There's this funny thing that happens with TV shows. Because of the nature of human actors, TV shows are the one type of serialized media where a natural change to the series might be FORCED to occur because forces outside of the narrative require the change of the narrative. That is to say that in a comic book, the Spider-man can go on from issue to issue as long as Marvel wants him to be. If the writers decide to replace Peter Parker with Ben Reilly or Miles Morales that is for storyline reasons and they can change it back whenever they want. But on TV, actors die or move on to other roles. There are contract disputes. People age out of roles. There are budgetary considerations. There are any...
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e170. What is Serialization? Tune in next week!
In today’s pop culture landscape, serialization is everything. TV, movies, novels, comics. Addict people to your ongoing series and hope they keep paying for another installment. Somehow, despite the fact that we are 170 episodes into a podcast SERIES about pop culture media, much of which is SERIALIZED, hosted by people who literally study SERIALIZATION…
Excalibur #19: “Madripoor Knights”
Excalibur #19 “Madripoor Knights” Writer: Chris Claremont Pencils: Rick Leonardi Inks: Terry Austin and Al Milgrom Colours: Bran Vancata Letters: Tom Orzechowski and Brad Joyce Editor: Terry Kavanagh Original publication date: February 1990 We’ve pulled the strings of reality to create another epic podcast team-up as Justin and Alicia of The X-Wife Podcast join Anna, Mav, and…
Call for Comments: Summer ____, Had Me a Blast!
From Hannah: There’s this odd category of media that is seasonally appropriate: Summer ___. We have summer movies, summer television, songs of the summer, summer beach reads … But what makes a piece of media a good “summer movie” or “song of the summer?” When I proposed this topic, Mav asked if I meant blockbusters…
Call For Comments: Serialization Technology
From Katya: It is a truth universally acknowledged that if a game scholar, comics scholar, and Victorianist walk into a bar, they must instantly bond over their shared study of serialization. Except… we never recorded it. It’s rather astounding that we haven’t already; serialization cuts across all of our fields from comics to games and…
e169. The Subtle & Sophisticated Highbrow Culture of The Fast & The Furious
Movies are back! After a year and a half of almost total dormancy, movies came back to the American box office, and filmgoers were welcome with the very sophisticated and cultured experience of F9: The Fast Saga, the latest installment of Fast & Furious franchise. Many are joking about it, but many others are just…
Call for Comments: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love F9
From Mav: I’m a guy who loves movies. I really love going to the movies… A LOT! Not being able to go out to the movies was actually one of the things I missed most during the last year and a half of lockdown. I remember a time early on when Chris Nolan decided that…
Excalibur #18: “Wild Wild Wheels”
Excalibur #18 “Wild Wild Wheels” Writer: Chris Claremont Pencils: Dennis Jensen Inks: Dan Adkins Colours: Mike Rockwitz and Brad Vancata Letters: Jade Moede Editing: Terry Kavanagh Original publication date: January 1990 In this episode, manga scholar Dr. Mimi Okabe steers Anna, Mav, and Andrew through the mecha/shōjo/shōnen (?) inspired Excalibur #18, “Wild Wild Wheels!” Featuring cars, cars, and…
e168. Time to Stop Wearing Underwear on the Outside
Have you ever noticed how infrequently superheroes in most superhero TV shows and movies actually wear their superhero costumes? It makes sense when you think about it. Superhero costumes are actually kind of silly: wearing underwear on the outside of spandex bodysuits? They’re based on pop culture tropes from nearly a century ago, which honestly…