The Disney Desk Podcast

Someone warn the Mayor of Halloweentown, we are just two weeks away from the spookiest night of the year. As the Disney Desk rolls on with its month long look at the film's of Tim Burton, we've reached an inflextion point. Following the mixed reception of Big Fish, Burton took on two projects that fell squarely in his wheelhouse, an adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and a cla...

Autumn is slowly creeping into the Deleware River Valley, meaning the Disney Desk needs to up their spooky game! If only there was a gross, pervy ghost who inexplicably became one of the icons on Halloween... Following the success of Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Tim Burton became a hotly desired director in Hollywood, and among the many scripts he was offered, took a liking to a small story about...

Put on your witch hats and start putting up spider webs, it's Halloween Season! Halloween is our favorite time of year here at the Disney Desk, a time where we can talk nonstop about our favorite holiday. This year, Carter and Sydney are trying something a little different. When you think about Halloween and Film, one director comes to the forefront of the conversation. So for this year's...

The Disney Desk ends their investigation into the rise and fall of Nickelodeon by diving into the sitcoms, and covering perhaps the fall of the network. VicTORIous - yes, it is spelled liked that - was an attempt to carry on the lineage created by All That, The Amanda Show, Drake and Josh, and iCarly, while looking to create a new era of tween/young adult pop stars. Instead, it was a decidedly mix...

In the competition between children's networks, each station has their own claim to fame. Cartoon Network has a linage of cartoons dating back to Hannah Barbara. Disney Channel has DCOMs and the prestige of the mouse. And Nickeldon has its rich history of live action variety programming. During the golden age of the station, Nickelodeon would have a number of live action shows that centered th...

Nickeldon Month proper begins in the most obvious place for the Disney Desk: the Nicktoons! Following the success of Rugrats, Doug and Ren and Stimpy, original animation became a staple of the network. and in 1996, a football headed kid from 'The City' hit the airwaves and showed us what being a Nicktoon really meant. Hey Arnold! is one of the seminal works of Nickelodeon, a kitschy, chaot...

Fall is here! We here at the Disney Desk are always excited for back-to-school time, and the underrated joy of coming home to your favorite after school programing. So for this month, we are spending all of September covering Nickelodeon! The 'First Kids Network,' Nick's eclectic collection of variety shows, sitcoms, and cartoons make it stand out from its peers, while boasting the ico...

As the birthday celebrations wind down, and a cool breeze flows through the Delaware River Valley, it's time for one more Cinema Class! Astroid City was Wes Anderson's contribution to 2023's "Let's go to the desert and figure out what it means to be alive" genre. While not the runaway success of Barbie or Oppenheimer, it is one of the best examples of his iconic artistic...

Back to birthday celebrating, the Disney Desk reaches another milestone in Carter's life: his time at NYU. During his early years in New York, a fascinating animated film falls into his lap and helps push him to embrace the animated craft. Satoshi Kon's Millennium Actress is the second of his four films: the story of an actress recounting her iconic career as her roles begin to blend in wi...

Another month, another fifth weekend Carter and Sydney somehow didn't notice. So, for the extra week of Carter's birthday month, the Disney Desk presents their Patreon review of Project Hail Mary. Directed by Chris Miller and Phil Lord, the creator's of Carter's beloved The Lego Movie, the sci-fi adventure was one of the big hits to start the year. It's starry optimism and humo...

Last week, Carter discussed how Spider-man was the first major ‘event’ film of his life, a symbol of his early years of film-going. This week, he presents the film that got him into filmmaking.  David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Network is one of the landmark films of the 21st Century, a warning that was years ahead of its time. Listen in as the Disney Desk talks digital cameras, student...

It's August, and class is in session early! To celebrate his Birthday, co-host Carter has decided to pick four films from different important points in his life and use them to teach about the art of filmmaking and show how they inspired him to get into the arts! To begin: the Disney Desk is covering 2002's Spider-Man. The first 'event film' Carter had growing up, Sam Raimi's t...

