Who Framed Roger Rabbit Review

I go, go, go, go, go, go, while listening to

Dunecast! Walt sent me. Does anybody understand

what this duck is saying? I've worked with a

lot of wise quackers, but you are despicable.

This is the last time I work with someone with

a speech impediment. This means war. You think

that's funny? Oh, it's a panic. You won't think

it's funny when I stick that pen up your nose.

Now calm down, son, will you? Look, the stain's

gone. It's disappearing ink. No hard feelings,

I hope. Look, I know who you are. Marvin Acme.

The guy that owns Toontown. The gag king. If

it's Acme, it's a gasser. Put it there, pal.

The hand buzzer. Still our biggest seller. Ha,

ha, ha, ha. Scotch on the rocks. And I mean ice!

Hello and welcome to, well, alright. I am TFG

and Mike. I am the host of ToonCast and MWire

and this will be the first of one out of two

of the ToonCast MWire crossovers. Today we are

going to be discussing Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

And I am joined by fellow podcaster and world

-renowned author of the Caffeine Collection,

Steve Snowball -Sailor of This Week in Geek.

Hello, sir. Hello, hello, hello. I say hello

three times because it's just as epic to be on

this show. Yes, actually you'll be on two shows.

It'll be one record, but it's going to be on

both the MWire feed and the ToonCast feed. Sweet.

Slowly taking over the world. Yes, yes, yes.

So the reason why we are doing this episode,

actually it's two different number episodes.

For ToonCast, it's episode 24. For MWire, it's

episode 18 .5. So depending on which feed you're

listening to, the episode numbers will be different.

The reason why we're crossing it over for both

feeds is because Roger Rabbit, or who framed

Roger Rabbit, is... a live -action slash animation

film because they combined both live -action

and traditional animation in the film. And I

would like to point out, before we get too far

into the material, that this was not the first.

A lot of people think that Roger Rabbit was the

first ever Live action meets animation. It was

not. There were several of them done in the golden

age of animation back in the 30s with Looney

Tunes. The most popular one I can remember is

You Ought to Be in Pictures. It's where Daffy

convinces Porky that he needs to go to mainstream

movie and get out of animation. And they actually

show Leon Schlesinger talking with Porky. Another

one I can think of is when Jerry Mouse of Tom

and Jerry dances with Gene Kelly. But a lot of

people seem to think, and I was one of them,

a lot of people seem to think that Roger Rabbit

was the first ever live -action and animation

film put together, but apparently it wasn't.

I think with this movie, it's more of the fact

that it was the first full -length feature film

that incorporated this live -action with animation.

Yes, obviously it's not the absolute first, but

I think it's the one that really was made. into

that, because making animation and making live

action film literally doubles the work, so the

fact that you're able to do this at that time,

that's just incredible in and of itself. Yes,

yes. So, how are you, Steve? I am doing awesome.

I am busy, I'm tired, and yet, but it's a good

busy and tired, know what I mean? Yeah, yeah.

Yes, Steve just released on the 28th of October

his, what is it, your second or third book? It

is my second book. Second audio book. It's The

Caffeine Collection, which is a dynamic podcast.

What the hell are you guys calling it now? I

don't know. It's a dynamic audio book. Ah, there

we go, there we go. You had mentioned on Twitter

a couple of times about a contest, and I don't

think I ever saw the results of that. Has that

been tallied? Well, actually, you know, I was

going to save this for the actual... I mean,

if you don't want to reveal it, that's fine.

No, no, no, this is good. Obviously, I had missed

a week in regards to putting out a podcast because

there was a lot going on as far as the school

because I'm in school for radio broadcasting.

There was a major assignment literally due the

next day after the podcast was supposed to come

out. I had to work on that, but there was a particular

contest where I asked people to leave iTunes

reviews for the podcast, The Caffeine Collection,

and also showing the fact that you subscribed

to it. And you, Mike, definitely entered into

that, and I can actually reveal right now that

you are the winner, sir. Yay! So that's a first.

I haven't even said that out to anybody yet.

So yes, you are definitely the winner of that,

so I'll make sure I get you at least a subscription

to that audiobook, dynamic audiobook, but before

the end of tonight. Oh, okay, cool, good deal.

No, and we need to let people know that the contest

was not rigged. No, no, no. Steve and I are...

Even though we are friends and This Week in Geek

and GeekCastRadio have collaborated on several

different episodes. Actually, I have never been

on a This Week in Geek topic episode, but whatever.

That's beside the point. You know, when I entered

this, it was something that he posted on Twitter.

Like he said, you know, I entered it just as

everybody else. It isn't like... you know, I

actually work with Steve on it or anything like

that. No, it was definitely not rigged in any

way, shape, or form. It just so happened. Literally,

it did this all completely random, and yours

was the name that came up. Cool. Cool. So we

are going to get into the topic, and you're going

to hear some Roger Rabbit audio. Actually...

We may actually do another little general chat

thing before we actually get into the topic.

Just talking to you about your book and your

experience and all that stuff really quick. It

would be five or ten minutes, I guess. Because

I have two different audio portions that I want

to put in here. For me, I need to be able to

break them up. So we will be right back. Get

the judge. The Joker'll sit there on your brain.

Woo -hoo -hoo! Nice shirt! Who's your tailor?

Quagmoto? Woo -hoo! My buddy, very D. A sourpuss,

you'll see. But when I'm done, he'll need no

gun. To the Joker, he will be D. D -I -C -H -I

-I. Love to raise the pain. Believe me, it's

no strain. It feels so great to start to fight.

And look at me. No pain. No pain. No pain. Merry

-go -round broke down. Quite a loony selection

for a group of drunken reprobates. is here! Okay,

we are back, and as we said in the first part

of this episode, I am joined by Steve Snowball

-Sailor. One of the reasons why I wanted Snowball

on this episode was because he had mentioned,

was it a couple months ago, you had happened

to be watching Roger Rabbit, and I just happened

to remember, oh crap! We have a Roger Rabbit

review coming up in November. So I was like,

oh, yeah. So, yeah, I can probably get Steve

one for that. So, yeah, that's the main reason

why you're here. In this portion, why don't you

tell us, and I mean, I know you've said this

a couple of times, why don't you tell us how

the caffeine collection came to be? Well, obviously,

my first podcast novel that I put out called

Black Shadows was at the beginning of December

2007. So it literally had been about two years

almost that I hadn't produced out any new audio

stuff. or any audiobook content. And I've been

wanting to kind of – I had a couple ideas going

and some that I did announce that didn't exactly

work out the way I planned it to. And so during

the summer of this year, 2009, I was home for

the – I was basically home from school. I was

back – back home kind of living with the family

and just kind of trying to figure out exactly

what I wanted to do sort of audiobook -wise or

book -wise. And I was writing a bunch of short

stories that I just kind of thought, you know,

I wanted to try to get myself back into it, into

writing a full -length novel again. And one of

the interviews that I did for This Week in Geek

over the summer was with a musician slash entrepreneur

named Jess Smith. Jeff Smith is the co -founder

of a company called ringtonefeeder .com. Ringtone

Feeder is specifically for the iPhone. He actually

creates original, brand -new ringtones that you

can subscribe to. You get two brand -new ringtones

every single week, and you get it as a paid subscription.

You pay either $2 a month or $20 a year. to get

these ringtones, and they're all created by him.

He's not repurposing any content or kind of taking

songs and just re -recording them or whatever.

It's just all original stuff that he makes. And

then he also released something called a dynamic

album. Since he's a musician, he wanted to kind

of put out his music sort of using the same format.

