History OTT / TranscriptThree

'''Themos:''' In ''Film/TheHost2006'', a ChekhovsSkill. I think that's a trope, It's either "Hobby" or "Skill", maybe both. The daughter in the family is an archer, and she's shown being an archer and then at the climax of the movie that comes into play in a big bad way. And also, the creature has an instinctual thing it does, when it gets rained on, to drink the rain and that also comes into play in a big bad way.

'''Themos:''' Right, sorry. Anyhoo, they're learning this spell and then jthe first time there's danger in the world of Hogwarts for Harry, they use that spell to overcome the cavetroll that broke loose. So there it is. Boom!

'''Kyle:''' When they introduce it in the beginning of the movie, you think it's just a joke, and they actually manage to bring it around at the end, with that Random Task guy when he breaks in. But yeah, when I saw that on the Wiki/TVTropes list, I thought, "That's the perfect one", really, because you don't even really think of it until the very end, when they bring it back. So I think that's a really good example of Chekhov's Gun. And a really funny one. What about you, Themos?

'''Nick:''' You just heard a clip from the trailer of Creator/[[Guillermo del Toro]]'s new movie, ''Film/PacificRim'', which comes out July 2nd. It stars Charlie Hunnam, who is from ''Series/{{Undeclared}}'', which is a tv show I liked;

'''Nick:''' We were talking about ''Film/Drive2011 on the break, and Themos hasn't seen that. And he's in ''Drive"

'''Nick:''' We've had ''[Film/{{Transformers}}''.

'''Nick:''' That was the trailer for ''Only God Forgives'', which comes out on July 19th. It was shot in Thailand; it is Nicolas Winding Refn's I-don't-know-what-th movie, but it's his fourth made in the English language, a follow-up to ''Film/Drive2011'', from a couple of years ago, I know, a movie that ''I'' love with all my heart.

'''Kyle:''' Say what you want about ''Film/TheRoom''

'''Cir:''' old guy. I'm just like a crotchety old man. But this is definitely that movie, where I don't care if it's cheesy or not. I want to be entertained at the theater. I want to feel like the very first time I saw ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles''' in the theater.

'''Themos:''' In ''Film/TheHost'', a ChekhovsSkill. I think that's a trope, It's either "Hobby" or "Skill", maybe both. The daughter in the family is an archer, and she's shown being an archer and then at the climax of the movie that comes into play in a big bad way. And also, the creature has an instinctual thing it does, when it gets rained on, to drink the rain and that also comes into play in a big bad way.

'''Cir:''' ...Who?

'''Nick:''' Carey Mulligan. Before she made it big. ...She's a superstar. ... ''Film/{{Gatsby}}''.

'''Nick:''' That was the trailer for ''Only God Forgives'', which comes out on July 19th. It was shot in Thailand; it is Nicolas Winding Refn's I-don't-know-what-th movie, but it's his fourth made in the English language, a follow-up to ''Film/{{Drive}}'', from a couple of years ago, I know, a movie that ''I'' love with all my heart.

'''Nick:''' We were talking about ''Film/{{Drive}} on the break, and Themos hasn't seen that. And he's in ''Drive"

'''Kyle:''' I don't want to say it. I don't want to say it anymore, because... That's awful. It's from ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'', a video game. Early on in the game, you are, well, the ''God of War'' series is really notorious for having a really big sense of scope and scale and you'll be fighting these monsters who are really huge and everything. Early in the first game, you cross a bridge that's made of a sword. And you don't think anything of it, because all the levels in the game are over the top and ridiculous. Then later on in the game, the last battle, actually, you're fighting Ares, the god of war, and you actually have to use that sword. You rip it off, like Megazord yourself up to a really big height and then you have to take the sword and defeat the god of war with it. Which is kind of cool. It's cool that they allude to it early on, and it's a bridge and you're tiny, but then you use it in the end. So...

