The Idol Room Podcast Episode 6 - Discussing the Sonic Movie Franchise
The Idol Room Podcast
Hosted by Mark Tuan & Kim Yugyeom
Feat. Conan Gray & Troye Sivan
Guest Star: Han Jisung
Intro Theme: Starble Zone by Tee Lopes
All Voice Acting is produced using Elevenlabs Voice Cloning Software
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Mark
Hey everybody and welcome to the '6th' episode of The Idol Room Podcast.
I'm your host as always, Mark.
And I'm joined here in the studio with my three wonderful co-hosts.
Yu-gyeom.
Yugyeom
Hey everybody. How are you all doing today?
Mark
Conan.
Conan
Hey everyone.
Mark
And of course, the lovely and wonderful, Troye Sivan.
Troye
"Lovely and wonderful?"
-Mark laughs-
Troye
Dude, not gonna lie. I've never been referred to as "Lovely and wonderful" before.
So I'll take that compliment and throw you one forward.
You're "wonderful 'and' amazing".
-Mark laughs hard-
-Slaps table-
Troye
You're "Wonderful and amazing", Mark!
Mark
Well thank you, thank you.
Annnnnyway.
We have a new guest on the show here today.
Fans were "really" excited when I mentioned you in the last episode, so this should be a great episode.
Please welcome "Han Jisung", ladies and gentlemen.
-clap/applause sfx-
Han
Hey everyone. Glad to be on here.
Yugyeom
Welcome to the show.
Han
Thank you, thank you.
Mark
So, this is an interesting topic you brought to us Han, because we're gonna technically be talking about a film that isn't even out yet at the time we're recording this.
But you wanted to talk about the Sonic the Hedgehog movies with us, is that correct?
Han
Yeah. I just think it's a really interesting topic to discuss because, here's a franchise that nobody originally had any faith in.
They brought out that original trailer and fans were all freaking out about it..
Yugyeom
Oh god, you mean that freaky design they were originally going with for Sonic?
With the human fingers and everything?
Han
Yeah, that.
But that's what I'm saying.
No one originally had any faith in that project and everyone thought it was gonna tank hard, but now we have a new movie coming out next month with Keanu Reeves as Shadow.
Everyone's really excited and nobody even remembers that at one point, this film franchise was originally written off as something that was doomed to fail and doomed to fail hard.
I just think that's really interesting for a topic is all.
Mark
Okay. Well, since the topic of today is on Sonic, why don't we start by listing our own experiences with this franchise and we can build up to the movies and go from there.
How does that sound?
-Clap hands-
Yugyeom
Let's do it!
Mark
Okay. So... Conan, you wanna go first?
Conan
Yeah... to be honest I don't really have that much experience with the series.
I remember growing up, my friend had a Sega Genesis so we would always go to her house and play the games.
That's... uhh, pretty much it to be totally honest.
-Conan laughs-
Mark.
Okay.
Conan
Yeah we were really more of a Super Nintendo household growing up to be honest.
I was more into Mario, y'know?
Yugyeom
Yeah, I can relate.
Conan
Yeah...
Mark
Uhh, Troye? How about you?
Did you play a lot of Sonic growing up?
Troye
Uhhh, pretty much the same as Conan to be perfectly honest with you.
I played a few games here and there as a kid, but yeah, like everyone else I was mostly a Nintendo kid growing up.
Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, y'know what I mean?
Conan
Animal Crossing?
Troye
Oh yeah. Definitely Animal Crossing.
Conan
God, I love that game.
Troye
Me too. Did you ever play New Leaf? On the 3DS?
Conan
Totally! Wild World was my favourite, but I sunk "so" many hours into that game. Oh my Gosh!
-Yugyeom laughs-
Mark
Okay, uhh Han. You're the one who brought this topic up.
What's your exposure to the Sonic Franchise?
Han
Honestly, not as much as everyone else.
I played a few games in the series off and on.
During Stray Kids tours I had a Nintendo Switch with Sonic Mania on it.
That really saved me during a lot of back and forth plane rides.
Yugyeom
Ugh. Tell me about it.
Han
Uhh, what else?
I played a bit of Sonic Forces...
