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The Wait For It Podcast
Hosted by MrEricAlmighty and PhilTheFilipino, the guys discuss all things in Pop Culture. Stay tuned for new episodes, all you have to do is...WAIT FOR IT!
The Wait For It Podcast
Late To The Party - Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn
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The guys review Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, a 2012 web series-turned-movie that follows military cadets who must team up with Master Chief when their academy is attacked by the Covenant.
• A tale of two halves, with the first portion focusing on cadet training that feels slow and uninspired
• The film dramatically improves once the Covenant attack begins around the midpoint
• Excellent atmospheric portrayal of the Covenant as genuinely terrifying threats
• Master Chief's portrayal strikes the perfect balance between badass soldier and empathetic hero
• Impressive use of a $10 million budget to create effective horror-action sequences
• Fflawed but still delivers what Halo fans want from a live-action adaptation
• Significantly better than the big-budget Paramount+ Halo series that followed
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Letterbox'd Synopsis: UNSC Cadet Thomas Lasky must conquer his inner fears and join forces with super-soldier John-117 to take down a massive faction of the Covenant.
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Welcome to the Wait For It Podcast
Speaker 1Welcome to your go-to source for entertainment . Wait for it .
Speaker 2Gaming . Wait for it Anime PLUS ULTRA .
Speaker 1Mr Eric Almighty and Phil the Filipino . Yeah , they've got you covered , and all you gotta do is wait for it .
Speaker 2This is the Wait For it Podcast . Hey , everyone , welcome back to the Wait For it Podcast . I'm your co-host , phil Barrera , aka Phil the Filipino .
Speaker 1And I'm your other co-host , Mr Eric Almighty , and we are entering a very special month , Patreon month , where patrons of the show are selecting different forms of media , entertainment and games for us to consume and talk about . So for this edition of Late to the Party , we are going to be talking about Halo 4 , Forward Unto Dawn be talking about Halo 4 Forward Unto Dawn .
Speaker 2Yeah , it's all about the Weight Watchers here this month . So if you are interested in maybe giving us some suggestions when we do this again in the future , stick around to the very end . We'll let you know where you can join this very , very fun community and growing community . Might I say so ? We'll let you know all about that at the end of the episode . But yeah , eric , I'm trying to put myself back in the shoes of a Halo fan . Right Back in 2012, . Halo 4 really kind of marked the beginning of where we jumped off the Halo train , right . So this came out . I knew of it , but I had not watched it until we did this episode . So
Introduction to Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn
Speaker 2excited to talk about this and hopefully , briar , we don't let you down . This is the second recommendation for us and the last one didn't go so well . So if you want to know how we felt about Porco Rosso , check that episode out , but let's jump into Halo 4 , forward unto dawn .
Speaker 2Letterboxd synopsis . Unsc cadet Thomas Lasky must conquer his inner fears and join forces with Super Soldier John-117 to take down a massive faction of the Covenant . Eric , I want to do this episode a little bit differently than we typically do when we talk about movies and we talk about likes and we talk about dislikes do when we talk about movies and we talk about likes and we talk about dislikes . We really have to break this into first half and second half , maybe even like first three fourths in last quarter , when it comes to forward unto dawn . So I want to preface the conversation by starting it off like that . But for you you said you watched this when it originally come out , correct ?
Speaker 1I did watched this when it originally come out correct . I did so . I actually watched this as it was released , which was in five separate 15 minute segments or web series on youtube , and that is how I consumed it . Phil , you talked a little bit . The only thing I really knew was that , uh , you know you had finished it and you were like thank god that this was all put together in one place , because maybe your experience would have been different .
Speaker 1For me , I mean , 2012 was over a decade ago , so totally different vibes , sense of time and consuming content . It worked for me . It worked for me and , honestly , it was a fond memory that I was worried would become tarnished as I rewatched it in preparation for this episode . Luckily , it didn't quite hit that fear , but you know we're going to talk about did this age very well ? What did we think about it ? As far as a Halo project and then also as a quote , a quote unquote movie as people now watch it , we probably have some positives and negatives to go over , but I definitely agree . I'm perfectly fine with maybe breaking it down into either each part or , maybe you know , two parts at a time .
