ZachsMind: "It's awesomely awesome!"
April 2, 2024 1:14 AM Subscribe
Culled from a cancelled FMV 3DO game from 1996, you may never have seen anything so incrediculous as the 7 1/2 minute trailer Duelin' Firemen. While the trailer has been bouncing around the internet for 16 years (previously from 2007 by hypocritical ross), a higher resolution version has turned up that's almost watchable. It contains Rudy Ray Moore, the Rev. Ivan Stang, Mark Mothersbaugh, Dr. Timothy Leary and Tony Hawk. The Youtube channel of a documentary about the game's making has some other obscure clips from it.
Right off the bat two planes collide with a skyscraper--but it was made in 1996!
Right off the bat two planes collide with a skyscraper--but it was made in 1996!
I had never seen this before, but the 90s aesthetic it captures makes me think strongly of Bill Nye The Science Guy and some wave of ska revival and/or The B-52s?
posted by timdiggerm at 5:41 AM on April 2 [1 favorite]
posted by timdiggerm at 5:41 AM on April 2 [1 favorite]
I'm struggling to sort out the 'game' part of this. Looks like a lot of cut scenes and/or bits and pieces from a 1990s music video sans the song. Actually, skimming over the previously, it seems like that's all that it may ever have been. Mercifully.
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 6:02 AM on April 2
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 6:02 AM on April 2
I'm struggling to sort out the 'game' part of this.
Welcome to the exciting world of Full Motion Video videogames!
posted by gc at 6:04 AM on April 2 [5 favorites]
Welcome to the exciting world of Full Motion Video videogames!
posted by gc at 6:04 AM on April 2 [5 favorites]
I seem to remember some Primus records around the mid-90s where the cover art was made with the same kind of cheesy 3d aesthetic.
And likewise some animated bits of space shuttles and monsters that were in early episodes of the Chicago-based UCB television show.
Was there one computer animation or modeling package that was popular in the mid- to late-90s? It all looks of the same vibe as what was in this trailer.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 6:12 AM on April 2
And likewise some animated bits of space shuttles and monsters that were in early episodes of the Chicago-based UCB television show.
Was there one computer animation or modeling package that was popular in the mid- to late-90s? It all looks of the same vibe as what was in this trailer.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 6:12 AM on April 2
If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say Video Toaster on Amiga. There wasn't much else in this space that was cheaply available.
posted by JoeZydeco at 7:06 AM on April 2 [2 favorites]
posted by JoeZydeco at 7:06 AM on April 2 [2 favorites]
this unironically looks better than 90% of what i see on tv/streaming/youtube today
posted by AlbertCalavicci at 7:58 AM on April 2 [1 favorite]
posted by AlbertCalavicci at 7:58 AM on April 2 [1 favorite]
Metafilter: It makes Sam Raimi look like D.W. Griffith by comparison… makes Tim Burton look like Ernie Bushmiller. It is sick, twisted, weird and ‘Frop-besoaked like nothing on earth.
posted by credulous at 9:42 AM on April 2 [1 favorite]
posted by credulous at 9:42 AM on April 2 [1 favorite]
I'm getting strong Forbidden Zone vibes from this one.
posted by tmt at 9:56 AM on April 2 [1 favorite]
posted by tmt at 9:56 AM on April 2 [1 favorite]
this unironically looks better than 90% of what i see on tv/streaming/youtube today
If you've seen the Garfield and Inspector Gadget reboots, the animation looks better too.
posted by Dr. Twist at 10:18 AM on April 2
If you've seen the Garfield and Inspector Gadget reboots, the animation looks better too.
posted by Dr. Twist at 10:18 AM on April 2
Between this and the Rax post above, I feel like I'm losing my grip on the media timeline.
We made far, far too many "things" that were deconstructions of previous genres in an attempt to create commentary.
I watched the trailer and without context I could not tell you if it was made in 1994, 1999, 2006, or 2016.
It would be easy for me to blame Gen X for this narrative catastrophe, so I will.
Also, don't put this on drugs. I do drugs, I've done drugs, I still do drugs, and drugs don't do *this.* This is closer to an illustration of what people who hate drugs think drugs do. In other words, this could be an article meant to serve as a parody of what people born in the 1940s - who themselves never used drugs - intended to communicate to people born in the 1970s regarding the danger of drugs.
Frankly I think everyone was a little too comfortable in the late 90s.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 11:55 AM on April 2 [2 favorites]
We made far, far too many "things" that were deconstructions of previous genres in an attempt to create commentary.
I watched the trailer and without context I could not tell you if it was made in 1994, 1999, 2006, or 2016.
It would be easy for me to blame Gen X for this narrative catastrophe, so I will.
Also, don't put this on drugs. I do drugs, I've done drugs, I still do drugs, and drugs don't do *this.* This is closer to an illustration of what people who hate drugs think drugs do. In other words, this could be an article meant to serve as a parody of what people born in the 1940s - who themselves never used drugs - intended to communicate to people born in the 1970s regarding the danger of drugs.
Frankly I think everyone was a little too comfortable in the late 90s.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 11:55 AM on April 2 [2 favorites]
There are few commercial media products that have a nexus to both DEVO and The Church of the SubGenius™, so this is a precious artifact.
posted by credulous at 12:21 PM on April 2 [4 favorites]
posted by credulous at 12:21 PM on April 2 [4 favorites]
oh ive heard of this!! this exhaustive review of URBAN YETI goes into a lot of fascinating detail about the development of duelling firemen.. honestly a must-read
posted by _earwig_ at 2:16 PM on April 2 [3 favorites]
posted by _earwig_ at 2:16 PM on April 2 [3 favorites]
Is that Paul Reubens at 6:08? He would have been ... not terribly busy in 1995. And he was a card-carrying Friend of Bob.
posted by credulous at 6:54 PM on April 2 [1 favorite]
posted by credulous at 6:54 PM on April 2 [1 favorite]
>Is that Paul Reubens at 6:08? He would have been ... not terribly busy in 1995. And he was a card-carrying Friend of Bob.
No, not him.
posted by Catblack at 7:24 AM on April 3 [1 favorite]
No, not him.
posted by Catblack at 7:24 AM on April 3 [1 favorite]
I was the target market for this kind of stuff in 1995, and it sure looks like every memory I have of the era. The weird angles, the terrible lighting, the extreme close-ups of actors pulling Jim Carrey-esque rubber faces. I don't remember this aesthetic coming back -- although we're into wide-leg jeans again, which suggests it came back and passed already -- but it's surely due. It's just so dumb.
posted by uncleozzy at 8:52 AM on April 3 [1 favorite]
posted by uncleozzy at 8:52 AM on April 3 [1 favorite]
It turns out the website duelinfiremen.com has been revived, and they promise a forthcoming interactive comic!
posted by JHarris at 6:30 PM on April 5
posted by JHarris at 6:30 PM on April 5
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posted by krisjohn at 4:21 AM on April 2 [2 favorites]