Titan A.E. Review

It's show time! There's nothing wrong with your

podcast player. Do not attempt to adjust the

volume. Hello and welcome to Studio 2009. I am,

of course, TF2 and Mike. Joining me, as always,

is Steve Megatron. Hello, sir. Hello, sir! How

are you? Doing well, quite frankly, considering

I'm about to move yet again. No, I don't want

to say that I was gonna say something about certain

folk, but I'm not gonna I'm not gonna folk that

up That was a very moving statement yes We're

here and we're celebrating an anniversary because

June Yes, aha June 16th 2000 Five year wow Five

years to the day. Oh my god. All right, so June

16th 2000 was when Titan ae Was released in theaters

June 16th 1995 was when the best Batman film

ever was released in theaters Batman forever

So yes, it has been 20 years. It's actually over

20 years now, but because we didn't get to record

this back in June, but whatever And Yeah, it

had a Sad thing is even though I personally think

Titan is kind of a classic at this point It was

a box office flop Had a budget of between 75

and 90 million box office only made thirty six

point eight million This is a good fucking movie.

What in the hell? Well the funny the funny thing

is about movies around that era a lot of them

flopped and there were a lot of great movies

that came out the unfortunate part is is there

were a lot of people that were like me and I

feel like if this would have come out today I

feel like this would be a box office smash. It

would do well. The other problem with it is people

kind of were a little leery of Fox Animation

Studios, I think. It had a pretty solid cast.

And honestly like I loved the animation. I loved

the premise There were a lot of twists and turns

it was kind of dark, but it was it was original

and we hadn't really seen anything like this

and I mean, I'm personally a fan of science fiction

anyway, and Don Bluth films are typically pretty

good anyway But that being said I Feel like a

lot of movies around that time kind of floundered

for whatever reason and it took until kind of

like 2008 for things to kind of start climbing

back up that ladder like things kind of were

mediocre between as far as box office between

like 99 and like 2008 I mean there were good

movies that came out and things that stood out

but I mean if you really look back there's not

a lot that you'll probably be able to like name

drop between that time I mean there are some

But there's not like the plethora that you see

now or in the 90s. True. I. And I don't know.

And I'm not going to get into a war between two

bands here because one band isn't even anywhere

near this this this film or this score, but I

don't know if it's the fact that they advertise

this movie. with Creed's hit higher at the time.

I'm not sure if it's that that didn't bring people

to the box. Like, you know, you watch the trailer

now, you hear the song and the whole point of

the movie is or the whole premise of the movie

is the earth gets destroyed, humanity is fucked

and you have to escape. Well, Creed's song higher

is all about escape. So it made sense. pairing

the song with the trailer and always and we know

this we've known this for years now at this point

just because the song is in a trailer doesn't

mean it's going to be on the soundtrack or in

the movie a lot of the times it is most of the

times it isn't um but you're right this was new

it has you know it is science fiction animation

kind of thing uh it's an adventure film but it

isn't taking an existing property and doing something

with it. It's taking, you know, I don't want

to say tropes because it makes it sound bad,

but it takes elements of storytelling from other

science fiction and adventure things and applies

it to its own unique story. I don't think, well,

I don't know. It's the only animated movie that

I know of that Somebody blew up earth. I mean

that isn't transformers or you know, it's one

of if not the only original animated movie that

basically the advertisements for this that the

tree the original trailers for this oh my god.

You know it's just amazing amazing stuff and

it was just so cool so interesting. You basically

have a star -studded cast between Matt Damon,

Bill Pullman, John Leguizamo, Nathan Lane, Janine

Garofalo, and Drew Barrymore. Graham Revelle

does the score on it. And the soundtrack, oh

man. Not a lot of, I don't want to say, It feels

like some of the the soundtrack songs are very

one hit wonder kind of things but Just I mean

It's just so interesting. I think in the soundtrack

really does fit the movie so well And it's a

futuristic thing. It's like what would happen

if you know this happened kind of thing No, I

agree. I don't remember any movie that did this

to this extent. It had that traditional 2D with

some CGI elements to it. They were starting to

get into that era where they were playing around

with it a lot. We saw it. They were trying to

use people who, I mean they've always done this

to some extent having voice actors who are famous

people, other than just regular voice actors.

