A Geek History of Time - Episode 183 - V the Leftist Allegory Turned Fascist Dogwhistle Part V

Episode Date: November 5, 2022

I said good day sir. You don't ever plan anything around the Eagles because the Eagles represent the grace of God. You heathen bastards. One of vanilla nabish name. Well you know works are people too. I'm thinking of that one called they got taken out with one punch. So he's got a wall, a gall, a gall, and a wall. Every time you mention the Eagles, I think done Henley.

Ha ha ha ha! Yeah? Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah, okay. This is the baby district of LA, where we connect her to the real world. It's a place where you can see things that start to remain undepwadded. English history, hearing Norman California, ceilings that essentially remain under Quattta. Despite my barriers, the cons did badgering

on that point, urban advocacy. And yeah, okay, yeah. Well, well put. They put. So, and as far as things going on, this week was my son's back to school night at his daycare where he is currently attending Greek K and or-T. I don't know. But it was very nice to go in and he was very, very excited.

He wanted to show us literally everything in his classroom. And his teacher remarked on how he always, he's one of the first ones to get the numbers figured out when they do the calendar in the morning. And you know, she talked about how much he loves books and reading time, even though he doesn't know how to read yet. He gets a kick out of that. And probably the most, I don't know what the way, I'm looking for a word, but the most notable kind of surprise, but not really, of the evening for me was when we had, there were other parents there at the same time we were there. And I don't remember exactly the context, but one of the other kids pointed out my son

to their parents and the parents went, oh, okay, so that's my son's name. And they said, man, we hear a lot about my son and I'm like, I'm like, I'm on the show, right? Yeah, yeah, we hear about Robert all the time. Oh, yeah, okay. Good things, I hope.

I said in my, you know, forced jovial, ha ha ha, you know, 50s, you know, house dad kind of voice. And, and I didn't really get an answer. And I mean, I'm pretty sure, looking at the way the other kids interact with him, my son is a fucking rock star. Like when, when, I don't know if I've mentioned this on the show, but he got his second shot for COVID a few weeks ago. And when we showed up at his school, all of his classmates were like, where are you? What happened? Robert, you know, they're all like my son was the man. And so, like, why wouldn't I that cool when I was at age? What the hell?

Like, does he get this from his mother? Like, where does this come from? Like, at times they are a change. Yeah, apparently. Yeah. So, yeah, that's that's kind of what I had. Oh, we hear about Robert all the time. Robert, Robert, Robert, Robert. Okay. I'm gonna, I'm gonna assume that's a good thing. Yeah, you'll

let me know. Yeah. And yeah, that's, that's my latest news. How about you? Well, I'm Damien Harmony. I'm a Latin and US history teacher up here in Northern California. And I actually just got my Oma Cron booster yesterday on my prep. I have a prep plus lunch that I went and got me the Moderna. One of those one of those fourth period preps. Yes. I actually prefer fifth period prep. However, if you have two lunches, fourth period prep is better and as a union rep

It's easier because then we can have meetings at either lunch And you're in here there. Yeah, but also I you know, I was able to go home to my own pharmacy and then come back having gotten my shot And then we had a school night. Yeah, it was, which was cool. It was first in in person one in three years. Yeah. And I'm totally dating the show, but I did mention the Omaha, booster already. And, but yeah, it was, it was neat. The parents are showing up in good faith. It's it's a very different vibe than it was in 2019. Good. Yeah. It's good. So I am a Vax Jacked and waxed ready to fax racks and stacks of facts and put these listeners on their backs. Okay. Yeah. Well done. Shit. I really. Yeah. Yeah. I was such a limp.

I was going to say is this is this kicking your ass or what? Oh, it is. And the thing is I spend most of my life being healthy. So I'm terrible at feeling malaise. Break my nose and I'll reset it and keep moving. Like, yeah, spray in an ankle and I will hobble. But, but give me some trouble. Give me some trouble.

And I will pray to all the gods. I will, I will become a despite being an anti-theist. You will find your religion immediately. Yeah. I will do the rocking that you see at the Western Wall and I will like, I will pray to 9,000 different gods. I will make up gods. I do not learn Sanskrit in order to pray. Yes. and General Malay's I'm just like is this what death is like? Which is like I'm a pretty robust fella otherwise, but like it just goes to show like men are our whims number one number two Yeah, I may whip among men Number three, it also goes to show that like

Honestly, it just takes like 2% either way and you're really knocked on your ass. Oh yeah. Oh. Yeah. So I am. Yeah. Yeah, but I am happily vaccinated.

So I would. Yeah, as soon as I recover from, I don't know, if long time listers can notice any difference in my voice right now, but I'm recovering from a cold. I've tested it. It's just a cold. Everybody's getting those colds to this is the first time. Yeah.

It's going around. Yeah. Yeah. So as soon as I'm recovered from this thing fully, I'm going in. I'm getting that done. Nice. Yeah. Nice.

Oh, also my friend, This is just a total like indulgence, indulgence of myself. My friend Jay got promoted at our work and he's going to be doing a really cool thing. Like he's in a position where he can really genuinely work with kids. And he is the perfect person for that. And so I've just been writing high on that as well as I've got a couple of friends who moved in from Alaska down to California. They're about to get their house. Like there's a lot of good things happening to a lot of good people around me. All right. Well, that's good. Yeah. Yeah.

Positive playing, man. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, last last we spoke, we're still on V we finished yeah the Diana V um yeah finished the the free city in an occupation melodrama V yeah and so that brings us to the final TV version of V I'm not gonna cover the books I actually am having a hard time finding the books too it's kind of funny I think you mentioned that last episode. Yeah. Kind of as a side that it's hard to find him.

Yeah, but they do exist and they do expand the universe a bit, but I'm not going to cover those. But I am going to talk about the final TV version, which ran from November 3rd, 2009 until March 15th, 2011, which is the longest running V that we've seen of the four iterations. Yeah. I didn't think it got ratings that we're good enough to keep it going that long. Well, I mean, honestly, you're talking about a little over a year. Talking about it, you had some change.

Yeah. So again, I didn't realize it got ready, but okay. So it was definitely pulling on the nostalgic wards. You know, it's certainly hit that for me. I was like, V holy shit. But also, there's a lot more going on by 2009. Yeah. So again, Christmas, let's count the ways. Yeah. This is not a Michael Johnson joint. However, he is still listed as the creator, which is a credit that he actually had to sue in order to keep. Oh, kidding.

Yeah, the producers tried to say that it was so different from his original that it was a standalone, which is some vanilla ice level bullshit right there. Okay, so spoilers for a now 14 year old TV series. Oh my God, they're still here to eat people in steel or water. Right. Like, and their lizards. And their lizards. Right. Like, no. Like I said, it's a vanilla ice level. All of their, yeah, all of their product, all of their, all their, all their technology was designed by Apple this time around. But right. Like, yes, aesthetically, it's dramatically different. They use the different font. Yeah. Yeah. It's no, see, what Queen did was done,

done, done, done, done, done, done, done, done, done, done, done, done, done, done, done, yeah. And it's like, um, yeah, yeah. The writers guild actually had the production halted until it was settled too, which I'm like, yes, go. Union thugged life. Yes. Right. Yes. And whereby Johnson kept the creator credit, and it was definitely written by a group of people, this show was written by a writer's room, all of whom seem to be your basic TV writers, making a living, writing stories, and other people's creations. So I couldn't find anything remarkable about them. You know she had there, by the way.

