In this episode of the Austin Powers Rewatch, Cory and Nathan get a bit groovy as they discuss "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery."
Trailer:
Our Favourite Trivia:
Mike Myers created the character of Austin Powers for the faux 1960s rock band Ming Tea that Myers started with Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs following his Saturday Night Live stint in the early 1990s. Myers said that the movie and the character were inspired by the British films, music and comedy of the 1960s and 70s his father had introduced him to as a child.
Myers sought Jim Carrey to play Dr. Evil, as his initial plan was not to play multiple characters in the series. Carrey was interested in the part, but had to turn the role down due to scheduling conflicts with Liar Liar.
Dr. Evil's appearance is based on Bond's archnemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld portrayed by Donald Pleasence in You Only Live Twice (1967), while his voice and mannerisms are based on longtime Saturday Night Live (1975) executive producer Lorne Michaels. Ironically Pleasance was the star of the Halloween (1978) series of films where his archnemesis was named 'Michael Myers'
Filming locations included Riviera Hotel and Casino and Stardust Resort & Casino in Winchester, Nevada
Daniel Craig, who has portrayed James Bond on screen since 2006, credited the Austin Powers franchise with the relatively serious tone of later Bond films.
This fared poorly at the UK box office when it was released in the wake of Princess Diana's tragic death. Ironically, The Full Monty (1997) was a colossal hit in Britain for the same reason, as it was felt that British audiences needed cheering up in such sad times. This movie went on to be a huge seller on the UK DVD market.
A few actors who played memorable Seinfeld (1989) characters have roles in this movie. Larry Thomas, who played the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld, portrays the blackjack dealer. Brian George, who played Babu Batt on Seinfeld, plays the U.N. Secretary. Patrick Bristow, who played the Wigmaster on Seinfeld, portrays Bolton the Virtucon tour guide. Robert Wagner also guest starred in "The Yada Yada".
Joe Son, the actor who played Random Task, is serving a lifetime in prison for torture of a 19-year-old woman in 1990. He went uncaptured until 2008 when a DNA match linked him to the crime. According to the victim, she unknowingly had a copy of this movie in her home until her attacker's identity was revealed. In 2017, he was sentenced to an additional 27 years for murdering his cellmate.
What's Up Next?
Austin's next adventure takes us back to his own time in "Austin Powers; The Spy Who Shagged Me."
In this weeks episode of The Firefly Rewatch, Cory and Tom lose the loot more than once as they discuss episodes 2 & 3, "The Train Job" and "Bushwhacked."
The Train Job:
Written by: Joss Whedon & Tim Minear
Directed by: Tim Minear
Original airdate: September 20, 2002 as episode 1
After a good old fashioned bar fight ensues on Unification Day, Mal and crew head off to see one Adelai Niska, a man known for his unforgiving nature if displeased with your job performance. His job is seemingly simple: steal a set of boxes from a train. However, once Mal and Zoe board the train, they discover it is occupied by dozens of Alliance soldiers.
The heist begins perfectly, with Jayne landing down through a hatch in the train ceiling, and getting the cargo up, but a soldier happens upon them and begins firing, hitting Jayne in the leg as Mal and Zoe subdue the soldier. The two head back to the main compartment, tossing a smoke bomb as a distraction so they can blend in with the other passengers as Serenity flies away safely.
The Serenity crew debate what to do with Jayne pushing to go finish the job with Niska, while the others vote for staying and waiting for Mal and Zoe, with Book reasonably starting that Niska would likely not be happy if the captain does not return to complete the deal. Meanwhile when the train stops at the next town, Paradisio, Mal and Zoe pretend to be newlyweds, explaining to authorities that their “uncle” told them they could find a job here before they learn that everyone in the town contracts a degenerative disease due to the nature of the ore underground that is mined with the stolen cargo being the only medicine known to help them all live normal lives.
