Tank Girl - S10 E79 - Shoot The Hostage

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello and welcome to Shoot a Hostage with me, Dan, and my partner, Sarah. We're a movie podcast who talks about a different film each week based on a theme. We do swear and we do spoil the featured movie, so only ever listen if you've seen the film or you don't care too much about spoilers. If you're a regular listener, you can just skip forward until you hear the intro music cuz you've heard all of this before. But if you are new to the show and you do enjoy what you hear, there are a couple of things you can do to help support the show. Firstly, make sure that you're subscribed on your cosplayer, so you get notified when new shows drop on Mondays. Uh, you could rate us five stars on Spotify, which couldn't be easier. You just hit the star icon below the show's artwork, or if you have a spare few minutes, we'd love it if you could submit a review wherever you listen. Uh, make sure you come follow us at ST_Pod on social media. We are active on Instagram, threads, and Tik Tok. And lastly, the biggest thing you can do to help is tell a friend about the show. So, that's about it. That's enough preamble from me. Uh over to me and Sarah for this week's episode. We're still on the big old floppy flop season.

(00:01):
Mhm.
And I can't help but Wonder if this is some sort of revenge for Battlefield Earth because you've chosen
Tang Girl.
Yes.
And they don't come much floppier than Tangirl.
They don't. It was a big floppy one, was it?
It was really floppy. Yeah.
Yeah. Um 25 mil budget.
What did it make?
Four. Four and a half.
Oh, four and a half.
4.4. I I saw on the internet.
That's more than I thought actually. So, um, so qualifies qualifies for the floppy season.
It does. It does. It's wild to me that this made more than Empire Records.
Yeah. And Police Academy 7.
I love how many gauges we use Police Academy 7 for.
You could gauge any movie against Police Academy 7, can't you?
Yeah. That's our metric for everything.
Movies in Russia, movies about police, movies about eggs,
movies with Ron Pearlman.
Yeah. Then that's a lot of movies.

(00:22):
Yeah. That covers a lot of bases, franchises.
Yeah, Ron Pman is not in Tank Girl, which surprises me.
He's not.
He if this was made today, he would be in it.
I think Ron Pearlman would have been actually pretty good in the um Malcolm McDow role.
Yes, that's what I was thinking. Or as one of the kangaroo people.
I don't think there's enough latex in the world to cover his head after they used most of it in Hellboy. Surely
true. You think he's probably He's probably sick of being in costume. Although Doug Jones is in this movie, so it does have a GMO connection.
Is he really?
Yeah.
Guess.
Did I know that?
Guess what character he plays?
I don't know.
One of the kangaroo people. What else is he Doug Jones going to be playing?
I don't remember a a spindly kangaroo man. I guess they beefed him up a little bit.
Um before we get into all that, it is a flop.
Mhm.
You chose it.
Yeah. Sorry.
But why?

(00:43):
I knew You were going to ask me this and I don't have a good answer because watching watching films and watching films for the podcast are two very different experiences and two very different ways of consuming media to me anyway.
Yep. Whenever I'm watching something for the pod, I'm sort of got that kind of a critical eye.
Yeah.
And I'm paying attention more
closer attention. Yeah.
I'm trying to think what I think about it, if that makes sense. Rather than just let it happen at me.
Yeah. Yeah. And this perhaps was not the best choice for poking around with a critical eye. Um,
I don't know. I think there's there's some stuff to dig into with this.
Oh, yeah. None of it good, though.
I I agree with you, but it has had a bit of a reappraisal.
Look, a lot of people love this movie, and I
Well, I used to be one of them.
I still kind of am one of them, but So, when we started research for this show, I did go on letter box and was shocked to discover that the last time I watched this, I gave it four out of five stars, which is mindblowingly generous.
And I I cannot and will not attempt to justify that.
I cannot sanction that before
quite. I think this is a film that's so bad it's kind of indefensible. So, I'm not going to try. But I will say it was one of those that when it came out um is it 1995?
95.
I was a teenager. I mean, come on. Like a nihilistic feminist anarchic punk rock comic book movie. Did I say punk rock twice?
No, I don't think you
I said a lot of words and I got a bit lost in that sentence.
Comic book.

(01:04):
But when it came out, like it's it sort of ticked so many boxes for me.
Okay. And because I was a teenager, I was a lot less discerning in my choices and had seen a lot fewer films to provide comparison. So, I'm just making excuses now.
But it's
like I'm just digging myself a hole. It's a bad movie.
So, you saw it when you were a teenager, an impressionable age.
It has a lot going for it. Like, I'll say that
on paper.
On I would say in general it does. I for me It doesn't. I don't love it. I find it very great in
this is a this is a turn a turnip for the books.
A turnip for the books.
If you're going to be the one who's defending this movie,
I'm not I'm just playing the devil's advocate.
I don't I I think this movie is a big old piece of toilet. I don't like it at all.
But I could see uh as a child what you would get out of it. And I don't I think it's it is fun. Like it's a fun movie. I find it borderline unwatchable,
but I can understand if you just you sort of get a bit of fun out of it.
It's just not up to it's just not my taste really. Um, for a few reasons which we'll probably get into, I'm sure, but you saw it when you were a teenager, so impressful age. Was it a big box VHS rental?
I think it must have been. Yeah, I definitely didn't see it on a big screen,
so I must have rented it.
I think I remember it sort of being around, you know, I remember the trailers being on the start of videos that I rented from the video shop
and the cover was really eye-catching.
Yeah, I seem to think perhaps I was pretty excited to watch this when I was a kid.

(01:25):
Okay. Did you watch it when you were a kid?
It's I I don't know. It's one There were loads of these and there's been a few this season actually where I I think so, but I don't remember it so I may as well not have. But I think possibly I might have rented it and you know got the popcorn and stuff with my mates cuz we used to do sleepovers and that sort of thing, but I it can't have left much of an impression because I didn't remember it when we watched it together a couple of years ago for the first time. Uh I don't I don't think I remembered any of it. So, and it's also possible that I would have put it on maybe switched it off or started doing something else. So,
I mean,
but I remember it being out and I remember sort of being relatively excited for it because it was just like this crazy kind of based on comic book.
So, I would have been interested in it.
Well, maybe maybe you you have suppressed tank girl trauma and you did watch it, but you just weren't prepared for a musical sequence out of nowhere and Alice Cooper being a bit of a non an interecies romance at the heart of this weirdness. So perhaps you did watch it and then buried it in the recesses of your brain.
I don't Alice Cooper's not in this movie.
Yep.
Who Who's Alice Cooper then?
The nons. I thought that was Iggy Pop.
Oh, wait.
Easy to confuse the two.
They're both decrepit.
Is it?
I'm sure it's Iggy Pop.
It's been a week.
The one that gets hold of her kid and he's like trying to pull her along. Yeah, that's Iggy Pop. Is it?
I'm sure. I think you told me that.
Look, I'm getting on.
My brain's not what it used to be. Okay.
I I I'm happy to be corrected. I'm 95% certain. You are

(01:46):
Mr. Pop himself.
Yeah.
So, So being in the ' 90s then I thought Lorie Petty right she was in I know Lori Petty primarily from Point Break which is firmly in it's like the start of the '90s I think that's 1990 that film
this is 95 5 years later I don't know what she did in between or after
I know her from Point Break and now Tank Girl but I would have thought from this I guess if it was successful she would have been a bigger name was she big she's not someone that I sort of knew as as an actor when I was growing up at that time. I don't think I'd even seen Point Break at that point.
She definitely wasn't a big name and she certainly isn't now. She had a bit of a comeback because she had um a guest starring role on Orange is the New Black a few years back. Yeah. I don't know. I feel like Point Break was the film that kind of put her on the map a little bit. Um and she bounced around a little bit in the 90s. She did a film with Paulie Shaw.
Uh was it called Biodome?
It was No, she wasn't in Biodome.
Was it called uh Um, California Man.
It wasn't. No, I think it was something about like maybe it was just called like in the army or
Oh, I remember In the Army.
Was it that one?
I don't know if she was in it, but I remember it. I remember the cover for it.
I don't know. Look, my brain is not being kind to me today, so don't take that as gospel. I might be wrong, but that's that's I'm getting that from somewhere. Yeah,
I've pulled that information from somewhere.
Your ass
probably. Yeah, that's where most of it comes from. Um, and I don't know. I feel like this film probably was responsible for the decline in her career. Potentially.
Potentially. I
I love the fact that it's this and not working with Paulie Shaw that did it.
Yeah. Yeah. I It's probably I mean it was such a colossal failure financially speaking and as I said has been reappraised of late by
You say that though, but I think people still kind of acknowledge that it's bad, right?

