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TMTYR Episode #14: Double the Marley, Double the Fun! (A Christmas Carol)

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TMTYR Episode #14: Double the Marley, Double the Fun! (A Christmas Carol)
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"Muppet christmas carol" by IMP Awards. Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia.

Merry Christmas to all!

In honor of the holiday, the Pavement Pounders read Charles Dickens’ 1843 novella A Christmas Carol and watched four adaptations: Scrooge (1951, starring Alastair Sim),  The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992, starring Michael Caine), A Christmas Carol (1999, starring Patrick Stewart), and Scrooged! (1988, starring Bill Murray).

We also discussed other versions we’d seen and gave some general Christmas-movie-viewing recommendations.

Thanks to everyone who listened this year.  Our first episode was recorded in December 2013, so we’re officially a year old now!

Don’t forget to go check out our friends at The Sci-Fi Movie Podcast, as they’ve got a special Christmas episode up today.

Pounder Rankings!

Colin:

  • A Christmas Carol (1999)
  • Scrooge (1951)
  • The Muppet Christmas Carol
  • Scrooged!

James:

  • The Muppet Christmas Carol
  • A Christmas Carol (1999)
  • Scrooged!
  • Scrooge (1951)

Seth:

  • Scrooge (1951)
  • The Muppet Christmas Carol
  • A Christmas Carol (1999)
  • Scrooged!

Favorite adaptations (Top Three):

Seth:

  • A Christmas Carol (1984, George C. Scott)
  • The Muppet Christmas Carol
  • Scrooge (1951)

James:

  • A Christmas Carol (1984, George C. Scott)
  • The Muppet Christmas Carol
  • Scrooged!

Colin:

  • A Christmas Carol (1999)
  • A Christmas Carol (1984, George C. Scott)
  • The Muppet Christmas Carol

Other versions watched by any or all Pounders:

  • 1901 silent film
  • 1935 Seymour Hicks film
  • 1949 TV Adaptation (narr. by Vincent Price)
  • 1970 Albert Finney musical Scrooge!
  • 1971 animated short (Scrooge voiced by Alastair Sim)
  • Blackadder’s Christmas Carol
  • Mickey’s Christmas Carol
  • Disney’s A Christmas Carol (2009, Jim Carrey)

Notes:

TMTYR Episode #13: Cheesy Quilla-desa (A Boy and His Dog)

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TMTYR Episode #13: Cheesy Quilla-desa (A Boy and His Dog)
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This time out, the Pavement Pounders review the 1969 Nebula Award-winning novella A Boy and His Dog, by Harlan Ellison, and the 1975 Hugo-winning film adaptation of the same name.1976 movie poster for the movie 'a boy and his dog'.jpg

 

We did it so you don’t have to.  This one comes with a content warning: If you’re uncomfortable with a story involving a lot of language and discussion about rape and sexuality, you might want to give the story a miss.  The film has far less language but a fair bit of nudity.  So you can just tune into our discussion and save yourself the trouble.

Special Thanks to Emily for letting us dirty your dishes and poop on your floor.

Pounder Rankings!:

Colin:

  • film
  • novella

James:

  • novella
  • film

Seth:

  • film
  • novella

Notes:

TMTYR Episode #12: Speak Softly and Carry an Electrified Pitchfork (The Thing)

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ThingPosterIn Episode #12, the Pavement Pounders discuss John W. Campbell’s 1939 novella “Who Goes There?” and the three films (at least loosely) based on it, including 1951’s The Thing (From Another World) and the 1982 and 2011 films titled The Thing.

Colin is right about something!  Seth accidentally defends the Star Wars prequels!  James forgets to plug in the mixer!

(We ended up only getting the recording on the laptop mic.  It’s never happened before, at least since Jurassic Park…)

Pounder Rankings!:

James:

  1. “Who Goes There?”
  2. The Thing (1982) and The Thing (2011), combined into one film
  3. The Thing (From Another World)

Colin:

  1. “Who Goes There?”
  2. The Thing (1982)
  3. The Thing (2011)
  4. The Thing (From Another World)

Seth:

  1. The Thing (1982)
  2. The Thing (2011)
  3. The Thing (From Another World)
  4. “Who Goes There?”

Notes:

TMTYR Episode #11: Some Of My Best Friends Are Drac (Enemy Mine)

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In the first episode of Take Me To Your Reader, Season Two, the Pavement Pounders examine the 1985 film Enemy Mine and the Hugo and Nebula Award Winning novella on which it was based.  The movie didn’t win nothin’.

Enemy mine.jpg
“Enemy mine”. Via Wikipedia.

Pounder Rankings!:

Seth/Colin/James:

  • novella
  • movie

Notes:

TMTYR Episode #10: Day of the Torrence (Day of the Triffids)

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Dayofthetriffids.jpg
“Dayofthetriffids” by Reynold Brown. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

In Episode #10, the Pavement Pounders discuss the influential and criminally under-read (at least in the U.S.) The Day of the Triffids, by John Wyndham. The 1962 British film adaptation as well as the 1981 and 2009 BBC mini-series adaptations are also discussed. We’re considering this the end of Season One of Take Me To Your Reader, so we went out with a bang here, discussing the book and three adaptations, as well as having a rather extended discussion of just what makes a good adaptation.  Sparks fly, and there may be a bit of hair-pulling and an insult here or there.  Honestly, though, we actually like each other. (We’ll be back in September, probably, with new episodes.)

