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Independence Day (1996)
17 Plays3 days ago
This week on the Everything Actioncast, Zach and Chris celebrate Independence Day and discuss the 90s summer blockbuster classic as it turns 30.
Coming from Roland Emmerich and really kicking off the 90s disaster movie boom, Independence Day finds the Earth under attack from an alien force with ships that have the ability to destroy a major city in minutes. Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Randy Quaid, Vivica A. Fox, and Judd Hirsch are just some of the many characters the movie follows in the lead-up and then aftermath of the alien attack. Zach and Chris discuss the marketing hype and merchandising, why Jasmine (Fox) would work a shift at the strip club when it's empty, the alternate ending where Randy Quaid's Russell Casse straps a bomb to his cropdusting plane for the final battle, Harry Connick Jr. channeling Goose from Top Gun, and more.
You can watch Independence Day on Disney+/Hulu, Tubi, or AMC+. Next week, with Evil Dead Burn hitting theaters, we're confronting the Deadites of Evil Dead 2.
We want to hear your comments and feedback. Send them all to contact@everythingaction.com. Also, let us know your movie suggestions for us to discuss.
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Transcript
Intro
Impact of 'Independence Day' on 90s cinema
00:00:19
Zach Sheets
Hello and welcome to the Everything Action Cast, the podcast week of June 29th, 2026. I'm your Zach.
00:00:26
Chris Prime
Amber co-host Chris.
00:00:27
Zach Sheets
And this week we are celebrating our Independence Day, the holiday and the movie, which came out 30 years ago. Actually, if you're hearing this on the 3rd, 30 years ago today, July 3rd, 1996 is when this 90s classic came out.
00:00:44
Zach Sheets
And I think probably my favorite role in an epic movie. i don't know about you, Chris, but...
00:00:48
Chris Prime
I gotta remember all those movies.
Roland Emmerich's Filmography and Sequels
00:00:50
Chris Prime
They sort of blur together.
00:00:50
Zach Sheets
He's got Universal Soldier, Stargate, Independence Day, Godzilla, The Patriot, Day After Tomorrow, 10,000 BC, 2012, White House Down, Stonewall, Independence Day, Resurgence, and Midway and Moonfall.
00:01:07
Chris Prime
Yeah, I think IDW is like right up there.
00:01:09
Zach Sheets
ID4.
00:01:10
Chris Prime
Depends on my mood.
00:01:10
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:01:11
Chris Prime
ID4 is right up there and then
00:01:13
Zach Sheets
Yeah,
00:01:14
Chris Prime
I don't know, maybe if I get feel patriotic, the Patriarch now and then?
00:01:19
Zach Sheets
yeah I would say probably Independence Day and the Patriot. And then probably a Universal Soldier third.
00:01:25
Chris Prime
Yeah. a Universal Soldier is up there for, like, nostalgia. But Universal Soldier's got its own flaws that, like, yeah, like there's like, you could still, like, hit one of them with a car. They're just, now what? All this money that went into them.
00:01:43
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:01:45
Chris Prime
Or like they if Dolph Lundgren realizes that he's the universe soldier, he just goes crazy. so
00:01:50
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:01:52
Chris Prime
i think I don't think the franchise was going to go that direction. But if there's something beautiful about Roland Emmerich movies where they start out with good intent and then they just don't like stick the landing in sequels.
00:02:06
Zach Sheets
Well, I mean, he gets to, sort I think, I think tomorrow was probably like the last really fun, good one. And then after that, it's just like, oh boy. 10,000 10,000 BC. I don't know if you've seen that one, Chris. That one's awful.
00:02:17
Chris Prime
I've seen just like the poster and trailer and everything about it I understood and I was like I don't need to this epic about a guy seeing how hard it is to live in this era and then i don't know is is there like an alien in that one?
Unrealized Sequels and '10,000 BC'
00:02:38
Zach Sheets
I don't think it's an alien. It's it's like...
00:02:42
Zach Sheets
it's like It's like a weird like fake... It's like sort of Egyptian, but like not really. and
00:02:47
Chris Prime
It's a precursor, just like, a okay.
00:02:48
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:02:49
Chris Prime
You see what I mean? they get They can make up anything, and it's just, okay, well, you know, it's it's so early in evolution that Nolan Emmerich was like, originally this was going to be an Independence Day sequel, but we decided to go for this.
00:03:01
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
Surge of Disaster Films in the 90s
00:03:04
Zach Sheets
But yeah, Independence Day, 90s classic, 90s summer blockbuster classic, and definitely kick kicked off like a huge wave of kind disaster movies in the 90s. I think Twister was actually the same year as this, but then we had you know Dante's Peak and Armageddon and Deep Impact and everything like all the other like disaster movies of the 90s.
00:03:30
Zach Sheets
They all kind of like came from Kickstarter here because they're like, Oh, this is the highest grossing film of 1996. That's what people want now. It's giant disasters.
00:03:41
Chris Prime
I mean, as a kid, I was excited for this movie just because the marketing got me.
00:03:44
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:03:46
Chris Prime
I think i think i think like they they suckered in kids first with like a very vague toy line and like or like a game where like you gotta to get like four different things to play like a complete video game.
00:04:03
Zach Sheets
The action figures came with like a floppy disk. I think they each had like a mini game on them or something.
'Independence Day' Marketing Strategy
00:04:10
Chris Prime
I don't know if it was a minigame or like you just had to have all of them so that way you could boot all four floppies.
00:04:10
Zach Sheets
There's also the game. Yeah.
00:04:17
Zach Sheets
and there's there's also the p s one game
00:04:20
Chris Prime
Which came out later. I think that came out like think a year or two later.
00:04:22
Zach Sheets
yeah
00:04:25
Zach Sheets
so I just remember, like, the only thing they really showed was, like, the White House blowing up. And it's like, that's all you need to know is that the White House blows up And everyone's like, oh, yeah.
00:04:38
Zach Sheets
But then it's funny because the the like the first, like, what, like, almost hour of the movie is kind of build up to that. It can't remind me of Terminator 2 where it's like you know what's going to happen, but then you spend the first half of the movie like building up to like, is Arnold the bad guy? Maybe.
00:04:57
Zach Sheets
it's like, are these aliens here for peaceful reasons? Find out.
00:05:02
Chris Prime
I feel like, yeah, yeah, that was the big draw. Check out these landmarks that you are somewhat familiar with. Just get obliterated.
00:05:11
Zach Sheets
Which, I mean, that became like a real number like staple too, just like blowing up or like freezing or demolishing famous landmarks around the world. Yeah.
00:05:20
Chris Prime
I mean, a few of them, just New York. like In the 90s, he really just liked seeing York struggle.
00:05:28
Chris Prime
The 90s and the early two thousand
00:05:30
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
Character Introductions and Development
00:05:31
Zach Sheets
But yeah, it it does, like, Independence Day kicks off, in they like it's like the classic like disaster movie formula where they kind of like, go through all the characters and then you get to see, like, what they're doing before disaster strikes.
00:05:43
Zach Sheets
And it's like it's a wide array of characters, this movie. This movie has so many so make characters to, like, introduce and kind of bring together eventually.
00:05:53
Chris Prime
But you figure if you're going to do that and really focus in, introduce them early, the core characters don't get introduced until like 10 minutes into the movie.
00:06:05
Zach Sheets
Well, it's wild that Will Smith takes it it doesn't show until like 40 minutes of the movie.
00:06:09
Chris Prime
Wow, his is 40?
00:06:10
Zach Sheets
I think so. I was like a checking. I'm going to check when like Will Smith shows up because like he's the last person like major character gets introduced. Because everyone else is already kind of off doing their own thing. Like Jeff Goldblum's like finding the signal and you Bill Pullman being the president and Randy Quaid being crazy and drunk.
00:06:29
Zach Sheets
And then, yeah, it's like, yeah, Will Smith's awesome to the movie.
00:06:34
Zach Sheets
Because because like the thing you remember about this movie, I think, is like it's like Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum.
00:06:38
Chris Prime
Yeah, and definitely Bill Paulman later. Like once once he's sort of memorable, you don't look for his thing.
00:06:41
Zach Sheets
Yeah. well yeah he's like i would He's like a top five fake president, I would say. President Whitmore is like one of the best like movie presidents.
00:06:54
Chris Prime
Once we get to a little bit more, I definitely want to break more into his character, because there is a slight interest in what I think could have happened, and it becomes a completely different movie. but Yeah, he he is that like wholesome president character, where he doesn't really have a flaw.
00:07:15
Chris Prime
there's There's no...
00:07:15
Zach Sheets
yes
00:07:16
Chris Prime
he like He's too nice, and which is everyone's like, we we hired a soldier, and we thought he would be... you know, more of a, like an aggressive American warrior, but it's like,
00:07:26
Zach Sheets
Yeah. but yeah they're they They're attacking because he's too young and too nice. It's like the pundit. Whatever that show It's like this like debate show. It's like, to is he a where is he a warrior or a wimp?
00:07:39
Zach Sheets
Talk about it
00:07:40
Chris Prime
Yeah, it's just like early 90s, like, I don't know what to call It was like political shows.
00:07:48
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:07:49
Chris Prime
They didn't have the same punchiness yet. Like, they didn't figure out the formula of how to sell politics in a, like, let's just insult them. This was, okay, I didn't like this because, like, you know, America needs to be strong.
00:07:59
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:08:04
Chris Prime
Not like this person... this person wants to give health care. Like, you know, it was so such a different time back then.
00:08:14
Zach Sheets
and we mean realize we We have no idea of like what is going on that he's been dealing with until like the before the aliens showed up. like There's no war going on. There's no like domestic crisis going on. It's just like, this guy this guy's young. he is he's taught he's making He's got big words. He's got nice words. We don't like it.
00:08:33
Chris Prime
I don't know if this is also his first presidency or second presidency.
00:08:38
Zach Sheets
got It's got to be his first term, I would guess.
00:08:41
Chris Prime
But it's also it's year three of his first term.
00:08:45
Chris Prime
So Jeff Goldblum's ex-wife is work like went to go work for him. And that's what like caused the divorce because I guess she was really like good at what she does of PR work.
00:08:50
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:09:00
Zach Sheets
and yeah And Jeff Golden was not ambitious. like He was just like, he went to MIT. he could like like he could basically do anything he wanted. And he's like, I just want to be a cable technician.
00:09:11
Chris Prime
But he kept, like, preaching things, so...
00:09:13
Zach Sheets
Yeah, yeah so like i'm I'm super big into recycling, like reduced
00:09:19
Chris Prime
i I bike everywhere, and then, you know, I love my dad. All all these, like...
00:09:25
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:09:29
Chris Prime
But it's funny, because, like, his character should be younger for that.
00:09:35
Chris Prime
But Jeff Goldblum's already like in his like late 30s, early 40s at this point. So he's just been like an old annoying hippie.
00:09:46
Zach Sheets
Yeah, just like constantly berating people for throwing cans and like not in recycling.
00:09:51
Chris Prime
Well back then, those metals were super like hard to recycle.
