Mystery Maniacs

🎙️ Episode: https://share.transistor.fm/s/66598d91
đź““ Show Notes: https://midsomermaniacs.transistor.fm/bonus35

 Mystery Maniacs SPOILER-FREE Mini-episode! In Mini-episode 35 where we ask why there are no zombies in this episode and unveil a new segment. 


How To Watch Midsomer Murders s25 ep02 Like A Maniac

  1. Who is trading cooties?
  2.  Who is the creepiest blonde in this episode?
  3. Where does Barnaby do his math?
  4. What is F.A.B.?
  5. Find three weird yellow striped things?
  6. Who are the men in black?

Sarah’s Christmas Classics Revisited - Frosty The Snowman(1969)

Mark & Sarah

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Music by Tunetank from Pixabay

Creators and Guests

Host
Mark Bell
Co-host of Mystery Maniacs
Host
Sarah Smith-Robbins
Co-host of Mystery Maniacs

What is Mystery Maniacs?

Mystery Maniacs Podcast is a comedy recap podcast dedicated to British Mystery Television. Formerly, Midsomer Maniacs podcast.

Sarah:

Hey, maniacs.

Mark:

Hey. Midsummer maniacs. Yeah, man.

Sarah:

Show me.

Mark:

Week two of Midsummer.

Sarah:

Get ready for a mini. Spoiler free. Listen before you watch it.

Mark:

So quick recap. If you haven't seen episode two of season twenty five of Midsommar, which is The Dawn of the Dead, that's okay because this is what you should be listening to before you watch the episode.

Sarah:

That's right. We're not gonna spoil it. We're not gonna tell you who dies or who did it. We're just gonna tell you how to watch like a mania.

Mark:

Yes. And

Sarah:

so It's a lawn bowling episode.

Mark:

We'll have a number of questions. And boy, did we get some responses to the last episode. First of all, I have to say Jack Kelleher is a good boy.

Sarah:

You say that because he's he appears to be very young.

Mark:

This young man from Australia messaged us saying he wanted to savor the mini before the episode and then listen to it right away.

Sarah:

Like a true maniac.

Mark:

Yes. And then we also got a comment from Neil Charles which he discussed the locations that we mentioned last episode.

Sarah:

And how he reacted while he was watching.

Mark:

And then

Sarah:

I Oh. Oh. I know that place.

Mark:

And then I Facebook stalked him and he is kick ass.

Sarah:

Yeah, he is.

Mark:

He's a landscape designer in Austin, Texas and just fantastic. Go check him out.

Sarah:

And thanks for watching Like a Maniac.

Mark:

Oh, absolutely.

Sarah:

If you've been watching Like a Maniac, send us a message. Share your maniacal experience.

Mark:

One of the questions we asked last week was what was a wick and jar?

Sarah:

How do you make one?

Mark:

Yep. If you look on our YouTube channel for that mini, Nocturnal Druid, a long time listener and good friend, nailed what we needed to know.

Sarah:

Thank you, Nocturnal Druid. We appreciate

Mark:

It's fantastic.

Sarah:

Your wisdom and knowledge. Yes. You are all

Mark:

certified maniacs.

Sarah:

Yeah you are. Are we ready for how to watch like a maniac for episode two of season twenty five, lawn of the dead?

Mark:

Yes, of course we are. So this is the one with the zombies. But but it's Lawn Of The Dead.

Sarah:

People die on the lawn.

Mark:

But but okay. Dawn of the Dead? Zombies.

Sarah:

Mhmm.

Mark:

Shaun of the Dead? What what does it got?

Sarah:

Zombies. Zombies. Okay.

Mark:

Day of the Dead?

Sarah:

That doesn't rhyme with lawn.

Mark:

It doesn't matter. It still has zombies in it. Why are

Sarah:

you Did know that when you mow the grass, that nice smell that you get from grass is actually it's screaming?

Mark:

No. I did not know that.

Sarah:

It releases chemicals in distress. Oh. So that nice smell is the smell of distress.

Mark:

There's a lot a lot of drone shots of grass

Sarah:

Yes. This episode. Including a fantastic opening sequence.

Mark:

Yes. It's very good. Save it. Very good.

Sarah:

Okay. We have

Mark:

This is a return to form.

Sarah:

Yes. We have six questions.

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

Six things to look for if you want to watch like a maniac. These will be in the notes, so you don't have to jot them down or anything like that unless you just want to, I guess. If you like to play, pause, play, pause, play, pause, play, pause, Quick things

Mark:

recap. It's an episode about lawn bowling. Mhmm.

Sarah:

Which is not curling or bowling or shuffleboard, but very similar

Mark:

Kind all of mix. And if you wanna do yourself a weirdness, go searching for how much lawn bowling balls are because wow. They may

Sarah:

be some of the most expensive sports gear out there.

Mark:

It's crazy. Insane.

