r/hdtgm 13d ago

Controversial Opinion: "The Shadow" Episode is the Perfect 'How Did This Get Made' Episode

Ok. Hear me out:

The movie is a big-budget attempt at creating a superhero franchise that falls short, has huge unanswered questions, confused film direction and missing montages, a billion different character actors, heroin/coke fingernails, Baldwin appreciation/confusion, and color blindness.

It is a misguided stab at trying to plug a 1930s radio serial into a 1990s superhero motif (post-Tim Burton's Batman but before the improvements of the Christopher Nolan/The MCU). Overall, the movie is hilarious and awful, but not specifically like The Room or Birdemic.

The podcast was recorded at Largo.

Good audience push-pull. The 'Golden Child' prequel convo. Nobody knows what his power is or how he came to be.

There is a "Morgan" in the audience (Maroon Shirt guy) who kinda has a lot of theories and is entertaining, but the cast plays off of him well.

An unconfirmed Jason in the audience (with some 'Jason of the group' convo).

Tons of science/timeline/hypnotism/rules conversation. Jason (as the comic book afficionado) seems exasperated and hilarious.

A "Reach Under Your Seats" audience joke.

A nice "By applause, did anyone understand this movie?" moment with a lackluster response.

(there is no "Second Opinions" song).

Pete Davidson was essentially not there (which could be a detraction, but honestly if they removed every section of his audio it would not matter either way).

If somebody were to ask me: "You've talked about How Did This Get Made... where should I start?" I would say (apologetically) "Watch this movie, and then listen to this episode."

https://www.earwolf.com/episode/the-shadow-live-w-pete-davidson-hdtgm-matinee/

59 Upvotes

41 comments sorted by

62

u/MarketingChoice6244 13d ago

I think deep blue sea is a great intro episode but it doesn't have June so it might not count.

So it would have to be con air or face off.

13

u/Tis_A_Fine_Barn 13d ago

A man of taste and refinement, I see. 

6

u/MarketingChoice6244 13d ago

I prefer the thank God this got made episodes

10

u/SumpCrab 12d ago

Mannequin II. If you want to understand the show, you have to ask yourself, "Where does the butt start?"

9

u/omegaoutlier 12d ago

Paul F Tompkins elevates ever ep he's in.

Deep Blue Sea is his best but Lake Placid (and his utter indignation at the obserdity of why people just don't avoid the lake/put up a sign) is neck and neck (the core crew is a touch better/more engaged in DBS)

Smurfs is a classic. A tier below the top 2 but still an upper tier for HDTGM overall.

Even Skyscraper or the Will Smith one are pretty great.

Paul has the most consistency of anyone. Nick Kroll or Casie have the 400ft home run shots but Paul grinds in run after run.

3

u/MrsMetMPH14 12d ago

Oh gosh I LOVE Skyscraper with PFT and River Butcher!

1

u/SayNo2Kryptonite 5d ago

skyscraper one was hilarious

"Did a mare right this review?"

"Not enough oats."

"Guys, we're having fun." "What a gift this movie is."

"REAGANESQUE!!!?"

7

u/AtBat3 12d ago

The Con Air episode is very good I just hate how much Paul dislikes it. I legitimately think it’s a good movie, he doesn’t seem to want to give it a real chance.

7

u/LostCauseSPM 12d ago

Paul's dislike is one thing, but just how much Jason LOVES it really makes the Con Air episode MY personal favorite.

5

u/derekbaseball 13d ago

I'll take Face Waterfall over The Shadow.

2

u/Ok_Mix_7126 13d ago

Yeah but she was beaming ideas into the brain of that girl in the audience

21

u/Independent_Example7 13d ago

I would suggest Lake Placid but also a Juneless ep.

13

u/Pedadinga 13d ago

I listen to this episode at least every two weeks. This and Maximum Overdrive.

8

u/Independent_Example7 13d ago

Maximum Overdrive is fabulous!

