In a World of...Improvised Movie Homages
Assault on Philadelphia's Earth (In the Style of an Alien Invasion Movie like Independence Day, War of the Worlds, or Skyline)
September 28, 2021
In a World...where man believes he is alone in the universe, and that the stars hold no danger...one group of people will discover how wrong they are. We are not alone, and we are not safe… This show contains the improv games Movie Trailer, Best of Times Worst of Times, One Word at a Time Typewriter, Blind Line, and Cutting Room.
In this episode, we pay homage to the fantastic genre of alien invasion movies. Movies like Independence Day, Skyline, War of the Worlds, etc.

Aliens arrive, and though their intentions are unclear at first, we quickly learn that they are not here to be peaceful and make friends. It’s up to a military leader and her scientist ex to figure out how to stop the invasion and save the world. This episode has love, drama, and port-a-potties (yes, port-a-potties)!

Links

Independence Day movie on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_Day_(1996_film)
War of the Worlds on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Worlds_(2005_film)
Skyline  on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyline_(2010_film)

Time Codes
Segment 1 - Discussion the Genre Tropes: 03:30
Segment 2 - Creating the Movie Outline: 09:47
Segment 3 - Picking the Improv Comedy Games: 16:36
Start of show: 24:55
Improv Game - Movie Trailer: 25:17
Improv Game - Best of Times Worst of Times: 26:53
Improv Game - One Word at a Time Typewriter: 34:30
Improv Game - Blind Line: 46:15
Improv Game - Cutting Room: 56:23
End of show, into announcements: 1:07:17


More Information About the Show, Mike, and Avish

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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: What do you think when you think of a big budget alien invasion movie.

Mike: Oh boy well so to start with um there's always the ominous foreshadowing right so it's always like.

Mike: You know they find some alien tech like buried in like in guardians all over the world or look there's an establishing shot, so they let you know, right from the get go that something bad's going on.

Mike: that's because the establishing act one usually act one is all about the impending dread of the arrival of the Aliens in a mysterious fashion and the US in various countries trying to establish contact with it it's almost always like that right.

Avish: yeah they figured out that they're not sure, a lot of time is.

Avish: Are they friendly are they dangerous in the first act it's a lot of.

Avish: there's like usually there's like a military character or group that knows the Aliens are there knows the Aliens are coming, but then there's like the general populace, that is, like just discovering the aliens and not sure what's going on with them.

Mike: Right right right and.

Mike: You know act one usually ends with the first blast of aggression that's that's the crossing of the threshold right where it's.

Avish: Like a big I mean independent they certainly.

Avish: Had big aggression, but a lot.

Mike: yeah.

Mike: And then they did you know what they did, which was really cool and this is, if we can try and boy, this is a bridge too far, maybe, but we should try it.

Mike: Independence Day nail it because they had three crossing of the threshold at the same time, so the chopper was destroyed.

Mike: At the same time that the scientists will, at that time there was a doomsday timer at the same time that all the ships start opening up their lights on top of New York City.
  
Mike: So it was like every every every feeler from our planet, that was out was getting was getting.
  
Avish: Like a lot of shifts we're hitting a lot of fans all.
  
Mike: The shifts in the fans yeah.
  
Avish: that's right, then we get into the um there's a lot of scrambling like there's a total overwhelm right like the Aliens are always just.
  
Mike: completely outside yeah absolutely dominant right then act two is the regroup and usually the counter attack and the best part is well I.
  
Avish: Think, part two, is like the over like act one is where we're learning we're not sure Act two is where the Aliens just dominate.
  
Avish: X three I feel is when you get kind of we're getting more proactive we're going to fight back, but it usually is relatively ineffective.
  
Mike: mate right.
  
Avish: You know okay we're going to drop the nuke and Independence Day, and that does nothing.
  
Mike: yep or in or in Independence Day, though the knockoff them like virtus scored they may mount a couple of offenses in the early, just like wipe them out like just because they're just.
  
Mike: underground and stuff like that now they're usually has to be a macguffin that changes the tide something involving human ingenuity and usually involving like the little rogue science team to kind of figure something out right.
  
Avish: Well it's always yeah it's it's the the other civilian version like there was, like the civilian in the military yeah the civilian figure something out Independence Day, with the virus in war of the worlds, it was a real virus.
  
Mike: yeah but we're the world's this is kind of funny like it's one of the few movies, where the humans had nothing to do with just defeated the.
  
Avish: retrospective terrible storytelling.
  
Mike: yeah yeah so it's a great.

Avish: ultimate deus ex machina it's like.
  
Avish: Oh yeah yeah yeah you're.
  
Avish: gonna wipe you out, but the common cold cold.
  
