Office Space: Spoilers Podcast 001

We kick off this experiment in podcasting with commentary for Mike Judge's cult classic, Office Space. Bill Douthett and Rick Yaeger will take you through this film pointing out interesting facts along the way.

Click here to listen in your browser, or use an iPodder client to subscribe to the RSS feed over there on the left.

You'll get instructions on how to synchronize our commentary to your DVD (it's simple, really), at the beginning of the show.

Enjoy!

• A cult classic. Written and directed by Mike Judge who is famous for creating
  King of the Hill and Beavis and Butthead. He also appears in this movie--you'll
  recognize him by the voice that sounds suspiciously like Hank Hill.
• The DVD: Opens with a Mac OS 8 alert prompting the user to run a scan for
  DVD virus.
• PLAY MOVIE!!
• 20th Century Fox Fanfare: what movie does it bring to mind for you?
  • Bill: Only one thing--Star Wars
  • Rick: ...nothing really

1. Road Rage:
   • Soundtrack: Mambo No. 8
   • Nice bit with the old man in the Zimmer frame.
   • Peter Gibbons illustrates "The other line moves faster"
     • Commuting sucks!
   • Michael Bolton's character, played by David Herman, well outlined in
     the first scene
     • Soundtrack: Scarface
   • Milton (Stephen Root): mutters to himself that he was told that if late
     again he would be summarily dismissed...as we learn later, he already
     was dismissed, it's just that nobody told him.
     • Famous as the character Jimmy James in News Radio
   • Bill Lumburgh: The Porsche driver with the "MY PRSHE" vanity
     plate, suspenders, power tie.
   • Peter, obviously forced to park well away from the building.
   • Not only does Peter hate Initech, it hates him back and shocks him every
     day as he walks in.
     • Possibly due to having a cheap car interior
2. The Memo
• The memo about the cover sheets on the TPS reports
  • TPS reports have become the catch phrase in business
• The frikkin printer
• How long have these two people worked together where she has never clued
  in that his name is Michael Bolton?
• samEER naEEnanaJAAR
• "No-Talent Ass-Clown"
• Why does Peter get his own cubicle?
3. A Case of the Mondays:
• Pizza Shooters, Shrimp Poppers or Extreme Fajitas
• Chotchkies is a take-off on TGI Fridays
• I'd love to be that happy and energetic --I think I would really enjoy
  life more-- but I'm pretty sure someone like this "me" would gun
  that me down in cold, peppy, happy blood.
• Michael is a pussy.
• Except for the road rage thing, Samir is the most together guy in this
  movie.
• Anorexia can be funny!
• The TPS report call back.
4. Downsizing:
• Scumbags sounds like it was added in later to reduce the number of "strong
  words" in the film
• What would you do if you had a million dollars?
5. Lawrence:
• Morningwood Apartments
• Deitrich Bader as Lawrence. Famous for his work on the Drew Carry Show
• Peter's Nintendo 64
• Pepsi is frequent product placement
• Lawrence brings his Miller in with its foam insulator collar, then helps
  himself to one of Peter's bottles from the fridge (using his own opener)
• Great timing on the "two chicks" bit and the "do nothing"
  bit that follows it.
• I hate those nights when i dream about work...I figure I should get some
  kind of overtime for that.
6. Lumburgh's Boy:
• Every time I see the opening of this scene I expect a FedEx guy to come
  in and deliver Peter a cell phone and get him to climb out on the ledge
  like Neo.
• Squirrels? Married?
• The popularity of the Red Swingline
• Macs posing as PCs in movies.
• TURN THE MONITOR OFF!!!
7. The Heart of the Matter:
• Dr Swanson is played by Michael McShane who I first became aware of when
  I used to watch the original British "Who's Line Is It Anyway?"...he
  was a regular on that. He's been in tons of stuff..he has coincidentally
  played 2 characters named Tuck in his career--Friar Tuck in Costner's Robin
  Hood and Tuck the Flea in a Bugs Life (he also played Tuck's counterpart,
  Roll).
• I think it's great that the therapist has not come to terms with his
  baldness
8. Sleeping on the Job:
• For every job I've ever had that sapped the life out of me and infringed
  on my own time, this is what I wish I had done.
• His bedroom must have been decorated by his girlfriend--no one who would
  "do nothing" if they had a million dollars would have such a clean
  fung shui bedroom.
  
