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Halloween Still

Halloween Still

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RTD2: With the next series of Doctor Who wrapping up the tenures of both the star, Jodie Whittaker, and its showrunner, Chris Chibnall, it was announced that the 2023 series will herald the return of the showrunner who brought the show back from the wilderness in 2005, Russell T Davies. Our hosts discuss the possibilities––and drawbacks––of this announcement.

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  • “Teasing the Difference” (05 June 2015): Where D. Bethel discusses playing The Last of Us, the game that came with his purchase of this Playstation 4.

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A Braver New World

A Braver New World

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GIANTS FALL: Kind of a combination of a News Blast and a Nerd Law, but the lawsuit between Apple and Epic has been decided and…it’s complicated. We have Andrew walk us through the ins and outs of this strange event.

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FEATURED MUSIC:

  • “Nerd Law” by D. Bethel
Exposure Creates Tolerance

Exposure Creates Tolerance

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MINI-WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew and D. Bethel need a week to recoup after weeks of birthdays, Doctor Who, and a celebration of Star Trek, so they’re going to briefly cover the things that have been keeping their attention recently. To no one’s surprise, they’ve been playing video games. Andrew has been playing the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster collection that includes Final Fantasy 1-4 (at this point), while D. Bethel has not been helping his mental health––though he has been having a lot of fun––playing The Last of Us, Part 2.

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Beware the Harp Ladies

Beware the Harp Ladies

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HAPPY STAR TREK DAY: This week, 8 September to be specific, the world celebrated Star Trek Day. With one of our hosts being an avowed and public Star Trek fan, our hosts discuss the ways they decided to celebrate: Andrew watched all the exciting announcements and trailers from the Paramount+ Star Trek Day Celebration event while D. Bethel coincidentally started watching Star Trek: The Next Generation not more than a week ago and is enjoying every minute of it so far.

RELEVANT LINKS:

https://youtu.be/EBE7d8sH5Rg
  • Asplund, Andrew. “News Blast: Star Trek Fan Films.” A Website [ , ] For All Intents and Purposes, 23 June 2016.
    • Where Andrew covered the strange legal journey of fan films of the beloved franchise.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “Crow Hat” (31 July 2015): Where Andrew and D. Bethel watch and discuss the pilot episode(s) for Star Trek: The Next Generation, “Encounter at Farpoint.”
  • “Butt Magic” (16 October 2020): Where Andrew discussed his joy having watched the first season of the hit adult animated series, Star Trek: The Lower Decks.

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Fashion Blasters

Fashion Blasters

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BLOOD AND THUNDER DAYS: To celebrate D. Bethel’s birthday this week, our hosts take a look at another story from the classic run of Doctor Who. In fact, it’s another story from the same season as “Survival.” In fact, it’s the first story from the season that “Survival” brought to a close. Andrew and D. Bethel dive into the pool of Arthurian legend, militarism, and timey-wimey shenagigans found in “Battlefield.”

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “Spaceship Mall” (20 August 2021): Where we celebrate Andrew’s birthday by watching and discussing the last story from Doctor Who‘s final season (of its classic run), “Survival.”

RELEVANT LINKS:

  • Catch D. Bethel on Brunch with Ben & Friends on Sunday, September 5, at 10:30am PST by tuning into the YouTube channel for Ben’s comic shop, Empire’s Comics Vault.

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FEATURED MUSIC:

  • Additional audio from Doctor Who “Battlefield”, episode 4.
Doctor Ennui

Doctor Ennui

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ALREADY OBSOLETE: This is a short episode––you could even call it a “shortcast”, but why would you––because Dan had to have a little procedure that knocked him out a bit. However, they don’t leave you hanging as they talk about things that have drawn their attention this week. D. Bethel is impressed with the first two episodes of David E. Kelley’s new show, Big Sky, while Andrew dives deep in to the Zyuranger pool.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “The Space Dog and Bacchus Show” (21 August 2014): Where Andrew talks to Kai, game designer and apparent Kamen Rider aficionado.
  • “Dulce Et Utile” (12 June 2020): Where Dan previously talked about this artistic concept.
  • “Films in Quarries” (18 June 2021): Where Andrew first mentions his perusal into the world of The Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers/Zyurangers.

