Newcomers: Sports, with Nicole Byer and Lauren Lapkus - The Hobbit - 1977 animated version (w/ Oscar Montoya)

Episode Date: October 20, 2020

Actor and comedian Oscar Montoya (Spanish Aqui Presents, Inside The Disney Vault) joins Lauren and Nicole to begin the hosts' first foray into the world of animated Lord of the Rings content,... starting with the American musical television special from 1977, The Hobbit.Oscar brings his obsession for animation along with him to explain his love for this movie, draw comparisons between this film's style with Disney's, and whether he thinks this story warrants more than the 77 minutes this animated version of The Hobbit offers (looking at you, 9 hour live-action versions...). The three break down the differences between this version and the Peter Jackson trilogy, and suss out which one comes out on top!Like the show? Rate Newcomers 5-Stars on Apple Podcasts and let us know what LOTR media you'd like the series to cover.Sources for this episode:Article on Amazon series nudity rumorsTrivia from IMDbTrivia from Fandom.comAdvertise on Newcomers via Gumball.fmSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 This is a HeadGum Original. Bilbo Baggins? Uh, yes? I am looking to hire a burglar. A burglar? I'm afraid you've come to the wrong place. You mean you do not wish to share a grand adventure? Dear me, no. We hobbits are plain quiet folk.
Starting point is 00:00:30 Adventures make one late for dinner. Enough. I am Gandalf. And Gandalf means me. Gandalf? Not the wandering wizard, I say To dungeons, dishpads, caverns, gold We must await our break of day
Starting point is 00:00:59 To seek the pale enchanted gold. Foreign and company at your service. Dwalin, Balin, Kili, Fili, Dori, Nori, and Ori. Owinsir and Glowinsir. Call him Biffa and him Baffa. And Bamboo at your service. glowing, sir. Call him Biffa and him Baffa. And, uh, Bamboo at your service. We are all at your service.
Starting point is 00:01:32 Jim the glasses, crack the plates. That's what Bilbo Baggins hates. That's what Bilbo Baggins hates. So carefully, carefully with the plates. Blunt the knives and bend the forks. Smash the bottles, burn the corks. That's what Bilbo Baggins hates. So carefully, carefully with the plates. Blunt the knives and bend the forks. Smash the bottles, burn the corks. That's what Milmo Baggins hates.
Starting point is 00:01:49 So carefully, carefully with the plates. Well, I'm Nicole Byer. I'm Lauren Lapkus. And this is Newcomers. And we watched The Hobbit from 1977. It's animated. It certainly is. And this is the 10th episode of our second season. We are working our way through everything's Lord of the Rings.
Starting point is 00:02:37 Everything's Lord of the Rings. And we're getting help from nerds, if they so want to be called, super fans, sometimes even people who've contributed to the franchise. And yeah, we've watched both The Lord of the Rings. We've watched The Hobbit trilogies. We watched the Tolkien biopic last week, which, by the way, brutal. And we're going to be revisiting more fan fiction. We already wrote some fan fiction. We're going to get into video games and spinoffs and more.
Starting point is 00:03:02 But yeah, today we watched The Hobbit and it's, okay, so it's available to rent for $2.99 on Amazon and YouTube and it was also on HBO Max I think. Yeah, which was really nice that I didn't have to pay to watch this. It was. It was really nice. So, just so you know,
Starting point is 00:03:19 spoilers at this point are fair game, so if you do care about that kind of stuff, you need to go back and listen to the old episodes and catch up. But honestly, how dare you be this deep into the podcast and be like, they're spoiling things. How dare you? 10 episodes deep and you're getting angry. You honestly also can't.
Starting point is 00:03:36 I think there's a rule in society that you can't get angry about spoilers from things that came out 10 years ago or more. It's like, I definitely do it. Like I just saw who was the killer or whatever on Gossip Girl. And I was like, come on. That's very funny. Wait, the killer? Do you mean the Gossip Girl?
Starting point is 00:03:51 The Gossip Girl. See, I've never seen it. And you're mad about it. And I'm mad. This is peak society to get mad over a show you've never seen. I would have watched it and be like, well, when's he going to start killing people or whatever?
Starting point is 00:04:08 I'll tell you something. The person who ends up being the gossip girl is so unexpected. And it's it's not true to, I think, the original version of the series. I don't think it's the vision of the creator, who I believe is somebody Schwartz. I don't remember his first Josh Schwartz. I don't think it was his vision. We're really good at fact checking. Now, what do you mean?
Starting point is 00:04:29 Was there a new one? Or what did he do? He wrote a book? So he, it was based on a book. Okay, I smell our next season. I would watch. I've only seen the first season. I would watch the rest of Gossip Girl.
Starting point is 00:04:42 Oh my God. And talk about every single episode. I would absolutely the rest of Gossip Girl. Oh my God. And talk about everything La Bison. I would absolutely do it. But the, like the beginning of the series. And then by the end, when you find out who the gossip girl is, you're like,
Starting point is 00:04:52 this doesn't align with what we started. And then little Jenny, she gets into makeup and starts a rock band off the show, but then she quit the show. It's, it's a good, it's a good, it's,
Starting point is 00:05:04 it's fun. I I'm intrigued, honestly. And when I saw the spoiler tweet i was like i was just gonna watch that not true um but with the tolkien biopic um we i think we really hated that right so yeah i don't i don't know like i don't think people need to watch that i feel like if you're even if you're a huge diehard fan of all this stuff it didn't give you the stuff you want. There was no good info. No, not at all. It didn't give you any bits of him really writing.
Starting point is 00:05:31 It was just him coming up with languages and flirting with a bushy-haired... What is her name? Lily... She's Emily in Paris. Yeah, Lily Collins. Have you been watching Emily in Paris? Have I been?
Starting point is 00:05:43 I watched it all within like 10 hours. Lauren, I've never loved something so bad. Like it's bad, but like I love it. Well, last time we discussed how I auditioned to play Emily, which I think is kind of hilarious for many reasons. Yes, yes, yes. I remember. I think you could have done it.
Starting point is 00:06:03 Look, I believe in myself, but I feel like the vision clearly was there for Lily and that's great and I watched it all in a flash and it was it was one of those things where you can't stop watching I was like I honestly would be happy if there was a second season right now same I would be
Starting point is 00:06:18 so excited I don't know if we talked about this last week but my favorite thing that was said was did we talk about the Bon Appetit moment I don't remember if we talked about this last week but my favorite thing that was said was did we talk about the bon appetit moment i don't remember so mindy her best friend uh so the the the what's his name the chef puts down something he goes bon appetit and then she goes bon appa my teat and i was like that's not a pun no it's not sexual it's not a pun but i. It's not sexual. It's not a pun. But I do want you to bone Appa on my teat. See, that's better. That's a great punch up.
Starting point is 00:06:49 I think you would have just really, really soared on that shore. I would have soared on the shore. And I think we need to bring our guest in because I feel he's going to have some opinions on all of this stuff. We're so excited for our guest today. It's Oscar Montoya. He is the host of spanish hockey presents and inside the disneyland disney vault podcast
Starting point is 00:07:09 so welcome oscar hi did you watch emily in paris i know it's not what we're here to talk about listen i am wearing a beret but i have not seen emily in paris we are using zoom filters to the extreme right now and it's making it so awesome. Also, I feel like I feel dumb because I just discovered them. I just discovered them too. I didn't really know what was happening when I started clicking around and everything took off and I'm just so thrilled. It makes me very, very happy.
Starting point is 00:07:37 It's great. It's truly the way to talk on Zoom. Oscar, I need you to watch Emily in Paris. You have to. Can someone give me like a, just a brief, just like description of that show. Okay. Or is it impossible?
