Little Mermaid (1989)

The Steves discuss the 1989 Disney classic, The Little Mermaid, along with What's Keeping Them Happy, Happy News, and their Binge and Purge for the week!

Happy News- Cincinatti's Tipping War: https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/09/us/cincinnati-tip-war-trnd/index.html

Binge and Purge-
Persona 5 Royal (PS4) - Binge
Bioshock 2 (Switch/PS4/XBox/PC)- Binge
Clarice (CBS) - Binge

Transcript

Steve: 1:48

Hello returning happies and new listeners. This is Steve Bennet- Martin, and this is

Stephen: 1:52

Steven Martin- Bennet. And welcome to a lifetime of

Steve: 1:55

happiness. Podcasts where we take you on our journey through some of the movies, TV shows, and other bits of pop culture that are helping keep us happy while hopefully bring a smile to your face along the

Stephen: 2:04

way. And today we're looking to discuss being a part of your world under the sea with all of you Poor Unfortunate Souls

Steve: 2:15

yes. Today we'll be talking about our favorite ocean themed movie jaws sabe. Okay. It is the little mermaid, but first my love of what's been making you happy.

Stephen: 2:26

It's been making me happy and it's been annoying you because it's a horrible ear worm, but it's so fantastic. It's the song U K hun by the United Kingdom from RuPaul's drag race UK.

Steve: 2:40

Yes. They always do recycle challenges every season on drag race in this year's UK, one led to a musical number that was very catchy in a bad way for me, in a great way for Steven. Yes.

Stephen: 2:53

Cause it's all about. The ding, dang, dong, sing, sing song, bang, bang. You. Okay.

Steve: 3:01

But then it's stuck in your head all day long,

Stephen: 3:02

so good. It makes me so happy. Yes.

Steve: 3:06

Well, I'm glad that you've been enjoying it so

Stephen: 3:09

much. Okay. What's making you happy.

Steve: 3:12

I would say what's been making me happy is the Time off that I took for the senior living on the Suncoast, our sister podcast, but also the fact that we now have a couple additional newer recordings under our belt. And season two is going to be starting very soon. So it's been happy getting back into podcasting professionally as well as. Personally here for fun. Well, that's

Stephen: 3:35

fantastic.

Steve: 3:36

Yes. And a little bit of happy news for everyone out there, but especially a little bit

Stephen: 3:42

of your heart. Yes. So most people know that I moved here from Cincinnati, Ohio. And recently and there's anybody that knows Cincinnati knows that there is a East side versus West side rivalry. And there's also

Steve: 3:57

a side story. Is that Cincinnati? No. Your work it's the same idea. A

Stephen: 4:07

little bit

Steve: 4:09

like East side, West side.

Stephen: 4:11

Oh, Back to this. Okay. So university of Cincinnati, UC and Xavier are also rivals in town. And so somebody from one of the, like an alumni from one of the universities left a large tip at a restaurant and like did a social media post saying. Okay, Xavier your turn. And so it's kept going back and forth with UC and Xavier people trying to out tip each other. And you know that during this time where a lot of restaurants aren't at capacity, of course, and servers make most of their money off of tips. For the last year, a lot of servers haven't been making money, but since this tipping war started and this news was over a week old when I found it they, the tipping war has already raised over$34,000 for restaurant workers in Cincinnati.

Steve: 5:12

Excellent. Well, we should start at tipping. We're here. Well that I don't know who he would challenge. It's Sarasota versus Braden Sarasota

Stephen: 5:20

versus Bradenton. Sounds really good.

Steve: 5:22

We're going to win. I win everything. I try though. Well, that's why we have to be on a team together because you're competitive too.