00:09:57
Zach Sheets
I did appreciate at the, I guess it's the cable company that he works at, they had a giant like Fruitopia machine. know what I'm saying, Yeah, it was like the most 90s drink you have.
00:10:06
Chris Prime
No, no.
00:10:09
Zach Sheets
is like They have a giant like Fruitopia machine like in the middle of like the floor. and a Coke one, I think, it's and then some other one.
00:10:18
Chris Prime
I mean, this movie also has, like, marketing. Like, brand marketing. But not not as aggressive as leader Roland Emmerich movies will insert them into.
00:10:28
Zach Sheets
yeah it so Yeah, it's not like a i like like a Bud Light truck is blowing up. That's part of the Michael Bay thing, I guess. It's they say it specific trucks are blowing up, but they have blatant advertising on them.
00:10:40
Zach Sheets
It's like, it's the Xbox truck blew up. Oh, no.
00:10:43
Chris Prime
Yeah.
00:10:45
Zach Sheets
But yeah, Jeff Goldblum... Because there's
Alien Countdown and Rising Tension
00:10:47
Zach Sheets
like a...
00:10:51
Zach Sheets
There's a lot of like satellite interference going on. So people are calling like the cable company or like the satellite like whatever whatever this telecommunications company is that it's it's causing like static. and a bunch like all it's All throughout the first half of the movie, anytime someone's watching TV, just like oh it's like fuzzy. You're going in and out.
00:11:12
Zach Sheets
And then he discovers that there's like a signal inside of it that's like like counting down. which so he's like, Oh, this is a countdown to, like, they're going to, like, attack us.
00:11:22
Chris Prime
why would they Why would the aliens broadcast that?
00:11:27
Zach Sheets
Well, he i mean he explains it. It's like they're using our satellites to coordinate because they can't transmit, like, through of the Earth directly. So you have you have to like send out the signal to like like satellites.
00:11:39
Chris Prime
Oh, they're using Earth as like a satellite like itself.
00:11:41
Zach Sheets
Using our satellite system to like send us their signal, they're like hiding it in our satellite system. And that's how they're coordinating all the ships to go to a lot of different cities and like get in place.
00:11:55
Zach Sheets
but that But then it's like, i get I mean, it seems like it's pretty easy to find because like like SETI finds it immediately.
00:12:02
Chris Prime
Yeah, so want to get into that real quick. So SETI is the first group that like, it seems like these are going to be some of your heroes, but like you never see them again.
00:12:10
Zach Sheets
never seen
00:12:11
Chris Prime
It's like they wasted the the intro for Goldblum to just do that. Or just sort of like sitting on his roof or something, playing with satellites, like listening, and then maybe convincing his father he hears something. And then it goes in. But nah, it's like you get the the lone radio worker who hears a signal, calls his boss. His boss gets out of bed, has his own little skit.
00:12:39
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:12:40
Chris Prime
Then we never see him again.
00:12:43
Chris Prime
It would be nice if you saw him again in like the bunker.
00:12:47
Zach Sheets
Or yeah, or if they brought him, it also brought him into like the White House or something, to be like, hey, this is the guy that likes his team discovered the signal.
00:12:53
Chris Prime
And then they add a little something that Jeff Goldblum couldn't get because, you know, Jeff Goldblum's just using like regular satellite equipment and and not like set up like level equipment.
00:13:05
Chris Prime
So it's like they're able to team up. Not saying that this movie needed more characters, but it it just doesn't tie into the beginning.
00:13:10
Zach Sheets
No, yeah.
00:13:15
Zach Sheets
And then Jeff Colvin, I don't know if this is where you find out like his like hacking abilities, too. like He's got a CD-ROM of like all the phones numbers like america
00:13:29
Chris Prime
I don't know if he just hacked everything and he just knows, but he can listen in to satellite calls.
00:13:36
Zach Sheets
Yeah, he he can like pin they can he has like an antenna that can they pinpoint where you are if you're using your phone.
00:13:43
Chris Prime
that That's sort of old tech, but I remember so reading somewhere that they said that that's illegal. You just can't like have records of like siphoning like phone records.
00:13:56
Zach Sheets
Yeah, or like or like find people's like unlisted numbers. they're like like They're unlisted for a reason.
00:13:59
Chris Prime
Yeah.
00:14:00
Zach Sheets
don't know what you call them.
00:14:02
Chris Prime
But, you know, you did it.
00:14:06
Chris Prime
But yeah, that's besides the point. So there's like a whole different movie here. if You remove the aliens and you just get to this. And I say that because the president, when they say like, oh, he's so soft on like politics and all this, the president's like, i don't know. I'm trying to be a good man. But then it's like, this is in any other situation that wasn't a sci-fi movie. It's like the president definitely has a scheme.
00:14:28
Chris Prime
He's going he's going to commit like crime on America to be like, you need me now. I'm like, this is why.
00:14:35
Chris Prime
I'm not sure you got that vibe in the beginning, but it if like this could have been a sinister twist where it's like the human that has been working with the aliens or knows something and doesn't want the rest of the guys to know.
00:14:49
Zach Sheets
Well, if anyone was doing that, it'd be like James Rebhorn, like the Secretary of Defense, like the most Weasley character in movie history.
00:14:54
Chris Prime
Yeah.
00:14:57
Chris Prime
He... It's so weird to think now that he was the, The, like, secret, like, oh, I've been holding back.
00:15:04
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:15:04
Chris Prime
But he could be the only one that knew about this. Why why why is it making it seem like he was the one that, like, found the aliens or something? He's just the one that didn't tell anyone, but...
00:15:14
Zach Sheets
Because he was the director of the CIA before that, so that's how we knew...
00:15:17
Chris Prime
and But it happened to him
Chaos in Major Cities
00:15:18
Chris Prime
before. You know what I mean
00:15:19
Zach Sheets
yeah and and now Yeah, he's not CI Director now, he's not the Secretary of Defense. but But he still like was keeping like the the secret.
00:15:23
Chris Prime
So... tabs on it. i mean, you don't forget that, but they really...
00:15:28
Zach Sheets
plausible Plausible deniability.
00:15:32
Chris Prime
Yeah, I get that. But, God. It is It's a good reason, because... look Look at the humans. It's not exactly they were going to do positive things knowing this.
00:15:44
Chris Prime
Or, I guess, like, you could make, like, super defenses, but the odds are, like, all the other countries would fight for this, and you really... You needed united group.
00:15:55
Chris Prime
I don't know.
00:15:56
Zach Sheets
Well, we, I mean...
00:15:57
Chris Prime
I'm thinking about like classic sci-fi disasters where it's like, this works out well. at The sequel, it's like, oh no, like you know another country went rogue. and then Now we've got like an evil country we've got to like fight against.
00:16:10
Zach Sheets
Well, I mean, we see, we see like, as soon as the aliens show up, like, these ships are appearing over cities, like, it's just, it's instant chaos. Like, everyone's just, like, panicking and, like, looting and going nuts.
00:16:23
Zach Sheets
like having heavy parties and skyscrapers and move, like fleeing the area, which yeah I like. It's a very like comedic, like a great, like comedic bit where like, like President Whitmore is like, if you feel the need to leave your homes, do so do do so in an orderly fashion. Then they cut to like New York City, just like in like full riot mode.
00:16:42
Chris Prime
I mean, they knew. They knew that these major cities and then the only areas that seemed like they care about each other was just the like the the like wandering nomad air van.
00:16:52
Zach Sheets
RV convoy.
00:16:54
Chris Prime
They like stuck together. They know like picking things. And then everyone from New York just couldn't figure out how to leave safely. And I'm not sure that's a comment directly, but I saw that.
00:17:06
Chris Prime
And also, at this time, I lived in New York, so this definitely would have happened. this That kind of happens during, like, a weather phenomenon. You know what I mean? Like, it let alone an alien attack. That would happen.
00:17:18
Zach Sheets
i wonder how, uh, Jeff Goldblum and Judd Hirsch like got out of the city like as quick as they did, though. Because like people are like... Harvey Fierstein stuck in like traffic until he gets blown up by the aliens.
00:17:29
Zach Sheets
And he he like left earlier than Jeff Goldblum.
00:17:30
Chris Prime
Uh...
00:17:34
Zach Sheets
They just like snuck out. like It's like, oh, it's secret route out of the city. All right, let's go. Go to Washington DC. Mm-hmm.
00:17:40
Chris Prime
You know, that's a good point. Cause in order to get to Washington from New York, you have to go through Jersey or you have to go through upstate New York and then like wrap around, which it would take longer, but that could have been it. no one, everyone's fleeing South, but they went North and did the, like through the trip through Pennsylvania, maybe.
00:17:57
Zach Sheets
Maybe. They get there pretty fast. I mean, because all this takes place on like July 2nd because it's it's it movie takes place over three days.
00:18:01
Chris Prime
Yeah.
00:18:06
Chris Prime
That's a, that's a, I forgot how crazy pacing it is. And honestly, i guess you can do the drive from New York City to Washington in like a day, but have to run out of gas at some point.
00:18:19
Zach Sheets
Not a couple hours.
00:18:20
Chris Prime
Yeah, in a couple hours, let alone a gas station, but I don't know, maybe no one's on the road, but everyone be on the road.
00:18:27
Zach Sheets
Well, when they get to Washington, they're the only ones going like going into it. Everyone's trying to get out of it. So that's like, I guess that makes it easier to get into Washington. But i don't yeah don't know how they got out of New York City. mean, like, when it's like a full-on, like, chaos riot.
00:18:40
Zach Sheets
And also, like, l LA is also, like, the same, like, kind of the same thing. Does it seem, like, not not as crazy, but still kind of crazy? Like, LA is more like, we're going to party with the aliens. Yeah.
00:18:51
Chris Prime
So, growing up, that strip club scene was interesting for, like, seeing that, like, oh, like, no matter what, like, tits don't sell during this, because we never see vi Gay Fox in that outfit ever again. It's like, we don't really, it's like, she's just a normal person at that point.
00:19:13
Zach Sheets
Well, they I mean, people are keep commenting like, oh, like, you know, like Harry Connick Jr.'s like, you're never go to get to play a face about it when you're going to marry a hook a stripper.
00:19:13
Chris Prime
Uh...
00:19:21
Chris Prime
A stripper, right.
00:19:22
Zach Sheets
like i so i just want to, I want to, like, but what was the conversation?
00:19:22
Chris Prime
But it's like, yeah, like, not anymore. No one cares. Like, it's just, oh, you were stripper once before the war? Whatever. You know, it's just...
00:19:32
Zach Sheets
Because she's like, I just went down to get my check and then...
00:19:36
Chris Prime
She ended up doing a shift?
00:19:37
Zach Sheets
a show, but then like her like the guy who owns the club had to have known there two people in the club. It's like, who's he? You gotta to get out there. The crowd's hungry for for action. It's
00:19:49
Chris Prime
Yeah, that's sounds saying like what I'm saying. This is what trip clubs are. like They're more optional. to like Do they have to perform?
