The Studio Demands It!

S7 EP5 | In order to expand one of the most successful franchises of all time, the studio demands a fast and furious movie set in a different time period, ideally an era without cars. The guys travel through time to find the fastest and most furious points in history. 


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Creators and Guests

Host
Jim Burzelic
Host
T.C. De Witt

What is The Studio Demands It!?

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

T.C.:

Hello and welcome to The Studio Demands It! A Screenwriting Series where we will fuck. Every week. You'll get it. Hello and welcome to The Studio Demands It!

T.C.:

A Screenwriting Series where we will conceptualize, pitch, and craft a film or show based on the demands from one of you listeners acting as a hypothetical Hollywood overlord. Listeners. As professional screenwriters ourselves and massive cinephiles, we talk movies all the time. Ourselves. And we'd like to believe that we can meet any demand thrown at us by the studio.

T.C.:

Believe. We will be your screenwriters for this episode. I am T. C. De Witt, and joining me as always is Jim Burzelic.

Jim:

Yeah. Literally. That's the one?

T.C.:

I just looked over. I could see you have it written on your shirt.

Jim:

Brick, are you just looking around and and saying you love

T.C.:

the things

Jim:

you see?

T.C.:

Your middle name's Couch. Your your middle name is Empire Strikes Backposter, and I love it. It's a family name, Xbox controller. Alright. Yeah.

T.C.:

Alright.

Jim:

Have I That is my middle name.

T.C.:

Have I failed at the middle name game? Like, have we we peaked out? No.

Jim:

I I think I think you doing the the the adjusted intros is just throwing you off.

T.C.:

It's throwing off my game. Yeah. I'm not finding your birth certificates and figuring out what your names are. Yeah. What's to riff a pillow?

T.C.:

Do you like soft pillows or hard pillows, Jim? Don't look at my pillows. Those are my pillows.

Jim:

I like lumpy pillows.

T.C.:

You like a lumpy pillow? Yeah. You're a monster.

Jim:

I am. And what's really weird is I found IKEA sells them all, like, pre lumpied. Lumpy pillow? It's like Really weird. I don't know why.

Jim:

I I'm not happy about it either.

T.C.:

Is it are they cotton or are they feather?

Jim:

I think they're cotton. Like, Yeah. They're cotton. They're weird foam?

T.C.:

Sort of. They're just lumpy. Did I I have a my t shirt quilt. Yeah. And I cut all the arms off it to create the the squares that would be the the shirt, and then my my wonderful mother made it for me.

T.C.:

But I kept all the sleeves, and I stuck them in a pillowcase. And I was like, oh, I'll have a sleeve pillow. The most awful, rock hard, awful pillow that

Jim:

has ever pillared. Because that fabric is gonna, like, stack. Just bunch it up.

T.C.:

Yeah. So you want a lumpy pillow. I'll give you one that feels like

Jim:

a No.

T.C.:

No. Bag of mud.

Jim:

So what's weird, they're they're not the lumps aren't hard. Like, imagine a cotton pillow, but then the cotton kinda separates into sections. Now each of those sections Yeah. Didn't get, like, t shirt sleeve piled together hard. We all know what that feels like.

T.C.:

We've all been there.

Jim:

But it just yeah. The pillow is kinda lumpy. It's it's somewhere in between a soft and hard pillow, and it it like, when you when you punch it to to puff it up in certain areas

T.C.:

Make it lumpier. Give it some bruises.

Jim:

And you can like like, I had I'm the type of person I I sort of fold the pillow with within my arms and put my head on it, like, is is sort of what I do, and it doesn't quite work the same with a soft or hard pillow.

T.C.:

You need a good lumpy pillow. It's

Jim:

and previous to finding those, it really was taking, cheap soft pillows. I used to buy them from Target

T.C.:

Mhmm.

Jim:

Who would I don't know if they still do because, again, it's been years since I bought them there. They were $4 a pillow, which I feel like in the twenty first century, that's a deal. Finding anything for $4

T.C.:

Yeah. Sounds like a deal. If you sleep on it 400 times, you paid a penny per sleep.

Jim:

Yeah. And while there was a comfort to a new pillow, the way it the way it was it was puffy Mhmm. Was nice, but it wasn't where I needed it to be until, like, six months in.

T.C.:

Till you really beat the hell out of it. Yes. Nice and lumpy. Yep. Broke up the innards.

Jim:

And and then I found IKEA sold them that way to begin with.

T.C.:

Oh my god. I there was a time I had, like, fifteen fifteen, 16 pillows on my bed because Wow. I just anytime I ever went anywhere, I'd take a pillow from the hotel.

Jim:

Oh oh, wow.

T.C.:

And and then eventually, I think I wasn't the only one doing that because hotels started charging for missing pillows and Yeah. That was the end of that run. But there was a time. My whole bed I still have, like, six I have six pillows on my bed. Holy cow.

T.C.:

Two of them are for the cat. There's two next to you right now. Who would have thought we would have had this much pillow talk, Jim?

Jim:

Is that a hint about this this episode?

T.C.:

Not even a little.

Jim:

Was pillow as my middle name actually we going to pitch the pillow man movie?

T.C.:

The like, I I'm gonna I'm gonna save America by selling pillow that Pillowman?

Jim:

No. Not that Pillowman. Good. But we could do that one. That's awful.

Jim:

And I don't wanna marry the two. No. The Pillowman by Martin McDonough

T.C.:

Oh.

Jim:

Which I think has been turned into a movie at this point.

T.C.:

That's all he does is he writes plays to be movies. Yep. And then begrudgingly wins Tony Awards. Yep. What a jerk.

T.C.:

I hate that guy. No. This has nothing to do with anything. Okay. And the audience knows because as we've discussed since the beginning of this series, sometimes the audience knows more what the demand is than we do as we're recording it.

Jim:

Yes. Yeah. And and, yeah, this season has been much more of that.

T.C.:

Absolutely. Because I've I've really been doing keyword search grab go for it this year. We're not we're not really, like, aiming towards any sort of optimized choice here. We're really just going into the deep into the demands, pulling out a keyword Mhmm. Grabbing that demand.

T.C.:

Last episode was a big surprise because I I picked Thor. Yep. I picked the keyword Thor, and then we ended up not making a Thor movie at all. No. Not at all.

T.C.:

We did a movie that stars Sharon Carter and Flash Thompson. Yep. My god. So today today's demand comes from sugar from Miles per hour Studios. Alright.

T.C.:

Here we go. Fellas, we can all agree that one of the finest franchises in all of cinema history is not the MCU or James Bond or Star Wars. It is the franchise that does one thing better than all of them. It embraces family. The Fast and the

Jim:

There's the Miles per hour reference.

T.C.:

Yep. Yep. The Fast and the Furious. The Fast and the Furious franchise has hit a messy road. And while we wait for the extended finale from oh, thank you.

T.C.:

This is great. Speedometer Toretto. Nice. Nice. Someone follows our threads account.

T.C.:

As for as we wait for the extended finale from Speedometer Toretto, and his crew, it is time to plan ahead. The most expansion we've gotten from this franchise is Hobbs and Shaw, which saw a superhuman robot man and the rock fight superhero robot man fight, and the rock pull a helicopter to the ground with his bare hands. And Fast and the Furious spy racers, which is a do you know about this? Which is a cartoon about a group of teenagers who infiltrate an Elise an elite racing league controlled by nefarious organizations that are help bent on world domination? What?

T.C.:

I didn't know about that. Anyway, but that's not doing this IP any favors. It's time to shake things up. Hand brake turn into a onto a new Fast and Furious road. And honestly, the best way to do this is to send the series far, far away.

T.C.:

Oh god. Don't be

Jim:

Star Wars.

T.C.:

Yes. From the roads we know. Okay. We want a fast and the furious movie set in the past. Oh.

T.C.:

Way past. Oh. Ideally, cars even existed.

Jim:

Yeah. But to have a do past?

T.C.:

Pick a time period and make a new entry to the FFF. Stick as closely as possible to all the classic Fast and Furious tropes, family, impossible heists, rival crews, outrageous action, the whole thing. Just no cars. Nail it, and maybe this movie series will get another 10 entries. Good luck.

T.C.:

Okay, Sugar. Boy, for a split second there, I thought it was gonna be Star Wars Fast and Furious with that far far away. Sugar, thank you. This is our demands come from studios literally all over the world. I don't think I stated that that you can send in your demand, and we will have to meet it.

T.C.:

And if we reach the end of the episode and are successful, we'll have a full story pitched out, and and that very well could be the pitch that is greenlit by the listeners for our finale where we will fully write and produce a feature length version of this story. But keep these demands coming like Sugar has here over at our website. A Fast and the Furious period piece is what we've been asked to do here. Did you think it was gonna be sci fi like Star Wars? Yeah.

T.C.:

I did. Maybe maybe we could discuss that as well. But a okay. I I'll admit, I've I've kinda thought about this before of if you much like I think James Bond would benefit from going back in time to, like, the fifties and sixties. I think the Fast and the Furious, there is there is some fun to be had by putting it in a pre Dom Toretto era.

Jim:

We talked about that on one of them. We we talked about, a, them going back in

T.C.:

time and racing with their dad. Yeah. Which they kinda almost did in '10 or '9 anyway when we saw the flashback to John

Jim:

Cena. Yeah. But then I thought I thought

T.C.:

we

Jim:

even mentioned that we didn't spend much time on it, but having them go back to the bootlegger era and actually, like

T.C.:

well, he's racing I don't believe sugar.

Jim:

We need to go even further back. They said no cars.

T.C.:

No cars. I I do think the bootlegger Which

Jim:

means no cavemen because they had foot powered

T.C.:

cars. It's just amoebas racing. Fast and Furious Row. We want a Fast and Furious ideally before cars exist. So you suggesting bootlegging era is great.

T.C.:

And we're not time traveling with our characters.

Jim:

No. No. No. We we are we are doing it not not an alternate history, sort of an alternate history.

T.C.:

Yeah. We we can choose to set it to I'm gonna look up this cartoon because if there's a Toretto involved in this, I'll be I'll be I'll be amused.

Jim:

I'll bet either is. I'll bet you it's like a young cousin. Yeah. Like like Vincent.

T.C.:

No. Vincent's the name of the guy who gets his arm messed up in the first movie, and he dies in '6. Also, name of the actor who plays Dom Toretto. Vincent Diesel? Yeah.

T.C.:

I thought it was I thought it was Vindolin.

Jim:

It is yeah. It is. Fast For a while, I thought it was Alvin.

T.C.:

That'd be alright. Fast and Furious what was it called? Fast and Furious he said it, Spy Racers?

Jim:

Something like that. Yeah. Real real help I am.

