Hello, kitties. It's your old pal John Kucir, the voice of the Cryptkeeper. And you're listening to the bottom shelf. Must build Gundam. Alright. Must build Gundam. Dallas. Must. Dallas. How long how long have you been in here? Atomic bazookas. Why does it smell like Atomic bazookas. Armpit and unwashedness. Bro. Are you the new type? Bro. Bro. It's time to Hey. It we've already missed one movie this month. We gotta do come on. Let's go. My funnels are out. I
can't leave. Tell you what tell you what. I I have a movie here. It puts the f in f 91. I don't do race cars. No. It's Gundam f 91, the movie. Did you say Gundam f 91? Yes. Follow follow the terrible movie, Dallas. Gundam. Follow the terrible movie. I spilled Gundam. Prepare yourself to discover a world of terrible movies. High above the planet Gekari, a group of intrepid explorers hover over the dangerous planet in their super orbital spacecraft.
Their mission, to conduct a complete analysis of movies known throughout the universe as terrible. So grab your space popcorn, grab your freeze dried ice cream, and join us for today's mission of discovery and wonder. Are these movies better than the galaxy thinks? Or do they really belong on the bottom shelf? Hello, movie lovers and movie haters. Welcome to the bottom shelf, the podcast where every movie has a place. Our podcast is part of the Geek Devotions podcast network, a podcast network
of podcasts. They're devoted to know your love. So if y'all will pass this moment to this, we love you. We care about you. There is a plan and a purpose for your life. Do not give up. Every time you say don't give up, I'm auto I my mind automatically goes to, that song by Peter Gabriel that nobody that nobody who listens to this podcast is probably old enough to remember. So it was a completely wasted reference for me to even throw that out there right
now. Hi, everybody. I'm John. Hey, John. How are you doing, buddy? Hi. So what are we doing? You you promised me Gundam. I did promise you Gundam. Do you know anything about this movie? Oh, I know everything about this movie. Not everything. I know a lot, though, and I'm excited. Alright. They post up. Alright. In 1991, Gundam creator Tomino was working on a new Gundam series that was supposed to draw new fans to the now decade old franchise struggling to sell more toys,
codenamed, hey state Gundam. This new project had major names connected to the projects. And this particular movie, Gundam f 91, was starred Koji, Tsujinati, who played with Indian who was Indianwasha, and he was in Street Fighter 2. Tsuchani. Tsuchani? Tsujitani. Tsujitani. Alright. And, also, Yumi Toma, who I'm Tekken 5 and Ama Goddess. But production of the new series was unfortunately filled with a lot of arguing, a lot of, big headedness, basically, and led to a choppy movie,
unfortunately. We can get more details with that later because it was rough. Alright. Now let me let me pick up the back of this this, we'll pick up the back. Let me pick up this box and read the back. It's going to be a good one today, folks. So it's universal century 1, 2, 3. Oh, God. It's a 1980s rap song. Universal Century 123 After a generation of peace, the Earth Federation has begun to build new space colonies to house humanity's growing population.
But a new force, the aristocratic crossbone vanguard, plans to seize and colonize the newly constructed frontier side for itself. As their home becomes a battlefield, a handful of young civilians struggle to escape the conflict. To save his friends and family, the reluctant warrior Seabook, Arno, becomes the new pilot of a new Gundam, which bears the code name f 91. Oh. So what what do the comms tell us about this movie? What what external outside signals have we received,
in reference to this movie? Oh, we got quite a bit, but we're gonna call it down a little bit coming into our feed here. One person said, there were some parts of the story that need further details. The mecha designs were great in its animation too. Oh, I completely skipped my bit because I went to directly yours. I apologize for that, but we can do this. I see here one person said, I don't think it's infamous enough in the Gundam fandom nor mainstream enough to be on the bottom shelf.
Mhmm. Well, that's that's pretty assumptive that we wouldn't cover it on the bottom shelf. Oh my goodness. In all honesty, I watched it, and the only negative feedback I can give is that it feels so rushed. It could have been an OVA miniseries or an even better. Otherwise, it's a good movie. Another person also agreed that it's a good movie. The soundtrack is top notch. As a standalone film, I would probably say up there to introduce people to the franchise.
Not a fan of the final villain and may have been a bit better focusing on world building a bit more. Overall, good stuff. Mhmm. Not the best part of the franchise and not the worst part either. I think you're going to find a general consensus on the plot and pacing. Also, Iron Mask wasn't really a compelling villain, probably the 2nd worst shark clone in the whole UC. F ninety one suffers from its production. I wish it was 2 movies, maybe 3. A decent story, kind of gutted and rushed.
No comment on the movie. Just wanted to say have a great time, and I hope it goes well, and the engagement is through the roof. No. Thank you. Well let's hit some trivia because I skipped that because I'm a big dumb dummy who ate you're fine. Who ate dummy flakes for breakfast.
At this Miss Countryside contest at the beginning of the film, a background character wears a jacket that reads beautiful life, Tomino, a reference to Gundam co creator, Yoshi Yuki, Tomino, Carrozo iron mask, Rona's characters based off the famous star wars villain, Darth Vader. This makes Gundams connection with the Star Wars even more. Iron Mask is a cyber new type with Darth Vader. While Darth Vader is a cyber Sith, both have powers. Also, Iron Mask and Darth Vader are half man
and more machine. So they're like, math doesn't work because you can only be half and half. Anyway, this is only this is the only Gundam feature to be given an MPAA rating. It's rated PG 13 for pervasive sci fi violence and instrumental arrangements of the ending song Eternal Wind Ho Home. Ho Ho. Amy Ho. Amy Hua Hikaru. Kaze no Naka bears a striking resemblance to Wilson Phillips Hold On, which will excite my wife because that
song is her jam. Really? Cool. Well, I mean, the Hold On by Wilson Phillips, not I thought it was the other one, the Eternal Wind. I thought she was just jamming over there to some sweet 19 nineties, 19 eighties Japanese pop. Well, you know, they came out about the same time. So I the hold on and the and the j pop. I mean, like, literally within probably a year of each other, maybe 2. So let's hit let's hit those expectations. Let's do it. Badap.
