Time Babble

3.9 Here Comes Peter Cottontail (1971) "Vincent Price-adocious"

Happy Easter nerds!
This week we’ve gone into EASTER OVERLOAD with the psychedelic stop-motion classic Here Comes Peter Cottontail (1971).
This TV special was created by the ‘almost definitely not’ drug-crazed minds of Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin. Between them they are responsible for literally millions of seasonal classics, including Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964) and Frosty the Snowman (1969).
It’s a fun-filled hour of eggstravagant mind-altering ‘storytelling’, which features Danny Kaye as narrator Seymour S. Sassafras (he also voices, the umm, ‘French’ caterpillar Antoine) and Vincent Price, as the evil January Q. Irontail. Our lazy, fib-filled hero Peter Cottontail is voiced by Casey Kasem, who was the voice of Shaggy in the original Scooby Doo cartoons.
So stare into your favourite egg and join us, as we try to work out what on our good earth is going on, and jump into the Yestermorrowmobile (? no, us neither) and fly, very, very slowly into the future (or possibly the past - we’re still not sure which direction they went in). We’ll meet spiders fired from rockets, bunnies in April Valley who deliver chicken eggs to ungrateful youths, sassy witches who just need love (like the rest of us), and talking hats. 
This is our second musical time travel film, and the whole thing is just as much fun as Brigadoon was. Honest.
So drop your chocolate, forgo your eggs and open your ears to our seasonal babbling.
Time Babble Series Three, Episode nine, is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services.
If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address.
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(All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)

3.8 Camille Redouble (2012) "Jowday and the Bee"

Bonjour..!
This week we are babbling about Camille Redouble (2012), written and directed by Noémie Lvovsky, who also stars in the lead role. The film is a loose remake of Peggy Sue Got Married and makes a perfect double bill with last week’s episode. It takes the basic premise of Peggy, but moves the now into the 2000s and the then into the 1980s.
It’s a beautiful, more thoughtful version of the story and Noémie turns in an astonishing lead performance filled with subtlety and poignancy. The film is another fine example of the wonders the eclectic world of time travel can burp up, and how the same story can be completely different (and much improved) in the right hands.
On the way to enlightenment however, we survive a blood soaked opening scene and visit a fancy dress party filled with an almost unending list of guests, which yours truly (understandably) takes maybe a bit too long to describe (nearly) every, single, one. 
Meanwhile, we encounter weird Judi and her lover Lemmy from Motorhead as Camille’s parents, kids jumping from windows to escape the nonsense that is High School, and the creeping realisation that your school years were your best and worst times all rolled into one.
It’s safe to say we loved this film, and so will you.
Au revoir nerds.
 
Time Babble Series Three, Episode Eight, is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services.
If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address.
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(All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)

3.7 Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) "Gnu Blood"

This week we’re babbling about nostalgia-fest Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Kathleen Turner as Peggy Sue, in a dazzling lead performance. It also features another couple of Coppolas: the overacting, nasally-challenged-Nosferatu himself, Nicolas Cage, as Peggy’s childhood sweetheart and soon to be divorced husband, alongside future award-winning director Sofia Coppola, as Peggy’s little sister.
Put on your prom dress and travel back to the 60s..! where we encounter the howling-puke poetry of teen beatnik (and Peggy’s secret crush), Michael, visit time-travelling cult lodges, and you’re unsure, discover that the best way to tell if you are real or not, is to hurl yourself in front of a fire truck. (Don’t) try this at home, kids.
The film is steeped in nostalgia for a time that probably didn’t actually exist. But whilst sugar-coated memories are not always to be re-lived, the film is well worth a look, and is an odd, but oddly satisfying revisit for our 2024 eyes. The film also unexpectedly led us to the next movie we’ll be babbling about. However, we're getting ahead of ourselves with that one…
Time Babble Series Three, Episode Seven, is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services.
 
If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address.
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(All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)

3.6 Tomorrow I'll Wake and Scald Myself with Tea (1977) "Patrick Goes for the Pork First"

Get ready to board the next flight to whenever!
This week we’re babbling about the Czech time travel classic Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea / Zítra vstanu a opařím se čajem (1977) directed by Yindřizich Polák.
The film is a lighthearted comedy with quite heavy overtones and tackles that age-old problem of a group of those pesky futuristic Nazis, who want to travel back in time to help Hitler win the Second World War. But they are relying on the slightly corrupt leanings of a womanising time pilot, without realising he has an identical twin with a very different set of ideals. What’s the worst that can happen?
Well this can happen: a couple American tourists are kidnapped on the journey back to WW2. Although they delight in the on-board space jelly they’re served for lunch and are more than happy to have selfies taken with Hitler himself. However, who packed the suitcase? Could it contain lingerie, or a hydrogen bomb?! 
Don’t worry, all will work out fine! Unless we have to spray you green to get you to comply. Although make sure you have both your legs attached before you start listening to our latest babble. Join us for your post-Valentine’s ‘treat’...
Time Babble Series Three, Episode Six, is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services.
 
If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address.
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(All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)

3.5 Last Train to Christmas (2021) ”Rumba Colditz Tony”

Ding! Ding! All aboard! 
Next stop, the Time Babble Christmas Special!
This week we’re babbling about Last Train to Christmas (2021), starring Michael Sheen, playing twelve versions of Tony, a troubled nightclub impresario, Cary Elwes as his bottoms popped off, not-alcoholic not-brother, together with a host of other characters that may, or may not exist.
On the last Christmas Eve train from London to Nottingham, Tommy/Tony jumps forwards and backwards by decades, as he wanders from carriage to carriage, creating havoc with his timeline, and multiple versions of his family.
As it’s our festive special, we’ve been scouring message boards and fansites to bring you as much fact and truths as we can stomach. Which, let’s face it, when our stomachs are full of Rumbas and Watneys Party Seven, is not a lot. 
So gather round the warm festive log fire dear Babblers, to hear tales of Colditz board game etiquette, murder walls, exploding children, and an exhaustive list of Tony’s iterations. 
Come stamp on butterflies with us!
Time Babble Series Three, Episode Five, is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services.
If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address.
 
