The Game Awards weren’t as eventful in 2019 as they have been in previous years, with the big exception of Microsoft surprising everyone with the formal unveiling of the next generation’s Xbox…and its terrible, horrible, no good very bad name: the Xbox Series X. There’s a lot of promising stuff to be excited for in Microsoft’s new system, but that name is a breathtaking stinker somehow even more confusing than the third Xbox being called the Xbox One, and we have…thoughts. The awards themselves are also discussed, along with trailers for Hellblade II, Final Fantasy VII Remake, and Bravely Default II, and we make fun of a very bad looking Fast & Furious game. 

Enjoy, and come back Thursday for the next episode of Weekly Suit Gundam, where we’ll be talking all about 1993’s Mobile Suit Victory Gundam! 

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

Subscribe for free to 'The Weekly Stuff' in iTunes!

Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter!

Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter!

Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com

Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://japanimationstation.com

Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

Subscribe to our YouTube channels! 

Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff

Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

We’ve got two big video reviews for you this week, as Sean tells us all about the wacky world of Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding, and Jonathan gives final thoughts on Pokemon Sword & Shield. One of these games is very straightforward to discuss, and one is more…um, confusing, but both are well worth your attention, and they were a lot of fun to talk about. We also talk about our respective Thanksgivings and go over some Black Friday purchases, including Jonathan’s shiny new Xbox One SAD edition, before diving into some news, including reports about Microsoft’s plan for the next-generation Xbox and Disney’s refusal to let Star Wars characters be gay. And at the end, we discuss episodes 4 and 5 of The Mandalorian, which continue the show’s hot streak. 

Time Chart:

Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:02:10

Stuff: 0:02:10 – 0:42:10

News: 0:42:10 – 1:23:50

Pokemon Sword & Shield: 1:23:50 – 1:43:34

Death Stranding: 1:43:34 – 2:36:00

The Mandalorian: 2:36:00 – 2:53:33 

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

Subscribe for free to 'The Weekly Stuff' in iTunes!

Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter!

Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter!

Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com

Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://japanimationstation.com

Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

Subscribe to our YouTube channels! 

Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff

Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

It’s a Star Wars heavy show this week, as we discuss the first three episodes of The Mandalorian on Disney+ and give final thoughts on the video game Jedi Fallen Order, following up on our initial discussion last week. These are both excellent pieces of Star Wars media, effectively doing things we haven’t seen from the franchise before, and combined, they have us more enthusiastic about the state of Star Wars than at any point this decade. We also talk about the surprising announcement of a new Half-Life VR game, and do a live review of the 8bitdo ‘Lite’ gamepad, which is easily the weirdest controller either of us have ever used. 

Enjoy! 

Time Chart:

Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:05:40

8bitdo Lite Controller Review: 0:05:40 – 0:16:17

Half-Life Alyx Announcement: 0:16:17 – 0:32:33

Jedi Fallen Order: 0:32:33 – 1:08:25

The Mandalorian: 1:08:25 – 1:37:03

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

Subscribe for free to 'The Weekly Stuff' in iTunes!

Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter!

Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter!

Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com

Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://japanimationstation.com

Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

Subscribe to our YouTube channels! 

Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff

Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

In one of the busiest, most jam-packed podcasts we’ve ever recorded, we give first impressions of the week’s two major video game releases, Pokemon Sword & Shield for Nintendo Switch and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order for the PS4. Star Wars in particular is an incredibly surprising, exciting game, and gives us a lot to talk about without ever touching on any spoilers. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Jonathan also reviews a slew of November movies – Jojo Rabbit, Doctor Sleep, Ford v Ferrari and Parasite – Sean gushes over Criterion’s Godzilla collection, we discuss Sonic the Hedgehog’s Hollywood makeover, cover all the news out of Microsoft’s X019 event, talk about the future of Bioware’s Anthem, discuss the launch of Disney+, and to cap it all off, play a very silly trivia game about the ridiculous nature of the streaming video landscape. 

Time Chart:

Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:07:15

Stuff: 0:07:15 – 0:23:57

Jonathan’s Movie Reviews: 0:23:57 – 0:42:23

Movie News: 0:42:23 – 1:15:37

Gaming News: 1:15:37 – 1:57:13

Pokemon: 1:57:13 – 2:11:18

Jedi Fallen Order: 2:11:18 – 3:01:05

Disney+: 3:01:05 – 3:10:20

Streaming Service Trivia Game: 3:10:20 – 3:26:57

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

Subscribe for free to 'The Weekly Stuff' in iTunes!

Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter!

Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter!

Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com

Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://japanimationstation.com

Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

Subscribe to our YouTube channels! 

Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff

Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

Blizzard’s annual BlizzConevent took place this week amidst a storm of political controversy, but the two major announcements the company showed off were incredible, with both Diablo IV and Overwatch 2 delivering jaw-dropping cinematic short films and impressive gameplay reels. That’s just the tip of the iceberg for this week’s podcast, though, as we also hear first impressions from Sean on Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds, talk about the latest in a long line of unqualified white guys to be fired from Star Wars, discuss the Game of Thrones spin-off news, and some interesting sales figures for the PS4 and Nintendo Switch. We also preview Criterion’s incredible Godzilla box set and, in honor of the November Criterion sale at Barnes & Noble, Jonathan, a Criterion Collection obsessive, gives 15 recommendations for releases worth buying this month. And we cap it all off with a bit of story time, as Jonathan regales us with the long, sad, winding saga of the Demon Couch from Hell. 

Time Chart:

Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:04:05

Sean talks Outer Worlds: 0:04:05 – 0:11:49 

Godzilla Box Set & Criterion Recommendations: 0:11:49 – 0:38:18

Star Wars Ideas & News: 0:38:18 – 1:04:22

Other News: 1:04:22 – 1:24:25 

Blizzard News: 1:24:25 – 1:49:25

The Demon Couch: 1:49:25 – 2:06:49

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

Subscribe for free to 'The Weekly Stuff' in iTunes!

Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter!

Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter!

Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com

Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://japanimationstation.com

Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

Subscribe to our YouTube channels! 

Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff

Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

Our journey through Universal Century Gundam continues with one of the strangest and most rewarding corners of the franchise, the 1991 theatrical feature Mobile Suit Gundam F91. Written and Directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino and reuniting him with Gundam’s original character designer, Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, and original mecha designer, Kunio Okawara, Gundam F91 was the first attempt to move beyond the original Universal Century saga that had reached its culmination in Char’s Counterattack. Set 30 years later, with an all-new cast of heroes and antagonists, F91 was originally intended to be a full 50-episode TV series, before plans fell through and Tomino and company were left scrambling to fit their story into a 2-hour feature. The result is, indeed, a mess, albeit a fascinating one, filled with some of the richest and most affecting material the franchise has ever conjured, brought to life with some of the best animation ever committed to film. There’s no doubt it’s an oddity and outlier in the history of Gundam, but it’s also essential viewing for fans of the series – and it leads to one of our most enjoyable conversations so far. 

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

Subscribe for free to 'The Weekly Stuff' in iTunes!

Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter!

Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter!

Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com

Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://japanimationstation.com

Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

Subscribe to our YouTube channels! 

Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff

Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

WARNING: This episode contains potential SPOILERS for STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER, based on internet leaks about the film. This discussion takes place between 1:05:03 and 1:09:36. Please skip if you do not want to hear any possible leaked information about the film. 

It’s a packed grab-bag episode this week, as Sean talks about playing the campaign for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and finishing Devil May Cry 5, Jonathan waxes poetic about his rediscovered love for The Witcher 3 on Nintendo Switch, and we discuss a bunch of news, from delays for The Last of Us Part II and Watch Dogs Legion, new casting for the upcoming Batman movie, the final trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and a hilariously tone-deaf interview with the incompetent creators of Game of Thrones. We also figure out the exact circumstances that would cause the two of us to end this podcast and never speak again, and in a moment of Star-Wars-related ennui, Jonathan almost walks off the podcast forever. It’s a crazy one. 

Time Chart:

Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:04:10

Devil May Cry 5: 0:04:10 – 0:08:09

Witcher 3 on Switch: 0:08:09 – 0:34:25

Modern Warfare: 0:34:25 – 0:52:16

Star Wars News: 0:52:16 – 1:05:03

**POSSIBLE STAR WARS SPOILERS**: 1:05:03 – 1:09:36

More News: 1:09:36 – 1:44:05

Stream The Weekly Stuff Podcast Episode #303

Download 'The Weekly Stuff' Episode #303 as an MP3

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

Subscribe for free to 'The Weekly Stuff' in iTunes!

Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter!

Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter!

Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com

Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://japanimationstation.com

Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

Subscribe to our YouTube channels! 

Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff

Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

Breaking Bad returned this week with the all-new sequel movie, El Camino, written and directed by Vince Gilligan and starring Aaron Paul, proving itself a pretty fantastic opportunity to dive back into seemingly well-explored territory. We talk about the movie at length (with spoilers reserved for our big segment at the end), but before that, there’s also a bevy of news to go over, including the surprise delay of Doom Eternal, Sony’s low-key announcement of the PlayStation 5, and Blizzard getting itself into hot water with its response to a Heartstone player’s pro-Hong Kong freedom remarks. Jonathan talks about seeing Ang Lee’s Gemini Man in 60 frames-per-second 3D, Sean talks about finally getting around to Devil May Cry 5, and we both make a lot of fun of the new Dolittle trailer starring Robert Downey Jr. and some strikingly awful CGI. 

Time Chart:

Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:03:24

Stuff, including Gemini Man and Devil May Cry 5: 0:03:24 – 0:28:15

News: 0:28:15 – 1:36:27

El Camino Review: 1:36:27 – 2:35:16 

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

Subscribe for free to 'The Weekly Stuff' in iTunes!

Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter!

Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter!

Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com

Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://japanimationstation.com

Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

Subscribe to our YouTube channels! 

Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff

Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

Our 300th episode milestone celebration continues this week with Part 2 of our countdown of our Top 10 Favorite TV Shows of All Time! Last week’s discussion proved surprising, as our lists had no overlap and a lot of surprises. Part 2 finds us covering a similarly broad range of shows, and while our Top 2 choices may not exactly be revelations to longtime listeners, they give us a chance to talk once more not just about our favorite television, but about some of our favorite memories recording 300 of these podcasts. It’s a really fun topic, and this week’s show also includes Jonathan’s thoughts on the new Joker movie, Sean talking about the new DLC for Dragon Ball FighterZ, and more, all wrapped up in an absurdly long 4-hour package that concludes our 300thepisode festivities with aplomb. 

Time Chart:

Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:03:20

Stuff: 0:03:20 – 0:36:31

Joker: 0:36:31 – 0:50:53

Top 10 TV Shows Part 2: 0:50:53 – 3:58:28

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

Subscribe for free to 'The Weekly Stuff' in iTunes!

Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter!

Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter!

Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com

Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://japanimationstation.com

Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

Subscribe to our YouTube channels! 

Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff

Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

300 is a big number. A terrifyingly big number. And we’ve got an intimidatingly large episode to go along with it. Following in the footsteps of our milestone Episodes 200 and 250, where we counted down our favorite Films and Video Games, this week, we present our personal lists of our Top 10 Favorite TV Shows of All Time. It’s a big discussion that’s going to spill over into next week’s Part 2, but this first half is a blast, as Sean and Jonathan don’t share a single show on the bottom half of their lists, Sean reveals he’s seen a lot more canonical American television than we were led to believe, and Jonathan straight up cheats to make a particular entry work. It’s a very fun conversation, and it’s only half the episode! We also review The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening and give first impressions of Dragon Quest XI S, both on Nintendo Switch, talk about The Last of Us Part II getting a new trailer and release date, discuss Sony and Marvel’s beautiful reunion, and most importantly, celebrate 300 episodes and nearly a full decade of podcasting with some long-awaited introspection. What are our favorite episodes? Our least favorite? What are we proudest of, what have we learned, and how did this whole crazy journey begin? All that plus a big slice of wonderful listener mail rounds out a 300thepisode that we hope offers a little of everything that makes this podcast special. 

Enjoy, and join us next week for the exciting conclusion!

Time Chart:

Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:06:14

Stuff (including Link’s Awakening and Dragon Quest XI S): 0:06:14 – 0:27:43

News: 0:27:34 – 0:40:15

Podcast 300 Retrospective Celebration: 0:40:15 – 1:42:41

Top 10 TV Shows Part 1: 1:42:41 – 3:43:31 

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

Subscribe for free to 'The Weekly Stuff' in iTunes!

Follow Jonathan Lack on Twitter!

Follow Sean Chapman on Twitter!

Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com

Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://japanimationstation.com

Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

Subscribe to our YouTube channels! 

Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff

Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman