Avsnitt
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Trigger warning: This discussion includes talk about sexual assault and sexual violence. This is a theme apparent in the film and the source material. It is mentioned a few times. The topic is not spoken about in detail, but I wanted to share a general trigger warning for those that would prefer to avoid the topic altogether.
Subtitles for the intro: "It's not that I specialise in treating fingers. I'm a psychiatrist in fact. Inferiority complexes dig holes in the psyche, and I fill them in."
As always, there are spoilers ahead!
You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.
If you have fancy pants and would like to be a patron of the podcast please do! You can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm
If you are interested in the plot of the film you can read an overview on the wikipedia page here.
In 1964 Director Hiroshi Teshigahara's film Woman in the Dunes won the Special Jury Prize at Cannes. The film was the second of four in which Teshigahara would collaborate with writer Kōbō Abe.*
The Face of Another rode the coattails of Woman in the Dunes but was nowhere near as successful. Although both films have a very bleak undertone, The Face of Another feels more jarring and less abstract in its confrontations.
The story is of a man horribly disfigured from an accident in the lab where he works. He manages to find a possible solution to the isolation and desperation he experiences when he is given the opportunity to have a new face with which to navigate life.
The story has many philosophical themes set in a Japan that is still wrangling with its post war cultural identity.
Thankfully I have managed to procure two big brained and generous guests!
Roger Luckhurst is a Professor at Birkbeck, University of London. He has written/edited numerous articles and books on cultural history and film.
Jennifer Coates is a Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Sheffield. She has written extensively about Japanese cultural history and cinema and is the President of the British Association of Japanese Studies.
During the intro to the show I mention a video essay that I watched during research for the film which I found very interesting. You can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yarOXWeZlzY
Although this is not directly relevant to the film, one of the earliest shots is an x-ray of a skull in conversation. This is reminiscent of the very early 1996 film usually known as Macintyre's X-Ray Film. Just a small historical film curiosity which you might be interested in. You can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqMYHawAKmA
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:35 Source Material: Kobe Abe's book
06:33 Abe and Teshigahara's collaboration: Woman in the Dunes
07:38 Face Masks
10:55 The manufactured Japanese New Wave
14:31 Japan in the 1960s
19:39 Alienation and Philosophy
24:47 Boundaries and skin
26:17 Moral boundaries
30:52 The skin, Japan and saving face
34:14 Scarring and the bomb
41:05 Identity and Japan
47:40 Visual delights
52:46 Legacy
55:03 Face transplants
56:51 Recommendations
Recommendations:
When the Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960)
Eyes without a Face (1960)
Suture (1993)
NEXT EPISODE!
Next episode we will be having a giant sprawling chat about the scientist Bernard Quatermass. You can watch the three earlier Quatermass films, The Quatermass Xperiment (1955), Quatermass 2 (1957) and Quatermass and the Pit (1967) in all sorts of places including major streaming platforms. The series (if you want to get really nerdy about it) are available as a boxed set on Apple TV and from other retailers. At least some of those episodes are available on YouTube. The first season of the TV series (1953) only has a few episodes as the rest were lost forever!
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As always there are spoilers ahead!
Blade Runner was not a huge hit in 1982 but it did gain a fair few fans on its initial release. One of those fans was a teenager from Cheshire by the name of Paul Franklin who would go on to work on numerous big budget films and win two Oscars for his work as a Special Effects Supervisor on Interstellar and Inception.
I spoke to Paul about his first impressions of the film, what makes it special and how it influences Batman Begins and The Dark Knight Rises.
Apologies for the abrupt ending to this episode. It is late, I've been quite busy and I have other work I really must tend to. Details of the next episode at the bottom of the show notes.
You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.
If you would like to support the podcast you can become a patron and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free versions of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm
Chapters
00:00 Intro
01:47 Paul's first impressions
07:11 Influences on Blade Runner
14:01 Syd Mead's design
17:52 A future without Blade Runner
21:28 PK Dick & Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
23:36 The plight of the androids
27:18 Deckard as replicant
32:01 Influence of Blade Runner on Paul's work
40:45 Vangelis
41:58 ET vs Blade Runner
NEXT EPISODE!
Next episode we will be discussing the rather striking and uncomfortable 1966 Japanese film The Face of Another. The film is available on Criterion Channel in the US and Canada and on YouTube. You can check the Just Watch website to see where the film is available in your region.
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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As always there are spoilers ahead!
You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.
If you would like to be a patron of the podcast and help an indie podcaster out, you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm
An extra huge thank you to my wonderful guests as this episode had to be re-recorded due to a major problem with the audio file the first time.
You can find the synopsis of the film on Wikipedia here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastic_Voyage#Plot
In 1966 20th Century Fox chose a steady pair of hands in Richard Fleischer (the son of animation superstar Max Fleischer) to helm what at the time was both the tiniest and the biggest science fiction adventure. Tiny because of the nano science storyline and biggest because of it being the most expensive science fiction film ever made (at that time) costing over five million dollars.
I talk to two top tier guests about the film.
Jay Telotte is Professor Emeritus of film and media studies at Georgia Tech. He has written/edited numerous books and articles about science fiction film including his upcoming books Before Trek: Building American Science Fiction Television.