00:19:55
Zach Sheets
like, we're burning money if no one's on the stage. Get up there.
00:20:00
Chris Prime
Jump and dance or the... What are we even doing here? It's like, what?
00:20:05
Zach Sheets
It's like, there's like two there's like two guys and then I think like another like dancer is there. That's the only people in the club.
00:20:10
Chris Prime
And they're just watching TV.
00:20:11
Zach Sheets
and They're watching TV.
00:20:11
Chris Prime
Yeah.
00:20:12
Zach Sheets
Yeah,
00:20:15
Zach Sheets
yeah I feel like Vivica, I've actually been just like, there's no one here. Why do why do I got dance? I just give back i gotta come to home with my son.
00:20:23
Zach Sheets
She's like, alright. alright. Don't they mostly work on tips too? like who's She's not making any money.
00:20:30
Chris Prime
I don't know. Sometimes if you're a salary worker, you still get like a little bit, then it's like your shift, you get the tips. Because like, sometimes your tips is then you have to pay into the club for your time. You're you're a contractor, technically.
00:20:43
Chris Prime
It's weird. It depends on like skeezy the club is. That's something you just learn by talking to people and knowing that, you know, strip clubs don't have the greatest business model.
00:20:54
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:20:56
Zach Sheets
but yeah that that is this This is so weird. like The guy in running a club is like, don't give a shit about these aliens. Get out there and dance. it's but yeah but she doesnt She does her shift.
00:21:06
Chris Prime
You never know when someone off the street wants to see a dance.
00:21:12
Zach Sheets
like She's going leave. She's going to the base with with Will Smith because he got called back to rejoin his squadron. Which i always remembered it like very Top Gun and then went watching it confirmed it. Like they're really trying to make Will Smith and Harry Conner Jr. like Maverick and Goose.
00:21:32
Chris Prime
They have that punchy energy, but Haragasa Jr. I think was known for his music too.
00:21:40
Zach Sheets
Yeah, i don't I don't know if this is like his first like movie role. Because yeah, he definitely was like a like, you know, singer before.
00:21:49
Chris Prime
feel like he was... can't remember what year Practical Magic was in. I think he's in that.
00:21:57
Zach Sheets
Oh, I think he's in Hope Floats with Sandra Bullock.
00:22:00
Chris Prime
Gotcha. Gotcha.
00:22:01
Zach Sheets
he was saying He was in Memphis Belle and Copycat before this.
00:22:05
Chris Prime
Okay, Copycat was earlier.
00:22:07
Zach Sheets
Yeah. That was the year before.
00:22:11
Chris Prime
So...
00:22:12
Zach Sheets
but But this is i mean this was probably his first like huge movie.
00:22:15
Chris Prime
Makes sense. Makes sense. I feel Copycat's getting a resurgence in popularity.
00:22:20
Chris Prime
But, anyway.
00:22:21
Zach Sheets
But yeah, he's i mean he's he's definitely trying to be Goose.
00:22:24
Chris Prime
But now watching this movie, it's like they really try to play up that... you know Check out how like awesome this co-pilot is. and it's It's gonna be tragic when he's not here anymore.
00:22:35
Zach Sheets
Yeah, you got to, like, you got so many so many characters, you got like, build some of them up so that, you like, you can kill them and make it, like, have an emotional impact, I guess.
00:22:44
Zach Sheets
Although not not not as many, like, main characters die as you would think that you, like, would. Like, it's, yeah, like, Harry Potter Jr., and then it's, like, the First Lady, you're like, the only two to die.
00:22:54
Chris Prime
Well, those are only two characters we really get more time with. Maybe maybe the other stripper that Vivica Fox was like, don't go.
00:22:56
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:23:02
Zach Sheets
yeah
00:23:03
Chris Prime
but I don't even remember her name.
00:23:06
Zach Sheets
Tiffany?
00:23:08
Chris Prime
Sure.
00:23:08
Zach Sheets
im I'm looking at Wikipedia. yeah
00:23:10
Chris Prime
And only things remember her from was Saved by the Bell, the new class.
00:23:15
Zach Sheets
Okay.
00:23:15
Chris Prime
or Or like the college years. She was in that show.
00:23:17
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:23:19
Chris Prime
I mean she's not a bad actress. I've seen her in other things, but it's like, this this is the Nolan Emmerich formula of just throwing so many, like, side characters on
Randy Quaid's Character Arc
00:23:30
Chris Prime
top of side characters so that when they die, it's just like, alright, on to the next set.
00:23:37
Chris Prime
We haven't gotten to, like, the Randy Quaid family, which, They just kind of stop introducing family members.
00:23:42
Zach Sheets
yeah Yeah. The only person, like, it's like Miguel. That's the only person I know. i don't know who two Yeah.
00:23:50
Chris Prime
He has two other siblings, and don't think we see them at the end.
00:23:51
Zach Sheets
Yeah. yeah
00:23:55
Zach Sheets
Oh, no, they're they're just somewhere else. And Miguel is like in like the command center.
00:24:01
Zach Sheets
But yeah, Randy Quaid, he was in Vietnam. He got a fire pilot. And then he got abducted by aliens, which I guess we're assuming is the same aliens that are now attacking us.
00:24:08
Chris Prime
Mm-hmm.
00:24:16
Chris Prime
we We don't know. That's the the fun part. is that like We don't know if he was just a kook. And it's just a line. Because it just happened to be. Or this.
00:24:27
Chris Prime
But. Because it's not like he he has a drawing of the alien. If they had a little like sketch. or some description to confirm.
00:24:35
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:24:38
Chris Prime
Because for all we know, he actually was just like a crazy person. And then this is this chance to be like, well, I'm not crazy if I'm right about there being aliens existing.
00:24:49
Chris Prime
It doesn't mean it's these aliens. It just means that there are aliens. So that's the like, huh. You know, it would have been one thing if like the aliens showed up and they're like, we want the Quaid, give us ready Quaid.
00:24:59
Zach Sheets
Because... Yep.
00:25:05
Chris Prime
And then, or like, Randy Quaid predicts things and says like, they're gonna come for us, they're gonna destroy our capital with a beam, like, you have to trust me. You know? Or like, he describes the like, the noise of the alien control. Like, the the like,
00:25:22
Chris Prime
the brain takeover sound, the scrambling.
00:25:24
Zach Sheets
Oh, yeah. yeah
00:25:25
Chris Prime
Yeah. Like, see what i mean?
00:25:25
Zach Sheets
The psychic attack.
00:25:26
Chris Prime
Like those, if he said something like that, goes, they like, they, it's like a thing on your brain. And he like, if you rattle that off in front of the camera or even in front of people, and they're just like, you've been saying this the last 15 years, like, shut up.
00:25:41
Chris Prime
Cause honestly, like if he didn't pull the, if this didn't happen, that was like a sad version of this movie again.
00:25:49
Zach Sheets
a
00:25:52
Zach Sheets
He's a guy who PTSD apparently from Vietnam and it's like got just became became an alcoholic who created like created his own like fantasy about...
00:25:58
Chris Prime
is that look here's the here's like Here's the thing, though, Zach. It's supposed to take place in 1996, right?
00:26:05
Zach Sheets
I was ask assume so, yeah.
00:26:06
Chris Prime
Okay, why does it seem like that whole section of the movie takes place in the Great Depression? Like, it's a whole different part of the movie, and it seems like it's from a different era compared to everything else that's going on.
00:26:11
Zach Sheets
Yep.
00:26:14
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:26:19
Zach Sheets
Yeah, he's skis he's crop testing you in like his old crop duster plane. he like The local diner is very old-fashioned. There's guys like coming in from the auto shop whatever.
00:26:30
Chris Prime
There's like a a farmer who you think would be like an actual villain or something. He's like, no, like my crops are dying. Your dad is just whatever he's doing isn't right, in which I don't know what he's dusting.
00:26:42
Chris Prime
It can't be water. i have no idea.
00:26:45
Zach Sheets
I mean, I guess, i think normally normally your crop tops are for like bugs, like to kill like the bugs that are to eating your crops.
00:26:49
Chris Prime
So it's like a plague that's happened at that farmer land.
00:26:52
Zach Sheets
Must be, yeah. Like the but the bugs are eating his crops and like making them rotten.
00:27:00
Chris Prime
We never know. like It's very unimportant. But I just like that it's like this is still America. like it It seems like they were in a different era happening and maybe like the events of this movie bridges the like decades and that he's able to travel to the future.
00:27:21
Zach Sheets
Well, you you you know about like the alternate ending, right?
00:27:24
Chris Prime
i heard about it. I don't remember it.
00:27:26
Zach Sheets
So the original ending was going to be that he got rejected from being a fighter pilot at the end when they were recruiting everybody, but he still wants to help, so he gets his crowd-tossing plane, and he ties a missile to it, and then it flies like a suicide mission into like the beam and blows it up.
00:27:44
Chris Prime
So instead of the F-16, it's just a crop ruster that does...
00:27:46
Zach Sheets
Yeah, Kratos is really a missile strap to it.
00:27:51
Chris Prime
Oh, so see what I mean? like Then it plays until he's actually crazy.
00:27:55
Chris Prime
And I think they were like, it's good that they removed that. That changes everything. so But that plays into my theory that I picked up on that like, oh, he was just crazy.
00:27:59
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Because it
00:28:03
Chris Prime
And this is his one way to kind of redeem himself in in a like sacrificial way, which will wipe the the shame free.
00:28:11
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Like, if he's like, I'm going to strap a missile to my biplane and fly into the alien ship, that just makes him end crazy too. The end of this movie is he actually gets a nice redemption arc and becomes a hero.
00:28:28
Chris Prime
So, and and I get that, but a crop duster playing in M6, in a F16, like, there's way different handling.
00:28:38
Zach Sheets
he's He'd also be up against like alien fighter like ships that are insanely maneuverable.
00:28:44
Chris Prime
And let's say the last 15 years, he's just been playing, you know, the Red Baron of crop dusting of whatever section of California he's at. So he's not combat training against advanced alien species that can't hit a crop duster.
00:28:58
Zach Sheets
yeah I don't know how they wouldn't be able to hit
00:29:00
Chris Prime
yeah I mean, like, that's why it's like, oh, no, this falls apart so quick.
00:29:06
Zach Sheets
like Every every like elite fighter jet squadron got wiped out in the first counterattack.
00:29:13
Chris Prime
So they're already trained. They know how Earth's defenses, at least America's defenses, because that's another thing about this movie. Each ship seems to hover around a certain section of the Earth, and there's a ship in the West Coast, a ship in the East Coast, and a ship in Texas.
00:29:28
Chris Prime
I don't think
00:29:30
Zach Sheets
yeah Well, they're you're going to like they they hit... like The major cities first. It's like New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and then then they move on to like the next biggest cities. So it's like Chicago and like Philadelphia and like...
00:29:41
Chris Prime
Right, but we never get a count of how many they dropped off in America first. You know, I don't know if it's the same ship just roaming around to destroying landmarks after landmarks or the aliens were smart and dropped like multiple around like the the world.