RELEVANT LINKS:

  • The trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home:

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Spaceship Mall

Spaceship Mall

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To celebrate Andrew’s birthday today, he and D. Bethel talk about thing they both love a lot: classic Doctor Who.

SURVIVAL OF THE WHO-IEST: “Survival” is an interesting story for a variety of reasons in classic Doctor Who, not the least of which being that it was the last story to air before the show was cancelled in 1989. Beyond that, though, and beyond the questionable production design and special effects, is a real clever story that says as much about the culture it was made in (and today!) as it does about its characters. Though it’s a capstone on a series that was, perhaps, past its prime, its a more endearing and impressive capstone on the era of the Seventh Doctor, played by Sylvester McCoy, and Ace, played by Sophie Aldred. Andrew and Dan take a few minutes to walk through all the impressive––and mildly less impressive––aspects of this story.

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  • Additional audio taken from Doctor Who, “Survival”, Episode 3.
Public Iteration

Public Iteration

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THE SUICIDE SQUAD: With Warner Bros./DC Comics’ release last week of James Gunn’s new film, The Suicide Squad, we bring on our on-the-ground-DC-correspondent, Taylor Katcher, to discuss how this movie completely saves this DC franchise after its much less successful (critically) Suicide Squad from 2015. Even Andrew liked it!

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “Almost an Andrew Sandwich” (27 January 2017): Where D. Bethel shares his thoughts about the first Suicide Squad film.
  • “Close the Loop” (11 January 2019): Where D. Bethel talks about the movie, Bumblebee, and gives a few thoughts as to John Cena’s performance in it.
  • “The Nature of the Gutter” (12 March 2021): Where we last had Taylor on to discuss the first Marvel-based Disney+ show, WandaVision.

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In the Reward Zone

In the Reward Zone

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WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew plays the first few games in Square Enix’s nostalgia-trip, Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster, while D. Bethel dives into nostalgia and music theory reading the newest book from Boss Fight Books, Final Fantasy VI by Sebastian Deken.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “Premature Clapulation” (19 June 2014): In Episode 4, D. Bethel and Andrew discuss the positive qualities of Final Fantasy VI.
  • “Answer Sandwich” (24 October 2014): Where Andrew and D. Bethel discuss the work of Final Fantasy composer, Nobuo Uematsu.
  • “BTAS” (7 August 2015): Nearly exactly six years ago, D. Bethel and Andrew talk about the ludomusicology of Final Fantasy VI.
  • “Alien Control Party” (22 January 2016): Where Andrew and D. Bethel ponder the different ways––and the best ways––to “archive” old games for modern players.
  • “Five Minutes to Funny” (9 December 2016): Where D. Bethel shares his thoughts reading the Boss Fight Book about Metal Gear Solid, written by Ashly & Anthony Burch.
  • “Editing Is Magic” (13 July 2018): Where D. Bethel and Andrew read Final Fantasy V by Chris Kohler, published by Boss Fight Books.
  • “Little Paper People” (2 November 2018): Where D. Bethel reads and shares his thoughts about another Boss Fight Books book, Shovel Knight by David L. Craddock.

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Sword Club

Sword Club

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A BAD BLIZZARD: Our hosts take a quick look at the controversy (and lawsuits!) that came out of an investigation led by the state of California into the toxic and dangerous company culture of Activision Blizzard.

I HAVE THE POWER: Having watched the first five episodes released for Netflix’s Masters of the Universe: Revelation, Andrew and D. Bethel look at this playful and creative reimagining of the classic ’80s toy commercial, er I mean, cartoon series.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “All-New, All-Same” (29 June 2018): Where Andrew and D. Bethel discuss the angry internet’s attempt to “destroy” Lucasfilm following the release of The Last Jedi and Solo: A Star Wars Story.
  • “Empty Justice” (01 March 2019): Where our hosts talk about internet trolls trying to review bomb Captain Marvel ahead of its release.

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