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Happy Halloween 2026! Continuing the annual holiday tradition Patrick Louie is back to celebrate the 45th anniversary of "An American Werewolf in London" and the 40th anniversary of "The Fly". Both movies where transformation is the focus and both movies having academy award winning special effects masters at the helm of these ground breaking movie effects. James and Patrick talk about the work of Rick Baker and Christopher Walas. The amazing were transformation in American Werewolf and the horrifying effects that turned Jeff Goldblum in the monstrous Brundlefly. They also talk about The Mandalorian and Grogu and the George Lucas Museum. It's jam pack Halloween special, with something for everyone.

Your SOMC hosts are back in the firehouse this as we celebrate 40 years of The Real Ghostbusters. The show that kept the franchise alive between movies and helped define and fully shape the Ghostbusters universe. The team of James, Chris and Josh talk about their favorite episodes , the impact the show had on them and about the writer who was at the center of it all J. Michael Straczynski. Of course it wouldn't be a fully show if we didn't mention the toys. From fright features to screaming heroes, the Firehouse playset, and the coolest toy the proton pack. So grab your proton pack and jump in the Ecto -1 and hang on as we take a trip down memory lane.

Show notes provided by Joe Peluso In the mid 1960's famous fictional addresses were widely known to children across the country. Stately Wayne Manor lay fourteen miles outside the city limits of Gotham City. The Flintstones (That modern stone age family!) resided at 301 Cobblestone Way. The Cleavers had moved to 211 Pine Street. And the "creepy" and "kooky" Addams Family took up residence at 0001 Cemetery Lane. But without question the most famous--and well known address-was 1313 Mockingbird Lane, the home of the "average American family"--THE MUNSTERS.    Lily, Grandpa, Marilyn, Eddie, and Herman-despite their frightful appearance--were welcomed into homes all across America with their bizarre, but charming family adventures.This unique comedic take on the classic Universal Monsters had loyal viewers in stitches (Sorry, Herman) every week.   Join hosts James and Joe as they relive the wild and wacky sitcom silliness that made this endearing family part of television history. Herman's hilarious struggles while on a diet, Grandpa's insane inventions that turn Herman into a "normal" looking man or a hot rod racer, and Lily and Marilyn expecting a "playmate" for Eddie that have Herman and Grandpa "expecting" a new addition to the family, are just some of "abnormal" situations that occurred at 1313 Mockingbird Lane.    And while Herman might have been--literally--the biggest "goofball" (As Lily often referred to him.) on TV at that time, he was also a kind-hearted, gentle giant who loved (and was loved) by his family. Amidst all the pratfalls, one liners, and impossible comedic situations, this is a show with heart, charm and living life in the chaotic sixties. I know I was there, and was very happy to have neighbors like The Munsters.

The SOMC kicks off the Halloween season by looking back at the movie that laid the foundation of the current MCU, Blade. Released in 1998 this movie showed what the modern superhero movie could be, combining great story telling with amazing action sequences, and a lead actor who really cared about the character he was playing. If you have checked out in awhile, it's worth checking out again.

Friend of the show Michael Jan Friedman returns to talk about his latest project and Kickstarter "The Company of Enhanced Being". If you'd like to support this project use this link to check it out: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1881107045/the-company-of-enhanced-beings?

Revisiting Green Lantern Rebirth

Show Notes provided by Joe Peluso The boys are back at the sports desk with their usual predictions, plaudits, pontifications, and pet peeves. Being a sports fan is akin to taking an endless ride on a rollercoaster--from euphoric highs to devastating lows--a fan's emotions are hair's breadth from fair or foul, like a fly ball down the line at Yankee Stadium. They call baseball a "game of inches". Being a fan of any sport is a game of holding onto one's sanity.    And here to once again put all this court side action into perspective are your hosts Chris and Joe. The boys have much to say about the impending MLB PLayoffs, the upcoming NHL season, the NFL, the NBA, the Yankees, the Mets, the Rangers, the Devils, the Islanders, the PBA bowler who made history this past season, and when is New York going to erect a s statue to Jalen Brunson?   Pull out your clipboard, binder, or tablet because schemes, systems, processes, and metrics will be analyzed. Guard that playbook with your life, and don't tip your pitches! And be sure you are five minutes early to the team meeting--or you're late!    The world of a pro sports fan: It doesn't have to make sense as long as your team wins.