Stephen: 5:30

Super competitive, like Mario kart, Mario party taboo,

Steve: 5:37

like. Pretty much anything where there's winners or losers. That's why a lot of our games that we play there and multiplayer co-op yes. The bird true. Yes. And speaking of games, we actually have our binge and purge section is mostly a bat about video games. Okay. So why don't you start? Yes. Well, I have been bitching persona five Royal, which is on the PlayStation four, a and persona is a series based off of, or like in the shimmy. Or, sorry, I,

Stephen: 6:06

you almost said shimmy Kimmy Timmy, because

Steve: 6:09

the, the proper name of the series is shouldn't be gone may 10

Stephen: 6:12

say, and I couldn't be bothered to remember it whenever we were first dating. And so I always was just like, are you just playing that shimmy, Kimmy, Timmy game?

Steve: 6:20

I would say, yes, I was. And so with a persona, he hasn't had a funding with that. Like you have some of my other games, but that one's easy to remember. Yes, it is. But they, the persona games typically do have a deluxe edition of some sort and Royal as this one. And I am now. Just about caught up to the, where the ending was of the, the first go around. And I know from just doing research and Google, there's a whole third semester, but even the content of replaying the game it's so stylistic, the soundtrack is great. The soundtrack is so good. The characters are great. So I'm doing this in order to get ready. 4% of five scramble

Stephen: 6:55

for this. Try again. It's persona five strikers. Oh, it's

Steve: 7:00

strikers. Well, it's it was scramble in the Japan where it came out, strikers strikers here, but yes, I've been excited for it for the longest time. And it is in the next week. By the time that this comes out, it will already be out. So that's what I'll be playing with

Stephen: 7:14

out. If you can finish that third semester in time.

Steve: 7:18

I got it. I mean, I've been playing for what, like a week and a half and I'm at 65 hours into the game. So I'm making good progress. I forgotten what you look like. No, I play on, I, we, we set up the extra TV in our living room so that we could watch TV while I play my PS4 in a separate TV. So you are right next to me. Don't lie to our listeners.

Stephen: 7:41

Well, while you are playing that I have been playing. Bioshock two, it's continuing my Bioshock trilogy because I finished Bioshock one remaster. Yes.

Steve: 7:54

And would you kindly tell us about your thoughts and opinions on it now that you finished it? It

Stephen: 7:59

was so good. And like I knew something was coming and I knew there was something up with that guy, but I was totally shocked whenever. The whole switch happened. And I don't want to say anything in case somebody listening hasn't played to get, even though it's old. It's that good of a twist. I don't want to spoil it. I don't know if Bioshock two is going to have that twist, but because of Bioshock one, there's already somebody in the game. I'm like, I don't trust you. I'm sorry. You can have a nice Southern accent, but I'm ready for it to switch and you'd be British all of a sudden or something like that. So I'm almost done with that. I just entered the last area. So,

Steve: 8:38

And you know, you'll be reporting back on Bioshock, infinite.

Stephen: 8:41

Yes. And one of the nice things is. Some of the things that I felt needed, some work on the first game, actually fixed going into the second game. I was like, like the hacking mini mini game, the hacking mini game is one and also using the first aid kits. There were so many times where I would accidentally hit a button in the first game, and now you have to hit a combination of two to make it work. So you're not wasting a first aid kit. And just certain things run so much better. Bioshock one had a better story, and I also think better set design, but the quality of life improvements in Bioshock too. Are incredible. So it's nice to have that.

Steve: 9:29

And I remember when it came out playing it on the online multiplayer and it was a mix of the Bioshock gameplay with like golden eye type settings. We're all playing as different people in rapture. And it was just, I remember that was a blast. So two

Stephen: 9:44

binges and I don't consider this a purge.

Steve: 9:47

And something that we just began bingeing and you can do a quick binge and catch up is Clarice.

Stephen: 9:54

Yes, it is a continuation of silence of the lambs. Great, great movie. Jodie foster from back in the day, Annabelle

Steve: 10:03

is Hannibal Lecter used to say, people know Hannibal sometimes even more before they know it by silence of the lambs. At least that was me when I was younger.

Stephen: 10:11

And so this takes place one year after the whole Buffalo bill, Hannibal Lecter saga. And we're seeing how Instant notoriety as well as some other things affect Clarice with her job, but the FBI and the production values are really, really good. But one note to the producers of Clarice, you are signifying that she is from West Virginia. It would have probably been good to call one person that lived in West Virginia, because whenever Clary says that she's from County. No one in West Virginia pronounces it that way. It's canola County. And it's where the state Capitol is. And it made me very sad for all of you involved with the Clarice production.

