Mortal Kombat - Leg-Fu for the Win

Arrggh! A Video Game Podcast from The Waffling Taylors

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Anthony (of Capes on the Couch) joined us to go a hilarious and irreverent deep dive into the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie, discussing everything from its iconic soundtrack to its questionable casting choices. From Jean Claude Van Damme's missed opportunity to be part of the cast to the iconic soundtrack, the hosts offer witty observations and absurd suggestions that will have you laughing out loud. But it's their suggestions for new characters and fatalities in the Mortal Kombat franchise that really shine, including a shirtless sax man from Lost Boys and a 'bloodwind' instrument played through a victim's ribs.

And did Kevin Nash give his quads that Raiden could look fabulous?

psst. we've actually done a bunch of these "goes to the movies" episodes. Check this page to see all of the released specials.

Here's a sample of the full show notes - make sure to click through and check them out.

Content Warning

As this is an episode about a both PG13 rated movie and a fighting game which literally started the game rating systems, we'd advise a little caution for this episode. There's nothing explicitly terrible in this episode, but the subject matter can be pretty rough.

There are a few swears toward the end of the episode, but they're all bleeped out. There's also a part at 42:44 (which lasts for 90 seconds) where we discuss possible titles for a porn parody for this movie.

Please listen responsibly.

Show Notes

The boys are back in town, and this time they're joined by Anthony of the Capes on the Couch podcast. Anthony joined us to talk about the 1995 movie Mortal Kombat. Anthony was actually on an earlier episode - here's a link to that episode.

And he described Capes on the Couch as:

So Capes on the Couch, we are a podcast. We just crossed the five year mark, which we're very proud of, and we cover the mental health issues of comic book characters. And my co host, my best friend, my brother, is a board certified psychiatrist, and so he breaks it down from the perspective of, "what are some of the issues that each character faces?" And then we dissect what treatment options would look like for the characters, both in universe and that can involve whatever the characters have available to them, if they're magical, if they are technologically savvy, whatever the case may be, if the have abilities. Whatever that world has to offer, Doc will utilize that in treatment.

And then we discuss what treatment would look like for a real person with a lot of these issues. And then we role play what a therapy session with that character would sound like. And it gives us an opportunity to have a little bit of fun and to do some voice acting. Some of them are funny, some of them are deadly, some of them are really serious. So it all honestly depends on the character. And so we have a lot of fun with it.

And we just recently announced, I don't know exactly when this episode is going to be coming out, but we just found out that we are going to be doing our first ever panel appearance at a convention. We will be at Puchi Con in Atlantic City, New Jersey, so not terribly far from where we are. On Sunday, May 14, we will be discussing Vash the Stampede from Trigun. If you are at all a manga or anime fan, the con is a little more anime and manga focused than your standard comic convention. So when we were putting the panel together, I said to Doc, we've never done a manga character. I want to make sure that we hit the audience kind of where they are.
- Anthony

Interestingly, since they had recorded the Mortal Kombat Annihilation episode ahead of this one - though it wasn't out when this one was being recorded - Squidge and Anthony had some things to say about it before the record button was pressed. Jay brought this up.

Well, I wouldn't say it was trash talk, but Squid seemed to indicate that he felt that Mortal Kombat Annihilation was the best Mortal Kombat movie of them all. And I personally disabused him of that notion. Now, mind you, I haven't seen the reboot, so I cannot compare that to the original two...

So I did see Moral Kombat Annihilation in theaters, and I could say, Squidge, I don't know what you were on. I don't know what we're just talking about mental health. Maybe you need to see somebody. Maybe you need to get some treatment there, because I think you are operating under a delusion and under a separate reality than the rest of us. And that is okay. That is you're living your truth. But I'm going to speak my truth. I'm going to live my reality. And my reality is one in which the Mortal Kombat Annihilation falls well below the standard of the original. So that is what I will politely and tactfully say about that.
- Anthony

And Squidge's rebuttal was plain for all to hear:

The story is already established, and it's not meant to be taken as seriously as the first one. So in that regards, story is inconsequential, really. But it's a quote. Irish comedian Dylan Moran - Mortal Kombat Annihilation not that part. This part, "it's fabulously f*%king stupid." The movie is pure cheese, and I love it. Talk about 90s cheese films, and itt doesn't get better than Mortal Kombat. Annihilation, seriously
- Squidge

Basic Info on the Movie

This movie was released in 1995, and Mortal Kombat Annihilation was a direct sequel to it - taking place seconds after the ending of this movie.

It was directed by Paul W. S. "look at how hot my future wife is" Anderson, and after making this movie he stepped away from it because he "didn't want to get tied down to a series." But after seeing the failure that was the sequel, he wanted to keep hold of the reins for the next video game movie he made: Resident Evil. So if you want someone to blame for the live action Resident Evil movies, then Lawrence Kasinoff (the producer of both Mortal Kombat movies) is your man.

But then, if we didn't have the first Mortal Kombat movie, we'd have never had the absolute banger that is Utah Saints Take On The Theme From Mortal Kombat. So swings and roundabouts, really.

Thank you, Utah Saints, for that. If you don't get hyped after hearing that and want to run through a goddamn brick wall, like, check a pulse.
- Anthony

Initial Thoughts

Before they could discuss the movie proper, Anthony brought up a very valid point about the journalism in this movie:

How bad is the press? Though, that they have nothing else to write about. That Johnny Cage's fighting skills make front page headlines on two separate continents in at least two different languages. How starved are they for content? Of all the things that the could write about, there's no political corruption, there's no diseases, there's no global disasters. No. Let's talk about whether or not this g...