Reel Deep Dive

The titular character of Steven Universe is a young boy whose heritage stems from both the human race and a species of alien gem people rebelling against an intergalactic colonial state. Caught in the middle of this centuries-long conflict, Steven is forced to grow up very quickly over the course of the series. This leads him to take a very idiosyncratic approach to concepts like kindness, empathy, understanding, and self-actualization. Naturally, the program's in depth explorations of emotional intelligence have had a pronounced effect on its target audience of young people (and also Steven Universe's many adult fans).

While its Halloween episodes tend to get far more attention, The Simpsons has inevitably aired a number of yuletide episodes. In fact, the very first episode of the program takes place at Christmas (although that wasn't part of the original plan). It's possible to track the growth, evolution, and decline of The Simpsons through the way it has approached the 25th of December throughout its lengthy run. And yes, that's what Ryan, Cheryl, and Sylvan do during this recording.

Perhaps interested in creating a seasonal perennial that would yield residual checks for years to come, Emma Thompson spent eight years trying to make a movie based on the popular Wham! song "Last Christmas". The resulting film, starring Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding, was released shortly after the death of former Wham! frontman George Michael. It received a critical drubbing, but still made a healthy profit at the box office.

One of the most profitable films of a year that had no shortage of memorable blockbusters, Gremlins is a horror comedy centering on a family besieged by folkloric monsters during the holiday season. Made with a relatively modest budget and cast with no major stars, Gremlins succeeded largely due to Joe Dante's idiosyncratic direction, Chris Columbus's novel script, and the ingenuity demonstrated by the team operating the film's inventive puppets.

The Killer Shrews is a cheaply-made horror movie about a guy who finds himself on an island filled with genetically-altered monsters (who look an awful lot like hand puppets). Nobody involved in the production felt that they were making high art or even something that would be fun to watch. The Killer Shrews exists because a dude who owned a regional theater chain needed something to fill a scheduling block and absolutely anything would do. It would be very easy to dissect The Killer Shrews as an example of commerce interfering with artistic expression.

The TV sitcom is arguably the most widespread artistic representation of ordinary, quotidian life and, as such, many sitcoms tackle popular holidays on their episodes. It is Ryan's opinion that Bob's Burgers handles Thanksgiving with better craft and thematic focus than just about any other program of its kind. He brings on Sarah for a discussion about three of these episodes, all of which were scripted by Wendy and Lizzie Molyneux.

Spinning off from the long-running animated TV sitcom, The Bob's Burgers Movie finds the Belchers struggling to keep financially afloat after a massive sinkhole opens up right in front of the family restaurant. A slim beacon of hope exists in the possibility of their landlord being lenient with the rent until things are sorted, but even that option is jeopardized when a skeleton found in the sinkhole results in a murder investigation. Ultimately, it falls upon the Belcher children to solve the mystery while their parents try to think of a way to save the family business.

The script for Splash, a romantic comedy where a jaded New Yorker falls in love with a mermaid, had been kicking around Hollywood for a while before Disney became interested. Ultimately, it became the first project released by Touchstone Pictures, a brand that Disney created in order to produce movies that fell outside the carefully-cultivated Disney identity. Starring relatively unknown actors Tom Hanks and Darryl Hannah, Splash defied expectations to become a critical and commercial success. It also has a weirdly extensive reach into our wider culture; Disneyland's new log flume was named Splash Mountain in order to promote the film, Ariel was made a redhead in 1989's The Little Mermaid in order to distinguish her from Daryl Hannah, and Splash was arguably the thing that popularized Madison as a girl's name.

Several decades after narrowly avoiding the appetites of the supernatural monster who manifests as their darkest fears, the band of lovable misfits from the prior movie are now adults struggling to live their lives and deal with a trauma that they only vaguely remember. Unfortunately for them, the creature survived their fateful encounter and has emerged from hibernation to prey on the vulnerable once again.

Centering on a group of outcast kids who are being terrorized by a hungry supernatural entity that knows their deepest fears, It was a bestselling Stephen King novel before it was adapted into a 1990 TV movie. Horror buffs do have fond memories of that film because of a memorable performance by Tim Curry as the villain, but many were still excited by the prospect of the story getting a big screen treatment from a major Hollywood studio. Split into two films (the novel is massive), this recording will be centering upon the first installment.