Firearms Radio Network (All Shows)
Live Fire Media Show 031 – Predator Badlands Discussion.
16 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic of the Live Fire Media Show 031?
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Welcome to the Live Fire Media Show, episode number 31. This is a full-on deep dive into Predator Badlands. If it's not your jam, sucks to be you. I'm Quokka47, aka Dave from High Point, and I'm joined by my great friend, Nick, who's been my sci-fi, movie, game, comic friend for pretty much most of my life. So, uh... Ditto! So let's do this shit.
Let's talk about Predator Badlands, since we just got out from this, what, 20 minutes ago. Right. Fresh. It's real fresh. So one thing I have, just real quick, overall, you know, thumbs up, thumbs down. So we were just talking about this. I know. Okay. You and I kind of started this earlier. We'll repeat again. This was very much like Alien Romulus for me.
You and I both, there's parts we liked, parts we didn't like, parts that we just didn't give a shit about. Our kids loved it. They thought this was just like our kids loved Romulus. Our kids loved Badlands. Go see it. Yeah, I agree. Go see it. I agree. Don't just listen to people online or watch it online and say, oh, yeah, well, you should or shouldn't see it now. Just go see it.
Make up your own opinion. But I agree with that. Us as fans, lifelong fans of this shit. And that's why we nitpick at it. That's why we talk about and we murder the stuff that really doesn't mean anything to anybody. We're not toxic fans. Right. Speak for yourself. I'm just kidding. But yeah, passionate as fuck about it. Here's the thing, right?
A lot of people probably don't care as much about like design or they're, maybe they're going for more of the, the movie going experience. They want to sit down and be taken somewhere. And maybe, maybe some of that new stuff.
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Chapter 2: What are the hosts' initial impressions of Predator Badlands?
I think, right. I think maybe sometimes that new stuff is, is just enough to get people. maybe like our kids, a little more involved because it broadens the horizon. It makes it feel a little more, I hate to say this, Marvel, Star Wars.
It has that vibe to it. When it came from horror roots, which is how we learned it.
We know it as a sci-fi horror.
Yeah, I mean, I agree with you.
I agree with you. Go see it. It's a good movie. It's fun. It's well done. It's well made. Sure. It looks great. Yeah, Dan Trachtenberg, I think he's doing good things for the franchise. I like it. I liked Prey. I liked Killer of Killers. But I don't think he's the savior of the franchise either. I also don't think these movies are better than the original. No, none of the three of his movies.
I agree. So with that being said... That's where I stand on that.
Go see it. It was good. I'm probably going to watch it again, but it's not going to be in my regular attention. Are you going to watch it again in theaters or are you going to wait until it's on disc? I don't know. I'm kind of interested in that 4D. Have you seen this where they pump some smells and some wind and some things into the movie theater?
Spray with something in the 50s or 60s with that kind of shit, like shocking the seats. How do you make an alien world smell and feel? That would be very, very weird, but You're right. I don't know. You go to the 4D thing and I'll join you for that. Otherwise, I'll wait until it's on disc. Maybe. So that means, yes, I'll buy it on disc because I own all the previous films.
I own all the Terminators, whether I like them or not. I own all the Aliens, whether I like them or not.
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Chapter 3: How do the hosts compare Predator Badlands to previous films in the franchise?
It's a requirement. It'll still get acquired, but... Oh, yeah. And a heavy spoiler, by the way. We'll probably spoil the shit out of some stuff. Oh, yeah. Be prepared. Tough shit. Yeah. I'll say my biggest negative is exactly what I feared it was going to be was more of a Marvel movie. Yeah. Of just constant over-the-top action that had no real gravity to anything happening. I'd say that's it.
I'd say that is the biggest negative. And it's just like, oh, okay. And there's no horror. This isn't a horror movie either. No. No jump scares. No. Cool beasts. Cool settings. The plant life was cool. Yeah. The plant life was super cool. The planet was way cooler. I love the Wayland Yutani vibe.
The way that it still feels like Romulus. It still feels like Alien. It still feels like Alien Earth.
It feels like that same world.
The way that they make that. So let's talk about timeline. It's got to be somewhere in that Earth timeline. Alien, Aliens.
