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Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
255 Plays2 years ago
Fellow comic creator and podcaster Lyndsey Little makes her debut to talk about the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog! We discuss how surprising this movie was, the things we really enjoyed about it, how some things hit both of us in different ways, and a little bit on the aborted original design.
Check out Lyndsey's Linktree for her Kickstarter, Webtoons page, and more
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Transcript
Tom's Trip Rules and Sonic's Observations
00:00:14
Speaker
What am I doing? All right, there's gonna be rules on this trip. Number one, do exactly as I say all the time. Got it? Got it, Donut Lord. Would you stop with the Donut Lord? I have a name. It's Tom. I'm Sonic. Sonic. Sonic.
00:00:33
Speaker
So you've been spying on us all for years. I mean, I wouldn't call it spying. We were all just hanging out, only I wasn't invited, and no one knew I was there. I can't believe Crazy Carl was right all this time. Yeah. You should call him Super Observant Carl instead. Uh-huh. Oh, my God, stop the car right now! What? What? What? The world's largest rubber band ball? We got to see it! No. No. No, this is not some fun family road trip, okay? The government wants to dissect you and arrest me. This is serious.
00:01:03
Speaker
You're right, it was lame. Give shop was cool, though. I got you a mouse pad. When are we gonna get there? We will get there when we get there. Welcome to the Superhero Cinephiles podcast.
Podcast Introduction and Guest Appearance
00:01:16
Speaker
I'm your host, Perry Constantine. Welcoming a new guest and a fellow comic creator, and that is, and fellow podcaster, and that's Lindsay Lidl. Lindsay, how you doing today? I am doing great. I'm a little sleep deprived, but I can't complain otherwise. It's so nice to be here.
00:01:34
Speaker
Also, you have such a powerful name. I feel that. Thank you. It is real. It's not fake. It actually is. It's very good. Perry Constantine. Yeah. It's amazing. Thank you. But anyway, welcome to the show. And I'm glad to have you on. And before we get started talking about the movie, let's talk a
Lindsay Lidl on Her Comic and Inspirations
00:01:57
Speaker
little bit about yourself. Why don't you tell the guests a little bit about yourself, what you do, tell them about your podcast and your comics.
00:02:04
Speaker
Sure um so I'm an illustrator and my my primary passion is my comic Onigirl. I've had it for a few years now but I recently um had to go on hiatus. I'm trying to bring it back and I'm trying to bring it back in full color um so I have that going on but you can go back and read
00:02:28
Speaker
up to chapter four on Webtoon Canvas, and I have 6,000 subscribed readers. So that is hopefully a good indicator of how many people like it. Maybe you'll like it too. I have a Kickstarter going on to
00:02:47
Speaker
to sort of refurbish those old pages, color them, make them shiny and new. And Kickstarter has named it a project that they love, so that's somebody else that you can
00:03:01
Speaker
believe in the opinion of and maybe give you further reason to check out my comics. I also co-host a podcast called Stories to Dismember, very similarly to this podcast where we review horror films, except we do it in a more
00:03:20
Speaker
Uh, silly fashion or honestly, the, my co-hosts and I, all three of us are very silly. Uh, but we do try to recap the film from beginning to end and then leave it with our final reviews. Um, actually the three of us were wondering if you ever wanted to, to do a crossover episode. Cause there's four movies, superhero movies.
00:03:45
Speaker
I do. We have done a few here already. We'll talk a little bit more off, Mike, but I think we could definitely find something to work on together. Awesome. Either this, or we had also talked before because I'm bringing back my Japanese film podcast as well. We could also talk about that off, Mike, a little bit more. That's finally moving along. I'll tell you guys more about that later, but Japan on Film is going to be coming back, it looks like. Anyway, let's talk a little bit more.
00:04:13
Speaker
Thank you, thank you.
Themes and Influences in Onigirl
00:04:14
Speaker
Let's talk a little bit more about Owning Girl and what was kind of your inspiration for this? Because I read the first few episodes of chapter one and obviously the anime influences is clear, right? So what were kind of some of the things that you were drawing on when you were creating this comic? Sure, well visually,
00:04:41
Speaker
I think visually I was inspired by manga, of course, as you observed. But I also grew up reading Archie comics and Sonic the Hedgehog comics, which is very relevant to our episode today. But from a writing standpoint,
00:04:59
Speaker
even though it's a fantasy story involving monster students going to a school, learning how to assimilate the behavior and appearance of humans in order to survive in human society. The real root of it is based in dealing with anxiety and trauma and overwroughts about the journey to self-love.
00:05:23
Speaker
And I use monsters as an allegory for anybody who feels marginalized or as an other, which I think you will see a lot in any kind of media, and honestly, so many good movies and stories involved.
00:05:43
Speaker
Uh, that idea, like my favorite Disney movie is Beauty and the Beast and the Beast is, you know, he's an other. Uh, I grew up watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles over and over. I was very sad by the way that that was already covered because that would have been my first.
00:06:03
Speaker
But again, or another great example of that the mutant Ninja Turtles who, you know, they go out and they, they still live amongst humans and they, they fight for humanity. I just love that. So that's something that I try to bring into my work.
00:06:23
Speaker
If you ever listen to that episode, one of the things that was really interesting about that that first movie, the 1991 is it still holds up really well. Text wise, story wise, it's a it holds up amazingly well. Yeah, I totally agree. I totally agree.
High School Metaphors in Media
00:06:41
Speaker
Yeah, and a lot of that stuff, I was tracking a lot of that stuff that you were saying. I mean, I, you know,
00:06:46
Speaker
you know, TMNT obviously, X-Men, you know, I got into comics and all this stuff basically through X-Men, right? And that's basically, if you feel like a freak, then that's a good thing, time to think. It was kind of like the message of that comic book and like the animated series and all that stuff. But also Buffy, right? The whole idea of like horror as a metaphor for high school was, you know, the big through line in those early seasons.
00:07:12
Speaker
Yeah, it's the inkiest time of any of our lives trying to figure out who we are, where our place is in the world. Yeah, yeah, I still think back. It's been a long time, but I still have memories of those times and every now and then, like, oh, God, that was bad. That was bad. Yeah, it's totally, I think we were, oh, sorry, I was just going to say- Sorry, go ahead. Go ahead. No, no, go ahead, go ahead.
00:07:38
Speaker
It's one of those things where when you're laying in bed at night and those dark thoughts creep in all of your regrets from 10 years ago or even earlier. I feel like usually it ends up being high school memories.
00:07:56
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, pretty much almost exclusively.
Lindsay's Kickstarter and Illustration Career
00:08:01
Speaker
So how's the how's the Kickstarter been going so far? Because I know you got a lot of subscribers on Webtoons, like you mentioned. How's the Kickstarter been doing? Well, this is my first Kickstarter and it currently is one third of the way to the goal, which is great. And there's 23 days to go still. So it ends February 14th.
00:08:26
Speaker
So hopefully by then it will be fully funded. It seems like it's going to get a good pace, but I am an anxious person, so I just assume it will fail until otherwise. But a lot of people- Part of the reason why I haven't done one myself. It's scary.
00:08:49
Speaker
It is, yeah, yeah. I'm working on my own comic book now and I do comic book work for lettering work for another publisher, but when it comes to trying to fund something of my own, working with another artist or something, I'm always so terrified of doing it. If I don't have that control over whether or not it gets published, it's scary for me. I definitely feel that. I would love to learn more about your comic.
