Tessa 0:00 I'm excited to talk about ABBA [pronounced AH-BUH] today. Sam 0:03 You mean ABBA [prounounced A-BUH]? Tessa 0:04 Yes, ABBA [pronounced AH-BUH]. Sam 0:06 no, ABBA [pronounced A-BUH]! Andy 0:07 I thought it was ABBA [pronounced AH-BAH]? [musical intro] Andy 0:27 Welcome to Monkey off my Backlog, the podcast where we exorcise our pop culture demons by tackling our media to-do lists one week at a time. I'm your host "human recommendation algorithm" Andy Bowman and with me are my cohosts, Tessa Swehla Tessa 0:42 Hello! Andy 0:43 And Dr. Sam Morris. Sam 0:44 Hello Andy 0:45 This week, Sam thanks all the Dancing Queens and the Super Troopers for the music; Tessa visits Metropolis--no, no, not that Metropolis--and I finally get a Titan off my freakin' backlog. Right? Right? Okay, Sam, you you did Mamma Mia! This is a movie based on a Swedish pop group, or is it a musical based on the music of the Swedish pop group? Sam 1:14 Mamma Mia! is a 2008 movie. It's based on a jukebox musical by British playwright Katherine Johnson. Now what's the jukebox musical? Andy 1:26 That's my first question. Sam 1:27 Yeah, I didn't...this is a new term for me, a jukebox musical. Think Glee, a musical with already existing pop or rock and roll songs. Atlanta Morissette has had a musical recently developed off of Jagged Little Pill; there's Rock of Ages; there's any number of them. They've skyrocketed in popularity over the last 20 or so years. This is maybe one of the...I don't want to say it's one of the first ones but it's one of the first bigger name ones. And then it was converted into the film in 2008, directed by Phyllida Lloyd. But before we talk about that, we need to stop for a moment and talk a little bit about Swedish pop music. Andy 2:09 What's there to talk about Swedish pop music? Sam 2:11 There is so much to talk about Swedish pop music. But before we do that, I have to tell you a little bit about my weird family. I've written about this a little bit back on the Popculturist how my parents have very different musical tastes. I grew up in the 80s. My mom was very much like an adult contemporary pop, mid 80s, late 70s person: Queen Wham!, Hall and Oates, that kind of stuff. My dad was stuck in the early 60s. Did it come out before the Beatles grew their hair out, but after Elvis? That was his sweet spot. Groups like the Association, the Buddy Holly and the Crickets. And then the Beatles, really up to A Hard Day's Night. Except for the following exceptions: Fleetwood Mac, ABBA, The Bangles. That was his thing. So like growing up, I knew he liked ABBA. I had no interest in ABBA whatsoever. But then Roxette happened in the late 80s. And that was a band we all liked together at the same time. It was the convergence of all of our musical tastes. Swedish pop is a real thing. Okay. It's a big, big deal. There's Roxette; there's Ace of Base. There's The Cardigans, Robyn, Lykke Li, and my personal favorite Tove Lo who had my single favorite song of the 2010s. You also get Europe, The Final Countdown. Max Martin, who, if you listen to any American pop music, he's produced a song. You have Icona Pop; you have Miike Snow. Swedish pop music is huge. And you can really say that as far as a worldwide phenomenon, it really kicked off in 1974 when Abba was Sweden's first Eurovision Song Contest Winner. Andy 4:06 Okay, so one of the things I took from that entire thing was that your dad liked the Weezer single Buddy Holly. Sam 4:12 Just so. Andy 4:14 Alright, so let's talk about ABBA. Sam 4:17 So just to put this controversy to rest, if you listen to the band or the group talking about themselves to an English audience, you will hear ABBA [A-BUH]; however, it is universally recognized that ABBA [A-BUH], ABBA [AH-BUH], ABBA [AH-BAH], ABBA [UH-BUH], pretty much anything that vaguely recognizes an A sound in some language with two B's in the middle is a relevant pronunciation. As I said, I really had no interest in ABBA growing up. I was trying to explain it to Tessa the other day when we were watching the film. To me, they just don't get there in terms of hooks, in terms of you know, really awesome key changes in a bridge. And you have to have these things to make a good pop song in my opinion. Dancing Queen is the exception. It is a great song. It is perhaps one of the best pop songs wherever you go, whatever genre you listen to. Songs like Waterloo and Fernando. I mean, they're great, but they just don't do it for me. So I've always