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Episode 91: MegaForce featuring Peter Speer
73 Plays2 months ago
Our good friend Pete Speer is back and he’s got a mission for us, it’s MegaForce (1981). After a string of successes, Hal Needham could not land a hit with this action film, even with Barry Bostwick and Michael Beck to help. It’s about a crack team of super soldiers from around the world as they proceed to get into at least 4 minutes of action (it’s timed), a mission they don’t complete and a courtship that often takes place over short distances while one or both parties are in the air. It makes almost no sense, but it sure is flashy and we’re gonna break it all down and have a great time doing it, so tune in!
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction
00:00:40
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to your favorite bad movie podcast. It's the only podcast that's brave enough to ask the question, if this movie's so bad, why do you like it so much?
00:00:53
Speaker
We're your hosts. My name is Chris Anderson. And with me, as always, i have the general to my Zara. It's Mr. Greg Bossing. Hello. Interesting choice. How are you tonight, Chris?
00:01:09
Speaker
I'm doing pretty good. I'm doing pretty good. I'm excited to talk about this week's
Special Guest Peter Spear
00:01:14
Speaker
movie. And I'm excited that we have our very special guest. You might know him from the Christian Pirate Puppets.
00:01:23
Speaker
You might know him from the Science Jerks. But tonight, you might specifically know him from Movie Night the Band. It's the inimitable Peter Spear. How are you doing tonight, Pete?
00:01:37
Speaker
I could not be doing better. It's great to see the both of you. Hi, everybody, for listening. I asked you to come on. You didn't pick it this time. This was a secret Chris's pick. I asked you to come on to talk about Megaforce because I had a hankering to talk about Megaforce.
Summary of Megaforce
00:01:53
Speaker
I'm glad you did that.
00:01:54
Speaker
But also Pete and I have a history with Megaforce, but listeners, if you haven't seen Megaforce, here's just a brief summary of the film to hold in your mind as we progress throughout the show.
00:02:18
Speaker
Commander Ace Hunter leads his ragtag international band of highly trained soldiers in a battle to stop the small nation of Sardoon from being ravaged by a band of mercenaries led by Ace Hunter's best friend?
00:02:36
Speaker
The only thing that can stop evil General Guerrero is the Megaforce.
00:02:46
Speaker
Yeah. Nailed it. Fair enough. Perfect. Yeah. ah That sums it up. Great. Now, Pete, tell us Megaforce from your perspective.
Peter's History with Megaforce
00:02:56
Speaker
Tell me about your history with Megaforce.
00:02:59
Speaker
My history with Megaforce begins in one of your apartments when we were younger younger folks. You had a fantastic Megaforce poster on your wall.
00:03:12
Speaker
I did. I loved that poster. It was incredible. And I knew nothing of the film. But having seen the poster, I i feel like I got a ah pretty good sense of it and definitely wanted to know more.
00:03:25
Speaker
And ah on your recommendation, your steadfast recommendation, if I recall, yeah it's insistence, you might say. I could get pushy sometimes. People rarely believe me and I always took it personally. You were you were enthusiastic about Megaport. So I watched it and I had a great time. And then, yeah, in quick succession, ah immediately watched it with as many people as I could.
00:03:51
Speaker
Yeah, I remember you you organized a movie night for it. And also at around that time, I had the idea of us doing Movie Night the Band, where we would do songs that were written for movies.
Band's History and Megaforce Theme
00:04:05
Speaker
And we did ah You're the Best Around from Karate Kid. Absolutely. We did Pet Sematary from Pet Sematary. who Written by Dee Dee.
00:04:17
Speaker
ah We did the theme from Megaforce and we did one other that I can't quite remember right now. I was trying to remember the fourth one too. And I i also do not remember it.
00:04:29
Speaker
It was probably the weakest of the bunch. We put out a CD and on the cover of the CD, it was a, it was a stills promotional stills from the film, Simon King of the witches.
00:04:40
Speaker
Yes. Yeah. Great film. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that was a great little EP. And listeners, we will have our cover of Megaforce as the closing song here tonight.
00:04:54
Speaker
The whole thing. So get ready for that three and a half minutes. Good. Yeah. Honestly, and this that track did make it out to my greatest hits on vinyl that I printed up 100 copies of.
00:05:06
Speaker
This was one of my favorite songs that I ever recorded, which is half of the reason why I wanted to revisit it.
Memorable Scenes from Megaforce
00:05:13
Speaker
And yeah, I remember the Megaforce poster. I remember first seeing Megaforce as a very small child, probably on cable. But the only thing that stuck with me was the image of motorcycles spraying out rainbow smoke. Yeah. Formation behind them and forming a rainbow out of smoke. It's hard to forget that.
00:05:32
Speaker
It's a very striking image. Yes. And ah then I watched the movie as an adult. And the only thing that I remember from my twenties was how striking it was when Ace Hunter, as played by Barry Bostwick, would kiss his thumb and then give a thumbs up. Listeners, at home, I want you to go to a mirror and do that in front of a mirror.
00:06:01
Speaker
Yeah. And look at how insane it is. And the woman that he was doing it to responded in kind and then started waving her thumb around.
00:06:13
Speaker
Just the strangest, most unnatural gestures I've ever seen. And they're completely committing to them. And that that stuck with me. And revisiting it today, or I watch it, I want to say two days ago, i was struck by how disappointed I was.
Greg's Megaforce Memories
00:06:36
Speaker
I went in with, I think because I'm a big Smokey and the Bandit guy, and I had done all this research that we'll get into. Anyway, we'll get into it. But I i was kind of disappointed by the action in it.
00:06:49
Speaker
Interesting. ah Greg, what's what's your background with BekaForce? So, okay. So basically you two have kind of touched on this, the searing memories that I have of Megaforce, but I, I have another one to add to the pile and I don't, and I don't remember how it all, how it all shook out for me. But what I remember was Chris, you showed me TV carnage and in TV carnage, there's the kissing the thumb.
00:07:20
Speaker
Yes, that made the cut. And he says the thing where it's just like, tomorrow, let's get a drink at the lion's head den or whatever it is. And then he kisses his thumb in that along with the apple. Like those were the two scenes where i was like, what is this?
00:07:34
Speaker
And you were like, that is. And one was the apple and the other was Megaforce. It's weird that I knew both of those. i I think what it was is maybe you had said something and you're like oh yeah. And then I was like, so what is that? You know, like, but I mean, if anyone who's listening has seen either the Apple or Megaforce, you know exactly why. i was like, what was that?
00:07:56
Speaker
um They are indelible. And um i also remember, I think it would be your wife, Pete. I think she I remember her singing Megaforce maybe. Yes, she is also on the track.
00:08:09
Speaker
Yes. And I just remember like the lyrics of that, seeing the performance. And I don't remember when I saw it. I feel like it might've been the movie night that you mentioned, but I have like, it was the only time we ever performed. Okay. Yes. Because I remember the vocal on that. remember her vocal on it. I remember the kissing the thumb and I remember the movie night ah in all of them. it was just like, I don't remember when I saw the movie, but it was just like, this is great. I don't remember if I've seen it twice before this or only once.
00:08:39
Speaker
But I was very, very excited to revisit this. This came at a really nice time to be like, let's just dip back into Megaforce. e Yeah. And when I say it was disappointed, i i think maybe it's just I got confused as to my expectations. I did still have a very good time. Yeah.
00:08:57
Speaker
And the the other memory that I don't know when else I would mention it, so I'm gonna mention it now, is that, ah Pete, you made a zine for Movie Night, as was your tradition at those that series of Movie Nights that you hosted.
00:09:10
Speaker
And I found that zine in my box of zines. So I will be taking pictures of that and putting that up on our socials. Listeners, find us on Instagram and Blue Sky if you want to see that.
Megaforce Cultural Discussion
00:09:23
Speaker
This is terrifying. I have not seen that since since that night, and ah i i look I also look forward to checking it out. Yeah, you didn't put anything embarrassing in there. Don't worry about it. You're not like, God damn, I love this The Apprentice. You know, like everything was perfectly normal. Yeah. ah Well, ah with that, do you guys want to hear the context research that I ah found out
Megaforce Release Details
00:09:52
Speaker
about this movie?
00:09:52
Speaker
Please. Absolutely.
00:10:07
Speaker
I wish I had some context About the background of the film Script director, actors on set What was going on on screen I wanna hear some details Gossips came to all that shit Can't imagine all the time
00:10:35
Speaker
So Megaforce came out June 25th, 1982. Whoa. My first birthday. Happy birthday. A good omen, I think. Yeah.
