Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
S6 EP2 | Steamboat Willie is now public domain, so of course there will be schlocky horror versions made. The studio demands the guys craft one of their own, and wouldn't ya know it? Turns our schlock isn't necessarily a given.
Two screenwriters attempt to recreate, reimagine, or flat out fix, existing film franchises when 'the studio' demands...MORE FILMS! It's an exercise in creative thinking where they will challenge themselves to conceptualize, pitch, and craft a film based on the stipulations of a hypothetical Hollywood overlord. | Sixfive Media
Hello, and welcome to The Studio Demands It, an exercise in creative thinking where we will conceptualize, pitch, and craft a film or series based on the demands from one of you listeners acting as a hypothetical Hollywood author.
Jim:Oh, Lord. No. It it I should keep it to it. No. No.
Jim:No. A refrain.
T.C.:As professional screenwriters ourselves and massive cinephiles, we talk movies all the time. And we'd like to believe that we could meet any demand thrown at us. We will be your screenwriters for this episode. I am TC DeWitt, and joining me as always is Jim, why the chicken cross the road, Brezalek. Jim, it was it was brought to my attention recently.
T.C.:The reason I I there's, two reasons I've chose this as your middle or I found out this was your middle name and was excited to learn Uh-huh. That this is your middle name. One, that quite possibly could be the oldest joke in existence. And today, we are going to delve into some public domain conversation.
Jim:Oh. Yeah. Okay.
T.C.:But secondly, someone brought my attention. The the punchline of that joke is not what I've perceived it as my entire life.
Jim:Brazilic?
T.C.:Alright. Thank you for listening, everybody. This is Brazilic. I can't stop that. No.
T.C.:Okay. Why'd the chicken cross the road?
Jim:Brazilic. Brazilic. To to get to the other side.
T.C.:Right. It it was brought to my attention that that's not that what we literally think it was. It it could be interpreted as, and some people have interpreted as, why'd the chicken walk into traffic to die, to get to the other side? Oh. I it never dawned on me that that could be a way to read that joke.
T.C.:Is that why did the chicken cross the road to end his life?
Jim:I don't think that's
T.C.:No?
Jim:I think I think that no. I, I, I think I think the point to that joke is I I can't think of another example right now, other than,
T.C.:it's it's there is no subversion of expectation. It's exactly it's literal.
Jim:It's it's the because you're expecting a clever answer Yeah.
T.C.:And it's the most obvious thing. But it's and it's the most obvious thing.
Jim:But it's absurd in that we don't think about the notion of chickens wanting things.
T.C.:Yeah. I mean, that's I just always assumed it was that was the joke. It was just and
Jim:we going to continue to do so.
T.C.:I don't
Jim:like, I I I applaud that that analysis of, like, oh, the other side to to to it's a it's a it's a suicidal
T.C.:Yeah. It's a suicidal chicken.
Jim:Like, I I can I can also see the humor in that, but I do not believe that that is the original intent Mhmm? Of that joke.
T.C.:You you and I riffed, brainstormed a sketch idea that I did. The guy who invented the who came up with the joke of why the chicken crossed the road and, and, I don't know if that, that's, they'll probably be some way to figure out a way to like, put that somewhere animated or performative. But what when I think about humor of so long ago, what's the origin of
Jim:it? Mhmm.
T.C.:And how funny people must have must have thought that was like Mhmm. It is it is the joke of jokes. It could be written in stone for all we know. Everyone knows that joke. Every child knows that joke.
T.C.:It's that and knock knock who's there and then some punch line there. But even that takes more more thought than why the chicken crossed the road. The the reason I the the the how humor changes is and evolves. When I was little, I was obsessed with Looney Tunes. The the first two the first biographies I read as school assignments, we had to read a biography.
T.C.:I read the biography of Walt Disney.
Jim:Mhmm.
T.C.:And then I read, and I still have both these books to this day. 50 years and only one gray hair, the biography of Bugs Bunny. And reading, like, the story of of Looney Tunes and Merry Melodies and how that all came to be and that when those original cartoons were in theaters, people were rolling with laughter. It was the people were, like, in stitches with tears cry like, laughing so hard and seeing Looney Tunes. And even though I love Looney Tunes, you can spot what's animated to move.
T.C.:You can you know the the the pattern, the rhythm of Looney Tunes. But to think that there was a time that that was the height of comedy is is, I don't know, fascinating to me. Yeah. Taste evolves. I mean, just looking Simpsons to South Park to Family Guy, like, the evolution of edgy comedy on television, the the Flintstones before that.
T.C.:Like Sure. But did did you I know you like Looney Tunes. Mhmm. We you had mentioned before we started the episode that Looney Tunes was was your go to for Saturday morning. Mhmm.
T.C.:Tell me about that. I'll keep talking, but you're here too. Nah.
Jim:I don't what I don't know what to say.
T.C.:Well, like
Jim:yep. I sure liked him.
T.C.:Like, there there's there's a there's a big issue that that has come about with decades. A century of Mickey Mouse and decade I guess, almost a century of Bugs Bunny is that they it's become difficult to do anything with these characters. It's like they they're so beloved that it's difficult for them to break the brand.
Jim:I don't I don't know
Jim:I don't know if that's really true. Like, I thought that for a while, and then, like, a year or 2 ago, I saw that on Disney, for example, they actually have gone because I I lamented that they they weren't making, like, Mickey Mouse cartoons. Mhmm. And and then Surprise. Turns out they are.
Jim:Yeah. And they're not and and it wasn't even, like they they weren't even doing, like, really really kinda cutesy stuff. They went they went back to, like, his his, he wasn't black and white. He had the red pants. But, like, that that where the The button eyes?
Jim:The button eyes. Yeah. There you go. They they did the button eyes Mickey, and he's get getting into mischief.
T.C.:Shenanigans.
Jim:Yeah. Not just, oh, I gotta get out of shenanigans, which is what the the cuter later Mickey Mouse, did. But, he was he was causing mischief.
T.C.:Mhmm.
T.C.:They similarly
Jim:I feel like they went a bit too far with Goofy in that they they made him this
T.C.:Dolores.
Jim:The well, in that that cartoon that I saw recently, they they made him this weird like like, I'm the only way to describe him sounds appropriate, but I I feel like he's he's actually too far from what Goofy was.
T.C.:It it my I know the cartoon you're speaking of and and I what Goofy feels like in that is like if Spongebob were watching a Goofy Spongebob universe, the idea of Goofy Thing. Similarly, they've also, gone back to classic Looney Tunes. So they're only on HBO Max and they're actually hard to find. But there's 3 seasons of classic style Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig cartoons.
Jim:Okay.
T.C.:Bugs even has yellow gloves. Like, they've gone that far back in the style of it. And it's it's fantastic stuff. Mhmm. But no one knows about this because Mickey and Bugs are a bit passe and and people aren't just, like, gravitating towards them.
T.C.:The the brand the brand existed in such a way where they were held in that high regard for so long. It's hard to win. It's hard to change them to the point of winning new audience members.
Jim:I have a feeling there, Disney and Warner Brothers are not aren't I don't know if they're consciously doing this, but if they they they are bringing them they're they're basically making them for kids again. And so ideally these kids will get older and then there will be nostalgia for them that they will then make movies and merchandise about. Because look looking at the things that are popular now, yeah, Mickey and Bugs don't resonate with the current audiences because they were already institutions.
T.C.:Mhmm. Yes.
Jim:Uh-uh. And actually, weirdly, they are now not the characters kids grew up with. They grew up with Mario and Sonic and what else is being Minecraft. Yeah. They're Steve.
Jim:Yeah. The the these characters
T.C.:and so
Jim:that's why we're seeing these characters get movies and and,
T.C.:Spongebob's getting this, like, 4th theatrically released film. Yeah. But it it they're to go back to holding them as institutions and holding them in such a a prestigious position that were their attempts to do something different with the characters, they were either really wrong headed, which is more what Warner Brothers kept screwing up with Mhmm. Or the attempts were not met and received in in such a way that Disney like, for example, back in 95, the goofy movie came out. Mhmm.
T.C.:There was a short film that aired before a goofy movie called Mickey's runaway brain.
Jim:Mhmm.
T.C.:And Mickey's brain escapes and he chases down. It's like it's really hyperly animated, very it's precg animation. So it's still like that wonderful hand drawn, but, like, talking nineties.
Jim:Mhmm.
T.C.:The peak of hand drawn animation, 90 stuff. And, it was buried because it was met by snooty parents probably like my mom were like, this is not my Mickey Mouse. This is inappropriate. And there was a backlash to having such a an outrageous modern Mickey. I I would love to show you the cartoon.
T.C.:And if anyone listening hasn't seen it, it is up on YouTube. You can find it pretty easily. So it's just runaway brain. Mickey Mouse runaway brain. It's beautifully animated.
T.C.:It looks great. And it you they do not have it on Disney plus. They didn't even release it with the Goofy movie. They buried it because the reception of seeing Mickey out of his familiar circumstances of just like, oh, I'm going to the bank.
T.C.:Come on, Pluto. Oh, my corner fell on the grate.
T.C.:Like, that that Mickey became so safe and watered down, and and it just wasn't there's no panache to it. It wasn't winning over nineties kids.