But I think that it kind of worked out in this

situation. And Fox kind of likes to play in that

playground of they want to use people that they

think will be a box office draw. Unfortunately

it didn't play out in this. And I think that

some of the elements of the sci -fi part of it,

I feel like it was part of what turned people

off to the film, especially the fact that they

don't have Earth to call home and that the dredge

blew it up. What I found interesting was that

Project Titan was their opportunity to rebuild

the Earth. Different way because it had all of

the DNA of like pretty much every creature that

they had and all of this in this special ship

that they locked away and and hid and Matt Damon's

character being the only you know, like the sole

help of humanity You know and the fact that he

was just you know, just a slacker basically And

he kind of got catapulted into this whole thing

because his dad's friend knew of him and watched

over him and knew that this was the key. I think

that it was very well done. I think some of it

was a little bit jarring as far as the creatures

and the constant attacks and the backstabbing

that went on throughout it and some of the elements.

I think that some of it was lost on kids of that

era. I think it was a little bit before its time.

Like I said, if it had come out now, I feel like

people would be kind of used to this kind of

thing. And the way that humanity is now, and

with everything being so dark, I feel like this

would have benefited from today. Whereas back

then, everything was a lot brighter, and this

was kind of ahead of its time in a lot of ways.

And that's probably why those of us that have

seen it... We looked through our Coke bottle

lenses where it just looks bigger than life compared

to some of the movies we see come out now, which

are again few and far between in the theater.

Yeah. So, you know, it's funny because it has

been 20 years since this came out. I and with

the world with where the world is currently.

We could use a Project Titan right about now,

couldn't we? We could use a do -over. So do we

get to pick that none of the politicians come

with us? Because I guarantee that they're like

50 % of the problem. I feel like humanity is

so much better without that. So anyways, that

being said, they actually get to do that on Titan,

on this After Earth. They pretty much start over

with one human man and one human woman. Yes,

in a lot of ways it parallels the Bible to some

extent, or some of that type of preconceived,

starting off with the lone man and woman scenarios.

There's also aliens in this universe and there's

all kinds of things and I find it funny that

the ones who created the entire problem also

were part of the solution. Mm -hmm. Yeah. And

you know what's really funny about the fact that

some people might have noticed that Studio 2009

has not recorded something in a while because

life happens and and all of that and everything

else and and we're actually recording this I

might actually break the the day rule on this

one because we're recording this August 19th

and on next Monday August 24th it will have been

oh my god I just this this kind of stuff always

blows my mind folks Numbers, man. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Numbers, man. Yeah. Hey, you know what? Without

numbers, we wouldn't. Yeah. Without numbers,

we couldn't have sequels. That's right. Hey,

don't start that. Sequels. Talk about that in

a minute. So basically, August 24th, 2020 is

10 years to the day when Tooncast episode 68

first covered this movie. Dun -dun -dun Yeah

Optima Solo and I covered it on Tooncast episode

68 back in the day in 2010 and I I Did not normally

I do plan this stuff folks. I didn't plan this

this time I really really didn't between my life

and Steve's life. We've had so much going on

that we haven't had a chance to record the podcast

and And yeah, so I find that absolutely Hilariously

ironic that almost ten years. It's pretty much

gonna be ten years to the day of release That

we've talked about this movie on this network

in the past decade or so anyway this film is

I think it's great that they don't that the way

they set the plot up with the earth being destroyed

and humans being the minority all the other alien

life basically treats all humans like garbage

pretty much and this movie takes place in the

year 3028 and then 15 years later in Don't know

what I don't know what the math is on that 3046

or 3052 or whatever it is anyway So so yeah,

I mean, I love the way it starts. I love the

plot I love the fact that they go up against

and this might be a simple simple thing to do

They co -op against an energy monster Basically

the dredger a lot of crime Zeke's Kind of I knew

that was coming. I knew it was coming and then

and then they have the one human That's the traitor

of them all Yep Yeah, well I had to rat him out

boys Mm -hmm Way to be presidential there Corso

Well, it is an Independence Day Quite literally

There are a lot of things about this movie that

I absolutely loved from the voice acting to the

characters to the plot to the music the animation

the animation on this was and still is beautiful

I love you watch that scene in Closely into the

movie when they're looking for Titan the the

ice crystals scene Animation studios today are

not doing that That was friggin awesome. I loved

that The whole thing with how they blew up the

earth Again taking a cue from Independence Day

At least in Independence Day. They only blew

up the White House anyway Um, but just the way

it did that and the way it was animated was so

fluidly destructively awesome It just... Man,

it gave you a sense of dread, like, oh shit,

what are we going to do now? I love how it kind

of gave this almost finality to the whole thing.

Pretty much. It's almost like your whole Terminator

thing. I'll be back. And the humans do come back

and they kick their sorry butts across the galaxy.

