Triple Click - Triple Play: Return to Monkey Island

Episode Date: October 6, 2022

Jason, Kirk, and Maddy grab their rubber chickens with pulleys in the middle and jump into Return to Monkey Island, the lovely new game from the original creators of the classic adventure game series. They talk about the game's charming humor, how it modernizes the point-and-click interface, and what it's like to play a "legasequel" with so much baggage. Really: this game is wonderful!One More Thing: Kirk: The Big Chill (1983)Maddy: Bayonetta (2009)Jason: Fairy Tale (Stephen King)Links:Support Triple Click: http://maximumfun.org/joinBuy a Triple Click t-shirt: https://topatoco.com/collections/maximum-fun/products/maxf-tc-tclogo-shJoin the Triple Click Discord: http://discord.gg/tripleclickpodTriple Click Ethics Policy: https://maximumfun.org/triple-click-ethics-policy/ Happy MaxFunDrive! Right now is the best time to start a membership to support your favorite shows. Learn more and join at https://maximumfun.org/jointripleclick 🚀  SUPPORT TRIPLE CLICK:Join Maximum Fun | Buy TC Merch💬 JOIN THE TRIPLE CLICK DISCORD🎮 Triple Click Ethics Policy📱 SOCIALS | @tripleclickpodInstagram | YouTube | TikTok | Twitch

To listen to Triple Click, you have to drink this special potion. I don't know how it works. Nobody does. It's magic. Welcome to Triple Click, where we bring the games to you. This week, we all played Return to Monkey Island, a legacy sequel, or legacy sequel, to the long dormant Monkey Island series. With the original games writers, back at it, writing jokes again. I'm Maddie Myers.

I'm Jason Shire. And I'm Kirk Hamilton. And hello. Hello. Hello to my two favorite gamers. Yes. Favorite podcast co-hosts, really two of my favorite people. Lowercase G gamers.

Yeah. Lowercase Gers. All the other letters uppercase. And lowercase P, people. Yes. Yeah, that's right. Because people has also got some weird connotations around it that we are trying to get away from. We're trying to, yeah, you can't call human beings people these days.

That's true. Lowercase people. We never know. case letters, you're a triple-click, don't we? Yeah, it's all lowercase. Yeah, just like Maddie's Twitter feed, it's all lower case. Yeah, I try to get rid of the capital letters, because I just want people to feel casual and relax.

It's true. You want us to feel like we're chatting on Instant Messenger in the 90s? And I want them to feel like we're their friends in real life, and there's no separation between us, and if you just can't get

enough of having no separation between us, have you considered paying us. No separation between your wallet and our period. We are your real friends who you have the option to pay. I mean, you don't have to do that. We'll just give you the show for free. We can and we do.

We will. We're cool like that. But we also have this other additional option. If you go to maximum fun.org slash join, you can become a max fun member and you can get bonus episodes. I mean, how could you not? Honestly, the bonus episode, this month, really good. Getting rave reviews all around.

We talked about formative childhood games. We each picked five. I will not reveal any of the picks. But the Discord is a light. The triple-click Discord is a light with discussions of the games, fascinated by it, love it. It's true. Good stuff.

It was a fun topic. It was a fun conversation. You might have to, like, do a part two of that sometimes. Yeah, and it's always fun getting nostalgic. We might, because I had a lot of honorable mentions that I didn't get to. And it's been fun to see people in Discord sharing their own examples. And if you want to know what our examples were and what everybody's talking about, it's only one way to find out.

And that is maximum fun.org slash join. Becoming a member, getting all the bonus apps. There's a whole bunch of other ones. But yeah, that's, I just noticed that in the notes it says that Jason has something to say up top. and now I'm completely distracted and overwhelmed. Jason, please don't have another surprise. Please, I can't. Every now and then I wake up in a cold sweat at two in the morning

thinking to myself, how am I going to surprise Jason and Kirk? Just panicking. I can't do this, man. You can't just write Jason thing in the notes and have that be acceptable anymore. It's true. We're all kind of traumatized at this point. First of all, this is not a surprise. Don't worry. No, this is not.

I do not have another baby to. pop up here. Maddie, if it helps, you have a lot of time because you basically have until this podcast comes to an end and I don't think that's going to be anytime soon. So you have plenty of time. My thing is actually, I have to I have to correct the

record about something that happened last week, which I've been getting a lot of messages about, which is that Maddie, you said champing at the bit and I was like chopping at the bit. And of course, I've gotten a bunch of messages saying like, Jason, Maddie was right. Like, why did you correct you? Like, you're such a day.

Some of them were nasty messages. Yeah, some people are mad at you and they're like, how dare you? I just want to explain. First of all, I mean, I think it's actually a good standalone joke to be incorrectly, like correcting someone incorrectly. I thought it was funny. About something that a lot of people always get, like, confused. But second of all, the reason I said that, and I actually expected Kirk to edit it out,

the reason I said that is because I had thought that Kirk, that was your bug bear, like the chomping, champing thing. Because I remember you talking about that in the past. and always like jumping on it. You've like brought it up in the past. So I expected you to be like, no, it's champing. And then I was going to derail the conversation just by like trolling you a little bit about that. But you didn't say anything.

Ah, I avoided feeding the troll. Well, that's what I expected you to edit it out because it was just dead air after that. The funniest thing is that actually, so that was kind of cross talk and I edited it in. I made it clear because I got the joke. I thought it was very funny. Okay. You can hear Maddie laughing. And I think you guys have even talked about this on the.

show before. And I, to me, it really clearly came across that you were jokingly correcting with something you knew was incorrect. And then Maddie was laughing, understanding the joke. I mean, maybe because we're all so annoying that we all know the correct term. So like to us, it's hilarious to do a purposefully wrong correction. But like, to the average listener, they're just like, why did Jason say that? Right. People are just like, oh my God. How could, how dare this man correct a woman with the wrong thing? Yeah, yeah, yeah. They thought it was man-slainting. very sexist. So that was crazy.

Oh, man. That's pretty funny. But yeah, just wanted to clear the air on the champing, chopping thing. And I will never make an incorrect correction again, except for me. Well, I also thought it was a billions reference, because there's a scene where Chuck Rhodes gives a speech and wants to say champing at the bit, but I think it's Ira who tells him to say chomping. Because he's supposed to be like a man of the people in this speech he's giving. So that's what I thought you were doing. Jason was being like,

no one's going to understand this champing reference. We got to be podcasters of the people here and say chomping, which I mean, clearly this is such a multifaceted joke. I'm so glad we left it in. And I'm glad we're addressing it here today. Okay. Well, there we go. The most important thing about this correction is that I guarantee you that some people out there

have just learned that champing at the bit is what you actually say. Absolutely. Absolutely. Some people thought it was an honest correction. And those people are also valid. It's true. We validate you. I have a feeling it's like could.

