Blank Check with Griffin & David: Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman

Published 2026-05-31; 3:09:36 by the feed.

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

The extraction calls the show “Blank Check with Griffin & David” and the episode “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman”.

Hosts: Griffin Newman, David Sims. Guests: John Hodgman.

Subject films: Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003).

On the transcript: No speaker labels; auto-transcription is heavily garbled in banter and a lot of lines are simply fragments, so speaker attributions are low-confidence. Ad reads at roughly 0:27:44-0:30:46, 1:07:39-1:09:50 and 1:09:53-1:10:15 were skipped. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is never mentioned; only Star Trek in general, Kirk and Bones, and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

Added from the extractor's memory, not said

Mangled-name guesses (John Seale, Mick LaSalle, Lasse Hallstrom, Djimon Hounsou, Peter Sarsgaard, Bebe Neuwirth, Cloud Atlas, Max Pirkis spelling) are the cataloger's corrections, not said aloud.

Films that came up

Claims (87)

unmapped (top-ten-list): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Spirited Away. David's top ten includes Spirited Away, Alien, Master and Commander, A Matter of Life and Death and Chungking Express, the uncovered outliers.
“Spirited away. Alien Master Commander. Matter of life and death.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 0:04:57 · David Sims (0.60 sure it was them)
verdict (rewatch-frequency / favorites): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Jerry Maguire. David lists Master and Commander among favorites seen many times, like Jerry Maguire (40 times), versus Late Spring, which he rates among the greatest but has seen 2-3 times.
“It's sort of like Jerry Maguire, I've seen 40 times. Master and commander have seen it many, many, many, many.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 0:05:48 · David Sims (0.60 sure it was them)
unmapped (comfort-watch): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → The Pitt. David puts on Master and Commander to lower his blood pressure after the stressful Pitt finale, as Dr. Robbie would prescribe.
“Pushmaster and commander to get my BP down, right?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 0:06:07 · David Sims (0.80 sure it was them)
unmapped (prior-episode-guest): Gallipoli → Jennifer Kent. Hodgman revisited Gallipoli after hearing the Gallipoli episode with Jennifer Kent, which spurred his texts about this film.
“I listened to the Gallipoli episode with Jennifer Kent, which is great.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 0:07:36 · John Hodgman (0.70 sure it was them)
unmapped (host-passion-episode): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → RoboCop. Like RoboCop, this is an episode where a movie means so much to one host the question was whether a guest was needed at all.
“Sometimes there is a movie like Robocop, you know, where it's just like, this means so much to one of us.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 0:08:03 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)
industry (marketing-problem): Peter Weir → The Truman Show. Posters could not say 'from the director of The Truman Show' because audiences could not connect that to a Russell Crowe sailing epic; Weir has no genre.
“it would just look weird for this poster with Russell Crowe's to then be like, from the director of the Truman show.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 0:16:37 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
theme (shared-motif): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → The Truman Show. Asked how the studio sold a Weir boat movie, the hosts note the poster could not say 'from the director of The Truman Show' but both films have sailing scenes.
“They do both have sailing scenes.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 0:16:54 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast-in-tone): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Pirates features supernatural curses and Jack Sparrow's rum budget, whereas this film is about the actual daily life and ecosystem of a ship.
“There are so many other boat movies. And I feel like there are so few that are about like the ecosystem of life on the boat”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 0:17:19 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
theme (character-type): Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl → Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. The British naval officers in Pirates are stuffy prigs, likened to Star Wars imperials.
“They're Star Wars imperial.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 0:18:21 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (same-year-rival): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Pirates came out the same year with stuffy British naval officers while this film shows a real shipboard ecosystem; they argue Pirates' success hurt this movie.
“Pirates of Caribbean did kind of fuck this movie, right?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 0:18:34 · David Sims (0.60 sure it was them)
industry (franchise-that-didn't-happen): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Robin Hood. Robin Hood is the last time seven years later that Crowe could have stayed in the same breeches for sequels; Robin Hood and Noah also drew dads.
“Well, we always point to Robin Hood as the last 7 years later.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 0:19:22 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (dad-movie / theatrical-vs-streaming): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Greyhound. Greyhound, a naval Tom Hanks movie meant for theaters, went to Apple TV because of COVID, showing the dad audience now lives on streaming, unlike when this film got a major-studio release.