00:09:16
Speaker
Oh, we could talk about that more once you finish up with the episode. But yeah, I'd be happy to tell you about it. It's not even finished yet, but it's just something I'm starting to get into. But anyway, now I'm looking at your bio here too, and it says that you've worked for gaming sites, and you've also worked on two existing published graphic novels as well. So why don't you tell me a little bit about your artistic career in general?
00:09:42
Speaker
Sure. So for many years, I did illustrations for what they call virtual pet sites. And the primary one was for Tattered World, which is still going strong. I did work for them for five or six years. So there are thousands and thousands of illustrations that I did for them. But I did work for other
00:10:07
Speaker
pet sites as well. And to explain what a virtual pet site is just for anybody who might be confused by that because it does sound very strange. The simplest way I can explain it is it's very similar to Neopets. It's the same idea where there's a virtual character that you take care of that you feed or quote unquote read a books to and just help it evolve or
00:10:32
Speaker
There's different iterations on what a virtual pet site is, depending on the virtual pet site. But I did that for a long time. And I started making my way into comic books a few years ago. I did flats. I did some flatting work for open borders.
00:10:55
Speaker
The Science and Ethics of Immigration by Ryan Kaplan and Zach Wiener-Smith. And I've done flatting work for other people as well, but that book for Open Borders was sort of a dream come true for me because in high school, I grew up reading Zach Wiener-Smith's comics. He wrote or he wrote a Saturday morning breakfast cereal. So that was just, oh my God.
00:11:20
Speaker
Unbelievable to be able to do work for somebody I grew up admiring. Yeah, I can imagine. But there's nothing like working on your own passion project. It's fulfilling in a whole other level, which I'm sure you completely understand.
00:11:41
Speaker
Oh, yeah, definitely. Definitely. I mean, like, I like doing the work for hire stuff helps pay the bills sometimes. But but yeah, working on my own stuff is definitely a whole other thing. So like, one of the things about, you know, the whole the whole the old axiom never meet your heroes type of thing.
Supportive Comics Community
00:12:01
Speaker
How did the how did the expectation go with the reality of actually working with him?
00:12:06
Speaker
Well, I never got to work directly for him. I was sort of subcontracted by another artist I admire who was doing the coloring work for. But we follow each other on Twitter and anytime I've asked for a little
00:12:28
Speaker
a boost such as this recent Kickstarter. He's been more than glad to help promote what I'm working on, which is so lovely of him because nobody has to do that for you, but for somebody to do that with such a high level of esteem that he has, it's so nice.
00:12:59
Speaker
That's awesome. Yeah, I think that's one of the things I've kind of noticed about comics against versus like pretty much any other medium. Like if you talk about, you know, film or or even novels, even like there's when you get to a certain level, there's there's a little bit more like I'm not sure what the right word is, but it's almost like disconnect. Yeah, kind of like that where
00:13:24
Speaker
they're less willing to help. But comics, it seems different. Even people who have worked for the big two or have had lots of success in comics, you'll get your occasional diva here and there. But for the most part, it's a much more egalitarian, much more open community, I think. Yeah, I can see that. It's a much more supportive community, isn't it? Yeah, I think so too.
00:13:54
Speaker
Um, so let's talk a little bit about your background as well. Cause, um, you'd mentioned Archie comics and Sonic and, and also, um, open borders and Zach Wiener Smith stuff. Um, were those kind of like your big entry points into like geekdom or comic books in general?
00:14:12
Speaker
As far as the work goes, yes, but I grew up reading comics. I like from comic strips to comic books and I know I chose Sonic as the movie to discuss, but I did go through a big superhero phase when I was in high school. I had this group of friends that was
00:14:35
Speaker
obsessed with superhero comics. So I started rooting to Batman, Superman, some Spider-Man, but primarily DC Comics. And really, really got into Teen Titans. I was obsessed. And I think that really stemmed from
00:14:57
Speaker
childhood like very young age when I went into some sort of dollar general esque store that had floppies in a little package like two or three floppies in a package that you could buy for a dollar and I bought that and one of them was the
00:15:18
Speaker
Starfire, the original Starfire, what would you call it? Sort of like a miniseries. First appearance? Oh, miniseries. Okay, okay. Or standalone or something. Yeah, it was that George Perez, Marv Wolfman sort of spin off where they gave like a little spotlight on each of the Teen Titans, the new Teen Titans. And I read the Starfire one.
00:15:48
Speaker
And I loved her character so much. And to this day, I still love her character. She's still my favorite superhero. And there's so many great ones. But I love her because I identify with her so much, just her passion for life and her love of people.
00:16:16
Speaker
To my knowledge, there's not a character like that. It's what her whole race is all about. And I identified with that so much. And I still, even though I stopped reading superhero comics for a long time, I have such a huge place in my heart for Starfire. And for DC Comics in general, but
00:16:46
Speaker
Yeah, that's, even though my life has sort of gone in a different direction, where I probably read more manga now these days, I can't forget my roots. Very cool. Yeah, there's a lot of that, you know, kind of sticking with the one who brought you to the dance mentality in a way I've noticed. Like me, I came in with Marvel and
00:17:12
Speaker
Even though I love DC, I read a ton of DC stuff, my instinct is always to gravitate towards Marvel as a result. And I found the same thing with other people. Whatever they start with, whether it's Marvel, whether it's DC, whether it's image even, their instinct is always to gravitate towards that first one.
00:17:29
Speaker
And it might be that I would actually really love more Marvel comics if I just had the opportunity to read more. Right. Which maybe I will, maybe I will when I have the time and not so focused on my own comic. I mean, you know, between all the stuff I do plus, you know, the two kids, I don't have a lot of time to read a lot of comic books, which is why my
00:17:59
Speaker
my Comixology unread books are like, you know, in the triple or maybe even quadruple digits at the moment. All right, so let's move into talking about the movie, which we had an interesting little back and forth. I hope you don't mind me sharing a little bit. You can if you want, because I think it's kind of funny. I think so too, because you'd initially, when we first started talking, I asked you if you wanted to come on the show.
00:18:28
Speaker
you and I gave you the list of stuff we'd already covered and um you actually wanted you actually suggested Birdman and I thought that was an interesting choice because I'd seen Birdman and I'm like okay so I think you know maybe she's kind of interested in talking about like kind of the themes about you know
00:18:45
Speaker
because a lot of it's very semi-autobiographical about Michael Keaton trying to break away from having played Batman and all that. There's a lot of that work in the movie. And I'm like, okay, I guess she's interested in talking about that kind of stuff. And then yesterday, you sent me a message. You're like, this movie was not what I thought. Absolutely true. I chose that movie with
00:19:14
Speaker
with no concept of what it was other than it was Michael Keaton as a superhero. But I didn't realize that it was actually way more layers than that. He doesn't actually play a superhero. He plays a man who played a superhero. And the story is so much more than that. And it was a great movie. It is a great movie. It is, yeah.
00:19:40
Speaker
but that was one of the movies where I'm like, okay, well, I guess it's kind of related. We can work with it. We've pushed the boundaries on this show a few times. So I was willing to roll along with it, but then you were kind of nervous about doing it and asked if we could do something else. So instead you chose,
00:19:59
Speaker
Sonic the Hedgehog, the 2020 live action version. And you had mentioned you had read Sonic comics as a kid. So, but what kind of was that how you first got interested in Sonic? Was it the comics? Or were you a gamer as a kid as well? It was the comics. I grew up in a very rural area.