Could care less versus couldn't care less. We're like so many people misuse it that it's just become part of the lexicon. It's become kind of standardized. Anyway, let's get on with the show. Or should we just talk about English idioms for the next hour? I don't know. We might because because of the topic of the show, we could talk about English idioms. That's true.

So, this week, Kirk Cue the Music, we are talking about the ultimate pirate adventure return to Monkey Island. A video game, a charming video game that just came out a couple of weeks ago for PC and Switch, I believe, computers and switch. And it is the return of the Monkey Island series. This is a game designed and written by Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman, who are the lead design and written, I should say. Although I believe they wrote all of the dialogue and designed most of the puzzles. So it's safe to say they designed and wrote it. And these are two of the original Monkey Island creators. Monkey Island, of course, is a legendary LucasArts Point and Click Adventure series that we talked about in an episode called What's the Deal with Monkey Island that you can listen to if you're not familiar.

So today we're going to talk about Return to Monkey Island. We've all been playing it. It's a really cool game. I finished it. You two have both made significant amounts of progress. So why don't we start by talking about our overall impressions of the game? Kirk, do you want to start us off? Sure, I love this game. Surprise, surprise. I love it. It's cracking me up. It's making me feel really nostalgic, but in a wonderful way that doesn't feel manipulative. It just feels like a beautiful thing made by people who made a beautiful thing that I liked 30 years ago. And they love the thing that they made as much as I love it. And it just has this kind of joyful, positive energy to it that, yeah, I'm just finding it to be this really just pleasing, funny, wonderful game. So those are my overall impressions.

Beautiful. How far are you just before? Oh, yeah. I'm like midway through Act 2. I'm on Luchuk's ship. I'm sort of, I think I'm currently trying to make the potion that will lead us to Monkey Island. So we're en route to Monkey Island. It feels like the story is kind of coming into its own as its own story since after leaving Malay Island. That felt a lot more like a lot of callback since Malay Island features so prominently in the first game. And that's the one I'm most familiar with.

Maddie, what about you? Overall thoughts. I am in a similar spot for what it's worth, although I'm just past the part I think you are at, Kirk, onto the second part of the potion plot line that I won't spoil for you. I think I'm at the very start of that. So I've learned what I need to do to make the potion, which actually involves going somewhere else to make the potion. And that's what I'm about to go to. And I love this game. I was a little nervous going in because the only Monkey Island game I know is the very first one.

and I had recently rewatched the whole let's play of it and talked on this very podcast about how hilarious it was. And I was like, but I haven't played all these other ones. Am I going to not get the lore or whatever? It so doesn't matter. And I feel like this game is for anyone else in my position because the characters are all going back to the exact same place. And also the running joke is the fact that the secret of Monkey Island is never really

revealed at any point. And in this game, all the other characters keep clouding. on Guybrush for not having ever discovered it, even though there's a whole game called that. And one would imagine he would discover the secret of Monkey Island at some point in it, but he just kind of doesn't. And that's great. But also seeing all the locations again and all the same characters, like the sword master's back, and now she's the governor. And I feel like, I'm sure there's stuff I'm not getting, but I'm laughing so much and enjoying myself so much. I just, I started being like, should I just start writing down all the good jokes? Because I'm

we're going to forget what they are when we do the podcast, but no one wants to listen to me reciting jokes. No one, no one needs me to be like, and here's another funny one, but for real, let me explain why that's funny. But there's so many great ones that I'm just like, oh, I love it. And it's, I can't recommend it enough. It's so, so fun. It feels very much like a game. So I finished it. So I'm ahead of you guys. But yeah, it feels very much like a game that's made by people who are at the top of their game, who are masters of their craft. And you can feel it in so many different ways.

In the puzzle design, and the writing, and the humor and the jokes and the way it looks and feels. I know there was some controversy over the art style, but even if you think the screenshots don't look weird, when you're actually playing it, it's gorgeous. It looks beautiful to play.

It's so fun. It really feels like people who have been making adventure games for 30 years, like coming back to do this. So if Monkey Island, if the first Monkey Island was a game about, and there's a whole meta layer to this, a game about, like, people trying to be game designers, the same way Guy Brush is trying to be a pirate. This is a game about this grizzled guy who is just coming back for one more shot at it, who's like, you know, there's some maybe some unresolved plot threads here,

maybe some kind of some things that I've left undone, a to-do list that I still have to check off, some tasks I still have to accomplish. And it explores that in some really interesting ways. We won't talk about the ending because you guys haven't actually gotten there or any of the stuff that happens in the latter half of the game. But something that Kirk has already noticed that becomes a broader theme is how Guy Brush just leaves this trail of destruction in his way and everything he does just causes havoc for people.

And that to me is super fascinating. I'm sure there are all sorts of ways you could read into that as a metaphor for game development and the havoc it causes. Just to explain, I know we weren't going to just tell jokes, but to explain probably the funniest act one sequence, to people to give a sense of why, actually why I texted you that. I just texted Jason. I really like how this game is leaning into Guy Brush as agent of destruction.

There's an early sequence where you have to create a mop so that you can get a job on the Chuck's ship because you have to get to Monkey Allen and he has the only ship. So you learn that to make a mop, which is a very cherished item and a very powerful artifact, you have to kind of go on this quest. There's a whole quest. And you have to go up to the woods from the first game that you had to navigate with a map that you would get lost in. And this time you're doing it to find a tree that you're going to cut wood from to make a mop.

So you find the map, you go through the woods. And he comes upon this beautiful glade with all these little animals, these Disney animals, like living their lives, little deer and a little squirrel. And there's this huge majestic tree lit by, you know, the moonlight coming through the trees. And you have this little knife that's really, really sharp and is very useful. And you click the knife on the tree thinking, you know, oh, he's going to go and cut a branch off and make a mop. And then this cutscene plays where he basically, you know, it's not showing it. It's basically things flying across the camera, but you're not seeing what's happening and this horror music is playing.

And then it cuts to him. And the whole field is just destroyed. Like it's just become this like apocalyptic zone of death. And there's just, you know, branches everywhere. And the animals are all crying and traumatized. And he has his stick. And he's just absolutely destroyed everything. And I was, I think I was on the plane when I was playing this.

And I was like laughing my ass off. It was so unexpected and so funny and so perfectly in line with Guy Brush's character. Yeah, it's so funny. Yeah, similar things happened in previous games that Ron Gilbert did. Just for some context, by the way, in case you have not listened to what's the deal with Monkey Island, which you should go do. Yes. Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman, although they were kind of consulting on some other games,

really they just worked on Monkey Island 1 and Monkey Island 2. So the game since then, Curse of Monkey Island, Escape from Monkey Island and Tales from Monkey Island, are mostly other people. So this is them returning to something that they literally did 30 years ago. And yeah, in Monkey Island 2, remember there's that great scene. Actually, a lot of this you see in the museum as reminders of the destruction that Guy Brish has caused. Yeah, the hipster curator is hilarious. He's hilarious.

So funny. At one point in Monkey Island 2, a puzzle requires you to put up a wanted poster for Kate Capstone, who is like this just a glass bottom ship like captain. and you get her arrested for just to advance your own, like, agenda. Like, just this innocent woman is in jail because of you, because you just put up her poster, like, as a wanted poster. It's so twisted. When he's basically listing crimes and garbage, she's like, actually, I did that.

Yeah, I did that too. I did all those things. Yeah. Actually, I just put her picture out. Yeah, and he's like, I just changed the name on the poster to frame her. And I mean, this is one of the things about the humor that really works for me is that the curator responds by calling attention to how ludicrous every scenario is in the game, just most of what his jokes are, where he's just like, that would never

work. Like, it's absurd to even imagine that. And Guy Brish is like, well, yeah, but that is what I did. And the curator is just ignoring him. Like, that's, I'm just going to ignore you because what you said doesn't make sense. And that's what most of his lines are. But I just feel like we're in this post-D Deadpool world where, like, breaking the fourth wall is really annoying, usually, because the character's usually making fun of the structures around them and also kind of making fun of you for enjoying them, which is fine. I like Deadpool. I've read a lot of Dudpool comics. Don't write in and tell me that they...

I love the guy. But Guy Brish is very different in how he breaks the fourth wall, and so are the rest of the characters who also have the ability to do it. It's not just him. In that it's as though everyone is saying this is a game and that means it's fun. And we're all participating

in this fun thing together. And we're celebrating how fun and silly it is, as opposed to being mad at it or making fun of it for being unrealistic or something. It's just like, no, this is this is silly. And that's what's so great about it is that this is a video game. I don't know.

It just really works. The first game, the first game famously ends with Guy Rush and Elaine saying never pay more than $20 for a computer game. Yeah, lots of this series has always broken the fourth wall in a very charming way. I want to talk

about adventure games in 2022 because there aren't a lot of adventure games these days. Not this style of games. No, there are a lot of games that borrow mechanics and are called adventure games. Like you might see a walking simulator, which we've talked about quite a bit in the past. But there aren't, and there are obviously puzzle games that come out these days. But there aren't a lot of games where you have an inventory full of objects and you have to use objects on other objects within the world and like hunt for things that you pick up in the world and have conversation trees. There aren't many games, if any, that are styled this way.

The last one, I believe, was Ron Gilbert's last game, Thimbleweed Park, at least that I remember. other than like, I should say, like, I'm talking about kind of things that are beyond, like, indie. Like, they're indie game developers, adventure game developers, like Dave Gilbert, not related, is an indie adventure game designer who's constantly making games like this. But none of them are quite as, like, I don't know, big budget or quite as widespread, widely known as Return to Monkey Island is. And one of the things... Exactly.

One of the things that I think it does that is really interesting is the way that it, does a totally, it has a totally new interface for interacting in the world. In a lot of, in previous Monkey Island games, at least the first two, you would select from like a verb menu on the bottom of your screen and you would say, look at this, push this, pick up this. And I give you a lot of different options of things you could, of like ways you could trigger dialogue potentially by like selecting the wrong things. In this game, there aren't as many options. But in, but you get, the tradeoff for that is that you get an easier interface to interact with and you don't have to like slam your head against the wall trying to

decide if the game wants you to like press push or pull or twist or whatever um so there's no verbs yeah what do you guys make of it they're not you just click things yeah yeah it's a really simplified like way more interesting interface i think i really dig it i think it's also a lot friendlier to people who've never played a game like this before which it also feels like the game is trying to welcome those people in i mean by having the museum present at all it's all already telling you the stories of a lot of these characters. And the scrapbook, if you haven't seen it. And the scrapbook.

Yeah. And I mean, there's the hint book that you got at one point from the voodoo lady, quote unquote. And it all helps you. But I also just generally think the fact that you don't have to click on the verbs anymore is a nod to the way that times have changed while still keeping in some options. Like you can use either left or right click sometimes for different options. and you still have dialogue options that result in further scenarios.

But also you can't ever really get that stuck. Like you can't lock yourself out of completing a puzzle, which is just a huge relief to me every time I play something like this. Yeah, which is always the case. That was like the whole LucasArts thing was they didn't lock you out. But yeah, well, so another one of the interesting things is so like you were saying, you have the left click and the right click option for a lot of the things that you might highlight in the world with your mouse.

but also it'll say it'll kind of like walk you through guy brush's thought process as he's looking at each thing so like you'll look at you'll look at like a chicken and it'll be like oh do i don't want to scare the chicken or something like that or like it'll say instead of just saying like poke chicken or interact with chicken it'll actually talk like so so it winds up being like adding humor to that as well which i think adds just a whole new level of of charm and and enjoy it like making the game enjoyable you're really rewarding for clicking on every single thing you see. Like, a lot of the jokes are quite funny. I mean, obviously, they get repetition. If you click too many times, you don't want to just click over and over, but you pretty much want to click every single thing you see. And that is so satisfying. Yeah, it works.

I mean, it gives you verbs sometimes. I think appreciate is a funny one where you'll be carrying around, like, a clump of hair. And it will say, appreciate the clump of hair. So it's kind of giving you verbs, but they're generated to be even funnier because they're specific to each thing. Right. And then, yeah, there's always. it's the style of humor. I think I talked about it in our What's the Deal with Monkey Island,

but it's very much a Gilbert Grossman kind of humor where you can continue to pester someone about something when they give you a no, and they'll keep giving you new options. And the verb changes each time. So it will be ask someone if they'll join your crew, beg someone to join your crew, like really beg someone to join your crew. I think at one point there is asked someone to do this, dare them, double dog dare them, triple dog dare them. And you get new lines of dialogue each time. The interface definitely makes the game easier. I think that's a good thing. Personally, how do you two feel about it?

Yeah, well, I actually, so having completed the game, I actually still got stuck on a couple of puzzles, and at least one of them I had to use the hint book. The hint book in the game is fantastic. I've used it plenty of times. I have no qualms about using it if I feel a little stuck. I don't have time to wander around clicking on things. But it's great because it gives you these tiered hints

that are specific to every puzzle in each step you're in and very, very helpful. And I also appreciate the quest log that tells you exactly what you're trying to do which wasn't present in the earlier games. So I always know what I'm supposed to be doing. Yeah, so I actually, I never felt like the point of these games

is to be super challenging because when they are super challenging, it's usually because they're frustrating and it's very rare to have a challenge in an adventure game that ends with you, like once you finally figure it out or look it up or whatever, that ends with you feeling satisfied.