00:29:47
Zach Sheets
aye
00:29:57
Chris Prime
It was just like, all right, like this is the A section. So you take this area. This is the B section. you Take that area.
00:30:04
Zach Sheets
Well, there's definitely and there's definitely at least like one or two in Europe. And then we'd see one in like Moscow, like Russia. And then in the Middle East.
00:30:15
Zach Sheets
And I guess like some in Africa, I guess. I don't think don we ever hear about Australia. don't think we just ignored Australia. Australia's just like, wait, what's going on? Aliens?
00:30:30
Zach Sheets
City's a big country. city Come on, guys.
00:30:33
Chris Prime
Yeah, I mean, we never get an idea of how well mapped out the aliens like figured out their
Aliens' Strategy and Technology
00:30:40
Chris Prime
plans because they they come in with confidence that they can just destroy anything that they meet. So we're like insects to them.
00:30:49
Zach Sheets
Yeah, um... Yeah,
00:30:50
Chris Prime
Up until they're like, okay, well, for funsies, let's send our, like, trooper units out into the wild. And it's like, why? what are you What do you... Why do you need, like, smaller ships disable what?
00:31:03
Zach Sheets
Oh yeah, because because they're also they're also blowing up like military targets. like they they've they As they saw where like the the Black Knights came from, so they blew up their base, and they also blew up like blow up NORAD, they blew up like NATO facilities.
00:31:17
Chris Prime
But, like...
00:31:18
Chris Prime
Can they just do that the big ship and just be fully protected?
00:31:23
Zach Sheets
I guess i guess it's those this big ship's like it's slower to get there. Or maybe it's just like, that wasn't a big enough target to like waste the energy of like the beam on El Toro base. It's like, so is how our flare just like blow up the the base? like It'll take like them 10 minutes, 15 minutes to blow up the base.
00:31:43
Chris Prime
I get that like the units, smaller units are more nimble, but the mother ship that's in space could have just been like resupplying and sending the big ships over and over again. And then they would have just won.
00:31:54
Zach Sheets
We also apparently, at a certain point, they were going to drop like ground troops because they have like like there's like thousands of like like alien troopers like in like the mothership waiting to like get deployed.
00:32:07
Chris Prime
Which, they're not good hand-to-hand fighting, because we saw that Will Smith punched one out.
00:32:13
Zach Sheets
Punch his exosuit, like, armor. It's like the protective suit. like That, like, knocked him out.
00:32:19
Chris Prime
Yeah, so... What?
00:32:21
Zach Sheets
yeah
00:32:23
Chris Prime
and Okay, that that's another thing. This movie, you in that Top Gun essence, it's just a flying movie. no one No one really does any, like, I guess I'll fight the monster hand-to-hand.
00:32:35
Zach Sheets
Oh, yeah, there's no ground warfare at all. There's no tanks. like they not right The aliens are dropping like like guys with laser guns. it's It's all big ships and like and like fighter ships.
00:32:48
Zach Sheets
And then we're launching like air air counter attacks against them.
00:32:51
Chris Prime
Dog fights, yeah.
00:32:52
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:32:53
Chris Prime
Even the Will Smith part at the end with the infiltrate, they don't get off the ship. They're just like, okay, we'll sit we can do everything with the chair.
00:32:59
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:33:03
Zach Sheets
A chair in like an Apple, 90s Apple laptop.
00:33:08
Chris Prime
Which, if you ever used one of those back in the day, it it yelled at you a lot if you like misclicked areas.
00:33:13
Zach Sheets
earth
00:33:14
Chris Prime
Because this was the welcome back Steve Jobs era, so it was just pure, like,
00:33:21
Chris Prime
He was out for Pixar, ever.
00:33:25
Zach Sheets
But apparently apparently compatible with Alien Systems.
00:33:30
Chris Prime
i know I don't understand that. like Now, as a software person, it's just, oh, it's binary. So, like what, you built this in assembly and it worked with their code? It understood like the math?
00:33:44
Chris Prime
I guess he reverse engineered the radio waves. If they're using this, there's something about like the math that is common.
00:33:49
Zach Sheets
The signal and then like the whatever alien tech, like what they learned from like the ship, the captured ship that you said like information about.
00:33:57
Chris Prime
Yeah, but then how did he program that in a day?
00:34:01
Zach Sheets
he's Jeff Goldblum. He's like an insane hacker.
00:34:06
Chris Prime
Anyway, so we mentioned that Will Smith gets into a dogfight and Harry Gasset Jr. gets killed because he forgot to breathe or something like it's.
00:34:17
Zach Sheets
he He's trying to do like a super high G maneuver that you shouldn't you can't really can't do with that speed. You can't like bank and do that kind of maneuver. His ship malfunctioning. His plane was malfunctioning. Yeah, then he gets yeah he gets like blown up. Jimmy,
00:34:37
Zach Sheets
Jimmy! then they end up they were fighting over Los Angeles and then they end up in the Grand Canyon.
00:34:45
Zach Sheets
Which you guys I guess their fighter jets, they can like make that trip pretty fast.
00:34:48
Chris Prime
Yeah, like 100 miles an hour.
00:34:52
Zach Sheets
And it's it's it's very Star Wars. it's like It's like Beggar's Canyon or something. It's like you're going into like the Tatooine canyons.
00:35:00
Chris Prime
Yeah, and also the alien ship makes the the sci-fi noises.
00:35:03
Zach Sheets
Meow, meow.
00:35:05
Chris Prime
Yeah, like it shoots sci-fi sounds and then even by air breaking and turning it has the the same sound effects, which I get. It's for the kids.
00:35:17
Chris Prime
Uh,
00:35:17
Zach Sheets
Yeah, it's it's it's basically, it's like Top Gun versus Star Wars.
00:35:21
Chris Prime
As cool as that sounds, it just it's so interesting to think that for kids to be like, hey, was you like, you know, did your dad like Top Gun?
00:35:31
Chris Prime
Do you like the parts of Top Gun where nothing blew up? Here's everything blowing up in this one sequence. There's more action happening in this alien dogfight than all of Top Gun.
00:35:38
Zach Sheets
Hmm.
00:35:43
Chris Prime
Did you miss Goose Dye? Here's that again. Did you miss, like, you know, the training? Well, it's sort of this, because Will Smith's just doing, you know, maneuvers. He can't fight.
00:35:53
Chris Prime
And then, it's it's weird that the alien technology still uses, like, glass or some sort of transparent screen that Will Smith's parachute can just block its view, and that's how he tricks him.
00:36:06
Zach Sheets
yep yeah don't you don't have any sort like infrared like don't have like predator vision or anything they could use like see because they have like a like some sort like shielding that closes the windows that like blocks out like the the front view screen
00:36:21
Chris Prime
But it's blocked for like both sides. You can't look in and you can't look out.
00:36:25
Zach Sheets
yeah it's like oh no are we or won't we miss a parachute
00:36:30
Chris Prime
And then when they crash, Will Smith opens the hatch from the outside. So as long as you climb on it, you can just rip open the door.
00:36:40
Zach Sheets
Maybe. or maybe the alien was like opening it up to like get out and be like, alright, we're fighting now.
00:36:45
Chris Prime
Yeah, all right. they It comes by superior hand-to-hand combat skills for tentacles.
00:36:51
Zach Sheets
It's like, oh, sucker punch! I was expecting that.
00:36:55
Zach Sheets
and Which, you know, we get the immerttle immortal Welcome to Earth from Will Smith. Yeah.
00:37:01
Chris Prime
Yeah, Will Smith does a lot of fun like one-liners and freak-outs. Even going back to the beginning where he is peeing and looking at the neighbor's like pack and stuff, he's sort of just...
00:37:14
Chris Prime
It's really playing for laughs how they're just unaware of everything.
00:37:20
Zach Sheets
Yeah, like they're extremely... ob like They don't look up to like see like a giant ship and on the horizon. Mm-hmm.
00:37:28
Chris Prime
I'm not sure if movies these days can still pull off that kind of like oblivious for, I don't know, 15 minutes because they really don't have this movie plays with that time. And that's why I'm like, oh, if they cut out a few of the pacing, this would have been a tight two hours. But they keep adding like comedy or long drawn out bits just to highlight how funny Will Smith is, which is still good. You know, like he's like a perfect role for this.
00:37:56
Zach Sheets
Well, it's like, like, Fifth Okay Fox, when she's like in Los Angeles trying to get out and then like the like the aliens attack, like she kind of, it takes her like a second to realize like, oh, people are running away from something.
00:38:06
Zach Sheets
What's going on? it like looks back, oh, it's a wall of fire coming at me. All right.
00:38:15
Zach Sheets
Which, but then luckily she managed to find like the like, like bomb, bomb proof, like maintenance room in the tunnel.
00:38:25
Chris Prime
I mean, daylight came out around this time, so there's always a safety tunnel that you can hide out in disaster in.
00:38:34
Zach Sheets
I do also love with that she basically like she becomes like Furiosa or something. She's driving the war rig through like the ruins of Los Angeles. Like picking you up like survivors. Mm-hmm.
00:38:44
Chris Prime
didn't mind that. That was pretty cool. I like that her character has things to do and not just like waiting. I feel like most of the characters actually do things. They're not just like, oh like, okay, hey, I don't contribute.
00:39:01
Chris Prime
i think that's what makes this movie very classic to a lot of people, just because if they're introduced, they're doing something. The only character who doesn't really do anything is like the kid.
00:39:07
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:39:09
Chris Prime
Mm-hmm.
00:39:10
Zach Sheets
Yeah. You just, he just started to be like a cute kid or like, well, it's like, there's two, i mean, there's two kids.
00:39:14
Chris Prime
Like a cute or sad or sad kid.
00:39:18
Zach Sheets
It's like president Whitmore's daughter and then, uh, Fox's son.
00:39:22
Chris Prime
but President Whitmore's daughter is the the sad kid. That's right. See, you can't have both. But then you have Randy Quaid's kids who, like, honestly don't know their names and they just sort of are there.
00:39:27
Zach Sheets
Hmm.
00:39:32
Zach Sheets
so Except for Miguel.
00:39:34
Chris Prime
Like, now I'm thinking about it. There was a kid that gets sick from the car trip.
00:39:39
Zach Sheets
Yeah, he's sick for a little bit, and then he's like, oh, I'm better now. But he's like, it someone someone in our convoy had medicine, and I'm i'm good now.
Forming Alliances Against Aliens
00:39:47
Chris Prime
Like a gypsy? Like what?
00:39:50
Chris Prime
But, yeah, once it's pretty cool that like this is where like the the characters do meet up. Then once it starts rolling, when Will Smith is walking in the desert and meets the convoy, that's when I think the movie starts picking up back into like the the new act, and you get the counter-offense part.
00:40:09
Zach Sheets
Did you find it a little bit odd that like Jeff Goldblum, especially like his dad, just like get dragged? They have like full like government access now? like
00:40:18
Chris Prime
Well, they're the ones that warn them. So...
