Total Recall: Did Quaid Ever Actually Leave the Chair?

Your best vacation might be the one that never happened and that’s exactly why Total Recall (1990) still hits. We sit down to relive Paul Verhoeven’s sci-fi action classic and pull apart the thing that makes it so rewatchable: it’s loud, violent, funny, and weirdly smart about how easy it is to sell someone a story about themselves.

We talk through the movie’s real backbone, the Philip K. Dick “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” idea, where memory implants and manufactured identity blur the line between escapism and control. Along the way, we dig into why Arnold Schwarzenegger is such a perfect fit for this specific kind of heightened reality, why the remake’s serious tone feels off, and how Verhoeven’s campy satire shows up in everything from background ads to the movie’s blunt approach to power and propaganda.

Then we get practical: the pre-CGI craftsmanship, miniature sets, prosthetics, and the kind of effects work that makes Mars feel grimy and physical. We also share production trivia, talk stunts and on-set injuries, and admit the truth every fan learns sooner or later: you don’t watch Total Recall for clean storytelling, you watch it for bold choices, iconic set pieces, and the lingering question of whether Quaid ever leaves the chair.

If you had to choose, would you take the comfortable memory or the uncertain truth? Subscribe for more movie breakdowns, share the episode with a friend who loves sci-fi, and leave us a review with your Total Recall rating.

Transcript

Cold Open And Gnat Survival

SPEAKER_02 0:00

See you with the podcast, Richta. Okay. It's from the movie that we're gonna talk about the gameplay. This is the movie that started it.

SPEAKER_04 0:14

I wonder how many hours of recording. Open atmosphere.

SPEAKER_03 0:24

We could have a whole hour-long episode of just Tom with his impersonations that he's done.

SPEAKER_02 0:29

Yeah, it could be a whole episode. But on this episode, we're not doing that. We're talking about total recall. Hello, and welcome to Entertain This. It's a podcast about movies, TV, shows, and video games. My name is Tom with me.

SPEAKER_04 0:40

I have Mitch and Hayden.

SPEAKER_02 0:43

He's here.

SPEAKER_04 0:44

I'm back. I survived.

SPEAKER_02 0:46

Or is it a dream? Am I Tom?

SPEAKER_04 0:48

I hope not. If I wake up back in the woods, I'm not going back in.

SPEAKER_03 0:53

Delusionary heat wave.

SPEAKER_04 0:55

It was hot.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

I know hot.

SPEAKER_04 0:59

Apparently, like there is a thing in Georgia called the Nat Belt. Have you heard of the Nat Belt? Yeah, I went to found it. I went to Georgia Southern. I found it, huh? Yes. Well, I let's just say like I found the Mecca of gnats in the gnat belt, which is Fort Stewart, Georgia. I think you found Natikan City. I did. Well done, Tom. You met the gnat. This is just a gnat with old bow pad. But uh I think like over the decades of soldiers dying out in the field in Fort Stewart, you know, spraying themselves with DEET, they've like created super genetically engineered gnats that are resistant to all forms of bug spray.

SPEAKER_03 1:40

They're impervious to poison.

SPEAKER_04 1:42

Yeah. And they want to get in every hole of your body. Your nose, your ears, your under your eyelids. Like that's the that's the weird one. Like you're just like, suicidal bugs. You see like a giant gnat on your pupil, and you're like, blah! And then it climbs up into your eye lid like an alien movie.

SPEAKER_03 2:00

I've had that once like Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:03

It's horrible. You ever had a conversation with somebody and just starts like losing his mind out of you know, for like no reason? And you're like, is he having a stroke or what's happening? And then it's a gnat crawled into his eyeball.

SPEAKER_02 2:13

It's like the guy in the mummy where like the scarab crawls into his head and he's just screaming and running around.

SPEAKER_04 2:17

Runs into the wall. Like the first time it happens, it's kind of jarring. Then like by day 12, you're just kind of standing there waiting for that guy to like compose himself. Like, you good now? Alright, so what are we talking about? Yeah, that was my that was my month. Alright, I'm done.

SPEAKER_02 2:34

Well, thank you for sharing with that.

SPEAKER_04 2:36

Back to Mars.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

I've never been there. But before we begin, we need our social media. Mitch?

SPEAKER_03 2:46

Well, you can go to entertain this underscore 59 on X, Instagram, and TikTok, or on YouTube. You can go to Entertain This 59.

SPEAKER_04 2:56

We've written we've written it down. It's just Mitch can't read.

SPEAKER_03 3:00

Well, I had to take out the the first part because I don't have that website anymore.

SPEAKER_04 3:03

Oh.

SPEAKER_03 3:05

So I had to get it out of my head as I was thinking about it.

SPEAKER_02 3:08

That was the pause. It was Mitch deleting, it was redacting in his own mind. I saw the hamster wheel turning in there. It was like, ugh.

SPEAKER_03 3:17

Look as I was about to say it. I was like, oh, oh yeah. Uh-uh. Continue.

Where To Find The Show Online

SPEAKER_02 3:25

We're gonna regale you with what we recall about a film called Total Recall. Let's try saying that several times. The 1990 American science fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoven with a screenplay by Ronald Schussett, Dan O'Banion, and Gary Goldman.

SPEAKER_04 3:39

Dan O'Banion did Alien.

SPEAKER_02 3:41

Yes, he did. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Takatin, Sharon Stone, Ronnie Cox, and Michael Ironside, based on the 1966 short story We Can Remember It For You Wholesale by Philip K. Dick.

SPEAKER_04 3:56

I I okay. He's got a funny name, haha. But like his short stories are great. Like uh Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep? That's Blade Runner. Minority Report. Minority Report. He's like really influential on modern sci-fi. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:16

See, released in on June 1st, 1990, on a budget of either 48 to 80 million dollars.

SPEAKER_04 4:26

Knowing that the directory was definitely tortured.

SPEAKER_02 4:28

Oh, we'll get into some of the production stuff because there's a reason why the budgets are climbing. But the box office return, $261.4 million.

SPEAKER_04 4:38

Adjusted for inflation.

SPEAKER_02 4:40

I don't know. One billion dollars. So Shussett bought the rights to this in 1974. Who did? Um one of the writers. Oh, okay. Or this who did the screenplay. So he had

Why Total Recall Became A Hit

SPEAKER_02 4:55

it since 1974, and it had been in developmental hell until like 1989. Where like they wanted to do the movie, but like nobody wanted to do the movie, and like there was like I think they I read there was like 17 drafts, if not more, of the script of and where they ended up like landing with it before Paul Verhoven decided to do it because he didn't want to do it. He didn't want to do it, he didn't want to do another sci-fi film after he did Robocop.

SPEAKER_04 5:19

Well, it's kind of a shtick now, isn't it? Yeah. Starship Troopers. Yeah. But like I I you know the original campiness from Total Recall. Like you can see it also in Starship Troopers and Robocop. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:33

Especially like the news segments that you see in the background.

SPEAKER_02 5:35

Yeah, I I I I Paul Verhoven, like because they film all these commercials. Like all the ones at Robocop, like they'd buy that for a dollar. They they film that too to be like the layers of it. And sometimes it's so creepy how accurate predicting the future he was.

SPEAKER_04 5:53

Like I think back then it kind of came off like wow, look at this weird satire. It's so you know, uh a parody of what what could be. I think in today's aspect, we're kind of like we're leaning there, advertisements everywhere, you know?

