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Fictional Women Around the World: Dr. Jo Harding · Stuff Mom Never Told You

0:05
Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and welcome to Steffan never told
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Speaker 1: your production of iHeartRadio. And yes it's me still flying solo,
0:22
Speaker 1: but Samantha is around. She will be back hopefully she
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Speaker 1: is on vacation. Although this one I'm recording a bit preamptively,
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Speaker 1: I guess, just in case to have because it's an
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Speaker 1: evergreen topic. It's just been on my mind and it
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Speaker 1: goes along with the theme we've been talking about, which
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Speaker 1: is disaster movies, and especially nineties disaster movies. But okay,
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Speaker 1: so today for the subsub sub subsub segment of fictional
0:47
Speaker 1: women around the world, we are talking about doctor Joe Harding,
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Speaker 1: who's from the nineteen ninety six movie Twister. I loved
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Speaker 1: this movie as a kid. I loved it so much
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Speaker 1: I sought out other Helen Hunt movies, like movies that
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Speaker 1: would have never interested me because I loved her so
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Speaker 1: much in this movie, and I briefly toyed with being
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Speaker 1: a stormchaser, as did like a lot of people in
1:17
Speaker 1: my age group. But the reason I was thinking about
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Speaker 1: it is one of the most amazing things I saw
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Speaker 1: at dragon com this year. I actually didn't see it,
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Speaker 1: but I saw it that through someone else's clips social media.
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Speaker 1: Was a reenactment of a scene from Twister, a dramatic scene,
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Speaker 1: and it involved cows. It involved a flailing tornado. It
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Speaker 1: involved some pretty decent accents in acting, and I loved
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Speaker 1: it. It was one of the funniest things I saw, and
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Speaker 1: so I wanted to talk about this and this movie.
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Speaker 1: I did watch it probably once a year. It always
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Speaker 1: makes me want steak and eggs. And it reminds me
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Speaker 1: of the incredibly dramatic and now defunct ride Rosa Studios,
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Speaker 1: which I'm about to go too. So that's another reason
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Speaker 1: I've been thinking about it. That and The Mummy, which
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Speaker 1: I hope that ride doesn't. I keep hearing rumors fire
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Speaker 1: getting rid of it. I hope that's not true. But
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Speaker 1: you can find YouTube clips of the Twister ride. It's
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Speaker 1: very dramatic. It's full of amazing quotes. Me and my
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Speaker 1: friends used to quote it back to each other all
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Speaker 1: of the time. You basically kind of walked through this
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Speaker 1: you know thing and learned about tornadoes, and then you'd
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Speaker 1: walk through sets and you'd see destroyed houses and then
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Speaker 1: at the end, like you'd see the cows fly in
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Speaker 1: front of you and something would spark and catch fire
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Speaker 1: and fall over, I swear to I kind of stand
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Speaker 1: and watch ride, I guess, but I liked it. Apparently
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Speaker 1: there is a sequel coming out in twenty twenty four
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Speaker 1: called Twisters. Very interested about that. Okay, yes, let's get
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Speaker 1: into this one. This one will probably be a bit shorter.
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Speaker 1: So this does go in tandem with our conversation. So
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Speaker 1: we've been having around doctor Ellie Satler from Dress Park
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Speaker 1: and Evy from The Mummy. But in the nineties there
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Speaker 1: was a bunch of your kind of science intelligible women,
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Speaker 1: which sounds so condescending, but there were usually movie magic
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Speaker 1: science at least somewhat in these movies. Because I have
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Speaker 1: heard a lot of pretty embracing critiques of the science
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Speaker 1: of this particular movie, and one was Helen Hunt's doctor
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Speaker 1: Joe Harding, the meteorologist at the center of the nineteen
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Speaker 1: ninety six film Twister. I also want to say I
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Speaker 1: was thinking about this, and I was thinking about another
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Speaker 1: character I want to do that was pretty important to
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Speaker 1: me during this time, who was in the field of science,
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Speaker 1: Sam Carter from Stargate played by Amanda Tapping, And I
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Speaker 1: do want to talk about her, but I try not
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Speaker 1: to have too many well oh, white women with blonde
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Speaker 1: hair and blue eyes, so I try to space that
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Speaker 1: out a little bit. I'm not saying that they weren't important,
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Speaker 1: but it is important also to keep that in mind.
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Speaker 1: So just a note about that, because I'm trying to
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Speaker 1: fill in for some stuff while Samantha's out. I'm doing
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Speaker 1: these somewhat easier for me topics. But just a note,
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Speaker 1: Just a note about that, and also this movie. A
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Speaker 1: couple of notes about this movie, because it does have
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Speaker 1: a few notable things to it. It made a lot
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Speaker 1: of money. It got a few Oscar nominations. I mean
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Speaker 1: mostly like sound and effects, but still got some Oscar nominations.