T.C.:

Yeah. Fast and Furious Spy Racers. The main character is Tony Toretto. Yep. Oh my god.

T.C.:

Okay. Well Alright. So I think I got something. Yeah. Okay.

T.C.:

Alright. I I have a thought as well where I would like to do this, but let's see what you got.

Jim:

So to keep that theme, doesn't have to be Dom, but clearly, it has to be a Toretto.

T.C.:

It doesn't have to be a Toretto. Okay.

Jim:

Fine. And so Toretto is an Italian name. Mhmm. So this is going to be a Roman story

T.C.:

Oh. About Shit. Chariots. Oh my god. A sword and sandals sandals Fast Fast and and the the Furious?

T.C.:

Furious? Yes. Yes. Oh my god. Okay.

T.C.:

Well, let's

Jim:

Ben Hur, but about family. Family.

T.C.:

Just Ben Hurling. Ben Ben I'm trying to

Jim:

Ben Heretto?

T.C.:

Ben Heretto. Oh, man. Talk about horsepower.

Jim:

Ultimately, we don't we don't have to do that, but that was my thought. So no if it's no cars, it's gonna be horses.

T.C.:

Yeah. Horses it's gonna be horse racing or something. Cowboys, man. Fast and the Furious coach. Yeah.

T.C.:

We have a train we can use. We could use, like, steam powered trains.

Jim:

Those don't count as car well, right? Train cars aren't the same

T.C.:

I think he means I think he means automobiles. So Like, I I'm willing to indulge you in the Roman era real quick here. But I

Jim:

So I don't I'm okay if if you wanna do Wild West. I am here for it.

T.C.:

I I know you are.

Jim:

I don't wanna I don't wanna take us to that well every time.

T.C.:

Jim, I love going to the cowboy well with you. We have had more than one truly successful pitch. Our alien frontier movie. Yeah. Yeah.

T.C.:

That one's a one. One was fan voted into the finale and beat Star Wars and Harry Potter.

Jim:

Oh my god. Can you just see how dark it would be? It'd be such a dark western. It would be so good. So

T.C.:

we've had success with with the weird West having, well, let's just think about Romans for a second. Is there anything to be had about chariot races? Like, I don't know. Like, really want like, the mass appeal of it as well of, like, the closest I can think of that would be in the vein of Fast and the Furious about a sword and sandals movie was Kit Harrington's Pompeii, which was a gladiator just juiced up gladiator movie where it's a it's a Kiefer Sutherland plays the villain in it, and it's like a it is like the movie gladiator, but right when the explosion of Pompeii happens.

Jim:

So I didn't watch that because I'm a nerd about Pompeii, and I knew that they weren't going to do the volcano right. And so I'm like, I'm not seeing this.

T.C.:

It is just Kit Harrington oiled up and looking amazing as he sword fights and then the corruption of a government and then

Jim:

And then gets away on a chariot?

T.C.:

Yeah. Yeah. He gets away on chariot.

Jim:

Oh, he does?

T.C.:

There's there's Oh, so they beat us to it. Ah. It's

Jim:

so, I mean, I I mean, you you sort of just summed up what I would do is I would highlight the the the bread and circuses of Rome. Mhmm. But I would try to replicate at I guess, it'd be replicating the earlier Fast and Furious movies. I would have a group of people who are basically doing heists a la chariots. Chariots.

T.C.:

Yeah. Like they're getting away on chariots? Yeah. Were chariots used just in general day to day travel?

Jim:

They are in this movie.

T.C.:

They keep getting away. Oh, sorry.

T.C.:

They keep getting away. And the the chariots are going so fast, they only attack it at night.

Jim:

And that's how all Romans talked.

T.C.:

I think it's pretty accurate.

Jim:

I think so. I swear to god. I was there.

T.C.:

And they were always talking about the familia.

Jim:

Familia. Yep. They're they're at the olive Garden.

T.C.:

What's the family.

T.C.:

Oh my god. Fast and

Jim:

the

T.C.:

Furious Roman, like, Ben Hereto. When you hear, you family. Somehow still drinking Coronas. Let's I before we go to cowboys, which I think we'll ultimately land on, I'm willing to talk about bootleggers. I know he said ideally no cars, but taking it taking it back to to that era of car cars and being bootleggers that they are criminal Robin Hood type heroes, there's some gonna be there's some fun to be mined there.

Jim:

There there absolutely is. I think it's a it's a matter of what is the story we wanna tell. Yeah. Right? It's it's easy to say, oh, we'll tell the Fast and Furious story.

Jim:

It's a story of family.

T.C.:

Sure. Sure. Sure. No. No.

Jim:

You gotta you gotta

T.C.:

I would much rather What's

Jim:

the James Bond story you're telling here? Right.

T.C.:

Right. Well, I think you were on to something saying that we should go more towards the original four or five

Jim:

before getting They were criminals.

T.C.:

Yeah. Before they became James Bond Super hot hot wheels, supercar

Jim:

Mhmm.

T.C.:

Car powers. That it's much more about what's the theft? What's the heist? What are these these what are they these bad guys, these thieves stealing? Who are they stealing it from?

T.C.:

Why are they stealing it? And the the bootlegging era of prohibition look. I when you look at New York and the rise of the American mob Mhmm. It is built on prohibition. When like, seriously, the the the rise of the mob within America is because of prohibition.

T.C.:

They figured out how to run that booze once it became illegal to drink it. Mhmm. And the history of poor congressional, like, passing of laws was always met by the the Italians and the mob benefiting and finding a workaround Mhmm. And undermining the the government for the betterment of their people and their communities. And, yes, they were all criminals, but that era, if we choose it, is the Italians play Toretto.

T.C.:

Right? Mhmm. But I think he's more Latino than Italian. Toretto sounds Italian, but I think Dom is Hispanic.

Jim:

I'm not sure.

T.C.:

What is Toretto?

Jim:

It might just be straight up Spanish. He might be related to Marcus Aurelius from Gladiator. Oh my god.

T.C.:

Yeah. I guess the question is is and we we should yeah. What is Dom Toretto's race, nationality?

Jim:

Ethnicity is word. His nationality. To It's be Italian.

T.C.:

Okay. Oh, okay. Alright. There we go.

Jim:

Oh, no. Well, I'm sorry. The AI overview says it was originally conceived to be Italian American. Mhmm. However, I got another one here that says he is Cuban.

Jim:

Cuban and Mexican? Italian and Mexican. I don't He's a bunch of things. He's he's

T.C.:

He's he's ethnically ambiguous?

Jim:

All that good stuff. Yes. Okay.

T.C.:

Well, linking him to booze running and dealing with both the governments and the mob, if you wanna go classic Sicilian mafia or the American Cosa Nostra, like, got two types of it's like, hey. We're we're in the middle here. We're not with the we're not with the government. We're not with the mob. We are Sure.

T.C.:

We're just trying to exist independently, then heisting from the both of them to pit them against each other and get away with the money in the end. Oh my god, Kat. You're killing me. What do you want? Just to be near you.

Jim:

Sorry. I wanna I wanna be near you. I really wanna make chariots work. I just don't know enough about Roman culture to say, oh, this this is the corruption that they would be fighting against or this this these are the things they're stealing, or may maybe we just copy the first one entirely, and they're just straight up criminals, and we have to have one Roman legionnaire

T.C.:

Oh, Brian.

Jim:

Like, our undercover.

T.C.:

Our Brian O'Connor. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like like, trying to, like I

Jim:

love chariots. D isn't a Roman numeral, is it? It is? It they're stealing DVD player? I don't know what that means.

Jim:

They're stealing the

T.C.:

my god. Oh my god. D okay. So d is 500. D is 500.

T.C.:

D is 500.

Jim:

So So

T.C.:

what would d v d be? Well, d would be let's see. 501,000 minus five.

Jim:

They'd be sealing 995 players.

T.C.:

Oh my god.

Jim:

Oh god. I wanna do it just for that now.

T.C.:

When when was the Roman Empire if it took place in BC nine fifty nine or September.

Jim:

September? Yeah. No. No. It's not that old.

T.C.:

Then it could just be I don't think it is. DVD somewhere in Ultimately,

Jim:

we're going to be fictionalizing a bunch of things.

T.C.:

Yeah. Of course.

Jim:

Yeah. It in honest and to that, it doesn't it doesn't have to and wouldn't be all on chariots. I think chariots would be a lot of fun Mhmm. And playing into the whole there are, like, private chariots and stuff. So our our Toretto, our our our Dominus Toretto.

Jim:

I know Sugar said no dom, but there he is. Dominus Toretto?

T.C.:

Oh my god.

Jim:

Would have his own his his own chariot that he built that that's faster that's faster than the others. Oh my god.

T.C.:

Like But, like, there there would

Jim:

be horse racing because obviously that's part of chariots as well. But they can also get away by boat. You can also

T.C.:

I gotta get it.

Jim:

Uh-oh. Uh-oh. There's

T.C.:

Fast and the Furious Furious Maximus.

Jim:

Furious yes.

T.C.:

That's the that's the name of the movie. Fast and the Furious presents Furious Maximus.

Jim:

Oh, that's good.

T.C.:

Oh my god. Like,

Jim:

is he is he a gladiator and a chariot rider?

T.C.:

Yeah. Like, he's

Jim:

Or is is this too much of a parody at this point?

T.C.:

Well, you know, it depends how seriously we're taking. We're giggling through it right now. But if if if they're smuggling contraband like, if it's if it's some sort of gladiatorial circus that travels through the Empire Of Rome performing gladiatorial arenas and chariot races, and our gladiators are actually smuggling things around Rome, they are they are dealing under the table kind of stuff. Like Sure. That they are like, if they're elite chariot racers who are also smugglers Uh-huh.

T.C.:

And that they're that they're the the lead gladiator are Dominus. What? Dominus Toretto. Dominus Toretto is the most respected of the like, in and so then if the if they if that's what they're doing, they are gladiators and chariot racers, but they're also dealing under the table and and moving contraband around, then we then we could have some sort of general or or warlord

Jim:

Who's all like, we need our nine ninety five players back.

T.C.:

Maybe Dominus. Although, it's funny because you made a point about, like, a Brian O'Connell analog of, like, a hero character that is a good person mixed up with the bad guys Yeah. Like that first one.

Jim:

Someone infiltrating this gladiator chariot smuggling ring. Okay. How about this? Gladiator dominus. We can come up with a better name.

Jim:

Rex. Whatever. Gladiator slave. Rex means king.

T.C.:

I know what I said. Okay. And a a legionnaire is put into their mix, and he's he's a he's a a traitor or a turncoat. Someone who's his punishment is you are now gonna fight in the gladiatorial ring to earn your freedom because you're a traitor.

