Hocus Pocus is a 1993 film about a teenaged virgin who accidently lets out a trio of century old witches who steal and eat children’s souls in order to maintain their youth.  Oh and it’s a comedic children’s movie.  With snappy songs. This was recorded two years ago around Halloween.  There were audio problems and it’s kind of short, but what the heck here it is anyway.  Happy Halloween!  In March…

Hocus Pocus

A discuss of season one of the fantasy television show Game of Thrones.  There will be spoilers for season one of game of thrones but none for the books or the later seasons of the show.
May contain language not suitable for children.

Game of Thrones - Season One

For our 53rd episode we review the Studio Ghibli and Hayeo Miyazaki film, Princess Mononoke.  Princess Mononoke came out in 1997 and is still, in the opinion of this podcast, Studio Ghibli’s best film.  It is Miyazaki’s most adult film that explores deep and often unanswerable questions.  There are no easy answers in this film and the story takes great lengths to explore both sides of issues.  There are strong pro-environmental themes running through this film but it doesn’t disregard the reality.  Sometimes, destroying a forest is vital to someone’s life and livelihood.
We attempt a serious in depth discussion of the film in this episode.  I don’t know how well we succeed.  Neither of us are film scholars or are scholars in general.  However, we gave it our best and hopefully it’s still entertaining.

Princess Mononoke

Ah, Merlin season five.  The season that takes all of the cumulative storylines, character development, and drama built over five years and... takes a giant dragon sized dump all over it.
Have you been anticipating an awesome magic duel between arch nemesis Morgana and Merlin?  Too bad. Been wondering what was going on with the white dragon?  Keep wondering.  Looking forward to the reveal that Merlin has magic and him finally stepping into his own as Arthur's magic advisory? Sucks to be you.  Remember how Merlin has been serving Arthur all of this time because Arthur was destined to bring about a golden age where magic could exist peacefully? Yeah that doesn't happen. 
As you've probably already guessed, this episode is a gigantic (but deserved) bitch session. We might not have done a podcast on this season if we hadn't already done all of the previous seasons and if this hadn't been the final season.  We needed closure, even if the show didn't provide it.

Merlin Season 5

Today I bring you the greatest podcast in the history of podcasts of the greatest television show in the history of television.  Yes dear podcast listeners, I bring you season one of...
 
HERCULES THE LEGENDARY JOURNEYS.
 
Hercules the Legendary Journeys was a nineties syndicated telvision series starring Kevin Sorbo.  It's about a time of myth and legend in ancient Greece when the ancient gods were petty and cruel and they plagued mankind with suffering.  Only one man dared to challenge their power.  His name was the half god Hercules.  Since he was half god, Hercules possessed a strength the world had never seen that was surpassed only by the power of his heart.  During the series he travels the earth battleling bad guys.  Often times these were the minions of his step mother Hera, the all powerful Queen of the Gods.  Basically, whenever there was evil or an innocent was suffering Hercules was there to save them.
You're welcome internets.  You may procede to weep with joy.

Hercules the Legendary Journeys : Season One

A Review of the British tv series Doctor Who series 1-6.  There are no spoilers for series 7 and beyond. We mostly focus on the 'New Who' series.  We discuss are favorite new series Doctors, companions, episodes, and much much more. 

Doctor Who : Series 1-6 SPECIAL

It's a special episode this time around because we have our first guest host here on the podcast, long time listener Charlie! Our amazing threesome of epicness reviews the 2010 film Scott Pilgrim vs the World.  Scott pilgrim is based on the comic book series by Bryan Lee O'Malley directed by Edgar Wright and starring Michael Cera.  The story follows twenty something hipster Scott and his quest to get with the girl of his dreams named Ramona.  Along the way, he will have to defeat her seven evil exes, win a battle of the bands, and grow up.  The film is a weird mish mash of reality and video games.  Bad guys turn to coins after they die, amazon.com uses the interdimensional highway located within people's dreams to deliver packages, and Macaulay Culkin's brother Kieran Kyle Culkin is the best actor in the film.  Yeah, the film is THAT weird.

