Spielberg's Aliens: Trilogy, Quadrilogy, or Quintology? | Original Geek | S1E34

How many alien movies has Steven Spielberg actually made? Ask three geeks, get three answers — and that's exactly the fight we pick this week.

With Disclosure Day finally in theaters, we put Spielberg's entire alien run under the microscope: Close Encounters, E.T., the new one, and the two movies nobody can agree on (looking at you, War of the Worlds and that Indiana Jones with the crystal skull). Steve holds the line at three pure Spielberg originals. Jeff refuses to let it go.

Along the way: a full Disclosure Day breakdown, a Random Review roll that lands on the movie's Act 2 cold open and that wild train sequence, a Geek Court showdown over whether it's a worthy entry, flashbacks to Devil's Tower and a popcorn bucket that scarred Steve for life, and the Reese's Pieces deal that changed product placement forever. Plus the rant that fuels the whole episode — Spielberg had the perfect chance to connect these films, and didn't.

It all comes down to one unsettled question: do you count every movie with an alien in it, or only the ones Spielberg built from scratch? We're not agreeing. Maybe you can settle it.

Listen, then tell us where you land: originalgeekpodcast@gmail.com

 #OriginalGeek #Spielberg #DisclosureDay #SciFi 

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Hosted by Steve Scarfo and Jeff Shaw.

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Transcript

Steve (00:00)
If you're gonna spend this much time and talk this much about making three goddamn alien movies, connect them.

Don't tease me with three movies that should go together and then don't put them together.

All right, welcome to Original Geek. This is the all fandom podcast for sci-fi fantasy comics and every pop culture obsession that built us. Whether you're Gen X, Millennial, or just Geek Curious, welcome to the basement. Hey, I'm Steve Scarfo.

Jeff Shaw (00:29)
And I'm Jeff Shaw, and today will be your glowing fingertip. To remember to always phone home. Cause today we're talking Spielberg and his alien trilogy, quadrilogy, quintopegy. I don't know. He's got maybe five up to five alien movies, maybe only three. Depends on how anal the person.

Steve (00:48)
I think you may

Jeff Shaw (00:59)
you're talking to at the moment is.

Steve (01:02)
I love how you got me set up for Geek Court as the anal one already. We're gonna talk about that, but not not at first. We're gonna talk about some other stuff first.

Jeff Shaw (01:05)
Mm-hmm.

Steve (01:16)
Yeah, so you know, I remember Spielberg's first outing in this in this area

I'm gonna call it the first outing for the for the p packaging of our episode and what we're talking about. It wasn't I don't believe this was Spielberg's first film. but nineteen seventy seven's Close Encounters of the Third Kind, often considered his first foray into the aliens topic. And then

Jeff Shaw (01:42)
Yeah, well it is.

That is that we will not

Steve (01:46)
No dispute. E.T. in nineteen eighty-two considered the second entry into the what they call the unofficial trilogy. And then now, here comes the controversy, people, Disclosure Day that just came out, we saw last week, about a week ago now, the third foray into the alien world.

Jeff Shaw (01:54)
Yes, and it is.

Steve (02:15)
And Jeff is smiling and shaking his head.

Jeff Shaw (02:16)
Our Gen X

geeks out there, our OGs out there, their minds are going, what is happening right now? Cause you know for a fact that Spielberg directed at least two other movies that had aliens in them. One that had aliens throughout, and another that aliens were a surprise. Spoiler for Indiana Jones and the

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Sorry, there are aliens in that Indiana Jones movie. Allegedly. I have I couldn't say for sure because and now you're gonna the hate's gonna pour in. I've never watched.

Steve (02:52)
I'd say not that you've watched it

Yeah.

I don't I don't know how you didn't, I'll be honest with you, 'cause the Indiana Jones movies are like we've we've of course done many Star Wars episodes. We haven't done an indie episode. We have to do an Indiana Jones. Harrison Ford that's the other reason you watch some of these.

Jeff Shaw (03:17)
Yeah, and then I'll finally watch I wa

I love just y everyone, I love the original Indiana Jones. I liked The Temple of Doom and I never watched another one.

Steve (03:26)
Have you seen

you missed the best.

see, to me, Temple of Doom was not that this is what we're talking about, but we'll we'll give it a second. Temple of Doom was the worst of the four. even Kingdom of the Crystal S skull, a little bit better. It did. d well, that's what you're looking for. Every good movie franchise looks for a way to push customers off the train instead of bringing them on. the third one is one of my favorite movies.

Jeff Shaw (03:42)
It helped get me out of the the franchise. It it guided it guided me out. Hey.

Yes.

Steve (03:59)
goodness, I can't think of the official title. It's the whole it's the one with the whole the search for the it's not actually called that, but it's Yeah. All right, we're gonna live Google because not you know, we are Gen X, which means our memories are dead. third Indiana Jones movie and The Last Crusade. Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. That's

Jeff Shaw (04:04)
The ho search for the holy grail or something like that.

The quest for the holy grail. The Monty Python in the Holy

yeah. Mm-hmm.

Steve (04:30)
so

Jeff Shaw (04:30)
Which had Sean Connery

in it, I love it, but then because at the time I I was out of it, I just didn't get back in. and our friend Boyd, who's been on some of our earlier episodes, spoiled it. And at the at that time that seemed to matter to me.

Steve (04:47)
I will say kind of a hard movie to spoil. 'Cause that was back in the day when when your trailer they only caught a few of them 'cause they were hard to do, harder to get out, right? It was you only saw it at the theater. Very rarely would they put on TV. but if you saw the trailer, they showed the the grail. Like they they didn't make it a real mystery.

Jeff Shaw (05:11)
No, not the

that the that's not the grail. But isn't there like something at the end? I don't know. There's no twist at the end.

Steve (05:21)
No,

it's an Indiana Jones movie. It ends really good. It's fun and it's exciting and everybody has challenges.

Jeff Shaw (05:28)
All right, well in the legend of the grail

you have to be dying to get the grail. Is anyone dying who got the grail?

Steve (05:35)
I'm sorry, spoilers, you're gonna have to watch it. If one of you all wants to tell Jeff what the hell he missed twenty five, thirty years ago, then you can tell him. I ain't gonna

Jeff Shaw (05:38)
Okay.

Well no, when

we do the Indiana Jones episode, I'll watch it.

Steve (05:46)
All right, but we're not talking about Indiana Jones today. Today we're talking about the alien movies.

Jeff Shaw (05:48)
No, no, let's stay on topic. It's his alien movies, which apparently

are only three.

Steve (05:55)
Well, there are so this is part of our controversy. We'll talk about it later. But there are he's he's had a ton of good movies. I'm looking at this list right now and there are the ones that we're gonna talk about, but

Jeff Shaw (06:05)
He's

he's a pretty good director.

