Reel History

Latest Episodes:

Bonus Episode: The Discovery of Troy Feb 08, 2024

Show notes

Welcome to another Reel History Patreon Preview! You can find the full 1 hour bonus show at patreon.com/reelhistorypodcast, along with a dozen additional bonus shows, all available for merely 3 drachmas per month! This time we’re exploring the rediscovery of the ancient city of Troy by amateur archeologist/dynamite enthusiast Heinrich Schliemann. Forget about your modern-day archeology brushes and bring out the explosives, as this is a trip back in time to the 1800s.

Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890) was like the Indiana Jones of his day, but somehow managing to take worse care of his findings than Indy and his antagonists. Schliemann wasn’t your average history buff – he was more like a wrecking ball, crashing through ancient sites with all the subtlety of a bull in a china shop. He made his fortune in business, then decided to blow it all up, literally, on his archaeological pursuits. First stop: Turkey. He’s convinced that Troy is real, so he goes full Rambo on this place called Hisarlik. Dynamite here, dynamite there, and voila! He’s got himself a “discovered” ancient city. The locals must’ve loved the fireworks show. You found a lot of shiny stuff, but at what cost, Heinrich?

Jokes aside – while Schliemann’s methods were about as subtle as a sledgehammer, and his interpretations mixed fact and ficiton frivolously, proper archeological methodology just didn’t exist at the time. The mistakes of Schliemann and his contemporaries is WHY we use those tiny brushes now; we learned from our mistakes. And despite all the critisism, his work helped raised interest in the classics, in archeology and (okay here’s another bad one) he may have popularised the swastika back in Germany? Oops?

The post Bonus Episode: The Discovery of Troy first appeared on Shows What You Know.

Troy (2004) | The Rage of Achilles (1175 BCE) Feb 01, 2024

Show notes

What awaits you on this episode? GLORY! TAKE IT! ITS YOURS!

Yes, we are paraphrasing the awful dialogue delivered haplessly by Brad Pitt in the 2004 Wolfgang Petersen epic, Troy.

Loosely (very loosely) based on the Homeric poem, the Iliad, the movie explores the legendary Trojan War, a conflict sparked by the love affair between Paris, Prince of Troy, and Helen, Queen of Sparta. Starring Brad Pitt as the warrior Achilles, Eric Bana as Hector, and Orlando Bloom as Paris, the film boasts a star-studded cast. Which sounds great, right? Sigh.
The narrative unfolds against the backdrop of the Bronze Age world, where the powerful Achaeans (Greeks) led by Brian Cox’s Agamemnon and Peter O’Toole’s Priam, King of Troy are on the brink of war. Agamemnon the ambitious king of Mycenae, seeks to expand his influence by conquering Troy. To achieve this, he manipulates the legendary warrior Achilles into joining the Greek forces. As the armies clash on the shores of Troy, the film portrays the brutal and visceral nature of ancient warfare.

Except not really.

But what is the Iliad actually about? What was life really like during the Bronze Age? Did Troy really exist? What about this horse you’ve heard about? Join us as we separate the REAL history from the REEL history!

The post Troy (2004) | The Rage of Achilles (1175 BCE) first appeared on Shows What You Know.

Bonus Episode: Pirate Mythbusting! Jan 30, 2024

Show notes

Parrots, peg legs, jolly rogers and rum! Join us for a Patreon Preview that explains which of these tropes have a basis in reality and which are utter parrot’s guano. This is a preview and you can find the full bonus episode at patreon.com/reelhistorypodcast

Our Patreon has bonus episodes to go along with our main show; you can think of these as the director’s cut, as they cover topics we didn’t have time for on the main feed. So for example, for the first episode of season 4, Pirates of the Caribbean, we actually created TWO bonus episodes, each one hour long, and today we’re sharing part of one of these. On our Patreon you can also find our discussion on the Top 5 Pirate Women in history.

Please enjoy some extra pirate content, and we’ll see you back here with a regular episode on Thursday. Yarr!

The post Bonus Episode: Pirate Mythbusting! first appeared on Shows What You Know.

Pirates of the Caribbean (2003) | Golden Age of Piracy (1650–1730) Jan 18, 2024

Show notes

Ahoy and welcome to the highly anticipated Season 4 premiere of Reel History! We’re back with another 10-episode season, releasing biweekly on Thursdays. Beyond our usual eps you’ll find bonus discussions delving deeper into these topics on the Reel History Patreon – thank you to our Patrons for bringing this season to life! Join now and get immediate access to over a dozen bonus episodes for as little as three doubloons a month: https://www.patreon.com/reelhistorypodcast

In this episode, we set sail on a thrilling adventure as we explore the Golden Age of Piracy through the lens of the iconic film “Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl” (2003). As the crew gathers in the studio, the excitement is palpable, and the rum is flowing.

