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55: “Another Reason To Hate Christmas” – Gremlins

Never get them wet. Avoid bright lights. Don’t feed them after midnight. And whatever you do, don’t miss When We Were Young’s holiday episode! The yuletide takes a dark turn this year as we take a look back at the Chrismas-set horror-comedy GREMLINS (1984) and its less successful but much more bonkers sequel GREMLINS 2: THE NEW BATCH (1990).

“Gremlins” is notable for paving the way for the PG-13 rating and making the horror-comedy genre mainstream. But are these trouble-making creatures’ hijinks charming, or just super annoying after all these years? Is “Gremlins 2” still as insane as we remember it being? And is Gizmo still the cutest thing ever? (Spoiler: Yes, he is!) Grab a midnight snack and run a bath as we shine a light on Joe Dante’s cult classic!

When We Were Young is a podcast devoted to the most beloved pop culture of our formative years (roughly 1980-2000). Join us for a look back to the past with a critical eye on how these movies, songs, TV shows and more hold up now. You can follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @WWWYshow, on Facebook at Facebook.com/WWWYShow and you can email us your episodes suggestions at wwwyshow@gmail.com. Don’t forget to subscribe and review us on iTunes!

Help us defray the costs of creating this show, which includes purchasing movies/shows/music to review, delivery food to eat our feelings, and producing & editing in-house at the MFP Studio in Los Angeles, California, by donating to our Patreon account at patreon.com/WhenWeWereYoung.

54: “…And I’m All Out Of Bubblegum” – 80s Dystopias Part 2

The 1980s may not have been quite as bleak as 1984 predicted, but the Reagan era did see plenty of doom and gloom in entertainment, from Mad Max and Blade Runner to The Terminator and RoboCop. In When We Were Young’s latest episodes, Reel Gents podcast host Travis Dukelow joins us to dissect a cornucopia of dystopias unleashed in the 80s.

In Part One, we cover Terry Gilliam’s legendary BRAZIL (1985), which takes several cues from Orwell’s 1984 and adds a healthy dollop of dryly absurd British humor. Jonathan Pryce stars as meek cog-in-the-machine Sam Lowry, whose heroic fantasies offer the only hope of escape from a dreary, duct-ravaged world — at least, until Robert De Niro shows up as the world’s most swashbuckling repairman. If your vision of the future involves Christmastime, lobotomies, plastic surgery gone awry, and terrorism, this is the dystopia for you!

If you prefer a more scathing satire of consumerism and media, however, look no further than John Carpenter’s camp classic THEY LIVE (1987), discussed in Part Two of this episode. It stars wrestler Roddy Piper as John Nada, a down-on-his-luck drifter who suddenly learns that roughly half of America’s population is being brainwashed by television — and the other half are aliens. This cult favorite features magic sunglasses, excessive ass-kicking, and absolutely no bubblegum — and yet feels strangely prescient about the state of the world in 2018.

Is it 1984 yet? Join us for this two-part dystopic extravaganza before the inevitable collapse of society renders podcasts obsolete!

When We Were Young is a podcast devoted to the most beloved pop culture of our formative years (roughly 1980-2000). Join us for a look back to the past with a critical eye on how these movies, songs, TV shows and more hold up now. You can follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @WWWYshow, on Facebook at Facebook.com/WWWYShow and you can email us your episodes suggestions at wwwyshow@gmail.com. Don’t forget to subscribe and review us on iTunes!

Help us defray the costs of creating this show, which includes purchasing movies/shows/music to review, delivery food to eat our feelings, and producing & editing in-house at the MFP Studio in Los Angeles, California, by donating to our Patreon account at patreon.com/WhenWeWereYoung.

53: “My Complication Had A Little Complication” – 80s Dystopias Part 1

The 1980s may not have been quite as bleak as 1984 predicted, but the Reagan era did see plenty of doom and gloom in entertainment, from Mad Max and Blade Runner to The Terminator and RoboCop. In When We Were Young’s latest episodes, Reel Gents podcast host Travis Dukelow joins us to dissect a cornucopia of dystopias unleashed in the 80s.

In Part One, we cover Terry Gilliam’s legendary BRAZIL (1985), which takes several cues from Orwell’s 1984 and adds a healthy dollop of dryly absurd British humor. Jonathan Pryce stars as meek cog-in-the-machine Sam Lowry, whose heroic fantasies offer the only hope of escape from a dreary, duct-ravaged world — at least, until Robert De Niro shows up as the world’s most swashbuckling repairman. If your vision of the future involves Christmastime, lobotomies, plastic surgery gone awry, and terrorism, this is the dystopia for you!

