Hello, and welcome to the Studio Demands It, an exercise in creative thinking where we will challenge ourselves to conceptualize, pitch, and craft a film based on the stipulations of a hypothetical Hollywood overlord. We talk movies all the time.
Jim:All the time.
T.C.:I just wanted to see if we could. In particular, we complain about the choices made in the films that we've seen that exist because some soulless corporate hacks cobble together a collection of boardroom mandated buzzwords and test audience approved action sequences and characters. That was air quotes. Did you hear them? Yeah.
T.C.:I heard them. And with more hubris than those shills, we know we could have done better even with the demands and restrictions that clearly must have been put on those poor bastards stuck in the position of writing those scripts. We will be your screenwriters for this episode. I am T. C.
T.C.:De Witt. And joining me as always is my cohost, Jim master blaster Burzelic.
Jim:Who runs barter town?
T.C.:Just walk away. Welcome to apocalypse. How are
Jim:you doing? I'm doing okay.
T.C.:It is the end of the world as we know it, and at this point, I feel fine.
Jim:That that's good. How are you? I'm
T.C.:When last when last we left Jim, he was hacking up a lung.
Jim:Yeah. You know, I don't need those. I'm I'm evolving. I've decided.
T.C.:Yeah. But it wasn't a dry cough, so you didn't have
Jim:COVID nineteen. That's that's what I'm told. Yeah.
T.C.:I left my drink over there.
Jim:Yep. So that's gone now. It's gone forever.
T.C.:I'll drink your water.
Jim:Drink my water.
T.C.:I was hoping robots, alien attack, even zombies, but Something something
Jim:a little more a little more something you can put your hands
T.C.:on. Yeah. Something I can squeeze the life out of. Alien, take that. Take take that robot.
T.C.:I'm unplugging you. Yeah. But no. But no.
Jim:No. We got people are sick.
T.C.:Dirty okay. So we're obviously, we're making light of a very serious situation here, and I I do apologize if that's coming off insensitive. But if you can't laugh at your pain, you're just gonna cry. Right? Yeah.
T.C.:This is really weird.
Jim:What I do when I'm when I'm in pain.
T.C.:Right. I Now granted we are dating this episode right out of the gate by talking about the end of the world. So we Sure.
Jim:Now you know.
T.C.:We tend not to, like, put specific dated information in our episodes.
Jim:We won't sort of. At first, you very much didn't, and I kept doing it.
T.C.:And I kept
Jim:saying, on this date
T.C.:When this occurs, and then I'd point it out, like Yeah.
Jim:Hey. Stop doing that. Now people And then I tried to stop doing that. And then
T.C.:And then I started
Jim:Now we're here.
T.C.:Yeah. Well, seeing as this is supposedly gonna go on for eighteen months, I don't think
Jim:Yeah. It could be anywhere
T.C.:in there. Yeah. So it's great. So I I hope everybody's staying safe and healthy, and and if we can offer a little bit of levity into your lives or at least offer some brainstorming and creative
Jim:Hoy. Hoy.
T.C.:Yeah. Hey. We're clowns. Yep. But yeah.
T.C.:So great season so far. We've had Fast and the Furious The Fast and the Furious. We've had Justice League.
Jim:Uh-huh.
T.C.:And then we have this episode, which you don't know what it is yet.
Jim:I had no idea.
T.C.:So let's let's say
Jim:It's a surprise to me.
T.C.:It is a surprise to don't know why you say that. Blaster.
Jim:Was that a clue?
T.C.:No. It wasn't not a clue. I just because it's the end of the world. What what's your what's your plan?
Jim:Like Master blaster. I'm gonna get a very large person and they're gonna carry me on
T.C.:the You're the little guy in this scenario. Yeah. Man, like. I'll have
Jim:a smart brown suit for when it all falls apart and I have to run away.
T.C.:Oh, good. That's good. You're not gonna catch me. Yeah. Good.
T.C.:Good. Are you going like mohawk in this scenario? Or
Jim:No. My hair is already already kind of deciding the the style we're gonna have in the end. So it's it's if anything, I'm gonna just go further that direction. We're gonna go bald.
T.C.:Just go you go bald on top. Yep. Long in the back.
Jim:Like Oh, yeah. Actually, that's even more fun. Yeah. The the the riffraff look. Yeah.
T.C.:Yeah. And then, like, braid your beard with, like, the bones of birds that you've devoured.
Jim:Sure. Yeah. Birds. That's what those are.
T.C.:It's just finger it's finger bones from your victims. Alright. Which are birds. Which are birds, just to be clear. I I I think I'm gonna try to continue to wear graphic t shirts and and jeans.
Jim:Smart. Just to
T.C.:I look very nonthreatening in that regard. I'm glad I've been a runner my whole life Uh-huh. Because Jesse Eisenberg's right. That's rule one. Cardio is very important.
T.C.:I
Jim:have not lived by that rule.
T.C.:Well, I hope everybody, again, is staying safe and staying sane. So let's let's jump in today's episode.
Jim:Okay.
T.C.:It's not it's not a pandemic.
Jim:Okay.
T.C.:It's not an end of the world unless it does become an end of the world.
Jim:So I'm gonna make it.
T.C.:Alright. Let's get to we ending the world? Let's get to our demand for the episode. Our success, be it as it might be, be it as it might be. That's what I wrote.
T.C.:It as podcasters or screenwriters has given us a lovely growing collection of demands from studios literally all over the world. The studios are you the listeners. Guys. You've submitted your requests over at studiodemands.com. You can send us any demand you like, movie, TV series, whatever.
T.C.:Movies you wanna see us make that don't exist or movies that do exist, you wanna see how we would handle them. And you can send us any restriction or demand as well as name your studio. So thank you to all of you who have been submitting, and we've been having a a blast with these, a master blast, if you will. So what do we have today, Jim? What do we have?
Jim:You keep doing this to me.
T.C.:From from Addy, and her studio is ampersand and ampersand studios. Nice. And the and is an ampersand. So it's essentially
Jim:So it's ampersand ampersand
T.C.:studios. Yeah. So this is from Addy. Gonna take you back to 1990, Jim Oh. Where the highest grossing movie of the year was ghost followed by home alone, pretty woman, dances with wolves.
T.C.:I remember all those movies. Total Recall, Back to the Future three, which I wanna watch with you, and weirdly, Die Hard two. Okay. Die Hard March. Yeah.
Jim:I saw that. Something drive in.
T.C.:Oh, man. Something called Presumed Innocent? I don't what that is.
Jim:Presumed innocent.
T.C.:Was the eighth grossing movie of of 1990. Teenage mutant ninja turtles and kindergarten cop. That's your top 10 for for 1990. Now three years earlier, in 1987, the wildly successful action horror movie Predator premiered. Yes.
T.C.:And it did so well that it elicited a sequel in 1990, which did not gross in the top 10. In fact, it barely broke even overall from its box office, made about 20,000,000 more than than the actual production budget, which in terms
Jim:of today is actually even.
T.C.:Is barely Yeah. Barely breaking even. Yeah. If you consider marketing, it's usually budget twice a
Jim:So it it's not breaking even.
T.C.:So now come with me, Jim. Come with me to 1993. Addie and ampersand and ampersand studios is sending us to 1993 where the studio demands a third installment in the Predator franchise. No jungle, no city, no returning characters. Where do you take the series?
T.C.:These are our demands as set forth by Eddie from ampersandie
Jim:love this challenge.
T.C.:Studios. So here we go. Alright. So while while your brain is already like, the gears are turning, I do wanna just point out that we have had other predator films as as you are well aware.
Jim:Yeah. But let's not.
T.C.:So without considering the alien versus predator series Uh-huh. After 1990 predator two Mhmm. It was wasn't until 2010 that predators came out. That's a long gap between predator movies. No TV series.
T.C.:Mhmm. We did get the AVP movies, which are
Jim:Now I had my own studio demands and made my own Alien versus Predator movie
T.C.:Right.
Jim:Which I am probably gonna end up stealing bits of For this. For this.
T.C.:Yeah. Well, I don't wanna see Alien in Aliens again.
Jim:No. No. No.
T.C.:The first AVP, the first Alien versus Predator came out in 2004, which is still a long gap Yeah. In time to go from 1990 to to 2004 before we ever saw Predator on the big screen
Jim:Fourteen years?
T.C.:Yeah. That's that is pretty incredible for how significant the predator is as an as a cinematic Like an alien monster thing. Yeah. We we've talked previously about that first Predator is a horror movie. Sure.
T.C.:Yeah. Much like Alien is a horror movie.
Jim:And You know, it's it's because during during so during the nineties, there were a number of alien invasion movies or alien alien monster y kind of movies. Mhmm. But none of not none of them, but they they just they weren't as iconic. Right? Like, what are the other aliens that that visited Earth between predator between predators?
Jim:Right? But from '9 in nineteen ninety two thousand four? Independence Day aliens?
T.C.:They couldn't even decide they couldn't even decide what the Independence Day aliens looked like. They had two designs, so they used them both. Yeah. Like, I couldn't point
Jim:This is a battle suit.
