Hello, and welcome to The Studio Demands It. That was a different intonation than I normally do.
Jim:Sure was. That's that's what that's just what today is like.
T.C.:An exercise in creative thinking where we will challenge ourselves to conceptualize, pitch, and craft an entire film based on the stipulations from a hypothetical Hollywood overlord. We talk movies all the time,
Jim:and in
T.C.:particular, we complain about the choices that were made in the films that we've seen. All the time. And, of course, that's your catchphrase.
Jim:Have a
T.C.:shirt, Jim's t shirt
Jim:Says available at
T.C.:our at our marketplace. It's gonna be all the time. Of course, as any good nerd does, we automatically assume that we could do better even given even with the demands and restrictions that clearly must have been put on a production. I am T. C.
T.C.:De Witt, and joining me as always is my cohost, Jim. You should get a Mohawk Burzelic.
Jim:I've thought about that. You've thought
T.C.:about a Mohawk. I have.
Jim:The last two two or three years, I I had gone to this event called Wasteland Weekend. Mhmm.
T.C.:It's Is that like a Mad Max situation?
Jim:Okay. It's it's like four I think now five days out in the desert where, like, several 100 people get together and just have a party. It's it's sort of like a mini Ren Faire
T.C.:Okay. But but themed around Mad
Jim:lipstick. Max.
T.C.:Yeah. It's amazing. See, I that sounds awesome. I I've been a I I I've been to Comic Con. You've been to con you've been to big conventions.
Jim:Mhmm.
T.C.:But I I miss the smaller conventions. Like, conventions like, Comic Con is this nerd mecca, but it is so bloated, and it's not there's it's so disingenuous Mhmm. To to the culture that it's supposed to be representing. It's just all marketing. There's no passion behind it.
T.C.:I'm I'm I know I sound cynical and sane. So but it really is just just it's just so not fun. Where you go to, like, a smaller convention, you go to, like, Kamikaze or even I don't know how big Gen Con has gotten.
Jim:Well, gen as far as, like, gaming conventions go, it's it's a doozy. Mhmm. It's about 70,000 people. I know that's still not as big as San Diego.
T.C.:Yeah.
Jim:But it's it's a big deal. I wouldn't say that it's disingenuous. Mhmm. Like like, it's not marketing. It's not marketing all the time, but it sure is is working its way.
Jim:It sure want wants to get there.
T.C.:The the the just corporatization of of a convention. So you tell
Jim:me that it's a man
T.C.:made convention.
Jim:It has to do with the the the content. Right? So, like, Comic Con, comics blew up as far as movies go. That's kinda like San Diego blew up the way it did with with Hollywood. Yeah.
Jim:And who it might be happening to games soon as games are starting to be licensed more and more for movies and film. Mhmm. Mhmm.
T.C.:Not not any good movies. I mean, what's the best board game movie you can think of? Jumanji. Okay. But Jumanji is not really a board game.
T.C.:Was That a kid's book about a board game.
Jim:There was a D and D movie. Mhmm. And and they made that, but they're making another one.
T.C.:Two Dungeons and Dragons movies.
Jim:I think there's actually been There's been three
T.C.:Dungeons and Dragons movies.
Jim:But they're they're working on a new one. Mhmm. There was a vampire, the masquerade TV show called Kindred the Embraced. I remember
T.C.:that. Yep. I remember Underworld was also people who got ticked off about Underworld ripping off a lot of Yeah. The masquerade.
Jim:Yeah. The it actually went to court.
T.C.:Oh, okay. That was that's figure.
Jim:Thrown out. Although, it probably shouldn't have because Underworld has a lot of a lot of stuff that's referenced in that game. Oh, man. But magic the gathering is being made into a show on Netflix.
T.C.:Is it just gonna be people sitting around playing magic, or are we going into the
Jim:world of it? Why would that be bad? No. Yeah. Would.
Jim:It's it's gonna it's gonna be in the the world of it. There's characters called planeswalkers. Those are the the highest level magic users. It's gonna basically be about them because magic has this whole it has a story with these characters and it follows their their adventures and stuff.
T.C.:I I played magic in high school. All my friends played it, and I was terrible at it. I was just like, ballista. This is my blue deck.
Jim:My other my I had a couple friends
T.C.:who were really they were it was a whole thing.
Jim:Yeah. I know you're doing a funny voice and trying to make jokes, but my brain immediately flipped over to, that card. Yes. Oh, blue deck. What's what's so funny about a blue deck?
Jim:Blue decks are very very effective.
T.C.:Effective. I am sorry. I did not mean to offend.
Jim:Correct. Okay. That is correct.
T.C.:That is correct.
Jim:You did not mean to.
T.C.:I did not. But this man next weekend.
Jim:So back to that. Yeah. So so I went to that for a couple years, and then I I grew poor and and busy. It's a weird combination.
T.C.:Adulting. So
Jim:I I wasn't able to to go. Well But what I had thought about so the the the first year I went, I just had a good time. Mhmm. The second year, I was like, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna get a mohawk this year.
T.C.:The other
Jim:thing is I wanted to get a mohawk before my hair thinned and receded too much. Mhmm. Because I feel like a mohawk with hair that has thinned or receded It's just that the same. Just yeah. It's just it'd be
T.C.:like Doesn't have the
Jim:same. Sad. And so I went there to get one, and the because there there there's like this area that has like a barber shop kind of thing. Oh, they they the mohawks. They yeah.
Jim:Oh, okay. And they were closed by the time I got there.
T.C.:They just had
Jim:a glutton of mohawks in you. So I was like, well, okay. I guess I guess I won't do
T.C.:it. Mohawks are the
Jim:And then I just haven't since and because I'm a big I'm a pretty big coward when it comes to extreme hair hair stuff, which is dumb because it grows back.
T.C.:It does
Jim:sometimes. Some
T.C.:people, it doesn't. Yeah. So no mohawk for you?
Jim:No. As of yet, no.
T.C.:It's
Jim:I would gladly get a mohawk for the right movie role. Like, oh, we totally want this weird Uber nerd to have a mohawk in our movie.
T.C.:And and I'm
Jim:your guy. I'm your guy.
T.C.:Chad did a mohawk, Chad, from many Yeah. The many a films that I've been involved.
Jim:As far as far as I know, he's always had a mohawk, and he still has a Mohawk to this day, as far as I know.
T.C.:In your heart and mind, I'll let you believe it. Yeah. Yeah. He Fantastic. I'm sorry.
T.C.:It's I don't I won't I won't
Jim:You can tell me it's not there, but it won't matter. I cannot picture him not that way. Oh, yeah. Wow, man.
T.C.:Alright. So where do we begin here? So we have our ridiculous pile of demands that grows every day, thanks to our wonderful listeners. And we have ourselves growing to I've already said that. You have submitted your requests over at studiodemands.com and on Twitter where you can find Studio Demands And you folks have been having some fun with us.
T.C.:We have a whole I have a pile now. And just just to, you know, glance at it and and see what you have there's a couple in there that I'm like, oh, boy. Yeah. There's some there's some doozies that we're gonna be able to get to eventually. And we're we're actually going to be diving into one today that that was a demand provided for us.
T.C.:So you can go over to studiodemandsit.com, you can submit your demand, you can come up with your studio name, and and yeah, the sky's the limit. You can go TV, you can go movie, they can be existing properties, they can be properties that you think should exist. And as if you look back in our library, for those of you who might be new to the show, you can find exactly that. You can find movies that we've redone, which was sort of the impetus of this whole series, of this podcast itself where we we we did Lone Ranger. We did, The Expendables.
T.C.:We did Die Hard. Like, but then we've also done movies that don't exist that we feel should. Like, we did a Super Mario Brothers trilogy, and we did a Versus episode, which which gave us, like, many a films. Yep. And and yeah.
T.C.:So head on over to studiodemandsit.com to to, to submit your demand. Yeah. So, where are
Jim:we going today? You guys know because you see the name
T.C.:of this episode. So submitted for your consideration some Joe, go, Jim.
Jim:So from the Steve Steph? What is it? S t e p h. Is that a Steph?
T.C.:S t e p h. Steph. Steph. Like Stephanie.
Jim:I don't know why I'd say Steve.
T.C.:Steve. Steve. Thanks, Steve. Hey, Steve.
Jim:Yeah. Steph, my bad. Apologize. And and their studio, All the Way Jose Studios.
T.C.:No way Jose? All the Way Jose. Love
Jim:it. Their studio's demand is make a sequel to the wildly successful and critically acclaimed 1996 Men in Black. Pretend there was never any follow-up to the original.
T.C.:Okay.
Jim:Will Smith has to be back. Tommy Lee Jones can cameo, but he doesn't need the star. Additionally, craft it in a manner that there can be further installments. If possible, can it be connected to any other Paramount franchise?
T.C.:Oh. Good luck. Okay. We'll we'll come back to the connected to other Paramount franchises because there's actually some precedent for that that notion. Okay.
T.C.:So a sequel to nineteen ninety seven's Men in Black starring Will Smith. Oh. Mhmm. Mhmm. Actually Yeah.
T.C.:Will Smith stars does was her name? The the actress?
Jim:Was that Maris or No.
T.C.:It Linda florin Linda Florentino? Yep. Yes. Linda Florentino. So at the end of the original Men in Black, Jay, agent Jay, has become the the badass MIB agent, and he's turned coroner, turned agent Linda Florentino playing agent l, and Timely Jones has gotten his happily ever after.