We don't have a bumper for expectations. What are you expecting, Dallas? Oh, I'm expecting a lot of a mess. Alright. So cards on the table, I I own this movie. I I I yes. I was telling Celeste when I pulled it off. Is anybody shocked by about that at all? Maybe. I don't know. So I was telling Celeste, I pulled off my bookshelf, and I said, this this has a special place in my heart, because it was one of the first, legal Gundam things I ever bought off of Amazon.
And I ordered it, and I ordered, the movie that continued Robotech at the same time, and I got them both. And, I am expecting to, enjoy the animation. I'm expecting to, be angry that there are plot holes that could have been done better, and I'm going to enjoy it. There is probably gonna be a low in the middle, though. I am expecting that. Mhmm. Well, that's par for the course for Gundam, isn't it? As far as my expectations are, Gundams real hit and miss with me.
There are series I like. There are series I'm not such a fan of. I apologize, but Gundam Wing is one of them for me. I'm not. I try to like it, but really, you know, makes me want to peel my skin off with a carrot peeler. Unless you didn't say mandolin. We're now trying to ban mandolin's now. And if you heard about that, I haven't, but I agree with this because
I did my. Okay. So I'm for when I'm not podcasting, I'm a medical coder and I did my externship in an urgent care clinic and I saw more than 1 person coming in with blood soaked fabric on their arm because they were mandolin without a guard. And I like one lady just forearm completely opened up. Yeah. It was gnarly. So I get it. I don't necessarily support that. I'm very much, you know, freedom of decision type person, but I understand the reasoning
behind it. But getting getting back to my my my expectations, I feel like peek behind the curtain here. I I don't think it's any shock that to say that Dallas is one who picked this movie, but I feel like you know me well enough to know whether or not I'm going to enjoy something. So I'm putting my trust in you for this one, Dallas, to that. I I I am expecting to see something that at least there's a logical reason why
someone would expect me to enjoy it. You you're trying to see if I was in a good mood when I told you we're watching this. I here here's the thing. I know you were because we picked this right after Geekcon. So What was this or the alternative, which was an acid trip chopped together version of Gundam called Captain Cosmos? Yeah. But the link we had for that disappeared. So Yeah. How weird was that? Hey. You know what? September was a weird month, and we're only
getting one episode out. So it all worked. Every so often, you can see God working behind the scenes. It worked miracles for John. Well, let's let's get in and see if what if I like this. Dear listeners, this is your opportunity to escape. Our crew has just entered into the media projection chamber. What horrors and matters that they consume are unknown? Their mental state upon their return is unknown. You have been warned.
So what do you think, Sean? I don't understand how in the same scene, the animation can vary so much from shot to shot. There'll be there was like literally moments in this movie where the animation would be fantastic. And then, like, at at a blink of an eye, all of a sudden, it degrades, like, someone threw some some turpentine on the cell while we were watching it, and it just would blur and turn into a big color y
mess. Yeah. You're not gonna I'm not gonna lie. That that that is one of the things about the film that does irk me is the, how choppy things get. And but here, you gotta remember though, and this is the problem. The reasoning that this is the case, and this is this is the back history of it. Again, a lot of disagreements, a lot of issues within the production. It was getting really, really bad. Production got held up, and then there was a deadline.
And they're basically, like, we can't make a deadline for a series at all. And this is, again, this is supposed to be like a spearhead for a new era. This is like the Heisei era of Gundam. Mhmm. And Tomino had this whole mindset of of I don't wanna do the same thing. He was afraid that of continuing based off of just the original Gundam that people wouldn't really appreciate it because it's nothing fresh, nothing new, and he saw that as
a weakness in in his storytelling. And so he was trying to create something brand new, but because of all the issues taking place and kind and there was a new, way of thinking of of production Mhmm. At the time in Japan, it really caused some issues. And so they're like, we have enough to do a movie ish. And so they kinda pieced together things, and then they had to fill in some gaps within a small time frame. Yeah. And at the same time, they're like, we gotta
make some stuff happen. So, like, the opening scene where you have the, the enemy, I say enemy, the crossbone Gundams or mobile suits, cutting and getting into, the the base. That was beautifully animated. Like, it was cinematic. I thought it was gorgeous. I thought it was a great thing, but then you had other weird shots. You're like, oh, this is the nineties, isn't it?
Yeah. And then, like, I I I'm glad that you eventually told me that this was originally supposed to be a series that got reduced down to a movie. Mhmm. Because when I first started watching it, there were some time jumps. Yeah. And it got a little bit irritating from time to time. It like I am tap dancing around this because I don't want to name specifics, but it's some it's a spoiler free comment that should be made should be made if whoever is listening to this is going
to see this movie. Yeah, Definitely. Because you can't go into it expecting a consistent continuity. There are gonna be some gaping plot holes that you're gonna see in this movie that some might find irksome. Yeah. They really do jump into it. I remember you texted me. You're like, wow. They really just go after it right right out the gate. And, and they do, but they jump so much. There was, like, a whole, like, musical montage where they it feels like they jumped a month of storytelling.
