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🎙️ Episode: https://share.transistor.fm/s/7354204c
đź““ Show Notes: https://midsomermaniacs.transistor.fm/bonus36
Mystery Maniacs SPOILER-FREE Mini-episode! In Mini-episode 36 where we ask why there is a mushroom with an axe episode and revisit another Christmas classic.
How To Watch Midsomer Murders s25 ep03 Like A Maniac
- What is life NOT according to the Bruce’s?
- Where is the badger?
- Look for a mushroom with an axe
- Who lives next door to Kimmerie?
- What did the police admit to?
- Who screams for Brad?
Sarah’s Christmas Classics Revisited - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)
Mark & Sarah
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Music by Tunetank from Pixabay
Creators and Guests
What is Mystery Maniacs?
Mystery Maniacs Podcast is a comedy recap podcast dedicated to British Mystery Television. Formerly, Midsomer Maniacs podcast.
Hey, maniacs. Hey, Midsummer Maniacs. Welcome to another Midsummer mini spoiler free episode. This time, season twenty five episode three.
Mark:Death strikes three. Dong. Dong. Dong. Dong.
Mark:I was
Sarah:like, cuckoo. Cuckoo. Cuckoo. Cuckoo.
Mark:There is some clothing in this episode. And at the end of this episode, we're going to return to Sarah's Christmas Classics Revisited.
Sarah:Yeah. The wardrobe is fantastic.
Mark:Yep. We know the woman who does the wardrobe for Broken One.
Sarah:We communicate with her. Yes. We don't know her.
Mark:No we don't know her.
Sarah:We pretend we know everybody.
Mark:We don't party with her or But anything like
Sarah:We don't party with anybody. No. What do you mean?
Mark:We're going to a party tomorrow night. We have a party to go to tomorrow. So, we know that lady, we've spoken with her.
Sarah:Mhmm.
Mark:But we don't know the Midsommar lady or man, the Midsommar person.
Sarah:The wardrobe person Yes. For But clearly, they had a theme in mind for this episode. There is an image that they are developing, especially for one family in this episode, and it is so fun.
Mark:This Like, is really I think probably a producer or a director said, oh, you can do whatever you want with them, and they did.
Sarah:Or this family's clothing should be obnoxious. Have at it.
Mark:And what do you know?
Sarah:That person took that directive and said, I got this.
Mark:We have a cast of familiar characters here. Sir Alan Bruce is played by Kevin McNally in his third Midsummer and
Sarah:He was a traveler before and this time he's sir.
Mark:Rebecca Front is in this episode too and this is also her third episode.
Sarah:Best known probably as the superintendent in Lewis.
Mark:Yes. Familiar faces.
Sarah:Mhmm.
Mark:We have a very unique way to kill somebody. Very unique. I might even go so far as
Sarah:I'm questioning very unique. Yes.
Mark:I might even go so far as to say not possible.
Sarah:We have more than one. Yeah. I'm not gonna give away how many. There's more than one. Yep.
Sarah:This is classic Midsummer. There's bodies all over the place.
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:This is episode three of four. Yes. I got one to go.
Mark:We only have one more But to
Sarah:we're gonna tell you how to watch it like a maniac. Yes. So listen to this, then go watch the episode and look out for these things to watch like a maniac. And when we come back for the full episode covering this episode, we will include the answers to these questions if you miss any of them.
Mark:I also think some of our listeners watch the episode and then listen to the mini and go, what are they on about? And then watch the episode again.
Sarah:It's an excuse to watch it twice. That's great.
Mark:You Absolutely.
Sarah:If you like doing that, that's a fun reason to do it. Yes. Alright. So we have six this time. Six.
Sarah:Six things to look out for if you wanna watch like a maniac. And again, you don't have to jot these down at a high speed. We will have them in the show notes. Yep. And you can refer to them there.
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:Are you ready?
Mark:Yes. Number one. Number one.
Sarah:Uno, what is life not according to the Bruces?
Mark:Oh, I we we caught this. It's very interesting. I will discuss this at length. In the full episode? In the full episode because it is it is a an interesting turn of phrase that I am related to in a in a couple of ways.
