Episode #805: Willow
Added 2025-06-10 04:00:03 +0000 UTC“There’re piles of skulls, which of course I appreciate” - Steve on the set design
On this week’s episode, Totally Cool Awesome 80s Month and the Summer Blockbuster Extravaganza pay tribute to the late, great Val Kilmer with a convo about the super-fun Ron Howard fantasy flick, Willow! How amazing are Warwick and Val together on screen? Isn’t it refreshing that Davis was just allowed to put a shirt on and be this character, without getting covered in prosthetics or whatever else? Wouldn’t things have been just fine in this movie without the Brownies flying around? And how amazing is that two-headed Siskel & Ebert monster? PLUS: Queen Bavmorda accidentally touches The Ooze and becomes Super Bavmorda (and is also played by Kevin Nash)!
Willow stars Warwick Davis, Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, Jean Marsh, Patricia Hayes, Billy Barty, Mark Northover, Pat Roach, David Sternberg, Phil Fondacaro, Tony Cox, Kevin Pollak, Rick Overton, and Gavan O’Herlihy as Airk; directed by Ron Howard.
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Original cover art by Felipe Sobreiro.
Comments
I have been way too internet creator-pilled: when y’all made the joke about Willow wanting to magic full time a voice in my head shouted “so if you guys could just remember to like and subscribe and sign up for the Patreon by the end of the harvest I should be able to make wizarding my job”
The Mad Jay Woman
2025-06-15 02:02:12 +0000 UTCtook me all the way back to my McDonalds Willow cups w the two head monster. Fuck Berglecuck. Loved the ep, fellas. Long live Kilmer in our hearts.
Brandon
2025-06-15 00:51:51 +0000 UTCSteve, here's the problem with fucking after you turn into an animal... What happens when you fuck a cat and you realize that it's the best experience ever? Then you have to live as a human just knowing that for the rest of your life?
Jamie
2025-06-14 17:56:45 +0000 UTCGung Ho, not a big hit in the Motor City….during theRonnie Raygun years when your entire neighborhood worked for the big 3, plants closing, people losing their houses , or forced to move out of state ….anyways they showed a trailer of this once at the local theater and the all hell broke loose. People were so touchy the local rock stations wouldn’t even play “ Turning Japanese “ by the Vapors. Good wholesome Republican days….
Catboyslim
2025-06-12 20:57:55 +0000 UTCBrush-tail possums are everywhere in Australia. Probably the native animal that had adapted to urban life the best. They live in trees in people’s backyards in the inner city. Cute, but they make horrible growling noises and scare the crap out of you when they go pounding over your roof at 3am.
Craig
2025-06-12 03:28:16 +0000 UTC"You want em to put the lady in handcuffs? They're dogs!" - Andrew. Lol! My pick for the episode tagline
Smaug
2025-06-11 19:51:32 +0000 UTCSure, but removing it was diabolical. They also forced Warwick to take down everything about it from his socials. So he can’t talk about this big project he recently starred in. It’s a spot in his resume that he can’t use. Warwick, and people with dwarfism, have done so much for Hollywood only to be treated like garbage.
DRKITTENPHD
2025-06-11 17:49:10 +0000 UTCWHM true crime podcast - "Cereal" and it's mostly the guys reviewing assorted breakfast options
Matt
2025-06-11 16:10:38 +0000 UTCI have never seen this movie. I was 16 in 1988 so I felt like I was "too old" to see it and I've never thought about going back.
Christopher Oxentine
2025-06-11 14:16:31 +0000 UTCWarwick Davis had great chemistry with the two kids that played his children. I found their relationship very cute
RJ Cunningham
2025-06-11 08:53:57 +0000 UTC😂
Clever Girl
2025-06-11 01:51:01 +0000 UTCHe pronounced it exactly like a STUPID. FAT. DAIKINI! Which is something my wife and I still call each other and we are totally healthy
Winson Paine
2025-06-10 20:36:29 +0000 UTCWhat was George Lucas thinking?? He should be sued again
Jan
2025-06-10 17:48:02 +0000 UTCGarb.
MarkNM
2025-06-10 17:32:32 +0000 UTCWillow was actually a fun side scrolling arcade game during Capcom's short but good era, experimenting with D&D as a side scrolling beat'em up with a leveling system and class system. Love this movie.
