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Transcending Time: How Vegas in Space Captured the Spirit of 80s Drag Culture
The podcast dives into the quirky and campy world of "Vegas in Space," a film that began production in the early 1980s and was finally released in 1991. The hosts discuss the unique charm of the movie, which blends elements of science fiction and drag culture, showcasing a narrative filled with colorful characters and humorous twists. They explore the film's significance within queer cinema, highlighting how it serves as a testament to the artistic vision of its creators, who worked tirelessly to bring their project to life despite limited resources. The episode features lively banter among the hosts, reflecting on their personal experiences with the film and its impact on their understanding of gender and identity. As they reminisce about their first encounters with the movie, listeners are invited to appreciate the eclectic nature of "Vegas in Space" and its enduring legacy in the realm of genre films.
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Mentioned in this episode:
Food About Town
Food About Town hosted by Chris Lindstrom, focusing on restaurants, food and drink of all kinds, and whatever topics I want to cover! https://foodabouttown.captivate.fm/
Level Up Coffee Podcast
Level Up Coffee Podcast: Level Up your coffee game. Wade Reed and Aaron Pascucci, two coffee professionals discuss coffee and the culture surrounding it. https://levelupcoffee.captivate.fm/
Joe Bean Coffee
Joe Bean Roasters Joe Bean Coffee (@joebeanroasters) - Coffee that lifts everyone. Use promo code Lunchador for 15% off your order! https://shop.joebeanroasters.com
Sweet Pea Plant Based Kitchen
Based in Rochester, NY @sweetpeaplantbased is a plant-powered kitchen creating transformative ways of wellness. Harnessing the power of food as medicine, we help you realize your happiest, healthiest self. Use promo code Lunchador15 for 15% off your order! https://sweetpeaplantbased.com
Transcript
Good point.
Matt Austin:The following footage is certified PG.
Sky Murphy:Pretty great.
Matt Austin:It's anomaly presents with your friends, the podcastronauts.
Matt Austin:Sounds like a lot of supernatural baloney to me.
Sky Murphy:Supernatural, perhaps baloney, perhaps nothing.
Matt Austin:Hi, everybody.
Matt Austin:It's anomaly presents, the podcast about the genre movies that inspired a genre film festival.
Matt Austin:That's the Anomaly Film Festival.
Matt Austin: th,: Matt Austin:Dryden Theater.
Matt Austin:In your mind, in your heart.
Matt Austin:That's where it is.
Matt Austin:My name is Matt Austin.
Matt Austin:This is the Anomaly Presents podcast.
Matt Austin:We are here to talk movies.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Had a moment?
Megan Murphy:Sorry.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Sorry.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Mike was about to drop.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:I'm not being very mindful, very demure.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:I'm not being very concerned.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, we're of the moment, everybody.
Matt Austin:Yeah.
Megan Murphy:Wow.
Megan Murphy:We're hip.
Sky Murphy:We're hip.
Sky Murphy:We're with it.
Matt Austin:We're hip.
Matt Austin:We're with it.
Matt Austin:Yeah.
Matt Austin:So this is the.
Matt Austin:As you ostensibly notice, this is a podcast about movies.
Matt Austin:My name is Matt Austin.
Matt Austin:We have the podcast or not.
Matt Austin:With me tonight, I've got Kristen Pelk Pacheco.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Good evening, everybody.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Or good morning.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Or good middle of the night, depending on when you're listening to this.
Matt Austin:I hope it's middle of the night.
Matt Austin:I hope you fall asleep listening to our melodious voices.
Megan Murphy:Yeah.
Matt Austin:Sky Murphy.
Megan Murphy:Hello, my name is Sky.
Megan Murphy:I accidentally let out the largest belt.
Matt Austin:Don't tell on yourself.
Matt Austin:Don't tell on yourself.
Megan Murphy:That probably myself.
Megan Murphy:It didn't.
Megan Murphy:I don't know if it made it.
Megan Murphy:It was real close to that one.
Megan Murphy:When that one slurped away and I couldn't get to my mute button fast enough.
Megan Murphy:It's because these seltzers are so bubbly and they're lovely.
Megan Murphy:The reason why we were cracking up was because we're all trying to hold together and what we can't do is that so thank you.
Megan Murphy:Hi.
Megan Murphy:I'm happy to be here.
Matt Austin:That's right.
Matt Austin:Also, sky, before we go any further, I just want to ask what flavor Seltzer are you enjoying?
Matt Austin:And by extension, are we enjoying.
Megan Murphy:Toasted coconut?
Megan Murphy:Bipolar.
Megan Murphy:It is bipolar.
Sky Murphy:Wow, that's.
Sky Murphy:That's very specific.
Sky Murphy:Damn.
Matt Austin:The SSRi's are right in there.
Matt Austin:Like what?
Matt Austin:How's it work?
Megan Murphy:You said what?
Sky Murphy:What, you need a prescription or.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, amazing takes in, but once it.
Megan Murphy:Does, toasted coconut is actually a really good flavor for polar.
Megan Murphy:Just saying.
Sky Murphy:It's solid.
Matt Austin:Yeah.
Matt Austin:And last but certainly not least, Megan Murphy.
Sky Murphy:Hello.
Sky Murphy:I hope it's the middle of the night.
Sky Murphy:Good night.
Sky Murphy:Good night.
Sky Murphy:We're not watching you.
Matt Austin:Do you want to do a little ASMR, do you want.
Matt Austin:Is this.
Sky Murphy:Oh, yeah.
Sky Murphy:Hey.
Sky Murphy:Hey.
Sky Murphy:Film fest.
Sky Murphy:Film fest.
Sky Murphy:La, la, la.
Sky Murphy:Yeah.
Sky Murphy:We did it.
Sky Murphy:Nailed it.
Matt Austin:We did it.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:There we go.
Sky Murphy:Yeah.
Matt Austin:Crushing it.
Matt Austin:Yeah.
Matt Austin:So this is the podcast about movies.
Matt Austin:We're going to talk about one movie in particular tonight.
Matt Austin:Is.
Matt Austin:Is our want.
Matt Austin: ted shooting I think, in like: Matt Austin:It's a film that I've been hearing about from the Murphy siblings, I think the entire time I've known them, probably.
Sky Murphy:I mean, I'm assuming the first month or two it must have come up.
Matt Austin:No, I guarantee it.
Matt Austin:I guarantee it.
Matt Austin:I'm pretty sure.
Matt Austin:Pretty sure.
Matt Austin:We were sitting in Magnus's living room and I heard the phrase for the very first time in my life, Vegas in space.
Sky Murphy:And it's probably in Magnus's living room at this point.
Sky Murphy:I don't want to.
Sky Murphy:If anyone remembers anywhere else.
Sky Murphy:No, no, it's there.
Sky Murphy:Perfect.
Matt Austin:So we are, we are here to finally, after eight years, talk about Vegas in space.
Megan Murphy:I have been waiting, waiting and what I suck at waiting.
Matt Austin:Well, good news.
Matt Austin:I'm going to make you wait longer because we have the trailer to show everybody.
Matt Austin:So I'm going to warn everybody.
Matt Austin:So the trailer is about 3 hours.
Matt Austin:3 hours long.
Matt Austin:It's three minutes long.
Matt Austin:Really.
Matt Austin:You're going to get about 90 seconds of, uh, description of the plot.
Matt Austin:You're probably going to get about another 40 seconds of music and then back to the plot for another minute or so.
Matt Austin:Just so you're not sitting there going, am I listening to a weird surf rock radio show?
Matt Austin:Nope, it's just the trailer for Vegas in space.
Matt Austin:If you're watching on video, you'll see all of the delightful video antics.
Matt Austin:So here we go.
Matt Austin:On three, two.
Matt Austin:Uh oh.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:I didn't hear any audio.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Right.
Matt Austin:I didn't hear the audio either.
Matt Austin:So pretend you heard awesome surf rock.
Megan Murphy:Yeah.
Sky Murphy:And then three minutes later you must have just like disassociated.
Sky Murphy:But we're back.
Matt Austin:Yeah, we totally just wormholed that.
Matt Austin:So in lieu of a trailer, Murphy's, would you like to describe the plot of Vegas in space?
Megan Murphy:What.
Megan Murphy:What we're going to do is we're going to have Meg say words and I'm going to interject.
Matt Austin:Yeah, that sounds good.
Matt Austin:Sounds right.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sky Murphy:I know.
Sky Murphy:It's, it's, it's, it's the, you know, it's an age old story of in the future, you know, you have your earth, I guess, military.