T.C.:Yeah. Species, which was sexy alien.
Jim:Mhmm. Weirdly that Species, actually, because it had it had come out shortly after that, was some some people were saying it was in the same world. So we were possibly someday seeing an alien predator species crossover. Were people asking for that? More predator?
Jim:Yes.
T.C.:Yes. More yes. I was. Predator as an entity that, like, let's see aliens versus predator. Let's imagine predator teaming up with species if that's what people were doing in the nineties.
T.C.:Sort of feels like ash being inserted into Hellraiser or
Jim:Sure.
T.C.:Jason and Freddie. It's like, the predator in that it's like, we know how cool the kid this character is. We wanna see more of him.
Jim:Yeah. Why did And honestly, the comics at the time, Dark Horse was the one who was getting all of the the licenses to to do the comics And they did. For them, and they would do crossovers like that all the time. Robocop versus Terminator. The
T.C.:Alien versus Predator comics from Dark Horse, at least of that era, and not going back to them. I remember being pretty cool.
Jim:The very the very original story was they they cribbed some stuff for the movie Mhmm. But not the really good stuff. They really should have just the way Zack Snyder made the watchmen, they really should have just done that with the alien versus predator comic. It was it was amazing. Wonder if
T.C.:it so good all these years later.
Jim:I believe it does.
T.C.:Predator predator was a hot like, predator versus Batman, predator versus Superman. Like, they they used the character, but we never saw him him. We never saw the predator again on the big screen for fourteen years, even longer to get to just a solo predator movie. Mhmm. And even in that regard, they created a new super predator to go up against the original one.
T.C.:If you you've never seen predators.
Jim:I actually I have not seen predators or the predator. Well,
T.C.:given the the restrictions our our studio here, Eddie at at the studio is giving us of coming up with a third installment where we can't go to the city and we can't go back to the jungle. Now I am a fan. I'm a defender of predator two. I think that movie is is really good. I think that is a solid, cool action movie.
T.C.:It's not a it's not a horror movie. No. Actually, I think it does. Yeah. You're right.
T.C.:You're right.
Jim:It it follow it it does a lot of really fun and so one of the reasons I love the Predator franchise is because I think it also holds up literarily, like like, thematically, it is it's it's not just the predator is the alien and, oh, no. Our our our people have to deal with it. And in the first predator, it's this special forces unit hunting down guerrilla fighters in the jungle. So it's predators versus predators. Yeah.
Jim:And then you introduce the alien predator who hunts our special forces guys. One the ones. Hunters hunting hunters hunting hunters.
T.C.:Yeah. So many predators. Then there's
Jim:predator too.
T.C.:Predator in this.
Jim:They do they do the same thing. Right? It's the cops are hunting criminals who hunt right? They're pray they they
T.C.:There's a there's a war on the streets of Los Angeles.
Jim:Yeah. And and then the predator comes to to LA. Mhmm. And so it's hunters hunting, hunters hunting, hunters.
T.C.:He's in town with a few
Jim:days to kill. And that's that's that's a thing that I really like about the predator franchise, at least of those two. Yeah. I'm I'm a bad fan in that I haven't after AVP, I was like
T.C.:Never again.
Jim:I don't trust, and so then I didn't watch the new Predator movies. Yeah.
T.C.:Well, I can I can say categorically that the most recent one is awful?
Jim:Oh, great.
T.C.:Yeah. The Robert Rodriguez Predators Mhmm. The
Jim:Predator? His Predators. The Predators.
T.C.:Yeah. It's actually pretty good. Yeah. I haven't I've only seen it the one time, and I remember thinking, like, oh, this this isn't too bad. It came out during the writer's strike, so it was like, he was one of those rare filmmakers who was not union.
Jim:Mhmm.
T.C.:So they were able to, like, produce a film without any, like, restrictions
Jim:Okay.
T.C.:During the writer's strike. Yeah. So The the one flaw, the first Predator Oh,
Jim:okay.
T.C.:That I just wanna point out is the opening shot of the spaceship coming through the atmosphere. I think that's the one flaw.
Jim:So the what year did you say that, T. Seven? The oh gosh. The eight year old me actually, I didn't see it in the theater. So the nine year old
T.C.:me VHS. Yeah.
Jim:Thought that was terrific.
T.C.:It's just it's like
Jim:So, you know
T.C.:If you
Jim:According to nine year olds, you're wrong.
T.C.:Oh, I'm sorry, nine year old Jim. If I if I sat someone down to watch that movie, would skip that opening moment. Like, if if I could You're probably find right. Yeah. If I could find someone who had no information about what they're about to see, I wonder if the the the reveal of the alien, like the predator Mhmm.
T.C.:Would be that much more exciting. I know it's like a real minor thing to see the thing entering the atmosphere.
Jim:I think so I think I get what you're saying. I have a feeling that without that scene, at least the thinking Mhmm. Is without that scene, if you don't if you didn't watch ads or or anything like that, if you don't know anything going in Mhmm. It's going to be very jarring to go from I thought I was watching Guerrillas
T.C.:versus the
Jim:A military movie. Yeah. And now suddenly Here's a monster. I thought this was a new commando with Arnie. Okay.
Jim:Now now he's he's punching an alien. What's this about?
T.C.:Come on. Do it
Jim:right here.
T.C.:Get to the chopper.
Jim:And and the thing is, for some people, that would actually be a fun delightful twist. And like, oh my god. I didn't see it. That's this is amazing. For a lot of people.
Jim:Yeah. Yeah. Actually, that's a that's a good example. I I think there's there's a lot of people out there that I just don't understand how they think. When when, like, weird fictional things like that happen Yeah.
Jim:It totally takes them out and they're like
T.C.:I don't get it. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Fair enough.
Jim:I I could be wrong about that. That's right.
T.C.:It's
Jim:just But think I'm right.
T.C.:I my my thought for mentioning that is just in in advertising this third movie, especially in the nineties, giving the whatever our setting's gonna be, know, I I can already see you're ready to ready to go on some pitches here. But pitching it as one type of movie and then revealing the predator in the trailer, like having that moment of, like, oh, it's the new predator movie. Like, especially in the nineties when it'd be like, in a world, like, to have voice over guy or whatever to what have you. Because knowing it's predator three, there would be no twist about what's gonna be in this movie. No.
T.C.:It's it's we know we're going to see a predator film. So, like
Jim:What didn't predator two wasn't it wasn't it the future? It was It's It was the world of tomorrow.
T.C.:Yeah. It was like, literally,
Jim:it's the day after tomorrow.
T.C.:Yeah. It was like like a few years, like '97 or something that from Okay. From 1990 or whatever.
Jim:Oh, okay. So that does change my idea a little
T.C.:bit. It does.
Jim:I was thinking I was thinking a little too now making a period movie.
T.C.:Mhmm.
Jim:And that's not the that's not the demand. The demand is we're then We're then.
T.C.:We're in 1993.
Jim:Yeah.
T.C.:So if you remember, Predator two opens up with a shot of forest and you hear like jungle esque drums Mhmm. And then it tilts up and reveals Los Angeles. Yeah. Which is, you know, that's that's a cute intro
Jim:into it. Well, and what it does is it transitions the notion of the jungle to the concrete jungle.
T.C.:Yeah. Yeah. So where do you wanna go with this? Where
Jim:Oh, I'm actually I'm back at I'm back at square one because my idea was to set it in Desert Storm. Okay. But that was happening at the time. That wouldn't necessarily be something that would be thought of and also that sets it before Predator two. So to try to go to try to match those, it has to be after predator two.
T.C.:Yeah. Desert storm was in '91. So predator two predator two. Well, you could you could you could hypothesize a fake war in the desert. If you wanna send us
Jim:I was initially thinking the desert. Okay. Spoiler. Because that that is also where my Alien versus Predator script took place as well.
T.C.:Oh, that's right. Okay. Yeah. So well, you But that that that was more modern. And and and that no.
T.C.:That still works. You could still have like, look. After especially in that era of Desert Storm, that was the end of, like, Russians as the villains. Like, the slow transition of Russians as the villains in all action movies to Afghanis Mhmm. Too.
T.C.:And then that really amped up after
Jim:Right through the eighties through the eighties, there there were there were terrorists hijacking planes and stuff, and they were often Middle Eastern and Iran was already sort of the the growing evil empire Right. One of the enemies. And then the nineties, it just kinda solidified it as, and they got armies and we're fighting them.
T.C.:Get them. We're out in the desert.
Jim:So said Royal guard.
T.C.:Setting in the desert is not a bad idea. Now if 1997 is when Predator two takes place. Okay. It's seven years in the future of 1990. Okay.
Jim:So if we jumped seven years from there, what would seven years in that future look like?
T.C.:What would 2004 look like in 1993?
Jim:Yeah.
T.C.:Like, we're in '93 and we are predicting what two. Now none none we don't necessarily have to go that many years forward.
Jim:Sure. We could
T.C.:just say it's 1998 or Yeah. Whatever or what have you.