I think that's fantastic. One of my favorite authors, Christy Golden, she has famously said that every time she tries to write in her own world, people tell her no with their dollars. But when she writes in other people's worlds, people are like, yes, keep doing this. She wrote about Star Wars books.

She's also written number of Warcraft books. Oh, okay. Yeah. Cool. So no shade on that. But what struck me about this version was how it managed to hit the same beats as the prior three iterations while making an entirely different point. So that's kind of the main thrust here. So that's kind of the main thrust here. The first day that it aired was November 3rd 2009. That is. That is. 364 days after the election day in 2008. Right.

Barack Obama was elected president. Yeah. I should have gotten a beer for this episode. Shouldn't I? You want to pause? No, no, no, no, I'm fighting something. I shouldn't, but a little dear. But pressure alcohol helps, right? Yeah, well, it is, it is, it is antiseptic. It does fight germs, but I don't think applied in a way I would be applying it. It's necessarily that reliable. But oh, dear. Yeah. So this this iteration, it opens with a number of your establish the character kinds of scenes. Elizabeth Mitchell, who is one of the very few

blondes that I'm actually attracted to, who is also a very very or who is primarily a very, very good actress as well. She'd become the lead on this show at the expense of being in the final season of lost minus the final two episodes of that. She plays. Yeah. Right. So you know, you're career decisions. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and I'm sorry, but like I would also bet on myself to well, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Well, you could get your ratio up next time anyway. Well, yeah, I've been a lead on something. Yeah, that's okay.

Good point. All right. But like, but yeah, also, I'm not, I'm not thinking about, you know, her having confidence in herself. It's just like, you know, maybe let's look at the script on this thing, but anyway. Yeah, yeah. Well, and I, I actually say it was a pretty solid script because it was based very much on the previous three scripts.

Generations. Okay. So she plays single mom Erica, who's also an FBI agent in New York 2009. Okay. Her son Tyler, who's a real near-do-well, who doesn't do what she tells him. And, you know, he doesn't,

he's way the fuck out of control. He keeps telling him the right thing, he keeps doing the wrong thing. So she clearly doesn't have a grip on her son, which is anxiety driving for me, and I'm sitting here, again, I've got a 12 and a 10 year old. So I'm like, how are you this bad at parenting? But she's got the pressures of being an FBI agent

and anti-terrorism task force. She's a careerist and is a divorced family. And it's like, okay, and he's a teenage boy. Yeah, so. But Ryan Nichols plays a businessman who does business man things. I'm sorry, not Ryan Nichols doesn't play, he is a business, he's the characters named that. And he does business man things. He's buying an engagement ring when everything goes bad. Father Landry is busy setting up the church and he actually ends up rescuing a parishioner

when a falling crucifix happens, when things start to go bad. And you got an all ominous right. And you've got, by the way, the character Ryan Nichols, businessman is Morse Chestnut. And so they are centering. Your main star is a blonde lady, a black man, and a white guy. Okay. These are your main three characters that are on the human side.

And then you've got the, the visitor side and we'll get to that in a second. But the TV anchor who's passed his prime and isn't taken seriously is a guy named Chad Decker, which is, I mean, central casting called and wants. Yeah, that's a really good name for that shit. That's Scott Wolfe of party of five fame. Yeah, he's okay. Yeah, his eyes bugged. And so he's playing a has been hype cast much. It's kind of like casting Robert Downey Jr. as a man so traumatized and perpetually in recovery. Yeah, so Anyway, Scott Wolf is in the shower and there's a scene of him talking about foreclosures

You know in the newsroom and then things go bad while he's at work and he's mad that someone else gets the story that he wanted So that's where he's so we someone else gets the story that he wanted. So that's where he is. So we're, you know, right. So then the visitors come. And there's 29 motherships all over the world and the mothership turns into a video screen. So, yeah, modern technology. And modern future alien tech.

Modern conception of what the future will look like. Yeah. And we see Anna, who is played by Marena Bacaran. Bacaran? I'm pretty sure it's Bacaran. Bacaran. OK. Yeah.

And she's addressing all the peoples of the world in their own languages. So I'm thinking, yes, because. Yes. Alien tech. Exactly. And they come in peace. And Anna apologizes for the turmoil that their arrival

has caused. And she makes the case that we need water to survive. And we're willing to share all that we have in terms of tech and medical knowledge. She then announces that she'll be coming down soon. But until then she says, quote, we are of peace. Which I find that to be fascinating, because I'm a Latin grammar nerd of peace is a genitive of description or a qualitative genitive. And so it is a way, I'm a man of great, you know, that kind of thing.

Yeah, yeah. We are of peace is not just we are peaceful. We are of peace. Yes, it's a very, yeah. Yeah. So it has different different common types of things. Yeah, a lot of facets to it. Yeah, the, so it has it has different different It's got a lot of different. Yeah a lot of facets to it. Yeah

The crowds across the world are applauding this message, but some of our main characters remains skeptical as yeah, you know, yeah Now when she comes down and she's wearing I think she's wearing like a very very tight sleek pencil dress. I think that's what they're called. It's grayish. Yeah. It doesn't allow. I always see those dresses.

I'm like, why would you wear something that doesn't allow full movement of your own legs? Why are you restricting your own legs? But I can. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The press is hella aggressive to her, like all up in her grill.

And Chad actually tells them to back off and show some respect. And then they have a moment she and he and she kind of looks at him. And she looks at him the way that you would want her to look at you. And you also know that this will be your last night on earth. Yeah, like she will fuck you to death and then use your head as decoration because because interestingly enough, even before all of this happened. My buddies and I were talking about, you know, female cast members from Firefly, right? cast members from Firefly, right? And Marina Bacaran was described by one of my friends as alien lizard kind of hot.

Like, not even, like not even, like so hot, not even quite human. Like, yeah. And so, and so I saw she was cast in the lead as the lead visitor in Vee. It's like, wow. Did somebody listen to us? Holy yeah. Yeah. Where was the listening device in the living room?

Like, what happened there? Right. But yeah. Yeah. So I do remember that bit. Yeah. So she looks at him and she clearly possesses him at that very moment. Yeah.

But then she asks him if he has a question for her. So she's taking complete control thanks to the wedge maneuver that he has created. And his comment is she asks, you know, do you have a question? And he says, is there such a thing as an ugly visitor? Because she's Marena Bacarne. Yeah, smart. Yeah. And she thanks him coily andchan. Yeah, smart. Yeah.

And she thinks him coily and says he's not so bad himself. Super pretty. See, this is how the species dies. Yes. Right here, right here. So any dude is getting tripped over his dick. Yeah, with a bang and a whimper. Yeah. Yes.

