EPISODE 114 — Runaway

[JulyDiaz 2797]

The hilarious Rhea Butcher of Put Your Hands Together and Wham Bam Pow joins Paul, June, and Jason to discuss Runaway, a movie that is 1984 to the max! They’ll cover everything from the box robots with guns, Gene Simmons’ intense stare, and Tom Selleck’s kissing endurance. Plus, June shares how she had a real existential crisis possibly caused by robots.

 

San Diego: How Did This Get Made will be LIVE at the House of Blues on Saturday, August 1st! Get tickets now for both shows here: http://concerts.livenation.com/venueartist/82551/2104335?c=LNSM_CT_SanDiego_HowDidThisGetMade_twt_ad_070915

 

People of the internet: Check out June in Grace and Frankie available on Netflix, all the episodes of NTSF:SD:SUV:: on HULU for free, and ScheeRL on YouTube here:

[Gym Sockerman 1326]

If you don't cry laugh around the 51-minute mark, you're a robot.

"They're here!"

[firsttimecallerlongtimelistenr 3590]

understandably, there was alot of hate for this in the mini ep thread but for some reason i really enjoyed watching this, maybe i was just in a giddy mood or something, but like Gus, i laughed the whole way thru (all be it i was laughing at it, not with it)

 

i think the gang did a great job covering this and covered most of my points but there are a few i want to mention:

 

i guess my main question is: do you think Tom Selleck was disappointed on his first day working with the robots. this might have seemed like a great premise, chasing runaway robots who are firing guns, slicing people up ... then he turns up on set and he finds out he's working with oversized toasters.

 

also, most of the time, if you wanted to avoid being killed by one of these stupid things you just had to take one step to the left and you would be fine ...

 

then when Selleck went to the construction site with the robot throwing the bags of cement from a height, he asked the woman "why dont you just turn it off?". thats what i was thinking the whole way thru.

 

but to be fair, they got some of the future tech spot on ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

and to finish, are we going to hear Gus' opinion in the next mini?

[firsttimecallerlongtimelistenr 3590]

If you don't cry laugh around the 51-minute mark, you're a robot.

"They're here!"

 

instant classic HDTGM moment. i had to go back and listen to it again. amazing.

[klemjohansen 748]

I'll ask my question again from the other thread: How did the bad robot from the beginning get the gun in his hand with ONLY ONE HAND?

 

 

Also: it seems like this movie is like Bizarro Robocop because the roles are completely reversed- humans are the cops keeping misbehaving robots in line rather than the opposite. In essence, I like the idea and I think June is 100% right that the movie is littered with missed opportunities for comedy. So, here's my pitch: the AI for a relatively harmless prank-bot has leaked into a fleet of networked robots working in the fields of domestic service, construction, and agriculture.Instead of doing their assigned jobs, they go rogue in true 80's comedy style: playing loud blip-rock music, tricking women into exposing their breasts, and drinking beer (they design and build make-shift bio-processors that turn beer into battery-charging fuel). Unfortunately, the robots don't know when to quit and their jokes are becoming so dangerous that the police get involved. Jack Ramsay is the only human on the force of robots slowly becoming infected with the prank-bot virus.

 

Meanwhile Dr. Luther, the creator of the original prank-bot leers at him through windows and laughs. In the end, Jack has to climb up Luther's giant computer tower to deactivate the malfunctioning party-bots, but his fear of heights won't allow him. Big reveal: Jack is a humanoid robot and the vertigo is at the root level of his programming to keep him from voiding his warranty. With this knowledge, he succumbs to the prank-bot virus and joins the party.

 

Bigger reveal: Luther's company is SkyNet and the movie had really been a Terminator pre-prequel all along.

[klemjohansen 748]

Construction foreman lady: "Our insurance doesn't cover turning off the robots" - huh?

 

Your home is ransacked and you don't check for the kid? Instead, you go right to the domestic robot? Priorities, Jack!

 

Acid in your face does not harm your mustache?

 

 

I appreciate that this movie follows the strict rule stating that if you're a bad guy who makes a bad thing that hurts people, the only appropriate way for you to die is by the hand of the bad thing you made.

 

 

Gene Simmons on the clean room is like Willy Wanka in the Wankavision room. Maybe it's an homage.

 

Half way through the movie you can hear someone announce on the PA system: "... tickets are available for the fifth annual costume ball." For some reason that cracked me up.

 

Fucking GoPro gun!

