Posted in: Movies | Tagged: entertainment, film, James Bonding, Matt Gourley, Matt Mira, nerdist, wondercon

James Bonding at Wondercon – A Fan's Perspective

By Joshua Stone

This is an article I did not plan to write. When Bleeding Cool top brass sent out the sign-up schedule for Wondercon 2014, I intentionally did not select this panel, but I had every intention of attending. I am a fan of the James Bonding podcast and have listened to every episode since the first one came out.  I intended to attend the panel purely as a fan and just enjoy myself.

That all changed one week after the panel took place and I was downloading the newest James Bonding podcast, which featured the audio from the panel. While waiting for the podcast to finish downloading I visited Bleeding Cool's website and saw the article about the panel was up and I had a different perspective.

The James Bonding podcast is a comedy podcast that intends to look at every James Bond film and break them down, sometimes to the point where the podcast has actually been longer than the Bond movie they're looking at. While a comedy podcast, there are times that a very serious analysis of the film takes place. The podcast is also not out to just worship the movies, often co-hosts Matt Mira (Nerdist Podcast) and Matt Gourley (Superego Podcast), along with their guests, take a very critical look at Bond.

I went into the panel ready with a question for the co-hosts, I wanted to know when Alie and Georgia would be returning to the podcast. Alie Ward and Georgia Hardstack (Tripping Out with Alie and Georgia on the Cooking Channel, Slumber Party with Alie and Georgia podcast), had been the guests on the Goldfinger episode of the podcast and I thought they were awesome on the show. Goldfinger was the first James Bond film the two had seen and they had hated it, feeling it was very violent, misogynistic, and way too rapey. I have been a fan of the James Bond films since I was a kid, and Goldfinger was always my favorite, but Ward and Hardstack were not wrong with their analysis of the film, and hearing their feminist viewpoint on the film was at times hysterical and more often than not right on target. A perfect example was their disgust with Bond turning lesbian character Pussy Galore straight by essentially raping her in a barn.

When the panel began Mira told the audience that Gourley was off filming a commercial, and in his place was Jordan Morris (Jordan, Jesse, Go! podcast). Next, Mira brought out the special guests, Ward and Hardstack.

I was super excited and was able to share this with panel as I was in the second row. At just past the seven minute mark of the podcast, Ward and Hardstack were asked about what was controversial about their prior appearance on the podcast, and my laughter at this question was noticed by the panel. I told them I had loved the episode and Hardstack said to me, "Your snickering like a Muppet.", which as a fan of the Muppets I took as a high compliment.

One of my favorite regular parts of the podcast is when Gourley does his impression of Sir Ian Fleming, so when he called him to do the impression I was very happy, even with the slight technical glitches that resulted.

I would recommend checking out the other Bleeding Cool article on the panel as I think it does a good job summarizing the events of the panel, even though my enjoyment of the podcast is based around someone who is already a fan. I laughed throughout the panel and could not take my eyes off Ward as her total discomfort with what was happening reminded me of some of the most uncomfortable moments of the British version of The Office. Ward would alternate between putting her hands over her face and looking down into her lap to avoid seeing the audience and them seeing her. Often times, Ward's face turned a deep scarlet, standing out even more than the red hair on her head.

I found the panel to be an absolute joy and one of the highlights of Wondercon for me. I definitely  recommend fans of the podcast, or comedy podcasts in general, download this episode, just so long as you can sometimes be ok with taking your martini, shaken not stirred, with a bit of humor on the side.

Joshua Stone spends 10 plus hours in his car each week and fills the time listening to podcasts, and you can follow him on Twitter @1NerdyOne

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