Episode 101 — Xanadu: LIVE!

[heartbreakyellow 6]

I was going to argue that the guy from Miami deserved the shirt because his distance was farther but it turns out I was wrong:

 

Distance between Miami and Los Angeles: 2342 miles

Distance between Anchorage and Los Angeles: 2345 miles

 

So the dude from Anchorage won by 3 miles.

[katy4650 49]

The first movie I saw at the cinema was "Xanadu" - no wonder I'm such a mess!?

The only movies I saw at the cinema before I was 16 were : "Xanadu", "You can't stop the Music" (the Village People movie), and ET. I dare anyone to beat that!

[Cameron H. 23786]

The first movie I saw at the cinema was "Xanadu" - no wonder I'm such a mess!?

The only movies I saw at the cinema before I was 16 were : "Xanadu", "You can't stop the Music" (the Village People movie), and ET. I dare anyone to beat that!

 

Wow. All I can say is that it is nice that the institution--where I assume you must currently reside--allows you the use of the old Internet. Very progressive.

[Temporaryism 23]

Guys, here's my understanding of the recording studio scene.

 

As they're coming in Sonny says there's a bunch of pictures on the wall "for inspiration". They then go into the recording booth and he says "I've only seen them do this a couple of times before" and Kira puishes him, saying "do everything, go on press them all."

 

It seems to me that there's allegory for drugs here. They give them to the artists "for inspiration". Sonny isn't quite sure how or which to take, but Kira encourages to "do everything". The trip they have is magical and deep, and that's why this time they see way more than "pictures on screens" on this occasion.

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

The first movie I saw at the cinema was "Xanadu" - no wonder I'm such a mess!?

The only movies I saw at the cinema before I was 16 were : "Xanadu", "You can't stop the Music" (the Village People movie), and ET. I dare anyone to beat that!

I REMEMBER my first three in the theater to be "Annie", "ET", and "Return of the Jedi". I'm told though that my parents also took me with them to the drive-in (because they had an infant and they weren't assholes) to see "Alien". My dad said they were both asleep by the halfway point, so I can only imagine the psychological trauma that my one-year-old self endured that evening...

[Cameron H. 23786]

So I was watching The Last Slumber Party with Rifftrax this weekend and on the girl's wall--next to a couple Bee Gees and Beatles posters--was a poster for this film. This movie was never big was it? I'm talking like, at the time, a person wouldn't think to themselves, "Xanadu and the Beatles, these are two things of similar quality and should therefore be displayed in equal measure?"

[GeoffZoref 12]

Great show. HDTGM Bingo. I like that. I was surprised that June wasn't a Xanadite.

 

So when Paul asked what $20,000,000 would be worth today, it led me on the longest internet wormhole ever. You see, this is a tricky question, and it can be measured in many ways.

 

I used the Consumer Price Index, which multiplied the original amount from 1980 by the increase in inflation between then and now (about 190%)

 

The CPI, involves a bundle of commodities confined to consumer goods and services. This bundle is a fixed amount of food, housing, clothing, entertainment, etc., that is proportional to what the average household consumes. So bundle of goods in 1980 would be worth in 2015. This is the number that I chose to go with, So $20,000,000 in 1980 is about $56,300,000 today.

 

I calculated the above answer from this website (http://www.measuring...es_of_worth.php) but economist still disagree which is the best way to answer the question "what is X amount of money from whatever year worth in the present.

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

In that bizarre Tron-world scene, did anyone find it weird that Zeus was addressing one of the muses, one of his daughters, alongside Hera... who was his wife, but not the mother of the muses? That title goes to a Titan by the name of Mnemosyne. Although the muses were not the product of Zeus raping someone or taking the shape of his victim's husband or some sort of weird animal (as Zeus was wont to do), his wife Hera was always notoriously jealous of Zeus' bastard children. This was most apparent in her torment of Heracles/Hercules (that whole episode where she drove Heracles mad and he ended up murdering his wife and children being one example).

 

Let's try and get this straight: The conceit of the scene is that the King and Queen of the Olympians were chit-chatting with a muse, who is the daughter of the King but not the Queen, who, in the past, has actively sought to murder the children of her psycho-rapist husband that were not her own. Sounds like legit Greek Mythology to me. The Olympians were fucked up.

[cbbruuno 6]

For those who appreciate Gene Kelly on roller skates-

 

[Finnias_J 43]

While totally agreeing with the gang that this movie sucks on so many levels, I am kind of surprised the music wasn’t really addressed beyond Jason dissing Jeff Lynne and shitting on The Tubes (“White Punks On Dope” is a glam-rock classic). I genuinely love at least 4 songs from the soundtrack.: Xanadu (theme, ONJ w/ELO), I’m Alive (Electric Light Orchestra), Magic (ONJ), and Suddenly (gorgeous ballad duet w/ Olivia Newton-John & Cliff Richard). And ELO”s “All Over The World,” too.

 

 

 

Not at all claiming the songs are used well in the film. I can’t help but think some of these were written beforehand and shoehorned into the film to pad an admittedly weak script. Seems like the whole venture was an attempt to capitalize on Olivia’s popularity and produce not so much a coherent film, but more of a long-form promotional video (pre-MTV era).

 

 

 

My recent viewing of it made me wonder if XANADU was designed for teen girls, like a light/rainbow/unicorn antithesis to SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER’s dark view of dance and sex. But Michaela & June’s frustrations with it refute this reading. Most tellingly, the fact the the entire panel were offended by the inept “struggling artist” theme of the film confirms that as an inspirational fantasy for creative types, both boys AND girls, it fails.

 

 

 

I however maintain that the soundtrack has it merits, for fans of slick late-70’s pop music. That’s how I choose to remember… Xanadu.

[Nerdlove 82]

So, the ongoing joke of HDTGM is that they never actually answer the question, "How DID this movie get made?"

 

Well, guys, if you really want to know how Xanadu got made, here you go. http://www.donosdump.../chapter01.html Be afraid, be very afraid; it's re-e-eally long, and written by someone who has, perhaps, not the strongest grasp on English. But it's pretty fascinating, if you have the time and patience.

 

One thing that the link explains is the mural. Paul wondered, what relevance did the mural have to not-Andy-Gibb-guy? Apparently, earlier versions of the script made it clear that not-Andy-Gibb-guy DID in fact paint that mural, but in the flurry of rewrites and re-editing, the director/editors managed to mangle the plot so badly that the mural's origins got lost completely.

 

Also? As part of the promo machine of the movie, Marvel put out a rushed-job Xanadu comic book. Seriously. Guys, it's a thing that exists. And.... you can read the entire thing here at this link: http://www.onlyolivi.../xanadu/marvel/ It's pretty amazing. My favorite part is on page 37, "The Making of Xanadu":

 

"With Xanadu, we had a great story to begin with. The hard part was adapting it to a two-dimensional medium."

 

I would have to disagree categorically on both levels. You did not have a great story to begin with, and in fact, it was already more or less a two-dimensional medium, both literally and metaphorically.

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

So, the ongoing joke of HDTGM is that they never actually answer the question, "How DID this movie get made?"

 

Well, guys, if you want to know how it is that this movie got made, here you go. http://www.donosdump.../chapter01.html Be afraid, be very afraid; it's quite long, and written by someone who has, perhaps, not the strongest grasp on English. But it's otherwise pretty fascinating.

 

One thing that the link explains is the mural. Paul wondered, what relevance did the mural have to not-Andy-Gibb-guy? Apparently, it was supposed to be the case that not-Andy-Gibb DID in fact paint that mural, and in the flurry of rewrites and re-editing, the director/editors managed to mangle the plot so badly that this mural's origins got lost completely.

 

Another thing I learned is that Marvel put out a rushed-job Xanadu comic book. Seriously. Guys, it's a thing that exists. And.... you can read the entire thing here at this link: http://www.onlyolivi.../xanadu/marvel/ It's pretty amazing. My favorite part is on page 37, "The Making of Xanadu":

 

 

 

I would have to disagree categorically on both levels. You did not have a great story to begin with, and in fact, it was already more or less a two-dimensional medium, both literally and metaphorically.

This reminds me, I have Marvel's "Krull" adaptation that came along a couple of years later, and there are articles in the book that describe the mania surrounding the film, the merchandising blitz, "Krull"-themed weddings, and numerous other things THAT WEREN'T REALLY THINGS, many of which DID NOT actually happen. I was very young during that time, my four-year-old self wasn't terribly media savvy, but it looked like the way they were trying to convince you that it was the next "Star Wars" would be comparable to if they were trying to convince you that "In the Name of the King" was going to be the next "Lord of the Rings".

[VinsanityV22 500]

"♪Gra-a-a-pes

♪ Come out and champa-a-a-agne!"