Thanks again Charlie for recording this episode with us!

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Avatar: The Legend of Korra is a 2012 American animated series that is a direct sequel to the series Avatar: The Last Airbender. The Legend of Korra is set 70 years after the last series and the world is very different.  Medevil technology has been replaced by an industrial revolution filled with cars, streetlamps and even mass media.  The world even has a new avatar: Korra, a young woman from the water bending tribe.In this episode we dicuss the first 13 episodes of Legend of Korra which constitutes the shows first season.  It felt like it was the show's entire run, but it has since been confirmed that it will have another season.You get the most out of this show if you've seen Avatar: The Last Airbender but it's not required. The show can definitly stand on its own merits.  Korra, the show's protagonist, is an awesome female character.  Heck, even her character design is awesome.  How often do you get a female character with drawn arm muscles without them being some kind of parody?  Korra looks like someone who has been trained since she was small to fight.  Her personality is great and a fun contrast to Aang's passifism.The creators excelled at world building in the last series and they reach new heights in this one. This is a world that is so well realized it feels like it would really work.  The effects of the industrial revolution are well integrated within the existing world.  For instance, the world now has electricity, but their power stations are fend with lightning bending.  Amusingly, lightning bending is not the stuff of legends it was in the previous series.  They must now teach it in schools.  Similiarly, Toph has went forth and taught the secret of metal bending which is now used by the police.Some of the side characters characterization suffers from the low episode count of the first season.  Mako and Bolen, Korra's best friends, rely a bit too much on a few key personality quirks.  Furthermore, the last two episodes of the series feel REALLY rushed.  But overall, the series was fantastic and everyone should try it out especially fans of the previous series.

Avatar: The Legend of Korra Season One

Once Upon a Time is a current (as of August 2012) television series that airs on U.S television on ABC. This episode we discuss the first season which aired fall 2011 through spring 2012. The series stars Jennifer Morrison, Ginnifer Goodwin, and Lana Parilla. And most importantly it has accomplished a miracle.
Yes folks, this is a fantasy series that wasn’t canceled within three episodes.
The plot is this: An evil queen enacts a curse upon fairytale characters that bring them to our world where they have no idea who they are. Every character is trapped in a confused haze where they can’t clearly see their future or their past and where time stands still in a small Maine town. But one woman from our world is destined to break their curse… if only her adopted son she’d given away a decade before can convince her that it is real.
The show flashes back and forth between the fantasy world and the real world so you get well acquainted with the characters pasts and how the curse has changed them in our world. It’s a brilliant set up, because you get the fantastical elements juxtaposed upon the real world which hooks fantasy geeks like me and has just enough real world elements to keep the average viewer who might want to keep a bit more grounded.
The characters are what really shine in this episode. Regina is a character you love to hate and Emma is badass while still maintaining a vulnerable core. They twist most of the fairytales in ways you don’t expect which keeps the show from being a rehash of stories you’ve heard many times before.
Half of this episode WILL NOT be spoilers and the other half will be full of spoilers. We clearly state in the episode when we’re about to discuss spoilers. There are only spoilers for season one. When we recorded this episode there were no spoilers for season two available.

Once Upon a Time - Season One

Today we’re going to talk about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic instead of Scott Pilgrim because Charlie did not show up to podcast with us. So instead we’re going to inflict ponies upon you. This episode is chocked so full of magical talking ponies, love, friendship, and happiness that it’s like a giant candy coated plague that makes you smile so hard your face stays that way forever and little children point and laugh at you as you walk down the street and you never ever get a date again and live in lonely abject misery where even that weird guy down the street who is obsessed with paper cups won’t talk to you and when you gaze into the mirror at the horror your visage has now become you say to yourself “DARN YOU FANTASY MOVIE PODCAST! DARN YOU ALL TO Hadies!”
That’s what this episode is about. Enjoy.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Each episode two fangirls have an indepth discussion of one fantasy film. We also ocassionally review fantasy miniseries,  anime, and books. If its got a fantastical bent to it, we're interested.

