Tag Archives: Television

February 17, 2012 – The Disney Channel Original Movie Radio Rebel Premieres

“This is Radio Rebel, live from the underground. You don’t know who I am, but I know who you are, because I’m one of you.”

On February 17, 2012, the Disney Channel Original Movie Radio Rebel premiered. It was based on the book Shrinking Violet by Danielle Joseph, and garnered over 4 million viewers on its premiere night. It was written by Erik Patterson and Jessica Scott, and directed by Peter Howitt. The film stars Debby Ryan as Tara, Sarena Parmar as Audrey, Adam DiMarco as Gavin, Merritt Patterson as Stacy, and Mercedes de la Zerda as DJ Cami Q.

At Lincoln Bay High School, the new episode of Radio Rebel is the talk of the students, with her take on rejecting the status quo. Shy student Tara wishes she could be more like the radio personality, but can’t even speak normally to her best friend Audrey. Audrey, however, is more than willing to take Radio Rebel’s words to heart, and tries to break the status quo by talking up to Queen Bee Stacy, although Stacy thinks that Radio Rebel is just a nuisance. Her point is proven by Principal Moreno, who automatically listens to the popular kids and not to Audrey and Tara when they are accused of something they didn’t do. Meanwhile, Stacy is flirting with Gavin, a member of the band The G’s, who will be playing at prom. Tara has a crush on Gavin, and when he shows up in her class, she runs out of the room to hide, but Audrey convinces her to come back to class. When picked by the teacher to write something on the board, the super shy Tara is unable to do anything and completely embarrasses herself.

Tara broadcasts her radio show from her bedroom, unbeknownst to her mother and stepfather

At home that day, Tara’s stepfather, who owns a radio station, is checking out the Radio Rebel podcast. He believes he should have Radio Rebel on his station, and he goes to ask Tara about it, when prompted by her mom. He tries to bond with her, but the situation is highly uncomfortable, especially when he finds out that she is Radio Rebel. He tells her that he wants her on his radio station before she has a chance to really process it. At school, Tara is placed in a group with Stacy and Gavin, and unsure of what to even say or do, although the two end up bonding over a shared love of bands. Later, as she talks to Audrey, she finds it hard to keep her friendship and her secret of being Radio Rebel. Later, Gavin stops by to talk to her about the project, but Tara is so shy she runs away. That evening, she heads to her stepfather’s radio station, and he wants to keep her identity secret. Unfortunately, her shyness keeps getting the best of her, and she’s not sure if she can handle it. DJ Cami Q, a worker at the station, calms her down and offers to be her best friend at the station. Finally, Tara sets up for her first show, and is able to tap into her Radio Rebel persona. She asks that students who hear and understand that they’re all in this together wear red the next day.

The next day at school, the majority of the student body is wearing red, although Audrey is still angry that Tara ditched her, although seemed to find the time to listen to the show. Tara tries to explain to Audrey that she’s Radio Rebel, but Audrey doesn’t’ believe her. Tara then finally proves it to Audrey, and makes her promise never to tell. Tara continues to work on her school project, which is a scene from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, which mirrors Tara’s real unspoken crush on Gavin. Stacy, however, is continuously threatened by Gavin’s attention to Tara, but Gavin interrupts Stacy so Tara can be heard. On the way out from practice, Tara spots Gavin’s band’s demo CD, and decides to play it on her show that night while making a statement about how the Principal keeps confiscating their items; she also asks the students of the school to dance at 8AM the next morning. Principal Moreno, unhappy with Radio Rebel’s antics, announces that Radio Rebel needs to turn herself in immediately.

Tara is nervous speaking with Gavin, as she thinks he knows her secret

At lunch, Gavin pulls Tara aside, and makes it sound as though he knows Tara is Radio Rebel, but in the end, only knows that Tara gave Radio Rebel his band’s demo CD. Meanwhile, the search for the identity of Radio Rebel is at an all-time high around Seattle, and the marketing is all over, as her show has hit an all-time high in the charts. Tara then has an idea to play a show at lunch, having Cami DJ-ing at school. Principal Moreno appears to break up the show, but Cami not only is parked on city property, but also has a permit. Hearing that Principal Moreno wants to expel Radio Rebel, she decides to go on a mission to expose who she is, as she loathes the popular show. Meanwhile, Gavin wants his band to take risks and challenge themselves creatively, but his bandmates are not convinced, especially since best friend Gabe is all about the fans and popularity rather than creating meaningful music. At school, Audrey gives Tara the news that Radio Rebel is nominated for Prom Queen, and poor Tara panics, as she is supposed to remain anonymous. When she heads to her show, Tara’s stepfather warns her about Principal Moreno’s threat to expel Radio Rebel once her identity is revealed. Worried for her safety, he wants her to stop the show, but when she gives an impassioned plea, he lets her continue, believing in her.

