1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,960 This is MJ, I'm an author, I'm an artist, I'm an analyzer. Welcome to this final 2 00:00:04,960 --> 00:00:09,600 special episode of Red Panda Report where I am talking a bunch about the 3 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:13,760 Shadow before I talk about the Red Panda because the marvelous mass mystery man 4 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:21,120 is inspired by, chiefly I believe, the Shadow himself who is Lamont Cranston 5 00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:25,960 young man about town, or wealthy young man about town, who with the assistance 6 00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:32,240 of his partner and friend Margot Lane stopped a bunch of crimes as the Shadow. 7 00:00:32,240 --> 00:00:36,160 She was the only one who knew his identity and you will find out as we 8 00:00:36,160 --> 00:00:39,760 start going through the Red Panda soon that there's only one person who knows the 9 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:44,040 identity of the Red Panda. But that's for another day. Today we're going to 10 00:00:44,040 --> 00:00:50,880 talk about a very different iteration of the Shadow, a very modern iteration of 11 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:58,400 the Shadow, being the 1994, I know that's almost 30 years ago, but the 1994 movie 12 00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:05,680 adaptation of the Shadow which does an interesting blend of the novels and the 13 00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:11,640 radio shows to build its own unique Shadow mythos. I read a very interesting 14 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:16,840 review of this from a major Shadow fan, which I think I should put in the 15 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:22,240 show notes, that this was supposed to be the start of, you know, the Shadow 16 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:27,480 cinematic universe and which it's not actually the very first Shadow movie and 17 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:31,680 there was Shadow on TV but I don't know if those were made for TV movies or TV 18 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:37,120 specials, what are they called? Miniseries or anything like that. So anyway this is, 19 00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:40,960 I'm not saying it's the unique film but it's the only film I'm watching and 20 00:01:40,960 --> 00:01:46,440 talking about so here we are folks let's go ahead and let's go ahead and do this. 21 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:51,720 So I didn't actually take the time to make notes. The only thing I want to take 22 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:58,400 special note of is I remember the Shadow. I don't know if I've talked about this yet. 23 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:03,440 I remember the Shadow because down in my area of Southern California there was an 24 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:14,400 AD plumbing company and there was a little old man bald, would probably be 25 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:19,920 spectacled as well, who I imagine is old enough that he heard the Shadow episodes 26 00:02:19,920 --> 00:02:26,760 brought to you by Blue Cole. Call your Blue Cole dealer. And he liked it as a 27 00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:30,280 kid and then when he became a businessman he said hey I'm gonna do TV 28 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:35,240 and radio commercials for my plumbing business that's named after me. So it 29 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:39,520 would go something along the lines of who knows what darkness lurks in the 30 00:02:39,520 --> 00:02:46,760 heart of your plumbing. ADDOO! And not only did I hear that ridiculously played 31 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:55,960 on the radio but my grandfather who was a small business owner and a AM radio 32 00:02:55,960 --> 00:03:00,440 advocate or avid listener at least to some select programs that we don't need 33 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:04,360 to discuss right now, he heard that commercial and he would do it and he 34 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:07,920 would make fun of it and you know mock it or repeat it or whatever and it's 35 00:03:07,920 --> 00:03:13,520 it's less making fun and mocking it's just it's funny. ADDOO! And I don't 36 00:03:13,520 --> 00:03:17,840 remember if he told me because I said grandpa what's this? And he said oh it's 37 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:21,360 the Shadow, it was this little thing, it said who knows who you know what evil 38 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:25,360 looks in the hearts of men the Shadow does but instead it's ADDOO because 39 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:29,680 this guy's advertising for his business. But anyway it's just it's funny because 40 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:34,120 