2025.09.22: Burned In Imagery

A billion dollars?

Yes.

Wow.

You must be really smart, huh?

Hey!

We're recording the podcast!

Gut up!

Good!

Morning to you, wherever you are, because it is Morning Subway!

For September 22nd, 2025, my name is Bernie Burns.

I was both late and early on that one.

Sitting right over there, it's Ashie Burns.

Hi to Ashie, everybody.

Yeah.

Good morning.

Look at you on a Monday.

You're all raring to go.

Look, I'm feeling bright-eyed, bushy-tailed.

Oh, it's look, Bernie, it's Fat Bear Week kicking off tomorrow.

I'm so excited.

Before we talk about Fat Bear Week, I know you're looking forward to it.

I have a little bit of housekeeping I need to do.

So today we're going to do that drop that we just did.

That's our first contest drop.

And so we tried one last week where I said, if you can identify this drop, I'll send you a free t-shirt.

The first one, that That one was way too hard, though.

Okay, so here's the deal.

I said, I said before that the rules were the first person who messages me and does it, but I didn't really lay out how to do that.

So I'm going to be really clear this time.

Has to be in the roosterteeth.com, the websites, comments for this episode, the first person who can identify what that drop is from.

That one is way easier.

I feel like this one's a softball.

I really do.

Okay.

Well,

I want to disagree with you or tell you why it's probably not, but you can't.

It's the hits.

Like, I think

there's some people who will get it immediately.

And if so, you know, you're one of our people.

You're old.

There's some things that you can kind of think because you know them that they're modern.

That's not modern anymore.

I hate to tell you that.

I don't, we'll, we'll talk about it more tomorrow.

But I have a funny thing to say about this.

So please do.

I want to be really clear about this.

This is an important rule.

This is completely at my own personal discretion of who I give this code for the single t-shirt to because it's all these rules and everything.

I had a really funny thing happen last week is I played a drop and I said offhandedly, that one is going to be impossible for anyone to figure out.

And then people spent hours in the comments trying to figure out what's going on.

Way too much time.

And then I thought, oh, shit.

And then I went to go look it up myself and it wasn't even online.

And then I went on the next day's podcast and I said, that was, don't worry about this.

That was the Zellner Brothers.

from a short series that they did called Fiddlesticks.

That's what it was from.

And it wasn't even available online anymore.

So people really couldn't find it.

But I said the first person to send me what it was from, they would get a code for a free t-shirt.

So I was like, I said, forget about it.

Stop this.

Don't do it.

A day after that podcast, somebody messaged me and said, hey, you said whoever the first person was that told you what it was from,

and you said it on the podcast yesterday, it was Fiddlesticks by the Zelmer Brothers.

I was like, you son of a bitch.

Loophole.

You're not wrong.

You're just an asshole, dude.

So they they got a free t-shirt.

Well, and long story short, they now read all of our contracts.

Wait till they find the bit about the firstborn.

I love that.

It's like, why not just take a shot in the dark and try it?

So the contest will be fully at my own discretion.

I can award the winner as I choose or not.

And if it's not done by tomorrow, we'll reveal it on tomorrow's podcast.

But somebody will get this one.

Speaking of winners, Bernie, so Fat Bear Week is not kicking off till tomorrow, but over the weekend was Fat Bear Jr.

All right, so this is like this, that's like Fat Bear Jr.

Yeah, so in the lead up to Fat Bear Week, which again kicks off tomorrow, they do, there's like a two-day voting for Fat Bear Jr., which is like a cub, right?

They do like, who is the cutest, fattest bear cub?

All right.

And so I want to offer a big congratulations to 128 Jr.

who won Fat Bear Jr.

2025.

I don't know if I like all these toddler pads.

Let them live their lives.

So 128, So it's the hundred and that actually bodes pretty well that there's 128 new cubs.

I think that it's that 128 junior means it's it's 128's cub.

So all the bears participating

in Fat Bear Week,

all the bears that signed up in time, and I guess like it got their regional primaries or whatever was involved in joining Fat Bear Week in opting in, which I'm sure they all did voluntarily.

