Coming this Friday, and every other Friday for the next few months, will be a new podcast covering one of the most important topics of our time: The Fast and the Furious film franchise. To make this extra fun, my co-host, Leslie Hanna, has never seen any of the films.
How is that possible? I have two theories about why people don’t watch the franchise, which I sincerely love. The first is that car people who haven’t seen the films are so overwhelmed by the memes and short clips that they just immediately assume they don’t need to ever toss one on the screen. The second belief I have is that, because the films were subject to so many creative changes and so much bizarre retconning, some of the narratives and characters get lost.
Our new podcast, The Fate of the Curious: The Autopian Fast & Furious Rewatch Podcast, is an attempt to either prove or disprove these theories. I cannot go back in time, wipe my brain, and forget what I’ve seen. Leslie, though, has a mostly clean slate when it comes to these films and can therefore judge them fairly.
We will also be watching them in the mostly correct chronological order, with all the little short films that go in between. This means that we’ll be going from the original The Fast and the Furious straight into The Turbocharged Prelude to 2 Fast 2 Furious and then into Fast and Furious (the fourth one). Part of this game is that Leslie doesn’t know which film is coming next, though we’re far enough into filming that she’s figured out Tokyo Drift might not be for a while (and there’s one more surprise film coming in between).
In an effort to watch everything relevant, we will include the key short films in between. Does this include the Spy Racers spin-off animated series? I don’t think so, though it might include the cut scenes from the Fast & Furious: Crossroads video games.
The series has been designed to be enjoyable if you’ve seen all of the films or seen none of them. The goal is to use this influential series as a way to talk both about the franchise and about how car culture in general has changed in the last 20 years. If we have an episode every other week, we should be able to get to the last episode just in time for the last film in the franchise to debut. Of course, then there’s the TV shows, but we’ll have a little time before those debut.
Here’s a teaser trailer to give you an idea of what’s coming:
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Enough people reached out to me saying they haven’t seen the films that I think we’ll have enough guests to come along for various episodes, and one of the fun games we’re going to play is that Leslie will have to describe everything that’s happened up to the point of whatever film they’re watching without having a good idea of the plot of the next film, meaning it’ll be either helpful or extremely not helpful.
This is also an experiment in producing a longer, more produced podcast, with Griffin doing a lot of work to make it look wonderful. Come back Friday for the first installment, as well as an article from Leslie on the whole experience through the first film.
Top graphic: The Autopian
Bah! You didn’t even mention the ORIGINAL original FF movie. Although it seems to late to fit it in chronologically, but somewhere, somehow you need to slip in the 1954 version! For those unaware, here is the plot of 1954 The Fast and The Furious:
A trucker framed for murder breaks out of jail, takes a young woman hostage, and enters her sports car in cross-border road race hoping to get to Mexico before the police catch him.
Sounds like an FF franchise movie to me!
I’ve seen that one.
I think I’ve seen two, that’s enough for me. Did they ever go into space?
Yes
Yeah, I’m good.
Wow, that’s going to be….something. I may listen in just for the morbid curiosity.
I saw the 1st one on theatres. It was bad so I never entertained revisiting the franchise.
I don’t feel like most people that are really into cars are really into F&F. It’s a cartoon caricature of cars. It would be like sports fans automatically being into superhero movies.
Woah Woah Woah, most Car people are into at least the first few FF movies. You’re very much an exception not the norm.
Real Damn Professionals would watch Tokyo Drift FIRST. Cause it’s the best one, full stop.
Otherwise I agree with Buzz, you gotta watch them in theatrical release order so the Retconning can be appreciated.
If you aren’t watching them backwards à la The Worst Idea of All Time, I strongly think you should watch them in release order. You really have to experience the retconning as it happened to get the full impact.
Moving the movies around so it is presented “chronologically” does a disservice to the viewer. Don’t do Tokyo Drift between 6 and 7. Sure it makes more sense that way, but that’s not what the franchise is about.
Can you tell us again what all the fuss is “about”?
What is the fuss about? FAMILY
If you want me to elaborate on my previous point, here you go.
The series has a flexible relationship with time and mortality. Characters “die,” they come back, they’re bad, then they’re good. Siblings appear out of nowhere. It’s the kind of thing that happens when an action flick about heisting dvd players grows into an 11+ movie series.
