TAKE ONE Presents...

TAKE ONE
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TAKE ONE Presents... is series of critical analyses of beloved film franchises from the TAKEONECinema.net crew. We are currently running The Impossipod where we critically analyse all the Mission: Impossible franchise films in release order. Our first series was The Xenopod, a podcast series where we watched and analysed all the Alien franchise films in release order, and our second series was The Dinopod where we discussed the Jurassic Park / World franchise films.

  1. Pod With Us If You Want To Live 1: THE TERMINATOR (1984)

    JAN 28

    Pod With Us If You Want To Live 1: THE TERMINATOR (1984)

    TAKE ONE Presents... is back for a new series covering the Terminator franchise. In this first episode, Simon and Jim discuss James Cameron's THE TERMINATOR. We talk about how the film came about through Cameron's dogged and occasionally dickish persistence, "tech-noir" as a genre, the film's situatedness in the 1980s and how that lends the film an interesting sense of temporality, how this film is a great example of good pacing and immediacy, sexual politics and the representation of feminism through action heroines, and nuclear anxiety against AGI anxiety. Content warnings: murder and violent death; nuclear war and apocalyptic destruction; body horror and removal of skin and eye stuff; the Holocaust; abortion; pessimism about the future. Our theme song is Terminator Theme Song (32Stitches Remix) by 32Stitches available on SoundCloud at https://soundcloud.com/32stitches/terminator-32stitches-remix Full references for this episode available in Zotero at https://www.zotero.org/groups/5642177/take_one/collections/KFB8CEB2/collection

    1h 27m
  2. The Impossipod 9: Outro

    12/24/2025

    The Impossipod 9: Outro

    Simon and Jim wrap up The Impossipod series with a discussion about the overall trajectory of the Mission: Impossible franchise, what the directors of these films went on to do, the politics of these films, their rankings of every film in the franchise, and some thoughts about how this ties into their wider thoughts on blockbuster franchise filmmaking. Our Letterboxd rankings for Mission: Impossible are available at https://boxd.it/nUsNA and https://boxd.it/EIfj2$bq018RHfaf81ior5 Content warnings: sexual abuse in the context of Harvey Weinstein; American neo-fascism and militarism; cult leadership and the Church of Scientology; misogyny. Our theme song is Star - X - Impossible Mission (Mission Impossible Theme PsyTrance Remix) by EDM Non-Stop (https://soundcloud.com/edm-non-stop/star-x-impossible-mission) licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license.

    1h 33m
  3. The Impossipod 8: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING (2025)

    11/26/2025

    The Impossipod 8: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING (2025)

    Simon and Jim reach the end of the Mission: Impossible franchise with 2025's MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING. They discuss the film's shockingly shoddy first half, the disconnect between the dialogue's apocalyptic exposition and what we're actually shown on screen of the world, how the film continues DEAD RECKONING's attempt to grapple with themes around AI and post-truth but never manages to do so successfully, what a shame it is that they separate Ethan Hunt from the rest of the team for such long stretches of the film, the emotional core that emerges towards the middle of the film from a surprising source, and how the film builds to a decent climax but unfortunately it's the same climax they already did in FALLOUT. Content warnings: the COVID-19 pandemic; cult leadership and the Church of Scientology; violent deaths including murder and assassination; terrorist bombings and nuclear weaponry; submersibles and drowning; aviation disasters and parachuting. Our theme song is Star - X - Impossible Mission (Mission Impossible Theme PsyTrance Remix) by EDM Non-Stop (https://soundcloud.com/edm-non-stop/star-x-impossible-mission) licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license. Full references for this episode available in Zotero at https://www.zotero.org/groups/5642177/take_one/collections/FUI8ZJF4

    1h 38m
  4. The Impossipod 7: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE (2023)

    10/22/2025

    The Impossipod 7: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE (2023)

    Simon and Jim discuss Christopher McQuarrie's third Mission: Impossible film, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - DEAD RECKONING PART ONE, the first of a two-parter that will cap off this franchise (for now). They discuss the film's troublesome title (again), the reconfiguration of the IMF from an intelligence agency to a weird cult with echoes of Tom Cruise's own religion, how the film is in dialogue with more traditional political thrillers like those of Tom Clancy and Brian de Palma, the nebulousness of the AI antagonist and what it misses about human-computer interaction, the issues created by the film's flabby and repetitive script, and then their minds are broken upon discovering which derided English film director has an inexplicable knighthood. Content warnings: the COVID-19 pandemic; verbal abuse and workplace harassment; cult leadership and the Church of Scientology; violent deaths including murder and assassination; nuclear weaponry; public transport disasters including a train crash. Our theme song is Star - X - Impossible Mission (Mission Impossible Theme PsyTrance Remix) by EDM Non-Stop (https://soundcloud.com/edm-non-stop/star-x-impossible-mission) licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license. Full references for this episode available in Zotero at https://www.zotero.org/groups/5642177/take_one/collections/4UGZV7LG