Speaker 2Yeah , so you know we're introduced to this character and this is clearly the . You know it's not the Spartan school which I think I had assumed going into it . So you get these characters , brand new , original characters who are very uninteresting . Lots of pretty basic backstory , if you can call it that , for most of them . Our main character , whose name I literally just read and I forgot already Lasky he is , you know , pretty clearly gone through . You know he's the typical what's the word I'm looking for ? Like legacy character right , like his brother was a really decorated soldier . Right , like his brother was a really decorated soldier . His it sounds like his mom was also very decorated . Who , I believe , is the character in the show Right , that is , is that his mom or did I miss that ?
Speaker 1No , I'm pretty sure OK .
Speaker 2Did they ever really say I didn't ? I don't know if I , like wasn't paying attention .
Speaker 1I think it was . I think it's one of those things where you might overthink it .
Speaker 2Yeah , so all the women are also sir . Maybe there's maybe this is , this is a non gendered society in the Halo universe . I didn't know that , but that was a little confusing as well . Everybody was referred to as sir , but yeah , so in the first half I sent you that meme , eric , right , and they had us in the first half . Not going to lie , I was pretty , pretty worried because this it's pretty boring and you know , master Chief doesn't show up until later , which we'll talk about , and these characters are about as shallow as the kiddie pool and I was like , oh no , where is this going to go ? The action was also also like okay , like you know , it's the . It ends up being like a paintball match , you know . So it kind of like removes any type of drama there . So I don't know what were your early thoughts about this , if you remember what it was like 13 years ago , and then what was it like when you rewatched it ?
Speaker 1Yeah , and then quick correction Maybe it wasn't the mom , cause I started researching I was like no , that's a different name .
Speaker 2Okay , the way they interacted , it seemed like maybe they were like that was her and that's how he got in .
Speaker 1Yeah , so I think this back and forth proves one thing , which is that the first two and a half parts of this maybe you could argue the you the first three parts are are pretty uninteresting the movie . So when it came out as a series , you know you're trying to give it time . You're
First Half: Training and Character Setup
Speaker 1also understanding when you go into this this is not like a big budget project . So I would look at this more of like a passion project and when looking at it through those lens , I was willing to give it a little bit more time to cook . As a film you're essentially looking at over the first hour of an hour and a half film , or I should say almost an hour of an hour and a half film , being very , by the numbers , low risk and it's not doing a lot of world building . Like you are learning more about the characters who are uninteresting . A lot of it's hard to put on a young cast already and the fact that they're essentially just going through training for half of this film . I don't think it serves them very well when , again , a lot of the world isn't being built . It's almost assuming that you know of Halo and you're going to get enough references to stay engaged . Know of Halo and you're going to get enough references to stay engaged . That works for big nerds that are fans of the genre or the medium , but not for it being a cohesive plot structure .
Speaker 1So back then , I remembered that when shit goes off in part three and the attack happens , we are going to talk about this freely . I don't know if we mentioned that . Uh , this is also something not a lot of people probably have seen . If you're getting this message now , I would tell you this is about the part you want to watch , because all the cool shit happens when this attack happens to these cadets . It gets pretty crazy .
Speaker 1Actually A lot , a lot , a lot , a lot of moving parts . But I do remember that back in 2012 , that it really picked up and that the end was the best part and , rewatching it , I definitely struggled to get through the first part , even though I had seen it before , even though I had seen it before , but the second half was just as sweet as watching it the first time , especially when comparing it to the modern day Halo television show , which I went ahead and watched a little bit of . So we'll get to that in a bit . But , phil , honestly , again , I think most people that watch this have the same opinion . Had us in the first half , not going to lie . Second half is a banger .
Speaker 2Yeah , it's just really slowly paced there in the first half . Like you said , it's basically all training montage and not a good training montage either , like this guy's not good at what he does , even though we are told that that you know his family has this incredible legacy and and , like you said , it's really really tough because these are young actors and actresses . It is a huge ip . Halo 4 , I think , was the first one correct me if I'm wrong , eric the first non-bungie halo ? Yeah , this was the . So halo 343 was the first 343 Halo , or it may have been ODST , but it was like right in that era where we were transitioning away from Bungie , so people probably had a lot of issues . Here's the problem with at least how this begins , because again , as we were alluding to it , this ends very strong .
