Join host Andy Pate, filling in for John Rush, as he explores why the new Star Trek Starfleet Academy series is causing a stir among fans. In an episode rich with humor and candid commentary, Andy dissects what makes Starfleet Academy a departure from the Star Trek we once knew and loved. With characters aimed at inclusivity but lacking in storyline strength, he questions whether the series truly represents the progressive future or is stuck in past ideologies. Amidst humorous critiques and a nostalgic look back at the Star Trek legacy, Andy converses with both co-hosts and callers about
SPEAKER 05 :
It’s finally Friday on Rush to Reason with your host, John Rush. So I tell him I’m a pro jack. And who do you think they give me? The Dolly Lama. So he finished 18, and he’s gonna sniff me. And I say, hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know? And he says, oh, uh, it won’t be any money. But when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive… So I got that going. And movie reviews with Andy Pate.
SPEAKER 02 :
I think that you got the wrong impression about me. I think in all fairness, I should explain to you exactly what it is that I do.
SPEAKER 09 :
What I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you.
SPEAKER 08 :
What do you want to do tonight?
SPEAKER 05 :
The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world. Stick a fork in me, Jerry. I’m done.
SPEAKER 06 :
Now, here is your host of Rush to Reason, John Rush.
SPEAKER 10 :
Filling in is Andy Pate, party of choice.
SPEAKER 18 :
And I’m your host, Andy Pate, filling in for John Rush, who right now is at a car show and has promised to send me lots of cool car pictures. Nice. Do you guys like seeing cool car pictures?
SPEAKER 03 :
I love them.
SPEAKER 18 :
I do, too. And this is, for all those who are wondering, are men and women the same? No, they are not. Women like looking at houses.
SPEAKER 03 :
I like that, too. So maybe I’m bi. No, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER 18 :
I’m not saying, look. I do like my wife and I, we will drive around and look at houses.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 18 :
Because we’re weird. Okay. But I mean, but really what do guys really want to look at though? We’re on the road. We’re looking at cars and women. Well, come on. I would hope so. And you know, we go to the store, you go to Sam’s club, you go someplace, go to the mall. What are you looking at in the parking lot? You’re looking at cars. You know, this is what we like to do. John’s going to be sending me pictures of that. You are hearing a couple of voices here. They are Luke cash. Man. And Tanner Cole. Man. That’s right. We are three men running the show today. Still not enough to fill in for John Rush. He’s just too much man. Would you agree to this?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah. I think so. Yes. I think so. It’s a pretty easy thing to say.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yes. Okay. Now, I want to go into something that is not a political topic. Talk a little politics at the end of this hour. But first… I am going to proclaim the death of something that I love and have loved ever since my youth. Here we go.
SPEAKER 14 :
Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission, to explore strange new worlds, To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before.
SPEAKER 18 :
Okay, are you guys Trekkies at all? Probably not, right?
SPEAKER 03 :
No, Star Wars till I die.
SPEAKER 18 :
So I’m talking for me and my generation. I grew up as a Trekkie. I actually went to Star Trek conventions. I did. Nice. I didn’t dress up. I didn’t do that. But I went to the conventions. I love Star Trek. And I tell you what, William Shatner was easily the best captain ever. What a real man. Captain Picard was second. All right. And then there were a few others that weren’t too bad. But I’m telling you what. There’s a new show out, and it is, I believe, the end of Star Trek. It’s called Star Trek Starfleet Academy, and it is bombing. It is bombing in a big way. This show is horrible, folks. It is horrible. Now, I’m going to describe this a little bit for you. Are you ready? And you at least know about Star Trek.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah. Did you see the movies? I’ve seen a couple of them. A couple episodes of the TV show back in the day.
SPEAKER 18 :
How about the newer ones with the new Kirk, the new Spock?
SPEAKER 04 :
Like I said, a couple. Newer ones being like what? Like the 2010, 2012 version? A decade, over a decade ago now?
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, those were actually pretty good. They were very good. Very faithful in a lot of ways to the original characters. They did it well. Okay. Here’s the new Star Trek Starfleet Academy. First of all, it has a gay couple.
SPEAKER 03 :
Lovely.
SPEAKER 18 :
A trans instructor, a lesbian instructor, and they are the couple. You got bisexual guys talking about, you know, that they, like Tanner here was goofing about earlier, they go both ways. And wait for it. Here we go. A gay Klingon who loves birdwatching. Wow. interesting decisions i am not kidding okay but let’s keep up let’s let’s go to body positivity representation here the cadets they’re a blend between hotties hunks and shall we say several heavy set members women heavy set women a bunch of them okay that’s right because chubby cadets will always do great in the physical fitness portion of cadet training I mean, one of them is a hologram. Now, how does a hologram get fat, Luke? Help me out here. I mean, do they have too many photon donuts?
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s a great question.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah. How does that happen? I mean, if you’re a hologram, don’t you think you’d be physically fit?
