September 20

Superman II, 1980

Welcome back to another episode of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers! J. Blake and Dion Baia are celebrating the 5th anniversary of the podcast and after wrapping up the critically acclaimed 2019 Summer of Sequels, the boys figured they’d perform an encore to close out the season! And what better way to celebrate their anniversary then by exploring the iconic and legendary superhero sequel Superman II, from 1980!

Dion and Blake unpack the lengthy history of the Superman character, and do their best to lay out the timeline of lawsuits by creators Siegel and Shuster in their attempt to regain the rights to the character they created. The fellas then segue to Superman II and discuss the tension while filming the incredible sequel, and compare and contrast the different cuts of this film, juxtaposing the theatrical cut, to the television cut and the notorious Donner Cut. And Dion relays his fun Dean Cain story as well. So it’s a fun, fact-filled and lengthy, high-flying anniversary-installment of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!

Please go check out this week’s sponsor, KEEPS!

(*At one point Dion accidentally referred to Sarah Douglas as Susannah Douglas– his apologies.)

Extras!

For those who didn’t know the reference, here is the 1980s toy, MUSCLE Men.

Here’s Blake having some fun with them, HERE, and HERE.

Check out the footage from the 1984 television cut, that didn’t make the theatrical or Donner Cuts of the film.

December 8

The Night They Saved Christmas, 1984

Welcome back to another episode of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers! With the holiday season in full swing, J. Blake and Dion Baia have delved quite deep into the video store racks, and found a lost Christmas classic, the ABC made-for-TV movie, The Night They Saved Christmas, from 1984, directed by the great Jackie Cooper!

The Night They Saved Christmas

This lost gem starring Art Carney, Jaclyn Smith, Scott Grimes, Mason Adams, June Lockhart and Paul Williams has largely and sadly fallen through the cracks of history and subsequently been lost to time – but not forgotten by the SNMS boys! After Dion and Blake reminisce about some of the classic holiday specials they grew with, the boys jump right into this fabulous film, which the fellas jokingly argue might be the ‘lost’ or ‘unknown’ sequel to the last film they covered on their previous episode, William Friedkin‘s 1977 masterpiece, Sorcerer. They take a deep-dive into this 80’s TV-movie classic and marvel over all those mythical, usually unanswered question regarding the Santa legend, that this film tackles with ease. The guys are equally astonished by the SFX within the film, be it matte-paintings, stop-motion and/or miniatures. And Blake and Dion also offer up some of their unique musical suggestions for the holiday season, to help make the ultimate 2017 Christmas mix-tape. So which one of the boys actually has a huge affinity for Hallmark Christmas movies? Did the boys actually forget to mention that Jackie Cooper was a Little Rascal? Does this film achieve that “Christmas Spirit” that so many look for in a holiday movie? And who the heck is this unseen super-villain Gaylord we keep hearing about?! Well, all these dire questions will be answered in this fun, hilarious and warm, feel-good holiday edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!

Extras!

Check out this original promo for the ABC premiere of The Night They Saved Christmas!

Here’s another original TV promo for The Night They Saved Christmas!