Episode 181 - Freejack: LIVE!

[JulyDiaz 2797]

Comedian/writer/actress Phoebe Robinson (2 Dope Queens) joins Paul, Jason, and guest co-host Jessica St. Clair to discuss the 1992 science fiction action film Freejack. Recorded live in New York, they talk about the spiritual switch board, faberge eggs, and the true meaning of “Freejack.” Plus, we get a special 3rd Opinion from June from Montreal!

 

 

Check out new HDTGM merch over at https://www.teepublic.com/user/howdidthisgetmade

Where to Find Jason, June & Paul:

You can see Jason, June, and Paul in The Disaster Artist in theaters now.

Paul’s new comedy Drive Share is available on Go90. Paul can be seen on A Futile and Stupid Gesture, Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later, Opening Night, and Veep. You can see June and Paul on NTSF:SD:SUV:: on HULU. June stars in Grace and Frankie on Netflix, as well as Lady Dynamite alongside with Jason.

 

Jason can be seen in The Good Place, The House, The Lego Batman Movie, How to Be Single, Sleeping with Other People, and is still indeed in The Dictator.

[SevenDollarsWorthofHoobastank 226]

I haven't listened to the ep yet, so I'm not sure if this was addressed....but what the hell was up with the 2 James Brown screams they used in the movie?! I thought maybe I was hearing things when the first one happened in the diner when a laser shot hit the wall. But then minutes later, as Furlong is driving the "Wine-O-Mobile", he hops the curb onto the sidewalk, and a pedestrian hops out of the way while yelping like the beginning of "I Feel Good"! I've heard of the Wilhelm scream, but never the James Brown wail.

[pscudese 701]

I haven't listened to the ep yet, so I'm not sure if this was addressed....but what the hell was up with the 2 James Brown screams they used in the movie?! I thought maybe I was hearing things when the first one happened in the diner when a laser shot hit the wall. But then minutes later, as Furlong is driving the "Wine-O-Mobile", he hops the curb onto the sidewalk, and a pedestrian hops out of the way while yelping like the beginning of "I Feel Good"! I've heard of the Wilhelm scream, but never the James Brown wail.

 

Stand by and listen till the end my friend and you will not be disappointed.

[pscudese 701]

I appreciate the frustration about Freejack being an unexplainable term, but personally I am more confused about "Sheila."

 

What am I talking about you ask?

 

Well attached is a screenshot from the end of the film where one of the armored vehicles has “Sheila” written in large, pink cursive lettering. Why? Why does this exist? And it’s not like there are other trucks featuring a cute moniker, ala World War II planes.

 

This literally makes no sense!

 

 

[pscudese 701]

In addition to watching Freejack, I also read the book in which the film was based on — “Immortality, Inc.” by Robert Sheckley…. I clearly need help.

 

Paul, I know you like to keep these Corrections & Omissions short, but I highly recommend you dive into these 5 points during the mini EP:

• The book's hero is Thomas Blaine and I shit you not… his job in the past was a yacht builder. He dies in a normal car accident in 1958 and transported to 2110. That’s 152 years into the future vs. the 15 years in the film.
  
• Blaine’s body does not come with him when he travels to the future. Only his mind was pulled from the past and it was transported into another body from the future.
  
• There is a strong belief in the afterlife. Any poor person can secure a place in the hereafter, so long as they give up their body so the rich can live longer on Earth. There are also Suicide Booths where people can freely walk to donate their body. This is probably what the "Suicide Assistance" billboard was referencing.
  
• There are people called “zombies” in the book. These are poor people who decide to give up their body for a rich person, but the transfer does not take. So the host body lives on without a soul. They can function, but eventually their body deteriorates. The rich soul that was suppose to enter the host body can either move on to the afterlife, but become a "ghost" that haunts those who’ve wronged them on Earth.
  
• Since the rich can easily secure a path to the afterlife, a lot of them live an excessive lifestyle filled with a slew of vices. Some of these people grow tired of the normal world and decide to move on to the afterlife at a young age. Those that want to end their life sooner, will hire “hunters” to track and kill them. Since Blaine has no real skills in the future, he becomes a hunter and we spend a few chapters where this yacht builder tracks and kills some guy.
  

