Sane insanity

OoooohHOHOHOHOHOH. 

G o o d please take a seat.

The Magnus Archives is a PODCAST distributed by Rusty Quill.

It is a horror-mystery genre (I also like to think of it like a thriller) that follows the tape recorded statements taken by The Magnus Institute regarding supernatural and horrific happenings around London. 

The problem at the outset is this - Jonathan Sims is hired to be the Archivist for the Magnus Institute and he comes in and realizes that their archives are a fucking MESS. He sits down to organize stuff and begins to go through stories about random supernatural shit that has been happening.

Every episode is about 20 minutes long and features a spooky story (recorded by Jon, who is probably a LITTLE BIT more of a drama queen than he lets on, given how good he is at it) about one thing or another and includes notes regarding the follow-up investigation… and Jon’s ever-skeptical comments regarding how it’s PROBABLY drugs or human nature. 

Very quickly, however, you begin to realize that these stories are tied together in a way you might not have expected, and the plot unfurls into something much larger and much more sinister than anyone could have ever guessed.

Should you listen to it?

Yes.

I recommend this podcast for several reasons:

- REALLY excellent writing quality and sound quality and just… quality in general. 

- characters are all blissfully diverse (canonically ace main character!) and I love all of them, even if some of them are a little more feral than is healthy

- Martin. Just. Martin. That’s all.

- The plot is WONDERFULLY interwoven into each statement, to the point where each story is, BY ITSELF really interesting but it’s also FULL of Chekhov’s guns - they’re practically littering the ground - so if you ever want to go back for a relisten it’s equally fun the second time around because you’ll be screaming “OH THAT WAS WHEN HE–” or “SHIT I DIDN’T REALIZE SHE WAS ____ THIS WHOLE TIME, FUCK”

- None of the horror is based in sexual violence. The creators are very clear about NOT going there. There are also content warnings on each episode so you can avoid them when necessary.

In general the story is just Good. They have planned 5 seasons and have JUST finished season 4 with a big hard-hitting reveal, so if you want to get into it, the time is NOW. Season 5 starts coming out in April, so you have plenty of time to catch up and dive right into the big finale with everyone else. 

WARNINGS:

 Horror features the following things heavily, therefore you might need to avoid this podcast if you have a phobia of

worms or bugs (especially in large groups)

arachnophobia

trypophobia

In The Lion King, unlike the other lions, Scar’s claws are always displayed throughout the movie.

In The Little Mermaid (1998) when King Triton is introduced, you can see Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Kermit the Frog in the crowd, underwater.

In Cars, the flies are actually tiny cars with wings.

In Hercules (1997) the Fates tell Hades all the planets will align but only show 6 planets aligning. These are the 5 planets plus Earth that the ancient Greeks were aware of and could see with the naked eye.

In Zootopia, while Officer Judy Hopps is ticketing cars around the city, she never crosses the street illegally. She always uses a crosswalk and looks both ways before crossing.

In monsters inc, sully’s chair has a hole in it to accommodate his tail.

In The Brave Little Toaster, all of the walls in the cottage are cleaned only as high as Blanky can reach.

In Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, during the food storm the president’s of Mount Rushmore get pied in the face but Abe gets hit in the back just like his assassination.

In Cars the truck stop advertises “convertible waitresses” i.e., topless.

In Finding Nemo, Bruce the shark starts crying when Marlin starts talking about Nemo, saying “I never knew my father”. Male sharks mate with the female then leave, so baby sharks never actually meet their father.

The Magic Carpet from Aladdin makes an appearance in Moana.

In UP, there are craft supplies on the table by Ellie’s hospital bed when she gives the Adventure Book to Carl.

The hold up scene in the Incredibles is actually an homage to a similar scene from Die Hard with a Vengeance, which also starred Samuel L. Jackson.

In Toy Story 3 (2010) Buzz Lightyear’s batteries are exposed showing the Buy n Large brand, the same company responsible for making WALL·E.

In Ratatouille (2007) Anton Ego’s typewriter resembles a skull and his office a coffin.

In Monsters, Inc. (2001), there are multiple sizes of coffee cup for each of the different sized monsters.

In Toy Story 2 (1999), as the restorationist is going through his equipment, he opens a drawer filled with chess pieces. This is a reference to the Pixar short “Geri’s Game” where a similar looking man plays a game of chess against himself.

In Inside Out (2015) while going through Imagination Land a game box can be seen in the background with Nemo on it called Find Me.

In Cars, you can spot Sully and Mike in cars form!

At the end of Ratatouille (2007) Anton Ego is a little bit fatter. This is especially poignant since he states, “I don’t like food, I love it… if I don’t love it I don’t swallow.”

In Coco we can see The Incredibles poster.

Insuricare, the company that offers “car life insurance” to the cars in Cars 2, is the same company Bob Parr works for in The Incredibles.

In Inside Out (2015) two of the memory orbs on the shelves contain scenes from Up (2009). One features Carl & Ellie’s wedding, while the other shows their house.

In Toy Story Woody is trapped in a crate which is stuck under a ‘Binford’ tool-box. Binford is the fictional tool company in the TV show Home Improvement which starred Tim Allen, the voice of Buzz Lightyear.

In The Incredibles, in Bob Parr’s home office, there’s a photo from a fishing trip where it appears he caught Bruce from Finding Nemo.

In Cars 2 (2011) while in a pub in London there is a tapestry on the wall that is the DunBroch family tapestry from Brave (2012), except they are portrayed as cars.

In “Ratatouille” (2007), Linguini has to hide Remy before his second day of work. He offers to hide him in his pants, revealing his briefs covered in The Incredibles logo.

After the plane is blown up in The Incredible, Helen (Elastigirl) knows the plane debris is going to fall on them due to seeing the reflection in the water.