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Did Disney invent a new form of time travel? | Episode 23: Minutemen
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Let’s travel back to 2008 and watch Disney’s Minutemen! Virgil, Zeke and Charlie become secret heroes to the uncool after boy genius Charlie invents a time machine.
Let's discuss:
– Common themes of time travel in movies
– Would you go back and change anything?
– Emotional support grappling hooks
All that and more in this episode!
Minutemen stars Jason Dolley, Luke Benward and Nicholas Braun and can be watched on Disney+!
Welcome to Once Upon A DCOM Podcast where we rave (and sometimes roast) classic DCOMs! We're rewatching every single Disney Channel Original Movie.
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@onceuponadcom.podcast
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Transcript
Winter Break Reflections and Season Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
How was your winter? It was so glorious. I really enjoyed the break and I thought the content we put out was super fun in between. How about you? I thought it was so much fun. My gosh, I like listening back, I was like, we're so funny. Like we were cracking me up. Yeah, it was a good time and I really enjoyed a few weeks off, but I really missed it. I'm really glad to be back. I was so like excited to write my review of the movie and get into it today. It's just such a good movie to start off with too.
00:00:30
Speaker
No, once I was like writing down like what at my discussion points where I was like, I'm so excited to talk about this with Gabby. Me too. OK, let's go. Let's get into it.
00:00:44
Speaker
Welcome, fellow Disney Channel babes, whether you're from the nostalgic 90s or the awkward aughts or you're giving Gen Z. We're glad that you're here. I'm Gabriella. And I'm Natalie. And this is the podcast where we rave and sometimes roast classic Disney Channel original movies. You're listening to Once Upon a Decom.
00:01:04
Speaker
Hello and welcome to season two of Once Upon a Decom, the podcast where we chat all about your favorite Disney Channel original movies. My name is Natalie and this is my wonderful co-host Gabby. Hi everyone, I've missed you all. Every single week we are randomly selecting a Decom from years past and rewatching, reviewing,
00:01:25
Speaker
and sharing some fun insights. So this is our very first episode of season two. I cannot believe we are actually already here. This podcast has been such a blessing in my life and I am so, so excited to dive into another season with you, Gabby. Me too. I'm excited to see what movies we have coming up on the docket because we've already gotten some really good ones done. and I keep thinking like, oh, surely that was the end of the movies I love. and Then there's another one that I love. There's still so much. We have so many sequels to look forward to, plus your favorite. We haven't even touched the Descendants franchise. like We have so much to get to. I am so excited. I can't wait to get to Descendants.
00:02:08
Speaker
All right, this week we watched Minutemen to kick off season two. I love I love this movie. Me too. I feel like it was on constantly when we were kids. Constantly. Of course. Yes, it was. Okay. But before we head into the movie recap, um let me give you a little info about this film.
Introducing Minutemen
00:02:28
Speaker
So Minutemen premiered on Disney Channel on January 25th, 2008 with 6.48 million viewers.
00:02:37
Speaker
Huge. Oh my gosh. It is directed by Lev L. Spiro, who was then nominated by the Director's Guild of America for his work in the Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programs category. I don't think he won, but right he was nominated for great directing on this film.
00:02:54
Speaker
I mean, I could see it. It was well-directed. I could see it. This movie stars Jason Dolly, Luke Benward, Nicholas Braun, and Chelsea Kane, and it was filmed in Utah. And fun fact, it shares some of its filming locations with the first high school musical movie. I knew it. I knew it. I was like, this looks familiar. Is that high school musical?
00:03:17
Speaker
It's not the same school, but they did share an auditorium and then some of the like like outside shots. Anyway, I thought that was pretty cool. It just felt very familiar. It did, right? You're just like, yeah yeah, I see it. Utah, we've talked in the past about what makes a Dcom a Dcom, and after 2006, it's Utah. Being filmed in Utah makes it a Dcom.
00:03:41
Speaker
So this movie is a fan favorite, at least when you were talking about me and Gabby being the fans in question. So let's just dive into the recap. Are you ready? I'm so excited, bro. Okay, we start off by meeting friend group Derek, Stephanie, and Virgil on their first day of high school.
