Spectre Etc Spectre Etc

10 Episodes and counting

TL/DR: If You Like James Bond, Listen To This Podcast.

LENGTH
The episodes are on average over 2 hours long. This is a daunting amount of time, because, honestly, I don't often have 2 hours to do ANYTHING in a row, much less listen to a single podcast and give it my undivided attention. Usually I listen to them on the overnight shift and it has needed to be in sections more then once. However, the subject matter demands that the show be this long. Having listened to 10 episodes at this point, the podcast must be long in order to cover all the subject matter in depth. In fact, if you were looking to write a paper on any given bond film, I doubt you could find a better source to plagiarize then these guys. The episodes may be massive, but it is as complete a review of each movie that you could get without actually interviewing actors from the movies themselves.

LEARNING CURVE
The first episode was a little rough, but by the third they hit their stride. They have established a set format and stick to their formula. It works. Between the four man crew, they come up with a great deal of good material. They don't just recycle the same thing over and over, providing insightful commentary as well as interesting observations. They also research the material to include a great deal of background and trivia that sometimes is easily found on Wikipedia, but other times require a great deal of digging in order to confirm. Oh, FYI: They haven't screwed up their facts yet.

HUMOR
Again, they hit their stride by the third one, and more importantly, they don't take themselves too seriously. It's not a laugh a minute, because the show isn't about mocking the movies. However, when something stupid does happen in a movie they are reviewing, they jump on it like a starving squirrel on the last peanut on earth. They show no mercy as they gleefully tear any inconsistencies to shreds. They have a show formulae with certain sections being devoted to humor and others to the serious assessment of each movie in turn. They switch back and forth on a consistent basis and have a good rhythm, slipping in and out of praise, condemnation, and humor as appropriate.

TRIVIA/COMMENTARY
Full of bountiful trivia as well as accurate, in-depth, and honest assessment of each movie, so far. Despite my repeated attempts to convince them that Roger Moore is the greatest Bond EVAR, they continue to hold their ground as well as Roger Moore's feet to the fire. As well they should. One rabid fanboy should not influence their opinion. This podcast is a critique and as such the opinions of the critic must remain inviolate lest the critique lose all meaning.

Okay okay okay… Roger Moore may have looked like leather wrapped in deep-fried bacon and slathered in bronzer. I submit he did not look OLD, but DISTINGUISHED.

BANTER
Again, there has been a bit of a learning curve, but by episode three they developed a rhythm that works for them. My only real issue is that it has taken a while for me to tell them apart and remember who's who. However, this isn't a character study, but a study of a movie. In a way, this works for the show, preventing any one commentator from overshadowing the others. It's quite clear one of them puts in the majority of the leg work/research *cough-cough* COL *cough-cough* but the others bring their own specific talents to the table, ranging from medical knowledge to just general screwball-ness.

OVERALL
If you like the bond movies, I would consider this the definitive podcast on the matter. While others have assessed some of the movies in question, the brevity of their reviews, as well as the fact that other reviews obviously focused on mocking the movies, rather then viewing them for their own merits. They almost never give you the context in which the movie was released. Spectre Etc takes the time to establish context, which is paramount to the success of this podcast. If you take Bond movies seriously, then this podcast will not disappoint. It happily points out when a thing is awesome, then calls the movie to task when it has inappropriate sexual conduct of a disturbing nature.

These ARE Bond movies we are talking about, after all.

Which begs to point out, if you don't like Bond movies, then this podcast is an incredible waste of your time. While I don't think you really need to have watched the movie to enjoy the review, (The review is complete enough, that I imagine that even someone who has never heard of James Bond would get enjoyment out of it.) it helps if you at least like the subject matter. In fact, if you wanted to pretend to understand a particular Bond movie, listening to this podcast would certainly give you enough information to fake it. However, given the 2 hour run time, you'd be better off just watching the original movie, as far as time constraints are concerned. If you were having problems understanding it after to saw it, THEN I would come back and listen to the corresponding episode.

THE FUTURE
Eventually the podcast will come to an end, when the last bond movie is reviewed. So long term, not sure where it will go. Will they take a page from "The World's Dumbest Idea For A Podcast" and begin reviewing all the movies all over again from the beginning? Will they simply wait until a new one comes out, then review it, basically meaning we will be forced to wait years between episodes? Or perhaps, they might get the permission of the original owners, take a recording of the movie, and have a running commentary that they record over the show, sort of like the directors commentary, except much more entertaining. That would be interesting.

RATING
A scar over both of Blofeld's eyes.
A martini both shaken AND stirred.
And a solid 5 out of 5.

MOST IMPORTANT LESSON LEARNED
Never use a spinal decompression table that comes with a "Kill" setting.