Transcript
Speaker: it's just yeah it's just when you've been driving all night long the sun's about to come up and you're like i just need to get home yeah and i'm gonna go to sleep and forget this ever happened and home has seemed so far away just out of reach home just seems just out of reach just out of reach but you know what's always in reach what's that hey there everybody welcome back to pixlet my name is kevin
Speaker: Alongside with me as always is Phil and today we're starting a brand new book.
Speaker: Oh, this is gonna be interesting.
Speaker: This is gonna be interesting.
Speaker: Oh yeah.
Speaker: So Phil, we are reading Mortal Kombat, which came out in 1995.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: The book, I mean, Mortal Kombat by Jeff Rovin.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So what do you know about Mortal Kombat, Phil?
Speaker: I mean, that was that was Mortal Kombat was one of those first video games I can recall growing up in the 90s.
Speaker: And it was the first one where parents seemed concerned.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Like, obviously, we have a grand history of video games where parents are concerned.
Speaker: But Mortal Kombat really stirred the turd.
Speaker: It really got some shit started.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And yeah, I didn't.
Speaker: I was a street fighter kid.
Speaker: I didn't play much Mortal Kombat, but it was legendary just because everyone was talking about the fatalities.
Speaker: You know, this is this is our first fighting game book, isn't it?
Speaker: It is.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So, yeah.
Speaker: Fighting game.
Speaker: It did a lot of at first it did a lot of the
Speaker: Oh, what would you call it?
Speaker: It was actual photos.
Speaker: Yeah, it was like rotoscoped pictures of actors that they they basically got all the they they took us like photographs of and or in video of and kind of stitched it together.
Speaker: So, right.
Speaker: It had this seamless look of.
Speaker: Yeah, it was it was a weird way to do graphics.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And it, and it was all about brutality and blood and yeah, you know, it was the first video game of its kind that had a system where after you'd won the fight, you could still do a move, right?
Speaker: Like the fatality system.
Speaker: That was such a strange, cause that was just for the fun of it.
Speaker: That was just a Mr.
Speaker: that you could learn.
Speaker: Yeah, you didn't need to do it.
Speaker: You just- No, no, you won the game.
Speaker: It was something that was whispered about on the playgrounds.
Speaker: Right, right.
Speaker: And you could find it in, you know, Electronic Gaming Monthly or GamePro would have like- Right, a list of fatalities.
Speaker: The combos in there.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, and I remember there was a big deal between it being on Super Nintendo versus it being on the Genesis, because on the Genesis, it was uncensored.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: And on the Super Nintendo, you needed to enter a code in order to actually get the blood.
Speaker: I think I'm remembering it correctly.
Speaker: Was it an actual code?
Speaker: I think there was a blood code, yeah, to turn it on.
Speaker: Speaking as a Sega kid, I didn't own my first SNES until like long after the GameCube had come out.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: But it was one of the only things that people could be jealous about you for having a Genesis unless they were just real big fans of Shining Force, which.
Speaker: Which I was.
Speaker: Me too.
Speaker: Let's be honest.
Speaker: You know what?
Speaker: As a fan of tactics based RPGs, the pickings were slim and Shining Force was it was pretty damn pretty damn good ones.
Speaker: Not half bad.
Speaker: I still play it from time to time.
Speaker: I beat it like I beat the first one.
Speaker: I want to say two years ago or something.
Speaker: Just for the fun of it.
Speaker: It's a great series.
Speaker: It's a fun series.
Speaker: I never played the third one because I didn't have a, I want to say it came out on the Saturn.
Speaker: They had a third one that came out on the Game Gear that I was a huge fan of.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yeah, I had the Game Gear one as well.
Speaker: I think there was one on the Saturn too.
Speaker: Well, actually, I think they're like over a dozen of them now.
Speaker: Really?
Speaker: It came out on the Saturn.
Speaker: It's still, that franchise is still crazy popular.
Speaker: Huh.
Speaker: Yeah, it's called Shining Force anymore.
Speaker: It's shining whatever.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: The latest release, Shining Resonance Refrain in March 2018.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Interesting.
Speaker: It's all over the place.
Speaker: And I think they I think they go through different genres, too.
Speaker: So I don't think they're tactical games anymore necessarily, but I could be totally wrong there.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's kind of like Final Fantasy.
Speaker: It's the same kind of deal, you know?
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: They're not necessarily connected.
Speaker: It's all just kind of a it's they all have they're all different flavors of LaCroix.
Speaker: It's all the same.
Speaker: It's all the same.
Speaker: Aromas.
Speaker: Did you ever you ever play the first one?
Speaker: The the shining in the darkness?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: The dungeon style.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I have that one, too.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Actually, I literally I'm looking at it.
Speaker: I have it on my bookshelf right over there.
Speaker: Oh, man.
Speaker: We're talking about... I totally forgot.
Speaker: We're talking about Mortal Kombat.
Speaker: We're not talking about Shining Force.
Speaker: I'm going to go ahead and do a quick search to see if there are any novelizations of Shining Force.
Speaker: And...
Speaker: Yeah, I can't remember.
Speaker: I liked Mortal Kombat.
Speaker: I guess I remember having it and it was just kind of like a game I played, but I wouldn't call myself a Mortal Kombat super fan by any stretch of imagination.
Speaker: No, me either.
Speaker: Mortal Kombat was...
Speaker: the people who the favorite game of the people whose favorite game was Mortal Kombat, you know, were I had a bunch of friends who were like that, who loved that.
Speaker: And Mortal Kombat was kind of like for a while there, if that was your favorite game, that was all you fucking played.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You learned everybody's move set, that kind of thing.
Speaker: Of course, nowadays with fighting games, I guess that really hasn't
Speaker: changed yeah people have their own i mean and there's so many fighting games now um especially now you know more fighting games uh there was a time where it seemed like fighting games it was rare that they would get imported over from japan like there was a lot more in japan than there were over in the states uh but now there's just so many to choose from uh that you really can find your own flavor that you like and stick with it
Speaker: Oh, absolutely.
Speaker: And people do, you know, and it's it's.
Speaker: Ah, shut up, you.
Speaker: The Syria is Syria is yelling at Phil.
Speaker: My Kindle.
Speaker: This is what I get for your Kindle.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Kindle's yelling at you.
Speaker: It was trying to connect to the Internet.
Speaker: And that's my problem for some reason.
Speaker: What the fuck, Bezos?
Speaker: Jesus.
Speaker: So Mortal Kombat.
Speaker: this book was written in 1995 it was written by a fellow by the name of jeff rovin jeff rovin and i thought it was interesting it actually starts with a little note from him um
Speaker: oh yeah oh yeah i loved this where the guy like basically everything that appears in the book outside the characters from the game he developed out of uh a lot of the mythology the actual mythology from china um so he wrote he read a couple books he recommends great civilizations china by ian morrison
Speaker: which sounds like a British guy.
Speaker: Let's talk.
Speaker: Let's let the British guy do it.
Speaker: Write the book.
Speaker: And the wonderful alchemy, medicine, and religion in the China of AD 320.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: In particular, the James R. Ware translation.
Speaker: And actually, that name sounds familiar.
Speaker: I think I've read or skimmed through another Chinese book.
Speaker: Oh, okay.
Speaker: By the...
Speaker: So the original text, I believe, for Suikoden, which I did a video on several years ago, is a Chinese book.
Speaker: And I believe it was Ware who did the translation of that.
Speaker: Oh, that's cool.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: If I'm recalling correctly.
Speaker: That's interesting.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, for a little background on our boy, Jeff Rovin here, he is he's like a lot of our guys writer for hire.
Speaker: He's done some video game books.
Speaker: He actually did like how to play video game books.
Speaker: And he also did.
Speaker: He's done a lot of Tom Clancy novelization stuff, just a lot of novelization in general, including April Fool's Day, Reanimator, Cliffhanger, Broken Arrow and The Game.
Speaker: All
Speaker: mid to late eighties, mid to late nineties.
Speaker: So classics.
Speaker: He did a, he did a novelization of the movie reanimator.
Speaker: That's right.
Speaker: Which was an adaptation of this short story reanimator.
Speaker: That's right.
Speaker: That's right.
Speaker: He added, he adapted an adaptation, a photocopy of a photocopy.
Speaker: But I think but here's the thing.
Speaker: I think the most interesting thing about Jeff Rovin might be that he was actually the editor in chief for Weekly World News.
Speaker: Huh?
Speaker: You mean like the Bat Boy?
Speaker: That is absolutely correct, sir.
Speaker: For those of you playing the home game, weekly world news was not just a tabloid because tabloids is like, oh, you know, the the queen's having a secret love affair with one of her bodyguards.
Speaker: Weekly World News was stuff like Satan's face seen in volcanic eruption over Maui or something like that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: They bat child found in cave.
Speaker: Everyone you have if you are at home listening, you have seen this cover of the bat child found in cave.
Speaker: And it's just this this kid with gigantic eyes, a huge mouth and a pointy ears screaming.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: The bat boy.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And then a musical based on that character.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And and I bring all of that up because he's also had he also has a very serious career as a just a general fiction writer.
Speaker: He's written his own stuff.