Oh, for sure. And that was, like, one of my biggest, you know, if if all you listen to from the Geek Devotions Network is the show. First of all, welcome. We're a whole network. Please check out some of our other shows. But outside of that, I used to co host with Dallas and and Branson, who used to be on this show on another show called the Gundam Watch. The Gundam Watch. Thank you. I sorry. I just was blanking on it. My mind is still in not Cuba. I've been I've been playing Far Cry 6
again. I have 126 hours in on it. But, yeah, so I was on the Gundam watch and it's the same thing that I was experiencing with Gundam Wing, where what we were watching the continuity of it, like the spaces between episodes wasn't always consistent. So sometimes there'd be
several months between episodes. And it's just like if you can wrap your mind around that, you may have a better time with this movie because this this movie will jump, and it's hard to follow the logic if you don't understand that time has passed. Yeah. That is definitely a, a weak point of the film. And as you guys heard in the in the community comments, a lot of people point pointed that out. Just these gaping holes of storytelling. But, again, it's because they pieced together what they had
to make a movie. This was supposed to be a a full length series of itself. Mhmm. I would one person mentioned about it being OVA. I would have liked to have seen this at least made into an OVA, and something else done with it. Mhmm. But it was definitely definitely rough. I will say this, though, even though that with that case, there were certain small details that they added within the animation that I thought were unnecessary, but it was
cool. Like, there's a whole scene where, and the This is not the spoiler section, sir. Well, this is a spoiler. It's just, like, small thing. Like, there's a whole point where, like, one of the characters is, like, crawling and there's a snake. Mhmm. And, and it's, like, why why do that other than just to have a a detailed animation?
There was another moment where one of the, the Jagans, which is a type of mobile suit had been knocked out of the sky, and you see, a hand twitching out of a malfunction just randomly Mhmm. As the thing is about to blow up. So they did it we we mentioned this also on the Gundam watch when we reviewed, Kukuru's Island, the and I think this is a touch of Tom of Tomino and some
of that early team. They like to add these small, realistic details within the story, just to give you something to, reengage you at times. Yeah. I I can I can see that? So, I I'm trying to think of anything spoiler anything else spoiler free, that I can think of. It did feel a little a little bit over along for what it was. Yeah. And when you said that they added that they had their they had to punch it up a little bit and add some some stuff in there. I think that was the
wrong maneuver. I think they should have edited some stuff out for a more concise and preferably a more consistent story. But Yeah. I can see that. But, again, I think it was so much there's so much done and not done. It's like, where do you build a bridge? Where do you not build a bridge situation? And there are places, like, I could've used the bridge here, but at the same time, like, man, that bridge would have been an
episode and a half. Right. And so it was I they were in an impossible situation, but it had to go out because, really, they had to they needed to be able to launch, the new era of Gundam. Yeah. This wasn't a great launching. There's a lot of I think that it actually it was a double feature premiere in theaters in Japan of this and a new SD Gundam that came out,
which was an interesting maneuver. For a second there, I thought you were gonna say that they it was a double feature with this and then that, g Gundam movie that we watched previously. G Saver. Yeah. G Saver. Woof. That's so funny. That's yuck. Yeah. That was a that was a thing that happened, ladies and gentlemen. No. But the SD Gundam coming out plus this at the same time. And at the same time, you also had happening out,
in between a couple OVAs. You had, Gundam double, Gundam 80 war in the pocket and Gundam 83 stardust memory, which were both really, really good OVAs that came out, at the same, right literally at the same time. But there's an SD movie that came out also, and it was, like, one of those, like, really, like again, they're targeting 2 different audiences. This is more for your teenage adult audience. SD Gundam was meant for your children. And so is there a way of trying to engage 2 different crowds
and bring them in? Did it work the greatest? Not really. 1 of the pocket, Stardust, miss memory. I apologize. I'm burping. Stardust memory, those are really solid OVAs or shorts. Gundam Victory, it's okay. It has mixed reviews. I've yet to actually watch it, but it has a lot of mixed reviews. But then you have Mobile Fighter g Gundam, which, is kind of split. People are like, I don't know about this, because they because they have this mindset of OG Gundam. But people like you, you really
liked what you saw of g Gundam. And, Drew from the Cellcast, he loves g Gundam, and I can see why. It it's just for me, it was just so different from what I knew. And, I think it really probably the reason why I enjoyed it. Yeah. I can see that. But we didn't see a real revival of Gundam until 96 with Gundam Wing. Ironically, which you dislike. It's not so much I dislike it. It's it's one of it's it's sort of like, it's sort of like onions on pizza.
