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2 episodes with duckworld
2 episodes with duckworld
In this milestone 50th episode of the Engineering IRL podcast, host Andrew Sario delves into the Rubber Duck Engineering Method—a unique problem-solving technique that involves articulating complex issues aloud to a simple object, like a rubber duck, to gain clarity and insight. Andrew shares personal experiences and discusses how this method inspired the title of his latest children's book, The Engineer's Duck World of Engineering. He also explores the broader implications of this approach in both engineering and everyday problem-solving. The Engineer's Duck is now available for pre-order. To learn more and secure your copy, visit www.engineeringinreallife.com/the-engineers-duck I hope you join the launch and thanks for being a long time listener!
DuckWorld 808 Monthly Mixtape feat. B4LASERS Tracklist: 1. Short Romance by Shigeru Suzuki 2. Come Rain Or Come Shine by Naomi Akimoto 3. 真夜中のジョーク by 間宮貴子 4. BLUE NOTE by Tomoko Aran 5. September Rain - 2020 Remaster by Makoto Matsushita 6. ループ 1 by ohricky & Impreshn 7. you can fly by Naoko Gushima 8. Resort For Blue - 2018 Remaster by Makoto Matsushita 9. ALL OR NOTHING by 間宮貴子 10. Candy by Naoko Gushima 11. ヒノズ・レゲエ by Terumasa Hino 12. SUMMER BLUE by Bread And Butter 13. sample me by Marlow Digs 14. Soulfood by Takeleave 15. Betcha Don't Know by Najee
Have you ever wondered what it would be like if ducks had become the dominant species? Would they wear pants? Would they need condoms? This week, the SYNWiS gals learn all about Duckworld by watching the bafflingly bad Howard the Duck (1986).Love the show? Please subscribe, rate, and review us here. Also, check out our website: www.seeyounextweekinspace.com and follow us on Instagram @seeyounextweekinspaceHosts: Amy and Sarah WalshEditor: Amy WalshProducers: Amy and Sarah WalshArt: Riley Brown
Howard the Duck was our second special episode ever. Salina watched for the first time. Nikki revisited and realized just how weird this movie was for a kid. Then we met and chatted about our reactions. The movie. Eh. The trivia. Stellar. Leave Earth for just a bit, and come with us, want you? We're going to Duckworld!
Special guest Julian Modugno joins us as the A.I. makes us watch the true first chapter of the MCU. From duck boobs to brothels to interplanetary demons, this movie was chaotically ahead of its time. But we have questions about Duck World. How do they have salami but not pizza? Are apes bred and hunted? Why did the Duck God take away their wings?? Anyway, call us Marvel, because we've got the perfect sequel in mind — and a hell of a part for you, Sydney Sweeney! Join our patreon at patreon.com/aimadeuswatch Follow us @aimadeuswatch on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube!
World Duck Calling Champion of Champions Michael "Steiny" Steinmeyer jumps on the show with us this week. We covered a lot in this one from Turkey hunting, to our 2024 Masters picks (even Mike!!!), to a somewhat heated debate involving the World Championship Duck Calling Contest in Stuttgart. This is a long one, but certainly one you do not want to miss! Enjoy the show? Rate us/leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. Give us your feedback and support the show and our sponsors on social media: Follow The Hail Call @thehailcallpodcast. Follow the International Callers Association (ICA) @ica_calling Follow Mallard Marketing @Mallard.Marketing This podcast is recorded, edited and produced by Mallard Marketing and mallard-marketing.com
Watch the video interview on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVtfDmHnGk4&ab_channel=Poducer Chicago-based beatmaker and music community organizer B4Lasers. discusses his musical origins, early influences, and journey into beatmaking and music production. We talk about his involvement in various beatmaking events and communities like Duck World, Beatmakers Toolbox, and Flip a Beat Club. He offers insight into the vibrant beatmaking and hip-hop scene in Chicago. B4Lasers also discusses his latest album 'Growing Pains' and passion for building community through his various musical projects. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVtfDmHnGk4&ab_channel=Poducer Follow: B4Lasers Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/artist/1IT7ZY3njz4A6yW3GNeWHg? Soundcloud - https://soundcloud.com/b4lasers Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/b4lasers/ si=0Mj4x013TuWfvJnOyglNIw Bandcamp - https://b4lasers.bandcamp.com/music Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/B4Lasers/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/B4Lasers Follow Poducer: Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/28RTvQMv5fMfF2ozxO2zdw?si=e76566f2c7a246c4&nd=1 Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/poducer/id1327594929 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/poducer_podcast/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCijzViDaoVljjDXyEPTIwyQ Soundcloud - https://soundcloud.com/poducer Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/poducer_podcast/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PoducerPodcast/ Discord - https://discord.com/invite/TRNMsja Sponsorships: QUAKE Dub Muffs V2 l Buy now! Use code "POD15" at checkout to save 15% www.dubmufs.com/products/dub-mufs-v2 Affiliates: https://www.lalal.ai/?fp_ref=poducer Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 03:10 - B4lasers' Music Origins 18:19 - Getting Established in Chicago's Beat Scene 29:03 - Involvement in Duck World, Beat Maker's Toolbox, and Flip a Beat Club 01:05:32 - Anime and Beat Culture 01:27:52 - New Music Plans
Daniel and Dalton watch Howard the Duck! SYNOPSIS: In this film based on the comic book character, Howard the Duck is suddenly beamed from Duckworld, a planet of intelligent ducks with arms and legs, to Earth, where he lands in Cleveland. There he saves rocker Beverly (Lea Thompson) from thugs and forms a friendship with her. She introduces him to Phil (Tim Robbins), who works at a lab with scientist Dr. Jenning (Jeffrey Jones). When the doctor attempts to return Howard to his world, Jenning instead transfers an evil spirit into his own body.
"No one laughs at a master of Quack Fu!"Trapped in a world we never made! What better way to ease back into new episodes than by celebrating both the release of a new Guardians of the Galaxy films AND Star Wars Day (May the 4th... be with you) than by talking about the first EVER theatrically-released Marvel film which just HAPPENS to be produced by Star Wars creator George Lucas?? This week, we get into the history, cast, and legacy of 1986's Howard the Duck! Join us, won't you?Our social media is the same here as it is on Duckworld. Follow along: @Disenfranchpod on Facebook, Instagram, Letterboxd, and (for now) Twitter Email us your thoughts or requests to disenfranchpod@gmail.com Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify! Find Stephen at @ChewyWalrus on Hive, Instagram, Letterboxd, Mastodon, and (for now) Twitter Find Brett at @sus_warlock on Instagram and Letterboxd Find Tucker at @icenine09 on YouTube and Instagram Join our Patreon for exclusive bonus content, like our all-new Hot Mics segments: https://patreon.com/Disenfranchpod We're finally on YouTube! www.youtube.com/@disenfranchpod
This week, Julia and Barry journey to Duckworld and tumble down to Cleve-land for the infamous "Howard the Duck" (1986). Your hosts discuss how this box-office-fiasco-turned-cult-favorite feels like three very different movies fused together. Other topics of discussion: Tim Robbins awesome overacting, that amazing bar fight and how John Barry's music score hurts the movie but Thomas Dolby's duck-themed hair band tunes still rock. Plus- has there ever been a movie less deserving of a PG rating?