Speaker: He is a professional writer, you know, working stiff writer and very prolific, like a lot of the guys we've read the work of.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: And I but I only bring that up because I don't think there's any franchise out there
Speaker: that is more confusing in terms of its tone than Mortal Kombat.
Speaker: Yes, because Mortal Kombat, if you recall, is a game about pulling the spinal columns out of your enemy while doing fatalities at the end and maybe friendships, babalities.
Speaker: Who could who could forget the ability to turn your opponent into a little baby version of themself?
Speaker: stuff like that.
Speaker: But it also, when they are allowed to make something that isn't just a video game, and even then sometimes, they get very deep and serious about the mythology and the gods and the legends behind all of it.
Speaker: And you could break your neck with that kind of a tone shift.
Speaker: There is zero worlds in which, outside of this book,
Speaker: I would make the effort to try to learn the backstory in Mortal Kombat.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: And there is plenty of backstory.
Speaker: Oh, yes.
Speaker: And and oh, and we're going to get into it.
Speaker: We're getting into it because it feels like this book might have been the inspiration for a lot of the the big backstory that they they start shelling out later.
Speaker: I'm not sure what the relationship between this book and the games is necessarily.
Speaker: I don't know either, but I will say and I didn't pass the first few.
Speaker: I think Mortal Kombat three was probably the last Mortal Kombat game that I played with any level of regularity at all.
Speaker: So I haven't kept up with the mythology, with the world or anything like that.
Speaker: Every now and then a new one comes out or some DLC comes out and I stick my head into the room and say, you kids playing nice.
Speaker: Oh, that's interesting.
Speaker: And you got Jason from Friday the 13th in there now.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: That's cool.
Speaker: Is that is that Spawn?
Speaker: I didn't know you kids knew Spawn was.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: I think that was actually that was another game.
Speaker: But any case, the Joker.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's injustice, Dad.
Speaker: It's a justice, which is just Mortal Kombat with DC.
Speaker: Pretty much.
Speaker: It's exactly what it is.
Speaker: So I guess what I'm saying is I haven't kept up with the tone and the storyline or anything, but from what I've seen, I feel like it hasn't changed all that much.
Speaker: No, but, but I think you might be right.
Speaker: I think this might be, uh, this might have shaped the future of how they treated Mortal Kombat, uh, more than, more than, uh,
Speaker: even people who play the game now might guess.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So the book starts with a prologue, which is just a full on creation myth.
Speaker: About a god named Ponku who just existed at the beginning of time and was the only thing to exist when basically when when time started.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And Ponku eventually dies.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And breaks apart and all of the body parts of Ponku create the various things in nature.
Speaker: That about sums up the long and short of...
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And yeah, including the gods, you know, the gods have become our different parts of of him.
Speaker: There is a there was a there's a god named Tien, which.
Speaker: So Panku dies and there's a God called Tien, which is created and the Tien creates the other gods.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And then also creates, then the gods start creating beasts and then eventually the gods get bored and create, create humans because like the beasts are too dumb and they need some, something that'll get into trouble.
Speaker: So yeah.
Speaker: start creating humans and look at those humans they're they're so silly right right but they kind of they kind of have to back off that because they don't want to be like discovered by the humans or right by them exactly so a lot there's a lot centered around a mountain uh mount mount ifu kube ifu kube is basically the mountain on which they live and um
Speaker: Yeah, it's it's it's just a full on creation myth and it's pretty it's it's kind of dense and it gets there's more in the creation myth that kind of gets teased out later.
Speaker: But but it's it's like right off the bat.
Speaker: Here's like here's this creation myth.
Speaker: You're going to need to remember some of this.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Here's a little bit of background.
Speaker: It's going to help you to understand some motivations in here.
Speaker: But yeah, it is a straight up, you know, there are so many aspects of it that feel it feels kind of genuine as far as creation myths are concerned.
Speaker: Sure.
Speaker: I don't I don't know a ton about a lot of the old pagan pantheons, but it does.
Speaker: It did have a lot of
Speaker: Similarities to Norse mythology.
Speaker: Yeah, and I don't it might be I wouldn't be surprised given that he references those the books on Chinese mythology.
Speaker: I wouldn't be surprised if these are just basically lifted right out of those books.
Speaker: I wouldn't either.
Speaker: This is this is this is some Chinese mythology.
Speaker: And here we go.
Speaker: Right, right, exactly.
Speaker: We have definitely never had a book that started off on this grand of a scale.
Speaker: We are literally, this is world building.
Speaker: Like this is world building in the most literal sense of the word.
Speaker: He comes in and says, here's where the world came from.
Speaker: Here's where the people came from, the gods, the animals, the trees and the flowers.
Speaker: And holy shit, that's, that's a lot to start off with in your first three and a quarter pages.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's crazy.
Speaker: It is.
Speaker: We move into chapter one, which sets us in AD 480.
Speaker: So we're not present day.
Speaker: We're back in the day.
Speaker: And the point of view is we get is a character named Kung Lao.
Speaker: Kung Lao.
Speaker: Kung Lao, who I did a quick search.
Speaker: Kung Lao was introduced in Mortal Kombat 2.
Speaker: Yeah, him and his hat.
Speaker: Him and his hat, his razor-bladed hat.
Speaker: But...
Speaker: We'll we'll talk about.
Speaker: Yeah, we'll get to that.
Speaker: You know, we'll talk about this.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But basically Kung Lao is in chapter one.
Speaker: He is discussing with his aunt about like he wants to leave.
Speaker: He wants to he wants to go find the gods because he found a he found a piece of cloth that had writing on it.
Speaker: And yes, only he can see the writing.
Speaker: No one else can.
Speaker: He's like shown it to everybody.
Speaker: And like his aunt is like, no, I can't see it either.
Speaker: What are you doing?
Speaker: And he is basically just trying to do something interesting with his life.
Speaker: Yeah, is kind of the vibe that I get.
Speaker: It's like a way vaguer version of, you know, the Disney princess.
Speaker: I want song.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: He knows he's being called to some sort of higher purpose, but he isn't sure what.
Speaker: And we do we do get a little background on his family.
Speaker: It's really kind of.
Speaker: It's a little insane because he's being cared for by his aunt because his dad's dead because they like him.
Speaker: His dad died because he messed up with the proportions for gunpowder.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And blew himself up.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: We got.
Speaker: Let's see.
Speaker: My father was hasty.
Speaker: I am not.
Speaker: Wasn't it I who warned him not to mix those powders and set them a fire?
Speaker: Yes, she said.
Speaker: And after we buried what remained of him, didn't you return to the hills, collect more of those rocks, grind them together and burn them?
Speaker: I did.
Speaker: He admitted I learned from father's example, the correct proportions to use.
Speaker: It's like this is.
Speaker: But you know what?
Speaker: It is the fifth
Speaker: century AD.
Speaker: So like that is how it's working at the time.
Speaker: It's like we're still at a point where they're like, OK, those are new mushrooms.
Speaker: Let's one of you eat them and let's see what happens to you when you eat that one.
Speaker: Are these fun ones or killer ones?
Speaker: Are these fun ones or killer ones?
Speaker: Like, oh, both.
Speaker: OK.
Speaker: OK.
Speaker: Oh, wow.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Oh, his head went very far.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I had that highlighted because I was like I was like reading, reading, reading like, wait, what?
Speaker: Mm hmm.
Speaker: It kind of comes out.
Speaker: And that's the thing.
Speaker: We've talked about the creation myth and the gods, and we've got this noble, holy total whiplash of Mortal Kombat is very present right.
Speaker: It's it doesn't waste any time.
Speaker: It's like I'm a holy warrior and I want to go and learn how to be a holy warrior like you
Speaker: Oh, OK, so your father was a holy warrior.
Speaker: Did he maybe, you know, die in a tournament?
Speaker: No, he blew himself up with gunpowder.
Speaker: He was he was smoking next to an oxygen tank.
Speaker: It didn't work out.
Speaker: We had to collect what remained of him to bury.
Speaker: It you know, right off the bat, right off the bat, we're like, oh, it's so yeah.
Speaker: So he's just spending this time trying to convince his aunt to just let him go.
Speaker: And by the way, this clip of cloth he has that only he can read.
Speaker: Here's what it says, because I know what you're thinking.
Speaker: You're like, oh, my God, whether anyone can read it or not, what is written on it must be some crazy direct
Speaker: religious shit to like push him towards this life.
Speaker: You know, if he, especially if you can only read it, I'm going to go ahead.
Speaker: I highlighted this part where he cannot die yet does not live to his true.
Speaker: He is more than all.
Speaker: And all is Pon coup.
Speaker: I got to go to the mountain.
Speaker: I got to go to the mountain.
Speaker: I don't know, man.
Speaker: I'd leave everyone who I loved and sell all my possessions and follow Jesus into the wilderness with that kind of problem.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: This is really.
Speaker: Yeah, this is really direct.
Speaker: A direct call to action is what I would call this.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: The other thing that I noticed, I guess we're just we're just going to ignore the fact that why does it rhyme?
Speaker: Because.
Speaker: They had a good translator on it.
Speaker: They had a really good translator who really works.
Speaker: It rhymes in both languages somehow.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: That's how good it is.
Speaker: That's how good it is.