I got Sonic Origins recently so I've been catching up on a lot of older titles.
But uh, yeah. I think like all of you I was more of a Nintendo gamer as well actually.
I know the series, but I'm not like, hardcore into it or anything like that.
Mark
Any particular favourites?
Han
I wanna say, Sonic Mania actually for sure.
Sonic Frontiers was good as well actually.
I played a lot of that on my Switch during recent tours.
Constant travelling back and forth in and out of Seoul and New Eden can be a bitch sometimes, y'know?
Yugyeom
Yeah, I hear ya man.
Mark
Okay. Uh, Yu-gyeom? How about you?
Yugyeom
Yeah, pretty much the same as everyone else to be totally honest.
I know Jin is "obsessed" with Sonic.
It's all he ever talks about sometimes.
Mark
Yeah, he said he grew up with the series, just as it was starting.
So he was pretty much raised with it, huh?
Yugyeom
Yeah pretty much.
He actually invited me to his house the other day, because he has a new TV and surround sound system he's proud of.
Mark
Oh really?
Yugyeom
Yeah. And he was showing me his PS5 on it and... Sonic X Shadow Generations, I think?
Mark
How was it?
Yugyeom
Pretty impressive actually, I'm not gonna lie.
But yeah, Jin is the Sega fanatic here.
Like you, I was more into Mario so I had Nintendo growing up as well.
Mark
Damn, we should of got Jin on here.
He seems to be the inside man when it comes to Sonic, huh?
Yugyeom
Be careful what you wish for man, he'll go on for hours, trust me.
-Mark laughs-
Troye
Yeah, where is Jin anyway?
Wasn't he supposed to be on for one of these episodes?
Mark
Next episode.
He really wants to come on here to talk about The Matrix movies so we're saving that for next weeks episode.
Troye
Right. I just thought since he was the go-to Sonic guy and all, he might be on here for this.
Mark
Yeah, we talked about it behind the scenes, because I have an itinerary of all the episode topics we wanna cover on here.
Uhh, Jin's the producer by the way, for anyone tuning in who isn't in the know.
But yeah, we discussed things behind the scenes and figured, Since this was Han's topic, we'll let Han come in for the Sonic episode, and Jin will come on next week for The Matrix episode instead.
If that makes sence.
Conan
Wait, do you have all the episodes planned way in advance?
Mark
Yeah.
Originally there were going to be 15 of these, but because the ratings for the first episode were so low, we decided to narrow it down to 10 episodes, change topics and can the guests that were really hard to get hold of.
Uhh, Jay Park was originally planned to be on here. Our old boss, JYP as well actually.
Han
Oh, really?
Yugyeom
Yeah, I remember you telling me about that actually.
Mark
Yeah, Jin had wanted to pull the plug on this show multiple times actually.
I have to keep talking him out of doing it.
Troye
Really??
Mark
Yeah, he's only really concerned about the ratings to be honest.
If it doesn't do well he feels it's complete a waste of time and money and wants it shut down.
Conan
Ahh, that sucks.
Mark
Yeah.
I managed to talk him into committing to at least 10 episodes though so hopefully things turn around.
Yugyeom
Yeah, hopefully.
Mark
So anyway... back to Sonic.
Uhh, my exposure to Sonic was mostly through my brother.
You all remember Joey, don't you?
Yugyeom
Oh yeah, definitely.
Troye
I met him once actually, yeah.
Han
Yeah I did as well actually.
He runs the gamer merch store in Nephopolis, right?
Mark
Yeah. He's actually a huge gamer.
Well, growing up we had a Nintendo Gamecube in the house, as well as a PS2 which was mostly in the living room.
But the Gamecube was in our room, and it was our go-to whenever we wanted to play games and our family were watching TV downstairs.
Uhh, anyway.
We had Sonic Adventure 2, for the Gamecube.
And that was how I was exposed to the series originally.
We used to play that a lot growing up.
We later had Sonic Heroes and we used to play that as well.
I, Couldn't really figure it out to be honest with you.
My brother was always better at picking this stuff up than I was.
Uhh, what else...
Troye
It's funny now, Nintendo of all companies is the one to bring us all together and get us talking about Sonic of all things.