T.C.:Now what this is a comic book movie. Fiorientino. Oh, thank you. It's not an l. It's an I.
T.C.:It's a l. Fiorientino. My apologies, Linda. Thank you for listening. This is a comic book property.
T.C.:It is. So this is this is a Marvel it was a Malibu comic that Marvel purchased, I believe, at some point because I think Malibu Sure.
Jim:I actually didn't learn about it being a comic until well after the at least the first movie. It might have even been after the second. Probably just the first.
T.C.:This is it's amazing to me that
Jim:this movie in the store, I thought it was based on the movie.
T.C.:Right. So then the comic was based on the movie? Okay.
Jim:Floored me even more because the comic was more of what I wanted out of a property like that. Mhmm. I didn't I didn't want I mean, I laughed. I I had a good time. But I didn't want, like, this this kind of campy funny thing.
Jim:Like, to me, I think the Men in Black are cool and and and because they they actually come from, like, a scary tradition of of conspiracy Yeah.
T.C.:The beauty those stuff. Yeah.
Jim:And the comic was way more like that.
T.C.:Okay. Yeah. The movie definitely has its its Will Smith, think, the peak of his powers. Independence Day and and Men in Black are the peak of Will Smith's powers. Yeah.
T.C.:At least in quality because he certainly continued with his reign of terror film for for for a number funny enough, we've just had a conversation about his career. It's it's amazing to me that his name holds so much weight, and yet the quality of his films have been on a downward spiral since Men in Black. Yeah. It's amazing to me. But the the fun, the adventure, they they don't make movies like Men in Black.
T.C.:Not really. Patrick a h Wilms is this amazing YouTuber, and he talks about the the lightning in a bottle that is Ghostbusters, the original Ghostbusters. Mhmm. And how they couldn't even recapture it with Ghostbusters two. They certainly couldn't capture it by reduxing it recently.
T.C.:But the thing is is that Men in Black is the true successor to Ghostbusters in in its Yeah. In its comedic stylings, in its adventure stylings. In the it's not as horror elemental as it doesn't have as many horror elements as Ghostbusters, but Edgar is a pretty scary bad guy. Played played pretty amazingly by Vincent D'Onofrio. Yes.
T.C.:Yeah. A
Jim:ring came in here the other day.
T.C.:I got all of them.
Jim:So good. It's so gross.
T.C.:And and oh my god. What's name? His wife is like, egg over here. Skin's hanging off your bones.
Jim:So good. Butter?
T.C.:A lot better.
T.C.:Yes. For sure. And water. What was I talking about? This is a funny movie.
T.C.:It's it's a true successor to Ghostbusters in in its it's a New York film. It's very much dependent on the cockroaches, the the the attitudes of New York that especially in this era, this is pre 09/11, that New York is just filled with weirdos that an alien could walk by you and you wouldn't even give it a second thought. Yep. It I I don't think people truly appreciate New York until you've literally been there and and and experience the city for yourself that it is the largest city in our country and it's on an island. Like, Manhattan's an island and it's the majority population is all crammed into this, like, tiny little space when you think of the rest of the country and how much space there is
Jim:Sure.
T.C.:There's really something fascinating about New York
Jim:I've never been, so I I only have these movies to tell me.
T.C.:Well, Ghostbusters and Men in Black are two great New York films that that being specifically New York helped them in in in capturing the alienation and the the goofy oddities that is that is New York itself. Mhmm. That's besides the point. So we the the first minute I love the first Man in Black. My dad took me and my best friend Tim to see it when it came out in theaters.
T.C.:It was I I remember the cartoon came out, and I'm like, yes. More Man in Black, please. I remember the second movie came out, and I'm like, here we go again, and then it was awful.
Jim:I don't remember it being awful.
T.C.:I remember being really disappointed.
Jim:I remember it being more campy than the first.
T.C.:True. Yeah.
Jim:And I think I'm also getting things mixed up with the third one.
T.C.:The time travel one.
Jim:Who the third one was the one where Jermaine Clemens was the
T.C.:Yes. The villain. Right? Yeah. The second one is
Jim:And and and they travel in time in
T.C.:the third one. Yeah. And you have Josh Bowen doing an incredibly younger Yep. Emily Jones. Yep.
Jim:How do you know my name?
T.C.:The the same was
Jim:a really good Josh Brolin doing Tommy Lee Jones.
T.C.:Thank you very much. Thank you, man. I'll be here all night. Lara Flynn Boyle is the villain, and Johnny Knoxville is her two headed sidekick. Oh.
T.C.:She takes over MIB, and she's searching for Rosario Dawson. It's not great. I mean
Jim:Yeah. No. Just you recounting that. Yeah. No.
Jim:That's that's
T.C.:Plot not wise, it probably could have worked, but there was something it was what what hurt the second movie is that now Jay was the bitter veteran, and he had to bring Kay back in, remind him of his past Mhmm. Somehow reverse the mind wipe, and now teach him the ropes. And it was this it was this role reversal that wasn't necessary. I I I I remember that did being a disappointment to me. Like, sure, there's lots of fun to be had, but revisiting it and watching it a couple times being like, you know what?
T.C.:This is nothing compared to that first one
Jim:Mhmm.
T.C.:Which is just so good. That first one has just got the right mix of all the elements. Funny action Mhmm. The space the the plot is really well structured, great villain. Like, everything, all the chemistry is working in that first one.
T.C.:Mhmm. So so to erase the sequel from our minds
Jim:Yep.
T.C.:To capture the
Jim:lights need a a
T.C.:denuralizer. Yeah. Here. Okay. You look over here.
Jim:Yeah. Okay. I'll look right at this device. Hello.
T.C.:Welcome to Studio Demands It. I'm T. C. And you
Jim:are? I'm Jim.
T.C.:You remember your name. I wasn't sure I did the settings correctly. So wait. If I had to erase your mind, I'd have to erase I can't specify. So
Jim:Yeah. Was was waiting for you to give me the command as to to what Oh, oh, yeah.
T.C.:What I did remember. Did the neural okay. I gotta flash you again. Phew. Hey.
T.C.:It's 1997, and you've just been hired to you aren't even in college yet at this point, are you? So I'm hiring a high school kid.
Jim:Graduating high school. Where did this beard come from?
T.C.:Let's not do okay. Men in black three style, we're traveling back in time Yeah. With all our current knowledge. Yep. How do we come up with a sequel to to the wildly successful Men in Black?
T.C.:Sure. So what's what's what what do you think? Because you actually have hinted at having an idea for this in the past.
Jim:Sort of. You've you've hinted at it. I knew about this idea now for a few weeks.
T.C.:Oh, you're breaking the rules. You're thinking about it too much.
Jim:I I didn't I didn't give it much thought because, right, because we don't wanna think too far ahead. Mhmm. But I did feel
T.C.:like BBS situation.
Jim:I would have liked to revisit the sequels a bit more, although that's that's also kind of cheating, especially if
T.C.:Oh, I actually have watched two and three.
Jim:Yeah. Yeah. But I did watch Men in Black International.
T.C.:Oh, okay. The the Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson that just came out pretty
Jim:soon. Yeah. It was fine. Mhmm. I think they tried to recapture sort of what the first one had by way of copying it.
Jim:Mhmm. Like like, I feel like a lot of this sort of similar beats are there, but they also try to change it, which then doesn't work. It's it's it's kind of a sloppy movie.
T.C.:Okay. That that doesn't surprise me. Yeah. And and what elements would you carry over? What what's makes it a good Men in Black movie?
T.C.:If you look at the first one, it's Will Smith. Like, being Will Smith and doing his thing, turning him into a jaded cat, like oh, not cocky anymore, but just jaded and too good at his job. Mhmm. That's not interesting. I wanna see Will Smith out there getting into getting it getting mixed up in some trouble that's too much for Okay.
Jim:But I had I actually came up with a sequel to Men in Black International, which I know this is not the demand for, but I really wanna share it.
T.C.:Yeah. I can see your legs shaking for how excited you are.
Jim:I'm making the whole floor rattle. Earthquake? So no. Just Jim. Oh, Jim.
Jim:Jim's excited to share an idea. What do you got?
T.C.:Okay. So here we go. So tangent, you were gonna pitch a sequel to Men in Black International?
Jim:Because it doesn't it could possibly work, I guess, as as the sequel we're gonna actually do. Okay. What's I the was thinking about the Men in Black franchise.
T.C.:Studios studios take existing scripts all the time and bend them to their will to turn into sequels of sorts. Yeah. So pitch your script and I might, the studio, be able to say, we can use it.
Jim:Okay.
T.C.:So what do we got?
Jim:So I was thinking about what Men in Black has already covered. Right? Like, they they they had to save a galaxy from a big roach monster. That's right. Right?
Jim:And and and that was sort of your your your quote, unquote traditional standard Men in Black fighting aliens. Mhmm. Done.
T.C.:Done.
Jim:The second one was someone's taking over the men in black and right? Like, an attack from the the inside type of thing.
T.C.:Right.
Jim:And we need to we need to kinda attack it from the outside. Mhmm. Actually, so remembering that, that informs the Internet. Anyway, the third one then took on another angle of the the Men in Black mythology that, like, actually exists in conspiracy circles and stuff?
T.C.:I have not seen the third one. I'm only
Jim:Well, I'm gonna spoil it for you. It's about time travel.