SPEAKER 04 :
You’d imagine you could change into whatever you wanted. Why would you choose… To be fat. I don’t know.
SPEAKER 18 :
I have no idea why. Okay. The captain, well, she’s a rebel. She’s a barefoot, smelly, smelly hippie. Okay. Who loves activism, by the way. She even says it. I love activism. Because, you know, there’s nothing better on a ship, a military… Organization where you have the chain of command, then having a bunch of activists who say anytime they don’t want to do something, they can protest it. What do you think? Is that going to work out real good, Tanner? No. Yes, yes, yes. Let’s see. They attack the idea of criminals being separated from their kids. That was actually the number one theme of the first episode. Folks, maybe they shouldn’t commit crimes anymore. I’m just saying, okay? Their ship is not like the original ones were named. The Enterprise. Voyager. All right? These are cool names, okay? These are cool names. No, no, no, no. The Defiant, right? No, it’s called the Athena. There is not a hint of manhood on this show. Oh, yes, yes. We also got to keep up with the representation here. They’ve got somebody in a wheelchair. They got a girl in a wheelchair. This is a thousand because they’ve gone an extra 800 years in the future. So that’s over a thousand years in the future. Okay, we already have roboticized everything today, but they haven’t figured out how to make robotic legs for the future. So they got this girl in a wheelchair. I’m kind of wondering, how does that work? How are they going to get her up into the… Well, no, no, I’m sure that they’ve got ways they can just beam her in, right? But how is that going to work during combat? Is she anchored down? is what i’m wondering okay because you know during you’re in the middle of combat right and then you’ve got your hippie general going there and barking out hippie commands i guess whatever they are and everybody’s at their station and the you’re getting hit from all sides and then you got this girl rolling back and forth in the background because she’s not anchored down i have no idea how this works this is the worst thing that has ever happened Ever. Okay, this is worse than the Biden administration. I’m going to say it right now. Let’s see here. Naturally, the white male characters are pathetic and immature. But by the way, you can barely find them. Charlie was joking earlier, finding a white male character in this show is like, where’s Waldo? I mean, you can’t find them, but they’ll all learn their lessons and be better people for it in the diversity training boot camp.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay. It does say Stephen Colbert is in the cast. Yes. So there’s your one white guy.
SPEAKER 18 :
Colbert. Yeah. You’re saying the word, you’re using the word guy. It’s loosest possible connotation there. Okay. The numbers, folks, are terrible. They’re desperate for viewers. And so they were so desperate. Starfleet Academy opened up. for free on YouTube. It was free, okay?
SPEAKER 04 :
Now, one- Just trying to get the ad revenue?
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, just to try to get somebody to watch it. Okay, one conservative-leaning YouTuber called Nerdotic, and I’ve actually watched some of his stuff. He’s pretty funny. He decided to compete with the show, okay, with their premiere by streaming a picture of a Spock action figure sitting alone on a chair. So he just took a Spock action figure and put it in a chair. He beat Starfleet Academy 3-1 in viewers. Okay, so, you know, Luke, I’ve got to ask you really quick here. Why is this show bombing? What do you think?
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, really, it could be anything. You know what it is. The reason the show is bombing is because you’re racist. Well, yeah, that must be it. Because you are a racist, hateful bigot. That’s why the show is bombing.
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, it’s kind of interesting that you say that because now a few members of the staff have basically put out comments ripping on Their audience. The fancy classic. Yeah, and seeing a lot of the audience is bigoted because the comments were coming in several times to one, like three or four, four to one negative comments to positive. And the positive must have been, I don’t know, family members of the cast i have no idea that the show is so bad and i’m not even getting into the fact that it’s all this millennial speak that they’re doing it’s it’s this gay 90210 kind of theme that they’re trying to do here and it is the opposite of everything that i grew up with with star trek being cool go ahead are the main people in the academy are they going to be able to fly their own ships or are they all managing one ship and fighting out of that Well, no, no, no. It is one ship.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 18 :
The Athena is actually their training center, but it’s also a ship.
SPEAKER 03 :
I was going to say, how do the overweight Academy members get into their own individual planes? Because there’s got to be a weight limit.
SPEAKER 18 :
All I can say is looking at some of the cast, I’m glad there’s no gravity in space. Because, you know, I wouldn’t want the ships to sink. Okay, I’m just saying. But you can’t sink because you’re in space. Hey, on the line right now, we’ve got somebody who knows a little bit about Star Trek. John in Cheyenne. John, I’m sure that you are watching this show over and over, and you’ve already got T-shirts of it.
SPEAKER 07 :
I’d rather have my teeth pulled without Novocaine. You know, I didn’t have any expectation for it. But if you’ve been following the Star Trek on Paramount+, this is a spinoff of that Star Trek Discovery, which went two good seasons, and then it went woke. to where we gave up in the third season. The first two seasons were good. They would be there. And then this, I’m not even going to give a chance.