  * [ ] I love that the answering machine moves from the vibrations of her
  raised voice.
9. The Consultants:
• John C McGinley as Bob Slydell. Done everything from Platoon to Scrubs
• Correct me if I'm wrong but of Chotchkies, Chilis and Flingers, only
  Chilis is an actual restaurant chain.
• Tom has one of those jobs where the rolls the people before him and after
  him in the production line have made him redundant.
• The character of Bob Slydell was previously introduced, but Bob Porter
  kind of gets snuck in here without any introduction. He's played by Paul
  Wilson who played the small character role of "Paul" on Cheers.
  Although, according to IMDb, his character was also known as Gregg, Glen
  or Tom depending on which show you tuned in for.
• Another example of Michael caving under pressure: he says he likes Michael
  Bolton's music because he thinks it may win him favor with the Bobs.
10. Lunchtime:
• Flair: do we wear it? is it on our desks? and how much would it suck
  if we were contractually obligated to keep up a minimum of flair?
• Do you think there was no Y2K disaster because of people like the good
  folks at Initech? Or was there simply no threat in the first place?
• Peter quits his job, like he was quiting a gym membership or a diet.
• What's with Kung Fu in this movie? It's given some weight in this scene
  and a bit later on, but it just seems to get mislayed somehow.
11. The Red Stapler:
• I understand that the Swingline 646 was not available in red at the time
  of this film. And that prop guy spray painted this one. After the movie's
  success on video, Swingline produced a red 747 (stapler model, not the airplane)
  in response to the demand from Office Space fans.
12. The Motivational Review:
• Is this anything like your typical day? I think it's the fact that we
  all zone out for a while and dog it a bit that makes this so funny.
• A review like this is the ultimate working stiff's revenge opportunity.
  Even though Peter admits to doing little or no work, his job and the work
  he does do, is vital. On the other hand, his various bosses are redundant
  and easily eliminated.
• Peter takes charge here: makes himself at home with a beverage, answers
  the Bobs' questions with brutal but polite honesty, doesn't try to brownnose
  at all. And in the end he decides when the meeting is over and calls the
  meeting what it is--a process to see who to lay off.
13. Flair:
• Mike Judge as the Chotchkie's manager here. Very effective at being a
  jerk about calling someone out for doing what was supposed to be good enough.
14. Fixing the Glitch:
• Dom Portwood quite happy to fire anyone as long as his job is safe. He's
  company man but not as much as Bill...check out his mug!
• We always like to take the cowardly approach...
• I live that little tap on the table
• Where did Dom go?
15. A New Attitude:
• Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta by Geto Boys
• This is the first of two montage sequences in the film showing Peter's
  new attitude and his uncanny ability to get away with it as well as its
  unfortunate effects on Lumbergh car
• Watching Kung Fu
• Midweek fishing outing
• Comes in to work to use TPS reports to clean his fish on
• More Kung Fu watching
• Altering the cubicle aka: veal fattening pen--nice view
• END OF MONTAGE
• Playing a bit of Tetris
• More confrontation avoidance with getting Milton to talk to payroll about
  his missing check
• Moves Milton into Storage B--he's less important to keep around in the
  office than the boxes that fill his cubicle
16. A Little Housecleaning:
• Always better to fire people on a Friday. The only job I was ever fired
  from, I actually gave my notice before the firing came down, but I would
  have gotten axed on a Monday
• Follows the widely held belief that wanting something lessens your chances
  of getting it. The guys who tried to keep their jobs, lost them and the
  guy who couldn't care less, got promoted.
• I wonder if they'll get a new printer
• Michael's apartment. It looks like an identicle layout to Peter's apartment
  except the cupboards a different color, he doesn't have the microwave hood,
  etc. But otherwise the same layout out living room, kitchen, dining room
  and computer area in the opposite end.
• More Navy Seals stuff also points to this as being Michael's apartment.
• Referencing Superman 3... the beginning of the end of the Superman movies
17. Payback:
• This is Peter's apartment. See, he already has a better dinky apartment