Back on Serenity, Jayne begins to assert his command by ordering them to take off for Niska, but Simon, pretending to give him pain meds for his injury, actually gives him a sedative which makes him pass out and allowing the rest of the crew to come up with a plan to rescue Mal and Zoe, involving Inara’s credentials as a companion. Claiming Mal and Zoe are escaped servants, she is easily able to pass their security checks and retrieve them. Mal and Zoe let the rest of the crew know that they plan to return the meds and will deal with Niska later, however his right hand man named Crow has shown up, seeking them out after they missed the rendezvous. A fight ensues with the Serenity crew eventually gaining the upper hand. Mal tries to give the money back to Crow to tell Niska the deal is off, but Crow balks and threatens him instead leading Mal to kick him into the engines of the ship, killing him. The next in command of Niska’s crew is then much more agreeable to delivering by Mal’s message.
Mal and Zoe go to return the meds, but are met by the sheriff who had a suspicion about them, but is appreciative that they changed their minds after learning of the town’s problems. They take the meds back to town while back on board Serenity, Simon fixes up Mal’s wounds as they discuss River’s mental issues and how to deal with them as she sits in her quarters repeating a rhyme about “hands of blue.”
Elsewhere, the Alliance officer who received the report of the train theft but ignored it, talks with two men who have questions about the incident, two men who happen to be wearing blue gloves.
Shiny Trivia:
Niska was played by Michael Fairman. We’ve seen him before in the Quantum Leap episode “The Great Spontini” as Judge Mulhearn. Indeed, he’s played a judge on more than one occasion, most notably in LA Law. He’s had a long career of guest appearances in sitcoms and dramas, with a recurring role on the original Cagney and Lacey show and a short stint of 61 episodes in the soap opera Ryan’s Hope. More recently, he has had a recurring role in The Young and the Restless as well as a role in Jim Carrey’s series Kidding, the story of a children’s TV show host dealing with his family falling apart.
The Sheriff was played by Gregg Henry. He’s had roles in The Killing, The Following, Hung, and The Riches, and guest starred The Gilmore Girls, Murder She Wrote and 24. He also played Grandpa Quill in the movie Guardians of the Galaxy. Most recently, he has had recurring roles in Scandal and Black Lightning. We’ve seen him before in the Voyagers! episode “The Bully and Billy” as Teddy Roosevelt.
Crow was played by Andrew Bryniarski. We’ve seen him before in the Lois & Clark episode “Virtually Destroyed” as X. He appears mainly in action oriented roles, most notably Street Fighter, Hudson Hawk and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Most recently was in 2018’s American Dresser.
The Fed was played by Eric Lange. He was in Lost as Stuart Radzinsky. He had a main supporting role in Nickelodeon‘s Victorious, and most recently appeared in Narcos, Man in the High Castle, Escape at Dannemora, Waco, Easy To Assemble and The Bridge.
Bushwhacked:
Written by: Tim Minear
Directed by: Tim Minear
Original airdate: September 27, 2002 as episode 2
When the crew of Serenity comes across an old derelict spaceship, followed by a floating corpse in space, they immediately decide to check it out, not just just for survivors, but barring any, for supplies and provisions. The ship appears to be deserted, with things left in such a state that if the crew abandoned the ship, they did so very quickly, as they left behind basic survival supplies. After seeing the crew wrapped up and hung from the ceiling, Mal reasons that the ship must have been attacked by reavers and orders everyone back to Serenity. Jayne finds himself attacked by the sole survivor of the ship but manages to get off a shot. They track down the survivor and Mal punches him, knocking him unconscious in order to get him back aboard their ship.
With the survivor locked in the infirmary, Book asks to go to the ship to lay the people to rest to which Simon agrees to help, and Jayne is ordered to retrieve the survival supplies. In the meantime, Kaylee has to work out a way to get Serenity safely away from the derelict as the Reavers have installed a booby trap that would blow up any ship that docked and then tried to leave. Luckily Kaylee’s skills manage to deactivate the trap and with the supplies loaded, Serenity takes off.
Another problem turns up in the shape of The Alliance, who have also found the derelict ship while on patrol and decide to check the firefly class ship out as well, especially given that a similar ship had a flag issued about it weeks ago for possibly harboring a known fugitive and his sister. Mal plays nice with the Alliance captain, Hardin, by not hiding their cargo and going along with their wishes and interrogation. Simon and River, on Mal’s instructions, hide on the outside of the ship in spacesuits to avoid detection.