Jim:The yeah. The the reason the reason they the reason they jumped like that is because they wanted a more hyperviolent LA.
T.C.:And they weren't
Jim:At at the time at the time, it was already growing pretty violent. Yeah. But they wanted a a a hyperviolence.
T.C.:So just set it in the future where it's more violent. Now we can, yeah,
Jim:we can get away with whatever we want.
T.C.:Is there any reason it has to be the future of 1997? Couldn't Predator three be in 1991?
Jim:It could.
T.C.:Especially, like,
Jim:It's a it's a restriction I'm putting on my myself
T.C.:Okay.
Jim:Trying to match the the whole notion of going backwards in time with your franchise Mhmm. Hadn't been quote, unquote invented yet.
T.C.:I will challenge you on that because Temple of Doom takes place before Raiders of Last Dart.
Jim:And how well did that go over? Temple of Doom. No one gets that reference.
T.C.:If Chad listens, he gets it.
Jim:So
T.C.:so I I like I think the desert setting is a is a cool location to go with here. There here's two things I wanna put on the table. Don't have to answer now. Now that you've had your setting, who are we gonna star in this? Do think that's something I wanna consider.
Jim:Okay.
T.C.:Because I have a whole joke about Danny Glover. And new weapons, because Predator two introduced new weapons as well. So I'm just just wanna put that on the table now and something we can come back to.
Jim:Okay.
T.C.:So plane in the desert. Mhmm. Is this another military operation? I think that seems logical.
Jim:It does. Well, so we did military it was military, and then it was police. Mhmm. Is there another group of hunters
T.C.:Well, this
Jim:we could use?
T.C.:Big game hunters. Like, if a
Jim:Well, then we're we're gonna have to move this to the savannah.
T.C.:Yeah. So, like, the African Deserts.
Jim:But right. So hunt guys guys hunting Lions. Lions.
T.C.:Yeah. And the predator's like
Jim:And so now we're making the that Val Kilmer movie.
T.C.:What? The
Jim:the what was the
T.C.:The Island of Doctor Moreau?
Jim:No. Death in the darkness or whatever. It was it was based on a real life story about a serial killer lion. Oh. It was actually a pair
T.C.:of lions and A serial killer aren't they just
Jim:They doing killed they killed 80 people. Wow. And the thing is when they like, they would kill them they would just kill them for fun. It wasn't for food. Woah.
Jim:They would just kill them, and they'd be dead.
T.C.:Serial killer lions.
Jim:They were serial serial killer lions.
T.C.:So here we go. We had a
Jim:a group of
T.C.:big game hunters going after serial killer lions, and the Predator shows up. It's like, no.
Jim:That that story is actually from, like, the sixties or seventies, I believe. And, yeah, they made a movie out of it. Val Kilmer and someone else. I can't remember who.
T.C.:Okay.
Jim:And it's something in the Hunter in the Darkness. Maybe that's what it's no. That's that's a Lovecraft thing.
T.C.:I'm gonna look it up
Jim:just it up. We'll do some radio silence here. It'll be great. It's good good podcast.
T.C.:Could Vail Kilmer be our star in this movie? The Ghost in the Darkness?
Jim:There you go. There you That's what it's called.
T.C.:The Ghost in the Darkness starring Val Kilmer, and Michael Douglas is in this movie as well.
Jim:There you go.
T.C.:There we go.
Jim:Yeah. Bay based on a true story.
T.C.:Okay.
Jim:So that's a movie you know about now.
T.C.:So does military, cops I think military, we go back
Jim:to military. Go back to military? And it's be that's fine.
T.C.:The the military in in the first predator with with Arnie, they're mercenaries. They're guns for hire. Mhmm. Right? They are they're sanctioned by the government, but that's why Carl Weathers is there to, like, to keep tabs on them.
Jim:Yeah.
T.C.:I think our military group in here is full military. Like, this is
Jim:Well, do we want to advance the meta story from Predator two? The notion that there is a mill a special military group that is hunting and studying the predators?
T.C.:I'm sure.
Jim:Was that's Gary Busey.
T.C.:Yeah. That was Gary Busey's character. That's that is a that's a great yeah. That's a good thread.
Jim:So okay. So it's it's it's in the it's in the future. This is after Desert Storm is over. Mhmm. But it's the fallout of Desert Storm.
Jim:So it is in out or maybe right outside of Kuwait. Right? Some somewhere there.
T.C.:Oil fields.
Jim:Oil fields. Yeah. And and innocent and ghost towns. Towns that have just been Abandoned. Have to have been abandoned because of war and because of further further future strife.
T.C.:That's That has happened. That gives an interesting,
Jim:like, pieces. Minefields Yeah. Depleted uranium rounds and stuff
T.C.:There's our there's
Jim:the the area.
T.C.:We can go from, like, actual city, like, some some Middle Eastern city and head out into the desert through, like, the the the dunes to a ghost town and then lead the ghost town through, like, a minefield and river at night and get us to, like, a rocky mountainous terrain. Oh, you're you're thinking okay. You're thinking more mountain? Well, yeah. Like, I'm saying we can cover a lot of of, like, set pieces here.
Jim:I see. We're like, they're like, they're chasing them.
T.C.:Yeah. Either chasing them or there's, like, a a destination that they have to get to get through. So we can go from, like, an actual city with lots of people to start with and slowly get more and more away from civilization. And, like like, the Predator out in the dunes, that's not very interesting. There's nowhere to hide.
T.C.:There's nowhere. But So
Jim:it's not really a dune desert at in that area. But
T.C.:yeah. Get getting to
Jim:That that's why I was thinking, like, like, a ghost town
T.C.:kind of
Jim:area, like, an abandoned Iraqi town.
T.C.:Yeah. Thinking of something like Pitch Black, the Vin Diesel Mhmm. Sci fi movie. That's like a desert planet, but they managed to find, like, different Like canyons? Yeah.
T.C.:Sure. Yeah. Yeah. I think Oh. Having having
Jim:Actually yeah. Actually, say say, I I don't I don't know the politics too well of that area. But, yeah, there were there were resistance groups and stuff fighting the the Iraqi army fighting them. And so
T.C.:So we have our
Jim:gets if it gets caught in the middle of that Yeah. Our our hunters
T.C.:Mhmm.
Jim:Go the the next place they find activity of of aliens on Earth is there. And so they're actually on a clandestine mission outside of US jurisdiction
T.C.:Mhmm.
Jim:Trying to hunt this thing down. So they're on their own.
T.C.:They're literally going after the predator. So if our setup is that the predator the this this third predator has come to Earth and is hunting in outside of Kuwait
Jim:in some
T.C.:some militant area.
Jim:It's a yeah. I I I'm gonna butcher the the politics of it. Like, I believe it's like the Kurds and and another.
T.C.:Yeah. Apologies if we're wildly wrong here. But give just giving us our our our battle essentially is the predator versus these if there's two warring factions, and now our Americans are coming in literally going after the predator.
Jim:Yeah. So We have four we have four different sides.
T.C.:Yeah. We have the predator. We have the two militant groups that are fighting each other in the desert, and then our Americans inserting themselves into that. So that's a lot of possibilities for action sequences. That's a lot of possibility for guns going off and tanks and And where there's
Jim:weapons, the predator is hunting.
T.C.:Yeah. So And okay. So that that's a great we have a great locale. We have plenty of places to play with, like, the locations, set pieces. We have our mill military group.
T.C.:Now weirdly no. Not weirdly. I think it's not surprising that all the Predator movies, even the AVP movies, constantly go back to the the the the group of mercenaries in one fashion or another because that first one. Yeah. I again, I'm a defender of of predator two because it's not anything like predator one in terms of who Mhmm.
T.C.:Who's going up against who. Yeah. I I I think it's amazing that the predator's going up against beat cops. Yeah. Right?
T.C.:It's and the fact that he that Danny Glover's, like, dead set on getting this guy, getting his man, and the predator's running away from him for part of this movie because he's so messed up.
Jim:Yeah.
T.C.:He has to chop his arm up. Like, I just love that. It's that that there's some fun stuff to have here. So having our military group, does everybody know what they're going after?
Jim:I actually I'm imagining there's there's not it's not heavy military. Right? It's not mercenaries. It's it's mostly scientists
T.C.:Okay.
Jim:With a handful of they're probably militarily trained, but it's Do they have
T.C.:one heavy? Like, one, like
Jim:They actually they actually probably have they probably have four Okay. Four heavies.
T.C.:I I think the the presumed badass buff guys, that that should be the presumption that it's gonna come down to whoever Arnold equivalent is versus the alien and having one of our weasley guys be the one that survives to the end. Like, having one of the scientists Oh. Basically outsmart this thing in the end is is what would
Jim:I'm be my I'm actually right now, I'm thinking I wanna I wanna do something even a little different than that. Mhmm. It I think one of our mostly it it it would be teamwork. Right? It comes down to to basically two of them.
