Ep. 20: Send Help!
Dan & Emily discuss Oliver and Company and question why it isn't remembered as fondly as other Disney classics.
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Dan:
Hey, everybody, welcome back to My Kajiggers with Dan and Emily. Today we're going to have a nice show. We've got some what the fuck news. And we're gonna be talking about Oliver and Company.
Emily:
I'm really excited and just a side note. Sorry, guys, if I, like, die in this because I have been sick all week.
Dan:
Yeah. How's your week? Other than being sick.
Emily:
Not too bad. I mean, I have been. I have an upper respiratory infection. And so I have been super, super sick this entire week and just trying to get better. I've probably slept half this week away because I've just been so... So I don't remember a whole lot of this week.
Dan:
I had to go get my Real I.D.
Emily:
Oh.
Dan:
Yeah. I am thankful I did not get deported. I was able to convince them that all my documents were real.
Emily:
So what do you what did you have to take?
Dan:
Oh, man. You know me? I gotta be prepared. So I took way more than I needed. Just in case there was something wrong with any one of my.
Emily:
Which is understandable.
Dan:
And I got there when the DMV opened. There was three or four people ahead of me. At least three of them were there for the Real I.D. and all of them ahead of me got turned away because they didn't have everything. But I think what I had was my birth certificate, W-2, Social Security card, and I got my car title and something else like I had way more than I know.
Emily:
Is it like you need a piece of mail?
Dan:
I think you gotta have two proofs of address, including like you can use a bank statement or a utility bill. You have proof of identity, your birth certificate. Something with your Social Security number, which could be your W-2 or card and something else. I had got a whole brochure from.
Emily:
Can you take me a copy of your birth certificate or do you have to have like the legit?
Dan:
I think it has to be the legit one.
Emily:
My mom has that one, so I have to get that because I'll have to get it before October because I fly.
Dan:
Mm hmm.
Emily:
But did you have. Was it the mandatory update of yours since your birthday's coming up?
Dan:
Yeah, it was my license was expiring. I'm like, okay. Like, I don't know if I'm gonna have to fly, so I might as well go ahead and get it.
Emily:
And the fact is that the state of Illinois is now mandatory by October that we have to have it.
Dan:
Yeah, I think you can still just have a driver's license. You just won't be able to fly, fly or go into federal facility.
Emily:
Unless you have a passport.
Dan:
Yeah.
Emily:
That's the only other thing. But a passport is more expensive to get.
Dan:
Yeah. And in Illinois, there's not that much reason to have a passport. Smaller communities. There's not a lot of us traveling abroad.
Emily:
No. Who has the money for that?
Dan:
Yeah. Especially in Illinois. I gave it all to taxes.
Emily:
Ain't that fucking truth.
Dan:
Hopefully our governor can vacation in another country. You want to go right into news share.
Emily:
All right.
Dan:
What do you got to start?
Emily:
So my first news story is just a random one that I actually found a day and I had to throw it in there. Utah Police Department says someone stole all the toilet paper from its public restroom. The police station public restroom. So the Kaysville police department wrote about the incident on a Facebook post. Sorry. Friday morning, urging the public to stop stealing its toilet paper.
Dan:
Is it because of Corona virus inspired shortages?
Emily:
Why would toilet paper be a shortage?
Dan:
I know there's places where it's getting hard to come by because people, you know, people, whether it's winter storms or just whatever, people panic and they start stocking up on stupid shit, too.
Emily:
So here is the post. For those of you preparing. Oh, here it is. For those of you preparing for the Corona virus, what is the need for hoarding toilet paper? The Kaysville community must be in a state of crisis that someone has resorted to obtaining all the toilet paper from KPD's public restroom.
Dan:
I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, Mysterious Universe and they're in Australia. And they were talking about how they are having a shortage of toilet paper for that reason. And there was a run on a store. They told people, don't worry, we have another truck coming and then the truck caught on fire. It all went up in flames.
Emily:
How the hell does that happen?
Dan:
Just bad luck.
Emily:
So what's your first story?
Dan:
All right. And this one's out of Oklahoma City. A polite burglar shook homeowner's hand and closed window on his way out. So this family is just sleeping in their house and they're woken up by a guy just breaking into their living room. The father comes downstairs, flips on the lights and says he cut Donald Webb standing frozen in place like a deer caught in the headlights. And he just froze as if, hey, if I don't move he can't see me.
Emily:
Legitimate.
Dan:
And then Webb explained to the home owner that he was running from the cops and was attempting to find some place to hide after he was caught by the homeowner. He shook the guy's hand and promised nothing had been stolen. Then he went back out the unlocked a window he came in and made sure to close it behind him
Emily:
I mean, it's their fault they left their window unlocked.
Dan:
I'm picturing this very cartoonish. Just the fact that he's going back out the window. I see him backing out of it.
Emily:
I don't know about your version of cartoons, but I feel like it's a fucking Family Guy skit in my head.
Dan:
Well I'm picturing this guy looking like a character from our movie today, Oliver and Company. I think in my mind he looks like Fagin. I can just see him like cautiously looking the homeowner in the eye and just stepping his foot back out the window and just keeping eye contact the whole time and then just gently closing the window and walking away.
Emily:
So I guess we're just gonna rip on Oklahoma for today 'cause one of my stories is also from Oklahoma. Oklahoma couple has been accused of waterboarding son to exorcise him.