00:10:49
Speaker
The director Hal Needham.
00:10:53
Speaker
Now, it had seven taglines. Wow. This might be a record. Wow. I think a lot of them are winners here.
Hal Needham's Career
00:11:03
Speaker
Tagline number one.
00:11:05
Speaker
When the force was with them, no one stood a chance. That's intriguing. I don't think you could say the force is with them. and Yeah.
00:11:17
Speaker
You're going to run into some trouble somewhere. Tagline number two.
00:11:23
Speaker
There has never been a superhero like Ace Hunter. Agreed. That's true. Yeah. Because he's just a guy. Right. Yeah. There are very few superheroes who are just some guy.
00:11:39
Speaker
Yep. With like a good attitude. Yeah. And an ascot yeah and a headband. Yep. All right. Tagline number three. In the future, there is no law, but there is still justice.
00:11:55
Speaker
There is no police, no military, but there is something far better. There is megaforce.
00:12:04
Speaker
Wait, this takes place in the future? I think the near future. Okay. So like 1984. Yeah, this is around the corner. This is the day after tomorrow. Okay. all right All right. there is law and military. Yeah, I thought so as well. I mean, there's general. a character called the general. Yeah.
00:12:24
Speaker
Yeah. They talk about it in the opening crawl about how all the military's have supplied Megaforce with yeah technology. Yeah, that's where Megaforce comes from.
00:12:35
Speaker
That's absolutely. ah Okay, how about this one? Tagline number four. There has never been a power like Megaforce.
00:12:46
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:49
Speaker
Perfect.
00:12:52
Speaker
Here we go. Futuristic thriller with daredevil stunts and awesome special effects. That is accurate, but I feel like it is phrased awkwardly. Maybe it feels like that's been translated from another language. Yeah.
00:13:09
Speaker
Maybe that was for like the Brazilian market. Yeah.
00:13:14
Speaker
right. Tagline number six. Ace Hunter is the ultimate superhero. Not true.
00:13:23
Speaker
I mean, I would say that's going to be probably be Superman. Maybe I had to pick one. Yeah. I don't know if I can back that one. ah Maybe Batman.
00:13:36
Speaker
No, no, I mean Ace Hunter is the ultimate superhero. Superman's great. let's Let's get into a conversation about Batman V Superman. Who do you guys think is the ultimate superhero? The Green Lantern?
00:13:49
Speaker
Probably. Probably Guy Gardner, though. ah Tagline number seven.
00:13:57
Speaker
An elite combat fighting unit armed with the most sophisticated weapons science can devise. Theirs is the greatest challenge any force has ever faced.
00:14:10
Speaker
It's long, but I like it.
00:14:13
Speaker
ah feel like none of these capture the film. Can you...
00:14:20
Speaker
Can I capture the film? Yeah, it's hard to... You know what? I would have just gone on with the patch. I would have gone with deeds, not words. Yes, actually. Yeah, no that would be that would be ideal.
00:14:34
Speaker
And the the patch features prominently on this awesome poster. yeah yeah ah So you already have that phrase on there. I feel like any tagline is just gilding the lily at this point.
00:14:46
Speaker
So let's talk about how need them. How need them was one of the greatest stunt men of his era. He began working in the late fifties training under John Wayne stunt double Chuck Roberson, AKA bad Chuck.
00:15:03
Speaker
Wow.
Megaforce's Box Office Competition
00:15:06
Speaker
That's a lineage. Yes, it is. Yeah. I trained under bad Chuck. Uh, In 1969, he landed a gig working as Burt Reynolds' stunt double in a little picture called 100 Rifles.
00:15:22
Speaker
I've never heard of that. I've never seen it. Some sort of Western, I'm sure. Sure. The two of them became fast friends and lifelong collaborators to the extent that Needham lived in Reynolds' guest house for nearly 12 years.
00:15:41
Speaker
Wow. So they were they were tight Yeah.
00:15:46
Speaker
And also, I want to mention that in ah he his after the millennium, he started working on setting the world land speed record and something called the Budweiser rocket car. Hmm.
00:16:00
Speaker
And ah in 2001, Needham received a lifetime achievement award from the Taurus World Stunt Awards. And in 2012, he was awarded a governor's award by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for all his amazing stunt work.
00:16:19
Speaker
This was the stunt guy of the seventy s Yeah.
00:16:25
Speaker
So stunt work got Needham into doing second unit directing, directing stunt sequences. This gave him the necessary experience to direct his first screenplay, Smokey and the Bandit.
00:16:39
Speaker
Oh, okay. You guys seen Smokey and the Bandit? Absolutely. I saw that in a theater. They were playing it for like brunch at Nighthawk, and it was just like, yep, I'm there.
00:16:51
Speaker
Yeah, I love Smokey and the Bandit. It's a real charmer. Yeah, it's fun. They got to get that Coors across the Mississippi Yeah. Yeah. And you got Eastbound and Down by Jerry Reed on the soundtrack.
00:17:03
Speaker
Just great stuff. So Smokey and the Bandit was a massive financial success, turning its $4.3 million dollars budget into million dollars at the box office. Holy cow. And this was when? it was like Wow.
00:17:24
Speaker
that is a lot of cash for nineteen it was a phenomenon that's crazy Yeah, those kind of numbers open up a lot of doors in Hollywood.
00:17:36
Speaker
a lot of investors would like to turn 3,000% interest on their investments. Yeah. and Needham, for the most part, turned out to be a good bet. His next four theatrical films all turned a profit.
00:17:50
Speaker
ah He had Hooper and Cannonball Run and Stroker Ace. He also had a movie that I watched over the weekend called The Villain.
00:18:02
Speaker
starring Kirk Douglas and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Wow. It is not good. They're trying to do, he's trying to do like a live action Looney Tunes. Oh. And ah the timing is all off. It's not funny. None of the jokes land.
00:18:18
Speaker
And this is Arnold Schwarzenegger, like when he's like 20 years old or something. Like he's just not funny at all. He's not comfortable in front of a camera yet. It's a really strange watch. In 1981, he had the Cannonball Run, which was his biggest hit since Smokey and the Bandit, but wasn't as big a hit as Smokey and the Bandit.
00:18:43
Speaker
ah But that success opened the door to his biggest budget picture yet, Megaforce. Yeah. Now, Megaforce was not Needham's concept.
00:18:54
Speaker
It was brought to him by a man named Coyle. Kachler, I think it's pronounced K A C H L E R Kachler, Cochler. Uh, but Bob sold sponsorships for Needham's racing teams. He had two race car teams that he owned and, uh,
00:19:13
Speaker
Needham thought that the sort of pro-military vibes and placement of sort of America is first amongst equals in this international order was perfect for an America that just elected Ronald Reagan. He's like, this is perfect for our times.
00:19:30
Speaker
I love it. ah Needham reunited with the Hong Kong production company, Golden Harvest for financing. ah They had previously worked with them on Cannonball Run. That's where he got Jackie Chan in there.
00:19:44
Speaker
And did you know that that is how Jackie Chan got in the habit of including outtakes in the credits? Oh, no kidding. The first time he ever did that was in Cannonball Run. That was something that Needham was already doing.
00:19:57
Speaker
Interesting. Or that might have been Cannonball Run 2, actually.
00:20:05
Speaker
Anyway. I just remember Dom DeLuise just losing it. Couldn't hold together. Yeah. Yeah. DeLuise and Burt Reynolds together on screen. Comedy gold. One of the all-time comedy duos. Yeah.
00:20:22
Speaker
He also teamed up with Mattel, who designed the costumes in anticipation of releasing a toy line that never materialized because it flopped so quickly.
00:20:33
Speaker
Wait, wait, wait. Mattel was involved with designing the costumes. Yeah, that's why they look like that. That explains so much and is also not what I would have expected.
00:20:48
Speaker
Like the casas in this all look so cheap. yeah They are so poorly constructed. It really hurts the movie. Like there are scenes where you can see the general from behind and you can see that his beret isn't fitted. It just has a drawstring. like they couldn't even get him a sized beret, you know, it's just like, geez, Louise.
00:21:12
Speaker
ah Easy to paint on action figures, though. Just like gold. yes wesu gold Yeah. Black detail. yeah One tone. Yeah. All your vehicles just have three colors.