00:04:00
Speaker
Derek is nervous about trying out for the football team, Stephanie is excited to try out for cheerleading, and Virgil is confident and ready to take on the next four years with his friends. But things go awry at the tryouts that afternoon when Derek's dorky neighbor Charlie, a 10-year-old boy genius,
00:04:18
Speaker
drives his rocket cart onto the field distracting everybody. The football team begins pushing Charlie around, and Virgil briefly steps in to help him. But by doing this, Virgil also gets bullied with Charlie, thus cementing him as a nerd. The two end up tied in the air to their school mascot wearing cheerleader uniforms and lipstick, a day that will henceforth be known as the incident. Yep, the day of the incident, first day of high school.
00:04:45
Speaker
It's like horrific. like The level of bullying, oh my gosh, honestly. so We flash forward four years and everyone is in their senior year of high school. We see that Charlie and Virgil have remained good friends at the bottom of the food chain. Derek and Stephanie, however, have both excelled in popularity since we last saw them and they've become a couple.
00:05:07
Speaker
and they rarely speak with Virgil anymore.
Building the Time Machine
00:05:10
Speaker
Sad. So one day at school, Charlie tells Virgil that he believes he has cracked the code on time travel and all they need is to find a mechanic and some space to test it out in. Virgil then recruits Zeke, a brooding, moody, welder kid, to help them out. oh My love. I love him so much. He looked so much younger than I remembered. I thought he felt like this really old kid. He's a baby.
00:05:36
Speaker
And I'm like, you're so tiny. I was so in love with him when I watched this as a kid. Me too. And like I think we said this before, I was also in love with him from Sky High. so Yes. Oh my gosh, he's so cute. Yes. So together, the three of them managed to secure a private workspace under the football field and they build Charlie's time machine.
00:05:58
Speaker
After testing it out on a cat, they come to find that it actually works and they can travel up to 48 hours into the past. The only hiccup is that temperatures are very unstable in time travel, so they need to wear snow gear whenever they do it. For their first trip, Virgil and Zeke convince Charlie to go back and buy a winning lottery ticket, but the plan is foiled when the older gentleman that they asked to get the ticket for them keeps it for himself and wins.
00:06:23
Speaker
After this, Charlie puts his foot down about traveling back for anything unethical, then Virgil is hit with an idea. What if they use the time machine to help prevent nerds like themselves from getting bullied? They all agree to use the machine to become silent heroes to the uncool.
00:06:39
Speaker
The group is also joined by Janet, a sweet girl at school who is obsessed with birds and has a huge crush on Charlie. So after Janet accidentally walks in on them because she thinks that they run a Back to the Future fan club, they agree to tell her everything and let her help. She also helps upgrade their snow suits because, fun fact, her dad owns Ski World. How convenient.
00:07:00
Speaker
I thought that line, I forgot that that was part of this movie. I cracked up at that line. Thank goodness my dad owned Ski World instead of whatever else she said, cheese something. I don't know. Waffle something? Yeah. She was like, that would have been no help at all.
00:07:16
Speaker
like It's such a stupid, brilliant line. I love i love it. I love it. The whole purpose of the snow suits ends up becoming so significant to like their alias, but at the same time, it's so dumb. You're like, why is this such a big plot line? There's no reason, and I love it.
Becoming Heroes and Facing Dilemmas
00:07:35
Speaker
It's just the cool looking outfits, honestly.
00:07:38
Speaker
So the whole next section of the movie is spent showing the many ways that the Minutemen, whereas they come to be more well known, the snowsuit guys, save nerds from being bullied and prevent bad things from happening. Everything is great at first, but Charlie starts to realize that some of the people that they've helped have been acting really different and unkind since they've moved up in popularity.
00:08:00
Speaker
He also informs the group that he kinda sorta stole the formulas for time travel from NASA, and he's afraid that they're now being watched, so he suggests they stop using the machine for a while. Around that same time we learn that Stephanie, remember Virgil's cheerleader, former best friend from middle school, has an opportunity coming up to earn a college scholarship for cheerleading,
00:08:23
Speaker
But the day before the scouts visit, she falls off the top of the pyramid and breaks her leg. Since Virgil still has a major crush on her, he convinces the others to go back one more time to help stop her from breaking her leg. Problem is, Stephanie recognizes Virgil's voice and mannerisms when he saves her, and she quickly figures out that he, Charlie, and Zeke are the snowsuit guys.
