Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries

Latest Episodes:

No One Out Pizzas the X-Men: The X-Men Pizza Hut Promotion May 14, 2024

Show notes

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.

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How Scrappy Doo Saved Scooby May 07, 2024

Show notes

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 Doo so he could continue to be loved for generations to come.

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How Darkwing Duck got Greenlit Apr 30, 2024

Show notes

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!

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The First Virtual Pets Apr 23, 2024

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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"?

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Bullet Time and the History of Slow Motion in Film Apr 16, 2024

Show notes

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.

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Grand Theft Animatronic: What happened to Buzzy? Apr 09, 2024

Show notes

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?

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Why did "Cool World" fail? Apr 02, 2024

Show notes

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?

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Defunct Las Vegas Attractions and the Big Apple Coaster Mar 26, 2024

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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 Apple coaster, one of the last remnants of the 90's family friendly boom still standing and why you should probably skip it on your next trip!

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Janice Burgess and the Revival of the Winx Club Mar 19, 2024

Show notes

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.

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Go Fact Yourself #MaxFunDrive Kick-off Spectacular featuring Austin Taylor, Brenda Snell, Manolo Moreno, and Andrew Reich Mar 18, 2024

Show notes

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. Gameshow”

Andrew Reich - “Dead Pilots Society”

If you’d like to hear more hosts competing for trivia supremacy, visit Maximumfun.org for the full version of this show.

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