(02:07):
Well, it's probably a mixture. I've seen mostly positive stuff in my research.
Wow. Okay.
But then it depends who you go to really. Could it have been possible potentially a reason that Rachel, are we saying Tlele?
Talle.
I've always said TLE, but I like Tlele.
I like Tlele. Let's let's let's stick with Tlele.
Rachel Tlele.
Is it possible that this movie is responsible for her not going on to bigger things? I know she's been quite successful in the world of TV with things like Doctor Who and I think some CW stuff. So, you know, she's had a career and she's she's doing it. But would she have been doing other things like bigger budget things or, you know, tank girl spin-offs and sequels and stuff had this been more successful?
I imagine so. Um, but do you know who I'm going to blame? Malcolm McDow, because the only other comparison I can think of is Neil Marshall, who's problematic in his own way at this point in time, but did really well off the back of Dog Soldiers in the Descent. Then he made Doomsday,
which I like,
which Malcolm McDow was in,
which I like
which you're you're entitled to be wrong. It's fine. It's a piece of s***, Dan. I hated it. I've only seen it once. But um yeah, and then that kind of tanked his career for a while, but then he came back to to direct TV and then did a few Game of Thrones episodes and sort of earned his way back in and then
tanked it again for different reasons.
Malcolm Mcdell is in the Game of Thrones.
No, I'm talking about Neil Marshall. I'm just saying his presence curses directors.
Okay. I I see what you mean. Yeah.
And then they have to resort to directing TV.
Yeah.
Which isn't a bad thing in if you're getting Game of Thrones.
No. No. Certainly not. And uh a lot of prestige TV now. Like it's it's probably in a lot of ways better to be doing that. Maybe you get a a more secure paycheck for a longer period of time. I know a lot of directors sort of dip in and out of TV shows. They, you know, it usually gets set up by a showrunner who sets the tone of the thing and directors sort of come in and out as guest directors or whatever, but I can't help but think that Rachel Tlele might have had a bigger career had this been successful. Um, do you know how she started her career?

(02:28):
I don't know how she started her career, but I do know her name came up when we covered Dream Warriors.
Dream Warriors.
Oh, damn it. I missed my queue. I'll never live it down. And I think it's because maybe she was one of the talking heads in the never Sleep Again documentary.
Yeah, I think she she might have been credited as a producer on that documentary, but she was she definitely was um she directed Freddy 6, the the Final Nightmare,
right? Okay.
And I believe she came up in New Line. She spent a lot of the 80s as a production accountant,
did she?
Yeah. Yeah.
And um she came up through that. I know that she worked as a production assistant on a film called Polyester. I think that was in the 70s or the 80s, but apparently it's a John Waters movie. You would know better than I
pipe of trash.
But yeah, apparently like came up through New Line Production account and and and then eventually directing Nightmare 6 and then directing Tank Girl and just been directing ever since, I think.
Oh, what could have been?
Yeah,
it's such a shame cuz I've read so much about some of the stuff that went on behind the scenes on in this film and some of the disagreements that happened along the way. And it does just sound like it was a giant f****** mess.
Yeah, it sounds like it was a pain in the ass of a production, doesn't it?
It does. And that there were a lot of disagreements and miscommunications that sort of led to it taking this giant turd form.
Yeah.
Um which is such a shame because honestly I think the the source material is pretty strong.
Have you read any Tang Girl?
Some. Yes.
Okay. Good. Is it?

(02:49):
Yeah. It's fun. It's funny, but it's I can never remember the guy's name. I I only ever remember I want to say Jamie Hulet.
Jamie Hulet. That sounds right. Yeah.
Yeah. Um, a bunch of people have contributed artwork to Tank Girl, but I think the most notable is the artwork that shares a lot of features with the band Gorillas for good reason because they were drawn by the same person.
Oh, yeah.
But because the comic is English. Well, it's written by English people. It's very British.
It feels British even though it's American stroke Australian.
Yeah. Well, it's set in Australia,
but but shot in America,
I believe. So,
with some Americans in it and some Australians in it.
Yeah. They never really make it clear.
No, they don't need to make it clear. It's just It just feels unusual cuz it does feel like a very British thing.
Yeah.
I don't know if that's just because I know that it's a British But it does like feels very nihilistic and like a sarcastic and
Yeah.
You know,
veryic sort of humor.
Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Bit Judge Dreddy, which is another British creation.
Yeah.
Mad Maxi, which is obviously Australian.
Just a little bit less polished than than its American counterparts, and a little bit more. This is going to sound like a dig um Americans, and I don't mean it as one, but maybe a little bit braver in some of the content.

(03:10):
Yeah, that's fair.
Um, very much more outside the box in terms of a lot of mainstream American comics anyway. There's a lot of indie stuff that obviously doesn't share those characteristics, but um but yeah, I think the the source material was pretty strong. So, it was it could have been so good. And I think that's kind of the the saddest part about all of it is to think about what we could have got.
Yeah, definitely. And and I know I know uh Rachel Tlele, she was definitely it was her thing. I I I think I heard somewhere that she had been given the comic possibly by her daughter.
Okay.
And then became super interested in it and sought out acquiring the rights to it,
right?
And then she shopped it around two studios to try and get it made. I think they landed on MGM in the end
who were just quite interfer
now owned by Yeah.
But um yeah, I think she went on record to say she kind of regretted that decision because obviously
what to to go through MGM
to go through um I think because um she had just quite a few issues in trying to get it made and what she wanted to put on screen and then being against certain things and it feels like each thing was probably a battle.
Yeah, I think maybe if there'd been an indie studio that was willing to take a bit of a chance I think that would have been a much better collaboration.
Yeah, I could see this, you know, perhaps like an A24 or a
neon maybe.
Yeah,
that could work.
I think this would be I think if this got made today, it would be way better.
It couldn't be much worse.
It surprises me you're saying that because like you said before, you were a fourst star last time.
No, I know. But but I think that's very much like an objective. This is this is the enjoyment that it gives me. Not that I think is genuinely a four-star movie.

(03:31):
Yeah.
Because I think even when we kind of nailed in the programming for this season, I said, "This is a piece of s***.
This is probably the only film I've chosen this season that I actually think is a bad movie."
Is it? Oh, I've chosen a few of them.
Yeah, I know. Yeah, we came at this from different angles for sure.
Yeah. I had to like I've said this before, but I got through my list. I was like, "Oh, now I've got to change something because they're all bad movies." So, I put in King of Comedy.
Yeah. which was a great choice, it turns out. Yeah, good call.
But um but yeah, I don't know. I I heard so many stories about the comic book guys being really pissed off with all the changes that people wanted to make and deviations from the source material that they just weren't thrilled about. Rachel Tlele um has sort of gone on record as saying that she thought everything with them was cool, that they had pretty good communication, that they were kind of on the same page. So I don't know if that's addressed more at the studio.
I would imagine so
at the Money People.
Well, if she acquired the rights and she had a pitch for them, they must have had a rough idea of what they were going to do. And it feels like her vision was very much in line with
what the comic is. I haven't read the comic, but I imagine that there's some consistency there. And it's probably the studio coming in going, "Ah, you can't do this. You can't do that. We We were going to give you this money, but now we're going to take it back or whatever." So,
yeah,
I'd imagine it's probably a we hate the studio situation.
I I would hope it's that, but there is some
there is some conflicting information out there because
in a lot of sources you find because obviously let's sort of talk about the film itself. There are a bunch of scenes that just are absent and so they're filled in with comic book panels.
Is that
which it's not even real animation. It's just static drawings for the most part.
Is that a creative choice or is that a
It's not a creative to film this choice.

