Show #196: Scooby Doo On Zombie Island

Anthony Askew braves our dread waters on a moonlit Halloween night in search of his faithful old dog who's still got a few tricks left in him! For a direct-to-video movie with no great weight of expectation on it Scooby Doo On Zombie Island sure did push the boat out in terms of doing much more exciting things with the Mystery Inc gang after decades of rehashes had inured audiences to their schtick, and is credited with revitalising the franchise as a whole. Was it the witty self-awareness? The monster butts? Was Terror Time really THAT good of a song? Our investigation proceeds after the link, within which we can also share the Halloween treats of our Post-Podcaste Repaste!

Listen up!

Show #192: The Critic

Libby Cudmore of The OST Party continues her streak on SOTSM with something very near & dear to her, that being Al Jean & Mike Reiss's effort at producing primetime animation outside of their work on The Simpsons, which The Critic got lumped in with anyway! Besides mocking the vacuousoness of the entertainment industry then & now it's also a paean to a slightly more innocent (and probably partially imagined) era of cultural criticism, which inspires quite the thoughtful discussion of the same alongside a childhood spent in 1990s New York City and studying up on film references at the video rental shop. Please try some of these complimentary edible Porgs left over from the press junket for Star Wars 8, or whatever else you're craving for your Post-Podcast Repaste!

Listen up!

SOTSM x DITB: The Anime That Didn’t Make Us #16 – Pollyanna, Violinist of Hamelin & Moby Dick

Niall checked up on Brian and Antony over on Dynamite In The Brain to see how they're coping during all this, only to find them once again in a state of imagined reminiscence for cartoons they could have been enjoying in their youth were it not for those pesky geographic barriers. This edition is more highbrow than most with not one but two literary adaptations; a fairly straight World Masterpiece Theatre joint in 1986's The Story Of Pollyanna, Girl Of Love and Herman Melville making the logical progression to outer space in 1997's Hakugei: Legend Of The Moby Dick, while 1996's Violinist Of Hamelin provides a nice classical music accompaniment that sounds better than it looks. We got your tele-learning resources right here pal!

Listen up!

Show #190: Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist

Brian Smith of Dynamite In The Brain is on the couch to make sense of this melange of stand-up comedy and rudimentary animation, conceived of a meeting between educational software developer Tom Snyder and the comedian's comedian Jonathan Katz. Assembled in a charmingly rough & ready manner it gave an auspicious start to such comedy & cartoon greats as H. Jon Benjamin and Loren Bouchard, but are we still crazy about its unique style 25 years later? Recording studio secrets, the wonders of Squigglevision and the elegant parallels with modern comedy podcasting get the full diagnosis, for which we prescribe a hearty Post-Podcast Repaste!

Listen up!

Show #189: Nadia: The Secret Of Blue Water

Everybody knows Hideaki Anno from Neon Genesis Evangelion and how he used that show as an outlet for some of his personal problems, but what the hell happened to his mind that produced that vivid tableau of grief and depression? Enter Nadia, an outwardly bright and cheerful anime that may have since been unfairly mired in the issues surrounding it rather than appreciated for the contents themselves. A popular property in its heyday, does The Secret Of Blue Water and its Jules Verne-inspired adventures have anything to offer a modern audience 30 years later beyond behind-the-scenes gossip? Ancient civilisations, wondrous technology and obligatory Gainax bounce await alongside the usual tangents as well as our Post-Podcast Repaste. Prepare to surface!

Listen up!

Show #183: The Thief And The Cobbler

A podcast thirty one accumulated hours in the making, SOTSM broaches the subject of the animation albatross known as The Thief And The Cobbler!

Click Here To Download ( Right Click, Save As)

With the recent passing of the esteemed Richard Williams and the tributes that followed a pair of titles repeatedly stood out: his undeniably popular work Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, and another convoluted and perhaps notorious production called The Thief And The Cobbler. Delayed, waylaid and recut into various releases in its unfinished state, many had given up Williams' grand artistic statement as folly. But is this being uncharitable to what he strove to achieve not just in the film itself but animation as a whole? Crime, corporate skullduggery and a years long quest for perfection almost distract us from savouring a cartoon spectacle the likes of which may never be seen again!

Show #182: Felidae

We learn a whole new definition of Le Chat Noir as we delve into the moggy murder mystery they call Felidae!

