Episode 11: IS ALIEN DISNEY’S NEWEST PRINCESS?!

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Music.

(00:10):
Welcome to Merman Mondays, the podcast where the Little Mermen share behind-the-scenes
tour stories, discuss popular Disney content, and celebrate Disney's musical legacy.
I'm your host, Alexis Babini, founder of the Little Merman Band,
and joining us is our co-host, Mr. Andrew Grau.
Mister! Oh, thanks, Alexis. Whether you're a longtime fan or first-time dreamer,

(00:35):
the Little Merman Band is the country's premier Disney tribute band,
bringing the magic of Disney music to life, with live performances all across the U.S. and the world.
Our mission with this podcast is to connect with our fans on a deeper level,
give a behind-the-scenes glimpse at touring in an indie rock band,
and sharing in the joy that is Disney content and culture.

(00:55):
Today's very special episode will discuss some recent tour highlights,
some exciting upcoming Disney news, but most importantly, we'll contemplate
the question, is Alien a Disney princess?
As some of you might know, with Disney's latest technical release under the
20th Century Studios banner, the newest Disney film is called Alien Romulus.

(01:17):
We're going to have some mild spoilers later in the episode as Grau and I just
saw this movie in his favorite setting, Regal Cinema's 4DX, which is an extreme
sensory experience featuring shaking seats,
flashing lights, enhanced sound, and Grau's personal favorite,
the water splash that shoots at you when alien guts squirt on screen.

(01:40):
You know it's my favorite, and you know that, yeah, we're going to get into
some really heavy-hitting spoilers.
So if you haven't seen Alien Romulus, stop this podcast right now and go see
Alien Romulus so you can catch up. But before we go the distance,
we still are on tour with some shows coming up. So let's get down to business.
Hello, Murpham. You're kindly editing growl here to update you with some upcoming shows.

(02:02):
Tuesday, August 27th, the Seashell Stage in Hampton, New Hampshire.
Wednesday, August 28th, Eric's Church, Wyndham, Maine.
Saturday, August 31st, Wattsburg County Fair, Wattsburg, PA.
Here are some fall dates.
Saturday, September 14th, Adventureland Oktoberfest, Altoona, Iowa.

(02:23):
Saturday, September 28th, Laura Center for the Arts, Hanover, Massachusetts.
Sunday, October 13th, Hard Rock Cafe, Pittsburgh, PA. And then Thursday, October 14th,
The Cutting Room, New York City. More information like ticket links or RSVP
links can be found on our website at thelittlemerman.com slash tickets.

(02:44):
All right, Tor Ketchup. Love a Tor Ketchup. I also like Tor Mustard and Tor Mayo.
Hey, we got to have some dad jokes on the podcast. All right, so- Tor Relish.
Yeah, yeah, we're relishing in our dad jokes, baby.
So, okay, since we last have aired, we've
had a bunch of shows shout out to our west

(03:07):
coast rhythm section we got mr parker law
and mr matt orenstein and matt
mazel mr matt he's getting married next month and madame parker yeah man they
played like house of blues with us in anaheim and also house of blue san diego
and this was a long time ago this was like 2.0 era merman so um we're just gonna

(03:28):
catch up growl so this might be the The first time I was hearing this,
we played in Minneapolis. We played Plymouth.
They had what's called their Plymouth Kids Fest.
They put us on this great stage that their local big orchestra has their summer concert series.
So it was this great big stage. And there were not one, not two,
not three, but four bouncy houses directly in front of their stage.

(03:49):
Almost too many bouncy houses. We had Mr. Ryan Slacco. One of his dedicated
fans from Twitch came. So shout out to Ryan.
Shout out to his bud who came to catch the show during one of Ryan's solos.
He played the infamous lick.
What is up, guys? It's Simon from PianoPig.com. And today I wanted to talk about the lick.

(04:09):
So if you haven't yet heard of the lick, it's basically this cool little line.
Oh, man. Oh, man. Dude. I had, shout out to Drew Coles.
He played the lick during a wedding gig. and I looked at him and I think all
the horns looked at him and we just booed and he was like sorry yeah oh now

(04:32):
it gets booze interesting yeah man that's so funny.
Music.
The lick,
that's the lick,
check out check out Adam Neely check out Ryan Slatko those are the folks that do a lot with the lick,

(04:57):
good friend and colleague of mine excellent bassist and
sungazer ryan slapko episode of this
podcast one of my favorite interviews he's a he's a really great
person to talk with and i'm glad you guys were able to go bummed bummed that
those weekday shows are kind of tough for me as i am a working man or a working
gal like nine to five as they say yeah man i mean you know we gotta give we

(05:19):
gotta give our boy mr g-man here some credit because our listeners might not know No,
but you're like one of the few people like this deep and the levels of Merman.
And yeah, you're working full time because we got a lot of these other kind
of like freelancer kind of no one has a real job.
But you're holding down a nine to five and doing a lot of these shows.
So, man, we love having you.

(05:41):
Grau, appreciation. Thanks.
As this is an audio medium, not a physical medium or a visual medium yet, I am blushing.
And yay let's move on to
let's move on to san diego how was san diego
man okay so i have one highlight that
i've written here in our notes and another highlight that i want to mention uh

(06:03):
highlight number one uh san diego we played the efa their family amphitheater
on the college campus of ucsd so that's a epsom family yeah and man they just
like dude this is just another one
of those real number one class act venues.

(06:24):
Nice. If anyone here is listening from the West Coast, and I think we might
have some listeners, guys, please just do yourself a favor and catch a show
at the EFA Amphitheater at UCSD.
It is another kind of hat show kind of stage.
It's really state-of-the-art. A lot of the students there are about to pursue

(06:45):
careers in audio. And I think we had some...
Some actual non-students just because it was just run. So the precision and
the sound and everything here.
So, OK, the fun fact about UCSD, their school mascot is none other than King
Triton himself, which is the namesake of our band, the Little Mermen.

(07:06):
So UCSD, their sports team is the Tritons, which is insane.
UCSD Tritons. So they have big men's soccer, women's basketball, and men's basketball.
Their mascot is literally King Triton.
And so we got a photo. And I was waiting until the podcast record comes out

(07:26):
because we're going to post this photo to our Patreon subscribers first and
probably to our main feed.
But they have a huge statue of King Triton with his trident.
It's lit up and all these lights. And so we did a band photo there.
And it's right after we got off stage. So we're all very sweaty.
And also one of the vendors on site makes their own ice cream.

(07:47):
So we're all holding ice cream cones and we're standing in front of King Triton.
It's kind of a confused looking photo, which is probably why we didn't post it right after the show.
That's great, though. That's really cool. It's always fun, especially San Diego
is so well known for its waterfront for where a lot of cruise ships go out of.

(08:08):
So kind of having that more nautical theme. So now I do want to jump back in
because we did have a show yesterday. Yes.
And the end by the time this comes out, that'll be on Saturday.
We played Field of Dreams in New Hampshire.
Yes, sir. A lot of fun. We had some stuff coming in. Shout out to Max Bronstein
for his first gig crushed and shout out to P.
Edie Rosales, who was second gig. Yeah. Absolute mensch of a human.

(08:33):
It was like a lot of traveling, but everyone was super cool. We had a great time.
We shared the tent with stormtroopers and mascots. We got to see this huge jungle
gym, a lot of face painting.
Kids were super into it. Shout out to Rob, our contact, who was the architect
that built the incredible park.
And I mean, really, it was super lovely. Lovely. I mean, it was very iconic

(08:57):
for someone who, like myself, who grew up in the Northeast.
It very much reminded me of like an end of summer thing that would happen in
a local place like my town growing up. And it was really fun.
I mean, we really, really had a great time. Yeah, that's that's all that that
I have for New Hampshire.
Anything that you want to say more about Field of Dreams? Because,
you know, dream, believe, achieve.

