In this S1 special of It Was an Animal Attack, Sandile and Fadzai (from 2023) discuss John Gilbert, recurring character from the first two seasons of The Vampire Diaries, as a test episode for the podcast!

Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of familial abandonment, gratuitous violence, murder, racism, and religious fanaticism.

Questions, queries, or just to say hi!

E-mail: animalattackpod@gmail.com

Refs and Links: IWAA S1

All our online stuff!

Podcast: It Was an Animal Attack

Twitter: @animattackpod

Instagram: @animalattackpod

Tiktok: @animalattackpod

YouTube: @animalattackpod

In this S1 special of It Was an Animal Attack, Fadzai and Sandile discuss and review S4E20 of The Vampire Diaries - the backdoor pilot to its spin-off series, The Originals!

Discussion proper begins at (00:09:20).

Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of child abuse, oppression, racism, and slavery.

Questions, queries, or just to say hi!

E-mail: animalattackpod@gmail.com

Refs and Links: IWAA S1

All our online stuff!

Podcast: It Was an Animal Attack

Twitter: @animattackpod

Instagram: @animalattackpod

Tiktok: @animalattackpod

YouTube: @animalattackpod

Spin-off! Your hosts talk mutant telepaths and the "Omega level", various Disney love songs, and Stranger Things writing choices. Also: The plight of Sarah Connor, the genius of Graham Norton, the many roles of Jamie Campbell Bower, and that anti-abortion comic from months ago.

Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of abortion and anti-abortion sentiment, incest, insects, mental illness and related stigma.

Questions, queries, or just to say hi!

E-mail: animalattackpod@gmail.com

Refs and Links: IWAA S1

All our online stuff!

Podcast: It Was an Animal Attack

Twitter: @animattackpod

Instagram: @animalattackpod

Tiktok: @animalattackpod

YouTube: @animalattackpod

-

(00:00:05) - X-Men, mutant telepaths, and the "Omega" level

(00:02:12) - Disney love songs

(00:03:40) - Stranger Things and the Stancy problem

(00:05:13) - Jamie Campbell Bower and his many roles

(00:06:26) - The plight of Terminator's Sarah Connor

(00:08:14) - Sam and Cat, the bizarre spin-off of Victorious

(00:09:50) - That anti-abortion comic from months ago

(00:11:27) - The genius of The Graham Norton Show

(00:13:43) - Freddie Stroma, Peacemaker, Vigilante, Prometheus (Arrow), Josh Segarra

(00:16:48) - A musical diversion on "Build Me Up, Buttercup"

(00:18:33) - A linguistic diversion on Southern African languages

(00:19:38) - A Tale of Two Tales of Two Flies

In the fifth instalment of Killer Bites, Sandile and Fadzai commit to the bit with the Gemini twins, Lucas and Olivia Parker. Sliding in during the back half of The Vampire Diaries' fifth season, Luke and Liv are witches who infiltrate Mystic Falls with the intent on stopping the Travelers, and briefly become central in the sixth season when the Gemini coven comes into focus.

Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of child abuse, familicide, mass murder, mental coercion, and torture.

Questions, queries, or just to say hi!

E-mail: animalattackpod@gmail.com

Refs and Links: IWAA S1

All our online stuff!

Podcast: It Was an Animal Attack

Twitter: @animattackpod

Instagram: @animalattackpod

Tiktok: @animalattackpod

YouTube: @animalattackpod

In the fourth instalment of Killer Bites, Fadzai and Sandile make mayhem with the wicked lesbian Heretics, Nora Hildegard and Mary Louise. Introduced at the beginning of The Vampire Diaries' seventh season, the pair are two of the six vampire/witch hybrids that form part of Lily Salvatore's found family, and serve as antagonists for the Mystic Falls Gang.

Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of child abuse, eugenics, lesbophobia, mass murder, mental coercion, and torture.

Questions, queries, or just to say hi!

E-mail: animalattackpod@gmail.com

Refs and Links: IWAA S1

All our online stuff!

Podcast: It Was an Animal Attack

Twitter: @animattackpod

Instagram: @animalattackpod

Tiktok: @animalattackpod

YouTube: @animalattackpod

Spin-off! We talk Sinners (2025), and discuss vampire & the desire for community, Africa, the diaspora, spirituality, music as cultural storytelling, and forbidding the white boy from catching a vibe. Also: Black religious trauma, race in South Africa, and a lament for The Vampire Diaries' Bonnie Bennett.

Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of anti-indigenous sentiment, colonialism and colonial violence, white supremacy, mass murder, racism, religious trauma, and slavery.

Questions, queries, or just to say hi!

E-mail: animalattackpod@gmail.com

Refs and Links: IWAA S1

All our online stuff!

