Episode 232 - JACK

Our self-proclaimed Robin Williams Man-Child Quadrilogy concludes with a look at Jack, the story of a 10 year old boy trapped in the rapidly-aging body of a full grown adult. We try to make sense of the film's unusual tonal mosaic, which combines weighty topics like loneliness and mortality with family-friendly hijinks and juvenile humor, and mashes it all together like spaghetti and toothpaste. 

And in the end, we simply must acknowledge that our podcast life is fleeting - so make a wish, think of Robin, and join us as we try to make this episode spectacular.

Jack (1996)
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Written by James DeMonaco and Gary Nadeau
Starring Robin Williams, Diane Lane, Brian Kerwin, Jennifer Lopez, Fran Drescher, Adam Zolotin, and Bill Cosby

Episode 128 - HOOK

Welcome back to Neverland, Pan the Man! Long considered a black sheep in Steven Spielberg's filmography, Hook is a touchstone for countless '90s kids who dreamed of living in an awesome treehouse and hanging out with Robin Williams. It's an all-out smorgasbord for the juvenile ego, full of insult battles, mincing pirates, and food-based weaponry.

It's also the perfect place to launch our latest themed month: the Robin Round Robin! In round one, Mr. Williams awakens the inner child in all of us, while special guest Brian Rudloff helps us recover some of our earliest movie-going memories. Bangarang!

Hook (1991)
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, and Gerald R. Molen
Written by Jim V. Hart and Malia Scotch Marmo
Based on Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie
Starring Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman, Bob Hoskins, Julia Roberts, Charlie Korsmo, Amber Scott, Caroline Goodall, Dante Basco, and Maggie Smith

Episode 126 - STEEL

Our Shaq-tober celebration continues with Steel, a movie featuring a Superman-adjacent hero who tries desperately to imitate Batman. The concept of a 7-foot African-American vigilante patrolling downtown Los Angeles in a high-tech metal suit seems both ahead of its time and a product of its time. Namely, the brief window where a newly-minted Laker and Superman superfan's media ambitions dovetailed with DC Comics' cinematic supremacy.

Slip into your Shaq-branded sneakers and get ready for some crime fighting on a budget as we watch Shaq try to turn Supes' sixth man into an MVP-worthy star as Steel!

Steel (1997)
Written and directed by Kenneth Johnson
Produced by Quincy Jones, David Salzman, and Joel Simon
Based on characters created by Louise Simonson and Jon Bogdanove
Starring Shaquille O'Neal, Annabeth Gish, Judd Nelson, Ray J, Irma P. Hall, Hill Harper, and Richard Roundtree

Episode 125 - KAZAAM

It’s Shaq-Fu, Diesel, the Big Aristotle

About time you let me out the bottle

To spit like the colossal genie apostle

And a five thousand-year-old role model

Your deadbeat criminal dad’s a disgrace

I like to invade his airspace with my bass

Make it rain burgers after winning a bike race

And slam your momma’s French toast into your face

Pay attention even if you ain’t superstitious

I’m about to grant these three podcast wishes:

An episode so vicious, delicious, and auspicious

I’m true djinn, boy, my style’s never repetitious

Get ready for the original Shaq-tober jam

Courtesy my best friends Eric and Cam

Shout it over the air and across the land

I am…Kazaam!

Kazaam (1996)
Directed by Paul Michael Glaser
Produced by Bob Engelman, Scott Kroopf, and Paul Michael Glaser
Written by Christian Ford and Roger Soffer
Starring Shaquille O'Neal, Francis Capra, Ally Walker, James Acheson, Marshall Manesh, and John Costelloe

Episode 108 - AIR BUD

For a film about a basketball-playing dog, Air Bud features a shockingly small amount of basketball, instead focusing on disgruntled clowns, mourning families, dissembling janitors, and exasperated judges. It's an exercise in patience as the movie's twin goals of responsible pet ownership and youth sports supremacy inch along in parallel, before finally entangling in a glorious climax that reveals, once and for all, the basketball rulebook's lack of provisions against canine participation.

Kevin Chu, host of the Slurp podcast, makes his WWWW debut to help us identify the maddening yet effective tropes at the heart of this textbook example of family entertainment.

