Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure

Bill and Ted are two high school students who want nothing more than to take the world by storm with their band, the Wyld Stallyns. However, they are almost failing history, and if that happens, Ted is going to be sent to military school. Rufus, a man from the future, comes to the past to save them and give them the push they need to save reality.

Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey

Back again Bill and Ted are just middling musicians and Wyld Stallyns hasn’t taken off, there’s a chance, however, as they get into Battle of the Bands. But things change again when more future people come back and Bill and Ted’s life changes most drastically. Will Bill and Ted be able to get to the battle of the bands and save the world?

Bill & Ted Face the Music

Life still hasn’t gone right for Bill and Ted. Things were going well for the Wyld Stallyns after the battle of the bands, and they had played the Grand Canyon, but that fame didn’t last and they still hadn’t figured out the song that was going to unite the world across all of space and time. And their wives and relatives are having trouble seeing the big picture. Their daughters still believe in them, but when the future begins to doubt them, will they be able to save all of reality?

Thoughts on the Films

This is an extremely silly series of films, with a lot of 80’s and early 90’s feel to it even in the film, Bill & Ted Face the Music, that came out this year. I think that makes the series work well enough. The first two are extremely entertaining, I think that it works as a series that makes little to no sense, and does some very fun things. The third one has a little bit of a different pattern to the ending, but one that works well, as well, though not really any sort of surprise to it. But they keep a similar feel to the jokes throughout all three of the films, and it works in all of them.

Bill and Ted are both very entertaining characters in these films, and the fact that they have a lot of the same talent throughout the whole thing is really interesting. They do recast a few of the characters between films, but a lot of the key players remain the same. The fact that Missy is played by the same actress throughout is a lot of fun, and kind of hilarious how they weave that story throughout the whole thing.

I do think that in order of best to worst is the order that they came out. That isn’t a knock against Bill and Ted Face the Music as much as it is a comment on how solid the first two are. They really hit the right notes for the comedy and I think that Bill and Ted Face the Music is good at hitting those notes, but can at time fall into a different type of sophomoric humor than the previous two installments. And a lot of that is just because of how much time has passed between the first two installments and the third as well, it doesn’t flow as well with the actors.

Final Thoughts

The whole of the three films are very entertaining and definitely worth checking out. They definitely need to be watched in order otherwise they won’t make any sense, so I’d skip just going for the latest and greatest. I do wonder how much I’ll rewatch Bill & Ted Face the Music, but I know that I’ll watch the other two again for sure. They definitely did a solid job, though, for taking something that has been a cult classic for a long time and giving it a fitting sequel. Definitely a trilogy of sophomoric films with a interesting twist to watch.

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

There’s a chunk of news to start off, first we’re getting some new Black Widow footage, but that was airing after I recorded the episode, so go track it down now. Instead, the news focuses on a Marvel movie, but not one in the MCU, instead the trailer for Morbius from Sony has released, and then I talk about a rumor that has been debunked for the Disney+ Hawkeye show.

The main topic for the show is the 1990’s Spider-Man animated show. This is a show that I loved watching as a child, even without having TV, whenever we were at someone’s place, I hoped that I’d be able to catch an episode, and I did a pretty good job of catching a lot of them. In particular, I talk about a memorable arc for me as it was one of the first super hero team-ups that I saw.

I just want to say thank you for checking out the podcast, I hope that you’re enjoying it. If you are, please consider leaving a rating and review. We are on iTunes, Google Play Music, Stitcher, and Spotify. Those ratings and reviews help more people find the podcast and join in the #10MinMarvel community.

If you have any questions are comments about the show, you can leave them below. Or you can tweet them to me as well as your ideas for future episodes to @TheScando or by using #10MinMarvel.

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

So that we’re all talking about things from the same starting point, I want to introduce a concept that I think is important in this season of Stranger Things and that isn’t there in other seasons. This is the writing concept, but also works in other creative mediums, that you don’t want to show your audience the gears, the workings behind what you are doing. To explain this further, in a good book, the story can seamlessly transition between multiple characters having their moment or finding the information that they need (for a mystery sort of story) and it feels like it’s all part of the same story. When you start to see the gears, you can tell when it’s going to be one characters turn to be hero or the focal point, because the other characters change to foil or background roles. The story lacks that smooth storytelling consistency that you expect.

