An oral history of Sharknado
October 31, 2020 8:26 AM Subscribe
OH HELL YEAH: AN ORAL HISTORY OF THE SHARKNADO FRANCHISE I had no idea how weird this got over the six films until I saw this kill count of the series. Involves sharks, chainsaws, laser chainsaws, going into space, chainsaw swords, laser chainsaws with built in death blossom, and time travel, and running over Bret Michaels.
SIX FILMS??????
posted by supermedusa at 9:31 AM on October 31, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by supermedusa at 9:31 AM on October 31, 2020 [3 favorites]
Baby shark, baby shark, do do - da -do do
posted by sammyo at 9:55 AM on October 31, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by sammyo at 9:55 AM on October 31, 2020 [1 favorite]
The previous thread when the trailer was posted here.
It actually is a bit like the writer's room, apparently, with wild ideas and titles being suggested. Good stuff there!
posted by hippybear at 9:57 AM on October 31, 2020
It actually is a bit like the writer's room, apparently, with wild ideas and titles being suggested. Good stuff there!
posted by hippybear at 9:57 AM on October 31, 2020
next up: Bearicane.
posted by heyitsgogi at 10:04 AM on October 31, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by heyitsgogi at 10:04 AM on October 31, 2020 [1 favorite]
Sorry, Bearicane must be a Disco revival band.
posted by seanmpuckett at 10:13 AM on October 31, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 10:13 AM on October 31, 2020 [2 favorites]
"The locations added a sense of gravitas."
No they didn't.
posted by Paul Slade at 10:45 AM on October 31, 2020 [2 favorites]
No they didn't.
posted by Paul Slade at 10:45 AM on October 31, 2020 [2 favorites]
Still no love for the Sharktopus saga. Tsk.
Sharktopus, Sharktopus vs. Pteracuda, and Sharktopus vs. Whalewolf? Nothing?
posted by bartleby at 10:53 AM on October 31, 2020 [3 favorites]
Sharktopus, Sharktopus vs. Pteracuda, and Sharktopus vs. Whalewolf? Nothing?
posted by bartleby at 10:53 AM on October 31, 2020 [3 favorites]
.... this story that we started in Sharknado ends in the last scene of Sharknado 6. There is a definitive end to this story dealing with the Shepard family.
Seems as deeply meaningful as, well, Manimal.
And wow, they had cast Donald Trump as president but punted due to scheduling.
posted by sammyo at 11:05 AM on October 31, 2020
Seems as deeply meaningful as, well, Manimal.
And wow, they had cast Donald Trump as president but punted due to scheduling.
posted by sammyo at 11:05 AM on October 31, 2020
SIX FILMS??????
Let me introduce you to 2-Headed Shark Attack (2012), 3-Headed Shark Attack (2015), 5-Headed Shark Attack (2017) (continuity errors sometimes show only 4 heads), 6-Headed Shark Attack (2018), and Ghost Shark (no relation).
posted by TWinbrook8 at 11:44 AM on October 31, 2020 [4 favorites]
Let me introduce you to 2-Headed Shark Attack (2012), 3-Headed Shark Attack (2015), 5-Headed Shark Attack (2017) (continuity errors sometimes show only 4 heads), 6-Headed Shark Attack (2018), and Ghost Shark (no relation).
posted by TWinbrook8 at 11:44 AM on October 31, 2020 [4 favorites]
I'm with supermedusa. There were just two the last I looked.
posted by doctornemo at 2:00 PM on October 31, 2020
posted by doctornemo at 2:00 PM on October 31, 2020
I watched Sharknado at a Rifftrax screening. Despite the best efforts of Mike, Kevin and Bill, I came away feeling like I had been bamboozled into watching Sharknado.
posted by Faint of Butt at 2:08 PM on October 31, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 2:08 PM on October 31, 2020 [4 favorites]
Still no love for the Sharktopus saga.
Bartleby, I have your back. I prefer it to the Sharknado series which I think tries too hard to be outrageous. Though my favourite of this era of bad cgi sharks is likely Sharks in Venice, mostly due to the presence of a Baldwin. People keep telling me I need to see Sky Sharks which promises to be entertaining. But to be honest I think most of these Sharks + outrageously improbable idea don't really hold much of a candle to Bruno Mattei's opus Cruel Jaws
posted by Ashwagandha at 2:12 PM on October 31, 2020 [1 favorite]
Bartleby, I have your back. I prefer it to the Sharknado series which I think tries too hard to be outrageous. Though my favourite of this era of bad cgi sharks is likely Sharks in Venice, mostly due to the presence of a Baldwin. People keep telling me I need to see Sky Sharks which promises to be entertaining. But to be honest I think most of these Sharks + outrageously improbable idea don't really hold much of a candle to Bruno Mattei's opus Cruel Jaws
posted by Ashwagandha at 2:12 PM on October 31, 2020 [1 favorite]
Is this a good time to say that I, and several of my close friends, worked on the first Sharknado?
posted by Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld at 4:11 PM on October 31, 2020 [7 favorites]
posted by Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld at 4:11 PM on October 31, 2020 [7 favorites]
Several of your close chums?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:31 PM on October 31, 2020 [11 favorites]
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:31 PM on October 31, 2020 [11 favorites]
Several of your close chums?