wanted to figure out an entry point into ABBA, but I haven't been able to. But if you like Fleetwood Mac, I really feel like you should like ABBA for this fact alone. ABBA is two married couples. And I'm gonna try it: Björn Ulvaeus and Agnetha Fältskog. They were married, and Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, who is now known as Princess Anni-Frid, Dowager Countess of Plauen--and that's true-- were married to each other, but both couples divorced during the history of the band. So it's a real thing. It's interesting. I just wish I liked them more. And so one of the reasons I watched this movie was to like ABBA more. Andy 6:04 Sam, I think you'd be interested in this fact. Okay. ABBA is actually an acronym for All Bangin Bops Around. Right, so every one of their songs is a banger and bob. Sam 6:14 I think this is probably a good place to point out that the single best episode of DCs Legends of Tomorrow is the yet to be produced episode--so far as we know, maybe they've done it--the yet to be produced episode in which we get to see the disco ABBA thing. That's been teased multiple times. I am waiting for it. Andy 6:37 Okay, so are you ready to talk about the movie because you watched a movie, not a band? Sam 6:42 Yes. Andy 6:43 All right. Let's go. Tessa 6:44 He's doing this to pay you back for the Arctic Monkeys the other week, Andy. [laughter]. Andy 6:48 That's okay. Sam 6:48 The original Mamma Mia! is a musical. There was involvement on some level from three out of the four members of the group. Bjorn and Benny, which were the primary songwriters, gave their music, obviously to Katherine Johnson. And those involved Benny Andersson had additional musical involvement. So new music was written for it by one of the original members of ABBA. Andy 7:13 Wait, then it's not a jukebox musical, is it? Sam 7:16 Yes, it is. I think it's scoring, an arrangement. I don't know that we're talking about technically new songs. Okay, for the most part, Anni-Frid had financial involvement, I guess in her role as a Dowager Countess. Again, that's a true story, apparently. The film is also coproduced by everyone's favorite mom and dad, Rita and Tom. That is Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks. I went into this for ABBA. I also went into it for Amanda Seyfried, but if you've seen this movie, you know, it's actually really about Meryl Streep. The basic plot of the movie: Meryl Streep plays a woman named Donna, who's the owner of the Villa Donna, a hotel on a fictional Greek island. And she has a daughter named Sophie, who's about to get married, and she doesn't know who her dad is. But she found a journal, and it could be one of three men. Three men played by James Bond, Mr. Darcy, and the weird physicist from Thor. Andy 8:21 Kenneth Branagh? Sam 8:23 Not the director, the physicist. Andy 8:25 The skarsgard! Sam 8:26 That's right. Andy 8:27 Which Bond? Because Daniel Craig is kind of young. Sam 8:29 Mm-hmm. Pierce Brosnan. This movie is just stacked with with people. Howard Stark, the one not a Slattery, Dominic Cooper, plays the fiance. Julie Walters and Christine Baranski are Meryl Streep's character's best friends. And by the way, if you're saying to yourself, who's Christine Baranski? Well if you've watched CBS in the last decade, you will recognize her as one of the main characters in The Good Wife, or Leonard's mother from the Big Bang Theory. So you've got all of these people that you know; you have all of the songs that some of you may know and love. And the question is, "is it any good?" Andy 9:12 So is it is it any good? Sam 9:16 I don't know. Tessa? Is it any good? Tessa 9:19 This is your monkey. Why are you making me trying to do your monkey? I did my own homework this week. Sam 9:24 All right. So for the record, Tessa will not be asking me if Metropolis is any good. The question isn't "is the movie good?" The question is, to paraphrase from Face/Off, are we having any fun? And fun was definitely had. Fun was definitely had by everybody including Pierce Brosnan, who apparently cannot sing. But everybody was having a good time. I had a good time. Tessa had a good time, I think. She won't tell us, but I think it was great fun. I think that the plot is silly. The breaking into song is just shredded as a concept in the best possible way. The songs really fit what's happening in the sequence. At the end, in the end credits, they just completely break character. It's not these actors playing