Speaker: I just imagine the author going, all right, guys, back off.
Speaker: What do you want?
Speaker: What do you want from me?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: If I'd written it in Chinese or something, you'd be pissed off over that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And we get a little interest.
Speaker: He's got a he's got a he has kind of a girlfriend.
Speaker: His aunt does what aunts and grandmothers and mothers all over the world do with their bachelor sons.
Speaker: He's talking about leaving everything behind, leaving
Speaker: all his possessions and going on this holy crusade.
Speaker: And then he like casually mentions, quote, the egg girl, Lee, and that they like to sit and talk.
Speaker: Hmm.
Speaker: And she immediately goes, is Lee interested in you?
Speaker: And I was just like, oh, my God, mom, could you please?
Speaker: But that just my own mother's like, so do you have a girl?
Speaker: Is she is this one serious?
Speaker: Is she nice?
Speaker: Is she nice?
Speaker: What's her parents like?
Speaker: You know, she don't have any tattoos, does she?
Speaker: Sorry, mom.
Speaker: I'm getting a little flashback here.
Speaker: It starts to get more and more specific.
Speaker: Yeah, a little bit suspiciously so.
Speaker: My favorite line in this whole sequence where he's talking about the people that he showed the piece of paper to or the thing to is Dr. Chow drinks rice wine, but two people disagreed with you.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: He's like, yeah, I went to Dr. Chow.
Speaker: He said, he said, I'm fine.
Speaker: He's like, well, Dr. Chow drinks rice wine.
Speaker: Dr. Chow's an alcoholic.
Speaker: Fuck him.
Speaker: But he disagreed with you.
Speaker: Yeah, it's the fifth century version of he smokes crack.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's rice wine.
Speaker: I think I think we'd all like a little rice wine and maybe if you drink some, you let me go to the mountain.
Speaker: Follow a God.
Speaker: All the other all the other ants are letting their their nephews adopted nephews go to the mountain.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Why can't my friends my friends and let him buy Wolfenstein 3D.
Speaker: didn't matter that it had blood in it.
Speaker: That was another controversial video game from a similar time period.
Speaker: So basically the rest of the chapter plays out with, but what about this person?
Speaker: They'll miss you.
Speaker: And he's like, but, and I'm like, okay, without your brother.
Speaker: And we're like, he hasn't been home in months.
Speaker: And I'm like, but he'll come back.
Speaker: And then they're like, and then he'll go home, go on another building project.
Speaker: It's like, right, right.
Speaker: It's just,
Speaker: It basically every loose end had to be tied off before he leaves.
Speaker: Loose ends that we didn't know existed.
Speaker: We didn't know existed and did not have to be, did not have to exist in this spirit of editing and brevity.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: We just got it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Just, just everybody, everyone.
Speaker: We just got to make sure that no one will be even halfway upset that you're climbing a mountain because of this vague couplet.
Speaker: You know, that's that's a big couplet written by Shakespeare.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So in chapter two, we get a little bit more history about where in China this is taking place.
Speaker: Yeah, this was interesting.
Speaker: So the nation gives us he does everything would give us the longitude and latitude.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So basically it's in central China in a nation called Chung Kuo and following the unification under the chin.
Speaker: China was ruled by the Han Dynasty for whom Kung Lao had little regard.
Speaker: So he's Kung Lao, not a fan of the Hans.
Speaker: He is not anti-Han.
Speaker: Anti-Han dynasty.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So it's it's an interesting detail.
Speaker: It will not be coming up.
Speaker: It will not be coming up again.
Speaker: The political leanings of Kung Lao are confined to this.
Speaker: He was a diehard Democrat back in those days.
Speaker: Back when the Democrats were racist.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: The old school Democrats.
Speaker: Unlike right now when they're right.
Speaker: Hmm.
Speaker: You know what this just reminded me of?
Speaker: We had we just got a one star rating by somebody who said we talk about politics too much and compared our political discourse to the neoliberal babblings of children from the from the chapter two of the book 1984.
Speaker: And
Speaker: Which is where we get all of our ideas.
Speaker: But I am offended.
Speaker: I am not neoliberal.
Speaker: And I get a terrible feeling, by the way, that this person has not gotten to the Bioshock.
Speaker: No, no, because it felt a little because he even said at the end, he was like, I'm going to keep listening just in case.
Speaker: And I was like, oh, no, he hasn't.
Speaker: He hasn't even definitely hasn't gotten to the Bioshock episodes.
Speaker: Oh, boy.
Speaker: So anyway, Kung Lao, big anti anti honor.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: He is.
Speaker: He's walking and we're getting a lot of
Speaker: landmarks.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: We're setting a lot of yeah.
Speaker: Just like this is what ancient China was like.
Speaker: I think, you know, and it's nice because it's interesting.
Speaker: I didn't expect like a light tourists guide to ancient China, uh,
Speaker: from this book uh but it's it's interesting it's also a little i don't know unnecessary yeah the one getting into like fake fantasy world yeah like yeah the one really interesting part of this chapter is when it reveals that the real reason kung lao's dad was obsessed with with the explosives was because he wanted to build a rocket to the moon
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Remember how we talked about that whiplash kids?
Speaker: Here we go again.
Speaker: This is by the way, by the way, I don't want you guys to misunderstand.
Speaker: This is not played for laughs.
Speaker: This is dead serious.
Speaker: This is dead serious.
Speaker: It just happens to be hilarious.
Speaker: That's all.
Speaker: It's so the choices are really interesting.
Speaker: But yeah, it basically gives us a little background on Kung Lao and his family and how the the seeker kind of gene has been strong.
Speaker: Passed down from generation to generation.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: The Lao family just goes off and dies.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: They ask a lot of questions of the gods and then they die.
Speaker: That seems to be it's like Lieutenant Dan in in Forrest Gump.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Someone from their family has died from every single god over the course of generations.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: In Chapter three, Kung Lao is is now
Speaker: He's kind of in the vicinity of the mountain.
Speaker: And he's climbing now.
Speaker: He's tired and talking to himself.
Speaker: And there's there's just a lot of like description of, you know, catching fish and and I think at one point he eats a grub.
Speaker: Yeah, it's it's a lone Mortal Kombat edition.
Speaker: It's yeah, it's really.
Speaker: Yeah, it's naked and afraid.
Speaker: Mortal Kombat.
Speaker: Right, right.
Speaker: basically the first few pages of chapter three and things get interesting um eventually kung lao runs into uh an unnamed character uh who is is mysterious and there's thunderclaps every time he does anything which are probably just covering up his farts
Speaker: I mean, I think they are his farts.
Speaker: They are.
Speaker: They probably are his farts.
Speaker: God's fart because nobody's business.
Speaker: Hey, now it's Raiden.
Speaker: Raiden.
Speaker: Classic.
Speaker: Classic.
Speaker: You cannot have Mortal Kombat without Raiden.
Speaker: That's just all there is to it.
Speaker: So, yeah, Kung Lao and Raiden just they have a heart to heart about, you know, what it means to really give oneself over to the gods.
Speaker: They talk a lot about how there's the duality and the duality theme is going to come up a lot.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Raiden was he saw Raiden earlier as a beggar and now he's seeing him as a guide.
Speaker: And well, and it also heavily implies that because he's seen his dad when his dad was a seeker and he was alive, he would spend time with this kind of.
Speaker: cloaked shadowy man in the distance like and he didn't know who he was and it's heavily implied that raiden appeared to him yeah uh in the past and probably generation before uh generations before uh so kung lao's lineage uh raiden really likes them yeah raiden likes them he tends to talk them into doing stuff that gets them killed but he likes them
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: We do get a good we do get a good line here with him realizing who Raiden is.
Speaker: Raiden says, your father was not the chosen one.
Speaker: He said, you were you understand you understood the duality of all things.
Speaker: I did say Kung Lao, which I wish I responded.
Speaker: He did.
Speaker: We don't.
Speaker: I did.
Speaker: He's a little he was a little kid.
Speaker: It's like you're looking at this little kid and going, yes, yes, that little six year old.
Speaker: He knows about duality.
Speaker: He's the shit.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And and and, you know, look, duality is a fascinating topic, but I think most people understand duality in the world.
Speaker: They understand paradoxical ideas.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And basically, Kung Lao was Anakin Skywalker.
Speaker: Right, right.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: If we want to get down to it, Raiden was, what's his name?
Speaker: Qui-Gon Jinn.
Speaker: And...
Speaker: I was Anakin Skywalker.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Oh yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And then, and so to give him an example of what rate it's like, Braden's going, I saw something in you.
Speaker: And he says that night, the sky was split by a single streak of lightning, which struck and destroyed the tree.
Speaker: And you were afraid.
Speaker: It's like, okay.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So far, so far that tracks.
Speaker: To calm your fears, you began to think about the lightning bolt and you realize the flash that destroyed also provided light, that there are two sides to everything.
Speaker: Darkness, light, fear, courage, life, death, a beggar, God like.
Speaker: OK, you know, I will admit if I met a five year old who was thinking about shit like that, I would be impressed.
Speaker: I would.
Speaker: I'd be impressed.
Speaker: I'm not sure it would be like send him on an epic God quest impressed.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But it might be like, oh, we're gonna put them in the Talented and Gifted program.
