Fair warning: this month’s episode starts out as a major bummer, what with news of the Netflix/WB merger and the pricing madness around RAM spelling doom for both Hollywood and the gaming industry, topics we dive deep on to make ourselves extremely sad. But once you get past all that, we start having some fun, as Jonathan reviews the flawed but extremely fun Metroid Prime 4: Beyond on Nintendo Switch and Sean talks at length about falling down the Super Robot Wars rabbit hole, which is an absolutely amazing segment. Then we finish things off with a very misanthropic – but very funny – Monthly Ten segment in which Jonathan lists 10 ways to improve Christmas in 2025, most of which involve taking aim at traditions people love. Pa rum pa pum pum.

Enjoy!

TIME CHART:

Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:08:50

Netflix/WB Merger: 0:08:50 – 0:26:50

Star Wars News: 0:26:50 – 0:35:45

Steam Machines: 0:35:45 – 0:51:42

RAM Madness: 0:51:42 – 1:14:38

Call of Duty and Game Award News: 1:14:38 – 1:54:35

Metroid Prime 4: 1:54:35 – 2:38:02

Ultraman Cosmos: 2:38:02 – 2:55:00

Super Robot Wars: 2:55:00 – 3:24:04

Monthly Ten: 3:24:04 – 3:52:10

Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com

Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://japanimationstation.com

Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

Subscribe to our YouTube channels!

Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff

Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

For our November topic – coming just in time for the start of December – we celebrate the release of Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein with a three-part retrospective on one of the most famous stories in the English language. First, we take a look at the original 1818 novel by Mary Shelley – which has been one of Sean’s favorite books, but was new to Jonathan – and celebrate its tremendous accomplishments, all of which still feel revelatory today. Then we talk about the classic 1931 Universal movie, directed by James Whale and starring Boris Karloff, which doesn’t take much from the book, but establishes much of the story’s endearing iconography. And finally, we give a full review of the brand new version, directed by the inimitable Guillermo del Toro, who leave his own original stamp on the material in ways that are very much worth discussing.

Enjoy!

TIME CHART:

Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:19:29

The Novel: 0:19:29 – 1:27:22

The 1931 Film: 1:27:22 – 1:56:35

The 2025 Film: 1:56:35 – 3:12:26

Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com

Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://japanimationstation.com

Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

Subscribe to our YouTube channels!

Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff

Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman

In one of our most absolutely jam-packed Monthly Stuff installments to date, we live up to our moniker with a long discussion of teaching stories and curriculum planning (but it’s fun, we promise) before moving on to talk about the avalanche of games we’ve playing recently, including Ghost of Yōtei, Pokémon Legends Z-A, Hades II, Super Robot Wars Y, and the Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake. Before all that, we discuss some recent news, including updates on Doctor Who, Halo, and One Piece, and we end the show with perhaps our best Monthly Ten segment to date, in which Sean Chapman, who had never listened to a Taylor Swift song before this month, imagines 10 future Taylor Swift songs based on dark and upsetting plot points in William Shakespeare plays. It’s a blast.

Enjoy!

TIME CHART:

Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:04:48

News: 0:04:48 – 0:54:29

School Stories: 0:54:29 – 1:51:30

Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu: 1:51:30 – 2:07:45

Plur1bus: 2:07:45 – 2:14:40

Ghost of Yōtei: 2:14:40 – 2:27:04

Hades II: 2:27:04 – 2:35:35

Pokémon Legends ZA: 2:35:35 – 2:54:30

Super Robot Wars Y: 2:54:30 – 3:01:25

Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake: 3:01:25 – 3:07:14

The Monthly Ten: 3:07:14 – 3:31:16

Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com

Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://japanimationstation.com

Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK

Subscribe to our YouTube channels!

Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation

Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast

Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff

Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/

©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman