School of Movies

Gravity Falls (Show 3: Episodes 13-20)

[School of Everything Else 2020]

Part 3 of 6

The third of three shows on Season 1 of Gravity Falls. Season 2 will be covered in 2021.

We round off the first batch of episodes with a showcase of villainy, as a crazed piglet who holds small-town America in his thrall seeks unlimited power for himself. And on the other side of the reality curtain, a chaotic yellow triangle man hatches his schemes.

There's also a hilarious take on boy bands which was in fact creator Alex Hirsch apologising to his sister Ariel for being such a scornful bounder, admonishing her musical taste when they were tweens. 

Episodes Covered: Boss Mabel/Bottomless Pit/Carpet Diem/Boys Crazy/Land Before Swine/Dreamscapers/Gideon Rises

Guests:

Victoria Luna B. Grieve:  @VixenVVitch 

Theo Leigh of The New Century Multiverse

From Sequentially Yours  Kaoru Negisa  @Moonpanther22

and Debbie Morse  @bastet8300

Gravity Falls (Show 2: Episodes 7-12)

[School of Everything Else 2020]

Part 2 of 6

The second of three shows on Season 1 of Gravity Falls. Season 2 will be covered in 2021.

We return to one of the best animated series' to grace the TV screen. A rich, hilarious, fast-paced puzzle-box of twisty mysteries and subversive, genre-savvy capers. Tween twins Dipper and Mabel Pines are staying with their Grunkle Stan for the summer, at his combination gift-shop and rube-trap. But strange things are both out there in the woods, and inside the wooden walls of the Mystery Shack.

Both seasons are available on Disney+ And if you have already finished it and want something similar but haven't yet sunk your beak into The Owl House, that's what's for dessert. 

Episodes Covered: Double Dipper/Irrational Treasure/The Time-Traveller's Pig/Fight Fighters/Little Dipper/Summerween

Guests:

Victoria Luna B. Grieve:  @VixenVVitch 

Theo Leigh of The New Century Multiverse

From Sequentially Yours  Kaoru Negisa  @Moonpanther22

and Debbie Morse  @bastet8300

Gravity Falls (Show 1: Episodes 1-6)

[School of Everything Else 2020]

Part 1 of 6

Throughout the year we will be releasing episodes covering one of our very favourite animated shows, now available worldwide on Disney+ which is why we waited until now. Most people haven't seen this, so you can watch along with us. We won't spoil any later episodes and the podcasts won't release all at once. Next week the Spielberg Season continues with E.T. The Extra Terrestrial. 

The elevator pitch for this one is "The Simpsons meets Twin Peaks". A pair of twins, one of them fascinated by strange and mysterious things, the other determined to have fun at all times go to stay for the summer with their grotty con-man of a Great Uncle Stan. As it turns out; Gravity Falls, this sleepy Pacific Northwestern Town is filled with both strange and mysterious things and fun!

Episodes Covered: Tourist Trapped / The Legend of the Gobblewonker / Headhunters / The Hand that Rocks the Mabel / The Inconveniencing / Dipper vs. Manliness

Guests:

Victoria Luna B. Grieve:  @VixenVVitch   

Theo Leigh of The New Century Multiverse   

From Sequentially Yours  Kaoru Negisa  @Moonpanther22 

and Debbie Morse  @bastet8300 

Rings of Power (Season One)

[School of Everything Else 2023]

We all knew this would happen eventually. No Intellectual property that has been known to rake in a billion dollars for a single movie will ever be left alone to stand in glorious completion. Whomsoever holds the rights will use them. Some folks expected a (potentially very misguided) attempt at making the entire Silmarillion for television, or for Amazon to do what it seems likely Warner Bros. eventually will with Harry Potter and just re-tread the books we've already seen adapted exceptionally well to film in the 2000s - this time to a 2020s TV series (ostensibly so that they can use the additional time allowed by the format to be truer to the original text, but you KNOW there would be a ton of new stuff in there that would drive the long-time fanbase crazy!)

Instead, Amazon took the first eight minutes of The Fellowship of the Ring, the prologue describing the end of the Second Age, conveyed so memorably and elegantly at the opening of that 2001 film, and cracked that series of decades (and sometimes centuries) of events open to create an apparently ongoing TV show detailing exactly how Sauron the deceiver was able to deceive all the races of Middle-earth quite so skilfully, and get his jewellery side-business booming. 

Maybe the most EXPENSIVE experience ever put to the small screen, let's see if all of those hopes and dreams of cornering the streaming market paid off for Bezos. We've brought back Chris Eason, our running-mate from the original 2012 Lord of the Rings episodes (still some of our very best) and The Hobbit (an exercise in hopes being dashed over a number of years), along with the always-engaging, insightful and smart Brendan Agnew. There's definitely things we like here. But some of us are madder than others. 

Guests:

Chris Eason of GameBurst @Legoftime 

Brenden Agnew of Cinapse  @BLCAgnew

Masters of the Universe: Revelation

[School of Everything Else 2023]

This is quite an extraordinary case. A Netflix show released in two chunks of five episodes apiece, six months apart, back in 2021. 93% fresh with professional critics. And if you sit down and watch it, this is the best Masters of the Universe story ever told. 

And EVERYBODY HATES IT! 

Seriously, go check YouTube and get bombarded by the scorn and bile. Observe the 38% audience score. Try finding ANY positive analysis from the fans. It might get easier with time, (especially as a lot of folks only watched the first episode and then reacted with outrage, and many did not catch the second half of the series after all those months) but when we put this episode together our decision had to be to NOT second-guess all the people who loathe this show, and their reasons for hatred.