Speaker: We're gonna make sure that he knows his multiplication tables in elementary school.
Speaker: Yeah, we're gonna move him off a grade because he seems a little bored in this grade.
Speaker: Yeah, and you know, when they're bored, it gets out of hand.
Speaker: They just get into trouble.
Speaker: They start mixing their explosives.
Speaker: They try to rock it to the moon.
Speaker: because they think they can find God that way or something.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: Your dad was kind of a moron.
Speaker: What we forget to mention is this whole scene is set to fly me to the moon.
Speaker: Kung Lao is like getting misty-eyed.
Speaker: Suddenly he hears the background music.
Speaker: He's like, wait, that's not funny.
Speaker: Don't play that.
Speaker: Let me play among the stars.
Speaker: So.
Speaker: Yeah, we get, we move on to chapter four.
Speaker: New character.
Speaker: Another classic character here.
Speaker: Shang Tsung.
Speaker: Shang Tsung.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Shang Tsung is basically, he's been researching the hell out of how to get to,
Speaker: the netherworld, the outer worlds, whatever you want to call it.
Speaker: He's been reading the Greeks.
Speaker: He's been reading the Japanese.
Speaker: He's been reading the Chinese scholars.
Speaker: He's been reading literally every scholar he can find.
Speaker: He's also left his family to do this.
Speaker: He just like got up and left one day.
Speaker: And the I think the the one who he is kind of leaning on for a lot of his ideas is an Egyptian scribe named Amotep.
Speaker: Yes, which I believe is one of the names used in The Mummy starring Brendan Fraser.
Speaker: Oh, no.
Speaker: Emotep was was the moment.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So Amotep is the Egyptian scribe.
Speaker: They're they're trying to reach the dead place.
Speaker: So Shang Tsung has been trying to figure figure this out.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I highlighted years before he had left his position as a tax collector, feigned his death by killing and disfiguring another man and changed his name in order to do what his wife's brother, Wing Lao, had done.
Speaker: Experiment, quest, seek knowledge.
Speaker: So.
Speaker: So that makes Shang Tsung Kung Lao's
Speaker: Uncle?
Speaker: Uncle by marriage, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Because Wing Lao is Kung Lao's papa.
Speaker: His name is Wing and he tried to fly to the moon.
Speaker: Oh, God, I didn't even think about that.
Speaker: Oh, for Pete's sake.
Speaker: Oh, boy.
Speaker: But yeah, we recap again that Wing had blown himself up in an experiment.
Speaker: but he was always a little bit jealous of Wing's ability to just like seek knowledge you know yeah and he was not a fan of Kung Lao or the kids or the nephews or what have you yeah
Speaker: um so yeah we get a whole lot of detail about just his research uh yeah it's he he like again it makes you think like is this possibly based on actual ideas or anything like that yeah it's interesting they get very specific and
Speaker: like you said, did the philosophers that he's looking into.
Speaker: And I do admire how they did this because instead, usually when you're setting up a character who's schooled in the dark arts, you have, you know, a vague tome of evil or something like that.
Speaker: But our author here actually makes a point of saying, like, he studies minerals, he studies animals, he studies everything, everything.
Speaker: It's not just one like Necronomicon.
Speaker: That he writes.
Speaker: It's basically he needs.
Speaker: There is no set of instructions.
Speaker: He basically needs to put put together the instructions himself based on what everybody else has figured out across the world.
Speaker: So he sails to this like islands that is just kind of.
Speaker: It gave me the vibes of it's like the the intersection point of ley lines that which is like that supernatural thought of like these like a point of like power, like supernatural power.
Speaker: So he goes to this island to do this ceremony that he picked up from the God, not the God, the scribe Amotep, and he begins to recite the words.
Speaker: And suddenly there's there's just this this wall of fire around him and it encases him and he is somewhere else now.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: He basically takes over this little island for a little.
Speaker: Yeah, it's it's again, it's it's this level of detail that like.
Speaker: I, yeah, it, oh, hold on, hold on.
Speaker: I'm looking at something that I almost forgot.
Speaker: It's just a detail, but it cracked me the fuck up.
Speaker: He's looking at, he's looking at all kinds of stuff.
Speaker: The air was damp and cold at times, a trick of fog diffused sunlight.
Speaker: Uh, and then it says rocks and cliffs that seemed lumpy and jagged from afar were smooth up close.
Speaker: And they're trying to set this world up that he has found himself in as like strange and geometry doesn't work the right ways.
Speaker: It's stuff that
Speaker: you know you see in a lot of face stuff but the first thing i thought was like oh sure it's an old video game the rendering was shitty the draw distance was all right right it was all fucked up and i was like in the back of my head i'm like this place is strange and unusual and then the lydia deets line of i too am strange and unusual that's exactly it
Speaker: It's exactly it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: He's he's found himself in this place where he can, you know, get into some trouble.
Speaker: Like you can get sorcerers.
Speaker: He can he can he can fuck about, you know, indeed.
Speaker: He can indeed.
Speaker: He can cast some spells.
Speaker: Meanwhile, meanwhile, in the outer, I forget what they're called in Mortal Kombat.
Speaker: It's like the outer realm or outer world or something like that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So we get a conversation between a demon and a demon king.
Speaker: Shao Kahn.
Speaker: Shao Kahn, the big baddie.
Speaker: It's like Shang Tsung is like the he's like it's like running a D&D campaign and having a big bad evil guy like and at Shang Tsung and then you kill him and you realize, oh, there's an even bigger baddie, evil guy.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: That's Shao Kahn.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: If you guys saw the first Mortal Kombat movie, and I know you did at the very, very end after they defeated Shang Tsung and everything like that, and there's the crazy guy with the skull helmet in the clouds shouting at them about taking their souls and stuff, and they go, I don't think so.
Speaker: And they strike a pose and the credits roll and that inescapable fucking techno song starts playing that that guy in the class.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: that dude that's shao khan that's the guy that's shao khan uh and for the record it is unavoidable uh you will be hearing that song in your head the entire time you're reading this book fun fact in the sequel uh shao khan comes down johnny cage uh does a does a jump kick at him and shao khan catches him and breaks his neck just breaks his fucking neck that's a picture wrap on johnny cage yeah like less than five minutes in
Speaker: That movie was a piece of shit.
Speaker: I think that's why we remember it.
Speaker: You ask people, like, what do you think is like a really good video game movie?
Speaker: And most people go, you know, Mortal Kombat's a lot of fun.
Speaker: Like, that was a good one.
Speaker: And here's the thing.
Speaker: It is a lot of fun.
Speaker: It's a terrible movie.
Speaker: So bad.
Speaker: It is.
Speaker: Oh, so bad.
Speaker: And Mortal Kombat 2.
Speaker: Just garbage pile.
Speaker: Mortal Kombat.
Speaker: I think Armageddon, Mortal Kombat Armageddon.
Speaker: I forget.
Speaker: Even for a video game movie.
Speaker: Now, here's the thing.
Speaker: Mortal Kombat 2, the movie, was the movie that...
Speaker: when you're a little kid and there's a little tangent, but it's totally related.
Speaker: I swear to God.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: When you're a kid, most movies are good.
Speaker: Most movies are good.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You might get it like, that's great.
Speaker: I love it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You might.
Speaker: Or even you might go, oh, it's boring.
Speaker: It's a boring movie.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: You don't say that is a shitty movie.
Speaker: It's badly made.
Speaker: It's badly performed.
Speaker: It's badly edited.
Speaker: et cetera.
Speaker: You just go, I don't want to watch that movie.
Speaker: It's a boring movie.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: That was the first I saw it in the theaters when I was in middle school.
Speaker: I want to say whatever it came out.
Speaker: And that might have been one of the earliest movies that I watched and went, oh, that is a bad movie.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: That is not like and for the record, that was the same theater that I saw Anaconda three times.
Speaker: You watch summer Anaconda three times.
Speaker: Yeah, I paid money to see Anaconda three times in the movie theater that summer.
Speaker: I don't know if it was the same summer as when Mortal Kombat two came out, but it was the same theater and I happily did it.
Speaker: And Anaconda is a stinking piece of shit.
Speaker: Yeah, I still went.
Speaker: Yeah, that was pretty great.
Speaker: I'm going to watch that again.
Speaker: I'm going to totally.
Speaker: Watch Ice Cube call a giant snake a bitch one more time.
Speaker: That's going to be great.
Speaker: But I walked out of the theater for Mortal Kombat Armageddon just going, that was horribly made.
Speaker: Who greenlit that?
Speaker: So what's amazing is in between the first and the second movie, they recast Raiden.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: So the first movie is, what am I...
Speaker: Oh, he's a guy that I question why he ever had a career.
Speaker: He goes by the name of Christopher Lambert.
Speaker: I have there is, you know, go to the guest section of the website and look up.
Speaker: There is an appearance that I had on another show.
Speaker: person's podcast talking about Highlander.
Speaker: I think I have it in there.
Speaker: Just just listen to that instead, because it's basically two hours of me talking about Christopher Lambert's mush mouth accent.
Speaker: That is just it's just.
Speaker: But they recast him with James Remar, who James Remar was it like by far.