SPEAKER_03 6:10

Yeah. Everywhere. Like you can't you watch YouTube just to watch a YouTube video, it's it's you gotta watch like a 30, 40 second ad.

SPEAKER_02 6:18

Yeah, to watch the 30-second video to the next ad. Yeah, and then skip that. And I'm like, come on, like I'm just trying to put on Thomas the Tankage for the kid. It's like I don't have time for this.

SPEAKER_04 6:26

But uh, I was gonna say, I think Vanhoven's uh campiness is what really makes this movie work. Well, because like the uh the what was the new one? The Colin Farrell one.

SPEAKER_02 6:37

It's not even the new one, that was like what 2009 or something like that, but newer, yeah. Newest.

SPEAKER_04 6:42

But that one recent, like they they took it very seriously, right? And it didn't do well. It just I don't know. Like the you kind of expect there to be like the fantastical campiness that comes from the original one, and they they try to just put it through a different line entirely, and it was just it was just silly. It was like it didn't work. I don't know if Van Erhoven does that on purpose. I would I assume he does because he's he's got very successful movies where he knows that he's basically satirizing where he knows he's basically satirizing everything, or you know uh I I I don't know. I I that or maybe it takes himself so seriously, and that's why it works.

SPEAKER_02 7:20

Because um DeLorentis Entertainment had this, and then Schwarzenegger wanted to do the movie for like several years, and they did not want him to do it. Why? Because he's too they just thought like he wasn't the guy to play Quaid slash houser. But their their company ended up going bankrupt, so Arnold's company or people he they bought it so he could do it.

SPEAKER_03 7:43

Well, I didn't read something where they were saying like Christopher Reeves was originally considered to be the main character before they ended up settling on Arnold. That would have been different.

SPEAKER_04 7:53

It w I I I I can't think of anything else besides Superman. He was in one weird, like murder mystery movie.

SPEAKER_03 8:01

Oh no, I thought there was some kind of romance movie he was in too, but I can't.

SPEAKER_02 8:05

Uh I can't really I I can't picture anybody in 1990 doing this movie other than Arnold.

SPEAKER_04 8:14

I mean I you you like everybody always says like, oh, if Tom Selig was Indiana Jones, it would have been such a different movie. Well, yeah, but like I think we would have been in that parallel universe, we'd have been saying like where Harambe lived and Yeah, I I I I think we'd have been saying if Harrison Ford did Indiana Jones, that would be such a different movie.

SPEAKER_02 8:34

So Harrison the the Carpenter?

SPEAKER_04 8:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:36

A guy like you know couldn't land Han Solo. It went to Al Pacino.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

I'm flying here! These are not the droids you're looking for.

SPEAKER_02 8:51

Those are all lines could not said but at all by Han Solo.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

Hey!

SPEAKER_02 8:56

May the force be with you.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

Hoah.

SPEAKER_02 9:03

Let's go, hairy guy. That was a really bad like 80s version of it. I think it just dials it up the older he gets. Well, you got like subdued Al Pacino. Yeah. It's like, yeah, I'm doing a film with uh Francis Four Coppola.

SPEAKER_04 9:18

You ever watched uh the what is it, the one where um Keanu Reeves isn't it? Uh the devil's advocate. Yeah, like the crazier he gets, the more the more Pacino he gets. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:29

If I see a cantaloupe, I will lose my mind. And then uh you know the great line from heat, but I'm not gonna say it because it's a hot sauce line.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

Go ahead, do it.

SPEAKER_02 9:42

No, we don't need to do that. Right over there. We don't need to do that. A lot of people got hurt making this movie.

SPEAKER_04 9:47

Really? I believe it.

SPEAKER_02 9:48

And there's a uh because Michael Ironside fractured his sternum. Well, I did I did several in several ribs. Dang. And like they to get him like to come back because he's in a lot of this movie and a lot of these scenes, they were like suspended production until he got better. But they were like, Okay, like if you can do 50 push-ups, you can start filming again. And he got to 30 and re-injured himself. And the doctor's just like, all right, you're fine, you can do it. Because like the whole like when he's fighting Arnold on the elevator, yeah, he's like still hurt, like bad. And my guys like he hit me once on accident because like the whole time Arnold's like really trying not to hurt him and like going out of his way to like not do it. Yeah, and like he like caught him like once, and he was just like, Because he couldn't like lift up his arm like at all. That's funny. Arnold like slashed his wrist when he's diving through the glass.

SPEAKER_04 10:43

You hear about all these like production nightmares and Vanerhoven movies, and I wonder if it's just like they found a guy who understands like art and direction from Sweden or whatever the hell he came from, and then they were like, Yeah, let's throw $300 million at him and see what he can do. And you know, I I don't think like he understands like set design and and and uh safety precautions and stuff because was it didn't somebody get grievously

Verhoeven Style And Set Chaos

SPEAKER_04 11:10

hurt in Starship Troopers?

SPEAKER_00 11:12

I don't know. Probably I have to look it up.

SPEAKER_03 11:14

Well, doing some research on this, they said that originally the film they the like production company was threatened to give them an X rating because it was so much violence and that they actually had to go back and change it to make it R.

SPEAKER_04 11:23

Same with Robocop too.

SPEAKER_02 11:25

Yeah, they had to trim a lot because Verhoven does violence, like gratuitous he has no problem, he's just like like human body shield guy in the subway. Absolutely. There's some great scenes that I noticed watching this, uh, where you can clearly tell the stunt double is not Arnold, like where he dives through the glass, the dude's got a bald spot, and he's like significantly smaller than Arnold, and he's just like or he's like hiding from like an explosion, it's just like some dude with like a comb over, and it's like yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:56

So Peter Wellers was injured in Robocop when they had an onset controlled explosion and it prematurely exploded. We hate it when that happens, and then it burned Peter Weller.

SPEAKER_02 12:08

Because Michael Irons, he got hurt running into um like his sidekick guy because the dude had an Uzi in his hand and they they like ran like full speed into each other on accident, and I guess he just like muzzle stuffed him right in the chest. Jeez.

SPEAKER_03 12:23

Well, I was looking, they had a thing on IMDb here that was saying that during the filming of this, because it was down in Mexico, there was just like wild animals, or not wild, but they were just animals all over the set. Yeah. Because you know, it's it's Mexico and the other.

SPEAKER_02 12:36

And like they were getting like really sick and getting like horrific diarrhea.

SPEAKER_03 12:40

Well, they said one of the animals actually attacked Arnold in his trailer, or you know, quote unquote attacked, but it was just playing with him, but it was a cougar, like jumped on him and like tried to bite him on the shoulder, but not just like a playbite.

SPEAKER_02 12:52

Yeah, that was kind of the cougar's like, I don't think I could actually take you physically.

SPEAKER_03 12:56

Like and it was like a five-month-old cougar, but it jumped on his back and bit him on the neck.

SPEAKER_04 13:01

And in Starship Troopers, they had like a ton of people uh get hospitalized from heat exhaustion, uh including Michael Ironside. He's like gotten the worst of it. Uh uh Dina Mayer, uh I don't remember who which one she was, but she was knocked out. Yeah, she was knocked out and suffered a concussion during a scene where Michael Ironside's character falls into a hole, and then Casper Van Dien uh was hit in the head so hard he chipped his teeth and scrambled his memory, causing him to answer questions completely inappropriate. Like like he had no idea where he was or what he was doing for the for a while. Yeah. So yeah. If you're an actor, you want to get in action movies, maybe uh avoid Balfair.

