Read/Watch/Play

The end of The End. In the final episode of both our endings topic and the podcast as a whole, we take a look back at the endings we’ve highlighted and our time recording together. We’ve had a great time making this podcast, and we hope you’ve enjoyed listening. Truly, from the bottoms of our hearts, thank you so much for listening. Topics: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, by Frank Miller, Klaus Janson, and Lynn Varley. Published in 1986 by DC Comics. Labyrinth, directed by Jim Henson. Henson Associates, Inc. Lucasfilm Ltd. 1986. Passage, developed and published by Jason Rohrer. Published on Windows and Mac OSX in 2007. Intro / Outro Music: "Go Cart" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Our final watch episode takes us deep into the labyrinth of Jareth the Goblin King, as we navigate our way through childhood's end. It's an episode we've wanted to do since the very beginning of the podcast. This is Jim Henson's 1986 cult classic, Labyrinth. Topic: Labyrinth, directed by Jim Henson. Henson Associates, Inc. Lucasfilm Ltd. 1986. Intro / Outro Music: "Go Cart" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

We swapped our Watch and Play episodes this series to accommodate some recording schedule changes, which means this week we’ll be diving into Jason Rohrer’s 2007 game, Passage. One of the early examples of games being held up as art, the game boils a life down to basic elements and expresses them through simple mechanics. We discuss our past experiences with the game, and the worst possible sequels we can imagine.   Topic: Passage, developed and published by Jason Rohrer. Published on Windows and Mac OSX in 2007.   Intro / Outro Music: "Go Cart" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

It’s the beginning of The End. In this episode, we discuss Frank Miller’s 1986 Batman run, The Dark Knight Returns. We talk about our mixed feelings about the run, its distinct visual and narrative styles, and the ways that it inspired the stories that followed it.   Topic: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, by Frank Miller, Klaus Janson, and Lynn Varley. Published in 1986 by DC Comics.   Intro / Outro Music: "Go Cart" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Our final set of meddling kids take us on a trip to Edwards Island, where we tune our radios to spooky and channel the spirits of Night School Studio’s Oxenfree.    Topic: Oxenfree, developed and published by Night School Studio. Originally published on the Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, and OS X in 2016   Intro / Outro Music: "Go Cart" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Almost a year later, we return to Hawkins, IN for another season of Netflix’s Stranger Things. We discuss Eleven’s story arc, bad dads, and the show’s shift toward a more action-heavy tone in its second season.   Topic: Stranger Things Season 2, created by the Duffer brothers. Netflix. 2017.   Intro / Outro Music: "Go Cart" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

We open our topic with Edgar Cantero's Meddling Kids: a book with such a good name, we decided to name the whole topic after it. We dig into the novel itself, as well as its influences and the ways they enrich and burden the story it tries to tell. Topic: Meddling Kids, by Edgar Cantero. Published in 2017 by Doubleday Intro / Outro Music: "Go Cart" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Corinne and Justin got a chance to play Hidden Agenda with some friends over the holidays. We talk about the game’s unique approach to decision-based narrative and how we managed to stumble upon the worst possible ending on our first playthrough. Topic: Hidden Agenda, developed by Supermassive Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Published for the Playstation 4 on October 24, 2017 Intro / Outro Music: "Go Cart" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Join Corinne and Clio as we talk about fanfiction and the specific subgenre that is holiday fanfiction. We discuss the hallmarks of the genre and the thematic differences between Christmas fic and New Years fic. Intro: "Sleigh Bells Sound Effect" GowlerMusic (freesound.org)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Outro Music: "Go Cart" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Our Fairy Tales 2.0 topic closes out with a discussion of all our referenced topics: The Bloody Chamber, Shrek 1 and 2, and The Wolf Among Us season 1. We dig into the history of fairy tales and how our selected stories relate to that cannon, as well as the themes that we found surprisingly common.   Topics: The Bloody Chamber, by Angela Carter. Published in 1973 by Gollancz. Shrek, directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson. PDI/DreamWorks. 2001. Shrek 2, directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Ashbury, and Conrad Vernon. PDI/DreamWorks. 2004. The Wolf Among Us, developed and published by Telltale Games. Originally published on the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows PC episodically between October 14, 2013 and July 9, 2014.   Intro / Outro Music: "Go Cart" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