Podcast: It Was an Animal Attack

Twitter: @animattackpod

Instagram: @animalattackpod

Tiktok: @animalattackpod

YouTube: @animalattackpod

-

(00:00:05) - Introduction

(00:02:00) - Sinners 2025: preamble and viewing experience

(00:07:55) - Smoke and Stack

(00:10:30) - Annie, who is everything

(00:11:30) - Bonnie Bennett (TVD) + African-American magic

(00:14:48) - Back to Annie

(00:17:42) - Abrahamic religion vs African & African-American spirituality

(00:22:54) - Mary + passing + racial dynamics

(00:30:25) - Preacher boy Sammy + the lure of the easy promise

(00:33:13) - Experiences of black religious trauma

(00:34:56) - Back to Sammy

(00:35:56) - Pearline our queen

(00:37:45) - Bo, Grace, and Lisa

(00:40:36) - Choctaw vampire hunters outselling

(00:42:01) - Remmick predating, but still exploiting, race

(00:48:22) - Irish marginalisation, whiteness, and assimilation

(00:50:33) - Indentured servitude vs slavery in the US and SA

(00:52:56) - Remmick culture-shifting to suit his needs

(00:54:56) - Vampire and the desire for community

(00:55:56) - Music as a cultural tool of storytelling

(00:58:05) - Music (or religion, or vampirism) as consolation or escape

(01:01:22) - The nature of the vampire hive mind

(01:02:22) - Stack and Mary's mid-credit scene

(01:04:00) - Spiraling tangent about vampire varieties

(01:06:49) - Check out @XofWords here: https://linktr.ee/xofwords!!!

Spin-off! We talk Nosferatu (2024), and discuss comparisons with Nosferatu (1922) and Dracula, gothic horror, repression, and taboo, vampire variety through the eras, and mental illness and the supernatural. Also: As many tangents as you'd expect, incl misunderstanding Lily-Rose Depp's name.

Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of antiziganism, mental illness and related stigma, necrophilia, patriarchal violence against women, and sexual assault.

Questions, queries, or just to say hi!

E-mail: animalattackpod@gmail.com

Refs and Links: IWAA S1

All our online stuff!

Podcast: It Was an Animal Attack

Twitter: @animattackpod

Instagram: @animalattackpod

Tiktok: @animalattackpod

YouTube: @animalattackpod

-

(00:05) - Introduction

(02:00) - Nosferatu (2024) preamble and viewing experience

(06:00) - It's all about atmosphere

(07:35) - Nosferatu (2024) vs Nosferatu (1922) vs Bram Stoker's Dracula

(12:45) - Nosferatu and The VVitch (2015): repression and social taboo

(15:50) - Ellen + Lily-Rose Depp + Cassandra of myth

(19:45) - Thomas + Nic Hoult in papa's orchard

(21:03) - HERR KNOCK DIVERSION + the Renfield figure

(25:56) - Count Orlok, transformation, and the cost of immortality

(32:28) - Friedrich, politeness, and the consistency of rich white men

(34:47) - Anna and perfect womanhood

(37:46) - Prof von Franz: the impetus of understanding

(42:53) - The Romani community hunting vampires and radiating aura

(46:22) - Parallels between the ending and Midnight Mass (2021)

(50:56) - Final thoughts

Doomed by the narrative! Fadzai and Sandile make the ultimate sacrifice with hero and martyr, Stefan Salvatore.

One of the lead characters of The Vampire Diaries, Stefan returns to Mystic Falls at the beginning of the first season and encounters Elena Gilbert, with whom he begins a passionate romance despite his secret vampire nature. As they fall for each other, though - and the town is plagued by the antics of his villainous brother, Damon - Elena discovers his true nature, and learns to accept him in his entirety. Now allied with her, and along with some friends and family, they band together against the threat of the supernatural.

Over the course of the series, Stefan endeavours to protect his town and loved ones, maintain his relationship with his brother in spite of his antics, and battle against his troubles with human blood. Though he goes through a few periods of being off the rails, and loses a few people from his life along the way, he always returns to trying to be better, and finding humanity in those around him. As such, Stefan ends off as one of the better vampires by the show's conclusion.

(This episode focuses on Stefan in seasons 7 and 8.)

Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of addiction, emotional abuse, mass murder, mental coercion and manipulation, physical abuse, racism, serial killing, sexual abuse, assault and related victim blaming, and suicide and suicidal ideation.

Questions, queries, or just to say hi!

E-mail: animalattackpod@gmail.com

Refs and Links: IWAA S1

All our online stuff!

Podcast: It Was an Animal Attack

Twitter: @animattackpod

Instagram: @animalattackpod

Tiktok: @animalattackpod

YouTube: @animalattackpod