Speaker 2I don't think we've still have not seen anything better live action Halo than Halo Landfall , which came out in 2000, . Also 2012 , I think , and that was the one that was like fan made , if I remember correctly , and if you look that up you'll remember just scrolling through the video we haven't gotten anything that good as far as live action since then . So the fact that those came out I don't know if this came out in the same year . It was uploaded by Bungie May 8th 2012 . So that probably didn't help . But I just remember , around this time , us not being excited for Halo 4 . And this also could have coincided with us transitioning away from online gaming for a little bit . You know , we went about five , six years without doing anything like that , and I don't even really remember being that excited for Halo 4 .
Speaker 2Halo 4 , I believe , is the one where they all it looks like you're going to be like fighting against Master Chief , but then when that , when that fight finally does happen , they just end up being it's like the Marvel Cinematic Universe thing . So , again , putting a lot on this cast is a little unfair . But if you're going to attach the Halo name for it , then there's going to be very lofty expectations . So I mean , you tell me , or did you have any connection up until , I think , up until maybe Silva and Lasky have that conversation right before the attack . There's no really emotional depth whatsoever to any of these characters until that moment , right before shit hits the fan .
Speaker 1No , 100 percent building to make the deaths in the second half not feel like like they tugged at your heart string or like you felt the loss of the character . But they worked in the sense of the shock value . It wasn't like , oh , I didn't give a damn about this character at all , it was . You know this . These characters weren't very fleshed out , but I still felt like when some of these characters are dying in that second half , when this attack from the covenant is happening , you know , it was definitely like a oh , I didn't , I didn't think they were going to do that .
Speaker 1Or maybe the amount of cadets that are killed in the second half , because when that attack happens , I mean , phil , I'm curious what your thought was , but that's one of people's favorite things is the depiction of the Covenant and then , of course , master Chief . I mean those are the two biggest things . So to say that these kids are maybe the weakest part of the whole thing makes a lot of sense when the strengths are the things that tie you back to the game makes a lot of sense when the strengths are the things that tie you back to the game .
Speaker 2Yeah , so let's not really dwell on the boring any longer because again , right before so they have that conversation . You know he's about to get that medical discharge which , hey , collect those benefits , homie . But that's not , unfortunately , that's not the route he goes .
Speaker 1That's right that Halo FMLA .
Speaker 2Exactly so , and then everything goes to shit , and that's when , visually , things really step up and it like would
Covenant Attack: When Things Get Interesting
Speaker 2have been . It just seems like it would have been much smarter to kind of even that stuff out , like put some cool stuff here . They allude to a faction that I don't think we've ever heard of in terms of Halo , like the Resistance or something along those lines . And again , we're not . We are Halo fans , but we aren't deep into the Halo lore like that , so I didn't know anything like that . I guess the parts where they're discovering , like that found footage is kind of cool , but it's so infrequent and it's surrounded by so much bleh that you know you don't really focus on enough . But shit goes down right .
Speaker 2The ODST is coming in , super cool , and the best decision that this , that Forward Unto Dawn , made and this ultimately led me to probably giving it a little bit of a higher score than it deserves is atmospheric , wise . The presentation of the covenant is on point because , remember , this is 2012 and I don't know about you I've never really been it's not . I've never been like afraid of any type of alien design , or we were just really desensitized by it by the time the fourth , fifth halo game came around , so I think , the first time you see a Covenant soldier what's the one with the ? Why am I blanking on the one with the sword ? What's that type of Covenant called ? Oh my gosh .
Speaker 1Jackals . No Jackals are the ones with the shields .
Speaker 2Oh my gosh , briar's going to kill us . Elites , elites the first time you see an Elite that's cool . A Hunter the first time you see an elite that's cool . A hunter the first time you encounter a hunter in Halo 1 . Terrifying .
Speaker 2But by the time this game comes around , you're totally desensitized by it . You're not really scared of them . But the cloak and the indivisible liberty and justice for all . The invisible elite is so cool . The Invisible Elite is so cool and I think they really captured the essence of how terrifying that situation would be , because , again in the game , you don't really care about it . You're just going through , you're killing them , you're sticking them with a plasma grenade , you're moving on here , they're defenseless , they're taking people out and all you see is this sword . And remember , this is the first time . They don't know what the Covenant is , for this entire time they thought they were going to fight against other people and then this terrifying monster shows up . So let's just start there , eric . The presentation of the elite was spot on and I was like all right , finally , here we go About time .
