Transcript

Cool World (HDTGM Matinee)

From How Did This Get Made? · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 1 h 16 min · 13,214 words · 226 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Cool World (HDTGM Matinee)", an episode of How Did This Get Made? published January 20, 2026 (1 h 16 min, about 13,214 words). It mentions 10 people, works and ideas, including Cool World, Gabriel Burn, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Heavy Metal, Fritz the Cat.

What this episode is about

The discussion centers around the surreal animated film *Cool World*, exploring its unconventional plot where cartoons, referred to as "doodles," aspire to enter the real world, with bizarre implications involving human interaction. The hosts delve into the film’s paradoxical nature and the perplexity it evokes, while also reflecting on their own reactions during the quarantine period.

Key takeaways

  • Cool World: a vibrant ode to confusion, where sexual tension transcends dimensions—who knew cartoons had it in them?
  • Turns out, not all animated features are kid-friendly; some aim straight for the R-rated stratosphere. Oops?
  • In a film where doodles and humans collide, clarity is as elusive as a rational plot—cue existential dread!
  • Brad Pitt in Cool World: a perplexing detour on a post-WWII journey. Did he sign up for this madness?
  • If Cool World teaches us anything, it's that not all artistic creations warrant a seat at the cinema's table.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 10:00: Cool World, Gabriel Burn, Heavy Metal, Who Framed Roger Rabbit
  2. – 20:00: Cool World, Gabriel Burn, Who Framed Roger Rabbit
  3. – 30:00: Gabriel Burn, Cool World
  4. – 40:00: Cool World, Gabriel Burn, Who Framed Roger Rabbit
  5. – 50:00: Cool World, Gabriel Burn, Fritz the Cat, Heavy Metal
  6. – 1:00:00: Cool World, Unspooled
  7. – 1:10:00: Cool World, Gabriel Burn
  8. – 1:16:18: Feeding America, Cool World

Notable quotes from "Cool World (HDTGM Matinee)"

  • Just because you create something doesn't mean you have to [ __ ] it. We saw Cool World, so you know what that means.
    about Cool World · at
  • But to help me break it down, let me introduce my co-host, Mr. Jason Manukas.
    about Jason Manukas · at
  • Listen, I don't know what happened last night. I don't I you know and I was actually thinking about Who Framed Roger Rabbit which I do think had a profound effect on me as a…
    about Who Framed Roger Rabbit · at
  • Animation. he made the Lord of the Rings an animated feature in the 70s. He made Fritz the Cat. like he's like a he comes out of a time when adult R-rated animation like heavy…
    about Fritz the Cat · at
  • And none of them seem to be none of the none of the major characters seem to be with the exception of Gabriel Burn having created Cool World the comic and so created Hollywood and all this stuff.
    about Gabriel Burn · at
  • About a noir, is she Oh, believe me, I know. As we talk about that on Unspooled all the time.
    about Unspooled · at
  • Give money to places there are places that need it. You know like we did a big mouth table read that benefited feeding america.org. or the parks and wreck episode that aired…
    about Feeding America · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Gabriel Burn — Person · 18 mentions · first at
  • Tall John Sheer — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Hello people of Earth and welcome to How Did This Get Made? I am Tall John Sheer.
  • Jason Manukas — Person · 1 mention · first at
  • June Diane Rafield — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Lot of laughs out of this movie cuz I heard her enjoying it quite a lot. please welcome Miss June Diane Rafield.

Books & papers

  • Cool World — Book · 38 mentions · first at
  • Who Framed Roger Rabbit — Book · 5 mentions · first at
  • Heavy Metal — Book · 3 mentions · first at
    70s. He made Fritz the Cat. like he's like a he comes out of a time when adult R-rated animation like heavy metal and stuff like that exists like it's not like they were trying…
  • Fritz the Cat — Book · 2 mentions · first at

Companies & orgs

Full transcript with timestamps

Just because you create something doesn't mean you have to [ __ ] it. We saw Cool World, so you know what that means.

Now it's time for this. Going to have a good time failure, not just a hater cuz you know you wonder how the mediocrity of some art. Perhaps we'll find the answer to the question, how did this get made?

Hello people of Earth and welcome to How Did This Get Made? I am Tall John Sheer. Uh this is another quarantine edition of the pod. Uh today we are talking about Cool World. And Cool World is a movie that really uh defies any rational explanation. We're going to get into it, but basically cartoons want to get into the real world. Uh cartoons are called doodles. Humans are called. And if you have sex with a cartoon, they become real anyway. It's a real big mess. I don't even I'm not even sure I understand what I saw.

But to help me break it down, let me introduce my co-host, Mr. Jason Manukas. How are you, Jason? You know, uh, Paul, uh, having just watched this movie, I don't know if it is the quarantine or the fact that I haven't seen another person or touched a human being in two months, but um, I got I'll not lie, uh, I got pretty horny for these cartoons.

I mean, uh, you really like that cigar chomping partner of Brett. That's Oh, nail. I'll I'll [ __ ] nails.

Uh before we go any further, let me introduce uh someone who I think got a lot of laughs out of this movie cuz I heard her enjoying it uh quite a lot. Um please welcome Miss June Diane Rafield. How are you June?

Hi Paul. I'm okay. How are you? I'm fine. How are you dealing in this quarantine?

Uh I'm doing I'm I'm doing okay. I was actually just thinking, you know, it really is I don't know, just just a very quick shout out to all the people who who are not quarantining because they have to go to work

right now. I just keep on, you know, it is as hard as this is what we're doing and it's really hard. It is

just amazing to me to see so many people obviously doing the frontline work, but also just delivering and um doing all of the essential work. right now. I'm just very appreciative and and and it truly it is a privilege to be able to shelter at homes, but so I am doing okay.

Well, I mean, do you think it's a privilege to shelter at home and get a chance to watch Cool World? I mean, that's really the question.

I I mean, it's like being on vacation. Listen, I don't know what happened last night. I don't I you know and I was actually thinking about Who Framed Roger Rabbit which I do think had a profound effect on me as a a youngster that movie and I felt like I was I felt like my fond memories of that movie were violated

because this movie is so overtly much more sexual or why do you feel like this movie is an attack on Who framed? Yes, I loved Who Framed Roger Rabbit and I thought it was so great and I just enjoyed the hell out of it. And this movie to me was so terrible, so underwritten. So, I mean, I I will, you know, we'll get into it, but I did think Kim Basender was a a ray of light.

Yeah, you were getting some solid laughs off of Kim's performances. Lol. Well, here's the thing about this movie, and I alluded to it in the beginning. This movie was pitched as a hard R film. So, the original pitch, according to Ralph Bachki, was uh it was uh basically the concept was a cartoon and live-action human have sex. They conceive a hybrid child who visits the real world to murder the father who abandoned her. That was the original pitch. And then we get this movie. Now that's at least an understandable pitch.