“the number one movie in the history of Apple Plus is Tom Hanks's Greyhound, which was meant to be a theatrical movie.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 0:26:41 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (dad-movie): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Top Gun: Maverick. Offered, with Ford v Ferrari and Sully, as recent examples of dad-audience movies that still succeed in theaters.
“Top Gun Maverick, but that doesn't totally count, but it still counts.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 0:27:13 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (dad-movie): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Ford v Ferrari. Another recent dad-skewing theatrical hit.
“Ford versus Ferrari, I think dad movie was a big part of the part.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 0:27:21 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (dad-movie): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Sully. Another $100 million domestic dad-majority audience movie.
“Sully, you know, these are movies that still, like, made a 100 million domestic, and you're like, this audience is majority dad.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 0:27:26 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
programming (same-genre / TV-companion): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Hornblower (TV films). Britons grew up on Hornblower in the 90s; it is the near-only other Napoleonic naval storytelling, and Griffin's friend was steered to it as a substitute.
“I want to watch like a master and commander thing, but not master and commander because I've seen enough master and commander.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 0:40:33 · David Sims (0.60 sure it was them)
theme (genre-scarcity): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Waterloo. Napoleonic-era films from the 40s to 60s were mostly about land war, like Waterloo, so naval ones are scarce.
“I think most of the Napoleonic stuff back then, it's more the land.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 0:41:35 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (authenticity-of-vessel-life): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Sunshine. Both films make the viewer feel they know what living on a vessel (spaceship or sailing ship) is like, despite having no firsthand knowledge.
“This is what it feels like to live in a spaceship for a couple years.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 0:42:04 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
verdict (teen-favorites-that-year): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Elephant. David's favorite movies at 17 in 2003 included Elephant and All the Real Girls, alongside Lord of the Rings, X2, 28 Days Later and Kill Bill; Master and Commander was liked but grew over time.
“My favorite movies of that year were elephant, which was a big movie for me then.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 0:45:26 · David Sims (0.80 sure it was them)
lineage (marriage / origin): Paul Bettany → Jennifer Connelly. Bettany and Connelly met on A Beautiful Mind where his character is imaginary and shares no scenes with her; after 9/11 he called her and they married about six months later.
“all I want to do is call Jennifer Collins.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 0:49:33 · David Sims (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (same-awards-year): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Tim Robbins / Mystic River. Bettany's Supporting Actor nomination competed against Tim Robbins (Mystic River), Alec Baldwin (The Cooler), Benicio del Toro (21 Grams), and Djimon Hounsou (In America); Robbins was inevitable.
“The Oscar nominees that year for sporting actor were Tim Robbins for Mr. Quiver who wins.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 0:49:45 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career-turn): Paul Bettany → Wimbledon. After this Oscar-nominated run, Bettany did Wimbledon, which they say killed his career; he drifted through paycheck villain roles.
“no, yeah, after this, he did Wimbledon and it killed his career.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 0:52:32 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career-pattern): Paul Bettany → Mortdecai. Bettany then had three consecutive Johnny Depp's-best-friend roles: Mortdecai, Transcendence, and The Tourist.
“And then he has 3 consecutive Johnny Depp's best friend performances.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 0:53:46 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
people (performance-praise): Paul Bettany → Margin Call. Bettany is good in the small movie Margin Call, a recurring pattern of seventh-billed dramatic scenes nobody uses.
“He's good in margin call.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 0:54:02 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career-turn): Paul Bettany → Iron Man. Bettany's revival came when Jon Favreau called to cast him as the voice of Jarvis, which also led to Vision.
“Favreau called me and was like, no, Sweden.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 0:54:44 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
people (writer-other-work): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Happy Feet. Co-screenwriter John Collee also wrote Happy Feet and Paper Mask and had written for BBC's Star Cops.
“Happy feet.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:03:06 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
people (actor-turned-executive): Max Pirkis → The Wife. The boy who plays Blakeney became head of acquisitions at Embankment, whose first film under him was The Wife.
“In 2016, he was appointed head of acquisitions and distribution at embankment film.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:04:46 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
people (crew-overlap): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → A Beautiful Mind. Akiva Goldsman, fresh off writing A Beautiful Mind, was brought in to beef up the Aubrey-Maturin relationship; Crowe was also on A Beautiful Mind.
