This fortnight, Nick and Alastair enter the current TV discourse with a bang, bringing you their thoughts on wildly popular Marvel series WandaVision and less-discussed Netflix dystopia Tribes of Europa.

But first, Nick’s finally run out of his two comfort shows, Lucifer and New Girl, and is left bereft, while Alastair’s digging further into the Netflix menu with Code 8.

And then, at last, they catch up on WandaVision (14:38), with their thoughts on all your favourite fan theories, exactly what type of show this is and whether Agatha Harkness is common knowledge – along with, of course, full and total spoilers

Finally, and also with spoilers throughout, it’s Tribes of Europa (39:48), a Netflix series about a dystopian Europe from both the future and… about ten years ago, aesthetically speaking.

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This fortnight, Nick and Alastair are back to scraping at the cultural coalface of this pandemic era – Netflix movies! Specifically, Space Sweepers and The Dig.

But first, Alastair’s begun his annual Oscar movies viewing festival with Minari, while Nick’s trying to read prose again, beginning with Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, House of Government by Yuri Slezkine and A Closed And Common Orbit by Becky Chambers.

Then it’s away to the outer reaches of the galaxy with Space Sweepers (11:01), the new Netflix space movie for fans of family-friendly adventures yet also sudden death.

Lastly, they get down and dirty with The Dig (26:40), an emotionally affecting period archaeology movie with bonus sexual tension. If you’d like to check out the very good Book to Screen Club podcast episode Nick mentions and get a little more about the film’s context in both book and reality, their show is available from these links.

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Five years of Moderate Fantasy Violence! Happy birthday to this podcast on this very day, and to celebrate the world’s continuous improvement since they started in February 2016, Nick and Alastair dig into their personal vaults to bring out some real classics: Alan Moore’s character-redefining run on Swamp Thing and Alfred Hitchcock’s cinema classic North by Northwest.

But first, slightly more currently, Nick’s finally watched the second season of His Dark Materials, while Alastair’s up to the third run of Disenchantment. Both shows which got a pasting last time they appeared here – have things improved?

And then it’s back to the eighties, before either of our heroes were born, for Nick’s recommendation: the opening eight issues of Swamp Thing (9:47) by Alan Moore, Stephen Bissette and John Totleben, including the classic Anatomy Lesson issue and a lot of relatable plant material.

Finally, reaching even further back to 1959, Alastair suggests North by Northwest (27:55), Alfred Hitchcock’s influential suspense movie featuring Cary Grant, a beautiful suit and apparently no symbolism whatsoever.

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This fortnight, Nick and Alastair return to the blasted hellscape of 2020 to cover some leftover cultural scraps: last superhero movie standing The New Mutants and spinoff scifi sitcom Star Trek: Lower Decks.

But first, they mention a few more recent items to make the podcast seem vaguely relevant. Alastair’s watched French heist show Lupin, while Nick’s listened to the new albums by Sleaford Mods and Weezer.

Once that’s over with, time to witness the full horror of The New Mutants (13:52). Is this film an overlooked gem scuppered by the pandemic, or can you safely forget it happened?

Lastly, they’ve also watched the whole first season of Star Trek: Lower Decks (25:04). How much fanwank is too much? Is this a comedy, a drama or… something else? All this and more! (Also, mild spoilers for moments in later episodes, be warned.)

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This fortnight, Nick and Alastair finish up Star Trek: Discovery season 3 and keep mopping up last year’s movies with Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.

But first, Nick’s played Burton-esque indie platformer Hollow Knight, while Alastair’s continuing that 2020 catch-up with His House.

And then they dig into the final two-thirds of Star Trek: Discovery season 3 (10:24) to find out whether anyone on this spaceship will ever exchange a cross word, including hardcore ending spoilers from 22:50.

Lastly, it’s time to check out Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (38:21), a film on Netflix based (very obviously) on a play by August Wilson and featuring the last ever performance by Chadwick Boseman.

