The Magnificently Huge Podcast

Curious about Star Trek, but don’t know where to start? Have we got a show for you! Because while all of us here at MagHuge know the Original Series stuff, some of us (cough… Chris… cough) never really got into anything else Trek in the last 37 years. So there are many questions for noobs who are maybe Trek-curious, but need some wizened guidance on where to begin in this vast, complicated universe of TV shows and movies…. which hardcore Star Trek fans are apparently only too happy to talk about. So sit back and enjoy our irreverent, warp speed overview of as much Trek as we could fit into this Part 1 discussion to try and make Star Trek happen. Again. And remember, the first taste is always free. 0:00 - Intros 4:00 - Childhood’s End (Clarke, 1953) 6:30 - American Gods (Gaiman, 2001) 15:00 - The Stars My Destination (Bester, 1956) 17:40 - Rapture-Palooza (2013) 23:00 - UB40 26:40 - Bowfinger (1999) 32:30 - Star Trek for Beginners 37:00 - The Original Series vs Star Wars 40:30 - Star Trek: The Next Generation 59:20 - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 1:13:00 - Star Trek: Voyager and Enterprise

This week we discuss one of the greatest films ever made - apparently. It’s not entirely clear why The French Connection is considered one of the greatest movies ever made, but then all we did was watch it. Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider star in the filthiest depiction of filthy early-1970s New York City, with the famous car chase that will make you say, “meh.” But it’s us talking about it, so we make it all much more entertaining! Here’s a link to the Patrick (H) Willems video about car chases and Grand Prix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPnTm8C_OfY 0:00 - Intros 4:50 - Conan O’Brien needs a Friend / Beastie Boys 14:30 - Wicked Little Letters (2023) 18:30 - Borderlands (2024) 24:05 - The Serpent Queen (Starz, 2022) 29:40 - The French Connection (1971)

Hey edgelordz! If U think Crank isn’t the shiznit then ur dum. Quit dl that boy band trash from Napster and get with the kewl kidz. It’s like GTA but it’s a movie, yo! It’s L337! 0:00 - Intros 4:15 - Mythic Quest 5:00 - From 5:22 - Lolita (book) 7:25 - Deadpool & Wolverine 9:15 - Beverly Hills Cop and Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F 24:00 - Crank and Crank: High Voltage

SNL movies were the entertainment vehicle we didn’t know we wanted, and then we found out why. The 90s were the heyday for movies based on popular characters from the sketch comedy juggernaut Saturday Night Live, so let’s talk about that. It’s the podcast episode you didn’t know you wanted, and then… are we repeating the joke here? Sorry, getting into the SNL mood. It’s a theme. The theme you didn’t know you wanted… 0:00 - Intros 3:10 - The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live 7:50 - Totally Tubular Festival 12:40 - Thelma (2024) 19:20 - Rock Hudson / Doris Day 29:15 - Saturday Night Live movies

Ever see a movie for the first time and feel like you’ve seen it all before? Well that is Doomsday, kids, the 2008 magnum opus of future-dystopia action-adventure from writer/director Neill Marshall (Dog Soldiers, Hellboy 2019). It is allegedly an homage to much better classic genre fare, but really what you get is a lazy story that lifts whole tropes & scenes & characters from those better classic genre flicks in a very obvious and tedious manner. From 28 Days Later to Escape From New York to Mad Max to Aliens and beyond, Doomsday is a kitchen-sink movie that isn’t so much concerned with reinventing the wheel as it is with reminding us all what was so great about the stuff it is stealing from. With more cannibalism and explosions! 3:12 - Kamala Harris flips the script 24:55 - Avengers: Doomsday 27:15 - Doomsday (2008)

In 1981, the creators of the uber midnight-movie classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show decided to press their luck and attempted to bottle lightning one more time…in a musical non-sequel sequel called Shock Treatment. Brad & Janet return in this messy media satire about reality television and our corporate overlords that was about 20 years ahead of its time…but arriving about 5 years too late. With no really memorable numbers ala Time Warp to speak of, what’s left is a shallow spiritual sequel to Rocky Horror that is utterly devoid of that predecessor’s weird glam-rock, gender-fluid charm. It looks great, but there ain’t much underneath, which makes it about as 1980’s as it gets. Yea verily. 0:00 - Intros 4:05 - Late Night With The Devil 5:05 - Interview With The Vampire (AMC) 11:10 - The Boys (Season 4) 13:15 - Jane Weidlin (live) 15:35 - How Music Got Free (1622 napster bad) 21:40 - Ren Faire (Max) 25:40 - The Green Planet 33:20 - Shock Treatment

The Last Starfighter is one of the most fun, mostly forgotten unsung heroes from the stacked roster of summer movies in 1984. A kid who dreams of escaping his dead-end life in a trailer park gets the high score on a video game, which ends up being a recruitment test for a fight against tyranny in a galaxy far, far away. Derivative? Yes. Dated effects? Sure. But fun? Most definitely! With (at the time) burgeoning state-of-the-art CGI, plus a breezy runtime and relatable characters, The Last Starfighter still wasn’t a huge hit - which is a shame. But it found new life on cable TV and at the video store well into the early 90s, until it just kinda disappeared into cult-filmdom. And now that it has turned 40, it is the perfect time to revisit one of our favorites and see if it still holds up. 0:00 - Intros 6:10 - Godzilla Minus One (2023) 15:20 - Superstar: Dare To Dream (1999) 21:10 - Peter Pan (touring) 24:50 - Stax: Soulsville U.S.A. (HBO / Hulu) 34:40 - The Last Fighter (1984)

This round we take aim at movie genres that have run their course. They make for cliche, uninteresting slop, where the preview tells you everything you need to know about what’s going to happen: This person will get laid, that person will get killed, that other person will overcome their whatever. Why? Because that’s how things work in this collection of tired movie genres that must end… or at least take a nice long break. 2:45 - 34 Felony Convictions 8:15 - Matt Rife vs Nikki Glaser 14:45 - Doctor Who 24:10 - Ghostbusters Frozen Empire 30:25 - Game of Thrones 41:15 - Genres that need to go away

Roger Corman is dead. Long live Roger Corman! 3:50 - Punk Rock Bowling (Madness, The English Beat, DEVO) 18:25 - The Fall Guy (2024) 24:55 - Furiosa (2024) 32:10 - Roger Corman

Akira (1988) is an undisputed anime classic, that much is true. But it also pretty much ruined all other anime for us by setting the bar so ridiculously high. Akira is a pure adrenaline rush, an epic visual feast about armageddon and rebirth that set the bar way too high. And nothing since (not even Miyazaki) has come close in terms of pure scale, tone and world-building. It is the perfect blend of sound and image that defies any simple description, and once you see it you cannot unsee it. Plus, it makes us yell Kaneda! at the top of our lungs every single time. Watch it, then listen to us talk about watching it. Rinse. Repeat. 5:10 - Masters of the Air (Apple TV+) 13:10 - I Am Big Bird (2014) 17:35 - Self Reliance (2024) 22:10 - The Righteous Gemstones 25:45 - Häxan (1922) 31:30 - Akira (1988)

You may not know his name immediately, but you probably know his work. He does movies for teenagers, but he’s only directed one Marvel movie. We’ve been discussing Matty Vaughn for a while now, always impressed with how far he’s gotten on so little. So we decided today we would bless him with our thoughts and rapier wits. ‘Cause that’s how we roll. 0:00 - Intros 11:14 - Totally Killer (2023) 14:40 - Unfrosted (2024) 25:10 - Robodoc (2023) 32:35 - Villains Inc. (2024) 39:10 - Boy Kills World (2024) 45:35 - Matthew Vaughn