In the infirmary of the Alliance ship, the survivor, brought there by the Alliance doctors, has suddenly started attacking them, becoming, as Mal tells Harkin, a reaver himself after he witnessed their atrocities. The survivor escapes and makes his way back to Serenity to hunt on familiar territory while Mal convinces Harkin to let him come along to help.
Once back upon his ship, they search the vessel for the survivor before he appears suddenly and takes out the Alliance’s men. Mal manages to grab the survivor from behind and breaks his neck, using his cuffed hands as a weapon, saving Harkin, who then releases the Serenity crew in exchange for Mal’s good deed. The Alliance does however, keep the cargo Mal and company salvaged, and blows up the derelict ship for good measure.
Shiny Trivia:
Tim Minear was the executive producer on Firefly. He got his start as an intern on the set of the film Re-Animator, and got his first writing credit for the movie Diggin’ Up Business, starring Lynn-Holly Johnson from For Your Eyes Only. He wrote for several TV series across the 90s, most notably for Lois & Clark, where he also served as executive story editor, and later on The X-Files. He teamed with Joss Whedon for the series Angel where he branched into directing, returning to that position again for both Firefly and Dollhouse.
Doug Savant played Harken. He played Brad in the original Teen Wolf movie. He went on to play Matt Fielding on 5 seasons of Melrose Place, and left the show during the first episode of the 6th season. He was also a lead in Desperate Housewives for 175 episodes and has had a few guest roles in NCIS, SWAT, 24 and the new MacGuyver. He also had one-and-done roles in the Rush Hour TV series, X-Files, Notorious and Castle.
Branden Morgan played the survivor. He also played Rudolph Valentino in an episode of The Sarah Connor Chronicles (s2e11). He was also a “fan” in Black Sheep, and most recently appeared in Fast and Furious: Supercharged, a new 3D HD ride at Universal Studios where he played an FBI agent.
The derelict spaceship set was recycled from an old "Power Rangers" series.
Whats Next?
Cory and Tom will be discussing episodes 4&5, "Shindig" & "Safe."
Thanks:
For more information, head over to the Firefly-Serenity Fan Wiki. We thank them for compiling information on the show.
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In this episode of the James Bond 007 Rewatch, Cory and Nathan start to take thing personally as they discuss "License to Kill."
Trailer:
The Music of License to Kill:
Initially Vic Flick, who had played lead guitar on Monty Norman's original 007 theme, and Eric Clapton were asked to write and perform the theme song to Licence to Kill and they produced a theme to match Dalton's gritty performance, but the producers turned it down and instead Gladys Knight's song and performance was chosen. The song (one of the longest to ever be used in a Bond film) was based on the "horn line" from "Goldfinger", seen as an homage to the film of the same name, which required royalty payments to the original writers. The song gave Knight her first British top-ten hit since 1977. The end credits feature the Top 10 R&B hit "If You Asked Me To", sung by Patti LaBelle.
John Barry was not available at the time due to throat surgery, so the soundtrack's score was composed and conducted by Michael Kamen, who was known for scoring many action films at the time, such as Lethal Weapon and Die Hard. Glen said he picked Kamen, feeling he could give "the closest thing to John Barry."
Our Favourite Trivia:
Licence to Kill was the first film in the series to not use the title of an Ian Fleming story. Although its plotline is largely original, it contains elements of the Fleming novel Live and Let Die and the short story "The Hildebrand Rarity", interwoven with a sabotage premise influenced by Akira Kurosawa's film Yojimbo.
Originally titled Licence Revoked in line with the plot, the name was changed during post-production due to American test audiences associating the term with driving.
Licence to Kill was the fifth and final consecutive Bond film to be directed by John Glen, as well as the last to feature actors Robert Brown as M and Caroline Bliss as Miss Moneypenny, and the final Bond film to utilise the services of screenwriter Richard Maibaum, title designer Maurice Binder, and producer Albert R. Broccoli before Maibaum and Binder's deaths in 1991, and Broccoli's passing in 1996.
