Roadtrippin' with Rob and Mike

What makes great sci-fi?Rob and I certainly have our complaints about some of the current sci-fi television shows and films that have been released over the past few years. Sometimes the story is bad, sometimes the effects are bad, and sometimes the science doesn't make any sense. And more often than not, it's a combination of these three factors to varying degrees.So when Robert M

We all know Rob isn't big on nu-Trek. And in today's ROADTRIPPIN' podcast, RMB expresses his concerns and frustrations with the latest episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds's latest episode.But here's the thing about Rob's complaints - and, specifically, his concerns about the quality of writing for the latest generation of live-action, Star Trek shows currently streaming on Par

I saw LIGHTYEAR at the theater this Sunday with my family. Tickets for the four of us were just under $65, so by my figuring, we were just four of around 3 million people who saw that movie during its opening weekend.And while that missed projections, it’s still a pretty healthy opener for an animated movie.But should we evaluate it as “just” an animated movie? That may not b

Why doesn’t Hollywood remake mediocre movies (and make them better)?ROADTRIPPIN' co-hosts Robert Meyer Burnett and Mike Bawden discuss the broader implications of a question posed by an Imagination Connoisseur who asks why Obi-Wan Kenobi is such a boring character in his own series. In fact, one could ask why so many Star Wars series seem to be “running in place” and not real

Why doesn’t Hollywood remake mediocre movies (and make them better)?ROADTRIPPIN' co-hosts Robert Meyer Burnett and Mike Bawden respond to a letter from an Imagination Connoisseur who asks why Hollywood seems content remaking and re-booting successful movies rather than making movies with “great potential” that might have not met expectations when they were first released to t

I suppose this was a long time coming.I’ve noticed that Rob has been on the receiving end of more than one heated Twitter exchange with people his ongoing criticisms of both Star Trek and Star Wars. According to RMB, he receives several tweets a day of people sending him images of Gabe Simpson shaking his fist at the clouds (I’ve borrowed Gabe for this episode's keyframe).Some

It was a long day yesterday. Not only is the rise in gas prices and the wild ride the economy is on starting to show its tell-tale signs in So-Cal (there are noticeably fewer cars on the road this week), the overall level of social discourse on platforms like Twitter and Facebook seem to be taking a step back and becoming much more personal and mean-spirited.Especially if you’re

On today’s podcast, Rob shared some details from his weekend. Turns out there were a fan or two who felt compelled to tell Rob that the original trilogy of Star Wars films were “trash” and the best Star Wars movie was ROGUE ONE. On social media, some people who follow the PGS on Instagram and TikTok felt compelled to call out Rob and his opinions, calling him all kinds of vil

I don’t think there’s any surprise that RMB thinks very highly of Amazon Prime’s THE BOYS. But his comparison of the show to Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 classic, DR. STRANGELOVE OR: HOW I STOPPED WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB (a/k/a DR. STRANGELOVE) even caught me off guard.Rob loves everything Kubrick. So, for him to make this comparison required a bit more scrutiny. And I have to

ROADTRIPPIN' co-hosts Robert Meyer Burnett and Mike Bawden discuss how the entertainment business has changed since Jeffrey Katzenberg wrote an internal memo (at Disney) about the future of movie-making. As the economic realities have changed and the budgets have ballooned, studios are finding themselves in a difficult corner – they need to make big-budget, franchise fare that wi