Time Babble

Welcome, dear Babbler, to Series Five! We’ve been away on extended leave (although much less than 100 years - we’re looking at you Blunden), but we start this series with a genuine classic in the shape of The Amazing Mr Blunden. We’re babbling about the original 1972 version directed by Lionel Jeffries, where everyone politely agrees to solve a murder mystery with Victorian manners. It’s a charmingly spooky British film where ghosts are helpful, children are clever (T&Cs apply: they may be stupid) and adults are mostly confused. We begin with Mr. Blunden himself, a mysterious gentleman who looks like he’s perpetually lost in thought, or maybe he’s just misplaced his spectacles. He offers a job to a recently widowed mother and her two children, Lucy and Jamie, who move into a creaky old mansion that screams “haunted” louder than a ghost with a megaphone. Before you can say ‘child slavery’, Lucy and Jamie meet two ghost children who are surprisingly chill about being dead. These spectral siblings need help preventing their own deaths (yes, of course time travel is involved) at the hands of the evil Diana Dors and PTSD pugilist Wickens! Cue a ‘magical’ alcoholic potion, a trip back to 1818, and a villainous silver stealing uncle who’s so evil he probably kicks puppies off-screen. There’s fire, betrayal, swan stoning, a very mysterious urn and lot’s of ‘naughty girls and naughty boys’. In the end, justice is served, ghosts are avenged, and Mr. Blunden turns out to be more amazing than anyone expected, mostly because he’s been dead the whole time. It’s spooky, sweet, and slightly bonkers, in the best possible way. But please don’t ask too many questions. Episode One of Time Babble Series Five is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address. For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram. (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)

This week we’re babbling about the cinematic masterpiece The Lakehouse (2006) starring Speed lovers Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. Our film charts the almost-nearly-romance of a sincere, but deathly dull couple separated by time. Well, separated by two years in actuality. Not that long in the grand scheme of things, you’d think? And if it really was love, we’re sure the most romantic thing to do would be to wait a bit. But do they? They do not. Although what do we idiots know about love? Turns out, quite a lot, as we bid a welcome return of our critically acclaimed ‘Romance Corner’ section! It turns out that our love-struck puppies need the help of an actual puppy, in the shape of Jack the dog, to move their relationship along. Jack is a magic dog. She can play chess, sniff out future lovers up to two years and 500 miles away and cause a distraction when you potentially get too close to an actual admirer who not only exists in the here and now, but is patiently pining away by your side (with a spinach pie). There is nothing so blind in love as an architect. So prepare your post box dear listener, as Time Babble are ready to deliver you dispatches from the intriguingly bland future past. Keep your flag up! Oh, and if you can tell us what in all holy hell The Wootch is, you win a prize. Pickup truck. Episode Six of Time Babble Series Four is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address. For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram. (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)

This week we are babbling about a film that needs no introduction. Which, in a way, is an introduction in itself. But what of it? What do you want from us? Consistency? Clarity? If so, maybe this isn’t the podcast for you… Or is it? Anyway, rambling philosophical questions aside, The Terminator was created (stolen?) in 1984 by a pre-Smurf obsessed little Jimmy Cameron, and features buns of all kinds: Mr Big Buns (obvs), and the two naked tight-tight buns of our post-lightning alley heroes, Arnold and Michael. Oh and skulls. Endless skulls. And even more skulls. Basically, a stinking ‘borg (in the form of the actual president of the USA) has been tasked by a bunch of toasters to murderise the mum of a freedom fighter to protect a future that’s dominated by white goods, whose only use for humans is either to die, or make sure the future robots are shiny and clean. Or something like that. But, as is tradition, we get distracted by how atrocious GDPR was in the past, the similarity of surgeons to serial killers and just why machines don’t like microwaves or lie detectors. So join us, as we celebrate the twilight of humanity and exterminate the Terminator! Episode Five of Time Babble Series Four is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address. For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram. (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)

Episode latest the to welcome and hello. This week we’re babbling about the extraordinary Happy End (1967), a deliriously wonderful film, directed by Oldřich Lipský. It’s a delight from end to beginning, as we explore one man's journey from death/birth to birth/death. Mostly dismissed as a throwaway piece of lightweight fluff on release, the film now stands shoulder to shoulder with its more arty brothers and sisters as an equally incredible example of the breadth of films that Czech cinema was producing at that time. While not strictly a time travel film as such, Happy End more than generally messes about with the concept of time, as we follow hapless psychopath Mensik, from from the guillotine to the crib. Murdered brides are reanimated, food is stolen from a hippo's mouth, there’s more geese that we could count, and an uncomfortable amount of chewing. It’s also the ultimate example of the unreliable narrator, as what we see, what Mensik actually does, and how he describes it, are quite often at polar opposites. Delightfully inventive and funny, it’s also a surprisingly uncomfortable watch, very much exploring the darker side of dark comedy… Episode Four of Time Babble Series Four is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address. For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram. (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)

