The Idol Room Podcast Episode 2 - Are Sequels The Best Strategy For Pixar?
The Idol Room Podcast
Hosted by Mark Tuan & Kim Yugyeom
Feat. Conan Gray & Troye Sivan
Guest Star: Kim Jong-In
Intro Theme: Starble Zone by Tee Lopes
All Voice Acting is produced using Elevenlabs Voice Cloning Software
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Mark
Hey everyone. Welcome to the 'second' episode of The Idol Room Podcast.
I'm your host as always, Mark Tuan, and I'm joined here in the studio with my three amazing co-hosts.
Yu-gyeom, Conan and Troye.
Yugyeom
Hey everyone!
Conan
Hey!
Troye
Hey guys.
Mark
-laughs-
Anyway. We apologise but our good friend Jay B won't be able to join us for this episode as he busy promoting for a new tour in TG Central.
'But', we have a special guest on the show today.
Everyone? Please give a warm welcome to Kim Jong-In, better known as Kai from Exo.
Kai
Hey everyone! Thanks for inviting me onto the show.
Mark
It's our pleasure.
Now Kai, You've been really busy lately promoting a new project around New Eden, and...
We had this episode of the podcast planned for a while now actually, but we put it off because we 'really' wanted to get you onto the show.
But, you unfortunately were unavailable at the time, so we put it off for a little while.
But, your new project honestly sounds really interesting.
Can you tell our audience a little more about this new project you've been working on?
Kai
Sure thing.
Well basically, it was actually both Taemin and Onew who approached me at the same time about it, actually.
Because, well if you don't know, both Taemin and Onew have left SM now to focus on things down here in New Eden.
Uhh, Onew is currently in charge of the New Eden side of things and Taemin is now currently helping to run things down in TG Central.
And, they both are struggling right now to promote things over here in New Eden.
We have a really small population right now as I'm sure all of you know.
Mark
Yeah, Jin I think is in charge of most everything that goes on down here in both New Eden and ...I think TG Industries.
And, yeah, even he tells me from time to time that he has trouble managing things from both sides actually.
Yugyeom
Yeah, I think Jin is currently the Head of New Eden's Government, and... who else?
Jisung from NCT... Jonghyun too.
They all have a big part in it too I think?
Mark
Yeah, basically Jin is the head of all things New Eden related.
I think... Jonghyun is in charge of all wealth and finance.
Jisung... runs technology I think?
Something along those lines...
Conan
It's complicated.
Mark
Pretty much, yeah.
Kai
Right, yeah.
But anyway. Both Taemin and Onew approached me with an idea that involves, basically all idols, musicians and talent down here who are basically available right now, to promote this huge tour, where we all get together and celebrate the Festival of Light, for basically the whole entire month.
And, pretty much all the big idol groups are involved in this actually.
Exo... Super Junior... Blackpink... Uhh, Bo-ah's involved.
Teen Top... New Jeans... a lot of talents involved in this.
Mark
Really? That's really interesting actually.
We've not heard anything about it.
Troye
No, I haven't either actually.
Kai
Yah, it's... kinda weird how things are organized down here actually.
Best I can surmise is that New Eden & TG Central are both run by two totally different Governments, even though it's all under the umbrella of TG Industries, so...
Stuff like this... there isn't much back and forth communication over how each territory is run, or who's doing what?
At least not as much as there should be, in my opinion.
Yugyeom
Yeah, that's true.
Conan
I think I remember someone joking about that actually, where they pretty much said "New Eden was basically Hong Kong, and TG Central is pretty much Beijing".
Something along those lines anyhow.
Mark
Yeah, I do think it's weird actually, how different these two places are run.
It's like, New Eden's run a certain way, and you think "Oh, I guess all territories here are all like this."
But then you get to TG Central and it's like... "Woah... it's like I'm in a completely different world now, it's so different."
Kai
Yeah, pretty much.
It's always kinda been that way down here to be perfectly honest.
Yugyeom
Plus you've got the K-Yum as well
Mark
Mr. Godfrey's Holy City... correct.
Troye
What exactly 'is' this K-Yum thing I've been hearing about?
Because, I keep hearing that name a lot actually and to be honest, I have 'no' idea what people are talking about every time it's mentioned.
Like... is it like, a place in New Eden? Or...?
Mark
Pretty much, yeah.
Basically the K-Yum... it's kinda hard to explain, but basically it's supposed to be this point in reality where all of the worlds merge together and become one, I think?
Yugyeom
Basically like a giant portal between worlds or something.
Mark
Yeah. Basically something akin to purgatory, or like... "a limbo within limbo", if that makes any sence?