Things that happened early on had repercussions that were impossible to anticipate at the time. Contract negotiations meant that characters may not have appeared in a movie, but then they get resolved and now we have to explain why they’re back. A notable actor notably died during production. All kinds of stuff IRL with in-universe consequences.
What the fuss here is about is that an early series movie has a character that lots of fans like. The fans want more of the character but *for reasons* they can’t have that character, unless stuff that takes place after that movie actually happens before that movie in-universe. So it does, even though that wasn’t the intent at all during production of the early series movie.
I’m trying to be vague to avoid spoilers, but timey wimey gets fucky wucky and I think it should be kept that way because that’s how most viewers originally experienced it.
Sorry I was trying to make a South Park joke and failed, but it IS ALL ABOUT FAMILY.
I am 48 and had not seen any of them until a recent Delta flight where I watched the original (I’m sort of like David insofar as I need regular cultural learning moments in my adult life thanks to a childhood (outside the US) essentially deprived of them lol). Anyway, it was great!
But Matt’s comment about the overwhelm is so real for me. And also, everyone else who’s seen them seems to have such strong feelings about them.
If the original taught me anything it’s that I don’t want to have to pay such close attention, like there’s an exam afterwards.
So I’m intrigued by this podcast series …
I recently learned that a flight from Milan, Italy, to Philadelphia is 4.5 Fast and Furious movies long. Was halfway through Fast 5 before the landing gear came down.
Ha ha … good to know! In that case, I might be able to get through them all in our next trip back to/from Australia! Delta’s movie catalog will be the limiting factor, I suppose.
I was uncharacteristically on an American Airlines (usually fly Delta because I live near a hub) flight, and they had the entire franchise.
Slight tangent from FnF, but I was on the London to Austin flight last month, and if I start Fellowship of the Ring taxing to the runway at Heathrow, then Return of the King ends as we’re taxing to the gate in Austin. Of course that includes a couple of pauses for bathroom breaks.
I am intrigued by these shorter films and to see where chronologically the best movie of the series fits (yes, talking about Tokyo Drift).
The first few F&F were polarizing, you either loved them or hated them.
If you were the target demographics, especially ones living in LA, you connected with the the 1st movie. Some of the cars you see in the movie were the ones you saw at the car show, or some of the filming location you were just at for a rave a yr ago. Some of the scenes were over dramatized for the movie, but yea that was how it was at the street races.
Tokyo Drift is the best one. I will take no arguments.
This is the way.
I’m so glad the comments are in consensus on this one. Even Matt.
From the soundtrack, to the characters, the cars, and just the fun storyline, it is the absolute high water mark for the whole franchise. Even my wife likes it, and she HATES F&F.
It’s #2, the original can’t be beat
URGENT!!!
That’s about it. Please acknowledge
I’ve never seen or wanted to see any of “The Fast and the Furious” films and I’ve never listened to or wanted to listen to a podcast.
So why did I click on this article???
To read the comments, of course!
Pod people frighten me.
I have two iPods that still function perfectly and I use them to listen to music in my truck and also while walking on the treadmill.
Hopefully that doesn’t frighten you. 🙂
This Anonymous Person gets it.
I’ll offer one tiny lil counterpoint: the movies have apparently been effective in getting some neat Hot Wheels made. I’ve got an F&F packaged, but otherwise unmolested, 2010 BMW M5, so I guess there’s one in one of the movies. Between that and DANGER TO MANIFOLD that’s everything I know about them.
I collect 1:64 (Matchbox, Hot Wheels, Johnny Lightning, etc.) El Caminos. I have about 50 different ones.
Turns out one of them was a F&F packaged one originally, but I found it already out of the packaging at a flea market for around $1.
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/o0cAAeSw-jdqXppJ/s-l1600.webp
I never knew it had anything to do with those movies until I read your comment and decided to use Google to search for it.
See? The comment section here really is awesome!
You should also include Justin Lin’s “Better Luck Tomorrow” as that is the first movie with Sung Kang playing the Han character, though the plot has nothing to do with any F&F shenanigans.
Shhh… it’s a surprise.
OK, I am not saying it’s wrong that she’s never seen any of these movies, but I am wondering how anyone could avoid them.
