In a World of...Improvised Movie Homages
Invaders (In the Style of a Sci-Fi Horror Action Movie like Aliens)
November 23, 2021
In a World...where there is more beyond the stars than man is aware of...or can prepare for, sometimes the most dangerous threats are far closer to home. This show features the improv games Blind Offers, Rashomon, Sound Effects, and Tempo. Note: This is what we call one of our “classic” episodes. We recorded this way back when while we were still testing and figuring out the format. This is only the fifth(!) time we ran this show format. There’s a lot of great improv and a nice little story (and it’s a lot of fun) but if you’re wondering why it doesn’t have the same polish and flow as some other episodes, that’s why...
In this episode, we pay homage to one of both of our favorite movies, Aliens! Along with so many other sci-fi action horror movies.

We mention this at the top of the episode, but this is one of our very early episodes back when we just doing “test runs” to develop the show. At the time we weren’t even sure we would use the audio, but we liked the finished product so here it is! It may not have the same flow, banter, or polish of some of our more recent episodes, but it’s a ton of fun and we think you will enjoy it!

Links

Aliens on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliens_(film)

Time Codes
Segment 1 - Discussion the Genre Tropes: 04:31
Segment 2 - Creating the Movie Outline: 09:39
Segment 3 - Picking the Improv Comedy Games:15:38
Start of show: 21:51
Improv Game - Blind Offers: 23:00 
Improv Game -  Rashomon: 30:20
Improv Game - Sound Effects: 41:27
Improv Game - Tempo: 47:30
End of show, into announcements: 53:11


More Information About the Show, Mike, and Avish

Subscribe to the podcast: http://AvishAndMike.com/Subscribe/
Our Website: www.AvishAndMike.com
Our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/143183833647812
Avish’s site: www.AvishParashar.com
Mike’s site: www.MikeWorthMusic.com/
 
Transcription of the “Discussing the Genre Tropes” Segment (Unedited and Un-Cleaned up)

Avish Parashar: Discussing the tropes.


Michael Worth: Yes, and and give me one second here i'm gonna i'm gonna do something really look, this is where I get where we would do stuff like this, give me one SEC here i'm going to replace the Multi yes, yes, yes it's the puzzle, and because so you'd be like this and now segment one you know.


Michael Worth: Like that stupid stuff right that kind of like reality TV crap so.


Avish Parashar: Alright, so we're gonna spend at most five minutes talking about kind of the key tropes from a high level that that.


Avish Parashar: This kind of genre usually has so go trump's.


Michael Worth: So, first of all these kind of movies, especially to the alien predator hardened batch of qualified military personnel.


Avish Parashar: hardened.


Avish Parashar: Qualified so it's not just like.


Avish Parashar: Random Joe nobody could own, and these are like military people.


Right.


Michael Worth: Right.


Michael Worth: A lot of you like a starship troopers would fall into this as well, like.


Michael Worth: people to be great for this yeah the second tier characters.


Michael Worth: A have a fun kind of not not pasties what is it a nice when you're like I was doing a caricature have a fun character your character mature.


Avish Parashar: over the top stereotype yeah the kind of caricature ish really.


Michael Worth: You know, not in a funny way they've got like one asset that's their thing right, you know.


Avish Parashar: they're very yeah they're clearly defined in one specific ways yeah.


Michael Worth: clearly defined okay in one specific way cool uh they almost always go into a particular event they're prepared for and then get surprised by the real event does.


Avish Parashar: They yeah.


Avish Parashar: they're prepared for one event.


Avish Parashar: But are surprised and woefully unprepared for what.


Michael Worth: woefully overwhelmed yeah prized.


Michael Worth: paired or the real event that occurs right.


Avish Parashar: Obviously the villain is in these are some kind of alien either individual and predator alien conglomerate species.


Michael Worth: yep yep yep give me a SEC i'm doing pull point bullet points here on this.


Michael Worth: yeah boom Okay, the the.


Michael Worth: villain is obviously an alien now now sometimes there is a second tier villain and the second year villain is member of the team with.


Avish Parashar: Like the turncoat the opportunistic turncoat the riser character.


Michael Worth: yeah or the or the Carl weathers character, who may or may not have a good turn at the end right.


Avish Parashar: Right yeah so there's like.


Michael Worth: weathers was the weather's was a CIA plant in predator.


Avish Parashar: that's i'd say there's usually some internal villain.


Michael Worth: yeah so head villain is the monster slash alien again Leviathan.


Michael Worth: yeah you know.