If you prefer a more scathing satire of consumerism and media, however, look no further than John Carpenter’s camp classic THEY LIVE (1987), discussed in Part Two of this episode. It stars wrestler Roddy Piper as John Nada, a down-on-his-luck drifter who suddenly learns that roughly half of America’s population is being brainwashed by television — and the other half are aliens. This cult favorite features magic sunglasses, excessive ass-kicking, and absolutely no bubblegum — and yet feels strangely prescient about the state of the world in 2018.

Is it 1984 yet? Join us for this two-part dystopic extravaganza before the inevitable collapse of society renders podcasts obsolete!

When We Were Young is a podcast devoted to the most beloved pop culture of our formative years (roughly 1980-2000). Join us for a look back to the past with a critical eye on how these movies, songs, TV shows and more hold up now. You can follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @WWWYshow, on Facebook at Facebook.com/WWWYShow and you can email us your episodes suggestions at wwwyshow@gmail.com. Don’t forget to subscribe and review us on iTunes!

Help us defray the costs of creating this show, which includes purchasing movies/shows/music to review, delivery food to eat our feelings, and producing & editing in-house at the MFP Studio in Los Angeles, California, by donating to our Patreon account at patreon.com/WhenWeWereYoung.

47: “Light As A Feather, Stiff As A Board” – The Craft

Do you believe in magic? In this episode, your three favorite podcast hosts call all four corners with the help of returning guest Krissy, our go-to guru for movies involving spells and sorcery.

First, we chat about the stigma of being goth in the 90s, and casting fake spells on our enemies. Then, When We Were Young explores the dark arts via 1996’s THE CRAFT, starring Neve Campbell, Robin Tunney, Rachel True, and Fairuza Balk as teenage witches Sabrina wouldn’t be caught dead with.

From the fashion to the soundtrack to the casting of Skeet Ulrich as the big man on campus, The Craft casts a very dated spell in some ways. But how does the film’s twisted take on 90s “girl power” hold up 22 years later? Is Balk’s kooky, spooky turn as the coven’s queen bee Nancy as magnetic as we remember? With perfect love and perfect trust, we bind you from not listening to this podcast.

When We Were Young is a podcast devoted to the most beloved pop culture of our formative years (roughly 1980-2000). Join us for a look back to the past with a critical eye on how these movies, songs, TV shows and more hold up now. You can follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @WWWYshow, on Facebook at Facebook.com/WWWYShow and you can email us your episodes suggestions at wwwyshow@gmail.com. Don’t forget to subscribe and review us on iTunes!

Help us defray the costs of creating this show, which includes purchasing movies/shows/music to review, delivery food to eat our feelings, and producing & editing in-house at the MFP Studio in Los Angeles, California, by donating to our Patreon account at patreon.com/WhenWeWereYoung.

39: “I’m Erect, Why Aren’t You Erect?” – Showgirls

SHOWGIRLS (1995)

You can’t touch us, but we can touch you. In When We Were Young’s raw, uncensored NC-17 episode, we reveal our most inappropriate pop culture encounters from childhood, then set our sights on the Las Vegas underbelly (and undercarriage) of 1995’s SHOWGIRLS, widely considered to be the best bad movie of all time.

Meet the consistently hot-and-bothered Nomi Malone, who hails from “different places.” She’s a dancer but not a stripper (except by profession) and definitely not a prostitute, who dreams of one day leaving behind the seedy, sleazy world of removing her clothes for money to become a topless dancer. She is not a prostitute.

Meet Cristal Connors, the gorgeous “Goddess” who takes a manipulative, seductive interest in this Amazonian ingenue. Will Nomi ever do Cristal’s nails? Will Cristal ever do Nomi? After a bare-breasted leather dance-fight, who will push who down the stairs?

Paul Verhoeven’s uniquely confounding flop is explicit but never sexy, strikingly feminist and queasily exploitative, and features the most enthrallingly misguided star turn of all time from Saved By The Bell’s Elizabeth Berkley. So put your nightie on, crack open a can of Doggy Chow, head over to Versace and THRUST IT, because it’s showtime, darlin’.

When We Were Young is a podcast devoted to the most beloved pop culture of our formative years (roughly 1980-2000). Join us for a look back to the past with a critical eye on how these movies, songs, TV shows and more hold up now. You can follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @WWWYshow, on Facebook at Facebook.com/WWWYShow and you can email us your episodes suggestions at wwwyshow@gmail.com. Don’t forget to subscribe and review us on iTunes!

Help us defray the costs of creating this show, which includes purchasing movies/shows/music to review, adhering to a pretty strict drug regimen to keep our minds limber, and producing & editing in-house at the MFP Studio in Los Angeles, California, by donating to our Patreon account at patreon.com/WhenWeWereYoung.

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