Transcript opening music Liz: Hi! Welcome to the new podcast from Pencil/Paper, that we're tentatively calling "Pod 9 From Outer Space", in which we're gonna watch some, I think the phrase would be "good-bad" films, and yeah we're gonna talk about them, because we both love different kinds of good-bad films. I am Liz, and I enjoy full-on schlock creature features and Syfy original movies Nick: I'm Nick, I like weird slices of kitsch and experimental films L: And the first film that we have watched is 1955's "The Quatermass Xperiment", directed by Val Guest. If you're American you may have heard of this film as "The Creeping Unknown" aka the film that killed a guy N: That's right, as part of a double feature with, what was it? L: "Black Sleep" N: "Black Sleep" L: Starring Basil Rathbone, my favourite Sherlock Holmes N: Yeah that's something where we're gonna be getting into in a future episode I think L: I'm hoping for that to be episode 2, if you don't mind N: We could go for that yeah L: Double feature N: Yeah L: So I think that the first thing I noticed about this film, is how it has a very clear message N: It does L: Like there's a guy who's basically in one scene near the start, and the last scene, whose whole thing is "I read the bible and you shouldn't be doing all this science" N: He is the simple bible man L: I think he actually calls himself a bible man N: Don't think it, don't say it L: So the basic premise of the Quatermass Xperiment, is three men go to space, just general space, to see what's there. They come back, two of them have been turned to jelly, and the other one is undergoing some sort of weird metamorphosis N: Yep L: And then he gets loose N: Footloose L: And fancy free? N: Oh no, there's no fancies here. I'm a simple bible man, and I won't stand for any fancies L: It is - it is described as a Gothic science fiction which I feel is accurate just because when we were watching it you were talking about how there's a lot of very Frankenstein-y moments? N: Yes there's one person having this horrifying transformation, he looks at an innocent young girl who's just got the worst little kid acting L: Like full on small-girl-in-the-50s acting, complete with a dolly, having a tea party on...an abandoned barge, I think? N: Yeah. Oh god L: Talking about how she's not like other girls, because they're all interested in dresses and dolls, while she does - has a tea party with her doll N: In a dress. Oh god and... L: Yup. To be fair the dress might not have been her choice, she's quite small. She can't be more than like, eight N: Fair. But, one thing I found, really it's just one step away from the kid literally going high voice la-la-la-la-la-la-la L: Oh it really was, wasn't it N: It's that, it's that kind of kid where you go "ok are you actually a child or did somebody put a RADA graduate in a hydrolic press to make them small enough L: Fun fact, that little girl grew up to almost marry Paul McCartney N: Oh you mean the guy from Wings? L: Yeah N: Nice L: Yeah I don't, like I'm trying to think if there were any big names in this and the only one that I can really place is Dame Thora Hird, who appears as a disgruntled cockney woman N: Oh she's so disgruntled and very cockney L: I believe her name is Rosy, and she is the MVP of this film N: Yeah when she opens her mouth all you hear is the sound of Bow Bells L: Which makes the dialogue difficult but, you know, she pushes through N: She really does, she really does it's...do not ask for whom the Bow bells toll, 'cause you're brown bread L: Indeed. Thoroughly wholemealed N: Thoroughly. So, one thing I liked was the monster, the monster reveal. Which I believe it was tripe, wasn't it? L: It was! It was a pile of tripe. So they blur it, so you can't tell that it's tripe, but also it's really obviously just a pile of tripe that they've like, got on a string N: Yeah L: spooky voice To make it crawl towards the mice in the lab! N: What I like is that this is a production a
