Syndicated with Lesley and Ben

We’re picking up where we left off last season with more International Television, as Lesley and Ben are joined by Donovan Gentry to talk about the live action, black and white anthology series Ultra Q. Ultra Q is the predecessor to the long running Ultraman series and you can tell. Filled with wacky space age concepts like bullet trains, advanced supercomputers and mutant creatures encapsulated in a container that can only be destroyed by a camera flash. Plus, guys in suits rampaging around a set!

We’re continuing our fifth season of Syndicated with Lesley and Ben by analyzing our favorite science-fiction shows. Ray guns, alternate dimensions, robot butlers and planetary fleets. Science fiction is a lens through which we can view all other issues. Donovan tell us about the history of Toei and Tokusatsu, vintage Godzilla movies and Eiji Tsuburaya’s suitmatiion.

Today we’re discussing Season 1, Episode 10 of Ultra Q: The Underground Super Express Goes West. In this anthology episode, an AI driven, jet powered train that can go 450 km/hr, a science fiction feat on its own, departs from Tokyo carrying a scientific capsule containing an engineered lifeform. When the capsule is exposed to bright light, it expands into a massive ape-like beast, the M1. M1 proceeds to cause havoc on the train, accelerating it to beyond dangerous speeds, seemingly unaware of the peril it is placing all the passengers in.

Syndicated with Lesley and Ben is a monthly podcast about television, genre and storytelling in which your hosts watch one episode of a new show and explore the history of television one episode at a time. From family room sitcoms to space exploration shows, reality TV to procedurals and game shows, we’re going to cover it all and give you the context you need to understand the wonderful world of television and the stories we love. Our current season is Science Fiction.

Our Logo is by Terra Bosart, the theme song is by Mandra Sigma and the show is edited by Ben Hamlin.

I am One With The Force and The Force Is With Me! Lesley and Ben are joined by our friend Victoria Collins as we travel to a galaxy far, far away to talk about Andor, the prequel series to the surprise hit Star Wars movie Rogue One. Andor covers the events that build the Rebel Alliance depicted in the first trilogy of Star Wars movies. Instead of lightsaber fights and force lightning, Andor prioritizes the espionage, subterfuge, diplomacy and manipulation it takes to build a revolutionary movement and undermine authoritarianism. Specifically the show follows the character arc of Cassian Andor, who is pulled deeper into the proto Rebel Alliance through his experiences living under the thumb of Galactic Empire.

We’re continuing our fifth season of Syndicated with Lesley and Ben by analyzing our favorite science-fiction shows. Ray guns, alternate dimensions, robot butlers and planetary fleets. Science fiction is a lens through which we can view all other issues. We talk about the spirit of Star Wars, our childhoods drawing Star Destroyers on graph paper and waiting for Chewbacca to pick us up from school, and Ben gets to talk about THX 1138.

Captains on the Bridge! Lesley and Ben board the USS Enterprise to talk about Star Trek the Next Generation! The sequel series to the Gene Roddenberry written Star Trek The Original Series, Star Trek: the Next Generation covers the adventures and missions of the USS Enterprise, a federation exploratory and diplomatic starship captained by Jean Luc Picard and staffed by a wide variety of humans and aliens from across the futuristic federation. Together they boldly go where no one has gone before, solving diplomatic crisis, encountering new lifeforms and new civilizations, and intervening when mad gods and extradimensional creatures interfere with reality.

We’re starting off our new season of Syndicated with Lesley and Ben by analyzing our favorite science-fiction shows. Ray guns, alternate dimensions, robot butlers and planetary fleets. Science fiction is a lens through which we can view all other issues. We picked a Lt. Commander Data episode and, therefore, a VERY topical episode. Plus, we get to spend time with our good friend, Data, Geordi, Riker, Picard, Worf, and Counselor Troi. Dr. Pulaski is there too! Good for her!

In Season 2, Episode 3’s Elementary, My Dear Data, the USS Enterprise arrives at its destination days ahead of schedule, leaving Lt. Commander Data and Lt. Geordi La Forge with time to kill. The two roleplay as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson inside the holodeck, a futuristic chamber on board the Enterprise that can create illusionary settings. When the mysteries the computer samples are too easy for Data, Geordi commands the computer to create an opponent capable of defeating his android crewmate. What the Enterprise manufacturers prove perilous to the whole ship..

