The Nextlander Watchcast

For this week's Special Guest Watchcast we've got none other than Austin Walker joining the show to tell us all about a seminal work of cyberpunk anime (that just happens to coincide with a new revival hitting the airwaves very recently) in the 1995 adaptation of Ghost in the Shell!
CHAPTERS:

(00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 184: Ghost in the Shell (1995) w/ Austin Walker
(00:00:26) - Intro.
(00:03:32) - Talking about this week's movie, the manga and other adaptations, and how it feels to watch this in 2026.
(00:25:53) - Do we understand what happened in this movie? We think so!
(00:32:49) - Some talk about the animation techniques used, and then rampant cyberbrain chat.
(00:39:48) - Break!
(00:40:17) - We're back, and tackling some lingering questions before we launch into the plot.
(00:45:40) - Setting the stage.
(00:51:58) - Sorting the sections, and setting up the Puppet Master.
(01:06:07) - The Major's cop buddies.
(01:11:16) - The garbage men.
(01:23:35) - I wanna sink to the bottom with you.
(01:37:21) - The Puppet Master has demands.
(01:52:57) - Ishikawa.
(01:58:58) - The decoy, and the run-up to Old Town.
(02:08:21) - The Puppet Master's pitch.
(02:17:55) - Well, everyone's dead. Guess we'll just wrap this one up.
(02:24:55) - Sequel talk, and final thoughts.
(02:36:50) - Housekeeping for next week's movie: Night of the Hunter with Scott Benson!
(02:38:48) - Austin's plugs, and outro.

The Watchcast rises from hiatus to sparkle for all of you once again, and while our friend Brad is out on leave, we've got a few guests lined up to take us through some of their favorite films. First up is Abby Russell with the movie she's been determined to make us watch for months now. the equally baffling and entertaining YA vampire romance, Twilight!
CHAPTERS:

(00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 183: Twilight (2008) w/ Abby Russell
(00:00:22) - Intro.
(00:04:12) - Why does Abby love Twilight ever so much?
(00:14:25) - On Stephenie Meyer and the folks who made this movie.
(00:25:21) - MAN was this a big franchise (and more about how teens responded to the material). 
(00:34:39) - Break!
(00:35:01) - We're back, and it's time to talk about this damn movie.
(00:46:25) - This is quite the efficient intro, and then high school happens.
(00:53:09) - The Cullens make their entrance.
(01:10:42) - Edward saves Bella for the first time (of many).
(01:21:55) - Things meander a bit before the big vampire reveal.
(01:34:24) - A big, sparkly unveiling.
(01:43:47) - Meeting The Family.
(01:54:23) - Edward + Bella 4 Eva
(02:01:34) - Wanna play baseball?
(02:05:52) - Enter: the sleazy vampires.
(02:14:41) - By the time I get to Arizona.
(02:27:29) - Waking up in the hospital with the worst cover story ever concocted.
(02:29:21) - Casino prom? Casino prom!
(02:35:46) - Final thoughts.
(02:44:11) - Housekeeping for the next couple of weeks, and outro.

One season is all that stands between us and our years-long goal of completing Star Trek: The Original Series. Yes, that season might be uniquely bad by series standards, but we are determined to push through any deep hurting that may result in order to achieve our goal. First up, an all-timer dumb-dumb episode in Spock's Brain, and the surprisingly solid The Enterprise Incident.
CHAPTERS:

(00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 182: Star Trek: Spock's Brain and The Enterprise Incident
(00:00:17) - Intro.
(00:03:45) - Why season 3 is Like This.
(00:16:24) - Launching into this season of hell with Spock's Brain.
(00:22:40) - Who made this episode, and why is it in this state.
(00:27:52) - Pressing the "make everyone fall down" button so you can steal a brain.
(00:37:27) - The horrors of the caveman planet.
(00:41:37) - RoboSpock.
(00:51:27) - I...KNOW...EVERYTHIIIIIING!
(00:58:30) - They saved Spock's brain.
(01:03:05) - Break!
(01:03:32) - We're back, and it's onto The Enterprise Incident.
(01:15:16) - The creatives involved in this episode, and the real life naval event that inspired the
episode.
(01:23:00) - Veering into the Neutral Zone like a road rage incident.
(01:30:11) - What is the Romulans' interest in Spock?
(01:40:35) - It was all an elaborate, if confusing, ruse.
(01:42:23) - Can love bloom on the battlefield, specifically between a Vulcan and a Romulan?
(01:50:54) - Keystone Romulans, and Spock's filibuster.
(01:58:16) - Try every USB adapter you've got, Scotty!
(02:05:37) - Final thoughts.
(02:09:34) - Outro.

We've got a one week break coming up before Star Trek Summer begins again in earnest, but before that happens we've got one more documentary to serve our Watchcasting listeners in Trekkies! Join us for some nerd archeology as we dig through this doc that's chock full of superfans of all flavors and stripes, and marvel with us at how quaint it all seems compared with our extremely fandom-oriented present.
CHAPTERS:

(00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 181: Trekkies (1997)
(00:00:14) - Intro.
(00:05:40) - Why we're doing Trekkies (because Star Trek Summer is on the horizon).
(00:08:10) - The fandom, and how this movie treats its nerds.
(00:16:41) - On Denise Crosby, and how this movie got made.
(00:20:32) - The cast reactions to all this stuff. 
(00:31:30) - Break!
(00:31:54) - We're back, and we're beginning this journey with the Spiner-Femme.
(00:37:18) - Gabriel, the star of the movie, if we're being honest.
(00:52:32) - Barbara, the Whitewater juror.
(00:58:29) - Actual Star Trek (and affiliated) people. 
(01:07:06) - The Slash Fiction crowd.
(01:12:03) - The Greensteins.
(01:17:18) - Starbase Dental.
(01:20:29) - Filking.
(01:22:54) - The wildly different radio shows.
(01:30:43) - An encounter at Radio Shack.
(01:34:53) - A few scattered bits.
(01:40:17) - Final thoughts.
(01:53:08) - Housekeeping for our upcoming Star Trek season 3 watch.
(01:55:59) - Outro.

Nothing brings people together like a good old fashioned space mission, and for this week's Watchcast we've got a documentary about the goodest of old fashioned space missions, Apollo 11! Join us as we marvel not just at the unbelievable human achievement this story represents, but also the ludicrously high quality footage they managed to capture 50-plus years ago.
CHAPTERS:

(00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 180: Apollo 11 (2019)
(00:00:24) - Intro.
(00:02:50) - Brad tells us why he picked Apollo 11, and we muse on how wild it is that this footage exists.
(00:11:01) - On the achievement itself, and what it's meant to the world since.
(00:22:51) - Some context for the previous Apollo missions.
(00:32:20) - Once again talking about the ludicrous amount of high quality footage we have here.
(00:38:30) - On the filmmaker, and how this movie came to be.
(00:43:02) - Break!
(00:43:28) - We're back, and Brad has a familial anecdote.
(00:45:50) - Launch day.
(00:59:27) - Once again, gotta give it up for the clarity of this footage.
(01:05:41) - Off to the (space) races.
(01:12:54) - Arrival at the Moon, and the descent.
(01:25:12) - Two hours on the Moon.
(01:30:03) - Rejoining with the ship, and heading home.
(01:35:35) - The boys come home.
(01:39:18) - What came after.
(01:53:27) - Final thoughts (we did a cool thing, once).
(01:58:01) - What's coming up on the Watchcast.
(02:04:08) - Outro.