Imaginary Worlds

Pokémon and The Art of Dubbing Anime Feb 26, 2025

This week’s episode comes from our Patreon podcast Between Imaginary Worlds. It’s a more casual chat show that appears between ad-free episodes of Imaginary Worlds for listeners who support the show on Patreon. I wanted to play this episode for you because it gives a good sense of the types of conversations we’re having on Between Imaginary Worlds. I talk with the anime voice actress Veronica Taylor about her career dubbing characters in shows like Pokémon, Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon, One Piece and Yu-Gi-Oh. We also discuss the differences between working with anime and working with American cartoons, like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Here is the link to support the show on Patreon.

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Filk Fusion: Where Sci-Fi Meets Folk Music Feb 12, 2025

In the 1950s, an article about the popularity of folk music among science fiction fans had a typo where “folk” was written as “filk.” From then on, filk music became a staple at grassroots sci-fi conventions. Filkers would either write parody lyrics to existing folk songs, or they’d invent entirely new speculative worlds in 3-4 minute songs. Filk has evolved beyond just being folk. It's gone electric and embraced other genres of music. But sci-fi fantasy fandom has changed a lot as well. Does filk still have a place in a more corporate fantasy world? Can it survive the competition from Nerdcore or social media? Can it transition from the boomer generation that started it? I talk with folklorists Sally and Barry Childs-Helton of the group Wild Mercy, Rand and Erin Bellavia of the group Via Bella, and Eric and Jen Distad of the group The Faithful Sidekicks about the past, present and future of filk.

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Dance With The Devil Under Wall St. Jan 29, 2025

The writer Jon Ronson and producers of the immersive theatrical experience Sleep No More have teamed up to make a vast new immersive show that unfolds beneath a Wall St. skyscraper. Life And Trust tells the story of J.G. Conwell, a bank president on the eve of the 1929 crash who makes a Faustian bargain to return to his youth. We accompany him back to New York’s seedy and turbulent past of The Gilded Age. The experience of spending hours in the world of Life And Trust is almost indescribable since most of the story unfolds through dream-like sets and choreography. It’s also an open world theatrical experience, so audiences never see the same exact show, even on the same night. I talk with Chief Storyteller for Emursive Productions Ilana Gilovch, Executive Producer of Life and Trust Carolyn Boyd, and Jon Ronson about how Life And Trust came together, and why this is the perfect moment to explore the devil’s bargain of a bank.

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Rewriting the Script on Audio Fiction Jan 15, 2025

Lauren Shippen is one of my favorite creators of audio dramas. In 2015, she burst on the scene with The Bright Sessions, which was about young people with supernatural abilities who are in therapy. The show was so successful, she used it to create an audio drama network called Atypical Artists, which produces her work and other indie creators. As a writer, Lauren combines a steady stream of revelations and plot twists with an ability to write deeply human characters that keeps me bingeing. And she’s given herself great roles to play as an actress. I talk with Lauren about her creative process, and her newest shows, the post-apocalyptic road trip Breaker Whiskey, and New Year’s Day, which is about two rival magicians who are immortal.

This week’s episode is sponsored by Remi and Hims.

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The Muppets Before The Muppets Jan 01, 2025

In honor of Muppet*Vision 3D closing at Disney World, we look at the history of The Muppets before Kermit joined Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear. Two decades earlier, Kermit was hanging out with Sam and Friends -- a local TV show in Washington, D.C., that launched Jim Henson's career. This episode comes from the podcast Sidedoor, produced by The Smithsonian with support from PRX. Their host Lizzie Peabody journeys back to 1955 to figure out how this eccentric cast of puppets built the foundation for everything Jim Henson would do afterwards, from Sesame Street to The Muppet Show and even Labyrinth. And the Sidedoor team ventures into the conservation labs to learn what it took to revive these crumbling hunks of foam and fabric when they landed at the Smithsonian.

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Bond, Bond, and James Bond: An Audio Drama Dec 18, 2024

There’s a fan theory that James Bond is a codename, and all of the Bond movies are in a single chronological order. In this original audio drama, James Bond is not a film series but rather an MI6 program (or programme) where agents embody the persona of “James Bond” until they retire from the field one way or another. I talk with three characters who served as 007 until their number was up. Their stints as James Bond happened to coincide with the off years for the franchise in the real world. Featuring Pavel Douglas, James Brown and Will de Rezny-Martin as Bonds of different generations.

This week’s episode is sponsored by Henson Shaving and Ship Station.

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Making Up The Penguin Dec 04, 2024

The Penguin series on HBO and Max has been one of the most critically acclaimed comic book-based TV shows in years. Much of the praise has gone towards actors like Colin Farrell, who plays the classic Batman villain. But the makeup and prosthetics designer Mike Marino has been singled out for his innovative and striking design of the main character. Mike sculpted an entire head and body for The Penguin, a.k.a. Oz Cobb, that obscured most of Colin Farrell while also liberating the actor to inhabit a role he might otherwise not have been cast. Mike and I go deep into his creative process working with Farrell and the director/producer Matt Reeves on The Batman film and the spin-off show The Penguin. We also talk about Mike’s mentors in the field like Dick Smith and Rick Baker, who created some of the most iconic makeup designs in cinema history.

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There's No Place Like Oz Nov 20, 2024

In honor of the release of Wicked, we’re hitching a ride on a tornado to hear three different stories about Oz. We hear how the “rainbow chaser” L. Frank Baum failed at every career he tried until he sat down to write The Wizard of Oz. We learn about Baum’s frenemy W.W. Denslow, who illustrated The Wizard of Oz, and then tried to create a competing franchise. And we learn how the author of the Russian translation of The Wizard of Oz convinced the public (with the help of the Soviet government) that the story was written in the USSR. Featuring authors Michael Patrick Hearn, Robert Baum, and Olga Zilberbourg.

