Episode 163 - The Running Man

[JoelSchlosberg 352]

It was very bold of the rebels to put their base in the Running Man arena. A place that is absolutely covered in cameras.

 

But the cameras magically disappear whenever the rebels are up to anything, as pointed out in the Ruthless Review of this movie:

 

The dumbest parts of the film involved magic cameras. I call them magic, because Arnold and his friends are CONSTANTLY chattering on about the Underground and finding the satellite uplink while they are “running.” Yet somehow the cameras miss that. Of course the cameras do pickup all the witty One-Liners Arnold says to the Stalkers as he offs them. At one point, Maria Alonso finds three corpses in an abandoned locker room. Turns out they are the three “winners” from last year’s season. Fireball is in the room with her when she makes this discovery. Arnold then kills Fireball in the same room and the cameras show that, but not the corpses. Even dumber, is at the end when the Underground finally makes its pirate broadcast, they use the footage from the locker room showing the three corpses. Sloppy shit. Funnier: one part shows a big billboard ad for “Tonight’s Episode” of The Running Man. I had to freeze the picture, but the ad shows Yaphet Kotto getting sliced open by Buzzsaw a day before he got sliced open by Buzzsaw. Really, some terrible filmmaking. Though, the Jesse Ventura workout video was inspired. And way gay.

[JoelSchlosberg 352]

What is so crazy, is that in this universe, everyone appears to be totally cool if mass murders are released back into society.

 

When we are introduced to Whitman, Price and Haddad, they are treated as heroes via a video tribute.

 

However, these mass murders are released back into society after outlasting stalkers.... who are in essence experienced mass murderers. These former convicts are now more elusive and stronger due to winning The Running Man.

 

I don't know. Maybe in this world, "basking under the maui sun" turns anyone into a decent human being.

 

Killian directly says multiple times that winners have fully paid their debt to society. Like ex-jailbirds who have "served their time".

[Smigg 1488]

Speaking of Ventura, anyone else see the "Captain Freedom" chartacter to be an obvious dig at Hulk Hogan?

[JoelSchlosberg 352]

When the credits to the show-in-the-movie roll, they are worth a closer look...

[JoelSchlosberg 352]

Besides walking away with some new electronics and a Running Man board game,

 

The box sure looks like a board game from its dimensions...

...but is it? If it is, why does Killian call it the "home version"? That sounds like it's the home console/computer version of an arcade video game... which is one of the prizes in the Running Man-inspired arcade game Smash TV!

[firsttimecallerlongtimelistenr 3590]

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

Congrats on your upcoming 1000th post, FTCLTL!

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

Not much to say about this movie for me - I remember liking it as a kid (having seen the edited for TV version which was clearly 15 minutes shorter) but found it a slog this time.

 

One thing I'd like to bring up, though, is in that final fight between Richards and Captain Freedom. There's been some confusion above about what the nature of that fight is, but it's pretty clear that it's all digitally created.

 

Jesse Ventura is a retired stalker who is now an announcer, so when he comes out of retirement, he does so being forced to wear a new costume that Captain Freedom never had to wear in the past - this is clearly an attempt at jazzing up the show for ratings, which perhaps suggests that the ridiculous costumes and gimmicks of the new stalkers are recent additions, whereas Captain Freedom considers himself a pure, old-school version of the stalkers. When he enters wearing his tin-man costume (which comically squeaks like it needs the tin-man's oil can), he refuses to wear it and refuses to buy in to Killian's deal. So he leaves, and has nothing to do with that final fight. Knowing Captain Freedom is out, they do a motion capture session on one of his old fights and superimpose it on a stuntman who stands in: then they mirror the motion capture and make the stunt man act out the fight as dictated by the computer.

 

Point is, there is no one in the final fight: Arnie is with the rebels and Jesse is gone.

 

And I was wondering - given that both Arnie and Jesse were superstars at the time, do you think this is the prototype version of the current 'Fast and Furious' deal where the Rock and Vin Diesel won't sign off on losing a fight to the other? In the world of the movie, neither Richards or Captain Freedom physically lose a fight, it's explained by being a CGI recreation of them. Jesse Ventura wouldn't sign up for a fighting-based movie where he gets bested by Arnie, and Arnie never loses in his movies, so this ending satisfied both guys that no one really won or lost. I guess the Professor and Jim Brown (both big stars themselves) didn't have as good an agent...

 

PS - I spent the whole movie only hearing this Jesse Ventura:

 

[firsttimecallerlongtimelistenr 3590]

Congrats on your upcoming 1000th post, FTCLTL!

wow! i'd better make this a good one then ... oh the pressure ... ok, here it goes ... has anyone else noticed that this movie is the perfect example of a jacob's ladder scena....

