Show #202: Love, Death & Robots Volume 2

Brian Smith is the vital component in our merciless machine that plows a furrow of destruction into more Love, Death & Robots. A trimmed down continuation of the Netflix adult animation anthology this batch of shorts still delivers everything we've come to expect: future dystopias, literary adaptations and just how wide or narrow some folks' understanding of Adult Animation really is! Another exciting game of Did This Really Need To Be A Cartoon? is played, we once again all reach for the diamond in the rough, and the reward of a Post-Podcast Repaste fit for the Post-Robocalypse awaits the survivors!

Listen up!

SOTSM x OST Party: Interstella 5555

Pod pals Libby and Joseph generously entertained our proposal for a job tailor-made for The OST Party. They lend their critical ears to a survey of the musical merits accompanying the Daft Punk and Leiji Matsumoto anime collaboration Interstella 5555: The 5tory Of The 5ecret 5tar 5ystem, one of those uncommon cases where the film arrived after the soundtrack. Will this newly-formed podcasting supergroup ever find their way back to their home planet? Drop the needle and listen up to find out!

Drawn Or Alive #3: Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure VS Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures

Joseph Wade crams into our booth to travel to the parallel timelines of the Bill & Ted live-action film franchise and their 1990 animated TV spin-off. Featuring most of the principal cast from the movies and produced under the watchful eye of the man responsible for CatDog, will the lads pass this history test in a most triumphant manner? Or be forever remembered as a most heinous episode? And that's before we even broach the subject of the Bad Live-Action Us-es from 1992! It'll all make sense by the end of the story dudes!

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 #179: Toons 'N' Tunes - Robot Rock!

We can party longer, harder and faster; we have the technology! Toons 'N' Tunes once again explores the convergence of animation and music, this time with all the power and precision of a mighty robot!

Click Here To Download (Right Click, Save As)

A surprisingly varied mixtape awaits our listening pleasure with the peculiar ubiquity of robots in music videos both past and present. The killer androids of the wasteland are on the hunt backed by Megadeth and Iron Maiden and inevitable synth-based dance tracks are forged by Equateur and Perturbator while the machines display their capacity to adapt and evolve with some singular singles by Bjork, Pete Miser and Caravan Palace. Why were we programmed to feel funky?

Show #178: Love, Death & Robots

Brian Smith roves out with us upon the barren media landscape of the near future, sorting through the charred fragments of the amorous android anthology they called Love, Death & Robots!

Click Here To Download (Right Click, Save As)

Noted directors and Netflix darlings David Fincher and Tim Miller present their latest outing on the ubiquitous streaming service, a collection of animated science fiction shorts for adult audiences of varying content and quality all ostensibly united under one or more of the themes mentioned in its title. Is it fertile ground for an interrogation of complex ideas relating to artificial intelligence, the purpose of existence and the nature of the soul? Or is it carte blanche to let animators' libidos run wild in the shallowest interpretation of "mature" possible? Famous authors, faithful renderings of genitalia and the recurring ratio problems with anthology works may just guide us to the answer!

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!

Show #175: Ballmastrz 9009

It's high time to resume our workout plan so we're up and atom with the most popular pastime of the post-apocalypse in Ballmastrz 9009!

Click Here To Download (Right Click, Save As)

Christy Karacas of Superjail fame let his passions run amok on Adult Swim last year with this grungy love letter to the anime, comics and sci-fi movies of his youth delivered in speedy ten minute chunks. It plays fast and loose with the rules but can this ragtag bunch of misfits put in the hard yards where it counts? Cinematic bloodsports, adorable aliens and our own anime leanings are fit to play in your earholes!

Show #167: Summertime Series Catch-Up

We got so distracted cavorting in the seemingly neverending sunshine that we missed quite a couple of TV animation premieres, so it's time for a catch-up!

