But like, the The cool thing is that the Speed Racer song like can be sung in English and in Japanese and it's the same beat.
01:10:44
Chris Prime
So I did appreciate that. like they they They translate just enough of the words to be like, yep, this makes sense. Both languages.
01:10:52
Zach Sheets
But I think we were we talking before we started recording, though, like like the movie is the last Speed Racer thing that's come out. like That's it. There hasn't been any new Speed Racer thing at all.
01:11:01
Chris Prime
Well, so I did look up the TV show that goes off the rails. It's set like in the it's like Speed Racer's kid who doesn't know that he was Speed Racer's kid.
01:11:14
Chris Prime
And then i thought that was the the wacky first season of it. Then it's like the second season is like, oh, we stopped like caring about training, about racing and winning competitions. There's like time travel.
01:11:28
Chris Prime
but it's so crazy. There's like a there's like a time gate that opens that like Speed Racer's kid goes back in the past to find out why things happen and stuff. like it And then it kind of ends.
01:11:39
Chris Prime
like they they They didn't think they'll have a like They didn't know they're going get cancelled, but it just ends. you know It's like, what?
01:11:44
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
01:11:46
Chris Prime
And that was it. like The thing is, Japan stopped making Speed Racer stuff from like the 80s. So anything that like came out after that It's all America.
01:11:59
Chris Prime
And then even the comic that's right now being produced by Mad Cave Comic, it's just like an American interpretation of the original Speed Racer story.
01:12:08
Chris Prime
I mean, Mako Go is still beloved in Japan, but there's so much other things that they make that it's oh yeah, this is one of the things we have. Meanwhile, America is just like, woo, Speed's car, woo! Woo!
01:12:21
Chris Prime
I mean, I wouldn't mind owning that. I'll definitely, if I ever had the money and, in like, really mess with car heads, I would definitely, like, modify a Porsche to make it look like Speed's car.
01:12:32
Zach Sheets
but finally Find like the one that was like like it for this movie it's just like it's so some guy's garage or something right now or like in a barn.
01:12:40
Chris Prime
You probably can't even run it because the the, like, horns of it probably drag the weight down. And then it's like, oh, you can't go over 30. Why? It's like, at that point, like, the wheels, like, I don't know, hit, like, certain pieces of plastic.
01:12:54
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
01:12:55
Chris Prime
It's like, I'm pretty sure it's not street legal, just because it's, like, the body is so, like, if i get into an accident, like, my front's so top-heavy.
01:13:04
Chris Prime
It's like, know, like, some cars now, it's like, okay, it's a classic car, so it could designate that, like, you don't really drive it fast, because, like, it's if it crumples, like, it kills both me and whoever I hit, like, the car can't, like, impact well.
01:13:16
Zach Sheets
and
01:13:19
Chris Prime
Yeah, you can't put, like, a mod on a car, then just, like, it's fine, right? Like, yeah, this isn't street legal still. Like, I'm Speed Racer. Do not take this on the street.
01:13:29
Zach Sheets
It's like it's like you if you have if you had like a Batmobile or something.
01:13:33
Chris Prime
Yeah, you can only drive it in like private lots. you can Private roads. You can't drive that Batmobile out and like...
01:13:40
Zach Sheets
like the freeway. yeah
01:13:40
Chris Prime
Yeah, like you'll just get pulled over. So yeah, I could be Speed Racer, but I can't drive anywhere with it.
Car Stunts & Speed Racer's School Days
01:13:46
Chris Prime
Be sad Speed Racer. Just like waving to neighborhood kids.
01:13:48
Zach Sheets
hey just go Just go to like car shows.
01:13:53
Zach Sheets
It's like, I'm Speed Racer.
01:13:54
Chris Prime
And then just awkwardly get out of my car and just have to like crank it on a flatbed.
01:13:59
Zach Sheets
You try to recreate like the, like that jumping the car pose.
01:14:03
Chris Prime
the Oh, the 360, like...
01:14:05
Zach Sheets
Yep.
01:14:06
Chris Prime
Yeah! yeah But then it's like... I don't know, i feel like... This is one of those generational gaps where it's like, oh, is this from like an anime? It's like, technically. And then it's like...
01:14:17
Chris Prime
And then you gotta explain to explained to like young TikTok generation what this is about.
01:14:17
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
01:14:21
Chris Prime
It's like... Yeah, it's a car this guy built. There's girlfriends in it, but like she's not allowed to drive his car. Just...
01:14:31
Zach Sheets
She's got a helicopter.
01:14:35
Chris Prime
There's a chimp that sometimes hangs out.
01:14:37
Zach Sheets
so yes so we yeah For some reason there's a monkey.
01:14:40
Chris Prime
A child and a chimp hang out in the trunk of this car sometimes, and I failed to...
01:14:44
Zach Sheets
All the time, yeah.
01:14:45
Chris Prime
I failed to check if they're there all the time. But then Speed gets... us Okay, if you remember this movie, this is will probably last thing we'll mention. Speed gets into crazy stunts in the Mach 5, right?
01:14:56
Zach Sheets
Yes.
01:14:57
Chris Prime
And then at the end, it's always like Sprittle and then Chim-Chim pop out, and they are unharmed.
01:15:01
Zach Sheets
completely fine
01:15:03
Chris Prime
Yeah, they are just like... They would have been goo.
01:15:06
Zach Sheets
yeah they were like speed is doing like 360 spins he's flipping upside down he's like slamming other cars and it's just like and like i'm sure there's no padding or anything in like the the trunk it's just like they're getting so like slammed back and forth in the trunk and they come out like like none to worth for wear
01:15:25
Zach Sheets
But they're like, Sprydol and Chim-Chim are like masters of stealth. they just like they just like disappear and they like are like just able to sneak anywhere they want. Like they sneak on the plane, they sneak on the car, they sneak like they sneak everywhere. And no one notices.
01:15:38
Chris Prime
I mean, it's this does Spittle go to school?
01:15:44
Zach Sheets
I mean, maybe. i don't Is it is it Suburban when this takes place or something? you see Speed goes to school, or he went to school, and he was was terrible.
01:15:52
Chris Prime
He went to school when he was young.
01:15:56
Zach Sheets
filled out standardized tests like, go with Rex, go.
01:15:59
Chris Prime
It's crazy that, like, Speed loves his brother that much. He was just like, woo! fat Like,
01:16:03
Zach Sheets
going blow my essay, what this standardized test is by filling out my bar's name in it, in the dots.
01:16:12
Zach Sheets
But yeah, so think I think that will wrap things up for this week. Come back next week, we're going to be diving into Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance because we're getting a new Nicolas Cage live-action superhero show, Spider Noir, and Prime Video next week. So we'll we'll jump back to the last time Nicolas Cage was a live-action superhero.
01:16:32
Zach Sheets
Like, I think, was that the last movie that was like, Neville d and Taylor were like a team on?
01:16:36
Chris Prime
Yep, and then they broke up on.
01:16:40
Zach Sheets
The craziness goes right here. had to split them up. But yeah, we'll we'll dive into all that next week. Heteroslame, we've got news, reviews, trailers. Actually, shocking, like not really a lot trailers. was kind of shocked there wasn't like anything big for Mandalorian Grogu. Like, we still there still isn't like an Avengers like Doomsday trailer.
01:17:01
Zach Sheets
would have they would put it in front of their big Star Wars movie, but I guess not.
01:17:05
Zach Sheets
But we got all all of our other stuff up there as well. Check all the stuff out. And yes, for Chris, I'm Zach, and we will see you next week.