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, they also did, John, they also did Section 31, which was ultra-woke and bombed.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah. Go ahead. Yeah, but the one that isn’t bad is Strange New Worlds, which is, it’s not bad. I’m not saying it’s, you know, Deep Space Nine or Voyager, but it’s not that.
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, that’s just it. Okay, look, you got the big four, right? You got the original Star Trek. You’ve got Star Trek Next Generation. You got Deep Space Nine and Voyager, right? Those are the big four. Strange New Worlds doesn’t even come close to those levels. It’s very woke. It’s not ultra ridiculous woke like this, but it’s also very woke. Right. And annoying.
SPEAKER 07 :
Everything’s woke today. Preaching. But, Andy, you left out probably the best Star Trek since Next Generation, and that was Star Trek Picard Season 3.
SPEAKER 18 :
Season 3, yeah, but you had to slog through 1 and 2.
SPEAKER 07 :
1 was, yeah, true, but Season 3 was… Yeah, if you haven’t seen it, that’s worth it.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, but everybody was only watching. By the way, Enterprise wasn’t too bad either. Everybody was only watching Picard to see Seven of Nine come back.
SPEAKER 07 :
And she was back in all three seasons. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER 18 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 04 :
Wait, Luke, did you have a comment? Luke has a comment. I had some fun little stats for you because I looked it up on YouTube. Star Trek Starfleet Academy currently sitting at 8,000 likes, almost 30,000 dislikes.
SPEAKER 18 :
Oh, man. Folks, really quick here, Luke, before you run on. The only people watching this are fans who want to love the show.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 18 :
Let’s keep that in mind.
SPEAKER 04 :
Keep going.
SPEAKER 18 :
This is like John and Cheyenne having all of his family log on and four to one not liking him. But go ahead.
SPEAKER 04 :
I wanted to read for you some of the top comments in this YouTube section because they are one of the top comments. Why does the bridge look like a Dave and Buster’s? I like how the captain reminds me of a manager at a Dollar Tree. The bridge crew looks like they’ve been replicating donuts and cheeseburgers. Someone says my expectations were not low enough. And then another person says, it is too bold leaving the comment section open. So I just wanted to share what some of the fans were saying.
SPEAKER 18 :
I do believe that they had to have somebody, they had to have a bridge fixer. Okay, somebody who could go around and… Fix all the dents being made in the bridge by the heavyset characters. Oh my gosh, John, it’s horrible. It’s horrible.
SPEAKER 07 :
I’m going to debate. I got a point. I disagree with you as Picard being number two captain. I’m going with Sisko before Picard. I just think he was better. Yeah, but he was better than Picard. Picard was too perfect.
SPEAKER 18 :
You know, I hate to say this, but somebody who was way too mothering, but also a very good captain. Come on. You know where I’m going here.
SPEAKER 07 :
Janeway?
SPEAKER 18 :
Janeway. I like Janeway. You’re going with Janeway. I like Janeway. I like Picard.
SPEAKER 09 :
He was good, yeah.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, but, I mean, Janeway was a lot more masculine than a lot of the men who have been on some. You know, and Scott Bakula, by the way, was pretty good on Enterprise, too. Yeah, yeah, he was good. Okay, I’ve got to ask you this. I’ve got to ask you this because we’re all guys here, okay? We’re all guys here, so we’re going to be totally chauvinistic. Okay, who’s hotter, T’Pol from Enterprise or Seven of Nine?
SPEAKER 07 :
Oh, Andy, you’re going to get me in trouble again.
SPEAKER 18 :
I’m going to totally get you in trouble. I’m going with T’Pol because, you know, my wife is a brunette, so I’m going to stay in line there, but go ahead. I’m going…
SPEAKER 07 :
I’m sorry, Dax. Jadzia Dax. Oh. She was very cute. Okay. That’s not bad. That’s not bad. Yeah, I’ll put her right up there with those other two. Okay.
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, John, let me stay on for a moment because I want to close this and I want to hear what you think. We’re talking about why is this show bombing? Why is Starfleet Academy bombing? And my view is not that it’s too progressive. My view is that it’s too much in the past. I mean that. See, in the past, Star Trek always stretched the bounds a little bit of where society was going. They had the first interracial kiss, of course, as we know, in the first show.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, I don’t believe that they, I think they’re living in the past. Folks, Trump just got reelected in a landslide. Guys are out of women’s sports. Go woke, go broke are four of the most popular words out there. Every company that does what this show is doing is losing money hand over fist. They’re living in the past. They’re living in a time of 10, 15 years ago when this stuff actually worked. I don’t think they’re forward thinking at all. I think they’re in the past. What do you think, John?
SPEAKER 07 :
Oh, I agree with you 100%. And just remember the great Frank Gorshin line, he’s black on the wrong side. Oh, yes.
SPEAKER 18 :
That was a great episode, by the way. Awesome, awesome episode.