Mike: Because he's angel these aliens all this advanced technology that hungered for our world didn't research, the common virus and bacteria.
  
Avish: Like insides where they didn't research, the planet was covered in water.
  
Mike: yeah so 1% water yes.
  
Avish: We, for our story we'd like a more proactive, but it could also be the author trope that comes up a lot, which I don't know we're gonna do is the hive mind alien queen trope where it's like.
  
Avish: yeah discovered to fight back you know we don't need to destroy the entire alien race which is dominant we.
  
Avish: got killed.
  
Mike: queen yeah the board the board idea that you know.
  
Avish: The Board mind or yeah a lot of.
  
Avish: Like rain of fire which is dragons not aliens but it's like hey we killed.
  
Avish: The Queen dragon and all the dragons die, so I.
  
Mike: Actually, never saw that it looks good and cool.
  
Avish: I saw it in the theater I don't remember very much about it, which should tell you something.
  
Avish: it's yeah my recollection is I wouldn't call it a good movie, but it may have been a fun movie.
  
Mike: you've already reminded me that there will be, because any trope there will be a Matthew mcconaughey character in our in our.
  
Avish: character.
  
Mike: yeah and he's gonna be in our show.
  
Mike: Because now.

Avish: Oh there's almost always um. Some.
  
Avish: relationship in peril you know there's like the estranged.

Avish: husband and wife back to each other or the father trying to save the sound of the mother trying to say or in shark NATO, where it was the guy from beverly hills.
  
Mike: No, I know from American pie, I engineering and Terry fantastic some kind of like.
  
Avish: To the main characters will be connected.
  
Avish: Yes, some kind of romance or love.
  
Mike: There is usually a general slash military leader who is initially at odds with the heroes and heroin, but then has kind of a come to Jesus thing and at three and four.
  
Avish: yeah they're not like evil they're just.
  
Avish: opinionated damien's yeah.
  
Avish: yeah yeah and that's our five minutes, I think the final thing i'll throw in there is.
  
Avish: Most of these don't have a real villain like the entire alien race is like the villain does not like a head alien.
  
Avish: Even if it's a queen it's not like.
  
Avish: Being a character.
  
Mike: and much of the conflict actually allies, with a disaster movie it's like they're trying to escape a building as it's getting nuked by laser bolts or.
  
Mike: You know the the Aliens blow up a dam and obviously it's a way it's a cheap way for people to get like a little disaster movie in there it's like Oh, they start a forest fire and you have to flee and now you have to be you have to fight, you have to defeat.
  
Avish: Yes, I like a lot of times yeah when they are blowing stuff up the Aliens are the disaster like Independence Day, the first half of that movie is like pure just disaster movie.

Mike: Exactly so that's yeah that's your thing we got to think of it's like there's a healthy component to disaster before that it's not like Star Wars or star trek where it's like SCI fi space flights and stuff.
  
Avish: All right.
  
Mike: we're good place we're in a good spot.


Transcription of the “Creating the Outline” Segment (Unedited and Un-Cleaned up)
  
Avish: For this movie it's going to be rough in a high level and because we're going to be using improv games to play this we may end up veering from the outline in minor ways, or even a major ways, but this is kind of our starting point.
  
Mike: yeah we reserve the right to change anything and everything exactly.
  
Avish: But this is what we're going to kind of roughly stick to you, so our five minute timer starts now alright so for this one you're thinking prologue well, so we always start your first time listening, where we start with a prologue or a movie trailer.
  
Avish: We want a prologue of the Aliens arriving and all that or do you want just the movie trailer.
  
Avish: of you.
  
Mike: can see it either way man, you make the call today.
  
Mike: I like them both.
  
Avish: The movie trailer, for we last couple times we don't a prologue so let's do a trailer.
  
Mike: yeah yeah yeah.
  
Avish: alright.
  
Avish: So now for outline what happens in act one.
  
Avish: Of the Aliens need to arrive and people need to find out the military and the civilian need to find out.
  
Mike: Right military finds out first.
  
Mike: And they have to find out, first because they need to start mobilizing their stuff to be ahead of the civilian population.
  
Mike: yeah realizing response alright a.

Avish: Civilian a the civilians to find out, we also need to establish the relationship for the civilian right like.
  
Mike: yeah and and let's keep it simple let's let's go with the.
  
Mike: main hero.
  
Mike: Love interest.
  
Avish: I mean, if you want it, and this can come out of the improv you want to keep it simple also one thing there's like the coincidence right so it's like.

Avish: It could be the military person and the civilian main character are like husband wife or access or boyfriend girlfriend or you know, instead of having an extra character which sometimes when we're doing improv can get a little confusing.


  
Mike: Man all right, our accents are only so good.