characters singing ABBA in costume. It's just these actors putting on 70s disco style and like singing ABBA. It's great. It's clearly this was a bunch of people who wanted to have a good time, and they had a good time. And then 10 years later, they made a sequel. Tessa 10:32 The only thing I will say about this movie is that I didn't know a movie existed in which someone could upstage Meryl Streep. Meryl Streep is upstaged this movie by Christine Baranski. I am standing by that as my assessment. Her number on the beach is very fantastic. Sam 10:51 I did mention earlier that that I was into this film for Amanda Seyfried, and I have to say there wasn't as much of a performance by her as I was hoping for. So Mank wasn't it. This wasn't it. I think she's gonna have like a big role one of these days. But that's just a prediction because I don't think it's happened yet. Andy 11:13 All right, well, I'm just going to crib what Stephen Colbert said about Mamma Mia!, on its opening weekend. His response was, The Dark Knight may steal the box office, but Mamma Mia! stole my heart. Sam 11:24 You cannot bring your cynicism to this movie and enjoy it. You must leave that at the door. I think that's the key to really enjoying this movie. Tessa 11:35 That, and bringing your queerness with you. Sam 11:37 Yes, yes. This is true. Tessa 11:40 Yeah, it's true. It's not a visual medium. Despite how many times we might say that. Who would you recommend this to? Like, who should watch this? Sam 11:48 You know, unfortunately, I think that anyone I would recommend this to has probably already seen it. Like I'm kind of a late adopter here. This is something that I should have seen a long time ago, to be perfectly honest. Between my personal history with ABBA, how much I love Swedish pop, how much I like this concept. This particular kind of musical. Yeah, as Tessa would say here, I'm just gonna say it for her. For somebody who doesn't like musicals, I sure seem to like musicals. So I don't know what my excuse is, but I'm glad to have seen it. And like I said, I seriously look forward to the sequel. And I also look forward to haunting all of you the next two weeks by talking about more music. So good times. Andy 12:34 Oh, all right. Well, let's get to this week's discussion. And I can sum up this week's discussion with two words. Oscar snubs. What do you guys think was should have been nominated for an Oscar but was not? Tessa 12:50 My answer will surprise no one, because I believe I've talked about it before on this podcast and on Twitter, but I believe Da Five Bloods, which features Chadwick Boseman and Delroy Lindo was terribly, terribly snubbed. It was one of the best things that I saw last year, came out early 2020, which is probably why it didn't get nominated. I think people forgot about it, but it was a fantastic movie. It is definitely Spike Lee's best movie, in my opinion. I know that's a controversial statement. But Delroy Lindo, who was in The Good Fight with Christine Baranski--we're just going to talk about Christine Baranski all episode and next episode--he is amazing in it, and he deserves the Supporting Actor nod for that particular film. So I think he was snubbed; I think Da Five Bloods was snubbed. That's not a hot take. It's just a fact. Andy 13:38 Sam, do you have any any snubs that you think were done? Sam 13:43 I mean, I feel like you want me to say that TenanT was snubbed. Andy 13:47 I'd really, really don't. I don't want that put out in the world. And it was nominated for something. Sam 13:53 Well, yeah, but it wasn't really nominated for writing or directing or Best Picture or acting. And I'm not really sure that the Razzies have not have announced their nominations yet. So I don't know that we can really call that a snub yet. I am going to kick myself for not remembering something other than Da Five Bloods, which should certainly have been nominated. One thing that I can say is that I think that a lot of us were kind of hoping that the weirdness of this year's award cycle would put some attention on some films that typically wouldn't get attention. I'm not saying that Palm Springs, for example, should have had a Best Picture nomination. I'm not gonna say that would have hurt my feelings if it had. No, absolutely not. But it feels like that film was too clever in a few different ways to be completely ignored in the way that it was. We also talked about the fact that early films in the year might get some attention but as