SPEAKER 07 :
You know, anybody wants to watch something about racism with a point of view, that’s the one to watch because it was just out there far-fetched. But then when you think about it, They were talking about exactly what was going on in the times of the day.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, and really quick here, for those who don’t know, and Frank Gorshin was also the Riddler from the original Batman, for those who don’t know, you had two races, one black on one side, white on the other. You know, one on the left and right, and they just switched them. And they hated each other, even though they looked identical, but they were on the opposite sides, black and white. John, I got to let you go. I got some movies to review, okay? Andy! Have a great day, buddy. You bet, and I just want everybody to wish some condolences to Star Trek because Star Trek, to me, was everything, and now it’s gone. Go ahead, Tanner.
SPEAKER 03 :
Paramount Plus finally got UFC, and they had that huge deal, which is the most manly thing you can watch, and then they released this, and then one other thing. Rotten Tomatoes has it at 88%.
SPEAKER 04 :
From critics. The audience has it at like 44%.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, like 44%, 42%. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER 18 :
Rotten Tomatoes, which is, of course, as I always say, full of… wacko leftist extremists i’m serious okay these people you know they don’t believe that bernie sanders is marxist enough okay they’re out there but the audience which once again you got to keep in mind who’s the audience for this show it’s people who want it to succeed it’s right trekkies like me they hate it 43 all right folks let’s take a break we’re going to come back do some movies up next is dr scott faulkner who would never make a show Like this. Okay, he would never make a show like Starfleet Academy. Dr. Scott Faulkner, get a doctor who innovates to keep you safe and healthy. For You First Medicine, call Dr. Scott at 303-663-6990.
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SPEAKER 18 :
Are you ready for a movie? I am ready for a movie! Right, it’s about time. Tanner, you’ve got to match up to it.
SPEAKER 03 :
I’m preparing.
SPEAKER 18 :
The pressure’s on. Peek the mic. Well, Luke, it’s time for some AI justice in Mercy.
SPEAKER 06 :
My name is Detective Christopher Raven. We live in a world where murderers walk free in a justice system bogged down by red tape and human error. that all ends with mercy. A judicial system powered by artificial intelligence with access to every camera, cell phone, and database. If you commit a capital crime, you have 90 minutes to prove your innocence to an AI judge, or you will be executed.
SPEAKER 15 :
Detective Raven, I’m Judge Maddox, and this is the Mercy Capital Court. Hold on, this way. Wait a second. You’re before this court today charged with the murder of your wife.
SPEAKER 06 :
I loved my wife. I didn’t hurt her.
SPEAKER 15 :
If you are innocent, prove it.
SPEAKER 06 :
I need us to walk the scene. You know, I have something here. We gotta go old school. That’s a bomb.
SPEAKER 15 :
You’re running out of time.
SPEAKER 06 :
Wow, thank you for that. Bring that back. Pause. Play it again. Can you find out who that is?
SPEAKER 15 :
Do you want to uncover the truth? Even if the truth is dark.
SPEAKER 06 :
Do you honestly think that I killed my wife?
SPEAKER 15 :
I think there’s more that you’re not revealing.
SPEAKER 18 :
Alright Luke, what do you think? I think it sounds like a good idea. Sounds good. Okay, here we go. Chris Pratt. We all like Chris Pratt. Chris Pratt’s decent. Yeah, he’s a good guy. All right. He stars as Chris Raven, an LAPD officer who designs an impartial AI program. He helps design it to assess guilt or innocence. Then one night he goes out drinking and wakes up strapped down in a chair. His wife has been killed and he is the lone suspect. Worse yet, Raven now has 90 minutes to prove his innocence to the judge, and this judge is the AI system he helped promote. By the way, she’s played by Rebecca Ferguson, so a hot judge, of course.
SPEAKER 09 :
Of course.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, of course. And she tells Raven the evidence against him is irrefutable, so a guilty plea would be advisable. Okay, you got 90 minutes. Go! What do you think?
SPEAKER 04 :
I think, like I said, I think it sounds like an interesting premise.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, it really is. OK, well, now this system, it’s been adopted to clean up the crime in L.A. I mean, perhaps that city should consider a clever option called enforcing the law. I’m just saying L.A. But this AI system is cold, ruthless and with no nuance. Well, how does this work? Well, along with being judged by AI, we’re surveilled all the time in this future land, which isn’t too different from today, right? But even more. So Raven must look at tons of video and other evidence showing he killed his wife. So what are Raven’s tools? Well, he’s got all the digital footprint of everyone he knows. That’s pretty cool. That means everything from phones and computers to front door cameras and his daughter’s secret Instagram account. Woo-hoo! Yeah, so Raven’s about to see more than he wants. And a fellow LAPD officer named Jog, she’s played by Kali Race, and she’s good, is also helping run down lead swarm. Well, unfortunately, all Raven remembers is confronting his wife about something that upset him and getting arrested then at the bar. Pretty much everything else is a blank. That’s not good. So it’s a race against time for Raven, and the only thing less forgiving than AI is time. That’s the story. What do you think, Luke?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, I think, I mean, it sounds compelling.
