Strange Ride

In 1982, Phoebe Cates swam naked across movie screens nationwide and nobody cared. Cates had been willing to appear fully nude on camera but had soured on choices the production team had made while editing the film and turned against her own starring role. Paradise told the story of a young couple's sexual awakening in a desert oasis in the early ninenteenth-century. Despite Cates's and her co-star, Willie Aames's, cover-model bodies, the dramatic tension of a human trafficker in hot pursuit of the young heroes, and the comic styling of two chimpanzees audiences and critics alike rejected the movie. Today, the movie has a perfect 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is difficult to see in every sense of the word, available to stream only in low fidelity uploads on YouTube and the Internet Archive. But Paradise's failure was a bit of a mystery. The same general premise had proved box office gold only two years before and Cates would go on to become an international sex symbol and comic talent with her roles in teen sex farces like Fast Times at Ridgmont High and the blockbuster horror comedy Gremlins. So what was the trouble with Paradise?

Walt Disney World is almost known for being a place that encourages you to take wholesome videos and pictures of your family while you’re there in the parks, but some people have taken that even further and have filmed an entire feature length movie in Disney World and Disneyland. This is something that has actually happened and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival back in 2013. However this movie wasn’t a wholesome family vacation. It’s a surrealist horror movie that transforms what is meant to be the “happiest place on earth” into a nightmare that you can’t escape from. Today, Savannah will be talking about the movie Escape From Tomorrow, how they filmed it, how they got away with it, and what it’s even about.

There is so much Star Wars content out in the wide world. Some of it is loved, some of it hated, but there is one piece of Star Wars media that is so hated by its creator that it was almost lost media. If it wasn’t for fans making bootleg VCR copies during its one and only broadcast it would be lost to time. I’m talking about of course the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special. A variety show set in the Star Wars universe that was also meant to sort of celebrate Thanksgiving/Christmas. George Lucas was so mortified by how this special turned out that he has tried to remove any trace of its existence from the earth, and because of that resistance it has since become a cult classic amongst Star Wars fans. But how did the Star Wars Holiday special end up so bad? Today, Savannah will be going over how the special was made and its content, so you can be spared from having to watch it yourself.

The Broadway Musical, Part Two: The Review In today's episode of Strange Ride Savannah finally digs deeper into the set, costumes, design elements, and the plot of The SpongeBob SquarePants Broadway Musical.

The Broadway Musical, Part One: An Introduction SpongeBob Squarepants is a character that I’m sure needs no introduction. Even if you haven’t seen the show you have at least heard of him, but did you know that he had a Broadway Musical back in 2017? Today, Savannah goes over the history of the popular tv show and the musical itself.

Secure. Contain. Protect. These are the core tenants of the SCP Foundation. But just what is this secret organization? Find out here on Strange Ride!

Where we last left off we learned of the notorious Jigsaw killer who doesn’t actually kill people, but tests them to see if they have the will to live. He has kidnapped and tested a lot of people with not very many of them proving they “had the will to live”. Jigsaw, or his real name, John Kramer is a cancer patient who doesn’t have much longer to live. He takes on an apprentice by the name of Amanda Young, a young used to be drug addict who survived one of his games, and believes that Jigsaw saved her life. She will take on the mantle of Jigsaw once John passes away. That is until she loses faith in Jigsaw’s teachings and starts to make his traps inescapable. John tries to test Amanda one more time to see if she can truly be a worthy successor to him. With two or three games depending on how you look at it combined he put his theory to the test. Unfortunately for John he misjudged Amanda and she failed sealing all of their fates. John Kramer the infamous Jigsaw Killer, and his apprentice Amanda Young both died at the end of the third movie, but the story keeps moving forward with and without them. Today, we will be finishing (hopefully) going over the plot of the Saw Franchise.

The Saw franchise is one of the most iconic and successful horror franchises of all time, and arguably the bloodiest. Believe it or not there are many things that make Saw an interesting topic, from its humble beginnings to the fact that it helped create and popularize the term “Torture Porn”. But Savannah’s favorite thing about the Saw series is just how much content there is, and just how convoluted that story has become in their quest to continue making movies. There is no understating just how convoluted and insane the full plot to the Saw franchise is, and on top of being convoluted its contradictory, self righteous, and honestly just plain stupid… But that's part of its charm. Today, we will be going over some of the history of the Saw franchise as Savannah tries her hardest to make sense of the story.