usual, not only did Da Five Bloods drop off the radar, but Emma. which I'm not convinced I really liked, or Invisible Man, which I did like, and I know you did too, Andy, and I know Tessa did as well. Those movies didn't get the attention that they should have, I think. And to be perfectly honest, I mean, Margot Robbie could have been shown some love too. Andy 15:20 For what? Sam 15:20 For just owning that character of Harley Quinn. It's such a fun character. Andy 15:26 Oh, that's right. That's right. That movie did come out last year. Sam 15:29 Yeah, that was the last movie that we saw on the theater. Sam 15:32 Yeah and Elizabeth,,,I would echo the Invisible Man thing. Elisabeth Moss, at least, should have gotten an acting nod, I think Andy 15:40 Boy, I'm so happy you guys mentioned both of my snubs at the last minute there when Sam was, uh, was running up his list of snubs Sam 15:48 You're welcome. Andy 15:49 I do think that, that Palm Springs should have gotten a nomination. I at least think for writing, maybe for cinematography or directing. It's a good take on an old concept that has been done before. And it's a good funny take on it. Sam 16:06 That's the thing, like Invisible Man has one strike, which is that genre. Palm Springs has two strikes. It's comedy and genre. Andy 16:14 I also would have truly loved my dark horse, the thing that should have been nominated, but was not: the script for Bill and Ted. Sam 16:26 Well, you won't get any complaint from me. Andy 16:28 But I was thinking that it would be fun for us to nominate our own little awards and have some polls. Now. Keep in mind, I haven't talked to my cohosts about doing this. They don't know that I was going to do this. And this is also making work for Tessa. So I think we should just come up with a few movies one each that we would like to nominate for just a Best Picture. Best monkey, as in "If you haven't watched it, it is now a monkey, dear listener, and it is on your backlog." Tessa 16:59 Does it have to be a film from last year? Andy 17:02 Yes. Tessa 17:02 Okay, so Oscar rules. Sam 17:04 Okay. Does it have to have been screened in a theater for three consecutive weekends in at least two major media markets not limited to, but probably New York City and Los Angeles? [laughter]. Andy 17:18 No. No. Tessa 17:21 Do they have to have a de-aged De Niro? Sam 17:25 That's what I was gonna say. That was it. That was good. [laughter] Tessa 17:28 Ah, okay. Sam 17:32 Does it have to be from Focus Features, oh, gosh, the coproduction that involves Channel Four from Britain--I can't remember what that one is--or Searchlight, which is formerly Fox Searchlight? Does it have to come from a mid-major, quote unquote indie production company? Andy 17:54 You know what? Yes, it has to. It must. So good luck figuring that out. You made the rule. We're gonna follow that. Sam 18:01 But it's super easy. It's super easy. Is it a major production where the producers want it to be nominated for an Oscar? If so, it's routed through one of those people. I know your game. Tessa 18:15 I mean, again, not surprising. I'm going to nominate Da Five Bloods. Please see that movie. It's on Netflix. Sam 18:21 Can I also nominate Da Five Bloods? Andy 18:24 No, it's already been nominated. Sam 18:27 This is how LaKeith Stanfield and Daniel Kaluuya end up competing. This is...this is wrong. Tessa 18:32 What's your movie? Sam 18:34 Palm Springs? I nominate Palm Springs. Andy 18:37 I nominate Sonic the Hedgehog. Sam 18:38 All right. Andy 18:40 A movie I have not seen yet. Tessa 18:41 So you're nominating your own monkey? [laughter]. Andy 18:44 Yeah, I did. This is like five-d chess. Sam 18:47 Is Sonic the Hedgehog the best Jim Carrey movie? Andy 18:51 I don't know. Let's find out together as we watch Sonic the Hedgehog right now. Alright guys, go ahead and pull up Sonic the Hedgehog. We're gonna watch it together right now. Leave the recording stream on. Sam 19:01 I don't have a Sega Genesis. Andy 19:03 I hate you so much. [laughter]. Sam 19:10 So earlier in the episode, I promised that I will not give my opinion on the film that Tessa watched this week. But I'm saving something. So Tessa, tell us about what you watched this week. Tessa 19:22 This week on "Tessa had to watch something for her dissertation." No, this is a film I've been wanting to watch for years and years and years but never could quite get around to it. Plus, it was really hard for a while to pin down exactly what version