S2 EP05 | Mother Goose Cinematic Universe
S2 #5

S2 EP05 | Mother Goose Cinematic Universe

T.C. and Jim build a classic cinematic universe using the characters from Mother Goose rhymes. @StudioDemandsIt on Instagram and @StudioDemandsIt on Twitter | studiodemandsit.comThis has been a production of Sixfive Media 2020
T.C.:

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. In particular, we complain about the choices that films we've seen make that exists because some soulless corporate hack cobble together a collection of boardroom mandated buzzwords and test audience approved action sequences and characters and product placement and all that fun stuff. And with more hubris than those shrills.

T.C.:

Shrills. Shrills. Shills. Shrills. We're the shrills.

T.C.:

We Shrills tonight. We know we can do 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 those screenwriters for this episode. I am T.

T.C.:

C. De Witt, and joining me as always is my cohost, Jim Burzelic.

Jim:

That's me.

T.C.:

That's you. That's me.

Jim:

Good old Hot Wings.

T.C.:

Oh, Hot Wings. This episode is not brought to you by Hot Wings, though we wouldn't say no to a sponsorship. How are doing, Jim?

Jim:

I'm okay. How are you?

T.C.:

Disappointed we didn't get burgers. No. No. Not not just any burger. Have I have I

Jim:

don't I don't think you you've pro, promoted our burger of choice.

T.C.:

Our burger of choice. So we're we're out here.

Jim:

I mean, you did last last time. I don't I don't even remember. So then I'm gonna do it again. Okay. Here we go.

T.C.:

Out here in Los Angeles, we have, many a burger place to choose from.

Jim:

It nationwide.

T.C.:

It Five Guys is nationwide nationwide? Well, out here, everyone seems to think In N Out is the best burger there is. I'm saying In N Out isn't any good, but Five Guys is so much better. And now that all my California listeners have have declared to the podcast. Blasphemy for declaring such a thing.

T.C.:

In N Out is fine. It's fine. But it's not as good as everyone claims it is. Right?

Jim:

It's really good.

T.C.:

That's fine.

Jim:

And more specifically to me, there is there is something about it that is addictive. That that's just like that keeps me coming back. There's there's no, like, individual flavor that I feel

T.C.:

It's the cream.

Jim:

Is like, oh, this this is why this burger is the best. It's just you eat the burger, and they're like, okay. I guess that's a fine burger. I really want another.

T.C.:

Well, that's how I feel about Five Guys.

Jim:

Well, but Five Guys Five Guys is different. Five Guys is like, this is a very juicy burger, and they they pile it with the toppings. And

T.C.:

Mhmm.

Jim:

You just, ugh, just eat it. And then the like, every bite is is This episode is brought

T.C.:

to by Five Guys.

Jim:

And then you'd love to sponsorship. And you're like, I need to eat more of that.

T.C.:

Num. Num. Num.

Jim:

Whereas, like, right I don't know if I don't know if maybe the difference is subtle, but with Five Guys, like, oh, that was so good. I would need to eat more. With In N Out, it's that was that was a good burger. Mhmm. It's fine.

T.C.:

It was it doesn't make with

Jim:

me my meal.

T.C.:

It doesn't make me

Jim:

go,

T.C.:

that's a tasty burger.

Jim:

She no. I'm saying that. I'm disparaging it, but, honestly, that was my reaction the first time I had In N Out as well.

T.C.:

Maybe I'm wrong. Oh. Maybe I'm wrong. I don't know. I think but we didn't even get burgers until we had hotways because the whole world is still shut down.

T.C.:

Yeah. Understandably so. I hope everybody is safe and and and maintaining self isolation, self quarantine, and social distancing. We were in a place where there were 10 people. Like, when we went to get wings tonight, we were everyone was very spaced out

Jim:

Yep.

T.C.:

Except me and Jim holding hands.

Jim:

Yeah.

T.C.:

But we've we're together anyways. Yeah. And

Jim:

It's how we exchange protein strands.

T.C.:

And then two people came in, and they had the the manager to be like, sorry. Because of the pandemic Y'all gotta wait outside. Gotta wait outside. And then she spit on you.

Jim:

Yep. And then she spit on me. So that's the end of me.

T.C.:

That's Jim's going down, down, down. Jim is going you're looking at the spot.

Jim:

Yeah. Well, no. I saw a silver hair on my arm. What? I have a silver hair.

T.C.:

It's from the spittle. That's that is Likely. You are slowly deteriorating Mhmm. Like a White Walker, Game of Thrones style. Yeah.

T.C.:

Alright. Let's get

Jim:

I was I was thinking, alien alien blood. Yeah. But, but we'll go white walker. I'll do that.

T.C.:

That's fine.

Jim:

You've I don't remember spit being involved with the white walker.

T.C.:

There's no spit involved with the white walker. Right?

Jim:

There is now. You just did that.

T.C.:

We've rewritten Tell George tell George that you you rewritten r r Martin.

Jim:

Your ice zombies spit on people, and they become ice zombies.

T.C.:

Oh, okay. That'd be interesting.

Jim:

How it works.

T.C.:

How come vampires like, the okay. So vampires bite and they can create ghouls or they can create new vampires. Right? And zombies bite and they can create new zombies or just kill people. Right?

T.C.:

Mhmm. What is it that is inherently sexual about vampire bites but not about zombie bites? What it's it's a very similar concept of, like, the bite, but vampires are inherently sexual.

Jim:

Well, vampires don't it's not about consuming flesh. Mhmm. It's about sucking blood. Mhmm. So it's much more like an actual embrace or like a kiss Yeah.

Jim:

Or making out or or anything like that, you know, sex. Mhmm. Whereas zombies, it's consumption. It's like, it it it's eating a thing. It's it's tearing flesh.

Jim:

It's it's tearing away

T.C.:

Yeah.

Jim:

Bits and consuming it. But why both biting? Because werewolves do werewolves bite as well.

T.C.:

Yeah. But do do does a werewolf bite become make you become a werewolf?

Jim:

It depends. Totally uses to

T.C.:

segue into our topic for today. Sorry.

Jim:

Depending on which variation you use. Yeah.

T.C.:

Okay. Because I thought it was a a werewolf scratch that did it in some lore. In some. Okay. Right.

T.C.:

Well, like Or you're born with it, like Like,

Jim:

with different zombies, just getting bit or scratched Mhmm. Doesn't turn you. You have to die. Mhmm. Whereas other ones, it is just as anything as small as a scratch, and you're automatically infected.

T.C.:

Okay.

Jim:

And then vampires, there's a bunch of different lures there. Right? Like, some are if they suck your blood, you turn into a vampire. Others are if you drink their blood, you turn into a vampire. Sweet and sweet.

Jim:

Are fluids. They have to visit you three times before turning you.

T.C.:

Was that Bram Stoker's Bram

Jim:

Stoker's rule? It that one relates more to Mhmm. To the the, yeah, the original Bram Stoker's.

T.C.:

It's just a fascinating question on there.

Jim:

Like Sure. Now we've previously discussed Can you make a zombie bite sexual? Sure. Sure. You just gotta write your story that way.

Jim:

Sexy zombies. I once read a story from the point of view of a zombie where he was just in love with the world Mhmm. And he wanted to kiss things. And he was just yeah. And that's

T.C.:

and yeah. Just giving you a kiss.

Jim:

That's in a, it's a collection of short stories called, the book of all

T.C.:

flesh Mhmm.

Jim:

Which is an anthology of zombie short stories from an old role playing game called all flesh must be eaten. That that's that's, I guess, the closest I I get to a plug. It's it is one the food places. It's one of the greatest collections of zombie short story. Short stories in general.

Jim:

I loved that collection.

T.C.:

What what is it called again?

Jim:

The the well, the first one's called the book of all there's there's three there ended up being three of them. Mhmm. The book of all flesh, the book of more flesh, and the book of final flesh.

T.C.:

Oh, okay. And it's just do they all exist in one universe, or is it just any zombie story you wanna tell with your own rules?

Jim:

Yeah. Okay. The the second. So The because it's it's based well, it it's from the premise of the role playing game, all flesh must be eaten Mhmm. Which is sort of a general zombie rule book.

Jim:

It didn't have a single world. It had in in the back of that main core book, there were 12 what they called dead worlds. And then every expansion they'd come out with would have more dead worlds

T.C.:

that you could play. Scenarios. It could be the twenty eight days later universe. It could be the night of living dead universe. It could be warm babies.

Jim:

In one there's, like, a one of one of them was an alien invasion, so it's it's like plan nine from outer space.

T.C.:

Nice.

Jim:

Except when the aliens come down, they raise the dead. Right? So you get a whole plan nine slash life force type thing going on. Force. Yep.

Jim:

Another one was, like a like, it was a curse. God. And, the dead in the in the swamps rise, so they're actually, like, plant zombies. Mhmm. And then they they attack the cities and and over overrun them.

Jim:

In another, it's caused by a demonic STD. Woah. Like like, it's initially caused by this dude who's

T.C.:

Of course.

Jim:

I don't know.

T.C.:

Mean, it seems like

Jim:

a different story. Oh, yeah. Well, it was it wasn't a frat boy. It was it was some nerdy guy basically conjured a love potion through infernal means and used it on someone and in so doing also contracted an STD and the combination of the the the potion and the STD

T.C.:

Created.

Jim:

Ended up creating this zombie plague. And those are, what, I think three of the 12 dead worlds in that core book.

T.C.:

And Yeah.

Jim:

I'm that that company has just kind of disappeared, and that's sad. And because that was that was an amazing game.

T.C.:

That's too bad. What was the game called again?

Jim:

That game was called All Flesh Must Be Eat.

T.C.:

All Flesh Must Be Eat. You know, it's a damn shame. I have been I have pocketed I have pocketed, a demand specifically for a guest that would involve this conversation. Oh, yeah. And we won't be able to do it tonight because that's not what we're doing tonight.

T.C.:

So, unfortunately, that's just a tease for things to come Right. At least for me. So where do we begin? Let's get to our demand for the episode. Our success, be it as it might be.

T.C.:

I need to reword that.

Jim:

Be it as it may?

T.C.:

Maybe as it may. Phrase. Very good.

Jim:

Be as it not although I do like Might be. Be as it might be.

T.C.:

As either podcasters or screenwriters has given us a lovely growing collection of demands from our from studios literally all over the world. And these studios, are you the listeners who have submitted your requests at studiodemandsit.com, or you've sent us a demand through Twitter or Facebook or direct messages. Thank you, my friends. To demand anything you'd like, a movie, a TV show, whatever. And you also get to name your studio.

T.C.:

So thank you all for your submissions. We've been having fun with these.

Jim:

Mhmm.

T.C.:

A lot of fun with the season two here, is up and running, and we're having a great time here. But today, what do we have today? Well, this comes from, I wanna say, unfettered entertainment. Is that the Yeah. That's that's the okay.