Her mother congratulates her for her Prom Queen nomination, and tells her that she doesn’t care what Principal Moreno says, as Tara inspires people. Finally, Principal Moreno plays dirty: unless Radio Rebel gives herself up, prom is cancelled. The students, led by Stacy, start a riot in front of the station, demanding that Radio Rebel give herself up. Tara gives her show that day, and people start screaming at her, as they say she crushed their dreams. However, Tara decides to do something different: the radio station is going to host a MORP, a prom spelled backwards, as they’ll be turning things around. Unfortunately for Tara, Stacy is starting to be suspicious that Tara is Radio Rebel, and threatens Tara: unless Tara shows up her party, Stacy will expose her. Tara manages to show up at Stacy’s party, and patches into her show to trick Stacy. Tara finally stands up to Stacy, much to the surprise of Audrey, but Stacy still wants to trick Tara into revealing her identity. Tara finally gets a chance to talk with Gavin, and the two connect, although their conversation is broken up by Gabe, who doesn’t think Gavin should be talking with Tara.

Stacy’s friend Kim sneaks into the radio station to find proof that Radio Rebel is Tara

Stacy’s henchman Kim sneaks into the radio station to get proof of Radio Rebel’s identity, and hears Cami and Tara’s mom discussing Tara and her show. The next day, during their class project presentations, Stacy locks Tara in the janitor’s closet. Gavin looks around for her, and gets in an argument with Gabe, which ends with Gavin quitting the band. Stacy plans on hijacking the scene with Gavin; when the janitor unlocks the door to get his supplies, Tara rushes to the stage for her scene, but arrives too late, seeing Stacy and Gavin together, and seeing Stacy kiss Gavin. Stacy threatens Tara: Tara better ensure that Stacy is MORP Queen, or she will give up Tara’s identity. Tara gives her show that night about standing up for yourself, and Audrey messages Gavin, telling him the truth about the assignment. The next day at school, Gavin confronts Stacy, and tells her that they are no longer going to MORP together.

At the MORP, everyone from Lincoln Bay High is having a great time, and Cami arrives on stage to announce who the MORP Queen is. Stacy is called to the stage, as is Radio Rebel, but Tara doesn’t move. Radio Rebel is announced as MORP Queen anyway, but Tara doesn’t come to the stage; however, she finally makes her way up, explaining why she has chosen to reveal herself. Principal Moreno is also in attendance, and declares that Tara is expelled. However, Audrey and Gavin cry out that they’re Radio Rebel, with the whole crowd following their example. Knowing that Moreno can’t expel everyone, Moreno gives up. Tara decides to give the crown to Stacy instead. Gavin then performs on stage, dedicating the song to Tara, who he has liked for a while. As he performs, Gabe and his friends join him on stage, realizing that they can make meaningful music as a group. As Tara and Gavin dance together later, he reveals that he’s known she’s Radio Rebel, but never said anything as she wanted to keep it a secret, and he respected that.

January 25, 2008 – The Disney Channel Original Movie Minutemen Premieres

“You know what would really make me happy? If you build something useful. And by useful, I mean something that will make me rich and popular. Or both.”

On January 25, 2008, the Disney Channel Original Movie Minutemen premiered. A single for the film was released on Radio Disney Jams Vol. 10, called “Run it Back Again” by Corbin Bleu. The movie had over 6 million viewers on its premiere. It was written by John Killoran, and directed by Lev L. Spiro. It starred Jason Dolley as Virgil Fox, Luke Benward as Charlie Tuttle, Nicholas Braun as Zeke Thompson, Chelsea Staub as Stephanie Jameson, and Steven R. McQueen as Derek Beaugard.

