{"podcast":{"title":"Critical Darlings","slug":"critical-darlings-7771666","podcast_index_feed_id":7771666,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/THI7214278819","website_url":null,"image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/b70a2598-2185-11f1-9391-2f87e0e925cc/image/4c25862893adddea3f0c270dc90ba01c.jpg?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"Blank Check Productions","episode_count":39,"summary":"Welcome to Critical Darlings: a podcast about the movies everyone is talking about, one new release after another. Every week, critics Richard Lawson and Alison Willmore cover the latest film driving the conversation—from big summer blockbusters to festival favorites, buzzy streamers, and major awards contenders. New episodes every Thursday. We’re a Blank Check Production! To catch up on our first miniseries covering the 2026 Oscars season, check out Blank Check on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Stick around on this feed for new episodes going forward. Produced by Benjamin Frisch Subscribe to Richard's newsletter, ⁠⁠Premiere Party,⁠⁠ and read Alison's work ⁠⁠at Vulture. Follow @blankcheckpod on ⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠!","last_synced_at":"2026-09-17T16:18:27.969877+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/critical-darlings-7771666"},"episode":{"title":"“Masters of the Universe” And The IP Drought (With Mattie Lubchansky)","slug":"masters-of-the-universe-and-the-ip-drought-with-mattie-lubchansky","published_at":"2026-06-11T08:01:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/critical-darlings-7771666/masters-of-the-universe-and-the-ip-drought-with-mattie-lubchansky","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/critical-darlings-7771666","url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/THI9686312009.mp3","audio_url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/THI9686312009.mp3","summary":"By the power of Grayskull, we have cartoonist and co-host of the No Gods No Mayors podcast, Mattie Lubchansky, in studio to discuss Masters of the Universe! The movie is a test for Mattel, who are going all-in on IP management in the post-Barbie era but Masters has underperformed at the box office and with critics. Has the He-Man IP run out of gas? Did it ever have gas? What would a coherent He-Man movie even look like? Where’s Orko? On this episode, we try and figure it out. We discuss the movie’s patchwork approach to plot and character, its history in development hell, its mostly-winning cast including Nicholas Galitzine, Jared Leto, and do a sidebar on Idris Elba’s history on the big screen. Finally, we wonder if this movie signals an approaching end to the toyetic IP boom of the last couple of decades, or if this is just a blip, with movies like Spider-Man and Doomsday on the horizon. Next week, we’ll be staring at the camera wistfully, eyes aglow with childlike wonder, to discuss Disclosure Day! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices","meta_description":"By the power of Grayskull, we have cartoonist and co-host of the No Gods No Mayors podcast, Mattie Lubchansky, in studio to discuss Masters of the Univers…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":5479,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/critical-darlings-7771666/episodes/masters-of-the-universe-and-the-ip-drought-with-mattie-lubchansky/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/critical-darlings-7771666/masters-of-the-universe-and-the-ip-drought-with-mattie-lubchansky.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}