Sarah:Don't give anymore away. Yep. You you chitchat, chitchat, chitchat, chitchat.
Mark:I gotta fill some space, I do. Could be a three second many. The people pay for the funny.
Sarah:Question one, what is life not according to the Bruces? Yes. Are the families? Okay. Question two.
Mark:Number two.
Sarah:Where is the badger? Look for it.
Mark:Oh, we pointed at the screen right away when
Sarah:we Pause saw Pause it. Yep. Where is the badger? Number three, look for a mushroom with an axe.
Mark:Mushroom with an axe.
Sarah:There is one, I promise.
Mark:Yep. It's very strange. What goes on in different places in this episode is just
Sarah:whoo. It's a funny thing to talk about because you don't wanna give too much away, but there's very, very diverse communities of cultural Yes. People.
Mark:And, at one point in time, and this is not giving anything away or watching like a maniac question. At one time, Sarah said, are those aliens who went past the window? Yeah. And, I was like, no that's Saco people. And she was like, are you sure?
Mark:And so we went back and yes it was Saco people. Was kidding. Not aliens.
Sarah:Two aliens went by. I'm like, they're messing with us now.
Mark:The thing that drives me batty about this episode is is a pool episode in which no one is in the pool.
Sarah:Nobody ever goes swimming. No. They just walk around the pool making you think they're gonna fall in. Yes. Okay.
Sarah:So number three was look for a mushroom with an x. Yes. Number four, who lives next door to Kimmery? Oh,
Mark:it it is interesting and a thread that I have not finished pulling.
Sarah:Oh. Yep. I look forward to that. Yep. So who lives next door to Kimmery?
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:Number five, what did the police admit to?
Mark:I can't believe they admitted to this. I know. I need I
Sarah:wanna know way more about
Mark:it. Again, full episode stuff right there.
Sarah:Look out for what the police admit to. Yep. And finally, number six, who screams for Brad? I scream, you scream, we all scream for Brad.
Mark:But one specific killer
Sarah:screams for Brad.
Mark:Screams for Brad.
Sarah:I would also like to alert viewers, listeners, to keep their eyes peeled for the impossibility of one of the crimes.
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:Well I think one of them is impossible, and I look forward to hearing their thoughts about it.
Mark:There's also a scene set in what I can only determine is a Victorian gas vent. Now, these Victorian gas vents are more an urban thing than a village thing and they consist of a number of towers that are metal, are kind of like columns and they used to have big gas tanks in the middle of them. But, nowadays, most of them are just that structure and they're circular and there's a bunch of towers. I don't know where this one is in particular, I don't know if it is that in particular, but that's what it looks like the
Sarah:what I thought it was. Yeah. That's So we can talk about that. We can
Mark:talk about that in the full episode.
Sarah:But look out for a circular structure and see if you can figure out what it
Mark:is. Yes.
Sarah:Absolutely. Okay. So that's how to watch like a maniac.
Mark:Absolutely. Just a reminder for folks who watch us or listen to us for Broken Wind Mysteries, if you're in Australia or New Zealand, seasons one through six are now available on Netflix. So if you wanna go back and watch those and listen to those
Sarah:In their region?
Mark:In their region.
Sarah:That's awesome.
Mark:You can.
Sarah:Oh, there's some horrible clothing for everybody in
Mark:this Most definitely. It's fantastically bad. We must return to our newest, most famous, most liked segment. Wow. The response to this already.
Mark:Sarah was like, do you think anybody's gonna notice? I'm like, I'm planning Valentine's episodes now. Sarah's Christmas classics revisited.
Sarah:We often do bad movies, I bet Mark's seen. And now we're doing bad holiday TV shows that Sarah hasn't seen Yes. Until now Yes. Because Mark is making
Mark:her watch. And this week, we watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer from 1964.
Sarah:Oh,
Mark:boy. Made famous by a number of people who were in it, including Burl Ives, who plays their narrator, who was just the cutest little snowman.
Sarah:You mean Burl Ichols, Ivanhoe, Ives? Yes. Because that's his full name.