(03:52):
So, the the more prevalent story is that they didn't have the budget to film some some of the more outlandish stuff, so that they plugged the gaps with the drawings. Um, but I think it was actually an interview with Rachel Tlele. I feel so dumb saying that now. Um, and she was sort of saying that yes, they lacked the budget, but then the comic book guys have gone on the record and said some stuff they just didn't bother to film.
Right.
So, it does sound There might be a little bit bad of bad blood there, even if it's one-sided,
but I I'm I'm just kind of reading between the lines there, but they definitely don't necessarily seem like they're on the same page or unless unless the director is just saying that to kind of save face.
I I think um that's one of my least favorite films things about this is is the the animation in it because every time it appears, I know it's a comic book movie and I have I've heard some people saying that they really like that about it. It's a certain charm and it's feels like it it feels like it's a comic book movie. But if I'm watching a live action movie, I want to watch a live action movie.
Yeah. If you want to read a comic, read a comic.
I I'll watch a comic. If I want to read a comic, I'll read a comic. And
not to say that that can't work sometimes, but it it didn't feel like perhaps if it was weaved in the narrative a bit more, it might might have made a bit more sense, but when the animation appeared, it felt like that they couldn't afford to film this scene. I was like, "Oh, she's jet water skiing on water like you can't afford all of that water or whatever is that was what was going through my mind and I just found it very jarring. It didn't it didn't flow into the the story enough for me. But I I I get I understand if people enjoy that and that's part of their charm. But I just hit me around the head and I I couldn't wait for it to stop.
Yeah. No, I I completely agree with that. I I don't know. I kind of have a bit of an issue with with comic book panels in movies full stop. Come to think of it. Because that's one of my issues about the is it the director's cut version of the Warriors because it starts with all that comic book panel b******* and I hate that.
I haven't seen a director's cut.
I hate that. Um Scott Pilgrim is a film that I really really want to like and that has some sort of because it's straight from the page that has some comic book isms woven through. So I think it's just a personal distaste for that.
I think Scott Pilgrim is a really good comparison for this.
Do you Yeah, cuz
cuz that's largely considered an excellent movie.
Yes. Um but I think obviously it's based on comic. I think it has a central character that is f****** annoying.
I think Tangirl is a lot more likable than Michael Sarah in that role, though.
Yes. Yes. You're probably right.
You're not sure.
Yeah, you're probably right. But but I would say objectively probably Scott Pilgrim is a better movie. But I still don't love it. And some of it is that kind of cartoony type world that that is is drawn up. It's just not really for me. But I do I do like that comparison cuz I do feel that there's a throughine between Tango and Scott Pilgrim. I I bet if you asked Edgar Wright if Tango was an influence on on Pilgrim, I bet he'd say, "Yeah,
I can imagine."
I mean, he's not here to answer.

(04:13):
Any other week and he would have been, but
if you're Edgar, right? Let us know.
I highly doubt Mr. Wright is going to be listening to this, but
You've met him?
Um, I have briefly. Yeah.
And you were at that gig where you were standing near him?
Yeah,
that's it. That's my twice.
Yeah, technically
you could have asked him. Next time you're standing near him, can you ask him?
Yeah. I don't know. I I would be shocked if he hadn't read Tankirl. Yeah. At some point. He seems like the type. That sounds like a a negative thing. I'm very glad that I didn't read any of the comics until after I'd seen the film because I think if I'd done it the other way around, I probably would have been more disappointed.
Yeah. I wonder what people that were fans of the comic back then in the 80s. When was it conceived? 88. I think you you said before
I think the character was first on the page in 88. Yes.
Yeah. Which is I would assumed it was way before that, but I imagine people that were fans of that in the 80s and the '9s and then they super excited to see this film and maybe some of them loved it, but I can imagine a lot of people being quite quite disappointed
and I think there was quite a lot of buzz around this film as well. I remember saying that
I remember seeing the trailers and being somewhat excited for it as a vague distant memory, but from what I've heard is that um they were trying to drum up a lot of publicity in a in a kind of unconventional way. They had put out casting calls all over all over Europe for for casting Tangirl. And I there's there's couple of people that went up for the the role of um of Tang Girl and I don't think you'd ever guess who they were. Do like Do you know this? Maybe. No, I don't. Maybe you've done this before.
All right. Uh let's let's play. Could you just play 20 questions? 20 questions. You got to guess someone that played that went up for the role as Tank Girl.
Rafe fines.
19 questions left.
Maybe. I don't know. I didn't I didn't see where saying that he didn't go off.
Well, there you go then. Maybe they were going to go in a completely different direction at one point.

(04:34):
They offered him the role, but he's like, "No, I'm going to hold out for Conclave in 35 years."
No, he wanted to be one of the rippers.
And they're like, "No, we want iced tea, and we're going to pay him a million pounds." A million pounds.
Did he really get a million quid?
Why are you paying IC Tea a million quid for this? I don't get it. He's not a good actor. Or he wasn't then. Maybe he's better. Now I don't know but but back then we watched a film of him in recently um an older film called Trespass and he's not good.
No. No. Not at all.
No. And he's no better in this.
No. I don't Would you say anybody's particularly good? I think Lorie Petty is perfectly cast.
I I think Yeah. I think she's she does what's asked of her. Certainly she does what's needed for that character.
I just wish she was in a better movie.
Yeah. But I am fascinated to learn who else was considered. You got 19 questions left.
I'm never going to You've already said I'm never going to guess.
You got You have to ask me a question.
Um Helen Mirin. No,
can't. Do you know how 20 questions works?
No. I've never played it.
You have to be like, "Oh, is it uh is it are they British?
Are they British or American?"
And I have to answer with a yes or no.
Oh, are they are they British?
Yes.

(04:55):
Right. Okay. Um Were they in their 30s
in the ' 90s?
No.
Were they in their 20ies in the '9s?
Um, maybe not. Maybe younger.
Oh. Oh, god. 1995.
Were they an actor?
Oh, interesting. Were they a musician?
No. Well, actually, two of them were musicians. There there's actually three that I'm thinking of, and two of them were musicians.
Are Well, you just tell me.
Musicians is a loose
Oh. Just tell me.
I don't know.
All right. All right. I'll tell you. So, two of them were the Spice Girls. Two of the Spice Girls.
Okay. And I've got to guess who of the five of them.
Oh, you can if you like.
Jerry Halwell.
I actually don't know.
So, you just know some girls. I think Posh Spice might have been one.
Really?
And maybe it was Jerry Halwell. I don't know. But they're the two that I would guess.

(05:16):
Really? Victoria. Beckham.
Yeah. Is that what she's called? Girl,
is that her name now?
Yeah.
Oh, when did that change?
I thought her say her name was Spice.
Oh, that's No, I don't like that.
There's one I've got one other in mind which you'll never get like
No, probably not. Go on.
Deina McCall.
What the f***?
No.
Yeah.
Why?
I I I think I saw an article somewhere and it said free of the spice. girls were up for the role of Tango and they went like I can't remember the Spice Girls exactly but I'm sure it was Jerry Halwell, Posh Spice and Deina McCall and I was like she's not a spice.
They've elevated her from Big Brother presenter to member of the Spice Girls.
Congratulations on your AI written article.
Wow. No, I hate that. I hate that so much. What was she doing at that point in the early to mid '9s? Was she presenting that dating show.
It was just before Street Mate, I reckon. Yeah,
Street. That's the one. Yeah,
that T4 classic.