Sky Murphy:It doesn't matter.
Sky Murphy:They're on a ship and they're all dudes, but they're.
Sky Murphy:They're.
Sky Murphy:The empress of Earth is sending our intrepid crew to.
Sky Murphy:Here's the thing.
Sky Murphy:I'm gonna.
Sky Murphy:I have to not say some of the words.
Sky Murphy:I think, um, we're just going to call it Vegas in space.
Sky Murphy:Uh, it is.
Sky Murphy:The name of the planet is a particular body part because this movie's very campy.
Sky Murphy:Don't worry about it.
Sky Murphy:Got to go see the film.
Sky Murphy:But anyway, so they have to go because, uh, the Empress there is having a party.
Sky Murphy:But also, there's a problem of her missing gems.
Sky Murphy:And the gems keep the planet together because Vegas is a pleasure planet.
Sky Murphy:But the most important thing is it's only for women.
Sky Murphy:So.
Sky Murphy:Oh, no.
Sky Murphy:What's our dude crew gonna do?
Sky Murphy:They take pills that instantly.
Sky Murphy:And this is just the thing that in the future, you just take a pill and you.
Sky Murphy:And you change, unless you take two because you think you need more, and then you just disappear.
Sky Murphy:So then all of a sudden, ba bam.
Sky Murphy:We have three people left, three sassy ladies.
Sky Murphy:And they have to go undercover, of course.
Sky Murphy:Of course, to find these gems.
Sky Murphy:So they are going to be.
Sky Murphy:To make sure I'm getting these words right, they are going undercover as an authentic mid 20th century Earth showgirl cover group.
Sky Murphy:So they both have to perform at this planet, but also solve a crime.
Sky Murphy:And there's all sorts of characters.
Sky Murphy:And I'm going to tell you just the one thing that just kind of sums this up.
Sky Murphy:This was based on a party.
Sky Murphy:A party.
Sky Murphy:Only other movie I know that was based on a party is the last of Sheila, and that was Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins.
Matt Austin:So strong company.
Sky Murphy:That's what I'm saying.
Sky Murphy:Like, if you want a solid movie and then, like, shenanigans happen.
Sky Murphy:But it is a campy, fun romp.
Sky Murphy:It was made for, basically in chunks, as they had money.
Sky Murphy:The director, Philip Ford, and the lead co writer, makeup artist designer, made all the miniatures, I think did most of the dresses.
Sky Murphy:Doris Fishe.
Sky Murphy:And basically, anytime they got cash, they would continue filming this film in apartments with any drag queen in San Francisco they knew.
Sky Murphy:And they met more drag queens as the years went by.
Sky Murphy:So they're all in the film.
Sky Murphy:And it was this labor of love that they did, they worked on.
Sky Murphy:And in a way, it's amazing that it exists because.
Sky Murphy:Right.
Sky Murphy:Kind of before they were able to totally finish it and before the San Francisco premiere, Doris Fish died.
Sky Murphy:So in a way, it's so amazing that they are able to have this testament to like, this artistic vision.
Sky Murphy:Like, yeah, we don't have a lot of money, but we have a lot of chutzpah and we have glue and we have glitter and a lot of neon fake fur.
Sky Murphy:Apparently Doris bought it like by the roll, by the real, and then figured out what she was going to do with it later, which was make this movie.
Sky Murphy:So that's the energy in this.
Sky Murphy:Like, we're going to put out a show and all our friends because a couple of people, they work together at God, what's it called?
Sky Murphy:It was called like sluts a go go.
Sky Murphy:Like, that was their like, artistic collective.
Sky Murphy:So they basically like, we're gonna make a movie.
Sky Murphy:Cause we like movies.
Sky Murphy:And it took them longer than they thought, but they never gave up.
Sky Murphy:And now it exists.
Sky Murphy:Vegas in space.
Megan Murphy:It was a part of my.
Megan Murphy:Hold on.
Megan Murphy:Yeah, great job.
Megan Murphy:That's why.
Megan Murphy:That's why I had, I had nothing to add.
Megan Murphy:Nothing.
Megan Murphy:It was wonderful.
Matt Austin:Oh, hang on, hold on.
Matt Austin:I have something for this.
Sky Murphy:Yay.
Megan Murphy:I literally had nothing to add because that was perfect.
Megan Murphy:But this movie was literally a part of my queer like identity journey.
Megan Murphy:It was the first time that I had like seen on tv a drag queen had perceived what camp was and I got to sit next to my sister like in the middle of the night basically, and watch this film that is just like just camp and weird and odd and like, not what I would be like, not the Power Rangers I was watching at the time.
Matt Austin:Right.
Megan Murphy:Which is still campy, by the way.
Sky Murphy:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sky Murphy:That's kids camp to get you ready for the adult camp.
Megan Murphy:Yeah, but it was wild and I still, every time I watch it, I'm like, I did not perceive it that way as a kid, but like, it's between that and two.
Sky Murphy:Wong fu.
Megan Murphy:Thanks.
Megan Murphy:Ever seen Julie Newmartaine were like my favorite films.
Megan Murphy:And when I was twelve and people asked me what my favorite film was and people had no idea what I was talking about with either of those films.
Sky Murphy:Thank you.
Sky Murphy:USA up.
Sky Murphy:That's my Rhonda sheer.
Matt Austin:I was just going to ask if that's what that was on and that's where you saw it.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, they actually, and it's up on YouTube.
Sky Murphy:I'll put a link.
Sky Murphy:They actually had Philip Ford and Miss X, who is the queen of police veneer and also the empress of earth.
Sky Murphy:And they have a segment where they're talking about it all on one bed for like back and forth the entire time.
Sky Murphy:So it was just such a great introduction to like, that kind of energy, like, when you're a kid, you're up a little too.
Sky Murphy:Probably a little too late than you're supposed to be.
Sky Murphy:And you're watching this, you're like, this is amazing.
Sky Murphy:This is the best thing I've ever seen in my life.
Sky Murphy:Thanks, Rhonda.
Matt Austin:That had feel, like, the most, like, clandestine, bizarre thing.
Sky Murphy:This is what happens when grown up.
Sky Murphy:Yeah.
Sky Murphy:But it's hilarious to think about Vegas in space because it is a very chaste movie.
Sky Murphy:Yeah.
Sky Murphy:They use adult words sometimes, but it's like a silly romp.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Like, if you think, yeah, they're just.
Sky Murphy:Going strange adults, but it's drag.
Sky Murphy:It's just.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, they're just dressing up and they're having fun.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, there's a little.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, good.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:But.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:And it is one of those things, like, as you get older, though, then you start to get some of the bits or the things that they say a little bit.
Megan Murphy:Yeah.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:I mean, even outside of the words that they're using.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Right?
Sky Murphy:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sky Murphy:But, like, I would still call it very PGD.
Sky Murphy:Like, even the more adult things they're saying, it's.
Sky Murphy:I don't know if sex exists in this world.
Sky Murphy:It's all just.
Sky Murphy:It's shopping and taking either legal or illegal beauty supplements or stealing gems or robot dolls.
Sky Murphy:Like, it's that level of, like, that's what an adult.
Sky Murphy:It feels like, kids playing adults.
Sky Murphy:And I think that's part of, like, it's that version of drag where it's like, look at me.
Sky Murphy:Look at me.
Sky Murphy:I'm an adult woman.
Sky Murphy:And everybody in this movie, whether or not sis or.
Sky Murphy:Or any.
Sky Murphy:Or just, like, anybody, they're all doing, look at me, I'm a lady, and I love it.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Those beauty pill transformations.
Sky Murphy:Oh, my God.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:We're like magical girl transformations.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Every time I'm like, what are we gonna get?
Sky Murphy:Hair's getting.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, yeah.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Wigs getting better.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:We know how I feel about wigs.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:The wigs getting bigger and better.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:The outfits are getting better.
Sky Murphy:Well, I was reading a whole making of, and they literally said we wanted them to look better, at least our three main characters, every time you see them.
Sky Murphy:So that first transformation, they look a little washed out.
Sky Murphy:Like, they need.
Sky Murphy:Like, they need a hairdo.
Sky Murphy:Like a hair style.
Sky Murphy:They need a little more makeup, but that's okay.
Sky Murphy:This is, like, their first day as ladies.
Sky Murphy:They got to earn it.
Sky Murphy:You know, they got to want it.
Megan Murphy:Yeah.
Sky Murphy:And then it's just something to watch.