Lisa Yaszek is Regents' Professor of Science Fiction Studies at Georgia Tech and has written/edited multiple books on science fiction including her upcoming book Mothership Rising: Afrofuturism in the Radium Age.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:40 Big budget scifi
05:45 Richard Fleischer
09:10 The history of Nanotech sci-fi
16:41 Sci-fi and scale in cinema
19:42 Richard Feynman and small science
22:55 1950s influences
25:53 James Bond and Spy-fi
27:05 Psychedelic scifi
31:22 Harper Goff, Disney and design
33:36 1960s crew dynamics
42:48 Asimov's novelisation
44:24 Secularism vs religion
46:52 Legacy
52:57 Recommendations
Recommendations:
The Diamond Lens by Fitz-James O'Brien (which can be found here)
Surface Tension by James Blish
Microcosmic God by Theodore Sturgeon
Dr Cyclops (1940)
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
Honey I Shrunk the Kids (1989)
NEXT EPISODE!
Next episode I will be speaking with Oscar winning Special Effects Supervisor Paul Franklin to discuss his favourite sci-fi film Blade Runner (1982). Paul has worked on an array of blockbusters including The Batman Begins trilogy, Venom (2018), Inception (2010) and Interstellar (2014).
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Show notes
As always there are spoilers ahead!
You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.
If you would like to be a patron of the podcast and feel like nobility funding the podcasting arts, I would like to encourage such sentiments! You can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm
If you are interested in the plot of the film you can read an overview on the wikipedia page here.
In 1953 writer Ray Bradbury released his magnum opus Fahrenheit 451. It quickly became a widely acclaimed cautionary tale about the dangers of censorship, authoritarianism and the effects of mass media on human ideas and connection.
One of the most prominent science fiction books it is easy to understand why François Truffaut, one of the French New Wave's most prominent directors, became utterly focused on making the story into a film.
The process had its challenges with producers, funding and a casting changes causing delays. The film was finally wrapped up and released in 1966 to both positive and negative reviews. It is an interesting watch if not a gripping one and my two expert guests unravel the ins and outs of how it came to be.
Ian Scott is a Professor of American Film and History at The University of Manchester. He has written extensively about politics and film in Hollywood including the book American Politics in Hollywood Film.
Phil Nichols is a visiting lecturer at the University of Wolverhampton and a researcher with a special interest in Ray Bradbury. He is Senior Consultant to the Ray Bradbury Centre at Indiana University and editor of The New Ray Bradbury Review. He is also the man behind the Bradbury 100 podcast and the Science Fiction 101 podcas
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:32 Fahrenheit 451: a sci-fi heavyweight
04:36 Truffaut and the book
11:03 Suburban scifi in the mid century
13:33 Politics of the story
15:07 Truffaut's perspective
20:01 Julie Christie's double role
26:50 Searching for Montag
34:29 Burning with her books
39:12 Bernard Herrmann's score
40:40 The 2018 remake
49:56 Bradbury's stage play
51:37 Recommendations
Recommendations:
Never Let Me Go (2010)
The Wild Child (1970)
NEXT EPISODE!
Next episode we will be discussing Fantastic Voyage from 1966! The film is annoyingly a little tricky to find online but can be rented easily on mainstream platforms in some countries. You can check the Just Watch website to see where it is available in your region.
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As always there are spoilers ahead!
You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.
If you would like to be a patron of the podcast and get that amazing feeling of wellbeing that comes from contributing to the research, planning and anxiety that does towards making a podcast I would love to encourage it! You can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm
Seconds is a visually striking and thoroughly uncomfortable film. A 1960s film that examines dissatisfied suburban living, mid-life crisis and the yearning for youth and freedom. I think it's vastly underrated which is probably something both of my genuinely amazing guests agree with. (Apologies for not offering more of a counterpoint to this view!)
Mark Bould is a professor of Film and Literature at the University of West England, Bristol. He has written/edited extensively about science fiction cinema.
Sherryl Vint is Professor of Science Fiction Media Studies at the University of California, Riverside. She has also written/edited extensively about science fiction.
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:31 Frankenheimer's fantastic films
05:55 Science fiction in the 60s
07:55 The striking work of James Wong Howe
12:18 Saul (and Elaine) Bass credits
14:42 Mid Life Crisis in the 1960s
19:20 Dissatisfaction in the middle class
21:38 The Tennis Trophy
24:40 Rock Hudson and John Randolph
31:54 The Wine Stomp
37:02 Corporation as "The Monster" and PK Dick
38:48 Frankenstein and face surgery
41:44 The business model and Tech Bros
45:08 Legacy
50:39 Trivia tidbits
53:51 Recommendations
Recommendations:
Phase IV (1974)
Face of Another (1966)
Mark also mentions: Eyes Without a Face (1960) and Darkman (1990)
NEXT EPISODE!
Next episode we take a dive into the 1966 François Truffaut science fiction film Fahrenheit 451. The film is very annoyingly tough to get hold of on streaming platforms but can apparently be found on Fandango and you can search the Just Watch website to check where it might be available in your region. You can buy the DVD quite easily for not extortionate prices in many places. There do seem to be dodgy websites that also have the film but obviously I would never encourage you to search for such things.