the commercial aspect of the Shadow is something that I find 41 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:39,040 delightful and it really tickles me. The blue coal ads are funny. In like while 42 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:43,160 I'm waiting impatiently for myself to do this review I've been listening to the 43 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:49,400 the original goofy universe of the Red Panda Adventures or the Red Panda which 44 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:52,920 there's six episodes of those which again you can find at DakotaRinkTheatre.com 45 00:03:52,920 --> 00:04:00,480 and those are just funny and they have stuff like you know nutrient 46 00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:04,800 flakes that are being advertised in the show and they have ad reads that are 47 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:08,400 going and like the narrator gets whacked by somebody because he's reading the 48 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:12,480 narration for the he's reading the ad the ad copy during the show and you know 49 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:15,720 they want the the you know the characters in the show it's it's making 50 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:19,720 fun of itself and the genre or not the genre but like the medium you know they're 51 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:23,080 like you hear them like whacking him and he's like he gets hit multiple times he 52 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:27,000 goes from one ad to the next he's like all right back to the show and then it 53 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:30,800 continues but the commercial aspects of the shadow are interesting because like 54 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:34,400 at the end of the seasons they would say you know if you want to see this show 55 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:38,080 continue call up your you know make sure you plot you buy plenty of blue coal or 56 00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:41,840 call up your local blue cave blue coal dealer and tell them that you loved 57 00:04:41,840 --> 00:04:46,100 hearing these shadow programs which of course contain more advertising for the 58 00:04:46,100 --> 00:04:50,520 blue coal company and America's number one anthracite I've only listened to like 59 00:04:50,520 --> 00:04:56,920 I've listened to maybe I'll just call like 15 vintage shadow episodes but that 60 00:04:56,920 --> 00:05:02,080 that's stuck in my head now our our anthracite is colored blue at the 61 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:06,960 factory in a very safe way so that you can identify our coal by sight it's the 62 00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:10,440 cleanest and the best well-burning and this coal was engineered specifically or 63 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:14,280 no the heaters and stoves were engineered specifically to burn well 64 00:05:14,280 --> 00:05:19,440 with this coal it's just it's unbelievable how blatant and and open 65 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:23,400 and unabashed they were with the marketing of these things but honestly 66 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:27,680 you know it's funny because a hundred years later almost a hundred years later 67 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:33,360 that's what marketing is now you know I'm an aspiring author and part of the 68 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:38,000 reason I'm so tempted to go indie is because the publishing if you are 69 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:41,560 published by one of the big was it for now maybe it's before anyway if you want 70 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:48,960 to be trad pub you still have to do shows and maybe travel do book signings 71 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:56,120 do all sorts of things that I don't want to have to do and the the way and they 72 00:05:56,120 --> 00:05:58,520 should I'm sure they're gonna be moving to print on demand and not just printing 73 00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:02,280 you know scads of books that aren't potentially gonna sell because it's just 74 00:06:02,280 --> 00:06:05,200 a more efficient business model but like there's a lot of things that don't make 75 00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:08,080 sense but anyway regardless my point is you have to do the same type of 76 00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:12,080 marketing and hustle for your books to sell if you're an indie publisher or if 77 00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:16,000 you're a self published or if you're if you're traditionally published so why 78 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:20,120 not go in and then have all the freedom and creative control that you want sure 79 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:24,560 