of the film I wanted to watch. So we'll talk about that here in a bit. But I watched 1927 silent film, Metropolis. Sam 19:45 As I recall, this is a film that just about everybody seems to allude to, reference to in some form or fashion. But am I correct? It's based on a concept in which Madonna is like the owner of a factory or is married to the owner of the factory and she's like lusting after all the men and there's like a big cat. Am I correct? Tessa 20:11 No, that's the music video for Express Yourself. Sam 20:15 Well, it's still a good video. Andy 20:17 Is it the city that Superman protects from Lex Luthor? Tessa 20:21 No, this actually, I believe, predates Superman. Wait, what year did Superman first appear in comics? Andy 20:29 Sometime in the 20s? Tessa 20:30 Okay, it either simultaneously or slightly precedes Superman. Andy 20:35 And remember, if we are wrong, our correction department is @portlyislandboy. [laughter]. Tessa 20:41 Yes, Ariel will correct us on our comic book history. But yeah, it is not the city that Superman defends. I was waiting for him to appear in this movie; he did not, in fact, appear. Sam 20:54 There's a tangent here about golems that that cross references The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay and German things around the 20s. But I'm not going to go there instead, why don't you just tell us what Metropolis is really about? Tessa 21:08 Metropolis is a German expressionist film, directed by Fritz Lang. It's basically set...I mean, most of Metropolis is the aesthetic. So it's set in a very highly stylized, dystopian city, where rich capitalists live in beautiful houses and the poor working class live below ground and only exist to continue working on machines in vague, almost dance like ways that make the city run. So it is very much like an Upstairs, Downstairs, but science fiction. Like I said, this is 1927. So this is one of the first films that did this, even though it's now considered kind of an old concept. But the basic plot of the film is that Freder-- who's the son of the city architect, so he's like a super rich kid--one day discovers that his lazy, well to do lifestyle is being supported by the exploitation of other people. He didn't know this for most of his life, apparently. But he finds this out because of Maria, who is a working class prophet, who foresees the arrival of a mediator who will come to further the communication between the rich and the poor and make everything better again. And there's a lot of stuff maybe about the Tower of Babel. There's also a subplot line...well, it's not really a subplot line. It's just another plotline about Rotwang, the evil inventor, which...Rotwang. If your parents named you Rotwang, you're going to be an evil inventor. I mean, like, I don't...I mean, they had his whole career path planned out for him when they named him. Sam 22:40 Yeah, and I mean... Andy 22:42 Names that my parents thought of. [laughter]. Sam 22:44 Well, something did rot and fall off, but it was not his wang. [laughter]. Tessa 22:49 But he's an evil inventor who's like invented a lot of the machines in the city. And he's like mourning the death of like his love, who was like in love with someone else. And so he creates "The Machine Man," this android who is basically like a human. And because the architect of the city, Joh Fredersen, Freder's father, wants to quash this like organization of the working class, and this like uprising that is clearly about to happen, he asks Rotwang to disguise the android as [laughter]--can't even get through this summary without laughing--he asks him to disguise the android as Maria, the leader of the working class, and so you get this brilliant performance by Bridget Helm, who's playing like the good version of Maria but then also this evil android version of Maria. And the only way you can really tell the difference is that evil android Maria has a lot more eyeliner on. Like, that's literally the only difference that you can tell. And she like, you know, is obviously more sexualized than the good Maria and all of that stuff. It's an adventure. It is a long movie. It is also a silent movie, but it is considered like this pinnacle of like early science fiction, and it's influenced so many other things, but that is basically it in a nutshell. I'm sorry, I can't explain it better. It's like, really difficult to explain without making it sound ridiculous, but I never felt like it was ridiculous while I was