This movie is it's hard to parse what's going on. Ralph Bakshi who made this is somebody who is like comes out of adult animation. You know, he made the Lord of the Rings an animated um feature in the 70s. He made Fritz the Cat. like he's like a he comes out of a time when adult R-rated animation like heavy metal and stuff like that exists like it's not like they were trying to make an animated kids movie you know uh that was had all this sex in it. I think that's the mistake that you know like people had which was oh it's an animated movie so it's a kids movie but this is my understanding began intended for adults the same way that you know heavy metal might be

I don't even know I mean the human world is grotesque the doodle world is grotesque it's all so un

and none of them seem to be none of the none none of the major characters seem to be with the exception of Gabriel Burn having created Cool World the comic and so created Hollywood and all this stuff. No, nobody seems interrelated really. No, like I don't understand who means what to who. I don't understand who are the good guys and the bad guys. I don't understand the stakes of this movie. I don't understand the rules.

I don't understand why Brad Pitt is there at all. I have no idea why he's been sent to Cool World.

Well, let's just walk it back and just say that there's a big problem with this movie in the sense that Cool World was created by Gabriel Burn. But Cool World existed decades before Gabriel Burn created it because that's the world that Brad Pitt was sucked into after he come home from World War II and was in a horrible motorcycle accident with his mother. So,

so mustn't have mustn't Gabriel Burn have created Cool World prior to that. No way. He That's in 1942. Like, there's no way. And they actually say in the film, I think Doc Whiskers says, "We were here way before you created us."

Well, because wait, was Doc Whiskers created by Gabriel Burn? Well, I think that Cool World is Gabriel Burn's creation in which these characters live. But yet it seems like he's just tapped into something that's in the ether because cool world exists.

Wait, wait, wait. So you think who made Doc Whiskers? Doc Whiskers, I think, is living in an alternate reality world. That's Yes.

No, I think you're right. So the very beginning when Doc Whiskers escorts Brad Pitt into Cool World, I don't really remember what he said, but I feel like it was something I feel like the idea is like you could go here, you can go into this world, you can go into that world. Like there's tons of doodle worlds you could go into.

Well, the doodle multiverse. I felt like I felt like Doc Whiskers. Doc Whiskers says to Brad Pitt, I was trying to go into your world. You weren't supposed to come into my world. like Doc Whiskers when he creates the portal, you know, between Toon World and um or Cool World rather and reality in the 40s when Brad Pitt has come home in his joy riding with his mother on the back of a motorcycle helmetless uh and gets into an accident and he gets sucked straight into Cool World and Dr. Whiskers uh uh or Doc Whiskers. I'm not sure if he's a real doctor or if you know I don't know if he's an MD.

He's a doodle doctor. A doodle doctor. Yeah, he's a he's a doodle doctor. He's a doodle doc. So uh so he he but he says, "I was trying to p I was trying to go to your world. I wasn't trying to pull you into my world." And then but what I couldn't figure out then is we make the time jump to the whatever the '9s and Gabriel Burn is in prison, right? Which is not really touched on. He murdered someone. He is a murderer.

He's a murderer. He murdered a man who was sleeping with his wife. That is so gent. It's just mentioned. We don't get any sense of that. I mean, also Gabriel Burn when we meet him in prison, he's released and he goes home to his house, which looks like it's been kept up fine.

Okay, here's my main well, there's so many issues. How long was he sent away for murdering a person?

2 years. One. Okay. Because here's here's the timing of it. His neighbor's daughter, that girl, whoever she is, who is obsessed with him, has such a like intense connection with him. I couldn't really understand why, but how could she have known him? He must have been put away for like years. Or see, I tried to figure that out as well, cuz I was like, why do the neighbors care so much about him? You know, they come over unannounced in the middle of the night. Also, the mother and the daughter appear to be the exact same age, which I found confounding.

No, it was, you know what, this was the '9s when if you were like 13, you dressed like you were 37,

maybe, but they just seemed they when she said mom, I was like, oh, I thought these were like roommates. Anyway, regardless,

yeah, I couldn't tell like his was he returning to the house he'd always been in or was he a new neighbor that they got to know and like that we just didn't see off camera?

It looked to me like he pulled his car into the driveway in the same clothes that he left prison in and got right back to work drawing Cool World, the cartoon or the comic book. Because, by the way, also in this world, Cool World, the comic book is enormously popular. He goes to a comic book shop to buy his own work. The comic book shop only seems to sell cool world comics and the whole wall. And are we to believe that because of the setup in prison because he has a full draftsman's table and lamp and you everything he would need. Has he been just continuing to draw the Cool World comic from prison? Clearly he's allowed to profit off of his own creation while in prison for having killed someone.

He's buying the backlog. I mean, maybe it's like an OJ situation where everything he makes goes back to

goes goes you you think family of the man. You think there's a Ron Goldman type family scenario?

I don't know because he is living in a shack. He's living in No, he's living in like a he's living in like a nice house, June.

A shack. That's a shack. Wow. That that is if you think that is a shack, that is that that's crazy cuz he's living in a perfectly lovely ranch house in the valley.

No, not the valley. He's living on the outskirts of Vegas. The outskirts of the outskirts of Vegas. Yeah.

And by the way, that's 1992, but the movie starts in 1945. So then the movie really does take a big jump from 1945 to 1992 after the first five minutes because Frank Harris, that's Brad Pitt's character, is escorted in there um after a very upsetting opening. And I know this is not a kids film, but it's a PG-13 movie in which they show a motorcycle getting into a head-on collision with a pair of aggressively drunk uh drivers. Also, I guess in the first Vegas casino, um the mom and him go flying off in different directions, although the mom is not that battered for flying off a motorcycle. Um and he goes through a a terribly upsetting bout of PTSD, thinking he's back in the war. He's calling for a medic. No medics arrive. Uh and then he's just kind of sucked into the cool world. And then we never know what happens for or we we don't see the 50 years that transpires after that like

no we just jump straight ahead and when we when and we good we jump straight ahead to Gabriel Burn in prison drawing Hollywood in prison and then we go into Cool World and Brad Pitt is still there. He's been there for 50 years and now he's Cool World's number one detective.

But here's the issue that I had. He he could leave Cool World at any point. So why did he not leave Cool World? like at one point when he decided to go kind of understood at the end

and and it was because at the end when he's faced with the reality of having to go back to the real world in order to get Hollywood and Gabriel and in order to get Hollywood back um he doesn't want to go back to the real world because it means he has to face the and be accountable for the the killing his mother. I think

he didn't kill her though. He was like it it would be one thing if he was irresponsible. He was hit.

He was irresponsible. You don't put anyone on a motorcycle without a helmet. This is 1945 June. It's this is a time when

funny little helmets, but they had helmets. I think in 1945 there were more serious little helmets. No, no, no. I think there were casual rules.

You don't put an aging woman like that on the back of a motorcycle just for fun. Of course it was his fault. Anyone who gets on a motorcycle has a death wish. I'm so sorry,

June. I'm telling you that this is 1945. He just come home from the war. He loves his mother so much.

Regardless of safety protocols, I think perhaps it is just the guilt of having encouraged his mother to encouraged his mother to come out for this joy ride and that it led to her death. I think

And why was he driving that fast? No, no, he wasn't. That was those other people. The drunk driver is at fault.

He's driving. He was driving pretty fast. We cannot lay blame at the feet of Brad Pitt. The drunk driver.

Yes. I mean, they're so Are you saying the drunk driver are are Brad Pitt is not

saying if if you had told me he was going out for groceries and his mother happened to be in a car, I would say, of course, he should completely let this go. This is a horrible accident that happened. He got on a motorcycle with his mother.