Sarah:

Alright. Six questions. Are you ready?

Mark:

Yes. Yes. I am ready.

Sarah:

Question number one. If you wanna watch like a maniac, look out for the answer to this question.

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

Who is trading cooties?

Mark:

Oh. I know the answer to this. Well, I watched it with you so I knew the answer to this question. But there is Cootie trading. Cootie trading.

Mark:

That is for sure.

Sarah:

Question number two, who's the creepiest blonde in this episode?

Mark:

Okay. There's a number of blondes in this episode, but

Sarah:

we But one of them is really creepy. Creepy. And you'll only notice that blonde if you watch Like a Mania. Yep. Question number three, where does Barnaby do his math?

Mark:

Yeah. There there's a whole subplot in this episode in the four by four

Sarah:

math. Fourth fourth form math challenge.

Mark:

Fourth form math challenge. Betty. Which I have no idea what that is. I'm saving it for the full episode.

Sarah:

That's right.

Mark:

Because I plan on actually doing this with my wife.

Sarah:

Oh, that won't go well. No. The question is where does Barnaby do his math? Yes. Number four, what's fab?

Mark:

What is fab? It is It's fab.

Sarah:

Yeah. It is. You'll see it.

Mark:

Yep.

Sarah:

Number five, find three weird yellow striped things Yes. In this episode. You can't miss them.

Mark:

One of them we picked out right away. Yes. And then the last one was like, what?

Sarah:

Three weird yellow striped things.

Mark:

Yes.

Sarah:

And the last question, who are the men in black? We this is our we don't know the answer to these questions.

Mark:

Know the answer to this question.

Sarah:

But I would like to know what listeners have.

Mark:

A guess. Mhmm. But is that is not confirmed or denied. And that guess has no real information, like it's just a guess.

Sarah:

I think one of our listeners is gonna have a good theory.

Mark:

It kind of is like a parallel situation going on.

Sarah:

Don't say too much.

Mark:

I'm not saying

Sarah:

too much. The question is, who are the men in black? Yes. And that's how you watch like a mania.

Mark:

So that is one of the dead. But wait, listeners, we wanted to add a little bit extra to these episodes. I just recently found out that my wife had not seen a majority of the classic Christmas specials. So we're talking Christmas Charlie Brown, we're talking

Sarah:

Rudolph.

Mark:

Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, and we're talking Frosty the Snowman.

Sarah:

I don't know why I haven't seen them. I didn't make an effort not to see them. Maybe my parents were protecting me or something. I don't know. So But I haven't seen them.

Mark:

We sat down on Sunday night and watched nineteen sixty nine's Frosty the Snowman. Frosty the Snowman was a production that was animated, done half in Japan, half in The United States.

Sarah:

Made for TV.

Mark:

Right? Jimmy Durante does the narration. Billy Dee Wolf stars as a the most professor y magician y weirdo ever. And Jackie Vernon is Frosty the Snowman. Now, based on the song, right?

Mark:

There's the song Frosty

Sarah:

the That's So,

Mark:

they take that song and they made an animated short film about it, which I remember. Well, first of all, it was released on the 12/07/1969, which means I've been alive for every airing of this particular show.

Sarah:

Yeah. But you were less than a year old for the first time.

Mark:

Yes. But by the time I remember it, it was definitely a classic.

Sarah:

A classic already.

Mark:

I don't remember watching it at the farm that I lived in till I was five. I don't remember watching any television there, but I definitely remember watching it at the second farm.

Sarah:

So Mark would like you to believe that this is an exercise in him exposing me to awesome Christmas classic

Mark:

shows They are awesome.

Sarah:

That I have had some kind of hole in my life because I've not seen them before.

Mark:

So, we watched Frosty the Snowman.

Sarah:

Would you like to hear my review of Frosty the Snowman?

Mark:

I guess. So so this is Sarah's Christmas classics.

Sarah:

I I know that you would prefer that I say, oh my gosh. I can't believe I've never seen this before. It's so delightful and joyous and really makes me feel like I'm in the holiday mood, and I can understand why so many people love it.

Mark:

It is.

Sarah:

It is not. It's a twenty five minute instructional video on child endangerment. Oh. Grand theft and why you shouldn't hop freight trains as a seven year old. It's got a homicidal maniac in it who is literally trying to kill the main character for the entire twenty five minutes.

Mark:

Well, Frosty is the main character.

Sarah:

Yeah. And he's being killed by global warming, agricultural practices, and a homicidal accessory freaked out maniac.

Mark:

But Santa comes to save the day.

Sarah:

No. He's a mobster.

Mark:

From what?

Sarah:

But Santa is a blackmailing mobster in this movie. I'm

Mark:

Oh, no.

Sarah:

He threatens professor Henkel with never getting another Christmas present again and makes him go write a gazillion trillion times. I will not steal Frosty's hat or whatever.

Mark:

I thought that number was a bit high.