(09:18):
Field of Dreams, believe, achieve. Field of Dreams come true was an absolute
delight. There's actually just one more quick thing I want to say about San Diego.
And this is sort of, I think this might be a fun little thing for our listeners to learn.
I mean, it's a little bit on a personal note. So my once-surviving grandparent, Mr.
Italo Babini, lives in San Diego. His youngest daughter, which is my aunt,

(09:39):
once removed. We had to figure out this family tree.
Anyway, she takes care of Italo. He's 96 years old. And this man is really where
I feel like I get a lot of my familial music inspiration. just when people say,
like, I love this music, it's in my blood.
Like a lot of this comes from Sky Italo.

(10:00):
And actually, as I talk to you right now, I'm staring at a poster in my apartment
from the 80s when Italo played Carnegie Hall.
With Maria Marielis, some sonatas from Beethoven, some Tchaikovsky.
But anyway, so Italo was first chair cello in the DSO, that's the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

(10:21):
And on the side, in the 60s, he took a side gig playing the Motown albums of
Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder.
So if you Google the Funk Brothers, famous for, everyone knows James Jamerson,
Anderson, and the music of that era. Italo is actually listed on that page.

(10:41):
And I was telling him, because obviously he's not on the internet now.
And so I was telling him a few years ago, someone gifted me the album,
What's Going On by Marvin Gaye. And Italo is listed in the liner notes,
Marvin Gaye being one of the first ever Motown artists to give everybody a credit.
And so, yeah, I was just like, Grandpa, you're a funk brother. You're funky.
So that was a real highlight of the treat, because it's so hard to get that family time in.

(11:04):
We're touring all over the world. and I got to visit my grandpa. I sent the band home.
I was like, guys, all right, here's your plane tickets. Here's all these suitcases.
And yeah, that was a crazy thing to pull off, man. So yeah, I just wanted to
share that little fun little thing here.
Editing Alexis here, I just wanted to add a quick thanks to my aunt Sarah and
her husband Dara for hosting me during my time in San Diego and making that

(11:28):
special family visit happen during this crazy travel time.
Hey, and you know what? But as someone who no longer has any grandparents,
it's really special any time that you get with them.
And I know that you probably still is on cloud nine just thinking about all
this time with his grandson who's in the crazy Disney tree. Little Birdman band.

(11:49):
So one of the things that we did want to talk about as we're kind of getting
into this and one of the things we want to continue to highlight is that Disney
content and culture aspect.
Alexis is kind of like Daddy Disney, as we say. No.
Oh, man. So he sent me a link this week of some upcoming movies that are on Rotten Tomatoes.
And it basically lists all the movies from Disney that's coming out in the next,

(12:13):
like, up until when? 2030? Is that when?
Dude, yeah. Yeah. Well, the first one I found was Business Insider,
but then there's a paywall. So sorry, Business Insider, we're not going to mention you on the podcast.
So the Rotten Tomatoes link is free and scrolling to the bottom.
Their final one is in the year.
Oh my gosh. So it's okay. The years aren't listed, but I think it goes to the late 2020s.

(12:38):
And the last one they have here is you
know 20th century studios like that the
farther you get down the list it's sort of like more
tbd yeah no director tbd but i
i do see farther out far down on this list there's a tower of terror movie announced
with taika waititi currently attached as director starring scarlett johansson

(13:01):
so that's obviously going to be based off the the twilight zone ride at disney
which which I think that's still on the West Coast now,
because I think down on Orlando, they replaced that with Guardians.
Yeah. So actually, I did read a little bit ahead. The last actual date that's listed is 2031.
Oh, is it? Oh, man, I just scrolled down. I missed it. Oh, and then after that,
they stopped listing the dates. Now I see. Yeah, and then there's that.

(13:23):
And I'm not going to lie. It's the least exciting.
I'm going to be exceptionally honest. And this is not even a hot take.
But Avatar 5, I'm so sorry. I do not care. The first one was...
It's not worth it. It's just Ferngully. All it is is Ferngully.

(13:45):
It's Shogun. I don't know. Are you an Avatar boy? State of Savage. Not at all.
People, I mean, gosh, it's so funny because, like, it was, the way that Avatar
1 came out, it was, like, kind of teed up like Waterworld because it was,
like, it cost way too much money to make.
And I'm thinking about that movie Waterworld from the 90s with Kevin Costner.

(14:05):
And it just was a huge flop. And then the reviews for Avatar 1 came out.
And everyone was like, yeah, we just don't know.
But then it became this huge movie. And James Cameron was such a flex.
He was like, yeah, it's just not a review movie.
Go see it, though. And I was like, wait, you can just say that?
I mean, don't get me wrong. I saw it in theaters in 3D because I was like,

(14:27):
wait, when everything was 3D.
And it was great. But then I was driving on the way home. I was like,
you know what? That wasn't that great of a movie.
And then I just thought about it. I was like, that's just Ferngully. it's just
the book Shogun the native savage it's Dances with Wolves it's
the same story told and also Pocahontas too a little bit Pocahontas same as
the nose so I'm not ruining much but like the last two entries are Avatar 4

(14:50):
and Avatar 5 2029 2031 I don't care I didn't see Way of Water I don't care I
don't we're gonna get James Cameron on this podcast.
He can yell at me all he wants it's a franchise that I don't care and do not,
I just, it doesn't, it does nothing for me.
Okay, well, hey, man, listen, I just thought of a really crazy tie-in because

(15:11):
we are, and spoilers not yet, guys, so keep listening.
We're going to warn you when the spoilers come up later, but James Cameron did
direct one of those Alien movies, and we're going to talk about Alien Romulus later in the episode.
That's not yet, but yeah, James Cameron was the first Alien sequel that was Aliens.
Hey, so that's fun. It all ties together, baby. Maybe all ties together.

(15:35):
So, yeah, the thing, well, the thing, the thing that I obviously I'd love to
go into some specifics, but I, the, what you really kind of put down as the first two.
Talking points about this which i fully agree with
is that they're just trying to hit nostalgia and
i think i personally think it's such a good

(15:55):
move for young kids and parents of
those kids i bet you i mean i've talked to a ton of parents and they're like
it's just frozen all it is is frozen all the time and like they're like if really
it comes out great yeah i didn't still have that holding power because that's
some years ago frozen frozen moana it's all Frozen, all Moana.

(16:15):
And so while I think it's, well, I think it's such a big misstep and it really
doesn't make me excited at all.
Like, I'm going to go in with an open mind to Moana too, because I like Moana
so much, but I'm just like, this was not needed. And Frozen 3, not needed.
Like, Toy Story 7 or whatever, not needed. Like, for me, all of this just.
Like Cars 5, like not needed.

(16:36):
None of this needed for me. I'm just like, you could have stopped.
Like, do you not realize how perfect of a movie,
monsters inc was why did you have to make monsters inc
2 and then the college one and just like no it's in
caps i get it you're trying to make money and it's also like a
great way to get younger generations into the franchise it
just doesn't really hit anything for me so then the nostalgia play

(16:59):
that they're going super hard i think
is a misstep but i might also be wrong yeah i
think i might also be wrong so we're learning on the podcast that
our boy crowd out does not like sequels would that
be a fair assessment i do not like the generals
unless it's like a warranted sequel and i know that that is extremely hypocritical

(17:20):
coming from someone who's such a huge star wars guy oh interesting but but i
will i it would be like if they took solo which not my favorite star wars movie but i really enjoyed it.
If they make that like a three-part trilogy, not needed. There does not need to be a solo two.
There does not need to be final solo or like- Oh, interesting.