Mark:Full name.
Sarah:You have to be charming to overcome being named Burl, Burl
Mark:Burl.
Sarah:Ickles Ivanhoe Ives.
Mark:Yep. That's quite the name.
Sarah:His parents were on crack.
Mark:Let's name him Ivanhoe.
Sarah:Ivanhoe Ives. No. Let's add another I. How about Ickles? Finally, brrrr.
Mark:So this is the story of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer based on the song, based on a poem, which is the idea of Rudolph has a red nose, so he's different. The reindeers don't want to play with him. He is an outcast. But like all outcast stories, when he's needed, he's called for and saves the day. Mhmm.
Sarah:So You could describe it that way if you want to.
Mark:It's a heartwarming classic.
Sarah:Mhmm.
Mark:That's not how I would describe it. How how would you describe it, Sarah?
Sarah:First of all, everybody in it is the worst.
Mark:I did notice that Santa and Donner in particular were the worst in this watching.
Sarah:No, they're all the worst. And it's kind of like, you know those movies where if just one person had a cell phone, none of it would happen?
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:It's kind of like that. Like if Rudolph hadn't forgotten that he could fly
Mark:Yeah.
Sarah:If his parents hadn't forgotten that they can fly Yeah. A lot of it wouldn't happen. Like his Now family and his girlfriend wouldn't go out into the blustery storm for for months looking for him.
Mark:Now we do not see female reindeer fly. So I'm not sure a female reindeer can fly.
Sarah:That's true. We don't In know mythology. If they can, ultimately
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:Everyone at the North Pole Yes. Would still be either mean or weird
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:But no one would have been in danger or had their teeth involuntarily removed.
Mark:There's a lot of otherness too.
Sarah:Wait a minute. You like this movie?
Mark:I do like this movie, but most def Awful people. Most definitely Rudolph.
Sarah:There's one nice person there and her name is Clarisse.
Mark:Yeah. That's it's kinda weird and she seems kinda dopey.
Sarah:She's the doe with the bow.
Mark:Yep. The doe with the bow. Clarice. So this is the one with the Island Of Mr. Toys.
Mark:It has the Bumble, the Abominable Snowman and it has Yukon Cornelius.
Sarah:Who who do you wanna start with?
Mark:Okay. Let's let's deal with Rudolph's family first.
Sarah:Jerks. Donner is The worst. He's he is like You can believe me. The whole time we were watching it, I just kept saying, that person's a dick. Yep.
Mark:The thinly veiled otherness of this
Sarah:This is a man's job.
Mark:Really came through. Really? Really came through with this one.
Sarah:It's a man's job. Okay.
Mark:Okay. Yeah. Yeah. There's a bit of that. But the it's 1964.
Mark:So Oh, no.
Sarah:No excuses. They're bullies and they're jerks.
Mark:So then Santa and missus Claus call each other mom and papa.
Sarah:Santa is a judgy micromanager, and the only value he sees in anybody is what they can do for him. The fact that he and missus Claus call each other ma and pa and Mama and Papa and apparently don't have any kids is just gross.
Mark:It's of weird.
Sarah:It's just gross.
Mark:It's kind of weird.
Sarah:How does he gain so much weight in one meal? Carbs. Okay. I felt that way before, but I don't really think I did gain that much weight in one meal.
Mark:Maybe he ate a reindeer?
Sarah:I don't know, because everything in their home is gray.
Mark:Yeah, like the reindeer homes are caves.
Sarah:Well, inside of seeing this castle is just gray.
Mark:Yeah. Like The
Sarah:elves are creepy clones, only the boy elves are allowed to be different from one another. The girls are identical clones who aren't allowed to speak. They sing, but they're not allowed to speak.
Mark:And then Hermes, the only one with hair.
Sarah:Okay.
Mark:And he has some nice hair.
Sarah:Hermes has fantastic hair. Yep. But he's a self taught dentist. No. Thank you.
Mark:There is clearly blood.
Sarah:By the end of the episode
Mark:On the when he's taking the teeth out of the dolls. It's clearly blood on But no blood
Sarah:when he pulls all of the abominable snowman's teeth. No. By the way because there would be a lot.