Mike: We only have I only have so many American deal with you know that, should we can do that a main character mean here leverages military commander, we have to establish.
  
Mike: Now now do we want the main hero to have agency in terms of like there's a reason he wants to defeat the Aliens or is he just caught up in it and just happens to be heroic.
  
Avish: Well, I think the military one wants to defeat the aliens and the civilian one just kind of gets caught up maybe because they're connected to the military person or there.
  
Mike: huh yeah.
  
Avish: It just happened to be.
  
Mike: I haven't read yet tell me this is like look look getting too granular but, like the Aliens had some tech they're using the setup the assault and the main hero gets a hold of the tech or translates the tech or somehow is able to use it against the aliens.

Avish: yeah I think that's good that's kind of like how Jeff goldblum figured out the countdown codependent thing.
  
Avish: yeah all right, and then at the end of by the end of act one the Aliens will have attacked like.
  
Mike: yeah and then there's this just mass destruction that.
  
Avish: yeah maybe attempt contact.
  
Avish: And then attack yep.
  
Mike: And it bleeds out the attacks bleed over into active, because at the end of Act two is going to be a bunch of disaster scenes you know what I mean like you know that i'm trying to get through.
  
Avish: And that's it's gonna be a lot of like yeah vignettes of disaster scrambling attacks.
  
Mike: yeah.
  
Mike: Military getting pummeled.
  
Mike: Civilians fleeing right.
  
Avish: And at this point if they haven't connected in Act two, I think, is when our main characters we'll all meet up like if we've got a military and civilian and maybe a third one they'll all kind of connected this point.
  
Mike: All parties unify and a location yeah.
  
Mike: See, I would, I would say I don't always like oh man, I wonder what they didn't like escape from La or whatever it is battlefield la but and watch those movies were like apparently horrible like battleship was horrible.
  
Avish: battles a battle Los Angeles was.
  
Avish: Okay, it was mildly entertaining.
  
Avish: So I think at the end of Act two is when kind of everyone gets together.
  
Mike: yeah and then, and then the yeah and then at three is usually the prep retaliatory strike.
  
Avish: yeah and real quick if you're listening and you're familiar with story and act structure of most use a three act structure we use a four were basically divide out to into.
  
Avish: Act two and three, because actually longer now, we have had the first half of us the reactive, the second half is proactive so.
  
Mike: Right games, you want to talk about the end of the big act to block so.
  
Avish: Act three right.
  
Mike: good guys do retaliatory strike yeah.
  
Avish: They formulate a plan and retaliate work.
  
Mike: Usually the strike is ineffective to mildly effective, you know we'll give them the BAT you know it did it doesn't But then what usually happens is.
  
Mike: Civilian main characters.
  
Mike: discover macguffin right.

Avish: yeah or though I think I will have like the end of act three like that's kind of how it they kind of figured out so.
  
Mike: yeah I.
  
Avish: figured out at the end, I think, in addition to the.
  
Avish: I think this is where you get the big disagreement, you know you're saying how the middle of like the there's usually a more veteran military leader, I think this is where the disagreement kind of comes to a head.
  
Mike: yeah we're the leader.

Avish: In effect, tool and then they kind of have to turn to the civilian solution.

Mike: mm hmm exactly and then act for is usually mounting the the assault yeah.
  
Avish: And i'll plan and usually there's a heightened sense of danger, like the the Aliens figure out where the good guys are hiding or they have captured you know the someone important to the the main characters.
  
Mike: yep and and yeah and the heightened sense of danger, this is the last chance, where I know we're a little over but it's all right, usually a split narrative usually there's like.

Mike: When you're looking at the military side of it used to be epic battle and usually there's a smaller commando team is doing something else.

Mike: You know, to mean like again yeah.

Avish: This is very independent and if we're going, I mean may get too confusing for our forum, but if we had a third, to be like the third will be like.

Avish: The by standards civilians like trying to stay safe there's like counter attack small desperate strike force and then everyone else just trying to survive.
  
Mike: Right exactly.

Avish: And Randy quaid flying a plane.

Mike: Wait wait with the new version one with a.

Avish: A biplane and like a crop missing.

Mike: So, by the way, because you guys are listening, and this is how funny love this stuff that apparently that scene was in the original test screening of Independence Day Randy quaid character.

Avish: or SCI fi on like YouTube the original.

Mike: Like and apparently the audience just.

Mike: They were like yeah X that.

Avish: Terrible.

Avish: I don't know and he, like.

Avish: It missile like strapped in the backseat of his plane.

Mike: yeah yeah like.

Mike: Worst armory gunnery sergeant ever like you just let's go walk off with the sidewinder.
  
Mike: Alright, so so.

Mike: Cheap.