Steve: 11:04

Yes. But other than that, you've been beaming. I mean, you've brought that up a couple of times since watching it, but at the same time, you were both loving everything.

Stephen: 11:14

The show is amazing and honestly, It's not something you would usually find on network TV. This is something like, people would say, Oh, that's from HBO or Showtime, or even

Steve: 11:26

it could be bingeing it right now in full. But you know, by the time you're listening to this listeners, you can catch up on the first handful of episodes and then catch it up week by week.

Stephen: 11:34

Yes. And now. Darlene. What was the reason that we decided to go with the movie that we're doing? Well?

Steve: 11:43

That is easy enough to explain my love. Listen to me, be your own world. It's amazing. Life under the sea is better than you need to get. Got uptown. Yes. So, I mean, I've, after a rough couple days, when we were planning this episode, I was like, we need to go somewhere fun. Do a fun episode, something lighthearted. So little mermaid

Stephen: 12:07

was, and little mermaid happens to be my all-time favorite Disney

Steve: 12:12

musical. Oh yes. I did not have to twist your arm very hard to get you to agree

Stephen: 12:16

to it. No, this We watched this a lot growing up. I had cousins that only lived about an hour away and I would go spend two weeks with them in the summer. And my younger cousin, Lindsey was obsessed with this movie. So every day that I was there for two weeks, we watched it every day. So by the time I came home, I had seen it, you know, before then, but now I had 14 more times under my belt. So. I can pretty much recite the movie with inflection and everything like that. And it doesn't get old for me. There's something that. I just love so

Steve: 12:54

much about it. Yes, no. And I couldn't agree more. I mean, I have lots of memories around the movie and I know we'll get into discussing the music later, but you know, my dad fell in love with the soundtrack more than it, like any of the other Disney movies that I had. So, you know,

Stephen: 13:08

I remember getting to that

Steve: 13:09

in a bit, but for those of you who happen to not know their Disney movies or princesses somehow Wow. Congratulations. That's you know, something you must have tried for at this point. So thank you for giving us this chance, but it's a 1989 Disney movie directed by Ron Clements and John Musker. And the music is by Alan Alan Menken. It's starting the voices of Jodi Benson who plays Ariel. Christopher Daniel

Stephen: 13:36

Barnes has Eric. Pat Carroll is Ursula Samuel E right as Sebastian and many other talented performers.

Steve: 13:44

Yes. And it was quite the success. It has a budget of 40 and$40 million, but it had a box office of$233 million back

Stephen: 13:54

in 1989. That was

Steve: 13:56

huge. Yes. And I think since then they've made a couple dollars in merchant, things like that. Just a little bit. Yes. And so I am DB describes the movie as a mermaid princess makes a fasting bargain in an attempt to become human. And when a princess love. Yes. Yes. I, I watched the movie. I know exactly what it's about, but I don't know what the heck a foul scene bargain. Who is

Stephen: 14:21

he? Well lucky for you. I looked and consulted doctor internet. Okay. And Halcyon bargain is a pact whereby a person trades, something of Supreme moral or spiritual importance such as personal values or their soul for some worldly or material benefit such as knowledge, power, riches, or leg. Okay.

Steve: 14:45

Yes. Like legs for a voice. Yeah. Okay. All right. Yes. So with that bargaining, and that is what the movie's about. I just thought it was very interesting that they use such a complicated word in the

Stephen: 14:56

description. Yeah. Because if some kids looking up things, little

Steve: 14:59

mermaid, and then it's like a fast team bargain, what? Yeah.

Stephen: 15:03

Yes. That's not a word that most people use in their daily life.