Yep, and I only read part of the voice cast earlier,

but You have hellboy in here as professor Sam

Tucker Ron Perlman very awesome You have the

wild thing himself tone loke as tech who is the

alien that was looking after kale played by Matt

Damon. Yeah, he's he's somebody that kind of

just disappeared like after the 90s and like,

like the early 2000s. Like you never saw him

again and anything and he I mean, I know he's

still alive. It's just he doesn't really do anything.

As far as I know. I mean, well, he does the I

guess he's doing some I Love the 90s tour or

something as of 2016, 2017. Honestly, he hasn't

had an album since 91 or 94, which was Ace in

the House, which was Ace Ventura. As far as filmography,

he's done some things throughout the 2000s. He

did Space Cowboys, Titan A .E., Jack and the

Beanstalk. He's done some other stuff, but it's

been kind of like nothing and then television

He's pretty much he did like an episode of Uncle

Grandpa and Chowder and you know the king of

the hill yes, dear static shock But I mean really

hasn't done anything since 2014 Well, I mean

he did collapse in San Francisco in 2016 so he

has had he has had health issues In the past

But yeah, I mean like the sad thing is the two

things I absolutely remember him from are this

and blank check Because he was juice in blank

check man. I loved blank check blank check is

awesome That would take on that that's a movie

like that they I mean they probably will remake

at some point with modern stuff because I mean

if you look at it It is pretty dated Macintosh

and they're like the big hulking screen Okay,

now this is a This is all your fault I mean that

movie I could see with them redoing this one

is still a masterpiece Yes, this one is still

a masterpiece. This one is a finite story Now

you said something to me off air and I almost

just puked all over my phone. I said what about

a sequel? Come on Mike. What if they made a sequel?

No No Okay, what see whether it was back then

or now? What sequel could they make that would

make sense? Yeah story wise After the events

of this film at you know, how the you know how

the earth was, you know Rebuilt and rebirthed

and however, you know, whatever you want to say

Like what story could they oh my god We have

to evict we have to evacuate planet Bob because

he got infected by kovat 19 Like no, they actually

would do something like that They would call

it something else, but like they would say it's

instead of Titan after Earth to be Titan after

aliens or they create some some covid acronym

and use the E for it. Yeah, no. That's not. Please,

God, no. This is one of those movies that I said,

and I will always say it does not need a sequel.

Well, and you're right. And the funny thing is,

is this was originally supposed to be live action?

Now. If they... But, but, look it, look it, I

mean Disney owns it now. Right. They will remake

it at some point as either a live action movie

because they've done that with all of their movies

and they reused the same script. True. They've

done that with The Lion King, they've done it

with Aladdin, they've done it with pretty much

everything else that was in their library. At

some point Titan AE will probably get the live

action treatment. And unfortunately, they'll

probably do Ice Age 2. You mean, uh, Ice Age

doesn't have like a 12th or a 13th sequel in

it at this point? It has to be just remade completely?

Well, I mean, they could always start over. It'd

just be free money, because they just reuse the

script. True. But, I watched this a couple weeks

ago. I actually watched it about a month or so

ago. I've seen this film in total between the

time we planned on recording this episode and

actual recording, and I've watched it three times.

And like I said, it's not like three times in

a row. It's like, like I said, a month or two

ago, plus a couple of weeks ago. And just now

before we recorded, because I forget things a

lot, even though this movie is basically etched

into my brain, Karen always says to me, it boggles

my mind what actually is kept in your brain versus

what actually I tell you to do sometimes. I'm

like, yeah, I know, right? Well, you say that,

but my wife says the same thing. She's like,

how can you remember such pointless crap that

you can't remember something I told you about

life 10 minutes ago? And she's like, she's like,

I could tell you something and you'll forget

five minutes later, like she'll tell me to go

take care of something and then I'll literally

walk past it not even thinking anything about

it because I'm like, oh, I got to go downstairs

and record this podcast. And then she's like,

later in the night, she texts me and she's like,

WTH. Like, she's like, and then she'll put a

word like, forget something, and then I'll be

like, what? And then she'll put it in there and

I'm like, oh yeah, and then I'll go do it. And

she's like, how could you possibly forget? And

some of the things she tells me more than once.

But yeah, so. We're old, that's how we forget.

