Hey, you know what would be even awesome? If Shout Factory left a spot open in the box for Operation Dragonfire. I’M KIDDING!!! Please don’t stab me through the heart with a poisonous snake and knock me into a coma. As far as I’m concerned, GI Joe seasons 3 and 4 never happened.

You guys should do a show about the GI Joe TV series. In fact, you guys need to get Buzz Dixon, because there are all sorts of cool would-have/should-have stories about what happened around the time that Sunbow lost the show. Apparently, the post-movie episodes were in the planning stages, but I’ve always been very curious to know how far along they actually were.

In fact, I have kind of an interesting theory about that. The concept for season 3 was that both Cobra and Cobra La were to be completely gone. In their place, GI Joe would now face a more mysterious criminal organization headed by the Crimson Guard twins, Xamot and Tomax.

This never made it to production, however, I believe they recorded the theme song for the third season, in which there is no mention of Cobra, and this theme song somehow got used for Operation Dragonfire instead, the five-part Dic mini-series.

Lo and behold, if you listen to the opening credits of Operation Dragonfire, you will hear the original Sunbow theme song, but there is no mention of Cobra at all, even though Cobra is in all five episodes. But even more interesting than that is that you hear the voice of Michael Bell (Duke) who was never in any of the Dic episodes. Michael Bell was only in the Sunbow series, meaning that it was recorded before Dic got the series.

So, that’s just my theory. I’d love to hear a confirmation as well as any details on Sunbow season 3.

Okay, enough spamming. Next time I’ll just listen to the whole episode first.

Balls busted.

And you take criticism like a champ.

One thing that always irks me about tales of the supernatural is when you get people like this who try to support the alleged phenomena with vague sciencey-sounding stuff. I’m at a loss as to how string theory would even apply here. Since when does string theory support the idea that we can see reflections from parallel universes. It doesn’t.

Mike, I can’t tell you that you didn’t see what you thought you saw, but I have a strong suspicion that you didn’t. I used to believe in ghosts myself, but later in life, I’ve come to find that there’s not one experience I’ve had that couldn’t be better explained by more mundane phenomena.

It’s rather sobering once you realize how prone we are to being tricked by our own eyes. Our eyes seek patterns. That’s what they’re made to do.

Also, you should check this episode of Skeptoid about the subject.

http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4175

As for Mr. Offutt, he really doesn’t make a good case at all. It sounds like he has a lot of anecdotal evidence, but when it comes to the hard science, he falls way short, in my opinion.

Oh, and on your topic about UFOs, while I don’t believe that we’re alone in the universe, I’m really skeptical about UFO sightings. I mean, if this actually happened, there’s nothing the government can really do to keep public awareness under control. Government control is just not that sophisticated.

Besides, if our theories of physics hold true, then the distance of space itself is enough of a barrier that we’re not likely to ever see our nearest celestial neighbors. Unless someone actually invents the warp drive, there’s little that can be done to overcome the problem of traveling several hundred lightyears in an acceptable time frame. In short, the universe is just too big, and we’re spread out too far for aliens to actually be here.

It’s a great big universe, and we’re all really puny. We’re just tiny little specs about the size of Mickey Rooney.

Thank you for interviewing me, and thank you for the request. I LOVE that Barenaked Ladies song now!

ROCK!

Glenn Case

also i heard that Boll will be at SGC via Skype but its still gonna be awesome

DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNN!

sent in some suggestions for more commentaries too at the feedback e-mail

keep kicking ass TWiG!

For example, the whole missing link canard is something that the deniers are always harping about, but you’re never going to find an absolute hybrid, because evolution doesn’t happen in neat, strait lines. I mean, the best one anyone ever found was archeopteryx, which is quite clearly a therapod dinosaur with bird wings.

Debate over. Evolution win.

All kidding aside, the biggest issue, for me, is the micro-evolution/macro-evolution thing. First of all, evolution isn’t defined by scale. It’s a process, and saying you believe in micro but not macro is like saying that you believe that we can walk ten feet but we can never walk a mile. (By the way, I know it wasn’t you who said this, Mike.)

The problem with that is germ theory, because germs walk that proverbial mile all the time. And so denying macro-evolution is basically the denial of germ theory, which is not something we ought to be doing at this point.

I was a personal health care provider for someone for three years, and MRSA was the biggest thing I had to contend with. It’s pretty scary. So, you can kind of see where I’m coming from.