So it's 128's cub.

So 128 Jr.

Okay, okay.

Well, congratulations.

I hope you, and I have to say too, I don't actually know what Fat Bear Week is for.

Like, is it a certain national park?

No, it's to celebrate and I think educate as well people on bears and hibernation and what bears require in order to go into this hibernation.

Because we've all seen that bear, like, you know, the bear that comes out of hibernation is like coming out of its cave and it looks just like absolutely wrecked after the winter.

It looks like me in the morning.

No, it's how I imagine people without kids look like when they get to sleep until noon on the weekends, as opposed to like having something land on you with both knees at 7:30 in the morning to wake you up.

I don't even have time to be groggy.

That's fat baby morning, is what that is.

So, but who puts this thing on?

Like, what's the organization behind Fat Bear Week?

Is it like the Yosemite?

Well, so this is,

this is, so I'll read you about Fat Bear Week.

So, some of the largest brown bears on earth make their home at Brooks River in Capmai National Park in Alaska.

Brown bears, this is a whole thing explaining about like why brown bears get fat.

So it's from, it's like bears from this area.

They're being observed.

They've been cataloged.

Every bear has its number, right?

So and then this is also gives you the opportunity to follow them like year through year.

Like you can't tell me, for example, that you're not invested.

in grazer storyline.

Think of it as wrestling for bears.

Here's the problem I've got, Ashley.

Here's what what I'm talking around the edges here because tomorrow is Tuesday is going to be our day to talk about American cultural extremism.

It's the day of the week now.

We're going to try to pick up.

We're picking Tuesday.

Here's what I'm trying to get at.

Is this in any way presented by Disney?

That's all I need to know because I don't know if I should get invested in this or not.

I, god damn it, last week, last week, it's been out for months or a month at least.

Last week, I finally decided to watch goddamn Alien Earth.

I get one episode in.

It's amazing.

And now I can't watch anything that's on Disney Plus, which is what it's on here in the UK.

Solidarity, brother.

Fuck.

So let me ask you this question.

Is, first of all, is the Sid the Sloth thing, is that like a thing?

Because

when this show came out, there was the whole big deal about Sid the Sloth being superimposed on like this one part of the episode.

And people were putting out this is quite a big deal.

And so it's nothing?

nothing.

Yeah, you're just making me think, though, too.

It's like, why is there a, it's a non-Disney character in a Disney show, too.

But yeah, to answer your question, no, it's not a thing at all.

And it makes me think like it was just, you know, it was a new episode of a beloved sci-fi franchise.

And so I'm in the group.

You know, the geeky, like nerdy people who just like are so cynical about everything.

And I think they were trying to shit on this thing, which turned out to be completely a beloved alien installment now.

But I think initially they're trying to shit on it.

You don't even notice it in the fucking movie.

It's just two characters that you're emotionally invested in, and they have a connection where they're watching something on a TV screen just like anything else in any other movie.

But I guess somebody grabbed this still frame and made a big deal about it.

Didn't even notice it.

Didn't even notice it.

This is interesting, though.

I'm looking this up, this Ice Age.

So Ice Age was a 20th century Fox project.

So not Disney, right?

Except.

But who made it?

What's the animation?

It was Blue Sky Studios in 20th Century Fox animation.

So it wouldn't be Disney.

But here's the thing.

I don't recognize that.

Disney has Fox now, right?

We just didn't talk about the Ice Ages of the world because we were so busy talking about the X-Men's of the world.

Right, that makes sense.

Yeah,

X-Men are off the table now, too.

It's all off the table.

And do you know how hard it is to just like not watch Disney stuff as parents?

Oh, I'm aware.

With kids, what do we mean?

I'm watching DreamWorks?

Let me put it this way.

Hope you like fucking minions.

Because that's what we're watching in this house for the next, who knows knows how long.

They're about to not understand half the jokes in Shrek.

It is weirdly adult Shrek.

It is, yeah.

Anyway, so I'm sure we'll talk more about that tomorrow.

But yeah, so

I'm not watching Alien Earth anymore.

Now I gotta figure out what the hell I'm gonna watch.