With Clio back, we wrap around to our Read for this series: Angela Carter’s collection of short stories, The Bloody Chamber. We work our way through the entire collection, which contains everything from from unconvincingly disguised tigers to the triumphant return of Puss in Boots.   Topic: The Bloody Chamber, by Angela Carter. Published in 1973 by Gollancz   Intro / Outro Music: "Go Cart" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

We make our way up Manhattan for a trip to Fabletown in our second Fairy Tales 2.0 episode as we discuss Telltale Games’s take on Bill Willingham’s Fables with The Wolf Among Us, Season 1. Heads up: we talk a bit about the original Fables comic series, but it’s 100% spoiler free.   Topic: The Wolf Among Us, developed and published by Telltale Games. Originally published on the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows PC episodically between October 14, 2013 and July 9, 2014.   Intro / Outro Music: "Go Cart" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

We’ve mixed up our usual release schedule for this topic and are starting with a trip to Far Far Away by way of Duloc to check out Shrek and Shrek 2! We discuss the evolution of the series over time, what makes a Shrek, and class struggle. Topic: Shrek, directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson. PDI/DreamWorks. 2001. Shrek 2, directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Ashbury, and Conrad Vernon. PDI/DreamWorks. 2004. Intro / Outro Music: "Go Cart" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

We close out our Witches series with a discussion of witches through the ages. We discuss the gradual shift from the Satan-worshiping terrors depicted in The Witch to Halloween-friendly caricatures like Grunthilda, and all of the facets that have changed or stayed constant over the years. Topics: Howl’s Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones. Published in 1986 by Greenwillow Books. The Witch, directed by Robert Eggers. Parts and Labor. 2015. Banjo-Kazooie, developed by Rare and published by Nintendo. Published on the Nintendo 64 in 1998. Intro / Outro Music: "Go Cart" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

The third and final witch in our series is none other than Gruntilda, the villain from Rare’s classic N64 game Banjo-Kazooie. Before getting to our (surprisingly sympathetic) examination of Grunty herself, we talk about Banjo-Kazooie as a whole and its place in video game history. Topic: Banjo-Kazooie, developed by Rare and published by Nintendo. Published on the Nintendo 64 in 1998 Intro / Outro Music: "Go Cart" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

The second witch of our series comes from the deep woods of New England. We dig deep into Robert Eggers’s 2015 film The Witch (or the VVitch, as we discover it’s stylized) and its symbolism and place in witchy history. Also, we take a quick dip into another New England witch story at the end with a brief discussion of the Blair Witch Project! Topic: The Witch, directed by Robert Eggers. Parts and Labor. 2015. Intro / Outro Music: "Go Cart" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Our first witch takes us to the wastes and beyond in Diana Wynne Jones’s novel Howl’s Moving Castle. We briefly discuss some of the ways the book differs from the 2004 Miyazaki film, then dig into the book itself. Topics include found families, magic, vanity, and Wales. Topic: Howl’s Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones. Published in 1986 by Greenwillow Books Intro / Outro Music: "Go Cart" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

In our final Women of the Apocalypse episode, we take a broad look at our three apocalypses and the women who inhabit them. We discuss the ways we see the post-apocalyptic genre setting changing, the similarities and differences between our three examples, and the ways that Horizon: Zero Dawn tries to tell a classic story in a new way. Topics: Tank Girl, by Jamie Hewlett (a) and Alan Martin (w). Originally published between 1988 and 1995 in Deadline. Republished in 2009 by Titan Books. Mad Max: Fury Road, directed by George Miller. Village Roadshow Pictures. 2015. Horizon: Zero Dawn, developed by Guerrilla Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Published on the Playstation 4 in 2017. Intro / Outro Music: "Go Cart" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

We jump to the far future for our final apocalypse, Guerrilla Games’s Horizon: Zero Dawn. Topic: Horizon: Zero Dawn, developed by Guerrilla Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Published on the Playstation 4 in 2017. Intro / Outro Music: "Go Cart" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Our second apocalypse takes us for a ride down the fury road. Join us as we follow Imperator Furiosa to the green place in George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road. Topic: Mad Max: Fury Road, directed by George Miller. Village Roadshow Pictures. 2015. Intro / Outro Music: "Go Cart" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/