Click Here To Download (Right Click, Save As)

Adapted from a best-belling book series by controversial German author Akif Pirincci, Felidae's matinee-friendly looking characters belie a pretty graphic thriller steeped in the murky atmosphere of a pulp novella. Does it have anything else going for it besides gruesome spectacle though? Frisky felines, misleading IMDB information and other pulp pussycats might help us pull it out of the bag!

SOTSM x DITB: The Anime That Didn’t Make Us #2 – Ai Shite Knight, Yu Yu Hakusho, Detective Conan

Our own Dwayne has a life outside this podcast you know, and you'll get to hear about some of it on a whole other podcast as he joins the Dynamite In The Brain boys for a trip down the memory lane that could have been if certain anime titles were available to them in their youth. There's romantic misunderstandings in Ai Shite Knight, the main character's death in the first episode of Yu Yu Hakusho and Detective Conan kicking off a mystery that's lasted 22 years and counting. Everything old is new again, and you can hear these echoes from the past for yourself if you listen up!

SOTSM x DITB: Porco Rosso

Who are those magnificent men in their flying machines? Why it's Brian and Anthony from Dynamite In The Brain, forming up on the wing with our own Dwayne to jaw about Studio Ghibli's paean to the pig-headed pilot Porco Rosso. Well, it's more of a dogfight really as two of the hosts make a vain attempt to dissuade the other from his wayward thoughts. It might take a game of HOG OR MOG to separate the pigs from the cats and settle the issue for good! To find out you'll just have to listen up!

Show #176: Battle Angel Alita (1993)

Us? Jump on a bandwagon? Perish the thought! We're merely embracing our new cyberpunk present and getting into the spirit of things with the Battle Angel Alita OVA!

Click Here To Download (Right Click, Save As)

James Cameron's long gestating adaptation of Yukito Kishiro's classic cyborg manga is tearing up cinemas around the world at last, so we thought we'd look back at the last time Battle Angel Alita, aka Gunnm, appeared on screens in this two part OVA that gives you the broad strokes of the story in fairly short order. Considering it served as a design influence for the live action how well does it capture the essence of the original manga? Comic comparisons, real world dystopias and fashionable director photos are taken apart!

SOTSM x DITB: The Anime That Didn’t Make Us #1 – Captain Tsubasa, Fushigi Yugi, Bonobono

Niall recently took a wander down a hypothetical memory lane with Brian and Anthony over on Dynamite In The Brain as they sampled some anime series that could have been formative experiences in their youth had they ever been released in their parts of the world. Captain Tsubasa cashed in on 80s World Cup fever, Fushigi Yugi whisked us to another world before it was cool and Bonobono innovated children's television with the addition of existential dread. Find out how this experiment in manufactured nostalgia unfolded when you listen up!

Show #169: FernGully - The Last Rainforest

After surviving a months long heatwave Niall and Dwayne display their green credentials and take their forebears to task with an environmental impact study on FernGully: The Last Rainforest!

Click Here To Download (Right Click, Save As)

Conceived in an era when the welfare of the planet was the cause celebre of film stars, politicians and the general public alike, FernGully presents an idyllic vision of our natural world and the innumerable reasons for humanity to value and protect it. However does its message cut to the core of this massive problem? Do its contemporaries perform any better? When does saying "YES" repeatedly in a Tim Curry voice stop being fun? (Never) The answers to these hard hitting issues and more await your ears!

Show #165: WildC.A.Ts

Back from a hiatus that totally involved a covert mission to bodyguard the president's space laser, Niall & Dwayne return with a new rude attitude that's a perfect fit for the WildC.A.Ts!

Click Here To Download (Right Click, Save As)

After some upfront disclosure regarding where we've been and where we're going we dig into one of the products of the last era when superhero comics were a cultural juggernaut. But can WildC.A.Ts the TV show mirror the underdog success story of its printed counterpart? Bankrupt bad guys, pint-sized powerbrokers and an evolving mission statement await in this collector's edition episode!

THE SHORT VERSION

Wild AND covert

Complex characterisation

Anti-crime tactics

Show #164: The Iron Giant

A towering behemoth whose mighty powers can bring destruction or salvation! But enough about Brad Bird already, this one's about The Iron Giant!

