Don't Encourage Us

By Don't Encourage Us

Most people watch a movie. Some people can't stop reverse-engineering the decisions inside it. Don't Encourage Us is for the second group.

Each episode takes a film, series, or creative property and e... more

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FAQs about Don't Encourage Us:

How many episodes does Don't Encourage Us have?

The podcast currently has 55 episodes available.

Don't Encourage Us episodes:

October 09, 2023Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning — Are Ethan Hunt and the AI the Same Character?
Join the Hunt and go rogue with our hosts as they disassemble Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1, discussing the impossible action, plot, and characters of the seven-quel.
Topics:
The Ethan Hunt character problem: his behavior is a sociopath's, his dialogue is a hero's

Hunt as a mirror of the Entity: both claim to save humanity while treating people as objects

Dead Reckoning's exposition problem: two movies' worth crammed into 20 minutes, hidden by action

The source code submarine plot: why none of the logistics make sense and whether that's intentional

Paris switching sides: why one act of mercy doesn't undo years of sadism

Gabriel's missing motivation: what does he actually want and why?

The key, the submarine, and the misdirect theory

Can Mission Impossible survive without Tom Cruise? TV series, app concept, franchise future

The AR scavenger hunt app pitch: location-based impossible missions in real cities

Barbie: a cult film with blockbuster production values that got marketed as something it isn't

Megalopolis: Coppola's $120M self-funded film that distributors won't touch

Running Man remake with Edgar Wright and Glenn Powell

Columbus Day / Expeditionary Force: why audiobooks at 1.75x speed ruins voice acting
Explore space with an a**hole A.I. in the excellent Expeditionary Force novel series by Craig Alanson

Reach the show at [email protected]
Stop by and discourage us on Instagram, X, TikTok, Discord, YouTube, and Threads
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Listen to all the music we've discussed in every episode so far on our Encouraged Grooves playlist on YouTube and Spotify and find your next favorite song.
...more
1h 3min
October 02, 2023Is AI-Assisted Writing Still Writing? Where Ghostwriting Ends and Cheating Begins
The question isn't whether AI can write. It's whether AI-assisted creative work is still yours.

Topics:
Mark Greaney's creative process: why the Grey Man author takes long walks instead of marathon desk sessions to keep action scenes fresh across 10+ novels

Ghostwriting in fiction: Tom Clancy novels are still published under his name by other writers — how is that different from AI assistance?

The spectrum from editor to ghostwriter to AI: where does assistance end and replacement begin?

Physical labor was replaced by machines in the industrial revolution — now it's intellectual labor — what do humans value about themselves after that?

Why the Hollywood strikes are partly about drawing this line before the culture moves past it

The smartphone as existing cognitive enhancement: Elon Musk's argument that the only difference between your phone and Neuralink is interface speed

"USDA Certified 80% Human" — a joke that accidentally explains a real branding solution

Why law can't move fast enough but cultural acceptance can: if audiences reject fully AI-generated performances, the market follows

The Mandalorian Season 3 as cautionary tale: a city that can't function without robots because nobody learned to do anything

AI as assistant vs. AI as replacement: the case that the distinction matters and is enforceable through culture, not regulation

The buddy comedy pitch: one human, one AI hologram sidekick giving terrible advice — Planes, Trains and Automobiles but your partner is a Creative Commons avatar
Timestamps:
0:00 — Mark Greaney's creative process and the Grey Man series

5:28 — Ghostwriting and AI: where's the line?

11:07 — Is all creativity assisted? The philosophical case

17:10 — AI and labor: the new industrial revolution

23:35 — Setting boundaries: assistant vs. replacement

30:55 — The buddy comedy pitch and cultural solutions
Reach the show at [email protected]
Stop by and discourage us on Instagram, X, TikTok, Discord, YouTube, and Threads
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Listen to all the music we've discussed in every episode so far on our Encouraged Grooves playlist on YouTube and Spotify and find your next favorite song.
...more
35min
September 25, 2023Story Break: The Return of Magic — Infinite Stories, Finite Exposition
Topics discussed:
The pitch: magic slowly returning to modern Earth, tied to materials and geography

The worldbuilding rule: supernatural creatures are determined by where the materials in their environment originate

Why cities fall first: globalized supply chains create hybridized magical threats