you're putting yourself out on the line but that's what you do when you believe 80 00:06:24,560 --> 00:06:27,480 in yourself and when you believe in what you're doing or a product you're selling 81 00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:32,320 you're willing to take those risks in order to make it happen and maybe you 82 00:06:32,320 --> 00:06:35,200 find a little audience and it works for you or maybe you find a huge audience it 83 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:38,000 doesn't matter but the shadow would put himself out there and that's what I'm 84 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:42,640 planning to do too but anyway sorry I just had to do that oh and also my 85 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:46,880 grandfather would also tell me and he wouldn't just say this to me but I heard 86 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:52,960 it a lot enough so it sticks it sticks in my mind too not a good idea pop and 87 00:06:52,960 --> 00:06:57,160 the shadow in this movie Alec Baldwin delivers this line that's not a good 88 00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:00,800 idea and then he does something you know beat somebody up or whatever and I just 89 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:04,880 when I heard that this like the shadow I will always link with my grandfather 90 00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:10,560 because of those ade do commercials and I believe he actually took us to go see 91 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:16,120 this in the theater and he wasn't like a massive he was a very he was a fun guy 92 00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:19,520 and the things that he jammed to more were like music he had records and stuff 93 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:22,520 that he would play and he really liked certain people but as far as movies he'd 94 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:25,520 go see like the big blockbusters and the spectacles I think this was supposed to 95 00:07:25,520 --> 00:07:31,320 be that in 94 and it it wasn't you know kind of flopped but another one of his 96 00:07:31,320 --> 00:07:34,880 favorite things to say was ridiculous and I'm sure more than once he yelled or 97 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:39,560 proclaimed ridiculous while we were watching this movie and yeah that was 98 00:07:39,560 --> 00:07:44,960 his opinion and mine is that it's pretty darn cool so it's different tastes and 99 00:07:44,960 --> 00:07:48,320 different you know different tastes for different people but I think we both 100 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:51,720 agree that the old radio shows are cool and that the books are even cooler so 101 00:07:51,720 --> 00:07:55,640 anyway with that preface and a little homage to my grandfather who's been 102 00:07:55,640 --> 00:08:01,360 passed for some time now I just you know I'm ready to jump into the actual the 103 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:06,640 actual discussion of this and I want to discuss the things I didn't like the 104 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:10,560 things I did like and some other things just kind of extraneous and you know 105 00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:14,080 this is tangentially related to the red panda so I'm kind of feeling even more 106 00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:17,720 comfortable being a little more casual with it and I don't think there's 107 00:08:17,720 --> 00:08:23,040 anything wrong with that so anyway yeah I'll just go I'll go right into it I 108 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:27,080 don't have that much and there's actually not a ton to talk about it's an 109 00:08:27,080 --> 00:08:29,760 interesting movie they did some interesting thing with this things with 110 00:08:29,760 --> 00:08:34,360 the special effects to make the shadow invisible let me roll back though real 111 00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:40,600 quick I do feel like probably one of the biggest problems with the movie is that 112 00:08:40,600 --> 00:08:51,040 it works better if you know the material better and that is to say I had not read 113 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:56,120 or listened to rather the audiobooks a few audiobooks worth of the shadow until 114 00:08:56,120 --> 00:09:00,600 after I had watched this movie for the second time a few months ago so again I 115 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:04,680 saw it almost 30 years ago and then I saw it like four or five months ago and 116 00:09:04,680 --> 00:09:08,560 then I just because I was playing around with doing this this whole red panda 117 00:09:08,560 --> 00:09:12,640 report thing at the time and then I just finally decided to go ahead and do it so 118 00:09:12,640 --> 00:09:17,560 now we're doing it and I in the meantime I listened to a couple shadow novels 119 00:09:17,560 --> 00:09:21,960 because I do want to pull in that pulp pulpy goodness and put it in my stuff my 120 