Usually you're like, come on, like how is I supposed to think of it? That's extremely true. So in a game like this, I find that it's better to skew on the side of too easy. And I think that this, I actually think this game has a perfect balance and it feels really good to me, even if it does skew towards the easier side of things. The downside, I actually think about the new interface. This actually isn't really related to the new interface, but it's just part of the way that this game works is that you can no longer just like try every object on every other object or try every object on everything in the world, which is something you could always do in the past. And sometimes you would just get a generic guy brush response.

You would just be like, oh, I can't do that or whatever. But other times there will be hilarious, like, specific responses that doesn't quite happen. There's an occasional, occasionally you'll get a wrong thing response because something seems like it should be doable, but it's not. And so you'll get a wrong thing response. But not quite as many options as there have been in previous adventure games. Right. To explain how it works to people a little bit is just that you'll select a thing from your inventory and then you can just kind of kind of cycle it through every possible thing in the screen you're looking at.

And they'll mostly be kind of Xed out if you can't do anything. And then occasionally it'll light up and that's when you know you can use it. So it gives you a little clearer feedback, I guess, which makes it feel a little more limited in a way that's generally good. But does, yeah, does remove some of that stuff you're talking about. Yeah, I don't have a problem with it. And as you guys will see, the game opens up and gets more elaborate. I was actually worried when I was where you guys are, I was like, oh, man. So, okay, so we're getting on the ship and then we're going to Monkey Island.

and is that the whole game? But no, there are five acts in this game. And when you get to Act 4, Act 4, I would say, is the closest to, like, a real big, like, meaty, Monkey Island experience. Act 4 is essentially like, if you guys remember, or Kirk, if you remember, Maddie, you wouldn't remember. But in Monkey Island, too, essentially, you start, the first act of the game is on one island, and then after that first act, you gained the ability to sail between three different islands,

and all of the puzzles and quests and your whole adventure requires you to be doing things in all three and bringing things from one place to another and so on and so on. That's what Act 4 of this game is like, and it really opens up the world, and there's a lot of cool stuff, and that act I really, really enjoyed. So you guys will find there's no shortage of complexity and depth to this. It's not just like you're stuck in one place, and you have to just use objects within that place. It goes deeper than that. Nice.

Yeah, I really like this kind of puzzle design. I've been thinking about, as I play it, just the difference between this and most puzzle games that I play now, where it's just this fundamental difference between looking at a screen with a puzzle on it. I was listening back to our bonus episode when we were talking about and the podcast and those style of games

where there's just a puzzle. Spoilers. We just said earlier, we wouldn't spoil it. That's true. Well, people can go become members if they want to hear that. Wait, can you bleep out? You got to bleep out those.

No, that means no sense. Yeah, yeah, leave them out. Okay, I will. Those are bleeped out, so members know what I'm talking about. Anyways, we're talking about games with puzzles where you look at the puzzle and it's a single thing. So, you know, you're looking at just, there's like a, I don't know, a game board with weird pieces

and there's holes missing from the game board and you have to figure out where to put the pieces and eventually you do it and it unlocks something. You know, like the room is a great example. And that kind of puzzle is really cool and it's just a puzzly puzzle. But this kind of puzzle is different and I don't play that many games that do this specific thing where the puzzle is the world and you have to, move through it, and there are different elements of the world that become key points in different puzzles. And it allows for storytelling in the puzzle in a way that works really well, because what Guy Bruch is

doing is going around, talking to people, having new conversations with them, finding objects that tell them things about the world, taking those back to other people, then those people talk about them. Like, it fits with the story really seamlessly. And I mean, this is the kind of thing they've been doing for 30 years. Like, this is what the first Monkey Island did. it's just playing it now and comparing it to other types of games. It's its own thing. It's a really distinct sort of frequency. And as it expands, I'm sure it gets even cooler.

I can imagine what you're describing. If you're sailing around and going to all these different places, that's a really cool thing and actually kind of unusual. It's something that the game does really well. In the Double Fine Adventure documentary series, which I've rated about many, many times. It's one of my favorite things ever. And I think everybody should go watch it ASAP,

which is it's about the making of broken. age, another point in click adventure, one that I liked a little bit less. I liked the documentary series way more than the game. But Tim Schaefer, the head of Double Fine and lead director of that game, designer of that game, talks about how a good adventure game puzzle is a story and you have to, you can talk your way through like describing exactly what you did sounds like a hilarious and interesting story. Yeah, that's right. I'd forgotten that, but that totally makes sense. Which is like, which is, and if you're describing something and it doesn't sound interesting

or hilarious, then it's probably not a good puzzle in an adventure game. And so if you think about every puzzle you've done, like the mop tree, for example, oh, yes, I needed a mop. So I went to go get a stick from the legendary mop tree, which I then chopped down. Or like even something a little simpler, like, oh, well, my buddy Stan was in jail. Or no, my buddy Otis was in jail and I wanted to get him out. So I had to go to the. key store, but she needed a serial number, which is inside the key. So I had to steal a monocle from

Wally and use that. I could see the serial number. You get the, yep. When you, yeah, exactly. When you talk through the exact, like the order of operations, it always sounds like a fun story. And that's the key to a really great adventure game puzzle, which I think is really insightful from Tim Schaefer. And if you compare that to, you know, a chessboard puzzle, the story there is just, well, there was this sliding tile thing. And I looked at it for a long time. Then I figured out, oh, it's supposed to be a picture of a horse. So I kind of rearranged it. It was hard.

And then I kind of almost got it, but I was stuck. And then I figured it out. And it worked in a door open. Like that's a very different thing. I did a very different thing. I stared at some numbers and then. Right. Which numbers works.

So much of it is also just an opportunity to tell jokes, too. Like, in a way, this feels like watching a TV show or a cartoon or something. But it's not super plot heavy. It's mostly just joke heavy. Like, yeah, there is a story that is very slowly and full. holding before you, but it's also like, depending on how quickly you solve each puzzle, you get more jokes, so you're almost rewarded for failing in a way that I really enjoy. Like, if anything, I feel like try all the options, fail, keep talking to people until you've exhausted everything

is a part of the game that is the most fun because actually getting to the end of the puzzle, normally would be the reward. Like normally you want to complete the horse tile and see the horse so you can just get to the next room and actually keep playing the game. But in this game, that's not really the game, as it were. Like, defeating each puzzle is not the game, at least not in my view. The game is hearing every voice line and giggling to myself because they're so good. The journey. The journey.

