TGTPTU’s olds take a break from handing out shiny nickels and Werther’s Originals warm from their pockets and yelling at clouds to join Gen Z cohosts Thomas and Jack for the latter’s third pick from Ron Howard, the child star turned hack director’s big studio, Industrial Light & Magic, four-quadrant blockbuster COCOON (1985).
Chosen due to nightmares it’d given to, and an insane plot retelling by, Jack’s friend, this first-time watch for him is remembered fondly as a family outing and rewatch by Gen X cohosts Ken and Ryan. That friend’s plot summary of extraterrestrials passing in human skinsuits abducting retirement home residents after seducing them with youthful lives of breakdancing and sexual congress does sound terrifying, but the film filters much of this through an all-star cast of Golden Age Hollywood actors (including this film’s Oscar-winning Best Supporting Actor Don Ameche and his four-out-of-four-star gams) and the youthful innocence of child actor Barret Oliver from The NeverEnding Story (1984) and the titular Daryl in D.A.R.Y.L. (1985). The flick also has a mid-twenties Steve Guttenberg in short shorts. Who likes the Gute in short shorts? We like the Gute in short shorts.
Exclusive to listeners of this episode, Ryan reveals the location of Atlantis; Thomas considers sex as an and/or with elderly person(s); Jack reveals his childhood-trauma-by-proxy; and Ken is unimpressed by the chase scenes but very into Gwen Verdon’s legs. Meanwhile, John Ritter’s testicle enters the chat.
This episode is, to borrow a phrase, “blue steel; a cat couldn’t scratch it.”
THEME SONG BY: WEIRD A.I.
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Letterboxd (follow us!):
Podcast: goodpodugly
Ken: Ken Koral
Ryan: Ryan Tobias