00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:25,120 own writing and I thought well I should listen to this good you know solid source 121 00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:28,600 material Taylor liked it you know lots of other people liked shadow this is 122 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:35,000 like classic you do there are 300 books for a reason you know and anyway so I 123 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:37,960 decided to check those out and then when I came back to this movie after that I 124 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:40,880 thought oh there's that there's that there's that there's all these cool 125 00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:44,160 things that if you know the lore of the shadow if you've been a shadow fan it 126 00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:47,880 pops and it feels like oh this is it's kind of like coming home you know it has 127 00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:53,000 a feeling of nostalgia and I didn't get that you know watching a few months ago 128 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:58,160 but so that's a problem it doesn't really maybe it's not a problem maybe 129 00:09:58,160 --> 00:10:00,840 it's actually a strength of it that it feels like it can stand on its own it 130 00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:04,960 can include these elements without telling you that's from the book or 131 00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:08,040 that's from the radio show because margaret lane herself is from the radio 132 00:10:08,040 --> 00:10:12,400 show as far as I know she never appears in the books although there is a 133 00:10:12,400 --> 00:10:17,400 reference in the like fifth or sixth book to the weekly radio broadcast that 134 00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:21,280 the shadow has been doing for years now and no one knows if that's the actual 135 00:10:21,280 --> 00:10:26,680 shadow or if it's somebody else or what it is and I like the idea that Gibson 136 00:10:26,680 --> 00:10:29,680 included that in his books and that's like some sort of like almost like a 137 00:10:29,680 --> 00:10:33,920 Psy-op that the the shadow does on the criminal underworld that he's fighting 138 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:38,800 and anybody else really but it very well could just be the the radio show hosted 139 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:42,520 by blue coal which is fun and you could even have a world where the shadow was 140 00:10:42,520 --> 00:10:47,720 real and somebody decided to make a you know radio show about it working off of 141 00:10:47,720 --> 00:10:50,400 the fame of this urban legend like that's actually that's actually really 142 00:10:50,400 --> 00:10:54,440 cool idea but anyway of course if that was made today that would end up with 143 00:10:54,440 --> 00:10:57,600 somebody going in I guess it'd be like the Grey Ghost episode of Batman the 144 00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:01,080 animated series where you have somebody going and rescuing the you know the fake 145 00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:05,360 shadow from you know a real threat but anyway which actually they kind of did 146 00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:10,680 something like that in red panda was it red incense I'm getting away off track 147 00:11:10,680 --> 00:11:14,920 but yeah so I felt like it was a little weak in some ways in that it almost 148 00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:20,200 seemed like it depended on upon you knowing and liking the serials well the 149 00:11:20,200 --> 00:11:24,120 serials are the books which you shouldn't have to do I also thought it 150 00:11:24,120 --> 00:11:29,640 was odd like I was very shocked by the yin-ko introduction the cold open with 151 00:11:29,640 --> 00:11:35,520 yin-ko this drug kingpin who turns out to be played by Alec Baldwin and he's 152 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:40,020 got these long nasty purple nails and it's just it's kind of weird because it 153 00:11:40,020 --> 00:11:46,720 goes from that to him being forced into a redemption by the I know the Toku the 154 00:11:46,720 --> 00:11:51,240 to ko I can't remember the holy man who has a big shrine and who has the master 155 00:11:51,240 --> 00:11:56,040 who has mastered the powers of the mind and who teaches this stuff to the shadow 156 00:11:56,040 --> 00:12:03,640 to law on Cranston and then to I guess to oh man what's his name to con I'll 157 00:12:03,640 --> 00:12:08,640 just say con because that's all I know John Lowe that's who the actor but he's 158 00:12:08,640 --> 00:12:12,640 made him into a shadow type person as well and I don't know if it's because he 159 00:12:12,640 --> 00:12:16,640 was trying to reform him as a barbarian and make him a second agent of himself 160 00:12:16,640 --> 00:12:20,240 which is that's actually interesting that the the Toku or the to ko whatever 161 00:12:20,240 --> 00:12:28,160 to coup the to ko that sounds right the to ko interestingly enough in the movies 162 