Starting point is 00:07:50 No, no, it's totally possible. It's very possible. So Emily works in Chicago. Her boss is supposed to go to Paris. Her boss gets pregnant. So then they send her to Paris instead,
Starting point is 00:07:59 because I guess pregnant people can't get on planes. I had a real problem with that. So did I, I was like, this is easily solved. She just can't be true. Yes it is. It's literally and the character is played by Kate Walsh and she's like this she's supposed to be like
Starting point is 00:08:11 she speaks French. She's like amazing in all these ways. She's like amazing at the company they work at and then she gets pregnant and she's like I think I shouldn't go and then they give it to a really young and experienced person who doesn't speak French and didn't even do a lingo. She didn't do nothing to prepare.
Starting point is 00:08:28 And then she just kisses everybody. She kind of makes messes. And then like Sylvie, I think is her boss, who does not like her. And she walks with her arms in a way that makes me think her wrists might be broken. Both of them. I didn't notice that. Both of them. She's a little T-Rex.
Starting point is 00:08:44 You gotta go back. She's like a T-Rex. You gotta go back. She's like a T-Rex human? She is a T-Rex. She's wearing fabulous shoes and fabulous clothes all the time. Yeah. I gotta say,
Starting point is 00:08:53 what is her name? Patricia Field lost her mind on this show. Everybody looks amazing. Oh, did she do the costumes? Yes. Oh, yeah. Yes.
Starting point is 00:08:59 They are really good. Okay, so for that, I mean, you should have just said that. It's great. Baby, I'm watching. The fashion's great. It's by Darren what's his name?
Starting point is 00:09:06 Darren Star. Darren Star, who did Sex and the City. And so it's like definitely has that energy. But the character's really young, so it's not that same sort of vibe of like someone who's been through a lot of stuff and, you know, is leading the way. This feels very Devil Wears Prada-ish in a way.
Starting point is 00:09:22 It is. 100%. It is, yes. Okay. It's fun. It is. 100%. It is. Yes. Okay. It's fun. It's really fun. But we're going to take a hard turn right now. We're going to go into a different topic.
Starting point is 00:09:36 Even though I think we all could talk about Emily in Paris and just the idea of watching it for a full hour. Oscar, how did you become a Lord of the Rings fan? Okay, so I have a confession to make. I haven't really seen any of the Lord of the Rings. Oscar! I've seen... Okay, wait.
Starting point is 00:09:55 So I have seen one of them. I've seen one of them, and I think it might have been the two towers? Their tree people walking around? Can I say I was surprised you were a fan, so now i'm not because you're not but i will say this i am a huge fan of the animated wow versions of the interesting versions there's more than one girl what i didn't know i don't know i didn't know
Starting point is 00:10:21 that either i thought it was just the animated hobbit there's the anime that's the that's the one people know uh the most but then there's they have done the other ones that are animated and the animated style varies wildly from each movie okay and so wildly what is it about the animated ones that that you has made it so you don't even want to watch the other ones like i feel like if you had that that you has made it so you don't even want to watch the other ones like i feel like if you had that interest you might be interested in watching that yeah i think well for me it was very much the visual aesthetic that really resonated with me i watched it at an early age um you know i probably i'll be honest i probably didn't know what the fuck was going on when i was watching the movies because i was like, the hell is this? But the animations were really cool.
Starting point is 00:11:05 I've never seen cartoons drawn that way with so much detail and so much wrinkles. Yes. Everybody had a lot of wrinkles. Even Gandhi. Very authentic. I was very upset about that.
Starting point is 00:11:21 Yes. Yes. Especially Gandhi. Like he was, he was like, he looked like a fucking used up Gandhi like he was he was like he looked like a fucking used up curtain to me I was like yo what but there was something really nice about
Starting point is 00:11:31 just the way it was animated the animation the I mean this is very polarizing but the songs they slap babe they slap wow in my opinion to me I was very much like okay this slaps and also come on when you compare one hobbit animated movie to what two live action
Starting point is 00:11:57 hobbit movies three my friend there was three and honestly i quit watching this animated one i was like why did they do three the story was wrapped up in those 78 minutes which i was aware of every one of them and i really i couldn't believe are you guys serious three i thought it was two yes no there was three solid nine hours they stretch it out in a way where you're like, oh, nothing happens in any of these movies. Yeah. Like this little animated thing. I was like, oh, okay.
Starting point is 00:12:32 That's the story. It made me angry. I know. Oh my God. Okay. Well, on Off Book, the podcast where they improvised a musical, you were on episode 119, which was called Lord of the Stops, Fellowship of the Pots.
Starting point is 00:12:46 I completely forgot I did that. Now, how much of your Hobbit and Lord of the Rings knowledge did you bring into that episode? If you could remember. You know, I'll be honest, very little. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:12:55 Very little. Actually, Zach and Jessica did a lot of the references and stuff. And I, you know, like a good improviser, I just yes anded a lot of what they said stuff. And I, you know, like a good improviser, I just yes anded a lot of what they said. I mean, I'm so impressed by them
Starting point is 00:13:10 and their ability to remember things. It's truly incredible. Encyclopedias. Yes, Jess is an encyclopedia. Yeah. What? So is Zach. But like being on it,
Starting point is 00:13:18 I was on a team with Jess for such a long time and we would say a reference and she immediately knew it. Always impressed by her I mean love them both and to be able to not only get the reference but to play that reference is because that's one thing to be like I
Starting point is 00:13:34 know a specific laugh laugh laugh and then be like move on move on that's all I know yes and then it's another thing to be like here's a reference and let me like deep dive into a 20 minute scene about this and make it musical with like a genre that makes sense or something. I don't even understand. It's so wild.
Starting point is 00:13:48 They're witches, whatever. Yeah, they're witches, obviously. Well, okay. But you have your podcast inside the Disney vault. And so where are you in your journey with that? Because you guys are watching all of the Disney movies. Yeah. So like our quest was to watch every single Disney animated movie in
Starting point is 00:14:07 chronological order. And we did that. Oh my God. And then we moved on to season two where we did Pixar and that was quick because there hasn't been a lot. And now we're doing every single Disney channel original movie. Yes. That's fucking.
Starting point is 00:14:22 Oh my God. Have you gotten to motocross yes i love motocross and let me tell you something i am i am like the skeptic of the trio like claire and rachel like they they're big disney like nerds they love it i'm a little like new to it i've never seen a decom in my life and there are a lot of bad ones like yeah but Motocross Motocross is great Lauren I did not like I did not like Halloween Town I did not like
Starting point is 00:14:52 Halloween Town sorry oh I don't know if I've seen Halloween Town it's it's cute to watch I think you should watch it for Halloween yeah maybe I will I've seen Hocus Pocus like four times this month already I haven't watched I haven't watched've seen Hocus Pocus like four times this month already. Oh, hell yeah. I haven't watched it yet. I'm saving it for like
Starting point is 00:15:07 a little closer. A little treat closer to Halloween. I just don't really feel the vibe after the 20th. Well, so what do you prefer? Like The Hobbit or like a disney cartoon like would you still pick the hobbit over that you know i would i would pick a i would pick the hobbit over a disney film and over i would say i would pick oh this is tough would i pick the hobbit over my favorite disney animated movie which is the emperor's Emperor's New Groove for me.
Starting point is 00:15:47 It's so perfect. I haven't seen it since I was a kid. I don't know if I've seen it. At all, Nicole? I don't know. That and Hercules are the two that I miss. I mix them up. Wait, you mix them up? Yeah, I do because I feel like they have a similar drawing style.
Starting point is 00:16:00 They do, I think. They do. They do. And I have barely seen them. Yeah. Hercules is a full-on musical and Emperor's New Groove is not. Oh. There's only one song in Emperor's
Starting point is 00:16:12 New Groove and it's sort of like making fun of itself. It's like sort of a self aware. I love it. It's great. It's fantastic. Eartha Kitt plays the villain. Yes, that I remember and I remember liking that. But I don't think I've seen the movie i think i've just seen like clips of it oh yeah you you have to all right i'll do it it's fantastic but
Starting point is 00:16:31 i feel like i have seen that i i don't know the hobbit is up there for me it's like so unique there it's there is nothing like the hobbit for me and i know actually because I watched The Hobbit when I was like so young and I haven't seen it since and re-watching it I still loved it and I love it very much and I'll defend it however I do I realize how it could be sort of odd
Starting point is 00:16:58 upon first watching because y'all have you seen The Hobbit before the animated version? Nothing animated now. And, um, any takes, any hot takes about the animated movie?
