Encarta & Chill | A 90s Podcast

E20 | Pranks

Blobby. Blobby. Blobby. Yes, the time has come for Tom and Tomek to come face-to-face with a certain creature - unconventional in hue - that The New York Times once described as "proof of Britain's deep-seated attraction to trash."
But a far worse fate awaits our hosts, as the 90s' equivalent of Doctor Frankenstein also lurks in the shadows - coiffured mane gleaming, bag of tricks at the ready, prepared to deceive an entire Queens Park Rangers squad for a full four minutes.
At what point does a hilarious misunderstanding cross into questionable public endangerment? That’s for neither you nor Jeremy Beadle to worry about. Simply sit back, grab yourself a stick of unbranded spearmint gum, and discover how the 90s was a decade so simple that it had a woman from Dorset genuinely believing an alien had popped round for tea.

E19 | Britannica & Repose: An 1890s Podcast

Today is the day Encarta and Chill changes forever. It's still the 90s... but not as you know it.
Join Thomas and Tommy as they fire up the penny farthing, pour themselves a tot of gin and embark on a journey of rediscovery across the most spiffing decade of all time... the 1890s.
The phonograph's maiden voyage sees a well-intentioned study on the concept of nostalgia quickly descend into a prattle about hoops, sticks, Penny dreadfuls and Notts County's Albert Iremonger.
DISCLAIMER: This is definitely not an April Fools prank.

E18 | The Paranormal

It's the final years of the 20th century, and the chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one… apparently. So why is young Tomek going to such extremes to prevent himself from being abducted?
Meanwhile, Tom is being chased up the stairs by a sinister presence. With a bit of luck, Neil Buchanan will show up any minute to dismiss it as nothing more than a swarm of midges.
Keep the lights on for this one as they dive into all things paranormal - from The X-Files and Goosebumps to ghost condoms and haunted trains (sorry, engines).
But nothing made Britain’s collective blood run colder in the ‘90s than a certain glory hole-dwelling spectre named Pipes. Are you brave enough to pay him one more visit?
Seriously though, keep the lights on - because if you're one of those people who likes to fall asleep to podcasts, you won’t want to be lying there in the dark when the Are You Afraid of the Dark? theme tune kicks in around the 40-minute mark…

E17 | Pets / Digital Pets

Before they became stars of memes and viral videos, there was a time when cats and dogs did nothing more than eat from bowls, chase balls, and curl up for long naps. Yes, the ‘90s were a pretty sweet time for our furry friends… until they were all suddenly replaced by keyrings boasting 16-pixel LCD screens in 1997.
This episode pays tribute to late 20th-century Animalia - from Sabrina's zesty feline with an attitude problem and Sam Neill’s prehistoric travel companion with a burger addiction to others that may or may not resemble Bill Clinton.
So PAWS what you’re doing, slip into your dandiest pantaloons, and cozy up by the fire with your two faithful companions, Tom and Tomek. Just don’t stroke their hair backwards. They hate that.

E16 | Swimming

Yeah, buoy! This week, the Toms are spreading their water wings and diving headfirst into what Tomek's dad once called "The Golden Age of Council Swimming Pools."
From the thrill of the wave machine to the terror of the deep end, it's time to revisit those chlorine-scented childhoods spent cheating death at Croydon's Water Palace and basking in the glory of sewing a Pool Frog 3 badge onto a manky old Garfield towel.
Will they ride the tide of memory like seasoned swimmers or sink like a slippery black brick? Take the plunge and press play now to find out!

E15 | Blockbuster Video

You might be wondering why a podcast about the '90s has taken 15 episodes to land on the subject of film. It’s the kind of inconsistency that filmmakers of the time certainly wouldn’t have worried about. After all, when in doubt, just add a talking dog.
This week, chatty animals, friendly ghosts, and spectacled ugmos are dominating Tom and Tomek’s thoughts, set against the backdrop of what may not have been the golden age of cinema but certainly was the golden age of video rental.
There are sticky carpets to tread and tricky questions to answer, like: Who were Pearl and Dean? Why bother with a self-destruct feature? And how many Eddie Murphys is too many?

E14 | Primary School [ insert disc 2 ]

Picture the scene… The sun is setting on another '90s summer holiday. For weeks, TV ads have taunted you with images of irritatingly happy children, twirling in crisp school uniforms and flaunting their brand-new lunchboxes as if they were Louis Vuitton. And then, reality dawns - this endless summer was finite after all.
Yes, it’s time to head back to school! This time, however, there are a couple of cool new kids to introduce at assembly… but Tom and Tomek are there too, and their mums have asked if you could hang out with them instead - okay?
Their wet-look hair gel might lack the firm hold of someone you’d usually choose to sit next to on the carpet, but they’ve got plenty to say about parachutes, projectors, and poetry book scams.

E13 | Cereal Box Toys etc.

Get ready to travel back to a decade when breakfast time meant diving elbow-deep into the communal family cereal box - grubby little hands and all - in search of a prize.
A time when we didn’t think of McDonald’s as a taker of rainforests but simply as our go-to supplier of Barbies and Hot Wheels.
Was it a better time? No… but it was certainly one that boasted larger quantities of landfill shaped like the Rugrats.
In this episode, Tom and Tomek celebrate all the free tat that inexplicably brought us so much joy that it made our parents wonder why they even bothered saving up to buy us that BMX.

E12 | War

War. What is it good for? Absolutely not as an episode topic of a podcast in which two millennials sit around lamenting the loss of Blockbuster Video...
 
That’s why Tom and Tomek have chosen to sift through the rubble of the 90's most trivial battles instead... Coca-Cola vs Pepsi, Nintendo vs SEGA and Oasis vs Blur. So let battle commence as two 37-year-olds accidentally lock horns with some unnecessarily strong beverages and try to make sense of all things cola, consoles and Britpop.
 
Don’t worry history buffs; Edvard Grieg's providing the soundtrack and Richard Branson's brought a tank!

E11 | Australia

Encarta and Chill is back! Following their brief break, Tom and Tomek go in search of the perfect blend in the land down under one dodgy accent (and spinning appendage) at a time.
 
If you thought The Simpsons skewed Britain's understanding of life in the Southern Hemisphere in the 90s, Round The Twist had us believing it was even stranger.
 
However, there was one show in particular that made our little island nation fall in love with another... Neighbours. From Toadie's hijinks to the resurrection of Harold Bishop, get ready to deep dive the twice daily cultural phenomenon that was curiously dismissed by Australia itself.
 
Kangaroos, Tasmanian devils and unlikely allies of Nigel Farage await in this episode brazenly described by Alf Stewart as having come down in the last shower.