More Like Ancient FAILiens

Brandon and Toby welcome back Pedro Mendez to dissect Steven Spielberg's 1977 UFO classic. They dig into the film's chaotic family dynamics, aliens with a grudge against kitchen appliances, and a guy who abandons his kids to board a spaceship without a second thought. Plus: how the movie helped cement modern UFO lore and whether Spielberg should maybe think twice before going full disclosure on late night TV.

More Like Ancient Failiens is a Grab Bag Collab production. Subscribe to GBC to get this great show's episodes early and ad-free, hear bonus episodes, and access other great GBC podcasts. Visit GBC here: https://www.grabbagcollab.com/

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Is your boss an alien? Probably not out of the question, right? Anyway, Jesse Plemmons thinks his boss is an alien and decides the best course of action is to kidnap her (this is not an endorsement). Toby and Brandon are joined by Failiens producer Gabby Lombardo to talk about the Yorgos Lanthimos movie, Bugonia. If you are considering getting your hair cut in a moving car, watch this movie first!

For more about Gabby Lombardo, visit https://www.instagram.com/gabby.lombardo

More Like Ancient Failiens is a Grab Bag Collab production. Subscribe to GBC to get episodes early and ad-free, hear bonus episodes, and access other great GBC podcasts. Visit GBC here: https://www.grabbagcollab.com/

Sign up to listen here: https://grabbag.supportingcast.fm/more-like-ancient-failiens

Or get all of Grab Bag Collab's great shows including Failiens content here: https://grabbag.supportingcast.fm/bundle

Remember how useless 4th grade math seemed? Well, who’s laughing now because Aliens have made contact by beeping prime numbers at us? Oh yeah, and they also sent a Hitler video. Anyway, we’re talking the 1997 movie Contact with special guest Janet Varney. Matthew McCounaghey’s mane has never been finer.

Follow Janet on Instragram: https://www.instagram.com/thejvclub/?hl=en

More Like Ancient Failiens is a Grab Bag Collab production. Subscribe to GBC to get episodes early and ad-free, hear bonus episodes, and access other great GBC podcasts. Visit GBC here: https://www.grabbagcollab.com/

Subscribers can also get a bonus episode with more from Janet Varney!

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Was there a more iconic duo in the 1990s than Fox Mulder and Dana Scully? Toby and Brandon don’t think so, and they’re talking about the X-Files, perhaps the most popular television series about UFOs and the paranormal. To look at the show, they discuss the much-beloved episode Jose Chung’s From Outer Space (season 3, episode 20), a comedic nesting doll of UFO tropes and stories, starring Hollywood Squares legend Charles Nelson Reilly.

More Like Ancient Failiens is a Grab Bag Collab production. Subscribe to GBC to get episodes early and ad-free, hear bonus episodes, and access other great GBC podcasts. Visit GBC here: https://www.grabbagcollab.com/

This week's bonus just for subscribers:  If you wonder how much of a pain in the ass it is to be a former president, look no further than the furor over an offhand comment Obama made about aliens being real. He later explained that he didn’t think those aliens had actually ever visited Earth, but maybe he’d just jumpstarted DISCLOSURE. Brandon and Toby talk about this unfortunate incident and the recent prediction market bullishness about President Trump releasing the government’s UFO files.

Sign up to listen here: https://grabbag.supportingcast.fm/more-like-ancient-failiens

Or get all of Grab Bag Collab's great shows including Failiens content here: https://grabbag.supportingcast.fm/bundle

A group of plucky kids with emotionally stunted fathers battle an alien who’s just looking for a little empathy. Yes, we are discussing JJ Abrams’s Super 8 with special guest Alex Steed. We’re not going to bother listing the themes at play, but let’s just say we touch on making movies as a kid, how the actor who vomits all the time in this movie grew up to play JD Vance, and prominent directors’ UFO credulity. Also, mashed potatoes. Mountains of them. 

For more about Alex Steed, visit: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/alexsteed/?hl=en⁠

More Like Ancient Failiens is a Grab Bag Collab production. Subscribe to GBC to get episodes early and ad-free, hear bonus episodes, and access other great GBC podcasts. Visit GBC here: https://www.grabbagcollab.com/

Are we humans really smart enough to come up with the GENIUS STUFF? The Ancient Astronaut Theorists have their doubts and, despite themselves, stumble upon some interesting ideas. Toby and Brandon are joined by Stuff They Don’t Want You To Know host Matt Frederick in a wide-ranging discussion that’s sort of about The Genius Factor (Season 9, Episode 4). We have Hammurabi’s thoughts on divorce, a repository of all the wisdom of humans or perhaps the Universe, and mushrooms that make you see elves!