Starting point is 00:17:13 I just, okay. My, the thing I liked, I'll do my likes first. I liked how short it was. I like to the point, you know,
Starting point is 00:17:26 the scenes ended and I knew we weren't coming back to it but that being said i found it a little low energy well come on there's like a full-on cat stevens ask like singer who's like slowly bringing us through like here's i was like k um but but i did kind of i thought i was gonna love it in the sense that i love how it looks and i did i feel like i've seen it in passing as a kid like it was semi-familiar to me but and i also feel like everyone's been hyping it up so much like this whole time like okay but are you gonna watch the animated one okay but you know and like so i feel like there was this feeling that it was going to be really good and it's i guess it's it's it felt longer than it was um yeah it's only an hour 18 yeah it's not long but it was i think partly you know it might be because
Starting point is 00:18:26 we're coming into it after watching so much content in this realm that like it was so distilled down to like a simple story that it was almost annoying like what you're saying like why did i watch yes nine and a half hours to tell the same story that was told in one hour with with songs. And they did have this. They had the dishes song that I liked. Yeah, that was cute. There was parts that were cute. I think we watched them in the wrong order.
Starting point is 00:18:53 I think we should have watched the animated Hobbit first, appreciated it, and then struggled through the three movies where they broke apart this short story. Yeah, that's true. Because it was cute. apart this short story yeah that's true because it was cute but what what did they my question is what did they decide to extend in the hot the thing that i will say if i will my note about the animated one is i feel like they could have stretched the battle of the five armies a little bit more because that was very much just like okay you if you want more of that there is a full film about that and it
Starting point is 00:19:30 is many hours and they I think that's the thing like what they did in this animated version is they just made it palatable for kids like okay see they did this then they did that and they did like in the ones in the live action they like really delve into like okay they walked a mountain in real time.
Starting point is 00:19:47 Yes, a lot of it is real time. And then it's like, will this scary thing hurt us? Let's stare at it for a minute. And you're like, I don't know, like, let's keep going with this fucking story. It's so true. Should we? At the same time, the Shirewire. This is our new segment.
Starting point is 00:20:09 Yes. The Lord of the Rings rumor indicates the Amazon series could include sex scenes. Now, we've been getting tagged on Twitter with this because everyone, because all we want
Starting point is 00:20:18 is for people to make out more in these movies. We're so horny. I'm like, just hump once. Like, it's fine. Who are you shipping in this movie Oh
Starting point is 00:20:26 Oh we're shipping um God we're gonna forget everyone's name and everyone's You guys yeah everyone's gonna get mad at us So Nick Jonas The Nick Jonas Hobbit in the Live action one and then What's her name who didn't believe COVID was real in the beginning
Starting point is 00:20:42 What is her name From Resident Evil is she the Resident Evil Evangeline Lilly who didn't believe COVID was real in the beginning. Yeah. What is her name? From Resident Evil? Is she the Resident Evil? Evangeline Lilly from Lost. Oh, yes. That's who I'm thinking of, but I don't think she's the Resident Evil. No, that's Mila Jovovich.
Starting point is 00:20:55 They look alike. Oopsies! Yeah, that's who we were shipping. We were shipping them because it was a forbidden love. Yes. And she was very horny about him. Yes. But we found out that she wasn't even,
Starting point is 00:21:10 she was told there would be no love story, right? And then there was. I believe so. And then she's like not even in the Hobbit book. She's just an addition. Yeah, she's a new character. And then they were like, and give her a love that she can't have.
Starting point is 00:21:23 Mm-hmm. And don't give her too many't have and don't give her too many lines and don't give her an arc so amazon may be adding some unexpected nudity to middle earth oh unexpected an accidental hobbit dong here and there maybe every song ends with like uh what's his name? Justin Timberlake ripping the armor off someone's breastplate. I won't let him forget that because I don't understand why Janet was canceled in that. I mean, hey, snaps to that. Snaps to that.
Starting point is 00:21:56 Right? Like it's so wild. A weirdest sexist. Yeah. Yes. Because it wasn't it wasn't her fault. He did that to her. He did the action.
Starting point is 00:22:04 And I mean, i'm sure they rehearsed it or whatever but like i don't know why she was banned from things i was like she didn't do anything she was the one with the titty but now that we're older wouldn't that have been such an exciting super bowl i would have been like screaming like i hate the super bowl me too yeah i just i feel so weird about adults being like the kids can't say titties kids suck on titties right can I also can I say from as someone who was born in another country and was raised in another country tits on tv were normal we would have soap commercials and women would be like no washing their boobs oh yes oh girl yes i mean that's what you do in
Starting point is 00:22:46 the shower it would be nothing and i'd be like okay cool yeah and only when i moved here it was like this weird like americans are fucking weird when it comes to like naked bodies i know it's where we're pressed puritanical culture yeah like i't know. I didn't even notice her nipple because it had the shield on it. The ring. The shield? Well, I think that's what it's called, a nipple shield. Like a pasty?
Starting point is 00:23:11 No, no, it was like a, it was a nipple ringish thing, but instead of like a barbell, just a barbell, there was like a shield, a sun shield, I think, around it. It was a sun shield, you're right, yeah. Oh, so you couldn't even see her nipple?
Starting point is 00:23:21 No. That's even crazier. But people were foaming at the mouth trying to hate on it like people were like j-lo at the super bowl oh why did she have a pole and i was like because she was in a movie where she played a stripper and there was no nudity and yeah like also pole dancing is so hard no being outraged by j-lo's performance so stupid. She was so great. It's so dumb. Yeah, it was so rude. And then people were shitting on Shakira too
Starting point is 00:23:49 because she did the Lebanese trill and they were like, what the fuck? What's she doing? And it's like, no, she's like half Colombian, half Lebanese.
Starting point is 00:23:56 Know your culture. Like, learn up, Americans. Learn up. It's so wild. People love to call stuff out like that, though, before they know what's going on. Yes.
Starting point is 00:24:05 Okay, so just to continue this, a casting call has gone out for various actors, including those comfortable with nudity. Well, the casting call from the BGT, Big Grand Titties Talent Agency, caught the eye of Lord of the Rings fan site, theonering.net. I have a meeting with them on Wednesday. Wish me luck. Good luck. It reads, comfortable with nudity? Up to $500 per day. Use reference nude.
Starting point is 00:24:35 We need nude people based in Auckland. Age 18 plus. All shapes and sizes. Intimacy guidelines will always be followed on set. Now, that makes me think that the background is supposed to be nude. I think that's what it's going to be. Some naked, pear-shaped people. Because $500 is not enough.
Starting point is 00:24:49 No, not at all. If you're having speaking parts and having a romance. No, but that's like a thing. They do not give you adequate money to showcase your body in the society where we repress it. It's so interesting. Like, you'll go have just naked extras walking around
Starting point is 00:25:05 and it's like, they got a day rate, like $500, that's not enough. Dude, I mean, truly, it is so wild to think about that. And well, this is shooting in Auckland, but I'm assuming it's all casting from here, right? Because it's the, or no, I don't know. But I mean, even that makes me think
Starting point is 00:25:20 that it's straight up just extras being naked. Like these wood elves are just gonna be like titties out. No, you're right. It probably is all in Auckland because all the films are shot there completely. They probably do cast a lot of local people rather than makes a lot more sense. Interesting. Well, the production also has an intimacy coordinator on its team suggesting that the series could include sex scenes. But see, if you're going to have an.