Speaker 1Yeah , we get . We get all of the like kind of the greatest hits with the . We mentioned the jackals , the hunters . You know we get a lot of that in here and I I just really like the environment . You know they use the darkness to their benefit . Again , this is probably a low budget project . I'd be curious to see how much they spent on this and if that information is easily accessible , but I I can't imagine that it was very much . And again , it just felt like , especially in that latter half , it felt like it came from a place of love for the character , for the franchise , and I think they did a great job . You know , in that , in that second half specifically , and the fact that you know you talked about the environment or like you know kind of the horror structure of these , these aliens attacking , I mean that works because they they really do have consequences . This wasn't like a master chief rallies all the kids to beat the aliens . That's such a that's such a network TV show move to happen . That doesn't happen here . There are consequences .
Speaker 2There is death when he's like which one of you is the best shot ? The kid's like you , probably .
Speaker 1They were probably their most charming , the funniest , the most sympathetic when Master Chief is around . So , like I just I don't . I understand for the project that it was . You probably couldn't go all out with Master Chief . You know you mentioned sprinkling some stuff throughout . I understand , maybe , why not ? I just wish there was more interesting stuff leading up to it . That would have really bumped up this score . And think it's respect the reception overall , because when briar asked us to do this , like this is a fair late to the party selection but it's probably one of our lower on the pop culture totem pole . Like if you're not a halo fan , you probably never heard of this where we've done uh , you know top gun and pretty woman . You know those are movies that like are timeless people know of . Uh , this is probably lower on the totem pole but I still think it fits the bill because this is an iconic moment .
Speaker 2We did watch Lego Ninjago once , Eric .
Speaker 1You didn't have to bring that up and you know that . You know you didn't have to say that I can Spoiler . I can't confirm this movie better than Lego Ninjago , for sure .
Speaker 1For sure Agreed , but no , I just think that you know , for the time that it came out , I think they did a really good job , everything considered , and again that second half , specifically with Master Chief . If you get Master Chief wrong , it doesn't work , it's just boring , which is the worst thing a movie can be . But it really is going to be an issue with fans if you don't get Master Chief right . So the fact that they got him right , I think gives this movie a lot of grace . And I'd be very curious if Briar has the same nostalgia I had prior to about a week ago when I watched it for the second time , or if this is a rewatch , maybe . Maybe him and others put this on and they enjoy it like that . I don't know , now that I've watched it a second time about a decade apart , I don't know if this has a lot of rewatchability other than to start it from the middle or see clips of the second half .
Speaker 2Yeah , and , like I said , you know , if this , if I had watched this episodically , I don't know that I would have continued . However , because they were released in 15 minute segments , I'd probably be like , oh yeah , okay , the Halo of Forge and Tadon came out this week . You know , I'll check it out and see what it is and probably word of mouth would have spread and been like , oh , the third episode , it finally picks up , you know . So , yeah , they , like you said , the portrayal of Master Chief , they got it just right . They really present him as a certifiable badass and a leader , without it being corny or cheesy , because he really like they are fully reliant upon him . And I even love the point where you know the easter egg , where he's like I'm gonna need your ammo , like you know , you're taking your weapons from from your colleagues , like that was a really nice touch . But the part with , like the pistol , really really good . So the dependability on Chief to stay alive was really really smart .
Speaker 2Yeah , then we get to the portion with the warthog . Again , atmosphere in the woods , so cool , I don't know that we've really and granted , it's been a while since I played a halo game , but I don't remember anything atmospheric like that similar in the games really , I mean the . I just remember like really being kind of I know this is going to simplify it , but like a lot of mindless open areas , shooting and that part like that that really is really cool Like present the Covenant as like a terrifying enemy , which they would be if you were actually in that situation . So , again , as we transition Eric to the scene in the woods , what were your thoughts on that ? Because , again , putting the jackals in the tree line , super smart , love that .
Speaker 1Yeah , so when you play the game , the game is really bright and vibrant and I think that is part of the appeal . I mean , any major Halo map that I remember that didn't take place in like some type of building or with walls , like if it was outdoors . You're thinking green grass Like you are thinking colors , vibrancy .
Speaker 2You can always see the Halo ring .