Jim:And and the one of them is is presumed so so then in in our climax, one is presumed dead, he comes out of nowhere probably utilizing some of the predator tech Yeah. To to get the drop on him and and rescue. I like that
T.C.:that having having one. Having the two of them combined working together. One of the best Batmans we've ever gotten on screen is Russell Crowe and Guy Pierce in LA Confidential. Because Russell Crowe is the brute Oh, sure. And Guy Pierce is the brain, and combined, they make a really good Batman in that noir story.
T.C.:So with with with that idea of having the brain and the brawn Yeah. Take down this predator, would you make the brain female?
Jim:Because that
T.C.:is another tradition of of the predator franchise is having a a female counterpart to go with the muscle. And this is that's sort
Jim:of sort of sort of.
T.C.:I I know it still is Danny Glover's partner has doesn't have a lot to do Mhmm. In predator two, but she's Latino. And the first Predator, Arnold Arnold Arnie saves the girl. Oh. And she's Latino.
T.C.:Well, then Or she's What I would
Jim:want I mean, to to to sort of would would maybe she be the guide into the into the
T.C.:territory in that area? That would be really interesting, to to cast someone of of, Middle Eastern descent to to play that role wouldn't be wildly progressive as a choice. Sure. Even in the nineties, it would be a logical choice to have some Middle Eastern actress be the the guide into this. Whether she's one of the two that survived to the end to save to defeat the predator.
T.C.:Certainly, in 2020, that's something we'd really push for. Yeah. In 1997. 1993. 1993.
Jim:Or early nineties Yeah. Where it's just set. Yeah. It's set in nineteen ninety seven plus. No.
Jim:No. '8. Yeah. Nineteen ninety eight plus is where this movie is set.
T.C.:But we're making it in 1993.
Jim:Yeah.
T.C.:And though the studio studios now would be much more open to, oh, yeah. Yeah.
Jim:Now that wouldn't. Then then they wouldn't so much. Like, oh, if it's a sci fi action movie, you gotta have dudes.
T.C.:Yeah. It's gotta be
Jim:Ladies aren't gonna like that movie, you can't have ladies in there. What is a lady gonna do?
T.C.:We're not accidentally making Stargate here, are we, in terms of Kurt Russell and James Spader as the brain in the bra? Your your head tilted. You're just you didn't realize it, did you? Uh-oh. No.
T.C.:That's okay. It it's
Jim:it's it's There's no gates in this one. That's not gonna be a predator test.
T.C.:Completely different aliens. Yeah. Although, we'll put an Easter egg of a Stargate somewhere in there just to get the wild speculations going that this takes place in the same universe. Fair fair fair enough? Just to I'm not saying I'm canonizing it.
Jim:I'm just saying as a sexist. Like the idea of Predator in the Stargate universe. I mean, a whole it what that does is it links up a whole bunch of, like, I don't I don't know if I like aliens in the Stargate universe.
T.C.:Right.
Jim:So many thoughts.
T.C.:Having it come down to Brain and Brawn and, like, outsmarting the predator in in our ghost town city.
Jim:So to go, to to actually have our characters go across this honestly, it it would pretty much be a road trip across Iraq. Mhmm. It is sort of what we're proposing here. Yeah. But to justify that so in the previous ones, it was always one alien.
Jim:Right? The first one, it was an alien that crash lands. That's why he's here. That's why he can't get away. It's why it it it is what happens.
T.C.:Yeah. In the second one He he came there to hunt.
Jim:Yeah. He came there to hunt, but then they're, like, there's a ship and they we see other predators, like, so have these guys been hunting as well? We don't really know. Mhmm. What I'm what I'm about to suggest here, and here I go, is Go.
Jim:There are multiple predators. So I realized that kinda jumps the gun on the title predators. I would still wanna call it predator three. Mhmm. Mhmm.
Jim:But what they're doing is they've they've gotten word. Right? They they they they've they've heard They of our our scientists. Sorry. Our our our Our groups.
Jim:Our hunters. Yeah. Our hunters have gotten word that there have been multiple sightings around. So they're they want to go to these different places. And what they're what they're end they think they're chasing one, and they find out at a certain point, they're chasing more than one.
T.C.:Oh, you could do like
Jim:means that now there's a clock because they need to find they become aware of the clock. Mhmm. They need to find where these predators are meeting up and where their ship is before they leave because they know they have ships. Yeah. They saw it leave LA.
Jim:Oh, did
T.C.:the the that moment of revelation of having, like, two of our our of our hunters, like, taken taken one down, like, a an action set piece where it's, like, two on one, and they get the predator against the ropes, and they just skewer it. They're like like, just a badass fight sequence, and then they have it, and the predator's like a little callback here, like and they're like, yeah. Who's laughing now? Who's laughing now? And then the one appears behind the other and just freaking beheads them.
T.C.:And then the second guy is like, there's more than one. And then just having him get murdered and having, you know, the revelation that was like, oh, there's there's more than one. That moment, that halfway point in the movie Sure. Yeah. Could would be really cool, especially if it's not advertised with more than one predator.
T.C.:Yeah. Like, if you just think it's one and having that second one show up in that moment would be awesome. Like, that'd be a great cinematic, like Oh. Then after that
Jim:oh, yeah. Okay. So then, like, like, two of our two of our heavies get killed. Mhmm. A third the third one gets really hurt.
Jim:But And the predators the predators leave. Right? They're like, they got their guys and whatever. And so now the people who are left, they have this hurt guy.
T.C.:Mhmm.
Jim:And the crisis moment is we need to follow them. No. We need to get this guy back to to safety.
T.C.:He's dying. Yeah. We have a mission. Our mission
Jim:was for those things. They would only have one vehicle, so they can't split.
T.C.:Mhmm.
Jim:And our heroes do the wrong thing. They don't rescue the guy.
T.C.:Well, I mean, their mission is their mission. Their mission was to go after the Predator, and he's like, you know, there's more than there's more than one. There's more than one. There's two?
Jim:I don't know. There's
T.C.:more than one.
Jim:Yeah. I think I I like I like that.
T.C.:It and it creates a some tension on the team if part of the team is like, we need to save our guy. And the other team's like, no. We finished the mission. Mhmm. So now we're leaving Yes.
T.C.:So now we're leaving together. Is from Six Five Media, and we will be right back.
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T.C.:So I I think we've laid out essential this plot doesn't need to be much more complex than that. No. Like, we we have our mission. We have our we have more or less our team. The question here now is my two questions from earlier, which is who are we gonna cast in this Mhmm.
T.C.:And some Predator tech. We'll come back to the Predator tech here. Because I you might be able to draw from the comics, but we'll we'll see. Who do we cast in something like this? Now in the original movie, we have machismo.
T.C.:We have muscles. We have Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jesse the body Ventura, Carl Weathers, like Yeah. Man meets. Yep. And then the second movie, we have Danny Glover.
T.C.:Now I've I've Bill Paxton. Bill Paxton. Yeah. Gary Gary Busey. Right?
T.C.:Yeah. Yeah. So not exactly machismo. Right? Yeah.
T.C.:It was an odd choice. I've I've I have a little short film I shot where it's the Fox executives making the decision on who to cast in Predator two. And I I will happily share the link here, but you can find it over on the BitLife show channel from my old re one minute rewatch. But it's essentially
Jim:Apparently, Danny Glover I I I did I quick looked at a list in 1993, which wasn't even 09/09 nineteen ninety
T.C.:Ninety ninety. Yeah.
Jim:When the the sequel came out. Yeah. In '93, Danny Glover was the the sixty six sixty sixth most grossing star.
T.C.:Of all time? Of of that year. Of that year. Okay. He was nothing.
T.C.:He was nothing of that. Like That's not no. That's not nothing. That's pretty I I guess, yes, in terms of like well well, anyway, my my my theory is that some studio exec
Jim:out Madonna.
T.C.:Studio exec with, like, who's on a whole ton of cocaine was like, hey. You know who should be our staff? Predator two? You see Lethal Weapon? Get me Mel Gibson.
T.C.:And then and then no. Sorry. Get me Danny Glover. And then showing up on filming set and being like, who's that who's the black guy? Like,
Jim:that's Danny Danny Glover.
T.C.:Oh, I wanted the white guy. Like, I I feel like that might have been a conversation that happened under the under the a lot of cocaine. But, again, as I've said multiple times, I think predator two is a great movie. Think he's lover. It's awesome in it.
T.C.:Mhmm. His tenacity as a character as Harrigan is is is he's a badass. Like, he's, like, getting his ass kicked. And he's like like when he finally kills that thing and it's dead and six more show up and he's just like, all right, who's next? That's that is such a kick ass moment.
Jim:It is.
T.C.:And anyone who poo poos Predator two has not seen it in a while. Go back and watch the movie. It's so good. But that being said, where do we go from there? Do in this third movie, seen as we want, like, a brain and a brawn, do we sort of combine the idea of someone like Schwarzenegger and someone like Danny Glover to fit the brain and the brawn in in this this proposed plot?
Jim:Not necessarily.
T.C.:Because, like, looking looking at the the highest grossing movies of '93, which is where where we're we're making this movie. Yeah. My my first thought when I just opened it up was like Jeff Goldblum. He he made Jurassic Park that year. He has genre in his Sure.