Clearly we know we're in the Aliens timeline. And the funny thing is, Aliens is so jacked up because you look at obviously filming techniques and style of Alien and Aliens. They're the 80s cassette futurism that still look futuristic to us. Now it looks antiquated. Prometheus and Covenant were both high-end.
Dude, I've been on Lichtener and Benchener.
You look sweaty. Layla, Predator Badlands. Love it or hate it?
I liked it.
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Chapter 4: What are the major criticisms of the Predator Badlands design?
Yes. That's yes. I think overall, that's what let's, let's introduce all these characters to a different generation.
Yes. And let's obviously it's a money machine. They just want to keep making money, but. we care about it in a way that's way bigger than I, than, you know, comic books. And I mean, that's kind of how we started, right.
It was, it was, we met in the movies and the comic books. And I just remember seeing a comic book on the desk of your, you know, we were in school together and I was like, they make, they make horror comics. I didn't even know that this is amazing. And so, and I, it was like a year or two prior to that, another friend of mine who he was big into comics and usual Marvel X-Men.
Well, primarily X-Men actually. And I was like, yeah, I'm not really into that. And he convinced me of the comic book store, the bookery in Fairborn. I was like, eh, you know. And I think he was one of those people that was like, dude, you know, there's like Aliens and Predator and Terminator comics. I'm like, what? Yeah. Like, huh? Mind blown. Yeah, no doubt. My world's now expanded.
Well, it just wasn't, it wasn't a thing. Right.
80s, we grew up with, it was like superheroes. That's what it was in comics. It was... Batman and Superman and the X-Men and whatever.
And those aliens comics. And yeah, that's exactly it. Yeah. And then like, this is cool. So here we are, these little 12, 12 or 12 year old kids looking at this stuff and it's just kind of blowing our minds.
And so, and, and so we're now we're, we're, we're these fans who nitpick, we're these fans who look at these designs and we're, You can tell – I think when it comes to the design, you can tell right away. The guy is obviously in a suit, but you can obviously – you can still see sort of his face through the predator mandibles and the forehead.
You can still sort of see his – His eye movement. No, his eye movement was great. The eyes look great. I've said from the trailers, I thought his design looked like shit. I didn't like the look of it. It looked way too human. And people are like, you just don't like the Predators. They look different. They have character. I'm sorry. Excuse me. I've watched every damn film with them.
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Chapter 5: How do the hosts feel about the portrayal of Predators in Badlands?
They've all had their own character. They've all looked unique. All of them. And... I don't want to say it's blaming, but I half blame Paul SWWS Anderson or whatever for an AVP and studio ADI because they're all about making more movie to the predator's mouth. And so doing that, his mouth can't close, right? At least this movie is all CGI. It closes, right? But it still doesn't look good.
better how do you fit those big mandibles under the mask that was so cool about the first predators when that mask came off it's all nice and tight like it looks like it's you know i don't know it just looks so much more no like we're watching avp today um when the final predator scar his mask is so much like the 87 jungle hunter he takes it off and how much his mouth is still open you're like that physically doesn't compute
Yeah, agreed.
No, no.
So same with the design, though. What I noticed about Badlands was that he moved like a human. So this has been my complaint with a lot of the later Predator movies because it seems like Kevin Peter Hall really captured something almost Panther-like.
I don't know how you know what I mean. All the behind the scenes, Kevin Peter Hall himself. Dude may have been... I hate if they say he was a stunt performer. No, Kevin Peter Hall was an actor. He knew how to act as a creature, whether he was Harry Henderson's or the Predator. You watch all his behind the scenes stuff on Predator, and he's so into how much I'm the Predator.
I'm going to get you, Arnold. The way he's conveying emotion with his movement. And you watch everything after that. I won't say all like AVP was probably the worst. I think those three guys, a couple of linebackers.
Yeah.
But the funny thing is the guy that was scar though, also played the wolf in Requiem, which, and like, dude figured it out. Maybe he heard us bitching about it. Like on forums.
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Chapter 6: What are the hosts' thoughts on the film's action sequences?
And I, one of the things I love about, um, Bray is that you see the gouges in the trees from him climbing up the tree. And it's like the way that they sort of imply that like, he's, you know, these trees are, they're busting bark off and they're, you know, but he's, he's still agile enough to make it from tree to tree to tree to tree. I miss that. I miss that. Especially in the, in Badlands.