This week we’re babbling about I’ll Never Forget You (1951). The film is a curious mix of sci-fi, noir and costume drama and was directed by Roy Ward Baker of Hammer and Amicus fame. It stars TYRONE POWER (possibly the best name on planet earth) as a man out of time, forever longing to go back and hang out with his ancestors during the ‘Age of Reason’. And so with a flash of lightning, back to a glorious technicolour 18th Century we go. Although it’s not quite as witty and intellectual as TYRONE POWER had hoped for, as Tom, (his friendly, foppish, inebriate guide to this new world), shows him around the mud-coated Hogarth-esque squalor of the back streets of London, full of poverty, gambling and bedlam! TYRONE POWER thinks he has read all the diaries, and done all the research. However when an unknown chinless beauty walks through the door, everything he thinks he knows is now not known, and the future/past he thought he knew, is more unknowable than when he knew what he used to know… Join us, as we discover that being American is pretty much the same as being in league with the devil, knowing things that are just about to happen is the worst way to make friends, and olden times police investigations are thorough, but not in the way you might expect. Thankfully, listening to Time Babble isn’t against the law yet (even if it should be), although prepare for people to accuse you of Witchcraft if they do catch you listening to us. Episode Three of Time Babble Series Four is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address. For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram. (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)

This week we’re babbling about Terror at London Bridge (1985). The film is also known by the ever so slightly better title of Bridge Across Time and was originally a TV movie directed by the unfeasibly named Egbert Warnderink Swackhamer Jr! The film stars the legend that is David ‘The Hoff’ Hasslehoff as a troubled cop, trying to forget a traumatic incident from his past. Specifically, a rogue incident with a can opener and a tin of beans. Now based at the relocated London Bridge in Arizona, he stumbles upon an ‘almost enough to have you institutionalised’ theory that Jack the Ripper is somehow back from the dead and up to his old tricks, through some entirely unconvincing ‘reasons’. The film also stars genre veteran Adrienne Barbeau, alongside Stepfanie Kramer as The Hoff’s wildly inappropriate workplace-stalky-romantic interest. To offset the endless scenery chewing, we enjoy innocent school kids pointing at bodies floating in a river, a library that seems more interested in trying to get you to go to the cinema, film extras that seem to have lost even the ability to walk naturally and you’ll also find out why the House of Horrors is only named so on the inside of the building..? And to add insult to injury (yes, it’s that kind of film) an indifferent The Hoff is also treated to a romantic meal, and no, it’s not even Mac ‘n’ Cheese! So join us dear Babbler, as we venture trepidatiously to London Village, to see what the flip is going on. Episode Two of Time Babble Series Four is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address. For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram. (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)

Welcome one & all, to Time Babble Series Four! To kick start this new series we invite you to join us in our attempt to change the course of world history. And when ‘we’ say ‘us’ we mean the protagonists of our ’their’ film… This week we are babbling about LOLA (2022), which was made when the world was still in lockdown, and the great plague was rife. The film was directed by Andrew Legge, and stars Emma Appleton alongside Stefanie Martini as two orphaned sisters who invent a magic machine that can see into the future. Well, that is anything that has been broadcast via radio or the telly box. All goes well at first: grooving to Bowie, digging Dylan and watching the occasional moon landing (which definitely happened, just ask Mr Kubrick and the Spice Girls). Until… footage of those pesky Nazis starts to appear. LOLA is a great example of the found footage genre done remarkably well. So well in fact you can’t see most of the joins. Is that really Mr Hitler meeting our sisters? Yes. Yes it is. So take a massive piss, blow up your Nazi Whores balloons, put on your marching boots and dance to a very different (but very regular) beat. The first episode of Time Babble Series Four is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address. For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram and Twitter. (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)