This week, we talk about the 1980s Marvel Cinematic Universe that could have been, and eventually was. ----more---- TRANSCRIPT From Los Angeles, California, the Entertainment Capital of the World, it's The 80s Movies Podcast. I am your host, Edward Havens. Thank you for listening today. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is the undisputed king of intellectual property in the entertainment industry. As of February 9th, 2023, the day I record this episode, there have been thirty full length motion pictures part of the MCU in the past fifteen years, with a combined global ticket sales of $28 billion, as well as twenty television shows that have been seen by hundreds of millions of people worldwide. It is a entertainment juggernaut that does not appear to be going away anytime soon. This comes as a total shock to many of us who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, who were witness of cheaply produced television shows featuring hokey special effects and a roster of has-beens and never weres in the cast. Superman was the king of superheroes at the movies, in large part because, believe it or not, there hadn't even been a movie based on a Marvel Comics character released into theatres until the summer of 1986. But not for lack of trying. And that's what we're going to talk about today. A brief history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the 1980s. But first, as always, some backstory. Now, I am not approaching this as a comic fan. When I was growing up in the 80s, I collected comics, but my collection was limited to Marvel's Star Wars series, Marvel's ROM The SpaceKnight, and Marvel's two-issue Blade Runner comic adaptation in 1982. So I apologize to Marvel comics fans if I relay some of this information incorrectly. I have tried to do my due diligence when it comes to my research. Marvel Comics got its start as Timely Comics back in 1939. On August 31, 1939, Timely would release its first comic, titled Marvel Comics, which would feature a number of short stories featuring versions of characters that would become long-running staples of the eventual publishing house that would bear the comic's name, including The Angel, a version of The Human Torch who was actually an android hero, and Namor the Submariner, who was originally created for a unpublished comic that was supposed to be given to kids when they attended their local movie theatre during a Saturday matinee. That comic issue would quickly sell out its initial 80,000 print run, as well as its second run, which would put another 800,000 copies out to the marketplace. The Vision would be another character introduced on the pages of Marvel Comics, in November 1940. In December 1940, Timely would introduce their next big character, Captain America, who would find instant success thanks to its front cover depicting Cap punching Adolph Hitler square in the jaw, proving that Americans have loved seeing Nazis get punched in the face even a year before our country entered the World War II conflict. But there would be other popular characters created during this timeframe, including Black Widow, The Falcon, and The Invisible Man. In 1941, Timely Comics would lose two of its best collaborators, artists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, to rival company Detective Comics, and Timely owner Martin Goodman would promote one of his cousins, by marriage to his wife Jean no less, to become the interim editor of Timely Comics. A nineteen year old kid named Stanley Lieber, who would shorten his name to Stan Lee. In 1951, Timely Comics would be rebranded at Atlas Comics, and would expand past superhero titles to include tales of crime, drama, espionage, horror, science fiction, war, western, and even romance comics. Eventually, in 1961, Atlas Comics would rebrand once again as Marvel Comics, and would find great success by changing the focus of their stories from being aimed towards younger readers and towards a more sophisticated audience. It would be November 1961 when Marvel would introduce their first superhero team, The Fantastic Four, as well as a number of their most beloved characters including Black Panther, Carol Danvers, Iron Man, The Scarlet Witch, Spider-Man, and Thor, as well as Professor X and many of the X-Men. And as would be expected, Hollywood would come knocking. Warner Brothers would be in the best position to make comic book movies, as both they and DC Comics were owned by the same company beginning in 1969. But for Marvel, they would not be able to enjoy that kind of symbiotic relationship. Regularly strapped for cash, Stan Lee would often sell movie and television rights to a variety of Marvel characters to whomever came calling. First, Marvel would team with a variety of producers to create a series of animated television shows, starting with The Marvel Super Heroes in 1966, two different series based on The Fantastic Four, and both Spider-Man and Spider-Woman series. But movies were a different matter. The rights to make a Spider-Man television show, for example, was sold off to a production company called Danchuck, who teamed with CBS-TV to start airing the show in September of 1977, but Danchuck was able to find a loophole in their contract that allowed them to release the two-hour pilot episode as a movie outside of the United States, which complicated the movie rights Marvel had already sold to another company. Because the “movie” was a success around the world, CBS and Danchuck would release two more Spider-Man “movies” in 1978 and 1981. Eventually, the company that owned the Spider-Man movie rights to sell them to another company in the early 1980s, the legendary independent B-movie production company and distributor, New World Pictures, founded and operated by the legendary independent B-movie producer and director Roger Corman. But shortly after Corman acquired the film rights to Spider-Man, he went and almost immediately sold them to another legendary independent B-movie production company and distributor, Cannon Films. Side note: Shortly after Corman sold the movie rights to Spider-Man to Cannon, Marvel Entertainment was sold to the company that also owned New World Pictures, although Corman himself had nothing to do with the deal itself. The owners of New World were hoping to merge the Marvel comic book characters with the studio's television and motion picture department, to create a sort of shared universe. But since so many of the better known characters like Spider-Man and Captain America had their movie and television rights sold off to the competition, it didn't seem like that was going to happen anytime soon, but again, I'm getting ahead of myself. So for now, we're going to settle on May 1st, 1985. Cannon Films, who loved to spend money to make money, made a big statement in the pages of the industry trade publication Variety, when they bought nine full pages of advertising in the Cannes Market preview issue to announce that buyers around the world needed to get ready, because he was coming. Spider-Man. A live-action motion picture event, to be directed by Tobe Hooper, whose last movie, Poltergeist, re-ignited his directing career, that would be arriving in theatres for Christmas 1986. Cannon had made a name for themselves making cheapie teen comedies in their native Israel in the 1970s, and then brought that formula to America with films like The Last American Virgin, a remake of the first Lemon Popsicle movie that made them a success back home. Cannon would swerve into cheapie action movies with fallen stars like Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson, and would prop up a new action star in Chuck Norris, as well as cheapie trend-chasing movies like Breakin' and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. They had seen enough success in America where they could start spending even bigger, and Spider-Man was supposed to be their first big splash into the superhero movie genre. With that, they would hire Leslie Stevens, the creator of the cult TV series The Outer Limits, to write the screenplay. There was just one small problem. Neither Stevens nor Cannon head honcho Menachem Golan understood the Spider-Man character. Golan thought Spider-Man was a half-spider/half-man creature, not unlike The Wolf Man, and instructed Stevens to follow that concept. Stevens' script would not really borrow from any of the comics' twenty plus year history. Peter Parker, who in this story is a twenty-something ID photographer for a corporation that probably would have been Oscorp if it were written by anyone else who had at least some familiarity with the comics, who becomes intentionally bombarded with gamma radiation by one of the scientists in one of the laboratories, turning Bruce Banner… I mean, Peter Parker, into a hairy eight-armed… yes, eight armed… hybrid human/spider monster. At first suicidal, Bruce… I mean, Peter, refuses to join forces with the scientist's other master race of mutants, forcing Peter to battle these other mutants in a basement lab to the death. To say Stan Lee hated it would be an understatement. Lee schooled Golan and Golan's partner at Cannon, cousin Yoram Globus, on what Spider-Man was supposed to be, demanded a new screenplay. Wanting to keep the head of Marvel Comics happy, because they had big plans not only for Spider-Man but a number of other Marvel characters, they would hire the screenwriting team of Ted Newsom and John Brancato, who had written a screenplay adaptation for Lee of Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos, to come up with a new script for Spider-Man. Newsom and Brancato would write an origin story, featuring a teenage Peter Parker who must deal with his newfound powers while trying to maintain a regular high school existence, while going up against an evil scientist, Otto Octavius. But we'll come back to that later. In that same May 1985 issue of Variety, amongst dozens of pages of ads for movies both completed and in development, including three other movies from Tobe Hooper, was a one-page ad for Captain America. No director or actor was attached to the project yet, but comic book writer James L. Silke, who had written the scripts for four other Cannon movies in the previous two years, was listed as the screenwriter. By October 1985, Cannon was again trying to pre-sell foreign rights to make a Spider-Man movie, this time at the MIFED Film Market in Milan, Italy. Gone were Leslie Stevens and Tobe Hooper. Newsom and Brancato were the new credited writers, and Joseph Tito, the director of the Chuck Norris/Cannon movies Missing in Action and Invasion U.S.A., was the new director. In a two-page ad for Captain America, the film would acquire a new director in Michael Winner, the director of the first three Death Wish movies. And the pattern would continue every few months, from Cannes to MIFED to the American Film Market, and back to Cannes. A new writer would be attached. A new director. A new release date. By October 1987, after the twin failures of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace and Masters of the Universe, Cannon had all but given up on a Captain America movie, and downshifted the budget on their proposed Spider-Man movie. Albert Pyun, whose ability to make any movie in any genre look far better than its budget should have allowed, was brought in to be the director of Spider-Man, from a new script written by Shepard Goldman. Who? Shepard Goldman, whose one and only credit on any motion picture was as one of three screenwriters on the 1988 Cannon movie Salsa. Don't remember Salsa? That's okay. Neither does anyone else. But we'll talk a lot more about Cannon Films down the road, because there's a lot to talk about when it comes to Cannon Films, although I will leave you with two related tidbits… Do you remember the 1989 Jean-Claude Van Damme film Cyborg? Post-apocalyptic cyberpunk martial-arts action film where JCVD and everyone else in the movie have names like Gibson Rickenbacker, Fender Tremolo, Marshall Strat and Pearl Prophet for no damn good reason? Stupid movie, lots of fun. Anyway, Albert Pyun was supposed to shoot two movies back to back for Cannon Films in 1988, a sequel to Masters of the Universe, and Spider-Man. To save money, both movies would use many of the same sets and costumes, and Cannon had spent more than $2m building the sets and costumes at the old Dino DeLaurentiis Studios in Wilmington, North Carolina, where David Lynch had shot Blue Velvet. But then Cannon ran into some cash flow issues, and lost the rights to both the He-Man toy line from Mattel and the Spider-Man characters they had licensed from Marvel. But ever the astute businessman, Cannon Films chairman Menahem Golan offered Pyun $500,000 to shoot any movie he wanted using the costumes and sets already created and paid for, provided Pyun could come up with a movie idea in a week. Pyun wrote the script to Cyborg in five days, and outside of some on-set alterations, that first draft would be the shooting script. The film would open in theatres in April 1989, and gross more than $10m in the United States alone. A few months later, Golan would gone from Cannon Films. As part of his severance package, he would take one of the company's acquisitions, 21st Century Films, with him, as well as several projects, including Captain America. Albert Pyun never got to make his Spider-Man movie, but he would go into production on his Captain America in August 1989. But since the movie didn't get released in any form until it came out direct to video and cable in 1992, I'll leave it to podcasts devoted to 90s movies to tell you more about it. I've seen it. It's super easy to find on YouTube. It really sucks, although not as much as that 1994 version of The Fantastic Four that still hasn't been officially released nearly thirty years later. There would also be attempts throughout the decade to make movies from the aforementioned Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Daredevil, the Incredible Hulk, Silver Surfer and Iron Man, from companies like New Line, 20th Century-Fox and Universal, but none of those would ever come to fruition in the 1980s. But the one that would stick? Of the more than 1,000 characters that had been featured in the pages of Marvel Comics over the course of forty years? The one that would become the star of the first ever theatrically released motion picture based on a Marvel character? Howard the Duck. Howard the Duck was not your average Marvel superhero. Howard the Duck wasn't even a superhero. He was just some wise crackin', ill-tempered, anthropomorphic water fowl that was abducted away from his home on Duckworld and forced against his will to live with humans on Earth. Or, more specifically, first with the dirty humans of the Florida Everglades, and then Cleveland, and finally New York City. Howard the Duck was metafiction and existentialist when neither of these things were in the zeitgeist. He smoked cigars, wore a suit and tie, and enjoy drinking a variety of libations and getting it on with the women, mostly his sometimes girlfriend Beverly. The perfect character to be the subject of the very first Marvel movie. A PG-rated movie. Enter George Lucas. In 1973, George Lucas had hit it big with his second film as a director, American Graffiti. Lucas had written the screenplay, based in part on his life as an eighteen year old car enthusiast about to graduate high school, with the help of a friend from his days at USC Film School, Willard Huyck, and Huyck's wife, Gloria Katz. Lucas wanted to show his appreciation for their help by producing a movie for them. Although there are variations to the story of how this came about, most sources say it was Huyck who would tell Lucas about this new comic book character, Howard the Duck, who piqued his classmate's interest by describing the comic as having elements of film noir and absurdism. Because Universal dragged their feet on American Graffiti, not promoting it as well as they could have upon its initial release and only embracing the film when the public embraced its retro soundtrack, Lucas was not too keen on working with Universal again on his next project, a sci-fi movie he was calling The Journal