Click Here To Download (Right Click, Save As)

Having conquered the realm of prime time cartoon sitcoms the ambitions of Brad Bird turned to bigger things, and challenges don't get much greater than directing an animated feature during a period when such a thing was a hazardous undertaking if your name wasn't Disney. So how did they pull off this now well beloved tale of a boy and his bot? Failure is fomented, tears are shed and visitors from the stars are venerated. It's heavy stuff!

THE SHORT VERSION

Aspirational figures

Very special agents

Sad robots

Show #163: Family Dog (1987/1993)

The Brad Bird bombardment continues as we check the pedigree of animated short and TV spinoff Family Dog!

Click Here To Download (Right Click, Save As)

After a lot of hard graft in the 80s Brad Bird finally broke through and landed a life-changing job working on The Simpsons. Everybody wanted something from television's new golden boy, such that even his past projects were dusted off and ill-advisedly moulded into unwieldy forms with little to no input from their original creator! But does Family Dog the series deserve it's place in the boneyard of prime-time cartoon pretenders? Careers are catalogued, points are missed and yet more pondering is done on our podcast prospects!

THE SHORT VERSION

Good dog

Bad dog

That pencil test for The Spirit really is somethin'.

Show #158: Extreme Ghostbusters

Greg Driver of Ace Comicals is the new kid on the block, making a frightful ruckus this Halloween about Extreme Ghostbusters!

Click Here To Download (Right Click, Save As)

Eager to escape the trappings of their allegedly less cool forebears, the 90s were rife with retools and reboots of older properties hoping to capitalise on a new generation of impressionable kids. He-Man and GI Joe got theirs so it was only a matter of time before everybody's favourite tech start-up got the treatment. Does it keep the spirit of the original or is it yet another lost soul? Political poltergeists, comic counterparts and slime scarcity to come!

THE SHORT VERSION

Creepy ghosts

Positive representation

'Ey, woah, fuck yoo pal.

Show #157: Rock-A-Doodle

Rain delays play but now you finally get to hear us wade through the washed up mess that is Rock-A-Doodle!

Click Here To Download (Right Click, Save As)


Don Bluth, Donny old boy, we keep coming back to you despite our best interests and we're starting to wonder why. Rock-A-Doodle is expectedly the incoherent muddle that unfortunately has come to overshadow the bright spots in your career, but perhaps we're drawn back because of the infinitely more fascinating circumstances surrounding the inception and production of this film. Literary history, real life tragedy and obvious better story ideas that somehow got passed over are uncovered within!

THE SHORT VERSION

Horny animator strikes again

Evil owl fellas

Seamless interplay

Show #156: Recess

It's a hard life returning to the confines of those old school walls but take solace in the fact that you'll always have Recess!

Click Here To Download (Right Click, Save As)

Part of the new wave of original Disney TV shows that arose in the wake of stiff competition from other kids networks, Recess was a bonafide enduring hit when it first aired. But does this tall tale of schoolyard shenanigans have anything to offer audiences today? Subversive political messages, creepy fans and our own educational history all come out to play!

THE SHORT VERSION

The big house

Societal analogues 

Homages

Show #149: Iria - Zeiram The Animation

Time to put on our thinking caps and get down to solving the mystery of the persistent popularity of Iria: Zeiram The Animation!

Click Here To Download (Right Click, Save As)

Stop me if you've heard this one before: a lethal alien lifeform is unwittingly unleashed by an evil corporation and it's up to one woman with a bunch of taped-together guns to vanquish this menace for good. Iria treads familiar ground, already well trodden by anime OAVs preceding it, yet its charms are not immediately obvious at first glance. Tokusatsu tours, heinous haberdashery and more lie in wait!

THE SHORT VERSION

Gadget girls

Evil hats

Archaic aviation

Show #147: ULTRAFORCE

Pouches? Ponytails? Shredded jeans? SLIME? The Nineties called and they want ULTRAFORCE back!

Click Here To Download (Right Click, Save As)

Recent pop cultural trends have shown there exists a need out there amongst some audiences for their comic book media to be stern, mature and taken seriously. However history has proven that this is not a new occurrence and just like the early to mid 1990s this approach more often than not left them ripe for ridicule. Ultraforce is an exemplar of this heady period where common sense feared to tread and naturally we fall down a rabbit hole of questionable business practices, even more questionable fashion choices and a whole lot of weird ooze.

THE SHORT VERSION

Slimy supermen

Misunderstood monsters

Stealth saxophone