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As always there are spoilers ahead!
You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.
If you would like to be a patron of the podcast you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm
Apologies in advance for my butchering of Italian pronunciation during this episode.
Although we mentioned in the Planet of the Vampires episode the copycat nature of Italian cinema in the 1960s, The 10th Victim by Elio Petri does not fit that mould. The film has a definite style that may offer commentary on Italian film, comics and culture but looks to set a new mould for films coming out of Italy. Cultural change in Europe and America in the 1960s came in many different flavours and with different driving forces. My excellent guests help to unravel the cultural context of this stylish cult classic.
Stephen Gundle is a Professor of Film and Television at the University of Warwick. He has a special interest in Italian cultural history.
Leon Hunt is a retired Senior Lecturer of Screen Studies at Brunel University with a special interest in Italian Genre Cinema.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction.
01:17 Collectively written script
04:02 Italy in the 1960s
05:19 Marcello Mastroianni Commedia all'Italiana and global fame
09:33 Echoes of La Dolce Vita
15:02 Style over substance?
17:03 Gender roles
20:38 The violence of man
23:28 The gun bra, design and pop art
26:17 Comic book culture in Italy
32:46 Religion and belief systems
36:55 Changing Italian culture: American influence, economic growth and celebrity worship
45:52 Legacy
51:07 Recommendations for the listener
Recommendations:
Danger Diabolik (1968) directed by Mario Bava
Modesty Blaise (1966) directed by Jospeh Losey
La Dolce Vita (1960) directed by Federico Fellini
NEXT EPISODE!
You have two weeks to find and watch Seconds (1966) by John Frankenheimer as we finally head into 1966! The film is available to rent or buy on Apple TV in the UK, and for free on Kanopy in the US. You can check the JustWatch website for details of where it's available in your region. (Waves frantically at new global listeners!)
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As always there are spoilers ahead!
You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.
If you would like to be a patron of the podcast you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm
Despite a failed pilot Star Trek made it to TV in 1966. Creator, Gene Roddenberry's vision of a future that was beyond the contemporary struggles of civil rights and racism and global Cold War tensions but very much aligned with the style of the 1960s. As a diverse crew faced alien planets and tackled ethical questions audience numbers dwindled and cancellation loomed. The show was finally axed in 1969 but a growing fanbase aided by syndication meant what could have been a small part of TV history actually became a huge phenomena.
My amazing Trekkie guests discuss the origins of my favourite franchise.
Julian Chambliss is a scholar and a professor at Michigan State University. He has taught Star Trek as part of his Media Race and Culture classes.
Carey Millsap-Spears is a professor of communications/literature at Moraine Valley Community College. She has written extensively about Star Trek including the 2023 book Star Trek Discovery and the Female Gothic.
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:36 Gene Roddenberry's pitch and the pilot episode
04:29 A new kind of frontier
08:34 The fans
11:06 Woke and the 1960s
17:26 The gothic in Star Trek
20:39 Captain Kirk as Casanova?
26:09 That kiss and Uhura
30:42 Utopia!
36:47 Propaganda
39:24 The Alien others
44:08 Technology, NASA and Nichelle Nichols
47:29 The Next Generation
51:52 Why do we love Star Trek?
54:32 Recommendations
Recommendations
The Centre Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek (2021)
StarTrek II: The Wrath of Khan
NEXT EPISODE!
You have two weeks to find and watch The 10th Victim (1965) by Elio Petri. Another Italian film (like last episode's Planet of the Vampires) but a very different feel. Although coupld contend with Mario Bava's Danger Diabolik (1968) for the most 60s film ever made! The film is available to rent online in many places. You can check the JustWatch website for details of what it's available in your region.
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As always there are spoilers ahead!
You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.
If you would like to be a patron of the podcast you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm
Planet of the Vampires was directed by Mario Bava and released in 1965. American International Pictures had made money with Italian films such as Black Sunday (1960) but would often need to oversee many changes to make the films suitable for an American audience. Their solution was to provide a script and co-produce a film so they could control the content.
The film had a small budget of around $200,000 and although it definitely has its fair share of Schlock, Bava had a reputation for doing a lot on a small budget.
My guests unravel why Mario Bava's reputation and love for this film continue to grow.
Scott Higgins is Professor of Film at Wesleyan University as well as being the Curator of the Wesleyan Cinema Archives.
Russ Hunter is an Assistant Professor in Film & Television Studies at Northumbria University. He has a special interest in Italian genre cinema.