So he did that, where you actually pay 15 bucks,

you get access to all the songs, but then over

the course of a year, because it's a podcast

subscription, you get all kinds. of bonus content.

So the reason why it's called Dynamic Album is

that the album will grow as time goes by. And

so him and I started talking about creative stuff

and he was looking for some creative artists

to kind of partner up with. And so I kind of

suggested to him, well, what about, say, something

like stories or like short stories or full -length

novels? And he was really... keen on that idea

kind of right off the hop and so I started talking

to him and his business partner Klaus Lovegren

and over the course of the next like two weeks

after that and him and I sort of The three of

us sort of kind of got this idea going, and we

decided, you know what? Let's put out a short

story collection. And so over the course of the

summer, I wrote just a bunch of short stories,

hopped up on caffeine because I all wrote them

at Starbucks, and just a wide variety of genres,

everything from sci -fi to fantasy to comedy

to action. pretty much a wide variety of genres

that people can have interest in. And I decided

to put it all together into one short story collection,

and that's what the Caffeine Collection came

to be. Yes, I kind of figured the reason why

it was titled The Caffeine Collection is because

you're always hopped up on caffeine at Starbucks.

Oh, that's... Every time that I talk to you,

either on Twitter or Facebook or whatever, you

know, whatever social medium you want to use,

you're always at Starbucks. That's the thing

about the local Starbucks that I was at. I mean

it's sort of – every single Starbucks is sort

of the same way. Like I can go to any Starbucks

now and sort of – I can kind of get in that sort

of environment. But there's something specific

about the one that I live near in the Niagara

area that it was just kind of – it was very welcoming.

Like it had obviously the same Starbucks thing.

There was nothing really specifically different

about that Starbucks other than the fact that

it was close and that there was a lot of regulars

there that actually I sort of start to get to

talk to. It was just a really open atmosphere

that I just loved. basically made me more creative

as time went on. And then my friend, my best

friend Shane and I, we would go there constantly

to write. And he was kind of like my writing

partner in crime, so to speak. And him and I

would just go there constantly as many times

as we can get. And we would just write. And it

was so much fun. And that's kind of why I...

love starbucks that much and i like i have even

in toronto uh where i'm at right now there is

sort of one that i kind of sort of gravitating

towards but there's always that one that's in

the niagara area that i just love the most right

yeah i'm not really that much of a big coffee

drinker and starbucks is severely overpriced

so yeah well that's the thing i i I'm not really

– you would not believe but I'm actually not

a regular coffee drinker in and of itself. I'm

not one of those I would have to have coffee

every single day in order to survive. My parents

are but I'm not. But the thing is I love going

there because it's sort of like a specialty thing

for me. If I go to get like a Tazzo Chai Latte

or a Peppermint Mocha Frappuccino, whatever it

is that I'm going there to get, it's kind of

one of those things. It's like, you know what?

I feel like I need to kind of have something

special, not just a regular coffee. And I like

that kind of stuff. And, yeah, it's a little

bit expensive, but it was worth it in the end.

Well, that's cool. That's cool. And we will,

when we do the outro, we will tell everybody

where they can get the caffeine collection and

all that. Up next, you are going to hear what

is probably the, I don't know if it's really

controversial, but probably the scene from Roger

Rabbit where all of the guys turn into howling

wolves. And that was the Jessica Rabbit. singing

scene in the Ink and Paint Club. We will be right

back. Too much. Cigars? Cigarettes? Eddie Valiant!

Eddie? Long time no see! What are you doing here?

Work's been kind of slow since cartoons went

to color. But I still got it, Eddie! Boop boop

be doop boop! Yeah, you still got it. What's

with him? Mr. Hackney never misses a night when

Jessica performs. Got a thing for rabbits, huh?

You had plenty money 1922 She's married. Some

other man Okay, and it is time to talk about

the... I wouldn't really say it's world famous,

but this movie was always one of the most famous

movies. Set aside the fact that you have Steven

Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis attached to it,

but Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 fantasy

comedy film directed by, as I said, Zemeckis.

and produced by Steven Spielberg based on Gary

K. Wolfe's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit. Ooh,

I wonder if I can find that. I'd like to read

that, actually. You do. Yeah. The film combines

the use of traditional animation and live action

with elements of film noir. It stars Bob Hoskins,

Charles Fleischer, Christopher Lloyd, Kathleen

Turner, and Joanna Cassidy. Who Framed Roger

Rabbit is set in 1947 Hollywood where cartoon

characters referred to as toons commonly interact

with the studio system of classic Hollywood cinema.

The film tells the story of private investigator

Eddie Valiant caught in a mystery that involves

Roger Rabbit, an A -list toon who is framed for

murder. When did you first see this? Oh, it has

to be definitely when I was a kid. I remember

watching it and I could never really figure out

who Roger Rabbit was. at the time when I was

a kid, but all I remember of Roger Rabbit was

watching the little mini cartoon that they had

at the beginning of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.

Yeah. That was probably the first time I ever

saw anything of Roger Rabbit at that point, and

then I remember seeing the movie afterwards.

I was like, oh, it's just like one from Honey,

I Shrunk the Kids, and I really sort of enjoyed

it. So I never really kind of got into, I guess,

the Roger Rabbit sort of, Even to this day, I

still have no idea whether he had stuff, like

there was an actual series of Roger Rabbit, or

he was specifically made for this film. I think,

now I would have to go back and watch the special

features on the DVD, but I believe he was specially

made for the film. I believe that they made...

Warner Brothers -like cartoons, like the cartoon

that precedes the movie, Tummy Trouble. Was it

Tummy Trouble? Not Tummy Trouble. But you know

what I mean, the one where Baby Herman's going

after the cookie. Yes, exactly. I forget what

it's called at the present time. I'm sure people

are screaming at their iPods saying, it's this,

it's this, it's this. That is set up like Warner

Brothers and classic Disney cartoons as far as

the intro -outro. And actually on the DVD there

are, I believe it's every one that they made

at the time. And they're all on here. I'm looking

at the back here. It doesn't say. But I know

that they're all on here. The tummy trouble one

where he has to go to the hospital. where Jessica

is dressed up as a nurse. There's one where they

go to some park. There's like three or four of

them on there. But I don't think... He wasn't

mainstream. Obviously, this film was made way

after the golden age of animation. And I know

traditional animation style was starting to come

back in the 80s. Obviously, with them rerunning

Looney Tunes on TV and showing it more in syndication.

But I don't think he was ever a main part. It

was a fictional part of Maroon Cartoon Studios

and stuff, so I don't think it was ever a main

thing. I was eight years old when this film came

out. I don't remember exactly. I might have seen

it maybe a year or two after it came out. 89

or 90, but I know I never went to the theater

and saw it. I know I never did that. I would

have loved to have seen it in theaters. As far

as some more information before we actually get

into the plot, Walt Disney Pictures purchased

the film rights to Who Censored Roger Rabbit

in 1981. Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman wrote

two drafts of the script before Disney brought

Spielberg and Amblin Entertainment. To help finance

the film, Zemeckis was hired to direct the live

-action scenes with Richard Williams overseeing

animation sequences. For inspiration, Price and

Seaman studied the work of Walt Disney and Warner

Bros. cartoons from the golden age of American

animation, especially Tex Avery and Bob Clampett

cartoons. Production was moved from Los Angeles

to Elstree Studios in England to accommodate

Williams and his group of animators. During filming,

the production budget began to rapidly expand

and the shooting schedule lapsed longer than

expected. However, Who Framed Roger Rabbit was

released with a financial success and critical

acclaim. The film brought re -emerging interest

from the golden age of American animation and

became the forefront for modern era. Especially

Disney Renaissance, Roger Rabbit left behind

an impact that included a media franchise and

the unproduced prequel Who Discovered Roger Rabbit.