“So Akiva Goldsman, who, of course, had just written Beautiful Mind. What an Oscar does some rewrites”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:11:12 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
people (casting-ideal): Russell Crowe → Richard Burton. Weir's ideal Aubrey would have been Richard Burton; Crowe is the closest you get in 2000, and Hodgman says Burton lacks Crowe's humor.
“Weir says his ideal choice would have been Richard Burton. Unfortunately, he was very dead.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:11:29 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (star-type): Russell Crowe → Ben-Hur. Quoting Lex G on Ben-Hur's Charlton Heston who could be larger than life yet steady, they say Crowe is the one modern guy who can do that.
“no one can hold a movie like this and sort of know how to be larger than life, but also just steady at the center.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:13:08 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (star-lineage): Russell Crowe → Charlton Heston. At his peak Crowe is like Mel Gibson, Gregory Peck, and Charlton Heston at the same time.
“This guy's like Mel Gibson and Gregory Peck and Charlton Heston at the same time.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:13:40 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (only-guy-who-can): Russell Crowe → Exodus: Gods and Kings. When someone else, even a proven actor like Christian Bale, tries the big-epic role, audiences don't buy it; Crowe is the one who can pull it off.
“when they try to put someone else into this, even when it is a proven actor, like you get fucking Exodus gods and kings with Christian Bale is Moses and everyone's like not buying it.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:14:22 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (scheduling-tradeoff): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Cinderella Man. Crowe postponed Cinderella Man (originally Lasse Hallstrom, later Ron Howard) to make this; Weir would not wait a year, and had the order flipped the tank might not have been available.
“Crow decides to postpone Cinderella man. And instead boards the surprise.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:15:11 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
programming (actor-pairing): Paul Bettany → A Beautiful Mind. Bettany and Crowe were already paired in A Beautiful Mind; Weir was initially resistant to casting Bettany because the combo might be too obvious.
“Where is initially resistant to betany because of the beautiful mind thing?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:19:01 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
people (actor-other-work): James D'Arcy → Avengers: Endgame. D'Arcy, the original human Jarvis, played Jarvis in Agent Carter and was brought back in Endgame; the film also has Bettany as Jarvis's voice, making two Jarvises on the Surprise.
“It's got not one, but 2 Jarvis is on it.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:23:35 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
people (actor-other-work): James D'Arcy → Oppenheimer. D'Arcy appears in Oppenheimer as the man who is not nice to Oppenheimer.
“He was recently in Oppenheimer as the guy who's not nice to Oppenheimer and Oppenheimer almost poisons his apple.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:24:02 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
people (actor-other-work / career-trajectory): Billy Boyd → The Lord of the Rings. Dominic Monaghan said that while Billy Boyd was off on this ship of the line, his own career stalled after the LOTR films, then flipped.
“I have this like double act with Boyd. We make these 3 movies together. And then I couldn't book a gig for 2 years.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:25:03 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
people (actor-other-work): Lee Ingleby → Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The actor who plays Hollom (the Jonah) was in Azkaban as the Knight Bus driver, as best they recall.
“Oh, yeah, he's in Azcaban.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:26:20 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
people (cinematographer-return): Russell Boyd → Picnic at Hanging Rock. Boyd shot Picnic, Last Wave, Gallipoli and Year of Living Dangerously for Weir; he and Weir reunited by chance on an airplane for this film.
“Peter Weir made his 1st 4 films or no, 4 of his early films, though, with Russell Boyd, picnic, uh, wave, Gallipoli dangerously.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:26:42 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Peter Bizzoo → The Truman Show. Asked who shot The Truman Show, a speaker offers 'Peter Bizzoo' as the answer.
“Such a good question might be. Peter Bizzoo.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:26:50 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (lookalike): David Threlfall → Eric Idle. The actor playing Killick looks like Eric Idle in makeup as an older boatman.
“One of the guys on the boat looks so much like Eric Idol.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:26:59 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
people (actor-other-work): David Threlfall → Shameless. Threlfall is described as the William H. Macy of the original British Shameless.
“He is William H. Macy in the original British Shameless.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:27:10 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (lookalike-comedy): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Monty Python’s Life of Brian. The bandaged Frenchman at the end evokes the rude taunting Frenchman from Monty Python, tied to the Eric Idle lookalike riff.
“this really feels like the rude, taunting Frenchman from, I mean, he's wearing these weird bandages on his head.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:27:43 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Russell Boyd → Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Boyd, back with Weir after years apart, won the Oscar for this film's cinematography.