This podcast contains spoilers and may also contain language not suitable for children.

The Fantasy Movie Podcast

Eragon is a 2006 film based on the book series The Inheritance Trilogy by Christopher Paolini.  The movie was touted as the beginning of this epic trilogy, but there was never a trilogy because the first movie kind of sucked.  The movie is about a young guy who finds a dragon and then rides it into battle against the forces of evil.  This should have made a pretty decent movie, but the plot is a mess.  When it's not being genric it's confusing the hell out of the viewer.   Still, the movie is worth watching for the sheer awesomeness of the dragon visuals.  Riding dragons is portrayed in a real draw dropping way.  It's fun to watch the movie and simply insert yourself into Eragon's place riding a totally awesome dragon who is your BFF FOR EVAH while you kill some evil dudes.
Because come on, you know you've day dreamed that before.

Eragon

This time around we review the 1977 animated film The Hobbit. The Hobbit was adapted from a 1937 Tolkien book of the same name by Rankin-Bass. Rankin-Bass were the same production/creative team that also created The Last Unicorn, and all of the stop motion holiday classics that ABC Family shoves down Americans throats every winter.
This production was a made for tv movie for children and it shows in the final product. The animation is stilted and the movie does its best to avoid showing violence while still oddly implying it. The budget restraints of a made for tv movie are pretty apparent. The animation is stilted and a large scale war between multiple armies is depicted like a giant dust cloud. However, there was obvious love for the source material in the production. The art design is quite nice. Top Craft, the japanese studio the animation was filmed at, created some really beautiful hand painted backgrounds. They production company also respected the source material and didn't try to add to or dramatically change the story. Despite it's short comings, they did the best they could with a tv movie's budget and time.
Should you see this? If you've read The Hobbit before by all means go for it. It makes a fun diversion while waiting for the Peter Jackson version. If you haven't read the books give it a pass and wait for the live action movies.

The Hobbit (1977)

They’re creepy, they’re cooky, they’re altogether ooky they’re The Addams Family!
This was meant to come out in October, but since it took me so long to make the website you’re getting it now.  The Addams Family is about family though and Thanksgiving is about family (well in the U.S. at least) so that sort of fits right? Maybe?
The Addams Family is a 1991 film directed  by Barry Sonnenfeld that’s loosely based on the 1960s television series and on Charles Addams Original comics.  The Addams Family is a group of macabre, gothic, and possibly nigh invulnerable family who enjoy such wholesome pastimes as sword fighting, knife throwing, torturing their siblings, keeping lions as pets, and reveling in the forces of darkness.  In this adaption, Uncle Fester shows up on their doorstep with amnesia after having disappeared for decades.  Only, he thinks he’s not Uncle Fester but a guy named Gordon whose going to con them out of their fortune.  It’s kind of like the plot of Anastasia only you know, evil.
The Addams Family holds up really well to this day and the whole franchise in general is still awesome as far as we’re concerned.  You can watch several episodes legally on youtube here. The original series is also all available on Netflix as of this recording.  The movies themselves (The Addams Family and its sequel The Addams Family Values) can be easily obtained usually in a fairly cheap combo pack.

The Addams Family

The 10th Kingdom is an American fantasy television miniseries that was first released in 2000.  The story stars a young twenty something waitress named Virginia Louis who lives at the edge of Central Park.  One day she accidently runs into a dog while riding her bike to work.  But its no ordinary dog.  Its in fact, a prince from a fantasy kingdom whose been turned into a dog by an evil step mother.  This drags Virginia and her disaster prone father into an epic fantasy adventure full of trolls, magic, sheep (?), witches, dwarves, fairies, true love, and one very confused but very sexy half wolfman.
This episode does NOT contain spoilers (or has very little spoilers).  Unlike many works we discuss, the 10th Kingdom is underrated, undervalued and underwatched.  In discussing this show, we hope to simply let more people know of its existence.  It's a fantastic show that not many people have heard of and not very many people watched when it first aired.  Buy this show or rent it from Netflix if you live in the U.S.  You won't be disapointed.