Sonic Comics and Movie Design Critique
00:20:22
Speaker
I don't know if you can tell from the accent. But
00:20:25
Speaker
And we also grew up kind of poor, so it was a long time before I had access to video games, and the only comics I ever had access to were what you could find in the Sendai newspaper, the Sendai Fannies, or the comics that you could get at the local grocery store. So primarily what I read were the Archie comics,
00:20:49
Speaker
and Sonic the Hedgehog, and every now and then, I would shake it up with something like the Punisher. Which all totally gels together. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's always about good and evil, right? Even in the Archie comics. The Punisher did cross over with Archie at one point, so there was that. Oh my gosh, you're right.
00:21:16
Speaker
That's crazy. OK, so you got in through the comics then. Yeah, it's it. I've never read it either, but I do know it exists. I do like it. I think some people might think of it as an urban legend, but no, it exists. It was actually punished back during the the heyday when like the Punisher was at the height of his popularity. They did. Marvel and Archie did a crossover.
00:21:42
Speaker
I've never read it, so I don't know what it's like or not. What was the thought process there? I guess it was just 90s, you know, this is popular, let's milk it as much as we can mentality, because that was going on a lot back then.
00:21:58
Speaker
Um, so, you know, you, you were a fan of the comic books, uh, like me, I had, uh, I played the Sonic games a little bit, but I think actually what my introduction introduction to Sonic was, was really the Saturday morning TV show. Like there were two different TV shows back at the time. Um, there was one that was a little bit more like geared towards younger kids. It was a little bit more tongue in cheek where tails was like in every episode and, um,
00:22:25
Speaker
And then there was another one, which was a little bit more of like the edge of your animation that was kind of coming out of the time. The storytelling was a little bit more adult, more in the vein of like, you know, X-Men or Batman the Animated Series, where they were like freedom fighters type of thing against the kind of like, a lot of stuff like that going on. Yeah.
00:22:46
Speaker
And I remember as a kid, watching them both and really loving the more mature one. I think it was ABC that did that one. Whereas the other one, which I think was, it was the precursor to UPN, at least in my area that had that one on. And that one I didn't like as much, but I really loved the more mature one. How about you? Did you watch any of those shows?
00:23:07
Speaker
So the edgier one you describe, I never watched. That sounds very good. I grew up watching the other one that you mentioned, the baby or one. And to be fair, I was very, very young when I watched that one before school in the mornings. And I was elementary school age. It was right up my alley then. As an adult, I tried to rewatching those.
00:23:34
Speaker
Just a few years back, and I even took an edible to watch it with, just in case, just in case, to see if it would make it better. But no, there was no saving it. It was not a fun time. Yeah, the Saturday morning Sonic, not so good, but that edgier one, I never watched that one. That sounds great though. That sounds like it would be way more entertaining.
00:23:58
Speaker
It was good. I think it was on one of the streaming services at one point. I'm not sure if it still is, but it's definitely worth tracking down. My memories of that actually are still pretty fresh. In fact, I think that's where the whole chili dog thing started if I'm not mistaken. Really? I think. I'm not 100% sure. I'm sure someone on the internet will correct me if I'm wrong on that.
00:24:21
Speaker
But yeah, I think I probably would have, at the time, I think I probably would have liked the more cartoony one a little bit more if I didn't have that other one as a point of comparison. But when you had those both, then it was very clear which one was the better one. Oh yeah, I can see that. So what did you feel about this, did you see this movie when it came out?
00:24:50
Speaker
I didn't see it immediately when it came out, but I watched it last year. I watched it again just before this record, so this was my second time watching it.
00:25:04
Speaker
And I had a lot of thoughts. It was vaguely what I remembered it being like with my first time watching it. I do feel like it's definitely targeted more towards kids than adults, but there's enough
00:25:23
Speaker
adult, not content, so to speak, but humor to keep an adult interested. Like for an adult with kids, for example, like you, like maybe this is the perfect movie to watch with younger kids because it can keep everybody entertained. I feel like if you
00:25:43
Speaker
I feel like it's a great movie to keep your sanity as a parent, maybe, rather than allowing your kids to watch something that you know you're going to get sick of. This seems like a good alternative. And I'm curious to know if your two-year-old likes this movie. But yeah, I thought it was cute. I gave it a solid cute, this movie.
00:26:06
Speaker
Helena's a little bit too young to really pay attention to anything that she doesn't pay attention really to anything yet. Like mostly she just likes flashy visuals and music. She's big into music. That's mainly her things. So like she watches like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and she'll watch that for like 10 or 15 minutes at a time. But mostly I think she just likes the sound more than anything else.
00:26:34
Speaker
But yeah, every now and then she loves theme songs, especially like the Simpsons theme song. She loves that one. She loves the X-Files theme song. She loves the Peacemaker theme song. So she went ape shit over the Peacemaker theme song every time it started playing. So cute.
00:26:53
Speaker
Yeah, so she's not quite at the stage yet where she might, she might, who knows. But she's not really at the stage yet where she's willing to sit and absorb stories so much. She's getting there a little bit. Now she's starting to sit down more and actually listen when we read her stories and stuff like that. So she's slowly getting to that point. I think maybe within this year or next year, she'll probably start being able to sit down and actually watch a TV show as opposed to just listening to it.
00:27:23
Speaker
I can't remember if she was actually born or not when I saw this for the first time, because I didn't see it in theaters, but I did see it when it first came on streaming. I remember the concept of it, because the whole curse of video game movies is obviously big whenever one of these things comes up.
00:27:47
Speaker
in the lead up to this movie, and when I saw the trailers, I mean, first off, there was the whole controversy about the design. I'm not sure if you know about that. Yes. Oh, absolutely. We have to discuss that. Yeah, yeah. So anyone who doesn't remember, there is this whole thing about the original design of the character, of Sonic, and it was just eviscerated on Twitter, and it was...
00:28:17
Speaker
For good reason, it was a pretty friggin' ugly design. Yeah, I think most people were in agreement about that. And it didn't have any fur or something, at least in the beginning, and it actually even made a joke about it. Strangely human teeth. Yeah, and the eyes were a little bit too small. And it actually had a cameo in the Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers movie as well, I hear.
00:28:43
Speaker
That's right, yeah. Because they'd done a lot of like tongue in cheek stuff about CGI characters in that. I haven't seen that movie yet, but I'm curious to see it just for that if nothing else. Same. And then after that, Sony came out with a redesign pretty quickly. I think Tyson Hesse was the one who was the main guy behind the redesign for it.
00:29:10
Speaker
who also isn't in comics. Yeah, yeah, it says he had worked on previous Sonic the Hedgehog media. He had given the larger eyes, changed the color of new shoes, gave him the white gloves and also made the body look a little bit closer to what it was in the video game. And overall, I think I think he nailed it. Like maybe a little bit too tall, I think. But otherwise, I think it's a very, very representative of that character.
00:29:40
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's the perfect balance of 3D with some of the 2D characteristics from the original Sonic. And it just strikes a really good balance because before the original design they had, it was that uncanny valley that you get from the kind of like the Cats musical, like the live action version of the Cats musical. It was that level of creepiness and weirdness.