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Only one week into 2021 (unlike last year when it was three months), Alastair and Nick unite to give one last run-down of 2020 – the highs, the lows and the other lows.

But first, one last quick film review from the tail-end of the year, as Alastair (and also eventually Nick) saw new Pixar movie Soul, while Nick was left watching Tropic Thunder on Christmas Eve because his internet crashed.

And then, before writing off last year, our heroes take a short pitstop in 2021 with a review of Doctor Who: Revolution of the Daleks (10:21), the latest holiday special from their favourite inconsistent sci-fi show.

Da 5 Bloods Chadwick Boseman 2020 filmAt last, it’s then time to dive into that hot retrospective material, with some analysis of the year in film (19:46), complete with Nick and Alastair each counting down their top five releases and agreeing on a unified MFV top 3 (plus the inevitable worst one), before turning to do the same for TV (47:38).

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Festive joy abounds! It’s the twenty-fourth of December, and in what might be their best approximation of a Christmas special yet, Nick and Alastair are here to talk about The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special and the festive Euphoria bonus episode Trouble Don’t Last Always.

But first, Nick keeps the holiday spirit rolling with Netflix’s Norwegian seasonal romcom Home For Christmas, while Alastair’s festively seen… historical Hollywood biopic Mank. Oh well.

But then they’re right into the timely material with The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special (12:19), which… you’d think might be borderline unreviewable, and funnily enough, around the 19:45 mark, they wander off to chat about the recent Mandalorian season 2 finale (with FULL SPOILERS, be warned) and their thoughts on the recent Star Wars spin-off armada announced by Disney.

And lastly, it’s Euphoria: Trouble Don’t Last Always (37:02), a seasonal episode of the stare-into-the-void teen drama, which turns out to be… not quite as big a bummer as Nick expected. (But still a bit bleak at times.)

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This fortnight, Nick and Alastair engage with the zeitgeist, in the form of adorable Star Wars spin-off The Mandalorian and well-reviewed new graphic novel Redfork.

But first, Alastair’s watched death-defying Netflix series Ad Vittam, while Nick warmed up for Redfork by reading TKO stablemates Sara and Sentient.

After all that, time to re-engage with The Mandalorian (13:36), after covering the first season earlier in the year, to find out how his long galactic babysitting gig is going in season 2.

Lastly, Nick and Alastair check out Redfork (25:28), a new graphic novel from TKO Studios by Alex Paknadel and Nil Vendrell, and learn that coal might be even worse for their health than they even suspected.

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This fortnight, Nick and Alastair root themselves to the sofa for short sweet binges on Amazon’s Truth Seekers and Netflix’s Blood of Zeus.

But first, Nick’s continuing his low-pain TV diet with New Girl, while Alastair’s caught up with cult scifi movie Little Joe.

Then it’s Truth Seekers (10:52) time, bringing Nick Frost, Simon Pegg and friends face to face with the paranormal. Is it funny, scary, or, somehow, both?

Lastly, they travel back in time to sample the Blood of Zeus (23:29), a new show from the studio behind Castlevania which they will surely enjoy just as much.

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This fortnight, Nick and Alastair top and tail the telly, with the opening chunk of Star Trek: Discovery season 3 and the back end of The Boys season 2.

But first, Alastair’s meditating upon the intellectual side of things with The Queen’s Gambit, while Nick’s escaping from the world entirely with ludicrous satancrime show Lucifer.

After which, our heroes return to Star Trek: Discovery (9:07) to check out the opening four episodes of season 3 with very few spoilers and… moan about how everyone’s too nice to each other? Make your mind up, Nick.

Lastly, time for another crack at The Boys (26:21) after covering the opening of season 2 a few episodes ago, this time taking it all the way to the end. Since Nick and Alastair are returning to the scene of this crime a while after it was committed, they’re allowing themselves full total spoilers from the start, right up to the final plot twist. Consider yourself warned.

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