Steve (06:08)
I mean, he's done okay. Thirty-six movies according to this list that I probably have seen thirty-four of them at least. if not all of them. Alright, I didn't ever see Firelight or Duel. Those were his first two. I didn't see either of those. But Sugarland Express. Jaws, I saw that. Closing Counters of the Third Kind, and that's what kicks us off into 1977. So you know, this is what we want to talk about. This is

Jeff Shaw (06:25)
Call yourself a fan.

Steve (06:38)
This is he he changed the way people saw the movies. He is his grand adventures, starting with Close Encounters and the Indiana Jones movies, which I guess the first one came out just a couple after a couple of years later, seventy nine, I think it said.

Notes search. Raiders of the Lost Ark was eighty one. So Close Encounters was seventy seven and Raiders was s eighty one. So just a few years later. And then E. T. came out right after Raiders. Twilight Zone the movie, eighty three, Temple of Doom, eighty four. I know that's where you stopped watching all Steven Spielberg, is that what happened? You didn't watch any other Spielberg?

Jeff Shaw (07:17)
I know, I I love the Shawshank Redemption. Just kidding everyone. Just kidding. I know that wasn't Spielberg. Okay.

Steve (07:17)
Yeah.

Yeah.

It's not

it's not on this list, Jeff.

but

so what we did do, we have both I I didn't watch ET again because quite frankly, I've watched E.T. like a hundred and two times in my life. I know the movie pretty well. I'd only ever seen Close Encounters once or twice, so I did go back and watch it. I know you did too. And then we went out last week and we saw Disclosure Day.

I think it's time to jump into our random review.

Alright, welcome to the original Geek Random Review. We set the topic, the dice set the direction. We know what we're reviewing, just not how. So

Jeff Shaw (08:06)
All right, and today it is disclosure day, the new Spielberg Alien movie. spoiler alert. If you didn't know, it's about aliens. So and I am going to roll first for Mr. Stevenscarf.

Steve (08:14)
He

All right. So a quick recap for anybody who's new or checking this out for checking one of these out for the first time because we do put these out separately. we roll a twenty sided dice. We use a list of topics that we don't know what it is. So whatever we're gonna talk about, we have to go pure purely on having just seen the movie and talking about it. We don't know what it's gonna be. So join the join us. It's gonna be fun.

Jeff Shaw (08:47)
Here we go.

17. The Disorienting Opening A Successful Wisdom Check. Spielberg dropping the audience directly into Act 2. A brilliant creative gamble. By entirely skipping the close encounter and starting the movie Mid-Chase, with Daniel already on the brun, Spielberg forces the audience to think on their feet, capturing the exact confusion of a world on the brink of world shattering.

Steve (08:51)
Mm-hmm.

I like this question. I really do, 'cause I hadn't thought about it in that way. But they absolutely did. I didn't think about you know, I've done some kind of I guess research or whatever or talk like how to write a movie in act one, act two, act three. Like I'm sure if you've had any kind of interest in movies, you've looked at the structure. It never occurred to me that what's that's what he did. He did. He dropped us right into act two. There's no opening, there's no slow burn, there's no getting to know anybody. It's just holy crap, what's going on? He's running.

and you learn about the people and all of the details in flight with them because even though Daniel's w the ma one of the main protagonists, we don't know anything about him and the people he runs into because he's on the run, he doesn't know anything about them. So we he we learn with him. I know we've talked about this in in the past with different movies, how we like when a when we go on the journey with the character, it makes it that much more compelling. And I really do think it did.

God, I really do. I like this question. It's it put us in his shoes quite literally while he's trying we don't know anything about him, so we don't know. I mean you kind of assume he's a good guy. That's typically how they start it, but he could have been one of the bad guys. sorry, another spoiler. Daniel's a good guy. but yeah, I I think it was great. I think it was a great way to take what could have been a slow and sleepy movie and make it more action oriented.

Because we talked about close encounters and they don't really waste a lot of time, but there is a lot of build up. And I would argue even the middle of act two it not that it slows down, but it does drag a little bit because they kind of really try to pummel home the situation for Richard Dreyfus' character. so I I I really agree with that. I liked it a lot.

Jeff Shaw (11:10)
The interesting that you mentioned we don't know if he's the bad guy, and I hadn't really thought of that because I didn't see I did I I saw the trailer like we all did. I wasn't sure if Colin Firth's character was the bad guy, and Killin Colin Firth is often the good guy. So you're right. At first we didn't know whether we were gonna root for this guy. But I also because we have no exposition, I really want you

Steve (11:28)
Mm-hmm.

Jeff Shaw (11:40)
To watch this movie with your mom and let me know how that goes. Because for those of you who may not, yes. So, because he's mom. I know we've referenced this briefly before on this podcast, but always ask questions and and right from the get go, like no one knows what's going on. So what so what he what's he yell about? What's that?

Steve (11:45)
You mean me personally?

Mm.

my God. It's it's it's a torture.

no, it's like literally

Jeff Shaw (12:09)
thing do

Steve (12:10)
title card, fade in, there's a guy in the corner stabbing someone. Who is that? Like, I don't know. We like the movie just started three seconds in, a hundred percent.

Jeff Shaw (12:18)
Why is he doing this?

Why is the Bridget

Jones diary guy being so mean?

Steve (12:29)
yeah, you're not wrong. She would never this would be

Jeff Shaw (12:31)
So I need you

to watch this again with your mom. All right. Shout out to Mrs. Scarfo. so and then just to double down, I agree. I think this really made for an exciting moment. And also your comment about things not going that fast paced. I mean one of the one of the things that differentiates Spielberg's alien movies, except for War of the Worlds.

Which was why we don't want to count it. is there j they're not action movies generally. There's some action sequences. But no one wouldn't consider it, you know, you know, an action movie like The Terminator. So I think that it is interesting to have that start. It was different.

Steve (13:21)
Yeah. Yeah. It definitely dragged us in, which I liked. Alright, you ready? There we go. Nope. I rolled a sixteen. That's the same one. Hold on. Nineteen. Successful charisma check. The train car climax. The frantic vehicle meets locomotive escape sequence. Classic propulsive Spielberg action.

Jeff Shaw (13:26)
Yes.

Steve (13:47)
Relying on a privately owned railway in New Jersey for practical stunt coordination, the sequence is pure charisma hit, combined with roaring classic John Williams score. It's a masterclass of modern big screen spectrum.

Jeff Shaw (14:00)
So funny that we have two like action sequences. So it was interesting when so in this scene are the two people we're rooting for, the two people who we learn have been spoiler, pause. So they they have been they're that that were abducted. it's Daniel and what is

Steve (14:04)
after saying it's not an action movie.

Yeah, hold on. Go watch the movie, then come back.

Jeff Shaw (14:28)
My God, why can't I think of her character's name? what's that? Margaret. Daniel and Margaret are in a car and they're being they're stopped at a train crossing and the the black ops agency bad guy is pushing them in their car into the oncoming train. And it really

Steve (14:32)
Margaret. Margaret.

