Monday, June 30, 2025

#ICC25 30 Years of Bad Sci-Fi, "Companion (2025)", an End to the Gregory Carl Era

 

I Dig Crazy Flicks with @CatBusRuss

Episode 219: #ICC25: 1995 - 30 Years of Bad Sci-Fi Movies We Love (with Lynette Eklund & Madison Martin)

Is that Lynette Eklund in the Sil costume

CatBusRuss ponders if the Indiana Comic Convention appreciates that he has been promoting the fun of the 2025 event for nearly two months after it had concluded. The odds are looking good that he will be invited to sister con, ATL Comic Convention, near the end of July, so "I Dig Crazy Flicks" panel coverage does not seem to be hurting their opinion of him.

This podcast covers the last panel he "moderated". The premise was to discuss the sci-fi films that bombed either critically or financially (and in the event of the financial flops, the critics were not too kind at the time), but VHS provided the seeds for new cults to emerge. Too bad the panelists all had multiple panels over the three day event, so the "Ghoulies" may have eaten their homework. They decided to embrace the title instead of the description. Thus the three went on to hold a celebration of bad sci-fi movies from the eighties and nineties that are beloved.

Our podcast host is joined by Indianapolis-based promoter Madison Martin and LEGENDARY creature effects fabricator and performer, Lynette Eklund. She was the star of the show having done FX work on two of the 1995 films suggested in the description, "Tank Girl" and "Species". Being an monster-making master, she tended to favor horror features.

CatBusRuss is game for that kind of conversation, but he soon found that Lynette was out to put him in his place for feeling that horror is the ideal place to get political. She does her best to make it clear that things with sharp teeth and claws are scary enough. When you are getting chased down by one of these things, are you really thinking about the socio-economic factors that are motivating them?


Episode 221 - "Companion" featuring "Cherry 2000" and Gregory Carl

Jack Quaid and Sophie Thatcher from "Companion"

CatBusRuss's favorite Michael Crichton film was 1973's "Westworld". He is also more of a Jonathan Nolan fan than his older brother. Gregory Carl is quite the well-read, sci-fi-loving truck stop employee in Central Illinois. "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" is a tale he is fascinated by. Thus, "Companion" is a film the two should have quite an interesting conversation about.

And for this podcast's host, it was indeed interesting. Can a robot consent? Gregory, an aspiring comedian, tries to question if consent can actually exist. This leads to a bit of editing of the conversation to protect the parties involved. To make up for it, Russ watched "Cherry 2000" to further explore the inevitable objectification of synthetic life. He may have found that it should be treated as equal. It maybe said, CatBus just does not think you should be a bad person to anyone regardless of who/what they are.

In the end, perhaps the two even think we should all love those who want to be loved. Except for CM Punk in CatBus's case, and Gregory has a few names as well.

 

Follow me on Twitter @catbusruss. If you want to be on the show, contact me on Twitter or send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com. All we need is a theme, movie, director, or actor and a focus on sub 100-minute material. As long as the credits start before the 1:39:59 mark on the runtime bar, the movie qualifies.

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