Speaker 1Always , always , blue sky , all of that . So this was nice because again and you know we've we've watched a lot of shows , especially older shows use the dark to their advantage to cover up some of those things that would require special effects and other elements . So they were able to use that to their advantage and I thought that was really smart . And other elements so they were able to use that to their advantage and I thought that was really smart . Again , this is definitely more than what a traditional web series would probably get , because it's a big property , but it's
Master Chief's Entrance and Action Sequences
Speaker 1definitely not anything , I think , amazing where you would say , oh , this wasn't done very well considering the budget . I think the wood scene specifically shows how they were able to go beyond that budget and really make something that felt unique and somewhat special . You know , with a franchise that , to that point , had already had a lot of iterations , a lot of versions , a lot of sequels , and the fact that it offered anything new , I think is is a win .
Speaker 2And to answer your earlier question , the budget was about $10 million , so pretty solid . Most of that went to the second half , for sure , yeah , definitely .
Speaker 2And animating , I think the Elite specifically , probably , specifically , yeah , talking about 13 years ago , so yeah , so that section's is really good . Then you get the reveal of the hunter , which again the first time you see a hunter in halo . It's like a really scary experience and they once again really nailed that . But compare and contrast when you meet a hunter the first time in the halo game again big open area , you can kind of dodge and run around this . You really get the sense that if this thing catches us like we are screwed , um . And then you get probably the best emotional beat in the in this , um , in the movie when silva dies and I'll give credit to tom green here , definitely a really good performance , really honed in on those emotions . So want to give credit where credit is due . If we're going to give them shit for , you know , not performances , we do have to give them praise when it was pretty solid . So , you know , not Oscar-level acting , but it didn't need to be , it just needed to be believable and we had spent enough time with the character to know that there was a real bond and obviously a romantic relationship there . So really solid .
Speaker 2And again another , another moment where they demonstrate that , yes , chief is like this . He is a , you know , a trained killing machine , but he is still a person like I remember the one part that really stood out to me was and he's on comms and he's like I'm not leaving these people , like I'm not gonna leave them behind , and they're like the only people that were left that survived . Here he shows emotion , he gives condolences and those are things that like we we don't see in the halo games , like all these soldiers are just dying all over the place . We don't really get a moment where he's like I'm so sorry , like just showing that empathy towards his fellow soldier . So , again , really nice moment , and wanted to make sure we gave tom and and anna popplewell , who plays silva , uh their kudos because , yeah , it was , it was a good moment yeah , sad , yeah good moment , sad , but yeah , no , it was , it was good .
Speaker 1Again . Can't stress enough that if you're never gonna watch this , definitely at least look up some clips to really see some of the really high moments . And if you're a halo fan , I do think it's still at least worth up some clips to really see some of the really high moments . And if you're a Halo fan , I do think it's still at least worth giving this a shot . And Phil , for a game that we had no interest in playing that year before we kind of talk about the reception and our scores for this game . I think you know this game struggled a lot and it kind of needed this advertisement of Halo from the Switch . You know we were in that transition from Bungie to 343 . And then there were so many games that came out in the single player space but it also had competition in multiplayer . So you had , like Far Cry 3 around this time , dishonored , mass Effect 3 , telltale's , the Walking Dead , max Payne 3 , sleeping Dogs , call of Duty , black Ops 2 .
Speaker 2Stop , stop , stop , stop , stop the count . That's a nasty lineup , oh my .
Speaker 1God and this game reviewed . Well , halo 4 reviewed very well Assassin's Creed 3 , Resident Evil 6 .
Speaker 2Prototype 2 .
Speaker 1Oh , Resident Evil 6 sucked , but oh , Prototype 2 and the Darkness 2 came out in the same year . That's kind of interesting . I didn't know that .
Speaker 2We've talked about the Darkness 2 . If you want to go back , and well , the Darkness .
Speaker 1If you want to go listen to that episode ? Yeah , and Prototype .
Speaker 2Yeah , both games probably better than Halo 4 , at least in our opinion .
Speaker 1Yeah , we even gave Dishonored a chance . That was a disappointment .
Speaker 2But yeah , that had you written all over it , and if you didn't like it , then I just did not .
