all episodes — Fantasy/Animation

Episode 39 - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Chris Columbus, 2001) (with Frances Pheasant-Kelly)

For episode 39, Chris and Alex venture for the first time to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as they take on another highly popular fantasy film franchise by discussing Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Chris Columbus, 2001). They are joined by Dr Frances Pheasant-Kelly, who is a Reader in Screen Studies at the University of Wolverhampton, as well as the author of numerous publications on fantasy cinema including Fantasy Film Post-9/11 (London and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013) that traces fantasy’s cathartic potential as a vehicle to work through traumatic memories in a post-9/11 climate.

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantFebruary 3, 2020FANTASY, MAGIC, HARRY POTTER, WITCHCRAFT, WIZARDRY, CHILDREN, FRANCHISEComment

Episode 38 - The Adventures of Prince Achmed (Lotte Reiniger, 1926) (with Caroline Ruddell - Live @ Cinema Museum)

Episode 38 comes to you live from the Cinema Museum in Kennington, London, as Chris and Alex take to the stage to discuss the craft and creativity of silhouette animated feature The Adventures of Prince Achmed (Lotte Reiniger, 1926). Recorded in front of a lively audience of animated fantasy fans back in October 2019, the conversation featured very special guest Dr Caroline Ruddell (Programme Lead and Senior Lecturer in Film and Television at Brunel University London), an expert on Reiniger who has published work on the filmmaker in Fantasy/Animation: Connections Between Media, Mediums and Genres (2018), and the recent anthology The Crafty Animator: Handmade, Craft-based Animation and Cultural Value (2019), of which she is also the collection’s co-editor.

Episode 37 - Star Wars: The Force Awakens (J.J. Abrams, 2015) (with Becca Harrison)

Beginning the New Year in a galaxy far, far away, Chris and Alex turn for the first time to the seminal Star Wars franchise for their latest episode, this time revisiting the first in the latest sequel trilogy Star Wars: The Force Awakens (J.J. Abrams, 2015). Joining them for this journey through this epic space fantasy is Dr Becca Harrison, Lecturer in the Theatre, Film & Television Studies department at the University of Glasgow. Becca has written extensively on Star Wars for both the BFI and The Conversation, and is also the author of two upcoming books on the Star Wars franchise.

Episode 36 - The Muppet Christmas Carol (Brian Henson, 1992) (with Meredith Braun)

The festive season has well and truly arrived, so join Chris and Alex as they get into the Christmas spirit by discussing Yuletide classic The Muppet Christmas Carol (Brian Henson, 1992). Helping to roast the fantasy chestnuts on the animated open fire is actress, singer and West End performer Meredith Braun, who starred alongside Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, The Great Gonzo, Rizzo the Rat and Fozzie Bear in The Muppet Christmas Carol as Ebenezer Scrooge’s (Michael Caine) neglected fiancée Belle.

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantDecember 16, 2019MUSICAL, PUPPETRY, LIVE-ACTION, CHRISTMAS, CHILDREN, PERFORMANCEComment

Episode 35 - Mary Poppins Returns (Rob Marshall, 2018) (with Christian Kaestner & Frederikke Glick)

Trip a little light fantastic with Episode 35 of the Fantasy/Animation podcast, which marks Chris and Alex’ very own return to Cherry Tree Lane as they visit musical sequel Mary Poppins Returns (Rob Marshall, 2018). Joining them underneath the lovely London sky are Visual Effects Supervisor Christian Kaestner and Compositing Supervisor Frederikke Glick, who both worked as part of VFX studio Framestore’s contribution to the film.

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantDecember 2, 2019MUSICAL, SPECIAL EFFECTS, VISUAL EFFECTS, HYBRIDITY, SEQUELComment

Episode 34 - Ex Machina (Alex Garland, 2014) (with Andrew Whitehurst)

Episode 34 sees Chris and Alex focusing on the pleasures, politics and posthumanism of science-fiction parable Ex Machina (Alex Garland, 2014). To help untangle the circuitry of Garland’s film, they are joined by Academy Award-winning visual effects artist Andrew Whitehurst. Andrew is currently the Creative Director and VFX Supervisor at the Double Negative (DNEG) studio in London, with credits that include Troy (Oliver Stone, 2004), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (David Yates, 2007), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Edgar Wright, 2010), Skyfall (Sam Mendes, 2012), Paddington (Paul King, 2014), and Annihilation (Alex Garland, 2018). In this latest episode, Andrew talks about his role as Visual Effects Supervisor on Ex Machina, a film for which he received an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects in 2015.

