Planet 8 Podcast

Episode 165: The Empire Strikes Back on Planet 8

It may be hard to believe, but with over 150 episodes and 8+ years behind us, we have never discussed what is arguably the best Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back! So sit back and relax as your Planet 8 crew share their thoughts and memories of this classic film.
It's easy now to praise Empire, but at the time, it made a number of bold and risky moves, not the least of which was ending in a cliffhanger, and a bit of a downer. George Lucas didn't make a cookie-cutter repeat of Star Wars, which many studio execs wanted; instead, he made a film which continued the story, taking some chances (a Muppet?) and overall having a much darker tone than the original. But it was the right direction, and the film is now recognized as not only a great Star Wars film, but a great film period.
Of course, we do our Sensor Sweep and talk about the usual nonsense -what new stuff we've bought and what shows we're watching. Hopefully you find that amusing too!
Let us know how you feel about Empire - how do you feel about it now, and what did you think when you first saw it?  You can find us at these locations:
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Do, or do not. There is no try.

Episode 164: Silver Shamrock! Time for Halloween III

Happy Halloween! In nine days, anyway. Nine more days til Halloween, Halloween, Halloween....
This year, our holiday film is the unfairly maligned Halloween III: Season of the Witch. This 1982 film was a standalone horror story, separate from the Michael Myers saga, and it is a wonderfully spooky tale that mixes the supernatural with modern technology for a captivating and suspenseful flick. But so many viewers were fixated on Michael Myers that they couldn't give this film a fair shake. Well, your Planet 8 crew, joined by our friends Lord Blood-Rah and Jeff Wehenkel, are big fans of this film, and we hope to make you converts too! So sit back and enjoy this episode. if you didn't like Halloween III before, maybe you'll give it a chance. And if you're already a fan, you'll have fun listening to our thoughts.
And be sure to catch our Sensor Sweep! You may want to go over to our YouTube channel for this - as our pal, the talented Jeff Wehenkel, shares photos of his Halloween III-inspired Halloween party decorations. A few years ago, Jeff went all out and recreated the masks, signage, and even villain Conal Cochrane! It's very impressive!
We'd love to hear your thoughts on Halloween III or anything else. You can reach us at any of our social sites:
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HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!
 

Episode 163: Planet 8 boldly explores Strange New Worlds

The third season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has wrapped up, and your Planet 8 crew had mixed opinions on it. In conversations with friends of the show Lord Blood-Rah and Jeff Wehenkel, we discovered that our viewpoints ranged widely, from overwhelmingly positive to mostly entertained to disappointed. We were all over the place! As our online discussions grew more lively, we thought, Why not do a show on it? So here you have it. We brought Jeff and Lord Blood-Rah on, and we had a passionate yet civil discussion of Strange New Worlds, where we focused on the current season, but also talked about the entire series. We hope you enjoy it!
Please share your thoughts on Strange New Worlds, Star Trek, Fizzbin, or the number 4, whatever it is taking up space in your brain! You can contact Planet 8 at:
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Hit it!
 

Episode 162: Fantastic Four joins the MCU

There have been three Fantastic Four films from 20th Century Fox, and an unreleased , but infamous, film by Roger Corman. A couple of these films were...OK, maybe even good, but never the sort of cosmic-level, grand adventure that Marvel fans hoped for. With the arrival of the MCU, there has been anticipation of a FF film for years, but Fox had the rights, up until a short while ago. Now, Marvel/Disney has been able to make their own Fantastic Four film. Fans wondered, would it measure up to expectations?
Well, your Planet 8 crew says...yes! We all enjoyed this new film. Despite some reservations regarding the cast, we all found this to be a very well made and entertaining movie, and a great addition to the MCU. In this episode, we will discuss everything about the film - so if you haven't seen it yet, beware, there be spoilers ahead! 
We can say that we found the retro-futuristic setting to be perfect, and the family dynamics between the characters worked flawlessly. Galactus was impressive and actually frightening. The space adventure was exciting and emphasized that the FF are not only super-heroes but explorers. It was also refreshing to have a story that was complete, and didn't have to set up the next film, or insert a bunch of other, extraneous characters.
So if you haven't seen it yet, go out and catch it in the theater! You'll be glad you did. And then tell us what you thought.
Our Sensor Sweep is all over the place, as usual. We were celebrating Mission Commander Larry's birthday! Larry shared his Wand Tricorder, which is practically as good as the ones Spock and Bones used on Star Trek! You really need to go to our YouTube channel to see this amazing prop. Some of the other items shared include an amazing Creature from the Black Lagoon backscratcher, a full-sized Dr. Doom mask, and a guide to Television Fright Films of the 1970s.
Bob is still preparing for the Godzillafest Convention coming in September. The dealers room is filling up. They just added Ricardo Delgado, Matt Frank, Middle of Beyond, and Super 7. There's going to be a lot of guests and activities, so don't miss it! Get all the details at Godzillafest.com.
Karen is still doing her YouTube channel, Echoes from the Satellite. If you are interested in science fiction, fantasy, and horror books, give it a view.
And that's a wrap for this episode. As always, we'd love to hear from you. Please send us your thoughts about Fantastic Four. Did you like it? Hate it? Let's talk!
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It's clobberin' time!!

