The Idol Room Podcast Episode 10 - Will Nostalgia Reboots Kill Hollywood?
The Idol Room Podcast
Hosted by Mark Tuan & Kim Yugyeom
Feat. Conan Gray & Troye Sivan
Guest Starring: Lee Taemin & Park Jimin
Intro Theme: Starble Zone by Tee Lopes
All Voice Acting is produced using Elevenlabs Voice Cloning Software
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Mark
Hello everyone and welcome to the 10th and final 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.
Yugyeom
Hi everyone.
Hello
Mark
Conan.
Conan
Hi everyone.
Mark
And Troye.
Troye
Howdy!
-Mark Laughs-
Mark
Anyway. Todays our final episode of the podcast.
We had an amazing run but to finish it all off with style, we have two amazing guests joining us today.
Please give a warm welcome to Taemin from Shiny [Shinee] and Jimin from BTS!
-Group applauds-
Troye
Woo! Yeah!
Taemin
Thank you everyone.
Jimin
Hello.
Mark
Hello. Welcome.
So, first I'd like to apologise because originally you were supposed to each get separate episodes, but as we had to condense our episode structure down to 10 episodes instead of 15 like we originally planned to, we had to kind of merge your topics together into one.
That's okay with you both, right?
Jimin
Yeah, it's fine.
Taemin
Honestly, we both talked about it behind the scenes anyway and we both pretty much had the same topic so it's fine.
We don't mind sharing the spotlight.
Mark
Your topic was originally about Harry Potter though, correct?
Or was that Taehyung?
...No, it's Taehyung. My bad.
Jimin
No, originally I wanted to talk about The Kingdom Hearts franchise and how it ties in with Nostalgia, but Taemin here wanted to talk about Nostalgic movies, so we pretty much agreed to tie it all together and talk about that instead.
Mark
Right, Gotcha.
You two are both close friends in real life, correct?
Taemin
Oh yeah.
Jimin
Yeah we actually met a long time ago backstage at a concert but then years later Taemin joined our group at the New Eden Project and became our mentor.
He taught me and Jungkook everything we know and we became close friends soon after.
Mark
Awesome.
...Wait. Weren't you like, the original founder of New Eden at one point?
Before Jin took over?
Taemin
Oh yeah. That was... a very long time ago.
Mark
Wow man. Honestly, congrats.
You guys did an amazing job.
Taemin
Ah, thank you.
Troye
What was it like? Working with Jin?
Honestly I'm curious because he's brought up in like, every episode of the podcast.
And... we had him on here, for just one episode.
And... Words cannot do it justice, over just how crazy he was.
-Taemin laughs-
Troye
He was insane, man.
We couldn't get one single word in.
Conan
Oh yeah.
Troye
I remember at one point, Mark was practically yelling at him to calm down because we wanted to wrap up the episode, but he just kept going.
-Mark Laughs-
Troye
He just wouldn't stop.
Was he like that, when you guys were working with him, on the New Eden project?
Taemin
Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...
Jimin
Oh, he's definitely crazy.
Troye
Is he really?
What is it like, working with him everyday?
Because you guys were together for a long time during BTS right?
Like, what? 8, 9 years?
Jimin
8 years, yeah.
Taemin
Yeah, Jin has an interesting way of looking at things.
He has a vision for New Eden, and... it's amazing how he was able to take something so small and turn it into this amazing project.
But, he's also very set in his way of doing things.
He rejects our ideas almost all the time. It's either "It gets done this way or it doesn't get done at all."
That kind of thing.
Troye
Really?
Taemin
Yeah.
He's very strict about it and always insists everything be done his way, and only his way.
Jimin
Yeah...
He's... kinda a control freak at times.
Everything he does it through TG Industries so he's always obsessed over meeting deadlines and working us to the bone at times.
"You have to do it this way, Mr. Godfrey will be watching."
"The Supreme Ambassador is coming, do it this way."