“And of course, Russell Boyd won the office.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:28:32 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): John Steele → Russell Boyd. Weir used John Steele, Boyd's assistant on some of the earlier films, as his cinematographer before Boyd came back for this film.
“It's just like he started using John Steele, who was the assistant on some of the earlier stuff, and then the, you know, he went to Hollywood.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:28:36 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
career (filmography-contrast): Russell Boyd → White Men Can't Jump. Boyd's 90s credits (White Men Can't Jump, Operation Dumbo Drop, Tin Cup, Liar Liar, Dr. Dolittle) were well shot but unremarkable; he likely craved a challenge.
“I'm looking at Russell Boyd's 90s and it's like white man can't jump.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:28:44 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
people (weir-cinematography): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → The Year of Living Dangerously. Russell Boyd's Weir work (dense air in Year of Living Dangerously, making Hanging Rock with no money) explains why he wanted the challenge of this film.
“any movie that can make the air feel dense.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:29:29 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (weir-wet-films): Peter Weir → The Last Wave. Joking that Weir is one of history's wettest directors: The Last Wave, The Truman Show, rain in Green Card, Dead Poets Society, with Master and Commander the soaking culmination.
“The place also one of one of history's wettest directors. Peteyware.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:29:39 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (production-lesson): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Waterworld. Weir wanted to shoot entirely on open water, but the studio pointed to Waterworld's floating-ship logistics as a cautionary tale.
“he wants to shoot entirely on the water and they're like, look, that's Waterworld.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:30:04 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (shared-technology): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Titanic. The film exists because James Cameron's Mexican Titanic tank, with a gimbal, was still usable for the ship set.
“James Cameron had done the legwork to build out the system to be able to basically shoot this on a gimbal in a tank of a proper set.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:30:47 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (shared-technology): Titanic → White Squall. Ridley Scott made 1492 and White Squall in a Gibraltar tank, but it had fallen into disrepair, which is why Cameron's tank mattered.
“Scott had made both 1492 and White Squall, I think, in a tank in Gibraltar, but that tank was in disrepair.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:30:47 · David Sims (0.45 sure it was them)
unmapped (shared-ship): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. The ship that stood in for the Surprise (the Rose) is said to have been cast in a later Pirates film.
“Also, they cast the ship in Pirates of the Caribbean four.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:34:53 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (visual-approach-contrast): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → The Perfect Storm. Weir did not want the storm to look like The Perfect Storm's CGI waves, preferring miniatures; an effects supervisor says none of the ocean in the storm is CG.
“Peter Weir did not want the film to look like the perfect storm.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:35:10 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Nathan McGillis → Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. A VFX artist at Asylum says none of the ocean in the film's storm sequence is CG, in line with Weir's wish for miniatures.
“I can tell you, according to Nathan McGillis, McGinnis from Asylum, another VFX company. There's not one piece of ocean in that storm sequence that isn't real.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:35:22 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
industry (release-competition): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Fox pushed release to November for effects time, and Pirates in July ate its lunch; the studio worried about a 'boat curse' that Pirates' wild success seemed to lift.
“Pirates of the Caribbean overperformed so wildly, then made people go like, oh, the boat curses gone.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:37:49 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
industry (awards-win): Peter Weir → Peter Jackson. Weir won the BAFTA for director over Jackson.
“He beat Jackson.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:38:22 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career-arc): Russell Crowe → The Nice Guys. The Nice Guys is Crowe's best performance after this and marks the turn to dads, mentors and villains in later years (The Mummy, Man of Steel, exorcism movies).
“his best performance after this is obviously nice guys, which he's so incredible.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:41:01 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
industry (awards-rival): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → The Lord of the Rings (trilogy; Return of the King). The film's 10 nominations lost in most categories to the Return of the King sweep, winning only cinematography and sound where LOTR was not nominated.
“Unfortunately, this is the same year as Lord of the Rings, Return of the King.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:46:21 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (quote-memory): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → The Simpsons (submarine episode). The poop-deck exchange and 'cut of your jib' remind a host of a Simpsons submarine episode line.