We should say the framing of this is that Guy Bruch is telling this story to his son. And you're really playing as his son in the beginning and then you're being told this story. Well, hold on. Let's back up even further. So that framing is based on. the ending of Monkey Island 2. So Monkey Island 2 ends with this crazy, crazy, like, cliffanger of sorts where after chasing down, as Guybrush, after chasing down Lechuk, you threw these tunnels of like trying to

figure out what big whoop is, big whoop is the name of the treasure that you're chasing in that game, you wind up in this amusement park and suddenly Lechuk and Guy brush are children and their brothers and their like their parents come and bring them away. like, come on guys. And then it cuts to Elaine and she's like, I hope Guy Brush isn't under some horrible magical curse. But then we get to this and it's they're doing something totally opening. Also, it's all a fake out. So first of all, it turns out that the parents that, they kind of change the canon there because at the end of Monkey Island, too, it's your actual parents. Here it's like, we're pretending that they are parents. Second of all, it's not a magical

thing like Elaine had said at the end of Monkey Island too. Instead, it's like these are their, Guy Bruch's kids, like running around an amusement park. And he named one of them LaChuk slash Chuckie. Yeah. Because why not? Charlie, yeah. So that framing sort of, it's integral to this kind of story. And I think that this is a really interesting example of this kind of sequel, the Lego

sequel that we're seeing more of. Because those kinds of sequels, a sequel that has basically been created way, way after the most recent one. And they're bringing people back and they're a lot older. And it's in some way going to be concerned with the legacy of this beloved, long-lasting series. And in this case, it's Monkey Island. It's coming out way, way after the most recent one, at least that these developers made. And it's, you know, like we've mentioned, Guy Brush is older now.

He comes to this island, and he's kind of, you know, he's a has-been. Like, his era on Mele Island just in the first act is, like, completely over. And there's all this new stuff that's happened. There are these new young pirates who are in charge, and they're really, really impressive. I think that joke is just a very funny one where he's talking to the new pirate lords, and they're listing their accomplishments, and they're just wildly impressive in that way that even as someone in my early 40s, I can sometimes learn about some 33-year-old who's like, oh, yeah, no big deal.

I did this and this and this and this, and I'm like, wow. You did a lot more than I've done in my whole life. And I think that is just a relatable and funny feeling. And there's a lot of kind of jokes like that. And I think this game is doing a good job of commenting on its legacy and also celebrating it. And I just think it works really well. I've been thinking about what makes a good one of those versus a bad one. I would say to look at things we've talked about,

The Matrix Resurrections is an example of a good one. I think that was also very concerned with its legacy and very meta, but it was interesting. We actually talked about that on a beans cast. I think God of War 2018 is another good legacy sequel, where it's really earnestly engaging with who Cratos is and what it means, especially as that game gets going and farther into it, it really, you know, it goes after it in a way that I thought was really cool.

I recently tried to watch Ghostbusters afterlife, which is the opposite to me. Like that's one where they misunderstand the core of what made the original movie good. And it's just like, weren't proton packs cool? Yeah, they were. Well, what if some kids had them? Yeah, the proton pack is so cool. And it's not about like the Ghostbusters. than the characters really.

So anyways, it's easy to go wrong with this kind of thing. And it's really nice that this game really understands what made the original ones good and is having this sort of conversation with it and looking back on it and celebrating in a way. Like I just, I find that really like rich and satisfying. Man, yeah, I'm excited for you guys to finish it so we can talk about the ending

because you will not be shocked to hear that it explores some of those themes. Yeah, but there is. It really seems like it's going there. Maddie, to your point, I think that yes, even though the real appeal of this is seeing every line and just like exploring everything, every ounce of humor you can get out of this thing, there is a story. And there is, I think it's kind of, it's an interesting one, this idea of like, well, we never revealed the

secret of monkey island. So let's go figure out what that is. Hey, is garbage is on this chase for the secret of monkey island. And I think it's really interesting in a lot of ways. I mean, the whole trail of destruction thing is like, it's very much about a guy who is like, just fixated on this pursuit for no real reason. I mean, he could have a happy life. He has a wife who is, like,

doing cool shit. Like she's often, you guys will see more of her a little bit later, but she's her, uh, you picked up on that she's like trying to solve. She's working on a scurvy initiative. Um,

and she, which is like, like, well, a fun contrast to Guy Bruch, like on his selfish quest to like beat Guy Bruch to, to finding the secret of bunk alley. But it's like very much about this guy who's like fixated on something.

And it's not really a good person. It's really just causing a lot of havoc. And we tend to like rationalize his actions just because we're controlling him. And it's funny and we're trying to solve puzzles and stuff. But like within the fiction of the game and the story of the game, it's actually like, whoa, we're playing this like destructive, like abusive guy on his quest to like do something super selfish and for no reason. This is such a video game like a sequel thing, right? Max Payne 3 is totally about this. That game is about Max Payne is this guy who just kills tons of people and blows stuff up.

and it really questions whether that's a good thing. God of War is totally about that. I feel like even Uncharted Four is kind of about that. It's almost an inevitable thing in these games that at some point, if the series is going to turn its attention back to itself, it has to look at what the protagonist is doing, and video game protagonists are just almost all agents of death and destruction. So you're going to wind up sort of critiquing the protagonist

and looking at what he's doing. And it does seem like that's happening here. It's just that it's very funny and doesn't feel frustrating in the way that some of those other games, sometimes can in this case, maybe just because of the type of game that it is. Well, because it's hilarious the whole time. That's why. I think that's one of the main reasons why at least. Yeah, it's more like an untitled goose game scenario where it's like, yeah, you are an agent of chaos, but also that's part of what's so hilarious about what's occurring.

Like, I mean, Guy Rush just randomly breaking people out of jail, but then also he doesn't ever find out why they were there in the first place, and that doesn't affect whether or not he's going to help them. Like, it's just, he's just kind of treating the world as his own personal playground and being like, well, what would happen if I did this next? And that's, I don't know, it reminds me of how I felt when I was playing Goose game, where it's like a lot of solving puzzles in that game is just, is not really thinking about yourself in the real world or as a person. And instead just being like, well, what happens if I click this or go here? That would be annoying. But it might also be very funny.

It's very light on its feet and it has, I mean, it's totally probably the opposite of Max Payne 3. I can't think it's more totally different. It's like very funny to imagine like a God of Warren level like narrative about Guy Brush being like, am I a bad father? Like if that's how this game ends. Health music is like pumping in the background and it's a monologue. It's, I do want to say speaking of actually Max Payne 3 has great music.