In the second part of our My Little Pony series, Rob discusses how the series draws on themes of occult practice to explore the nature of the self and the relationship between ego and sacrifice.

For parents like me who chose to share 2010’s revival of My Little Pony with my children, the animated series’ emphasis on social-emotional learning is the primary draw; however, these lessons are framed in distinctly occult terms. The series is subtitled “friendship is magic” and while this may suggest that friendship is awesome, in the context of the show it often means that it is literally a matter of spells, potions, and esoteric books. The show’s association with real-world occultism in the form of pony-inspired tulpas shows the degree to which it has successfully tapped into a New Age spirituality that also appeals to adult fans. The protagonist, Twilight Sparkle, descends according to the theosophical paradigm from the palace of Princess Celestia to Ponyville in order to learn, grow, and ultimately metamorphose into the show’s version of the divine feminine—a princess with both secular and spiritual power. At the end of the third season, she achieves an incomplete apotheosis and the audience learns the degree to which her friendships are, like Aleister Crowley’s goetian demons, actually external manifestations of her own consciousness in need of harmonizing. In Crowleyite fashion, the show celebrates the ponies’ individuality, but, after Twlight Sparkle’s initiation, it troubles personal identity by requiring the ponies to surrender a significant aspect of their ego-based power. In this paper, I analyze the show’s psycho-spiritual occultism in order to explore what it means to embody the divine feminine in postmodern popular culture.

Everyone has heard of the phrase Stockholm Syndrome. Everyone seems to understand what it means as well. It’s when a person who has been taken hostage, usually a woman, ends up creating a bond with their captor where they are seen as friends and maybe even lovers. This “syndrome” is so ingrained into pop culture that most people don’t question it’s validity. But is it actually a real thing? It’s not recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and research seems to suggest the sentiment is that it is not real, and has almost become a myth through pop culture's constant reminder/naming of it. Today we will be looking at the event that caused Nils Bejerot to coin the term Stockholm Syndrome, and how this event that “created” the syndrome actually works to disprove it.

In this continuation of Splash Mountains closure, we go through the last operating day of the ride in Disney World. From the rope drop to the fight to be the last person in line to ever ride Splash Mountain. Ride along with us as we experience what it was like to be in the Magic Kingdom that day, but we’re not done yet! With Tiana’s Bayou Adventure opening June 28th, we also discuss how the ride was changed and all of the baggage that comes with taking over Splash Mountain.

There have always been the three mountains in Disney World. Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, and possibly the most loved flume ride of all time Splash Mountain. No trip to Disney World would be complete without riding all three mountains, but there was something incredibly special about Splash Mountain in particular. It was a flume ride, a roller coaster, a dark ride, and a way to cool off all in one as well as having one of the longest run times of any ride in the park. The ride could even be seen as one of the most popular Disney rides ever created. That’s why in June of 2020, it seemed most of the world was completely shocked when Disney announced that Splash Mountain would be no more. The “mountain” was staying, but all the critters inside that fans had come to know and love were being removed, and Princess Tiana, from Princess and the Frog, was being moved in. Some people were excited. It was time to let go of those characters, who most people didn’t even know what property they were from, and to put in a more modern character. However these “some” people were not nearly as loud as the opposition. Online petitions, Facebook Groups, arguments, harassment, mass merch buying, were seen all over the internet and even in the parks themselves. Disney has replaced beloved attractions before, but there has never been a reaction like this. However Disney did not reverse their decision, and Disney World’s Splash Mountain had its final operating day January 22nd, 2023. The day included one of the longest recorded wait times in Disney Park’s history, singing, tears, fighting to be the last person to ride the ride, and so so much more. Today I will be going through the reaction to the rides closure as well as Splash Mountain’s final operating day in Walt Disney World.

