Old v. Gold Hidden Deadly

Season finale and conclusion of our 2-part Star Wars smackdown video spectacular! We move on to 1980's "The Empire Strikes Back" as H.P. Mendoza and Mark Del Lima rejoin us for our second tour of the Star Wars universe, which ends, as many family vacations do, with a really awkward father-son moment. After our usual vote, we then take on the question: which is the better film, "Star Wars" or "Empire"?

Part 1 of our 2-part Old v. Gold Season 2 finale spectacular takes on a movie that's as old and yet as omnipresent as The Force: "Star Wars." This edition of the podcast comes in two flavors: the usual audio and our first video version. Returning podcast panelists H.P. Mendoza and Mark Del Lima of Ersatz Film join us as we try to look past all the tinkering that's been done since the movie 1977 release to see if there's really a good film underneath our voracious nostalgic appetite for this sci-fi landmark. The audio version of the podcast extends the discussion to include the lovability of stormtroopers, more on the film's avoidance of emotion, and, as required, a reference to the dreaded Holiday Special. Next week, the second contender in our Star Wars smackdown: "The Empire Strikes Back."

We hide behind our space couches and revisit the horror of 1979's "Alien," the (only) Ridley Scott movie about space predators (worth talking about). Tom Skerritt, the white male captain and thus surely ultimate survivor, leads a small crew of industrial tow-jockeys against a clingy, gooey menace. Also Sigourney Weaver is there.

In Robert Zemeckis' 1997 film "Contact," a child raised in a single-tragedy household grows up to be Jodie Foster and a scientist listening for signals from extraterrestrials, which are tough to hear over all the mansplaining directed at her. Last year's "Interstellar" reminded us of this movie in a lot of ways, good and bad, and not just in both films' McConaugheyness.

This week, we hit the 1988 quasi-musical "Earth Girls Are Easy," starring the Blum! And also Geena Davis, and pre-"In Living Color" Jim Carrey and Damon Wayans. Watch music-video director Julien Temple pretty much hijack a few great and funny Julie Brown songs and turn them into a collection of carefully composed shots that might possibly be considered a movie.

The year is 1994. A new science-fiction series with groundbreaking computer graphics and not much budget at all debuts in syndication. It carries a secret, revolutionary agenda of long-form serialization. It also carries some dubious acting and set design. The name of the show is "Babylon 5."