T.C.:I knew that much.
Jim:How'd you know my name? Perfect. Every time. And and and I I felt like those three movies kind of covered the topics of the Men in Black conspiracy in a tongue in cheek, well done way. Really didn't see where else they could go with it.
Jim:Mhmm. Men in Black International kind of retreaded things, but tried to reinvent it at the same time. Mhmm. And oh, crap. Am I forgetting what their plot was about?
T.C.:The Men in Black International?
Jim:Yeah. Oh my god. I'm forgetting what that movie was about.
T.C.:What's what's fascinating about me while you're thinking Yeah. Is that, yeah, the the Men in Black in their the way they were conceptualized from comic to film was really that these this secret organization protecting us from the scum of the universe completely under our noses. Anytime they're caught, they flash a brain. You can have a conspiracy theorist like David Cross. I believe he's in the second one playing a different character than he played the first one, but someone who who believes in the conspiracy theories.
T.C.:In 1996 in 1997, '96 when they conceptualize it, '97 when the movie came out, the the years that follow, do you think that the people behind Men in Black would ever have thought that conspiracy theorists would go the the direction that they are now. That that yes. There are the moon landing was fake conspiracy theorists since the moon landing happened. But there are people now who believe the earth is flat. That
Jim:So Flat Earthers have existed for a while.
T.C.:I know, but now there's millions of them.
Jim:So I I think I don't think what they to to answer your question, what would they think? I don't think that they would have thought that these weird fringe groups would have such a large voice.
T.C.:Yeah. There you go. Like, to to give the History Channel to ancient aliens, to give the History Channel to give a
Jim:show to him.
T.C.:Channel. The Right? Yeah. It's you're right. I don't think they could ever have feasibly thought that the that the weekly world news or the star or or National Enquirer would be quoted by politicians.
T.C.:Yeah. That is bonkers, people.
Jim:Like is. Like, Tommy Lee Jones goes out of his
T.C.:way to, like, goes go to the rags to to find information about an alien crash landing. And Will Smith's like, we're getting our information from those. He's like, you'd be surprised how often they get them right. And then they find they find the alien now it'd be like, you're right. The fringe groups now have like this voice they're being like allowed to talk on CNN.
Jim:Like Mhmm.
T.C.:It's crazy. So I just thought that I just wanna point out in terms of like '97 or whatnot, it might be like, no way. I don't believe that that's gonna happen. But anyhow, I changed it away from you had an idea.
Jim:So Men in Black International, bit bit of spoilers here. It's it's about there there's there's a evil species of of being that that takes over, like, the just tons of planets and stuff. They have the ability to basically infect people.
T.C.:Mhmm.
Jim:And they need to be driven off. And somebody has a special MacGuffin weapon that's gonna be able to take them out. But it turns out the infector aliens are they're here. Oh, yeah. We don't but but the thing is we don't know who who they are.
Jim:Right? Because so now the bad guys could be any one of us. Oh. Right?
T.C.:Okay. So very invasion of the body snatchers esque. Yeah. Yes. Cool.
Jim:Some of that.
T.C.:Some classic sci fi elements in there.
Jim:Yeah. So so right. So the Men in Black has now covered the the enemy is us kind of territory. And they they they resolve it. I don't know how many spoilers I wanna give.
T.C.:Happily ever after.
Jim:So I the the sequel I thought of to that is, well, what what sort of ground hasn't been covered? And it's a it's a growing popular topic Mhmm. For for for horror and sci fi nowadays, and I am totally willing to milk it if if I get to. I don't want other people I hate it when other people do it, but it when I do it You get the chance. It's okay.
T.C.:It's okay. Okay.
Jim:And it's to do something a la because I I wouldn't wanna do him by name, but Cthulhu.
T.C.:Okay. So
Jim:You the the backstory of that is so Men in Black, it's always been this alien thing and we're gonna have to deal with it. The thing is Cthulhu is an alien. Mhmm. But I think the angle that I think would be really cool to go with is it's an alien that's been here since before the Men in Black.
T.C.:I mean, before time exists. Right? Sort of. Before human before
Jim:human We're not we're not gonna get into the time Listen line of to Jim's
T.C.:Lovecraft podcast. Yeah. Yeah. H pod Lovecraft. That's his H
Jim:pod oh, that's kind of awesome. HP Podcraft?
T.C.:HP Podcraft. Okay. There's a couple of options here. We'll discuss later.
Jim:HP Podcast? Whatever. Six five.
T.C.:We got a new show for you.
Jim:So so the idea would be they would basically be fighting and investigating a cult that is trying to awaken this ancient alien. Okay. Okay. And one of the big differences is you you would end up having a bunch of aliens, but you'd also have humans that are involved and aware. Mhmm.
Jim:Because there's there's in in all the movies, more so as they go, I humans are mixed in with these these alien cultures as well. Right. Like, their neighbors and stuff and people they work with are humans. Right. And and they're aware of them.
Jim:So there's apparently some sort of weird cultural rules as to what humans can know and which ones can't.
T.C.:What do we need to flashy thing them for? Yeah. Yeah. Well, they can't know there's aliens.
Jim:Yeah. They'll go crazy. I I that that So so I just I like the that that's sort of the angle I would go with next, which is, right, the the threat the the the threat has been on the threat has been under our feet the whole time.
T.C.:Okay. So let's let's if that's your premise pitch, could that be a sequel to the first one? Could the the well, let's think of this. Okay. Let's that that's not too bad because when it comes to franchise and when it comes to sequels, oftentimes, escalation is important.
T.C.:That's why we went from stealing DVD players to eventually going to space with The Fast and the Furious. No one wants the a de escalation of the stakes. The the I shouldn't say no one, but the the majority of the audience going to films wants bigger and better. More, more, more, more. So looking at the first Men in Black where a singular alien was coming to kill steal a galaxy Mhmm.
T.C.:And they have to stop the bad guy Mhmm. To then escalate that to a cult of people trying to bring about the destruction of the Earth of by by summoning a giant alien Mhmm. Now you're now you have escalated because Jay, as our hero, would have to go toe to toe with multiple cultists and the lead cultists and stop a giant alien that is too big to punch in the face. Yep. Right?
T.C.:So you've you that's a fair escalation. Because the second movie just retread a lot of the same ground of the first one, which I know is so rare for a sequel to a successful film to do. Whoever heard of that? So to to pitch an idea that Jay is now going up against many alien many humans he could punch in the face Sure. As well as this threat of a giant alien, I'd say what you would need to mix in there is the if the leader of the cult is an alien.
T.C.:If that there are aliens sprinkled into the cult, then you get the monster makeup, you get the creature stuff. Because there needs to be mystery element. Connect the dots to solve the the mystery. Because they they were cops. They were
Jim:Yeah.
T.C.:Jay is a cop. The reason he was able to do what he did is because he's very physically capable, but he's also very sharp. K is as good as he is because he understands the universe as it is and knows the resources available to them. Mhmm. So we we need to see a detective story.
T.C.:So follow the clues to figure out what the situation is. It's on Orion's belt. Belt. Oh, wait. A belt can be your oh, okay.
T.C.:It's this, Right? So following the trail of alien clues that leads to the cult that then culminates in the the ticking time bomb of Cthulhu showing up.
Jim:Sure.
T.C.:That's a perfectly legit horror movie.
Jim:Or Yes.
T.C.:It's a it's a legit it's got horror elements. It's a good sci fi has good sci fi elements as well. So I I excitedly misspoke. It's a good that sounds like a Men in Black movie. Sure.
Jim:Now one of the I realized that's our first goal, but one of our later goals is to franchise it.
T.C.:Right. And we actually have too much. After our break, we'll we'll I think we can find. Okay. I will list all the Paramount franchises and we'll start connecting dots.
T.C.:But Okay. For now, let's focus in on it's 1997 franchising. A singular property was the was the way to go if Yeah. At No one was thinking of the Marvel Universe as a
Jim:No. No. No. You know, I I don't even mean necessarily connecting the other paranoids. Like like, just turning this into a franchise, have we escalated into we can't go bigger?
T.C.:No. No. Because I I I feel like him, he's it's grounded on Earth, punching cultists in the face, alien or human. Mhmm. And the big giant threat of of alien bigger than Earth, inexplicable alien force, we don't have to see that full on Godzilla attack.
T.C.:It could just be a matter of it's appearing. You see the the the space time cracking open, and it's a matter of we gotta shut that thing before it comes out.
Jim:So so I don't think I don't think you're wrong, but it feels like like when you tell an audience you're not gonna get to see the monster.
T.C.:Oh, you get to see the monster. Okay. But here here's how I would do it, and I'm just I'm just going off your ideas here. If Jay's on the ground being the, you know, the cracking skulls Mhmm. Let's keep agent Elle involved in this because she is a medical professional.
T.C.:She is a coroner.
Jim:Oh,
T.C.:okay. She has medical knowledge here. Right?
Jim:So we're we're gonna do we're gonna do a, like, like, a weird version of Mulder and Scully?
T.C.:Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, this is nine the nineties, so we're in the heyday of X Files here.
T.C.:Her medical knowledge can come into play here where we saw a birth of an alien in the in the first movie where Jay actually took care of a little alien cutie that was puked on him. Right? If the time space is cracking open and birthing Cthulhu, a medical professional would be would would be would be
Jim:That's ridiculous. I know. I know. I
T.C.:know. But
Jim:No. I love it. It's it's so dumb.