“Is the poop deck what I think it is?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:50:03 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
people (director-bakeoff): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Harry Potter (the first film's director search). In 2000 Weir was one of several directors pitching to direct Harry Potter; he lost, and then got attached to Master and Commander for Fox.
“Peter Weir, Wolfgang Peterson. Rob Reiner, Jonathan Demi, the great bad Brad Silverling, director of your favorite Casper, participate in a creative bake off”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:57:19 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
contrast (ship-genre-contrast): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Das Boot. Hodgman says the film uniquely captures the vastness of the ocean, unlike space or sea movies where you keep running into other ships or aliens.
“unlike any other ship movie that I've ever seen, whether that is a sailing ship or a motor ship or a spaceship or friendship.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:57:48 · John Hodgman (0.60 sure it was them)
unmapped (military-pageantry): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Gallipoli. Thinking of Gallipoli, the ornate officer uniforms there echo the 'military has to look fancy' impulse seen on the Surprise.
“senior officers who you see at like the top of the hill watching the young boys do the basic training, you're like the ornateness of their uniforms.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 2:00:08 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (joke-extension): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Mad Max. The idea of seizing an enemy's boat and renaming it, applied to cars, is likened to a Mad Max wasteland society.
“I guess I'm just describing a Mad Max wasteland society.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 2:06:57 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
contrast (comic-contrast (medicine)): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Steve Martin's medieval barber SNL sketch. Griffin kept thinking of the SNL sketch where a medieval barber-doctor amputates for everything, yet Bettany's surgeon scenes convey a truly good doctor within limited technology.
“the Steve Martin medieval barber SNL sketch?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 2:08:14 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)
theme (dynamic / character-trio): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Star Trek (franchise, generally). The 'are you being too prideful?' friend who can challenge the captain is a Star Trek trope; Maturin/Aubrey is different from Kirk and Bones because they are a marriage.
“any fucking Star Trek has that too, of like, there's the one guy who can say like, captain.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 2:10:24 · unknown (0.45 sure it was them)
contrast (relationship-contrast): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Star Trek (franchise, generally). The Aubrey-Maturin bond is more intimate than the Kirk-McCoy friendship.
“But there's a relationship between Maturin and Aubrey that is different from Kirk and Bones.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 2:10:36 · unknown (0.45 sure it was them)
theme (critic-comparison): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Star Trek (franchise, generally). The San Francisco Chronicle's negative review said the leads' interaction was reminiscent of the Star Trek characters in later sequels, meant as a criticism of preening cutesiness.
“Their interaction takes on a preening quality, reminiscent of the interaction of the Star Trek characters 4 or 5 movies down the line.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 2:11:27 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
verdict (tangent-from-review): Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home → Star Trek (franchise, generally). Prompted by the review's Star Trek comparison, the hosts digress on Star Trek IV: Scotty talking into the Mac mouse, Chekov's 'nuclear wessels', and its box-office spike as the one entry needing no prior viewing. (No Wrath of Khan is mentioned in the episode.)
“it is fascinating to look at the box office spike on 4 because it was the one movie where they could just market it and be like, you don't need to have seen any fucking Star Trek.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 2:12:33 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (dinner-scene): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → My Dinner with Andre. A joking comparison for the long weevils dinner conversation scene.
“Just, just, what movie does this? A lesser of 2 weeks. Dinner scene? Every, just all, it's my dinner with Andre.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 2:16:17 · unknown (0.45 sure it was them)
unmapped (dinner-scene): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Mouse Hunt. Asked what other movie has a dinner scene like this, the hosts offer My Dinner with Andre and Mouse Hunt (a chef, a cockroach dinner), then Green Card with Bebe Neuwirth.
“Wait a second. Mouse Hunt actually has, because he's a chef.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 2:16:25 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (dinner-scene): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Green Card. Griffin notes the good dinner scene in Green Card as another Weir meal.
“That's kind of a nice green card, too, with BB Newworth.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 2:16:40 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
theme (theme / ship-as-world): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Moby-Dick. Hodgman, mid-read of Moby-Dick, says the Pequod crew, like this crew, are so far from civilization that land taboos break and ships become their own societies.
“how the crew of the Pequod, which is a much smaller crew because they don't have gunners on it. a whaling boat.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 2:24:13 · John Hodgman (0.90 sure it was them)
