Subject:Cinema Podcast and Spoiler Info

[Rob Collier]

This is the start of a discussion about the subject of Spoilers as brought up on the directors chair:Ed Wood episode of Subject:Cinema and how spoilers or possible spoilers should be handled on the podcast.

[Rob Collier]

I am just throwing in my two cents about spoilers and the podcast here. Spoilers or plot points have always been at best a touchy subject when talking to anyone about movies or TV shows and different people. I listen to several podcasts that deal with movies, TV and media and the reason I do is so I can hear what is coming out and what people that have the same views and likes that I do that have seen something I am interested in can tell me about it good or bad.

I feel that people that listen to or watch any kind of show like this should be prepared to hear some info about a show so they can make a choice of whether they want to see it or not as that is the nature or review shows. I feel that if a person doesn't want to know anything about a movie except what is on the movie poster, they should not listen to review shows because at some point or another they will hear something they will think of as a spoiler.

I tend to think of reviews as reading the inside of a new hardcover. I read about the basic contents of the book and get a general idea of what it contains without the revealing everything.

When I do my reviews, I try to follow this and saying what my feelings about the are without telling you everything that happens.

With regards to spoilers during a review. My opinion is that if spoilers are going to be included in a review it should be a simple matter to mention before the review that minor spoilers maybe contained in the following review and if a person doesn't want to possibly spoil a viewer, skip the review.
I have heard this done very well on The Signal podcast anytime they have one of their features called "Sci-Fi" review. They have a bumper/intro they play, and during it, it says something to the effect of "This may contain minor spoilers, if you would rather skip this section, please fast forward XX amount of minutes"
Simple..Easy..Done

I did notice on a couple shows that TC and/or Kim would say some spoiler and then AFTER say spoiler alert! I realize it was probably a slip of the tongue at the time, but probably it is something that could be fixed when editing the show as it is not a live show. To me, not a big deal, but to others it probably is.

Feel free to jump on board and post your comments below.

Take Care,
Rob in CB.