00:08:44
Speaker
With this new information, Stephanie asks if the team can go back in time to help her boyfriend, Derek, remember also Virgil's former best friend, to prevent him from losing the championship football game. Once again, Virgil convinces Charlie that they should go back and they do.
00:08:59
Speaker
After this, Derek's interest in Virgil is rekindled with all this cool time travel stuff and he starts inviting him to parties and hang out again and Virgil is just enthralled with the popular life and it creates a real rift between him and Charlie and Zeke as he's prioritizing Derek and Stephanie over them.
FBI Confrontation and Saving the Universe
00:09:16
Speaker
Things come to a head in the final act as Stephanie discovers that Derek has been cheating on her and the FBI confront the boys for their time traveling. The group narrowly weasels their way out of trouble with the FBI and Derek asks Virgil to go back in time to prevent Stephanie from catching him cheating. But before Virgil can even make a decision on what to do, Charlie discovers that all the time travel has actually created a giant black hole that's going to suck up the entire universe. Oh no. Yeah, it's real bad.
00:09:46
Speaker
This is not small stakes. No, definitely not. So they alert the FBI and the FBI team up with Virgil, Charlie, and Zeke to destroy the Black Hole. But the only way to destroy it is for the boys to jump into the hole to stop it from the other side. They embark on their mission in a heroic fashion and leap into the unknown. Ironically, the Black Hole spits them all out on the very day that everything started, the day of the incident four years ago. The incident.
00:10:14
Speaker
Yeah, when Charlie and Virgil had been tied up on the mascot together. So they pretty much immediately succeed in closing the black hole and saving the universe like two seconds after getting there. But then they have to wait until a portal opens for them to jump back to their time. And while they're waiting, Virgil decides to go on one more mission, to stop himself from ever helping Charlie and stop the incident from ever happening.
00:10:37
Speaker
So Virgil takes off and Charlie chases after trying to stop him. And Charlie gives one of the most emotional speeches ever, telling Virgil that this day, the day he hates so much, is his favorite day because he finally had a friend to go through everything with. And I cry. It's a beautiful scene. It really is.
00:10:57
Speaker
We'll get to it. I just, I love it. Okay, so in the end, Virgil decides not to stop himself from helping Charlie, and he realizes how important that friendship is to him. The team rushes back to the portal, terrified that they're not gonna make it in time, and they'll be stuck in the past. But thanks to Zeke's emotional support grappling hook, they make it just before the portal disappears. Let's go grappling hook. And they are sent into the future. Thank you, hook.
00:11:25
Speaker
the portal shoots them back out at the beginning of their senior year, actually on the first day that they ever time traveled. No one remembers the black hole or anything that had happened that year, and they get the chance to start over fresh. Virgil tells Stephanie how he really feels about her, and Charlie gets excited about the possibilities of teleportation, which Virgil and Zeke quickly shut down. And that is Minutemen. Excellent job, Cappy. Thank you.
00:11:52
Speaker
Oh, wow. What did you think of this movie as a kid? I loved it as a kid. I may love it more now. I agree. What about you? Yeah, completely. I absolutely adored this movie as a kid. And I think it's even funnier now. I think I got even more out of it.
00:12:10
Speaker
Yes, it's incredible. I will admit there are plot holes and there are things about it that are imperfect, but I think that makes it better because it knows exactly what it is. It is like a feel-good, light-hearted comedy with these undertones of friendship and warnings about bullying and about social status. It just has so much packed in there in such an easy to digest way. It's just fun and it's pretty and it's hilarious and I love it.
00:12:37
Speaker
and And speaking on that of like the easy to digest way, I want to talk about time travel logic. I love that they explained it enough, but also not at all. And it works completely in their favor. They gave enough information for you to be like, yeah, that's plausible. But they didn't like shove it in your face. They were just like, this is how it is. And we all went, OK, and now time travel.
00:13:02
Speaker
Yes, even down to the idea, I love this plot line that the reason the NASA team has the time travel formula is they were like testing stuff out in the 60s right after the moon landing, which is so plausible. and like i mean Is that real? like I know people think it's real, but is it confirmed they were trying? I don't know. Anyways. The government doesn't tell us anything.