unmapped (shipboard-cabin-fever): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Muppet Treasure Island. Griffin offers Muppet Treasure Island as a 'serious, sober' seafaring work where cabin fever on a long voyage forces a flamenco number.
“another serious, sober work of seafaring that I look to off in Muppet Treasure Island, in which they are on the ship for so long, they catch cabin fever”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 2:26:23 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)
theme (joke-parallel (ship children)): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Cabin Boy. The film's 12-year-old midshipmen and literal ship boys recall Cabin Boy, whose joke is an adult man doing a cabin boy's job.
“that's the joke of cabin boy, much like get a life is like, what if an adult man was doing this thing?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 2:26:59 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (slow-burn-vs-swashbuckler): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Joking that Fox executives would wonder where the sword fight is, since Jack Sparrow fences the whole cast in Pirates.
“I hear that Jack Sparrow, like, fences with every member of the cast prior to the Caribbean.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 2:44:24 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (weir-patience): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Picnic at Hanging Rock. Weir's patience, where nothing seems to happen until something suddenly does, runs through Witness, Hanging Rock and this film.
“there are definitely moments in witness, certainly in hanging rock, where you're just like, oh, yeah, I guess nothing's going to happen.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 2:45:57 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (weir-patience): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Witness. Same patience; the slow burn pays off in action.
“there are definitely moments in witness, certainly in hanging rock”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 2:45:57 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (weir-vignette-opening): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Green Card. Green Card's opening drumming-in-the-subway sequence and this film's small 5-to-72-second vignettes both build a world with no plot function, which studios no longer allow.
“that opening sequence with the kid drumming in the in the subway. Yeah. Has nothing to do with the plot.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 2:47:29 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (era-style): Green Card → Dog Day Afternoon. Opening mood montages of the city (hail a cab, etc.) were once common in movies, like Dog Day Afternoon.
“I mean, it's a dog day.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 2:47:55 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
career (contrast-career-arc): Peter Weir → Wolfgang Petersen. Weir transitioned into the studio system and stayed true to his standards while Petersen slipped.
“There are very few people who I think made this transition into the studio system and just basically stayed true to their standards and their ethos and didn't slip.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 2:48:52 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
people (director-arc): The Perfect Storm → Das Boot. Wolfgang Petersen's slide from serious movies to top-level to shitty popcorn is contrasted with Weir's consistency.
“the arc from like DOS boot to perfect storm to Poseidon is what often happens to these guys.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 2:49:17 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (brotherhood-of-man): Gallipoli → Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Both are about a brotherhood of men facing an unseen enemy.
“It's got the similar thing in Gallipoli of it's about like a brotherhood of man a little bit, right?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 2:55:30 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
contrast (war-depiction contrast): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Gallipoli. Asked how its depiction of war compares to Gallipoli, they say Gallipoli is about doomed innocence in a pointless WWI battle while this film is romantic about naval empire.
“I don't find that with master and commander at all. No, not at all.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 2:56:04 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (box-office-rival): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Elf. Opening weekend, Elf (26 million) edged this film (25 million) for number one; expectations for Elf were low and it kept holding.
“Elf is number one at the box office with 26 mil, mastering around right behind it at 25 mil.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 3:01:42 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
industry (marketing-pitch): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Gladiator. The pitch to adults was 'Russell Crowe doing Gladiator on a boat', which should have meant an automatic 40 million opening.
“we've got Russell Crowe doing gladiator on a boat.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 3:02:25 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (box-office-rival): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → The Matrix Revolutions. Matrix Revolutions opened number one but dropped to number three that weekend.
“Number 3 is Matrix Revolutions.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 3:03:17 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
industry (same-weekend / same-studio): Looney Tunes: Back in Action → Elf. Elf (New Line) and Looney Tunes (Warner Bros.) opened against each other, though studio notes on Looney Tunes were misguided.
“Elf was New Line and this is Warner Brothers.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 3:04:00 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)