Plus, conversations about 80s and 90s optimism and design sensibilities, the Enterprise’s carpet, artificial intelligence and androids.

Syndicated with Lesley and Ben is a monthly podcast about television, genre and storytelling in which your hosts watch one episode of a new show and explore the history of television one episode at a time. From family room sitcoms to space exploration shows, reality TV to procedurals and game shows, we’re going to cover it all and give you the context you need to understand the wonderful world of television and the stories we love. Our current season is Science Fiction.

Our Logo is by Terra Bosart, the theme song is by Mandra Sigma and the show is edited by Ben Hamlin.

We invite you into a podcast, not too different from our own, a podcast of only sound. Lesley and Ben enter The Twilight Zone, the 1959 CBS produced anthology tv show about the strange, bizarre and unnatural. Written and produced by Rod Serling, the Twilight Zone is an eerie half hour format show that rides the line between science-fiction, horror and mystic and plunges audience members into tales from a bizarre dimension of the mind.

What happens in The Twilight Zone? Neighbors turn against each other in The Monsters are Due on Maple Street, a jilted millionaire fakes a nuclear war in One More Pallbearer, and a sasquatch like gremlin attacks William Shatner in Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.

We’re starting off our new season of Syndicated with Lesley and Ben by analyzing our favorite science-fiction shows. Ray guns, alternate dimensions, robot butlers and planetary fleets. Science fiction is a lens through which we can view all other issues and the two episodes we picked To Serve Man and Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up? are prime examples.

In Season 2, Episode 28’s Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?, two state troopers find an unidentified flying object has crashed into a blizzard afflicted area. When they wander back toward civilization, they find evidence that the Martian pilot is hiding amongst a group of bus passengers in a diner. The only problem is that they have no way of identifying which human the alien is disguising itself as. Paranoia breaks out as the lights flicker and Dragnet’s Barney Phillips plays a fry cook.

It's time for another commercial commentary special! Lesley and Ben are joined by our friend, streamer Svideotheque to talk Video Games, Video Games and more Video Games.

We dissect 15 commercials advertising games for arcades, Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis and PlayStation 3 featuring Q*bert, Paul Rudd, Super Mario, Sonic, Kratos, Link and Zelda. We're plugged in on this very special episode of Syndicated with Lesley and Ben! Now You're Playing with Power!

*On the Main Feed*: We're posting a teaser of the first half of the commercials we covered for everyone subscribed to the show, wherever you get your podcasts!

*On Patreon*: Patreon subscribers, you're in for a treat. At the $1/mo level, you get access to the whole enchilada. An hour and thirty minutes of 15 commercials with commentary and live reactions. We chat about 2000s office aesthetic, wireless controllers, the Nintendo PowerGlove, claymation, Final Fantasy and more.

*On YouTube*: We have a complete playlist of all of the commercials covered by Lesley, Ben and Sviddy for your viewing pleasure. Many of these commercials have real wacky visual components. We included the audio in the episode, but some of these need to be seen to be believed.

It's time for another commercial commentary special! Lesley and Ben are joined by our friend, streamer Svideotheque to talk Video Games, Video Games and more Video Games.

We dissect 15 commercials advertising games for arcades, Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis and PlayStation 3 featuring Q*bert, Paul Rudd, Super Mario, Sonic, Kratos, Link and Zelda. We're plugged in on this very special episode of Syndicated with Lesley and Ben! Now You're Playing with Power!

*On the Main Feed*: We're posting a teaser of the first half of the commercials we covered for everyone subscribed to the show, wherever you get your podcasts!

*On Patreon*: Patreon subscribers, you're in for a treat. At the $1/mo level, you get access to the whole enchilada. An hour and thirty minutes of 15 commercials with commentary and live reactions. We chat about 2000s office aesthetic, wireless controllers, the Nintendo PowerGlove, claymation, Final Fantasy and more.

*On YouTube*: We have a complete playlist of all of the commercials covered by Lesley, Ben and Sviddy for your viewing pleasure. Many of these commercials have real wacky visual components. We included the audio in the episode, but some of these need to be seen to be believed.

For the first time in Syndicated with Lesley and Ben history, we’re covering a non-narrative show. With Victoria Collins help, we dip our toes into reality tv and cover the Korean show Chef and My Fridge (Please Take Care of My Refrigerator). It’s a wacky take on the cooking show genre, as the celebrity chefs can only make their final creations out of the ingredients already in that week’s guest’s actual refrigerator. Lesley and Ben were knocked back by the stylistic editing choices and frantic energy of the show., but honestly, we kind of love it?