Starting point is 00:25:41 could include sex scenes. But see, if you're going to have an... Okay, so let's assume because they're saying intimacy guidelines will be followed on set for those people making up to $500 a day. Are there going to be some orgies in this? That means you can make less. Lauren!
Starting point is 00:25:56 Up to? You could make up to. You have to do extra stuff. Depending on how your titties look, you can make like $20. Yeah, you can make a little bit more. They're like, hmm, $100. They're like, if you have per your titties look, you can make like $20. Yeah, you can make a little bit more. They're like, hmm, $100. They're like, if you have perky titties, you get $100 more.
Starting point is 00:26:10 You got a dumpy butt. You only get $62. $62? I truly was like going a totally different direction when I started my sentence. And then I was like, I think they're having orgies. But I don't know. So then I wonder, are there going to having orgies but I don't know but so then I wonder are there going to be sex scenes with the main characters as well if they're going to have
Starting point is 00:26:29 someone on the team who is an intimacy coordinator but that's also a fairly new job that they've brought in since all of the me too movement and all the stuff that they've decided you know they've realized that you need to have people on set who give specific direction in sex scenes and nude scenes about what is going to happen so that everyone is comfortable. And it's really important. It's kind of wild that it took so long for that to happen. Because it's like a director is,
Starting point is 00:26:56 they have like one job to get their shots and they do not, not all directors, but like their priority is not making you feel comfortable in the scene that they need to get shot by the end of the day to make their day. So it's like, yeah, bring in an outside person to be like, hey, no, we're not going to shoot this until the actors are comfortable. Totally. And this listing has some fans worrying that the Amazon show may be taking inspiration from Game of Thrones, which never shied away from sexual content. That makes sense. And that fit in with George R.R. Martin's lurid, dark, low fantasy world.
Starting point is 00:27:31 And it would be less at home. Low fantasy world. I don't know what low fantasy means. It sounds editorialized, baby. It does. It does have an opinion. It'd be less at home in the chaste high fantasy of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth.
Starting point is 00:27:43 Fans likely won't know for sure until the series finally debuts. I, for one, am into it. And I'm interested. Me too! I didn't watch Game of Thrones. I mean, I've seen some of it, but I don't feel like the sex was enough
Starting point is 00:27:56 to draw me to that. But assuming I'll check this out, I'm a little more intrigued knowing there could be some romance. I'm also very, very intrigued. But I'm more intrigued to find out who wrote this. Me too. I'm telling you, it's J.R.R. Jr. Tolkien.
Starting point is 00:28:15 That's interesting. They both have double R's. I know. What if George is Tolkien? Oh, hey, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down a second. And he goes, I'll just make it a J and make it Jorge.
Starting point is 00:28:27 And we'll never tell anyone. Honestly, I wish that was true. That would be the best trick ever. It would be amazing. No one will know. Then he puts on a poncho and he's like, I'm Joel. See, I want that Tolkien biopic.
Starting point is 00:28:45 Right? Where we see that journey. Oh my God. Should we take a little break? Let's do it. And we're back. We're back we're back so the hobbit was written by romeo mueller directed by arthur rankin jr and jules bass and it was released november 27th and 1977 okay well should we walk through our little plot line here?
Starting point is 00:29:25 Yes. Oh, it's not so little after all. No, it's pretty long. Well, compared to like the live action, it's like. You know what? It's rivaling it. Yes. So here's the plot.
Starting point is 00:29:41 So Bilbo Baggins is smoking outside his house. I liked that part when he came out of his house. That was cute. Little rings. When suddenly Gandalf the wizard appears and tells him he wants to hire a burglar with him are 13 dwarves and their leader Thorin. And Thorin explains to his fellow dwarves and Bilbo that the evil dragon Smaug stole their treasure in the Lonely Mountain and they need Bilbo to take it back for them. I'll say this. It was so clean and I fully understood what was happening. I agree. I'll give this animated movie that.
Starting point is 00:30:12 Everything that happened was so clear. I had no questions. And it took what? Yes. Five minutes for all of that to happen? Yeah. Yeah. We were in.
Starting point is 00:30:20 We were out. In the movie? Yeah. You better believe it was half the movie. They started with a party. They set out the next morning and seek shelter. What? Well, the party was Lord of the Rings.
Starting point is 00:30:33 But it was the end of The Hobbit, right? Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. You're right. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Forget it. We've seen too much. They set out the next morning and seek shelter from a storm in the forest where they see three trolls. Thorin tells Biblo to steal some meat from them.
Starting point is 00:30:48 However, the trolls, I mispronounced it the first episode and I refused to say it right. The trolls catch them and try to eat them until Gandhi returns and the sun rises, turning the three trolls into stone. Biblo finds their cave and he and Gandhi and Thorin each take a sword. Gandhi suspects that the trolls might have stolen them. He also gives Thorin a map of Lonely Mountain, Eerbor, and the key to a secret door into the mountain.
Starting point is 00:31:14 Again, this happened so succinct. We run it. We run it. So quick. We ain't got time for the run. Oscar, in the first Hobbit movie, that little paragraph took about 45 minutes. No. Yeah, and I was confused.
Starting point is 00:31:30 Yes, you were like, wait, what is happening? Who are these people? So they then arrive at, I mean, I'm always confused. I'm doing my best. I tell you, I am paying as much attention as my brain can handle. Well, here's the thing that I'll say about like Peter Jackson's like filmography he tends to over do things to in my opinion like his stuff is like loud and
Starting point is 00:31:54 boisterous and like a bit too much but like for campy horror that works for me i'm like how does that translate for these like high fantasy movies i mean I think a ton of people love how in-depth it is. I think for sure we are, we're walking into a whole genre that is kind of unfamiliar to us. So there's a lot to deal with. And then when it's long, we're also like, it's long. And then, you know, people are like, you're watching new movies. They're going to be long.
Starting point is 00:32:21 And I'm like, okay, like get out of my mention. Yeah. People have been angry with us that we have trouble paying attention oh my god are they angrier with this than star wars i guess i don't know i think so that's why i think yes i think that we get more um i would call it negative feedback as opposed it's not it's not like totally hateful or like scary it's just people going like, come on. But like, I feel like in Star Wars, nobody was really saying anything.
Starting point is 00:32:48 I think with Star Wars, it was like, oh sure, there's lots of goofy stuff. But I think Lord of the Rings doesn't really have a sense of humor about itself. So I don't think the people who love it and revere it have a sense of humor about it. That's a good point. Yeah, I think.
Starting point is 00:33:03 Don't get mad at me for saying that, internet. No, no, we're just, we're just hypothesizing about what's going on. They then arrive at Rivendell in Ladris. I don't know what these parenthetical things are.
Starting point is 00:33:13 Me either. The city of elves where Elrond gives them food. He holds the map up to the moon, revealing moon letters on it that says to stand by a gray stone when a thrush knocks in order, what?
Starting point is 00:33:24 When a thrush knocks in order what when a thrush knocks in order to see a secret passage they continued their journey but are caught in another storm and seek shelter in a cave once inside gandalf appears again and the ponies are stolen by goblins the ponies biliblo and the dwarves try to save the ponies but are also captured by the goblins and the great goblin tries to eat thorn for carrying orcrist the goblin cleaver the troll's weapon he stole but is killed by gandalf they continue through the cave but bilbo gets lost during the escape and falls into a hole when biblo falls into that hole i was like come on it's so funny it's so funny he like falls so high and far the way he falls is like
Starting point is 00:34:03 there's a twist too I'm like he's getting a 10 he's getting a 10 out of 10 that shit was cute he got good muscle control to twist and air like that it's cute oh my god
Starting point is 00:34:19 so Biblo wakes up in another cave where a dark frog like humanoid named Gollum best version of Gollum humanoid named Gollum. Love it. Best version of Gollum. I prefer this Gollum. This Gollum was almost cute.
