.jpg)
Zombie Book Club
Welcome to Zombie Book Club! We're a Podcast that's also a book club! We talk about Zombie / Apocalyptic horror novels, TV and movies.
Zombie Book Club
'I Am Legend' The Alternate Ending Changes EVERYTHING | Zombie Book Club Ep 160
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
We're revisiting Will Smith's 2007 I Am Legend, theatrical cut and alternate ending both, to unpack why swapping the finale flips the whole film from action-hero sacrifice to something far more morally complex. We start with Richard Matheson's 1954 novel, detour through the earlier adaptations The Last Man on Earth and The Omega Man, and get sidetracked (as always) debating whether the Darkseekers are zombies, vampires, or their own "zomb-pire" category entirely.
Then we dig into Neville's isolation and mannequin coping mechanisms, why Sam's death still wrecks us every time, and how the alternate ending recontextualizes the entire siege as a rescue mission rather than a monster attack; restoring the moral ambiguity (and the actual meaning of the title) that the theatrical cut throws away. We also talk about what's confirmed so far about I Am Legend 2, including Will Smith and Michael B. Jordan, and why the sequel is treating the alternate ending as canon.
Relevant Links:
I Am Legend (2007) – IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480249/
I Am Legend (1954 novel) by Richard Matheson – Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Legend_(novel)
The Last Man on Earth (1964) – Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Man_on_Earth_(1964_film)
The Omega Man (1971) – Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Omega_Man
I Am Legend 2: release date, cast, and everything we know – GamesRadar+: https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/action-movies/i-am-legend-2-release-date-cast-plot-trailer-and-everything-we-know-about-the-upcoming-horror-sequel/
Zombie Book Club Links
- Join us on on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/ZombieBookClub
- ZBC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zombiebookclubpodcast/
- ZBC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/710957975263518/
- Zombie Book Club Email: ZombieBookClubPodcast@gmail.com
Welcome And The Legend Argument
SPEAKER_01Welcome to the Zombie Book Club, the only book club where I'm a legend. When I'm not busy doing legend stuff, I'm writing a book about two brothers who run out of fuel in the Bonneville Salt Flats with a zombie horde right on their heels and nothing ahead of them but road. The bad road. It's the worst road. It's not a good road.
SPEAKER_02But you know what else is bad? You claiming to be a legend, because I'm Leah and I am legendary.
SPEAKER_01No, I'm I am a legend. No, I'm a legend. I'm a legend. Me.
SPEAKER_02I think I don't think it's either of us, actually, if I'm being honest. Scandal. Some might say it's Will Smith, but I am going to propose that it's our dog Ziggy. Ziggy.
SPEAKER_01Ziggy is a legend. There's no arguing that. Ziggy and Samantha would have been friends. Samantha, the dog, from this movie we're talking about.
SPEAKER_02Yes, but also Ziggy would not. I don't think Ziggy would have defended us from zombie dogs. No.
SPEAKER_01Ziggy wouldn't have even like, well, I mean, Ziggy would have gone on a car ride. Um, but probably wouldn't have gotten out of the truck.
SPEAKER_02I mean, I would hope not. I hope we wouldn't let him out of the truck. He's a little bit more.
SPEAKER_01You would have taken a nap in the backseat.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And he wouldn't have run into the dark either.
SPEAKER_01No, no. Am I victim blaming the dog? What the dog did was pretty dumb. We're gonna talk about this movie. I am legend. Yeah. We're ta it's 2007's Will Smith film. Yeah. One of one of the two movies that starts with I that Will Smith was in. What's the other one? IRobot.
SPEAKER_02Oh, isn't that also kind of a zombie-esque movie?
SPEAKER_01A little bit. It's like robot zombies.
SPEAKER_02I think we need to watch that one next because spoiler, I forgot that Will Smith is a good actor.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. Well Will Smith is one of those, like, you know, I think it's that he's been in movies that didn't like they weren't really considered serious enough to for him to be considered a great actor. Like he was in like Bad Boys, which were great movies. Um, you know, the the the Men in Black movies, which are kind of silly movies, but he did great in them. You know, he was in Independence Day, and that was probably the one that he got like the most credit for because they're like, Yeah, we believe you that you're a fighter pilot. Um but like when you watch I Am Legend, you're like, wow, this guy is doing all the acting on his own with a bunch of mannequins and tearing our hearts out.
SPEAKER_02He really did a good job in this movie. I'm looking at all the awards that he won. He actually won a great number of awards. Yeah. But not for I Am Legend. Missed opportunity. The emotional performance he gave was actually pretty impressive. Well, you know what? Also the the performance of somebody who has lost touch with reality based on extreme isolation. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You know what I why I think that is, is that when I Am Legend came out, um, people didn't actually think it was a very good movie. And that's because of the ending. And we watched the alternate ending. So good. Yeah. But also some problems. We'll get there. There's there's a few problems, but that's that's okay. That's fine. Um
Richard Matheson And Vampire Roots
SPEAKER_01so uh before before we get into this, we gotta talk about where the movie came from. Um originally came from a novel uh written by Richard Matheson in 1954. Um I read this book. I think it was a pretty good book and kind of a short read, too. The 1954 book, that's a while ago. Yeah. Um, and in that one, it's Robert Neville. He's alone in his house. Um, and he his every night the this uh group of vampires comes up to his house and they try to get in, but like he's got all the garlic, he's got all the the UV lights, he's got like crosses and all the things that vampires hate. It was very much like this is a vampire apocalypse. The whole world was was uh basically turned into vampires or eaten or died in other ways, um, and he was the only one left.
SPEAKER_02I'm just reading the description of the book, and I think I'm not gonna get into it now, but I think it's worth noting that the original inspiration for this movie uh includes that Robert Neville uh realizes the infected are organizing into a new civilization with its own rules, and that he, the presumed hero, is the one they fear and hunt as a monster. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's a good book.
SPEAKER_04He kills them when they're sleep.
SPEAKER_01That does he goes he goes out during the day in uh I think he drives a station wagon with like with like grill guards over the windows and stuff and all kinds of lights, and he goes out and he finds where they he finds where they live. Um and there's a lot of similarities. Like there is one vampire who like comes out and taunts him with like with like speech. Like it's the first time that he'd seen a vampire talking. He comes out and he's like, Come on out, you little bitch. Something like that. All the other ones are kind of just like, you know, they they're a little bit more brain-dead. Um, but there's there's one that shows up and he's talking and he's he's like, Yeah, your wife sucked, and that's why she's dead. You know, he would just say stuff to try to like lure him out. Yeah, he'd say some mean, mean stuff. Um Your wife sucks. Yeah. I mean, I'm paraphrasing, but you know, if uh if you think that that makes the book sound better, then yeah, he totally said it like that. Um now there were also movie adaptations before I Am Legend, and I've never seen these. Uh, but I kind of want to now, even though they're like super duper old. So the first adaptation was like 10 years after the book was written. Uh wait, when was it written? Yeah, 10 years after. So this is 1964. It's called The Last Man on Earth, starring Vincent Price, who was like in every horror movie at the time. He was Dracula and other people, probably The Mummy 2. I don't know. I don't really know a whole lot about Vincent Price, but he was uh he he did he did like almost exclusively horror movies.
SPEAKER_02So this is the first movie that was inspired by this book.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um so they change up a lot of stuff in that movie.
SPEAKER_02I kind of watch want to watch these now.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um probably should have read this before I started. Yeah, so The Last Man on Earth, it's it was a pretty cheaply made movie. Um, from what I've read. Uh I'm not not talking shit, Vincent. I'm sorry. I'm sure you did great. Um, but uh it I like a lot of people feel like this adaptation holds the truest to the spirit of the book, as far as like how bleak it was and how close the ending was to where the book ended. Um they changed up a few things, like it's not Robert Neville, it's Robert Morgan, it's a small thing. Um in both books, there's a woman called Ruth that shows up and she's secretly a vampire. Secret vampire, secret vampire who he discovers is is a vampire and is like, I'm gonna experiment on you and inject you with my blood because for some reason I am immune. And all in all of these, Robert Neville is for some reason immune.
SPEAKER_02Okay, is he a scientist in all of them?
SPEAKER_01Because he is an I Am Legend. He is. I'm not sure if he was a scientist before the vampire apocalypse, though. In the book I Am Legend, um, it's kind of just it kind of reads as just like a guy who's like, I found some microscopes and some science books, and I'm gonna figure this out. Um, I don't know if he was actually a scientist before, but he's like, he's like looking under microscopes and he's like, Whoa, that that looks bad. I should do something. Yeah, that's the problem. But I I think most of the science is just that like it his his blood has immunities to the zombie virus. Uh in one of them, I think uh it's not actually a cure until he injects it into Ruth. And then Ruth's blood combined with his blood makes uh the cure. So like his blood isn't the cure, it's a combination of his and Ruth's. Um but I don't remember which one that is. Uh then there's the uh the second movie, 1971, uh starring Charlton Heston, the Omega Man.
SPEAKER_02Okay, I will have a proposal for you before you even tell us about this one. We need for our Christmas celebration, Solstice celebration, may I, to watch all of these and both versions of I Am Legend. In one day. In one day, um, we get progressively less sober.