Jim:I, well, so Well,
T.C.:that's not true because I loved it. But
Jim:that speaks sort of to the the era and the people making the things. Like like, you can still do and, I know this goes even further back, but Mickie as the the Taylor, the brave
T.C.:Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Jim:Brave Taylor Mickie, that was still the Mickie, the the the g golly, gosh, Mickie.
T.C.:Yeah. But that's from 1947.
Jim:That's 47? Yeah. I my point is I I think that there were ways to do newer story. Because there was, was it Little Mermaid, the theatrical release, had, I think it was the the 3 musketeers. It was
T.C.:Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Jim:Yeah. Mickey
T.C.:Mickey and the Mickey and the 3 Musketeers. Yeah. That's that's gonna be nineties Mickey.
Jim:Yeah. And that was that was a great cartoon. I don't remember people disliking it, and I remember seeing it boiler my nose. Saying, hooray, We can hopefully, we'll see more, and we did not.
T.C.:We did that at 2004, as a matter of fact, even further along in the in the timeline.
Jim:Well, then I'm thinking then I'm thinking of a different cartoon.
T.C.:But, no. I think that Mickey Mickey would come Mickey, like Kermit, like bugs are these institutions, the perfect word for it, that they would only go so far in risking what to do with these characters. And it's a shame because even when I was 12 years old when I was 12 years old, I wrote a a letter 10 ideas for movies they should do, and one of them was a Mickey Mouse cartoon. Uh-huh. Like, Mickey deserves a feature film.
T.C.:Goofy has one. Why doesn't Mickey have one? I don't know. That I I probably
Jim:Because Goofy also had a TV show that proved big big enough to launch a movie.
T.C.:True. Maybe
Jim:if Mickey also had an entire duck verse that
T.C.:he incorporated
Jim:other animals into, where was Mickey?
T.C.:On that's that
Jim:This is our investigative podcast.
T.C.:Yes. Thank you very much. Too. Where is me? We, uncovered this myth.
T.C.:Weirdly about Donald Duck in the Uncle Scrooge comics, one of the greatest selling comics of its era. Duck Tales for the first hunt like, it's a 100 episodes, but, like, the first 50 episodes are just direct Mhmm. Replications of the comics minus Donald.
Jim:Mhmm.
T.C.:Because apparently, they thought What do you mean? Couldn't be a great main character. So they gave it to uncle Scrooge and the kids. Yeah. The the so the reason I bring this up, and this actually gets gets gets us a little further, into the demand of the day since we're talking specifically about Mickey.
T.C.:I have other thoughts about why Looney Tunes and Bugs Bunny didn't work out. Mhmm. But I I had mentioned before we did episode proper that there's we're likely gonna do a Looney Tunes episode.
Jim:Mhmm.
T.C.:So we might come back to some of this conversation Okay. Specifically about Warner Brothers. So let's stick with Mickey. And knowing that there that Steamboat Willie is public domain now, I went through our demands to see if anyone had sent us a demand with that topic.
Jim:Okay.
T.C.:So that being said, I did find one, and we're gonna read it now for the first time. So here we go. This is from Craig at Goose Egg Studios. Goose Egg Studios. Hey, TC and hey, TC and Jim, middle names.
T.C.:That's funny. We always make a deal about your middle names. That's funny. Hey, TC and Jim, middle names. Longtime listener, first time studio.
T.C.:Clever. With Steamboat Willie entering the public domain, there is little to no doubt that we will get a Winnie Winnie Winnie the Pooh blood and honey treatment as soon as humanly possible. Yes. So it's demand They're
Jim:even making a sequel at this point. Oh,
T.C.:god. As, and it's all but assured it will be schlock in either the best or worst ways with no middle ground. But Willie is public domain. Nothing to stop you fellas from doing it yourselves. The studio demands a Steamboat Willie horror slasher movie horror and or slasher movie.
T.C.:Thanks for being awesome, chaps. Thank you, Craig at Goose Egg Studios. Okay. Simple as that. I this is what I was hoping it would be.
T.C.:The Steamboat Willie movie.
Jim:Okay.
T.C.:Now, I anticipated that's what this was gonna be because it was it was almost immediately. As as soon as Steamboat Willie went public domain, it was announced like, we're gonna do a murder version.
Jim:Yep.
T.C.:So this is what I was hoping it would be. It's let's do a killer Steamboat Willie. Have you seen Steamboat Willie?
Jim:No. You haven't? I'm I'm sure I have. Yeah. I I I have very little recollection.
T.C.:Okay.
Jim:I I I have the image that everyone has of him.
T.C.:Yeah. I mean, he's been the that's the that's the spokesperson animation for Disney animation Studios. Yep. So I can do 1 of 2 things for you right now. Yeah.
T.C.:I can either zap it into your brain Mhmm. Or we can watch it live. It's 7 minutes long.
Jim:Okay. What do
T.C.:you wanna do? You choose. A few moments later. That's it.
Jim:That's how it ended?
T.C.:No vengeance?
Jim:Very good. Okay. Alright.
T.C.:Oh, there's that Mickey we're
Jim:talking about. And, Mickey did kill someone in that. So
T.C.:Wait. Who did Mickey kill?
Jim:The bird at the end.
T.C.:He killed the bird. Okay. I missed that.
Jim:With a potato. With half of a potato.
T.C.:Alright. So I have, electronically zapped Steamboat Willie into your brain, Jim.
Jim:You did.
T.C.:So now it's it's so fresh in your head. So Steamboat Willie He's
Jim:already a horror slasher. Yeah.
T.C.:I mean, he killed that bird at the end, and he he he he, he abused several animals in this entire production.
Jim:I It was for the sake of music.
T.C.:Yeah. Oh, then it's okay. Yeah. What we do for our art. I have a I have actually a tangential thing I wanna talk about.
T.C.:Public domain has become this every every year, something things enter the public domain. Something that's been going on. Like, copyright law is in the freaking constitution. Like, America was founded with copyright issues already being a thing. Yes.
T.C.:So things entering the public domain. Disney is certainly responsible for the the the longitude that things have sorry, the longevity that things remain out of the public domain
Jim:Mhmm.
T.C.:Because they, you know, manipulate the systems, change the laws, and whatnot. But things entering the public domain, it it should be this like, hey. Peter Pan is now yours. Alice in Wonderland is now yours. Mickey is now yours.
T.C.:But more and more often in the past only just the past few years, I feel like it becomes this celebration of how can we abuse these things that are now ours.
Jim:That was actually a reason that a lot of these larger companies wanted to preserve preserve. It it it, it is out of greed, but it's also out of preserving the, saying it's preserving the sanctity of it is is, disingenuous. But, right, like like, Disney didn't want salacious things associated with Mickey Mouse, and that it would happen if, if it was public domain. Because it did happen in the seventies. The the zines and underground comics of the era did all kinds of parody,
T.C.:star. R rated x rated and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Like, and and it was a lot of, like, biting the thumb at the system, damn the man, like, corporate evil.
Jim:And that's why the response is the moment it becomes available to do salacious things with it because the this this thing had had remained,
T.C.:Protected
Jim:over under under the scale. And so there's there's this notion to desecrate it. I
T.C.:I get that, but I don't know. I there's this celebration now of messing with things. And I don't know. Maybe maybe maybe the corporate mindset has has has manipulated me enough to go, well, come on. Do we really
Jim:Well, also, you used the word now. I don't think it's a now thing. That that's the other reason I bring up the seventies. Mhmm. I think there's always been, that element, that that that, thought
T.C.:Mhmm.
Jim:To the, for as as a part of society, to do things. There's there is a dark streak in humanity that wants to desecrate pure things. That that wants to, ruin good things.
T.C.:The corruption of of the innocence. Mhmm. And I I'm not against spinning characters on their head or using them as sat for satire purposes or commentary purposes. I mean, hell, political cartoons exist for this very reason to Mhmm. To take existing things and speak of them against what they're supposed to represent or or point, like, shine a light on them.
T.C.:Outland or Opus, the penguin. Yeah. There's a Mickey Mouse equivalent in there that's, Bloom County, had had had for years. Yeah. Get clean.
Jim:The way you the way way you blurted out the answer.
T.C.:Bloom County. I was trying to remember the name of it because it's specifically in there that had the character. But Berkeley, breathed, had a lot of commentary. He's definitely a product of the post Vietnam era Mhmm. Commentary on the system.
T.C.:He's a hippie. He just happened to be very very good at satire and very good at Mhmm. At commentary.
Jim:And
T.C.:I remember as a kid seeing, oh, he's making fun of Mickey. I get that. But I also understand it's being done for, like, a real. There's a purpose behind it. I like, when Winnie the Pooh Blood and Honey came out, I couldn't roll my eyes hard enough.
T.C.:And, of course, there's gonna be a slasher Steamboat Willie. So I I'm not coming in this this demand going, I don't wanna do this. It's just more of a I do wanna do it. I wanna find a fun way to do this. Do you have any now I sorta I think I've got out of my system what what I wanted to like
Jim:Oh, okay.
T.C.:Bitch about as far as public domain goes.
Jim:Why can't we have nice cute things? Why do we always gotta get them dirty?
T.C.:I don't know.
T.C.:It it it's becoming it less and less the go back to my original points. Less and less about the celebration that this belongs to the world now. It's more of like, how can we mess this up? Yeah. Yeah.
T.C.:Let's do this. And and and so far beyond the commentary and the satire to this, it feels like deeply rooted in cruelty and cynicism.