T.C.:Library already with something like the fly Mhmm. And buckaroo bonsai and Earth Girls Are Easy. Like, this is not out of his choice of filmmaking. True.
Jim:True. And and But but him being like a a a he he's he's he's very much a specific he's he's very much a character. Right. And and I I don't know if a sci fi horror movie making him the final girl is really
T.C.:Really works. Like Yeah. Well, when you think of, like, you said sci fi horror, which you are correct. That's what this is. Thinking Independence Day, which is just sci fi adventure Sure.
T.C.:He does make it to the end of that and spoiler, I guess. You
Jim:spoiled Independence Day.
T.C.:How dare you? Well, looking at some of the other films of of '93, you have something like miss missus Doubtfire. I mean, we're not gonna get Robin Williams or Pierce Brosnan was in was missus Doubtfire or in missus Doubtfire. The Fugitive, you have Harrison Ford. I don't think Harrison Ford would do a Predator movie.
T.C.:No. Schindler's List. Okay. Liam Neeson. Liam Neeson has some culty movies with, like, next of kin.
T.C.:Sure. Yeah. Like, he's he's not below or above. I don't I
Jim:don't remember. Somewhere around there, he did dark man.
T.C.:Yeah. And so Liam Neeson's a fun and I we're thinking this is '93
Jim:Liam
T.C.:Neeson, so I he feels like a good casting option for our team. Maybe not down to the last two guys, but also maybe seeing him come down to be
Jim:like Maybe. To me, he feels more like the company man. Like, he's the he's the Carl Weathers, Gary Busey
T.C.:guy Yeah. In
Jim:in the cast. He he's there to make sure things go right and the US government gets their tech.
T.C.:Okay. Well, there's there's two other actors of this year. I I agree. I think Lee Meeksen we see him kind of thinking, like, taken now. But
Jim:Sort of even Rob Roy. Like, I see him more as sort of, like, the the the no nonsense leader.
T.C.:Even even Carl Weathers, though he's the pencil pusher, is still, you know, buff as hell. So he's not he's not Liam Neeson wouldn't be a pushover if we decided to stick him on here. But there's two other movies of this era that make me feel like I think we know I think I know who would be our one of these two guys could make our lead. Cliffhanger came out in '93. Stallone did trail after Schwarzenegger's success in a lot of regards.
T.C.:Could you imagine Stallone being our hero in 1993
Jim:So here's the thing.
T.C.:Movie. Yeah.
Jim:I loved Stallone in Cobra. Okay. But I just keep imagining Judge Dredd.
T.C.:Of the campiness, like, of the Yeah. Of the silliness? Okay. I I feel like, I had to put it out there because it feels like a logical choice in 1993 to be, like, get us Stallone.
Jim:Well, also, he definitively becomes our hero.
T.C.:Yeah. Like, there's no doubt that he wouldn't make it to the end. Yeah. So I'm gonna propose my second option Has
Jim:Stallone ever fought an alien?
T.C.:Not that I can think of. So Stallone might Maybe. Might be our guy here. So okay. If if not maybe we have Stallone.
T.C.:Maybe this works for him, especially in this era of making he's making cliffhanger at this point. Right? Here's my other option, and I think this might be our guy because he was starred in the number nine and ten movie of the year, Denzel Washington as Okay. As the nerd.
Jim:Could could we get him? Could we
T.C.:get him? Let's assume Warner Brothers is or Fox is gonna push out the money.
Jim:Wants to wants to make this happen?
T.C.:Makes it.
Jim:Yeah. This is our third Predator movie, and we we want this to happen.
T.C.:Pulling out all the stops here to get Stallone and Denzel Washington to to And Liam Neeson. Maybe not Liam Neeson now with these two, but but imagining Denzel being our more more science guy and Salome being our muscle guy and taking those two to the end. I even even saying, like, thinking like Fox, we wanna capture that lethal weapon magic. Let's get get a a a Tango and cash. No.
T.C.:No. I'm thinking more like a a black guy and white guy.
Jim:Yeah. No. Agree. Yeah. Like, forty eight hours.
T.C.:Yeah. Yeah. So what? A idea. Three.
T.C.:I can't tell by your reaction right now if you think this is good idea or a bad idea.
Jim:I don't know either. It's the Stallone card. I can it honestly, it's also, like, both of those like, it's it's definitely coloring how the characters are going to like, so Stallone becomes much more the in my mind, he's the, like, the the the security
T.C.:No that's with him.
Jim:No nuts. But the thing is he also like, the world works a certain way. Mhmm. He is a hammer and everything is a nail. It doesn't matter where we are.
Jim:It doesn't matter what they are. This is how I hunt. This is how it happens.
T.C.:Yeah.
Jim:Whereas Denzel would be Scalpel. Yeah. He's more like, no. The the people in the area are important. The the geography is important.
Jim:What we're hunting is important. And you're just you you can't just go in there
T.C.:and and cut things down. This conflict works. This conflict works for the characters. It you can see them playing the parts. Am I gonna make a poster for this one too?
T.C.:If we go to the I don't I'm trying to I I don't know if this is the right way to go. I'm not trying to fully sell you that this is the definitive cast. But looking at 1993, considering the type of movie we're gonna make, considering the movies we followed, Stallone does kinda feel like a
Jim:I feel like they they both command too much leaning man. Right? I Okay. I think I think the star power, it conflicts too much.
T.C.:Okay.
Jim:So maybe I'm wrong about that. Maybe I'm not remembering Denzel from '93 well enough. Like like, what what can I remember? What year did Glory come out?
T.C.:Well, it's it's Pelican Brief and Philadelphia were his two movies at the time. So he was he was
Jim:still Okay.
T.C.:The supporting guy. He was supporting Julia Roberts. He was supporting, Tom Hanks. He hadn't Okay. He had could work.
T.C.:He hadn't been pushed into top build status at this point. He was
Jim:still Then I'm I'm more on board with that.
T.C.:Yeah. Okay. I I I and imagine I'm just imagining Denzel into this scenario and and because my my alternative was Ethan Hawke.
Jim:Oh. He's very, very young at the time, but you make him he's he's like the young computer wizard, whatever, that's in the van.
T.C.:You're gonna make me go on my my jag about Ethan Hawke's
Jim:I'm gonna make you. Yeah.
T.C.:But Name one movie you've ever seen Ethan Hawken that you win. Boy, I'm really glad Ethan Hawke was in this movie.
Jim:That's so not fair.
T.C.:I know it's not fair. I'm just it's funny, though, to think, like, all the great movies you can think of Ethan Hawken are not great because he's in it. I that's Training Day is a great movie. It is. Not because Ethan Hawks is.
Jim:But you can't say that it wouldn't be what it was without him.
T.C.:Put Kiefer Sutherland in his place, you get almost the exact same movie.
Jim:I I don't know. Maybe I'm thinking too much at 24 at this point. But I
T.C.:I'm just I I'm I'm I'm
Jim:I know. I I know.
T.C.:I know. I think
Jim:We're sorry, Ethan. Ethan, please.
T.C.:Just know that I'm kidding. I I think you're a very fine actor. Just, you know, not you're are you thinking instead of Denzel putting in the Yeah.
Jim:Yeah. The the if if we can't get Denzel Okay. Let's say that. You know what? Ethan's my second choice.
Jim:Well And changes it the script entirely. I'm not saying that they're interchangeable with the same character.
T.C.:Well, let me let me just quickly I brought up Denzel's filmography. Okay? Oh my gosh. He's been acting since the seventies. Good for him.
T.C.:But he had done Malcolm X in in '92. He had done and then Pelican Brief in Philadelphia were in '93.
Jim:When did he do Virtuosity?
T.C.:Oh, jeez. Queen and Country, Saint Elsewhere, Mighty Glory was in '89. Okay. Mississippi, Massawa. Never heard that.
T.C.:Ricochet, great form, Malcolm X. So Malcolm X was already pushing him onto Oscar contention status. Right? Like, when he finally did win his Oscar, it was like, why why didn't he win this sooner?
Jim:Oh, actually, this is perfect. Virtuosity, 1995.
T.C.:Okay. That's
Jim:He he plays the guy hunting. No. He plays a good guy.
T.C.:He plays the cap in it? Yeah. And Russell Crowe
Jim:is down Russell Crowe who is a robot made of glass.
T.C.:He also made just right after that courage under fire, the preacher's wife, he did mother gooses, a rap and rhythm special. So fallen guy he got game, the siege bone collector. Hurricane, there you go. That put him in in 1999, he finally hit Oscar contention with the hurricane, and then he followed up with the Titans in Training Day. So we are definitely in an era in '93
Jim:could get in for monster movie.
T.C.:Yeah. I stand by that he was just in guest costar status, supporting character status. So I think this is getting Denzel in something like this, imagining him in the the brainy role while still being able to fire a machine gun at an alien. Feels it feels right on for him. And the fact that Virtuacity was right in this as well, we're in the right space for this.
Jim:Yeah. But he's I'm more and more on board with Denzel.