This week’s episode is brought to you by Henson Shaving, Sol Reader and Dragon Ball Legends

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Why The Future is (Doctor) Doom Nov 06, 2024

All Hail Doom! The supreme ruler of Latveria has successfully defeated The Fantastic Four and The Avengers. Marvel Studios is bowing towards his will, casting Robert Downey Jr. as the iconic villain and betting their fortunes on Doctor Doom! But Victor von Doom is more than a classic bad guy. He is one of the most complex characters in Marvel history. I talk with comic book writers Mark Waid, Brian Michael Bendis and Ryan North about the ways they’ve depicted Doctor Doom, from noble intensions gone away to horrific acts of selfishness. And cultural critic Mark Hibbett discusses why he believes the history of Doctor Doom reflects America's ambivalence towards dictators and the role they play on the world stage.

This week's episode is sponsored by Sol Reader and ShipStation

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Who Gets to Survive: The Final Girls of Horror Oct 23, 2024

Horror movies are best known for their monsters and villains – but there’s another half to the equation. The Final Girls who survive horror films and live to see another sequel have been fueling the genre for half a century. Freddie Krueger met his match in Nancy. Michael Myers can’t outwit Laurie. Ripley is the ultimate survivor of Alien movies. But the trope of the Final Girl has gone through an evolution in recent years. I talk with Robin Means Coleman, University of Virginia professor and author of the book Horror Noire, about the underlying issues of race and gender in who gets to be considered a Final Girl, and why she coined the term Enduring Women. Cultural critic Jenika McCrayer guides us through modern day Final Girls, who are more diverse and complex. And PhD student Morgan Podraza maps out the evolution of Jamie Lee Curtis’s character in the Halloween franchise, from innocent high schooler to gun-toting grandma.

This week's episode is sponsored by Sol Reader and Henson Saving

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To Seek Out New Life Oct 09, 2024

For a long time, imagining what alien life could look like was mostly the job of science fiction creators. But in recent years, the field of astrobiology has gotten a boost from the discovery of faraway exoplanets with atmospheres which could support life. In trying to imagine what aliens could look like, scientists have found that science fiction is a good jumping off point. Astrobiologist Michael Wong hosts a science of Star Trek podcast called Strange New Worlds, and biologist Mohamed Noor wrote a book called Live Long and Evolve about what Star Trek can teach us about science. They discuss the influence Star Trek has on the way they question what the building blocks of life could be outside Earth, and what would happen if you rewound the clock of evolution. Plus, Jaime Green talks about her book The Possibility of Life, where she interviewed scientists about which science fiction is asking the right questions about astrobiology. Featuring readings by actor Luke Daniels.

This week’s episode is sponsored by ShipStation and TodayTix

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Introducing Between Imaginary Worlds Oct 02, 2024

I'm excited to announce that we're starting a new Patreon-only ad-free show called Between Imaginary Worlds, which is a more casual chat show format. In each episode, I talk with different people about what they're excited about in sci-fi fantasy, what they're looking forward to, pet peeves and a lot more.

Between Imaginary Worlds is available to people pledging $10 a month or more on Patreon. New episodes appear in between regular episodes of the show in the ad-free feed that comes with a Level 3 or Level 4 Patreon subscription. You can also listen to Between Imaginary Worlds directly on the show’s Patreon page.

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Escaping Prison with Role-Playing Games Sep 25, 2024

Role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder aren’t just played in game shops or living rooms. They’re also very popular in prisons – if the prison officials haven’t banned them. I talk with Joseph Krauter, who is formerly incarcerated, and David Annarelli, who is currently incarcerated, about the role that playing games have had on their mental health, personal development and socializing in prison. Plus, they discuss the ways they’ve had to MacGyver whatever they can find into makeshift gaming materials. Michelle Dillon, a board member at Books to Prisoners in Seattle, and Moira Marquis, founder of Prison Banned Books Week and lead author on PEN America’s report on book banning in prisons, explain how prisons have justified banning game books, and their efforts to get those books to incarcerated gamers.

This week’s episode is sponsored by Hims, Henson Shaving and TodayTix.

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10th Anniversary Special Part 2 Sep 11, 2024

In the second part of our retrospective on how Imaginary Worlds has covered sci-fi and fantasy since September 2014, we look at the world of gaming. I visit the game shop Sip & Play and talk with the owner Jonathan Li. Game designer and cultural consultant James Mendez Hodes returns to discuss the affect Stranger Things and Critical Role have had on the popularity of D&D, and why the last decade has been a golden age of indie tabletop games. Illinois Tech professors Carly Kocurek and Jennifer deWinter discuss the breakout video games in the last 10 years, and why it’s harder for indie video games to have the same success as indie board games.

This week’s episode is sponsored by GreenChef, ShipStation and Hims.

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10th Anniversary Special Part 1 Aug 28, 2024

When I began my podcast in September 2014, I was mostly sticking with topics that I was familiar with like blockbuster movies and animation. I liked science fiction, but I was not as familiar with traditional fantasy, literature, tabletop games, and most anime. My understanding of the depth and breadth of imaginary worlds kept expanding, and when I thought I had reached the borders of the universe, I kept discovering more. This show has also become a historical archive of the development of sci-fi fantasy genres since 2014. I talk with journalist Rob Salkowitz and editor Diana M. Pho about how the film industry, comics, and publishing industry have been on their journeys in the past decade. Plus, we hear from listeners about some of the episodes that made an impact on them.

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Unlocking the Door Between Escape Rooms and Immersive Theater Aug 14, 2024

I used to think escape rooms were gimmicky activities where everyone scrambled to solve puzzles while I stood around feeling useless. On the other hand, I love immersive theater, where an interactive play unfolds as you walk through a space. I thought they were very different types of live entertainment. Not anymore. I talk with David and Lisa Spira from the site Escape Room Artist and podcast Reality Escape Pod about how escape rooms are becoming emotionally resonant, sophisticated theatrical works. We go through the haunted escape room Ghost Light at MyssTic Rooms, and I talk with their co-founder and artistic director Gara Roda. Haley E.R. and J. Cameron Cooper of Strange Bird Immersive discuss the innovative ways they designed The Man From Beyond, their Houdini-themed séance escape room. Plus, Victor van Doorn and Francine Boon of the company Sherlocked explore how far they can go in creating a sense of authenticity from the feel of the props to the actors who won’t admit you’re entering an escape room.