SPEAKER_01Um, and we have a lot of good snacks. And then we do the episode right after immediately after we finish. No matter how many edibles we've had. Does anyone want to join us in this marathon? Let us know. Yeah, let us know. Do you want to get super baked and watch two movies that are probably difficult to watch and one that isn't? Three movies. Yeah. And read a novel.
SPEAKER_02We have to watch both I Am Legends. So this is four movies, right? Yeah. We have to watch The Last Man on Earth, Omega Man, I Am Legend theatrical release, I am legend directorial. I think we should do the theatrical last so we can leave mad. Yeah. Tell us about tell us about the Omega Man, because I don't know anything about this movie.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so uh star uh starring uh Charlton Heston, you may know from uh the Planet of the Apes fame, um, other things too uh that I can't think of right now. Um Big Actor in the 70s. All of these had really big actors playing in them. So that's that's something worth noting. Um so in this in this version, they're not vampires anymore, they're radiation mutant cultists.
SPEAKER_02Cultists, that's fun.
SPEAKER_01Um that and they call themselves the family. And creepy. Uh in Neville is a scientist and a medic who survives the plague because he um oh uh apparently it's the the plague is caused by a biological some biological warfare from a Soviet conflict. Um sounds very 1971. Uh and then he was injected with an experimental vaccine, so he's immune. Um so this one doesn't have a Ruth in it. It has a Lisa who's infected. Um, and oh this is the yeah, this is the one where he passes the cure along before dying because he mixes their blood together. That's the one I was thinking of.
SPEAKER_02Wow, I can't wait to watch these and just like see how Lisa and Ruth are portrayed.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I can't wait to be like, is this progressive in any way, or am I going to be radicalized even further as a feminist?
SPEAKER_01Well, I'll tell you in the novel, um, it wasn't very progressive. He when he meets Ruth, he sees a woman running through a field when he's out on his like little excursion, and he just like chases her down. Wow. But he's like, he like looks like a madman. He's just like, wait, he's just screaming like just chasing her down, like he's uncontrollable. And then like like she's running away, and then she trips and falls because that's what women do. And and uh and he's like, and by the time he gets to her, like she looks she looks terrified, like he's about to like kill her. And then he's just like, I'm not gonna hurt you. And she's like, What? Really? Because you look insane.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, um, PSA, if don't don't do that, don't chase women. Don't chase women.
SPEAKER_01No, yeah, just don't don't do that. And then I think he like punches her in the face sometime and knocks her out because like he starts to get suspicious, as well as he should, because she's a vampire. She didn't like garlic. That's how he knew.
SPEAKER_02Anyone who I meet who doesn't like garlic, I'm instantly gonna just tell them they're a vampire. Yeah. From now on. I honestly never thought about that before. I've just been like, oh, I guess that's a personal preference that I find very strange.
SPEAKER_01Wasn't it sinners where they're like standing around in a circle and they're like, we're all gonna eat a clove of garlic, and that one person's just like, I'm gonna throw up if I eat that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and they're like, You better eat it. And then she ate it, and she's like, Oh, I think I'm gonna throw up. And they're like, She's a vampire.
SPEAKER_01Things could go really bad very quickly with that as your only litmus test.
SPEAKER_02When you're witch hunting, you're trying to figure out who the bad guy is. Yeah. We see that in the show we're watching right now, silo. Sidebar. We're watching Silo.
SPEAKER_01Um zombies. Uh Omega Man actually has some roots to the theatrical cut of I Am Legend, the movie serving Will Smith, which is this one doesn't end like last man on earth or the novel I Am Legend. Doesn't end with this realization that I was the monster all along, and you are just a family of vampires that I'm tormenting. Um in in this case, it's much more this is more of like the hero's end where he goes out guns blazing, and it has like some Christian martyr imagery in it, where like he dies in a fountain, and even like his death pose is like the Christ pose. Wow. That's a little heavy-handed. Yeah. Um, so yeah, this is this is the the story becomes the hero saves the world with his blood. I've never been more excited to watch just like Jesus. He used his blood like Jesus to save the world.
SPEAKER_02Yes, and to be safe.
SPEAKER_01Not his flesh, but his blood, definitely. Okay. In the fountain. You drink it from the fountain. I'm sure like generations later, people like um I mean his blood is the cure. So to the fountain. Yeah, wow. And then they like splash blood water on their face. They baptize them to themselves. They're like, We are here to worship Charlton Heston. So weird. He's he's the new, he's the new Jesus.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I could, you know, I'd watch that movie.
SPEAKER_02We're gonna I would too. Uh, but we're gonna get into the I am legend now. Yeah,
Darkseekers Zompires And New York
SPEAKER_02the movie. Yeah, the movie, the main event.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So Will Smith is um is a U.S. Army virologist. Um, and he's in New York City. New York City is his station, like he's responsible for it. He has a very nice house. He has a very nice house, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Uh, in New York. Well, like, would a U.S. Army virologist be able to afford that house? Was his wife making bank doing something else? Just a sidebar. That was a very nice house.
SPEAKER_01It was a very nice house. I I wonder though, if that was the house that he lived in. Well, yeah, it was because his kid's bedroom was up there. So that was his house. It's huge, yeah. Um I I believe he was a lieutenant colonel. Yeah, he was a lieutenant colonel. So his um his BAH basic allotment for housing. Okay, thank you. Because I had no idea what I you and your military acronyms. Probably would have been a few grand every month or every paycheck.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_01Um, I don't actually know because I was never an officer, but I know offic officers get away. I know it's 2007.
SPEAKER_02But stuff I'd have no idea what a house mortgage costs in a New York City. That sounds terrifying. I don't even want to know.
SPEAKER_01So, like, pay structures are are complicated in the army. So, like, there is your rank. Like, your rank sets the base of what you're being paid. Um and like you you you don't you don't get more just because you're you know, you went to a good college and you negotiated for more. Like, they don't negotiate, but what they do is like it's your it's your rank and it's how much time you've served total. Um so you know, I imagine if he made it to lieutenant colonel, he's been in at least 18, possibly 20 or more years. I think in the movie, Will Smith is like 38. So that kind of that kind of checks out. Like he could have been a lieutenant colonel at that age. Um and he probably he probably made a decent amount. Um so there's non-commissioned officers, which is everything from or the the the enlisted side, which includes everyone who's a private specialist, all the way up to when you become a c a non-commissioned officer, which starts at corporal. Um not everybody becomes a corporal, but if you move to E5, you're a sergeant, staff sergeant, sergeant first class, first sergeant, master sergeant, sergeant major, command sergeant major, command sergeant major of the army, which only one person is allowed to be in the whole army. And if you are a lieutenant officer, O1, first rank that they give you as soon as you go through OCS, which is the uh officer training.
SPEAKER_02Do you hear how many acronyms there are in the It's all acronyms?
SPEAKER_01Um if you are a lieutenant, you make more than a command sergeant major with 20 years under his belt.
SPEAKER_02Wow.
SPEAKER_01So if you are a lieutenant colonel with like 15 to 20 years in the service, this is quite the sidebar. You're probably making good money. Okay. You're making like you're making money where you can buy a really good house. I don't know if you can buy a really good house in New York City in New York City.
SPEAKER_02But maybe they were renting, you know, we don't know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. You know, when when you're renting and the world ends, that house is yours now. Yeah. So let's just say he was renting. He was renting it. It was still a pretty steep rental. Pretty steep. Um, so, anyways, uh this virus that's a mutated form of measles that was supposed to like cure cancer and basically every disease ever, um, instead turns everybody into uh zombie vampires. I'm calling them zompires. In the movie, they call them dark seekers.
SPEAKER_02I wonder if the reanimated podcast would classify them. And I'm almost willing to guarantee that if we looked at their uh episode list, they have an I am legend episode.
SPEAKER_01They probably do. Um, I I consider them zombies because once infected with this virus, the virus took control of them as an organism. One organism took control of another organism, and I think that I think that vampires fall into that category as long as their free will no longer exists.
SPEAKER_02Well, that's interesting because if you have that definition, then also I would put um Midnight Mass as a zombie show, which is great because it's one of my favorite shows of all time. Let's talk about it. Um, not in this episode, obviously, because we'll never get done. Yeah. But uh that's interesting because his personality completely changes.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And I mean it's it's hard to it's hard to make that comparison, but I that's that's what I believe is the the core of the zombie.
SPEAKER_02So many people will be mad at you for that.
SPEAKER_01Um but like But let's get back to I Am Legend. Well, even like and rice zombies, yeah, and rice vampires, um, they change. Like once they are infected, like they have the memories and they have free will, but them as a as an organism changes.
SPEAKER_02Like I think that free will thing is kind of a question mark when you have a zombie. Like, isn't the base level is that they don't have free will, that they're under control of another outside entity.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think that's an important thing. So, like, there's a certain point where I think a vampire probably doesn't fall under that category, and it depends on how much free will they have. But they do change. They do change because they've been infected with something that changes them. So, yeah, I mean this definition's sloppy. And that's why I like it. I can I can shove anything in there I want. Uh yeah, so um, you know, the movie picks up like three years after the dark seekers have uh eliminated pretty much everyone in the world. Um he has a statistic about like how many people were infected, how many people were immune, which I like. I like that there's a certain number of people who are naturally immune. Robert Neville isn't the only one, uh, but he's probably, as far as he knows, the only one left alive because anybody that wasn't infected is probably just torn apart by these things.