Steve: 15:07

Yes. But it is based like many fairytale Disney movies on a Danish literary fairy tale written by Hans Christian Anderson. It's following the story of a young mermaid who was willing to give up her life in the CSM Remy to gain a humans

Stephen: 15:23

and just like every other Disney fairy tale with princesses and things like snow, white and Cinderella and all of this that have book. Pre like not pre-qual sorry. They're being adapted from books. The books are super dark. Like if you ever read the brothers Grimm of Cinderella, super, super dark. Oh yeah. Because

Steve: 15:51

the whole idea of this is that mermaids. Don't have souls. She wanted to have the soul because if not, when they die, they just basically turned to seafoam and just float up to the, like a never exist ever again. So it's a similar process, except that the way that. And ends basically is that she lets herself die and becomes part of the wind to help people for 300 years so that she can go to heaven one day.

Stephen: 16:15

Yeah. And in this one Prince Eric chose another woman and he was, and so she was originally going to kill herself and her sisters were like, no, here we've cut off our hair. We made you a dagger. You kill the prints and you can come back to being a mermaid and everything will be fine. Yeah. And she didn't, she

Steve: 16:33

didn't not say so. She was like good in the end, but it's really super dark. But, you know, thinking back to when these, when these books and everything were told that life was hard. But these were stories that were still told regularly. I think it's only, you know, in the past few decades where we really are protecting our children rather than scaring the show to them on purpose, because I don't know about you, but I know my parents like told me some super dark shit just to fuck with me and like to get me in trouble. No. Yeah, your parents never

Stephen: 17:00

did things like that. No, they, you know, mama Martin and Papa Martin. Do you really think that that's something that they would do?

Steve: 17:09

I don't know maybe, but I mean, I just wonder why we stopped scaring kids cause it seemed to

Stephen: 17:14

work. Okay. So the world's hard enough as it is. Kids are forced to grow up a lot sooner. Now, thanks to social media and bullying and so many other things. I think anything we can do to help kids stay kids is good. Yeah.

Steve: 17:31

I was always told like, you know, you know, don't, you know, don't take candy from a stranger because they'll put you in their van and then they'll kidnap you and then you'll never see us again. You'll be dead. Okay.

Stephen: 17:40

So. We all learned that lesson, not to bat in degree. Like we also had the Berenstein bears. Don't talk to strangers book, which I had to read several times because you know, me, I've never met a stranger and I just talked to people and it's like, we all had those lessons

Steve: 17:59

in the Berenstain bears. That's what I said. Or the Bernstein bears.

Stephen: 18:03

It's the, this weird thing that we're now in an alternate universe where people pronounce it, Berenstain bears and I'm like, okay, No, when I was growing up, it was the Bernstein bears.

Steve: 18:15

I just remember it being the Berenstein bears. Yeah. And now,

Stephen: 18:19

like there's no proof that that was ever the name

Steve: 18:22

that is so strange.

Stephen: 18:26

Like, so something happened and we all went to an alternate universe, but some of us remember the correct pronunciation of the Berenstein bears. It's like the world

Steve: 18:35

were without shrimp from Buffy. Sure. Yes. Now with this movie being a movie that we've watched again and again, and continue to watch again and again, what are some of the things that you love about it so much?

Stephen: 18:48

Okay. So it's, I love the songs from this. I don't think that they're any bad songs. I think that they're all stellar. I think this is actually one of the strongest Disney princess soundtracks overall. This is one of the first ones where the villain is really more fleshed out. It's not the first villain song but it is one of the best songs in the villain gets to sing. It it's just well done. It's happy. I really enjoy it. I've always enjoyed it. And I don't care if it's problematic about telling people that. The, you know, they should change who they are to get the love of their life.

Steve: 19:36

I still enjoy it. Well, I think that ultimately in the end, you find out that that's not necessarily true because all of the bad should happen because she tried to change herself. So, you know, and like, you know, the villain was the one who was saying, you know, the men up there and I'm like, so I, you know, with that, you know, the villain was saying that. So I think they were trying to say that, like, that's not true and that like you do like, need to just find someone to love you as

Stephen: 20:02

well. And. There are a lot of wonderful characters.