And we're all and we're all screwed. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Well done. So Chad later reports on on the whole thing and wonders allowed if the press should be so tough on the V's. So now we have the V's. All right.

They're collective nouns. So but he wonders that the press should be so tough on them, which is fascinating. So Anna watches all this from her ship and then she says to Atodi, I want him. And it's not she wants him for a meal. It's not she wants him for a liaison. She wants him because she will use him

to manipulate the situation. She is a tool. Yeah. And since we've all seen this series before, we know what's happening. So it makes sense that they would be much more sleek and slick about it for us to think that the people would be into it, right? Yeah.

Because this is again, we've retreaded it four times. You know the story. You know, just hit and be still. No, it's happening. Yeah. What I do think is interesting. Like in microcosm, you can look at and I feel bad because I don't remember the actress's name who played Diana from the 1908 series. Yeah. You look at you look at her and what her

presentation was. Oh, is Jane Badler, Baldur, Badler? Jane Badler.oulder badler Jane badler yeah okay she may look at a lot of the the circuit on conventions for a while okay, yeah, yeah, see what you look at her yeah, you look at Jean badler and the way they did her hair Mm-hmm whole whole look yeah, was like take a Dynasty villainous. Yes. And make her from space. Space fascist. Yeah, yeah, make her make her space fascist. Yeah, but you know, think, think Joan Collins and dynasty

made space Nazi. I think absolutely right. Yeah, yeah, absolutely right there. And now, Marina Bacarion is ethnic, but not too ethnic. She's vaguely ethnic vaguely ethnic. Yeah.

We think she could be white, but she could also be Brazilian. We don't know. Yeah. You know, it's that kind of. Um, and I think Marina Bacaran herself is resilient. I think she is. And something I don't remember what, what her back anyway. But so, um, she has, she is, she is unidentifiably ethnic.

And her whole appearance was so, as you said, sleek. Yeah, she had very short hair. Yeah. That was very short, but it wasn't masculine. Right. It was, it was like a gender neutral haircut, but it's Marina Bacarion, so you can't hide the fact that she's feminine. Right.

You know, but, but I'm trying to, like, I've got a contrast in search of a point, but Diana was very, very different. Diana was, her hair was fluffed up and her clothes were off her body, like extending beyond her body. Marena was stripped down to her body. Everything was plastered to it. Her hair was like Lego hair. Yeah, you know. And yeah, so you see her, I love that description like Lego hair. That's perfect. Oh, yeah. So, so it's it's a different vibe, you know, it's and again, it's 2009, right? Now Tyler and his idiot friend go for a rocket shuttle ride to the New York mothership because they immediately start sending

people up and they're welcomed by a calmly blonde V named Lisa to check out the massive view of the V city inside the ship. It's like one big city. Tyler is immediately smitten by Lisa. And Lisa tells the boys all about the V peace ambassador program and it includes a uniform and it's a step above the youth brigade. But the problem is you boys are only 17, you need to be 18 to join. But with a parental signature, you can join. Kinda like the Avengers. You know, your parents' permission,

which is why Spider-Man was never an Avenger. Yeah. Awful. To the show game. To the show game. To the show game. Brenda the show game. a cruise made that joke during the speedball episodes. Uh, okay. That's on him. Uh, yeah, but I know you decided to repeat it. It's on you. This is no no. All right. So, you know, she says with parental signature,

you can do it. So it's not even permission into signature. Yeah. Tyler Bulk's allowed at it because of who his mom is. My mom would never let me signature, you can do it. So it's not even permission. It's a signature. Yeah. Tyler balks allowed at it because of who his mom is. My mom would never let me and Lisa's all flirty flirty and says, quote, that's too bad. I wanted to spend time with you. Yeah. Okay. This is a remarkable inversion of the old 50s Martians need our women trope. Yes. And it's the vamp versus the angel, right? It's the blue one who seducing him, not the one cared curly one. Yeah. Yeah. So in this version, V graffiti isn't a sign of rebellion against the visitors, like it was in the first miniseries, it's a sign of support for the aliens. I think that's a distinction worth repeating. The graffiti

was now a sign of support for the aliens, not a sign of rebellion against them. Okay. And by the end of the first episode, there's already a resistance movement forming an Erica and father Jacker unwittingly pulled into it, which I found fascinating because it's clear that they were trying not to, but also falling into, there's some sexual tension there. But he's a priest, she's a fed. Yeah, could I be any more obvious? More obvious.

He was a priest, she was a fed. So, but that's a little further down the road. And most of the romantic relationships are very, very complex and at the same, they're both complex and they end poorly and they don't even start. Like it's a lot of just like, it's a very frustrating set of romantic relationships. Romantic and tango.

Yeah. Okay. And tango is a good way to put it because there's nothing that's ever really paid off in any way, shape or form and it's all just really fucking messy. Okay. Yeah. But do you think that might have been like a conscious decision by the writers? Like no, we're not writing a fucking soap opera this time.

No, I don't think it was that so much as, I think honestly, there was a push to have some sort of romance in there and the writers did it this way, which frankly, I kind of appreciate it. It just really didn't work well. Yeah. So it's pretty gruesome actually when they get pulled into the resistance movement,

uh, because they already know that the visitors, the, the visitors are lizard people, and they insist on people cutting a slit into their heads to show their skulls. Yeah. Damn. I know. I know. I know. And like, if you touch your forehead. There's really not that much skin No, well no, but but wrestlers never cut that deep. Yeah, well no wrestling point wrestlers don't cut that deep number two

Even though it's there's not enough a lot of skin there. It's one of the most heavily Vascular-rated patches of your body. That's true like you I mean, look, wrestling is an amazing example of this, you know, you know, trying to get trying to get blood for the crowd, you know, you give yourself just a little bit of a razor cut across the forehead. You're gonna a little less so. Okay, not by much. Well, when I was flirting with the idea of getting into heavy combat in the SCA a number of years ago, one of the conversations with a veteran SCA combatant was talking about, oh yeah, no, occasionally sometimes during a bout, you'll take a hit to the helmet to the helmet. And, you know, the helmets that they wear in a sea of combat are heavy enough that it's, you can legitimately go, no, I didn't feel he didn't hit me hard enough. But it'll still wind up causing

something to bang into your forehead, break the skin, and he says, and if you get a capillary bleeder going, that's a great way to intimidate your opponent. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, over one eye, look him right in the face and say, didn't feel it right. You know, Eddie Guerrero in the Cow Palace, cut himself across the forehead. I think it was a cow palace. It might have been in San Jose, but he cut himself across forehead and hit a leader like hit one of the main. Oh, yeah.

And I mean, he needed to go to the hospital because he was going into shock, but it was a gusher. Like, if you ever watched that match between him and JBL, it is a goddamn gusher. It's okay. So anyway, Anna meets with Chad for an interview which she's using to push her narrative to a credulous population. And some things of note, the entire thing was contrived.

And I pulled the dialogue from this scene. She says, Anna says, just be sure not to ask anything that would paint us in a negative light. And Chad says, excuse me, don't ask any questions that would portray us negatively. Ask ones that you did when we first met. And he actually has a moment of conscience.