00:30:10
Speaker
But yeah, Tyson Hesse really saved us there with that Sonic redesign. It's so much better. Yeah. Uh, the best thing about the Cats movie was, were the reviews. I'm not sure if you've ever, like I never saw the movie, but, um, you know, Derek Marley co-host, he did see it and he is like, I wish I did not see that. Yeah. I, I saw it in theaters with, uh,
00:30:35
Speaker
My partner and two of our friends going in we knew it was going to be bad. So we got exactly what we expected Now that sounds like something you should definitely consume a handful of edibles before watching You know what? It's on my amazon wish list for that very reason Um, but I was a little bit even with the the improved animation stuff I was still a little bit nervous about this movie because of the like i'm i'm someone who
00:31:03
Speaker
you know, I don't worry too much about advanced news releases or press or like I'm or even like, you know, internet chatter about it. Like I'm always willing to give something a chance. So even when everybody was complaining about this movie, even like I sat through the redesign, like, all right, it's not my thing, but whatever. And then when they came with the new one, I'm like, OK, this looks much better. I'm willing to give this a shot.
00:31:29
Speaker
But I was also there was also still a little part of me that was kind of nervous because I had those memories of that ABC show. And and I was thinking, I'm like, well, it seems kind of a waste to bring Sonic into the, you know, the regular Earth type of thing. Right. I thought it was. Yeah. You know, like, what what's that really do for the character? You know, wouldn't it be more interesting to see that the world that he inhabits and all that and see how they how they run with that?
00:31:57
Speaker
And, you know, because it felt kind of like, um, you know, the old master of the universe movie where instead of having it set on Eternia, where they're in this fantasy world, they bring He-Man and Skeletor and everyone onto earth in the eighties. And it's like, this isn't really what we wanted when we said we wanted a He-Man movie. So I was thinking kind of like that at first. Go ahead. I don't know. I'm just in agreement here.
00:32:21
Speaker
Oh, okay. Sorry. Sorry. I thought you had something to add to that. Um, so I was, I was a little bit nervous going in and then when I actually sat down and watched it, I'm like, this is pretty damn good. Like, I think they did a really good job with this.
00:32:36
Speaker
I'm on board with you 100% there. I also didn't know how they were going to work with that, but the way that they reframed Sonic and... I mean, I guess technically he always was an alien because he does come from a different planet, but we've just never seen him on our planet. So it was interesting to see how they...
00:33:00
Speaker
Used that and accentuated it really like they referred to him as an alien kind of throughout the movie. And they found ways to make it work. And it's kind of cute sometimes like seeing our world through Sonic's eyes.
00:33:19
Speaker
the parts of Earth that make it fun and interesting. Basically through the lens of a child. Sonic is kind of a kid and he looks at our world in childlike wonder. So there's some charm to that as well.
00:33:36
Speaker
Yeah, and I think one of the things that really helps sell that is the fact that is Ben Schwartz's performance as him.
Sonic Movie Performances: Ben Schwartz and Jim Carrey
00:33:43
Speaker
Like I only knew Ben Schwartz from Parks and Recreation. So when they said he was the guy who was doing Sonic, I'm like, really? That guy?
00:33:54
Speaker
but he knocked it out of the park, I thought. I thought he perfectly captured, when I think of Sonic, that's basically that kind of personality that I think of. And I think Ben Schwartz really brought that to the character. And like you were saying with that kind of youthful exuberance and how amazed he is at all this kind of stuff, those are the moments I think when Schwartz really shines. I really believed that he really was interested in all this stuff too.
00:34:24
Speaker
Absolutely. He seems like the kind of person who's a kid at heart. You see that in his Parks and Rec performances, and it definitely shines through this Sonic character. Yeah. Yeah. I was also very impressed with James Marsden's performance as Tom too. I think James Marsden is one of the most underrated actors. I think he got totally robbed in the X-Men films. He was great in Westworld.
00:34:51
Speaker
which now unfortunately got canceled as well. Um, and he was really good in this and it, it shows just how versatile he is because he's able to do like, you know, these more serious, more dramatic roles, but he's also able to just kind of like, you know, cut loose and be funny in this. Like there, he had some great lines in this. Like I love the part when he talks about his dentist who calls him Tim. Yeah, that was cute.
00:35:15
Speaker
That's one of those lines that is maybe more for the adults than kids. Honestly, no, I feel like kids could maybe appreciate that too. But it's just one of those moments that I was like, all right, all right, this is pretty funny. This is pretty good. It also got me, because I definitely had those moments when I've been working with someone for years. And all of a sudden, one day you realize, shit, I don't know this guy's name. And now it's too late to ask.
00:35:46
Speaker
Very relatable. Very relatable, yeah. And also the relationship he has with Maddie, Tika Sumter, that was another really nice thing. Very cute. Yeah, and the little sibling-in-law rivalry he has with her sister, I thought that was also really well done. Natasha Rothwell, she did a great job in that role, too, as the sister.
00:36:17
Speaker
But I think what makes that work is how supportive they are of each other as a couple, because it's so overdone the rocky relationships. I feel like we need to leave that behind in 90 sitcoms. Just leave that behind a little bit, unless you're doing something that is a relationship drama.
00:36:42
Speaker
But this is like a fun Sonic movie. You don't need that here. And I was just, I just, it was so refreshing to see that couple and how they handled this blue alien situation together. It was great.
00:36:56
Speaker
One of my favorite go-tos talking about couples in these unusual situations and how storytelling has kind of matured on that is Superman and Lois. I'm not sure if you've ever seen that show. But just the, it's really good. And just like the depiction, one of my favorite moments is from the first season when
00:37:16
Speaker
You know, because in the show, they're married, they have kids. So there's no like, you know, Lois doesn't know that Clark and Superman are the same person type thing. None of that in there. But one of one of my favorite episodes, one of my favorite moments is, excuse me, she asked Clark to go to this town hall meeting because she can't go because she's got to do some some other investigation. And he's like, Yeah, I'll go. I'll take notes for you. I'll take care of everything. No problem.
00:37:43
Speaker
And then something happens to Superman, and he has to go and take care of this other thing. And then he comes back, and he tells her, and he's like, I'm so sorry. I was going to try and go, but something came up. And she's like, look, I get your Superman. I get you were saving lives. And I get it's irrational. But I'm still pissed off. And so I just got to be alone for a minute.
00:38:02
Speaker
And I'm like, that's a, that's a great way of dealing with it. That's a great way to explain it. Cause yeah, obviously, you know, logically she, cause in most times you'd see her be like, like, you know, you'd show Lois is being pissed off at that. Like, you know, well you, you made a promise then you broke your promise. And us as the audience, we'd usually be like, yeah, but you know, he was, you know, saving a bus full of kids. What do you want him to do? But I thought this was a nice way of explaining that. Well, like, look,
00:38:32
Speaker
She understands, but there's also that part, that illogical part of you that's still like, well, you broke your promise. So I think that was a really good way of handling it. That sounds, you know, you've sold me on that show because that sounds great.
00:38:45
Speaker
Because that is such a real scenario. I've sold so many people on just that moment. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It is. Very good. And I think you're right about the relationship he has with Maddie, because that scene when he comes in with Sonic and everything, and she's taking care of him, then she's like, let's go talk. And she's like, OK, I think you can agree that I've been very cool about this up until now. And he's like, yeah, you've been very cool. You've been crushed. She's like, OK, OK. Now what the hell's going on?