This is, I think what might turn people off to

this film is the film noir parts of it. I mean,

I like that stuff when it's done well. It's not

a genre I always like to watch, but that may

turn people off. Technically, it is a period

piece with animation in it, because obviously,

as I've said before, it takes place in Hollywood

in 1947. You know, I think it still stands well

today. I don't think, you know, there are probably,

you know, obviously because it is a period piece,

a lot of it is actually dated. You know how we

say, like, you know, okay, the biggest thing

that could date a show today is making a Johnny

Cochran or O .J. Simpson reference. Well, all

of the stuff that is... that's in this film is

from 1947, so technically the entire film is

dated, but it's done so well as far as going

back, especially being made in the 80s and doing

a film about the 40s. Right. I mean, it's considered

what now a lot of people would call a period

piece. Right. I don't really actually have one

paragraph plot synopsis. I wish I did. I mainly

just get, as everybody knows, I just get the

information from Wiki. If you want, we can go

through what plot synopsis I have here. Let's

see. 1947, Los Angeles, California. Toons commonly

interact with Hollywood's studio system and live

action and live in a section of the city known

as Toontown. I always wanted to go to Toontown.

That was so cool. Me too. I want to live in Toontown.

I want to live on Gingerbread Lane. Yeah. Gingerbread

Lane's that way. No, it's this way. Roger Rabbit

is the star of Maroon Cartoon animated short

subjects, but he has trouble following the director's

commands, delaying the production. Rumors are

spreading that Roger's wife Jessica has a sugar

daddy, and studio head R .K. Maroon hires private

investigator Eddie Valiant to look into the matter.

Eddie, whose brother Teddy was killed by a toon

five years before, reluctantly takes the job.

He discovers that the buxom Jessica is quote

-unquote cheating on Roger. by literally playing

patty cake with Marvin Acme, owner of the Acme

Corporation in Toontown. Eddie reveals photographic

evidence to Roger, who sinks into depression.

Marvin Acme is found murdered the next day. Roger

becomes the prime suspect. Okay, how did you...

When you first saw this film, I guess, as a...

As an adult, I guess you could say. How did you

like the whole opening going from the cartoon

and then they basically, I don't even think they

made a cut. They basically just faded out from

the cartoon set into the live action. Well, you

can kind of tell a little bit of a slight difference

in the coloring. when it switches over from the,

basically from the cartoon to live action. So

you can kind of see, obviously, when they made

the edited switchover. I mean, that's just me

first, because I sort of can look into that.

But that whole opening, I mean, that in and of

itself kind of sort of... in a really good way,

sets up what Roger Rabbit really was and why

he was known as... Think of it this way. In 1947

in Toontown, Roger Rabbit would have been considered

the chaplain of all cartoon shorts. So he has

a lot... And you can sort of tell that in that

opening cartoon, especially with the... the baby

who I think it says later on I think he has like

the mind of a 50 year old but with the dinky

of a 3 year old so it's kind of funny that it's

just the way the two kind of interact and when

I was watching it again actually like literally

a few days ago just kind of get myself back into

it again I really did notice that the movie sort

of made Roger Rabbit I guess the chaplain whereas

I'd say Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse in a way

even though they came obviously way before Roger

Rabbit did but in the movie they made it seem

like they were all inspired by Roger Rabbit They

came out of the woodworks of Toontown to become

famous on their own right, but if they ever were

asked in an interview, or interviews or whatever,

who was your inspiration, they probably would

say Roger Rabbit. And as they, so after Roger

becomes the prime suspect, we see a scene showing,

you know, him in, well, Eddie is sent to the

Ink and Paint Club. which is a strictly tuned

review, but it's a human -only crowd. And we

open with this giant bouncer. The password to

get into the Incan Fan Club is WaltSendMe. I

love that line. Everybody knows that that's a,

well, most everyone knows or should know that

that is a play on Mr. Disney himself, Walt Disney.

Yep. Nice monkey suit. Wise ass. Yep. And then

it opens up to this just hopping club with all

these humans, and these tombs are, you know,

the waiters, the waitresses. You've got an octopus

at the bar. You've got Donald and Daffy on stage.

It's the very first time and the only time this

has ever happened. And I'll mention the other

one as well later on. This is the only time we

have ever seen Donald Duck and Daffy Duck on

screen together interacting. And wow. I know,

I know. Just wow. See, and what I love about

that particular piece is that I always wondered

how they were able to kind of get the rights

to get not only... basically Looney Tunes interacting

with Disney characters. I'm like, that in and

of itself was like, that must have been a headache

just to try to be able to get the rights to that.

But I remember watching it and finding out a

little bit later on when I did some research

on it that the people who did it, the guys who

did the voice of Donald Duck and Daffy Duck,

they were the original voices. Yeah, Mel Blanc,

and I forget who does Donald. Mel Blanc does

Daffy, but... Yeah, and I kind of figured that

Mel Blanc would have done it, but by this time

in the 80s, he was close to 80 years old. Yeah,

I believe, I cannot be for certain, I believe

this was one of the, I'm just going to say it

was one of the last things that he ever did.

I honestly think this probably was the last thing

he did for Looney Tunes. Yeah. Like any of his

original characters. Yes, exactly. Now, it does

say up here where I read earlier, Walt Disney

Pictures purchased the film rights. So that would

give you, say, you know, if Disney owns the film

rights to something, I'm sure they can put their

characters into anything and everything. Just

like now that they own Marvel, they can, you

know, make Mickey Wolverine Mouse or something.

I don't know. I mean, I'm just, you know. But

you see what I'm saying, though, right? Oh, yeah,

totally. Because Disney owned the film rights

to this. They could have, you know, maybe it

was a big Disney -Warner Brothers collaboration.

I don't know. No, I could see that. I could see

that. And I do. One of my funniest, one of the

scenes when I was a kid, I would always just

laugh myself silly. When they get to the Acme

factory, this is the clip that I got. It's just

I haven't been this close to Toontown for a while.

Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!

Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!

Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!

Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!

Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!

Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!

Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!

Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!

Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow That's also Mel

Blanc as well. That was one of his characters.

Yes, it was. Yes, it was. Just every single time.

So they're at the crime scene. Oh, before this,

it shows why Eddie is a drunk. They actually

have a scene in the bar, and we meet Dolores.

and the crew that hangs out at the bar in this

jackass Angelo, and come to find out Eddie's

brother was killed by a tune. And then it goes

into this whole montage of all the old photos,

and then Lieutenant Santino cracks an empty bottle

into the trash can, waking Eddie up, saying that

Marvin Acme's been killed. So at the Acme factory...

Eddie is met by Judge Doom of the Toontown District

Superior Court and his Toon Patrol weasel henchmen.

Now, I gotta say, this is a very weird role for

Christopher Lloyd to take. I didn't even know

it was Christopher Lloyd at first. Oh, I definitely

knew, because I remember watching this kind of

around the same time I started watching Back

to the Future, and I just knew they both were

exactly the same. Yes, yes, exactly. But I was

like, oh, no way. What's Doc Brown doing in a

movie and being bald? It's not that Doc Brown

isn't bald already, but he did have some white

hair. Yeah, that's true. Doom is eager to use

the quote -unquote dip, a mixture of chemicals

that can dissolve any cartoon character on contact.