Scott says Eugenio Bava (Mario's Father) invented the Schüfftan process before Eugen Schüfftan after whom it was named. You can read more about this here: https://dcairns.wordpress.com/tag/schufftan-process/
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:46 AIP involvement
04:14 Italian cinema in 1965
09:01 Dubbing
14:31 Names changes and US appeal
17:28 Mario Bava
21:51 Scott's love for this film
27:12 Bava and Barry
29:22 Special Effects and the Schüfftan process
33:39 Production and Set Design
35:21 Style over coherence
38:33 The alien
41:35 Influences and origins
43:40 Vampires in name
44:20 Legacy
49:06 Recommendations
Recommendations:
The Green Slime (1968) by Kinji Fukasaku
Tu Vuo' Fa' L'americano by Renato Carosone
Danger: Diabolik (1968) by Mario Bava
Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark by Tim Lucas
NEXT EPISODE:
As we approach 1966 on the podcast it is time to talk about my favourite franchise which will be 60 years old this September! A little detour into the beginnings of Star Trek in two week's time.
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As always there are spoilers ahead! (And the podcast is much more fun if you've seen the film first.)
You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.
If you would like to be a patron of the podcast you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm
Jean-Luc Godard is potentially the most prominent of the French New Wave directors. In the mid-60s his mind turned to science fiction and the result was a visually striking, choatic film about a dystopian world in which logic rules and love is punished.
If you find the film confusing you are not alone and I have two brilliant academic brains to help us out.
Roger Luckhurst is a Professor at Birkbeck, University of London. He has written/edited numerous articles and books on cultural history and film.
Douglas Morrey is an associate professor of French at the University of Warwick. He has a special interest in the French new Wave on which he has written extensively, including the 2005 book Jean-Luc Godard.
CORRECTION: In the podcast I mention Roger citing Alphaville having an image from Chris Marker's La Jetée but the image is actually Marker's photograph which is in the credit sequence but doesn not feature in La Jetée.
The book of poetry in the film Capitale de la douleur (Capital of Pain) is written by Paul Elouard.
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:40 French New Wave in 1965
03:38 Godard's influences for Alphaville
11:31 Eddie Constantine: The illogical Noir hero
16:43 Lemmy Caution and fascism
18:05 Alienation and confusion
25:52 Godard's technique and budgets
30:07 Sound design
32:30 The swimming pool execution scene
39:26 Love, poetry and Godard's divorce
47:00 Godard and women
49:30 Legacy
53:57 Recommendations
Recommendations:
• The Trial written by Franz Kafka and made into a film by Orson Wells released in 1962.
• Weekend (1967) by Godard.
NEXT EPISODE!
Next episode we will be talking about Planet of the Vampires, the low budget 1965 dubbed delight by Mario Bava. The film is campy (and for me quite hilarious) as well as being famed for inspiring Alien (1979). (Perhaps a little overstated in this regard?) You can find the film to rent on Amazon, Apple, Flixfling and may find it on free platforms with ads in your region. You can check the JustWatch website for more details.
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As usual there are spoilers ahead!
You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.
If you would like to be a patron of the podcast you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm
This episode we track the birth of one of the longest running franchises. Dr Who was first broadcast in 1963 and with the help of some exterminating aliens a film was produced just a couple of years later. I speak to my wonderful Whovian guests about the origins, the hallmarks and the 1960s context of the infamous Doctor including the colourful and shiny 1960s feature films.
Paul Booth is a professor of Media and Pop Culture with a special interest in fandoms on which he has written extensively. He is co-editor of the book Adventures Across Space and Time: A Doctor Who Reader.
Lee Arnott is the co-host if the Problematic Gaze podcast. He is a social historian who is currently researching the the social history of Britain since the 1960s through the lens of Doctor Who.
Although Australian composer Ron Gainer wrote the music for Dr Who it was Delia Derbyshire at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop who produced the theme.
You can see the Delia Derbyshire clip I mention on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsRuhCflRyg
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:41The BBC origins of the series
04:45 The first episode, changes and differences on the big screen
09:40 The Daleks and Dalekmania
13:20 WW2, Nazis and nuclear fears
19:37 More Daleks
23:33 The Doctor
27:33 What is canon
29:21 The Companions
35:13 The Tardis
38:05 Design
42:02 (The best ever) theme tune
45:46 Legacy
49:22 Success and favourite doctors
53:04 Recommendations
Recommendations:
Lee recommended The War Game (1965) and Paul recommended the book Dr. Who & The Daleks: The Official Story of the Films by John Walsh.
NEXT EPISODE!
Next episode we will be discussing the 1965 French New Wave science fiction film Alphaville by Jean-Luc Godard. It is easy to rent on main streaming platforms as well as other places in the US including Mubi and Kanopy. To find the film in your region you can visit the Just Watch website.
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As always there are spoilers ahead!
You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.
If you would like to be a patron of the podcast you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm
First Men on the Moon was written by HG Wells and serialised in The Strand Magazine beginning in 1900. The book was published in 1901 a year before Georges Méliès kicked off science fiction cinema with La Voyage dans la Lune in 1902. (You can learn more about that film in episode number 2 The First Science Fiction Film Ever.)
Then in the swinging 60s as the space race was heating up a collection of brilliant sci-fi filmmakers go together to make a story about a Victorian British scientist going to the moon with his anti-gravity material Cavorite! And yet even the amazing Ray Harryhausen stop motion special effects were not enough to make this film a success. My amazing guests break down the origins and outcomes of this mid-century oddity.
Keith Williams is a Reader in English Literature at the University of Dundee where he runs the science fiction programme. He has a special interest in the pre 1945 period and is the author of the book H.G. Wells, Modernity and the Movies.