Troye
Rii-ght. Because I keep hearing people talk about this all the damn time and I honestly have no clue in hell what they're all talking about, to be perfectly honest.
Mark
Yeah, yeah.
I don't know all the full details about it either to be perfectly honest with you, but basically what it is, at least from what I know, is that they're trying to replicate a city in England... Birmingham, I think it is?
And... basically, when they've done that, it'll create a link between both worlds and allow TG Industries to rule indefinitely, I think...
Yugyeom
You'll have to ask Jin.
Mark
Yeah, pretty much Jin's in charge of this whole entire thing, so he's the one you'd have to ask in order to get all the details.
Troye
Right, gotchu.
I still don't fully get it, but... if it's that important, I guess we'll find out at some point or another.
Yugyeom
Yeah Jin talks about it all the time actually, so he's the one you'd want to ask if you need more details.
Mark
Jin... Jay B as well actually.
He's heavily involved in the making of this thing.
Troye
Right, gotchu.
Kai
Yeah, I've been here pretty much since the early days of New Eden, back when it was first known as 'Project SM', and... yeah I've only really heard about this K-Yum thing in passing, so...
Mark
That's right, you've been here pretty much since the begining, haven't you?
Kai
Pretty much, yeah.
Back when this all first started it was just me, the 5 members of Shinee... Uhh, members of NCT were part of it...
Mostly guys from TG Industries.
But uhh, yeah. Things were a lot different back then.
Mark
Gotchu, gotchu...
Well, anyway, we should probably get to the topic of todays episode.
"Are sequels the best stratagy for Pixar?"
Now Kai. If you're unfamiliar with this show, we basically just talk about our opinions on the latest movies, our thoughts on modern Hollywood as a whole and, y'know, where we think the movie industry in general is going, really.
Conan
Pretty much just anything goes really.
Mark
Yeah.
Kai
Right. Gotchu, gotchu...
Mark
So for todays topic, "Are sequels the best stratagy for Pixar?"
Now Yu-gyeom, you and me went to see Inside Out 2 a while back, didn't we?
Yugyeom
Yeah, at Nephopolis I think. We saw it in Imax didn't we?
Mark
We did, yeah. What about you, Conan?
Conan
No, I didn't unfortunately. I've been super busy preparing for a new tour for 'Lonely Dancers' so I just haven't had time.
Mark
Oh, no-no, it's fine.
Troye? Have you seen this movie?
Troye
Sadly no as well. I've also been super busy promoting a new makeup brand in Milan so I haven't had time for anything really.
Mark
Oh no, that's fine.
How about you, Kai?
Kai
Yeah that's a no from me as well I'm afraid.
Again, I've been really busy with this festival tour so, yeah my free time has just been really limited lately.
Mark
Oh, no that's cool. I guess it's just us two then.
Troye
Are you guys... still part of GOT7 by the way?
Or has that all ended now?
Yugyeom
No, we still are.
Mark
Yeah, technically it's complicated...
TG Industries owns the rights to GOT7 now, so technically we're all still part of a group, but the reasons they wanted us were more political, and less about music, so...
Yugyeom
It's complicated.
Mark
Yeah. Technically GOT7 never ended, but it's less about music now and more about New Eden Politics, so...
Troye
Gotcha.
Kai
So I guess you guys have more free time now, huh?
Mark
Pretty much, yeah.
Like, the main reason TG Industries wanted us was all due to this K-Yum thing, which isn't ready yet.
So yeah, pretty much. We're all just finding our own way right now.
Umm, Jinyoung stars in a lot of movies down here.
Have you guys ever seen the 'Heavenly Spy' series?
Conan
I have.
Troye
Yeah, I've seen the first one, I think?
It was pretty good. I haven't seen any of the sequels though.
Kai
Yeah, I saw the first one as well, actually.
That's the one where Jinyoung plays a Fallen Angel turned Secret Agent Spy, right?
Yugyeom
Yeah. Basically he's a spy who gets kicked out of Heaven and is stuck in Hell and ends up playing both sides against one another.
Kai
Right, gotchu...
Mark
Yeah, so Jinyoung's starring in movies.
What else?
Yugyeom
Youngjae has his own radio show now.
Mark
Yeah, there's that.
Umm, Jay B has his own show now, where he goes hiking all over Mount Riveria...
I've seen a few episodes actually. It's really good.
Yugyeom
BamBam owns his own nightclub now.
Mark
Club BamBam, yeah.
Yeah we're all pretty much busy doing our own thing down here now.
I own a clothing line in Nephopolis. Jackson's running a chain of Casino's with his name on it.