(17:43):
So here's my kind of stamp on that.
Yeah, with the solo spinoffs. But then when you make a movie musical sequel,
I guess for me it's sort of like, what are the songs going to be like though?
Because I feel like if they give songwriting team Alexis Babini and his collaborators Moana 3,
yeah i'll be like oh we're gonna this is gonna be the best

(18:04):
sequel of all time so so so for me moana
2 really comes down to i mean obviously story
first and foremost but songs and the songwriters they have attached to this
it's not lin-manuel he's doing the lion king prequel so for moana 2 which for
moana 2 is i have a lot of stuff about that too sorry you got for moana 2 it's
abigail barlow and emily bear and so they did the unofficial bridgerton musical

(18:28):
which is kind of crazy because bridgerton was like hey you can't do this musical
but it got so big and i think it won a grammy so that's just to say like the power of songwriting.
Is reminding me of when alan menken and howard ashman wrote the popular off-broadway
musical called little shop of horrors and then disney came a knocking so barlow

(18:51):
and bear the songwriting team and they're kind of these young gals are like
our age and so you know i'm always kind of rooting for for this kind of like Bertha Fisher talent.
I have to agree with you that for me, it's going to come down to the music.
We were actually listening on the way back in the van, we listened to SHINee.
And that's such a great song. And yeah, How Far I'll Go is, I don't think it's

(19:13):
risen to the level of Let It Go, even though it has very similar chord structures,
but it's such an iconic song that like everybody knows.
And You're Welcome is such a great song. And I think that the story was really
beautiful and the animation was fantastic.
So they kind of had all of those things all together.
And that's what makes the first Moana so great. And honestly,
like if they're going to do it in the way that I think, you know,

(19:37):
the mythology aspect of it.
I'd love to get more play from more of that sort of stuff.
Like what if Pele shows up? That would be awesome. Not Pele the soccer player.
Pele, one of the Polynesian gods, believe of fire and volcanoes.
And or do you want, I would love maybe a little nod to I Lava You because they're
out in the islands with the volcanoes.
I love I Lava You. Tying to that Pixar short.

(19:59):
Wow. It's set in the same universe. Could be. Yeah, I can see that totally working, man.
That's actually really, that'd be a really cool tie in there people
love that yeah someone requested that at one of our shows we've
i think we've only done that once in concert fans let
us know if you want to hear i lava you in our shows on our patreon that's where
you can make those special requests so so yeah i think the the film lover in

(20:21):
me and the person who's like story because yes as a as a general rule when you
when you show a movie you're like this is our story isn't this great we're gonna
I'm going to take you on this journey.
Like in their purest form, like movies shouldn't function as prequels to sequels.
I think my whole thing is,
don't make like you said do not make a movie as

(20:42):
though it's going to be a sequel make a movie that's a
great movie yeah it was really wildly successful make a
second movie one of the movies that is coming out that we did talk about in
our kind of tour update i'm still very unconvinced about the lion king prequel
i mean here's the thing when it comes to i i i really don't i i this again the

(21:03):
the one hypocrisy because star wars i hate the people that are gatekeepers and
that are the purists of the Star Wars universe.
When it comes to Disney, though, just like more, I guess, Disney animation studios
or whatever we can call what is not Star Wars and what is not Marvel, whatever.
The original Lion King, I saw in theaters when I was three years old.
What did you think? That movie is one of my favorite movies of all time.

(21:25):
It's top five Disney cartoons.
The soundtrack is one of my favorite soundtracks. I know every song. I know everything.
All banners. Lion King one and a half, okay. Lion King two was fine. i
we've been i've been kind of slowly going back to liking
lion king 2 some really awesome songs and lion king 2 but
but just like one of which is making a broader musical

(21:45):
yeah yeah he lives in you if my parents go hey do you guys want to see the lion
king prequel before like yeah right yeah that's what i'm talking about because
and that's the thing too is sort of like bringing people together around the
lion king i think for us as a disney tribute band it's crazy like aladdin is a
movie that came out in the 90s or if you're a little kid

(22:06):
that just saw one of the new versions of aladdin aladdin is
a movie that came out in 2019 so it's great
like the part of me that's like i want us to stay relevant as the nation's number
one disney tribute band is sort of like these movies will inject the new fan
base that will you know support us and and and and in turn we support disney
so it's kind of like this crazy ecosystem but yet that said i know like the live

(22:31):
action remakes of animated films.
There's a lot to be said about this.
Cause I remember, I remember like the first ever little merman show and I kind
of had, I had this like the kind of gleam in my eye of just like,
you know, these movies were so great and Disney needs to do like back in 2014,
there weren't any live action remakes yet.

(22:51):
And like when Alan Menken came to our show, I don't know, I guess I just sort
of like always wondered like maybe like, did the mouse take note of the little merman?
Cause there weren't other bands doing Disney tribute. There wasn't any pop punk
Disney albums coming out.
So like, did I did we inspire this corporation to make decisions that made them
billions of dollars, which is a crazy thing to think about as an indie rock

(23:13):
band who's roaming the country in these like scrappy tour bands.
And maybe and maybe that's just me kind of getting ahead of myself a little bit here.
So i do want to i do want to hit a little bit more on some of the live action
stuff just because we did talk about it on our d23 episode please go back and
listen to because in general that's we have some input from both ryan and quinn

(23:36):
who both have very different views on disney which is great.
But i think i guess my thing that i want and i know this is me as the consumer
maybe i'm being and a little too conceited impressed me.
So one of my favorite episodes of our podcast was Inside Out 2 that we've ever done.

(23:58):
What made Inside Out 2 so great? They impressed me. They really,
they took something that I was like, I don't think that this is going to be a good sequel.
And they really did a lot with it to make it so great and so different.
And they didn't pander and didn't try to cash grab.
And it was the most successful Disney movie in like two years by a lot so.

(24:20):
I think it's I think my thing and this is where I want to tie it back the Lilo
and Stitch live action that's the one I had zero comments on because I'm like
I don't think it's going to be good it's got potential and this is.
What here's my wildly unpopular here's my wildly unpopular
opinion and i and i am

(24:41):
willing to watch the movie again and change my
tune i did not like it as a kid i thought
it was not a great movie i thought it was oh the original one's ditch yeah
i thought it was kind of sad and dark and horrid i was like
this is not a good movie i watched that again last week and
loved it and i was in tears me and mel watched
that and it was sort of just like holy shit this is

(25:02):
so hard i i think i it wasn't a
good kid's movie i think it's a very good adult movie sorry i but i just i
think the lilo and stitch is coming back so hard
popular popularity wise in the parks and
like all of our fans yeah i always see stitch shirts everybody has
on it yeah always we always see it there's a spider-man in the audience and
there's always somebody with a stitch on a shirt or on a keychain so like yeah

(25:25):
you know disney talk to us we're doing your market research for you we know
we know what's gonna be your next hit because we're doing this but yeah 24 7
The Stitch live-action remake,
I think, is just going to be a cash grab.
But I'm not excited about that one. Oh, you don't think so? I mean,
I think it has potential because, number one, we have Zach Galifianakis.

(25:45):
Number two, it's just like… Oh, Zach Galley's in it.
The original Stitch, I don't know if live-action Stitch is going to do this,
but the original Stitch animated had a lot of Elvis stuff.
And we just saw how Elvis can really crush the big screen.
And the one kind of… But not his wife, not Priscilla.
Oh, yeah. Yeah, I didn't see. Did you see Pistola or did you just hear about
them? No, I don't care. It's just like, what?

(26:08):
So anyways, so one of the things one of the things that that that is also on
this list is the Snow White coming out. And yeah.
We watched that trailer we watched the yeah we did a
friend of ours got the leaked whistle while you work
did you see that in the group chat or maybe yeah i just i
think that i think that it's i initially was like i i want it to be a good dark

(26:31):
rendition but the times that disney's tried to make right they might not go
dark they got to go dark with this to get it right yeah you're right i might
not go dark enough yeah like if they're gonna make it dark and they're gonna
make it a little more brutal i think that's gonna work they're gonna with a
wonder woman actress I don't know.
I would like it. I would like it, though. I would really like it if they did that, though.
And also, I mean, come on. It's Gal Gadot. Gadot?