T.C.:But who is who plays absent him? I know you'd you'd pitched Liam Neeson earlier.
Jim:Well, no. I I'm okay. I think I'm okay with Stallone.
T.C.:I I it feels correct.
Jim:Because What was what was he doing at that time?
T.C.:Well, cliffhanger is what he made that year that were Okay. The year in question here. If we're in the Rambo three era, we are perfectly suited to see him make this movie.
Jim:Bester's the one.
T.C.:Yeah. And having having Liam Neeson play a support role in terms of, like, the man giving him the mission. Something like Sam Shepard is the the man giving the mission in Black Hawk Down.
Jim:Yeah.
T.C.:Like like, getting his venerated actor self to to be the the your this is your mission. Go. Mhmm. If if we're if we're gonna fill this out with other
Jim:Oh. So what this would replace in Stallone's filmography would be Demolition Man.
T.C.:You know what's funny? This is something we started doing with when we did Justice League just recently Mhmm. With our last episode, rewriting history. As if saying Sure. If they make this movie He wouldn't he wouldn't be wouldn't make this movie.
T.C.:Yeah. That's an interesting exercise right there. So saying
Jim:Coming off of coming off of Stopper My Mom Will Shoot in Cliffhanger He
T.C.:would do this.
Jim:Or just actually if if he didn't make Cliffhanger. Right? He made two movies in '93, Cliffhanger and Demolition Man. Mhmm. We're replacing one of them is basically what's happening.
Jim:Yeah.
T.C.:Oh, man. I don't know which one I would wanna erase from history. Cliffhanger. Cliffhanger.
Jim:No. No hesitation. No hesitation there. I I feel like that one has much less impact. Like, I kinda like I like demolition management.
T.C.:Oh, sure. Sure. I I Wesley Snipes
Jim:Simon Snipes.
T.C.:Playing the Joker and Yeah. Dennis Leary playing the leader of a resistance underground. And Sandra Bullock's in there. Right? No.
T.C.:No. Yes. Yeah. She's in she's in demolition America.
Jim:And so is
T.C.:Right. Rob Schneider.
Jim:Rob Schneider. Yeah. That's that's
T.C.:his name. Yeah. Okay. So there we go. Sylvester Stallone, Denzel Washington, a couple other, like, supporting cast members head out hunting the predator only to discover
Jim:dangerous Iraq territory
T.C.:in the future. Storm. Yeah. Only to discover that there are multiple predators there.
Jim:And they are also being hunted.
T.C.:And we are now it's a race to beat them to their ship, to stop them from leaving the planet.
Jim:To catch them. To to Capture them. I I Will need one. Something like that. Like like, we would learn at some point.
Jim:Right? Because because that was the goal in the second in the second one is that team was trying to to capture one.
T.C.:You're right. The, like, the the Harrigan stumbled upon this Yeah. This government organization trying to capture the Predator, and they screwed up Royal.
Jim:Yeah. And they they get cut in half by the discus. So I guess they're they're chasing similar similar goals here. They're they're looking for for more tech, more evidence, more more more.
T.C.:They want the ship this time.
Jim:Oh, there you go. Yeah. That's that's our escalation.
T.C.:They want the ship. They they if they can get the ship, if they can get the tech. Now, oddly, we are kinda delving into some similar territory from AVP, AVP two, and even Predators, the or The Predator, the most recent one, which is I I'm fine.
Jim:This is I feel like this is a natural progression.
T.C.:It's not
Jim:like they they're like, oh, we're stealing that idea. So
T.C.:there's the argument. They're already conflicted in terms of how the hammer versus the scalpel with Denzelic Stallone.
Jim:Well, and also probably the mission. Yeah. Right? Like, some, at least one dude is like, no. We're here for that.
T.C.:Yeah. The
Jim:mission other is like, no. We're just here to study them.
T.C.:We we want I want one of the I want a a a specimen. I want the ship. Like, that's it. It's the argument over like that. Yeah.
T.C.:Yeah. So our conflict is nicely built in here. Similar to Carl Weathers and Schwarzenegger because did Carl Weathers he was he was the he was the g man that was keeping these guys in check. Right?
Jim:Yeah. Well, I think he knew he knew a bunch of stuff.
T.C.:He suspected something else was going
Jim:on. Quite Paul Riser. Riser in in aliens. Yeah. But he was he was very similar to to the the the company man Mhmm.
Jim:Who had secrets Okay. And knew more than he let on.
T.C.:Do we want to toss in any other faces of note for our team? Honestly, you said Ethan Hawke. Imagine him as, like, the young guy on the team who gets killed pretty quickly. Like, he's the he's the one that survives and decides like, imagine Tim Roth from Rezar Dogs, I'm dying. There's more than one.
T.C.:I think, Jim, I think this movie would be better if Ethan Hawke was in it. Yeah. But I don't I don't I don't wanna kill him. Who's our do we
Jim:I is is Muscley guys. I don't know enough Muscley guys.
T.C.:Okay. Well, we don't need not necessarily more Muscley guys, but I like the idea of casting some Middle Eastern actress as the guide Oh, yeah. Yeah. To this. The even the the hint of a romance, which is No.
T.C.:I don't I'm not saying we have a romantic subplot here, but even just the
Jim:No. How dare you? What are you doing?
T.C.:It's look No. The the woman in
Jim:It is tradition in Predator that it is not the case. It's I'm calling it right now.
T.C.:Fine. Fine.
Jim:The the only romance was Danny Glover's partner in two was pregnant.
T.C.:She was she was pregnant. But they they they imply who her who the the
Jim:I think it was Bill Paxton.
T.C.:Was the the the
Jim:Yeah. Yeah. They they were they were they were fooling around or whatever.
T.C.:Oh, man. I as much as I've seen that movie several times, I I don't know if my audio
Jim:I believe you. Audio.
T.C.:That you probably lost me there. But I don't remember I guess we'll have to watch Predator two again.
Jim:I guess so.
T.C.:Should that be our track? Yeah. It could be better. Not. I will discuss that off my way.
T.C.:Little inside inside baseball here. Having I don't know any any actresses of that era of Middle Eastern descent that I could even hypothesize would be in the role there. But just someone capable and cool and badass because the the women of the franchise have always been Mhmm. Capable badasses. Yeah.
T.C.:Even even in the first one, she's she's she's no pushover. She tries to escape. She tries to you know, she's afraid. She's Mhmm.
Jim:She's out there fledging. She tries to pick up a gun, and then Arnold kicks it out of her hand because that's what will get the predator to kill you.
T.C.:Yes. God. Love that movie.
Jim:So what toys do we give the alien how do we up the ante? What are they let's let's see what they have. They have the shoulder cannon.
T.C.:Well, let's go from the first one. Yeah. We have shoulder cannon.
Jim:And the arm blades.
T.C.:The arm blades. Is that that all he has in the first one?
Jim:I then the the self destruct bomb. Okay. Those are the only weapons I believe the Predator has enough in the first one.
T.C.:Yeah. So second one, we have arm cannon. We have the spear. We have the net. Mhmm.
T.C.:The self destruct
Jim:And the discus.
T.C.:And the discus and the blades. That's a lot of weapons that
Jim:Oh, well, I I guess they're not weapons, but Predator does have healing tech. He has a med kit. In the first one, he has a med kit, which he's able to do some stuff. And in the sec in the second one, it's a totally it's a different med kit. It's weird blue goo.
T.C.:Then he pours the porcelain.
Jim:Pours into yeah. Porcelain and drywall and stuff. So basically just turns any matter into some sort of adhesive. It's like neosporin from space space neosporin. And, like, doesn't he put it on his stump?
Jim:Yeah. Like, has a And
T.C.:he and he he, like, scout, like, shovels it out, and he's like Yeah. Yeah. And the old lady's like Like, what's going on in the bathroom? So what's what is something else we can give the Predator here or or make better use of? I feel like was there was a spear in the second one.
T.C.:Right? Am I remembering that wrong?
Jim:Yes. Okay. You are remembering it correct.
T.C.:I okay. Having If I
Jim:remember it, it actually even telescoped. It was it was Darth Maul's
T.C.:yeah. I'd like to see
Jim:I I guess it wasn't a double bladed baton It
T.C.:was a spear. A sword instead of a spear, like a big machete looking thing. Space machete.
Jim:So it's it's a little cheesy, but there was a a video game that came out. It was an alien versus predator video game.
T.C.:And?
Jim:It was in the arcade. I don't remember what
T.C.:system Neo Geo.
Jim:On. But it was it was a beat them up, and I loved it. And there were two predator you could play. There were two humans and two predators that teamed up to fight aliens. One of them had a naginata.
Jim:That is where I learned what a naginata was, and it became favorite thing.
T.C.:Because I know. And and I just don't want the listeners
Jim:to feel basically a a big two handed spear axe Oh. Is the might be the best way to describe it. Not doubleheaded. No. No.
Jim:It was. Actually, his his was doubleheaded. Mhmm. So some And, oh, I loved that so much. The other predator had I think he he had the spear.
T.C.:Okay. So given that that double bladed axe Sure. Naginata.