SPEAKER_02It's so rare that he is the only one in New York City, except for if you count his mannequin friends.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, which I those are the I love, I love his mannequin friends. Um so that's it in the nutshell. Um, Robert Neville has a best friend dog named Sam, who they later reveal is named Samantha. Yeah, huge.
SPEAKER_02Like, oh my god, the dog's got a vulva.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Whoa.
SPEAKER_01Which I guess if you were watching closely enough, you could probably figure it out.
SPEAKER_02I mean, I don't think they had direct shots on the dog's genitals. This is getting weird. We're moving into weird territory. We're gonna keep no, we are not for that reason. Absolutely not. Uh yeah. But he, you know, I think what's interesting about it is. He has like a super strict daily routine.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, which honestly feels like a reasonable routine. He shows clear signs of severe PTSD. Like there's a there's a point where he's washing Samantha in a bathtub and his uh his watch goes off uh because he he has a watch and he times everything. He's like he knows when the sun goes down, he knows when he's supposed to be inside and start shuttering the windows. And when his watch goes off, he just like he just freezes. He freezes and he just like stares into the distance and like he can't even hear the dog barking. The dog starts barking because he's like, hey, you're doing it again. You're doing it again. I'm covered in soap over here, man. Rinse me off. Rinse me off. I need the I need to lick myself and I'm soapy.
SPEAKER_02I mean, we're not at things we didn't like, but I have to say it was an implausibly short amount of time for rinsing that dog off, considering how soapy it was. And I noticed. Yeah, it bothered me. I was like, that dog's skin is gonna be irritated. I hope it behind the scenes they actually wash the soap off. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Also, how many times does Samantha get a bath?
SPEAKER_02Every day seems a little bit intense. Not good for you.
SPEAKER_01Is that part of the daily routine or just something that needed to get done? I don't know. You know what? I think it's because Samantha didn't finish her vegetables. Right. Robert Neville says, you're gonna eat your vegetables. Or you have a bath. You're gonna eat those vegetables. And then while he's he's giving her a bath, he's he's like, I bet you're gonna eat those vegetables next time, huh? There's so many little things that are just wonderful in this movie. Um and the conversations that he has with his dog and mannequins and himself are one of those amazing things. Um these dark seekers, these these zompires, they are terrifying. Uh they are allergic to sun. Uh nothing is mentioned about silver or garlic or um crucifixes, like none of none of the uh the the vampire lore stuff is there except for the sunlight. Um sunlight was never actually really uh explained, which I guess is fine. You don't have to explain it.
SPEAKER_03No.
SPEAKER_02Um we've already suspended our disbelief.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. But Robert Neville is working on a cure in his basement.
SPEAKER_02Obsessively, some might say.
SPEAKER_01Obsessively, every single day.
SPEAKER_02Using his own blood. Using his own blood. He has so many rats. He has tons of rats. Which would be easy to come by in New York.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Especially after the apocalypse. I would like to think they'd proliferate.
SPEAKER_01And they were infected. They are infected rats.
SPEAKER_02But did he infect them or did he find them infected, I wonder? Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01He probably infected them. Yeah, that's fucked up. You know, uninf infected rats would be hard to catch. Uninfected ones, you just go to a trash can.
SPEAKER_02Gonna name now, generally speaking, not pro-animal testing. I guess this is an extreme circumstance where there's really not a lot of other options.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Except uh except when he finds a human one. Mm-hmm. And it's revealed that he's had many human test subjects because he has pictures of all of them on a wall. He has a he has a mural. Yeah. A whole mural of every human test subject that he's that he's clearly dead or subdued.
SPEAKER_02I don't know. With their eyes are closed. Um we should describe what these zompires look like. They're sort of like that, you know what? They've got a bit of a Romero flashback. That their skin tone is very Romero-esque.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, gray.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, they're bald, all of their hair falls out.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Immediately. And they breathe their heart rate, they're breathing extremely fast all the time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. They're um they have a really high uh core temperature, 108 degrees, and their and their heart rate is like 200.
SPEAKER_02And they're hungry.
SPEAKER_01They are really hungry. So they're kind of like his only competitor for the deer. There's a lot of deer. Yeah, they're doing great. There's deer, there's lions, a whole family, a family of lions, which was really kind of cool because like there's this moment where there's a deer gets taken down by a lion that Will Smith is chasing. Um, and then and and he comes around the corner, lion's got the deer in his jaws, and he's like, You better not take this fucking deer. And then another lion shows up, and then two cubs show up, and it's like, oh, it's a family.
Routine Isolation PTSD And Mannequins
SPEAKER_02Yeah, the like little glimpse of like life continues without people dominating it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. New York City seems dope now.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I will say that like the the hordes of deer, they were their own horde. Yeah. I've never seen so I mean, I know they were CG deer, but I've never seen so many deer. And it had me pause and be like, wait, are deers like deers, my god. Deers. Are deers Just gonna double down on mispronunciation? Are deers like other herd animals like buffalo or elk or reindeer that like or horses. Or hor well, horses don't have that large of like a herd.
SPEAKER_01Well, I have news for you, Leah. I've seen horses in herds the size of the deer that were in New York in I Am Legends. Like hundreds? Yeah. Oh my god, thousands. I'm pretty sure it was in Utah.
SPEAKER_02Um were they all wild?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they were wild. And they were they were roaming the countryside. They were outside of a Walmart distribution center. I don't know if I've told this story before on the podcast. I know I've told it to people um since then, but uh yeah, I went to this Walmart distribution center. Pretty sure it was Utah, uh, maybe Wyoming, possibly. Um all those states are flat, so it's kind of hard to remember. Anyways, uh yeah, I didn't think much of it. I drove up this long, like freshly paved road and you know, green grass on both sides. I see all these horses, and I'm like, hmm, somebody's got a got a ranch out here, I guess. I pull into the Walmart place, and the person at the gate, she just kept on looking out the window, and she's like, it's like, wow, they're just right there, aren't they? I'm like, yeah, yeah, they sure are. Um, and then like while I'm checking in, it takes like 20 minutes to like check in at this place because they don't have their shit together. And um, and like I I start to realize, I'm like, I'm like, wow, this person just is really staring at these horses. What's the deal with all these horses? And then I'm like, where are the fences? Because they were just like walking up the road. They walked up the road, they were like just like came out, came the grow grays right outside of the the security um building, and I'm like, oh, some of these horses got out. And she's like, They're they're wild horses, they're not those don't belong to anybody. And I'm like, wild horses, all of them, there's like a hundred out there. That's amazing. Like, I I thought that I thought that they were always there, and she was just like, just really liked horses. They just happened to be there that day.
SPEAKER_02What a gift for you to see. Do you know that right now the Bureau of Land Management is culling them and it's prime mare pregnancy season and like not just kind of pregnant, but like sh huge. Imagine the most pregnant mare you can imagine. I'm imagining it. Um, and they the way that they catch them is they like run them really hard. And it's really sad.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's that's a that's not a thing you want to do when you're super pregnant.
SPEAKER_02You know why they do it? Because they compete with fucking cows.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they eat grass.
SPEAKER_02Yep. Yep. That's literally why we've decided they're in the insane.
SPEAKER_01It's an if you've if you've ever, ever, ever been out west into the prairie lands where I saw these horses, and you understood the magnitude of how much space and how little humans there are in that area, it's insane that they would be like, they're eating too much grass. It's like it's like going, it's like going up to an infant and being like, we have to end this infant because they're breathing too much air. Yeah. They're this infant's breathing air that somebody else could breathe.
SPEAKER_02Literally. I mean, it's I who is the real monster uh in this circumstance. Um, it's us, unfortunately. It's not the horses. It's not, it's definitely not the horses. First of all, we brought them here. Start there. Second of all, we all need to be eating eat beef. Unpopular opinion I'm sharing, but we don't need it. We don't need it. It's extremely bad for the environment. If even if you don't fucking give a shit about the animals' experience, it's so wasteful of all of our resources. All right, let's get back to I Am Legend.
SPEAKER_01I want to talk about the most tense part of the whole movie. Okay. When Sam chases a deer into a building. Devastating. Well, this isn't this isn't that time.
SPEAKER_02It's still devastating. It's really scary. It what we I we'll discuss it more, but this movie made me so tense and scared in a way that I have not been in years.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So Will Smith's gotta go in after his friend, Sam, um, into this dark building. And it's the first time we see them. It's uh it is the vom zompires. The zompires, we see them like in a circle, just like hyperventilating on each other, and it's weird.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and Will Smith is freaking the fuck out in there. He's full of panicking.
SPEAKER_01I've never seen any actor portray fear in a situation like that, like like he did. Like, like he like he he was he was going like step by step, and he would like cover the flashlight on his rifle with his hand, and you couldn't see anything except for like his hand and his face. And he's just like he would like close his eyes, like squeeze them shut, and just into like you could tell that he's just like, I can't go another step.
SPEAKER_02And he said it. He's like, Sam, I gotta go, I gotta go, Sam, but he didn't. Yeah. He kept looking for her.
SPEAKER_01He was like he he went like he was barely in. He was barely in. He's like, I gotta go. I gotta, I gotta get out of here.
SPEAKER_02And I wonder why the zompires were not activated by his yelling.
SPEAKER_01Um, well, so I th they were sleeping. So um, like when he was when he was doing that, he was like it's like a a whisper, a hushed whisper. And they're probably used to noises like that because they're always like doing the heavy breathing thing. Good point. Um, it's not until like he sees like the little group in the in the room doing their huddle that he like steps backwards onto something that like makes a lot of noise. And then they start coming for him and he just starts firing into him. But like I've I've never seen fear portrayed so accurately in a movie before than Will Smith. And he finds Sam! He finds Sam and they escape. It's miraculous. And then he sets up a snare in the door with a little vial of his blood. He puts a vial of his blood and smashes it on the ground, puts a little s a little snare that's hooked up to like uh like a a generator that's like hanging off of a bridge, and a zompire comes up and is like, I'm gonna lick that. I'm gonna lick that blood, and triggers a snare, generator falls, pulls pulls the person out covered in a tarp. It's pretty smart, pretty smart drop. And then he then he knocks her out and he's like, I got me a new test subject.
SPEAKER_02But then Mega Zompire gets in the door and tries to step out into the sunlight. He is so upset that his zompire, yeah, we learn later girlfriend uh has been captured.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they got big mouths. I don't know if we've mentioned that, but their mouths huge. They they you know, they have to be CG animated because you could never get somebody to open their mouth that big.
SPEAKER_02Also, this zompire is a main character zompire.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Because we see him throughout the movie, but he's he's it there's like this pattern, dare I say, in zombie movies and monster movies where like he's the big bad. He's like the of course he's the biggest, he's the most swole, he's been at the gym. Yeah, he's he's the he's going to the gym, he's the gym bro, zombie bro, you know.
SPEAKER_01Uh and he's also huge and tall. And smart. Yeah. He's he's a smart zompire, so he's like the leader. Yeah. Um, and maybe it's his girlfriend, we don't know, but he it is somebody that he very much cares about. Yep. It's it is clearly family. Like you took a family member. I'm pretty sure they kiss at the end. No, they don't.
SPEAKER_02They don't? She's unconscious. They just like hold no, she wakes up.
SPEAKER_01He holds he holds her and they he walks away.
SPEAKER_02She wakes up and she makes weird sounds. They let they look at each other. And at least if they don't kiss, they definitely like put their foreheads together.
SPEAKER_01I think they put their foreheads together for sure. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So there's uh it felt romantic to me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So what's interesting about the whole snare thing is that uh so Robert Neville has all these mannequin friends at the at the video store that he goes to. Um part of his daily routine that keeps his life normal. Uh and one of them is a mannequin in a red hoodie. And he stands outside. Orange hoodie, Dan. It's orange. I thought it was red, but it's it's orange. Um, you write.
SPEAKER_02Uh Dan and I get into fights over what color something is. It's one of the few things that we get really have a heated argument over. So I appreciate you acknowledging that it's orange.
SPEAKER_01So the this mannequin, he's got a girlfriend. They hang out outside of the uh the video store. His name's Fred. He comes in, he has he has conversations with Fred. There's a there's a lady mannequin inside near all the porn DVDs that he's working up the courage to talk to. Um, he has this whole routine. Like every day he goes in, he's working his way through the alphabet. Like he's not picking movies based on like what he wants to watch that day. He's like, I'm in the G's. I'm watching the G movies right now. So like he's just working through them. Like that's his daily routine. It doesn't matter if it's a movie he wants to watch, he's going to watch it because it's part of his routine.
SPEAKER_02And this is not in jest. He is fully treating these mannequins like they are real people. It's very reminiscent of Wilson from um what's that? Castaway, right?
SPEAKER_01Castaway, yeah.
SPEAKER_02But it I mean, at this at least it's not a volleyball with a bloody handprint on it. Yeah. They are humanoid. Um, but he taught he really talks to them like they are people. Yeah. You know, and I wonder, like at one point, he was just like, I I need to like create such like there's so much story behind that scene that I find fascinating. And so how many years has he been doing this?
SPEAKER_01Uh uh it could have could have been three. Could have been, you know, and like they weren't set up there. He set them up. He put them there, he dressed them, he he went and found them at an Amber Crombie and Fitch, probably, dressed them all up, brought them to this store because he's like, this is gonna be part of my routine. It's gonna feel normal to be around humanoid-shaped objects that don't want to kill me.
SPEAKER_02How many days, months, or years would you be into this level of isolation and an apocalypse to get to a point where you're like, you know what I'm gonna do? Set up mannequins who I talk to at the blockbuster.
SPEAKER_01Well, I I've I've dealt pretty well with isolation in the past. So I don't know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but you always had the internet. It's not like you were in no communication with the with humans.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that is a different thing. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know, but it sounds like fun though. I would love this level of delusion.
SPEAKER_02I think you would do it because um fun sidebar, Dan has purchased a what are we calling him?
SPEAKER_01Lil D.
SPEAKER_02Lil D. Yeah. A little a tiny little uh like Barbie style but Dan shaped toy.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's like a a 112 scale version of me.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and everywhere we go that's kind of cute or fun, or like has like a notch in the tree that they that little D could go into. Dan's like, oh, can't wait to bring Lil D here. Which I love.
SPEAKER_01I can't wait. Yeah. I got oh man, just wait, Leah. Like Lil D has a has a has a nice truck that you know I've been playing with. Um, but little D also has a tent.
SPEAKER_02Um wait, you bought him a tent?
SPEAKER_01Camp chairs.
SPEAKER_02Wait, you bought all this?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I did not know. So when we go camping, Lil D is gonna get his own setup.
SPEAKER_01He's gonna set up his own tent.
SPEAKER_02Wow.
SPEAKER_01He's gonna lounge in his camp chairs. I got him, I got him like, I got him some like some beverages so they can just chill in his camp chair.
SPEAKER_02Oh my god. Okay. Well, I think that you So I guess it's already happening. I think you would do this relatively soon. Yeah. I I think it's already. At first you would do it, and maybe it was the same for him. It wasn't just like, oh, I need socialization and routine. Maybe he was just like having fun with it. Yeah, he's like, I should have some fun. Yeah, you know, like I can't see real people, so like why not? And then at some point it probably shifted. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So then something happens. Um,
Fred Moves And Traps Snap Shut
SPEAKER_01he's he's he's out on his patrol, he's looking for, I don't know, probably hunting deer again. Uh, and he's and he's driving around and something catches his eye, like down this main boulevard, and he has to stop the truck. And he gets out, and it's Fred, and he's standing in the middle of the road, nowhere near the video store. And he's just like, What are you doing out here, Fred?
SPEAKER_02But what this is another example of where Will Smith's acting blew me away. Like, he was he lost he lost it when he saw that Fred wasn't where he was supposed to be. Yeah, and then he was like, Are you real? No, you're not real. Are you real? You have to tell me if you're real. It's so believable. I believe him fully.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Cause he like you you can tell that like his his mind was delusional, but he knew it was delusional.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Like he he knew that it was all he wasn't totally gone.
SPEAKER_02He didn't 100% believe.
SPEAKER_01But there's a part of him that's like, are these mannequins real? Are they real people? Like for a moment, his reality shattered a little bit, and he's just like, wait, are they real? Are all of them real? Why are they here? Do I have a thriving social life? Do I have do I suddenly have a lot of friends? Um, and he goes and he goes and he he he's like he he decides he has to shoot Fred. He's like, Fred won't answer me, so he shoots him. And then he goes to pick up Fred because I think he feels bad. He's like, Fred, come on, we gotta get out of here. I gotta get you back to the video store. And that's when Will Smith gets snared, his own snare, and it's attached to a taxi and it pulls him up in the air and uh and he and knocks him out. He hits his head, and uh things go bad from there. Like that's that's that's the that's the bad time. The bad times have started. The good times were over, and they died with Fred.
SPEAKER_02It was also extremely, again, extremely upsetting. Yeah. I was like, what the fuck? Who did that? Are there people here he doesn't know about? Who's trying and if there are people, why would they harm him? Like that was what I was going through in my mind. Then you're like, fuck, it's getting dark. This guy is going to get eaten, Sam's gonna get eaten, this is bad. And I felt all of this having watched the movie previously. I mean, it had been almost 20 years, it'll be the 20-year anniversary next year.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so um uh trigger warning the dog dies. Yes, I feel like that needs to be said because I forgot.