(26:53):
We had a whole thing about Satan. Yeah, I think the other thing I just wanted
to touch on when it comes to, because this is something that,
like, I think as someone who's always been aspiring,
like, I've always wanted to be, like, frontman guy. I've always wanted to be performer guy.
I'm also walking around with my laptop, which is kind of fun.
I didn't know I could do this on a podcast.

(27:14):
Now you know what it's like to be a sales person on sales.
I don't know a single salesperson that sits at their desk all day.
They're just walking around, walking in their kitchen with their wireless headset,
just like making coffee.
Heck yeah. Bye. Nine to five grout time.
So I think what I was going to say, though, is sort of just like,
you know, and that's sort of how you get a great performance is like as like

(27:35):
we are doing, we're doing like, you know, I mean, we're all musicians in our own right.
And everyone we've hired, we just talked about our new drummer,
Max, who we didn't mention his resume, but Max came to us from the Hairspray
Tour. He also came to us from the Willy Wonka Tour.
And we mentioned this new keytar all-star guy who just started with us,
Peter Rosales, who just played South by Southwest Music Festival with his band Tallulah.

(28:00):
And we saw them open for one of our favorite comedy bands, Wolves of Glendale.
So we're all, you know, we're all just like doing what we love and we're passionate
about creating something.
And since we're music artists where we're creating something musically,
but, and I've thought this so many times and it's sort of like,
it's sort of lit a fire under me.
It's like, when you get out on that stage, you have all this blank space,

(28:23):
you have a blank performance.
If you filled the room and sometimes the Little Merman, the band sells like,
you know, upwards of 1500 tickets in a city we've never played before.
So we're sort of like like they they
slap their money down and they put their money down for a
ticket and and yes the audience is going to sit there in those seats and
they're going to fold their arms and they're going to say listen it's your job

(28:44):
to impress me and i take that so seriously like that's not something you just
shrug off and i don't know maybe sometimes maybe sometimes when it's like you
know hollywood and and films you know completely different art form than concerts
but when these things are made by a committee or maybe when it's like a big
corporate it's like Like, yeah,
but, you know, we have the Star Wars IP.
Listen, like we, you know, and then maybe they rest on, they get a little cocky with it.

(29:06):
Like, I think that's a recipe for not success.
Like, you always have to be like, look, like you slapped your money down to
see a Disney tribute band and we are going to bring these songs to life in a
way you've literally never seen or heard before.
And that's the same way that like, I think in my opinion, a filmmaker should be like,
look, like Snow White was a very first ever

(29:27):
movie under disney and that without snow
white we would never gotten wizard of oz like this movie
literally changed the world it changed the way hollywood makes movies it changed
the way that people thought about children's stories for a wider audience so
like if you're gonna if you're gonna bring that you know that talented actress
rachel from the west side story

(29:48):
movie and you're gonna give me cgi little dwarfs like you better have
like you better have because this is like yep this is a masterpiece really good
you're taking a masterpiece and you're trying to bring it to a wider audience
now and i support that but.
So yeah, in that way, it's still like, you got to impress.
You can't just be like, oh, we're going to give them an expensive CGI scene. It'll be great.

(30:11):
We're going to make, we're going to update it so that she's more of a feminist
character. It's going to be great. It's like, no, you got to give me a good story. You got to.
So I don't know. I'm passionate about that. No, I'm with you. Yeah.
And you know what? I will say for our part, my favorite thing to tie it back
into when we're on tour and when we go to venues, there's a lot of places it's
our first time playing there.
And nine times out of town, the sound people just, they don't know what to expect after the first set.

(30:36):
Every single time they're like, you guys are amazing. I know. And you come back.
I didn't know what to expect. You guys are amazing.
Because yeah, at the end of the day, that's what it is. That's what it is.
We try to, we we've had days where we've had
like 7 a.m call time five hour drives we have to play a
three hour show yeah and we still put on the
best show we can i'm not gonna go sit in a movie

(30:57):
theater spend 30 on a on a 3d ticket
and then 20 on popcorn unless you get
that regal exclusive shout out to regal listen shout
out to future sponsor of the podcast yes listen
i want i want to spend money on these movies that's the
thing i want to spend money on these movies so i love disney movies
like i will see i always try to see everything but it's like you

(31:20):
know they can't all be hits and i get that it can all be
you know and it's a big swing and a miss i respect that
yep so i did i did before we kind of move further into because i think that
the last sort of part of the upcoming disney releases we could talk 20th century
move into alien right uh well i was gonna say i thought tron is coming up and
i really like let's talk about tron 3 dude so we got they announced uh Because

(31:42):
on Tron 2, they had Daft Punk. Again, for me, it's about the music.
So Tron 3 is not Trent Reznor. It's full Nine Inch Nails soundtrack.
Trent Reznor has won Oscars for the Pixar.
Yep. But do you know what the big swing that is going to miss that they did?
Oh, what? Jared Leto. Jared Leto. Mr. Morbius is Morbin as the lead character.

(32:08):
Oh, really? Because he was in. Oh, no. I just got it confused with Blade Runner
because he was in the last Blade Runner. Dude, don't even talk.
Blade Runner is one of my favorite. Oh, yeah. No, Tron. I'm looking at it right now. 2025.
I've seen parts of Tron, but I don't know if I've ever gone fully in.
So maybe we could do like a Tron trilogy time because I love that.
I love Cyberpunk. I love Daft Punk.

(32:29):
I love, and you got to see that ride when we did some of our Florida shows.
Yeah. We went on the Tron ride. The Tron ride is so good, dude.
Yeah. I just think it's a huge misstep to hire Jared Leto to do anything.
I'm sorry. He's a jerk and I don't like him. He won the Oscar for the Dallas Byers, I think.
And he's also in a band. So I'm surprised. I'm surprised you're not. 30 seconds to Mars.

(32:54):
30 seconds to Mars. No. Do you know where it is? It's because he doesn't blink.
If you watch anything he's in, he never blinks when he's looking at the camera.
And he has dead soulless eyes.
And he moves when he acts.
He's just like my least favorite actor. And we tried to watch Morbius and couldn't
even make it a half an hour. And it was one of the worst movies I've ever seen.

(33:15):
And I think it's just such a bad move to hire him for anything.
But right. Well, I think we can trash Sony more than we can trash Disney.
But honestly, man, I'm curious. I'm curious to see. I'm wanting to see it because I saw the original Tron.
I like the remake or like the sequel.
I like Jeff Bridges in everything. So that's fine. Not that Jeff Bridges did

(33:35):
this one. But then the soundtrack is huge. So excited for that.
And one of the ones that I'm excited for, even though I don't know if it's going
to be as good as Zootopia 2, because Zootopia was one of my favorite Disney animation studios.
And it looks like they brought they were able to get everybody back
so like jason bateman is coming back goodwin jennifer
goodwin comes back as judy hops and i'm

(33:58):
you know very excited for the potential for that because utopia was one of those
that it was so funny like my sister my sister saw it she was like it's excellent
and at the time she was like maybe 27 i was like there's no way she's like andrew
just watch it she's like it's excellent and i watched it with my mom i was I
was like, yeah, this is excellent.
So I'm curious. Maybe there's been enough time that this next installment is going to be great.

(34:20):
And kind of the last Disney-esque... Jason Bateman. More Pixar...
Yeah, J.S. Bateman's coming back. Dude, we forgot to mention the Jenkinson show.
The Zootopia tie-in was that, you know, the sloth from the Zootopia movie is a big name.
And we played Jenkinson's Boardwalk in Point Pleasant, New Jersey.
And we got to meet the sloth, Wally the sloth.

(34:43):
So sorry I mentioned that earlier. I don't know. Anyways. Nah, it's all right.
Anywho, yeah, the last sort of Pixar movie before I want to go into 20th century
and then go into our kind of our next topic about alien.
Elio looks really good. I'm very curious. Is that the alien one where he's like a in outer space?
Dude. I don't know if I saw the latest. Is there a new trailer?