 

Boom. Next HDTGM shirt right there (^-^)

[Cameron H. 23786]

In that bizarre Tron-world scene, did anyone find it weird that Zeus was addressing one of the muses, one of his daughters, alongside Hera... who was his wife, but not the mother of the muses? That title goes to a Titan by the name of Mnemosyne. Although the muses were not the product of Zeus raping someone or taking the shape of his victim's husband or some sort of weird animal (as Zeus was wont to do), his wife Hera was always notoriously jealous of Zeus' bastard children. This was most apparent in her torment of Heracles/Hercules (that whole episode where she drove Heracles mad and he ended up murdering his wife and children being one example).

 

Let's try and get this straight: The conceit of the scene is that the King and Queen of the Olympians were chit-chatting with a muse, who is the daughter of the King but not the Queen, who, in the past, has actively sought to murder the children of her psycho-rapist husband that were not her own. Sounds like legit Greek Mythology to me. The Olympians were fucked up.

 

I think this may explain why she sounds so checked out during that scene. Maybe Hera was so sick of dealing with Zeus' bastard offspring that--by way of ambrosia--she self-medicated herself into idiocy. Heck, I'm surprised that in that state she didn't try hitting on Sonny. He was wearing awfully short shorts after all...

[starri 116]

"She's a Business Muse."

 

And with that, June won the episode.

[JohnathonMangel 6]

Alternate title:

 

Xanax? Do!

 

It's how u cope with this movie.

[Smigg 1488]

I didn't watch the movie, but, from what I gather, this movie is about an offspring of Zeus who found themself in the modern world, befriended a loser and inspired them to better their life before heading back to Mount Olympus? This movie is just the chick version of Hercules in New York!

 

They should do a sequel where Olivia Newton-John and Arnold Strong; Mr Universe, (if they can find him, Arnold Strong only did one movie) escape from Mt. Olympus and try to inspire some loser sports team or some shit, I'm not a writer.

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

XanaDOUCHE! Had anyone said that yet?

[Turk71 58]

While totally agreeing with the gang that this movie sucks on so many levels, I am kind of surprised the music wasn’t really addressed beyond Jason dissing Jeff Lynne and shitting on The Tubes...

 

Not at all claiming the songs are used well in the film. I can’t help but think some of these were written beforehand and shoehorned into the film to pad an admittedly weak script. Seems like the whole venture was an attempt to capitalize on Olivia’s popularity and produce not so much a coherent film, but more of a long-form promotional video (pre-MTV era).

I can't remember where I read or heard it, but the ELO songs were all leftovers/demos from their most recent album at that time ("Discovery") apart from the title song. What I believe happened was one of the producers was putting together all the Olivia Newton-John songs, and designing all the musical numbers around that. Then, Joel Silver independently got a hold of Jeff Lynne and asked him to write a theme song, which then turned into as many extra ELO songs as he could get his hands on to pad out the film set to montages. So it's basically the Tubes/big band mash-up from the movie IRL, only super shitty. And I say that as a lifelong fan of Lynne & ELO. Too many cooks! Or, not enough coke?

[Brian_Eno 119]

Great, now I have a rollerskates fetish.

[firsttimecallerlongtimelistenr 3590]

i could be wrong but being from 1980, i think this is the oldest movie covered by HDTGM. there must be some films from the 70s worthy of a viewing. any suggestions?

[Kickpuncher 5012]

Off the top of my head, Paradise Alley (1978) is older. I'd guess there are more.

[firsttimecallerlongtimelistenr 3590]

Off the top of my head, Paradise Alley (1978) is older. I'd guess there are more.

 

holy monkey shines batman, how have i never heard of Paradise alley. I must try and find it, the trailer alone could nearly fill a whole episode

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eqizD3oH60

 

theres even frank stallone tracks on the soundtrack

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078056/soundtrack

[jarrycanada 2483]

 

holy monkey shines batman, how have i never heard of Paradise alley. I must try and find it, the trailer alone could nearly fill a whole episode

 

heres even frank stallone tracks on the soundtrack

 

http://www.imdb.com/...8056/soundtrack

 

That looks great but it's too bad it's close to the cut off of 1980's, They have yet to ever do a movie prior to 1980s.

 

Was looking forward to Xanaxdo, but found myself fast forwarding it, for the most part of the movie.

 

support your local album art painters, they work there ass off to make those giant album art recreations.

[divaTy 27]

They completely changed the story in the Xanadu musical, which is why it was actually enjoyable.