'''Kyle:''' ''Film/{{Hellboy}}'' is the reason why I think this movie will be good. He';s shown that he can take something that's ... I mean, ''Hellboy'' in the wrong hands could have been

'''Themos:''' And remember, you can find more Chekhov's Guns if you go to [=TVTropes=]
.com

'''Themos:''' And remember, you can find more Chekhov's Guns if you go to TVTropes.com

'''Kyle:''' When they introduce it in the beginning of the movie, you think it's just a joke, and they actually manage to bring it around at the end, with that Random Task guy when he breaks in. But yeah, when I saw that on the TvTropes list, I thought, "That's the perfect one", really, because you don't even really think of it until the very end, when they bring it back. So I think that's a really good example of Chekhov's Gun. And a really funny one. What about you, Themos?

'''Nick:''' Yeah, whereas now, say in a tv show, people have band posters on their walls, but it's not like Creator/LedZeppelin is going to come into play at the end of the second act.

--> [[Series/{{Archer}}]] '''Archer:''' God, I said the cap slips off the poison pen for no reason, didn't I?\\

'''Nick:''' Creator/Charlie Day, from ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'', kinda weird; and Creator/RonPerlman, from being Ron Perlman

'''Themos:''' I haven't seen ''Series/BeautyAndTheBeast'', but I'm pretty sure he's tough in that too.

'''Cir:''' My favorite one, probably of all time [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1SV0LInE-s is recent. It's one of the characters,]] it's from ''Film/CabinInTheWoods''. One of the characters is set up at the beginning of the movie as

'''Themos:''' My number 4 is "Wingardium Leviosa" from ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheSorcerersStone Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone]]''. That whole series is full of stuff coming back, even with the first chapter.

'''Themos:''' My number 4 is "Wingardium Leviosa" from ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheSorcerersStone''. That whole series is full of stuff coming back, even with the first chapter

'''Themos:''' Sometimes it insults the audience, I think. Like ''Film/{{Robocop}}'s'' giant spike. Do you really think he's ''not'' going to use that to stab somebody in the eye with?

'''Themos:''' I hate when movies do that, when they add another letter, and they form a franchise and they're screwed. Hence, ''Film/AlienThree''.

'''Nick:''' Well, they did ''Film/{{Alien}}'', and then ''Film/{{Aliens}},

'''Cir:''' I'm a huge -- I call him Nicolas "Winning" Refn, I'm just a huge fan of this guy. I think I've been a fan since I saw, I think, ''Film/{{Pusher}} in, like, 2001. It came out in 1999, and ever since then, I've been following everything this guy's done. And he's yet to disappoint me. There hasn't been a movie that he's put out that-- even -- I felt that ''Film/ValhallaRising'' was kind of a 'bump', but at the same time, it'[s so much better than so many other movies that came out that year. And I think the same is going to be with... The thing I'm seeing with ''Only God Forgives''; I'm pretty excited about it because I like the world that he's in,

'''Nick:''' Yeah, seriously. So, on episode 3 we're gonna be talking about a trope called "ChekhovsGun". This is based on the Russian author and playwright, Creator/AntonChekhov, who once said that if you say in the first chapter that they're a rifle hanging on the wall; in the second or third chapter, it absolutely must go off. If it's not going to be fired, it shouldn't be hanging there. And from this, we derive the term "Chekhov's Gun", which is this week's trope. Cir, can you explain that a little bit more? What did Chekhov mean by that?

'''Kyle:''' All the monsters from ''Film/{{Godzilla}}'' are kaiju.

'''Cir:''' Maybe. Could be. Could be. As we've seen from Batman, the touch of death, Batman, [[BatmanTheAnimatedSeries]], you can defeat it with a pinch of cloth. A small pillow. I thought it was funny, though, because in the movie, in the 80's, Frank Dux was supposed to be this reality-based martial artist, and that was kind of his thing; making fun of the old-school martial arts that supposedly didn't work. And it's even funnier, because in real life, he wound up being a complete fraud.