 
 

The 10th Kingdom

Beauty and the Beast is a 1991 Disney animated film that is part of the Disney rennaiisance.  It is an adaption of the fairytale Beauty and the Beast.  This version is quite different from the original, but still keeps the essential themes of looking beyond the surface and not judging a book by its cover.
Melanie likes the film and Kasey doesn't.  On one hand, it's a very beautifully animated film that's rich in detail.  The themes it portrays are universal and it has a good message for children to learn.   On the other hand... Belle is such a Mary Sue.  A completely and totally mary freakin sue.  And the couple fall deeply in love in like a week.  Sure that's improvement upon love at first sight but...
What do you think of Beauty and the Beast? Was Kasey's hate for Belle justified?  Does Gaston's friend Lafou really have a gay crush on him?   Let us know what you think!
 

Beauty and the Beast (Disney)

So here’s a podcast about Tim Burton’s 1999 version of Sleepy Hollow starring Johnny Depp and Christinia Ricci… only a month after Halloween is over! That’s nearly on time! Right? Right? Well, it was recorded on Oct 30th at least.
Tim Burton’s version of Sleepy Hollow is vastly different from the original short story but for the better. It has a great cast, special effects that hold up pretty well, and some top notch spooky atmosphere. Is it great? Not really, there are several plot holes, shortcuts taken with characterization, and Johnny Depp and Christinia Ricci don’t have fantastic chemistry together. It’s still a solid film though, that’s enjoyable to watch every few years on Halloween.
This fills a request from Monica G. I hope you enjoyed the episode.

Sleepy Hollow

Website: http://fantasymoviepodcast.com
The Addams Family Values is a 1993 sequel to the 1991 Addams Family film. All of the actors from the previous film reprise their roles plus there's a brand new Addams baby. The Addams new baby is a dark haired chubby cheeked baby boy that is somehow born with a mustache. In addition, a buxom blond serial killer, played by Joan Cusak, is after Uncle Fester's life and money. The Addams also make the mistake of sending Wednesday and Pugsley to summer camp. Stuff gets set on fire.
This is a shorter episode than normal. We recorded an hour of podcast, but I guess twenty minutes of that was just us going 'uhhhhh, ummmm'. This is a great movie that surpasses the first movie. This is one of the rare instances that a sequel is better than the original. The extremely sturdy baby is a hilarious edition and all of the actors bring their A game. The casting is so perfect. Christini Ricci definitely steals the show though as Wednesday Addams. The camp play her and Pugsley are in is the thing of legends. There's some great satire hidden in here too along with all of the morbidly hilarious jokes. If you liked the last Addams Family movie you''ll love this one.
Don't forget to check out our forum giveaways!

Addams Family Values

Legend is a 1986 fantasy film directed by Ridley Scott of Blade Runner and Alien fame. It stars Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, and Tim Curry. The plot of the movie is that there's an evil red demon dude who wants to destroy all goodness and light in the world because he's evil and that's what evil dudes do. He gets his chance when a young girl taints a unicorn by touching it, allowing darkness and his minions to kill one of the unicorns and plunge the world into eternal winter. 
I'm surprised we haven't done this movie yet. Its one of the quintessential eighties fantasy films alongside Black Crystal, Labyrinth, and the Neverending Story.  It's a film that holds up pretty well as long as you watch the director's cut.   Unlike most director's cuts, the theatrical version and the director's cut of legend are drastically different.  The latter even makes sense! If you've never seen this movie definitely check it out and if you've only ever seen the theatrical version, you should try the vastly improved director's cut.

Next Episode:  The Addams Family.  It's even recorded I just have to edit it.