"We need our world to be perfect for humanity. Do it this way"
It's just... every single day, man.
He never stops.
Troye
That's crazy!
Taemin
He's Mr. Godfrey's most devote loyalist.
I'd be lying if I said a part of me doesn't respect him though.
I mean, back when this all started, New Eden was basically nothing.
There was 5 of us in total building a literal city out of nothing.
And... we didn't really know what we were doing, we were in way over our heads.
But then later Jin came along and turned the whole thing around.
It's pretty amazing actually.
I'm glad he's in charge and not someone else who would of just taken this on and done nothing with it.
Troye
Are you really?
Taemin
Yeah...
Jin's kinda a hard person to get along with at times.
He's kinda crazy.
Jimin
Very crazy!
-Taemin Laughs-
Taemin
Yeah.
But He has a good vision.
I gotta hand it to him.
Mark
What was New Eden like?
Before all of this I mean.
Taemin
Ahhhh... It was a lot different back then.
Back when we first started, in... 2016 I believe?
Yeah, originally it wasn't even called New Eden, or "The New Eden Project".
That was Jin's idea.
Mark
Oh, really?
Taemin
Yeah.
Back then this city had no official name.
We jokingly called it SM Town because all SM Idols were the only ones living and working here, but unofficially I think it was just known as "Project Templar", or "Project Crown", or "SM Crown", or something.
It later became known as Project Gangnam during the second phase. That was when Jisung and his group joined us and helped us out tremendously.
Yugyeom
Why was this all built anyway? New Eden I mean?
Mark
Yeah we asked Jin but sometimes he goes off on such a ramble it's impossible to keep up with him.
-Jimin laughs-
Taemin
Yeah...
Originally, this was just supposed to be an experiment by TG Industries.
TG Industries wanted us to create an original city, just so they could use it for research, on humanity I think?
But uhh... yeah, we decided to create a city based on what we know, living in South Korea and performing as Idols.
So, we based the whole entire city on Gangnam, in Seoul.
We looked at images and reference material to get the buildings down and tried to replicate as many as we could, just to get the main streets down right.
Jimin
That's the entertainment district now btw.
Taemin
Yeah.
Well that's all it was when we first started.
Uhh. I was mainly in charge of designs.
I was in charge of architecture and building our city.
Key was in charge of shipping and exports.
He was in charge of making sure we got everything we needed on time.
Mark
Did TG Industries appoint you these roles, or did you decide on all this for yourselves?
Taemin
No. We mostly were left to our own devices so we just discussed it and organized it within ourselves.
Basically it was just a small handful of us doing all this.
Me, the rest of Shiny [Shinee], a few soldiers and a few government agents from TG Industries who were in charge of making sure we got what we needed.
Mark
Right, gotchu.
So who basically took charge and appointed in saying "You will do this role, and you will do that role."
Like, who was leading the entire thing?
Taemin
Uhhh... kinda no one, really.
We all were on break from after our last comeback tour and were sent here by the regime, so... yeah, left to our own devices we kinda just all fit into whatever we were best at and went from there.
Mark
Right, gotchu.
Taemin
But uuh, yeah.
I was in charge of architecture. Key was in charge of shipping.
Minho was in charge of business relations.
He kept in close contact with TG Central and brought business to the city.
Uhh... Onew was in charge of the people.
He was pretty much the unofficial mayor of the city back then and still is today.
That's why he left SM. He's officially the mayor of things down here now.
Yugyeom
That's cool.
Taemin
Jonghyun, he works with Mr. Godfrey directly.
He's now one of the heads of TG Industries and was in charge of making sure we all got the financial support we needed.
So...
Troye
Jonghyun's... not the one who died, right?
Taemin
Uhhhhhhhhhh....
Troye
Oh I'm sorry. I didn't mean for that to sound insensitive in any way.
Taemin
No, it's...