Jeff Shaw (14:58)
It it's funny, like, as I was watching it, I'm like, is this feels like a callback to something. And I know Spielberg has had train sequences in a number of his movies. And then man, the the the guy who did who was kinda a part partly responsible for the Star Wars trilogy that we ripped on the the sequel tr JJ Abrams, who loves Spielberg.

Steve (15:26)
yeah.

Jeff Shaw (15:28)
And Super 80's got this train sequence, and I felt like it almost feels like trains are like, I gotta have a train thing going on. And the action in that sequence is really solid. The special effects are fantastic. I didn't know it was using a real like train that is from a New Jersey company. I had no idea about that, but it it was a great

action sequence. and there there is you know I think you're if you really truly worry about your character's survival, I wasn't that worried about Daniel, but I was sure that Margaret had to make it. of course they both make it another spoiler. But I felt like it was it was an excellent sequence.

Steve (16:23)
Yeah, I I do agree with the idea that w I did not feel I mean, you feel the tension because they're hanging you know, it's kind of a a classic train sequence, right? they're hanging off the edge and someone's foot bounces on the ground and some they fall and one arm goes down and then you see other stuff fall and it explodes. Like if they show you

All the classic tropes of this is a dangerous situation, which I don't know why we need that because you're on a train and you're almost falling off. We all know that's kind of not fun. But I never once felt like, shit, one of them might not make it. I guess Yeah, how do they get out of it? Does does the other guy, does the bad guy make it? That's more of a question at that point in time. And like you said, at the again, we're gonna spoil a whole bunch. there's a scene in

Jeff Shaw (17:03)
You're just wondering how? How do they do it?

Steve (17:16)
The trailer that is the climax of the movie. Like, so you know she has to be there because how does that happen? And you know, unless there's a weak weird there's a flashback thing going on and they try to pump up some storyline to get her there. But yeah, it's like that's really all that they could do. It was a still a fun sequence to watch. And again, it pul quite literally pulled us along this narrative of

Jeff Shaw (17:25)
Gotta get disclosed or it's not disclosure day.

Steve (17:45)
They're fighting for their lives because they there are people who don't want this disclosed. They won't they don't want people knowing what's going on. So, you know, Daniel has the goods, she has the ability to communicate it, and they need to get this word out and the whole thing is this it's basically one long chase scene from start to finish of do we can we get this information out and how do we do it? it was a great it was a great sequence, but

I don't think it did anything like groundbreaking. The music was good.

Jeff Shaw (18:18)
No,

I I feel this doesn't need a nineteen. Like the like we rolled a nineteen. This should have been something amazing. But I will say this. I recommend this movie. And if you are a Spielberg fan, classics, you know, it's got a train in it. Apparently that's a thing. but also the lens flares. You gotta have some lens flares if you're in Spielberg. I felt like the

Steve (18:21)
No.

Mm-hmm.

Jeff Shaw (18:47)
his use of transitions, the the character building that he he gets from this. And in you know definitely an an enjoyable watch. It's a Spielberg movie and even a a bad Spielberg movie is better than the some of the the the best movies of other directors. He he really did a great job with this one. so I I'm giving it a thumbs up.

Steve (19:14)
Yeah. I'm gonna give it a natural twenty myself. it was a really good and we'll get into the details of this. I'm gonna say it like this for now. It really was a good third installment. Whether you really think it's third or not, we'll discuss, but I think I think it really did the job. We both have some issues that we'll talk about later during hits and fails.

But overall, definitely worth seeing. I will say, and I don't usually say it for movies like this, I want you to support this movie. I want you to go to the movies, I want you to spend your money, buy your popcorn, sit in the dark with your friends. it's a great ride, it's a lot of fun. But I will say, I don't know that this needs a big screen. I mean, every movie's better on a big screen, but I there were no there was no spectacle.

When I go to a theater now, I want to see like a Marvel movie or I want to see some I want the scale of what's on screen to be otherworldly and then worldly, and then the scale of it on a big screen makes me feel that more. This was just people the whole time. Right? Not a bad thing. And certainly, you know, great and a great experience, but it wasn't there was no spectacle that says to me, You need to be in the theater for this movie.

Like pre home theater, when people saw Jurassic Park, they said, You gotta go to the theater because sitting in that chair and feeling and hearing the rumble when the T Rex comes up, it's a classic clip like from when they first came out with surround sound for in home studio. You know, everybody has it at their house now, but it it was a thing in the that they used to go to like Best Buy and it was when you could feel it. You couldn't do that at home before. so now they've up the game is up. You gotta get it bigger. So

Great movie. Go see it. Just 'cause we don't well,

not that Spielberg needs our money, but go see it, support it. but if you wait for it to if you wait to go home, it's okay.

Jeff Shaw (21:14)
Yeah, I mean the scenes are tighter. Yeah, when for that big screen,

you want that spectacle, and that spectacle usually means larger scale. larger scale models or l are or the the shots are are bigger, wider out, showing more territory. This was a tighter film, more intimates with you know focused on certain characters or internal environments, and even when you went external.

we're often very close at like in these chase scenes, we were often in the car with the people being chased or the chaser. and then you'd you'd you'd have those shots where you saw a little bit more of the environment. But yeah, it is a it is a tighter movie for shots, so I can see that.

Steve (21:54)
Yeah.

Yeah, not

a bad thing. Just kinda where it landed. All right. You ready to go back?

Jeff Shaw (22:02)
Yeah. Alright.

I'm ready.

You know, I'm thinking our flashback might be the same because it's close encounters for me. Is that your f well, you you mentioned it earlier with the first one, but I I did see Close Encounters. My dad took me as he always does to movies maybe I won't fully understand because I would have been seven years old. actually I was only six, going on seven. And

Steve (22:21)
Okay.

Jeff Shaw (22:42)
But what it's funny, what stood out to me was that potato, mashed potato version of the Devil's Tower. And then flash forward in my life to a cross country trip with our friend Bill Dunbar. And we were trying to get to the West Coast as fast as possible. And so I

Steve (22:49)
Yes.

Jeff Shaw (23:11)
We're going by the Devil's Tower and I made a bit of a and then we're in the middle of the night. Not the best time for sightseeing of a mountain at night. No, this was a n this was one where we were we were just driving across as fast as possible. We took our Steve and I and Bill, we took our time. this was another trip I did with Bill.

Steve (23:24)
Wait, was that the trip I was with you guys or is that the one you did first?

Jeff Shaw (23:41)
and we and we're just trying to visit some family on the West Coast as quickly as possible. So we didn't sleep. We we did we drove in ship well we did sleep, but we s we drove in ships and lots of caffeine and the Devil's Tower is in of course I should have looked this up ahead of time. the Devil's can you do your Google magic? Okay, so Devil's Tower is in some state that Steve's gonna tell us in a moment.