I was like,
The design, for sure, human-like, but then just the movement. It was a human actor. But even to go beyond Deck, he sounded great. All the Predators talked way more than I was expecting. I'm not...
totally against it but i didn't also like it just seemed like too much i feel like they should be more of a silent type like they use more body language than actual verbiage to one another sure because in the end i don't know to me it's it felt like they're more clean eyes now Like that's pretty much, it's kind of what it seems like. It's kind of what it is. Well, you like it or not.
I don't know. But, um, all the printers though, their designs as a whole visually in this movie. Yeah. I didn't like any of them. They just, none of them had, again, other fans will say we're fucking stupid for saying that, Oh, you don't like prayers looking different. No, no, we do like them looking different because all of them before have looked different and they all have their own character.
And all these looked honestly, to me, the most generic. Yeah. Yeah. You could have stuck, you could, you could, you could take deck in his design and you could pluck them out of predator and not know he's a predator and you could stick them in any other like random sci-fi and he would, he'd look just like everything else.
He might as well be in halo or he might as well be in, it's like, it just has this vibe that almost loses its uniqueness. And that's the thing. I think the predators, as opposed to having like both shoulders covered and having their, like some sort of tunic on underneath all their stuff, like,
where's the, where's the mesh? Where's the, you know, which I guess in this one, you'd say it's because he was an unproven cause he didn't have a cloak. Which, okay, fine. But didn't his brother?
Yeah. No, I don't think so. I think his father did.
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Chapter 7: How does the score of Predator Badlands compare to earlier films?
The cloaking device to go invisible. Did his brother have that or not? No, I thought that was just the dad. During the brother fight. But still, even the dad's outfit, though, it was more clothing. Completely covered. Yeah, it was all clothing. It just doesn't feel right to me. So yes, we're bitching about that. We don't like that. Yeah, we don't like it.
But did it take away from some of the overall entertainment in the movie? No, I enjoyed it. I just know every time I'm like, God, this could look so much cooler. God, this could look so much cooler. Oh, look in there. God, he could look way cooler than that. Agreed. I mean, and I think that's probably my biggest complaint. Overall. Overall. Because otherwise, it's a fun story.
It's got, you know, I wouldn't say that it's too unpredictable. There's not very many twists. It's pretty straightforward. I think it's a typical... What do you mean, the 2020s? The typical 2020s sci-fi adventure movie. Right. Could have been Guardians of the Galaxy. Right. It could have been Guardians of the Galaxy. You're exactly right. I mean, I've seen some people defend the PG-13 rating.
They're like, oh, but some of the kills are so violent.
Chapter 8: What conclusions do the hosts draw about the future of the Predator franchise?
Sure, they are. Okay. But in general, the tone of the movie, that was an adventure film. Yeah. Can Predator go back to being a sci-fi horror after this? Great question. I think different director, I think different story, different setting. Okay, and we've talked in the past before of like, we know there's a bunch of fans that just literally want the Predator in different timeline stories.
I guess I'm kind of in the camp of like, no, I don't want just that. But maybe like every other or every third film can be that. Because, sure, put them in World War I. Put them in Japan. Those would all be fun. Killer of Killers, the Japanese story, was the best story of it. And could I go for live action about two hours? Yeah. But do I want every film to be that?
Because then what's the story be? The Predator dies and loses in the end because that's what they all do. The comics even kind of got it. They did get in a run with that. I feel like they always lost in the end. Pretty much. But that's because they were the antagonists. Right. It was built that way. And now he's the protagonist. He's the hero.
Right at the beginning, the Predator Codex, it reads... predators have no friends or what? Yeah. What did it say? Yeah. Some of the extent of like, basically they're always alone and yeah. And strong. Otherwise never pray. Yeah. No friends, but always predators or something like that, which was kind of clever.
But it's like, but this movie is about a predator not doing that, which I get it. It's a, it's a rebellion story from the get go.
It's his coming of age story.
Yeah. Yeah, but that's a piece of it, right?
So in Killer of Killers, I noticed in the end scene where they're with the king predator, the guards bring up a malformed predator. Do you remember this? No, I don't. And they kill him. They sacrifice him there.
Well, she mentions him being malformed. And so all of a sudden I felt like they were tying to killer killers where they sort of established that these young runs.
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