It's not something I'm going to choose, but if somebody else puts it on there, I'm not gonna be like, oh, that's disgusting. I can't eat it. You know? Yeah. Yeah. I get that. And I appreciate that about you. So, again, it's it was an attempt to launch something new. And it there was a it was a new era, legitimately. Like, there's a lot of things that they're changing. Because beforehand, outside of the SD Gundams, everything was locked into this universal century world. Mhmm. And I that needs
to explain for those who are listening. This goes all the way back to first Gundam, from, like, 1979. 79. And it kinda spans forward. You had Gundam, Zeta Gundam, Double Zeta, but then you had a movie called Char's Counterattack, that came out 1988. And it was supposed to be, like, the wrap up of everything. Mhmm. This this movie was supposed to be a relaunch, and it takes place 30 years after
the events of stars counter attack. And so that's what they're talking about, a new era, a new generation. Yeah. So Alright. Let's let's let's spoil this thing, shall we? Okay. Let's rock and roll, babe. Ladies and gentlemen, the spoiler section. Okay. So now we can talk about things that are actually in this movie. I will say, first of all, I am glad that, what's her face didn't turn into Cecily? Yeah. No. Yeah. No. She did not. And but even, like, Cecily, her and, I'm trying to pull up what
her brother's name was. They were very much a shadow, a mirror of, Shar and, Cecilia from the first Gundam series. Doesn't shock me. Mhmm. I I I gotta ask because I don't remember seeing anything happened. What happened to her brother? Like, he's like cousin Oliver on the Brady Bunch. Like, he stepped he stepped out the door and got abducted by aliens or something and just never showed up again. I'm really not sure. I I don't know if if again, it just in because in the first opening
of everything, there's so much happening. Mhmm. So many explosions, so much other things. I don't know if his of his mobile suit got destroyed in a fight or what. Because there are several. There's one character that at towards the end that she defected from the crossbow vanguard, joined, this rebellious group, and you get this, like yeah. Emery, she's excited. She's like, I can't do this. I can't follow you because you you've become a murderer. And then he's like,
alright. Bet. Gone. Like, she's just she's out of there. And you you saw her for, like like, she had maybe a total of, like, maybe 4 minutes of speaking in the entirety of the whole Yeah. Movie. And they they make her out like she's gonna be a giant character in this movie, and then they, like, kill her the next scene. I mean, she had a special mobile suit, a special painting, special designation, everything, and then just boom. And again but this again, this is the fault
of it. Of yeah. This should have been a folding series. Mhmm. We would have seen a lot of character growth out of her and a lot of things I feel like. Speaking of of character growth that I I was frustrated with, the fact that, c book, he goes from being like, I don't wanna do it, to I'm a beast. Like like Yeah. Like but, again, that's over over a 50 episode series. I could rock with that. Mhmm. But in a 2 hour movie, that was just
it it was hard. And that that's the that's the biggest frustration for me about this is because this watching this is a tale of 2 observations. Mhmm. It and I will I will I will quote this in the same spirit that how one of my favorite comedians, Josh Johnson, described p. Diddy. Horrible rapper, terrific villain. This is a terrible movie, fantastic TV show. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Like, I I I can see what they wanted to do, and I can see how
they were going about it. And I'm like, the entire I mean, there was one point where I literally messaged you while I was watching this. I'm like, did this series ever release? Like, is there a way to I I will watch this with subtitles. I will watch it without subtitles and and step up my learning Japanese. Like, I want it. Give it to me. It's it's just frustrating on that on that front for me. Yeah. But you can definitely tell that the time spent was in the first 30 minutes of this
movie. Like like the first 30 minutes of this movie feels like it was a complete episode. Mhmm. Because that that got worse. Like the voice acting was great. The animation was mostly great. And boy, did they try to work your emotions in the first. Oh, man. 20 minutes of this. When they when they ragdolled that little kid, Arthur. Mhmm. I was I was like, oh my gosh. I'd forgotten how devastating that scene was. And just, like, having that poor child sitting there just
just gone. Yeah. And it it the the way the body was flopping around while they were trying when that kid was trying to revive him, was it as someone who works in the medical field, I can tell you that that body looked like a dead body. Like, there's there's very been very few times I have seen in anime where I'm like, yeah, that's a corpse.
Yeah. Like, for the most part for the most part, you're like, oh, that's a drawing, and I can understand what they're but the the when I was watching it, like, it registered in my mind corpse. Mhmm. Definitely. But they give us that's what I was talking about earlier, though. Like, the small details and, like, they put a lot of love and attention into certain aspects of this all
the way through. Mhmm. And, if you listen to the Gundam watch, podcast, you guys will hear me say often, one of the reasons I love the Gundam series is because it does a great job of of highlighting the tragedy of war. And Oh, for sure. The fur the first sequence in this movie is a giant buffet of the horrors of war. Like, the realistic horrors of war. And we're not talking about just death, but the feelings of of betrayal, the feelings of loss, the the being unaware.
The first sequence, it was giving me, like, World War 2 invasion vibes. Like like, I like, it really felt like, you know, this was in Europe and the Nazis were attacking. Mhmm. And people are scrambling, trying to figure out, trying to get to bunkers, just trying to understand what's happening. And then there's these emotions of going, who's attacking us? And then you see the the things begin to bloom where there's a sense of betrayal because you're like, my family's doing this or
Mhmm. That person's family do is doing that or you're because your parents did this. We hate you now. Right. And it's just this mass chaos of and you have these children who are innocent. And, again, this is one of the reason why I love it. Of course, those who know me, I I have a I have a a strong part, love for for kids and teenagers. They're thrown into this mess, and they're just trying to survive.
It reminded me and may it may be that some people might think I'm being a little bit melodramatic, and I may be. But it reminded me for those of you who are old enough and were there when 9 11 happened, I was the looks I saw on the on the people's face faces immediately afterwards, the feeling of that feeling of utter powerlessness and confusion and all that. Like, what I felt on that day, I saw a lot on the faces of that, and I'm like, that is real. Like, whoever
animated that understands that feeling. Oh, yeah. Because Absolutely. I mean, it was man, it's so much there. And, again, as we said, the animation does suffer through. There's moments throughout it where you're like, okay. They put a little bit extra attention into it, because they understood this is gonna be on a big screen. Like, some of the space fights where there was a lot of lighting taking place, it was interesting. Those were cool.
But, there something special about that first 30 minutes, man, where, I mean, it grabs you. It really grabs you off the bat. I also would have liked to have seen the character development of, what's her face. I can't I'm bad with names in these. Cecilia? Yes. Whatever her name was. The the one who was the friend who ended up being the daughter of the villain. Right. I would have loved to see her character development because there was a lot of shifting on her part.
Mhmm. That really made me want to understand what happened in the scenes that weren't Sicily, not Sicily. It's Sicily. Yeah. Yeah. I got I got I got to remember her. I got I knew that she's the place where delicious food comes from. That's fair. But because she take her character, takes some twists and turns. And is she brainwashed or is she buying in
sort of thing? And I would have loved to have seen the progress of that because I almost thought that she was gonna be the dissociative identity disorder Oh, yeah. Lady from Wing. Mhmm. I I because there was a lot of stuff they did miss that I saw them do in Wing, and I'm, like, I bet some of the what they did in Wing was some recycled ideas from this too.