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(All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)
 

3.4 Repeat Performance (1947) ”Vellum, Morocco bound, Illuminated”

Get ready to climb the magical staircase as we babble about the time travelling film noir gem Repeat Performance (1947). The film is often overlooked, but overlooked no more as we delve into its sequinned delights!
The film stars Joan Leslie as Sheila Page, who opens the film with a gun in her hand and her almost always drunk husband Barney, dead at her feet. And then things start to get a little more complicated as we relive the year leading up to the fateful shooting.
On the way though, we encounter poets, drunks, shower caps, another invalid waddle, theatre folk, parping orange blossoms, the source of The Smiths’ entire back catalogue and inevitable break-up, along with a whole heap o’ deceit!
The film is a great example of how even the genres you think you know can throw the odd curveball every now and then. As Time Babble would too, if we could throw.
Time Babble Series Three, Episode Four, is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address.
 
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(All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)

3.3 Biggles: Adventures in Time (1986) ”Anno Biggles”

Grab hold of your time twin and get thee to a nunnery. It’s time for Biggles!
This week we’re babbling about Biggles: Adventures in Time (1986). It’s a joy of a film and one of Time Babble HQs favourite time travel movies.
Biggles was the creation of W.E. Johns, who wrote nearly a hundred novels following Biggles adventures during wartime. The film itself screams 80’s! From its music, fashion, and the beautiful street punks gathered around a brazier.
It also features the last film appearance by the legendary gentleman of horror, Peter Cushing, who puts in a traditionally exemplary performance despite the nonsense that is going on around him, including his pooping pet raven.
So prepare your Celebrity Dinner, grab your actors' final movie checklist, ready yourself to pull out a German soldier’s eyeball and ride the time-lightning, into this week's episode of Time Babble!
 
Time Babble Series Three, Episode Three, is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address.
 
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(All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)

3.2 A Hitch in Time (1978) ”Totally Claypoled”

This week we dive head first into the sparkling and inviting waters of the Children's Film Foundation. 
The Children's Film Foundation was for decades a way for new and established directors and actors at the end of their career, to make films aimed at, and starring kids.
Our film stars Patrick Troughton as the mysterious time travelling inventor, Professor Wagstaff, currently hanging out in an abandoned castle in a public park. We’ve extensively researched and we’re pretty sure this was a unique role for Mr Troughton and sadly he never played a time traveller before or since.
Two school kids ignore the ‘Danger of Death’ sign outside, (and typically everything potentially dangerous about the 1970s) and wander in to see what’s going on. Like the kids, the film pretty much ignores facts, history and continuity, but the kids, Troughton, and the audience have a pretty fun time along the way. Just like Time Babble.
We follow the same characters and their ancestry all the way back to the Stone Age and a rather dodgy looking bear, via that pesky WW2, and all the way back to the now. Although their now is very much the then of 1978. Oh, and the film has an amazing soundtrack, a little bit like a jaunty version of Kraftwerk. But better. 
 
Time Babble Series Three, Episode Two, is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address.
 
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(All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)

3.1 Donnie Darko (2001) ”Joke Murder Scene”

Welcome to Series Three of Time Babble!
We celebrate our new series with a modern time travel classic, in the 3D watery shape of Donnie Darko (2001). The film is the directorial debut of Richard Kelly, and stars both Jake and Maggie Gyllenhall, alongside Drew Barrymore, Patrick Swayze, Mary McDonnell, and Katherine Ross.
It’s the simple story of a narcoleptic young man who may or may not be conversing with a six foot bunny rabbit at the end of the world. This is no fluffy-wuffy Peter Rabbit of a bunny though, but it does turn out that Beatrix Potter’s watercolour palette includes a lovely shade of ‘gorefest red’.
Despite the dark mournfulness (of both film and pod), there are many funny moments, as we discover the best Lorne Green gag in movie history, welcome the return of ‘Ask an Idiot’, and to add sparkle to our motion, the widely beloved ‘Haiku or Limerick’ section completes our traditionally poetic denouement.
So grab your earmuffs and join us, as we attempt to put our cross at the love end of the fear/love scale.
 
Time Babble Series Three, Episode One is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address.
 
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(All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)

3.0 Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) ”Tuk-Tuk”

Welcome to the Time Babble goes to the Movies Summer Special!
This week, we’re babbling about Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, released in cinemas summer 2023.
The film stars Harrison Ford (obvs), alongside Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Toby Jones, and some old(er) familiar faces. It’s the first in the series not directed by Steven Spielberg, or with story input from George Lucas. Consequently, it’s a fun, if slightly fluffy ride, and nowhere as bad as ‘the Indy film that dare not be named for fear of a curse’.
Once again, (a heavily de-aged) Harrison Ford is fighting them pesky Nazis, whilst a regularly aged Harrison Ford is coming to terms with his 1960s retirement. But hold on there! He’s soon back on the archeological hunt, racing around in Tuk-Tuks and resolving the classic conundrum of whether a horse can run faster than a subway train.
Indy also gets to meet all the famous people. But which is the most famous? The answer is obvious, if we cared to tell. Which naturally, we don’t.
So, does the film belong in a museum for future generations to admire, or does it sink to the bottom of the bath along with Archimedes’ potatoes?
 
Find out in the Time Babble Summer Special 2023, waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address.
 
For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram and Twitter.
 
(All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)