of the Whills. And while they saw some potential in what they considered to be some minor kiddie movie, they didn't think Lucas could pull it off the way he was describing it for the budget he was asking for. “What else you got, kid?” they'd ask. Lucas had Huyck and Katz, and an idea for a live-action comic book movie about a talking duck. Surprisingly, Universal did not slam the door shut in Lucas's face. They actually went for the idea, and worked with Lucas, Stan Lee of Marvel Comics and Howard's creator, Steve Gerber, to put a deal together to make it happen. Almost right away, Gerber and the screenwriters, Huyck and Katz, would butt heads on practically every aspect of the movie's storyline. Katz just thought it was some funny story about a duck from outer space and his wacky adventures on Earth, Gerber was adamant that Howard the Duck was an existential joke, that the difference between life's most serious moments and its most incredibly dumb moments were only distinguishable by a moment's point of view. Huyck wanted to make a big special effects movie, while Katz thought it would be fun to set the story in Hawaii so she and her husband could have some fun while shooting there. The writers would spend years on their script, removing most everything that made the Howard the Duck comic book so enjoyable to its readers. Howard and his story would be played completely straight in the movie, leaning on subtle gags not unlike a Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker movie, instead of embracing the surreal ridiculousness of the comics. They would write humongous effects-heavy set pieces, knowing they would have access to their producer's in-house special effects team, Industrial Light and Magic, instead of the comics' more cerebral endings. And they'd tone down the more risqué aspects of Howard's personality, figuring a more family-friendly movie would bring in more money at the box office. It would take nearly twelve years for all the pieces to fall into place for Howard the Duck to begin filming. But in the spring of 1985, Universal finally gave the green light for Lucas and his tea to finally make the first live-action feature film based on a Marvel Comics character. For Beverly, the filmmakers claimed to have looked at every young actress in Hollywood before deciding on twenty-four year old Lea Thompson, who after years of supporting roles in movies like Jaws 3-D, All the Right Moves and Red Dawn, had found success playing Michael J. Fox's mother in Back to the Future. Twenty-six year old Tim Robbins had only made two movies up to this point, at one of the frat boys in Fraternity Vacation and as one of the fighter pilots in Top Gun, and this was his first chance to play a leading role in a major motion picture. And Jeffrey Jones would be cast as the bad guy, the Dark Overlord, based upon his work in the 1984 Best Picture winner Amadeus, although he would be coming to the set of Howard the Duck straight off of working on a John Hughes movie, Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Howard the Duck would begin shooting on the Universal Studios lot of November 11th, 1985, and on the very first day of production, the duck puppet being used to film would have a major mechanical failure, not unlike the mechanical failure of the shark in Jaws that would force Steven Spielberg to become more creative with how he shot that character. George Lucas, who would be a hands-on producer, would suggest that maybe they could shoot other scenes not involving the duck, while his crew at ILM created a fully functional, life-sized animatronic duck costume for a little actor to wear on set. At first, the lead actor in the duck suit was a twelve-year old boy, but within days of his start on the film, he would develop a severe case of claustrophobia inside the costume. Ed Gale, originally hired to be the stuntman in the duck costume, would quickly take over the role. Since Gale could work longer hours than the child, due to the very restrictive laws surrounding child actors on movie and television sets, this would help keep the movie on a good production schedule, and make shooting the questionable love scenes between Howard and Beverly easier for Ms. Thompson, who was creeped out at the thought of seducing a pre-teen for a scene. To keep the shoot on schedule, not only would the filmmakers employ a second shooting unit to shoot the scenes not involving the main actors, which is standard operating procedure on most movies, Lucas would supervise a third shooting unit that would shoot Robbins and Gale in one of the film's more climactic moments, when Howard and Phil are trying to escape being captured by the authorities by flying off on an ultralight plane. Most of this sequence would be shot in the town of Petaluma, California, on the same streets where Lucas had shot American Graffiti's iconic cruising scenes thirteen years earlier. After a month-long shoot of the film's climax at a naval station in San Francisco, the film would end production on March 26th, 1986, leaving the $36m film barely four months to be put together in order to make its already set in stone August 1st, 1986, release date. Being used to quick turnaround times, the effects teams working on the film would get all their shots completed with time to spare, not only because they were good at their jobs but they had the ability to start work before the film went into production. For the end sequence, when Jones' character had fully transformed into the Dark Overlord, master stop motion animator Phil Tippett, who had left ILM in 1984 to start his own effects studio specializing in that style of animation, had nearly a year to put together what would ultimately be less than two minutes of actual screen time. As Beverly was a musician, Lucas would hire English musician and composer Thomas Dolby, whose 1982 single She Blinded Me With Science became a global smash hit, to write the songs for Cherry Bomb, the all-girl rock group lead by Lea Thompson's Beverly. Playing KC, the keyboardist for Cherry Bomb, Holly Robinson would book her first major acting role. For the music, Dolby would collaborate with Allee Willis, the co-writer of Earth Wind and Fire's September and Boogie Wonderland, and funk legend George Clinton. But despite this powerhouse musical trio, the songs for the band were not very good, and, with all due respect to Lea Thompson, not very well sung. By August 1986, Universal Studios needed a hit. Despite winning the Academy Award for Best Picture in March with Sydney Pollack's Out of Africa, the first six films they released for the year were all disappointments at the box office and/or with the critics. The Best of Times, a comedy featuring Robin Williams and Kurt Russell as two friends who try to recreate a high school football game which changed the direction of both their lives. Despite a script written by Ron Shelton, who would be nominated for an Oscar for his next screenplay, Bull Durham, and Robin Williams, the $12m film would gross less than $8m. The Money Pit, a comedy with Tom Hanks and Shelley Long, would end up grossing $37m against a $10m budget, but the movie was so bad, its first appearance on DVD wouldn't come until 2011, and only as part of a Tom Hanks Comedy Favorites Collection along with The ‘Burbs and Dragnet. Legend, a dark fantasy film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Cruise, was supposed to be one of the biggest hits… of 1985. But Scott and the studio would fight over the film, with the director wanting them to release a two hour and five minute long version with a classical movie score by Jerry Goldsmith, while the studio eventually cut the film down an hour and twenty-nine minutes with a techno score by Tangerine Dream. Despite an amazing makeup job transforming Tim Curry into the Lord of Darkness as well as sumptuous costumes and cinematography, the $24.5m film would just miss recouping its production budget back in ticket sales. Tom Cruise would become a superstar not three weeks later, when Paramount Pictures released Top Gun, directed by Ridley's little brother Tony Scott. Sweet Liberty should have been a solid performer for the studio. Alan Alda, in his first movie since the end of MASH three years earlier, would write, direct and star in this comedy about a college history professor who must watch in disbelief as a Hollywood production comes to his small town to film the movie version of one of the books. The movie, which also starred Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins, Michelle Pfieffer and screen legend Lillian Gish, would get lost in the shuffle of other comedies that were already playing in theatres like Ferris Bueller and Short Circuit. Legal Eagles was the movie to beat for the summer of 1986… at least on paper. Ivan Reitman's follow-up film to Ghostbusters would feature a cast that included Robert Redford, Debra Winger and Daryl Hannah, along with Brian Denny, Terence Stamp, and Brian Doyle-Murray, and was perhaps too much movie, being a legal romantic comedy mystery crime thriller. Phew. If I were to do an episode about agency packaging in the 1980s, the process when a talent agency like Creative Artists Agency, or CAA, put two or more of their clients together in a project not because it might be best for the movie but best for the agency that will collect a 10% commission from each client attached to the project, Legal Eagles would be the example of packaging gone too far. Ivan Reitman was a client of CAA. As were Redford, and Winger, and Hannah. As was Bill Murray, who was originally cast in the Redford role. As were Jim Cash and Jack Epps, the screenwriters for the film. As was Tom Mankewicz, the co-writer of Superman and three Bond films, who was brought in to rewrite the script when Murray left and Redford came in. As was Frank Price, the chairman of Universal Pictures when the project was put together. All told, CAA would book more than $1.5m in commissions for themselves from all their clients working on the film. And it sucked. Despite the fact that it had almost no special effects, Legal Eagles would cost $40m to produce, one of the most expensive movies ever made to that point, nearly one and a half times the cost of Ghostbusters. The film would gross nearly $50m in the US, which would make it only the 14th highest grossing film of the year. Less than Stand By Me. Less than The Color of Money. Less than Down and Out in Beverly Hills. And then there was Psycho III, the Anthony Perkins-directed slasher film that brought good old Norman Bates out of mothballs once again. An almost direct follow-up to Psycho II from 1983, the film neither embraced by horror film fans or critics, the film would only open in eighth place, despite the fact there hadn't been a horror movie in theatres for months, and its $14m gross would kill off any chance for a Psycho IV in theatres. In late June, Universal would hold a series of test screenings for Howard the Duck. Depending on who you talk to, the test screenings either went really well, or went so bad that one of the writers would tear up negative response cards before they could be given to the score compilers, to goose the numbers up, pun only somewhat intended. I tend to believe the latter story, as it was fairly well reported at the time that the test screenings went so bad, Sid Sheinberg, the CEO of Universal, and Frank Price, the President of the studio, got into a fist fight in the lobby of one of the theatres running one of the test screenings, over who was to blame for this impending debacle. And a debacle it was. But just how bad? So bad, copywriters from across the nation reveled in giddy glee over the chances to have a headline that read “‘Howard the Duck' Lays an Egg!” And it did. Well, sort of. When it opened in 1554 theatres on August 1st, the film would gross $5.07m, the second best opener of the weekend, behind the sixth Friday the 13th entry, and above other new movies like the Tom Hanks/Jackie Gleason dramedy Nothing in Common and the cult film in the making Flight of the Navigator. And $5m in 1986 was a fairly decent if unspectacular opening weekend gross. The Fly was considered a massive success when it opened to $7m just two weeks later. Short Circuit, which had opened to $5.3m in May, was also lauded as being a hit right out of the gate. And the reviews were pretty lousy. Gene Siskel gave the film only one star, calling it a stupid film with an unlikeable lead in the duck and special effects that were less impressive than a sparkler shoved into a birthday cake. Both Siskel and Ebert would give it the dreaded two thumbs down on their show. Leonard Maltin called the film hopeless. Today, the film only has a 14% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with 81 reviews. But despite the shellacking the film took, it wouldn't be all bad for several of the people involved in the making of the film. Lea Thompson was so worried her career might be over after the opening weekend of the film, she accepted a role in the John Hughes movie Some Kind of Wonderful that she had turned down multiple times before. As I stated in our March 2021 episode about that movie, it's my favorite of all John Hughes movies, and it would lead to a happy ending for Thompson as well. Although the film was not a massive success, Thompson and the film's director, Howard Deutch, would fall in love during the making of the film. They would marry in 1989, have two daughters together, and as of the writing of this episode, they are still happily married. For Tim Robbins, it showed filmmakers that he could handle a leading role in a movie. Within two years, he would be starring alongside Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon in Bull Durham, and he career would soar for the next three decades. And for Ed Gale, his being able to act while in a full-body duck suit would lead him to be cast to play Chucky in the first two Child's Play movies as well as Bride of Chucky. Years later, Entertainment Weekly would name Howard the Duck as the biggest pop culture failure of all time, ahead of such turkeys as NBC's wonderfully ridiculous 1979 show Supertrain, the infamous 1980 Western Heaven's Gate, Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman's Ishtar, and the truly wretched 1978 Bee Gees movie Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. But Howard the Duck, the character, not the movie, would enjoy a renaissance in 2014, when James Gunn included a CG-animated version of the character in the post-credit sequence for Guardians of the Galaxy. The character would show up again in the Disney animated Guardians television series, and in the 2021 Disney+ anthology series Marvel's What If… There technically would be one other 1980s movie based on a Marvel character, Mark Goldblatt's version of The Punisher, featuring Dolph Lundgren as Frank Castle. Shot in Australia in 1988, the film was supposed to be released by New World Pictures in August of 1989. The company even sent out trailers to theatres that summer to help build awareness for the film, but New World's continued financial issues would put the film on hold until April 1991, when it was released directly to video by Live Entertainment. It wouldn't be until the 1998 release of Blade, featuring Wesley Snipes as the titular vampire, that movies based on Marvel Comics characters would finally be accepted by movie-going audiences. That would soon be followed by Bryan Singer's X-Men in 2000, and Sam Raimi's Spider-Man in 2002, the success of both prompting Marvel to start putting together the team that would eventually give birth to the Marvel Cinematic Universe we all know and love today. Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again soon, when Episode 102, the first of two episodes about the 1980s distribution company Vestron Pictures, is released. Remember to visit this episode's page on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, for extra materials about Howard the Duck, and the other movies, both existing and non-existent, we covered this episode. The 80s Movies Podcast has been researched, written, narrated and edited by Edward Havens for Idiosyncratic Entertainment. Thank you again. Good night.