Matthew Rule-Jones is a senior lecturer in film studies at the University of Exeter and author of the book Science Fiction Cinema and 1950s Britain: Recontextualising Cultural Anxiety.
At 6:09 Keith is about to explain the contraption that Robert William Paul was planning based on HG wells Time Machine. I interrupt him as we've covered this in two episodes priot. You can access more information about that on episode 37 The Time Machine: HG Wells' Legacy in 1960s Sci-Fi at timecode 23:07 or in episode 9 The Invisible Man Exposed at timecode 38:29.
Chapters
00:00 Intro
02:23 HG Wells, selenites and Georges Méliès Trip to the Moon
06:57 Balancing act: Producer Charles Schneer vs Writer Nigel Kneale.
12:44 Box Office flop
15:12 Dreams of Empire and international cooperation
19:40 Steampunk sensibilities
22:26 The backdrop of the Space Race
26:58 Bedford and Cavor
33:20 Ray Harryhausen
37:50 NASA and the moon landing
41:12 Ant colonies and sci-fi
46:42 Legacy
50:10 Recommendations
Recommendations:
The First Men in the Moon (2010)
The Stone Tape (1972) available to view on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHgcpzzZspw
NEXT EPISODE!
The next episode will feature two films: Dr Who & the Daleks (1965) as well as Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966). These films are available to buy or stream on mainstream platforms like Apple and Prime as well as subscription services. The Just Watch website is a good resource for finding where films are available in your region.
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I am very sorry but I have been unwell this past week. (But I am on the mend!)
Multiple visits to the hospital mean that although I have the next episode recorded I have not been able to edit it.
I've heard many podcasts serve up older episodes in this circumstance. Maybe an annoyance to those who have already heard all the episodes but for those who haven't since it is 2026 it's probably a good opportunity to watch Metropolis (1927) as this year is the year it was set. I have two remarkable and engaging academics speak about it.
Sonja Fritzsche is a professor of German Studies and an author/editor for many books about science fiction. She has taught courses on science fiction, utopia and Metropolis.
Noah Isenberg is a film historian and best-selling author. He is a professor at the University of Texas and editor of the book Weimar Cinema: An Essential Guide to Classic Films of the Era.
This episode was originally released in April 2024 and was episode 5 of the podcast.
I will hopefully be back in great health soon and the new episode on First Men in the Moon will be edited for release in two weeks.
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As always there are spoilers ahead!
You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.
If you would like to be a patron of the podcast you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm
In 1958 the Peter George novel Red Alert was published about the dangers of nuclear war. A few years later when Stanley Kubrick was looking to make a (serious) film about the topic he was recommended the book.
Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb was the resulting film. The film takes aim at military strategy, rhetoric and the people involved to give us one of the most famous satires in cinema.
It would be quite easy to double the length of this episode, but we've tried to fit as much as we can into the hour with my two remarkable guests.
Mark Bould is a professor of Film and Literature at the University of West England, Bristol. He has written/edited extensively about science fiction cinema.
Rodney F Hill is a Professor of Film at the Lawrence Herbert School of Communication at Hofstra University and has written extensively about film.
This is the article I mention by Eric Schlosser: https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/almost-everything-in-dr-strangelove-was-true
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:12 Source material
03:12 The threat of Lumet's Fail Safe
05:35 Herman Kahn, winnable nuclear war and the doomsday machine
08:25 Nazi scientist Wernher von Braun and Operation Paperclip
13:55 Nuclear policy and the Cold War
17:23 Doomsday comedy
25:51 Masculinity, techno-eroticism and bodily fluids
33:21 Peter Sellers
38:04 1960s satire boom
40:11 Production design of Ken Adam
41:25 Music
43:27 The changes to the film
46:32 Legacy
54:34 Recommendations
Recommendations: 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Fail Safe (1964).
NEXT EPISODE!
Next episode we will be talking about First Men on the Moon (1964). The film is based on the HG Wells novel and features stop motion animation by Ray Harryhausen.
It is is available to stream and rent from Apple. The Just Watch website can give you a list of where the film is available in your region.
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Time for another detour! An introduction to Afrofuturism with two magnificent guests.
You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.
If you would like to be a patron of the podcast it would be greatly appreciated! You can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm
The symbol mentioned in the podcast a few times is the Sankofa symbol which is a recurring symbol in Afrofuturism. It represents the idea that there are things that you go back for (and things you leave behind). You can read more about it on this wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sankofa
Julian Chambliss is a scholar and a professor at Michigan State University. He is the author of multiple books including Mapping Afrofuturism: Understanding Black Speculative Practice
Ytasha Womack is a filmmaker, cultural critic and author of the books Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture and The Afro Futurist Evolution: Creative Paths of Self Discovery.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:18 Afrofuturism origin story
08:04 Afrofuturism and science fiction
11:44 Retro Afrofuturism: Of One Blood by Pauline Hopkinson
16:37 The diaspora and Afrofuturism
19:53 Dance and the individual as a nexus of time and space
23:24 Ancestry in Afrofuturism
25:32 Moving away from dystopia: Slavery as apocalypse
29:55 Optimism for the future
33:03 Holistic utopias and protopia.