In Medias Res means stories that start in the middle of things, or even at the end. It is a very old narrative device created by the Ancient Greeks that many filmmakers have used to varying degrees of success. So naturally we thought that deserved a no-holds-barred, incredibly arbitrary Bracket Challenge Battle to the Death! Behold, our Top 8 movie picks fight it out until they are whittled down to the last film standing. Maybe there is a prize given? But really, aren’t we all winners here? 0:00 - Intros 5:55 - Fallout (Amazon) 12:30 - Ripley (Netflix) 16:10 - Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire 25:20 - Once Upon A Time In Hollywood 33:00 - In Medias Res also rams 40:20 - In Medias Res - Best use Bracket 41:15 - Big Dumb Superhero Movies: Deadpool vs Iron Man 44:15 - The Christopher Nolan Mindfuck: The Prestige vs Memento 50:00 - Gen X Blood-soaked Fight To The Death: Reservoir Dogs vs Fight Club 55:10 - Oscar Darlings: Lawrence of Arabia vs Forrest Gump 1:01:20 - Semifinals 1:04:45 - Finals

Hard to believe that a Cold War satire about Mutually Assured Destruction through a nuclear holocaust could still pack a punch 60 years after its release. But that’s exactly what happened with Stanley Kubrick’s brilliant dark comedy, Dr. Strangelove, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Starring Peter Sellers in a virtuoso 3-role performance as the titular insane scientist, a by-the-book RAF officer, and a milquetoast President, this one is arguably Kubrick’s best effort. Which sounds like a challenge for debate that we shall now have… NO FIGHTING IN THE WAR ROOM! 5:00 - Ricky Stanicky (2024) 12:30 - Dune Part Two (2024) 23:50 - Late Night with the Devil (trailer) 25:10 - Shipwreck videos found on YouTube 31:30 - Shogun (Max) 39:14 - Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb (1964)

Episode 295 - Train to Busan 2016 was the middle of the zombie pandemic. “What?” I hear you say, despite that being impossible. “There was a zombie apocalypse?” There sure was - in theaters! And 2016 was right smack dab in the middle of a bunch of great zombie films. That year saw “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” and “The Girl with All the Gifts,” which were great in their own ways. However they pale in comparison to this genre-homage from South Korea, a sort of “Die Hard” on a train with zombies. Un-Die Hard? No, not Un-Die Hard. That is stupid. Skip that… 0:00 - Intros 6:20 - Dream Scenario (2024) 11:55 - Rick and Morty season 7 16:50 - Mr Robot 27:50 - Argylle (2024) 31:20 - Roadhouse (2024) (36:44 - FSBUMP) 36:55 - Train To Busan (2016)

Before there was Nightmare on Elm Street, before there was Inception, there was Dreamscape! This under-the-radar sci-fi/action/thriller/romance from 1984 was a heady mix of genres, and while it was the first notable film to feature a storyline about people entering the dreams of others to help or harm, it has gone largely unnoticed in the last 40 years. But it beat Freddy and Christopher Nolan to the punch, which makes it a noteworthy thing to discuss. Starring Dennis Quaid, Kate Capshaw, Max Von Sydow, Christopher Plummer and an analog stop-motion evil Snake Man with legs and arms (don’t ask), Dreamscape is an oddity that fell through the cracks. Let’s dust it off and see if Freud and Jung were right all along…. 3:30 - The 80s Cruise(Sheena Easton, Wang Chung, Air Supply, Soft Cell, Midnight Star, Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg, My Posse In Effect) 26:20 - The Gentleman 28:40 - Swan Song (book) 33:00 - Dreamscape (1984)