Han
Given that Sonic is a Sega property.
Troye
Right. Kinda funny, isn't it?
Conan
Yeah. Doesn't Sonic do a lot with Nintendo though?
I mean you have those Mario and Sonic games that keep coming out.
Han
Mario and Sonic at the Olympic games, yeah.
Mark
But uhh, yeah.
Mostly my exposure to Sonic was through the Gamecube games.
There was a fighting game as well, I can't remember what it was called.
Me, Joey and my sister Grace. We used to take turns on that when we were young as well.
Yugyeom
Is that, that weird fighting game where their heads are all big and stretchy and all?
Mark
Yeah, I think so?
Yugyeom
Yeah, Jin had that on arcade I think.
He has like a row of arcade cabinets in his living room, and I remember that fighting game, the Sonic one, is always on in the background.
Conan
Oh really?
I've actually never been to Jin's house. Is it like, really big?
Yugyeom
Oh, dude! It's like a labyrinth!
See it starts off like any ordinary house from the outside, but when you do inside, it's like, you practically need a map just to find the bathroom.
-Conan laughs-
Yugyeom
He had his own aquarium, an Imax screen, a Zen garden... multiple ones in fact.
I have no idea how he doesn't get lost to be honest.
Han
Dude, that's crazy.
I just have an ordinary apartment downtown.
Ban Chan lives in one of those fancy underwater homes in the Coral Reef District.
I think Jin built those actually didn't he?
Troye
Did he really? That's cool.
Mark
Yeah. Jin is pretty much responsible for almost everything that goes on down here.
Like almost every square inch of New Eden, Riveria City, even parts of TG Central is Jin, I think?
Conan
Really? TG Central as well?
Mark
I think so.
I've actually been to Jin's house several times as well actually so I'll have to ask next time I see him, but yeah I can relate man.
It's like a labyrinth in there.
Conan
I'm jealous. I'd love to see it sometime.
Mark
He might let you if you ask.
He loves to brag about this stuff so ask him next time you see him and he might just give you a guided tour of his home.
-Conan laughs-
Yugyeom
Well he's on the next podcast isn't he?
Mark
Yeah, feel free to ask, man.
But beware. His house is pretty overwhelming.
It's 'so' easy to take a wrong turn and get lost in there.
Conan
Right.
Troye
Are you, Yu-gyeom?
...Are you and Jin dating by any chance?
Yugyeom
Yeah, we are.
Troye
Oh. I didn't mean anything by it.
It's just that I see you guys together a lot.
I was just curious is all.
Yugyeom
Ah, it's no worries.
Yeah we're keeping things casual, like, nothing serious.
But yeah, he's actually a fun guy once you get to know him.
Obviously there was a lot of stuff in the past with Jay B that everyone kinda already knows about by now.
And there was some other stuff as well which I won't get into.
But, no man. I really like him, and... yeah, it's all good man.
Conan
Awww, happy for you.
Yugyeom
Ahh, thanks.
Troye
Yeah I was just curious is all, because I heard of all that drama with Jay B from years back, so i was just confused a little is all.
Yugyeom
Yeah no, I think...
The thing with Jin is, once you separate him from TG Industries, "that's" when you see what Jin's really like.
But that's really hard to do because Jin is a "huge" part of TG Industries and is connected to pretty much every single thing they do.
Conan
What "do" they do anyway?
Like, I've been living here for a few years now off and on, and I... still have no idea what it is they exactly do here.
Yugyeom
Pretty much everything, man.
They built this entire city we're living in.
They run the government, pretty much everything that happens here, TG Industries is involved in someway.
Conan
Right.
Mark
Anyway, we should probably bring the topic back to Sonic now.
Yugyeom
Oh, right. My bad.
Mark
No, it's okay.
Jin's in next time so we can all ask him about this stuff.
He knows everything about TG Industries and New Eden and everything so I'm sure he'll be glad to explain in better detail.
Yugyeom
Knowing Jin, he'll brag about it for hours, man.
Literal freaking hours.
-Mark laughs-
Mark
Any-way!
So uhh, that's our experiences with Sonic.
Or - lack of, I should say.