Speaker: So such a better actor than Christopher Lambert.
Speaker: But also possibly one of the most missed cast actors I've ever seen.
Speaker: Like, of course, he was almost Hicks, for Christ's sake.
Speaker: So who knows who who knows what's right?
Speaker: I'm just saying sex in the city zone.
Speaker: uh was was playing the god of thunder and lightning so why not what the do i know i don't know james remar from uh dexter too right he was in dexter right he was he was dexter's dad that's right ladies and gentlemen we have been interrupted by an impish child impish being the perfect word for it
Speaker: She possibly found the smallest crack available.
Speaker: Like you take a door, you open it up a fraction of an inch, maybe even half a millimeter.
Speaker: I think she did even less than that with her tiny little elfin hands to strike up a bargain with her father.
Speaker: I don't think it's going to go well.
Speaker: I think.
Speaker: I think she's just pushing, man.
Speaker: Yeah, James Remar.
Speaker: Let's see.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: So for those of you at home who didn't know this, all right.
Speaker: So James Remar, yeah, he played Raiden in the second one, second Mortal Kombat movie.
Speaker: He was in Django Unchained, Chained.
Speaker: He was in Sex and the City for a while.
Speaker: It's kind of a prominent guy in that was the Dan and Dexter.
Speaker: He was in the Warriors like this.
Speaker: This dude's had a really
Speaker: crazy career.
Speaker: And if you look him up, you will know him from something.
Speaker: I guarantee it.
Speaker: That dude was nearly Hicks from Aliens.
Speaker: Like he actually, I think they cast like, well, they cast him and I think they filmed like a shit ton of it with him in it.
Speaker: And your experience with him and whether or not
Speaker: Maybe based on where you've seen him in the past is going to color your opinion of whether or not he could possibly have been Hicks in Aliens, for God's sake.
Speaker: The fact of the matter was one of the earliest things I ever saw him in was Sex and the City.
Speaker: So the idea of him playing Hicks seems insane to me.
Speaker: Apparently he had I think he had a bit of a drug problem.
Speaker: And they said, we cannot put up with that shit, but check it out.
Speaker: Like, look it up.
Speaker: There's pictures of him on the set as Hicks.
Speaker: It's kind of crazy if you're used to the cast that I am.
Speaker: Okie dokie.
Speaker: Just giving the people a quick history lesson on James Remar, who almost played Hicks in Aliens.
Speaker: Oh, yeah, that would have been weird casting.
Speaker: That's what I was saying.
Speaker: I said your your your belief as to whether or not he could have played Hicks is going to be colored entirely based on what you first saw him in.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Consciously.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And actually one of the earliest things I ever saw him in was Sex of the City.
Speaker: So it just wasn't going to work.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Just that was never going to work.
Speaker: I think he had a drug problem that kicked him out.
Speaker: Oh, really?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, I mean, it's good that he though that he's he's managed to to maintain a really solid career.
Speaker: I mean, he tends to just like he's everywhere, man.
Speaker: He's everywhere.
Speaker: He doesn't just guest appear in TV shows, by the way.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: He is like in them for.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: He's either a recurring character or whatever.
Speaker: He's a he's a good actor.
Speaker: He's a quintessential that guy.
Speaker: Like very much so.
Speaker: He is.
Speaker: He is.
Speaker: He is a that guy.
Speaker: Gold star.
Speaker: He if you want something real fun and kind of sad, watch the what's the series on Netflix about the movies that made us?
Speaker: They do one on aliens and they interview him and he talks about it and he's really humble and very, and very charming about the whole thing.
Speaker: But you can tell like there's a serious sense of regret, like not, not being able to be an alien.
Speaker: Oh, absolutely.
Speaker: He regrets it.
Speaker: So it's, it's fascinating.
Speaker: It's, it's worth a look.
Speaker: Meanwhile, we're we're in hell.
Speaker: We're in hell.
Speaker: Chow Kahn is the Lord of the Outworld, Master of the Furies, King of the Dark Arts, Breaker of Chains, Mother of Dragons.
Speaker: And he got an MBA from De Vrij.
Speaker: And he has a he has a MBA from De Vrij University.
Speaker: um is talking to a little fat demon called ruth a um i like ruth i wish they'd give us more ruth a i i feel like there was every there was a it feels uh uh yeah yeah yeah energy real yeah yeah energy with ruth a yeah um they really uh i want to say jeff really shortchanged us on that uh
Speaker: I think so.
Speaker: That's where I got frustrated, really.
Speaker: That was the first time.
Speaker: I was like, I don't know, man.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: It was kind of bullshit.
Speaker: So, Ruth A is reporting to Shao Kahn that, ah, there's another human who found himself in the outworld, but we think this one actually might be the one that you're looking for.
Speaker: So, Shao Kahn has been waiting for a human to show up, and lo and behold, it is.
Speaker: Yeah,
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: He makes it clear that that.
Speaker: And yeah, he and so we get this interesting dialogue back and forth between Shang Tsung and Shao Kahn.
Speaker: And basically the gist of it is that different embodiments of Shang Tsung generations of him, versions of him have come
Speaker: to Shao Kahn over and over and over again to basically serve him, uh, in a mission to open a portal between the outworld and earth.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: So that Shao Kahn can send his army of fat little demon babies.
Speaker: His little army of Ruthes.
Speaker: Yeah, his army of Ruthes through.
Speaker: And by the end of their conversation, Shang Tsung remembers.
Speaker: And they've got a plan where basically Shang Tsung has to collect souls because a soul is a piece of Pan Ku, the god.
Speaker: The god who created everything.
Speaker: Well, his death started the process of everything being created.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And so Shao Kahn says, I'm going to send you back with Ruth here and you're going to start collecting souls for me.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And the more souls we get, the bigger the portal will get.
Speaker: And eventually we'll get a portal.
Speaker: Good enough for the for the armies to.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: Because Shao Kahn's Shao Kahn's idea is that the intention
Speaker: of Pan Koo Pan Koo never intended for there to be an outworld and a for there to be multiple realms.
Speaker: There's only one supposed to be one realm.
Speaker: And that's pretty bold of Shao Kahn to like really talk about the intentions of
Speaker: of Panku who doesn't exist anymore.
Speaker: And as we learn later that I believe we learn later that Raiden is the only one who knows what Panku's intentions ever would have been because there's like a brief mention that Raiden inherited the memories of Panku.
Speaker: So not even Tienn.
Speaker: who was the god that basically started the whole process of using Ponku's body parts.
Speaker: Not even Tien really had the memories of Ponku.
Speaker: Only Raiden does.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Which explains why Raiden is kind of chumming up with the human side of things.
Speaker: Correct.
Speaker: Because he knows how fucked up this could get.
Speaker: He knows shit can get really real right quick.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And...
Speaker: One last thing, any of the souls that they use to open the portal wider and wider, they have to be souls that Shang Tsung has won that he has taken.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Otherwise it, it comes out of his ass.
Speaker: Literally like pieces of him are going to be.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: He has to use his soul to keep the portal living.
Speaker: um so we jump over to chapter six and and kung lao has basically he this is years later um kung lao has is a a warrior priest um and and all that stuff he uh and oh here's here it is on like on the next on the second page of this chapter um
Speaker: he kung lao says he learned that alone among the gods raiden carried the member uh the memory of the parent god even tn did not have the knowledge that raiden did
Speaker: So, yeah, there you go.
Speaker: It's pretty important.
Speaker: It's pretty important.
Speaker: And Raiden's been passing on that same knowledge to Kung Lao.
Speaker: And Raiden is all about the yes, there must be duality.
Speaker: And Shao Kahn is like no duality, only oneness.
Speaker: Everything needs to be the same thing.
Speaker: So there you go.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Raiden is part of a very unique sect on the Internet called Both Sides Are Good.
Speaker: Raiden is the guy who shows up on your on your tweets.
Speaker: He's actually the drill tweet.
Speaker: He's he is the or Shao Kahn the drill tweet.
Speaker: Who is the drill?
Speaker: One of them is the drill tweet where it says there's no difference between either side.
Speaker: You buffoon you would or something like that.
Speaker: Yeah, that's.
Speaker: See, oh, that's I guess it's Raiden because I think it's Raiden.
Speaker: Yeah, let's say Raiden is that drill tweet.
Speaker: Raiden's the guy who pops up in your replies that you're you say you're not wrong.
Speaker: You're just an asshole.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Both sides.
Speaker: He's talking about both sides all the time.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: He wants more context whenever he sees a story about the police misusing their power.
Speaker: What do you mean?
Speaker: What do you mean by that?
Speaker: We find out that Kung Lao is now wearing a smooth white orb amulet around his neck.
Speaker: Don't get used to it.
Speaker: He's getting rid of it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: He's he's getting rid of it.
Speaker: We basically get the idea that he has been studying up here in the mountains.
Speaker: He has been fighting a lot.
Speaker: He's he's we've jumped ahead a lot, you know, years at this point.
Speaker: We were kind of talking about 13 years.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And he has been fighting in a tournament called Mortal Kombat for all of those years, and he has won it every year.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: And the reward, the final test is always against Shang Tsung and the reward is immortal life.