Jim:

Like like Marcus Aurelius. Like, what happened to him, sort of. But Oh, no. I guess his was yeah.

T.C.:

He's actually not. He is there undercover as a slave, as a gladiator. Sure. And he is he has been sent to assassinate Rex Dominus Rex.

Jim:

These are starting to sound like Mad Max names.

T.C.:

He is he has been sent into the region the into the into this legion of of gladiators and chariot racers Yeah. To to to uncover this underground smuggling

Jim:

ring.

T.C.:

Yeah. And, ultimately, once once that is unlocked, like, I figured out this, that, and the other, great. Once you figure out who the leader is, kill them. They would never suspect the great hero of Rome, this slave gladiator, is actually the leader of this smuggling ring. Sure.

T.C.:

And so now our character, our our legionnaire, has ingratiated himself in this family of slaves and and and gladiators who are going to ultimately die in the ring or or be killed and sold into servitude or whatnot.

Jim:

Sure.

T.C.:

And now he can't kill his new friend. And the and leading up to a big climax of, like, your Ben Hur huge gladiator, the cherry races with, like, the spikes on the wheels. And once our legionnaire well, I'm really I'm really spitballing this, but, like, once our legionnaire can't do it, they send in, like, a heavy to kill both our legionnaire and Dom. And so now Dom and the and the legionnaire have to work together. Like, I I I have something to tell you.

T.C.:

He's here to kill you, like, in the midst of this epic chariot Ben Hur style thing where the chariots finally like, maybe they break free from the gladiatorial ring and they're racing through the streets of Rome. Go ahead.

Jim:

What is the just bullshitting. No. Yeah. No. No.

Jim:

Like, I'm I'm just wondering what are the stakes, though. What are the what's what's the McGuffin that they're stealing, to to make it I don't I again, I don't know enough about the Roman era to know, like,

T.C.:

what would be

Jim:

contraband. Are they just smuggling out slaves?

T.C.:

That that's not bad. But what about, like, literally stealing the Caesar or the emperor's treasury? Like like, think of it in terms of oceans eleven. This is the biggest event in the year for in the calendar year.

Jim:

Uh-huh.

T.C.:

There's gonna be so much betting going on for all of us. The amount of gold that's gonna be put into the the reserve to pay out to the gladiators and the the nobles who are here, while we are in the ring, we can be robbing the treasury.

Jim:

Okay. That that that could be the big third act. That that's that's ultimately what they're building.

T.C.:

Oh, you're talking about the contraband

Jim:

that they're Yeah. What what got them on the radar to begin with?

T.C.:

What could they be moving? Maybe maybe they are freeing slaves. That seems like a pretty heavy that's a very heroic thing.

Jim:

One at a time.

T.C.:

Not not that it's difficult

Jim:

thing. Yeah, because I I know we're hearkening back to the first Fast and Furious.

T.C.:

Yeah.

Jim:

But this is also the twelfth in the series. Yeah. So at this point, the while we're not necessarily giving them car powers, they they are still going to have altruistic motives.

T.C.:

So what kind of contraband could they be moving Before the big, like, plan, the big the big DVD heist. Yeah.

Jim:

The the thing that attracts the attention of the authorities to send in this undercover guy.

T.C.:

That let's see. Well, let's see what kind of contraband what kind of contraband would have been okay. So if we're thinking Roman Empire, lots of battles are going on. Okay. Hold on a second.

T.C.:

I'm just trying to do a quick little Google search here. What kind of contraband could people, smugglers, be moving under the like, through the shadows and under the nose of the Roman Empire? Yep. That's what we're trying to figure out. Right?

T.C.:

Yeah. Because let's see. Unless we

Jim:

do go with something truly ridiculous as just, like, making up some MacGuffin of value that they're just stealing.

T.C.:

Well, if

Jim:

we They're stealing these scrolls.

T.C.:

If we wanna go from the fast and the like, to horses, they could be smuggling horses. They could be, like, silks and spices from the East. They could just be moving moving those.

Jim:

They're just robbing merchants, just random merchants, and they've robbed enough that the merchants are like, do something about this. And so then the Romans are like, we'll send in our guy.

T.C.:

Yeah. Maybe that maybe it's as simple as that, that they are stealing from wealthy merchants where the the local shops are getting screwed by the the wealthy elites who are buying and trading these exotic materials, fabrics and spices and food and literal animals. And because the the haves

Jim:

What's the reverse of literal animals? Figurative ones? Statues. Figurative animals. Statue animals.

Jim:

You're right.

T.C.:

Poor choice of literal. I know. But the yeah. It's the the stealing from the wealthies. If if these gladiatorial events are taking place around Rome, not because the Colosseum can be our big final set piece.

T.C.:

If they're taking place around Rome, and every time these elites roll into the area, thefts occur. Oh, all of my fabrics were stolen. My entire wardrobe was stolen.

Jim:

No. We shouldn't be doing the first we shouldn't be doing the first one. Okay. It's way more entertaining if we are following our Toretto, and he's he's putting together his team. And it's people that have a past, so we get a quick little cut to some something that they did Mhmm.

Jim:

In the past as to why they're the right person for this job. Okay. That's way more entertaining, and it should just be all one heist against one corrupt senator or something.

T.C.:

Okay.

Jim:

A la the drug lords from the the the Fast and Furious proper

T.C.:

Mhmm.

Jim:

Or or the the the different crime lords

T.C.:

and Fast stuff and Furious, I think.

Jim:

Fast and the Furious? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And and Furious Maximus, and specifically this senator, has forefronted has whispered enough in the emperor's ear to set up this huge huge event of gladiators and chariots and and and celebration as cover to rob the emperor himself.

T.C.:

Oh, like he he's planning on robbing the emperor.

Jim:

Oh, man. And so our underdog heroes are putting together a team to undercut that senator, to essentially rob the emperor before he can do it, but it still pin it on him.

T.C.:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

T.C.:

Right? That's not bad. And and also steal from him. Yeah. Like, they're gonna steal from both.

T.C.:

Yeah. Like, that's the sort of the the the Fast and the Furious really locked in when they moved towards Ocean's 11 style, like, safe heist was

Jim:

To me, I see it like like, yes. The there there's there's a Ocean's 11 element. I see a James Bond element because the villain the the bad guys always

T.C.:

By seven, they had a James they were in James Bond territory. Yeah. But six was when they did the the safe, and they got the they did the whole rumbly tumbly in the safe, and then they get to the safe, and it's empty because they swapped it out. Yeah.

Jim:

Right? Yeah. You're you're right.

T.C.:

Yeah. More of the Ocean's Eleven. So the idea that they are going that over the course of their gladiatorial we've been chariot racing here, we've been sword fighting here, and we are slaves to the system, but they have been robbing from wealthy folks here and there. And the the big score is this underling emperor type. What would that be?

T.C.:

Some sort of

Jim:

Senator.

T.C.:

Senator. There you go. Thank you. This senator, we gonna we've been robbing we wanna rob from him. He's going to rob from the Caesar himself.

T.C.:

Yeah. So their plan is we're gonna steal from the Caesar first, and then the twist a roo is they also stole from him. Yeah. So the big finale is in the gladiatorial ring. Now add on top of that, the legionnaire coming in

Jim:

who's I don't I don't I we can still get the legionnaire in there somewhere.

T.C.:

I I think the legionnaire was sent by the senator.

Jim:

So the senator heard of their plan No. No. To undermine him? No. No.

T.C.:

No. The senator is like, all these thefts keep occurring throughout the empire. My stuff has been targeted twice, and I've had enough of it. I wanna know Oh,

Jim:

I see what you're saying.

T.C.:

I these he's he has put it together. Okay. These things only occur he even went to he even went to the authorities and said, every time one of these gladiatorial circuses take place, us wealthy folk us very nice folk keep getting stolen from. And the authorities like, it's gonna happen. When that many people are around, there are people who are gonna be stealing.

T.C.:

Just deal with it. And and this guy is like, no. I won't deal with it. I think it has something to do with your some it's I wanna know what's going on. I think it has something to do with your gladiators.

T.C.:

Or it's around the gladiatorial arena, so I'm sending my guy in. I I feel like that makes it too convoluted, have

Jim:

having this this history of him getting robbed and now he's doing this other thing, I wanna present one other possible way of

T.C.:

doing

Jim:

And, again, this is getting more and more over the top like the That's fine. Yeah. Has hired these guys Oh my god. Because they have a reputa

T.C.:

wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. He's hired Dominic Rex here?

Jim:

Yes. Because he he has heard that the senate is moving against him. So he he's heard the reputa he yes. He sits on the throne, but you don't get to be in that position without having a network of of knowing what's going on. So, yes, I've heard of you, Dominus Toretto.

Jim:

No.

T.C.:

I where you're going certainly is in line with where we are with this franchise. Yeah. But I wanna pull I I don't know. I can't tell. That is so outlandishly silly.

Jim:

I think we're gonna need a three hour movie to do enough intro of they've been hitting wealthy enough merchants and this senators and or this senator for him to be like, send one of our guys in there, and also we're gonna do this heist over here.

T.C.:

First movie. Think of the first movie. It opens with a heist. They they crash they grab some truck. They steal the DVD players.

T.C.:

The next thing we have is Brian showing up as just some dude who likes cars. He's asking questions. He gets he he gets ingratiated with them, then he gets arrested, and then we find out he's FBI. Uh-huh. LAPD?

T.C.:

He's he's he's a cop. He's a cop, and he has been put in place because they they have said, okay. This stuff keeps getting stolen by very good racers. We have put you in the racing community, and you need to find out we we suspect it might be these guys, but we know it's part of the racing community. Because if you remember, Brian thinks it's the Asians first.

Jim:

Sure.

T.C.:

And then as he's Mhmm. In this world, he's like, oh, shit. It's it's dumb this whole time, and I fell in love with this girl. So these thefts have been occurring. We open up with a a horse attack in the night on a supply of wealthy stuff that gets away with the night.

T.C.:

Uh-huh. And then we go to a gladiatorial arena. A new legionnaire shows up. He ingratiates himself with Dominus Rex. Yep.

T.C.:

He's pulled away because he he some someone wants him as a concubine or whatever. He gets pulled in, and he's like, I'm here for my concubining. And they're like, no, legionnaire. You're here to because we wanna know what you found out about these thefts. Any of those gladiators seem suspicious?

T.C.:

Any of those slaves seem suspicious? Well, it could be any number of them.

Jim:

And and so then it builds up to they find out about their plan to rob the emperor?

T.C.:

That if That's like like that's

Jim:

yeah. We we can we can go there where where or they're just trying to rob the the senator, but ultimately, they are they're they're we can make them Robin Hoods. Right? They don't even have to be keeping the the loot, but they're essentially the bad guys. And and we're we're doing the story where the legionnaire for some reason is like, no.