T.C.:

And, there the demand here is is pretty simple, and I feel like we didn't have a lot of restrictions. So if you'd like to throw some restrictions in right out of the gate here

Jim:

Oh.

T.C.:

What we have been asked to create actually, you know what? People already know because they see the title of this episode. Where did this come from?

Jim:

So we were waiting for our food, and T.C. Was looking at his phone and talking about something he saw on his phone. And I could've swore I heard him say Humpty Dumpty, and my mind stun started wandering. And I was imagining Humpty Dumpty in in an Avengers type movie. And I'm like, oh, who would the other Avengers be?

Jim:

It'd be other, like, Mother Goose or or or or Brothers Grimm, I guess Yeah. Characters. I I did initially say Mother Goose.

T.C.:

I did initially are say that's

Jim:

I actually don't know the difference. So I was gonna try to open it up to to allow myself some more room because I don't know the difference Sure. Between Mother Goose, Brothers Grimm. I know the difference between, like, Aesop. But Right.

Jim:

Let's throw Aesop in there too.

T.C.:

So I did not say Humpty Dumpty, but as soon as you started spouting and fairy fables, basically. We'll we'll get to that. But you even suggesting such a thing, I got my gear spinning. I'm like, oh, man. We should do that.

T.C.:

So from unfettered entertainment with zero demands at this point other than the premise, It is the Mother Goose Cinematic Universe. Yes.

Jim:

Yeah. Because because I did also imagine it. Like, it doesn't have to be a singular movie. Mhmm. This is And and, like so I don't have and this this is kinda cheating.

Jim:

It's not that I have, these are the demands. It's more I have sort of general ideas.

T.C.:

Mhmm.

Jim:

And and and and I'm not sure how fun of a thing this would even be. Like, I'm imagine I'm trying to imagine something that would be akin to a superhero genre, it's not for little kids.

T.C.:

Right.

Jim:

Little kids might enjoy it the way kids enjoy the superhero movies now. But it would be sort sort of more of an all ages kinda thing. And I don't know how I don't know if you could really do something like that. Like, the moment you have, like, an egg running around on screen with, you know, a cat and some boots.

T.C.:

Shrek is a very successful franchise.

Jim:

It's a very successful franchise, which lots of people of all ages enjoy

T.C.:

Mhmm.

Jim:

But it is a children's franchise.

T.C.:

Sure. So in in your head, is this Cinematic Universe PG 13, and you're looking at live action, or are you going anim animated here? Because that's my fur my first

Jim:

question is I I wanna you pitch you you tell me. What what are what are you gonna bring that's going to appease the studio?

T.C.:

Okay. Well, I I would

Jim:

say is this is even harder. Right? Because I this is I don't know what I want. Right. You I know what I don't want, though.

T.C.:

This is this is the very definition of what we do just hanging out, which is Yeah. Posit some idea and brainstorm the hell out of it. Mhmm. So this might not technically be something anyone particularly demanded, but this is a product that already exists in many forms. Okay.

T.C.:

Okay? So, some of you might be hearing this and think of I I mentioned Shrek. That's a perfect example of of delving into the fairy tale world. It hadn't even crossed my mind till we were discussing it right here. Mhmm.

T.C.:

A lot of you listening some of you listening might be fans of the series once upon a time. Mhmm. I am not a fan of once upon a time, Jim. And now let me tell you why.

Jim:

Well, once upon a time is actually more about the Disney catalog

T.C.:

Well, yes.

Jim:

Than But

T.C.:

not that wasn't the original intent nor was it the original intent before the intent. So ABC did once upon a time. Mhmm. They had originally optioned one of the greatest comic book series of all time, fables

Jim:

Yes.

T.C.:

Which is a a gritty r rated not not r rated, like, I'm trying to think of, like, a like a disgusting Eli Roth, Quentin Tarantino style r rated, but just in, like, people This is for grown ups. Yes. It's it's a it's mature content, and it's It's

Jim:

the Arch Deluxe. You know? Good old Wow.

T.C.:

Deep deep reference. Google that, everyone. Google the commercials for that. Google the commercials, not even just, like, looking up the product. What was in the Archeluck?

T.C.:

Was there bacon in What?

Jim:

There was there was a bacon patty. Oh my god. It was it wasn't it it was this circular piece of bacon they would Oh,

T.C.:

the arch deluxe of comic books is Fables. So Fables is it starts out with just a whodunit and turns into Lord of the Rings. It's this all expand it all and it utilizes the Brothers Grimm's characters, the Mother Goose character, all the fairy tale Mhmm. Fable characters that have existed all around

Jim:

the said that earlier not to invoke the title of the comic,

T.C.:

but Yes. Yes.

Jim:

Of category of story.

T.C.:

Like, Aesop Aesop Fables Yeah. Or even, like, uncle Remus in the the Briar Rabbit, Briar Fox Yeah. Take on, yes, arguably a very racist caricature of Disney movie. We're not going there. Just did.

T.C.:

Stopping. Backing up. Fables was optioned by ABC to become a series, and then they quickly realized, oh, wait. These characters are public domain. Why would we bother paying, Bill Willingham and Vertigo to adapt this despite Warner Brothers owning ABC.

T.C.:

No. Disney owns ABC. Strike that. So they decided, like, oh, even though we've been developing this for six months, nine months, or whatever, we're actually gonna cancel Fables as a TV series. And then immediately turned around and hired Carlton Keus to develop Once Upon a Time.

T.C.:

And so I always felt a I always have had a huge chip on my shoulder that ABC did that. Because now if Fables wanted to exist, it would have to oh, this is just once upon a time, and that's annoying to me. Maybe not now.

Jim:

Well, so you

Jim:

well, you're right. Because it's been a it's been a handful of years. Also, I can see how you can make it different.

T.C.:

Oh, sure. I mean, fables and once spent time in premise very

Jim:

much like ABC.

T.C.:

Oh, sure. And and fables would be much suited on, like, Showtime or HBO or AMC, Fox Mhmm. FX. Yeah. So so that being said, to back all the up to the point of this is that this idea of drawing all these characters together has certainly been presented in one fashion or another.

T.C.:

So Sure. The trick here now is how do we make this a fresh take on this? What I even remember Mother Goose Rock and Rhyme, which was a a TV movie from Disney that was all, like, Little Richard was in it and, like, Shelley Duvall and, like, like, weird late eighties actors and singers Sure. Playing characters. Yeah.

Jim:

Actually, that does sound familiar.

T.C.:

Yeah. The main character was Jack Goose. It was Mother Goose's son. And spoiler for this movie, no one has seen nor will ever see. He he hates his mom.

T.C.:

Like, he he he doesn't hate his mom. He just does not want anything to do with her fairy tales and things like that.

Jim:

That's old parent stuff. I'm young and cool kid.

T.C.:

And he's jealous that he is associated with all our creations, and he's just Jack Goose, only to discover that he was her very first story, and it was bad. Like, she wrote she wrote Jack Goose as this story, and it was so bad that she, like, hid it away.

Jim:

Oh, god. That's how villains are born.

T.C.:

Jack Goose. So Mother Goose Rock and Rhyme. Google that one too.

Jim:

Oh, man. That that sounds sad.

T.C.:

The the one joke I remember from that is he gets sent to the dungeon, and he's, like, chained up against two guys. Uh-huh. And and I remember the I think it's Martin Short playing one of them. He was like, they always say dungeons are dark and dank, but what does dank mean? Although, I you know, you're gonna tell

Jim:

me what dank means. Right. I went to school for for words, so I know what dank means. It's a bad joke.

T.C.:

Yeah. Oh, darn you. Mother Goose rock and rhyme. So where where where to go with this? Do you think that there is a a way to have a MCU equivalent of fairy tale characters.

Jim:

So maybe

T.C.:

Oh, it's

Jim:

not rejecting the notion of it being a kid's, kid's movie is is the wrong way to go. Maybe it could be. Maybe it should be. Mhmm. And then you just build it in such a way that you can then do your your your combo movie.

Jim:

Mhmm. Right? Because if it is gonna be a universe, it needs to be it needs to consist of several other, main title characters kinda coming together.

T.C.:

What's your core team? I just thought two other examples of this, Hoodwinked, which is an animated movie. Great. One. It's not Pixar.

T.C.:

It's not Disney. It's not DreamWorks. It's not even Illumination. I can't remember who made it, but it's a it's a it's almost a kid's pulp fiction with, like

Jim:

It is. It's it's it's kind of a a it's done in a a pseudo noir fashion.

T.C.:

There's Yeah.

Jim:

There's a mystery that's happened, and they're investigating what's going on. But animated I remember I went to see it, and I was like, well, that wasn't good.

T.C.:

I don't remember it being amazing, but I remember it being like, oh, hey. Noble effort from that Disney.

Jim:

For sure. And it did get a sequel. Yeah. So what do I know?

T.C.:

No. None of the voice actors returned, so maybe you know everything. Another example of what we're trying to do here is Arcania. Is that the name of it's How to Train Your Dragon and DreamWorks Troll Hunters on Netflix exist in the same universe, but separated by decades. Interesting.

T.C.:

So there there's a bit of a a an expanded universe there in terms of the how to train your dragon universe. So okay. So where where to begin here? I think animated might be the way to go because live action.

Jim:

Well, because I did have one other further out idea, and it it takes this notion of Mother Goose, and it abstracts it.

T.C.:

Okay.

Jim:

And, the the place I end up going is is pretty sci fi. So for example

T.C.:

Paul Simon played, Simple Simon, met a Paimon. He played the Paimon. Sorry. Go ahead. Mother Goose Rock and Rhyme.

T.C.:

I just remembered that. Go ahead.

Jim:

And and so instead, you you make it a sci fi thing, and Humpty Dumpty is actually like a guy in a big robot suit. Oh, okay. Or is a robot himself.

T.C.:

Does it look like fifth element kind of

Jim:

robot? Sure. Yeah.

T.C.:

Okay. What do the robots look like? They're like the the the the they look like

Jim:

Oh, those weren't those were aliens. They they were they were type they were just very large suits.

T.C.:

Robots. Yeah. They could

Jim:

they could yeah. The way they they kinda trundle they'd trundle through, and then it turns out that there's a bunch of Lulu Dallas' living inside them. Lulu Dallas mother guys.

T.C.:

So you're you're suggesting taking all these notions and sticking them into essentially a Star Wars kinda universe?

Jim:

Possibly.

T.C.:

Okay.

Jim:

That that's another way to go. I don't if that doesn't appeal, we can just, you know,

T.C.:

abandon The the this is important for structuring this. Like, if we set it in a a fairy tale esque world like Shrek, or if we set it in a sci fi world like Star Wars and create sort like, analogs for Yeah. For these tales, You're I I think a fairy tale world would be harder to sell as a sin as, like, a mainstream cinematic movie, and and it feels like a Disney movie.