Jim:Cynicism. Sure. Cruelty? I don't know so much about that. Because, because there is also the notion of these things also to to those people represent, could at least represent a hypocritical society.
Jim:Like, no. Life is not a pure nice good thing, and this thing which has become a symbol of that. And, like, oh, this is what this is the sanctity of what is good about the world. No. The world is harsh and terrible.
Jim:We've been dealt a terrible hand, and we're not gonna let your stupid symbol of purity remain because it, by being that, under, undermines its own symbol and is actually a symbol of oppression and denial.
T.C.:See, I I love that. I love that. Like, you said so eloquently. I'm like, yeah. Do more of that shit.
T.C.:Okay. So to to go to the demand at hand here, there's one last thing I wanna talk about, which is Escape from Tomorrowland, which is the independent film that was shot without permits in Disneyland and Disney World. Mhmm. Have you ever seen it?
Jim:I did.
T.C.:Okay. Interesting ideas, I don't think it's a good movie. Yeah. I think there's way too many ideas and none of them, like, truly take form. There's probably 4 different movies
Jim:that could've been done, like, in half the time.
T.C.:Yeah. Or focusing on one of the stories and tell that. Yeah. It's like too many things. So, I I'm for this.
T.C.:I'm for the idea of, like, let's take Steamboat Willie and do something with it. But now that you've now I've zapped it in your brain, it's fresh in your head, what do you do with Steamboat Willie? It's a 7 and a half minute cartoon. Mhmm. It's Mickey Mouse as Steamboat Willie as, he's not he's not the Bozeman.
T.C.:Is that what you said?
Jim:The Bozeman. The the boat Swain.
T.C.:The boat Swain.
Jim:He's the Bozeman.
T.C.:And, and seemingly peg leg Pete is his boss and there's some animals. Like and Minnie shows up at one point. Mhmm. What do we do? How do how do you make scream boat Killy?
Jim:Yes. Yes. That's the name.
T.C.:Do you like that?
Jim:I do.
T.C.:Screamboat Killy. There we go. I think the one coming out is called screamboat, but we are clever enough to add Killy at the end. What are they gonna do? Sue us?
T.C.:Come at me, scream boat.
Jim:You know, theoretically, technically, that's the weird thing about copyright is they probably could have made scream boat Killy
T.C.:Yeah.
Jim:Before Yeah. Yeah. Because it would be protected under parody. Mhmm. But it it's it's more, right, it's more of a it's more poignant and you can point the reason for it Mhmm.
Jim:Because it's now public domain. And, also, just because it's parody doesn't mean Disney ain't gonna come after you.
T.C.:Yeah. You don't wanna mess with the mouse. And to be clear, we're only talking about Steamboat Willie. We're not talking about anything else mic Mickey Mouse related.
Jim:Right. So
Jim:okay. So, off the top of my head, what, well, first, we're gonna have to put a lot more flesh on this skeleton than is there. We're gonna have to shove a lot more hay into this cow.
T.C.:We gotta expand. The cow is definitely too thin and we need to make it fat enough to get it over the water.
Jim:Onto onto the boat. Yeah.
T.C.:And I'm I'm thinking we're we're talking true slasher. Right? Okay. Is that where you're going with it? Like Maybe.
T.C.:Do you okay.
Jim:I'm not sure. What I'm thinking is I was just gonna start beating up the story.
T.C.:Okay. Go
Jim:ahead. So because it's because it's on a steamboat, and and it's being used as a mode of transportation that almost necessitates it being a period piece.
T.C.:Got it. Yeah. The steamboat. Sure.
Jim:I suppose it doesn't have to, but that's where my mind first goes. And the reason for that is because this steamboat is the only boat that's now going to be traversing from point a to, the to the necessary point b.
T.C.:Okay.
Jim:And our, may our our final girl, Minnie Minnie Mouse, actually, that's interesting. Steamboat Willie is public domain. That that that cartoon is public domain.
T.C.:That cartoon. Yeah.
Jim:None of the personalities are, so we probably have to give her a different name.
T.C.:Right. She could just be called I mean, in okay. For example, we can't call him Peg Leg Pete. He's Captain Pete in short. I believe it's I I mean, I'll look this up to to verify, but she very well could just be Minnie.
T.C.:Yeah. Minnie Minnie Mouse appears. So while Mickey is referred to as Steamboat Willie, I guess, Steamboat Minnie, we'll call her. But whatever the case, this version of her, the musician with the guitar.
Jim:Maybe he actually is Mickey and Willie is just some sort of name for for dancing
T.C.:Well, at the time.
Jim:Or a song. Like, hey. Let's listen to another Willie. Hey. Let's
T.C.:you weren't aware but actually at the time when it made it, Willie was a really offensive
Jim:term. Oh. Oh, okay. That makes sense. So we have Alright.
Jim:So we have our final girl and she is late for something.
T.C.:Well, she's a musician.
Jim:She is a musician. She is
T.C.:a musician.
Jim:So she is she is late for the Philharmonic? No.
T.C.:I she was hired to she is was hired to be the entertainment on this boat.
Jim:No. No? No. That's too direct. She needs to catch this boat to go somewhere.
T.C.:Okay. She's heading to New Orleans to start her career in jazz. Sure.
Jim:There we go.
T.C.:She's the 1st successful female jazz guitar player.
Jim:Jazz ukulele.
T.C.:We'll say it's a guitar. It's a guitar. Okay.
Jim:Or she could be going upriver to Tennessee to to make it big in Branson.
T.C.:She's the first successful Branson country country guitar player. Now are are you thinking this could be done in, like, 1928 is when when it originally came out? Are you resetting this 1920?
Jim:We could do that.
T.C.:Yeah. Okay.
Jim:And, sort of, like like in the like in the cartoon, she's she misses the boat. She's running late, so she has to somehow catch up to get onto it, and we can we can have a a some some kind of, I wouldn't say adventure, but some sort of, like, kinda scene of of her running.
T.C.:Down the boat.
Jim:Yeah. Yeah. Something like that.
T.C.:And,
Jim:like, in like any good horror movie, someone needs to to warn her, like, maybe while she's running or she gets to the dock dock and the first thing they say is, oh, you're lucky you missed the boat. Yeah. Yeah. Kind of
T.C.:Oh, yeah. Like, she gets
Jim:to the pier. That's not good. When she
T.C.:gets to the pier and there's someone like,
T.C.:oh, I see you trying to make the, steamboat. Mhmm. You know, you're lucky. Born in a steamboat as the sun sets.
Jim:Yeah. It's it's something like that.
T.C.:Superstition says you'll die by sunrise. By knife? By a knife. Someone's gonna someone's gonna play the duck on
Jim:you. Play the duck on you.
T.C.:As you know, because of the hair it was made in.
Jim:There's a big offense.
T.C.:It's a very passive term.
T.C.:I'm just gonna keep saying that for everything that I will help. The the boat's leaving and the movies we introduce we Minnie is our main character. We introduce her in the, like, the movie opens with her race.
Jim:It doesn't necessarily open with her. This is a murder movie. Mhmm. So we need other victims.
T.C.:Okay.
Jim:And it can't just be barnyard animals.
T.C.:There's passengers on the steamboat?
T.C.:Yes.
T.C.:Could this be a a riverboat as opposed to just a straight up steamboat, but, like, actually putting gamblers on this thing, some some ne'er do wells.
Jim:No. It has to be a boat powered by screens.
T.C.:Oh, it's a streamboat.
Jim:Yeah. No. It, yes. Yes. It could be.
Jim:But, it is it still a steamboat if it is a, like a like a like a riverboat or a paddleboat?
T.C.:Are riverboats not steamboats? What it what qualifies as a steamboat?
Jim:I think maybe they they might be types of steamboats.
T.C.:Like, a a a boat that is propelled primarily by steam power
Jim:Okay.
T.C.:And driving propellers and paddle wheels, that's a steamboat. So we very well could have, like, like a like a Mark Twain sized paddle boat casino. That's a like, paddle boat casino. I mean but, like, yeah. Having, like, a big multi story 50 of passengers on this thing, like, we can have
Jim:go ship. Go ship. Go ship with mice.
T.C.:Yeah. Go ship with mice. There you go. So that's it. We're done.
Jim:And there we go.
T.C.:Let's do go ship. Yeah. So we we we have a whole bunch of passengers on this thing.
Jim:We could if if you wanna go that big, we can. I'm thinking something more like the ship in, King Kong.
T.C.:Okay. Yeah.
Jim:Something where the, the crew already seems off. Mhmm. And the people who initially have booked passage almost immediately start questioning if this was a good idea Yeah. Because it's a creepy boat.
T.C.:Yeah. I mean, that's still a big it's still a big boat. It's it's a it's a one one, Stack. One stack boat.
Jim:Sure.
T.C.:Yeah. Like that at least if you're directly like, when you directly reference the King Kong boat, I think the one from Peter Jackson
Jim:Mhmm.
T.C.:That's a one stack coal powered. Yeah. Yeah. So not I mean, that size is
Jim:It's not a casino on on a river. It it can be. We can do it like like I said. We we can we can do that. We could go that big if you want, but I was I was thinking something that would be, like, 6 passengers, and and the the the 2 or 3 crew.
T.C.:Okay. Yeah. Let's say 10 total people on this boat.
Jim:Sure.
