Episode 202 - CLIFFORD

Casting a middle-aged comedian as a 10-year-old terror is just one of the ways Clifford puts the lie to the wholesomeness of '90s precocious kid movies. Sure, it's unsettling...but it fits right in with the movie's zany spin on family dynamics, workplace politics, and the pitfalls of growing up.

Our bestest friend in the whole wide world, Matt Steele, helps us find the heart in this wonderfully acerbic, under-appreciated comedy.

Clifford (1994)
Directed by Paul Flaherty
Written by Jay Dee Rock and Bobby Von Hayes
Starring Martin Short, Charles Grodin, Mary Steenburgen, Dabney Coleman, Jennifer Savidge, Richard Kind, G.D. Spradlin, and Ben Savage

Episode 167 - SUPER MARIO BROS.

Everyone's favorite Italian plumbers trade the colorful fantasia of the Mushroom Kingdom for a grim cyberpunk dystopia in Super Mario Bros., the very first movie to be adapted from a video game. The film employs plenty of wild imagination in connecting the dots of Mario and Luigi's bare-bones backstory, and conjures up an inter-dimensional tale of dinosaurs, dictatorship, and de-evolution that certainly didn't feature in any Nintendo marketing materials.

Matt Schley joins us for some multiplayer fun, and helps us understand the movie's bizarre and undeniable legacy in his WWWW debut. Ready, player one? Let's-a go!

Super Mario Bros. (1993)
Directed by Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel
Produced by Jake Eberts and Roland Joffé
Written by Parker Bennett, Terry Runté, and Ed Solomon
Starring Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, Samantha Mathis, Fisher Stevens, Richard Edson, Fiona Shaw, and Dennis Hopper

Episode 118 - THE LAND BEFORE TIME

In the 1980s, the partnership of famed animator Don Bluth and cinema wunderkind Steven Spielberg signaled an evolutionary change in the cartoon business. The Land Before Time was perhaps their most moving collaboration, presenting compassion and friendship as the best antidote to bleakness and despair.

Eric Wheeler of Text Before Calling joins us to recount the film's cataclysmic impact on his young mind and its memorable framing of the Darwinian struggle for survival. Whether you're a longneck, a threehorn, or a bigmouth, it's the perfect way to conclude our Jurassic June series, yep yep yep!

*Fun Fact: This episode is just about the exact length of the actual movie! Theoretically, one could press play on both simultaneously for some sort of weird commentary experience... We haven't tested it ourselves, but perhaps a dedicated listener can report back with the results!

The Land Before Time (1988)
Directed by Don Bluth
Produced by Don Bluth, Gary Goldman, John Pomeroy, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas
Written by Stu Krieger
Starring Gabriel Damon, Candace Huston, Judith Barsi, Will Ryan, Helen Shaver, and Pat Hingle

Episode 117 - JURASSIC PARK

Even before you saw Jurassic Park, you felt its impact. Steven Spielberg's hyper-intuitive knowledge of movie audiences hatched a phenomenon that transcended pop culture, inspiring an evolutionary leap in filmmaking technology while revitalizing the field of paleontology for years to come.

Life found a way to bring Jack Stovold back to the 'cast, and together we share our memories and (chaos) theories regarding this cinematic milestone. Hold on to your butts for more Mesozoic musings as Jurassic June continues!

Part 1

 

Part 2

Jurassic Park (1993)
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Gerald R. Molen
Written by Michael Crichton and David Koepp
Based on the novel by Michael Crichton
Starring Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Bob Peck, Martin Ferrero, Wayne Knight, Joseph Mazzello, Ariana Richards, and Samuel L. Jackson

Episode 116 - THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK

Calling all dino-lovers and chaos theory adherents! This month we're examining cinematic prehistory, and what better place to start than with a T-Rex rampage through San Diego? The Lost World: Jurassic Park works hard to one-up its predecessor in terms of sheer spectacle, and experiments with an action hero who doubles as a consistent and thorough naysayer.

Also in this episode, Nate Tapp returns to warn us of the horrific consequences of resurrecting unpredictable primordial beasts. Welcome...to Jurassic June!

The Lost World: Jurassic Park

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Gerald R. Molen, and Colin Wilson

Written by David Koepp

Based on The Lost World by Michael Crichton

Starring Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Vince Vaughn, Richard Schiff, Arliss Howard, Vanessa Lee Chester, Peter Stormare, Richard Attenborough, and Pete Postlethwaite

Episode 79 - MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS (Part 1)

Mighty Morphin March kicks off with a karate-kicking, robot-fighting, footage-recycling extravaganza that simply could not be contained to a single episode!

The first half of our deep dive into the convoluted mythos of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers covers the initial year of the phenomenon, as the re-purposed adventures of a long-running Japanese superhero squad saturated American airwaves and store shelves in response to an immediate, white-hot demand.

We talk costumes, characters, weapons, and zords while mining our personal experiences to illustrate the show's highly effective strategy for captivating young hearts and minds. Get your finest monochromatic outfit ready... it's morphin' time!

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (1993-1995)
Created by Haim Saban and Shuki Levy
Based on Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger created by Toei
Starring Austin St. John, Thuy Trang, Walter Jones, Amy Jo Johnson, David Yost, Paul Schrier, Jason Narvy, and Jason David Frank

Episodes featured in this podcast:
"Day of the Dumpster" (aired 8/28/93)
"Green with Evil, Part 5" (aired 10/9/93)
"The Mutiny, Part 3" (8/5/94)
"White Light, Part 2" (10/18/94)

Catch up on all Mighty Morphin March episodes:
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Part 1)
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Part 2)
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie

Episode 73 - WINTER WONDER-THON 2016

Wintertime
Are you seein'?
On the screen
Goofy's skiing
Hear the kids sing
Coke's the real thing
We're watching our Winter Wonder-Thon

On the podcast we'll discuss "The Snowman"
While Garfield's country Christmas tale is told
We'll revisit Friends 'cause it's a great show, man
As Dinosaurs keep their food nice and cold

Later on
Within these scenes
We will find
Evergreen themes
We've got lots to say
Have a happy holiday
Listening to our Winter Wonder-Thon!

Featured in this episode:

Clips and Shorts
Coca-Cola "Christmas Caravan" commercials (1995, 1996, 1997)
"The Art of Skiing" (1941)

TV Episodes and Specials
The Snowman (aired December 26, 1982)
A Garfield Christmas Special (aired December 21, 1987)
Friends - "The One With the Holiday Armadillo" (aired December 14, 2000)
Dinosaurs - "Refrigerator Day" (aired December 11, 1991)

Episode 28 - JURASSIC PARK III

Even if it wasn't a sequel to one of the biggest game-changing blockbusters in cinema history, Jurassic Park III would still stand as a bellwether for the state of popcorn flicks circa 2001.  A modicum of heavily rushed (yet ridiculously detailed) exposition begets a daisy chain of action setpieces that showcase the awkward growing pains of early 21st-century CGI.  It's a cinematic how-to manual that gives its audience exactly what it wants, and none of what it doesn't already expect.

As moviegoers prepare for a return to prehistory in the series' fourth installment, we invite special guest Daniel Borders-Ashe to investigate whether the Jurassic Park III formula still satisfies.

Jurassic Park III (2001)
Directed by Joe Johnston
Produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Larry Franco
Written by Peter Buchman, Alexander Payne, and Jim Taylor
Starring Sam Neill, Téa Leoni, William H. Macy, Alessando Nivola, and Trevor Morgan