African Sci-Fi Looks to a Future Climate
When the writer Nnedi Okorafor coined the term Africanfuturism, she wanted to distinguish sci-fi written about Africa from Afrofuturism,...
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Episodes
Latest first
When All Is Said in Dune
Back in 2018, I interviewed language creator David J. Peterson about how he invented Dothraki for Game of Thrones and other fictional...
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Mother-in-Law of Oz
The Wizard of Oz is deeply ingrained into our culture. While many people can practically recite the 1939 movie, the original source...
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Bonus: Turtles and Toys Outtakes
In the previous episode, I interviewed documentary filmmaker Isaac Elliot-Fisher about He-Man and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Isaac had...
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Class of '84: Turtles, Transformers and Toys Takeover TV
In the final episode of our mini-series Class of '84, we look at two iconic franchises that launched in 1984: Transformers and Teenage...
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Class of '84: When Cyber Was Punk
In the second episode of our mini-series on groundbreaking works from 1984, we jack into the system and upload our minds into Neuromancer....
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Bonus: Rise of The Villains Outtakes
When I interviewed special effects artist Shannon Shea about The Terminator and other villains of ’84, we also discussed his experiences...
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Class of '84: Rise of The Villains
This year marks the 40th anniversary of a lot of landmarks in pop culture, especially sci-fi and fantasy. So many franchises were born in...
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Making Blue Eye Samurai
I was blown away by the Netflix animated series Blue Eye Samurai. I’m not alone, it has 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. I was pleasantly...
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Prologue to Ursula K. le Guin
In the 1960s, Ursula K. le Guin represented a changing of the guard in science fiction literature. She was part of a generation of...
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@ChristmasCarol: A Holiday Tale
This week's episode is an original audio drama. In previous episodes, I’ve interviewed Captain Hook, vampires, colonists on the moon, and...
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Doctor Who's Power of Regeneration
In honor of Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary, I’ve rewritten my 2018 episode about Doctor Who with updates on how the series has evolved, and...
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How One Piece Became King of the Backstories
One Piece is one of the biggest franchises in the world. The manga and anime have broken records in sales and viewership. The live action...
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Bonus: Norse Myths Outtakes
My guests from the previous episode, Carolyne Larrington and Ada Palmer, had so many interesting things to say about Norse mythology and...
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Seeing Ourselves in Norse Myths
Thor and Loki have become pop culture icons thanks to Marvel. But the influence of Norse mythology on contemporary fantasy runs through...
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Creating Hindu Fantasy Worlds
Kritika H. Rao, Shveta Thakrar, Roshani Chokshi, and Ram V are helping to create a new genre. They use elements of their Hindu backgrounds...
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Haunted Housing Market
We all know the scenario. A nice young family moves into a new house. It’s haunted by an evil spirit. Mayhem ensues. These movies have been...
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Making the Sounds of Make-Believe
John Roesch is a legend in the field of foley sound effects. He mastered the art of creating bespoke sound effects using props or just his...
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The Nine Lives of Red Dwarf
35 years ago, Doug Naylor co-created a sitcom called Red Dwarf about the last human left alive in the far future. But the character is not...
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Have You Watched....?
The writers’ and actors’ strikes have disrupted the pipeline of new shows and movies. We’re going to run out of new stuff to watch soon....
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