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Episode 1

Big Trouble in Little China | S1E1

In the debut episode of Retromade, we travel back to 1986 for the incredible cult-classic Kurt Russell film, Big Trouble in Little China. This movie is so unique, they didn't know how to market it!

I'm joined by a very special guest, Ryan Rebalkin - whom I join every other Sunday on One More Round, the Rocky Series Podcast:

Meet our multi-faceted friend who wears many hats! He's a proud father of 6 wonderful kids and also serves in the Navy. But wait, there's more! He's also a podcast host and a YouTube reactor, sharing his thoughts and opinions with the world. When he's not busy entertaining his audience, you can find him running with his with his dog, and cuddling with his cats.

In addition to Rocky, Ryan has a Rambo series podcast called It's a Long Road as well as another show called The Worst of the Best.

Please get in touch to tell me what you think - RetromadePodcast@gmail.com

Follow or Listen: https://retromade.captivate.fm

Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@RetromadePodcast

Join the fun: https://www.facebook.com/retromadepodcast

Want to offer a tip in support of the show: https://retromade.captivate.fm/support

Transcript
Speaker:

Ah, you know what old Jack Burton always says at a time like this?

Speaker:

On the reflexes.

Katie:

Hello.

Katie:

Hello, I'm Katie and welcome to the Premier of Retro Made

Katie:

Your Pop Culture Rewind.

Katie:

Ready to take a trip down memory lane in case you missed the season one trailer.

Katie:

I hope you'll be excited to hear that.

Katie:

Season one is dedicated to the ultimate every man, Kurt

Katie:

Russell and Patrick Swayze.

Katie:

We're gonna travel back to July of 1986 to discuss a Kurt Russell Cult Classic and

Katie:

all of the other goings on of the time.

Katie:

Now I have a super special guest to introduce the man who got me

Katie:

hooked on podcasts and took a chance on me as a co-host of One More

Katie:

Round, the Rocky Series podcast.

Katie:

He also started an entire network of action podcasts from back in

Katie:

the day called The Last of the Action Heroes Podcast Network.

Katie:

The one, the only, Ryan Alcan.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Oh my goodness.

Ryan Rebalkin:

wow.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I, I, I almost felt like I was somebody just for a second there, Katie, thank

Ryan Rebalkin:

you so much for, for having me on.

Katie:

Well, thank you so much for joining me on my very first episode

Katie:

of Retro Made and you have what, 20 different shows now, or what?

Katie:

Tell me about it.

Ryan Rebalkin:

No I don't.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I I have a lot, but let me just say I, I have a lot, but I don't have a lot.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Let me just talk about you first and let's talk about

Ryan Rebalkin:

you're the host of the show.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I just wanna say I feel like a proud father because for your listeners,

Ryan Rebalkin:

I mean, I'll be very brief cause it's, it's gonna involve me.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I don't wanna make this about me, but yes, I did a Rocky po I do a Ro

Ryan Rebalkin:

Rocky podcast, but the first one I did was called Go In the Distance, which

Ryan Rebalkin:

you were a listener, listener of.

Ryan Rebalkin:

emailed me and I really liked your thoughts and forget what it was that

Ryan Rebalkin:

triggered me, but I was looking for Well, another co-host for one More

Ryan Rebalkin:

Round, the Rocky Series podcast.

Ryan Rebalkin:

When I was gonna look into the Rocky Films for the second time, kind of go

Ryan Rebalkin:

through it one more time, all six films.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I already had Kyle, our co-host with me, but I was like, you know,

Ryan Rebalkin:

I, I had my brother then Kyle, finish up going the distance.

Ryan Rebalkin:

But I kind of want to do something fresh.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I want to fi, I know this sounds totally, I don't know how to say it other than

Ryan Rebalkin:

just I wanted a female perspective.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I wanted a female voice.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I thought I would just add more flavor to.

Ryan Rebalkin:

The show and to myself too.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I I didn't wanna hear other guys just keep talking.

Ryan Rebalkin:

You know, a, like, I, yeah, I wanted a different flavor.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I don't know how to describe it.

Katie:

Mm-hmm.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And you co-hosted as a guest host.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I, I literally put you on the spot.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I'm, I'm, I said, come, come do a episode with me.

Ryan Rebalkin:

If you hate it, don't worry about it.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Nobody will know what was a trial and we trialed it and you had a blast.

Ryan Rebalkin:

You were, you were great.

Ryan Rebalkin:

You're fantastic.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I mean, for, for a woman, you're not bad.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So it was Sorry.

Ryan Rebalkin:

But you, you're, you're, you're absolutely amazing.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And then when he told me months and years later, whatever it is that you're gonna

Ryan Rebalkin:

do, this retro podcast, I was so proud.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I was so happy.

Katie:

Aw,

Ryan Rebalkin:

wow, she's branching out, she's tackling this on her

Ryan Rebalkin:

own because she's got the bug.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Like you said, it's a fun hobby and I wanna say congratulations to you at all.

Ryan Rebalkin:

The best.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I want your show to kill it.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And yeah, I'm just very excited.

Katie:

thank you so much.

Katie:

Well, aw, I almost don't know which what to say, but thank you.

Katie:

Alright, well, so as I mentioned, we're gonna travel back in time

Katie:

to July of 1986 for today's movie.

Katie:

So let's set that stage by opening the time capsule from that time.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So what is that?

Ryan Rebalkin:

The time?

Ryan Rebalkin:

Explain to me what the time capsule is.

Katie:

Well, we'll get into it just

Katie:

momentarily.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I'm excited.

Ryan Rebalkin:

so we don't, this is like everyone's hearing this kind

Ryan Rebalkin:

of thing for the first time.

Ryan Rebalkin:

You know, I'm really

Katie:

we're Guinea it.

Katie:

Um,

Katie:

Taking the breaks.

Katie:

Some more, your worries.

Katie:

Okay.

Katie:

So I had to share that specifically because as you mentioned, all of the feels

Katie:

Cheers was one of the popular TV shows at the time, according to Nielsen ratings.

Katie:

It, along with, some others that I'll get into, but

Katie:

specifically cheers and the feels.

Katie:

I always got a homesick feeling with that theme song.

Katie:

Was it just me?

Katie:

Like that's the best way I could describe it,

Ryan Rebalkin:

weren't even born in 86.

Ryan Rebalkin:

How could you even know?

Ryan Rebalkin:

So I was 11 years old

Ryan Rebalkin:

86, and I, I definitely watched Cheers, but I was young when Cheers came out.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Like a young, well, like.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Adolescent teenager who had a long run.

Ryan Rebalkin:

But I enjoyed it for, you know, Woody and all the character's Norm and Cliff.

Ryan Rebalkin:

it more as an adult, but I just wanna say like, I just missed those sitcom days.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And I know you're a big sitcom lover to as well, right?

Katie:

Mm-hmm.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Katie:

Yeah.

Katie:

. So I'm the youngest.

Katie:

I don't know where you are in family order, so as the youngest, I think

Katie:

I was just like the least sheltered.

Katie:

So I saw things earlier, I relate more to things that are a little bit older, than

Katie:

me, and Cheers was on for several seasons, and seeing it in reruns and stuff,

Ryan Rebalkin:

It's

Ryan Rebalkin:

Plus now I think for me, or I dunno, what network's on

Katie:

Oh yeah.

Katie:

Mm-hmm.

Ryan Rebalkin:

yeah, it's

Ryan Rebalkin:

I love Frazier.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I'm a huge Fraser nut.

Ryan Rebalkin:

This, I, I've seen that all the way through three or four times.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I, that is my comfort.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I love Frazier.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I love it, love it, love it.

Katie:

So I don't love it, but I can see why people, it's fine.

Katie:

Like I don't dislike, it's just, it's not one of my, all time ultimate

Katie:

favorites, but it was one of many, or one of a few spinoffs from Cheers.

Katie:

So that's essentially what the time capsule is to get to your

Katie:

point is we're gonna kind of take a peek at some other pop culture

Katie:

things, whether it's tv, cartoons, snacks, music, all those

Katie:

Yeah,

Ryan Rebalkin:

time.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Right.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Okay.

Katie:

I think I was five.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Okay.

Katie:

Depending on when, when it aired.

Katie:

But like I said, I was watching whatever my parents were watching,

Katie:

whatever my grandparents were watching, my sisters were watching,

Ryan Rebalkin:

I was 34.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Sorry.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yes.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I,

Katie:

in the birth order.

Ryan Rebalkin:

was, so only one younger brother, but my parents

Ryan Rebalkin:

were pretty good about, they didn't.

Ryan Rebalkin:

You know, it was eight were eighties babies too.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So I think it's just they weren't really monitored the way and we didn't

Ryan Rebalkin:

watch anything highly inappropriate.

Ryan Rebalkin:

But I mean, watched a lot of, Terminator and Rambo and, Robocop

Ryan Rebalkin:

when I was 11, 12 years old.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So, I mean, whatever, you know, I survived.

Katie:

Yeah, same.

Katie:

I, so same.

Katie:

But also it was like, it was just different then, like the world didn't

Katie:

revolve around children, I guess.

Katie:

Like it sort of does now.

Katie:

I don't know, , your kids watched what you wanted to watch and not vice versa,

Katie:

it seems

Ryan Rebalkin:

That's, that's right.

Katie:

Also, so according to Nielsen ratings in July of 1986, in addition

Katie:

to Cheers, we have the Cosby Show.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yep.

Katie:

Family Ties.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yo, I

Katie:

Murder, sh yeah, right.

Katie:

Murder She wrote, do you remember Murder She Wrote?

Katie:

My mom liked it.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Murders.

Ryan Rebalkin:

She killed me with boredom.

Katie:

Oh, oh, oh.

Katie:

Angela just recently passed, I think.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Rip to her.

Ryan Rebalkin:

But yeah, all I remember with murder, she wrote, she narrated

Ryan Rebalkin:

it at the typewriter and

Katie:

mm-hmm.

Ryan Rebalkin:

crimes.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It's like, come on,

Katie:

It was a thing back in the, in the eighties?

Ryan Rebalkin:

I mean, I was 12 years old.

Ryan Rebalkin:

What do you think?

Ryan Rebalkin:

I would've watched this

Katie:

Yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

at a typewriter like holy smokers.

Katie:

Okay.

Katie:

Well, was that, I think, was that during that time?

Katie:

Okay.

Katie:

So the Golden Girls also it like , for , basically every movie that I

Katie:

do in the eighties is that's gonna be in the top Nielsen ratings.

Katie:

Cuz it was an amazing show.

Katie:

Yeah.

Katie:

It's

Ryan Rebalkin:

watched it Then.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Absolutely.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Katie:

so good.

Katie:

And then Dynasty, which I didn't, I'm unfamiliar with Dynasty.

Katie:

I'm aware of it.

Katie:

So those were like the top 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 shows.

Katie:

And then there was some interesting shows that premiered in 86.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Okay.

Katie:

Alf, did you watch Alf?

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yes.

Ryan Rebalkin:

What's stupid?

Ryan Rebalkin:

He always wanted to eat the cat.

Ryan Rebalkin:

That's all I remember from that.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It was alien.

Ryan Rebalkin:

He always wanted to eat the cat.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Apparently.

Ryan Rebalkin:

He had a, but he never did eat the cat, but he always like, wanted to eat the cat.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I think the house cat.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And then

Ryan Rebalkin:

alien from everyone else.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I dunno, it was yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Anyways, yes, it just

Ryan Rebalkin:

puppet show.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Katie:

it is, it was ridiculous, but it's on some channel and syndication now.

Katie:

I recently watched an episode.

Katie:

It's actually not terrible, but

Katie:

the promise is crazy.

Katie:

Anyway, designing women,

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Katie:

La Law,

Katie:

which I don't really re head of the class.

Katie:

Do you remember that one?

Ryan Rebalkin:

I, I,

Katie:

It was like the teacher of, I think it was high school

Ryan Rebalkin:

was the actor that was in W K R P?

Ryan Rebalkin:

Is that the same guy?

Katie:

Uhhuh?

Katie:

I think so.

Katie:

Yeah,

Ryan Rebalkin:

just

Ryan Rebalkin:

I watched W K R P, which is weird, but I didn't watch him

Katie:

Cuz that was even earlier.

Katie:

Yeah,

Ryan Rebalkin:

I watched W K R P, Les Nessman in the news.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I love that.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

sorry.

Katie:

I vaguely remember that.

Katie:

Perfect Strangers was another one that premiered this

Ryan Rebalkin:

his name?

Ryan Rebalkin:

Laka.

Ryan Rebalkin:

That was taxi what was this

Katie:

Balky Balky,

Ryan Rebalkin:

you.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah

Katie:

Bronson pin show.

Katie:

I, I thought that was cute.

Katie:

Amen.

Katie:

With the guy from the Jeffersons

Ryan Rebalkin:

Of course.

Katie:

Our house, which the name might not sound familiar, but , I almost had

Katie:

forgotten about it, except , it's with Wilford Brimley and Shannon Doherty.

