“I’m escaping to the one place that hasn’t been corrupted by Capitalism"
August 28, 2022 3:36 PM Subscribe
“SPACE!”
An Oral History of Tim Curry’s Escape to the One Place Uncorrupted by Capitalism [Vice]
Bonus: "Tim Curry Going to Space" in 6 Languages | Red Alert 3
An Oral History of Tim Curry’s Escape to the One Place Uncorrupted by Capitalism [Vice]
Bonus: "Tim Curry Going to Space" in 6 Languages | Red Alert 3
Unfortunately, that never happened because Brett [Sperry, Westwood co-founder] didn't want to kill Hitler.
Man, that seems like a thread you don't wanna tug on.
posted by pwnguin at 3:56 PM on August 28, 2022 [7 favorites]
Man, that seems like a thread you don't wanna tug on.
posted by pwnguin at 3:56 PM on August 28, 2022 [7 favorites]
An aside, but I've been very much enjoying the memes of Jordan Peterson videos added into Command & Conquer by DefinitelyNotKane.
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul at 4:23 PM on August 28, 2022 [12 favorites]
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul at 4:23 PM on August 28, 2022 [12 favorites]
Don't go to space. It's even more fucked up than here. I mean Danny Stevens alone...
posted by Naberius at 6:02 PM on August 28, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by Naberius at 6:02 PM on August 28, 2022 [5 favorites]
I opened the Youtube link and immediately got a pop-up about getting $30 off Youtube Plus or Red or whatever it's called. I kid you not. I would have taken a screenshot but I clicked dismiss before I'd really registered it.
posted by brook horse at 6:27 PM on August 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by brook horse at 6:27 PM on August 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
I now want an oral history of ALL of Tim Curry's line reads.
posted by babelfish at 7:21 PM on August 28, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by babelfish at 7:21 PM on August 28, 2022 [7 favorites]
I now want an oral history of ALL of Tim Curry's line reads.
Tim Curry apparently once had buttons made that read "terrific in turkeys" that he wore auditioning. Which he was! But... he was terrific in everything? I mean, look at his IMDB entry. There is a staggering amount of nonsense in there.
He's been a villain in the Duckman and Spongebob Squarepants video games. He's added his voice to a show called Fish Police. He's played Johnny Bravo's older brother and the voice of "Worm 1" in a Samurai Jack episode. He played a king in Xyber 9: New Dawn, and a goblin king in Scooby Doo And The Goblin King, a cat king, a mouse king, a greek king, King Acorn from Sonic the Hedgehog, the list just keeps going on and on, every role more absurd than the last .
And it's not just that he's good. It's that he's so good in all of these bonkers nonsense roles, with a noble, honest, sometimes manic, sometimes lunatic humanity, chewing up scenery and spitting out brilliance, bringing his A-game to roles that in no way deserve it or him. Everything that he's in has been elevated by his presence in it, no matter how trivial, inconsequential or ridiculous.
Honestly, we should all aspire to that.
posted by mhoye at 7:35 PM on August 28, 2022 [43 favorites]
Tim Curry apparently once had buttons made that read "terrific in turkeys" that he wore auditioning. Which he was! But... he was terrific in everything? I mean, look at his IMDB entry. There is a staggering amount of nonsense in there.
He's been a villain in the Duckman and Spongebob Squarepants video games. He's added his voice to a show called Fish Police. He's played Johnny Bravo's older brother and the voice of "Worm 1" in a Samurai Jack episode. He played a king in Xyber 9: New Dawn, and a goblin king in Scooby Doo And The Goblin King, a cat king, a mouse king, a greek king, King Acorn from Sonic the Hedgehog, the list just keeps going on and on, every role more absurd than the last .
And it's not just that he's good. It's that he's so good in all of these bonkers nonsense roles, with a noble, honest, sometimes manic, sometimes lunatic humanity, chewing up scenery and spitting out brilliance, bringing his A-game to roles that in no way deserve it or him. Everything that he's in has been elevated by his presence in it, no matter how trivial, inconsequential or ridiculous.
Honestly, we should all aspire to that.
posted by mhoye at 7:35 PM on August 28, 2022 [43 favorites]
What I would give to see Tim Curry opposite BRIAN BLESSED in something. Oh, let’s say ‘Sleuth’.
posted by Capt. Renault at 8:05 PM on August 28, 2022 [9 favorites]
posted by Capt. Renault at 8:05 PM on August 28, 2022 [9 favorites]
Tim Curry as The Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance
posted by tzikeh at 8:33 PM on August 28, 2022 [8 favorites]
posted by tzikeh at 8:33 PM on August 28, 2022 [8 favorites]
Wing Commander 3, starring Luke Skywalker, Gimli, Biff from Back to the Future, and Malcolm McDowell as General Tolwyn. And the judge from Liar Liar.