00:39:14
Speaker
Also, she's a veterinarian, but she's never worked with this kind of anatomy before. What does he expect her to do? Yeah, I love that too. He's like, well, you're a vet. She's like, yeah, a vet who works with animals. I don't know what this is. Yeah, it was very good. I want to talk about Jim Carrey's performance in this movie. What were your thoughts about Jim Carrey as Robotnik?
00:39:41
Speaker
I think when the movie was first announced, I was just very curious about how they were going to make that work because even with whatever prosthetics you would put on him, I couldn't imagine how they could make him look like the Dr. Robotnik that you know from the comics or the cartoons or the games.
00:40:09
Speaker
They, I think, knocked it out of the park with how they reimagined him in every witch away. And honestly, I think he was my favorite part about the whole movie. He just he was just so good. And I don't I don't know who they could have gotten to do it other than Jim Carrey. Like, he's just such a great character actor and
00:40:36
Speaker
Really funny that there's two superhero actors in this movie, at least, because the guy that plays Tom, he was... He was Cyclops, yeah, yeah. Right, and then Jim Carrey was the Riddler. Mm-hmm. Well, actually, you've got three.
00:40:56
Speaker
It was Batman Forever. Also, you've got Neil McDonough, who plays the general. He was in the first Captain America movie. He was Duke and the guy with the mustache. And he also played a villain on the CW shows. He was in Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow as well. I can't remember his name on that.
00:41:17
Speaker
I had a little bit of mind like a still trap. Thank you. I just I've got all this useless knowledge of superhero media and there's no room for anything else as a result. That's great.
00:41:39
Speaker
With Jim Carrey's performance, I was a little bit more mixed on it. For the most part, I think I liked it, but there were some of those moments where he just kind of relies on Zany Jim Carrey as opposed to doing his more character actor thing, like the dance scene, or when he keeps interrupting the general, that kind of stuff. You mentioned the Riddler. It gave me a lot of Riddler vibes, and I don't say that as a positive, because I do not like his Riddler.
00:42:08
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I sort of wondered though if that was meant to make him...
00:42:16
Speaker
Like some of that was sort of entertaining to me and then some of it was sort of annoying, but I think it was only annoying in the way that a good villain can be annoying. Like if I'm watching a movie and a character's making me angry, like very angry, I have to think and I have to step back a little bit and think, are they making me angry because that is what the intent is? And if it is, then I just end up
00:42:42
Speaker
uh, conceding, okay, they're doing a good job at that thing then. Um, and I sort of, I sort of felt like this Doctor Robotnik, the whole premise behind this character was that they were overcompensating. It felt like this character is, he brags about his superior intellect, but I think really it's all rooted in insecurity, which I think is, uh,
00:43:12
Speaker
great for a villain. It's a great backstory. They touch on it just a tiny bit in this movie, enough of a hint.
00:43:25
Speaker
Uh, of his like childhood trauma, like he talks about a childhood bully and stuff. I feel like that's just enough to make us realize, okay, okay. He's not as smart as he says he is. Um, or at least it doesn't justify his evil behavior. Uh, so I sort of was trying to look at it through that frame, uh, or that lens, but.
00:43:52
Speaker
The silliness, the over the top silliness. I think I, I don't know, I kind of liked it. I don't know if it's because, I don't know if it's because I was just already in the mindset of, okay, this movie is more geared towards children, so I shouldn't be expecting too much. And
00:44:19
Speaker
Maybe I didn't enjoy every joke that he had, but just overall, I really appreciated it. The thing that made me laugh the most or the hardest was when it was his henchman or his number two, basically, asking if he wanted to make him a vanilla latte or something.
00:44:42
Speaker
And he angrily says, of course, of course I want a vanilla latte. It's delicious. I just love the uncertainty. I love the way you make them. Yeah. Yes. To me, that was perfect. No, I think there's a lot. I agree with a lot of what you're saying there. I think you're right. The insecurity thing especially. And I think those are the moments when I think Carey's performance is really at its strongest. Like when he's kind of demeaning the general, when he's
00:45:11
Speaker
when he's telling Tom, he's like, I accomplished everything that more than you will ever accomplish by the time that I was a toddler. And all that kind of stuff. That insecurity definitely comes through a lot. And I think it makes it clear that
00:45:28
Speaker
Yeah, maybe he isn't the smartest guy on the planet like he claims he is, but he just needs to believe that so much because he has nothing else in his life. I mean, especially when Tom says I was breastfed and he goes, oh yeah, throw that in my orphan face, right?
Robotnik's Character Depth
00:45:44
Speaker
That's another example of one of these great one-liners. But yeah, the dancing, the more I think about it, I'm like, yeah, I think I zoned out at that part.
00:45:57
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's the thing like it those those great moments. I think that's why I say like I'm kind of mixed on his performance because overall, I think he gives a really good interpretation of Robotnik. I think it's it makes sense why this guy is involved in this, you know, the whole the whole government connection makes a lot of sense. You know, is the robots and everything is an obsession with the robots where he says, you know, you know, what I like about robots is they do what they're told and they don't need to take breaks. They don't need overtime or anything like that. And
00:46:27
Speaker
All that, you know, it tracks very much. This is a guy who just cannot relate to other humans on any level whatsoever. Like even when he's thanking someone for a latte, he can't do it like a normal person does, right? And the poor henchman keeps trying so hard.
00:46:50
Speaker
Sorry, you were going to say about Tom? Oh, I was just going to say to add to your point about how Dr. Robotnik can't relate to other people. Tom actually brings that up at the end of the movie saying, well, Sonic is way more human than you will ever be. Which is, yeah, completely fair.
00:47:12
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. And, but yeah, the, like you mentioned, like the dance scene and like some of the other zaniness, I think that just, it kind of overshadows it. And I guess, you know, Jim Carrey was just kind of having a little fun, you know, it's like, this is the first time I'm doing something like this in years. So it seemed like he was just kind of like enjoying, like flexing those old, you know, comedy muscles that he hasn't really used in a long time, actually. I can't remember the last time he had, he had done like one of those zany type performances.
00:47:42
Speaker
because he's moved into much more of the, sometimes more dramatic, but at least a lot more character focused acting as opposed to early on his career where it was much more like, you know, the rubber faced man, you know, and all that kind of stuff. Yeah. In recent years, I can only think of a series of unfortunate events and the Grinch where he played like more whimsical characters that are more
00:48:13
Speaker
appealing towards children or geared towards children. Right. And even those were a while back. It's like, you know, 15 years ago or so. So it's been a while since she's done something like that. Yeah. I can't believe that. Same. Yeah. Yeah. But what were some of the moments that really kind of stood out to you in this movie in general?