T.C.:That that could be what she gets to do involved in the in the climax of the movie while he's taking on the leader of the cult and stopping off. She could be using her medical knowledge to prevent the birth of Cthulhu in a in a sense or to to postpone it or to find some solution that shrinks him down into a cute little Cthulhu or something like Cute Thulu. Yeah. Cute Thulu. Yeah.
T.C.:There you go. And then you could sell Cthulu dolls.
Jim:Yeah. Little cute No one's no one's sold Cthulu dolls before.
T.C.:Little cute cute thulu hats. Yep. Cute Thulhu. We got it. But giving her
Jim:But by the way, Cthulhu, someone does already have that term. And somebody does already make little cute Cthulhu dolls Oh. And Cthulhu hats.
T.C.:But but Butts.
Jim:But they're not MIB. Were they doing
T.C.:it in 1997? Thinking Not all of that. Good. We got this. Yeah.
T.C.:Take that, time travel. I also got a sports almanac we'll take care of later. Excellent. So I I don't think we're telling the audience they don't get to see it. We'll we'll get to see Cthulhu.
T.C.:We just won't have the full like, they are in the first movie, they're preventing the Earth from getting blown up by Sure. By the Andromedans or the the aliens that are coming to give us the give us the the galaxy or we're gonna blow up the Earth. Mhmm. So that's the ticking time time bomb that they're trying to prevent Sure. In the first movie.
T.C.:So now we just have another ticking time bomb, which is we gotta prevent the end of all existence by the thing so inexplicably horrifying that it'll melt people's brains. Yeah. That's a pretty good ticking time bomb. Yeah. And, you know, jump ahead in time and space.
T.C.:We got to see Dormammu in Doctor Strange.
Jim:That's true.
T.C.:In a in a capacity, we got to see Doctor Strange throw down with him, intellectually speaking. So Yeah. I think audiences would be accepting of the okay. We could understand that this thing could go Godzilla on the city. We're not gonna get that.
T.C.:It's the threat of that that they're trying to prevent, and we still get to see l
Jim:Well, and and we're still gonna have I I think okay. So so if we follow that model, I feel I feel bad. Like like, I feel I feel like I'm using my knowledge.
T.C.:How dare you?
Jim:Yeah. Wrong. Like, I'm I'm using it for evil.
T.C.:Your knowledge of Cthulhu or Menblah?
Jim:My my knowledge of Cthulhu. Well, have no
T.C.:knowledge of Cthulhu.
Jim:So Cthulhu. I think the the way I'd ask that, I don't know how they would find out about the mystery of it. Mhmm. Well, something would get stolen.
T.C.:Yeah. Exactly.
Jim:Something gets stolen that's on their radar, some some alien artifact
T.C.:That they need
Jim:to use to summon. Keeping tabs on. Yeah. They're like, where did this go? So they have to follow that trail.
Jim:It leads to a guy that leads to this town
T.C.:Mhmm.
Jim:Out on the seashore. So this, for those who know, would be a very heavy nod to Innsmouth. A Lovecraft short story? Yeah. There's a Lovecraft short story called oh crap.
Jim:Shadow Shadow Over Innsmouth.
T.C.:Okay. I I feel like this that level of of Easter egg planting is great for for the, like, the the count like, the subculture of Lovecraft fans. I think that's great. Having that stuff in there, if only two years later to be like, you know, in Men in Black two, there's a whole lot of HP Lovecraft references. I don't think you did you know that?
T.C.:Let me tell you all about it. Like, Ben, that's fun because there's a whole bunch of nerd stuff like that in Ghostbusters one and two, where if you know Sure. That's true. You know about the paranormal. The Carpathians and and all that.
T.C.:Like, the paranormal. There's a whole bunch because Dan Aykroyd Dan Aykroyd knew about and believes all of it. Yeah. So you're essentially Dan Aykroyd in this situation, and I'm here with it. You know what?
Jim:I'm strangely really okay with that.
T.C.:Do want me to go get you a crystal skull vodka?
Jim:Yes, please. Yes. I have I've been waiting.
T.C.:I'll go get it right now.
Jim:I have it right here. You have a
T.C.:crystal skull. I do have a crystal skull. Yeah.
Jim:No. We don't need that right We'll get that on the break.
T.C.:Yeah. On the break.
Jim:Right. So so yeah. So that would lead to this this town instead of just doing the straight up tale of Innsmouth Mhmm. Which is already pretty close. Basically, it's a town of high fish people.
Jim:Woah. Yeah. So they're
T.C.:Oscar winning fish people? Is Doug Jones involved in this? Pretty much.
Jim:Woah. Like the way that guy looked in there Mhmm. Is pretty much what a deep one looks like. Okay. Deep one actually, ones are are are a little more toothy.
Jim:But
T.C.:the people Educating the listeners on on deep or The people
Jim:of Innsmouth are sort of a a they're a cross breed, a high hybrid between people and these fish men, and they're they're they're very they're quite inbred. Could So what that would the way that would work in Men in Black is it would basically be an alien town. And there might be a few humans who live there and stuff, but basically, this is a town where they can just be them.
T.C.:Oh, dude. You know?
Jim:And what's happened is they got some religion Yeah. That says, yeah. No. We want this big alien. We're tired.
Jim:We're tired of having to hide. We want this big alien Mhmm. To to come on out. Who's been here? He's been here so long.
Jim:He's the Snorlax of the Men in Black series. He's been sleeping over there.
T.C.:Pokemon referencing
Jim:there. And so yeah. So then they go to this village, and I'll shadow over in Smith. They have to fight their way out and blow up a big thing there, but that's not the end. That's sort of just our act two where they find out, oh, that's sort of where their their home base was Yeah.
Jim:But that doesn't matter because their main dudes have gotten away and they've gone to the place where they are going to actually awaken him. And so then they have to go there for the final confrontation.
T.C.:Okay. Yeah. Yeah. The the small town, the small seaside town Mhmm. Being under the protection of men in black is a great notion.
T.C.:That there'd be like perpetual construction workers who divert traffic from going to the seaside village. Yeah. That's great. Like, that that is that is totally Men in Black, to think that they'd be protecting this tiny little village. Right?
T.C.:And now either outside this village, there can be, like, townies who never venture that way.
Jim:Sure.
T.C.:And there's the the the occasional one
Jim:the original story?
T.C.:The the okay. Good. The occasional, we have to flashy another local. Maybe there's a conspiracy nut local that gets flashed monthly.
Jim:Right? I can I know how to drop references to Dunwich horror with that as well?
T.C.:Another Lovecraft? Yeah. Good. Good. So there's a town outside of the seaside village that the Men in Black are basically the the the toll booth, the roadblock between.
T.C.:Right? Sure. So that's a great set piece. And that weird town Uh-huh. Could be where Kay is the mailman.
T.C.:Because in the second movie, that's where Jay finds him. He's a mailman in a weird town. Yeah. And he's working with aliens and doesn't know it. So we could kinda do a
Jim:similar thing. So so I'd like, as much as I I it's fun that we're working in this direction of a of a property of of ripping off a property that I very much like.
T.C.:Yeah.
Jim:It does feel like we're not honoring the tradition of alien conspiracy UFO conspiracy that already exists by not going to Roswell, which I'm pretty sure is where Kaye was. It like a desert town. I I thought it was Roswell or something like that.
T.C.:Well, can we can we incorporate Roswell into the climax? That if the if if that is some sort of epicenter for Or, you know what? Maybe not. Maybe that could be saved, hinted at, or referenced, and saved for a third film. Like, the intent of these movies were definitely to keep pumping out sequels as long as they could.
T.C.:So Roswell Right. Actually, here we
Jim:We we drop a reference somewhere in the middle or even at the end when the Men in Black are arresting aliens who who committed these crimes. Roswell is a big is a big Men in Black prison.
T.C.:Yeah. Okay. That's that is what Area 51 is, Is that it's the Yeah. The slab. It's the Mhmm.
T.C.:Black Gate Prison of men in black aliens. Because, yeah, they would they would need some sort of they couldn't lock up aliens in a in Rikers Island on New York in New York. Right?
Jim:Although it'd be kinda funny seeing them flashing other prisoners all the time.
T.C.:Let's well, let's say they have
Jim:with the nebulizers.
T.C.:Let's say they do lock up they do have an alien division of
Jim:Well, they they probably have several, but let I I think it'd just be fun to drop reference to Roswell being the their version of a of, you know, max security
T.C.:prison. Kaye is in Massachusetts in the second movie, which
Jim:So I was very wrong. It wasn't a desert town.
T.C.:It's a sea side town.
Jim:Basically Innsmouth.
T.C.:Alright. Okay. So we can get a I do not want to unflashy thing him. I would like Jay to go to him.
Jim:If he lives if he lives in this town or you're saying he
T.C.:lives in that Outside.
Jim:In that outskirt,
T.C.:the The outskirts.
Jim:The He's drunk. The cover town?
T.C.:Yeah. Unbeat like, he doesn't understand why, but he is drawn to the to the weird. He is drawn to the alien, whether he knows it or not. And he has he has some residual feelings towards aliens. So that if if Jay goes to him, it would be he doesn't go looking for Kay for answers.