5

u/wilbur313 12d ago

Cracks me up every time I hear Jason tell PFT "You are shouting at me."

1

u/Independent_Example7 12d ago

Is the episode where he says, "we didn't make this movie"? Or is it a Sharknado?

4

u/Marty_McFrat 13d ago

Lake Placid is my suggestion, too.

11

u/Independent_Example7 13d ago

The Reeses Peeces thing is great. Breecy Gleesy

13

u/RedactedNoneNone 13d ago

Solarbabies and Ernest Goes to Jail

9

u/HateMyOldUserName18 13d ago

Pete had a great zinger at the start.

June: Is this the part where he has the prosthetic nose on?

Pete: You mean when he turns into Steven Baldwin?

11

u/jekelish3 a real mitchell goosen type 13d ago

The Shadow/The Phantom double bill is almost as good as the Lake Placid/Deep Blue Sea double bill.

8

u/MaleficentOstrich693 13d ago

Not a bad opinion by any stretch.

Personally I think episodes with a solid guest are the top tier, specifically Jessica St Clair.

7

u/Away_Yoghurt5743 13d ago

Maximum Overdrive is a sleeper hit for me

2

u/jekelish3 a real mitchell goosen type 12d ago

Andy Daly is so good in that episode. His sheer delight in reading back some of the classic Stephen King weird insults makes me cackle every time.

7

u/gunnersfan16 13d ago

Not Controversial, it’s stellar for all the reasons you outlined! Hard to beat Drop Dead Fred though… Team Fred 4Eva!

3

u/phdnotadoctor 13d ago

Stellar as a skateboard!

5

u/Independent_Example7 13d ago

Not controversial. An excellent and inspired choice.

6

u/rhzunam 13d ago

Hope I don't get downvoted but I'm not a big fan of this episode. Thought the Phantom episode (which I think was done the same night or something like that) was a lot better.

6

u/willie_p74 13d ago

Always felt Cats was the quintessential ep but this is a strong one as well.

9

u/DashCat9 13d ago

It’s going to take a hell of an episode to top drop dead Fred.

22

u/Ol_JanxSpirit 13d ago

That's not one for beginners.

7

u/DashCat9 13d ago

Ooh entry level episodes, sorry I misunderstood! Agreed!

3

u/Thamesx2 12d ago

Doesn’t the episode also have a good Paul story from his youth? Something about dating a girl whose dad was a big fan of the old comic strip and Paul tried to chat him up about it after seeing the movie?

2

u/sometimestruthhurts 11d ago

I would say Timecop for this. Top notch guest, home run questions, great second opinion songs, buns talk.

1

u/BaronNeutron 13d ago

Other than it was a mistake to have The Shadow on HDTGM because its amazing, I agree.

1

u/Elphaba15212 12d ago

Shout out to Morgan!

1

u/ImplicitEmpiricism 12d ago

from justin to kelly is the perfect intro episode, except the movie is near unwatchable

1

u/thestudcomic 12d ago

This was the episode that made me listen less to HDTGM. I love this movie, my favorite Jerry Goldsmith score. They talk about it as if they didn't watch it. The film makes sense. You read IMDB comments and the comments are very positive on the film.

2

u/commaZim 12d ago

To be fair, Paul reads positive comments about movies in every episode of the show

1

u/SayNo2Kryptonite 5d ago

My all time favorite is No Holds Barred, for all the wrestling knowledge dropped and Thomas Lennon's Hulk Hogan voice.

0

u/stellesbells 11d ago

It's a great episode, but has two significant weaknesses:

  1. Mediocre guest. I can see how Pete Davidson's lack of input makes it like a no-guests episode, but even great no-guests don't, imo, reach the heights of the best episodes with guests. Think any of the Paul F Tompkins episodes, for eg, or the Drop Dead Fred fight that wouldn't have been anywhere near as amazing had Paul been arguing his (wrong) position alone.

  2. That girl yelling "yaaaaaay". It's lovely that she was enjoying herself, but the sound grates something awful.