Dan:
Explain.
Emily:
OK, so these parents have been accused because some of their friends had noticed that their child didn't look right and the child had welts all over his body, his head and bruises on his wrists from being held down. And they also had several text messages from this kid's parents that were saying that they had to exorcise demons from this boy's body.
Dan:
I thought you meant like exercises in physical fitness.
Emily:
No.
Dan:
I was trying figure out how that works.
Emily:
No-- exorcise demons. And so apparently, for whatever reason, parents believe that one of the children may have been possessed by demons and they are trying to perform an exorcism by waterboarding the child. This is from the Oklahoma City master sergeant. So I guess there's other indications that the child had been abused for a while and beaten and they were like drugging this kid, too. They were giving him-- what did they say-- benzos and cough syrup. And like, I guess the dad seemed like he was on drugs when the police talked to him. And the mom said the mom went to describe the abuse like a child being placed in a bathtub and waterboarded and also being put in a laundry basket dropkick. It's something else.
Dan:
What if he actually was possessed? We don't know. Devil's advocate.
Emily:
I don't think waterboarding gets rid of demons, though.
Dan:
It could.
Emily:
No.
Dan:
What if they're Taliban demons?
Emily:
No.
Dan:
This reminds me of a movie I highly recommend and I doubt anybody listening has ever seen called Frailty.
Emily:
No.
Dan:
Early 2000's. It's got Matthew McConaughey and I think Bill Paxton in it. It's about a father who thinks he has a vision from an angel that tells him he has to kill demons. But they look like normal human beings.
Emily:
You have told me about this movie!
Dan:
And he involves his children and ends up thinking one of his children is becoming possessed by a demon. It's a really good, like, low budget tight thriller that just keeps you wondering the whole movie. It's... Oh man, People go watch this movie.
Emily:
We will have-- I'll have to look that one up.
Dan:
Maybe will cover it on the podcast sometime off to see if it's on Amazon.
Emily:
Yeah.
Dan:
My next story, Malfunction causes red wine to flow from faucets in an Italian town.
Emily:
So I actually saw this article before he sent it to me. First thought in my head is like, that's dirty because it's going through the pipelines, but then it's also like wine.
Dan:
Well, theoretically, you're drinking water pipes anyways.
Emily:
Yeah.
Dan:
What happened was a local winery had some kind of unspecified malfunction at this point that caused 1000 liters of ready to be bottled wine to leak back into the town's water pipes, impacting about 20 homes for around three hours. And I guess people were just bottling it out of the tap.
Emily:
Yeah, I would, too. Well, wouldn't it be like super watered down wine?
Dan:
That's what I'm wondering. Maybe not. If it was filling the pipes, then I don't know. It could have been more concentrated. Who knows? What gets me is the local government put out a message on Facebook and said that the leak didn't pose any health risks. I feel like this should be a cause for concern if any manufacturing process can cause their final product to somehow backflow into the town's water supply. They're lucky it wasn't a bleach factory.
Emily:
True.
Dan:
Which they make backflow valves. Like something did not go right with the town's water supply for this to even be possible.
Emily:
Yeah. That sounds like like here's something wrong with their system.
Dan:
Why is there in any way a possibility for ready to be bottled wine to end up backwards into the system, into the water supply? I have many questions and no answers.
Emily:
I mean, if I lived there, I would bottle it.
Dan:
I was gonna say those 20 homeowners were pretty lucky.
Emily:
Oh, yeah. So to wrap up, what the fuck news. Most people have probably seen this one-- A driver was pulled over with an expired 1997 license plate sticker and he told the police that he had been just too busy to replace it. Louisiana officers all over a diver who had a 20 year old license plate sticker. And this is what he's :said Sorry, officer, I've been busy lately and totally forgot to renew my vehicle registration. I will take care of it as soon as I get home.
Dan:
Have you seen any more details on that? Was he just swapping out plates or something? I find it hard to believe he's managed to go 20 years, without a cop getting behind him and saying, you know what? That sticker looks a little old.
Emily:
No, that's just it was just a short article. But how do you just get away with that shit?
Dan:
There has to be more of that story. There's no way he went straight 20 years without getting pulled over.
Emily:
Yeah, I'm sure he has. And he was just like, yeah, I'll get right on it. And then somehow evaded the law.
Dan:
I don't get people who drive unexpired tags ever. I've never been in that position.
Emily:
It's a fine, isn't it.
Dan:
Yeah. I feel like you could get arrested for it, but I'm not sure because I've never had to drive on expired tags.
Emily:
Yeah
Dan:
I handle my shit. I would be so paranoid every time I have left the house I would just be looking over my shoulder. I don't know how people are so nonchalant about it.
Emily:
I don't know either cause I'm the same way.
Dan:
You ready to move on.
Emily:
I am.
Dan:
Okay. Time to get to our big topic of the show. We're going to try something new. We've realized that we're covering maybe some older movies. People haven't had time to watch them or may not remember the full story.
