Every now and then we cover a topic we thought we knew a lot about until it comes time to actually talk about it, and this is one of those episodes. As the A to Z nears the end, the letter V finds us talking "Voltron" from the cartoons beginings in the 80's, the 3D computer generated "Third Dimension" in the 90s, and on to the latest Dreamworks series airing on Netflex. We even manage to chat a little bit about the various toylines too.
We've made it to the letter U, and after toying with the idea of covering everybody's favourite pre-mix cans, UDL's, we instead look at the 1989 "Weird Al" Yankovic feature film, "UHF". Both Mitch and Joe were big fans of this as youngsters, so was a lot of fun re-watching it and letting the memories roll back in.
With the end of the A to Z getting nearer, this episode is the letter T so we look at a favourite from our youth, Transformers. We concentrate mainly on G1 stuff, with a rundown of the toys we had as kids, the original TV series and the animated movie, plus we talk comics, video games and what they got right and what they got wrong in the new movie franchise.
We’ve made it to the letter S, so this episode we look at one of the most loved TV tropes, the Spin-Off. We talk a little about the definition of a Spin-Off, some notable Spin-Offs in TV history, and then we concentrate on one of our favourites, “Happy Days”, which in itself is actually a Spin-Off, plus the multitude of shows that where spin-offs for it.
We’re up to the letter R this episode, so we look at one of our favourite actors. No, not Ryan, but Burt Reynolds. We both loved his films when we were younger, so we picked three of his classics in the 1972 survival adventure “Deliverance”, driving the iconic black Trans-Am in “Smokey & The Bandit” and teaming up with an all-star cast for the cross country road race of “The Cannonball Run”. We do go pretty spoiler heavy on these films, but hey, if you haven’t seen them by now, you’ve got no...
This epsiode we look at the letter Q and the lesser known Marvel hero, Quasar. Seeing as Joe knew next to nothing on this topic, we bring in expert help in the form of Scott to help Mitch gush over one of his favourite comic characters. We look at the origins of Quasar, some of the better story arcs and have a bit of a general chat about the current state of comics, and what got us into them back in the day.
This episode we take advantage of our new recording set-up and have special guest, Scott, join us via Skype to cover the letter P and the 1967 cult classic, “The Prisoner” co-created and starring Patrick McGoohan. It’s the story of a secret agent who is abducted and held prisoner in a mysterious coastal resort called The Village, re-named Number 6 and constantly drilled by his captors try to find out why he abruptly resigned from his job. There are a couple of audio issues with this ep, seeing a...
As the A to Z of Massive Attack continues, we also continue with our look at dystopian futures now past with the 1971 sci-fi movie “The Omega Man”. Based on the Richard Matheson novel “I Am Legend” that was also the inspiration for the 2007 Will Smith movie under the same name, Charlton Heston stars as the supposed last man on Earth battling a horde of mutated vampires in a post- apocalyptic Los Angeles. We do a pretty thorough re-telling of the plot, so spoiler alert if you haven’t seen this ne...
It's time for us to get a bit cultured, so this ep for the letter N we look at a book. Well, moreso a movie that was based on a book, but it's the thought that counts, as we look at the George Orwell tale of dystopian futures with the novel "Nineteen Eighty Four" and the version of the movie released in 1984 with John Hurt in the Winston Smith role. We also look at the predictions of the future Orwell got right, and some of the later works influenced by this classic. Plus it gives us a chance to...
It’s back to the 80’s again this episode, and possibly one of the best TV theme songs ever, when we look at the letter M for MASK. We look back fondly at the cartoon series from 1985, the line of toys by Kenner, and the recent re-boot in comic form, and once again there are a couple of confessions from one of the hosts.
It’s the letter L this time around, so we look at something that has been a part of both our lives from childhood all the way up until now, the iconic toy brick from Denmark, Lego. We cover the history of the Lego company, how they evolved from making plastic bricks to putting their name on video games, TV shows and movies, and even have a couple of confessions about our adult Lego indulgences.
The A to Z continues on, and this time around it’s the letter K and the totally cheesy TV series, “Knight Rider”. We look back at the original run from the 80’s that was famous for it’s talking car, awesome theme song and the bad acting of David Hasselhoff, and then jump ahead to the later versions, including the telemovies “Knight Rider 2000” and “Knight Rider 2010”, the 90’s “Team Knight Rider” and the 2008 re-boot
The A to Z of Massive Attack rolls on, and this episode we look at the letter J and go back to everyone’s favourite animated girl group, Josie and the Pussycats. We look at their origins in the “Archie” comics of the 60’s, the cartoon series from the early 70’s and it’s outer space spin-off , the 2001 feature that was a box office bomb, and their brief return to the small screen in the new series, “Riverdale”. Mitch also goes on a little tangent about “Archie” in general too....
This episode we look at the letter I with Indiana Jones. We look at the four films with Harrison Ford playing the iconic archaeologist adventurer - where it all began in “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, with Kate Capshaw as the annoying Willie Scott in “Indiana Jones & The Temple of Doom”, the addition of Sean Connery as Henry Jones Snr. in “Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade” and Shia LaBeouf as Mutt in “Indiana Jones & The Crystal Skull”. We also briefly discuss the spin-off comic from the...
It’s H this episode, and due to Mitch’s excitement stemming from the comic “Future Quest”, we chose the 1967 Hanna-Barbera classic, “The Herculoids”. Set on a far-off planet, this team of heroes protect their world from alien invaders. Sure, there was a lot of nostalgia in re-watching these old cartoons, but Joe found it hard to get passed as little something missing that neither of us realised back when we were kids.