He wants to use this on Roger once he can be

found. Eddie encounters baby Herman, Roger's

co -star, who swears that Roger is innocent that

Acme's will, which would have left Toontown to

the toons, has gone missing. If the will is not

found by midnight, Toontown could be sold at

public auction. Roger himself turns up at Eddie's

office and pleads his innocence. Eddie begins

to investigate the case deeper with his on -off

girlfriend Dolores and Roger's toon taxi cab

friend Benny while trying to keep Roger hidden

from the toon patrol. Now, Benny is another one

that I absolutely loved. This is one just little

small saying I got from Benny. Out of my way,

handsome man! The whole scene. That whole scene

when Roger's in the office and Eddie's trying

to kick him out, and, of course, cartoons. In

this film, we are led to believe that you can't

do anything to a tune that they can't get out

of. You can drop a safe on their head. You can

drop a refrigerator on their head. You can drop

whatever you want to on them, and they just kind

of plop up and go back to normal. One thing I

don't get, now maybe you can explain this, if

that's true, why in the world, when he's got

Roger in the dishwater, Roger can't breathe?

If you can drop a safe on the guy's head, why

wouldn't that, I don't know, I mean, I know that's

a minor gripe, but that makes no sense. Yeah,

I mean, the logic is just one of those things

that you just kind of have to throw a little

bit out the window in regards to that, because

it's basically just reacting how we would react,

obviously. So, you know, I don't know. It's just

kind of one of those things you just kind of

have to basically put on your disbelief for a

bit and just let it happen. All right, let's

see. So Valiant is visited by Jessica, who reveals

that she was forced by Maroon to get close to

Acme or else he would have ruined Roger's career.

Now, we really didn't talk about the Jessica

scene in the club. I mentioned it. Yeah. I know

that Kathleen Turner voiced Jessica. I don't

remember for the life of me who was the singing

part because I know it wasn't. I know Kathleen

Turner did not do the singing. I know they had

two separate voice actresses for it. I'm trying

to remember who it is right now. I think it was

someone that Amy, I think it was Amy Irving,

I believe was the name. Let's see. Yeah, Amy

Irving supplied the singing voice. Wow, she had

three voices. We'll cover that when we get down

to the cast stuff. But, yeah, that scene can

leave any guy cold. And that's all we're going

to say about it, folks. Yeah. Yeah. And this

is her explanation for the way that she is. I'm

not bad. I'm just drawn that way. So we have

Jessica. at the office, and of course, Dolores

walks in with Eddie's pants down, and, you know,

you know, I don't know, Valiant then questions

Maroon, who tells him that Cloverleaf Industries

wouldn't buy his studio unless Acme sold Toontown

to them, but Acme refused to do so, and he was

going to set up Acme with the pictures of him

and Jessica, but before he can explain any further,

Maroon is shot by a mysterious assassin. Eddie

sees Jessica, and again, this is a very, very

jumping around synopsis thing here because that's

just the way that wiki is. Eddie sees Jessica

fleeing from the studio and overcoming his anxiety,

pursues her into Toontown, but the culprit turns

out to be Judge Doom. And I've got to play one

more clip really quick. Right before he, he has

hesitation about going into Toontown because

obviously, That's where his brother, Teddy, was

killed. And another scene that I absolutely died

laughing from was this. There wasn't Sam here.

Teddy Valiant, well, you're a sight for sore

eyes. I ain't seen you deny home to five years.

Where you been? Drunk. Feeling frisky tonight,

fellas? Yeah! Let's go. Oh, the cartoon bullets,

you gotta love them. Yeah, actually, one of the

things that you may recognize definitely the

voice, one of them is done by the voice of Jim

Cummings, who voiced a lot of Disney characters

from like the Disney Afternoons, like stuff from

Darkwing Duck, to Tailspin, to even DuckTales,

so that's another Disney crossover. As I said

before, I think this was Warner Brothers and

Disney doing a very large team -up where you're

never going to see this ever again except in

this film. As they attempt to bring Doom to the

authorities, Eddie, Jessica, and Roger are all

captured by the Toon Patrol, and they are taken

to the Acme warehouse. Doom reveals his plans.

As the sole stockholder in Cloverleaf Industries,

he bought the red car, and he plans to buy Toontown.

the Acme Company, and Maroon Cartoon Studios,

and then erase them to make way for a freeway

for Los Angeles to wipe out Toontown. Doom has

built a vehicle with a large dip vat, and he

plans to spray throughout the district, wiping

out all the toons. As Roger and Jessica struggle

to avoid being hit by the spray of the dip, Eddie

manages to get free and causes the weasels of

the Toon Patrol to die of laughter. Through various

comedic antics, leaving the dip sprayer running

automatically. And the song and dance that Eddie

does will be the outro to the show. I always

thought that scene, he's really struggling to

act in that scene, Eddie is. I don't know if

he was struggling to act, it's just, it's definitely

obviously singing and dancing in that strong

suit. So I think that he did – I mean, in a way,

it worked because of the character, the way he

is. He's obviously – the character, Eddie Valiant,

is not a fan of Toon, so he doesn't really get

it as of yet. But, I mean, he's slowly starting

to understand that this is basically a Toon and

human world, so he kind of has to be a part of

it. And basically, in order to be able to get

– to kind of defeat Doom – In his henchmen, you

have to do what they do without singing and dancing.

Eddie and Doom then fight using assorted tomb

props found within the factory until Eddie is

able to run Doom over with a road roller, which

actually it was a steam roller. The crush does

not kill Doom, however. Instead, Doom reveals

himself to be a toon, the same one that killed

Eddie's brother. Eddie manages to open the drain

on the dip sprayer, showering Doom. with the

mixture and dissolving him. Eddie frees Roger

and Jessica, their relationship having been mended,

while the dip sprayer harmlessly crashes through

the warehouse wall into Toontown and immediately

smashed by a Toon train. As numerous Toons enter

the warehouse to see what the commotion is, Eddie

discovers Acme's will written in disappearing,

reappearing ink on an apparent blank piece of

paper that Acme had given to Jessica, that Roger

later wrote a love poem to his wife on. With

the will in hand, the Toons celebrate their ownership

of Toontown and sing Smile, Darn Your Smile,

while Roger and Jessica, as well as Eddie and

Dolores, rekindle their relationships. Now, I

have one other clip that I'm going to play, and

I didn't bring this up earlier, but this is the

second of the very first ever on -screen performances.

This is Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse. Hey, what's

up, Doc? Jumping without a parachute? Kind of

dangerous, ain't it? Yeah. You can get killed.

You guys got a spare? Bugs does. Yeah, but I

don't think you want it. I do, I do. Give it

to me. Gee, better let him have it, Bugs. Okay,

Doc. Whatever you say. Here's the spare. Thank

you. That scene was actually longer, but when

I went to record the clip, I didn't at all. After

Eddie goes down, the camera pans back up to Bugs

and Mickey, and he goes, oh, gee. Mickey says

something, and Bugs goes, oh, gee, ain't I a

stinker? This film has got to be one of the best

films. You can say what you want. People that

may not like Bob Hoskins, you can say what you

want about his acting ability, whatever, but

for the role that he was given, I thought it

was very well done. Well, he added the kind of,

I guess, very 1940s private detective sort of

feel to it. He was just very... Obviously, he

played an alcoholic kind of really well. I mean,

it was sort of a character that you like, but

then you don't like at the same time. It's not

like love to hate or hate to love, but he kind

of rides that fine line. It's like he's kind

of despicable at times, but then he definitely

has some good qualities to him. You know, personally,

I like Bob Hoskins as Eddie Valiant. Oh, no,

I don't. But, I mean, I don't know. For some

odd reason, there may be some people that do

have problems with him. Actually, it's funny.