SPEAKER_02And it was absolutely devastating.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because um, because Alpha Zompire shows up, the mega zompire. He shows up with two zompire dogs. Two dogs. I'm so sad when dogs get to be zompires. Poor doggos. And uh, and as Will Smith is trying to escape, he accidentally stabbed himself in the leg and he's like trying to crawl away, and Sam's going nuts. Sam is like, Sam, you gotta get in the truck, and Sam's like, I'm like, I'm gonna fight these zompire dogs. Um, and loses. But saves saves Will Smith. And uh then he has a moment where he's like trying to kill himself and he meets a person who uh got his radio calls that he puts out every single day, and she's got a kid, and all all this stuff happens. Uh and if you've seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about. I want to jump to the end.
SPEAKER_02Whoa, you're just jumping all the way to the end. I feel like we have to, again, I will just say fast forward two or three minutes if thinking about the details of the dog's death really fucks you up. But I think it needs to be discussed. I need to talk about it therapeutically.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I guess I'm trying to gloss over it just because um it's uh, you know, it's it's an open wound for me, right?
SPEAKER_02Is it okay, okay, okay. We won't.
SPEAKER_01I'll just okay. Let's let's discuss it.
SPEAKER_02I will just you know I he tries to save her. He he's hoping that maybe this version of his vaccine is gonna save her. Seems like a possibility. He's holding her as an arms, and then he has to be the one who ends her life as she transitions to zompire. Um, and I'm gonna not describe that detail too much, but what I want to point out again was his acting. I was I was like, yeah, this is exactly how I would feel in this moment. And it just really like is not just the dog dies devastation, having seen the dog get like mauled by zombie. Yeah, it's it is the devastation of being the one to make the choice, even when you know there's no other choice, which like anybody who's owned a pet and had them be through their entire life or had to make the choice of when they would not be here anymore for any kind of reason for health, they're old. It's for the best. It was just way too fucking real and de just devastating. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Like that the the look on because like the whole the whole scene is just a shot of Will Smith's face close up. He's just like looking up into the up into the right.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, he's holding her neck.
SPEAKER_01And he's just like devastating. What what a way to have to do it to like cause he like he smothered her. He just smothered her.
SPEAKER_02But yes.
SPEAKER_01Why while she was turning into a zompire dog. Um yeah, that's that's bound to mess somebody up. So yeah, he went on a rampage after that. We're going way so so far so much further into depth than I fully expected to do. It needs to be talked about. Yeah, it's talking about good. Yeah. It's it's incredible. Um then there's there's a whole bunch of stuff when when Anna, also not named Ruth, um, and uh a boy, I forget the boy's name. Ethan. Ethan and Ann, Ethan and Ann.
Anna Ethan And Faith Versus Science
SPEAKER_01Uh they show up, they've been looking for a safe place. Uh, she's got this whole thing about how like God has is brought her to him. Uh and Robert Neville's like very, very religious. Yeah. These Robert Neville's like, my radio transmission brought you to me. Yeah. So it becomes this like this like science versus faith kind of uh kind of dynamic that happens. It's very it's very brief for a while, and it's not like in your face, but it is there. Like she she believes that she's being guided somewhere else for a reason.
SPEAKER_02I think it's worth pointing out that this is a theme throughout the whole movie because he prays with his family.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_02At the very beginning. Yeah, when they're getting on the story of the loss of faith in something greater.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Also, his family doesn't make it.
SPEAKER_02No.
SPEAKER_01But uh I didn't I didn't recall that they died in a helicopter crash. Like right there while he was watching. A helicopter spins out of control, hits the helicopter that they're in, and explodes. Uh yeah, I totally forgot about that. I th I thought that they got away, but like he just, you know, given the state of the world, he just had to at some point be like, yeah, my family's dead.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, he had to accept it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um there's a whole lot between him, Anna, and Ethan about like his his mental state. Yeah. And like how he's he's coping not just with the grief, but like who he is as a person from all the isolation. So like they're actually kind of afraid of him because he has a lot of weird outbursts and like so some rigidity around bacon. Like they make him bacon for breakfast and he gets really mad, and then later he's like, I was saving that bacon. I was saving it. I get that.
SPEAKER_02I mean, again, he'd been alone for a really long time. Then there's suddenly people there. He just lost Fred, just lost Sam and Sam in the same day. In the same day. And is presented with this woman who's also talking about God when he's lost everything.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And in the background, uh Shrek is playing, and it's a scene where it's one of the best parts. Him him and Donkey are arguing about uh which part of the swamp that Donkey gets to live in. And Shrek is like, but the swamp is my swamp. And he's like, Well, now this is my half of the swamp. Um, and a really funny moment where he just like recites every line of Shrek.
SPEAKER_02Perfectly. Again, give this man an Oscar for I Am Legend.
SPEAKER_01I don't care that it's 20 years ago almost. Yeah, so good. You get like Will Smith gets the Oscar for reciting every line from Shrek in I Am Legend. Was he a character in Shrek? No, that was Eddie Murphy. That would have been extra fun. But he does an excellent job of it.
SPEAKER_02He does. He should have, you know what? I wonder if that was like, I want to show them I could have done this better.
SPEAKER_01He's like auditioning for the role. He's like, something happens to Eddie Murphy. You let me know. I can pull this off. I I need a flagship, a flagship franchise to keep me going so I can pick the more artsy movies that don't pay a whole lot of money. Exactly. Yeah, I need that flagship first, though. Eddie Murphy doesn't need it. He's got enough money. Eddie Murphy definitely doesn't need it. But also neither does Will Smith. Um yeah, I want to talk about the endings.
Theatrical Ending And Hero Martyr
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01Because here's my thesis. When this movie came out, people loved it to a point, and then the ending fell flat.
SPEAKER_02The for the theatrical release.
SPEAKER_01The theatrical release. This is the one that existed until they released the alternate ending, which I don't know when they released it, but it was much longer after the movie came out. Like this was like they released a DVD that had the alternate ending. Um so in the theatrical cut, there during the big climax of the movie, all all the zomp the zompires they come to the house. This happens in both versions. So they come to the house, but that's like once they get to the house, that's when everything changes between the two versions. In the theatrical cut, uh Neville, Anna, and Ethan, they retreat down to the lab. Um, and they hide behind the reinforced glass, and the mega zompire comes in and he smashes through that glass because he's trying to get to Robert Neville. Smash that glass. Yeah. Um and his test subject is there, the female zompire, um, who I guess would actually be Ruth. That would be Ruth.
SPEAKER_02I think that makes sense, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Uh he's actually created a cure that works in this version. He has a cure that works, and he's like, I found the cure in the last minute of the movie. Anna, you and Ethan need to take to this this to that place in Vermont that you want to go to. There's a place in Vermont where everything's safe. Um supposedly. Yeah. She thinks she thinks it's true. He's like, There's no place in Vermont. You're stupid.
SPEAKER_02We will be a place for any kind of refugee, climate refugees. Yeah. We will Vermont is definitely it's close enough to enough big cities that it would be a place people to go to.
SPEAKER_01So he gives her the vial and he's like, You gotta get this to Vermont. And he pulls out a hand grenade, and he gets he gets them out while all the the zompires are in the basement with him. They leave, and he has a big standoff moment between him and the mega zompire, and then he detonates the hand grenade, killing himself and all the zompires in the basement.
SPEAKER_02I feel like you skimmed over the fact that the zompires figured out where he lived because of Anna. Oh, yeah, yeah. And there's like, I don't know, a lot, hundreds. Hundreds that are coming for him that he manages to stave off because he has a whole defense system perimeter around his house.
SPEAKER_01That's something that all all of the versions have in common, which is that he he has a fortified house. Uh big steel shutters, um, UV lights. He has claymores uh set up in um in parked cars that create like a wall of explosive fire when he flips a switch, which was really cool, but also kind of blew open the shutters, and I was just like, maybe they should have been a little bit further away. I bet he had the same thought. Like if there was dialogue after that, you he should he should have been like, I I knew I should have put those further away. Those were way too close. Um, yeah, so like when when Anna first finds Robert, he's like, he he was trying to kill himself. He was running over zombies out in the middle uh in the in in it it was midnight, he's running over zombies with his truck, flips the truck, and the mega zompire was gonna kill him, and then Anna shows up with really bright lights and they all run away. Um he tells her to drive around until dawn because the zompires don't know where he lives. Very important detail. And I guess we find out once they start showing up that uh she said it was like almost almost dawn. And he then like he was bleeding out because he had a knife stuck in his leg. So like and she she went she went to his house. She went to his house, and they saw where he lives, so they're showing up now. They're showing up in big numbers, and they're ready to kick Will Smith's ass.
SPEAKER_02They're pissed.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02They are so mad. Lead Zompire seems to command them all, command like his own army, basically. Yeah. I feel like Leeds Zompire is the counterpart to Robert Neville.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think so. So in this theatrical cut, like the zompire the the mega zompire, he's just the strong, smart zompire, and the rest are just mindless ghouls. Um, and then he blows them up. Robert Neville is the hero because he killed the monster at the end. Um, the alternate ending. The
Alternate Ending And Moral Reversal
SPEAKER_01ending that if you've never seen this movie and I've just spoiled everything for you, uh this is the one that you should watch. And it's one that I thought that I watched because I watched the alternate ending on YouTube, and then my memory spliced it together as if I'd seen the whole movie entirely with the alternate ending. And I'd never actually seen this before until we watched it this week.