watching it. Sam 24:19 Here's another way to summarize the plot of Metropolis. Eric Trump falls in love with a really hot Antifa girl. And then they kidnap the Antifa girl and duplicate her as Robocop. Tessa 24:35 Yeah, that actually is a pretty good, pretty good summary. The cinematography is by Karl Freud, who many of you might remember back from our Spooktober discussion of The Mummy. I have no idea how that's the same person because The Mummy is such a terrible film. But this film...like the cinematography steals the show, like it is so beautiful. The city is clearly like these very intricately designed stylized models, and there's like, just like this breadth of just science fiction imagination, like this person imagined a future in which this beautiful city existed, obviously with like all the squalor below, but there are like planes that fly around the city and these like really cool machines. And it's just...it's very beautiful. And I don't know if I've ever actually watched a black and white film in which I didn't notice it was black and white. Like it felt like this film had color, even though it had no color, and no, no dialogue, no sound. It was just, you know, the soundtrack, the score. Sam 25:40 So why--and I always want to watch more silent films that I haven't seen before. But this is a bit of a bit of a journey. It's a bit of a time commitment. Why should anyone watch this movie? Tessa 25:54 Well, like I said, it has influenced so much science fiction since then, especially in film. Like films like Blade Runner, you can definitely see a lot of parallels between the set design of Blade Runner and this particular film. If you are a fan of Janelle Monae, which is why I watched this film this week. Her first couple of albums, the Metropolis Chase Suites are clearly, clearly influenced by this film, although she takes a very different approach to the Maria character. I would just say if you really like science fiction that's makes you think, that's very heady, and like kind of fever dreamish, but you love like the the imagination. And just the reaching that happens as far as science fiction goes, you'll probably appreciate this film. The messaging does fall a little short for me, because it kind of stopped short of saying like, the capitalism is evil, and there should be a communist revolution. Basically, they're just like, "well, we should all talk more," which is not really my favorite. But up until they got to that point, there is a lot of really good philosophical questioning of capitalism as a system. And you know, looking at how the future of capitalism could be. It is very, very Aryan. And I don't mean that it's Nazis. I just mean that like, this is a German film, and you're going to see a lot of German people and not very many other people. So if you're interested in doing something that's a little bit more diverse, you might want to skip this one. But again, it has a huge, huge impact on science fiction after it. You're going to notice a lot of things. And because this happens to me every single time I try to do a famous monkey, Nnedi Okorafor also watched it this week, and she tweeted about it. So you know, the cool kids are watching it. Sam 27:36 Fritz Lang as well is is just a big name. I am not the expert in Fritz Lang. I can tell you that not too long after Metropolis, he makes M, which is a huge film. It also brought to us the great character actor Peter Lorre. After Fritz Lang comes to Hollywood, he makes one of my favorite problem movies of all time, which is Fury, which is Spencer Tracy. Later on, he goes to make Rancho Notorious with Marlene Dietrich, and Clash by Night with Barbara Stanwyck and little undiscovered indie actress Marilyn Monroe. If this sounds like I'm about to lob you a question about autour theory, I am. We don't like to talk about autour theory a lot because it's very problematic. But Fritz Lang had a vision. I believe we watched the vision. You want to talk about what version you ought to watch. Tessa 28:36 Well, we watched as close to the vision as you can get anymore. So there are five different versions of this film. Because the original premiere cut of it is completely lost even though Karl Fruend made like three copies of it. It doesn't exist anymore in its original cut. For a long time, you could only watch heavily edited versions of this film because they were missing so many pieces of it. But back in 2010--well probably a little before 2010--they found a very