Legend

Snow White and the Huntsman is a 2012 fantasy film directed by newcomer Rupert Sanders. The film stars Kristen Stewart, Cherlize Theron, and Chris Hemsworth. There is defintily more style to the film then substance. However, the film isn’t as shallow as it would first appear. It does some very interesting things with the evil queen’s back story. Charlize Theron steals every scene she is in. Kristen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth do the best with what they’re given, but they’re largely archetypal compared to Kristen’s Stewart’s fascinatingly broken queen.
The film is worth watching alone for its imaginative portrayal of magic. There’s a scene for instance, where the evil queen slowly drags herself from a pile of raven ichor until she slowly solidifies into a woman once again. She doesn’t rise magically or form from a mist… She has to painfully drag her broken body from a pile of corpses. Her magic is dirty, bloody, primal and comes at a drastic cost.
Overall, the film isn’t a study on the human condition, but it isn’t a shallow special effects fest either. Want to hear more? Listen to the podcast!

Snow White and the Huntsman

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a film adaption of an Alan Moore comic about classic book characters who team up to save the world.  It stars Sean Connery as Allan Quatermain (a book character that no one but Alan Moore remembered) and some other people play a vampire, invisible man, Captain Nemo, Dorian Gray, Tom Sawyer, and Dr Jekyll/Hyde.
This is a fun but rather shallow action movie. It was a request from regular listener Charlie.  On reflection, he might have been referring to the comics but he needs to differentiate better next time.  Although we're lazy so we might not have read the comics.  Still, we don't regret watching this movie and its a fun romp the first time through.  Its worth watching at least once if you can see it on television or borrow it from a friend, but don't pay any extra money for it.
This was recorded several weeks ago, so if you left feedback since then for the Tangled episode it hasn't been ignored.  Your feedback will be read and discussed during the next episode.

 
Next up:  Legend.  The 80s unicorn power triumvirate shall soon be complete! 

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Tinman is a 2007 Syfy Miniseries directed by Nick Willing.  It is loosley based on L. Frank Baum’s Oz book series.  Very loosely.
The miniseries has great production values, intriguing writing, and most of the cast are talented.  Zooey Deschanel gives an odd almost autistic portrayal of the main character D.J.  I’m not sure if she was directed that way or if it’s just Zooey Deschanel being Zooey Deschanel.  The rest of the cast is fantastic, particularly Neal McDonough and Kathleen Robertson.
The world building rivals a Hollywood film.  Everything in the world, from the steampunk technology to the rare glimpse of magic fits well into the world. The technology, politics, history, etc of the O.Z. is well thought out and has its own internal logic.  The world feels like it could really work.
The miniseries updates the world of the O.Z (pronounced ‘Oh Zee’) without disrespecting the original.  There are a lot of homages to the original books and films some obvious, some not.  You can tell there’s a real reverence to the source material.
The miniseries is easy to obtain.  It’s often on Netflix Instant Watch in the U.S. and readily available on blu ray and DVD in most countries.  Check it out, you won’t be disappointed.

Tinman

This episode was original recorded in 2009 as two separate episodes.  When the podcast changed from The Power of Friendship Podcast to The Fantasy Movie Podcast a couple of years ago I took several episodes out.  They were taken out because I thought it was weird that The Fantasy Movie Podcast had several episodes in a row that had nothing to do with fantasy movies.  I had always intended to sporadic rerelease them, but for some reason I forgot all about them!  So here two of them are.  They're edited together due to their short lengths and similar topics.
 
Part I -  Shojo Anime -  Melanie and Kasey discuss their overall opinion on shojo manga.  It isn't particularly positive.  Shojo manga is full of wimpy crying heroines and often is disturbingly sexist.  Most disturbingly is the unhealthy relationships they often support.  The jerk often gets the girl even if he's roughed her up a bit or threatened her life.
 
They also are almost always solely focused on romance. Shonen titles can have romance too, but they also come in variety of genres.  Romance can be a subplot.   Shojo manga usually doesn't get the luxury.
 
Kasey doesn't hate all romance by the way, despite what this episode may lead you to believe.
 
Not all shojo manga and anime sucks though.  Kasey highly recommends Basara and Melanie likes the yaoi comic Yami no Matsui.  They both agree that the Josei titles Nodame Cantabile and Tramps like Us are great.
 
Re-editing this episode made me a little sad.  In one part you can hear my long dead dog in the background...
 
Part II - Anime Expiration Date -  Is there an age expiration date for anime fandom? Do most fans drop out of anime fandom in their late twenties and early thirties?  Or do they just stop talking on the internet about it?
 
