Nerd Lunch

Jacob, Michael, Rob, and Pax talk about the TV movie Sherlock, aka Sherlock: Case of Evil starring James D'Arcy as the sexiest Holmes at the beginning of his detective career. Vincent D'Onofrio plays Moriarty, Richard E Grant is Mycroft, and Gabrielle Anwar shows up with some crucial information.

Michael, Pax, and Rob finish this 50th Lounge episode talking about celebrities who represent us, Interior Chinatown, X-Men/Star Trek crossovers, Jurassic World Rebirth, the Beastie Boys Book audiobook, and Stinker Lets Loose! by Mike Sacks (aka James Taylor Johnson).

On this 50th Lounge episode, Michael, Pax, Rob - and introducing PJ Holley! - talk about history podcasts, unproduced Superman movies, Sharks Of The Corn, Indiana Jones, The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie, Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books, and how to invade an ensemble TV show.

Carlin Trammel brings a special episode presenting a recent panel he moderated at Infinity Con Tallahassee, talking with monster makers Christopher Burdett and Mark Maddox about their approaches to crafting compelling creatures in art.

Michael, Rob, and Pax start a new series of episodes in which we'll sporadically visit all of the Predator and Alien movies. In chronological order. So first up is Dan Trachtenberg's Prey, starring Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers, and Coco as Sarii the Wonder Dog.

Michael and Jess talk about some horror movies they've been watching, then a classic collection of Charles Addams comics and Junji Ito's Gyo, Volume 1.

Returning to the classic Nerd Lunch topic, Michael and Rob are joined by guests Dan Taylor (Catacombs & Comedians) and Ron Ankeny to talk about actors we'd like to see in something again. First we play casting agents, each bringing an actor who hasn't had enough work lately for our tastes. We discuss each one and the kinds of roles they play, or that we would like to see them play. Then we enter the Writers Room and create an idea for a movie to showcase them all. It's a great time and we created (we think) a great movie.

Our Sherlock Holmes panel Pax, Jacob, Michael, and Rob talk about Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce's second outing as Holmes and Watson. They'd appeared together in The Hound of the Baskervilles earlier that same year, but this one's an original story (loosely based on a play by William Gillette). It's still a Victorian adventure before the series changed studios and went modern with the next film. It also stars Ida Lupino as Holmes' client and George Zucco as Moriarty.

Rob, Michael, and Pax finish up this month's Lounge talking about retirement, the After Lunch lounge schedule, Guy Ritchie's Fountain of Youth, the fall of the Jedi, the Lilo and Stitch remake, and our experiences as young nerds.

Michael and Jess talk about the comics anthology The Dark Horse Book of the Dead and Something is Killing the Children by James Tynion IV and Werther Dell'Edera. Among other horrory things.

Rob, Michael, and Pax sit around talking about Ballerina, You Rang: An Addams Family Podcast, more Final Reckoning, Star Trek: Open a Channel - A Woman's Trek by Nana Visitor, Pride and Prejudice, Redshirts by John Scalzi, and whatever else comes up.

Following up on a topic from Nerd Lunch Episode 181 (which was also the first appearance of Wolverine), Michael, Rob, Pax, and David May create more cinematic universes around movies (but not just movies) that don't already have them. Tune in and check out our ideas for series built on WarGames, Capcom, Anchorman, and The Last Voyage of the Demeter.

Michael, Rob, and Pax cover Paul Walker's emotional, final ride with his Fast and Furious family in Furious 7. The movie also features Jason Statham back as Deckard Shaw after his brief appearance in the previous one, a couple of other cameos from earlier films, and the introductions of Kurt Russell and Nathalie Emmanuel to the series.

Michael and Rob watch the latest (and last?) Mission: Impossible movie starring the whole gang from the last movie plus Angela Bassett, Tramell Tillman, Hannah Waddingham, Katy O'Brian, and Nick Offerman. Spoilers abound of course, but considering that the movie is generally getting positive reviews, it seems right to provide an additional warning that neither of us loved the film. We loved some things about it and talked freely about those, but there are also many, many things that frustrated us, and we talked freely about those as well. 

Our James Bond project is complete, now let our Sherlock Holmes project begin. Rob and Michael are joined by Pax and Jacob Bean-Watson in order to explore the Great Detective as portrayed on Film and TV. We're not taking a methodical approach, but just taking turns picking whatever adaptation strikes our fancies. Rob is up first and chose the 1976 TV movie, Sherlock Holmes in New York starring Roger Moore as Holmes, Patrick Macnee as Watson, John Huston as Moriarty, and Charlotte Rampling as Irene Adler.

Pax, Rob, and Michael continue this month's lounge talking about Cobra Kai, A Stitch in Time by Andrew J Robinson, Golden Age Wonder Woman, All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai, pop culture Mount Rushmores, and the Agatha Christie mini-series Towards Zero.

Pax, Rob, and Michael talk about autograph collecting, Thunderbolts*, podcast wives, the podcast Heist with Michael Caine, the Goldie Vance graphic novels by Hope Larson and Brittney Williams, and more Sherlock Holmes. And Michael's son David stops by to talk about the One Piece manga and other things.

To celebrate the conclusion of our massive James Bond project, our panelists Michael, Rob, and Karen welcome fellow Bond fans Becky Tyler, Jacob Bean-Watson, and Jody Collins for a fun game, reviewing our favorite elements of the series. We draft our favorite Bond actors, villains, gadgets, and features from a dozen other categories to create our own inter-era Bond mash-up films. We laughed, we gasped, and we hurt each other's feelings in this super fun episode about everyone's favorite super spy.

Michael, Rob, and Pax get back in the cars to talk about the return of the Fast and Furious family as they try to rescue an amnesic Letty from the machinations of supervillain Owen Shaw (Luke Evans).

Michael, Rob, and Karen finish (for now) their James Bond movie project with the final Daniel Craig and the final Eon Productions entry in the series. It's No Time to Die, also starring Léa Seydoux, Rami Malek, Lashana Lynch, Jeffrey Wright, Ana de Armas, and the usual cast of allies.