Oof, I could feel that pun in my cartilage.
posted by Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld at 5:58 PM on October 31, 2020 [1 favorite]
Oof, I could feel that pun in my cartilage.
posted by Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld at 5:58 PM on October 31, 2020 [1 favorite]
I have mixed feelings about those movies, because on the one hand they were dumb fun but on the other hand they were kind of everything I hate about how trashy and cynical the former Sci-fi Channel has become and they were full of all this creepy conservative shit. This Chris Regina character, who is quoted extensively in the article, comes across as deeply sinister:
"Oh, it's a great title, because it's a tornado and a shark, and that's the two quadrants that I'm trying to combine.(...) from a strategic point of view, we're super red state, most of the content that I did there was all red state. Way before the Trump election and everyone getting that kind of clarity coming out of postmortem research that they did. It was always sort of the secret sauce of my program strategy."
Just... shut the fuck up, Chris Regina. Speak no more, go live in a cave and spend the rest of your life trying to get right with God for everything you've done.
Sadly, SyFy seems to have become even less ambitious since Regina left. These days SyFy will show literally any generic, cheap-to-acquire action movie drek from 2011 and it doesn't even have to have robots and aliens and stuff in it. It's literally too much work for them to only pick the cheap action movies with robots and aliens, so we get plenty of movies where Will Smith is just some boring cop.
Wow, poor Ian Ziering. From the cover of teen magazines to working at Chippendales! He seems like a nice guy and he's not a terrible actor, so I hope he saved some of that Sharknado loot and he can get some legit acting gigs.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 6:23 PM on October 31, 2020 [4 favorites]
"Oh, it's a great title, because it's a tornado and a shark, and that's the two quadrants that I'm trying to combine.(...) from a strategic point of view, we're super red state, most of the content that I did there was all red state. Way before the Trump election and everyone getting that kind of clarity coming out of postmortem research that they did. It was always sort of the secret sauce of my program strategy."
Just... shut the fuck up, Chris Regina. Speak no more, go live in a cave and spend the rest of your life trying to get right with God for everything you've done.
Sadly, SyFy seems to have become even less ambitious since Regina left. These days SyFy will show literally any generic, cheap-to-acquire action movie drek from 2011 and it doesn't even have to have robots and aliens and stuff in it. It's literally too much work for them to only pick the cheap action movies with robots and aliens, so we get plenty of movies where Will Smith is just some boring cop.
Wow, poor Ian Ziering. From the cover of teen magazines to working at Chippendales! He seems like a nice guy and he's not a terrible actor, so I hope he saved some of that Sharknado loot and he can get some legit acting gigs.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 6:23 PM on October 31, 2020 [4 favorites]
There was something in the air that night
The sharks took flight,
Sharknado!
They were zooming round like zero G
So bitey-ee,
Sharknado!
posted by bartleby at 8:02 PM on October 31, 2020 [4 favorites]
The sharks took flight,
Sharknado!
They were zooming round like zero G
So bitey-ee,
Sharknado!
posted by bartleby at 8:02 PM on October 31, 2020 [4 favorites]
To be fair... starting with a kill count of 20 I showed a minute of this to my kids who are very concerned about scary movies. We then jumped to 1392 or so - so they could see the ridiculousness of the franchise and between the lasers, the grenades', the chainsaw and Mohammed Ali - they could laugh - a lot. The final kill count and kill per minute calculation *may* have helped start to put in perspective that *scary movies aren't real* and a Sharknado is a thoroughly silly concept . There are specific questions now as to whether there are sharks on the moon in the films - and maybe we will eventually work up the courage to find out the clearly crazy answer.
posted by Nanukthedog at 7:06 AM on November 1, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by Nanukthedog at 7:06 AM on November 1, 2020 [3 favorites]
NASA just announced there is water on the moon, ergo, must be sharks. (by the pure movie logic preposition)
posted by sammyo at 6:44 AM on November 2, 2020
posted by sammyo at 6:44 AM on November 2, 2020
Is this a good time to say that I, and several of my close friends, worked on the first Sharknado?
I can't even imagine that there would be a bad time to say that.
posted by bendy at 6:30 PM on November 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
I can't even imagine that there would be a bad time to say that.
posted by bendy at 6:30 PM on November 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
Needs more info about the various video game tie-ins.
Shark Fighter II
Mortal Sharkbat
Sharkken
Counter-Shark
Euro Shark Simulator
Super Shark Bros
Wii Shark
Shark of the Wild
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Shark
BioShark Infinite
Subnautica
posted by straight at 10:04 PM on November 2, 2020
Shark Fighter II
Mortal Sharkbat
Sharkken
Counter-Shark
Euro Shark Simulator
Super Shark Bros
Wii Shark
Shark of the Wild
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Shark
BioShark Infinite
Subnautica
posted by straight at 10:04 PM on November 2, 2020
Perfect Shark
Shark Souls
Alone in the Shark
Thief: The Shark Project
Baldur's Gate: Shark Alliance
Shark Age of Camelot
Amnesia: The Shark Descent
Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Shark Forces III: Jedi Outcast
posted by straight at 10:21 PM on November 2, 2020
Shark Souls
Alone in the Shark
Thief: The Shark Project
Baldur's Gate: Shark Alliance
Shark Age of Camelot
Amnesia: The Shark Descent
Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Shark Forces III: Jedi Outcast
posted by straight at 10:21 PM on November 2, 2020
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posted by adamg at 8:42 AM on October 31, 2020