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Narrating Audiobooks From Other Worlds Jul 31, 2024

The field of audiobooks has exploded since the introduction of mp3 players, and it continues to expand. But it takes a unique set of skills to voice audiobooks in sci-fi and fantasy genres. I talk with audiobook narrators John Pirhalla, Luke Daniels, Amy Landon, and Heath Miller about juggling dozens of voices or accents at the same time, and the kinds of choices they have to make when voicing characters who are not human. We discuss their approach to making dense worldbuilding narration feel like an intimate conversation, and how to voice the game mechanics in Lit RPG books. They have to do all that while competing against a very sci-fi type of threat: AI and voice cloning.

Today’s episode is sponsored by Henson Shaving. Go to https://hensonshaving.com and enter IMAGINARY at checkout to get 100 free blades with your purchase. (Note: you must add both the 100-blade pack and the razor for the discount to apply.)

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Fantasy and Fascism Part II: When Democracy Fails Jul 17, 2024

In the years since my 2020 episode Fantasy and Fascism, I knew that I had to make a follow-up episode. The political landscape was changing in ways I didn’t expect while major sci-fi fantasy franchises were reflecting those anxieties. Last time, I focused on how SFF worlds depicted fascism. This time, I wanted to look at the other half of the equation -- why people lose faith in democracy. I interviewed Trinity College Dublin professor David Kenny about his paper on the lessons we can learn from the collapse of the old Republic in Star Wars. I also talked with historian and podcaster Stefan Sasse, and teacher and writer Shawn Taylor about why the New Republic made the same mistakes, and all new ones. Plus, we look at what it takes to maintain democracy in the latest Star Trek shows, and X-Men ’97. Spoilers included.

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The Team Behind Hans Zimmer Jul 03, 2024

Who really composed the scores of Dune, Interstellar, Blade Runner 2049, The Dark Knight, Man of Steel, Pirates of the Caribbean and The Lion King? Were they all written by Hans Zimmer? Or were those scores put together by a team of musicians at Hans Zimmer’s studio Remote Control? The podcast Twenty Thousand Hertz went behind-the-scenes and got a rare glimpse at the creative process of one of the most revered film composers in the world. Plus, I talk with Dallas Taylor, the host of 20K Hertz, about why visiting Hans Zimmer’s studio was almost like a religious experience for him.

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Swept Away by Romantasy Jun 19, 2024

The hottest trend in fantasy novels – in fact the hottest trend in publishing overall – is fantasy romance or romantasy. These stories take place in worlds with dragons, faeries, vampires and werewolves but the driving plot is romance with a guaranteed happy ending. For many fans of traditional fantasy novels, the fact that romantasy exists may be surprising news. But romantasy is a cultural and economic juggernaut. Dartmouth professor Marcela di Blasi and cultural critic Kayleigh Donaldson explain where romantasy came from and how it became so popular. Fantasy authors C.L. Polk, and J.D. Evans talk about why they came to romantasy and how fans have had to create their own spaces. And Katherine Zofrea gives me a tour of The Ripped Bodice, a romance bookstore with an ample fantasy section. Plus, we hear readings by actress Tanya Rich.

In the episode, we heard about some of the most famous romantasy authors like Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros. Professor Marcela di Blasi is working on a non-fiction book about BIPOC romantasy authors, and she also recommends these books.

Anna Marie McLemore’s When The Moon Was Ours
Zoraida Cordova's Hollow Crown Duology
Analeigh Sbrana's Lore of the Wilds
Kimberly Lemming's That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon
Sabaa Tahir's An Ember in the Ashes series
Gabriela Romero LaCruz's The Sun and the Void
Mikayla D. Hornedo's Blood and Brujas
Claire Legrand’s Lightbringer trilogy.

Today's episode is sponsored by ShipStation, Henson Shaving, TodayTix and Babbel.

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Books Under Fire Jun 05, 2024

Book banning is hitting libraries across America, and many of the titles being banned or challenged are fantasy books or graphic novels – especially LGBTQ content. Malinda Lo has been tracking how her work is being targeted, like her novel Ash which is a queer reimagining of Cinderella. I talk with Malinda about how she’s been tracking the attacks on her work and fighting back. Plus, we hear a version of my 2018 episode Fahrenheit 451 Still Burns featuring Neil Gaiman, whose work is currently banned in several states.

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The George Lucas Talk Show May 22, 2024

Did you know that in retirement, George Lucas decided to host a live talk show with his sidekick Watto? That’s the conceit of The George Lucas Talk Show starring Connor Ratliff (from the podcast Dead Eyes) as Lucas, and Griffin Newman (from The Tick) playing the alien character Watto. They’ve had famous guests on the show, including people who know Lucas in real life. The guests have to pretend that Connor is George. Over the past 10 years, the show had grown into a cult phenomenon to the point where there’s now a documentary about it called, I’m “George Lucas”: A Connor Ratliff Story. Connor and I talk about why he’s fascinated with what defines success or failure, and how it’s become a theme in his work. We also discuss his new podcast Tiny Dinos, which is like a combination of Jurassic Park and The Tonight Show on a micro-scale.

This episode is sponsored by TodayTix, Incogni and Henson Shaving.

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How Nintendo Leveled Up May 08, 2024

Over the past 40 years, Shigeru Miyamoto has been inventing the modern video game one pixel at a time. From Donkey Kong to Super Mario Bros to The Legend of Zelda, Miyamoto turned wonder and exploration into game mechanics, and incorporated his personal experiences into his games. I talk with Illinois Institute of Technology dean Jennifer deWinter and Oakland University professor Sam Srauy about how Miyamoto changed Nintendo, and where his influence can be seen in big budget and indie video games today.

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You Are Lone Wolf: A Father/Son Quest Apr 24, 2024

When Joe Dever died in 2016, he hadn’t written the last several books in his Lone Wolf series. The Lone Wolf books take place in a deeply rich fantasy universe, and they’re written as a combination of choose-your-own-adventure stories and role playing games like D&D. Joe’s final wish was that his son Ben would finish the series for him. However, Ben was unfamiliar with his father’s books, and the legions of Lone Wolf fans he would have to please. I talked with Ben Devere (who spells his last name differently) about the creative, practical, and personal struggles he went through as a writer, and how he was able to get to know his late father by immersing himself in his father’s fantasy world. Jonathan Stark, co-host of the official Lone Wolf podcast Journeys Through Magnamund, explains why Lone Wolf means so much to fans like him, and how he ended up fulfilling his own dreams of writing a Lone Wolf book.

