Bill S. Preston, Esq. and Ted "Theodore" Logan discuss the anachronistic charm and themes of honor and romance in Brian Helgeland's "A Knight's Tale."
30 Apr 2026
Episode 75 – The Congress (2013)
Bill and Ted discuss Ari Folman’s film 2013 “The Congress” inspired by Stanislaw Lem’s 1971 overpopulation dystopian think piece “The Futurological Congress.” Delving into questions of personal sovereignty and self-ownership in an increasingly digital age mired in obsession, nostalgia and triviality the actress Robin Write, here playing a version of herself, contacts away her likeness in hopes of saving her son from the progressive decline of Usher syndrome. Afterwards Write faces the question of what it ontologically means to be a person when you no longer have control over how you appear in the public eye. With the advent of LLMs, deepfakes, algorithmic marketing and data collection “The Congress” provides ample opportunity to take stock of where we thought we were going, where we’ve arrived and where we might all be going next.
If you enjoyed this film, you may also like these Ted’s Picks: Waking Life (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0243017/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_in_0_q_Waking) (2001), S1m0ne (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0258153/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_1_tt_7_nm_1_in_0_q_S1) (2002), Waltz with Bashir (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185616/?ref_=tt_mlt_t_2) (2008)
27 Dec 2025
Episode 74 – They Live (1988)
Bill and Ted discuss John Carpenter’s 1988 adaption of Ray Nelson’s 1963 cosmic horror short story “Eight O’Clock in the Morning.” Largely inspired by Bill Wray’s comic book version of Nelson’s story in Alien Encounters #6 (from April 1986) Carpenter’s “They Live” provides a clever political satire wrapped in a campy Sci-Fi B-Movie wrapper where a down on his luck everyday blue-collar man (Rowdy Rody Piper) drifts into L.A. seeking work only to discover the truth of his problems are beyond his imagination. With the help of a fellow construction worker and friend, Frank (Keith David), they join a resistance movement to fight against the shadowy alien forces living unseen hidden away just outside natural human perception. Carpenter delves into the populist angst of those who believe in the promise of the America dream and yet find themselves taken advantage of by predatory media, politics and economic systems outside their control. If you enjoyed this film, you may also like these Ted’s Picks: Videodrome (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086541/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_7_nm_1_in_0_q_videodr) (1983), The Hidden (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093185/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_in_0_q_The%2520Hidden) (1987), The Matrix (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_7_nm_1_in_0_q_The%2520MAtrix) (1999)
Inside a recent episode
Episode 76 – A Knight’s Tale (2001)
Published 28 Oct 2026 · Transcript excerpt
[…] An average horse is more like a and they're much smaller, and by the time you put a big knight on in armor with a lance, then it makes the horse look even smaller still. They have a very specific gait to the way they walk, which is kind of very beautiful to look at. Jousting is real tough because the horses, when they're coming to each other and they see that pole coming at them, they have to be used to not wanting to go away because, hey, if you see a big pole coming at you, I'd want to go away too, right? That's the hardest part. is keeping those horses in a straight line. They train them for about eight to ten weeks, and since we've rehearsed and rehearsed, they're better the more repetition we do. […]
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