Things get groovy for Kenny and Ben as they tackle Best Villain 1998. Mike Meyers gets his first of two wins and three nominations for his turn as Dr. Evil in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery but is he better than the villains of Face/Off, Air Force One, The Devil’s Advocate and Titanic? Our intrepid duo get to the bottom of it while also talking about the progression of Austin Powers films, maximalism, if there’s such a thing as too much slo-mo, the perfection of the line “get off my plane,” the extent to which a lawyer would get in trouble for abruply dropping a client, and more. Then they get into a lengthy argument about if Billy Zane’s Titanic character is really that much of a villain which alone is worth the price of admission for this one. You won’t want to miss it, baby!
A Close Encounter with a Strange Kind/A Fit Night Out for Bats/The Chinese Food Factory
Vampril is trucking along this week as we discuss three Scrappy-Doo shorts that vary both in quality and relevance to the theme! Christina of the Got The Runs podcast and Bevy of Bevvies returns to discuss, aliens, vampires, and chinese food factories? Together she and Ethan talk about Sylvester the Cat, toothpaste commercials, and how to make doughnuts.
Best Villain 1997: A Time to Fear, A Time to Play Ball w/ Jesse Catherine Webber
Kenny and Ben are rejoined by their friend Jesse in our longest episode to date! Jim Carrey wins again for his turn in The Cable Guy but how does he stack up to the villains of The Fan, Primal Fear, A Time to Kill and Fear? And what happens when the guest dislikes or hates every single movie covered this week? Our trio figures it out while also talking about Medieval Times, how Leslie Mann and Judd Apatow met, the 1994 Baseball Strike, Edward Norton’s debut film, reading To Kill a Mockingbird in High School, bizarre movie pacing, and so much more. It’s an episode you won’t want to miss!
S04E08/09 – “Tunguska” and “Terma”
Here we are, once again, to talk the mythology with S04E8/9 “Tunguska” and “Terma”. Mulder travels around the country to flirt with every one of the mytharc regulars he can find as Scully tries to find out what’s in this ROCK FROM MARS! We see some beloved faces (Pendrell) and some ones we love to hate (Krycek) as the conspiracy goes global.
Tune in next time when we watch S04E10 “Paper Hearts” and follow us on Twitter @condensedtruth!
The Vampire Strikes Back
HUGE episode this week. Not only is this the kickoff of Vampril, a special Heavy Meddle theme month dedicated to Scooby-Doo’s vampire episodes, but it also is the first time the Hex Girls have been discussed on this show. Returning guest Lizzy Smith is here to walk us through it, as well as lengthy discussions of Twilight, Lady Gaga, and this episode’s abstract plot. You don’t want to miss this!
Best Villain Special: Scream Week
In this very special episode, Kenny and Ben tackle one of the most egregious snubs of the Best Villain category: Ghostface, the masked killer of the Scream franchise. Even when this series was at its peak neither Roger L. Jackson or the actors playing the killers got nominated so the boys correct this mistake by covering all 5 (to date) Scream movies. They talk about how every Scream is good, Jackson’s incredible vocal performance, clumsy Ghostface, Scary Movie, alternate endings, how the final jump scare got Ben every time, early Emma Roberts vehicles, Jack Quaid’s parentage, and more. It’s a solid 2+ hours of Scream goodness so don’t miss out!
Night of the Living Burger
On this week’s episode, Maggie Grossman returns to discuss A Pup Named Scooby-Doo once again. But this time around even Maggie has to admit this isn’t a great episode of Scooby-Doo. Together, they discuss sandwiches, buckets, and holes. (and presumably burgers at some point to.)
Best Villain 1996: Boring Boring Dead Wife Dead Wife
Kenny and Ben are back to talk about the most despicable villain yet and then also his character in Se7en, who won Best Villain that year. But should that iconic villain have won over the villains of Batman Forever (both of them), Casino and Broken Arrow? Our two experts get to the bottom of it while also talking about if the world is a fine place and/or worth fighting for, if every Jim Carrey villain performance is the same, backstory delivered through news reports, endless montages, that season of 24 where a nuke goes off in LA, and more. Plus listen to the end for a special appearance from Batman?!
S04E07 – “Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man” feat Brett
“Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man”. We follow his journey as CIA hit man, rejected author, and man behind the curtain as the X Files writers take a big swing and overexplain the mysterious antagonist. We ask the important questions about this episode: how can the most powerful man on Earth not get his silly little spy novel published???
Tune in next time when we watch S04E08/9 “Tunguska” and “Terma” and follow us on Twitter @condensedtruth!
Rocky Mountain Yiiiii!
William Taylor, aka The Narrator, returns to the show for another randomly generated episode. This time, we discuss an episode of Scooby and Scrappy Doo with an extremely sweaty title, along with numerous other topics like mountain men, National Treasure, and cheap voice acting.