  than Michael and he doesn't have to share a cubical either.
• It may not be that interesting to note, but I'll say it anyway. What
  will turn out as many employees last day at Initech will start out as "Hawaiian
  Shirt Day"
• This is the second montage (Down For Whatever by Ice Cube) and serves
  as both the "Here's how I see it all going down" and the "how
  it went down"
• Continuity error: Michael's mouse changes from a one button Apple ADB
  mouse with no mousepad when viewed from below to a 2 button mouse with a
  mousepad when viewed from above.
18. All About Tom:
• Check it out: The introduction of Drew the office idiot played by Greg
  Pitts
• Here it seems Tom was told about his being layed off via a letter earlier
  in the week and, sure enough, there was an incident...at least an accident
• Great stunt, well set up--total shock....the garage door coming down
  sells it for me since I've been taught through years of movie watching that
  a door closing the end a scene will be the last significant event in that
  shot
19. The Going Away Present:
• Tell me you have never beat the hell out of a misbehaving piece of technology.
• The movie's third montage sequence (Still by Geto Boys). A gang style
  beating on a helpless printer.
• Do not try this at home. You must wear gloves, safety boots and safety
  glasses...a particle mask might be good too.
• Punching circuit boards barefisted with raised soldered prongs like that
  will hurt
20. Tom's Barbecue:
• So who does get that money? That rounded off money gets kept by the bank
  doesn't it. That's my money isn't it?
• The nazis had pieces of flair that the made the jews wear....nice
• That is one heck of a water tower and is evidently a trademark of Mike
  Judge's work...or so IMDb tells me
• The guys area asking the lawyer about what prison is like, before they
  even get the slightest hint that their plan is gonna get them into trouble--saves
  time later since we already know they're headed for hard time.
• Notice how Peter doesn't care so much that Joanna gets around. He only
  flips out when he thinks that she got around with Lumburgh.
21. Lumburgh's Girl:
• Something went a bit weird with this scene. She starts out saying that
  she doesn't think something was such a good idea--we have no idea what--and
  then peter brings up the Lumbergh thing. The scene serves its purpose I
  guess, but it just has no motivation behind it.
22. Some Mundane Details:
• ChaChing!!
• $305,326.13
• Lumbergh's 41st birthday
• Milton doesn't get a piece of cake. Makes sense since he doesn't get
  a paycheck, why should he get cake?
• Mildred and Patti Hill pulled in another royalty check for "Happy
  Birthday"
23. The Last Straw:
• Lumbergh comes in drinking from a coffee mug, which magically turns into
  a piece of cake. He eats his cake (same piece?) beside a sign that clearly
  says "No Smoking, Eating or Drinking in this Area" He finishes
  it off, throws it out and suddenly has his mug back again which switches
  hands between shots.
• Milton has had it.
24. Money Laundering:
• How much has the world changed since this movie came out:
• Y2K was never that big a problem
• Characters like Samir are rare after 9/11
• and the internet is such a source of information now that these guys
  probably would have successfully laundered the money after a quick education
  in the process after an easy Google search
• Ron Lumbergh! Of course! A character we've never heard of who works
  at a competing software company!
• Orlando Jones as Steve the former crack addict another MadTV alumnist
  along with David Herman
25. Coming Clean:
• Peter dreams that he is represented by Tom's lawyer and is sentenced
  by a judge played by long-time soap opera actor Jack Betts... who was also
  on MadTV where he played...a judge
• Peter decides to come clean about the money and appologizes to Joanna
  about the Lumbergh thing
26. Money to Burn:
• So Peter gives back the money and opt to take all the blame
• ...meanwhile Milton has had enough and finally sets the building on fire
  before Lumburgh comes into the office
27. This is the Life:
• Peter gets a job on the crew that cleans up the burnt remains of Initech
• The boys get jobs at Intertode
• Milton, who apparently found the money, has gone on vacation
28. End Titles:
• Shove This Jay-Oh-Bee by Canibis and Biz Markie ...you can hear the occasional
  Lumburgh "yeaaah" sampled in the song
• Outtakes
• Credit: COPS Courtesy of Twentieth Television... huh?
• Credit: This movie was cut entirely on a computer. ...kind of assumed
  now.