Speaker 1But with that being said , phil , maybe let's talk a little bit about the reception , our scores for this . We'll do a quick game of more like this I don't know what this could possibly look like and then , um , yeah , I'll talk about the comparison to the first two episodes of paramount's halo ign gave halo 4 a 9.8 I'm telling you at the time , phil , at the time we're definitely in a minority fucking no , but listen , and I'm gonna explain it with my score .
Speaker 1At the time , this was so fucking cool like I cannot stress I'm talking about the game halo 4 .
Speaker 2The game got all the game yeah a 9.8 . Yeah , ign's been sus that long yep okay 9.8 , 9.8 wild yeah , I I'm sure I like checked out Halo 4 , because I'm pretty sure I was still working at GameStop , I remember playing it . I don't remember playing it long no , anyway , that distracted the hell out of me anyway . Halo 4 I actually forgot to look . Does this have a Rotten Tomatoes score ? I'm sure ?
Speaker 1it does . Yeah , I've got it does . No , no , yeah , I've got it up . Okay , 69% . You're a fucking child , dude . You're an absolute child . Nice 69% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes .
Speaker 2Hell yeah .
Speaker 1Only one review , which was not positive . On IMDb , though , a 6.7 average , which is respectable , and on Letterboxd , a 3.0 flat average . So , again , very respectable , and I think again , with time , this movie does not age well . I do think it was at its peak when it first came out . Phil , you had your first stop . You've had your first view of this here in 2025 . So what is your final opinion and your score ?
Speaker 2Yeah . So again in the first half I was like , oh boy , briar's going to be really upset with us . This is really boring , these characters aren't very good . But again , when we get to probably the I would say maybe 70 mark which is way too late for it to get interesting , to be fair , I was fully committed . Um , I was paying , I was sitting upright ready to see what was going to happen and I gave this a three and a half and I think as a project in full I don't think it's really better than a 3.25 . But I gave it that extra 0.5 just because , again , atmospherically and Master Chief being really really cool and the action being really solid , I gave it the extra half star bump . So that's where I landed , extra half star bump . So that's where I landed . But again , I think when you judge it as a product , a project , just kind of in full , a three really is kind of like where it belongs probably .
Speaker 1And that's exactly where I landed . When I saw this movie for the first time , I really enjoyed it . And when there were talks of us possibly doing this episode , I had to think like what would I give that movie now ? And it's crazy to say . But I was like , yeah , that was a three and a half , three and a half . I remember the first half being boring , second half , uh great . After watching it I just feel a three is appropriate , like it's a . It's something I would recommend at the end of the day . But , like again , I don't think this has a lot of rewatch ability . And if it was on , unless it's the good part , I'm not going to be watching it .
Speaker 2either you tell me to come back in like 15 minutes .
Speaker 1Yeah , like , and then I might be busy on other things at that point . So I'd be very curious . I think this was a great recommendation . I would just be very curious for people who have fond memories of it when it was their last time watching it and how they would perceive it today . Those would be probably the biggest things that I would be curious about . On
Final Thoughts and Movie Comparisons
Speaker 1the other front , we will talk about the fact that this was a clear recipe for disaster to show what a tv series could possibly look like . So the fact that we still never got a halo movie is crazy . And before we talk about the tv structure and my experience with paramount's Halo , which we have talked about before but we had never seen Phil , this more like list is crazy .
Speaker 1I don't think I want to do this , but I'm going to do it for entertainment value only . Okay , here we go . This is not fair . It's just not right . Phil , I'm just going to rattle them off quick . We get comfortable . This is not even going to be clip worthy , so I'm just going to Halo Forward onto Dawn or any of these films I'm just going to rattle off . Is Interstellar on this list ? I'm going to rattle off the top 10 movies that are on here Okay , dune , dune , avatar , way of Water .
Speaker 2Well , I haven't seen Avatar , way of water that's okay , avatar probably Avatar .
Speaker 1Even I can't the first Avengers , avengers . For some reason , there's three separate Star Wars films . Episode three doesn't matter . Rogue One . Rogue One is my favorite Star Wars movie , alien or .
Speaker 2Aliens I haven't seen them , but probably Aliens , I'm sure .
Speaker 1Terminator 2 Judgment Day .
Speaker 2I also haven't seen a Terminator movie , so oh .
Speaker 1That's crazy , yeah . And then District 9 is on here , shout out District 9 . I really enjoyed .
Speaker 2District 9 . Yeah , we're never going to get District 10 , but I enjoyed .