Well, the good news, Bernie, is you're gonna be able to watch the Teddy Ruxpin film that's in development because I think that one's coming to us from Amazon MGM.

They're making a Teddy Ruxpin movie?

No, no.

So look, remember after Barbie came came out and a huge success, there was suddenly all the announcements of like all the Mattel toys that they're going to turn into movies.

They're like, we're going to do Hot Wheels.

We're doing Masters of the Universe.

We're going to do Barney.

Barney, apparently they've optioned Chatty Kathy and Betsy Wetsy.

Okay.

So

if there's a Mattel toy, it's been optioned for movies.

So I guess someone had the bright idea.

Hey, what about Teddy Ruxpin?

He was what?

Like the first animatronic teddy bear.

He was the one remember you'd put the cassette tape in his back and he would like tell you a story, but then there were also like animatronic directions in the in the cassette tape, I guess, where so he'd like blink his eyes and move his mouth as he's telling you the story.

Come to life and talk to you.

Right.

Except it was like 80s era electronics and servos.

So it was so fucking loud anytime the thing moved, you couldn't even hear the dialogue.

It was saying it was like,

even when it moved its eyes, it was, it was horrifying.

Well, the fun thing about this movie, too, is it's apparently it's being produced by Dwayne Johnson's company.

Please tell me it's going to be like an A24 movie.

That would be fucking

awesome.

I think that's Five Nights at Freddy's Bernie.

Oh, that's a good point.

But it is being described as, or that it was pitched as a Sonic the Hedgehog meets elf.

tone is what they're going for.

So I guess they're trying to what strike the middle ground between what Ted

and what's another bear movie and like Paddington.

No, it's just very self-aware.

Yeah, well, how do you make a Teddy Ruxman movie in a post-TED world?

Isn't TED already the Teddy Ruxman movie?

They just didn't license it, basically.

Do you think there's going to be an entire segment that's going to have to explain cassette tapes to kids?

Oh, that probably, would that be part of it?

I don't even know.

I don't know.

Maybe it plugs in like a USB drive or something like that.

Well, they do, they are going to have to modernize it for all the toys that they're going to market using this movie, right?

Trying to think what toy I had as a kid that I would love to have a movie about.

Like

there could be like like a Stretch Armstrong bio pick.

Although that does kind of look like the new

Dwayne Johnson movie.

It looks like that.

That's true.

All the stuff that I watched as a kid was already marketing for toys, right?

Like I watched Rainbow Bright, toys.

Strawberry Shortcake, toys.

The Popples, toys.

Pound Puppies, toys.

By the way, the Popples is a...

deep cut.

Look, I loved the Popples.

And every time I mention the Popples, no one ever has any idea what I'm talking about like that must have been like some niche thing that was only on it must have been on one afternoon that we just recorded that one that afternoon on vhs for me to watch over and over and over and so i got really into the popples the movie i think it was where they they helped clean up a washing machine accident where they used too much soap and but the popples were great because it was such an easy easy toy whereas they're like these little animals right but they also have their own pouches so they could flip themselves into a pouch and they're in their own kangaroo pouch i remember i remember around

yeah right uh but then they can flip out of their pouch and now they got arms and legs and

stuff and they have kids that are friends like we we've talked about this before before there can be such a narrow slice of media history that only people who were a certain age at that certain time will know it like i always talk about orbies

how orbies are coming back and it's like when were orbies ever a thing or people who don't know about pogs because they blinked you know in like 1998 or whatever and they they they missed they were in a coma for that two weeks.

I also think there's like stuff that you saw as a kid that is incredibly scary to you because you saw it when you were a kid, but then you go back and watch it later and you're like,

this is not scary at all, but because you saw it when you were a kid, you're still scared shit.

The horror is like, it's built into you now.

Do you have anything like that?

Like I showed JD had this thing where he had this image in his head of a guy who had creepy eyes or whatever, and he had his goggles and they were pulled off, but he he can't remember what it was.

I go, I know exactly what that is.

What was it?

It was the movie The Black Hole.