35:43 Mystical frameworks
38:15 Alternative realities and the multiverse
41:38 Theory, practice and interconnectedness
46:21 Recommendations
Recommendations:
The Afro Futurist Evolution: Creative Paths of Self Discovery by Ytasha Womack
(I would also thoroughly recommend her book Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture.)
Agharta by Miles Davis
Blake; or The Huts of America: A Tale of the Mississippi Valley, the Southern United States, and Cuba by Martin Delany
Space is the Place by Sun Ra
Lee "Scratch" Perry
George Clinton
Mothership Connection by Parliament
Pedro Bell and Overton Loyd
Beyond the Black Panther exhibition at MSU
Rise podcast by Julian
Infinitum by Tim Fielder
NEXT EPISODE!
Next time we'll be talking about Dr Strangelove or: How I learned to Stop Worrying and love the Bomb (1964)! You can watch the film pretty much anywhere and it is readily available to buy or rent online from many platforms. I would also recommend watching Fail Safe from the same year because it is excellent, affected the production of Dr Strangelove and due to their similarities.
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As always there are spoilers ahead!
We've discussed Czech scifi before with Karel Zeman's gorgeous steam punk offering from 1958 Invention for Destruction (dubbed into the English language The Fabulous World of Jules Verne) and we've also covered Communists in Space with 1960s The Silent Star (AKA First Spaceship on Venus).
The Czech Ikarie XB-1 (1963) has connections to both of those films but also offers an aesthetic that seems to directly inspire Kubrick for 2001: A Space Odyssey. The year is 2163, communism has won, and a crew of 40 are sent to find life on the white planet in Alpha Centauri with a journey fraught with sociological, psychological and physical challenges.
I have two amazing academics to help give insight into the film.
Evan Torner is an Associate Professor of German Studies and Niehoff Professor of Film & Media Studies at the University of Cincinnati.
Simon Spiegel is a lecturer of Film Studies at the University of Zurich. He has written extensively about Science Fiction and Utopia and has just released the book The Fear of Knowing about spoilers in film and media.
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:11 Stanislaw Lem's The Magellanic Cloud
04:28 Czechoslovakian New Wave and film industry
09:49 The striking introductory scenes and Kubrick's 2001
13:05 Cabin fever in spaaace!
15:13 Music by Zdeněk Liška
16:57 Communist utopia in spaaace!
20:57 The draw of sociological stories
26:19 A utopian party and a red alert
28:15 The capitalist ship and the 20th century
32:47 Putting science into sci-fi
39:30 Evan's Dark Matter Shenanigans
42:21 Post Stalin faith
43:41 The ending
45:39 The US edit
47:27 Legacy
52:18 Recommendations
NEXT EPISODE!
I will be taking a detour next episode to talk about Afrofuturism which I've been wanting to discuss since the very early days of research before I launched the podcast. Almost two years late but I hope you enjoy it. After that we will be discussing Dr Strangelove and I would recommend you also watch Fail Safe (also 1964) if you have time.
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As always there are spoilers ahead!
You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.
If you would like to be a patron of the podcast you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm
Roger Corman produced hundreds of films in his lifetime and directed dozens. X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes is a colourful, psychedelic, 1960s extravaganza with aspirations of transcendence.
If you wanted to join in, you can watch the film X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes from 1963 first. DVDs of the film are available, but it is also available to rent and watch online on Apple TV and many other platforms. You can check the Just Watch website to see where it is available in your region.
Oscar winner Ray Milland (we heard a bit about him in the Panic in Year Zero! episode) stars as a mad scientist who creates a serum that will help him understand the secret of life itself. A serum that unlocks the 90% of the visible spectrum that is beyond our realm of vision. The film is fun and pacey and the tone is once again firmly in the 1960s.
I have two excellent guests to help us unravel the minds and life's mysteries around what could be Corman's magnus opus.
Barry Keith Grant is professor Emeritus of Film Studies at Brock University Canada. He has written/edited numerous books, articles and essays about science fiction cinema.
John Wills is a Professor of American Media and Culture at the University of Kent. He has written lots about popular culture including 1950s American and Nuclear film.
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:57 Barry's experience of watching the film on release
03:48 Eyeballs and vision
08:58 The body in sci-fi
10:57 Mad science and closing in on the Gods
12:20 Science in the 60s
15:56 LSD
17:18 A film of two halves
19:18 Diane's romantic arc
21:57 Hays Code & the Nudie Cuties
25:35 Roger Corman's 2001: A Space Odyssey comparison
31:17 Special Effects
32:41 Gurus incoming
34:48 Blunt honesty of Xavier
37:36 The music of Les Baxter
39:59 Stephen King and the ending
44:23 Legacy
51:21 Recommendations
CORRECTION: We refer to the female scientist as Diana but her name is Diane.
NEXT EPISODE!
Next episode we are heading back to the Eastern Bloc with the Czech 1963 scifi Ikarie XB-1.
In terms of watching it, the American version is titled Voyage to the End of the Universe and is a different edit.