We talked about the art of this game and I do think the music is a huge part of it. brought back Michael Land, Peter McConnell, and Clint Bajakian, I think I'm saying his last name right. Those are three composers from the original game. And man, the music is perfect. I mean, it's not just each individual composition, though those are great, that opening track, which of course I love and have covered on my own and know very well. When it plays over the opening title screen, I was just, of course, on Cloud 9. But what they're doing is they've perfectly captured that LucasArts iMuse thing.

which was very revolutionary, especially in Monkey Island 2, where you go to a new location and the music seamlessly switches. And it's the same music, but the instrumentation changes. And, you know, it goes to a different energy. So it's in Woodtick in Monkey Island 2 is this famous, apparently very difficult to implement thing where each store that you go into has like a different instrument, a different, you know, a different sort of featured instrument on the theme. They're just capturing that feeling where you zoom out to the island and then you go to a new location and it zooms in and the music just seamlessly change. changes. And it's like a, it's musical, I guess. So it is, there is an actual thing happening there in terms of the, you know, like aesthetically what's going on. But it almost feels bigger than that. It feels kind of abstract. Like there's just a vibe. It just kind of gives the game this vibe that keeps it again really, really just buoyant and light and helps all of the chaos and madness that's happening just feel like, yeah, well, whatever though. Like this is all just floating along on a little cloud. It's yeah, it's really incredible. I wanted to talk about something involving the legacy sequel concept because I think this game is unique in that the creators of this game not only are like looking back and reckoning with what they made, they're also looking back at a couple of games that they didn't make and didn't have very much to do with at all, which is kind of an interesting position to be in as the creator of something because oftentimes we hear these heartbreaking stories about like creators of things losing what they create.

it. But in this case, I mean, other than, like, Escape from Monkey Island is kind of a weakling, but it's mostly good stuff, the series. In general, like, the games that were made without Ron and Dave are mostly good. There's no, like, people, just, like, money people, like, milking the series for all its worth or anything like that. It's a lot of just, like, earnest attempts to do cool Monkey Island stuff. And so I think it's pretty cool that Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman decided, rather than ignoring that stuff, they've kind of taken what they, like about it and implemented a lot about what they like about it. For example, Murray, who is this hilarious, like, talking skull character, was conceived from Monkey Island 3, like, after Ron and Dave

had left LucasArts. And then also, if you look in the scrapbook, you look at all of Monkey Island, like the old adventures that Guy Bruch went on, and includes all of them, escape, curse, escape, and tails. So I think it's actually pretty cool, even though Ron Gilbert has, like, kind of grumpily and infamously said in the past that if he ever makes another monkey island, game it will be his Monkey Island 3, it will ignore all the other stuff it'll be called Monkey Island 3 or whatever I think it's pretty cool

that, yeah, it's cool that he changed and I think it's, it actually speaks to just the way we all change and mature that like this is a game that addresses that stuff and takes what works and is pretty cool with that legacy rather than just like pretending

it didn't happen. Yeah, and also all the voice actors are back and they're not from the original games and they're so awesome. Like, it's really cool to hear all of them doing their characters again. I don't know. I'm obsessed with every single voice actor. Like, especially the Guy Brush one, what's his name?

Dominic Arnetto, something like that. He's so perfect. There's never been more perfect. I don't even know how he does it. There's just something about his sprightly deadpan, which are two words, I can't believe I'm saying next to each other. It's true, though. But it's how he delivers every line.

And there's no other main character quite like him in part because of that voice and the cadence of it, where you're just like, what you're doing is a huge mistake that's going to mess things up for you and everyone around you. But you sound so thrilled to try it. So I guess let's go. And it's his voice. Feels good to be back on Mali Island. The hub of pirating in the Caribbean, where every good expedition begins. I'll see some old pals and get things rolling. Or sailing in this case.

Hi, I'm Guyber's Threepwood, remember me? Haven't seen you in a while, Threepwood. What have you been up to? Well, you know, freebooting mostly, swashing buckles and so on. But now I'm getting an expedition together to find the secret of Monkey Island. Oh, you're sailing with Lechuk. What? Lechuk's here in Mail?

God, it's his vocal placement. It's like the way that he, it's where he puts his voice and the way that he makes it. It's so perfect for this exact. exact character. And it really, yeah, it ties the whole thing together. I agree. He's, he's incredibly good. Everybody's good, but he is, like, amazing. He can also make me laugh at just times when Guy Rish is talking to himself. Like, there's this moment where he's, like, looking at the fire and he's like, this is pretty cool, but it's going to get boring for you after a while or whatever. I'm just like, I don't know why this is so funny, but it is. It's just this guy. He's good at delivering

a line. He really is. Maddie, you've got to play Curse the Monkey Island. I do. I do. I do. I fantastic in that too. All right, cool. Well, return to Monkey Island. I'm very glad that you guys like it as much as I do because I also love this game. And I'm so glad it exists. And it's just, man, it's just a little treasure. Just a little treasure. I'm just so glad to do this.

A good game. And I hope Ron and Dave and that whole crew of talented people, because it's a group of people. I think it's like 20, 25 people. They're also super talented. So it's not just Ron and Dave. But yeah, I hope they make more because. It's great, and the ending certainly leaves room that they might keep exploring the series, and it's hard to imagine a world without Monkey Island in it.

And I hope they're proud of it. Like, I hope that the experience of that kind of weird backlash, that momentary backlash, didn't sour this just because I know that really bummed Ron out. I don't think it's it. I think they're proud of it. They should be. They should be. It's really special and good.

And the ending, well, you'll see, but after the ending, there's like a little... What happens in this ending? I can't... After the game and... There's like a little special Easter egg that they put in the game in the scrapbook. Like you look through the scrapbook and you'll find something that is like something that was written by Ron Gilbert and it's really cool. It's a post credit sequence. Nick Fury's there.

Yeah. Yeah. Snick Fury shows up. But no, it's really cool. And it makes you realize like, wow, these guys are like out of. Fuck the haters. Yeah. And big neon letters.

Yeah. Okay, cool. Let's take a break and we will be back with one more thing. Hello, Dreamers, this is Evelyn Denton, CEO of the only world-class, fully immersive theme resort, Steeplechase. You know, I've been seeing more and more reports on the blogs that our beloved park

simply isn't safe anymore. Murder them? I'm gonna wreck it. They say they got mugged by Briggins in the fantasy kingdom of ephemera or hijacked by space pirates an infant item. I mean, I could have a knife. My papa said that I needed to do a crime.

Friends, I'm here to reassure you that it's all part of the show. These criminals were really just overzealous staff trying to make things a little more magical for our guests. We're just as safe as we've always been. This isn't a county fair, dreamers. This is Steeplechase. The Adventure Zone.