In the last episode we talked about how the reptilians and humans ended up on earth and the war that we have been a part of for not just our lifetime, but our previous lifetimes as well. We’re trapped on earth and are kept stupid so that we won’t learn that our souls will be the keys to freeing us from our reptilian overlords. Because the reptilians currently have control over us they kidnap us and force us to be a part of their armies, however when they’re finished with us they wipe our memories and plop us back in time to the exact moment they kidnapped us so it's as if we were never really gone. Today we’ll be continuing our discussion on the Secret Space Program, and what service in the SSP is like.

In this Strange Ride/Occult Confessions crossover episode Savannah kicks off OC’s newest season “cults that aren’t cults” by looking at the Secret Space Program conspiracy theory. The human race is under attack, and the earth needs all of our help if we’re going to survive to the end of this war. You’ve already started your journey by listening to this podcast, but stick with us. It’ll be difficult to understand. They don’t want you to understand, but you have to try. An evil Alien race known as the reptilians are keeping us trapped here on earth. To be used as food to fuel their galactic conquest. They’ve even taken up abducting us to turn us into Super Soldiers to fight in their never ending war for control over the universe. Some of us may have been those kidnapped soldiers. Once they have no more use for us they wipe our memories and throw us back to Earth. We are nothing to them. They are faster, stronger, smarter, BUT, not all hope is lost. Us humans of earth… We’re special. We have souls that have the power to defeat the reptilians once and for all, but only if we’re able to unlock that power.

Rob takes over hosting duties to share his newest research topic: performers who die in front of audiences. In this episode, Rob traces the stories of three performers who died while performing dangerous stunts. The careers of these performers span almost two hundred years of American history and all end tragically. WARNING: This episode contains references to suicide.

One Hour One Life is a game you’ve probably never heard of, but is a game you should know about. It is an MMO (massive multiplayer online) where you are born as a helpless infant to another player. Every minute from then counts as a year, and you only get 60 of them to live your life to the fullest. The art style is childish, the gameplay arguably simplistic, and yet it is unforgiving, absurdly intricate, and forces you to look at your hour long life and wonder how the choices you made will affect the world and future generations to come. On this episode Savannah will be teaching you about this game, its mechanics, as well as some stories from some of the lives she’s lived in One Hour One Life.

"Love on a Leash" is a movie with a composer but no soundtrack about a woman who falls in love with her dog once he turns into a man (but only at night) after talking to a pond. In this date-night special, Savannah shares the history of this very unusual movie and Rob talks about the fantasies underneath the puppy love.

Urban Exploring became a very popular trend online thanks to YouTube and Disney World was not immune to it. Now places like River Country and especially Discovery Island were not the easiest places to get to explore, but at the time EPCOTs security was surprisingly lax leaving one certain pavilion to become a hotspot of Urban Exploration. Roaming around the Wonders of Life Pavilion, Urban Explorers would eventually come across the old Cranium Command show which featured an adorable fan favorite animatronic named Buzzy, and upon exploring the theater people found Buzzy where he was all those years ago. Sitting in his little chair high off of the ground looking out over his theater, where he used to teach guests how the brain communicates with different parts of the body, all alone. People were shocked he was still there. Soon enough people would sneak into this pavilion just to check in on Buzzy. See how he’s doing, and to gauge whether or not Disney might one day bring him out of retirement. He was visited a lot…. until that fateful day. December 21st the news broke that Buzzy was gone. And not just gone, but STOLEN. The shock of this find rippled through the Disney Parks community and soon everyone was asking, begging, pleading, someone please tell us “Where is Buzzy?!”

Jefferson Airplane splits apart. Hot Tuna and Jefferson Starship come together. Jefferson Starship splits apart. Starship remains and builds "this city" in 1985, the first time any of the bands related to Jefferson Airplane chart a number one song. That song goes on to become one of the most reviled songs in the history of rock music which says more about the culture of rock music than it does about Starship. Listen to our playlist of songs to accompany this series: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6oUq0S2E536gfK7TtnhhQU?si=479c939ea273477b Selected Resources: Jeff Tamarkin, "Got a Revolution?: The Turbulent Flight of Jefferson Airplane;" Grace Slick, "Somebody to Love?: A Rock-and-Roll Memoir;" Paul Kantner, "A Guide Through the Chaos (A Road to Passion)."