To be fair, it was 1994. The lion-men puppets were actually pretty good!
posted by adept256 at 8:50 PM on August 28, 2022 [5 favorites]
To be fair, it was 1994. The lion-men puppets were actually pretty good!
posted by adept256 at 8:50 PM on August 28, 2022 [5 favorites]
I absolutely adore this little video (I'm in a silly cold war/communism themed surf band and we've used a sample of this line in many gigs), and was delighted to read this (surprisingly long!) article. Tim Curry was a genius, a credit to his profession, and it's fantastic to hear that the people who were there for the recording of this little masterpiece seem to think he enjoyed it as much as I like to imagine. Puts a smile on my face.
posted by Dysk at 9:30 PM on August 28, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by Dysk at 9:30 PM on August 28, 2022 [7 favorites]
I started to cackle when this seemingly straightforward “oral history” starts to consult multiple well-known astronauts. The writers did a much better job than they needed to, given the subject matter. Well done.
posted by Verg at 9:56 PM on August 28, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by Verg at 9:56 PM on August 28, 2022 [5 favorites]
Metafilter: a silly cold war/communism themed surf band
posted by Naberius at 10:02 PM on August 28, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by Naberius at 10:02 PM on August 28, 2022 [4 favorites]
Tim Curry is still alive, so far as I can tell, for anyone else who has flagged all the past tenses in this thread.
posted by janell at 11:33 PM on August 28, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by janell at 11:33 PM on August 28, 2022 [4 favorites]
The IMDB collaboration search confirms that, astonishingly, Tim Curry and BRIAN BLESSED have never been in the same production.
Possibly there are health and safety regulations at work here.
posted by Major Clanger at 11:52 PM on August 28, 2022 [12 favorites]
Possibly there are health and safety regulations at work here.
posted by Major Clanger at 11:52 PM on August 28, 2022 [12 favorites]
I started to cackle when this seemingly straightforward “oral history” starts to consult multiple well-known astronauts.
I'm guessing Fyfe asked them something like "Has space been corrupted by capitalism?" but I've definitely met the sort of person who would just react to this clip with an earnest comment about how yeah but capitalism is actually good though, as if they'd never encountered the concept of humor. And it totally cracked me up to imagine a bunch of astronauts sitting in the same room as the game developers and responding like that to the whole discussion.
posted by straight at 12:44 AM on August 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm guessing Fyfe asked them something like "Has space been corrupted by capitalism?" but I've definitely met the sort of person who would just react to this clip with an earnest comment about how yeah but capitalism is actually good though, as if they'd never encountered the concept of humor. And it totally cracked me up to imagine a bunch of astronauts sitting in the same room as the game developers and responding like that to the whole discussion.
posted by straight at 12:44 AM on August 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
Tim Curry is still alive, so far as I can tell, for anyone else who has flagged all the past tenses in this thread.
From TFA: Curry experienced a stroke in 2012, and now requires the use of a wheelchair. In the last decade, he has primarily worked as a voice actor. He periodically—and as recently as this year—does video calls with fans, but hasn’t done an interview with the press in years.
posted by chavenet at 2:05 AM on August 29, 2022
From TFA: Curry experienced a stroke in 2012, and now requires the use of a wheelchair. In the last decade, he has primarily worked as a voice actor. He periodically—and as recently as this year—does video calls with fans, but hasn’t done an interview with the press in years.
posted by chavenet at 2:05 AM on August 29, 2022
Tim said, “with boots like that your dance card must be full.” I laughed and explained the situation to which he replied “keep the boots.”He’s so quick! This is an A+ Tim Curry moment.