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Speaker 1: I don't want to that sounds like I'm saying those
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Speaker 1: aren't worth it, but they are. Just to specify. It
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Speaker 1: has a museum in Wikita where a lot of the
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Speaker 1: movie takes place. I almost got the chance to go once,
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Speaker 1: but then we couldn't do it. And it was the
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Speaker 1: first film to be released on DVD in the U.
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Speaker 1: From what I read, it was in part written by
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Speaker 1: Joss Whedon, but he left it multiple points due to
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Speaker 1: illness and then marriage. Laura dern Ellie Sadler was originally
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Speaker 1: going to play this role. A bunch of other big
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Speaker 1: actors too. Jan Dubant directed it, and he was, by
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Speaker 1: most accounts, difficult to work with. He insisted it be
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Speaker 1: filmed in Oklahoma instead of on a sound stage because
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Speaker 1: it might be the last great action film not filmed
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Speaker 1: on a sound stage. That's paraphrasing, but that's basically what
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Speaker 1: he said. And there were a lot of injuries. Helen
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Speaker 1: Hunt and Bill Paxton were both temporarily blinded by a
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Speaker 1: special effect. They both had to get hepatitis shots after
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Speaker 1: filming in unsanitary conditions. Hunt allegedly got a concussion from
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Speaker 1: being so exhausted from the shoot and hitting her head.
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Speaker 1: It was actually two instances where she might have gotten
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Speaker 1: a concussion. Dubant said basically, Oh, I love her, but
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Speaker 1: she's comes, and Hunt replied, clumsy. The guy burned my retinas,
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Speaker 1: but I'm clumsy. I thought I was a good sport.
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Speaker 1: I don't know ultimately if he on chalks me up
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Speaker 1: as that or not, but one would hope. So, yeah,
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Speaker 1: it's pretty sounds like she's got a pretty good point there.
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Speaker 1: Crew members left the production because they felt Debonte was
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Speaker 1: out of control. He apparently hit a camera assistant out
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Speaker 1: of frustration, and others were injured on set too, So
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Speaker 1: it just sounded like it was not very safe working conditions.
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Speaker 1: And when we think about what people are fighting for
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Speaker 1: in the strike and the writer's strike and the actor's
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Speaker 1: strike and what has happened before on sets, like it's important.
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Speaker 1: It's important, all right, Let's break down this character and
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Speaker 1: the plot. It's a fairly simple plot. It starts with
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Speaker 1: Joe as a child losing her father during a tornado,
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Speaker 1: an incident that drove her to pursue a career in
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Speaker 1: meteorology with the main goal of improving the warning system
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Speaker 1: when it comes to tornadoes. To that end, she leads
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Speaker 1: a scrappy group of stormchasers, a group that used to
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Speaker 1: include her ex husband Bill Harding played by Bill Paxson,
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Speaker 1: who returns with his new girlfriend, therapist doctor Melissa, reeves
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Speaker 1: to get Joe to sign the divorce papers. When he arrives,
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Speaker 1: she shows him Dorothy, which is this design that they
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Speaker 1: came up with together that essentially was going to release
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Speaker 1: censors into the heart of the tornado to get accurate
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Speaker 1: readings that will help them understand and predict tornadoes, However,
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Speaker 1: someone would have to get close to the tornado to
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Speaker 1: deploy it. An incoming tornado distracts them before Joe can
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Speaker 1: sign the divorce papers, and she and the team rushes away,
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Speaker 1: and Bill and Melissa follow because they realize she hasn't
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Speaker 1: signed the papers. They also encounter their fancy city rivals
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Speaker 1: who have more funding tornado tornado chasing. Wise through some circumstances,
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Speaker 1: Bill and Joe end up sheltering under a bridge and
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Speaker 1: Joe's truck gets destroyed. Bill reluctantly agrees to lend her
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Speaker 1: his truck. Many tornado chases and sue. Melissa is more
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Speaker 1: and more concerned about this lifestyle. They visit Joe's aunt
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Speaker 1: and Wikita for food, and she nudges Joe, implying that
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Speaker 1: she and Bill are still in love. She's sort of like,
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Speaker 1: maybe you should think about this, think about getting back together.