The film begins at Summerton High School, where best friends Derek, Stephanie, and Virgil arrive for their first day. Derek plans on trying out for the football team, and Chelsea tries out for cheerleading, while Virgil arrives to the tryouts to cheer his friends on. While trying out, a student drives onto the field in a souped-up golf cart, losing control of the cart. Derek manages to stop the cart by throwing a football and hitting the driver, knocking him out. The driver is Charlie Tuttle, a genius who skipped a few grades, and is soon tossed about by the football team. When trying to defend Charlie, Virgil gets caught in the tussle and is also beat up by the players, soon branded as a social outcast after being dressed up in a cheerleading outfit and hung from the statue of the school mascot. After this, the friendship between Derek and Virgil becomes strained, but a friendship grows between Virgil and Charlie.

Charlie and Virgil run into Zeke on their way to class, but quickly get out of the rebel’s way

Moving forward to senior year, Charlie and Virgil cross paths with bad boy outcast Zeke, but quickly get out of the way before there is any altercation. At lunch, Virgil watches his former friends, who are now dating, at their lunch table, while he sits at the geek table, and wonders how it has come to this, and realizes it all goes back to that freshman year incident. He spies Stephanie alone at the vending machine and goes over to talk to her, and the two are still seen as friendly even though they don’t spend time together anymore. While in his class, Charlie bursts in for an “emergency” and pulls Virgil out to tell him about a new invention: a time machine. Virgil doesn’t believe that Charlie has built a time machine, but Charlie tries to convince him further. Charlie then has Virgil try and find a mechanic guy for building the machine, and Virgil picks Zeke, much to Charlie’s dismay. Zeke surprisingly agrees to help construct the time machine, and a strange partnership is formed between the three.

Charlie agrees to let Virgil pick the first trip back in time, and Virgil decides to go back and pick the winning lottery ticket, much to Charlie’s dismay. Zeke then lets the pair know that they’re going to need a lot of power to start the machine, and Virgil points out that they’ll need a large space with privacy. They try to talk to Vice Principal Tolkan about starting a new club at school, but all Tolkan does is give the trio a lecture on the pecking order in high school and how it will never change while ignoring one of the nerds that has been shoved inside a vending machine. Fortunately, they are able to convince him to give them Room 77, which is underneath the football field, and the boys soon set up shop.

The machine is soon built, and the guys are ready to take it for a test drive

Soon, the machine is built, and they send Charlie’s cat on the first trip through time. Meanwhile, at Pacific Tech, their machines are going haywire from the activity from the time machine, but they dismiss it as a computer glitch. Meanwhile, at school, Stephanie is suspicious of Derek spending his time with popular but dense student Jocelyn. Virgil talks to Stephanie after Derek leaves, with Stephanie admitting that she misses the three of them hanging out, and wishes that Virgil would let go of the past, especially since Derek tried to stop the incident from freshman year from happening. Later, lotto numbers in hand, the guys plan their trip in with the time machine, dressed in several layers of winter clothing to keep them warm as they travel through the vortex. The trip is a success, although they forget that they can’t buy a ticket because they are underage. They then ask a street performer to buy the ticket for them, but they only have two minutes to get back to the school, so they ask the performer to meet him there at noon the next day. They head back to the school, but when the group shows up the next day, the performer claims the ticket for himself, and wins the state lottery.

Virgil wants another chance to claim the lottery money, but Charlie shuts him down, as he believes it’s cheating. Charlie would rather do more noble things, but Virgil is obsessed with popularity and being rich. As this occurs, poor nerd Chester is still running into trouble with the popular kids when they steal his clothes after gym class. Charlie and Virgil then come up with the idea to use the time machine to help Chester become popular. Virgil proposes that they call themselves the Minutemen, and the other two reluctantly agree. As they prepare for the next travel, fellow student Janette shows up to join their club. Janette has been following Charlie around as she has a huge crush on him, although he has no interest in her. They then let her in on the secret about their time machine, and she agrees to keep the secret – so long as she can coordinate their outfits. They then head on their mission dressed in special snow gear and give Chester a new set of clothes, but destroy VP Tolkan’s diorama of the school in the process. Later, Tolkan issues a warning to the travelers, and the three just laugh it off.

