Tank Girl - S10 E79

This week on Shoot the Hostage, Dan and Sarah brave the wasteland of cinema history to grapple with the undisputed heavy artillery of our big old floppy flop season, Tank Girl (1995). Be warned, as is tradition, we swear and spoil.

Sarah chose this one and frankly, it feels like some kind of revenge after Battlefield Earth.  Released in 1995 this film doesn't just qualify as a flop, it lives in the flop house and pays rent with lint and disappointment. It somehow made more than Empire Records and Police Academy 7, which, let's be honest, is our primary metric for success.

Based on the very British, very anarchic comic book series and directed by Rachel Talalay, this 1990s comic book movie should have been a slam dunk, or at least a solid ground rule double. We get into the nitty-gritty of why this felt like such missed potential.

Here’s what you can expect from this week’s episode:

• Discussions on Lori Petty as Tank Girl (aka Rebecca) and who else lobbied for the role
• The uncredited, sophisticated (yet visually questionable) work of Stan Winston Studios on the Rippers
• The surprisingly great soundtrack curated by Courtney Love
• Dream casting for a potential reboot
• Ramblings that connect this film to The Warriors, Scott Pilgrim... and, bizarrely, Roy Scheider in seaQuest DSV.
• Why this comic book movie adaptation ultimately crashed and burned at the box office

If you're searching for podcasts about movie flops or maybe just a podcast reviewing box office bombs, retro comic book films, or trying to understand why a film featuring a kick-ass female lead and directed by Rachel Talalay failed so spectacularly, this is the episode for you. Or maybe you just need someone to talk about the fact they made a kangaroo penis for a movie? Look no further!

Season 10 runs until May 26th with 10 episodes this time

Would you like to see the full lineup for season 10? The only place you can see it is on Patreon but you don't need to be a paying member. Sign up for a free membership and get access to the lineup.

If you do have some loose change consider signing up as a paid member. Our £3 a month Patreon tier will grant you access to all of our end of season wrap shows for seasons 1-9 and a minimum of 2 reviews of brand new movies each month. Plus the back-catalogue of reviews from 2023 and 2024. 

Enjoy the show but can't support us financially? We get it. You could submit a review on the podcast player you're reading this on right now. Or if you listen on Spotify and you haven't given us a five-star rating yet, what are ye waiting for? It's easy.

If you've done some or all of that and still want to do more, we would love it if you tell a friend about the show.  

Or come find us on social media:

Instagram | TikTok | Threads | YouTube