00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:32,040 plays a similar role to the shadow where he implements agents around the world 163 00:12:32,040 --> 00:12:37,480 doing what he taught them to do for the betterment of mankind but obviously it 164 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:43,080 went wrong when con turned against him and murdered him and went on this quest 165 00:12:43,080 --> 00:12:49,320 for world domination yeah and like his characterization is a little weak and 166 00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:53,160 his motivation other than he's kind of a you know mad man who wants to take over 167 00:12:53,160 --> 00:12:56,160 the world is a little weak because they don't talk about his I came of and it's 168 00:12:56,160 --> 00:13:01,560 not Shangri-La but like there's like a secret underground like special society 169 00:13:01,560 --> 00:13:07,280 of Mongols basically of people for you know people like getting this con and 170 00:13:07,280 --> 00:13:13,400 his fellow Mongols and their idea is there like the germ of it is there but I 171 00:13:13,400 --> 00:13:16,720 know that because of the Golden Master which actually contains that idea so 172 00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:19,880 there was a little bit of a weakness in the script that he just it made things 173 00:13:19,880 --> 00:13:24,680 unclear and they made certain choices and decisions for the story to make it 174 00:13:24,680 --> 00:13:29,600 you know such without actually doing all the work themselves in the script 175 00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:32,680 writing like it could have been a much more simple story it didn't need to be 176 00:13:32,680 --> 00:13:36,440 this con story it didn't need to be and I think there's a little bit of a 177 00:13:36,440 --> 00:13:40,440 weakness to the narrative that you're introducing the shadow and already from 178 00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:45,560 movie one he's facing a character who has powers similar to his own but 179 00:13:45,560 --> 00:13:50,680 greater than his own and I would think that that makes it more difficult for us 180 00:13:50,680 --> 00:13:54,960 to understand what his powers actually are because we don't get them fully 181 00:13:54,960 --> 00:14:05,200 explained but that maybe they wanted to use contrast between con and Cranston to 182 00:14:05,200 --> 00:14:09,560 show what each of them can do to show the the extent of their powers it's funny 183 00:14:09,560 --> 00:14:14,280 because it's kind of like Batman Begins is like a like much better version of 184 00:14:14,280 --> 00:14:19,120 this movie because you have the guy in you know vague Asian country being 185 00:14:19,120 --> 00:14:24,400 trade trained by a mysterious master and then another pupil of or you know 186 00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:29,000 whatever equivalent of the master comes at him in his hometown with his own 187 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:33,600 technology with something massive that will destroy the city and that's I don't 188 00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:37,000 know I guess it's just a simple story I'm not accusing Nolan or anybody who 189 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:40,920 worked on Batman Begins of stealing the idea but like you know a superior 190 00:14:40,920 --> 00:14:46,720 version of this is Batman Begins ironically in the history of the shadow 191 00:14:46,720 --> 00:14:51,560 which I've mentioned or alluded to before Batman the first issue of Batman I 192 00:14:51,560 --> 00:14:57,640 believe it was actually stole a stole a bunch of stuff ideas and and setting and 193 00:14:57,640 --> 00:15:04,000 all sorts of stuff from a shadow story eight some ace chemicals I think is what 194 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:09,360 it was anyway so that's interesting but yeah like I said there's a little bit of 195 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:14,360 a weakness of the story but that kind of doesn't matter because it's really 196 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:18,040 exciting and really fun to see the shadow brought to life on the big screen 197 00:15:18,040 --> 00:15:21,960 for me this way and there's a lot of cool things that they do with the shadow 198 00:15:21,960 --> 00:15:26,240 like you know using his agents which I think is a wonderful idea they show him 199 00:15:26,240 --> 00:15:30,140 saving something in the beginning of the movie and that man is drafted in to the 200 00:15:30,140 --> 00:15:34,880 shadows army and he gets this you know special glowing ring and he gets these 201 00:15:34,880 --> 00:15:39,680 you know code words to say and then Cranston himself appears to the man 202 00:15:39,680 --> 00:15:44,120 later as a fellow agent of the shadow now he lets the man assume that he says 203 00:15:44,120 --> 00:15:46,680 one of them you know because he tells one of my agents will contact you and 204 00:15:46,680 --> 00:15:50,240 then he himself is Cranston goes and contacts the man he's like oh you're an 205 00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:53,720 agent