He says, well, I think there's a mistake. I'm a journalist. It's my job to ask questions, even if they make the other person comfortable. That was not my understanding. Right, I don't have a choice. This interview is now canceled. And at that point, she manipulates him into swearing

that he'll be fair. And then she pushes. She says, you'll need to be more than fair if we proceed. We can't be seen in a negative light. This interview would elevate your career, wouldn't it, Mr. Decker? Don't you want to elevate your career? And there's absolutely sex subtext there

because elevating is a whole new... Oh, yeah, oh yeah, of course. And that's when Chad totally sells out his integrity for access. And what's funny is I went and found the scene and it's on YouTube. And the third comment down is from 12 years later. So this was like a preview YouTube channel, right?

It was a preview for me, like, hey, here's the hype. You know, check out this, this TetaTet. And the third comment down came 12 years later. So 2009 plus 12. 21. Yeah, 2021. So shortly after the clip was aired as a teaser for the show, the third comment down stated,

quote, thankfully the Obama administration doesn't have to ask for this. It's assumed. And then the same guy pointed out a couple comments below that, quote, I wonder and I was a lowercase. I wonder if the comments in this thread will be edited to keep people from making the logical association between this clip and the media admin relationship. And the thing is, they're right for the wrong reasons. Yep. But also, like, I remember Obama would have like a shoot around playing basketball and people would be pitching him softball questions while he's shooting around. And it was like, Oh, look how accessible he is.

I can have a beer with him in at the same time. It's like, yeah, he's contriving all of this. Like, why aren't you all asking some tough questions? He's bounding the shit out of people right now. Yeah. I remember like, you know, the amount of journalists that were locked up under his tenure. It's not a pretty picture. And so it's interesting that this person, I really don't think they're acting in good

faith in terms of what their objection would be under a different administration, but they are calling out this thing, which is so very clearly what it's supposed to do. The scene goes on and Anna says that they've come from a place of great beauty like Earth and that they don't subdivide into nations, just one big happy family. Anna also says that they'll expand their health centers and keep the healing coming for everybody everywhere and it's heavily implied that this is a gift and not anything for trade like we're just giving this a good faith. That's the interview that heirs. Meanwhile, Erica and father Jack are the resistance meeting and her FBI partner who is played by. Oh, shit, I forgot his name. Um, I'm like a leaf in the wind.

Oh, Alan Tudyk. Yes, yes, that's who it is. Alan, Alan national treasure. Yeah, Tudyk. Yes, yeah. Well, he attacks her as the whole cell comes under attack and she waxes them upside the head and he's all scaly underneath turns out he's a lizard and so clearly they've been here a long time and that's the that's the thing right or or they can replace people immediately. Yeah, yeah, yeah, either way now what I love about this is because I mentioned, you know, I'm like a leaf in the wind. She ends up having to impale him. So I think that's three characters he's played that have been impaled. I think K2SO was stabbed through or he might have just been shot through. I think he was just accorded by a blaster shot.

I think he was he was just accorded by a blaster shot. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so, um, anyway, Ryan, uh, the, the businessman doing businessman things, yeah, he was also at the meeting and he flees as well, but in the process, he gets cut and it turns out he's also a visitor and he's getting engaged to his girlfriend by the end of the episode. So there's your willy connection. And that's the thing is they are taking the old one and just turning it sideways, right? Okay. So you're combining Brian and Robin and Willy all into Morse Chestnuts character. What's the name? Ryan. Erica wonders allowed to Jack,

sitting on the rooftop because they escaped to father Jack she wonders allowed how they can fight back her son meanwhile and it's cuts back to Erica and she says that the visitors already have a head start on them and that they're maximizing their number one weapon, which is devotion. And at this point, the visitors toast the new presprigate, including Erica's son Tyler. Yeah, it's going back and forth, back and forth. So as you can see, there's a lot of retread here, right? From the original series, Tyler is the new David.

Robin is replaced by Val, as the one who's going to get pregnant Val is the girlfriend of Ryan okay I was going to get pregnant with a visitor but also Ryan is kind of the new Willie because he ends up not really liking the mission and he turns against his own people okay have a priest and a law enforcement agent just like you did before yeah infiltrations or replacements of authority you have the co-opting of the media and you have a very slick and polished media savvy female leader of the visitors as the face of the operation. So a lot of reds, a lot of up upgrades. Yeah.

But it's also 2009. So it's far less archetypical and much more gritty and morally gray. And what I find fascinating here is that the lighting is so goddamn bright. And I think it's too high the fact that there's so much CG. But it is so bright. Right. Yeah. And whereas the old one was poorly lit to hide the fact the makeup stuff. The crummy. Yeah. The crummy practical effects. Right. Now it's super bright to hide the really good but slightly off CG stuff. It's noticeable how much white light is everywhere and how clearly lit all the grit is. It's very clearly lit grit. Yeah. Now back to Obama, the media, and healthcare. So here we have, okay, here we have a TV show about a new type of person who looks like us talks like us and

presents like the best version of us. There are no ugly visitors that I saw and plenty of non-descript ones who do background work while the prettiest and handsomeist amongst them step to the fore and talk to us about what they plan to do for us. The very polished media presence and awareness of the visitors. Obama was the first president to use Twitter. And he was far ahead of his opponents in its use during his campaign. His competent usage has been compared to Eisenhower with TV and Roosevelt with radio. Yeah. Obama's online presence was quickly duplicated by the Clinton campaign in 2008. And Obama's campaign had Chris Hughes, his campaign had a guy named Chris Hughes working on the social media side of his campaign. Chris Hughes was Mark Zuckerberg's roommate at Harvard and one of the original founders of Facebook. And he was described his job on Obama Obama campaign as quote, what I do now for the campaign is work on building out the technology to make sure the online community for Barack Obama supporters is as robust as possible. And as helpful as possible to the goal of getting people out to vote.

And what I like about that is ultimately at the end of the day, get people out to vote. Yeah. Also, I'm going to use media and social media in a brand new way to really push this. So there's media savvy is a real thing. Oh, yeah, huge. Yeah. Hughes said that he was inspired by the idea of what internet technology could do for Obama and saw Obama as the right candidate to take advantage of it.

technology could do for Obama and saw Obama as the right candidate to take advantage of it. Quote, online technology is at a place now that is pretty significantly different from where it was in 2004. I'm going to break in here for just a second in 2004. I don't think you even had YouTube yet. I'll have to look it up. It was like within a year. So 2004, I mean, you social media, I think, was still my space, maybe kind of edging into Facebook. Like you, you really, it's in the rudimentary, whatever that phase is. Yeah, YouTube was founded in 05. Yep. Yeah. So back to his quote, I felt that if it was used well and keyed to the campaign goals of fundraising and bringing people into the campaign and bringing people to the polls, to the vote,

that it could make a significant difference. Another member of Obama's campaign was Steve Spinner, whose job it was to specifically help the campaign work with tech firms. He also spoke to the singular and unique nature of Obama's use of social media for his 2008 campaign. He said, quote, it's never been leveraged in this way through chat groups and

community groups and through Facebook and other social networking sites. Now some statistics here. By August of 2008, Obama had almost 63,000 people following him on Twitter, which back then was a lot while McCain barely had 1500, which is still probably five times what I've got, but I don't really care. On Facebook, Obama had over 1.3 million friends compared to 200,000 form McCain. So we're talking an increase of like six six fold. Yeah. And the McCain Facebook site looked quote, like it was designed by an eighth grade civics class and Obama's

looks remarkably clean and professional according to computer world's John Brandon hilariously Obama said in a speech in November of 2009 2009 November that he'd never used Twitter despite having more than 2.6 million followers at that time Through his first term as president his Twitter usage would increase his savvy with it would increase. But given that this TV show came out almost exactly to the day a year after his election victory, I'm going to stick to the campaign into the first year of his presidency.