Dan:
So I'm going to recap the story of Oliver and Company really quick and then we'll go into the discussion and people will have a better idea what we're talking about. The film starts with a litter of kittens sitting in a box on a New York street waiting to be adopted as it begins to rain. One lone tabby is abandoned to fend for himself, hungry and wet. He wanders the streets in search of food and shelter until he meets a street smart dog named Dodger. Together, the pair devise a plan to distract a nearby hot dog vendor and steal some food. After escaping the scene, the kitten expects to eat, but Dodger runs off, no longer having any use for the orphan. What Dodger doesn't know is the kitten follows him back to his barge hideout, which Dodger shares with a gang of other canines who steal to survive and support their human caretaker Fagin. Dodger impresses his friends with the tale of how he fought off a fierce cat to obtain their food for the day. That's when the kitten falls through the roof, quickly exposing Dodger's lies before the crew can decide what to do with the kitten. Loan shark Sykes arrives with his two Dobermans, Roscoe and DeSoto. Sykes gives Fagin a deadline to pay his debt. Three sunrises, three sunsets, three days. Have the money or else. As Fagin and Sykes discuss business, the Dobermans attempt to scare Dodger and his friends. The kitten scratches DeSoto's nose, but the Dobermans are called back to Sykes's car before things can escalate. Admiring the kitten's bravery, Dodger and friends welcome him to their crew. The next day, Fagin and the animal's head out into the city, attempting to steal whatever they can to get the money. One of them pretends to be hit by a limousine, causing the driver to get out and check on him.
Dan:
Meanwhile, the kitten serves as lookout while one of the other dogs attempts to steal the radio. The plan goes awry, separating the kitten from the rest of the crew. But the kitten is taken in by Jenny, the limousine's lonely young passenger whose wealthy absentee parents have her in the care of their butler slash driver. Jenny names her new pet, Oliver. Oliver's happy and loved, though despised by the family spoiled poodle Georgette. Dodgers' crew finds Oliver's new home and rescue him, not realizing how happy he is. Before Oliver can return to Jenny, a desperate Fagin looks at his collar and realizes Oliver's new owners are wealthy. He sends a ransom note and explains his plan to Sykes, earning himself a 12 hour extension. But he's broken-hearted when Jenny shows up with Georgette. Not realizing Fagin is who she's supposed to meet, she tells him she's arrived at the docks with her piggy bank, hoping it's enough to rescue her cat from his kidnappers. Good-hearted Fagin forgets the ransom and offers Jenny her cat, saying he found it. Unfortunately, Sykes has been watching the whole thing. His car speeds up and Jenny is kidnapped, Sykes intending to ransom her to her wealthy parents. Fagin and all the animals rescue Jenny and escape. A wild chase ends when Sykes crashes his car into an oncoming train. We close with Fagin and his gang helping Jenny celebrate her birthday in her wealthy home. Her parents might not care about her birthday, but she still loved Dodger and crew realized. Oliver is better off here and say their farewells. We end with Oliver realizing Bruce Willis was a ghost the whole time.
Emily:
What?
Dan:
Did you not watch that version?
Emily:
I did not.
Dan:
It's M. Night Shyamalan's Oliver and Company.
Emily:
Interesting. I love this movie and I've always had such great memories from this movie. And I don't even know the first time that I watched it because my grandma had always had that movie. And I remember always just wanting to watch it.
Dan:
I have not seen this movie in over 20 years. And I can tell you when I saw it, because I have trivia for this movie and one of the items tells me when I saw it.
Emily:
Okay.
Dan:
So the first item, although this movie was released theatrically in 1988, it was never released on home video until 1996. And I remember that's the only time I saw it because I remember the advertising for the VHS coming out.
Emily:
Really?
Dan:
Yeah. Apparently they thought it was better business to like not release it at home. That way they could rerelease it theatrically from time to time.
Emily:
Yeah.
Dan:
And since then, they've obviously changed their approach and now they just put things in the vault for 10 years.
Emily:
Yes.
Dan:
I hate that Disney vault.
Emily:
I do, too.
Dan:
It's such bullshit. But other trivia. And this was the first Disney film to make heavy use of computer animation. And an entire department was set up solely to handle the computer animation in this film.
Emily:
See, which is honestly surprising because I never thought it was like one of those. You know, they hype so much more movies from Disney that like, I always thought this was like one of those like back alley, not back alley movie, but like it was pushed to the side.
Dan:
Yeah, this movie was actually a trailblazer for Disney and we'll get to that. Another milestone for this movie was it was their first animated musical film since 1981.
Emily:
Okay.
Dan:
They'd given up on it for a while and they decided this would be a good test to see if there was a market for it. It was successful enough at the box office that they went ahead and released Little Mermaid the very next year. And from there, you just get that whole string of 90s classics, you think with all of that great music and you could credit this movie and its success for leading to all those movies that everybody knows.
Emily:
That's cause the 90s generation, is some leaders.
Dan:
Yeah, no.
Emily:
OK.
Dan:
One last bit of trivia. The movie was pitched around 1985. Disney executives were trying to get back to their roots of just adapting pre-existing literature and folk tales, you know, Snow White and all that. So they told their animators pitch us some ideas. Somebody came up and said, hey, we should do Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist, modernize it, make them dogs. Okay. Well, the very same time they were taking that pitch. One of the other pitches was Treasure Island in Space, which didn't get made into a movie until Treasure Planet that wasn't released until 2002, almost 20 years later.
Emily:
Interesting
Dan:
That movie sat on the shelf, idea wise that long.
Emily:
Interesting.