Mark:By the way, this part is a spoiler for a 60 year old Yeah. Cartoon.
Sarah:No. I I have no interest in seeing a self trained dentist. No. He like looked at a book and now he thinks he can be a dentist.
Mark:Like like clearly, somebody in the background while they were writing was like, he wants to go to New York and be on Broadway. And they were like, no. We can't have that.
Sarah:That's too stereotyping.
Mark:That's no no. I think people in 1964 were like, no, that's too on the nose. We need to make him a dentist.
Sarah:Are they trying to say the dentists are gay?
Mark:Is that what they're I trying to don't not all dentists are gay. Not all elves are gay.
Sarah:Elves aren't real.
Mark:But Hermie, he's the gay.
Sarah:He's the dentist. He's so dentist. And then
Mark:I had completely forgot they just kill off Cornelius. He comes back. He comes back but I remember as a kid being like, I guess Cornelius is by the way, Cornelius does not know how to mine.
Sarah:I know like, the kids were watching with us and they were like, oh, I love Cornelius. And I'm just sitting there going, why?
Mark:He's everything that's hipster. Did you notice that?
Sarah:No. He's a tool licking poodle whipper.
Mark:Okay. Yes. He is a little hard on his dogs.
Sarah:His only redeeming quality is that he's nice to a creature who saves his life, even though he bashed that same creature's brains in with a rock just for being hungry.
Mark:Yes.
Sarah:How dare you one of a kind species need to eat something in this bleak, snowy wilderness where there's nothing to eat except animals that you can catch? One thing Let's pull your teeth out.
Mark:Yes. One thing Good thing you can bounce. Good. One thing we learned was that this cost $500,000 in 1964, which would be the equivalent of $5,600,000.
Sarah:That makes total sense to
Mark:me. That
Sarah:There's a lot of Seems a lot Bespoke handwork. There's no computer graphics here. Yep. The island of misfit toys just makes me sad.
Mark:Yes. Which
Sarah:I It's supposed to.
Mark:I remember that the the thing that I brought with me of this show more than anything else is the island of misfit toys. And, having the notion as a kid that that's where I belong. Oh. Because I didn't love my family. Not that I didn't like my family, is I felt separate from
Sarah:You felt like you didn't fit into your family? That's sad. You're not a misfit.
Mark:No. But I I don't feel that way now. What I did think about it
Sarah:is There's a couple things about that island that really weirded me out.
Mark:Yeah. Like, why is the doll a miss Vittoi?
Sarah:I kept looking for her flaw
Mark:and
Sarah:I And couldn't find why
Mark:are we like The Jack in
Sarah:the Box could just change his name. Like Yeah. He doesn't have Charlie Paint
Mark:as Call me Jack. Yeah. Jack for short. And like like the thing about the Misfit Toys is it there is that moment where you're like, what is their problem? How are they broken?
Sarah:Yeah. That's all you that's all you look for.
Mark:When they're not.
Sarah:They don't I mean, they're different.
Mark:They're
Sarah:different. I happen to like the cowboy riding an ostrich. I think
Mark:he's awesome.
Sarah:I think That's the toy I would have wanted.
Mark:I think the polka dotted elephant is awesome.
Sarah:He's super cute. Yes. The part of it that weirded me out was King Moon Racer, who's in charge of the island. He's a lion with wings. And a crown.
Sarah:And he's in charge. He speaks with an echo.
Mark:It kind of went all of a sudden, Lion Witch in the Wardrobe.
Sarah:He's a Narnia reject if there ever was one. Yep. And maybe he's in charge of like Amazon returns now? Maybe. This is broken.
Sarah:Send it back. Moon Racer will pick it up. It's cool.
Mark:And why is this the the whole Moonracer sequence I had forgotten and was like, woah.
Sarah:I feel like they picked his name by rolling random dice and picking words out of a dictionary.
Mark:And kind of like, we have this guy with a great voice. How can we put him in it? With echo. Yes. Echo.
Mark:Echo. Echo.