00:40:20
Zach Sheets
i guess that gives them like, because they get the the seat in Air Force 1, they get to like go into Area 51. Yeah. Yeah.
00:40:25
Chris Prime
Well, the the like press secretary is Jeff Goldblum's ex-wife. So she hypes them up and stuff.
00:40:30
Zach Sheets
yeah
00:40:32
Chris Prime
so See, like this thing that her character is not useless.
00:40:36
Zach Sheets
buts i I feel like just like there wasn't even like a conversation where like, should we be like showing these civilians like Area 51? They're just like, come on in, guys.
00:40:43
Chris Prime
But I mean, like, what what do they they know aliens exist?
00:40:44
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:40:46
Chris Prime
Like, what are what are you going to show them that's like, also, we did time travel.
00:40:47
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:40:50
Chris Prime
You know I mean Like, if it's like, oh, aliens, we know aliens, but we don't know this. We're like, excuse me?
00:40:58
Zach Sheets
And Jeff Goldman at least has a technical experience, but Chad Hirsch is just like being just to interview like the funny like Jewish dad. is like What's going on? like You're getting air sick? what What's going on over here?
00:41:09
Chris Prime
yeah What's up with Judge Hirsch? Because later on, it's he does open and goes, hey, like I lost faith because when your mom died, like I was wandering hopeless.
00:41:21
Chris Prime
And then he's the one also that calls out that AM51 exists. like you know it's like And then he's the one that gives the idea about the virus to Jeff Goldblum.
00:41:25
Zach Sheets
yeah Yeah, so he's...
00:41:31
Chris Prime
So he is the he's the the the classic
00:41:32
Zach Sheets
he's
00:41:36
Chris Prime
sage character
00:41:38
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:41:38
Chris Prime
It's a Harold's Journey archetype where he was the Obi-Wan Kenobi. And he lives. like He doesn't get like a weird death later where it's like, you know, yeah I gotta save my son and so I gotta drive the caravan into like you know the the base or something.
00:41:57
Chris Prime
It would have been way tragic to see Judge Church do that to say like his like last hurrah. He's out there smoking a cigar, throwing chess pieces at the aliens or something.
00:42:08
Chris Prime
You thought I told him like the chess analogy does come back where it's like you move your pieces in order. It's like you're doing attack. You wouldn't surprise everyone. But the alien technology is so advanced and what they do is so destructive that I don't see how like they needed to be that tactical.
00:42:27
Chris Prime
They could just literally Mars attack it. Just come in, just shock and awe. And they would have had the same strategy.
00:42:35
Zach Sheets
Wasn't Mars the Tax the same year Yeah, well it was like... think it was like in the fall of 96 Mars of the Tax. Yeah.
00:42:42
Chris Prime
But Mars Attack is based on like an earlier concept. So, I mean, it's not like Mars Attack really copied too much from this.
00:42:45
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:42:48
Chris Prime
But yeah even then, it just attacks.
00:42:49
Zach Sheets
but
00:42:50
Chris Prime
There's no like, okay, we plan our battlegrounds, let's attack you know strategic points.
00:42:55
Zach Sheets
but so That's kind of the famous thing is like, because Independence Day came out, like that's why Mars Attacks bombed as horribly as it did because the people were just like, what is what is this? We saw Independence Day this year. What is this like weird funny version? We don't want this.
00:43:09
Chris Prime
i've I've softened my stance on Mars Attack. it's so
00:43:12
Zach Sheets
Oh, I love Mars Attacks.
00:43:14
Chris Prime
yeah As a kid, I didn't like it because Michael J. Fox dies in that one. Spoiler alert.
00:43:18
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:43:19
Chris Prime
But over time, I'm like, I appreciate it. like I just don't think you should marathon it back to back. But, i mean, you could. haven't done that to see.
00:43:29
Chris Prime
But I know as a kid, I was like, I i don't understand this movie.
00:43:35
Chris Prime
Again, still like, still like nine during this.
00:43:41
Zach Sheets
It would have been very different if the aliens were just like the Mars Attack aliens being like, a
00:43:46
Chris Prime
Yeah, and it's like, okay. That's why those, it's funny in Mars Attack, they want ground forces, like those guys.
00:43:53
Zach Sheets
a
00:43:53
Chris Prime
And then in Independence Day, the like squid people are just like, we'll just stay in our ship. That's our strength.
00:44:03
Zach Sheets
I think I read the official name for the independent state aliens. It's the Harvesters.
00:44:08
Chris Prime
Oh, that's true. I never knew what these aliens are called. They don't even say it at all.
00:44:14
Zach Sheets
But it's because they because they come and they go to a planet to planet and like harvest all their resources and then like leave, which we find out in like The Crazy. like They've wrapped a tentacle around Brett Spider's neck and like are telepathically talking through him.
00:44:31
Zach Sheets
that's that's That's a fun, like when Brett Spider shows up is like, hey, I'm the crazy doctor.
00:44:37
Zach Sheets
It's like, there are none of characters in this movie yet? Here's here's like and another another new main character.
00:44:44
Zach Sheets
like an hour Like two hours of this movie, its new a new main character.
00:44:44
Chris Prime
Yeah.
00:44:49
Chris Prime
But the movie uses that, like, right. It's like, hey, we're just the scientists and it's going to go wrong for him. And it does. And if if OK, also, like if they never did a sequel, we just assume that scientist is dead.
00:44:57
Zach Sheets
But... yeah
00:45:04
Zach Sheets
Oh, I mean, it seems like, for all intents purposes, he's dead. But then, yes, Miles Porter for independent surgery pays me surger like he's he's fine. like He's good.
00:45:15
Chris Prime
He's like, actually, that that cured up a few other problems I had.
00:45:20
Zach Sheets
but do I do love that like that like the alien voice. that like they is used like It's almost like Toad Bell, like Jigsaw-esque. I guess it's like Gary A. Hecker is the voice. But just like, release me.
00:45:34
Chris Prime
and Interesting. i I thought that was the same actor, just sort of like putting on his best.
00:45:38
Zach Sheets
Oh, Brett Spiner doing like a like like a crazy alien voice.
00:45:39
Chris Prime
Yeah.
00:45:41
Chris Prime
Mm-hmm.
00:45:43
Zach Sheets
That's what I always thought too, but I'm like, oh, it's like alien vocal effects. This is Gary A. Hecker.
00:45:49
Chris Prime
have a Frank Weller.
00:45:51
Zach Sheets
Frank Wilker did like... special vocal effects which i don't know what those was are like sound effects i guess alien like animal noises
00:45:58
Chris Prime
He did the the ship.
00:46:00
Zach Sheets
wo we w
00:46:03
Chris Prime
like Guys, i could do all the things. No, no, no. You're fine with this.
00:46:08
Zach Sheets
and then you get you get the great like is that glass bulletproof and then never just like pulls other guns like blasts away the alien
00:46:13
Chris Prime
like Sir, this is America. by Yeah, that, okay, how, we're into that scene, how did that alien launch itself for being shot by, like, nine millimeter bullets?
00:46:26
Chris Prime
It's not like he got shot by a, wasn't a shotgun, it wasn't like they all had, like, dual-wheeled eagle, desert eagles.
00:46:27
Zach Sheets
Yeah, it was it was a shotgun or anything, yeah.
00:46:33
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:46:34
Chris Prime
Somehow those bullets, either the alien is, like, a paper bag of density, you know, like, it it flew across the room for being shot.
00:46:43
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Well, I mean, we were established like a punch to their exoskelet that knocks them out, so...
00:46:50
Chris Prime
So like bullets makes them fly. Like, you know, it was like a deflated balloon, how fast it flew.
00:46:51
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:46:54
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:46:54
Chris Prime
So very weak alien things. And the aliens can breathe earth atmosphere.
00:47:03
Zach Sheets
Yeah, I think that's what Dr. Okun says. like Oh yeah, they breathe they breathe oxygen like us. They're like same tolerance as the heat and cold like us. so that's like that's His theory is that that's why they want Earth because it's like very similar to like what they had. But then we find out later, it's like, oh no, they they just go to every planet and just like wipe it out and then like harvest it whenever they want and then move on.
00:47:25
Zach Sheets
Leave it like a flaming husk.
Horror Elements in the Alien Surgery Scene
00:47:27
Zach Sheets
Oh, the theer the like the surgery scene too when they're like opening up the alien is also a lot of favorite scenes. It kind of turns into a horror movie for like five minutes.
00:47:35
Chris Prime
I feel like they stole Sam Raimi over there. Like, that... Biden...
00:47:39
Zach Sheets
Or so Sam Rae stole that because Spider-Man 2 was like what?
00:47:41
Chris Prime
Doc Oxy?
00:47:44
Zach Sheets
Eight years later.
00:47:45
Chris Prime
Okay, yeah, I know. I couldn't tell if there was, like, another surgical scene that Sam Raimi has, another movie, but it is interesting that there is a, like...
00:47:58
Chris Prime
a horror scene where all the doctors are just, like, screaming and scared that this alien came back to life. But they put the, like, they didn't, did they didn't even sedate the alien. They're just sort of like, well, we've done this before.
00:48:09
Chris Prime
It's like, they're so calm doing it.
00:48:10
Zach Sheets
he got he yeah He got punched. He's fine. He's still knocked out from that punch from three hours ago or however long it's been.
00:48:24
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:48:27
Chris Prime
I guess the they're so confident in the like dead versions of the aliens that they're just like, it's the same.
00:48:34
Zach Sheets
Well, because they've seen them in like their true form, where they're like there's like they're like tiny guys. They're like like there's like small small little creatures inside a giant exosuit.
00:48:44
Chris Prime
Yeah, but like, I get it. It's like cracking open a walnut, but it's still an alien. I don't...
00:48:51
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:48:52
Chris Prime
Why do they make it seem like it's as if it's like like a dermatologist appointment? They're like, well, we got to shave off this bad skin to get the real skin.
00:49:02
Zach Sheets
Yeah, and all all the like medical like equipment like works with the alien. like like All the vital readers and everything work fine to like monitor it. like, yeah, hook it up to hook it up to the heart rate monitor. It's like, does he even have a heart?
00:49:15
Chris Prime
Yeah.
00:49:15
Zach Sheets
it's like It's like the same place that it's like our hearts are.
00:49:18
Chris Prime
Yeah, it's on the chest somewhere.
00:49:22
Chris Prime
But yeah, that that goes horribly wrong. But even when the the people walk in the room, they see like, hey, this isn't like a stunt show. like It should be a cloud of smoke in a surgical opera.
00:49:32
Zach Sheets
its like it It turned into like Alien Encounter at Disney World.
00:49:35
Chris Prime
So I get the president and a few of his guys who've never been there before. It's like, this is what it normally looks like. You know, they probably got questions. But the guys who work there, they know like that's not right.
00:49:46
Zach Sheets
This should be like a bright, like surgical room. It's like smoke-filled dark room. It's like everything good in there, Dr. Okun?
00:49:56
Chris Prime
has or not How's that room not being monitored?