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Speaker 1: Melissa learns about Joe's past with tornadoes, and then they
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Speaker 1: go to chase another tornado and try to deploy Dorothy,
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Speaker 1: but it's knocked over. All the sensors fall out and
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Speaker 1: Bill tries to get Joe to retreat with him, but
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Speaker 1: she is determined and the whole thing builds up into
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Speaker 1: a fight over her motivations about her father's death, over
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Speaker 1: and why they broke up, which is all broadcast over
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Speaker 1: walkie talkies for Melissa to hear the whole team. But Melissa,
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Speaker 1: and this is where the quote that I got to
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Speaker 1: see this whole scene is what they were reenacting at
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Speaker 1: Dragon Con. You've never seen it. Missed that house and
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Speaker 1: missed this house and come after you. They did it
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Speaker 1: way better. But so after this happens, they're staying in
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Speaker 1: a small town to repair their vehicles. Joe signs to
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Speaker 1: the divorce papers. Another tornado hits while they're watching the
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Speaker 1: shining and there's a lot of legends behind this actually,
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Speaker 1: and then the tornado heads towards Joe's and Keta. So
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Speaker 1: there's kind of this moment of like, well, what are
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Speaker 1: you gonna do? Where you're gonna go? Bill and Melissa,
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Speaker 1: and the relationship between her and Bill is basically like
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Speaker 1: this life is not for me, but maybe you and
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Speaker 1: Joe can work it out. And he goes with Joe
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Speaker 1: to rescue her aunt who is injured and says that
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Speaker 1: they barely had any warning. Through her yard decorations, they
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Speaker 1: are inspired to modify their Dorothy design just as a
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Speaker 1: weather prediction informs them a huge tornado is probably going
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Speaker 1: to come through, and it does a huge tornado in
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Speaker 1: F five And despite debris of all kinds driving through houses, explosions,
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Speaker 1: the death of their competitors, their fancy city competitors, and
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Speaker 1: the truly unbelievable lend scene, they deploy Dorothy. They get
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Speaker 1: the data, they kiss, they missed that house, and it
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Speaker 1: missed that house, and it came after them. So that's
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Speaker 1: pretty much it. But I did love it. There are
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Speaker 1: a couple of things when I was thinking about this
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Speaker 1: I picked up on. One is we've talked about this before,
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Speaker 1: but sort of that trend of giving women and what
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Speaker 1: is seen as a more masculine space a masculine name
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Speaker 1: being that. And she's pretty. I mean, she wears very
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Speaker 1: u sensible clothes for the field cheese in she has
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Speaker 1: plenty of instances where she gets very very dirty, and
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Speaker 1: it's not seen as like this isn't her place, this
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Speaker 1: isn't where she should be, similar to Ellie what we
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Speaker 1: talked about in that Jurassic Park episode. But that being said,
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Speaker 1: there's also Melissa Bill's fiance later not fiance ex fiance
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Speaker 1: she's the foil to Joe. She's the kind of uptight
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Speaker 1: city woman who is definitely the butt of a lot
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Speaker 1: of jokes that she doesn't like. This is way too
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Speaker 1: much like fatty food on my plate, or I don't
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Speaker 1: want to get dirty, or I don't want to do
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Speaker 1: this or do this. She does have some instances where
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Speaker 1: like she drives that truck, she dodges his debris, She's
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Speaker 1: screaming the whole way, but I think that's fair. She's
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Speaker 1: also mocked for being a therapist, which the nineties was
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Speaker 1: all that we talked about that in our Sex and
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Speaker 1: the City episodes. But I do think that she has
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Speaker 1: a good moment where she doesn't hate Joe. Joe doesn't
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Speaker 1: hate her, but she just sort of realizes it isn't
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Speaker 1: going to work. She is often played as a joke,
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Speaker 1: but is sort of humanized in that way, but also
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Speaker 1: sort of dismissed, like she's a very clearly a good
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Speaker 1: plot point to get them back together. I guess I
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Speaker 1: just like that they weren't pitted against each other so
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Speaker 1: much of trying to get Bill Paxton. It felt like
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Speaker 1: there wasn't any animosity between them, and it was more
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Speaker 1: about him figuring out what he really wanted, and her
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Speaker 1: kind of realizing like, oh, if that's if that's truly
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Speaker 1: what you want, then that's not what I want. I
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Speaker 1: do think it's also supposed to be sort of a
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Speaker 1: commentary on Bill Paxon's character wanting to go corporate as
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Speaker 1: a weatherman on TV and the more rough countryside of
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Speaker 1: being in the field. So Melissa versus Joe. I have
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Speaker 1: read a lot of stuff recently that I'm interested to
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Speaker 1: come back to about the trip of the Good Divorced Husband.
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Speaker 1: I think there's a lot to unpackt there, but just
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Speaker 1: a note about that. And then also, yeah, women in
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Speaker 1: stim as unrealistic as this may have been, it did.
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Speaker 1: I was into it. I was like, oh, well, maybe
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Speaker 1: this is what I want to do. And she seemed
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Speaker 1: so competent and she wasn't really sexualized to me, so
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Speaker 1: I just remember thinking like, ow, that'd be cool. I
13:25
Speaker 1: could go out and do this and this and this
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Speaker 1: again not realistic, quite dangerous, don't do it unless you
13:33
Speaker 1: know what you're doing. But yeah, it was an important
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Speaker 1: character to me. So if you want, you can find
13:44
Speaker 1: that video. I've been mentioning that I saw a dragon
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Speaker 1: con it's amazing and I recommend it, but in the meantime, yes,
13:50
Speaker 1: this is what I have to say about it for now.
13:52
Speaker 1: If you would like to send your suggestions in you can.
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Speaker 1: our executive producer Maya, and our contributor Joey, and thanks
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