T.C.:Okay. And she just happens to so do we we meet we meet Will, our main care like, Will and Minnie are gonna be our main characters?
Jim:Maybe. Sure.
T.C.:So, like, if the if the if the movie opens with just the the credits are rolling and they're loading the ship up, we have, like, a nice reference to the cow with like, the livestock going on.
Jim:Oh, and and there will be a bunch of livestock being put on. Basically, I'm thinking, it could even be referenced. It would it would, whether the captain says it or someone else says it that, like, we don't normally take passengers. So, you know stay stay in your cabins. Kinda kinda like, be because the, yeah, they normally do cargo and, livestock.
T.C.:And seeing as Pete in the history of the Mickey cartoons, the Disney cartoons, is a villain of sorts. Having him be some sort of riverboat pirate kind of thing or, like, smuggler excuse me. A smug a smuggler. I am really terrified right now that these these, the the people running the ship aren't the the cleanest of folk. Like, they are criminal types.
Jim:Sure. I'm leaning more toward creepy. I'm looking to make this a murder
T.C.:Okay.
Jim:A murder show. Do
T.C.:you do you want okay. I guess that actually fast forwarding a little bit. She gets on. She's heading downriver to perform somewhere. She's the last passenger expected.
T.C.:They're happy to take these people's money, though they don't normally have passengers. Mhmm. The crew is creepy and weird. For the actual murdering here Mhmm. Is it supernatural or is it just a person?
T.C.:Are we talking a riverboat swamp person who has just crawled onboard and is starting to slash people? Or is this the the southern demeanor?
Jim:I was I was just thinking murder.
T.C.:Okay. Just straight
Jim:and and and it can like, they might think it's supernatural at first.
T.C.:Mhmm. I like that. That like, the mistake of it being like, oh, the, oh, the curse. You know? I I I have, the full moon.
T.C.:I'll bring it
T.C.:I'll bring it down here and I'll kill you.
Jim:That's right. I like that Jimmy Stewart is our is our, what what does what's that role called in in, Cabin
T.C.:in the Woods? The the sage. The
Jim:Not the, the I'm not gonna remember it now.
T.C.:Crap.
Jim:It doesn't matter.
T.C.:It's alright.
Jim:But, yes, that that
T.C.:that that was the old man. Like, the ancient one, is oh, no. No. Yeah. The old man is the name of the character who who warns them.
Jim:But they they call him something. They call him, I am I am bad at talking while also looking things up.
T.C.:Okay. So I I like the notion that it is presumed to be supernatural, but then it just ends up being some, like The Herald. The Herald. Some 3 toothed inbred swamp river person who is
Jim:It's Willie.
T.C.:Will, like, our main character ends up being the killer?
Jim:Minnie is our main character.
T.C.:Oh, right. Right. Right. But I had suggested that the
Jim:the I I I I you had said that, and I didn't I never actually agreed to it because my notion is he is the killer. After all, the movie is called
T.C.:Streamboat Kill. Yeah. Is is he a freak or is he He
Jim:doesn't have to be. May maybe that's maybe that's a part of the misdirection.
T.C.:I think so.
Jim:Yeah. Seems to be the oh, like, I'm I seem to
Jim:be just as trapped here as the rest of you guys. We're gonna try to get you there safe.
Jim:Yeah. Because because Pete seems salacious and creepy.
T.C.:Crew members seem weird.
Jim:Yeah. And and he wants to take their money, and maybe he's gonna, take their lives. Mhmm. And, the the one or two other crew are also right? Like, one guy wears a rain slicker and never takes it off.
T.C.:The other one has an eye patch.
Jim:Yeah.
T.C.:Right? Of course, there's a herald on the boat, the pier, and, he's a suspect.
Jim:Well, you the that guy would be the herald. He'd because the herald is the one who warns them away. Smoking a pipe. Yes. You are.
Jim:Bubbles coming out.
T.C.:It is a g rated movie after
Jim:all. Why? Why are we making a g rated horror movie?
T.C.:The, Titan Toons could pull it off. They did Blade Runner.
T.C.:Oh, they could.
Jim:Simpsons Simpsons did cape here.
T.C.:Yeah. If Simpsons is naughty.
Jim:Didn't you know, I didn't Tiny Toons actually do Night of the Hunter?
T.C.:Oh, gee. I don't know.
Jim:I I feel like they did, but that's only occurring to me now because I only learned about night of the hunter years after watching. I'm gonna have
T.C.:to go back and figure it out. Okay. So if if if Willie ends up being the the murderer on this, but he's like a handsome young sail sailor on this Timothy Chalamet. Oh, yes. Is Timothy available?
Jim:Of course, he is. He's not doing anything. Okay. Great. Oh, Timothy Chalamet.
T.C.:So he's he's the the is that too obvious that he ends up being the killer?
Jim:Not every movie needs a twist, and not every twist needs to be untelegraphed.
T.C.:Okay. Yeah. So it's like like, obviously, it's him. People watching the movie, like, it's it's him. He's the the good looking guy is the killer.
Jim:I mean, do we wanna do rope where we show that he's the killer and then we just have to see how he hides it and how the others don't believe it?
T.C.:How how about how about this? If it's so it's like obvious and and the audience knows and it's just a matter of getting away that in the end when it's finally revealed that he is the killer, he is possessed by a demon that's that is the, the actual, like, so then it does become supernatural in the end. So sort of like like 10 Cloverfield Lane is like you don't know what to believe until the end and surprise. He was right the whole time. So, like, whoever suggests early on that it's a some sort of evil spirit of the river who's attacking the the boat and that's who the killer is when it's revealed that it's been Mickey or sorry, Willie the whole time when he's finally destroyed and they've killed him.
T.C.:He, like, reanimates because he is the vessel of of of an evil river spirit.
Jim:Okay.
T.C.:I don't know. I'm just that that way, it's like, oh, we knew it was coming. We knew it was the killer the whole time. Surprise. There's more to it than that.
T.C.:There's an evil river spirit. Sure. Because, like, my question is is that is that all it is? It's like people get on the boat and he just starts them.
Jim:I mean, well, what it could also be is maybe well, maybe the entire crew is in on it.
T.C.:Mhmm.
Jim:And Willie at first, tries to come off like, oh, no. My compatriots have gone crazy. Come with me. I'll protect you. And then in the end, no.
Jim:I'm one of them too.
T.C.:Yeah. Well, the when it comes down to, there's there's a key key question to answer answer and maybe we could take a break here and then answer it is, like, why is he doing this? And why like, this
Jim:Who knows why mad men do what they do? Fair.
T.C.:If the the motive sort of starts filling in the blanks. If if it is an evil river spirit
Jim:Now now I want it to be supernatural and and I don't know if it's necessarily the river spirit doing it, but I love the idea of having a scene where Pete says something like the river demands a price and we're gonna pay it in your blood.
T.C.:Having something that's even in the realm of like death on the Nile which is not a it's not a great movie. But just the idea that there's mergers happening and trying to solve who's doing it, but not doing it in this high class Bulgarian detective way, but much more of like these people are all gross river people escorting a handful of victims down the river. Mhmm. And our last girl is just a musician who's trying to get to New Orleans. Mhmm.
T.C.:Just trying to survive. Like, we need to stop the boat. Maybe the one time they stop the boat, they get attacked by hillbillies. I guess hillbillies wouldn't be on the river river folk. And
Jim:Well, it'd be a matter of, okay, how would they stop the boat? They gotta go damage the engine. Mhmm. They gotta deal with the crew.
T.C.:Or they, like, hit safe harbor, quote, unquote.
Jim:Well, how would they do that? They gotta get to the pilots, the the pilot room and then spin the wheel and, to to get over to shore. None of them necessarily know how to do that. I know you're thinking, well, how hard is it to pilot a
T.C.:a steamboat? These are gigantic.
Jim:Well, it
Jim:turns out it's real hard, especially when the crew does something like sabotage it or something
T.C.:like that. You are you
Jim:you we could even have a maybe these things come up. Maybe another boat is going by and they try to signal for help. Mhmm. And all we did is just ship in quite literally more victims. Even if it's just 3 or 4 just ship in quite literally more victims.
T.C.:Even if it's just 3 or 4 guys.
Jim:It also doesn't have to be a river. I sort of latched under the river. Mhmm. I know we said New Orleans. It could be going somewhere else.
Jim:It could be going across a big lake. I don't I I don't know. Or or like
T.C.:I I do think there's something active about the constant flow of the river. I no. To back up though, do you think that the whole crew is in on this? I because I'm more of the mind that it should just be Willie. Just Willie?
T.C.:And that the other crew members are not good dudes and even having Pete saying the river demands a sacrifice and I'm gonna do it pay for it in your blood. Like, if that's a threat he's making to someone who's who's per like, perpetuating the the ruckus and the fear, fear. It's like you're not helping anything. We have a dead body on board and I'm about to send you in the river to satisfy the river further and to stop all this. Like, I still think that can occur.
T.C.:But I I I like the notion of it's it is a one murderer doing this thing. Who is it? Who is it?
Jim:I now actually I like that scene coming up. Someone gets killed and the passengers are freaking out and Pete shows up. And they're superstitious so they even say that stuff and he says, now get in your cabins, and they all get in the cabins and they watch as Pete and, like, the 2 other crew members that are there kinda huddle up and talk about stuff.
T.C.:Mhmm.