Today's episode is sponsored by Henson Shaving, Magic Spoon and Miracle Made.

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African Sci-Fi Looks to a Future Climate Apr 10, 2024

When the writer Nnedi Okorafor coined the term Africanfuturism, she wanted to distinguish sci-fi written about Africa from Afrofuturism, which is focuses on the experiences of Black people in the diaspora. Africanfuturism mixes the traditional with the futuristic in a way that resembles modern life in Africa, and many of these stories grapple with climate change. Although the writer Chinelo Onwualu says cli-fi isn’t a subgenre for African writers. It’s often baked into a lot of Africanfuturism because the continent is already at the forefront of climate emergencies. And the writers Suyi Davies Okungbowa and Wole Talabi explain that Africanfuturist cli-fi isn’t as dystopian as Western cli-fi. These visions of the future may feel daunting but there is often a sense of hope and the solutions are more community focused. The actress Nneka Okoye reads from their stories, and other works by African writers.

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Reading list from this episode:

Works of Nnedi Okorafor
Wole Talabi’s anthology Convergence Problems
Suyi Davies Okungbowa's novella Lost Ark Dreaming
Chinelo Onwualu’s short story Letters to My Mother
Dilman Dila’s story The Leafy Man from the book A Killing in the Sun
Mame Bougouma’s story Lekki Lekki from Africanfuturism: An Anthology
Omenana Magazine

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When All Is Said in Dune Mar 27, 2024

Back in 2018, I interviewed language creator David J. Peterson about how he invented Dothraki for Game of Thrones and other fictional languages in fantasy worlds. David and his wife Jessie just finished a huge project – developing the Fremen language for Dune: Part Two. I talk with the couple about their creative process and the challenge of imagining simple English phrases in the Chakobsa language that Frank Herbert imagined in his Dune novels. We also hear my 2018 episode, “Do You Speak Conlang?” where I also talked with Marc Okrand, inventor of the Klingon language, and Robyn Stewart, a language consultant for Star Trek: Discovery. Plus, Jen Usellis -- a.k.a. Klingon Pop Warrior -- will give you a serious case of earworms (not the kind from Wrath of Khan.)

For more episodes about Dune, check out my 2017 episode The Book of Dune, where I talked with Muslim fans of the series about the way Frank Herbert incorporated aspects of Islam into the books. And in 2021, I did an episode called The Ecology of Dune where I looked at the environmental messages in the books and whether Frank Herbert’s environmental sensibilities still hold up today.

This episode is sponsored by Surfshark and Magic Spoon.

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Mother-in-Law of Oz Mar 13, 2024

The Wizard of Oz is deeply ingrained into our culture. While many people can practically recite the 1939 movie, the original source material isn’t as well known. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum was published in 1900. There are a lot of theories as to what inspired Baum – but the answer may be who rather than what. Baum’s mother-in-law Matilda Joslyn Gage was a groundbreaking writer and activist who could’ve been in every high school history textbook if she hadn’t had a falling out with the leaders of the suffrage movement. But her ideas live on in The Land of Oz. I talk with historian Sally Roesch Wagner and UNC-Charlotte professor Dina Massachi about the politics of gender in Gage’s works and Baum’s stories. And I talk with therapist Dr. Gita Dorothy Morena who has a very personal connection to the books.

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Bonus: Turtles and Toys Outtakes Mar 06, 2024

In the previous episode, I interviewed documentary filmmaker Isaac Elliot-Fisher about He-Man and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Isaac had so many great anecdotes about the history of those franchises that I couldn’t fit in. In this bonus episode of outtakes, Isaac explains the history of the term toyetic, the haphazard way He-Man came together, and why the 1990 live action TMNT film was so much darker than the cartoon show.

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Class of '84: Turtles, Transformers and Toys Takeover TV Feb 28, 2024

In the final episode of our mini-series Class of '84, we look at two iconic franchises that launched in 1984: Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They came from opposite ends of the business spectrum. Transformers was a top-down marketing synergy between American and Japanese toy companies along with Marvel Comics to compete against He-Man -- another TV toy behemoth. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle would eventually rival them in cultural dominance, but it began with two indie comic book creators making a black and white comic as a lark. But Turtles and Transformers both ended up wrestling with similar questions around what happens when you put the cart before the horse in creating content to sell products. Documentary filmmaker Isaac Elliot-Fisher and Cartoon Art Museum curator Andrew Farago talk about the incredible rags to riches story of the Turtles creators, and how success changed them. And I talk with Bob Budiansky, who created many of the original Transformers characters for Hasbro and Marvel Comics.

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Class of '84: When Cyber Was Punk Feb 14, 2024

In the second episode of our mini-series on groundbreaking works from 1984, we jack into the system and upload our minds into Neuromancer. William Gibson’s novel became a seminal work of cyberpunk, where he introduced words like “cyberspace” and storylines that would become tropes of the genre. Sci-fi writer Eileen Gunn, and professors Sherryl Vint of UC Riverside and Hugh O’Connell of UMass Boston discuss how Neuromancer not only predicted the future of technology with surprising accuracy, but it also imagined the way that high tech would help fuel a new type of hyper capitalism. I also talk with Chris Miller aka Silver Spook, creator of the game Neofeud, and Gareth Damian Martin, creator of the game Citizen Sleeper, about how they used indie games to bring cyberpunk back to its roots in Neuromancer. Also, Lincoln Michel discusses why in his novel The Body Scout, he wanted to bring cyberpunk out of cyberspace. Featuring readings by actor Varick Boyd.