Starting point is 00:34:33 Yes, almost cute. And like, I got that he was like tormented in a cave better than the other one. The other one was like scary. Yes. Would you agree that the voice actor doing this um was so committed i felt like the golem character was like oh i was like oh my god he's really in pain oh totally yeah what you didn't know is during the recording they were beating him he was boy i have to say he was played by brother theodore which is just oh my god and the title card it just said Theodore. So that's... It did!
Starting point is 00:35:06 So is he a monk? Why is it Theodore? I didn't know what that meant. Interesting. Okay, I'm looking that up. Is Brother Theodore a monk who left the man covenant? Oh, he's a comedian. Okay, wait. It says Theodore Isidore... Theodore
Starting point is 00:35:22 Isidore Gollum. I thought I was having a problem. Theodore Isidore Gollum. I thought I was having a problem. Theodore Isidore Gottlieb. I thought I was having a problem. Known as Brother Theodore, was a German-born American actor and comedian known for rambling stream of consciousness monologues, which he called stand-up tragedy. Oh, yeah. Oh, my God. Okay.
Starting point is 00:35:42 Are you serious? He was a man described as Boris Karloff's surrealist Salvador Dali, yeah. Oh, my gosh. Are you serious? He was a man described as Boris Karloff's surrealist Salvador Dali, Nijinsky, and Red Skelton simultaneously. Sounds like a lot.
Starting point is 00:35:52 So that sounds truly fascinating. And he was very committed. And he lived to be 94, which is wonderful. Wow. Honestly, too old. I think I'm done at like 70 I'm looking at
Starting point is 00:36:06 110 Lauren that's too long you've seen everything I don't want to miss anything I don't want to miss a thing Oscar how long do you want to live typical question we ask yeah let's live until I
Starting point is 00:36:22 just check everything off my bucket list whatever that age is wait do you have an actual bucket list no i don't okay so then it could be really open-ended uh the things on my bucket list is die another day lauren do you have a bucket list i don't but i mean i think i have i think like i just have the desire to like travel as many places as I can and like see as much and do as much. And it's not really specific. Like I have to do this one thing or like skydive. I really want to go to Tokyo.
Starting point is 00:36:55 You have to. You would love it so much. I want to go so bad. That's like the, my biggest dream. And I was supposed to go to Tokyo in April of this year. That is not fair. That is not fair. That is not fair at all. It is so fun.
Starting point is 00:37:08 You both would have so much fun. And the fashion is so fun. I want to go so bad. Shopping is amazing. Mono went last New Year's. And so she and I were going to tag along until we realized it's very hard to get to Tokyo from Ohio where we were because I was doing shows. Nobody routed anything in a nice way for us to get there. And I was like, I understand that.
Starting point is 00:37:31 It's going to take you a long time. You know, not many people are leaving Cleveland to go to Tokyo. I've shit on Ohio at least three times in this podcast. I know. It's really interesting. You're really opposed to them today. But I like it. I know it's really interesting. You're really opposed to them today, but I like it. I don't know why, but after we
Starting point is 00:37:48 realized how hard it was, we were like, I don't think we should go. I think we should wait until we can actually plan this out. That's smart. And now I'm kind of sad that I didn't go, but I went to Rome instead. Anywho. You've done a lot of fun stuff, but it sucks. It sucks to be stuck in this point where we're like, oh wait, I thought everything would be available to me
Starting point is 00:38:03 at all times. And now we're just going, oh, I cannot do anything I want to do. I'd like to go to a restaurant. And by the way, I drove through Pasadena yesterday and the restaurants were thriving. Lauren, LA is back, baby. I was at Echo Park yesterday dodging people, not in masks. I felt like I was living in a dream. I was like, wait, I'm staying home. Am I nuts? Like all these people are out there
Starting point is 00:38:26 they were packed in it's like you feel insane for doing the right thing yeah I felt like a lunatic wearing my mask last night when nobody else was wearing one and I was like well I'll just stay away from these people I truly just don't want
Starting point is 00:38:42 corona I don't want it me neither I don't want it. I don't want it. Me neither. I really don't want it. I don't think my body would like it. I don't think as well. I don't think anyone should get that. Especially from doing something as ridiculous as going to like a restaurant. Yeah. And I was
Starting point is 00:38:57 like, why don't restaurants? Okay. If I had a restaurant, I would invest in shields to give to patrons and be like, here, you fucking Windex it. You clean it off. You have to wear one when you speak to a server, because I think it's so wild that these servers are full, like head to toe in PPE. And people are just free balling it, being like, I want a taco. And it's like, I agree.
Starting point is 00:39:22 And also, like, how do you even use a fork there without being like, I just got COVID. Like I'm like, I can't use someone else's fork right now. Yeah. And I'm like, well,
Starting point is 00:39:30 some restaurants have like plastic utensils, but I'm like at that point, take it the fuck home. No, you don't need to be outside. No, just sit outside on the ground anywhere and eat it.
Starting point is 00:39:40 Yeah, truly anywhere. So, okay, back to the hobby. Yes. So Gollum lives in The Hobbit. Okay, yes. So Gollum lives in Underground Lake. After finding a golden ring on the ground,
Starting point is 00:39:52 Biblo is challenged to a riddle contest by Gollum. I liked this. If Biblo wins, Gollum shows him the way out. If Gollum wins, he gets to eat Biblo. Gotta say, pretty uneven. After a few riddles. Pretty confident, though, of Bilbo to be like, sure, I'll take that.
Starting point is 00:40:06 Yeah, sure, eat me. Okay, fine. Bilbo asks what he has in his pocket. Gollum is unable to answer and loses, but first decides to show Bilbo his ring, only to find it missing. By the time he returns, Bilbo puts the ring on and turns invisible. Gollum thinks Bilbo knows the way out and goes to head him off. Bilbo him and runs past him out of the cave and he has the chance to kill him but he doesn't do it and after rejoining gandalf and the dwarves bilbo continues his journey with them only
Starting point is 00:40:36 to run into goblins and wargs they are chased up a tree and the goblins set the trees on fire but eagles rescue them and i was happy to see the Me too. The lord of the eagles did so because Gandalf healed him from an arrow wound a long time ago. The eagles take them to the edge of Mirkwood and it is here that Gandalf leaves them, leaving Bilbo in charge and instructing him to write a log. Bilbo and the dwarves are captured by spiders. Don't link the spiders. I love the spiders. I'm not here for it.
Starting point is 00:41:04 But the spider in the movie is so scary looking and gross yes that it made me think of that and then I felt really grossed out
Starting point is 00:41:11 by the spiders area but these spiders have bunny ears these spiders aren't as scary as the live action spiders they were so cute but I didn't appreciate them
Starting point is 00:41:19 oh I love them they felt like girlfriends just hanging out girlfriends just hanging out ooh we just spotted this girl. So Biblo escapes by killing a spider with his sword and naming his sword Sting. I missed that part. They really do have a Bugs Bunny vibe.
Starting point is 00:41:35 Kind of. They look like Angry Bugs Bunny. I'm going to send you this picture. Okay. He finds the dwarves and cuts them free, killing the spider with a rock. And then they run from the spiders. Biblo stays behind, puts the ring on, and fights them spiders, which are forced to retreat.
Starting point is 00:41:51 Then Biblo finds the dwarves, and they're captured by wood elves. The elven king orders them locked away because out of greed for the treasure, he won't tell them why they're in the forest. And Bilbo figures a way out using his ring. He steals a key from a drunken guard to get them out of their prison cells and has them hide in empty barrels with
Starting point is 00:42:10 him riding on top of one along the river out of Markwood and toward Lake Town, where Thorin introduces himself as the grandson of the king under the mountain. Bard, the guardsman and his men give them food and they continue toward the lonely mountain. The only thing I liked better in the live action movies was the barrels. Yes. It was more exciting. I did like the barrels part in the live action.