Katie:

Do you, does this anyone, does this seem familiar to anyone?

Ryan Rebalkin:

Wil Brimley.

Ryan Rebalkin:

He's the guy with diabetes.

Ryan Rebalkin:

That's him, right?

Katie:

Yep.

Katie:

Yep.

Katie:

That's him.

Katie:

Yep.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I think he died of diabetes, I think.

Katie:

maybe, I remember watching that show at my grandparents.

Katie:

Vaguely.

Katie:

And then one of the most famous shows ever, the Oprah

Katie:

Winfrey show premiered in 1986.

Katie:

I think it's been on ever since, or I don't know, maybe it's not still on.

Katie:

I don't know.

Ryan Rebalkin:

not on anymore.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Even I know this.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Come

Ryan Rebalkin:

on No, it it, it's been off the air for almost probably 10 to 15 years at least.

Ryan Rebalkin:

The old network, And she had that for a

Katie:

And the magazine and stuff.

Ryan Rebalkin:

still thing.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And then she had the old magazine.

Ryan Rebalkin:

What I love about the old magazine is she's on the front of every cover.

Katie:

Yep.

Katie:

Yep.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Okay.

Katie:

Yeah.

Katie:

Okay.

Katie:

So picture it 1986 Canada was there anything else that you recall watching?

Katie:

What was like prime time in the

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah, a team.

Ryan Rebalkin:

We watched

Ryan Rebalkin:

That was like my treat to be able to stay up until eight o'clock or start

Ryan Rebalkin:

at eight o'clock NBC Thursday nights.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And, cause we were pretty, like, my parents were pretty

Ryan Rebalkin:

strict about some things.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I e bedtimes school nights,

Katie:

Yep.

Katie:

I remember that too.

Ryan Rebalkin:

were like, grew, ugh.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I, my kids have no idea.

Ryan Rebalkin:

They don't even understand whatever.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah, , so it's ridiculous.

Ryan Rebalkin:

The, chickens run the, he now, was it the chickens run the, what's the term?

Ryan Rebalkin:

, there's a

Katie:

I know what you're saying, but I, I am not sure.

Ryan Rebalkin:

The bosses don't run the houses anymore, so the kids

Katie:

Yep.

Ryan Rebalkin:

What sticks out to me, I remember 18 for sure.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I stopped watching cartoons around 11, 12 years old.

Ryan Rebalkin:

But I was huge into wrestling.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So during this time I was watching wwf, Hulk Hogan,

Ryan Rebalkin:

macho man, all that stuff.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Andre the Giant, you know, the WrestleMania, Saturday nights main events.

Ryan Rebalkin:

All my wrestler listeners.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Definitely.

Ryan Rebalkin:

If you have anyone who loves the eighties and nineties listening

Ryan Rebalkin:

to your podcast, they're gonna be wrestling fans if they're a guy.

Ryan Rebalkin:

No,

Ryan Rebalkin:

fans, but guys, were into this.

Katie:

because that good segue for me, Ryan, because actually we'll

Katie:

circumvent the cartoons for a second.

Katie:

We'll come back to that because it was a freaking killer lineup in 1986.

Katie:

But the midday programming was American Bandstand

Ryan Rebalkin:

Oh right.

Katie:

Which I don't actually recall ever watching my reference to it was

Katie:

from the movie Can't By Me Love Where they do the African Anter dance.

Katie:

Do you remember that movie?

Katie:

And the kid watches.

Katie:

He goes to a dance.

Ryan Rebalkin:

you gotta remember I was 11, 12

Ryan Rebalkin:

so , I'm watching action not romantic eighties comedies, you know what I mean?

Ryan Rebalkin:

Like I'm watching anything that has adrenaline, adrenaline type

Katie:

I would be surprised if you haven't seen it, it's,

Katie:

it's kind of one of the go-tos.

Katie:

Okay.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I've heard of it, but I actually haven't seen nowadays.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I probably have fun to watch it, but just as 11, 12 year old, when

Ryan Rebalkin:

I went to go to the video store, the movie theaters, it was high

Katie:

That's not Sure.

Katie:

Sure.

Katie:

Okay, so that was the midday programming along with Hulk

Katie:

Hogan's Rock and Wrestling.

Katie:

Do you

Katie:

was that a car?

Katie:

Okay.

Ryan Rebalkin:

yeah, yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I

Katie:

And so then, yeah, the W W F as it was known at the time.

Katie:

Right.

Katie:

It wasn't the W W E.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It wasn't WWE until like 2002 or something.

Katie:

Okay.

Katie:

But yeah, you mentioned, and I even, so again, I'm like five years old,

Katie:

but I watched wrestling with one of my grandpas, like he was a big wrestling fan.

Katie:

So I'm familiar with all of these guys and it just, it brings

Katie:

back such eighties memories.

Katie:

I can picture sitting on the living room floor of my

Katie:

grandparents' house watching it.

Katie:

But yeah, Hulk Hogan,

Ryan Rebalkin:

Mm-hmm.

Katie:

rowdy Roddy Piper.

Katie:

So these are the guys of 86 apparently.

Katie:

Tell me if I'm missing someone.

Katie:

You said Andre the giant

Ryan Rebalkin:

the giant macho man.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Randy Savage.

Ryan Rebalkin:

yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Jake the snake Roberts,

Katie:

Jake.

Katie:

Yep.

Katie:

Junkyard dog, the British Bulldogs,

Ryan Rebalkin:

you go.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yep.

Katie:

the Iron Sheik.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yes.

Ryan Rebalkin:

That's who Hogan won the bell from for the first time was the Iron Sheik.

Katie:

Oh really?

Katie:

Did you see ? There was a documentary about him, which was actually really sad.

Katie:

Somewhat recently.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I have

Ryan Rebalkin:

one.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I have not seen.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah,

Katie:

Yeah, he's had troubled, also I, in my research for this,

Katie:

did not know this was a real thing.

Katie:

Okay.

Katie:

So you know how there was a Netflix series called Glow The

Katie:

Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling

Ryan Rebalkin:

was

Ryan Rebalkin:

show.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yes.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And I watched it.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Absolutely.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Absolutely.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Real thing.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Real deal.

Katie:

I did not know.

Katie:

It was a real thing, but it premiered in 1986,

Ryan Rebalkin:

And guess

Ryan Rebalkin:

Mother had a hand in it?

Katie:

One Mr.

Katie:

Sylvester Stallone,

Katie:

Stallone.

Ryan Rebalkin:

she did.

Ryan Rebalkin:

had a hand in that management.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yep.

Katie:

Interesting.

Katie:

Okay.

Katie:

All right.

Katie:

So I know that you were a little older, but from a cartoon

Katie:

perspective, what were your cartoons?

Ryan Rebalkin:

transformers, the movie came out and this was a big deal.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So it came out in 86, and I saw this in the theater, so

Katie:

I did it.

Katie:

Okay.

Ryan Rebalkin:

watching Transformers.

Ryan Rebalkin:

But this was, it kind of, I, I feel like I was always bored in the perfect

Ryan Rebalkin:

time because when I stopped watching Transformers as I got older, I'd

Ryan Rebalkin:

seen every episode, but I, you know, I'm not gonna watch every Saturday

Ryan Rebalkin:

morning cartoon of it anymore at 11.

Ryan Rebalkin:

But the movie came out and the movie was one of the best movies ever made.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Of course it has the movie soundtrack.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Another Rocky connection with Vince Cola does the movie soundtrack

Ryan Rebalkin:

for Transformers of the movie.

Katie:

Oh.

Ryan Rebalkin:

one of the best badass movie soundtracks of old time.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Again, anyone listening to this podcast has to look.

Ryan Rebalkin:

If you don't like Transformers a movie, and you're a guy, I'm just

Ryan Rebalkin:

gonna call you out right now and you're listening to this podcast.

Ryan Rebalkin:

You probably shouldn't be listening to this podcast cause this, is about, that

Ryan Rebalkin:

retro Transformers movie, the soundtrack.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And what this movie was for was they're killing off the old guard.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So when we saw this in the theaters, all the old sorry, the transformers characters

Ryan Rebalkin:

like the Obos and the Decepticons got killed in the film to make way for

Ryan Rebalkin:

the new toy line that was coming out.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Ro Optimus Prime actually got killed in the film and it broke my heart.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It's one of the most heartbreaking moments of my childhood because I

Ryan Rebalkin:

felt as I was getting older, you know, I'm now getting older, I'm putting

Ryan Rebalkin:

sing, so to speak.

Ryan Rebalkin:

But to watch my, one of my heroes on of the cartoon TV screen being

Ryan Rebalkin:

killed on the movie screen was, was mind blowing and brave as a studio.

Ryan Rebalkin:

But

Ryan Rebalkin:

went in there not knowing that he was gonna kill.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Cuz in cartoons on tv, there's no killing.

Katie:

That's true.

Ryan Rebalkin:

The characters never kill each other in the movie screen.

Ryan Rebalkin:

This is now rated probably almost a PG 13, but it was PG at the time.

Ryan Rebalkin:

In 86.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It was, you could tell it was different even as a kid.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Like, oh, this is, they're breaking the rules here, or , these characters

Ryan Rebalkin:

are dead because there's no more cartoons with these characters.

Ryan Rebalkin:

They have a new toys coming out.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And and that included Optus Prime.

Ryan Rebalkin:

He was the leader and he got killed for Roddis Prime was the

Ryan Rebalkin:

new young UpStarter transformer.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And yeah, and I know it sounds silly, but, and one of the human characters spike, who

Ryan Rebalkin:

was in the cartoon as well, he swore in

Ryan Rebalkin:

the movie.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And so they, I guess kids were like, whoa.

Ryan Rebalkin:

He said, he said the S word.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And yeah,

Katie:

you have a very vivid memory of this.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It was,

Ryan Rebalkin:

a childhood memory.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Being the big

Ryan Rebalkin:

Transforms on the big screen in high, you know, animation quality.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And then of course watching these characters that I watched for

Ryan Rebalkin:

years now being killed in front of me in the first 15 minutes.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It was like literally in the first 15 minutes they wiped

Ryan Rebalkin:

out all the old characters.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Anyways, I'm getting kind of nerdy here.

Katie:

I love it.

Katie:

I, so I'm not a dude.

Katie:

I have more peripheral memories of transformers.

Katie:

I remember the cartoon and I remember the toys.

Katie:

I remember playing with the toys.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Weren't cheap either.

Ryan Rebalkin:

For Christmas and birthdays, but that was always a big ass

Ryan Rebalkin:

mom, can I have a transformer?

Ryan Rebalkin:

Cause they didn't, they weren't, they were probably 25, $30 and 86

Ryan Rebalkin:

for one toy and 86, which is like 75,

Katie:

I'm wondering if that's similar to Couch Patch or a Barbie or something,

Katie:

like girl equivalent or something?

Ryan Rebalkin:

Ones and they

Ryan Rebalkin:

never transformed properly.

Ryan Rebalkin:

They broke when you bent them the wrong way.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Katie:

I love it.

Katie:

It wasn't actually, part of the Saturday morning cartoon lineup

Ryan Rebalkin:

No, they

Katie:

for this year.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Was, they were after school cartoon, I think.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It wasn't Saturday morning cartoons.

Katie:

got it.

Katie:

Oh God.

Katie:

There were so many after school cartoons too that were fun.

Katie:

Oh

Ryan Rebalkin:

transformers, GI Joe.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Those were the big ones.

Katie:

okay.

Ryan Rebalkin:

were more boy, like Ghostbusters.

Ryan Rebalkin:

The cartoon was a Saturday morning one.

Katie:

It was Wes.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Oh, right

Ryan Rebalkin:

I had a stuff.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Wezel.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Rek.

Katie:

don't, Wes weren't huge for us, but Care bearers.

Katie:

Care bearers were,

Ryan Rebalkin:

The movie in the feeders too, as a kid.

Katie:

you did not.

Katie:

Oh my God, I love that.

Ryan Rebalkin:

saw Carib.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Burs.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I think it was the second one too.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Carib, I think.

Ryan Rebalkin:

But I had a younger brother, and I think my mom says, you're going to the movies.

Ryan Rebalkin:

This is back when Paris has sent their kids to the movies.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Like, I'm,

Katie:

Yep.

Katie:

Just walk, ride your bike.

Ryan Rebalkin:

nine years old, my brother's seven or whatever.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And I took 'em to Carib Burs and then,

Katie:

Aw,

Ryan Rebalkin:

yeah, ended up kind of enjoying it, like,

Ryan Rebalkin:

you know, what do you call it?

Katie:

well, yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

tell anyone I like this film.

Ryan Rebalkin:

and then what else?

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I,

Katie:

Wezel.

Katie:

Yeah,

Ryan Rebalkin:

rhino on there.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It was part Rhino Rhino, Monkey, rhino.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I loved them.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Katie:

I can picture them.

Katie:

And I think we, watch the cartoon, but for whatever reason,

Ryan Rebalkin:

they were cross breeding animals.

