Episode 227 - Double Dragon: LIVE!

[tomten3000 34]

Oh, btw, Alyssa Milano and Scott Wolf fueled a pretty obvious romance during DOUBLE DRAGON. (They later got engaged for a hot minute.) We were tasked with picking up and delivering pictures to Milano from a one-hour photo. We so wanted to take a peek to see what was in those photos, but we didn't. I don't regret not looking - personal property and all. But I kinda regret not looking.

[tomten3000 34]

Sort of for kids? Paul Dini and Neal Shusterman were the writers. Dini is best known for writing the critically acclaimed "Batman: The Animated Series," "Animaniacs," and "Batman Beyond" and more. Shusterman worked on "Goosebumps" and "Animporphs." So definitely some kids movie pedigree.

[tomten3000 34]

FYI, I was a PA on the movie way back when on the Cleveland shoot. That's me in the back standing.

[DrGuts1003 462]

24 minutes ago, tomten3000 said:

Oh, btw, Alyssa Milano and Scott Wolf fueled a pretty obvious romance during DOUBLE DRAGON. (They later got engaged for a hot minute.) We were tasked with picking up and delivering pictures to Milano from a one-hour photo. We so wanted to take a peek to see what was in those photos, but we didn't. I don't regret not looking - personal property and all. But I kinda regret not looking.

I wanted to talk about their romance as well...I found a People Magazine article from March 1994 (the movie came out in November of that year) and it goes into detail about how their romance blossomed while on set.  Here are some excerpts from the article:

"The meeting, apparently, had the feeling of fate. “I knew it the second I met him,” says Alyssa. “I called my mom and told her, ‘This is the man I’m gonna marry.’ ” Scott couldn’t have agreed more. “I could have asked her to marry me two weeks after we met,” he says. “I’m convinced we’re like two halves of the same soul.” Their particular brand of puppy love is on display wherever they go. “It’s nice when other people notice,” says Wolf. “People get all oogily around us.”

Oogily? “That’s our word,” explains Alyssa. We’re talking terminal cuteness here. To her, he’s Love Bug; he calls her Angel Face. True, Scott, who graduated from George Washington University with a finance degree before pursuing acting, was “very, very content to be single” at the time of their first meeting, he says. But a week later the two went to a dance club with film-crew members and “started playing these stupid games like 20 Questions,” recalls Alyssa. “After that we played Truth or Dare, and someone dared us to kiss. I wanted to slip that guy 20 bucks.”

Scott’s resistance quickly faded. “It didn’t hurt that she was incredibly cute,” he says of his intended. “Yeah, I was physically attracted to her. I don’t know how you can be a human male and not be.”

At the end of the Cleveland location shoot, a bereft Milano returned to her home in Los Angeles and wrote a page-and-a-half poem about Scott, who had five more days of shooting left. “It was real sappy,” she says. “It could have been a Hallmark card.”"

 

"In August (1993), Scott moved into Milano’s two-bedroom, Spanish-style house in the San Fernando Valley. Then, just before Halloween, he surprised her with a 1940’s-vintage diamond engagement ring hidden in a pumpkin. After he proposed (on one knee) and she accepted, they decorated the gourd with a carved heart and the legend “Alyssa loves Scott.” “I got the ring,” she says. “I figured I’d better write that.”

 

But my favorite quote comes at the end of the article:

"She also lets people know that, cuteness aside, what she wants is a serious thing. “I really don’t want people to look at this as another couple who met on a film set,” she says. Not a chance, seconds Scott. “This is anything but that. You can interview us 25 years from now—and we’ll prove it.”"

It's now 25 years since the movie came out.  How'd that work out Scott?

[tomten3000 34]

2 minutes ago, DrGuts1003 said:

I wanted to talk about their romance as well...I found a People Magazine article from March 1994 (the movie came out in November of that year) and it goes into detail about how their romance blossomed while on set.  Here are some excerpts from the article:

"The meeting, apparently, had the feeling of fate. “I knew it the second I met him,” says Alyssa. “I called my mom and told her, ‘This is the man I’m gonna marry.’ ” Scott couldn’t have agreed more. “I could have asked her to marry me two weeks after we met,” he says. “I’m convinced we’re like two halves of the same soul.” Their particular brand of puppy love is on display wherever they go. “It’s nice when other people notice,” says Wolf. “People get all oogily around us.”