SPEAKER_02So much better.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So in this one, it says a lot before we even get into it. It says a lot about what Hollywood thinks will appeal to people.
SPEAKER_01It's true. Um so in this one, the Alpha's breaking through the glass, but instead, Robert Neville, uh, who up until this point has been just assuming that these things are just mindless animals that have no higher brain functions, he sees he sees that this mega zompire is looking at the test subject and it's just like like has this expression of like pain, just like desperate to want to get in there. And he realizes they this is a rescue party. They just came to find the test subject. Ruth. They came for Ruth. And so he he decides that he's going to return Ruth. So he's just like, open the door, I'm going out. So they open up the door, he brings Ruth out, and he gives him gives him back to the mega zompire while he's standing in front of the mural of every test subject that died in his lab.
SPEAKER_02Which also has to be around a hundred. Yeah. It's a large number.
SPEAKER_01It's a very large number.
SPEAKER_02And they make a point of panning across it so you can see.
SPEAKER_01And again, the acting where he's sitting, he's he's looking at the ground like in like just shame. Just an absolute shame, just like like ready to be killed because he's so ashamed that he didn't realize that these were creatures that were living, breathing, feeling, thinking creatures. And the mega zompire, instead of just killing them, takes takes Ruth, um, and in Leah's version, makes out with her.
SPEAKER_02I didn't say that. I just feel like they kissed her. They had something very intimate.
SPEAKER_01And and decides that like him and the rest of his ghoul pack are just gonna leave Robert Neville because there's like this mutual understanding that they are both thinking creatures with with lives and needs and wants, and that Robert Neville made a mistake. And this whole time he's been trying to cure the plague, not realizing that he's he's the last. And that the mega zompires are the next evolutionary stage of humanity, and that the world is theirs now. Like Robert Neville is no longer, as a human, the the dominant species of the planet Earth. It's now mega zompire.
SPEAKER_02I'm not sure mega zompire is the dominant species of planet earth. I just think that they are the next iteration of humanity. And because if they were dominating human earth, then we wouldn't have the hordes of deer, the return to nature. So in some ways, I'm kind of okay with it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Like they're they're weird, they're definitely different, uh, but they do have feelings, they care about each other, and they're not destroying the planet.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02They're just hunting, they're just eating deer.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um and this is why the alternate ending is the best ending, and why it's the canon ending that even the the film creators have admitted this is the ending that's supposed to be canon. The theatrical version undercut everything that the film was leading up to. The moral ambiguity, it was undercutting all the hard ethical questions about existence and humanity, and it even undercut the fucking title of the movie. The title, I am legend, is is this is a statement that Will Smith, Robert Neville, has become has become the legend of the that that we see vampires as. Like this mythical thing that, you know, if you believe what you want, if you want to believe that vampires are real, they're still mythical and you'll never find one in the wild. And him as a human is now this mythical thing that's like it's like the world is no longer his. Like he is he is just this fading thing that is the last remnant of what humanity was.
SPEAKER_02And if uh zompires get to a point of speech or they have the ability to tell stories, they will tell stories of this.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. They'll be like, there's never these humans that could walk around in the day.
SPEAKER_02But also, like, I think it's really shocking that the zompire, big zompire guy, is it big zompire baddie, chooses to forgive him.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02He makes his other guys stand back, even though they really want to eat him. Yeah. Um, I think that's really shocking. And it was one of the parts where I like had a little bit of like, I'm not sure I totally believe this, because literally he had just he had just blown up like so many zompires that I would assume this guy also cared about and other zompires cared about if they have feelings. All for one zompire. He gives one zompire back, and big baddie zompire is like, yeah, I forgive you for the massacre. Yeah. I mean, I understand that that's like maybe maybe that's meant to be a broader message about the importance of forgiveness, but like I or that they're you know literally superior at this point in terms of their moral morality as a species.
SPEAKER_01That's what I choose to believe. I choose to believe that the the mega zompires are compassionate, are compassionate and they've like, you know, just like the original book and the movies that followed, these are are are uh a new breed of human that have their own societies, they have their own rules, they have their own beliefs. And maybe mega zompire, we don't hear we he doesn't speak English, but he he like uses growls and guttural sounds to communicate with the others. Like they communicate, and maybe they communicate in other ways too, like when they're like hyperventilating in a circle, like maybe maybe there's some telekinesis going on. We don't know. We don't know anything about them because the whole time Robert Neville was studying like how to turn them back into humans and you know, killing them.
SPEAKER_02He's definitely an example of like an attached because there's other examples where he is very rigid, right? He was saving his bacon, he saved his he has a very specific schedule he does every day. He tells his um wife and child that he has to stay in New York because he's the one that's gonna figure this out, it's his place. Yeah, he does the exact same thing when Anna shows up, is like, I've gotta stay, I can't leave. Yeah, he says he says, I'm gonna fix this. Yeah, he's inflexible in his beliefs and stuck, really. Um, so in some ways, this story is about somebody who is stuck and then has like finally realizes they don't have to be it. They don't have to keep doing things the way that they've been doing them.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I think the the real redemption of the story and and the alternate ending is a much a much better uh hero tale, which is that Robert Neville lives with the knowledge that like things aren't what he thought they were.
SPEAKER_02And is harm.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And I wonder like if we're if there's this, you know, apparently there's gonna be a sequel.
Sequel Plans And Bigger Themes
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Supposedly. And I wonder if there will be like how that will feel and look for him 20 years later. As you know, I as somebody who is um white and carries a lot of privilege, I certainly can relate to the wake-up call of being like, holy fucking shit. Maybe I didn't personally do all of these things, but like all of my the last many generations did. Yeah. Um, and I've benefited and I'm and honestly, like grew up with a bunch of really fucked up points of view, white saviorism, everything. Like white saviorism is a great example. Like, I like I remember watching those kid commercials from what is that? What is that nonprofit where they always have like a little black child from an unnamed country in Africa with a fly in their eye and the bloated belly, and they're like, for the equivalent of one coffee a day, you can be the savior of this child.
SPEAKER_01You can give this child one coffee a day.
SPEAKER_02There are no adults in this place because you're the adult white savior. It's up to you. I remember being like five and being like, I gotta save a kid. There's a lot to put on a kid.
SPEAKER_01It's like, they're hungry. Can't we send them a sandwich? It exploits something that's very human. I was I was always mad at the person on TV because they're like walking around and it's like, can't you feed them? Do something, do something, lady. But it's also give them a sandwich.
SPEAKER_02It intentionally plays on the idea of them being like helpless without agency, and like the only way that'd be okay is if we adopt them literally like a pet, and completely abstracts it from their actual humanity, from the history and cult could like culture, context politically in which they're in and why they are in that situation, which is tied to what white people have done and are still doing. Uh, Trump, hello. Um and it like it feeds into all of that. And so I think there is a parallel here, a little bit of white saviorism.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Of like, I'm gonna save, you know, these people are wrong, backwards, dangerous. Yeah. I'm gonna save them.
SPEAKER_01A little bit of uh colonial views, yeah. Where it's like, I will, I will civilize the savage. Yes. Like that exact, that exact vibe.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, and then and then Robert Neville realizes I was the savage all along. Yeah. It was me.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I mean, like little Taylor Swift, I'm the problem, it's me. I'm pretty sure that's Taylor Swift. Yeah, well. Joe Salazar, let us know. Oh, Dan apparently knows. Is that what that song's about? I mean, probably not. Colonialism. But I will say every time I fuck something up, like the spreadsheet this week, uh, that I thought somebody else had fucked up or was just inherently broken, it was me. I was the problem.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, I have some sequel info. Okay. Because a lot of people are like, there's a sequel coming, but I don't know anything about it. Um, and neither do I, but I found some stuff on the internet. First of all, the alternate ending was the original ending. They shot two endings. One that was the theat what that was chosen for the theatrical cut, and one that was the alternate, which is why they had it and they put it in a in a DVD. The reason that they went with the theatrical cut version is because it tested better with test audiences. That is such an indictment of Americans. It is. The test audiences were like, we like the one where he kills the monsters badger. Um, but what I find interesting is that like I remember that movie coming out, and I I remember the sentiment of people after watching it, they were like, it's it's a great movie, except you know, at the end it kind of sucks. And that kind of like spoiled that like put a bad taste in their mouth for the movie. Like, this this could have been a movie that I would have re-watched year after year, probably, except I had that bad taste in my mouth, the bad movie taste. And if I think back, I've probably watched this movie other than the time that we watched it this week. I've probably seen this movie twice. I've only seen it once before. This is my second time. And then watched the alternate ending on YouTube and agreed that's a better ending. Um, so like people went to the theaters in 2007, they watched it and they were like, ending sucks. While the test audience was like, that's the ending we want. So interesting. Yeah, which I I think, you know, like as as writers and creators out there, a lot of a lot of us, uh a lot of you listening are are are authors. And I think that like the the the lesson is go with with what you think is the best. Don't listen to what other people are telling you. Don't don't think about like what's what's trending, like what genre is going to get people to read it. What what moment, like what character arc, what trope, how many beds are there supposed to be at this in? You know, like if you if you write the thing that's meaningful to you, that's what matters. And I think if they did that with I Am Legend, I am legend, I mean it it did really well. Well, I am Legend became uh an overnight like cult classic. But I think it could have done a whole lot better if it had the right ending.