Oh, I'm sure. I I again, this is one of those things where there was so much that happened, and this was such a a a weird point of of Gundam history. And there's so many ideas that just weren't taken and used. Now they did take some of it. They did a lot they apparently did a lot of 3 lines from what I'm reading in the in the in the weed channels, that, some of it was weed through Gundam victory, which, again, I like to see,
but you're right. I mean, there's definitely elements they took from this, and they have sprinkled through the rest of Gundam ness. But at the same time, that's that's one of the beauties of Gundam that I like, though, John, is the fact that they do that throughout the entire franchise. And There's nothing wrong with that. I I No. People do that in classical music all the time. It's called using a theme, and then you you can use a theme at one point and then
bring it back at a different point. And it's it's all a part of the same composition, but you have the same theme that ends up weaving through it. So it's there's nothing wrong with that if it's done right. If it's something that you lean on too hard, then it feels a bit derivative. Yeah. Definitely.
And so but the way they do it through a lot of Gundam stuff, I feel like it's great because it's it's always that whole, like, we're capturing a new audience, but the old audience, they see things that that that's the nostalgia that's grabbing them. A great example of it in the Gundam franchise, I think, is Gundam Seed. And I'm referencing that because they just had a movie drop in theaters a couple, months ago, which is, kind of a a capping of this of the franchise. But that is such a, I mean,
parallel universe of the original Gundam. Mhmm. And a lot of OGs could be like, man. Like, it like, it captured the Gundam franchise in a a special way. There's some people who who just hate it still. But I from the people I know, like, it captured because they're like, it's new, it's fresh or some interesting things taking place. But there's so many parallels that go back to that original that recapture the nostalgia that people had. Yeah.
And it's hard to talk about spoilers in this movie because there is so much time jump. So there's a lot of stuff that you have to fill in Yeah. Mentally that isn't there. What did you think of the motivation behind Cosmo Babylon? This aristocratic cross bone vanguard of this whole, like, where where the aristocrats were were meant to lead, and while we're at it, we're going to kill 9 tenths of the world because we don't like them. Well, that wasn't the entire that wasn't the entire, plot
of the the oh, the Crossbone Vanguard. I was I thought you're talking about the Roma family because the Roma fam like like the Roma family wanted the the what the Cosmo Babylon. Whereas the the pirates, I'm just going to call them pirates. That's fair. Whereas the pirates just wanted to kill 9 tenths of humanity. Like, so it was kind of like a subplot underneath the
villain. It was sort of like, I'm trying to remember characters from Wing to give it as an example, but it's basically like Lady on Wing having her own agenda or not or, Trey's having his own agenda versus Zack's Marquise. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So you you you get that. And that's that's, again, another theme that you see happen throughout Gundam is is who's the true villain is a is a constant theme that goes through there.
So it's like the idea of like what grandpa wanted in this movie wasn't a bad ideal to strive for, but I felt how he was going about it was wrong. Whereas Iron Mask, who was the leader of the pirates, as I'm going to call them, was the one who wanted the extermination of the 9 tenths of humanity. So it's almost 2 separate agendas that are woven together. Yeah. So we're on one hand, one's a good idea that was being gone about wrong, and the other one is just completely awful.
But but that's the thing. At the same time, Iron Mask, when I when I was looking at his ideas, especially when you understand the fact that he's a cyber new type. Mhmm. And what happens with that, and we need we should probably get to that conversation here in a minute. It it felt like the the extreme logical conclusion of causal babelon. But, I mean, you could say the extreme the the extreme end of any sort of political ideal is always gonna be some form of radicalization.
Oh, totally. That is always gonna end wrong. You never wanna go to the extreme end of one way or another on anything, which is well, I'm not gonna get into that on this podcast. But but so I would say I can't where I understand what you're saying. I can't necessarily say that it has to go that go to that length. So, But it was the length of the like, that was the thing is, like, what happened with Crossbow and Vanguard and then where our
mass was going. And, again, we'll have to get into the conversation about new types and cyber new types here in a little bit, but it is the it is the demented run of that ideal that was brought to him by his by his father. Right. So, and so but speaking of the conspiracy they had, I did find interesting, and I I'm I I've missed this for years. I've watched this a 1000 times. But there was a whole conversation about first air federation was like, they're just let
them figure it out. We're not gonna deal with it. Blah blah blah. And, and they're talking about the whole situation, and there's a revelation that the, the colonies that they have, they're built in a very classical, European high class way. And somebody goes had the revelation going, this was on purpose. Like, it it takes years to build these. Mhmm. Minimum, you have at least 30 years that these have been built because this all takes place after, Char's counterattack.
And they're like, somebody in their federation is working with crossbow to make this happen. And I would have loved to see that storyline play out a little bit more about the deception in the in the, the working of Crossbone and dash Cosmo Babylonia into, the Earth Federation? Because, again, that was another thing. It's like, nobody was a good guy.
No. It was just the kids on the boat and which again is kind of a running theme within Gundam of you got this the small crew of people who are just trying to survive and live life, and you have you have some good people in the in the federation, but then you have a lot of crap people who are like, hey. If we use the kids as human shields, they won't attack us versus the other cats who are, like,
blowing up stuff. And at the same time, I I had to laugh in the front end because they're coming guns blazing, destroying stuff, and yet the crossbow and Vanguard guys are like, citizens, we're not here to hurt you. I'm like, then stop shooting us. I that that's another thing that that I've learned to appreciate about Gundam 2 is the that there aren't in war, there aren't 100% villain or hero sides. There's only Mhmm. Sides that have both heroes and villains.
