all episodes — Fantasy/Animation

Episode 148 - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - Part 2 (with Nathalie Dupont)

Episode 148 concludes Fantasy/Animation’s two-part special focusing on C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia book series with this examination of the 2005 big-screen adaptation The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Andrew Adamson, 2005), with special guest Dr Nathalie Dupont. Nathalie is Associate Professor in American Studies at the Université du Littoral Côte d’Opale (ULCO) in France, and is the author of Between Hollywood and Godlywood:The Case of Walden Media (Peter Lang, 2015), which focuses on the history of Walden Media - a unique American company financed by a conservative Christian and a producer of The Chronicles of Narnia big screen franchise.

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantDecember 16, 2024ADAPTATION, FRANCHISE, HOLLYWOOD, FANTASY, RELIGIONComment

Episode 147 - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - Part 1 (with Terry Lindvall)

Episode 147 of the podcast is the first in a two-part special focusing on C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia book series originally published between 1950 and 1956, where Chris and Alex look at a handful of screen adaptations that traverse the fantasy and animation intersection. For this first instalment, they compare the 1979 animated film The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe directed by Bill Melendez with the BBC serial of the same name from 1988, both of which adapted Lewis’ first and perhaps best known Narnia novel.

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantDecember 2, 2024ADAPTATION, LITERATURE, TELEVISION, BRITISH, FANTASY, ANIMALS, MAGICComment

Episode 146 - The Batwoman (René Cardona, 1968) (with Iain Robert Smith)

The Fantasy/Animation podcast is back with a bang thanks to the Mexican superhero caper La mujer murcielago/The Batwoman (René Cardona, 1968), a transnational twist on the famed DC character. Joining Chris and Alex to discuss intellectual property, international adaptation, and the politics of the remake is Dr Iain Robert Smith, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at King’s College London.

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantNovember 18, 2024CULT, ADAPTATION, SUPERHERO, NATIONALComment

Episode 145 - Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935) (with David Sandner)

This year’s Halloween special of the podcast goes back to 1930s Hollywood with this look at Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935), the follow-up to Universal Pictures’ 1931 feature Frankenstein also directed by James Whale. To discuss the horror and humour of this most monstrous and macabre sequel, Chris and Alex are joined by special guest David Sandner, author and editor of multiple works on fantasy literature and a Professor at California State University.

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantNovember 4, 2024HORROR, SCIENCE FICTION, ADAPTATION, SEQUEL, GENDERComment

Episode 144 - Monsters, Inc. (Pete Docter, 2001) (with John Airlie)

The Fantasy/Animation podcast continues its involvement with the work of Pixar Animation Studios in this closer look at the computer-animated film Monsters, Inc. (2001) featuring Chris and Alex’s first guest of the new season John Airlie, Associate Lecturer in Film and Media at Birkbeck University in London. Not only has John has taught courses across higher education related to gender and sexuality, but has, in his own words, also toiled in the world of publishing and book distribution. He now works for one of the major U.S. film companies in London, where he specialises in post production (localisation/dubbing) for international markets.

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantOctober 21, 2024PIXAR, VOICE ACTING, STARDOM, COMPUTER-ANIMATED FILMSComment

Episode 143 - Ratatouille (Brad Bird, 2007)

Chris and Alex return for a brand new season of the Fantasy/Animation podcast, beginning with this special episode on Ratatouille (Brad Bird, 2007), the eighth computer-animated film from Pixar Animation Studies and one of the studio’s cleverest in how it uses the metaphor of food and cookery to discuss ingenuity, artistry, and what it means to value creativity.

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantOctober 7, 2024PIXAR, CITY, EUROPE, ANTHROPOMORPHISM, FOODComment

Archive Episode - My Neighbor Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki, 1988)

Another trip through the Fantasy/Animation archive lands on this very early episode from February 2019 that focuses on Studio Ghibli’s My Neighbor Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki, 1988).

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantJuly 29, 2024STUDIO GHIBLI, FANTASY, GENDER, JAPAN, STYLEComment

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

Chris and Alex welcomed Oscar-winning visual effects artist Andrew Whitehurst to the Fantasy/Animation podcast back in November 2019 for this reflection on the posthumanism of science-fiction parable Ex Machina (Alex Garland, 2014). Andrew kindly spoke with us about his role as Visual Effects Supervisor on the film (for which he received an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects in 2015), and navigated through Ex Machina’s technologised construction of bodies and the hybrid performance of humanoid robot Ava.

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

The latest archive instalment takes Chris and Alex back to January 2020, and their first live episode recorded in front of an audience of animated fantasy fans in attendance at the Fantasy/Animation screening series in collaboration with the Cinema Museum in Kennington, London. Joining the Q&A to discuss The Adventures of Prince Achmed (Lotte Reiniger, 1926) was special guest Dr Caroline Ruddell (Brunel University London), an expert on Lotte 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).

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantJuly 15, 2024GERMAN EXPRESSIONISM, STYLE, AESTHETICS, ALLEGORYComment

Archive Episode - Treasure Planet (Ron Clements & John Musker, 2002) (with Ron Clements and John Musker)

For the third archive episode, Chris and Alex revisit a real bucket list moment by journeying back to July 2021 and the episode on Treasure Planet (Ron Clements & John Musker, 2002), which featured as its very special guests the film’s directors Ron Clements and John Musker.