SPEAKER_02I was wondering if the original writer of I Am Legend was alive when this came out. And like I don't know if they had any role in it, but they did die in 2013, which means they probably saw this. Probably saw it. And I bet you they were like, what the fuck? You missed the entire point. I bet missed the entire point. I bet they did.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I would have been pissed.
SPEAKER_01So the sequel. Okay. Uh so this was announced in 2022. Will Smith confirmed that he would be returning. Uh and Michael B. Jordan is coming in as a leader of a community of survivors. Cool. So those are the two details we know about the movie. Um Will Smith himself has confirmed that the alternate ending is what's going to be considered canon going forward into the sequel. Um we probably imagine that that was the case because he's returning and not dead.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I am Legend 2 has an IMDB page.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, I just saw shots of Will Smith with a lot of gray hair.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's another thing. It's gonna pick up a few decades after the original.
SPEAKER_02I love it. I mean, like, if it's I hope it's 28 years later, good, because I was so surprised at how much I enjoyed this film. I'm not normally like a big action film person, but the emotional story and the tension was maximum dial. Yeah. There was lots of like they had lots of great moments of relief, so that wasn't the whole time. And that made every single moment that I felt that stress like a 10 out of 10. My adrenaline was pumped. My heart rate was probably elevated for solidly the last two acts. Yeah. And you weren't even looking at your phone. No, I did not look at my phone, which, as we all know on Sonny Book Club Podcast is a big deal. Yeah. I was not playing Catan while watching a movie, which is usually how I watch literally everything as I'm playing Catan at the same time. Um, or exercising or doodling or tidying what I can tidy and trying not to distract Dan because he hates that I can't sit still for television stuff, but I really can't usually, unless it is exceptional.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, it's tough because usually when you're not sitting still, it means that you're like in front of me. That's fair. Sorry. So, like, you know, I'm I'm like, you paying attention to the movie as you're like literally right in front of me, like bopping around and like looking at your phone, like, ooh, I gotta do a katan thing. And you're like, I'm paying attention. Who says I wasn't?
SPEAKER_02I only need to pay. Honestly, this is how I truly feel. Most shows don't deserve my full attention.
SPEAKER_01That's fair. This one did. Yeah. This one did. Um, so yeah, the the sequel, they don't have a date locked in or anything. There hasn't been any principal shooting done yet. There isn't even a script.
SPEAKER_02That's wild because they should capitalize on the 20-year anniversary, which is literally happening in less than six months.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. But the they they plan to have some news, some updates in either late 2026 or 2027.
SPEAKER_02Are you sure they haven't started filming? Because I mean unless this is AI, which will make me so mad. I mean, I'm not sure because I'm seeing a picture of I'm seeing a actually I'm seeing um some shots of Will looking old, has another dog. It might be test shots. But I do want it, could be test shots, could be AI, like who knows? Because I'm just scrolling through quickly. No, it's not a different movie. It's very clear that it's set in the same world when I'm looking at these pictures.
SPEAKER_01Um But uh it's supposed they do have a director attached. Um Steven Capel Jr., who shot who uh was the director of Creed 2.
SPEAKER_02Don't know that movie.
SPEAKER_01It's uh it's one of the Rocky spinoffs that was I guess pretty good. I haven't I actually haven't seen the Creed movies, so but I heard they were good.
SPEAKER_02I wonder if uh well I guess we we're pretty certain his family is dead, his daughter and his wife. Yeah. Um but we they don't actually show it. And I you said that that was kind of an argument towards the PTSD, which like he had visceral memory of everything, but that party's blanked out. But it does leave the door open for his daughter Willow Smith to play a role. Just saying. Because she was in the first one.
SPEAKER_01I do believe that I do believe they were dead.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01Um something that I would find slightly annoying, but it's understandable, is if Ethan and Anna don't show up in the sequel. That seems to happen so often in action movies. Like every James Bond movie, it's like, I found the love of my life, and we're ending on a kiss in the last the last freeze frame before the title credits, and then the next movie it's like, I'm totally single.
SPEAKER_02She betrayed me. She was actually a secret spy.
SPEAKER_01Yep, she was a secret spy and a robot, and she's dead. Also, never existed. That's kind of how James Bond operates. It's like it's like everything that happened before wasn't real.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, he's the real memento guy.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Nothing is canon in James Bond movies.
SPEAKER_01But I'd like a I'd like an update on Anna and Ethan. I'd like it to be the same actors, too.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I don't see anything about that. We just know Will Smith. And also Anna and Ethan, like, we're not known actors in the way that Mills Will Smith was, so we'll see what happens. They could probably sub other people in, and I don't think a lot of folks would notice, um, which is not saying anything about how the great acting job that those two characters did, but just the reality of the stardom level that is Will Smith. We do have to at least take one moment to discuss the racist capitalist imperialist misogyny of the Living Dead aspects of this movie. Uh uh virtually no white people. Yeah, there's one. Side characters and mannequins, which says actually the fact that all the mannequins are white, is like a great example of um racism that shows up in all the weirdest ways, like yeah, having always white mannequins.
SPEAKER_01I I am curious how um how Robert Neville viewed the mannequins because when he comes into the video store, he uh he sees he sees somebody that he he knows.
SPEAKER_02A mannequin behind it's the guy who it's the cashier.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, he says, What's up, my brother? Yeah. And it's like, maybe, maybe to Robert Neville. All these mannequins are black.
SPEAKER_02I would just, I would hazard to say that if there were black mannequins available, he would have chosen those two. If there was di if mannequins actually were in the diversity of humanity, there would have been them in there, but they're all white people.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Uh so that was a good commentary. I don't think it was necessarily intentional, but just interesting. Maybe it was. I don't know. I would I did love that all of the main characters were um people of color. Except for Ethan. And a dog.
SPEAKER_01And a dog. Not enough dog representation in movies, you know? Yeah, we don't talk about that in our system.
SPEAKER_02You know, the dog dies, though, that sucks. That does. But definitely has like, again, there is a story of prejudice and when and the fear of the unknown, and when you don't of like somebody's different from you that you don't understand, the terrible things you do. So I appreciate that that's addressed. Um, we have uh a disability, a clear one with his PTSD and delusions.
SPEAKER_01And also when he gets stabbed in the leg, he's he's dealing with a disability for a few scenes.
SPEAKER_02Turns out Sam, the dog, it is the main female character, and that's their gotcha moment. You think this is just about a guy? No, we have female representation in the form of a bitch. You thought Sam was a boy?
SPEAKER_01That makes you sexist.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I mean, then Anna shows up, and there is uh, you know. Um, but I one thing that's a little problematic and kind of classic is like big strong zompire guy saves fragile little zom girl.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, that was that was really tropey in a sexist way.
SPEAKER_01It didn't pass the Bechtel test.
SPEAKER_02Definitely not. No. I mean, they maybe there was like one moment where two white two women talk to each other, but I don't remember it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but they were probably zompires.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. It passed the really good quote of what the fuck's that movie called? Just left me. Shrek test. The Shrek test? Yeah. Passed the Shrek test. There's a Shrek test? I just made it up.
SPEAKER_01Oh, okay. I was like, I don't remember the Shrek test.
SPEAKER_02Uh there wasn't any queer trans LGBTQ plus representation that we know of. Um, I'm trying to think what else. We talked about ability, race, gender, sexuality, and gender identity. So those are the those are the big ones. And then also like just tackling, I think it tackled decent issues, and I think that's definitely why the theat not theatrical. Yeah, why the theatrical version sucks is because it stripped its meaning.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02It stripped any kind of like bigger picture story and true ethical quandary that is actually like part of being human and what's most interesting. And so I'm really glad we watched the director's cut.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I when we decided to watch this movie, um, I had to make sure that I got the the the um the the alternate ending because I I I wasn't going to allow that to be your memory of I am legend. I'm like, I'm like, because like you didn't remember really anything about it. It'd been so long.
SPEAKER_02I just remembered it was Will Smith, and I heard that I thought it was good, and there was a dog, and I was like, and I think I said to you before I started, I was like, oh my god, I think the dog dies, and I'm really not here for that. Yeah, I forgot about it. And it's brutal too. It's not like just the dog dies. It's like we're gonna we're gonna fuck you up with this death.
SPEAKER_01I'm I'm follow- I'm following the plot points. Yeah, I'm like, I'm looking for the beats, and I'm looking at my I'm looking at the time. I'm like, oh no. Oh no. This is just the death of the mentor. Oh no, somebody's gotta die, and there's only two people in this movie, and one of them's a dog. Yeah, definitely not Will Smith.
SPEAKER_02Although they do kill him in the theatrical release. Uh let's talk Zeds.
Ratings IMDZ And Ice Cream Fallout
SPEAKER_02Yeah. How many Zeds out of 10, 10 being the highest you could possibly give, would you give this movie?