Ryan Rebalkin:

That's all they were.

Ryan Rebalkin:

They were

Katie:

Wezel.

Ryan Rebalkin:

They're just like, it's if I rhino an o and a monkey

Ryan Rebalkin:

had a baby be rek, that's all it was.

Ryan Rebalkin:

They're crossing the DNA n of two animals and putting 'em together.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Lion.

Katie:

Okay.

Katie:

God, you have such a good memory.

Ryan Rebalkin:

this is the top of my head.

Ryan Rebalkin:

You think I did research or something?

Ryan Rebalkin:

I lived

Katie:

No, I'm, that's what I mean.

Katie:

I'm saying you have a really good memory.

Ryan Rebalkin:

an eighties kid.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Like I was born in 75, so I was five to,

Katie:

Okay.

Ryan Rebalkin:

in the eighties.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Right.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So I, I lived

Katie:

I have vague memories of these things.

Katie:

So the Flinstones kids.

Katie:

Muppet babies.

Katie:

Ooh, I loved the Muppet babies.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I think was Muppet babies.

Katie:

Well, this was the lineup for 86,

Katie:

So this is our time capsule for 86.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Katie:

it was a killer lineup.

Katie:

There was also

Ryan Rebalkin:

Muppets, but not the Muppet babies.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Katie:

Muppet Babies, and I remember McDonald's happy Meal.

Katie:

Had, the little Toys Pound puppies.

Ryan Rebalkin:

were, were good quality toys back

Katie:

I haven't been to a McDonald's in literally like 30 years probably.

Katie:

But

Katie:

I remember . Bugs Bunny Tweety show the real Ghostbusters, the all new Ewoks

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Katie:

Berenstein Bears PeeWee's Playhouse, kissy fur.

Katie:

I feel like you've, no.

Katie:

Okay.

Katie:

I'm

Katie:

kind of unfamiliar with Kissie fur.

Katie:

Gummy bearers.

Katie:

Smurfs Smurfs.

Katie:

Smurfs.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Even younger than like it's been around forever.

Ryan Rebalkin:

If I,

Ryan Rebalkin:

so I remember being a kid watching the Smurf and I was a pretty good boy.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Like I was a good boy and I remember being so heartbroken cuz remember the

Ryan Rebalkin:

intro it used to say, and if you're good enough, you too might see a smurf.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And so

Ryan Rebalkin:

used to be so good and I never saw a Smurf, so I thought for sure

Ryan Rebalkin:

that I wasn't being good enough to catch a smurf in real life.

Katie:

Oh,

Ryan Rebalkin:

I know

Katie:

oh.

Katie:

Poor little Ryan.

Katie:

Well, basically, these cartoons are all just commercials to get

Katie:

us to beg our parents to buy shit.

Katie:

You don't have any sisters, so I was gonna ask, , so also during

Katie:

this time was Punky Brewster.

Katie:

I

Ryan Rebalkin:

brew.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I think I,

Katie:

Punky Brewster.

Ryan Rebalkin:

yeah, She grew up to be quite a good looking woman.

Katie:

did.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I think she give or take, she's my age.

Katie:

So lay moon fry.

Katie:

Yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

a smoke show even today.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yep.

Katie:

Still good.

Katie:

Good for her.

Katie:

Good for her.

Ryan Rebalkin:

looks, great.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

, Katie:

oh, and Alvin and the Chipmunks.

, Katie:

So that was the lineup for the Saturday morning cartoons.

, Katie:

Now I remember, again, I'm like, why am I not seeing certain, like Captain Caveman,

, Katie:

I remember watching around this time.

Ryan Rebalkin:

to fly around with this club.

Ryan Rebalkin:

He would like,

Ryan Rebalkin:

with this club, right?

Ryan Rebalkin:

It would it,

Katie:

yes.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Okay.

Katie:

Captain Caveman.

Katie:

But that was from, again, like, I don't know because we're a, a few years apart.

Katie:

Do you remember

Ryan Rebalkin:

Oh, sorry.

Katie:

That was the group, right.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

What's the banana?

Ryan Rebalkin:

Oh, sorry.

Ryan Rebalkin:

There was a cartoon called Bananas or something, or these, they're

Ryan Rebalkin:

like life size stuffies and they scared the crap outta me.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Oh, what were they called it?

Katie:

No, banana Rama was a music group, I think,

Katie:

but I had to look it up because, yeah, so there were the afterschool cartoons

Katie:

the Saturday morning, but apparently there was Sunday morning on the, was it

Katie:

tb s or u s usa USA on Sundays, which predated Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.

Katie:

And that's what Captain Caveman and tons of other, Hannah Bara shows,

Katie:

it was called the Cartoon Express.

Katie:

Does this ring a bell to you?

Ryan Rebalkin:

didn't have the USA network in Canada, but

Ryan Rebalkin:

I don't recognize that

Ryan Rebalkin:

that lineup supposed to be or that,

Ryan Rebalkin:

whatever you call that.

Ryan Rebalkin:

No, I

Katie:

Well, the Cartoon Express any, if anybody remembers

Katie:

this, please let me know.

Katie:

\ Let's see.

Katie:

So.

Katie:

What cereal ? Like sitting on the living room floor watching

Katie:

cartoons on Saturday morning.

Ryan Rebalkin:

What's

Katie:

a cereal kid?

Katie:

Yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Well, I dreamt of cereal.

Ryan Rebalkin:

We never bought it again.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I have three brothers.

Ryan Rebalkin:

If my parents couldn't afford it, meaning if they bought one box of cereal, I

Ryan Rebalkin:

would eat a whole box of one sitting.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So we, we get like a box of cereal

Katie:

Not when you're little.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Oh, man.

Katie:

Right.

Ryan Rebalkin:

have no idea.

Ryan Rebalkin:

You have no idea.

Ryan Rebalkin:

The voracious appetite of four boys.

Katie:

Okay.

Ryan Rebalkin:

the house with food.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Anything with sugar was gone.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So us cereal was pork.

Ryan Rebalkin:

That was it.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And we could add our own brown sugar to it, or honey, but

Ryan Rebalkin:

we never bought boxed cereal.

Ryan Rebalkin:

If we, if we bought boxed cereal,

Ryan Rebalkin:

always like wheat aics

Katie:

Not like Honeycomb or Frost Flakes or Lucky Charms.

Katie:

None of those.

Katie:

Okay.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Done.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I, I mean, I had it throughout my life by either at a friend's house

Ryan Rebalkin:

or, it was never bought for the boys.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Cause it'd be gone on one Saturday.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It'd be, or one morning.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Know, it's expensive, right?

Katie:

It always wasn't.

Katie:

I never understood it.

Katie:

I'd be at the grocery store with my mom and she'd be like, you can

Katie:

pick out the ones that are on sale.

Katie:

And I'm like, why does it have to be on sale?

Katie:

You know?

Katie:

Now I'm like, yeah, yeah, I get it.

Ryan Rebalkin:

But yeah, I loved, so what I, I loved the Lucky Charms commercials.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Sh sugar

Katie:

Mm-hmm.

Katie:

Oh,

Katie:

sugar smacks.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Frog Jumping around.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Fruity Pebbles count Dracula,

Ryan Rebalkin:

BooBerry.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Boy tricks are for kids, of course.

Katie:

Speaking my language, I actually have like four of

Katie:

those right now in my house.

Ryan Rebalkin:

You see, that's the funny,

Katie:

That's what dinner is gonna be

Ryan Rebalkin:

weird.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Now

Ryan Rebalkin:

for our kids.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It sits there and goes bad.

Ryan Rebalkin:

My kids don't eat it.

Ryan Rebalkin:

They don't care to them.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It's a nothing.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It's a, it's, it's, it's a nothing sauce.

Katie:

I still like kid cereal.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Oh yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I could eat kids cereal, but I, I don't anymore

Ryan Rebalkin:

eat sugar anymore,

Katie:

Yeah, that's right.

Katie:

Oh man, I am totally gonna have a bowl of kid cereal for dinner.

Ryan Rebalkin:

right.

Ryan Rebalkin:

You're

Katie:

No, that's interesting.

Katie:

Kids also don't know that, you have to wait for cartoon, on

Katie:

certain days or whatnot.

Katie:

Yeah,

Ryan Rebalkin:

mean, kids don't underst,

Ryan Rebalkin:

Netflix, Disney Plus they have, it's great.

Ryan Rebalkin:

They have, they get to watch whatever they want, when they want.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I'm sure if I was a kid, I would love the two.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It would blow my mind.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Having

Ryan Rebalkin:

like you've mentioned, ha handing 11 year old self a tablet and you'd be

Ryan Rebalkin:

like, Hey, go watch whatever you wanna watch Whenever you wanna, you, you

Ryan Rebalkin:

wouldn't leave your room, you know?

Ryan Rebalkin:

But I think what I liked about tv, I think that's what it kind of forced you to.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It was a time allotted.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It's like the whole America knew, you know, the, the broadcast system's new.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Like, hey kids, you wake up early on a Saturday morning, you've got till 10

Ryan Rebalkin:

o'clock to watch the decent cartoons.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Everything, anything after 10 was garbage cartoons, they weren't worth

Ryan Rebalkin:

There's always the garbage cartoons.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I'm gonna go play now I'm gonna play with my

Ryan Rebalkin:

ride my bike, go to my friend's house.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It was done.

Ryan Rebalkin:

You're like, cartoons are over, let's go play.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And so, it was that special moment.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Saturday morning's cartoons, everyone gathered around and watched it.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And you know, the odd time you'd have one cartoon on a different channel that you

Ryan Rebalkin:

wanted to watch as well at the same time.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Cause I didn't have a VCR R till was 14, so I couldn't record anything.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So you're like, ah, what do I watch?

Ryan Rebalkin:

So I'd watch the one that I really wanted to watch.

Ryan Rebalkin:

If I've already seen it, then I'd go to the other channel at that same

Katie:

Mm-hmm.

Ryan Rebalkin:

yeah, these are the things that you got to enjoy as a kid.

Ryan Rebalkin:

That you just, you know, kids, I dunno if it's good or bad,

Ryan Rebalkin:

but there's something special

Katie:

Yeah,

Ryan Rebalkin:

for that little, that that finite moment where

Ryan Rebalkin:

you could have this fix.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And then you went about your day though.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It was over.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It was over,

Katie:

and it's like a shared experience too, because we lived

Katie:

in different countries, we are different genders a few years apart,

Katie:

and yet like that's , an experience that we both look back on fondly.

Katie:

Yeah, for sure.

Ryan Rebalkin:

when you have sleepover, same, you know, a sleepover at my

Ryan Rebalkin:

Saturday morning cartoons.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It didn't matter.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Like it was, it was a given if I slept over my friend's house or him at my house.

Ryan Rebalkin:

We knew Saturday mornings got, we got cartoons to watch.

Ryan Rebalkin:

No questions.

Katie:

Yep.

Katie:

Yeah, good times.

Katie:

Aw

Katie:

so let's move on because I could literally talk about like Saturday morning cartoons

Ryan Rebalkin:

podcast

Ryan Rebalkin:

memories, you know, it's weird, right?

Ryan Rebalkin:

That we talk

Katie:

Yeah.

Katie:

It is kind of weird.

Katie:

So again, July, 1986 in the music world,

Ryan Rebalkin:

Oh

Katie:

The farm made two concert happened during this time,

Katie:

which I don't really remember.

Katie:

But the top performers were Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Bob Dylan,

Katie:

Steppenwolf Emmy, Lou Harris, foreigner.

Katie:

It drew a crowd of more than 35,000 people and raised over 2 million

Katie:

for family farmers in the us.

Katie:

I mean, it was the second one, maybe Farm aid one was bigger and 2

Katie:

million in 1986 was probably like,

Ryan Rebalkin:

you're

Katie:

don't know, $10 million now,

Ryan Rebalkin:

enough.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Fair enough.

Katie:

For family farmers in the us.

Katie:

So that that happened.

Katie:

And then do you have any guesses for top five Billboard singles,

Ryan Rebalkin:

Oh,

Ryan Rebalkin:

Oh no.

Katie:

the song,

Ryan Rebalkin:

not.

Katie:

so , maybe these will make more sense to you.

Katie:

For me, it's a little disappointing in that only one of 'em I really remember,

Katie:

so the number one song was, there'll Be Sad Songs to Make You Cry by Billy Ocean.

Ryan Rebalkin:

No.

Katie:

Again, this is the actual week the movie was released,

Katie:

like the first week in July

Ryan Rebalkin:

Billy

Ryan Rebalkin:

out

Ryan Rebalkin:

dreams.

Katie:

Vaguely.

Katie:

Then holding back the years by Simply Red.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I'd have to hear it, but I know

Ryan Rebalkin:

a couple d, but I'd have to hear that

Katie:

Because I wasn't familiar, I was like, what is this?

Katie:

Who?

Katie:

The short circuit theme, who's Johnny by El De Barge?

Ryan Rebalkin:

wow.

Ryan Rebalkin:

That's a stupid movie too, by the way.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Sorry.

