In this episode Mark talks about one of his favourite films: the 1999 American animated science fiction action film "The Iron Giant" directed by Brad Bird. Based on the 1968 novel 'The Iron Man by Ted Hughes, the story of the film, set during the Cold War in 1957, centres around a young boy named Hogarth Hughes (voiced by Eli Marienthal) - who lives with his Mother Annie Hughes (voiced by Jennifer Anniston) in the town of Rockwell, Maine - who one night discovers and befriends a 50-foot tall metal-eating robot who has fallen to Earth from outer space. Over the course of the film Hogarth and the Giant robot (voiced by Vin Diesel) start to get closer to each other and they enjoy every moment that they spend with one another, while attempting to continue to keep the fact of the Giant's presence on Earth a secret from his mother and also from the U.S. government - especially from the paranoid xenophobic U.S. government agent Kent Mansley (voiced by Christopher McDonald) who is investigating the Giant's whereabouts and is seeking to destroy them when they find them because they believe they are a threat to national security. Throughout the film Hogarth and "The Iron Giant" are assisted by Dean McCoppin (voiced by Harry Connick Jr.) - a beatnik artist and junkyard owner - in keeping the Giant from view and also giving them as much junk metal as they can eat, and who over the course of the film finds himself getting closer to Hogarth's mother, Annie. Throughout the film the threat to the Giant and to the town of Rockwell, Maine, grows - which ultimately leads the Giant to have to decide, as a result of the time that he has spent with Hogarth, their friendship, and the resounding message that Horgath gives to the Giant - that "You are who you choose to be" - to choose to put the lives of others before his own, just like the DC Comics character that the Giant becomes obsessed with emulating: "Superman". The beautiful and memorable score of the film was composed by Michael Kamen.