Of course piracy isn’t something new or unique to the Caribbean, so we start with a brief history of ancient piracy – did you know the Latin word for the Irish basically means pirate? We explain the problem with privateers and sort out what the heck a buccaneer is before getting into the push and pull factors that led to a massive rise in piracy in the Caribbean during the 17th century. Learn how the coming of peace makes for idle hands, and how those hands tend to pick up muskets!

We delve into key figures such as Vane, Bellamy, Edward Teach (Blackbeard), Hornigold, and Jennings, providing listeners with an intimate look at the pirates who shaped this era. The narrative sails through the highs and lows of the Pirate Republic, with a focus on what led to its eventual decline. The retaking of Nassau is dissected, unraveling the events that marked the end of the pirate haven. And of course we can’t leave you without getting into the intriguing concept of the Pirate Code, including the infamous “right of parlay.” Are they guidelines or what?

Join us for this swashbuckling voyage, where fact and fiction entwine to reveal the fascinating truths behind the Pirates of the Caribbean and the Golden Age of Piracy.

The post Pirates of the Caribbean (2003) | Golden Age of Piracy (1650–1730) first appeared on Shows What You Know.

Feed Drop: The Podcast About the Podcasts About Television Apr 16, 2023

Show notes

Hey history fans! My name is Jakob Burrows and, as you know, I don’t know anything about history, but I do know that production on Season 4 is in full swing and until it we’re able to launch it you’ll be able to find additional episodes at patreon.com/reelhistorypodcast where we’ve most recently been putting out some pirate themed podcasts, going over our top 5 pirate women thorughout history and as well as Reel History After Dark where we covertly record in various pubs around Ireland, so to have a pint and some not entirely sober chats about history with us, go to patreon.com/reelhistory

What I’m here to share today is a new project from Shows What You Know, helmed by myself and Jim Scampoli. We’ve done podcasts reviewing television shows for nearly a decade but in the past few years, actors have invaded the podcast scene, re-watching and reviewing their own TV shows. This is something Jim and I have been exploring thorugh investigative podcasting over the past few months and, in short, since our turf has been stepped on, we decided that the only reasonable response was to review these actors and their attempts at creating entertaining podcasts.

We call this The Podcast About the Podcasts About Television and I’m sharing the first episode here with you today – if you enjoy it, subscribe on your podcatcher or choice or go to ShowsWhatYouKnow.com to follow our first season. Enjoy!

The post Feed Drop: The Podcast About the Podcasts About Television first appeared on Shows What You Know.

Reel History Season 3 Finale Nov 19, 2022

Show notes

** Visit PATREON.COM/REELHISTORYPODCAST for exclusive bonus podcasts between seasons ***

Welcome to the finale of Season 3 of Reel History! In this episode we look back at our past season, answering listener questions and handing out the Mel Gibson Awards to the least historically accurate films. Michael and Jakob also face off in a historical quotes quiz (it’s tense, see image) and we celebrate the completion of this season with a mandatory gâteau.

But besides looking to the past, we also look ahead…

As of TODAY we’re launching a Patreon where you can sign up for 2.50 EUR to get one (1) bonus episode per month. It will be quiet here on the main feed as we start producing season 4 but there will be a consistent stream of extra podcasts and updates available to you via our Patreon. If you decide to sign up, you’ll be helping us buy history books, audio equipment, train tickets and pints, all of which would be much appreciated and which would expedite our production of season 4.

So what do you get out of this? Well, we’re committed to producing the next season as quickly as possible so we won’t put out a plethora of bonus content but we’re committing to releasing one bonus episode per month between seasons. These will be things like:

Footnotes & Fancies: We explore Footnotes, where we expand on topic touched on in the main show but which we didn’t have time to properly get into, and Fancies, where we give updates on production, answer Patron questions, and get into various fanciful topics.
Top 5 History: We list out some of the greatest and worst people and achievements in history, answering questions like who were history’s top 5 emperors, pirates, scientists or martyrs?
Reel History After Dark: Come with us to the pub

We might add additional shows and tweak our Patreon concept based on listener interest, so if you do sign up, don’t hesitate to tell us what you think and what you’d like to hear from us. And, of course, if you’re not interested in the Patreon, just stay on this feed and you’ll have season 4 delivered in 2023! Until then you can hang out with us on Twitter @reel_history (if the platform still exists by the time you read this) and catch up on a whole host of other podcasts from the same crew over at showswhatyouknow.com!

The post Reel History Season 3 Finale first appeared on Shows What You Know.

Apocalypse Now II | The Smell of Napalm (1955 – 1975) Nov 03, 2022

Show notes

Do you love the smell of napalm in the morning? It’s episode 9 of season 3 of Reel History and much like the Americans we have been bogged down in the dense jungles of Vietnam!