Jim:

You guys are right. You're good guys.

T.C.:

That's it.

Jim:

And and and that's that's fine.

T.C.:

I I don't wanna follow the original one beat for beat because then it's just so predictable. But, yeah, I think they should be like Robin Hood types. That they aren't just stealing this stuff and making themselves wealthy because they would it would be obvious if they had all this money. They steal this stuff and then give it to the other slaves and the the merchants who are being crushed by the the powerful rich people who aren't giving them their due they're taking too many taxes. They're not they're not they're not supporting the locals.

T.C.:

They are just taking what they want and living off the fat of the earth. And so these slave gladiators per per perpetrate these heists in the night with their chariots and their horses and then give that stuff away to support their community of other slaves and merchants. They're they are Robin Hoods. Sure. And and that's why it's like, well, we we we know it's somehow involved with the arena.

T.C.:

It could even be some of the guards or or some of the the traveling guards for this. We don't really think it would be the number one gladiator. Because why? Why would it? He's a he's a hero of the empire.

T.C.:

He he's the one of ours. Okay. And then our legionnaire finding out, like, that they're planning a big they they okay. The legionnaire finds

Jim:

out No. No. There. That's what it is. He finds out what they're doing Yeah.

Jim:

And he has to now decide between being on the the side of The law. Justice or the side of the law.

T.C.:

Yeah. And and if if he's like, they're building up to their big heist, and they they they reveal to the legionnaire, we're going we have we have found out, and this is b plot that we can develop with whenever we see our senator. We're gonna rob from this. We're gonna rob the senator's planning to do this bad thing to the Caesar. And the lieutenant's like, what are you talking about?

T.C.:

That senator is friends with the Caesar or whatever. He's he's a oh, no. No. We've we've been working this case. We've been working this plan for a long time.

T.C.:

We know that at the big gladiatorial annual gladiatorial thing, this senator is going to make a move on on the Caesar's treasury or what have you, or maybe even assassinate the Caesar if you wanna go a little more into the outlandish. Because then in the end, if we don't have them get away, the Caesar could be, I've heard about you. I free you. Sure. But you answer to me now.

T.C.:

You must be my legionnaires. Okay. You seem resigned. I got I didn't bully you into that, did I?

Jim:

No. You didn't bully me into it. Ultimately, I don't think this is the one we're gonna do a whole episode about. I see I feel like we're gonna do a couple now. Like, because I feel like that's good.

Jim:

We we could beat it out more if you want. I don't know how much there more there is to beat out. It's just coming up with goofy Roman names.

T.C.:

Dominus Rex. Yes. Do you want to let's you wanna do a western one?

Jim:

Sure.

T.C.:

Okay. Well, let's take a break here, and we'll come back and and do it all over again. Alright. Fast and the Furious presents. Yep.

T.C.:

Okay. I like it. Alright. Be right back, everyone. You wanted to get goofier.

Jim:

I did. I feel like the crazy lengths they they get up to in the later Fast and Furious movies would have been would be more fun in a a chariot race. Like

T.C.:

They're using, like, Greek fire.

Jim:

Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Like, going to that those links.

Jim:

Like, imagine it's one thing to have an intense chariot race, and it's another to have dominance

T.C.:

Mhmm.

Jim:

Leaping not just leaping from one chariot to another, but, like, jumping on the outside of a chariot to pull it while standing on it to make it, like, not go over a cliff edge.

T.C.:

Yeah. Right? Oh my god. I mean, we could go even more outlandish and have freaking Cyclops in this if you wanna I know that's Greek, but, like, if you wanna go full Sword sword and

Jim:

Sword and sandal? Fantasy sword and sandals?

T.C.:

Yeah. Like Jason and the Argonauts.

Jim:

Oh, I almost said absolutely. That is that is one of the things fast and furious has not breached.

T.C.:

The fantasy is is

Jim:

full on. Yeah. Like like, as much as we joke about car powers,

T.C.:

I mean, granted Telecarnesis. Tom

Jim:

Toretto literally pulls down the the the beams holding up a

T.C.:

missile silo. He he he had a he went into the afterlife to to return in in fast 10

Jim:

your seat belts. And and so but that's the difference. That's how we describe the the the the narrative leaps that are happening in those stories.

T.C.:

Okay. Well, if you wanna get wild if you wanna get outlandish oh, go sorry.

Jim:

No. No. So so that's that's what I started imagining. Right? Like, imagine a chariot leaping, like or, like, like, from a roof or, like, somehow ramping over the roof of the Colosseum.

Jim:

What? What? Or I I don't know. Some something like that. Right?

Jim:

Like, that that was Let's get weird. That's what I was Let's get big. Thinking.

T.C.:

Alright. Well, if you wanna get weird, let's go Wild West here. And now let's now, like, we've been here before. We've talked like, going all back season one in the lone lone ranger

Jim:

Uh-huh.

T.C.:

Talking about a a steampunky wild wild west gears and and See, I'd I we don't have

Jim:

to go full transformers, though, because the fast and furious fits here. Because, like, be because of the mild you wouldn't even have to do much steam steampunk, if any, because you have trains. Right. Trains and you wanted to go, like, steam wagons. Right?

Jim:

Yeah. That's cheating. That's cars.

T.C.:

That's cars. Not having, like, full on horses and, like, horses and stagecoaches. Stagecoaches. Like, Fast and the Furious stagecoach. Sure.

T.C.:

And having them robbing a robbing the US treasury shipment on a train. I more and more as the years go by, the more and more I think about it, the more and more the mask of Zoro with Antonio Banderas is one of my favorite movies ever made.

Jim:

I just watched a breakdown about that. My god. Forgot who did it, but it was it was how it is an absolute amazing movie. And because it was it was, like, just before the era of moving into CGI Yeah. For things

T.C.:

Like, the horse tricks in that Mhmm. Are unreal Yeah. What what is pulled off. The the structure that screenplay, it's the same screenwriters who did Pirates of the Caribbean, Curse of the Black Pearl

Jim:

Mhmm.

T.C.:

And Shrek. Like, these guys are great. I I but the the notion of

Jim:

Antonio Banderas in both of them.

T.C.:

Yeah. That's right. The idea of a mask of Zoro, Fast and the Furious Sure. Stealing Cortez's gold or Santa Anna's gold. It's the Alamo guy.

T.C.:

Yeah. Like, being being

Jim:

Santa Ana.

T.C.:

Yeah. It'd be everything. I mean, not to just rip off the mask of Zoro, but, like, the the cowboy era gives us allows us gunfights, like pistol fights Sure. And saber fights. Well, it does.

T.C.:

Weapons aren't really

Jim:

a Fast and Furious thing.

T.C.:

True. I'm just thinking, like, a couple set pieces of of

Jim:

Oh, sure.

T.C.:

Of brawling each other.

Jim:

Yeah.

T.C.:

Let's okay. You had offered up the Roman legionnaires being like Caesar going, I've heard of you. I need you to do a thing for me. Let's do that now.

Jim:

So here's here's my problem with doing that now.

T.C.:

Okay. That

Jim:

was the entire basis of Wild Wild West. That Jim West was The the president sent him to do this.

T.C.:

Well, we can do better than Wild Wild West. If if if it's if it's some sort of, like you think of, like, mister nobody from the Fast Kurt Russell's character

Jim:

Yeah.

T.C.:

Where he's like, I'm hiring you, but I can't tell you what what agency I work for. Just I I'm a shadow organization. We want you to do a thing. Having the Pinkertons can be our villains in this. Like, having like, hey.

T.C.:

We're we can't we're The US we're the we're the rain Texas Rangers. Uh-huh. And we can't make you Texas Rangers, but we're hiring you to do Texas Rangery type things.

Jim:

You you're getting real close to the Deadlands spirit, and I I like that.

T.C.:

I'm getting the I'm getting a little nod of approval, a little head tilt of approval.

Jim:

Also, you're touching on a bunch of plot that the adventures of Briscoe County Junior explored.

T.C.:

Funny enough, the last time Briscoe County Junior came up was our Lone Ranger episode. So having a a group of ne'er do wells, a group of five, seven bandit types who Uh-huh. Steal from the like, rob a stagecoach that is belonging to Pinkerton's are such an easy historical, but, like, the the Wells Fargo. Yeah. But then drinking to their success and then being approached by a Texas Ranger who could ultimately be like, I'm hiring you, but I also have to stay with you.

T.C.:

So our our white hats, our good guy, who's like, I've been sent to hire you bandits who we know full well are responsible for x y and z. What are you talking about? That wanted poster doesn't look anything like me. I got a mustache now. I mean, like like, I know I mean,

Jim:

he's got a mustache.

T.C.:

He's mean, I'm hungry. Having having a ranger or a US marshal show up and say, I need some ne'er do wells to do some well. To do what? What because, really,

Jim:

it would probably just be secret service.

T.C.:

Right. So I don't know. Like, what do what do do like that as far as a a setup is concerned

Jim:

that we we meet them? It depends on what they're We meet

T.C.:

our can you do? Our bandits who who rob a stagecoach and are celebrating, then a ranger shows up. And we saw in some sort of prologue scene the big threat that's gonna be in this movie. And then he shows up, this Ranger, this Marshall, the Secret Service agent shows up. He's he's all city boy, buttoned up nice, and he's like, I need there's something coming, and I need you guys to help me because this is this is bad guys doing bad things.

T.C.:

I need a Wild Bunch. Right? Is that a good reference?

Jim:

It's a decent reference. Yeah. That's that actually is kinda close to what happened. Well, the Wild Bunch doesn't get hired, but one of in the Wild Bunch, someone who used to be a part of the Wild Bunch Mhmm. Basically gets harangued by government to be like, okay.

Jim:

We're gonna hang you unless you go bring your old gang in.

T.C.:

Well, I I love the idea of

Jim:

Well, that no. We can't that's the Wild Bunch.

T.C.:

I'm saying referencing that. Like, if we have just have one character who's who's saved from being hung hanged, sorry, from being hanged, and it's a Wild Bunch reference. Like, well, let's wear it on our sleeves. Like, hey. Alright.

T.C.:

I'll join. You can have my crew, but one of my crew's missing, and we gotta go we gotta I I I maybe it's just our leader and Dominic's Tex. It's Tex Toretto? Tex Toretto is is it's him and two others. They just do their small little heist thing, and then they're, okay.

T.C.:

I'm gonna recruit you. Okay. If you need us to do this big thing, we TBD. I need more of my crew at least three more.

Jim:

I think I don't like the the mister nobody aspect.

T.C.:

Okay. Okay.

Jim:

I think when I tell Wild West stories, I want them to be rebelling against the push of society and industry. So I like the idea of robbing a train, of somehow stopping a company from moving in on a territory.