00:13:23
Speaker
But the fact that I'm over here, was that real? It's so plausible that NASA would have had these old files that they deleted and he was just finding them. Yeah, it's great. I wanted to just give a brief overview of types of time travel and how this movie followed and deviated from what is standard time travel in a movie. Yeah, let's do it. Can we get into that
Time Travel in Movies
00:13:45
Speaker
for a minute? For sure. Are you going to talk about Back to the Future? Yes, I am. Of course you are. I love that movie.
00:13:51
Speaker
Of course I am. So obviously time travel is not real. So don't come at me with your science. But also I'm looking at this from like a narrative filmmaking perspective. There's typically and this is simplifying it. So don't come after me. There's typically three types of time travel that you'll see in a movie and just run it through them really quick. Your first is called fixed points. That's the most common one where characters can go back and they are able to change something. So this is what you see in Back to the Future where Marty can affect his existence if he if his parents don't meet. Or like in Marvel too, right? Nope, we're gonna get to that. I'm glad you brought that up. Okay, yep. This is where things are on a singular timeline and you can change things on that timeline. Okay. Then we have the second type, a single continuum, which I think is the most confusing for people. This is what you see in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. It's where characters are unable to change anything if they go back in the past, because everything that happened always happened.
00:14:51
Speaker
Got it. And it just like loops. Yep. Yep. It's like a loop. It's kind of like fate. So still, we just have one timeline. Then we have what you see in Marvel, which is called infinite alternates. And this is where there are multiple timelines that we're speaking of. So if characters go back, they are able to change things. But if they change something, an alternate timeline is created that's separate from that original timeline that they left.
00:15:16
Speaker
Okay, so that one's a little confusing as well. But so this movie kind of goes mainly off of fixed points where you can go back in time and you can change things. But what it never addresses, which is the most common theme in most like fixed point time travel,
00:15:32
Speaker
is that you can't see yourself in the past and they are never at risk of that in this movie. I was like, why do they not care? But it's not necessary. I think also, because the only time that that's ever possibly going to be a problem is when they go back to the day of the incident, right?
00:15:52
Speaker
And I think that they're like, well, we're dressed in this snow suit gear. they would My old self would never have even guessed what that could be me. like and' I'm not making any sense, but do you know what I mean? Yes, that is the only time we actually see them in the past, but it should have happened more. So for example, the first time they traveled to help a kid, the ah the kid that's got like the glasses, you know, and his clothes get stolen. So in the first iteration of that event, they're in the locker room with him when his clothes go missing, and then they follow him up the stairs and see him getting made fun of. And that's when Virgil gets the idea like, oh, we should help people. But then when the Snow Suit guys are there, they're also in the locker room and then they come up the stairs and I'm like, where are there other versions of themselves? They cease to exist.
00:16:42
Speaker
So I'm like, so I'm like, is this like a new version of time travel where when you go back, you take over for your past self until you leave again? Yes, this DCOM invented a fourth version of movie time travel.
00:16:55
Speaker
I'm, ah it's canon. I believe it. It had to have, but then that doesn't explain the ending when they're still there. So I don't know, but that's different because they went through the black hole. yeah So that's they different Gabby. It's different. Clearly there's scientific evidence to back this up. Obviously. Yes. Hey, while we're talking about the incident, there's this big, this is like the big thing that this movie made me think about.
Reflecting on Life-Changing Moments
00:17:23
Speaker
which is like the moments that make us who we are. o And I i love the thought that like, Virgil's like attempt to change the past is like this just general reflection of this desire that many, I say, teenagers have to rewrite like um embarrassing moments in their lives. Even adults, we can all think of something where we're like, I would like to go back in time and make that not happen.
00:17:57
Speaker
But it's just this this moment and that speech that ah Charlie gives made me think like if we changed all of the moments in our lives that were embarrassing or like hurtful or didn't go the way that we wanted, would we still be the people that we are?
00:18:15
Speaker
You know, right. And so like an emotional and spiritual level. I love that because yeah if you take away those incidents, you might also be erasing some of the best things in your life. And on like a science fiction level, it's like, would you become the person who wanted to go back and change it if it never happened? ah Or it's just, I love that the boys are like this worst moment of our lives and like it affected all four years of high school.
