Boulder Punch Podcast

"GO IN PEACE."

Despite having finished Book One as a single twelve-episode series, the Avatar team were told soon after that Nickelodeon wanted a second season of The Legend of Korra -- and they only have about a year to finish it. The combination of a rushed production, ambitious ideas, and having to follow up on what was meant to be a finished story resulted in what is considered to be the black sheep of the franchise, and the worst season of either Avatar show in general. But now, with one looking back and one watching with fresh eyes, is it really as bad as people say it is? Tune in to find out as Alec and Brian dive into Book Two of The Legend of Korra -- Spirits!

"FACT: AMON MADE UP HIS BACKSTORY SO PEOPLE WOULD FEEL BAD FOR HIM."

We tried, but we couldn't shake our Avatar fever after being knee-deep in it for the past month, so it's time to talk about what happened after Aang bit the dust! After the failure and embarrassment of the live-action film, the creators 0f ATLA got to work soon after on a sequel series that'd hopefully wash the taste out. Unfortunately, they wouldn't be met with the same creative freedom that the original series offered, and they found themselves super restricted on what they could accomplish. What was supposed to be a single 12-episode story ended up being Season 1 of one of the biggest examples of an action cartoon getting messed around with and sabotaged by its distributor, but how does it hold up nowadays? Tune in to find out as Alec and Brian take a look at Book One of The Legend of Korra -- Air!

WE CAN FIX THE SACRED TIMELINE.

As many of us know, things haven't been going too well for Mr. Kevin Feige and his weird land of overdesigned tights. While the MCU has definitely still had hits fair share of well received and generally successful projects, there has been a clear and steep decline since Phase 4 began, with numerous aspects to blame. So, what if we could go back and readjust to steer clear? Tune in to find out as Alec and Brian return to Boulder Pitch with their own tweaked and reworked road maps for the MCU's Phase 4 (and beyond)!

BIG FISH SPEEDRUN, GO!

It's been about two weeks since we last recorded anything news-related, and we have a lot to catch up on. From Sony Pictures' latest superhero blunder, to a new issue of Ultimate Spider-Man, to the dire and greedy state of the game industry, all the way to the Netflix adaptation of Avatar, we have to see it all through. So, tune in as Alec and Brian discuss the biggest pieces of entertainment news and media from the past couple weeks!

"AT THE CROSSROADS OF YOUR DESTINY..."

Book One of ATLA firmly planted it in the pop-cultural landscape of the mid-2000's, with memorable stories, characters, action, and so on. Book Two, however, kicked it up to an unfathomable notch that nobody could've foreseen, especially those of us who were kids at the time. As the episodes became more serialized, the dangers and the stakes escalated, with exciting new characters and locations to boot! This season is arguably where the show becomes what it's known to be today, and we have way too much to talk about in regards to it. So, tune in as Alec and Brian delve deep into the mindblowing second act of Avatar: The Last Airbender -- Book Two: Earth!

"THAT'S ROUGH, BUDDY."

Now that Netflix's Comet has arrived, it's time for us to master the final season of Avatar if we hope to survive. After the devastating Crossroads of Destiny and a grueling nine month wait, Book Three finally began in September 2007, but through numerous delays would not conclude until July 2008. Despite the bizarre scheduling, this season managed to be the most intense and cathartic yet, concluding in an explosive 90-minute finale that sought to wrap up every single thread (well, most, anyway). So, at the end of our rewatch, how does the final season hold up today? Tune in to find out as Alec and Brian end their Avatar: The Last Airbender trilogy with Book Three: Fire!

"I REALLY AM AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER (2005)."

With the next attempt at adapting it into live action (unfortunately) just a week away, it's high time that the boys revisited one of the most important television shows of all time -- not just to them, but to the artform as a whole. It was only 19 years ago when Avatar first hit the screens in February of 2005, and little did all of us kids at the time knew that it would change our lives forever. We got three seasons to cover, and too much to talk about for one episode, so tune in as Alec and Brian begin their Avatar: The Last Airbender trilogy by looking back at the first season that started it all, Book One: Water!

COMBAT REVEAL TRAILER.

While the quantity of news that ha come out between episodes wasn't much, what we did have to talk about was more than we could've ever imagined (or feared). So, tune in for another news-oriented episode as Alec and Brian dig into topics like the Netflix Avatar debacle, the launch of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, and all the new and (unintentionally) terrifying info about Silent Hill!

"AND WE NEVER NEEDED YOU..."

Despite now being 60 episodes deep into this show, we've barely scratched the surface when it comes to discussing actual comic books outside of Spider-Man. So, for a massive change of pace, we decided to shift focus to a completely different type of character and book altogether. With Jed MacKay and Alessandro Cappuccio's run still going strong, we thought it'd be hight time to look back on a slightly older run that shook the foundation of Marc, Steven, and Jake forever. So, tune in as Alec and Brian dive into the highly-acclaimed Moon Knight by Jeff Lemire and Greg Smallwood!

"DO YOU WANT IT BACK?"

After its new take on the Clone Saga storyline, Bendis's Ultimate Spider-Man grew more and more inconsistent. The final years of the book felt like it was pulled in many different directions, from Ultimatum supposedly being the end, then Hickman's new Ultimate Comics bringing Peter back, then him being killed off for real less than two years later, the book never seemed to get a proper throughline to resolve itself. Now, thirteen years later, Hickman's taking another stab at the concept of an Ultimate Universe, and his flagship book with a radically different Peter Parker has just begun. So, tune in as Alec and Brian wrap up their retrospective of 1610 Peter Parker, as well as diving into the first issue of the highly anticipated Ultimate Spider-Man by Jonathan Hickman!