Mhmm. And so and I think that's I mean, if you really wanna get highbrow about it or meta, as the kids say these days, you know, that's that's kind of the message of the of this is just like they want to expose the realities of it, but in a safe spot, in a safe space, if that makes sense. Yeah. It's like, I know what I want to say, but I can't force it out of my mouth. I was having this issue last night, too, on playing games.
Oh, man. That's terrible. Yeah. Especially when you're the DM and you have to tell people what's going on. You sound like Let me ask you this. Porky pig. Oh, no. Let me ask you this. The conversations about new types, cyber new types Mhmm. I I was really intrigued by, how you would respond to it. Those of you listening to, the Gundam watch, you know that when Branson was going through the original Gundam, there's a lot of stuff
to talk about cyber about new types. He was lost a lot of the times because the way that the movies that he and I watched chalked things up. It took out some information. How were you with this conversation? Do you understand what they're talking about? Do you know what's taking place with new types and cyber new types? I was able to follow because I did listen to the Gundam watch before I entered the Gundam watch. So, like, I you explained the concept on there.
And so I'm like, so when they brought it into this, I'm like, oh, okay. I know what they're talking about. But they did not explain it in this movie very well, I mean, they did, but not very well. They basically are like someone who's born a natural that can automatically know it. Right. Right. Right. That I was wondering about that, because I I saw the same thing. I was like except they kind of explain it at times Mhmm.
But don't really go deeply into it. And when they drop the the term cyber new type, at the end when they were referring to the Iron Mask, I was, like, man, the the gravitas of him being a cyber new type is so big, but I don't think it makes sense for a crowd that doesn't know what that is. Mhmm. And I and I'm I'm hating that there was not a longer series to explain this here. Me too, but for different reasons.
Would you like to understand, the concept of cyber new type, or do you already know because you listen to the gun and watch? I mean, it's not so much I I like I was I was kinda putting bits and pieces together, just based off of what I knew a new type was and then context cues from the movie itself. So I I think I've got a handle on it. But Yeah. Okay. Cool. Well yeah. So you understand it's it's a it's a new type skin. These are people who Mhmm. They kinda have the 6th sense in space.
But the cyber new types, though, man, it's sad. You don't really get into it till you get into Gundam Zeta. And, I think I have at least 2 reviews of it in in the Gundam watch feed about it. But, I think you actually kinda brought it up a little bit when we did the Christmas episode for the Gundam watch as well. Oh, yeah. I think I did. I did. So but it's just it's tragic because you literally
are stripping the mind of a person. And this is this is why I was talking about how Iron Mask's motivation to do what he was doing, it's it's tragic to me on multiple levels because if for him to become a cyber new type, and you discover it was forced upon him to be able to achieve the goals that he felt like he needed to do, but it pushed him that far. It's a it's a tragic moment, to see that take place. And, we don't know much about his suit that he had. The,
where was it? What was it called again? I just had it up. The, rafalassea. That thing's so cool. Dude, it it was a monster, dude. It's actually a mobile armor. It's a it's a it's it's electronic Lovecraftian beast is what it is. Like like, for those for those of you who are familiar with HP Lovecraft, if you think of like the flat, the flower beings from the at the mountains of madness, it looks like a cybernetic version of one
of those. Like, no joke. I looked at that and I'm like, oh my gosh, it's at the mountain of madness. So yeah. So it was cool. It's I did a quick look. It's not using a psycho frame system, which is, oh, okay. It's using a a psycho system, but not psycho frame, which resonates with people. But the psycho system, it does date back to the original Gundam series, and people were losing the listeners right now as I talk about this because they're like, I don't know what he's saying.
So, yeah, even that links back, but it's meant to resonate with the new types and the psychonew types. But the more they do it, the more they lose their mind to the point that you have what happens after the movie where he's ready just to off his daughter. Yeah. And can I just say I hated the more to come ending of this movie? I I feel like that that that's a lie, sir, and you know it. Yes and no. Again, it was meant to be the launch of a of a new era.
Technically, there are some highly celebrated mangas that people are screaming to be made into an anime series and only and half of them are in English. I was actually looking for them earlier. I couldn't find them on Amazon. I've I checked by I found 1 on Amazon, but it was in Japanese, called Gundam Crossbone, and it takes place several years after these events. Cecilie has, forsaken her aristocratic roots, and her and Seabook are are handling some
stuff. And people genuinely like it, but Sunrise isn't touching it for some reason. Because they hate us. That's probably it. You're probably right. Probably it's alright. Well, do you have any final thoughts before we hit the ratings? I think we've hit basically everything. We can go beat by beat, but to really spoil this, it it's hard. I'll say this. I genuinely enjoy the mech designs of this, across the board. I I thought they were
fascinating. I thought that the crossbones, I appreciated the, the, the very military style looking that they were. I think they took the Zaku design, and they just ran with it in a whole new way that I appreciated. And I appreciate the way that they designed the f 91. I thought it was a cool I thought it was a cool suit. Now information nobody cares about, it's a tiny suit.
The way that they built the Munozky particle engine that it runs on, it's actually more efficient nerd crap that people will care about again. But, it's tiny. Like, it's genuinely just like when you see it, like, in video games, you're like, what is this little thing? You're like, oh, it's got a big gun. And so it's pretty cool.
