Nerd Lunch

It's a very special episode on this week's Nerd Lunch Podcast. While Pax and Jeeg both are off fighting bears and building robots respectively, CT is joined by Jay from The Sexy Armpit and together they host a chat with UK comic book artist Des Taylor. Des, known for his simplistic and retro-style of illustration, is the creator behind self-published titles The Vesha Valentine Story and The Trouble with Katie Rogers. He has also had several pieces of his super hero art go viral on sites like GeekTyrant.com, io9.com, BleedingCool.com and our friends at the Retroist. In the show, Des talks about his history, upcoming projects, his thoughts on the New 52 and who he'd want to force choke.

For this episode of the Nerd Lunch podcast we are joined by another member of the Schlock Treatment podcast, Kirk Howle.  We are also joined by 4th chair regular Shawn Robare since Jeeg is called away on assignment to do the thing he does best. This week we talk about movie toys.  We talk about movie toys that worked and use that knowledge to then talk about movie toys that didn't work.  We talk about why these toys worked or didn't work and then we all propose our own movie toy line that should have happened.  Some of the movie toys discussed include Star Wars, The Shadow, Dick Tracy and The Lone Ranger.  Our Nerd To-Dos feature Masters of the Universe figures, cartoon animation, more Wizard of Oz stuff and Jumpin' Jack Doritos.

We kick off the new year by peering into the future with fourth chair Doug Frye from the Schlock Treatment podcast. Using all the tools at our disposal from tarot cards to the Magic 8 Ball, we each make predictions for 2013 in the realms of TV, movies, and fast food. We also start up the Nerd Lunch Dead Pool and predict which celebrities will kick the bucket this year. Our Nerd To-Dos feature Star Wars Angry Birds, Battlestar Galactica, Six Million Dollar Man, and Jack in the Box.

Jeeg calls CT away from decking the halls to talk about the overlooked (even by us) holiday movie The Ref starring Denis Leary.

We welcome Digio from The Atomic Geeks Podcast back to the show to help us put together a TV Christmas Special for the ages. Drawing on favorite cartoons, classic Rankin Bass specials, historical Christmas lore, and some cool holiday ideas of our own, we turn out one tasty fruitcake of a special. This week's Nerd To-Dos feature the impending arrival of a next generation nerd, the announcement of Digio's 2013 Geek Resolution, a Walking Dead follow-up, and one final mention of Skyfall.

We return to the Nerd Lunch courtroom for this episode with guest Matt Ringler from Schlock Treatment. Director Tim Burton stands accused of crimes against movie viewers everywhere. Overseeing the proceedings is the Honorable Judge CT, with the prosecution being presented by Matt Ringler, the defense counsel offered by Jeeg, and star witness duties fulfilled by Pax. Will the likes of Pee-wee's Big Adventure and Ed Wood be enough to outweigh Dark Shadows, Alice in Wonderland, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Will Helena Bonham Carter make an appearance in this episode? Will Matt Ringler be able to lock up Burton for good and justify missing the recording of Schlock Treatment Episode 102? Grab your seat in the courtroom gallery and find out! In our Nerd To-Dos we discuss Laurel & Hardy, iTunes, Walking Dead trade paperbacks, Christmas movie viewing, and Django.

This week we are joined by Jaime from shezcrafti.com for a very special Ninja Day episode of the podcast.  For this episode we all have watched and spend our time talking about the 1984 ninja classic Ninja III: The Domination starring Sho Kosugi and Lucinda Dickey.  Expect discussions on the supernatural nature of 1980s ninjas, old shaolin temples on the outskirts of Los Angeles, the ridiculous Bigfoot body hair of the male lead and, of course, V8.  This week's Nerd-to-Dos include even more mentions of Bond, Halo 4, Ninja Sex Party and 4 Rivers Barbeque.

We’re joined this week by Claymation Werewolf for a very special episode on 80s sitcoms. Rather than going straight for the Kate & Allie drilldown, we go around the horn reminiscing about the shows we watched regularly, our favorite shows, memorable episodes, and more. The usual suspects like Cheers, Family Ties, and The Golden Girls are mentioned, but we get to Mama's Family, A Different World, and Major Dad a lot faster than anybody would expect. Our Nerd To-Dos feature real life screenwriting, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, an upcoming gathering of the nerds, and Black Friday shopping plans.

Kristin Rielly, formerly of Geek Girls Network, returns to the show to help us review more stories from fanfiction.net. This time we focus on movie based stories with more vampires, dragons, imaginary friends, and super scientists than you can shake an iPod at. And fear not listeners, we do accidentally run into some slash fic. Yeah, accidentally. Our Nerd To-Dos this go around include some more Bond (will it ever stop?), a different flavor of Red Rock soda, Kingdom Hearts, and holiday move planning.

While housesitting at The Atomic Geeks Network HQ, we decide to put the Super Fight Dome to good use with our own twist on a Versus episode. CT acts as matchmaker while Pax, Jeeg, and Jeremy from Geek Chunks bring their hand chosen combatants to the battle. It's a fight card for the ages featuring celebrity chefs, giant robots, sitcom dads, Jean-Claude Van Damme characters, and more. Our Nerd To-Dos this time around include Christmas planning (already), a run through The X-Files series, and a bunch of Bond including planned outings to see Skyfall.