'''Nick:''' Yeah, whereas now, say in a tv show, people have band posters on their walls, but it's not like Creator/LedZepplin is going to come into play at the end of the second act.

'''Themos:''' Sometimes it insults the audience, I think. Like ''Fim/{{Robocop}}'s'' giant spike. Do you really think he's ''not'' going to use that to stab somebody in the eye with?

'''Nick:''' The one example that I thought of is a movie that has a good and a bad example of a Chekhov's Gun in it, and that's ''Film/Training Day''. Creator/{{Denzel Washington}}'s character is a cop, and you see that ... earlier in the movie, you know that he's got some problems with the Russians, and you know that they're going to come into play later; then Creator/EthanHawke, and all the drama, and you forget all about the Russians and it doesn't come into play until the very end of the movie. So it's a good Chekhov's Gun, it wasn't extraneous information, it was useful. But where they kind of use this trope poorly is where, after Ethan Hawke saves some random girl, he finds her wallet and keeps it, which seems kind of weird, but then, when the wallet comes into play again, some people are about to do something bad to Ethan Hawke

'''Cir:''' I like how you point out how that's like real life, because they're based on real characetrs and Brazil, it's the birthplace of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, which is perhaps the most important martial art of our time.

'''Nick:''' So, that is our discussion of ChekhovsGun. Send in your thoughts to us by email at OntheTopes@gmail.com, and join us after this break, when we talk about our Top Five Chekhov's Guns.

'''Nick:''' My number 5 is from one of , Jake, who is an honorary co-host, and this weekend, at the wedding, he said that this is his favorite movie of all time: ''Film/WaynesWorld''. It's when they learn about the record producer, Mr Big. Earlier on in the movie, they've learned that he drives around in his limo, and he has a satellite and a TV in his limo and he watches it all the time. Then later, when they're trying to get a record deal for Cassandra, Wayne's girlfriend's, band they find out that he's going to be driving through town, so they try to triangulate the signal to project her band playing to his car. And they even mention that it seems kind of extraneous, like "It seemed kind of extraneous at the time when we learned about it, but it's important now." So it's not only a Chekhov's Gun, but they're Breaking TheFourthWall and [[LampshadedTrope Lampshading]] it as well. Kyle, your Number 4...

'''Cir:''' My number 4 is the exploding-pen kill in ''Film/{{Goldeye}}''. One of the Russian hackers is shown

--> '''Grant:''' "You stare at him, and he just stares right back. And that's when the attack comes. Not from the front, but from the side, [makes

'whoshing' sound] from the other two raptors you didn't even know were there."

'''Cir:''' Number 3 is from ''Film/{{Bloodsport}}'' and the character Frank Doo? Dux? It's supposed to be French, I think. He practices this move, the 'Dim Mak', ' the touch of death'. He practices it early in the movie and he breaks a bunch of bricks. Later, he's fighting this huge Hawai'ian wrestler who is really hard to beat, and he goes to the Touch of Death and you're thinking "OK, he's going to kill this guy." And ''it doesn't work''. So he has to use a cheap shot to beat him.

'''Cir:''' Maybe. Could be. Could be. As we've seen from Batman, the touch of death, Batman, [[BatmanTheAnimatedSeries]], you can defeat it with a pinch of cloth. A small pillow. I thought it was funny, though, because in the movie, in the 80's, Frank Dux was supposed to be this reality-based martial artist, and that was kind of his thing; making fun o f the old-school martial arts that supposedly didn't work. And it's even funnier, because in real life, he wound up being a complete fraud.

'''Cir:''' Really. I thnk it's common knowledge by now that Frank Dux is -- If you're listening, Frank Dux, I don't want to fight you.