Katie:

I actually haven't seen it.

Katie:

I've not seen short circuit.

Ryan Rebalkin:

a robot version of ET

Ryan Rebalkin:

an alien, it's a robot.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I, I, I don't remember.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Look, I could be misremembering, but I saw it when I was 11, 12, so I'm

Ryan Rebalkin:

in that perfect age group, and even as a kid I was like, this is garbage.

Ryan Rebalkin:

That's what I remember.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I remember not liking it.

Katie:

okay, well I'm gonna skip it then.

Ryan Rebalkin:

No, I mean, there might be, somebody might be a guess.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I would challenge any future guest to prove me wrong.

Ryan Rebalkin:

movie.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Let me know why I'm wrong.

Katie:

Okay.

Katie:

Number four, no one is to blame by Howard Jones.

Katie:

I've never even heard of Howard Jones.

Katie:

No.

Ryan Rebalkin:

joke.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Wow.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Okay.

Katie:

So

Katie:

Mostly unfamiliar.

Katie:

When I looked them up, I, I'd at least heard the song before.

Katie:

But they're all very much easy listening.

Katie:

That's what was topping the charts in the first week of July, 1986.

Katie:

Now only this fifth one.

Katie:

Is one.

Katie:

I'm like, all right, now we're talking Nasty by Janet Jackson,

Ryan Rebalkin:

Wow.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It was 86.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Okay.

Katie:

which actually 86 was a huge year for her.

Katie:

It was kind of her breakthrough record apparently which featured five singles

Katie:

that topped the rhythm and blues charts.

Katie:

And then it just kind of portrayed like her fierce independence and

Katie:

how like that struck a chord with, I don't know, the youth of the day.

Katie:

And she rose to a level of stardom during this time that

Katie:

rivaled her brother Michael.

Katie:

So this is when Janet's kind of becoming a thing?

Katie:

Apparently.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

she was never, obviously, I just wasn't my wheelhouse of music, but

Ryan Rebalkin:

I, I always knew who she was as.

Ryan Rebalkin:

She was always in the popular culture.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Right.

Katie:

Again, just because of my age.

Katie:

I remember more early nineties stuff from her and Paul Abdul.

Katie:

Yeah.

Katie:

Yeah.

Katie:

So this, I kind of forgot all about, these people, but in the

Katie:

news during this time, prince Andrew married Sarah Ferguson, a k a Fergie.

Katie:

Do you remember them being like a royal couple that were followed

Ryan Rebalkin:

They were like, the young Megan

Katie:

and Harry?

Ryan Rebalkin:

course.

Ryan Rebalkin:

they were, the gossip.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Calm.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Prince Andrew, he turned out okay.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Right.

Ryan Rebalkin:

for him.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Okay.

Katie:

Okay, so before we jump into the movie, I just wanna get your, your take

Katie:

your feel impressions for Kurt Patrick because, so this is the two every men,

Katie:

This season of Retro Made is Kurt Russell and Patrick Swayze 1986, et cetera.

Katie:

So, did a little bit I had come up with some nicknames for them being like little

Katie:

doppel gangers because I clearly, and the internet I think thinks they look alike.

Katie:

Do you think that there's a resemblance between

Katie:

Kurt and Patrick?

Katie:

Not

Katie:

at all.

Ryan Rebalkin:

than the coy hair.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I can see the coy hair maybe.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I,

Katie:

They're facial

Ryan Rebalkin:

man and

Katie:

structure.

Ryan Rebalkin:

was raised with these two right.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Throughout my youth well, no, I don't think they look like at all.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I, I just don't.

Katie:

Oh God, I have a side by side thumbnail as my season one

Katie:

trailer on YouTube and they, they look very much alike in my opinion.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I

Katie:

Like the hair, their face shape, their bone structure, all the things.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I guess as far as the square, jawline, Kofi hair,

Ryan Rebalkin:

masculine features, I, I, I guess, but I just never, I just never, , I,

Ryan Rebalkin:

I don't, I see it, but I don't see it I, I hear what you're saying.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I guess there's an argument that could be made for it, but I don't feel it.

Ryan Rebalkin:

that sound?

Katie:

All right, well listeners, please let me know.

Katie:

Please let me know.

Katie:

Now, I don't think that they act like they're very different, but I think they

Katie:

resemble each other in terms of looks and they're similar in age, I think

Katie:

So you clearly don't think they look alike, but I know that you're

Katie:

a big fan of Tombstone, right?

Ryan Rebalkin:

If it's not in the, my top three, I don't know where it is.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It's, in the, discussion for the top three.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I mean, we all know what my first

Katie:

Yep.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It's gotta be there.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I saw it seven times in the theaters alone.

Katie:

You did not.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I did, I took, and I, I loved this so much that every time I saw

Ryan Rebalkin:

it, like the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh time, a friend that hadn't

Ryan Rebalkin:

seen it and I paid for their ticket.

Katie:

Okay.

Katie:

So one of your ultimate favorite movies is Tombstone.

Ryan Rebalkin:

abso freaking literally.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I, I I love westerns.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Huge western fan.

Ryan Rebalkin:

If anyone's enjoying this episode with me I am gonna start a Western podcast.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It's coming out in the near future, so I, I'm a huge Western fan, so I

Ryan Rebalkin:

will be nerding another about too, even though Tombstone won't be the

Ryan Rebalkin:

first episode, it'll be young guns.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And then young guns too will be, I'm doing that

Katie:

Oh, you've even got your lineup set up.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

But, cause I love young guns one and two so much.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It's funny.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I think Tombstone

Katie:

I really liked those too,

Ryan Rebalkin:

so much fun.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Don't, don't get me nerding.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I'm sorry.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I'm sorry.

Katie:

but the thing that I like about those, I think is different than

Katie:

the thing that you like about them.

Katie:

I like, yeah.

Katie:

Mm-hmm.

Katie:

Yep.

Ryan Rebalkin:

fair enough.

Ryan Rebalkin:

See, I called it That's fine.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Look, I called

Katie:

You know me, you know me, don't you, Ryan?

Katie:

Like, I'm, I'm a sucker for a,

Ryan Rebalkin:

Keifer Sutherland.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

They were good looking guys.

Ryan Rebalkin:

They're still good looking men,

Katie:

mm-hmm.

Ryan Rebalkin:

so but yeah, I, I fricking love those whole anyways, so Patrick

Katie:

Is that your favorite Kurt movie?

Katie:

Is, is Tombstone your favorite Kurt movie.

Ryan Rebalkin:

easily, Yeah.

Katie:

Okay.

Katie:

Okay.

Katie:

What about Patrick Swayze?

Katie:

Do you have a favorite of his,

Katie:

what are your thoughts about him?

Ryan Rebalkin:

Okay.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Thoughts about him?

Ryan Rebalkin:

Are they stem from indifferent to No.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Let's, let's go back in time.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So when he was quote unquote big at the time, have to keep in

Ryan Rebalkin:

mind, his first big movie that I was aware of was Dirty Dancing.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Okay.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So I'm 12 years old.

Ryan Rebalkin:

when Dirty Dancing comes out.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And I backtrack.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Red Don, of course I saw Red Don first.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So when I saw Red Don in 84, it was about nine or 10 when I saw this film.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I didn't know who Patrick Suza was from anyone else.

Ryan Rebalkin:

He was just one of the many cast

Ryan Rebalkin:

that film.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So I didn't think anything of him as much as I just thought the film

Ryan Rebalkin:

was a great film, a lot of fun to watch and you know, very brutal for

Ryan Rebalkin:

that age Asian stage in my life.

Ryan Rebalkin:

But then Dirty Dancing was huge.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It was mega hit, right?

Ryan Rebalkin:

so what do you think a 12 year old guy is gonna be like?

Ryan Rebalkin:

Look at this guy pressing around like see,

Katie:

But he was like a big, he wasn't like a feminine guy.

Katie:

He was like a strong,

Ryan Rebalkin:

not to

Ryan Rebalkin:

like,

Ryan Rebalkin:

I'm being, I'm being through

Katie:

okay, okay.

Ryan Rebalkin:

in 86.

Ryan Rebalkin:

No, none of my 12 year old friends, guy friends were like,

Ryan Rebalkin:

Hey man, did you see dirty Da?

Ryan Rebalkin:

No, it's ridic.

Ryan Rebalkin:

No,

Katie:

Okay.

Ryan Rebalkin:

not

Katie:

What about the outsiders was probably before then.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I I would say I wa supposedly I saw the outsiders

Ryan Rebalkin:

after I knew the existence of Dirty Dancing, if that makes sense.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So I, I knew Patrick Swayze has a huge icon because of Dirty Dancing.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And then I probably rewatched Red Dawn after Dirty Dancing as well.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And as

Ryan Rebalkin:

Cause The Outsiders one of my favorite books of all time.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So I saw that movie as well.

Katie:

Roadhouse.

Katie:

It's so good.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I think Roadhouse to me was like, look at this guy who

Ryan Rebalkin:

can dance, trying to be a fighter

Katie:

Now it's interesting to hear you say that almost kind

Katie:

of hurts a little bit because,

Ryan Rebalkin:

one.

Ryan Rebalkin:

This isn't 12.

Ryan Rebalkin:

No,

Ryan Rebalkin:

felt back then.

Katie:

Yes.

Katie:

Okay.

Katie:

Thank you for the clarification.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So again, I'm 14.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So as a 14 year old boy, I'm just scathing.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Right.

Ryan Rebalkin:

You're not, you're not Stone, you're not schwartzenegger.

Ryan Rebalkin:

That's the guys I was watching, right?

Ryan Rebalkin:

These men, men, this skinny guy kicking people as a bouncer.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I was like, come on.

Ryan Rebalkin:

You know, you

Katie:

wasn't skinny.

Katie:

he

Ryan Rebalkin:

Well, the Terminator and, and

Katie:

Yes.

Katie:

And that's why Yes.

Katie:

Good, good point.

Katie:

But that's why this season is in a time of these like super muscled

Katie:

up, like super freaks sort of.

Katie:

There were these every men like Kurt and Patrick, and so that's

Katie:

kind of why I com combined them.

Ryan Rebalkin:

You know, I'm, I'm more mature and as I got older I would, I

Ryan Rebalkin:

I, my life, my wife's laughing at me.

Katie:

She's still waiting for you to mature?

Katie:

I think probably

Katie:

I heard her laughing.

Ryan Rebalkin:

called me a 12 year old boy yesterday.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It was true.

Ryan Rebalkin:

She

Katie:

Yes.

Katie:

Men seemingly don't ever fully grow up, right?

Ryan Rebalkin:

a little bit.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I will say this.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So as I got older, I got to know who Patrick Swayze was

Ryan Rebalkin:

as a person, as an individual.

Ryan Rebalkin:

see, he's a, he's a good guy and I like him, you know, so I

Ryan Rebalkin:

started seeing movies later in his life that were dramas and stuff.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And then I, I enjoyed those more.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And then now of course I watch Roadhouse, now I watch it as a, as what it is.

Ryan Rebalkin:

But you can watch and laugh with it and enjoy it as the

Ryan Rebalkin:

is that I let myself go, so to speak.

Ryan Rebalkin:

But when it.

Ryan Rebalkin:

the time, no, I thought he was a fake, so to speak, compared to what I

Ryan Rebalkin:

thought was the Muscle Men at the time.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Cause I was watching though, the wrestling and things like, you know what I mean?

Katie:

Yeah.

Katie:

Well what's ironic is they were, the, what's ironic is they were

Katie:

the fakes and he was the real man.

Katie:

I'm saying that, and I hope you listened to some of the Patrick episodes,

Katie:

cause I'll talk more about this, but,

Ryan Rebalkin:

listen to.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Is this

Katie:

His book that he wrote like shortly before he passed

Katie:

with his wife, I Cannot Reco.

Katie:

It's literally one of the best books I've read in the last 10 years.

Katie:

It's

Katie:

amazing.

Ryan Rebalkin:

do that for you.

Katie:

Thank you.

Katie:

But so in that you'll see why it kind of hurts a little bit because

Katie:

he tried, he was very careful

Katie:

about choosing his roles because he did not want to be thought of

Katie:

as just the dance guy or whatnot.

Ryan Rebalkin:

bad.

Ryan Rebalkin:

No, that's, and well, there you go.

Ryan Rebalkin:

There's a reason why he had that fear cuz it happened.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So,

Ryan Rebalkin:

his fault.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It's mine.

Katie:

No, but he did choose he talks about it in his book, but he

Katie:

did try and choose varied roles, but he actually, by trade is a dancer.

Ryan Rebalkin:

At

Katie:

But also he, there's literal, he was an athlete.

Katie:

Read his book.

Katie:

Everyone read his book.

Katie:

It's so good.

Katie:

I know this, this episode's about Kurt, but I just have to go on about

Katie:

Patrick for a while because there is literally nothing that he couldn't do.

Katie:

He tried almost like anything imaginable and succeeded at it.

Katie:

So his, his life is a story about kind of perseverance.