Jim:I I like it. And we we also we have several predators to arm here. Okay. So All the returning weapons. Will relent to your swords.
Jim:Or just Yeah. We just make them Ninja Turtles. Is that what that what you're suggesting? No. Not at give them
T.C.:a line of dialogue, like some sort of tongue in cheek like
Jim:What are we hunting here, Ninja Turtles?
T.C.:Yeah. Something's dumb like that. It's the nineties. We get away with that.
Jim:Yeah. We can.
T.C.:Rafael over
Jim:here. No. That that's too deep of a rock. Okay. Alright.
Jim:You got has to be way more mocking.
T.C.:It just has to be straight up Yeah. What are we fighting here? Yeah.
Jim:What what would be, like, other hunter weapons?
T.C.:Well Like, what of weapons do
Jim:hunters use? Handgun.
T.C.:Like Hunters use handguns? Well, no. Hunters probably don't use handguns. But just thinking in having a blade to go up against one of our characters who uses, like what is the curved a sim
Jim:A a scimitar is a type of sword. Yeah. It's a it is a curved blade.
T.C.:Yeah. Like, using a scimitar against an alien or a predator blade having some sort sword. Why would they carry a spear?
Jim:Well, we don't know why the aliens would, but why would our why would our humans
T.C.:In in the opening action sequence, he collects it from a dead body. Like, I'm trying to collect one from all from every continent. Like, he's a he's a weapons collector, and he had
Jim:I'm relenting that to that during this meeting, but I think later on, I'm gonna try to come up with something better.
T.C.:Having having a a heavy weapon, like a a basically, like,
Jim:the The original Predator movie invented the the minigun. The minigun.
Commercial:So they
Jim:they they pulled that off of a helicopter Yeah. And then put it in Jesse Ventura's hands. And then
T.C.:I ain't got time to believe.
Jim:And then somebody said, and that's now a weapon we're giving to infantry.
T.C.:There we go.
Jim:And Or not infantry.
T.C.:So having Whatever. An an a predator equivalent of a minigun.
Jim:Oh. Oh. Well, what I'm thinking actually is the human tech is gonna get enhanced. Mhmm. So in predator two, the human the the the text the humans had looked stupid.
Jim:It was big silver canisters Woah. Of of what yeah. It's I did not like it. It was it was stupid. They're CO2.
Jim:They've done is they have actually retro engineered stuff from what what they've seen the predators.
T.C.:What they bill collect from from
Jim:From what other Yeah. Things.
T.C.:So they had some sort of shoulder cannon
Jim:Maybe. Type of thing. Maybe something like that. Yeah. Actually, how do you retro engineer that stuff?
Jim:Did they they didn't get to keep the disc. No. They
T.C.:no. Harrigan drops
Jim:it, and he
T.C.:says who's next. But we can assume they've they've been on Earth
Jim:multiple times. Like, the the tech that they would basically steal from that would be the the, like, the heat seeking tech.
T.C.:Yeah. Okay.
Jim:Right? So so they they have stuff that can find and lock on to targets with different visions and things like that.
T.C.:That's your one other your your one act one extra weapon there. So if we get your your naga Naginata? I knew that. Have giving a sword of sorts, having all the weapons we have, but that having the characters use the heat seeking, like, weapon tech against the predator, and the predator pulls out, like, a freaking golden snitch that, like, he throws and then whatever blast was coming at the predators just starts chasing the the the little the little thing back to the source. Right?
Jim:Oh, sure.
T.C.:Like a a heat ball that he uses to, like, whip at the good guys, and they're like, shit.
Jim:Yeah. That that's weird
T.C.:because the the humans can't have any luck until the end.
Jim:And well, and also, I would say the predator let let's give the predator a secondary cloaking device. Right? Because now our our heroes have oh, we've we're using heat vision and stuff so we can see through your cloaking. How about But now then, like, then they then disappear from the UV spectrum.
T.C.:Okay.
Jim:Yeah. Or something like that.
T.C.:Yeah. That's great. Yeah. Having having some sort of defense against the because I love that in predator too when the predator reveals to have multiple visions. Like, that was a cool like, oh, they can they can defeat him with the heat vision.
T.C.:They figured it out. Yeah. And he's like,
Jim:wait a minute. Can see
T.C.:in, like not right here.
Jim:10 spectrums humans haven't even thought of. Yeah.
T.C.:Shit. So so then with with these new weapons, with our care, what's the final A
Jim:vehicle. We're we're the the space I I feel like we're covering in the in the setting is too big. The predators have a vehicle of some kind, some sort of Motorcycle. Cycle.
T.C.:Hover cycle. Okay. Like a a warthog if you wanna think of, like, halo terms. Too big. Too big.
T.C.:Okay. Too big. Like, on
Jim:TV. I'm thinking yeah. Something something like like that.
T.C.:Okay.
Jim:Something something small and mobile.
T.C.:So the question is, how does this end? We have our ghost town skeleton bombed out town for them to have their final confrontation in. Is it if it comes down to Stallone and and Oh, you see
Jim:the you see the town as the the final Well set piece.
T.C.:I I originally had pitched it that they get to the mountains. So we're
Jim:in line. That's originally where I was thinking up up in the mountains. Okay.
T.C.:Then then yeah. We're we're we're
Jim:Oh, I I like that because it strands our survivors in the middle of nowhere.
T.C.:Even if they win, they're still in the middle of nowhere with no supplies to get home. But now it's the pride now it's the pride element. Even if it's like, if we get the ship, we can fly it back. If we can get the like, you're you're wishful thinking, I just wanna kill that thing. Yeah.
T.C.:So do we have it's Stallone and Denzel versus the last Predator, or is it like are they gonna go up against three and whittle it down to the last one? I think it's something like that. Like, so it's two on
Jim:It's it's two two on two on three. And
T.C.:they just just and they managed to pick off one. They they they Stallone dies against the second one.
Jim:Den Denzel dies.
T.C.:Den Denzel's the surprise Yeah. Survivor? Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
T.C.:I like that. I like that. Yeah. So Denzel takes the second one down, seemingly dying. So it's Stallone versus the last Predator, and then Denzel shows up
Jim:to take Stallone's actually being stalked through the Predator ship.
T.C.:Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, like, like, wounded.
Jim:And he still has a weapon, so he's trying to fight back.
T.C.:But Glory.
Jim:Oh. Oh, like and then it even gets to the point where so Stallone oh, Stallone wants to to finds the cockpit. Mhmm. Right? The the the controls.
Jim:Tries. They go. No. He's not gonna try to find. He doesn't he can't do that.
Jim:Okay. But he's he's stuck between a rock and a hard place, so he starts trying to smash the controls. So at least they can't leave.
T.C.:There yeah. Okay. And then
Jim:And that's so then then you get the fight. The leader of Predator. The the Predator shows up, and he's tossing Stallone around the like, all over the room. He's the shit out of And then and then Denzel pops out with as the surprise, like
T.C.:And he uses the whatever the the the the weapon of choice of the second predator he kills. He he comes back and uses that and just, like, skewer like, maybe, like, he has the blades on his arm, and he just skewers the predator from behind. And then he's like, yeah. And Sloane's like, oh, you left. And then it's just it's just Denzel versus this Predator.
Jim:Ship is like out fire. So the so it's this surprise attack. Yeah. But it has to be both of them. They both because the Predator is very tough.
Jim:Yeah. And so It's the two of that's the opening for for Stallone to then take the offensive again rather than continue to get thrown
T.C.:around. Starts.
Jim:And the the two of them the two of them take take it down. Yeah.
T.C.:Nice. And then but is the ship, like, on the verge of self destruction here? So here here here, I'll say this. For both both Predator one and two, the first one ends with the the self destruct goes off. Yes.
T.C.:And Schwarzenegger just gets lucky and gets away. Yep. In Predator two, he's gonna set that thing off, and and and, Herrigan cuts his arm off and cuts the in half, taking it away as an option. Do we wanna have that comeback now that the self destruct is gonna happen and we let it happen? Do they get away?
T.C.:Do they get the ship?
Jim:I don't I actually kinda like the idea that the ship self destructs. Because in the second one, he yeah. You're right. They took away the self destruct.
T.C.:But the ship flies away.
Jim:But the ship flies away.
T.C.:Okay. So in this, the the ship's gonna blow up, and it's gonna be the two of them left stranded in the in the mountains. And maybe some helicopters start flying in, and they're left wondering, you think those are our helicopters? I don't know. And then leave it at that, like, having sort of a almost a cliffhanger type of, you know, of, like, of they've survived, and now it's a question of, like, well, did they complete the mission?
T.C.:The ship is gone, but there's a crater that they might be able to, like, scavenge from.
Jim:I like that. I'm I'm wondering what other teases we can give. Like, maybe maybe it's not just that they defeat it and then the ship auto blows up. Maybe
T.C.:oh. Oh. Oh. Here we Maybe
Jim:a a larger Predator ship comes flying down, and and I I don't know. No.
T.C.:No. Okay. They blow up the ship. They defeat the alien.