Click Here To Download (Right Click, Save As)

We enjoy Summer as much as the next person here at SOTSM but even we could use a break from the relentless heat, so what better way to do that than by taking a look at the promising properties that managed to escape our notice for literal months. There's the brutal & bombastic Ballmastrz 9009, the futuristic foolery of Final Space and the resurrection of not one but two beloved comedies with the cartoon continuation of Corner Gas and the raucous return of Rocky & Bullwinkle. It's the hottest stuff from twelve weeks ago!

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 #148: Gandahar

Far-out French sci-fi is back in vogue as we take a fantastic voyage to Gandahar!

Click Here To Download (Right Click, Save As)

 A strange journey but down a path we're actually quite familiar with, director Rene Laloux delivers another travelogue to a bizarre world filled with amazing scenery and incredible possibilities. There are enough ideas in this feature alone to float a half dozen films, but are they given short shrift in service of the story? Contemporary cinema is compared, the secrets of its animation production are revealed and we get bamboozled by time travel for the second time in as many months!

THE SHORT VERSION

Merry mutants

Fantastic fauna

Innuendo island

Show #139: Romie-0 & Julie-8

While you may not agree with the tenets of a corporate holiday just remember that even robots have the capacity to love, as demonstrated in Romie-0 and Julie-8!

Click Here To Download (Right Click, Save As)

Nelvana are probably best known for their oddball seasonal specials, so jumping off from that this adaptation of Shakespeare's ubiquitous play is a good fit for the supposed most romantic day in the calendar, right? The sweeping tale of young love, family feuds and tragic ends is compressed down into a family friendly half hour, workmanlike but nonetheless energetic, though it does raise some alarming questions about the far future society it depicts. Robot rights, sleazy spacemen and other animated versions of the Bard's work are just some of the topics of discussion we expend more thought on than expected!

THE SHORT VERSION

Robot romance

Odd couples

Android admirers

Show #137: Twilight Q

Tales of mystery and imagination await in the bizarre hinterland between dreams and reality that is Twilight Q!

Click Here To Download (Right Click, Save As)

Originally conceived as an anthology showcase for young anime creatives, Twilight Q possesses all the experimental qualities of such a venture but also the hit-and-miss factor inherent to that style. The first section is a time travel mystery much in keeping with the OAVs namesakes that falls frustratingly short of clarity, while the second part delivers an otherworldly mood piece with depth, atmosphere and great philosophical weight. Does this mean we break even? Are we all just the fever dreams of some great fish in the sky? This podcast may have the answer!

THE SHORT VERSION

Time Knot - Reflection

Mystery Article File 538

"So I had this dream last night..."

Show #133: Transformers - The Movie (1986)

Hitting the shops just in time for Christmas, Greg Driver and Paul Shipley show off their impressive collection of knowledge on Transformers: The Movie!

Click Here To Download (Right Click, Save As)

Much has been writ of this fondly remembered cinematic outing on its 30th anniversary this year, so we'll do our utmost to add a personal touch to our remembrances of everyone's favourite 80s toybox slaughterfest, uneven as it may be but still one heck of a good time. Tales are spun of early lessons in the finality of death, myths are busted about the talent behind the scenes and inspiring anecdotes of the films marvellously upbeat soundtrack are shared.

THE SHORT VERSION

Robot Galactus

Robot upgrades

Robot-o-cide

Show #125: Joe 90

A guy called Joe who works for Uncle Sam and blows stuff up a whole lot? Again? No we haven't gone senile while we've been away, we're just talking about Joe 90!

Click Here To Download(Right Click, Save As)

Due to legal precedent set in the case of SOTSM V Dinosaur War Izenborg and the currently airing martial arts marionettes of Thunderbolt Fantasy, we have free reign to open up discussion to the realm of Supermarionation made famous by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. Joe 90 is a slightly lesser appreciated example of their output, prey to the cultural shortcomings of its era but also revelling in the atmosphere of Sixties spy-fi. The ethics of child spies aside it does a pretty good job of making intricate espionage operations palatable to a young audience, helped in no small part by the infamous proclivity to outrageous explosive puppet violence.