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Bonus: Rise of The Villains Outtakes Feb 07, 2024

When I interviewed special effects artist Shannon Shea about The Terminator and other villains of ’84, we also discussed his experiences working on Terminator 2. He tells me about the many life-sized puppets of Arnold Schwarzenegger they built and how the industry has changed in the last 40 years. We also hear an outtake from my conversation with Neill Gorton about why the industry is moving away from depicting villains with scars and disabilities.

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Class of '84: Rise of The Villains Jan 31, 2024

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 1984. Some came to define their genre or invent new genres. In this three-part mini-series, we look at how The Class of ’84 made their mark on the world. First up: the bad guys. 1984 was a great year for villains from The Terminator to Freddy Krueger to Gremlins and Ghostbusters. I talk with make-up and creature designers Neill Gorton and Shannon Shea (who worked on Terminator and Nightmare On Elm Street sequels) about why the '80s was a golden age of monsters. Criminal psychology professor Yannie ten Brooke analyzes the ’84 villains and why they scared us. And I talk with pastor and podcaster JR Forasteros about why they don’t make villains like they used to – for better and for worse. You can also find Shannon at Two Chez on Etsy.

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Making Blue Eye Samurai Jan 17, 2024

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 surprised to discover the supervising director and producer of the show, Jane Wu, began her career as an animation storyboard artist. In fact, we were working at different animation studios at the same time in L.A. We talk about why she took a live action approach to planning animated sequences in Blue Eye Samurai, and how she wanted to represent Japanese culture in a way that’s never been done in Western animation. Jane also discusses how her background in martial arts and how her personal history helped her understand the main character Mizu, a woman with dual identities on a quest for revenge 17th century Japan.

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Prologue to Ursula K. le Guin Jan 03, 2024

In the 1960s, Ursula K. le Guin represented a changing of the guard in science fiction literature. She was part of a generation of novelists who questioned the colonist mindset which had influenced American sci-fi for most of the 20th century. Le Guin came to this understanding not just as a moral stance or an intellectual exercise. Issues of racism and colonialism were personal to her. This episode, originally titled “The Word For Man Is Ishi,” comes from the podcast The Last Archive from Pushkin Industries hosted by Jill Lepore and Ben Naddaff-Hafrey.

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@ChristmasCarol: A Holiday Tale Dec 20, 2023

This week's episode is an original audio drama. In previous episodes, I’ve interviewed Captain Hook, vampires, colonists on the moon, and H.P. Lovecraft’s brain in a jar -- or at least actors playing those characters. Now I’ve expanded my roster of fictional interviews to include iconic characters from Christmas tales. In this 21st century holiday tale, I am visited by supernatural entities who warn me that humanity is in danger because we no longer believe they’re real. Featuring performances from Torian Brackett, Alexandra Reed and Bill Lobley.

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Doctor Who's Power of Regeneration Dec 06, 2023

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 new insights I’ve had about Doctor Who since I made this episode -- and since The Doctor has become one of my favorite characters. Media critic Emmet Asher-Perrin discusses how the history of The Doctor’s regenerations over 60 years is a story about an alien being who is striving to be better but keeps overshooting the mark. I talk with Emmet’s partner Sylas K. Barrett and comedian Riley Silverman about how The Doctor’s gender transitions have been an apt metaphor for the transgender experience. Also, Nick Randall of the BBC and SNS Online, historian Robin Bunce, and playwright Mac Rogers talk about the show’s significance culturally, and what it means to them as fans.

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How One Piece Became King of the Backstories Nov 22, 2023

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 adaptation on Netflix was a hit. And the series holds a special place among fans who feel like they’re part of the Straw Hat pirate crew. But it may be the tragic backstories of the characters which tie it all together. I talk with co-host of the One Piece podcast Shannon Strucci, YouTuber Jordan Silva, artist Steve Yurko and Crunchyroll writer Daniel Dockery about how One Piece’s creator Eiichiro Oda is able to combine zany humor with emotional gut punches, and why so many fans identify with aspects of the characters’ backstories, even when the storylines are completely fantastical.

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Bonus: Norse Myths Outtakes Nov 16, 2023

My guests from the previous episode, Carolyne Larrington and Ada Palmer, had so many interesting things to say about Norse mythology and how much of it is still a mystery to us, I decided to compile sections of their interviews in this bonus episode of outtakes.

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Seeing Ourselves in Norse Myths Nov 08, 2023

Thor and Loki have become pop culture icons thanks to Marvel. But the influence of Norse mythology on contemporary fantasy runs through Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings and so much more. University of Chicago professor and author Ada Palmer explains how people misunderstood Norse mythology for centuries, and why it’s so hard to capture the mindset of the Vikings in pop culture. And I talk with University of Oxford professor Carolyne Larrington, author of The Norse Myths That Shape the Way We Think, about how a light Marvel movie and a grimdark fantasy film like The Northman each capture aspects of the mythology in their own ways.

Ada Palmer's a capella album is Sundown: Whispers of Ragnarök by Sassafrass.

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Creating Hindu Fantasy Worlds Oct 25, 2023

Kritika H. Rao, Shveta Thakrar, Roshani Chokshi, and Ram V are helping to create a new genre. They use elements of their Hindu backgrounds to write fantasy books primarily aimed at a Western marketplace. I talked with them about the challenge of drawing on a diverse religion of beliefs and gods that many Western readers and publishers might be unfamiliar with. Our panel discussion also turned out to be an opportunity for the authors to bond over their favorite deities, the Hindu comics they grew up reading, and the questions they’ve faced about who gets to tell their stories.

Roshani Chokshi writes the middle-grade series, Aru Shah, and she’s the author of The Star-Touched Queen trilogy of YA novels.

Kritika H. Rao is the author of The Surviving Sky, which will be part of The Rages Trilogy.

Shveta Thakrar is the author of Star Daughter and The Dream Runners.

Ram V is a comic book writer, and the author of the graphic novel, The Many Deaths of Laila Starr.

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Haunted Housing Market Oct 11, 2023

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 reliable box office hits for decades, but they might also be telling us something about the real anxieties of home ownership. I talk with Alexandra West, co-host of the podcast Faculty of Horror, and Dahlia Schweitzer, author of Haunted Homes, about how the history of the American suburbs made their mark on movies like The Amityville Horror and Poltergeist. George R. Olson, showrunner of the Syfy series SurrealEstate, discusses why the heroes of his show are ghost whispering real estate agents. And realtor Cindi Hagley explains how she became an expert in selling stigmatized properties with haunted pasts.

