Over 65 years ago, Fellowship of the Ring, the first book in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings epic was published and literature would never be the same. That one work changed the way that fantasy literature was written and received by the public. It propelled a quiet academic into the public eye and has spawned a plethora of adaptations, interpretations, and imitations. In this episode and the three that follow we take a look at Tolkien’s life and the influences that helped inform his writing style. We’ll also talk about his many books and works, including those published posthumously, and we’ll discuss the various animated and live-action adaptations.
This episode contains the last Five Questions segment that had not been released, therefore there is no Five-Minute Controversy.
This week Anji, Stephanie, and Bree join the cast.
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Iron Fist season 2 is about to hit Netflix, so this week we’re delving back into season 1 with people familiar with the comics. We wanted to know how their opinions would differ from our panel in episode 15, and we had some surprising results. We also discuss the fight choreography and what’s really needed to sell kung fu action before we look ahead at season 2 and talk about what we’d like to see to make this show truly great. 
This is it, the fourth Netflix series co-produced with Marvel, which introduced the last of the four characters that they’d promised since 2014. After three amazing series, the public was primed for Iron Fist but for some reason it didn’t hit as well as the other three. In this episode we dive into that. We talk about how well this worked as an adaptation of the character, the importance of taking time to polish a series, the importance of choreography for a martial arts series, the acting, plots, continuity with the other “Defenders” series and so much more. 
Ever wonder what’s been going on with all these novels and movies about teenagers living in apocalyptic scenarios? So do we. That’s why this week we decided to talk about what’s driving these apocalyptic teenage dreams. We talk about female protagonists, following the dollar, adaptation integrity, movie length, and so much more. Nathan asks the eternal question of whether Suzanne Collins is fibbing when she says that she hadn’t seen or read Battle Royale and Rachele makes sure that we all know her opinion of The Giver. We may have also come up for a new use for Pokemon Go – matchmaking.