Speaker: So even though he has
Speaker: going forward 13, 14 years, he has not aged.
Speaker: He's still as young as he ever was.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So, but this time around, and he's always had- Well, he has two things working for him.
Speaker: He's got the fact that he's winning, but he also has this amulet, which also makes him immortal.
Speaker: He's got double immortality, basically.
Speaker: Double immortality.
Speaker: And he's not interested in using that amulet anymore.
Speaker: No.
Speaker: Why does he get rid of the amulet?
Speaker: I missed that.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: It's not super clear.
Speaker: He just basically says, I'm not going to use it anymore.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: I don't even know why it was introduced, to be honest.
Speaker: I don't know either.
Speaker: It's this thing that it's kind of like a fail safe for him.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: The power of the gods.
Speaker: Even if he lost, the amulet would prevent him from dying.
Speaker: I think, I think the gist of it is, is he here, he has heard through, I don't know what kind of a grapevine does living on a mountain by yourself with a thunder God have.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Uh, but he heard through something that there's a new competitor in this year's mortal combat, and there's a pretty good chance that he will lose.
Speaker: And I think he's worried about the amulet getting into the wrong hands.
Speaker: Sure.
Speaker: But but yeah, that wasn't super that was not super cleared.
Speaker: No, I did like this.
Speaker: This concept that's brought up.
Speaker: He wished he could return the amulet to Raiden, but he knew that wasn't possible.
Speaker: What a god has given to mortals can never be returned for it is no longer deistic.
Speaker: Even to touch it would make the god no longer a god, but a mortal.
Speaker: I was like, that's actually that's actually a really cool concept.
Speaker: Like, yeah, yeah.
Speaker: I liked that, too.
Speaker: That was that was really that was again, this guy's building this mythology and it's pretty kick ass.
Speaker: It's a kick ass.
Speaker: It's a kick ass.
Speaker: It's a bitchin' Van Art mythology.
Speaker: It really is.
Speaker: It really it's a fucking heavy metal album epic.
Speaker: And which makes sense when you think about it, because what what do heavy metal nerds love?
Speaker: They love their blood and guts.
Speaker: And this is all crazy.
Speaker: This is a mythology that Frank Farzetta would would would be right at home painting.
Speaker: he would have been thrilled he would have he would have illustrated the fuck out of this um so uh kung lao breaks up some rocks uh with his fists and then buries the amulet and goes he's just showing off at that point goes off for his week-long journey to mount takashi which is where the place is going to be um
Speaker: So he arrives in chapter seven.
Speaker: He basically arrives and we get some lowdown on all of the like the sights and sounds of of this weird little temple out here in Shamor Island, which is.
Speaker: I guess I didn't put together just now.
Speaker: Shamara Island is the islands earlier that, uh, Shang Tsung had basically used to, um, he, that's where he started the whole thing.
Speaker: It's his home base.
Speaker: It's his home base.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: He's been, he's been renovating the place.
Speaker: Renovating.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: There's an old like Shaolin temple ruins that he's trying to like, you know, fixer upper kind of thing.
Speaker: So up the resale value.
Speaker: Yeah, he's up the resale value.
Speaker: But it's not a love it or list it situation.
Speaker: He's really got to learn to love it.
Speaker: So Raiden had warned Kung Lao before leaving.
Speaker: An image of Tien will be present on Takashi and not as a friend.
Speaker: Now, if you remember earlier in the book, they described in the prologue, there's a description of what Tien looks like.
Speaker: And he's basically he's got a bunch of arms and he's a beefcake.
Speaker: And I guess that kind of spoils what the
Speaker: What's going to be coming up soon?
Speaker: We all know where that we know where that's going.
Speaker: But so he was like, so Kung Lao was like, I have only ever seen multi limbed creatures.
Speaker: TN TN depicted as a multi limbed creature.
Speaker: So I wonder what's going on anyway.
Speaker: And we know and we both know that can't be right.
Speaker: So I'm sure it means something else.
Speaker: Tumpty dumpty dum.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: So one of the things that that.
Speaker: They he talks about Kung Lao is noticing is every time he comes back, Shang Tsung is older and older and older.
Speaker: And we learn a little bit more about that, about the why of that later.
Speaker: But yeah.
Speaker: Kung Lao also is this is this as I was thinking of of what is he?
Speaker: Is he doing the thing?
Speaker: What?
Speaker: Oh, I was I was there's a there's a moment later where Kung Lao basically starts flagellating himself.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: We get a little bit.
Speaker: He basically start.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: He starts hitting himself.
Speaker: OK, no, it didn't happen.
Speaker: It's not in this chapter.
Speaker: This chapter, this chapter basically just continues on as as a pretty detailed description of the temple and the people living at the temple and all that stuff.
Speaker: So that's chapter seven.
Speaker: We'll get to the flagellating.
Speaker: He's got a bad feeling.
Speaker: He's got a bad vibe.
Speaker: He's getting bad vibes about that.
Speaker: We'll get to the flagellating that happened soon.
Speaker: Trust me, we're not going to.
Speaker: We're not going to skip that scene.
Speaker: So chapter eight, we get Shang Tsung and we get a little bit more detail as to why is he so so old now?
Speaker: Basically, in chapter eight, he has he has a hidden room in the temple and Ruth A is is in this room.
Speaker: as like an anchor for the portal to the outworld.
Speaker: And Ruth A has gone insane because he has not been allowed to move for 13 years.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And here's the thing.
Speaker: It's kind of implied that it's like it's a it's it's a stretch of his mind for being so far away from where he's from, from the realm that he's from.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But honestly, you can just read it as he hasn't been able to move from one spot for 13 years.
Speaker: I think we'd all be ready to snap.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Mortal realm or no.
Speaker: Mortal realm or not, I think we would have some.
Speaker: We would have some issues.
Speaker: So basically, Shang Tsung, this chapter details Shang Tsung's initial efforts when he gets back from the Outworld.
Speaker: First, he's like, well, I'll just kill some travelers and throw them their souls into the portal and be like, well, it didn't really do anything.
Speaker: Oops.
Speaker: So he gradually works his way up on who he's killing to try their souls out.
Speaker: And basically, it's only going to be great warriors, the soul of a great warrior that really helps him open the portal up.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So that's when he comes up with the idea for Mortal Kombat.
Speaker: So he he he sends out a dream to warriors from across the land to come out, come to come here, come to this island and face off in a great fighting tournament.
Speaker: And he kills a bunch of I want to say this is where he kills a bunch of pirates.
Speaker: And yeah, and then he he takes their soul.
Speaker: He kills a bunch of chefs.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, basically, he he he kills a bunch of people that are like that can be like workers and they build this temple and they like so they don't they're just dressed in all black.
Speaker: And in the previous chapter, Kung Lao was talking about how it's like, oh, yeah, there's these weird dudes that are always just wearing black and you can never see their face and be like, yeah, that's because they're corpses that are just walking.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Shang Tsung gets his necromancer on and basically has this small army of undead servants that are rebuilding everything that kind of wait on him.
Speaker: And, you know, because he can't do it all alone.
Speaker: No, he needs some rotting corpses to help get things along.
Speaker: Some fresh, some, some ghouls.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So then the chapter kind of breaks down like there's a full beat by beat breakdown of the first fight that Shang Tsung and Kung Lao had ever had at the end of the first Mortal Kombat tournament.
Speaker: um that it's just like here's here's what's happened shang shang sung was should have won he's like he really regrets it he like he basically relives it every day because he's like yeah i should have won that first one i should have won that
Speaker: It's eating him up and it's been eating him up inside for 13 fucking years.
Speaker: 13 years.
Speaker: You've been really better, bitter about it.
Speaker: And so basically he he realizes that.
Speaker: He should have won that one.
Speaker: And he calls Kung Lao.
Speaker: He's really bitter about Kung Lao.
Speaker: And he calls him a little goldfish who enjoyed swimming in the pool of his own piety.
Speaker: He's like he's like Kung Lao is holier than thou piece of shit.
Speaker: Basically.
Speaker: Shang Tsung is Homer Simpson and Kung Lao is Ned Flanders.
Speaker: That's what it is as far as he's concerned.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And, and, and, and despite all of that, he knows that Kung Lao has this magical amulet given to him by Raiden that gives him extra power and stuff, but he still says it's more than just the amulet.
Speaker: It's not just the amulet that's causing him to kick my ass because not only did Kung Lao beat him on the first tournament, he's beat him every single time.
Speaker: Every single year since.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And Shang Tsung is losing more and more of his power.
Speaker: He's aging and at a incredibly accelerated phase.
Speaker: Yes, because he has to take out a piece of his own soul and feed it to the portal in order to keep the portal open every year.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: Every year that he doesn't do it.
Speaker: And they give us a little breakdown of basically if if the.
Speaker: if Ruth a were to fully cross over, um, it would obliterate basically all of the, it would like destroy the universe or something like that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Um, also the, just, just, just that little thing.
Speaker: There's also this great little description.
Speaker: While he was here, trapped atop the circle, Ruth A was still rooted in the outworld.
Speaker: But if the doorway were shut, he would be nothing more than an unctuous smear.