To be honest with you, we all thought he was. But then we later found out he was still here this entire time working with TG Industries.
Honestly I was so mad when I found out about it.
Mark
Wow, man.
Taemin
I nearly hit him, to be honest.
I really wanted to hit him.
Like, my fists were clenched and everything.
Yugyeom
I can imagine.
Taemin
But we talked. He explained his reasons and honestly, I forgave him, and... yeah, we're both good friends again now.
Troye
That must of been hard. Thinking your friend and fellow idol was dead this entire time, only to find out he wasn't.
Taemin
It was...
And it was Jin of all people who brought him to my doorstep at that time, so yeah... was not prepared for that.
Conan
Oh my god, this guy...
Taemin
Yeah!
But we've come a long way since then. We stay in touch just like the old days.
Mark
That's awesome, man.
Taemin
Yeah...
But, uhh...
Yeah, like I was saying.
New Eden originally didn't have an official name back then.
We all nicknamed it "SM Town" because we were all SM Idols building, what essentially was a replica of our own neighbourhood in Gangnam-gu, but...
It had many different code names before it just became Project Gangnam, and then later when Jin took over it became known as New Eden.
Mark
Oh, right. Cool.
Taemin
Yeah.
Do you want me to keep going?
Mark
Yeah, go for it man.
This is really interesting.
I mean, you literally build the city we're all standing in.
-Taemin laughs-
Taemin
I actually designed the building we're all standing in as well, actually.
Yugyeom
Whaaaaat?
Taemin
Well the exteriors.
Someone else handles the interior designs of the place.
Yugyeom
That's crazy!
-Taemin giggles-
Taemin
Yeah.
In the begining this city was very small.
It was just five of us, so... we just focused on what we needed and went from there.
We started off building this district. The Entertainment District.
At the time it was just the main hub for the city.
And...
We built all the shops. All of the stores and businesses you see in this area.
That was all us.
Mark
Oh cool.
Taemin
We built the cinema, the subway station, the mall.
Conan
The Lilith Underground Mall?
Taemin
Yeah.
It had no official name back then, we just called it the mall.
Conan
Right, gotchu.
Taemin
But... yeah.
We built everything in the city.
We built some of the areas around it like the business district, the financial district, little Tokyo district and the New Brooklyn District.
Mark
Oh, did you?
Taemin
Yeah.
TG Industries filmed a lot of music videos in that district.
Mark
I remember seeing some of them actually.
That weird satanic R&B video with Jin smoking a Cuban cigar?
-Jimin laughs-
Taemin
Yeah, a lot goes on in that district. It's really popular.
...
But umm...
We eventually built apartments for ourselves, in the entertainment district.
We built our own restaurant called 'Café Shiny' [Shinee], just for fun really.
Just to pass the time a little.
Mark
Okay.
Taemin
Eventually more idols showed up to help.
Kai, from Exo was the first.
Later Jisung and members of NCT joined us as well, and they really helped maintain the city in ways we couldn't.
Our population was growing a lot more back then, and ahhh...
The project was only meant to last for 8 years, but we eventually got pulled away early and were told to go back to Korea.
I heard the project was going to be shut down and demolished but later Jin stepped in with a new vision for the city.
He wanted to keep the project going, turn the city we built into an entire nation empire independent from everything else and called our project, New Eden.
Mark
Oh, right.
Taemin
We all came back years later and was shocked.
I was like "Whaaaaaaaah", he actually did it.
It was amazing, honestly.
Mark
That's awesome man. Wow.
Hard to imagine it's only been 8 years since this all was built.
Taemin
Yeah, I know. It's pretty crazy.
All the buildings are made from Smart Magnetic Technology.
It all holds together really well I think.
Mark
Awesome.
So, moving onto your main topic, "Will nostalgic reboots kill Hollywood?"
So, what exactly do you mean by that? "Will reboots kill Hollywood."
Enlighten your audience.