 

[PaulDewey 5]

So, the movie completely butchers the story and does not do it justice.

 

Main character is a poor, run down man with a sick family; his wife has to become a prostitute at times to pay for food and cheap street drugs for sick daughter. "Arnold" goes to the Network, where they have dozens of shows for desperate citizens looking to make money.

 

He is found to be a perfect candidate for the best and most deadly show, the running man. (By the way, in the book he is average sized/thin. No where close to Mr. Olympia) He has to stay alive for as long as possible without being caught by the Hunters, who use surveillance and spying and real people similar to the TV show "Hunted".

 

He ends up befriending a poor family, where he learns that the government has run the human race into the ground with pollution. Almost everyone contracts cancer unless you have an expensive breathing apparatus that is not sold to the citizens. After learning his wife has been killed (question is up to you to decide if she was truly murdered by an angry John while she prostituted or if the government had her killed), "Arnold" crashed his plane into their headquarters. Had themes very similar to 1984 meets Hunger Games meets an environmental documentary while on the tv show Hunted.

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

wow! i'd better make this a good one then ... oh the pressure ... ok, here it goes ... has anyone else noticed that this movie is the perfect example of a jacob's ladder scena....

 

[JoelSchlosberg 352]

HDTGM asks why Ben Richards doesn't "go underground" after escaping from prison. But he already is with the underground, he merely has to stay there! His explanation for leaving them is not exactly well conceived: "No thank you. My brother's going to get me out of the city. Plus I'm not into politics, I'm into survival." Aside from the retroactive irony of "I'm not into politics", what if his brother isn't around to meet him (which is exactly what happens)? And wouldn't he be safer with rebels who are already in hiding than with family, the most obvious place possible for the authorities to look?

 

Also, how is Ben going to travel with his brother without an extra travel pass like the one he later takes from Amber Mendez? Which itself doesn't make much sense: if he can use Amber's pass ("You won't be able to do squat. You don't have a travel pass." "You do. [takes Amber's pass] Now I do."), why does he take Amber along? That both requires a ruse to explain why Amber doesn't have her own pass, and risks her pointing him out. Granted, she could go to the authorities if he left her behind, if he's too chivalrous to leave her tied up at her exercise machine until she starves. But she wouldn't have to know exactly where he was going, or be with him in a high-security public place.

[BeezulVonDude 41]

So, Maria's character becomes suspicious of Ben's innocence when the news claims he killed some security guards at the airport during his escape attempt. But this is a fascist police state that guns down women and children. Why wouldn't they have killed her just for having associated with Arnold in the first place? Seems like it would be a tidier solution and serve to make Ben look ever worse. And why not just have killed Ben in the first place for dissection, but then of course there'd be no movie.

 

Also, what was with that weird rule where Arnold had to volunteer for the Hungie Games because as ex-military he can't be forced like the other revolutionaries? Why does that matter to this regime and what does it do for the plot, other than to make him seem more selfless?

[joel_rosenbaum 1269]

Did anyone notice that the attack helicopter in the opening scene travels approximately 1000 miles in the span of a minute or two?

 

When the scene opens, the helicopter is at approximately 30˚ N, 119˚ W, which is near Guadalupe Island in Baja, California. When they attack Bakersfield, the helicopter is at approximately 45˚ N, 119˚ W, which is somewhere in eastern Oregon. So setting aside the massive improvements in helicopter technology in the Running Man universe, California has somehow annexed Oregon and Bakersfield has been moved several hundred miles north.

[joel_rosenbaum 1269]

This viewing was the first time that I caught Richard Dawson referring to Fireball "rushing to battle" or something like that. Obvious play on Fireball as a young man:

 

[JammerLea 2070]

Listened to the ep, I haven't seen the movie, and probably won't get to for a while, being that my homework tonight is to watch TIMECOP for tomorrow's show, but just a thought I had...

 

Talking about the different levels in the game, is it stated specifically that Subzero(?) is ALWAYS the first opponent? Because it's possible that they could rotate their stalkers between different episodes of the show, thus allowing the other stalkers to gain their own fan followings.

[ChunkStyle 1160]

Listened to the ep, I haven't seen the movie, and probably won't get to for a while, being that my homework tonight is to watch TIMECOP for tomorrow's show, but just a thought I had...

 

Talking about the different levels in the game, is it stated specifically that Subzero(?) is ALWAYS the first opponent? Because it's possible that they could rotate their stalkers between different episodes of the show, thus allowing the other stalkers to gain their own fan followings.

