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Keyboard Blades

Keyboard Blades

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THE EDGE OF THE BLADE: In the midst of his Fear the Walking Dead watch-through, Andrew rediscovers the wonder and majesty of the actor (and musician and politician) Ruben Blades.

DOCTOR WHO: [WARNING: the discussion contains SPOILERS] Our hosts discuss the second season (series 15) of Doctor Who, showcasing the Fifteenth Doctor (as played by Ncuti Gatwa) struggling to get his displaced companion, Belinda Chandra, back home to Earth. It had a lot of great stories and a lot of surprises and a lot of ties back to the previous season; our hosts discuss all the angles.

NEW REALMS OF NERD: D. Bethel briefly discusses his foray in to mechanical keyboards and is reasonably perplexed by the experience.

TOPICS:
(00:00) Intro – The Rediscovery of Ruben Blades
(06:19) Doctor Who, season 2 is done!
(08:38) What these two seasons did differently
(21:14) Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth (?) Doctor
(26:30) More cameos of old Doctors (and companions), please
(31:43) A genuinely surprising regeneration?!
(42:51) Outro – Dan buys a new keyboard
(46:10) Outtakes

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “Nerd Intervention” (28 June 2024): Where our hosts discuss season 1 of Doctor Who, Ncuti Gatwa’s first season on the show.
  • “Turn on the Window” (9 May 2025): Where our hosts discuss the season 2 episode of Doctor Who, “Lucky Day,” and all the discomfort its story and characters bring.

RELEVANT LINKS:

  • Keychron Q11 – The mechanical keyboard D. bought to make his digital art process less physically painful.

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

Turn on the Window

Turn on the Window

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RIDICULOUS REMAKES: D. Bethel goes off on “live action” remakes of beloved animated movies––Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon––that genuinely seem unnecessary.

DOCTOR WHO: With the first half of season 2 (series 15) of Doctor Who done, our hosts talk about what it’s doing differently from the previous season before zooming in specifically on the most recent unsettling and surprisingly profound episode, “Lucky Day.”

TOPICS:
(00:00) Intro – What are they doing with these “live action” remakes anyway?
(05:11) Doctor Who, season 2 (series 15) episode: “Lucky Day”
(36:32) Outro – D. finally heard the Wilhelm Scream in Indiana Jones & The Great Circle
(37:32) Outtakes

RELEVANT LINKS:

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “Nerd Intervention” (28 June 2024): Where our hosts reflect on the previous season of Doctor Who.

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

Theme Song Detectives

Theme Song Detectives

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It’s been nearly a month with lots of things happening, under our hosts’ control and not, but they check back in this week with some overview of life stuff as well as nerdy and geeky stuff.

WEEKS IN GEEK: Andrew finds a lot to like in the recent MCU-Disney+ show, Daredevil: Born Again, continuing the series from its run on Netflix. He also returns to survival gaming with Far From Home’s Forever Skies. D. Bethel dips into new old sci-fi with the well-regarded series, The Expanse, but has been occupying his gaming time with Machinegames’ Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

LONG LIVE THE QUEEN: The show wraps with a short remembrance of Jean Marsh, an incredibly expressive actress whose career ran decades. Our hosts, of course, remember her fondly for her dips into Doctor Who across the years (she even used to be married to the Third Doctor, Jon Pertwee) as well as her turn as the unforgettable villain, Queen Bavmorda, in Willow.

TOPICS:

(00:00) Intro – Where we’ve been
(02:06) D. Bethel’s Mister Rogersification
(05:25) Andrew’s WiG #1: Daredevil: Born Again
(13:44) Andrew’s WiG #2: Forever Skies
(24:03) D.’S WiG #1: The Expanse
(28:51) D.’s WiG #2: Indiana Jones & the Great Circle
(42:03) Outro – RIP Jean Marsh
(46:07) Outtakes

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “A Warm Heat” (23 June 2017): Where D. Bethel discusses the Machinegames’ reboot, Wolfenstein: The New Order.
  • “Whatever We Bring, We Bring It” (13 October 2017): Where D. Bethel discusses his time playing Machinegames’ Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
  • “It’s Always a Game” (08 February 2019): Where Andrew relates his experience with the survival game, Subnautica.
  • “Earl British” (25 September 2020): Where our hosts discuss Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda Softworks.
  • “Bear is Watching” (21 May 2021): Where Andrew plays the Subnautica sequel, Subnautica: Below Zero.
  • “The Soundness” (01 September 2023): Where Green Hell becomes Andrew’s survival game of choice.
  • “Nomanski” (24 November 2023): Survival goes to space as Andrew and D. Bethel discuss No Man’s Sky.

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

No Herbs

No Herbs

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SHINE ON: Our hosts spend a quick minute discussing the fall of Diamond Distribution and all the markets it touched.

WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew watches the new Star Trek movie, Star Trek: Section 31, while D. Bethel finally jumps on the bandwagon and watches the beginning of the Apple TV+ show, Severance.

TOPICS:

(00:00) Intro – Diamond Comics Distribution goes bankrupt
(08:52) Andrew’s WiG: Star Trek: Section 31
(30:44) D’s WiG: Severance
(43:21) Outro – “Superhero” is public again
(46:03) Outtakes

RELEVANT LINKS:

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “Jersey Finger” (26 April 2024): Where our hosts discuss the breakup of the comical overreach of the Embracer Group.

