School of Movies

Justice League: The Animated Series

[School of Everything Else 2024]

The DC Animated Universe marathon reaches its Avengers phase, as the established animated Batman and Superman from their own Animated Series' which had already crossed over, team up with Wally West's Flash (who had guested on Superman) John Stewart's Green Lantern (as opposed to the Kyle Raynor who guested on Superman) Diana Prince who should absolutely have gotten her own Wonder Woman: The Animated Series, J'onn J'onzz the Martian Manhunter (not to be confused with the unrelated Manhunters from the later Green Lantern: the Animated Series, which takes place in the Young Justice timeline) and Shayera Hol, Hawkgirl (not to be confused with Carter Hall, the unrelated Hawkman) of Thanagaria, the bird-people planet. Comics are weird.

The first two seasons, simply called Justice League are an odd fit. It doesn't have an explosive beginning that has all these new personalities playing off each other, and the event of them being revealed and meeting feeling like a special, momentous thing, they're just kind of all there, converging on a bunch of boring aliens to fight. The following episodes are almost across the board two-parters, making it less easy to sit down and just enjoy one. And they are still remarkably coy about getting inside their heads and playing out the drama of being this close to other supremely powerful beings. Making them gods first is always less appealing to me than making them people first.

Fortunately, when those first two seasons concluded we moved onto Justice League Unlimited. Self-contained episodes, even stronger animation and music, really making use of a massively expanded roster of seemingly everyone in the DC Universe, and a deft handling of smaller, more personal stories, with grand overarching umbrella plots. We get into some of that on this episode as there is some intersection between the two very different formats, (as well as a discussion of the Batman-Beyond closing episode 'Epilogue') but the grand finale will come in next week's concluding episode to the entire DCEU.

Guests:

Toby Jungius @TJungius of Through the Wind Door

Nama Chibitty @namathenerd

(And on the Epilogue, originally recorded on our Batman Begins session)

Chris Finik @finmonster09

Kevin Veighey @KevinTimeGeek86

Bradford Yurkiw

Guest Lecturer: Guillermo del Toro

[School of Movies 2024]

This is an idea for a new kind of show that I've been developing. It just so happens to coincide with a period where my voice has been wrecked from illness and I'm trying to limit talking for long stretches so that my vocal cords can heal up.

I've been pulling together an archive of Director's Commentaries from the various discs that nobody seems to want any more. These represent a window of just over a decade wherein we got to hear what was in the heads of the filmmakers. As we move into the era of the vast majority of movies being watched over streaming, with scant few extras or documentaries on their construction, it is even easier to dismiss the works as 'content'. The general public never much cared for these materials, but if you love movies like we do, the bonus features are troves of creative insight to be uncovered.

However, most commentaries are a little bit dry, or might need the film there viewable for context, or the speaker falls back on saying what they're seeing onscreen, and the bigger issue is who has the time in the 2020s to sit down for two hours with one of these? My way forward is listening to them on my iPod as audiobooks. And what I want to share with you is the focused and collected cream the crop I'm studying. This brings our show closer to what it was always meant to be, Sharon and I learning along with you folks, from the craftspeople of film. And who better to start with than my absolute favourite person in this industry?

Now, I need feedback on this show, which is composed of the most fascinating parts to me from his commentaries on Hellboy (2004) and Cronos (1992). How much do you like this format and who else would you like to hear from? Because my archive is growing towards hundreds of hours worth of precious perspective, and to be the curator of that for you would be a literal honour.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Season 2)

[School of Everything Else 2024]

The conclusion (for now) to this series of shows on the triumphant return of Star Trek.

Season 2 slaloms between unsettling and dark episodes which would feel more at home in Discovery if they weren't so personal to the characters in this rich ensemble... and some of the most hilarious, touching, light-hearted yet heart-breaking downtime episodes which highlight the comedy strengths and the charisma of everyone in the crew. It's bumpy, but so worth the journey.

Kaoru's recommended episodes of the original 1966 series, AND the redheaded stepchild of Star Trek, the much maligned Enterprise series which ran for 98 episodes from 2001-2005.

TOS S1-24: Space Seed

TOS S2-7: Wolf in the Fold

ENTERPRISE S4-4 to 6: Borderland/Cold Station 12/The Augments

Chris' Suggestion: The Orville - Season 2

Debbie's Suggestion: Talistheintrovert on YouTube with her presentation "PSYCH the best Sherlock Holmes adaptation in existence".

Jesse's Book Pick: This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone.

Sharon's Book Pick: The Truce at Bakura by Kathy Tyers.

The Bad Batch S2-E12: The Outpost.

Guests:

From Sequentially Yours  Kaoru Negisa  @Moonpanther22

and Debbie Morse  @bastet8300

Jesse Ferguson of Recorded Tomorrow @TheDapperDM

Chris Finik @finmonster09

The Mask of Zorro

[School of Movies 2024]

Is this the last true swashbuckler of the 20th Century? It's certainly the Zorro movie so great, and so wildly successful in all of its aims that there hasn't really been a landmark big screen appearance since then (that wasn't the leading man playing a cat). Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta Jones in their prime, and Anthony Hopkins delivering my personal favourite performance of his. 

Here, in this commissioned episode, we go through every department, exploring the multitude of exceptional craftspeople, thespians, stunt coordinators, wardrobe heads, practical FX masters, all the while accompanied by the music of the late, great master of horns, composer James Horner. All of their work blends together into an absolutely magnificent, sweeping romantic adventure of revenge and liberation, with not only the greatest fencing scenes ever filmed, but the sexiest! 

This is the second of a trio of absolutely astonishing films directed by Martin Campbell. We have already covered the third, (twice!) Casino Royale (2006), and we really do need to get around to covering the first, GoldenEye (1995).

Guest:

Brenden Agnew @BLCAgnew of Cinapse

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Season 1)

[School of Everything Else 2024]

This is one of two commissioned podcasts on the first two seasons of the best Star Trek shows in decades. Refreshingly lacking in cynicism and tapping into the Kennedy-era energy of exploration and endeavour with a tight focus on character development, this one really is worth your time. We spend two and a half hours of spoilerific, textured discussion time really delving into these first ten episodes. 

Kaoru's recommended episodes of the original 1966 series to watch for additional context...

S1-11 & S1-12: The Menagerie

S1-13: The Conscience of the King

S1-14: Balance of Terror

S1-19: Arena

S2-01: Amok Time

Guests:

From Sequentially Yours  Kaoru Negisa  @Moonpanther22

and Debbie Morse  @bastet8300

Jesse Ferguson of Recorded Tomorrow @TheDapperDM

Chris Finik @finmonster09

Rise of Skywalker Revisited

[School of Movies 2024]

The late 2010s. It is a period of civil war. The vast Empire of Disney has released four of its five first Star Wars movies, to mixed reception. Critically and financially, The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi have done very well, as has Rogue One. However, the two episodes have divided the smaller portion of the global audience that amounts to the vocal fanbase, between those who are thrilled and those who are disgusted. 

In a vain effort to smooth things over, it is decided that the pitched final film in this nine-episode Saga be made with nothing upsetting or challenging within. Writer/Director Colin Trevorrow is relieved of duty and replaced by the director of The Force Awakens and the writer of Batman V Superman. These two are then given a hard crunch time to get the movie developed, filmed, finished and released by the end of 2019. It must be by then, because a dark period for the cinema has been prophesised for the 2020s. What was released was designed to mildly please everybody, and as a result, felt largely mediocre, and did not become widely beloved. 

Now, after years of living with the pain of this creative fumble, a lone film aficionado sets out into the wilderness of fan edits to see what has been done with the conclusion that left him so disappointed. What he discovered may shock and delight you, or it might induce a powerful rage. One thing is certain, that pain has been put to rest. 

X-Men: Evolution

[School of Everything Else 2024]

This was originally going to be an After School Club episode, but a combination of the community discourse regarding the X-Men, and an extremely well-timed trailer drop for the '97 reboot, AND a horrendous cold that has ravaged Sharon and I, along with our timetable, we're making this a Main Event.