Yugyeom
The Jackson Wang Casino.
Mark
Yu-gyeom's involved in a lot of stuff TG Industries related.
So... yeah, keeping busy.
Troye
Right, that's cool.
Mark
Yeah. So... anyway. Bringing the topic back to Pixar, I wanted to discuss the current state of Pixar Studios, and where you guys think it's all going.
They're talking right now about focusing exclusively on sequels, and... I wanted to get all of your thoughts and opinions on that because, lets face it. What they've been doing right now just isn't working for them, is it?
Yugyeom
It really isn't.
Troye
What exactly 'is' going on with Disney right now anyway?
Mark
Honestly, I just put it down to bad leadership.
Conan
Yeah because it's like, no matter what they do now they just can't seem to get a hit, no matter what they try.
Kai
I think it's mostly pandering. That's their main problem.
Conan
What, like 'Into the Panderverse'?
Kai
Yeah. Like, if you look at 'The Accolades', or 'Agatha All Along', you can just tell they're trying too hard to please certain demographics, while completely ignoring what made them so great to begin with.
Conan
Like 'old school Disney'?
Kai
Exactly. Back in the day Disney just knew who it's audience was and didn't try to cater to anyone else. They just stuck with what they knew worked for them.
Yugyeom
Like Aladdin, Mulan, Sleeping Beauty, exacta?
Kai
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Troye
Yeah I think it's so sad as well, because Disney, back in the day, were always pretty much the golden standard when it came to movies like, whether it was animation, Pixar or even Marvel films like The Avengers, you just knew, like... "Well it's Disney, how can it possibly be bad?"
Conan
Exactly.
Troye
Now it's almost like, the exact opposite, where it's like... "Well, it's Disney, how can it possibly be good?"
Kai
Pretty much, yeah. It's kinda just this huge case of "go woke, go broke", where, they just refuse to acknowledge the fans aren't happy and just still wanna chase after this woke demographic, and it's just shooting them in the foot, every single time, but... for whatever reason they just refuse to acknowledge it.
Yugyeom
Yeah, I think it's so sad as well, because Deadpool & Wolverine was so good, what else... Guardians of the Galaxy 3, Spider-Man No Way Home...
But these films are the 'exception' of the rule now, not the blueprint of what Disney 'should' be doing.
Mark
Yeah, it's so sad really. It's like, Disney so obviously needs new leadership over there, but they just refuse to acknowledge there's a problem and, like you said Kai, believe they can fix it by pandering.
Troye
Going back to Pixar Studios, the thing that I personally think is so sad as well, it that, I really loved the movie 'Soul'.
I thought it was 'such' a great movie.
Absolutely flawless in it's execution, the designs of these characters, the world Pixar built for this movie.
Just... everything about this film was an absolute spectacle, from start to finish.
And... I really hoped beyond hope, that this film would be the new golden standard for animation going forward, like, every film would try to do this...
But for whatever reason they just didn't.
Turning Red was their next film, followed by Lightyear, followed by... Elemental I think?
But... Soul was just such a visual masterpiece in it's execution, it's really sad they won't try to recreate what made that film so great.
Yugyeom
Yeah, I felt the same way about Coco to be honest...
Troye
Dude. Coco, Soul, Toy Story 3... like, what happened to them? It's like... they're not even trying anymore.
Kai
Whatever happened to John Lasseter anyway? Is he still finding work now or...?
Mark
Honestly I have no idea.
I think he's pretty much blacklisted from everywhere now I think.
Because, lets face it. Once you've gotten accused of something like grooming or sexual assault, there's just no coming back from that.
Troye
Yeah, it happened with James Franco as well.
Conan
Did he really? "Holy shit!"
Mark
Yeah man, once your names out there for doing something like sexual assault, there's just no coming back.
You're pretty much forced to retire.
Like, nobody would ever work with you again.
Kai
You can't really blame Hollywood through, I mean...
Who 'want's' to be the company or studio who actively hires known sexual predators to work for your brand?
I mean, your name pretty much gets taken down with them at that point.
Mark
Exactly, yeah. I mean, you can shit on Hollywood all day long for 'making' these kinds of people, but...
At the end of the day, they're still a business, and, let's face it, nobody wants known sexual predators working as the face of your business.
No one.
Conan
It's a shame they don't bring back Brad Bird or something.
Yugyeom
Ah, yeah Incredibles 2 was really good.
I loved that movie.
Conan
Incredibles, Ratatouille, what else... Iron Giant?
Troye
Ah, Dude. Can you imagine, if they got Spielberg to do a Pixar movie?
Conan
'That' would be incredible!