Although Just Watch advertises the English language title it seems to not differentiate which edit is available. The original is available on The Criterion channel and also cultpix.com.
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As always there are spoilers ahead!
You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.
If you would like to be a patron of the podcast you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm
In 1959 at the cusp of a new and exciting decade Richard Condon wrote a book that is largely described as a political thriller. And it is a political thriller. But it also fits neatly into my concept of science fiction. To learn more about what is and isn't science fiction you can head to the heady days of the first episode where the topic is discussed with science fiction scholars Lisa Yaszek and Glyn Morgan. (Please do excuse the fear in my eyes.)
Just a few years later a film was made by John Frankenheimer, starring Frank Sinatra, Janet Leigh and a brilliant and manipulative Angela Lansbury.
The 1960s USA is in peak cold war fears, and the CIA is undertaking covert operations of their own, with the MKUltra programme, testing on humans to discover whether they can be manipulated and brainwashed.
Although this film continues many themes from the 1950s it is definitely a product of the new age as culture shifts and a new batch of Hollywood directors take cinema in a different direction.
I am lucky to have two brilliant guests to talk us through the themes and context of this film.
Ian Scott is a Professor of American Film and History at The University of Manchester. He has written extensively about politics and film in Hollywood including the book American Politics in Hollywood Film.
Sherryl Vint is Professor of Science Fiction Media Studies at the University of California, Riverside. She has written/edited many books about science fiction.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
02:23 New Hollywood Directors
04:57 Richard Condon's novel
07:00 Mind control in science fiction
09:40 Cold War in the Far East
16:57 The brilliant brainwashing scene
25:28 Raymond Shaw the unlikely hero
29:17 Frank Sinatra as Marco
33:17 Angela Lansbury as Eleanor
37:54 Janet Leigh
44:04Eisenhower and the legacy of conspiracy films
48:31 The remake
52:29 Recommendations
The recommendations this week are the films Suddenly (1954) and Seconds (1966). I will be covering Seconds in the near future so you can get ahead by watching it if you like!
NEXT EPISODE!
Next episode we will be discussing the Roger Corman film X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes from 1963 starring Ray Milland. DVDs of the film are available but it is also available to rent and watch online on Apple TV and many other platforms. You can check the Just Watch website to see where it is available in your region.
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There are spoilers ahead for all versions of The Day of the Triffids and also for the film Signs.
You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.
If you would like to be a patron of the podcast you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm
This episode had been edited down to a more digestible length of under an hour but a longer (audio only) version is available for Patreon subscribers (alongside the shorter option).
We are doing things a little differently and discussing the 1963 film along with the source material which is John Wyndham's 1951 book The Day of the Triffids.
The Day of the Triffids film was released in 1963 after reshoots were required to add a whole new arc in the story and bring the time to a more suitable length for a feature.
The film has many of the hallmarks of a 1950s science fiction film but seems to be reflective of the Golden Era of science fiction very much coming to its end.
The film is (very loosely) based on John Wyndham's first successful novel but seems more dedicated to the tropes of a 1950s sci-fi marketed for a mass, US leaning audience. The book is chockful of themes that are touched upon throughout the story which have very little (if any) presence in the film.
I have added a list of the characters we discuss below as well as a quick overview of their roles in the book and the film.
As usual I have two insightful guests to help us understand all of this.
Matthew Rule-Jones is a senior lecturer in film studies at the University of Exeter and author of the book Science Fiction Cinema and 1950s Britain: Recontextualising Cultural Anxiety.
Adam Stock is a senior lecturer in English Literature at York St John University and author of the book Dystopian Fiction and Political Thought: Narratives of World Politics.
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:30 John Wyndham's first hit
05:23 The concept of the cosy catastrophe
08:43 Wyndham's Britain: post-colonial triffids coming home to roost
14:48 The 1963 film: Wells, end of the golden age and marketing
20:04 The lighthouse sequences: Karen vs Josella
23:06 Weed killers in The Silent Spring era and WW2 imagery
25:17 The role of the Triffids
30:37 Bill Masen the hero
34:37 Coker's missing role
37:11 Women!
40:27 The ending
46:51 Legacy
53:57 Recommendations
Bill Masen:
Hero in both the book and the film. In the book Bill is English and works for the triffid farm where he has been almost blinded by a triffid sting. His colleague begins to suspect the triffids are indeed sentient and able to communicate. This brings up questions around exploitation and enslavement. In the film Bill is American and works for the US Navy who help save the hero and other survivors at the end of the film.
Josella Playton:
The heroine from the novel is not present in the 1963 film. Josella comes from a wealthy family (one with servants) and has written a notorious book titled Sex is my Adventure.
Coker:
Coker has a large role in the book and we meet him as an advocate for the newly blinded masses when many of the few sighted people left are attempting to save themselves from the threat of a disintegrating society. He is a strong public speaker from a working-class background who had learned to speak in a way that is more amenable to the intelligentsia and upper classes. His strongly held beliefs (of forcing the sighted to serve the blind) change through the book to become less idealistic and more practical.
Coker in the film is an old man with a very minimal role who dies early in the story form a triffid attack.