Every Thursday at maximum fun.org. Since the dawn of time, man has dreamed of bringing life back from the dead. From Orpheus and Eurydice to Frankenstein's monster, resurrection has long been merely the stuff of myth, fiction, and fairy tale. Until now. Actually, we still can't bring people back from the dead.

That would be crazy, but the Dead Pilot Society podcast has found a way to resurrect great dead comedy pilots from Hollywood's finest writers. Every month, Dead Pilot Society brings you a reading of a comedy pilot that was sold and developed but never produced, performed by the funniest actors from film and television. How does Dead Pilot Society achieve this miracle? The answer can only be found at maximum fun.org. And we are back. Let's do one more thing. Maddie, start us off. Sure.

So I'm only playing good video games all week this week. So I did return to Monkey Island and I decided to play a different really good video game. Dante's Inferno 2. And it's called Dante's Inferno 2, To Inferno to Ice Over. I don't know. There is an ice level in Dante's Inferno. I think I talked about that when I talked about Dantes Inferno. But it's crazy that there's an ice.

nice level. And there's a nice level in the original poem. But I played a different game, which is called Bayonetta from 2009, which is roughly a trillion years ago in video game years. And the world was not ready for Bayonetta when it came out. People were so freaked out. People didn't know what to do. And honestly, they didn't know what to do, I think, until Lee Alexander wrote a blog post on her old blog sexy video game land where she was like, this is just a game about a cool dominatrix lady, and it's kind of fun to pretend to be a dominatrix in a video game. And then everybody was like, oh, wait, is it? Is that cool? Should we just do that? And now it's 2022, and we live in a world where everybody says, step on me mommy in response to like every time

Widowmaker has a new skin or like, you know, anytime any character's doing anything, like Lady Dimitresk, like, come on. This is like an entire world of big lady powerful video game mommies that are that are stepping on you the player and like bayonetta did first bay andetta also quite frankly did it best and replaying this game i was like is this going to hold up like have i been telling myself all this time that that game was really cool and like i'm going to replay it and i'm going to be disappointed not at all if anything i'm like this game didn't get enough credit when it came out it's so funny it's so joyous and exuberant in its portrayal of like a cool dominatrix lady and it is just so unabashedly like not just sexual but also just like having fun

with the ideas of the main character being like a bad girl like a villainess ordinarily in another video game she would be the villain that you fight and in bayonetta you are a witch who's fighting against angels and god you're fighting god jason you should like that part and like all the You're basically fighting the Catholic Church in this game because you're like a cool lady who's like, I think sex is fun and cool and I'm going to fight the Catholic Church. Like that's like essentially what you're doing. And it freaking rules. And I just I just truly feel like people weren't ready for it. I mainly replayed it because I want to replay Bayonetta 2 next week because I'm prepping for Bayonetta 3 because I'm so pumped.

But also I'm a little worried about Bandetta 3 because I'm like, it's been like 10 years since Bayonet 2 next week. to came out. I don't know if people even know what happened in the first two games or if the third game is even going to try to explain it because it's actually like a fairly complicated like sort of pseudo religious mysticism plot lines with like time travel and stuff and like you don't have to know what's going on but it's kind of fun to know what's going on but I think most people probably won't but also I feel like this is the time like this is this is Bayanetta's time she should be a reigning champion returning to gamers and saying

finally it's okay to say step on me mommy and she should be like damn straight and I will punish all of you. I just I want her to succeed and I want the game to be good but I'm also like and maybe it's too late for her. So anyway those are those are my thoughts. Does she ever actually say step on me?

People say step on me to her. People basically do. There's like a guy Luca who's obsessed with her for the whole game and it's never consummated. I mean, he's sort of like, I think the player character stand in where he's like the sub who's like constantly following her around being like, you're so cool. Yeah, he simpsed bayonetta. But like before people were saying simping all the time.

And she just kind of makes fun of him. I mean, Bayanada is like sort of coded as a queer character. Like Camilla's tweeted about how Bayonetta and John are the couple, the two lady witches in the game. He's like maybe jokingly said there are a couple, but like maybe not. I choose to believe that they're dating and I don't know. So anyway, that's another layer. She's also maybe gay. I don't know.

These games are awesome. I think people should play them. So they should call it Gay Annette at three. Yeah. That'd show the world. Yeah, that would show them. Nintendo would love that. Cut you next week when I have to apologize for making that comment, just like the

jumping in the beginning. No, no. Everyone supports it. It's perfect. Kirk, you're up. Kirk, what's your one more thing? Man, now I want to talk about bayonetta. My one more thing is a movie that I watched with Emily's folks over the weekend called The Big Chill from 1983, which I had never seen.

And it's kind of one of those, I don't know, put it in the hall. It's in the Pantheon movies, but I just had never seen it. Have I ever seen The Big Chill? No, it's like a Gen Xers Hanging Out movie, right? It's actually a Boomers hanging out. movie. But yes. So this movie is written and directed by

Lawrence Kazdan, who you may recognize from one of the screenwriters from the Force Awakens. One of the reasons that movie is very funny, also wrote Raiders of the Lost Dark. There's actually a little Raiders of the Lost Dark Easter Egg in the Big Chill. And it was co-written with Barbara Benedict, who's another

screenwriter. Didn't he also write Empire Strikes Back? I'm surprised you mentioned Force Awakens. Oh, well, that was most recently. Yes, he wrote I think, did he write Just Empire? I think he wrote Empire. Yeah, I think he was without... That's why Empire is considered the best one. A lot of people think that he was like...

And I think that's why they brought him back for Force Awakens. Yeah. Well, and Empire was also directed by someone else whose name I'm forgetting, but it was not directed by George Lucas. Mm-hmm. Bing! Empire Strikes Back was directed by Irvin Kershner, and the screenplay was by Lawrence Castan and also Lee Brackett. Bing! Anyways, yes, Lawrence Cassadon, like a really happening screenwriter in the 80s and also a director,

which I didn't know. and I didn't know he directed this film. This is a really interesting movie, and I do recommend watching it. It is a kind of one of those generational Rosetta Stone movies that I think was really important to people who were maybe around our age in their mid to late 30s, early 40s, back in the early 80s, which is a very different time to be that old, and also that is like the baby boomer generation.

It's a movie about a group of people who come together because one of their friends dies by suicide. and he's never shown. Apparently, Kevin Costner provided the body and then was never cast in the movie or like shown and then didn't give a credit. So it's this uncredited performance. At the very beginning, you just see like his hands. A couple of other things.

So they all come together for the funeral and then in the aftermath, they all kind of are reconnecting. So it's a group of people who you learn over the course of the movie. It's like 15 years after college. And in college, which would have been in the late 60s during the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War protests, they were big activists, a lot of them. And now they're at this sort of southern home of one of the characters played by Kevin Klein, and they wind up spending the weekend at this house.