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantNovember 18, 2019SCIENCE FICTION, CYBORG, POSTHUMANISM, VISUAL EFFECTS, BRITISH, HYBRIDITYComment

Episode 33 - The Valley of Gwangi (Jim O'Connolly, 1969) (with Astrid Goldsmith)

Part-Western, part-dinosaur epic, The Valley of Gwangi (Jim O’Connolly, 1969) is a fantasy that combines the icons and images of the frontier myth together with stop-motion animation directed by Ray Harryhausen, a project that he had himself inherited from his mentor Willis O'Brien. Set in Mexico at the turn of the 20th century, and with a plot that involves the capture of a living Allosaurus by a gang of cowboys, The Valley of Gwangi stands as Harryhausen’s final ‘dinosaur film’, one whose effects imagery is the fullest expression of his unique handling of stop-motion creatures. Joining Chris and Alex for episode 33, and to discuss the power of The Valley of Gwangi’s stop-motion puppetry, is award-winning animator Astrid Goldsmith (a.k.a. Mock Duck Studios).

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantNovember 4, 2019STOP-MOTION, CREATIVITY, HOLLYWOOD, MYTHOLOGYComment

Episode 32 - Corpse Bride (Tim Burton, 2005) (with Emily Mantell)

Halloween is well and truly upon us for Episode 32, with Chris and Alex getting to grips with spooky stop-motion feature Corpse Bride (Tim Burton, 2005). Joining them is animator Emily Mantell, Storyboard Staff Assistant on the film and currently Head of Animation at University of Wolverhampton. Expect proceedings to take a turn for the ghoulish - if not become a little ‘topsy turvy’ - as they discuss the art and labour of storyboarding within animated feature-film production; vocal performances and animating to the voicetrack; the role of ambivalent feminine unruliness embodied in the eponymous corpse bride; themes of outsiderdom and the grotesque; and the broader creative messiness of stop-motion.

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantOctober 21, 2019TIM BURTON, STOP-MOTION, HALLOWEEN, CREATIVITY, PRODUCTIONComment

Episode 31 - The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! (Peter Lord, 2012) (with Richard Haynes)

For episode 31, Chris and Alex are joined on their swashbuckling adventure by stop-motion animator Richard Haynes (Arts University Bournemouth) to discuss his work on Aardman Animations’ The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! (Peter Lord, 2012), as well as a few other animated feature films and television series along the way. Topics include how The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! differs from the traditional shape of Aardman’s exaggerated and lavish fantasy worlds; the production pipeline of stop-motion feature films; the Britishness of the clean and crisp homemade style of the Aardman studio; and the philosophies of performance with (and around) the ‘animated’ character of the camera.

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantOctober 7, 2019STOP-MOTION, AARDMAN, CREATIVITY, PRACTICE, COMEDY, BRITISHComment

Episode 30 - Laputa: Castle in the Sky (Hayao Miyazaki, 1986) (with Robert Maslen)

Episode 30 marks a return to the work of both Studio Ghibli and filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, as Chris and Alex build on their discussion of My Neighbor Totoro with a journey to Laputa: Castle in the Sky (Hayao Miyazaki, 1986), an animated fantasy that follows the magical Sheeta and companion Pazu from a mining community of Japan up into the skies thanks to the floating powers of a mythical crystal. To discuss this early Ghibli feature, they are joined by Dr Robert Maslen, Senior Lecturer in English Literature (University of Glasgow) and founder of the MLitt English Literature: Fantasy, the first graduate programme in the world specifically dedicated to the study of fantasy and the fantastic.

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantSeptember 23, 2019STUDIO GHIBLI, FANTASY, GENDER, JAPANComment

Episode 29 - Mr. Bug Goes to Town (Dave Fleischer, 1941)

Chris and Alex return to the work of the Fleischer studios for episode 29, following up their discussion of Gulliver’s Travels with Mr. Bug Goes to Town (Dave Fleischer, 1941), similar in concept and design to its predecessor and loosely inspired by Belgian poet Maurice Maeterlinck's book The Life of the Bee (1901). The second (and final) cel-animated feature film produced by the Fleischers, Mr. Bug Goes to Town negotiates the conflict between an insect community and the threatening human world, all framed by an environmental narrative of modernisation, redevelopment and urban sprawl.

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantSeptember 9, 2019CEL-ANIMATION, HOLLYWOOD, SCALE, ENVIRONMENT, RACEComment

Episode 28 - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Tim Burton, 2005) (with Stuart Messinger)

Episode 28 sees Chris and Alex joined in their world of pure imagination by Stuart Messinger, VFX Coordinator on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Tim Burton, 2005), to discuss the part-musical, full-fantasy and live-action/CGI adaptation of Roald Dahl’s popular story. Topics include Stuart’s work on the film in digital visual effects at the Moving Picture Company; the collaborative nature of multi-studio effects production on feature-length blockbusters; the practical and artistic challenges of animating live-action plates; the combination of 2D (matte) and 3D (sub-surface scattering) technologies; and the integration of realist aesthetics together with the surrealistic imagery and fantastic stylisations conjured by Dahl’s original 1964 story.

