Episode 41: Holy Saint Nick! It's A Batman Christmas!

It's the holiday season and of course, that means Batman! Uh...well...on Planet 8 it does! We have a great love for the Caped Crusader and on this episode we share our earliest memories of Batman, and talk about all things Batman: the comics, cartoons, TV show, movies, toys...you name it, we blab about it!

Of course, the Bat has had a pervasive reach across all media but for some of us, the 60s TV show was probably where we saw him first. The show brought Batman and Robin into the homes of millions of viewers and kids went nuts. An invasion of toys, models, games and so forth followed. And Batman's popularity has seemingly never waned, but only grown stronger.

Commander Larry fondly remembers Batman and Robin from the Superfriends cartoon. And he treasured his Mego Batman!

And who didn't have some sort of Batman toy or model? There was -and continues to be -so much Batman merchandise (of varying quality...)

And what discussion of Batman would be complete without some back and forth on the best batmobile? Yep, we go there too! All this and so much more!

Planet 8 crew outside the Batcave 

This week's Sensor Sweep is brought to us by Recon Officer Karen and features what might be a perfect Christmas gift for someone on your list. Imagine having to fight against not one, not two, but all of the Universal Monsters! That's what you and friends can do with the Horrifed board game from Ravensburger. This is a cooperative board game where the players must overcome two or more of the classic Universal monsters (Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, Wolfman, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Bride of Frankenstein, Mummy, and Invisible Man) as they threaten the village. You can find this at a number of retailers, including Amazon, Target, and Barnes and Noble. It's a blast! And don't be surprised if you run across Wilbur and Chick!

With that, we wrap up another trip around our sun here at Planet 8. It's been a great year and we want to thank you all for traveling along with us. As always, we'd love to hear from you. You can leave comments here or at our other reception stations: 

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Planet8Cast
• Facebook: www.Facebook.com/Planet8Podcast

See you in two weeks -same bat time, same bat channel!

Episode 40: This is the Way: The Mandalorian at the Half-Way Mark

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It's here -the first live-action Star Wars series! And so far, everyone seems to agree -The Mandalorian is a hit! Your Planet 8 crew has eagerly awaited the debut of this Disney +  show, created by Jon Favreau, with contributions from Dave Filoni of Clone Wars and Rebels fame. Set about five years after the events of Return of the Jedi, the show depicts a time of uncertainty and unrest as the Alliance attempts to build from the ashes of the Empire. In the outer rim territories, the mysterious bounty hunter known as The Mandalorian forges a living hunting down bail jumpers and other low lifes, when he receives a bounty commission from former Imperials laying low. And from there, his life gets very complicated...

It's not a surprise to say that our episode is heavily SPOILER-FILLED from minute one, so you may not want to listen unless you've seen the first four episodes of The Mandalorian! We will discuss just about every detail of the show, being long-time Star Wars fans, and this show really hearkens back to the original trilogy in many ways. But it also brings a fresh take on the universe, which we thoroughly enjoyed!

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What are some of the influences we detected for the show? What were the little details we flipped over? How much does Commander Larry love Baby Yoda? Take a listen and then be sure to chime in with your thoughts too!

For our Sensor Sweep, no, it's not Star Wars, but Godzilla we turn to, as Chief Engineer Bob tells us all about the exciting new Godzilla Showa Era boxed set from Criterion! Almost as big as the King of Monsters himself, this eight disc bluray set covers Godzilla films from 1954 to 1975 and comes in a beautifully illustrated hardcover book. You can get it from Criterion or other fine retailers.

OK, that's it for this transmission. If you've seen The Mandalorian, what are your thoughts so far? Got anything to say about the Criterion Godzilla collection? Anything else you need to get off your chest? Leave a comment below, or try our other communication resources:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Planet8Cast
• Facebook: www.Facebook.com/Planet8Podcast

Thanks for listening - we have spoken!