Jim:

It does. And and

T.C.:

and And I don't mean like a I mean like a Disney Channel movie.

Jim:

Yeah. It will and that definitely ends up being something more where, it's definitely gonna be for kids. Like, okay. Let's make let's make a Humpty Dumpty movie. Right?

Jim:

And he goes on an adventure, and he's an egg, and there's a wall. And I don't know what the premise is there and how you interact with the story of him breaking and not being able to be put back together.

T.C.:

Right.

Jim:

And then you come out with a Jack and the Beanstalk movie. Mhmm. And you do that three or four times, and then you finally bring it all together with Mother Goose. And then you have all

Jim:

these oh, no. All the characters are coming together. Now we're gonna watch them go

Jim:

on a

T.C.:

It's like the Avengers.

Jim:

Fairy tale adventure.

T.C.:

Avengers fairy tale edition. Yeah. So animated, I feel like that that is possible. Live action feels more like it would be it would be very much a kid's movie, whereas if you animated this the idea that you said it's sci fi, now I'm feeling like, okay. That actually could work more as live action because of the the alien nature

Jim:

of But at that point, like like, how much are we circumventing the spirit of the

T.C.:

The demand.

Jim:

The demand.

T.C.:

True. Yeah. But then but then there goes in the setting it in modern day, which once upon a time did, which Fabulous did, which even Hoodwink gave it a very modern day spin on it. Right? Not to say we couldn't present those ideas in a modern setting, but what's the most appealing, I guess, to you or to I guess, I

Jim:

guess, as well. You're saying once we point out all of these different things, what if we did do a a sci fi spin on this? Even even if it remains animated, even if it remains for children Mhmm. We we it's it's just set in space.

T.C.:

And it's and it's the presentation of now how far are we taking these Mother Goose? Are you thinking, like, Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, and Humpty Dumpty, and, the three little pigs? Is that see, and now now we're just, like, now we're testing our knowledge of, like, what counts as Mother Goose? The cat and the fiddle jumping over the moon, or do we expand it out to, the brothers Grimm, and you get Cinderella in there, and you get, Jack and the Beanstalk. Jack and

Jim:

the Beanstalk was Grimm?

T.C.:

I'd actually, was he? I

Jim:

mean I don't know.

T.C.:

Let's find out. And the Beanstalk. Jack

Jim:

and the Beanstalk the podcast.

T.C.:

Google the podcast. It is not oh, okay. So it's an old English fairy tale. It's not credited to any To either? Oh, yeah.

T.C.:

It's not the Grimms. It's not the it's not Mother Goose. Did

Jim:

did Fables I don't even know if they ever did that one. Did they make because I know they have Jack from Jack be nimble Mhmm. Or nimble nimble Jack. Mhmm. I know they have him in Fables.

Jim:

Did they just make him the same Jack that goes up the beanstalk?

T.C.:

Yes. All the all the Jack tails Jack Yeah.

Jim:

Is that guy.

T.C.:

Yeah. And there's a character named John Quick because in some translations, the translations translated Jack to John, thus creating a dark haired version of the exact same guy who he does not like. Jack does not like John.

Jim:

Well, that make that makes sense.

T.C.:

So let's let's let's expand this into encompassing fairy tales and and the Sure. Aesop fables and

Jim:

And a folk folktale Yeah. Kind of

T.C.:

So, like, Rip Van Winkle could be in there as well. I mean, hell, there you go.

Jim:

That's

T.C.:

that that could be your Paul Bunyan? No. We're going to American American tales. Even even using Rip Van Winkle as our focal point character of of introducing a fairy tale esque world where Rip Van Winkle falls asleep, and he doesn't sleep for a hundred years. He sleeps for, like, a millennia or,

Jim:

like, a hundred He wakes up under a digital tree.

T.C.:

Yeah. He he wakes up and and it's the future. And so we honestly, thinking of what exists already

Jim:

That that's not bad for and then he's the he's kinda the entryway.

T.C.:

Yeah. He's our he's our audience.

Jim:

Yeah. That's what it is. He's he's our eyes into this new world.

T.C.:

Yeah. And it's not and I think we're by creating sci fi animated or live action, we're sort of going to a place that I don't quite think has been gone to before.

Jim:

I don't believe so.

T.C.:

I'm sure someone right now is like, there's an anime that does does exactly this. I'm like, well, I'm sorry. I didn't know that. So so, yeah, let's let's and and picking someone like Rip Van Winkle of all characters as our

Jim:

As our every man or not every man. Yeah.

T.C.:

Our audience every man. Our audience analog avatar. Mhmm. So what other characters did we drop? You said Humpty Dumpty enough, so I feel like we have

Jim:

Well right. Because well, that was the that was the thing that instigated the whole the the this whole episode.

T.C.:

So You thought I said Humpty Dumpty. I did. So do yeah. Okay. So there's our there's our first story.

T.C.:

We send Rip Van Winkle into the future, and he it's it's a sci fi world. It's it could be it could be almost risk being no more generic than

Jim:

Okay. So the first plot that comes to mind is Humpty Dumpty is actually some sort of, not an autocrat, some sort of, like, major important politician.

T.C.:

Okay. And he gets assassinated. Woah. Okay.

Jim:

But whatever type of people he is. Right? Like, we think, oh, he's an egg. Yeah. No.

Jim:

It's that's He's just

T.C.:

an alien that looks egg like.

Jim:

And no one knows how to how to put him back together. Not that that's Right. Or no one knows enough about his physiology to to fix him. So he's, like, stuck on life support or something. And somehow, Rip is is what what's the word?

Jim:

Not enrolled, but

T.C.:

Recruited?

Jim:

Yeah. Basically, to to go on this adventure to find out how to put him back. Find someone knows how to put him

T.C.:

back horses. You know, the king's men. Rip's first question. Why did you let the horses try? And then the horses come in.

T.C.:

They're an alien.

Jim:

And they're they're doctors. Excuse me. That is I have a That is

T.C.:

that is unbelievable. I did not go through eight years of horse medical school to be treated like this. Who is this guy? I'm sorry. I'm from a different time.

Jim:

That's that's so horrible it's going in.

T.C.:

So Rip great name for a main character, by the way. Rip Rip Van Winkle is our is our time traveling hero in this assassination of Humpty Dumpty. Doesn't have to be that. No. That's first thing that came

Jim:

to mind.

T.C.:

No. This is great. The yoke's on us. We are going to do it. Yes.

T.C.:

Thank you.

Jim:

Did not You're welcome. No. You're welcome. No. Look.

Jim:

This is a shell of a

T.C.:

good time that we're having right now. We're gonna Get them all out.

Jim:

It's gonna it's gonna they're gonna they're just gonna keep coming.

T.C.:

He okay. So we have to team him up with someone then. There has to be some

Jim:

At least at least one other Yeah.

T.C.:

Like person. Like someone who

Jim:

Who knows their way around this place.

T.C.:

Yeah. I why would you recruit a time traveler from a 100 millennia ago to be And I don't know. I mean, we've we've just merged into a territory that I didn't intend to, but we would either lampshade it or just acknowledge, like, we know it's similar, but move on. Fry from Futurama slept for a

Jim:

thousand years. Honestly, I think as awesome as that comparison is, I don't think enough people know.

T.C.:

Okay.

Jim:

Then fine. If you know about Futurama, good on you. Good for you. If you don't, what is wrong? Go go watch it.

Jim:

Go watch it right now. Watch that.

T.C.:

It's like the Simpsons. Right? Yeah. So Rip needs to be recruited by someone. What other

Jim:

well fairytale. Would he get, recruited? Well

T.C.:

He could be

Jim:

Maybe, like, he solves some puzzle that they they decide, oh, you know what you're talking about. What he's talking about.

Jim:

We need you to solve this mystery.

T.C.:

This is how the egg people talk.

Jim:

No. He's he's in a coma. Okay. He can't talk.

Jim:

This is just other random people in the world.

T.C.:

Horse doctors. Random people talk with a weird affectation.

Jim:

These these are the king's men.

T.C.:

Oh. Oh, good.

Jim:

Good.

T.C.:

Again, why did you like

Jim:

Horse doctors talk like this, and

Jim:

the king's men talk So like

T.C.:

he needs to be recruited by what who's a character in in this Mother Goose world that we could play with? The and who's our villain? Who tried to assassinate Humpty Dumpty?

Jim:

I don't remember it well, but there's a rhyme about a crooked man.

T.C.:

Oh, the the crooked man who walked a crooked mile.

Jim:

Yeah. That guy. Oh.

T.C.:

Yeah. The crooked man who

Jim:

walked a crooked man. Don't remember it enough to know if he's a a good person or a bad person.

T.C.:

There was a crooked man who walked a crooked mile. He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked style. He brought a he bought a crooked cat which caught a crooked mouse, and they all live together in a little crooked house. There's our bad guys, the crooked man with his cat and mouse henchmen.

Jim:

So the the first thing that occurs to me is, what's crooked about him is, oh, I guess, right, we're supposed to think initially that, like, he's bent. Mhmm. I I guess it could also mean that he is corrupt.

T.C.:

Some sort of alien who's physically crooked and also he's corrupt bounty shit.

Jim:

But I was thinking

T.C.:

a political thriller out

Jim:

We are.

T.C.:

In the future.

Jim:

A future political sci fi political what

T.C.:

people love? If I'm remembering my cinematic history correctly Yeah. It's sci fi with a lot of weird characters that really delves into politics. I mean, people love

Jim:

We wanna see the filibuster.

T.C.:

We love the prequels, don't we?

Jim:

So much. But I was I was thinking crooked could actually refer to an ability he has that allows him to, sort of move sideways between the world. He essentially teleport.

T.C.:

Oh, okay. Cool.

Jim:

So he the and that that's how he got into assassinating.

T.C.:

He, like, he he assassinated. Okay. So then

Jim:

Because in in the world that that moves a b c d Mhmm. He moves crooked.

T.C.:

Nice. Okay. I like that. But that makes him

Jim:

was the idea.

T.C.:

That makes him an assassin, not, like, the big Yeah.

Jim:

Sure.

Jim:

Because you know what people

T.C.:

love to be that way. Is when a big bad hires an assassin to kill a politician. Yeah. I'm sorry.

Jim:

Drill a hole in the glass. Put a centipede in there. Let that No.

T.C.:

No. What you do is you, as the big bad, hire your lieutenant to hire a bounty hunter Uh-huh. Who hires a bounty hunter

Jim:

Uh-huh.

T.C.:

Who uses a robot Uh-huh. Who drops in a bug Yeah. To kill a senator. Uh-huh. Not convoluted.

T.C.:

That's all. The crooked man tried to kill Humpty Dumpty. Could Rip Van Winkle just be a cop from the past to to kinda to kinda create a reason why he'd be, like Sure. If if he just was already a lawman. Mhmm.

T.C.:

And and so he's like, I'm or does that give him too much agency to instead of being along for the ride, like, fish out water?