Also check out the Faculty of Horror episode House Warning.

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Making the Sounds of Make-Believe Sep 27, 2023

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 body on films like Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., Back to the Future, Frozen, Toy Story, The Matrix, The Dark Knight, Inception, and much of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And John was at the forefront of a revolution in foley sound effects starting with his work on classic Lucas and Spielberg films. We talk about the art of acting with props, the challenge of building upon sounds in an established universe like Star Wars, how they found the sound of Thor’s hammer, the grind of playing Batman’s body double in a video game, and the famous sci-fi film he wished he had worked on.

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The Nine Lives of Red Dwarf Sep 13, 2023

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 alone. The rest of the crew aboard the ship Red Dwarf includes an annoying hologram, a very helpful android, a very unhelpful A.I. and a cat-person with a great sense of style. The show was considered a huge gamble back then. Sci-fi and comedy were not supposed to mix. But Red Dwarf was a hit – and Doug Naylor has continued to revive the show over and over due to popular demand. I talked with him about why this existential comedy works so well, and how it continues to inspire him to create “emotion bombs.”

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Have You Watched....? Aug 30, 2023

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. Our listeners can help with that. They want you know about their favorite unsung gems of sci-fi and fantasy. Some of them were cult hits. Others underperformed at the box office or in the ratings. Maybe it’s time to give them a chance.

In this episode, we hear about The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, Odyssey 5, Spaced, Erik the Viking, John Carter, Centaurworld and Wendell & Wild. Our guests also recommend The 13th Warrior, Jerimiah, Babylon 5, and the Syfy mini-series Alice.

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Ghosted by TV Shows Aug 17, 2023

We’ve all had this experience. We get hooked on a show. We fall in love with the characters. We can’t stop thinking about them in between episodes. Then it gets cancelled or rushed to conclusion. When that happens to a show, it can feel like a relationship has abruptly ended – and a lot of them have ended in recent years. The streaming boom has gone bust. A lot of streaming services invested in sci-fi fantasy shows, hoping the for next Game of Thrones or Stranger Things. So, this wave of cancellations has hit SFF fans hard. We asked our listeners to tell us about the cancellations that broke their hearts in the recent or distant past, and how they’re trying to make sense of unresolved endings.

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Extreme Makeover: Fairy Godmother Edition Aug 02, 2023

Who wouldn’t want a fairy godmother to solve our problems with the flick of a magic wand? We know that’s not a healthy fantasy and yet, fairy godmothers aren’t going away. In fact, they’ve been proliferating in contemporary fantasy novels and reinterpretations of Cinderella. But they don’t look or act like you might expect. I talk with Butler University lecturer Jeana Jorgensen and PhD student Abigail Fine about the origin of fairy godmothers and why they’re ripe for reimagining. And I talk with author Gail Caron Levine about her groundbreaking novel Ella Enchanted, which broke the mold on fairy tales. Featuring readings from Aliza Pearl.

Jeana Jorgensen's latest book is Fairy Tales 101: An Accessible Introduction to Fairy Tales.

In this episode we discussed Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine, Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron and Kissing the Witch by Emma Donahue. Other contemporary novels with fairy godmother-type characters include Geekerella by Ashley Poston, Shadows on The Moon by Zoe Marriott, Ash by Malinda Lo, Ash & Bramble by Sarah Prineas, and Disenchanted: The Trials of Cinderella by Megan Morrison.

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How to Go to Infinity and Beyond Jul 19, 2023

These ships feel like old friends – The Enterprise, the Millennium Falcon, Battlestar Galactica, Serenity, The Rosinante. But would any of them actually work in space? I talk with NASA astrophysicist Jessie Christiansen, JPL planetary scientist Kevin Hand and Boeing engineer Eric Primm talk about how we would get to the stars, what those ships would actually look like, why the Millennium Falcon probably couldn’t have made the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs, and whether the X-Wing fighter should be a drone.

This week's episode is sponsored by Express VPN. We’re proud to be featured on Podurama this month.

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Welcome Our New A.I. Overlords Jul 06, 2023

Science fiction has primed us for this moment when artificial intelligence starts to take on a life of its own. ChatGPT has baffled and surprised even computer scientists in terms of how it works. Now a lot of us are asking, “Which movie are we in?” Is ChatGPT going to be a benign intelligence like Samantha from Her, dangerously neurotic and emotionally unstable like HAL from 2001, or a malevolent force like Skynet from The Terminator series? I talk with Erik Sofge, senior editor at MIT Horizon, about whether any of these scenarios are accurate, or if sci-fi is distracting us from seeing the problems that A.I. could create in our daily lives. We also revisit my 2016 episode The Robot Uprising, where I looked at how our feelings about A.I. and robots are influenced not just by sci-fi but also unresolved historical guilt.

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Warhammer - The Heavy Metal of Board Games Jun 21, 2023

As the Warhammer franchise reaches its 40th anniversary, the company Games Workshop’s stated goal of “total global domination” is going swimmingly. But there’s one person who hasn’t gotten swept up in the war of miniature game pieces: me. I go to a Warhammer 40K tournament at The Brooklyn Strategist to learn why this tabletop role-playing game is so beloved and addictive. And I talk with game designer and author James Wallis about how a small company in Nottingham captured the zeitgeist of Thatcher-era Britain and infused their game with satire – even if some players missed the joke.

James’ latest book is “Everybody Wins: Four Decades of the Greatest Board Games Ever Made.”

Curious what painted Warhammer miniatures look like? Check out the Instagram accounts for Tabletop Minions, David Nordquist, Vincent Venurella and Louise Sugden.