Producer Steven Spielberg's first choice for

Eddie Valiant was Harrison Ford. But he was asking

for too much money. Yeah, he just came off of

the first Star Wars trilogy. You know. Indiana

Jones. I think he was definitely doing Indiana

Jones by that point. Now, I don't know if this

is true or not. I didn't really look this up,

but every time I see the name Charles Fleischer,

I always think of the... Oh, no, wait. It's Max

Fleischer that did the Superman cartoons, wasn't

it? Oops, never mind. I don't know. I always

had that confused. Never mind. So Charles Fleischer

provides the voice of Roger Rabbit, an A -list

toon working for Maroon Cartoons. Roger is eventually

framed for murder for the death of Marvin Acme.

To facilitate Hoskins' performance, Fleischer

dressed in a Roger Bunny suit and stood in behind

camera for most scenes. Animation director Richard

Williams explained Roger Rabbit was a combination

of Tex Avery's cashew nut -shaped head and the

swatch of red hair like Droopy's, Oswald Lucky

Rabbit's overalls, Porky Pig's bow, and Mickey

Mouse's gloves. Hmm, that's interesting. So at

least we know where the design came from. One

scene I did forget to mention was when Eddie's

in Toontown and he goes in the elevator. That's

another scene that always makes me crack up.

Going up, sir. Yeah, with Droopy. Going up, sir.

Going down. And Eddie's, like, on the floor.

Yeah. Hey, hey, do that again. Droopy. Going

down, Droopy. Your floor, Droopy. Okay, we have

Droopy with us, ladies and gentlemen. Yes, Christopher

Lloyd played Judge Doom, the sadistic judge of

Toontown District Superior Court and main antagonist

of the film. He previously worked with director

Zemeckis in Amblin Entertainment in Back to the

Future. Wait, that's right, Zemeckis did direct

Back to the Future. That's right, I remember

when we were doing the Back to the Future episode,

the first episode of MWire, we had mentioned

that. that once Back to the Future 2 and 3, Zemeckis

was going between three films in those years.

He was going between those two and this. Wow.

I completely blanked on that one. Kathleen Turner

provides the voice of Jessica Rabbit, Roger Rabbit's

physically attractive wife. Amy Irving supplied

the singing voice, while Betsy... Brantley served

as the stand -in. Oh, the, you know, where's

my man? Yeah, that was freakish. Joanna Cassidy

as Dolores, Eddie's on -and -off girlfriend who

helps him and Roger solve the case. It's actually

funny, the only other thing that I remember her

for, like, she'll pop up. And I'll remember her,

but the main thing I always remember her from

is Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead. Oh,

yeah. I don't remember much, obviously, of Kathy

Turner, other than just a lot of movies that

she did in the past. But Amy Irving, I actually

do remember because I'm a fan of Alias. And Amy

Irving plays the wife of Sloane, the main kind

of bad guy from Seasons 1 and 2. And so it didn't

clue into that until all of a sudden, like, I

remember watching Roger Rabbit recently and then

watching Alias around the same time, and I was

like, wow, those voices are kind of similar.

I guess the singing voice. Then I realized it

was the same person. I'm like, now that's cool.

You have Alan Tilburn as R .K. Maroon, short

-tempered owner of Maroon Cartoon Studios. This

was Tilburn's final theatrical performance before

his death. Stubby K as Marvin Acme. See, I could

have sworn that... Some of these casting lists

would just give more about the actor than what

they actually play in the film, but apparently

not. Lou Hirsch provides the voice of Baby Herman.

Roger's frequent co -star in Maroon Cartoons,

William, said that Baby Herman was a mixture

of Elmer Fudd and Tweety crushed together. April

Winchell provides the voice of Mrs. Herman and

the baby noises. Wow. Elmer Fudd and Tweety Bird

crashed together. That's a strange combination.

Yeah, especially with the kind of rough voice

that it came out with. Yeah, that's a really

strange... Wow. Richard Leparmenter has a small

role as Lieutenant Santino. Joel Silver makes

his cameo appearance as the frustrated director

at the beginning of the film. Archive sound of

Frank Sinatra from Witchcraft was used for the

singing Sword, in addition to Charles Fleischer.

The Weasel Gang voices were provided by David

L. Lander, Fred Newman, and June Ferre. Mel Blanc

voiced Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird, Porky

Pig, and Sylvester. This would be the final film

in which Blanc would voice these characters,

so we were right earlier. Joe Aleski actually

voiced Yosemite Sam in Foghorn Leghorn. Other

voice work was provided by Wayne Alwain, which

I think he passed away, too, as Mickey Mouse.

No, I mean recently, I think he did. That's what

I'm saying. Maybe earlier this year or late last

year. I could have sworn I saw him. Oh, no, it

actually was this year. May 18th. Tony Pope as

the Big Bad Wolf. Goofy Rusty Taylor as the Birds,

Minnie Mouse, and Tony Anselo as Donald Duck.

Anselo. Apparently, actually, Tony Anselo, I

looked it up, he apparently is the guy who's

recently playing Donald Duck. I wonder who the

original was. I can look it up. I love the internet

for that very reason. Overall, you know, this

is one of those feel -good movies. Oh, totally.

It's one that kind of, obviously, it was kind

of one of the really first ones that appealed

to kids but grown -ups at the same time. Yes,

and that is one of the reasons why this was put

under the Disney Touchstone. and not, well, Disney

Pictures itself, because it wasn't... Back then,

Disney... I don't actually know how many live

-action Disney films were going on. I'm sure

there were a lot. I'm sure there were some between,

obviously, the golden age of animation and when

this was released, but back in the 80s, I mainly

knew Disney for their animation films, like Lady

and the Tramp, Cinderella, all that kind of stuff.

And they actually created touchstone pictures

to be for adults. So they could show like a PG

-13 movie or something like that. Because I believe,

I can't be certain, but I either read somewhere

or heard a rumor that Disney at the time wanted

all of their animation to be G -rated. Which

is what the majority of it is. So who is the

original? Do you know? The original was Clarence

Nash, and he died in 85, so that's why at the

time it was Tony. Well, I mean, Mr. Anselmo takes...

He does an excellent... I couldn't tell the difference.

Yeah, I mean, with Donald Ducky, it's kind of

hard, really. If you could do it well... voice

well, it's kind of hard to really tell who really

sort of did that voice. Obviously, you need someone

that can be able to do the work well and do the

voice well to kind of really make it seem like

there's no transition between the two people

doing the voices. I mean, let's say, for instance,

Bugs Bunny. The person who's voicing it now obviously

is not Mel Blanc. I mean, he does a decent job.

but isn't exactly. Kermit the Frog, exact same

way. His son, Jim Henson's son, Robert, or I

think it's Robert or Brian, I can never remember

which, he's doing the voice of Kermit the Frog

now, and obviously that's very much different.

But with Donald Duck, it's kind of one of those

voices that's so indescript that it's kind of

hard to really tell who's playing who. But the

fact that both of them did extremely well, obviously.

