Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1,211.
Watching movie and TV franchises.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1,211.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
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This episode is a dialogue between Ursula and Ian about watching movies and TV shows that are based on similar stories and similar characters.
Let's get started.
Weren't you watching the same movie yesterday?
No, this is the sequel.
Yesterday, I watched Ames Pond.
This is Ames Pond Super Spy.
Wasn't this originally a TV show?
Actually, it was originally a novel, which was adapted into a long-running TV show.
Then it was turned into a movie franchise.
The new installment is coming out next month, and I can't wait.
The latest installment?
I thought it was just a trilogy.
No, the original film has spawned four sequels and two prequels so far.
So you're watching all the films again?
That's right, but I'm not stopping there.
I'm watching all of the TV show episodes again too.
And if I have time, I'll even watch the spin-off.
Spin-off?
I didn't know there had been a spin-off.
There was.
Ames Pond's brother got his own show, Jaime Pond, Building Inspector.
It wasn't very successful.
I guess we can call you a superfan.
That's right.
I'm a superfan of the super spy.
This episode is all about franchises.
F-R-A-N-C-H-I-S-E-S.
Franchises are films, television shows, video games and other products that all have the same characters and the same or similar stories.
You can think of, for example, the Star Wars franchise.
There are many different Star Wars movies. or perhaps the Jason Bourne franchise.
There are novels with Jason Bourne, and then there were movies with Jason Bourne.
These are all part of a franchise, a similar set of stories and characters.
Ursula begins our dialogue by saying, weren't you watching this same movie yesterday?
Ian says, no, this is the sequel.
S-E-Q-U-E-L.
A sequel is a show or a movie that continues the story from the previous show or movie.
So you have the first Star Wars movie and then you have a sequel which continues the story.
It tells you what happens after the end of the first movie in effect.
Nowadays, we also have what are called prequels, P-R-E-Q-U-E-L.
A prequel is a show or a movie that says or tells you what happens before the original movie.
And of course, Star Wars has sequels and prequels.
Star Trek, another popular franchise that began as a television show and then became a set of movies, has prequels and sequels also.
Ian is watching a sequel.
He says, yesterday I watched Ames Pond.
This is Ames Pond Super Spy.
A spy S-P-Y is a person whose job it is to discover secrets of another country or even another company.
Ursula says, wasn't this originally a TV show?
That is, wasn't this story first on a TV show before it was in a movie?
Ian says actually, it was originally a novel.
A novel, N-O-V-E-L, is, of course, a fictional book.
Harry Potter was originally a character in the novels, which were later made into movies.
Another way of saying made into is adapted, A-D-A-P-T-E-D, into.
You can have a story that begins as a novel, that is adapted into a movie or, in the case of our dialogue, adapted into a long-running TV show.
Long running means it was on television for many years in this case.
Then, Ian says, it was turned into a movie franchise.
To be turned into here means something similar to to be made into or to be adapted into.
It just means to be changed into something.
In this case, the TV show was turned into a movie franchise.
Ian says the new installment is coming out next month and I can't wait.
The new installment, I-N-S-T-A-L-L-M-E-N-T, is the new, in this case, movie.
The new installment is the new part or the new version of some television show, movie or book series.
The new installment is coming out, meaning it will be released.
You will be able to watch it next month.
The latest installment, Ursula asks, I thought it was a trilogy.
A trilogy, T-R-I-L-O-G-Y, is a group of three related books, movies, or stories.
The Lord of the Rings was a trilogy.
There were three parts to it.
There was The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King.
Those three movies were part of The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Ursula is confused because she thought that the series that Ian was watching with Ames Pond was a trilogy and therefore there were no more installments to be released.
Ian says, no, the original film has spawned four sequels and two prequels so far.
The verb to spawn, S-P-A-W-N, means to produce or to generate something.
The verb is often used in cases like this, when something produces or generates many different additional parts or additional installments.
This original movie, according to Ian, spawned four sequels and two prequels.
Ursula says, so you're watching all the films again?
Ian says, that's right, but I'm not stopping there.
I'm watching all of the TV show episodes again, too.
So Ian is going back and watching all of the movies that are part of this franchise and the original TV episodes that came before the movies.
And, he adds, if I have time, I'll even watch the spinoff.
A spinoff, S-P-I-N hyphen O-F-F, is a product that is associated with the original show or movie.
Another show or movie, typically that is based on or comes from a story or a character in another book, TV show or movie.
Spinoffs were quite popular in the 1970s and 80s in American television.
If there was a very popular TV show, sometimes they would take one of the characters from that TV show and make a whole new show, an additional show, based just on that character.
So, for example...
There was a popular TV show in the 1970s called All in the Family.
Well, that was such a popular TV show that the television studio the company that made that TV show decided to produce a new show that was based on one of the characters in that show called George Jefferson.
And so we had a show called The Jeffersons.
And then I think there might have been a spinoff from that show as well.
Sometimes you have spinoffs of spinoffs.
Television shows that take characters from other television shows.
Spinoffs can also happen in the movie industry, where a character from a popular movie gets his or her own movie.
Ursula says, spinoff?
I didn't know there had been a spinoff.
Ian says there was.
Ames Bond's brother got his own show.
Jaime Pond, building inspector.
It wasn't very successful.
Ian is talking about this fictional franchise that he is watching now.
It's based on a character named Ames Pond.
Well, Ames Pond has a brother and that brother got his own spinoff movie, Jaime Pond, Building Inspector.
A building inspector is a person who has the job of going into a building or a house and making sure that it is safe.
Ian says the spinoff wasn't very successful.
Ursula says, I guess we can call you a super fan.
A super fan is a person who is very enthusiastic and knowledgeable about something.
If you, for example, love watching all of the Game of Thrones TV shows, But you also read about them and you go back and read all the books and you follow different bloggers about that particular series.
You might be a super fan.
You love that series so much that you want to know everything about it.
Ian says, that's right.
I'm a super fan of the super spy.
The word super, S-U-P-E-R, is often used to mean great or wonderful.
It can also mean, as it does here, the best of a certain category.
So a super spy would be one of the best spies in the world.
Ian is a super fan of the super spy Ames Pond, who should not be confused with the character James Bond.
That's a completely different franchise.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Weren't you watching the same movie yesterday?
No, this is the sequel.
Yesterday I watched Ames Pond.
This is Ames Pond Super Spy.
Wasn't this originally a TV show?
Actually, it was originally a novel, which was adapted into a long-running TV show.
Then it was turned into a movie franchise.
The new installment is coming out next month, and I can't wait.
The latest installment?
I thought it was just a trilogy.
No, the original film has spawned four sequels and two prequels so far.
So you're watching all the films again?
That's right, but I'm not stopping there.
I'm watching all of the TV show episodes again, too.
And if I have time, I'll even watch the spinoff.
Spinoff?
I didn't know there had been a spinoff.
There was.
Ames Pond's brother got his own show, Jaime Pond, Building Inspector.
It wasn't very successful.
I guess we can call you a superfan.
That's right.
I'm a superfan of the super spy.
The scriptwriter for one of the longest-running podcasts in the history of the Internet, it's true, is Dr Lucy Say, the scriptwriter right here on ESL Podcast.
From Los Angeles, California.
I'm the host of one of the longest-running podcasts on the Internet, Dr Jeff McQuillan, and I thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again, won't you?
Right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2016 by the Center for Educational Development.