Katie:

And he, he does seem like a standup guy.

Katie:

Now getting back to Kurt, before we get into the movie do you,

Katie:

remember when you first, like, do you really like Kurt as an actor?

Katie:

Is he up there in your pantheon, or is he j you know, you just enjoy his films?

Ryan Rebalkin:

so that's, when did I start?

Ryan Rebalkin:

I'm just looking at his, I'm looking at his

Ryan Rebalkin:

I think what probably happened is I look cuz he's been acting forever.

Katie:

He was a child star.

Katie:

Yep.

Katie:

Yeah,

Ryan Rebalkin:

kid,

Katie:

he was.

Ryan Rebalkin:

was doing films obviously before I was born.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And a lot of different, but I think I didn't get onto, or he

Ryan Rebalkin:

didn't come onto my radar probably.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I know this is gonna sound very of course, but until he did the movie Cash with Sly,

Katie:

Oh, that was even after Big Trouble.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yes.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Well, we'll get to that.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So Tangled Cash.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Of course.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Sly, I saw that in the theaters.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I was 14 when that came out.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I was like, okay.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Of course I've heard of Kurt Russell.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It would be, I was a big movie guy.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Like I was a big movie guy at a very young age.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I got all the movie

Ryan Rebalkin:

I was a movie nerd, so I was very aware of things I didn't even watch.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I just know, you know, actors, directors, things like that.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So I was very aware of Car Russells.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Maybe I'd seen The Escape from New York by then, maybe.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I definitely hadn't seen the thing.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So really nothing before that.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I knew he was an overboard with with Goldie Han, but I wouldn't

Ryan Rebalkin:

watch that cause it's a silly comedy

Katie:

Oh, it's so good.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Katie:

Yeah.

Katie:

But you at the time?

Katie:

Yep.

Katie:

Yep.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Then of course he did Tequila Sunrise with

Ryan Rebalkin:

Mel, but again, I, it didn't.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Come on my radar.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Cause it was a quoted action film.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I was

Ryan Rebalkin:

came out.

Ryan Rebalkin:

didn't, but you know, tango ca is just a classic right.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Act action movie.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I saw it and they're like, oh, I like this guy.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And then it was after that film, I saw everything back Draft

Ryan Rebalkin:

unlawful entry, captain wrong.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Then

Ryan Rebalkin:

out.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So I, I met when Tombstone comes out in 93.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So you think about that for me as a 14 year old seat Tangled Cash.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Then I'm

Ryan Rebalkin:

Backdraft comes out.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Loved that film.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I cried in it, I freaking cried.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Spoiler when his character died.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Unlawful entry with him and, and Ray Liotta fricking love that

Katie:

Mm-hmm.

Katie:

Mm-hmm.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I saw in the theaters.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I saw Captain Ron.

Ryan Rebalkin:

See now becoming a, you know, you know you're a Kurt Russell fan when you,

Ryan Rebalkin:

Ron in the theaters.

Katie:

this is true.

Katie:

This is true.

Ryan Rebalkin:

this.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I paid money, bought Popcorn and I had a great time.

Ryan Rebalkin:

had a great time.

Katie:

That's great.

Ryan Rebalkin:

then tombstone.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Then after Tombstone, I'm like, I'm done.

Ryan Rebalkin:

This guy, I love him so much.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And then

Ryan Rebalkin:

everything he has been in since then.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Everything.

Katie:

Wow.

Katie:

That's, so maybe you'll know some of the, so there's some trivia.

Katie:

curious.

Katie:

So obviously you knew who was a child star in 1966.

Katie:

Apparently the last thing that Walt Disney wrote was the name

Katie:

Kurt Russell on a piece of paper.

Katie:

you aware of that?

Katie:

. Ryan Rebalkin: it?

Katie:

Was that one somebody on his menu or

Katie:

I don't know if he couldn't speak.

Katie:

I'm unfamiliar with the, his, I'm not sure what the deal was, but yeah,

Katie:

he was a big Disney, child actor.

Katie:

I I found that surprising.

Katie:

Were you aware of what his potentially alternate career could have been?

Ryan Rebalkin:

Stomaching.

Katie:

Baseball player?

Ryan Rebalkin:

Oh, really?

Ryan Rebalkin:

Okay.

Katie:

Yeah, so I guess his dad was a baseball player.

Katie:

And then Kurt was on some minor league, like affiliate teams and like aa.

Katie:

Division baseball teams.

Katie:

But then he ended up getting a rotator cuff injury, and so that

Katie:

pushed him much more towards acting.

Katie:

But yeah, he was a legit, like, pretty good baseball player.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Oh, I

Ryan Rebalkin:

Okay,

Katie:

yeah, I didn't either, I didn't know his dad was a baseball player either.

Katie:

He owns multiple homes.

Katie:

He, and he and Goldie everyone knows that they've never been married,

Katie:

but that's like one of my favorite things about them is that they, yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

in Hollywood.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I don't think there's any scandals with those two.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I love it.

Katie:

They own homes in multiple places,

Katie:

but they own a home in each of our backyards.

Katie:

So in the mountains here, they have a snow mass Village home in Colorado.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Okay.

Katie:

And then in British Columbia, they, they have a home as well.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Oh, what part?

Ryan Rebalkin:

Do you know?

Katie:

Vancouver.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Oh, okay.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah, that's right

Katie:

Yeah, yeah,

Ryan Rebalkin:

Victoria.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah,

Katie:

yeah.

Katie:

I, I know I, when I read that, I thought, oh, that's perfect for Ryan and I

Ryan Rebalkin:

visit him.

Katie:

yes, yes.

Katie:

Let's, cuz their son, I think played hockey and maybe that's why they moved,

Katie:

a house there back in the day.

Katie:

Yeah.

Katie:

And like Patrick, our other everyman that we were talking about, Kurt is a pilot.

Katie:

Patrick was two.

Katie:

Yeah.

Katie:

Yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

know that

Katie:

are you ready to get into the movie?

Katie:

, Ryan Rebalkin: I know when I do my

Katie:

I just, I watched the films, but it's just more like, of course you and I do

Katie:

the Rocky films, it's like, we watched the scene, we just talk about it.

Katie:

What did it mean to us?

Katie:

Or how did we feel about something?

Katie:

How it made us feel, or what scene was good, or what dialogue

Katie:

could have been better, you know?

Katie:

So

Katie:

We go off on a lot of tangents too.

Ryan Rebalkin:

do.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I think

Ryan Rebalkin:

I think we're pretty good, but yes, of course we do.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Now, when's the first time you saw this film, if you don't

Ryan Rebalkin:

mind asking you Big trouble.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Middle of China.

Katie:

Well so I was not even five yet, I don't think when this movie came out.

Katie:

So I probably did not see it until years later when it was on tv.

Katie:

I don't recall my first viewing, I just remember it being part of our

Katie:

rotation, a taped from TV v h s copy

Katie:

and it just, or whenever it would come on tv, it as we'll get into, it's

Katie:

super unique and it's frigging awesome.

Katie:

Do you remember your first viewing of it?

Ryan Rebalkin:

Well put a gun to my head.

Ryan Rebalkin:

No, I feel like I saw it for the first time 24 hours ago.

Katie:

Because it had been so long.

Katie:

Do you mean,

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

If I ever saw it.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It's one of those things where I know, again, this, I, I was at a

Ryan Rebalkin:

perfect age when this came out.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It was on vhs, of course.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I, I don't think my family ever rented it, so maybe it was on TV here and there.

Ryan Rebalkin:

but when I watched it the other day, I wasn't wholly like white tank top.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I knew what he was gonna wear there's a couple scenes that would happen

Ryan Rebalkin:

where I'm like, oh yeah, I think I, but I don't know if it's just cause

Ryan Rebalkin:

I've seen stills or thumbnails or

Katie:

oh,

Katie:

was a regular movie in our household.

Ryan Rebalkin:

so I would say my first time seeing it and really watching

Ryan Rebalkin:

it, other than maybe 30 odd years ago.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It was days ago.

Katie:

Wow.

Katie:

Okay.

Katie:

Well,

Ryan Rebalkin:

I know, Russell

Katie:

different,

Katie:

yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I'm a huge John Carpenter fan.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So the people are gonna be listening to this, like, Ryan, you're fake.

Ryan Rebalkin:

You're fake, you're fake, you're phony.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Your podcast is a fake, go kill yourself.

Katie:

That's a reference to Rocky.

Ryan Rebalkin:

too.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah, I know Before people think I'm being too dark.

Ryan Rebalkin:

But I feel like it's, like I said, I, the first film I truly watched

Ryan Rebalkin:

and enjoyed, especially on the big screen was tangling Cash with Kurt.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And I'm like, I like this guy.

Ryan Rebalkin:

like this guy.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I like the kind of his jib.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Right?

Ryan Rebalkin:

And then I saw

Ryan Rebalkin:

that.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And I don't know if I really went back to much.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I, I saw the thing of course, when I went back in time.

Ryan Rebalkin:

But even though as I look at his escape in from New York, of course,

Ryan Rebalkin:

other than that, I, there's still some movies from before Tango Cash.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I haven't seen like, I don't think, I still haven't seen

Ryan Rebalkin:

Tequila Sunrise, and Overboard, which I should just really watch.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Cause I love Mel Gibson, so it's funny.

Katie:

Overboard is another one of his, probably Overboard and Big

Katie:

Trouble in Little China are probably the two Kurt movies I've seen the most.

Katie:

And they're, they're fun.

Katie:

They're just easy, they're just super fun it in different ways,

Ryan Rebalkin:

so I, my memory of this was completely false.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Of course, the character Jack Burn, I, from the movie poster of course, to

Ryan Rebalkin:

how he was on in the movie to what the movie's about and how it, I'm watching

Ryan Rebalkin:

this movie and yeah, so I'm like, this is, I don't remember any of this.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I didn't realize he was such a clown.

Ryan Rebalkin:

A bumbling, I would say idiot's not the right word, but I liked it.

Ryan Rebalkin:

That was a what

Ryan Rebalkin:

brave choice you could say to have the Kurt Russell character.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Cause if you look at the movie poster, he's the hero.

Ryan Rebalkin:

He's the Ford of Indian Jones fame type hero gonna fix

Ryan Rebalkin:

everything in this eighties film.

Ryan Rebalkin:

But it's actually his partner.

Ryan Rebalkin:

The oh, was it sorry.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Wang

Ryan Rebalkin:

Wang,

Katie:

Wang

Ryan Rebalkin:

he's the real fighter.

Ryan Rebalkin:

He's the guy that can fight.

Ryan Rebalkin:

But I thought that was kind of a brave choice.

Ryan Rebalkin:

That Kressel mine is the very, you know, of course he kills the main

Ryan Rebalkin:

bad guy at the end, of course.

Ryan Rebalkin:

But other than that, he, you know, knocks himself out.

Ryan Rebalkin:

He gets into trouble, he gets lost.

Ryan Rebalkin:

He's always bumbled around.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It's like by the skin of his teeth.

Ryan Rebalkin:

He happens to get through these things.

Ryan Rebalkin:

He's almost like Leslie Nielsen's character from the Naked Gun Series.

Katie:

Oh my God.

Katie:

Well, so for anybody who hasn't seen big trouble in middle China

Katie:

in like decades, the description is a rough and tumble trucker.

Katie:

As Ryan was talking about, he's kind of a bubbly, but a rough and tumble

Katie:

trucker and his sidekick face off with an ancient sorcerer in a supernatural

Katie:

battle beneath San Francisco's Chinatown, an ancient Chinese prince and Chinatown

Katie:

crime Lord has kidnapped a beautiful green eye woman who is the fiance to Jack's

Katie:

best friend, Jacque must help his friend rescue the girl before the evil Lopez Pan

Katie:

uses her to break the ancient curse that keeps him in Aless and immortal spirit

Katie:

featuring an ancient Chinese prince, a crime Lord, and a kidnapped woman.

Katie:

Jack must use his Braun and brains to stop the evil Lopez pan

Katie:

from breaking an ancient Curse.

Katie:

This was a PG 13 movie.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So was this film like I, okay, here's the thing.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Was this film, It geared towards?

Katie:

Well, so that's an interesting point.

Katie:

So you had mentioned John Carpenter.

Katie:

The director who had five projects with Kurt.

Katie:

So they are kind of one of those, like, it's like Scorsese Andro kind of things.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Let's say he is of course the famous writer,

Ryan Rebalkin:

creator of the Halloween movie, is by far my Halloween movie

Katie:

He's got a lot of horror movies

Ryan Rebalkin:

Is so, is this John Carpenter to make a family film?

Katie:

well,

Ryan Rebalkin:

He'd be like,

Ryan Rebalkin:

trying to make a family film, if that makes sense

Katie:

well, I, I don't know if it's super family friendly,

Katie:

which, you know, we, we can, yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

like what, what was his intent?

Ryan Rebalkin:

Did he hope for a, you don't, you're not in 86.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Our parents bringing their kids to this film.

Katie:

I definitely saw it when I was like, you know, six, but now watching

Katie:

it as an adult, I'm like, wow.

Katie:

But that, it just was the way it was then, or there were a lot of

Katie:

things that I saw, I don't know.

Katie:

Now where I was going with that was that it was a box office flop.

Katie:

, it grossed 11 million on a 25 million budget.

Katie:

They did not market this well because they didn't know how to market it.

Katie:

It's so, it's even hard to explain and the description doesn't make it

Katie:

sound good, but it's such a fun movie.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I, know we are,

Ryan Rebalkin:

that's, the whole point.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I, okay.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I'm 47 years old if people can figure this out, out about all the

Ryan Rebalkin:

math we've been doing with the ages.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I've been, so I'm 47 right now.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I watched this film just like for the first time.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I've watched a lot.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I mean, I've watched a lot of high end intelligent films and TV shows.

Ryan Rebalkin:

They, they make a lot of these today, right.

Ryan Rebalkin:

You know, we're talking fairy, well-written, clever, you know,

Ryan Rebalkin:

intricate plots, character details.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I'm watching this movie I had to pause it a couple times and go to the Wikipedia

Ryan Rebalkin:

page to look at the plot outline.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Like, I don't know what the f is going on.

Katie:

Because your viewing experience is so different

Katie:

than mine, I don't really care.

Katie:

Like the plot is, so it almost doesn't matter.

, Ryan Rebalkin:

I would, I, I wouldn't

, Ryan Rebalkin:

watching it.

Katie:

yeah,

Ryan Rebalkin:

I thinking he's gonna fight Asians, don't know, once I saw

Ryan Rebalkin:

Lightning , and like the Mortal Combat character was coming and I was like,

Katie:

the three storms.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Sure.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Katie:

I, it's weird because I, I have such vivid, fond memories of this

Katie:

movie and, there's just so much to see.

Katie:

It catches your attention.

Katie:

There's so many characters in it.

Katie:

But again, I, it's, for me, it's nostalgic because I remember watching it so much as

Katie:

a kid and n watch rewatching it yesterday.

Katie:

I'm like, oh yeah, the plot is like, it sort of doesn't make sense,

Ryan Rebalkin:

so it's not just the plot.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I mean, I guess it makes sense in the sense of it's going from one.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Plot point to the next, and they're trying to like establish

Ryan Rebalkin:

and explain this magical, ancient world that's been existing forever.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And, Jack's caught up to, I was watching it as Jack is caught up into this

Ryan Rebalkin:

world as a first time viewer himself.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Everyone around him is aware of the legends, the myths of the stories.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Right.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Okay, fine.

Ryan Rebalkin:

it's, it's like everyone knows the lore, the ancient Chinese lore under

Ryan Rebalkin:

San Francisco, except for Jack.

Ryan Rebalkin:

He's kind of inadvertently dumped into this and, but I just love how

Ryan Rebalkin:

quickly he seems to embrace or,

Ryan Rebalkin:

I guess, I guess there's, I guess there's just magic and there's.

Ryan Rebalkin:

All this crazy stuff, and he just finds himself in this adventure.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And I'm not, I'm not supposed to say this is unbelievable.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I'm not saying that, but there's a part of me where I was like, they start the

Ryan Rebalkin:

movie in, in a realistic kind of way.

Ryan Rebalkin:

He's a trucker, he's gonna drop off some goods.

Ryan Rebalkin:

He's playing cards with his friend Wang, and his friend doesn't have

Ryan Rebalkin:

the money to pay up for the lost bat.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So he is like, Wal, let's just go to your house and get it.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And then it goes like, well, we have to go to the airport and pick somebody up.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And I'm in love with this girl.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And then the kidnap goes awry and somebody else is taken.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And then him and Kim Cora's character act like they've known

Ryan Rebalkin:

each other forever, but they just met and they fall in love, but they

Ryan Rebalkin:

time.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It's like, what is going, I was always, it's like I

Ryan Rebalkin:

like, to me it was like Jack's actions and everything around me wasn't, it

Ryan Rebalkin:

wasn't just, it wasn't making sense.

Ryan Rebalkin:

The fact that he was so accepting of this world, he wouldn't mention a couple

Ryan Rebalkin:

times, I don't know what's going on around here, but I'm gonna go fight

Ryan Rebalkin:

these ancients with you, type thing.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It was a combination of he's wholly unaware of what's going on.

Ryan Rebalkin:

At the same time he's, he completely buys in at the same time.

Katie:

Yes.

Katie:

He refers to himself in the third person a lot and his kind of one of his

Katie:

catchphrases, he says, oh, you know what, Jack Burton always says, what the hell?

Katie:

Or, you know, so he's just kind of,

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah,

Katie:

whatever.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I feel like we are watching the Adventures of Jack Burton.

Ryan Rebalkin:

This is

Katie:

Well, we are.

Ryan Rebalkin:

there but there hasn't been another film before or after.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I feel like this could have been the fourth film of a Jack Burton

Ryan Rebalkin:

series.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Like the, he's like the, he's like a bumbling James

Ryan Rebalkin:

Bond Indiana Jones character.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And so the Jack Burton film, it could have been Jack Burton in Big Trouble,

Ryan Rebalkin:

little China Jack Burton in, you know Frank Stein meets the Mummy.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Like, that's where these films I thought were, could have gone had

Ryan Rebalkin:

they been successful, that we would see Jack Burton, these ridiculous

Ryan Rebalkin:

And he finds like a, like naked gun, like that Leslie Nielsen character.

Ryan Rebalkin:

he's almost like.

Ryan Rebalkin:

He's the, not the butt of the jokes, but he happens just to be.

Ryan Rebalkin:

But like this whole thing took place and he had, other than killing the main bad

Ryan Rebalkin:

guy at the end, did nothing for, like, he, , he was like a stick in the river just

Ryan Rebalkin:

going down and he just bounced around.

Ryan Rebalkin:

All the events did not change because of him being there, which is fun.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I'm not criticizing it.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I just

Ryan Rebalkin:

this.

Katie:

I mean he has guns and knives and I mean, he's part of it.

Katie:

There are a lot of characters that kind of get introduced and we are introduced

Katie:

along with Jack to this ancient Chinese lore and all the mysticism

Katie:

and sorcery and it's super fun.

Katie:

You have to, don't you remember in the eighties shit just didn't

Katie:

make sense and it didn't matter.

Katie:

You just like threw shit like it, you know, like

Ryan Rebalkin:

but I watched this in 2023

Ryan Rebalkin:

I'd forgotten.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Look, I, as far as retro, we're talking about the retro,

Ryan Rebalkin:

this is a retro made podcast.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Know 10 year old Ryan probably would've loved this film more

Ryan Rebalkin:

than maybe, I don't know why.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I don't know what happened.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I don't know why

Ryan Rebalkin:

why I didn't catch onto it.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I get it.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And so I was, I allowed myself to watch it with the young viewers.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I was not being critical of it,

Ryan Rebalkin:

still a small part of me that it wasn't about being critical.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I was just, I, I was, I was confused for Jack, and I

Katie:

Okay.

Ryan Rebalkin:

threw I think, that threw me off.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I was like, why am I the only one who's not like, bewildered

Ryan Rebalkin:

by this whole experience?

Ryan Rebalkin:

I think if they had just made it a little bit more of.

Ryan Rebalkin:

What is going on around like make it more, he's trapped into this situation, but the

Ryan Rebalkin:

fact that he just wholly buys into saving the world with these, I'm like, well,

Ryan Rebalkin:

he didn't owe this to anybody, but he just found himself owing and being brave

Ryan Rebalkin:

and all this like he became the hero.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I wasn't sure what his motives were and that was to find his truck.

Katie:

Yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

kind of the joke to find his

Ryan Rebalkin:

at the very end.

Katie:

And the police have better things to do or , he's just really up for , going

Katie:

into like a, a life-threatening situation.

Katie:

But I think we're , it's just like imagery overload and that, but in a fun way.

Katie:

And to answer your question about John Carpenter, this

Katie:

seems like a departure for him.

Katie:

He must be a big Jackie Chan fan because that's who he wanted to play.

Katie:

Wang Chi.

Katie:

My favorite thing about this, well, no, not my favorite thing.

Katie:

There's so many.

Katie:

One of my first thoughts when I rewatch this yesterday was, wow, the eighties

Katie:

really have us thinking that truckers are super hot because we have Jack Barton

Ryan Rebalkin:

over the top?

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Katie:

and Ryan's favorite movie over the top.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I'd rather watch this easily than over the top

Katie:

I mean, please, somebody tell us that Ryan is wrong And over the

Katie:

top is a super awesome eighties movie.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I okay.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Anyways,

Katie:

It's horrible.

Katie:

It's horrible, but I love it.

Katie:

It's, it's nostalgic.

Katie:

Yeah.

Katie:

So please comment, tell me.

Katie:

Tell Ryan and I what, what your thoughts are on truckers being hot in the eighties.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Sure.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Not anymore.

Katie:

I mean, I don't know if they were then.

Katie:

But again, movies have us thinking a certain way.

Katie:

Now you might find this interesting that apparently the

Katie:

script was originally a Western

Ryan Rebalkin:

I did read that and I thought it was

Ryan Rebalkin:

of westerns,

Ryan Rebalkin:

watching this, I don't know how that would've necessarily worked.

Katie:

It was trying to recover his stolen horse instead of his truck.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Sure.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And that's why it's almost irrelevant because everything that happens with

Ryan Rebalkin:

the, the fights and the, again, the, the Chinese lore and legends and myths has,

Ryan Rebalkin:

would, it could be on, on a space station.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Cuz it doesn't matter.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Cause it, the things they do to fight and the creatures, it's outside of

Ryan Rebalkin:

a western or outside of the city.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It doesn't matter.

Katie:

Mm-hmm.

Ryan Rebalkin:

matter.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Katie:

I do.

Katie:

I I like that it's underneath San Francisco's Chinatown, the city

Katie:

is in this case is a little bit part of the movie to some degree.

Katie:

But I think there was a big martial arts was becoming really popular at this

Katie:

time, and so that's why they switched it.

Ryan Rebalkin:

That played Wayne Chi, he was he was fine.

Ryan Rebalkin:

He was great, don't get me wrong, but it would've been very interesting

Ryan Rebalkin:

seeing Jackie Chan in this role.

Katie:

Speaking of other people in this, so Kim Catrell, who everybody will know

Katie:

plays Gracie Dennis Dunn plays Wang Chi, James Hong, who everyone knows James Hong.

Katie:

He's like in every movie, but this to me is his iconic movie.

Katie:

He's David Lapan and he, it's iconic f again.

Katie:

It's so interesting to hear that you didn't watch this.

Katie:

Like a thousand

Ryan Rebalkin:

I didn't, I honestly didn't.

Ryan Rebalkin:

The

Katie:

Oh,

Ryan Rebalkin:

hilarious.

Ryan Rebalkin:

he's in the wheelchair, that was comedy gold.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I don't know.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I thought

Katie:

it was funny, but it's scary.

Katie:

Like the makeup department, he's like a 2000 year old person

Ryan Rebalkin:

You

Katie:

a wheelchair.

Katie:

He was scary.

Katie:

That shit was scary

Ryan Rebalkin:

so

Ryan Rebalkin:

think I didn't like the film, I should say it, I did.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I had a blast watching it.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I really did.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I, I just, I always come from an angle of, it's just easy to say that I loved it.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I had a good time, but I like to come the angle of like, I had a hard time

Ryan Rebalkin:

with It doesn't mean I didn't have fun, but I had a hard time just accepting.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Cause I, I'm a very kind of literal guy.

Ryan Rebalkin:

That's why I cry movies sometimes is because I'm always, I, I'm always

Ryan Rebalkin:

putting myself into character's position.

Katie:

Mm-hmm.

Ryan Rebalkin:

a character loses a loved one or a child and I get choked

Ryan Rebalkin:

up cuz I'm putting myself with that character like, oh, I couldn't imagine.

Ryan Rebalkin:

That's, I get choked up.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So what I'm putting myself with Jack Burton, like if I'm

Ryan Rebalkin:

in this situation, I just.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I, I don't get why he's acting this way, so I get a little confused.

Ryan Rebalkin:

But anyways will, I will say what I, one of the lines I should have

Ryan Rebalkin:

wrote down that, you know how the movies always say this curse is

Ryan Rebalkin:

2000 years old, or things haven't been this way for a thousand years.

Ryan Rebalkin:

They did a time thing and I loved it.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It's been this way for 2,360 68 days or something.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Something like that.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I love how they give the exact year, whatever it was, they were talking about

Ryan Rebalkin:

something that happened like twenty three hundred and sixty eight years ago.

Ryan Rebalkin:

You never see that in film.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So give total credit to the writers of this film, given the

Ryan Rebalkin:

actual date down to the year, instead of rounding an up or down.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I thought that was just good.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I, I like that.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I

Katie:

I didn't even catch that.

Katie:

Actually the writer, who was the writer?