Steve (24:05)
I can do it.

Jeff Shaw (24:11)
And I'm driving cross country and I see the signs for it. Where is it? Wyoming. I was gonna say that, should have said it. so I took the the exit and Steve Bill's asleep. And I'm going to the Devil's Tower, don't ask for permission or like, hey, could we take another 40 minutes? And so I'm I'm driving there and it's getting weirder and weirder. It's

Steve (24:14)
Wyoming, Wyoming.

Jeff Shaw (24:40)
So much roadkill. There's so many dead things and so many glowing eyes. And I decide I get creeped out and I I we didn't make it. So I turned around, got back on the highway, but I was going towards the Devil's Tower and just that superstition was kicking in my skull. And I just thought, no, we can't we can't do this.

Steve (25:07)
n so I I do have some close encounters memories. That wasn't what I was gonna use. I do remember do you know what's funny? I guess I conflated the memory because when I just rewatched it was just it was after we saw Disclosure Day. 'cause I wanted to refresh for this. I for some reason thought that the huge mountain he made in the kitchen was the pet the mashed potatoes. I forgot that was actually dirt and shit that he threw in from outside and how all of his neighbors were like

treating him like any was being crazy. but I do remember the mashed potatoes. But the one scene that really stuck with me is that he couldn't get it right until he got pissed off at the clay and he went to punch it and he knocked the top off. Because it was it was like a it was like a cone head mound and he knocked the top off and then it flattened it out to the butte. And I'm like, really? That's that's what put it didn't it didn't occur to you to pull just Yeah. So

I do remember that. My my final flashback is more an E.T. flashback. So I remember seeing E. T. in the theater. I might have told the story on the podcast once before. I don't remember who we were with. I wanna say it was a bunch of people we were working with at the time. We were all in high school and college. What year was eighty-three. So we were in high school. So we were probably working at restaurants downtown. Like we were all you know, we we were either cooks or

Jeff Shaw (26:23)
Eighty three.

Eighty two.

Eighty two. Sorry.

Steve (26:34)
So

eighty two I would have been thirteen or fourteen. So maybe it was like one of my first jobs. probably working at polys or something. But a bunch of us went to the theater and I don't remember who it was. Maybe it was just a bunch of kids from school. But so we somebody got the big bucket of popcorn. and this might have even been one of those when they came back to the theater situations, now that I think about it. But

One of the guys finished all the popcorn. I don't know, he might have even dumped it out. He ripped out two eye holes and he put it on his head. Now, if you've ever watched a movie with me, and then Jeff can attest to this and so can Boyd, because Boyd scared me so many times because I'm so when I'm in, I get locked in. I'm that guy that when I watch a movie, I don't see or hear anything else. It's just the movie. So all of a sudden from next to me, all I hear is ye tee and I turn

And this dude has put the popcorn bucket on his head, just like E.T. does in the movie. And it I just fucking fell over laughing. And it was I don't know why, but that's the thing. That's my flashback, that's my memory of these movies. I honestly don't remember connecting the two of them when they happened. I don't I mean, I'm sure I knew they were spoth Spielberg kind of amorphically. Like I was never

I have to watch that director's work, I have to watch that actor's work, not when we were kids. I was more the it was j it was genre and topic. They were both cool sci fi style movies, so I wanted to see them. yeah, but that's my that's my flashback. Mostly the the goofiness.

Jeff Shaw (28:09)
My earliest

memory from E.T. And the crappy thing about this, for me as a human being, is that I was going to see E.T. for the second time in the theater, and my sister Heather was joining us and and I knew she was a talker like your mom. And I

Steve (28:31)
Yeah.

Jeff Shaw (28:32)
So I refused to sit with the rest of the family. My brother and I sat by ourselves. We're like, we're not sitting with Heather. She's just going to ask questions, and we don't want to deal with it. We'd already seen the movie. We were actually the

Steve (28:35)
No.

Ha ha.

Jeff Shaw (28:47)
best equipped to deal with this. And yet, yes, we we this would have, this should have been what we did. We should have been taken one for the team.

Steve (28:50)
This is actually the reverse, because you did know.

Jeff Shaw (29:02)
And sat with her and answered the questions where my mom and dad and my other sister Jessica got to watch the film in peace. No, we did not do that.

Steve (29:11)
So when she goes, Who is that? You could have just said

you could have just said that's Elliot. You could have given her the answer. That's funny. all right. So what do you guys have? Do you guys like these movies? What's your flashback? If you're even if you're not one of our Gen X compatriots, I don't care how old you are, we do this from our point of view, but we want to hear from everybody. with video the way it is now, you can watch any of these anytime you want.

Jeff Shaw (29:16)
We were douchey.

Steve (29:39)
So tell us what was your flashback? What was your first memory of one of these three movies? I guess the disclosure day is kinda hard. So let's stick with close encounters. Can't have a flashback to one movie that just came out. But E. T. Close Encounters, tell us what you think. 'Cause we have to go to court.

Jeff Shaw (30:02)
All right, our argument today, the case I bring before you is Disclosure Day, a worthy third, fourth, or fifth chapter in Speed of Kirksalian's trilogy, quadrilogy, and quintupology. I'm arguing for that it is a worthy chapter, and arguing against Stephen J. Scarfo Esquire.

Steve (30:22)
I think you make up

Well, my argument against is it's not a fourth or a fifth. It is in fact the third. 'cause we don't count those other movies. I'll be honest with you. Okay, first we'll start. Is it is it so we just talked about how good it was. So I'll tell you why I don't think it was completely worthy. I'm not gonna diss it entirely.

Jeff Shaw (30:41)
Okay. So first okay, go ahead.

Steve (30:59)
But there were two major components to this movie that make me go, what what were you thinking? Like the reason we're making these jokes about is it third, fourth, and fifth? Like, there's this thing out there. And I don't know if Spielberg has anything to do with it, right? But the idea that he's made these three movies, it's his unofficial alien trilogy, is what they're calling it. whether you agree with it or not. So if you have this.

storyline out there in the world that you're gonna have these three movies and they're all about aliens visiting Earth and they're all very similar in tone.

It didn't connect any of the other either of the other two movies, or any if you consider all five of them, although one of them you really couldn't include because it would have just been, you know, death and destruction. But there's nothing in Disclosure Day that connects to Close Encounters or E. T. and obviously the aliens

E.T. looks completely different than the alien from both of the other two movies, although Close Encounters and Disclosure Day aliens look very similar because they're more the standard Roswell looking the Grays or whatever you want to call So I just I guess I was the other thing is I think we're in a day and age where if it's on video, people so easily just jumped in it's just AI.

This isn't real. Like, it was disclosure day. And I think maybe that's why there is one thing that happens at the very end that I won't spoil. Maybe that's why they do that. That they they do that one thing and maybe we'll have to spoil it. But that might be why they t do that twist at the end. Because because that way you can't say, look, it's just AI.