Oogily? “That’s our word,” explains Alyssa. We’re talking terminal cuteness here. To her, he’s Love Bug; he calls her Angel Face. True, Scott, who graduated from George Washington University with a finance degree before pursuing acting, was “very, very content to be single” at the time of their first meeting, he says. But a week later the two went to a dance club with film-crew members and “started playing these stupid games like 20 Questions,” recalls Alyssa. “After that we played Truth or Dare, and someone dared us to kiss. I wanted to slip that guy 20 bucks.”

Scott’s resistance quickly faded. “It didn’t hurt that she was incredibly cute,” he says of his intended. “Yeah, I was physically attracted to her. I don’t know how you can be a human male and not be.”

At the end of the Cleveland location shoot, a bereft Milano returned to her home in Los Angeles and wrote a page-and-a-half poem about Scott, who had five more days of shooting left. “It was real sappy,” she says. “It could have been a Hallmark card.”"

 

"In August (1993), Scott moved into Milano’s two-bedroom, Spanish-style house in the San Fernando Valley. Then, just before Halloween, he surprised her with a 1940’s-vintage diamond engagement ring hidden in a pumpkin. After he proposed (on one knee) and she accepted, they decorated the gourd with a carved heart and the legend “Alyssa loves Scott.” “I got the ring,” she says. “I figured I’d better write that.”

 

But my favorite quote comes at the end of the article:

"She also lets people know that, cuteness aside, what she wants is a serious thing. “I really don’t want people to look at this as another couple who met on a film set,” she says. Not a chance, seconds Scott. “This is anything but that. You can interview us 25 years from now—and we’ll prove it.”"

It's now 25 years since the movie came out.  How'd that work out Scott?

They were definitely goofy in love or whatever on set. You could just tell. But they were so young, right? I think we were around the same age. I was 23 at the time. Wolf is two years older, so he was 25. Milano was 21. So just too fast too soon. PLUS ... celebrities.

[DrGuts1003 462]

1 minute ago, tomten3000 said:

They were definitely goofy in love or whatever on set. You could just tell. But they were so young, right? I think we were around the same age. I was 23 at the time. Wolf is two years older, so he was 25. Milano was 21. So just too fast too soon. PLUS ... celebrities.

Were you one of the crew members who went to the dance club with them and got them to play 20 Questions?

[tomten3000 34]

8 minutes ago, DrGuts1003 said:

Were you one of the crew members who went to the dance club with them and got them to play 20 Questions?

No, no, I was not. I was just a lowly PA.  We were there ALL the time. Really ridiculous long hours. But we only really hung out with the other PAs and some of the Cleveland crew. A lot of the crew was from L.A., and those folks all hung together, so it was probably those folks. Stunt team. The stunt team was partying ALL the time. There's a story - that I think is true - that the stunt team famously got in trouble for rappelling down the side of the hotel they were staying in.

We would drive everyone to everything, though. My friend drove Milano to the set regularly (and upset her when he wouldn't park in a handicap spot because it was closer to the set). I would drive Mark Dacascos and Scott Wolf around a lot. Took Dacascos to the dentist. He was AMAZING. Honestly, one of the nicest guys you ever met. Wolf was nice, too. Leon Russom and the guy who played the human version of Abobo - Nils Stewart. Also very friendly - and so funny. 

OH! And there were no smartphones or anything like that, so no GPS, so I got chewed out by some local douche when I got a little lost driving Robert Patrick and someone else to dinner one night. That was a whole thing.

[tomten3000 34]

Oh, and FYI. Not T. Leisure. Ha!