Hey groovy cats! Strap on your time belts and join us for the final episode of Series Three. Do we have a treat for you! Well, when we say treat, we really mean: here is a film that no one can quite remember. And that film is Dimension 5 (1966), ‘directed’ by Frank Adreon and starring ‘old blue eyes’ himself, Jeffrey Hunter. The film was part of a series of made-for-television features, although some of them did sneak into cinemas. Our film features not-lifts, copy-cat corridors and art galleries hiding spy headquarters. Spy headquarters, of course, with well stocked bars. Perfect for inventing, leering, drinking, and torturing your enemies. We travel, via Pan Am (obvs) to many exotic locations, most of which (all) are situated just outside the film studio. The film features agents, double agents, not not not agents, bomb owls, a traffic jam, Genghis!, truculent waiters, booze and bikini shops, and much, much more… There is no way you’ll want to miss this thrilling episode! It starts with fireworks, and goes downhill from there. Time Babble Series Three, Episode Thirteen, is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address. For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram and Twitter. (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)

This week we have a special bonus episode for all you Babblers, as we venture nervously out into what is regularly described as the ‘real world’, for a live time travel theatre experience at the Leeds Playhouse. The Time Machine (2023) is a three person play, created by the Original Theatre company, starring George Kemp as George, Amy Revelle as Amy, and Michael Dylan as Michael. Clever stuff. ENJOY the palpable sense of FEAR of your hosts as they experience live theatre! LISTEN to them cower in DREAD from the realities of matinee audiences! FEEL their DEEP DISCOMFORT as audience participation starts to happen! And keeps on happening. And keeps on happening. That’s not to say we didn’t have a lovely time to bring you, dear listener, some dispatches from the front: including under-utilised clocks, over-utilised panto, and lone-sweeping, pie-eating stagehands. Time Babble Series Three, Episode Twelve, is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address. For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram and Twitter. (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)

Clasp/cuddle lovingly your existential fear and dread tightly to your chest, and join us, as we explore one of the greatest films ever made: Wild Strawberries (1957), written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. The film stars many of Bergman regulars; Bibi Andersson, Gunnar Björnstrand, Ingrid Thulin, a small yet memorable cameo from Ming von Sydow, and Clive Dunn. The film follows Isak Borg (masterfully played by Victor Sjöström) over 24 hours, as he journeys to receive an honorary degree. On the way Isak (almost definitely) travels back in time, to rediscover what it means to be alive and accept the inevitable journey to the next realm. That’s right dear listener - it’s fun fun fun all the way! On the road to enlightenment (or rather, drifting off into our own existential Christmas Carol), we discuss the real influences on Stanley Kubrick’s career, discover the history of smiles, peek longingly at Zarkov shorts, and mistake strawberries for plums. Intrigued? You should be. Time Babble dares to go to the corners of cinema that other podcasts cower in fear of… Time Babble Series Three, Episode Eleven, is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address. For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram and Twitter. (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)

Yo Cyberpunks! Have we got a chaotic treat for you! Prepare to be dragged screaming into The Adventure of Denchu-Kozo (1987), an acid lucid dream of a film from legendary filmmaker Shinya Tsukamoto. This was one of Tsukamoto’s very first films and was originally created as a theatre piece. We have no idea how this would have been possible, and can only dream that a time machine would transport us back to see the theatre production in the living flesh. Which indeed we have, dear reader. The film is about a young boy with a telegraph pole protruding from his back. He is transported into the future and must somehow save the world from bad weather, Goth vampires and many, many other things that we can’t describe, things that we won’t describe, things that we… well, hopefully you get the idea that it’s indescribable (which it is). The film was shot on 8mm and has all the trademarks of the off-kilter, left-field genius that Tsukamoto was going to unleash on an unsuspecting world. If you dare to join us, our new episode is out now. Insert your wires… now! Time Babble Series Three, Episode Ten, is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address. For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram and Twitter. (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)

Happy Easter nerds! This week we’ve gone into EASTER OVERLOAD with the psychedelic stop-motion classic Here Comes Peter Cottontail (1971). This TV special was created by the ‘almost definitely not’ drug-crazed minds of Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin. Between them they are responsible for literally millions of seasonal classics, including Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964) and Frosty the Snowman (1969). It’s a fun-filled hour of eggstravagant mind-altering ‘storytelling’, which features Danny Kaye as narrator Seymour S. Sassafras (he also voices, the umm, ‘French’ caterpillar Antoine) and Vincent Price, as the evil January Q. Irontail. Our lazy, fib-filled hero Peter Cottontail is voiced by Casey Kasem, who was the voice of Shaggy in the original Scooby Doo cartoons. So stare into your favourite egg and join us, as we try to work out what on our good earth is going on, and jump into the Yestermorrowmobile (? no, us neither) and fly, very, very slowly into the future (or possibly the past - we’re still not sure which direction they went in). We’ll meet spiders fired from rockets, bunnies in April Valley who deliver chicken eggs to ungrateful youths, sassy witches who just need love (like the rest of us), and talking hats. This is our second musical time travel film, and the whole thing is just as much fun as Brigadoon was. Honest. So drop your chocolate, forgo your eggs and open your ears to our seasonal babbling. Time Babble Series Three, Episode nine, is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address. For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram and Twitter. (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)