Budgetary reasons resulted in Licence to Kill becoming the first Bond film to be shot entirely outside the United Kingdom: principal photography took place on location in Mexico and the US, while interiors were filmed at Estudios Churubusco instead of Pinewood Studios. The film earned over $156 million worldwide, and enjoyed a generally positive critical reception, with ample praise for the stunts, but attracted some criticism for its significantly darker tone than its predecessors, which carried into Dalton's portrayal of the character.
For the primary location, the producers wanted a place where the series had not yet visited. While China was visited after an invitation by its government, the idea fell through partly because the 1987 film The Last Emperor had removed some of the novelty from filming in China. By this stage the writers had already talked about a chase sequence along the Great Wall, as well as a fight scene amongst the Terracotta Army.
After Carey Lowell was chosen to play Pam Bouvier, she watched many of the films in the series for inspiration. Lowell had described becoming a Bond girl as "huge shoes to fill", as she did not see herself as a "glamour girl", even coming to audition in jeans and a leather jacket. Lowell wore a wig for the early scenes but uses her own hair style in the later scene after she is sent by Bond to buy new clothes
It is widely and incorrectly rumored that this was Timothy Dalton's last James Bond film due it being financially disappointing. In reality, Dalton was to star in a third James Bond film after this one, titled "Property of a Lady". However legal issues with MGM beginning that year created long delays and Dalton's contract expired in 1994. John Landis, Ted Kotcheff and John Byrum were all under consideration to direct.
What's Up Next?
The 80's has closed out on Bond and so has a era in style of storytelling. But the memories lived on and were lovingly parodied in our next series rewatch, "Austin Powers."
In this weeks episode of The Firefly Rewatch, Cory and Tom gather with an interesting crew as they discuss episode 1, "Serenity."
Serenity:
Written by: Joss Whedon
Directed by: Joss Whedon
Original airdate: December 20, 2002 as episode 11
Years after the Unification War between the Alliance and the ultimately defeated Independents, Sgt. Malcolm Reynolds, one of those Independents, has become captain of his own Firefly-Class ship, Serenity, and with his crew travel the spaceways, getting by on providing passage to travelers as well as scavenging whatever they can to make a profit.
After narrowly escaping the Alliance after raiding one of their old derelict ships, Mal, second in command Zoe and Jayne a tough as nails soldier, attempt to sell their found merchandise but their buyer refuses to pay, due to the goods being branded by the Alliance and containing tracers, lowering their value, leaving Malcolm to take on a number of passengers in order to make some money as they head off to see another possible buyer. Also picked up is the ship’s Companion, Inara, a woman who makes her trade by selling her body to travelers, a service that is commonplace on these types of ships.
On the way to their destination, pilot Wash lets Mal know that someone aboard has sent a message to an alliance ship that is heading their way. The captain immediately suspects Dr Simon Tam, a passenger who came on board with a large computerized crate and confronts him, however another passenger, a preacher named Book, informs him he’s made the wrong choice, pointing behind him to reveal another passenger named Dobson holding a gun on them all, revealing himself to be an Alliance undercover officer who was tracking Simon. A fight ensues in which the ship’s engineer Kaylee ends up being shot before Dobson is finally subdued and imprisoned. Mal, wanting to hand over Simon to the Alliance to avoid trouble, instead makes a deal with Simon for him to try and help Kaylee using his doctoring skills, and while he easily removes the bullet, indicates that time is required to see if she will heal.
Jayne interrogates Dobson to find out how much he told the Alliance about them and their ship with Dobson offering Jayne a deal if he lets him go, enough money to buy his own ship.
Meanwhile, Mal, curious about what the alliance wanted Simon for opens up his high tech crate and discovers a girl inside, Simon’s sister River, whom he claims has a super high intellect in fields such as physics and dance but had enrolled in a special program funded by the Alliance which seemed great at first but was apparently used to perform unspecified experiments on the young girl. Simon helped River escape from the facility and was now on the run from the Alliance.
