Screens of the Stone Age

They keep making them, so we keep reviewing them! In the Blink of an Eye (2026) tells the tragic tale of an adorably precocious child’s radicalization and eventual transformation into a billionaire tech bro who destroys the earth. It’s a triptych of past, present, and future, taking us from an endearing mixed race Neanderthal family, to Rashida Jones’ groundbreaking PhD research, to a genetically...

Ehh, what’s up, doc? But in this case the “doc” is a PhD. Get it? Because we’re... Never mind, we’re back with more classic cartoons! As we move into the second half of the Twentieth Century the characters become more recognizable: Porky Pig, Mighty Mouse, Pink Panther, Woody Woodpecker – we ruin the fun of all these characters by trying to assess what species they are! (Oh wait, I should have sai...

Today we’re digging deep into the Stone Age of cinema and reviewing classic cartoons about prehistoric people. From the world’s first animated dinosaur to the advent of colour film, we watched cartoons featuring Felix the Cat, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Daffy Duck, a seriously copyright-infringing couple of mice, and a disturbing amount of sexual violence. (Part 1 of 2) Get in touch with us! Bluesky...

Primal (2019-) is an animated series by Gendy Tartakovsky set in an alternate prehistory in which Neanderthals and dinosaurs coexist. Setting aside the anachronisms, this series has received critical acclaim for its emotional depth and unique visual storytelling format. Kim doesn’t care about that—she was too traumatized by the first episode to watch any further. Get in touch with us! Bluesky: @so...

Today we’re yelling at all you young whippersnappers to get off our lawn! That’s right, your favourite elder millennial academics are reviewing AI generated caveman slop. It’s a world of polydactyl chad-panzees and GIGO-chads, when men were apes and women were dirty supermodels. Are we witnessing the extinction of human creativity, or are we just stuck in the stone age and refusing to evolve? Get...

Today we’re reviewing Don Verdean (2015), the story of a washed-up Biblical archaeologist who, under pressure from his financial backers, begins to fake his discoveries. This movie is rife with pseudoarchaeological references, so we’ve invited Dr. Andrew Kinkella back to help us break it down. As a bonus, he uses his film degree to explain why, despite being hilarious, this movie is actually terri...

Luggage of the Gods (1983) is the surprisingly unproblematic story of a relict tribe of cave people living in the uncharted central part of America who are thrust into contact with the outside world when an airliner is forced to dump its passengers’ luggage while flying overhead. This is a low budget ‘80s caveman movie, so you know what that means: we’re playing Caveman Movie Bingo! Get in touch w...

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010) is a surreal documentary by Werner Hertzog offering viewers an unprecedented glimpse of Europe’s oldest Palaeolithic art inside France’s Chauvet Cave. As we step into the cave, we cross a threshold between present and past, waking and dreaming, fact and truth... sanity and insanity... A place where juggling archaeologists dream of lions, perfumers find caves by smel...

We’re back with more caveman TV commercials! From deodorant to veganism to car insurance, it seems like prehistoric people have been exploited to sell everything. All this commercialism seems to be getting to us and this episode kinda devolves into an anti-capitalist rant. So go plant a garden, buy local, and eat the rich! (This is Part Two of a two-part episode) Get in touch with us! Bluesky: @so...

Today we’re exploring the crazy world of marketing – caveman style! We’re reviewing a compilation of television commercials featuring prehistoric people. McDonald’s, Budweiser, Doritos—if it’s modern and convenient, you can bet a caveman has tried to sell it. Why? I’m not sure, but I’m kinda craving some cheese products for some reason. (This is Part One of a two-part episode) Get in touch with us...

Today we’re exploring the world of the Boonie Bears , China’s biggest animation brand. In the sixth feature film, the bears Blast into the Past— 30 thousand years, to be exact, to a time when dinosaur skeletons dotted the landscape and humans were at war with wolves... and giants pandas took their name literally, and rainbow terror birds defied the physics of flight, and cavemen punched lava bombs...

Today we’re reviewing Cavegirl (1985), a movie which Wikipedia misleadingly describes as a “sex comedy”. It tells the story of a teenage nerd (i.e., incel) who is accidentally thrown back in time due to some magic crystal/military helicopter shenanigans and meets a charming manic pixie cavegirl who nonetheless fails to instill in him any growth or character development whatsoever. Get in touch wit...

Today we’re reviewing Korg: 70,000 B.C. (1974), a children’s TV series about a Neanderthal family from Hanna-Barbera, creators of The Flintstones , Scooby-Doo , and more. Unlike those series, however, this one is live-action! Who knew? Anyway, we talk about a lot of academic papers about Neanderthals, because nothing happens in the episode we watched. Get in touch with us! Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.b...