damaged but unedited version of the film in Argentina, so The Complete Metropolis does exist. It is not the complete film, but they have restored as much of it as possible. And they have added sequences...like they they've added like title cards for scenes that are missing to explain like what happens during the scene and what scenes are not available anymore. There are some parts of it that where you can tell the film has been damaged because they did have to splice it together from several different sources. But it is as complete as you can possibly get unless they find another undamaged copy of it somewhere, but I'm not holding my breath on that one. But it is 148 minutes long. So it is a long film, but it is very, very worth it. It is on Amazon. That is where we watch at. The Complete Metropolis so if you are looking to watch this film, I recommend that. Just watch this, the set work is amazing. You'll see everything from modernist technological skyscrapers to underground caverns to Gothic architecture, and Death is in it. So, you know, good times. Alright, Andy. So you did...oh god, you did Attack on Titan. Did you just do another anime again? Andy 30:28 Yes, yes, I did. Tessa 30:32 What an anime. I saw the first season of this a while ago. So what's Attack on Titan about and why is now the right time to rip it off your backlog? Andy 30:44 Okay, so Tessa, first of all, I was kind of like you. I saw the first season a while ago, which aired in 2013. The second season-- much, much shorter 12 episode season instead of the 25 episode first season--aired in 2017. And after that second season, I decided you know what, I'm not doing this again. I'm not sitting there waiting for the rest of the story to be adapted. Maybe wondering if it's going to happen at all. I decided I wasn't going to do that to myself. And after the second season, I stopped, which means when they announced last year Attack on Titan: the Final Season was going to be airing in December of 2020 and finishing up in March of 2021, I got on board. I said all right. This is the time right before that airs. I'm going to burn through season three, and finish it up. Well, that's that's my situation right here. And Attack on Titan is hard to describe but what it is: humanity lives in these, I would say a mid -200s German style cities, right, a medieval city that is surrounded by walls. And outside these walls are horrific humanoid creatures called Titans. They look just like humans. Their proportions aren't right. I'm sure you dear listener have seen what Titans look like. You can laugh at them. They're funny. They're weird. They look like giant babies. But the thing is, Titans...what they do is they take people and then they eat them. They eat people. They crunch down on some filet min-Carl. Tessa 32:27 So who is this even for? Andy 32:30 Well, that's the thing. Attack on Titan is one of the most popular anime in the world. And before I watched this cruel cosmic joke of a show, it is for a lot of people. I think anyone who likes Game of Thrones will actually like this. The first season is very strange in that it builds up this this world just a little bit, but it's really about two or three different encounters with Titans. Because at the start of the entire show, the Titans break down the wall, and thus humanity has to evacuate because you know what, you can't fight these Titans. At least not with normal weapons. This enters the main action portion of this show, which is the Omni-directional Device which is basically to Bat-grappling hooks, allowing the people fighting Titans to swing around real fast, real awesomely. They use two swords to basically chop off the heads of the Titans. That's the entire action sequence. It is awesome and fun to watch. Sam 33:33 This has been another episode of Andy Tries to Convince Sam to Watch an Anime. Andy 33:40 Seriously, the action sequences are great. After the first season, the show goes to a bit more of a slow burn and it becomes a political thriller, which is weird to think about. But it's somehow manages to do that very well. Sam 33:54 This has been another episode of Andy Tries to Convince Sam to Watch an Anime. Tessa 34:02 You know, it's weird that you say that because I definitely watched the first season, probably back in 2013. It's been a really long time since I've seen the first season, and slow political thriller is not what I would have thought of. I don't know what I think about this show, to be honest