We know for sure there is less and less anime made that we actually enjoy and want to watch.  Is that our age showing or are they just not making shows that appeal to a wider audience anymore?
 
What about you?  Do you think an anime fan expiration date exists? 

Anime Talk Special

Merlin, aka. The Adventures of Merlin, is a British television show that started in 2008. It stars Colin Morgan as a young Merlin who must hide his magical powers because Camelot has outlawed all magic on threat of death. He spends his time secretly protecting Arthur and Camelot in hopes that Arthur will someday grow into a great King.
This review is for season (or series) 3 and 4 of Merlin. If you have not seen season 1 and 2 I encouraged you to check out our season 1-2 review or simply go watch the show. This episode does not even attempt to describe the premise of Merlin and completely spoils all of season three and four. So beware! This is no holds barred magical Arthurian spoiler time!
This television series just keeps getting better! The show makes a steady incline in quality throughout season three until its a really great show in season four. Does that make up for some of the lack luster episodes in season one? Yes, actually. I think it does. Many aspects of Arthur’s character development are finally barring fruit in season four that had seeds planted way back in season one. Merlin himself still has lots of room to grow, but he’s shown some welcome steps into becoming more pro-active instead of reactive (and ignoring Gaius’s terrible advice). Hopefully, in season five we’ll finally see him become the warlock of legend.
The series does have some problems, mostly involving Morganna’s strange character development. In season three, they take some dramatic shortcuts in her development. While its certainly plausible, the show doesn’t bother explaining or even showing the path it took her to reach her new persona. Furthermore, she doesn’t appear to have any remnants of her old persona at all. There’s some weird slippery slope fallacies going on there and odd inconsistencies. I wonder if this was because the writers were so determined to follow the path of the actual Arthurian legends? Who knows, but she’s definitely the weakest link in season three and four.
We highly recommend you check out this series. Make sure to start from the beginning though! If you watched season one and two and are on the fence about watching more, we think you should reconsider. The series gets continually better and really rewards long time listeners.

Merlin Season 3 - 4

So we tried to record and upload our Groundhog Day episode on actual Groundhog Day, but well... epic fail on our part.  At least, we made it to the same month.
Movie Synopsis:  Bill Murray plays a cynical weatherman named Phil who is tasked with covering the Groundhog Day festival in Punxatawney PA.  Everything seems normal at first. He covers the festival and has to stay in the town for an extra day due to a freak snow storm.  However, he wakes up the next day and its... Groundhog Day again. He goes to sleep the next night and its... groundhog day again.  The day is repeating itself over and over and over and only Phil can tell.
This is Bill Murray's best role, in my opinion.  He gives some depth and character to a role that much have been quite challenging due to the flow of time in the movie (movies are usually filmed out of order).   This is a classic that everyone should see more than once.  It ironically stands up to multiple viewings quite well.  If you haven't seen this, shame on you! Seriously, where have you been? Not knowing about this movie means you have a hole in your soul and you never even realized it!
 

Groundhog Day

Red Sonja is an eighties fantasy movie about a red haired chick killing evil people with swords while getting hit on by the govenator.  Pretty sweet right?  In all honesty, this movie is terrible.  The dialogue is stilted, the acting is amateurish, and the special effects weren't that impressive in 1985.  But for some reason, I love this cheesy movie to bits.  It's got a lot of heart, and despite its many flaws its a fun ride. 
Just a quick warning:  If you're planning on watching this movie with kids around, there is a random female topless scene.  It's weirdly random even for a topless scene.  However, the edited for tv version is just fine for kids to watch.  I watched it all the time as a kid and I am mostly a non warped human being.

Red Sonja

The best podcast episodes on parenting. Interviewing experts and talking through common issues surrounding parenting. This topic is filled with important lessons and insights for anyone listening. Add episodes you're interested into your queue below!

OwlTail

Best Parenting Podcasts

The best podcasts about ourselves as well as the world through the lense of Science. Specific topics include things about our brain, emotions to biology, physics and more!