June in 1967. I was worried before the accident happened that she was just going to fall off and die.

June in 1967. That's when the government said that you needed to wear a helmet. 1967. This is 20 years before that.

They are 199. Have some comments. I think you are looking at the I agree with you.

Knock the [ __ ] sense out of I agree with you. But I think they are act he and his mother are acting appro period appropriate

appropriate. Yes. And they can only look at it through the lens of what would people be doing in that era and they are doing that.

But the drunk drivers are truly the villains of this moment. I I mean the death of his mother at Brad Pitt's feet because of no helmets.

Not alone. Not alone. No helmets or there weren't that just didn't exist. So like the reality is he's particular.

Do you ever see the great escape? You ever see the great escape? The great escape there riding motorcycles with no helmet. Come on.

Coming at it from an emotional point of view, not a culpability or blame point of view. For from an emotional point of view, I'm not trying to legally uh litigate who was wrong here. From an emotional point of view, I understand why Brad Pitt is afraid to go back to the real world and face the reality of what happened to him. I I understand that. But that's 50 years of dealing with that guilt. 50 years. There's a weird thing going on here. To me, it seems like I mean, why do they even need a police officer there? They're dropping anvils on things. People are milking their own breasts. like like cars are hitting people like what is a police officer doing here?

He's also his badge says 0001 or 01. So he's the first uh cool world police officer which is thing that's what I kept on wondering like what is the letter of the law in Cool World? Like what is he upholding? only is he only making sure that nids don't have sex with doodles because he's the only human there.

He's the only Noid. So what is he protecting anyone from? Tell himself. Yeah, that's all he has to do.

But he's and he's adhering to that because correct me if I'm wrong, but he's while interact while Hollywood the Kim Basinger character is, you know, um represented as like the Jess is it what's is it Jessica Rabbit? Like the what's the character?

Hollywood is she's a fem fatal. She's like the bombshell of Cool World. What's the Is it Jessica Rabbit? And who framed Roger Rabbit? Is that her name? Yes, it's just But also in Cool World, there's no agreed upon animation. Like her animation is wildly different than everybody else's animation. Just FYI.

And I will say there was stuff that I liked about I wish I wished we'd lived in Cool World. Frankly, I wished we'd unders lived in and understood the rules of Cool World better because once they leave Cool World and go back into Vegas, I'm like, I I don't care about any of this. The

See, I disagree. My favorite part of the movie was seeing Hollywood and seeing Kim Basinger like be a doodle in the real world. Like, to me, that's a movie I would watch.

You were having so much fun at that point. I wanted to see her going to Starbucks and ordering a coffee. I just wanted to see her out and about in the real world as a doll.

She got very southern in the real world. Like that southern accent was kicking in the real world. Apparently, according to some of the lore around the movie, um in the middle of shooting, Kim Basinger decided that she wanted to make this a children's film that she could show kids in hospitals. Uh, and so she made a very uh, strong move to start like sanding off the edges of her character a little bit. And so I do believe that she does feel like she's in a different movie. And I feel like that's an active choice of Kim Basinger, just being like, I'm going to milk the comedy here.

Great. She's great in my mom's alien. My stepmom's an alien. She can play physical comedy really, really well.

I mean, Kim, let's be, let's not mince words. Kim Basinger is amazing. I mean like there is there is you'll get no arguments from she was great in cellular a movie we did she's been and then she's not to mention like the actual movies that are Hollywood confidential movies that are truly exceptional movies she's very talented my the juosition for for me here was

I found the story line when it was inside of cool world to be easier to follow than outside of Cool World. You know, if you found if if you found it easier to follow, I want to ask you a question. So,

not that it made not that it made sense, but that I just understood a little bit more the the the some of the rules, you know,

right? And I'm not I'm not asking it in a way of like I'm not asking it in a way like, "No, Jason, you don't know what you're talking about." I'm simply asking like, "I don't know if I understand it. Can you please help me? Is it the idea that Brad Pitt's number one job is to make sure that Kim Basinger doesn't [ __ ] a Noid? And has Kim Basinger been trying to bring other Nids in? Because it seems like he says to her like, "Hey, I'm checking in on you. I know what you're trying to do." And and and so she has some sort of magical powers which we're not really sure about that she's bringing in. Gabriel Burn,

you got over here, so why couldn't he make it over there? Or for that matter, why couldn't I? You could help me out.

There'll be no crossovers while I'm around. I've got news for you, pal. I am not your ordinary doodle. I've been checking up on what these new dames have got going in the real world and I want it.

It seems like the Gabriel burn scenario has been going on and off, you know, like he

and where were those guys coming from and why were they why Gabriel Burn seems to be able to g Okay, now again these are rules I decided for myself because I just needed them. my book.

You set out like a a just a book of rules for every movie you watch. Yeah. Yeah. I write a rule book and you know uh someday I'll publish them all.

Yep. Uh just so you can get through the enjoyment of the movie. Yeah. But you but this movie this movie does require you to make a couple of decisions for yourself because I wrote down a few times here. I don't even know what to write. I I like like you're you're in you're in a world where you're like no one's leading me by the hand.

I rewind there was a couple of times where it moved to a different scene and I was like oh wait a minute what was I supposed to learn from that previous scene and I would rewind it rewatch that scene and be like oh I I I I don't know I don't know why nails getting trapped in the fountain pen is like dangerous. I don't know what is that somehow the somehow the existence of free floating ink is dangerous is like a threat.

Well, because it like to me I always thought the idea was that they could be erased.

Paul, you're holding a pen up right now on Zoom and I don't know if that's a threat or not.

But well, are you a doodle? If it is, if you're a doodle. I mean, but like at one point Brad Pit like takes his pen out and goes, "This is a weapon here." Then he shoots ink into Nails's like liquor cup and he drinks it and nothing seems to happen. Who are you? Who are you? I didn't create you.

No [ __ ] Sherlock. What' you do with this dudes? I'm a cartoonist. I drew all this. I have visions. I

This place exists with or without you. You believe me, right? I'm not one of your creations.

Oh, you're not pretty enough. Good one. Ordinary fountain, right? Yeah. Wrong. Around here, sit down. Around here, this can be a big nuisance.

You thirsty nails. Get it? One should be careful how they wave this thing. No, I don't get it.

Of course you don't get it, cuz you're a whackadoo. And around here, everything goes. Everything except ONE THING.

YEAH. WHAT? Noids do not have sex with doodles, right? Nids do not have sex with doodles.

You think she's got a thing for you, don't you? That's sweet. But don't flatter yourself. She's a waste of ink for you.

Truth is, she's been after me and every other nord who's come through here. It's just that no one's been insane enough to get involved with her. You keep your pencil in your pocket. You know what I mean?

Okay. So, you guys know, right? Okay. We all grew up, I'm sure, watching Looney Tunes cartoons. You know the episodes every once in a while there would be an episode where the animator where Bugs would talk to or Daffy Duck would talk to the animator and and the animator's hand would come in and erase Daffy Duck's beak so he couldn't talk anymore or would or would the hand and the pencil would come in and [ __ ] with the the drawing, right? And it would break the fourth wall of animation to presume someone else is controlling us.