Jeff Shaw (32:55)
Okay. All right. So I guess we have two things at play here with our geek court. First is the limitation of only three of his movies counting as alien movies. So, first of all, if we're just taking these three: Close Encounters, E.T., Disclosure Day, is this a worthy third chapter? I'm going to say yes. Now

Steve (32:56)
What do you think?

Okay.

Jeff Shaw (33:24)
And part and I want to say E.T. is the best of those three. you can you can rewatch E.T. today. It stands the test of time. for for a great movie. Close Encounters. I really do enjoy it, but it's not it doesn't quite stand up. I mean, there's there's some there's some scenes in there, like right from the get-go, there's a scene when you're in the desert.

And there's these scientists coming in and just sand is blowing and you can barely understand a word anyone's saying. And then these airplanes are there, you don't quite know. And I know it's kind of revealed over time, but I feel like Disclosure Day is a bit closer to that, but better. Like I do think it's a better film than Close Encounters. But Close Encounters is

Steve (34:02)
Yeah.

Jeff Shaw (34:22)
His Spielberg's fourth film. So, you know, and and there's other aspects to it that don't quite stand up that I think are interesting in in close encounters. And it was probably true in this in its day. Like in Close Encounters, his his he loses his job because he's in a newspaper article for having had a close encounter. His company tells his wife

He's fired. Doesn't call him, doesn't talk to him, doesn't try to help him, doesn't try to get to the bottom of this. Now, so, but it also showed how different our times are. Because yeah, they also had three airplane pilots, four airline pilots who saw a UFO, and all of them decline to say it on record that they saw a UFO. So it is a different time period. So

Steve (35:04)
yeah.

Jeff Shaw (35:20)
There we got a a a couple things going on there, but I still feel like for those I know Steve rewatched Close Encounters, but I don't I don't think it's as good as E.T., but I do think it's as good as Close Encounters. And Close Encounters, I think partially because it doesn't quite stand up to rewatching with a modern Yo View.

Steve (35:42)
Yeah, I I I think okay. you gave me your breath, I thought I was going? No, okay.

Jeff Shaw (35:43)
And then I'm gonna go on to the next topic. So I know I I was gonna offer it

up, but then I realized I I I started something too. But there are aliens in War of the Worlds, spoiler alert. And that I do consider an alien movie. So I do not agree with Steve that this is a trilogy. It's a quadrilogy, if that's a word. And then

I've never seen it, but because we've already established this, but apparently there are aliens or maybe dead aliens in the Kingdoms, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. So technically it could be the fifth to involve aliens, but let's peel that one off. Because that doubt, I don't think anyone considers Indiana Jones and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull worthy of being part of this. War of the Worlds, I think, is entertaining and is worthy. Now I'll drop the mic back.

To you, Scoff.

Steve (36:44)
all right, I forgot what you said the first part.

Jeff Shaw (36:46)
So the first

part was is close encounters. It's a it's as good as close encounters, but close encounters doesn't quite hold up.

Steve (36:50)
the way you ordered them. Yes.

Yeah. So I will say I agree with your order. E.T. definitely is at the top of that list. And for probably most of the same reasons, I think close and I I think I have a even after the rewatch and seeing all the stuff you're talking about, I agree with all the problematic moments and then there's the ending, which is the most problematic. Which is funny because in the way they show it, it feels heroic and amazing. But then you remember

He just left his wife and kids. Like granted, they had already left him, but you know, it w it was maybe a fight or a divorce, but you still have kids, dude, and you just fucking took off. So that's a problem for me. I'll talk more about that at the end. But like goodness gracious. disclosure day is definitely second. And for me it's the there's no connection. he had a Spielberg had a perfect opportunity.

To Spiderway Spider-Man No Way Home this shit. He could have easily tied in the other two movies as Easter eggs, subtlety. Hell, he could have tied in all four of the other movies if he really wanted to. Because there could have been a War of the Worlds poster on the wall in one of the rooms when people were running through, right? It would have been a weird I mean, he could have he had that's not a great tie-in, but my point is he could have had a tie-in. That's a weirdest one. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Jeff Shaw (38:05)
Well I mean except that

Steve (38:15)
Part of the alien physiology that you end up seeing could have come like could have been a crystalline piece like it could have been a crystal skull that they find in the wreckage with one of the dead aliens, because they do show you wreckage of the dead aliens and the ship, but supposedly from Roswell. And then they could have mentioned the incident at Devil's Tower. Like all they all someone would have had it been is like, the incident at Devil's Tower could like

Jeff Shaw (38:37)
Yes, I agree.

Steve (38:40)
That would have been an amazing one offline that if you'd never seen it, you wouldn't have known. But if you did, if you were a fan, it would have connected the movies and it would have connected the mythos. It would have made it one long story. And in E.T., they could have made a comment about some I mean, I don't even know what line they could have used. I don't I'm just writing off the top of my head. But they could have said another comment kind of like, the div the well, what about the one with the

Jeff Shaw (39:06)
Well

all all they had to do is put it in the the footage that he kept showing from revealed footage. It could have been revealed footage in Devil's Tower, revealed footage from when E. T.'s um ship i you know, it could have looked like E. T.'s ship. Just some Easter eggs. W could it could have done it. Could have done it. I agree with you.

Steve (39:11)
Yes.

Ship goes away.

Yeah. And it makes me sad.

Yeah, it makes me sad. And that's why I d I'm disappointed. As much as it was a good movie as a standalone, I'm disappointed on kind of the meta geek level because there were so many more things he could have done that no one who was uninitiated would have even noticed. It would have been set dressing for everybody else, but the rest of us would have been like, I see you. I'm clocking you. My kids are gonna hate that I did that.

Yeah. But the thing is about these three movies too, and why I think it is just the three. first of all, War of the Worlds was a remake. Okay. It wasn't really his material. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was them trying to squeeze more money out of the Indiana Jones franchise. And obviously and honestly to me the worst of the four. although two is pretty bad. I'm really a fan of one and three on those two. But these three all had that approach of

Jeff Shaw (40:01)
So

Hmm.

Steve (40:20)
connection in different ways, right? communication in close encounters, friendship in E. T. And information and in letting that out into the world in in disclosure day. They they and empathy. and so it really it does sort of tie up and maybe it doesn't tie it up 'cause maybe he's not done. We say it's a trilogy 'cause he's only made three, but who knows? He might have another one in the chamber for two years from now. Who knows?

Jeff Shaw (40:32)
In empathy? Empathy?

He's he hasn't been War of the World okay, I won't let this one go. War of the World is an alien movie. And it was directed by Spielberg.

Steve (40:55)
It is an alien movie, but

Yeah, but so the second Indiana Jones movie was an Indiana Jones movie, but it still sucked and I don't count it. There were only three. No, I'm kidding.