Still, thanks for the feedback and the suggestions for where to look for more info

Thank you for listening

I was head-desking all the way through your evolution debate.

First of all, there is no “missing link”. That is a horrible misnomer that is only common among the layman audience. In the science arena, not only is the subject of missing links negligible, but it’s already been accomplished thousands of times over.

You’re simply not going to get a half-human/half-ape hybrid. For one thing, fossilization is so rare that exponentially more probable to find branches on the evolutionary tree as opposed to direct lineages. But evolution doesn’t work that way anyway, so it’s a fallacy to even ask. Today’s apes are modern, just like today’s humans are modern. If Lucy isn’t good enough for you, than nothing will be.

And finally, the fossil record is pretty much of little consequence these days for evolution. It has more application to understanding geological history. Evolution is a theory of BIOLOGY, which means that the best way to learn about it is to study LIVING species. And, sorry for whichever host “doesn’t believe in evolution”, but the jury is in already.

Why is evolution important? Well, like you guys said, it doesn’t matter where we came from, but it DOES matter in application. Take medicine for example.

I’m a nursing student. I don’t work at a hospital, but I know a lot about communicable diseases, such as Staphylococcus, which is a drug-resistant strain of bacteria. It got that way by EVOLVING. Now, the usual creationist response to this is that the traits for resistance was always there, but this so untrue that it’s actually ridiculously dangerous to tell people this. So yes, I get a little angry at people who “don’t believe in evolution”. I don’t mean to be abrasive, but that’s too effing bad.

Also, evolution matters in agriculture. Norman Borlaug, who will probably go down as the world’s greatest humanitarian of all time, just passed away, and he dedicated his life to this science. He’s fed entire countries by using evolutionary theory to create better crops.

I strongly suggest you guys head to a library and learn about this stuff before talking about it again, because it was embarrassing listening to this. And I’m saying that as a science nerd. You guys had absolutely no idea what you were talking about.

I suggest Carl Zimmer and Kenneth Miller, because they’re much more approachable than someone like Richard Dawkins, who you probably wouldn’t want to read. (Although, you’re welcome to pick up his books, too.)

If you want a crash course, you could always hop on YouTube and watch a series of videos by DonExodus2. He’s probably the best internet voice on the matter. Also, I suggest tracking down the Evolution 101 podcast, which wrapped up some time ago, but you can still find it on Archive.org’s media section.

I love your show, but I couldn’t let this fly, guys. Come on.

wolverine- i agree with you. this is not a good movie. i was one of the few that thought it’d be a good idea to download the leaked version prior to its theatrical release. i have to say the movie was slightly MORE entertaining with mostly incomplete visual effects- not for the right reasons(i need only to point out the fantastic paste-job of the helicopter rising up from behind the cliff), but more entertaining nonetheless.

when you consider the fact that this film was initially planned to have a much higher rating than its present pg-13, you have to take into consideration what this movie was SUPPOSED to be- wolverine is, by nature, a badass, and a movie about him can’t properly be made without some blood flying all up in your facial, so to speak. for that reason, i can only wag my finger at you for kicking the wolverine while he’s down. and has no BALLSACK, because he’s been NEUTERED.

what i’m saying is that you should have known that this movie was going to be lame.

avatar- you’re killing me here. no movie can live up to the hype. i bought into it, and left the theatre angry and embittered.

here’s some stuff we heard before seeing the movie:400(or so) million dollar budget! 3d! the director invented a camera just to make this movie! the director invented a whole new world and language!

what did we get? 3d(i have my own spectacle-based issue with the delivery system) that impressed a lot of people and gave television manufacturers visible erections. an interesting new “universe” inhabited by creatures very similar to ones found on earth, but with extra legs(and colours), and tall blue cat-people speaking a language that sounded eerily similar to ELF-SPEAK to my untrained ears.

my biggest beef, as you do, is with the actual story that King Cameron is feeding us. It’s equal parts fern gully, dances with wolves, as you’ve said, with a gentle peppering of braveheart bravado. it’s very comforting to have familiar stories, but i’m not biting.