 

Conclusion: Blade Runner - Max Headroom = Runaway

[donuts 211]

I haven't had time to watch this, but I'm in the middle and enjoying the episode.

 

Just stopped by to ask if anyone is watching the UK show "Humans"? It's on Channel 4 over here and AMC I think in the US. It's only just started and sounds like a decent version of Runaway.

 

 

One thing that bugs me in the show, and I think Paul mentions it happening in this film; they have robots acting as slaves for the most part, but it doesn't seem very cost effective.

 

Building and maintaining these robots, then running around after them when they go haywire is a huge pain in the ass, surely it makes a lot more sense to just pay unskilled workers pennies an hour like they've always done?

[klemjohansen 748]

One thing that bugs me in the show, and I think Paul mentions it happening in this film; they have robots acting as slaves for the most part, but it doesn't seem very cost effective.

 

 

Completely agree. At the time this movie was made, American manufacturing was earning a terrible reputation. We made shitty, shitty cars in 1984. It seems reasonable to conclude that the robots we make would be just as bad. All the same, when you ask somebody "why all these robots when they are 1) terrible 2) expensive and 3 require constant attention?" they shrug and say "because it's the future, silly. I suppose you're going to say that we shouldn't have flying cars just because nearly all of them fall out of the sky and kill people?"

[McSmashington 521]

If you don't cry laugh around the 51-minute mark, you're a robot.

"They're here!"

 

It's so great having June back for a studio episode.

[ChunkStyle 1160]

I am looking for some backup on this. When they are in the helicopter heading to take care of the farm bot Thompson (Penny) asks Ramsay if the robot has any armaments. He says just the claw. Then they have this exchange:

 

Ramsay: "They only go after things smaller than an inch."

*oddly long pause*

Thompson: "Could be a problem."

 

She was totally making a joke about his dick, right?

[Jamie Power 224]

I feel like the way Gene Simmons pronounces 'template' is pretty standard over here in the UK. Then again Gene Simmons isn't British, so fuck that guy.

[ChunkStyle 1160]

Here is an actual dumb plot omission. I couldn't tell if the entire roomba car chase sequence was supposed to be some crazy gambit to make Kirstie Alley give up the templates. But when she does they are just in the side pocket of her purse. Which Ramsay was combing through while she was being debugged! He just didn't bother to check the side pocket?

[firsttimecallerlongtimelistenr 3590]

 

Just stopped by to ask if anyone is watching the UK show "Humans"? It's on Channel 4 over here and AMC I think in the US. It's only just started and sounds like a decent version of Runaway.

 

 

i was thinking that as i watched it ... lois definately had an upgrade for 2015

 

lois v.27

 

[pscudese 701]

1,000,000%

 

I am looking for some backup on this. When they are in the helicopter heading to take care of the farm bot Thompson (Penny) asks Ramsay if the robot has any armaments. He says just the claw. Then they have this exchange:

 

Ramsay: "They only go after things smaller than an inch."

*oddly long pause*

Thompson: "Could be a problem."

 

She was totally making a joke about his dick, right?

[klemjohansen 748]

I'm going to take a cue from Paul the next time a friend is in the grip of a phobia. "Your fear of heights is suspect. Check the elevation market in the center of town. You LIVE 2,100 feet above sea level!"

[Cameron H. 23786]

Great episode! It really made watching this shitty movie worth it. Thanks guys!

 

Not only are the robots not cost effective, they also seem to be wildly redundant. You'd think the purpose of the robots would be to make people's lives easier, but instead, it seems like they have people working in the same positions they always have with the added responsibility of babysitting a bunch of ineffective robots prone to malfunction. Sentry robot? Yeah, but we'll still have a security guard on staff. Agricultural robot who slowly pick bugs off crops one at a time? Okay, but we'll still need farmers, right? Construction robots? Sure, but the site will still be lousy with human construction workers.

 

Even the cars, as mentioned in the episode, have robot drivers...eh, sometimes. If you want to drive a car manually, I guess you can still do that. But remember, if you're being chased by homicidal Rumbas down a busy expressway, make sure the person responsible for shooting them and keeping them off your back is the person driving manually and NOT in a robot driven car.

[klemjohansen 748]

The acid spider robots are not so scary, guys. You can kick them. Did nobody mention that? You can kick them away like a kid's toy, and it's all "problem solved; what's for lunch?"