T.C.:He crosses paths with Kay. Like like, he runs into him and is like, Kay, I'm sorry. Do I know you, son? Like, that like, Jay didn't seek him out. They just the universe literally brought them together.
T.C.:And and and Jay can have Jay can have a crisis of faith in this film. Part of his arc could be we we can figure out what an arc is for him, but he lost his mentor at the end of the first movie. So to be able to have that Dagobah conversation with with Ben again, like Luke Skywalker got Mhmm. To have a moment with this with Kaye, where Kaye doesn't have any idea who Jay is, but still imparts knowledge on him, that could be a very sweet moment. Because the First Man Black does have some pretty good depth to it.
T.C.:And Yeah. When Kay convinces Jay about, you know, how many years ago did people think the Earth was flat? How many years ago did people think this, that, or the other? And and how did people react to it? And just, you know, yesterday, you thought Earth was alone in the galaxy.
T.C.:Like, he has that great speech about what do you know now and what
Jim:do you
T.C.:and it's just it's a really it's a solid monologue. It's a great little moments. And and the talking about the stars and just wanting to forget everything and just live his life, there's some sweetness in that first one. Mhmm. And there's sweetness in the second one as well in dealing with Rosario Dawson's character.
T.C.:So having Jay come across Kay and get a couple of scenes with him where Kay says, you know, you know, imparts some knowledge on him and and kinda revitalizes him and launches him into the third act could be really a really cool cameo by Kay without Sure. Erasing everything that came without flashy thing, everything that came before.
Jim:Okay.
T.C.:So that that's how I get Tommy Lee Jones in there for you, Steph Steve. But let's why don't we take a break here? Okay. And let's kinda gather our thoughts and and and plow into kind of finalizing the film. Yep.
T.C.:And we'll discuss some franchise opportunities to to encompassing some maybe some other Paramount properties. Sound good? Sounds good. Cool. So we'll be right back after this message from Six Five Media, and it'll be seconds for you, and who knows how long for us?
T.C.:Why did I make that
Jim:I don't I don't know at all.
T.C.:It's so weird. I don't
Jim:It was super creepy, though.
T.C.:Hello. I'm Max. And I'm Jordan. And I'm here to talk to you about the Top Hat Balloon Show. It's a great show.
T.C.:It's a sketch comedy show that comes out every week. Hilarious things happen in it. You can find us on YouTube or iTunes or on our website at tophatballoonshow.com. We have a website.
T.C.:And this is where we are. Yep. That that's a good segue back
Jim:to this.
T.C.:Even though off my conversation. Yeah. The Men in Black universe, the concept behind these characters existing in our world, stopping us from the world unseen, is so ripe with potential. Mhmm. I don't understand why these movies have been failures.
T.C.:Men in Black International is a bomb. Yeah. And it's it's surprising to me. Men in Black three was critically panned. Men in black two in rewatching it is very disappointing.
T.C.:Is it just because people approached it with, we can make more money instead of realizing the potential of the of this of this world that they're creating?
Jim:Sort of. I I also think right there, you said you you described it as a world, and I don't think worlds were built there. I think a story with some stuff was was done. Yeah.
T.C.:I guess it's
Jim:the names. There's like a handful of scenes where where they kinda like say, and maybe this thing's happening in the background. Right. But, like like, we don't get the the equivalent of of a so we don't get the equivalent of, like, a cantina scene in Star Wars. Star Wars Star Wars builds a world.
T.C.:Right? Okay. Fair enough. Yep.
Jim:Men in Black doesn't really build the the first one hints
T.C.:Well, there's a world? It it does hint, but the you're you're forgetting the walking through the Men in Black facility in the first movie where suddenly he's Every trapped in movie. All these aliens.
Jim:Every movie has that. Every every one of the Men in Blacks oh, here we are in the hub of the office of the Men in Black, but we don't see the world. Mhmm. Right? We see the precinct.
Jim:We see the bullpen walk Right. Is really what's happening there to compare it to like any cop show. And and and it does it does give us a little, but and and in the first Men in Black, they they do the equivalent of walking a beat where you get to meet a bunch of aliens. And every movie has one or two alien contacts that they gotta go
T.C.:They go talk to the the pug, make him an official agent in the second one.
Jim:And and and that's and that so they did a little bit of growth there as an example.
T.C.:Right.
Jim:But but I'm not really remembering much in the way of really growing the world.
T.C.:So I suppose it's my many years beyond the fact that I can look at the potential and see it, whereas in the moment, maybe I couldn't or maybe the maybe the producers, the powers that be Sure. Couldn't see the potential of of really bringing in someone who cares about this as opposed to bringing someone who will make us another movie. Right?
Jim:Yeah. Well, also right. Because because I think a lot of the thinking, not unfairly, is well, we wanna make movie a for us and b on this project. Mhmm. We don't wanna make I mean, we wanna make future money, but we don't wanna make potential few like like, we wanna guarantee it.
Jim:Right. Right. Right. So let's make this story now. Why plant seeds?
Jim:Why why create a why create a an IP, a franchise? Like, I think now nowadays, even more so than in in the nineties, did a little bit. They thought about marketing and merchandising and stuff. But I I still think they didn't think about it nearly as much as as maybe they well, no. I mean, they thought about toys and stuff.
T.C.:Like the the McDonald's tie ins or what? Yeah. But I'm not saying that You can you
Jim:can grow you can grow a franchise to be so dang big.
T.C.:I I and I agree. And I and I feel like maybe it's our modern sensibility and how how engaged we are in filmmaking and storytelling that we can see the potential of something now. Mhmm. Maybe there I maybe, maybe not. Maybe there just weren't people back then who thought in those big picture terms.
T.C.:Certainly not as popular as the post MCU world we live in now in terms of cinema Sure. Spin off movies and what have you. Those existed, but they weren't the they they were the exception, not the rule. And and I'm not trying to say we should set this up to spin off into a seven picture deal. I still wanna tell a singular film.
T.C.:It's it's just that when you have a a movie like Men in Black that has so much potential to play in this, this the sandbox has so much to play in, to just retread that ground in a pretty weak second film and following films, it's just disappointing because we're sitting here conceptualizing what and if this was the movie that came out in 1999, it's it's it we saw this. We saw this in terms of, like, here's movie one. Okay. People liked it. And movie two is the one everyone remembers.
T.C.:Terminator. Terminator two. Star Trek. Star Trek. Wrath of Khan.
T.C.:X Men. X Men two. It's that second movie where it's like, the first one works. Now let's go to town. Let's people are in.
T.C.:People are gonna seek his property. Let's make a freaking movie. Right? And
Jim:Oh, okay.
T.C.:And I think may that probably was their intent for Men in Black two to be like, we're back in the game. Mhmm. You're coming black suit's coming. Yeah. But it felt it's uninspired.
T.C.:It doesn't it doesn't realize the full potential of what you can do with the Men in Black, which we've now you've pitched an idea that we've we've kind of watered and trimmed and grown here
Jim:Mhmm.
T.C.:That would make a pretty kick ass film. That'd be a lot of And fun to
Jim:and well, you get you get my favorite part, which is a whole bunch of aliens. Yeah. Let let me see the weird monsters, as many of them as I can. Yeah. You can That's that's that's what I like.
Jim:That's that's what I go for.
T.C.:Plenty of of one liners to be had by Will Smith. I Mhmm. I've I've we've gotten the Tommy Lee Jones cameo. Is there anything we're we're not addressing? I'm sure
Jim:From the actual demand?
T.C.:From the actual demand. But What's I'm sure that revisit now. There's listeners right now or or Steve, if you're listening and you're like, hey. Do this thing. You didn't do this thing.
T.C.:Certainly I never should. Tweet at us and let us know. But, yeah, we we we returned to the Men in Black. Jay exists as an agent with agent l as his as his partner. We can cold open with them doing actually, I would cold open with some hint towards the cult, with some hint of the giant threat that's gonna come, and hard cut to them in the midst of an action sequence.
Jim:Why not hint why not have the cold open be the
T.C.:heist? Of them stealing the The thing. Sure. Sure. Like, come right into this the stealing of the thing, the title sequence, and then cut to j and l on a mission.
Jim:Oh. Oh, that's not bad.
T.C.:Yeah. Like, if we if we go the the Danny Elfman music follows a bug scenario that we that went from the first movie, having the big exciting heist to open up the film, go to the opening credits, and then come down to a quiet moment before Will Smith comes running out into the screen, shouting like Will Smith does in the nineties in the midst of a of something fun and exciting. Yeah. Chasing down an alien on foot, which he is good at. Mhmm.
T.C.:And then getting back to Zed, kinda establishing the status quo of how how much time has passed, how good or bad is he at his job, how good or bad is Al at her job, and sending them on their assignment. Hey. We got
Jim:some Zed, give us something good this time. I'm so tired of getting slimed and yada yada yada. It's like, oh, well, this is what we have. We have
T.C.:And he could list like That's
Jim:a really good red red Rip
T.C.:tour. Yeah. Rip tour. Yeah. We he could list we have this and this and this, and and Jake could be like, we'll take it all.
T.C.:We'll take and in the list of the things that they're gonna go do is the heist. So Oh, we get them on the beat and doing this, and we can establish what their relationship is. Maybe she has zero interest in him, and she dates, and he's like, you know, maybe let me take you out sometime. I don't know how we wanna approach their relationship. And then we get to the heist moment, and now we're in the make like, you know what?