    1h 34m
  5. The Xenopod 11: ALIEN: EARTH (2025–)

    10/15/2025

    The Xenopod 11: ALIEN: EARTH (2025–)

    Simon and Jim return to The Xenopod for a special episode discussing the new Alien franchise TV series, ALIEN: EARTH created by Noah Hawley. They discuss how well the worldbuilding works, the production design, the creature design before ultimately descending into discussion of why the series as a whole doesn't work: pacing issues including the pacing issues with US prestige TV in general, themes that don't fit the Alien franchise, narrative threads that taper off unresolved, and the never-ending Peter Pan references. The Impossipod will return later this month for an episode discussing MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - DEAD RECKONING PART ONE. Content warnings: body horror; mutilation and violent death; biological experimentation; child slavery; transhumanism and biological augmentation; pregnancy; eyeball stuff. Our theme song is Alien Remix by Leslie Wai available on SoundCloud: ⁠⁠https://soundcloud.com/lesliewai/alien-remix⁠

    1h 45m
  6. The Impossipod 6: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT (2018)

    09/24/2025

    The Impossipod 6: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT (2018)

    Simon and Jim discuss Christopher McQuarrie's second Mission: Impossible film, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT, a very highly-regarded entry in the franchise that frankly Simon and Jim are a bit meh about. They discuss how Henry Cavill (and his $3 million moustache) is a great addition to the film, the shift in Ethan's character towards mythologising messianic tropes, McQuarrie's obsession with continuity in the franchise, the franchise's continuing approach to femininity in action films, and the script's lazy misunderstanding of political anarchism. Content warnings: nuclear explosions and mass death; violent deaths including murder and assassination; destruction of religious sites; cult leadership and the Church of Scientology; flying including parachuting and helicopter crashes. Our theme song is Star - X - Impossible Mission (Mission Impossible Theme PsyTrance Remix) by EDM Non-Stop (https://soundcloud.com/edm-non-stop/star-x-impossible-mission) licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license. Full references for this episode available in Zotero at https://www.zotero.org/groups/5642177/take_one/collections/RQWZD7BU

    1h 29m
  7. The Impossipod 5: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – ROGUE NATION (2015)

    08/27/2025

    The Impossipod 5: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – ROGUE NATION (2015)

    Simon and Jim discuss Christopher McQuarrie's first Mission: Impossible film of many, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - ROGUE NATION. They discuss how this film both subverts the tropes of this franchise and simultaneously develops the 'house style' for the rest of the franchise, the continuing themes around government accountability and 'Deep State' conspiracy theories, how the character of Ilsa Faust represents a new expression of femininity for this franchise and action films in general, the expression of neuroqueerness through Mission: Impossible and Ethan Hunt, and Zhang Jingchu's extremely small but top-billed part pandering to the Chinese market. Content warnings: violent death including murder and assassination; US-backed violent coups in Latin America; cult leadership and the Church of Scientology; "terrorist" actions against arms manufacturers and major financial institutions; drowning and suffocation. Our theme song is Star - X - Impossible Mission (Mission Impossible Theme PsyTrance Remix) by EDM Non-Stop (https://soundcloud.com/edm-non-stop/star-x-impossible-mission) licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license. Full references for this episode available in Zotero at https://www.zotero.org/groups/5642177/take_one/collections/I3SDJBUL

    1h 27m
  8. The Dinopod 8: JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH (2025)

    08/13/2025

    The Dinopod 8: JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH (2025)

    Simon and Jim are back for a Dinopod bonus episode on the recently released JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH. They discuss how this film fits in with a recurring theme of 2025 blockbuster films going 'back to basics', the elements that distinguish this film from the other Jurassic World films and make it more of a Jurassic Park film, how the impeccable pacing, competent structure, and intelligent writing distinguish this from the previous Jurassic World trilogy, what the film gets right about treating dinosaurs as animals, open source technology, and the nature of ecology in the Anthropocene, and how sick they are of mutated hybrid monster dinosaurs. The Impossipod will return later in the month for an episode discussing MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - ROGUE NATION. Content warnings: domestic violence and child abuse, genetic experimentation and mutation, violent death, capitalist exploitation of pharmaceuticals. Our theme song is Jurassic Park Remix by Gabriel Filósofo available on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/gfilosofo/jurassic-park-remix Full references for this episode available in Zotero at https://www.zotero.org/groups/5642177/take_one/collections/XQ6WLBM6

    1h 30m
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About

TAKE ONE Presents... is series of critical analyses of beloved film franchises from the TAKEONECinema.net crew. We are currently running The Impossipod where we critically analyse all the Mission: Impossible franchise films in release order. Our first series was The Xenopod, a podcast series where we watched and analysed all the Alien franchise films in release order, and our second series was The Dinopod where we discussed the Jurassic Park / World franchise films.

Information

  • Creator
    TAKE ONE
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    30
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © TAKE ONE
  • Show Website
    TAKE ONE Presents...