Welcome to The Cast Files podcast, where we delve into the spooky and supernatural world of TV shows and movies. In our latest season, we’ll be exploring the dark and twisted world of HBO’s Carnivale. This haunting show takes place during the Great Depression and follows the journey of a young man named Ben Hawkins, who discovers he has extraordinary powers and is drawn into a battle between good and evil. As we dive into this new season, get ready to be spooked by the mysterious carnival performers who seem to possess supernatural abilities. From the sultry and seductive snake charmer to the terrifying strongman with superhuman strength, each character adds to the show’s eerie and otherworldly atmosphere. But the spookiness doesn’t stop there. Carnivale’s setting in Depression-era America adds a layer of unsettling darkness as characters struggle to survive in a world plagued by poverty, illness, and desperation. And as Ben delves deeper into his powers and the battle between good and evil intensifies, the lines between reality and the supernatural blur, leaving viewers on edge and unsure of what’s to come. So join us on The Cast Files as we explore the creepy and mysterious world of Carnivale, filled with supernatural powers, haunted characters, and spine-tingling twists and turns. Get ready to be transported to a world where the line between the living and the dead is blurred and nothing is quite as it seems.
Episodes
Wednesday Nov 09, 2022
The X-Files: Season 3 Episode 20 - Jose Chung From Outer Space
Wednesday Nov 09, 2022
Wednesday Nov 09, 2022
Everybody has a story to tell in this one and who's to say who can be believed? Hopefully us since we're doing a podcast about it.
Produced and pseudo-researched by Kristen Riley.
Produced and pseudo-edited by Daive Reed.
Thanks for being here and if you enjoyed the episode, please rate, review, and subscribe. Or, even easier, tell people about us! It really helps us out.
Find us on Twitter and Instagram @CastFiles
Check out The Cast Files playlist on Spotify.
We also auto-post on YouTube, if that’s your streaming service of choice, or if you like closed captions.
And finally, email us at TheeCastFiles@gmail.com
Music by Hal Six
Logo by @OokaArt
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Humorous opening shot a tribute to Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), with the bottom of the cherry picker basket reminiscent of Imperial Star Destroyer.
In Klass County, Washington, the power is out and we see a teenaged couple, Red Flag Harold and Chrissy, are returning from a date one evening. After their car suddenly stops, they see a UFO and pass out, then they are captured by a pair of grey aliens.
However, the grey aliens are themselves soon confronted by a giant, single-eyed third alien from another race, at which point the panicking greys address each other in English. One is named “Jack”.
Alien type count, what are we at now?
- Purity Control
- Predator
- Cockroach
- Black oil/entity
- Bounty hunter guy
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Also, check out the next two episodes where Kristen falls into a rabbit hole of Betty and Barney Hill and basically comes up with an alternate explanation.
Wednesday Nov 02, 2022
The X-Files: Season 3 Episode 19 - Hell Money
Wednesday Nov 02, 2022
Wednesday Nov 02, 2022
Some great acting by some great guest stars. There, that's some nice words about the episode.
Produced and pseudo-researched by Kristen Riley.
Produced and pseudo-edited by Daive Reed.
Thanks for being here and if you enjoyed the episode, please rate, review, and subscribe. Or, even easier, tell people about us! It really helps us out.
Find us on Twitter and Instagram @CastFiles
Check out The Cast Files playlist on Spotify.
We also auto-post on YouTube, if that’s your streaming service of choice, or if you like closed captions.
And finally, email us at TheeCastFiles@gmail.com
Music by Hal Six
Logo by @OokaArt
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Amid a hectic Chinese street festival at night, a young man, Johnny Lo, runs through San Francisco's Chinatown.
He hurries into a darkened alley and up a flight of back stairs to an apartment door, pausing to examine the newly-painted white Chinese lettering on the door.
Once inside, he is confronted by a man hidden in the shadow who, in Cantonese, insists that he must pay.
In desperation, Lo stabs the man, who bloodily falls to the floor. Lo then turns to see three masked figures standing before him.
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Learning stuff!
OPOs are non-profit organizations responsible for the procurement of organs for transplantation. They are the entities legally permitted to recover organs from deceased donors and also provide support to donor families, clinical management of organ donors, and professional and public education about organ donation.
Wednesday Oct 26, 2022
The X-Files: Season 3 Episode 18 - Teso dos Bichos
Wednesday Oct 26, 2022
Wednesday Oct 26, 2022
Another racially shaky episode that we're not really the people to comment on but we're going to try anyway.