Avish Parashar: funny there's usually someone on the inside, who either maybe like an abyss where it's Michael bane who's like the villain he he didn't start out as a villain but it kind of goes crazy from paranoia and the water pressure so yeah but someone on the team eventually causes problems.


Michael Worth: Right is a troublemaker slash.


Michael Worth: ulterior motive funny enough of the abyss actually turns the trope on its head, because the Aliens are the good guys or they're they're the they're actually The next step of evolution.


Avish Parashar: Right yeah so they what you think of the bad guys become.


Avish Parashar: The good guy as an internal villains, the only villain.


Avish Parashar: right along those lines.


Avish Parashar: Pretty almost the entire supporting cast dies by the.


Michael Worth: Research that lots of carnage.


Avish Parashar: And lots of Carnegie hall expendable.


Avish Parashar: You know, you may the main character, usually lives and maybe one or two others live, but basically oh there's almost always a some random innocence non military person is like one non military like newt or the female and predator.


Avish Parashar: yeah yeah the observer, who comes in, is just like oh i'm just here to like you know, make sure everyone's doing well and that person gets sucked in.


Michael Worth: yep yep yep and then okay now now fun for like like just little bits of trivia because it's a hard group of time travel time tested soldiers they're always referencing earlier battles they thought in that that's that's the thing it'll show up you know.


Michael Worth: The basic put the party is old friends and and have.


Avish Parashar: That history ago.


Michael Worth: Memories yeah many battle memories together right so that that's kind of things, because sometimes it's like mission impossible to were assembling was team and they may not have worked together know these guys are like old.


Avish Parashar: yeah and.


Avish Parashar: What else village, the hero usually has.


Avish Parashar: some kind of clever outwitting type thing.


Michael Worth: About said here uses ingenuity to defeat the.


Michael Worth: to defeat the monster.


Avish Parashar: yeah so not just like oh i'm just gonna punch you to death, the morale like oh i'm gonna cover myself in mud, so you can't see me or i'm going to get.


Avish Parashar: The front loader and find you and blow you out the airlock and.


Michael Worth: dude that's if I can improvise a moment as good as when ripley walks in with the exoskeleton, though.


Michael Worth: People were like oh just took a female female strong female heroes like you could watch that eight seconds and aliens.


Michael Worth: And that's that right there.


Avish Parashar: Your argument yeah.


Michael Worth: pretty well any anything else, and is a lots lots of action scenes are big, the emphasis is.


Avish Parashar: yeah lots of action which action.


Avish Parashar: scene improv comedy audio podcast maybe a little bit tougher to pull off, but hey that's the challenge.


Avish Parashar: alright.


Avish Parashar: So we're just about out of time with that.


Avish Parashar: Because we a lot of tropes there were probably will get all of them in there.


Avish Parashar: Alright, so now.


Avish Parashar: You don't you.


Avish Parashar: Know transition music you like.


Transcription of the “Creating the Outline” Segment (Unedited and Un-Cleaned up)


Avish Parashar: to creating the outline alright, so now we're gonna spend five minutes coming up with our for act structure we use it for X structure which basically is your typical react, but we break Act two into two parts, so we have a for extractor sometimes with a prologue.


Michael Worth: and glad you said that because it, because sometimes we say we say at one through 41 of the three structures we have.


Avish Parashar: To explain that.


Avish Parashar: um and yeah we're just gonna kind of go with the general outline, which often by the time we perform it will change what this is we're not gonna get to deepen specifics, but all right let's start with the outline.


Avish Parashar: So.


Michael Worth: I don't think we need a prologue.


Avish Parashar: I think we're Okay, we don't uh yeah we don't we don't most these movies don't use to have one, it could be something where you see.


Avish Parashar: The monster villain do something, but I think for now let's say we don't need one, maybe, by the time you get to the end of the outline will say Oh, we could use more but act one in the first act, this is the setup and introduction so.


Avish Parashar: We need to meet the team yep.


Avish Parashar: And then.


Michael Worth: If the meet the team, and then they get their assignment.


Avish Parashar: They get their assignment.


Michael Worth: Now, at this point, a do that to two people are oftentimes introduced one is the person who knows about the assignment if you plan to aliens came but currently shows up it's like look, you know, this is what we know about this.


Avish Parashar: Year.


Michael Worth: we're going into the specialist and two is the corp tagalog or the or the or the.


Avish Parashar: bad guy basically like.