[RyanSz 3140]

18 hours ago, AlmostAGhost said:

i had to look up what the video game version of Abobo looked like because I couldn't remember and must say, the film was pretty accurate

So that game image is from the video game adaptation made for the movie's release, similar to how they made Street Fighter: the Movie: the Game for the JCVD movie where they made a Mortal Kombat type game using the actor's images. In the original Double Dragon games, he looked like this:

Also of the original game play style, they never had powers in the first game, but you would learn new moves as you defeated more and more enemies. You start with just punch and kick, but soon can do jump kicks, spin kicks, uppercuts, and even kneeing your opponent in the face while holding their head like it was a Muy Thai fight. The ending where you fight your brother was also a common trope for beat-em-ups of the 80s and 90s where two players would play through a whole game only to have to fight each other at the end to see who the better player was. I distinctly remember this being the end of Die Hard: Arcade where for some reason there is only one seat available on the escape helicopter and the players have to fight each other to get it, which is so weird considering you worked together to get there in the first place.

[JammerLea 2070]

Just popping in quick because I just finished rewatching the movie, but I won't have time to listen to the episode until tomorrow morning at work.

BUT I WANTED TO SAY

I loved this movie unironically when I was younger. Like enough that I still have a copy of it on VHS. I was ecstatic to find a used copy of Double Dragon on DVD in time for this episode. I don't know, guys. I don't know how to critique this yet. I know it's incredibly stupid, but I still have a fond nostalgia for this movie lmao (help)

Anyway, I will listen to the ep tomorrow and get back and read everyone's comments. Cannot wait!

"AIRMAIL!!!"

[Cam Bert 8145]

I know this topic was covered in the podcast but I want to share my first hand experience with this.

My family was a camping family. We tented for awhile then eventually upgraded to a camper. Every long weekend and most of the summer was spent camping.  We tended to go to the same campgrounds all the time and they were great. Then the ownership changed and they started putting in cabins and such so it was time to find new camp grounds. Now this was the late 80s and early 90s so sure enough if the campgrounds had a pool right next to it was a small shop full of cheap candy and the odd arcade machine. What child would not want to play games when surrounded by nature? We are camping one long weekend and there is a boy in the site next to ours who is about the same age as me so we start talking and decide to hang out. We explore the woods, rides bikes, etc. but eventually we pop into the shop for some snacks. There we see the arcade cabinets. There was Double Dragon and the game looked like fun. We go back to our camp sites and get some quarters and run back to the machine. The two of us start playing the game together. It was a real fun game. We were having a great time. "Look out kid I just met!" "No worries, got your back Cam Bert!" I think we only needed to continue once maybe.  We were doing great. We get to the final boss and he was tricky but we quickly figured out how to beat him. The boss was downed and there were high fives a plenty. We look back at the screen and there are our two characters just standing there. The game is still going. We were both utterly confused and didn't know what was happening. We both questioned whether the game was bugged. Then as we were trying to figure out what to do, I accidentally hit his character and noticed I was hurting him. So I just proceeded to start killing his character. The new kid noticed and panicked and started trying to fight back but it was too late. I was already ahead and too skilled for him. I killed his character and the game proceeded to end. The kid was livid. He started shouting and yelling at me and I remember saying "We still beat the game." He wasn't having it he started crying and ran off to his camp site. I eventually made my way back to mine and when I got there my mom was also very upset. She explained that he had got back crying and saying it was all my fault and his mother was upset. I explained to my mom what happened and she didn't seem to care. I explained until I was blue in the face that's what we were suppose to do but she wasn't budging. I was just playing the game and that is what it wanted us to do. This was the game's fault yet somehow I am in trouble? I had to go over to his camp site and surrounded by both our families give him two quarters and apologize for killing him in the game.

[JammerLea 2070]

6 hours ago, Cam Bert said:

I had to go over to his camp site and surrounded by both our families give him two quarters and apologize for killing him in the game.

Oh my god, Cam Bert, that is TRAGIC. I want to laugh, but I'm also REALLY SAD. Also, what a sore loser!

I finished listening to the ep and read through everything. Really cool hearing some behind-the-scenes stories!

I'm a little sad that I missed the cut-off for Corrections and Ommissions, but honestly I'm not sure that I'd have anything good to add since I just had such nostalgia for the movie. Though watching now that I'm older, I did understand more of the jokes and references. 