00:18:44
Speaker
but they have friends for life because of this. They met Zeke because of this. Like, I i love that. And i it just made me stop and think about like my life of like, you know, there's some like past relationships I was in that I wish I wasn't in or like ah jobs that I wish I would have gotten that I didn't get. And like how now I'm thankful that everything that has happened to me has happened the way that it has.
00:19:10
Speaker
despite the fact that a lot of it has been painful or you know in retrospect, I'm like, I wish that I had done this instead of this. and's I'm glad that all of it happened because I am who I am right now in this space with the people who are in my life. Me too. I think that's a huge mark of maturity and I think that's part of Virgil's arc to maturity is realizing that the things that happened to us happened for a reason.
00:19:36
Speaker
and being able to find the good in those dark things and what came out of it that was positive in your life. like I think that's just part of growing up and since Dcoms are coming of age stories, like Virgil really is the one growing up and coming of age here because Charlie was always going to be bullied in this universe and Zeke probably wouldn't have been any different had he not met them, at least not significantly different that we see in the film. But Virgil goes from really not being a kind friend to Charlie. Like he's kind of still a jerk to him, even though they're close all these years. It's mainly out of necessity. And by the end, he's really able to see him as the friend that Charlie deserves and that he really is to Virgil and how much that all means. And he walks away from that, able to make that decision as like a grown
00:20:26
Speaker
person. Yeah, I feel like this was one of the most impactful messages in a DCOM to me as an adult. I agree, and I think a lot of times the Decom message is like be true to yourself and you know you can accomplish anything, and those are great messages. I have no issue with that, but it's refreshing when it's focused on relationship and on self-sacrifice because I think those are deeper things to achieve. like Being true to yourself is hard, but what's harder is sacrificing for the sake of someone else and growing
00:21:02
Speaker
you know ah Even though you have to like maybe be humbled a little bit, like Virgil kind of had to go through a humbling process to get to that level of maturity. and so I like that the message had to do with like brotherhood, friendship, um yeah sacrificing his popularity for the sake of like what's real and what's true.
00:21:21
Speaker
yeah yeah I just love this movie. It's so great. It hits on every level. It's emotional. It's funny. It looks good. It's well made. It's pretty. It's got all the right characters. And the romance isn't over the top, but it's there. It's intriguing enough. And Chelsea Kane is so convincing. She's so naturally her. And you're just like, yes. I love her. She is this character.
00:21:51
Speaker
I feel that way about her in um all the things I've seen her in. Isn't she also in Jonas? Mm-hmm. Choose in Jonas. I think she carries that show for whatever small amount of weight it has. I never seen Jonas, so I can't comment on that, but I'm sure you're correct.
00:22:09
Speaker
ah Did you have anything to say about the romance at all or like the situation with Derek? I mean, I barely touched on any of that, but there's a whole subplot with Stephanie and Derek and this other girl and there's a lot happening outside of the main group. ah To be honest with you, I don't have anything to say about it except for it works in the story and that guy's a jerk. Okay. All right. Gabby, will you tell me what the public thought about this movie?
00:22:36
Speaker
and If they didn't well like it, will you lie to me and tell me that they did?
Reception and Cast Updates
00:22:41
Speaker
They liked it. Okay, good. Yeah. there ah There was no tomato meter, which is you know the reviews from the critics. so We only had three critics reviews. I'm just going to read you one because they were all about the same. Kevin Carr said, this film is far less formulaic than what I've seen before and it's great to watch. Add to the fact that it appeals to boys and I found this to be a real winner.
00:23:05
Speaker
Yeah, I do love that this is a boy movie. Sometimes DCOMs, honestly, I would say more modern DCOMs tend to lead towards a female audience, but I think this was an excellent one for boys. Yeah. And then our popcorn meter is a little lower than I'd like to see, 67%.
00:23:24
Speaker
Okay. But that is surprising to me because when you read the reviews, most of them are really high, like four and five stars, like a couple 3.5-ers. So I'm like, it must just be a lot of people that didn't write in and they just put a lower star review.
00:23:40
Speaker
People see DCOM and they go low rating and you go, tell me what you really think you coward. I know it sucks. I don't understand. Clearly we love them. But um I will say lots of people say it's light. They mentioned it's fun that the acting and cheese factor are better than most other DCOM. So those were some common themes throughout. um But I'll read you a couple here. Frank J said Disney locked in with this one with an emoji. yeah They locked in.