Alloy creatures: when materials from different regions combine, so do their mythologies

The surprise apocalypse structure: starting intimate, revealing global scope gradually

Character design: a mute, grieving Japanese girl who can't communicate with anyone around her

The uncle as rigid thinker: scientific worldview that fails when reality's rules change

The Lenape tribe connection: Central Park's Native American mythology as the local threat

The raijū: a Japanese thunder dog that caused the train accident in the opening

Theme: isolation vs. community — ancient cultures survived through shared knowledge

Let the Right One In and The Omen as tonal references

Format debate: low-budget art house horror vs. streaming series vs. graphic novel

Silent film possibility: the girl never speaks, audio distortion on background dialogue

Fast and Furious: a series of clips connected by barbecues

Stargate franchise: Amazon's acquisition, the canceled relaunch, writer's strike casualties

The Martian and Project Hail Mary: Andy Weir recommendations

Silo (Apple TV): short story to novel series to TV adaptation pipeline
Reach the show at [email protected]
Stop by and discourage us on Instagram, X, TikTok, Discord, YouTube, and Threads
https://linktr.ee/dontencourageus
Listen to all the music we've discussed in every episode so far on our Encouraged Grooves playlist on YouTube and Spotify and find your next favorite song.
...more
1h 14min
September 18, 2023Black Mirror S6: When Did 'Technology Is Dangerous' Become 'Everyone Sucks'?
Black Mirror Season 6 — episode-by-episode breakdown.
Topics discussed:
The series drift: from technology commentary to misanthropy

Joan Is Awful: a statement piece about AI image rights that actors signed onto because they care about the issue, not the script

Why the ending follows characters we've never met and resolves nothing about the legal system it critiqued

Loch Henry: a passive protagonist who never changes — is that corruption or just floating?

The mother's suicide: why would a remorseless serial killer suddenly feel guilt?

Beyond the Sea: consciousness transfer across light years but 1960s spacecraft — the technology mismatch problem

No psychological screening, no family security, no explanation of the mission's importance

Why one astronaut would murder the other's family and then be trapped with him forever

Mazey Day: a werewolf episode with zero technology thesis — is this still Black Mirror?

Demon 79: passive woman explodes into violence — the too-passive-until-too-aggressive pattern

The budget paradox: higher production values and celebrity casting may have made the season worse

Metacritic trends: Season 1 at 89, Season 6 at 68 — the downward trajectory

Silo (Apple TV+): how a short story became a novel series became a TV show

All You Need Is Kill / Edge of Tomorrow: novel vs. film adaptation differences
Timestamps:
0:00 — Introduction

6:52 — Joan Is Awful

20:28 — Loch Henry

27:24 — Beyond the Sea

43:10 — Mazey Day and Demon 79

Reach the show at [email protected]
Stop by and discourage us on Instagram, X, TikTok, Discord, YouTube, and Threads
https://linktr.ee/dontencourageus
Listen to all the music we've discussed in every episode so far on our Encouraged Grooves playlist on YouTube and Spotify and find your next favorite song.
...more
1h 6min
September 11, 2023One Cut of the Dead: Why a $27K Zombie Film Has 100% on Rotten Tomatoes
Guest: Actor Matt Baughman
Spoiler warning: we spoil the entire film. Go watch it first — it's worth it.
One Cut of the Dead is available on Shudder (subscription) or to rent on Amazon.
Topics discussed:
Why the first 37 minutes are intentionally unwatchable and why you can't skip them

The dual-role acting challenge: playing a bad actor vs. playing the person playing the bad actor

Matt Baughman's perspective on toggling between personas in the third act

Six takes to get a 37-minute one-shot: the filming logistics

Three-act structure as a play: horror film, backstory, then the making-of reveal

The Ghost in the Box rights controversy and how it was resolved

One Cut of the Dead: Mission Remote — the pandemic Zoom spinoff (free on YouTube)

Fantasy casting an American remake: the Waiting for Guffman crew, the celebrity pet project angle

The Room comparison: when a film is so bad it becomes essential viewing

Reality show pitch: assembling the worst film crews and throwing obstacles at them

Noises Off as structural reference: British farce meets zombie filmmaking
Links:
Watch Matt Baughman in The Brother and as the hilarious Tim Pillsbury: Undercover Park Ranger.