of the shadow aren't you and he's like who he's like oh that's right 206 00:15:53,720 --> 00:15:57,640 because you know it's all subterfuge and spy type stuff and that's really fun 207 00:15:57,640 --> 00:16:01,640 and it's it's interesting because you get to see this guy in like his normal 208 00:16:01,640 --> 00:16:06,360 life like having dinner with his wife or just having a conversation they're 209 00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:09,320 listening to the radio at breakfast and he gets the call from Cranston and he 210 00:16:09,320 --> 00:16:12,800 goes with him and they do you know whatever shadow ops type stuff hey 211 00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:20,040 that's right and then later you see Mo Moshe Shreve doing something similar and 212 00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:23,240 his wife says what is that is it another thing from the bowling league the bowling 213 00:16:23,240 --> 00:16:27,480 club and he's like yeah it is so it's kind of funny it's kind of coin it's 214 00:16:27,480 --> 00:16:32,080 kind of cute this idea you had these men like an ordinary you know overweight 215 00:16:32,080 --> 00:16:36,560 chubby no six-pack whatever just like ordinary guys you know the the Asian 216 00:16:36,560 --> 00:16:39,700 guys are like a metal or just or something like that and he helps examine 217 00:16:39,700 --> 00:16:44,540 a coin for Cranston to figure out you know what is going on and you know who 218 00:16:44,540 --> 00:16:49,720 this threat is and then Shreve is just a just you know just your average Joe a 219 00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:56,160 schlub if you will and he is doing great things in this other life that you know 220 00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:58,800 he hides from his wife or whatever and it's just I know it's a really 221 00:16:58,800 --> 00:17:02,280 interesting idea really interesting dynamic it's very exciting to think that 222 00:17:02,280 --> 00:17:05,320 these ordinary men can be living such extraordinary lives and doing such 223 00:17:05,320 --> 00:17:10,800 amazing things that lead to them saving people's lives I mean Shreve was 224 00:17:10,800 --> 00:17:14,880 instrumental in saving I can't remember the scientist guy's name but he was 225 00:17:14,880 --> 00:17:18,640 instrumental in saving him because he was there you know driving around 226 00:17:18,640 --> 00:17:23,120 Cranston you know helping the shadow do his thing and that's a really neat idea 227 00:17:23,120 --> 00:17:29,480 and there's something very noble to that and I don't know kind of beautiful 228 00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:33,760 about the it's like secret society of you know ordinary men doing good things 229 00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:39,160 because they can and because they have another man leading them to do these 230 00:17:39,160 --> 00:17:43,380 great things which is interesting when you contrast what yin-ko was what 231 00:17:43,380 --> 00:17:51,140 Lamont Cranston was as this drug you know kingpin crime lord guy he was happy 232 00:17:51,140 --> 00:17:57,960 to murder people he he was happy to murder people and in fact we get to see 233 00:17:57,960 --> 00:18:02,320 flashbacks of him later in the movie through the use of you know margolain as 234 00:18:02,320 --> 00:18:08,040 an expository device sort of in her psychic connection to him where we see 235 00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:13,280 her reaching into his memories as he's I guess into his nightmares as he's 236 00:18:13,280 --> 00:18:18,880 having memories of his past life as as a barbarian where he's attacking and 237 00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:26,320 killing people in a village to I would assume solidify his power and it was all 238 00:18:26,320 --> 00:18:32,480 for selfish gain and he was a leader of men commander of armies in the past but 239 00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:36,880 to great evil and for his own selfish gain and now he's doing it thanks to 240 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:41,720 this redemption that was forced upon him for the good of people and yet he's 241 00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:45,720 filling a similar role it's just he's directing it you know positive life 242 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:53,920 giving generative ways opposed to selfish destructive way anyway I got a 243 00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:58,800 little carried off talking about the beauty and wonderment of superhero 244 00:18:58,800 --> 00:19:05,360 fiction and redemption which are things I'm obsessed by or obsessed with but 245 00:19:05,360 --> 00:19:09,800 they did some really cool stuff with him becoming invisible like his footsteps 246 00:19:09,800 --> 00:19:14,240 showing in up in water and you know that's how a bad guy was able to see him 247 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:20,800 and that was really cool because you know he would have certain tells he 248 00:19:20,800 --> 00:19:25,160 would have certain tells like that to his you know