During Obama's campaign, Obama's Twitter was often the top followed account or within the top three more often than not. I didn't write down who the other two were. It one was intensely vapid and it was not a Kardashian. Okay. During that campaign, Pew Research poll showed that more than 40% of Americans access information on the candidates and issues via the internet, which nowadays that seems very, very small. Yeah.

Yeah. But, you know, it's been a decade and a half. Yes. So it is the new rule. Yeah. Yeah. On July 23rd, 2007, the first ever political debate took place on YouTube. It was a known focus on of the Obama campaign and paired well with his appeal to the young.

He was the hip candidate who understood how to tweet and didn't send you emails about AIDS needles and gas stations. I'm sorry. What? You haven't had an aunt send you an email probably not in the last 10 years But prior to that I would get emails every couple months from an aOL account of a relative About how people getting AIDS measles in the in the pumps. Yeah, yeah, okay. Yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah Yeah, I yeah, an uncle an uncle of mine. Yeah, you used to use to send some of that stuff Yeah, and specifically it was is Obama's ability to self parity that really latched I, yeah, an uncle, an uncle of mine. Yeah. You used to use to send some of that stuff. Yeah. And specifically, it was is Obama's ability to self parity that really latched onto an aspect of digital culture in 2008. Even the Clintons were catching on to that, making fun of themselves by reenacting the sopranos in 2007.

Usually regular folks made the parodies though. But, you know, any publicity is good publicity, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So videos that were initially created just for fun or to express individuals Usually regular folks made the parody style, but you know, any publicity is good publicity, right? Yeah, yeah So videos that were initially created just for fun or to express individuals Political opinions were taken up by the official campaign. So it gave this grassroots vibe, right? Particularly the our Obama campaign recognized the potential of internet and music to reach a large amount of voters particularly young adults who are usually difficult to mobilize during an election. Obama profited from a large number of amateur videos that had been published online before the primary elections, and the presidential election in 2008 started.

And his presence in these new videos, his engagement with people who did such videos elevated him further than the in the esteem of those who engage in social media, exponentially growing his reach. And because of this, a semi grassroots effort was something that he was able to capitalize on furthering the gap between Obama and the other candidates, both at the primary level and the general election level. In 2007-2008, it became possible to, quote, record one's own rhymes about the importance of voting, mix it with the hottest beats and distribute it to millions.

As is apparent in the explosion of Obama-themed content on the internet, anyone with a cell phone or a web camera could broadcast themselves dancing, wrapping, and singing about election politics. End, quote. OK. And just the fact that they mentioned a web camera, like that's like really dating things. Add to this mix, actual celebrities and artists doing the same thing, especially in the hip

hop community, overwhelmingly young and non-white. Stars such as Jay-Z, who penned quote or penned the song, my president is black, ludicrous, Lil Wayne and Buster Rhymes all contributed to the digital digital media landscape with support of Obama. And from that, it went fully mainstream free publicity for Obama. Yes, we can by the will I by will I am which won an Emmy award in June of 2008, leading into the election. He got an Emmy, you know, with Obama's motto, like, this is just free publicity. Yeah.

Yeah, it's, I'm gonna take a second here. It's fascinating because all of the publicity was positive. It was all people loving him and feeling hopeful. I think it's just interesting that that was 2007, 2008 and then eight years later, it was a race to the bottom shittiest possible cartoon version of a bad guy. Oh yeah.

That's what got everything. Oh, just absolute. Yeah, it was all. Yeah. I mean, it was grabber as opposed to a pock elliptic. Yeah. I am the only one who can save you. Right. I mean, that was like the actual thing he said. I alone, I alone can save it can fix what's going on. He said that at the convention. Yeah, that was part of his acceptance speech. Right. You know, it was just the actual fuck. Right. So, and the things that went viral from Trump

were things like grabbing by the pussy or your wife is ugly or, you know, crooked Hillary or, or, or, or. Lock her up. Yeah, and it was all negative. It was all very angry. Oh, yeah. Well, it's just fascinating that eight years earlier, like the same free publicity was going to the positive shit. Yeah. So anyway, the the Emmy award, the yes we can song, it featured excerpts

from a speech held by Barack Obama in New Hampshire in January of 2008. And right before the Democratic primary elections on Super Tuesday and February of 2008, will I am song was shown on ABC news and published online on YouTube. Again, a lot of free publicity, a lot of you could argue as that guy on YouTube did a lot of complicity with the media because they're looking for what'll get him clicks, because this is the nascent time of clickbait articles too. Yeah, it's an interesting aspect of a profit driven media landscape,

is they're gonna do whatever gets them money, whatever gets eyeballs on a screen that allows them to sell soap. Right? So, and this dovetails in with what you said money, whatever gets eyeballs on a screen that allows them to sell soap. Right. Yep. Yep. And this dovetails in with what you said about the tone and the mood, because in 2008, it was all this positive stuff. And all of this media attention on Barack Obama was this adoration from all of these directions. And the media, you know, trying to put on a face of, you know,

nonpartisan interest, but all clearly being, you know, breathless, having a huge breathless crush on a guy. Right. Oh, and we're going to get to. I mean, come on. Yeah. And then, and the deal was, they gave him, so they gave him that attention because he was becoming popular. And so giving him that attention got them attention. Clicks. Exactly. And then them doing that furthered his ability to garner other attention from other venues. So it turned into a self fueling cycle. Yeah, it really did.

So it turned into a self-fueling cycle. Yeah, it really did. It really did. A tornado of media. Yeah. And then in 2016, it was, oh my God, this guy is so awful. Let's show you how awful he is over and over and over again. Yeah, and they were platforming him too. I mean, they were platforming him.

And hugely, yeah, it's precisely the same mechanism. Yeah. But they were platforming him too. I mean, they were platforming him. And they were platforming him. And they were platforming him. Yeah, it's precisely the same mechanism. Yep. But instead of breathless adoration, it was, oh my God, this guy is going to get us all killed. You know, how, how is it that he has become so bulletproof? Well, maybe it's because you won't like shut up and fucking ignore him. Or you won't fact check him.

