Ep 13: Commando

Screen Testing

It's time to LET OFF SOME STEAM as we look at one of the finest examples of the 80s action movie genre. Arnie's on a mission to rescue his kidnapped daughter, while Neil and Dan are on a mission to constantly over-think every situation in the film.

Amongst all of the crazy one-liners, explosions and deaths, we study John Matrix's mission, his requirement-gathering skills, and bemoan his poor password security. On the other side of the fence, we look at villain Bennett's seeming love for his nemesis, discover the interesting real-life circumstances which led to some odd costuming, and we unleash our terrible Australian accents.

There are plenty of distractions along the way, as we draw repeated comparisons to the Bond franchise, get into knots over whether it's "Matrixes" or "Matrices", debate whether a rocket launcher is better than a door handle, analyse the weird musical adjectives of Creem magazine, make plans for a Christmas double-header episode, and give shouts-out to our mums.

References:

• CAST 2017
• Association for Software Testing
• Nods to Twitterers at CAST: Claire Moss, Carol Brands, Josh Gibbs, Griffin Jones, Michael Larsen
• WeTest New Zealand
• Wikipedia: The League of Gentlemen
• Twitter: BBC press office tweet to @DaveChannel
• YouTube: The League of Gentlemen - "Hello Dave"
• Netflix: The League of Gentlemen
• YouTube: Father Ted - Dougal wants to watch Aliens
• Bad Puns and Machine Guns podcast: Commando episode
• YouTube: Rick & Morty: Pickle Rick goes Commando
• YouTube: Deja View: Russia's Identical Remake of Commando (English shot comparison)
• YouTube: D-Day / ???? ? (Russian 2008 remake of Commando, no subtitles)
• Wikipedia: James Horner
• YouTube: James Horner: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan soundtrack
• YouTube: James Horner: Titanic soundtrack
• YouTube: Conan the Barbarian: Conan punching a camel
• Cover of Creem magazine
• YouTube: Boy George in The A-Team
• Dangerous Minds: Bennett lets off some steam about his Commando character's sexuality
• YouTube: Thunderball: Connery "She's just dead"
• YouTube: All of Arnold Schwarzenegger's puns from Batman & Robin
• YouTube: Q scene from Goldeneye (plaster cast rocket launcher, "that's my lunch")
• YouTube: Q scene from The World Is Not Enough ("never let them see you bleed")
• YouTube: Fast & Furious 6 - "Ride or Die"
• YouTube: Arnold Schwarzengger's recent message for President Trump and Neo-Nazis
• YouTube: The Simpsons: The Cartridge Family (Homer gets a gun)
• YouTube: Twins - "I'll be back"
• YouTube: The Running Man - "I'll be back"
• YouTube: Last Action Hero - "I'll be back"
• Wikipedia: Power Station
• Testers' Island Discs podcast submission form

Dan's testing soundtracks:

• Spotify: Cinematic Chillout (by Spotify)
• Spotify: Testing Soundtracks (by Dan)

Commando scenes and one-liners from YouTube:

• "I was afraid you'd miss me"
• Opening montage (logging, ice-creams and deer, oh my)
• "Wrong"
• "If Matrix was here, he'd laugh too"
• "I'll be ready, John"
• "He's dead tired"
• Mall fight - the "meatbomb" and Tarzan swing
• "I LIED" / "I let him go"
• Motel room fight
• Gearing up on the beach
• Potting shed rampage
• "Let's party"
• "Shoot you between the balls" / "Let off some steam"
• "No chance"

YouTube trailers for films referenced:

• Doctor Who: The Empress of Mars
• The French Connection
• Get Carter
• The Parallax View
• Three Days of the Condor
• A View To A Kill
• Conan the Barbarian
• The Terminator
• 48 HRS
• Predator
• Aliens
• RoboCop
• Scream
• Trainspotting
• Pulp Fiction
• Reservoir Dogs
• Natural Born Killers
• Batman & Robin
• Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
• The Running Man
• Total Recall
• Die Hard 2
• Predator 2
• Predators
• The A-Team
• The Delta Force
• American Ninja
• Chopping Mall
• Johnny English
• Maggie
• Die Hard
• Beverly Hills Cop
• Mission Impossible II
• Face/Off
• The 6th Day

WE'LL BE BACK in two weeks' time, when Leigh Rathbone is our special guest to discuss the Jim Carrey comedy YES MAN, and his experiences with taking a similar approach to his testing career!

Twitters: @ScreenTesting @TheTestDoctor @neilstudd

Emails: [e-mail]

Intro music: James Horner - Commando Main Title Outro music: Power Station - We Fight For Love