This week, we talk about the 1980s Marvel Cinematic Universe that could have been, and eventually was. ----more---- TRANSCRIPT From Los Angeles, California, the Entertainment Capital of the World, it's The 80s Movies Podcast. I am your host, Edward Havens. Thank you for listening today. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is the undisputed king of intellectual property in the entertainment industry. As of February 9th, 2023, the day I record this episode, there have been thirty full length motion pictures part of the MCU in the past fifteen years, with a combined global ticket sales of $28 billion, as well as twenty television shows that have been seen by hundreds of millions of people worldwide. It is a entertainment juggernaut that does not appear to be going away anytime soon. This comes as a total shock to many of us who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, who were witness of cheaply produced television shows featuring hokey special effects and a roster of has-beens and never weres in the cast. Superman was the king of superheroes at the movies, in large part because, believe it or not, there hadn't even been a movie based on a Marvel Comics character released into theatres until the summer of 1986. But not for lack of trying. And that's what we're going to talk about today. A brief history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the 1980s. But first, as always, some backstory. Now, I am not approaching this as a comic fan. When I was growing up in the 80s, I collected comics, but my collection was limited to Marvel's Star Wars series, Marvel's ROM The SpaceKnight, and Marvel's two-issue Blade Runner comic adaptation in 1982. So I apologize to Marvel comics fans if I relay some of this information incorrectly. I have tried to do my due diligence when it comes to my research. Marvel Comics got its start as Timely Comics back in 1939. On August 31, 1939, Timely would release its first comic, titled Marvel Comics, which would feature a number of short stories featuring versions of characters that would become long-running staples of the eventual publishing house that would bear the comic's name, including The Angel, a version of The Human Torch who was actually an android hero, and Namor the Submariner, who was originally created for a unpublished comic that was supposed to be given to kids when they attended their local movie theatre during a Saturday matinee. That comic issue would quickly sell out its initial 80,000 print run, as well as its second run, which would put another 800,000 copies out to the marketplace. The Vision would be another character introduced on the pages of Marvel Comics, in November 1940. In December 1940, Timely would introduce their next big character, Captain America, who would find instant success thanks to its front cover depicting Cap punching Adolph Hitler square in the jaw, proving that Americans have loved seeing Nazis get punched in the face even a year before our country entered the World War II conflict. But there would be other popular characters created during this timeframe, including Black Widow, The Falcon, and The Invisible Man. In 1941, Timely Comics would lose two of its best collaborators, artists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, to rival company Detective Comics, and Timely owner Martin Goodman would promote one of his cousins, by marriage to his wife Jean no less, to become the interim editor of Timely Comics. A nineteen year old kid named Stanley Lieber, who would shorten his name to Stan Lee. In 1951, Timely Comics would be rebranded at Atlas Comics, and would expand past superhero titles to include tales of crime, drama, espionage, horror, science fiction, war, western, and even romance comics. Eventually, in 1961, Atlas Comics would rebrand once again as Marvel Comics, and would find great success by changing the focus of their stories from being aimed towards younger readers and towards a more sophisticated audience. It would be November 1961 when Marvel would introduce their first superhero team, The Fantastic Four, as well as a number of their most beloved characters including Black Panther, Carol Danvers, Iron Man, The Scarlet Witch, Spider-Man, and Thor, as well as Professor X and many of the X-Men. And as would be expected, Hollywood would come knocking. Warner Brothers would be in the best position to make comic book movies, as both they and DC Comics were owned by the same company beginning in 1969. But for Marvel, they would not be able to enjoy that kind of symbiotic relationship. Regularly strapped for cash, Stan Lee would often sell movie and television rights to a variety of Marvel characters to whomever came calling. First, Marvel would team with a variety of producers to create a series of animated television shows, starting with The Marvel Super Heroes in 1966, two different series based on The Fantastic Four, and both Spider-Man and Spider-Woman series. But movies were a different matter. The rights to make a Spider-Man television show, for example, was sold off to a production company called Danchuck, who teamed with CBS-TV to start airing the show in September of 1977, but Danchuck was able to find a loophole in their contract that allowed them to release the two-hour pilot episode as a movie outside of the United States, which complicated the movie rights Marvel had already sold to another company. Because the “movie” was a success around the world, CBS and Danchuck would release two more Spider-Man “movies” in 1978 and 1981. Eventually, the company that owned the Spider-Man movie rights to sell them to another company in the early 1980s, the legendary independent B-movie production company and distributor, New World Pictures, founded and operated by the legendary independent B-movie producer and director Roger Corman. But shortly after Corman acquired the film rights to Spider-Man, he went and almost immediately sold them to another legendary independent B-movie production company and distributor, Cannon Films. Side note: Shortly after Corman sold the movie rights to Spider-Man to Cannon, Marvel Entertainment was sold to the company that also owned New World Pictures, although Corman himself had nothing to do with the deal itself. The owners of New World were hoping to merge the Marvel comic book characters with the studio's television and motion picture department, to create a sort of shared universe. But since so many of the better known characters like Spider-Man and Captain America had their movie and television rights sold off to the competition, it didn't seem like that was going to happen anytime soon, but again, I'm getting ahead of myself. So for now, we're going to settle on May 1st, 1985. Cannon Films, who loved to spend money to make money, made a big statement in the pages of the industry trade publication Variety, when they bought nine full pages of advertising in the Cannes Market preview issue to announce that buyers around the world needed to get ready, because he was coming. Spider-Man. A live-action motion picture event, to be directed by Tobe Hooper, whose last movie, Poltergeist, re-ignited his directing career, that would be arriving in theatres for Christmas 1986. Cannon had made a name for themselves making cheapie teen comedies in their native Israel in the 1970s, and then brought that formula to America with films like The Last American Virgin, a remake of the first Lemon Popsicle movie that made them a success back home. Cannon would swerve into cheapie action movies with fallen stars like Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson, and would prop up a new action star in Chuck Norris, as well as cheapie trend-chasing movies like Breakin' and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. They had seen enough success in America where they could start spending even bigger, and Spider-Man was supposed to be their first big splash into the superhero movie genre. With that, they would hire Leslie Stevens, the creator of the cult TV series The Outer Limits, to write the screenplay. There was just one small problem. Neither Stevens nor Cannon head honcho Menachem Golan understood the Spider-Man character. Golan thought Spider-Man was a half-spider/half-man creature, not unlike The Wolf Man, and instructed Stevens to follow that concept. Stevens' script would not really borrow from any of the comics' twenty plus year history. Peter Parker, who in this story is a twenty-something ID photographer for a corporation that probably would have been Oscorp if it were written by anyone else who had at least some familiarity with the comics, who becomes intentionally bombarded with gamma radiation by one of the scientists in one of the laboratories, turning Bruce Banner… I mean, Peter Parker, into a hairy eight-armed… yes, eight armed… hybrid human/spider monster. At first suicidal, Bruce… I mean, Peter, refuses to join forces with the scientist's other master race of mutants, forcing Peter to battle these other mutants in a basement lab to the death. To say Stan Lee hated it would be an understatement. Lee schooled Golan and Golan's partner at Cannon, cousin Yoram Globus, on what Spider-Man was supposed to be, demanded a new screenplay. Wanting to keep the head of Marvel Comics happy, because they had big plans not only for Spider-Man but a number of other Marvel characters, they would hire the screenwriting team of Ted Newsom and John Brancato, who had written a screenplay adaptation for Lee of Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos, to come up with a new script for Spider-Man. Newsom and Brancato would write an origin story, featuring a teenage Peter Parker who must deal with his newfound powers while trying to maintain a regular high school existence, while going up against an evil scientist, Otto Octavius. But we'll come back to that later. In that same May 1985 issue of Variety, amongst dozens of pages of ads for movies both completed and in development, including three other movies from Tobe Hooper, was a one-page ad for Captain America. No director or actor was attached to the project yet, but comic book writer James L. Silke, who had written the scripts for four other Cannon movies in the previous two years, was listed as the screenwriter. By October 1985, Cannon was again trying to pre-sell foreign rights to make a Spider-Man movie, this time at the MIFED Film Market in Milan, Italy. Gone were Leslie Stevens and Tobe Hooper. Newsom and Brancato were the new credited writers, and Joseph Tito, the director of the Chuck Norris/Cannon movies Missing in Action and Invasion U.S.A., was the new director. In a two-page ad for Captain America, the film would acquire a new director in Michael Winner, the director of the first three Death Wish movies. And the pattern would