Dan:
Yeah, I came across that I'm like, man, they really held onto that idea for a while.
Emily:
So let's talk about this movie a little bit now that we've got some background knowledge on it. Like I said this has always been one of my favorite animated movies and I really like the way they did it because it's kind of like a heartstring tearer because you see all these kittens that are getting picked up and yeah, this one has a cute orange kitty and I think orange kitties are the best.
Dan:
Okay. I don't know if you noticed this at the beginning of the movie when all these cats are in the box. There's a sign just scribbled onto the box. Kiddies need a home. Five dollars.
Emily:
Yeah.
Dan:
Do they need a home? Are you trying to get rid of them or are you trying to sell them? Pick one or the other.
Emily:
All of the above.
Dan:
I feel like if you really want to get rid of kittens, you just free to a good home.
Emily:
Well, I think at the beginning though, it was like you see all these people like around the box. So I think there is somebody there selling the cats.
Dan:
Yeah.
Emily:
And then after a couple days, it's like, oh, well, these kiddies are just really not going anywhere. So free. And then there's a few left and then well over.
Dan:
I don't know why that cat didn't get taken by somebody.
Emily:
I think orange cats are the best cats because of a ginger. So fuck you guys.
Dan:
I just thought that was funny. Like generally if you're just trying to get rid of them, you don't put a price on something.
Emily:
Hey, somebody'll pay for something.
Dan:
True.
Emily:
But like this movie is super underrated.
Dan:
I was amazed how much of this movie I remembered.
Emily:
Yeah.
Dan:
And the music. It's got some good music.
Emily:
It really does.
Dan:
"Why should I worry" is a jam.
Emily:
I love that. And then I really like at the end when they sing it, too, and then they have all the other voices in there with it.
Dan:
Yeah, it's really good. So Dodgers' voiced by Billy Joel.
Emily:
And you know, I've actually never looked at the cast list.
Dan:
Yeah, it amazed me because another bit of trivia I came across was this this is only acting real like he's had cameos and stuff playing himself. But as far as just playing a specified role that's not him and he has to get into a character-- This is the only one. And I think he's really good. I don't know why he hasn't done more.
Emily:
I just like to see who all the other people were.
Dan:
Yeah, I want to say Joey Lawrence was.
Emily:
He's Oliver. Cheech is in it. He's Tito.
Dan:
Yeah. That's one's pretty obvious.
Emily:
I'm just seeing if I knew some of these other people.
Dan:
Yeah. I think I would recognize the cast list more than.
Emily:
Bette Midler is in here.
Dan:
Yes. She's Georgette
Emily:
I love Bette Midler.
Dan:
I think this movie is really well animated.
Emily:
Yes, it's got a great cast.
Dan:
It's a clever touch with Georgette. The bags under her eyes like it's not overdone. It's just this is an older dog. But she takes care of herself.
Emily:
Yes.
Dan:
By doing aerobics videos.
Emily:
"Aerobics" videos. Quote unquote. She was just lifting her leg while she was eating a box of chocolates.
Dan:
I don't think that's too far off from other people.
Emily:
Me.
Dan:
I doubt you're that bad. Pretending to do an exercise video while eating junk food?
Emily:
No, I just don't do exercises. I just sit there and eat.
Dan:
It's really well animated though.
Emily:
It doesn't look like an 80s animation movie. I could say like mid 90s.
Dan:
It looks a lot more like the 90s art style that you see. I think that goes back to what I was saying about like it's just broke ground for stuff and you get new styles of art in it. The computer animation. There's some really smooth camera shots you would never get on like traditional hand-drawn art without making the animators kill themselves.
Emily:
Yes.
Dan:
There's one great scene where George just coming down the stairs and it's like an endless flight of stairs and then the camera sweeps up away from her. And it...
Emily:
Was that when she was singing her song?
Dan:
Yes. And the perspective changes in each frame of that shot. It's so impressive. And you can tell because it's a little too smooth, but it's still really good.
Emily:
Yes.
Dan:
Was there anything about the movie that just really stuck out at you as something serious to consider or something you could take away from the movie other than just, hey, it's a kids movie with dogs and a orphaned cat?
Emily:
I think the biggest thing that I saw is like, you have the group of misfits, which you have in a lot of movies. But like these are homeless dogs, somebody didn't want. This guy who has absolutely nothing gives everything to these dogs and they're family. And how quickly? I mean, they're a pack of dogs and they accepted this little kitten as one of their own and fight to help this kitten even after it got new home. And I mean, that speaks louder than anything else. You know, sometimes family isn't blood.
Dan:
Kind of along the same lines of family-- when they "rescue" Oliver from his new home. He's so hurt and sad. And he wants to go back and even says, I have a girl. She loves me. And all the other dogs get it. But Dodgers' hurt because I mean, he thought they were friends or family.
Emily:
It kind of makes you think like Dodger had a family, though, possibly at one point and maybe they just left him one day.
Dan:
Well, it really made me think of people you encounter in life who take things too personally and make you feel guilty for pursuing what makes you happy. We've all known those people and often it can be family. So that's what I really took away from that scene. I was just like, man, I know people like that. It doesn't matter how it's affecting you.They're gonna make you feel guilty.
Emily:
To make them look like they're right.
Dan:
Yeah. And I like that the other dogs, say, come on, Dodger. Like he has a home now.