SPEAKER_02 13:47

But I think the record's still that lion movie. Oh yeah, for the most uh injuries. Lion movies, yeah, like with real lions. There's like 80 of them. Uh ghosts.

SPEAKER_03 13:57

Oh, ghosts in the darkness.

SPEAKER_04 13:58

No, no, not ghosts in the darkness.

SPEAKER_02 13:59

This was like in the 70s, like they filmed this like over like.

SPEAKER_04 14:01

Oh, you're talking about that weird doc uh semi-documentary thing. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:05

That like they decide to like make a movie.

SPEAKER_04 14:07

The the cinematographer got scalped from a lion.

SPEAKER_02 14:10

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:10

Jeez!

SPEAKER_02 14:11

Yeah, it yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:12

Nobody died though. Shock. People were disfigured, hospitalized. Like I would I would argue that Twilight Zone the movie had more injuries. Because they had deaths.

SPEAKER_02 14:23

But that's not an injury, that's grievous. You're dead. Like injury is like you have to stay alive. Oh, is that okay?

SPEAKER_04 14:29

Yeah, that's a lot really matters.

SPEAKER_03 14:31

I did another little thing I saw was that they said this is one of the last, not the last, but one of the last few movies that actually did like live like miniature sets and stuff instead of CGI, like whole skate with like large-scale models, it says.

SPEAKER_02 14:46

Yeah, they did a lot of miniature stuff.

SPEAKER_03 14:48

Because I know uh Lord of the Rings did it, but that's I mean that's called migatures.

SPEAKER_04 14:51

I don't know who else they used so they used it smart in Lord of the Rings. They did they would build a set and then they would uh CG like backdrops and laser map it so they could CG right into it.

SPEAKER_03 15:04

Yeah, they said this was one of the last ones to use the large-scale models.

SPEAKER_04 15:08

Honestly, they're coming back now after First Man. I watched a whole documentary on projections now. Uh First Man, that Ryan Gosling movie. Yeah. Um they would and Interstellar. They started building these uh intrinsic like shuttle shuttles and space, you know, ships and stuff like that. And they would put them in front of a giant blue screen, but they or uh white screen, and they would project space and whatever around it. So you could have like all the cool reflections of like the sun and the moon, stars and stuff like that. And um and the Mandalorian really took that and ran with it. So there's a lot more practical sets today than there has been probably in the past fifteen years.

SPEAKER_03 15:49

Well, and I think that's that's better because sometimes CGI can just be too perfect and it it makes it look like that.

SPEAKER_04 15:55

Yeah, uh have you ever heard of a YouTube channel called Corridor Crew? They're CGI artists and they are very much in the camp of uh a a healthy blend, I would say. Like they they think that CGI is necessary in some accounts, but practical, try it first. And if anything, you have reference for practic uh for your own.

SPEAKER_02 16:15

Well, I mean, if James Cameron's gonna do this movie, we'd probably be living on Mars. It's like we're gonna film on location, where you can go, we'd be there by now. But let's dive into this plot. Okay. In 2084, Mars is a colonized world under the tyrannical regime of Velos Kohagen or Kohagen. We'll call him Kohagen. Copenhagen. Long cut. Who controls the mining of valuable turbinium ore on Earth? Yes. On Earth, construction worker Douglas Quaid experiences recurring dreams about Mars and a mysterious woman. Intrigued, Quaid visits Recall, a company that implants realistic false memories and chooses one set on Mars with a blue sky, where he is a Martian secret agent. However, before the implant can be completed, he lashes out thinking he's already a secret agent. What was his job? He was a construction jackhammer

Memory Implants And The Plot Spark

SPEAKER_02 17:10

guy. That's all he did. But it opens with him and who you find out as the Molina lady, like walking on Mars in a spacesuit.

SPEAKER_05 17:16

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:16

And he like falls and like smacks his face on a rock and shatters the glass, and like his eyes start to but he falls, but he does the it is like that's the first time. It's like that's it. It's like the entire Arnold impression starts.

SPEAKER_04 17:34

There's gotta be hours of ADR of Arnold in front of a microphone, just go and hate my muscles.

SPEAKER_02 17:43

Because he has like this dream that he wakes up like all sweaty and it's like bam, Sharon Stone. Yeah. Nice.

SPEAKER_03 17:50

That's that's that's a good dream to wake up to.

SPEAKER_02 17:54

Well, he wakes up from dying on Mars to be in bed with Sharon Stone. Yeah. So he's doing well. And then she gets mad because he's having a dream about another woman when he's married to her.

SPEAKER_04 18:05

Well, he was married to her because this was all a simulation in his brain. It's not real.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

Nothing's real.

SPEAKER_04 18:11

Yeah. I mean, the ending leaves it ambiguous, and I choose that ending. So I don't remember the ending.

SPEAKER_02 18:18

We'll get to it.

SPEAKER_03 18:20

We'll help you remember.

SPEAKER_02 18:21

Or will we?

SPEAKER_03 18:22

All I know, me and Tom were before we started, we were talking about how it's not that bad a life to stay and lived in.

SPEAKER_04 18:28

What, yeah, being with Sharon Stone? Yeah, that's my choice.

SPEAKER_02 18:31

Because he has like this, I know, he has like this nice apartment, Sharon Stone, and he goes to work and he's jackhammering, and I don't even think it's on. I think he's just lifting it up and down really fast. Yeah, like he doesn't know it's electric because his muscles are just going nuts. Everyone's like got like head protection, PPE, all kinds of stuff. He is just out there, flow, no ear pro, standing but like there's like a grease. There's like a dozen dudes with jackhammers within 15 feet of it.

SPEAKER_03 18:57

They're all wearing like coveralls and stuff. And he's just out there going, his muscles will protect him. He's like, I love my life.

SPEAKER_02 19:07

But he's having these dreams, it's just like, oh, and then they're showing like all the news and like oh the terrorists and like the rebels on Mars. Yeah, and they're just showing like live footage. It's like people like walking down the street, and there's just dudes running with guns, just smoking the place out.

SPEAKER_04 19:20

Dude, the Hank from Breaking Bad. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 19:23

Oh, the vagina face guy.

SPEAKER_04 19:25

Yes, he's in every Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. I didn't realize he's in Terminator 2. Yeah, I realized that when I was watching, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:30

He's in Lethal Weapon, too. Yeah, he's like that background, like guy, background cop and everything until he got a mainline job.

SPEAKER_04 19:38

They're minerals! Mary, they're minerals.

SPEAKER_02 19:42

Marie. So he goes to recall like an idiot.

SPEAKER_03 19:47

I still don't understand. Sorry, I still don't understand what set him off there.

SPEAKER_02 19:53

Because the commercial, yeah. Because he keeps having like all these dreams about Mars, and he's like, Oh, Mars. He's like never been there, and his wife's like really trying to side like track him. Okay, like, oh, we can go do this, we can go to Saturn, we can go anywhere but Mars. Yeah, and he's just like, ah, yeah, and then his buddy's like, Oh, you don't want to go there. It's like, I know a guy lobotomized. He's a he's like an idiot now. And he's like, he's like, Don't mess with your mind. And he's like, and I was like, Yeah, I won't. And he's like, just go Jack Cameron. Next scene, he's walking in.

SPEAKER_03 20:21

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 20:21

Like, he's like, just completely forgot what that hairy guy said. He's like, No, I'm gonna I am gonna go to recall.

SPEAKER_03 20:27

Why not? He needs a little traumatizing of his life, you know.