Produced and pseudo-researched by Kristen Riley.
Produced and pseudo-edited by Daive Reed.
Thanks for being here and if you enjoyed the episode, please rate, review, and subscribe. Or, even easier, tell people about us! It really helps us out.
Find us on Twitter and Instagram @CastFiles
Check out The Cast Files playlist on Spotify.
We also auto-post on YouTube, if that’s your streaming service of choice, or if you like closed captions.
And finally, email us at TheeCastFiles@gmail.com
Music by Hal Six
Logo by @OokaArt
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The episode opens on an archeological dig in the Ecuadorian highlands, indicating it will be a doozy of cultural appropriation.
In fact, Production Note: After the episode aired, the network found out that 'bichos' also means 'balls' in Colombia and Venezuela. Apparently, John Shiban, nor anyone else, knew that when he wrote the episode. Google translate says it means “bugs” but further research proves bichos is vulgar in many countries. Amazing.
Some of the excavators unearth an urn, called an Amaru, with the skeleton inside. They alert the Drs to the discovery and Dr. Bilac (bee-lack) (bee-lack) explains why they cannot take it with them. It’s sacred and Dr. Roosevelt actually says “I thought you understood and could handle these people.” I, for one, am looking forward to his death here in the open.
Wednesday Oct 19, 2022
The X-Files: Season 3 Episode 17 - Pusher
Wednesday Oct 19, 2022
Wednesday Oct 19, 2022
A smooth talker has everyone acting a fool. Eventually including Fox Mulder.
Produced and pseudo-researched by Kristen Riley.
Produced and pseudo-edited by Daive Reed.
Thanks for being here and if you enjoyed the episode, please rate, review, and subscribe. Or, even easier, tell people about us! It really helps us out.
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Robert Patrick Modell is seen purchasing a large supply of "Carbo Boost" energy drinks at a supermarket. Can you imagine? Drinking carbs on purpose?!?!?! J/k. I actually connect with Modell in this scene, this is me at Trader Joe’s.
As he checks out he sees a pic of our boy, the fluke man, and laughs to himself. So far, this guy shops like I do. Humming to himself, carrying a hand cart when he should’ve just gotten a push cart, laughing at tabloid headlines, it’s our buddy The Flukeman!!!
That's where our similarities end, unfortunately.
Find us on Twitter and Instagram @CastFiles
Check out The Cast Files playlist on Spotify.
We also auto-post on YouTube, if that’s your streaming service of choice, or if you like closed captions.
And finally, email us at TheeCastFiles@gmail.com
Music by Hal Six
Logo by @OokaArt
Wednesday Oct 12, 2022
The X-Files: Season 3 Episode 16 - Apocrypha
Wednesday Oct 12, 2022
Wednesday Oct 12, 2022
Alex Krycek has the goo and a mission. CSM is unsurprised and that sort of surprises us.
Produced and pseudo-researched by Kristen Riley.
Produced and pseudo-edited by Daive Reed.
Thanks for being here and if you enjoyed the episode, please rate, review, and subscribe. Or, even easier, tell people about us! It really helps us out.
Find us on Twitter and Instagram @CastFiles
Check out The Cast Files playlist on Spotify.
We also auto-post on YouTube, if that’s your streaming service of choice, or if you like closed captions.
And finally, email us at TheeCastFiles@gmail.com
Music by Hal Six
Logo by @OokaArt
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(Kristen doing an impression)
MAN: "The navy...wanted to hear my story. They said I owed it to the dead, to tell them the truth. I told them where to stick the truth.
I'm the last man who knows who killed the men aboard that submarine, who knows it was a suicide mission but I'll burn in hell before I tell the murderers who sent us there."
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Did You Know:
Police sketches: Hard statistics are difficult to come by, but some research suggests that facial sketches or composite pictures of suspected criminals are useful less than 20% of the time. Other studies put the percentage even lower – maybe as low as 8%
Wednesday Oct 05, 2022
The X-Files: Season 3 Episode 15 - Piper Maru
Wednesday Oct 05, 2022
Wednesday Oct 05, 2022
This is one that leaves you guessing about everything except how happy we are to see Alex Krycek.
Produced and pseudo-researched by Kristen Riley.
Produced and pseudo-edited by Daive Reed.
Thanks for being here and if you enjoyed the episode, please rate, review, and subscribe. Or, even easier, tell people about us! It really helps us out.