So, let's actually talk about the Sonic movies themselves, shall we?
-Clap hands-
Conan
Let's do it!
Han
Yeah man, let's go!
Mark
Soo, Han.
I take it you've already seen the first two films, right?
Can you share with us your experience>
If you recommend them, what are your thoughts, excreta...
Han
Yeah man. Umm...
Pretty much from day one I remember seeing that trailer and thinking...
"What the fuck are they thinking." "There's No Way that's a real thing..."
But surprisingly, they were being totally serious.
Fast forward a year or so and due to all the backlash they fixed the design and uhh, yeah. It was good, man.
Jim Carrey as Robotnik was fine.
Sonic looked Alright.
It was a good movie.
Mark
Would you see it again?
Han
Ehhh, Maybe?
I'm not like, "in love" with it or anything.
I just think it's interesting how they turned it all around, that's all.
Yugyeom
Did... any of you guys ever see the recent Chip and Dale Movie? The live action one?
Han
Are you talking about that 'Ugly Sonic' cameo?
Yugyeom
Yeah!
That was so freaking funny, oh my god!
Mark
I remember laughing at that as well actually.
I was like, wait... are they gonna get sued by Sega for this?
Han
I'm guessing Sega was in on the joke.
Mark
Yeah, they must be.
Troye
That's kinda interesting, how Sega's totally fine with other people ripping on their brand like that.
Yugyeom
Yeah.
Troye
I mean, he's technically still Sega's mascot isn't he?
Mark
Technically, yeah.
Yugyeom
Sega also does the Persona games now as well so I guess they're good.
Troye
Do they really?
Conan
Bayonetta too I think... or is it?
Yugyeom
No, I think Bayonetta's a Nintendo Exclusive now isn't she?
Conan
Oh, I dunno actually.
Han
Yakuza. Sega does those games as well.
Yugyeom
Yakuza, Sonic, Persona...
They don't really do much else these days besides that, do they?
Han
No.
They used to own a club in Tokyo.
Joypolis, I think it was?
But I think they lost the licence for that now or something.
Could be wrong.
Conan
Right, gotchu.
Mark
Uhhh, so anyway, The sonic movie.
What are your thoughts on the third film?
Troye
Yeah it looks alright. I'm not like, in a hurry to go see it or anything but it looks pretty good.
Han
Keanu Reeves as Shadow though.
You gotta admit, that's kinda perfect casting.
Mark
Yeah, we actually met him once believe it or not.
Han
Did you really?
Yugyeom
Wait, are you talking about that photoshoot Jay B did years back?
Mark
Yeah, you remember? It was this big fashion shoot event.
Keanu Reeves was there.
Uhhh, a bunch of other celebrities I didn't really recognise.
We were just there for support, we weren't really part of the shoot.
Jay B was really excited though, you should of seen the look on his face.
Yugyeom
Yeah, he was like "OH my God! I just met Keanu Reeves! Dude! Ahhhhh!"
-Mark laughs hard-
-Conan laughs-
Troye
That's awesome, man.
Han
Yeah I can relate.
I felt the same way when we did that music video with Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman.
I was like trying "so" hard not to fangasm.
I was like "Oh my god!" Dude. That's freaking Deadpool and Wolverine, like, Oh my god!
-Conan laughs hard-
Yugyeom
Yeah man, I loved that video.
I was like "Whaaaaat!"
How the hell did you manage to get Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman in your video anyway?
Han
HYP did everything man. They just showed up one day and told us we were doing this new music video to help promote Deadpool 3.
I never even expected to meet them. But I turned around and there they were.
Yugyeom
Holy shit man, Holy shit.
I wouldn't even know 'what' to do if they ever showed up when we were part of GOT 7.
I would of just died, man.
Right there and then. I would of just died!
-Han laughs-
Mark
I do love how the west is opening up to K-pop more to the point where Hollywood is acknowledging us now.
Like, BTS are always on late night talk shows. Jin's on TV all the time.
Yugyeom
Johnny Suh has that late night talk show.
Mark
Yeah.
Conan
Wasn't Emma Stone on that recently?
I think I remember watching that actually.
Mark
Yeah, man. That's exactly my point.