Pounder Rankings!:

Colin:

  • book
  • 1981 miniseries
  • 2009 miniseries
  • 1962 film

James:

  • book
  • 1981 miniseries
  • 2009 miniseries
  • 1962 film

Seth:

  • book
  • 2009 miniseries
  • 1981 miniseries
  • 1962 film

Notes:

 

TMTYR Episode #9: Groundhog D-Day (Edge of Tomorrow)

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TMTYR Episode #9: Groundhog D-Day (Edge of Tomorrow)
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In Episode #9, the Pounders discuss Edge of Tomorrow, adapted from Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s much more interestingly-titled light novel All You Need is Kill.

In a twist that’s perhaps ironic and perhaps moronic, Seth didn’t notice his mic was unplugged until the discussion was well underway.  Fortunately, he’d been splattered with Alpha blood and was able to time loop back and replace the missing content.  And Alpha blood is really good for the skin, as we understand.

It makes a good redemption story, and Colin Loves a Good Redemption Story (TM).

BTW, I’m not sure we gave full spoiler warnings.  So here it is: Spoilers!! Big Time!

Pounder Rankings!

Colin:

  • All You Need is Kill (novel)
  • All You Need is Kill (graphic novel)
  • Edge of Tomorrow

James:

  • All You Need is Kill (novel)
  • Edge of Tomorrow
  • All You Need is Kill (graphic novel)

Seth:

  • All You Need is Kill (novel)
  • Edge of Tomorrow
  • All You Need is Kill (graphic novel)

Notes:

TMTYR Episode #8: The Tranny-saurus and the Philosoraptor (Jurassic Park)

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In Episode #8, the Pavement Pounders discuss Jurassic Park, both the 1993 film and 1990 book, and as might be expected, The Malcolm Effect rears its ugly head.  We’re blaming Dennis Nedry for our recording setup failing us.  So, we ended up with a great discussion being captured by the built-in laptop microphone.  We’ll understand if you want to give it a miss, but if you can look past it, give it a listen.Jurassic_Park_poster

Pounder Rankings!:

Colin:

  • book
  • film

James:

  • film
  • book

Seth:

  • film
  • book

I think we can all agree Colin is just dead wrong as usual.  Though Colin might disagree.  And be wrong again.

Notes:

20 things you may not know about Jurassic Park: http://mentalfloss.com/article/49904/20-things-you-might-not-have-known-about-jurassic-park

Making of Jurassic Park: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9bKxRQfvs8

Raptors replaced with Kittens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlPoPMbiffU

Steven Spielberg with “dead” Triceratops: http://imgur.com/gallery/yznKsSt

How Jurassic Park Should Have Ended: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkRaKBZB9S8

Cinema Sins for Jurassic Park: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KjB-_bjOJs

The Far Side “Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear”: https://www.flickr.com/photos/retiredusnchief/7043874665/

TV Tropes “Objects in mirror” entry, featuring T-Rex: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CloserThanTheyAppear

Philosoraptor: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/philosoraptor

Professor Gregory  Retallack (University of Oregon): http://geology.uoregon.edu/profile/gregr/

Seth’s Review of Jurassic Park (book): http://seth.heasley.net/blog/2014/06/book-review-jurassic-park-by-michael-crichton/

TMTYR Episode #7: Shake My Hand Grenade (Death Race 2000)

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In Episode #7, the Pounders return to their classic format, discussing the 1975 cult classic Death Race 2000, based on Ib Melchior’s 1956 story “The Racer,” and also the 2008 remake/prequel Death Race with Jason Statham.

Pounder Rankings have been cancelled for this episode, because we couldn’t figure out how to recommend the story or either film.  But here are some general thoughts:

“The Racer”: Not the worst story you’ll ever read, and it’ll only take you a half hour to read.  Find it in an anthology linked below.

Death Race 2000: Sylvester Stallone is pretty awesome.  David Carradine is very David Carradine.  There are also bare chests of various descriptions.

Death Race: Loud and stupid, just the way you probably expected.

Notes:

TMTYR Episode #6: Quantum Physics Means Never Having To Explain Yourself (Timeline)

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In Episode #6, the Pavement Pounders take up a listener suggestion and read Michael Crichton’s Timeline and check out the 2003 film based on it.

Along the way, we find out that Seth has read a lot of Crichton books and has gripes about swords making a zing sound when drawn.  And James takes offense to comparisons to Paul Walker’s California Surfer Dude shtick.

Pounder Rankings! (it’s a landslide again):

Seth/Colin/James:

  • Book
  • Movie

Notes:

 

TMTYR Episode #5: Botox or Boat-Axe or Something (Odd Thomas)

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In Episode #5, the Pounders examine the recently-released but long delayed film Odd Thomas, based on the Dean Koontz book of the same title.  Can it possibly live up to the book?

No.  No, it can’t.  But tune in for a few thoughts about what it did well and what could have been done better.

Pounder Rankings!

Colin/James/Seth:

  • Book, duh!
  • Movie

Notes:

Big thanks to Megan, Hal, and Amy, who sent us feedback about the book/movie.