Find us on Twitter and Instagram @CastFiles
Check out The Cast Files playlist on Spotify.
We also auto-post on YouTube, if that’s your streaming service of choice, or if you like closed captions.
And finally, email us at TheeCastFiles@gmail.com
Music by Hal Six
Logo by @OokaArt
Show Notes!
This week we have an X-philer's dream! A two-parter, myth-arch that keeps you guessing!
We mention Piper Maru, Gillian Anderson's daughter, and her site.
I'd be remise to mention MICHAEL BUBLE is in this episode. You know, the bubbly water commercial guy ;)
We also revisit The Blessing Way. If you don't care for PodBean as your podcast catcher, we're available wherever you listen to podcasts. In case, you're blanking on which episode that was, it's the season 3 premier! Ad Daive says, "Mulder goes on a... vision quest? Scully walks to her mom's. And we wonder how long of a walk was that."
Honestly, just go watch this two-parter. It's totally worth it. Nicholas Lea returns in all his gorgeous glory. Daive is starting to come around ;)
Gotta say, this is my favorite X-files two-parter or double feature since season 1's Squeeze/Tooms double feature.
What's your favorite X Files two-parter? Who are your favorite TXF recurring characters? Are you going to see Nicholas Lea in Canada this month at the X-Files Fan Fest?
Wednesday Sep 28, 2022
The X-Files: Season 3 Episode 14 - Grotesque
Wednesday Sep 28, 2022
Wednesday Sep 28, 2022
Everybody is stressing out our boy in this one. He's not handling it very well. (Kristen Note: No one's surprised!)
Produced by Kristen Riley and Daive Reed
Follow on Twitter @CastFiles
Email us at TheeCastFiles@gmail.com
https://www.teepublic.com/user/the-cast-files
Music by Hal Six
Logo by @OokaArt
Show Notes
Hurricane Ian is on his way! So, that's top of mind here. We might be as stressed as Daive's fav boy, Mulder. J/K we aren't hallucinating gargoyles. The amateurs win again! Woot!
This is the episode that leaned HEAVILY on foreshadowing and I had a blast pointing it out throughout the recap. Sadly, D wanted it to be about a gargoyle for real, and honestly, that's not what this show is about.
We talk about libraries (they're great, get a card if you can. Libraries offer audiobooks, magazines, digital copies, and all kinds of cool resources that wouldn't be available if we tried to make libraries a thing today - take advantage!).
We discuss dream interpretation! I was obsessed with this as a teen. I still have very vivid dreams and nightmares, but no longer own a dream dictionary.
We also discuss the gross concept that some people still have that in order to understand a person you must become them, but they do not apply that to an unhoused person of a different background, instead it's always something awful and violent and used as an excuse.
Was this a good episode? It wasn't a bad episode. Did I enjoy it? Yes.
Xx
Kristen
Resources:
Monsters of the Week: The Complete Critical Companion to The X-Files by Zack Handlen & Emily Todd Vanderwerff
Wednesday Sep 21, 2022
The X-Files: Season 3 Episode 13 - Syzygy
Wednesday Sep 21, 2022
Wednesday Sep 21, 2022
The coolest girls in school get disrespected by everybody and have to pay the price.
Produced and pseudo-researched by Kristen Riley. Produced and edited by Daive Reed.
Engage with us!
- Twitter: @CastFiles
- Instagram: thecastfiles
- Email:t TheeCastFiles@gmail.com
- https://www.teepublic.com/user/the-cast-files
Music by Hal Six
Logo by @OokaArt
So, Syzygy. What can I say? It sounds like what the Boze speaker used to say when D would connect his phone - then named Ziggy. I did look up the term, which real and the definition is as follows:
Syzygy is a straight-line configuration of three celestial bodies. Syzygy is also a term used by Carl Jung to mean a union of opposites.
I swear, any time Jung is referenced these days I reminisce about Pysch 101 and how I was going to become a therapist. But life didn't work that way so now I'm reading a book called The Myth of Repressed Memory and another called Quantum Bigfoot and trying to figure out a way to create content around them so I can do actual research and then share it with y'all. It's not helping people 1:1 but it's something. I think. Let me know if you'd be interested in a mini-series...