Jim:

Have to do a whole, like, he wakes up and is like, no. I'm still licensed. Right?

T.C.:

This is my jurisdiction. Oh, we respect that. So maybe not. We he I like the idea that he maybe solves something or figures out something that, they're like, oh, this guy knows what he's talking about.

Jim:

Mhmm.

T.C.:

Hey. You, our other main character, are now gonna work with this who who are you again? Rip.

Jim:

So who who else go I Red Riding Hood always kinda seems like the a default.

T.C.:

It's a good default. I feel like they that she's I love that we picked Rip Van Winkle and the crooked man in Humpty Dumpty. This feels like now granted Humpty Dumpty was the bad guy in the Puss in Boots movie, which I wanna acknowledge. But Okay. We're creating him as the victim here.

T.C.:

He's basically what launches the plot. But Rip Van Winkle versus the crooked man, who would have picked that out of, like, throwing darts at a wall? So I like so instead of Red Riding Hood, and I'm not saying she can't pop up somewhere, but I'm wondering if there's some other obscure

Jim:

I got I I'm I'm feeling it it it should be a a female.

T.C.:

Sure. Sure.

Jim:

Some sort. So the two that come to mind are Little Bo Peep Mhmm.

T.C.:

Or Little Miss Muffet. I like Little Bo Peep because she could have, like, a ton of, like, sheep drones that are, like like, she has a, like, a a a little mini army of, like, miniature what they look

Jim:

like sheep.

Jim:

That that could be

Jim:

a a fun character to encounter, but you think that should be the one that's that's traveling with Rick?

T.C.:

Well, miss Muffet is a is a fair throwing that out there as well, but what could you do with her? Like, what

Jim:

the the only thing that comes to mind like, it'd be a whole different it we're kinda turning to Rip Van Winkle now. I'm think imagining him as a PI. Right? Miss Muffet would would show up, and she's being stalked by a spider.

T.C.:

Wait. Wait. Wait. Okay. Now you're onto something there.

T.C.:

She is haunted by the memory of her partner getting murdered, much like Eddie from, like, Who Framed Roger Rabbit. So she's got, like, a, like, an inherent fear that a spider's gonna come get her, but we never see the spider. Like, there is

Jim:

no because right? Because we all only ever see, like, the silhouettes of its legs slowly moving in, and then later on, we find out that that was the crooked man?

T.C.:

Yeah. There you go. That's something right there. Like Okay. Miss Muffet is a is a, like, venerated cop and or space police force, and she's but she's been disgraced because her partner was killed at some point, and she's sorta I mean, depending which way we wanna go on this, she could have a candy addiction or she could just be an alcoholic is what I'm saying.

T.C.:

Right? And so it's it's miss Muffet and Rip Van Winkle crack it, trying to track down the assassination attempt, whoever attempted to assassinate Humpty Dumpty, and it's the crooked man. Who's he working for? Right? What's the what's the big plot here?

T.C.:

And so while you think of that, we're we're gonna take a quick break here of this utter ridiculousness that I am just can't help but smiling at

Jim:

acknowledge so I'm okay with the direction this is going. This isn't the original demand of an an Avengers style combination of things.

T.C.:

If we can make this if we can make Iron Man work, we can make the whole universe work.

Jim:

If we

T.C.:

can make this work.

Jim:

This is this is our Iron Man.

T.C.:

If we can make this work

Jim:

Okay.

T.C.:

We can

Jim:

Rip Van Winkle.

T.C.:

Rip Van

Jim:

no. What what was the name of the movie? Van Winkle.

T.C.:

Van Winkle? Van? Van we'll be right back.

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T.C.:

Rip. Rip. Rip. And then you just you made a fair point that you wonder if RIP Van Winkle was what the was the intention of the original.

Jim:

Possible. Right? Because because he slept for for an age. On on honestly, just outside of our our sci fi adventure here, actually, that'd be kind of fun to do a story about Rip Van Winkle, and it's not that he fell asleep. It's that he died, but he's either immortal or undead, and that's why he comes back after so much time.

T.C.:

Oh, man. I no. I I do like the idea that he wakes up in the future, but without an explanation that he just fell asleep and woke. That maybe something we can develop further in this franchise and even hint at in this is that he is immortal. That he is the immortal Rip Van Winkle Mhmm.

T.C.:

Which would make a great title for a future movie, like, down the

Jim:

that would. Right? Like so so that'd be the the the the second or third one?

T.C.:

Yeah. Like, the Rip.

Jim:

The the immortal Rip Van Winkle.

T.C.:

The immortal Rip Van Winkle. Yeah. So, getting him to the future without any explanation, like, what the heck happened? And maybe in this, like, in in at some point in the climax, if he gets, like, grievously injured grievously injured, but survives it and heals in some capacity, like, a bit like like the question of, like, how did Peter Quill hold this Infinity Stone and not die immediately.

Jim:

And we find out in the next one.

T.C.:

That he oh, he is half, quote, unquote, god. Yeah. Celestial. Celestial. Thank you.

T.C.:

So something like that. But who is the crooked man assassinating for? So who is the actual villain here?

Jim:

So

T.C.:

I didn't like

Jim:

miss Muppet. He could be. He could be the the actual villain.

T.C.:

Yeah. But then why would he then it would be sending the cat and the dog to the assassination. That's that's my thought.

Jim:

Sure.

T.C.:

Is that there needs

Jim:

to the dog is is the big bad wolf. Oh. The crooked dog is

T.C.:

Is the big bad wolf. Yeah. Alright. And and the crooked crooked mouse. No.

T.C.:

No. Sorry. Not the dog. The crooked cat and the crooked mouse.

Jim:

Mhmm. He

T.C.:

doesn't have a dog. I thought he'd He he bought a

Jim:

crooked cat cat and a mouse?

T.C.:

Yeah. Yeah. Well, then never mind. Yeah. Get out

Jim:

of Dumb idea.

T.C.:

Bad wolf. What's miss Muffet's deal? So she's she's a a venerated did you like my backstory for her? Sure. She's a venerated cop and has a thing against the alien equivalent of whatever spiders.

Jim:

Right. We keep going to this cop angle. I actually think it it would be something different because well, no. Actually, I was initially saying he's sent on a mission not to find out who did the assassination Mhmm. But to find out how to put him back together.

T.C.:

Okay. But fair, but wouldn't would part of that be, I don't know how to put him back together. So the best way to figure out to put him together is figure out how he fell apart, and he was fell fall fell apart because of an assassination. So what weapon was used, who did it, solve that could determine how to heal him. Right?

T.C.:

Sure. I think I think a whodunit's a pretty solid way to go here, the assassination mystery angle, which people love, by the way, in their side time, because I need to keep hammering that point, that there is a a political rival here that you we're we're creating a bit of espionage. We're creating a bit of spy work if you don't wanna go police work.

Jim:

I mean, Grant, this is going more into the political element of it, but maybe Humpty Dumpty falling apart is more than just him physically. Like, literally, he was some sort of politician that was negotiating some sort of, like, super space peace.

T.C.:

Like, some sort

Jim:

of bunch of different

T.C.:

between a bunch of different kingdoms. I keep joking about all these episode one and two things. I know. But if we can make it work.

Jim:

But he was he was negotiating a a peace between them. That's why so all the king's horses and all the king's men, it's not a singular king.

T.C.:

Yeah.

Jim:

It's literally these nations Oh. Begin fighting. Kings apostrophe. Yeah. Right?

Jim:

And so

T.C.:

Some sort

Jim:

of This this great peacemaker

T.C.:

Yeah.

Jim:

Is now taken out, and so war is starting to erupt again. Treaties are falling. I don't know why that was important for me to come back and revisit.

T.C.:

That's that's fine. But I think I think you you you started to go down a path, I you didn't take the avenue. But I'll say that his, like, injury that he's falling apart is his, like, deterioration of from the physical plane because the crooked man has the power to, like

Jim:

Oh, sure.

T.C.:

Transcend, like, realities, like, cut through and teleport to giant space.

Jim:

Important to find out who killed him?

T.C.:

There's a ticking clock now that he's he's not just that he's dying from his injure his injury, but he's, like, literally being erased.

Jim:

I I like that, and I think I wanna go with that, but I do have another idea that I wanted to throw out there. Mhmm. A little bit of wizard of oz. So it looks like Humpty Dumpty is dying, and what we find out at the end is his shell is just cracking away, and he's, metamorphosing into his his next phase.

T.C.:

Form. I don't know. I I think that that that sort of ruins the the Okay. You went on this whole mission and you were gonna be fine in the end.

Jim:

It's sort of The power was within you all alone.

T.C.:

It sort of undermines, I think Sure. Him being erased from reality because of the crooked man's weaponry.

Jim:

Okay.

T.C.:

And that yeah. That's as simple as that. We have we have Rip gets brought to the future. He's he fall he falls asleep and wakes up in the future.

Jim:

Mhmm.

T.C.:

He's a fish out of water for

Jim:

a

T.C.:

little bit. Assassination of Humpty Dumpty. He's able to determine something that they wouldn't consider. His his old world

Jim:

Yeah. Sensibility. The past is is more advanced.

T.C.:

And thus assigned to miss Muffet to work together to, a, figure out who did this, and, b, how do we save Humpty Dumpty.

Jim:

Sure.

T.C.:

Now I I Now she could

Jim:

also be because she was what what's the word? Not disbarred. Disgraced.

T.C.:

Disgraced. Yeah.

Jim:

Like, she could be a whole

Jim:

you gotta you gotta watch the the ambassador. You gotta watch Humpty Dumpty. Someone's coming after

Jim:

her late. Right? Because she she's haunted by the death of her partner, but she's also she she's the dogged investigator trying to find out who it is, this this shadowy spidery figure. Yeah. And her clues have led her the clues have led her to to, oh, no.

Jim:

Something's gonna happen to to the eggman. Mhmm. And so she's trying to warn them, but they're like, get out of here, you you partner loser. Balloon?

T.C.:

You don't know what you're talking about. You're crazy. You're crazy in your your red yarn. I like that that she's been investigating these, like, hits and assassinations in her priest district or whatever.

Jim:

Sure.

T.C.:

And she's just considered sort of a a nutcase, a disgraced Yeah. Cop. And so teaming her up, her her partner might as well be Bo Peep since you said it earlier.

Jim:

No. No. I I like the idea of including Bo Peep at some point later.

T.C.:

Her boy it could be the oh my god.

Jim:

Actually, if we're gonna do a cinematic universe here, she's gonna get her own movie.

T.C.:

Okay. Do you know who her partner should be? Who? The Boy Who Cried Wolf. That's who died.

T.C.:

Right?

Jim:

Oh, well, that that should be Bo Peeps.

T.C.:

No. No. I'm saying miss Muffet's partner was the boy who cried wolf.

Jim:

But he didn't how does that relate to a spider?