Show notes provided by Joe Peluso This year has been the year of anniversary celebrations on SOMC: 75 years of "I Love Lucy", 75 years of "Adventures of Superman", 60 years of "Star Trek", 40 years of "Transformers", and now the Mint crew looks back to1986 (that's 40 years for those of you who have trouble with math like Joe) and the premiere of "Batman:The Dark Knight Returns". The boys gather in the dusty, dank, decrepit Batcave (the giant penny rolled off its base and knocked over the dinosaur) to examine this ground-breaking work by Frank Miller. As Chris so eloquently put it: "It's not required reading to understand Batman, but it's important to understand the history of the character culturally".    Believe it or not,1986 was part of an era when Batman sales were soft and interest in the character had waned.In three short years a major motion picture would change all that when Michael Keaton's Batman '89 dropped and sales began to pick up rapidly. But there was still work to be done before that cinema shot in the arm from Warner Bros put stacks of Batman books back on the LCS shelves..DC comics had to rebuild trust and interest with the fans and that was going to take time.. Frank Miller's TDKR was an early step upon that path to redemption, but like any work with decades behind it, did it stand the test of time? Was this still a seminal work in the character's canon, or a curious sidestep by an author who was experimenting with the genre?    This is an episode of the SOMC that may surprise you.Not as surprising as the work itself, but nonetheless valid in its analysis of that work. With that cryptic lure, we hope you will listen all the way through, and of course leave your much appreciated comments across our social media platforms.    Oh, Happy Batman Day!

In honor of the 40th anniversary of Transformers: The Movie we are re-releasing our episode from a few years ago about it. However, instead of just releasing the episode on it's own host's James, Keith and Arco. Give an intro talking about 40 year's of this movie, it's legacy and the future of the franchise.

Show notes provided by Jack Adrien This year marks Star Trek’s 60th anniversary. Created by Gene Roddenberry – with more than a helping hand from D.C. Fontana and Gene L. Coon – to date, the science fiction media franchise has generated 13 television series and 13 theatrical releases, totaling 800 to 837 hours of content. Thus, it would take roughly 35 days of continuous viewing to watch every single episode and movie in the franchise. For those unfamiliar, with a focus on space exploration, diplomacy, and humanity's future among the stars, Star Trek uses science fiction allegory to address real-world social, political, and cultural issues since its television debut on Thursday, September 08, 1966. Most notably, Star Trek series storylines have covered multiracialism, racism, civil rights, artificial intelligence, the Cold War, war and peace, nuclear anxiety, geopolitical standoffs, gender identity, LGBTQ+ representation, terrorism, nationalism, post-scarcity, post-capitalistism, refugees, migrancy, artificial intelligence rights, and ethno-nationalism. And while Star Trek fits squarely in the science fiction genre, the franchise has strong elements of action, adventure, comedy, drama, mystery, soap opera, and western. Moreover, the predominately live-action franchise has created some installments through the animation, musical theater, and even puppetry mediums. With such wide ranging themes and storytelling methods across a sixty year period and counting, how can anyone hope to categorize, much less define, the franchise? Join the Mint Condition crew of James, Joe, John, Keith B., and Jack as we discuss “What is Star Trek?”...yesterday, and today.