We are not we do not have free will, right? We are not we are not characters that exist. We are the c we are the mouthpieces of this godlike other hand, right?

It's not a Space Jam world where these characters are shooting their own TV shows and acting. Yes.

What what I what I expected was Gabriel Burn would be that character, that charact. And he even says to Hollywood at one point,

can I erase you or I can erase you? Like he's he makes a threat almost like I can erase you. Uh which confused me because I was like, oh, is that cuz that's a story I can get on board for. you know, the creator of a world gets sucked into it and has to, you know, through his knowledge of the world he created, figure out either how to get out, how to make the world better, whatever. But Brad Pitt's presence really [ __ ] that whole thing all up because it appears as though it's Brad Pitt's movie, not Gabriel Burns movie. And that's when I couldn't figure out who are the gangsters working for.

Why is it like a classic 1940s noir with a fem fatal and the bad guys and the cops chasing after them and the dames and the all the

felt honestly like somebody took and I know that this is like a probably a hacky thing to say but like someone took the beginning part of one script and then another part of a script and just kind of merge them together because the f like the first 15 minutes don't mesh you you're introduced to something and then they reset the entire entire table again. It's you should just start in prison with him drawing her. She reaches out and we're in. Like I don't even think we really even need the Brad Pitt character because even at the end the Brad Pitt character doesn't serve to save the day or to stop anything.

Brad Pitt's character has no arc period. No arc. He is not He is not a hero. He is just along for the ride. He there is nothing that he does. The only story point that we get and spoiler alert is that he becomes a cartoon attendee. I mean that's it.

It's interesting there. Gabriel Burn and Brad Pitt are redundant. Yes. Redundant characters because they are both on some kind of a journey. But not re but but Gabriel Burn is the only one who has real power and agency. You know what I mean? He's the only one who can change it because he created it in a weird way. But why doesn't he know Brad Pitt is there is what I couldn't figure out.

I mean, here's the thing. I connected more to Brad Pitt's journey because I did feel like, okay, here's this guy who's suffering from PTSD and is trying to honestly accept reality as it is, that he um is both not in the war and that a terrible thing has happened. And I don't know if you get like I know what doc I know what Doc What's his face says in the beginning, but it did seem like the fact that he was so disoriented made him more a and so unable to like figure out what was real and what wasn't and still in such trauma over the war and what he had seen made him more susceptible to being like sucked into this doodle world.

um like there was something about his brain and the way his me was happening with his mental health which made him uh a prime candidate.

But do you think his mental health I don't think his mental health was off until he was violently thrust off that motorcycle cuz he seemed to have come home from the war perfectly happy. He was wearing that brand new suit. He had gotten that new motorcycle. He seemed happy golucky unfazed by the war that he just fought. only in that moment did his brain get a little bit jostled. Like I I I see what you're saying and I

Well, maybe that's true that maybe it was just triggered by him being, you know, in this terrible accident. But either way, it did seem like there was this that he was crime to get um sucked into the doodle world. But what I did like about his journey was the it did seem at the end like I don't know that he didn't have a purpose. I kind of thought he went back to the real world to die there to become a doodle. Like he knew going in, yes, I'm going to try to save the universe, but I'm ultimately going to sacrifice my body and die so that I can become a dude.

Why would he want to even save Cool World? Like, what is there just a hiding spot for him? I mean,

what is the lovely woman? What is the threat that What is the threat that Cool World and Real World will just because you know because what happens is you know once Gabriel burn [ __ ] the cartoon like so the one rule of Cool World is Noids which is what like humanoid I guess is what it is humans cannot have sex with doodles period like that's the that is the one enforced rule

but there's only one human in cool world and that's Brad Pitt who is abiding by that law to a degree.

Now let me do this. I mean that is his o that is the one thing he can do in his job description and he's the only one that could possibly break that law.

Now does the law so that begs the question why does the law exist? Right? Something must have happened. I mean, there were doodles before. I think they probably got really close to having sex.

Well, let's talk about the spike, cuz the spike is a children's story that they tell the doodles about a doodle that escaped to the real world and put a spike in the top of a Vegas casino. And if you take out the spike, you're essentially taking the plug out of the inkwell. I mean, this is I don't even really venture to go there.

It's [ __ ] bananas. Isn't that Dr. Isn't that Doc Whiskers? Did Doc Whiskers Doc Whiskers?

Is it Doc Whiskers who escaped to Vegas? Oh. Oh, I thought it was somebody else.

No, cuz Doc Whiskers said, "I tried to touch the spike, but it was too powerful for me." And then she says, "Get out of here, dummy. I'll do it."

No. At the very beginning, Doc Whiskers has the spike, right? Oh. And he's using it to open the portal to Ton World.

Whoa. See, Jason, while that was happening, I was just screaming. Yeah, I was just screaming uncontrollably

and I was writing, "Why does the spike look like sperm?" It does. It is an odd looking. When I saw those cartoons show up, I just started screaming. So, I missed that whole scene. You thought June L like what I love about this show is I get to watch many a film with June and she never knows what she's in store for. She doesn't she she is going in completely blind. So when June starts watching this movie I think you're thinking it's a 1940s

military man come home movie. And so for you to have that pure reaction that you didn't even understand that cartoons are in it was one of the most joyous experiences I've ever had in my life. See, Doc Whiskers, can you even imagine? Jason, were you aware there were cartoons in this?

I did. I was. Yeah, I knew this to be Please. No, I had I didn't see any I didn't see any artwork all of a sudden.

No, no. I This must have been very unsettling. It was. And I And I've never seen this movie before. Uh and frankly, I've never seen Who Framed Roger Rabbit before.

Oh, really? Which is interesting. Watch that. And I kept I kept when I was watching this being like, "Oh, I'm annoyed that I've never seen I'm annoyed, first of all."

Mhm. I just want to establish I am annoyed, but uh I'm annoyed because I haven't seen Who Framed Roger Rabbit and I feel like a bunch of us conversationwise will be drawing comparisons and I was like, "Fuck, I'm going to be out on that." But I knew this to be a uh a cartoon world, but that it was I the thing that I did remember about it was that it was dirty. Like the the story around this when it came out was that it was dirty.

This came out prime Blockbuster time for me when I was working at Blockbuster. And I never rented it, but it seemed like ooh this is Yeah. Like this is going to be like a like the dirty Who Frame Roger Rabbit? although I never reached out to to get it. I just think that we're trying to explain so much and the simple version of the film and I think it's actually a really great idea. It's like a creator being trapped within his creation. I mean, there was a John Candy movie, I think, called Delirious that was like that. Like he was a soap opera writer who gets like sucked into his own soap opera and he's got to write his way out of it. Um, you know, I think Stranger Than Fiction has an element of that. Like but like that's the simple way in who's come up a fighter

the idea that not only that but what's even so much more compelling about it which I think is such a great starting point is a man like let's maybe and and I don't again because we don't get into the murder and all the rest of it but like a a man an imprisoned man who falls in love with the woman he's drawing and that is that is the the only way he can escape is into this fantasy world. That's there's something quite compelling about that. Like as we and I will say as we sit right now many people stuck in small places stuck in quarantining prisonlike conditions. It is I can imagine a world of of wish fulfillment of wishing to be elsewhere. A world in which there are no rules. A world in which there is chaos.

the world any of that. Like that's I understand that. But yet when he gets there, he seemingly is like in awe of it. Not like, oh, I know that this door opens up into this thing. I like it seems like he's a visitor in this world. He doesn't seem like he has any.