Jeff Shaw (40:58)
Yeah.

Steve (41:08)
It doesn't it doesn't fit. I mean you could say AI artificial intelligence is one of his movies and it's about computers, so it's but like, not that it's alien, but there's so many let's look it. Was there any others he did?

Jeff Shaw (41:24)
So I mean

he's made adaptations, 'cause a minority report is adapting a Philip K Dick short story. Ready Player One was a novel. The BFG was a roll doll story. Adventures of Tin Tin, graphic novels. So I mean he's

Steve (41:47)
Yeah, I'm not saying

that he couldn't do I'm not saying he shouldn't have remade War of the Worlds. I'm saying it doesn't fit in this this section because it's not an original. These three are Stephen King Stephen King. Steven Spielberg originals. These were his stories to tell. Kingdom of the Christ

Jeff Shaw (42:06)
Yeah, but those are the the so

th his anything he did as an adaptation doesn't count as a Spielberg movie?

Steve (42:12)
No,

no. We're just talking about the alien trilogy. This idea that these movies are connected through his desire to tell three different stories from three different perspectives. He picked these three.

Jeff Shaw (42:29)
Which would be a valid argument if he actually connected them. But he didn't bother doing that. So if in this movie they had a reference to Close Encounters, Aliens, and E.T., you would 100% be correct. But because he did not bother doing

Steve (42:34)
It would have been. That's why I was disappointed.

Me Spielberg.

Jeff Shaw (42:52)
that, War of the Worlds is just as much of an alien movie in this.

Steve (42:58)
I don't know. I disagree. What do you guys think? Is Jeff right? D did we count? I'm not giving up on that either, but I don't want to take all that. Do we count War of the Worlds and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull because they merely talk about aliens or have aliens in them? Or do we stick with the three pure Steven Spielberg creations? you guys write in tell us what you think. Because we obviously are not gonna agree. And that's alright. But

Jeff Shaw (43:00)
rest my case.

Steve (43:27)
Typically we drop into a basement treasure, but I don't think I have anything this this time around. Do you have anything for treasures? I think you said no.

Jeff Shaw (43:37)
No, I will admit though, I was

in a secondhand shop and they had a wind up ET that I used to have. I almost bought it just for this segment. I'm like, you know what? Not good Yes, yes. Did you have that too? Like, my god, I need this remason treasure, but no, feels like cheating. Feels like cheating.

Steve (43:49)
God, you should have bought it. Is it one of those where you you wind it and it does the feet do this? Little I have that too, yeah.

It was literally like two inches tall.

No, base so here's the deal. Originally we thought basement treasure should be stuff we had. but like you brought your R2, which is a new which is a new treasure. I brought my 3D printed Star Wars sign down because so that's just a treasure of the basement, not from that you had to dig out.

Jeff Shaw (44:09)
That's true.

Yeah, I got OG D too, right?

Yeah, it's true. It's true.

I could have done that.

Steve (44:27)
But what we do want to dig out is the the evolution here.

So, for the evolution of how Spielberg's aliens have changed, I will allow the introduction of the Indiana Jones.

Jeff Shaw (44:51)
You will?

Steve (44:52)
But not the War of the Worlds, because that's not his aliens. War of the Worlds, it was an Orson Wells radio play. It's been done so many times. And it was a great movie. And Tom Ha I must said Tom Hanks. I love Tom Cruise in it, but it wasn't his creation. No? You guys gotta back me up. Right, Jeff or no.

Jeff Shaw (44:57)
my god.

Steve (45:17)
Reguland Geek Podcast at gmail.com and say Jeff, you have to agree with Steve. so in seven years to go with 77. 77. it starts off with the we do get a glimpse of aliens in close encounters at the very end. I did notice a weird detail I hadn't noticed, or maybe I hadn't remembered when I first saw it. So all of this movie is

Jeff Shaw (45:23)
Okay. Let's go let's go with your let's go with seventy seven though. Okay. We're we're okay.

Steve (45:48)
very light and airy, these ships that fly around, they're bright, they're friendly, they guide people, they don't seem to be causing any d destruction. and then they give out that sound do do do right? And the guy does the guy does the hand gestures and and so

Jeff Shaw (46:07)
Beautiful. Dull set tones. Yeah.

Steve (46:13)
At the very end of the movie they have this tone off where they send it's like, we're kind of communicating even though we don't really know what we're doing. And then the ship lands and the ship opens and outcome these little well, first outcome all the returned, people who had been taken over the years, so they bring everybody back and then they the next round where they open a second time, the little alien guys come out. And they look very much like the Greys. That's yeah, the reason why I was so pissed off that they didn't connect it.

They look like what you would expect a gray alien to look like based on all of the merch and imagery from Roswell and everything. But in the movie, they had a white eye with the with a like a human iris. It wasn't just a gray blob for the eye. which I thought was an interesting detail. so they kinda had a human-esque eye. You don't get a lot of good close-ups in that movie.

Jeff Shaw (47:13)
No, they were very the light was p coming from behind them, so you didn't have to s they they got away with not having a lot of detail on the on the aliens. So 'cause they're a backlit.

Steve (47:22)
Yeah. And obviously just

kids in costumes, the way they were walking.

Jeff Shaw (47:26)
You know, they're like, hey. They're acting very childlike. And I did think I always liked there was another movie around the same time where it was like the be it's like that aircraft carrier that gets sucked in through the time warp and like like in the and and I think about like at that time I loved that aspect of this. Like,

Steve (47:28)
It was very flu.

god, I love that movie.

Jeff Shaw (47:55)
All those disappeared planes, all those disappeared ships, all those disappeared people, it's the aliens or some cosmic event has taken them. And then, you know, so close encounters doing that that like resonated like with my conspiracy theorist mindset. Something like that, yeah. And

Steve (48:12)
Was it the final countdown you're thinking of?

no, maybe Kirk Douglas, Martin Sheen. I don't know if that's the right one.

Jeff Shaw (48:22)
And so

the but yeah, I I loved that that reveal of in they return everyone. So it's kind of this goodwill gesture. But why did they take them? Not sure. And then those people that are going off and and joining in in like volunteering to be to get on this the spaceship. I thought that was interesting. They have this kind of

They're all dressed the same. They have this religious moment in advance. It c like it's like a cult, like a UFO cult. Awesome.

Steve (48:58)
Yeah, I it's funny, I hadn't I guess I hadn't thought about it that way, but it was. I did think the religious aspect, but again, it was 77, so most of the country is identifying as Catholic, or at least that's what they want to think. So they were playing to the Yes. Like I do they do make a point, is it in Disclosure Day now where they say, you know, God and alien doesn't have to be mutually exclusive.

Jeff Shaw (49:12)
God's gonna protect them.

Yeah, it was everything on earth that was where and so yeah, thought that was interesting. Yeah. That was disclosure day. 'Cause that the ex nun is in that and she's questioning her faith and like should this be disclosed because then it might rupture people's faith in God and yeah.