Sky Murphy:Like, oh, look.
Sky Murphy:Look at the glamour.
Sky Murphy:It's being soaked in the.
Sky Murphy:What is.
Sky Murphy:Oh, because as we learn, I think, not to get too ahead, but I think with Princess angel, when she's introducing them to Vegas in space and giving them a tour, she goes, Vegas in space is an oasis of glamour in a universe of mediocrity.
Sky Murphy:I'm like, yes, I'm in.
Matt Austin:I feel like we should clip that for our intro.
Sky Murphy:Oh, yeah.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:100%.
Megan Murphy:Absolutely.
Sky Murphy:That's anomaly.
Sky Murphy:Sometimes when we can together, we're trying real hard.
Sky Murphy:We're trying so hard.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Every time I looked at Princess angel, it reminded me of, um.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Actually, she looked like, well, I guess Lady Gaga from the applause, like, era.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Like, same.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:I don't know what it was.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:The same face shape, eyes.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:It just.
Megan Murphy:I was like, color.
Megan Murphy:Yep.
Matt Austin:Yeah.
Sky Murphy:Beautiful princess angel, who could never be an evil robotic doll.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Never.
Sky Murphy:She's so.
Sky Murphy:She's got her little pink hair and her little pink.
Sky Murphy:Oh, my God.
Sky Murphy:I just love the look of Princess angel.
Sky Murphy:And, like, she already has brat vibes, and she just gets brattier as the movie.
Sky Murphy:Like, the whole final where she's like, no, I took up their mind.
Sky Murphy:I'm like, I love her.
Sky Murphy:Isn't that all of us?
Sky Murphy:Like, no, I took them.
Megan Murphy:I wanted.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:I lost it when she hid those gems in her wig.
Sky Murphy:Aw, it was so amazing.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Of course.
Sky Murphy:Where else, where else should we do?
Sky Murphy:Should we go by plot?
Sky Murphy:I can lead us.
Sky Murphy:I can lead us through.
Sky Murphy:No worries.
Sky Murphy:I can get us through Vegas.
Matt Austin:I mean, the movie barely goes by plotinous.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Yeah, yeah.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:When you get to that second half, I.
Sky Murphy:It's just a party.
Sky Murphy:I think that's mostly the party.
Sky Murphy:Uh, yeah.
Sky Murphy:So our crew, who, uh, my favorite thing.
Sky Murphy:So I love their.
Sky Murphy:Their girl names because we get a Debbie, a Sheila, which, like, of course.
Sky Murphy:And then, uh, Cap, Lieutenant Dan, Tracy, because Tracy Daniels.
Sky Murphy:I was like, yes, yes.
Sky Murphy:That's the star name.
Sky Murphy:That's like.
Sky Murphy:That's why.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, she's the lead.
Sky Murphy:Okay.
Sky Murphy:So I love it.
Sky Murphy:I love it.
Sky Murphy:And they.
Sky Murphy:They are introduced, and at first, I think that they meet, um, Princess angel, who's like, co emperor or vice empress of Vegas in space.
Sky Murphy:It's a little nebulous.
Sky Murphy:And she.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Assistant.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, below empress, but, like, right hand.
Sky Murphy:And we don't know.
Sky Murphy:We don't know.
Sky Murphy:She's a doll, though.
Sky Murphy:She's very doll like.
Sky Murphy:I think we're supposed to assume that she is biological.
Sky Murphy:At this moment, though, it's not really a big secret when they're like, yeah, she's a doll.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, of course.
Sky Murphy:She's nuts.
Sky Murphy:She moves like a doll, but she's like, showing them around.
Sky Murphy:So we have the scene where we see Vegas in space.
Sky Murphy:And as I said, this was filmed in people's apartments.
Sky Murphy:So Vegas in space here is a large enough room that they could like, put some pillows, a couple tables to be like storefronts, you know, some shiny fabric over here.
Sky Murphy:They're making do with what they got.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Oh, those models are great.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Like the, like the city models and what they do.
Sky Murphy:The little perfume bottles.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, and little.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:It's always a joy when we get to see all that stuff.
Matt Austin:I was really impressed by those models.
Sky Murphy:You get like little miniatures that, then we get like wide shots, we get close shots of, they're talking about like, all about.
Sky Murphy:We get info dump about why Vegas in space is the way it is and how the jewels are guerillinium.
Sky Murphy:And that's what the emperor's jewels are.
Sky Murphy:They're very important, the garlinium.
Sky Murphy:But we also get shots of like the UFO traffic up in the sky and the different queens talking about, oh, my God.
Sky Murphy:I was like, oh, God, I gotta go hang out with those tired queens.
Sky Murphy:You know, you get the vibe know, which is like tourists and then tired queens, they're all tired of over it.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:They're wealthy, they're bored, and they just don't want to hang out with their loser friends.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, most of them are like queens or empresses themselves.
Sky Murphy:So they're all like, oh, I gotta show up.
Sky Murphy:Because the empress is having like this, what does she call it?
Sky Murphy:A off world sleepover Slumber party, which apparently she has every year.
Sky Murphy:This is what royalty does in space, everybody.
Sky Murphy:So you have people and it's kind of giving you the vibe like it's all, they're like drag queen friends doing a character wearing a lot of it is like very bright colors, like yellow skin, green skin, because it's like sixties.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Sci-Fi the brightest wigs, like that sparkly gold one.
Megan Murphy:Very Juno.
Megan Murphy:Wait, is that her name?
Megan Murphy:The one?
Megan Murphy:The drag queen that paints her face blue?
Megan Murphy:Juno.
Sky Murphy:Oh, it does.
Sky Murphy:Kind of like an alien character does.
Megan Murphy:An alien character, that's sounds right, but.
Sky Murphy:I don't have the whole.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, I would say that she was.
Megan Murphy:A hundred percent in Vegas in space.
Sky Murphy:Oh, I love it.
Sky Murphy:So they're getting that.
Sky Murphy:And then eventually, uh, our folks are brought in to see the empress.
Sky Murphy:Who knows who they are?
Sky Murphy:They have their cover story.
Sky Murphy:They are the show girls from the 20th century, which either most people don't know and yet know enough to want autographs.
Sky Murphy:It's a little like, strange about what's happening in this group that has just been created.
Sky Murphy:But it's also, for me, it's imagination, reality.
Sky Murphy:We're just undercover, but also, everybody knows us, and we're amazing.
Sky Murphy:And also, we don't have to practice.
Sky Murphy:We're just going to be really good.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Oh, yeah.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:And then you have, like, the queens who are just like, yeah, from Earth, that backwater planet, like, making me think of X Men 97.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Yes.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:From our milky Way ghetto.
Sky Murphy:Oh, that fits in perfectly.
Sky Murphy:Yes.
Sky Murphy:So they see the empress, and she's explaining, like, okay, so here's the deal.
Sky Murphy:The girlinium, the jewels, stop the planet from breaking apart because they're.
Sky Murphy:They've been having earthquakes.
Sky Murphy:And she's told everyone, oh, I'm making this happen for my.
Sky Murphy:My party.
Sky Murphy:And everyone's just, like, shaking around.
Sky Murphy:And when they have an earthquake or when a ship shakes, it's all star Trek.
Sky Murphy:Like, oh, no, go to the side.
Sky Murphy:Oh, no, go to the side.
Matt Austin:My favorite kind of acting.
Matt Austin:It's so good.
Sky Murphy:Charming as hell.
Sky Murphy:But they're like, okay, so we gotta figure out who steal, who might have stolen this here.
Sky Murphy:I'm gonna have you work with my queen of police, who is also my chief suspect.
Sky Murphy:Cause she's evil.
Sky Murphy:But also she's the queen of police.
Sky Murphy:The queen of police.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:All very little girl esque like, right?
Sky Murphy:And then queener shows up, Miss X as Vineir.
Sky Murphy:And, oh, my God, I love her so much.
Sky Murphy:Like, there's, like, the white face paint, the eyebrows, the cape.
Sky Murphy:I'm like, that is what the queen of police would look like.
Matt Austin:Full on Norma Desmond get up.
Matt Austin:Yeah.
Sky Murphy:Oh, yeah.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Tired of everyone else.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Like, just, I'm trying to do my job, and I'm surrounded by buffoons.
Sky Murphy:Yes.
Sky Murphy:That energy all day long.
Sky Murphy:And she's like, okay.
Sky Murphy:And I know some other stuff, but she's basically like, you have to get them all on the same side.
Sky Murphy:So she has a talk with, like, Tracy.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, yeah.