Speaker 1District 9 . The first Transformers .
Speaker 2Transformers . The first Transformers is fun Goated . It's stupid , but it's fun .
Speaker 1Man of Steel .
Speaker 2Man of Steel , yeah .
Speaker 1You thought a little bit too hard . I did yeah you thought a little bit too hard , I did . Yeah , yeah , that's all of them .
Speaker 2What about other ? Is there other video game recommendations on there ?
Speaker 1So IMDB is more like this is just other Halo projects , so I had to go to Letterboxd Video game . Great question , I don't I don't know if .
Speaker 2Okay , well , here's a similar . My similar films might be a little bit different . I think it may be done off of like maybe similar , movies that I've already seen , because Battle for LA is on here and that movie fucking sucked . I would absolutely watch this before Battle for LA .
Speaker 1I think Battle for LA is on here . For me it's just like low that movie is terrible . I haven't rated that . Let me rate that Dude Titan AE . That's such a callback have you ever seen that ?
Speaker 2Yeah , like I don't think so . The Tomorrow War I'd probably watch this before the Tomorrow War . Would you rather watch this ?
Speaker 1Oh yeah , you like the Tomorrow War , would you ?
Speaker 2rather watch this or the new Chris Pratt Millie Bobby Brown movie . I'd rather watch this , Although I don't know .
Speaker 1It could be good .
Speaker 2Edge of Tomorrow is on my list Like come on .
Speaker 1After Earth , oh .
Speaker 2The .
Speaker 1Creator . Yeah , anyway , didn't you see the Creator ? I did Also a three . I'd watch the Creator before this , though , okay .
Speaker 2Yeah , so that , anyway . How did your you logged into Paramount Plus for the first year If Paramount Plus were a physical item ?
Speaker 1Yes , that's exactly what happened had to dig deep into the .
Speaker 1I didn't even know I had it if I'm being honest with you , I do and so I watched it and I knew immediately the movie was a three and I was like I want to add a little bit more discussion to the dialogue that we're having A little bit more of a viewpoint of Halo as a medium in pop culture , in film and TV . So obviously I saw the web series , aka the film , and then I wanted to see the infamous Paramount series and film . It's bad , it's just not very good . I mentioned network television earlier as like stuff they would do . That's what the Halo series was doing . Not only is it very generic by the numbers , it doesn't really feel like it's expanding the world very much . It feels like we're just seeing a Master Chief cosplay . The reason it also feels like that is because this motherfucker takes off his helmet in episode one . I knew his helmet came off . Everybody knows that In the first episode no way man . And he has his helmet off most of the second episode . It's just not interesting . I don't like the dialogue .
Speaker 2Is he his butt in the first episode or is that later ?
Speaker 1I might have missed the butt . I think that's later . He does have sex , I think , at some point . So I didn't ?
Speaker 2That's disgusting . Where I wish I at least got some entertainment value in my watch .
Speaker 1I will be fair to mention , I was also doing stuff in my garage when I watched this . I was very much multitasking with the better use of your time , but nothing , it should be noted . I don't normally multitask through stuff , so going into something multitasking already puts me at a disadvantage . But , phil , nothing caught my eye the way that , like the last 30 minutes of Forward Unto Dawn did in the Halo series , like anytime there was anything of note , action wise . Sure , it looks a little bit better because it's 2025 and this came out in the 2020s or whatever , but it's nothing like . It's nothing great .
Speaker 1Now I want to know what the budget for the Halo series was , because if Forward Unto Dawn did this with 10 million and most of that went into the good part of the final hour of this film , I don't know what that budget for the Paramount show was , but it could not have warranted what we get . And again , it's just very uninspiring and I don't really need to watch more to understand why it didn't succeed . If you're one of the Halo truthers and you want to tell me that , oh , it gets really good at episode seven , good for you . Enjoy your
Paramount's Halo Series Discussion
Speaker 1two seasons . I don't know that there are those people . I don't think so either .
Speaker 2Yeah , most shows will have their defenders , but I have never once heard somebody stand up , you know , like the meme where the guy's standing up Like I enjoy the Halo show . That doesn't exist . And the budget , if you're wondering , is probably somewhere between $100 to $200 million is what it says . Oh my god , my balls just came into my throat . That was crazy .
