Show #197: Mr Magoo's Christmas Carol

The year wanes, one that we'll gladly let pass into history, but such as it is the festive season is here and that means another animated spin on A Christmas Carol is summoned to scare the share into us! Classic cartoon coot Mr Magoo gives it a go this time around, and with his patented brand of poorly sighted mayhem this version of Chuck D's famous fable oughta be a barrel of laughs, right? RIGHT? We'll get to that, right after we gush about our fine friends in internet recording, look ahead to next year's SOTSM slate and stuff ourselves on a final festive feast of a Post Podcast Repaste. Magoo, you've done it again! And all in one night! Merry Christmas and a serene seasonal sojourn to all ye good folk out there!

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SOTSM x Christmas Creeps: Klaus

Christmas may have only just come and gone scarcely a month ago but cartoons are for the whole year round! Niall and Dwayne had a cosy get-together with Joseph Wade to melt all over Sergio Pablos' paean to traditional animation about the world's worst postman birthing the myth of Santa Claus and inadvertently spreading kindness, compassion and goodwill to a world sorely in need of it. The irony of altruism arising only as a result of nakedly materialistic motivations is not lost on us while discussing this Netflix-backed venture, but if it leads to more opportunities to uplift the medium of animation like this then it's a feat of mental gymnastics we're willing to perform!

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Show #185: Richard Williams' A Christmas Carol

The clarion call of Christmas rouses us from our long slumber to discuss some Dickens once again, this time with Richard Williams' take on A Christmas Carol!

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Some traditions are too special to let pass unmarked and thus we briefly surface to celebrate the legacy of the late Richard Williams, a giant of animation whose ouvre we touched upon earlier this year. Alongside the equally legendary Chuck Jones and Ken Harris they bring a more macabre adaptation of the classic festive fable in a fraction of the time and with twice the horror! Its message of goodwill even in the harshest of worlds rings all the truer for it, a sentiment we hope to carry forward upon the day of our dark renewal in the new year. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to one & all and you'll hear from us again in 2020!

SOTSM Special Guest Stars! - Tokyo Godfathers with Christmas Creeps!

Those jolly japesters Joseph and Bradford over at Christmas Creeps recently bestowed upon us the honour of coming on their venerable podcast about festive films all year round to talk up some Satoshi Kon and his heartwarming homeless holiday classic Tokyo Godfathers. Haikus are composed, records (and hearts) are broken and our hosts receive a crash course in the last twenty years of Japanese socio-political issues via the medium of anime! It's a grand old time that's not just for Christmas, so go ahead and listen up!

Show #174: A Christmas Carol Cartoon Cavalcade

Having exhausted all the big obvious entries over the last few years, the SOTSM boys enjoy a  seasonal selection box of animated episodes adapting the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol!

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Even though our research for this topic unearthed a couple of candidates suitable for a show of their own we've elected to store those for next Winter and stuff ourselves with a feast of festive episodes from some classic and not so classic series that take inspiration from everybody's favourite holiday ghost story. Check 'em out! You've got your space Western flavour in Bravestarr, a less-than-cheerful outing in Adult Swim police procedural spoof Stroker & Hoop, selective implementation of time travel in Back To The Future and those ethereal exterminators do too good of a job in The Real Ghostbusters. Park yourself by the fireside with your nearest & dearest and regale them with our yuletide cheer. Merry Christmas folks!

Show #161: The Stingiest Man In Town

It's the most wonderful time of the year when we delve into yet another animated adaptation of A Christmas Carol, 2017's entry being The Stingiest Man In Town!

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We've had a lot of good memories around Christmas courtesy of Rankin Bass and Studio Topcraft, and this elusive number based on an even more obscure 1950 TV musical looks set to deliver as well. However will the gauntlet of jaunty seasonal songs detract from the atmosphere of Charles Dickens' spooky parable? Awkward Christian messages, revenge fantasies and cross-dimensional Scrooges are waiting under the tree! Merry Christmas to you & yours everybody!

THE SHORT VERSION

Shared universes

Festive flourishes

The first diminutive Tom Bosley

Show #160: Rise Of The Guardians

We get a head start on the holidays, as in ALL holidays, with the calendar character compendium of Rise Of The Guardians!