Sky Murphy:I was like, let me show you what it's like on the outside, which is one of my favorite things, because she's like, let me show you the color dial.
Sky Murphy:And turns it down.
Sky Murphy:And everything's in black and white.
Sky Murphy:She's like, yeah, these.
Sky Murphy:These planets can't hold color.
Sky Murphy:We have to use artificial me.
Sky Murphy:And this was all filmed on film except for the nightmare sequence.
Sky Murphy:So when they made this, they had to film in black and white and in color, literally lock down the camera and film both chunks and then merge.
Matt Austin:Them so that effect, like, Nora, I didn't know.
Matt Austin:I didn't see if it was a financial choice.
Matt Austin:That they went to black and white because the film stock was cheaper, apparently.
Sky Murphy:And I'm reading.
Sky Murphy:I'll have a link.
Sky Murphy:This is from Philip R.
Sky Murphy:Ford's.
Sky Murphy:Like, he has a whole, like, it's from.
Sky Murphy:It's a blog spot paint website.
Sky Murphy:And it's.
Sky Murphy:It's basically talking about his entire, like.
Sky Murphy:Like, how they did it.
Sky Murphy:And he said that they both wanted that.
Sky Murphy:Plus, Miss Xdem wanted a whole black and white sequence because she loved film noir and she wanted her character veneer to have some of that dramatic.
Sky Murphy:She was right.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Yeah, the vision.
Matt Austin:See, I thought it was maybe either a financial choice because of, you know, black and white foam shot.
Matt Austin:Could be financial.
Sky Murphy:I mean, I'm sure that was helpful too, because that was one of their biggest costs, considering at least a couple.
Sky Murphy:Couple times they sent it to the lab and it got screwed up.
Sky Murphy:Yeah.
Sky Murphy:Like, more than once.
Sky Murphy:But they go to her.
Sky Murphy:Her castle that she has on the edge of the city, and then she raises the whole thing.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, I can just do my own thing and.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, yeah.
Sky Murphy:I could also, like, you know, she can't.
Sky Murphy:She gives, like, she's a bit.
Sky Murphy:It has a bit of a heart of gold.
Sky Murphy:Yeah.
Sky Murphy:So you're like, okay, so all of a sudden, like, Tracy Dan is like, you know what?
Sky Murphy:This is just a test.
Sky Murphy:We're cool now.
Sky Murphy:So that's over.
Sky Murphy:And we get a little bit about the planet and, oh, my favorite thing about, there's a creature there, a drag, who's like a monkey with a feather boa and, like, fish nets.
Sky Murphy:And one bit of information is like, yeah, we did, like, a study of the DNA, and we think that women might be descended from drag, which is hilarious.
Sky Murphy:I love that idea.
Sky Murphy:I love that inversion.
Sky Murphy:Like, in this letter, drag is the source.
Sky Murphy:Just a fun thing to throw in there.
Sky Murphy:They're playing around with, like, all of the fun stuff, but then they real.
Sky Murphy:I think it was at that point where, uh, Veneer has a.
Sky Murphy:Wait, wait a second.
Sky Murphy:It would take a devil to be devious enough to steal the gems.
Sky Murphy:A devil or perhaps an angel.
Sky Murphy:And that's how she figures out it's probably Princess angel.
Sky Murphy:Like, we're at that level.
Sky Murphy:Have we seen any evidence?
Megan Murphy:No.
Sky Murphy:The words connect.
Sky Murphy:Yes, we're just connecting dots over here.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Is really how it goes for galaxy brain idea.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Everyone else.
Sky Murphy:And that basically brings us to, like, the final piece of the film, which is like, the last half is the Empress Nueva's sleepover.
Sky Murphy:Although queens are showing up and they hate going there.
Sky Murphy:It's so tired.
Sky Murphy:Oh, what 20th century showgirls.
Sky Murphy:This is bullshit.
Sky Murphy:Both.
Sky Murphy:They have to do snooping, but also make the.
Sky Murphy:Make the show performances.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, we see a performance.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:They should have practiced.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, probably.
Sky Murphy:I gotta be honest, it was.
Sky Murphy:It was a lot of, like, we can do it.
Sky Murphy:We have to do it.
Sky Murphy:I guess we have a big enough wig.
Sky Murphy:You can do it.
Sky Murphy:No, but that's okay.
Sky Murphy:That's okay.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:They take all of their pills.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:They have the, like, little bit where they're showing off their lingerie.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, they're a state assigned lingerie.
Sky Murphy:The planet, like, gives them lounging outfits, which I love.
Sky Murphy:And then a little bit of ending where, like, veneer chases Princess angel around all over.
Sky Murphy:Just chases her everywhere.
Sky Murphy:And then eventually there's an earthquake, and Princess angel falls down the pink first steps and explodes.
Sky Murphy:And everyone's like, oh, my God, she was a doll.
Sky Murphy:It turns out Princess Nueva has these princess angel dolls.
Matt Austin:Sure.
Sky Murphy:And it ends.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, it ends with, Tracy Daniels is going to stay and be the queen of police for a while because video needs a vacation.
Sky Murphy:Honey, you look tired.
Sky Murphy:It was at planet Mexico or planet New Mexico.
Sky Murphy:It's good for your skin.
Sky Murphy:The other two get promotions.
Sky Murphy:Two of the guards become also members because they didn't like their job.
Sky Murphy:Fair enough.
Sky Murphy:They were treated like crap.
Sky Murphy:And at the very end, you see Princess Empress Nueva open up another box of a princess angel doll.
Megan Murphy:I had nightmares about that.
Megan Murphy:Damn royalty.
Sky Murphy:Never learned.
Sky Murphy:There's other stuff that happens, but that's the gist of it, right?
Sky Murphy:Like, it's a deep plot, but it's a reason for fun stuff, for sequins and wigs.
Sky Murphy:So many wigs.
Sky Murphy:And music.
Sky Murphy:Like, that's all original music.
Sky Murphy:All that, like 60 style.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Matt Austin:It's really fun.
Matt Austin:Like, beach party bingo type music all the way through it and.
Sky Murphy:Absolutely.
Matt Austin:Yeah, it's so.
Sky Murphy:I've talked enough.
Sky Murphy:How did other people like this?
Sky Murphy:I have heavy nostalgia for it, so I can not be unbiased.
Matt Austin:I am of two minds.
Matt Austin:I wish I had seen it earlier, but I don't think I would have gotten it earlier.
Matt Austin:I feel like if I'd seen it as a teenager, I would have gotten it from, like, the.
Matt Austin:I like mystery science theater, and this looks like a mystery science theater movie.
Matt Austin:Most of those jokes would have gone so far over my head as a kid from a cow town that I would have no idea.
Matt Austin:I probably would have missed that.
Matt Austin:There were drag queens at a certain point as well.
Sky Murphy:No, I can see that.
Sky Murphy:Like, not understanding.
Sky Murphy:Like, oh, yeah, they took a pill.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, it's Sci-Fi yeah, I can see that.
Matt Austin:They took a pill.
Matt Austin:Now there's all these women in this.
Matt Austin:Yeah, yeah.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Well, two of them are women originally doing.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Yeah, I mean, there's just all these layers to it.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Right?
Sky Murphy:Like, you know what?
Sky Murphy:In.
Sky Murphy:In Vegas, in space, anyone can be a drag queen.
Sky Murphy:Gender does not hold you back in any way.
Sky Murphy:You take the pill and your hair gets biggest, and you take more pills.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:And your hair gets even bigger.
Sky Murphy:Exactly.
Matt Austin:If you take them all at the same time, you evaporate.
Matt Austin:That's the only thing.
Sky Murphy:You know what's funny about that?
Sky Murphy:So apparently he was supposed to be in the film longer.
Sky Murphy:He was like the pianist at the.
Sky Murphy:The sluts of go go.
Sky Murphy:And then he realized, oh, this is gonna take a lot more time than I thought.
Sky Murphy:And he basically said, how about this?
Sky Murphy:What if my character takes two pills and evaporates right now?
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Kill me, kill me.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Write me out.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Write me out.
Sky Murphy:The time commitment.
Sky Murphy:I don't.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:I don't have the dedication the rest of you have.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:He probably looked around and was like, oh, they're like in it.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:This is not a one weekend thing.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, no, this.
Sky Murphy:This might be longer.
Matt Austin:Pulled the old Harrison forward.
