192 Timey Wimey #19: Groundhog Day

Live from Master Closet Studios, you’re listening to the only podcast on the internet that has already recorded this episode 2 times! It’s the Noobs and the Whovian! 

My name is Austin and I’m the Whovian and these are my sons Corbin and Tripp and we’re the noobs! 

And joining us from the St. Louis Annex offices of Master Closet Studios is our Classic Whovian – I’m Jared!

This is the podcast that introduces a whole new generation to Doctor Who by watching an episode each week and discussing it from the perspective of a dad who’s seen it before, and two sons who haven’t. Except for when we don’t.

Welcome to Episode 192 covering Timey Wimey #19, Groundhog Day

Super-short Recap

This is the one where Christmas do-over but good. This is the one where Christmas do-over but good. This is the one where it feels like we’ve done this before. This is the one where Christmas do-over but good.

Who’s Responsible for this?!

• Director: Harold Ramis
  • Egon Spengler
  • He also directed Caddyshack, National Lampoon’s Vacation, Multiplicity, & 4 episodes of The Office
• Screen Story: Harold Ramis & Danny Rubin
  • The original story idea was Danny Rubin’s, who said that Christmas Everyday was his inspiration
  • He also, according to Ramis, used the Five Stages of Death and Dying as a template

Where do I know that guy from?

• Larry – Chris Elliott
  • Get a Life
• DJ – Richard Henzel
  • His pic on the Amazon X-ray was the alarm clock!
• Man in Hallway (Porkchop) – Ken Hudson Campbell
  • Max in Armageddon
  • Santa in Home Alone
  • Lust in Herman’s Head which ran from 1991-1994 (this movie was 1993)
• Ned Ryerson – Stephen Tobolowsky
  • Did an episode of The West Wing playing Dr. Max Milkman
  • 279 acting credits between 1977 and now
• The Pennsylvania Polka that plays in the town square is by Frank Yankovic!
• Buster – Brian Doyle-Murray, Bill’s brother
  • Noah Vanderhoff in Wayne’s World
• Doctor – Harold Ramis
• Fred – the young Wreslemania couple – Michael Shannon
  • ZOD!

Quotables

• I quote so much of this movie!
  • NED! RYERSON!
  • I’m not gonna live by their rules anymore!
  • I’m bettin he swerves first.
  • Morons, your bus is leaving.
  • Don’t drive angry!

Misc Trivia

• According to Keelie, Puxawutawney Phil has only been right 40% of the time over the last 10 years. 
• Apparently there was a scene where Phil destroyed his room and shaved his head, then a close-up shot pulls back to show everything back to normal but they couldn’t get the effects right and went with him just snapping the pencil instead.
• Originally, the script said that an ex-girlfriend of Phil’s put a curse on him, causing the time loop
• The first version of the story had Phil wake up on Feb 3 only to have Rita frantically explaining to him that she’s reliving Feb 3 over and over again!
• How long was he stuck?
  • IMDb says there are 38 days (or parts thereof) depicted in the film
  • According to the website Wolf Gnards, Bill Murray spends eight years, eight months and sixteen days trapped in Groundhog Day. The Movie Truth review series calculated Murray spent 4,576 days (twelve years, six months, and eleven days) stuck in the loop. While the website Obsessed With Film claims he was trapped 12,403 days, just under thirty-four years, in order to account for becoming a master piano player, ice sculptor, et cetera.
  • In an early version of the script, he professed his love for Rita towards the end saying, “You want to know what’s really amazing? I’ve been waiting for you everyday for 10,000 years. I dream of you every night of my life. You’ve been my constant weapon against despair, and just knowing you exist has kept me alive.

Random stuff we noticed

• What if Peter Venkman was a weatherman?
  • I swear Bill Murray played the same character in about 8 movies in the 80’s-90’s
• Don’t engage a weatherman in chit chat about the weather!
• The first time I saw this as a kid, I thought that he was reliving the day because he kept dying, so I kept waiting for him to die the first day
• I’m a celebrity in an emergency – I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!
• 10,000 years without a hot shower!
• The X-ray said the Piano Teacher was in the bed and breakfast. She was on the street and said she was going over to Gobbler’s Knob, it’s Groundhog Day! 52:30
• The perfect date section is like speed-running! Just repeat the level over and over
  • How many times did Bill Murray get slapped for this movie?!
• Did he actually get his doctorate in chiro 

Random stuff we MISSED!

• In the hospital scene when he’s trying to get the old man some help, a boy is seen in the background with a broken leg. It’s the boy who fell out of the tree later!
• In a bit about who died and who stayed dead, IMDb casually mentions “The fate of the cops chasing Phil on the railroad tracks is not shown, but since there was no crash as the train went by, it’s likely they got off in time.”

Time Travel Details

Method

• Magic?

Rules

• EVERYTHING resets

Did they follow their own rules?

Things they got right

• Pretty well, yeah

Things they got wrong

• Ocassionally, he was arriving at Gobbler’s Knob at a different time, but the music was in the same spot

Can we talk about the implications?

• What does everyone in his life think happened to him in Pawatawney? 
  • His co-workers
  • His family/friends
• What happens when he dies?
  • There’s days where he died before breakfast. Does he just stop existing for the next 22 hours?!
• What happens at 6am?
  • If he’s still awake, does he just suddenly find himself unconscious for a half a second

Was it good?

• Was it a good story?
  • Austin – yer darn tootin!
  • Corbin – yes
  • Tripp – 
  • Jared – Absopositively
• Was it a good time travel story?
  • Austin – yes
  • Corbin – 
  • Tripp – 
  • Jared – Yes, yes it was.

Wibbly Wobbly Memories

• We’re continuing with our Best of Series with The Best of Ten. We’ll cover Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead.
• Tripp
• Corbin
• Jared
• Austin

The Game Plan 

• Then we’re headed back to the Master Plan with The Five Doctors.
• After that, I’ve made an executive decision. We did Groundhog Day, but it’s Christmas. We did Groundhog Day, but it’s New Years. Now we’ve done Groundhog Day but it’s… Groundhog Day. Next, we’re gonna do Groundhog Day, but it’s Star Trek!