I will say I'm surprised that no one seemed to mention The Warriors as possible inspiration for all the crazy costumed gangs.

Specifically what was up with the middle-aged gang members dressed up like schoolboys?? Honestly terrifying.

[Cameron H. 23786]

34 minutes ago, JammerLea said:

I will say I'm surprised that no one seemed to mention The Warriors as possible inspiration for all the crazy costumed gangs.

I’m super behind on the show, but that blows my mind! As soon as I saw the clown gang, my first thought was, “Oh, this is like The Warriors Jr!”

[NoraSweet 4]

On 11/22/2019 at 10:15 AM, theworstbuddhist said:

For those who need a visual, here is a shot of Alyssa Milano in her pants from Double Dragon:

 

I have an even higher res image, in case anyone needs to really examine the stitching and how the garters holding up her jeans legwarmers are linked to her short short??

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/06/ca/2a/06ca2a1294b4ca197f33bb999c4549b7.jpg

Definitely not just garters, I think- this (totally not gratuitous) butt shot makes it clear these are actual shorts. I cannot handle this.

 

This means that, in order to get dressed in the morning, Alyssa Milano

1. put on sky blue workout shorts

b) carefully put legs through the ATTACHED jeans legwarmers

iii) put your JEANS LEGWARMERS THROUGH THE LEG HOLES OF THE JEANS SHORTS

4) pull that on top of the other shorts BECAUSE LAYERS

 

This is so so so SO insane!

[tomten3000 34]

3 hours ago, NoraSweet said:

I have an even higher res image, in case anyone needs to really examine the stitching and how the garters holding up her jeans legwarmers are linked to her short short??

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/06/ca/2a/06ca2a1294b4ca197f33bb999c4549b7.jpg

Definitely not just garters, I think- this (totally not gratuitous) butt shot makes it clear these are actual shorts. I cannot handle this.

 

This means that, in order to get dressed in the morning, Alyssa Milano

1. put on sky blue workout shorts

b) carefully put legs through the ATTACHED jeans legwarmers

iii) put your JEANS LEGWARMERS THROUGH THE LEG HOLES OF THE JEANS SHORTS

4) pull that on top of the other shorts BECAUSE LAYERS

 

This is so so so SO insane!

It was the 90s, and I remember thinking, "Huh, that's kinda cool." Because, 90s.

[JammerLea 2070]

1 hour ago, tomten3000 said:

It was the 90s, and I remember thinking, "Huh, that's kinda cool." Because, 90s.

The whole thing is just very 90s fashion-wise. Hers makes me think someone tried to do a sort of custom casual-aerobics outfit. It has a somewhat athletic feel.

I didn't get why the Lee Bros tried to look at her butt when she was picking up the gangnet device when she first appears with the Power Corp. She's wearing that long coat, what do you expect to see? Lol

Knowing now the, uh, end of the game, it struck me more how both bros got excited too get a look at her ass, even though Jimmy acted less interested at times, maybe under the right conditions they would fight to the death over her! Where is that sequel?!

[Robert Denby 103]

On 11/22/2019 at 3:45 AM, TrueBreenius said:

This movie was bonkers. A specific detail that I have been hung up on for the past week is the fact that the computer system in the car that pulls up people's personal data lists their statistics (e.g. height and weight) in metric measurements (cm and kg, respectively). Did the earthquake cause America to abandon the imperial measurement system? Does the collapse of freedom units in Los Angeles have anything to do with the simultaneous deterioration of civic society, or is it simply coincidental? 

They had to use the metric system. How else would we know it was THE FUTURE!!!

[Robert Denby 103]

On 11/22/2019 at 1:42 AM, AlmostAGhost said:

i had to look up what the video game version of Abobo looked like because I couldn't remember and must say, the film was pretty accurate

So in order to demonstrate great strength, the makeup artists decided, “Let’s give him a neck scrotum. And make it super veiny.”