with you. But anyway, you told me that there was some kind of cosmic punch line involving finishing the last episode of the final season last night. What was that cosmic punch line? Andy 34:30 Okay, so I sit down. I'm watching the final episode. I've been watching the final season with my wife every week because we wanted to avoid Twitter spoilers for what is significantly one of the biggest anime out there. We finish the last episode. And remember, I held off because I didn't want cliffhangers. We finished the last episode. Cliffhanger. Ending credits roll: Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part Two airs next year. [laughter]. Tessa 35:02 Given that cosmic punch line, do you recommend the show? Andy 35:06 Everyone should wait until the real final season. And keep in mind, this was not season four. This was billed as the final season. Sam 35:16 That's right, everybody listening, do not reward creators and distributors and studios for creating more content. When they say... Andy 35:27 For lying to you! Sam 35:29 Do not support them unless they're really done. That's right. Hashtag cancel everything. Andy 35:37 That's right. Tessa 35:38 Wow, no more quarantine for you. [laughter]. Andy 35:42 Despite what the first season of the show is, it is a dense show with a wonderful world mythology and political intrigue. Yes, believe it or not political intrigue. That is wonderful. With an interesting message about war, what war does to people. And it's one of those things where don't get attached to many characters because a lot of them are dinner. Tessa 36:05 Yeah, that's the one thing I do remember from the first season it's that it's very Game of Thrones like in that nobody's really safe. Andy 36:12 Also, seriously, the action sequences are insanely well done. And it is insanely exciting to see basically human Tie Fighters flying around a giant kaiju. That is what this show really is, the action. Tessa 36:29 Such a strange show. I can't emphasize to you enough how strange this show is. Andy 36:34 I am upset. I am reeling from the fact that I was lied to because it's called The Final Season. Not The Final Season Part One. Tessa 36:42 Was everyone else upset about this, like online? Like was this something you just didn't know that everybody else knew? Or is everybody else upset about it? I avoid Attack on Titan fans because I kind of think they're the worst. But go ahead. Andy 36:56 Thank you for making statements about me. [laughter]. Anyway, fans had a slight doubt when there was a realization that there was a lot of content to cover and maybe not enough episodes to do it in... Sam 37:11 Didn't stop Game of Thrones. [laughter]. Andy 37:14 I have avoided all like manga, like source material stuff. So I didn't know how much was not covered. And apparently it's 16 episodes worth. Tessa 37:23 Unless there's a part three. Final Season Part 76. Sam 37:28 Well, I mean, they could just cram it all into three episodes and call it a day, one of which is too dark to see. Andy 37:34 What is that a reference to? Sam 37:36 That is a reference to "be careful what you wish for of Thrones." Andy 37:40 Anyway, I'm upset but then again, it was better than the other anime I was watching, The Promised Neverland, which literally ended with a slideshow telling the rest of the story. Tessa 37:49 Andy, why do you put yourself through this every week? Andy 37:52 Because the story is good, usually. Sam 37:54 Netflix if you're listening and I know you are, can we get a slideshow for Glow? Andy 38:00 Okay, well next week, Dr. Sam Morris will give us his scholarly opinion on the music of BLACKPINK. Now where can you find us? Where can we find you, Tessa? Tessa 38:11 You can find me on Twitter and Letterboxd @SwehlaTessa. Andy 38:19 Dr. Sam? Sam 38:20 I'm on Twitter @sam_morris9 and on Letterboxd @archieleach9. Andy 38:26 All right, you can find us on Twitter @monkeybacklog. You can email us at monkeyoffmybacklog@gmail.com. You can find me personally on Twitter @andynoted. Let us know things. Let us know your thoughts on what we talked about today. Anything you'd like to see us talk about on in future and anything else pop culture related. Our theme song is Hot Shot by Scott Holmes. It can be found on ScottHolmesmusic.com. Please rate, review, and subscribe on iTunes. Follow us on Spotify, Stitcher, Amazon Podcasts, Google Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Get that monkey off your back! Transcribed by https://otter.ai