Full disclosure: I have always found them ridiculous, but lost interest when they became REALLY ridiculous, as in “what if a bunch of street racers suddenly turned into Roger Moore-era James Bond” ridiculous.
I too have managed to avoid seeing any of the films.
I thought they banned hazing.
I thought this was covered by the Geneva Convention.
I’ve also never seen any of the films. I was a new driver when the first movie came out. My friends and I were more interested in AutoX and the more positive aspects of car culture which vehemently disagreed with street racing.
A small handful of jocks at my high school got way into it and formed their own street racing “club”. It consisted of:
I’m trying not to sound like a snob, but that’s all to say the movies looked ridiculous and I never watched them on principle.
I’ve seen parts of maybe a couple of them, and have had no desire to watch them from start to finish.
I saw the first one when it came out. I think I may have seen the second one, but I have no memory of it.
I’m preeeeeetty sure I’ve seen at least part of the third one, but I don’t remember much of it either.
After that, I’ve avoided them. I just can’t turn my brain off to that degree. Those parts may never come back online!
I’ve mentioned this before, but I saw the first one opening night in the theater and left being entertained but not impressed. I rented the second one from Blockbuster and spent the evening facepalming. I saw Tokyo Drift in the theater for some reason and still consider it the best one (low bar, I know). I eventually watched the fourth and fifth ones many years after release, and gave up completely on the series when they dragged the bank vault through Rio. I don’t mind bad movies, and I love stupid movies, but the F&F films are both bad and stupid but then take themselves way too seriously. No thanks.
Never seen one of them and I’m good with that. But you kids have fun
Take an IQ test before. Watch them all. Take another IQ test afterwards. Share results.
I’ve only seen 1, 2, and 4. I really enjoyed 1 and 2 because I got my license right as 1 came out, and duh. I skipped Drift because I saw it at the time as a spinoff, and wasn’t interested. I watched 4 as it picked up the story again, but after that I had graduated, moved to a new city, and honestly didn’t really have the time or interest to watch many movies for the next few years. Met my wife around the time 7 came out, and she doesn’t like action movies, so I’ve just never seen them as with kids, I never just sit down with 3 hours to myself.
Maybe some day.
Actually, 3 is not a spinoff! It’s also the best one.
Telling me 3 is the best one is emphatically *not* the way to get me to see 4 through n.
Hah true that, I now recall that I actually did watch like the first 30 minutes of Drift at one point after I got my 350z around 2010… but I got bored and got up to do something else.
I can relate. If I could have 3 entire hours to myself, probably would use them with something else than watch F&F movies.
I’m lucky to get an hour to watch a half of a college football game on Saturdays! Usually have to watch it on my phone so I can be available to keep track of the kids going in and out of the house or to a neighbor’s, hear a million questions of “can I do X” after they get back, and then listen to them complain they are bored when the answer is inevitably “no”.
But I suppose I could watch some muscle-y guys brood and cars blow up in short spurts, as it sounds like the movies are just nonsensical fun anyway and I wouldn’t need to concentrate!
I’ve never seen any of them, and most likely never will.
Pretty sure the last car-related movie I saw was either “Repo Man” or “Death Race 2000.”
Absolute classics.
Here I was thinking that it was just movies from 1-10? There are other things released? I know I live under a rock, but I do poke my head out for car related things.
Kudos to Griffin for putting in the work. Go buy him a tank of fuel for his Vette as a bonus.
I will gladly take a tank of gas for the beefy beast.
And note: I’ve listened to/watched the pod for episode one maybe 10 times in total and am doing another final review as I write this. This is my Sisyphean task
Immediately went to Apple Podcasts to subscribe, and well there’s nothing.
Where will the podcast be published?
It’ll be on Apple and elsewhere.
Thanks, will check again on Friday.
https://feeds.captivate.fm/the-fate-of-the-curious/ Here’s the feed.
Does this mean you’re going to make her sit through a Steven Seagal marathon next? Seems like a logical next step
No no no, you’re mistaking ‘abuse’ with ‘cruel and unusual punishment’
Man, to follow up all the F&F movies with a Segalacaust would be pretty rough.
I don’t think Matt would do that because he’d have to watch them too.
I mean, c’mon, he’s got a family….
Seems like a “DANGER TO MANIFOLD!!” next step.