Bonjour..! This week we are babbling about Camille Redouble (2012), written and directed by Noémie Lvovsky, who also stars in the lead role. The film is a loose remake of Peggy Sue Got Married and makes a perfect double bill with last week’s episode. It takes the basic premise of Peggy, but moves the now into the 2000s and the then into the 1980s. It’s a beautiful, more thoughtful version of the story and Noémie turns in an astonishing lead performance filled with subtlety and poignancy. The film is another fine example of the wonders the eclectic world of time travel can burp up, and how the same story can be completely different (and much improved) in the right hands. On the way to enlightenment however, we survive a blood soaked opening scene and visit a fancy dress party filled with an almost unending list of guests, which yours truly (understandably) takes maybe a bit too long to describe (nearly) every, single, one. Meanwhile, we encounter weird Judi and her lover Lemmy from Motorhead as Camille’s parents, kids jumping from windows to escape the nonsense that is High School, and the creeping realisation that your school years were your best and worst times all rolled into one. It’s safe to say we loved this film, and so will you. Au revoir nerds. Time Babble Series Three, Episode Eight, is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address. For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram and Twitter. (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)

This week we’re babbling about nostalgia-fest Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Kathleen Turner as Peggy Sue, in a dazzling lead performance. It also features another couple of Coppolas: the overacting, nasally-challenged-Nosferatu himself, Nicolas Cage, as Peggy’s childhood sweetheart and soon to be divorced husband, alongside future award-winning director Sofia Coppola, as Peggy’s little sister. Put on your prom dress and travel back to the 60s..! where we encounter the howling-puke poetry of teen beatnik (and Peggy’s secret crush), Michael, visit time-travelling cult lodges, and you’re unsure, discover that the best way to tell if you are real or not, is to hurl yourself in front of a fire truck. (Don’t) try this at home, kids. The film is steeped in nostalgia for a time that probably didn’t actually exist. But whilst sugar-coated memories are not always to be re-lived, the film is well worth a look, and is an odd, but oddly satisfying revisit for our 2024 eyes. The film also unexpectedly led us to the next movie we’ll be babbling about. However, we're getting ahead of ourselves with that one… Time Babble Series Three, Episode Seven, is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address. For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram and Twitter. (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)

Get ready to board the next flight to whenever! This week we’re babbling about the Czech time travel classic Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea / Zítra vstanu a opařím se čajem (1977) directed by Yindřizich Polák. The film is a lighthearted comedy with quite heavy overtones and tackles that age-old problem of a group of those pesky futuristic Nazis, who want to travel back in time to help Hitler win the Second World War. But they are relying on the slightly corrupt leanings of a womanising time pilot, without realising he has an identical twin with a very different set of ideals. What’s the worst that can happen? Well this can happen: a couple American tourists are kidnapped on the journey back to WW2. Although they delight in the on-board space jelly they’re served for lunch and are more than happy to have selfies taken with Hitler himself. However, who packed the suitcase? Could it contain lingerie, or a hydrogen bomb?! Don’t worry, all will work out fine! Unless we have to spray you green to get you to comply. Although make sure you have both your legs attached before you start listening to our latest babble. Join us for your post-Valentine’s ‘treat’... Time Babble Series Three, Episode Six, is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address. For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram and Twitter. (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)

Ding! Ding! All aboard! Next stop, the Time Babble Christmas Special! This week we’re babbling about Last Train to Christmas (2021), starring Michael Sheen, playing twelve versions of Tony, a troubled nightclub impresario, Cary Elwes as his bottoms popped off, not-alcoholic not-brother, together with a host of other characters that may, or may not exist. On the last Christmas Eve train from London to Nottingham, Tommy/Tony jumps forwards and backwards by decades, as he wanders from carriage to carriage, creating havoc with his timeline, and multiple versions of his family. As it’s our festive special, we’ve been scouring message boards and fansites to bring you as much fact and truths as we can stomach. Which, let’s face it, when our stomachs are full of Rumbas and Watneys Party Seven, is not a lot. So gather round the warm festive log fire dear Babblers, to hear tales of Colditz board game etiquette, murder walls, exploding children, and an exhaustive list of Tony’s iterations. Come stamp on butterflies with us! Time Babble Series Three, Episode Five, is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address. For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram and Twitter. (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)