Sonic's Emotional Connection and Earth Routine
00:48:39
Speaker
I guess
00:48:44
Speaker
I totally saw what they were going for. Trying to make Sonic pull at our heartstrings. And I sort of had mixed feelings about it. I really enjoyed how he
00:49:06
Speaker
immediately took to Tom and his wife and some of the townspeople, including the crazy old Koot who knows Sonic exists, but he can't prove it to anyone. But Sonic just looks at him in a positive way. He just seems to enjoy everything around him in this new world he's living in. But on the other hand, I couldn't
00:49:37
Speaker
I couldn't sympathize with him as much as I think the movie wanted me to. There were a lot of very heartfelt moments where he was sad he wouldn't be able to achieve all of the things on his Earth bucket list. And there was like a change in music and he had like
00:50:05
Speaker
glistening guys like he was tearing up and I just I just couldn't
00:50:10
Speaker
really relate to that as much. I was, I acknowledged that this is meant to be a sad moment, but it just, it just didn't really hit me. I think maybe as a kid it might have though. I was, I feel like as a kid, I cried at movies a lot more. I feel a little more jaded as an adult. Like I don't even feel like people are going to hate me for this, but I don't really enjoy watching Pixar movies as much anymore.
00:50:41
Speaker
I'm just, it doesn't really hit me like it hits a lot of people. I sort of tend to be driven more towards foreign films or indie films. That's sort of what sort of impacts me more. I think if I can, I think if it's predictable, which
00:51:02
Speaker
People are gonna hate me for this, but I think if it's predictable, which I feel like Pixar films kind of are, then it can't emotionally affect me as much. That's fair, that's fair. I think there's some good points. I don't think anyone's gonna hate you for that. I put forth a lot of unpopular opinions on this show, so I think if they haven't come from me with pitchforks yet, I think you're okay for that one little thing. Okay.
00:51:31
Speaker
Feels like a monster though. No, no, no. But I think the, about Sonic though, I actually, this is, I think it's interesting. We had the opposite reactions to this where I was a little bit more mixed on Robotnik, where you were much more invested in that. Whereas you were a little bit more mixed on like, you know, Sonic's melancholy. Whereas me, I was much more invested in that. And I think a big part of it is just a little bit more of the relatability because me,
00:51:59
Speaker
you know, being a being a foreigner in Japan, I found a lot of relatability to that outsider aspect. And also that thing about, you know, oh, there's so many things I want to do, and I'm not gonna be able to do it all. Like, there's, you know, a few years back, I left Japan to go back to the States for a job offer. And I had had those moments too, when it's like, I'm not going to be able. So I really kind of connected to him with those things.
00:52:25
Speaker
That's a good point, though. I can totally see how your experiences would make that more relatable to you. Yeah, I can appreciate that. Again, I was not expecting to connect as much with Sonic emotionally when I went into this movie. So I think that's another big part of it is just the kind of surprise about, you know,
00:52:46
Speaker
connecting so much with this CGI hedgehog voiced by the guy from Parks and Rec that just really kind of, it, I was not expecting that at all. I did not go and expect, like I, my expectations going into this movie were somewhat, not necessarily low, but you know, I thought based on the trailers and what some people have been saying, I thought I'm like, okay, this'll be a fun movie. It'll be a good way to kill like 90 minutes. I'll have a good time watching it. And then it'll be one of those things where
00:53:16
Speaker
you know, after it's over, I'll forget about it 10 minutes after it's done, type of thing. And I was kind of impressed with how, which is why, you know, I didn't even bother going to see it in the theater. I waited until it came on to streaming to see it. And I was really kind of surprised by how much I really kind of enjoyed it and really related to Sonic's emotional journey in it.
00:53:38
Speaker
I mean, I do think it's important that they included that in the first place though, like we as the audience needed to be able to sympathize or empathize with him to connect with him on that level and for us to want him to be on our earth. Like it's fun to imagine him
00:54:00
Speaker
like living amongst us and having a good time. It wouldn't be as of an emotional investment if we watched him desperately trying to get back to his own planet. It does require more emotional investment to see his desire to live amongst humans and to live on earth. So I totally understand why they went in that direction. I don't think they
00:54:29
Speaker
They could have gone in the other way, but I think it's more effective this way for sure. I think so too. I think having him being so, cause I think the typical way to do this story is just like him trying to get back to his own world and, you know, being kind of like, you know,
00:54:45
Speaker
surprised or maybe disgusted with the stuff he sees on earth, right? Or kind of like, you know, being, which is the way a lot of, or just confused, right? Like, you know, I'm thinking about the whole fish out of water thing. Like, especially the, the first Thor movie did that a lot where, you know, throwing down the glass in the, in the restaurant and going to the pet store and asking for a horse and all that kind of stuff.
00:55:07
Speaker
Whereas in this movie, and I think they really did a good job because they really thought, what would it really be like if we took this character, this specific character and put him in this different setting? How would he react to that? And I thought right from the opening scene when we go through his whole routine and everything, I thought they just nailed it, right? The whole thing about him like,
00:55:28
Speaker
exercising in the washing machine or the dryer and reading flash comics and all that kind of stuff. I thought all of that was perfect. And yeah, the relationships he has with the townspeople, like, you know, I love that moment in the car when Tom goes, so crazy, Carl was right. And Sonic goes, yeah, you should really call him super observant, Carl.
00:55:48
Speaker
Yes. Or even at the end when they have that final showdown with Dr. Robotnik and all of a sudden the sheriff deputy is there and Crazy Carl is there and he's got a chainsaw because he's ready to defend Sonic 2. That was such a cute moment to me.
00:56:08
Speaker
You know, it's funny that that scene worked for me as well as it did, because usually when I see moments in that, in movies, it almost, and this is the cynic in me, this is the jaded cynic in me, it kind of makes me roll my eyes, like the whole, I remember in, like the original, the first five Spider-Man movies, there was always the New York loves Spider-Man moment, I call it.
00:56:29
Speaker
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. You know, like the first movie there on the bridge, they're all throwing stuff at the Goblin. The second movie, it's the whole train scene. The third movie, it's, you know, everything like the opening scene and the flags and the parades. And even in The Amazing Spider-Man, right, there was the crane operators that are and all that kind of stuff. And, and
00:56:47
Speaker
And I know a lot of people are like, oh, I love that moment. And for me, I'm just like, maybe it's because I'm not a New Yorker, but it didn't mean a whole lot to me. It didn't grab me at all. And again, this is the cynic in me. Usually those scenes do not work for me. This one, surprisingly, it worked for me.
00:57:08
Speaker
Maybe it's because it was on such a small scale, so it's more believable. This is a couple of people from a small town, so there's probably a closer connection than a city full of people who know about this.
00:57:27
Speaker
superhero character, but have no real connection to like, no personal connection. Not like Sonic literally has with these small town folks. Maybe that's possibly why, but I get where you're coming from. Yeah, I think you're right. I think that's probably why the fact that it's set in a small town. And by the way, I also love the little relation to the game where the town's name is Green Hill, because that was the name of the first stages in the game. Yeah.
00:57:57
Speaker
What about the, the other thing I thought I thought was really well done is the, the way they incorporated little things from the video games.
Video Game Elements in the Sonic Movie
00:58:05
Speaker
Like, cause you know, I mean, the whole thing in the video game is you have to catch the rings. That's kind of like your life meter in a way. And, and there, and different versions have done different things with the rings. I remember in the ABC version, the ring was kind of like almost like a power up. Like when, when Sonic used a ring, he got like this extra boost of power in this, they used it where the ring is this portal type of thing.
00:58:27
Speaker
Which also connects to the games because, you know, there's the big rings that you jump in for the bonus stages and all that kind of stuff. I'm not sure how the comics have done the rings or if they've addressed it at all. What do you remember about how they used it? I'm actually not sure at all.
00:58:47
Speaker
When I read the comics, it was so scattered and never like in a sequence. So to be honest, when I read them, I had no idea what was going on. But I enjoyed them nonetheless. And I only played a Sonic game for the first time last year.
Lindsay's First Sonic Gaming Experience
00:59:06
Speaker
Really? So how did it feel after after like, you know, experiencing this character from your childhood and playing that first game? How was it?
00:59:16
Speaker
It's going to take a lot more practice to get the flow of it. It's very different from any kind of game I've played before, but I totally get the appeal of it. It's so much fun to be...
00:59:29
Speaker
in a fast pace like that. That's literally what his character is all about. Visually, it's really nice. I just really need to play it more to get the hang of it, because I don't... Just like the comics, I don't know what the heck is going on. But somehow, it's still fun.
00:59:49
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I remember I still break them out every now and then. I've got a retro gaming system. Every now and then I'll break it out and I'll play the Sonic games or something like that. Oh, fun. It's great. It's fun. We were playing it through the Switch because they released it. They released an emulator version of it. Oh, yeah. On the Nintendo Switch, yeah.
01:00:13
Speaker
And I thought the way they handled the effects and all that and they had incorporated the little video, like the rings and also, but also like his, his spin dash and even like the whole thing. Cause you know, I'm not sure if you ever realized this in the game, but if you were, if you wait for a while, if you don't do anything, right? Sonic starts tapping his foot, he starts checking his watch and all that. And so I love how they worked that into the, the missile scene. You're totally right. Yeah. That is very cute.
01:00:40
Speaker
There were little things like that I had noticed too, but I'm sure there's a list somewhere where we could see every single little thing that was noticed. I mean the shoes of course. Oh yeah. That's another example of a scene that, you know,
01:00:56
Speaker
On paper, I would have rolled my eyes at that scene, but it works in this movie. And I think part of it is just the performance Ben Schwartz has given where this whole kind of melancholy thing, how he so wants a friend, and then he finally finds people who accept him pretty willingly. And I think those scenes worked so well for me when they happened as a result of that.
01:01:18
Speaker
Hmm. It might also, I wonder if it's as a father, you sort of like see, uh, Sonic. I mean, he kind of is like a lost kid. Um, and in a way, Tom and his, I keep forgetting his wife's name, Maddie, Maddie. Uh, they kind of become surrogate parents to him, which is so cute. And even Maddie's niece, uh, she's the one who gives him his new shoes that replaces his,
01:01:48
Speaker
totally beat up shoes and socks that had holes in them. That was such a
01:01:55
Speaker
To be honest, I did roll my eyes a little bit, but at the same time, I was like, actually, that is very sweet. I think you're right about the fatherhood thing playing a role in it for me, because now that I think about it, I think my daughter had been born by the time I first watched this movie. Because if I had seen this before I became a father, I would have had a very different reaction to those scenes. And I have seen that in other movies.
01:02:22
Speaker
Again, I use this example all the time. I'm sure the listeners are tired of hearing about it, but the first amazing Spider-Man movie when, I'm not sure if you ever saw it or not, but the scene when Dennis Leary's character, Captain Stacey, when he's dying, right? And he's talking to Peter and he tells him, he's like, you're gonna make enemies, but you're doing good work. But I have one thing to ask, leave Gwen out of it. Don't get her involved, stay away from her.
01:02:49
Speaker
And before I saw, before I had kids, my reaction was, you know, why are you doing that to Peter, man? He's just trying to, you know, he's, he's doing the best he can and everything. And now afterwards having kids, I'm like, yeah, I gotta get it. I would probably say the same thing. It's interesting.
01:03:08
Speaker
But yeah, I think you're right. I think that definitely does play a role in it and I mean the visuals too in this movie were just you know, not only the sonic design but the way they handled his speed and the way they showcased it and like the fights with the robots and all that I thought all of that was just amazingly well done very well executed and I love any film that freezes time and lets a character play with it they
01:03:37
Speaker
they really had a lot of fun with that. And that was a lot of fun as a viewer to watch. Like I can't think of many movies, I know other movies have done it, but I can't think of it as a any comparisons except the Robert Downey Jr. in the Charlotte Combs movies, there's some like freeze
01:03:59
Speaker
uh Frame sort of time writing moments when he's strategizing how to how to win the fight and all that. Yeah Yeah, exactly. Um, I think that's a whole lot of fun and my mind interesting Yeah, sorry. Sorry interest. It's just interesting to think about This is kind of like sonic's reality like this must be how he views the world at all times we're just getting like a glimpse of it here, which is very strange to think about
01:04:27
Speaker
Yeah, I thought the thing my go-to was X-Men Days of Future Past, the scene with Quicksilver. And I know everybody loves that scene in that movie, but it doesn't quite work for me for a few reasons. I mean, I think visually it looks great. But for the one thing, I think the whole him listening to music is weird because logically, if he's moving this fast, he would be finished before the first note of the song even finishes.
01:04:56
Speaker
Oh, so I haven't seen that, but that's interesting. OK, that's interesting to note. Yeah, because he like I watch that. I'm going to keep that in mind. Yeah. And so like he puts the headphones on and then he starts racing around and I'm like, OK, but he doesn't stop time. He's moving in real time here. So that doesn't make sense. So that's just my logic brain intruding in. But also just that depiction of Quicksilver in in those movies I didn't really like because that's not the Quicksilver I know from the comic books.
01:05:25
Speaker
If you ever saw Avengers Age of Ultron, Aaron Taylor Johnson, that is Quicksilver from the comics. And so that was just my thing about it. But here I thought it worked very well because it was very much in tune with Sonic's character. Playing all these little gags on people and all of that totally fit with
01:05:46
Speaker
His character in in the games in in in other stuff He's always been like, you know kind of rambunctious and this is the kind of the stuff if if you gave like a 13 year old kid superpowers Superhuman speed. This is the kind of shit he would do. So I totally bought into all of that. I Also show or little I also appreciate that it shows that he's clever too. He's very rambunctious and childlike, but he does
01:06:13
Speaker
have like a strategic mind to a degree because it looks like he's just randomly setting up every person in this bar for a prank. But by the time he's done doing all of this stuff and we see time go back in motion again, literally everybody in the bar falls over all at once at the same time because he has rigged all of this stuff so that everybody is
01:06:42
Speaker
affected by this little drop of his it's it's a it's a lot of fun. Well, also, you know, going with the way he perceives the world, too. I think they show that not only through those scenes, but also like when he's in the car with Tom and he's like, he's like, how long is it gonna take for us to get there? He's like, he's like, we just started driving. But for someone like that who he can move at superhuman speed, you know, like, I mean, you know, you probably know being stuck in traffic or something like that. It's like,
01:07:11
Speaker
God damn, how long is this gonna take? Any sort of minor inconvenience that slows you down is an annoyance. And there are two ways to play that. One way you can play it as someone who gets really super annoyed with everything, or you can just play it as someone who just gets annoying because he gets bored very easily. And I thought that really fits the way they did it with Sonic.