No, you won't fact check him or you won't hold him responsible for the shit that he says. Because you're making money off of, oh my god, look how horrible an outrageous he is. Like, no, knock that shit off. Hold him accountable. You should have been holding Obama accountable. Like, like, your job, as the fifth estate, is, you know, not to be just generating attention for the sake of attention. So another job. Not to sacrifice integrity for the access. For access, yeah.

Yeah, listen, don't be a Chad. Like don't, ha ha ha ha ha. I love, I love the layers to that. Yep. Don't be a Chad. Like, oh my God, it memed that. Yep. Don't be a Chad. Like, oh my God. Yeah, it memed itself.

Congratulations. You memed yourself. Um, wow. Yeah. So the video that was published for free, like, and got a lot of, a lot of attention by a breathless media landscape. Yeah. Well, it also had more than 30 well-known actors, singers and sports persons. It had cream of dual jibbar, Kelly Hues, Shoshana Stern, Harold Perenu,

Scarlett Johansson, and Nicole Scherzinger. You had all of these like at the time really big stars or people who were like really big in the sports world. And then came the Obama crush girl. Do you remember the I've got a crush on Obama? Yes, I do. Amber Lee Ettinger lip synced the song called Crush on Obama in the video and it was a typical mainstream innocuous engineer, R&B song. It was in many ways a political. The character singing the song used to support John Kerry, but then saw Obama give his speech at the DNC in 2004.

And since then she's changed her mind because she thinks Obama is quote, so black and sexy. And she quote, never wanted anybody more. And it's hella sexual too. Like it's more sexual than it is political. You know, you really, you really got to wonder what Michelle thought about that whole thing. She's probably like, yeah, you're right. Yeah. Okay, I mean, she's a confident ass woman. That's true. That's a good point. Yeah, look who he goes home with. Exactly. Yeah, that's a good point. Yeah. All right. Did you see him recently when they unveiled the pictures? And he's like, I like how you captured everything I love about her. And the fact is, Michelle is fine. That's awesome. Damn. That guy is charming. Yeah. Well, you know, here's

a good. He's a good person. Yeah. And the office of president requires that good people do horrible, horrible things. He's a more criminal. Yeah. But he is genuinely also a good person. Yeah. It's the it's the the conundrum of the modern presidency. Yeah. So, and it's super sexual. Quote. I like it when you get hard, which enters into mere innuendo in combination with the next line, quote, on Hillary in debate.

So, you know, it's kind of like if I'm taking a sip of water, I'll pantomime that right here. You know, and many people think that the president is a giant dick, a waiter, and it's that kind of thing. Wow. So, and then, quote, you'll get your head of state. Yeah.

Which is a video with a guy girls, you know, dancing around. I didn't pay attention to the lyrics, too. Oh, yeah. And it's equally steamy, but it's, it's, it's definitely a new endotaratory, right? Oh, yeah. And Obama girl declares that Barack Obama is the best candidate for the new oval office, but mostly based on how sexy he is to her. It's the cult of personality shit based on his hotness.

Yeah. So you remember Chad asking Anna, are there any ugly visitors? Oh, okay. Right. And then there's the slogans, right? Easy to remember, short words, easily marketed, easily mean both for profit and for visible availability.

When you hear Obama, what words come to mind? Obama? Yeah. Hope. And yes, we can. And change. Change. Yeah. Yeah. Even even his opponents fell victim to using his terms unsuccessfully. Sarah Palin and her snarky stupid voice said at the keynote speaker, she was a keynote speaker in February of 2010 at the Grand Ole Opry at the first ever National Tea Party convention. She said, this was all I can't do her voice. Just remember, she's obnoxious and a twit. This was all part of that hope and change in transparency.

Now a year later, I got to ask the supporters of all that. How's that hope-y-Changy stuff working out? Um, actually, it was working out okay. Yeah, till the Koch brothers decided. Yeah, well, yeah. So, and the thing is, she was actually right to critique the president. I will never deny that a person should keep the president. We should all be doing that. But hers wasn't, it's again, she was right for the wrong reasons. Yes. hers wasn't tied to anything specific.

It was red meat boilerplate coke brother shit. Had she gone after actual policy like his treatment of certain journalists, her critiques of his lack of transparency would have hit differently and would have had some gravitas beyond the crowd of, mad that there's a black guy, but we can't say it yet. Um, but instead she said things like, quote, I am so proud to be an American and quote, thank you so much for being here tonight. Do you love your freedom? She was often touted in the campaign as a milk to some extent or another. So it's not like image didn't matter on the Republican ticket either. Yeah, I remember hearing that stuff.

And I remember because I was unattached at the time. I do remember thinking, well, okay, you know, if the lighting is right and if she just doesn't ever open her mouth, maybe. But yeah. I mean, I remember seeing a bumper sticker that said, cold estate hottest governor. And there was a cult of personality around her. Yeah, oh, there was a huge cult of personality around her. And it was like what boomers would want to cheat on their wives with. Yeah. That's a really, that's a, that's a really good analogy. Um, which by the way, six, seven years later, it was tome Lauren. Yeah. you know, it's like, kind of less said about that obnoxious.

Yeah, work anyway. Oh, she went on to criticize. Palin goes on to criticize Obama's foreign policy, which is a thing worthy of criticism in that he was bombing the shit out of brown people all over. Yeah. But she didn't go after that part. She was down for that. She ignored that to go after his foreign policy as not recognizing the true threats to America, that America faces. She cited the decision to go

to criminally charge the suspect in the Christmas Day airline bombing attempt as a move that she says put the country at grave risk. So that's weird. She didn't want somebody, Umar Abdul-Mutalab. She did that. I want him criminally prosecuted. She wanted him to not have his Miranda rights read to him by the FBI. Yeah, because she loves her freedom. Because fascist. Yeah. I mean, let's not let's not. Yeah, it's words. You're absolutely right. That's not anymore. That should have been that should have been the point at which everybody in the media covering all of that was like. Oh, right. A minute. Yeah. Hold on. Yeah. But no. Yeah. Barbie Eva Braun, you know, Barbie Brown. So Obama was clearly soft. Quote, because that's not how radical Islamic extremists are looking at this. They know where it were and to win that war. We need a

commander in chief and not a professor of law standing at the lectern, which again, one anti-intellectual. Yes. Yep. And like was she actually, I didn't realize she read enough to have read Mussolini's theory. Oh no, no, she'll just like go with whatever authoritarian shit is put in front of her. Okay. Yeah. Okay, because that's textbook. Oh yeah. Yeah. She. Because that's textbook. Oh, yeah. Yeah. She would abandon those anyway. So she gave a 40 minute speech and then answered questions that were submitted via

the internet to the organization. Again, this is all at the Grand Ole Opry Tea Party, the first Tea Party rally of national significance. Because there were others. Back when the tea party was actually the tea party, back when it was people that were mad at Bush for bailing out banks. Yeah. This is the first Coke brothers made party.