SPEAKER 18 :
Okay, well, what works in Mercy? Here we go. I love Chris Pratt. That’s what works in Mercy. I just like him. He’s both funny and serious, and he can go back and forth between the two just effortlessly. Don’t you think, Tanner?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, this is the one movie trailer I’ve seen this year that I was actually interested in.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, it’s interesting. Also, I like Rebecca Ferguson. I like Kali Reese and I like Chris Sullivan. He’s this big guy who plays a friend of the family and he does a good job, too. So you got some good acting, pretty good acting in this. I felt the frustration of dealing with AI. It’s like navigating menus and recordings when you call customer service. It really is. You need help, but the system isn’t there for your needs. Right. Well, that’s now imagine you’ve got 90 minutes to not die and you’re dealing with that. I can see the frustration there. Next, there are times when I’m one I’m one of those calls. I’m begging for the death penalty, honestly, with customer service. And there are times when you can see the frustration in him as well. Next, there’s good use of body cam and other footage throughout the show, piecing together the mystery. Now, the pace is brisk. The story moves and the plot twists several times along the way. I was engaged in this movie. I was actually engaged, enjoying following the story of this movie. Also, there’s a drone like motorcycle. You got four fans at the corners of a one seater so cops can fly.
SPEAKER 04 :
A little quad cycle or something?
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, no actual wheels. You’ve got the fans. Like a drone. Like a drone. I thought it was pretty cool. There’s a good message for the innocent until proven guilty kind of thing. Because in this, you are basically guilty, but you’ve got to prove your innocence. You’re already found guilty. So guilty until proven innocence. And this movie shows how that’s a very terrible thing, and it’s good that we don’t do that anymore.
SPEAKER 03 :
For now.
SPEAKER 18 :
So in a way, this was anti-Me Too. The entire Me Too movement was built on guilty until proven innocent. Anybody could accuse away all your rights. And that was the strength of Me Too. This kind of goes the opposite and says, no, people should be innocent until proven guilty. It’s a good message. And finally, it’s not too preachy either way about AI. That surprised me because a lot of these AI movies put AI as the biggest threat in our lives.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right.
SPEAKER 18 :
And this doesn’t really do that. It does show how it can be damaging, but it also shows how it can be very helpful. And I thought the even-handed approach to AI was very refreshing in a movie like this. Okay. Well, what doesn’t work in Mercy? All right, here’s the big word. Implausibility. Quite a bit of it. As the plot moves and the twists come, each gets less believable. By the way, I watched this with Corey, my wife. She was with me, and she felt the same way. The AI, she’s too human, too much conscious. I don’t want that. I don’t want a conscience with my AI. I want her to be more of a computer. Now, don’t get me wrong. I guess in a future time, AI is going to be more responsive and seem more human than
SPEAKER 04 :
Have you talked to Chad GPT recently? It’s pretty close.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, I know that. I know, I know. But we’re talking facial expressions and so forth. She just seemed a little too human. And next, 90 minutes? Well, what if he wasn’t a skilled police detective? Okay? You just take some schlub off the street. Is that person going to be able to, in 90 minutes, put together a defense for themselves? It doesn’t matter how many tools you give them. And that, to me, is a ludicrous part of the show. They show lots of homeless and criminals. in la and they’re all white men all of them in la the dialogue is weak at times also due to the cam footage we don’t get to see a lot of the action you know cam footage is the action’s just out off to the side that’s kind of frustrating when we do such as a truck chase scene that goes on it’s pretty cheap cgi pretty cheap cgi i was not impressed go ahead i was gonna say weird that we’re still getting bad cgi yeah in 2025 you go back to even like pirates of the caribbean right you know davey jones that cgi is from the early 2000s and it looks beautiful yeah they nailed it yeah and this the chase scene i’m just like oh come on throw a few more bucks into this okay give somebody a raise um finally the villain just feels too predictable i saw it coming okay so those are the problems now mercy with rotten tomatoes 24%.
SPEAKER 04 :
They hated it. They killed that movie.
SPEAKER 18 :
Oh, my gosh. I was really surprised by that. They hated it. I disagree.
SPEAKER 09 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 18 :
I disagree. Corey gave it three and a half stars. And I just can’t quite do it. It’s a strong three-star movie for me.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 03 :
I am DB has six out of 10. So right in there.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
Not bad.
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, six out of 10 is three.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right in the middle.