Steve (49:31)
Yes.

which one was that? Was that disclosure day now? Yeah. because that's right.

yeah, and it could

cause the mass panic. Yeah, and that's a good point. I I I hadn't noticed there were religious overtones in both. I don't remember any from E. T. But at the end of Close Encounters. So we so that's so he starts with that and then he drops into E. T. nineteen eighty two. And it's a it's a kid's buddy movie. You know, this alien creature who's the funny part, he's small and in in kinda ugly, cute,

But he could be like a hundred and fifty. Do you know what I mean? But he has a very childlike we don't know how old E. T. is, but he he pals around with Henry Thomas, as Elliot, and they create this connection. I don't know if you're gonna bring up the Reese Species thing, so I won't spoil it, but it was a cool it's that's a cool tie in too. But it's it's a ho it's again, it's a connection to

the alien, but now we never see the ship 'cause the ship crashes at the beginning of the movie and it's really just a human to alien connection and the bond that they create actually affects his health at the end.

Jeff Shaw (51:05)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's I thoug thought E. T. was amazing and it's funny 'cause Spielberg has this reputation of getting a lot out of his child actors and working well with child actors. And and because of that reputation, I thought he did more films. I know he has child actors in his films and yeah, so even like Jaws with the kids and and in Clots and Counters has the kids. So

Steve (51:32)
Mm-hmm.

Jeff Shaw (51:36)
but it it's funny 'cause I I kind of thought he must have had more with with where the most of our protagonists are kids, but that's not the case. He actually there's kids in his movies, but they're not not that many where the kids are the primary actors.

Steve (51:54)
Not in these three, but in Hook it was mostly kids.

Jeff Shaw (51:57)
Yeah. Yep.

Steve (51:57)
'Cause he had all the lost boy I

mean they those were literally all actor kid actors. different, a whole different Well yeah. They are they are new. and then we jump into disclosure day, twenty twenty six. Still a connection, but now it's the effect Huh the world doesn't count.

Jeff Shaw (52:02)
Yeah, and all the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park are kids. Just kidding. Well, they're young. They're just they're newly created.

And world.

World of

Worlds two thousand five.

Steve (52:26)
Right, we decided that doesn't count. But so in two thousand five we rehash old material and blow shit up and everybody dies. Doesn't really help. It doesn't count. So maybe it does. but in the in this latest movie, Disclosure Day, we have another view of the connections to aliens, but now it's the aliens are being mistreated and we're the bad guy.

Because I I did think that was a w again, spoiler, an interesting s flip because typically the joke is you got probed by aliens, right? Like it's sort of that redneck idea that all aliens want to do is cut us up or probe us, and it turns out we're the ones doing the experiments and the probing and the and the horrible shit. And that's part of the disclosure. And the reason that David snaps is he sees some footage of how the s

Jeff Shaw (53:24)
Daniel?

Steve (53:25)
So I say David. Daniel's he snaps because he's seen the footage of how they're being treated, the ones that have survived, or had survived. And and that's that's a whole other view of we're we're not wondering do they really exist. We're wondering what's gonna happen if they do. And how are we gonna do?

Jeff Shaw (53:43)
Yeah,

and tonally I'm going to agree that the tone of these three for the tone 'cause the to the tone is like that these aliens yeah, like they they took they took pilots, they took ships, but actually the pile the

Steve (53:52)
Where the worlds doesn't count, that's what you're agreeing to?

Jeff Shaw (54:06)
The airplanes are found intact, just not where you think they should be. And that like the ship in the middle of the desert. But hey, they didn't destroy it. And then all the people are returned intact. In fact, unaged. Like they they've been frozen in time. And so unharmed, unaged, as far as you know, we can tell at the end of that movie. And then and they're trying to communicate. And then E. T. the the humans are more jerky than

It's funny because the in the original film all the government agents are carrying guns. And then he re-released it and replaced through CGI all the guns with walkie-talkies. Cause they thought the guns were like influencing gun culture. So if you watch E.T. today on streaming, not on your old DVD or VHS, you're seeing they're all running with walkie-talkies. Now they got guns.

Steve (54:36)
Mm-hmm.

Jeff Shaw (55:04)
These are not nice guys. And um they're doing the and so yeah, the humans are the kind of the bad guys. And um E.T.'s super power is like healing and kindness and understanding. And then we see that again in um disclosure day with uh Emily Blunt's character, um Margaret, she is more of

Steve (55:07)
Didn't know that.

Mm-hmm. In empathy.

Jeff Shaw (55:33)
her power is more powerful. So Daniel's alien gifted superpower is mathematics and logic. And that's important, but not nearly as much as Margaret. He would he was, you know, tied up in a chair, he was done. Margaret just walks in and just empathy, empathy, empathy and and makes an escape.

And you know, I know that's doesn't show up as well as guns ablazing in action. Like, really? Just understanding and kindness? Like yeah.

Steve (56:14)
Well, it went

a little bit beyond just understanding and empathy because she had the you know, she got them to see what she wanted them to see. She could change who she looked like to them. She could change the if they could see them. So there was a little bit more but

Jeff Shaw (56:26)
Yeah, but the thing is for

some people so s like Elon Musk said empathy is a trap. That if you feel if you feel for somebody, then you are you're you're giving up on what should be your primary emotion, which is selfishness and just what what's best for you.

Steve (56:46)
We are

we're talking about Elon Musk. He shouldn't be anybody's benchmark for

Jeff Shaw (56:49)
So

Steve (56:51)
anything if it's not making money.

Jeff Shaw (56:52)
right, but un

but unfortunately in the manosphere and a leather, yeah, there is there is a lot of energy around this thought that empathy is a weakness, it's a trap, when in fact it's a superpower. And I know this film says that out loud, and I love that, because it should like but for some people, unfortunately.

Unless they personally know someone being affected, they do not care. And so when she walked in and they saw her as their gunmother, saw her as their uncle, saw them as their daughter, they finally made a connection and that's what it took. You know, unfortunately, that's sometimes is what it takes. You have to you don't care about, you know, needing stem cell research until you know someone who personally would benefit from it. Unless you have that empathy superpower.

Steve (57:44)
my goodness.

Jeff Shaw (57:47)
where you don't have to know the person personally to be affected emotionally by them.

Steve (57:55)
I mean that the there's a real world god, it happened last year. There was a a female Republican, I don't know if she was a senator or a congresswoman, voted against abortion and then had a medical need while she was pregnant and couldn't get the abortion to save her life and she was losing her shit online. Like lady this that would have been a perfect person for this because she had zero empathy until it affected her personally. Like

Jeff Shaw (58:19)
Right. And

that's that's why it's a superpower for humans. Cause it hu humans another ascension life. Because other creatures, a lot of creatures aren't capable of doing that. Or

you know, so I think I think it's what one of the best aspects of of us as humans and so that's one of the things I love loved about Gl disclosure day, I'll have to use a different critical hit then for it. And I got one. So

Steve (58:46)
All

right, we're gonna do a quick we'll do a quick rant and we'll drop into our hits.

