Retro Spectacles

Retro Spectacles continues "Good, Good for Its Time, or Good for My Time?" with Mitcz's pick: The NeverEnding Story. Wolfgang Petersen's 1984 fantasy is remembered as a whimsical childhood staple, but a rewatch reveals something much heavier. This is a movie that opens on a grieving, bullied boy and spends 90 minutes putting its heroes through loss after loss.

The practical effects hold up better than most modern CGI. Built for roughly $27 million, reputedly the most expensive film made by a European studio at the time, every creature on screen is a physical puppet operated by teams of specialists. The grief allegory, the Giorgio Moroder synth score and Limahl theme, and the handmade monsters all combine into something that dates beautifully rather than badly.

Mitcz & Teddy dig into the surprisingly dark themes, the truth behind the Artax drowning myth, author Michael Ende's lawsuit and war with the production, the 1980s dark fantasy landscape from The Dark Crystal to Labyrinth, and land on their verdict.

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Retro Spectacles kicks off a new series, "Good, Good for Its Time, or Good for My Time?" with Teddy's pick that also doubles as a Fourth of July celebration: The Sandlot. Mitch saw it for the first time a month ago with zero nostalgia attached. Teddy grew up watching it on cable until it felt like he owned it. The question: does a beloved coming-of-age classic hold up when you strip the nostalgia away?

The verdict is unanimous. Dennis Leary plays against type as a stepdad who isn't a jerk but has no idea how to parent. James Earl Jones elevates the entire third act with five minutes of screen time and a first-name-basis familiarity with Babe Ruth that only he could pull off. And Benny the Jet Rodriguez remains the blueprint for what it means to be cool enough to sprinkle cool dust on someone who has none.

Mitcz and Teddy dig into what ages well and what doesn't, Benjamin Franklin Rodriguez as a Fourth of July icon, poor Bertram getting lost in the 60s, and why the Sandlot's version of America is the one worth celebrating.

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Spoiler warning: this episode goes deep into every plot point, twist, and ending of Toy Story 5.

Retro Spectacles closes out the Toy Story franchise deep dive with a full spoiler review of Toy Story 5. After weeks of deepening skepticism across six movies, both hosts walked in expecting to be underwhelmed. Pixar pulled it off again.

Jessie takes center stage in the franchise's most parent-oriented installment, tackling screens vs. toys, cyberbullying, and what happens when a weird kid finds another weird kid. Joan Cusack delivers one of the best voice performances of the franchise, Greta Lee's Lily Pad continues the Pixar tradition of warm-voiced not-quite-villains, and Conan O'Brien's Smarty Pants single-handedly earned the franchise's first PG rating with a poop joke bonanza.

Mitcz and Teddy dig into all that, plus whether Woody even needs to be in this movie, Buzz's unfortunate devolution into a lovesick bumbler, the criminal absence of "You've Got a Friend in Me," the Bonnie trilogy confirmation, and more. Plus, Teddy and Mitcz reveal their final rankings for all films in the franchise.

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Retro Spectacles nears the finish line on the Toy Story franchise deep dive with the spin-off that broke Pixar's streak. "Lightyear" (2022) opens with a title card: "This is the movie that Andy fell in love with in 1995." Teddy and Mitcz reject that premise within minutes. What was pitched as "Andy's Star Wars" landed as something far more somber and introspective than anyone expected from a Buzz Lightyear movie.

As a standalone sci-fi film, it's genuinely good. As a Buzz Lightyear movie, it's unrecognizable. Tim Allen publicly called it disconnected from the toy. The audience agreed. Lightyear broke Disney's 30-year CinemaScore streak, returned only half its budget, and led to 75 layoffs at Pixar including director Angus MacLane.

Mitcz and Teddy dig into all of that along with the Tim Allen vs. Chris Evans casting, the manufactured culture war over a two-second kiss, and what this flop means for Toy Story 5. Plus, dual ratings for Lightyear depending on whether you judge it as a standalone film or a franchise entry.

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Retro Spectacles continues the Toy Story franchise deep dive with the sequel nobody asked for that made a billion dollars. Toy Story 3 closed the book on the Andy trilogy with a Best Picture-nominated goodbye. Toy Story 4 survived John Lasseter's Me Too departure, Rashida Jones and Will McCormack walking off the project, and a near-complete rewrite to deliver something tonally different from every Toy Story before it. More existential than whimsical, more dramedy than adventure, and anchored by Tony Hale's Forky asking what it means to be alive while Woody makes the most controversial decision in franchise history.

Keanu Reeves steals the movie as Duke Kaboom through a blind Canadian-only casting search, Christina Hendricks' Gabby Gabby becomes the first Toy Story villain who wants the same thing the heroes want, and Annie Potts returns as a reinvented Bo Peep designed from the ground up by Pixar's all-women Team B.

Mitcz & Teddy dig into whether Woody's ending is growth or betrayal, Forky as Pixar's most unlikely mascot, Tim Allen allegedly phoning it in, Disney's $10 billion box office year, the plush rush sequence, Tarantino calling Toy Story 4 a perfect film, and why both hosts land on the same order for their franchise ranking.

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Retro Spectacles continues the Toy Story franchise deep dive with Toy Story 3, the trilogy closer that almost became a very different movie before Pixar reclaimed Woody, Buzz, Andy, and the emotional finale that defined the end of the Andy years.

Before Lee Unkrich’s version became a Best Picture nominee, Disney’s Circle 7 Animation had been developing a Toy Story 3 about a malfunctioning Buzz Lightyear recalled to Taiwan. Then Bob Iger watched a parade at Disneyland Hong Kong, realized every major new character was Pixar, bought the company for $7.4 billion, and handed the franchise back to the original brain trust. What they delivered was one of the great sequel payoffs in movie history: Ned Beatty’s Lotso as one of Pixar’s best villains, Michael Keaton’s Ken as the character’s biggest pop culture moment before Ryan Gosling, and a final 10 minutes that hit like an emotional extinction-level event for anyone who has ever looked at childhood through their parents’ eyes.