Tony did a really good job as far as being able

to kind of take that and make it seem like it

was the original. And I think he was probably

the closest he ever came or anybody ever came

to reproducing that voice. Oh, yeah, yeah. As

far as Mel Blanc and doing bugs, you know, as

far as the differences with bugs nowadays, I

think a majority of people try to emulate Blanc.

but I don't think that they would go as far as

Blank did when he first started crafting the

voice for bugs. He would actually eat carrots

when he would do the, what's up, Doc? He would

actually eat the carrots as, you know, they would

show him an animation seller, they would show

him a drawing of bugs eating carrots, and he

would actually eat carrots and do the voice,

and I thought that was a really cool thing. As

I mentioned before, there were a little bit of

problems. The reason why this was released under

Touchstone, Michael Eisner, the then president

of the Walt Disney Company, complained Hoofer

and Roger Rabbit was too risque with sexual innuendos.

Eisner and Zemeckis disagreed over elements with

the film, but since Zemeckis had final cut privilege,

he refused to make alterations. Jeffrey Katzenberg

felt it was appropriate to release the film under

their Touchstone Pictures banner. Who Framed

Roger Rabbit opened on June 22, 1988, in America

grossing $11 million. I'm just going to round

it up or down. $11 million in 1 ,045 theaters

during its opening weekend. The film went on

to gross a total of $156 million in North America

and $173 million internationally, coming to a

worldwide total of $329 .8 million. Wow. That's

a lot of money. That's a lot of money. That is

a lot of money. At the time of release, Roger

Rabbit was the 20th highest grossing film of

all time. The film was also the second highest

grossing film of 1988, only behind Rain Man.

Wow. That's something I would not put those two

films together. No, you wouldn't think so. I

mean, those are two big stars in that one, Tom

Cruise and Dustin Hoffman, and you would think

that, I mean, you knew that the little animation

movie, live -action animation movie kind of would

become second. It won several Academy Awards,

awards for sound editing, visual effects, and

film editing. Nominations included art direction,

cinematography, and sound. As far as the legacy

for it, the success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit

rekindled the interest in Golden Age American

animation and sparked modern animation scene.

In 1991, Walt Disney Imagineering began to develop

Mickey's Toontown for Disneyland based on the

Toontown that appeared in the film. The attraction

also features a ride called Roger Rabbit's Cartoon

Spin. Three theatrical short cartoons were also

produced, Tummy Trouble, played in front of Honey,

I Shrunk the Kids. Roller Coaster Rabbit was

shown with Dick Tracy, and Trail Mix -Up was

included with Far Off Place. The film also inspired

short -lived comic book and video game spinoffs,

including a PC game, the Japanese version of

The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle, which features Roger

instead of Bugs, and a 1989 game release on the

Nintendo Entertainment System. Um... The, uh...

Uh... Yeah, those cartoons I just mentioned,

all of those are on the two -disc Buena Vista

series special edition DVD. I've never had this

on DVD. I have it now, obviously. But at the

time, I had never had it, and I just saw it in

Best Buy one day, and I saw just the case that

it came in. It has Benny. It has Benny on the

front with Roger, Eddie, and Jessica in the cab.

You slip the slip cover off. It shows as like

an old -time 40s notebook because it is a two

-disc edition. It opens up in three different

parts. And on the left -hand side, you know how

they have DVD booklets that will show you the

special features and chapters and all that stuff?

Well, this opens up like a notepad, and it reads

like a detective's notepad or like a policeman's

say, this is very ingenious. They actually look

like film reels on the actual discs. And then

the first disc is the, they have family -friendly

bonus features. And then the second disc has

the enthusiast bonus features, which include

a bunch of stuff. They include the trailer. They

include, you know, a Toontown game where you

can interact. It's just an awesome, awesome two

-disc DVD to have, and I'm very glad that I have

it. As far as the controversies for the film,

with the film's Laserdisc release, Variety first

reported in March 1994 that observers uncovered

several scenes of subliminal antics from the

animators that featured a brief nudity of the

Jessica Rabbit character. While undetectable

when played at the usual rate of 24 film frames

per second, the LaserDisc player allowed the

viewer to advance frame by frame to uncover these

visuals. Many retailers said that within minutes

of the LaserDisc debut, their entire inventory

was sold out. Well, duh! The run was fueled by

media reports. About the controversy, including

stories in CNN and various newspapers, a Disney

exec responded to a variety that people need

to get a life than to notice stuff like that.

We were never aware of it. It was just a stupid

gimmick. The animators pulled on us, and we didn't

notice it. Oh, yeah. That's just like you people

didn't notice that part of the castle in The

Little Mermaid is a dick joke, basically. Uh

-huh. Sure, sure. Okay. Uh -huh. Yeah. At the

same time, people also need to develop a sense

of humor with these things. One scene involves

Herman extending his middle finger as he passes

under a woman's dress, re -emerging with drool

on his lip. Oh, my God. Other rumors also exist.

Gary Wolf, the author of the novel who censored

Roger Ebert, filed a lawsuit in 2001 against

the Walt Disney Company. Wolf claimed he was

owed royalties based on the value of gross receipts

and merchandising sales. In 2002, the trial court

in the case ruled that these only referred to

actual cash receipts Disney collected and denied

Wolf's claim. In its January 2004 ruling, the

California Court of Appeal disagreed, finding

that expert testimony introduced by Wolf regarding

the customary use of gross receipts in the entertainment

business could support. A broader reading of

the term ruling vacated the trial courts in favor

of Disney and remanded the case for further proceedings.

In March 2005 hearing, Wolfe estimated he was

owed $7 million. Disney's attorneys not only

disputed the claim, but said Wolfe actually owed

Disney $500 ,000 to $1 million because of an

accounting error discovered in preparing for

the lawsuit. Oh, good lord. It's Hollywood, people.

Thank God I don't live in California. Oh, my

God. I would not want to live in that state.

Holy crap. Well, that's the thing with, I guess,

it's kind of tough when you're an author and

you have a book or a story that's kind of put

out there as a film, is that you don't really

have a lot of... I guess, say in the film. Like,

you would think that J .K. Rowling would have

a lot of say in Harry Potter, and she really,

she did, because to a degree, but it was still

up to the producers and the director of how they

want the film to happen. And so, it's really,

you kind of have to... Unless the author is able

to be involved from the very beginning of production

right to the end, then a movie can be made the

way the author wanted it to. But just due to

time or production costs or whichever, a lot

of that doesn't happen. So that's where we get

a lot of these lawsuits from, is because the

fact that the producers got the rights to it,

they made the movie. Yeah, there has been rumors

lately over the last several months of the prequel,

and I have some prequel information here. They

were actually going to make a sequel, or I don't

think the words remake were ever entered, but

like a sequel or a prequel was. With the critical

and financial success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit,

Walt Disney Pictures, and Steven Spielberg felt

it was obvious to plan a second installment.

Nat Malblin wrote a prequel titled Roger Rabbit,

The Toon Platoon, set in 1941. Similar to the

previous film, Toon Platoon featured many cameo

appearances with characters from the golden age

of American animation. It began with Roger Rabbit's

early years living on a farm in the Midwestern

United States with human Richie Davenport. Roger

travels west to seek his mother in a process

meeting Jessica Krupnik, his future wife. A struggling

Hollywood actress, Jessica is kidnapped and forced

to make pro -Nazi Germany broadcasts, thus Roger

and Richie must save her by going into Nazi -occupied

Europe after their triumph. Roger and Richie

are given a Hollywood Boulevard parade, and Roger

is finally reunited with his mother and father.