00:21:24
Speaker
Yeah. You get the ascot in there so you don't have to do the chest. Yeah. ah So he then spent... Roughly $1 million dollars or one twentieth of the budget and nine months manufacturing the fleet of vehicles necessary with a team of four guys.
Filming and Technology in Megaforce
00:21:43
Speaker
Okay. It was just those guys cranking out bikes and dune buggies and the six wheeled Rover for like weeks and weeks on end. That was their job, which sounds like a kick-ass job. No, it sounds okay. Okay.
00:21:59
Speaker
Shooting went smooth. It was mostly shot in the deserts of Nevada. Some of the special effects shots used something called introvision, prominently mentioned in the opening credits. I love that when they mention it. It's just like, what is that?
00:22:13
Speaker
Well, introvision was the same ah front projection process that they used on Xanadu, um which also starred Michael Beck. Yes. Listeners, check out our episode about Xanadu, one of Greg's employee picks. I love it.
00:22:29
Speaker
Such a good episode. It was a great movie. It was a great pick. Now, unfortunately, all these cool vehicles and special effects could not overcome the insane amount of competition Megaforce had at the box office in 1982.
Cult Status of Megaforce
00:22:44
Speaker
Such as? On the weekend of its release, Megaforce came in ninth at the box office, getting crushed by such heavy hitters as E.T., Blade Runner, Star Trek II, The Wrath of Khan, Annie, Poltergeist, and The Thing, which, although reviled at the time, has been, you know, revisited.
00:23:05
Speaker
i I can't believe that all of those movies were in the theater at the same time. And also Megaforce was as well.
00:23:16
Speaker
Yes. Like those are rough waters, man. It's, it's also, it's it's so many like eighties classics all just literally playing in the same theater due to just happenstance.
00:23:32
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. But I think 1982 was also just one of those years that was like just great for movies. And obviously coming out in the middle of summer, this is obviously a summer movie. You'd think, yeah, perfect for the summer.
00:23:43
Speaker
Yeah. But a lot of other people are like, that's when I'm going to release my box office you know blockbuster. Also, Rathacon came out in 82. Yeah. Yeah, that's what I read anyway. I actually have a memory of seeing that in the theater. It's just worms.
00:24:00
Speaker
um But somehow I remember that from being like one and a half, which is crazy. Crazy world. Yeah. So Megaforce would go on to make only $5.7 million dollars at the box office on its $20 million dollars budget.
00:24:18
Speaker
Big flop. Other action movies 1982.
00:24:26
Speaker
You got Conan the Barbarian. Excellent. Classic. You have 48 Hours. Another classic.
00:24:36
Speaker
You got Beastmaster. Oh, yeah. A step down, but still. It's worth it. Another great poster. Yeah, it is a great poster.
00:24:47
Speaker
I think that's a ah Vallejo. But yeah, you got Tron that year. Nice. You have first blood, the original Rambo movie.
00:25:00
Speaker
You got the Albert Pion breakout where he unfortunately killed someone on set, the sword and the sorcerer. Oh, I didn't know they killed somebody.
00:25:11
Speaker
Yeah. He, uh, uh, well, uh, a stunt went wrong. Yeah. You know? And, uh, also, across, uh, across the pond.
00:25:23
Speaker
And then also over in the Mediterranean, uh, 1990, the Bronx warriors. Nice. Love that movie. A classic. Well, with that, do you guys want to talk about the plot of mega force? Absolutely. Let's go. Yeah.
Opening Scene of Megaforce
00:25:56
Speaker
Blood bumper, listen to me. I'm gonna give you the plot summary. Come on, baby. Here's the synopsis.
00:26:08
Speaker
Blood bumper, blood bumper.
00:26:21
Speaker
The first thing we get is a big block of text. And it reads... Despite official denials by leaders of the free world, sources now confirm the existence of Megaforce, a phantom army of super elite fighting men whose weapons are the most powerful science can devise.
00:26:39
Speaker
Their mission? To preserve freedom and justice, battling the forces of tyranny and evil in every corner of the globe.
00:26:49
Speaker
So very, very 1980s Reagan, let's go be the police of the world situation. So then our opening credits roll their red text over high contrast, black and white footage of vehicles doing different stunts. So I just have to say that I have any, you have either of you seen the video for, um,
00:27:17
Speaker
The music video for Kill All Hippies by Primal Scream. Not that I recall. Okay, because it reminds me of this. Like these two, like I feel like maybe they watch the Megaforce credits, like let's do something like that actually.
00:27:31
Speaker
ah so Just really weird because it's ah that's a pretty crunchy song, which is not what this credit sequence
Megaforce's Soundtrack
00:27:38
Speaker
is at all. So it was just weird to be in that headspace.
00:27:42
Speaker
No, our score here is very synth based. It has like a recurring motif of like, but but but but but bum ah it's great. I cut you off, Pete. I'm sorry. but I was just going say, similarly in music world, it reminded me the high contrast black and white of the first Killing Joke album.
00:28:01
Speaker
People standing on a wall, it says Killing Joke. it's ah it's ah It's a way tougher look than Megaforce would pay off over its almost two-hour running time. Yeah, definitely. it gives you- But it's striking opening.
00:28:15
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Yeah. it is It is pretty sick. I think it is, yeah, one of the visually stronger elements of the film. And I love the the title font of Megaforce. It's a strong logo.
00:28:28
Speaker
So then we cut to communist propaganda being read out loud to tank cavalry as led by Duke Guerrero, as played by Henry Silva, who I only know from the Manchurian candidate.
Propaganda Scene Description
00:28:42
Speaker
I know him from something. I can't remember what it was, but I was like, oh, this guy. I i know this guy. I thought it was... my In my rewatch of it, I thought it was Robert Zadar for about the first half of the film.
00:28:57
Speaker
He does have a strange jawline here. They have, they're both, you know, they it's, you know, in the certain lighting that he appears in the beginning, it's, you know, I think you can mistake them for each other. Yeah. But i Greg, I was with you. i I, in watching, I was like, I know him from something.
00:29:13
Speaker
Yeah. And he's, ah he's in Ghost Dog. Okay. okay Okay. The folks that, uh, he's the one who gets shot through the sink. Uh, spoiler. youer So he is in, um, he is in an escape from the Bronx, which I think is 1990. The Bronx warrior.
00:29:32
Speaker
Okay. That is where I know him from. Well, there you go. Just a, just a classic character actor. It just pops up in tons of great stuff. Uh, Guerrera cuts the communist propaganda short. Uh,
00:29:47
Speaker
and orders his tanks to open fire on some sort of factory or a refinery or something. There's a tank battle that ends with the tanks rolling away victorious and then fleeing across the border to their home country of Gamibia.
00:30:03
Speaker
h Military leaders of the country they just covertly attacked, Sardun, are General Edward Burnwhite and Major Zara Benbuta,
00:30:16
Speaker
And ah they both realize that they need some help. They need a Megaforce. They're going need Megaforce. They're going need the Megaforce. Yep. ah So the next thing they know, they're being dropped off in a limo in some remote area where they get picked up by Dallas, played by Michael Beck, wearing a really cool Skoll t-shirt, pulling off bootcut jeans, and And he's a rank and file member of Megaforce.
Introduction to Megaforce Team
00:30:51
Speaker
And he's probably the rank and file member that we spend the most time with. He's certainly the one that has the most personality. He's great. I love Michael Beck.
00:31:02
Speaker
Yeah, he nails this. Now, ah he explains that, in fact, none of the members of Megaforce have any rank except for the commander. But everyone just calls him Hunter.
00:31:17
Speaker
Now, Dallas could tell these two aren't impressed by his shit kicker charms. So he then decides to show them a hologram generator mounted to the roof of his Ford Bronco that could create images of bikini clad women cavorting on a beach.
00:31:34
Speaker
Very useful. And it seems like they're setting this hologram projector up for something later in the film, and it never pays off. I mean, they do use it once after that.
00:31:46
Speaker
But they use it just to show another guy a bikini girl on a beach. People are like, take a look at that, huh? Yeah. How about that? Yeah. That's something we can do.
00:31:57
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Can you do that? <unk>s It's Chekhov's Bikini Girl that never truly pays off. It's true. It's true. Well, there was talk of a sequel. Oh. Yeah.
00:32:10
Speaker
it was going to be called deeds, not words, and was going to take place in the Caribbean somewhere. So maybe this was going to pay off in part two. Yeah. Finally, can bring this thing to the beach. Yeah. It'll make sense. This is an early, uh, this is an early universe picture where they're just like, we have a whole franchise planned out. Yeah. loop of yeah We're planting seeds for phase three. You don't even understand. That's right.