i sincerely believe cameron thinks people will develop amnesia when deciding to watch his films and again shortly after the film has ended. i’m guessing he hopes people will forget how bad his films actually are(terminators and aliens notwithstanding). have you seen abyss? ever watched titanic again? when he’s not insulting your intelligence with lines like “Everything out there wants to eat your eyes for jujubes” cameron is dick-slapping you across the cheek with some empty message. for avatar he has chosen to repent for some of the white-man’s guilt that he needs to work out of his system. congrats cameron, you’ve solved the native issue.

did you know he considered casting mutton-face michael beihn in the role of the colonel, but decided not to because he’d already cast sigourney weaver as a wannabe cat-person and didn’t want people to think he was redoing aliens? too late, asshole- you’ve already got hostile aliens and power suits in this movie. you’ve ripped yourself off enough.

the final blow that dribbles down the audience’s chin comes at the end of the movie when the “evildoers” are sent packing, and the navi are doing juuuuust fine. what happened to burning down the “home-tree?” he made a big show of knocking it down and showing cat-people crying over its loss, but it doesn’t seem to matter at all when we have the sparkly tree that all the cat-people sit in front of and sing koombaya to. why don’t they threaten gary glitter’s hannukah bush just a little bit more? where were the scenes of the navi knocking over electrical pylons to block roads and and killing dogs and leaving them on doorsteps? oh wait, that was calidonia, and that actually happened. oops.

that’s all i’ve seen on this list. i downloaded shitty versions of terminator and public enemies (like reeeeally shitty cams because i wasn’t near a theatre for a large part of the year), so they don’t really count.

regarding michael bay: you’re wasting your time being disappointed in this clown. this is a guy whose forged a career doing things in slow motion at magic hour while will smith shouts “MOTHERFUCKER.” most hardened transformers fans wander into the theatres hoping that the film will harken back to the glory days of pat lee on pencils in the old cartoon.

i like to call this nerd masochism.

why do you put your tongue on a frozen flagpole if you KNOW it’s not a pair of tits? you deserve the disappointment that’s headed your way, you motorboatin’ sumbitch.

anywho, that’s all. do make a a list of movies worth watching if you haven’t already. i’m thinking about making a list of movies that are actually pretty lousy when you watch them a second time, like Zombieland.

your move, punk.

good job

speaking of Spider-Man: The Animated Series, check out ToonCast episode 19 on GeekCast Radio (hey i gotta pimp myself)

I can see a few games one there I have and a few I wouldn’t mind taking for you if you ever need extra space.. just a thought. haha

Your actually have BILL AND TED :O I wanted to play taht so badly. when i come to chill we must

Amazing episode guys, easily my favorite seeing as how close I am to this franchise in every way,

And the Fallout 3 GotY Edition is being released in October with all the DLC packs included, I intend on getting this for 360 since my PC copy of the game is broken like so many unfortunate PC gamers like myself and the patches do not appear to fix it

j/k At least he gave you a nice comment about your hat. Seems like you guys had a great time at FanEx. Hope you guys have great one next year. Speaking of conventions, I hope you all come to SGC in 2010! SGC! WOOOOOOOO!

RIP John

Do you ever have a thought that doesn’t align itself perfectly with popular opinion? Jeez, have you ever watched the movie? Even if it’s not Arnold’s best movie, I don’t know how someone can just pan it like that.

Come on!

I have always enjoyed the Ernest movies, my favorite out of all of them is Ernest Goes to Jail
also Ernest Rides Again was actually the last to be released theatrically

I do, however, respect him for the work that he’s one, most significantly, his role of Slink from the Toy Story movies, and I was disappointed to hear the news of his death. I just wonder who will be his replacement for Toy Story 3?

RIP Jim Varney.

My only criticism of the documentary is that for a SF lamen like me I know that SF is complex and they are really good but I have no idea why. Would have been nice to have some clarification on what kinds of things have to run through a fight.

@Birdman- So is Balrog the Ike and Metaknight of SF?

there better.

Great show guys, thought it was a weird choice at first prior to listening but turned out to be a great episode. Loved the discussion of the Oceans series.

Also hope your prediction of a Disney death is not jinxed. You may think Miley Cyrus or the Johnas Brothers but I think John Lassender and Richard Williams!

Again, great show guys.

Thanks for the comment!

Steve “Snowball” Saylor
-Host/Producer/Web Master for thisweekingeek.net

I listened to the episode in which you interviewed Stan Bush and now I just listened to this episode (your Revenge of the Fallen review). I give you credit for taking a serious, in-depth approach to analyzing the movie (character development, plot development, etc.), but to me, there’s just no point. The movie is an incomprehensible joke. Good job though, given what you had to work with.

