The Episode One Podcast
Pixar’s Sodas is a podcast episode from the podcast Episode One, which releases a new, original, and purposefully-doomed podcast episode every week. The creators have been doing this since 2017 and have since released over 300 episodes. I have been listening since the very beginning, as I followed the creators on Twitter before the podcast had been premiered. Over the years, they have come up with tons of both brilliant and inane material and have had a diverse range of guests, including friends and hosts of other popular podcasts, radio hosts, Twitch streamers, and musicians. They collect most of their revenue from Pateron, where they currently have almost 2,500 subscribers and bring in over $15,000 CAD each month.
Episode One content ranges from lighthearted and goofy in the case of Pixar’s Sodas to perverse and satirical (though still goofy). Most episodes are performed in-character as original characters created by the hosts and guests, and are generally improvised. Other episodes are performed by the hosts as themselves along with an absurd premise, or as a genuine conversation between hosts or hosts and guests. Some episodes, like Pixar’s Sodas, are written and performed as fully scripted movies.
Is This…Legal?
Core comedic devices across the Episode One catalogue are parody and satire. The hosts have performed in-character as celebrities such as George R. R. Martin, Joe Biden, Jack Nicholson, and the Beatles. They have invented fake employees of Jay Leno, gambling-addicted NBA players, Twitch moderators for Ninja, and highly suspect police officers. Most false premises are set in the very real city of Terre Haute, Indiana, in which lies a federal Super Max prison, also a common subject of Episode One entries. Most premises are meant for comedic purposes and are legal due to their satirical or parodical nature and because they sufficiently alter or elevate the involved people, places, or corporations. Some, however, could potentially be issued cease and desist notices. Pixar’s Sodas is one of these premises.
The crime of product disparagement sounds like something cooked up by large corporations to protect their public image, and not a crime that hurts anyone that couldn’t take a small hit anyway. Coca-Cola, Disney, and Amazon can all have their names dragged through the mud and still come out on the other side making billions. This is something I believe, and it appears that the creators of Episode One do as well. Premises like a TBS television series about the Trumps, wildly inappropriate Jedi swapping stories, irresponsible Amazon Fulfillment Center employees, and VICE employees interviewing lizardfolk could potentially be considered product disparagement, defamation, slander, or reverse passing-off, depending on which lawyer you ask. Episode One have also created such copyright-infringing episodes as a scripted James Bond movie, Grand Theft Auto ads, a new Star Trek series, a Hallmark-endorsed Christmas interview, and, of course, a completely false Pixar film that stars cans of Coca-Cola and Pepsi falling inlove, all with full-fledged Disney branding. The podcats creators are prime targets for having their content flagged down and removed by companies like Disney, Paramount, and Amazon. Episode One is, after all, a for-profit podcast, and the hosts are basing part of their income on creating new unlicensed properties for existing trademarked and registered corporations.
Do I believe that this podcast should be flagged? Absolutely not. It is a podcast that is consistently funny, wholly original, and fiercely bold. No one else is doing what they do. But is what they do legal? Possibly, but possibly not. An argument would be made that since their work is original and contains no existing trademarked characters that it does not harm the revenue streams of the corporations – like Disney, Coca-Cola, and Pepsico – that are their frequent subjects. Although Episode One is for-profit, it is not predicated on copyright infringement and uses only names of corporations in their work. Another argument could be conceived, however, that does position the podcast as disparaging those corporate names by creating false works attributed to those corporations which put them in a bad light. Although Pixar’s Sodas contains no profanity or mature subject matter, Episode One paints the copyrighted James Bond and Jedi from Star Wars in particularly negative lights. It is true that Episode One generates profits from using un-original intellectual property and portrays that property in way that does not align with the values of the copyright holders.
A Win for Creators?
Again, I would like to state that I do not believe that Episode One should cease and desist their activities. I place high value in their work and have enjoyed it for the entirety of my adulthood. I am also not particularly concerned with the finer points of copyright law, especially when it comes to creating comedic works inspired by the intellectual property of multi-billion dollar corporations. Strangely enough, it appears that Disney doesn’t care very much either. Episode One has existed for almost seven years as of writing this and have not once been issued a copyright strike or have been forced to remove material that was defamatory or disparaging. It is true that their following isn’t particularly widespread, (2,500 subscribers is not exactly a record) nor is the podcast prolific in the news for their antics. Disney, Paramount, or Amazon may simply not be aware of the podcast. Disney has been known to be fairly fascistic when protecting their intellectual property, but perhaps Episode One is so small that they do not consider it worth the effort. Whatever the reason, I see it as a win for the Little Guys of content creation that Episode One has been allowed to continue their show without copyright strikes and lawsuits up to this point.