T.C.:

It doesn't matter. It just You

Jim:

already said there's no crooked dog.

T.C.:

Miss miss Muffet is connected to the spider, and the spider isn't a spider. It's the crooked beans. Right? And her partner being the boy who cried wolf was like, I think someone's trying to kill me. Yeah.

T.C.:

Right. And then he dies. She doubted him, and that's why she feels so much shame for his death because she didn't believe him. Also, how cartoony are we going here? Because right now, we're we're in

Jim:

this We're going pretty cartoony.

T.C.:

And I'm okay with it. Like, if this was if this was as silly as Avatar the Last Airbender, which is also an awesome series, I think we're in the

Jim:

right realm. For whatever reason, in my mind, I keep imagining Titan AE.

T.C.:

That's, yeah, a Don Blues style animation here. Yeah. I'm totally on board for that. I I do think we need to go animated here. And I to to basically make it more acceptable that we have a character named Humpty Dumpty, that we have a character named detective miss Muffet.

T.C.:

Like, I think if it were live action, even if it was Star Wars sort of CG and monster makeup kind of thing.

Jim:

Alice in Wonderland. Sorry. There was a there was a sci fi special. It was three or it was miniseries. Right?

Jim:

It was three or four episodes where they did Alice in Wonderland as this weird surreal sci fi show. I remember it was Alice and the I think it was the Mad Hatter Mhmm. Was kind of her sidekick slash love interest. Sorry. That just occurred to me trying to think of, like, kind of, like Similar.

Jim:

Right? Not not quite fairy tale, but, like, kid's tale

T.C.:

Tin Man.

Jim:

Done as sci fi.

T.C.:

Tin

Jim:

Man. That's that's

T.C.:

true. Tin Man. Sci fi channel.

Jim:

Sorry. Just jumped into my head.

T.C.:

No. That's alright. I yelled Paul Simon at you a half an hour ago. So, so having having this be animated, I think, makes it more acceptable that we are literally calling the character Humpty Dumpty and literally saying miss Muffet and Rick Feinwinkle. But having something in the the more serious looking I I'm gonna go back to the Avatar the Last Airbender, which I don't believe you've watched.

T.C.:

The Nickelodeon The movie? The Nickelodeon series. Not the movie. Good lord. If anyone thought it was something

Jim:

like movie. I've seen a few episodes.

T.C.:

Get the hell out of here. The animated series, those folks have gone on to do the dragon dragon prince on Netflix.

Jim:

Okay.

T.C.:

A lot of that writing staff came out of the Batman animated series, it's so some good pedigree.

Jim:

Sure.

T.C.:

The animated style, it's yes. It's American style anime inspired by Japanese animation.

Jim:

Mhmm.

T.C.:

It in some regards, I feel touches on a lot of, like, cowboy bebop sort of stylistically. So I think just not not like in the dynamic, sci fi stuff because After The Last Airbender is is sort of this pseudo old school world slash new school world. That's beside the point. I'm saying animated is the way to go on this. Okay.

T.C.:

And but not cutesy Pixar and definitely not DreamWorks sort of everything as a fart joke. I think you're right to say something like Titan AE.

Jim:

Well, DreamWorks did once upon a time make fern legend of Fern Gully, which wasn't fart jokes.

T.C.:

Was Fern Gully DreamWorks?

Jim:

I thought that was DreamWorks.

T.C.:

Thought that I thought

Jim:

that was one of their their first ones. What am I thinking of?

T.C.:

Well, I mean, Fern Gully is an animated film, but, no, I don't think I don't believe that's a

Jim:

Okay. I could be wrong. I'll be wrong.

T.C.:

The, yeah, the the more traditional two d style animation would would be fun here. Or Yeah. Not not

Jim:

not the not the not CG. Right?

T.C.:

Yeah. The new, the new, Voltron is another really good looking show.

Jim:

Sure. Some something that still has that kind of two d quality, not the not the new yeah. Not the new Disney stuff.

T.C.:

You mentioned Dan Bluth Mhmm. In the Titan AE world. Twentieth Century Fox animation did that. Twentieth Century Fox also did Fern Gully. Oh.

T.C.:

So you your your heart's in the right place. Your mind's in the right place here.

Jim:

I don't

Jim:

know why

Jim:

thought DreamWorks did that.

T.C.:

So there there's our we can we don't have a middle, obviously, because the Rip and Muffet would

Jim:

Well, they'd it would yeah. It it would sort of be not not quite a road movie. Mhmm. But it would be sort of this journey through this world.

T.C.:

Right.

Jim:

Through this sci fi fairy tale world where we would meet a bunch of other characters, and we'd learn about this this time and place.

T.C.:

I feel like if this could be juggled correctly, it could do something that people aren't mimicking the MCU for. So I always say this. I always say the Marvel Cinematic Universe created the perfect formula for everyone else to fail at.

Jim:

Sure.

T.C.:

And DC is the best example of that. I rail on them all the time. But we have the the universal monster or dark universes tried. Mhmm. We've seen transformers try like, they're constantly trying to repeat Marvel's formula.

T.C.:

What Marvel did is they started with Iron Man. No one cared about Iron Man. Yeah. No one cared about Thor. I shouldn't say no one.

T.C.:

I apologize to the fans. But in general, these were heroes no one knew. They took so as we have Rip Van Winkle and Miss Muffet trying to solve the mystery of the assassination attempt on Humpty Dumpty going through this this sci fi fairy world, the more obscure the better, I think. Like, think it'd be more fun to see like, we don't need to see Cinderella and Snow White or No. Beauty and the Beast, like, grim fairy tales.

Jim:

We've several versions of them.

T.C.:

Yeah. So to if if there could be a successful way to create a cool animated sci fi movie, cartoons for kids

Jim:

Sure.

T.C.:

Keeping it PG light PG 13 Mhmm. To keep it family entertainment, but treating it like a a noir detective whodunit cop movie for the more mature sensibilities. I think that there's there's something here that would make, I think, a solid film. We don't have necessarily the middle, and we don't and how does it all wrap up?

Jim:

I have a question. Are we I wonder if if maybe we're we're jumping ahead with Humpty Dumpty. May what if that's the plot of the combo? The the Avengers film?

T.C.:

Yeah. Well, getting getting getting Rip there, getting him teamed up with Muffet.

Jim:

Well, that's what I'm saying. We don't team him up in his movie. In his movie, it's about exploring this new world. I don't know exactly what his plot would be at that point. Maybe it's about exploring how and why he slept so long.

T.C.:

That I I feel like we already have a pretty solid plot for an introduction to this world because he literally has to travel around this world to to solve the mystery and become familiar with it. So what better way to take our audience through this world and and look at things to come than having to walk through it?

Jim:

And

T.C.:

and I I see where you're we're going here in terms of what you're saying about, like, this is a pretty big it could be a heavy plot to say Mhmm. Miss Muffet gets her own movie and Humpty Dumpty is the is the catalyst for the plot of the Avengers style movie. But I'm gonna say no. I'm gonna say this should this don't say the ideas. We don't know if we'll get a sequel.

Jim:

That's true.

T.C.:

Let's do it here.

Jim:

Okay.

T.C.:

And That's fair. And the crooked man getting away and being some sort of returned villain later, I might be okay with that instead of always killing off the villain in the end.

Jim:

Well, because the the idea occurred to me maybe the big villain is the spider or is a spider, and it's not it's not that the spider was mistaken. It was mistaken spider, and it was the crooked man. It's the crooked man is just one form that the spider takes.

T.C.:

Okay. So almost delving in, like, a Stephen King level of nastiness.

Jim:

A little bit.

T.C.:

Yeah. I I I just saw something that could work for the climax. I had said that Rip gets hurt and seemingly killed, but survives. He's already traveled through time and space to get where he is. So if the crooked man does his

Jim:

Oh, it it doesn't it doesn't affect And

T.C.:

it, like, looks like it tears him in half, and he basically re Comes back. Comes back full health swinging, because he's displaced from time. Any sort of time displacement technology or

Jim:

Okay.

T.C.:

Or effect on him, he's immune to it, essentially,

Jim:

which would Alright. I really

T.C.:

would have no attack against him anymore.

Jim:

I mean, makes our third act a little anticlimactic in that, oh, our hero's just immune.

T.C.:

Not in this. We can But Muffet's not.

Jim:

Oh, that's true.

T.C.:

So now we because it's

Jim:

So now it's about him throwing himself in the way of the attacks?

T.C.:

Not not necessarily. She's unrelenting in thinking she's found the person who's who killed her partner. And and maybe the crooked man did kill her partner all these years looking for a spider, and it was this guy the whole time. I'm I'm sort of we're risking a deus ex of having Rip be able to survive the the the the killing blow Mhmm. And still come back for more.

T.C.:

But even having him constantly being ripped apart while Muffet's, like, attacking the crooked man, and the crooked man keeps trying to blast them both, and she's deflecting. But Rip keeps getting, like, an arm, like, like, Wolverine at the exit Sure. End of X Men last stand.

Jim:

Yeah. That's a good movie to reference. Yeah.

T.C.:

It's not a good movie to reference, and I hate that I just did it, but it was a visual that you understood.

Jim:

Yes. And Yes. I did.

T.C.:

And we it's a final boss battle. Mhmm. We get to see our heroes work together to defeat them. And it's it's and we can escalate from there because that's always the key in franchises that test the audience testing has proved you have to raise the stakes every time. So having this be the starting point, having a big final fight, crooked man versus Rip and Muffet Mhmm.

T.C.:

Able to defeat him or capture him, thus ending their partnership, saving Humpty Dumpty. Hey. We make a pretty good team. And did you see Zootopia?

Jim:

I did not.

T.C.:

Okay. It's similarly Zootopia is a is two people forced to work together and then become partners. Okay. And, it's it is this it is training day, the Disney movie version. Okay.

T.C.:

And it's a wonderful, wonderful film. And and we've referenced a lot of, oh, this is like this. This is like this. This is like this. And and, sure, there's gonna the risk of of things being derivative is there.

Jim:

Yeah.

T.C.:

But, finding a way to spin this stuff so it's fun and and fresh. The simple fact that we put this in a sci fi world changes everything. Sure. And selecting these very obscure characters. Yeah.

T.C.:

Thank you for thinking I said Humpty Dumpty. So we I think that's it. That's that is your first film. It's I I do feel it's simple, but with enough snappy dialogue and fun visuals and a relatively easy plot to follow and unfold, much like Zootopia again, that's that's a good starting point to then, hey. We could return to this world, or we can have another animated film set in this universe that doesn't cross over at all yet.

T.C.:

You know what I mean?

Jim:

So yes. Sorry. I'm I'm starting to flesh out this world in my mind.

T.C.:

Go right ahead.

Jim:

So all of the different kingdoms

T.C.:

Mhmm.