00:24:09
Speaker
Yeah, Joshua C said, this film has aged a lot better than I thought it would. It doesn't exactly blow off the hinges of creativity, but it does what it does tolerably well.
00:24:20
Speaker
Yeah. Take a pause for a second. We didn't even talk about that. This movie aged incredibly well. It's so good because it's still talking about something that doesn't exist and there's nothing in it that's like grounded in time. Yeah. I would say like the only thing is like some of the fashion choices, but like not even to the extreme, just like a little bit. Yeah. It was mostly jeans and t-shirts, which I think as part of that, it was catered to boys and guys don't typically have You know, crazy fashion choices in high school. Yeah. That's an excellent point. Yeah, you're right. Yeah. And finally, I don't know the name of the person who wrote this, the high school setting with some stereotypes and other little developments make this an average DCOM. That's a little typical, but with the take of time travel and good sci-fi, it's above average. Above average. I love it. Yep. Yep. So Natalie, I am just dying to know where are they now? What future did they go into?
00:25:16
Speaker
I got it. Okay, first I have a warning for you. I went a little ham on this. So this is this is a long section. I'm so ready. I'm here for it.
00:25:28
Speaker
just Just so listeners know, Natalie texted me today, don't you dare look up where are they now. I want you to be surprised during the episode. So these are my authentic responses. There's just so much where you're like, what? OK. I'm getting my IMDB ready to pull up their information. Oh no, I have a specific picture to text you, so please hold on that. Oh, OK, great.
00:25:52
Speaker
Don't worry, this is an interactive section.
00:25:57
Speaker
Listeners, you be ready with your IMDB. Yes, okay. Jason Dolly, who played our main character, Virgil, he went on to star as PJ Duncan in the series. Good luck, Charlie. I think that is what he is most famous for. He also appeared in other Disney projects, including hatching Pete and Cory in the house. Two things that I have not seen, but I'm sure he's great. He's great and Cory in the house. It's not a well-written show, but he does a good job. I mean, I think I've seen a snippet or two, but I don't think I've ever seen a full episode of it. I don't know. It's not worth it.
00:26:29
Speaker
So he has mainly stayed out of the public eye in the past decade or so pursuing some smaller acting projects like short films. He is active on social media though, and he was recently even on the red carpet for the Wizards Beyond Waverly Place reboot. He spends most of his time. Why was he in that eye? He was just invited because he's a little Disney star and apparently he's good friends with those people. That's so cute. He spends most of his time however.
00:26:55
Speaker
studying chess. He is working his way into having an official chess ranking so he can play professionally. And if you want to follow his journey, he streams all of his chess training on Twitch. Oh my gosh. I never would have guessed. If you had given me everything in the world to guess, that would have been like last on my list. Yeah. The things he did with his life. He is literally documenting his journey to be a professional chess player.
00:27:24
Speaker
Why do I feel like that in itself is a decom? I'm obsessed. mean, good for him. That sounds like a great passion to have. Yes, I love it. Okay, next is Luke Benward, who played super genius little Charlie. So Luke was already a successful child actor by the time he got to Minutemen. And I think his shows with his delightful little acting and comedic timing.
00:27:49
Speaker
um He went on to star in Disney's Girl Vs. Monster, um another DCOM that we have not seen yet. But apparently he's like significantly older, or if he's not significantly older, he at least looks significantly older. Okay. He also had a recurring role on Good Luck Charlie, where he got to reunite with Jason Dolly.
00:28:09
Speaker
again, much older. He's dating PJ's sister. What's her name? Charlie? No, Charlie's the child. The girl from Lemonade Mouth? Yeah. Teddy? Teddy, yes. So he's a love interest for Teddy on that show. Oh, way older. Okay, got it. Yeah. And um he got um He got attractive. Oh, is this the one with the picture? I will now be sending you a photo. Um, please hold. Bro, I'm so excited. And I would just like for you to take that in. Okay? Okay. This was a handful of years ago. Oh my word. Oh, it muscles in the water.
00:28:59
Speaker
He has since grown a beard and perhaps lost a little bit of muscle. He is still a very handsome man, but in his prime of his 20s, good lord, Jesus Christ almighty, holy lord, ah very pretty man.