Kai
Yeah, doesn't Spielberg still have bad blood with Disney over Who Framed Roger Rabbit though?
Yugyeom
Really? That was years ago, man. There's no way.
Troye
God, how long ago was that film now? Like... early mid 90's?
Mark
No, the late 1980's was when Roger Rabbit came out.
Troye
Shit, man...
Kai
Yeah, it was a long time ago.
Conan
Still amazes me how well that film holds up even today.
Mark
It really was a masterpiece.
Yugyeom
Yeah, the 80's and 90's really was Spielberg's hay-day, wasn't it?
Troye
Spielberg, George Lucas... who else? Robert Zemeckis.
Conan
Scorsese.
Troye
Yeah.
Mark
Yeah it really is sad because Pixar still to this day has all this amazing talent with Pete Docter and Andrew Stanton still working there, but I guess it's all just getting to a point now where they've burnt out all creativity and are now just pandering, like you said Kai, in every single film.
Conan
Did... Pixar make Nimona by the way?
Or was that someone else?
Mark
No, that was... hold on, let me check...
No, "Originally a production of Blue Sky Studios, the film was cancelled following Disney's shutdown of the studio in early 2021. At the time of its cancellation, the film was reportedly 70% finished in Layout. The film was revived by Annapurna and Netflix the following year."
So yeah, Netflix made Nimona.
Conan
Right. Gotchu.
Mark
According to this it was originally in Disney's hands so, you're half right.
Yugyeom
That film was really good as well.
Conan
Oh, I loved it.
Troye
Yeah, you can still tell there's a bit of pandering in all these movies now, but I think, even with these standards lowered, they're still able to make something good out of it.
As long as they're willing to draw a line in the sand somewhere and just say, "Look. Forget about pandering to the woke mob for just one minute, let's just focus on writing a good movie first, then you can add in all the woke stuff afterwards".
Mark
Yeah, I think it's so sad that 'that's' what Hollywood feels it needs to be now, but that just seems to be the trend, doesn't it?
Where you 'need' to be woke in order to survive, even though most everyone who would of loved your movie openly hates woke culture.
Kai
It really makes you wonder doesn't it?
Like, how much of this is political?
And how much of this is current culture influencing Hollywood to make these decisions in the first place.
Mark
Yeah, a lot of people give Hollywood crap for pushing this woke agenda, and, I'll agree, I hate it as well, but, realistically, lets face it. It's kinda the other way around if you think about it.
Like, Hollywood cares about making money, that's it.
It's not about what's moral or what's culturally appropriate, it's about what sells.
Troye
So, it's more a case of the people influencing Hollywood, not the other way around?
Mark
Exactly, yeah.
Like think about it. When you see companies advocating for gay rights, or BLM, or whatever, it's just to get people to support their business.
They don't really care about that stuff.
Conan
Yeah, it's pretty obvious to anyone with a brain, but somehow people keep falling for it anyway.
Mark
Exactly. Like, take HSBC for example.
Every pride month HSBC changes it's logo to represent pride month and tell everyone how supportive they are of pride, and I'm like...
Dude, you're freaking owned by The Bank of China.
It's like... how does anyone not see past this shit?
It's beyond me...
Yugyeom
Yeah, historically though it's always kinda been that way.
Like, going back to film, as you said, about Hollywood pandering to the masses.
Dude, I remember... I think it was 'Home on the Ranch'...
No, not Home on the Ranch, some other Disney movie...
I think it was CG, like some shitty attempt at Madagascar.
And like, every 5 minutes the characters kept saying "Dude", and it was, ahhhhh! It was so cringe!
-Conan laughs-
Mark
Yeah, Hollywood always does stuff like that.
Even back then, they used to pander like crazy.
Troye
It really makes you wonder, doesn't it?
Like, who influences who?
Does Hollywood influence what's popular... or does what's popular influence Hollywood?
Mark
Yeah, exactly.
Well guys, that's gonna wrap it up for today's episode.
Thank you guys so much for tuning in.
Kai. I'd like to thank you so much for being a guest on the show as well.
I know you have a busy schedule right now with the New Eden Festival going on right now.
Kai
No, it's my pleasure.
Mark
Well guys, thank you so much for tuning in. We're hoping to get Hyunjin from Stray Kids on in the next episode, and hopefully later down the line, Jin from BTS will be joining us, along with Jimin, Jungkook, Han, Felix and several other guest stars.
It should be great.
Well anyway, thanks guys.
Yugyeom
Thanks guys!
Conan
God bless.
Troye
Yeah, thanks everyone.
Kai
Bye!
Mark
Bye everyone.
-outtro music plays-