Bugs Bunny, the film would have gone direct -to

-video. Okay, um... I don't see Bugs Bunny as

Roger Rabbit's father. I'm sorry. I don't. I

don't. Now, if you wanted to try to take... If

you wanted to go the Tiny Toons route and try

to make Buster Bunny Bugs Bunny's son, I could

see that. Because the Tiny Toons are basically

offshoots of the Looney Tunes character. But

Roger Rabbit? No. No, I... Like I said, I'd see

more Roger Rabbit as one that came before Bugs

Bunny did, so I don't think it would have worked

out. Modlin later retitled the script who discovered

Roger Rabbit. Spielberg left the project when

deciding he could not satirize Nazis after directing

Schindler's List. Michael Eisner commissioned

a rewrite in 1997 with Sherry Stoner. Ooh, Slappy

Squirrel. And Deanna Oliver. Although they kept

Roger's search for his mother, Stoner and Oliver

changed the story to Roger's inadvertent rise

to stardom on Broadway and Hollywood. Disney

was impressed, and Alan Menken was hired to write

five songs for the film and offered his services

as executive producer. One of the songs, This

Only Happens in the Movies, was recorded in 2008

on the debut album of Broadway actress Carrie

Butler. Eric Goldberg was set to be the new animation

director and began to redesign Roger's new character

appearance. One of the problems, and this applies

to anything that I have with prequels, I'm so

used to, it could be animation, it could be live

action, whatever. You take Dumb and Dumber. I'm

so used to seeing Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels

as those characters. When they did Dumb and Dumberer

and used two other actors as their younger...

Yeah, so I don't know about... Now, I mean, I

know animation is slightly different, where you

can kind of retool them to look like their original

creation, but a little bit younger, but I don't

know. That's just one issue I have with prequels.

Well... The thing is about prequels is that I'm

not a fan of them in general. I don't know, maybe

it's just Star Wars kind of left a big bad taste

in my mouth in regards to prequels. The thing

is, I just don't like it because they try so

much to recapture the magic of the original by

trying to tie in so many different things to

the original that a lot of the story is lost

in the prequel because they're so trying to tie

up all the stories that lead into the original

story of the original movie or the original product,

whatever it's coming from. I think, personally,

prequels suck. I don't think I've ever seen really

any prequel that was good. I don't know, maybe

you can correct me if I'm wrong, but that's just

me. See, it all depends. Like, if they were going

to do just a cartoon and not a live -action cartoon

mixture, if they were just going to do a cartoon

showing Roger's rise to stardom, that would be

fine because, as I said, you can do pretty much

anything in animation and still keep the general

character. But if they're going to do a live

-action and animation, first of all, Bob Hoskins,

there's no... I don't think you could find anybody

that looks like him, even a younger version of

him, to put this prequel... you know, four or

five years ahead, like four or five years ahead

of 19, or before 1947. Right. I don't know. That's,

I mean, that is a tough one. I mean, you definitely,

it's tough to obviously replace anybody. And,

I don't know, I mean, See, I can see a sequel,

definitely, because then you can possibly have

the same people involved. You can have other

new characters if you wanted to. But, I mean,

actually, I think I heard recently that there

was news that the original writers of Who Framed

Roger Rabbit, like the screenwriters, were actually

possibly making a sequel instead of a prequel.

According to the information I have, in March

of 2003, producer Don Hand said, Don't expect

a Roger Rabbit sequel anytime soon. Animation

today is completely conquered by computers, and

traditional animation just isn't in the forefront

anymore. In December of 2007, Marshall admitted

he was still open to the idea, and in April 2009,

Zemeckis revealed he was still interested. Now,

which Marshall are they talking about? I don't

see his name. Oh, Frank Marshall. Okay. If it

happens, it happens. I don't want it. My only

fear is that they're going to try to remake what

they've already made, and they're going to do

a horrible job at it. You know, like these. I

know we're kind of getting off on a tangent here,

but, you know, the remake cycle. remaking Nightmare

on Elm Street, remaking Friday the 3rd, all this

stuff. Now, granted, those films, they're not

my forte, and I probably won't watch them. Ever

since I've seen the first Nightmare on Elm Street

when I was, like, five or six, I have been completely

turned off of horror films altogether. But, you

know, I just don't like remakes. No, I really

don't like them either. I think the only remake

that's been done well is Star Trek. I'm not saying

this because I'm a huge Star Trek fan, but I

think remakes, sequels, and prequels, it's a

lot of what Hollywood is doing now only because

it's safe. is to do these sort of prequel sequels

to already established franchises, and they're

not really allowing anyone to really create anything

new, so to speak. I mean, I think the most original

movie that came out as of this year was definitely

District 13. You mean District 9? Oh, I'm sorry,

District 9. I'm thinking Warehouse 13 combined

with that with the show District 13. I'm sorry.

It's 12 o 'clock at night. Yeah, so District

9. Well, no, that kind of ties in. Warehouse

13 is also another one that was kind of very

original. TV is starting to get it. TV is getting

that. A lot of people are clamoring for original

new content. That's why Heroes became so big

when it came out. That's why Fringe became so

big when it came out. People are clamoring for

this new stuff that instead of just remakes –

I mean the only reason why remakes and sequels

and prequels or whatever do well at the box office

generally for the most part is because they already

had established fans. That's all they're going

for. That's all that Hollywood is going for with

those people is just so they can get – automatic

butts in seats in a movie theater opening weekend,

because that's all it is now. It's the opening

weekend. It has nothing to do with DVD sales

or overall sales or overall ticket sales, whatever.

It has everything to do with getting that first

weekend top -of -the -box office. If they can

get that, they don't care really about how much

money it really makes, even if it doesn't make

as much as their budget was. And you've got to

think, at the time, Who Framed Roger Rabbit was

made for $40 million, which, isn't a lot now

compared to our standards, but at that time,

that was a huge deal for a movie of that kind

of size, was a $40 million budget. And they definitely

made that back, but that's the thing, because

at the time, a lot of people loved watching original

stuff. That's why a lot of films from the 80s

and early 90s, you got a lot of originality,

but now... Everyone's just playing it safe. Everyone

is just going by the numbers, and let's just

make a paint -by -numbers movie that fans of

this franchise are going to enjoy, and that's

about it. When you get those rare gems like District

9, or even on TV Warehouse 13, or Fringe, or

whatever, you get those... A lot of people sort

of clamor to it. And a lot of the big established

in Hollywood are kind of afraid of that. Even

though the numbers may not be as high as what

they would expect it to be, a breakout hit, they

don't really give them a big chance. Hollywood

does not take a big risk on it. And that's why

I kind of praise Peter Jackson for taking that

risk on Neil Blomkamp for District 9. I know

my District 9. I know it. Just saying. That's

why he gave him a chance because he saw what

Neil Blomkamp could do, and he thinks it was

an awesome idea, and he ran with it. And some

people are slowly starting to kind of – some

producers are slowly starting to do that. Like

Guillermo del Toro is kind of known for doing

a lot of that, even just kind of taking on with

his own projects. So there's just a lot of people

that are slowly – moving towards that sort of

original content idea, but I think we're still

going to see a lot of new remakes, a lot of stuff

from original franchises that have already been

established. We're going to see that, I think,

for a little while. Eventually, that well is

going to run dry, and that's just going to make

it easy for new filmmakers to create their own

franchises, create their own big hits. I'd say

within about five to ten years, we'll start to

see a lot more originality. I've got to say,

this year, 2009, I did not see a whole heck of

a lot of remakes. I think that if you go back...

I don't know. Maybe I'm not really paying attention,

but let me just finish this. I think that from

2004 to 2008, those four years, those were the

years for remakes. You had the Bionic Woman remake.