Susan:
Is a young girl who is rescued by Bill in the film after a train crash and ensuing chaos. In the book Bill takes in Susan whose family have died. She is a capable young child who develops an understanding of triffid behaviour from observing them as she guards the home that Josella and Bill stay in for many years.
Miss Durrant:
In the film Miss Durrant is the beautiful heroine that Bill meets in a large house in France that is caring from blind survivors of the meteor shower. In the book, Miss Durrant is a religious minded woman who is appalled at a man named Beadley's attempts to rebuild society through polygamy. She seems to purposefully mislead Bill who is trying to track down Beadley because he thinks Josella will be with him.
NEXT EPISODE!
Next episode we will be speaking about The Manchurian Candidate from 1962 by John Frankenheimer. A film that may not fit the definition of science fiction for many people but by now I think we know how ambiguous those definitions can be!
You can find the film on streaming platforms including Apple TV. The Just Watch website is a good resource to find where the film is available online in your region.
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As always there are spoilers ahead!
You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.
If you would like to be a patron of the podcast you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm
There is a trigger warning for discussion of rape in this episode. I have marked the beginning of that part of the discussion with a beep and the discussion lasts for four minutes and four seconds after the beep if you wanted to skip past it.
Last week we told you "Don't Panic!" but this week we focus in on the panic.
Panic in Year Zero was directed by and stars Ray Milland and is about a father taking his family on the road to do some camping. One the way there a nuclear bomb is dropped on Los Angeles and the world starts to fall into disarray. Not because of the bomb causing devastation or radiation but because of how human s are absolute nutters given the slightest chance.
This film has a very 1950s sensibility but with a Jazz laden soundtrack that hints at the unruly decade ahead.
The Federal Civil Defense Administration in the US in the early 50s was set up by President Truman to educate and prepare the public in case of an attack on US soil. The short film mentioned in the discussion The House in the Middle can be viewed on YouTube here.
This episode we talk not just about the film but the human fascination with apocalypse. I have the perfect guests for the task.
Steven Schlozman is a psychiatrist and a writer of books including the novel The Zombie Autopsies which was being adapted to film by George Romero before his death in 2017.
John Wills is a Professor of American Media and Culture at the University of Kent. He has written lots about popular culture including 1950s American and Nuclear film.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:52 The non-nuclear nuclear film
07:10 Nuclear drills in schools
10:07 USA nuclear prep: Civilian education and CONELRAD
16:33 Jazz music and sociopaths
20:05 Daddy's gaze
26:39 The fun of Armageddon
32:02 The developmental stage of apocalypse fantasy
37:35 Ann is always wrong
39:21 Sexual violence
43:27 A pre-cursor to zombie apocalypse
48:25 Legacy
52:45 Recommendations for the listener
Recommendations
Steven: The Day After (1983) is a made for TV film.
John: The book Every Home a Fortress: Cold War Fatherhood and the Family Fallout Shelter by Thomas Bishop
NEXT EPISODE!
Next episode we will be discussing The Day of the Triffids! Although we will be using the 1963 film as a starting point there will be a lot of discussion about the original novel and the differences between the theme heavy book and the fun 50s style scifi of the film.
The film can be found on Fubo, Roku, Pluto and Plex and a few other online streaming platforms in the US and UK. The Just Watch website is a good resource to find where the film may be available in your region.
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As always there are spoilers ahead. You can buy the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book in most bookshops and you can listen to the radio play on YouTube and also on the Internet Archive.
You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.
If you would like to be a patron of the podcast you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show and be revered amongst both the G'Gugvuntts and the Vl'Hurgs: https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm
As mentioned elsewhere this is not an analysis of the film or any kind of review of the book but more like a chat amongst fans of what the story means to us and why.
My amazing guests are very qualified to wax lyrical about the topic at hand.
Michael Newton is a University Lecturer at the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society. He is a cultural historian who has written about film amongst many other topics including being the Editor of the book The Origins of Science Fiction.
Mark Steadman creative digital producer, long time podcaster and host of the Beware of the Leopard podcast which explored the A to Z of the Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy. (He also has what I consider the best productivity podcast in the world as it takes into consideration that we are humans with feelings and lives. Undo – How history's outliers got stuff done can be found here.)
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:52 When we were first exposed to H2G2
05:01The Late 70s and scifi
06:54 Mental health and the art of Zen
10: 40 Zaphod: Douglas Adams and the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster
15:31 Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect
19:53 Suburban life and bathos
21:46 Douglas Adams' "first album"
24:41 The broad appeal
28:03 Douglas' delightful detours
32:25 We love Douglas and his thin plot
32:58 No happy ending
36:18 Absurdism
37:31 Sirius Cybernetics Corporation and Silicon Valley
41:29 Gadgetry in H2G2
47:11 Shoutout to the super intelligent colour blue
50:25 Legacy: Tech, atheism, and imagination
54:02 Recommendations for the listener
NEXT EPISODE!
In two week's time (if all goes well!) we shall be discussing Panic in the Year Zero (1962) and the appeal of Armageddon. The film is available to buy or rent online in many places in the USA and UK but may be tricky in certain regions. - Visa fler