(05:37):
That was terrible.
Hangover TV. That was in Southoun once. I remember they were outside Wworth's
Cool Story.
Cool story. Yeah.
No, I hate I hate all of that.
Yeah. Terrible. But they put out a big casting call and apparently according to I'm going to get a name right now cuz it feels kind of disrespectful, but Rachel Tal I nearly did it. Talate. Apparently part of that was to drive up publicity for it. Not necessarily because They wanted to do a worldwide casting call, but they just wanted people talking about it.
So, they weren't necessarily considered.
No.
Seriously?
No.
Good.
I wonder what ever happened to Posh Spice.
Um,
sure. She's fine sitting on her throne of money.
I bet apparently um Madonna lobbied for the role
that I could see more.
Yeah, but Talle was like not interested.
Fair enough.
I can see why. cuz I think she wanted something a bit more edgy, I guess. And and Madonna is I'm a big fan of Madonna's.
Madonna was pretty edgy,
was she?

(05:58):
Yeah.
Hell,
she was singing about f****** all the time. That she was considered so edgy back in the day.
Really?
Yeah.
Okay.
You're kidding.
All right. I mean, I I will listen to Latis Bonita more than the next guy, but I don't consider it edgy.
No, that isn't. But she had like eras that were pretty edgy. Okay.
Yeah, definitely.
I mean, I can sort of see it, but no, I think Petty's a much better choice for that.
Oh, agreed. I think she was pretty perfect.
Yeah.
Who would you cast now in a reboot?
Uh, well, Margot Robbie has acquired the rights, I believe, but I don't know if I would cast her in it.
That's really interesting that you've said that. I didn't know that
because my suggestion has a vague I think it's another Australian who's often likened to Margot Robbie.
I know who this is.
Go on then.
It's Samara Weaving.
Don't you think she would make such a good tang girl?

(06:19):
Yeah, I I would actually I'd prefer her over Margot Robbie, I think. Yeah,
I mean she's done sort of stuff like Mayhem and Guns of Kimbo. Like I could totally see her in that role.
I want that. How can we How can we make that happen?
Uh well, I guess write to Margot Robbie.
Dear Mrs. Robbie,
write her a letter. Quill
an old school letter.
Yeah.
Yeah. I'm sure that's the way it's done.
Who would you cast in the James Hong role?
Is James Hong still alive?
Yeah,
James Hong.
Yeah, bring it back.
Yeah, why not
make it a sequel?
No.
Okay.
Who would you cast as Booger?
Is that one of the Kangaroo boys?
Yeah, that's that's the one that becomes her boyfriend.

(06:40):
Pete Holmes. Okay, fair enough. I I think it's so funny that a bunch of people linked to this film were uncredited. I think that sort of speaks volumes to the quality of the the movie itself.
Really? Like who?
An Magnuson was in it. She's uncredited.
Where would I know one an Magnus from?
I can't remember a thing.
Sister of Magnus.
Yeah. No, I don't know. Um she you she's somebody whose face you would definitely recognize, but that way. She's like one of those guys but female.
Okay.
Guys is a like a genderneutral term I think.
Okay.
For me anyway.
I don't I don't see gender.
Sickening.
You've gone woke. You're so performative. D
I'm just virtue sign now.
You are. Yeah. Um obviously Stan Winston is the most famous.
Is he not credited?
He's uncredited.
That's interesting cuz you told me about this. this and my jaw was on the floor.
Yeah.
One of the greatest of all time made the kangaroo boys in Tanko

(07:01):
apparently. Or at least Stan Winston studio did because they they've sort of taken ownership of it now. Like if you if you search Tankirl Stan Winston, there are a bunch of images that they've kind of posted on Facebook recently to sort of celebrate the film's 30th anniversary. So it's not something that they're denying. any longer. But it certainly sounds like they wanted to distance themselves on release. I
think for good reason.
You You could have gotten away with it in the mid '90s cuz the internet wasn't very popular. Not everyone had the in like everyone's knowledge in their f****** pockets. But now it's like, well, you banged the right, haven't you?
Um, yeah. It's weird, isn't it? Like I don't think the Kangaroo Boys look very good.
No, they don't.
But I can't I don't know if that is a result of the way that is shot or they were obviously going for something. Is it perhaps it's faithful? Are the kangaroo boys are they in the comic?
Mhm.
So, were they kind of faithful to the design of that and they were going for
really? I mean,
so in the comic they just look more like kangaroos.
But you can't get kangaroos. They're too expensive
and they shot in America
and they're f****** terrifying.
Have you ever Googled hench kangaroo? Scarred me for life.
I've seen kangaroo, Jack. I know all about kangaroos. But and Iced tea is cheaper than kangaroos apparently.
Yeah. Yeah. The first the first time I saw a like a stacked kangaroo was terrifying.
Yeah.
Terrifying. So I guess that is our hint that it probably is set in Australia, right?
Yeah.
Just the sheer fact that there are kangaroo men, none of whom are Australian, by the way.
No, I don't think Doug Jones isn't teas. No,

(07:22):
the guy that plays the saxophone isn't whose name I forgot to write down, but apparently is quite a big name.
Yes.
And he's in the West. swing apparently.
Um, yeah. No, they don't look good at all, do they? I
No, I don't think so.
I mean, we we had a conversation briefly when we watched it last week and you sort of said maybe they were like the first draft costumes and they kind of ran out of budget.
Yeah, I I that was my initial thought, but like upon more research, they were quite sophisticated. Like they had
reasonably. Yeah. They just look like s***.
Yeah. Well, apparently for every kangaroo boy it had three operators. for the ears and the tails and all of that animatronic stuff. They worked hard on it. Like there was a lot of work that went into it and being in that costume in I think it was Arizona or somewhere they shot. Horrible. Like no thank you.
Well, that's why Ice Tea wanted a a million. I'm guessing.
Well, probably.
What an unpleasant experience.
He would have been able to remain quite cool though on account of his name being Ice.
Yeah,
it was between him and Vanilla Ice. I think they went in the right direction.
Vanilla Ice went for cool as Ice instead. He did that.
But they didn't consider Ice Cube.
They didn't consider Ice Cube and that's why he's so angry now. That's why he's so angry in 21 Jump Street
because he missed out on being one of the rippers.
He wanted to be a ripper. Yeah. Apparently apparently I he thought his role was going to be a stripper. I heard somewhere. Not ripper. Like he must have misheard someone.
Um I don't know.

(07:43):
That sounds that sounds like b*******.
Sounds like bollocks, doesn't it?
Speaking of bollocks, Um,
they did make a kangaroo penis,
right? I don't remember seeing that.
No, you didn't.
I would remember if it was in the movie.
M, it was not in the movie. All I know I don't know if the scene exists anywhere. I haven't searched for it. I don't I don't wish to search for it. I never want to see it. But apparently they they did make a full bodysuit for Booger because the scene where him and Rebecca are sort of lying looking up at the guy having a conversation. That is supposed to be, I think, the buildup to a sex scene.
Oh, right.
And then there's supposed to be like a post sex scene where he's naked. Um, and they made a kangaroo dick
to attach to his person or
Yeah. Yeah. So, I'm presumably like Booger would have needed four people operating him at that point.
Possibly more.
Yeah.
What was it? How big was it?
Uh, I have no idea. I don't know. I don't think there's any images or video available.
That's a shame.
People on Reddit have been asking and looking but they haven't found it yet.
Thank God for AI image creation.
Oh no, no, this is why AI is bad. But yeah, I obviously their their relationship is not ambiguous, but apparently a lot of people who watched the film were confused as to whether or not they they had sex. And it turns out yes. Yes, they did.
So they they were we were meant to see them bone in in the movie.