Anyway, back to Syzygy. What can I say except Boom Da Boom? Go check out Daive's playlist he updates weekly but rarely mentions. There's a great song for this week :)
Other things...sex kits for cars. Wheeler-Nicholson and Duchovny having so much on-screen chemistry I wasn't shocked they actually dated for a time. A short bit about the satanic panic - also a point of fascination for me (and everyone). The coolest teenage witches/satanists/planet pawns I've ever seen.
It's a good episode. We had a lot of fun. Go listen if you haven't yet. Which would be wild if you've read this whole thing but not listened.
Oh! and if you could rate and/or review or share your favorite episode with someone that would help us a lot. We've been doing this mostly as a hobby for a bit, but I'd like to get us a second mic and start exploring deeper topics (like repressed memory, cryptids, satanic panic, etc) so support would go a long way in helping us create more.
Thanks so much for listening and reading.
Xx
Kristen
Wednesday Sep 14, 2022
The X-Files: Season 3 Episode 12 - War of the Coprophages
Wednesday Sep 14, 2022
Wednesday Sep 14, 2022
A series of coincidental deaths blesses us with meeting Dr. Bambi Berenbaum who gets Mulder all horned up and causes Daive's untimely demise.
Produced and pseudo-researched by Kristen Riley. Produced and edited by Daive Reed.
Follow on Twitter @CastFiles
Email us at TheeCastFiles@gmail.com
https://www.teepublic.com/user/the-cast-files
Music by Hal Six
Logo by @OokaArt
SHOW NOTES:
Writer Darin Morgan was inspired to write the episode after he saw the cover of a magazine that featured insect-like robots designed by roboticist and author Rodney Brooks. One of the robots, called Genghis, was a six-legged insect-like robot inspired by insects who have limited brain functions but possess tremendous functionality.
In "Intelligence without representation" Brooks explains his theories, it's a very interesting read. I quite like the line" Out of the local chaos of their interactions there emerges, in the eye of an observer, a coherent pattern of behavior. There is no central purposeful focus of control. Minsky gives a similar account of how human behavior is generated." (Brooks pg 149)
I like the flow of this episode, we go from a very scientific basis to another moral panic (specifially Jenkem) in a matter of minutes. It's a good mash-up of what the show tries to represent as a whole.
Finally, I want to touch on Kim Manners and Debbie Cove. Cove is the show's animal trainer. Shout out to her for keeping all but one cockroach alive through production. Apparently, that one cockroach died of old age! Manners seems to have fun with the set animals as well, with several cast and crew recalling how he would "direct" the bucket of cockroaches. Brilliant.
Another episode in your feed. Enjoy!
Xx
Kristen
Wednesday Sep 07, 2022
The X-Files: Season 3 Episode 11 - Revelations
Wednesday Sep 07, 2022
Wednesday Sep 07, 2022
R Lee Ermey stars in the cold open and Daive's new most hated villian ruins that for us.
Produced and pseudo-researched by Kristen Riley.
Produced and edited by Daive Reed.
Follow on Twitter @CastFiles
Email us at TheeCastFiles@gmail.com
https://www.teepublic.com/user/the-cast-files
Music by Hal Six
Logo by @OokaArt
SHOW NOTES!
This episode goes deep into a comment that Chris Carter made some time ago about how an episode about stigmata "deals with faith, not religion with a capital 'R' or Catholicism with a capital 'C'". Mostly about how absurd that is. Especially as this episode became a minor storyline milestone in the exploration of Scully's faith as a Roman Catholic.
Still, if you're interested in R. Lee Ermey, like David is. Or stigmata and lightly researched details on the Catholic church, like me, this is a fun episode.
Oh, we discuss boiling cow urine for a ridiculous amount of time. Apparently, they did that in The 13th Warrior? A movie Daive swears by.
I realized upon relistening I didn't give the author of the stigmata paper I referenced. Looking back, I still can't find the name, but here's the resource if you want to check it out: Blood, Gender and Power in Christiantity and Judaism.
Turns out, it's not a thesis paper either. Just a project, based on the URL. I wonder what kind of grade they received. Also, in the episode I didn't reference Judaism, so I went back and Ctrl + F "Judaism" on the project. 0/0 results. Interesting title. So, I researched "non-Christian stigmatics" and the Stigmata wikipedia page. Nothing on Judaism. Now I'm really curious about that title. I wish there was contact information connected to the project...
The rest of the episode explores sainthood, references: How to Become a Saint, and how Michael Berryman is a phenomenal actor who shouldn't have been typecast.
So, join us. And let me know what if you wrote that project. I'm super curious.