Starting point is 00:42:32 But they don't sing in the live action. No. The animated, you get a nice little bop. You're right. A nice little bop. And you got Bilbo
Starting point is 00:42:40 just hugging that barrel. Why didn't he put himself in the barrel? The songs carried me through for sure. Yes, I like the songs. So Biblo finds the secret door while the thrush from earlier
Starting point is 00:42:50 knocks on the hard... Wait, what is a thrush? It's that bird. Oh. Because there's also like a thrush you can get in your lady bits. You can also get it
Starting point is 00:43:00 in your mouth. Wait, what? Oh. Please define thrush. I've never had it, but I'm just telling you. I think it's like a rash. Yeah, I think it's just a little rashy poo. Oh.
Starting point is 00:43:12 Dare I image search? I just searched thrush image search. Oh, I don't think that was the right move. Lauren, no, no, look away. Oh, no. It was scarier than everything in the movies combined. So Thorin unlocks it with a key. Biblo enters to steal treasure from Smaug
Starting point is 00:43:33 and puts the ring on to avoid being seen. He speaks in riddles to him and observes that he has a weakness, a tiny unprotected spot on his chest just below his neck. Biblo takes off the ring before he leaves, taking a gold cup with him, andog breathes fire at him he believes bilbo to be from lake town and goes there to destroy it in revenge see i did not understand that in the live action movie but now i fucking understand why smog goes to lake town i didn't either like why did he go to
Starting point is 00:44:01 that one place they did not see and this is what's so crazy oscar like they put the smog thing like where they find him at the end and he flies off of the at the end of one movie and you're like oh no he's gonna go ruin something and then he goes and burns this whole town down and everyone's like you know drowning and stuff and we don't really know why it was kind of just like he got pissed that's so weird that's so weird because they make us they make such a good job explaining it, but they have less time to explain everything. How are they doing a better job than the live action? So wild.
Starting point is 00:44:31 But, Nicole, in a sense, it is kind of good that we watched in the order we did because I feel like we then have a fair assessment of whether it makes sense. Because we're like new and going like, I didn't get it. Yeah. So the same stone knocking thrush, the same, what, what?
Starting point is 00:44:47 Am I okay? The same stone knocking thrush that Bilbo's command tells Bard of Smaug's weakness. Yeah, that was just a weird sentence for me. No one's ever said the same stone knocking thrush. No one's ever said that. It's not a phrase. You don't want to get it confused with another thrush.
Starting point is 00:45:05 Another thrush. So it's a thrush that knocked on the stone. It's a stone knocking thrush. Right. And Bard shoots Smaug with his black arrow, killing him and saving Lake Town in the process. Bard leads an army of men to the Lonely Mountain to inform Bli-Blo and the dwarves that Smaug is gone and that he has been made king and requests a share of the
Starting point is 00:45:28 treasure to help rebuild Lake Town Bilbo's willing but Thorin refuses the elven king and his army arrive also with the intent of getting treasure and a three-way war is declared between war dwarves elves and men and as the three armies meet up to battle, Gandhi appears and tells them that an army of goblins is coming. Thorin, Bard, and the Elven King join forces to fight the goblins. However, they're at a disadvantage until the eagles show up,
Starting point is 00:45:55 making it a battle of the five armies. All the goblins are defeated with their combined forces. But this shit is funny, though, because Bilbo's being like, that's one army, two armies, three armies, four armies. It's
Starting point is 00:46:10 funny. That part made me laugh. Thorin is mortally wounded and dies of his industry but parts with what? Injuries. Oh, he dies of his industry of fighting wars but parts with Biblo and friendship. Injuries. Oh, he dies of his industry of fighting wars,
Starting point is 00:46:27 but parts with Biblo and friendship. Injuries. And with two bags of gold as his share of the treasure, Bilbo goes back to the Shire with Gandalf, who says that this was only the beginning. The movie ends with the ring placed in a glass case on Bilbo's mantle and Bilbo's promise to publish his story, which he believes has come to its end, despite Gandalf's beliefs otherwise. We did do it. And I will say another thing I liked more in the
Starting point is 00:46:50 live action movies was when Thorin dies. Like I or yeah, I liked when he was fighting on the ice like that was all fun. You know what I love more than anything is that our producers like put together a character list for every movie and they literally put every cartoon character in a box and gave them their name. And I just think that's really nice. Yep. Yep. We got Biblo Baggins. Smaug. I got, I got Biffer.
Starting point is 00:47:20 I got Bofur. Yes. Bomber. Fifi. Oh. Fili and Kiliely and gory nori oin and gloin bard it is funny dory you know it is funny there's so many of them and it's impossible to know all of their names. I mean, a lot of them rhyme. Ori, gori, blori, dori, doi, boi, boi.
Starting point is 00:47:50 I gotta say, I did not like this movie, but I've enjoyed talking about this movie, which is a thing that keeps happening to me. Totally. I like talking about it too. And it is by far the shortest film we've seen at only 78 77 minutes um oscar do you think the tight run time works to the film's benefit and that more time would bring diminishing returns or would you prefer the story to be expanded more like since you like it i think it's perfect in terms of the explanation of things because they're really good at explaining what's going on. Not only are they like fast, but they're like, OK, this is happening, this and here's who you need to know.
Starting point is 00:48:33 And then we're going to fast forward. The drawback is that the fun action sequences sort of suffer. Right. You don't get to live in them. Like because I assume that you have like beautiful freaking set pieces in the live action movie and they take like a good hour and a half to do like a battle right yeah whereas this one is yeah it was truly like 10 minutes to be like oh i wish i could have seen if some fighting like no one gets killed like the people who quote unquote get killed it's just a flash of light and that's it you know you're just like okay though that was fun i guess but in terms of plot it's great do you feel like kids would like this now or do you feel
Starting point is 00:49:11 like like if you saw like i i was wondering like watching this if kids would be bored because it really feels like the kind of thing that would be put on at your grandma's house like here she has her vhs for you like you have like the one thing you can watch and you're like oh yeah we always watch that here or whatever you're just glad you have like one tape or whatever i think younger kids would appreciate it i think the older kids would be like oh we gotta watch the hobbit again at grandma's wait i know exactly what you're talking about what is the movie at your like aunt's or your grandma's house that you had to watch because they didn't have any VHS tapes? We had, well, I remember board games that she had and we had this Alvin and the Chipmunks board game that we would play all the time.
Starting point is 00:49:53 And I don't really remember what it entailed, but there were apples involved. And also I would sit on the edge of her bed and watch Golden Girls. I love that. That's cute. Oh, that's not bad. Which was good. That's a good one. But if the TV room was
Starting point is 00:50:07 open to watch something, I remember watching Heathcliff. I love Saturday morning cartoons, but I don't recall her having any actual tapes, and she may not have had a VHS player. Wow. Which we called a VCR. Which we called a VCR. We were fancy, if you ever heard of it.
Starting point is 00:50:28 That would be the name of that. My aunt had three VHSs. She would like watch us after church. She had Ghost. She had Sister Act and In the Heat of the Night. And oh, wait, those are good. They are good. And I didn't like In the heat of the night so i only
Starting point is 00:50:46 watched half of it and then would just i watch ghost almost every sunday because i loved it so much they are my favorite one of your favorite movies i mean i was gonna say nicole those are like formative movies yes and i i have my aunt bertha to thank that That's huge. Oh my god, that's incredible. What about you, Oscar? Was there a movie? My grandma didn't have a VCR, but she was very particular of what TV shows we watched, and we would watch
Starting point is 00:51:15 They Watch Nights and The Hitchhiker. What's The Hitchhiker? Well, The Hitchhiker was a show starring Antonio Salvato Jr., I want to say his name. And he just goes from town to town hitchhiking and getting into...
Starting point is 00:51:32 He's like this rebel... I don't remember. It was just like violent 90s crap TV. Oh, and a show called... I believe it's called Models Inc. Yes. That sounds vaguely familiar. Yes, there's a show called Models Inc. Yes. That sounds vaguely familiar. There's a show called Models Inc.