As far as final thoughts for me, if you're going to watch this movie, don't go in expecting them to wrap up all the loose ends by the end of the movie because they left a few leads untouched. So Mhmm. You you could definitely tell they wanted this to be a series, and it just didn't happen. Yeah. So well, let's go ahead and go into the ratings. We have 4 different ratings here on the bottom shelf. 1st ranking is the top shelf, which is something to the effect of I
need to own this. I need to watch this repeatedly. I enjoyed it that much. Middle shelf is I'd watch it again if it was streaming or if someone else put it on. Bottom shelf is I'm not gonna watch it again. And, you know, if you like it, great. I'm not into it. And Dumpster Fire is, I'm gonna actively try to keep people from watching this movie, and it needs to be wiped off of existence forward and backwards. So that being said, mister Mora,
how do you rate this movie? Like, I actually have to ask. Well, legitimately, like, it's a, I'm I'm conflicted at times because, again, because of the choppiness of it, it's hard to watch. And I I genuinely question if somebody who's not a hardcore Gundam fan or a Gundam fan, period, would enjoy the film. But as far for a personal thing, again, I own it, and I was telling Celeste, like, I really need to get this on Blu ray. I need to get an updated version of
this for on Blu ray. And so I'm gonna have to top shelf this because while we recognize these weaknesses, you and I just spent an hour, and for the most part, we're going, I want more. Like, where's the where's the rest? And so top shelf. So as far as I'm concerned, like, you know how people always envision a scale where the top is touching the bottom like it's almost a circular ideal. This again for me is a tale of 2 different things.
Okay. And where I want to put this is where the bottom shelf and the top shelf meet. Oh, like right in the middle of those, like the dumpster fire is a completely separate entity for my scale. Let's get it off the scale before it infects everything else. Definitely. Because as far as this is as a movie, like as a movie movie, I'll never watch this again because this this as a movie, it makes me mad because I can see I can see how good it was supposed
to be. Right. But it took up too much mental energy for me to connect the dots that they were putting in front of me. I get that. Whereas if they flesh this out and made the series that they had intended to, I would watch that series over and over again. Like if because like what they put in front of me was something I legitimately wanted more of, but I didn't have enough of it to really satisfy me. So being as this,
it will only be a movie. I have to put it on the bottom shelf because I can only rate it as what they put in front of me. So it it's not a movie that I would want, and it's not something I can see myself streaming again. So Alright. So we're putting this, we're kinda split down the middle. Yep. So And I'm kinda concerned about where to ask for help. We're gonna put this in the Devoted Geek Life, tonight. And the thing is we don't have a ton of people in Devoted Geek Life that
are mega Gundam fans. Makasi might be able to jump in. I think Nathan Marchand has a thought on it. But if I drop this in the Gundams, space that I have, It's going to get a top shelf, if not middle. Mhmm. No. Let's just keep it in let's let's keep it as family business then, and whoever answers answers. Alright. I am making the post now. Actually, why don't you drop the link to it so they can watch it too, if, somebody wants to answer but hasn't seen it. Right.
But you're being at we we did I watched it for free on, YouTube. So Right. For those of you out there who You're like, how is this happening? Yeah. So I got you, man. So I I'm dropping the link in there here in a second, and we'll go from there. That being said, I think we'll have to and you'll we'll we'll we'll release the crowd rating at the beginning of the next episode because That's fair. I wanna get this out, and I want whoever listens this to feel compelled to visit us on the socials
to take part in this as well. So I get that. So here's a question for you, John. What's that? Want to reveal to people before we go off to the next segment, what we're doing next time or next month. Don't put me on the spot, Dallas, because I don't remember. Madame Web or 1970 Spider Man. Oh. Oh, that's right. I forgot you're gonna force me to watch Madame Web. I was supposed to do nothing. So, yeah, we're gonna we're we're next month is spider month for us here at, at the bottom shelf.
So that's gonna be a thing we're gonna do. We're watching spooky spider shows. Nah. Nah. So bad. It's scary. How about that? Yeah. I don't know. I'm I'm not tying it in the I'm not tying it into the spoopy ness. Like so Oh, cool beans. So with that being said, let's get on over to the weak connection section to find out what we have to say about this movie. If it can be redeemed, we shall try to. This is a weak connection.
Alright. Welcome to the weak connection area where we try to find something redeeming about the movies that we watch. Do you I I you always have one because you're the resident pastor on hand, Dallas. I sort of have I have a parallel more than a weak connection. But I'll let I'll let you go first.
Alright. So my weak connection I'll pull my notes here. I'm seeing about the end of the movie where, Seabook's mother who peers out of nowhere, is talking to him while he's trying to find Cecily and or Cecilia. No. Cecily. Cecily. You're right. The place where delicious food comes from. Anyways, so, but she's trying to help him find her and, she's lost in space. And, again, this is tapping into some of the the the
the magical new type powers, plot armor. But, she says this to him because if you only focus on just what's in front of you, you'll never see anything. You can't and and I was listening to that, and I was really beginning to think about the fact that, you know, there's a lot of things that when we're in moments where we're just and we feel lost, and we just sort of look at things right in front of us, it we don't really see everything that's
taking place. And it's such an easy thing to take place, where we're panicked, where we're frustrated, where, things are just thrown up, and we're we're we're struggling. We're grasping at thought straws. It makes sense. Nobody's faulting you when you're in that mode. But what do we need to do? Well, we've gotta look beyond just our moments. And I think about the scriptures, Proverbs chapter 3 verses 5 through 6, and I'm reading from the, nearly inspired version. I
mean, the new international version. I'm sorry. It says it's a old joke for you old old heads out there. I like the NIV. Fight me. It says this, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understandings. In all your ways, submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. And, what that means is, like, you're you need to rely on on what the Lord has for you. And what it's a conversation about relying with all your heart. That means giving
up everything. Even if you are you're questioning it, it doesn't look right, it doesn't you don't under again, it says lean on your understanding. Our understanding says we should not do this. We should not do that. But if we trust in what the Lord has for us, it's different. And we give him our whole heart. There's a level of trust there. I know from my own life, there are times and things I chose to do that did not make sense, and it I I I struggled with the decisions I made.
