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43: “Prepare the World for Bad News” – Deep Impact & Armageddon

Grab some tissues, because in our latest episode, we’re sharing the movies that made us cry when we were young!

In the summer of 1998, two blockbusters hurtled into theaters with virtually the same premise: astronauts blasting up into space to blow up deadly space rocks with nuclear weapons. In many ways, these twin disaster flicks couldn’t be more different. DEEP IMPACT has Tea Leoni, Elijah Wood, and a comet, focusing on journalism and science. ARMAGEDDON stars Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, and an asteroid, concerning loudmouth white male oil drillers with minimal education or training. (Bet you can’t guess which one Michael Bay directed!)

In 2018, these doomsday vehicles turn out to be surprisingly relevant in terms of current politics, but how do they hold up as mindless special effects-driven entertainment? When We Were Young discusses America’s actual first black president Morgan Freeman, plus child marriage, daddy issues galore, and the efficacy of Ben Affleck’s animal cracker seduction. You won’t want to miss a thing!

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.

42: “Life, Uh, Finds A Way” – Jurassic Park

JURASSIC PARK (1993), THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK II (1997), and JURASSIC PARK III (2001)

Dodgson! Dodgson! We’ve got Dodgson here! Does the fact that JURASSIC PARK is celebrating its 25th anniversary this month make you feel like a dinosaur? Or does the impending release of JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM have you ready to RRRUUUUNNN toward the nearest cineplex all over again?

You don’t have to be a clever girl to know that the original holds up — Steven Spielberg’s monstrous masterpiece is arguably the definitive blockbuster of the 90s. The When We Were Young podcast spares no expense in recounting the film’s lengthy development and risky production, also touching on Jeff Goldblum’s rock star nerd allure, the iconic score by John Williams, and how those once-groundbreaking CGI effects hold up 65 million years later.

But chaos theory kicks in once we extract 1997’s THE LOST WORLD from amber and dig up the fossilized remains of 2001’s JURASSIC PARK III. Are these sequels one big pile of dino droppings, or do they, uh, find a way? Turn the light off, hold onto your butt, and say the magic word, because we have a T-Rex, we bred raptors, and they do NOT happen to be vegetarians. Who’s hungry?

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.

31: “Deck Them Halls and All That Stuff” – Christmas TV Specials

RUDOLPH THE RED NOSE REINDEER (1964), A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS (1965), HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS (1966)

In our first holiday episode, When We Were Young looks back on Christmas and Hanukkah traditions from childhood, debates the pros and cons of believing in Santa Claus, and shares favorite festive pop culture (or mourns the dearth of good Hanukkah music).

Then, we check in on the annual animated Christmas specials we watched as kids: Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and A Charlie Brown Christmas. Do these family-friendly specials still make us shout out with glee (“yippee!”), or have they held up as well as a bad banana with a greasy black peel? We hope you’ve practiced your Snoopy dance, because this is When We Were Young’s holliest, jolliest episode yet. Happy holidays! Not just Christmas!

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 at @WWWYshow, on Facebook at @WWWYShow, you can Email us at wwwyshow@gmail.com, and don’t forget to subscribe and review us on iTunes!

You can help us defray the costs of creating this show, which include purchasing movies/shows/music to review, ordering delivery food to eat our emotions, and producing & editing in-house at the MFP Studio in Los Angeles CA, by donating to our Patreon account at patreon.com/WhenWeWereYoung

27: “I’m Everything You Ever Were Afraid Of” – Stephen King & Stranger Things

STAND BY ME (1986) & STEPHEN KING’S IT (1990)

Stranger things have happened than what happened on Stranger Things — thanks in large part to one of horror’s most prolific names. In honor of the Netflix nostalgia-fest’s second season, When We Were Young takes a look at the 1980s oeuvre of its biggest influence, Stephen King.

Following two true blue horror masterpieces, Carrie and The Shining, King unleashed a wave of spine-tingling adaptations with varying degrees of schlock, from pyro pixie Drew Barrymore in Firestarter to the killer car in Christine. We discuss these titles and their influence on Stranger Things, then dwell on the 1986 coming-of-age classic Stand By Me, which blends some macabre moments with a more melancholy tale of boyhood, mortality, and purple vomit. Finally, we all float over to 1990, where Tim Curry’s fearsome fanged clown Pennywise awaits us in the sewer-dwelling TV movie It, recently remade as the most successful horror film of all time.

How does Stranger Things — which tries so very hard to emulate the 1980s — stack up against the stuff that actually scared us back then? Can looking and feeling like when we were young really capture the essence of when the When We Were Young hosts were young? If your brain is exploding from all the nostalgia-within-nostalgia nesting doll action happening here, great.

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 at @WWWYshow, on Facebook at @WWWYShow, you can Email us at wwwyshow@gmail.com, and don’t forget to subscribe and review us on iTunes!

You can help us defray the costs of creating this show, which include purchasing movies/shows/music to review, ordering delivery food to eat our emotions, and producing & editing in-house at the MFP Studio in Los Angeles CA, by donating to our Patreon account at patreon.com/WhenWeWereYoung

2: “A Serious Cackling” – The Blair Witch Project

In October of 1994, three podcasters disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland. Police were baffled by the podcasters’ vanishing… mostly because podcasting had not been invented yet. A year later the MiniDisc player they recorded to was discovered. 21 more years later, that recording is released here.

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Just in time for Halloween (and yet another sequel), WHEN WE WERE YOUNG’s second episode tackles 1999’s unlikely horror hit THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. Is the ultra-low-budget thriller still as groundbreaking as it was in the pre-smartphone era, or does it deserve to be banished to the woods? Kick your map in the creek, apologize to everyone’s moms, and follow us on this audible journey… because Becky totally knows where we’re going! Right, Becky? …Becky?

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When We Were Young is a new 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, shows, and more hold up now.

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You can follow us on Twitter at @WWWYshow, on Facebook at @WWWYShow, you can Email us at wwwyshow@gmail.com, and don’t forget to Subscribe on iTunes!

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