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Why The Gothic Keeps Gaslighting Us Jun 07, 2023

Our culture is going through a Gothic Revival -- partly thanks to the influence of Tim Burton. Gothic literature may have thrived in the 19th century (and my high school English class) but a lot of contemporary writers are returning to the tradition, creating stories that reimagine the past or look at the present through a Gothic lens. I talk with Xavier Aldana Reyes of the Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies about how The Gothic is like a mode or a sensibility that can take over any genre. Kit Mayquist, author of Tripping Arcadia: A Gothic Novel, discusses why The Gothic feels like the right fit for a generation that was gaslit while coming of age during war and a recession. And Leila Taylor, author of Darkly: Black History and America's Gothic Soul, explains that America will always be haunted by its Gothic past until we confront it. Featuring readings by voice actor Tanya Rich.

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Haunted By Pepper's Ghost May 24, 2023

A play by Charles Dickens. The Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland. A hologram of a famous dead pop singer. They’re all connected by a simple magic trick called Pepper’s Ghost. What’s most remarkable about this illusion is that it hasn’t changed much in over 160 years. I talk with Jim Steinmeyer and Ben Schrader, both designers of theatrical special effects, about why a Victorian magic trick is more popular than ever at modern theme parks and other live entertainment venues.

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Making The Muppets May 10, 2023

When Jim Henson hired Bonnie Erickson to design Muppets in the early 1970s, Bonnie had no idea this experimental project they were working on – a prime time TV show with puppets – would evolve into the cultural phenomenon of The Muppet Show. I talked with Bonnie about how the crew tried several one-off specials where they figured out who the main characters would be, what they’d look like, and what they’d sound like. Bonnie explains how she came up with the designs for Miss Piggy, Statler and Waldorf, Zoot and others. And we talk about one of the biggest challenges in making The Muppets seem believable – where to place the pupils in their eyes.

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Miyazaki Imagines an Environment Apr 26, 2023

This summer, Hayao Miyazaki will be releasing his final animated film before retiring. Environmental stewardship has been a consistent theme throughout his work, from My Neighbor Totoro to Spirited Away to Princess Mononoke. But what exactly has he been saying all this time about our relationship to the natural world? I gather a panel of experts to discuss the worlds that Miyazaki creates, and how his stories tap into current debates around the climate crisis. Featuring Yuan Pan, lecturer on Environmental Management at the University of Reading, and environmental journalists and authors Isaac Yuen and Emma Marris.

This episode is sponsored by ExpressVPN and Factor. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here or email us at sponsors@multitude.productions

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Entering Discworld. Population: Terry Pratchett. Apr 13, 2023

Discworld might be the most popular fantasy series you’ve never heard of. The late Terry Pratchett wrote 41 novels in the Discworld universe. To honor the 75th anniversary of his birth, we look at what fueled his satire, how he put himself into his characters, and why so many Discworld fans find solace and inspiration in his worldview. I talk with Pratchett’s former assistant and biographer Rob Wilkins, dramatist Stephen Briggs who adapted many Discworld novels to the stage, cultural critic Emmet Asher-Perrin and Professor Jacob Held, author of Philosophy and Terry Pratchett. Also featuring readings by Pavel Douglas.

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp and ExpressVPN. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here or email us at sponsors@multitude.productions

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The Blazing World Mar 30, 2023

Margaret Cavendish was a pioneer of modern science fiction – except she didn’t intend to write science fiction. In the 17th century, Cavendish was a noblewoman who wanted to be taken seriously as a philosopher. In her poetry and her landmark work, The Blazing World, she imagined parallel universes, microscopic cities, human animal hybrids, zombie armies and flying vehicles. I talk with professors Emily Thomas (Durham University), Lisa Walters (University of Queensland), Lisa Sarasohn (Oregon State University), and Lara Dodds (Mississippi State University) about why Cavendish wrote for future generations that she hoped would understand and appreciate her ideas. Featuring readings by Tanya Rich.

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100 Years of Weird Tales Mar 16, 2023

When the March 1923 issue of Weird Tales hit newsstands, many people didn’t know what to make of this new magazine. But 100 years later, Weird Tales has had a huge influence on modern day sci-fi, fantasy and horror. I talk with authors John Locke and Will Murray, former Weird Tales editor Darrell Schweitzer, current Weird Tales editor Jonathan Maberry, and art collector Steve Korshak about how a scrappy publication often on the verge of bankruptcy inspired a cultural revolution.

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp and ExpressVPN. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here or email us at sponsors@multitude.productions

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Catching the Mind Virus Mar 02, 2023

The town of Ong's Hat in New Jersey may have been the site of a top secret experiment that brought scientists to a parallel world in another dimension. Or it's the subject of a big inside joke and perhaps the first alternate reality game on the Internet. This week’s episode comes from the Slate podcast Decoder Ring, where the host Willa Paskin explores questions that have haunted me for a long time. When a fantasy world and the real world blur together, does it matter if we don’t know the difference? What happens when we suspend our disbelief too much?

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A Nation Dreams to Survive Feb 16, 2023

As we near the one year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I check in with the Ukrainian writers I interviewed for my 2022 episode A Nation Dreams of Itself. Maria Galina tells me about the difficulties of trying to create during wartime. Svitlana Taratorina and Volodymyr Arenev talk about why writing isn’t just a form of therapy or escapism, but it’s also a patriotic duty to keep Ukrainian culture alive in a war that’s also being fought in libraries, bookstores and publishing houses. Borys Sydiuk talks about why science fiction is making a comeback over fantasy during the war. And I talk with Max Kidruk, the new breakout star in the Ukrainian sci-fi scene.

You can watch Svitlana’s YouTube channel Fantastic Talks at: https://www.youtube.com/@fanttalks

Ukrainian Red Cross: https://donate.redcrossredcrescent.org/ua/donate/~my-donation?_cv=1

Mercy Corps: https://www.mercycorps.org/donate/crisis-ukraine-give-now

International Medical Corps: https://give.internationalmedicalcorps.org/page/99837/donate/1?ea.tracking.id=DP~UA22~DPHHU2202

Save the Children: https://support.savethechildren.org/site/Donation2?df_id=5751&mfc_pref=T&5751.donation=form1

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The Human Touch Feb 02, 2023

I’ve been following parallel media stories about visual artists in two different fields. Each story is about artists who create fantastical images, but they’re worried they can no long practice their craft or earn a living. First, a visual effects artist who worked with Marvel explains (as read by the actor Peter Grosz) why Marvel is so dysfunctional, and how the studio may be pushing the effects industry to the brink. Former VFX exec Scott Ross discusses how the system is set up to exploit visual effects companies and pit them against each other. Shifting focus from Hollywood to Silicon Valley. I talk with artist Steven Zapata about why AI image generating programs are an existential threat to artists, especially freelance fantasy illustrators. And Orbit Books creative director Lauren Panepinto explains why she doesn't think AI will be putting her, or the fantasy artists she works with, out of work yet.

