First there was France. Then there was Frank Sinatra. Now, there is Franchise. And they’re everywhere! Those dinosaurs didn’t just escape from their pens. Harry Potter spends seven years at Hogwarts. There’s more than one Hunger Game. But even for the world’s most diehard fans of palaeontology, capes, Jennifer Lawrence, 18th Century piracy and Gamorrean guards, is this all getting a bit too much? 

Joined by returning guest Henry Mendoza, the team ask: Is it possible to sustain a franchise, while also shaking things up a little? Is it possible to inject horror and westerns into sci-fi and fantasy worlds? How can audience fatigue be avoided? And is there a moment when world-building can supersede narrative?

Nobel laureate William Faulkner once wrote: “The past is never dead. It isn’t even past.” Can this explain why you, a 32-year-old, skipped your uncle’s birthday to binge Dawson’s Creek? Why the older you get, the more you see yourself as Citizen Kane? And does the key to an industry competing to define the future lie embedded in the lyrics to Nickelback’s ‘Photograph’? 

Featuring the nostalgic return of special guest Henry Mendoza, the guys explore the rapid reappearance of decades-old characters, the relationship between nostalgia and immortality, whether audiences long for childhood stories or simply how we watched childhood stories, and what it means to feel “at home again.”

BAFTA, commonly mistaken for British After-Fart Trapped Air, has awarded the finest craftspeople in cinema since 1947. But does it still hold sway over the films we watch? Does the accomplishment of Best Film draw you in to click play? And how could the most prestigious of awards evolve in an age of constantly morphing audience tastes? Find out in BAFTA Defence Force.

Why has the Halloween franchise, and in particular Michael Myers, withstood such a stirring test of time? Is it a fascination with ‘why’ he came home? Is it because he inspired Slipknot’s fashion? (Well, hopefully). Is it because we’re all secretly afraid of William Shatner? Let’s find out. And yet, the prevailing influence of this 1978 masterpiece leaves us with even more questions. How did it kickstart the slasher generation? What would it have looked like if Dr Loomis had been played by, say… Sir Christopher Lee? And is this truly the end for it? Let’s get spooky with our favourite fictional serial killer in the latest episode of John Carpenter Defence Force.

Everyone loves birthdays - especially your parents’, partner’s and friends’ debit cards. So on Jack’s birthday, we decided to treat him with a very special gift - a Mystery Pitch so random and chaotic, it makes The Joker’s brainstorming session look like Winston Wolf’s Netflix cleaning special. Joined by special guest and seasonal expert Eleanor Winterbottom, we pitch those mysteries like we’re pitching Jack for the crown. Enjoy!

There’s a lot of things merging in the 4 billionth, 545 millionth year of our great wet rock. The virtues of stoicism with your 12-year-old neighbour creating their TikTok account. The cost of living with the feeling of touching mould down the back of your sofa. The mixing of emotions when Mr Incredible finally becomes truly uncanny. But none are as complex and as fascinating as the mergers and acquisitions disrupting the entertainment industry at a colossal rate. With the agility of a Wild West showdown and the inescapability of Jeff Bezos’ hypnotic cackle, Hollywood is acquiring and selling content like never before. But how have these great shifts in film and TV affected us, the viewers? And how will they continue to shape the nature of content, and the nature of how we consume our content, from here on? Find out in MergersBowl: The Tom Hanks Defence Force Take.

Disclaimer: This episode was recorded prior to Warner Bros. Discovery cancelling Batgirl… and our hearts.

Great things come in 50s. Jack Daniels’ alcohol percentage. Fines issued to the Conservative government under PartyGate. And shades of grey. But perhaps most importantly, Tom Hanks Defence Force episodes. In our 50th episode special, Jack and Alex finally ask a question that Oxford and Cambridge will be debating for years to come: What truly is the best Tom Hanks film? And using bespoke data science, we find out why YOU the audience also love this celebrated uncle of America more than your own children.

Its 2022 and Netflix has just revved up two investments: Another addition to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, and nostalgic content. As Leatherface began slicing his way through cornfields (and in our nostalgia-crazed minds: Korn-fields), Jack and Alex couldn’t help but wonder two things: What if all this madness was concocted by none other than Alfred Hitchcock with a lawnmower? And do we know what you did in 2005? Drawing on a creative legacy of mystery pitch mayhem, the THDF duo return with ‘names’, as they plan out Netflix’s next hits: Alfred Hitchcock’s Lawnmower Massacre and I Know What You Did in 2005.