Get ready to climb the magical staircase as we babble about the time travelling film noir gem Repeat Performance (1947). The film is often overlooked, but overlooked no more as we delve into its sequinned delights! The film stars Joan Leslie as Sheila Page, who opens the film with a gun in her hand and her almost always drunk husband Barney, dead at her feet. And then things start to get a little more complicated as we relive the year leading up to the fateful shooting. On the way though, we encounter poets, drunks, shower caps, another invalid waddle, theatre folk, parping orange blossoms, the source of The Smiths’ entire back catalogue and inevitable break-up, along with a whole heap o’ deceit! The film is a great example of how even the genres you think you know can throw the odd curveball every now and then. As Time Babble would too, if we could throw. Time Babble Series Three, Episode Four, is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address. For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram and Twitter. (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)

Grab hold of your time twin and get thee to a nunnery. It’s time for Biggles! This week we’re babbling about Biggles: Adventures in Time (1986). It’s a joy of a film and one of Time Babble HQs favourite time travel movies. Biggles was the creation of W.E. Johns, who wrote nearly a hundred novels following Biggles adventures during wartime. The film itself screams 80’s! From its music, fashion, and the beautiful street punks gathered around a brazier. It also features the last film appearance by the legendary gentleman of horror, Peter Cushing, who puts in a traditionally exemplary performance despite the nonsense that is going on around him, including his pooping pet raven. So prepare your Celebrity Dinner, grab your actors' final movie checklist, ready yourself to pull out a German soldier’s eyeball and ride the time-lightning, into this week's episode of Time Babble! Time Babble Series Three, Episode Three, is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address. For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram and Twitter. (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)

This week we dive head first into the sparkling and inviting waters of the Children's Film Foundation. The Children's Film Foundation was for decades a way for new and established directors and actors at the end of their career, to make films aimed at, and starring kids. Our film stars Patrick Troughton as the mysterious time travelling inventor, Professor Wagstaff, currently hanging out in an abandoned castle in a public park. We’ve extensively researched and we’re pretty sure this was a unique role for Mr Troughton and sadly he never played a time traveller before or since. Two school kids ignore the ‘Danger of Death’ sign outside, (and typically everything potentially dangerous about the 1970s) and wander in to see what’s going on. Like the kids, the film pretty much ignores facts, history and continuity, but the kids, Troughton, and the audience have a pretty fun time along the way. Just like Time Babble. We follow the same characters and their ancestry all the way back to the Stone Age and a rather dodgy looking bear, via that pesky WW2, and all the way back to the now. Although their now is very much the then of 1978. Oh, and the film has an amazing soundtrack, a little bit like a jaunty version of Kraftwerk. But better. Time Babble Series Three, Episode Two, is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address. For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram and Twitter. (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)

Welcome to Series Three of Time Babble! We celebrate our new series with a modern time travel classic, in the 3D watery shape of Donnie Darko (2001). The film is the directorial debut of Richard Kelly, and stars both Jake and Maggie Gyllenhall, alongside Drew Barrymore, Patrick Swayze, Mary McDonnell, and Katherine Ross. It’s the simple story of a narcoleptic young man who may or may not be conversing with a six foot bunny rabbit at the end of the world. This is no fluffy-wuffy Peter Rabbit of a bunny though, but it does turn out that Beatrix Potter’s watercolour palette includes a lovely shade of ‘gorefest red’. Despite the dark mournfulness (of both film and pod), there are many funny moments, as we discover the best Lorne Green gag in movie history, welcome the return of ‘Ask an Idiot’, and to add sparkle to our motion, the widely beloved ‘Haiku or Limerick’ section completes our traditionally poetic denouement. So grab your earmuffs and join us, as we attempt to put our cross at the love end of the fear/love scale. Time Babble Series Three, Episode One is waiting for you now on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and other good podcast services. If you can’t find it on your usual streaming service, please write in to the usual address. For updates & more time-based babbling follow us on Instagram and Twitter. (All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners and their use here is protected under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of comment or critique.)