Dude, way back not even 10 years ago, hardly anyone even knew what K-pop even was.
Now it's everywhere.
Han
I think it's really cool.
I for one cannot wait to see where things go in the future.
Yugyeom
Yeah. TG Industries has a lot planned so I think K-pop in particular is just really gonna take over at some point.
They're really pushing for it.
Mark
I hope so.
So, umm... are we good with this episode?
Is there anything else you guys wanted to cover before we end tonight's episode?
Troye
I did wanna talk about the recent Mario movie if we still have time?
The one Illumination made?
Yugyeom
Yeah man, I love that movie.
Mark
Yeah, we still have time.
There's no real time frame for these episodes.
We had to cut it a bit short last time because someone else had the room booked for twelve, but beyond that there's no real time frame.
We just kinda talk until all the interesting points are covered.
But yeah, man. Go ahead.
Troye
Right.
I just think it's interesting that Mario is the one to get a fully CG movie when Sonic is literally a cartoon animal.
Like, you'd think it would kinda be the other way around, wouldn't you?
Han
Well yeah, funnily enough that's what the fans originally wanted.
Like, the fans themselves wanted an animated Sonic film originally so a lot of them were shocked when that trailer came out and Sonic was in live action and had that ugly, bizarre design.
Yugyeom
Didn't Sonic originally have an animated movie though?
Like, back in the 90's or something?
Mark
Yeah, I think that was originally meant to be a pilot for an anime that never happened.
Though I could be wrong on that.
Yugyeom
Ahh, Jin's usually the one who knows about this stuff. He's 'such' a Sonic nerd.
-Conan laughs-
Mark
Yeah. It's interesting because Mario originally 'did' have a live action movie in the 90's and everyone hated it.
Sonic had an animated movie that was straight to VHS.
Now fast forward to present day and it's the other way around.
Han
Mario has the animated movie, Sonic has live action.
Mark
Yeah.
Yugyeom
Wasn't Sonic in the Wreck it Ralph movies as well though?
Like, I remember him having a small role in those films, along with a bunch of other video game characters.
Mark
Yeah, it's interesting because, if you ever saw the 'behind the scenes' of Wreck it Ralph 2, they originally wanted to give Sonic a much bigger role in those films, but...
A lot of those scenes that would of featured him got cut for time, so... yeah, it just never happened I guess?
Conan
Ah, that sucks.
Mark
Yeah.
I think... that in part might of even been what even lead to the Sonic movie even happening in the first place.
Because... if you remember, Sonic was in Ready Player One as well, just in the background.
Yugyeom
Ahhh, I love that movie!
Mark
Yeah.
But I think Sega saw an opportunity for Sonic to come back in a big way so they made a deal with... Sony Originally, I think?
Han
Columbia pictures, yeah.
Mark
Yeah. They originally had the licence.
It eventually got passed down to Paramount and sooner or later, yeah, there we are.
Conan
So Wreck it Ralph basically caused the Sonic movie.
Mark
Possibly.
There's a good chance this might of been on the table long before Wreck it Ralph was even a thing, so... it could go either way I'm guessing.
Yugyeom
That's cool.
Mark
So, yeah.
Anyway guys, I think we should wrap this up.
Conan
Yeah, I think we covered everything, didn't we?
Han
Pretty much, yeah.
I just wanted to talk about how interesting it was that everyone thought this franchise was gonna fail hard, yet here we are with a third movie coming out.
Troye
It's amazing what's possible these days.
Han
Sure is.
Mark
Well, anyway.
Thanks so much guys for tuning in as always.
Be sure to join us next week when we'll be having 'Jin' from BTS on the show.
He's our producer who's behind all of this, and we've been planning this episode behind the scenes from the start.
It should be a lot of fun.
Yugyeom
Can't wait.
Mark
Yeah. Well anyway guys.
Thanks so much as always.
A massive huge thanks for Han, for coming in on the show to discuss Sonic with us.
Han
My pleasure guys.
Mark
And as always guys, until next time. Take care.
Yugyeom
Bye guys.
Conan
Bye everyone.
Troye.
Bye guys.
Han
Bye.
-Outtro music plays-