Taemin
Yeah, it's just...
Well lately I can't help but notice that every Hollywood movie that comes out these days are reboots of movies from our childhood, and... that seems to be the trend with everything these days.
Conan
Wicked just came out recently.
Taemin
Yeah, and that's a re-telling of The Wizard of Oz.
You also have that Aliens movie that came out a few months ago...
Uhh, Beetlejuice...
Troye
It's always kinda been like that though, hasn't it?
Taemin
Uhhhhh...
Jimin
Not to the same degree.
Taemin
Yeah. Nostalgic movies have always existed, but not to the same degree they do now.
I mean, look at all those Disney live action remakes that keep coming out.
Yugyeom
Ugh! I fuckin' hate those, man.
Taemin
You have The Lion King, Jungle Book, The Little Mermaid, Beauty & The Beast, Aladdin...
Troye
But that's just mainly Disney though, right?
It doesn't mean all new movies coming out all all 're-hashes' of old movies?
Taemin
I dunno. You also had that Matrix movie a while back.
Jimin
That Chip & Dale movie was full of nostalgic winks and references.
Conan
I still can't get over how that film even exists. I mean, "Holy shit!"
It was 'so' good.
Yugyeom
Yeah. Making Peter Pan the main villain was kinda F'ed up though, considering Disney's history with it's original actor.
Conan
Why, what happened?
Yugyeom
It was crazy, man.
Okay. Basically the original actor who played Peter Pan was this kid that everyone thought was gonna be a big star, but the minute he hit puberty Disney kicked him to the curb.
He ended up turning to drugs and later died.
I can't remember if he OD'ed or if it was suicide, but...
For Disney to take that kid, and turn him into the main villain of the movie, after 'they' did that to him?
It's kinda messed up man.
Real fucked in the head.
Conan
Oh my God. That sucks.
Mark
Yeah I had no idea what Disney was thinking.
Really all the decisions they make these days I have no idea why.
Like, did you see the new trailer for the Mufasa movie?
Like, what the hell? Who keeps asking for this stuff, man.
Just... read the room already.
God.
Troye
I'm just waiting for the inevitable fallout when Disney finally declares bankruptcy and shuts it's doors at this point.
Conan
The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
Troye
Right?
Yugyeom
[Addressing Jimin]
You'll find we have no love for Disney on this show, by the way.
-Jimin Laughs-
Mark
Sorry Taemin. You were saying?
Taemin
Yeah man. It's just...
It's like Hollywood has no creative ideas left now, y'know?
Almost every movie now plays heavily on nostalgia, but it never used to be that way.
Not to this degree.
Mark
You'll notice... Oh, Sorry. Go ahead.
Jimin
No, no, no, you carry on. It's fine.
Mark
Ah, Okay.
Uhh, I was gonna say. You'll notice video games do that as well actually. Where it's all about nostalgia now.
I mean, just look at the Sonic the hedgehog franchise right now for example. Where every other game is either a HD remaster or a re-imagining of some sorts.
Jimin
Kingdom Hearts.
Mark
Yeah.
Yugyeom
You'll notice TV shows do that as well actually.
I mean, there was that Animaniacs reboot.
Tiny Toons.
Conan
Tom & Jerry.
Yugyeom
Yeah. Tom & Jerry, The Looney Tunes, Ducktales.
Conan
Mickey Mouse.
Yugyeom
Exactly, yeah.
Troye
I still cant believe Disney doesn't have the rights to Mickey Mouse anymore.
Their own freaking mascot and they no longer have full ownership over him.
Mark
Apparently they were never supposed to.
Copyright law states that a company can only have legal ownership over a character for so long, before that character legally becomes public domain.
But Disney greased some palms and bended the rules a little just to keep ownership over their characters.
And... I think the way they did it was by subtly changing the design.
Like... Disney no longer owners the rights to the original 1920's Mickey Mouse, but they still own the modern design, with the red shorts and yellow shoes.