00:29:16
Speaker
i yeah I am taken aback. i kind of I was as well. This was the level. Yeah. Wow. Where can our audience find that photo if they want to find it? Oh, just look up Luke Benward 2024 and that picture is not from 2024, but you will find him.
00:29:38
Speaker
he's He's shirtless in some body of water and oh my goodness. He is, and and I don't say this lightly, delicious.
00:29:50
Speaker
In other Luke news, he collects rare trading cards of all types, Pokemon, Star Wars, and other ones that I don't know about. but And he has a whole Instagram account dedicated just to unboxing those.
00:30:05
Speaker
Oh, I say this so with all the love and being a fellow nerd, they're all just like their characters. They're just a little group of nerds. Okay. And if you didn't think there could be another fun fact that's completely out of left field, you're wrong.
00:30:23
Speaker
Luke, since 2020, has been in a relationship with actress Ariel Winter of Modern Family fame. They live together with their six dogs, which are heavily featured on their social media accounts. Whoa, wait. OK, I love Modern Family. My husband and I just finished watching the show straight through. Which one's Ariel? The middle child. Alex, I think. Alex Dunphy is dating this. That makes so much sense. I could see his character, Charlie, dating Alex Duffy. They're very, very cute together. That's beautiful. I bet they are. But did you miss that they have six dogs? They dress them up and they like do TikTok reels. I didn't miss it. I just don't know how to react to that. Six dogs. That's a lot of dogs. That's a lot of dogs. And I love dogs. They have like a whole dog hotel. Wow. I did not see any of this coming. I'm so excited for the dark brunette guy.
00:31:19
Speaker
Oh, Nicholas Braun, my favorite who played Zeke. I adore him. We know him from movies like Sky High, of course, Princess Protection Program, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Prom, and so much more. Wait, what? Yeah. Who was in Perks of Being a Wallflower? A character. i I've only seen that once, but I loved it.
00:31:45
Speaker
Yeah. He has since earned two Emmy nominations for his role on HBO's Succession. Very, very ah well acclaimed show. If you didn't know, he was on that. Yeah. And I just want to throw this out there. If you were watching this movie and you were like, wow, he's so tall. He is. He is six foot seven.
00:32:04
Speaker
Oh my goodness. Yeah. And he was young in this movie too. Uh-huh. Yep. Um, he has continued his acting career in addition to like a mini singing career. He has a few singles out that you can listen on Spotify. He is quite delightful. He can sing too. Yeah.
00:32:21
Speaker
Oh, what a guy. And he also reportedly, according to Wikipedia, has started investing in various bars and restaurants throughout New York City where you can see him frequently. How cool. Okay, this guy just sounds awesome. I know. I just want to just want to give him a hug and tell him that I love him. Okay, new plan. We research the bars he's investing in in frequency. Then we take a day trip to New York together and we find him.
00:32:47
Speaker
You're saying this like it's a joke, but I'm on board. We tell him about the podcast. He comes on as a guest. We get famous. I see nothing. And then when we do Princess Protection Program, he helps us host the episode. Exactly. I see no flaws. Let's go. Okay. Lastly, we have Miss Chelsea Kane, who played Stephanie.
00:33:10
Speaker
She is no stranger to Disney audiences. As we said before, you know, she went to star on in the DCOM Starstruck, which I have not seen. And then, of course, on the TV show Jonas alongside the Jonas Brothers, um she participated on season 12 of Dancing with the Stars, where she got third place.
00:33:29
Speaker
I believe she was paired with Mark? question Mark is a genius. He's an artistic anomaly in our world. Okay, I'm looking up all their dances. Okay, okay, okay. Her most recent work ah was as the character Riley in the long running sitcom Baby Daddy, which ran from 2012 to 2017.
00:33:50
Speaker
And just a little last piece of ah deliciousness for you, a little drama. um Chelsea's Love Life has been on display over the majority of her career, and it includes a long list of famous men. But I just want to point out a fun one. That at the time that Minutemen was made, she was dating her co-star, Stephen R. McQueen, who played the jerk boyfriend, Derek.
00:34:14
Speaker
No way. She was dating him in real life? Yeah, they dated for two years. That's so funny. Oh, wow. Okay. Who are some of the other ones? um Lots of guys from bands. um A guy named Jake Johnson, who is not Jake Johnson from New Girl, because I was very confused and went down like a rabbit hole for a long time. Different Jake Johnson. Okay. Listen, I was so, so confused. I was like, the age gap is not adding up.