T.C.:They can get to the next job after that and go, I've been thinking about that heist all day. I think we should follow-up on that. And then we send them down the down the path, following the the clues along the way. There could be some sort of a reoccurring b plot. Maybe they go see Jeeves to blow off a his name?
T.C.:Aunt Tony Shalhoub's head.
Jim:Only has so many of those. Do you have any idea?
T.C.:And then That's not bad. If they follow the the path of of the mystery, a couple b plots in there. Maybe maybe maybe there there is worth having a a b plot of Linda Fiorentina trying to date. I I don't know. I'm thinking nineties.
T.C.:I'm thinking nineties here. I know.
Jim:Right. Right. We we it would we'd be playing off of the notion of how cops have a hard time dating
T.C.:Yeah.
Jim:Except even more so because Jeez. They can't right? This is You
T.C.:know, I think I'm done dating aliens.
Jim:Yeah. That's terrible.
T.C.:That's Not not no. No. I don't want
Jim:see to be the line. I know. But in the That's
T.C.:that would be something that wouldn't date well, like, in terms of if it I don't want anyone to take that the wrong way. I meant specifically extraterrestrials. Yeah. Maybe even Will Smith could say, you know, you shouldn't say that. You should say extraterrestrials.
T.C.:I don't know. Whatever. We're getting we're putting our 19 or our 2020 vision on sorry. I I'm I'm Yeah. I'm, like, into things.
Jim:Go back and be all kinds of offensive. No. No. That's what it is.
T.C.:Just a a b plot of what their their lives are outside of it. And they they actually don't do. There it is. Because Jay could not have anything but his job, which is what the second movie does, but they made him jaded towards it and bored by it. But instead, it's he's good at it.
T.C.:He loves it. He still makes mistakes, and he's still learning as he goes. He's not perfect. But it's that not being able to find time. How does she have time to date?
T.C.:He can't fathom that.
Jim:Oh, so we'd, like, get a montage or whatever of of, like, her having a life
T.C.:Yeah. And then
Jim:him going home and just having cold pizza Yeah. In an empty, like, barely furnished apartment.
T.C.:And that's why he keeps working. And the thing is she's a medical professional, and oftentimes so a medical professional versus a cop Uh-huh. The cliches of that is, you know, how does she do it? She she somehow manages to balance her her medical career or men in black career and a personal life, whereas he's the partner who can't manage to do anything but his job. Mhmm.
T.C.:So that when he does come across Kay, that's that that words of wisdom, something he explains in there could give Jay the enlightenment he needs for his private life, his his personal life Mhmm. That that helps him get through his mission and further his career in life.
Jim:Mhmm.
T.C.:Like, that that's what that interaction could end up being in there before we launch into the kick ass finale.
Jim:Okay.
T.C.:He's punching so I the yeah. I I feel like that's a that's a very fun it sounds like a summer blockbuster. It sounds like a Men in Black movie. It's it sounds like plenty of opportunity for Will Smith.
Jim:I don't think we prevented it from happening, but one of the goals was additionally crafted in a manner that there can be further installments.
T.C.:Oh, certainly. We're not I I don't necessarily wanna do a Matrix Reloaded, Back to the Future two to be continued. We're not killing Jay off. We are establishing a bigger universe outside of New York Mhmm. That that we do we do have opportunities here to fix.
T.C.:So we even just having Zed list off all the missions. Because the first movie the first movie shows the board of all the aliens around Earth. Mhmm. And you see, like, Steven Spielberg and Michael Jackson and
Jim:Yeah.
T.C.:Oprah Winfrey. Something like that says there's a bigger world off off the island. Sure. And then in a second movie, through something like that listing where all the here's and there's hinting at the international units does leave the door open from further adventures. I don't think we prevented it, which is what you said to start with.
T.C.:Yeah.
Jim:Okay.
T.C.:But I don't think we necessarily need to plant a seed to say to be continued. We'll just be, you know, Jay lives, so does Elle, and we'll be back for more adventures.
Jim:I don't know if that fulfills I don't I don't think I don't know if that fulfills the demand.
T.C.:Is is the studio specifically asking us to set up a a?
Jim:It doesn't say to set up a sequel crafted in a manner that there can be further installments. It's right. It's it's the I'm I'm reminded of the Beetlejuice scene where the book says that the the living don't see the dead and Alec Alec Baldwin says, wait, does it say they can't or they or does it say they can't or they won't? It says they don't. That doesn't
T.C.:It doesn't answer it. Okay.
Jim:So it's it's Yeah. We we kind of
T.C.:Okay. Fulfilled it? I I would fulfill it this way. If if it's a matter of leaving some hanging chad of an idea out there that it's it's 1997. That's a good reference.
Jim:Yeah. It is. No. It's not.
T.C.:I know. Because it would be ninety nine, two thousand. Shut up. This movie comes out in 2001. It's a great reference.
T.C.:Then it would be a at the end of the movie, once they wrap everything up and they're back at MIB headquarters, Zed could be like,
Jim:you're going to London. Yeah. You know, like, just just You're going international.
T.C.:And then then we have, like, the hint of them. Because, like, the end of the first movie, he has those dumb sun new sunglasses. He has a new dumb suit without a tie. It's really he's wearing a bolo, I think. I don't know
Jim:what I don't remember. It's not a good
T.C.:it's not great. He's got a new men in black outfit because he's he makes this look good. But having Zed send them broad abroad and and say, like, you know, you're Emma Emma Thompson,
Jim:I you need to actually think I actually think the the third act of this of this story Mhmm. Does take them international.
T.C.:Okay. So then do we get some really British guy helping them out in the third act?
Jim:Sure.
T.C.:Just something, like, offensively British.
Jim:It it depends depends on
T.C.:Where they go.
Jim:On how much we want to crib from the inspiration of of the Lovecraft stuff, the Cthulhu stuff.
T.C.:Well, I mean, you're you're all in here,
Jim:mister Witt They're gonna be near to Australia, so it's gonna be a really Australian guy.
T.C.:An offensively Australian guy, which is is foreshadowing to Chris Hemsworth joining the franchise anyway. Yeah. So an offensively Australian man helps him in the third act. Yes.
Jim:Alright. Welcome
T.C.:down, Andy. Hey, doing?
Jim:Actually, that would really work because then we can make Sorry.
T.C.:That was very abrasive.
Jim:Especially because we're gonna put it in the nineties. We can make Steve Irwin jokes.
T.C.:Oh, yeah.
Jim:So it can essentially be Steve Irwin but with aliens.
T.C.:It's oh, yeah. That's a great idea that the expert they meet in Australia that, like, understands aliens is Steve Irwin. Yeah. That's a great idea.
Jim:He's just oh, look. Look at this big Look at him. Yeah. So cute. Look at this one.
Jim:Let me pick it up.
T.C.:And he's just like just like a freaking, like, Tasmanian cartoonishly Tasmanian devil.
Jim:He's
T.C.:like, oh, I ain't a keyboard? No. Look at you. And, well, it could just be like, put that down. Put that down right now.
T.C.:Keep that thing away from me. Oh, what are you worried about? Yeah. That's funny. There you go.
T.C.:So the third act is in Australia, and we've established an international division Yep. Which will then, you know, open up the door for further worldwide adventures outside of New York, outside of America. There you go. There was one
Jim:other I I feel better I feel better about that being the opening it up.
T.C.:Two two more. Okay. Yeah. I'm I'm perfectly fine with that. Yeah.
T.C.:Mhmm. The there was another stipulation on final there. Stipulation. Which I'm I am now going to look over here to the wonderful Wikipedia subcategories of Paramount Pictures franchise because Men in Black is Paramount. Right?
T.C.:Yes. Is that correct? Is it? We should probably check that before we start.
Jim:I should check that. It doesn't matter because the studio wanted it to to be connected to other Paramount franchises.
T.C.:Did it say Paramount franchises? Yeah. Oh, that's specifically what it says?
Jim:Yep. Okay. If possible, can it be connected to any other Paramount franchise?
T.C.:Okay. So it's it's a Columbia picture, but I think Columbia is a division of Paramount. Well, regardless, he said Paramount. Mhmm. That's the one we're gonna do.
T.C.:So there are there are some interesting ones.
Jim:She she
T.C.:Oh, Steve. Steph. Steph.
Jim:They. They.
T.C.:Now there are some pretty big Paramount franchises here. So to name a few, Transformers. Mhmm. They're aliens. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Jim:They're mutants.
T.C.:Mhmm. And teenagers. Mission Impossible. Mhmm. Star Trek.
T.C.:So now those are the big ones. Yeah. Those are the those are the big ones that
Jim:We could we could we could easily drop a Ninja Turtle reference Mhmm. And a Transformers reference. Transformers, they are aliens Right. So that we can totally incorporate almost anywhere anytime they're in the headquarters or even in the final thing, like, that's the next mission or something, and anything like that.
T.C.:The the first transformers came out in 2007. So we're ahead of the Michael Bay situation.
Jim:Yeah. No. It it would just be transformers in general.
T.C.:Right. It they we could ref I certainly hint
Jim:that I I'm only seeing it as a reference.
T.C.:Alien machines. I'm I'm a okay with it. To try to somehow imagine Men in Black existing
Jim:robots in disguise.
T.C.:Well, there you go. It's the gobots. The to somehow imagine Michael Bay's transformers with the Will Smith Men in Black does not mesh. Because the the Michael Bay transformers have torn cities to shreds. Everyone knows they exist.