T.C.:

Young woman and her son at a church see a video a film film presentation of them doing some amazing tricks.

Jim:

Film presentation.

T.C.:

And they go hire the three friends. Oh.

Jim:

The three friends.

T.C.:

Just doing three Migos.

Jim:

Yeah. They have to fight El Joapo. I mean,

T.C.:

the handsome. The handsome one. The I feel like a train final set piece is a fun idea, but unfortunately, that's exactly how Lone Ranger ends with the two trains crossing each other, and it's got all the silver in it. It's a shame that that movie's not good.

Jim:

It really is. But

T.C.:

you know what is good? Our Lone Ranger movies, all three of them. They are. But having a a train heist situation in this, particularly leaning into, like, Fast and the Furious. Let's say let's say the reason they have to heist a train we still don't know what the big threat is, but the reason we need to train in this to get us into the third act

Jim:

Is it because it's cool.

T.C.:

Is it because it's the fastest way from a to b? So if it's like, whatever they are set up to they're hired or rebelling against or doing whatever. To get from a to b, they need to get there the fastest way possible. Horses aren't gonna do it. The only thing that is gonna do it is this train and stealing a train to blast their way across the desert to get to their the final piece of this movie.

T.C.:

I know I'm jumping way all across the board for this, but just to to work a train into this a a fast moving train. Yeah. Jim's gears are turning. I can see his eyes are just rolling back in his head, and he's drooling.

Jim:

I think there's more than one train in this movie. I think I think that's actually what our posse does is they rob trains. Okay. What about And using one

T.C.:

train to catch up to

Jim:

another train? What they do that is so remarkable about how they rob these trains is they don't stop them.

T.C.:

They do it while the trains are moving.

Jim:

Now granted, I know I think a lot of movies have have kinda leaned into this where, like, they blow the safe while the train is going and stuff. So maybe this isn't the the best way to go. But normally, the way you do a train robbery is

T.C.:

You stop.

Jim:

You cause it cause it a train to to need to stop or while it's going slow enough, like around a turn or something, you climb aboard, and then you get to the engine room and get them to stop. Yeah. Pull over. And our crew instead, full black full speed, will board a train, rob it, and get off the train.

T.C.:

And disappear into the into the desert or the or the mountains or what have you.

Jim:

That's premise. Right? That that doesn't help at all with plot like you were trying to Sure. Sure.

T.C.:

But the idea that we see several trains in this I'll go I said it. I don't if you heard me, that they use a train to catch up to another train.

Jim:

Sure. I'd I'd because I don't know how or why yet oh, okay. I don't know where to fit that in.

T.C.:

Yeah. You're right. Because we don't have a why we understand they're stealing they're stealing money from trains. Okay.

Jim:

And and my notion is, like, I started thinking, so either they're stealing from a railhead, like a company, a rail company, or some sort of company is doing something a community doesn't like. Mhmm. And so this group is basically robbing every train that goes into town, and so the company's unable to pay their workers. And the work so the workers are like, well, we're not gonna do anything then. And yeah.

Jim:

The and and so the company pushes harder. I don't I don't know if they send in regulators, and now I feel like I'm just invoking too much Pale Rider.

T.C.:

I mean, lean into the history of Wild West movies. Sure. There's no reason not to. Yeah. Westerns are some of the it Western is probably the most done genre in history.

T.C.:

So much so, we've discussed this before, they literally killed themselves. The the the western genre, our American mythology existed in cinema for so long and for too many things that we as a public still refuse to accept more western movies. So lean into it. Wild Bunch, Pale Rider, whatever you want. Trains and horses.

T.C.:

Right?

Jim:

Mhmm. Trains and horses and stagecoaches and Yeah.

T.C.:

Let's see. If yeah. They're outlaw outlaws. They're one of them is a gunslinger. One of them is a a horse racer.

T.C.:

They they rob trains. They they have been outrunning rail barons. Right? Because the the the notion of the West westward expansion was a lot of unchecked capitalism. Industrialism.

T.C.:

Industrialism. Yeah. Yep. We even have an opportunity to utilize a multicultural cast, which we really didn't discuss for the Roman. But if you think of the Western era, the expansion, the use of of post civil war slaves, and Japanese Chinese sorry.

T.C.:

The rail the railroad, the Asian Americans who

Jim:

Everybody was in the West.

T.C.:

Yeah. Native American Indians. Like, we have a great opportunity to fill this cast fully with with every diverse people that could be fighting the good fight here. But what is the what's the big threat? What's the big Mhmm.

T.C.:

Reason for them to be doing what they're doing? Like, what launches them into being heroes? I ask the question so that I can brainstorm while I'm asking it. The Pinkertons. I think the Pinkertons are I've already said it.

T.C.:

It's the easiest historical villain to pluck.

Jim:

It's well, I it's Or maybe the US Marshals. Full of villains. Yeah. Industrialists.

T.C.:

Right. Right.

Jim:

Right. Right? You wanted to do a Mask of Zoro. That's who the Yes. That's who the villain is in one of the villains is in Mask of Zoro.

T.C.:

Mhmm.

Jim:

No. That's that's what makes the most sense to me is is a a a a railroad is set to be built through territory, a whether whether it's a reservation, and we can talk about how your government has pushed us from one strip of land to the next, smaller and smaller each time. And and now Okay. A And now your businessman is gonna push us even further? A young

T.C.:

starry eyed city boy is sent ahead of

Jim:

the I don't wanna do Brian O'Connell again. Alright. Alright.

T.C.:

I was trying to think of of a a hero character that can be turned to the the bandits side.

Jim:

Well, sure.

T.C.:

That easily he comes to the basically, I'm I'm verging into dances with wolves white savior territory, I don't wanna do that now that I've started saying it out loud.

Jim:

Well, it wouldn't be white savior. You could end to bring in your Pinkertons, this is this is basically what happened was I'm not remembering Molly Maguire's enough. Did the main character get turned to their cause? I do not know.

T.C.:

Or in your territory, not mine.

Jim:

Oh, well. Well, that's also that's also later in a totally different country. A Pinkerton. So this undermines the reputation of the Pinkertons. But screw it.

Jim:

Mhmm. Make them send us a cease and desist.

T.C.:

Are they still around?

Jim:

Oh, yeah. They are. They are they are a security company.

T.C.:

Oh, god.

Jim:

Literally, last year, year before Oh, okay. Hasbro sent them after a person who opened a a a box of magic cards too early on YouTube.

T.C.:

Woah. Holy cow. They are still out there. Yeah. Okay.

T.C.:

Our Dom, our leader character, is actually the the mayor of a small Western expansion town. He's he has put his past behind him. He he almost in an unforgiven style way where he's just, I'm just a farmer now. It's like, no. No.

T.C.:

You used to be I you you were the fastest gun and the fastest horse. You know what? Fast and Furious, he could be the fastest gun. Right? Fast speed is anyway, he he now runs a town, and he has his and it's a town that welcomes outsiders and people who are trying to just restart their lives.

T.C.:

And in comes the the industrialists who are gonna not just tear through this town, but blow up the mountain to get the gold out of it. I don't know. I'm just throwing out ideas here.

Jim:

I was I was gonna go with your idea. The the the young agent, whether they're Pinkerton or secret service or a marshal or a territory ranger, gets sent to this territory. Mhmm. I I think I'm I'm I don't oh, it it's not it's not White savior because when he gets there, literally, he's there to try to shut them down, and they're doing a good enough job keeping people back as is. So if anything, they just win him over Yeah.

Jim:

And he partakes. He's not the linchpin to their plan working.

T.C.:

To shut down the town?

Jim:

Like, they're No. No. No. Forget that. Forget forget Brian Connolly.

Jim:

Okay. Okay. Brian O'Connell. Mhmm. There is there is a mountain pass.

Jim:

Right? It's the the only way to pass. They you have you would have to go a 100 miles out of your way either direction to get around these mountains, and you're not getting over them or under them. So you've gotta go through this pass.

T.C.:

Okay.

Jim:

And this railroad has been trying to get through here, and they keep being stymied. Right?

T.C.:

Every time they get close

Jim:

Every time.

T.C.:

These bandits come out of the night.

Jim:

Their their rail head gets blown up. Ray the the the rail gets sabotaged. Bandits show up, keep robbing their trains.

T.C.:

Mhmm.

Jim:

Certain supplies get through. Right? Like like like random parcels and postage and Pony Express, that all gets through. But none none of the black line rail makes makes it through. Yeah.

Jim:

Because they want to push through and start strip mining the area in this valley.

T.C.:

Mhmm.

Jim:

We find out what's what's been happening is they are getting robbed left and right by this local Toretto gang. Yeah. Toretto gang. Bandit gang. And and the locals cover for them.

T.C.:

Yeah. Okay. Okay.

Jim:

So BlackLineRail has decided to send in their regulator.

T.C.:

Okay.

Jim:

A larger than life man who has a huge reputation The rock. Of of taking no prisoners and win and and and just just overcoming all odds. Right? One one one riot, one ranger type situation. And so they send him in to to take care of this gang.

Jim:

And he is ruthless. He he trucks no camaraderie with the townsfolk because he considers them as terrible as the gang. He considers them an extension of the gang themselves Yeah. Because they they cover for them.

T.C.:

You covered for them. You're criminals too, and I'll I'll destroy every every one of them.

Jim:

And I think just because you need dudes to kick around Yeah. He probably bring he probably brings an army with him. By army, I mean, like, he brings

T.C.:

20 guys. Okay. Who I'm liking this.

Jim:

Right? So these these 21 riders Yeah. Come into town, and then they fight. I I don't I don't know how many beats I have here. Basically, I this is a a a well, even The Rock was sort of a not quite a b plot, but he was

T.C.:

He was an antagonist without being the main villain.

Jim:

Yeah. I'm I initially thought of this dude less as The Rock and more as Idris Elba. Okay.

T.C.:

Sure.

Jim:

Sure. Like like, he is he is a even Idris Elba, they did a good job of making sympathetic. Like, in the end, he was a sad guy who didn't really want to be in his situation.

T.C.:

So we don't have to compare him to

Jim:

either those guys.

T.C.:

This guy is just a ruthless murder machine sent by the bad guys.

Jim:

Who who operates under the guise of the law. What the the terrible things he does, he does with the justice justification of a badge.

T.C.:

Well, having him show up and start cleaning house and and these cocky bandits who've gotten gotten the upper hand on everyone who's come through getting their butts kicked.

Jim:

Oh, yeah.

T.C.:

Yeah. He he said oh, go.

Jim:

Yeah. You No. Yeah. Like, I'm I'm seeing I'm seeing I'm seeing the arc. Yeah.

