Screens of the Stone Age

Today we’re joined by filmmaker Maarten Peels to talk about his 2024 short film De Poten van de Bizon (The Bison’s Legs), the story of two friends who go on a dream quest to make a cave painting. Maarten did extensive research in order to avoid the clichéd caveman tropes and make something we’ve never seen before: a plausible and scientifically accurate portrayal of Palaeolithic life. We are absolutely in love with this film, and highly recommend that you pause the episode and go watch it right now!

Get in touch with us!

Blue...

Today we’re reviewing Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968), the story of a cool Russian sci-fi movie about an exploratory mission to Venus which an American studio dubbed and re-cut to include telepathic “prehistoric” women, for some reason. In truth there’s very little prehistory in this one, so we get to talk about space travel for forty minutes! (Astronomers and engineers, please send your complaints and corrections to screensofthestoneage@gmail.com)

Get in touch with us!

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/

Websi...

Today we’re reviewing the feminist classic The Wild Women of Wongo (1958), which tells the story of two prehistoric tribes: one where all the women are beautiful and all the men are brutes, and the other vice versa. But don’t worry – social norms are upheld in the end and everyone is married off to an equally attractive partner.

Get in touch with us!

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/

Website: https://screensofthestoneage.com

Email: screensofthestoneage@gmail.com

ArchPodNet:

APN...

First Man (2017) is a “documentary” with an interesting relationship to scientific facts and a disturbing view of human nature. It follows human evolution through four reconstructed ancestors: an early beta cuck ape from Spain; a Tate stan basal hominin from Chad; an ancestral alpha mogger from South Africa; and a brainmaxxing sigma arsonist from China. Join us as we break down the silly walks, unnecessarily blurred monkey genitals, and (content warning!) graphic sexual assault.

Get in touch with us!

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/

W...

They keep making them, so we keep reviewing them! In the Blink of an Eye (2026) tells the tragic tale of an adorably precocious child’s radicalization and eventual transformation into a billionaire tech bro who destroys the earth. It’s a triptych of past, present, and future, taking us from an endearing mixed race Neanderthal family, to Rashida Jones’ groundbreaking PhD research, to a genetically engineered sci-fi Kate McKinnon’s quest to find the next planet to destroy. It’s alright, I guess.

Get in touch with us!

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodca...

Ehh, what’s up, doc? But in this case the “doc” is a PhD. Get it? Because we’re... Never mind, we’re back with more classic cartoons! As we move into the second half of the Twentieth Century the characters become more recognizable: Porky Pig, Mighty Mouse, Pink Panther, Woody Woodpecker – we ruin the fun of all these characters by trying to assess what species they are! (Oh wait, I should have said “what’s up, post-doc?”. I’ll keep workshopping it) (Part 2 of 2).

Get in touch with us!

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAP...

Today we’re digging deep into the Stone Age of cinema and reviewing classic cartoons about prehistoric people. From the world’s first animated dinosaur to the advent of colour film, we watched cartoons featuring Felix the Cat, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Daffy Duck, a seriously copyright-infringing couple of mice, and a disturbing amount of sexual violence. (Part 1 of 2)

Get in touch with us!

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/

Website: https://screensofthestoneage.com

Email: screensofthestoneage@gmail.com

ArchPodNet:

A...

Primal (2019-) is an animated series by Gendy Tartakovsky set in an alternate prehistory in which Neanderthals and dinosaurs coexist. Setting aside the anachronisms, this series has received critical acclaim for its emotional depth and unique visual storytelling format. Kim doesn’t care about that—she was too traumatized by the first episode to watch any further.

Get in touch with us!

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/

Website: https://screensofthestoneage.com

Email: screensofthestoneage@gmail.com

ArchPodNet:

APN Webs...

Today we’re yelling at all you young whippersnappers to get off our lawn! That’s right, your favourite elder millennial academics are reviewing AI generated caveman slop. It’s a world of polydactyl chad-panzees and GIGO-chads, when men were apes and women were dirty supermodels. Are we witnessing the extinction of human creativity, or are we just stuck in the stone age and refusing to evolve?

Get in touch with us!

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/

Website: https://screensofthestoneage.com

Email...

Today we’re reviewing Don Verdean (2015), the story of a washed-up Biblical archaeologist who, under pressure from his financial backers, begins to fake his discoveries. This movie is rife with pseudoarchaeological references, so we’ve invited Dr. Andrew Kinkella back to help us break it down. As a bonus, he uses his film degree to explain why, despite being hilarious, this movie is actually terrible.

Dr. Andrew Kinkella’s links:

Kinkella Teaches Archaeology: https://www.youtube.com/@KinkellaTeachesArchaeology

The Pseudo-Archaeology Podcast: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/pseudo

CRM Archaeology Podcast: https://www.archae...