Bill Nye.... what do you have to say?

 

 

 

[FrancisRizzo3 212]

I haven't listened to the ep yet, so I'm not sure if this was addressed....but what the hell was up with the 2 James Brown screams they used in the movie?! I thought maybe I was hearing things when the first one happened in the diner when a laser shot hit the wall. But then minutes later, as Furlong is driving the "Wine-O-Mobile", he hops the curb onto the sidewalk, and a pedestrian hops out of the way while yelping like the beginning of "I Feel Good"! I've heard of the Wilhelm scream, but never the James Brown wail.

 

For those who missed it.

https://youtu.be/SIZzE8pDXRs

[firsttimecallerlongtimelistenr 3590]

phil saw his shadow ... six more weeks of winter ... happy groundhog day!!!

 

 

 

3rd year posting the same pic ... sorry not sorry ... it's a doozy!!!!

 

Also, groundhog day is 25 years old ... 25!!! I still love it

[FrancisRizzo3 212]

So I'm watching this super futuristic movie, with brain switching and laser guns and fancy cars and such, and I see that they are using wooden barricades for security. I'm thinking, "Well that's stupid and anachronistic."

 

Then, Rene Russo uses her voice to do things around her apartment, and I look over at my Echo, and then the world around me and think, "Oh. Maybe not."

[FrancisRizzo3 212]

I don't know if there's anything outside of casual racism and sexism that has aged worse in films than early '90s computer graphics (not CGI, but computer imaging.) They always look like the most laughable, amateurish garbage. When that car is spinning around, I just shook my head.

[FrancisRizzo3 212]

I try not to judge physics (as I lack the educational background to properly do so) but when Alex is about to crash the truck on the bridge, and he jumps out the window, there's no way he wouldn't have been spit in half by the beam on the passenger's side of truck, as the momentum from the speed he's traveling at would have carried him forward, rathe than allow him to jump out perpendicularly from the bridge. I think I would have let it slide, but the FX on the jump were so bad it annoyed me.

[grudlian. 4725]

When Emilio makes up Anthony Hopkins ID number, did anyone else think it was going to be the number he was entering into the machine to switch souls? I think that makes a lot more sense for the entire ending. Emilio could have memorized those digits for a couple minutes and it's logical that it's the number to switch bodies. Mick Jagger wouldn't need to lie for no reason about Emilio getting the number right.

[FrancisRizzo3 212]

When Jagger asks Alex for the ID number, my smart-alec mind immediately went "4". When he said 6, I almost passed out laughing. When the crew talked about it on the show, good thing I was at a red light.

[grudlian. 4725]

When Jagger asks Alex for the ID number, my smart-alec mind immediately went "4". When he said 6, I almost passed out laughing. When the crew talked about it on the show, good thing I was at a red light.

I really thought the "6" was a joke similar to Mr. Burns social security number being 000-00-0002.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

PHOEBE ROBINSON!!!!!!

 

[FrancisRizzo3 212]

I appreciate the frustration about Freejack being an unexplainable term, but personally I am more confused about "Sheila."

 

What am I talking about you ask?

 

Well attached is a screenshot from the end of the film where one of the armored vehicles has “Sheila” written in large, pink cursive lettering. Why? Why does this exist? And it’s not like there are other trucks featuring a cute moniker, ala World War II planes.

 

This literally makes no sense!

 

 

 

The 40% of the film that was re-shot was heavily focused on Sheila, the former high-society debutante who, due to the lack of an available freejack, was transferred into an armored personnel vehicle. Her story was too action-packed though.

[joel_rosenbaum 1269]

The suicide booth has to be a direct reference to Robert Chambers' short story, "The Repairer of Reputations", which takes place in a dystopian (then)-future New York City. The story comes from a collection with the more familiarly known "The King In Yellow", referenced heavily in True Detective.