Jim:

So we start with a super cool heist where our bandits win. Mhmm. And then we go to BlackLine offices, like, foil again. Curses.

T.C.:

What are we gonna do?

Jim:

I know. Send in the man. Silas Creed. Yeah. Yeah.

Jim:

Good name. Alright. And he brings in his army, and they start kicking around town and stuff. And and so our our Our heroes. Our town is like, oh, no.

Jim:

And so our heroes are like, hey. Don't kick around our town. And they do anyway. But they our heroes out of town. Right.

Jim:

And then this is this sort of is our second act of and they they they they give them a decent chase

T.C.:

Mhmm.

Jim:

Away. They maybe even capture several of them. That allows BlackLineRail. They come into town, and we get to see why it's so bad that they're able to get here. They just start just doing even worse than what Silas Creed was doing.

T.C.:

They're just razing around.

Jim:

Yeah. They they literally knock over buildings to put up their own stuff. They start they they almost immediately start building a a mine scaffolding into the side of the mountain that they're right on or something like that. Mhmm. And just driving people out.

T.C.:

Yeah.

Jim:

And so our heroes come together, and they're like, we should we should we should head out. We should go back to Mexico like we did that that that after that one heist Mhmm. In in Santa Fe. And that's when Tex Toretto is like, no. No one chases no one chases the Toretto out.

Jim:

We all have family here in Savior's Gulch. Savior's Gulch. And so then they put together a plan to take it back Mhmm. To him. And I'm thinking so so that plan involves what if we do a real quick fury road?

Jim:

They steal a train.

T.C.:

Yes. Yes. You I mean, literally, I was thinking before you said it. I was like, let's steal let's steal a goddamn train here.

Jim:

They steal a train, and they head back out of town. Like, what? They stole our train. And so they go out, and then it gets far enough. I don't know.

Jim:

Like, you'd have to go real far to get what we need, but we can make shit up. Yeah. They either just throw the train in reverse or they somehow turn the train back around.

T.C.:

Mhmm.

Jim:

And now so then they get they get they get chased all the way out there, and they're like, oh, this was a ruse. They wanted to get us away from there. Luckily, Silas is still there. And now they're racing the train back. What they don't realize is that they are turning the train basically into a missile.

T.C.:

Yes. To back towards where

Jim:

it came from? Or No. No. No. So in town.

Jim:

Right? The the because BlackLine has taken over the town, and they've they've set up their little fort right there at the at the railhead.

T.C.:

I've got something to point it at. Sure. Something where's that missile going? Do you have something?

Jim:

Give me tell me. I McGuffin Building is what I have.

T.C.:

Yep. I got some okay. If the the main thing that BlackLine is what you call them? BlackLine Rail? Yeah.

T.C.:

The main thing that they do that's the most damaging to this town that is that they dam the river. So then we can point the train at the dam and blow that thing up to flood the valley back at like, if they stole all the water away from these people in order to strip the mountains and steal the resources, in the end, we can flip that train around. Like, if the train gets off We can make that work. And just

Jim:

I'm I'm wondering why they built a rail pointed at a dam, but we we can make it work.

T.C.:

We can well, you said somehow throwing the train in reverse. I'm like, well, let's get a little outlandish here. Having a an invent a mech an inventor mechanic type character who has figured out like a it's not a quick thing. It's like, I need time to do this, but if I switch a to b on the train, I can make it go backwards without flipping it around. Like, if the if the chuck a chuck a chuck a

Jim:

chuck chuck

T.C.:

like, if he if he has some sort of like, alright, pull that off. Pull that off. This thing weighs 10,000 pounds. Hurry. Hurry.

T.C.:

Hurry. And like the like, in the midst of the big Sure. Thing is that and if we see it earlier that they that they that he has this ability or this character's world, they have the ability of

Jim:

of This mad scientist. Yeah.

T.C.:

Yeah. So then turning having a train flying backwards towards a dam, and then on top of that is resetting the rail. If the rail goes straight through the pass, but if it is going too fast and can't make the turn, it would literally fly off the tracks and slam into the dam and explode it and send the water back into the valley to save the town and wash away the villains, including Silas Creed. I don't know where that name came from, but I'm sticking to it. It's it's more save the world and and, like, their them being a bunch of, like, steel ban like, stealing from stuff is more the there there might still be a way in here for them to also, in the end, steal a whole bunch of gold.

Jim:

They already have been stealing gold from BlackLine.

T.C.:

Right. But in in the finale, so that BlackLine is ruined. All like, not only did their damn get blown up in their city that they wanna get taken away, all their resources are literally gone too.

Jim:

So I I was I really wasn't for the damn because eve even though, like, it seems like that's a great sorta huge big finale kinda thing.

T.C.:

Yeah.

Jim:

I was like, I I don't know. It feels underwhelming to to wash away the bad guys, but it is super convenient and a wonderful plot device to the dam's already the dam has been up for a while, and that that's what's allowed them like, literally, BlackLine set this up a while ago. They have this dam. They've already taken the water. Stop resisting us.

Jim:

Why are you resisting?

T.C.:

Yeah. Yeah.

Jim:

And it can be there in the exposition. Once they take that dam out, BlackLine it that will set BlackLine back so much. Five years. Yeah. Like like, it's just it's not worth them rebuilding this Mhmm.

Jim:

This dam and and and all this stuff. So that's the

T.C.:

We'll be back. And we'll be waiting. But you ain't coming back anytime soon. Curse you, text Toretto. Getting getting the little gadgetry in here adds that little bit of outlandishness to it.

T.C.:

I like the idea of shooting that train like a missile at a at a target. The dam just seems like it's

Jim:

was I wanted to land it on Silas Gray. There's no reason it still couldn't.

T.C.:

Yeah. Like, him and him and Tex could be having their fist fight at the end of the line, like, on the bridge. Like, if if they have, like, set charges, like, they're gonna blow up the bridge to, like, derail the train. Like, it's all these dominoes and pieces and that that Silas Creed and Tex Toretto have a throwdown in the in the finale while the train's going towards them while this know, Silas can still get crushed by this train.

Jim:

That's true.

T.C.:

The is is there I I see you kind of making some notes over there.

Jim:

Well, I'm

T.C.:

That's fine. I'm just wondering if there is a way for them to also steal from these guys, not just not just destroy their plans to take this valley and the resources so that they can have their gold or whatever, but to to to get it so that they can't have their that they lose their treasure in the end and that the heroes get it. Because in the history of the Fast and the Furious, it does happen from the second skip the third and the fourth on that they always stop the bad guys and get the booty in the end. So having I don't know if, like, if you if we go to Mascazoro, they the gold mine is on the land of the people, and it belongs to California, not Mexico, not the we can't replicate that. But is there a way for us to also steal all the money?

Jim:

Short answer, yes.

T.C.:

I just don't know where that gold would be that it could all be part of the of the climax here, but part of the finale here that that once all is said and done, like, you destroyed my dam and took my valley, but at least I have my gold. No. How did they do it? And then they just distribute honestly, if they wanted to be real Robin Hoods Uh-huh. They would steal them they'd somehow steal all the money and then not keep it for themselves keep enough for themselves, but then spread the money on everywhere on the rail line.

T.C.:

So That that from from Missouri Oh. To to New Mexico, like, spread the money all throughout the the entire West that these assholes have destroyed all along the way. So they save the entire frontier by giving all the gold away. Me? Yeah.

T.C.:

Oh. That that we maybe

Jim:

I'm trying I'm trying to find where to put that. I don't know if we can give the gold to everyone. Just just like six people.

T.C.:

Just our heroes get the gold?

Jim:

So the thought is, so the rail the the the boss. Right? The boss eventually comes out once Silas Creed has cleared the area out. Mhmm. And the rail can come in and the mine begins operations.

Jim:

He comes in to oversee it. Like, oh, yes. Finally, this this town has been cleared out by my enforcers Mhmm. And I can go there. And so he has his own personal car on the train, and there's the gold car.

Jim:

Oh, okay. And this gold car has enough to build their company town here to pay for the company town and the bank Yeah. That that will be a part of it. It is. This will this will be a central distribution Great.

Jim:

Center for where BlackLine will reach to one as it moves past this mountain.

T.C.:

We can have a mini boss, like an underling to Sylas Okay. To have a Sylas Creed, having another gun for hire. Right? Oh, absolutely. And having this gun for hire as a as a secondary villain be like, pay me.

T.C.:

You you pay pay me. I wanna be paid on time, the amount I'm owed every single time, and and we that way, we can see the boss, like, open up the train car, take a handful of gold coins, toss it to him,

Jim:

or Sure.

T.C.:

So then we can see and so then when when all is said and done, like, help me. Help me. Pay me. Yeah. I I I'll pay you later.

Jim:

It's on the train.

T.C.:

I don't work on credit. Sure. Right? It's just just a little mini moment that can be placed in there. So having the banking car, it's a it's a fun outlandish idea, especially if he sits in it and has his, like, desk, and he's just surrounded by, like, columns of money and gold bricks or whatever, and, like, that's his his office.

T.C.:

And the first time we see it, we don't we don't know it's on a train. We just see

Jim:

it see it, like Sure.

T.C.:

That's a fun idea.

Jim:

But then the right? So they think they stole the train because they're gonna get all the gold. Yeah. And so that's one reason they're chasing. And the guy's on the train.

Jim:

He's like, ah, get off my train. This and then they reverse it. And, like he's like, what are you what are you doing? Why why are we going back? You already so this this dude it's like, oh, we're gonna we're gonna smash the like like they say what they're gonna do.

Jim:

Bullet train up. You're insane. What what about all this gold? It's it's gonna it's

T.C.:

Going back to the Going back to the mountain, stole it No.

Jim:

That's nice. And they basically say, you gotta jump. You you either die with this train, you either die with this gold, or you jump.

T.C.:

This is outrageous. I'll I'll pay you. I'll pay you anything you want. Well, we already have all your money. What else can you pay us?

T.C.:

Oh, I'm angry.

Jim:

And he and he eats off the train. Yay. And I don't know if I don't know if they do a switcheroo.

T.C.:

Yes. Yeah.

Jim:

Because they're going real fast. I don't know how they would get a switcheroo in there.

T.C.:

It would be cool if they if the train if that train car is removed somehow. Like, Yeah. Like, they figured out a way to detach both the front and the back of the train. It veers off on its own track, then they reconnect the train so you don't know the that car is missing.

Jim:

It'd be so yeah. It would. That'd be so hard. And technically, if we do a good job, we're in the middle of a chase.

T.C.:

Yeah.

Jim:

So they they would see the one car Yeah. Go off the wrong direction.

T.C.:

We we can say that's what we wanna do and then figure out how the hell we do it.

Jim:

That's true.