Jim:And whether we get both conversations or not, we the the passenger like, look, they're plotting they're plotting how they're gonna kill the rest of us. Yeah. And then it turns out they're actually talking Pete's talking to his crew about, like, okay, we gotta find out who killed this person.
T.C.:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're not helping anything. Yeah.
T.C.:Yeah. Having, using her as the last girl mentality, she's gonna be the cleverest one on the boat. The one who's probably asking the right questions and avoiding the right circumstances. Right? Sure.
T.C.:Like, if we're gonna get
Jim:Sometimes the last girl just survives because she's in the back of the group. But
T.C.:But the best ones have, like, an active role through the story and and through their wits or brains, their intellect, they survive to the end. Sure. Like Ripley and Laurie. Well, Laurie kinda dumps her way to the end.
Jim:Like I said. Yeah.
T.C.:I like I the having having, a a final confrontation of Minnie versus Will, like, that's that's I wanna see it get to that where she has to fight it. Okay. Right? I don't know. You know?
T.C.:I mean Sure. Well, we don't have to talk about how we ended now because I still think there's a matter of why now, why is he doing this, those questions to be asked. Okay. Asked and answered. But before we get into that, we're gonna take a quick break here.
T.C.:Get a few messages from 65 here, and we'll come back with more screamboat Killy. Music plays a big part in that original short.
Jim:Sure.
T.C.:Could there be a way for her as a musician to placate the killer with music? Like, there's there's a like, having her play a few times, like, hey, we're born on this boat. Play for us. If you're you're this musician heading heading down the river, play for us. And maybe she does that on the 1st night, and that's why she's not being targeted because he I I love your music.
T.C.:Play for me. Play for me. Play for me again. Perhaps there's a way to, you know, satisfy the beast whether it's just a human or if he has some sort of devil inside of him. That her plane is part of her power.
Jim:My inclination is to make it that, he is instigated by it.
T.C.:Oh, the music figures him off?
Jim:Yeah. But if that that's sort of what, triggers whatever it is whatever it is in it that's what triggers the river to require payment, the the beast. The beast within. If you if you would rather have it be the other way, that that works. That's fine.
T.C.:I I like I think it's better to go the other way because there could even be even someone saying the it's eerie out here tonight. I'm I'm cold. I don't like it. Play some music for us, Minnie. And she plays something and the captain's saying, like, oh, the they are.
T.C.:They are. The music settles the river.
Jim:Then why not just say keep playing? Keep playing.
T.C.:Well, maybe there's something to your notion that, no, the river the music is upsetting the river.
Jim:Because so because what occurs to me is we could even have early on Willie could say to the captain, like, captain, are you are you sure they're musicians, sir? Are you sure we should let them on board? You know how the river gets, but we need the pay or says something like that. And it like, there's even that's even a part of the reason that, like, Willie, only in a second viewing do you realize Willie purposely did something to cause them to cast off early. Mhmm.
Jim:That's why Minnie misses the the boat initially.
T.C.:Doesn't want the musician there. So the music does something to him. So maybe it it does upset him.
Jim:Okay. So for the backstory I'm thinking that doesn't necessarily come out in the movie is Willie is a murderer. Mhmm. And the best place to hide out slash not give into that is out on the river with a bunch of other hard hard luck, hard bitten men. Mhmm.
Jim:And that that's a way he can live a quiet, life. Mhmm.
T.C.:And then every every time they hit port, he can disappear into town Sure. And satisfy his lust.
Jim:If that's even a thing he wants to do or he can just stay on the boat and stay on the river, stay away from people.
T.C.:Mhmm.
Jim:But every time people get near Mhmm. Every time he hears music, it it it boils something up with him. It's not that he has to dislike music. It it maybe it's that's what awakens him.
T.C.:I love the music. Yeah. It it it it taps into my true nature.
Jim:So something like that. And and so he has he has found this boat of, seemingly ne'er do wells Mhmm. To to make to make, his his his life, his crew. Mhmm. And because they don't take on passengers almost ever.
Jim:When they do, it's 1 or 2, maybe like a salesman, whatever. He stays in his cabin.
T.C.:A a freaking rider. Yes. Things like
Jim:things like that. But now, this time, they've taken on a a boat of of young people.
T.C.:From the from the twenties, nonetheless.
Jim:And I don't know. That that that's that's my initial thought. It doesn't have to be that way. It could be that, music is
T.C.:Soothes him.
Jim:Soothes soothes the beast. Mhmm. Because that that is that is a little more archetypal
T.C.:Mhmm. We'll say. I don't know. You you do make a fair argument for why it should why why she would miss the boat or, like, why he would try to get get so she doesn't, you know, like, miss the boat. My
Jim:I mean, there there could even be a thing at the end where she thinks that's what's, like, oh, my playing is stopping, like because he hesitates when she when she plays. Mhmm. And then she stops, and then so he and then tries going around to the crates another way. And she starts playing again. And it's not that it's actually soothing him.
Jim:Mhmm. It's it's almost more of a curiosity and and and he's kinda playing, like, at a certain point, he he, like, lures in almost like he's being Mhmm.
T.C.:Seduced by it. Well, yeah.
Jim:By it and then he gets close. And if he goes for it and he's like, your music your music doesn't doesn't quiet the the urge. Mhmm. It it ignites it. Yeah.
T.C.:And you, like, you twist her arm behind her back and just starts cranking it.
Jim:And he's like
T.C.:it's a callback.
Jim:It is. It's a it's a callback.
T.C.:It's an homage.
Jim:It is.
T.C.:Oh, man. This is tough. I I like both. I like the idea that the music would soothe them. I like the idea that the music would instigate this, that it would unlock his his the devil within.
T.C.:Because I don't know which which
Jim:which way to go. Song.
T.C.:The devil within.
Jim:The devil inside. The devil inside.
T.C.:Every single one less.
Jim:A devil inside.
T.C.:We will do a 1928 version of this.
Jim:I love Westworld.
T.C.:So okay. Well, the whether or not it's the music that does it, how does this end? Does she's gonna defeat this guy and toss him into the river? The river needs to be fed blood in the end, and so she murders him. And then, of course, postcard stingers.
T.C.:He crawls out of the river with his throat slashed and he's still alive. Like, if we wanna sequel bait it. But the final a final confrontation here here's the final confrontation image of this. The boat is on fire and they are and it's the last 2 of them as it's like rolling towards New Orleans. Like it's getting closer and closer to the city and this or or its destination.
T.C.:And this thing is off off an inferno and they're having their having their final final confrontation, final face off. And I I think maybe okay. I'll go I'll I'll get on board with this, that the the music is what upset him in the first place. And 2 okay. 2 things, dad.
T.C.:The music upset him, but she's pretty. So he he he wanted the music to stop, but he he was attracted to her. So he killed the others. Like, he satisfied his lust by killing the writer or the the 2 partygoers that were going down for Fat Tuesday, the to killing the crew member who who caught him in the act. And and he didn't wanna dis she he didn't want to, kill her because he he's like, you're you're you're you're an angel.
T.C.:You're beautiful. I would not wanna destroy something so perfect. But every time you play that goddamn ukulele, I wanna shove it down your throat. Guitar. It's a guitar.
T.C.:Is that is that track? Like, is that
Jim:So I'd I'd I more like the idea that it's not that he's infuriated by the music. He's, he's excited by it.
T.C.:So it, like, revs him up and he's like, yeah. No. I wanna murder.
Jim:Yes. Yeah.
T.C.:Look at me dance a little jig. Oh, I gotta get this out of my system. Okay. Yes.
Jim:I said I got the steamboat Willie's.
T.C.:I got the steamboat Willie's. As you know, a very offensive term. Okay. Now yes. Yes.
T.C.:Yes. You're under something there because then it then if
Jim:he's been playing That's what that's what I've been trying to say is is is it's not it's not that he dislikes music. Mhmm. It's that he likes it murderously.
T.C.:Okay. Thank you. I that clarification actually helps quite a bit because that explains why he like, once he didn't he's like, I'm smart enough to know this music should not be here, which is why every time I get to New Orleans, I get my murder out. Because I I get down there and we all we all hit the shore and go nuts for the for the weekend and get back on the boat and go north. And then my urges are satisfied till I get down.
T.C.:But, you know, we've never had a musician on the boat now and, you know, why do I wait till I get to New Orleans to unlock who I am on the inside? Play play for me. Direct. Got it. Yes.
T.C.:Alright. She's she's gonna have to kill this guy. Yeah. Does it come I I I do see the scenario where it's the captain, the file girl, and Willie, like, our original three main characters.
Jim:Okay.
T.C.:Captain goes first. Like, he kills the captain. Or or do you want the captain to
Jim:I I'd I'd like the idea of so here's what I'm, my my thought is she's the, like, she's the last person on the boat
T.C.:Yeah.
Jim:Which doesn't bode well because she doesn't necessarily know how to pilot
T.C.:this boat. Captain's dead. Yep. He's the second to last he's the second to last survivor. So it's he he dies and then it's her.
T.C.:Yeah. Then it's a god.
Jim:Okay. What do you think of the idea of actually even using what they do what they do in the cartoon? Minnie, they're not far enough away from shore yet or from from even the the the the docks and stuff that she's, like, waving at the ship running along Mhmm. And Willie's the only one there. She's like, hey.
Jim:I know you hear me. I know. Come on. I'm I'm supposed to be on that ship. Come on.