Matt Austin:I'll do it, but you got to get me out of here.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, you gotta get me out.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:I liked it.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:I think it was really enjoyable.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:That second half, I think, like, that nightmare sequence, I'm like.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:It starts to drag a little bit, I feel like.
Megan Murphy:But pun was intended at that point.
Sky Murphy:They had.
Sky Murphy:What I ride was they had decided they really want to make this a full length film, so why not a dream sequence?
Sky Murphy:Also, Doris Fish had a.
Sky Murphy:An early VHS recorder, which not a lot of people had.
Sky Murphy:So that is on video because they had access to one.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Yeah.
Sky Murphy:And they wanted to do it like MTV, not to shoot the whole thing, because I don't think they would know how to.
Sky Murphy:And like.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, that wasn't their.
Sky Murphy:Their idea was a film.
Sky Murphy:You know, like a film.
Sky Murphy:And I think this is a little early to do a straight to VHS.
Matt Austin:Yeah.
Matt Austin:Cuz at that point, it probably would have been the mid eighties at that.
Sky Murphy:Yeah.
Sky Murphy:When they started.
Sky Murphy:Yeah.
Megan Murphy:Yeah.
Matt Austin:It was, what, 81 when they started?
Sky Murphy:I believe so.
Sky Murphy:So I have to look up the exact.
Sky Murphy:But it was.
Sky Murphy:Right because night.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, 91 is when they finished and it came out.
Sky Murphy:So.
Matt Austin:So, yeah.
Matt Austin:Technology for making movies changed dramatically in those ten years.
Sky Murphy:Yeah.
Megan Murphy:When were laser discs around?
Megan Murphy:We had a couple of those.
Megan Murphy:We had trading places and some other movie in those.
Megan Murphy:And they were like this biggest.
Matt Austin:Right.
Matt Austin:In that same timeframe.
Matt Austin:It's probably like the mid eighties.
Megan Murphy:Yeah.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Because it's like laserdisc and VHS.
Matt Austin:Yep.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:We're both at the same time.
Megan Murphy:How big a player did you need to play those damn things?
Matt Austin:Big.
Sky Murphy:Big enough to put a disc in.
Matt Austin:Yep.
Matt Austin:It was like a record player.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Sorry, my brain went cloudy with a chance of meatballs.
Megan Murphy:You can't run away from your.
Matt Austin:There was that with.
Matt Austin:With a little.
Matt Austin:Little smidgen, a little milieu of French Stewart in there, too.
Sky Murphy:It was good.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:So.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Sorry.
Sky Murphy:Okay.
Matt Austin:It was good.
Matt Austin:It was good.
Matt Austin:Yeah.
Matt Austin:So they were big.
Matt Austin:It was like VCR size, maybe a little bit bigger because they're like twelve inch things that you had to feed into the thing.
Matt Austin:And because it was basically like a giant cd or record size cd.
Megan Murphy:Wild to me.
Sky Murphy:Yeah.
Matt Austin:Barely any of them work anymore, too.
Matt Austin:Fun fact.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Is it because, like, they degraded?
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Right.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Because isn't that, like, the concern with cds, basically, DVD's and Blu rays, is that they're not a long term.
Matt Austin:They decay.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:So from an archival perspective, they're.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Yeah, they're not long term.
Matt Austin:Yep.
Matt Austin:So a lot of you print out.
Sky Murphy:Movies, the flip books.
Matt Austin:Yep.
Matt Austin:Exactly.
Matt Austin:And then do origami with them.
Matt Austin:Um, yeah, fun fact.
Matt Austin:Fun fact, too.
Matt Austin:If you burned a cd back in the day, chances are it's not going to play anymore anyway.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, my mixtapes aren't gonna play anymore.
Matt Austin:Probably not.
Megan Murphy:I had a burn.
Megan Murphy:Meg had to burn the entire soundtrack to the Buffy musical.
Megan Murphy:And you're telling me if I were to pull that dvd now, I can't listen to it anymore?
Matt Austin:You're gonna want to find that streaming someplace, friend.
Sky Murphy:No, I'm sure I legally bought that.
Megan Murphy:Oh, my sister legally bought.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Get it from the library, our tried and true best friends.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:The library followed closely by to be.
Matt Austin:That's right.
Matt Austin:If it's not on to be, which, by the way, this film is streaming, but only on Amazon prime or the Troma app.
Sky Murphy:Fascinating.
Matt Austin:Because this is a trauma film.
Sky Murphy:Yeah.
Sky Murphy:This is Vegas in space has always been kind of weird.
Sky Murphy:Like, on a streaming site.
Sky Murphy:Like, if you don't own it, it will pop up and then disappear.
Sky Murphy:And, I mean, I won't blame trauma because I just won't blame them.
Sky Murphy:But also, I don't know what they're doing with their rights.
Matt Austin:Trauma rights are like whack a mole.
Matt Austin:I find.
Matt Austin:I will say that out loud in front of God and country because, yeah, that's the way it goes.
Matt Austin:Like, their stuff comes up and leaves.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Often they just make it so that the demand is, like, higher or that you'll buy physical media.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:But then are they even making physical media, like.
Sky Murphy:Especially something like Vegas in space, which is very much of a time and place.
Sky Murphy:It's very much a singular creation that could have only been made by those people at that time.
Sky Murphy:Yeah.
Sky Murphy:And I think it has something to do with queer culture in the eighties to nineties.
Sky Murphy:Like, the folks making this were in the middle of all of that, you know, San Francisco in the eighties, you know, like drag queens and artists in the eighties.
Sky Murphy:This is, like, for me, an important, like, it's campy as hell, but I think it's an important part of, like, queer cinema.
Sky Murphy:I really do.
Sky Murphy:Like, it's.
Matt Austin:Yeah.
Matt Austin:And that was going to be my question is, how many other documents of, you know, ten years of the, the San Francisco drag scene are there outside of this movie?
Matt Austin:You know what I mean?
Matt Austin:It's kind of a, almost a yearbook, I guess, because they brought in new people constantly as they came through their, the cabaret or whatever.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Yes.
Sky Murphy:Like any.
Sky Murphy:Yeah.
Sky Murphy:Any ambulatory drag queen in San Francisco period of time was in this film.
Sky Murphy:Like, please come here.
Sky Murphy:We gotta, we have to have a crowd.
Sky Murphy:And it's people.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Oh, yes.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:They start bringing him in more and more.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:And I was like, ah, yes, the she Hulk drag queen.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:I think you're my favorite.
Sky Murphy:Like, but it was literally that as they meth other people, as the years went by, they're like, okay, cool.
Sky Murphy:You can be in this scene or you can be in that scene.
Sky Murphy:You know, it had that, that feeling like no one had to audition.
Sky Murphy:It was just, let's make this thing with the people that we do art with, that we entertain with, and that's rare.
Sky Murphy:And it's really cool to see, you.
Matt Austin: are still talking about it in: Sky Murphy:Exactly.
Sky Murphy:Like, um, I was reading, you know, the, the director's whole thing, and he was talking about how he really thought he was going to be a director.
Sky Murphy:Like, he went to film school.
Sky Murphy:Like, his whole plan was, you know, and he's like, okay, like, this took longer than I thought, but when it came out, it got some, some attention, you know, and he took some meetings and stuff, and it just didn't happen.
Sky Murphy:Partly because at that point, uh, drug use, which he literally says, like, I, you know, that we, we, some of this is powered by drugs, everybody.
Sky Murphy:But also this, the idea that, like.
Matt Austin:At this point, I can't imagine a movie that takes ten years in San Francisco has anything to do with any kind of drug use or abuse.
Sky Murphy:But I love that he's like, in a way, kind of like, at this point in his life, inquiries, like, I'm not going to be the, like, director.
Sky Murphy:I thought I was right, but I made this.
Sky Murphy:I made this.
Sky Murphy:I made this with my friends who ended up becoming, like, his artistic family for ten years, you know?
Sky Murphy:And he's like, I love that this exists.
Sky Murphy:You know, if this is the thing I made that people know about, then you could do a lot worse, you know?
Matt Austin:Oh, for sure.
Sky Murphy:I love that.
Sky Murphy:I love that.
Matt Austin:And there's such a style to it, and there's such a.
Matt Austin:An aesthetic to it that, yeah, you.
Sky Murphy:Know, black and white in color.
Sky Murphy:Like that dream sequence of going to Veneers Castle, where they're, like, going phasing in and out.
Sky Murphy:He didn't have to do that.
Sky Murphy:But it was like, oh, I learned a thing in film school.
Sky Murphy:Let's do this, let's do that.