00:50:01
Zach Sheets
Yeah, it's like the most the most secret facility on the planet. <unk>re and They're not like monitoring like their surgical suite.
00:50:07
Chris Prime
Also, how many people are getting surgery in that place?
00:50:10
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Because they had they had three aliens from like the 50s, and that's the only bias they've ever had in there. so they that they It's like, well, we got these alien surgical rooms that we've never used until now.
00:50:23
Chris Prime
See that that should have been like, OK, normally this is a lab to turn into a search suite because we never done surgery on anything. No one's coming here for like fun. Hobby operations.
00:50:38
Zach Sheets
Also, like later when like they you know they rescue the First Lady and they're like, oh, she's got internal bleeding. but just We can't do anything about it. Sorry.
00:50:47
Chris Prime
It's like we had to use all the resources for the alien surgery before
00:50:51
Zach Sheets
that's Dr. Okun probably could have done it, but like yo he's a dead, maybe? He gets strangled by an alien?
00:50:59
Chris Prime
Was he dead before that part?
00:51:02
Zach Sheets
Well, he was never dead because he shows in the sequel, but like but for I guess they they assumed he was dead.
00:51:07
Chris Prime
don't know, but like, did did that alien encounter happen before the First Lady?
00:51:13
Zach Sheets
i
00:51:16
Zach Sheets
Well, that causes the president to want to nuke them because he like sees their true intentions and... like like
00:51:21
Chris Prime
yeah but no no so Yeah, so the First Lady he shows up after the alien encounter, so it's like one after another what he just happened to him...................
00:51:28
Zach Sheets
yeah yeah yeah i think I think they've already new they very nuked Houston and then the the First Lady shows up and then the Night of K. Fox shows up.
00:51:37
Zach Sheets
Which, you got yeah, they... they so Something that I feel like they don't really bring up again in the sequel is like the area of Houston is like a radiated wasteland now.
00:51:48
Zach Sheets
Because it's like, we we launched this nuke at this the ship. And then, like, they the aliens were probably just like, oh, hey, thanks for doing our job for us. That's one less city we got to blow up.
00:51:59
Chris Prime
Like, you didn't to do that for us.
00:52:03
Zach Sheets
But, like, it's like not mean not even nukes work. So it's like, now now what do do? It's it's hopeless.
00:52:09
Zach Sheets
Until Judd Hirsch makes a random comment about getting off the floor and not getting a cold.
00:52:15
Chris Prime
Again, Judge Hirsch, you know, maybe he's another more than meets the eye kind of guy.
00:52:23
Chris Prime
But yeah, not as crazy as my theory that the president was in on it the whole time.
00:52:30
Chris Prime
Just to help his presidency.
00:52:33
Zach Sheets
he's He's too much of like a family man. to be like He loves his family too much.
00:52:37
Chris Prime
But it's the perfect cover until it until his wife dies.
00:52:38
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:52:40
Chris Prime
Then it's like, okay, Nuka, this deal, it changed.
00:52:41
Zach Sheets
nice Newcomb.
00:52:48
Zach Sheets
Well, then he's like, I'm going to lead the counterattack myself. I'm going to get in his fire jet.
00:52:54
Zach Sheets
that's which is like i feel like they like kind of... It's like one like mention on like that news show was like, oh, he was a Gulf War pilot.
00:53:03
Zach Sheets
I think else he mentions it once.
00:53:06
Chris Prime
Oh, no, he brings it up a couple times.
00:53:08
Zach Sheets
Yeah, it's like, I haven't seen a fire pilot because you know what your orders were. You have to deal with like making decisions.
00:53:15
Zach Sheets
It's very Harrison Ford in the Air Force War where it's like, oh, this president was the best fire pilot I've ever seen.
00:53:23
Chris Prime
So that's another thing, is that this is the era of the 90s where we had presidents that like did things. They weren't just, you know, some president. they they yeah like Now and then, they threw in a movie where it's like, the president has a skill and he's going to use it.
00:53:41
Zach Sheets
Well, like, actually, like, actually here up presidents like, yeah, that this, this and Air Force One that were like the the two big ones in the 90s, I would say.
00:53:49
Chris Prime
Yeah, I agree.
00:53:51
Chris Prime
I think Air Force One was a year after this.
00:53:54
Zach Sheets
After, yeah, I think it was 97.
00:53:56
Chris Prime
So they kind of step up the, like, what if the president did this now
00:54:01
Zach Sheets
And then obviously we get we get one of the greatest speeches in movie history too with like Bill Pullman's like Independence Day speech.
00:54:08
Chris Prime
Oh, fantastic. You know, it definitely goes down in in the cinema records of a president who just just kind of does Patrick talk. And there's no, like...
00:54:20
Chris Prime
you know, he doesn't, he doesn't even mention who the villain is, like what they're fighting. They're just like them. They like, we, we took a stance. You know, it's like,
00:54:30
Zach Sheets
we're fighting It's like, we're not fighting against tyranny or oppression, but annihilation.
Inspiring Speech and Battle Preparations
00:54:35
Chris Prime
yeah, it's so generic that you could do that speech in a lot of other contexts and it still flows.
00:54:42
Zach Sheets
of July would no longer be known as an American holiday.
00:54:45
Chris Prime
I mean, besides that, that is the one part. But it's like everyone, the world's Fourth of July, it's their, like, celebration now.
00:54:53
Zach Sheets
I think in Resurgence, they do follow up on that, but now it's like, oh, now it's like like International Independence Day or something. They make it they but they do like make it like a world holiday.
00:55:06
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:55:07
Zach Sheets
Because because it's like it's sort of like not like a utopia, but like they basically say like like yeah it's like a more united society where it's like the United Nations like run the entire world now or something.
00:55:14
Chris Prime
It's it improved society.
00:55:22
Zach Sheets
But yeah, they they do. they do it's like I think the movie starts with like, oh, it's it's it's like Independence Day.
00:55:28
Zach Sheets
Which is like, you know, and all the the whole world celebrates it now.
00:55:32
Chris Prime
makes sense.
00:55:34
Zach Sheets
so i do i love I do love all the shots of like when when they are like, you you travel around the world and you see like all like the fighter squadrons are still left. It's like the like the British guys in like Iraq and it's like the Russians who are in like a castle. It's like like lightning's going off. it's like it's like They make the Russians look like the most evil. It's just like they're in like like a horror movie. Yeah.
00:55:55
Chris Prime
Yeah, and it's like their choice to do that. you know it it It could have been a sunny rush hour. The sun exists in there that side. just makes it seem like that side of the world it's like the aliens have taken the sun.
00:56:03
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:56:09
Zach Sheets
And they're just in like a dungeon in like like like a lightning storm.
00:56:13
Zach Sheets
But then they're also like, oh, all right, we're we're were all in on this.
00:56:18
Zach Sheets
We don't see...
00:56:18
Chris Prime
We were going to mention that because the aliens took over our radio waves and they took things down, the only way that the countries can unite and talk is through Morse code.
00:56:29
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:56:30
Chris Prime
But the aliens can't figure that one out.
00:56:34
Zach Sheets
like what is this beeping?
00:56:37
Zach Sheets
i guess because it's analog, maybe? It's not electronic. They can't intercept it.
00:56:43
Zach Sheets
But yeah, yeah i I guess as it works because they they like yeah they get like a all the remaining fighter squadrons together. We don't see any of them besides the American one, but...
00:56:56
Chris Prime
Yeah, we never see things in action. we We get the only thing where it's like the one squadron of like the Middle East and the British. they They sort of like have a, hey, the radio's going off, and that's it.
00:57:15
Zach Sheets
It's like it's from the Americans. They want a counterattack, and it's like, about bloody time...
00:57:21
Zach Sheets
And then yeah the Jeff Goldblum and Will Smith are going to fly the the capture alien ship that crashed in the 50s, but is is still the same technology and like style as the current
00:57:36
Chris Prime
It's 40-something years old, and it works just as good as the current alien technology. In fact, it's kind of like their flaw in the alien thing, that it just works the same.
00:57:50
Zach Sheets
It's like Brett Spiner says it turned it turned on when the aliens showed up. So had it had been off like for like 40 years. And then like when the aliens showed up, like they turned on their Torben technology.
00:57:59
Chris Prime
all All ship technology?
00:58:01
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:58:03
Chris Prime
Which doesn't sound like a good policy if occasionally they lose ships and they don't know that they lost it or maybe they do and they don't care. That's that's not good.
00:58:14
Zach Sheets
what it's like what What was that ship doing? did it crash in the first place? like Was it like a scouting em mission? Did they send like like just like mini ships off to like see what worlds they could come to next? It takes them 40 years to get there. like, oh, this one ship didn't come back from that one planet that we sent them out to.
00:58:31
Chris Prime
You probably track of that, aliens.
00:58:34
Zach Sheets
And, yeah. And then, like, yeah, what's with Jeff Goldblum? Which, it's interesting, too, because, like, I think... After like like Jeff Goldman's like demonstration of like the the Coke can thing where like he can like turn the shield off, I think it's which is like it's like an almost two hours in the movie. That's like the first time like Jeff Goldman and Will Smith like have a conversation or like talk to each other the entire movie.
00:58:55
Zach Sheets
Which is like, it's like you have like the iconic duo that everyone remembers from this movie, is like they don't even like have a speaking line to each other until like almost two hours in.
00:59:06
Chris Prime
Well, they don't want to make sure that they earned it because you saw each group's journey.
00:59:10
Zach Sheets
yeah
00:59:11
Chris Prime
So I get waiting, but I also don't understand that Will Smith is just like, hey, like nerd guy, I trust you because you did a thing with the S.H.I.E.L.D.
00:59:24
Chris Prime
like Let's go to space now. And Will Smith, I mentioned, he he got rejected by NASA because he was like not good to be a fighter pilot, apparently, or an astronaut.
00:59:32
Zach Sheets
he he want He wanted to fly the space shuttle, yeah. And also, his his qualifications are, I saw it fly behind me, so I know how it maneuvers.
00:59:42
Chris Prime
And they're like, good enough.
00:59:44
Zach Sheets
Yep. I guess you're the only survivor of the Black Knight Squadron, I guess. I guess you know what you're doing.
00:59:52
Zach Sheets
Yeah, so they fly off. They fly into the mothership. We get to see like the crazy society of these like the harvester aliens. It's all like... I don't It's not really organic.
01:00:06
Zach Sheets
i don't like we It's not it's not really organic it's it's like it's like very green and then like like lots
01:00:10
Chris Prime
It's glowy.
01:00:11
Zach Sheets
chloe and like
01:00:12
Chris Prime
You know what it looks like? It looks like a place you play laser tag in.
01:00:16
Zach Sheets
kind of yeah
01:00:18
Chris Prime
And... And it's not like... this This is like a society full of, like, civilian aliens and, like, soldiers. It just seems like it's a war machine.
01:00:30
Chris Prime
And so it's like, let's... Like... You know, it's like the Death Star, it's like, I'm assuming everyone in this building is evil, so we can blow it up with no consequence.
