In the first of two podcasts this week, we break down a bunch of news out of Comic-Con – including announcements and trailers from Marvel and DC – and Jonathan offers some thoughts on the new _Ghostbusters _movie (it’s great!) and the new PS4 JRPG, _I am Setsuna _(it’s also great!). Then, for our main topic, we review this weekend’s major new release, _Star Trek Beyond, _a strong return to form after the franchise went a little off the rails with _Star Trek Into Darkness. _

Enjoy, and come back on Wednesday as we prepare for the release of _Jason Bourne _with a retrospective of the original _Bourne _trilogy! 

**Time Chart: **

Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:04:15

Jonathan talks _Ghostbusters: _0:04:15 – 0:16:21

Sean talks _Godzilla: _0:16:21 – 0:20:10

Jonathan talks I am Setsuna: 0:20:10 – 0:34:08

Comic-Con News: 0:34:08 – 1:26:00

_Star Trek Beyond: _1:26:00 – 2:02:18

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’re back with a jam-packed episode, as Sean and I offer some thoughts on recent games like Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens, or games that are just new to us, like Dishonored, while Jonathan recounts his continued adventures re-watching all of Dragon Ball Z. Later, we try to get our heads around the unprecedented phenomenon that is Pokemon Go, and offer a spoiler-filled review and discussion of Playdead’s outstanding indie game Inside. And finally, with a new Star Trek film upon us and the franchise’s 50th anniversary being marked this year, we offer a Star Trek retrospective, discussing our favorite things about the TV series before counting down all 12 theatrical films from worst to best.

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

With six months of 2016 now behind us, it’s a good time to take stock of the year so far – and while it’s been a rough year for humanity in general, it’s been a pretty phenomenal year for video games, and in some ways, we’ve barely even gotten started! What have been our favorite games so far this year? Movies? TV shows? We talk about all of it, and look forward to what we’re most excited for in the back-half of the year. And before the main topic, Jonathan recounts his continued experiences rewatching _Dragon Ball Z, _his final thoughts on _Kirby: Planet Robobot, _and his review of Playdead’s stellar new indie masterpiece _Inside _for the Xbox One, while Sean has finally gone back to catch up with _Dishonored _on the PS4.

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 our 150th episode of the podcast, we take a trip down memory lane to celebrate the 20thanniversary of the Nintendo 64 and the 25th anniversary of Sonic the Hedgehog. The N64 was a formative console for both of us, containing some of the greatest games ever made – but also arriving with some major flaws that would prove a sea change for Nintendo. Breaking down its history and impact makes for a fascinating conversation. Sonic the Hedgehog has perhaps an even more complex and convoluted history, given the sheer gap in quality between his best and worst games, but it’s safe to say that if it weren’t for the blue hedgehog, neither of us would be into games the way we are today, and as we look at Sonic’s best and worst moments, it’s hard to feel anything other than overall fondness for Sonic and his strange group of friends. Discussion of Pixar’s Finding Dory, Nintendo’s Kirby: Planet Robobot, and The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine rounds out the episode.

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

If you’ve listened to The Weekly Stuff for any period of time, you know we – or, at least, Sean – are sort of unhealthily obsessed with E3, and the many strange, overlong, weirdly wonderful press conferences and gaming announcements that come along with it. As we do every single year, we break down all the major conferences in order, from EA to Bethesda to Microsoft to Ubisoft to Sony, and to the Zelda- and Pokemon-themed musings of Nintendo. Which companies put on the best shows? What announcements and trailers surprised or impressed us most? Which games have we come out of E3 more or less excited for? In what is easily our longest podcast ever – sorry about that – we break down every announcement and trailer, and even wind up pitching a movie in which Zac Efron and Jaime Foxx get high at E3 (we got loopy there for a stretch). This is one of our favorite podcasts to do every year, and we hope you enjoy.

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

With E3 and its myriad press conferences right around the corner, we prepare for one of the year’s biggest weeks in game news by recapping what turned out to be a pretty intense week of announcements and leaks in its own right, in which we learned the first details about Watch Dogs 2, were introduced to the next piece of Destiny with the unveiling of Rise of Iron, and most importantly, finally got a North American release date for Persona 5. We cover this and much more, before moving on to a round of speculation, going through each of the major entities sent to have a press conference at E3 – including Bethesda, Ubisoft, Microsoft, and Sony – and parsing out what we know, what we don’t know, and what we think might happen. How accurate will our predictions turn out to be? Tune in next week to find out.

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 two-topic episode this week, as after hitting a few quick pieces of news, covering recent shake-ups and kerfuffles related to WB’s troubled DC film slate, and recounting Jonathan’s adventures with a 16-year-old Pokemon game, we offer two in-depth reviews: One for this week’s X-Men Apocalypse – which one of us liked and one of us didn’t – and this month’s new DOOM game, which is an unambiguous treat from top to bottom. Spoilers for both are touched upon, though neither work would be significantly impacted by knowing plot details going in. And if you haven’t played DOOM yet, you seriously should – just listen to our discussion for all the details on why it is such an impressive masterwork.

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

After taking a week off due to Jonathan being under the weather – and to thus spare our listeners from a podcast filled with wall-to-wall coughing – we are back to discuss a few stray topics, including the Assassin’s Creed movie trailer and Sean’s initial thoughts on the fantastic new Doom game, before jumping into an in-depth review and analysis of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (with lots and lots of spoilers – if you’d like a spoiler-free take, Sean reviewed the game for the site last week). Even as big fans of Naughty Dog in general and the Uncharted series in particular, neither of us were quite prepared for just how great Uncharted 4 turned out to be, nor for the many ways in which it challenge both the medium and the genre to which it belongs. This is a great game, maybe even an all-timer, and it makes for an extremely fun discussion.

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 what is probably the longest episode we’ve ever recorded, we hit on a host of interesting recent topics – such as the open beta for Overwatch, news of Han Solo’s casting in the upcoming Star Wars spin-off movie, and the newest trailer and Japanese release date for the highly anticipated Persona 5 – before diving into an in-depth review and discussion of Captain America: Civil War. We both agree this is the finest hour of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to date, but just what makes this movie so wildly impressive, so moving from a thematic and emotional standpoint and awe-inspiring in its visuals and staging? This is a dense, complicated, incredibly rewarding movie, and while our discussion might be long, it’s one of the best we’ve ever had devoted to a single movie.

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

With big media events like Captain America: Civil War and Uncharted 4 on the immediate horizon, this week is the ‘calm before the storm,’ as we tackle a variety of topics – including Sean’s final thoughts on Dark Souls III and Jonathan’s continuing adventures in the world of Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth – before diving into a week’s worth of news. A new Call of Duty was announced, we met the new Doctor Who companion, and Nintendo…well, Nintendo is in a strange, sad place, and we have lots to say about that.

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