Fun items (21)

fun, about Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World: David states it is one of his ten favorites and Griffin says he texted it was the best movie ever made; David jokes he should have put it on his Sight and Sound ballot.
“I think I should just, like, next time I do sight and sound, stop being like, moo, I love, you know, some important movie, so just fucking put this on there.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 0:01:45 · David Sims (0.80 sure it was them)
fun, about Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World: David puts it on to calm his blood pressure, as a Pitt-style doctor would prescribe; his wife noticed it settles his mood.
“Dr. Robbie would be like, get mastering commander in the DVD right now.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 0:06:12 · David Sims (0.80 sure it was them)
fun, about Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World: Griffin saw it at 14 in theaters with his oldest friend, was bored, and only later was converted; Derek has now seen it 20 times.
“The movie starts, and like 3 minutes in, I was like, oh, right, I don't like this kind of movie.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 0:33:58 · Griffin Newman (0.80 sure it was them)
fun, about Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World: David saw it at 17 at the Odeon Leicester Square, then on a disastrous date; he bought the DVD right away.
“I saw it at the Odeon Leicester Square with Howard Amos.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 0:38:37 · David Sims (0.80 sure it was them)
fun, about John Hodgman: Hodgman first watched the film after a week on a 90-foot schooner (the Mary Day) at the Wooden Boat School in Brooklin, Maine, wanting more boat movies; he later invites the hosts on a Judge John Hodgman schooner cruise.
“I saw this movie for the 1st time after I had spent a week, um, with my family, I believe in a 90 foot, uh, wooden, 2 masted schooner”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 0:42:24 · John Hodgman (0.90 sure it was them)
fun, about Paul Bettany: Griffin recalls pitching a Men's Journal profile of Paul Bettany before seeing the film and being told no, not that nerd (said by Hodgman, who wrote for Men's Journal).
“And they said, no, not that nerd.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 0:48:55 · John Hodgman (0.80 sure it was them)
fun, about Tom Rothman: Rothman was a studio exec who had long wanted to make the Aubrey books; he handed Weir a captain's sword, saying take command of the HMS Surprise, and Weir asked to keep the sword.
“is take command of the HMS surprise. And Peter Weir is like, can I keep the sword?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:01:20 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Peter Weir: Weir's directing patience: he rewrote the property into a friendship story, using the 10th book (The Far Side of the World) for the subtitle instead of the first book.
“I want it to be on the friendship of Aubrey Maturin.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:02:11 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Russell Crowe: Crowe would not use his Australian accent despite historians saying it would be acceptable, going for a solid upper-class British voice instead.
“Crow decides that'll just feel unnatural.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:18:06 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Paul Bettany: Bettany refused the boot-camp costume T-shirt with his character's name so Maturin would feel apart from everyone; he trained in amputations and fish-cutting instead of sailing.
“Betany refuses to do it.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:20:43 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about HMS Surprise / the Rose: The Rose was bought for 1.5 million dollars; a full replica was built in the tank; the real ship was bought in 2007 by the Maritime Museum of San Diego and re-registered as HMS Surprise.
“It was purchased in 2007 by the Maritime Museum of San Diego and officially re-registered as the HMS surprise.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:34:03 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World: Studio panic in post: no villain, no romance, no women except a Brazilian lady with an umbrella for five seconds, who even made the trailer.
“He's like, well, Brazilian lady has an umbrella for 5 seconds.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:36:25 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Sound design: At the Academy Museum, Weir's featurette says the rough impressionistic sound pass beat the version where every sound was justified, which was cacophonous.
“when it became too justified and you were trying to account for everything, it was cacophonous and it didn't work.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 1:51:58 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Horatio Nelson: Ben's long Nelson bit: Nelson defeated Napoleon with one arm tied behind his back.
“So he defeated him with one arm tied behind his back.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 2:07:56 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Mick LaSalle / Aubrey-Maturin relationship: The SF Chronicle's negative review complained about removing Maturin's spycraft; the hosts read the Aubrey-Maturin bond as a 'sea marriage' with the cello and violin duet as lovemaking.
“They have a marriage.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 2:10:44 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about The lesser of two weevils scene: David's favorite scene is Aubrey's weevils joke at dinner; Hodgman and the others riff on Maturin's tiny glasses, and they request a supercut with the Def Jam crowd laughter.
“Can someone please make a super cut of this lesser of 2 weevil scene with the crowd response from Bernie Max Def Jam?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 2:20:35 · John Hodgman (0.70 sure it was them)
fun, about Horatio Nelson: Nelson's last words are corrected: not Kismet but Kiss me, Hardy, the words changed because no one wanted to acknowledge male intimacy, leading into the sea-marriage discussion of Aubrey and Maturin.
“Most people think he said, kiss me, Hardy.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 2:23:15 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Galapagos / tortoises: Hodgman explains warships and whalers went to the Galapagos for tortoises, which don't spoil and need no food or water, so you stack them and kill them as you go.
“Tortoises were good food on these ships.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 2:34:48 · John Hodgman (0.90 sure it was them)
fun, about Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World: The episode ends with the hosts and Hodgman singing the Don't Forget Your Old Shipmate shanty from a printout Ben prepared.
“Safe and sound at home again.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 2:58:56 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Hodgman's boat facts: Hodgman explains lines vs ropes, fathoms, the lead, anchor scope, the lubber's hole, and kedging; the episode ends with a nautical word riff that should not be taken seriously.
“Any kind of boat. First of all, you drop the lead to see what the quality of the seabed is.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 3:09:47 · John Hodgman (0.90 sure it was them)
fun, about Hodgman's Substack: Hodgman reads Moby-Dick aloud, chapter by chapter, in a terrible Maine accent, and teases that Vacation Land may come out in paperback.
“You also get to listen to me read Moby Dick Aloud in a terrible main accent.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman · 3:13:39 · John Hodgman (0.90 sure it was them)