THE SHORT VERSION

Killer kids

Political puppets

REMEMBER JOE, THIS IS A SNEAKING MISSION

Show #121: Jonny Quest (1964)

The warm weather has arrived so you know what that means; a theme we'll actually try and see out to the end as we kick off the Boys of Summer with Jonny Quest!

Click Here To Download (Right Click, Save As)

Who would have thought Hanna Barbera would be ahead of the curve by producing a primetime animation series that wasn't a straight comedy (now don't that sound familiar?), packaging familiar stories within an appealing and distinctive style. Limited in animation and cultural sensitivity but triumphant in design, atmosphere and soundtrack, the fact it is still both celebrated and satirised to this day is evidence of its impact.

THE SHORT VERSION

Scientific investigations

Cultural portrayals

You said it Bandit!

Show #111: Star Wars Rebels

Jeremiah O'Connor returns from beyond space to give his expert opinion on officially approved side story Star Wars Rebels!

Click Here To Download (Right Click, Save As)

Shameless opportunism? Us? Nah, we were just so excited to get Jerry back on the podcast because Star Wars Rebels is a genuinely great franchise spin-off show and, as Jerry goes into exhaustive detail about, evidences a good approach for dealing with a universe this large. By offering a premise with original characters with no significant ties to established figures the show is free to play around in this fantastical setting, giving the audience a chance to invest in a story that will surely come to prominence on its own merits.

Jerry's Twitter

Jeremiah's Strange Times

THE SHORT VERSION

Hopeful heroes

Sinister Sith

Some sideburns wearing a man

Show #103: Kids Immolated In Classroom Inferno

Slightly regretting not putting this off til episode one-oh-FOUR, but we're just that excited to form a forum on The Fantastic Four!

Click Here To Download (Right Click, Save As)

It's a game of two distinct halves with 1994's Fantastic Four TV show. Bundled in with the previously discussed Iron Man in the Marvel Action Hour both series had a campy and obnoxious first season before being drastically revamped in the second. It's that latter season of Fantastic Four that really gets down to the core of what makes these characters great, full of cosmic encounters and larger-than-life stories told in breathless comic book style, which unfortunately arrived too late to save the show but did plenty to make it linger in the memory for years to come.

THE SHORT VERSION

Fantastic foes

Nosy neighbours

Musical interludes!

Show # 100: Evil Cyborg Leonard Nimoy

It's our one hundredth podcast! And it's a blowout celebration with our good buddy Mark Shanahan and Centurions!

Click Here To Download (Right Click, Save As)

A little something we've been saving for a while, and a fitting way to mark this momentous milestone. Centurions adheres to many of the elements often present in your 1980s toy cartoons but it's central gimmick is strong enough to make it stand out from the crowd. Cool technology, a loveable main cast and a whole lot of explosions add up to a wonderful trip down memory lane, not to mention the show's hopeful tone and bright outlook that science will ultimately save this planet is just what we need in a modern, more cynical era.

SOTSM is now also available on Poddirectory, giving you even more options to discover the secret. Here's to a hundred more!

THE SHORT VERSION

Man and machine

Power extreme

The near future?

Show #93: I Was Having A Lovely Time Until My Mind Exploded

We travel to a world light years away in a galaxy of terror to seek new life and new civilisations on a Fantastic Planet, aka La Planete Sauvage!

Click Here To Download (Right Click, Save As)

Based on the novel "Oms en serie" by Stefan Wul and brought to unsettling life by Rene Laloux and Roland Topor, Fantastic Planet is posited as an allegorical tale but succeeds better as a journey through a realm and a civilisation so incredibly far removed from our own. The brilliant production design and haunting visuals convey this alien nature beautifully, the brutal environment with its bizarre customs only thrown into starker relief by the similarities we can see to our own society.

THE SHORT VERSION

Education

Recreation

Local wildlife