A place for those who "Trust the Fungus"

Great commentary of the film, Kaiser. Are you either Black or White or are you just posting it? Either way, it's always fun to hear a respectful take of the movie even if it's not outright positive. All three of the reviewers hit the right notes, both the criticisms and the great parts.

There were a few things I wanted to point out since the information wouldn't be apparent to someone that hasn't done all the research we have. Hopefully I can clear those points up and help them better appreciate the movie.

- First of all, yeah, the animated intro is crappy. Apparently, it was a last-minute addition forced into the film because the producers were afraid the concept of a parallel world with humans that evolved from dinosaurs wasn't "tracking" well with test audiences. So they mandated the animated intro to spell it out. The idea was to make the graphics reminiscent of the games released at the time but they just rushed it.

- As much as I don't like it, the fossil Daisy and Luigi discuss at the end of their date isn't Daisy's mother. It would have had a really great subtext to add to the already emotional scene but it was just a random proto-dinosaur-human that had crossed over the portal millennia ago and instantly fossilized in the rock.

- I just wanted to note how cool it was that Black brought up the cut extended sequence in the de-evolution chamber. It's the most obvious cut in the film and I've never heard anyone else noticing it. What's even cooler is that there's so much more deleted scenes and sequences. We know there's at least 30 minutes of additional footage cut for whatever reason. There's a whole 'nother movie out there.

- Even cooler than that is the part about not caring whether or not Luigi has a mustache. That is seriously the dumbest complaint we run into all the time.

- The reason the cars in Dinohattan spark is because they're electric and run off a grid. They kind of have to utilize electricity since they don't have fossil fuels for obvious reasons. This is why the brakes fail later in the movie when they go through the tunnel: the car's hook disconnects from the grid and powers the vehicle down. The brakes aren't gone, they just can't be used anymore.

- Finally, I just love the way they compare the film's ending to Back to the Future's. The hilarious thing is that the situation was exactly the same: they didn't plan an sequel at all. It's just the best way they could write it at the time. The exact details will become more clear in some time, but it really is funny how you all made that parallel.

It really was a great commentary. As I said above you all hit the rights points and did it in a respectful way. I'd love having any of you stick around and get your takes on all the information we've since found. It definitely puts the film in a different perspective.

Thanks a million for your response, Redstar! I'm Mr. White on the show. I'm usually the brain on the show and I believe I did indeed visit this website for some research. I've also really enjoyed the new content posted recently.
I'm rather curious about your statement about the brakes of the cars. When Mario, Luigi and Toad are driven into the station, the car had to be stopped by the use of a cord. This made me think that this was the only way they could stop their cars, along with Mario stating that there was no brakes. It was rather too convenient to allow the car to suddenly have brakes, just for them to get out of the crossfire they were in. That's why I felt it was a plot hole.

First of all, I loved your commentary--particularly your...inspired dialogue replacement

And yeah--it's taken us fans ages to analyze and rationalize the whole situation with the brakes and stuff. Here's my take on that one--what Redstar said above was valid. It's not a plot hole, there are brakes on the cars. This is validated because it's in two instances in the film, if you think about it. Once when Mario slams on the brakes of the police car, and again when "clown shoes man" stomps the car to a halt to avoid a Bob-omb explosion.

And now to clear up the two instances where there are seemingly no brakes. Like Redstar noted above, the brakes on the police car Mario is driving fails because they went off the power grid. That one's easy to explain. So now, here's the reason why the police car that drives Mario, Luigi, and Toad into the police station is stopped by the cord: they're aggressive Dinosaur-humans, and they just like doing things that way. This can also be seen in the driving behavior of pretty much any other Dinohattan citizen. Instead of parking a car, they'd just prefer to crash into another one to stop.

This is also verified by some of production designer David L. Snyder's comments about the Dinohattan citizens in one of his interview segments on the "Making Of" featurette--he says the following:

Their society, that of Dinohattan, these people--these humans--that have evolved from reptiles, and our world, which is a parallel world to them, we've been evolved from mammals. So we have a lot of the same characteristics, except their society is a lot more aggressive and carnivorous. But the point of it is that it's not intended to be in any mean spirit. It's carnivorous and aggressive and people like it that way.

So yes, we can rationalize and explain almost anything this film has to throw at you. On that note, I'm gonna have to see what you guys did as commentaries for the Batman movies...

Darrell Kaiser wrote:Thanks a million for your response, Redstar! I'm Mr. White on the show. I'm usually the brain on the show and I believe I did indeed visit this website for some research. I've also really enjoyed the new content posted recently.

Glad you've enjoyed all the recent content we've put up. It been a long time coming so forgive us for the rather slow output the last couple weeks. We have quite a few interviews already done and some more coming up (as well as lots of production material to go with them) so it's taking a little time to get caught up. But, rest-assured, there's plenty more coming. We'd like having you stick around to follow it all.

Phlibbit wrote:

Darrell Kaiser wrote:I'm rather curious about your statement about the brakes of the cars. When Mario, Luigi and Toad are driven into the station, the car had to be stopped by the use of a cord. This made me think that this was the only way they could stop their cars, along with Mario stating that there was no brakes. It was rather too convenient to allow the car to suddenly have brakes, just for them to get out of the crossfire they were in. That's why I felt it was a plot hole.

So now, here's the reason why the police car that drives Mario, Luigi, and Toad into the police station is stopped by the cord: they're aggressive Dinosaur-humans, and they just like doing things that way. This can also be seen in the driving behavior of pretty much any other Dinohattan citizen. Instead of parking a car, they'd just prefer to crash into another one to stop.

Phlibbit is exactly right. The brakes are there because an intelligent class of dinosaur-humans do exist (think the de-evolution scientists) that had the brains to install them even if the general populace is either too stupid or aggressive to make use of them. The police are generally going to be more aggressive than most so they really wouldn't care about crashing their vehicles. At some point some higher-up with brains probably installed the bungee-brakes to keep cop cars from crashing into the precinct.

Oh, yes! I couldn't stop laughing every time either you or Black dubbed over the G-rated cussing with something more colorful... It really does fit into that world and those characters, doesn't it? In fact, it seems like there actually was some profanity in the original cut that they dubbed over. XD

I almost wonder if the bungee-brakes (as they shall heretofore be referred to) aren't a callback to something similar in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, where one of the Goddard vehicles had to be stopped with plastic "netting." I haven't seen that one in a long time, but that is my overriding memory of the scene.