Luggage of the Gods (1983) is the surprisingly unproblematic story of a relict tribe of cave people living in the uncharted central part of America who are thrust into contact with the outside world when an airliner is forced to dump its passengers’ luggage while flying overhead. This is a low budget ‘80s caveman movie, so you know what that means: we’re playing Caveman Movie Bingo!

Get in touch with us!

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/

Website: https://screensofthestoneage.com

Email: screen...

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010) is a surreal documentary by Werner Hertzog offering viewers an unprecedented glimpse of Europe’s oldest Palaeolithic art inside France’s Chauvet Cave. As we step into the cave, we cross a threshold between present and past, waking and dreaming, fact and truth... sanity and insanity... A place where juggling archaeologists dream of lions, perfumers find caves by smell, and nuclear crocodiles draw closer every year.

Get in touch with us!

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/

Website: https://screensofthestoneage.com<...

We’re back with more caveman TV commercials! From deodorant to veganism to car insurance, it seems like prehistoric people have been exploited to sell everything. All this commercialism seems to be getting to us and this episode kinda devolves into an anti-capitalist rant. So go plant a garden, buy local, and eat the rich! (This is Part Two of a two-part episode)

Get in touch with us!

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/

Website: https://screensofthestoneage.com

Email: screensofthestoneage@gmail.com

Today we’re exploring the crazy world of marketing – caveman style! We’re reviewing a compilation of television commercials featuring prehistoric people. McDonald’s, Budweiser, Doritos—if it’s modern and convenient, you can bet a caveman has tried to sell it. Why? I’m not sure, but I’m kinda craving some cheese products for some reason. (This is Part One of a two-part episode)

Get in touch with us!

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/

Website: https://screensofthestoneage.com

Email: screensoftheston...

Today we’re exploring the world of the Boonie Bears, China’s biggest animation brand. In the sixth feature film, the bears Blast into the Past—30 thousand years, to be exact, to a time when dinosaur skeletons dotted the landscape and humans were at war with wolves... and giants pandas took their name literally, and rainbow terror birds defied the physics of flight, and cavemen punched lava bombs out of the air with their bare hands!

Get in touch with us!

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa...

Today we’re reviewing Cavegirl (1985), a movie which Wikipedia misleadingly describes as a “sex comedy”. It tells the story of a teenage nerd (i.e., incel) who is accidentally thrown back in time due to some magic crystal/military helicopter shenanigans and meets a charming manic pixie cavegirl who nonetheless fails to instill in him any growth or character development whatsoever.

Get in touch with us!

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/

Website: https://screensofthestoneage.com

Email: screensofthestoneage@gmail.com

ArchPo...

Today we’re reviewing Korg: 70,000 B.C. (1974), a children’s TV series about a Neanderthal family from Hanna-Barbera, creators of The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, and more. Unlike those series, however, this one is live-action! Who knew? Anyway, we talk about a lot of academic papers about Neanderthals, because nothing happens in the episode we watched.

Get in touch with us!

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/

Website: https://screensofthestoneage.com

Email: screensofthestoneage@gmail.com

ArchPodNet:

APN Website: https://www.arch...

To kick off the New Year, we’re reviewing The Rap Guide to Evolution, a music album by Baba Brinkman which is... pretty self-explanatory, really. So here’s an hour and 15 minutes of us explaining it! We get into evolutionary psychology, 2000s-era edgelord atheism, postmodernism, genital evolution, and much more!

Get in touch with us!

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/

Website: https://screensofthestoneage.com

Email: screensofthestoneage@gmail.com

ArchPodNet:

APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com

APN...

Happy Longnight! Today is the December Solstice, and to celebrate we’re reviewing a very special holiday episode of 2007 sitcom Cavemen, based on the popular Geico insurance commercials. Everyone is invited, whether we like them or not, so grab a slice of forager’s pie and a glass of Beef Fizz and settle in to listen to your favourite palaeo researchers trying to explain basic astronomy. To the cow!

Get in touch with us!

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/

Website: https://screensofthestoneage.com

Today we’re reviewing the paradoxically and yet aptly named Teenage Cave Man (1958), the story of a 30-something teenage rebel who dares to break the rules and explore beyond his Stone Age tribe’s borders – and discovers a shocking twist!! In this episode we talk about [REDACTED: SPOILERS], [REDACTED: SPOILERS], and how much Josh hates Game of Thrones.

Get in touch with us!

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/

Website: https://screensofthestoneage.com

Email: screensofthestoneage@gmail.com

ArchPodNet:

APN We...

