We’re in the studio with Carol and Dave Brouillette, who have returned with us with good tidings from Monster Jam! Yes, Monster Jam, the (surprisingly wholesome) spectacle of giant tires, animal shaped vehicles, big jumps, and plenty of dirt tracks and screaming fans.
It’s one-part P.T. Barnum, one-part NASCAR, one-part Vince McMahon, and one-part Hanna Barbera Wacky Races. The good parts, mind you. Not those parts. Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!
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Every generation has a legend. Every journey has a first step. Every saga has a beginning.
Now this is podcasting! This Christmas Eve, we’re back with a gift!
In our first Retcon vs. the Martians!, Casey has ambushed Mike with an impromptu commentary track screening of George Lucas’ much-maligned science fantasy prequel that has been talked to death on every podcast and YouTube channel for the better part of two decades, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace!
In the waning days of the Galactic Republic, a pair of Jedi Knights are sent to negotiate an armed trade dispute, only to become pawns in an elaborate plot to undermine democracy and position a senator from a remote system (and secret evil wizard) to the biggest chair in space politics. Along the way, the Jedi battle an army of hapless robots, rescue a queen, and discover a young slave boy who may just be a long prophesied Chosen One, destined to bring balance to the Force.
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We’re back in the studio with Joe Preti, and talking about Martin Scorsese’s three hour crime epic, Killers of the Flower Moon, and Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City.
Plus, a conversation about the death of the movie star as the driver of cinema. Are there any modern stars who can transcend their signature characters or franchises and elevate any movie they star in? And we lay our cards on the table: Hemsworth, Evans, Pratt and Pine. Who is the best and worst Chris?
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We’re back with Kirby Green to talk about her favorite trash TV obsession: 90 Day Fiancé! We look at the show that throws the best and worst elements of romance, desperation, immigration law, and repulsive people, into a television blender and we look at the horrifying and endlessly addictive slurry that pours out of it.
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Though conflicting schedules this month have made a regular episode impossible, we’re back in the studio to chat about the stuff we’ve been reading and watching, and of course… we’re talking about Star Trek. Plus, Mike talks about trying out some new manga series, including one that he didn’t really care for, and another that may be one of his new favorites. Including one manga in particular that may be one of the most traumatizing and artistically impressive things he’s ever read.
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We continue our chat with Sam Mulvey, and tear the still-beating heart out of the world of martial arts frauds and scam artists. From manufactured biographies involving hidden temples and battles to the death, to selling mail order pamphlets through comic book ads promising access to forbidden techniques, we look at the grey area between the real and the phony.
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We’re back again with Joe Preti, and chatting about the emerging streaming epoch and its tremendous downsides as corporate studio overlords start making things you love disappear, making it impossible for these shows and movies to find new fans — and for their creators to get paid for their work.
The streaming services are getting worse and more expensive and several beloved shows that have never gotten a Blu-Ray release are fading into the ether. So is it time to bring back… physical media? And now that pirating is the only way to get certain movies and TV shows… does anybody still remember how to use bit torrent?
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This month, we’re going boldly with Michael Warbington into the deep, inconsistent, and often-confusing world of Star Trek uniform design! Why did Starfleet have the exact same red naval uniform for nearly 70 years before they started to update their uniforms every few years in the 24th Century? Why do they keep designing great uniforms for flashback scenes that we’ll never see again? Why do people keep changing their clothes in Star Trek: The Motion Picture? Why do the crews of the U.S.S. Titan and the U.S.S. Ceritos have completely different uniforms? And don’t get us started on the constantly changing Admiral uniforms.
We’ll need positronic brains to sort this all out!
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This month, we’re continuing our talk with Carol Brouillette, and it may be time to crown Dave Bautista as the greatest professional-wrestler-turned-actor of all time. We look at his choices, roles and performances from Knock at the Cabin to Blade Runner 2049, and compare him to his squared circle contemporaries like Dwayne Johnson and John Cena.
Then we chat about the type of gimmicky overpriced restaurants for the uber-rich that marry pretentiousness to a giant price tag. What separates fine dining from obscene performative consumption that doesn’t taste good, isn’t filling, and costs the same as a month’s rent? Can you even feel like a good person eating something like that?
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This month, we’re continuing our chat with Chelsea Rustad, and we’re looking at billionaire narcissists getting booed, and the ethics of hidden camera comedy shows.
Where is the line when it comes to comedy based on a person not knowing they’re on television? What if they know they’re on TV, but think they’re on a “serious” reality show, instead of a spoof? Who is the butt of the joke, and when does it go from funny to mean-spirited?
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This time, we’re talking about our undying love for the Denzel Washington Equalizer movies, and how they can be a strangely bloody salve for our woes in these trying times.
We dive into the often-morally iffy world of middle-aged action revenge fantasies, and what the targets of those films’ righteous violence says about the people who make them. What separates a justified cathartic experience from right-wing reactionary paranoia?
Plus, we explore the messy, contradictory, and morally confused Black Adam, and try to figure out who the hell that movie wants us to root for.
Also: come out to our special movie screening on December 8th in Seattle and support the PNW Starbucks Workers United labor union relief fund!
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This month, we’re chatting about the wonder of the public domain and open source software, and how it helps make our show possible and helps create community — and how capitalism puts up walls and exploits them to seek rent.
We talk a bit about how the world’s richest douchebag tech bro finally gave us the nudge to get our show off of Twitter, just in time to watch him burn it to the ground. A billionaire narcissist and the internet’s favorite hellscape: those crazy kids deserve each other!
Who ever said that capitalism was a meritocracy? Spoiler: it’s billionaires.
Also: come out to our special movie screening on December 8th in Seattle and support the PNW Starbucks Workers United labor union relief fund!
P.S. – Mike doesn’t actually smoke. He wanted to be clear about that.
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This month, we’re continuing our talk with Kirby Green, for a chat about reality television and the “Am I the Asshole?” sub-reddit.
So, reality television isn’t real. I mean, duh. Or is it sometimes? And does it actually matter? Aren’t we – like most scripted programs on TV – just agreeing to believe the reality we’re given for the sake of a story?
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This month, we’re back with Sam Mulvey to get nerdier than we have for a while.
Mike takes the rough draft of his new “Bechdel Test”-esque thought experiment about media worldbuilding for a spin and tries to punch holes in it. Are our large shared universe worlds really as large and expansive as they appear to be, or is that just an illusion to hide something much smaller and more insular?
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We’re continuing our chat with Joe Preti, for a deep dive into the topics that really matter.
We perhaps spend too much time, dissecting the many pathological lies and shitty behavior of 90s action star Steven Seagal, and we explore the two qualities a person can have in combination that can precipitate a downfall (or at least make you wish that it had). We explore the new Elvis Presley biopic, and the fleeting myth of cultural immortality. Do some things and people just deserve to be forgotten? And do only the truly worst people in the world achieve true notoriety? And isn’t being totally forgotten in a way… kind of liberating?
And we share a special announcement about the future of Fun Size episodes!
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