Steve: 20:06

Yes, certainly. I mean, in addition to the princess Ariel, who was inspired by Alyssa Milano, which

Stephen: 20:13

I think is you can totally see it. If you look at the animation and you look at how old Alyssa Milano was on, who's the boss back then when they versus when they drew it. Yeah. And, but Ariel's a great. Character she's headstrong, which was different than previous Disney princesses. At that time,

Steve: 20:37

she also was a big jump in timelines of release from the provosts princess movie. It wasn't, it was 30 years almost to go around. It was a long time. Yes. And I think that part of the reason why that she was stronger is because a lot of times they already are Danville damsels from the starter, Dan sold pretty quickly, but she also had some great friends, like. Flounder, who was always my favorite

Stephen: 21:00

flounder was always really cute.

Steve: 21:02

He's a Hufflepuff, I would say. So I think that's probably why I

Stephen: 21:05

liked him. Oh yeah. And Jodi Benson is super talented. As the voice of area and with the songs. And I also love the later on in in chanted, which is kind of like a live action, Disney princess moving Jodi Benson plays, Mick Dreamy's secretary. Oh

Steve: 21:26

yes, I do remember that. And

Stephen: 21:27

so I was like, Oh, it's princess Ariel in real life. And it's just really good. But flounder is fantastic. Sebastian was

Steve: 21:38

every dad's best friend. Oh yeah. All

Stephen: 21:40

dads love Sebastian for some reason. Well, I

Steve: 21:44

think he originally it was written just to have a normal accent.

Stephen: 21:49

Butler. That's supposed to be like a British Butler kind of like from doubt navvy.

Steve: 21:53

Yeah. Yeah. And they changed his accent to Caribbean for the under the sea song and just, it was wildfire from there. I remember like the, the person who, the voice actor who did the singing first Sebastian, like had Sebastian's concerts and let us like real live action back then, like channels. So I remember that going

Stephen: 22:13

viral. And then of course, even though he's not under the sea, one of her other best friends, scuttle. Yes. Scott all who? The King of fake news.

Steve: 22:23

Yes, exactly. I love scuttle and that the different word, like that would be my role in a little Murphy was just to make up names, to tell like the little mermaid, it doesn't know anything I'm like, part of me wants to head kin in the scuttle knows exactly what the names of those objects are. And he's just like making them up just to like screw around with Ariel. I know, I know that there was nothing to lead that idea, but if you thought of that, wouldn't that be very funny if he's just like, let me just trick this bimbo.

Stephen: 22:50

Yeah. It would be very funny, but I can also being like, you're scuttle and I'm Sebastian and you're sitting there like, this is a Dingle hopper and I'm like,

Steve: 22:58

no, no, babe. I know. Well, Sebastian didn't go off with her often enough to help. Yes. But speaking of, I mean, she had a lot of friends unlike. Ursula, but ultimately, who did you want to win our Priscilla or

Stephen: 23:13

Ariel? I, this was the beginning of me wanting villains to do, to win, or at least not die. And Ursula was amazing. She had so much personality like right here.

Steve: 23:30

What I want from you is your voice.

Stephen: 23:36

You've got it. Sweet cakes,

Steve: 23:38

no more talking, singing that without my voice. How can

Stephen: 23:44

I

Steve: 23:46

your pretty face? And don't underestimate the importance of body language that I don't like a lot of blank. For ladies not to

Stephen: 23:59

see a word and after all day or whatever. So it's just amazing. And that song is fantastic. Like one of the things that, you know, as an adult, you look at it and you see Ursula may have gone out of her way to try to. Stop the kiss from happening, but she was not in the wrong. She had a signed contract. Ariel did not abide by the terms of the contract. She lost, she didn't get the kiss by the end of three days. And it's just like Ariel tried to break the bargain at that point. And, you know, Ursula isn't totally the villain.

Steve: 24:49

No. I mean Nicole Byer, who I love does this whole bit in her Netflix comedy special, which you should check out about how Ursula was like the victim and the hero. I mean, she was wronged by everyone because like, she would didn't look like everyone else. And then she. You know, it was trying to teach Ariel this nice lesson that you don't have to change yourself to go up to where all the pretty people are and she's, you know, LAR largely beautiful. And you know, that she just was a victim of the circumstances because there is an untold story in this version of the movie between her and Triton. Yeah.