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantAugust 26, 2019REMAKE, TIM BURTON, CGI, DIGITAL, PRODUCTIONComment

Episode 27 - Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey & Rodney Rothman, 2018) (with Simran Hans)

Episode 27 has Chris and Alex swinging their way into a superhero-filled multiverse to discuss the narrative strategies and visual dynamism of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman, 2018), the highly-successful computer-animated feature film from Sony Pictures Animation. Caught in the fantasy/animation web for this latest instalment is Simran Hans, film critic and culture writer whose work has appeared in The Observer, The Guardian, Buzzfeed, Dazed, The Fader and Sight & Sound.

Episode 26 - King Kong (Peter Jackson, 2005) (with Barry J.C. Purves)

For episode 26, Chris and Alex are joined by special guest Barry J.C. Purves, renowned stop-motion animator, director and screenwriter who is also the author of Stop Motion: Passion, Process and Performance (Burlington, MA: Focal Press, 2007). The focus of their conversation is the monster epic King Kong (Peter Jackson, 2005), the digital VFX-heavy remake of the original 1933 film of the same name, and a film upon which Barry himself worked as part of the animation department.

Episode 25 - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Peter Jackson, 2001) (with Shaun Gunner)

Venturing to Middle-earth, and ably accompanied on this opening stage of their podcasting quest by Shaun Gunner, chairman of the Tolkien Society, Chris and Alex discuss the first of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings adaptations, The Fellowship of the Ring (2001). Journeying from the Shire on the way to Mount Doom, episode 25 debates Tolkien’s ability to craft believable genealogies and histories in his high fantasy realms; cartography, map-making and the geographical consistency of fictional worlds; and the film’s relationship to post-millennial Hollywood franchises via technological developments in digital visual effects.

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantJuly 15, 2019CGI, DIGITAL, ADAPTATION, FANTASY, SPECIAL EFFECTS, HIGH FANTASYComment

Episode 24 - Waltz with Bashir (Ari Folman, 2008) (with Bella Honess Roe)

Episode 24 takes a walk through the terrain of animated documentary, with Chris and Alex joined by Dr Bella Honess Roe (Senior Lecturer and Programme Director for Film Studies, University of Surrey) to discuss the relationship between truth, authenticity and animation in Waltz with Bashir (Ari Folman, 2008). Documenting his own personalised account of the Lebanon war, Folman’s feature film provides a useful test case to think about how fantasy and animation might be applied within a non-fiction context.

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantJuly 1, 2019FANTASY, ANIMATION, ALLEGORY, FILM HISTORYComment

Episode 23 - Gulliver's Travels (Dave Fleischer, 1939)

In episode 23, Chris and Alex turn to the work of the Fleischer studios, looking at the second North American animated feature film Gulliver’s Travels (Dave Fleischer, 1939), an adaptation of Jonathan Swift’s seminal work of fantasy fiction. As something of a follow-up to Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (David Hand, 1937), the film raises questions about animation’s creative ability to render perspectival shifts and ‘scaled’ imagery of ‘big’ versus ‘small’; world-building and the intrusive fantasy of human figuration; and the surrealist design of the Flesichers’ characters offset against Disney’s more ‘hyperrealist’ aesthetic.

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantJune 17, 2019ADAPTATION, HOLLYWOOD, FLEISCHERS, FAIRYTALEComment

Episode 22 - Pogles' Wood (Oliver Postgate, 1965-1967) (with Simon Costin)

Episode 22 marks a return to the small screen, as Chris and Alex discuss the BBC television stop-motion animated series Pogles’ Wood (Oliver Postgate, 1965-1967), produced by renowned British production company Smallfilms. The Fantasy/Animation team are joined for this latest installment by Simon Costin, artist, set designer and director of the Museum of British Folklore, a project devoted to celebrating and researching the UK's rich folkloric cultural heritage.

Episode 21 - Aladdin (Ron Clements & John Musker, 1992) (with Steve Henderson)

In episode 21, Chris and Alex are joined by Steve Henderson - Editor of the Skwigly Online Animation Magazine and Director of the Manchester Animation Festival, and Senior Lecturer in Animation at the Manchester School of Art - to discuss the Disney animated musical Aladdin (Ron Clements & John Musker, 1992). With the live-action/CG remake soon to hit cinema screens, this episode provides the perfect opportunity to revisit what has made this popular cel-animated fantasy so enduring among audiences.

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantMay 20, 2019WALT DISNEY, MUSICAL, CEL-ANIMATION, ADULT, ADAPTATIONComment

Episode 20 - Peppa Pig (Neville Astley & Mark Baker, 2004-) (with Richard Dyer)

Episode 20 welcomes Professor Richard Dyer (Emeritus Professor of Film Studies, King's College London and Professorial Fellow in Film Studies, University of St Andrews) to the podcast, joining Chris and Alex to discuss the popular British animated television series Peppa Pig (Neville Astley & Mark Baker, 2014-).