00:32:38
Speaker
The MFU. they
00:32:44
Speaker
ah He also introduces them to the second member of Megaforce that we meet, Zachary Taylor, a black guy that is smart. And that just blows their minds. He also is always wearing headphones. They're more impressed by this than than they are by the the hologram.
00:33:03
Speaker
ah So these two drive the general and Zara off farther into the desert to meet more of Megaforce. But this time they show up on a trio of motorcycles armed with machine guns and rocket launchers. And they race around shooting at targets that are getting thrown in the air and jumping over rocks. And it all looks sick as hell, but it's also all kind of incoherent. Yeah.
00:33:26
Speaker
Like you don't have any idea where in space where anything is. You're just getting like a shot of a machine gun, an explosion, a motorcycle jumps over a rock machine gun, you know?
00:33:39
Speaker
Did you notice that when they shoot off the missiles, they do wheelies and that's how they aim the missiles? Yeah. you Wheelies. Yeah. so Cool. And those are the, their missiles are clearly just model rockets mounted to the front of the motorcycle, but they still look sick as hell. They sure do. I mean, it it works, but yeah, it is sort of equal parts, radical, impressive and incoherent.
00:34:06
Speaker
when the chaos subsides, one writer that had a long blue headband sticking out the back of his helmet jumps the Bronco before doffing said helmet and introducing himself.
00:34:19
Speaker
It's commander Ace Hunter played by Barry Bostwick. What do you guys think of Barry Bostwick in this picture? um He's a, he's got a lot of confidence.
00:34:31
Speaker
Yes. Yes. Yes, he does. He sells every frame he's in. Yeah. sure I think he's perfect for this. I'm not certain what it is that he's doing entirely in the end, but I know that he's doing it really well and I want to see him do it.
00:34:52
Speaker
Well, I can shed some light on how he got here. which is one one detail that you should know is that he grew out the beard because he wanted the beard to become sort of iconic. So he'd be like, when I'm playing other characters, I won't have the beard. But every time I'm Ace Hunter, I've got my iconic beard.
00:35:10
Speaker
And the other thing was that he was cast on the back of his performance in The Pirates of Penzance yeah on stage in Los Angeles. That's the energy that he's bringing to this, is Pirates of Penzance. I remember I read that fact and I was just like, I feel like that kind of explains some of the vibe.
00:35:31
Speaker
Yeah. If, if they said, we want you to do that. Yeah. In this movie, it would make perfect sense. like, okay. He's doing a performance that can be read from the back seats.
00:35:44
Speaker
Yes. I was going to say, if if you muted the soundtrack and put on like a Gilbert and Sullivan, if you put on the soundtrack to Pirates Penzance, it would probably work just as fine.
00:35:55
Speaker
Probably. Yes. I bet I'll probably do that later. Actually, that gives me. OK, I was wondering what I was going to do for a trailer. Let me write that down. really quick I also do like that at some point someone's like, you're a modern major general. I was just like, hi, how about that? little Little Penzance in there. That's nice.
00:36:17
Speaker
missed that okay so hunter introduces himself and is instantly charmed by zara's beauty and she is a very beautiful actress she's apparently ah from india uh came out of that system uh he accurately guesses that uh the best way to impress her is to take her to his underground hyper technological secret headquarters He's got planes and helicopters and missiles.
00:36:45
Speaker
He has a scientist that everybody calls Egg. All the vehicles are painted in photosensitive paint that turns matte black in the dark. And all the members of Megaforce are pulled from militaries around the world and listed as dead in their home countries.
00:37:05
Speaker
It seems pretty cool. Yeah, it's pretty airtight. And then the underground layer is obviously great kid stuff. You know, this is right on target.
00:37:16
Speaker
I did write a note to myself that said, how are they powering this gigantic underground layer? That's fair. That's a good question. Actually. Thorium salt reactor. That must be it.
00:37:28
Speaker
I think that's my best. Yes. I'm at the age now where those details matter. I got know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They had one of those early experimental ones. Because they get all the latest technology. And also it's slightly in the future.
00:37:43
Speaker
ah but but It's a shame that they can't release that technology out to the greater world. It could do a lot more good than Megaforce. ah Now, zora and or Zara and the general, they get settled in.
00:38:00
Speaker
Hunter stops by Zara's room to flirt with her in a very strange way, talking about medals. Yeah, their um their flirtation is one of the bizarrest I've seen on film.
00:38:13
Speaker
They have a very odd chemistry. They do. I mean, it it is a chemistry, but it is odd.
00:38:21
Speaker
It's not like chocolate and peanut butter. It's more like peanut butter and bacon. Like, it's still good. Yeah. But it's not one you find yourself craving. There's there's something off about it.
00:38:33
Speaker
It's right away, too. Like, they waste no time in establishing that they are interested in each other. and yeah Ace Hunter is a man of action. He knows what he wants and he goes for it.
00:38:45
Speaker
Deeds, not words in everything. And he does mean everything. Oh boy. Uh, now,
00:38:59
Speaker
Hunter then briefs the general and ts Zara on the situation, takes them down to a situation room and he tells them everything that he knows about Guerrera, which turns out to be quite a lot because ah they served together back in the day in some pre Megaforce situation.
00:39:15
Speaker
They're used to fight together and Hunter almost got him to sign up for Megaforce, but it didn't work out possibly because Guerrera stole his lighter.
00:39:26
Speaker
Which is a weird thing. You know, guys. Guys and their lighters. Guys, you know, nobody wants to back down. yeah oh, I see. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Macho stuff. Yeah.
00:39:44
Speaker
So Hunter's plan is to take some dudes from Megaforce across the border into Gamibia, strike one of Guerrero's supply depots, and then lure him back across the border into Sardune, where the general will be waiting to spring a trap.
00:40:03
Speaker
Yeah. It seems kind of like a bad plan.
00:40:09
Speaker
Yeah. And indeed, it ends up not working out, so... I actually wrote that it's a wild plan. Wild, yeah, seems accurate. Yeah. There's also some gassing up that happens in it, which I feel like is important.
00:40:24
Speaker
Yeah, they do need to stop to refuel. Yeah. That is significant. And I think also it was surprisingly convoluted. Yeah. I mean, Anna has definitely had a hard time following it in that it did seem like overly detailed at times. Yes. Yes.
00:40:43
Speaker
Yeah, I wrote down that this was the hard sci-fi section of the film.
Zara's Training and Mission Decision
00:40:47
Speaker
Yeah, when he was like at 0700 hours. It is hyper precise and none of it matters.
00:40:54
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. It's it just like is there to sort of dazzle you with how advanced Megaforce is, but it does end up serving to make it a little confusing. It sort of feels like someone saying at 0600 hours, we'll start chopping the onions in that. Oh, six. Oh, two. We'll start chopping the tomato. It's just like you were just going make dinner is what we're going to do. Yeah.
00:41:17
Speaker
yeah Now ah Zara and the general, they like the plan though. And they like it so much that Zara insists on riding with Megaforce. I'll just says that she can only come along if she completes Megaforce training.
00:41:33
Speaker
And since Hunter's plan launches in 48 hours or so, they figure they should get cracking. So they get pretty much right to it. ah First up, paratrooper training that involves Zara and Hunter jumping out of a plane and then performing romantic aerobatics together.
00:41:50
Speaker
Yep. Very strange scene. Strange flirtation again. Strong, strong anchorman overtones in that too. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I could see that.
00:42:02
Speaker
I just kept on thinking maybe because it had the, innovation as part of the, uh, how they made it look like Barry Bostwick was actually jumping out of a plane.
00:42:13
Speaker
Uh, I kept on thinking of the song from Xanadu suddenly my heart is in motion. and ah ah ah ah Like that seemed like the vibe of this scene. So it was just very odd.
00:42:30
Speaker
ah Then she flies a helicopter. She can fly a helicopter. And then she aces their armored dune buggy simulator, which was clearly shot in the InnoVision studio and gives you a glimpse in how InnoVision works.
00:42:46
Speaker
It is just a projection screen.
00:42:50
Speaker
Now, still, Hunter tells her that she can't go. His team is a well-oiled machine. They all know each other's moves, all their ins and outs. They're working in perfect unison. She would be too much of an X factor.
00:43:02
Speaker
And she's like, ah, well.
00:43:07
Speaker
But I do like, I do like she said, she says, she's like, I can't or you won't.