physically being there 249 00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:30,240 despite the fact that he's invisible and that's you know that's clever it's a 250 00:19:30,240 --> 00:19:37,500 clever idea to explore and something to show and the animated shadows that they 251 00:19:37,500 --> 00:19:40,880 did like on walls or going yeah going up walls are going upstairs different 252 00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:45,440 things like that were really delightful to see I love you know traditional 2d 253 00:19:45,440 --> 00:19:49,880 you know hand-painted animation on you know film cells and gets how they did it 254 00:19:49,880 --> 00:19:52,520 at the time I absolutely love that and there's no reason you couldn't do that 255 00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:57,440 with digital with digital work now you could still I think do you know digital 256 00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:01,840 painting of something on and then you know put that onto something that was 257 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:05,840 filmed digitally as well so I definitely it's possible and it's something I'd 258 00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:10,360 like to see like for example I love the lightning effects of like Palpatine's 259 00:20:10,360 --> 00:20:15,920 electricity from well return to the Jedi and then when they did it in the prequel 260 00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:20,360 trilogy it was less wonderful than it was back then also the lightning effects 261 00:20:20,360 --> 00:20:25,240 and Ghostbusters and things like that so I love that practical 2d effect it looks 262 00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:29,080 a little cartoonish but it's very expressive the shadow silhouette flat on 263 00:20:29,080 --> 00:20:32,800 the wall was very expressive and did some very interesting things and like 264 00:20:32,800 --> 00:20:36,400 when he was tormenting I want to call him Tim Robbins but that's not his name 265 00:20:36,400 --> 00:20:40,440 the guy from Rocky Horror Picture Show that guy when he was tormenting him 266 00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:45,840 before that guy died that was pretty cool to see the way he was affecting the shadow 267 00:20:45,840 --> 00:20:50,320 moving around the room and oh there was another thing so I was trying to think 268 00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:55,560 of all the I love his transformation into the figure of the shadow because he 269 00:20:55,560 --> 00:20:59,160 loses his Alec Baldwin looks I find it odd that they didn't give him green eyes like 270 00:20:59,160 --> 00:21:03,640 that sign has and said they gave him these like black eyes which is cool but 271 00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:06,560 the prosthetics that they put him in to change the shape of his face and give 272 00:21:06,560 --> 00:21:10,720 him that you know that big nose that you know aqualine nose I think is what they 273 00:21:10,720 --> 00:21:15,760 call the you know like an eagle beak nose and some of the other flourishes 274 00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:19,040 that they did to make the shadow like the big bushy eyebrows and stuff like to 275 00:21:19,040 --> 00:21:24,040 make him look like the guy on the book on the book covers was really cool and I 276 00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:28,680 absolutely love it I think it's a brilliant move and I really like I think 277 00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:32,040 Alec Baldwin he's not like the most attractive man ever but he's a good 278 00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:37,840 looking guy and like the shadow you know that face is less classically handsome 279 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:43,920 so having him transform and kind of become ugly as the shadow as he's this 280 00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:47,640 you know weird predatory creature of the night stalking evil is interesting 281 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:50,400 because there's this line in the movie about his own dark heart his own black 282 00:21:50,400 --> 00:21:53,760 heart like he knows what darkness lurks in the hearts of men because that 283 00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:58,200 darkness lurks you know his heart has been had been consumed or subsumed in 284 00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:03,880 that darkness as well and almost like to me an idea like the portrait of Dorian 285 00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:07,240 Gray where the picture becomes ugly that as he becomes the shadow like all that 286 00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:13,160 darkness comes to the surface and it makes him hideous and while he's hideous 287 00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:19,160 he is at his most monstrously powerful hold on and that's when he's able to 288 00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:22,280 unleash all these powers and I just think that's really cool oh