Stephen: 25:24

So in the Broadway musical, Ursula and Triton are brother and sister. And they shared the ocean until Triton banished her. And so it's just like this where she's been banished and, but you can also six degrees of Kevin bacon and connect the little mermaid to another Disney musical because Triton is the son of Poseidon. Poseidon is the brother of Zeus Zeus. His child is Hercules. That would mean Ariel and Hercules are cousins.

Steve: 25:56

Yes, that is excellent. And that is not only, that's not the only correlation within this movie to another Disney movie now, isn't it?

Stephen: 26:04

No. Do tell darling,

Steve: 26:06

well, we also find it. The, the ship that Ariel was exploring is actually the ship that Anna and Elsa, his parents were lost at sea. Yeah. According

Stephen: 26:18

to all the drawings and everything like that, it really is. That's the entire Canon that it looks like. It's all related that way. And if you've seen frozen, then you've also seen the girl from tangle. So they're all connected is yeah. Goes to the coronation at the end and it's posted her, cutting her hair off and it's Brown. So these are all really connected. Yes. So

Steve: 26:42

this version of the inception Disney edition is brought to you by the Steve's,

Stephen: 26:48

but do you D did you know, like the really sad part you've seen the princess and the frog with Chiana Unfortunately, Sebastian ended up in a dish at Tiana's restaurant. Okay. Well,

Steve: 27:01

no, that, that that's okay. I was afraid you were going to say like the frogs were used by the chef and lip Hassan.

Stephen: 27:08

Well, that does bring us to songs and we can actually start with low song. Okay.

Steve: 27:16

Oh, wait, which one was lay-person again? How does it go? What's the word that you hear over and over again?

Stephen: 27:25

so Lyft has

Steve: 27:37

a new goal. He, he, he,

Stephen: 27:42

that was my cousins and I, after watching it all the time, that was something that we did all growing up. We would do the labor All the time, so that wasn't annoying for a parents at all.

Steve: 27:59

Yeah. And as we hinted with under the sea, that is a wonderful song, but it is certainly tested high with the dads.

Stephen: 28:07

Yeah. That is the favorite Disney song of dads everywhere. I know it is with my father, my dad. Yeah. And it's just, it's really interesting that that's the song. And I D I can't even tell you why dads love it. I think it's

Steve: 28:23

the same way. Like, my dad also loved like the beach boys and my dad who was like, kind of like the tropical feel. I

Stephen: 28:31

dunno, it's a good song. Dads love it. I enjoy it. Yes.

Steve: 28:35

And one song that actually created this giant trend in Disney movies going forward. And it was the first of its kind. Was part of your world part of your world. So just in case you forgot what part of your world is, let me help you. I

Stephen: 28:52

want I want to

Steve: 28:59

be where the people are. I want to see, want to see him dancing. So I, you know, as much as it's a beautiful song, you know, I chose that clip because that is actually what the song ends up being called by the, the Alan Mankin and like becomes this whole, I want, he calls it the, I want

Stephen: 29:21

song. So that's kind of like in beauty and the beast where At the beginning of that provincial town. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. Yes.

Steve: 29:29

Bon Zuora, Hercules go the distance, you know, and they moved it up earlier. Cause that was about the 15 minute Mark in this movie. And like, they made it sooner and sooner, but it became this trend and it is great from a narrative standpoint where one of the first songs. And a movie is the main character singing. What their heart's desire

Stephen: 29:48

is. He is a really good, did you know that this movie or the song almost didn't make it in the movie because Disney executive Jeffrey Katzenberg wanted to cut the song because he watched a test screening and he saw a couple of five-year-olds more focused on their popcorn. During the song, then the song itself. And he said, kids don't like it, take it out. And everyone involved was like, come on, you give it a chance. And so they had him watching other test screening and. Everyone loved it, adults, children, everything like that. So a couple of kids who, you know, five-year-olds, aren't going to pay attention to everything. He almost destroyed one of the most famous songs in the Disney Canon, because some kids were excited by popcorn and couldn't sit still.