SPEAKER_02 20:31

And the guy's like, Yeah, you want to be a secret agent or something? He's like, Yeah, and he's like, We have options, he goes, I don't want it. Oh, like he's like, I don't want to spoil it, but you're a top operative, and I'm like, plot. And it's like, you get the girl. He does, you're gonna save the planet. He does. It's like they're just telling you the plot right there. So is it a dream? Was it real? Who knows?

SPEAKER_04 20:54

Do you think Arnold Schwarzenegger has uh a choice on who his like female uh counterfeited? Yeah, I think he does because he picks a lot of Hispanic girls. And then didn't he have like a Hispanic maid that he knocked off in the middle of that like coincidence?

SPEAKER_02 21:12

That was no one knew until the kid here first, and it's like nobody knew until the kid got bigger and bigger, and they were just like, and then it was like it was like you you couldn't deny it was his son because it's like it just looks like you. He lifted up one thing and suddenly his muscles just start bulging out. It's just like, oh my god, he's got the jeans. So he goes, he starts losing it, and they start like the lady's like injecting him with like go to sleep meds. Yeah, yeah, and just like lighten his leg up, going as he's like choking out the guy, and he's like, I'm sleepy. And then it's just like we're gonna delete everything. It's like get this guy in a cab, get him out of here. So they dump him in the cab, and it's like, all right, we're gonna send him home, and he gets out, and it's his work buddy.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:01

And well, I can read further.

SPEAKER_04 22:04

Okay. I like your narrative better. Keep going, Tom. See if you can wing it all the way to the end. I can do it.

SPEAKER_02 22:10

Alright. He's like, I can do it. So he meets Harry and like he's like, oh hey, let's go get a drink. He's like, nah, man, I gotta go home. And he's like, they like mob him. Like, there's four dudes, and they're holding Arnold back. And he's like, what did I do? What did I do wrong? I've never been to Maz.

SPEAKER_03 22:25

I like the fact that at no point is he actually standing. He's just like shuffling his feet everywhere he goes as they pull him.

SPEAKER_04 22:31

Because they can't hold him down.

SPEAKER_02 22:32

And like two guys, yeah, one guy on each arm, and they get to the wall, and like it's like he is like, you know, real instincts kick in, and he just KOs these dudes, kills his buddy, takes a gun, shoots another guy, and he's just standing there, like he just killed like five people in like 10 seconds. And he's just like, and like throws the gun and like goes home to his wife Lori, played by Sharonstone.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:56

And she's doing the tennis thing and the outfit.

SPEAKER_03 22:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:00

Yeah. Anyway.

SPEAKER_03 23:03

He's like, I'm not gonna say anything.

SPEAKER_02 23:05

And she's just like, what happened? He's like, you know, he's like, I want to read it. Why'd you she's like questioning him? And he's like, she's like, it's just a dream. Like, you're okay. And he's like, Does this look like a dream? And his hands are like covered in blood. But he was just like holding her shoulders and there's no blood on her. Just drive down. It's fine. And then he's like, he like washes his hands and like puts like blood hand face water, like, and he's just you know, completely fine. And then she attacks him and she just starts blasting.

SPEAKER_03 23:30

Oh, I'm excited. I'm like, there all the lights are out. He steps into the door frame and she never hits him. Like the silhouetted door frame. I know.

SPEAKER_04 23:37

She wasn't trained operative like he was.

SPEAKER_03 23:40

She did better hand to hand than she did. She sure was. Oh, she moves. I like the way the way he said that name. It was really funny.

SPEAKER_02 23:48

It's really more fit to balls. Please don't be mad at me, Chris. Arnold gets hit in the nuts a lot in this movie. He does. Yeah. Like there's a lot of crotch hits that that man takes. Yeah. It is funny though they focused on it and you see the leg go whack.

SPEAKER_03 24:01

It's pretty fun.

SPEAKER_02 24:02

It's like they had like a mannequin foot with like her shoes on and just went whack.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

He's like, My little Schwarzenegger's nose.

SPEAKER_03 24:15

But I like how like he grabs her and just like throws her at her.

SPEAKER_02 24:18

Like a ragdoll. I wonder if that was a stunt person. Now they said she did a lot of her stunts. So she gets ragdolled and then she like tries to seduce him after trying to kill him. Yeah. Yeah. And he like almost goes for it. I mean, and then he like I mean, she's like, you know, time you have it's like, oh time say, and he's just like, I mean, I do. Yeah. And he's like, no, Bad Quaid.

SPEAKER_03 24:45

It's only because he happened to look over his shoulder and see that she was the stalling. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:49

Yeah. And then he's realized that, yeah, yeah, she is totally stalling. And then he like knocks her out and takes off running, and then we're introduced to Richter, Michael Ironside, the best bad guy. He's got the voice.

SPEAKER_04 25:02

Like him as uh Sam Fisher. Like they they've replaced him recently as uh as uh in Splinter Cell, and it just doesn't hit you that gravelly ironside voice, you know.

SPEAKER_02 25:16

Then you realize Richter is Sharon Stone's husband. Yeah, which is like yeah, you know what? Fighting outside the voice, right? He's like, you want to go out, and she's like, I mean, yeah, say it like that. I mean, I kind of do. Because even his like henchman guy is just like, you know, are you sure she didn't enjoy her assignment? It's like she's over there getting just like he's like just goading him. Yeah, it's just like, oh yeah, it's just like she's over there with Hauser. It's just like Mr.

Identity Twist Hauser Versus Quaid

SPEAKER_02 25:45

Muscle's over there, and she you know, oh yeah, I'm sure she hates every second of it when he's just going like what he did what she did when he's going, eh.

SPEAKER_01 26:06

Good to know drop. What does your daddy do? Who am I? Okay.

SPEAKER_04 26:20

All right, bad time. Get back on track here.

SPEAKER_02 26:24

So he makes it like somewhere, and like gets like he goes to like a hotel and like this dude face calls him, and it's like handsome guy with long hair. It's just like on his FaceTime phone thing. Yeah. And he's just like, hey, you told me to be like, you know, if something ever happened, you needed this. I was told to find you, I found you. So he's like, look out your window, and he's like on a payphone in the future. Yeah, and he's like, You see the briefcase? This is what you wanted me to hold. I'm gonna set this down. You go, he's like, Well, who am I? He's like, Good luck, buddy. And he's just like, I'm not explaining anything to you. I don't care about you.

SPEAKER_04 26:56

I love how movies in the 80s always assume there's payphones in the future. Like they haven't nobody like thought of cell phones back then, yeah. No, but like Demolition Man, I remember that being one. Yeah, uh yeah. I think like even in Blade Runner, there's like some sort of weird payphone thing.

SPEAKER_03 27:12

Yeah, you're like you stop and just stand in front of the screen and talk to them.

SPEAKER_04 27:14

Yeah, yeah. So that's funny. This is silly, you know, prehistoric technology.

SPEAKER_02 27:21

He's like, put a damn towel on your head, it'll muffle the signal. And then like chase them, the guy's like, I got him, he's at the hotel rits, and it's just like it's like I lost the signal, but it's still pulsating where he is. Yeah, it's just taking up the whole screen when it goes whoop, whoop, whoop, it's like, well, just go there. Just go. I mean, he's there's no way he left already. It's like he's still just go there, he's gone. It's like it's like your glasses are huge, you can see into the future. Like, oh, he vanished. Which is ridiculous. So he gets the briefcase and it has like a recording Booger Picker 5000. Yeah, the mega there's bones in your head, like that yeah, ping pong ball.