You can find Matt on Stuff They Don’t Want You To Know: https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/stuff-they-dont-want-you-to-know/id732915228

You can also find the show on Netflix by searching for “Stuff They Don’t Want You To Know”

You can find More Like Ancient FAILiens early and ad-free along with many other great podcasts at Grab Bag Collab! Visit grabbagcollab.com to join.

Also!!!! We have a Failiens bonus episode out today at www.grabbagcollab.com, just for subscribers! In this unhinged bonus hang, Brandon, Toby, and special guest Matt Frederick spiral from Ancient Aliens nonsense into “can we trust reality anymore?” while dunking on deepfakes, internet slop, and the very concept of truth.

Brandon and Toby are joined by John Hodgman for part two of their look at Chariots of the Gods, a look at the movie made from the Erich von Daniken book that started the Ancient Aliens craziness. Huge desert drawings in Peru! Questionable use of drinking water during a desert expedition! And synths!

Subscribe to hear this and other great podcasts early and ad free at ⁠grabbagcollab.com⁠.

For more about John Hodgman, visit: ⁠https://www.johnhodgman.com/

What if the entities that ancient peoples called gods were in fact aliens? Mind blown, right? It all started with Chariots of the Gods, the book by Erich von Daniken and then the film based on that book. Comedian John Hodgman joins Brandon and Toby to discuss the movie version and so much more. Witness the birth of the gods were aliens weirdness as the Ancient Astronaut Theorists did, with B-roll and weird 70s music.

Subscribe to hear this and other great podcasts early and ad free at ⁠grabbagcollab.com⁠.

For more about John Hodgman, visit: ⁠https://www.johnhodgman.com/⁠

On Saturday, January 10, the Godfather of Ancient Astronaut Theorists, Erich Von Daniken, died at the age of 90. In this episode of More Like Ancient Failiens, Toby and Brandon look at EVD’s life, from his time as a hotelier and embezzler to the successes of Chariots of the Gods and its sequels, to the final form of Ancient Astronaut Theory, Ancient Aliens. We look at the ups and downs, the dubious claims, and the short-lived theme park that was not as exciting as the Alps.

We also have some exciting news about where we’re taking our show in 2026. We’re calling it The Pivot, and it basically means we’ll be reviewing movies, TV shows, and crappy ‘89s docs about UFOs to show just how deep (or high) this whole thing really goes.

Subscribe to hear this and other great podcasts early and ad free at grabbagcollab.com.

“Erich Von Daniken’s Genesis” in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/1974/03/31/archives/erich-von-danikens-genesis.html

“Scholars Will Call it Nonsense” in Expedition Magazine: https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/scholars-will-call-it-nonsense/

Erich Von Daniken Explained: https://everything.explained.today/Erich_von_D%C3%A4niken/

Short History Channel video on Erich Von Daniken:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc1QUbSN9uo

Part two of Brandon and Toby’s discussion with journalist Keith Kloor about the documentary film, The Age of Disclosure. In this episode, we discuss Lu Elizondo and The Observables (not a band, alas), the time Keith made Lu sad, and bubbles that warp both space and time. Plus, the culinary delights of roadkill.

You can read Keith’s reporting about issues we talk about here:
https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2021/ufos-once-consigned-to-conspiracy-theories-have-landed-in-mainstream-american-journalism/
https://www.wired.com/story/will-the-new-york-times-ever-stop-reporting-on-ufos/
https://gen.medium.com/americas-enduring-obsession-with-ufos-b582ca8f86cb
https://issues.org/ufos-wont-go-away/
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ufos-keep-appearing-in-the-news-heres-why-we-cant-quit-them/
https://www.spytalk.co/p/star-drek-ufo-crank-luis-elizondo
https://theintercept.com/2019/06/01/ufo-unidentified-history-channel-luis-elizondo-pentagon/
https://keithkloor.substack.com/p/why-ufos-will-never-ever-go-away

More Like Ancient Fail-iens is published early and ad-free over at www.grabbagcollab.com

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