T.C.:There's no hiding No. The transformers in that universe. So a mere reference to them, I'm cool with it. Yeah. And because it's 2007, this may maybe if the reference is done correctly, like, imagine them walking through, like, the the MIB Ellis Island style headquarters, and you see just in the background, like, an alien skull on a Predator ship, a yellow Volkswagen signing in.
T.C.:Sure. That's the sort of thing that fans would go, that was all because transformers are aliens, and that was
Jim:Bumblebee. Actually, it was a Volkswagen, but no. I mean, the character Bumblebee. Yeah.
T.C.:Then then maybe there'd be, you know, pressure to Paramount to, like, connect transform,
Jim:or attempt.
T.C.:If there can be a write in campaign because this is '97. Yes. The Ninja Turtles, on the other hand, they're a New York based
Jim:Mhmm.
T.C.:Group of teenagers
Jim:Yes.
T.C.:Who mutated from drugs.
Jim:I think that reference would be some if it's just gonna be a reference, it would be something some sort of job. Like like, it's it's a it's a job that they gotta go do and then
T.C.:Maybe on the list of, like, give me all the missions. Yeah. Give me all the assignments.
Jim:I'll do them all. Or or if because you had said there's there'd be, like, a montage of them doing the jobs. Right? Yeah. Like, one of them is leaving a sewer and saying, those aren't even aliens.
Jim:They're just mutants.
T.C.:Yeah. Yeah. Something something that. That's perfect. And, like
Jim:That's that's a different division.
T.C.:So GI Joe is also a Paramount franchise. The original Indiana Jones trilogy, it's Lucasfilm, and now it's owned by Disney. But it is '97. Not that I wanna involve Indiana Jones in this at all. However, getting Harrison Ford involved.
T.C.:Okay. Maybe? I mean, this is He didn't he didn't become the
Jim:the yeah. He he wasn't the the mumbling curmudgeon
T.C.:Yeah. That yet. All the Nickelodeon movies, that doesn't help us here. Nope. The Godfather.
T.C.:Beverly Hills Cop, Friday the thirteenth. Did I say Mission Impossible? Yes. Mission Falcon. They're the naked gun.
T.C.:I do think there's one franchise in here. Now granted, this didn't exist in the nineties, so it's sort of just retroactively kinda the the the teaser trailer for what would be a Men in Black film. Say say the Men in Black films, we ours our second movie was a success, and we got to do three or four of them Yeah. After that. And it's mid two thousands, and we wanna promote a new Men in Black movie.
T.C.:Mhmm. I would open up a trailer with CCTV footage of a of a rather nice upscale Southern California house of wealthy white people. Okay. Just that closed circuit Yeah. Boring Yeah.
T.C.:Time code waiting for, you know, a door to slam and make it look like a paranormal activity ad. Uh-huh. And then have, like, a door slam. And so, oh my god. And then Jay walks in, and he's like, what the what is going you know, and then and the we would have the Men in Black dealing with ghosts in a capacity.
T.C.:So it's, advertise it like it's, oh, it's not only stupid paranormal activities movies. But guess what? It's not. It's actually a new Men in Black movie. Just just make like, mocking the Paranormal franchise Yeah.
T.C.:Paranormal Activity franchise, which is garbage.
Jim:I know some people who like it. You I'm Midland. I'm Midland on it. Midland. Midland.
T.C.:So those are, I mean, naked guns on here. I said the godfather. Right? Oh, and the bad news bears.
Jim:Oh. Bad news bears.
T.C.:It'd be funny to have a a baseball like Jay's coaching a baseball team of of alien kids.
Jim:That actually would be kind of fun.
T.C.:I don't know if if I think Transformers and Ninja Turtles is the most likely to connect to Men in Black as an existing property. I don't know based on this list where Star Trek, I there's a potential in that.
Jim:We could make reference to Star Trek aliens.
T.C.:Oh, true. Oh, yeah. Like, having a Klingon walk through Mhmm. The the Ellis Island style or whatnot. But but those are all, like, cheeky references.
T.C.:If Yeah. If they, like, literally wanna do a crossover. Like, a
Jim:full crossover. Yeah. Well, a full crossover Ninja Turtles or transformers would really be the only
T.C.:Pre Michael Bay. Yeah. I I do think that that would be thinking mid late nineties, that those two would be the the way to go. And, of course, people could be upset, like, how dare we recast the beloved Ninja Turtles from the Muppets that played them in the first two and a half movies. I mean,
Jim:they were they were great.
T.C.:They were great. Yes. I'm just I can just imagine the the the Internet reaction Outrage. The AOL message board reactions to
Jim:Well, 1997?
T.C.:'97 was when the first man in black came out.
Jim:Yeah. No. There there the Internet wasn't outraging like that at the time. Was already in campaign. Free and clear.
T.C.:Alright. So we can we can Right. We can do this. Yeah. I think that's fun.
T.C.:We to have the reference to Bumblebee and Lion and and Yeah. Five HQ, and those aren't even aliens. They're mutants. Like, that's a fun little seed planted for a potential, you know, scene in nature.
Jim:Reference or whatever.
T.C.:Yeah. Okay.
Jim:Although yeah. Thinking about it, you wouldn't actually I don't think you wouldn't need even need permission to make those references.
T.C.:No. Not guess you wouldn't.
Jim:We have a car in our movie. You can't sue us for that. We said the word mutant. We didn't show anything.
T.C.:Right. It was just a yellow Volkswagen and the word mutant. Yeah. Yeah. I looking at anything else in here, I don't see I suppose Mission Impossible being strictly international espionage, quote, grounded in reality, quote, spy movies.
Jim:Mhmm.
T.C.:There is nothing paranormal or supernatural outside of, you know, being able to survive certain car crashes and motorcycle spills. But did my AVP, Freddie versus Jason, we're we're entering in '97 and pushing on to the '2 thousands, entering the era of crossover films.
Jim:Those I I'm pretty sure those were still actually several years before we were gonna get those. I think those were all twenty first century beasts. Yeah. Freddy versus Jason.
T.C.:What year did that come out of? 2003.
Jim:Yeah.
T.C.:Yeah. Alien versus predator would have been after that. I guess I guess we I guess we could set the trend. Yeah. Because, okay, actually, was a a a a legend of of Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the geniuses that did the Lego movie
Jim:Mhmm.
T.C.:Clive with Chance Meatballs and 21 Jump Street. They did 22 Jump Street, and it was a huge financial success that they were they were told, we want another one, and they didn't wanna make another one. The closing credits of 22 Jump Street was their way of saying, please, we're not gonna do another one. This is how we feel about it because the credits closing credits show 50 sequels. But they did say this is legend, and I like to believe it's true.
T.C.:That in a meeting that they said they could be convinced to do a a third 21 Jump Street or third Jump Street movie
Jim:Yeah.
T.C.:If they could have the Men in Black franchise. And that it would be Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum and the Jump Street
Jim:As the Men
T.C.:in Black. In Black. And I I I remember hearing it that that the rumor was they said, we'll do it. You'll never say yes. But we'll do it if you let the third movie be Men in Black.
T.C.:And the the executives going, okay. And then Miller and Lord going, oh. Oh. You're oh. It never happened.
T.C.:Nothing came of that.
Jim:But Sure.
T.C.:The potential of that really cracked me up. Have you seen
Jim:21 Gemtree? I have not. I heard. It's very funny.
T.C.:It's so much better than it should be. Yeah. It it'd be probably worth a rewatch because I haven't seen it in number of years, but it's so self aware. Like, there there's a moment, like, car chase sequence on the highway. It's it's gridlock.
T.C.:So they keep taking a car, like, a 100 yards, jumping out, running through the gridlock, confiscating another car, driving, getting out, run like, there's a point where Chad and Tatum finds a, like like, Jonah Hill wants to grab, like, a Prius. He's like, we're not gonna take that. Oh, look at this. It's a convertible. And it's like a really pretty lady, and he's like, we're confiscating yours.
T.C.:Oh my gosh, man. You are quite pretty. I am so sorry for stealing your car. Can I call you some? And they have this moment of there's, like, propane tanks on the back of a car, like a truck Mhmm.
T.C.:And they hit it, and it flips over. And Jonah Hill's like and then nothing happens.
Jim:And then
T.C.:they keep going. There's, a gasoline tanker, and that flips over. And then nothing happens with that. And then they pass, like, a a just a puttering little, like, pickup truck full of chickens. Uh-huh.
T.C.:And they knock that over and explodes. That joke says stuck with me ever since I saw it where I'm like, this is this is the world that yes.
Jim:Uh-huh. Yeah.
T.C.:This cartoon nonsense, a 100%.
Jim:Nice.
T.C.:So imagining anyway, Jonah Hill and Jane Tatum with Nick Offerman and being there being the the boss character and
Jim:Yeah.
T.C.:And having Miller and Lord crafting them fighting aliens,
T.C.:that
T.C.:sound yes.
Jim:Please give
T.C.:me that.
Jim:That does sound great.
T.C.:I don't even wanna write it. I I'm just I just wanna see it. I'm not asking asking for a studio demand of that because we could never come up with something as good as those two guys. Because they take thing they have a record of taking properties that absolutely shouldn't be good and giving gold every time. Yeah.
T.C.:Which is why the fact that they were on Solo, I had all the faith in the world.