Yeah. This is when it really becomes a player. And she's the former vice presidential candidate. So now she's like, she's kind of blazing the trail for how to be a fascist fuck one. So now she's like, she's kind of blazing the trail for how to be a fascist fuck one. So kind of. And of course, she's getting questions submitted by people who are watching, which a certain population. So it's soft block questions, friendly questions. It gave pain in the opportunity to say, quote, my plan is quite simple to support those who support the

foundation of our country when it comes to the economy. It is free market principles that reward hard work and personal responsibility, which is some anti black shit. It absolutely is because it is dog whistling the hell out of government handouts, which raises absolutely tie to black. Yeah. Okay. Because the welfare queen shit that yeah Reagan started Um, and when she was asked about national security palin outlined a 42 point plan that was as comprehensive as it was comprehensive bull

uh Which I got a 42 point plan. Yeah point one. we got the smartest general in the army. His name is fuck off. Yeah. Yeah. So sorry, yeah, that didn't work. But yeah, we'll fix it in post. It was yeah, there you go. It was it was about his first speech was about as intellectually. Yeah, yeah, robust. Yeah, point one, win point two, two win again point three. Stop the first people that you want it's it's it's like you know, have you watched the the martial arts? parody videos on YouTube where it's oh God was it master Ken. Yes master, master Ken. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. So it's like restompt the groin. Stop the groin again. Stop the groin again. Like it's the equivalent of that. Yeah. But she offered it to the president immediately because she loves the country so much that she was willing to put aside partisan politics and do what needed to be done.

Oh, bullshit. Okay. Fine. I oversold it. But here was. No. No. No. no. Okay. So here was her response when asked about national security. She said, it's easy to just kind of sum it up by repeating

Ronald Reagan when he talked about the Cold War and we can apply it to our war on terrorism. We win, they lose and all we do all we can to win. Which was bad strategy during the Cold War. Right. And even worse strategy when you're fighting a quote unquote war against non-state actors. Yeah. So an asymmetric like no. Right.

Who, many of you are your own citizens, who have constitutional rights. Yeah, it doesn't fucking work that way. Right. Yeah. Yeah. You cannot, I mean, that's mission creep. That's classic mission creep. Um, and it's like, wow, this is not even how it works really, really well.

I need to unscrew some bolts now. Yeah. It's like, what the fuck are you doing? What? So no, not a 42 point plan. It was just that. I need to unscrew some bolts now. Yeah. Things like what the fuck are you doing? What the hell? So no, not a 42 point plan. It was just that. And then she finished with quote, I will live, I will die for the people of America.

I'm gonna break in and ask what she's waiting for. And I'll come back. Whatever I can do tonight, this party, this tea party is the future of America and I'm proud to get to be here today. She is a fucking grifter. So hope, change, both were terms at the bottom of a shepherd fairy poster from early 2008. Okay.

I don't know if you know shepherd fairy. The name is vaguely familiar. Okay. Shepherd fairy. The name is vaguely familiar. Okay, so he's he's well he did the the red and the the the red and the blue. Okay, yeah, he's that guy. He's also the guy that did the obey stuff. He was using all the media and all the memes and all the things that he could to bring about victory. Obama was and Obama did it master. And he was getting free efforts from plenty of folks who decided to get involved. And actual kind of grassroots thing,

but he was also picking and choosing which grassroots to elevate to show the rest of us and to give more of an appearance of grassroots, very, very clever. There's even an app on early iPhones that would turn any photo on your phone into the hope change iconic design.

I remember that. Yeah. Now, remember Anna with we are of peace and her use of and she used something called bliss to bring people into the fold and make them happy and peaceful. Okay. Interestingly, Scott Peters, the executive director of V said that, quote, we are not looking to put any sort of agenda onto the table. And while Marina Bacarin stated that she did, in fact, pattern Anna after politician, she

said, quote, I am trying my best in the role to be as trustworthy as I can and to embody what everybody of every nationality and need wants to see. At the same time, you have your own agenda. Now granted, she's Brazilian, and so maybe she meant Lula, though I highly doubt it. Quote, what first attracted me to the show was definitely this possibility that we could make parallels to the modern world.

Okay. So the actors and the producers are dialed into, we're making commentary. Just like Michael Johnson was, I'm making commentary. Okay. Everybody between those two iterations accidentally made commentary in a way backward into. Yes. And in a weird parallel interview, TV reporters lob to softball at Scott Peters quote, some of the world, some of the words in the pilot associated with the visitors agenda are hope and change and

universal health care. So was that intentional? Are you just freakishly prescient? His answer was freakishly prescient. And then he goes on, you know, I wake up in the morning and you look at the news and you see there's wars, there's new diseases being discovered. There's all diseases that we're still dealing with. The economy is in the toilet.

There are people losing their homes. Remember, this came out no nine. Wouldn't it be awesome if 29 ships showed up and they all said, we've got this. We'll take care of you. Don't worry about it. Yeah. I mean, at this point, isn't it kind of a more devious version of what Johnson was pointing out? Yeah. And someone asked him, quote, do you have any concerns that this might be seen as a slap at the Obama administration? Or do you hope that it will be seen that way? Quote, or his answer, people will bring to it what they bring to it.

If one group wants to claim that it as their show and another group wants to claim it as their show, that's their prerogative. And then somebody has to, would you really be that comfortable if the birther started claiming it as their own? At this point, okay, so the birthers, remember that? Oh, yeah. At this point, executive producer Jeffrey Bell jumped in with some bland humor, quote, Obama

as an alien. Look, there are always going to be people who will look for agendas and everything. This show was conceived during the Bush administration. It got executed during an Obama administration. There are people on either side of the aisle who can find things You can say yeah, look how stupid these people are for following blindly and believing everything that the government is saying And you could have people who are upset about that and you could have other people saying look at these people who are Promising everything at no cost and they're leading them to their doom for us both sides have strengths and weaknesses

Let's get the people to show up and watch it and talk about it, but try to tie it to the birthers or anything is kind of, you know, ridiculous. Sound a little defensive there, Buck. Right. But also like, hey, this is a controversy you should all tune in to see. Yeah, well, yeah. You know, and now part of his job, right? Yeah, exactly.

But at the same time, everybody's noticing like, yo, you are clearly hitting some nails on the head here. Yeah. And the resistance within the show, Father Jack even says, in the first episode, quote, we're also quick to jump on the bandwagon. Another character observes, quote, we're also quick to jump on the bandwagon. Another character observes, quote, a ride on the bandwagon, sounds like fun. But before we get on, let's at least make sure it's sturdy.

Okay. Alright. So the most obvious part is the universal healthcare part. So I'm not going to dive too deeply into it. The visitors plan for universal healthcare, which included using the DNA altering technology to cure over 50 different ailments, spread like wildfires, Anna's concealed her true motives, population control, hybrids, and of course the literal devouring of us. In advance of this, the Visitors had spent years infiltrating human government's businesses, religious institutions, and other human establishments, and preparation for their worldwide reveal to humanity, which results in various false flag operations and staged attacks that only make the visitors look more like sympathetic prey, then their

true nature is vicious predators. And then you add to that stew the fact that Tyler, Erica's son, is our youth taken in by the slick presentation and the attraction to the other young workers for Anna's cause. And Erica is the adults distrustful but watching her son get sucked in beyond her control and having to work with these people and knowing their motives are no-niferious. Add to that father Jack who disagrees with Vatican on their willingness to trust the visitors and welcome the change for the hope that it represents. And after being told that the visitors are like humans, all God's creatures, he responds, Rattle Snakes are God's creatures too.