Steve: 30:42

Yeah. Yes. Well, I bet he feels like an ass hat now. He, well, he probably doesn't care because he's

Stephen: 30:46

very well off. Well, he is very embarrassed by it. And especially now that everyone knows as well. Yes.

Steve: 30:53

And then with a kiss, the girl, that was just a song that I really enjoyed.

Stephen: 30:58

It's just a really, really good song. I love the way that it's done. It's Sebastian's other song

Steve: 31:05

and it's a very well

Stephen: 31:07

choreographed. Oh. And just between all the other birds and amphibians and fish that are involved and helping with it. It's beautiful. It's romantic and. I just, I love that song

Steve: 31:23

so much part of the re the reason or how the artists got the facial expressions, especially in that scene in the realistic ways that the water was moving was actually because they brought back this old technique of live action references for the artists to get the movements just right. And so in the documentary that I saw, the little short on this, it actually showed people, humans that they were recording. On it like a little green soundstage, but they were like in a boat doing the rowing motions as the camera was panning around. And then the artists got to kind of watch that and use it to draw. And I think that technique worked out really well for the results.

Stephen: 32:02

Yeah. And I mean, if you look at now whenever they use motion capture technology, now

Steve: 32:09

that's kind of what the inspiration behind it.

Stephen: 32:10

It was absolutely. But then the best song. In the whole movie, is this,

Ursula: 32:24

this one, longing to be thinner. That one wants to get the Garland. Do I help them? Yes, indeed. so snap. So true.

Stephen: 32:36

I mean, just so good. It's, you know, it really gives. I mean, she's warning her in advance of all this stuff and, but it's just kind of sexy and it's fun and it's funny, and it has a beat and things that aren't seen in a lot of Disney things, because it is a little darker and I don't know, it's just. Fantastic. It moves the plot along really?

Steve: 33:08

It does because, I mean, it's, it tells a great story. Funny story about Ursula. What do you consider? What is she?

Stephen: 33:16

I mean, I grew up thinking she was a squid or an octopus. Yes.

Steve: 33:19

Well, she is technically known as a Salia that is the, the other fancy term, not medical cause people don't medically have this happen to them, but it is the, the word based off of the mythological, half women, half octopus, even if they did get the number of her tentacles wrong

Stephen: 33:37

because she has six and they're counting our arms as the other two, I guess.

Steve: 33:42

But there's another reason now in hindsight, because while I'm sure when you were watching this, when you were little, you just knew that you loved her because you loved her. But nowadays her, the inspiration behind her character,

Stephen: 33:52

Esther is based off of the drag queen divine.

Steve: 33:55

And we know why we love our

Stephen: 33:56

drag. Queens, love our drag Queens and something that's fun. And you could see her doing really well with this because of her theater background, but they originally went to be Arthur. To do Ursula and but B turned it down and just didn't think that it was right for her. And then they talked to Elaine Stritch and I personally don't think that Elaine Stritch was right for this. So then they went to Pat Carroll and it's iconic, like. Good job, Pat Carroll.

Steve: 34:29

Yes. Good job, indeed. Now this is also you know, one of the Disney musical movies that has been also turned into a musical and it's on Broadway. It's on Broadway and now they're also in the process of making it into a live action movie. I am super

Stephen: 34:47

excited for it and it's been taking forever and I know that the pandemic slowed down as well. And, but I will be there opening night when this happens and they have a very interesting cast. Some of them, one of them I wasn't too sure about, but we'll start with like Daveed Diggs from Hamilton.

Steve: 35:07

Yes. I didn't know him by name, but when I saw his face, I knew exactly who he was. Cause he was the one with the very tight. Curly

Stephen: 35:15

hair. Yup. And he is actually my favorite male performer in Hamilton. He's going to be Sebastian, one of our favorite funny ladies, Aquafina, the

Steve: 35:26

scuttle, which is going to be awesome. Yeah. I also love a good genders.