If I’m introducing this concept, that clearly means that I think that Stranger Things Season 3 suffers from this. And that would be correct. I think in a few of the relationships or pairings, Joyce and Hopper and Lucas, Mike, Max, and El it is really notable. There are almost moments where it seems like the character changes from what they were before to match what they needed for this season. This might get a little bit spoilery here, but you might have seen online about them messing up Hopper in some people’s opinions. And, I can see why people say that and in some ways that I agree with it.

In this season, Hopper is much more aggressive or angry, and I think that there are several reasons for this, but I also think that they are a bit heavy handed with it. The reason that I think it can work is because Hopper has closed himself off or a long time from feeling. And now with Eleven, he is starting to feel again, but it isn’t just the happy emotions, it’s the hard emotions, and he reacts strongly to feeling those again. He isn’t able to fully process them, but, like I said, I think that it done with a heavy hand too often. It became his personality, being the angry person, instead of having more of a complex character. And sometimes, it’s so that you can see the gears working to set-up a moment for Joyce.

With both groups, Joyce and Hopper and Mike, Lucas, Max, and Eleven, their stories are taken to the extreme reaction of things. And when it’s more extreme, you start to lose the depth of character that was created to them in previous seasons. That isn’t to say that it wouldn’t be easy to bring it back in a future season, but the writing was done to give everyone their moment, but done too obviously. Compare that to Dustin, Steve, Robin, and a surprise character, and their banter and relationships are done so extremely well. The actor who plays Steve, Joe Keery, is really good, and does a good job of playing what is now a caring but also still wanting to be popular character. He went from a jerk in the first season without much depth to a character who has a ton of depth and interest now, as compared to some of the others who are working backwards from that this season.

But let’s talk some about the whole story and the monsters. I actually really liked the season as whole, even with some rough spots with various character groups. What makes it work pretty well, in my opinion, is that you get a human aspect to a larger extent as a bad guy, like you did in season one, but you still have that upside down and monster feel. The big addition of another evil organization works really well, but what is that organization. I will say that Cary Elwes as the mayor only works so well. The main issue is that he’s clearly putting on an American accent and it’s obvious. Most of the time it isn’t an issue, but it just doesn’t work as well as it could have, which is a shame, because I like Cary Elwes, especially in Psych. This season, to me, felt a bit more like highlights of 1980’s tropes, as well. While, at times it felt a bit heavy handed with that, what they started with and how it ended, it actually worked well and made sense. I also really like where they ended the season. I’m not going to go into spoilers, but they are setting it up for season four to be a story that is potentially bigger than just Hawkins, which feels like what they need to do at this point.

Overall, I really enjoyed this season. I just think, especially early in the season, there are some things that a writer can take from the story as to what not to do. But you can also take good things from it, like how to use period piece references so it’s not too heavy handed, so like the 80’s references, versus the too heavy a hand in Captain Marvel with 90’s references. I’m at the point with Stranger Things, though, I hope that they start writing seasons that they are going to be their last, they could probably run the show for a few more seasons, but, it feels like a story that should be wrapping up soon, and while still really good, a story that I don’t want to overstay it’s welcome or overstep, like it did with the book that I trashed in review before.

What did you think of season three? Were there any fun surprises in it for you, who was your favorite character from the season?

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

Time to review the first season of a crazy anime that most of the time just was so 90s it hurt, literally.

[amazon_link asins=’B0102AL65K’ template=’ProductGrid’ store=’nerdologists-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’b1c1110b-1d71-11e8-917c-9b7aeaf9d426′]

Full Metal Panic! (yes, there is an exclamation point in the title) is an absurd anime. It came out in 2002, but feels like it was made in 1995, and that is when it’s set, or thereabouts. The music, the plot, everything feels like it’s from 1995. The story is pretty absurd as well; there are people who are known as “whispered” who have knowledge trapped in their heads about amazing technologies beyond anything that could be imagined. So of course there are plenty of people who are after them and trying to unlock that knowledge. Mithril is a secretive mercenary organization that stops bad things, and is mainly focused on the drug trade, at least allegedly. They catch wind of a high school girl who is a target of these hunters who look for the whispered, and they send in a soldier to pretend that he’s a high school student to keep track of her and make sure nothing happens to her.