00:43:14
Speaker
Fair enough. And they are shot in ah like silhouette yeah with this pink backlighting. And so it looks like they're going to kiss, but actually they're just talking about personnel.
00:43:26
Speaker
Yeah. The next day they kiss, though, when a Hunter hops on a plane and he says, let's meet in London at a hotel called the Lion's Head when this is all over.
00:43:42
Speaker
So like in three days, two days, i would say next week. Can we give it a week? It seems like he's a man of action. I'm going to have stuff that I'm going to have to do after this. there's kindnna There's more to this than just this.
00:43:56
Speaker
Do you know what I mean? I don't think Megaforce fills out paperwork. It's true. I guess that's not his problem. But then that's when they give each other the strangest goodbye gesture ever captured on film, the kiss and thumbs up.
00:44:13
Speaker
Once again, I'm insisting that you go do it in front of a mirror. It's great seeing every one of us do it. Yes, we've all been doing it on the call.
00:44:24
Speaker
And it's how I'm going to be greeting people from on the call from here on out. So that way we'll know who listened to this episode. Great. So then we get Megaforce all hanging out on the plane before being parachuted behind enemy lines. We get to see them interacting and they're cool characters. Spend a little bit more time with the rank and file Megaforce.
00:44:43
Speaker
You know, it's very reminiscent of the helicopter scene in Predator, you know, where they're all going out before they. Yeah. There's that kind of vibe. Uh, but then they all parachute out into the drop zone and all their vehicles have parachutes on them. So they're like riding a motorcycle as they parachute out. It's great stuff.
Night Assault Execution
00:45:04
Speaker
We've got, I want to say maybe 10 motorcycles that are called the Delta Mark four. I want to say about five or six dune buggies and some sort of command vehicle that has six wheels,
00:45:18
Speaker
ah the guy that we see operating it from the inside is played by how need them. Yeah. He does look like a cross between Garth Marenghi and a Southern preacher. Like if Garth Marenghi was on the righteous gemstones
00:45:35
Speaker
now, ah because it's nighttime, the paint on all the vehicles switches from its traditional bronze and black lightning bolt on a field of creme paint job, which,
00:45:47
Speaker
to now just being Matt Black. And then they initiate their assault. And we get dune buggies firing twin Gatling guns and motorcycles jumping over buildings and firing rockets and all this amazing kick-ass stuff. And you can't see any of it because it's in the middle of the night and all the vehicles have been painted Matt Black.
00:46:08
Speaker
It's the craziest scene I've ever seen in my life. Yeah. And it's got a timer on the entire time because it's going to take four minutes and it takes exactly four minutes and you get to see it in real time.
00:46:22
Speaker
And once again, it's just like close up of the machine guns, explosions, a motorcycle, a dune buggy, explosions. as a But none of it makes any sense. And this time you can't even see most of it.
00:46:37
Speaker
It's insane. imagine the, the, The editor in the editing bay with each cut to a machine gun going, yeah, and another one. Four minutes. Yeah. Another one.
00:46:48
Speaker
More. Yeah, it just, this was what I meant when I was disappointed in that knowing that Hal Needham is this sort of classic stunt guy, that these action sequences are so illegible, kind of let me down a little bit.
00:47:09
Speaker
And they can kind of become a slog. And it's weird that there's this is half of the action sequences in the movie. Listeners, there's only one more big action sequence yeah the entire film.
00:47:23
Speaker
So Guerrero sees the carnage that ah Megaforce has wrought upon his fuel depot. And so he sends a radio operator in a sidecar of a motorcycle after the fleeing Megaforce so that he can monitor and follow them. It seems like Ace's plan is going great so far.
00:47:46
Speaker
But back in Sardoon, the general gets a message. And this mayte message, it makes him frown so he know it's bad news.
00:47:58
Speaker
And he and Zara hop into his favorite helicopter and they fly off to tell Hunter what's up.
00:48:05
Speaker
Guerrero has also found out this bad news. And he has also flown to Megaforce's refueling station, which Greg brought up so astutely earlier.
00:48:18
Speaker
Yeah. It's a lot more happens at the refueling station than I would have guessed from the, from the plan portion of the film. Yeah. I had just assumed it would be refueling, but yeah, this one, this one really pays off.
00:48:32
Speaker
They're not just refueling their vehicles. They're refueling their bodies. They're refueling their spirits. You know, you gotta, if you want to perform at your best, you have to recognize your own needs.
Philosophy of Megaforce
00:48:44
Speaker
That's true. Mm-hmm.
00:48:46
Speaker
That's the real motto of the fighting men of Megaforce. Take time to chill. ah So, yeah, Guerrero flies up in his helicopter and they're like his helicopters unarmed. Should we let fly? And Ace is like, yeah, definitely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's my old buddy, Duke Guerrero. And Duke and Ace greet each other and they give each other a big hug.
00:49:09
Speaker
And Ace says, Duke, you're always a prince. And Duke says, Ace, you were always a card. And they've got a great banter like that. Yeah.
00:49:20
Speaker
And ah then General and Zara, they roll up as well. And Hunter introduces everybody. And at first, the general's like, oh, you've captured him. He's like, no, no, no. He's just stopping by to say hi.
00:49:35
Speaker
Anyway, goodbye. ah And then ah the general finally tells Hunter the bad news. The bad news is complicated. the ah Basically, Megaforce, their ah strike was considered an act of hostility, and they they which makes sense because they attacked a sovereign nation. sure And so now if Sardun lets them back across the border, they'll be seen as giving shelter to, i guess, terrorists, I guess you would consider them.
00:50:12
Speaker
And ah so they cannot leave ah Gamibia. The Gamibian army is about an hour away. The border, they would get attacked by the general and his army.
00:50:26
Speaker
The only other place they can go is the Dry Lake, hoping to land their planes in the nearby Dry Lake. But of course, Guerrera and his cavalry of tank mercenaries have already staked out the Dry Lake.
00:50:43
Speaker
Needlessly complicated. Yeah. Also very like bureaucratic, like a lot of red tape in this particular. The real enemy of Megaforce is bureaucracy and all these damn laws, these regulations.
00:51:00
Speaker
They just got to let them go out there and do what's right. That's what's important.
00:51:07
Speaker
Weird to be recording this the weekend after we kidnapped the president of Venezuela. I feel like that also should be mentioned. No, no. I was thinking that now, because I watched it before we did that, actually, um the day before. and yeah, yeah doing that is just like, this is, this bizarre.
00:51:27
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. It really shows that there is a dark side for all the goofy fun of Megaforce. It really is sort of definitely advocating for something evil. But in any case, o but yeah, okay. So Guerrero offers Hunter the opportunities to surrender everybody, ah or to surrender, but instead a Hunter doesn't take him up on it and everybody flies off, leaving Megaforce to their own devices.
00:51:58
Speaker
Luckily, Hunter has a plan. The planes will land on the dry lake, distracting Guerrero's tanks, and Megaforce will attack them from behind.
00:52:10
Speaker
They think they have their backs up against a mountain range, not knowing that Megaforce's faster and more agile and smaller vehicles can easily navigate through that mountain range, which Sherman tanks, of course, would think would be impossible.
00:52:25
Speaker
So then they do that.
00:52:29
Speaker
And I was getting really excited because yeah I saw them like driving up. It takes them like a good five minutes to drive to where the fight's going to happen. yeah And I'm like, okay, this time it's daytime.
00:52:42
Speaker
Let's see if we can at least bring it back with this last one. This has got to be your big sequence. I was getting so excited. And this action sequence is once again completely incomprehensible.
00:52:56
Speaker
Yeah. This one does feature the iconic rainbow smoke coming out of the back of the Delta Mark fours. That's still really cool. But as a whole, it just is just a mess.
00:53:12
Speaker
The only bad thing that happens in this entire fight is Ace gets knocked off his bike. That's as close as we see anyone as close as we get to seeing anyone get hurt. Hmm. But then he gets off his bike and doubles back real quick to go taunt Guerrero one last time, telling him the good guys always win, even in the 80s.
00:53:35
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Which is so incomprehensible. I think it was because Guerrero gave this long speech about how there's no money in it, and it's that people are after money. Yeah, we could afford to be idealist in the 70s. Right, right.
00:53:53
Speaker
But I guess, that the is he saying that the 80s are like a dark age, even though the good guys still always win? i think what he's saying is you can still fight for your ideals, even in the 80s, despite the fact that there's no money in it, quote unquote.