Jim:Sure.
T.C.:When they when they were the creative genius, like the minds behind crafting solo Star Wars story.
Jim:So Yeah.
T.C.:I was like, we're in good hands, folks. Any any doubt I have in this movie has been quelched by the fact that it's this creative team involved, and then they fired them.
Jim:So do we want to take our premise for Men in Black and hand it to a young Lord Miller?
T.C.:How old are they at this point? Because we're traveling back in time.
Jim:Yeah. I I think they're about our age.
T.C.:I mean, if they're if we have the ability to travel back in time, we might as well just go to Paramount and have let them write us write it in the first place.
Jim:It's true.
T.C.:Yeah. Yeah. Okay. When where did we get this time machine? We why are we using it for this this fashion?
Jim:Because we are amazing.
T.C.:Okay. The only other property I see in here that we could potentially discuss is that and and I don't think it's worth discussing. It's Beverly Hills Cop in that so much that Jay Will Smith's Jay is just
Jim:He's kind of
T.C.:that already Axel Foley anyway. So I don't see any reason. Not we're talking nineties, late nineties, early two thousands Eddie Murphy. He sure could use a movie like this to make him
Jim:Sure.
T.C.:Worth sticking around. And I I don't know if I've said this on the show before, but I'll say it out loud here, is that Eddie Murphy's credit is so good from the eighties that people still think he's good now. And he hasn't made a good movie since before the nineties. Mhmm. Like, I I may maybe maybe he has one or two in the nineties that are worth even discussing.
T.C.:But when I when I think of Eddie Murphy, I I don't understand why people still consider him it's like it's like saying, like, oh, Chevy Chase is one of the greatest living comedians. When's the last time Chevy Chase did anything worth anything? I mean, community. Yeah. But that's not his show.
T.C.:He was Caddy Shack two.
Jim:He was the doctor in dirty work.
T.C.:If you know what dirty work is without looking it up, good for you. That's the Norm Macdonald one. Right?
Jim:Yeah.
T.C.:Oh my god. And
Jim:now, like, I should probably double check that he actually was the
T.C.:He was in the Tim Allen movie Zoom, where he was the superhero. What am I talking about?
Jim:What am I doing?
T.C.:I went on this, Jake.
Jim:Oh, yeah.
T.C.:Yeah. Eddie Murphy, his ex in Foley. I think Will Smith as Jake.
Jim:Like, you're I so I don't mind crossing over with other franchise. Like, I I'm I'm all about it. I'm I'm a I'm a big old fan of that kind of thing. Mhmm. But aside from just making references like that, I don't I'm not seeing how to really cross cross the IPs.
T.C.:Yeah.
Jim:Like, even even Beverly Hills Cop, what what could we do? We could we could reference a Los Angeles office and there's an agent a.
T.C.:Yeah. Yeah. I guess, like, on a screen
Jim:Put and put Eddie Murphy
T.C.:You get a cameo. There. Sure. I think that's probably the extent that you could even ask for in this.
Jim:Mhmm.
T.C.:I I see what you're saying in terms of, like, Men in Black is so rich on its own, injecting something else into it. Unless you're gonna go bonkers with it like Jump Street Mhmm. There's no sense in trying to cross it over with aside from references to other things.
Jim:Although that would be that'd be a fun reinvention of of the franchise. I I know you once pitched a similar type thing, but you take the Men in Black franchise and they are solving all kinds of crimes dealing with aliens and stuff.
T.C.:Yeah.
Jim:But it's specifically always other aliens from movies.
T.C.:Oh, yeah. Yeah. They
Jim:they have to they have to find ET because because his his original crew left him behind.
T.C.:This poor little alien stuck out in the woods. We gotta go find him. Bring the Reese's Pieces.
Jim:Yeah. He's he's all he's all high on Reese's Pieces. He's just He's drunk on him. He's drunk on him. Loves that peanut butter.
Jim:Right? Doing doing references like that. Like, oh, we gotta we gotta get rid of these eggs. Don't get too close to them or they'll grab your face.
T.C.:Yes. See, knowing Phil Miller and Chris Lord, that would be the closing credits to their Yeah. Men in Black jump street would just be movie moment movie alien after movie alien, face huggers, ET, predator. Yep.
Jim:That's it.
T.C.:That's all.
T.C.:That's it. That's all the It's all
Jim:the space in the movies. Yeah.
T.C.:So there you go. I I think I think we've we've done it. I think
Jim:I think so.
T.C.:We've babbled off on some franchise here. But to go back to to your initial pitch, which you were nervous about I was. Actually is a not not only do I think that would make a great sequel to the original Men in Black, I think that's one you could write now and would still work. And in the you've seen Men in Black Black International in three, so you're more aware of the universe than I am.
Jim:And it was it left it open. It it it left it open to make more. Yeah. It was fine. I have qualms with it, but it was
T.C.:If we could go back the to the nineties to the early two thousands and and make this Men in Black, then we might have a more beloved franchise on our hands. Possibly. So, I mean
Jim:It also might be accused of just being too much like Ghostbusters in that, oh, you're you just have a Stay Puft marshmallow moment at the end.
T.C.:Well, they don't have shut up, you.
Jim:So you're talking we we were talking about franchises. Right? And how, like, oh, they don't world build and stuff like that.
T.C.:Yeah.
Jim:Thinking about that might be wishful wishful thinking hindsight. Right? Because because we're looking at these things and saying, oh, they didn't build a world, and that's why it failed.
T.C.:Yeah.
Jim:I don't know how fair that is. Because you had mentioned, for example, the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I don't know how much world building they truly like, in an individual movie Mhmm. They didn't necessarily lay the seed like, Iron Man didn't lay the seeds for the cinematic universe. It had a stinger where a guy said Avengers.
Jim:Right? Like like, that's kind of it. Yeah. They they didn't they because yeah.
T.C.:Colson was there talking about the strategic homeland Sure.
Jim:Sure. But that wasn't that in I guess that wasn't incorporated as a a full part of the movie. It wasn't a plot point in the movie. Yeah. I don't know.
Jim:I I just I wanted to I wanna say maybe maybe I'm I or we are off base in saying Men in Black didn't do their due diligence of groundwork. Mhmm. That's all.
T.C.:Okay. I think. Well, we've done it now. Go. Done.
T.C.:Done. But there you go. There we go. Steve, if we have achieved victory on this, please let us convinced that it's Steph. It's Steph.
T.C.:No offense taken, I hope. But, yeah, with that, I think we we have we've kinda come up with a pretty fun movie here, and I'm add it to the list of future discussions to be had in terms of of the movie
Jim:Definitely let know what you guys think. Yeah. Where where do we go wrong with this, if if at all. Maybe this is perfect. Maybe we we finally crafted the perfect concept again.
T.C.:We've done it more than once, and we will continue to do so Yep. From this living room Mhmm. Until Until we move to another room. Until So let let us let's do some social stuff here.
Jim:So you
T.C.:can find the the Studio Demands It at studiodemandsit.com. You can also find us on Twitter and Instagram. Find you can subscribe to us on iTunes and Google Play. You, you you should do that. You should like.
T.C.:You should let us know what you think. You should share with people who like movies or don't. It's up to you. We'd appreciate it if you did, though. That'd be cool.
T.C.:And, also, it would be really beneficial if you just take a little just take a second. Just take a second. Leave us a review on iTunes because that actually will, will bump us up, recommendations for other people who listen to other movie type podcasts. So, even even if you leave us a one star review, it helps. So any review whatsoever would do would be would be great for us.
T.C.:So huge shout out to six five Media for giving us this platform. Please go check out another Zelda podcast with David and Kate. Anticipate next their next season, our next season, a crossover episode, speaking of of mixing franchises Yep. Where you will where we will have some fun with the the Zelda universe. And also check out Top Hat Balloon Show if you wanna see some fantastic fantastic sketch comedy.
T.C.:Can't recommend them enough. And, of course, we have some new properties coming soon through Six Five Media, which are some other podcasts and other shows that I'm just teasing it. There you go. That's all you get.
Jim:Jim, where can people find you? On Twitter at tubakwaxon. Still still the handle. Yeah. Still the handle.
Jim:And I'm not gonna spell it for you.
T.C.:Yeah. You're on
Jim:your own. Still. And you That's really I I don't know where else people can find me. I'm on Facebook somewhere.
T.C.:Yeah. Good luck. Find Jim. And you can find me
Jim:I'm the Where's Waldo of the Internet.
T.C.:You can find me on all my social at t c's big head, Twitter, Instagram, and what have you. I appreciate all the tweets I get from from time to time and engagement that people have given us. Please send in your demands. Get get nuts with us. Let's have some fun here.
T.C.:So Yeah, buddy. There's a couple coming up that I know Jim's gonna be caught off guard by, and I'm very excited.
Jim:Gonna spin in my skull.
T.C.:So, yep, that's it. Jim, thank you. You're welcome, T.C. Now I'm gonna flashy thing you, and I'm gonna do it all again. I don't wanna do this all over again.
T.C.:You don't want to now, but when I flash a thing, you don't even remember we've done it.
Jim:I don't believe you. Show show me what that looks like in Vegas.
T.C.:Hello, and welcome to The Studio Demands It. That was a different intonation than I normally do.
Jim:Sure was. That's that's what that's just what today is like.
T.C.:An exercise in creative thinking where we will challenge ourselves to conceptualize.