Speaker 1Alright that's insane . Yeah , no , that makes no sense . Makes no sense to me . Yeah , so watching the first two episodes , guys , I would not recommend . It Wasn't a good time , and I would to end the more like this comparison I'd much rather watch this twice than to watch either of those first two episodes of the Halo series . So I can now finally say I have something of an opinion on it . Yeah , no , I immediately knew , though , that this was probably not going to be my jam , and most people felt the same way , because it died pretty quickly after the first season . So , briar , congratulations , my friend , you are one of one .
Speaker 2We didn't go over our rankings .
Speaker 1One of two . Yeah , rankings Forward Until Dawn is towards the bottom . But that's not a bad thing . It's three out of five , for all of the shit that I get is a good movie . To me it is between Adventures of Tintin and it is above Real Steel . You bastard , I may have done that to hurt you a little bit . An argument could be made it could be between real number and Tucker and Dale versus evil . It's at number 26 .
Speaker 2Okay , we're literally basically worse the same . I am at 25 , right behind real steel and before Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio .
Speaker 1Oh , my God yeah .
Speaker 2I gave that a three .
Speaker 1Did you really ? And it's that low , that's crazy . What did I give it ? I gave it three and a half . Okay , I mean rating wise , it's not much different . Pinocchio is at 16 for me .
Speaker 2Yeah , it's weird . I mean you're not . It's a fine movie , but also .
Speaker 1It's weird . I mean , you're not .
Speaker 2It's a fine movie , but also Pinocchio as a character does not interest me . Yeah , no , outside of the Shrek universe , which is the best Pinocchio and I will not hear any backtalk or arguments , otherwise we won't be taking any submissions . No feedback Comments closed . We won't be taking any submissions . No feedback Comments closed .
Speaker 1So , with that being said , I think we got a hefty amount of discussion about this particular project . Again , congratulations , Briar Phil . I think this is a great place to wrap up , and , if you like this episode , join our Patreon . We'll talk about that in a second . The rest of the month , though , is going to be episodes just like this . So , phil , tell them where they can find us .
Speaker 2Yeah , you can find everything you need Wait for it . Podcast related in the Linktree link in the show notes of this episode . You can keep up with us on social media , the most important places being Instagram , tiktok , our growing Discord page . We upload on YouTube now and we are streaming every other week for now , but might be adding more shows and more streams to that very , very soon , so make sure you stay tuned . You can support the show a couple of different ways .
Speaker 2First , head over to your podcast player of choice . Leave us a five-star review , thumbs up , a+ , whatever it is over there . Also , on YouTube , you know the drill like share , subscribe All of that is very beneficial as well and share the content with your friends . Let people know that you're listening , let us know that you're listening . All of that is so , so helpful . We thank you all for all of that . But , like I mentioned in the beginning , if you want to be part of Patreon month , if you want to be part of the secret discord and maybe a fun PowerPoint party coming soon , eric will let you know how you can join and get some really fun benefits .
Speaker 1Yeah . So all the free
Wrap-Up and Patreon Information
Speaker 1stuff is great , but we are starting to do a little bit extra for those supporting us on Patreon and to our patrons like Briar , stefan , t3kato , corey from the World Is my Burrito , and RetroAV , rewind , vintage and Bridget . They are supporting us on that platform and , in exchange , getting early access behind the scenes looks to episodes like this one . We are doing things like vlogs over there , just kind of dipping our toes and giving a little bit more behind the scenes access into what we do in the convention scene , and we now introduced Patreon month , which may not be the only time we do it this year . We might have multiple iterations of that , so you have a chance to join and give us suggestions that could end up being an episode just like this one .
Speaker 1If you can't do that , though , that is fine . All of the other stuff is much appreciated and we really thrive on that support , so thank you guys very much for doing so . With that being said , my name is Mr Eric Almighty . That is my co-host , phil the Filipino , and , please do not forget , we release new episodes every Wednesday on the podcast , with bonus content on platforms like TikTok and Twitch , and all you gotta do is wait for it .
Speaker 2So I heard you're looking for a go-to source for entertainment . Wait for it . Gaming , wait for it . Anime PLUS , ultra .
Speaker 1Mr Eric Almighty and Phil the Filipino . Yeah , they've got you covered , and all you gotta do is wait for it podcast .
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