DeepSummary
Paul Scheer, Jason Mantzoukas, and June Diane Raphael gather for a live episode of How Did This Get Made? to discuss the 2000 fantasy film Merlin: The Return. They are baffled by the convoluted plot involving King Arthur, Merlin, Mordred, and the characters being trapped in different dimensions or time periods. The low-budget special effects, strange creative choices, and inexplicable events leave them utterly confused throughout the viewing experience.
They examine peculiar aspects such as Guinevere's tightly curled hairstyle, the ghost skeletons sneaking around, the use of a water hose in a science lab to defeat villains, and what it means to have 'Big Merlin Energy.' An audience member dressed as King Arthur asks Paul a provocative question about resonating with Mordred kissing his mother, much to the hosts' amusement.
Despite the movie's flaws, they find moments of unintentional humor and appreciate the commitment of actors like Tia Carrere and Rik Mayall (portraying Merlin). While not recommending the film, they acknowledge its entertainingly bizarre qualities and embrace the experience of watching and dissecting it together.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- The hosts found the 2000 fantasy film Merlin: The Return to be an incoherent, low-budget mess filled with bizarre creative choices and unintentionally absurd moments.
- Despite its flaws, the movie provided an entertainingly strange viewing experience that allowed for satirical dissection and appreciation of its committed performances.
- Key issues included a convoluted plot spanning dimensions, laughable effects and production values, uncomfortable moral implications, and strange dialogue anachronisms.
- Memorable flawed elements like Guinevere's hair, ghost skeleton villains, a water hose defeating villains, and provocative questions made for a uniquely mocking yet fun live experience.
- While not endorsing the film itself, the hosts embraced its "so-bad-it's-good" qualities and the communal act of incredulously breaking it down for amusement.
- The participation of the lively audience, including one member's provocative King Arthur-related question, amplified the spirit of satirizing the memorably bad movie.
- Actors like Tia Carrere and Rik Mayall demonstrated commitment amid the low production values that generated unintentional humor.
- The experience exemplified the show's central comedic premise of excessively analyzing irredeemably flawed movies through humorous group dissection.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “He keeps fighting guys with a sword and at some point, mustn't somebody be like, hey, take that fucking guy's sword away. Or, hey, why don't we chain these two up?“ by Jason Mantzoukas
- “The moment where Mordred, when they've got them all, they've captured everybody. And Mordred's like, hey, Richie, I'm gonna kill your mom. And that's when she says, help me, Richie. And instead of being a fucking adult about it and being like, run. Get out of here. And he's like, you've got to kill Merlin. And she's like, you better kill Merlin. This is some real Voldemort, Draco Malfoy shit right here.“ by Jason Mantzoukas
- “I wrote that down too. Sir? Is that Sir Gawain? Sir Galwyn tells her, don't worry, we're going to have lots of fun. Basically, the final line of the movie is you're going to be raped for eternity.“ by Jason Mantzoukas
Entities
Company
Person
Book
Product
Episode Information
How Did This Get Made?
Earwolf and Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, Jason Mantzoukas
6/14/24