EPISODE 206 - Unkempt Travolta

Have you ever wondered how much it'd cost to build the Death Star from STAR WARS? What about the cost of a five-year mission aboard the starship Enterprise? Well among a great many things, I wonder this myself and now we have some answers. Today's show is scratch-skewed as we analyze a few costly events from film and TV.First, as mentioned, we look at the estimated cost of building the Death Star. Students at Lehigh University were able to calculate the price tag for just the steel needed for a moon-sized space vessel and it is NOT cheap. And since we've got just as many STAR TREK fans (including myself) I looked into the cost of the Enterprise. I've wondered for a long time what it would take to build the NCC-1701, and I'll have to keep wondering as there is no definitive total yet. Someone who majors in finances should sit down and come up with a figure. The closest I could find is what it might cost for Captain Kirk's original mission. That ain't cheap either. And if tax payers were footing the bill, we'd all be putting in around $35,000. Tune in for the astronomical price tags on these astronomical vehicles.If you're like me, when watching the destruction of a major metropolitan area during the climactic scene of any given blockbuster feature, you may ponder random thoughts of the paper work involved after the dust settles. How do you explain to your boss an alien picked up the taxi you were driving and threw it down the street? Or, Iron Man punched straight through your office building while punching a slobbering creature in the face... do you show up for work the next day? There's nothing left of your desk, or anyone else's. These are the things I briefly consider during movies. And thanks to The Hollywood Reporter and the Kinetic Analysis Corporation, we now know what the bill is for the battle seen at the end of THE AVENGERS. It too is out of this world. But the real question is who would pay for it? New York tax payers? US tax payers? FIMA? It's anyone's guess. Good thing it's not real.We do know one thing, S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't be on the hook since it's a government agency. Or is it? This lack of clarification led our real-life US government to back out of participating in the film. Ordinarily Uncle Sam has no problem providing jets, personnel and consultation to Hollywood when a scene calls for it. I bet Michael Bay is super chummy with the guys that take video of the Pentagon. But the ambiguous nature of S.H.I.E.L.D. seems to have frightened the powers in Washington. I wonder why?And we're not done with THE AVENGERS just yet. Change.org is once again making our radar as a stick-in-the-mud has created a petition demanding an apology from Marvel over the adoption joke Thor makes during the movie. The Who Asked You? Crew found the joke funny and not at all offensive; but none of us are adopted, right? WRONG! Dennis is adopted and he wasn't bothered by the joke at all. The petitioner believes the joke in which Black Widow points out Loki killed eighty people in two days and Thor, his brother, simply replies, "He's adopted," makes it sound as though all adopted children turn out bad. I didn't interpret the joke that way at all. I saw it as simply Thor pointing out that 'hey, we're not related. Don't put that on my blood line.' Still, some may not have liked it, and that may include you. It's our We Ask You Poll this week. Cast your vote now!With all this money talk, we couldn't leave out the $2-million lawsuit filed against actor, John Travolta by two different male masseurs. They both want the big bucks claiming the PULP FICTION star fondled them and even masturbated in front of them. This shit isn't true at all, but we have a good laugh at the overly-descriptive court documents. Like the description of Travolta's pubes, this show is wiry and unkempt. Then again, most of our shows are at least the latter.