Even in as I'm coming out of traumatic moments, you know, coming out of a a very traumatic moment with my family, it did not make sense for me to trust certain people and to put my my faith in them to help me out because I was hurt so badly. Logic says I should have rebelled, fought, done certain other things, but I decided to trust in what the lord had for me. And on the back end, I'm I'm where I am now.
I'm not angry. I'm not bitter. I'm not holding on to certain things because I trusted in what the process I was walking through. And it's hard. It's not easy, and I need to make sure I say that very clearly. Trusting the Lord is not an easy thing sometimes, especially when we're in the midst of trauma and we're in the midst of depression and fear. It's a scary thing because when we're in those moments, our initial instinct is, I wanna control it. I want my hands on it.
Because when we're out of control, we look for what we can't control. The thing is, that's where why we trust the Lord because we can't control it because he is the one that's in control. You know, this is the great cosmic being who created everything. He's the reason why the earth floats perfectly in orbit so we don't burn up or freeze. He's the reason why our molecules don't just separate and disappear. He formed us in a way, and he knows us, and we have to trust him.
It's hard. It really is hard. And I think the way we get to that point is by we grow our trust in him, by loving him, seeking him through the word, through prayer. And then as we have these small moments with him where we're like, man, I should have made that, we need to recognize those moments. We need to genuinely look back and go, this was a moment that the the Lord took care of me and and mark
that down in our spirits. You know, the the people of Israel, when they traveled, they made several markers not to go, this is where we went or this is where we were. Let's go back to that moment and dwell on that, but so they can take their kids and go, hey. This is where we came from. Look how far we've come. Now you can go further because we were here once, and we need to have our own faith. We need to look at moments where we were failing, we were dying, and
we felt like trash. And we go, man, it sucked, but I made it through. And I can look at several points of my life. Even, man, just just 8 years ago, Celeste and I were going through a time frame where we were, man, we were cooked. We were exhausted. We were we were depressed. And, you know, and we're doing good stuff. We're serving the church faithfully. We're doing geek devotions, but we were in a bad spot, not in our marriage, but just us personally
in our hearts and our spirit. But we held on to what the Lord had for us even though it didn't make sense. Mhmm. And we walked it out, and here we are today. Mhmm. So that's my my, weak connection. Alright. Well, I like I said, I have more of a parallel than a weak connection, but there was something that there was something that kept reoccurring to me when I was watching this movie, specifically with Sicily, that her story reminded me a bit of the life of Hezekiah to a certain degree.
For those of you who aren't familiar with it, you you guys can go check his life out in 2nd Chronicles. It starts in chapter 29. Hezekiah's dad was a bad, bad dude named Ahaz. And Ahaz set up temples to pagan gods and Ashera poles and the high places. And if you don't know what any of those those things are, we'll just say it's bad things. It was bad things that the people of Israel were told not to participate in.
And Hezekiah comes around and, boy, I tell you that he he's he's he's a Bible hero of mine for for real. Like, I before before I got married, one of my things was like, if I ever have a kid, if I ever have a son, his name's gonna be
Hezekiah. But the thing about it is, though, when Hezekiah takes over after Ahaz, the first thing he does is he rededicates the kingdom to God's purposes, and he tears down the wicked things that his father had instilled and elevates God to the position or rather, he doesn't elevate God because man can't elevate
God. But he places God as the central ideal for his kingdom again, which encourages the people of Israel or rather not Israel, the people of Judah, rather, to re acknowledge God's lordship. And all that is to say that in this show, Sicily does the same thing where she sees the ideals that her grandfather and father before her have put forward.
And instead, she turns away from that and actively seeks to tear down these things that have been implemented and are being implemented that is being so destructive to her people, basically. Right. And all that is to say that the moral of this is you don't who your parents are, who your lineage is doesn't define who you have to be. A common a common a common phrase that's used among certain church folk is generational curses,
which are brought up in the Bible. However, we're under a new covenant, whereas we're no longer under the under a curse. And who you are doesn't have to be that generational curse, because the Bible talks about generational blessing as well. And when we become Christians, we are placed in a new a new lineage where we become a of a royal line, the Bible says. Right.
So my encouragement to you is don't be discouraged because of what you come from, who you were or who your family are, but be encouraged and be of good cheer that we have a new father through Christ. And I think that might even be a Bible verse somewhere. But yeah. So I mean, that that was the common thought that kept going through my head when I was watching this. So it's not as well thought out as I normally like to have these when I have them, but it's what I got. I like
it. That was good. Huzzah. Good job. So with that being said, how do you wanna close this out? We're not really promoting anything at the moment, are we? Is is it is there a theme for October yet on the geek devotions front, the comm talk? Yeah. It's, it's spooky. We're we're talking about stuff that is, it's, it talloweeny, but it's not so scary. But it's it's, spooptober. Yeah. Okay. Alright. Well, we might do a bonus episode
for some spoop next month. So you might catch 3 because we only got one this month, and I again, I apologize. September was hard all over. I'll put it like that. Yeah. So that being said, how how do we land this? It's been a minute. Well, first off, we invite people to check out the Discord channel and the rest of the Geek to Ocean Network. Go to geek toositions.com where you can find more episodes about the bottom shelf, the Gundam watch. We read allegedly, which John is a part of,
allegedly, and other fantastic podcasts. Don't forget to check us on socials, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Don't look for Twitter because we don't have that, but look for the bottom shelf. And then you say something about Salonga, thanks for all the fish. Or is that Celeste? Celeste does that on We Read Allegedly. So That's right. Oh, well. Bye, everybody. And we'll hope to catch on the next episode, and we hope to have that out to you sooner rather than later.
Alright. Buy cheese puffs. Stay fresh cheese bags. Maybe.