Jim:They blow
T.C.:up the ship, and and they're they're sitting in the mountains just, like, bleeding. They don't have any supplies to get back. There's a helicopter coming in, and they could have a moment of, like, you think that's our helicopter or the other helicopter? Like, could it be the our enemies are are our friends coming to us. Doesn't matter Mhmm.
T.C.:What what have you, but Denzel being like, I'm sorry. We didn't get a specimen or tech. And Stallone can be like, well, actually and he could pull something out, like like a computer piece or something. Nah. Nah.
T.C.:Nah. Okay. Alright. Okay. I'd Just leave them sitting there wondering if they're gonna be rescued or killed.
Jim:Because because I feel like the theme to these is our the hero's victory is surviving. Okay. Okay. And it in the meta of the sequel is the the the it's the job of the sequel to explain what's advanced.
T.C.:Okay. Fair enough. Yeah. I'm I'm acquiesce to that that it's a it was it's a little too cute of an ending to have Stallone befriend Denzel. You're right.
T.C.:That that it is them just sitting there bleeding with no supplies wondering if they're about to be rescued or attacked.
Jim:Yeah.
T.C.:And that's the end of the movie with the Yeah. And then Bush pulling away from the desert and roll credits. Like Yeah. That's a Predator movie right there, man. The mistakes
Jim:I like this. That have
T.C.:been made by the subsequent Predators are are too much of an escalation or too much lore building. They've they've made the AVPs too complex, like, as dumb as that movie is. It's too many ideas on the table, and it's and it's sucking the life out of what made alien and aliens and predator so good. Yeah. So by by creating this predator three, I knew we'd have a good conversation with this when I picked this one.
T.C.:Keeping it simple. It's just it's just a matter of get we're we're just trying to capture one of these things or some of their stuff, and now it's a matter of survival, and we've survived the end.
Jim:Yeah. We We bit off more than we can chew. Oops. Yeah. We we are not the hunters any any longer.
T.C.:Did we did we meet do you have, like, let me just look at our our Sure.
Jim:Yeah. We had well, we had to make a movie in 1993.
T.C.:'93. No jungle, no city, no returning characters. There you go. I this this feels like a a much and the fact that we had twenty years before they ever made another Predator movies
Jim:Pretty much. Yeah.
T.C.:Is crazy. I don't know if there are any hardcore Predator fans out here who could say, like, oh, this comic book series and this video game installment are so much better. They should have gone this way. Affection My
Jim:You you mean as far as predator goes?
T.C.:Yeah. My my affection for predator goes so far as predator one and two. That's Mhmm. I love the character. I love those two movies, period.
Jim:I I was I was reading predator comics at the time, but I don't remember the stories well enough to know, like, if, like, Predator big game was the story that they that should have been done or not. I mostly dwelled on Alien versus Predator.
T.C.:Once once you were there, you're like,
Jim:I'm out. Yeah. Right. Well, as as much as getting more Predator movies would be cool.
T.C.:I I think that if if in 1993, this was the movie that was released, it's the end of a trilogy of films, and it does what I love about, like, in the the original Indiana Jones or what I think pirates should be where it's anthologized. You don't need to see one or the other in any particular order. I I I maybe I'm just geeking out because we came up with this idea, but we've done it once again.
Jim:With with the yeah. With Stallone. No.
T.C.:I was gonna say we've done it once again where we've conceptualized an idea. There's no reason this idea couldn't be made now. Sure.
Jim:So if Well, sort of the the well, the reason it
T.C.:cast.
Jim:Yeah. Is well, aside from that, it's it's a matter of what whether I like them or not, certain things have been added to the canon. So True. What do you acknowledge? What do you get rid of?
Jim:Do we pull a Superman Returns or Halloween? Oh, sure.
T.C.:What was was that movie called?
Jim:Was it just Halloween?
T.C.:Yeah. Yeah. They they just they They did
Jim:Halloween again and made it a sequel.
T.C.:Making a sequel to only the good stuff.
Jim:Yeah. I I guess that could be done.
T.C.:Yeah. That's what I'm saying. And making this a period piece, like, not making it 2020 in this movie, saying it's 1993, filming like it's '19 I say this, the same thing I said about Die Hard one, which was our very first episode. Yeah. John McTerran is still alive.
T.C.:He's one of the greatest action movie directors of all time.
Jim:Yeah.
T.C.:Get him involved. He made Predator. He made Die Hard. Let him do this. Yeah.
T.C.:May maybe he's too old and he's lost his, like, Richard Downer and and Spielberg who are legends, but they show their age in Like, the films they give it to the Deadpool guys. Give it to Give
Jim:it to
T.C.:us. Give it to us. The thing I wouldn't wanna do is is too much jokes. Like, Shane Black doing the predator, which is the most recent one. His movie was butchered by the studio, so we don't even know what he wanted to make.
T.C.:But even what we got had too many jokes and and too many one lines, too many yeah. And that's that's not I want a traditional it's 1983, so I don't have to worry about the escalation of cinema for the next two decades. Yeah. I don't know. What do think?
T.C.:What do think?
Jim:I I like I like what we came up with. The the casting was is totally a surprise, but I'm I I think that can work.
T.C.:I yeah. I'd I'd I'm gonna I I will throw that to Eddie as our as our studio demander.
Jim:Mhmm.
T.C.:But also to the listeners themselves to to like, did we miss something here? Is there is there an element of the predator of predator and predator two that we didn't quite hit on. I I feel like this we we
Jim:I mean, I'll I'll do a whole another episode talking about this. I will talk about the predator all day
T.C.:long. Well, you you have a demand for alien versus predator.
Jim:Yeah.
T.C.:Which It was So we will come back to this. Oh, we will. And the question will be
Jim:It's gonna be re well No. No. It's different enough. It is different enough. Okay.
T.C.:This is what I'll say for if someone wants to make that demand of you as opposed to you just pulling it from the bucket. I would say the question would be, is your AVP a sequel to our Predator three, or is it completely independent of this new universe we've created? You don't have to think about that right
Jim:I can tell you. It would need to be modified to be either of those. It was specifically it was specifically, okay, if the studio is going to demand an Alien versus Predator that takes place in the modern day Mhmm. What would it what would it look like? Mhmm.
Jim:And I I made that because I didn't want that. I wanted the I wanted an adaptation of the comic Okay. Which takes place in the in the future where where aliens are Mhmm. Rather than making aliens contemporary to to modern day Earth.
T.C.:Yeah. Well, the the Alien franchise has been drilled into the ground. So there there is an option here for us to return to aliens, to return to AVP, to to maybe even go into another Predator film. Yes. But we will wait for that episode and that demand.
Jim:That is not this episode.
T.C.:That is not this episode. So, I think we've done it.
Jim:I think so.
T.C.:I think we have
Jim:That's our pitch.
T.C.:That is our pitch for predator three, which would be the title.
Jim:It would be.
T.C.:I love numbered numbered titles. Don't get enough of those anymore. And I understand that the philosophy behind them is that when you have,
Jim:yeah, a seven movie see part seven Yeah.
T.C.:I gotta
Jim:see haven't seen the previous ones.
T.C.:So I get that. But I think that does it for this episode. Eddie, let us know how we did. You can add us. So let's do the social stuff.
T.C.:You can find us at studiodemands.com, or you can send us a demand. We're on Apple Podcast, Google Play. We I don't know if we're on Spotify yet. The the algorithm is real tough for us on that. So keep an eye out for future Spotify locations.
T.C.:I should stop mentioning
Jim:it this point.
T.C.:Yeah. I should erase it from the script. You can also fight us find us on Twitter and Instagram at Studio Demands It, so like and subscribe. And if you feel like giving us a little review on Apple Podcasts, that would help get the show into more people's ear holes, which And
Jim:don't don't say so timidly. Hey. Hey. We'd really appreciate that. Thanks.
T.C.:It's all we've ever wanted in life. Yeah. I will feel unfulfilled until until it happens. So and Jim will as well. Yes.
T.C.:Yes. So give us a review even if it's a bad one. You can find me at t c's big head on Twitter and Instagram, also on Facebook if you
Jim:wanna find me there. Jim? Jim's at Tupac Waxon on the Twitters.
T.C.:On the Twitters.
Jim:You can find me at James Burzelic on Facebook, but I probably won't friend you because I'm a big old weirdo on there.
T.C.:A huge shout out to Six Five Media for giving us this platform. Go check out everything Six Five Media has been creating. New season of another Zelda podcast is in full effect right now, along with some other amazing content from our fellow six fivers.
Jim:Yep. That's good. That's what they're called.
T.C.:That's it for this episode. We will be back again for another challenge to improve the world of cinema. Do have any final thoughts? No. Cool.
T.C.:I am T.C.
Jim:What the hell are you? No. I'm trying to do a Predator quote. I'm Jim.
T.C.:You are one ugly mother. Not you. I know. Now you're insulting I mean, you're dead in the eye. Predator quotes.
T.C.:Alright. That's it for this episode. We'll see you guys next time. Billy. Billy.
T.C.:Get to the chopper.