Jim:Help. Help me. And he he's like, I can't do it. And he he and she's like, I know you see me.
T.C.:You see me. You're looking at me. I see.
Jim:And so he he reluctantly swings the crane out
T.C.:Mhmm.
Jim:And and and says you gotta grab on.
Jim:And she's like, are you crazy? You gotta Show me your underwear.
Jim:And she grabs on the hook and he swings her on board. Yeah. To the point that in, right, so that that's how she gets on board and in the end, she tricks him in a way that lets her get him on the hook and swing him out over the river. Mhmm. And she drops him into earlier on, we learned one of the reasons, like, one of the survivors may may say and even try, why
Jim:don't we just jump for
Jim:it and swim for sure? Yeah. There's alligators. Just constantly alligators.
T.C.:So he's gonna get eaten alive by alligators.
Jim:Eaten eaten alive by alligators hanging for hanging from the hook Good. To the point that, like, she drops him in and we we hear the the water surge and we hear all that and we even hear him scream and stuff, but it's too dark. She can't necessarily we might see, not silhouette, but, like, really faintly see it in the dark to the point that she then we see New Orleans, approaching. She goes. She tries to pilot it.
Jim:Something to, something like that. So that way when she does get there, the book crashes or something, and she gets off. And we, we slash she looks back, at the the the hook.
T.C.:Mhmm.
Jim:And, like like, there should be something there, like, something hooked on whether it's his his overalls or, like, his He's naked. His arm or there should be something Some and he's not there. Oh.
T.C.:I wanna add a scene somewhere in the midpoint, that they reach a point where the steamboat slows down, in the daytime Mhmm. And they have, the the crew has this habit of this area where they where the river opens up nice and big and they can slow down a little bit and they do swimming. Like, they jump off the boat while it's moving and they and they use the crane to get back on. Like, they have a this tradition of swimming and using the crane so that that we can see the crane operated at the very beginning when she's boarded. Somewhere at the middle, we see the crane operating again.
T.C.:And in that scene, Will doesn't get off the boat because Will can't swim. So I just wanted some sort of scene where there's play and fun happening before the first murder, maybe even that night at after their fun out on the river, that's when she plays for the first time that the first murder happens that that night. But establishing that he can't swim and seeing the crane in operation, so that's just one just Chekhov's boat crane.
Jim:I'm I'm currently recalibrating. I was thinking this would all take place in one night.
T.C.:Initially, I did I did suggest something a while back that this would be oh, get off the boy. Get off before sunrise. But, no. I think this could be a series of, like, a couple days, 3 days maybe. 2 days.
T.C.:Like, just just so that there's
Jim:Just so we have that day swimming scene.
T.C.:Yes. Exactly. We're not gonna night swim. There's alligators out there. Are you kidding me?
T.C.:My god. This is the
T.C.:last oh, this is the last place we can
T.C.:the last place we can swim because there's alligators from this point on. Yeah. Because there should be This
Jim:part of the river is too cold for them. They're freshwater.
T.C.:Yeah. Having having, some red herring threats as well. Like, I like the notion that the crew is creepy and they're weird and one of them could easily be the suspect, like the murderer on board. 1 of our guests being a murderer as well, like one of the other passengers.
Jim:Mhmm.
T.C.:And even hitting some point on the river where some river folk attack the boat where they have to fend off from, like, some Okay. River bandits.
Jim:I don't want river bandits. I I think what I like more is they they they're passing a certain place and, a raft or 2 approach the boat. Mhmm. And maybe the crew, the captain, or someone says that they're pirates or or pirates or bandits or whatever. Mhmm.
Jim:Really, it's the locals and they know there's this boat is bad news. Yeah. They're trying to drive it off. They're trying to, yeah.
T.C.:Get out
Jim:of here.
T.C.:After our moonshine.
Jim:It's a it's a hex to them.
T.C.:Yeah. And that actually could help for the especially if the first murder has happened before that's that sequence of running to the river folk who are chasing them off, off, they could have, like, deep superstitious beliefs that, like, you're there's a demon on your there's a demon surrounding you. There's a devil surrounding the
Jim:Someone gets on board. You're all gonna die. Yeah.
T.C.:Bye.
Jim:They don't even say bye before a crew member, like, drifts them and throws them over or something.
T.C.:You're all gonna die.
Jim:Right. So to initially suggest I'm gonna kill you but that's not what he's doing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Jim:Yeah. He's trying to warn them.
T.C.:Mhmm. Mhmm. Do I mean, as it stands right now, just the suggestion that there's a supernatural force that ultimately there isn't.
Jim:Oh, also, by the way, very early on, our passengers find to to boat I think the first, terrible things that happen is that they find, mutilation the the the the animals, some of the animals that
T.C.:Oh, yeah.
Jim:Oh, yeah. All the livestock. Have been strangely mutilated.
T.C.:So after the first strumming of the guitar.
Jim:Something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe even later that first night. No one knows how it happened.
Jim:Just one of the passengers went poking around and I found a dead goat.
T.C.:Oh, it may, perhaps discovering the like, say one of the crew members discovers the mutilated animals. Like, say
Jim:Well, I was gonna say a passenger because then the passenger is gonna get alarmed. But it probably shouldn't happen because no one's gonna see that happen and be all like, oh, well, it's day. Let's go for a quick swim. No. No.
Jim:No.
T.C.:I I I do think the getting them on the boat, sending them down the river, she gets on, introduce the characters. Okay. Who are you? You're this character. You're this character.
T.C.:Okay. You're the weirdo crew. You're the weirdo passengers. I'm Minnie. That's Will.
T.C.:That's captain Pete. Getting them established, sending them down the river as the sun is setting for the 1st nights, telling stories of their travels or whatnot. Just a little character development. And Mhmm. And and, you know, hey, Minnie.
T.C.:You're going to like, we get to hear her backstory. Yeah. Where are you going? I'm going to New Orleans. I play guitar.
T.C.:I'm I'm going down there to to play. That's my dream. Play something for us. I don't think that we need that. No.
T.C.:No. Go ahead. Go ahead. Play something. So she plays something.
T.C.:It's sweet, but there's something eerie.
Jim:I think it's the song.
T.C.:Yeah. You're right. You, you shouldn't go to to the it's destiny. We didn't want you to make this one.
Jim:What was it called? Is it Turkey Turkey
T.C.:in the hay?
Jim:Turkey in the hay. No. It was it was it was something else.
T.C.:Hey. Hey. Turkey in the
Jim:Turkey in the something Hey. Hey. Turkey in the barn?
T.C.:In the Hey. Hey song. Turkey in a hey hey song. Turkey in the straw hey.
Jim:Turkey in the straw. That's what it was.
T.C.:Turkey in the straw. Hey hey hey hey. Turkey in the straw. Hey hey hey.
T.C.:Stop. Stop. I wanna murder someone listening to this music. So she plays and she's very good. Like, it's some sort of sweet, almost oh, brother, we're out.
T.C.:They'll they'll like, just a good guitar song sung by this beautiful singer.
Jim:You don't wanna you
Jim:don't wanna take the tune that's associated with the the thing that is now public domain, put it in minor key, and slow it down a whole lot.
T.C.:Score of the movie. I mean, when I hear that
Jim:I wanna murder her.
T.C.:So she does that that night, after everyone's sort of settled, a passenger goes out and finds the mutilated remains of an animal.
Jim:Okay.
T.C.:And it starts there. So then the the next day starts and, that that could be the swimming day.
Jim:So, do we would we want to present this all from the passengers point of view so everything the crew does is creepy and mysterious, or does the audience get to see both sides and they see why the passengers, they get the perspective of the passengers and why the passengers think it's creepy, but we also get it from the crew's perspective. Basically, what I'm thinking so that first night Mhmm. If they find a dead animal, the crew finds it, they go tell the captain. And we can always do the dialogue to make it sound suspicious, but, it pretty much absolves the crew in their conversation like what happened? And they think it's supernatural.
Jim:They're like, it's the river.
T.C.:The river. Yeah. Yeah.
Jim:We gotta we gotta be extra careful tonight, boys. Something like that. Then we go back to the passengers and one of them was like, I saw them throwing. They're throwing a body overboard. I just threw it.
Jim:Yeah. It was a it was a goat or something like that.
T.C.:I I see what you're saying that if we do it strictly from, say, even just Minnie's perspective, then everyone looks suspicious. And, because if we see the crew going, oh my god. Let's go we're scared that something died. You you say it absolves this the crew from being suspects?
Jim:Sort of. And there's a way to do it that that doesn't necessarily basically, I wanna see I want to suggest the passengers. I also don't wanna do it from any one character's point of view. I don't want it to be from
T.C.:many points. Agree. Because I I I Yeah. I evoked the last voyage of the Demeter earlier.
Jim:Sure.
T.C.:And I think that's a good template or tonally to look at because while we do have the main the main protagonist of the boat, we do see it from the whole experience from multiple perspectives.
Jim:Mhmm. We
T.C.:just never see it from Dracula's perspective.
Jim:Sure.
T.C.:So I I think that if one crew member if a if a passenger finds the remains or a a crew member finds the remains and goes to the captain Mhmm. And we don't get to see anything from Pete's per point of view, we we establish him as either a suspect or complicit if he's like thrown overboard. Just throw it overboard. Okay. The river it's it would just write it off as the river.