Katie:

The writer was Gary Goldman

Ryan Rebalkin:

and,

Katie:

and w d Richter.

Katie:

Yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So Gary Goldman,

Ryan Rebalkin:

well, he,

Katie:

total Recall, right?

Ryan Rebalkin:

Total recall

Ryan Rebalkin:

Seals.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Right.

Katie:

and then Wd Richter was Invasion of the Body, snatchers

Katie:

and then David Z Weinstein.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Did a few as well, that we know about his last film of all the films.

Ryan Rebalkin:

His last film he wrote solely wrote the film Stealth, the 2000

Katie:

I've not even heard of it.

Katie:

I don't even know what that is.

Ryan Rebalkin:

a, it's, it's a military science fiction

Ryan Rebalkin:

film directed by Rob Cohen.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And it's written by

Ryan Rebalkin:

Richter.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It has Jessica Beal, Josh Lucas Jamie Fox, Sam Shepherd, it's about,

Katie:

Oh,

Ryan Rebalkin:

three top fighter pilots as they join a project to develop an

Ryan Rebalkin:

automated robotic stealth aircraft.

Katie:

I didn't catch that one.

Katie:

Yeah.

Katie:

So in terms the other casting what ifs were John Carpenter, because he

Katie:

and Kurt have a thing his only choice for Jack Burton was Kurt Russell.

Katie:

But the studio wanted like someone with a bigger name.

Katie:

They wanted Clint Eastwood or Jack Nicholson,

Katie:

I can't really picture.

Ryan Rebalkin:

no.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I mean, they

Katie:

Kurt brings the, it's more comedic,

Ryan Rebalkin:

he Charisma,

Katie:

mm-hmm.

Ryan Rebalkin:

always yelling he's always yelling when he talks.

Ryan Rebalkin:

know, every lie was like, he's kind of, Kurt does it though, he

Ryan Rebalkin:

kind of yell, talks in his films.

Katie:

Does he,

Ryan Rebalkin:

just has, or he has a very strong projected voice.

Ryan Rebalkin:

On.

Ryan Rebalkin:

He always has a kind

Katie:

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Katie:

That's, yep.

Katie:

I know what you mean now.

Katie:

Yeah,

Katie:

I know what you mean.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah,

Katie:

Well, he always has one of the things I noticed watching this is that

Katie:

his hair is always perfectly styled.

Katie:

That hair.

Ryan Rebalkin:

is a 72 year old man.

Ryan Rebalkin:

He still has that hair.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I love it.

Katie:

He does have good hair, but , he just gets done swimming in a sewer pipe.

Katie:

And like two minutes later his hair's perfectly styled.

Katie:

But obviously Jack Nicholson and Clint Eastwood did not sign on to do this movie.

Katie:

But apparently Russell based his performance on John Wayne

Ryan Rebalkin:

Okay, fair.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I see that.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I

Katie:

and similarly his performance with Snake PLIs skin on Clint Eastwood.

Katie:

So that was kind of an interesting little crossover.

Ryan Rebalkin:

He was 35, by the way, in this film.

Katie:

it Okay.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I love

Katie:

Did you, were you surprised by that?

Ryan Rebalkin:

yes

Katie:

you surprised by that?

Ryan Rebalkin:

he, I knew, you know, this was 30 odd years ago, so he

Ryan Rebalkin:

had to be, you know, this is almost 40 years ago, so that makes sense.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

He's 35 cause he's 72 now.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And yeah, it's just, it's weird to see, you know, seeing him.

Ryan Rebalkin:

young, this 10 years younger than I am now, 12 years younger than I am now.

Ryan Rebalkin:

That's just weird to me.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Cuz even when you watch it, it's hard for me to see him being

Ryan Rebalkin:

younger than me now in this film.

Katie:

Oh, that's like a time warp.

Katie:

I don't really wanna get, like yeah, yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

you, you know, the first time I knew I was

Ryan Rebalkin:

older, just not old, but older.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Cause I don't think I'm old, but just when you know, oh, I'm aging, like

Katie:

Mm-hmm.

Ryan Rebalkin:

happening is when my dentist was younger than me.

Ryan Rebalkin:

That was my first big oh boy.

Ryan Rebalkin:

My dentist who's fixing my teeth is younger than I am.

Ryan Rebalkin:

That was a big moment for me when

Katie:

yes.

Katie:

And we aren't getting, we're, we're vintage is what I like to call it now.

Katie:

I'm not old, I'm vintage.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Like I said, if you're older than your dentist,

Ryan Rebalkin:

you're, you're not young

Ryan Rebalkin:

not

Ryan Rebalkin:

you're older than

Ryan Rebalkin:

not young anymore.

Katie:

when you know, when I still get asked for my ID because they ask everyone

Katie:

for the id and then they , look so quickly and they're like, well, I see the 19,

Katie:

if you were born in the nineteens, not

Ryan Rebalkin:

you're

Katie:

Yeah.

Katie:

19 anything.

Katie:

Yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Right.

Ryan Rebalkin:

enough.

Katie:

Yeah.

Katie:

Crazy, right?

Ryan Rebalkin:

good point.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

All right.

Katie:

So what did you think about the green eyed business

Ryan Rebalkin:

I did some math.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So in 1986, if I remember correctly, there's about 3

Ryan Rebalkin:

billion people, give or take.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So I did.

Ryan Rebalkin:

How many people have, what's the percentage of people that

Ryan Rebalkin:

have green eyes in the world?

Ryan Rebalkin:

2% and

Ryan Rebalkin:

3 billion is 60 million people.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So they had a lot to choose from.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Why?

Ryan Rebalkin:

Why was this?

Ryan Rebalkin:

They had 60 million people that could they needed to give it that

Ryan Rebalkin:

in half they have to be female.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Fine then,

Ryan Rebalkin:

half say 18 and over.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So at least they're adults.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So you know, they're at least sacrificing that.

Ryan Rebalkin:

An adult person, not a child.

Ryan Rebalkin:

You're still looking at about 15 million girls they could have chosen, but they

Ryan Rebalkin:

made it seem like Korean knives was like

Ryan Rebalkin:

a billion.

Katie:

I, I know.

Katie:

They're like, haven't you been able to find anyone over the

Katie:

la They even said something as much like, it's been 2000 years.

Katie:

You haven't, and something always goes wrong with the

Katie:

wedding or marriage or whatever.

Katie:

But also if he's looking in Chinatown

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah, sure.

Ryan Rebalkin:

To say it had to be an Asian with green eyes, but they didn't say that.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Did they say it had to

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Katie:

No, because they end up, he LOPA ends up with both Wang's

Katie:

fiance who has like, just arrived from China and then Gracie who?

Katie:

Kim

Katie:

Yeah.

Katie:

Now interestingly, neither of them actually have green eyes in real life.

Katie:

They were contacts for the movie, but I do have green eyes and so I always

Katie:

thought that was really interesting and that they made such a big deal about it.

Katie:

And also my friend group is disproportionately green-eyed, it's

Katie:

it's 2% of the world, but 9% of America, which is still really small.

Katie:

And so we're like, wow.

Katie:

It's really odd that so many of us have green eyes.

Katie:

But watching this as a kid, apparently to just like,

Katie:

make the spell go away by your sacrifice.

Katie:

It has to be a green-eyed person,

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So I went to Reddit really quickly, Reddit Square for this.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So somebody asked the very same question, like, why, you know, why

Ryan Rebalkin:

did LOPA not look outside of the Chinese race for Green Eye women?

Ryan Rebalkin:

some, I, I like this answer here.

Ryan Rebalkin:

They said LOPA is old school, which involves a touch of racism.

Katie:

of course.

Katie:

Oh, oh, yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

like he's 2300 years ago, racist.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It hadn't honestly never occurred to him to consider anyone besides a Chinese

Ryan Rebalkin:

woman until Gracie fell into his lap.

Katie:

Mm-hmm.

Katie:

and they, they, when they're in the brothel.

Katie:

So there's a scene where this is also like, I didn't catch this

Katie:

at all, obviously when I was like six or seven watching this.

Katie:

There's a scene where it's just casual human trafficking, like no big deal.

Katie:

The fiance of Wang gets stolen and placed in this brothel.

Katie:

So then Kurt Russell goes in as a nerd, trying to ask for her so

Katie:

he can kind of, we'll, we'll just buy her back or steal her back.

Katie:

Like again, this is just like casual human trafficking in a comedy in 1986.

Katie:

Like, that's hilarious.

Katie:

But he's like, I'm really in the mood for one with green eyes.

Katie:

And again, they're in Chinatown, so it's all like Chinese women and

Katie:

the like mistress of the brothels, like Chinese girls don't come in

Katie:

green eyes or something like that.

Katie:

And then that, that peaks the interest.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Did like the the ghost groping scene that he's trying to grop.

Ryan Rebalkin:

The bow ying on the table when she's knocked out.

Ryan Rebalkin:

She's like, Cosby style styled out on the table and he tries to touch

Ryan Rebalkin:

her through her chest, but he goes through her chest cuz he's a ghost.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And he's, then he starts do you call it?

Ryan Rebalkin:

Talking to himself saying, I can't wait till I get a body

Katie:

I don't even think I remember that because I'm so overjoyed when

Katie:

I see the wedding scenes again, I'm a kid and I'm like, the dresses,

Katie:

the makeup, the head pieces,

Ryan Rebalkin:

right?

Ryan Rebalkin:

who's

Katie:

costuming.

Katie:

Yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

does he put his hands through her chest?

Ryan Rebalkin:

Like, oh, he's trying to grow at first.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Like, what is he doing?

Ryan Rebalkin:

Cuz he keeps scrolling through her body with his ghost hands.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I was like, dude.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And the, oh, he's talking about he can't touch her.

Ryan Rebalkin:

He's trying to grope her.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Anyway.

Katie:

did you think about So Lo Pan, God, I don't know.

Katie:

I just thought he's like iconic.

Katie:

His hair, his like costume, his long nails.

Katie:

was funny too.

Ryan Rebalkin:

yeah, I tell the wheelchair I, I should do like a montage

Ryan Rebalkin:

clips of just him and his wheelchair.

Ryan Rebalkin:

He was hilarious answering the phone and stuff.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I don't know, its just funny seeing him in his wheelchair.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I, I thought his clips and lines were funny.

Katie:

It was funny, but again, he was scary looking.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Well, the green eye or the, the laser light eyes

Ryan Rebalkin:

coming outta the mouth and eyes.

Ryan Rebalkin:

That was pretty

Ryan Rebalkin:

that was a very John Carpent ish thing.

Ryan Rebalkin:

There's a very couple

Katie:

Is it

Ryan Rebalkin:

of just,

Ryan Rebalkin:

a freaky a little bit.

Ryan Rebalkin:

That's a little bit of the whore old school.

Ryan Rebalkin:

light coming outta the eyes and mouth.

Ryan Rebalkin:

That's a

Ryan Rebalkin:

image of just like, ah, the lights coming out.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Very demonic.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And I love the puppet tree with the, the floating head that gets stabbed.

Ryan Rebalkin:

that kind of stuff.

Ryan Rebalkin:

You know, it's a tongue that came out and like ate something out of

Ryan Rebalkin:

or something.

Ryan Rebalkin:

You could tell it was

Ryan Rebalkin:

u under a glove type costume coming through the,

Katie:

Okay.

Katie:

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Katie:

Yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

puppet.

Ryan Rebalkin:

But still, I loved it.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Very fa I loved that old school makeup and puppetry.

Katie:

Me too actually.

Katie:

I, I actually noted how much I really like, still to this

Katie:

day, the effects in this movie.

Katie:

Like, it's

Katie:

fun.

Katie:

Yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

it's hard to, I don't know how, I don't know how to

Ryan Rebalkin:

explain it, but the puppetry of these cre, which would just be CGI today,

Katie:

Mm-hmm.

Ryan Rebalkin:

but there's something about that floating

Ryan Rebalkin:

head and it's smiled and stuff.

Ryan Rebalkin:

You could tell it was real puppets and there's something, cuz it just looks

Ryan Rebalkin:

real, like, it looks not real in the sense that we know it's not a real

Ryan Rebalkin:

there's something, it's there and all the actors are looking at it, you know?

Ryan Rebalkin:

And there's something about that that we don't have today.

Katie:

And I had kind of forgotten about, so there's a

Katie:

lot of creatures in this movie.

Katie:

There was that Sasquatch predator looking thing that ends up at the

Katie:

Endowing A Ride, you know, in, in,

Ryan Rebalkin:

Man, apparently,

Katie:

oh, I didn't know

Katie:

it had a name.

Katie:

It looks like a Sasquatch, but with the predator head.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It's a weird creature.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It's, it's like we're supposed to be scared of the scene, but if you

Ryan Rebalkin:

recall in the movie Kim Catrell Gracie's the character Gracie

Ryan Rebalkin:

kicked it in the back of the knee.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And if our leg even at one

Ryan Rebalkin:

The big actress se sequence at the end, and it went down , like a twig.