(08:04):
Um, not necessarily having sex, but certainly straight after.
So, we were meant to see just like a flaccid pen post quitus penis.
A flaccid kangaroo penis. Yeah.
Okay.
Made by Stan Winston or one of his minions.
I wonder who owns that penis. Was a latex degraded, do you reckon?
Oh god. Yeah.
I wonder where I'd like to know where it is and who owns that and what they've done with it.
Would you?
Yeah.
If you're Stan Winston and you're listening, let me know where that penis is.
Yeah, I'm sure. Edgarite and Stan Winston. Isn't Stan Winston dead?
Is he dead?
I think so.
Oh, I'm sorry. If you're
definitely not going to be listening,
children of Stan Winston. Um, let me know what's happened to this penis. Ask him for a friend.
Imagine going through your dad's estate and just finding a lone, degraded silicone kangaroo penis.
I I bet that's happened more often than you would realize. You know, you go like your nan dies and you go up in a loft.
Oh no.
And there's just boxes full of dildos and you're like grandma.

(08:25):
Oh, yeah. That's definitely happening.
She had a spiky one.
She's not a sword.
It looks like the death of a unicorn lamp.
Come on.
There's loads of granny's sho. Nobody needs to be thinking about that. Everybody's just switched off at that point. We've lost every listener now.
I feel like a tan girl's grandma would have had a dildo.
Yeah,
definitely.
Yeah.
What? Who? Who? So, who is Do you say her name is Rebecca, which I did not know.
Yeah. Well, they call her Rebecca in the movie.
I should have known. I guess I must have switched off at some point. But who is she? Like, does she have a family? Where did she come from? I know that this post-apocalyptic event happened 15, 20 years ago or something in the story that we were introduced to.
Mhm.
So, and She's what, 25ish?
So, she must have been a child. So, she must have experienced somewhat of the pre-apocalypse world. Where'd she come from?
I love that you want her to have a backstory. You want to know tango lore? Look, it's been a long time since I've read any of the comics and I'm not very wellversed in them. I do know that she lived in her tank. Obviously, in the movie, we sort of
You don't get much tank, do you?
You don't get very much tank. Like, the name is a bit of a a red herring. There's some tank, but not enough.
There's a little bit of tank.
Bit of tank.

(08:46):
Yeah.
Um, but yeah, so in the comic, she lives in a in a tank.
Yeah.
And drives it around,
which sounds super interesting. I want to see that movie.
Yeah. Right. With Samara Weaving.
With Samara Weaving. Yeah. Um, I was just trying to figure out what her motivations were, how she got to where she was, and why she does the things that she does.
I didn't realize we were going to be getting deep on this podcast. I'm trying. I mean, I was going to ask about themes.
Were you?
But I think the themes are we suck water out of human bodies.
Everybody in this movie looks very hydrated.
Yeah.
Considering considering water is like the most sought after resource.
It hasn't rained for 17 years.
Yeah.
Malcolm McDow's got all the water. That's why.
Well, Rebecca had a bunch of it at the beginning
because I think they that was like the last sort of bit of water that was siphoned off, not controlled by water and power.
In the in the in the gaff where she's in a house that's in a desert and they've got the plants.
Yeah.
And underneath

(09:07):
Mhm.
she they're getting all the water from pumping it. I guess
it's like siphoned off from water and power. It's the It's the last one that isn't controlled by them, which is why they
target them and kill her boyfriend.
Right. Okay. And that was her boyfriend.
Mhm.
Okay.
She moved on very quickly.
I guess she did, didn't she? Yeah.
It's quite callous. really.
And and obviously when that I suppose that's the sort of instant that kicks off the plot,
if you can
the plot question mark
the plot.
Yeah, I guess so.
Cuz she gets taken to Water and Power and Malcolm McDow's like, "Oh, you you're really capable. You killed eight of my guys.
I want to employ you." She's like, "Piss off. Piss off guy."
And I liked all that stuff. Like I that's probably my favorite part of the movie is when she gets taken and she's just sticking her fingers up to him. me. I I like that back and forth and seeing his frustration, his growing frustration is very amusing to me. Um
she's all about the quippy oneliners.
Yeah. And that's where she meets Naomi Watts. A very young Naomi Watts.
Yeah.

(09:28):
Pre pre- Lynch. Pre-ynch Naomi Watts.
Mhm.
Was she the girl?
H
was she the girl
in Moholland Drive?
She was she the one that Justin 3 was like that's the girl. Is that what happened in that movie? Oh, I think of another movie. Justin, did I say Justin Lynch?
No, you said Justin Through.
Yeah, that's what I meant to say.
Yeah, you did.
Anyway,
but yeah, very a very young Naomi Watts. Jet and she plays jet girl.
Yes. Very imaginatively named in this.
Is it because she's got a jet?
Yeah, she likes jets
and tank.
Rebecca likes tanks.
Likes tanks. Wets
and they're girls. So,
yeah. Why Why wasn't Adam Adam Sandler in this and called the water boy? He could have worked for Frank McDow. What's his name in this? Esme school.
I don't know, but I'm having I'm having a lot of fun.

(09:49):
Kesley. Kesler. Kesley.
Kesler. You got there in the end. Oh yeah. No. Kesley. Yeah.
Kesley. Yeah. Yeah. Kesley. So the water boy Adam Sandler version of the water boy could have worked for Kesley. Maybe I put Adam Sandler in the reboot in this as Kesley. Yeah, maybe
as Kesley.
Yeah,
it could be a bit of fun.
Yeah. I mean, because of the nature of the characters, it's got to be played big.
Yeah.
How did you think Malcolm McDow did in that role?
I think he was Malcolm McDow.
I think he chewed the scenery admirably.
Yeah, he he I think he got the memo, but a bit like um Lorie Petty. I think that they understood what they were working with, what the the material called for.
But I can't help but think that at some point, well, Malcolm McDow was working on it and then at some point he stopped working on it because we didn't
You think he just gave up or or because his character was absent for a while?
Well, his character was absent for a while and there was that bit where did he get his face removed or something?
Yeah,
whatever happened there. And James songs like I've got this revolutionary technology and I'm going to do something with your head
and your arm
and your arm. Yeah. And then we see the arm and stuff, but you the bits the parts where you see his character, he's like hiding behind things and it's this big reveal about what his new look is going to be and surprise his new look is oh he's Malcolm. So I couldn't I kind of thought that maybe he pissed off during the production at some point and they're like oh let's just write something in that's going to explain why he's not in this.
I guess I always took that as being the joke. though.
Yeah, I guess that was going to be my option number two. Was it a joke? Was it like there was going to be a reveal of like some mega McDow or whatever? Like a big robot jocks guy with a metal metal face.

(10:10):
Um but then it like oh he's Malcolm McDow.
Yeah,
but Twist he's a hologram.
Yeah, because you don't need a head or a brain anymore to survive apparently.
Well, my first question was going to be where is he where's his brain? Where's his brain live now?
Um Um, in his stomach.
Yeah, could be.
I don't have a good answer.
On a computer. Maybe it's the future. It's the future of 20 33 future.
It's unthinkably far away. Yeah,
we could have covered this in a decade and done future's past.
Hey, future past is a theme that I've had uh bubbling away from.
Yeah, I'm thinking of nicking it.
Don't you dare.
Do our first X-Men movie.
Yeah. I don't know. I I don't I don't love Malcolm McDow
in general.
In general, I think he's so hammy.
Yeah.
But I do think it kind of works in this.
I think he he's very good when these sorts of things are called for. I mean, obviously I mean the go-to classic is the Clockwork Orange.