(35:05):
Nope, there's not a trailer. But so essentially this is a Pixar movie about
an 11-year-old boy who doesn't fit in much at home by accident.
He ends up traveling through space and becomes some aliens ambassador for Earth.
And I could see it being really cute. Really? It's like a completely new sort
of thing. It comes out next June.
It's got, America Ferreira in it and she's fantastic. I'm very interested.

(35:28):
What was America Ferreira in? She was in... America Ferreira's in everything.
I think she was in, hold on, before I misspeak. I'm seeing, I'm not seeing her
on the Wikipedia page. Ugly Betty.
Of the movie, but they could have just announced her. But I am seeing Jamila Jamil is attached.
She was in Superstore, Ugly Betty, Barbie Movie, How to Train Your Dragon.

(35:50):
She's legit. legit like i i i really i
really like we got your favorite guy attached everything brad garrett
the older brother from everybody loves raymond he's he's
an elio what oh
my god dude robert's in this movie yeah but
the thing is jason garrett jason garrett actually talks like
this in real life really what no he

(36:12):
doesn't have that deep voice no that's that's just his
voice so yeah you're kidding me and then i sent
okay so before we move on sorry i i so
we've talked about the ray bit so i sent i sent a clip to chelsea today nice
where because i was sick i was singing to my cat because i was singing like
a terrible opera voice at him and then i was doing the ray voice at him and

(36:34):
then i was like what if ray sang opera deborah and i was like oh i just opened a Pindora's box.
How did Panda the Cat respond to the opera Ray Romano voice?
You know, I don't know. He's a cat.
He doesn't run away. He just kind of looks at me like, oh, you're doing that

(36:55):
again. Can I have a treat? Cats are the best.
But yeah, I love cats. So yeah, there's a lot of 20th century stuff coming out
as well and that's now under the umbrella because it used to be 20th century Fox.
Fox was acquired by Disney. And so now...
Now this kind of brings up to the meat and the potatoes of the episode.
Yeah. We saw Alien Romulus this past week. Yeah, we did. We saw it in 40X.

(37:20):
Shouts out to Regal 40X. We saw it late at night on a Wednesday.
It was, we both had separate rehearsals that night.
And usually I don't do anything after 10 p.m. But it's a movie I've been wanting
to see. So you need some time.
It's just, everyone thinks that
being a musician is like, it's so fun and you get to do what you love.
But dude our rehearsals work your paint your painstakingly like

(37:43):
made charts and arrange songs and surely every
rehearsal we're gonna find okay the charts wrong here or there's a
question and then you start the act of physically performing
and refining so like yeah usually musicians after
rehearsal we don't like to go and do an
additional event yes so that just shows how much
we're dedicated so dedication not only

(38:05):
to doing the podcast because this is something we want to to talk
about but also dedication to just how much i
wanted to see this movie this was this and deadpool
and wolverine were the only movies i actually wanted to
see hell yeah dude both disney movies what can.
This was a blockbuster pick i mean inside out
2 ended up being one that i really ended up wanting to see but like

(38:25):
when i saw the previews for alien romulus i said i absolutely
have to see this i'm so excited but does
this mean that ripley is a disney princess and
the and like the queen alien is the
is like an evil stepmother or is
like the xenomorph itself like a disney princess
like oh yeah that's that's who's

(38:48):
the disney prince there's got to be one out of those two people because it's
i think it's ripley i think it's ripley because she's the heroine and she
and sigourney weaver is in i believe the first four
alien movies and this one is believe
it or not Romulus is a prequel to alien
aliens I read that
as the aliens yes because alien and aliens yes

(39:10):
alien I'm sorry listeners we're gonna get into some mild spoilers here um and
then heavy spoilers later but very heavy yeah the the the the what starts off
the plot the the MacGuffin of the film is that they find the alien body in space
from alien the first Verse one,
because and we're learning about the xenomorphs.

(39:32):
They have the ability to cocoon themselves in space.
Yes. And I didn't after I did some research on this movie, I didn't notice it
right when I first saw it.
But, you know, the gun that Sigourney Weaver shoots the alien is found.
It's imprinted on the cocoon of the alien in space. So this is so this is the
exact alien that started that started it all.

(39:55):
And then and that's how it all starts out.
Okay, so... Yeah. I don't want to skip ahead. We got a lot of fun stuff to talk
about here. No, we're not skipping ahead.
But just to talk about where this kind of lies, it's between Alien and Aliens. Yes.
So this is technically a prequel sequel. Yeah, that's interesting.

(40:15):
But here's the thing. Alien is one of my favorite franchises of all time.
I've seen every single Alien movie.
You watched two of these on a Merman tour. Because Cody's also the Alien guy.
Yes we've watched alien i think that when it
comes to sci-fi fantasy it's the best there
is i whoa i'm afraid it's it's

(40:37):
one of the most rewatchable and almost every year over star wars i think it's
one of the most rewatchable of like sci-fi genre and i've actually every year
i watch alien and aliens and then almost every year i watch alien versus predators
just because it's very fun and i saw that in theaters so when they came up with
prometheus years and years ago i was
so on board because i'm like this looks new and this looks different and

(41:00):
we didn't know it was an alien movie unless you really paid attention
oh i knew like oh so you you're like i'm was because that was the movie thing
you're like oh yeah prometheus what's this movie and then at the end it's like
wait this ties into aliens and then then the sequel to that was covenant and
it was alien covenant with uh michael fassbender shout out to i mean yep i love the fat The Fast Man.

(41:21):
The Fast Man. I love Michael Fast. And Android.
The Fast Ass Man. Dude, anything he's in is crush, crush.
Hell yeah. I mean, so, okay, this is the first Alien movie released under Disney.
It's also like, for us as the Merman, Alien has become a part of our tour tales
because Cody Ron, our- Captain.

(41:44):
And by the way, Cody Ron is coming back to play bass on one of the shows that
you can't do, which is- Oh, I'm so happy.
He loves playing bass on the shows. He's a great bassist, excellent drummer,
sounds like a drum. We're going to get him on the podcast eventually.
That's going to be like a six-hour episode. He held our first chair and is just a big alien guy.
And it's hard to get everybody on the same page after a show.

(42:04):
It's like, I want to get to Airbnb.
I want to sleep. I'm going to FaceTime my significant other.
But Cody motivated everybody in the band to see the first alien movie.
We're all like, all right, it's movie night. Let's all go do this. and then a couple
tours later we watched aliens i think
you were you you were you were there for i was on there both for
both hell yeah all right that's what i'm talking about alien was alien

(42:27):
was big e and then dude i don't know how you remember this yeah and then cleveland
and then cleveland snow tour we stayed in that like victorian mansion that also
had a piano of that opera singer oh my god yeah right that was ambience but
yeah so the thing about what Essentially,
their marketing strategy was, we're going to make it look, feel,

(42:49):
and act like it's the first Alien or Aliens, basically. Yeah,
I felt that. And they did such a good job.
They got the director who did Evil Dead in.
Oh, my God. Is that who that director was? Yeah. They made all the right decisions
with, hey, we want this to be as Ridley Scott as possible, but we want it to
feel like it's in the 80s.

(43:09):
And their marketing campaign, like, yeah, I mean, they had a lot of like the
jump scares were kind of in it.
But that's what you need. You need to kind of know what to expect.
Because, I mean, these are scary movies. I have some great jump scares.
And I'm not someone that's easily scared. weird they just
they when i saw the preview and they did the whole
thing where they just put like alien and they

(43:32):
spell out alien as like all these things are happening and then it's just it's
just so well done and yeah i mean from the outset the second the movie started
i was like man it's not gonna go great for anyone in this movie i kept saying
oh no this is they were terribly wrong.