You had the Knight Rider remake. I mean, just

on TV. I don't know. Maybe I'm not watching a

whole hell of a lot of TV these days. I don't

know. Well, I'm talking sort of kind of general.

I should probably say I'm sort of generalizing

remakes in regards to also people taking films,

TV, but more in regards to just taking old franchises,

like franchises that may not have made it into

movies or they had made movies in the 80s. It

just didn't do that well and kind of making it

new. So you got like... This year, obviously,

there was the Transformers. You had Star Trek.

You have Sherlock Holmes coming up. Even though

Marvel in itself, they make remakes, but they

make them really well. That's the thing because

the creators of the original properties are making

the film. In a way, all these franchises that

were made back in the 80s or whatever are starting

to People are just taking those and saying, okay,

let's take Transformers and we'll make that into

a movie because there's people that like Transformers.

There's fans of it. So I kind of lump that in.

Yeah, but you really – I mean this is a discussion

for really another show, but I mean you really

can't lump Transformers – you can't say Transformers

and Transformers 2 is – they're not remakes.

They're live -action versions of an animated

and comic property. I wouldn't really say that

those are remakes because that's never been done

before. Now, if you want to take and say that

the Star Trek film is a remake, that could be

argued because technically it's its own universe.

It's set up its own universe, really. But, you

know, it's a topic for a whole other show. But,

you know, overall, getting back to Roger Rabbit

before we have to close out, I think everybody

should actually go out and get this two -disc

edition DVD for your collection, especially if

you're a Roger Rabbit fan. It actually, I forgot

to mention earlier, it comes with, now, I don't

know, it's probably just stamped on, but it comes

with two glossies, one of Roger and one of Jessica,

and they are both signed. and I have them framed

in the other room. I haven't hung up in my new

apartment yet, but I actually, when I was in

my old apartment, I had them framed in frames

because I didn't want anything to happen to them,

obviously. So this DVD is a very much must -pick

-up. We will be right back with the outro information.

There once was a boy, an albino I'm told, who

possessed the power of pen pusher gold. He had

many stories, all short and exciting, but nobody

knew, and so he began writing. He sat there all

summer and skillfully sought to perfectly ponder

and polish each plot. The settings were set,

all the characters cast, his fingers were flying

and flailing so fast, and soon the young man

with the snowy complexion quickly concocted the

caffeine collection. He smiled, satisfied with

his clever creation. Oh, the things that did

pour from his imaginations! Stories of pirates

and future police, of devils and bullies, and

a twist press release. Fantasy, mystery, both

are included. Comedy, action, no genre excluded.

You say to yourself, it's too good to be true,

but author Steve Saylor would not lie to you.

An audiobook so you don't have to read. And hey,

$15 is all that you need. From the author of

the podcast novel Black Shadow, Steve Saylor

presents The Caffeine Collection, a dynamic audiobook

collection of short stories presented by ringtonefeeder

.com. and stevesaylor .net. Steve presents a

genre mashup of multiple stories for your ears.

I have to be on caffeine to write all this. Steve

Saylor presents The Caffeine Collection, on sale

October 28, 2009. So mark this day down so you

will not forget. For more information, stevesaylor

.net. We are back, and this is the outro. So,

Mr. World Famous Author, do you have anything

you want to plug? This is a good section. Yes,

you can actually go to my website, stevesaylor

.net, and you can actually pick up the Caffeine

Collection, a short story collection written

by myself. And you can actually be able to get

that in many different formats. You can get an

audio format, which you can find also at ringtonefeeder

.com. You can also be able to get a print version

and a PDF version of the book as well. But pretty

much the best way to be able to get all that

info is, like I said, at stevesaylor .net. Yes,

and so everybody is not confused. That is spelled

S -A -Y -L -O -R. You can definitely go there,

but also SAILOR .net, and that URL is also registered

to me as well. Oh, really? Okay. I don't know.

I was a smart one. Wow, you actually sounded

like Skids or Mudflap there for a minute. Holy

crap. I was a smart one. Do you have anything

else other than caffeine collection that you

would like to plug? I know that you're on a hiatus

from This Week in Geek, but... Is there anything

else you want to plug out? No, yeah, we could

plug out, obviously, This Week in Geek. I am

still a part of that show, obviously. I am on

hiatus, as you mentioned. But if you want to

check that out, you can go to thisweekingeek

.net. One of the founding members has been kicked

out. No, there's no way I'm being kicked out,

man. All right, so going into the official closing

for our show, thank you for joining us here on

ToonCast and Movie Week in Review. There are

several ways to get in contact with us and leave

feedback for the shows. First, you can visit

www .geekcastradio .com and find all the other

GCRN podcasts there. The second is you can stop

by predaconempire .com slash nexus. Those are

our new forums. You can get all your GCRN Transformers

discussion topics there. The third is you can

leave the show feedback on iTunes. We don't have

any new reviews on iTunes for ToonCast. I checked

it before. I checked it actually the other night,

and I know that we don't have any reviews for

MWire. So I know we have subscribers for the

MWire show. So, yeah, people, go leave reviews.

That's the best way to help us on iTunes. The

fourth is you can visit www .earth -2 .net, which

is another great geek culture website. threads

in their self -promotion section of their forums.

And the fifth is the email address, which is

gcrnmwire at gmail .com for the MWire podcast,

and gcrntunecast at gmail .com for the TuneCast

show. You can also follow us on Twitter. The

show names there are gcrntunecast and gcrnmwire.

Mine is TFG1Mike, and what is your Twitter, sir?

Steve Saylor. Yes. And that is with the Y, not

the I. But I do have, with the I as well, registered,

and it just has one tweet that says, go here,

this is where I am. This is not the Steve Saylor

you're looking for, is actually what it says.

Wow, that's funny. The funny interesting thing

about that particular account is that I actually

have followers there for some odd reason. I have

10 followers. I don't know why. Sorry, this is

not Steve Saylor you were looking for. Sorry

for the confusion. I'm actually Steve Saylor

with a Y. And that's all it says. Wow, that's

funny. We hope you enjoyed this episode of ToonCast

and MWire. We wish you would join us next time

for ToonCast in episode 25. I am actually joined

by Steve Megatron, PecanCourtMichael, and Kevin

Professor BossCadeDogThompson. Kevin is the original

ToonCast co -host. When I got rid of my iPhone,

I thought I lost the numbers, but they're in

my computer somewhere. I don't know. I just did

a search for them. And I found Kevin's phone

number out of the blue, and I'm like, wait, I

have a paid subscription to Skype to be able

to call people. I can just call his ass every

Sunday night or whatever night we're going to

record ToonCast, and, yeah, he can be back on

the show. So, yeah, episode 25, Kevin did rejoin

us. For MWire, it'll be episode 19, which we

will be covering the movie Can't Hardly Wait.

So, yeah, for now, I am TFG1 Mike with... Steve

Snowball Sailor. Say any more words of Elizabeth

Shue, don't fuck with the babysitter, and thank

you for listening. Until next time. Sword of

Omens. Give me sight beyond sight. I see a new

episode of Toon Gas coming this week. One of

these days, you idiots are going to laugh yourselves

to death. I just want you to know something about

the guy you're going to get. Now, Roger is his

name. Lather is his game. Come on, you dope.

Untie his rope and watch him go insane. He's

lost his mind. I don't think so. This singing

ain't my line. It's tough to make a rhyme. If

I get stuck, I'm out of luck. BOOM! No, but this

does.