Emily:
Yeah.
Dan:
He doesn't have to worry about where the next meal's going from.
Emily:
Yeah. I also kind of think like Dodgers is also maybe a little butthurt because he helped, you know, essentially rescue this cat out of this. You know, he was hungry. He was getting to be attacked by other animals so like maybe it was also like a pride thing, like I stuck my neck out for you. You owe me.
Dan:
Dodgers got a little Han Solo on him, "He's very oh, I don't need anybody else."
Emily:
But I need everybody at the same time.
Dan:
Yeah, and you don't mean anything to me unless suddenly you're gone and you mean everything to me. I like Dodger. I wish there was more of that character.
Emily:
Yes.
Dan:
Why do you think they didn't make a sequel?
Emily:
That's a good question, because.
Dan:
Disney, especially in the 90s, like all of those movies, got sequels.
Emily:
Part of me thinks that it doesn't even need a sequel. Like sometimes sequels can be the demise of a movie. And I think leaving this one where it's at kind of made it better. Part of me wishes like I'm kind of like 70/30, almost like a small part of me wishes just to see, like what happens next with the animals. But also like it had such a good ending. And now, like, the bad guy is just gone, like his one antagonist is gone. So I don't think it needs a sequel.
Dan:
I don't really think it needs a sequel. But Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Lion King, Pocahontas-- they didn't need sequels either, but that didn't stop Disney.
Emily:
That's Disney, though.
Dan:
I could see less of a movie sequel. I think this, with the cast of characters and their hijinks, really lends itself to like a cartoon spin-off. You don't even need Oliver. You just be...
Emily:
The misfits.
Dan:
Yeah. What are the misfits getting into this week and how are they scraping by?
Emily:
And then Oliver like appears here and there. I wonder if it really because there's no, like, love triangle like in, you know, the other like, I guess you could call them like the Disney Princess movies because every one of them marries somebody. So then it's like their life after. I think that's why those have like sequels. This one doesn't really have anything to lead it into a sequel.
Dan:
Yeah. It feels like this is a forgotten chapter in Disney's history.
Emily:
I would say so.
Dan:
I don't know if I even realized this was a Disney movie.
Emily:
I thought it was Pixar.
Dan:
It's... I Kind of wonder why it's not regarded with more love or nostalgia, because it really did-- If you look at the timeline and the animation styles that they were experimenting with and returning to musicals, this movie set up what they call the Disney Renaissance, which usually people say started with Little Mermaid. But you do not get Little Mermaid without this movie.
Emily:
This is true. You know, it also kind of makes me think of like when I ask people, because I've known this movie my entire life, I have asked people if they seen this and they have no idea what it is. It's almost like that one movie with the little toster.
Dan:
The brave little toaster?
Emily:
Yes. Because there's a bunch of people who don't even know that.
Dan:
I bet it's been 25 years since I've seen that movie.
Emily:
It's been since I was a child 'cause I had a DVD, not had a DVD. I had a VHS when I lived in my first home. And it's almost like that. There's people who have never seen the brave little toaster and it shocks me.
Dan:
I have a theory about this with it never getting a home video released until eight years later. Maybe there's just a lot of kids just did not have the experience of sitting down and watching the same movie three times a day for weeks like they do so many other Disney movies.
Emily:
Yeah.
Dan:
I looked it up. Little Mermaid was very quickly released on VHS. I think Little Mermaid came out in theaters in 89 and it came out VHS in 1990. You did not have that gap, so kids were able to fall in love with it again and again at home.
Emily:
That's kind of confusing then. Like it makes me wonder why they didn't.
Dan:
They thought there was more money and not making it available at home.
Emily:
Yeah, but I wonder if it also has to do with box office success of The Little Mermaid.
Dan:
Well, this was successful.
Emily:
I know. But like how much more successful was Little Mermaid?
Dan:
Yeah, that was a thing.
Emily:
So maybe seeing like oh and it just got put on back shelf forgotten because they were busting out movies because it went Little Mermaid and then Aladdin?
Dan:
I want to say Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast.
Emily:
No.
Dan:
Might have been Beauty and the Beast first.
Emily:
And then Aladdin.
Dan:
They were all very quick succession.
Emily:
They were bustin those out. So it got stuck on the back shelf like, oh, remember this movie? Why don't we go ahead and release it.
Dan:
Yeah. Hit after hit after hit. No reason to look back on this film.
Emily:
Yeah.
Dan:
What's the deal with Jenny's whole life?
Emily:
She has rich, successful parents.
Dan:
I still can't figure out. I mean, I did say her parents didn't seem to care about her birthday. I still can't figure out just from the context of the film, were they just not able to make it? Like is it their business or are they just.
Emily:
I think that they were absent like they had they were on like a business trip and that got extended because at the end the movie, remember, they got the phone call and then we'll be home tomorrow because they're supposed to be gone for like multiple days past her birthday.
Dan:
We need to discuss her caretaker. She was not left in the best of hands.
Emily:
He's wild
Dan:
I forget his name. But.
Emily:
Winston.
Dan:
Winston, he falls for every scam these dogs pull. And then this girl he's supposed be watching sneaks out of the house at night with the prize poodle and goes down to these rundown docks to meet a stranger.
Emily:
Yeah. He's not the brightest character.
Dan:
And then it's questionable letting Fagin into the house at the end of the movie for her birthday party.
Emily:
Maybe it was her like. Come on, please. Please, please, please.
Dan:
Yeah, I like that because it's touching and it's nice to see her have like a family at that time. But Fagin especially should not be there. He put her in a lot of danger.
Emily:
Yeah.
Dan:
Do you think he's a good guy?
Emily:
Yes and no.
Dan:
I go back and forth.
Emily:
Mm hmm. Yes and no. Like he has a good heart, but essentially he's a homeless man trying to fight to sustain.
Dan:
He's a little too gleeful for me when he realizes he can ransom off Oliver. He doesn't know it's to a little girl. But just when he realizes somebody misses this cat and they will pay a lot of money, I'm gonna make it look like I kidnapped him. He's way too happy about being able to profit off of someone's grief and love.
Emily:
Desperate times, because you also have to remember...
Dan:
I mean, he is up against a hard deadline.
Emily:
Yes. And at that time, he's not thinking about anybody else. He's thinking about himself. But he didn't know it was a little girl. And once he finds out it was a little girl, his heart changes because, like, why would he do that to a kid like some rich old asshole? Fine. I'll take their money. They'll give it to me. Why not?
Dan:
Yeah. It was really something I went back and forth thinking about the movie after the fact. Like, man. Like he does try to do right by her and the dogs. But he's also stealing from people every day.
Emily:
He's not stealing his animals or stealing.
Dan:
What else is he doing all day? I feel like he steals something.
Emily:
Yeah, he's probably doing something.
Dan:
He is a very funny character, though. I love the bit where he's writing the ransom note and he gets out an ironing board, but it's an old rickety ironing board. So it just keeps going down and down and down, but it's bumpy. So every time he's trying to write...
Emily:
And he's very uneducated. So it looks like he's always been very low class, not the low class. People don't have an education, but like he does not have an education.
Dan:
Yeah. He's that guy that always forgets the wallet.
Emily:
Uh-Huh.
Dan:
As evidenced at the end of the movie where he loses a bet against Winston is like, oh, where's where's my checkbook? I just had it here.
Emily:
Supposedly.
Dan:
Because he looks like the type of guy that's going to have a checkbook.
Emily:
Yeah. Hi, Fen. We're talking about doggies. Fenrir decided to join us while Skadi stares at us, pissed off in the background. Hey, baby,.
Dan:
You're sweet dog, Fen. But yeah Fagin does have a good bond with the animals, you can tell. They have his back and they care for him. So he's obviously taking care of them as best he can.
Emily:
When he gets done dealing with Sykes and he comes in defeated dripping wet and he sits in the chair, he takes off his shoes and he's just so bummed. And the dog's like, one goes and pulls the blanket from their bed and gives it to him. And the other is like putting a slippers on and there comforting him and gets his butt stool. And the dog biscuit is really gross. Like you can see the just love and then the kitty being introduced and everybody is just sitting there and they read and they're just bonding.
Dan:
I love that scene. And also later in the movie, Dodger goes with Fagin to deal with Sykes again and ends up defending him against the dobermans.
Emily:
Yeah.
Dan:
It really feels like Dodger is his dog, like Dodger sees him as "Okay. This is this is my man."
Emily:
Yeah.
Dan:
"He's the one I'm with. And I'll protect him." You can tell cares even though Dodger likes to pretend he doesn't care about anybody.
Emily:
Yeah. It makes me chuckle though because there's a Great Dane in this and he is a big ol pussy.
Dan:
Yeah.
Emily:
And like Great Danes are big scary dogs and they can be. And he's just afraid of everything.
Dan:
And stupid.
Emily:
He is real stupid. But I hate it because it's one of those movies that like shed's bad light on a dog that's not a bad dog. Like the Dobermans are scary dogs, but they're probably one of the sweetest dogs. Like Tito is probably scarier than a Doberman.
Dan:
I think you just gotta have some kind of animal villain for them because it's really weird for them to just be fighting Sykes.
Emily:
Yeah.
Dan:
So I think that's just a product of, you know, you got to take some artistic license. It was gonna be some type dog. But I love that about animals. It's obviously exaggerated in that scene you were talking about where they come for him. But that is a real thing. Dogs can tell when something's not right. (dogs noises in background) These dogs aren't right.
Emily:
No. Hold on. (hold music playing)
Emily:
Ok.
Dan:
Dogs can definitely tell when you're feeling down and their demeanor changes. They don't act quite as hyper and they just kind of.
Emily:
Like this week, for example. I've been pretty sick and the entire time. Skadi wouldn't leave my side. If I was in bed, she was there with me. Yeah. Fen came up and down, but Skadi was right there. And like, if I'm, like, really upset about something. Like even before we got Fen, Skadi like knew and and like, I know since I've had him, I have been like, really, really sad about something. And then came up and he like he did like little headbutts and like, I was just like doing the... you guys did not see that. I was wiping my face like I was crying and like Fen was like trying to move my hands away. And then he like hugged me. I guess you could say. He put his head on my shoulder and I just held him and he just sat there with me.
Dan:
My dog Mandy will do the same thing. Like she'll just lay against you and not need anything from you. Just she's there.
Emily:
Yeah.
Dan:
And like you just feel her body warmth or whatever. It's comforting. I love that about dogs.