(43:53):
It happened so many times for like so like alexis one thing i did realize so,
we went to go see this on 40x and for those who don't know that is a very interactive
experience they're flashing lights
you can only do that at regal cinemas feature sponsor of the podcast.
And so when we when we sat down because i had never
gone to see anything in 40x because it sounded unpleasant but i

(44:16):
was like we gotta do it for alien there's a little button on your armrest
that says water on water off and i was like alexis we can actually change to
water off so we change it to water off and guess what oops all water we still
got squirt we still got squirt listen it's a brand new technology they're still
refining it it's like a thrill ride mixed with a movie.

(44:37):
Ryan slacco is another member of
the little merman that i invited into a 40x
experience and it's sort of like yeah you want to come to movie night it's like yeah sure sure
it's like have you seen a 40x when we was like no but how different
could it be and then you get there and it's like the seats are shaking they're
spraying you know mists in behind you there's
a thing that you know we so when we saw godzilla it's

(44:57):
like we went to the when in the godzilla eventually you you
have to like walk through the the jungle and there's all
these like dinosaurs running by your feet and there's like little
feet things under the seats that that get your feet
so one of the things so ryan came you know not not
and i didn't know this either so i it was on me for not giving my a
heads up but he came in his donald duck white pants and then
we were eating like some peanut m&ms and so

(45:20):
these sheets shake these seats
shake a lot so there was an m&m incident i don't
know if we're gonna keep that in the podcast maybe we'll edit that no that's
fine so but yeah it was it was one of those things that it was very jarring
when they did it when they kind of reset the the state the seating for a preview
which i wasn't expecting but then once we actually got into it i thought that

(45:41):
well hey i'm glad we went to it because i was i was tired and i didn't,
once because you had no choice but I felt that they really did add to.
All of the long shots that they did and all of like the
zoom outs and all of like the space shots and they were
lifting off to overtake the spacecraft

(46:05):
that the teenagers found it was like and the sheets were shaking and then the
mist was going off and I was like this feels like a Disney ride they did a very
good job of that part and here's the thing I don't think you need to see and
40X to have a good time because visually it was one of the most stunning movies I've seen.
I don't know how they did it. Like the actual physical sets themselves and the,

(46:27):
because I feel like I read somewhere that they use old school models like they've
done with like the more recent Star Wars and not just relying,
not relying so heavily on CGI and actually using practical effects.
All the practical stuff looked like it was an 80s movie.
It looks like it was like shot in the late 70s early 80s and it just it had

(46:47):
such a great retro vibe but then all of the planetary shots and like all the
shots of like that planet the mining planet they were on with like the rings,
including all the way up until like the very end was absolutely stunning like
it was i could not i was like i could not get over there wasn't a ride at some
points and that that to me was.
That was just excellent and like i mean we're

(47:08):
not ruining anything with this because this did happen in the previews
but also like the first chest bursting scene it
was just like so gnarly it was
so good and that was just
a highlight was like the first big kill and you're like
yeah and they built it up so perfectly
like they did the same sort of like playing with the silence of space and playing

(47:32):
with like that eerie sort of silence of with like a lot of underscoring they
just did what made alien and aliens so successful and makes them such good pieces of theater is.
The suspense the the pull and the release like it was really a terrifying it
was very terrifying like when shit started go off sorry excuse me when stuff

(47:55):
started to go off the rails because stuff did go off the rails because it's an alien movie
it went off the rails a lot and there was there was it's very rarely do I ever
watch a movie I go I have no I don't think they're gonna get out of there there
was a time was like Like, I don't think it's a good idea. Yeah,
it might be a Rogue One type of ending.
Listen, I mean, so, okay. So imagine this, because I had this thought and I
wanted to save it for the podcast.

(48:15):
But like, you know, okay. So imagine like these Disney Channel movies and a
lot of these Disney movies and Disney does this a lot. They're doing it with
the new Star Wars skeleton crew.
So it's sort of like, let's follow these kids on their hijinks.
Like, it's like the Goonies type of thing.
And really is, I thought- Very popular.
It's almost like a pun because the stars of this movie are like literal children

(48:38):
and they're also working on this planet in the mine so they're like miners in two senses and.
And then, so, okay, so here's our Disney movie, these kids, all right,
and she's stuck in the mines, and, oh, she, you know, she needs to get out and
see the world, and her friends are, like, a group of teenagers,
and they're going to, like, do this big old heist, and what could go wrong?

(49:00):
And then it goes really wrong, and all of a sudden it shifts from,
like, a Disney movie opening to, like, very much we're in the early,
like, on that ship, there's some stuff, and their day just goes wrong.
Like skip ahead to like the part on the ship i love i love that they did this
there was like a gravity anti-gravity thing that was broken with the ship yeah
in one room yeah that would and then when you kill an alien their blood is acid

(49:24):
so all of a sudden there's they have to.
Float through the and not get
burned by the acid and i was just like oh no this is that was so Oh, cool.
Man, they're just really having a bad, bad luck day.
These kids. Yeah. So to kind of throw in some marvelous Murph-ex.
Hell yeah. As I did see here that they did use a lot of practical effects,

(49:48):
much like the original films.
Amazing. But yeah, I mean, so, you know, the original Alien movie directed in
1979 was directed by Ridley Scott, remains classic in the sci-fi genre.
Producer on this movie. pretty much he's the producer on this movie
and ridley scott also did like raised by wolves he did
another alien in 2019 and he

(50:08):
also did prometheus i mean he's the alien guy and it just
has all those touches i mean yeah it does start like almost like a disney film
i don't i don't know i mean maybe it does i mean but it's it was it was definitely
an unconventional start to an alien movie that it's not just a space crew it's
like oh these kids are trying to get off world because

(50:30):
they're stuck in a mining contract and the planet's dying.
And so it's like, so it kind of, it does kind of start as though it's like a
Goonies movie. And then it goes right to Ridley Scott world.
And I just appreciated that they kept all of the physics, all of the science
and all of the references to every other alien kind of contextualized in it,

(50:51):
but still explaining it.
So if this is your first alien movie, you don't feel stupid.
Though I will say Romulus, they brought up the name Romulus like three times.
It was very funny because they did bring up the whole thing of Remus and Romulus.
Like that's, it was named for Remus and Romulus, like the space station that,
or the spacecraft that these kids break into to try to get, what,

(51:13):
what the heck were they trying to get?
They're trying to get something to go off world, right? It was like, it was like a fuel.
It's the Roman myth. It's Romus and Romulus. And these are the.
Remus and Romulus, right? I think it's actually wrong. You are right.
I am wrong. It is Remus and Romulus.
Oh, like Uncle Remus. Uncle Remus, yeah.
In that Disney movie that we don't talk about. We don't talk about Remus. No, no, no.

(51:38):
So, okay, so.
Actually, sorry, that would be a really funny movie. Remus and Romulus,
and it's just Uncle Remus and the Xenomorph.
It's like five minutes because, oh God, okay. So like, yeah,
so it's sort of like, I thought that was very clever because,

(51:58):
you know, and Melinda and I talked to Carly and Cody who saw this movie.
And it's funny because they're like, yeah, what's a Romulus? Like, what is this?
So just for our listeners who might not know, in Roman mythology,
Romulus and Remus, they're twin brothers raised by a she-wolf after being abandoned.
Romulus eventually kills Romulus. Excuse me. Remus eventually kills Remus.

