We Want The D

It's October Season which only means one thing - our hosts are going to be subjected to the horrors of a bunch of Halloween-ish Disney made-for-TV movies. And as you can imagine, this one is a doozy. Because Z-O-M-B-I-E-S is in many ways the spiritual successor to a few other high school-set DCOM musicals you may have heard of, and opinions are sharply divided on whether it is a worthy successor to the throne. The stakes have never been lower and the pastels have never been more sickly.

It's the most spookiest time of the year! We're kicking off this October Season with what isn't really a Halloween movie, but hey at least we're not starting with a DCOM. So MALEFICENT: MISTRESS OF EVIL will have to do. Which more or less encapsulates our hosts' feelings toward this Disney movie, as a follow-up to a film none of us really liked but had a number of things we liked about it. This sequel though? Not so much. But at the end of the day, it's still got Angelina Jolie and her striking features, weird skeleton, and delightful performance.

After two hundred and seventy episodes, it's hard to imagine that a Disney movie could elicit a new reaction or response from any one of our hosts. Yet somehow, against all odds, NO DESPOSIT, NO RETURN has one of us nearly refusing to engage with it at all. Which is odd because on paper this movie is just another benign 1970s entry in the canon, featuring all the familiar hallmarks. Tediously long car chases, child endangerment, Don Knotts, etc, etc. Have a listen and maybe you can puzzle out what makes this movie differ from so many others...and also if you can figure out why it's called No Deposit, No Return and share it with us, that'd be swell.

There's a chill in the air and the days are getting shorter, so it must mean it's time to bring our Summer of Sadness to a close (the year of eternal disappointment, and also fire and plague, will continue indefinitely). Our hosts end this summer series, appropriately enough, with Disney's FRANKENWEENIE; a feature length film based on one of Tim Burton's early short films that he produced during his first ill-fated tenure at the House of Mouse. In many ways a perfect summation of all of Burton's strengths and weaknesses, it provides plenty of interesting discussion fodder for Vicky, Nolan and Jill to mull over...and also cat poop.

If you've been listening to this podcast for any length of time, you know full well that our hosts often worship at the altar of Menken. But we all know that when it comes to the beloved songs of Disney Renaissance, Menken is only half the story. This week we celebrate the life and work of the other half, via the documentary HOWARD. Ambitious, relentlessly hardworking, obsessively creative (and controlling), if nothing else this film proves that Disney wouldn't be where they are today if it wasn't for the words and ideas of Howard Ashman.

The only thing our hosts found harder than consistently and correctly pronouncing the name of the main character in this week's film was staying on topic. That's not to say Disney's SHIPWRECKED is a bad movie - it's a pretty passable family adventure movie, if a little frustrating that it never fulfills the Home Alone-esque elements of its plot. But there's only so much analysis that can be done to Gabriel Byrne's villainous turn, or why a single gorilla would be stranded on an otherwise deserted island somewhere in the Pacific ocean.

It's another week of fond farewells as we say goodbye to the Richard Todd/Glynis Johns Disney costume dramas of the 1950s. We've loved these Disney movies for their amazing production design and costuming, how they capture the language of bygone eras, and the promise of Richard Todd taking his shirt off. In THE SWORD AND THE ROSE not only is that promise realized, we get a legitimate contender for first truly female-led movie in the live action Disney canon, a delightful interpretation of Henry VIII as a fun-loving party animal, and Vicky might have found herself a new catchphrase.

Over four years ago, our hosts watched both versions of Disney's The Shaggy Dog, and it was such a rough experience that not even our Summer of Sequels could get us to watch the follow-up to the 1959 original. The time has finally come, however, and we are pleased to announced that THE SHAGGY D.A. takes every single aspect of this kook-a-dook premise and knocks it right out of the park. Starring several of our favourites of the Disney 60s and 70s live action fare all doing some of their best work, dynamite slapstick comedy, and a man running around in a dog suit, there's no shortage of fun to be had or talked about.

Not going to lie to you, D-Lovers, this episode isn't almost 90 minutes because we had a whole lot to say about Disney's BEDTIME STORIES. Sure, it's acceptable enough family fare with some serious problems that we definitely get into. But given this is the only Disney movie that features Adam Sandler, the reality is we spend a large chunk of time discussing our beloved Sandman in general, both in this movie, in others, and his career in general. But don't worry, we won't be pivoting into an Adam Sandler podcast anytime soon - our hosts just needed to get this out of their system.

In this Minnie Mouse-isode edition of the Summer of Sadness, we attempt to unpack the enigma that is Tim Burton. A man whose whole aesthetic and, well, everything screams "outsider" yet whose only dreams were to draw animation for Disney. And despite an awkward beginning, he would go on to direct several successful movies for them. Tim Burton may be a riddle we'll never quite solve, but his history and philosophies, such as they are, sure are fun to discuss.