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

New Machine, New Problems

New Machine, New Problems

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TOM HANKSGIVING: Andrew bought a new Mac, so he decides to play No Man’s Sky while D. Bethel is Tom Hanksful for the delightful retro-stylings of the indie RPG, Beyond Galaxyland.

GRIPESGIVING: With all the thanks out of the way, our hosts decide to complete the holiday by complaining about things. Andrew is mad at the new season of Cobra Kai while D. Bethel becomes irrationally furious with the new Wicked movie.

TOPICS:
(00:00) Intro: It’s American Thanksgiving
(03:34) Andrew buys a Mac Mini and plays No Man’s Sky
(17:59) D. Bethel loves Beyond Galaxyland
(25:19) Outro: Gripesgiving #1 – Cobra Kai season 6 is interminable
(28:27) Gripesgiving #2 – the 3-hour Wicked adaptation is only PART ONE?!
(32:13) Outtakes

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “Chekhov’s Honk” (22 January 2021): Where our hosts discuss The Karate Kid, The Karate Kid Part 2, and The Karate Kid Part 3, briefly.
  • “Too Many Johnnies” (5 February 2021): Where our hosts dive into Cobra Kai.
  • “Nomanski” (24 November 2023): Where our hosts talk about No Man’s Sky.

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

The Sheng Long Distraction

The Sheng Long Distraction

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WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew watches the new Disney+/MCU show, Agatha All Along, before realizing he’s still all-in on zombie media. D. Bethel, on the other hand, checks out the newest entry into the venerated Alien franchise with Alien: Romulus.

TOPICS:
(00:00) Intro – Agatha All Along first impressions
(11:18) Andrew orders a lot of The Walking Dead
(32:04) D. Bethel watches Alien: Romulus
(51:10) Outro – More Alien franchise talk
(54:40) Outtakes

The two The Walking Dead collections Andrew bought. LEGO minifig for scale.

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

The Deep Nerd Zone

The Deep Nerd Zone

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WEEK IN GEEK: This week, our hosts are hard at work in the different worlds and in deep space as Andrew watches the first two episodes of the final season of Star Trek: Discovery while D. Bethel has a good time playing a scoundrel in Obsidian Entertainment’s The Outer Worlds.

TOPICS:
(00:00) Intro – We survived the eclipsageddon
(02:39) Andrew watches Star Trek: Discovery (Star Trek talk ensues)
(23:06) Dan gives a quick update upon finishing Sea of Stars
(24:10) D. gives first impressions on The Outer Worlds
(37:53) Outro – more eclipse talk.
(39:11) Outtakes

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

Day of the Diver

Day of the Diver

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DOCTOR NEW: Our hosts spend a little bit of time discussing the newest episode of Doctor Who, “The Church on Ruby Road.”

FISHING & STUFF: Our hosts talk about the charm, the complexities, and frustrations of the hit video game, Dave the Diver.

THE CALL OF PUBLIC DOMAIN: With the new year brings a new slate of texts into the public domain. While most people are talking about Disney’s latest loss, Andrew focuses in on a piece of cosmic horror that has officially entered public domain this year, H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Call of Cthulhu.”

TOPICS:

(00:00) Intro – Doctor Who
(03:11) Dave the Diver
(28:59) Outro – New items in the public domain
(32:48) Outtakes

RELEVANT LINKS:

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “Quite Easily Done” (08 June 2018): Where our hosts discuss a documentary by the video game documentarians, NoClip, about the history of the developer, Bethesda.
  • “Academic Quality Entertainment” (04 August 2023): Where Andrew talks about his time playing Dredge.
  • “Pleasure Quotes” (22 December 2023): Where our hosts talk about the bigeneration episode that introduced the new Doctor as played by Ncuti Gatwa.

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

Pleasure Quotes

Pleasure Quotes

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TALKIN’ ‘BOUT BI-GENERATION: Our hosts reconvene to talk about the final two David Tenant and Catherine Tate-led specials for Doctor Who––”Wild Blue Yonder” and “The Giggle”––which ultimately ends with Ncuti Gatwa taking over the lead role.

PAST BECOMES PRESENT: We have a quick Star Trek check-in as D. Bethel reflects on the harrowing Deep Space Nine two-parter, “Past Tense.”

TOPICS:

(00:00) Intro – Andrew’s “camping trip”
(02:51) Doctor Who – “Wild Blue Yonder” & “The Giggle”
(42:56) Outro – Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, “Past Tense”
(45:17) Outtakes

RELEVANT EPISODES:

-“The Winter Donna” (8 December 2023): Where our hosts talk about “The Star Beast”, the first Doctor Who 60th anniversary special.

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

Nomanski

Nomanski

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WHAT’S OLD IS NEW: In a brief holiday episode, our hosts meet to talk about the storied video game, No Man’s Sky by British developer, Hello Games. They share their experiences with the game and how it fits into the varied survival-management game genre.

TOPICS:

(00:00) Intro – Black Friday!
(01:41) D. starts playing No Man’s Sky
(14:34) Casual outro
(15:25) Outtakes

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “It’s Always a Game” (8 February 2019): Where Andrew shares his thoughts about “the swimming one”, Subnautica.
  • “Plants Having Sex” (5 April 2019): Where Andrew first dives into his experience with No Man’s Sky.
  • “Threadnaught” (13 September 2019): Where our hosts discuss the long, arduous, redemptive road of No Man’s Sky.
  • “The Soundness” (1 September 2023): Where Andrew discusses his time with another survival-management game, Green Hell.

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC: