Pop Culture Historians

This week, another spooky Universal Monster Sequel Double Feature! First up, THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS swaps out Claude Rains for Vincent Price. Does it…actually make the follow-up superior? Next, during our Intermission Special, we break down our favorite Halloween costumes we’ve ever worn! Finally, we struggle to find something, anything at all to say about the screwball comedy THE INVISIBLE WOM...

This Halloween, the Pop Culture Historians are tackling as many Classic Universal Monster sequels as we can! This week, the two follow-ups to THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON. Is there anything left to mine from one of the last Universal Monsters? Or should these have stayed six feet under? Listen along and find out! Also, in a new Intermission Special, we rank our top three Halloween decoration...

This week, we return to the gothic nightmare of the Crow franchise by digging into the much maligned sequel, 1996’s CROW: CITY OF ANGELS! Iggy Pop sure is doing…something, but beyond that, is there anything salvageable about this barely-feature length follow-up? We also explore the filmography, for better or for worse, of David S. Goyer. Finally, we announce our Halloween programming for 2023. Lis...

This week, a returning champion is covered on the pod! 1996’s THE PHANTOM marks the return of Lee Falk’s most famous creation to the silver screen after the 1943 film serial. And…look, it’s competent, you get some good old-fashioned stunt work, you get a classic weird Billy Zane performance. But…this is basically an episode all about Treat Williams and the villainous Xander Drax. Listen along and...

This week, the Pop Culture Historians return to the 90’s to put on their capes and cowls and work their way through the superhero movie genre. However, they’re faced with an immediate crisis: does 1996’s BARB WIRE even count as a superhero movie? Also, was this the only year Pamela Anderson could have possibly starred in this? Finally, is this…is this movie just a trashy CASABLANCA? All this and m...

This week, let’s take a look back at the season that was with another round of awards all about Classic Doctor Who Season Four! Best moments from each serial are chosen. We also determine the Best Guest Star, Best Villain, Best and Worst Serial and, as always, we crown an MVP. Bonus: we rank the first six Dalek stories.

This week, the Pop Culture Historians break format ever so slightly by reviewing something from the past ten years! It’s the BBC Original AN ADVENTURE IN SPACE AND TIME! Now that our show has completed the William Hartnell era of Doctor Who, this seemed like a great time to watch this TV movie all about his time as the titular time lord. With a star studded cast (David Bradley! Jessica Raine! Bria...

This week, it’s a series wrap on the Daleks…for now. Ryan (a Doctor Who novice) and Jimmy (a Doctor Who expert) break down THE EVIL OF THE DALEKS, the mostly incredible (and mostly missing) seven-part serial that closed out Classic Doctor Who Season Four AND was meant to spin off the Daleks permanently. Would this have sufficed as a finale? Listen along and decide for yourself!

Welcome back to The Pop Culture Historians and their Classic Doctor Who Watch/Rewatch! Ryan is a Who novice and watching for the first time, and Jimmy is the expert, and rewatching once again! This week, they meet THE FACELESS ONES and are impressed that this six part story set in Gatwick Airport could be so effective. And, of course, we discuss Ben and Polly taking a departing flight off the show...

This week, the Pop Culture Historians face THE MACRA TERROR! This four-part, completely missing story all about denying the evil that lives below is potent, timely, and contains just enough goofiness to make this a Season Four highlight. Plus, it’s the first story to genuinely give Jamie something to do! What’s not to like? Check this episode out…it’s a gas!

This week…you want the moon? The Pop Culture Historians will give you the moon! This time, we’re on THE MOONBASE, a four-part, partly missing Classic Doctor Who story. It marks the return of a popular villain, it’s tight and to the point, the animation’s pretty good. Yet, did it leave one of us a little wanting? We also discuss the Second Doctor era’s penchant for “base under siege” stories. Remin...

Welcome back to our watch-through of Classic Doctor Who Season Four! Ryan has never seen the show, while Jimmy has seen it all, making this a perfect show for both Who novices and experts alike! This week, we go under the sea to meet THE UNDERWATER MENACE! Not an especially beloved serial, do the camp elements, paired with Joseph Furst going completely off the rails, enough to salvage some of it?...

