x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries

Brenda & Austin

Two friends, Austin and Brenda, delve into the rich history of secret nerd mysteries near and dear to their hearts in their own loose, light-hearted way. If you"ve ever wondered "Why Saturday morning for cartoons?" or "How come Chuck E. Cheese cares so much about other people"s birthdays?", this is the show for you!

society & culture hobbies

All Episodes

00:46:51

Ferngully vs. Disney: The Fight for Robin Williams

Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries ·

2024/07/23

In the late 80's, a small animation studio reached out to Robin Williams to get him to voice a character in their upcoming film: Ferngully the Last Rainforest. Not long after, the Walt Disney company did the same, signing Williams on to voice the Genie in Aladdin. These events led to corporate espionage, Jeffrey Katzenberg yelling, a desperate real estate search, and an unwanted painting by Pablo Picasso. Music Credits: Money Dollar Bills by Lemon Demon

en

01:00:32

Captain Planet

Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries ·

2024/07/16

In the 80's, business Tycoon and inspiration for Doug Dimmadome had an idea for using cartoons to educate children about the importance of environmentalism and saving the planet. This idea would become "Captain Planet", and he's here to save the world.

en

00:58:45

Cedar point, Intamin, and the Top Thrill Dragster

Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries ·

2024/07/09

In the year 2000, rollercoaster design and manufacturing company Intamin debuted their new Giga coaster for Cedar Point: Millenium Force. It was record breaking. It drew the crowds. It won awards. It was everything Cedar Point was hoping for. So they purchased more rides from Intamin, and more, and more. Surely lightning could strike twice, right? And then in comes the Top Thrill Dragster.

en

01:05:42

The History of Anime Music Videos

Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries ·

2024/07/02

Anime Music Videos, or AMV's, have gone down in history as the national pastime of mid 2000's nerd-loving teens. But how did the AMV get its start? Who was the first person to think of combining anime footage with popular songs? And what wild technical hurtles did this format face in the days before Windows Movie Maker?

en

00:45:51

Michigan's Abandoned Jurassic Park: Prehistoric Forest

Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries ·

2024/06/25

Irish Hills Michigan is nowadays mostly known for its lush forests, plentiful outdoor activities, and an abundance of Irish Americans, however, in the 60's, it had a booming tourism industry with many colorful and exciting attractions that drew in visitors from all over Michigan. One of these attractions was Prehistoric Forest, a theme park mostly known for its dozens of dinosaur statues made of fiberglass and styrofoam. When the park closed in 1999, the statues were all left to rot where they

en

00:56:13

The Lasting Legacy of "Wizardry"

Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries ·

2024/06/18

What do "Delicious in Dungeon", "Final Fantasy", and "Dragon Quest" all have in common? They all owe their inspiration to one american DDOS computer game from the 80's, "Wizardry". While Wizardry has fallen into obscurity in its home country of the USA, in Japan, Wizardry would go on to inspire decades of fantasy works. But, how did this influential computer game even get made in a time before computer games were mainstream?

en

00:50:25

The Folly of Cereal City USA

Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries ·

2024/06/11

The Kellogg's company shut down their cereal factory tours in the 1980's, replacing it with a new, high tech indoor theme park experience called Cereal City USA in 1998. Located in Battle Creek, MI, Cereal City USA shared the story of Kellogg's and their cereal, but couldn't live up to lofty attendance projections, competition from other cereal based theme parks, and negative audience response to their fabricated factory tour.

en

01:10:22

Rerun - Goosebumps

Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries ·

2024/06/04

Brenda's on vacation this week, so we're here to present a slightly truncated version of one of our favorite episodes: episode 87, Goosebumps! This week your host Brenda takes you on a deep dive into the history of the second highest selling children’s book franchises in history: Goosebumps, the brainchild of writer RL Stein. This episode features haunted masks, childhood traumas, lost media, and yes, another heated legal battle. Listener beware, you’re in for a scare!

en

01:05:19

The Early Days of Adult Swim

Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries ·

2024/05/28

It's hard to imagine a time without the wild experimental shows on Cartoon Networks infamous nighttime block, Adult Swim, but in the early 2000's, a couple cartoon network employees would take a chunk of the channel's advertising budget and get to work (potentially in a closet) on creating a subversive, modern take on adult animation that would unknowingly change the genre forever.

en

00:57:44

The Tragic Fate of the Real Life Simpson's House

Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries ·

2024/05/21

In 1997, Fox launched an advertising campaign for the Simpsons that involved giving away a real life recreation of the Simpsons house. However, building a fictional house in real life isn't as easy as it might seem, and this would be just the beginning of the project's troubles.

en

00:43:28

No One Out Pizzas the X-Men: The X-Men Pizza Hut...

Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries ·

2024/05/14

In the early 90's Marvel Comics, having just turned their luck around with the publishing of "X-Men #1" would collaborate with Pizza Hut to release one of the most hype fast food promos of all time. This teamup would cement the X-Men's place in popular culture and make it the pop culture juggernaut it is today.

en

00:49:30

How Scrappy Doo Saved Scooby

Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries ·

2024/05/07

It's hard to imagine a world without Scooby Doo, but that was the reality that Hanna Barbera faced in the late 70's when Scooby Doo's network at the time, ABC, threatened to pull the plug unless something was done to bring new energy to the show. Enter Scrappy Doo, Scooby's nephew and savior of the franchise. Nowadays, he's the butt of the joke, a punchline, a villain, but in the 1980's he was just another member of the gang. Here's the story of how the puppy everyone loves to hate saved Scooby

en

01:00:38

How Darkwing Duck got Greenlit

Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries ·

2024/04/30

In the late 80's, the television animation branch of the Walt Disney company needed new shows for their popular weekday lineup "The Disney Afternoon". But with strict deadlines and even stricter issues with copyright, making a new cartoon wasn't easy. In the end, we would get "Darkwing Duck" the terror that flaps in the night, a comedic parody of golden age superheroes like the Spirit and Green Hornet. But just making it to air doesn't mean that Darkwing Duck's out of the woods yet!

en

00:46:03

The First Virtual Pets

Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries ·

2024/04/23

Nowadays when people think about virtual pets they think about tamagotchi, or neopets or webkinz, or nintendogs, but the genre goes back much further than that. Where did this trend really get its start, and why does this story involve the controversial Sega CD game "Night Trap"?

en

00:39:25

Bullet Time and the History of Slow Motion in Film

Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries ·

2024/04/16

1999 movie, "The Matrix" popularized the use of "bullet time" or the method of using slow motion in film to create a time bending effect. But it wasn't the first to do so, not by a long shot. Travel back in time with us to experience a story about Smirnoff commercials, a 1900's Austrian priest who loved movies, and the father of modern cinema, Akira Kurosawa. Thomas Edison gets mentioned several times in this episode, despite having no actual presence in this particular history.

en

01:02:04

Grand Theft Animatronic: What happened to Buzzy?

Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries ·

2024/04/09

In 2018, an urban explorer at Walt Disney World would make a startling discovery: Buzzy, the animatronic star of the defunct EPCOT show "Cranium Command" was MISSING. What follows is a tale of 80's fitness mania, learning about conception on vacation, Pete Doctor lying about where he got the idea for "Inside Out", and naked animatronics. In the end, can our intrepid hosts solve the mystery of what happened to Buzzy?

en

00:57:20

Why did "Cool World" fail?

Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries ·

2024/04/02

Ralph Bakshi's animation/live action hybrid film, "Cool World" is infamous for being an incredibly disastrous flop, but, who's to blame for this colossal misstep in the portfolio of an otherwise prolific director an animation legend? Was it the studio meddling in the story? Was it the two writers who came in and rewrote the script right under the director's nose? Or was it Ralph Bakshi himself dooming his own project?

en

00:55:47

Defunct Las Vegas Attractions and the Big Apple Coaster

Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries ·

2024/03/26

In the 90's, the city of Las Vegas made an attempt of incorporating more kid friendly attractions, in order to entice families to vacation there. Now, almost all of these attractions are gone. In this episode, Host Brenda tells the tales of Speed, the rollercoaster at the Sahara, the Nile River Adventure Boat ride at the Luxor, and of MGM Great Adventures, MGM's botched attempt at having an entire outdoor themepark in the middle of the desert. And Lastly, Brenda shares the history of the Big

en

00:54:33

Janice Burgess and the Revival of the Winx Club

Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries ·

2024/03/19

Italian coming of age magical girl series "Winx Club" was the most popular animated series in Europe, but it struggled to find its footing in the United States. Viacom, wanting to strengthen their Nickelodeon brand in international markets, entered into a deal with the show's creator in order to keep the series going and to give it another shot at the American market. In comes Janice Burgess, creator of Backyardigans, to revive this show and make it something truly special. MaxFunDrive ends on

en

00:17:56

Go Fact Yourself #MaxFunDrive Kick-off Spectacular...

Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries ·

2024/03/18

This special network wide event is a celebration of The MaxFunDrive! If you’d like to support podcasts you love for just $5 a month and get bonus gifts in the process, go to maximumfun.org/join. We’re kicking off the most exciting time of the year for the MaxFun Network with a trivia game show featuring hosts from tons of great podcasts.J. Keith van Straaten and Helen Hong from “Go Fact Yourself” are joined by:Austin Taylor & Brenda Snell -“Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries” Manolo Moreno - “Dr

en

187 results

Similar Podcasts

The Daily Horoscope

The Daily Horoscope

The Michael Decon Program

Michael Decon

Kalimera Koveos

Andrea Koveos

The Documentary Podcast

BBC World Service

Smarter leben

DER SPIEGEL