Sky Murphy:There's so much fun visual stuff, which probably was part of the reason it took ten years.
Sky Murphy:But also, like, let me try all my things.
Matt Austin:Like, watching it, I kept thinking about Pee Wee's Playhouse.
Sky Murphy:I was about.
Sky Murphy:It has that same aesthetic and energy.
Sky Murphy:Yes, yes.
Matt Austin:It makes me wonder.
Matt Austin:Cause they're kind of contemporaries, right?
Matt Austin:Cause I think Pee Wee's Playhouse ran from like, 86 to 90, early nineties, 91, 92, somewhere in there.
Sky Murphy:And I think they were in, like.
Sky Murphy:Like, the la comedy scene is where a lot of that stuff came from, if I'm understanding correctly.
Sky Murphy:Like the original, like, adult kids version of Pee Wee's Playhouse.
Matt Austin:Yeah.
Matt Austin:But I'm wondering if some of the artists that worked on Pee Wee's Playhouse came from San Francisco in any kind of way, because they.
Matt Austin:There's definitely a shared aesthetic or shared energy, or it could just be parallel thinking because there's this certain genre of person, like, you know.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, the West coast vibes.
Sky Murphy:West coast vibes.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Gay west coast or west coast vibes.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:You know what I mean?
Matt Austin:Like, I.
Matt Austin:Yeah, queer West coast vibes.
Matt Austin:Plus it's that I stayed up too late and watched all these b movies.
Sky Murphy:Yep.
Matt Austin:And now I have, like, you know, plan nine from outer space and.
Matt Austin:Yeah, so this is what my aesthetic is.
Matt Austin:It's all these beach blanket bingo slash, you know, UFO movies where you can see the fishing line, you know, and, you know, creature from another planet and all that shit.
Matt Austin:Like those, like, real bad fifties B movies that, like, kind of dovetailed in with that alternative culture.
Matt Austin:Because Pee wee is kind of like a similar alternative culture thing for LA, right?
Sky Murphy:Yeah.
Matt Austin:He was kind of, like, hand in hand with the punk scene and I think partially in the queer scene in LA.
Matt Austin:It's that similar artistic language, I think.
Matt Austin:But it's kind of interesting to see that parallel thinking I've talked for way too long now.
Sky Murphy:No, that was good.
Sky Murphy:Like, I was like, oh, I should bring that up.
Sky Murphy:And then, boom, you were there.
Sky Murphy:Nailed it.
Sky Murphy:Yeah.
Sky Murphy:I have a question for sky.
Megan Murphy:Yes.
Megan Murphy:Also, don't ever apologize for talking, so.
Matt Austin:Oh, that's not true.
Matt Austin:You should never say that to me.
Megan Murphy:I said, in this situation.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:I was.
Megan Murphy:At a heart, Blanche.
Matt Austin:I was going to say, you guys will all regret that one day.
Megan Murphy:No regrets.
Sky Murphy:Okay, so, sky, so as being younger, when you first encountered this, what do you think the things that, like, young sky was, like, drawn to in Vegas and space, what.
Sky Murphy:What were the first things that, like, you were like, oh, this is fun.
Sky Murphy:Like, what was it?
Megan Murphy:Do you.
Sky Murphy:Do you, like, remember.
Megan Murphy:There were colors.
Sky Murphy:Yeah.
Megan Murphy:And then the camp was just.
Megan Murphy:I think I was just born.
Megan Murphy:First of all, I was born the gender neutral equivalent of a queen.
Megan Murphy:Okay.
Megan Murphy:That's just what I was.
Megan Murphy:Right.
Megan Murphy:So, like, real bitch saw.
Megan Murphy:Real bitch.
Megan Murphy:Right.
Megan Murphy:So that's what I.
Megan Murphy:That's what I first saw was, like, this is the camp I shit ever, um.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Like, the glamour of it.
Megan Murphy:Like, the glamour of it.
Megan Murphy:Yeah, like, the glamour of it.
Megan Murphy:The camp of it.
Megan Murphy:I also, like, very young saw crybaby.
Megan Murphy:Right.
Sky Murphy:And you and her get on the John Waters train.
Megan Murphy:You got me on the.
Sky Murphy:Yeah.
Megan Murphy:And I think this was.
Megan Murphy:This was the pre John Waters train.
Megan Murphy:Right?
Sky Murphy:Yeah.
Megan Murphy:But, like, in a less would eat dog shit way.
Megan Murphy:Right, but, like, lessons.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sky Murphy:As I said, version of a kind of camp.
Megan Murphy:You know, weirdly enough, it's.
Megan Murphy:I was oddly drawn to it because I was, like, scared of angel.
Megan Murphy:A princess angel.
Sky Murphy:Oh, yeah.
Sky Murphy:Either you don't like dolls?
Megan Murphy:I don't like dolls.
Sky Murphy:She's genuinely creepy.
Sky Murphy:That little genuine music when she's walking.
Megan Murphy:In, like, a safe way, but very intense and very creepy.
Megan Murphy:And that's the first time I watched something and was like, this does not feel safe or good, but, like, I want to keep watching it.
Megan Murphy:So when I know what happened to these drag.
Megan Murphy:Like, and I was also trying to.
Megan Murphy:I was like, what.
Megan Murphy:What is this gender thing happening?
Megan Murphy:Right?
Megan Murphy:So I'm also trying to process, like, wait, what?
Megan Murphy:I don't have to be what gender I am right now, but, like, it wasn't the word gender.
Megan Murphy:It was just like, I don't have to be what?
Megan Murphy:Like, the vibe I am right now.
Megan Murphy:So then I'm also drawn to it just as a queer because I'm like, I have options of things.
Megan Murphy:And then, wait, I can wear wigs and be fabulous, right?
Megan Murphy:So that's what drove me at a very young age, was, like, options, right?
Megan Murphy:Fabulous options and drama.
Matt Austin:I love that you said that while you were working on your eyebrows.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, yeah, you do it.
Sky Murphy:You sipped your polar, and then you're like, yes, it was.
Megan Murphy:Yeah, yeah, it feels real good.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, that was.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, that was great.
Matt Austin:About the most perfect thing you could have done while explaining that.
Matt Austin:And I'm blown away by what you just said, too.
Sky Murphy:Yeah.
Matt Austin:That's incredible to kind of have that realization at however old you were at that point.
Megan Murphy:I can't even tell you how old I was.
Megan Murphy:It was mostly around the time that I was also figuring out how to bake.
Megan Murphy:And then when I would be up in the middle of the night and couldn't sleep, I just bake a cake and make the frosting from scratch.
Megan Murphy:And then my mom would wake up in the morning and be like, where the fuck did this cake come from?
Megan Murphy:And it happened so many times.
Megan Murphy:And then I was like, ma, I'm.
Megan Murphy:I'm not having sleeping problems.
Megan Murphy:I'm midnight baking cakes.
Megan Murphy:Memorize.
Megan Murphy:And then memorizing the lyrics to, uh, music videos.
Megan Murphy:Because in the middle of the night, that's when MtV would play nonstop music videos, and I'd put captions on.
Megan Murphy:So I just memorized music videos.
Megan Murphy:Memorize, uh, the lyrics.
Megan Murphy:And then.
Megan Murphy:Because other than that, you had, like.
Megan Murphy:No, you had nothing.
Megan Murphy:We didn't even have, like, a to z lyrics at the time.
Megan Murphy:There was nothing to give me lyrics.
Megan Murphy:There's no, like, the little fold outs of the cds.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Yeah.
Matt Austin:Which.
Matt Austin:And then wasn't 100% of the time.
Megan Murphy:Was 100% of the time or in the cassette.
Megan Murphy:Oh, my God.
Megan Murphy:They were so tiny.
Megan Murphy:I forgot.
Megan Murphy:Yeah, forget and.
Megan Murphy:And then watch, like, me too.
Megan Murphy:Up all night movies.
Matt Austin:Yeah.
Megan Murphy:On random channels.
Megan Murphy:Yeah, that's.
Sky Murphy:I'm curious.
Sky Murphy:I'm sure someone's done this study, um, about, um, queer culture and cable and be able to see more stuff.
Sky Murphy:Especially, like, before parents were super aware of the stuff.
Sky Murphy:You could watch later, but you could just kind of watch later.
Sky Murphy:I mean, not.
Sky Murphy:Not just queer culture.
Sky Murphy:Also sexuality.
Sky Murphy:Also, like, just, what do I think an adult is?
Sky Murphy:Like?