This week, by popular request, we are reviewing Prey (2022), a prequel to the Predator franchise in which the eponymous alien hunter meets his match on the American Great Plains of 1719. We’re joined by archaeologist Dr. Carlton Shield Chief Gover, who helps us navigate the movie’s medicinal plants, upside-down archery draws, and inadvisable sharpening techniques, and reminds us why we should never whistle at night.

Listen to the Great Plains Archaeology Podcast on APN: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/great-plains-archaeology

Get in touch with us!

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

We’ve dug too far! We overshot the Stone Age and hit the Dinosaur Age again! Today we’re joined by palaeontologist Joe Wood to review The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), the second movie in the Jurassic franchise (and the last good one). We talk about lumpers, splitters, slappers, clappers, and everything you ever wanted to know about our fine feathered friends.

Joe’s links:

An Hour of Our Time podcast:  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/an-hour-of-our-time/id1357779625  and  https://open.spotify.com/show/0Mc5nXRa8XEn1UJJvhySXY?si=5EtqTooBRCqW4ccaNYoRnw

The Shifting...

We’re continuing spooky month with a movie that’s as confused about theology as it is about evolution: The Lost Tribe (2009) tells the story of some insufferable tech bros and their girlfriends who stumble into the middle of a Catholic conspiracy to cover-up undeniable proof of human evolution, in the form of a bloodthirsty tribe of “primevil” hominins!

Get in touch with us:

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/

Website: https://screensofthestoneage.com

Email: screensofthestoneage@gmail.com

ArchPodNet:

APN W...

It’s October, and as is tradition, we’re reviewing scary Halloween movies this month! First up is Legend of the Bog (2009), a movie with just enough Vinnie Jones in it to justify putting him on the cover. You’ve seen mummies; you’ve seen zombies; but what about a resurrected Iron Age bog body? Plus: a special guest appearance from a Sp0okY Gh0st!

Get in touch with us:

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/

Website: https://screensofthestoneage.com

Email: screenso...

Phineas Flynn and Ferb Fletcher are precocious STEM-minded stepbrothers trying to make the most of their 104 days of summer vacation. Today we’re reviewing five episodes of this popular Disney Channel series, featuring Egyptian movie mummies, dinosaur time-travel capers, cartoon cave people, and a “corn colossus”, whatever that means.

Get in touch with us:

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/

Website: https://screensofthestoneage.com

Email: screensofthestoneage@gmail.com

ArchPodNet:

APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com

APN on Fac...

The Armstrong and Miller Show (2007-2010) was a very British sketch comedy show featuring a recurring cast of characters, including a group of cavemen navigating anachronistic scenarios. Join us today as we break down nine short sketches and learn The Origins Of several familiar modern concepts!

Get in touch with us:

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/

Website: https://screensofthestoneage.com

Email: screensofthestoneage@gmail.com

ArchPodNet:

APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com

APN on Facebook: https...

On this episode we’re joined by OG archaeology YouTuber Rachel McMullan of the channel Inside Archaeology to review Uncharted (2022), a movie that explores many diverse settings, none of which are uncharted. It’s a movie that defies physics, and logic, and sense, and yet somehow feels like a bland rehash of other movies we’ve covered.

Inside Archaeology on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Inside_Archaeology

Inside Archaeology on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inside.archaeology

Get in touch with us:

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Let...

Today we’re joined by Dr. Brian Buchanan to review King Arthur (2004), a modern retelling of the ancient myth based on “recently discovered archaeological evidence,” allegedly. Brain leads us on a journey beyond Hadrian’s Wall and helps us tease apart this movie’s tangled mess of Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Picts, Sarmatians, and more.

Follow Brian on Bluesky:

https://bsky.app/profile/archaeobuchanan.bsky.social

Gefrin Trust:

https://gefrintrust.org/

https://www.instagram.com/gefrintrust

Get in touch with us:

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook...

Today we’re joined by professor/filmmaker/archaeologist Rob Rownd to review The Dig (2021), a film which tells the (mostly) true story of the Sutton Hoo Anglo-Saxon ship burial excavation of 1939. Find out why we love this movie so much, even though it makes some questionable decisions about the portrayal of real-life archaeologist Peggy Piggot. Check out Rob’s projects:

Sisa: https://deadline.com/2025/01/hilda-koronel-jun-robles-lana-sisa-philippine-american-war-1236252344/

Cinemartyrs: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/support-film-fatales-fund-indie-film-cinemartyrs--2#/

Get in touch with us:

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sots...

Today we’ve invited Fredrik Trusohamn of Digging Up Ancient Aliens to help us review Kon Tiki (2012), the true story of Thor Heyerdahl and his adventure on the Pacific Ocean which proved that Polynesia was settled by explorers from Peru... or did it? In this episode we reveal the dark secrets that movie doesn’t want you to know, and identify what Kon Tiki, Ancient Aliens, and Atlantis all have in common (spoilers: it’s hyperdiffusionism!)