Some cold hard facts about it: He-Man is killed in the first episode. From that point on, Eternia is in trouble, and that could have dire, far-reaching consequences. The focus is on Teela, Prince Adam's former bodyguard, furious at being lied to for years, and with her one job in tatters. But she's the one who has to get the gang back together, form an uneasy alliance with an old enemy, and journey to both Heaven and Hell in order to potentially make things right again.

It has a stunning voice cast, including Mark Hamill, Lena Heady, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Stephen Root, Griffin Newman, Diedrich Bader, Susan Eisenberg, Phil LaMarr, Cree Summer, Kevin Michael Richardson, Tony Todd, Justin Long, Alicia Silverstone, and an all-too-brief cameo from Kevin Conroy. 

It has true character growth, dramatic confrontations, untrodden ground explored, secrets revealed and bittersweet decisions made. It is exceptionally good, and apparently here is the only place you're going to be told about that. 

Dungeons & Dragons: The Cartoon

[School of Everything Else 2023]

As the new movie approaches, Sharon and I journey back to one of our favourite childhood animated shows. Beginning in 1983, this was a joint collaboration between Toei Animation in Japan, Marvel Productions in America and DND Entertainment. 

It was an attempt to string a loose narrative together of a bunch of teenagers transported to a mythical realm full of D&D scenarios, and being given roles in an adventuring party. It was made at a time when everything was episodic and self-contained, performances were insanely earnest and we all learned valuable morals about not judging by appearances. 

But ultimately, what kept us coming back was a strange sick sort of desperation to see the kids get back home at last... That they never did lends this show a melancholy yet hopeful tone which captured our young hearts. Many thanks to our enthusiastic guest, who is younger than us, but caught the show in reruns in the early 2000s.

Guest:

Nama Chibitty @namathenerd

Harley Quinn (Seasons 1 & 2)

[School of Everything Else 2022]

The initial trailers for this one had me groaning. We were still pre-Birds of Prey movie so it was easy to assume the touchstone for this one was the first Suicide Squad movie, plus extreme cartoon violence and crudity. Well I was right about the second two!

Turns out this is one of the smartest, most psychologically explorative of DC's vast back catalogue of superhero TV. Primarily because it is framed first as a relationship drama, second as a comedy and third as a DC world. But even with that lowered priority and an emphasis on wild chaos there is still the flavour of authenticity about the vast majority of the characters. This writing and production team have paid attention.

And crucially, after teasing us with an early on meeting and lightning chemistry between Harley and Ivy in Batman: The Animated Series way back in 1993 we finally get to see them cultivate a close friendship onscreen... At least it *would* be ONLY a close friendship if this were Disney. So thank goodness it's not!

For this episode we steer clear of serious spoilers until a dedicated section at the end, so even if you haven't seen any episodes you can listen to this.

The Mandalorian (Season 1)

[School of Everything Else 2022]

A long-awaited visit to the first of Disney's new Star Wars TV shows. Weirdly we haven't had that many requests to talk Mando, but with Obi Wan launching this week and in the wake of the turbulent response to The Book of Boba we decided to journey back to the first and delve into what it did extremely well. 

We divided the eight episodes into three movies, loosely paralleling Sergei Leone's Dollars Trilogy with A Fistful of Beskar, For a Few Credits More and my personal favourite... The Good, The Bad and The Ugnaught. With us are two people who had literally never seen an episode of Mando before signing up for guest duty, so we get their fresh perspective without spoiling what comes later. 

Next week we begin the 'Rage Cage Season' as we explore the very brief period in the late 90s when Nicholas Cage was the hottest new high octane action star around! Three shows over three weeks as he gets madder and madder, The Rock, Con Air and FACE/OFF. 

I have spoken.

Guests

Brenden Agnew @BLCAgnew of Cinapse

From Sequentially Yours  Kaoru Negisa  @Moonpanther22

and Debbie Morse  @bastet8300

Taylor Nova of GameBurst @TaylorNova6

Castlevania (Netflix)

[School of Everything Else 2021]

One of the best shows on Netflix and one of the finest animated series, very specifically tailored for an adult audience. Castlevania achieves, philosophically speaking, what so many other lesser shows set out to accomplish and find themselves still wanting.

It's surprisingly softly spoken, mostly concerned with establishing and developing characters. It's dark and sad and seductive and consistently funny. It's about power-plays and loneliness. And the soul of humanity is always on trial. 

In this episode we go through the four seasons, covering the major characters in a roughly chronological order. We discuss some of the major story beats, so if you want to watch the show knowing nothing you might want to do that first. Seasons 1 & 2 are 12 episodes altogether and form their own full and dramatic story. Seasons 3 and 4 elaborate upon that, forming a longer second half which gets even richer and more explorative. 

Guest:

Toby Jungius of Through the Wind Door @TJungius 

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

[School of Everything Else 2020]

A completely spoilerific discussion on all five seasons of the modern, second version of She-Ra. I honestly don't know how much someone who has never seen the show will get out of this one, but if you've finished it you'll be in hog heaven.

We have eight minds and voices gathered, and they are all going to talk about 25+ characters over a tightly focused two and a half hour runtime.  It may sound too strictly controlled, but I marvelled at how incisive everyone managed to be under these restrictions. This is quite a feat of podcasting.

This episode was commissioned by Zac Malm, Carsten Immel and James Glass . 

Guests:

Maya Santandrea

Lyra Shaw

Lauren Yeomans

Mel Curtis

Holly Dotson

Collin of The Cinema Cephalopod