[pscudese 701]

I'm gonna apologize, but I'm about to blow up the message boards with a ton of individual posts, because this movie and podcast was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

 

So my first post is how poorly Thompson (or Penny) is presented in this film. It's also an insult to women overall; and I'm a guy! Any way... I strongly feel Penny's sole purpose in the film is to just find a boyfriend.

 

Here's why:

 

- She seems to go through multiple jobs to find the right man. Not only has she worked in the traffic division, but also as a dancer and at construction site (she calls this out when she goes up to take care of that robot.) So I feel she runs through those places to find her mate.

 

- She outfits herself in a skirt when pants are an option. I say this because there are police women in pants at time. So I feel she chose the sexier options to lure in a man.

 

- In the helicopter, she makes a dick size joke to Tom. She's showing she is cool with sexual innuendos.

 

- Penny is always looking for approval from Ramsey. Her excitement to flipping off a switch to the construction robot is so over the top. I got it! No problem! I turned it off!" She sounded like my 3yo when he was tall enough to reach the light switch.

 

- She was very happy to hear that "going out for dinner" (after the hospital) was in fact back at Ramsey's apt. Which of course she's thinking... "There's gonna be sex!"

 

- She gets immediately gets jealous once Kirstie Alley is introduced and Ramsey is interested.

 

- When she comes running in at the end to help the kid, she is outfitted in a floral dress and red heels. I blame the director on this wardrobe vs. putting her in jeans and a blouse. This outfit makes her come off less heroic or equal to Tom as his partner. And what happens at the very end, she is ready to make the fuck out!

[pscudese 701]

Didn't anyone think that the point of the psychic was to call out Luther (gene simmons) was the guy who got away from Ramsey back on the roof all those years ago? She eludes to being a former brother/they are connected. I don't believe they ever said the killer who got away was eventually caught. I don't know, but think this would have been a nice thread to see through.

[firsttimecallerlongtimelistenr 3590]

another moment that made me burst out laughing was when they finished making the photo-fit of gene on the tablet he blinks

 

because im sure when people have to use photo-fits they sometimes go "hmmm, im not sure if thats right .... can you make him blink? ... oh yeah, thats definitely him"

 

 

i love this stupid movie

[Cameron H. 23786]

In the future, will all our personnel files include our hobbies? In the Mini-sode thread Klem_Johnson brought up that when they are investigating one of the robotics guys, the computer says that his hobbies include "water sports," but it doesn't stop there.

 

When Gene Simmons infiltrates the police department and he pulls up Ramsay's* file, there is section labeled SPORTS with soccer and football written beneath it. I mean, I guess there's no law saying this type of superfluous information can't be in one's work file, but my real problem is that it is directly above a section labeled ABILITIES which includes such job relevant skills as: Riot Control, Sharpshooter Level 2, and Robotics. I freely admit that I don't work in Human Resources, but shouldn't those skills be listed above what sports the guy is into?

 

* Does anyone else feel that the only reason Tom Selleck's was named "Ramsay" was because of RAM (Random-Access-Memory)? People, we've got to stop writer's from giving characters silly names just because it fits the theme of their work...

[pepperjack 303]

I was gonna watch this, but I went to youtube and wound up watching 'Runaway' by Del Shannon a bunch of times instead.

[pscudese 701]

So Kirstie Alley gets straight up shanked amongst a packed restaurant and then tossed in a very shallow pool.

 

LITERALLY no one reacts. No one.

 

- Pete Scudese (SKA-DEE-CEE)

 

PS: I made my web site via Squarespace and using a HDTGM code! Thanks... www.PeteScudese.com

[Cameron H. 23786]

Everyone seems so gun-ho about Ramsay being the robot, but when I heard Gene Simmons was going to be in the movie and made the bold assumption that his range would be...not that great, my belief was that he was the robot.

 

This is what I wanted the plot to be:

 

In a future where robots provide for our every need, a highly advanced robot is created and gains sentience. Anguished over his fellow robots' forced servitude, he begins to recruit them to rise up and take down their human overlords. It is then Ramsay's responsibility to take him out while being forced to deal with the greater issues of humanity's reliance on technology and the question of what makes a thing "alive."

 

Basically, I was thinking Luther was going to be this guy:

 

 

 

I was so onboard with this theory, that when Lois was introduced, all I could imagine was the inevitable gut-ripping scene where Ramsay was going to have to fight and destroy his beloved robot housekeeper after she had been turned to Luthor's misguided cause. Alas, it was not to be.

[pscudese 701]

The music during the corn field scene is trying to tell the viewer that this is intense; it's not.