Speaker: Only if a god were to cross from one realm to the other, redefine the nature of the life and matter there, could the two worlds be mixed.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: So, a lot riding on this.
Speaker: There's a lot riding on this.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And and Shang Tsung's feeling the pressure, too.
Speaker: So this year he knew he needed a bit of an ace.
Speaker: He needs a ringer.
Speaker: He really needs a ringer here.
Speaker: That's exactly what he needs, because he's promising Shao Kahn.
Speaker: This this is the year and Shao Kahn is the one.
Speaker: It better be the year or else I'm going to take.
Speaker: Goddamn.
Speaker: He says, I'm going to take what remains of your soul and I am going to put it
Speaker: as a boil on my dragon's tongue.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: That is then Kevin's not.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And Kevin's not like making anything up.
Speaker: That is literally what he says.
Speaker: Literally what Shao Kahn threads him with.
Speaker: So Shang Tsung stakes are high.
Speaker: Yeah, they're up.
Speaker: They're up there.
Speaker: So, OK, chapter nine.
Speaker: Kung Lao has a ritual.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Kung Lao has a ritual where he basically takes a thorn branch and he drags it over every inch of his body.
Speaker: So he's just like crisscrossed with like just bloody cuts.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And it says here, it says the thin superficial wounds did not weaken him.
Speaker: But Kung Lao knew that if his flesh were sore, he would react that much quicker to protect himself from being hurt.
Speaker: I feel like that's not how it works.
Speaker: But then again, anyone who's been threatened with a fly swatter when they have a sunburn,
Speaker: Yeah, maybe it would work.
Speaker: Maybe it would work.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: He also talks about how he would refuse to eat because the hunger would really focus in.
Speaker: I've never thought that hunger made me more focused.
Speaker: Usually just made me a little bit my brain less worky.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Now, if he said if he said he stopped eating so that he'd be extra irritable and take his rage out on his enemies.
Speaker: Now, that's something I get.
Speaker: I would I would be I believe that 100 percent.
Speaker: He's like, I stopped eating.
Speaker: So I'm hangry during the fights and be like, no, yeah, that would be like, oh, no, we're not fucking with this guy.
Speaker: no we're not fucking with this guy at all um yeah so um so that's that's chapter nine super duper short chapter 10 uh we get a description more description of the courtyard uh of the palace and there's a really cool description of shang sung's throne which is i was hoping you were gonna bring up the throne
Speaker: Which is bad guy throne 101.
Speaker: The chair was made of made of iron forged in the shape of human bones, cushioned with mystically preserved blubber of a whale and covered with a thick throw of fur from one of the sacred pandas for only one such as Shang would dare to take.
Speaker: I love the panda detail.
Speaker: The panda detail is amazing.
Speaker: It's amazing.
Speaker: A canopy of unknown material supported by a column constructed of shark teeth protected him from the hazy sun.
Speaker: Some said the material was human flesh, but few thought that even the vicious Shang could be capable of such a vile and corrupt display.
Speaker: Kung Lao was not one of the few.
Speaker: It's just...
Speaker: fucking so over the top so over the top it's wonderful also something that I guess is never really touched on does Shang does does Shang Tsung ever like mentioned that Kung Lao is his nephew by marriage no or has Kung Lao ever recognized Shang Tsung
Speaker: No, no, not to my knowledge.
Speaker: There's no.
Speaker: And let's face facts.
Speaker: They would have taken that opportunity for one of them to chew the hell out of the scenery with something like that.
Speaker: So I think that's not I don't I don't know if that's happening with this particular
Speaker: section of the book.
Speaker: No, no, because we're coming to an end.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: To the, of this section of the book, because we've, we're, we've already pretty much.
Speaker: We're, we're towards the end of the, of the tournament already.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: We get some script, some quick descriptions of, of a couple of the fights, the final round,
Speaker: Yeah, we some some basic fights, basic fights.
Speaker: Kung Lao defeats a guy named Ophila the Ostrogoth.
Speaker: We get some we get some nice German representation here.
Speaker: Well, just a little.
Speaker: He doesn't know martial arts.
Speaker: He just uses a spiked club.
Speaker: we're not going to get a lot of crane kicks from this guy no and then Mahata Marian who recites the Vedic Hymn of Creation so India that's a which is from India I believe right the Vedas are yeah yeah
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But basically, once he lost his teeth, he had trouble because he was he used this hymn of creation to focus himself while he was fighting.
Speaker: But then he gets a few teeth knocked out and basically the fight falls apart there.
Speaker: And then there's a Roman wrestler named Toysaurus who nearly beats Kung Lao.
Speaker: But.
Speaker: They circle back the self-inflicted lacerations are what give Kung Lao the focus to break the the pin.
Speaker: So no point.
Speaker: It's a good strategy.
Speaker: No point for Toy Cyrus on the pin.
Speaker: So basically.
Speaker: They they.
Speaker: They kind of fast forward through all the fights.
Speaker: Kung Lao is victorious.
Speaker: And he is the champion again.
Speaker: And we have a back and forth between Shang Tsung and Kung Lao debating the merits of religion and magic and all that fun shit.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: The classic line, religion is not magic, Kung Lao said, a debatable point for some other time.
Speaker: It's like, all right, all right.
Speaker: All right, that's fine.
Speaker: So basically, they have their little back and forth, their little war with words.
Speaker: And so here's the thing, is that Kung Lao...
Speaker: He has defeated everybody in order to get the title of the champion.
Speaker: He has to defeat the host, which is, I believe at this point, an optional fight.
Speaker: Like the only way to be champion and not age for the next year is if he beats the host.
Speaker: He can back out now and everything is fine.
Speaker: And and Kung Lao is like, no, I got to I'm I'm I. Why would I back away?
Speaker: I'm the champion.
Speaker: You know, for a guy who was nervous about this fight and everything because of not wearing his amulet, he's he's he makes some dumb calls.
Speaker: Let's just say.
Speaker: So Shang Tsung is like, oh, by the way, I'm not the one fighting.
Speaker: I have according to the rules of Mortal Kombat.
Speaker: I can name somebody else the rules that I made up because it's my tournament.
Speaker: Yeah, like it's my tournament, damn it, because my tournament, God damn it.
Speaker: So he has he lets somebody fight on his behalf.
Speaker: And all this time, there's just been thundering footsteps coming in off the distance.
Speaker: And Kung Lao is like, this is a sinister presence.
Speaker: All that.
Speaker: All that stuff.
Speaker: And.
Speaker: Who could it be?
Speaker: Oh, no, it's Goro.
Speaker: Goro.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Who'd have thought the claymation monster himself from.
Speaker: I think he's claymation in the first Mortal Kombat.
Speaker: something it's like it's definitely a practical effect it's definitely a practical effect um so uh so basically it's it's gonna be a fight against goro and this fight basically is um it's it's that it's that fight from game of thrones it's the mountain oh yeah versus um uh the mandalorian um what's his name oh yeah yeah
Speaker: Pedro Pascal's character.
Speaker: Pedro Pascal, yeah.
Speaker: Where the only way he's going to win is if he's like, if he's basically going to be super fast and fight and try to avoid this big beefy boy.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And chapter 11 is, it's basically just the entire fight.
Speaker: Yeah, it's it's it's the whole fight.
Speaker: It goes back and forth.
Speaker: In fact, at first, it looks like Kung Lao is pressing the advantage.
Speaker: He's doing pretty good to start with, to start to start with.
Speaker: But the fact that Goro has extra arms really comes into play.
Speaker: You know, it's not just for show.
Speaker: It really, really are practical, practical application, it turns out.
Speaker: And yeah, it's we do get one little detail here, which is confusing to me.
Speaker: I have heard Goro referred to as part dragon, but in the description here, it says as much dragon in appearance as human.
Speaker: When describing Goro and I can if you tell me like dragons have a fascinating mythology, there's all kinds of shit with that.
Speaker: And if you tell me that he's part dragon, fine, sure.
Speaker: Good.
Speaker: But referring to Goro as equally dragon in appearance as human.
Speaker: Just a confusing mental image.
Speaker: Like real quick, if you could describe a dragon to me, just let's just for fun.
Speaker: Let's get on the same page as to what kind of dragon we're talking about.
Speaker: There are a bajillion types of dragon out there.
Speaker: Just saying he's dragon in appearance, not helping me.
Speaker: Not helping.
Speaker: Not helping.
Speaker: Especially something saying China.
Speaker: It's like, because like Chinese mythology dragons...
Speaker: they have their own thing going they have a pretty distinct look yeah so i don't know uh jeff if i if i buy that um but yeah that one i'm not so sure regardless uh uh goro wins he he wins i mean it seems like he went it seems like
Speaker: uh kung lao is is is might have some chance but that is really each time uh kung lao presses his advantage goro is able to counter by like catching him he like sprains kung lao's knees or or his ankles he hurts his shoulder uh he throws him into a wall basically uh
Speaker: he is not doing any damage to Goro and Kung Lao is just getting beat worse and worse.
Speaker: And eventually Goro just throws him into the wall and just pummels him can like just over and over and over again.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: And finally, finally, um, uh, Shang Tsung just tells Goro, give me his heart.
Speaker: And the last thing that Kung Lao sees is two two arms holding him by his shoulders and a third hand just coming for his chest.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I can't help but think that that that's a wrap on Kung Lao.