Who's talking

David Sims (host): This is his favorite or one of his ten favorite movies and he has seen it 15-20 times; he loves comforting, likable, steady-hand movies and the Aubrey-Maturin friendship. He is a sucker for the weevils dinner scene and ensemble craft, and an Anglophile who saw it at 17 in London.
Griffin Newman (host): He came to the film bored at 14 (no monsters or puppets) and now respects it without it being his kind of movie; he adores Peter Weir's craft, Pirates of the Caribbean-era trivia and Oscar and career-arc analysis. He is a sucker for genre-bending Weir details and franchise history.
John Hodgman (guest): A boat man and old-fashioned nerd who loves wooden schooners, nautical procedure and Moby-Dick; he adores Patrick O'Brian and the film's authenticity but admits he is not a book expert. He is a sucker for sailing terminology and for explaining knots and anchors.

The show's recurring bits

The box office game: Guessing the film's opening weekend and what it was up against.
The sung theme: "Blank Check with Griffin and David", sung; the transcriber garbles it.

Names the transcriber got wrong

Patrick O'Brien → Patrick O'Brian
Max Perkis → Max Pirkis
John Colley → John Collee
Russell Boyd's successor 'John Steele' → John Seale (Weir's cinematographer on Witness)
Mick LaSolt / Nicholas → Mick LaSalle (SF Chronicle critic)
Jason Isbell → not the musician; Griffin corrects to a Stevens (20th Century exec; actual name unclear)
Eric Idol → Eric Idle
Dominic Moynihan / Monaghan → Dominic Monaghan
Lasta Hellstrom → Lasse Hallstrom
Mr. Quiver / Mr. Quiver who wins → Mystic River (Tim Robbins)
mastering commander / mastering crew → master and commander
Stephen McKinley, Henderson → Stephen McKinley Henderson (garbled)
Jiamond hones → Djimon Hounsou
Peter Star's Garden → Peter Sarsgaard
Manistee → Man of Steel
Hollam / Holland → Hollom
Orley / Worley → Warley (the sailor lost from the mizzen mast)
Calammi / Kalamey → Calamy
Cloud Alice → Cloud Atlas
ship happens / Ship Happens → real shop name, Lola Blake's line
JD Amato → J.D. Amato
BB Newworth → Bebe Neuwirth

Blank Check with Griffin & David: Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with John Hodgman

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

Added from the extractor's memory, not said

Films that came up

subject (1)

passing (51)

compared (40)

anecdote (31)

recommended (1)

dismissed (1)

Claims (87)

Fun items (21)

Who's talking

The show's recurring bits

Names the transcriber got wrong