Jim:

That Humpty Dumpty is trying to to Unite. Barter peace between Mhmm. That's all of the different maybe actually, maybe you wanna avoid it. I was gonna say because we're not looking at Cinderella and Snow White and all these all these princesses Mhmm. And and and royalty, those are all the different fam quarreling families.

Jim:

They don't get along. They're not friends. They're all vying they're all kingdoms vying against each other. So that's sort of where our world conflict comes into play is. So at the end of rip, we've saved Humpty, who who might go on to to to try again, but the, the tentative piece that he had, forged has all has has been destroyed.

Jim:

In the end, the bad guy got that victory. That the the the So that way

T.C.:

amongst the

Jim:

Yeah. Amongst houses Yeah. Of of the galaxy or or star system.

T.C.:

So despite saving Humpty Dumpty, the the assassinate assassination attempt taking Humpty off the off the taking Humpty off the board was enough to

Jim:

Off the wall. Off the

T.C.:

yeah. It happened. Was enough to fracture like an egg.

Jim:

Like an egg. Fragile like an egg. Fragile like an egg.

T.C.:

Thus leaving the heroes winning, but ultimately, the bad guy got what he wanted, which was to divide everyone.

Jim:

Yeah. And and it leaves us with a world with enough conflict that we could revisit it with other characters without just being like, all the kingdoms are at peace.

T.C.:

Right.

Jim:

Let's endanger it again. No. It's already there's already, tumult Mhmm. Abound.

T.C.:

So where do you go then? What's what is what is another

Jim:

Now we choose the character. Like, I actually like like I like the idea of doing something with Bo Peep. She needs to protect her sheep.

T.C.:

Okay. And

Jim:

then I don't remember Bo Peep's full story or rhyme, but, right, she I don't know if she has cyber sheep that she's trying to protect or or what. She lost her sheep. Right? That's the rhyme?

T.C.:

Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep

Jim:

Oh, no.

T.C.:

And doesn't know where to find them. Leave them alone, and they'll come home wagging their tails behind them.

Jim:

Oh, that's I can't do anything with that. There's two more verses. The plot is she needs to stop She trying to find them?

T.C.:

She lost her sheep, and they came right back. Yeah. There there there are more verses.

Jim:

Well, I think, everyone at home wants to know what they are.

T.C.:

Oh, good. Then up she took her little crook determined to find them. She found them indeed, but it made her heart bleed for they left their fails behind them. It happened one day as Bo Peep did stray into a meadow hard by. There she espied their tails side by side, all hung on a tree to dry.

Jim:

Oh, shit.

T.C.:

She heaved a sigh and wiped her eye, and over the hillock went rambling and tried what she could as a shepherdess should to tack each again to its lambskin.

Jim:

Oh. Oh, that story's Way more blood involved than I expected.

T.C.:

Classic literature. Classic children's literature.

Jim:

What comes to mind would be something like so with invoking the word crook there makes me think that she's act it it starts where she works for the bad guy. Oh, okay. Has access to that crooked technology. Mhmm. But then Crooked technology.

Jim:

Yeah. The the the place she came from, right, the her her people, essentially, she gets betrayed by the crooked man. Mhmm. And he like, he takes away all all like, she goes home and her village or whatever is empty, and she has to go find them and she finds out she was betrayed. And so now it's a pseudo revenge, like, oh, and so now she turns.

Jim:

So her story is she's the bad guy turned good.

T.C.:

So is it is it sort of and since we're sticking with cartoons and very silly designs, like, we're kinda Well sort

Jim:

of got a gritty style Right. Like, I I like well, may I'm thinking when you say silly, I think hoodwinked.

T.C.:

No. No. Yeah. I'm thinking I stick with, with I'm gonna say I'm tired last year, the full Tron Titan AE. That that sort of, it's not it's not all shiny, plastic, cartoony, cutesy.

Jim:

Not at all.

T.C.:

I'm seeing more like little Bo Peeps move, like Bo Peep. Is, is, like, taking

Jim:

The names the names are a little

T.C.:

Right. But

Jim:

they're hard to get over.

T.C.:

But But there's something there's something cheeky about that, to have a movie called Bo Peep where she it's like taken where she's or

Jim:

it's like

T.C.:

payback. Yeah. Peep back. It's like she's she's just taken. She wants to, like like, get revenge.

T.C.:

I don't think we should use the crooked man again. I think there's a way to the crooked man's, the results of his fracturing or whatnot has has basically ruined her, like, the that she she was involved with him somehow. But I I don't wanna do, like, a direct crossover. This is more like a doing that makes a spin off movie. I want this to stand alone on its own that she returns from returns from conflict only to find all of her people are gone.

T.C.:

Okay. And she's and are we implying that they're all dead? And so it's just a revenge movie of, like, who did this and I'm gonna kill them?

Jim:

Maybe. It could be that. If if you go maybe they're being, Cyberman for something. Right? They're being reprogrammed and shoved into robots.

T.C.:

Well well, doctor who referenced there. Yeah. Yeah. So some sort of revenge movie Mhmm. Set in this universe, and Bo Peep has his do do you like I think I like the idea that she's, like, lots of robotics.

T.C.:

Like

Jim:

Sure. May maybe maybe it's not even, like, people have been taken. Maybe that's her whole thing is she has all of these little robot companions, and they are taken. Well, they're from her. Or she's like, give me give me my robots back.

T.C.:

Her technology was stolen. Yeah. Like, someone has has stolen her designs and used them for some, like, nefarious purpose. And she's like, okay. Since I use payback as an example Uh-huh.

T.C.:

This I'm gonna lean heavily on that. Okay. She her her technology was was stolen. First things first, she sees someone's out there out there using a weapon that she might have created, and she's like, where'd you get that? I'm pissed.

T.C.:

That's my design. Who and then follow the trail back to who stole the designs and getting to that person and being like, you know, I'm I'm here for this, this, and this. Alright. Alright. I'm sorry I do it.

T.C.:

You can have it all. I don't want it all. I just want my stuff. Like, Payback, where he's like, I want my 100 It's thousand like, you want a $100,000? I just offer you two times that.

T.C.:

I don't want two times that. I just want my $100,000. So, yeah. There there you go. It's like a revenge movie, she's pissed that her technology was stolen.

T.C.:

And then you get to delve far more into, like, get, like, sci fi gadgetry. We could get a space battle out of this. Sure. Who who stole her tech? I I don't know.

T.C.:

We're gonna get it. I can I have a list of all the Mother Goose here? Now granted, we we we aren't sticking strictly with mother goose because Witt Witt Witt Witt Witt Witt Witt's not a mother goose. Yeah. It's just a a folklore.

Jim:

Mhmm.

T.C.:

So having like, Bo Peep could be going up against, you said, Paul Bunyan earlier. Pecos Bill, if we

Jim:

Pecos Bill's a good guy.

T.C.:

I love Pecos Bill. He's our next one. Oh, man. I don't even wanna talk about Bo Peep anymore.

Jim:

Just someone. Someone took her stuff. Let's talk about the next one.

T.C.:

Having some sort of, wolf in sheep's clothing for Bo Peep to go up against.

Jim:

Oh, sure.

T.C.:

Yeah. So we could go big bad wolf. We could go,

Jim:

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I kinda like that.

T.C.:

The the wolf that killed Red Riding Hood. So then Red Riding Hood's not in here. That that it is literally a wolf

Jim:

she's going to. Anything that that does link back to to Rip and that that right. Well, no. I guess you're you're trying to say it's the spider that killed the boy who cried wolf Yeah. Even though he cried wolf.

T.C.:

No. He just kept saying someone's trying to kill me. He didn't say wolf. He wolfed. He's like, there's there's a thing.

T.C.:

There's a thing trying to kill me. And then she just assumes

Jim:

it's boy who cried thing. Although mate. The it we'll we'll work this out in in in drafts.

T.C.:

In drafts. Yes. Having Bo Peep go up against a a Some sort of wolf poached her technology.

Jim:

Wolf in sheep's I I

T.C.:

I like that. Yeah. Yeah. So having some and, you know, we spent so much time setting up RIP here, and we don't have to keep going into complex detail about these movies. But, yeah, a revenge movie where she just picks down the line.

T.C.:

And it's a new way to explore this world because we sent Rip and Muffet on a journey Mhmm. To get clues to get to the crooked man. And now Bo Peep is just picking off guys to get to the wolf Sure. In the end to get her just her technology back. She doesn't even care that they're using all this other technology to do bad things.

Jim:

Sure.

T.C.:

She just wants her technology back. And because of this, I would so put Payback references. Like, I lampshade the hell out of it. Like, yeah. I we're doing a kid's version oh, not kid's version.

T.C.:

Like, a an animated weirdo version of Payback with little Bo Peep. We're just gonna call it Bo Peep? I don't I don't know. I Peep? We don't really have Bo.

Jim:

We don't have the titles yet. I don't know that the titles need to be based on the characters' names.

T.C.:

I do think that there's something funny in that, though.

Jim:

There is. Rip, Bo Mhmm. Bill.

T.C.:

Like, well, Pecos Bill. So where I was gonna go with that is is our chance to do something very Mandalorian esque because he's a cowboy. Sure. To have a a bounty hunter story.

Jim:

Well, but the story of Pecos Bill, at least the way I remember it being told by Disney Mhmm. Is, it's about this this unstoppable dude who one day meets the love of his life.

T.C.:

Who is Pecos Bill raised by? Wolves.

Jim:

Oh, was he?

T.C.:

He was raised by he was raised in the wild by coyotes and wolves. Oh, there you go. Yeah. So there's a little bit of overlap there. Wolf technology could be a like A whole thing?

T.C.:

Like, Roxanne Corporation is is thrown a lot in the Yeah. MCU background.

Jim:

There's there's Wolf Tech.

T.C.:

Yeah. Actually Yeah. So Pecos Bill was the rootinist, tootinist, shootinist, and, he he, wrangled a a tornado. Uh-huh.

Jim:

He had He straightened the the, Colorado River. Yep. Or the the Rio Grande.

T.C.:

His widowmaker was his horse named as such because he bucked he bucked Pecos' girlfriend Yep. To the moon. Yep. Yeehaw. Well,

Jim:

I so well, I guess so so what I was thinking is the plot would actually be he falls in love, and she just keeps she doesn't well, it's not that she doesn't return the feelings. It's she just has much higher aspirations Mhmm. And it gets her in trouble. And and he can't he can't protect her.

T.C.:

Mhmm.

Jim:

And that's the story, and it's super sad. So maybe maybe that's not the way to go.

T.C.:

Well, I mean, we we've we've really moved away from Mother Goose, which we did say upfront that we weren't we we used it as a so putting Pecos bill in some sort of Mandalorian bounty hunter scenario. I like this idea that he he can't protect was he a bodyguard to her and failed? No. No. Because we already have a failed we already already have a failed lawman or law person in Moffett.

T.C.:

So

Jim:

what could I think he he's just the the baddest mercenary out there. And one day, he gets tamed. Mhmm. And tamed in, I guess, in regards for for a mercenary in as far as mercenaries are concerned because Pecos Bill would still be a super tough guy.