Avish Parashar: Attacking the car whether children, yes, I think the hero we're gonna meet the here on the internal villain in this act, I mean we'll meet everyone, but really we're going to establish the hero in the internal villain yep um.


Michael Worth: And we've had the heroes going to have some some element of knowledge and or skill that is pertinent this to the to the perceived mission.


Avish Parashar: yeah all right, and then I think based on these happen is, we need to have some kind of sequence, and at the end of the act is when.


Avish Parashar: They I think in act one is where they kind of go out on their mission at the end of act one is, we could totally hosed and like oh that didn't work at all, I think.


Michael Worth: Social interactions out on the mission Oh, and a little more granular This is where the bread, that the seeds drop that there's something wrong like like one or two encounters where.


Michael Worth: Things don't look right that's because you want to start seeing it where it's like we saw that aliens are gonna look with pillows go on the walls i'm like you know, and then they write they start to see that they start seeing.


Michael Worth: Right, this is not.


Michael Worth: Right ends with them encountering something.


Avish Parashar: Is the first encounter with the monster.


Michael Worth: or alien light a monster or or monster and and they're out of their league right.


Avish Parashar: yeah alright so that's act one so now act two is when they're basically just trying to survive.


Michael Worth: yeah at to probably starts with them escaping the imminent hosing yep and there's.


Avish Parashar: A whole thing.


Michael Worth: yeah because they're because they're getting pounded right.


Avish Parashar: hey like regroup and settle in.


Avish Parashar: yep.


Michael Worth: How granular how granular you want to get here, usually at this point, they have.


Michael Worth: Usually, at this point, they have now gone from having.


Michael Worth: Lots of control and being lots of equipment to like being on low resources overwhelmed you know that, in terms of what well that'll i'll just come out yeah that'll come out.


Avish Parashar: yeah alright so basically Act two is them responding to the threat trying to survive trying to get to a safe place.


Avish Parashar: Trying to gather the resources and just being trying to figure out what the hell is going on.


Michael Worth: yeah.


Avish Parashar: So that X three is where they start launching the counter plan, like all right here's what we're gonna do.


Michael Worth: No actually that to they also learn as much as they can about the monsters right.


Michael Worth: This is the beginning of active exact exact three usually act 2.5 which call it a three right three.


Michael Worth: You begin to two things happen, they begin to hatch a plan to escape.


Michael Worth: And or destroy the monsters mm hmm the other portion is the trader puts his plan into action.


Avish Parashar: Right, the trader reveal self by doing something.


Michael Worth: Right now there's a couple ways that actually can go full fail partial success full fail is they only caught our successes things like the civilian like get kidnapped write these.


Avish Parashar: Down I think act three is going to end with like the oh shit things went from bad to worse, like our plan is progressing or failed, but now yeah i'd say, by the end of act three like most people are dead um.


Michael Worth: yeah like a small core left to do a.


Avish Parashar: Small or left you know, like it was just really basically.


yeah.


Avish Parashar: Just marveled right for the whole third act so.


Avish Parashar: yeah basically everything the trader has their reveal basic everyone gets wiped out and now it's left with just the hero, and the villain for the most part, maybe a couple other characters.


Michael Worth: yeah the here, I wanted to supporting character.


Avish Parashar: yeah that's darkest hour a week.


Avish Parashar: yeah i'm all by myself and the hero, the.


Avish Parashar: alien has the one innocent person, and you know i'm on my own, and I gotta figure out how to beat this monster yeah.


Michael Worth: So an act for the heroes adapt their plan.


Michael Worth: and start to execute they have to say, less people right, and they have.


Avish Parashar: You got planned or come up with a completely new one.


yeah.


Avish Parashar: And I got to figure out a way, and then the final confrontation yep.


Michael Worth: And yeah exactly and then it's a final computation.


Michael Worth: And that is in three little bits rescue anyone.


Michael Worth: Different defeat or or or not delay, but like hold off mm hmm.


Avish Parashar: But yeah it'll basically.


Michael Worth: yeah big battle and then escape escape.


Avish Parashar: or victory victory.


Michael Worth: Oh yeah and more victory, so they could they can actually when they can actually do something with a like you know.


Avish Parashar: All right, great, and that was our five minute mark so perfect.


Michael Worth: We actually pretty much up five minutes.


Avish Parashar: yeah, just as you were saying, the last thing that time went off so.


Michael Worth: Oh, my God we're.


Avish Parashar: So musical transition yes.


Michael Worth: Give me a second give me give us access to just working with the volume here, here it is musical transition here we go.