continue every few months, from Cannes to MIFED to the American Film Market, and back to Cannes. A new writer would be attached. A new director. A new release date. By October 1987, after the twin failures of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace and Masters of the Universe, Cannon had all but given up on a Captain America movie, and downshifted the budget on their proposed Spider-Man movie. Albert Pyun, whose ability to make any movie in any genre look far better than its budget should have allowed, was brought in to be the director of Spider-Man, from a new script written by Shepard Goldman. Who? Shepard Goldman, whose one and only credit on any motion picture was as one of three screenwriters on the 1988 Cannon movie Salsa. Don't remember Salsa? That's okay. Neither does anyone else. But we'll talk a lot more about Cannon Films down the road, because there's a lot to talk about when it comes to Cannon Films, although I will leave you with two related tidbits… Do you remember the 1989 Jean-Claude Van Damme film Cyborg? Post-apocalyptic cyberpunk martial-arts action film where JCVD and everyone else in the movie have names like Gibson Rickenbacker, Fender Tremolo, Marshall Strat and Pearl Prophet for no damn good reason? Stupid movie, lots of fun. Anyway, Albert Pyun was supposed to shoot two movies back to back for Cannon Films in 1988, a sequel to Masters of the Universe, and Spider-Man. To save money, both movies would use many of the same sets and costumes, and Cannon had spent more than $2m building the sets and costumes at the old Dino DeLaurentiis Studios in Wilmington, North Carolina, where David Lynch had shot Blue Velvet. But then Cannon ran into some cash flow issues, and lost the rights to both the He-Man toy line from Mattel and the Spider-Man characters they had licensed from Marvel. But ever the astute businessman, Cannon Films chairman Menahem Golan offered Pyun $500,000 to shoot any movie he wanted using the costumes and sets already created and paid for, provided Pyun could come up with a movie idea in a week. Pyun wrote the script to Cyborg in five days, and outside of some on-set alterations, that first draft would be the shooting script. The film would open in theatres in April 1989, and gross more than $10m in the United States alone. A few months later, Golan would gone from Cannon Films. As part of his severance package, he would take one of the company's acquisitions, 21st Century Films, with him, as well as several projects, including Captain America. Albert Pyun never got to make his Spider-Man movie, but he would go into production on his Captain America in August 1989. But since the movie didn't get released in any form until it came out direct to video and cable in 1992, I'll leave it to podcasts devoted to 90s movies to tell you more about it. I've seen it. It's super easy to find on YouTube. It really sucks, although not as much as that 1994 version of The Fantastic Four that still hasn't been officially released nearly thirty years later. There would also be attempts throughout the decade to make movies from the aforementioned Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Daredevil, the Incredible Hulk, Silver Surfer and Iron Man, from companies like New Line, 20th Century-Fox and Universal, but none of those would ever come to fruition in the 1980s. But the one that would stick? Of the more than 1,000 characters that had been featured in the pages of Marvel Comics over the course of forty years? The one that would become the star of the first ever theatrically released motion picture based on a Marvel character? Howard the Duck. Howard the Duck was not your average Marvel superhero. Howard the Duck wasn't even a superhero. He was just some wise crackin', ill-tempered, anthropomorphic water fowl that was abducted away from his home on Duckworld and forced against his will to live with humans on Earth. Or, more specifically, first with the dirty humans of the Florida Everglades, and then Cleveland, and finally New York City. Howard the Duck was metafiction and existentialist when neither of these things were in the zeitgeist. He smoked cigars, wore a suit and tie, and enjoy drinking a variety of libations and getting it on with the women, mostly his sometimes girlfriend Beverly. The perfect character to be the subject of the very first Marvel movie. A PG-rated movie. Enter George Lucas. In 1973, George Lucas had hit it big with his second film as a director, American Graffiti. Lucas had written the screenplay, based in part on his life as an eighteen year old car enthusiast about to graduate high school, with the help of a friend from his days at USC Film School, Willard Huyck, and Huyck's wife, Gloria Katz. Lucas wanted to show his appreciation for their help by producing a movie for them. Although there are variations to the story of how this came about, most sources say it was Huyck who would tell Lucas about this new comic book character, Howard the Duck, who piqued his classmate's interest by describing the comic as having elements of film noir and absurdism. Because Universal dragged their feet on American Graffiti, not promoting it as well as they could have upon its initial release and only embracing the film when the public embraced its retro soundtrack, Lucas was not too keen on working with Universal again on his next project, a sci-fi movie he was calling The Journal of the Whills. And while they saw some potential in what they considered to be some minor kiddie movie, they didn't think Lucas could pull it off the way he was describing it for the budget he was asking for. “What else you got, kid?” they'd ask. Lucas had Huyck and Katz, and an idea for a live-action comic book movie about a talking duck. Surprisingly, Universal did not slam the door shut in Lucas's face. They actually went for the idea, and worked with Lucas, Stan Lee of Marvel Comics and Howard's creator, Steve Gerber, to put a deal together to make it happen. Almost right away, Gerber and the screenwriters, Huyck and Katz, would butt heads on practically every aspect of the movie's storyline. Katz just thought it was some funny story about a duck from outer space and his wacky adventures on Earth, Gerber was adamant that Howard the Duck was an existential joke, that the difference between life's most serious moments and its most incredibly dumb moments were only distinguishable by a moment's point of view. Huyck wanted to make a big special effects movie, while Katz thought it would be fun to set the story in Hawaii so she and her husband could have some fun while shooting there. The writers would spend years on their script, removing most everything that made the Howard the Duck comic book so enjoyable to its readers. Howard and his story would be played completely straight in the movie, leaning on subtle gags not unlike a Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker movie, instead of embracing the surreal ridiculousness of the comics. They would write humongous effects-heavy set pieces, knowing they would have access to their producer's in-house special effects team, Industrial Light and Magic, instead of the comics' more cerebral endings. And they'd tone down the more risqué aspects of Howard's personality, figuring a more family-friendly movie would bring in more money at the box office. It would take nearly twelve years for all the pieces to fall into place for Howard the Duck to begin filming. But in the spring of 1985, Universal finally gave the green light for Lucas and his tea to finally make the first live-action feature film based on a Marvel Comics character. For Beverly, the filmmakers claimed to have looked at every young actress in Hollywood before deciding on twenty-four year old Lea Thompson, who after years of supporting roles in movies like Jaws 3-D, All the Right Moves and Red Dawn, had found success playing Michael J. Fox's mother in Back to the Future. Twenty-six year old Tim Robbins had only made two movies up to this point, at one of the frat boys in Fraternity Vacation and as one of the fighter pilots in Top Gun, and this was his first chance to play a leading role in a major motion picture. And Jeffrey Jones would be cast as the bad guy, the Dark Overlord, based upon his work in the 1984 Best Picture winner Amadeus, although he would be coming to the set of Howard the Duck straight off of working on a John Hughes movie, Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Howard the Duck would begin shooting on the Universal Studios lot of November 11th, 1985, and on the very first day of production, the duck puppet being used to film would have a major mechanical failure, not unlike the mechanical failure of the shark in Jaws that would force Steven Spielberg to become more creative with how he shot that character. George Lucas, who would be a hands-on producer, would suggest that maybe they could shoot other scenes not involving the duck, while his crew at ILM created a fully functional, life-sized animatronic duck costume for a little actor to wear on set. At first, the lead actor in the duck suit was a twelve-year old boy, but within days of his start on the film, he would develop a severe case of claustrophobia inside the costume. Ed Gale, originally hired to be the stuntman in the duck costume, would quickly take over the role. Since Gale could work longer hours than the child, due to the very restrictive laws surrounding child actors on movie and television sets, this would help keep the movie on a good production schedule, and make shooting the questionable love scenes between Howard and Beverly easier for Ms. Thompson, who was creeped out at the thought of seducing a pre-teen for a scene. To keep the shoot on schedule, not only would the filmmakers employ a second shooting unit to shoot the scenes not involving the main actors, which is standard operating procedure on most movies, Lucas would supervise a third shooting unit that would shoot Robbins and Gale in one of the film's more climactic moments, when Howard and Phil are trying to escape being captured by the authorities by flying off on an ultralight plane. Most of this sequence would be shot in the town of Petaluma, California, on the same streets where Lucas had shot American Graffiti's iconic cruising scenes thirteen years earlier. After a month-long shoot of the film's climax at a naval station in San Francisco, the film would end production on March 26th, 1986, leaving the $36m film barely four months to be put together in order to make its already set in stone August 1st, 1986, release date. Being used to quick turnaround times, the effects teams working on the film would get all their shots completed with time to spare, not only because they were good at their jobs but they had the ability to start work before the film went