The School of Movies Archive

[Digital Gonzo 2010]

After the resounding success of the Star Wars review podcasts I decided to carry on talking about my favourite movies for the foreseeable future.

This week we kick off a new trilogy maybe more dear to my heart than even Star Wars: Back to the Future.

The focus for this first one is actually the brain-bending complexity of the multiple timelines featured in the Back to the Future Trilogy, the theories laid down and the fantastical science behind it. There’s also a range of movie facts and easter eggs to watch out for the next time you watch it.

Guests:

Nikki Taylor of GameBurst

Giles Thomas of the Digital Cowboys community.

[Digital Gonzo 2010]

We turn our attentions to Return of the Jedi at last; (to me at least) the most underrated of the saga, but doubtless flawed and mishandled in many ways. We go into the reasons why this was occasionally a shadowy premotition of the tomfoolery that would come sixteen years later with the Prequel Trilogy, but also the depths and richness of this, possibly the most personal and psychologically arresting Skywalker story. We also round off the series with a look at further reading for you folks who want to dig deeper and a few possible futures for this franchise that, let’s face it, isn’t finishing forever any time soon. In fact if there’s a series that I could confidently predict will still be seeing new movie installments in a century’s time; this is it.

Guests:

Nikki Taylor of TheKidDogg

James Batchelor of Bond and Beyond

Chris Brown of The Married Gamers

[Digital Gonzo 2010]

This episode is all about The Empire Strikes Back. Pretty much the running favourite among the majority of Star Wars fans. We look at how and why this 1980 science-fantasy classic is still as dark, bright and fresh today as it was three decades ago, and how Star Wars would not still be the phenomenon it was, without it.

Guests:

Nikki Taylor of TheKidDogg

James Batchelor of Bond and Beyond 

Mike Phillips of The Fanboys Lunchcast.

[Digital Gonzo 2010]

This episode is all about the 1977 original, later titled A New Hope. Whether you subscribe to the theory that George Lucas got lucky in making this film, the notoriously fraught production clearly paid off, making it one of the most influential and significant movies of all time, if not, THE most.

Guests:

Nikki Taylor of TheKidDogg

James Batchelor of Bond and Beyond 

[Digital Gonzo 2010]

This episode is all about the 2005 finale to the Prequel Trilogy; Revenge of the Sith. In this movie, we see the events that birthed one of the greatest characters in cinema history. To many, this one is better than some of the films in the Original Trilogy, to some it was the final insult and the death of the series.

Guests:

Nikki Taylor of TheKidDogg

This week Parris Lilly of Uncle Gamer and Remember When 

Mike Barton of Gameovercast.

[Digital Gonzo 2010]

To many it was better than Phantom, to some it was even worse. Faster-paced, focusing more on action, intrigue and romance, and the first of the Star Wars movies to be shot digitally rather than on film, this movie may stand as a perfect example of why having supreme control over every aspect of filming can sometimes be the worst possible situation, creatively.

Guests:

Nikki Taylor of TheKidDogg

Gary Blower of GameBurst

[Digital Gonzo 2010]

While I was still recording Digital Cowboys, the video game podcast I began with Tony Atkins and Paul Shotton in 2007, in early 2010 I began a new feed with a series of audio articles under the name Gonzo Gaming. After a dozen of them I kicked off the first of what would become hundreds of dedicated, movie-focused discussion shows. This was soon renamed Digital Gonzo. I started off with a movie series that's been with me since before I knew what movies were, Star Wars. 

Guests:

Nikki Taylor of TheKidDogg

Gary Blower of GameBurst