T.C.:

Mhmm.

Jim:

I I I don't know. Maybe maybe, like, she she's also a badass mercenary, and so the the the first third of the movies, we we learn about these two characters and how in love they are. And then but she keeps escalating. She keeps going for bigger and badder dogs. For the stars.

Jim:

Until it's not that she gets killed. It's that she turns. She be she becomes bad. And or, like, yeah. Maybe she stops being a mercenary, and it just goes suit.

T.C.:

She goes straight.

Jim:

Full villain.

T.C.:

Oh, okay. Well, okay. Since we're we're playing in

Jim:

the stars mercenaries don't care if they work for good guys or bad guys.

T.C.:

Well, we're we're we're in a good place here. We're kind of, shoot shooting for the stars or whatnot. So I just quickly looked up Mother Goose here. Uh-huh. We do have the cow jumped over the moon.

T.C.:

Hadeled the little cat in the field, the cow jumped over the moon.

Jim:

A little

T.C.:

bit of laughter seizure. It's fun. So I was sporting the dish ran away with the spoon. There's some characters there we can play with that other other, like, bounty hunters. Uh-huh.

T.C.:

I'm I'm perfectly content ripping off the Mandalorian as much as possible. But there is the man in the moon. Man in the moon came down too soon to inquire his way to Norwich. He went by the South and burnt his mouth with eating cold peas porridge. So the man on the moon, the man in the moon, I don't that's a very weird fairy tale.

T.C.:

Or nursery rhyme? Nursery rhyme there. But the man in the moon being the villain of sorts for this. Sure. You were you positing that Pecos Bill cry like, his the what was his Peygo's Bill's If anything Slewfoot Sally.

Jim:

Slewfoot Slewfoot Slewfoot Slewfoot.

T.C.:

I remembered it without looking

Jim:

it up. Nice. Actually, now that I think about it, it, it is more it is a Star Wars reference. I guess I'm actually suggesting not Mandalorian, but Solo. Okay.

T.C.:

Oh, right. Because Kuro ended up going bad.

Jim:

Yeah. And he was like, no.

T.C.:

But we're still in love. Right? No. Wrong. Yeah.

T.C.:

Having her turn on him in the end I is that too close to solo then?

Jim:

I prob probably.

T.C.:

I think having her be, like, leaving him to no. No. I don't I'm leaving. I've risen too high in the ranks that I don't need to be a mercenary anymore. I'm retiring.

T.C.:

I don't wanna retire. This is my whole life. Oh. And she's like, it's not my life anymore. You can settle down with me, or you can keep doing what you're doing.

T.C.:

And he chooses to keep being a bounty hunter.

Jim:

Okay. So what's the

T.C.:

Something, she could be Oh, okay. Oh, I got it. Yeah. She rises out. She she retires.

T.C.:

Uh-huh. He decides to keep doing it. That's the first sort of, like, act one and act two. Okay. And he goes out there and we can see him be, like, you know, do an adventure too.

T.C.:

Yeah. And and a marker goes out for her. So now he gets to her as fast as he can to be like, someone's marked you. I'm gonna protect you. Man?

T.C.:

I don't know.

Jim:

Because then

T.C.:

then she's

Jim:

It's okay. Okay.

T.C.:

I don't wanna I don't wanna kill her off. I don't want to But she but she dies. Sluufetzu gets bucked to the moon, and she comes back down, she only comes back down, in longer and longer intervals. She bounces on her, on the her butt. Yeah.

T.C.:

Butt basket.

Jim:

Yeah. Okay. So she's Okay. I don't I don't I don't have I don't have a a a different story. What if she becomes the man in the moon?

Jim:

And that's that's why they can't ever be together. And she's running this operation.

T.C.:

Fine. You wanna throw some twist in there like that? She put her own marker out knowing he'd protect her. And so now she can wipe out anyone who would come after her to kill her using him. She she makes him yeah.

T.C.:

Oh. You like it?

Jim:

I like that.

T.C.:

Yeah. So after he takes them all out, he's like, alright. Now we gotta find out who this man on the moon is. Bum bum bum. Turns her the whole time.

T.C.:

And she gives him the option again. You can either join me or you can keep doing what you're doing. And he's, of course, gonna keep doing what he's doing. And now he's

Jim:

just And she she says, alright. I'll be back next year. That's pretty good. I think I think that could be good. Yeah.

T.C.:

Okay. So we have Rip and Muffet. We have, Bo Peep. Uh-huh. And we have Pecos Bill.

Jim:

Pecos Bill. We need one more.

T.C.:

What an Avengers lineup here. I mean, that's three films right there. If we're

Jim:

thinking we need one more.

T.C.:

If we're thinking like how Marvel formulated it up, they had Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and you're right, Incredible Hulk. Yep. Some who some people forget is still a thing, but it counts.

Jim:

It does. So I what comes to mind again, I don't remember their story well enough Mhmm. So maybe it wouldn't work. But what about the oh, I can't remember the freaking first one.

T.C.:

You're gonna have to

Jim:

The the the the someone, the baker, the candlestick maker.

T.C.:

Oh, the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker. Oh. Can those be the bad guys?

Jim:

They could be bad

T.C.:

trio of heroes.

Jim:

I was I was thinking they could be heroes, but, they they could be bad guys. They would be bad guys instead.

T.C.:

Well, we just did a bad guy movie with Pecos Bill. He's a he's a Pretty much. So yours are you suggesting that the butcher, baker, and the candlestick maker, be them male or female, are a trio of heroes that work together to do something? Yeah. We've told a detective movie.

T.C.:

We've told a revenge movie. Mhmm. We've told a western. Uh-huh. Where do you wanna play with this?

Jim:

I didn't think of it that way. What'd you a a detective?

T.C.:

We did, like, a Revenge. Detective western. Revenge in a western. All basically dealing into, like, underworld stuff here. Well, while the grand scheme of political affairs is occurring in our in our Mother Goose universe.

T.C.:

Yeah. The the MGCU, as everyone must be reminded of.

Jim:

Yes. MGCU.

T.C.:

What do you do with a trio of characters that we have not done yet?

Jim:

First I mean, if we're if we're doing that formula of Oh, sorry. Doing a a a subgenre Mhmm. The first thing that comes to mind would be a survival movie.

T.C.:

Okay. Well, there are three other people involved that are a trio in Mother Goose right off

Jim:

the bat. The Three Blind Lice? Rub a

T.C.:

Dub Dub, Three Men in a Tub.

Jim:

Oh, there you go.

T.C.:

If they're on a, if we open, like, life raft, a space pod Uh-huh. Of three people surviving in space

Jim:

Sure.

T.C.:

We automatically have a survival film here. Where do we go from there? Do they crash land on a planet that they they have to figure their way off of? Are they, is this our closest like, do do we bring the crooked man back for this? Is there some is this one more connected than the previous three to the previous three?

Jim:

I just thought of a plot to make Humpty Dumpty the ultimate the the the big bad guy, but that might not be a good idea.

T.C.:

Well, I don't know. May maybe okay. So let's take them off the table for a second.

Jim:

And you What are the characters you got?

T.C.:

You did say the three blind mice. Mhmm. Hickory dickory deck. The mouse ran up the clock. The clock shows.

T.C.:

There's some mice stories in here. The itsy bitsy spider, little Jack Horner. We we do have male female

Jim:

female the idea. So hickory dickory dock. I'm currently thinking a little more obscure not obscure, abstract Mhmm. Than than I think we've been with the others. We've been a little on the nose with some of the the nursery rhymes.

Jim:

Mhmm. I'm thinking more like so you have, like, a space station, and we're following just some of the the the peon workers in it. Yeah. And that's that's our our mouse. And something is something's being sabotaged in the space station.

Jim:

He has to save it. Yeah. And we can we can actually we can we can rope in a bunch of other mice stuff.

T.C.:

Mhmm.

Jim:

And if you wanna tie it back in with the crooked man, the the bad guy here is the crooked mouse. There there's a saboteur.

T.C.:

Oh, yeah. Okay. I I I space station, survival story, using the the mouse ran up the clock.

Jim:

Mhmm.

T.C.:

Let's and because we've already established the sort of tech that exists in this world Mhmm. And setting this up for our our big finale Avengers here, Having the space station break, like, maybe it's a big satellite. It's a whole, it's a whole colony. It can even be called the clock. The clock breaks, and the entire station blows up and then reverses back.

T.C.:

And only our main character, the mouse, is aware that this all just happened. This is a bit like a Star Trek The Next Generation plot. This is also a bit like Majora's Mask. And he has to stop this

Jim:

damn loop.

T.C.:

It it No. No. Because Looper is is is is is one single loop that he's trying to close off. This is Groundhog Day esque.

Jim:

This is

T.C.:

Oh, yeah.

Jim:

There you go.

T.C.:

12:01 if anyone's a Jonathan Silverman fan out there. You're welcome, one of you. You're welcome, me, listening to this. So this the station breaks. He's just like a a mechanic nobody on this thing.

Jim:

Yeah. But he's the only one who seems to know that they all blew up last night.

T.C.:

Yeah. And then he has to He has to

Jim:

do it again. Well, the thing I think I think there there are other there are others who, have an idea. Mhmm. But he's he's the main character that that we keep that that keeps

T.C.:

He gets to retain all his information and memory. So it's a bit like a happy death day, where she keeps looping her day. Great movie, by the way. Or Happy Death Day two, also a great movie.

Jim:

Yeah. Yeah.

T.C.:

So, yeah, he's he's stuck on a space station. We can throw in a bunch of other, like, the small characters. And this is where, like, the the harder references to the previous three films can come in.

Jim:

Okay.

T.C.:

And it comes down to crooked technology is being used to do this thing.

Jim:

Okay.

T.C.:

Whether or not it's the crooked mouse who's the villain in the end or some other like, maybe there's no actual villain. It was just a a mishap. I think it works better if someone deliberately blew up the station. Sure. Especially because there's a lot of political stuff going on here.

T.C.:

But whoever that person is doesn't gets gets revealed at the end of this, but gets us into our Avengers movie, our our team movie. That's my that's my big sell on on what to do with this survival movie.

Jim:

I I like that.

T.C.:

Mean, pretty cocaine.

Jim:

The studio studio likes your fourth

T.C.:

You're you're rubbing your chin thoughtfully.

Jim:

I now I am.

T.C.:

Okay. So now we have Rip, Muffet, Bo Peep, Pecos Bill, and the mouse. Uh-huh. Our our Hickory. Hickory.

T.C.:

Yeah. Old Hickory. Hickory Dickory. Doc. Yeah.

T.C.:

So what do we what what is the all encompassing galactic threat? What's what is the what is the Chitauri army attacking the what is the what is the MacGuffin of this? Like, what are

Jim:

The first one that came to mind that that interrupted my my thought on the last one, and we can we can throw this one away, is Humpty Dumpty is actually the bad guy.

