Christopher Nolan is dominating theaters once again with his adaptation of The Odyssey starring Matt Damon, so we’re taking the opportunity to not just talk about the new movie – which is excellent, though our hosts slightly disagree on how much – but the original poem by Homer. Well, not exactly the original, since neither of us read Ancient Greek – but we took a look at the 2017 translation by Emily Wilson for this episode (which partially inspired Nolan’s film), and talk about a few other translations we’ve read over the years, as we appreciate a work that’s endured for millennia for good reason. If you like the ‘academic’ in Purely Academic, this is the episode for you.

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://www.japanimation-station.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

It’s been perhaps the darkest few weeks for video games in either of our lifetimes, so we’re back to discuss the ongoing Video Game Apocalypse, from Xbox executing thousands of layoffs and divesting themselves of a half-dozen studios, to PlayStation ending physical media on their consoles even as they close the digital storefront on legacy systems, to ongoing price hikes making the entire hobby unaffordable for everyone. It’s really never been this bad, but at least we can commiserate about it together! And after that, this episode has plenty of fun, too, as Sean talks about the latest Ultraman shows he’s seen and ongoing adventures in Super Robot Wars Y, while Jonathan shares his experiences falling down the Street Fighter 6 rabbit hole and watching all the James Bond movies after playing 007: First Light. And we’ve got a great Odyssey-inspired Monthly Ten for you about unlikely adaptation ideas for pre-modern literature.

Enjoy!

TIME CHART:

Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:04:48

Video Game News: 0:04:48 0:23:44

PlayStation News: 0:23:44 0:54:14

Xbox Layoffs: 0:54:14 1:22:28

Doctor Who News: 1:22:28 1:31:54

Ultraman Max & Mebius: 1:31:54 1:44:42

007: 1:44:42 2:01:08

Super Robot Wars Y: 2:01:08 2:34:21

Street Fighter: 2:34:21 2:56:09

Monthly Ten: 2:56:09 3:26:19

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://www.japanimation-station.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

This month marks the 60th anniversary of the premiere of Japan’s most iconic tokusatsu franchise: ULTRAMAN! Created by the legendary special effects wizards at Tsuburaya Productions, Ultraman premiered on July 17th, 1966, and has been a phenomenon in Japan and around the world ever since. To mark the occasion, today we’re taking a look at 15 episodes from 5 different Ultraman series directed by the series’ most infamous filmmaker: the one and only Jissōji Akio, whose bizarre and innovative camerawork has proved an indelible influence on generation of Japanese filmmakers, including famous anime auteurs like Neon Genesis Evangelion’s Anno Hideaki. It’s some of the most inspired, bravura directing ever seen on television, and whether you’re a longtime Ultraman super-fan (like Sean) or a relative newcomer (like Jonathan), you will have a blast watching these amazing episodes.

Enjoy!

TIME CHART:

Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:18:18

Ultraman History: 0:18:18 – 0:43:30

Ultraman ‘66 Episodes: 0:43:30 – 1:37:08

Ultraseven Episodes: 1:37:08 – 2:20:02

Ultraman Tiga Episodes: 2:20:02 – 2:45:40

Ultraman Dyna Episode: 2:45:40 – 3:00:18

Ultraman Max Episode: 3:00:18 – 3:25:42

The full list of episodes we watched for this podcast:

ULTRAMAN (1966) - Episodes 14 (The Pearl Defense Directive), 15 (Terrifying Cosmic Rays), 22 (Overthrow the Surface), 23 (My Home is Earth), 34 (A Gift from the Sky), and 35 (The Monster Graveyard)

ULTRASEVEN (1967) - Episodes 8 (The Marked Town), 12 (From Another Planet with Love), 43 (Nightmare of Planet No. 4) and 45 (The Saucers Have Come)

ULTRAMAN TIGA (1997) - Episodes 37 (Flower) and 40 (Dream)

ULTRAMAN DYNA (1998) - Episode 38 (Kaiju Play)

ULTRAMAN MAX (2005) - Episodes 22 (Butterfly Dream) and 24 (The Unmarked Town)

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://www.japanimation-station.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