Show Notes
The Watchcast is back for its final slate of movies in 2025, and this month we're picking whatever strikes our fancy. First up is Alex's pick, a palate cleanser for all the Escape from New York also-rans we've seen this year in the form of actual, honest-to-Snake Escape from New York! Join us as we dive deep into the movie that spawned an iconic character, dozens of rip-offs, and pretty much Hideo Kojima's whole deal.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 161: Escape from New York (1981) (00:00:15) - Intro. (00:08:18) - How did John Carpenter realize his vision of crime-scorched hellscape New York (00:26:23) - The insane cultural shadow that this movie cast. (00:33:51) - Crime has risen 400%, so New York is a prison now. You don't need to know anything else. (00:41:55) - The President is crashing out. (00:46:40) - Break! (00:47:00) - We're back, and it's time for a quick failed rescue. (00:49:44) - Our first introduction to Snake Plissken. (00:59:55) - Gliding into the Big Apple. (01:03:28) - No matter how bad things get in New York, people will still make time for the theater. (01:07:47) - We've got C.H.U.D.S, and also Kurt Russell's (then) wife. (01:15:36) - Maggie and the Brain. (01:19:09) - Here comes The Duke of New York. (01:23:34) - This is a sneaking mission. (01:27:35) - The Duke wants his damn map, and Brain figures out where the glider is. (01:32:04) - That's Ox Baker's music! (01:39:37) - The mad dash to the World Trade Center, then to the bridge. (01:46:20) - An even madder dash over the wall. (01:48:25) - Snake ain't letting this slide. (01:54:28) - Final thoughts. (01:59:44) - Our remaining films for the month. (02:04:19) - Outro.
More from The Nextlander Watchcast
Our Halloween slate continues, and this week's dark temptation is the somewhat resistible Stephen King adaptation, Needful Things! Join us as we cackle together at this looney tale of regular folk driven to homicidal madness by the kindliest grandpa demon anyone's ever run afoul of. CHAPTERS:
October is always one of the best months for the Watchcast, if we do say ourselves, and for this month of dark temptations we've got one of the goopiest movies of the '80s in Clive Barker's Hellraiser! Join us as we meet Pinhead and the gang for the first time, compare the film against Barker's original novella, and ponder just how tempted we'd be to solve the Lament Configuration. CHAPTERS:
Star Trek Summer: Extended Edition is officially on hiatus for a couple of months after this week's Watchcast, and for our final batch of episodes until December, we've got Lee Merriweather as a tormented fembot in That Which Survives, followed by the rare Scotty romance episode The Lights of Zetar! CHAPTERS:
This week's Watchcast brings us to a famous (or infamous) episode from Star Trek's later run in the blunt-as-a-hammer racism parable Let That Be Your Last Battlefield. Also this week is The Mark of Gideon, which is an episode of Star Trek, and that's about the most you can say for it. CHAPTERS:
We're over the halfway hump in Star Trek's third season, and the campy nonsense hits a fever pitch in this week's episodes. First up is the Taming of the Shrew riff Elaan of Troyius, and then we're onto the simultaneously overheated and under-baked Whom Gods Destroy! CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 191: Star Trek: Elaan of Troyius and Whom Gods Destroy (00:00:15) - Intro. (00:02:32) - Kicking things off with Elaan of Troyius. (00:09:12) - Production notes for the episode. (00:16:34) - We're a little all over the place discussing this one, but we start really getting into the episode here. (00:21:38) - Veering back to a few quick behind-the-scenes notes. (00:23:12) - And now beginning the episode in earnest. (00:28:42) - Making the crew miserable, and talking some special effects stuff. (00:34:39) - Kirk and Elaan hash it out, sort of. (00:38:29) - The Klingon plot is revealed, and Kirk is cursed with a moderate amount of infatuation. (00:48:10) - A good old fashioned space sub battle. (00:56:01) - Say goodbye to Elaan. (01:02:51) - Break! (01:03:44) - We're back, and it's time for Whom Gods Destroy. (01:05:57) - Who did this. (01:16:55) - Alright, let's get into it. (01:28:58) - The inmates can't get to the ship, but we've still got like half an hour to kill. (01:34:25) - On the pain chair, and the blowing up of Marta. (01:39:25) - I'm seein' double! Two Kirks and two marginally similar stuntmen! (01:42:56) - Sure, a lady blew up, but we cured mental illness? Right? (01:45:52) - Final thoughts, and housekeeping for next week's episodes. (01:51:02) - Outro.