I'm an old man. I'm an old man. But no, this

movie, what? What this movie has over most other

movies like it or trying to be like it and not

a lot of movies are trying to be like this one

as We've already said the originality and story

the originality in characters and how they act

and react to each other even though there are

story elements from other Character types and

other plot devices It's just so well done and

the sound design on this. Oh Man those ships

flying by The the takeoffs the way the dredge

ships to sound just the way they make space Sound

and there is no sound in space. Well, there is

but you know, you know what? I mean just The

way that it was done was so cool and it is still

so cool. I urge anyone that wants something refreshing

to watch, to watch Titan AE. The other side of

the token is people may be like, they'll be like,

you'll start seeing memes of this. This, this

is what we need to do. Burn it all down, start

over. Which people are trying to do right now,

you know, that's burn it all down It just makes

a lot of logical sense instead of just fixing

it. But anyways This is a great movie though.

I am It's one of those ones that and this is

kind of the way it was with a lot of stuff in

the 90s even a Lot of the animation stuff that

came out of the 90s was pretty stellar and I'm

not saying there isn't stuff now But it's less

It's a different style and different quality

to it It's a different taste. It's a different

era and I say that not to offend anybody but

I say that as someone who has watched a lot of

these things even some of the newer stuff and

While I can find aspects of some of the newer

stuff that I enjoy and I realize that it's not

made for me It's made for the new generation

I Find that a lot of it in the story pales by

comparison to the stuff from the 90s and the

early 2000s. And even some of the 80s too. Like

some of that block in there from like the 80s,

85 to like kind of 2002. I feel like that was

kind of the sweet spot with a lot of the animation.

And then we kind of progressed. And not to say,

like I said, there have been some things that

have been pretty good since. But a lot of the

stuff that's come since hasn't had the same caliber

or oomph to it that that animation era had. And

I'm not sure what it is. Style change or if it's

writers not trying to be original. And look,

I am one of the most unoriginal. See unoriginal

unfunny people out there kind of thing, but like

This is an idea I could run with like figuring

out You know how to create something like Titan

I could try my best to do Now once again, this

is a movie that is a standalone It stands on

its own well it does not need a universe it does

not need seven sequels it does not need like

and i get it money money money money money money

money sadly this movie didn't make its budget

back but i would hope over the years that maybe

through various you know whoever gets the royalties

and the this and that and the whatever um you

know If there are still royalties being paid

on this, I don't know. Who knows? Probably all

got voided when Disney bought them. That sucks.

I'm guessing. I'm just being smart with it. But

anyways, what I was getting at is that I kind

of wonder about some of the stuff that gets sequels.

Again, this didn't need it There are series that

some do need sequels some don't and this is fortunately

one of the ones that don't mm -hmm Yep Just Man

I remember how excited I was for this thing because

I was in a video store when I first saw Some

of the advertisements for this and I'm like,

ooh What is that and I never got to see it in

theaters and I would love to but whatever it

is what it is I'm perfectly fine watching it

on my TV at home or my phone or whatever Because

that's the thing. This film is so beautiful whether

you're on a smartphone a tablet a big -screen

television It looks and sounds Amazing no matter

what because of the quality of work that was

put into it But back then you know 20 years ago.

Oh man I Was I didn't even know what this film

was all as I knew was those those opening lines

in the in the trailer about You know after Earth

dies, you know, whatever it was that the announcer

said, and I'm like, oh man, I have got to see

this movie. Isn't this, um, this is a Don Bluth

film, correct? Yes, yes, yes. Didn't he do the

Iron Giant? Uh, I believe so. I don't want to

talk about it. Um, I could be wrong. Yeah, I

know, I know, I know when he did All Dogs Go

to Heaven. Okay, I'm checking right now. No,

he did not. But he did The Land Before Time,

he did American Tale, Winnie the Pooh, Anastasia,

Thumbelina. So he did quite a few different things.

He worked on a lot of different things. Okay,

so I had that a little bit mixed up, but either

way... It kind of reminded me in a sense of Atlantis

in a lot of ways, in a lot of the animation and

a lot of the stylistic choices. It kind of felt

very much like that. Absolutely it did. The body

of work that that man put in. into like secretive

nymph Like I already said American tail the lamb

before time the original one he did rock -a -doodle

Pebble in the penguin Like you mentioned Anastasia

and and and other things just it was this it

was a When you saw a Don Bluth film you knew

you were in for something special no matter what

the film was He's one of the one of the greats

he always will be Anything else we want to bring

up about Titan anything else we haven't talked

about anything else Is there anything in it that

you're not really that thrilled with? Honestly,

I didn't really find anything. I was that disappointed

by Me neither. I've never been disappointed by

this film. It just has so much going for it.