Sarah:You're acting like you don't like this.
Mark:No. I love it. I think it's fantastic. I do think the message of difference can be different abilities and give power in different situations is a powerful message to Kit.
Sarah:Do you think that's the moral of the story? That's your takeaway?
Mark:That's my takeaway. Can I give you my version of that takeaway? Sure. Sure.
Sarah:I've written it up. Okay. Rudolph teaches us that if you're different, it's okay that society will reject you and the sensible reaction is to endanger your own life to seclude yourself so the only people unlucky enough to be around you are other rejects of society. Your only hope to be accepted is to either, A, become uniquely beneficial to the people in charge, or B, allow people to mutilate you until they no longer perceive you as a threat. It's not a good lesson.
Sarah:And don't lick pickaxes. It's not a good replacement for geological science.
Mark:And that's not how peppermint is created.
Sarah:How it's mined?
Mark:It's not mined.
Sarah:A year later and so if you don't remember this, at the very end, Cornelius licks his pickaxe right next to Santa's Castle and goes, oh, a peppermint mine. So if we come back a year later, there's gonna be a giant strip mining operation right next to Santa's Castle with Cornelius rubbing his belly being like the magnate of peppermint.
Mark:Well, most of these characters return in the year without a Santa Claus, which is another
Sarah:Does that awful Santa go away? That's awesome. Because he's horrible.
Mark:That and that has the Jack Frost character and the the fiery guy. It's it's much more sort of mainstream and much more well known.
Sarah:Well, my takeaway from this is that this is not a good lesson to teach kids.
Mark:I would disagree, but I understand why you say that Santa is a bit of a dick.
Sarah:You're so nice.
Mark:So, Sarah, we have one more Midsummer, which means we have one more Christmas classic revisited. So, I'm going to give you a choice between two particular things. I know you do not like one and I know you have not heard of the second one.
Sarah:Okay. Can I call you king of jingling by the way? Because that's what Santa Claus calls himself.
Mark:Yes, the king of jingling.
Sarah:You're my king of jingling.
Mark:The first one is the the Mac Daddy of the mall, which is a Charlie Brown Christmas, which may have the greatest soundtrack of any Christmas special for children.
Sarah:I don't disagree that all Charlie Brown has amazing music. Otherwise, it is watching paint dry. I have not seen Charlie Brown Christmas.
Mark:Yes. Or I would like you to watch the 1977 Canadian classic, A Cosmic Christmas. Three aliens come to Earth to discover the true meaning of Christmas. Oh. It is weird.
Sarah:Is it on YouTube?
Mark:It is on YouTube.
Sarah:You know, maybe I shouldn't decide. Maybe we should ask the listeners to decide.
Mark:Okay. I'll put up a poll along with this episode.
Sarah:Where's the poll gonna be?
Mark:Where can they find it? It'll be on YouTube in the community tab. Go in there and vote for
Sarah:You're post to other places too so people can vote where
Mark:they see it? Yep. A Charlie Brown Christmas or a cosmic Christmas.
Sarah:You should link to a char to the cosmic Christmas so people can check it out because I'm guessing not a lot of people have seen it.
Mark:I could be wrong. It's very weird. I remember seeing it as a child going, woah. This is weird.
Sarah:It's trippy.
Mark:Oh, it's very trippy. So
Sarah:Yeah. We'll let them decide which one which one should we include for our very last Sarah's Christmas Classics revisited?
Mark:So the next episode of Midsummer drops the December 29, and we will be covering it later that week. It is entitled top of the class.
Sarah:We'll put that mini out as quickly as we can.
Mark:Yes. Maybe Sarah Barnaby will return to school instead of pooling. Winter wear clothes this time. Oh, winter nips.
Sarah:We're not gonna
Mark:talk about that.
Sarah:Nope. Bye, maniacs.
Mark:Bye, maniacs.
Sarah:King of jingling.
Mark:Happy Christmas. Happy holidays. Bye, maniacs. Thanks for joining us on the mystery maniacs podcast. If you enjoyed our our crazy podcast today, don't miss out on future episodes.
Mark: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.