into production. For the end sequence, when Jones' character had fully transformed into the Dark Overlord, master stop motion animator Phil Tippett, who had left ILM in 1984 to start his own effects studio specializing in that style of animation, had nearly a year to put together what would ultimately be less than two minutes of actual screen time. As Beverly was a musician, Lucas would hire English musician and composer Thomas Dolby, whose 1982 single She Blinded Me With Science became a global smash hit, to write the songs for Cherry Bomb, the all-girl rock group lead by Lea Thompson's Beverly. Playing KC, the keyboardist for Cherry Bomb, Holly Robinson would book her first major acting role. For the music, Dolby would collaborate with Allee Willis, the co-writer of Earth Wind and Fire's September and Boogie Wonderland, and funk legend George Clinton. But despite this powerhouse musical trio, the songs for the band were not very good, and, with all due respect to Lea Thompson, not very well sung. By August 1986, Universal Studios needed a hit. Despite winning the Academy Award for Best Picture in March with Sydney Pollack's Out of Africa, the first six films they released for the year were all disappointments at the box office and/or with the critics. The Best of Times, a comedy featuring Robin Williams and Kurt Russell as two friends who try to recreate a high school football game which changed the direction of both their lives. Despite a script written by Ron Shelton, who would be nominated for an Oscar for his next screenplay, Bull Durham, and Robin Williams, the $12m film would gross less than $8m. The Money Pit, a comedy with Tom Hanks and Shelley Long, would end up grossing $37m against a $10m budget, but the movie was so bad, its first appearance on DVD wouldn't come until 2011, and only as part of a Tom Hanks Comedy Favorites Collection along with The ‘Burbs and Dragnet. Legend, a dark fantasy film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Cruise, was supposed to be one of the biggest hits… of 1985. But Scott and the studio would fight over the film, with the director wanting them to release a two hour and five minute long version with a classical movie score by Jerry Goldsmith, while the studio eventually cut the film down an hour and twenty-nine minutes with a techno score by Tangerine Dream. Despite an amazing makeup job transforming Tim Curry into the Lord of Darkness as well as sumptuous costumes and cinematography, the $24.5m film would just miss recouping its production budget back in ticket sales. Tom Cruise would become a superstar not three weeks later, when Paramount Pictures released Top Gun, directed by Ridley's little brother Tony Scott. Sweet Liberty should have been a solid performer for the studio. Alan Alda, in his first movie since the end of MASH three years earlier, would write, direct and star in this comedy about a college history professor who must watch in disbelief as a Hollywood production comes to his small town to film the movie version of one of the books. The movie, which also starred Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins, Michelle Pfieffer and screen legend Lillian Gish, would get lost in the shuffle of other comedies that were already playing in theatres like Ferris Bueller and Short Circuit. Legal Eagles was the movie to beat for the summer of 1986… at least on paper. Ivan Reitman's follow-up film to Ghostbusters would feature a cast that included Robert Redford, Debra Winger and Daryl Hannah, along with Brian Denny, Terence Stamp, and Brian Doyle-Murray, and was perhaps too much movie, being a legal romantic comedy mystery crime thriller. Phew. If I were to do an episode about agency packaging in the 1980s, the process when a talent agency like Creative Artists Agency, or CAA, put two or more of their clients together in a project not because it might be best for the movie but best for the agency that will collect a 10% commission from each client attached to the project, Legal Eagles would be the example of packaging gone too far. Ivan Reitman was a client of CAA. As were Redford, and Winger, and Hannah. As was Bill Murray, who was originally cast in the Redford role. As were Jim Cash and Jack Epps, the screenwriters for the film. As was Tom Mankewicz, the co-writer of Superman and three Bond films, who was brought in to rewrite the script when Murray left and Redford came in. As was Frank Price, the chairman of Universal Pictures when the project was put together. All told, CAA would book more than $1.5m in commissions for themselves from all their clients working on the film. And it sucked. Despite the fact that it had almost no special effects, Legal Eagles would cost $40m to produce, one of the most expensive movies ever made to that point, nearly one and a half times the cost of Ghostbusters. The film would gross nearly $50m in the US, which would make it only the 14th highest grossing film of the year. Less than Stand By Me. Less than The Color of Money. Less than Down and Out in Beverly Hills. And then there was Psycho III, the Anthony Perkins-directed slasher film that brought good old Norman Bates out of mothballs once again. An almost direct follow-up to Psycho II from 1983, the film neither embraced by horror film fans or critics, the film would only open in eighth place, despite the fact there hadn't been a horror movie in theatres for months, and its $14m gross would kill off any chance for a Psycho IV in theatres. In late June, Universal would hold a series of test screenings for Howard the Duck. Depending on who you talk to, the test screenings either went really well, or went so bad that one of the writers would tear up negative response cards before they could be given to the score compilers, to goose the numbers up, pun only somewhat intended. I tend to believe the latter story, as it was fairly well reported at the time that the test screenings went so bad, Sid Sheinberg, the CEO of Universal, and Frank Price, the President of the studio, got into a fist fight in the lobby of one of the theatres running one of the test screenings, over who was to blame for this impending debacle. And a debacle it was. But just how bad? So bad, copywriters from across the nation reveled in giddy glee over the chances to have a headline that read “‘Howard the Duck' Lays an Egg!” And it did. Well, sort of. When it opened in 1554 theatres on August 1st, the film would gross $5.07m, the second best opener of the weekend, behind the sixth Friday the 13th entry, and above other new movies like the Tom Hanks/Jackie Gleason dramedy Nothing in Common and the cult film in the making Flight of the Navigator. And $5m in 1986 was a fairly decent if unspectacular opening weekend gross. The Fly was considered a massive success when it opened to $7m just two weeks later. Short Circuit, which had opened to $5.3m in May, was also lauded as being a hit right out of the gate. And the reviews were pretty lousy. Gene Siskel gave the film only one star, calling it a stupid film with an unlikeable lead in the duck and special effects that were less impressive than a sparkler shoved into a birthday cake. Both Siskel and Ebert would give it the dreaded two thumbs down on their show. Leonard Maltin called the film hopeless. Today, the film only has a 14% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with 81 reviews. But despite the shellacking the film took, it wouldn't be all bad for several of the people involved in the making of the film. Lea Thompson was so worried her career might be over after the opening weekend of the film, she accepted a role in the John Hughes movie Some Kind of Wonderful that she had turned down multiple times before. As I stated in our March 2021 episode about that movie, it's my favorite of all John Hughes movies, and it would lead to a happy ending for Thompson as well. Although the film was not a massive success, Thompson and the film's director, Howard Deutch, would fall in love during the making of the film. They would marry in 1989, have two daughters together, and as of the writing of this episode, they are still happily married. For Tim Robbins, it showed filmmakers that he could handle a leading role in a movie. Within two years, he would be starring alongside Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon in Bull Durham, and he career would soar for the next three decades. And for Ed Gale, his being able to act while in a full-body duck suit would lead him to be cast to play Chucky in the first two Child's Play movies as well as Bride of Chucky. Years later, Entertainment Weekly would name Howard the Duck as the biggest pop culture failure of all time, ahead of such turkeys as NBC's wonderfully ridiculous 1979 show Supertrain, the infamous 1980 Western Heaven's Gate, Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman's Ishtar, and the truly wretched 1978 Bee Gees movie Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. But Howard the Duck, the character, not the movie, would enjoy a renaissance in 2014, when James Gunn included a CG-animated version of the character in the post-credit sequence for Guardians of the Galaxy. The character would show up again in the Disney animated Guardians television series, and in the 2021 Disney+ anthology series Marvel's What If… There technically would be one other 1980s movie based on a Marvel character, Mark Goldblatt's version of The Punisher, featuring Dolph Lundgren as Frank Castle. Shot in Australia in 1988, the film was supposed to be released by New World Pictures in August of 1989. The company even sent out trailers to theatres that summer to help build awareness for the film, but New World's continued financial issues would put the film on hold until April 1991, when it was released directly to video by Live Entertainment. It wouldn't be until the 1998 release of Blade, featuring Wesley Snipes as the titular vampire, that movies based on Marvel Comics characters would finally be accepted by movie-going audiences. That would soon be followed by Bryan Singer's X-Men in 2000, and Sam Raimi's Spider-Man in 2002, the success of both prompting Marvel to start putting together the team that would eventually give birth to the Marvel Cinematic Universe we all know and love today. Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again soon, when Episode 102, the first of two episodes about the 1980s distribution company Vestron Pictures, is released. Remember to visit this episode's page on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, for extra materials about Howard the Duck, and the other movies, both existing and non-existent, we covered this episode. The 80s Movies Podcast has been researched, written, narrated and edited by Edward Havens for Idiosyncratic Entertainment. Thank you again. Good night.