At long last, it's time to cover the film that inspired Carter and Sydney to dedicate July to Pixar's iconic franchise! While they never explicitly said there would be another Toy Story 5, it was still a surprising announcement given back to back finite endings in films 3 and 4. But with franchise mainstay Andrew Stanton taking over the directing helm, and a new lead in Jesse, are there st...

Toy Story 3 was heralded as one of the pinnacles of animation and cinema history. A definitive flourish to end the Toy Story series and another shining star in Pixar's nearly spotless record. The decade that followed was a tumultuous one for the company, seeing sequels overtake originals, the head of the company ousted, and an unmistakable vibe shift for the former golden studio. But then a li...

After a decade of groundbreaking animation, Pixar returned to Woody and the Gang for one more adventure. The ensuing threequel became the higest grossing animated film of all time, one of three animated films to be nominated for Best Picture, and end the series on high note that sealed Toy Story's place as one of the great trilogies. But another 15 years and two films later, does it hold up? D...

Yeee-HAW! To celebrate the month of July - and the release of Pixar's latest - the Disney Desk is covering one of the Great American Franchises: Toy Story! To kick the month off, Carter and Sydney cover what might be the seminal film of their childhood: Toy Story 2. Tune in as they talk about production disasters, Romanticism, and the joys and horrors of being a toy.

Our Summer in Springfield finally comes to an end. As we end this breeze, yellow-tinted month, the Disney Desk finally dives into 2007's The Simpsons Movie. The long-awaited film stands as one of the most iconic moments of the show's run, a brief moment where fans from every generation of the show came together in appreciation of this cultural landmark. And it just so happened to be releas...

It would be impossible to celebrate a Simpsons Month without acknowledging one of the most iconic elements of Springfield: the yearly Halloween special. Treehouse of Horror has been a staple of the series since the second season, a cultural footnote even in this "bad" Simpsons era. This week, Carter and Sydney pick three episodes throughout the show's history to discuss what makes th...

Whenever a discussion of The Simpsons starts, the internet inevitably pivots to the 'why isn't it as good anymore' discussion. Like historians breaking down the collapse of an empire, they'll point to specific writers, episodes, and trends that pushed the show out of its Golden Age. This week, Carter and Sydney look at three specific episodes - Marge vs the Monorail , Homer Simpson...

Woo-Hoo! As Summer begins, the Disney Desk is heading to Springfield! The Simpsons is one of the handful of undeniable cultural institutions left in the Internet Age. Everyone has their 'Era,' their favorite episodes, their opinions on the state of the show. A single month almost certainly isn't enough to capture the enormity of the seminal Fox show, but Carter and Sydney are hoping to...

As we at the Disney Desk prepare to kick off our Summer Slate with a new themed month, we realized how many interesting things have occurred on the Disney and animation scene that we just haven't had time to cover. So once again, it is time for an episode-long Internet Minute! Today, we talk about the Glitch Production "Drama," Bluey coming to the Disney Parks, and the return of the...

Did you know Carter's phone took on too much water just before Memorial Day Weekend and fried the battery? He only did right after recording a two hour episode! So, in place of the final episode of Brad Bird Month, Carter and Sydney are presenting the first Patreon Exclusive in quiet some time! As Bird prepares to release his long awaited Ray Gun on Netflix, the Disney Desk takes time to cover...

Over a decade and a half, Brad Bird felt like he couldn't miss. The critical darling Iron Giant. The massive successes of The Incredibles and Ratatouille. Pivoting to live action and helping resurrect the Mission: Impossible franchise. It felt like Bird was set up to be one of 'The' directors. What couldn't he do? Well, 2015's Tomorrowland provides the answer. An odd film that serves as a confluen...

After the box office failure of The Iron Giant, Brad Bird once again found himself in the woods. His demanding, exacting style of animation was deemed not financially viable to put up with. But with an undeniable critical success on his hand, some old friends decided to roll the dice on his talent. John Lasseter and the founders of Pixar went to CalArts with Bird, and when it came to 'mix thin...

It's no secret that we here at the Disney Desk love our themed months. One idea that Sydney and Carter have been batting back and forth with each other is the idea of covering a single artist's work for an entire month. If we pride ourselves on being a modestly educational show, why not lean in and use an individual creative to demonstrate how their career and animation have evolved over t...