Mitcz & Teddy break down the Circle 7 disaster, the incinerator scene, Spanish Buzz Lightyear, Sid’s garbage truck cameo, whether Toy Story 3 should have been the end, and more.

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Retro Spectacles continues the Toy Story franchise deep dive with the 1999 sequel that almost never happened. Disney wanted a cheap direct-to-video sequel. Pixar said no. Then somebody accidentally deleted 90% of the film's files. Then John Lasseter scrapped the script and rewrote it in a weekend. And somehow, "Toy Story 2" emerged as one of the greatest animated sequels ever made.

Toy Story 2 was in rarefied air as a full animated theatrical sequel, and that some consider it superior to the original puts it in a class of its own. Joan Cusack's Jessie is one of the best character additions in sequel history, Wayne Knight is pitch-perfect as the gloriously greedy Al McWhiggin, and Kelsey Grammer's Stinky Pete rounds out a new cast that gives the film an emotional depth the original only hinted at.

Mitcz & Teddy dig into the Steve Jobs vs. Michael Eisner contract war, the fan theory connecting Jessie's original owner Emily to Andy's mom, and Mitcz's rant about why Andy owning a vintage Woody doll makes zero sense without a deeper family backstory. Plus: Pixar's technical flex from dust particles to crushed Cheetos, the Wayne Knight cinematic villain universe, the best animated sequels of all time, childhood toy nostalgia, the death of channel surfing, and the legendary blooper reel.

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Retro Spectacles launches its first-ever franchise deep dive with the animated classic that started it all: Pixar's 1995 "Toy Story," directed by John Lasseter, starring Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, Jim Varney, John Ratzenberger, and Annie Potts.

Mitcz & Teddy break down how Steve Jobs bought Pixar from George Lucas for pennies, the infamous Black Friday screening that nearly killed the project, Joss Whedon's uncredited script rescue, Randy Newman's iconic soundtrack, why plastic toys were a tech limitation turned creative masterstroke, and John Lasseter's complicated legacy from Pixar's golden age through his #MeToo departure.

Plus: the 1995 box office, the rise of PlayStation alongside the decline of physical toys, a deep character study on Sid, and why this G-rated film is darker than you remember. All building toward Toy Story 5 this June. Get your spectacles on and join us!

Have thoughts on this episode? Let us know directly by checking the post for this episode on Our Official Website. Comments are not shown publicly, but noteworthy comments may be selected for on-air reading!

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Retro Spectacles continues the palate cleanser with Part 2 of the albums that shaped Mitcz & Teddy's adolescence. Teddy's pick: Rage Against the Machine's 1999 album "The Battle of Los Angeles."

After his father died suddenly of a heart attack when Teddy was 11, nothing at home sounded like what he was feeling until Bulls on Parade came on TV. From there, Teddy traces how Rage Against the Machine, Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, At the Drive-In, and Tool became the secret soundtrack to grief, anger, and identity in a household where listening to Trent Reznor could get you accused of betraying everything your father believed in.

A track-by-track breakdown of Testify, Guerrilla Radio, Maria, Calm Like a Bomb, Sleep Now in the Fire, Born of a Broken Man, and War Within a Breath, exploring Zack de la Rocha's underappreciated lyricism, Tom Morello's otherworldly guitar work, and how the album's themes shaped Teddy's comedy, politics, and worldview.

Plus: Hidden Gems rankings and the Toy Story franchise deep dive teaser. Get your spectacles on and join us!

Links to Teddy's playlist (including full "Battle of Los Angeles" album) can be found at : https://retrospecspod.com/episode/palate-cleanser-rage-against-the-machine-grief-and-angst

Have thoughts on this episode? Let us know directly by checking the post for this episode on Our Official Website. Comments are not shown publicly, but noteworthy comments may be selected for on-air reading!

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Retro Spectacles hits pause on the deep dives for a palate cleanser. Before the next series kicks off, Mitcz & Teddy each picked an album and related songs that had a huge impact on their adolescence.

In Part 1, Mitcz tells the story of the summer before 7th grade when his best friend Kevin handed him Dead Kennedys' 1981 EP "In God We Trust, Inc." with a punk mixtape on side B: Subhumans, TSOL, Operation Ivy, pre-Dookie Green Day, Crimp Shrine, and Dead Milkmen. That same summer, a break-in at an empty apartment, a snitch note gone wrong, and a pair of handcuffs in the principal's office pushed him straight into the arms of punk rock.

Mitcz and Teddy also rank each other's Hidden Gems picks, connect Jello Biafra's anti-Reagan lyrics to 2025 politics, talk first concerts (Social Distortion opening for the Ramones), the Gwar-to-Dead Kennedys pipeline, and why punk never really leaves your system.

Teddy's album drops in Part 2. Get your spectacles on and join us!

If you want to listen to the album and Mitcz's Playlist for this episode, visit : https://retrospecspod.com/episode/palette-cleanser-dead-kennedys-punk-awakening/

Have thoughts on this episode? Let us know directly by checking the post for this episode on Our Official Website. Comments are not shown publicly, but noteworthy comments may be selected for on-air reading!

For all relevant episode links, our social media accounts, and contact info, please visit retrospecspod.com

If you'd like to support us directly, please visit patreon.com/retrospecs

If you dig this, a review on your podcast app of choice is GREATLY appreciated and helps us rise to the top, where all the pretty people like yourself can slip on their Retro Spectacles!

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