Episodes
Dave and Ryan answer listeners' questions such as, “When is the season finale?” and provide answers such as, ”This IS the season finale.”  They discuss where they've been this season and what's happening next, and even have the scoop for a big piece (for Dave AND Ryan) that is going under the hammer this summer.  Will this summer finally see the first episode the guys record TOGETHER -- like, in the same room?  Stay tuned, nerds.  Ta ta for now, but we won't be gone fishin' for long. SDAMO -...
Published 05/22/24
David and Ryan are joined by the dazzlingly talented Chris Barton, creature FX artist, artist-artist, and indispensable collectible-display-making artist. Chris talks about his first career making movie-creature-magic, starting with the Henson company (Muppets! Witches! Ninja Turtles! More Muppets!) and going all the way through the Fifth Element, Star Wars, and Harry Potter. He then talks to the guys about his second career: making hundreds and hundreds of prop and costume displays for...
Published 05/15/24
Published 05/15/24
David and Ryan are joined by fellow writer-collector (director-collector?) and Blade Runner obsessive (and expert!) Steve Loter, the executive producer and director of Marvel's Emmy-winning animated series Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur!  Steve talks with the guys about his 40+ years of movie madness and collecting that began at age 11 when he saw Blade Runner for the first time and identified with the ennui of the tired, drunk, and disenfranchised Rick Deckard.  He tells them all he knows...
Published 05/08/24
David and Ryan delve into a topic that sits at the very core of movie memorabilia collecting -- does anyone have ownership rights to this stuff?  Most of our pieces, particularly the classic material that this podcast most often focuses on, were, in the most generous interpretation, dare we say... "liberated" from the sets that they worked on.  Some things were gifted.  Other things were taken.  But does "taken" necessarily mean "stolen?"  It depends.  To illustrate this sticky issue, the...
Published 05/01/24
Much to the delight of at least three people, David and Ryan are back on the mic spittin' truth about fake props. They have returned with new information, new insights, and some proactive thoughts regarding what can be done about the most insidious activity going on in our beloved hobby right now. In pursuit of educating the public, the guys go all the way back to the beginning of The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of and their first topic: "How do you know this stuff is real?" Bonus: how private...
Published 04/24/24
If you missed the last LIVE episode, here it is: a lot later and not so live. David and Ryan cover the three crazy March auctions: Propstore, Planet Hollywood, and the final Greg Jein auction. The guys interact with the pod's most devoted (and least busy, apparently) fans regarding their takeaways from the auctions (C-3POs!), big surprises (Titanic doors!), a great collecting story (whips!) their wins and losses (you have to listen to find out), and what they're thinking about as they go into...
Published 04/17/24
The Stuff Dreams are Made Of figured they'd switch things up a bit and talk about Star Wars for once. So David and Ryan are joined by self-professed "TIE Pilot Lunatic" Jay Swkarlo to talk all things TIE Pilot! This TIE triumverate digs deep into the nerdy chasm of knowledge and answers all the questions you and your mom might ever have had about the TIE Pilot: who made it, how it was made, how many were made, where are they now, what matches, who has them, and will Dave ever complete his TIE...
Published 04/10/24
David and Ryan are joined by fellow comic art collector and podcaster (and dealer) Felix Lu who admits to falling to the movie props dark-side by everyone’s favorite movie props podcast (yes, this one). Join Felix and the guys to hear all about Hong Kong movies, the greatness of the Peking Opera Blues, and experience a live-unboxing of Felix’s very first movie prop! Welcome to the party, Richter! SDAMO - Instagram https://www.instagram.com/propspodcast/ SDAMO - Threads...
Published 04/03/24
Not only is there another Prop Auction, but it’s another Greg Jein Auction! This week, Ryan and Dave dive into the all new Heritage Auctions Greg Jein Showcase Auction which features even more pieces from the fabled collector/propmaker’s collection. The boys are joined by famed Star Trek collector Rob Klein, as they discuss everything from WWII model kit box art to Thunderbirds are go! to Greg’s infamous box of fake phasers? This really has to be the last auction for a while because nobody...
Published 03/27/24
In its second-ever live episode, The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of explored the far corners of Planet Hollywood, uncovering the best pieces from classic Hollywood, the guys’ favorite vehicles up for auction, the best studio-scale props, which Mel Gibson pieces Ryan is gifting Dave, the epic weirdness of Mr. Toilet Man, how bad Titanic really is (it’s worse than Judge Dredd), and the guys break down their favorite pieces from each session before deciding what they’re going to be bidding on. Come...
Published 03/19/24
David and Ryan return with another round of March Auction Madness!  This time it's for Heritage Auctions' Planet Hollywood collection which goes under the hammer from March 20th through 24th and features over 1,600 lots of Hollywood glory.  We have Shining Axes (hero and stunt), James Dean's monkey, Lt. Commander Data costumes, Apollo Creed costumes, Biff bats, Nurse Ratched's duty wear, Conan knives, Terminator jackets, Heston spacesuits, Leia blasters (hero and stunt), Indiana Jones whips...
Published 03/13/24
That’s right, the first ever live episode of the Stuff Dreams are made of, as Ryan and Dave challenge each other to dig even deeper into this week’s Propstore’s Treasures from Film and Television Auction. What’s the most surprising piece in the Auction? The weirdest? The one Dave wishes Ryan would buy him? The one Ryan will buy Dave as a joke? What piece would their wives hate?  What would they love? And, of course, what is the worst Prometheus prop in the auction? Hint, it’s from Prometheus!...