If you’re interested in a different perspective, my friend Greg and I just reviewed Revenge of the Fallen in our podcast The Paunch Stevenson Show:

http://paunchstevenson.com/2009/06/29/episode-135/

We also reviewed Michael Bay’s first Transformers movie in 2007:

http://paunchstevenson.com/2007/07/09/episode-76/

From what I can tell, I think Greg and I are a few years older than you and the G1 Transformers were a huge part of our childhoods. To us, Bay’s movies are idiotic disasters and we give good reasons why in our two reviews.

Transformers 2 I adore and loathe at the same time. I had the opportunity to see it in imax last night and while there were a few awe inspiring moments for the most part the imax didn’t immerse you into the experience, it merely added more chaos to Bay’s already hectic action sequences.

If you thought the aspect ratios switching around in The Dark Knight was annoying, with this there are imax shots that appear for roughly one second then switch back. One shot had my very confused as why the f*** it was even shot in imax ( a soldier on a boat for one second..why?).

If you have already seen TF 2 in theaters and are curious to the Imax experience, don’t bother.

As for what i love and hate about the movie itself…

1. The humor…there are some moments of fun goofy screwball comedy reminiscent of the first film that work perfectly to lighten the tension and amuse the kids.

But then the film is plagued, and i do mean plagued with over the top raunchy humor that seems like it was ripped straight out of an Austin Powers film. Anyone who knows me knows I’m not one to shun away at something and go ‘oh my that’s too offensive for me’ But did we really need the dogs humping, robots calling each other pussies, an immigrant with over the top hideous teeth, John Turturro’s balls and Devastators too?

These moments didn’t bring you into the picture, it was as if Bay zipped down his pants and decided to slap you with a certain piece of genitalia every time you were getting caught up with the characters and plot.

2.Mudflap and Skids…

Why, why god why. It’s as if Bay studied what everyone hated about TF 1 and film in general and decided to throw in two ghetto hillbilly ‘bust a cap in yo ass’ buck toothed robots that dont know how to read and spend most of their time cursing.

This is the biggest side kick mistake since Jar Jar Binks..Jar Jar at least added something to the plot. His character had a purpose, no matter how much you hated the Gungan bastard he still was needed to progress the story forward.

What purpose do Mudflap and Skids serve to the story? Bumblee gets pissed off at them for being so f***ing annoying and throws them against a wall revealing something Sam has been looking for…That’s it. Seriously that’s it.

They attack Devastaor..but do they bring him down? NO! It looks like they go in for a head shot and then next scene hes climbing the ol’ pyramid like nothing happened.

Mudflap and Skids could have easily been replaced with any one of the characters we actually gave a shit about from the first film and would have prove as a much better sidekick.

3. This is a kid’s movie?!?!

Yes, its PG-13, parents are supposed to know there may be ’some’ inappropriate content. But lets face it, this film is marketed towards kids, BK toys, walmart and Toys R Us are stacked to the ceiling with transformers stuff aimed at lil’ Johnny whose 9. TF 1 was a kids movie…this is not and i am surprised it got away with being called one.

4. The plot…i forgive it, despite how little to no sense it makes. It’s supposed to be a mind numbing popcorn action flick. It had the potential to be so much more though.

The moments i loved in this film though were the ones with Prime, Bumblebee, Megaton, Starscream, seeing the Army guys again, some of the comedy between Shia and Miss Fox…those were genuine and they left me not feeling cheated out of the movie i wanted to see.

BOTTOM LINE

Bay has always been a kid at heart, but it seems with TF 2 he’s now in that asshole state of puberty that everyone hates, the 13-16 year old douchebags that society has wanted to destroy for eons.

It’s clearly evident too when you’re in the theater and everyone you see around you laughing at the parts where anyone over 20 shakes their head in shame are just that…13-16 year old douchebags who wont shut up throughout the entire movie going on about how hot Megan Fox is.

TF 2 is truly marketed towards them, not to adults, not to kids, but to the 13-16 range.

It’s worth seeing for those few moments of Prime kicking ass…but if you wanna sneak into the theater lets just say i wont alert security.

Pierce ‘The Punk’ Derks