Syndicated with Lesley and Ben is a twice monthly podcast about television, genre and storytelling in which your hosts watch one episode of a new show and explore the history of television one episode at a time. From family room sitcoms to space exploration shows, reality TV to procedurals and game shows, we’re going to cover it all and give you the context you need to understand the wonderful world of television and the stories we love. Our current season is International TV.

Our Logo is by Terra Bosart, the theme song is by Mandra Sigma and the show is edited by Jay Gagnon.

Much like the Crunchyroll anime Ruri Rocks, this episode of Syndicated with Lesley and Ben, is an excuse to talk about rocks, minerals and crystals. We’re joined by Héctor González to ask a critical question. Can an anime be educational, beautiful and fan service? Yeah, of course it can. Are you kidding?

We covered the first episode, My First Mineral Hunt. Ruri Tanigawa becomes fixated on a crystal necklace in a boutique store. After a failed attempt to get her mother to forward her the money to purchase it, Ruri ventures forth into the forests to find some natural crystals and minerals on her own. The adventure doesn’t go her way until she meets Nagi Arato, a graduate student with significantly more experience in locating the gems that Ruri is obsessed with. Together they’re able to find some garnets and Nagi’s insight into minerals cements Ruri’s new interest.

Syndicated with Lesley and Ben is a twice monthly podcast about television, genre and storytelling in which your hosts watch one episode of a new show and explore the history of television one episode at a time. From family room sitcoms to space exploration shows, reality TV to procedurals and game shows, we’re going to cover it all and give you the context you need to understand the wonderful world of television and the stories we love. Our current season is International TV.

Our Logo is by Terra Bosart, the theme song is by Mandra Sigma and the show is edited by Jay Gagnon.

Syndicated returns with an episode of Nine Puzzles, the freshly released South Korean detective thriller about two criminal profilers, one of whom is a murder suspect herself, attempting to solve a series of serial killings in which mysterious puzzle pieces are being left behind at the scene of the crime.

We talk about atmospheric storytelling, international adaptions, how we depict memory as physical space in visual media and, obviously, the Kiefer Sutherland starring political thriller tv show: Designated Survivor.

We covered the first episode of Nine Puzzles, just entitled Episode 1. Yoon Dong-hoon, a superintendent police officer and artist is found dead on the floor of his home by his niece, Yoon E-na, with an awl jammed into the back of his neck. Police interrogate Yoon E-na, but due to a lack of evidence and Yoon’s disappearing memory, are unable to satisfactorily close the case. One clue is left fully unexplained, a singular black and white illustrated  puzzle piece found on the scene of the crime. 10 years in the future, Yoon, now a criminal profiler herself, solves a murder involving a similarly amnesiac child. Just as the case is cracked, Yoon receives an envelope containing a black and white puzzle piece. The episode ends with Yoon frantically reaching out to Kim by phone.

After a bit of hiatus, Lesley and Ben’s season on International TV continues with Money Heist, the his Spanish language crime show from Netflix about a group of bank robbers dead set on robbing the Royal Mint of Spain. This is our second show from Spain, and third Spanish overall, but instead of ghosts and worried priests, Money Heist is packed with action, intrigue and bullets. We talk about translation, non linear story telling, crime movie archetypes and the dynamic design choices that Money Heist makes in its color palette and costuming!

We’re watching Season 1, Episode 1, “Do As Planned.” Runaway Tokyo is preparing to leave the country following a botched robbery and a dead partner in crime, when she’s stopped and recruited by The Professor, a strange man promising her an enormous payout for a single job. Tokyo and a team of several other pseudonymously named professional thieves enter a five month crash course to learn how to infiltrate and rip off the Royal Mint of Spain undetected. We flash forward to a heist in progress, with hints of emotional turmoil and mismatched personal relationships that may lead to the crime of the century’s bloody downfall. 

Syndicated with Lesley and Ben is a podcast about television, genre and storytelling in which your hosts watch one episode of a new show and explore the history of television one episode at a time. From family room sitcoms to space exploration shows, reality TV to procedurals and game shows, we’re going to cover it all and give you the context you need to understand the wonderful world of television and the stories we love. Our current season is International TV.

Our Logo is by Terra Bosart, the theme song is by Mandra Sigma and the show is edited by Jay Gagnon.