(52:21):
Eventually kills Remus in the struggle over to build the new city.
And so in the spaceship, there's like one dock of the spaceship called...
Romulus one doc is called remus it's like why would they name it after this
and so so we have the themes of alien and i do want to talk about this a little
bit here because okay so it's just like the symbolism in every movie there's

(52:42):
great themes so in this yeah greek excuse me roman myth,
themes of rivalry conflict yeah and the
last one the birth of something new over destruction and
violence so okay so creation and rivalry and this is sort of like a really a
really cool way to have you know like you know I think people were kind of worried

(53:03):
that this was going to be like Star Wars The Force Awakens which is repackaging
A New Hope and sort of just like all the same stuff and so this was a cool way to kind of like,
not do fan service but like kind of reboot this stepping away from what is it Covenant
Prometheus and then tying that into the other Alien movies and then I was also
thinking about this they kind of did they just Rogue One'd it I mean yeah and

(53:28):
Rogue One yeah Because you still have a Skywalker in there. You have Darth Vader.
You still see lightsaber stuff. There's still a bit of force conversation.
There's still that stuff. But it's like.
This is the concept that I feel like is so good. I feel like this is peak podcast
content right here. Just saying.
Screaming about aliens. Yes. I mean. So I talked a little bit earlier how like,

(53:53):
you know, if they're going to shoehorn feminism into a Snow White movie and
try and be like, this is going to be great.
Like I just I want it to be fully realized and someone's really put their heart
into a project and when we saw Alien the first movie you know that was right
around the time that the Barbie movie was coming out.
And like, you know, I really think, and we didn't really see that in Covenant

(54:17):
and Prometheus, but just the themes of like feminism, like explored in this
way we've never seen it before.
I mean, we're in an era now, I mean, I think we can say this on the podcast,
like there's a very real reality where we're going to have a female president
of the United States for the first time ever.
It's an exciting time. time and so just feminism being

(54:39):
like you know listen women matter gender
roles not being restrictive everyone has
an opinion about what you should do what matters most is what you want for yourself
don't condition these women to see you know men as a prize to be won through
marriage so in the first alien movie and again this takes place in the 80s and
all these men are telling sigourney weaver like oh she's like we can't let that

(55:03):
back on the ship no there's a security 3D protocol and they're like,
no, hey, listen, we're in charge. Listen to us.
And they kept that in this movie with this new character, Rain,
who, by the way, is great.
She was also the star of that Civil War movie that came out earlier this year.
So I did not see that movie, but I do want to see it because I like Jesse Plemons.
I think that he has done everything he's in. He's great. So I really just Plemons.

(55:26):
I just love that. Like, and I guess it is a little bit of like Force Awakens
where it's like, listen, this one woman, excuse me, this one woman,
the central character, and why is nobody listening to her?
And okay, it's really up to her at the end. And at the end of the movie,
it's her versus this alien.
You know, they kind of like had that format of the script, but I really thought

(55:47):
it was so like, just so unique as they brought that back.
And it's her and her brother, who's the android robot, and just exploring that
relationship a little bit.
Because at one point he gets a- It definitely didn't, yeah. It definitely didn't feel put upon.
And that's the thing, like you said, it's like, I, listen, if you're gonna take
a swing, swing from the fences and really impress me.

(56:11):
And I was just impressed by the cast, by the music, by the whole thing.
The one thing that I hated was CGI-ing that dead actor as the android that was
still kind of alive. I hated that so much.
You know what? It was important to the plot and it was a really, really, really cool,

(56:36):
way to treat the androids because that's such a big part of the whole Alien
universe and raised by wolves, which is just about two androids that like go
to a planet and try to terraform it.
And like one of the androids gets pregnant, like actually pregnant.
It's like a whole thing. Ridley Scott, wild, hard sci fi.
But it was such a bad use of CGI. And even though it was important to the plot, that actor's dead.

(57:01):
And I felt like out of all of the swings that Disney as a corporation has made
by doing that in the Star Wars franchise.
This was my least favorite. It gave me such uncanny valley and it kind of made
him like, I hated to hit it a lot more.
I think, but yeah, that was my least favorite. So I'm not going to really take
a side on this because there, there was a lot, again, there's a lot of nuance to be said about like,

(57:21):
bringing because he's a deceased actor it's it's again going back
to rogue one but when we had a great grandma for tarkin
i believe is it a cgi yeah i
mean that one was on all was impossible to to do without cgi because that actor's
been dead since like in 1985 whereas like this other actor he's just died more
recently right i mean i don't know when ian holmes died that's ian holmes he

(57:44):
was in the original alien movie and thank you for that i'll check that out he yeah he died in 2000.
Don't know excuse me he died in 2020 2020 okay
so like yeah i was gonna say i felt like it was very recent so
listen like the director this guy fide alvarez he
sought approval from ian holmes family to include the
likeness in the film so oh that's so beautiful though

(58:06):
and he he tried to do it i guess with you know
just trying to be like listen like i want to bring this android character
back because this you know in the
plot they come to the ship then they find the android that's
the the same android that was the one in alien one and so
it looks like weird cgi like robot uncanny valley but
i think they kind of wanted to use that in the

(58:27):
film to be like yeah it's it's sort of made you're supposed to feel kind of
off-put but at the same time that works it worked i was off-put i i think there's
all i think there's a conversation to be had about like okay so the the family
of this actor who has died they they probably got you know some type of uh monetary.

(58:47):
So you know and it's sort of like okay well so can we
trust you know the sons of you
know because it's it's a weird thing to be like here's this guy who cannot give
his approval to use his likeness so they asked his like children or grandchildren
so sort of like i don't know but at the same time i was sort of just like i
see what they're trying to do and i i wonder if originally that was going going

(59:09):
to be Michael Fassbender.
And then they were like, well, okay. I don't know. You know what I mean?
But I also feel like it makes... I mean, it had to be a likeness of Ian Holm.
But also, I mean, he was...
Also in the he was also lord of the rings he was also in day after tomorrow
he was also in fifth element oh really i didn't know that oh my god that's crazy he was.

(59:29):
It's a disney movie yeah no dude i'm
telling you ian holm is just like he is he is kind of like the sci-fi guy like
that's just like i mean fifth element's one of my favorite movies like that's
one of my most re-watched movies i've ever seen it's just it's such a good movie
and you know all this so he plays a pretty minor role but he's so good he's
just the and and it was that That didn't take away from the movie for me.

(59:52):
A lot of people are saying that it does, though. You're not alone in saying this. I went on Twitter.
There's a lot of conversation being had about this. So, yeah,
maybe we should not edit this out. I don't know.
That's okay. So, yeah, anyways. No edit episode.
I give it a nine Ray salute, which is, there's a 10 Ray salute.

(01:00:15):
Oh, really? You got a nine out of 10 Ray salute. Nine out of 10 Ray salute.
I mean, the only thing I think that would be a 10 out of 10 would be no terrible CGI for you at home.
But I mean, I love the movie. I really highly recommend it. Yeah,
I really highly recommend it. It's one of my favorite alien movies.
I think this year I might do a full watch in chronological order,

(01:00:39):
not move or like movie chronological order of all of the alien movies and just like, oh, hell yeah.
Yeah. Yeah, so do you have any final thoughts on this before we move on to some
tour van shenanigans? I do.
I have one final thought, and that is that Ripley from the first movie is an

(01:00:59):
alien princess. And so that means... Disney princess.
Yes, that's correct. Let's try it again. Yeah, no, I want to make it good. I know.
Also, my dude, I'm just recovering from tour. And my mind is gobbledygook.
So maybe we'll keep it in. But I also think the Xenomorph is a Disney princess.
I think they're both Disney princesses.
And I think you can be a Disney princess and an evil stepmother at the same

(01:01:24):
time. I think that's a twist.
Yeah. And I think that's a fun thing to include in this podcast.
And then, yeah. So then the last thing, we're getting into this era.
Royal were like 20th century fox is now disney
and this was a big thing with our dead Wolverine episode and
it's a big thing with this episode and so
the alien franchise has its own massive fan

(01:01:45):
base it has its own conventions so now
that's all my disney conventions so like as you
know as the custodians of like the disney legacy and
disney's music and we're just here to really kind of
like honor you know our as the
nation's number one Disney tribute band like what we're talking about before it's
like audiences are going to fold their arms and be like impress me