 

The live audience fans pick which stalker comes out. A fan is chosen at random Price Is Right style and then that fan makes the pick.

[Smigg 1488]

This viewing was the first time that I caught Richard Dawson referring to Fireball "rushing to battle" or something like that.

 

Obvious play on Fireball as a young man:

 

 

The Jim Brown I "grew up" with for want of a better term, was as the colour commentator for the early UFC tournaments, I knew nothing of his NFL career, he was the UFC guy to me. I knew he played, but didn't know just how good he was. Then a joke that Joe Rogan told about him and his extra curricular activities, to put it politely, told me even more about him.

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

this movie is called running man so there is alot of running in it but arnie is so big that he really can't sprint which i guess is why they used a stunt man for alot of the runway chase scene. that's one of the things about seeing these movies in HD on todays amazing TVs, you can clearly see the stuntmen. which is cool cause they deserve to be seen and not have their face replaced using CGI.

 

anyway, the stuntman credited on this movie seems to be arnie's go-to-guy back in the day. his name is Joel Kramer. he works mainly as a stunt coordinator now (he's involved with the new blade runner) but if you look at his IMDB page you'll see he was either the stuntman or stunt coordinator for some amazing movies and tv shows.

 

there is a demo reel on IMDB too and after watching I just thought i'd give him a shout out cause it turns out i owe him alot if "WOWWWWW"s from my youth. He was actually involved with furious 7 so maybe blake has spoken to him already or has the contacts to. imagine the stories he has about working with the likes of arnie back in the day.

 

i have no idea how to embed a video here but here's the link to his demo reel http://www.imdb.com/...er/vi1379641625

Thank you for this. I always endorse the recognition of outstanding stunt work and stunt coordination (which we still don't have an Academy Award for, which is pretty god damn disrespectful to people like Joel Kramer, who have given us great running and diving away from explosions for decades).

 

[JoeFindlay 10]

A big question I have is "How did the rebels cut footage of the dead winners (The Skeletons found in the locker room) edited into their video piece? Neither Arnie nor Maria Conchita Alonzo had a video camera on them and there definitely wouldn't have been security cameras in the room where they store the dead bodies.

[JammerLea 2070]

 

The live audience fans pick which stalker comes out. A fan is chosen at random Price Is Right style and then that fan makes the pick.

Ohh! Thank you! That makes sense now! Ugh I really need to see this sometime.

[Smigg 1488]

Listened to the ep, I haven't seen the movie, and probably won't get to for a while, being that my homework tonight is to watch TIMECOP for tomorrow's show, but just a thought I had...

 

Talking about the different levels in the game, is it stated specifically that Subzero(?) is ALWAYS the first opponent? Because it's possible that they could rotate their stalkers between different episodes of the show, thus allowing the other stalkers to gain their own fan followings.

 

We had a show in the UK called "The Crystal Maze", it was an adventure game where a group of people would do various challenges to obtain crystals, which they would then parlay into time inside the "Crystal Dome", in order to win prizes.

 

Well, that was divided into four different zones, you had The Aztec Zone, The Medieval Zone, The Futuristic Zone, and The Industrial Zone (which was then replaced with The Ocean Zone in series 4).

 

The show would rotate which zone the contestants would start in, so I think it's the same principle with The Running Man....

 

Holy shit, talk about a long walk for a short drink of water, just for one simple point. All of that was irrelevant, I could have just said "I think they would rotate them".

[JoelSchlosberg 352]

Am I the first to point out that the 3 hour time limit given to Running Man contestants makes no difference whatsoever? There's never any point when the 3 hours is almost running out, or any sense that the stalkers have to try harder to kill the runners as the limit gets closer. Or any attempt by the runners to run out the clock. In fact, when the contestants go to the underground's hidden base within the game zone, why don't they just camp out there until the 3 hours are up?

[JoeFindlay 10]

I think that the "Net Trap" used to capture our nerd is something that Sub Zero used when facing off with multiple runners (Which they must have done in the past as they were prepared to send multiple people this time). He would... I guess slap shot... one of the runners into the net, kill the free one and then open the net up to kill that one.

 

It's just a guess.

[JoelSchlosberg 352]

Some questions about the uplink code:

Why is it so short? Is the random letter B in there because, like online passwords, it's supposed to mix in letters and numbers to make it harder to guess? (And many online passwords say a password that short isn't secure enough.) OTOH, what if the code is longer than they expected? Harold Weiss sure is confident that Amber Mendez will be immediately able to keep a random alphanumeric sequence in her short-term memory. What if she's the sort of person who can't remember phone numbers without writing them down?