Starting point is 00:51:47 that I also watched for a little bit. Yeah. Yes. It was just garbage. Oh my God, I just looked it up. It was a spinoff of Melrose Place. Yes.
Starting point is 00:51:54 A what? Mm-hmm. I feel like I want to binge the whole thing. Maybe we should watch Melrose Place next. Oh my God, yes. Can we do something like that? Something fun.
Starting point is 00:52:05 Something fun for a change? I mean, it's been hard. I mean, wow, we're always, but we're having fun. We are having fun. So, okay, so now that we know there are more animated films. We do. I mean, okay, they include story beats ranging from The Fellowship all the way through The Return
Starting point is 00:52:23 of the King. We have a lot ahead of us. Oscar, do you have any words of encouragement or warnings as we continue this journey i mean we need any encouragement we can get yeah tell us something good so like with the animated ones the um lord of the rings the first one the animation style is really interesting because the motion i think they do some like motion capture like they like draw over life action it's like very weird and it's just it's very weird and then the second
Starting point is 00:52:54 one feels like a return to form of the Hobbit where it's a little more like cartoonish and then the third one they're like okay let's just like keep the style of the Hobbit and keep it that way but the first one, they're like, OK, let's just like keep the style of The Hobbit and keep it that way. But the first one is it's a bit experimental, if you will. OK.
Starting point is 00:53:10 Now, this movie actually won like in 1978, Robert Mueller, the writer, won a Peabody Award for his teleplay of The Hobbit, which is amazing. And the film is nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation but lost to Star Wars. Oh, wow. Interesting. Now, here's some reviews of this. So John J. O'Connor wrote in the New York Times that Rankin and Bass productions have now
Starting point is 00:53:38 carefully translated The Hobbit into film. The result is curiously eclectic but filled with nicely effective moments. The drawings frequently suggest strong resemblances, but filled with nicely effective moments. The drawings frequently suggest strong resemblances to non-Tolkien characters. The goblins could have stepped out of a Maurice Sendak book, author of Where the Wild Things Are, but the dragon
Starting point is 00:53:54 and golem bring some clever original touches. Whatever its flaws, this television version of The Hobbit warrants attention. Okay, John. God, he really liked it. I mean, come on. Criticism primarily focused on the adaptation issues including the unfamiliar style of artwork used by the japanese american co-production team whereas some tolkien fans questioned the appropriateness of repackaging repackaging
Starting point is 00:54:18 the material as a family film for a very young audience oh i thought it was for kids me too no but they're saying they thought that was inappropriate to do that. Yeah, like Lord of the Rings, like Hobbit shouldn't be for kids. And how dare they make this movie for kids? Like, why did you do this? I see, I see, I see. Douglas A. Anderson, a Tolkien scholar,
Starting point is 00:54:38 called the adaptation ex... wow, okay, I guess he got a big word in here, hold on. Excrible. Excrible. Extremely bad or word in here. Hold on. Excreble. Extremely bad or unpleasant in his own introduction to the annotated Hobbit and addition of the book, which included commentary. Although he did not elaborate. And a few critics said it was confusing for those not already familiar with the plot. Well, I wonder if we would have found it confusing because we found it very simplified.
Starting point is 00:55:00 But we know so much now. Yes. Critic Tom Keong. I don't know. Keong. i don't know how to say that kia kia i think you were right the first time praise the adaptation as excellent saying that the work received uh big points for being faithful to tokin's story and that the vocal casts can't be improved upon i did like i thought the cast was very good. I thought so as well. The voices were great. They fit. They were. Director Arthur Rankin Jr. was proud of The Hobbit
Starting point is 00:55:30 and in an interview in 2003, he described it as a good film, stating that the simplicity of the story made it easy to adapt to the screen. These reviews are hilarious. Excrement. Excellent. Good film. That was a very that'll do pig moment right there. Yes, that'll do.
Starting point is 00:55:46 Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 67% based on reviews from 15 critics. Oh, wow. Well, let's jump. I feel like that's low considering how much everyone loves it. But let's jump into some trivia here. Trivia. And there are no female characters depicted anywhere in the film except for the spiders, which are female, are voiced by females. Even the crowd scene in Lake Town consisted entirely of men.
Starting point is 00:56:10 How wild. Wow. It's so nice. These are extremely masculine-leaning stories. Yeah. I wonder if Tolkien somewhere in hidden scrolls was like, no women. I'm sure there's something to that. I mean, they had to like invent a woman character
Starting point is 00:56:25 in the live action movies. Yes. Right. Like they completely invented her character. Yeah, that's true. In the book, Biblo is knocked unconscious
Starting point is 00:56:32 by a falling rock during the Battle of the Five Armies. In the movie, perhaps due to an anti-war basis at the time of filming, Biblo states he simply doesn't understand war and then hides behind a stone
Starting point is 00:56:43 using the ring to become invisible watching the entire battle. When asked about his whereabouts Biblo lies and said he had a bump to the head and was out for hours. I love that.
Starting point is 00:56:53 Mm-hmm. The Arkenstone an heirloom of Thorin's dynasty and the most important treasure that he wishes to recover isn't included in this film so neither is the surrounding storyline
Starting point is 00:57:03 of Bilbo stealing the Arkenstone and giving it to the elves. The friction between the two in the movie is instead explained as Thorin's irritation at Bilbo's lack
Starting point is 00:57:10 of understanding of war. Yes, now it's coming to me that there was no Arkenstone. Right. So maybe the smog thing is a little different because of all that. Oh, maybe.
Starting point is 00:57:19 Huh. I don't know. Well, Gandhi says at the end that members of Biblia's family not yet born may one day understand the ring and that the story is not really ending, but just the beginning. These lines were not in the book, nor is there any indication that there would be any more to the ring than mere invisibility. At the time, the original book was written.
Starting point is 00:57:37 There was no connection to the Hobbit with the Simularen and the Lord of the Rings, which hadn't been written yet. However, in 1977, it was well known that the Ring Biblo found in the events he participated in were a prelude to a much larger story. What is the Simularion? It's another Lord of the Rings book. It's like a spinoff, if you will. Oh, God.
Starting point is 00:58:02 Oh, God. This goes deep. Oh, God, we don't even know the cell animation was done by the japanese studio topcraft which was formed in 1972 as an offshoot of toy animation which did dragon ball sailor moon dragon oh my god i didn't know that is dragon ball different than dragon ball z no i assume that's the same thing it's sort of like the prequel to dragon ball z oh oh it's called dragon ball yeah i didn't realize that there was a nickname so dragon ball is based on the chinese folktale of the monkey um and then dragon ball z is sort of like the company like really taking liberties with that story oh i didn't know i like dragon ball z and i love sailor Moon classics but I only like the bad
Starting point is 00:58:47 Sailor Moon so people don't like the English dubbed version where Luna is English and I love that yes yes that's what I grew up with and that's what like I love and I know it's fully whitewashed and they spin it to like have after school special lessons at the end. And I love it. That's cute. And it's not available anywhere. I guess people tried to bury it. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:59:15 People have people do not like it. So many Topcraft staffers, including the studio's founder, Toru Hara, would go on to join Studio Ghibli and work. Is it Ghibli or ghibli uh ghibli i believe i look this up and i forget okay and work on hayo miyazaki's feature films so that's cool these people all went on to cool stuff uh-huh the wood elves including the elf king elven king thorandu are rendered as ugly, and gray-skinned unlike elves described in Tolkien's works. Yeah. You're right.