>all three of '''Nick''', '''Kyle''', and '''Cir''': Oooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

--> "[[red:Spoilers]]"

--> "[[red:Spoilers]]"

'''Kyle:''' My numero uno, just because I think it's really funny, is [[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WCvULMRUq8 the Swedish-made penis enlarger]] from ''Film/AustinPowers'':

'''Cir:''' My favorite one, probably of all time [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1SV0LInE-s is recent.]] It's one of the characters, it's from ''Film/CabinInTheWoods''. One of the characters is set up at the beginning of the movie as

'''Nick:''' So, my Number 1 is from the movie ''Film/TheSearchers'', starring Creator/JohnWayne as Ethan Edwards. It's his jacket. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI2AZb04HAc There's a part in the movie]] where he goes offscreen and he comes back and his jacket is gone. Not much of it is made of it initially, but later on you find out why his jacket is missing. Namely, he buried a person who had died, in it. And it not only fulfills the Chekhov's Gun in that moment, but it also shows that the people that -- It helps set up the stakes for the people that they're trying to rescue. It shows that, racist as it may be in that movie, that the Native Americans that they're trying to track down are maybe not the best people in the world.

'''Nick:''' You just heard a clip from the trailer of Creator/[[Guillermo del Toro]]'s new movie, ''Film/PacificRim'', which

comes out July 2nd. It stars Charlie Hunnam, who is from ''Series/{{Undeclared}}'', which is a tv show I liked;

'''Nick:''' Creator/Charlie Day, from ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'', kinda weird; and Creator/RonPerlman, from

being Ron Perlman

'''Cir:''' I'm pretty much convinced that this is going to be my favorite movie of all time. I'm convinced that it's going to

eclipse ''Film/CitizenKane'', it's going to eclipse ... all the greatest films, ''Braveheart'', ''Film/DumbAndDumber'', all the

greatest, most amazing

'''Cir:''' All the most amazing films. This is going to be the best sci-fi action movie ever made, hands down. That's my

prediction.

'''Cir:''' Giant robots fight giant monsters, continuously, throughout the film. And it's directed by del Toro. Those are all

the elements I need.

'''Nick:''' I think that's something, and we'll talk a little bit more about it next week, is that del Toro does -- and part of the reason I'm excited for this movie, is, based on thre trailer alone, Kyle was saying off-air, it could be cheesy, but I'm

giving del Toro a lot more credit than that. Some of the movies he's produced haven't been the best, but the movies

he's ''directed''; look at ''Film/PansLabyrinth''; one of my favorite movies made inthe last 20, 30 years.

''Film/DevilsBackbone''.

'''Themos:''' I feel that way for ''Film/ThreeHundred''. Not for this movie. This movie, I think, way surpasses it. There's a line in the movie (it's also in the trailer), where "You can't just solve all the world's problems with a shotgun!" And the

response is "It's all I know", which is ...

'''Nick:''' One thing that I'm interested to see in ''Pacific Rim'', though, to get back on topic, is Charlie Hunnam, who, like I alluded to, was in ''Undeclared'', and since then, the only thing I think I've seen him in is, he's got a tiny part in

''Film/ChildrenOfMen''. But besides that I haven't seen him much, and in ''Undeclared'', he's really funny. He's a

charming dude.

'''Cir:''' old guy. I'm just like a crotchety old man. But this is definitely that movie, where I don't care if it's cheesy or not. I want to be entertained at the theater. I want to feel like the very first time I saw ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles''' in

the theater.

'''Kyle:''' But that one line... What I kind of wish is that they were actually just robot-robots, not controlled by human

people. I thnk that kind of takes away from it

'''Cir:''' Yeah, that's my thing. I'm looking forward to that part. I think del Toro's smart enough to have it just >right

there< on the edge, and he's got to know that a line that's saying "We're cancelling the Apocalypse" is right on the

edge of cheese.

'''Kyle:''' The last thing that I thought was kind of weird -- did you guys notice that during the title screen, they take the

Tyrannosaurus roar from ''Jurassic Park'' and play it over it?