00:54:11
Speaker
Okay, okay. I'm taking him too literally. That's my problem. In any case... ah He then hops back on his Delta Mark four, but this is the one that the egg has specially modified.
00:54:25
Speaker
Oh yes. Checkoff sequence. There's a lot of check devices in this one, two, or is it one, two, or is it one, two? It's one, two. Oh, okay.
00:54:37
Speaker
A little debate that is had in the film. Yes. It's riveting. Yeah. Uh, The plane that is taking Megaforce out of here has already started to take off. It's already up in the air, flying away from the dry lake.
00:54:54
Speaker
But because of the egg's 1-2 sequence, the Mark for ah pops out wings and a rocket blasts
Ace Hunter's Escape
00:55:05
Speaker
it into the sky. It can fly now. It is a sky cycle. Yeah.
00:55:09
Speaker
And these are not the greatest effects for this. The InnoVision does not look good. No, not here. It doesn't look good. It doesn't sell it.
00:55:23
Speaker
They should have just tied some wires to the bike and had a plane above it and had to just drag a bike on a plane.
00:55:33
Speaker
Like a toy bike on a remote-controlled plane. Yeah. yeah you know Just sell it. but Yeah, the InnoVision does not do it. Boswick is loving it and he does like a barrel roll which as I'm yeah saying now I realize he should definitely fall when he gets to the bottom of that barrel you know what I mean he's holding on really tight yeah has really powerful thighs yes
00:56:00
Speaker
uh But then ah he does land it into the open tail of the plane. It's one of those ones that has like a dock in the back. that So he flies up in there and he escapes and Megaforce wins again. and even Guerrero is happy for him, yelling, all right, Ace, hey, I didn't kill you.
00:56:21
Speaker
You gotta wait for me again. You know, and then it has that. And then it turns out that he switched lighters. Right. And he switched his lighters. He got his lighter back.
00:56:33
Speaker
He, so he did, he did the old Yankee swap on him.
00:56:37
Speaker
Did the old do-si-do.
00:56:40
Speaker
A little mine, little yours. You know what I mean? i think so. A little flip flapjack.
00:56:47
Speaker
And, uh, Yeah, so he's flying back to Sardun, and he promptly blows up the general's favorite helicopter in revenge, and then gives Zara a big thumbs-up kiss.
00:57:06
Speaker
We'll see you all again in deeds, not words. That's right. So, final thoughts. Five-star ratings. ratings. What did you guys think of the feature length film Megaforce?
Concluding Opinions on Megaforce
00:57:23
Speaker
Greg, why don't you kick us out? All right. So ah this movie is an action movie in which there's almost no action and nothing really happens. Because they're like, we're going to go in and we're going to do this thing. And then halfway through, they're like, actually, you should stop.
00:57:41
Speaker
And they're like, okay. It's like, all right, that's that's our plot. um It introduces us. It makes the same lovely mistake that I think primal ah primal primitive war makes, where they're trying to introduce us to a unit of people. And they do that by first introducing us to other people.
00:58:01
Speaker
First for some reason. It's like, so going to be with this group the whole time, but the first 10 minutes will be with somebody else. And yeah it's like, I would love it if they would start there and then they don't have a lot of backstory or anything.
00:58:16
Speaker
It's one of those movies that like when you watch it, It raises just a lot of delicious questions. ah There's a lot of like, what are you doing and why?
00:58:30
Speaker
um and I think that there is a reason why it is featured in TV Carnage. And there's a reason why i read this, that the creators of South Park made a reference to it in a joke.
00:58:45
Speaker
I think this is a real touchstone of bad film. i think ah it is a very good time. I think you are kind of right, Chris, in that things are incomprehensible in the action isn't what you wanted. But I think if you turn your mind off and just keep eating the popcorn and go in with this attitude of I am going to watch something that is questionable, but in just a fun, fun way, did you hear that music, And I just, I genuinely, genuinely love, I call these hubris movies where someone's just like, I got a real good idea. and they do it with complete confidence. And then the light comes up, you know, at the end and you're like, well, I have some questions. You know, it's, I love that experience. So for me, I'm going to give this a four and a half is for watchability.
00:59:36
Speaker
um I think this is movie. I think this movie is more strange than it is weird. Fair enough. Which gives it a hard, it's hard to to pinpoint that, but for weirdness, I'll go three.
00:59:50
Speaker
Okay. yes Yes. It's just, it makes, again, it just makes some choices where you're just like, what is, how did you come up with that? um And I really appreciate that.
01:00:01
Speaker
Fair enough. I landed very similar to you, Greg. I gave it a four for watchability. it It all runs pretty smooth. There's a lot of good Hollywood sheen to it, you know, ah but it can at times be hard to follow. And unfortunately, the two very long action sequences amazing.
01:00:21
Speaker
it is could be headache inducing. It is very much just like garbage. You know, it is four minutes of just absolute insanity that you cannot follow.
01:00:33
Speaker
It feels just like they assembled it out of stock footage. You're describing something that sounds so good to me. Yeah. I mean, depending on why I, and I think part of it is that I did go into it with the wrong expectations. Um,
01:00:47
Speaker
I think if I had gone into it knowing that this was a vibes watch and knowing that I wasn't going to get good action sequences on it, and then I approached it on that level, I might bump it up higher, but I came into it on the wrong foot.
01:01:00
Speaker
I think and that threw me off ah for, for weirdness. I do think it's weird that, The film has two action sequences done by one of the greatest stuntmen of his era, and they're both really long and completely illegible. So I'm going to give that three and three stars for weirdness, I'm going to say.
01:01:18
Speaker
ah What about you, Pete, in terms of watchability and weirdness? Well, I'd say ah watchability for me is, it's sort of, there's like two tiers for that score for me. I'd say in general, the movie kind of feels like um you know when you watch a low budget action movie and it's recycling scenes or it's doing things in slow-mo, you get the running time to a feature length.
01:01:45
Speaker
This feels like a movie entirely made out of those bonus shots that are just going to bump it up to 90 minutes. Yeah. Just the closeup of the gun firing. Yeah. Constant closeup, but also like the refueling scene. There's just scenes of people hanging out on rocks, you know, that,
01:02:05
Speaker
But the movie is well over 90
Megaforce with Friends
01:02:07
Speaker
minutes. they They needed almost none of it. But I'd say in terms of watchability, it's as a solo watch, it's like a one or two. It's pretty, it's you really feel yourself wheeling yourself through it at some point.
01:02:26
Speaker
But I'd say in a room of people, it's a much higher score. That experience is the same. but collectively having a whole group of people be psyched and then bummed out for like three quarters of the movie because nothing is happening. And then erupting at the end of like, wow, something is happening. I don't know what it is, but we're all cheering.
01:02:48
Speaker
That's pretty fun. that's, that's maybe it's like a that's maybe like a four in terms of a group experience, but it's a one done. I don't think this is something you have to revisit kind of ever.
01:03:00
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And weirdness. I mean, it's all over the place. I, i ah you know, at times it's it's a it's a it's a one and at times it's a four.
01:03:13
Speaker
yeah I mean, I'll remind you once again that someone does kiss their thumb and give a thumbs up. I mean, that's a five out five right there. Yeah. yeah With absolute confidence. Yeah.
01:03:25
Speaker
And that's in universe. Like multiple people do this. Like it's a part of daily life. Yeah. This is the future of gestures. The near future of Megaforce is, uh, is we're in thumb kissing times.
Megaforce Video Game
01:03:38
Speaker
Well, let's move on to the final act of the show. Shall we? Sure. All right. Keep this rig rolling onto our segment this week. We're going to be doing a little bit of game time. Yeah.
01:04:01
Speaker
Oh yeah! G-g-g-g-games! Video games! Video games! This movie inspired a video game!
01:04:12
Speaker
G-g-g-g-games! Video games! Video games! Video games! Ooh, it inspired a video game! You can't game me, but it is game time!
01:04:30
Speaker
That's right. It's game time. It's not the segment where we play a game. It's a segment where we talk about a game. The segment where we play a game is next, but Megaforce did inspire a video game.
01:04:43
Speaker
Megaforce was conceived as a family friendly film. And so they, uh, wanted to do a lot of merchandising with toys for the kids and, Unfortunately, because it was such a flop, a lot of that stuff didn't make it to market. There were some like model kits that you could buy in foreign markets. There's like, you can buy a very expensive Japanese model of the dune buggy. that's like It's a real collector's item.
01:05:09
Speaker
I think this also is a good time because no one has talked about it. And I completely forgot about this. This is a heavy action film air quotes around it in which nobody dies. No one does. Yeah. No one even gets wounded.
01:05:21
Speaker
No. Although I did hear the director fell off a motorcycle during the making of the movie and broke his ribs. So that's something. That's something. That's off camera. Yeah.
01:05:33
Speaker
Now, ah one thing that did make it to market was Megaforce for the Atari 2600. Yes. It was programmed by one man, Doug Neubauer, who worked under the nom de plume Dallas North.
01:05:50
Speaker
which really threw me off because I found the text of the instruction manual. And one thing that said tips from Dallas North. And I was like, wait a second. Is Dallas the character? Is his last name North? Did I find out something about Megaforce Cannon inside the instruction manual of the Megaforce video game? But no, it was just the ah yeah pseudonym of the Doug Neubauer.
01:06:17
Speaker
Newbauer would make three movie adaptation games, all for 20th Century Fox. The other two being Alien. Nice.
01:06:28
Speaker
Maybe. And you'll get never guess this one in a million years. E.T.? MASH. oh What? He did the MASH video game. For Atari.
01:06:40
Speaker
For Atari 2600. They didn't know what to adapt back then. Yeah. No, they didn't. MASH. Yeah, he did MASH. He did MASH the video game.
01:06:52
Speaker
Huh. I wonder if it has the theme song. I hope so. Or if it was adapted in the show or the film. why shouldn't i You know, who... Questions I wish I had asked myself last week.
01:07:05
Speaker
Yeah. Well, anyway, ah the game itself is side-scrolling shooter where you play a member of Megaforce driving what they call a moto fighter, but it's clearly supposed to be a Delta Mark floor with the flying adaptation.
01:07:22
Speaker
ah you must defend Sardoon from enemy assault, flying back and forth from Sardoon to the enemy headquarters, dropping bombs and avoiding attacks and keeping an eye on your fuel tank, which acts as sort of a de facto timer.
01:07:37
Speaker
ah But it is different from a lot of side scrollers in that there is both a defend and attack aspects to it. And you need to switch back and forth between the two.
01:07:48
Speaker
Uh, The game must have been fairly widely distributed because I've seen cartridges for sale on eBay for about 10 bucks. Oh. If you want to play it for free, there's an emulator on archive.org. I tried playing it, but I couldn't figure out a which button fired.
01:08:09
Speaker
So that was a problem I was having. It's right, left. Yeah. One, two. yeah One, two. One, two. One, two. One, two.
01:08:20
Speaker
Yep. If only the egg was there to help me out. yeah okay Well, do you guys want to play a game? Yeah. Let's do it. All right. We're going play a little wins going on.
01:09:27
Speaker
I discovered during that song that I think I do the thumb kiss better with the left hand than the right hand. So that's something I've learned about myself today. So listeners, you need to go in front of a mirror. You need to do it with both hands.
01:09:39
Speaker
yeah And then you need to see what you need to post it to your socials and tag us. Please. Yes. Let's make this do the Megaforce thumb kiss challenge. Tag somebody. I don't know how things work, but you figure it out.
01:09:56
Speaker
We're going to be playing when's going on with the filmography of Mr. Barry Bostwick. Yes. The man has worked from 1971 to today. Still out there.
01:10:06
Speaker
Good. Greg, Anna, and I watched a Barry Bostwick movie together on Christmas. Yeah. Santa, Santa Girl. You never remember if it's Santa Girl or Santa Baby.
01:10:18
Speaker
Santa Girl. Santa Girl. It's great. Strong recommend. Yeah, it's about Santa's daughter. Santa's a single father, and his daughter wants to go to college. He's like, for one semester, and then you have to become me.
01:10:34
Speaker
Yeah, oh and you have to marry Jack Frost's son, Jack Frost Jr. That's really good. There's an arranged marriage and an overbearing single father, who is also Santa, but we're not talking about that film. No, no, we're talking about Barry Bostwick.
01:10:48
Speaker
Uh, so what I'm going to do is I'm going to read you the title and a description of a Barry Bostwick film.
Barry Bostwick Game Segment
01:10:54
Speaker
And I want you to tell me what year you think it came out. You'll both get to guess. If you get it within five years, you get one point.
01:11:00
Speaker
you get it within one year, you get two points. and If you get it right on the button, you get three big points. Very exciting game. Yeah. Everybody ready. as i As ready as I'm going to be.
01:11:13
Speaker
All right. Question number one.
01:11:17
Speaker
FDR American Badass. What? The true untold story of our country's greatest monster hunting president.
01:11:28
Speaker
ah greg Greg, when do you think FDR American Badass out? I am going to say that that came out in 2014. Okay.
01:11:39
Speaker
What about you, Pete? 2004. two thousand four All right. Greg gets the point. It came out in 2012. Very close.
01:11:51
Speaker
Don't worry. Plenty game left to play, Pete. Okay. I'm ready. Question number two. Project Metal Beast.
01:12:01
Speaker
There are some years to references in here, so I've i've blanked them out. In 19 blankety blank, an unhinged CIA agent injects himself with werewolf blood that he found.
01:12:14
Speaker
why After a killing spree, his body is put in suspended animation and then thought out blankety blank years later by his crazy boss and a team of unsuspecting doctors.
01:12:27
Speaker
Project Metal Beast. right. I'm going to write that down. I've seen it. It's not great. It does. Surprisingly, somebody hangs dong in that movie. Well, I'm more into it than I'll see any time in which there's some gratuitous male nudity because we need to see more of that in the cinema. That's fair enough. Just to get it even, you know, see what's out there. Yeah.
01:12:49
Speaker
What year do you think it came out? 1976. Okay. What about you, Pete? I'm going to say 1988. 1988.
01:13:00
Speaker
Neither of you get the point. That was 1995. What? what Wow. 1995. Huh. Wow. hu
01:13:11
Speaker
All right. Question number three. The Land Before Time, part 14. Wow. After his father doesn't return from an important journey, Littlefoot and company set out to find him.
01:13:27
Speaker
The Land Before Time, part 14.
01:13:34
Speaker
um
01:13:39
Speaker
ah to 2020. Okay. What about you, Pete? Yeah, i was going to say, like, part 14 has to be fairly recent. Like, this like it came out yesterday. 2026.
01:13:54
Speaker
but Greg gets to the point. It was 2016. You were, that was very good thinking, but there's probably up to now. They're probably up in the twenties. I got, I must assume. can't believe they've gone all the way to 14.
01:14:10
Speaker
Question number four. Movie, movie. Three genres of the 1930s, boxing films, World War I aviation dramas, and backstage Broadway musicals are all satirized using the same cast.
01:14:29
Speaker
Movie, movie.
01:14:34
Speaker
Greg, what do you think? 2015?
01:14:40
Speaker
two thousand fifteen Okay. Okay. What about you, Mr. Pete? I'm going to the other way. I'm going say 1979.
01:14:51
Speaker
That's two big points for Pete. That was 1978.
01:14:56
Speaker
oh Wow. I really thought it might be this epic movie kind of theme. I went a little too late for that, but I was like, it'd be weird if those guys went back to three films from the thirties, but also they might.
01:15:14
Speaker
They should have done that though. It would have resonated with their audience. yeah Question number five, addicted to his love.
01:15:26
Speaker
Larry Hogan, using various aliases, meets middle-aged women through dating services and personal ads and using his charms, cheats them out of money.
01:15:38
Speaker
When a number of his victims compare notes, things fall apart. Addicted to his love. 87. 87. 87. what
01:15:49
Speaker
about you, Pete? eighty seven okay what about you pete um I'm going to say 94. Ooh, just outside of scoring range. Greg, two big points. It was 1988. Ooh. That's got to sting, Pete. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts.
01:16:17
Speaker
Question number six, Helen Keller versus Night Wolves. Oh, boy. This film explores the true story that the government didn't want you to know about how Helen Keller really lost her eyesight and hearing night wolves.
01:16:37
Speaker
That's not werewolves. It's not werewolves. It's night wolves. They're legally distinct. This is, i don't even know. Might as well get out a dartboard at this point. So let's say, let's say 2002. Yeah.
01:16:53
Speaker
Okay. How about you, Pete? 2016. Two big points for Pete. That was 2015. Holy good word. It was from the makers of FDR American Badass.
01:17:07
Speaker
That was my theory. That makes good sense.
