Panel Round One

Transcript

PETER SAGAL, HOST:

Right now, panel, time for you to answer some questions about this week's news. Tom, "Man of Steel" is the new Superman movie coming out soon. It hasn't been released. Fans are already up in arms. They claim that the director of the movie, Zack Snyder, has left out something essential, what?

TOM BODETT: The last Superman movie there was a complaint about his costume.

SAGAL: This is also a complaint about his costume.

BODETT: Costume. Well, it's not the - I saw the trailer, so it's not the S.

SAGAL: It's not the S.

BODETT: The belt, he had a belt. The boots.

SAGAL: Not the boots.

BODETT: The stupid boots.

SAGAL: It's not the boots.

BODETT: That's all there is. What else - oh, the hotpants?

SAGAL: The hotpants, the underwear.

BODETT: Yeah.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

SAGAL: Yes.

BODETT: They let - oh, did you hear that? Oh, they left out...?

P.J. O'ROURKE: I mean that sort of adult diaper thing...?

SAGAL: Yeah, it's - ever since he appeared...

ROXANNE ROBERTS: So what's, he's just wearing tights?

SAGAL: Well yeah, ever since Superman appeared in action comics back in the '30s, he's always had these red sort of boxer briefs on over his tights. It's part of his look, right? But when pictures of the new Superman without the red briefs were released last year, many fans thought it was just because he flies so fast in the movie that he kind of left them behind.

(LAUGHTER)

BODETT: Yeah, like diving in a pool; that happens.

SAGAL: Faster, faster than his own undergarment, you know.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: But then they realized it was intentional, and millions of people who surf the Internet in their underwear took to message boards to decry Superman's lack thereof.

So the issue gained so much traction that the filmmakers released a 13-minute behind-the-scenes video to address the controversy. In it, Director Snyder explains: I probably looked at hundreds of versions with underwear. I couldn't make it consistent with the world that we were creating. So, for the record, the new Superman movie take place in a world without underwear.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: They do look kind of ridiculous. I mean, it - and they're distracting because you're like here's a guy, and he has an immense strength and can fly faster than a speeding bullet and save the Earth and has laser eyes and X-ray vision, and whenever you see him, you're like why are you wearing your underwear on the outside, dude?

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Because I don't have any of those powers, and I know to wear them under the pants. But you...

ROBERTS: Well, wait, wait, but is that where - wait, he's not wearing pants, he's wearing skin-tight tights.

BODETT: Yeah, and Lululemon perhaps, and...

O'ROURKE: Well, no wonder he's got the underpants thing on because we all know what happens if you bend over in Lululemon.

(LAUGHTER)

ROBERTS: You know what I love about this conversation?

SAGAL: What, Roxanne?

ROBERTS: We're talking as if this is a rational conversation.

(LAUGHTER)

BODETT: Isn't that the premise of this entire show?

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: At this point, the only thing we're trying to do is give a good time to the guys listening in at the NSA. Hey, guys.

(LAUGHTER)

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.