This week, Aly & Sarrah are watching Nelvana's 1985 film: The Care Bears Movie.

Aly gets the fun job of telling us all about the Care Bears franchise - how they came from greeting card characters to a toy line, to the media masters they are today!

Sarrah fills us in on the Canadian (yay!) Nelvana Studios, and how they made this film for basically no budget and in practically no time.

Together we ponder the design choices for a Care Bear horse (it's not great), and go through the list of all the Care Bear properties that have existed.

Our walk-through includes a long and personal look at how kids without parents are portrayed in the 80s and 90s animated movies, as well as the realization that the animation in this is pretty darn good! We also fully appreciate a twist that neither of us saw coming.

So put on your story hats, and join us in Care-a-lot! Let's fill up the Care-o-meter while we watch The Care Bears Movie!

Podcast Music By: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

This week Sarrah & Aly are finally discussing one of the big names of the 80s and 90s: Don Bluth.

That's right, we're watching "The Secret of NIMH".

Aly discusses the original book and it's author - Robert C. O'Brien, who used a pen name for his entire life to avoid contract disputes. She also breaks down the differences from novel to film and teaches us a little bit about the rat research experiments that inspired O'Brien to write NIMH.

Sarrah tells us all about the early days at Don Bluth Productions, including how they first started working out of Bluth's garage, and couldn't even pay their animators up front. Lucky for them it all worked out!

Our walk-through primarily consists of us having trouble understanding the magical element of the film, as well as appreciating the fully developed characters, and of course - Don Bluth sparkles!

So gather up your most intelligent friends, and please remove any jewelry (it distracts Jeremy), and let's discover the Secret of NIMH!

Podcast Music By: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Welcome to another nostalgia filled episode!

This week, Sarrah & Aly take on Rankin & Bass's 1982 cult classic - The Last Unicorn.

Once again, we have a movie based on a novel, and Aly gives us the scoop on the author: Peter S. Beagle. He has a pretty interesting connection to one of our previous movies! She also gives us a very brief summary of the history of unicorns.

Sarrah takes us on a bit of a journey. We go from Rankin & Bass Rudolph Christmas specials, to Studio Ghibli. You'll want to listen to hear how we got there!

Our walkthrough has us feeling very sorry for certain characters, questioning the meaning of immortality and fate, discussing Shakespearean inevitabilities, and really hating the music.

So join us on this epic adventure, to find the unicorns!

Podcast Music By: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Get your tissues ready! It's time to see if this movie is really as sad as we all think it is!

This week Sarrah brings her husband Curtis to watch Disney's 1981 movie The Fox and the Hound with us - because he's never seen it!

Aly does a biography on the author of the novel The Fox and the Hound, Daniel P. Mannix, who might just be the most interesting man in the world. We also learn that this movie is very loosely based on the book, as there is a lot more death in the novel. Perhaps not surprising in a novel about hunting, but it messed with Aly's head a bit.

Sarrah gives us the lowdown on how this film marked a major turning point in studio history. A lot of the old guard animators left (goodbye Wolfgang Reitherman!), to be replaced with some new blood that you will recognize to be a big part of the upcoming Disney Renaissance.

Our walkthrough has one of us admitting to shedding a few tears, discussion over the most useless subplot known to history, wondering if Widow Tweed really did Tod any favors, and finding our loyalties lie in surprising places.

So grab those tissues and your best friend forever, and let's get ready for some education (to avoid elimination!).

Podcast Music By: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

What's the sitch, listeners?

After recording our Valentine's Day episode, Aly and Sarrah decided they wanted to talk more about Disney Channel Animated Shows.

So we start with Gummi Bears in the 1980s and move forward, discussing our opinions, memories, and of course the voice actors and animation, for our favorite Disney TV Shows.

Warning: Theme songs might be sung.

So sit back and get listeners.

Let's.Get.Dangerous.

Happy Valentine's Day Listeners!

Well, actually, Happy Half Price Candy Day!

Today we're celebrating another holiday by watching another holiday special!

Aly starts us off by talking about famed voice actor Paul Winchell. This was his last film doing the voice of Tigger, so it felt fitting to give him his own spotlight on this episode.