To kick off the New Year, we’re reviewing The Rap Guide to Evolution, a music album by Baba Brinkman which is... pretty self-explanatory, really. So here’s an hour and 15 minutes of us explaining it! We get into evolutionary psychology, 2000s-era edgelord atheism, postmodernism, genital evolution, and much more! Get in touch with us! Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social Facebook: @SotSAPodcast Lette...

Happy Longnight! Today is the December Solstice, and to celebrate we’re reviewing a very special holiday episode of 2007 sitcom Cavemen , based on the popular Geico insurance commercials. Everyone is invited, whether we like them or not, so grab a slice of forager’s pie and a glass of Beef Fizz and settle in to listen to your favourite palaeo researchers trying to explain basic astronomy. To the c...

Today we’re reviewing the paradoxically and yet aptly named Teenage Cave Man (1958), the story of a 30-something teenage rebel who dares to break the rules and explore beyond his Stone Age tribe’s borders – and discovers a shocking twist!! In this episode we talk about [REDACTED: SPOILERS], [REDACTED: SPOILERS], and how much Josh hates Game of Thrones . Get in touch with us! Bluesky: @sotsapodcast...

This week, by popular request, we are reviewing Prey (2022), a prequel to the Predator franchise in which the eponymous alien hunter meets his match on the American Great Plains of 1719. We’re joined by archaeologist Dr. Carlton Shield Chief Gover, who helps us navigate the movie’s medicinal plants, upside-down archery draws, and inadvisable sharpening techniques, and reminds us why we should neve...

We’ve dug too far! We overshot the Stone Age and hit the Dinosaur Age again! Today we’re joined by palaeontologist Joe Wood to review The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), the second movie in the Jurassic franchise (and the last good one). We talk about lumpers, splitters, slappers, clappers, and everything you ever wanted to know about our fine feathered friends. Joe’s links: An Hour of Our Time...

We’re continuing spooky month with a movie that’s as confused about theology as it is about evolution: The Lost Tribe (2009) tells the story of some insufferable tech bros and their girlfriends who stumble into the middle of a Catholic conspiracy to cover-up undeniable proof of human evolution, in the form of a bloodthirsty tribe of “primevil” hominins! Get in touch with us: Bluesky: @sotsapodcast...

It’s October, and as is tradition, we’re reviewing scary Halloween movies this month! First up is Legend of the Bog (2009), a movie with just enough Vinnie Jones in it to justify putting him on the cover. You’ve seen mummies; you’ve seen zombies; but what about a resurrected Iron Age bog body? Plus: a special guest appearance from a Sp0okY Gh0st! Get in touch with us: Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.s...

Phineas Flynn and Ferb Fletcher are precocious STEM-minded stepbrothers trying to make the most of their 104 days of summer vacation. Today we’re reviewing five episodes of this popular Disney Channel series, featuring Egyptian movie mummies, dinosaur time-travel capers, cartoon cave people, and a “corn colossus”, whatever that means. Get in touch with us: Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social Facebo...

The Armstrong and Miller Show (2007-2010) was a very British sketch comedy show featuring a recurring cast of characters, including a group of cavemen navigating anachronistic scenarios. Join us today as we break down nine short sketches and learn The Origins Of several familiar modern concepts! Get in touch with us: Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social Facebook: @SotSAPodcast Letterboxd: https://le...

On this episode we’re joined by OG archaeology YouTuber Rachel McMullan of the channel Inside Archaeology to review Uncharted (2022), a movie that explores many diverse settings, none of which are uncharted. It’s a movie that defies physics, and logic, and sense, and yet somehow feels like a bland rehash of other movies we’ve covered. Inside Archaeology on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Inside_...

Today we’re joined by Dr. Brian Buchanan to review King Arthur (2004), a modern retelling of the ancient myth based on “recently discovered archaeological evidence,” allegedly. Brain leads us on a journey beyond Hadrian’s Wall and helps us tease apart this movie’s tangled mess of Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Picts, Sarmatians, and more. Follow Brian on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/archaeobuchanan.bs...

Today we’re joined by professor/filmmaker/archaeologist Rob Rownd to review The Dig (2021), a film which tells the (mostly) true story of the Sutton Hoo Anglo-Saxon ship burial excavation of 1939. Find out why we love this movie so much, even though it makes some questionable decisions about the portrayal of real-life archaeologist Peggy Piggot. Check out Rob’s projects: Sisa : https://deadline.co...