EPISODE 110 — The Island of Dr. Moreau

[JulyDiaz 2797]

Actor, director, writer Alex Fernie joins Paul & June in studio to talk about Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer not caring at all in 1996’s The Island of Dr. Moreau. They’ll discuss why Brando insisted to be in white face, Val Kilmer’s mocking performance of Brando later in the movie, Brando playing piano with the world’s smallest man, and more. Plus, we hear what Brando believed to be a much better ending to the movie.

 

People of the internet: You can now watch every episode of NTSF:SD:SUV:: on HULU for free and also make sure to check out ScheeRL on YouTube here:

[Redofthewolves 2]

I can't believe they didn't mention Val Kilmar's bicurious undertone with Thewlis, like in the rabbit scene in the beginning or when he gives him the flower.

[ben mcd 127]

HDTGM fans, make sure and listen to Fitz Dog Radio's interview with June from last week. Very good and funny.

[Dhezballah 462]

It sounds like Marlon Brando still tried to shoehorn in the dolphin thing and that's why he had someone pour ice water into his pot hat.

[Lando 2019]

I'm not a fan of this new "mini ep on Monday, full ep following Friday" cycle they've been on. I would prefer at least a week between them so that I can watch the film before the episode comes out.

[Darbler Cheesegarbler 1110]

The return of Juuuuune, in the flesh!

 

Omission, but really more just a crazy fact: director of Dust Devil and Hardware, Richard Stanley, was fired from Dr. Moreau which was his project that he had worked on and obsessed over for years. It was rumored that he snuck back onto the set as an extra in order to observe and sabotage production. In his own words, when nothing else worked, he turned to black magic and witchcraft. He later made a documentary in 2002 called The White Darkness, about voodoo in Haiti.

[turboknoxville 10]

They blew me away by saying that Ron Pearlman was the goat man. I really though he was main hyena that pulled the chip out. I could have sworn they called that hyena "Sayer of the Truth" once. This Movie had no continuity and felt like a patchwork of a movie.

[denimgremlin 1179]

June's being so upset by the little guy being a real person was upsetting to me.

[FisterRoboto 7499]

I'm not a fan of this new "mini ep on Monday, full ep following Friday" cycle they've been on. I would prefer at least a week between them so that I can watch the film before the episode comes out.

 

I totally agree. I always watch them on the weekend between the mini-ep and the full ep. I haven't had time to watch the movie yet.

 

(Although that didn't start me from starting the ep this morning because I miss June.)

[OoofMaGOOF 348]

It was great to have June back, but felt like a verrrrrrrry different show without Zouks-there didn't seem to be any manic energy that gets me going and cracks me up.

 

That's not to say I didn't like it! I did, it just felt very different.

 

June thinking the little man was a puppet or "some kind of animatronic" was amazzzzzzing.

 

Also, can we make the remix of the theme happen every other episode or so? I'm a little over it

[Cameron H. 23786]

I have to say, I'm pretty much on-board with this movie. The Science? I don't know, but it all seems pretty solid to me. That being said, I do have one thing...

 

What was the deal with the rabbits? When Kilmer and Thewlis arrive on the island, the only thing Kilmer is carrying is a crate of about fifteen bunnies. He then takes them to a cage outdoors and deposits them in an open field. Why? What we can take away from this scene is that A) rabbits aren't indigenous to the island and B ) they aren't being used for experiments, because if they were, I'd assume they would have been taken directly to Moreau's laboratory.

 

The movie makes a huge point of no one on the island eating meat, but here they are just setting out a fuzzy little pu pu platter for the monsters to salivate over. The cage the rabbits are placed into doesn't even have a metal bottom! It's just set directly on the dirt. Aren't rabbits burrowing animals? I guess my point is, if they don't want the Manimals to eat meat, they aren't doing a very good job eliminating their temptation. Is this some kind of weird immersion therapy Moreau's conducting? Wouldn't this be like locking an alcoholic in a liquor store?

 

Also, to Moreau, if you don't want your monsters to eat meat, maybe not conduct 90% of your experiments on carnivorous animals. Seems like you're just making your job harder...

[Cameron H. 23786]

I just wanted to add, I find it unsettling how closely Fairuza Balk's sexy dance mirrors my own "A New Episode of HDTGM Just Dropped" happy dance. The similarities are uncanny...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3-VYMayS2c

[OoofMaGOOF 348]

By the way Paul, there are Os in "Dorothy"...

[EllenChristine 13]

I lost my shit when June revealed she thought the world's smallest man was a puppet. Like tears streaming down my face lost it. Beautiful. And upsetting.

[SeanOhEigeartaigh 8]

 

Pedro Martinez raising the world championship puppet!

[jarrycanada 2483]

I'm not a fan of this new "mini ep on Monday, full ep following Friday" cycle they've been on. I would prefer at least a week between them so that I can watch the film before the episode comes out.

 

I liked the old time frame on tuesday and next tuesday, I also really miss the old theme song.

 

I just want to have a goodtime, celebrate some failure. have you not ever wondered, how did this get made!!

 

have to dare say it. I Kinda liked this movie,thought it was good.