Doesn't mean they're good for us. So now you've got law, religion, tradition, and white folks who know better, all rolled up into one. Because every one of those characters is white. Oh, that's unfortunate. Now, also taken in, Chad, the journalist who trades in his integrity for access, he quickly finds out after very publicity, hungry reveal of visitor medical technology that he actually has an impending aneurysm. And he seeks a second opinion. And the visitors revealed his entire medical history by examining his body.

And later, it's revealed that Anna gave Chad the aneurysm. Because of course she did. And Chad continues to be the man on the ground for Anna and the visitors shaping public sentiment and manipulating the public opinion in Anna's favor. And this is of course to secure her favor and approval, as well as her influence. And by the end of season one, he's had a crisis of conscience and now switches to working for the resistance, but as a double agent. And I think I'm going to stop us,

actually, you know what? Yeah, I'm gonna stop us there because I'm gonna dive back a little bit further into American healthcare and stuff like that. So this is a slightly shorter episode this time. We're not done with this iteration of V. We probably have an episode or two, depending on how hard we go. But yeah, we'll pick it back up next week

with Bill Clinton's healthcare plan. Oh, okay. Yeah, so., okay. Yeah. So. All right. Anyway, real trip in the way back machine. Yes. All right. So what have you gleaned so far?

What I'm getting from the quotes from all the people who were involved in making it is a vibe that you decry constantly and rightly, which is, well obviously there's an extreme on one end, an extreme on the other. I'm in the middle. And that makes me the smartest person in the room. Right. You know, and like you can certainly find fault with both sides. Mm hmm. But there is, there is a fast-cil comfort to be found and say, well, you know, they're all bad. Right.

Cause that would be open for believing that Antifa caused riots. Yeah. Because both sides are equally bad. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and, and like at the same time. So it is, it is certainly true that there's all kinds of stuff, transparency wise, foreign policy wise, all kinds of stuff, transparency wise, foreign policy wise,

all kinds of stuff that the Obama administration was doing that deserved to be rightly called out. Mm-hmm. But it's also true that Sarah Palin was talking like an actual no shit fascist. Yeah, the things that she's known were only made palatable by the fact that she didn't a folksy sing songy kind of way. Yeah, yeah. And and the the the characterizations based on who was in power at the time. Mm-hmm. And who was disgruntled because they weren't in power at the time?

Yep. Um, the neutrality of the writers and people conceiving this show, um, worked in favor of tea partyers, birthers. Yeah. And they didn't exist yet, but proto-magaz. I think that neutrality will always benefit more the reactionary. Oh, yeah. The revolutionary. Oh, yeah, by far. Yeah.

Yeah. Because neutrality is by its nature passive. Yeah. And being in reactionism, conservatism is by its nature, at the very least we're not going to move any farther forward. We're not going to work on making change or making progress. And at worst, no, we're actually going to drag things backwards, kicking and screaming into, you know, the 1950s. Yeah. Heavily invested in the status quo.

Yeah. Yeah. And yeah. And, and it, it, looking back on it, it really pisses me off and makes me really angry with these people. That, and I recognize even as I say that, that that's presentest of me because I know, like I know the arc of history from there. Right. You know what I mean? But people were sounding the alarms then too.

It's not like it was like a surprise to any of us. But I grew. Yeah. Like, yes, it's presentest, but it's, I told you so presentism. Yeah, okay. And maybe that's presentist, but it's, I told you so presentism. Yeah, okay. And maybe that's part of the reason why I'm internally just so angry about it. Like, you know, we, we, we, we, we, we, Lutty, well, I can told you.

Mm-hmm. Um, so yeah, I think, I think that's's that's basically, that's basically it. And the other thing, and it just leaped out at me that like of the original point of view characters, the black male character is the one who turns out to be a sleeper agent. Right. Well, he's a lizard underneath. Yeah. We're that's that's one or two episodes away. Like you better get drunk for that one because you're going to need to. Oh, I'm sure.

Oh my God. Oh, yeah, no, I yeah, that's that's probably going to make me incandescently angry. Yep. So, I'll be prepared for that. Yep. So. Yeah. No, that's that's my takeaway right now. Cool. What you reading? Or what are you recommending? I am once again going to very strongly recommend anybody listening to the show go out and get yourself a copy of Two Gun Witch to the show go out and get yourself a copy of Two Gun Witch by friend of the show, Bishop O'Connell. It is an amazing work. I cared about the characters from page one. Nice. And it's yeah, it's a great story. I highly recommend it go out through something you're money at him because he's earned it. Nice. How about you? Well, you know, friend of the show Tim Watts also published, self-published,

the Republic, which you can find at EmpireComics. EmpireComics.com. Go and check that out. But I'm also going to recommend The Wobblies, the story of the IWW and syndicalism in the United States by Patrick Renshaw. Seems like a good idea. Yeah. So cool. Well, where can folks find you, fight you, etc. Yeah, well, if you want to come at me, bro, I recommend doing that on Twitter, where my handle is eHBlalock. If you want to hear me opine about how George Lucas fucked up the Jedi, you can go to

MrMR underscore play lock on the tic tox. And of course, we collectively can be found online at www.geekhistorytime.com and on Twitter as Geek History Time. And so if you want to yell at us collectively about something that's the place to do it. How about you? Let's see, about the time this drops, November 4th will be the next show that you can come see live, bring proof of vaccination and $10

to Luna's in Sacramento and come see capital punishment. It will be a very, very good show. So that's that's an easy place to find me. I'm not that active on TikTok, so I'm not going to bother. Although, I don't know, there's a collection of puns on there that I've That's an easy place to find me. I'm not that active on TikTok, so I'm not gonna bother, although I don't know, there's a collection of puns on there that I've not added to in quite some time. And you could find me at duh harmony on Twitter and Instagram. So.

There we go. And also, because I didn't mention it before, you're listening to us. So obviously you found us either on the Apple podcast app or on Stitcher, or you've gone to the website which I already mentioned. But wherever it is that you found us, please subscribe and give us a review, give us the five stars that Damien has very clearly earned with the exhaustive research. And I'm going to say self-slagulation that went into the production

of these episodes, not lying, with Lee Lee sitting down and watching the 80s VTV series. Wow, that's dedication. I didn't know it was going to be so bad. I, you know, when you mentioned that you were going to be doing this and you said, you know, I'm going to, I think I think I'm going to, I'm going to rewatch the TV series. I remembered enough just from childhood that it was like, Oh, that's, that's, you're a brave man. Yeah. Oh, you know, yep. Well, there you go. Well, cool for a geek history of time. I'm Damien Harmony and I'm Ed Blaylock and until next time we are of peace