Anything with a narrative can have depths worth exploring. There’s no better way to explore them than in needlessly deep conversations with your friends. As your new friends, we’ll be diving into books, movies, music, and TV shows, even if at first glance they don’t seem worth exploring. Join us for new episodes, new stories, new spelunks two Wednesdays a month!
#10: Super Troupers and Pop Music as Autobiography
This episode explores how ABBA channeled personal experiences, including drama and divorce, into their 1980 album Super Troupers, using pop music as an autobiographical medium.
27 May 2025
#9: A New Hope and the Hero's Journey
The hosts analyze how George Lucas employed the classic hero's journey narrative in *Star Wars: A New Hope*, revealing its deep roots in storytelling.
30 Apr 2025
#8: Fourth Wing and the Search for Objective Good on Booktok
From CW dialogue and illogical world building to interesting perspectives on history and genuine disability representation, it’s time to explore Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. We seek to scratch the surface of one question: Can this booktok famous, romantasy bestseller objectively be considered good? Find out in our most chaotic and sleep deprived episode yet!
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Recommended Reading Soundtrack:
Forgotten Odes by Eternal Eclipse (https://open.spotify.com/album/3KT3DRHJdpEZD5OxSK7hj0?si=_hALLQV3TmaqB5R7GQ4F4g)
Stephanie's Further Reading:
Prince and the Pauper
Oliver Twist
Little Dorrit
Tale of Two Cities
Lord of the Rings (specifically the audiobooks read by Andy Serkis)
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
Si's Further Reading:
FANTOMINA: Or, Love in a Maze (https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/haywood/fantomina/fantomina.html) by Eliza Haywood
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (specifically the audible original read by Thandiwe Newton
The short stories of Katherine Anne Porter
Save me the Waltz by Zelda Fitzgerald
9 Apr 2025
Ep. 7: Little Women vs Little Women: The Battle of Adaptations
Little Women and Jo's Boys, one and all, welcome! Today in the octagon, we will be listening as two adaptations of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, 1994 and 2019, compare and contrast narrative framing, color grading, and character work. Stay tuned to see who comes out on top!
26 Mar 2025
Ep. 6: Hacksaw Ridge and the Heroics of Objection
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” - John 15:13. No one embodied this verse more than Desmond T. Doss. In this sixth exploration, we will be diving into the film Hacksaw Ridge, depicting the life and actions of this Medal of Honor recipient. We’ll be examining the nature of his heroism as a conscientious objector who served on the frontline during WWII and what this topic means to Stephanie.
12 Mar 2025
Ep. 5: All this Bad Blood and the Concept Album as a Narrative
To understand Bastille’s All this Bad Blood, we must first enter the dark depths of an early 2010s Hot Topic teen’s mind and crawl back through the tunnels of literature into classical antiquity and Elizabethan England. Join us as we explore how this incredible concept album weaves so many themes from the vast repertoire of Western Civilization together into one cohesive narrative. Are you ready to brave songs, sonnets, and scores?
26 Feb 2025
Ep. 4: John Williams, Indiana Jones, and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
Iconic! Is there any other way to describe a cinematic scoring legend like John Williams? In today’s exploration of 1981’s Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, we will be diving into this exciting narrative and how Williams’ score recalls the sound of Hollywood’s Golden Age. And what kind of episode would it be without a few soapboxes, a few score corners, and finding out who among us shares a birthday with the legend himself?
15 Feb 2025
Ep. 3: My Happy Marriage and the Empowerment of a Cinderella Story
In our Valentine's Day special, we will be exploring the depths of a quintessential Cinderella story with Japanese twists and supernatural turns in Netflix’s My Happy Marriage. Alongside a dive into the story itself, we’ll be getting up onto the soap box of why Valentine’s Day is Sierra’s second favorite holiday, why Stephanie begrudgingly enjoyed a romance story, and why this is a realistic depiction of trauma.
29 Jan 2025
Ep. 2: Anastasia and the Wonders of Historical Fantasy
Breathtaking animation, witty banter, a beautiful score, and so, so much more! Today, we will be digging into a truly underrated masterpiece: Don Bluth and Gary Goldman’s Anastasia!
15 Jan 2025
Ep. 1: Harry Potter and the Building of Lifelong Friendships
In the first ever episode of Story Spelunking, we will be exploring Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and diving into just how foundational friendship is to the story itself. And who knows? We might tunnel back into how this story catapulted our friendship to lifelong status while we’re at it!
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
1,216
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
5 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
4 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 25 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
10
Social presence
0
YouTube
68
Engagement
32
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Guest appearances
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