Daniel Garcia
2025-06-10 16:42:10 +0000 UTCSpeaking of LOTR similarities, this was also filmed in New Zealand
Eren Keskin
2025-06-10 16:26:45 +0000 UTCI have a confession... I've never seen Willow and I lied when I was 10 saying I saw it, and described a scene from Labyrinth... My charade has shamed me every since
Watch_N_Rewatch
2025-06-10 16:02:58 +0000 UTCIf only Lucas had gotten the "Chosen One Prophecy" shit out of his system here.
MarkNM
2025-06-10 15:40:29 +0000 UTCDo we dare mention the Lucas/Claremont sequel novels?
James C Harris
2025-06-10 12:59:13 +0000 UTCOddly I have drifted towards the "we are gonna use some made up words, figure it out" vs explaining. I didn't have trouble with it when I was a kid, and shit like the MCU over explaining everything so the cinemasins shitheel types won't complain vs. a good script that gives context clues , I know what I will take
Winson Paine
2025-06-10 12:29:22 +0000 UTCShe was a cunning Lady…and a good Hawke
Jonnie Sea
2025-06-10 12:03:07 +0000 UTC“PLUS: Queen Bavmorda accidentally touches The Ooze and becomes Super Bavmorda (and is also played by Kevin Nash)!” - this is why I come here
Jonnie Sea
2025-06-10 12:02:21 +0000 UTCEric mentioned Ladyhawke! That's a name I've not heard in a long time. I feel like it'd be a decent episode, but I haven't seen it in like 20 years.
Tim O'
2025-06-10 10:51:41 +0000 UTCI also loved Gung Ho as a kid, it was on heavy cable rotation and it was the 80s so my young ass didn't notice how racist it was but mostly Watanabe and Keaton are so amazingly charming on camera I was swayed
Winson Paine
2025-06-10 10:38:50 +0000 UTCThat tv show was absolutely rancid though. The weirdest decision was filling the soundtrack with bad covers of 80s rock songs
Robin Fry
2025-06-10 09:02:05 +0000 UTCJumping off an Andrew comment - I also adore when we are putting costumes on animals in movies (including here in this movie). I *strongly* encourage folks to watch (or at least look up clips) of the 1982 movie "Deadly Eyes" where the filmmakers dressed little dachshunds up to look like giant killer rats and it's literally the cutest thing ever. I had a ball with that movie for that reason alone.
Busiris
2025-06-10 06:39:00 +0000 UTCI watched this movie so many times. Even as a kid...I fast forwarded or took a break when the brownies appeared on screen. I disliked them as much as I disliked that bat guy in the Neverending Story.
Clever Girl
2025-06-10 05:36:52 +0000 UTCSaw this one a ton when I was a kid (one afternoon in fifth grade we watched it in lieu of actually learning stuff) and have always enjoyed it for what it is.
Ed Harris
2025-06-10 05:33:08 +0000 UTCI love it too. Doc was soo good though.
Clever Girl
2025-06-10 05:33:04 +0000 UTCCracking up that Andrew was the only one to pronounce "daikini" correctly, but also said it the least. Eric seemed unsure everytime he said it, but that didn't stop him from saying it A LOT. I love u dudes. 😂
Clever Girl
2025-06-10 05:30:01 +0000 UTCListening to the ep this morning reminded me that the ONLY thing I've ever won in my entire life (literally the only thing) was a huge WILLOW poster that was first prize in a tie-in competition run by a British breakfast cereal company. I would have been....10 years old? Still remember how buzzed I was to win that thing.
Gareth Spark
2025-06-10 05:16:38 +0000 UTCMy friend is that kid who grew up with the grinch and likes it.
Luke Gordnier
2025-06-10 04:49:29 +0000 UTCThis honestly might be my favorite Kilmer performance.
johnny stocker
2025-06-10 04:09:48 +0000 UTCWillow is like Hook, you had to see it at the right time as a kid, and you are forever devoted. We had it on Betamax!
Jaime Lee Ezell
2025-06-10 04:08:03 +0000 UTCThat’s right
Jan
2025-06-10 04:07:40 +0000 UTCRon Howard is hit or miss, but when he hits he almost atomizes the ball. I will love this movie FOREVER. (I actually would sneak the novelization of this movie into church when I was a kid so I could read it when I couldn’t watch it.)
imipolexGforce
2025-06-10 04:04:39 +0000 UTCI knew it! Willow is too dope! ❤️
Kyle N.
2025-06-10 04:02:13 +0000 UTC