Sorry, we're talking about another Disney movie probably here, but yeah, and it was a thing where a guy, like, there's all these like animatronic dudes, and somebody pulls off one of the robot android things goggles, and then his eyes have wires in them.

And as soon as I show it to JD, he goes, That's it, that's it.

And he hated it because it's like, it's one of those images that when you're a kid and you get scared of something, it burns itself into your brain.

Right.

It becomes part of like who you are.

For me,

the biggest thing was I watched the Amideville horror at a friend's house when I was far too young for that.

And there's a point where like they look out the window and they can see these like glowing eyes looking in the window.

And I remember waking up from nightmares with like those eyes in my vision.

But

that probably holds up because that was actually like.

a scary movie.

I think it was my little brother was scared by the movie Toys.

This was a, it was a Robin Williams movie.

Not not super scary but he's like uh uh like this childlike guy who runs like this toy factory uh but then like someone comes in and militarizes it and it's all these like military toys and they're building like drones that the kids are gonna operate and they it gets really scary my brother it's not a scary movie but my brother was terrified by that movie and and like sounds like ender's game Yeah, kind of, I guess.

Yeah, they were going to like get kids to like operate these war machines.

I can kind of recall the poster.

It's like Robin Williams in like a red bowler hat.

Is that?

Yes, with like a window in it.

Okay, yeah, that's it.

I know the poster.

I've never seen the movie.

Yeah, it's, it's, I, I mean, it's a fun movie.

It's a silly movie, but it's one of those movies that it was scary to him, and it may not hold up now, but I have very fond memories of it.

There is, there's a thing from when I was a kid.

I'm going to talk about something that I saw when I was a kid.

So caveat, it's probably incredibly inappropriate for modern era.

It's probably racist.

So it's a movie from the 80s, basically, because most of those didn't.

The imagery I have in my head, it's like, we'll link it in the link dump but buyer beware if you go watch this thing uh it was a thing that was on tv called trilogy of terror and it was three different

short horror stories all put together in one compilation okay kind of like uh like grindhouse and people

exactly but on on network tv but people who are specifically my age if you ever go see this because i've had to go look up you want to go see this scary thing from when you were a kid It's always people exactly my age going, fuck this movie.

It's trilogy.

It's three stories.

I don't remember.

Nobody remembers what the first two installments were.

The third one was about a lady who gets a voodoo doll, like a tiki voodoo doll, and it comes to life and attacks her.

And everybody's like, in the comments, we're like, fuck that doll.

I've just scared of this doll for decades.

I love this.

Okay.

And you go watch it, you'll laugh your ass off at how stupid it is.

Oh, it's a 1975 American made-for-television anthology horror film.

So yeah, this was 1975 when this came out.

So I bet it aged fantastic.

There's a lot of things though that like I can't go back and watch because when I was a kid, I was like, that's great.

As an adult, not great.

Anything from the 80s?

Anything from the 80s.

Like I remember when I was a kid, I watched a movie called Bachelor Parties.

It was a Tom Hanks movie.

I should not have been watching this film.

All I can remember about that movie is there's a part where they're in an apartment or something, and a lady comes in and starts sensually dancing with a donkey.

Yeah.

That's all I remember about that movie.

That's like the full extent.

Tom Hanks is like one of his first movies too.

Or like Revenge of the Nerds where I'm a kid and I'm like, yeah, the nerds come out on top and they do like the cool concert at the end.

And then you think about it and you're like, oh no, wait, that was sexual assault and that was sexual assault.

And that's all.

You go back and watch that movie because it was like a funny romp in the 80s.

And now you go back and watch it.

It's like.

All these people should be in jail.

This should be like the end of this movie should be everyone in court testifying.

Yeah, it was horrifying, man.

Like the end of Monty Python.

I feel like we made a lot of progress socially, like at the 80s, a ton of progress, and then it's been like a trickle since then.

But like, there's a hard wall.

If you go back to like 1989, 1990, it's a hard wall.

But like, don't, don't revisit any media before that.

They're like, here's what we're going to do.

We're going to trade in all the inappropriate stuff for parachute pants.

You're welcome.

There you go.

Yeah.

And lip syncing.