Stephen: 35:30

Jacob Tremblay from the movie room that we saw where they were. Held in that guy's basement for years. Sure. It's, it's a dark movie, but he did a very good job. He's going to be flounder. Javier Bardem is going to be Triton Holly Bailey from the music group, Chloe X, Halle, H and M from the TV show Grown-ish will be Ariel. And then the casting that I'm just not sure about, but I'm willing to give her the benefit of the

Steve: 35:59

doubt.

Stephen: 35:59

Melissa McCarthy as Ursula. She's very talented. She's a great actress. She's funny. She. It is a great full bodied comedian with like using her whole, she uses her arms, her whole body, her face, like she's very, very talented. I've never heard her sing.

Steve: 36:19

Yeah. The singing is what I think will be important. Cause she'll be great with the physicality of the role. So let me, well, we'll see how she does and I'm staying happy and hopeful.

Stephen: 36:29

Well, yes. And even though my original casting. Was queen Latifa.

Steve: 36:34

Yes. Now, I mean, we got through most of the little fun bits of trivia while I went through this. I know that in the opening scene where we're getting to, you know, they're going to be announcing Ariel, but she's not there. You know, all of her other sisters and they altogether make up a rainbow once you include areas. So I love

Stephen: 36:51

that little, that is really cute. That. They're all there, their hair and their little tails and rainbow color. Now,

Steve: 36:58

especially since, you know, Triton is based in Greek mythology and the way that they all really sleep around. If they get their tail color from their mother, or we just assume that these are all half sisters and maybe he just had seven different mothers for these seven

Stephen: 37:13

different. So I think we are definitely to assume that because. Holly Bailey is black in the live action. Javier Bardem is Hispanic. So. It'll be interesting. Ariel's other sisters.

Steve: 37:29

Oh my God. I would love it. If he was like, canonically like a giant man whore. And like, there was one of every color most of their kids, like literally, like

Stephen: 37:36

if there were an Asian and a little white girl mermaid where Ariel's going to be a black girl. Like, I think that that's going to, that would be fantastic. Yes.

Steve: 37:47

You're welcome Disney for that idea.

Stephen: 37:50

But one of the great things also, you were talking about that opening scene where it's, Sebastian's big concert yet. You want to be looking closely, you have to be looking closely because all the times that I'd ever seen it until Dr. Internet told me about this, I never saw it. But Mickey, Donald and goofy are in. The opening shot there. They're all underwater.

Steve: 38:11

They're all Mer versions of

Stephen: 38:13

themselves. Yeah. Like Goofy's the one you can pick out the most though. Yes. He sticks out a little bit. Well, darling, do you have a final thought about the little

Steve: 38:24

mermaid? I mean, I'll say it once. I'll say it again. Listen to me. Be your own world. It's amazing. Life under the sea is better than you need to get got up down. So, I mean, if you have listened to this without rewatching it beforehand, because we all know how the movie works and what the big plot points are, but you haven't watched it a little bit. Go watch it again. I bet it'll bring a smile to your face. And hopefully after hearing us talk about, you'll find a little something new in it this time around. And

Stephen: 38:55

if for some reason you don't enjoy the little mermaid. You my dear pull, run Foltz and it's so,

Steve: 39:02

yes, but I'm sure that that won't apply to any of our listeners because they're all wonderful. And if you listeners want to get involved in the conversation about the little mermaid, you can always email us for this or any future episode ideas and topics that happy life pot@gmail.com.

Stephen: 39:19

And you can get in touch with us on all the socials. We are on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. All of them at happy life pod. That is H a P P Y L I F E P O

Steve: 39:32

D. Yes. And stay tuned next week as we celebrate super Mario's 35th birthday.

Stephen: 39:39

Yes, it is. It is Mario day, March 10th. Yes. So

Steve: 39:44

we will be covering super Mario 3d all-stars

Stephen: 39:48

super hoo.

Steve: 39:52

Yes. So we will see you then. And until then, I know. And until then stay happy.