Old V. Gold

Season finale and conclusion of our 2-part Star Wars smackdown video spectacular! We move on to 1980's "The Empire Strikes Back" as H.P. Mendoza and Mark Del Lima rejoin us for our second tour of the Star Wars universe, which ends, as many family vacations do, with a really awkward father-son moment. After our usual vote, we then take on the question: which is the better film, "Star Wars" or "Empire"?

Part 1 of our 2-part Old v. Gold Season 2 finale spectacular takes on a movie that's as old and yet as omnipresent as The Force: "Star Wars." This edition of the podcast comes in two flavors: the usual audio and our first video version. Returning podcast panelists H.P. Mendoza and Mark Del Lima of Ersatz Film join us as we try to look past all the tinkering that's been done since the movie 1977 release to see if there's really a good film underneath our voracious nostalgic appetite for this sci-fi landmark. The audio version of the podcast extends the discussion to include the lovability of stormtroopers, more on the film's avoidance of emotion, and, as required, a reference to the dreaded Holiday Special. Next week, the second contender in our Star Wars smackdown: "The Empire Strikes Back."

We hide behind our space couches and revisit the horror of 1979's "Alien," the (only) Ridley Scott movie about space predators (worth talking about). Tom Skerritt, the white male captain and thus surely ultimate survivor, leads a small crew of industrial tow-jockeys against a clingy, gooey menace. Also Sigourney Weaver is there.

In Robert Zemeckis' 1997 film "Contact," a child raised in a single-tragedy household grows up to be Jodie Foster and a scientist listening for signals from extraterrestrials, which are tough to hear over all the mansplaining directed at her. Last year's "Interstellar" reminded us of this movie in a lot of ways, good and bad, and not just in both films' McConaugheyness.

This week, we hit the 1988 quasi-musical "Earth Girls Are Easy," starring the Blum! And also Geena Davis, and pre-"In Living Color" Jim Carrey and Damon Wayans. Watch music-video director Julien Temple pretty much hijack a few great and funny Julie Brown songs and turn them into a collection of carefully composed shots that might possibly be considered a movie.

The year is 1994. A new science-fiction series with groundbreaking computer graphics and not much budget at all debuts in syndication. It carries a secret, revolutionary agenda of long-form serialization. It also carries some dubious acting and set design. The name of the show is "Babylon 5."

Out of the TV static left when 1982 signed off comes Steven Speilberg's-- um, Tobe Hooper's "Poltergeist," which among its many frights and delights also raises a killer tree of unanswered questions: What is the light and do we run toward it or away from it? What's up with the daughter's secret sex life? Who the hell dyes their hair while bathing? Did the movie really expect us to buy that Zelda Rubenstein's spiritual-guide character was named "Tangina"? And come on, who really directed this?

The 1988 Japanese animation classic "Akira" blows up our screen - and, of course, Tokyo - bringing us, yes, plenty of yelling, but also plenty of action, cinematic vision, trippy cosmic plot developments, reflections of the state of mind of an entire damaged nation, and a surprising but welcome lack of sailor-skirted little girls.

An initial discussion of the darkness of Santa Claus leads naturally to a January podcast about 1986's "Big Trouble in Little China," a comic epic stage-fighting romp from title-preceding director John Carpenter and star Kurt Russell - who may or may not actually be the hero of this quietly subversive little piece. OK, maybe not "quietly," because there's plenty of splosions, and we guess about $11 million worth of lightning. And Kim Cattrall is there being feisty.

In 1985, Val Kilmer was a "Real Genius," which it turns out is one rank below "Top Gun," at least chronologically. In what some (well, one) consider Kilmer's greatest film role, he shepherds a younger and perhaps realer genius through a college gauntlet of enemy dickey-wearers, mysterious closet passer-throughers, an administrator serving the perpetrators of a military weapons system, wacky parties, and even a girl!

It's interstellar attackers vs. the world - read U!S!A! - in Roland Emmerich's 1996 epic-wannabe "Independence Day." Can Jeff Goldblum work his magic and make this movie worth it, or will he be overpowered by Will Smith's quips? And what do those mean old space folk have against our tourist landmarks, anyway?

Say "yes, cyborg officer" to 1987's "RoboCop." whose near-future science fiction trades in such preposterous notions as a crippled Detroit, unethical corporate overseers, and constantly referring to videoclips that are only a few seconds long. Also, in the next few days when you hear everyone buzzing about the "Nancy Allen mimosa sketch," this is the podcast they're talking about.

From the mind of Joel Schumacher springs 1987's "The Lost Boys," about a California beach town infested with gays-- um, vampires. Will the dreamy young newcomer be turned homosexual-- um, nocturnal by these rummage-sale-costumed hooligans, or can the '80s super duo of Feldman/Haim, or maybe Oily Sax Guy, save him? Join our three-quarters vampiric-- um, gay panel to find out!

This Season 2 sample of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" is "The Emissary," who is someone in this episode, but that's not important. What's important in this episode is feminism, the meaning and importance of marriage, questionable personnel management, what we all know the holodeck is really for, and, above all, FASHION.

A theme park filled with actual flesh-eating dinosaurs: what could go wrong? That's the question asked and answered by Steven Spielberg's 1993 film "Jurassic Park." Join us as we consider the movie's Spielberginess, Goldblumosity, science, effects, child-character abuse, and fashion choices. And recoil in horror with us at a bit of fan fiction that goes to more bad places than you can imagine (and makes this podcast more explicit than usual).

It's back to high school yet again for the proto-"Mean Girls": 1988's "Heathers," which brings us a brightly colored yet pitch-black tale of cliques and power. Does this movie still have something relevant to say between its beloved slang and zingers?

For "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," we're joined by some folks who know their way around the Alpha Quadrant: Captain Matt, Lt. Commander Eddy, and Dr. Ken from the Starboard Power Coupling podcast. With 30-plus years, several franchise series, and a (dreadful) movie reboot between then and now, does "Khan" still possess its genetically enhanced power?

Would you like to swing on a star? Or would you rather recall the 1991 Bruce Willis showcase "Hudson Hawk"? This difficult-to-describe antic comedy was a critical and box-office bomb, but is beloved by many today. How does it fare here? Well, don't make a drinking game out of us saying the word "ridiculous"-- it comes up A LOT, both for good and bad.

For Spooky Week, we've picked the spooky 1984 comedy "Ghostbusters," full of spooky slime monsters and spooky demon dogs and spooky sexual harassment!

Remember that movie about sinking oceancraft that James Cameron made? No, not that one - "The Abyss," the 1989 deep-seacret movie with Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. We dive in (HA!) to the 171-minute special edition.