Jim:If
T.C.:he's the one who's being a little cagey no matter who's witnessing it, the crew member or a passenger. Pete's the one that looks a little suspicious.
Jim:Okay.
T.C.:Does that does that satisfy what you're thinking?
Jim:Sort of. I I really, I'd I'd I'd rather, it I wouldn't want it to just to, potentially implicate Pete.
T.C.:I would Oh, no. I certainly want some of these passengers to be suspect suspects.
Jim:Oh, no. I I just wanted all the crew to be suspects. Right. The passengers, they're all innocent.
T.C.:Okay. Okay.
Jim:And and, I guess after the first day
T.C.:Mhmm. They're all terrified. Yeah.
Jim:Well, I because they because they start dying.
T.C.:I would like one of the passengers to be a novelist, a writer who is into it. Like, oh, a a murder on a boat. Oh, yeah. No. No.
T.C.:This is like he's he's he's into the the the danger and the, like, oh, this is I'm gonna be the next Arthur Conan Doyle. I'm gonna like, this is this is Sherlock stuff. Like, he it's almost a little too into it where, like, one might think you're doing this just to create the drama. So then one of the passengers also seems like a suspect as much as a victim. He could be the next one to die.
T.C.:But, yes, I think the crew should all feel feel like suspects and the majority of the passengers should seem innocent.
Jim:But, I I don't mind the idea of getting both perspectives, but what the perspectives are is the passengers Mhmm. Are wary of the crew. And when the crew is talking, I I see what you're saying making them wary of passengers. But I actually wanted the all the crew to think it's supernatural.
T.C.:Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I'm okay with that.
Jim:To to the point that they're like, it's happening again, captain. Yes.
T.C.:Yes.
Jim:That that that kind of thing. Yes.
T.C.:I'm on hold.
Jim:So that's why they don't suspect any of the passengers. They weren't here last time. Right. That kinda, suspect any of the passengers. They weren't here last time.
T.C.:Right.
Jim:That kinda
T.C.:that kinda thing. Give me a life vest, I'm on board. Yeah.
Jim:Yeah. Oh, you wanna be one of the passengers?
T.C.:Oh, see. I I tried to
T.C.:miss the pier because the sun was setting
T.C.:when the boat was setting off, and I've heard that's bad.
T.C.:Yeah. 1st night, animal mutilation. Next day, they've disposed of it. There's some suspicious go sudden suspicious going on, but everyone's sorta relaxed.
Jim:Mhmm.
T.C.:We get to swimming. Like, we get to see them jumping in the water and have a good time. Play music for us again that night and then the first real murder occurs.
Jim:Oh, we can ruin the swimming thing.
T.C.:Go ahead.
Jim:Alright. So so,
Jim:the the boat has to stop that next morning or day or whatever. Mhmm. And the captain doesn't say why, but he takes he takes a rowboat
T.C.:Mhmm.
Jim:Which we can destroy later on to, take away hope of escape.
T.C.:Maybe the the the when it's attack, attack when the boat's attacked by the river folk in the next sequence.
Jim:Sure.
T.C.:Cap takes the boat.
Jim:Takes the boat maybe with 1 of the crewmen, tells Willie, keep an eye on the passengers, goes to shore, comes back with a witch doctor or a or a or like a like a voodoo mambo to, I guess, be religiously insensitive.
T.C.:Well, it was 1928, so that was perfectly inconsiderate.
Jim:So us in 2020 5 are are okay saying No.
T.C.:It's still wrong, Jim. Terribly offensive. Right. But maybe it comes out to,
Jim:like, right, bless the boat with with pagan blessings, which freaks the passengers out, ruins the entire swimming. Like, they actually start having a good time. They start calming down and then
T.C.:The boat comes back.
Jim:Freaky bone caster comes out.
T.C.:I think it's would be even more
Jim:Uhara Specs.
T.C.:I like where you're going with that because it feels apt to the era and the style of this movie. But there's also something to be said about a really puritanical Christian getting out of the boat and and doing it's like just the, like, looking like a Quaker hat and everything and and being a freaky deaky Christian man. Some sort of pastor from
Jim:I think we can work that out in the writing of it. Mhmm. Because because, yeah. Either way.
T.C.:Whether it's a a a a yeah. Whatever religious sect it is, someone comes on the boat, ruins the like, oh, what is this this creepy thing?
Jim:Almost verifies that something weird something weird is going on.
T.C.:Happened again, captain. Alright. Well, we'll get it at the next port. Maybe maybe he even tries to, like, keep it low key for a while, like, the swimming and, like, they're getting everyone back on the boat.
Jim:Oh, it could it might even be when he left the ship, he was not expect like, the passengers were all like, let us do this, Willie. Let us do this. Mhmm. So then when he gets back, he's mad about it.
T.C.:Like, why are they swimming?
Jim:Yeah. What are you doing? What are you doing? Like like, don't jump in the river. No one jumps in the river.
Jim:Not no one. Not no how.
T.C.:So the fun day is ruined by all this. And as the sun is setting, this
Jim:Fun day is ruined by religion.
T.C.:And mini play and mini yeah. Yeah. That seems how many Sundays have been ruined by religion? Most of them. Most of them.
T.C.:Some Saturdays too, depending on what you believe. Yeah. So to settle everyone as everyone's mood is kinda soured as the sun setting, many plays again. And then that night, the first real murder occurs.
T.C.:Sure.
T.C.:And then the scream of that happening, the commotion that occurs, discovering the body in the night and having fear as the sun rises, and then now now things are starting to churn along. Like
Jim:Oh, crap. I I mean, depending on how much, like like, what musicality we want to have trigger our murderer. I was actually initially thinking at everything from even, like, the the the whistle, the whistle of the steamboat, like like, he like like like, shutters or something like that, and, that's actually that could be why he kills the goat because it has a bell around its neck.
T.C.:Oh, sure. That's great. That's that's great. Yeah. I like that.
Jim:So each each of these things he's trying to silence Mhmm. Something that's why that that goat died initially.
T.C.:But the the the song she plays that night finally lights the fire and he embraces it. He's like, now I'll get my thirst out by killing killing it. I need to I knew you fired me up. I need to kill someone. Sure.
T.C.:Yeah.
Jim:You wouldn't stop. You wouldn't stop playing.
T.C.:Yeah. So murder occurs, sunset comes up and then over the then then the rest of the movie takes place in relatively quick, like, once the So
Jim:basically, it's 2 nights. Right? Then then, like, the second night, all the murders start happening.
T.C.:The the the sun comes up after the first murder has occurred over that course of the day. Some suspicious and whatnot. But as the sun's setting and that's when the next murder occurs, the the action starts picking up Mhmm. And ultimately, fingers start getting pointed. It's say I'm you're safe with me.
T.C.:Alliances are formed, and and then having it
Jim:Well, if the passengers don't all know each other Mhmm. They could even die before, before the whole swimming scenario. The the crew is just, like, oh, no. That passenger, they're they're they said they're they're ill. No.
Jim:They're ill. Oh, they're
T.C.:in their bunk.
Jim:They're in their bunk. And that's why when the captain comes back, it's maybe it's to get somebody to take the body.
T.C.:The the the having a body killed somewhere that we didn't witness that, like, yeah.
Jim:But, so now if but if if we're thinking the trigger, it doesn't always, like, maybe the the the reason for that one is, not not not necessarily the writer, but someone played. Why would they why would they have a record? But that that's the idea. Like, yep.
Jim:Here in my tiny cabin, I made sure
Jim:to bring my record player with big old big old photograph. I love your music, stab stab.
T.C.:Get getting the escalation happening so that it ultimately reaches a oh, wait. Wait. The the murder happens in the night. The day comes up. The suspicion is occurring as it's getting near the end night and the action's really gonna start to go.
T.C.:That's when, like, the river people attack the boat and say
Jim:forgot about river people.
T.C.:And be like, you know, there this boat is a devil on it. And we're we're we're not letting you go any further down the rivers. They have to fend off these people. There could be conversation like, well, little guy coming on me like, you're all gonna die.
Jim:Oh, actually, that could even be the response. Whoever your your super religious guy rather than it being a a a hoodoo blessing Yeah. Which is what I was initially thinking, the that that priest retrieves the body Mhmm. But then through, right off screen conversations, the locals the locals are like, no. Someone was murdered out there.
Jim:Like, no. They're they're they're
Jim:a bunch of creeps.
T.C.:That's a scream boat.
Jim:Yeah. A let's call this scream boat.
T.C.:That's a scream boat. We gotta stop that scream boat.
Jim:Stop that scream boat before there's more Kili.
T.C.:Yeah. That fight, it could take that fight takes place. They they they get rid of the river folk. There's a there's a calm and then a launching us into, the leading to the, like, more deaths are occurring. Maybe Willie finally, reveals himself not not soon after the river folk have attacked.
Jim:Mhmm.
T.C.:And then it's like, okay. River folk attack, everyone's a little, like, really rattled now. Mhmm. Like, that guy said he killed people. We got a new dead body on.
T.C.:The boat's, like, speeding along, like, picking up steam to, like, get away as fast as possible.
Jim:Well, and then so alright. So if it's from there, there's if there's no more if if there's no, what what do you what do you call it? A a Reprieve. Yeah. If there's no no reprieve.
Jim:Like, literally now the passengers are freaked out, like, because they're gone. Like, what is going on, captain? You cannot predict. What is happening here? And, like, one of the, one of the passengers comes from the back of the boat, like, holding their own guts.
Jim:It's like, and they fall over. And behind them is a is, like, the the the crew member in the rain slicker holding holding a bloody knife, and they they got blood. Yeah. And they're and right? And then so all the passengers are like, oh my god.
Jim:Slicker. And he's like, no. No. I found it.
T.C.:This. I found this.
Jim:Right. So Panic. Panic. Panic. Panic begins.
Jim:Let's calm him down. Kill him down. The the, the the misdirection is we're running from this guy and our crew runs around the boat and it's just a a cartoon running around. But but like within that someone else gets hurt somehow, and and then but then Willie's there and they're like, Willie, just Rainslickers, he's he's crazy. Mhmm.
Jim:And then Rainslicker comes around the corner and and Willie kills him.
T.C.:Oh, wait. Back up. Back up. Back up. I I I like where you're going here.
T.C.:I like the momentum. But early on, maybe the first time, Minnie plays, there's like an older person on the boat that she sues or someone she sues with the music where it's like, gosh, you remind me of x y z. So that when all the panic is happening, if they get if it's, if that one's, like, hurt but not killed, like like, dying, like, play one more song for me. If everyone sort of secludes themselves in fleeing slicker and the miscommunication, if it's Will and Minnie and the dying one and Minnie plays for plays for the dying friend the dying person and that's when Willie is revealed to be like and then she looks down and like, I hope you feel better and the dying person looks up and goes and then Willie just goes. Like, just kills kills, kills the person right in front of me.
Jim:Sure.
T.C.:Yeah. Okay. Fight. Panic. It's insane.
T.C.:Gunfire goes off. The the steam engine is getting faster and faster and faster. It blows, starts the fire, and and then it comes down to a throw down between Willie and Pete. Will Willie gets Pete, and then it's Willie and and, Minnie. And he's like, play for me.
T.C.:You've unlocked it in me and I want it. Please just play for me.
Jim:Not sure. Okay.
T.C.:I I pitch pitch something else. I'm just trying to get it to the climax.
Jim:Once it's awake, I I I don't I don't think we need to keep going back to the the the music thing, because he's he's in full murder mode now. Yeah.
T.C.:He's on it's unlocked. We
Jim:don't need
T.C.:the music anymore.
Jim:Yeah. Especially if if we wanted to do the misunderstanding where she thinks it actually calms him down.
T.C.:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Jim:And he's But then but then yeah. Then it then it culminates with, just her and him, in the hook the hook kick.
T.C.:Grabs him, chucks him in the river. He can't swim
Jim:Yep.
T.C.:Eating my alligators, and she can't stop the boat as it crashes into New Orleans. Mhmm. Yeah. And of course, we leave the indication that, Willie could still be out there for the sequel. Mhmm.
T.C.:Steamboat, Killy, whatever the next public domain Mickey Mouse cartoon title is.
Jim:Yeah.
T.C.:Yes. And not not a supernatural force in the end. I actually am I I I think it's fun to come up with a slasher that isn't hoodoo voodoo. That it is that isn't a demon or not. It's just a no.
T.C.:It's just a psycho from 1928.
Jim:And but like Jason Mhmm. And Michael Myers, when we get into the sequels, we can start doing more supernatural stuff.
T.C.:I mean, like, he's just, like, the effects of the great depression on this guy because we're 1 year away from the 1999 was the great depression.
Jim:Mhmm.
T.C.:And if this is 1928, like, the it's it's building up to the dust bowl and all that.
Jim:Mhmm. With every stock broker that drops out of the sky, scream boat Killy rises from the bayou.
T.C.:My bloodlust is satisfied by every Wall Street rich son of a bitch who dies.
Jim:How did they make that connection? These writers are really stretching.
T.C.:Yeah. I feel like they're they're commenting on something. And that's not what Steamboat Willie was made for.
Jim:No. Like what? It was made for barnyard shenanigans on a ship.
T.C.:Playing on cow teeth
Jim:Yep.
T.C.:With xylophone, hammers that you pull out of your cartoon. No. I can't I'm not gonna reference that because that's from the Patriot. Okay.
Jim:I will. From a cartoon butthole.
T.C.:Alright. Steam O'Killy. I think
Jim:we did it. I Yeah.
T.C.:Like, I'm sure what we get with Scream Boat is going to be schlocky. I think Craig is correct that it's going to be Blood and Honey. Just they they made it as fast as possible. Yeah. I'm sure they had fun making it.
T.C.:We've made horror movies. We know how fun horror movies can be. Mhmm. But I don't know. I think there's something there there's no reason it has to be Schlocky.
T.C.:No. I if this was a 1928 period piece slasher movie on a on a steamboat, name another is there another movie that's done that?
Jim:Not that I can immediately a pretty good one. I can think of some role playing adventures where that happened.
T.C.:Deadlands have stuff like that?
Jim:It did. It had one where, your the characters are all stuck on a scheme boat and a skin walker Ah. Is murdering people so you don't know who they are because they're stealing people's skins.
T.C.:You gotta be careful with that term because back in 1928, that was terribly offensive. Alright. Craig, goose
Jim:egg shit. Offensive. No. I mean, the the, the supernatural, the the the, not sure the superstitious belief is just saying that term makes them aware of you. Oh,
T.C.:okay. Great. Mhmm.
Jim:Like, we
T.C.:don't have enough problems in this city or not.
Jim:Look. I am trying to get more listeners.
T.C.:Okay. Great. If if we just have one, like, someone's like Skinwalker's like, I need to listen to a podcast. Someone just evoked me. Craig, how did we do?
T.C.:I would love to we would love to know how we did. We're gonna wrap up here, but you can let us know how we met your demand today. Did we did we did we give you something that you feel satisfies it? Did we agree, disagree? What did we miss?
T.C.:Whatever you got. You can message us directly at studiodemandsit.com. And that's not just for Craig. That's for anyone listening. How did we do?
T.C.:You can find us on Instagram as well. If you're not already, you can subscribe to us on any podcatcher of your choice. And if you feel like giving us a little review, it's so simple. You can do it right there in the app. And if you, you know, if you write a 5 star review that's that's amusing enough, I'll start reading those things on here.
T.C.:Gosh. Gosh. Darn it. You can find us on YouTube and TikTok where we post video content including material right here here on the show. Jim, where else can people find us to talk about episodes?
Jim:You can find us on Discord. Go to our website, studiodemands.com. And at the top of the page, there is a discord link. You can, select Select. And, get the invites to the discord Discord.
Jim:Group server thing. The other place is on Reddit. You can go to, r/studiodemandsit, to our subreddit and join the conversation there. Yep. Alright.
T.C.:If you would like even more of us, we do have a Patreon for a couple bucks a month. You can get episodes early as well extended double length episodes, our movie commentary tricks. You can also just show some love by subscribing for free. Cost you nothing. Massive thank you to 65 Media for everything that they do in giving us 6 beautiful years of this show.
T.C.:Very excited here. Jim, unless anything else comes to mind, we have the cow, the parrot. Mhmm.
Jim:We,
T.C.:we Did we do the parrot? There's a parrot. Sure. Sure.
T.C.:There's a parrot.
Jim:Sure. There's a parrot.
T.C.:We got Pete. We got Minnie. We got Willie. We got a whole bunch of extra characters that we just made up. Mhmm.
T.C.:I think we did it. Anything else? No. Nope. Okay.
T.C.:Well, with that said, we will be back again with another one of your demands to challenge ourselves to improve the world of cinema. I am TC.
Jim:I am thinking of a second plot.
T.C.:You still have time.
Jim:Oh, no. What so Turkey and
T.C.:the straw. Hey. Hey. Hey.
Jim:Hey. Turkey and the straw.
T.C.:Uh-huh. Right? Alright.
Jim:So super quick. The other is to go with your notion that, do a big old riverboat, and there's a clandestine poker tournament that is on it. A whole bunch of people are initially invited on. Mhmm. Only once they're off at sea, it turns out it's one of them, murder contests and super rich people are playing poker with other people's lives.
T.C.:To kill people off.
Jim:And and maybe our main character is actually a part of the band, and and thus initially, immune and separate from the killing, but just clearly watching this horror show. But as the bodies dwindle down and as they feel compelled to do something or try to escape
T.C.:Uh-huh. A little bit of, ready or not? Yeah. Yeah. I like that.
T.C.:Well, okay. Just real quick. That's the answer. Another one is, what if, what if the guitar player in this scenario has to go up against the fiddle playing devil?
Jim:That's the wrong IP.
T.C.:Oh, damn it. Alright. Well, maybe maybe next time.
Jim:What about Yeah. Another boat gets a whole bunch of people, passengers on it, and what the passengers don't realize at first, what they all have in common is that they are all trying to get away from their past. So they're all they're all kind of, like, not quite on the up and up people. Mhmm. And it turns out this the steamboat ends up is going to hell and is powered by screams by their deaths.
Jim:Yeah. And so Yeah. The crew, is actually demonic beings who, grab them and and shove them into the steam. Into the boiler. Yeah.
Jim:And now our character has to get away into the rivers of hell.
T.C.:I've heard of a scream boat, but this is ridiculous.
T.C.:Bye, everyone.
Jim:Bye bye. I'm Jim.