the m0vie blog

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guest Luke Dunne, The 250 is a weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released Saturdays at 6pm GMT.

So this week, Bob Clark’s Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2.

Dating back to the dark days of the Cold War, there has always been one superhero who has taken the best interests of babies to heart. Many believe that Baby Kahuna is a myth, a legend. He is a rumour discussed in hushed tones, a bedtime story with no basis in reality. However, four babies are about to discover that Baby Kahuna is very real indeed – and the fate of the world might depend on him.

At time of recording, it was ranked 2nd on the list of the worst movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Show Notes:

• Recorded 25th September 2021.
• Note: This was the first in-person recording we’ve done with a guest since the pandemic started. It happened at a time when case numbers were low, and precautions were taken.
• Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 at The Internet Movie Database.
• The IMDB Bottom 100 as it appeared at time of recording.
• Read Luke’s work at Film in Dublin.
• Follow Luke on Twitter.
• Follow The Breakout Role Podcast on Twitter.
• Listen to The Breakout Role Podcast on Soundcloud.
• Read Pretty Deadly Films at Gumroad.
• Dave Karger at Entertainment Weekly considers the opening weekend box office for Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2, August 2004.
• Kevin Crust at The Los Angeles Times looks at the opening weekend of Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2, August 2004.
• Alex Ben Block at The Hollywood Reporter reports on the future of the Baby Geniuses franchise with Steven Paul’s Crystal Sky production company, November 2010.
• Alex Ben Block at The Hollywood Reporter takes a look inside Steven Paul’s Crystal Sky production company, May 2012.
• Steven Paul advertises Never Too Young to Die, 1986.
• Robert Dean at The A.V. Club looks back on Never Too Young to Die for its thirtieth anniversary, June 2016.
• Jon Voight talks to MovieHole about what drew him to Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2, August 2004.
• Nancy Rommelmann at The Los Angeles Times looks at how movies like Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 inspired a movemebt for better movies for kids, April 2005.
• Kelsey Grammer talks to Fox Business about launching Faith American Brewing Company, September 2021.
• Kelsey Grammer explains to NME that most of the rest of the cast of Frasier may not be returning for the revival of Frasier, July 2021.
• Marlow Stern at The Daily Beast looks at Jon Voight’s early support of Donald Trump, March 2016.
• Greg Evans at Deadline reports on Jon Voight’s reaction to Donald Trump’s electoral defeat, November 2020.
• The Guardian looks at how Scott Baio became Donald Trump’s top Hollywood cheerleader, July 2016.
• Paul M. Renfro at Slate looks at the “stranger danger” panic around child abductions during the eighties, August 2021.
• Marty Klein at Texas Voices looks at how the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Childern created a panic around “stranger danger” that obscured real issues, April 2017.
• Alan Yuhas at The New York Times looks back on the “satanic panic” around “satanic ritual abuse” during the eighties and nineties, March 2021.
• Ali Breland at Mother Jones looks at how extreme right conspiracy theories often fixate on child abuse, July 2019.
• Roger Lancaster at The Washington Post places “pizzagate” in the historic context of “satanic ritual abuse”, December 2016.
• All Things Considered traces the roots of moral panics about children from “satanic ritual abuse” through to “QAnon”, May 2021.
• Talia Lavin at The New Republic traces the roots of these moral panics back to the original “blood libel”, September 2020.
• Folding Ideas discusses the weird algorithmically-generated YouTube videos aimed at kids, November 2017.
• Adi Robertson at The Verge discusses the world of surreal videos aimed at children on YouTube, November 2017.
• Luke Darby at GQ looks at the trend of Silicon Valley executives injecting the blood of young people into their veins, February 2019.
• Ellen Fox at The Chicago Tribune singles out Justin Chatwin as the one bright spot in Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2, August 2004.
• Jake Hinkson at Tor.com looks at the cliché of the villain who wanted to be captured, July 2014.
• Tamar Lewin at The New York Times looks at the arrival of Nickelodeon and attitude-driven children’s entertainment, October 1990.
• Sarah Banet-Weiser in Cable Visions looks at how the Nickelodeon brand was used to target children as consumers with their own disposable income, 2007.
• Neil Shoebridge at Australian Financial Review looks at the financial impact of the “kids rule!” trend in children’s entertainment, July 1990.
• Sean O’Neal at The A.V. Club looks at how South Park raised a generation of trolls who believe that nothing matters, July 2017.
• Dana Schwartz at The Washington Post considers the legacy of South Park, February 2020.
• Emily VanDerWerff at Vox looks at how later seasons of South Park have begun to grapple with the show’s tend towards apathy and false equivalence, November 2018.
• German Lopez at Vox discusses how individualism creates a challenge to fight the COVID pandemic, December 2021.
• Follow The 250 on Twitter.
• Subscribe to The 250 on iTunes.
• Subscribe to The 250 on Stitcher.
• Listen to The 250 on Soundcloud.
• Listen to The 250 on Spotify.
• Browse listening options at pod.link.

Filed under: The Bottom 100 | Tagged: baby geniuses 2, bob clark, bottom 100, donald trump, jon voight, kelsey grammer, milk carton kids, qanon, satanic panic, Satanic Ritual Abuse, South Park, superbabies, superbabies: baby geniuses 2 |