Episode 161: Superman- the Man of Steel Returns!

This summer, a strange visitor from the planet Krypton has found his way to Earth, and our cinemas, again. Superman is back in another iteration, and the Planet 8 crew has done our duty and observed this visitation. Surprisingly, we all loved it!  Listen to the episode and we will go over, in this spoiler-filled discussion, why we loved it, what we thought was done so well, and maybe just a few things we would have done differently. Where does this leave the DC cinematic universe now?
In our Sensor Sweep, Chief Engineer Bob has survived the first part of Godzillafest, now on to part 2, the Godzillafest Convention! It's happening September 20-21 in San Francisco. Tickets are available now for this awesome event! Go to Godzillafest.com for all the details.
Bob got some cool stuff at the Godzillafest film festival. He shared a super cool Ultraman lunchbox (and a shot glass), as well as a Neca figure of a trick or treater in a Ben Cooper Godzilla Halloween costume! Great stuff.
Karen had a birthday recently and Larry gave her the enormous book, The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen. Now all three of the Planet 8 crew have this giant brick of a book! Karen is still doing her YouTube show, and just did segments on 2001 and her birthday book haul. You can see these and other episodes at Echoes from the Satellite.
Our Mission Commander Larry got a ton of great sci fi and monster magazine from his friend Dennis, and shared a sample of them with us. He also went completely mad and bought the Galactus popcorn bucket! That thing is bigger than his head! You need to go to our YouTube channel to see this thing.
That's all for us this time. Let us know what you think of the new Superman. Did you enjoy it? How did it compare to previous Superman films?
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Up, up, and away!!

Episode 160: The Island of Dr. Moreau

Welcome all to Planet 8! On this episode, your crew takes a look at the three film adaptations of the H.G. Wells novel, The Island of Dr. Moreau. We start with the atmospheric 1932 version, Island of Lost Souls, move into the updated 1977 film, The Island of Dr. Moreau, and then briefly discuss the trainwreck that was the 1996 version, also titled Island of Dr. Moreau. We discuss the themes of the work, the similarities and differences of the films, what worked and what didn't. We hope you enjoy our discussion!
For our Sensor Sweep, Karen shares that this is also a cross-over episode with her YouTube channel, Echoes from the Satellite (https://www.youtube.com/@EchoesfromtheSatellite), as she will be discussing the Wells novel on her latest episode! So bounce over there and check that out.
Bob is diligently preparing for the Godzillafest film festival, which occurs July 18-20th. And big news -they will be showing Godzilla Minus One -twice! Be sure to go over to https://www.godzillafest.com/ to get details and buy your tickets. And don't forget the Godzillafest convention, coming in September!
Meanwhile, Larry has been spending time with the talented Jeff Wehenkel, who restored Larry's "Tingler" (get those dirty thoughts out of your mind), as well as gifting him a beautiful Pirates of the Caribbean model. Larry also shared a cool Godzilla bust from Michael Regan - although it was named Bob - you need to listen to get the story.
That's all for now folks. Stay safe, stay cool, and remember, not to go on all fours, that is The Law!
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ARE WE NOT MEN??

Best of Planet 8: Desert Planet Picks

We hope you enjoy this encore broadcast of episode 2 of Planet 8 from May 2018, featuring our desert planet picks! 
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Aloha!

Episode 159: On the Rack! Magazines We Love

This episode, the Planet 8 crew and our honorary crew member, Lord Blood-Rah, take a trip back to the days before the internet, back when the only way we got any news about the latest sci fi films or learned about how all the great movies we loved were made, was through magazines. Yes, we had to go to the bookstore, or the liquor store, or even the smoke shop, to find the periodicals that gave us a peak at the new Star Trek movie, or that Vampirella story, or that amazing Godzilla article. They also gave us a sense of community. Through the pages of Starlog, Famous Monsters, The Monster Times, and others, we heard from people like us from all over the world, who loved the same things we did. 
We'll share some of our favorite mags from years gone by. This would be a great episode to check out on our YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/@Planet8Podcast! There you can see the magazines we're talking about. We'll cover all the ones you'd imagine, and probably a bunch you may not be thinking of, or have even heard of! Hopefully, for those of you who loved back in those days before the internet, it will be a great blast from the past. And for you youngsters, it will seem like a trip to another world!
For the Sensor Sweep, we suggest you check out Lord Blood-Rah's YouTube channel, where you will find all his great programs like Captain Paxar's Star Cadet Hour! You can learn about it all by going to lordbloodrah.com. 
Karen is up to 8 episodes on her YouTube channel, Echoes from the Satellite. Most recently, she looked at the Apple TV adaptation of the Murderbot  book series. You can find it here. 
Bob shared a monster magazine from Denmark, and a great issue of Cinefantastique. He also shared a book called Fantastic Monsters of the Films, which reprints all of the magazines by the same name, by Bob Burns and Paul Blaisdell. Convention tickets are now on sale for Godzillafest. You can go to Godzillafest.com to buy tickets and get more information. 
Larry shared a new favorite figure, a Marvel legends Rom the Spaceknight. He also just got a Lancelot Link DVD set - so you can guess what we may be talking about soon! 
We may have to do another episode on magazines! Be sure to let us know about your favorites.
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Read all about it!!