SPEAKER_04 28:01

That's part of it. So they probably spent a million dollars like making Arnold Schwarzenegger's prosthetic.

SPEAKER_02 28:06

Or you think they just used his old one from Terminator?

SPEAKER_04 28:09

Well, no.

SPEAKER_02 28:10

Arnold probably had it.

SPEAKER_04 28:12

Maybe, but like it I think. I guarantee they needed some sort of like weird elastic face thing.

SPEAKER_02 28:17

No, there's just two people like holding like the side of his face.

SPEAKER_04 28:20

They just grabbed and just goes a golf ball out of his nose. He ate, yeah, he did it. That was a real stunned. Good for him. What dedication to the craft. Whenever he sneezes, it's like, you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:33

He's got great breathing. His sciences are cleaned out. Guy can sniff in the air in a room in a second. But yeah, he finds out his name is Hauser, and he used to work for Kohagen or Kohagen, Copenhagen. And he's like, oh yeah, he's like, I'm me. He's like, but you and me. He's like, but I'm you. And he's and like he's like not even explaining anything to himself. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:56

Like at all. There's a mad TV skit about that. It's uh Will Sasso, who does like the best Arnold Schwarzenegger impression, and he's like pitching as Arnold Schwarzenegger, like his new movie about clones, and he's had a clone baby with one of his clones, like and he's like, I'm you, but you're me. And he's like trying to come up with a realization and all this other stuff, and he assassinates himself, and the baby's just smoking a cigar.

SPEAKER_01 29:25

I'm a baby. Wow! He says goo goo ga.

SPEAKER_02 29:34

What was I reading? Are we off track? Yeah, we're off track. So that's not true. All right, he finds out he's brainwashed, he takes out the ping pong ball in his nose with like the bullet in it, and like he puts it in a candy bar and gives it to rats.

SPEAKER_03 29:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:51

Carried away. Because like he's sitting there in like this warehouse after he escapes and like looks, and you see all you see is the henchmen running, yeah, flashlights, guns, and they're just like and it's just like man, you like it's like we got him. It's like, no, like you guys didn't couldn't sneak up on anybody. Like you guys are horrible, you're inept.

SPEAKER_04 30:10

They lose uh stealth in the future, right? They focus more on technology, so it makes sense. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_05 30:16

Ghosts. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:20

So we find out Hauser defected from Copenhagen because he be he fell in love with a woman. After recording the brainwashed Hauser becoming Quaid to conceal his secrets before securing him on Earth, Hauser instructs Quaid to return to Maas and stop Copenhagen.

SPEAKER_04 30:37

I don't remember most of this plot. I don't either. I I I think even like watching it, I don't I wouldn't realize half of that.

SPEAKER_02 30:43

Because we get a subway shootout, and like Michael Ironside and his like sidekick are just shooting the crap out of some civilian guy that Arnold uses as a body shield, and this dude is just taking these shots. He's just like I mean, he's obviously dead at this point, and he's like flinging them around to like block people above and below him, and he kills the guy at the top of the escalator, throws the dude at Michael Ironside. Everybody's like, yeah, and like you know, manages to escape, and he like dives through a subway that takes off, and my Michael Ironside is just shooting at the cars. Yeah, yeah. Like he's already passed, he's just shooting other people. Why do they want him dead so bad? I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 31:24

They don't really say I don't really understand what's going on.

SPEAKER_02 31:31

I think it's just like you know, it's an excuse to like Copenhagen keeps yelling at Richter, like I want him brought back here alive. He's a spy that betrayed them or workers, but they want to like reinstate Oldhauser into him. Yeah, kill him where he was still loyal before he killed him leave. He met a woman. And it's like the back was like, if we have that guy, we're in business. Yeah, but we don't need you know, you running off and being in love and whatever. It's like you ruin everything. You jerk.

SPEAKER_03 31:58

So he made instead they made him, you know, husband uh Sharon Stone.

SPEAKER_02 32:02

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'd stay.

SPEAKER_03 32:05

Yeah, it is what it is, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:07

It is what it is. I mean, yeah. This is where we are. Anyway. So he gets to Mars and he's got like the woman head thing on. Yeah. And I guess it can only say two words.

SPEAKER_04 32:21

Yeah, that's a weird limitation.

SPEAKER_02 32:23

Where it's like, how long do you plan on being here on Mars? Two weeks.

SPEAKER_04 32:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:27

Do you have any fruits or vegetables or you know, whatever you need to declare in your luggage? Two weeks. And that's right when Richter shows up with his posse. Yeah. And why is all these domes with all this glass right there where people are?

SPEAKER_03 32:42

It's plexiglass, it's supposed to be a little more flexible.

SPEAKER_04 32:45

Did they break the glass?

SPEAKER_03 32:46

A lot. It happens a lot.

SPEAKER_02 32:48

Yeah, you'd think they would just like like you wouldn't be able to even get to it.

SPEAKER_03 32:53

Well, what I want to know is how did Arnold, wearing that head, pull that long, like radioactive tube out from the

Mars Arrival Mutants And Venusville

SPEAKER_03 33:00

mask and then put it back in, take that off, and his head still be right there. Fine.

SPEAKER_02 33:04

Well, that wasn't even his head.

SPEAKER_04 33:08

It was obvious, like his weird like G.I. Joe face.

SPEAKER_03 33:12

True, but but it's supposed to be him.

SPEAKER_04 33:14

It was like it melted a little bit inside that thing, too. Yeah. Yeah. It was hot in that. I think he's probably like the most like molded like head cask, you know, uh actor out there. There's there's so many different versions of his face, and I can see that for all of his weird movies. It's a weird thing to look up. I might look it up.

SPEAKER_02 33:37

He's gonna look it up. We're gonna get back to you with that. So they break the air seal or whatever, and guards, you know, nondescript red shirts, are just going flying into the vacuum of Mars. Just going until they manage to close it, but he, you know, of course, gets away. And he goes to like, they're like, oh, the old housers, like, oh, you need to go to this hotel. And he's like, Oh, I'd like to check in. It's like, oh, welcome back, sir. Would you like your usual room? And he's like, Yes, I would. And it's like, you have a safety deposit box, you know, something they would you like it? He says, Yeah, sure.

SPEAKER_03 34:05

How convenient.

SPEAKER_02 34:06

And it's like a flyer for a whorehouse, and on the back it says, you know, for a good time, go see Melina, and he writes her name.

SPEAKER_03 34:16

Just in case.

SPEAKER_02 34:16

To to see if his handwriting matched that handwriting that he just looked at, and he's like looking, he's like, huh, I wrote this. So he goes to Venusville, which I guess is like Bourbon Street. But that's where like all like the mutant people are. Yeah. Because of the air pollution and the solar radiation and cheaply built domes. Because then you get like people with like weird, melty faces.

SPEAKER_03 34:43

You got the like the little girl with one eye, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:45

And then when she has she has two eyes, but the other one's weird.

SPEAKER_03 34:48

Then you get the three-boobed woman. Yeah, when he goes into the Everybody remembers that part. Everybody remembers that.

SPEAKER_02 34:53

Everybody remembers that's like the only thing people remember about this movie is the three-boobed woman.

SPEAKER_03 34:57

Well, I told Tom and some of the like the uh research stuff on the trivia, it said that originally they had planned on her being a four-boobed woman, that they said it looked too much like a cow and kind of creeped them out, so they went back to three.

SPEAKER_04 35:07

I think three's playing.

