Retroscoping: Recent Episodes
Live from Carter Tower!
A retrospective podcast looking back at 80 years of Walt Disney Feature Animation! Each episode Alexa and Nathan discuss one Disney animated feature, its history and significance, what makes it unique, and how it's aged. Listeners are invited to watch along as they journey chronologically from Snow White to the present!
Alexa and Nathan dig into the new year with Disney's 15th animated feature film, Lady and the Tramp. Grab your furry friends and bone up on the film's complicated origins, iconic moments, and doggie delights.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
"Happy Dan the Cynical Dog" by Ward Greene
Lady sketch by Joe Grant
Cinemascope
Larry Roberts
Peggy Lee
Barbara Luddy
Second Star to the right and stream on til morning! Alexa and Nathan discuss Disney's 14th animated feature film and its pan-orama of problems. They talk pixies, pirates, and the boy who never grew up (and the surprising ways he hasn't aged well. Ladies, you deserve better!).
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
J.M. Barrie
The Ormond Street Hospital Charity
Ranger J Audobon Woodlore (aka. if Smee was a Park Ranger)
Arthur Rackam's Peter Pan Illustrations
Trina Schart Hyman's Peter Pan illustrations
Follow Nathan and Alexa down the rabbit hole into Walt Disney's 13th animated feature film, Alice in Wonderland. Feast on delicious cakes of chaos and other tasty tidbits on our wander through Wonderland.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Alice Liddell
A Caucus Race
Eating Oysters in months that end in R
"Mad as a hatter"
Ed Wynn
Kathryn Beaumont
Bibbidi-bobbidi-be kind. Nathan and Alexa talk mice, magic, and the stroke of midnight. How casting the lead role was it's own Cinderella story! And which one of Cinderella's philosophies has turned into a pumpkin over time.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Charles Perrault
Helene Stanley
Songwriters Mack David, Al Hoffman, Jerry Livingston
June Foray
Ilene Woods
Mice Singing in Normal Voices
Please do not clothe the birds. (Pigeons in hats)
Eleanor Audley
The Wicked Stepmother & Stepsisters at Disneyland
Tally-ho! Alexa and Nathan stay inside during the COVID19 quarantine and wrap up the package film era while social distancing with Ichabod and Mr. Toad.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Roger Deakins
Leonard Maltin
Bing Crosby
Mickey's Christmas Carol
The Hays Code
Kenneth Grahame
Washington Irving
J. Pat O'Malley
Great snakes of cotton candy! In feature film #10, Nathan and Alexa reunite with the Caballeros, discover a lost Disney Princess, and learn to pickle responsibly. Listen up, it's "Melody Time!"
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
New York Times Review of Melody Time
Apple Pickles
Johnny Appleseed
Bobby Driscoll
Jiminy Cricket is back... with a vengeance. Alexa and Nathan find out what is a Bongo and what is a Bergen while discussing outdated love rituals and other ghosts of pop culture eras past.
CONTENT WARNING: Brief discussions of domestic violence behaviors. Parental discretion advised.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
"Too Good to Be True" love song from Bongo
Mickey and the Beanstalk
Willy raises the roof
Edgar Bergen
Billy Gilbert
Jiminy Cricket is back... with a vengeance. Alexa and Nathan find out what is a Bongo and what is a Bergen while discussing outdated love rituals and other ghosts of pop culture eras past.
CONTENT WARNING: Brief discussions of domestic violence behaviors. Parental discretion advised.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
"Too Good to Be True" love song from Bongo
Mickey and the Beanstalk
Willy raises the roof
Edgar Bergen
Billy Gilbert
In this film you've surely never seen, Alexa and Nathan uncover a hidden connection to Disneyland, learn the word "boogie woogie," and give this film an award.
Fun Fact: This episode was recorded before COVID19. Time travel with us back to a simpler time.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Fred Moore
The Martins and the Coys
Blue Bayou
All the Cats Join In
Without You
Casey at the Bat
Two Silhouettes
Peter and the Wolf narration and music
After You've Gone
Johnny Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet clip
The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met
Grab your snappy serapes for The Three Caballeros! Alexa and Nathan embark on Disney's original magic carpet ride across Mexico and into a whole new side of Donald Duck they wish they could unsee.
CONTENT WARNING: Brief discussions of lewd behaviors. Parental discretion advised.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
The Cold-Blooded Penguin clip
The Flying Gauchito clip
Baía clip
Las Posadas clip
You Belong to My Heart and Donald's Surreal Reverie clip
Jesusita en Chihuahua dance clip
Behind the scenes footage of Carmen Molina's "Jesusita" dance
Saludos Amigos! And join us on the fastest international trip you'll ever take! Nathan and Alexa introduce the 1940's package film era and discuss the shortest Disney Feature film, the ultimate Photoshop brush, and how cartoons fought the Nazis.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Clip from the 1990 Sing Along VHS tapes
"Donald Duck Visits Lake Titicaca" clip
"Pedro" clip
"El Gaucho Goofy" clip (in Swedish)
"Aquarela do Brasil"
Daffy Duck in "Duck Amuck" clip
Absolutely endearing and enchanting, Alexa and Nathan talk about 1942's Lion King... also known as Bambi. They discuss the birds and the butterflies and how Bambi fathered a bear.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Tyrus Wong
Walt Disney interview about Bambi
10 Facts about Bambi
Why Bambi remains a classic
The Problematic Influence of Disney's "Bambi"
Bambi Forest Fire Prevention Poster
Smokey the Bear
CONTENT WARNING: Discussions of alcohol and elements of racism. Parental discretion advised.
Alexa and Nathan have officially seen everything because now they've seen an elephant fly (and a few pink elephants to boot)! They highly recommend Timothy Mouse as your agent. But whatever you do - look out for Mister Stork!
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
The 1941 Strike
The Animation Guild
Barnum Animal Crackers
How Tim Burton's Dumbo addressed the original Dumbo's racism and other problematic issues.
CONTENT WARNING: Brief discussions of racism and nudity. Parental discretion advised.
Nathan and Alexa discuss Disney's 3rd animated feature film, Fantasia. A film that mixes high art with "cold hard science" and travels from abstract ASMR to whimsical pagan pastures.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
A Colour Box by Len Lye
Uncensored Pastoral Symphony Comparison {Warning: contains depictions of racism}
Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee! A Disney life for me! Alexa and Nathan discuss the odds and ends of Pinocchio, Disney's 2nd feature film. They debate whether Jiminy is a good conscience and discover deceit is the solution to deforestation.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Disney's Oscar
Heigh-ho! It's off through history we go! In the first episode of Retroscoping, Alexa and Nathan take a look at Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. They discuss other contenders for "first animated film," the original fairy tale, and break down the delights this film still offers more than 80 years after it's premiere.
So whether you're new school or old school -- navigate to Disney+, crack open your DVD collection, or cue up the VCR and get watching the classic masterpiece that changed the world of animation forever after.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
"The Apostle" by Quirino Cristiani
"The Adventures of Prince Achmed" by Lotte Reiniger
"The Old Mill" Disney short
"Walt Disney Introduces the Multiplane Camera"
The Hobbit House in Culver City