Sarrah discusses what the smaller, international, Disney studios were up to. That leads us to a long discussion about Disney's Animated TV Shows, which was so fun for us we made an In-Betweener on it.

Our walk through has us noticing that Rabbit seems to have gone to therapy, wondering why Gopher is now such a big part of the gang, and squealing over Piglet's hat.

So stuff your face with that cheap chocolate, and let's listen to this LOVE-ly episode.

Well, the time has come. We were dreading it. But it honestly wasn't THAT bad! We promise! It's ok, you can hold our hand.

Aly starts us off with an author biography on Richard Adams.

Sarrah tells us all about the original director of Watership Down, John Hubley, who unfortunately passed away early in the process.

Together we discuss the controversy over this movie being shown on Easter Sunday on TV, the new Netflix series announced, and how this film was not really pushed in North America.

Our walkthrough has us really figuring out which parts were going to scar us for life, why that damn bird is so annoying, and ultimately liking this movie way more than anticipated.

So take a deep breath, trust us, and let's find our way to Watership Down.

And we're back with more Lord of the Rings!

Spoiler Alert: we did NOT like this movie and were NOT shy about saying it. If this movie is your jam, that's totally cool! Do your thing! But we weren't fans. Just a little warning.

Sarrah starts us off this week talking about the release and reviews of Lord of the Rings, as well as some of the difficulties they had getting it done (it involves Spain and helicopters). She also tells us about Bakshi's passionate love for rotoscoping. Oh, how he loves it.

Aly chimes in with another Voice Cast Corner featuring some pretty amazing actors, as well as a Star Wars alumni! He's also amazing, but you know.

Our walkthrough has us banging our heads against the table and drowning in bad rotoscoping, noting that no matter what adaptation we're in apparently Sam and Frodo need chemistry, and questioning the length of Aragorn's skirt.

Join the Fellowship as we head through a journey in the dark to mount doom!

Podcast Music By: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

This week we start out new In-Betweeners!

These (sometimes) mini-episodes will periodically pop up when we have something fun or extra to discuss. We wanted to use them to talk to people outside of ourselves and hear their opinions, memories, and knowledge of these films! Some episodes will be all about animation, some will be about the source material, and some will be a mix of both.

This week, Sarrah temporarily vacates her seat at the podcast table for Aly's friend Em, a major Lord of the Rings fan who first read the Hobbit when she was 6 years old.

Aly asks Em about her LOTR opinions and memories, and what makes these books so important to her. They also play a few rounds of Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit, discuss Boromir, Peter Jackson's casting, and some good ol' early 2000s fan fiction!

So join us on this very windy road that takes as many twists and turns as the path from the Shire to Mount Doom!

Podcast Music By: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Welcome to this Long Expected Party...er....episode!

Aly & Sarrah both love the Lord of the Rings, and Aly will not pass up an opportunity to talk about Ian McKellen soooo...

WELCOME TO ANOTHER TWO-PARTER!

There was way too much research and information to fit into one episode, so as we did before, this episode will talk about the source material and animation studio stuff, and next week will get into the specifics for this movie.

So let's begin this week's journey (no shortcuts to mushrooms please!)

Aly takes us on a lovely biography of author J.R.R. Tolkien (heard of him?), which includes a beautiful love story that we couldn't make up if we tried. She also dives into the history and details of the Lord of the Rings and its complete legendarium. We discuss a bit about the languages, reviews, scholarly thoughts, and even talk about those damn eagles.

Sarrah gives us an in-depth look at the very controversial, and very innovative Ralph Bakshi (who directed this movie). His work tends to err on R or X rated, so be wary if you look into it. We're not quite sure how we feel about some of his stuff, but he was certainly a trailblazer who was looking to broaden the world of animation, and we love him for that!

We also hit up what Lord of the Rings has inspired and influenced. This, of course, means we get a little sidetracked by the fantastic Peter Jackson movies, so prepare to learn a little bit about them (and New Zealand tourism).

And after that, YOU SHALL NOT PASS!

Until next week, when you come on back for all the details on the Bakshi animated movie.

Podcast Music By: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music