[hotironskillet 137]

When Emilio makes up Anthony Hopkins ID number, did anyone else think it was going to be the number he was entering into the machine to switch souls? I think that makes a lot more sense for the entire ending. Emilio could have memorized those digits for a couple minutes and it's logical that it's the number to switch bodies. Mick Jagger wouldn't need to lie for no reason about Emilio getting the number right.

 

That's exactly what I thought it was going to be. Then I thought that Mick Jagger was going to pull out his hand truth machine to verify it since they introduced that plot device and never went anywhere with it.

[hotironskillet 137]

Rene Russo's hair was amazing in this movie. That's all I want to say.

[Crummy Scrimmage 188]

Regarding Pennsylvania colloquialisms, Jason says "yins" when referencing Jessica's South Philly family, but "yins" is a western and central PA saying. Philly locals would say "yous", which means the same thing (and is as equally unpleasant to the ear).

[Cameron H. 23786]

Currently listening, but I just want to say, because I don't think I have yet, I love Jessica St Clair as co-host. She's absolutely hilarious. I would love it if she could be brought on as a permanent co-host. Not as a replacement for June, but in addition to. I know that probably would never work, but she's been so great that I'm going to be sorry when this run ends.

[joel_rosenbaum 1269]

Regarding Pennsylvania colloquialisms, Jason says "yins" when referencing Jessica's South Philly family, but "yins" is a western and central PA saying. Philly locals would say "yous", which means the same thing (and is as equally unpleasant to the ear).

I am shocked that Jessica said nothing about this. In my time in PA it's the kind of thing people get surprisingly pissed off about.

[FrancisRizzo3 212]

I am shocked that Jessica said nothing about this. In my time in PA it's the kind of thing people get surprisingly pissed off about.

 

Yeah, but she's from Jersey. She has family in Philly.

[HomeBodyMusic 17]

Okay, so THIS is the movie that finally brought me onto the message boards after years of listening to this show! I LOVED this movie when I was a kid (I was probably 8 or 9 when I saw it the first time and practically wore out my VHS copy).

 

Some interesting tidbits...

 

1 - Freejack has a companion 3 part comic adaptation. And yes, each one comes with a FREE GIANT POSTER!!

 

2 - The VHS copy started off with a bang! More specifically, a rocking Scorpions music video, with movie clips spliced in, for the killer track "Hit Between The Eyes" that plays over the ending credits...

 

https://youtu.be/9OV6X8omXVU

 

3 - I love this movie SO much that, in my life as a musician, I have...

 

A) an instrumental band called Freejack, with song names like "Nibble My Ear, For Luck" and "One Mississippi...Two Mississippi" (check it out on my SoundCloud page here https://soundcloud.com/user-4192054) and

 

in one of my main projects, with vocals, we have not one, but two songs out of our upcoming 6 song EP that are dedicated to Freejack ("You Don't Need A New Body, You Need A New Soul" and "Rene"). Rene in particular has lyrics that would sound crazy to anyone unfamiliar with the film, but will absolutely delight anyone who has (you can find a Rene demo on that same Soundcloud page and I will be posting an updated version to my www.HomeBodyMusic.com site in the next day or two, in hopes of making it on the mini-episode!

[pscudese 701]

Currently listening, but I just want to say, because I don't think I have yet, I love Jessica St Clair as co-host. She's absolutely hilarious. I would love it if she could be brought on as a permanent co-host. Not as a replacement for June, but in addition to. I know that probably would never work, but she's been so great that I'm going to be sorry when this run ends.

 

God I do wish she was the co-host on Garbage Pail Kids!

[pscudese 701]

The suicide booth has to be a direct reference to Robert Chambers' short story, "The Repairer of Reputations", which takes place in a dystopian (then)-future New York City. The story comes from a collection with the more familiarly known "The King In Yellow", referenced heavily in True Detective.

 

Again I'm thinking it's the suicide booths per the "original source" material (the book this film is supposedly based on.) These suicide booths are where poor folks donate their body to the rich so they can get into the afterlife. It's a current day freejacking vs. past freejacking.