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

Chris and Alex continue their journey back through the Fantasy/Animation podcast with this reminder of an early episode looking at the Disney animated musical Aladdin (Ron Clements & John Musker, 1992), which featured as its special guest Steve Henderson - Editor of the Skwigly Online Animation Magazine and Director of the Manchester Animation Festival.

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

Chris and Alex kick off the first in a series of episodes that give listeners a chance to revisit and review some earlier podcasts, or perhaps hear one or two instalments they might have missed first time around. For this inaugural delve back into the Fantasy/Animation archive, they look back at their conversation with Professor Richard Dyer (Emeritus Professor of Film Studies, King's College London and Professorial Fellow in Film Studies, University of St Andrews) who discussed the popular British animated television series Peppa Pig (Neville Astley & Mark Baker, 2014-) way back in May 2019.

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantJune 24, 2024CHILDREN, FAMILY, TELEVISION, BRITISH, ANIMALS, ANIMATIONComment

Episode 142 - The Thief of Bagdad (Michael Powell, Ludwig Berger & Tim Whelan, 1940)

The Fantasy/Animation podcast is soon to break for the summer, but not before a few more episodes to round off the series - this time, it is the “Arabian fantasy” The Thief of Bagdad (Michael Powell, Ludwig Berger & Tim Whelan, 1940) that provides the focus for Episode 142, as Chris and Alex try to make sense of its story and style drawn from the “One Thousand and One Nights” collection of Middle Eastern folktales and its reproduction of Orientialist imaginaries and iconographies.

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantJune 17, 2024GENDER, REPRESENTATION, RACE, ORIENTALISM, BRITISHComment

Episode 141 - Frozen (Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee, 2013) (with Eve Benhamou)

Episode 141 returns to the contemporary era of Disney Feature Animation with this discussion of the computer-animated musical blockbuster Frozen (Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee, 2013), a fairytale film of female empowerment that is widely credited with ushering in Disney’s Third Golden Age of animated features after the ‘Classic’ Disney period and earlier Disney Renaissance. The special guest for this instalment is Dr Eve Benhamou, teaching fellow in Film Studies at the University Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3, France who has previously taught at the Bristol School of Animation and Swansea University.

Episode 140 - Terminator 2: Judgment Day (James Cameron, 1991) (with Yvonne Tasker)

Professor Yvonne Tasker is the very special guest for Episode 140 of the podcast, joining Chris and Alex for this discussion of action spectacle and the gendered body in science-fiction sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day (James Cameron, 1991).

Episode 139 - Dungeons & Dragons - The Fantasy Adventure Board Game (with Cat Mahoney)

Episode 139 marks something of a first as Chris and Alex play ‘The Fantasy Adventure Board Game’ Dungeons & Dragons originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson in 1974, taking on its array of characters, weapons, and quests live during the podcast with special guest (and Dungeon Master) Dr Cat Mahoney, Derby Fellow in Communication and Media at the University of Liverpool.

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantMay 6, 2024TRANSMEDIA, ADAPTATION, CHARACTER, WORLDS, GAMINGComment

Episode 138 - Toy Story (John Lasseter, 1995) (with Lucy Fife Donaldson)

The Fantasy/Animation podcast finally tackles the seminal Toy Story (John Lasseter, 1995), with Episode 138 looking at Pixar’s computer-animated feature and the film that transformed animation in Hollywood - and beyond - into a digital medium. Joining Chris and Alex to examine Toy Story’s computerised production and the pleasures of its pristine visual illusionism is Dr Lucy Fife Donaldson, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at the University of St Andrews, whose work focuses on film and television style, audiovisual design and 'below-the-line' labour, performance and the body, and videographic criticism.

Episode 137 - Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (James Mangold, 2023) (with Sarah Thomas)

Episode 137 appropriately begins at the end of the commercially and critically successful Indiana Jones franchise with this discussion of the fifth and final feature Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (James Mangold, 2023) featuring special guest Dr Sarah Thomas. Sarah is Senior Lecturer in Communication and Media in the School of Arts, whose research expertise centres on stardom/celebrity, media industries, and screen performance in Hollywood and transnational cinemas.

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantApril 8, 2024HOLLYWOOD, SEQUEL, FRANCHISE, STARDOM, TECHNOLOGY, MASCULINITYComment

Episode 136 - Beauty and the Beast (Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise, 1991) (with Peter Kunze)

The author of Staging a Comeback: Broadway, Hollywood, and the Disney Renaissance (Rutgers University Press, 2023), Dr. Peter Kunze (Tulane University), is the special guest for Episode 136 of the podcast which looks at the impact of Walt Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise, 1991) and both the industrial and stylistic stakes of the film’s adoption of a Broadway style of musical arrangement.

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantMarch 25, 2024WALT DISNEY, CEL-ANIMATION, DIGITAL, HOLLYWOOD, FILM HISTORYComment

Episode 135 - The Flintstones (William Hanna & Joseph Barbera, 1960-1966) (with Jared Bahir Browsh)

Chris and Alex are delighted to welcome Dr. Jared Bahir Browsh (Assistant Teaching Professor, University of Colorado Boulder) to the podcast to discuss William Hanna and Joseph Barbera’s landmark animated sitcom The Flintstones (1960-1966), the first cartoon series to occupy a prime time slot on U.S. television.

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantMarch 11, 2024AMERICA, TELEVISION, FAMILY, NARRATIVE, STYLEComment