Sky Murphy: om, like, watching stuff past: Sky Murphy:on cable.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Oh, yeah, 100%.
Sky Murphy:Yeah.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Or even, like, getting things from block, like, renting things without your parents.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Really, like, looking at what it is.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Because that's how I saw jawbreakers, like, in fifth grade, because, like, oh, yeah, this looks like.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Yeah.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Sleepover movie for the girls.
Megan Murphy:No, like, wow, fifth grade is on job break.
Sky Murphy:That's.
Sky Murphy:And I.
Sky Murphy:I of the mind that this is mostly positive because it's still safe exploration.
Sky Murphy:You're like, you're just.
Sky Murphy:You are, like, getting information.
Sky Murphy:I think.
Sky Murphy:I think it's important, I think, at least for most kids to be challenged and maybe made a little afraid, a little uncomfortable and something that you can turn off.
Sky Murphy:Like, literally, like, I don't know what I just saw, but you can then think about it and then go, you know, like.
Sky Murphy:Or also some folks just, like, they're where they live or who they live with, would never even let them know that certain things exist.
Sky Murphy:Like Vegas in space, you know?
Sky Murphy:I feel like it can be like, little, like, be like little gateways.
Sky Murphy:Yes, this exists.
Sky Murphy:Don't forget.
Sky Murphy:You might not be able to do anything about it now, but now you can't unsee, you know?
Sky Murphy:But, like, that's the same way I think about, like, horror films, too.
Sky Murphy:Like, little, like, you.
Sky Murphy:You feel you discovered something, so it's important to you now.
Sky Murphy:And then you can process it.
Sky Murphy:And I think that helps you on your journey to adulthood is like, we don't have a situation where we're like, hey, go hunt your first tiger and come back and you're an adult.
Sky Murphy:But, so we don't have that, like, ritualized as much.
Sky Murphy:But for us, at a certain generation, maybe the ritual was, yo, I saw something on tv last night that might make me not sleep for a couple days.
Sky Murphy:But I also feel that I'm on the other side of something.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Yeah, it's real involved.
Sky Murphy:Yeah.
Matt Austin:Our hunting was seeing chopping mall on monster vision.
Sky Murphy:I'm like, what?
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Mine was watching Terminator two and then doing flips off my mom's bed and cracking my head on a nightstand.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, mine was watching the ventriloquist from killer clowns from outer space.
Sky Murphy:Back when I was terrified of horror.
Sky Murphy:I had it in my head so much worse than it actually is.
Sky Murphy:I literally was like, oh, shit.
Sky Murphy:There was like, yeah, like, what do you.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:But I think it's.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:It's funny because I talk to people a lot and in other spaces that I move in, and they're just, I don't watch anything horror.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:I don't like it.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:I don't like it.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Like, I don't.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:I don't want to be scared, but that's part of the thrill.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Like, I like, like some movies I watch and yes, I'm not scared.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Some I like to watch because it makes me scared.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Or some I've fooled myself into believing I'm not scared.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:And then I come home and I think the radio is talking or like, I think I'm possessed and it's the radio.
Sky Murphy:So it's like, anime was boring.
Sky Murphy:I didn't feel anything.
Sky Murphy:I'm in my house, the lights are out.
Sky Murphy:I'm like, oh, shit.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:I don't know.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:How many times is it, like a teen and in my young twenties where I would go to a horror movie, have, like, the time of my life, be laughing.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Then I would get home and my grandmother would have every weird light on in the house and all of the curtains open.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:So I just clenching, just trying to close every blind being like, please don't kill me.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Please don't kill me.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Like, good.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:The good vibes immediately came to a screeching halt.
Megan Murphy:But, you know, I don't know.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:And I feel like I don't know if people, like, as a kid don't watch it or they watch the wrong thing, like, too young.
Matt Austin:I think a lot of times that's what it is.
Matt Austin:They just caught the wrong one, not the one that really, you know, it's the roller coaster you never want to ride again versus, like, the fun one.
Megan Murphy:Like, or their friend watches it or their friend makes you, or their friend doesn't tell you what a saw movie is.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:That is one you don't want to see.
Megan Murphy:Okay, maybe not even.
Megan Murphy:And it's all three.
Megan Murphy:And there's a pit of hypodermic.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Oh, no.
Megan Murphy:Okay, and then your friend.
Megan Murphy:And then somehow you are, you know, in college and you don't know well enough to just walk out of a movie theater.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Yeah.
Megan Murphy:Orchard.
Sky Murphy:Yeah.
Megan Murphy:The entire time.
Megan Murphy:So anyways, I have come out of that, obviously.
Sky Murphy:I'm like, that's why I'm advocating it for it more than anything is.
Sky Murphy:I think you can, you can find your own strength in a fictional challenge or, you know, or say, like, bring it back to say, like, a queer cinema situation.
Sky Murphy:Know a thing that exists that you didn't know existed.
Sky Murphy:Even if you're, like, not ready to completely process it, it's there for when you're ready, right?
Sky Murphy:You know, it's like, hey, it's there.
Sky Murphy:It won't.
Sky Murphy:Like, next time this comes around, you might be like, oh, wait, a second.
Sky Murphy:Wigs, huh?
Sky Murphy:Like, I feel like it just, like, you know, I just.
Sky Murphy:I.
Sky Murphy:You know, it's that whole thing of, like, there's a difference between, like, a dangerous childhood experience but.
Sky Murphy:Or one that feels dangerous, but it's not.
Sky Murphy:And it helps you.
Sky Murphy:Like, I think, you know, it's being challenged.
Sky Murphy:I think, you know, sometimes, like, as a very terrified young kid, as a kid who did not like horror and stuff, I'm glad I was able to come to it on my own way.
Sky Murphy:Challenge myself occasionally.
Sky Murphy:Go like, oh, God, I can't go to that spot of the rental store.
Sky Murphy:But then I could take a peek.
Sky Murphy:I could take a peek, or I could catch something.
Sky Murphy:Like, I think you don't know what your own level is unless you're testing it.
Sky Murphy:You don't know where your boundary is until you accidentally cross and go, oh, shit, went too far.
Sky Murphy:Yeah.
Sky Murphy:Again, in a safe thing like entertainment and art, where you can always turn it off.
Sky Murphy:You can close the book.
Sky Murphy:You can do that.
Sky Murphy:You know, you can test your own boundaries.
Sky Murphy:You can learn new things.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:I also feel like they can also be, like, bonding experiences.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:I always think of fondly watching because I don't.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:The only horror game I can play is until dawn.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:But that's similar to, like, a movie, right?
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:So.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:But many, many years spent watching my older brother and my older cousin play resident evil and Silent Hill and all of those games and me, you know, either hiding behind a pillow or being, like, the command center.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Like, try this, try that.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:But, like, all of us.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:You know what I mean?
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Like, fond memories of all of us being scared, playing these, you know, games or watching them together.
Sky Murphy:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sky Murphy:I made friends for life decisions.
Sky Murphy:Oh, man, we should not have watched this, put you together.
Sky Murphy:You're traumatized together.
Megan Murphy:What are we saying, man?
Matt Austin:I said, I've made friends for life.
Matt Austin:Doing that was how I made my.
Matt Austin:In a freshman year in college, we had two experiences that we all bonded over, and it was playing resident evil one.
Matt Austin:Yeah.
Matt Austin:With all the lights out in my one friend's room, and the other one was watching event Horizon, some of a.
Sky Murphy:Good Sam Neil's goes crazy movie.
Matt Austin:Event horizon is awesome.
Matt Austin:And we should really do that one day because I stand by that as being a damn good movie.
Matt Austin:But, yeah, we all watched it in the dark, in the my friend's room.
Matt Austin:And then I had to walk back to my dorm room.
Megan Murphy:I walk in, oh, shit, I would have slept with the floor.
Matt Austin:Wait, so I walk in, it's pitch dark, my roommate's asleep as soon as I open the door, the phone rings and I pick up the phone and it's my roommates or my friend's girlfriend that was watching the movie with us, just making the event horizon noises.
Sky Murphy:I have diabolical.
Matt Austin:Yeah, Candace was worst.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:One time I'm over at my friend's house and he's like, he makes me sit down and play the playable trailer.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:The silent hill turns off all the lights and makes me put, like, the head, the headphones on.
Matt Austin:Oh, not headphones.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Yep, yep.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:And so I'm freaking out, and whatever, we end up finishing it.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:I get home and I lived with two other people at the time, and when I get in, one of the lights that is never on is on.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:My bedroom is at the end of a hallway.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:And if you've ever watched playable trailer, you're literally just kind of going around in circles in a hallway.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:So I go into my bedroom, and then I'm like, you know what?
