Ollie returns to talk about a season of a tv show he enjoyed and simultaneously got really annoyed at. Sarah is very patient with him and they also have a really interesting discussion on what makes an adaptation good and what mistakes adaptations often make.

Sarah and returning Media-eval Doctor Who correspondent Lily Bonnemann return for New Series season 5 episode, The Vampires of Venice! Join us as we explore vampire lore, the history of Venice, and the real lives of powerful wealthy women (most of whom are NOT fish-aliens) in early modern Venice. Social Media:
Twitter: twitter.com/mediaevalpod E-mail: media.evalpod@gmail.com Find Lily on Tumblr: www.tumblr.com/shadow-academic

Media-eval this week goes from 1500 to 2000 to 2500 in Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain. Join Sarah and guest Marisa Macias as we attempt (with moderate success) to make sense of this movie. Are all the Hugh Jackman’s and Rachel Weiszes the same person? What was Isabella I of Castile really like? And why on earth are filmmakers so dedicated to not knowing what the Spanish Inquisition is? Social Media:
Twitter: twitter.com/mediaevalpod E-mail: media.evalpod@gmail.com Find Marisa on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@madmodworld

This week, Media-eval ventures a bit outside its usual chronology … as after all, Sarah can’t resist an opportunity to dunk on Ridley Scott. Join Sarah and guest Miranda Sachs, a historian of modern France, as we discuss Ridley Scott’s 2023 film Napoleon. What about Napoleon got left out of the film, and why does it matter? Was the French Revolution quite as bad as the film implies? (Hint: No). And why is the film’s central thesis that Napoleon was bad at sex? Social Media:
Twitter: twitter.com/mediaevalpod E-mail: media.evalpod@gmail.com Find Miranda Sachs at her faculty page: https://www.txst.edu/history/people/faculty-staff/sachs.html, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MirandaSachs, and on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mirandasachs.bsky.social

This week we have something a little different, as medievalists Lucy Barnhouse and Winston Black join Sarah to talk about how medieval medicine is represented in popular culture. Lucy and Winston are the editors of the new volume Beyond Cadfael: Medieval Medicine and Medical Medievalism. Join us as we explore the most common tropes of medical medievalism, from leeches to orientalism. Social Media:
Twitter: twitter.com/mediaevalpod E-mail: media.evalpod@gmail.com Purchase Beyond Cadfael here: https://trivent-publishing.eu/home/160-232-beyond-cadfael.html Find Lucy on social media: https://twitter.com/singingscholar Find Winston on social media: https://mastodon.world/@winstoneblack and https://bsky.app/profile/winstonblack.bsky.social

Sarah and Media-eval’s Netflix Christmas Correspondent Meghan Griffin return to the Netflix Extended Christmas Universe to talk about medievalism in A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby. Yes, the film features a medieval treaty - and a medieval curse! - but more importantly, it raises all sorts of questions about the medieval past of these fake kingdoms whose entire personality is Christmas and that have apparently taken over most of Central-Eastern Europe. Social Media:
Twitter: twitter.com/mediaevalpod E-mail: media.evalpod@gmail.com Find Meghan on social media at @MeggGriffin (including but not limited to: https://twitter.com/MeggGriffin)

He may be in decline but he still knows a good movie when he sees it so Ollie returns to argue with Sarah on the merits or lack thereof in the movie Apocalypto(2006). Is it hi-octane action? Yes! Does it have a paper thin plot? Absolutely! Does the politics it represents leave a bad taste in your mouth? Possibly! Sit back and enjoy as two friends discuss a movie one loves and the other doesn't while both agreeing that the director is a POS.

Sarah and returning Media-eval Doctor Who correspondent Lily Bonnemann are back to tackle their first episode of the New Series, in honor of the 60th Anniversary! Join us for our discussion of The Shakespeare Code, where we explore race, medical practices, and architecture in Elizabethan England. Further Reading: April Fool’s! Love’s Labour’s Won at the Globe: https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/discover/blogs-and-features/2021/04/01/shakespeares-globe-uncovers-long-lost-shakespeare-play/ Deborah Harkness, “A View from the Streets: Women and Medical Work in Elizabethan London,” Bulletin of the History of Medicine 82:1 (2008): 52-85 Olivette Otele, African Europeans: An Untold History: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/olivette-otele/african-europeans/9781541619937/?lens=basic-books Social Media:
Twitter: twitter.com/mediaevalpod E-mail: media.evalpod@gmail.com Find Lily on Tumblr: www.tumblr.com/shadow-academic

Sarah and returning guest Peter Konieczny return to the world of the Three Kingdoms with 2022 anime series Ya Boy Kongming! Join us as we discuss the life story of Zhuge Liang Kongming, premodern Chinese concepts of hell, and the challenges of time travel narratives.

 CW for reference to suicide attempt Social Media:
Twitter: twitter.com/mediaevalpod E-mail: media.evalpod@gmail.com Find Peter at medievalists.net

It's the spookiest time of the year and I'm not talking about Tax Season. Sarah want's to talk about a modern "Horror" movie that on the surface doesn't seem to be from the medieval period but when one of the major plot points is about the Spanish Inquisition and the movie seems to absolve certain people of guilt, you can bet they are going to have thoughts!