T.C.:

A blimp shows up and lifts the car away. God. The most powerful blimp in the history of blimps.

Jim:

Yep. The Goodyear blimp showed up. Goodyear.

T.C.:

So then in the end, they save the valley. They get the money. Mhmm. They kill the bag. It'd be great if

Jim:

They send the bad guys packing.

T.C.:

Boss jumps off. Right? And he he, like, finally makes the decision to he, like, pockets a bunch of money. Like, one bag of money jumps off the train. He roll he rolls into the wilderness unconscious.

T.C.:

And then the last little time we see him, he wakes up, and he's in indigenous American territory of, like, other like, sure. He's like, I I I I come in peace. I I I I am better than you. You are lesser than me, savages. And they're like, wrong thing to say, bucko.

T.C.:

I'll pay you. Just so he gets his Sure. His American just desserts.

Jim:

I'm realizing we Masked Zoro had real similar things happen in The

T.C.:

the villain

Jim:

He gets killed. They get

T.C.:

little bit.

Jim:

Yeah. Both of them do. Yeah. The the the combat enforcer guy.

T.C.:

Yeah. And that's okay. It's very different than this. Like, the they they get that different. They get killed at the exact same time by their own gold.

T.C.:

We're not killing we're not killing anyone with gold. We're killing people we're killing a guy with a train

Jim:

Mhmm.

T.C.:

And blowing up a dam. Hell yeah. And you know what? If someone wants to say this is too much like Masked Zorro, I'll be happy to say yes. Thank you.

Jim:

Oh my goodness. Not want more of that movie?

T.C.:

One of my favorite movies ever made. One of the greatest action adventure films ever made. Rewatch it. It's perfect.

Jim:

It is.

T.C.:

And the second one is not. They added a kid, Jim.

Jim:

There's a second one?

T.C.:

Yeah. I didn't watch it. They added a kid, and Catherine Zeta Jones and and Antonio Benedarius break up, so he has to win her back.

Jim:

Classic.

T.C.:

Yeah. It's it's sadly not good.

Jim:

What what piece of costuming is that one named after?

T.C.:

I think it's the Mark of Zoro. Oh. It's the second one. Yeah. No.

T.C.:

It might be Legend of Zoro. First one's the Mask of Zoro, and the second one, I think, is Legend of Zoro. Whatever. How much time we got? We got time.

T.C.:

You wanna pitch a third? Yep. Okay.

Jim:

I don't gotten anything, but I want to. I wanna hit all three. We got And so now

T.C.:

we do bootleggers. You oh, man. Man, that I think that's the toughest one.

Jim:

You you think I feel like it's the easiest.

T.C.:

Yeah. What would you do?

Jim:

Honestly, we could have just done the first the plot that we did for chariots. We would have been way easier to do bootlegging. Gladiator bootleggers? Yes. Gladiator bootleggers?

Jim:

Bootleggiators? Bootleggiators. Bootleggers. Bootleggers. That wait.

Jim:

That's a totally different

T.C.:

very different thing. Okay. Well, I have some knowledge we can play with.

Jim:

Because, frankly, the backstory to sinners isn't too far off of what the plot for what we would do here would likely be, and it would be our our rum runners.

T.C.:

Yeah.

Jim:

No. Rum running is is pirates. Oh, that would be another Fast and Furious. Pirates? Fast and Furious pirates.

T.C.:

Fast and Furious pirates? Yeah. We don't mind that idea, but we could we could play bootleggers

Jim:

if want. Right? Because bootlegging, that's the origin of NASCAR. That's the or that's the that plays right into right into Toretto I

T.C.:

have knowledge of the bootlegging era, specifically the switch of bootlegging from north to south to south to north when Canada did what did their prohibition after America had done theirs, so the bootleggers had to switch to which direction they were going. Nice. Let's see. So it's gonna be in the thirties because, like, '31 would be prohibition at its peak. Okay.

T.C.:

That's the peak of prohibition era. And you're right. NASCAR did come out of how fast can you move the booze Mhmm. Having super fast cars. What what do you wanna what do you have any notion of what what this is?

Jim:

So Nick Toretto It's the

T.C.:

whole Toretto family tree here.

Jim:

Is is a is a bootlegger, or or more specifically, he he run he's a

T.C.:

He's a he's a he's a yeah. He he's the fastest runner in Appalachia that like, every night, he's they give him the just zooms through. And and his why he's so good? He does it without headlights.

Jim:

Oh, there

T.C.:

you go. Drive in the dark. Nice. Like and that and just he's impossibly good. He can drive in the dark.

T.C.:

That's his his gimmick. Right?

Jim:

Alright. Yeah.

T.C.:

So the law loses every time moonshine's being run through this. Mhmm. So do we have a a another lawman versus bandit scenario here? Because if it's if there's some if it's the federal enforcement of moving booze and and and moonshining and and whatnot

Jim:

What if I don't know why they would why it would come to their attention or

T.C.:

oh, what if I got one. Wait. Go

Jim:

ahead. Another bootlegging operation

T.C.:

Yes. You read my mind.

Jim:

Is trying to take over their territory. Yes. It's And Yeah. They have the assistance of corrupt cops.

T.C.:

Yes. I love that. The Chicago. The it's like the Chicago mob is like, I they want every lane, every runner, or every every moonshine lane

Jim:

Mhmm.

T.C.:

From the South to the North. They want it. Sure. They are taking it over, and they've got the backing of cops, like corrupt cops. And so the fastest fastest driver in the South, he's furious.

T.C.:

Or

Jim:

are we are we missing a beat? May do do they do they steal their own hooch, or are they stealing the mob's liquor and running it themselves? I

T.C.:

if the if this Toretto family Yeah. Is actually creating infrastructure and jobs for the people of their their area, their like, they've created a moonshine network that benefits as many people as possible?

Jim:

I don't think that's like like, I know we we did that with I I know we've we've sort of built that into what we've been doing this evening.

T.C.:

We I don't mind them just being Fast

Jim:

and Furious. They're not really job creators.

T.C.:

I

Jim:

mean, I guess, Lunaris kind of is. He has his garage. But beyond

T.C.:

him Yeah. We can keep this much more small and We

Jim:

can we can make it more more personal. Maybe or Nick Toretto, maybe his dad was killed by this mob. Yeah. They took Solane. Okay.

Jim:

And so, yeah, it's personal. They don't they don't brew their own beer. They steal. They so they steal the mobs because you guys killed our family. Yeah.

Jim:

So they steal their booze and their and their profits when they go and sell it.

T.C.:

Yeah. Like, even, like, going to speakeasies and, like, holding up the speakeasies.

Jim:

Sure.

T.C.:

And they and they only target a specific family's stuff. They don't just ubiquitously go after everyone. There's, like, they have a vent there's a vendetta against them. And so And we're gonna make up a new one. It's not gonna be Capone.

Jim:

No. Because then we can actually we can couch that into the history and that this family is actually start by the end of it, we can reference that this family is being squeezed from the other side

T.C.:

By by Capone. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And the and the so the Chicago mob shows up, and they're gonna they're bringing guns, explosives.

T.C.:

They're they're killing anyone in their way, and that's the one advantage our Torettoes have. They don't kill. Sure. Like, they've they've they've never had a body Mhmm. In all in all that they've done.

T.C.:

They leave people humiliated and and embarrassed and tied up and naked. Yep. But they only ever just steal the resources and disappear into the night. So they have a cache somewhere that they aren't spending. Right?

T.C.:

Like, they've just steal stolen all these resources and they're just squirreling them away.

Jim:

Oh, maybe. I was thinking they were selling them somewhere.

T.C.:

They could be turning around and selling it to, but who would they be selling it to? Just

Jim:

I I guess the the mob wouldn't take kind like, they would find out if their customers were buying from someone else. Yeah. And they would they would do something about it there. So they may

T.C.:

not stealing it and disappearing it.

Jim:

Was that ever really what happened in fast and furious? No. Are we missing a thematic component? Do we need to incorporate more more family?

T.C.:

We are out for vengeance

Jim:

in this one. And it's literally family versus family.

T.C.:

It's the the family versus versus a family. He's really just out for vengeance. Like, he maybe it's maybe his crew is like, hey. You keep stealing all this stuff and just burning it. We could be using this.

T.C.:

We could be make making money off of this. That's not what this is about. It's about vengeance. They killed my dad. I'm gonna take away everything they've ever had.

T.C.:

My my dad wouldn't wanna want wouldn't want this of me. But his crew is like, but we do. This is a lot of resources. We could be

Jim:

I I don't think you'd prevent them from I think they would be selling it.

T.C.:

Okay. Okay. But he just doesn't care.

Jim:

He's

T.C.:

like, I'm I'm I have my car Mhmm. And I have my vengeance. That's it.

Jim:

Yeah. And I got I got I got what family remains. Mhmm. I got my brother here, my long lost brother here, my sister over there

T.C.:

My girlfriend.

Jim:

My long lost sister.

T.C.:

My girlfriend who died, but she came back. Yeah. Oh, and dad's here. Yeah. I don't even know why I'm doing this anymore.

T.C.:

I got everything I could ever want.

Jim:

I'm doing it for family. For family.

T.C.:

Mean, that's a good setup. I think there's a lot of there's some fun in in all this, but, like, what's what's the big thing here? Like, what does he go after do they just come after him and he has to defend himself, or do they they put do they put an

Jim:

end in face Yeah. I see what you're saying. What's the what's the culmination here?

T.C.:

Yeah. Because it's one like, I think there's some fun this is good stuff about, like, he just destroys all these these Chicago mobsters and their corrupt cops who are trying to move into the southern territory and

Jim:

Do we wanna bring a Brian bring in a Brian O'Connell?

T.C.:

Oh, okay. What do you got?

Jim:

The the feds send in an agent Mhmm. A g man undercover to figure out what's going on. And he gets involved in these with these guys, and he learns exactly why they're doing this, who they're doing it to Right. And that corrupt cops are involved. Yeah.

Jim:

And so the way he spins this to J Edgar Hoover Mhmm. J Edgar. Is

T.C.:

Put your dress on, sir. You're gonna wanna go dancing after I tell you what I'm telling you.

Jim:

In the end, what we did was we uncovered a corrupt police ring involved with the mob. And so that's sort sort of what gets the attention off the Torettoes.

T.C.:

Well, what about your midnight your shadow runner?

Jim:

What it Turns out they were a ghost.

T.C.:

Myth. It was never that wasn't even real. Mhmm. It was just mountain there's the the Chicago Mob moving into the South and and taking over all that territory.

Jim:

That's horseshit, O'Connell. We know you were out there with the Torettoes. You

T.C.:

Breaks his nose. You don't

Jim:

you don't turn on him, you're off the force. You're out of the agency.