SPEAKER_02 35:09

I think three was fun. So he actually meets Melina, the woman from his dreams, who knows him as Hauser and believes he's still working for Kohagan, Copenhagen. In his hotel room, Quaid is confronted by Lori and Dr. Edgemar from Recall, who tell Quaid he's still at recall on Earth, suffering a schizoid embolism. Fancy words. Trapped in his fantasy memory and on the verge of permanent brain damage, Quaid notices Edgemar is sweating and believes he's real and kills him. Quaid is captured by Richter's men, but Melina rescues him and Quaid. Quaid kills Lori. The pair escape with taxi jugs. Shoots her in the face. Right in the forehead. Bam!

SPEAKER_04 35:47

That was like the most abrupt death, too.

SPEAKER_02 35:50

And I was like, no, not Sharon's stuff.

SPEAKER_04 35:52

Yeah. And I I don't even remember I think if I remember right, he doesn't even like really like aww.

SPEAKER_02 35:56

He's just kind of like No, he's like, he's like, consider that a divorce. Yeah. I think it's more. I think it's uh because like the doctor guy shows.

SPEAKER_03 36:07

He just just uses that.

SPEAKER_02 36:08

Because like the doctor guy shows up and he's just like, I wouldn't believe him.

SPEAKER_03 36:11

No.

SPEAKER_02 36:12

He's like, You're still here on earth, you're in recall. And then he starts like yelling at him, and I'm like, I wouldn't be yelling at him. Like, he's has a gun. Yeah. It's like, and he doesn't even need it. Look how big he is. He's like, you're not, you're not gonna take him. What if he's just a really sweaty guy? But he gives him like the pill, and Arnold puts it in his mouth, like he's like convinced. I mean, you know, Sharon Stone's just like, you know, it's just like when we get back, you know.

SPEAKER_03 36:31

But she tried to kill him.

SPEAKER_04 36:34

Like that was part of the the dream. Yeah, he's he's back in recall.

SPEAKER_02 36:39

Yeah, yeah. Did he though? Did she? Is it real?

SPEAKER_03 36:43

Yeah, they're still in the matrix. But he I mean, she did cut him across the chest. I'm sure the chest wound wouldn't have healed by now. I know.

SPEAKER_02 36:51

He just willed it. So he blows the dude's brains out, and he's like he's like geek and suddenly he's like and then he just like falls out. Yeah. And then the wall explodes, and all these dudes come in with guns to wrestle Arnold.

SPEAKER_04 37:07

They're trying to make it a fair fight. Alright, they got rules on Mars.

SPEAKER_03 37:12

Well, it's just like any any martial arts movie when it's one versus a bunch, they have to come in one at a time.

SPEAKER_02 37:17

Well, they like paired up.

SPEAKER_03 37:19

Oh well.

SPEAKER_02 37:20

It was like a tag team, but like they wanted to be fair. And then Sharon Stone kicks him in the nuts again.

SPEAKER_04 37:30

He just keeps getting hit. That's her that's her go-to move or her special move. Up, down, up, down, left B. Instead of Falcon Pun.

SPEAKER_03 37:40

You know, and and all kids in the yoga outfit. She should have been like Sonya Blade in a 80s Mortal Kombat.

SPEAKER_04 37:46

She was too she was too A-less for that. Yeah, I know. Yeah. And then knock off Sharon Stone for that movie.

SPEAKER_02 37:54

Molina shows up on the right air elevator, gets off at the right floor to shoot all the guards. And she's just hip firing full auto at the guards who are holding Arnold.

SPEAKER_03 38:05

She learned that from Arnold though.

SPEAKER_02 38:07

Yeah, it's like this is you gotta believe. You just wheel the bullets where you want him to go. Where your bullets are gonna go, and they do. It's like you'll be fine, you'll be great. And then yeah, he shoots uh Sharon Stone in the face. And then they escape with the taxi driver.

SPEAKER_03 38:21

I got five mouths to feed.

SPEAKER_02 38:23

He says it like ten times.

SPEAKER_03 38:24

He's the one that's got the little arm, isn't he?

SPEAKER_02 38:26

Yeah, he's got like the weird mutant hand. Take my strong hand. So they go running back into Venusville, back to the last resort. And like they hide him like in like a trapdoor in a wall. And then like the three boobed woman tries to hit on Richter. And she just like walks away. He just shoots her right in the back. And then all the guards like are standing there, it's just like kill them all. And they all just start shooting everybody. All the minions. And the midgets like up on the count, like on the bar with a machine gun, like shooting at people.

SPEAKER_03 38:59

You know, it's not genocide if it's on Mars, right? They just kill everyone.

SPEAKER_02 39:04

I don't think genocide's location based. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:07

What are the rules on? I mean, what are the laws on Mars?

SPEAKER_02 39:10

You know, they're kind of loosey-goosey.

SPEAKER_04 39:13

I mean, they definitely have a well-established society out there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:17

It's like the Wild West up there, you know? Have you guys he who has the biggest gun wins.

SPEAKER_04 39:21

Have you guys seen For All Mankind? I have not. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:24

I'll tell about it after this. Alright. So Kohagan like calls him off. Like, hey, like, you know, no, we're gonna let him escape. And it's just like, oh, he killed all you. It's just like and then he's like, eh, I'm all mad. And he's like, you're not here to think, you're here to follow orders. And he's like, okay. And he's like, he's like, hey, get back up here. He's like, alright. He hangs up on him. And then they lead him to like secret tunnels, and it's like there was aliens on Earth, like or on Mars, like 500,000 years ago. Yeah, that was kind of weird. And then they go and meet the resistance leader.

SPEAKER_04 39:55

Shoehorn an alien plot into all of this. With mutants and spies. I remember as a kid watching, and I was like, aliens, really? Come on, aliens. Yeah. Those weird three fingers. Come on, guy. The fourth. They didn't have to do that. They could have just been like he had like the secret nuclear code or something like that. But whatever the red rabbit red uh the rabbit's foot was for those aliens.

SPEAKER_02 40:18

Well, you got the mutant leader of the resistance. He's like, oh, it's unsure. He's like, and you see like the baby hand come up, and it's like, ugh, don't touch it. It's all goopy too.

Alien Reactor And Resistance Secrets

SPEAKER_02 40:30

It is like fate, like it's like animatronic like guy now. Like, I don't know why.

SPEAKER_04 40:34

It's just a little like little tiny mouth that just flaps.

SPEAKER_01 40:42

Hello, Hashtag.

SPEAKER_03 40:44

I like how the guy that the prosthetic's on, he's just like along for the ride the rest of the time.

SPEAKER_02 40:48

He's just like, uh he can't be himself and do both. He's just like Kowato is the chest mutant baby. Uh psychically reads Quaid's mind, learning that Kohagen is hiding a 500,000-year-old alien reactor built into the mountains that once activated produces breathable air that could also destroy all turbinium, ending Copenhagen's monopoly over both resources.

SPEAKER_04 41:18

The uh little baby thing reminds me of Grogu when he like puts his little tiny hand through his head. Yeah. He's like thinking hard. Now I'll never be able to look at Grogu ever again. Mutant baby.

SPEAKER_02 41:31

So uh the Copenhagen boys show up and start shooting the place up. Belina Arnold and Coato and his handler, George, and the taxi driver guy Benny escape. Benny reveals himself as an agent in Kohagan's employ and shoots George like a lot. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:51

And then the baby is like starting to be acting, his eyes are like rolling around, his little animatronic kid.