It feels like the first time he gets sucked in is the first time he gets sucked in,

right? You lose even the fun of the master is now in the world. That's what I don't get. you know, like like that's why I feel like if the movie had been about Gabriel Burns character and his um his like discomfort with wanting to have this love with Hollywood, but the knowledge that to do so would potentially collapse both of their worlds. That's a movie like unrequited love.

This is what I don't understand. Why imp why why make him a murderer? It doesn't it why why

why don't make his wife dead his wife dead and and and they're both dealing with grief these two men did the one with his wife one with his wife one with his mother and they both are looking for escape and they and they switch spots or parallels they're both murderers but they we're coded we're coded to tell us Brad Pitt wearing gray which is like the hero's color scheme and Gabriel Burn only wearing black suits a black jumpsuit in prison and black suits on the outside. Like he is meant to be the bad guy. And what I don't understand is why. They don't seem opposed. They don't they're not at odds. They are not like they it it doesn't make sense to me. The only thing that they're against is Brad Pitt's like don't [ __ ] the person that you want to have sex with. Um but he doesn't abide by that rule.

Paul the doodle. the doodle. Yeah, sorry. You're right. Sorry, I didn't mean to say that and I apologize to anyone out. Yes. Uh, the doodle.

Any doodles out there? Sorry to doodles. But I also feel like Kim Basinger is character Hollywood and Hollywood if she could, and she did. Um, which I think was the t the tagline of the movie. um is the um is that when she gets into the real world, she starts acting like a child, but she's very manipulative and she's living a it's seemingly a very rich life in Cool World. Like it's not like, "Oh, I've never touched anything before." It's like you're in that world.

My stepmother is an alien. She's acting as if everything is brand new to her where and I understand that everything is tactile.

There's a lot that's new. She was two-dimensional before. Well, yes, she was. But here's what I don't understand.

But yes, she was. She was a drawing, of course. Yeah, but she's in apart. Why was she able to, for example, this is where it broke down for me where I was really like, I don't get the rules. I understand.

Did you throw your book out the book went out the window? Went out the window. I'm, you know, guess what? I'm rewriting the rules. If it's like two-dimensional world, fine. And it is characters who yearn to be real, right? Okay. But so when Gabriel Burn falls in or Brad Pit, I can't remember what it is. Someone burns him with a cigarette.

So there is the ability for them to have cause there's causality in their actions and reactions. Like they are not when he goes to touch her, he is able to physically touch her. He is able to be burned by her cigarette.

They It's not like they exist. It's not like he is three-dimensional and they are two-dimensional. They It is

Brad cups his girlfriend's face like he puts his arm around his girlfriend. He's in a car that's three-dimensional and then sometimes two-dimensional. It seems like everything is working. Why in cool world are some settings and cars practical real life cars, not drawings of cars? That's

and this is again and this is like this is where I think the Roger Rabbit comparison is really the only one to talk about where you say the rules were very clean and clear. This is what happens. This is the world. Like here it's a junk drawer of animation. Everything is happening to the point that it just feels like there's just like more dump more [ __ ] into every frame. It's it's a it's a me it's a mess of of things styles.

Brad Pitt you can't [ __ ] a tune a doodle. Why is he there? Like why is Yeah. How does he know that? Did his boss tell him? Has there been evidence of it before? Like what's did he do it once and it went poorly? Cuz here's the reality. Brad Pitt's character has a girlfriend who wants to [ __ ] and they can kiss and they can do other stuff, I guess, but they

they can't kiss. They do kiss. They said they can get they they say they can get close to it.

They do they kiss on the mouth. Yeah. I thought that they like watch each other and masturbate or something because like she said, "We can do something."

Do that. They are for sure mutual masturbating. They are for sure doing hand and mouth stuff, but like and probably finger stuff, you know, is which is

I don't think they're doing that. But like sex sex makes it like a magic trick that you can then go to the real world, I guess. But I don't know.

Well, then you become real. But like but but if but if she becomes real, like is she manipulating Gabriel Burn this entire time? Does she just want to become real or does she love Gabriel Burn?

Because Paul She's manipulating him. But why? To become real. To become a real Because I think it's like a Pinocchio. I think she wants to become a real girl.

But she doesn't like have any feelings to this person who created her. Like she's like, "Get me." Yeah. No, she just wants

She just knows that he's a sucker that will guess when she gets to the real world, she's like, "Men, look at all these men." And she wants to smell the men. She wants And is that Frank Sinatra Jr.? She's like, "Let's make it."

Yes, it is. Yeah. She said like she said like I can have I can have sex with any man in this room or something. But then also in that scene she starts reverting back to her cartoon shape but it's a different cartoon shape.

Well, they both start having like like fits or spasms of cartoon um of tune tune stuff. Like they both like suddenly suddenly Gabriel Burn's hands are big giant like tune hands or whatever. like they're having like um

like tune episodes. Yeah, like they're having like tune seizures and coming. But I get that, but why is she turning into a different tune? Wouldn't she just turn into her own tune again?

That's she's in a different body. I thought I actually liked that cartoon, that doodle that she was turning into. I thought it was really funny. I just think she it almost felt to me like whatever that doodle was was an earlier version of Hollywood.

Okay. Oh, interesting. I thought it was just um I thought it was because they had broken this the barrier like toune [ __ ] was just like happening to them like like free form tune stuff like it was

out of control basically and that's why when when more tune stuff starts happening Las Vegas starts to become people at slot machines start turning into wolf tune character and like and what I did like I like and And I know like this movie, I want to be very clear, is not good and is it is incredibly difficult to make sense out of.

Yes. But I found a lot of the animation stuff, a lot of the animated chaos fun. Like when Las Vegas is overrun by chaotic tune characters, like that stuff was I enjoyed that. like it they did it was like I enjoyed the kind of because that to me I was like this I get this is chaos. This is Toon World invading Vegas. Got it. Okay.

But but my whole thought my thought about that is if Toon World invades Vegas then it just becomes Cool World. Right. So why would you want to create another Cool World? Oh, I don't think I think it's like I think it's like um I think this is akin to a um multiverse story and that you know and that if you uh open a if once you start uh if you travel between multiverses and try if you go in it's just like you know Rick Remenders Black Science or uh any number of of of of you know um uh multiverse specific comics or anything like this.

When you are when you're talking about going between things, the effects are catastrophic on both ends. Right. Like

Right. So, right. So, she doesn't she doesn't intend to create another tune world, but she does want to get the spike for what reason? Maybe just to become permanently real.