If you're a little younger than us, you may well have been the exact right age and state of mind for this early-2000s animated series, which in many ways surpasses the much-vaunted '92 show. It is gratifyingly forward-facing, accepting that the Claremont era was thoroughly X-plored by its predecessor. And while its release clearly coincides with the early Fox movies, it holds to a high school relationship drama in a world initially unaware of mutants, and in distancing itself from the big screen, manages to be better, and more focused. 

That said, there are some annoyances and character-handling that ground our claws, but it's in amongst some of the most relatable incarnations of these long-beloved weirdos. We absolutely urge you to track it down and devour the whole thing. 

X-Men '92

[School of Everything Else 2024]

The infamous animated series with a theme tune you can hear just by looking at stills of it, finally gets a well-deserved podcast. We actually recorded this several years back, to coincide with the launch of the new X-Men '97 animated show on D+, and we're finally seeing images from that now. Whether it's good or bad, THIS ONE is worth watching, at least some choice episodes of.

While often held up with the likes of Batman TAS, this one's strengths lie less in the flawless execution of those DCEU shows, and more in the goofy heart, wild Claremont-era stories and memorably crystallised colourful characters. In many ways, this is the evolution* of several decades of comic book storytelling, coming out to the world at large, at the opening of their most successful and popular decade. Planting a flag in the ground with a big old X on it, to mark the spot.

We elected to focus only on Season 1 here, as after recording we went on to watch all of it, and that show would be five hours long and quite repetitive. But we nailed the salient points and I hope, managed to outline why this cartoon and its crew of kinda-silly characters meant so much, and could mean even more if Marvel play their cards right in future. 

*Oh, and if you were born a little while after us and grew up with the second generation show, X-Men: Evolution, then you're going to love next week's podcast. 

Star Trek: Discovery

[School of Everything Else 2024]

We initially started watching this 2017 Paramount TV series just for some back-story context on a pair of commissioned podcasts we have upcoming on the first two seasons of the sister show about the crew of the Enterprise; 'Strange New Worlds'. As it turns out, after a rocky start, Discovery is really excellent in its own right and we wolfed down the first four seasons. 

So, this is a largely spoiler-free round-table discussion on those seasons, to give you folks who haven't yet watched it incentive to maybe give it a go, along with details and character development to keep an eye on. And if you have watched it you will almost certainly love hearing our take, because, as it turns out, we are now in the middle of an unexpected Golden Age of Trek. 

Guests:

From Sequentially Yours  Kaoru Negisa  @Moonpanther22

and Debbie Morse  @bastet8300

Chris Finik @finmonster09

Strange Days

[School of Movies 2024]

It's always a risk, setting a sci-fi dystopian movie only a few years from filming. You're going to make predictions about how the world might look and operate, with new technology or sociological and political upheaval within a time period so immediate that it's the difference between the launch of the Sony PlayStation and the PlayStation 2

But we are currently living in a dystopia increasingly left to the devices of the dumbest of AI, and many of us are wondering "How the hell did all this happen between the PS4 and PS5?". Plus, the writer/producer of this one warned us about Skynet before. James Cameron here teams up with director (and occasional wife) Katherine Bigelow to deliver a grimy neo-noir that failed abysmally at the box office when everyone wanted Batman Forever. A disregarded cult favourite with a mysterious and twisted psychopath murdering people in truly stomach-churning ways, the same year Se7en was a massive smash hit. 

The tech is effectively Virtual Reality, only it's recorded, first-person real life experiences that go way beyond mere visual immersion. There are riots on the streets of Los Angeles as a terrifyingly militarised police force close in, and as the clock ticks towards midnight on New Year's Eve in the far-flung year of 1999 a young and twitchy Ralph Feinnes and a statuesque goddess, his long-suffering protector played by Angela Basset find themselves caught up in a dangerous world. 

This show was commissioned by Greg Downing, and we had a blast delving into it.