posted by JoeBlubaugh at 4:28 AM on August 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
The bonkers Red Alert 3 cast:
Smokey Miles — Albert Einstein
Allied Nations
J.K. Simmons — US President Howard T. Ackerman
Jonathan Pryce — Field Marshal Robert Bingham
David Hasselhoff — American Vice President
Gemma Atkinson — Lieutenant Eva McKenna
Jenny McCarthy — Tanya
Autumn Reeser — Lissette Hanley
Greg Ellis — Giles Price
Randy Couture — Warren Fuller
Soviet Union
Tim Curry — Soviet Premier Anatoly Cherdenko
Andrew Divoff — General Nikolai Krukov
Peter Stormare — Doctor Gregor Zelinsky
Ivana Miličević — Dasha Fedorovich
Gina Carano — Natasha
Vanessa Branch — Zhana Agonskaya
Dimitri Diatchenko — Oleg Vodnik
Gene Farber — Nikolai Moskvin
Stelio Savante — Sergei
Empire of the Rising Sun
George Takei — Emperor Yoshiro
Ron Yuan — Crown Prince Tatsu
Julia Ling — Izumi
Kelly Hu — Suki Toyama
Lisa Tamashiro — Yuriko Omega (voice)
Lydia Look — Naomi Shirada
Bruce A. Locke — Shinzo Nagama
Jack J. Yang — Kenji Tenzai
posted by CaseyB at 5:44 AM on August 29, 2022 [8 favorites]
Smokey Miles — Albert Einstein
Allied Nations
J.K. Simmons — US President Howard T. Ackerman
Jonathan Pryce — Field Marshal Robert Bingham
David Hasselhoff — American Vice President
Gemma Atkinson — Lieutenant Eva McKenna
Jenny McCarthy — Tanya
Autumn Reeser — Lissette Hanley
Greg Ellis — Giles Price
Randy Couture — Warren Fuller
Soviet Union
Tim Curry — Soviet Premier Anatoly Cherdenko
Andrew Divoff — General Nikolai Krukov
Peter Stormare — Doctor Gregor Zelinsky
Ivana Miličević — Dasha Fedorovich
Gina Carano — Natasha
Vanessa Branch — Zhana Agonskaya
Dimitri Diatchenko — Oleg Vodnik
Gene Farber — Nikolai Moskvin
Stelio Savante — Sergei
Empire of the Rising Sun
George Takei — Emperor Yoshiro
Ron Yuan — Crown Prince Tatsu
Julia Ling — Izumi
Kelly Hu — Suki Toyama
Lisa Tamashiro — Yuriko Omega (voice)
Lydia Look — Naomi Shirada
Bruce A. Locke — Shinzo Nagama
Jack J. Yang — Kenji Tenzai
posted by CaseyB at 5:44 AM on August 29, 2022 [8 favorites]
This is the the best reboot of Rocky and Bullwinkle I've ever seen.
I half expect that clip to end with William Conrad narrating about how the Soviet Premier's plan failed miserably because he had already sent the entire mission control team to the gulag.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 6:26 AM on August 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
I half expect that clip to end with William Conrad narrating about how the Soviet Premier's plan failed miserably because he had already sent the entire mission control team to the gulag.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 6:26 AM on August 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
and a goblin king in Scooby Doo And The Goblin KingYou’ve got to wonder if somebody thought they were going to get Bowie for that.
posted by gelfin at 6:44 AM on August 29, 2022 [4 favorites]
the list just keeps going on and on, every role more absurd than the last
"Enjoy the few seconds of life which remain to you. I will teach you a thousand subtle shades of pain--a hundred ways to die--untill I finally lay your lifeless body at my master's table!"
Yeah. His turn as Skullmaster in Mighty Max was probably one of the most....intense villains in a children's cartoon. Like nowhere near over-the-top-Tim-Curry intense. I mean so-intense-I-had-nightmares-holy-crap-how'd-this-get-past-Standards-and-Practices-intense.
But hey. He was the King in Sonic the Hedgehog and that was a pretty memorable episode.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 8:31 AM on August 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
"Enjoy the few seconds of life which remain to you. I will teach you a thousand subtle shades of pain--a hundred ways to die--untill I finally lay your lifeless body at my master's table!"
Yeah. His turn as Skullmaster in Mighty Max was probably one of the most....intense villains in a children's cartoon. Like nowhere near over-the-top-Tim-Curry intense. I mean so-intense-I-had-nightmares-holy-crap-how'd-this-get-past-Standards-and-Practices-intense.
But hey. He was the King in Sonic the Hedgehog and that was a pretty memorable episode.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 8:31 AM on August 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
"You will receive the Order of Lenin for this, Captain."
posted by officer_fred at 10:23 AM on August 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by officer_fred at 10:23 AM on August 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
I made a joke the other day re capitalists and space (and well... good job on that Tim, you couldn't even save space from them)...
"Why are capitalists so invested in space?"
"Because in space nobody can hear you scream for help"
posted by symbioid at 10:24 AM on August 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
"Why are capitalists so invested in space?"
"Because in space nobody can hear you scream for help"
posted by symbioid at 10:24 AM on August 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm in a silly cold war/communism themed surf band and we've used a sample of this line in many gigs
Don't undersell! It's an AMAZING cold war/communism themed surf band!
posted by knapah at 11:31 AM on August 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
Don't undersell! It's an AMAZING cold war/communism themed surf band!
posted by knapah at 11:31 AM on August 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm in a silly cold war/communism themed surf band
You can't just drop that in a thread without providing a link.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 5:19 AM on August 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
You can't just drop that in a thread without providing a link.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 5:19 AM on August 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
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