It’s a special time of the year in America when campaign ads flood radio and TV, signs fill front yards, and three nerds take to the Internet to draft fictional governments made up of characters from pop culture. We couldn’t do worse with Starfleet captains, Robocop, the Dukes of Hazzard, or characters from Teen Wolf. Or could we? Find out by casting your vote for Nerd Lunch today! In this week’s Nerd To-Dos, we discuss The Last Castle, Stephen King’s 11/23/63, and Freaks and Geeks.

To celebrate the season Pax and Jeeg call in our Halloween experts, Shawn from Branded in the 80s and Jay from The Sexy Armpit, to discuss two LEGENDARY Halloween TV specials. Up first is the 1976 Paul Lynde Halloween special with 70s guest stars aplenty including Tim Conway, Florence Henderson, and KISS. You can find it on YouTube, Amazon Instant Video, and DVD. Then we tackle 1986's The Worst Witch starring Fairuza Balk and featuring gonzo performances by Tim Curry and The Facts of Life's Charlotte Rae. It is also available on YouTube (in multiple parts) and DVD. This week's Nerd To-Dos include a screening of some classic Universal monster movies, a quest for episodes of CHiPs, some fawning over Emma Watson, and Bond movie watching.

Robert from To The Escape Hatch returns to our fourth chair as we put together the ultimate team for the zombie apocalypse from characters across the horror genre. Robert Kirkman, Ridley Scott, John Carpenter, Valve Software, and others provide nominees for our party. Once the team is assembled, we determine the order that members get picked off, who gets infected, and who, if anyone, survives. We then rinse and repeat with a party composed of The Atomic Geeks Network crew. In our Nerd To-Dos, we hear what digital comics can be had by trading in Miami Vice Blu-rays, some Halloween costume planning, a mini lovefest for Ben Affleck, and plans to see The Hobbit already getting started.

In preparation for James Bond’s return to the big screen, we have our first discussion of the classic spy franchise. Bringing his expertise and British class to the fourth chair is Jon Cross from The After Movie Diner blog and podcast. Since there are 50 years and 22 movies worth of 007 to cover, we save the drilldowns for later and cover the whole series by ranking our best and worst Bond actors, individual movies, Bond girls, villains, gadgets, and more. There are a number of revelations along the way including Pax & Jeeg not backing Telly Savalas and the fact that CT has never seen Smokey & The Bandit. This week’s Nerd To-Dos feature more of The Strain series, Bionic Commando Rearmed, Ready Player One, and voiceover work for an audiobook.

Thom Holbrook of Poobala.com returns to join Pax, CT, and Jeeg for a discussion of TV shows based on movies. After a brief trip around the horn to mention some of our favorites and what made them work, we all pitch concepts using movies that have never been translated to TV. We come up with some good ideas, but also end up featuring more secret agents, high school teachers, and little people than any sane person should expect. In our Nerd To-Dos, we talk about The Strain, The Avengers Facebook game, Avatar The Last Airbender, and poutine (again).

When Pax is called away on a top secret mission for Colonel Sanders and The Hamburglar, CT and Jeeg break the "in case of emergency" glass around Movie Hodge Podge and bring out fourth chair regular Aaron Nix. The three of us welcome back Nick from Dude Foods to discuss cheap eats in the already cheap world of fast food. We kick around our favorite value menus and promotions of yore from McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Subway, Arby’s, and more. Then we turn our attention to the current state and future of fast food deals where social media promos, coupons, and big box store eating have taken hold. In our Nerd To-Dos, we plan a delicious potluck of James Bond, Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master, Halo, and Cheerwine.

We dive neckfirst into the realm of southern vampires this week as Jen Usellis Mackay returns to the show to guide us through the first Sookie Stackhouse book, Dead Until Dark. Will we declare it a D-U-D (see what I did there?) or be won over to the supernatural romance genre by Sookie’s moxie, Eric’s debonair ways, and Bill’s “Billness”?  In our Nerd To-Dos, we tackle some Jason Bourne, Halloween preparations, World of Warcraft, and 24.

The Atomic Geeks’ very own Cosmic Viking, Christian Nielsen, joins CT and Pax for a blockbuster sized discussion of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. We cover all the bases from plot to casting to Batman’s throaty voice to "giant, black phallic symbols".  Listen to find out what we liked, what bones we have to pick, and what Nolan could have learned from the Rocky movies.  This week’s Nerd To-Dos feature the yin and yang of the Morning Glories comic book and the Six Million Dollar Man TV show.

William Bruce West settles into the fourth chair this week as we attempt to formulate a strategic plan for DC Comics' movie franchises. We delve into DC's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities for success, and threats to putting together a successful run. We debate how much DC should crib from Marvel, the much rumored JLA movie, crossing over onto TV, and whether there should be a shared DC movie universe at all. In our Nerd To-Dos, we hear about one nerd unloading part of his comic book collection, learn of a foray into True Blood, and discuss the impossible logistics of 24.

We welcome Brian Adams from CoolAndCollected.com to our fourth chair this week for another session of Does It Live Up to the Hype. Each of us catches up on a hyped item that we somehow missed. On the docket this time around are the original Star Trek movies, Pulp Fiction, Breaking Bad, and Chick-fil-A. Our Nerd To-Dos include some Edgar Rice Burroughs, some C. S. Lewis, some L. Frank Baum, and something called bulletproof coffee.