Time again for yet another 80’s film retrospective! The year 1987 does not automatically spring to mind when one thinks of classic cinema. At first glance it is kind of meh, which is not surprising given that Three Men and a Baby was the top earner that year. But upon closer inspection, 1987 has a crap-ton of stealthily influential flicks buried within. Yup, 1987 is the year that gave us Evil Dead 2, RoboCop, Princess Bride, Lethal Weapon, The Untouchables, Withnail & I, Raising Arizona, River’s Edge, Predator, Spaceballs… this list goes on. We’re just as shocked as you are! So we’re giving props to a stealth year for stone-cold classics - 1987! Example of Scared Ketchup’s The Trump Show: https://youtu.be/4syP4lA3Q0Y?si=cLHzjzoo-Nw_fAQX 4:30 - Scared Ketchup - The Trump Show 11:10 - State Of The Union Address 15:35 - Euphoria (Max) 22:05 - Elektra 25:50 - The Trial of the Incredible Hulk (1989) 28:10 - Dempsey and Makepeace (1985) 34:00 - 1987 in movies

Ever seen a movie or show and thought, “Wow - they sure got that wrong!” It could have been good, but they missed the point. Or maybe you had a better point in mind. That’s the theme of this week’s show - why not remake these things that were almost good? As long as everything else gets remade every five years, here are some projects that decidedly deserve to be correctly done. 0:00 - Intros 4:30 - Dicks The Musical 12:12 - Northern Exposure 17:45 - Wild Isles 20:20 - Fargo (season 5) 28:40 - I Can’t Believe They Didn’t Remake This Already

This week Brian made the MagHuge crew revisit the 1990 Warren Beatty magnum opus “Dick Tracy.” Will it stand the test of time? Will hijinks ensue? Will Chris and Eric drink hemlock? There’s only one way to find out! 0:00 - Intros 5:51 - Mr. Robot 13:30 - Japanese Precision Walking 16:15 - Kabaddi 20:39 - AR / VR 26:50 - Freaks VS The Reich 32:10 - Dick Tracy (1990)

Welcome to the Technical Difficulties Edition of yet another amazing Freshitravaganza show, wherein we have an ad hoc discussion about literally whatever dumb stuff pops into our heads! Funny story… We tried to do a show wherein we savaged Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon, his latest mirthless sci-fi IP starter. But all our tech went bonkers early without us realizing it and we lost everything but the Fresh Sh!t at the beginning. So we decided to cut our losses, keep that bit and expand it into a better, full-length show. Because no way were we giving Rebel Moon a do over. Nope. 4:45 - Fizz 9:50 - Good Burger 2 (2023) 13:25 - I Hate Suzie (Max) 18:40 - Blue Beetle (2023) 24:50 - Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon (2023) 30:00 - Green Dot Aviation 41:35 - Lisa Frankenstein (2024) 47:40 - Napoleon 48:40 - Pop Will Eat Itself, Jesus Jones, EMF and other Grebo acts 53:44 - The Beekeeper (2024) Auralnauts Zack Snyder’s Star Wars: https://youtu.be/J9X_FmCbrIA?si=JpDkiOUhH0rjZxUi Green Dot Aviation: https://www.youtube.com/@GreenDotAviation

Blazing Saddles is a comedy classic given to us by Mel Brooks way back in 1974 and we are going to celebrate the 50th Anniversary accordingly… with copious amounts of vulgarity, fart jokes and meta-humor on top of an angry, socially conscious satire of race relations in America. That’s right, Blazing Saddles is a foundational film comedy that is not afraid to make you laugh while also making you uncomfortable. So buckle up, cowpokes, and join us for a celebration that is sure to make you send us even more hate mail! Thank you, Mel Brooks, for the decades of laughter! 0:00 - Eric’s trip to Japan 10:00 - Brian’s work trip to India 20:30 - Sid and Marty Krofft shows on Tubi 21:20 - The Bay City Rollers Show 29:00 - Rick and Morty (season 7) 33:45 - American Fiction (2023) 38:25 - UFO (1970) and Space:1999 (1975) 41:55 - Blazing Saddles (1974) Brian’s India traffic video: https://youtu.be/oQwRNcVZ434 Brian’s India fast food video: https://youtu.be/vad9eFKz2Xw