'''Cir:''' I actually am interested to see if that comes into play. if the characters are r3equired... Because they seem like

they're pilots or military people. I see what you mean, though.

'''Cir:''' That's interesting, too, just from what we've seen. There's a feature out, talking about the technology they use to

control the giant robots. That does seem a little bit... That's one thing about this movie that does seem weird, that you

need two people to pilot one, and they basically have to mindmeld, it seems.

--> '''Female:''' "While I was pregnant with you, it was strange, you were different. They wanted me to terminate. But I

wouldn't. I don't understand you. And I never will."\\

'''Cir:''' I'm a huge -- I call him Nicolas "Winning" Refn, I'm just a huge fan of this guy. I think I've been a fan since I saw, I think, ''Film/{{Pusher}} in, like, 2001. It came out in 1999, and ever since then, I've been following everything this guy's done. And he's yet to disappoint me. There hasn't been a movie that he's put out that-- even -- I felt that

''Film/ValhallaRising'' was kind of a 'bump', but at the same time, it'[s so much better than so many other movies that

came out that year. And I think the same is going to be with... The thing I'm seeing with ''Only God Forgives''; I'm pretty

excited about it because I like the world that he's in,

'''Themos:''' What I like aboutthe title is that you ''know'' you're getting into a vengeance flick. There's no way you're not.

'''Cir:''' He trained, in Muy Thai, I guess, for this movie. That's a huge part of the movie, is martial arts, which I think is

going to be... I'm excited and I'm curious to see how it works out. It seems like he's almost setting up like a kung-fu

movie, set in the modern world. It's apparently a huge part of it.

''' t''' The girl from what is the girl from ''Amour''?

'''Nick:''' Really? ''Tree of Life'' is pretty good, but they kind of lose me at the end. But it's got such a strong first hour.

Beautiful first hour. But Early reviews on Rotten Tomatoes aren't great, but it's a small sample size...

'''Nick:''' Okay, so ''Only God Forgives'' is in theatres on July 19th and ''Pacific Rim'' is in theatres on July 12th. When they

come out, hit us up and let us know. And,

'''Kyle:''' Akron, Cleveland listeners. We will have more information about which specific theatre we'll be seeing ''Pacific

Rim'' on July 14th. Either the Imax at Crocker Park or at Tinseltown in Canton.

'''Cir:''' At "On the tropes. So that's [=Twitter.com/Onthetropes=].

'''Kyle:''' On the tropes @gmail.com

'''Nick:''' After this. Ye-ah.

'''Kyle:''' That reminds me of the one in ''Film/ToyStory'', when Sid lights that match; he doesn't light the match, but he puts the match in Woody's little pocket

'''Nick:''' The one example that I thought of is a movie that has a good and a bad example of a Chekhov's Gun in it, and that's ''Film/Training Day''. Creator/[[Denzel Washington]]'s character is a cop, and you see that ... earlier in the movie, you know that he's got some problems with the Russians, and you know that they're going to come into play later; then Creator/EthanHawke, and all the drama, and you forget all about the Russians and it doesn't come into play until the very end of the movie. So it's a good Chekhov's Gun, it wasn't extraneous information, it was useful. But where they kind of use this trope poorly is where, after Ethan Hawke saves some random girl, he finds her wallet and keeps it, which seems kind of weird, but then, when the wallet comes into play again, some people are about to do something bad to Ethan Hawke

--> They're he-re

'''Nick:''' Thanks, Wierd Little Girl. From Akron, Ohio, this is Episode 3 of "On the Tropes". I'm your host, Nick, and today, I'm joined by

'''Themos:''' The best example I can think of that, not to get too off-topic; is with ''Film/{{Carrie}}'', where it starts off where she's walking through and everyone's laughing at her, and then at the end of the movie, she's walking through as thre prom queen, and everyone's applauding her; and in both the shower scene and the end scene, there's blood as the catalyst to all of it. That's the perfect bookend to me.

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