Starting point is 00:59:49 They had a halo in the cartoon. Yes. Looking like Jesus. Well, I feel like we're coming to the end. We got all the info we could possibly squeeze out of it, I feel. Yeah, I think so yeah um and a good amount of time spent talking about emily in paris and i think that really is a well-rounded episode
Starting point is 01:00:09 everyone watch emily in paris that's the moral here turn off this episode because you're like it's a hard turn into emily in paris and i don't know if they ever talk about the hobbit yeah we thought the hobbit was a hard turn and they're thinking Emily in Paris is a hard turn. Well, we got a review in our Battle of the Five Stars segment and it comes from Actor Chuck on Apple Podcasts and the subject line is, this podcast is better than the movies. Skip
Starting point is 01:00:36 the movies. Wow. Bold statement. That's funny. Nicole and Lauren, thank you so much for your heroic journey into the most boring journey ever. These movies are awful and long. Hey, he said it, not me. Yeah, we're not saying this is actor Chuck. These movies are awful and long.
Starting point is 01:00:50 I almost divorced my husband over the course of the 127 hours it takes to finish them. He loves Star Wars and L.O.T.R. So he had a wicked nerd boner when he both announced this season. But I'm losing my mind watching these films. Your podcast brings light and joy to my now tired and burdened soul. These movies are longer than COVID quarantine. Don't watch them. Just listen to this miraculous podcast and thank me later.
Starting point is 01:01:10 Thank you, actor Chuck, and I didn't mean to assign you a gender. That's incredible. That was great. I love that. I love actor Chuck. That's such a funny review. Oscar, do you have anything you want to play? No, just like Inside the Disney Vault. Please listen to it. It's really fun. It's a really fun podcast. do you have anything you want to play uh no just like uh uh inside the disney vault uh please uh
Starting point is 01:01:27 listen to it it's really it's really fun it's a really fun podcast um and i did an episode you did and it was so fun what movie did you do we did the little mermaid right so we did the no we what did we do no we talked about i think we just talked about relationships oh yeah and we talked about we talked about a bunch of those little mermaid yeah disney relationships i found it here so but you probably talked about the little mermaid because we saw that insane scene from the live action beating the beast oh it's my favorite thing which one lauren there's a part where stanley tucci i believe the direction was stanley can you give us a little bit more um expression on your face and he was like i've been
Starting point is 01:02:17 here for 10 hours i'll give you all the expression you want so it's a very quick cut of him being like, I love that. Oh my God. It's so funny. And he's, and it's half a second. And that's, I caught it. It made me laugh so hard. That is fucking hilarious.
Starting point is 01:02:35 I love when you can see, like you can read into like what's going on with the actor doing something like, okay, he's had a long day. He's having a little fun now. That's so good. Like, okay, he's had a long day. He's having a little fun now. That's so good. Well, Oscar, where can people find you
Starting point is 01:02:49 on Twitter and Instagram? You can follow me at OzzyMo, O-Z-Z-Y-M-O on Twitter and Instagram. Great. Well, Nicole, do you have anything you want to plug? I have a Patreon where I talk about 90 Day Fiancé and vote. Drop it off in those boxes.
Starting point is 01:03:04 If you want to vote in person, do it. Wear a mask. Bring a chair. You might be there a while. Bring a pizza. Yeah, bring pizza. Make a new friend. And then after the election, we're not done. We still have to keep these people to task if we elect
Starting point is 01:03:19 a new administration. Also, pay attention to the local people who are running and uh look as to why you know certain big people are endorsing like the little guy who you're like does this even matter you know just like do the research that's such a good point because i feel like sometimes i'm like i trust that person and then i just like take whatever they say yeah i mean kind of but then when. But then when like Hillary Hillary Clinton like endorsed someone running in like the California election or the L.A. election or whatever. And I was like, why?
Starting point is 01:03:52 And I did a little bit of research and I was like, they're not for me. I don't think they're the best choice. And interesting. Yeah. So, yeah, it's a it's very smart. It's annoying. But do the research. I like knock L.A. If you're in Los Angeles has a pretty good progressive voter guide if you're voting progressive.
Starting point is 01:04:09 And Lesser of Two Evils if you're into progressive. Yeah. Black Lives LA also has a guide. And the LA podcast also delves into a lot of the props. But beyond LA, we can't help you. Yeah, sorry about it. Lauren, what do you want to promote? I don't even need to wait for you. I will plug my Patreon.
Starting point is 01:04:34 Follow my Patreon. I did a whole podcast series on the Babysitter's Club series on Netflix, which was really fun, and I had a lot of fun guests. And I'm doing improv and watch-alongs. I did a watch-along for The Witches, the old the old movie i'm gonna do one for the new one that's coming to hbo max the new one looks wild it looks good and i also just had megan stalter on do some improv and she is hilarious and check it out and of course i also agree we all must vote it is
Starting point is 01:05:01 very important for everyone and it feels good it feels really good like I think when I was younger I didn't fully understand how important it was or how good it feels to do it and I mean I did it but I'd be like oh you know what I mean like it's like you just kind of can go like or put it off or not really think about it and just kind of not look in not do your research I think when you're younger maybe not not to not to be ageist about it i'm saying i was like that when i was younger i just wouldn't research i don't think it's ageist i didn't do research until this year last year i was just like democratic or not last year well there was the well the primaries i was like last year yeah i was just like democratic
Starting point is 01:05:41 damn let's take it but it's like well which democrats are the ones who have my best interest because it's not the whole party and when you really yes because when you really start looking at all of those details like you learn so much and i think a lot of times one thing i'm really seeing this especially now with social media i think things can get really muddy and you start to go like oh i've heard about this prop enough times i'll vote this way because i saw that and then you find out oh no wait that's like a corporation telling me to do that that's not really yes what the people would want like lyft and uber they have spent a ton of money thinking of trying to get this prop to pass and it's like well if they're spending this amount of money that means if it passes they're going to save more than they put in in the long run it It's so fucked up. Also, the propositions are written like,
Starting point is 01:06:26 do you want this not to happen because everything happens for no reason? Do you want? And you're like, wait, what? I know it's truly so confusing. It's like, do you like when bad things don't happen to bad people, but good things don't either? You know, it's like, by the end, you're like, yes. And you're like, wait, I don't know what I'm answering.
Starting point is 01:06:42 That's why you need those guides. Like, that's why it's so important to have it like broken down research and like exactly because listen yeah even smart people can get confused with uh yeah voting and election stuff you know so it's not like you lost by doing research no and i think they make the ballots a little confusing like with the mail and like i feel like i was like following the directions like really closely but i still was like oh did i do that wrong like it's really tough they do it because it's like a form of suppression to be like oh you fuck this up you didn't put in the right envelope so that vote doesn't count and then like the whole if you take a selfie with
Starting point is 01:07:16 the ballot that's like illegal and i'm like there are unsolved murders but you're gonna like track down someone who took a selfie with that ballot i mean well didn't you i think you tweeted it nicole that like voting should be um everyone should be automatically registered yes and that you should voting should be like a something everyone has to do like i feel like it should just be like a thing where like it's given to everyone you everyone's registered automatically why should i not why should i have to check it every year it doesn't make any sense we automatically have to pay taxes correct right like you find me correct and like people i think have to volunteer to work at polling places they do and during tax season they hire more people so you can get your taxes in on time
Starting point is 01:08:03 because they want your money they don't want your vote which is why you have volunteers at polling places as opposed to like government spending money to in like ensure that everyone can vote in a timely manner it's like really insane and i don't know if that's ever going to change but i hope it does it's really wild i know this will be a big turning point i feel like it does feel like that and it feels like because of the pandemic with like so many more people voting with the ballot boxes or by mail like it it might i mean i would hope that people would think more about this stuff and but i mean you know that's part of the problem is that it feels like that that the people that we're looking at and talking about for all of these things like they're not really thinking
Starting point is 01:08:42 about changing stuff on a huge level like that. That's a huge change to the entire system and we're just trying to chip away at really fucked up shit. You know what I mean? But what are you going to do? So we'll find out soon enough what happens. We'll have a new president or the same one.
Starting point is 01:09:02 Who knows? We don't know. Bye, bye, bye. That was a Hiddem Original.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.