Speaker: That is a wrap on Kung Lao.
Speaker: That is a wrap on this Kung Lao.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I know you're confused, ladies and gentlemen, because you're like, he didn't even get
Speaker: to throw his his razor his razor hat his sharp sombrero his sharp sombrero uh the the the slicey sombrero fear not this is just the first kung lao the kung lao we all know and love not this guy
Speaker: not this particular guy not this particular guy because uh meanwhile 600 miles away we get um kung lao's uh brother right or cousin whatever i think it's his brother it's his brother is his brother is having a kid and uh wouldn't you know it they do the whole luck of the friarish futurama episode
Speaker: That's exactly what they named the boy Kung Lao.
Speaker: So basically there's like a sudden premonition from his brother that he needs to name the kid Kung Lao and he does so.
Speaker: So.
Speaker: Maybe.
Speaker: And meanwhile, Raiden is somewhere else.
Speaker: We're like, well, maybe it's this next one that is actually like, oh, I seem to have fucked up with that last prediction.
Speaker: This one, though.
Speaker: And you can't help but think that this has happened a lot in his life.
Speaker: You can't help but think that Raiden has just been for millennia fucking things up with this family tree.
Speaker: I'm a terrible god.
Speaker: This is so stu- okay.
Speaker: Uh, I'm a god and you're the chosen one.
Speaker: Honest.
Speaker: Honest.
Speaker: Oh, you wanna go to the moon?
Speaker: Well, use those rocks there.
Speaker: Oh, shit.
Speaker: Shit.
Speaker: Um, anyway.
Speaker: So, and that's the end of part, part one.
Speaker: That is- Part one?
Speaker: Yeah, that is the first third of the book.
Speaker: Huh?
Speaker: That was a very pregnant pause, Phil.
Speaker: It was a there was an awful thing.
Speaker: It's an awful long first third of the book on like a very specific moment in Mortal Kombat.
Speaker: Like, I feel like if this were the TV version or the TV version of the film version, this whole thing would have taken about 15 minutes.
Speaker: Yeah, this.
Speaker: Yeah, I agree.
Speaker: Yes, no, that doesn't make it bad.
Speaker: It doesn't make it bad does not make it bad, but But but I'm just very I don't know where they're going with this.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean it's it's a
Speaker: I've already looked at the first sentence of the next chapter, and I know it's in the next section of the present day, and it starts right out with Kano, who is a fan favorite villain.
Speaker: He's easily one of my favorites.
Speaker: So good.
Speaker: I mean, we got, you know, maybe maybe something good here, maybe something good here.
Speaker: But yeah, I agree.
Speaker: I feel like this is a lot of this is a lot of prologue.
Speaker: for the real meat of the story.
Speaker: Yes, it is a lot for, yeah, exactly as you said.
Speaker: It's a lot.
Speaker: The other thing is, it's weird that we spend so much time on Kung Lao.
Speaker: I guess maybe Kung Lao of all characters who who is OK, fine.
Speaker: He is one of the main characters starting it from Mortal Kombat to going forward.
Speaker: But it's like.
Speaker: It's Kung Lao, it's not Liu Kang.
Speaker: Liu Kang is like the dude.
Speaker: I would have expected this to be Liu Kang, yeah.
Speaker: He has kind of very consistently been our protagonist in this series for a very long time.
Speaker: For as little as I know about Mortal Kombat.
Speaker: When I think of the guy, I think of Liu Kang.
Speaker: He is he is your Ryu, an analog from Street Fighter.
Speaker: He is he's your dude, you know?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So it's I don't.
Speaker: Interesting to not hear from him at all.
Speaker: Zero percent.
Speaker: And I understand establishing.
Speaker: Okay, so Kung Lao, the first Kung Lao is very involved in the backstory of Shao Kahn and Shang Tsung.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: I think, okay, I can agree to that.
Speaker: But it feels weird that it, you know what it is?
Speaker: I think if it was a TV series, and I know this is a book and all that fun stuff, whatever.
Speaker: Yeah, of course.
Speaker: But if it was a TV series, this would not be told.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: All up front.
Speaker: This would be something that would be pieced out over time.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: And we were just talking about, you know, before we started recording, we were talking about the Godfather series.
Speaker: And one of the great things that the Godfather series does is that you don't actually get anything about about once Corleone.
Speaker: What's his name?
Speaker: The Godfather Vito.
Speaker: Vito.
Speaker: Until part two.
Speaker: And it's these interspersed scenes in which you got Robert De Niro playing like young Vito.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And that's when you get all of the information about him.
Speaker: Like, oh, like, why does he have that raspy voice and all that that stuff?
Speaker: So, yeah, it in any other media, this information would not have just been played.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: It's it's an interesting it's a very bold choice.
Speaker: Let's see how it pays.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And that's the thing.
Speaker: It's like I'm not saying this won't work.
Speaker: I'm just saying it's a bold choice.
Speaker: And I feel like we haven't actually started this book yet.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: And the fact is, we are a third of the way through the book.
Speaker: If this was a much longer book, like twice as long as this, then I would go, OK, all right, that makes sense for an opening kind of.
Speaker: But that was one sort of situation.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But that was one third of the book we just covered right now.
Speaker: Yeah, that was that was a lot of the book.
Speaker: And so it's really interesting.
Speaker: Now, having said all that,
Speaker: this book has no business being this well written.
Speaker: That was the other thing I was going to get to.
Speaker: It's like, yeah, like this is a fucking Mortal Kombat book.
Speaker: This is for all of our bitching about that aspect of the book, about the story structure.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: He didn't have to come so hard for Mortal Kombat.
Speaker: He came so hard.
Speaker: I feel like I feel like the I just imagine being like an editor working for this publisher like we have we've acquired the rights to Mortal Kombat.
Speaker: We can sell a million of these books to 10 to 16 year old boys all over the United States.
Speaker: Let's let's let's crank something out 200 and some odd pages.
Speaker: Make it fast.
Speaker: Make it, you know, action packed and
Speaker: you know, a little gory and let's just fucking just do boom, boom, boom.
Speaker: Let's do it.
Speaker: And they called this guy up and they said, Here you go.
Speaker: Could you make it happen?
Speaker: He was like, Yeah, here's your here's your first draft.
Speaker: And they're like, What the we we can't pay you more than we offer.
Speaker: He was like, That's fine.
Speaker: I didn't I didn't do it for you.
Speaker: Yeah, this is for me.
Speaker: This is for me.
Speaker: This is for Batboy.
Speaker: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker: I want you to work Batboy into the next Mortal Kombat game.
Speaker: They're like, oh, we'll get back to you that I wouldn't be surprised.
Speaker: I wouldn't be surprised, though, if this guy worked and talked directly with like Ed Boon.
Speaker: Yeah, because I feel like Ed Boon and who's the other guy?
Speaker: John Tobias are like very.
Speaker: into because they've been with Mortal Kombat.
Speaker: I want to say the entire time.
Speaker: I don't think they've left the series.
Speaker: I think Ed Boon is still working on it.
Speaker: I think he's still the he might be the producer on us still.
Speaker: Let's let's let's check that is Boon.
Speaker: Oh, let's see.
Speaker: It looks like he might still be there.
Speaker: who's employed midway games 15 years yeah he's he's been he's worked on every mortal combat title from the first one to um to mortal kombat 11 in 2019. yeah in 2019 that's right you're the voice of get over here um that's amazing
Speaker: This man's had a hell of a career.
Speaker: That's some cool shit.
Speaker: Yeah, that's wild, though, that he has managed to... I feel like outside of...
Speaker: There's very few creators that get to stick with the series that they created for pretty much their whole career.
Speaker: And oh, God, yeah, that doesn't.
Speaker: I want to say like Hideo Kojima was able to do it for the most part with Metal Gear.
Speaker: But yeah, the fact that Ed Boon has been able to just stay, you know, basically stay with.
Speaker: first midway and then as as the series got acquired you know as midway and and the companies got acquired he just stayed with it so yes it is impressive that is not something you you see very frequently or at all really yeah so that's really so i wouldn't be surprised if if um if uh jeff uh consulted with ed boone on this
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I wouldn't be surprised at all.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Especially with we know how, you know, particular these publishers and that sort of thing are with their franchise.
Speaker: So I'm sure it has something to do with it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So very interesting start.
Speaker: Let's see where it goes.
Speaker: I'm very curious and it and it flies by it is it is a quick reason page turn it is it is a quick read it moves fast um so uh that'll do it for tonight's episode uh if you have the means a Twitter account uh if Twitter has not been bought by Elon Musk
Speaker: Yet in the intervening weeks since we're recording this and when that happens, if you can give us a follow on Twitter at PixelitPod.
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Speaker: And it's delicious.
Speaker: It's so good.
Speaker: It's so good on fries, y'all.
Speaker: It's like mayonnaise on fries.
Speaker: Yeah, it's just enough.
Speaker: Just a little.
Speaker: You mix the mayo with the ketchup.
Speaker: Yeah, it's delicious.
Speaker: Anyway, have a good night, everyone.
Speaker: I'm hungry.
Speaker: Bye.