T.C.:

You can't fire me. I quit. He puts his badge on the

Jim:

You'll be back for the sequel, which is in Florida.

T.C.:

Florida booze running fast and the furious.

Jim:

Can we get 12 movies out of Run and Booze?

T.C.:

Hell yeah. They didn't get 12 movies out of stealing DVD players. They got one movie out of stealing DVD players.

Jim:

That's true.

T.C.:

Yeah. No. I think he that's a good that that's a good way to go with this is that if it's if it's just this vengeance run and the and the midnight runner or the shadow runner is ultimately a myth that that Brian our our our g man characters, like, what I uncovered is is this mob doing this. And the the only little thing I'd add in here then is that is there a way for them to get away with a whole bunch of money in the end?

Jim:

If the if the FBI takes out these corrupt cops Mhmm. And the mob Yeah. They can take over their line and sell all the well, I guess they've already been selling the booze. Isn't getting away with their lives enough?

T.C.:

How about this how about this? I don't know exactly how to do this, but to sort of subvert this, that the idea is they have their money. Uh-huh. They maybe they're even moving a truck full of money in the finale or whatever. That's in the end, when the cops come in to to stop the mob and our and our criminals get away, our bandits get away, our booze runners get away, the assumption is they also stole the money.

T.C.:

But when the when the final report comes in, it could be like, well, let me tell you, g man. We we did stop these criminals, and we found all their money. They had a warehouse full of it. But the funny thing is not a single distillery. Where'd all where's all that?

T.C.:

I guess it got destroyed. And then we cut to the south, and our bandits are now running moonshine because they stole their distillery. I I don't exactly know how to pull that off if if to be like, how they steal an entire moonshining system. But Mhmm. If there's a way for us to let in the end, that's what they stole.

T.C.:

They didn't steal. They left the money, and they stole the the ability to make moonshine. Yeah. And now we get to end with them zipping off into the night to run booze. Okay.

T.C.:

Yeah. Family. Family. I think the most amusing thing that just occurred here is that we took forty minutes to do one, thirty minutes to do another, and fifteen, maybe ten minutes to do a third. So I like what

Jim:

we did here. I hope Sugar likes what we did here. They got they got three movies. Yeah. Only one had Cars.

T.C.:

Fast and the Furious presents. But

Jim:

I do think in our efforts to give a decent story, we didn't revel in crazy powers. We didn't revel in in insane personality. Superpowers.

T.C.:

I really, this is okay. You are right. We did lay out a lot of plot. Mhmm. The who's, whys, and wheres.

T.C.:

Mostly the the why and what's. Right? Going in this now and, like, even just the mere suggestion that there's a a gadget loving mechanic who figures out how to make a train go backwards, that's the beginning of a personality.

Jim:

I love the idea in every movie dropping. I had a life before before this.

T.C.:

Yeah. I had a life before you knew me.

Jim:

Yeah.

T.C.:

You're right. We didn't sprinkle this in with personalities or whatnot, but I think were we to get a green light on any one of these, then the fun of it would be to go in and actually build the personalities of the cast Yeah. The ensemble. And not just replicate Tej and Roman and

Jim:

If we could do them all in order, it doesn't matter the Toretto character. Oh, no. There's horse horses only in two of them. I was gonna say we could have increasing we could have power creeping horsepowers. Power creeping horses.

Jim:

Like, originally, they're just able to, whisper to the horses and get them to do crazy stuff. And eventually,

T.C.:

there's are literally, like, pressing buttons, like opening doors or something.

Jim:

No. No. The horses don't have powers. Like, literally, Toretto has the power of a horse kind of thing. As long as he's touching a horse, he's invincible.

T.C.:

Just like Don Toretto has car powers as long as he's touching a car. I like the notion in one of these that a horse jumps a like a gulch. That is impossible. Yes.

Jim:

Like, that with with a chariot on the back. And he and they landed it.

T.C.:

Yeah. I'll believe the bus over the interstate hole in speed before I'll believe this bullshit. Oh, yes. Well, I I guess it goes to sugar. I how did we do?

T.C.:

That's I think we're gonna end there. Right? And you gotta let us know if we met your demand today. So now it's up to you to hit us up to agree or disagree with whatever we just pitched here. And that goes to all of you listening because we just did a nice little trilogy of Fast and the Furious presents here.

T.C.:

We did. But we might have missed some things. So you can message us directly at studiodemandsit.com or Instagram at studio demands it. Just find this episode and comment there if you don't want a direct message. And if you're not already, why aren't you subscribed?

T.C.:

We've you come on. You're listening. You like what you hear. You wanna listen to more of our dulcet tones even if you're listening at two times speed. And and that either makes us sound like chipmunks, or if I talk like this, it's normal.

T.C.:

Sound normal. You can also find us on YouTube and TikTok where we occasionally post video content not with material not heard here on the show. Jim, where else can people have get in touch with us?

Jim:

On on Reddit. Go to the subreddit r/studiodemandsit Mhmm. Or on Discord. If you're not on the Discord, you can join the Discord by going to our website, studiodemands.com.

T.C.:

Yeah. And there's a link to it Uh-huh.

Jim:

At the top of the website Uh-huh. If the formatting stays there.

T.C.:

My gosh. Jim, did you know that we have a Patreon?

Jim:

I did

T.C.:

know that. And for a couple bucks a month, you can you months, you can get an episode you can get the episode early and without commercials and as well as extended episodes, if you wanted to do that, double length episodes. We had almost a full hour conversation before this episode about the current state of politics Yeah. And that how that is reflected in films about presidents. Mhmm.

T.C.:

And then it slipped into Star Wars and Mandalorian and Grogu conversations. So you can head over to Patreon and and subscribe. You can even subscribe for free if you just wanna show your support and get the occasional suddenly a conversation, which is our free just chats Mhmm. That we do from time to time. Yeah.

T.C.:

And for those of you who sped through this, I'm sorry. You all have to go back. We've Jim said a joke so funny about thirty seconds ago. You'll have to go back and listen to it, but, oh, man, that was good. I peed.

T.C.:

He did. Yeah. Okay. A massive thank you to David the godfather Dave Geisler, the godfather and producer of this whole network.

Jim:

The Toretto of of this of our podcast family?

T.C.:

Da David Geislerretto. I didn't like how that felt coming out. But please check out the other shows that are produced, like, another Zelda podcast or returning students. And then, Jim, unless you have anything else to say, you if you want, we did forty Do you wanna pitch a pirate movie in five minutes?

Jim:

Oh god. What would that even be?

T.C.:

Well, Jim sits there at hems and haws about that. I'll just say we'll be back again soon with another one of your demands to improve the world of cinema and take on the challenge of writing stuff like a Fast and the Furious movie. But alright, Jim. Pirates, you got anything? Or is there another era you wanna go in?

Jim:

Nope. Nope. Captain Toretto has has a pirate ship.

T.C.:

Yeah. The fastest

Jim:

pirate It's it's a series of very of small I don't know the names of the different types of ships. So they're very small ships that they only have, like, three four man crews per ship. You stupid bastard.

T.C.:

It's a schooner.

Jim:

They have, like, five of these ships, and they they they rob only The

T.C.:

East Indian trading

Jim:

company. Trading company ships. Mhmm. And a young, not Commodore's way too high of a rank, a a young captain O'Connell has to be sent in undercover to to find out who the who this mysterious This

T.C.:

This one is recreation of the first movie. They're stealing tea instead of DVDs. Sure. Yeah. Yep.

T.C.:

It is a note for note, just high seas adventure.

Jim:

In that in that last big scene as as the East Indian trading company with the power of the British Navy behind it comes into port surrounds the ports that all the pirates and their friends are in. Suddenly, of these tiny ships just shoot out. Then Which ones are they?

T.C.:

Which one is too fast, too fast. You know, with the train one, we do have to have a moment where the horses jump in front of the train, replicating that moment from the first one where Brian and Dom beat the train.

Jim:

Yes. Yep. Was that the first one?

T.C.:

That is the first one because it seems like Dom died, but

Jim:

he didn't. He got away. Was I thinking of the second one with the garage? Yeah.

T.C.:

Yeah. That's that's too fast, too furious. Really? Yeah.

Jim:

Thought that was the first one. Oh, right. Because they gotta go to Ludacris to get all the Yep. The racers.

T.C.:

Taj. He had a life before he owned a before he owned a garage. Yeah. He was a computer hacker.

Jim:

That guy from the second movie? Uh-huh.

T.C.:

Yeah. You'd never believe it. No. He's going to space.

Jim:

Yeah. One day. You know what? It makes sense because when that movie came out

T.C.:

Mhmm.

Jim:

If you look at where computers were Uh-huh. They weren't nearly advanced enough. So he was like, this is boring. I'm way more advanced of a computer hacker.

T.C.:

That makes sense.

Jim:

I'm gonna go open a garage. Yeah. And then later on, as computers got more advanced And caught up to him. They finally caught up

T.C.:

to me. Yeah.

Jim:

Yeah. Now I'm ready to go to space.

T.C.:

Oh, man. Tell me about it, Tej. There we go. We did that.

Jim:

Now we have to pitch a Fast and Furious in one minute.

T.C.:

Oh my god. A one minute Fast and the Furious? Okay. Dammo Damo Toretto does the Kessel Run-in 12 part nailed it. You're welcome.

Jim:

Is that isn't that doesn't that just match Han Solo?

T.C.:

No. You didn't hear me. Domino Toretto.

Jim:

You said domo.

T.C.:

I did say domo. Torello dollo. There I did it. I did it faster than a minute. I still got plenty of seconds left.

Jim:

With with his with his second chew chewbacconnell. Chewbryan. Chewbryan O'Connell? Chewbryan O'Connell. You mean Brian O'Connell?

Jim:

No. It's one word.

T.C.:

Yeah. Chewbryan O'Connell. Chewbryan O'Connell. That's it. We've done all the eras of horses of we could have just replicated the oh, man.

T.C.:

A Fast and the Furious set during, like, the Blitz in World War two.

Jim:

Oh. Oh, we could've with Mustangs, the the planes.

T.C.:

Yeah. Fast and the Furious fighter pilot planes. That's pretty cool. Mhmm. Yeah.

T.C.:

There we go. I did it in a minute.

Jim:

You did. The Well, actually, you did one in a minute. That was the Star Wars one. Yeah. And then you did another in, like, twenty seconds.

T.C.:

Hell yeah. Alright. Ready? And here's the best one yet.

Jim:

Did you

T.C.:

get that? I did. Best one yet? It is. Yes.

Jim:

Can't believe we didn't think of that one first.

T.C.:

I'm T.C.

Jim:

I'm Jim.

T.C.:

That's it.

Jim:

Family. Family.