That's may maybe to destroy it. So that like is she trying to destroy the spike so that she can just be now so that nobody can come get her

and bring I think part of it is I want to become real real but she is real realy I I don't know and I and and it it bothers me that it's so

yeah it bothers me too. It bothers me too. But here's the thing about Cool World that is very true and it's also true for alternative comics at the time. Cool World is like sexual depravity. Like it is a world of lasciviousness. like like it is like the the world that existed in like in the kind of um uh in the alt comic world of like the 70s and 80s like it like like I'm talking like you know crumb and all the stuff that was beyond was there was a lot of like sexual lasciviousness creating creating animated and cool uh not cool but animated the animated cool world aesthetic felt to me like those 70s8s erotically charged lascivious like uh cartoon like uh um I'm trying to think of a couple of Fritz the Cat, heavy metal all have this kind of stuff as a part of it. And

I do like that. I like I like that idea like that is a merging of so many styles like there's like a Frank Fetta kind of images in the background then there are like simple Looney Tune images. She's a little bit more of like a modern-day like cartoon character. Like there's so many different things. And then when when Gabriel Burn, and we haven't even talked about this, and this will be, you know, we're getting towards the end here. When Gabriel Burn turns into a superhero that kind of looks like like a traditional like

Shazam. He looks he looks like he's he's he looks like he's basically got Shazam's color scheme

and he looked like Gaston from the Beauty and the Beast. And but why would he transform so crazily into that character that has nothing that looks like him?

I mean, like, is that what he's always wanted to be? Cool World doesn't seem to have um superhero archetypes, you know what I mean? It isn't like a cool It it is like a Sidi underworld. like it's gangsters and and she's a she, you know, like Hollywood seems to be like a gangsters mall and like everything the archetypes are 30s and 40s gangster movies. They're not like superhero stories. They're not silver age DC superhero world they follow them find themselves in. They find themselves in what looks like like a a noir. It looks like a fem fatal setting up a dupe to kind of get one over on him. It's It's more like a It's more like a a film noir in its kind of uh setup. She's just using Gabriel Burn as leverage to get into the real world like that, you know, blah blah blah. All the kind of and the cops are corrupt and everything. Nobody see every and none of it seems though. I'm grasping at all of

the kind of little things to try and make order out of it. But there really there really is no goal. There's no stakes. There's no protagonist. There's no antagonist and there are no set rules. So, it's just about

visual stuff and yes, hunky Brad Pitt. I think I think that they thought they could get away with what if we just made a movie where Jessica Rabbit was more sexual and and and at the end of the day that's what they decided that they would commit to because this is a movie that like I said it was pitches this very simple idea about uh basically uh an aranged daughter trying to kill her father that then the script is given to somebody else and they rewrite it then it's given to somebody else. It was supposed to be a horror film. Then it became a comedy film. And then it went from R to PG-13.

Brad Pitt switched roles. Brad Pitt was supposed to be the creator of Cool World, the comic book artist, and Gabriel Burn was supposed to be the detective, and they switched. Then Drew Barammore dropped out. And then Kim Basinger came in. Then Kim Basinger decided to switch. And then Frank Bashki came to set and punched the producer in the mouth. Like this movie was plagued from start to finish. that the backstory of this movie is insane. Um, and and it's it's a mess. It's and I think that that what we're reacting to is some editor was in a room going like I think this kind of can make sense a little bit because also it feels like the animation is done in a vacuum where it's like I don't even think Kim Basinger is basing her performance on the what she does in animation in a real world. I feel like that's two separate performances.

Well, that's the thing is in in um Cool World, she is clearly in command and in control. She is she's playing everybody. She's the smartest person in any room. She is without a shadow of a doubt. She's also like the the one of the most um famous people. She's this she's this icon in she is the iconograph she is the iconography of cool world really she is it right so so it's such a powerful character that when she gets to the real world and instead it becomes more like my stepmother is an alien as if everything is like um uh like discovery brand new it takes away some of what I it takes away some of her she is so often the driving engine in Cool World because it's what she wants that we're seeking.

And that when we come into the real world, all that slows down and it becomes really just like I'm not sure what's going on, you know, like I'm not sure what the goal is. I mean, I imagine if we had given her another week or two to just just like sit in her body and just experience like the fun the basic functions of a body, you know, she might gain some of her confidence and power back.

But June, what do you think? But do do you think that she's is that different from being two dimensional threedimensional? Cuz she's seducing him like she would sed like as a three-dimensional character. She she just seems so a like she seems like that that scene where the neighbors come over. I think she's having a hell of a time being a real person and is just enjoying it.

Um, and I think we're seeing her kind of on vacation where she's like got the thing she's always wanted. So, yes, she is a bit different and she's not as But I I genuinely enjoyed that part of the movie because I thought it was just fun at least. And the the rest of the movie was so grim to me. And so with all these doodles, like it was not I did not want to be in that doodle world. I did not like it. I didn't like seeing those things flying by. Like it was all so unsettling to me.

By the way, when they go to Vegas, also disgusting. Like it's the only time I've ever seen Vegas in a movie that looks like Vegas in real life. It just like

Yeah. dark. It's dim. It was not aspirational. It was not like wow. It was a a real gross point of view of Vegas. It's not good.

It the movie itself it it has like darkness with in within it. You know what I mean? Like the movie itself is not pleasant, you know? Like there's not there are no heroes to root for there. like everybody is everybody has done and behaved reprehensibly, you know, uh in some way, shape or form uh or feels they have, you know, uh no and and maybe that's part of it, but it was really it was a it was

I don't know, man. It was a It was It was tough to watch. But I will say, and again, I am just catastrophically lonely. I really was like, I would like to hang out with that animated Hollywood. Like, she's looking great. This is

But she's the villain, Jason. She's the villain. She wouldn't want you. She'd use you. She is

That's the point of a fem fatal. You want to fall for the fem fatal. That's what that's why the fem fatal is successful in leading the the the leading man down the road to disaster and ruin. That's the that's what's great about a noir, you know, is is she

Oh, believe me, I know. As we talk about that on Unspooled all the time. What's that?

So, we talk about that on Unspooled all the time. You know, you guys have you guys wrapped that up now that the co has hit.

No, it's actually going real strong. We're doing live shows. We're really getting it out there. We're really having so much fun just kind of breaking down these archetypes. Yeah.

Oh, it's good to know. Pouring a lot of energy and effort into into doing Unspooled. That's cool.

Yeah, we Well, you know, we got to get a lot of guests. It's hard to get guests for, you know, in the quarantine, but we're just really trying to get the mo. We're trying to get cool guests in the show, and that's really what the

It's hard to get Well, I mean, June and I are right right here. Sure. All right, let's move on. Let's move on right now and continue here.

Away. So, obviously we had opinions about this movie, but there are people out there with a different opinion. It is now time for second opinions.

The movie was a piece of [ __ ] yet this person recommends it. Tell me, what is the message? Maybe that art is subjective. I need a second opinion.

All right. So guys, these are five star reviews called from amazon.com. The average rating of this movie is 4.3 out of five stars. There are 412 total reviews. 67% are five-star reviews. Only 9% are one-star reviews. Um Andrew Sisnell in 2019 writes, "Ahead of its time. I've never seen anything like it. This is why life is worth living. All men five stars. Don't know what that means.

All men. That that all men I guess maybe like like this is why we'd all love to have someone like Kim Basinger. I guess that's the point. I think. All right. Um this one from Disto 777 uh from 2015 writes this. Brad Pitt is hilariously young. Five stars. Very low bar for the five stars. Um, and there are some really interesting ones in here. Um, this one is, uh, a lot of these. Douglas Hely, my daughter loves Cool World. Jeannie M. Rasmus, my daughter was looking for Cool World. I forgot it existed. I bought it. It's perfect. Um, and then I wanted to read this final one for you here. This is a a little bit longer, but it's kind of great. It's from JC. It was written in 2003, and it goes like this. The title Cool World is meant to be a sarcastic quotation. Holly seems to portray evil in the most appealing way. There's a lot of evil going on in the background and foreground of this film throughout.

