After Lunch

Pax is vacationing in the Phantom Zone, so Aaron Nix from Movie Hodge Podge and Matt Ringler of Schlock Treatment join Jeeg and CT for this week's episode. Each of us choose one person and one pop culture item to erase from existence and then discuss the consequences of that removal. We go for the jugular with some of these, but luckily it's all hypothetical... as far as you know. Our Nerd To-Do's feature a follow-up on Pixar's Brave, somebody named Richie Brockelman, Atomic Robo, and one nerd's quest to watch the original Star Trek movies for the first time.

Rob Graham settles into the fourth chair this week and we do another round of Give That Guy Some Work. This time around we put together one TV show and one movie using actors and actresses that aren’t getting the exposure they deserve. Our Nerd To-Dos include a Star Trek novel, the Sherlock TV series, Pixar’s Brave, a vampire hunter, and Planet of the Apes.

We gather around the lunch table this week with Steve from foodjunk.wordpress.com. On the menu is a discussion of our favorite salty snack foods from chips to pretzels to crackers. We can't seem to agree on many snack food picks, but perhaps we'll concur on favorite high blood pressure medicines in a later episode. In our Nerd To-Dos, we hear about Steve's run through the Godzilla movies, CT's third viewing of The Avengers, Pax's review of Solomon Kane, and Jeeg's glacial progress through Angel and Farscape.

It's a three way dance as Pax, CT, and Jeeg plan out 48 hours of a nerd weekend. Where would we go? What would we do? What would we eat? Listen to find out if our perfect weekend looks more like The Hangover or Weekend at Bernie's. This week's Nerd To-Dos are a who's who of sci-fi franchises with nods to Prometheus, Planet of the Apes, and Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Because the people demanded it, one more round of Would You Rather questions with Jeeg, CT, Pax, and Andrew Bloom. Actually nobody demanded it, but the conversation does include more Mark Dury talk and that alone is worth a listen.

The Atomic Geeks very own Andrew Bloom takes over the fourth chair this week and runs Pax, Jeeg, and CT though a little game of Would You Rather. The questions cover topics that are fun for all ages: the Nerd Lunch crew dying in various ways, the Nerd Lunch crew killing various pop culture heroes, the Nerd Lunch crew in ambiguously gay situations, and CT’s beard. The only question remaining is would you rather keep reading this description or listen to the episode already?

This week CT and Jeeg have to soldier on without the Nerd Lunch ironman, Pax, who has been kidnapped by our arch-rival Valley High. But it’s all right, ‘cause we’re saved by the bell and two returning guests: Aaron Nix of Movie Hodge Podge and Jay from The Sexy Armpit. We spend the episode reminiscing about our favorite moments, the most attractive female cast member, and Casey Kasem’s epic Cosby sweaters. Be warned, it’s such a lovefest that we're not even fazed by the fact that the show also sounded the death knell of Saturday morning cartoons. In our Nerd To-Do’s, we get some love for TV’s Dallas, Sherman Hemsley, Taco Johns restaurants, and the Back to the Future iPad game.

Doug Frye from the Schlock Treatment podcast signs on as the fourth member of an elite commando unit with Jeeg, Pax, and CT. Our mission is to determine if the 1980s GI Joe cartoon still holds up. Listen to find out if the Joes can defeat the most lethal foe of all, Father Time. In our Nerd To-Dos we hear about Keifer Sutherland's debut in the D&D universe, the Solomon Kane movie (again), novel writing, and the arrival of some nerd progeny.

Perhaps the Internet's leading expert on TV crossovers and the founder of Poobala.com, Thom Holbrook, joins us for a great episode this week. We discuss what makes a crossover great, run down some of our favorites, and then propose some crossovers we wish would happen. Our conversation is a roll call of great TV from Bob Newhart to The Bionic Woman to The Drew Carey Show to Mork and Mindy. OK, maybe great isn't the best description. In this week's Nerd To-Dos, we get our first genealogy related to-do, a re-commitment to comic book reading, and more Avengers items (it might take us awhile to get over that one, folks).

Shawn Robare rides his stunt motorcycle over from Branded in the 80s to join us for a discussion of the original trilogy of Muppet films: The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, and The Muppets Take Manhattan. We start with our personal histories with the Muppets and where they fit into our nerdom. Then we step through each movie taking a look at the playhouse style setup, plots, music, puppetry/effects, and favorite scenes. In addition to some pre-Avengers talk brought to you through the magic of Internet time travel (check out episode 36, people); this week’s Nerd To-Dos feature a box of magic surprises for CT, more soda can collecting, and one nerd’s quest for movie novelizations.