01:00:38
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Well, they... When President Whitmore is mind-melded or getting attacked by the aliens telepathically, it's like... I think he says like their whole society travels on like the mothership. So they travel... so this is like their any Any aliens is not on like one of those like city destroyer ships is like on the mothership.
01:00:57
Zach Sheets
And it's like their entire society.
01:00:57
Chris Prime
I see. Well,
01:01:00
Zach Sheets
Which I guess is not true because when they come back later and there's a resurgence, but...
01:01:04
Chris Prime
I mean, he only got some detail.
01:01:07
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
01:01:09
Chris Prime
But it's enough that even if there was an innocent alien, it's like, nope, nope, you're on this ship, you're a target now.
01:01:15
Zach Sheets
earth
01:01:17
Zach Sheets
yeah But yeah, somehow they're able to use like except like the apple the Apple laptop and like a powerful antenna to upload a virus into the alien mainframe, I guess.
Climax and Heroic Sacrifice
01:01:27
Zach Sheets
it's Somehow it's compatible.
01:01:29
Zach Sheets
Then it turns off the shields. Now they like now we can actually start blowing up yeah alien ships and like cause damage.
01:01:35
Zach Sheets
But not enough damage because it's like you're just hitting like the hull and it's like not not doing anything.
01:01:41
Zach Sheets
And they use up all their missiles except for Randy Quaid who shows up with one missile left.
01:01:46
Chris Prime
Depending which version, it's either on a F-16 or on his bi-blade or bipedal.
01:01:53
Zach Sheets
I think I read the novelization goes with the biplane ending. so if you you read the the novel of the movie you get that version
01:02:02
Zach Sheets
but this version yeah he's in an but then the like you the missile uh blow like blows like is malfunctioning so he can't launch it this way decides like i'm gonna fly fly into like the alien beam and stop it which
01:02:18
Zach Sheets
I don't know how he like kind of like like assumed that would like blow up the ship, or maybe he thought like it would stop the beam from blowing up Area 51. it like The beam blows up entire cities. I don't know how like he thinks his ship but like it like feer jet would stop the beam.
01:02:35
Chris Prime
Yeah, that's like I think he's just crazy. Like, in either version, it's just like, I don't know. I'm just gonna try it. What do you gotta lose?
01:02:45
Zach Sheets
Because it almost seems like he's he's like he's like treating it like a like a like a tractor beam or like like a you know flying saucer like abduction beam. It's not like a weapon.
01:02:56
Chris Prime
Also, who's to say that basically touching the tip of your ship sets the nuclear bomb off like internally in the ship?
01:03:04
Zach Sheets
i don't think he hit i don't think he had nuke. I think he just had a normal missile. like He had like a sidewinder missile or something. It was like it was like a super powerful like nuclear weapon.
01:03:09
Chris Prime
Oh!
01:03:12
Chris Prime
I thought it was like something powerful. That's why it's like, who's got the last like big powerful one or something? and It's just a regular missile.
01:03:17
Zach Sheets
A regular missile, yeah.
01:03:19
Chris Prime
If you hit the tip, it like blows up. Uh, the ship?
01:03:27
Zach Sheets
Yeah, like a a very... like even Even a worse flaw than the Death Star. or At least the Death Star was like smaller like opening to shoot through. like This is like...
01:03:35
Chris Prime
Well, okay, and to be fair, the Distort had the opening inside the exhaust point, and that was, like, hard to hit. And then, in the second one, they never thought going inside the center and hitting the the same thing again.
01:03:41
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
01:03:46
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
01:03:47
Chris Prime
This one, the beam that extrudes and has probably the least amount of shielding because it extrudes from like the butt of the ship.
01:03:57
Zach Sheets
The aliens didn't think that anyone would attack like their their main weapon beam.
01:04:03
Zach Sheets
so oh they will they will or like i guess they're like they're hubris of like their shields. It's like, oh, our shields will protect us. like You can't like you can touch this the web giant main weapon beam.
01:04:16
Zach Sheets
But I guess if you're just like, yeah, one one fighter plane blows up against it and then it blows up the entire ship and just causes a chain reaction.
01:04:24
Zach Sheets
Which they're guess they're able to tell everyone else around the world that's you blow it up. yeah like Which hopeful hopefully no one else would fly their plane into it. Hopefully they everyone else was able to launch a missile into and blow it up.
01:04:36
Zach Sheets
You'd sacrifice like a bunch of guys. like blow up yeah you have fly your plane into the beam that's you're going to blow it up.
01:04:41
Chris Prime
You gotta go in the hole. You gotta take a guy, the most crazy guy in your squad, and tell him to go in there. It's a secret. Everyone, you have a Randy Quaid-type guy in your squad?
01:04:47
Zach Sheets
Yep.
01:04:51
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
01:04:52
Chris Prime
It's like, tell us exactly the same steps. Like, all in order to recreate it, you need a guy that has PTSD.
01:05:00
Zach Sheets
do you Do you have anyone that says they were addicted by aliens previously? like send Send them in. Tell them like you're getting your revenge on the aliens.
01:05:08
Chris Prime
Do they have a family that they they always want to see and stuff? like I mean, he was like better better father right now than and like, dad.
01:05:13
Zach Sheets
Which, yeah, which I don't think we ever find out what happened to them. i guess I guess Miguel's the dad now.
01:05:22
Zach Sheets
Yeah. He was doing a lot of like like fatherly things, like dragging his sister away from like that guy that wanted to like...
01:05:29
Chris Prime
Have sex.
01:05:29
Zach Sheets
like like maker It's like, you you don't want to die a virgin, do you?
01:05:36
Zach Sheets
And then like treat like helping his sick brother.
01:05:39
Chris Prime
Which we don't know what he's sick from. He's just sick.
01:05:42
Zach Sheets
i feel like I remember him like being diabetic and needing insulin or something, but it just seems like he's sick. It's like car sick.
01:05:52
Zach Sheets
And then a then Will Smith and Jekyll Lone launch, like, the because they're they're, they get caught in, like, a claw on in the mothership. And then there's, like, an alien, like, overseer that's, like, like is they able to take control of their ship and, like, is opening the, the like, the windows. And so
01:06:11
Zach Sheets
they're, like, hiding. And it's, like, well, we're stuck here. Let's let's blow them up with our nuke.
01:06:18
Chris Prime
yes so that's something I always assume that they the pilots had some sort of weird explosive that was just as powerful, hence the mothership could do the same, but...
01:06:29
Chris Prime
Nah, just a regular missile that can touch that tip.
01:06:33
Zach Sheets
It's weird that the aliens didn't notice that like there was one of their ships had like a human like missile like it strapped to the wing of it.
01:06:41
Zach Sheets
It's like, oh, what's what what's going on with this ship?
01:06:45
Chris Prime
Yeah, guess they never did a scan. yeah like the The aliens, a lot of hubris, like you mentioned.
01:06:51
Zach Sheets
But yeah, I like that i like that they'd launch it like right into the that over-seeker alien guy, and like he gets blown up. And then later on, because it's a 30-second countdown, it's like when it's cut down, it's like one or two. You cut to an alien watching it, and you're oh, shit. And then it blows up.
01:07:10
Zach Sheets
It's also funny, we get like a reprise of Jeff Goldblum's Jurassic Park line, like, let's go faster, let's go faster.
01:07:17
Chris Prime
Yeah, yeah, it's him yelling at someone that's driving.
01:07:21
Zach Sheets
And we get we we also get the classic, like this like, it's like they just barely get out the door of the like the ship that's closing. And then they just barely get out of there right at the last second.
01:07:31
Zach Sheets
And then, yeah, like, a nuclear explosion but goes off in space and blows up the mothership.
01:07:38
Zach Sheets
And then they get caught they get caught in, like, the blast wt like wave of it.
01:07:43
Chris Prime
I guess? Because don't know how there's like heat coming out into space. Because shouldn't the air push or like the lack of air push the the flame down or whatever inside?
01:07:57
Zach Sheets
i should all like It probably would have all stayed in one spot, right? It wouldn't be like a a wave of like explosion.
01:08:06
Zach Sheets
i don't know. I'm not i'm not a physicist.
01:08:07
Chris Prime
We're not, yeah, space visits, but it is cool looking. As a kid, it's exciting. and has that thrill of like a Star Wars where it's like they're not trying to outrun the explosion.
01:08:20
Zach Sheets
lot A lot of outrunning explosions. Like, Air Force 1 runs the explosion and earlier. and then this one.
01:08:27
Zach Sheets
FIFICA Fox is, like, outru it's like literally running right the explosion. And also her dog.
01:08:34
Chris Prime
Barkley or something?
01:08:35
Zach Sheets
Boomer, I think his name is...
01:08:36
Chris Prime
Boomer.
01:08:38
Zach Sheets
Which, yeah, Boomer gets that one scene of him, he runs the explosion and doesn't do anything else in the movie. He's like, oh, he's here. yeah he has one hero shot.
01:08:50
Zach Sheets
And yeah, did we would get like like the it's it's it's like the like Return of the Jedi ending where it's just like you travel all around the world and everyone's celebrating the alien ships crashing.
01:08:58
Chris Prime
Every destruction where everyone figured out the the secret.
01:08:59
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
01:09:03
Zach Sheets
hu I don't know. like i guess I guess there must have been like a you know and like an African fighter jet swatter that like took down the one in Africa, but we just see kind of tribesmen running up to it.
01:09:19
Zach Sheets
i don't know. It's like, oh, one one guy threw a spear at it, or like we hit it with like a a rock or something.
01:09:24
Chris Prime
The luckiest one-in-a-million rock throw.
01:09:29
Zach Sheets
And then like the Middle East one, yeah think we yeah we only see three of them.
01:09:33
Chris Prime
Well, yeah, the Cairo one, I think.
01:09:35
Zach Sheets
Yeah, it's in front of the pyramids. look And it's like luckily like the...
01:09:41
Chris Prime
Which isn't really Middle East. It's like Cairo's in Africa.
01:09:44
Zach Sheets
Egypt. yeah Yeah, it's Africa, yeah.
01:09:48
Chris Prime
The tribesmen. So, they they I mean, like, it's the tribesmen, which is in African plains, or I'm assuming some part of Africa, and then Cairo, which is just more North Africa.
01:09:59
Zach Sheets
It's strange that we don't see any of like the fire squadrons that like they talk to like celebrating. like like well We
01:10:05
Chris Prime
Oh no, they got wiped out. They they tried that version.
01:10:08
Zach Sheets
we don't see like the British guys, like the Russians, or the Japanese guys.
01:10:12
Chris Prime
There could have been a thing where there's another version of the movie, but it's through like the other country's perspective.
01:10:20
Chris Prime
I wouldn't mind this be like an anthology where it's like ID4 for like different groups. But we'd never see them.
01:10:30
Zach Sheets
I know there's like a there's like a prequel book or a prequel comic. and I think there's a book too where it's like there's a book that's like the early years of like Dr.
Area 51 and British Authors' Speculation
01:10:40
Zach Sheets
Okun.