Published 03/11/24
In a radical shift of gears, the Stuff Dreams Are Made Of is chatting real props -- that is, cracking the catalog for the first of Propstore's three auctions in 2024. We have Alien flightsuits, McFly guitars, Sandworms (the fun kind, not the scary kind), Charlie Chaplin pseudo-Nazi jackets, Indy jackets, Kurgan swords, Krull glaives (just don't watch the movie), Audrey Hepburn dresses, the golden Book of Life, Gimli Axes, Puffy Shirts (Ryan wants to be a pirate), yet another screen-matched...
Published 03/06/24
Ryan and Dave are back for an all-new, all-spectacular Season 7 of the only movie-prop-collecting podcast hosted by two TV showrunners that should probably be doing something else with their spare time. A pall has been cast over the entire prop-collecting hobby, and it ain’t pretty folks. There are fakes everywhere -- fake props, fake helmets, fake COAs... even fake people and fake auctions!  The boys try to bring some humor to this serious subject as they discuss a number of recent and...
Published 02/28/24
Mark your calendars, The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of returns Wednesday, February 28th, 2024 with an all new season!  SDAMO - Instagram https://www.instagram.com/propspodcast/ SDAMO - Threads https://www.threads.net/@propspodcast SDAMO - Twitter https://twitter.com/propspodcast?lang=en SDAMO - Facebook https://www.facebook.com/propspodcast/ SDAMO - TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@props.podcast David Mandel - Instagram https://www.instagram.com/davidhmandel/
Published 02/23/24
Every three years, Ryan and David want to prove to the world that they are leading relatively normal lives so they hire the same two actresses to play their “wives.”  Well, the gals are back to answer the big questions about marriage: raising kids, in-laws, communication and how this all relates to buying an X-wing.  Enjoy the final episode of the season, as “Becky” shakes her head and “Caitlin” rolls her eyes, both to the power of a million, and maybe, just maybe, find out the meaning of...
Published 12/06/23
How *does* one fly a dragon?  David and Ryan ask Special Effects legend Mike Dawson, designer and builder of the dragon "buck" for House of the Dragon.  They also pester Mike for stories from his totally unfathomable history as a SFX man going all the way back to Superman: The Movie and through Raiders and Empire and Jedi and Temple and Roger Rabbit and Last Crusade!  Come for the dragon scuttlebut, stay for the tales of Mike getting chewed out by both Obi-Wan Kenobi and Henry Jones, Sr....
Published 11/22/23
Marvel movies have never been hotter.  Wait.  Sorry.  OK, what do we do to make people listen to this episode of The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of?  I know, we bring back the original Avengers!  On today’s all new episode Dave and Ryan chat with Chris Donio, maker, builder and minder of specialty costumes from the Avengers Infinity War and Endgame!  And Captain America: Civil War.  And Shazam and Blue Beetle.  And basically every movie ever.  Hear about Chris’ amazing journey from cosplay costume...
Published 11/15/23
Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Anthony Daniels.    But, unlike some previous episodes of the podcast, this man is actually here in the studio. Virtually. David and Ryan execute an absolute freakin' coup and bring on C-3PO himself, Mr. Anthony Daniels. The guys ask him about his collection from his screen-matched A New Hope hero helmet, to his annotated scripts and learning Ewokese, to his appearance on The Muppet Show, to a remarkably obscene tape dispenser.  Listen as two grown-up geeks come...
Published 11/08/23
Still tired and poor from holding up paddles in the Greg Jein auction, David and Ryan get their hands on the catalog for Propstore's London auction, taking place from November 9-12. In a super-duper-sized page-turn, the guys hit the highlights such as the good Alien movies (APCs, Pulse Rifles, mini-armor!) and the bad ones (Covenant), Back to the Future time machine parts, a healthy debate over Batman costume nomenclature, a super-duper Blade Runner collection, whether or not it's OK to want...
Published 11/01/23
David and Ryan sit down for a long-form chat with the co-founder of Screen-Used (RIP), one of the outfits that helped to bring movie memorabilia collecting out of the niche and into the mainstream. Desi talks about his story, how he discovered collecting (via a Back to the Future II hoverboard), how built his passion up into a viable retail and auction business -- all while holding down a grow-up job! The guys talk with Desi about buying twelve movie guns at a single auction, buying a T2...
Published 10/25/23
All of America and Dave’s wife are wondering: Did Dave win the X-wing? Tune in to find out. Hear all about the wins, the losses, the endless sitting. Where does the Star Trek market stand?  And who or what was the mysterious Bidder 7101. Ryan and a slightly dazed Dave take us moment by moment, bid by bid, Shatner hairpiece by hairpiece through the incredible weekend in Dallas that was the Jein Collection. Plus special guest Heritage bigwig Joe Madalena talks with the guys about what it all...
Published 10/19/23
Everything is in the wrong order. The big stuff comes last and the small stuff comes first. What if we're too responsible, and we end up with nothing? Holy Batman props, Batman! Why is there another X-Wing? Did we wrong the prop gods?  Everyone will have spent all their money on the TOS Trek stuff, right? Right? Dave already has a Stormtrooper from A New Hope. So what that this one is in perfect condition, complete, and a hero. Will having it change his sense of self worth? And do our...
Published 10/11/23
David and Ryan are joined by John Walsh, the author of "Conan the Barbarian: The Official Story of the Film", Titan publishing's brand new look at the making of the 1982 cult classic. John regales the guys with stories of trying to dig up new, old information, trying to get an audience with Arnold himself, why Dino DeLaurentis productions have so little behind the scenes photos -- and then, some exciting 4K news about everyone's favorite barbarian origin movie. Yes, of course, the guys ask...
Published 10/04/23