Mazes and Monsters (1982) - Because You Watch Starcrash

<p>“Beware of the sacrilege!”</p> <p>This week your Distinguished Professors enjoy a film with Tom Hanks, fresh off his days of bosoming and buddying and on the cusp of a noteworthy acting career: the D&amp;D-sploitation movie <em>Mazes and Monsters</em>! Roll for initiative as we discuss the sad fact that two-thirds of this podcast can’t drink a man’s beverage, the “real-life” roots of this story, a series of tragic hat choices, the 80s backlash against <em>Dungeons and Dragons</em>, a bit about <em>D&amp;D</em>’s popularity, the Maze Controller, Clink’s uncle Tom Harvey is in this (!!!), a comparison with <em>Ordinary People</em>, the worst opening music ever, Clink’s helmet, JJ being coded as gay through his Noel Coward costume, the transition from JJ’s story to Robbie’s story, a brief digression into ghost belief, the first world problems of our protagonists, creativity and individual leads to destruction (hi, <em>Supergirl</em>!), ways this could have been weirder and more compelling, made-for-TV special effects, bad lighting, Kate’s desire to be a writer and the role of imagination in writing, random funk, another cheapass Styrofoam cave, a nerdy clarification of the emotional status of Vulcans, live-action role-playing, JJ hijacks Daniel’s game once his character stupidly gets killed, the fallacy of “winning” D&amp;D, the irony of capitalists accusing D&amp;D of being satanic for being about accumulating wealth and power, Tom Hanks can’t run, the morass of the cave, Berres’s origins as a D&amp;D player in 1984, comparisons with the anti-video game movement, Vanderpool spitting some random Eminem lyrics, the fiction of an open parking spot in New York, Slayer on the marquee in New York and other moral panics, a quick discussion of modern Satanism (and Berres screws up the name of the Satanic Temple), and the mystery of priapism.</p> <p>Follow us on Facebook! <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BecauseYouWatchedStarcrash">Because You Watched Starcrash</a></p> <p>Music credits:</p> <p>"Laser Groove" Kevin MacLe