SPEAKER 18 :
Three out of five. Yeah. And I give it three stars. I think it’s not a bad movie at all. I think now the implausibilities are real and you’re going to be rolling your eyes a few times. I was rolling my eyes. Corey was rolling your eyes. I think people in the audience. In fact, I think I could hear collective rolling of eyes. a few times but here’s the main thing guys at a time when so few movies are well edited right that that are all very slow that take very long they’re two hours and 20 minutes when they should be an hour 40 you know we’re seeing that all over the place this movie hummed along the story hummed along i cared about the main character i actually cared about the way it was drawing me through the story that was good and it’s refreshing so i kind of like that so three stars political too just because you know guys not all the villains and bad people on the streets are white guys you know most of them aren’t yeah hollywood you can you know mix it up a little bit i think you can do that moral religious three didn’t say anything i like that do i recommend going to mercy Guys, I do. Okay. I recommend going to it, but expect some eye rolling.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 18 :
But it is not a bad movie. And when we come back, we’re going to be looking at a little sequel I’ve been looking forward to. Up next is Veteran Windows and Doors. Hey, you can trust Dave from Veteran for the best quotes and a five-year labor warranty. Call Veteran at 303-529-0720.
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SPEAKER 16 :
The best export we have is common sense. You’re listening to Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 18 :
And welcome back to Rush to Reason. Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560, Andy Pape filling in for John Rush, along with Luke Cash and Tanner Cole. Man. And Tanner!
SPEAKER 03 :
What’s up, bud?
SPEAKER 18 :
Are you ready for a movie? I’m ready for a movie! He’s pounding his chest. That was impressive.
SPEAKER 03 :
I’m going to start an earthquake in here.
SPEAKER 18 :
I want you to know, but I think you’re actually injured now. But that’s okay. Okay, well, Tanner, the video game was a phenomenon. The first film was groundbreaking. What can we expect from the third film in the Silent Hill series, Return to Silent Hill?
SPEAKER 11 :
James, so much time has passed. But I’m asking to please come back to our special place. Something’s happened. Love, Mary.
SPEAKER 08 :
Hello? Can anyone hear me?
SPEAKER 15 :
Everyone got sick in Silent Hill. Something’s happened here.
SPEAKER 09 :
Something really, really bad.
SPEAKER 11 :
What you’re doing, it won’t be enough to save her.
SPEAKER 09 :
You did it, didn’t you, Jimmy? You woke him up.
SPEAKER 01 :
No one said it would be easy.
SPEAKER 18 :
All right, Tanner, what do you think? You’re not a big, you don’t like horror films.
SPEAKER 03 :
I can’t do it, no.
SPEAKER 18 :
Okay, okay, okay. Well, Jeremy Irvine, he stars as James, a tortured artist who misses his old girlfriend, Mary. She’s played by Hannah Emily Anderson. He met her one day while driving recklessly, and the memory of her haunts him. Mary is from an old town called Silent Hill. Well, ignoring the advice of his psychologist, James goes to Silent Hill in hopes of finding Mary. She has always wanted to leave the place she’s from there. But now who knows? Maybe she doesn’t. Well, Mary was raised by a religious zealot father in a terrible cult. There’s always a cult, isn’t there? You notice this? There’s always a cult. And she’s bitter and messed up. But can James even find her? When he arrives in Silent Hill, James sees the trademarks from previous films, abandoned streets at first anyway, lots of fog, ash falling from the sky. There was once a fire there. It’s an eerie, scary place. But James, he’s been there when it was normal. And this is the weirdness. You can walk through Silent Hill and have it be totally normal, just an abandoned town or maybe even some people still there. Then you can walk through it and suddenly it’s a totally abandoned town with ash falling from everywhere. And you’re in a ghost town. It’s a very, very strange place. Well, before long, James sees terrifying creatures, people missing arms and faces, walking in twisted, disjointed fashion. This should be terrifying, but it’s typical in Silent Hill. In fact, I wonder if there’s a nearby town where all the arms and faces went. I’m just saying I have no idea because they’ve done it in all three movies now. There are other terrors. You’ve got these strange bugs with stranger tongues. Nurses with knives. That’s big in all the Silent Hill movies. You’ve got to have the nurses with knives. A spider woman. She’s really creepy. And, of course, the pyramid head juggernaut that kills everyone that’s been in every movie. Now, James, he feels trapped because the terrors keep coming everywhere he runs. And he meets a few others who are trapped there with him, like Angela, who’s also played by Hannah Anderson. And Eddie, this chubby jerk who fits right in for such a sick place. But ultimately, like every Silent Hill, this is a battle to find a lost love while surviving a literal hell collapsing around you. So James is on the run from horror to horror, trying to make sense of it all. Tanner, what do you think?
SPEAKER 03 :
Not going to watch it.