(10:31):
Mhm.
Was it the year before this 94 that Star Trek Generations came out? And he's quite hammy in that as well. And that's his thing and that's what he I think he's good in it in things when the the piece calls for it, but he's he can stand out if it doesn't.
Yeah.
But in this Yeah, I think he's pretty fun. I think my the favorite my favorite part of his is when he puts um Tango in the pipe and he goes, "Bye."
In the tube.
In the tube. Yeah. You're going to get the pipe.
And um I actually
That's not what that means. What?
Never mind.
There's this subtext that I didn't get. I quite liked Lori Petty's acting in that scene as well because she did display for the first time and maybe only time some v vulnerability in that she was still giving it and saying yeah can I go first and and all of that but she you could see that she was quite scared as well at the same time and I liked that.
Yeah,
I wish we'd have seen a little bit more of that maybe but then again it's a big cartoon comic book movie. I guess again it's just a taste thing for me. I want to see a bit more humanization and depth.
Yeah.
Yeah,
that's fair. I think I don't know. So, you think if they did reboot it or if they do as it sounds like
gritty,
do you think?
Yeah.
You want a gritty reboot of Tank?
No, I don't necessarily want a gritty re I I would like some more characterization and some more depth, but you don't You can still be fun. You can still have fun. You could still be a I don't know, a Birds of Prey maybe and and do the you know, the stuff that they did visually and that was was was fun.
It's interesting you say that because I think the closest comic book character to Tank Girl probably is Harley Quinn.

(10:52):
Yeah,
unhinged.
I can see that. So Tank Girl is 88 or the that's when the comic was drawn. The movie is 95 and I somewhere in between that I want to say about 92 is when Harley Quinn the character was introduced in the Batman animated TV show.
Yeah, it was 92.
So do you think that Lorie Petty took some um and and Rachel Talle took some inspiration perhaps from that.
It's possible. But I do think the character herself is quite true to the comics.
Yeah.
But maybe maybe um it wouldn't surprise me if over the years there's been some kind of give and take in the inspiration department.
And it's funny that Margot Robbie now owns the rights given that you've got that I guess we're trying to force connections where perhaps they don't exist. But it does feel like to me that it's just a couple of years after the animated Batman show. So,
I don't know. They feel like very similar characters to me, just an art and a quick know over the all over the place and and and Quippy and and stuff. But, uh
so going back to kind of the lack of or the supposed lack of budget. Do you think this is a film where you can see the budget on screen?
Only when iced tea is on screen cuz I can I look at
go that looks like a million bucks.
No, it doesn't look like a million bucks. You get me wrong. I can I know that it's a million bucks, but it doesn't look like a million bucks. I uh Well, what what did they spend the money? The tank must have been a few quid, I guess.
Yeah.
Um
apparently, they didn't really have much money for the exteriors, which is why we don't see very much in the way of like establishing shots outside.
And some of the stuff with the house looks like a miniature, but I'm not I'm not 100% sure on that.
Most likely. I I I look 25 million quid on this kind of movie is cheap. So like yeah it I can this should have had more of a budget really. I think 25 million even back then in in 94 I guess when this was when this was shot. It's not a lot of money.
No, not for the sort of scope that it would need.
Yeah. And the set pieces they were trying to achieve and the costumes and the prosthetics and um and if they shot in Arizona and it was like a desert situation And just the logistically speaking would have been expensive and there's sand getting in things and you know just just probably your everyday things that you don't even think about become issues.

(11:13):
Apparently they
pretty cheap.
They wasted thousands on that kangaroo penis.
And the kangaroo penis.
Yeah.
Which is in Stan Winston's loft
or the loft of his children.
That that needs to go on auction. We need to raise money for charity.
Yeah.
What? charity. Is it Is it morally acceptable to sell latex penis to raise money for
some sort of animal welfare?
Kangaroo welfare.
Yeah.
Some sort of kangaroo breeding program.
Stop the poaching by by a kangaroo dick.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Somebody would buy that.
But I guess it would be half kangaroo, half human penis.
Genuinely, I don't know. I don't even know what a kangaroo penis looks like. I've never seen one.
But wasn't Booger part dog as well? Did I hear that? Didn't he say that? He got promoted from a dog.

(11:34):
I Is that how that works?
Yeah.
Are they like Pokémon?
I don't know. Do they get promoted in Pokémons?
They They evolve.
That's the same thing.
I swear there was a bit of dialogue in it where So, the Kangaroo people, they they were made by a gazeer that did genetic engineering.
Mhm.
But I swear at one point Booger was like, "Oh, I was a dog, but I was really clever. So they promoted me to kangaroo dog man. Did I?
And now he's really dumb.
Did I imagine that? But clever for a dog.
Not. How many dogs do you know that can talk?
I know zero dogs that can talk.
I've never met one that can talk.
Yeah.
The closest you get is those dogs on TikTok that press the buttons and go, "Feed me, b****."
Now. Now.
Yeah. That's the closest you can get.
Yeah.
I mean, we'll have talking dogs soon with AI. interpretation of animal language.
I don't think I want to know.

(11:55):
I do. I'd love to have a conversation with a dog.
What if they hate humans? What if it's been a ruse this whole time?
They've just been like these f****** mugs who take us in.
I can't wait for that day. I think that'd be super interesting.
I hope it plays out like um Darwin in Sequest DSV, the dolphin that can talk.
All things come back to Darwin, don't they? For sequest DSV. You are such a nerd. Look,
Secret was underrated,
wasn't it?
I think it was rated just fine.
It was Look, you like Star Trek. You can't give me s***. That was Sequv was basically Star Trek but underwater.
But water. Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay. Was it though?
Yes.
Okay. All right.
So, was Roy Shider in that?
Yeah. Until he wasn't.
Were there sharks in it? Um, probably.
Was he tight cast as the shark guy?
He's the fish guy. Yeah,
he's the fish guy. Oh, we got to make something about fish. Get Shider or helicopters.

(12:16):
Yeah,
get Shider. Was he an airwolf or the other one?
I don't know. What do you mean the other one?
There were two helicopter shows, weren't there? One went, what was that one?
I fear we veered too far away from Tang Girl at this point.
No, I don't think we veered far away enough. So, what happened when Wish I'd have left Sequest DSV.
Well, he died
in real life.
Yeah.
Okay.
And then he was replaced um in series 3 by Michael Ironside.
And that was the last season of sequest.
It was third and final.
Was Justin Whan in Sequest DSV? Am I thinking of the new adventures of Superman and Lewis Lane?
Justin Whan.
Yeah. He was the guy that was in Chucky 2 or three.
Oh, I was thinking of Shawn Whan. Yeah, Justin. Yes, he was. He was in He was in Superman. Yes, the show, the TV show, the television show.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But maybe you're thinking of confusing him with Jonathan Brandice. They had similarly floppy hair,
right? They they were out in the ' 90s, so it's not a million miles away from what we're talking about. Like cultural zeitgeist.

(12:37):
Mhm.
Does does Zeitgeist mean culture? Anyway,
is saying cultural zeitgeist is one of those words irrelevant? Is that a
redundancy? An oxymoron? What did you call me?
So, coming back to girl,
I think I've run out of things to say about Tangle. Can you
We haven't even talked about the soundtrack.
All right.
The soundtrack is probably my favorite thing about this movie.
Okay.
Secondary to the Kangaroo Penis, obviously.
What's um Can you What sort of tracks do they have? I didn't recognize any of the music. It's not Maya Jam.
It is. There's a Port Head track in there. I don't think I ever really listened to Poor Head.
Well, I don't clearly don't know you as well as I thought I did.
No, I thought Pis Head was like an easy listening situation.
Easy listening.
Yeah. Well, not easy listening.
Um, no. Not my Enya, but what am I thinking of? Maybe more like a Oh god, what's that band called? Massive attack. I thought they were more of a massive attack situation.
Yeah.
Do you not like Massive Attack?
I do quite like Massive Attack.

(12:58):
Well, there you go then.
But for the most part, it was more kind of grungy stuff. It's definitely more MySpe than yours,
but I think it's just a wonderful soundtrack
put together by Courtney Love apparently.
Oh, okay. After she killed Cabain.
Just after. Yeah,
we're a comedy Allegedly.
Allegedly.
Right. Okay.
Yeah. Maybe she did this to to take her mind off how sad she was.
Is that where the other 24 million quid went?
Maybe.
Did she need the money at that point?
Did she need the money?
Yeah.
After inheriting Kurt Cobain's money? I don't think so.
Did he have a few quid? Did he?
I imagine they were doing pretty all right.
I mean, they're popular now, but like how popular like were they?
Oh, very. Okay.
Very.

