What the Plus

If there's ever a time to ask the big questions, this is it, when the world is as confusing and bewildering as it's been in decades. Brock Wilbur--writer, comedian, editor of Kansas City's alt-weekly The Pitch, and the man who blew the lid off of the NXIVM sex cult--joins Garrett Martin to dig into Forky Asks a Question, the Pixar shorts starring the inquisitive spork creature from Toy Story 4. Ponder the universe, people.

Garrett Martin looks back on 2020 and picks out his five favorite new Disney+ exclusives--whether they're new, like Earth to Ned and Muppets Now, or an old curiosity being dredged up from the absolute bottom of the Disney Vault. (Yes, we're talking about that 1977 Mousketeers special again.)

Garrett Martin goes it alone to talk about that Disney shareholders event and the massive amount of movies and shows announced at it--and also how weird it is that everybody wants to talk about and fixate on what is traditionally a private event for stockholders. When hype and nostalgia dominate everything, how hyped can you get about yet more nostalgia? 

We've finally done it: here's an episode about a legit Disney animated feature. Maybe not a good one, but still. Drew Taylor, who's an editor and writer at Collider, the author of The Art of Onward, the co-host of the Mission Impossible podcast Light the Fuse, and an all-around Disney expert, joins Garrett Martin to talk about the 1988 film Oliver & Company, the first animated feature fully produced during the Eisner/Katzenberg era of Disney, and a significant--if not particularly good--part of the Disney canon.

Award-winning journalist and author Samantha Allen joins Garrett Martin to discuss Free Solo, the National Geographic documentary about Alex Honnold and his amazing free solo climb of El Capitan. What drives somebody to push themselves to the furthest edges of human achievement? And what are the ethics of encouraging somebody to climb a 3000 foot high rock with no tools whatsoever? Samantha and Garrett talk it over in this episode of What the Plus.

30 years before Disney bought Marvel, and almost 30 years before Iron Man launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the comic book company tried to launch an animation empire off the back of a Saturday morning cartoon starring Spider-Man and his, uh, pretty alright friends. Henry Gilbert, co-host of the Talking Simpsons podcast, stops by to discuss Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends and the twisted history of Marvel's film and TV ambitions.

This week we present a brief digression from our regularly scheduled program. Garrett Martin went down to Disney World last week, during a pandemic, and here's his report on what he found. How comfortable did he feel? How much did he enjoy theme parks with all of the COVID precautions? Why is he writing about himself in the third person? Find out the answers to at least two of those questions in this bite-sized special episode.

Film critic and Disney expert Josh Spiegel joins Garrett Martin to expound on why The Rocketeer should be an iconic classic beloved by all movie fans. It's got Nazis, a James Bond with a mustache, patriotic mobsters, Character Actress Margo Martindale, and oh, a jetpack--how wasn't this thing a massive hit? Oh, right, Josh and Garrett try to explain that very thing in this episode. 

Comedian and writer Hana Michels talks with Garrett Martin about the 2019 live action remake of Lady and the Tramp. What does this dog-centric romcom have to say about gender roles and the way we treat animals? Is it wrong to fall in love with a CGI dog, even if it's voiced by Justin Theroux? And what does it do with that one infamously racist scene? Join Hana and Garrett as they crack into the lowest profile Disney live action remake, but also probably the cutest.

Theme park journalist Carlye Wisel joins Garrett Martin to talk about one of the weirdest things you'll see on Disney+: a 1977 TV special about a now-forgotten group of Mousketeers going to Disney World and then treating each other terribly for almost an hour. The Mousketeers at Walt Disney World is a deeply '70s, and completely ridiculous, special. Join Carlye and Garrett as they dissect it in detail, and also discuss how Disney World has changed since 1977.