Last episode Michael gave you a whistle-stop tour of Vietnamese history, leading all the way up to the period that saw it step onto the world stage as the latest and deadliest theatre of the developing Cold War! We continue our examination of Coppola’s crazed adaptation of Conrad’s famous novel, its peace brokering and warmongering alike as the violence escalates.

Vietnam has already seen off the French Empire, a French Republic, the Japanese Empire, varying Chinese Empires and a whole host of other thing besides. Ho Chi Minh is well entrenched in the North and as tensions escalate within the country, the Americans get involved. Perhaps expecting this to be like a sequel to the recently ended Korean War, they swiftly find out that this is a country and a war like no other.

But things were not okay at home for the Americans- we dig into the context around why they would get involved in the first place and what this ill-thought-out war would do to the American culture already fanning the flames of social war as great civil rights leaders step forward. Lyndon Johnson, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon all struggle to contend with the escalating carnage in Vietnam.

Has anyone called Henry Kissinger?

Strap yourselves in for Rolling Thunder, it’s Apocalypse Now part 2.

Sources
• ‘The Penguin History of Modern Vietnam’ by Christopher E. Goscha (2017)
• ‘Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975’ by Max Hastings (2018)
• ‘The Trial of Henry Kissinger’ by Christopher Hitchens (2002)
• ‘Heart of Darkness’ by Joseph Conrad (1899)

The post Apocalypse Now II | The Smell of Napalm (1955 – 1975) first appeared on Shows What You Know.

Wolfwalkers (2020) | Cromwellian Conquest (1649–1653) Oct 06, 2022

Show notes

Fáilte go dtí Reel History! We’re finally going local – this week we dive into the wild forests of Irish history with Wolfwalkers, our first Irish feature film and first animated film. Come along on a mythical romp thorugh oppressed Cromwellian Ireland and learn how puritanical Christianity clashed with Irish mythology and tradition!

Wolfwalkers concludes director Tomm Moore’s “Irish Folklore Trilogy”, following his previous films The Secret of Kells (2009) and Song of the Sea (2014), and it was produced by Irish animation company Cartoon Saloon, based in our very own Kilkenny.

We use this fun family film to discuss Oliver Cromwell’s occupation of Ireland, colonization and other fun topics such as genocide. Irish history sure is a blast! We go thorugh the rise and fall of the so-called “Lord Protector”, Oliver Cromwell, and his crusade against Catholisism, and anything vaugely foregin, if we’re being honest.

Let’s go beyond the pale to a land of wolves and legends, and discover the misty mystic origins of the oldest man-made structures in the world, and some of the oldest tales from these here isles.

Yes, this week truly features all sorts of mythical creatures — including a woman!

Sources
“Colonial Werewolves and the Mapping of Postcolonial Ireland” by Catherine E. Karkov
“God’s Executioner: Oliver Cromwell and the Conquest of Ireland” by Micheál Ó Siochrú
“Celtic Mythology” by Philip Freeman

The post Wolfwalkers (2020) | Cromwellian Conquest (1649–1653) first appeared on Shows What You Know.

Vikings III | The End of the Viking Age (1066) Sep 22, 2022

Show notes

Oh, you want more Vikings? We’ve got more Vikings.

In this third (and final) installment about the History Channel’s drama series Vikings, we’re talking about the main characters and their real-life counterparts… er… if they in fact existed.

Join as we discuss the man, the myth, the legend – Ragnar Lodbrok! Was he a simple farmer from Denmark who had visions of glory or a divine hero, inspired by Odin the all-father to slay dragons, wander to distant lands and marry witch-princesses? And what does ‘Lodbrok,’ mean anyway? We’ll discuss the shows portrayal of one of Europe’s legendary leaders and compare it against the sources that exist for the real figure that served as the key figure the History Channel’s show.

We also take aim at our female lead, the mythical Lagertha! A legendary shield-maiden (were they even real?), Lagertha anchors much of the show’s 6 seasons and proves every bit the Viking hero of her husband and son. But was she real? Rollo the Walker, the inspiration for Ragnar’s brother is also discussed- we chart how you can go from dispossessed minor noble in Norway to founding a dynasty in France that would conquer Britain and Ireland, not to mention Sicily and Jerusalem!

Come join us and hear how the story ends with Harald Hardrada, the ‘Last Viking.’ England is invaded on two fronts and a fateful arrow to the eye changes history forever. It’s climatic battles, magic pants, a man who moves like a snake, fate, the gods and everything in between. It’s Vikings Part III. It’s Reel History.

Please remember to leave a review and follow us @reel_history on Twitter!

The post Vikings III | The End of the Viking Age (1066) first appeared on Shows What You Know.

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