Temptation, I believe, is the main subject, but there are other subjects tackled in the movie as well. If you have only seen this movie once, it deserves a second look. And if you still don't get the message, then I can only say that Cool World is a reflection of the people who really are. And it's ironic that so many people seem to hate this film. You simply can't compare this to who framed that movie was a typical Disney flick. Cool World is a satire of our society. Five stars. There's one line I didn't put in because I didn't know how to get it in here, but this Great World, it goes, "This great line, Cool World is a complex film and it was written as a puzzle for people to figure out later on."

Wow. I think that five stars. I do think you can look at cool world and I'm sure the writer somehow this was the writer's like haha I do think cool world slash you know it it's not for nothing her name is Hollywood I think cool world and you know Hollywood are supposed to be like um you know Hollywood Los Angeles like I think it's supposed to be

it should have been Los Angeles instead of Vegas though it exactly it's I think it's meant to be a a place of avarice and vice like uh it is where you push down all of your grossest urges and desires because that seems to be what the people of Cool World concern them. Everybody in Cool World is a bad guy. Everybody is a villain. Everybody is a crime boss. There are no in Cool World, you never go to like a light venue. You never go to like a pleasant place. The all of Cool World is seedy and gross and dangerous and people are duplicitous and liars and nobody can be trusted. I I I don't get it. Like I don't understand what the movie is trying to show me about humanity or about ourselves. I don't know what it's meant to show me about relationships. I don't know what its message or theme I don't know what the theme of this movie is.

Well, I mean, do you think that we should listen to JC and like watch it a couple more times and see if we can unpack it?

One thing I will say and I am very very reluctant to say this. I don't want to say this,

but Oh, no. This movie is as close to a Jacob's ladder scenario as I've seen in a very long time.

You know, guy gets hit in the first scene on a motorcycle. He first goes into wartime flashbacks and then as he's dying, he this cartoon thing that he's aware of this comic book or whatever, he just admit

he's I'm so sorry. Is he dying though? Is he dying? He could have been. I mean, he was hit I mean, he was hit on by Studebaker.

His mom dies. His mom dies, but he doesn't look like he's sustained. He's talking. He's conscious. He like gets over to her. He doesn't look like he is sustained like devastating.

I agree. But we might But the mom only has a little bit of blood coming out. The mom only has a little bit of blood coming out, right? But like I'm also saying he's mentally fractured, you know? Like maybe this maybe it's not a Jacob's ladder scenario. Maybe if they How about this? If they pulled back at the end and he was like in a mental institution just drooling on himself would and the and the Cool World comic book was in his lap, would you be like, "Ah, that's what this all was."

Yes. But by the way, here here's a better version of this story. I don't know if either of you remember there's a TV show back when I was a kid called Amazing Stories. They just kind of came out with it again on Apple TV, but there's a great episode um about like a a World War I or World War II pilot. They're in a bomber and he's an animator or an illustrator and they're being under they're under attack and he starts drawing like a wheel for the plane, a cartoon wheel and it becomes real and he actually saves the day that the plane lands like on this cartoon wheel like he's able to like take his drawing into the real world. And I think the problem with this movie is we are introduced to a lead character like that opening scene. Like if he's been getting through the war by making these comics, great. Like if he is the original artist, if he's the Stan Lee and then Gabriel Burn took over that he read

comics. Sure. Yes. Like let's see some connection. Let's see him first in a foxhole. Everything's going crazy around him and the only thing he's clutching is that comic and then G. Listen, if we knew his mom read comics waiting for him to come home.

So many ways to go, but I guess the question that only matters is would you recommend it? Jason, I'll let you go first. Would you recommend this film?

You know, yeah. Yeah, I'm going to say yes. I mean, it's a [ __ ] weird movie. It's a weird

You did a 180 there. Early on, you said you wouldn't, and now you've come back. I think that this this conversation, maybe it is a puzzle that we're unlocking. I would I mean like this is I think it's it is h listen if you've listened to the podcast and you've gotten to this point and are waiting to decide whether to watch it I think you'll know what you're in for. So I say yes watch it cuz I think there's a ton of

and then that's on you. Yes. That's on you. I I I think because because there are huge problems with it structurally huge. It really is a confounding jumble of nonsense. But within that, I think there is some incredible Ralph Bakshi art. I think there is some incredible animation. I think there is really fun weird side characters, side bits of physical comedy in the cartoon world that are fun and interesting to watch. Like, I was still drawn to watch it. wasn't um it was annoying me because it was confusing and needlessly so. But I would I would recommend watching it for its look look there are not many movies that do this.

You know there are not many movies that attempt this big swing. This is without question a failure. In no way is this a success. But there's something about it that if your expectations are this is going to be a mess, but there's interesting stuff in it. Then I I'm I'm always I always think listen also I will say Wal watch Ralph Back. She's the Lord of the Rings. It like it's unbelieving.

You know what I mean? It's like like this is a master at work. So, it's it might not be a good movie, but there is there is somebody incredible doing doing stuff in it. That being said, it's bad. It's a bad movie. It's not worth it. And if you are watching it and are like, I don't understand what Jason's talking about. I hate this. Please feel free to turn it off.

Uh, June. Yeah, I agree. I mean, it's something to see. It's something to rest your eyeballs on and and that's kind of it. So, for me, I don't care for animation. I don't It doesn't I've never connected to it. I just don't um again, I love Twof Framed Roger Rabbit, but I don't I'm not going to watch something for the animation. And so, I just didn't really nothing dazzled me in that world. I loved the transformation of of Hollywood into a real person. Um, and I liked her in that in I liked her performance and I thought there were some really fun moments when she became a human, but that's kind of it. Um, it's a bunch of gobbledegook and doesn't add up to anything. Um, again, I I just I really I can't I can't impress upon the audience enough. Just imagine just watch watch the first I would say watch the first 20 minutes um after listening to this podcast and just think about what I went through having no context for what was

about to happen and also watch the first 20 minutes and realize how little you understand what's going on.

Yes. You know, like there I was a full 40. I looked 40 minutes in and I was still like, "What's going on? What's this? What story are they trying to tell?"

Yeah. Maybe we're telling you if you watch this movie, know that it's kind of hard to wrap your head around so you can enjoy it and you can really kind of parse it out. Like you're not dumb for not getting it. No, we've

let it wash over you. You know, this is one of those movies that's a good like stoned watch

where just the visuals are delightful and funny and weird and crazy and you don't need to worry about the story because that's I think I don't know that's kind of what I feel like would be the satisfying part is the is the tune is the cool world all the nonsense of the cool world like that. Like I loved, you know, like it scratched a lot of my animation itches like I don't know that seems like a bad building and they pan up and the building is like this huge circular tower and I was like yeah I like that. I like I like dumb jokes like this, you know, like that are that are fun, you know. Um

you know what I wish they had done? Yeah, but the movie is just like tough stufferrone.