Follow the characters to One Cut of the Dead: Mission Remote.

One Cut of the Dead

Reach the show at [email protected]
Stop by and discourage us on Instagram, X, TikTok, Discord, YouTube, and Threads
https://linktr.ee/dontencourageus
Listen to all the music we've discussed in every episode so far on our Encouraged Grooves playlist on YouTube and Spotify and find your next favorite song.
...more
1h 1min
September 04, 2023We Have a Ghost: Why Muting Your Lead Actor Breaks the Movie
Topics discussed:
Why muting David Harbour's ghost eliminates all character development

The reunion scene problem: a father seeing his daughter for the last time, and neither seems to care

The casting swap argument: Mackie as the ghost, Harbour as the dad

Christopher Landon's stated goal (80s family film mashup) vs. what the film actually delivers

The car chase that forgets it's a kids movie: flipped birds, stolen guns, near-decapitations

Ghost physics: why the rules are optional and it matters

Bear McCreary's score and his career from Battlestar Galactica to God of War

Real estate disclosure laws: do sellers have to tell you someone was murdered in the house?

Stigmatized property categories: criminal, death, public stigma, phenomena stigma

diedinhouse.com and what it actually tells you (or doesn't)

You Season 4 brief check-in: best season since the first?

Venom 2: don't bother
Links:
You and We Have a Ghost are both available on Netflix now.

Swing by diedinhouse.com and check the history of your home.

Read what Redfin has to say about disclosing deaths.

Reach the show at [email protected]
Stop by and discourage us on Instagram, X, TikTok, Discord, YouTube, and Threads
https://linktr.ee/dontencourageus
Listen to all the music we've discussed in every episode so far on our Encouraged Grooves playlist on YouTube and Spotify and find your next favorite song.
...more
1h
August 21, 2023Invincible: Why Omni-Man's Logic Is Harder to Argue With Than You Think
Topics discussed:
Robert Kirkman's Invincible's premise: what if Superman was your dad and turned out to be the villain?

How the show uses DC character analogs to build and then betray expectations

Omni-Man's moral argument: why "humans are insects" follows logically from Viltrumite values

The ultraviolence question: purposeful brutality vs. gratuitous shock

Multi-threaded storytelling: why the show works more like a soap opera than a superhero series

Robot's clone body: one of the most complicated character decisions in the genre

Cecil as moral pragmatist: the best government handler character since Nick Fury

The production pipeline: Sharon Tal Iguado's relationship with Kirkman across AMC, Cinemax, and Amazon

Voice cast breakdown: JK Simmons, Sandra Oh, Steven Yeun, Walton Goggins, Mark Hamill, Seth Rogen, and more

Cocaine Werewolf: the pitch, the implications, and the Cocaine Monster Cinematic Universe
Also discussed:
Ant-Man: Quantumania

Cocaine Bear

Columbus Day / Expeditionary Force series preview
Reach the show at [email protected]
Stop by and discourage us on Instagram, X, TikTok, Discord, YouTube, and Threads
https://linktr.ee/dontencourageus
Listen to all the music we've discussed in every episode so far on our Encouraged Grooves playlist on YouTube and Spotify and find your next favorite song.
...more
1h 2min
August 14, 2023Story Break: Hijacked — What If the Hero and the Villain Are the Same Person?
Set within the confined walls of a commercial airplane, tensions soar as a battle of wits unfolds between a resourceful passenger and a group of desperate hijackers. With each twist and turn, our hosts navigate the treacherous terrain of suspense, exploring the psychological depths of the characters. But first, listen in as one host pitches a controversial casting idea for the new Remo Williams series that everyone is sure to hate equally.
Topics discussed:
The pitch: a hijack film where the hero may also be the villain

The CIA bluff: post-9/11 policy to destroy hijacked planes and declare them accidents

Hitchcockian identity tension: the audience never knows if he's lying until the final act

Why the terrorists need to be calm professionals, not Hollywood cliché fanatics

The technology problem: how do you prove a stealth fighter is shadowing you?

