It's a shame that Terry Gilliam truly sucks these days, because Brazil holds up remarkably well. The ChatzKidz discuss how prescient it is, the sagging second act, and the ongoing trend of us covering thought-provoking sci-fi on the podcast! Come to Brazil with us, won't you?

This week on XenaChatz, Sam Raimi's influence on the show becomes abundantly clear when two CG skeletons duke it out for control of a dream world child. And then, the whacky times keep coming in part 2 as we return to the great nation of Chin for some good old-fashioned twins battling over gunpowder!

This one ain't about the Roy family at all, dear listener! No, our first episode discussion this week concerns Ares and his insatiable desire to find a suitable successor. Will it be Gabrielle, Xena, or a brand new villain introduced this episode and never seen again? Only one way to find out... And of course, in part 2, we dive into the whacky old West as portrayed in the Xenaverse, complete with horses, young love, Mexican standoffs, and a guy falling into a big thing.

With our protagonists literally dead at the top of a new season, the Xena writers have sort of written themselves into a hole. How do we recover from that? Well, it takes a battle against demons, the return of our favorite villain, and some whacky CG to bring things back to normal this week on XenaChatz!

We return to Deep Space Nine and an occupied station in flux. Kira's going through a lot, Odo finds a lover, Sisko...is frankly also going through a lot. You know, pretty much everyone's having a bad time. But I think we can all agree that Gul Dukat deserves worse than he's getting THIS week on TrekChatz.

Long ago, the War of the Podcasters reduced the world to a scorched wasteland, and podcasts simply ceased to exist. 1000 years have passed... Microphones, mixers, and webcams have been rediscovered, and high technology reigns... But there are some who would enslave the world by reviving the dread destructive force known as “trading card games.” Can it be that those in power are on the verge of repeating a senseless and deadly mistake?

Chatz comes full circle as the wonderful David Franklin plays a new sort of owned man, sixteen seasons of our podcast later. Not all is well in Rome, and our favorite sadistic blonde is BACK with a vengeance. And then...in the second half...well, as the saying goes, several things happen at once.

Murder is afoot, and we're bringing back all sorts of fun side characters to solve the killing of a bounty hunter this week on Xena. The pod hosts discuss the value of bringing back this ensemble, how it does and doesn't work, and then, after the break, we're off to Rome to deal with that whole Caesar/Brutus dynamic. I'm sure they'll be fine, they're such good friends!

It's time for Gabrielle to bring her stories to the THEATRE! In "The Play's the Thing", the chaos meter is set to max, we're doing dance numbers, and it's all a big Producers reference! After the break, Najara returns to stir things up for Joxer after he accidentally does his first ever kill.

The cast of TrekChatz expands as the Dominion makes their first major moves against the Federation. But first, we gotta talk about our boy Weyoun before taking it to Lieutenant Commander Emrys's message to Starfleet Command. And in part two, Domestic Partner of the Pod Amanda offers her takes on the racial politics of DS9 and Magellan shows off his perfect Rom impression!

Allen was laid up post-surgery this month, and what better way to spend an afternoon than watching RRR! We discuss Tollywood cinema, the political ramifications of depicting these specific two revolutionaries, and how sick it is to grab your homies hand while hovering under a burning bridge while wrapping yourself in the flag of your country. Guys being dudes.

Xena and Gabrielle head to India this week! And the results are...deeply mixed, and influenced by a 90s white American's perspective on Hindu culture? Hmm, well...there's also some excellent action, Gabrielle gets to be all evil and posessed, and Xena gets six arms. TV, a land of contrasts.

We fall down a pit into the yoga dimension this week on XenaChatz, and it's up to a slightly more feral than usual Xena to save us and Gabrielle from being trapped in bow pose! Then, after the break, this school field trip to India takes a turn for the...questionable. But it's okay, Eli will save us with the power of love.

We return to Xena this week to discuss the surprisingly deep "Daughter of Pomira" and what it has to say about found family, and then, after the break (and a detour to talk about the BGSB), we hop into Sillytown Cinderella World to discuss "If the Shoe Fits..."

After suffering a grievous bone-based injury, Magellan is sent to Starfleet's medical team this time on TrekChatz, so Allen recruits friend of the podcast and long time Trekkie Emrys to help them discuss DS9 Season 5's fantastic opening half. But stay tuned, as Magellan does manage to send in a holo-tape from his time on Risa that you'll hear after the main episode ends...mysterious!

Free Patreon episode while we take a break to cook up TrekChatz and recover from surgery! Here's a Patreon episode for ya: "We deeply study the theory, style, and substance of a YouTube channel about the theory, style and substance of music. It's the 12Tone episode! Shout out to Noel for tossing this suggestion into the cup. You can find 12Tone's videos here on their YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@12tone"

It's main feed special week once again, so we're taking a break from the usual TV club pod format to discuss trading card games! Specifically, Allen brings their recent history with the Pokemon TCG, Magellan brings Magic: The Gathering, and they meet in the middle by discussing Blizzard's virtual TCG Hearthstone! If you love deep dives and card game hyperfixation talk, we think this is the pod episode for you.

Like a revolving door, we keep coming back to Xena's past. And this week, answers to questions we didn't even know we needed are revealed, the violence is cranked up, and of course we need one episode in there just to keep things silly after all the first episode drama. Allen and Magellan discuss the flashback-heavy "Past Imperfect" as well as the charming and funny "Key to the Kingdom".

Evil women take center stage this week on XenaChatz, so we recruited Six from Scanline Media once again to discuss the episodes with us! Come for a funny wooden hand, crab torture, and evil priestesses. Stay for lesbian tension, religious zealotry, and more!

I love taking these breaks to cover other TV and pop culture on the podcast, but MAN...it's just nice watching Xena. This week, the Rome storyline advances in some really exciting ways up top, and after the break, we bust out the sound effects machine for a positively goofy Footloose homage that reminds us that dance is one of the greatest expressions of creativity.