01:07:35
Speaker
And also that fits in the whole kids thing because you know, you know the whole are we there yet thing are we there? Yeah Those are kind of the main things I'd wanted to mention is there anything else that you had cuz I know you had some notes General notes you said anything else that we didn't touch on that you wanted to comment on Yeah, so when I
01:07:58
Speaker
I was on a podcast a few years back, talking about the influences on my comic. And it was only sort of then that I realized that Sonic the Hedgehog could have been an influence. But I didn't realize it for a long time. And one of the things that made me remember is in the eighth grade, all my life, all my life I grew up drawing.
01:08:26
Speaker
And I came from a small town, so literally everybody knew me for that. By the time I was in the eighth grade, they asked me to draw the yearbook cover, and our mascot was a tiger. So when I drew it, I literally drew it as if it were Sonic the Hedgehog character with the sort of uni eyeball, the single eyeball with two pupils.
01:08:53
Speaker
and totally forgot about it. So that was sort of, that was sort of like physical evidence of how much Sonic the Hedgehog influenced me. So that was a lot of fun to realize. Nice, nice. And also, did you see the, have you seen the second movie yet? I haven't, but I know that people are very, very thirsty for, gosh, what's his name? The Echidna.
01:09:22
Speaker
Oh, Idris Elba. Knives, yeah, yeah. Oh, Knuckles, yeah, Knuckles, yeah, yeah. Knuckles, I was gonna say knives. Who is knives, Knuckles? People are so thirsty for him. But I'm sure- I remember that chatter on the internet. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that one I believe takes place like in their world, right?
01:09:44
Speaker
I'm not sure, I haven't seen it myself. That's why I was just wondering, because I was thinking about it last night because I'm like, wait, that movie is out on DVD now. I haven't even seen it yet. So I was actually looking it up at the, because I haven't seen any of the streaming services here in Japan, but we still have rental stores. So I was looking it up on the rental store app and it is there. So I'm going to have to go and pick that up next time I go out to the rental store. Yeah, I might too.
01:10:07
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's but yeah, I mean, this movie, it was it was surprising how much I enjoyed it. After I saw it on streaming, when I was back in the States, I saw the thing was the Blu-ray for like, you know, two bucks. So I picked it up, you know, at a used store and
01:10:21
Speaker
definitely don't regret that purchase. I think I've watched it once when I first got it, and then again, just last night. So I've watched it twice since then, so it's already paid for itself. That's great. But yeah, this is a fun movie. And like you mentioned, with my kids, I could easily see this being something that they would enjoy. And when they get a little bit older, I think this is something that they would sit down and they'd like watching. And something that you can watch with them and won't go crazy with.
01:10:48
Speaker
Right, yeah, exactly. Right now, my daughter is getting into Teletubbies and those things are just creepy as hell. I don't have kids, but I think about that all the time, my partner and I.
01:11:03
Speaker
We talk about that like, okay, we got to have a game plan. When we have kids, we're going to push all of these things onto them, all these things that we know we like too, so maybe we won't go crazy. Yeah, yeah. I'm trying to do that, but at this point, she's still too young to really take too much of it. She uses YouTube a lot, and there's this one YouTube series called Blippi, and it's like this... I don't know if you know this, but it's this...
01:11:29
Speaker
this adult guy, but he dresses in these colorful clothes and he's got all this energy and just goes around to these different places, exploring things and all that. And it's just like, the guy's so freaking annoying. Every time I hear his voice, it's just nails on a chalkboard. Oh, no. But she loves it, so she plays it all the time. Right, right. The sacrifices that you must make for your children. Yeah, yeah.
01:11:56
Speaker
Anyway, Lindsay, it was a lot of fun having you on. A lot of fun talking about Sonic. You had mentioned ratings before at the beginning of this. So what do you think overall you would kind of give this movie if you were gonna rate it on say like a five or 10 star scale? Cool, interesting. Well, the way that we do ratings on my podcast is we rate out of 10 and then we each individually choose
01:12:24
Speaker
the stars that we rate with. Um, so for me, I think I would comfortably give it 6.5 out of 10 chili dogs. Okay. Nice rating scale. Um, I've rated this on, uh, I use letterbox a lot and letterbox, you know, they've got the five star system with the half star. So I, I think I gave this
01:12:45
Speaker
a four star rating on letterbox. So that would be probably like a, you know, about an eight maybe if we're doing the 10. Hey, that's good. Yeah. And I think I maybe might knock it down to seven, seven and a half, but I think, but yeah, yeah, 3.5 for 7.58. I think that that's about where I put it. I mean, it's, it's very enjoyable. It's not like the greatest movie ever, but this is, it's an,
01:13:11
Speaker
endlessly rewatchable movie. I can see myself rewatching this movie a lot and not getting annoyed with it. That's fair. Okay. You've convinced me. I'm going to give it seven out of 10 chili dogs. Okay. All right. So last thing is why don't you tell people where they can find your stuff?
01:13:31
Speaker
Absolutely. And if it actually makes more sense for you, you can take what we did earlier and put it at the end if that functionally makes more sense. But just in case, you can find My Comic Oni Girl on Webtoon Canvas. If you just search O-N-I-G-I-R-L, you'll be able to find it. You can read up to chapter four.
01:13:57
Speaker
Um, you'll notice that the earlier pages are in black and white. That's because I used to draw them traditionally with ink on paper. And for the first few pages, I used real screen tones. Um, I really quickly learned that is very, uh, Unpractical and expensive. So I stopped doing that. And time consuming too, I'd imagine. And time consuming. Yes. Oh my gosh.
01:14:24
Speaker
But I am in the process of updating the artwork, making it nicer, and I'm coloring all of the pages, but
01:14:33
Speaker
Uh, as you, as a fellow comic artist know, uh, creating comics is incredibly time consuming. And, uh, so people, if they would like to support, um, the production and the printing of the first chapter in color, they can find that on Kickstarter until February 14th. If they just search oni girl.
01:14:59
Speaker
they'll be able to find it. Again, that's O-N-I-G-I-R-L. And yeah, I would appreciate the support and I hope you enjoy reading it. Great, and we'll have links to both the webtoons and the Kickstarter in the show notes. You guys will be able to check all that stuff out. Lindsay, thanks so much for coming on. This is a fun conversation and I have to have you come on again sometime. Absolutely, I would love to.
01:15:26
Speaker
Okay, that does it for this episode of Superhero Cinephile. Superherocinephiles.com is the website. We are SuperCinemapod on Twitter and Instagram. And if you sign up for the Patreon, patreon.com, SuperCinemapod, you get these episodes a week in advance, and you also get access to the Patreon-exclusive Superhero Cinephile's book club, where we talk about comics and graphic novels, roughly about once a month or so. Thanks so much for listening, and we will talk to you next time.
01:15:55
Speaker
If you enjoy the Superhero Cinephiles, then you'll also love my companion podcast, the Superhero Cinephiles Book Club. All my Patreon subscribers get access to this exclusive podcast where I review superhero comics and graphic novels. Not sure what comics you want to read next or what you should dive into? I've got you covered on that. I'll be doing reviews, recommendations, and also talking to you about useful entry points.
01:16:16
Speaker
If you're interested in reading some comments and don't know where you should start, plus you'll get access to all episodes of the main show a week before everyone else. On all of this for as little as just a dollar a month, all you have to do is go to patreon.com slash SuperCinemaPod and you can sign up at any subscription amount to get started. Thanks so much for your support and please don't forget to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
01:16:59
Speaker
Thank you for listening and as always good night. Good evening. God bless.