01:10:41
Chris Prime
Really? I mean, it's just experimenting?
01:10:45
Zach Sheets
It's just, yeah, it's likes it's like in the 60s and 70s like him like, you know, and Area 51 like working on the alien stuff.
01:10:56
Zach Sheets
Oh, and oh those two those two British guys are in a book. They get they got their own book. They wrote like an Independence Day War in the Desert. It's like... It follows them
01:11:04
Chris Prime
Okay.
01:11:07
Chris Prime
You see what I mean? Like, there is other lore that's an interesting world within this time frame, but yeah, I just never knew there was more. I'm interested to see what their adventures are like. What do they do?
01:11:20
Zach Sheets
like why Like, why are they stationed in, like, Iraq?
01:11:23
Chris Prime
I mean, they're probably running away from, like, retreating. then they probably, then they meet the same kind of, like, caravan.
01:11:27
Zach Sheets
should be like like it or like it's like Or it's like the Foreign Legion.
01:11:31
Chris Prime
but they just go to like a desert in the Middle East.
01:11:38
Chris Prime
Oh my god, yeah. Foreign Legion, don't think they get vehicles, right? I think they're just ground combo.
01:11:42
Zach Sheets
they Yeah, don't think they have like jets or jeeps or anything.
01:11:49
Zach Sheets
But yeah, it's like, yeah, ever ever it big celebration. Like Jeff Goldblum's like smoking, which he never did before. We get like the fire, we get the fireworks going off, which is like the debris from the mothership. I am disappointed we did get like a Will Smith rap.
01:12:02
Zach Sheets
That was, that was the next year. That this started that with Men in Black next the year after this, but.
01:12:04
Chris Prime
Yeah. Well, to be fair, this was like an experiment to see if Will Smith could be like an action star.
01:12:11
Zach Sheets
Well, Bad Boys was before this. So Bad Boys, Bad Boys, this, Men in Black.
01:12:13
Chris Prime
Was it? Well, Bad Boys doesn't have a rap either
01:12:18
Zach Sheets
No.
Will Smith's Role and Cultural Impact
01:12:20
Zach Sheets
I mean, he had, like, Miami, but that wasn't tied to Bad Boys.
01:12:25
Chris Prime
either. I bet Bad Boys regrets that.
01:12:31
Zach Sheets
It's weird, like, Bad Boys 2, he didn't even have, like, a song. It was like, Nelly had a song.
01:12:37
Chris Prime
I think by Bad Boys 2, Wild Wild West came out, and then that killed the whole...
01:12:41
Zach Sheets
just, I'm done. I'm done.
01:12:42
Chris Prime
Yeah, like, the formula doesn't work.
01:12:44
Zach Sheets
The millennium's over. Mm-hmm.
01:12:46
Chris Prime
I mean, it still lives on in our heart, but...
01:12:48
Zach Sheets
o
01:12:50
Chris Prime
I mean, maybe we'll get that again one more time.
01:12:53
Chris Prime
Yeah, uh... I just remember this is one of those movies, even after the premiere, it was just talked about. It was one of those, I start school, there still was a little bit of marketing, like, residuals left.
01:13:10
Chris Prime
Because this is the era where, like, it got, this got, like, a kid's folder series. I remember I have, like, the folder of, like like, the ship or something went to school with.
01:13:24
Chris Prime
I thought it was pretty badass.
01:13:27
Zach Sheets
I mean, yeah, there was there was like a ton of merchandise for it.
01:13:30
Chris Prime
I think there was probably a Foo tie-in, but I kind of forgot what that was.
01:13:35
Zach Sheets
Oh, man. Yeah.
01:13:38
Chris Prime
And then the toy line, which sort of like, hey, the you get like the replica of ships and aliens, and I'm like, eh.
01:13:44
Zach Sheets
the main The main toy i remember is like the giant like alien. Exoscoot alien. that was like the
01:13:49
Chris Prime
Yeah, it did look pretty good.
01:13:50
Zach Sheets
but alien Alien commander or like alien supreme commander or something that like made noises.
01:13:57
Chris Prime
Maybe not that exactly, but... I definitely remember the toy, but was it that like a standalone or just like you could just buy that and then.
01:14:06
Zach Sheets
I think it was like a stand it was like like a giant like foot tall. or like like was bigger than like the normal like action figure size. was giant like action figure that like made noise. and like like It popped open and they it was like a little alien inside of it.
01:14:19
Chris Prime
I don't remember this.
Special Effects Praise
01:14:21
Zach Sheets
But yeah, it still still holds up I think even effects-wise, most of the effects are still pretty awesome, even watching 30 years later. Mm-hmm.
01:14:31
Chris Prime
Yeah, surprising, right? Because in this era, it's like a very hit or miss of, do this is this effect practical and going to live up? But they did it they did it right, where like the lighting, it's either bright and sunny, so the the model blends in and they hide like enough detail through like debris.
01:14:49
Chris Prime
Or it's dark, so it just blends right in with everything else, so it's a dark model and not trying to really show too much detail.
01:15:00
Zach Sheets
Yeah, it's it's it's a really great but great use of like models, miniatures, and CG, and kind of blending them all together. like i yeah like I think most of things blowing up, like the White House, like the like the buildings in like the cities are like all miniatures.
01:15:18
Zach Sheets
And then I think like the some of the ships are a mix of like miniatures and CG. Yeah.
01:15:27
Zach Sheets
But yeah, still great. Definitely Definitely one of the best 90s or blockbusters. Yeah. like ninety summer blockbusters
01:15:36
Chris Prime
Agreed. Like, yeah, like, it you may not need to see it every year, but... The movie, for what it accomplished for being a disaster movie, is competent.
Effective Conclusion of 'Independence Day'
01:15:49
Chris Prime
And it has like a very solid conclusion that goes, okay, this is their counterattack. It's their one big counterattack and that's it. They could have done a thing where there's a little few more skirmishes, but it really dulls the end.
01:16:02
Chris Prime
But it was pretty much like the last offense. It's like this or nothing.
01:16:07
Zach Sheets
well lots lots happens off screen I think it's just like there's so many things being blown up off screen there was like it's like you're like the command center and then it's just like Robert Loesher or someone's just like they blew up Philadelphia
01:16:22
Chris Prime
Yeah, yeah. But, like, I guess just pacing and then a lot of the character development, which... I got it now. But as a kid, I was like, more destruction. I would see more cool things. And it's like, okay, well, it's lot of talking and sitting in chairs.
01:16:35
Zach Sheets
Yeah, we didn't really mention him, but like robert I love Robert Lozier in this movie, too. like It's just like the most perfect like Robert Lozier role. The crucial genital role. Mm-hmm.
01:16:44
Chris Prime
I mean, he... If you look at the the things where he's like, well, what character did you embody? It's like he wanted to be Patton. it comes off well. his His idea that he's very patriotic, he's very dedicated to being part of the president detail.
01:17:01
Chris Prime
Because he didn't have to be, but he's like, nah. But he played it smart. It's like the safest place to be.
01:17:07
Zach Sheets
I like, yeah, it's like like, I like, if you, with your permission, sir, like to stay with you, because obviously you're to be protected.
01:17:14
Chris Prime
I mean, what's the general going to do? Like, fly a plane? it's like
01:17:18
Zach Sheets
get Get on that get in the first helicopter, get leaving the way out. not the second helicopter that gets blown up.
01:17:24
Chris Prime
Also, did his wife... His wife never got in the second helicopter, right? She was leaving Right,
01:17:28
Zach Sheets
she was She was in l LA doing interviews, and then she left too late, and then got caught in like the blast, or got caught in like the explosion. Mm-hmm.
01:17:36
Chris Prime
right because they were they were staring at the people on the tower dancing and partying.
01:17:41
Zach Sheets
Which was like, what, 10 seconds before the the beam got went off?
01:17:47
Chris Prime
But yeah, I mean, if they never made a sequel, I think this would have been
Critique of 'Independence Day: Resurgence'
01:17:52
Chris Prime
fun. But the fact that they did, and I was smart by not just running out and seeing it and really just seeing where this franchise didn't go.
01:18:01
Zach Sheets
no Yeah, Resurgence is is bad. Don't watch Resurgence.
01:18:06
Chris Prime
Like if you like this memory, just keep it like this. But I know I have to just out of Just, like, what what not to do in a sequel.
01:18:14
Zach Sheets
Will Smith knew. not being in that. Make me an oil painting and put me in the movie, but I'm not going to that. Mm-hmm.
01:18:21
Chris Prime
But it's weird that he's finally got that recognition of being, like, a pilot and all this, and then he just crashes. Not even a attack, just crashes.
01:18:29
Zach Sheets
do
01:18:30
Chris Prime
That part, I'm like, I can't believe if that happens.
01:18:33
Zach Sheets
I feel like there's a trope of like, if an actor doesn't come back, they like kill them off screen somehow.
01:18:39
Zach Sheets
It's like, oh, he like, he tripped and fell on the stairs and died. Like he's, he's dead now. That's why he's not back.
01:18:46
Zach Sheets
but Yeah, Independence Day.
Streaming Availability and Next Week's Teaser
01:18:48
Zach Sheets
it's on it's It's on Disney Plus if you wanted to watch. I think it's actually like a bunch of places. Disney Plus and Tubi, it's on there.
01:18:52
Chris Prime
I saw this on Tubi.
01:18:55
Zach Sheets
yeah like yeah I think AMC Plus also has it. It's all in a place. you You can easily watch Independence Day.
01:19:01
Zach Sheets
watch like sit inside it's be like, feel like it's degrees out and july fourth and it's like it's watching watch this instead and air conditioning
01:19:13
Chris Prime
Yeah. Recreate a movie theater. This was definitely a movie people saw in theaters to get out of the heat. So. What better tradition than to do that again?
01:19:24
Zach Sheets
But yes, i think they'll do it for this week. Come back next week, we're going to be taking on Deadites talk about Evil Dead 2 because Evil Dead Burn is going to be in theaters, the latest entry in the franchise. So we'll jump back to i think probably probably the best movie in the franchise.
01:19:44
Chris Prime
Arguably.
01:19:45
Zach Sheets
Most important one.
01:19:46
Chris Prime
think most important, yes.
01:19:47
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
Website Promotion and Convention Experience
01:19:49
Zach Sheets
And then head over to everynation.com. We've got news, reviews, trailers. I got a review of Supergirl up there, which Chris, you and I both saw that. We were were at too many games last weekend. Took a break from the con and watched Supergirl.
01:20:01
Zach Sheets
We were one of the few people, apparently, that watched Supergirl in theaters last weekend. Because it's not it's not doing well.
01:20:09
Chris Prime
Surprising, but find out why.
01:20:15
Zach Sheets
Yeah, check out my review, and then we'll have we have a review in next week or two of Too Many Games, if you want to see everything we saw and did down there in Oaks, PA.
01:20:25
Zach Sheets
And all the regular stuff's up there as well, so have you check all the stuff out. And yeah, so for Chris, I'm Zach, and we will see you next week.