You know what I wish they had done? I wish they had more fun with like the dimensions of people. Like I wish Hollywood was either a lot taller than the humans or like kind of little, you know? I feel like there were opportunities to just have more fun with humans being in that world and then conversely doodles being in the real world that were those those opportunities were missed. I'm going to put it down on my list of definitely watch it because very rarely on this show am I this confounded or this kind of like wait what? And there is a joy in the the amount that we have done this show. Um to feel that like to feel it nonstop for the hour and 45 minutes. It it really continues to turn a screw of uh of confusion that I found it to be a unique film that I think is above the fray and how crazy it is. You know what I'm saying? Three across the board.

The movies that I feel like I find that I would not recommend are movies that just do the thing and then it's all lateral moves from there. It's all just more of the same and it's like who cares? boring, right? This movie does not do that. It changes the game and the rules every couple of minutes so that it really keeps you engaged but infuriatingly confused. Uh I talked about how this movie had like very difficult like production issues, but the final straw was the promotion of this movie. Um the studio literally placed Hollywood the character on the Hollywood sign.

Like they built an extension on the Hollywood sign with her and she's giant. She is as big as the D in Hollywood and she is sitting on the D and people freaked the [ __ ] out. Like that has never been done before. Like and I've seen some pictures of it. You can Google a picture of Hollywood on the Hollywood sign. People were angry. This movie angered people on every single level. Uh I joked before about the tagline which I did know um but I will read it to you. The the tagline of the movie is Hollywood if she could and she will.

That's the tagline and the movie uh the budget was $30 million and it grossed $14 million. And I think with that it's a perfect way to end and say uh Jason June anything you guys want to plug? Um, June anything?

No, I just um I just want to say again a thank you to all of all of the nurses and doctors and everyone who's out there um working hard at taking care of of people right now, especially in the healthcare industry. I'm just so appreciative. That's all. I think there's a lot of great there's a lot of great um I will echo June's sentiment especially to the medical professionals, the first responders, people who are out there on the front lines of this you know um absolute catastrophic nightmare that we find ourselves in. Um thank you.

You're doing absolutely, you know, incredible work uh under underbelievable duress uh and in a scenario in which we find ourselves uh on a ship that appears to be leaderless and without any without any rules. Thank you to people who are trying to make sense of what is going on. Um, and you know, the more that we can provide any solace, distraction, the more that we can through putting out podcasts or consuming things or whatever pointing you towards things that can provide some sense of relief, you know, like I know we've been hearing from people who are like grateful for the ability to kind of tune out the nightmare and the world and the news and just have a bit of fun and a bit of levity with the the I know I feel it when I see new episodes of my favorite podcasts pop up. So hopefully we are that for you guys. We're happy to be here and I'm glad that we are still doing it. makes me happy to see you guys

on Zoom and talk to you guys about dumb movies that uh it might seem trivial or silly in this time, but I know there's thousands and thousands of people out there who when they see our podcast pop up in their podcast app know that they are excited to have this time with us. And I am grateful for you guys. And I hope that, you know, especially those of you out there who are working in those dangerous fields and are on the front lines of this, I hope that you guys are enjoying these episodes and know that we appreciate you.

Well put, Jason. And I will and I'll just kind of continue this uh pass along of supporting all these amazing people. I I also just want to give a shout out to all the delivery drivers, the people that are waiting in lines in supermarkets to do your supermarket shopping for you or to go to your Target or working in your favorite restaurant so it doesn't close. And you know, the people that are working on the front lines of of, for lack of a better term, comfort. like there are so many people that are out there that are are doing so much uh and and you know from FedEx drivers to uh to delivery people and and mail workers and everything like that. I just I uh want to give a huge shout out to them and they are spending a lot of time in their cars and I've talked to so many of them about having this on with them and so I I really appreciate that.

I know for me uh small businesses are really important. I really want to make sure that if you're in your community, we're trying to help. Whether that's ordering in a meal once a week or if that's supporting your local comic book shop, which is actually something that I've been doing with uh my new Marvel series that Jason's going to be on, uh we're just talking about local comic book shops and how you can get out there and support them. These small businesses that surround us that we maybe sometimes take for granted need our help right now. So, you know, I think there's a lot of ways to get in and support our community. And uh

a lot of these small businesses are really operating in a very dangerous small margin. So they are really under threat. Um and I think there's also too you know um a lot of a lot if you are in a position where you are able to give money to places there are places that need it. You know like we did a big mouth table read that benefited feeding america.org. or the parks and wreck episode that aired last week uh raised millions of dollars uh for a couple of different organizations. So like there are and those those things remain uh up on YouTube. They are they are things you can watch an episode of Parks and Wreck, a new episode. You know, there are things that you can watch for entertainment sake, but that are also giving you an opportunity to donate directly to well-vetted, wellsourced charities that need your money. And by the way, we are also doing that here at How Did This Get Made. We have two

shirts that are all the proceeds go to Feeding America. That's our quarantine buddies shirt uh and our Gish and Girt shirt. That's uh you know Annabelle Gish and Jamie Girtz on a shirt designed by Pete the Sman Scadace. Uh and we actually saw Annabelle Gish wear a Gish and Girtz shirt. So all that money goes right to Feeding America. But uh thank you all for Oh, Jason's pulling it out right there.

I've got my Gish and Girt shirt right here. I'm wearing it. I love my Gish and Girts.

I plan on wearing it when we inevitably meet uh Annth Gish and Jamie Girtz. They uh they they it's going to be great. It's going to be a great episode. And also, I want to thank everybody here at Earwolf for all their tireless work of putting this show together. Not only uh the people that work on the show like Averil and Nate and Molly every week, but the people that are literally keeping Earwolf afloat, and that is our producer Cody and our engineer Devon. Uh our team is absolutely amazing. July. Uh I'm I'm sure everyone is going through a lot of stress and uh the way that Earwolf has kind of jumped in and like Jason was saying like continue to produce these podcasts and made it easy for people to produce these podcasts has just been absolutely mind-blowing. So I just want to say a thank you to all of them essential workers indeed. And uh we will see you next week on the mini episode. Make sure that you give me a

call at 619 pul ask. 619 p a l. You can talk about cool world. You can explain what I got wrong or you could just talk about your personal life. I solve problems on that thing. So, uh, give us a call 619 PUL ask. And that will be next week for the mini episode about Cool World. We will see you next episode. Bye for now.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Cool World (HDTGM Matinee)"?

Paul Sheer (Host), Jason Mantzoukas (Host), June Diane Raphael (Host).

What is "Cool World (HDTGM Matinee)" about?

The discussion centers around the surreal animated film *Cool World*, exploring its unconventional plot where cartoons, referred to as "doodles," aspire to enter the real world, with bizarre implications involving human interaction. The hosts delve into the film’s paradoxical nature and the perplexity it evokes, while also reflecting on their own reactions during the quarantine period.

What is mentioned in this How Did This Get Made? episode?

10 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Cool World, Gabriel Burn, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Heavy Metal, Fritz the Cat, Unspooled. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Cool World (HDTGM Matinee)"?

The episode runs 1 h 16 min; the transcript is about 13,214 words in 226 timestamped sections.

More from How Did This Get Made?

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 24, 2026.