(01:02:07):
and we're it dude we're the top of the top so like
it's up to us to decide if like this is
going to be a bigger part of the Disney canon and
if somehow Alien is ever going to make an
appearance at a Little Mermaid show and who knows
how that's going to happen listen I have a thought
and you can keep this in edit it out but i would

(01:02:28):
love to october 2025 do a
little merman a little merman night where it's
a sci-fi night where it's just where
there's no disney cartoon stuff it's all disney sci-fi it's the music from the
marvel universe it always hires the caribbean we do alien because there is some
music and alien we do stuff from star wars and we do some alternate costumes

(01:02:52):
and we can like show and we can kind of show some of the clips and stuff and just do like.
Like really like do it as it would be really fun to do it at a place like a
hard rock pittsburgh where the where like friday night would be disney after
dark and then saturday night is like sci-fi night and it could even be hey we
show one of the movies we're gonna play a lot of music from.
Before as just like a watch along in the

(01:03:15):
place or whatever like i think that would be a really fun thing to try to
plan for because we we want to honor the whole
disney universe and a lot of of people when i tell them about this band everyone
knows i'm such a big star wars guy they always ask me do you guys ever play star
wars music and i say unfortunately we don't because it doesn't oh interesting cantina
cantina band or with the jedi rock
song from the specials i always bring that up i'm like listen there's only there's

(01:03:39):
only one that really has there's two that have lyrics words there's yub nub
and yub nub but they cut that out in their special editions we can we will make
it happen i have i have music for it but anyways let's get into our Tor Vans.
Yeah, Tor Vans. Tor Vans. Funny bits.
Music.

(01:04:10):
Little bit of a shenan on the way up there was just like
a ton of traffic this weekend to new hampshire
but the nice thing is is that most of
us are pretty great about just having and
just making making the best out of it and
so why don't you kind of tell tell us what happened
this is a this is one of those really fun ox moments that ended

(01:04:33):
up being a bit that kept going until you stopped at the all
of garden which was wonderful we did we
might even be able to do like we'll see if i have time
to do like in my edit of this you get asmr but
like let's see like imagine yourself the listener
of this podcast in the tour van with the
little merman there's and we have the scrappiest

(01:04:55):
tour vans because we're as really we
are the ultimate disney tribute band but we're also an
indie rock band so we're on a budget so
there's weird band sounds here and there's there's some new
band members they're the first you know and they're coming into this fresh
and then somebody hands alexis the ox
and this has gone you know a lot of

(01:05:15):
ways in the past it's led to some crazy shenanigans some some.
Brain breakers which i specifically asked for that's true you
were like hey man we're driving to this show no brain breakers
please and so i'm putting myself in like maybe max's shoes he's like i don't
even know what that means but what are we gonna listen to so we went on a we
went on a bluegrass journey i recently was at the Bonnaroo Music Festival with

(01:05:35):
I think one of our new kind of star drummers here. We're going to do a shout out to Quinn Marshall.
So, okay, so yeah, when Quinn and I were at Bonnaroo Music Festival,
we happened upon the show as the band called Green Sky Bluegrass.
And it was talented boys tearing it up.

(01:05:56):
Bluegrass band, mandolin, banjo, slide guitar, guitar, upright bass.
And they launched into one of their covers. it's really just
changed like my day if ever maybe some of
our like concert goers will know just like
when sometimes when you see a band and you and you hear
them do a certain song it just catches you and it's just like all of
a sudden it was like pink floyd bluegrass hoedown and

(01:06:19):
so yeah i played that cover in the van i think i might
have started with that and then we just kind of went into bluegrass covers
of popular songs and i said it kind of became a fun game because we're like
Grau you played you added your number one hit to this and that was Gin and Juice
by the Gordz if you haven't heard that song if you haven't heard that it is

(01:06:41):
one of the best covers of all time and,
great cover so blowed away dude yeah i was it was so perfect yeah i would say
a close second would be we heard a bluegrass cover of don't stop believing i
gotta look which was very good that was that was pretty good shockingly good
well then it then then it also became,

(01:07:02):
is growl gonna guess the cover after the first note and it happened like five
times i was like oh yeah this is don't stop believing how do you do this we
were playing some like iron maiden.
Last night i got i was just
playing some like live and before the first note i was
like all right we did what we do we listen to some shania twain live
in vegas yeah and this shows you how diverse our listening

(01:07:23):
is because we went from shania twain to iron
maiden and and i was like all right we're going to rock and
you had like a couple glasses guesses and then you like you're
just like is it gonna be an iron maiden and i was like wait what i
didn't know how you figured that out too that was crazy it's yeah
i i'm let's just say i'm the type of person you would
want to bring a trivia night yeah dude we've

(01:07:44):
won trivia together twice i think yeah twice we've won
trivia twice oh yeah but yeah the bluegrass thing
was really fun too because it's for those of you that are unaware of
bluegrass there's oftentimes not
drums there's sometimes percussion a washboard like a tub
so it's a lot of how are these
people harmonizing doing doing something

(01:08:06):
a little different with instrumentation whether that's banjo and
a mandolin violin guitar or slide guitar whatever that
is and it was really it was really soothing and
wonderful and there are some big swings some big misses some ones
that really connected like the the africa one was great oh yeah i guess when
i went when i hear bluegrass cover i just want to hear a little twang in that

(01:08:27):
and someone's voice i think for me that yeah i don't know that that's just my
own thing and i know you don't want to put on an affectation when you sing no
i agree though but dude there's another Torben Shanann.
And I didn't write this down on our notes but do you know what I'm about to say.
Lay it on me well we had again shout out to max from the hairspray tour shout out to peter from,

(01:08:50):
talula band we've done this before we talked
about this on the podcast the birthday bit this was
our first birthday birthday birthday bit and it
was great because we went to the all of garden which is
always a big i'm always a big fan of i got the tape i got the tour in italy
i could only finish one thing because it was too much
food but it was great we're having a good time and it was

(01:09:12):
apparently everyone's birthday in the restaurant there we counted at least
three or four birthdays before and so i
i knew for a fact that alexis the
birthday band and i also knew for.
A fact that it was gonna be at least one
of them but then at some point both of them looked at
each other both pete and max look at each other and was like oh which

(01:09:33):
one of us is is our birthday and i
was like there goes that going back movement alexis sex because he told
the tell the waitress about the birthdays and I said I told the waitress that they're
twins and we told them they were twins and it
was we got that we got the double birthday we got on
video that's going on the patreon double birthday bit that in
guys okay check out our birthday bits yeah it

(01:09:54):
was just speaking of yeah I don't know so speaking
of and to wrap the longest episode of this yeah dude we're
going long man sorry you gotta get a part of your gig after this no
it's all right listen I love it so thank you for checking us
out today this was a a really fun topic and you know
one of the things that really helps us keep going that helps us
keep motivated is getting those people on patreon so

(01:10:16):
we'd love it if you'd join us on patreon for exclusive content
bonus episodes behind the scene insights and more visit patreon.com slash the
little merman to become part of our merfam and enjoy all of the perks we have
to offer it's all that behind the magic please follow the podcast on merman
monday's pod please follow the little Little Merman at the Little Merman on Instagram.

(01:10:37):
You can find Alexis at Alexis Babini.
And you can find myself at growl underscore music.
That's right. So, guys, thank you for joining us on this episode of Merman Mondays.
We hope you've enjoyed our stories and discussions.
Don't forget to subscribe and follow us on all those platforms.
But most of all, also check out Merman Mondays pod.

(01:11:01):
Merman Mondays pod on Instagram.
And on Patreon. Just like we mentioned, patreon.com slash thelittlemerman.
So we'd love to hear your feedback. You can do that on Patreon.
So leave us a comment. Send us a message.
We're going to make this content just for you, you guys. We've got a lot of
fun goodies to share. We want to give you all those goodies.

(01:11:23):
And that's it. So until next time, remember to dream, believe,
and achieve. See you next Monday.
Yay. Yay. Heh heh heh.

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