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The 1950s, as a decade, was tumultuous in its own way, and that never appeared in cinema more strongly than in the science fiction and horror films of that time! With that in mind, we offer, for your listening pleasure, a pairing of films from those years which are more than they seem! First up, from 1951, a film that speaks to American's concern about the impact of the growing reliance on atomic power, both as an energy source and in our weapons. Directed by Robert Wise, in 1951's "The Day the Earth Stood Still," a visitor from outer space descends on Washington DC, and from it steps a figure who identifies himself as Klaatu (Michael Rennie). He is accompanied by a giant robot named Gort (Lock Martin), and informs those gathered that he will speak his mission only to the assembled leaders of all the nations of earth. After a misunderstanding which results in Klaatu being shot and captured, he escapes to wander among the people of the city. He meets Helen Benson (Patricia Neal) and her son Bobby (Billy Gray), and Helen's boyfriend Tom Stevens (Hugh Marlowe), and takes a room in their boarding house. After he and Bobby try to get in to see noted scientis Professor Jacob Barnhardt (Sam Jaffe), Klaatu reveals himself to Helen and the two of them go on-the-run to try to return Klaatu to his ship before Gort destroys the earth! A film with societal angst fairly seeping through every line, it sends a message of worry for the future of humanity through an entertaining look at first contact!

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The the second film in our 80s teen comedies pairing, we turn to an early appearance of the actor who would go on to become a sex symbol on "Grey's Anatomy," Patrick Dempsey! In 1987's "Can't Buy Me Love," directed by Steve Rash, Dempsey plays Ronald Miller, a geek with aspirations to join the popular crowd. When his next-door neighbor (and long-time crush) Cindy Mancini (Amanda Peterson) ruins her mother's suede outfit (which she was wearing without permission), Ronald seizes the opportunity to make a deal with her: In exchange for spending $1000 on a new suede outfit to replace the ruined one, Cindy has to pretend to be Ronald's girlfriend for a month. He believes this will catapult him into the popular crowd. Cindy agrees and the experiment begins, with Ronald gaining in popularity and Cindy coming to see who he really is... and liking what she sees. Of course, the movie has several twists as most teen comedies do, and a couple moral lessons thrown in for good measure, but everything works out for the best by the end. The film also stars Courtney Gains, Tina Caspary, Seth Green, Darcy DeMoss, Devin DeVasquez, Eric Bruskotter, and Ami Dolenz! Plus, the guys unveil a classic sci-fi pairing over half a century in the making!

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This pairing revolves around 80s teen comedies, but we begin with the one that has held up the best through the years, the one that today's high school and college-age students are still watching! The year was 1985, and the undisputed king of teen comedies was John Hughes. For this film, he put together a group of five young actors in a story about a single Saturday in high school detention and called it "The Breakfast Club." Starring Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, Anthony Michael Hall, Paul Gleason, and John Kapelos, the film chronicles what happened the day a beauty queen, a jock, a burn-out, a geek, and a basket case were forced to spend the day together. Through antagonism, mockery, tolerance, revelation, and confession, the five kids from different cliches and walks of life overcome their prejudices and find a way to come together and truly understand each other! This is THE film that the majority of today's students choose when given all of the films of the 1980s to write a paper on, a testament to its lasting message!

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From the 1960s to the 1970s, and from the Mercury space program to the Apollo missions we go for our second film dedicated to the brilliance of NASA. There were 12 missions before, 11 of which were successful, and then in 1970, Apollo 13 launched, but things weren't to go as planned. 1995's Apollo 13," directed by Ron Howard, tells the story of the second Apollo mission to fail in its attempt to get to the moon. The film follows mission commander Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks), command module pilot Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon), and lunar module pilot Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) as they lift off to the moon, but experience a catastrophic explosion after leaving the atmosphere. On the ground, everyone at NASA's Mission Control swings into action, under the leadership of Flight Director Gene Kranz (Ed Harris) and with the able assistance of the original command module pilot Ken Mattingly (Gary Sinese)! While the film shows the PR side of the emergency, as well as the impact on the families of the astronauts, the efforts of the Mission Control staff at NASA really shines in this tense re-telling of when the world watched a rescue attempt where no aid could be sent! Also starring Kathleen Quinlan, Jean Speegle Howard, Chris Ellis, Joe Spano, Xander Berkely, Clint Howard, Brett Cullen, and James Ritz. Plus, the gents reveal which staple of 80s films they're finally getting to (and what they're pairing it with)!

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