On Episode 079, today's guest hails from Orlando, Florida currently residing in Los Angeles, California. He's a Beatmaker, Audio Engineer, Live Performer, VST Developer and Sound Designer. Please welcome Ya Boy Pax to the show. Enjoy!During this episode we chopped it up about his signature moniker, musical upbringings/inspirations in his family lineage (Father, Grandfather, Mother), and L.A. being the Mecca of the Beat Scene. Being exposed to the 1 of 4 Pillars of Hip-Hop at an early age (Emceeing). Ya Boy Pax named his Greatest Beats of All Time from Madlibs “The Further Adventures of Lord Quas “Greenery” and Flying Lotus's "The Reset EP". He names his Beatmaker/Music Producer Superheros (Flying Lotus, J Dilla, Foisey, Flume, Ras_G & The Afrikan Space Program and DJ Premier and more. He creates his music using Ableton and Roland's SP404SX. He talks about the his album "The Great American Rat Park Experiment" and his experiences traveling throughout the United States en-route to Los Angeles California. He talked about making it through dark times in 2020 and 2021 and started honing his craft during crazy times. He describes what the local Beat-Scene looks like from his perspective with beat scene collectives such as LoveSupremeCA, Flipabeatclub, DuckWorld and Burgers&Beats. His creation of his Texture Hop Sound Packs and The Hand and Pax Delay VSTs. Ya Boy Pax left crazy jewels and inspiring words for Beatmakers and detailed what's in store for 2023 "Please Let Me In Your Cult" (Available for Pre-Order) with Schematic Music Company and more.Ya Boy Pax's Recommendations:1. Read Rick Ruben's “The Creative Act - A Way Of Being”2. Watch Dan Worrall YouTube Channel3. Listen to Recording Studio Rockstars Podcast Intro Music: Around The Block by @PhilthSpectorFeatured Music: Various tracks from Ya Boy Pax's Music Discography (Available Here)Social Media: @yaboypaxWebsite: www.yaboypax.comSupport the showEdited, Mixed and Mastered by GldnmndPodcast Social Link: linktr.ee/TheRecShowPodcastNEW!!! TheRecShowPodcast Music Playlist Available Here
Episode Notes S3E35 - Join as we dive into the mind of actress Francesca DeLuca. She'll take us on a journey that we'll never forget. Francesca was born in London England and is of Italian descent. Brought up by her mother Stella and grandfather Michael De Luca she developed a love of acting and felt at home expressing herself on the stage. When she took to the stage in a school play relishing the challenge of playing the lead role, a German hunchbacked owner of a lunatic asylum who goes crazy at the end of the play, she realized she had found her calling. Soon after she took to the London stage playing roles such as Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Carla in Kennedys Children. Film beckoned and Francesca was cast alongside Oliver Reed in the movie 'Orpheus and Eurydice' playing the evil sorceress Agleoniki. Since moving to Los Angeles to continue her acting career in mid 2014 , Francesca's career has sharply taken off . She auditioned for Francis Ford Coppola, the celebrated film director himself and was cast in his newest film project Distant Vision. Amongst other projects she also played Margot Fonteyn in the Tribeca hit Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent which had a successful run in movie theaters across the States and Canada , achieving rave reviews and 81percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Francesca is Increasingly in demand with several film and television projects already in the pipeline including Midnight Daughter, Domestic Terrror, Cafe Mnemosyne and Duck World. Please contact her manager Mark Myers of Citizen Skull Productions Management for further details. This episode is sponsored by Deadly Grounds Coffee "Its good to get a little Deadly" https://deadlygroundscoffee.com ————————————————— Check out Toking with the Dead Episode 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awhL5FyW_j4 Check out Toking with the Dead Episode 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaUai58ua6o Buy awesome Merchandise! https://www.stilltoking.com/ https://teespring.com/stores/still-toking-with ————————————— Follow our guest https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1395817/ https://www.instagram.com/francescatheactor/?hl=en https://www.facebook.com/FrancescaDeLucaActress/ ————————————————— Follow Still Toking With and their friends! https://smartpa.ge/5zv1 https://thedorkeningpodcastnetwork.com/ ————————————— Produced by Leo Pond and The Dorkening Podcast Network https://TheDorkening.com Facebook.com/TheDorkening Youtube.com/TheDorkening Twitter.com/TheDorkening Dead Dork Radio https://live365.com/station/Dead-Dork-Radio-a68071 Check out Green Matters: https://www.facebook.com/GreenMattersMiddleboro/ Find out more at https://still-toking-with.pinecast.co Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/still-toking-with/f8432813-edb0-4bae-a152-f58eda55f660 This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
A horny duck from another planet or maybe another dimension lands in Cleveland and tries to return home with the help of his furry-loving girlfriend and some scientists. Along the way he has to battle rednecks who want to eat him and some kind of demon monster. Perhaps giving George Lucas full control of something is not the best idea. Tara loved this one as a child. Adam has some very strong feelings as well.
A story about a duck, a girl, inter-dimensional demons, and flirting with beastiality. Listen in as me and returning guest Dan settle in with a Duckweiser and thumb through that latest issue of Playduck as we revisit the first feature film about a Marvel character. Directed by Willard Huyck (Messiah of Evil, French Postcards, Best Defense), who also co-wrote the film with Gloria Katz (American Graffiti, More American Graffiti, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom), TV Guide Magazine called the film "a monumental waste of time" and the A.V. Club said it was "desperately unfunny." What the hell is wrong with these people? I think they saw a different film... I agree with Empire who said it was "a crazy comedy" and IGN who stated it was "fun to watch." Screw the haters! It tells the story of Howard T. Duck, a charismatic smartass anthropomorphic duck who is ripped from his planet, Duck World, and plopped down into the best area Cleveland, Ohio has to offer. He befriends struggling up-and-coming rocker Beverly (played by the electric Lea Thompson) who introduces him to her wannabe scientist friend Phil (Tim Robbins with full-tilt Nic Cage energy), and the two set about trying to return Howard to his home. Inter-dimensional demons and a zany turn by the talented, yet problematic, Jeffrey Jones keep this adventure firing on all cylinders. Let's not forget, there's a killer theme song. You can find the film on Amazon Prime Video for rent or purchase and on DVD and Blu-ray.
Lethal Mullet Episode 129: Howard the Duck Time for some Quack-Fu In 1986 Howard The Duck launched its way onto cinema screens worldwide. A whacky, sci-fi, comedy that is a classic slice of big budget comedies from the eighties, starring Lea Thompson, Tim Robbins and Howard all the way from Duckworld, this film was a great one to checkout again. Give Lethal Mullet a listen: Website https://bit.ly/3j9mvlG IHeartRadio https://ihr.fm/3lSxwJU Spotify https://spoti.fi/3BRg260 Amazon https://amzn.to/3phcsi7 #howardtheduck #lethalmulletpodcast
Our Patty family asked us to watch Howard The Duck this week. So we turned our laser and beamed ourselves to Duckworld for this bizarre movie. We also decide which type of Jedi our hosts would be, as well as play, catch that quotable. Support this podcast
Zach, Amin and Mayes are sucked up into the sky out of Duckworld only to land smack dab in the middle of Cleve Land. This diminutive duck isn't afraid to ruffle a few feathers as he meets a girl and tries to get a job, but when intergalactic demons follow him to Earth it's up to the farfetched fowl and his quack team to save the day.
Zach, Amin and Mayes are sucked up into the sky out of Duckworld only to land smack dab in the middle of Cleve Land. This diminutive duck isn't afraid to ruffle a few feathers as he meets a girl and tries to get a job, but when intergalactic demons follow him to Earth it's up to the farfetched fowl and his quack team to save the day.
Mark and Norbert discuss the 1986 comic book adaptation Howard the Duck. Directed by Willard Huyck, and starring Lea Thompson and Tim Robbins, the movie focuses on what happens when a sassy duck is transported to earth, and has to battle a dark overlord. In this episode, they discuss Duckworld, George Lucas and practical stunts. Enjoy!
(1986) In this film based on the comic book character, Howard the Duck is suddenly beamed from Duckworld, a planet of intelligent ducks with arms and legs, to Earth, where he lands in Cleveland. A place where none of us have ever wanted to go. This family friendly movie with duck titties and more of Lea Thompson than the world could ever hope for, it's time for another fan request. HOWARD THE DUCK!Follow us wherever by clicking the link below!https://linktr.ee/Beardandahalfmoviereviews
Crooked Table Podcast - The world of film from a fresh angle
The final round of Crooked Table Podcast episodes -- prior to the rebranding, at least -- continues. And of course, we had to tap into the red-headed step-child of Marvel Comics movies: 1986's Howard the Duck. The first full-length movie based on a Marvel character, the movie was an infamous box office and critical disaster? But have its feathers been unjustly ruffled? Jamie Williams returns to the show to help us break down Howard the Duck. We'll discuss the movie's reputation, how it affected stars Lea Thompson and Tim Robbins, and the behind-the-scenes drama that led to one of cinema's most notorious movies. We'll even make a case for why Marvel Studios should consider giving Howard the Duck a second shot at the big screen. SYNOPSIS In this film based on the Marvel Comics character, Howard the Duck (voiced by Chip Zien) is suddenly beamed from Duckworld, a planet of intelligent ducks with arms and legs, to Earth, where he lands in Cleveland. There he saves rocker Beverly (Lea Thompson) from thugs and forms a friendship with her. She introduces him to Phil (Tim Robbins), who works at a lab with scientist Dr. Jenning (Jeffrey Jones). When the doctor attempts to return Howard to his world, Jenning instead transfers an evil spirit into his own body. SHOW NOTES Subscribe to the Crooked Table Podcast on Apple Podcasts! Listen to the Crooked Table Podcast on Spotify! Connect with Crooked Table on social media: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Travis, Alex and Dustin travel to Duck World, and then Cleveland! Listen as we grapple with the implications of Ducks and Humans having romantic relationship. How involved was George Lucas in the creation of this film? How did this film contribute to Disney’s acquisition of Pixar? How inappropriate is it to search someone’s wallet while they sleep?Follow the the show on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WhoWatchesPodFollow the show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whowatchespodcast/Follow the show on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/whowatchespodcast/What us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEle6QzCneErXIGVEK4acuA?Email the show: whowatchespodcast@gmail.comBuy the new Misbits album: https://misbits.bandcamp.comFollow Travis: https://twitter.com/TravisFishburnFollow Alex: https://www.instagram.com/alexbrunelle/Follow Dustin: https://twitter.com/dustinmeadowsFollow Ryan: https://twitter.com/Harbjagen
Flipper Flix, I don't think we're in Duckworld anymore. And to be honest, it doesn't look like Cleveland even though everything in Howard The Duck claims it is in fact there. In this thrilling adventure up on in The Land there are scenes galore that you're left wondering they made it to the final cut of a nearly two hour film. Some might even nap during one of them and when they wake it'll be the same scene. Let us know your thoughts on this episode and what your favorite thing to do in Cleveland is on Instagram or Twitter. Don't forget to recommend movies like this for us at any time, just visit our website! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Today, Double Edged Double Bill hero's journey brings them to George Lucas. You might know him for a little franchise called Star Wars, but over the last 50 years Lucas has had plenty of odd twists and turns in the mix. Joining Adam and Thomas to discuss the two very odd films from the career of George Lucas is Patrick Cotnoir, producer behind the very odd internet comedy show The George Lucas Talk Show! First, Lucas reminisces about his days drag racing in Modesto with his hit second feature American Graffiti! Then, George Lucas opens the door for Marvel adaptations by getting a duck to do very weird things in Howard The Duck! Together, our trio answers the crucial questions. Who is the original Sebulba? What N64 game binds the galaxy together? Which two films will they choose for next week's episode about surprise Oscar nominees? Well, listen in while cruising in your Deuce Coupe around Duck World to find out! Hear Adam on Have Not Seen This talking about The Jacket! Follow the show on Twitter @DEDBpod & Facebook as well as Adam and Thomas on Twitter! Send feedback to doubleedgeddoublebill@gmail.com! Subscribe to our Patreon to get exclusive content for just $1 a month! If you like the show, please subscribe or rate us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher! We’re a proud member of The ESO Network, alongside other great shows like Pop Culture Cosmos! Buy merchandise with our logo or other logos now at The ESO Network Tee Public Store!