[Robert Denby 103]

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5dfeqa8IsZQ/UVXtiBbRGXI/AAAAAAAAAM0/6qRDJN_oK3I/s1600/gh50-frisco-felicia.jpg

Its hard to picture sweet Felicia Jones as an evil hench-person. I mean, what would Frisco’s hair helmet think?

[Robert Denby 103]

At the end, when Marian and Jimmy let Abobo drive, Jimmy tells Marian that it’s Billy in Abobo’s body. But didn’t Jimmy have the “possess other people’s body” part of the medallion? It really ruined the movie for me.  

[JammerLea 2070]

4 hours ago, Robert Denby said:

At the end, when Marian and Jimmy let Abobo drive, Jimmy tells Marian that it’s Billy in Abobo’s body. But didn’t Jimmy have the “possess other people’s body” part of the medallion? It really ruined the movie for me.  

According to what we see in the movie, the Soul half lets a person turn into a ghost being who can possess other people's bodies, and the Body half makes the user impervious to physical harm. There's zero information indicating that the Body half can possess bodies, and it wouldn't make sense. Jimmy is just a frigging idiot at that moment.

And on that topic, the use of the medallions bothers me, specifically the Body half, because as we saw, it made it so Billy could survive crashing through a concrete wall (I assume they were going for concrete since there was rebar?). A person normally wouldn't have enough force to break through a wall like that, so I can only assume the Body medallion made Billy's body rock hard. But then a moment later Shuko-Jimmy punches off bits of the wall bare-handed, which I don't think he should be able to do since there's nothing indicating that the Soul half grants physical superhuman abilities.

Likewise, Billy procedes to beat the shit out of his possessed brother. The one who has a magical body strong enough to crash through concrete unscathed beats up his own brother whose only "power" is just that Shuko is controlling him. This should have been the fight to the death. Jimmy should be dead lol

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

On 11/22/2019 at 6:12 PM, RyanSz said:

So that game image is from the video game adaptation made for the movie's release, similar to how they made Street Fighter: the Movie: the Game for the JCVD movie where they made a Mortal Kombat type game using the actor's images. In the original Double Dragon games, he looked like this:

Also of the original game play style, they never had powers in the first game, but you would learn new moves as you defeated more and more enemies. You start with just punch and kick, but soon can do jump kicks, spin kicks, uppercuts, and even kneeing your opponent in the face while holding their head like it was a Muy Thai fight. The ending where you fight your brother was also a common trope for beat-em-ups of the 80s and 90s where two players would play through a whole game only to have to fight each other at the end to see who the better player was. I distinctly remember this being the end of Die Hard: Arcade where for some reason there is only one seat available on the escape helicopter and the players have to fight each other to get it, which is so weird considering you worked together to get there in the first place.

Abobo was such an iconic character that some guy remixed him into a new game with a bunch of other NES characters, and you can play it here:

http://abobosbigadventure.com/fullgame.php

[DeanOCarroll 27]

Can we discuss the special effects a bit? I know it's no surprise that an HDTGM movie has pretty terrible FX, but I was in high school when this movie came out, making videos with friends at our local Community Access TV Station, doing our effects on a machine called a Video Toaster. And I feel like those effects weren't substantially worse than a lot of what we see here.

And maybe nobody would have noticed in 1994. But then you cast, as the character who does the most morphing/transforming and other FXy stuff, Robert Patrick. We had all seen him, three years before, in T2 morphing via the best, most state-of-the-art effects Hollywood had at the time. Of all actors you could transform with D-grade effects, why pick the one guy we'd seen transform the best way possible? it's like if you made a movie three years from now and cast Josh Brolin as a different large purple-skinned villain, but instead of using advance digital effects you just stuck him in an old grape costume from a Fruit of the Loom commercial.

[DeanOCarroll 27]

I will give the movie some credit for correctly predicting that Vanna White wouldn't age at all between 1994 and 2007 because she pretty much still looks just like that NOW. As for George Hamilton and Andy Dick ... a bit less spot on prediction of their aging processes.

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

I will also note that by Double Dragon III our heroes were apparently named Bimmy and Jimmy, thanks to yet another hilarious NES typo.