Strange Ride

The Alchemical Actors

A pop culture nerd teaches her college professor the weirdest things she knows about theme parks, Broadway, video games, TV, and music. Episodes post on Thursdays.

  1. 20/02/2025

    2.13: Naked in 1982 or Bombing in Paradise

    In 1982, Phoebe Cates swam naked across movie screens nationwide and nobody cared. Cates had been willing to appear fully nude on camera but had soured on choices the production team had made while editing the film and turned against her own starring role. Paradise told the story of a young couple's sexual awakening in a desert oasis in the early ninenteenth-century. Despite Cates's and her co-star, Willie Aames's, cover-model bodies, the dramatic tension of a human trafficker in hot pursuit of the young heroes, and the comic styling of two chimpanzees audiences and critics alike rejected the movie. Today, the movie has a perfect 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is difficult to see in every sense of the word, available to stream only in low fidelity uploads on YouTube and the Internet Archive. But Paradise's failure was a bit of a mystery. The same general premise had proved box office gold only two years before and Cates would go on to become an international sex symbol and comic talent with her roles in teen sex farces like Fast Times at Ridgmont High and the blockbuster horror comedy Gremlins. So what was the trouble with Paradise?

    1h 27m

  2. 06/02/2025

    2.12: Escape From Tomorrow

    Walt Disney World is almost known for being a place that encourages you to take wholesome videos and pictures of your family while you’re there in the parks, but some people have taken that even further and have filmed an entire feature length movie in Disney World and Disneyland. This is something that has actually happened and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival back in 2013. However this movie wasn’t a wholesome family vacation. It’s a surrealist horror movie that transforms what is meant to be the “happiest place on earth” into a nightmare that you can’t escape from. Today, Savannah will be talking about the movie Escape From Tomorrow, how they filmed it, how they got away with it, and what it’s even about.

    1h 32m

  3. 24/12/2024

    2.11: The Star Wars Holiday Special

    There is so much Star Wars content out in the wide world. Some of it is loved, some of it hated, but there is one piece of Star Wars media that is so hated by its creator that it was almost lost media. If it wasn’t for fans making bootleg VCR copies during its one and only broadcast it would be lost to time. I’m talking about of course the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special. A variety show set in the Star Wars universe that was also meant to sort of celebrate Thanksgiving/Christmas. George Lucas was so mortified by how this special turned out that he has tried to remove any trace of its existence from the earth, and because of that resistance it has since become a cult classic amongst Star Wars fans. But how did the Star Wars Holiday special end up so bad? Today, Savannah will be going over how the special was made and its content, so you can be spared from having to watch it yourself.

  4. 19/12/2024

    2.10: Sponge Bob Squarepants the Musical (Part Two)

    The Broadway Musical, Part Two: The Review In today's episode of Strange Ride Savannah finally digs deeper into the set, costumes, design elements, and the plot of The SpongeBob SquarePants Broadway Musical.

    1h 2m

  5. 28/11/2024

    2.9: SpongeBob Squarepants the Musical (Part One)

    The Broadway Musical, Part One: An Introduction SpongeBob Squarepants is a character that I’m sure needs no introduction. Even if you haven’t seen the show you have at least heard of him, but did you know that he had a Broadway Musical back in 2017? Today, Savannah goes over the history of the popular tv show and the musical itself.

    1h 3m

  6. 31/10/2024

    2.8: The SCP Foundation

    Secure. Contain. Protect. These are the core tenants of the SCP Foundation. But just what is this secret organization? Find out here on Strange Ride!

    45 min

  7. 03/10/2024

    2.7: Seeing the Saw Franchise, Part Two

    Where we last left off we learned of the notorious Jigsaw killer who doesn’t actually kill people, but tests them to see if they have the will to live. He has kidnapped and tested a lot of people with not very many of them proving they “had the will to live”. Jigsaw, or his real name, John Kramer is a cancer patient who doesn’t have much longer to live. He takes on an apprentice by the name of Amanda Young, a young used to be drug addict who survived one of his games, and believes that Jigsaw saved her life. She will take on the mantle of Jigsaw once John passes away. That is until she loses faith in Jigsaw’s teachings and starts to make his traps inescapable. John tries to test Amanda one more time to see if she can truly be a worthy successor to him. With two or three games depending on how you look at it combined he put his theory to the test. Unfortunately for John he misjudged Amanda and she failed sealing all of their fates. John Kramer the infamous Jigsaw Killer, and his apprentice Amanda Young both died at the end of the third movie, but the story keeps moving forward with and without them. Today, we will be finishing (hopefully) going over the plot of the Saw Franchise.

    1h 46m

  8. 26/09/2024

    2.6: Seeing the Saw Franchise

    The Saw franchise is one of the most iconic and successful horror franchises of all time, and arguably the bloodiest. Believe it or not there are many things that make Saw an interesting topic, from its humble beginnings to the fact that it helped create and popularize the term “Torture Porn”. But Savannah’s favorite thing about the Saw series is just how much content there is, and just how convoluted that story has become in their quest to continue making movies. There is no understating just how convoluted and insane the full plot to the Saw franchise is, and on top of being convoluted its contradictory, self righteous, and honestly just plain stupid… But that's part of its charm. Today, we will be going over some of the history of the Saw franchise as Savannah tries her hardest to make sense of the story.

    1h 25m
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About

A pop culture nerd teaches her college professor the weirdest things she knows about theme parks, Broadway, video games, TV, and music. Episodes post on Thursdays.

Information

  • Channel
    The Alchemical Actors
  • Creator
    The Alchemical Actors
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2025
  • Episodes
    31
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright Odd Act Theatre Group, LLC
  • Show Website
    Strange Ride

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