I'm gonna go first on this one 'cause I've said it a little bit already, but here's my rant. If you're gonna spend this much time and talk this much about making three goddamn alien movies, fucking connect them. Okay? Put together. It's like you you it's like you it's almost like he intentionally stepped over every opportunity to put these movies on one timeline. Like I know everybody and look at the MCU, let's connect everything. We have a thirty five movie. Like, dude, you you have talked a lot about this and this was and

I really love every movie for the things that we just talked about, but my god, how much awesomer would it have been awesomer would it have been if more awesome if we could have said, my god, he fucking did it. He put it all together. So that's my rant. Don't tease me with three movies that should go together and then don't fucking put them together.

That's it.

Jeff Shaw (59:49)
I'm gonna let that one sit right there, because I entirely agree with that. It was a a missed opportunity to tie them together. It's funny, I hadn't even it's not until you said it tonight that I thought of it that way. So but I agree that that would have been really cool had he done that.

Steve (1:00:10)
I mean, admittedly, it didn't even occur to me much until I went back and watched Close Encounters and I'm like, Wait, like this could have been one I think I texted you in the middle of the movie and I was like, Hey, that is this no, no, no connection? Fuck.

all right, listen. still go see it. It's a good movie, but Jesus, missed opportunity.

Jeff Shaw (1:00:37)
Alright, I'm gonna share my critical hit first, and that's product placement, Reese's Pieces in E.T. So initially Spielberg wanted MMs, they wanted nothing to do with a Wrinkly Alien, and so he pivoted to Reese's pieces. And because of that, the the the candy sales, and it was actually a big part of the plot, not just like something in the background.

The sales of of Reese's pieces went up eighty percent, up to eighty percent, and there w they couldn't keep up with production. So ever since then, and I guess some people might consider this an epic fail, but for me, I thought it was a a critical hit because it showed these brands that there was power here. And just because, you know, you know you might be a f afraid of you know that relationship, like

like embrace it. And in also because of that level of product placement that occurred after that in our movies, we got some great scenes in Wayne's World. so if you haven't seen Wayne's World, there's a a lot of product placement in one segment that they used as filler, but it was also one of the funniest segments in the movie. So go ahead.

Steve (1:01:49)
Ha ha ha.

yeah, I agree with that. I did do I did a quick look while you were talking. They didn't cut they came out in seventy-eight. Reach's Pieces did. So when when this came out in eighty two, they'd only been a few out for a few years and they didn't really take off until after E. T. So a hundred percent agree. I will say the there was another movie called it's Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights, and it's animated Hanukkah movie in Adam Sandler's tone.

Jeff Shaw (1:02:16)
Yeah.

Steve (1:02:28)
I was not a fan of the whole movie, to be honest with you, because it's just too over the top for me. But there is a whole song in the middle where they're dancing through a mall singing about the song the the t the song is every store in the mall. And it's like if this wasn't a product placement grab, nothing was. It was literally just advertisement, advertisement, advertisement set to a song. So let's not let's not discount some some good product placement.

my fail is it didn't connect I do this to myself all the time. I bitch too early. that's my fail. He had an opportunity to connect these movies and he didn't do it. every one of those is a great movie and even the ones we're d we know, we're goofing around about. I loved King I'm well, Kingdom of the Christmas Crystal Scale was not the best indie, but it was still a good movie and I loved War of the Worlds. But he had an opportunity to connect these three movies and he missed it and I I just

It makes me sad.

Jeff Shaw (1:03:27)
Yeah, in my epic fail, and once again doesn't take away from me recommending the movie and feeling good about it. I just had I went into it with a with this expectation that disclosure day would include after disclosure. So I would have liked and I get we're like, we'll just fill in the gap as a as an audience member, we donate everything spoon fed to us. And I'm not asking for that. But the thing is, like, we're at a different time.

we're far more accepting of UFOs today. The government has already admitted there are UFOs. I think they have a different title for it, but it's the same, it's like UFOs are as a culture, we're far more open to it. Maybe because of the success of the X Files, I don't know. But like as a culture, like so for the movie to have this huge impact, like, my God, it's disclosure of just

Steve (1:04:15)
Mm-hmm.

Jeff Shaw (1:04:24)
Just hearing about it and everyone's like on their phones and glued to it. And I'm not saying that it wouldn't create a sensation, but then let's see the aftermath. and it could have just been done in news footage vignettes during the credits. Like just give us a little bit more. would have been good.

Steve (1:04:40)
Mm-hmm.

Well, I do disagree with you on one point though,

because they

They did disclose and it didn't make a sensation. The government came out and said Well, but no, no, no. In for in real life, the government came out and said, yeah, that we we have Aliencraft. They were in real life there was a disclosure and everybody went, Like it was really like such a non event. I I think I think this movie is very good, but i it's not reflective of of the attitudes of

Jeff Shaw (1:04:53)
Yeah, 'cause we never got to find out.

you mean in real life? Yes.

Steve (1:05:15)
the human race at this point in time because our government came out and said we in fact have alien ships that we've recovered from the ocean, that there are aliens living in the ocean. That's what they said. And everybody went, meh like, all right. Really? That that's that's that it was it was really such

Jeff Shaw (1:05:34)
Okay.

Well, okay, but even that during the credits

like, All right, this happened, let's continue with World War Three now. Thanks for the slight pause in World War Three.

Steve (1:05:46)
Yes. I don't

know.

Jeff Shaw (1:05:50)
Would've been nice though if like an empathy won. Hey. Hooray for empathy.

Steve (1:05:52)
I definitely w

Well, I mean it doesn't have to be reflective of real life. So I agree with you. I would have loved to have seen that kind of and we talked about it earlier too. I wanted more. I'm like, wait, it just ends with that. She says listen and then they're done. Like what? That's not okay. Well listen. I'm kidding. So I want you guys to go out and see this movie.

It's a good movie. As much as we're trashing on parts of it, it's it's very entertaining. It d I think it did the job it set out to do, except connecting the three movies. And it's awesome. So and go back and watch Close Encounters and E. T. 'cause they're just good fun. Although when you watch Close Encounters, there are parts of you're gonna go, Ooh, really? They said that? So it's just 'cause it's from seventy seven. but yeah. What do you think?

Jeff Shaw (1:06:54)
Yeah, I agree. go watch War of the Worlds as well and enjoy all of the aliens of Spielberg. All right, see ya ogs.

01:12 Basement Brief
07:53 Random Review
22:07 Geek Flashback
29:57 Geek Court
44:31 Geek Evolution
58:50 Geek Rant
01:00:31 Critical Hits & Epic Fails