T.C.:

Okay.

Jim:

Him getting the the assassination on him oh, this is this is probably too reminiscent of Peygo's Bill then. But it was actually a plot by Humpty Dumpty.

T.C.:

Yeah. It's very similar

Jim:

to take him to to make himself, look like not the target. No. Because because in he that means he would have undone his entire plot.

T.C.:

Yeah.

Jim:

What I was thinking is the reason he wants to create this galactic piece is because then he's in control of it. Again, going back to the whole, the senate must decide on an emperor.

T.C.:

I would like to whatever. I have I have two

Jim:

very famous Mother Maybe not that.

T.C.:

Okay. I have two very famous Mother Goose, fairy tales that we're gonna draw from here. First is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. So whatever our, like Oh. We have a freaking it's the it's the entity from Fifth Element.

T.C.:

It's it's the it's the star going supernova. It's some it's that Sure. It's the bomb. It's the ticking clock. It's it's going to destroy all the planets we've visited so far in our fancy little galaxy here.

T.C.:

And our villains, Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown, and Jill went tumbling after. So two disgraced

Jim:

heroes. Two two I it's a very meta suggestion.

T.C.:

Yeah.

Jim:

Mother Goose herself.

T.C.:

Oh. Maybe that's our Thanos for Endgame movie if we Oh, to okay. This universe. Okay. Jack and Jill Bean.

Jim:

Oh, okay. Yeah. Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are. Mhmm. So this this terror from beyond the stars

T.C.:

Yeah. Oh, you're gonna get some you're gonna you're going Lovecraft on this, aren't you?

Jim:

Of course I am. I started the episode talking about zombies. I'm gonna end it talking

T.C.:

about tentacles. Yes.

Jim:

Right? So this this this terror from beyond the stars is descending, and they need to stop it. And the thing that has caused it is Jack and Jill who have gone insane and just want to destroy everything. Yes. Straight up the They went insane because they tried going up the hill to to, not necessarily conf just dealing with thing oh, I am going very Lovecraftian.

T.C.:

That's okay. Keep going.

Jim:

Keep going. Basically, If we

T.C.:

can teach kids about HP Lovecraft, we've won.

Jim:

Yeah. So the hill that they went up is they went seeking knowledge that they should not have. Mhmm. Basically, forbidden knowledge. Mhmm.

Jim:

And in so

T.C.:

Oh, Jack broke his crown. He went nuts.

Jim:

He's he is eventually They've gone insane. Yeah. And that's why they're bringing the terror from beyond the stars.

T.C.:

And so we have, Rip who's who's can displace himself from time Mhmm. And is immortal, thus to be discovered in this movie, I guess. Like, Yeah. Yeah. I think in the end in the end of this, he tests his the the the extent of his immortality and abilities by going face to face with the with the the the twinkling star.

Jim:

Yeah.

T.C.:

Like, in the end, he's he's our he's our first hero. Well, we will Tony Stark him. I don't care. We're gonna take it all the way here.

Jim:

He's he's our Captain America.

T.C.:

He's our Captain America. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. He did freeze himself.

Jim:

Yeah. Captain America was was Rip Van Winkle.

T.C.:

Yeah. Oh, totally. Duh. Pretend I said that earlier. Right?

Jim:

Yeah. Oh, does that mean Pecos Pillows are Thor?

T.C.:

Yeah. And having our Bo Peep using her tech to kinda try to help save the day, we have Hickory Yep. The mouse Uh-huh. Working in tandem with her to basically, maybe our maybe Hickory is really good at, like, fixing stuff quick. Like, he's he's, like, the instant mechanic, whereas Bo Peep can, like, create

Jim:

the they're they're all they're all engineers?

T.C.:

Not necessarily. Only Bo Peep and and and Hickory are are mechanical and engineer and and techie. Whereas, I think it was Bill just, you point you point me

Jim:

at what I'm supposed

T.C.:

to shoot, I will shoot that. Yeah. And, Muffet being the the lawman or the law person, kind of I feel like she's

Jim:

She's our she's our hawkeye.

T.C.:

Aw. Yeah.

Jim:

No. She is. She is.

T.C.:

Yeah. And then and Rip being the, essentially, the hero or, like, the the the leader of this team who gets everyone together and and stops them in the end. You can have we could have Rip go against the star, the twinkling star, and everybody else going up against Jack and Jill. Having having all the remaining crooked tech and the tech that Bo Pete didn't stop, like she didn't want, using all that as our disposable army to go up against our heroes.

Jim:

So did did Jack and Jill hire the crooked man?

T.C.:

No. Well, no. I don't know if that's what do you think? I I don't know where to go with that.

Jim:

Well, because we don't have a Thanos yet. Right?

T.C.:

Correct. If you want that to be a if you want that to be

Jim:

We we gotta follow the formula.

T.C.:

As closely as we can rip off as many things as possible here, people. Who's with me? The studio demands it. They're all nodding and smiling.

Jim:

Yes.

T.C.:

Yes. Yes, Marvel. Yes. We need a Thanos. We need a Thanos.

Jim:

I would like a billion dollars per movie, please.

T.C.:

A billion dollars, please. Having having Jack and Jill be, manipulated into doing what they're doing essentially might be a way we don't act you know what? No. No. Let's not let's not make it an a a higher up from there.

T.C.:

In terms of, like, using the crooked tech and Bo and whatever other tech Bo Peep didn't want against them is just happenstance. It's just a connector because that technology exists and there are bad people out there who use it to have Jack and Jill be like, you, give me those robots. Give me those lasers. I'm not gonna yeah. Get out of here.

T.C.:

You're you don't belong in the underworld. Who do you who are you to anyway? Oh, you're religious zealots. I'm sorry. Please take all my stuff.

T.C.:

Because then you have we've we've we've experienced different areas of this seedy underworld and beyond that all of our characters know how

Jim:

to Right. Because we we might not even get to Thanos anyway. Right? We we might just get our Avengers and then we're done. Yeah.

Jim:

Okay. Jack and Jill, a big old terrible monster.

T.C.:

The Twinkling Stars, what we'll just call it. Yeah. Yeah.

Jim:

Yeah. I'm I'm okay with I know we didn't really do what the set pieces are or anything.

T.C.:

No. No. And but this being a lengthy episode of trying to make five movies, which wasn't exactly our my intention when I showed you this. But the Mother Goose Cinematic Universe. Seriously.

T.C.:

What did

Jim:

we just make?

T.C.:

This is

Jim:

a weird honestly, I wanna watch it.

T.C.:

But Does anyone listening wanna see this movie? Have we painted something so weird at this point? We've gone beyond Cannonball Run. We've gone beyond The Lone Ranger. We've gone we're off we're off the reservation on this.

T.C.:

Is this the weirdest thing we've done? This is very It

Jim:

is it is pretty weird.

T.C.:

But if I guess that

Jim:

that's that's what my demands are is

T.C.:

You've done it. Make it weird.

Jim:

Make the weird things.

T.C.:

And you got Lovecraft in it.

Jim:

Yeah. I did. Good job, Jim.

T.C.:

We we we will certainly continue to discuss this off mic, but I think we've reached a point where I'm gonna end the episode.

Jim:

Yeah. Yeah. Any anything else is just, like, little

T.C.:

We're we're gonna

Jim:

Sprinkles on the ice cream.

T.C.:

We'll start we didn't I'll I'd yeah. I'm I'm kinda I'm, like, geeking out about this because I I feel like space adventures like, we I don't feel fulfilled by what we got from Star Wars. I don't be I'm not fulfilled by what by what we're getting from Star Trek recently.

Jim:

And Like, Guardians of the Galaxy is the closest Yeah. Yes. And and percent. They don't delve too much into that the the space Yeah. Sci fi part of it.

Jim:

They just stick with the guardians and whatever bad guy they're fighting. Like Yeah. Come on. Nova chorus some more.

T.C.:

Yeah. It's Getting weird and and animating this, I think, again, going closer to more traditional two d and less towards the CGI Sure. Disney and Pixar would also be a lot of fun, at least for me visually.

Jim:

Sure. I agree.

T.C.:

But is this something that people would want to see? Did we somehow craft a film that interests any of you? That is what I'm curious about. I think that does it for this episode. Yeah.

T.C.:

Yeah. I'd love to know if, we met your demand, gin I

Jim:

I think so. Yeah. Unfettered approves these five movies.

T.C.:

And I wanna know if people disagree or agree or if they think we we miss anything or if there's anything we wanna wanna expand upon. You know, opening this by saying what exists by using existing fairy tale type characters. Though we did say this is a lot like this, and this is a lot like this, and this a lot like this. Maybe I'm maybe I'm being I'm I'm biased by the fact that we just came up with that on the spot, but this doesn't feel like once upon a time. This doesn't feel

Jim:

like fables. Very different. We we def definitively chose a cast of characters that really hasn't been done, by anyone.

T.C.:

So cool. But let's let's get some social stuff out of the way here. You can go to the studio sorry. Studiodemandsit.com where you can send us a demand. We're on Apple Podcasts and Google Play if you wanna like and subscribe there.

T.C.:

And, you know, a a review goes a long way if you guys wanna throw a couple stars or one or five at us, whatever.

Jim:

Give us a review.

T.C.:

Give us a review. Takes you can literally do it in app on your phone. Takes no time at all. Ten seconds. And like, subscribe.

T.C.:

You can also find us on Twitter and Instagram at Studio Demands It. You can find, me at, t c's big head on Twitter and Instagram, Jim.

Jim:

You can find me at t bach wax on

T.C.:

On twitter.

Jim:

On Twitter.

T.C.:

And, thank you to Six Five Media for giving us this platform. We wouldn't we wouldn't have a home without you. It would literally just be me and Jim shouting at each other in the living room. Yeah. So thank you to Six Five Media.

T.C.:

Please check out everything that they're providing content wise out there, especially in this time of uncertainty where a little bit of kicking back and listening to people nerd out might be exactly what you need to relax. Any final thoughts, Jim, On the Mother Goose Cinematic Universe?

Jim:

Mother Goose Cinematic Universe. Nope. I I kinda want them I want Mother Goose to be like a a giant ship.

T.C.:

Like that. The the goose. Yeah. Something like Goose. Yeah.

T.C.:

Is the big final ship in the in the endgame version of this?

Jim:

Yeah. Something like that. Yeah.

T.C.:

Well, who knows? Maybe we'll come back to this one day. If the if it is demanded.

Jim:

If the demands are there. Yeah. Yeah.

T.C.:

So that's it for this episode. We'll be back again with another challenge to improve the world of cinema.

Jim:

I am T.C. I am Jim.

T.C.:

And that is the end of this event. It's a very weird weird one. More shows to come. Goodbye. Goodbye.

T.C.:

That's it. Goodbye. Bye now. Bye.