Space Jam (1996)

[seanotron 2307]

Oh my word. Space Jam is fantastic. Its amazing in every way a basketball live action/cartoon movie can be. Guys, I proudly own the soundtrack to this movie. This movie gave us "I Believe I Can Fly"...but unfortunately also gave us "Basketball Jones" with Barry White and Chris Rock.

 

 

 

HDTGM must do this movie soon!!!

 

Ouch, I forgot how quickly those girls really turn on Charles. 'YOU SHOULDN'T EVEN BE HERE!'

[RobM 66]

I feel as if it's my duty to let everyone here know that there is an entire subsection of Reddit devoted to people making surprisingly good mash-ups of the Space Jam theme and a bazillion other songs.

[freeagent 329]

i would argue that space jam is not bad enough for HDTGM. its not as bad as BarbedWire or Sleepaway Camp or the twilight flicks. it just looks bad now that we the former six year olds who watched it are grown up. I will admit i once owned the space jam soundtrack, one of my fav songs was I believe I can fly by R.Kelly. Watching all the greatest basketball players lose their talent was great.

 

I have to agree. In my opinion it's just not that bad of a movie. Maybe I'm biased because I loved it as a child and do own it on blu-ray, but it's not on the same level of badness as other films.

[RobM 66]

I loved the movie as a kid too. But take the movie out of context and try to analyze it from an objective perspective, and you'll realize how crazy banana pants this movie is. Imagine explaining it to someone who had no idea what Space Jam was.

 

This is a movie where popular cartoon characters we know in the real world actually exist, but for some reason hide in an underground world, apparently re-enacting those old cartoons in perpetuity for our entertainment. Then, an alien species with a failing theme park (!) decide that the best way to boost sales is to kidnap these cartoon characters, because unlike humans, they know the cartoon characters are real and know where to find them. Also, the aliens are cartoons too? So the cartoon characters challenge the aliens to a high-stakes game of basketball, because of course, and the aliens respond by turning into (invisible?) pink goo and violating a number of real-life NBA players to "steal their talent" through their noses. The talent is then kept in a magical basketball, until the aliens use it to go through puberty. So the hero cartoon characters kidnap one sole real-life retired basketball player - also playing himself, as the lead of the movie - and teach him how to warp the cartoon world around him.

 

Imagine pitching this exact movie to a studio today. How. Did. This. Get. Made?

[AngusOReily 4]

This movie is definitely a product of its time, and I too fondly remember playing the soundtrack on a loop in my cassette player. But isn't it time that this movie got a gritty reboot? We already have the perfect setting: North Korea. Kim Jong Un loves basketball, and was a big fan of it while in college. Who's to say that his acceptance of Dennis Rodman as "Friend for Life" wasn't based in a plot to steal the powers of the best basketball players in the world. Rodman returns to the states and steals the powers of Lebron, Durant, Carmello Anthony, Chris Paul and Kevin Garnett. Kobe Bryant, who's out with an injury or rape settlement at the time, teams up with the Looney Tunes, not in Looney Toon World, but in our world to challenge the North Koreans to a high-stakes basketball game, where two points could stand between peace in the far east, or the fall of western civilization as we know it. Sign me up.

[BagguhMcGuirk 104]

 

Ouch, I forgot how quickly those girls really turn on Charles. 'YOU SHOULDN'T EVEN BE HERE!'

 

"Be gone wannabe, be gone!" I would say that all the time when I played basketball.

[Memphish_Boognish 249]

I'm really torn about this choice. I would love to hear the gang talk about it but I still love this movie. Maybe it's nostalgia and the fact that the soundtrack was my first CD and I was obsessed with it but I can't look at this as a bad movie

[klemjohansen 748]

Andrew Ti of Yo Is This Racist gushes about Space Jam all the time. He'd be a nice cross-over guest for a Space Jam episode.

 

Also:

http://www2.warnerbros.com/spacejam/movie/jam.htm

 

Anybody up for a spinoff show "How Did This Get Coded?"

[gene_shallot 79]

It seems like too many people like this movie legit for it to be a good HDTGM episode imho. People should be voting for the real stinkers.

[PhillipMedoc 648]

Also:

http://www2.warnerbr...m/movie/jam.htm

 

Anybody up for a spinoff show "How Did This Get Coded?"

Web 1.0! Oh my goodness, that is delightful. Thank you.

[WannabeRafi 0]

SPACE JAM ruled... A kids movie with a soundtrack to bang to.

 

AND a pro preformance enhancement scene involving ELMORE FUDD MICHAEL JORDAN and NEWMAN.

[revo 0]

I think Space Jam is a good movie, but we should know by now that How Did This Get Made? means a variety of things -- not just "this is so bad I can't believe it got funded," but "this is so insane that I can't believe it ever got funded." I think the story of how Space Jam was pitched, produced and funded would be fantastic to listen to, and I'm just laughing picturing June trying to decipher the logic behind it.

[Blueman29X 72]

Come on, we all know "Max Keeble's Big Move" has it coming. For too fucking long, no one's gone after that sacred cow...

 

Is there a thread for that yet? If not, there needs to be.

[RyanSz 3140]

http://cheezburger.com/7519008512

[stellamarch16 5]

I guess this movie was made because Who Framed Roger Rabbit became a huge hit. Also, the studio probably thought that it could cash in on the Michael Jordan fever via this movie. Honestly, it worked in parts.

[thestray 361]

I guess this movie was made because Who Framed Roger Rabbit became a huge hit. Also, the studio probably thought that it could cash in on the Michael Jordan fever via this movie. Honestly, it worked in parts.

 

Roger Rabbit came out in the late 80's and Space Jam came out in the late 90's,

[stellamarch16 5]

I agree with you and in fact there was an 8 year gap, but what I meant was that because such a concept had worked before they thought it would work again. Frankly, it commercially did.

[RobM 66]

It seems that this has been voted down on FYI, or there was a reset or something. Which is a shame, because I can guarantee anyone who is arguing against this movie getting an episode isn't just letting nostalgia blind them, but also hasn't watched the movie in a good while.

 

I challenge people to watch this movie with HDTGM in mind, and then honestly try to claim it wouldn't be a great episode. Your inner Jason Mantzoukas voice will be screaming in your ear the entire time.

[seanotron 2307]

It seems that this has been voted down on FYI, or there was a reset or something. Which is a shame, because I can guarantee anyone who is arguing against this movie getting an episode isn't just letting nostalgia blind them, but also hasn't watched the movie in a good while.

 

I challenge people to watch this movie with HDTGM in mind, and then honestly try to claim it wouldn't be a great episode. Your inner Jason Mantzoukas voice will be screaming in your ear the entire time.

 

Shannon explained that they'll pick a new 10 to vote on each time. I think Space Jam was part of the Howard the Duck group, so we're probably not going to see it pop up again (at least for a while).

[neilly 105]

Seanotron, your Duck Tits Avatar makes me feel funny, is that weird?

[seanotron 2307]

Seanotron, your Duck Tits Avatar makes me feel funny, is that weird?

 

That just means it is doing what it was intended to do.

[RobM 66]

I'm reviving this topic thanks to The Dissolve's excellent dissection of the movie: http://thedissolve.com/features/forgotbusters/154-space-jams-cosmic-character-ruining-tackiness/

[RobM 66]

I WILL WAGE THIS ONE MAN CAMPAIGN.

 

HOW. DID. THIS. GET. MADE.

 

http://www.vulture.com/2013/11/watch-a-30-for-30-about-the-space-jam-game.html

[PhillipMedoc 648]

I WILL WAGE THIS ONE MAN CAMPAIGN.

 

HOW. DID. THIS. GET. MADE.

Because

 

 

It wasn't at quite the height of Jordan's fame but he was an extremely popular, likable, and bankable athlete. I imagine the people involved assumed it would be like printing money, and they were proven correct. We've talked about the weird hip-hop versions of the Looney Tunes characters; was that a thing that happened before or after this movie? I'm assuming this is what caused that? You used to see adults at the grocery store or whatever in those stupid fucking t-shirts, for like years and years. I'm sure it could probably be a hip/ironic thing to wear now.

 

This website (as pointed out earlier in the thread) is still up! It is a wonderful view of the possibilities of Web 1.0:

 

http://www2.warnerbros.com/spacejam/movie/jam.htm

[BonkersBananas 62]

What MJ's been up to lately.