(13:19):
Um Then
I see what you did there. That was annoyingly good. I'll give you that.
I didn't know that she put together the sound. So, she curated the soundtrack. Do you think that she chose what scenes they went in or I guess maybe
that I don't know?
Collaborative effort, I guess, with the creative team.
I would imagine so. Yeah. Yeah, she probably had a decent amount of creative input.
It does feel like a good choice. It feels like there were a lot of things that Talle was trying to slot together to make this kind of rebellious character come to life, but it feels like how she went about it was trying to mirror the source material in a way. Do you know do you know what I mean? Like
I think so.
She was trying to honor it in the way that it was made um in the spirit that the comic is supposed to be consumed. I guess like a bit of a f*** you to the establishment.
Yeah, for sure.
But then you get MGM and it's like it's not you need an establishment unfortunately to get your movie made. those things are not really going to
We're right back to Empire Records again.
Yeah,
you can't really damn the man when you need the man and his money.
Yeah,
it's a it's a bit of a shame really. But um yeah, I think the studio did mck about quite a bit as well because the the comic book guys were pretty reportedly unhappy at some of the massive cuts that were made. A lot of their suggestions for the script were kind of disregarded as well from what I heard. They wanted a lot more sort of niche humor in there. uh some of the stuff that would have made it into the comics but didn't make it into the film.
But there were talks about that and it was agreed that not enough people would understand what Graange Hill was. So a lot of the more sort of niche English humor was cast aside.
I mean I would have en I definitely would have enjoyed this movie more if it had a Grange Hill joke in it,
but it would have been lost on most people. But I can't help but think it f****** flops anyway, so you might as well have done it.
Yeah.
I suppose you don't know that at the time when you're making it. No, I think they had pretty high hopes for it like you said earlier.

(13:40):
Yeah, but I should have spent more than 25 million on it really.
Well, it's weird because it sort of felt like like the the property feels like a bit of a gamble, so I understand why they'd be wary to put too much money into it, but at the same time, they're a big studio. It sounds like they were trying to create a lot of buzz around it, and it it sounds like they were reasonably confident that it would do well. Yeah.
So, it's a bit of a contradictory scenario. Yeah. I don't know. I I would have loved to see like a 50 million budget. Do you think that would have been enough?
Possibly. I mean, I suppose it's double. So, you could have done a bit more. I guess a film
would that have been enough to remove all of those comic book panels and actually film the scenes that that didn't make it.
So, what scenes were replaced by the comics? I know you had the final scene when that that was the one that I found most jarring when they did the final end. And it ends that way.
Yeah. It feels really sort of anticlimactic to end it on pictures.
Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. I mean, that is a very expensive scene. Maybe you could write around that. I mean, you've got water and obviously we covered Water World and spoke about how much of a a pain in the ass that is.
Well, at least you've not got Kevin Cosner to deal with.
That' be all right. He just do like a forward roll and he would have sorted it out.
Um, yeah. I mean 50 million they they could have done something. I feel like 25 is way too light.
50 million might still have been. You still don't need to be quite creative, but if you you whip out Iced Tea, you got another million quid there straight away. But actually, the the film that I that I'm thinking about most in relation to Tank Girl is a movie that came out the same year and we mentioned the property earlier, Judge Dread.
Okay.
Now, Judge Dread had a budget of 90 million, which is
wow,
huge.
That had Sylvester Stallone in it and a lot of things get funded because of the names attached,
right? Yeah.
Lori Petty maybe didn't have the star power back then to get the kind of budget that may have been needed, but I think it was probably the right choice to cast her. But I just wish there would have been a mechanism to maybe get a bit more budget. But I you but even if you spend case in point, Judge Dread, you spend 90 million quid on that. Ah, it's not no better, is it?
No. Do do you know how much that made? Just
Should we have a look? Yeah, sure. I'd love to know the comparison because yeah, that was pretty negatively received, wasn't it, when it came out?

(14:01):
And it's 95 Judge Red is one that I was thinking about putting on this list.
Okay.
I don't know 100% if it was a flop, but it was in my mind back then cuz that is a that is a movie.
If it wasn't a flop, it should have been
uh Oh, yeah. It was a pretty big flop apparently. 35 Oh, 35 million domestic, 80 million internationally. Oh, bringing it worldwide to to 113 million. So,
okay,
it was kind of a flop, but not a colossal flop as a lot of the films that we've covered have been. It It lost money according to Hollywood accounting.
That creative uh
Yeah, just do it how you like.
Yeah. Isn't it Star Wars that on paper still hasn't turned a profit?
Star Wars is the least profitable movie ever made.
That's wild.
Talk about creative accounting.
That's so silly.
Yeah. But like I thought about Judge Dread came out same year around about the same time. Similar kind of vibes. We mentioned that they're both British properties in Origin. So if you spend 90 million quid, you're not guaranteed to make a good movie.
Maybe you've got Sylvester Stallone saying
and it just doesn't make any f****** sense. And you've got that idiot Rob Schneider before he pretends to be a mouse or whatever he does in that movie.
It's been such a long time since I've seen it.
I'd quite like to watch it actually. Do does anyone do like a nice release of Judge Dread? Cuz it's been a while and and I really love the soundtrack to that.
Can we not just watch Dread
instead? Watch Dread. It is better. You're right. It is better. It's way better. It's not even comparable. The Alex Garland directed movie that he definitely directed. I uh Yeah. Um can't Yeah, let's watch Judge Dread one day.

(14:22):
Okay. Um I do have another connection to one of our previous shows and that's because Rachel Talle hired Katherine Hardwick to work as production designer on Tangirl.
Yeah.
So that's what she was doing before she started directing.
Yeah. Yeah. I'm glad you brought this up because I did make a note of it and I completely forgot to to mention it, but yeah, production designer on this and I think we mentioned it in that in that show when we covered 13, but she obviously went on to to bigger and better things having directed uh the Twilights.
Yeah.
Let me rephrase. profitable things.
She went on to profitable things. Yeah. And made those silly vampire movies. The first of which I don't hate, but the rest. It's It's fine for a children's movie about vampires. Don't love it, but
he's glittery, Dan.
Listen, have you seen any of the others?
No.
They
I've seen I've seen that one um clip of Michael Sheen overacting about 500 times on YouTube, but I've never seen the actual film.
You've seen the only good bits then.
Yeah.
Oh, they I think I watched I definitely watched the first one. I was like, "Eh, it's fine." I think I might have skipped two and I can't remember if it was three or four that I saw. It was the one that was meant to be one movie, but they split into two and I watched the first part and I had to go to the cinema to watch it having not seen the last one or two, not having a clue what was going on. And they just sat in a gaff on the beach for an hour and a half just like saying words at each other and being in love. And it was the most boring thing. I've ever seen. It was rubbish. And then they were like, "Oh, no. The next one's going to be good though, isn't it?" And I was like, "No, I'm not."
That you've had too much of my money already, sir.
Yeah. I spent like 10 quid on a ticket, like another 10 quid on popcorn and drinks and stuff, and 20 quid I spent on it, man. It's like, not that I would begrudge it. I mean, it was a long time ago now. It was 15 years ago.
But you would like to be reimbursed if Katherine Hardwick is also listening to this.
If Katherine Hardwick is also listening. alongside Edgright and Stan Winston's kids.
Would you mind just doing doing me a cloney and reimbursing me for for that money?
Is there anything else you want to talk about before we start wrapping up?