00:34:41
Speaker
Different Jake Johnson. Okay. um And then her co-stars from ah Baby Daddy, she dated one of them and just a lot of things. But right now, as far as the internet tells me, she is single and happily so. Wow. It seems like she dates co-stars. That seems to be a trend. I mean, I wasn't going to say it.
00:35:03
Speaker
Okay, cool. Well, good for her. Um, just to go backwards a second, Mark from Dancing with the Stars is my favorite professional, maybe tied with Derek Huff. Um, and he is so creative. Like his dances are so over the top and he'll do these insane costumes and really cool, unique moves. He's just, he's just like slightly unhinged in the best way. So I am like very excited to see their dances. and That is what I'm like fully taking away from your list about her.
00:35:28
Speaker
Yeah. like I mean, like i she just looks like a person who can dance. Does that make sense? Uh-huh. Yeah. Clearly, she got third. So like clearly, she did well. I'm sure they're great dancers. Yeah, yeah. But she's not like a dancer, so we're not mad about it, like with Jordan Fisher. Right. Great dancer. Or Zendaya. Why is he on that show? Great dancer. Why is she on that show? Anyway, it's whatever. It's my soapbox. You can listen to season one if you want to hear more about that.
00:35:54
Speaker
Okay, let's move on. Well, that's really fun. I love where all of them are. By any chance, do you know where Derek ended up? Because I was kind of curious. um I do know that he was on vampire diaries for like a bajillion years. And I'm sure he's still acting as well. um But I don't think I have any more information past that. Okay. I think it's time for us to see what we're going to watch next week and look forward to that.
Preview of Next Episode and Conclusion
00:36:20
Speaker
I'm so excited for this season, Gabby. Tell me what we're watching. So if you're new here, I'll just explain that we use a randomizer to help us generate the movie we're going to be talking about next week. So we're going to take this week to watch the movie, digest it, and we'll come back next week with our thoughts.
00:36:35
Speaker
so I'm going to put in our random generator right now. All of the movies on this list are movies that we have not seen yet, and only sequels to movies we have already seen are on this list. so For example, we have seen Xenon and High School Musical, so High School Musical 2 and Xenon the Zekul are both on this list. However, we have not seen Descendants, so Descendants 2 through 4 are not on this list. Hope that makes sense. Here we go.
00:37:01
Speaker
I am so excited. Okay. I have not seen this movie. The Generator has pulled up a movie called Frenemies from 2012. With Zendaya. Yes, it has Bella Thorne and Zendaya and a lot of others. It seems to be an ensemble cast. Oh, okay. Yeah. Literally all I know is that it has Zendaya.
00:37:24
Speaker
Okay. Well, I mean, if it has Sandeia, it can't be bad, right? Right. I mean, she's a great actress. Okay. Frenemies. Okay. So this is cool, guys. This is one that we haven't seen, which is always a fun time. So go watch Frenemies this week and come back next week with all of your thoughts for our discussion. And I imagine we have a handful of viewers or more than a handful who have not seen this just like we have never seen this. Guys, you got to watch it. You got to watch it so that you can be in on the discussion with us.
00:37:52
Speaker
Yeah, it's way more fun. If it's terrible, it's even the most fun if you come in with all of that pent up hatred and then we can all hate it together. And if we all love it, like you won't fully understand. You won't have all the same vibes if you haven't seen it and loved it with us. And I don't know a lot about Bella Thorne, but I do know she went a little crazy. So I imagine the where are they now might be a little fun. If nothing else, the where are they nows are always fun. Alright everybody, we're gonna see you next week! Season 2! Yeah, see you guys next week! Bye!
00:38:24
Speaker
Thank you all so much for listening to this episode of Once Upon a Decom. Like what you just heard? Leave us a rating and review. We'd love to hear your thoughts. Also, follow us on Instagram and TikTok at onceuponadcom.podcast and share this podcast with your Disney-loving friends. A big thanks to Gabby for editing this whole podcast together. Thanks, friend. And don't forget to subscribe because there's always a new episode on the way. This is Gabriella. And Natalie. Signing off with a sprinkle of pixie dust. And a whole lot of nostalgia.