Conan
Oh, really?
Mark
Yeah.
It's the same with Winnie the Pooh as well.
Legally Disney owns the modern design, but the original AA Milne design from the books, where he's naked. Only that design is public domain.
Like, if you try to use the design with him in the red shirt, or use characters like Tigger or Gopher. Disney will sue you into oblivion.
Yugyeom
That's crazy, man.
Mark
Yeah.
Disney pays billions just to keep a monopoly over these characters.
It's one of the reasons they own all the characters from The Little Mermaid, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin, The Lion King, etcetera.
Even though Disney didn't make these stories, they own the copyrights to the own version of these characters.
So... if you try and use their designs, Disney can sue you and sue you hard, even though these characters 'are' technically public domain.
Troye
So basically Disney does still own Mickey Mouse, even though he's technically public domain now?
Mark
They own the modern design for Mickey Mouse.
Basically if you look at those ugly costumes of what Mickey used to look like in the 1930's, all the way to the 1950's?
That's the mickey you 'can use'.
But, if you dare to try and put Mickey in red shorts, Disney will come after you like a heat seeking missile.
-Yugyeom makes an explosion sfx into the microphone-
Jimin
Wow, man.
Yugyeom
Dude, Disney owns everything, man.
They even own 'You'. [Directed at Troye]
Troye
Not on your life.
I would never sell my soul to Disney.
Mark
You may not have to.
They are just haemorrhaging money with their negative reputation at this point.
Yugyeom
The Panderverse called it.
Conan
Kathleen Kennedy ruining Disney yet again.
Yugyeom
"Put another chick in it! Make it more gay!"
-Conan laughs hard-
-Mark laughs-
Taemin
Yeah, that's what I'm talking about basically.
Disney had to keep churning out sequels and reboots now because they've got nothing else.
Mark
We were actually talking about that in a previous episode actually.
How Disney is just, having to turn to all of these unnecessary sequels now.
Yugyeom
Toy Story 5.
Mark
Yeah. Ugh...
I can't believe they're actually doing it, man.
Toy Story 5! My god...
Yugyeom
You said it yourself, didn't you.
The moment Pixar has to turn to doing a Toy Story 5 is the moment they should shut their doors and retire.
Mark
Yeah... it's the same with all things really.
Even Studio Ghibli with Hayeo Miyazaki.
Boy and the Heron was good, but...
It was trying way too hard to be the next Spirited Away.
I'm like... If you really have nothin', just let the man retire in peace already, y'know?
Yugyeom
George A Romero was the same, wasn't he?
When he came back to make those crappy zombie movies.
Mark
Ugh... I'm never gonna forget Diary of the Dead...
Troye
What was that idea you came up with a while back?
I seem to recall you talking about it, actually.
Mark
Idea? What idea?
Troye
About college interns working with Disney to make better film ideas.
Mark
Oh, no.
It was actually Jin's idea. I was just regurgitating it.
Troye
Ah, right.
Mark
No basically the idea was. What if Disney went to all the colleges. All the college campuses in the state of California, and just offered film students the chance to come up with an idea for a new movie.
And, the best entry will get their film idea turned into an actual movie, along with an internship at Disney, and a consolidation fee,
Troye
That's actually a pretty good idea actually.
Mark
Yeah.
The idea was, to trial run it in California first to see if it takes off. And if it does, host the contest yearly across all the colleges in America.
Eventually even the rest of the world to see if other film studios pick up on the idea and do the same.
Yugyeom
Cool.
Mark
It's a win-win if you think about it.
It gives film students a chance to intern at an actual studio and see their movie ideas come to life, but it's also a win for film studios starved for fresh ideas because they always have fresh talent churning out new ideas every year, just hungry for a taste of fame and stardom.
That, and it's good publicity as well.
It gives companies like Disney good faith because it shows they're willing to work with young talent just itching to prove themselves to the world.