(14:43):
Nah.
Nah.
I don't think so. I'm sure there's a bunch of stuff, but but I mean, what else can you say about Tank Girl? I I don't love it. I wish that I enjoyed it more. I I do. On paper, it feels like it would be something that I would quite enjoy, but the execution of it the cartoon stuff. I do find the character very great in after a while. Right. The main character. Not that she is not Lori Patt Petty is bad at it. Maybe it's a combination of all of the things that are sort of weaker.
I mean, she is obnoxious, but she's supposed to be.
Yeah, totally. I just find that after an hour of it, I'm like, "Ah, mate." Yeah. Can we please? And I suppose the closest comparison I could think of in terms of really irritating characters is Deadpool.
Yeah.
And And I was sort of questioning myself when I was in the shower earlier. I like, but I find Deadpool quite funny. And I was sort of trying to think to myself, oh, is this some like ingrained misogyny or something that I need to think about.
Interesting.
Um, because I do find Deadpool funny, but he's f****** irritating as well at the same time. But then he's in better movies.
That's true.
If Deadpool was in this movie, I think I would find him just as annoying.
Insufferable. Yeah.
Yeah. But it did make me question some some kind of some underlying things there that maybe I need to think about, but I I don't know. Do you do you How do you find the character of Tank Girl in in N? Do you like her character?
I love Tank Girl. I love Tank Girl. Um I I don't know. I love the character in the the comics. I love the character in the film. I just wish everything else around her was sort of up to the same level
because I do think Lorie Petty at the time was perfectly cast. I think she does a really good job in the role. It's just in a crappy crappy film.
I like what it's going for. It feels very modern in a way that character like sadly so. You know, it's a very
I don't know. I feel like if I had a daughter, I would be quite happy for her to watch this movie.
Um knowing that the penises have been removed, but it's quite a good um there's quite a lot of stuff in it that is empowering. I guess perhaps if you're a young younger younger person watching this. Yeah,
there's a lot of stuff about
the stuff at the the when they go to the house where the sex I guess they're sex workers, right? And then they're trying to do the
Yeah, it's literally a brothel.

(15:04):
It's a that's the Yeah, it's had a name. I was going to call it the sex house. I didn't want to sound stupid. I think that that ship has sailed though, to be honest. Yeah, there's there's stuff like there when they're doing like the the makeover scene and she's kind of going against the grain and and she's always got something to say. So, like messaging wise, I think it's great and feels quite modern, depressingly so. And perhaps that's why it didn't quite connect with some audiences at the time. Well, there's that and the fact that it's s***.
Yeah. I don't we don't need to have the conversation about why this one flopped. I think that much is evident.
I just I wish that those things were present in a better movie. Yeah.
And we might have been more ahead of where we are at the moment. Obviously, things have come along, but we're not
not as far along as you you would hope that we are.
Yeah, I think I do love the character. I think I'm just sort of drawn to characters like that. Um like Elvra, for example, or Enid from Ghostworld. Just like women who are sort of a little bit off the beaten path, doing their own thing, but very confident and vocal. and not afraid to be uncool. Um, so I'm I'm definitely drawn to female characters that are written that way. So I think maybe that's why I gave it four stars last time I watched it.
But do you find it do you have fun when you're watching it or
not this time?
No,
I have every other time I've watched it.
I was thinking about this as well because I think the last time I saw it, I I actually went down in my rating this time while we were watching it. Yeah. But it might have had something to do with probably Last time we watched it might have been a Saturday night. Let's have a beer. And last time we watched it on a Sunday before I had to get up at 5:30 in the morning for work the next day
after having make, you know, made notes about it and thinking about it in a in a critical way.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I was kind of I was kind of I was so ready for it to finish.
Yeah. I definitely didn't really enjoy it this time around, which is kind of a shame and a bit of the downside to to podcasting a little bit because it's probably going to make me more reluctant the next time
that I would watch it. But um yeah, hopefully I can get over that and still find things about it to like, but at this point it is just a steaming pile of s***.
I am surprised. I thought you were going to be more of a defender of this. Not that I
honestly I think it's kind of indefensible. I really do. It's just a bad movie. But but I do think the separate parts of it that there is stuff to enjoy.
Maybe that's what makes it such an frustrating watch though is that you can see the
missed potential.

(15:25):
You can Yeah, exactly. The missed potential. There's something there and it could have been something really special and I can't help but think that if there was a better movie and it was more successful what we would have had as as a result of that. I know we spoke about probably Edgar Wright saw Tank Girl and used some of that in in his movies and stuff and I'm sure that's true of a lot of other creators and movies, but I just Yeah, it would have been good to have a better version of this and more tank Not enough tank.
Yeah. Too much girl, not enough tank.
It's interesting because I I've never been the sort of person who's like dead set against remakes or reboots. Usually, I think it's it's it tends to be like decent films that are remade. So, that becomes a little bit frustrating cuz it's like, well, why are you even bothering? Whereas, in this case, I I'm so keen for somebody else to to take a run at this material.
I think it's the perfect example of what why something should be rem didn't quite hit the mark on the head. Why remake a good movie? Because we've got that movie already.
Yep.
Let's have another go at this. Let's put Samara Weaving in it. Let's make Adam Sandler Malcolm McDow role. Let's put Pete Holmes as one of the Kangaroo Boys.
But bring Doug Jones back.
Bring Doug Jones back. Yeah, of course. Yeah. Who direct? Who's it going to be directed by?
Oh. Ooh, that's a really good question. Hm. What? Well, firstly, I think it needs to be an 18 certificate.
Yeah, definitely.
I think we need like a hard R version of Tangirl. That's going to require some thought. What about you?
I mean, the obvious answer is Gerwig, right?
I think that's a bit too obvious, though.
I agree, but I can't think of another.
So, you think it's we've still got to go in the direction of it being a female director?
Yeah, I think so. I think so.
Who? Um, oh god, I've forgotten her name. Is it Lexi something? Who who directed that um Ray Stevenson Punisher movie?
Oh yeah,
maybe she should take a
I know this off the top of my head. I'm I'm definitely not going on to Google now. War Zone. I've got this wrong way around. I've written War Zone Punisher. It was um That's a really good shout though because that was that was a I enjoyed that
hyper violent comic book movie. I mean OB ly Tank Girl is a lot less violent, but I think there's real scope for it to be more adult.

(15:46):
Yeah. And I would like to see her swinging from a chandelier shooting people in the head like Ray Stevenson does in that movie. Lexi Alexander.
Lexi. Right. Okay. I was halfway there.
I think you've nailed it. I think it's Lexi Alexander. Yeah.
Okay.
Wayne Knight's in that Punisher War Zone. What role can Wayne Knight play?
Uh uh uh. Yeah.
Wayne Knight, will you do a a Tango remake? Uh uh uh. So, what's next week?
Oh, right. Okay. So, if we're um if we're moving on next week,
I'm done. I can't talk about this movie anymore. I need to stop thinking about Kangaroo Penis.
I won't be able to stop thinking about Kangaroo Penis now.
Okay. So, consider it payback, right? You've made me watch.
You've already This was payback for Battlefield Earth. We can't now get into a pissing match.
We mentioned Sly earlier, right? We mentioned it earlier in relation to Judge Dread and we we're going to be covering our first slime movie next week.
It could be one of many.
Yeah, there
that doesn't narrow it down.
There could there's a lot of He's done a few movies, Sarah. Yeah, he's
But he's done some real turkeys.
He has. It's not Rocky 5.
Um it's another franchise pictures movie which we teased a little bit in our Battlefield Earth show.
Oh yeah,

(16:07):
it's Driven
which is our first Renie Harland movie as well. So, you've not seen this?
I've never seen over. No,
it's a film that I watch pretty much yearly.
I've been in the house while you've had it on and I've left the room.
Yeah. I mean, much like this week, I I ain't going to be defending it. I do love it.
Okay.
So,
cool.
Next time, bit of sly, baby.

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Tank Girl - S10 E79

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Tank Girl - S10 E79