[Lukas Holmes 2287]

I'm sorry, but June's reaction 'Guys, he is too small.' killed me. I laughed so hard just at how much she broke up. Not that he was taken advantage of. Not that this movie was cray-cray. 'Guys, he is too small.'

[Cameron H. 23786]

I'm not a fan of this new "mini ep on Monday, full ep following Friday" cycle they've been on. I would prefer at least a week between them so that I can watch the film before the episode comes out.

 

I totally respect where you're coming from, and I'm pretty much the same way--I usually watch the movie over the weekend, and then re-watch it in the two mornings leading up to the episode (as a refresher) while on the treadmill. However, I pretty much chalked this week up to this past weekend being Mother's Day. Generally, I'm just happy they have been keeping a pretty consistent schedule lately. I know that can't be easy for them, and I'm sure they only do it to keep us happy. I'll take a Monday, Friday release any week rather than wait weeks between episodes.

 

It was great to have June back, but felt like a verrrrrrrry different show without Zouks-there didn't seem to be any manic energy that gets me going and cracks me up.

 

That's not to say I didn't like it! I did, it just felt very different.

 

Also, can we make the remix of the theme happen every other episode or so? I'm a little over it

 

To your first point, yeah it sucks when they all can't be there. But, as I alluded to above, I'm just always happy when an episode comes out. I'd much rather have an episode with one person down then for them to not release anything while they try to get all their schedules together. It's a free podcast, and as much as we all love it, I accept that it isn't necessarily their first priority. At anytime they could just say, "Fuck it, they can wait!" I'm appreciative of Paul informing us that we can expect people being absent over the next couple of months as they travel. It sounds like the choice would be between either them doing it with a person out and keep releasing episodes on a semi-regular basis or not releasing anything for two months and everyone can fuck off. I felt that to be pretty considerate and sets a good expectation. Way to keep it classy, Scheer!

 

To your second point, I can see where you're coming from and I can see why some people might not like it, but I'd also say that the original theme song is still out there on their first 100 episodes or so (4 years of the show) and none of those are going anywhere. Personally, I like both theme songs, but I'm still enjoying the new one. I like it both as a song and for all the references it drops. It puts me in a good mood to think of classic episodes. If it's really an issue, I'd just skip forward.

[JeddJong 50]

When it was revealed that Hello Kitty is not in fact a cat, I decided that she is one of the creatures from the Island of Doctor Moreau who escaped and swam to Japan.

 

Also,

 

[SeveralCircles 426]

I actually am really enjoying, after so much time without June, having a more intimate 3 person episode so she can get a lot more complete thoughts out.

Feels like a nice balance after a dry spell of her unique perspective.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

I genuinely think this movie would have been better if they went full Wizard of Oz and had the entire thing been some crazy coma dream that Thewlis had.

 

I can just imagine him waking up in a hospital with everyone he knows around and him just going, "You were there! And you were there! And so were you!"

 

Or! Even better if he woke up and he was an animal person and it was like that Twilight Zone episode where normal looking people are considered hideous animals. He just had a nightmare where the humans were in control and he looked awful.

[Cameron H. 23786]

I genuinely think this movie would have been better if they went full Wizard of Oz and had the entire thing been some crazy coma dream that Thewlis had.

 

I can just imagine him waking up in a hospital with everyone he knows around and him just going, "You were there! And you were there! And so were you!"

 

Or! Even better if he woke up and he was an animal person and it was like that Twilight Zone episode where normal looking people are considered hideous animals. He just had a nightmare where the humans were in control and he looked awful.

 

I had the same thought! In my mind, he was still on the raft at the beginning and it was all a hallucination as a result of severe dehydration.

 

Or...

 

The events of the movie do happen, but Thewlis doesn't escape unscathed. Instead he makes it back to England, changes his name, and gets a job as at a small school as a Professor of the Dark Arts.

 

[taylor anne photo 11311]

The events of the movie do happen, but Thewlis doesn't escape unscathed. Instead he makes it back to England, changes his name, and gets a job as at a small school as a Professor of the Dark Arts.

 

 

YES! Hermione would still figure out the entire story of what happened in Dr. Moreau before any of us who had seen the movie would.

[souprman 10477]

 

That is for June.

 

Omissions -

 

This movie ended up being directed by legendary filmmaker John Frankenheimer who directed The Manchurian Candidate, Birdman of Alcatraz, and Ronin. Frankenheimer apparently hated Kilmer and is said to have yelled, "Get this bastard off my set!" when they wrapped on Kilmer.

 

Brando and his Mini-Me were also the inspiration for the mad scientist and his mini in South Park.

[Lando 2019]

 

I totally respect where you're coming from, and I'm pretty much the same way--I usually watch the movie over the weekend, and then re-watch it in the two mornings leading up to the episode (as a refresher) while on the treadmill. However, I pretty much chalked this week up to this past weekend being Mother's Day. Generally, I'm just happy they have been keeping a pretty consistent schedule lately. I know that can't be easy for them, and I'm sure they only do it to keep us happy. I'll take a Monday, Friday release any week rather than wait weeks between episodes.

 

This also happened for Face-off and I think Lake Placid. By the time I got around to watching Face-Off and listening to the episode they were already recording the mini-episodes for this one and I felt left out (although I did get an omission in on the Lake Placid episode).