You can basically guess what happens from there. Sousuke, the soldier who’s sent to protect the high school girl, follows orders to the tee, and even though he’s been fighting for a long time, he’s still just a teenager. He’s put in charge of watching Kaname Chidori, a weird and fiercely independent girl who lives on her own. Since Sousuke is supposed to be on a secret mission, he has to try to follow her around without getting caught, but he takes his mission very seriously and ends up mistaking so many different things for threats. This leads to him and Kaname bumping heads, and causes many weird situations. However, when Kaname and the whole class are taken hostage by a bad guy who’s after her, Sousuke and Mithril are able to protect her, though not before her whispered memories are unlocked. Can they keep protecting her now? What’s going to happen to them? What other absurd situations will they get into? And in the most 90s way possible, will they fall in love?

This is just an odd anime. It has so many comedic moments and situations that makes it seem pretty light, but it goes to some oddly dark places at times. The main characters play off each other in many ways, the way Drax and Star-Lord do in Guardians of the Galaxy. Sousuke is very much the straight man who understands everything as a literal command, and has no idea how to interact with society or in normal situations because he’s been fighting his whole life. Kaname is a free spirit who does what she wants, and that combination is played for a laughs a lot.

It’s an anime that I would say is often less about the overarching plot, and more about the character development. How much or little does Kaname change when her whispered powers are unlocked? Will Sousuke ever be able to fit in properly and gain her trust? They do a solid job with the character development of the main two characters, and it’s interesting to see how they react to situations as time goes on. That’s what makes this anime pretty solid in my opinion.

Now, talking about gore, violence, adult situations, fanservice, and all of that fun stuff, what level is this anime for? It’s definitely a slightly more mature anime. It isn’t nearly as mature as Code Geass is, and the fanservice that there is, is always played for laughs, not sexuality. However, they are fairly often fighting various villains, and there is a fair amount of death and blood in the show. It also deals with some deep themes, especially when it comes to Sousuke and his past. It’s definitely well done in those areas, though.

So, with that said, would it be something that I’d recommend? I’m not sure — I don’t know that it has a very broad appeal. Simply because, as I have said, it’s so 90s it hurts. If you’re a 90s kid, it’ll be pretty funny, as you’ll see the 90s-ness come through in the effects, music, and situations. Just because of those things, it keeps it pretty light; however, if you aren’t into reliving the 90s and all the questioning of why you ever thought those things were cool, this anime is probably not for you. If you weren’t around in the 90s at all, probably skip it. It’s going to feel very dated — the effects are very outdated, and everything about this anime feels like it was made in the mid-90s, not in 2002.

Talking quickly about dubs versus subs: I watched it dubbed, and I tend to watch most anime dubbed, though the one I choose depends on what a series is set at for VRV streaming. I thought the dub was just fine, and Sousuke in particular worked very well dubbed. The dub will probably be easier for an English-speaking audience to relate to. Most of the voice acting in it is just okay, and a lot of it is pretty over-the-top. However, a lot of that is intentional because it’s meant to be very absurd with the 90’s motif. I’d probably recommend the dub in general, but if you go with the sub, you probably won’t have much of a different experience.

One last thing to talk about is the bad guy for the “mission.” Overall, I felt like he was a pretty weak bad guy. He was supposed to be more scary than he was, but he just kind of fell flat. He was cruel, and that was about it; you never really felt all that threatened by him or felt he had any greater objective than to just be the bad guy. If you’ve read my article on villains, you’ll know my thoughts on that. It helps that the show is really more about Sousuke and Kaname’s character development, but it felt like it was lacking in tension a lot of the time. Because of that, it has the drama of a sitcom in the wrappings of an action show a lot of the time. That does give it an odd feeling when the bad guy is just being cruel sometimes in his killing, as it doesn’t always match the overall tone, though it isn’t really ever not 90s.

Overall, this was a 90s anime. It was fun for that reason, and hard to watch at times for the same reason. There are more “missions,” or seasons, as they really would be. I’ll likely check them out later, and you might get separate reviews for those; however, I’m pretty sure it’s going to be about the same in terms of reviews. It’s fun, and it doesn’t take itself too seriously. The season itself is pretty short and can be watched as a stand-alone, which is nice. So if you want to sit down to some 90s fun, I’d say check it out.

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter at @NerdologistCast
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

We are trying a new thing with Amazon Links. If you’re interested in what we talked about in our articles or used for the podcast, please consider making a purchase through our links. Purchases help support our website and offset our costs. Thanks!