And the whole movie is just conversations between different combinations of these people in this house over the course of a weekend as they all kind of find out who they are and through context you learn who they used to be and they explore their relationships. It's got a great cast. It's like Jeff Goldblum is in it playing this creepy dude.

It's young Jeff Goldblum. He's great. Glenn Close is in it. She's got a couple of great. scenes. Kevin Klein, like I said, Tom Barringer. Back when it was, I think people were pretty sure Tom Barringer was going to be the biggest star ever, and he kind of never got there, but he's in it as well. William Hurt, who's a hey, it's that guy that you've seen in a million things, is in it. So it's a great cast, a lot of other people as well. And it's just such an interesting movie. I was trying to find essays about this movie or things that I could read about it, because

I was having all these thoughts, especially the music. This movie has an amazing and famous soundtrack that's almost entirely black music from the 1960s. So it's like killer, Aretha Franklin, like Temptations, Marvin Gay, Smoky Robinson, all of this soul music where the cast is entirely white characters. And they're talking about basically how they all kind of sold out and joined the bourgeois of like, you know, they're all wealthy or they're all doing pretty well or famous or making money. And they kind of abandoned the principles that they were protesting for in the 60s.

And the whole story is, it's kind of reflected. in the contrast between this music from their youth when they believed in something and when they were fighting for something and the reality of their present day life where it's this kind of disappointing, compromised adult reality. And I think there's something really interesting there that maybe wasn't even intentional or maybe was.

And I haven't been able to find the essay that I think would tie that all together in a way that I certainly am not prepared to do. Anyways, I thought it was like a really interesting movie. I thought it was, it's well-made and fun to watch and also just raise a lot of questions and had me having a lot of interesting conversations after it. So I recommend watching it if you're feeling like, you know, something a little bit different.

So that's the big chill. And it's streaming various places. It's from 1983. It's very easy to find. Interesting. Cool. All right. I will close this off.

My one more thing is a book called Fairy Tale by this little own author, this little guy, this guy you might have heard of, called Stephen King. This is Stephen King's latest book I've been reading through it. It is fascinating. as you might expect from a Stephen King book, it's very good. I have a couple of thoughts that I'd like to share with you guys. So the concept of this book is, the main character is this boy who named Charlie, who winds up through a series of events, winds up taking care of this old man.

And this old man has this big secret, which is like a portal to another world that is like a fairy terrible world. And Charlie goes down that rabbit hole and discovers all sorts of crazy stuff. But before he even winds up in the fairy tale world, the first 200 pages are just like classic king in that it's the most gripping yet mundane story you will ever stop. So my favorite part of Stephen King books is always when he's just writing human life and nothing is really happening or maybe a couple of things are happening. But it's just like capturing like the most like day-to-day activities and just like days and days of things like, oh, and today like I went to the store. and this thing happened and then I bought a nice piece of cheese and he's just so good at capturing that um to the point where like when that changed and when Charlie actually wound up in the fairy tale

land I actually like started losing steam with my reaper because I was so enjoying the like mundane stuff beforehand it made me think of like the JFK book uh what is it 11 1222 63 uh my favorite part of that book is when the lead character is just like stuck in the 50s or the 60s for like four years and it's just like pages and pages of just like his his life back then and like falling in love of the girl and just like that whole sequence because Stephen King is just the master and it's just like he's unparalleled at writing those slice of life stories and it's so funny that he's known as like this tremendous horror author which obviously he is and he's called the master because he can thrill and scare people.

But really his skill is just like creating characters and human stories that are just like so enthralling that you just can't look away. So yeah, man, Stephen King is so good. Also, he does, as always, he does that thing where he's like just writing hundreds and hundreds of pages of just like nothing happening. And then like, and we'll end a chapter with and then we all died. But that happened later. Yeah.

There's a lot of that. It was the last time he would... Yeah. And he would never see her again. Yes. And you're like, wait, what? The classic king thing. Yeah, like, wait, what?

Where he's just like rooting his own story. And sometimes I get some of my nerves because I'm like, man, I would have liked to see that, like to know about that when it happens. But other times it works well because he's just like, like setting up like good foreshattering. But yeah, no, it's so funny that like I find myself just so enraptured by his boring stuff that I don't even want to get to like the. monsters and fairies and stuff. I just want to read about this guy, like, doing chores for this old man. It's just so good. I've been, I actually spent most of my trip reading the Tommy Knockers,

which they've just covered on our, Maddie and my favorite Stephen King podcast, Just King Things. And I haven't listened to the episode. I'm like halfway through the episode and I'm like, should I stop listening to this and read the Tommy Knockers? The book is cool. And it's doing that thing that he does that's similar where he builds out a whole town, which he also did in Salem's lot, which I recently read, Needful Things. Under the Dome. He's done it many, many times. It, of course, and where he just zooms out and shows a lot of people. Tommy Knuckers is a good book.

I'm digging it as well. That's what I hear. I hear it's a good book. Similar, though, like the mundanity, the day-to-day life. It's also what's great about Kujo is it's just this story about people, really. I mean, there is a rabid dog and it gets scary, but most of the story is just like these two families and stuff that happens to them in their lives. And, yeah, he can be so gripping about that kind of stuff that really gets exciting when the shit hits the fans. Yeah. Yeah, Fairytale. So I'm only like probably a third of the way through just because like I said, I kind of lost steam when that stuff stopped when it started becoming more of my ferretel. But yes, it's really good so far. I'm really enjoying.

Yeah, I'm excited. I have a hold on it at the library, so I'll get it in like a year. Well, you'll, I'm sure there's so many copies. You'll enjoy it. While you're waiting, you should read Billy Summers' his book from last year or two years ago because that was also really, really good. Stephen King is really just not lost a step. He is still, he's in his 70s. He's still, like, cranking out these incredible works. It's very impressive. It's pretty wild. He keeps it up.

Yeah, just unlike all these other famous authors who use ghost writers and just like stamp their name something, he is actually writing the stuff. So yeah, just incredible. He does the work. That is it for this week's episode. Kirk, Maddie. I will see you guys on a pirate adventure next week. All right.

See you next week. Bye. Triple Click is produced by. Jason Schreier, Maddie Myers, and me, Kirk Hamilton. I edit and mix the show and also wrote our theme music. Our show art is by Tom DJ. Some of the games and products we talked about on this episode may have been sent to us for free for review consideration.

You can find a link to our ethics policy in the show notes. Triple Click is a proud member of the Maximum Fun Podcast Network, and if you like our show, we hope you'll consider supporting us by becoming a member at Maximumfund.org. Find us on Twitter at triple clickpod. Send email the triple click at Maximumfund.org and find a link to our Discord in the show notes. Thanks for listening. See you next time.

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