one more 289 00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:26,120 aesthetic thing I loved is when he would do a hypnotism or a mind control on 290 00:22:26,120 --> 00:22:32,200 somebody where they would either they would cause shadows to go everywhere but 291 00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:35,040 his eyes or they would just brighten his eyes I think it was almost always 292 00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:39,040 shadows over his eyes or shadows on either side of his eyes you know above 293 00:22:39,040 --> 00:22:43,240 him below and that was a really great effect the only place I ever remember 294 00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:47,920 seeing that before was like an Addams Family when the woman would try to be a 295 00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:50,720 luring to her husband or like you know mysterious shots and it's been long it's 296 00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:53,680 been decades since I've seen the Addams Family movies the live-action ones I'm 297 00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:59,000 talking about from the 90s Gomez and not Elvira that's the other lady mistress of 298 00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:06,320 the night or whatever but anyway that's an old technique from black and white 299 00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:10,000 films I believe and it was used to great effect here and you can do it in full 300 00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:13,320 color which was kind of interesting to see so there's a lot of cool interesting 301 00:23:13,320 --> 00:23:20,320 visual flourishes watching the pneumatic tube traveling like you're traveling 302 00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:24,400 through them through the pneumatic tube pipe as that message is being delivered 303 00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:28,040 from the Jonas building or from the beat Jonas office I was super cool very 304 00:23:28,040 --> 00:23:31,560 delightful there was just a lot of interesting visual flourishes a lot of 305 00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:34,680 interesting things going on but just wasn't wasn't quite all it could have 306 00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:38,240 been there was one more thing I want to bring up for my notes which is oh yeah 307 00:23:38,240 --> 00:23:41,960 gadgets so Khan wasn't the best villain and I already talked about that a little 308 00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:46,240 bit but just real quick the pneumatic male tubes were really cool to see the 309 00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:50,200 fact that he has early computers in his shadow sanctum the glowing rings I don't 310 00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:52,160 know if that's supposed to be technological or mystical or magical 311 00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:56,960 somehow but that was you know neat and then he's got a when Khan invades his 312 00:23:56,960 --> 00:24:03,560 sanctum he backs himself up to a wall Lamont does and he hits a like a molding 313 00:24:03,560 --> 00:24:06,960 so that a gun will pop out a loaded gun so he can try to shoot him but he's 314 00:24:06,960 --> 00:24:12,720 already gone by that point um let me see I talked about his mythos Lamont Cranston 315 00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:15,680 so this is about lore stuff Lamont Cranston is the shadow but he wasn't 316 00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:19,360 always he was a drug lord I talked about that already it's funny that his uncle's 317 00:24:19,360 --> 00:24:23,360 the police commissioner that's odd Cranston was forcibly redeemed turned to 318 00:24:23,360 --> 00:24:26,920 a fighter of evil I talked about that and he seems to have telepathic 319 00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:29,960 coercion or hypnosis power that I'm unaware from the books or the show which 320 00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:32,800 is kind of interesting but anyway that's just rounding me out and making sure I 321 00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:35,560 say everything I wanted to say but I'm gonna have to cut this short for now I 322 00:24:35,560 --> 00:24:39,200 went longer much longer than I thought I was going to and here we go I bid you a 323 00:24:39,200 --> 00:24:42,880 due next time I will be talking about the riddle of the Sphinx which is the 324 00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:49,320 very first episode of the red panda I hope you enjoyed that go to MJmunoz.com 325 00:24:49,320 --> 00:24:54,440 to leave any questions comments or other feedback you might have 326 00:24:54,440 --> 00:25:00,920 there you can find all of my analysis art and fiction I cover books Tokusatsu 327 00:25:00,920 --> 00:25:06,440 comic books anime and more look around you're sure to find something else that 328 00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:19,960 you'll enjoy as well this has been a story over everything production