We talk. We drink. We movie. About the movie: In this film based on the comic book character, Howard the Duck is suddenly beamed from Duckworld, a planet of intelligent ducks with arms and legs, to Earth, where he lands in Cleveland. There he saves rocker Beverly (Lea Thompson) from thugs and forms a friendship with her. She introduces him to Phil (Tim Robbins), who works at a lab with scientist Dr. Jenning (Jeffrey Jones). When the doctor attempts to return Howard to his world, Jenning instead transfers an evil spirit into his own body. Release date: August 1, 1986 (USA) Director: Willard Huyck Featured song: Howard the Duck (feat. Cherry Bomb) Box office: 38 million USD Producer: Gloria Katz Get at us: IG - @TalkingDuringMovies Email - TalkingDuringMoviesPodcast@gmail.com Thanks for listening and be amazing.
Have you heard of this movie from the 80's? It's called Howard the duck. It's about a human type duck who gets beamed to Earth from his alternate universe planet called Duckworld. With an original name like that for a planet, you can guess how the rest of the movie is. So come listen to my friends and I discuss this epic 1980's movie. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/whatisthisblank/support
Go back to the very first theatrically released feature length film based on a Marvel Comic. Back then things where... a little bit different. That Film Stew's Luke and Damian are talking all things Howard the Duck - from comics to the 1986 movie. You may have caught his cameos in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, or even spotted him in Avengers: Endgame. Perhaps you're looking forward to the upcoming Hulu series, or maybe you're just wondering who the quack is this duck? The movie is directed by Willard Huyckand and stars Lea Thompson, Jeffrey Jones, and Tim Robbins. Produced by Gloria Katz, with George Lucas as executive producer, Howard the Duck follows a sarcastic humanoid duck who is plucked from Duck World to Earth where he must stop a hellish alien invasion with the help of a nerdy scientist and a cute struggling female rock singer.
Howard is just your average anthropomorphic duck living on a parallel Earth—aptly named Duckworld. That is, until Dr. Jeffrey Jones foolishly uses the Buch-cannon™ to beam him to Cleveland. Stranded, Howard teams up with local rocker Lea Thompson and Tim "Museum Janitor" Robbins to search for a way home, and possibly some hairless ape fornication. Oh yeah, then Jeffrey Jones gets possessed by a demonic “Dark Overlord of the Universe" that turns him into Emperor Palpatine for some reason! Practice your Quack Fu, do some toot, and grab this month's issue of Playduck, because we are about to get shot through space via Lazyboy with Howard the Duck.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/moviedumpster)
Howard is just your average anthropomorphic duck living on a parallel Earth—aptly named Duckworld. That is, until Dr. Jeffrey Jones foolishly uses the Buch-cannon™ to beam him to Cleveland. Stranded, Howard teams up with local rocker Lea Thompson and Tim “Museum Janitor” Robbins to search for a way home, and possibly some hairless ape fornication. … Continue reading "2.12 Howard the Duck" The post 2.12 Howard the Duck appeared first on Movie Dumpster.
Episode 42 sees Andy and Mitch release their long-gestating LISTENER'S CHOICE episode. As for the guest? Well it's a returning guest! In fact, it's the first guest that ever appeared on the show, way back in Episode 2! He is the voice of Insane Championship Wrestling, a radio host, panto star and, crucially, award winning comedian... It's Billy Kirkwood! The chosen film? Howard The Duck! A film chosen by listener Lauren McIntyre! In her defence, Lauren said: "There is only one film that I need to suggest you consider... Willard Huyck's 1986 science fiction extravaganza Howard the Duck! "Why the fuck would we do that?!" you might ask. Well first off, it's mental. A really horrible looking space duck gets sucked out of his living room (while he's reading an issue of Play Duck) and transported to Earth, where he meets wannabee rock star Beverly. Together they manage to save the Earth from intergalactic demons. What's not to like? Ok, the tone of the film is all over the shop, the anthropomorphic duck looks fucking horrible (what design ideas got rejected if that's what they chose to use??) and the relationship between Howard and Beverly is pretty weird to say the least. The film was a massive flop on its release but I actually don't think it deserves all the negativity. It's entertaining, the special effects look decent for the films age (a la Ghostbusters, early CG effects mixed with animatronics), and I've certainly seen worse from George Lucas, who famously produced the film. The plot is throwaway, take-your-brain-out fun. And Jeffrey Jones is hilarious as the possessed Dr Jenning, and I actually love the space demons. I'd never argue that this is the best film in the world, but it's certainly not as bad as everyone makes out. . Plus it's arguably part of the Marvel franchise, as Howard is a Marvel character (and i think was in Guardians of the Galaxy?). So, that's my suggestion. If I was on the podcast, this is what I'd choose." This one will be a slog. Its a famously reviled film but is the hate deserved? FIND OUT INSIDE! The synopsis is as follows: Howard the Duck is suddenly beamed from Duckworld, a planet of intelligent ducks with arms and legs, to Earth, where he lands in Cleveland. There he saves rocker Beverly from thugs and forms a friendship with her. She introduces him to Phil, who works at a lab with scientist Dr. Jenning. When the doctor attempts to return Howard to his world, Jenning instead transfers an evil spirit into his own body. Please note that this podcast contains strong language and EXTREMELY strong Scottish accents. Remember, you can keep up to date with our news by following us via the usual social media outlets: Facebook Twitter Instagram Plus you can drop us an email to stronglanguageviolentscenes@gmail.com. Strong Language & Violent Scenes theme by Mitch Bain. Edits & Artwork by Andy Stewart Theme from Howard The Duck used with love. Also, we love what we are doing and the response so far has been wonderful so if you enjoy what we do and want to help us continue to do it and help us to grow, then please consider sending us a few pounds via Paypal to stronglanguageviolentscenes@gmail.com! There is no lower or upper limit and every bit helps.
Howard the Duck is suddenly beamed from Duckworld, a planet of intelligent ducks with arms and legs, to Earth, where he lands in Cleveland. There he saves rocker Beverly from thugs and forms a friendship with her. She introduces him to Phil, who works at a lab with scientist Dr. Jenning . When the doctor attempts to return Howard to his world, Jenning instead transfers an evil spirit into his own body. Be Sure to Follow us on Social Media Twitter: @FOC_Podcast Facebook: FOCPodcast Instagram: @fortress_of_comictude Email: focpodcast@gmail.com Music: Aural Bandito --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/fortress-of-comictude/support
Start 2019 off right with an epic dissection of the fine feathered film, Howard the Duck. In this episode, your hosts John and Sebastian take you back to a time when street toughs lurked around every corner, crimped hair was still in style, and people were not generally perturbed by a giant anthropomorphic duck skulking around CleveLand. It was a time when sex spas were all the rage, and every garage held an ultralight plane perfect for a daring escape-- and when a young filmmaker named George Lucas could do no wrong. Or could he? History tells us that this film made audiences question the Lucas golden touch, but your fearless hosts beg to differ. Strap in, because we're on a one-way trip to Duck World on Here's Why It's Great. #hwighowardtheduck
We're back! Join our flock for a dive into the 1986 George Lucas-produced monstrosity, HOWARD THE DUCK. Why is Howard such a jerk? Can Lea Thompson ever truly come to love him? Why is everything on Duckworld the same as on Earth? Are ducks more progressive than humans? (Spoiler - no.) Honestly, we watched the whole movie, and we still really don't know. But we do have opinions on this romance! Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe to Heart of Podness on your favorite podcasting app! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/we-love-the-love/message
This episode takes the crew to Duck World. You’ve read that right Duck World as in Howard the Duck. Of course we talk Playduck, weird animations, bestiality and more… oh so much more... This episode was recorded on april 25th 2017. Spoiler Alert! Spoiler Alert! these discussions will be spoiler filled and will use an explicit language, so consider yourself warned. For more geeky podcasts visit GonnaGeek.com You can find us on iTunes under ''Legends Podcast''. Please subscribe and give us a positive review. You can also follow us on Twitter @LegendsPodcast or even better, send us an e-mail. You can find all our contact informations here on the Network page of GonnaGeek.com Our complete archive is always available at www.legendspodcast.com
On this week's episode, we're releasing last month's sold-out show from Brooklyn, it's Howard the Duck: Live! at the Bell House! At this show, we raised such important questions like: Does planet Duck World also contain Duckburg from Duck Tales? How many of Howard's movie posters are porno parodies? And why can't this movie just be about a duck who manages a rock band? PLUS: George Lucas really turns on the filth! Howard the Duck stars Lea Thompson, Tim Robbins, Ed Gale, and Jeffrey Jones; directed by Willard Huyck.
Support the show with Amazon! Trapped in a world he never made! Howard was taken unaware from his home in Duckworld by an evil overmaster, and showed up at the Florida Everglades courtesy of the Nexus of all Realities. He met Man-Thing, then moved to Cleveland. He met a nice girl named Beverly, ran for President, and had many other absurd adventures. Thanks Kirby Krackle for the theme music! Follow H&V on Twitter and Facebook Email the show: laundryroombruce@gmail.com Be sure to check out chubbywizard.com
Private Ducktective Howard the Duck is pulled in a wormhole from his home planet of Duckworld to Earth. He meets Lea Thompson and they hit it off swimmingly. How can Howard get home? Why was he brought to Earth in the first place? George Lucas' greatest accomplishment, its Marvel's Howard the Duck, and its only on the Horrible movie podcast. Guest hosted by Laurie and Jared Chester. They both know Quack-Fu, so watch yourself.https://facebook.com/thehorriblemoviepodcasthttp://twitter.com/1horriblemoviehttp://thehorriblemoviepodcast.com
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