SPEAKER 18 :
Not going to watch it. Okay. Well, what works in Return to Silent Hill? Well, first of all, Jeremy Irvine, he does a good job looking confused and scared every scene. Pretty easy to do, trust me. Next, as always, Silent Hill brings strange new special effects and horrors. The bugs, the spider. And there’s an interesting story with a young girl, a sexy girl, and a scared girl. Wow. OK, so you get these three girls that are in. It’s kind of an interesting little story. OK, what else works in Return to Silent Hill? Oh, no, nothing. Absolutely nothing. By the way, before we go on, the original Silent Hill is one of my favorite horror movies of all time. It is groundbreaking. In the special effects, they were just absolutely spectacular for the time. And also it had a really cool story. It was gruesome at times, but it was also eerie, eerie, eerie. It was just a very cool movie. And they have fallen so far from that now. It’s unbelievable. Okay. What doesn’t work in return to silent Hill? First of all, the special effects, they actually look cheaper. Luke, we’re like 20 years in the future now or whatever.
SPEAKER 04 :
It’s a trend recently. I don’t know. VFX have really gone down in quality over the years.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, well, they went down for this one. I mean, it was not good. Characters, it looks like they’re in front of a green screen. I’m not sure. It’s like kids making shadow rabbits on the wall behind them. It’s not impressive at all. The Eddie character, he makes no sense. Why is he there? There’s no reason for this character to be there. He was just added in. I have no idea why. More than anything, this is a slog. This is the worst part of the movie, guys. It’s a slog. It’s boring. Just going from scary room to scary hallway to scary bugs to scary whatever. What is the point? I mean, in the first movie, you were really pulled along by the story. Yes, I know he’s trying to find Mary. I get it. Dude, you’re not going to find Mary, okay? I mean, from the way it looks anyway. Or if you do, we don’t even care, okay? It’s just this endless traipsing around in this awful land. And in the first one, you’ve got a woman who’s looking for her daughter in Silent Hill, and she’s in this nightmarish… place with all these nightmare creatures and all these incredible special effects going on around her and you got great acting you got a good story you got everything here you got none of that you’re bored everybody in the audience is bored by the way you would think that the first movie with Chris Pratt would be the bigger movie right yeah There were probably about five or six, I’ll say eight people in the audience. For Return to Silent Hill, there were probably about 40 people in the audience.
SPEAKER 04 :
Full theater.
SPEAKER 18 :
Oh, yeah. This is a very popular little franchise, and they were all packed in. Let me tell you something. I wasn’t seeing anybody excited. I really wasn’t. Everybody looked bored. Okay. In the first film, there was a point, along with intense interaction with the cult. Okay, there’s always that cult. Here it’s just aimless running and no point. When James finally feels ready to make his big decision that he’s got to make in this movie, the question is why? Why are you more ready now? Was it the spider lady? Was it running through a maze that happened to appear? Was it the bugs? Was it the nurses with knives? I am so bored. Make it end. I mean, I wanted to find my way out of the theater. This is another one of those movies where I left claw marks on the inside door of the auditorium as I was trying to get out. This was awful, folks. Rotten Tomatoes, they agreed 12%.
SPEAKER 04 :
Whoa. That’s, is that on?
SPEAKER 18 :
That’s literally half what the previous movie got, Mercy.
SPEAKER 04 :
I mean, 12% sounds in the running for, like, the worst movie of the year, and we’re in January.
SPEAKER 18 :
I know, I know. Well, January movies can be very weak, and the interesting thing is, now, the last probably three years in a row, my worst movie of the year had a half star or no stars.
SPEAKER 09 :
Ooh.
SPEAKER 18 :
And no stars. There was a movie called Y2K in 2024, which had literally zero stars. Wow. Who was the girl, Rachel Zegler, you know her from Snow White? Yes. She burned that to the ground, right? She was in Y2K. It was unreal. Well, anyway, getting back to Return to Silent Hill. Rotten Tomatoes, 12 stars. I’m going to give it quality one star. So not a half star.
SPEAKER 04 :
No, still a death sentence.
SPEAKER 18 :
Because there are still some cool things to look at in the ash and the eeriness and the whatever. And you care about him, and there you go. At least it’s something, okay? Political, three. It doesn’t say a thing. Moral, religious, obviously one for obvious reasons. It’s supposed to be. Folks, do I recommend going to Return to Silent Hill? No. But what I do recommend, if you like horror movies at all, rent the original Silent Hill. It’s well made. It’s very, very scary and very well done. And there’s going to be quite a bit of gore you will find toward the end. The original Silent Hill is worth watching. This is not. Get away from any theater that is playing Return to Silent Hill. What do you think?
SPEAKER 04 :
Sounds good. Sounds like I’m not going to watch it.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, and I know Tanner wasn’t going to go do it anyway. You hate horror films. You’re like John Rush, right?
SPEAKER 04 :
I can’t do it.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah. Luke, you can handle them. Sort of.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, I mean, it’s very hard for a horror movie to scare me.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, okay. Well, let’s take a break. When we come back, I want to talk a little bit about something that just happened in the news, okay? Up next is Cub Creek Heating and Air. So your heater… Is working. That’s great. But will it still work in February? Don’t guess. Be sure. With an honest inspection from Cub Creek at 303-656-5467.