Show notes provided by Joe Peluso Six years of The Secret Origins of Mintcondition--proving beyond rebuttal "that time flies when you are having fun".James the consummate host, Chris the indisputable inquirer, and Joe the lunatic Rangers' fan, form the triumvirate team of pop culture enthusiasts duty bound to explain, explore, and expand the horizons of universes that lie just beyond our real world. Over the years they have tackled everything from yes or no to Superman's red underwear to survival in the Delta Quadrant. And how fitting that the Delta Quadrant, accessed by The Bajoran Wormhole, should call to mind another anniversary number beginning with the number six--The 60th Anniversary of STAR TREK!    Star Trek is the prodigy of futurist Gene Roddenberry that spawned a sci-fi universe and a legion of loyal fans that thrives till this day! To help the MInt crew celebrate this special cosmic commemoration is New York Times Best Selling author--scribe of 35 Trek novels, and over 120 Trek comics--Michael Jan Friedman. To say Michael knows Star Trek is akin to saying Derek Jeter knows Baseball. Michael has been with us on numerous episodes and always brings his keen writer's mind and eye to our discussions.This time as we leave space dock, and prepare to go where no one has gone before, we settle in for a deep diagnostic dive into Michael's novelization of the final episode of Star Trek:The Next Generation --"All Good Things..."   Michael takes us on a warp drive trip to the ins and outs of adapting a TV script, deadlines, the freedoms he's earned to write in the Trek Universe, his thoughts on the meaning of Star Trek, the Next Gen cast, Q, TV finales, and what his fertile mind has coming in the near future to further astound and entertain us.   It's a wonderful hour of convivial conversation with a great writer and gentleman that makes this a very special episode. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did. And lastly, thank you to our loyal fans from the bottoms of pop culture hearts! You are the best!

The crew of SOMC once again dive into Star Trek VI. James is once again at the helm but this time with the crew of Joe, John and Keith.

Show notes provided by Chris LaBanca Hello there, sports- *cough cough SNEEZE*Sorry, y'all. It's a bit tough to talk with all of the dust flying up off of the sports desk. There are enough cobwebs here that even Spidey himself would be a little uneasy. But we thought: enough is enough! We must brave the dust bunnies because we may have missed some sports news while we were away from the desk.We start by talking about the Knicks' championship run: the love it engendered from the city and the tale of grit that is really familiar as a sports stereotype, but never fails to land spectacularly when it's genuine. We talk about baseball, focusing on the Mets and Yankees, as we so often do. But we also talk about the upcoming CBA, the probable lockout, and whether or not MLB really *needs* a salary cap. We also talk briefly about injuries that are becoming more commonplace in the sport.We talk PBA and a tragic loss before moving on to discuss the NHL. We talk a little about the Hurricanes and their championship, and the likelihood of them continuing their winning ways (spoiler alert: the Panthers might have something to say about that...). We talk Rangers, Isles, Devils, and we discuss Joe's further tumble into the hockey rabbit hole, as he is now going to be staying up just a little later in order to follow the Minnesota Wild this season!Hang with us, sports fans, as we try to get back into the swing of things. We're glad you're here!

Show notes provided by Arco Esposito Finding something you love isn’t hard at all now is it? Think about it, we get attached to something that brings us some sort of joy and happiness, however fleeting or lasting it may be. That’s not something new or unusual. It is, however, a very rare thing to find a love that is shared by thousands upon thousands, perhaps even millions! Then it no longer can be considered a singular event, but rather a movement, and those of us that follow along are no longer just individuals, but a community. This is also a very fancy way of saying “fanhood”.  This is exactly what the film Galaxy Quest portrays, a community of misfit fans who have found commonality within a long canceled tv show, keeping a practical effects series alive in fan theories, conjecture and idol worship. Sound familiar? Well it should since Galaxy Quest is considered one of the best Star Trek films ever made, even though the words Star Trek are never uttered within the film. You just know. We know because not only have we seen films about actors and their fans before but we have lived this fanhood life. We are what Galaxy Quest is about. We are the fans that hunger for any new information on the pop culture items we love, that keep alive a once thriving phenomenon that may have ended a generation earlier, keeping it in the cultural zeitgeist for future fans to enjoy. We are the reason for remakes, reboots and sequels. We are the legions of fans who flood conventions and scamper for a good view of the panels of actors from our favorite movies and shows. We are what galaxy Quest is really about, what it teaches us: that within a fanhood, no matter what kind, sports, comics, books, etc. we are never alone, because we will always have that to hold us together. We will always have that community.

Comic Con 2026 has just happened and Joe and James talk about some of the highlights.