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There was an idea, to bring together a group of public domain childhood mascots to see if they could be something more than the awkward mish-mash of having Santa, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy together in one film sounds like it would be. Will this be a cacophonous tableau that doesn't need to work because kids will watch anything? (the approach that seems to be on the minds of a lot of folks behind Dreamworks' output). Or will it prove greater than the sum of its parts?
Accurate swearing, Tumblr nonsense and our picks for the hypothetical sequel await for your ears!

Follow Niall's Quixotic attempt at writing for 12 days straight about anime over on Juve-Niall Delinquency!

THE SHORT VERSION

Bad(ass) Santa

Fairy fetishes

Hard-boiled bunnies

Show #134: He-Man & She-Ra - A Christmas Special

Doing all the hard work for toy companies everywhere this season, we're joined by Joseph Wade to learn the true meaning of He-Man & She-Ra: A Christmas Special!

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Still baffling sarcastic blog writers to this day who can't seem to get their heads around what a cartoon is, He-Man and She-Ra unite to receive the teachings of a wonderful winter holiday that definitely has nothing to do with Christianity. Villains are vindicated, rival toy robots are ridiculed, kids get kidnapped and myths are dispelled about the fallacy of enjoying media "ironically".

Experience more holiday cheer with Joseph and company over on Christmas Creeps!

THE SHORT VERSION

New traditions

One Skeletor and his dog

Transforming robots, an awful and terrible idea right?

SOTSM x DITB: Anime Quiz of 2015

It's a triple threat of toon trivia as Niall gets in the ring with Anthony Askew and Bradley Meek to decide who was paying the most attention in the last year via a series of perplexing quiz games. Marvel at our incredible powers of recall! (or lack thereof)

And Christmas may be over, but there's one gift left unwrapped at the back of the cupboard - a seasonal installment of Let's Go with a selection box of festive anime episodes that celebrate the true spirit of the holidays.

Let’s Go! Episode 9 – Always Beat Up Time Travellers

A pre-amble to the festive fun in store next week as we are gifted with sadistic Santas, holiday heroics and mixed up timelines both real and fictional! All this plus:

• Lovely Muuuuuuuco! #7
• DD Fist of the North Star Strawberry Flavour #11
• Mr Osomatsu #11
• Concrete Revolutio #10
• One Punch Man #11

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Show #87: My Spoons! They're Still Here!

It's the start of a wonderful new holiday tradition here at SOTSM, with this year's stocking stuffer-sized entry being 1997's adaptation of A Christmas Carol!

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How many animated versions of A Christmas Carol are there? A lot, so we should be in fine standing for the next couple of years at least. This does mean we have to wade through a couple of the more dubious versions such as this example from DiC Entertainment. Don't let the cast list fool you, although Tim Curry is a wonderfully sassy Ebenezer Scrooge, it's a real slog to get through and not just because of the awful songs. It does feature a Frank Welker dog however, and isn't that reason enough to watch? (Nope.)

THE SHORT VERSION

Terrifying apparitions

Bad accents

Remember Scrooge? He's back! In dog form!

Show #64: Why Couldn't You Jus' Mend Yo' Ways?

It's a cold Christmas night in the offices of SOTSM and Co. whereupon we are visited by the grim spectre of Christmas Carol: The Movie!

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Our first Christmas episode ever! And out of all the cartoons with a festive theme we could have chosen we begin with this one, a made-for-TV movie masquerading as a theatrical feature that feels flatter than the last dregs of Xmas party champagne. Visually average bar the odd artistic flourish with some pretty okay voice performances but commits the cardinal sin of wasting the tremendous power of Nicolas Cage, a fact we attempt to alleviate in our own special way.

If you're in need of more podcast shaped Christmas cheer we also made an appearance on the festive special of Dynamite In The Brain, jamming to a righteous party mix of twenty or so versions of Jingle Bells.

THE SHORT VERSION

 The Ghost Of Nicolas Cage

The Ghost Of A Better Movie

The Ghost Of Scrooge's Lovelife