Katie:

I don't know how scary it was supposed to be either, cuz it,

Katie:

it hitches a ride, it sts away at the end in Jack's truck, like in,

Katie:

you know, typical eighties fashion.

Katie:

You know, you think it's the end, but then it's not.

Ryan Rebalkin:

the, again, that's the classic John

Ryan Rebalkin:

Carpenter horror storytelling.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Cause in horror

Ryan Rebalkin:

when the person gets away, the girl gets away at the end, we

Ryan Rebalkin:

always get some sort of indication.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Mm.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Are they really

Katie:

it's not, it's not over.

Ryan Rebalkin:

standby for

Katie:

Okay.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So that was a, that was a horror movie move that

Ryan Rebalkin:

wasn't a, again, this is not, Indiana Jones wouldn't do this.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Jones Film doesn't have a false ending, but this is a John Carpenter horror movie

Ryan Rebalkin:

guy has, even though this is not a horror movie in the sense of it's not, there's

Ryan Rebalkin:

a couple of creatures and stuff, but that ending is very much a horror movie ending.

Katie:

Good insight.

Katie:

I wouldn't see, I'm not a big horror person, so I wouldn't have

Katie:

known that, but that's, to me, it seems just very eighties esque.

Katie:

But I, that's,

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Katie:

like this point of view.

Ryan Rebalkin:

called Wild Man.

Ryan Rebalkin:

called The Wild Man

Katie:

Yeah, I mean, this movie is unlike anything else.

Katie:

It's hard to describe and it was hard to market, the premise is crazy.

Katie:

All of the magic and the mysticism and everything, the

Katie:

characters, it's just so much fun.

Katie:

I it, it would be really difficult.

Katie:

I'm not sure how I would think about this movie if I watched it

Katie:

for the first time as an adult,

Katie:

to me it's just so much nostalgia because it's fun and the lightning effects,

Katie:

like like weird science had it too.

Katie:

It was big in the eighties, like the lightning out of the hands and stuff

Ryan Rebalkin:

and

Ryan Rebalkin:

bad.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I feel bad because I know behind the scenes here when you of course invited

Ryan Rebalkin:

me to come on and on the premier episode, I'm very honored that you did that.

Ryan Rebalkin:

asked me which one, and of course my, my brain went to Tombstone because I

Ryan Rebalkin:

could talk about it right now without any kind of, I wouldn't have to re-watch the

Ryan Rebalkin:

thing, but I'm like, no, no, I'm gonna do that anyways for my Western podcast.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So I didn't even tell you, and I, maybe I should have, I'm sorry, but I didn't

Ryan Rebalkin:

even tell you that I hadn't seen the film

Katie:

I didn't know that.

Katie:

I probably would've had you pick a different,

Katie:

it probably would've been a different discussion had you had the same

Katie:

nostalgic memories as me, but

Ryan Rebalkin:

don't have,

Katie:

the different perspective is fine.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I don't have any

Ryan Rebalkin:

so I don't, so I'm coming in fresh.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So I, I attacked it that way and I, I mean, that's why I

Ryan Rebalkin:

if I could rewatch a film, I, I may as well watch something

Ryan Rebalkin:

I haven't seen before.

Ryan Rebalkin:

But I didn't tell you that

Katie:

That's so funny.

Katie:

Well, also, I didn't say just any pick, I wanted the first few episodes

Katie:

to be certain films, and so I only gave you a choice of like a handful.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I, I'm sorry.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I apologize.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So whoever covers

Ryan Rebalkin:

better do a good job.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And of course

Katie:

Well, I have an idea for tombstone

Ryan Rebalkin:

I'm a

Ryan Rebalkin:

nerd and

Ryan Rebalkin:

film so much.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Okay.

Ryan Rebalkin:

All right.

Katie:

I think I've only seen that like one time,

Katie:

like 30 years ago or whenever.

Katie:

Yeah.

Katie:

Yeah.

Katie:

So,

Katie:

yep.

Katie:

Yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

little, big trouble Little China.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Okay.

Katie:

Exactly.

Katie:

So, wanna wrap up, but we have to talk about the three, what are they called?

Katie:

Like thunder, lightning, and the three storms

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah.

Katie:

Do you have any thoughts?

Katie:

For me, it was just their entrance, their skills, their all, everything about it.

Katie:

I was just like, mesmerized.

Katie:

I freaking love it.

Katie:

With the hats,

Ryan Rebalkin:

what the hats, okay.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Sorry, I'll say this again.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I, I get why people would've got a kick out of it.

Ryan Rebalkin:

See, I watched it knowing, okay, I see why people got a kick out of this.

Ryan Rebalkin:

But at the same time, I the hats were so oversized,

Ryan Rebalkin:

they

Katie:

that's part of it.

Katie:

Yes.

Katie:

couldn't even see.

Ryan Rebalkin:

No, they can't say.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Well, they, you did notice there's spaces between like

Ryan Rebalkin:

the bamboo sticks or whatever.

Ryan Rebalkin:

can't, you know, Jordy laforge from Star Trek, the Next Generation.

Ryan Rebalkin:

How

Ryan Rebalkin:

Okay.

Ryan Rebalkin:

He wears glasses across his eyes cause he is blind.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So the actor

Ryan Rebalkin:

prop glasses, so you can't see his eyes, but the actor can see through the glasses.

Ryan Rebalkin:

But basically he looks through slits in the glasses.

Katie:

got it.

Katie:

That.

Ryan Rebalkin:

the same thing with these bamboo it, it it,

Ryan Rebalkin:

the, they're so oversized.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It it's like, again, like naked gun.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It'd be like if Naked Gun was doing a parody this film.

Ryan Rebalkin:

There has to be that You ever see space balls,

Katie:

Yeah, I've seen space balls.

Katie:

Yeah,

Ryan Rebalkin:

you know, the helmet's so big on Rick Moran

Katie:

yeah,

Katie:

Oh, Rick Mos

Ryan Rebalkin:

me of is, is these old, like, why are these so big?

Ryan Rebalkin:

And then what was even more confusing, cuz their faces were covered, then

Ryan Rebalkin:

they spent half the film with them off.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So I had a hard time keeping

Ryan Rebalkin:

oh, these

Katie:

Who, who, which ones hit.

Katie:

Yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

on.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So I was a little bit confused about who's with who.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So when they start doing their magical power, so Oh, that's one

Ryan Rebalkin:

of the stars without the hat on.

Katie:

Yeah.

Katie:

And then the one has this luxurious long hair, and the the one like blows

Katie:

literally, literally blows up at the end.

Ryan Rebalkin:

yeah.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Why are we why did he, was he just trying to, like, he killed

Ryan Rebalkin:

himself to kill the characters?

Ryan Rebalkin:

Was that the idea?

Ryan Rebalkin:

He wanted to take the building down saying, well, I'm gonna kill myself to

Ryan Rebalkin:

kill Jack Burton in the gang because

Katie:

Oh God, you're thinking way too much.

Katie:

And I don't know, it was just fun.

Ryan Rebalkin:

He snow,

Katie:

He did

Ryan Rebalkin:

And the building came down only a little bit of around

Ryan Rebalkin:

him, but he basically sacrificed his life to kill Jack Burton, the gang.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And they just ran away like 20 feet . It's like, okay,

Katie:

because his boss ha cuz Lopez had already been killed with a super

Katie:

awesome knife throw to the forehead

Ryan Rebalkin:

was a callback to the beer bottle catch scene.

Katie:

It's all in the reflexes.

Katie:

Yeah.

Katie:

But I think he was just like, cuz he's the one, I think he's thunder.

Katie:

He's so angry.

Katie:

He literally got so angry that he exploded.

Katie:

I don't know.

Ryan Rebalkin:

steam came out of his nose , like a kettle ready to boil, you know,

Katie:

Yes.

Katie:

Yeah, I, I don't know why there were so many just thrown

Katie:

in components to this movie

Katie:

that, for me made it just fantastically, amazingly eighties.

Katie:

Awesome.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And here's the thing.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So as a first time viewer in 2023, yes.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I will say this as part of your retro made podcast, is that

Ryan Rebalkin:

it made me feel young again.

Katie:

Aw,

Ryan Rebalkin:

It made me like, oh yeah, that's what makes the eighties special.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It, it was a, to the soundtrack, the, special effects the, costume, the

Ryan Rebalkin:

makeup, the hair, everything was eighties.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And so yeah, it's like, yeah, this is an eighties movie and that's

Ryan Rebalkin:

why the eighties are the best.

Katie:

we didn't, oh, I have to ask you this cuz it, I, I actually

Katie:

posed this question on Facebook.

Katie:

So the jacket, I think it's actually called, so at the beginning of the movie,

Katie:

the Baja, it's called like a Baja jacket.

Ryan Rebalkin:

one.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I'll see if I can

Katie:

What,

Ryan Rebalkin:

I

Katie:

what did you call it though?

Katie:

We didn't?

Katie:

Like they were regional.

Katie:

Dang it.

Katie:

can remember what we called them.

Ryan Rebalkin:

was a beach bum guy.

Ryan Rebalkin:

so I had one for sure and I loved those things.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I love, it was one of my favorite jackets of all time.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I'll see if I can find a picture of it.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I got, I think Wore was 15 or 16 years old.

Ryan Rebalkin:

They were around for a while and I

Katie:

They're back again, like people wear them again now

Katie:

. Ryan Rebalkin: I, love it.

Katie:

It's my

Katie:

of all time.

Katie:

I love those jackets

Katie:

It's like epitomizes that time period.

Katie:

Yes it is.

Katie:

But we called it something and I believe that there's different

Katie:

regional slang terms for them

Ryan Rebalkin:

and that's funny

Katie:

my whole, nobody can remember.

Katie:

So listeners, please let me know comments you know, either on Facebook or on YouTube

Katie:

or email, retro made podcast gmail.com.

Katie:

What did you call this Baja jacket?

Katie:

There's terms for it.

Katie:

I'd love to know.

Ryan Rebalkin:

agreed.

Katie:

had to remember that.

Katie:

Okay.

Katie:

So this super fun talking big trouble in little China with you, but we,

Katie:

we can't, remain in 1986, Ryan.

Katie:

We have to get back to the real world, unfortunately.

Katie:

But I am super honored to have you guessed on my very first

Katie:

episode of the Retro Made Podcast.

Ryan Rebalkin:

The pleasure

Katie:

thank you enough for joining me.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And I, I talk too much.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I'm sorry.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It's

Katie:

No, that's why you're a good podcaster.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Oh.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Is that how it works?

Katie:

So, speaking of, you have a lot of projects and I

Katie:

want people to know about them.

Katie:

What are you up to and where, where can they be found?

Ryan Rebalkin:

it sound more than really.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So I do the one more round, the Rocket Series podcast with you and

Ryan Rebalkin:

of course our fellow co-host Kyle.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So just Google just the easiest thing to do.

Ryan Rebalkin:

People always give like just Google one more

Ryan Rebalkin:

Series podcast and it'll show up where we're found.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I also do, it's a long road, the Ramble Series podcast.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Again, just Google that and I co and I do that with my co-host Dom

Ryan Rebalkin:

and we are currently on season four covering the fourth ramble film.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So we're, yeah, we're kind of nearing the end of that series and I have

Ryan Rebalkin:

some ideas to do with him afterwards.

Ryan Rebalkin:

With Dom if he, wants to do that with me.

Ryan Rebalkin:

But

Ryan Rebalkin:

yeah, that's a fun, he's a great guy and he is a lot of fun and we're doing

Ryan Rebalkin:

a lot of fun and good work on that.

Ryan Rebalkin:

We just started ramble the fourth film.

Ryan Rebalkin:

then I also do a podcast called The Worst of the Best Podcast with my brother Jason.

Ryan Rebalkin:

That's about once a month that we get around to doing that.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And that's just another little side project where we curate a list of

Ryan Rebalkin:

something, you know, top something, whether it's a conspiracy theory,

Ryan Rebalkin:

a movie or actor or whatever it is.

Ryan Rebalkin:

We talk about each item in the list and then we pick at the end,

Ryan Rebalkin:

independent of each other, what we think is the worst from that list.

Ryan Rebalkin:

Yeah, that's the big three projects or the podcast that I do.

Ryan Rebalkin:

And I just, I just enjoy podcasting.

Ryan Rebalkin:

It's a lot of fun and I get to make, meet people.

Ryan Rebalkin:

I think it's the funnest thing.

Ryan Rebalkin:

So people like you, Katie?

Katie:

Aw.

Katie:

And I'm so glad that you have them because otherwise I wouldn't

Katie:

know you, your joy to listen to.

Katie:

And I'm excited for all for your new projects that you

Katie:

will all have to stay tuned.

Katie:

Yep.

Katie:

We'll have to stay tuned for that.

Ryan Rebalkin:

yeah.

Katie:

Yes.

Katie:

Well, for you that are listening, if you like the show, please tell a friend.

Katie:

We can be nostalgic nerds together.

Katie:

And a nice rating goes a long way too.

Katie:

Hint hint.

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