Building passenger characters as audience surrogates — the boy band framework

The twist ending: he blows the plane, covers his treason, gets promoted

The counter-twist: a passenger uploaded video to YouTube before the explosion

First class vs. coach as information asymmetry and class tension

The planted terrorist: a passenger who's secretly on the other side

Usual Suspects comparison: when the dead figure it out before the living

Remo Williams Amazon reboot: the case for casting a Korean actor in whiteface as deliberate inversion

RC Bray as the gold standard for audiobook narration

Preview: Invincible Season 1 and Columbus Day / Expeditionary Force
Let R.C. Bray tell you a story sometime and check out his podcast here.
Take the Red Eye and check out Oppenheimer star Cillian Murphy in one of his earlier films.

Reach the show at [email protected]
Stop by and discourage us on Instagram, X, TikTok, Discord, YouTube, and Threads
https://linktr.ee/dontencourageus
Listen to all the music we've discussed in every episode so far on our Encouraged Grooves playlist on YouTube and Spotify and find your next favorite song.
...more
1h 4min
August 07, 2023Remo Williams The Destroyer: What a Pulp Franchise Reveals About Building IP
Topics discussed:
The Destroyer pulp fiction series: 152 novels, multiple writers, decades of publication

Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985): what went wrong with Dick Clark's franchise play

Guy Hamilton directing: four Bond films to this — why his style didn't translate to 1985

The score problem: music that fights the action instead of supporting it

Training sequences vs. Karate Kid (1984): why one became iconic and the other didn't

The "perfect accident" finale: the worst secret assassination in film history

Novel vs. film: how the books give Remo a darker, more compelling origin

The upcoming Amazon series: Breaking Bad producer, casting debates, genre classification

Action fantasy vs. action sci-fi vs. grounded action: what genre should the reboot be?

Joel Grey in yellowface: the casting choice that won't survive a modern adaptation

ChatGPT fabricating a fake martial art

AI misinformation: when confident nonsense is indistinguishable from research

The Last of Us episode 5: structural repetition, FEDRA moral ambiguity, zombie calorie math

Death Note as a Sherlock Holmes / Moriarty homage

The Alienist: forensic science before forensic science existed
Links:
Think Fast! And watch Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins on Tubi for free: https://tubitv.com/movies/306944/remo-williams-the-adventure-begins?start=true&tracking=google-feed&utm_source=google-feed

Read the story of how Remo Williams really began here: https://welib.org/md5/18190b615187b9d52ac2d0e9086746c1

Do you have burning questions about zombie nutrition? Watch episode 5 of The Last of Us and post your thoughts..

Reach the show at [email protected]
Stop by and discourage us on Instagram, X, TikTok, Discord, YouTube, and Threads
https://linktr.ee/dontencourageus
Listen to all the music we've discussed in every episode so far on our Encouraged Grooves playlist on YouTube and Spotify and find your next favorite song.
...more
1h 29min
July 31, 2023Chrysalis: Should a Machine Avenge Humanity? The Ethics of AI Retribution
Spoiler warning: we spoil Chrysalis completely. Go listen to it first — it's worth it.
Go listen to Chrysalis by SH Serrano: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Stt9eM22D2E

Or read it on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/55v9e1/chrysalis/
Topics discussed:
Chrysalis: AI wakes on dead Earth, builds a replicating army, and pursues vengeance across the galaxy

Was the AI programmed for revenge or did trauma produce it?

The massive tonal shift in Part 2 and why it works despite initially feeling like a different story

Diplomacy as the actual hero: why empathy outperformed exponential replication

Sins of the father: when is collective punishment for ancestral crimes justified?

The Anakaks betrayal: survival pragmatism vs. loyalty to your species

Why the AI had to die — and why his children hid him instead

The ChatGPT challenge: we asked it to summarize Chrysalis and it confidently invented a completely different story

AI deception, confidence without accuracy, and what that means for trust

The Last of Us episodes 3 and 4: why the Bill and Frank episode was misplaced and episode 4 felt generic
Referenced:
Life 3.0 by Max Tegmark

How the World Really Works by Vaclav Smil

White Lotus (HBO)

Barry (HBO)

Reach the show at [email protected]
Stop by and discourage us on Instagram, X, TikTok, Discord, YouTube, and Threads
https://linktr.ee/dontencourageus
Listen to all the music we've discussed in every episode so far on our Encouraged Grooves playlist on YouTube and Spotify and find your next favorite song.
...more
1h 33min

FAQs about Don't Encourage Us:

How many episodes does Don't Encourage Us have?

The podcast currently has 55 episodes available.