That'll be our big scandals.

Oh, my God.

Yeah, so the Teddy Ruxman movie, I'm hoping that A24 picks it up.

Are you excited about the

Dwayne Johnson movie that's come out, the Smashing Machine?

I mean, it's not really my thing.

I'm hearing amazing things about it.

It's about a wrestler, right?

Yeah, no, it's about an early UFC guy back when they were the UFC stuff in the early days was so crazy that it wasn't just like a match, like a boxing match where they would promote it for months and you would go do it.

It was like a tournament.

So you'd have a bracket.

So a guy would would do.

So you wouldn't have to fight and then you would fight again, like the same day?

As I recall, like the first couple UFCs to win, you had to win three fights in a night.

And some people, the first round, their fight would last 30 seconds.

Some people were fighting for 30 minutes, then they get a little break and they have to go fight again.

Right.

Like, here's your orange juice and off you go.

And that's when like

tape up the bloody bits.

Brazilian jiu-jitsu first started to come into vogue.

And like those guys were like, if you had to fight one of those dudes, you were fighting for 30 minutes because they would just like, they'd be like a crab and they get hold of you and they just hold you for like 30 minutes.

And the guys would come out of those fights, like Ken Shamrock, and he would just look exhausted, exhausted after this stuff.

But I actually, I don't know, I don't remember this guy in particular.

I'm wondering if it's a real dude that's a biopic of him or if it's like a, maybe like a fictional guy who represents a lot of other people from that era.

Because I recognize some of the names they say in the trailer, but it's oddly enough, I don't recognize the subject of the movie.

No, it is.

I do know that Mark Kerr was a former American wrestler and mixed martial artist.

So it is based on a real person.

Maybe I just need to go back and see the dude, like when it's not The Rock portraying him and go, oh, okay, I know who this guy is.

Yeah, does this help?

By the way, it doesn't even...

Nope, doesn't help.

But The Rock also does not look like The Rock in that.

It's really good.

No,

he looks very, very different.

And this might be one of the first really serious acting swings he's taken, right like in that he's doing very serious very out of type for for him like he's he's done a lot of like the blockbusters and the the you know fast and the furiouses and the he did the disney he what was it the disney ride one where it's like

right we don't talk about that um but this is like a serious turn for him well emily blunts in it as well and she seems to have this incredible streak of just like i'm gonna pick whatever the fucking project i want and i'm gonna be amazing in it yeah and

it's gonna be an amazing film too like she has a good nose for picking good projects i feel like emily blunt there has been very few aside from maybe some of the like later quiet place stuff but at the same time it's like if you've got a franchise especially that's a family-owned franchise i guess because prasinski made the made the initial uh movie you know i guess i understand why you would do that and some of the later stuff it's just like i don't know that everything needs to be a franchise or a trilogy but i get it at the same time why you would do that My favorite thing about Quiet Place is the

world building, like the set designers and the world designers for what they did, like, you know, how would this sound, like doing an entire set based off how stuff would sound is a really cool idea, but you're right.

Franchise, okay, take it or leave it.

But I do love watching it and watching like what they decided to use in the scenes.

I know exactly what you mean.

And this is something I love about sci-fi in particular, is I love when they take the world that we all know and you change one thing about it, and then you explore the fuck out of that.

I love that kind of thing.

Like, let's people have to be quiet.

Let's just show all the different ways they have to be quiet.

Like, oh, they're playing a board game, but they use cotton pieces, right?

Like, the things that you don't think of as making a sound, just explore every possible aspect of it.

I love that.

I love that kind of thing.

No, it's a lot of fun.

Yeah, it's not overly complicated, you know what I mean?

It's an interesting premise, and then let's just go all in on that.

Go deep, don't go broad.

Well, I want to say thank you to a couple of people who are going deep today.

We got Amon Chada and Alan Gary.

Thank you both so much for sponsoring this episode of our show at patreon.com/slash morning somewhere and roosterteeth.com.

All right, well, that does it for us today, September 22nd, 2025.

We will be back to talk to you tomorrow.

We hope you will be here as well.

Bye, everybody.