Emily:
We don't deserve dogs. They're such amazing creatures and and then you have of cats.
Dan:
Yes. Tell us about all the times Bronx comes and comforts you.
Emily:
Yeah. Before we had Skadi there were some times like Bronx knew if I wasn't feeling well, he'd just he would say like if I was laying in bed. He'd come curl between my legs and just purr and he'd just sit there or he'd like sit on my stomach. And I think like cat purrs are very comforting.
Dan:
Yes.
Emily:
And just knowing that Bronx was there and he sat there. He didn't want anything. He just wanted to sit there.
Dan:
And how is he these days?
Emily:
He hates both my dogs. But like when we go to bed, like he's been sleeping in our room more. He'll come and sleep with us.
Dan:
Okay. So I was expecting you to be like, well, he's just a dick.
Emily:
He's still like 30 percent loving. More to Mikey than me.
Dan:
One of the things I like about Disney movies is they're not afraid to be ridiculous sometimes.
Emily:
Yeah.
Dan:
In Oliver and Company, when you see where they're living on this dilapidated little barge, it's depicted as if it's connected to the dock with this rickety staircase or rampway made out of wood that seems to go up for ever winding back and forth. Like how tall is this dock off of the like sea level?
Emily:
I like that you have this boat barge, whatever they're living on. I'm surprised it has electricity in it.
Dan:
I had the same thought because they're watching TV. I'm like where's the power coming from?
Emily:
And there's lights. They have a lamp.
Dan:
Yeah. Which, the animation on that TV and the glow. And there's other lighting effects like that. That is really amazing. It's not cutting edge. That's not computer. That's old school animation. People just knowing their art and how to get that effect. But it's really good.
Emily:
When Dodger is sitting in the chair and he has the glasses on. You see the static rolling through the lenses.
Dan:
That's very similar to how they did the lightsabers. Like any of the glowing bits in this movie, that's pretty similar to how they did light sabers in the original Star Wars. For example, if you just wanted that screen on the TV to glow, you just make a black background sheet and cut out the square where the TV would be. And shine light up underneath that background layer. All the black blocks it from coming through. Like the rest of the upper layer. And you just get that nice roll off glow around the shape of that TV screen.
Emily:
Nice.
Dan:
It's how they did like the lightsabers in Empire and Return of the Jedi. You just cut out the film, shine a light up underneath and you get that glow effect.
Emily:
That's impressive. That is really impressive.
Dan:
Very creative thinking of how to make something look more real that way.
Emily:
I wish that there was more into seeing behind the scenes of making movies, especially in the early 80s, early 90s when this was being made.Watching their process because they've got old school and new school that they're using for the animation. So it just be really cool to see how to make an animated movie.
Dan:
I will share on our Facebook page. There's several videos out there. There's one on this really great camera rig that Disney developed. But I actually found a short little making of Oliver and Company video. You really have to stop and think about how much work goes into animation. It took them four years to make this movie.
Emily:
Really?
Dan:
Yeah. And you think of live action films that get filmed and then maybe at most a year later it's released.
Emily:
Yeah.
Dan:
It's a whole different art form and type of dedication to be an animator, especially the old school.
Emily:
Especially like they don't have the tools or equipment that we have today to make it go faster, like they were just using brand new technology and trying to figure out how they're going to process their next movies that are coming out.
Dan:
It's something else. And you really don't think about how difficult it is when, say, for example, they recorded the audio, I think two years before the film was released. And then they have to animate the mouth movements to go along to these other recordings. When you're trying to parse out animating a film segment by segment and frame by frame and figuring out where those movements have to be to time up right. I don't know how they do it. It's witchcraft to me.
Emily:
The people that they have making animated movies, they're phenomenal. And their talent is just so extraordinary.
Dan:
Yeah, the Oliver and Company video that I found-- People should definitely watch it because apparently they time out like second by second. Even shorter than that, what the sound coming out of someone's mouth is so that they can time the artwork to go with it. And then somebody has to spend their day or whatever, just drawing that frame. Man, I definitely appreciate it.
Emily:
It's impressive. Absolutely impressive.
Dan:
And it's kind of sad that it's going away, that so few people know how to do it that way anymore. At the same time, it does open it up for other people who may not be as talented to get their ideas out there because technology allows it to be easier.
Emily:
Like I said, this movie is so underrated and it got pushed aside because of all the big hits that Disney had after. Go watch it, guys. For real. If you haven't seen it, it's such a cute movie and it's very heartwarming. And I mean, even watching it as an adult, I mean, it leaves you with a little suspense because it's been years since I've seen it.
Dan:
And the music's pretty catchy.
Emily:
Yes, it's got that 80s, 90s music. And like, there's dancing in it. Singing. It's so good.
Dan:
There's a song that Jenny sings to Oliver that's been stuck in my head the last few days because I watched this twice just in preparation for the episode. And unlike the last movie we did, I did not regret that I had to watch it twice. I enjoyed it. It's kind of short and sweet.
Emily:
Yeah, it was. It's not a long movie at all.
Dan:
It's a little over an hour. So if you got some time and you wanna watch a nice, sweet little movie. Go ahead and watch it.
Emily:
If you kids watch it with them because it is such a lovely movie.
Dan:
Okay.
Emily:
What?
Dan:
So speaking of kids, have you noticed on so many older Disney movies now on Disney plus it pops up the warning "contains tobacco references"?