The Serenity arrives at Whitefall, home of their buyer named Patience, a woman Mal has had dealings with before and has been known to have been shot by in the past. Mal and Zoe meet with her while Jayne scouts the perimeter to search for possible snipers. Patience attempts to renege on their deal, wanting to keep the merchandise and the ones but Mal and Zoe manage to take out her crew and herself before Jayne informs them that a group of Reavers, a traveling raiding party full of murderers and rapists, has followed them here, despite the crew thinking they had successfully evaded them earlier.
Dobson manages to escape the brig, knocking out Book in the process and takes River as hostage. Simon tries to intervene but Mal arrives and shoots Dobson, saving the day and dumping his body off the ship. With the Reavers on their tail, a recovering Kaylee instructs Book on how to make adjustments that Wash needs in order to cause a fireball diversion so they can escape.
Book later confides in Inara with all that has gone on, that he is worried he chose the wrong ship but she suggests that he actually might have picked the one where he ought to be. Jayne tells Mal that Dobson said the Alliance will never stop looking for River before revealing that he was offered a bribe but didn’t take it. Mal approaches Simon and tells him a moving target will be harder for the Alliance to find and asks him and his sister to stay on the ship with him employed as their medic to which he readily accepts.
Shiny Trivia:
The main title theme is written by Joss Whedon and performed by Sonny Rhodes.
"Cry baby cry, make your mother sigh" is a reference to the Beatles song from The White Album.
The Alliance officer and soldier uniforms are leftovers from Starship Troopers (1997).
They were aired in this order: 2, 3, 6, preempted, 7, 8, 4, 5, 9, preempted, preempted, 10, 14, 1. Episodes 11, 12, and 13
Alan Tudyk admitted that whenever his character Wash got an order on the bridge, he would always flip the same three switches over his head, no matter what he was told to do.
The cannon Mal uses has a logo on it from Weyland-Yutani, the large conglomerate corporation in the Alien film franchise.
Nicholas Brendon was originally in mind for Mal. However, the shooting schedule conflicted with his commitment to Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997). Neil Patrick Harris also auditioned for the role of Simon.
Rebecca Gayheart was cast as Inara. She was let go because of chemistry with the cast.
The Alliance's full title is the "Anglo-Sino Alliance," a merger of USA and China, the last of the world's superpowers, with a blending of the US and Chinese flags.
Carlos Jacott played Dobson. He recently played a tv producer in the Adam Driver and Scarlett Johannsen movie Marriage Story. He’s appeared in guest roles on Psych, Big Love, and Studio 60on the Sunset Strip, among many others. He was also a main cast member in She Spies with Natasha Henstridge, and appeared in Grosse Pointe Black as Ken and Being John Malkovitch as Larry.
Mark Sheppard played Badger. We've seen him before in the Sliders episode "Net Worth" as Jack. Most recently he was in Doom Patrol as a guest actor and had a major run in Supernatural as Crowley (70 episodes). He also made guest appearances in Warehouse 13, White Collar, Leverage, 24, and Battlestar Galactica. He made a couple of appearances in Doctor Who playing the younger version of his father, Morgan William Sheppard, who also guest starred.
Patience was played by Bonnie Bartlett. She previously appeared in St. Elsewhere as a main cast member. Recently she's been a guest on Better Call Saul, with most of her roles being in the same vein. We have seen her before as Secretary General Andre Dre in the SeaQuest episode "The Last Lap At Luxury."
Jamie McShane played "Man." Most recently he played Zhaban in Star Trek Picard, as well as a recurring role in Seal Team as Captain Lindell. He played a lead role in the Zach Morris-led (Mark Paul Gosselaar) show The Passage, a show about a botched government experiment that turns a group of death row inmates into infectious vampires. He also had lead roles in Bloodlines, Murder In The First and Southland among others.
Deleted Scenes from this episode include: An extended opening where Mal wonders who’s colors God flies. Book is praying over River and discusses Serenity with Simon as he learns about the battle, saying "history is programmed by the winners."
Inara was to have a disease that kills anyone she has relations with. She treated it with a series of injections.
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