The A to Z rolls on, and seeing as we’ve reached G this episode, we look at the most majestic of all apes, gorillas. Well, gorilla films to be more specific. From the classics tale of the giant ape in “King Kong” and it’s various sequels, to both versions of “Mighty Joe Young” and the crazy accents and bad acting that pop up in “Congo”, we have the gorilla genre well and truly covered. We even have time to look at some gorillas in cartoons and comics along the way too.
What happens when one host makes a suggestion for a letter “F” topic and the other host doesn’t pick up on the sarcasm? Well, you get an episode dedicated to one of the world’s most popular fast foods, Fried Chicken! We originally thought we could discuss the sci-fi action film “Freejack” but after almost losing the will to live watching it, we instead look at this tasty treat. The origins, our fond memories of drumsticks of the past, and the use of fried chicken in music. There is a bit of movi...
E is the next letter in our A to Z of Massive Attack, so this time around we look at the sci-fi cult classic “Escape From New York”. Set in the dystopian future of 1997, well it was the future when John Carpenter made this film, Kurt Russell and his sweet mullet enter the island of Manhattan which has become a prison to rescue the President before time runs out.
Cast your mind back to the late 70’s or early 80’s. Was it a time for muscle cars and girls in short shorts? Well, it was if you were in Hazzard county. This episode we look at D, and the redneck romp that is “The Dukes of Hazzard”, including the original TV series, the movie reunions and remakes and the little known cartoon spin off “The Dukes” and the even less known “Trollkins”. Mitch also discusses the movie “Moonrunners” that was the inspiration for the Dukes as well, and gives us a little ...
The Massive Attack A to Z rolls on, with this episode covering the letter C and the 1994 gothic action film, The Crow, directed by Alex Proyas, and staring Brandon Lee in is final performance. We have a bit of a chat about where we were in ’94, our initial reactions to the film, what it was like re-watching it after all these years. Plus as a special treat Mitch digs up his “Goth Box” to reveal a prized possession from his past.
For the second in our new A to Z series, this episode we look at the iconic 1985 time travel adventure, "Back To The Future", staring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd. Mitch and Joe both agree this is a near perfect film, so we disect what makes it so good, look back at where we were when we first saw it, and then touch on the sequels and other media in the "Back To The Future" universe.
For a bit of a shake-up, we've decided that 2017 we will be going through the A to Z of Massive Attack. Each fortnight Mitch and Joe will pick two suggestions each per letter, pop them in a hat and draw one out to be the discussion topic for the episode. So, starting with the letter A, as it seemed like the best place to start, this time we cover Atari. We watch the documentary "Atari: Game Over" that looks at the urban legend that a surplus of "E.T. The Extra Terrestrial" cartridges were buried...
The boys are back for another year, and seeing as it's January, it must mean it's time for our fourth annual Great Expectations episode. No, it's not more Charles Dickens, it's the film and TV we're looking forward to in the coming twelve months. We then have a brief chat about the new format we will be running with this year, as starting in our next episode we will be running through the A to Z of Massive Attack. That's the Dickens!...
After a very mixed bag of classic versions and modern re-tellings of "A Christmas Carol", today we wanted to end big on one we both hold dear to our hearts, the 1992 feature "The Muppet Christmas Carol" starring Michael Caine in the Scrooge role, and all your favourite Muppets filling out the rest of the cast. We also look back over the collection we've watched and rank which ones had the best versions of the main charactors, as well as giving you our dream castings of who we think would be grea...
Who knew that the UN made movies? Well they did, including this awesome spin on the Dickens classic, the 1964 TV movie "A Carol For Another Christmas", featuring an all-star cast including Sterling Hayden, Robert Shaw and Peter Sellers. Trading the Victorian Era for the Cold War, this time instead of Scrooge we get a rich American industrialist being reminded that war is bad, and the way to stop the killing is to spend more time talking to resolve conflicts, since when talking stops, fighting st...
As we dive further into obscurity, today we pick a Christmas themed episode of the 70's action adventure show "The Six Million Dollar Man" called "A Bionic Christmas Carol". Inspired by the Charles Dickens story, Steve Austin (no, not the Stone Cold one) uses his bionic powers to convince a hard-hearted company owner the error of his ways, all while dressed in a santa suit.
Remember when Henry Winlker was the cool, leather jacket wearing Fonz in Happy Days? Well, think of the polar opposite in that and you get the character he plays in today's pick, the 1979 TV movie "An American Christmas Carol". Winkler stars as Benedict Slade, a miserly old money lender in this adaptation set in Depression era New England. It's an interesting twist on the original story, and strangely is still relevant today.
Today was a little bit of a dark horse, as neither of us had seen "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol", and we were both a little worried after picking poorly earlier in the list, unsure of what this might bring us. Thankfully, what it did deliver was actually a kinda fun little special from 1964 where the short sighted Magoo stars on Broadway in a musical version of "A Christmas Carol". It didn't have many of the usual Magoo tropes, but thankfull it did hit most of the marks to rank highly for accu...
After the terrible effort from Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny yesterday, we jump back into the movie format and let Richard Donner, famous for the films "The Goonies", "Lethal Weapon" and "Superman" take the helm of todays feature, the 1988 Bill Murray classic "Scrooged". Loosely based on the Charles Dickens text, Bill stars as a yuppie TV exec putting on a live television rendition of "A Christmas Carol" on Christmas Eve, only to be visited by his own version of Marley and the Ghosts, who show him t...
So far this year we've looked at traditional versions like the 1951 "Scrooge" and episodes that kinda miss the mark like The Simpsons "'Tis The 15th Season" but today we hit the bottom of the barrel with this Looney Tunes special from 2006 called "Bah Humduck". It takes almost half way through the show to get to the tropes of A Christmas Carol, and even the laughs are light on the ground too, proving that not all adaptations can be winners.