01:17:13
Speaker
Question number seven. Young guy Christian. Okay. Okay. Fiendish Dr. Gas has kidnapped six Miss Planet contestants, leaving the inept spy and playboy socialite Guy Christian with the help of his robot partner Junkman to rescue them.
01:17:35
Speaker
Junkman. Young Guy Christian. 1998. Also, how many S's were in Gas? Three. Okay.
01:17:45
Speaker
You're saying 1998? Yeah. yeah Okay. What about you, Pete? I'd say that's a good guess. I'll say 2005, but I feel like 98's the winner.
01:18:01
Speaker
You are both way off. 1979. No way. What? Were you imagining this as like Mary Bostwick doing an American Austin Powers?
01:18:13
Speaker
Kinda, yeah. I'd watch that. Yeah. I didn't know what to make of that, frankly. Was it Junk Man? Yeah. the large question number Question number eight.
01:18:30
Speaker
Junk Man. This is very cyberpunk, I felt like No, that's fair. Question number eight. Hallelujah! The Devil's Carnival!
01:18:42
Speaker
ah Lucifer and his carnies are plotting against heaven. This is how the war begins. Alleluia, the devil's carnival. 83.
01:18:55
Speaker
Okay. 2000. 2000. Once again, no points. 2016. um two thousand two thousand oo once again no points twenty sixteen but Once again, in his ah dark era.
01:19:16
Speaker
Yeah. All right. Last one. It's all to play for. because It's all tied up. Oh, shit. Question number nine. 2010 Moby Dick.
01:19:31
Speaker
a science fiction adaptation of the classic novel featuring the captain of a high-tech submarine and his obsessive quest to destroy the enormous prehistoric whale that maimed him.
01:19:43
Speaker
2010 Moby Dick.
01:19:46
Speaker
So my guts just want to say 2010, but I feel like that can't be it. So I'm going to say 1987. nineteen and eighty seven 1987, eh? Yeah. What about you, Pete gets three big points that came out in 2010. God!
01:20:16
Speaker
Oh, it was too good and too there to be it, and that was it. This is a contemporary story. This is ripped from the headlines. This is incredible.
01:20:26
Speaker
There's a maimed sea captain operating a submarine chasing after a mutant whale.
01:20:35
Speaker
Congratulations, fellas. It's the Batty Awards.
01:20:47
Speaker
Now you're messing with a Now you're messing with the Batty Awards. Now you're messing with the Batty Awards.
01:20:57
Speaker
Now you're messing with the Batty Awards.
01:21:03
Speaker
Congratulations to all the nominees.
01:21:09
Speaker
That's right. Congratulations to all our nominees. It's the Batty Awards. Greg, please inaugurate this episode's Batty Awards. Yeah. So I am going to give my baddie award to the scene that we've already talked about it, but I deemed it the synchronized shooting scene. That's c H U T I N G. Uh, this falling in the parachuting with the romantic music play, like it's utterly incredible because it's like, it starts with Barry Bostwick really mansplaining parachuting to her. And then her just kind of giving him a fuck you look and going out the plane. And then Barry Bostwick being like, Oh shit. Okay. Yeah.
01:21:47
Speaker
And then going after her. And then it's like you're in a scene from Brian's song with this like really beautiful string 70s music with two people in neon parachutes just like twirling in the air synchronized together like they're in the Olympics or something.
01:22:04
Speaker
And it's just like look at them growing together in flirting. It's like, yes, yes. in ah in a in a parachuting drop with they are for some reason deciding to do these synchronized moves it's truly bizarre and that's standard megaforce training yes every single member of me i a love this concept um but yeah beautiful scene utterly inexplicable and just highly recommended
01:22:37
Speaker
Well, I'm going to go for the rare Chris Twofer this week. I rarely go for a second bad award. My first one is going to go to the Megaforce formal uniform, which we see Ace Hunter wearing to dinner. That looks like it's ripped right from a cell from Robotech. It's just a fantastic outfit.
01:22:59
Speaker
Really solid color blocking with this giant singular triangular lapel. ah I'll post that on our socials too. It is a killer look, even though it is once again, incredibly cheaply constructed. Oh yes.
01:23:14
Speaker
ah But my, my number one batty award ah comes from the scene. it was a line in the scene where they were on the helicopter riding out to their first engagement in Gamibia.
01:23:28
Speaker
And ah Hunter is talking to Dallas and Dallas says, Reminds me of something a very wise man once said to me. yeah.
01:23:39
Speaker
ye love em in blue You love you love them in red. But most of all, you love them in blue. Mm-hmm. And something about that, I don't know what truth it speaks to in me, but I feel like it's there. That speaks to something that I can't put my finger on that feels true.
01:24:00
Speaker
Yeah. Most of all, you do love them in blue. Mm-hmm. What about you, Pete? Do you have a Batty Orton? I do. um i I guess I also have two, but neither of them are are in the movie. They're sort of surrounding the movie.
01:24:17
Speaker
Absolutely legitimate. fightinging The first is kind of the the long um tale of Megaforce. So it's it's a commercial flop. It it really disappears.
01:24:30
Speaker
They don't make any
Influence on 80s Vigilante Shows
01:24:31
Speaker
of the sequels. They don't make any of the toys for which they made the movie. it just kind of disappears into the video market. um But that's in 1982. But what it ushers, what what I think Megaforce kind of opens the door for is this wave of American vigilante soldier of fortune programming. So we get in 1983, Knight ah night Rider debuts with one of the stars of Megaforce.
01:25:05
Speaker
Yes, the general was played by Knight Rider's boss. In 83, the A-Team also debuts. yeah And in 83, G.I. Joe debuts. 84, Airwolf debuts.
01:25:20
Speaker
Along with a TV show that I haven't seen, but I have to see called The Master, which is about two ninjas, an older guy and his younger apprentice who drive around a van and stop local crimes with swords.
01:25:37
Speaker
Yes. Okay. Good. That sounds very good. and the older guy is Lee Van Cleek. Yes. That sounds familiar. So I haven't seen it, but it's of a kind yeah with these others.
01:25:51
Speaker
um Also, there's a TV show called Street Hawk, which is like, okay but it's a motorcycle. Okay. Okay. That's 85. And so on and so forth. These go on. MacGyver would be another one where it's like a it's it's a it's a paramilitary non-nationally recognized do-goodery force.
01:26:14
Speaker
yeah Yes. that I feel like it's all in the kind of wheelhouse of Megaforce. So, yeah, that's that's interesting for whatever it's worth. But
Hal Needham and Burt Reynolds
01:26:23
Speaker
the real Batty Award for me is something that i I found in reading about the director, Hal Needham,
01:26:31
Speaker
who also directed rad a couple of years later, which is its own joy ride. Um, is that his, like, this is according to IMDB. So who, who knows if it's real, but how need them, um, his relationship with Burt Reynolds was the inspiration for the cliff booth, Rick Dalton friendship.
01:26:56
Speaker
And once upon a time for Hollywood in Hollywood, um, So in watching Megaforce, I like to think of it as like, this is like the Cliff Booth movie.
01:27:07
Speaker
This is like what's playing in his head the whole time. like This is what I'm dreaming of. Doom buggies in Arizona. Nonsensical action scenes.
01:27:18
Speaker
It all kind of makes sense through that through that lens. yeah So
Nostalgic Awards and Conclusion
01:27:22
Speaker
in that, I give it my baddie award. Nice. Well, well-deserved.
01:27:29
Speaker
Thank you so much for coming and talking about Megaforce with us this week, Pete. It's been a blast. Yeah, it has. Literally and figuratively. This is a great time. Thank you both so much. Do you have anything that you want to plug? Is there anything that you're doing these days?
01:27:45
Speaker
Nope. Nothing at all. All right. No news is good news. That's what I always say. recommend everyone drink water and and catch up on their sleep. It does wonders.
01:27:56
Speaker
Yes. Fantastic thing to plug. Hydration and sleep hygiene. We love it. With that said, listeners, don't forget to like, follow, subscribe, comment, find us on our socials, and come back next week when we're gonna be talking about Old, the beach that makes you old with Dylan Roth.
01:28:17
Speaker
And until next week, be good goodbye. Goodbye. goodbye
01:29:20
Speaker
Like a mega force. Mega force. Like a mega force. There's a feeling from inside the sun. There's a message in the rock and roll.
01:29:32
Speaker
And it's calling, calling, calling to you.
01:29:55
Speaker
I can't understand, but I've only been so far, that you can't believe I'm coming on, I'm a mega force.