And it has that, you know, the sci -fi stuff,

the adventure stuff, it has the little bit of

mystery like, oh, is Cale's dad alive? Is he

not alive? What happened? What this? What that?

And all of that. Then you get, you know, the

double crosses between Corso and Preet and good

old Luigi. He awoke from his nap about time,

goon. I think the only thing that shocked me

then was that they got Janine Garofalo as a voice.

And I'm like, okay, sure, that works. That character.

She fits it so well. She's so angry. Yeah, she

kind of disappeared off face the earth. Yep.

So did Bill Pullman, though. Yeah, I don't know.

You know, just I guess people just want to retire

after a while or something. I don't know. I could

be talking up my ass because I usually end up

doing that. It's probably a Hollywood phase out.

We don't need you anymore Let's hope not Yeah,

I think the This is kind of sad. I think the

last thing he was in though. He's Listed as being

in the high note from this year before that the

sinner in 2017 dark waters in 2019 I mean, he's

been in a bunch of stuff. He's still working,

so I was going to say I think the last thing

I remember really seeing him in was, or really

seeing films that he's in advertised was Independence

Day researchants. Just like Brent Spiner showed

back up for that. Just to die again. He likes

to do that with his characters though, come back

and then just die. Well that's what happens when

you play an android all your life or most of

your life. Anyway. Yeah. Um. I feel like we've

rambled on long enough. Yeah, so I'm pretty sure

no one's gonna listen to this and think we actually

did a good job because apparently everyone hates

the podcasts. I do. Anyway. Unless it's the pullback.

Yeah, yeah, well, you know Have to lose a whole

year of content on the pole anyway Titan a folks

Absolutely amazing film visually stunning Sounds

great what I would love I I know this probably

isn't meant for this, but I would love to have

a thx 5 .1 or 7 .1 whatever the best surround

system is that I could have I would love to watch

this on that because just Man There's something

to be said about sound design and a lot of the

sounds that are in this film That are just the

sounds and not the vocals. Oh, it's so so stunning

So coming up next time we're gonna be doing our

first guest spot where we have someone come in

and we ask them about their own podcast approach

Steve and I did our podcast approach episode

of I think back in episode 5 of the studio 2009

but we are having our first guest on the show

in episode 10 for podcast approach and it is

none other than the simple review in Trying to

be Mr. DJ Valentine from simplistic reviews Believe

me folks. There ain't nothing simple about DJ.

He is awesome though. We love him and he's so

cool. Oh, yeah, he's he's Spectacular to work

with and yes I've been a part of many of things

that he's written and so you'll get to hear that

in that episode as well Yes, absolutely and you'll

get to hear There's only been a few times in

mine and Steve's friendship that He is surprised

to me with certain things like the fact that

he can voice Oh, who was that character that

I didn't know you could do? Crang? No, I've always

known you could do Crang. We interviewed Crang.

We figured that out when we talked to the the

Turtles Guys podcast on GeekCast Radio and I

pulled out a Crang in the middle of a conversation

and you're like, you can do that! Okay. Well,

but there was, this was like recently within

like the last two or three years, not the last

12. Yeah. Probably Elmo. That's probably what

it was. But, um, but, uh, I pulled a reverse

on Steve because DJ can do a perfect. Owen Davian

Owen Davian was the character played by the late

great Seymour Philip Seymour Hoffman in Mission

Impossible 3 and DJ just makes it so much more

creepier So podcast approach with DJ Valentine

and us is coming up next time after that who

knows we May get some more dust in your here

in the studio. I'm not sure We'll try to get

some more episodes out. I've got plenty of ideas.

We've got a whole list. So that's what's coming

up next here inside Studio 2009. Where can the

people find you online, sir? They can find me

at SCP -21. And just so people know, the audio

quality will be better the next episode than

this one because I've torn down my entire setup

while I'm moving. And when we recorded that with

DJ, I had my setup going. Uh, when we record

the next one, audio should be better because

I'll have everything set up again. Yes. And my

audio is crap because my computer's in a storage

unit back in Illinois. I might have a solution

for that, but we'll... Yes, I know, filter, filter,

filter. Take a picture already, it'll last longer.

You can follow me at TFG1Mike on Twitter, you

can follow the show at ItsStudio2009 on Twitter,

also follow at GeekCastRadio on Twitter as well.

Find us on Facebook studio 2009 podcast and geek

cast radio network over there on Facebook and

Yeah, I think that's gonna do it for us folks.

We will catch you next time here inside studio

2009 In a world there I said it happy