Emily:
I did see that today.
Dan:
I'm not sure how I feel about that. It just it just strikes me as weird.
Emily:
A little bit.
Dan:
I mean, I guess they're doing the part to keep kids from smoking. But I mean, I saw smoking in movies as a kid and didn't make me want to smoke. I just had parents that said, hey, you're not smoking.
Emily:
Yeah, maybe you should-- not that being a parent's gonna stop kids from doing it. But at least like try and talk to your kids like, hey, don't do this. It's stupid. It's bad.
Dan:
But at least you know.
Emily:
Yes.
Dan:
I guess it's a good thing. It just struck me as weird.
Emily:
I did notice that today.
Dan:
Is that all you have to say about Oliver and Company?
Emily:
Yeah.
Dan:
Okay.
Emily:
Go watch it, guys.
Dan:
Why don't you hit us up with some urban dictionary?
Emily:
So for once, for once I have two very undirty urban dictionaries.
Dan:
Well, I'm not sure that's fun.
Emily:
I don't know. I mean, they're not poop, at least. Urban Dictionary didn't have a lot this week, which makes me upset. So my first one, we're gonna start out very simple. It is called Loomster.
Dan:
I don't know. Is that...
Emily:
Just use your wild imagination because we know it is wild, Dan.
Dan:
Loomster. I don't know. It just seems like a. "Okay, Boomer" type of thing. Just calling an old lady a loomster. But kind of like a spinster.
Emily:
No.
Dan:
But they're so old they use a loom.
Emily:
Oh, look at you. No. It is the one mutant French fry that's freakishly long in comparison to all the other French fries in the bag.
Dan:
Where does a loom come into this?
Emily:
It's looming over stupid. But I thought it was hilarious.
Dan:
Okay.
Emily:
And the other one is called girth certificate.
Dan:
You said it's not dirty this week?
Emily:
Not really. It's actually a lot more chilled out than you'd expect. But I want to hear...
Dan:
I can imagine what a girth certificate is.
Emily:
Please give me your own interpretation.
Dan:
It's an official documentation where somebody--an official maybe from the state-- Has come out with a tape measure and they've measured your girth down there that way, if you're trying to brag to girl, you'd be like, "No. I got documentation right here."
Emily:
I'm not saying you're far off, but you're not close. So girth certificate, which is just perfect anyway. Oh, my God, there's a picture. Oh, no. It's just an ad..
Dan:
Okay, guys, behind the scenes, we're really struggling with this episode. Neither one of us is in the right headspace, so forgive us for anything stupid that has come up.
Emily:
Girth certificate is another term for the condom that you keep in your wallet. Like how a birth certificate provide your birth. A condom can provide your girth.
Dan:
I don't know if that's as foolproof of evidence as a birth certificate. I can see men carrying a much larger condom than they need.
Emily:
Yeah, I just love the name girth.
Dan:
That one did crack me up.
Emily:
Like when I was scrolling down seeing if there is a second definition. No, it's just an ad to find your birth certificate.
Dan:
I'm just picturing a like Guinness World Record type official coming out. "Yeah, boy's got some girth."
Emily:
He's got like those I met like the flexible measuring tapes that people use for sewing, you know, like he pulls out a pocket and then whips it out and it's weird. I've got those weird images in my head of him trying to measure the goods dick.
Dan:
I'm just picturing like a measuring wheel for measuring distances on a field.
Emily:
And they just roll it over.
Dan:
And they show up and they're just disappointed. "Oh, I thought you were serious about this measurement. You're just wasting my time."
Emily:
No. They just like lay it on the table and just rolls this thing over.
Dan:
I'm surprised this isn't an app where you take a photo you like, put something in it for size comparison. The app does math and prints you... maybe not prints but generates an image with a girth certificate you can share online.
Emily:
I love it. Market that shit.
Dan:
That could be an app. We now know from our last episode that there's an app for sharing your poops with people. So why not go on social media and share your girth certificate?
Emily:
Yeah, guys, market that shit.
Dan:
You got anything else?
Emily:
Nope?
Dan:
Okay. That will be all for this episode. Thank God. We have been struggling.
Emily:
Please, please don't. DON'T. Do not share your girth certificate with us because we don't care.
Dan:
Don't want those pictures.
Emily:
Nope.
Dan:
We'll take your word for it.
Emily:
Nope.
Dan:
Thank you for listening. As always...
Emily:
Thank you for dealing with us.
Dan:
Please share and review the show. (awkward silence)
Dan:
You want to...?
Emily:
(laughs) Uh you guys know you can always find us Facebook at My Kajiggers Podcast and go check out our Web site. It's live. You can see all the episodes there with art that Dan creates as well.
Dan:
Do you remember the name of the website this episode? .
Emily:
No.
Dan:
Are you serious?
Emily:
Is it My Kajiggers? www.mykajiggers.com?
Dan:
Yeah, it's just the name of our show dot com.
Emily:
I can never remember if it's My Kajiggers Podcast like it is on Facebook or...
Dan:
Okay.
Emily:
God, I'm terrible. I'm so sorry, guys.
Dan:
We'll catch you guys next time. And hopefully we're not such a mess.
Emily:
Send help.
Dan:
Bye, Felicia.
Emily:
Bye, Felicia.
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