Air Bud (1997)
Directed by Charles Martin Smith
Produced by Robert Vince and William Vince
Written by Paul Tamasay and Aaron Mendelsohn
Starring Kevin Zegers, Wendy Makkena, Michael Jeter, Eric Christmas, Brendan Fletcher, Bill Cobbs, and "Air Buddy"

Episode 95 - 3 NINJAS

The coolest threads, the finest toys, the slickest moves: 3 Ninjas isn't just a movie, it's wall-to-wall wish fulfillment. Nothing is too excessive for a film centered on three prepubescent martial arts masters that combines the acrobatic clowning of vintage Jackie Chan with the outsize "kid power" ethos of the 1990s. (Not to mention a healthy dose of the noble ninja code, which apparently allows for low blows.)

Jean Magers makes her thrilling podcast debut for this delectable stew of kiddie flick tropes. So just kick back, knuckle up, and get ready to enjoy this most honorable episode. Eeeeyah!

3 Ninjas (1992)
Directed by Jon Turteltaub
Produced by Martha Chang and Yuriko Matsubara
Written by Edward Emanuel
Starring Michael Treanor, Max Elliot Slade, Chad Power, Rand Kingsley, Alan McRae, Margarita Franco, Kate Sargeant, Patrick Labyorteaux, and Victor Wong

Episode 71 - FLUBBER

The '90s were halcyon days for the movie star, so it was no surprise that Disney had confidence in Robin Williams to breathe new life into one of its more dated midcentury comedies. The name-above-the-title clout was paired with cutting-edge visual effects and enough marketing muscle to indoctrinate young minds with images of mambo-ing green homunculi.

So why is this John Hughes-scripted movie often relegated to the bench of Williams' filmography? Where are all the Professor Brainard cosplayers at Disneyland? Wither Flubber? We answer that last question with a "hopefully not" as we pick apart this sentimental science fair of slapstick.

Flubber (1997)
Directed by Les Mayfield
Produced by John Hughes and Ricardo Mestres
Written by John Hughes
Original screenplay The Absent-Minded Professor by Bill Walsh
Based on "A Situation of Gravity" by Samuel W. Taylor
Starring Robin Williams, Marcia Gay Harden, Christopher McDonald, Raymond J. Barry, Ted Levine, Clancy Brown, Wil Wheaton, and Jodi Benson

Episode 65 - BASEKETBALL

For a film with modest ambitions, BASEketball proved to be quite prescient in two ways. First, it brutally mocked the greed, hypocrisy, and sanctimony of professional sports years before the blogosphere assumed that responsibility 24/7. And second, it boosted the signal (perhaps unintentionally) of Trey Parker and Matt Stone's humor, long before their controversial little cartoon evolved from a heavily-merchandised youth culture fad into a comedic institution.

South Park and sports aficionado Kevin Taylor joins us in this episode to talk about the populist message of BASEketball and how the subtly different wavelengths of its stars and its writer/director, David Zucker, contributed to the appeal of this oddball cult comedy.

BASEketball (1998)
Directed by David Zucker
Produced by Robert LoCash, Gil Netter, and David Zucker
Written by David Zucker, Robert LoCash, Lewis Friedman, and Jeff Wright
Starring Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Dian Bachar, Yasmine Bleeth, Jenny McCarthy, Robert Vaughn, Bob Costas, Al Michaels, and Ernest Borgnine

Episode 21 - SPACE JAM

"The customer is always right. The. Customer. Is. Always. Right... ALWAYS." This is the philosophy advocated by antagonist Mr. Swackhammer, as he mugs for the camera, within the first few minutes of Space Jam. His evil plan will consist of exploiting both the Looney Tunes and basketball legend Michael Jordan to be made attractions for his intergalactic amusement park, Moron Mountain. Are the filmmakers openly acknowledging the fact that Space Jam is ultimately an extended plug for Bugs Bunny, "His Airness," and its own merchandise? Were we the morons back in 1996?

Daren Sprawls, creator of our infectious theme song, finally joins us on the podcast to answer that question, dissecting our conflicting feelings of alienation from such a blatant commercial maneuver and unabashed nostalgia for the very things the movie advertised, namely that stellar soundtrack. Speaking of which, Daren tops it all off by treating us to a slam-dunk cover of R. Kelly's classic hit, "I Believe I Can Fly."

Welcome to the Jam. 

Space Jam (1996)

Directed by Joe Pytka

Produced by Ivan Reitman, Joe Medjuck, Daniel Goldberg

Written by Leo Benvenuti, Steve Rudnick, Timothy Harris, Herschel Weingrod

Starring Michael Jordan, Wayne Knight, Bill Murray, Billy West, Dee Bradley Baker, Bob Bergen, Bill Farmer, Maurice LaMarche, June Foray, Kath Soucie, and Danny DeVito