Zeke spots someone getting picked on at the burger joint, and decides to make that the next mission

Zeke is at a burger joint downtown and spots a nerd picked on by everyone, and decides to make this the next mission. The guys once again save the day and humiliate the popular kids, further incurring the wrath of Tolkan. They continue to perform good deeds, saving the unpopular kids from further embarrassment, with each travel through time causing the Pacific Data tech to go haywire, and guys find themselves followed by men in suits. The unpopular kids in the school find themselves rising in popularity, and copping an ego, but this leaves the Minutemen as the lone unpopular guys. Charlie then admits to the guys that he stole the blueprints for the time machine from NASA, and they agree not to use the machine for a while. Unfortunately, Virgil needs the machine to help Stephanie: she had to tryout for a cheerleading scholarship, but has broken her leg before the scout arrives. Although Charlie first argues against it, they finally agree as a group to help her.

The guys head back to the previous day’s cheerleading practice, and Zeke has already set their plan into action to prevent Stephanie from falling off the top of the pyramid. Stephanie soon figures out the identity of the strange Minutemen when Virgil saves her. She comes by his house later to thank him and let him know that she does know who the “snowsuit guys” are, and he accidentally lets slip that they are time travelers. At the next football game, the guys are there to see if there are any incidents to correct, and Derek blows the game thanks to the antics of Chester, who streaks across the sidelines. Stephanie tells Derek about the time travel, and he stops by to ask Virgil to fix the game. Virgil isn’t sure, but when Derek seems sincere about wishing they could be friends again, Virgil agrees. Charlie, however, is not convinced, and thinks that their travels may be destroying the time-space continuum. However, they feel responsible for what happened, and decide to save the game.

Derek, Stephanie , and Virgil watch the tape from before time was fixed, using it as proof of the time change

Derek is grateful for what Virgil has done, and tries to convince Virgil to celebrate and come to a party. Virgil decides to ditch Charlie and head to the party, and he talks with Stephanie. Stephanie starts to wonder if she actually chose the right path of life freshman year, as being popular isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Meanwhile, Charlie finds out that Virgil ditched him, and is hurt, but forgives Virgil, only to find himself ditched again when Stephanie calls. Stephanie finds out that Derek has been cheating on her with Jocelyn, and Virgil rushes over to help her out. Derek calls her while they talk, and Virgil leaves so she can talk it out with him. Meanwhile, all the time traveling has caused a ripple effect, and a giant hole starts to appear in the middle of the football field. Derek also confides in Virgil about the incident, saying Jocelyn made the first move, and pleads for Virgil to use the time machine to stop Stephanie from catching him kissing Jocelyn.

On his way home, though, Virgil is caught by the FBI, as is Charlie and Zeke. The guys get into a fight, as Zeke and Charlie feel that Virgil has become a sell-out. Derek pushes Virgil for an answer, and Virgil decides to time travel on his own. Charlie runs some calculations overnight, and finds that the time traveling has created a black hole. Charlie then runs to the FBI to let them know of the black hole, and there are only four hours until the black hole swallows up all of America. Meanwhile, Virgil is heading to the school dance with Stephanie, and Derek once again checks with Virgil to see if he’s change the situation. However, Stephanie is falling for Virgil, and Virgil is reluctant to change this, as he’s had a crush on Stephanie for ages. Charlie rushes to the dance to stop Virgil from jumping through time. Derek takes Virgil away from the dance, but Charlie intercepts them to stop the jump. As the black hole starts swallowing the football field, Charlie, Virgil, and Zeke have to go on one last jump to save the world.

Virgil plans on changing the incident and changing high school, but Charlie tells him that this was an important day for him

The guys jump into the black hole, and they use the reversal sequence on the hole once they land. After picking up a newspaper, Virgil realizes that they landed on the day of the incident – the first day of freshman year. Thinking that he can stop the incident once and for all, he races to the school, but Zeke and Charlie stop him. Virgil argues that he has a chance to be someone, but Charlie shoots back that this was the day that he made a real friend for the first time in his life. Zeke then says that it’s up to Virgil what will happen, but he’s enjoyed the ride nonetheless. Virgil looks at the scene unfold, and realizes that Derek gave the football players the idea to dress Charlie and Virgil up. Charlie and Zeke race back to the vortex, but Virgil grabs Charlie’s cart and the three make-up before racing to make it back to the vortex just in time. They arrive back to the day that they first time-traveled, and after Derek insults them, Virgil lets slip about Derek’s cheating on Stephanie with Jocelyn. In the end, everyone is happy: Zeke has the attention of two girls, Charlie kisses Jeanette, and Virgil tells Stephanie how he really feels, with Stephanie reciprocating. Unfortunately, Charlie has a new idea for an experiment: teleportation.