SPEAKER_02 41:59

Yeah, and then Rector walks in and shoots the baby and mutant baby in the face. And then he's like, you gotta do it. And then Copenhagen, he cuts off all the air to Venusville. The fan stops spinning, and they're just like, oh.

SPEAKER_03 42:14

And they say all like lay down.

SPEAKER_02 42:16

Yeah. They're like, oh no. And the guy's like on the phone with like Copenhagen. He's like, I'll be dead. And you know, by tomorrow. And he's like, I don't care. He's like, I don't care. He's like, Why do they want him so bad? And he's like, so he's like, no, don't try to fix it, don't do anything about it. He's like, they'll just all be dead. It's like that's easy. And the guy's like, but sir, he's like, shut up. Like, God, like what what what part of this aren't you understanding? Scientist man on the other line. He's he he has a soul, he's trying to do the right thing. So Quaid and Melina are brought to Copenhagen, who explains that Hauser was his close friend who volunteered to become Quaid as an elaborate ruse to bypass the mutant psychic abilities. What? Infiltrate the rebellion and destroy it.

SPEAKER_04 43:06

I have no memory of this whatsoever.

SPEAKER_02 43:08

Quaid's recall visit had activated him earlier than planned, and Kohagen has been helping him to survive the oblivious Richter's pursuit. Copenhagen orders Hauser's memories to be restored in Quaid and Melina to be rope reprogrammed as his subservient lover, but they managed to escape to the mines below the reactor. Because like they show like the Hauser like talking to Quaid and then it zooms out, and like Ronnie Cox is just like hanging out with him, like, what's up, buddy? We're friends. And it looks really weird. Yeah. Like it looks like awkward. Like, it's like, what do you two do? Like it looks like Ryan was like he's gonna like smooch him. He's like, You did a good job, buddy.

SPEAKER_04 43:56

That's how we shake hands. Remember? That's a Martian handshake.

SPEAKER_02 44:01

Right on the lips.

SPEAKER_03 44:03

Is he Quaid or is he Hauser? Which is the real him?

SPEAKER_02 44:07

He's Quaid.

SPEAKER_03 44:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 44:09

So Hauser was some other guy that he took his memories or something.

SPEAKER_02 44:14

No, Hauser was original Arnold. Oh. Hauser had the memory blocks put in and like the stuff implanted became Quaid.

SPEAKER_04 44:22

The biggest problem with this movie is like the plot. Yeah, the plot. All the twists and turns are just like kind of sidelines. Like crazy action, and then somebody tries to explain something real quick, and then crazy action. And I remember watching as a kid, and I was just like, all I see is three boobs and explosions. That's all I got. That's all I got out of that.

SPEAKER_02 44:45

That's all I remember. Three boobs and eyes popping out of his head. Because like they go through like this whole like escape thing to like kill Richter after they get out. And like they have like the hologram projector thing. Yeah. Bracelet. Yeah. And like Arnold's standing between like 20 guys, yeah, all shooting at him, and he's in the middle. And like they're like from like me to Mitch just shooting at this hologram. It's a hologram. And like none of them get hit with friendly fire. Like they all should have smoked each other.

SPEAKER_04 45:20

That'd have been better if they did.

SPEAKER_03 45:22

If we haven't heard examples of that happening, I wouldn't believe it, but we we know it would happen. We know it would happen.

SPEAKER_04 45:29

Anyway.

SPEAKER_02 45:30

But I love his fake out part where he just stands and he's like, ah, he's like, you think I'm the real Quaid? And like the guards like start looking at each other, like looking around, like, well, where is he? And he goes, I lied. He's like, I am, and he just starts shooting. And then they're having like this whole like choreograph thing where they're like doing the hologram thing and like th throwing the bracelet to each other to do it to the other guards. And then we get you know Richter and Arnold fight, and then he like pins him at the bottom of like this elevator, and he's holding his arms as they're coming up to like you know a ledge, you know, from underneath, and he's just like and then you see Michael Ironside with no arms falling. Yeah, and Arnold's like holding his arms, and he throws, I'll see you at the potty, Richter. I thought he would have been like wades with it.

SPEAKER_04 46:11

Yeah, or something like I think he does, let me give you a hand or whatever. I know, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:15

Some his lines were it wasn't as good as Prater. Uh-huh. Stick around. But they get to the reactor and like they're walking on this catwalk, and you see like all this fancy alien nonsense CG'd. And it's just like, we gotta hurry, you know, they only got an hour, and they're walking.

SPEAKER_04 46:32

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:33

It's like, can I at least get a dangerous catwalk?

SPEAKER_04 46:36

There's guardrails, they have to have you know abide by safety protocols.

SPEAKER_02 46:39

But they get there, and Ronnie Cox is already there.

SPEAKER_04 46:41

Oh no. And he's like, in 30 seconds, you'll have a dead.

SPEAKER_02 46:44

He's got him at gun point. He's like holding like a detonator thing to like blow up the reactor. And I'm like, you're still standing there. Like, where are you going? Like, what's your plan?

SPEAKER_03 46:52

He's invincible.

SPEAKER_02 46:54

Like, why don't you just shoot him? Because even when they go to do the reactor thing, you know, or the total recall, him and Melina, he pulls like a classic villain trope. It's like, all right, you guys got that handled. I'm gonna

Blue Sky Ending And Final Verdict

SPEAKER_02 47:05

leave and not see anything. Yeah, and then be horribly inconvenienced when this happens.

SPEAKER_04 47:09

You know, this movie is classic as it is, it's not it's not great. It's uh story-wise, it's really dumb, and I can see why nobody wanted to do it.

SPEAKER_02 47:22

So Melina shows up, shoots Copenhagen in the shoulders, he drops the detonator, Arnold tries to grab it, he sets it off, he grabs the explosive, throws it, you know, into a tunnel, which of course decompresses the reactor, yeah, and Ronnie Cox goes, wee! And then his eyes are like popping out and doing this, and his tongue's and his neck just swells up huge, like to almost to his shoulders. And then Arnold like does like the because the alien hand print is four fingers, it's like index and middle are together, but it's an alien hand, and he like goes to put his hand over it and then just goes and smooshes his fingers together, goes, So why did that work?

SPEAKER_04 48:02

I don't know. He's not an alien. No, that's what confused me as a kid. I was like, wait, is it was he an alien all along?

SPEAKER_02 48:09

Yeah, and then I'm also pretty sure superheating Martian glacier ice doesn't suddenly release enough oxygen to make an atmosphere on an entire planet.

SPEAKER_03 48:18

Have you been to Mars, Tom?

SPEAKER_04 48:19

Do you know? I mean, like, look, that's a technical steam isn't it's oxygen. That's a technical thing that's I think is way too you know more intelligent than like yeah, but like the whole like I'm gonna make my human hand work in this alien handprint thing, like that was that was dumb for that movie, too. Oh, yeah, that was gonna make the fingers work, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:44

Yeah, oh and then when he does it, him and Melina get ejected out into the surface, and he's falling going and they tumble forever. I remember that. Yeah, it's like in like uh Princess Bride, and then they start doing the eye buggy thing and the big swan that they're going, and then you know, magic is happening, and the reactor you know is reacting and steam, and then you know it's like a cloud and there's like a thunderstorm too. It's just like weather, it's like okay, and then like Ronnie Cox's character dies first, and then they're still going like Arnold's eyes are starting to pop out, and then all of a sudden, like the you know, the steam air that you so you can see it for plot the mist washes over them, and like they start like deswelling, like they just like filmed like that happening, and it's like all right, reverse. And then it cuts, and it like they're both fine, like no stress, like not even blood vessel, the bends or anything like that.