Sarah:

He's really bad, professor Hinkle.

Mark:

He is. He is.

Sarah:

We get introduced to him because the teacher has hired him to come entertain the class. What is wrong with her? Oh. I mean, I know educational budgets are tight, but surely there would have been a volunteer in town that would have done a better job than this guy He may be. Who is a horrible magician.

Mark:

He may be a poor magician. He's a bad person. Okay? My the the part that kinda stunned me on the rewatch because I loved it. It was all magical.

Mark:

Frosty says happy birthday when he comes to life and he goes down the hill and thumpity thump thump and all that great stuff. No. There's parades. No. No.

Mark:

All that great stuff.

Sarah:

None of the kids have long pants on. Half of them don't wear coats. Karen has a death wish.

Mark:

Karen gets really cold. Yeah. And taking a train from whatever What

Sarah:

are parents thinking when she's hopping this freight train on a refrigerated car with a stranger who's five minutes old and freezing to death.

Mark:

It's also a train that only has one car.

Sarah:

Yes. And it's full of cake.

Mark:

Why is it full of cake?

Sarah:

I don't know.

Mark:

Like exposed cake.

Sarah:

And I'm not falling for the whole magical poinsettia greenhouse in the middle of the woods. That's a pothouse. I'm sorry. There's a drug problem in this town.

Mark:

Clearly. They're they're not they're growing holiday They're growing.

Sarah:

Poinsettias near the windows, and in the middle, they're growing the real stuff.

Mark:

Is that why Frosty melts?

Sarah:

Well, now Frosty is part of the irrigation system in the drug house.

Mark:

They hung on Karen's tears alone.

Sarah:

Because it's a movie about torture and suffering. The main character is going to die any second. Then in the end, the happy ending is, yes, children, he will die, but he'll come back again and die again and then come back again and die again. That is a miserable existence.

Mark:

Okay. But he gets happy birthday every time. Happy birthday.

Sarah:

How would you like that? You come back to life to celebrate your birthday and then you die again.

Mark:

I also thought it was a clever bit of gaslighting when clearly Frosty comes alive. Right? Mhmm. He's animated, walks, and talks. Yep.

Mark:

Okay. First of all, the children should be screaming at that point Yeah. In time.

Sarah:

Well, I'm impressed that they build a snowman that's got legs. Have you ever tried to build a snowman with legs?

Mark:

Their structural integrity is on point.

Sarah:

You would need some kind of infrastructure inside of it. I'm sorry.

Mark:

But then Hinkle is like, I didn't see anything. No. Like, he totally gaslights them.

Sarah:

And if these kids were smart, they'd be like, if that's what it does to a snowman, what does this hat do to other inanimate objects?

Mark:

I don't know why it doesn't make the rabbit into something.

Sarah:

It does. He's the smartest character in the show. Oh.

Mark:

Oh, I I Clearly,

Sarah:

he's supernatural. He speaks every animal language. When they're in the woods, he can explain to everybody. He does perfect charades, and he survives living with Inkle.

Mark:

So let's see. You're saying this is full of violence and drug use.

Sarah:

It's a low key horror movie, Mark.

Mark:

It's a low key horror movie. At least it's not racist.

Sarah:

No. It is.

Mark:

A what?

Sarah:

Did you see any people of color in it?

Mark:

No. No. None. None. And the cop is kinda really Irish?

Mark:

Irish y over the top.

Sarah:

Yeah. And so dumb that he swallows

Mark:

his own whistle. He doesn't mention the Blarney Stone.

Sarah:

No. It's just short of that. They don't call him Patty. It's really bad. I hope your next choice is a better movie.

Mark:

Oh, the next one's a doozy. I'm we're gonna watch and you guys know how this is going to go. We're gonna watch Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

Sarah:

Is that the one with the big, woodcutter with the red beard? Yes. Maybe I'll like it.

Mark:

And the Abominable Snowman?

Sarah:

Neatmow. It's got a bad guy. Yeah? I'm gonna cheer for him then.

Mark:

Okay.

Sarah:

Alright. That's Sarah's Christmas classics corner. Fight me. Tell me why I'm wrong.

Mark:

Next time on Midsummer Maniacs mini episode 36, death strikes three. The killer booby clock.

Sarah:

Yes. Otherwise known as a cuckoo clock. You'll get that joke if you listen to the last one.

Mark:

Yes. The episode drops on the December 22 and sometime that week of Christmas we will drop a mini and another Christmas classics review.

Sarah:

I hope it's better than this one.

Mark:

Happy birthday.

Sarah:

This one was really bad. Bye, maniacs. Bye, maniacs.

Mark:

Thanks for joining us on the mystery maniacs podcast. If you enjoyed our crazy podcast today, don't miss out on future episodes. Follow us on social media for updates, beyond the scenes content, and exclusive sneak peeks. Subscribe, like, and share to spread the word. Bye, maniacs.