Hear more from Fredrik:

Digging Up Ancient Aliens: https://diggingupancientaliens.com/

DUAA on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@d...

Due to unforeseen circumstances, we are not able to post our regularly scheduled episode today, but in its place we'd like to share a YouTube video Josh made for the ComSciCon Canada conference! You can find it at the following link: https://youtu.be/I_jHuLPhF7I

Please check it out, and leave us a comment letting us know what you think!

ComSciCon Canada: https://www.comsciconcanada.org/

Today we’re reviewing Sasquatch Sunset (2024), the story of a family of Bigfoots searching in vain for more of their own kind while coming to terms with a new threat to their survival: humans. It’s a beautiful, powerful film about grief, uncertainty, perseverance, hope, and poop. Lots of poop.

Visit our new website! https://screensofthestoneage.com

Get in touch with us:

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/

Email: screensofthestoneage@gmail.com

In this episode:

Ross’ yeti paper: Edward...

Ghosts is a BBC sitcom about a young couple who inherit a mansion which happens to be haunted by a cast of spirits from various periods of Britain’s history—including the Stone Age. Today we’re reviewing the character Robin, who is some sort of caveman ghost who has been haunting the grounds since long before Button House was built. His is a tragic story of extreme loneliness and solitude, but through it all he’s developed a strong sense of humour, a sage-like wisdom, and an appreciation of bums.

Visit our new website! https://screensofthestoneage.com

Live from New York: It’s the Stone Age! Today we’re reviewing an anthology of sketches from Saturday Night Live, the long-running American variety show, featuring Cockney cavemen, osteological phobias, Nile Valley girls, a real banger about Ancient Rome, and a lot of celebs humping each other.

Visit our new website! https://screensofthestoneage.com

Get in touch with us:

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/

Email: screensofthestoneage@gmail.com

In this episode:

Watch our Stone Age SNL play...

Today we’re playing Caveman Movie Bingo again! Creatures the World Forgot (1971) is another 70s caveman-sploitation film that’s heavy on the stereotypical tropes and light on plot. Despite the name, it might be most notable for not featuring any forgotten creatures.

Visit our new website! https://screensofthestoneage.com

Get in touch with us:

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/

Email: screensofthestoneage@gmail.com

In this episode:

Watch Creatures the World Forgot on Internet Archive: https://archive.org/deta...

Big news! An American biotech company announced this week that they have brought the dire wolf back from extinction! We’ve honoured this great achievement by watching the prophetic film Dire Wolf (2009), a gory werewolf movie in which an American biotech company brought back the dire wolf from extinction... to create a military bioweapon! We’ve got our eyes on you, Colossal Biosciences...

Visit our new website! https://screensofthestoneage.com

Get in touch with us:

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/

Email: scre...

Today we’re reviewing Lisa the Skeptic, a classic episode of The Simpsons in which Lisa discovers an apparent angel skeleton at an archaeological dig. In this episode we dig into hoaxes, the use of AI in academic writing, and the work of Stephen J. Gould. But in a larger sense, this episode will settle the age-old question of Science vs. Religion (spoiler alert: Capitalism wins).

Visit our new website! https://screensofthestoneage.com

Get in touch with us:

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/

Today we’ve reached a milestone – 100 Episodes!! To celebrate, Josh is taking Kim and Ross on a trivia-based tour of some of the best and worst movies from our podcast’s prehistory. What have we learned after nearly four years of caveman movies? Let’s find out! Plus, a bonus review of Mastodons (1997).

Visit our new website! https://screensofthestoneage.com

Get in touch with us:

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/

Email: screensofthestoneage@gmail.com

Watch Mastodons (1997): https://www.youtube.com/watc...

Mistress of the Apes (1979) tells the harrowing tale of Susan, an anthropologist who lost her pregnancy and learned of her husband’s murder in Congo Kenya in the same week. But she remained strong, without showing any visible signs of emotion whatsoever, until she learned to love again, in the arms of a Homo habilis her husband had discovered prior to his death (his murder was unrelated).

Content warning: this movie contains multiple scenes involving sexual assault.

Get in touch with us:

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: ht...

Curious George (2006) tells the tail of the beloved eponymous monkey (sic) and reimagines (and sanitizes) The Man in the Yellow Hat as an archaeologist. This movie sets up a thoughtful and nuanced take on archaeological ethics and neocolonialism, and then says “Fuck it, it belongs in museum after all.” But George is soooo cuuuute!

Get in touch with us:

Bluesky: @sotsapodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: @SotSAPodcast

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/sotsa/

Email: screensofthestoneage@gmail.com

In this episode:

The History of Curious George: https://www.curiousgeorge.com...