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SPEAKER 18 :
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SPEAKER 18 :
Now back to Rush to Reason on KLZ 560. And welcome back to Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560, Andy Pate filling in for John Rush along with Tanner Cole and Luke Cash. Okay, gentlemen, there’s another man who I really admire, and his name is J.D. Vance. Okay. Very good vice president. I got to say, he’s the most impressive vice president I think I’ve ever seen. He really is. But anyway, he was in Minneapolis yesterday. I don’t know if you heard about this. He was there to set straight the record on the left’s narrative that ICE used a five-year-old boy as bait to arrest his illegal immigrant father. And, of course, that was a lie. They were going after the father because he was a criminal. And the father abandoned the five-year-old boy. And they had to take care of him because otherwise he would freeze out in the cold. Okay. Well, anyway, a bunch of liberals got together because, and these are these big paid protests, so they’re all organized. And they organized outside of J.D. Vance’s hotel at night. And the whole idea, and they’re doing this to ICE too, is that they will scream and yell and bang pots and play instruments, okay, to keep the people from sleeping in there. Keep ice from sleeping, and in this case, to keep J.D. Vance from sleeping. So they were doing this in negative 15 degrees. Little did they know, Vance landed back in D.C. five hours early. Yikes. Okay, so a few quick questions here. First of all, what kind of right-wing genius infiltrated this well-funded organization to trick them into thinking Vance would still be there because that’s what happened?
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s awesome.
SPEAKER 18 :
Is that pretty cool?
SPEAKER 03 :
This is what soccer fans do when another team comes to play in a big game. They’ll be outside the hotel banging pots and pans so they’re not ready for the game.
SPEAKER 18 :
Right. Well, this was a bad thing. Secondly, it was 15 below.
SPEAKER 1 :
That’s great.
SPEAKER 18 :
Did the trombone guy get hazard pay? That’s what I want to know. What do you think?
SPEAKER 03 :
How can you play a trombone with those big gloves on?
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, I have no idea, man. I have no idea, but they were trying. Let me ask you this, Luke. What kind of protest is acceptable? I mean, why isn’t this disturbing the peace? Forget about J.D. Vance. Think about the other people. You’ve got other people who paid to be in this hotel who are being kept from sleeping. Isn’t that disturbing the peace?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, I don’t know where the line is.
SPEAKER 03 :
I’m sure there’s other hotels, apartment buildings, businesses around as well. So it’s not just the hotel as well.
SPEAKER 18 :
That’s what I was going to get to, Tanner. I mean, what about regular businesses having their storefronts blocked and customers scared away? I think, folks, the time has come that we’ve got to start looking at what is okay for protests. Because I’m all for peaceful protests. You can totally disagree with me. That’s fine. Right? Right. But you’ve got to do it quietly, and you shouldn’t be gathering in front of businesses and cutting traffic to their business, right? And I don’t care if you’re a right-winger like me and you’re doing the Tea Party thing. I don’t care. Get off the sidewalk. These people have businesses. How dare you? You know, if you’re going to protest that abortion clinic, get back to the legal limit, and that’s quite a ways, and you should do that. I’m sorry. It’s the way it is. It’s a business, even though I hate the business. Luke, what do you think? Has it gone too far? Are we allowing way too much now?
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s a good question. That’s a good question. I think there’s a lot of nuance to it. And when you have a group of individuals who believe that the action being taken is extreme, then they feel justified in their extreme response. Extreme action begets extreme action begets extreme action. So it’s a cascading effect. And I don’t think when the tensions are so high and it feels like the only option left is to be extreme, you’ve kind of Put yourself in a corner on both sides because no one wants to back down.
SPEAKER 18 :
Okay, well, fair enough. But Tanner, should they be allowed to keep paying people from sleeping in this hotel?
SPEAKER 03 :
I don’t think so.
SPEAKER 18 :
I mean, those people paid to be there.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. I don’t like it.
SPEAKER 18 :
What about a guy who’s got a business, right? maybe a coffee shop, and nobody will come in. He’s losing big-time money, and he’s running on a margin all because of these people because when they protest, they’re doing it in a way that’s driving away customers.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right. Yeah, I don’t like that, but I don’t really know what the solution is. It’s not like the cops can arrest him.
SPEAKER 18 :
See, in my opinion, the solution is to do demonstrations in parks, arranged in parks and government locations and so forth, not in places where you’re keeping people from sleeping and where you are disrupting lives. And I don’t care if you’re right, left wing, no wing, whatever. I mean, at some point, folks, we’ve got to get back to letting people live their lives and arrange your protests and marches and things in places that are marked out and approved in advance. What do you think?
SPEAKER 03 :
I think so.
SPEAKER 18 :
I mean, then people can sleep. Does that sound good? Sure.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right.
SPEAKER 18 :
Folks, that is it for our number one and our two, Richard Rush. He joins us for NFL picks on championship weekend, and then it’s movies in the future. Until then, keep it right here in Rush to Reason, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 08 :
Bye.
SPEAKER 1 :
Bye.