SPEAKER_04 49:36

No, they're not just like blood shut eyes, like it'd be funny if like that's when they chose to be realistic and they stood up and they're just like having strokes.

SPEAKER_02 49:45

It just goes blood seeping from his nose, yeah. Like a small explosive just goes off in his break. So there's safe. The reactor melts the planet's core into gas that bursts to the surface, forming a breathable atmosphere saving Quaid, Melina, and the rest of Mars's population. Just in time. As everyone beholds the now blue sky, Quaid momentarily wonders if everything was a dream before he and Latina kiss.

SPEAKER_01 50:11

Was it real?

SPEAKER_04 50:13

He doesn't care. He so he would choose to stay in the matrix. He would take the blue pill. Yes, yes, yes, sure.

SPEAKER_02 50:23

Yeah, we had trivia about this. We did, and we I think we got it wrong. Probably. Yeah, I'm pretty sure the blue pill, you stay, red pill, you. I was having a hard time like keeping up with this movie. Like, I I was losing interest.

SPEAKER_04 50:36

You don't watch it for the plot. You watch it. You watch it for the Sharon Stone, the three poof woman, and the yeah, the act the action and the crazy spa, like I remember like as a kid, I was like, Whoa, look at all this cool, you know, science-y stuff that they're doing.

SPEAKER_03 50:49

You have no idea what's what's going on, but then you know Tom, I I've watched it, and about the time he got to the part where he takes like the old woman's head thing off that's his mask. Uh, I was like, Alright, I'm done. What am I watching?

SPEAKER_04 51:03

Yeah, that's I don't think this movie will I mean it it is a classic, but I don't think it will be a classic like in ten years or whatever. When people like us are old and we I don't know, think the Matrix is a classic and stuff like that. Like, okay, grandpa, still put you back in the matrix. Right, yeah, yeah. The kids watch uh total recall, they'll be like, ugh.

SPEAKER_03 51:26

What is this movie?

SPEAKER_02 51:29

This is when they film stuff with cameras.

SPEAKER_03 51:31

It's like, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 51:33

President Schwarzenegger was in a movie. President.

SPEAKER_03 51:36

I don't think he's gonna make it there.

SPEAKER_04 51:38

Well, yeah, he's not a natural-born citizen. Yeah. It's like the Constitution stuff.

SPEAKER_02 51:43

Although there's like multiple parodies where like we pass the bills just so he could do it. Even the Simpsons did it.

SPEAKER_01 51:48

Simpson did it.

SPEAKER_02 51:52

This this is like a six out of ten movie.

SPEAKER_04 51:54

Uh no, I I would give it higher than that because like it it it is a classic in my brain. I I'd give it a seven or an eight.

SPEAKER_03 52:01

Well, and the acting is good for you know the people that are the main actors. Nah.

SPEAKER_02 52:07

Well, apparently Ronnie Cox had a completely different hairstyle. Because what they did, um they they were shooting the movie and his hair was like completely different. And then they were like, Oh, we need to do your face cast for the CG, you know, the iPoppy thing when you die at the end of the movie. So it's like they'd like slick his hair back and he like sobs. He's like, nope, that's it. He's like, that's how my guy's supposed to look. Just like that. So they just reshot all of his scenes?

SPEAKER_04 52:30

Yeah. Sheesh. So that's why this movie stands the test of time because it proves if you throw enough money at anything, you'll have a you'll have a classic, you know. You'll have a something that's like.

SPEAKER_02 52:43

Apparently, like Paul Verhoven like severely underestimated the amount of like practical effects they were needed to do.

SPEAKER_04 52:49

It's a science fiction movie before CG. So yeah. Yeah, I don't know. But they kept throwing money at it and it worked. So I mean it was huge back then.

SPEAKER_02 53:03

Yeah, you had 1990 Arnold. Yeah. That was worth probably at least 150 million in box office returns.

SPEAKER_03 53:10

That was like 15 million dollars of the budget. Yeah, just to get Arnold out there.

SPEAKER_04 53:14

I wonder what his uh like uh his rate was, like how much of a percentage he got. I think he actually because he was a producer now too, right? I don't think he was a producer.

SPEAKER_03 53:28

But I bet you like he probably walked away with you know maybe I know because I know we're doing Terminator 2 later, but I know for Terminator 2, he made 15 million.

SPEAKER_04 53:38

To get to agree to do the movie, how much you made on the back end. True, yeah. You know, that's one of the like so there's like a whole when you cast A-listers that get points and stuff like that, and basically a percentage of every dollar. So I wonder. Uh I I mean it would be tough to find. We have to like box office mojo this stuff and figure it out. And I'm sure the audience would love to know about it, but unfortunately we're running out of time.

SPEAKER_02 54:09

We are, but I do want to point out in this movie Arnold says to Sharon, so he's like, Clever girl. Oh yeah. Before it's like Jurassic Park ripped this from Total Recall.

SPEAKER_03 54:20

Of course they did.

SPEAKER_04 54:21

Did you see that?

SPEAKER_02 54:21

But it's not as fun, I'm going clever girl. You know, it's not as clever as a guy going clever girl.

SPEAKER_04 54:26

Did you see the video they sent you where like Jurassic Park and something some some other movies share the same universe? Because Engin was in it. I think it was like Robocop.

SPEAKER_02 54:37

No, this movie had Coca-Cola and Pepsi in it, though.

SPEAKER_03 54:39

Whoa. Yeah, both. Big Brandon.

SPEAKER_02 54:44

Big old brand. Big branding. Big big guy. I'm working on it. Hydra riblets. Anyway, that's us talking about total recall that we tried to recall totally. Yeah. Yeah. But um ps. It's a film.

SPEAKER_04 55:04

If you're if you're film buff, it's it's a must-watch. Just to see You gotta say you saw it. Just to see like the peak of practical effects. It's like the thing. Like you have to see like I said, but that's yeah, the thing is very good. Yeah, but it's you know, like in the in the Mount Rushmore of practical effects movies, I I would put total recall up there, you know. I I think uh the thing is definitely like probably number one. Yeah, that's George Washington. That's totally George Washington, but you know, whatever that fourth guy is on Mount Rushmore, then nobody knows their name. So that could be Teddy Roosevelt. Yeah, that could be that could be total recall.

SPEAKER_02 55:43

Mitch then, though.

SPEAKER_01 55:44

You were right.

SPEAKER_02 55:46

I don't know the stuff about things. Anyway, if you like that, let us know if you didn't. You can keep that opinion to yourself. And you can check us out on multiple places. If you like this, give us a five-star review. Check out our YouTube stuff that Mitch has been pumping out non-stop.

SPEAKER_03 56:02

Entertain this 59. And on X, Instagram, and TikTok at entertain this underscore.

unknown 56:07

Woo!

SPEAKER_02 56:08

And we'll see you in the next dream.

SPEAKER_03 56:10

I guess we're done, okay?

SPEAKER_04 56:12

This was all a dream. My recall dream would be to have a successful podcast. And I wouldn't wake up from that.

SPEAKER_03 56:21

Yeah, keep dreaming.

SPEAKER_02 56:24

I'm glad the button press didn't work. You can tell it's been a while since all dreamers done, but this yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:36

It's not my fault.

SPEAKER_02 56:37

It is your fault. Entirely.

SPEAKER_01 56:45

Get out of my brain!