This week, we’re grabbing our passports and heading to Scotland to hang with THE HIGHLANDERS! This completely missing four-part story both marks an ending (of the purely historical Doctor Who stories, at least for some time) and a beginning (of the Jamie McCrimmon era). Does the utilizing of Patrick Troughton’s physical comedy skills get neutered in the present due to the fact that we can’t see it...

This week, a new era begins. We break down the very first Second Doctor story, THE POWER OF THE DALEKS! How do our companions deal with this massive change? Heck, how do we? Also, do the Daleks seem a little…docile to you? What’s going on there? Listen and find out! Plus, we formally introduce Patrick Troughton to the history of Doctor Who.

This week, a special bonus episode all about the First Doctor! Now that we’ve reached the end of William Hartnell’s run as the titular Doctor Who, we take a look back at his time on the show. We determine his best companion, we rank our favorite First Doctor stories and discuss the actor’s legacy on the program. All this and more!

This week…perhaps the most important serial in terms of DOCTOR WHO’s history. It’s THE TENTH PLANET, and with it comes the end of an era. We both gain a new recurring villain (the Cybermen), but we also lose our main star for the first time. We discuss the Doctor’s first regeneration, the history behind the decision to recast William Hartnell and the weird lucky breaks that recoded the show’s DNA...

This week, the Pop Culture Historians return to the TARDIS to kick off our coverage of Classic Doctor Who Season Four! Ryan has never seen Doctor Who, while Jimmy has seen it all. Together, they’ll tackle THE SMUGGLERS! The Ben and Polly era begins in earnest, but does the completely missing status of this four-part story hurt its quality? Listen and find out!

This week, we take a look back at the season that was with The Blinkies! Named after our favorite superhero character, Blinkie McQuade, this semi-annual awards ceremony determines the best and worst of the movies we covered the past few weeks. Most Dated Reference, Best Use of Superpowers, Best Villain, Best and Worst Movie and Season MVP are all up for grabs! Also…is BIRDMAN a superhero movie? Th...

This week, we’re diving into a movie so huge we needed a third person to help us out. From the SCENE AND HEARD podcast and the Arroyo Film Club, Greg Kleinschmidt joins the Pop Culture Historians to deconstruct 1995’s BATMAN FOREVER! Does Jim Carrey almost take over the film? Did Bono really try to sneak himself into the movie? Is there a single funny line in this entire thing? Finally, despite al...

This week, the Pop Culture Historians enter the world of 90’s comedy with BLANKMAN! We both agree that Damon Wayans’ way too broad performance sinks the whole thing, but does this Batman riff have anything to offer? How do David Alan Grier and Jon Polito fare? Also, another original credits song! All this and more!

This week, we’re diving deep into 1994’s THE SHADOW! For the first time in awhile, the Pop Culture Historians are deeply split on a movie. Is it a unexpected visual marvel? Or is it a star-studded cast elevating a very weak script? Can it be both? Only The Shadow knows!

This week, the Pop Culture Historians rise from the dead to review THE CROW! A monumentally difficult movie to assess, both because of the tragedy that inspired the source material and the horrible accident that happened on set, they do their best to sift through both the good and the bad of what this Alex Proyas action film has to offer.

This week, we return to the world of Bruce Wayne with 1993’s BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM! We discuss our histories with the animated series it spawned from, we go into the making of the film (with a little assist from Thom Pinto, one of the voice actors on this project, who you can find at www.thompinto.com) and finally…does it live up to his reputation as secretly the best Batman movie of all?

This week, before BLACK PANTHER, before BLADE, there was…THE METEOR MAN! Robert Townsend makes genre history by making a superhero movie for a very different audience than before. This labor of love has its heart in the right place, but is it funny? Well…..topics include: the depiction of teachers in film, the stacked cast, and the ultimate SNL What If! You can check out the referenced Shondaland...

This week, the Pop Culture Historians travel back in time to break down TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES 3! The first superhero franchise of the 90’s runs completely out of gas (and charm) in this threequel. Topics include: the new (and worse) Turtle effects, whether or not the 2007 movie is supposed to be the fourth in this series, and…how do you pick an MVP of a movie you didn’t like?