SPEAKER_01You know, I re I say this all the time. I really need to have a system for Zeds. Because my Z system is my heart. Yeah, and how much I like vibes, but like theatrical version, nine Zeds. Nine whole Zeds. You know, it's it's it's an excellent, excellent movie when you watch the right version. The theatrical version, like seven.
SPEAKER_02I would agree with nine Zeds for the the director's cut, and I only take away a point because of the couple of unbelievable like the I was just like, really? You do you're totally fine with this guy murdering so many others because he gives you this one back, you're just gonna give him a pass. I just had a hard time believing that. Yeah, they hadn't given me enough of who the zompires were and who that zompire was to be like, this makes I believe this. Um but other than that, I think it was an exceptional movie.
SPEAKER_01I love there's some deleted scenes. We gotta we gotta get this on DVD. Yeah. So we can look for the deleted scenes.
SPEAKER_02You know who has a really good system for ratings instead of five is Ollie Eats Brains.
SPEAKER_01Ollie has excellent ratings.
SPEAKER_02And they have a page, an Instagram page called IMDZ IM D IMD Z? I M Z D? Oh no, I'm ruining it. Ollie, I'm sorry. It's like the IMDB, but I but it's zombies. I think it's IMDZ. Yeah. Look at me. I become American. I'm saying Z. This is horrible. This is a horrible moment. Anyways, let's just bleep that out. I never said Z. I said Zed. Now Leah said Z. I said Zed. I mean, I am one. I am a citizen now. Uh although, hey, you know what? If you live here, you're an American anyway.
SPEAKER_01When you sign that paperwork to become a citizen, you give up all Zeds.
SPEAKER_02I am all of us are not our nationality, anyways, and I shouldn't. I am a documented American. That's how I'll frame it now. Um, anyways, I forget what I was gonna say because of how upset I was by the fact that I said the thing I won't say again.
SPEAKER_01Z.
SPEAKER_02Zed. Oh right, Ollie has IMDZ and IMDZ. They have a really interesting rating system. You should go check it out. I they've they've given us some like behind the scenes thinking around where they how they arrived at it and the things that they focus on that I think are super cool. And I think that's great. But I'm just tot like for me, what it comes down to with ranking is like how much did I love it? Will I watch it again? Did it make me feel something? Did I pick up my phone? Oh, like that's it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Like, does it and it does it say something bigger about the world? That's like a that will get me closer to a 10.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So what what did you give it? Nine.
SPEAKER_02I thought I already said that. I don't remember. Nine Zeds. That's true. I've been babbling for a while. Uh theatrical release, haven't seen it, so don't know how I'd feel about it. I know I enjoyed it when it first came out. Um, so I think seven's pretty solid.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But honestly, I might give it a six just because of how much more uh tofu the editorial release gives. Yeah. Editorial release. Who am I? Directorial release.
SPEAKER_01The editorial release. Of the zombie movie. Yes. Um, yeah. Yeah, I I feel I feel like when I gave it seven, it was pretty generous because like there's so much that's good, but I feel like that that ending just takes away so much from such a good movie.
SPEAKER_02I think it's one of those things that if you don't ever see the director, director's cut, you just don't even know what you're missing.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So in some ways, when I say like six or seven, it's because I know how much better it is with that ending.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, if we had just watched the one with that ending, I'm not maybe I would have given it an eight. It's like an example of like, you know, I remember the first time I ate Ben and Jerry's ice cream. It ruined cheaper ice cream for me.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you can't eat that cheap ice cream.
SPEAKER_02Beforehand, I was like, give me the storm huge chocolate. No. In university, I was like, let's get to I remember getting like a huge tub of chocolate ice cream. And I don't think there was any actual chocolate in it. It was just like chemical flavor. Yeah. And ice and like a little bit of milk because I was consuming milk. High fructose corn syrup. Yeah. And I thought it was the greatest thing. And then I I literally had never had quality ice cream until well into my adulthood. And and like, so I would have been like 10 out of 10, love my giant tub of ice cream. But now I think back and I'm like, that's a solid four. I wouldn't even give it a five. So you don't know what you don't know.
SPEAKER_01You know, um, I've I've I've got a little story to close this out.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01Uh involving ice cream. Um when I got of the army, um, I was adrift living at my friend's house, and I remember I had five dollars left in my bank account. And instead of buying um, you know, like a bag of rice or some lentils or something that would last a long time and keep me fed, I uh got a f like a like a five-gallon bucket of ice cream.
SPEAKER_02You know what? That is actually a rational choice in the face of poverty. And you're not alone in making those kinds of choices when you have no money.
SPEAKER_01Here's the thing. I wasn't lactose intolerant before then. And a few days into eating way more ice cream than a human being should be able to, I just had the worst just explosive diarrhea. And I couldn't eat I couldn't like I couldn't eat dairy the same for like five years after that. I made myself lactose intolerant. Um so if you only have five dollars in your bank account, don't buy ice cream, buy buy real food.
SPEAKER_02That's a really good lesson. But also see the poop occalypse with Sarah Lyons Fleming in where in which Dan acknowledges that they do not ever poop. It was just the poor. So I would just like to say, I don't know how many more episodes and one time, Leah. But I know we recorded that in 2026, which means that you have evolved as a human, and I'm very proud of you for sharing that you had diarrhea.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it was just the one time, and I haven't done it since.
SPEAKER_02I think you've told me about a couple other stories.
unknownCouple.
SPEAKER_01It's very rare. Well, thanks everybody for listening. You should watch, you should watch the the I Am Legend. We haven't totally spoiled it for you. Yeah. I mean, and I've I gotta imagine that you've probably seen it by now. So sorry if I spoiled it. I probably should have put that at the beginning.
SPEAKER_02You know what? Lots of podcasts spoil things. I know with reanimated podcasts, they're getting two shot shout-outs this episode, that if I'm gonna listen to something, I should have watched it first. Yeah. Or I don't want to watch it, like Daryl. Yeah. And I just decided to listen to a couple of episodes of Reanimated Podcasts to like confirm that I do indeed never want to watch that show again.
SPEAKER_01You know, I really that's a real service that they provided for us. I really love the way that they cover all of the Walking Dead spin-offs that we hate.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because like again, I like, yeah, I don't I don't want to watch Daryl Dixon ever again. A service to humanity. But I need to know what happens. And I'd rather hear it from them tear it limb from limb. So yeah, check out it's very validating. It's very validating. Check it reanimated. Like, listen, listen to the Daryl Dixon episodes, and you'll you'll see what we're gonna do.
SPEAKER_02And I think that episode's like well into the 400s, which blows me away.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they have a lot of episodes.
SPEAKER_02I wonder if they would be up for joining us for our marathon, which by the way, I'll end here. I know we were gonna end on your diarrhea story. But I do have a relevant end, which is that while you were talking, I did the math, and it would be drum roll, please, six hours and 42 minutes to watch all of the movies Omega Man, Last Man on Earth, I Am Legend Director's Cut, I Am Legend Theater Cut to Do, which means you could watch it, you know, with breaks in like eight hours. This is a totally doable marathon. This isn't even close to doing a Lord of the Rings marathon. So we will be doing this.
SPEAKER_01And also we watch the extended cuts of Lord of the Rings.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Like it's it takes weeks.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. It's one of those, well, that's not true, but like it takes many days. Uh but yeah, if you're interested in in joining this challenge, let us know. It I just literally invented it. So Yeah. What's the challenge? I forgot. The watch all the movies in one day. Yeah. And tell us your hot take. In one day? In one day. No. It is a short book. But you could also read the book, yes. I guess that would be a good homage to the person who actually started this. Or maybe read it the day before. And you know what else? When they say like Hollywood's dead now, we've been remaking shit since apparently 19. When did the first movie come out?
SPEAKER_011964.
SPEAKER_021964. So like this is a thing we've been doing for a long time. It's just that when you're young enough, you don't realize it yet. And then you get older and you're like, fuck.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02When you have vaccines, why are they remaking everything now? When I watched I Am Legend, I wasn't like, why are they remaking Omega Man?
SPEAKER_01This is a new movie.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And it has my favorite actor in it.
SPEAKER_02I hated when my mom would be like, oh, that song's a cover from 1972 or whatever. Like, no, it's not. Shut up, mom. And this version's better. Get back in the basement.
SPEAKER_01Well, I grew up in the basement, so yeah, but then the table's turned. So that's what you gotta do. You gotta be like, get back in the basement. Then that's how you get out of the basement. It's a trick. It's like very bugs bunny.
SPEAKER_02Anyways. We're in the basement right now and we're gonna go eat dinner. Yeah, let's eat dinner. Yeah, and whatever time of day it is that you are, I hope you're doing well. Yeah. Let us know if you watched the movie, what you think about it. Yeah. Let us know if we ruined it for you. And if Dan doesn't bleep, I'm not gonna listen to the the recording of this. So someone needs to tell me if Dan doesn't bleep out the incorrect pronunciation of Zed. Yeah, wrong answers only. No. Bye, everybody. You're not my friend if you don't tell me the truth. Love you.
SPEAKER_01Bye.