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:I'll calm down with a little snack.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:So I walk into the kitchen, and as soon as I get back into the hallway, I hear a thud and the scream I let out and go.
Sky Murphy:Booking it down to my bedroom.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:And I'm like, nope, we're never leaving this again.
Megan Murphy:Oh, no.
Megan Murphy:Listen, I'm not trying to top everybody at all.
Megan Murphy:What I will say is I used to work outdoor ed, so I worked at some camps and then this movie called Hills Have Eyes.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:No.
Matt Austin:Yeah.
Sky Murphy:Oh, my God.
Megan Murphy:Why?
Matt Austin:The remake?
Sky Murphy:I'm watching that.
Megan Murphy:Well, no, unfortunately, I didn't get tricked into it.
Megan Murphy:I didn't know what the film was, and some of the other people were like, let's watch this.
Megan Murphy:And I, very silly under peer pressure, didn't do my due diligence to figure out what it was, and instead in pitch dark in a cab.
Megan Murphy:And guess who had to walk back to their cabin.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:No.
Megan Murphy:Through pitch dark forest.
Megan Murphy:No.
Megan Murphy:And nobody would do it.
Megan Murphy:Nobody would walk.
Megan Murphy:So we had to walk in a group.
Megan Murphy:And when, I mean, we walked in a group, we were all touching because I was worried somebody else would scare somebody.
Megan Murphy:So we all walked, and then we got to the middle of where all the cabins were and they're like, you got to break off.
Megan Murphy:And I said, you got to break off and walk to your cabin.
Megan Murphy:You got to break off and walk to your cabin.
Sky Murphy:Wait, has to be the last one.
Megan Murphy:We all had to be quiet because sleeping twelve year olds were in the cabin.
Megan Murphy:And so we had to get back to our adult side that has no door or anything without screaming.
Megan Murphy:And let me tell you.
Megan Murphy:These children snored.
Megan Murphy:And so all I hear is all these scary sounds, and I'm like, I'm gone.
Sky Murphy:Yeah.
Megan Murphy:And I'm telling you, I felt something breathing down my neck as I'm walking to my cabin.
Megan Murphy:And I'm going.
Megan Murphy:And then I get in, and then I wake every single kid up.
Megan Murphy:And then I pretended like, no, accidentally, because I'm breathing so hard.
Sky Murphy:Oh.
Megan Murphy:And then I get into the cabin and there are like, kind, hi.
Megan Murphy:What happened?
Megan Murphy:And I said, nothing.
Megan Murphy:This is a dream.
Megan Murphy:Go to sleep.
Sky Murphy:I see.
Sky Murphy:Still professional.
Sky Murphy:You're like, you know what?
Sky Murphy:I.
Sky Murphy:Apparently, I'm the adult in this situation.
Sky Murphy:Keep it together.
Matt Austin:There are kids that to this day, they're like, Jeremy sky came into our cabin.
Matt Austin:What was that?
Megan Murphy:But check this out.
Megan Murphy:I have.
Megan Murphy:I don't even remember the movie except for one particular part.
Megan Murphy:And it's awful.
Megan Murphy:Everything else is out of my head because of how scarred I was.
Sky Murphy:Popped it out.
Sky Murphy:The.
Megan Murphy:I have one vivid image, and it fucking sucks.
Sky Murphy:See, these are all wonderful moments that made us the people we are today.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:That you, too, can now have at our film festival in November.
Matt Austin:I couldn't do it better.
Sky Murphy:KP.
Sky Murphy:Have KP's brother Todd.
Matt Austin:That was beautiful.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:I learned from the best.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:I just.
Matt Austin:It was wonderful.
Kristen Pelk Pacheco:Yeah.
Matt Austin:So, yeah, we have a film festival.
Matt Austin:It is true.
Matt Austin:KP is speaking the truth.
Matt Austin:It is November 6 through the 10th.
Matt Austin:It is the anomaly film festival.
Matt Austin:It is anomalyfilmfest.com.
Matt Austin:for details.
Matt Austin:What movie are we showing?
Matt Austin:Great question.
Matt Austin:We're trying to figure that out ourselves right now.
Matt Austin:We are watching hours upon hours upon hours, working hard every day to find the best in independent genre film to put up on our screens for you.
Matt Austin:So come and have that.
Matt Austin:That shared experience that we were just talking about that KP so eloquently described there.
Matt Austin:Way better than I could.
Matt Austin:Yeah, it is.
Matt Austin:It's coming quickly.
Matt Austin:It's, uh.
Matt Austin:It's wild how fast it's coming, huh, guys?
Megan Murphy:Gonna be the fall soon.
Megan Murphy:Yay.
Matt Austin:It's gonna be fall soon.
Matt Austin:Um, yeah, so November 6 through the 10th.
Matt Austin:It is, uh.
Matt Austin:It's gonna be fun.
Matt Austin:We're so excited.
Matt Austin:There are so many good.
Sky Murphy:We're there.
Sky Murphy:You don't have to watch anything alone.
Sky Murphy:We promise you.
Sky Murphy:In fact, we guarantee you you won't be alone.
Sky Murphy:We'll be there.
Sky Murphy:Oh, God, that crossover.
Sky Murphy:Okay, I gotta, like, stop crossing over into creepy.
Sky Murphy:Yeah.
Matt Austin:Don't.
Matt Austin:Don't creep them out.
Matt Austin:Don't creep them out.
Matt Austin:We need to show up for the movies.
Sky Murphy:Um, no, I'll be locked in the office upstairs if I go.
Sky Murphy:Too rambunctious.
Megan Murphy:Also sounds creepy that we locked people in.
Megan Murphy:Office.
Sky Murphy:It's a whole flight up.
Sky Murphy:I barely.
Sky Murphy:Oh, I do have access to like some screening room.
Sky Murphy:It's fine though.
Sky Murphy:Don't worry.
Matt Austin:I was gonna say, if you're looking for Meg, she'll be staring at you creepily from the balconies.
Sky Murphy:Will you hear that?
Sky Murphy:Might be me.
Matt Austin:Yeah.
Matt Austin:Come.
Matt Austin:Come join us.
Matt Austin:It's gonna be a great year.
Matt Austin:The stuff that we're seeing.
Matt Austin:Oh my gosh.
Matt Austin:It rivals the stuff we've seen in prior years just to try to figure out what we've got.
Matt Austin:It's an embarrassment of riches.
Matt Austin:So we don't have enough time to show it all.
Matt Austin:So it's going to be.
Matt Austin:It's going to be wild.
Sky Murphy:So we're going to show everything at double speed.
Matt Austin:That's right.
Matt Austin:At the same time we're going to show the exact same time.
Sky Murphy:Don't do it.
Sky Murphy:But we're doing it.
Matt Austin:So if you're a fan of Mike Lee, this is the year for you to show up to the anomaly phone festival.
Sky Murphy:We're going to show them regular, I promise.
Sky Murphy:Don't let my shenanigans.
Matt Austin:I'm kidding.
Megan Murphy:Those shenanigans.
Matt Austin:We take pride in how we project the movies.
Matt Austin:We have world class projectionists that take the utmost care in putting the films up on the screen for you.
Matt Austin:So yeah, historic in the historic.
Megan Murphy:Little theater.
Matt Austin:Historic driving theater.
Matt Austin:World class projection.
Matt Austin:So yeah, it's anomaly filmfest.com.
Matt Austin:check out the socials.
Matt Austin:Anomaly film fest.
Matt Austin:Meg keeps us on top of all the cool things happening in the world of genre film and the world of anomaly.
Matt Austin:And hope to see you soon.
Matt Austin:Uh, yeah.
Sky Murphy:The potato misses you.
Sky Murphy:Or hasn't met you yet.
Sky Murphy:Do you not know what I'm talking about when I say the many eyed potato?
Sky Murphy:Would you like to know?
Sky Murphy:Come to the theater.
Sky Murphy:I don't think that was creepy.
Sky Murphy:I stand beside that.
Sky Murphy:That one was intriguing and enticing.
Matt Austin:Yes, I agree.
Megan Murphy:We'll.
Matt Austin:We'll leave on that.
Matt Austin:Thanks, everybody.
Matt Austin:And Emily loves you.
Matt Austin:See you next time.
Megan Murphy:This has been a presentation of the Lunchroar podcast network.