Troye
Don't studios already have that though?
I mean, Hollywood probably gets like, hundreds of thousands of scripts sent to them every single day, right?
Taemin
Yeah, I was gonna say.
Troye
Right?
Mark
Yeah, they do.
But the problem is they're not churning out good, creative ideas anymore.
They're just churning out crap that's safe, marketable, good for shareholders an no one else.
Jimin
That's true.
Mark
Like, they're even turning to AI now, to churn out movie ideas on the cheap.
And that's scary to me.
Not because I'm afraid of AI taking over the world or anything, but because of how crap it all is.
Have any of you guys tried making stories or coming up with ideas using AI?
Conan
No. Can't say that I have.
Mark
Trust me, it's terrible.
Yugyeom
Yeah, give it a few years though.
AI is catching up so fast it's actually legit scary.
The stuff they can do with AI now, it's kinda crazy actually.
Mark
Trust me. It's all garbage.
For a novelty it's good. Like, for some kid messing around with AI software and making a fun YouTube video.
That's one thing.
But for an actual Hollywood studio using it to write movies, animate them, voice act in them? Compose the audio?
Trust me. That scares me.
Not because of how easy they could churn these films out, and how many people they could put out of a job.
That's a very real thing and in this economy, that alone is terrifying.
But no, it's also scary because it's total complete garbage, but I doubt Hollywood Exec's would care.
They'd just see the dollar signs in their eyes, and not even care how garbage these films really are.
It'll just become the new standard for film, and that scares me to be totally honest.
Jimin
Wow...
Taemin
Doesn't New Eden use similar tactics though with their movies?
I know a lot of films here are domestically made by AI.
Mark
Right, but that's exactly my point.
Those films, if you've ever watched them, are complete garbage.
You still need that human element to really bring these films to life.
AI is a tool, but it shouldn't be used to replace actual people who know what they're doing and actually care about churning out a good quality product.
Yugyeom
Preach.
Mark
Imagine everything we see on TV was all randomly generated by AI.
What would even be the point anymore?
Conan
Yeah, wow. I see what you mean.
Mark
The minute AI movies take over cinema, would be the moment I stop watching new movies altogether.
I would just quit, man.
Yugyeom
Me too.
Mark
Uhh, anyway. Is that it for this episode?
Is there anything else you guys wanted to cover before we end things?
Taemin
Ahh. I think we've covered everything really.
Like you, I'm just sick of how tired and contrived Hollywood has really become.
Jimin
Yeah, definitely.
Taemin
It's like, we don't even get any good new ideas anymore.
Mark
Yeah, you never know.
Korean cinema makes a few hidden gems once in a while.
Every now and then a new film comes out of the wayside and surprises you.
Anyway guys.
-Claps hands-
Mark
That's it for the 10th and final episode of The Idol Room Podcast.
Guys, thank you so much for joining us on this little adventure.
I 'really' hope you enjoyed the series.
We're hopefully going to come back, next year, big and strong with some new projects in the works that will really impress you guys.
Yugyeom
Jay B has a new album coming out soon.
Mark
Yeah, he does. Road Runner.
I actually heard the sampler album for it. It's really good.
Yugyeom
So good.
Conan
Really? I haven't heard about it yet.
Mark
It's really good.
I have it on my phone actually.
I'll play it for you later if you want.
Conan
Great. Yeah, I'd love to hear it.
Mark
Anyway guys. Thank you again so much for sticking around.
I really hope you enjoyed the series.
And thank you to Taemin and Jimin for hanging with us for out 10th episode finale.
Taemin
Thanks everyone!
Jimin
Thanks guys!
Mark
Guys, thank you so much for watching and for all of us at The Idol Room Podcast. Take care.
Yugyeom
Yeah, bye guys.
Conan
Bye everyone!
Troye
Take care guys!
Mark
Take care.
-Outro music plays-