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Magic of Nghi Vo Jan 19, 2023

Nghi Vo's novels Siren Queen and The Chosen and the Beautiful have gotten widespread critical acclaim, which was a pleasant surprise to her because she only started expanding beyond short story writing in the last several years. Both novels are set in the same magical early 20th century America where a Hollywood studio or Jay Gatsby’s mansion could be places of treachery and wonder. I talk with Nghi about the inspiration for her main characters, who are both queer Asian American women navigating white spaces with style and attitude. And she explains why in her world, magic is just another form of power. Also featuring readings by the actress Shannon Tyo.

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The Set Jet Crowds Jan 04, 2023

When a fantasy or sci-fi story is set in a real location, what happens when fans go to that place looking for a glimpse of magic? How do the locals feel about their hometowns turning into fandom destinations? I talk with tour guide Jen Cresswell about why Edinburgh has become a mecca for Harry Potter tours, even though the city is never mentioned in the books. Jelena Šimac is a tour guide in the city of Dubrovnik – a.k.a. King’s Landing on Game of Thrones. She explains how fantasy tourism changed the trajectory of Croatia after years of war and strife. Catherine Farry looks at why the town of Broken Hill has drawn filmmakers to the Australian Outback. And Adrian Bennett tells the story about how he became so enamored with Mad Max, he moved his family 10,000 miles to start a Mad Max Museum in a remote area of The Outback where the post-apocalyptic franchise is filmed.

This episode is sponsored by Bombas. Go to www.bombas.com/imaginaryworlds and use the code imaginaryworlds for 20% off your first purchase. s

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Octavia Butler Revisited Dec 22, 2022

This year marks the 75th anniversary of Octavia Butler’s birth. There have been commemorations nationwide, and I wanted to join in by replaying my 2016 episode, “The Legacy of Octavia Butler.” I produced that episode early in the history of my podcast, when I was still discovering the world of sci-fi literature. I became obsessed with Butler’s writing – even though at times it can be disturbing. Nisi Shawl, Ayana Jamieson and Cauleen Smith explain how Butler came to tell stories about power imbalances between humans and other worldly beings, and what her work means to them. And we hear actress Aliza Pearl read a passage from Butler’s 1987 novel “Dawn.”

This episode is sponsored by Brilliant and D&Tea. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here.

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Monsters in the Static Dec 08, 2022

In the subgenre of analog horror, there’s something sinister or supernatural lurking in the horizontal lines and vertical holds in those old VHS tapes. Filmmaker Chris LaMartina explains why he wanted his movies WNUF Halloween Special and Out There Halloween Mega Tape to seem like live broadcasts taped off local TV news in the ‘80s and ‘90s. I talk with podcasters Perry Carpenter and Mason Amadeus from the show Digital Folklore about how The Internet became our new campfire to tell spooky stories. Plus, we hear from Alex Hera, director of the documentary The History of Analog Horror, and folk horror lecturer Diane A. Rodgers of Sheffield University about why people born in the digital age want to tell horror stories set in the distant yet familiar era of VCRs. In this episode we also discuss The Mandela Catalog, Local 58, and The Backrooms.

This episode is sponsored by Birds of Empire, and Brilliant. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here.

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True Crime Fairy Tale Nov 24, 2022

Was the tale of Hansel and Gretel inspired by a real crime in German history? It would make for a great story, if it were true. This week’s episode comes from the podcast Cautionary Tales, where host Tim Harford looks at how misinformation can cast a spell on us like a fairy tale, and he connects the dots from The Brothers Grimm to The Coen Brothers.

This episode is sponsored by Brilliant and Nord VPN. Visit brilliant.org/imaginaryworlds to get 20% off Brilliant's annual premium subscription. And go to nordvpn.com/imaginaryworlds to get a discount off your NordVPN Plan and one additional month for free. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here.

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Indigenous Futurisms Nov 10, 2022

From TV and film to novels and video games, the artistic movement of Indigenous Futurisms has been gaining momentum and breaking cultural barriers. I talk with professor and author Grace Dillon, filmmaker Danis Goulet, fiction writer Stephen Graham Jones, and visual artist Virgil Ortiz about what defines a work of indigenous futurism and why telling stories about werewolves, spirits, A.I., and time travelers can be an act of resistance.

This episode is sponsored by Mr Ballen Podcast and D&Tea. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here.

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Songs in the Key of SF Oct 27, 2022

Jeff Russo has composed music for sci-fi fantasy shows like Star Trek Discovery and Picard, The Umbrella Academy, Altered Carbon, For All Mankind, and Lucifer. But he didn’t set out to be known as a composer of SF projects, or even a composer at all. He began as a rock musician, and found he had a knack for writing music for the screen because he understood that music plays a crucial role in grounding unreal stories in the emotions of the characters. We talk about his approaching to scoring and why it’s so challenging to write a theme song.

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Generation VTube Oct 13, 2022

There is a booming culture of VTubers – people who create content online, but their fans rarely see their real faces or know their names. VTubers use motion-capture technology to appear as animated characters they designed, and many of these characters are otherworldly from robots to aliens to demons. I talk with VTubers named Xinebi Ven, Pandora Arktos, GloopQueen and D-36-5908 Ω (a.k.a. Omega) about the joys and challenges of becoming a VTuber, and whether inhabiting an animated character allows them to be their more fully authentic selves.

Xenebi Ven’s YouTube and Twitch streams

Pandora’s YouTube and Twitch streams

GloopQueen’s YouTube and Twitch streams

Omega’s YouTube and Twitch streams

Also mentioned in this episode:

Ironmouse’s YouTube and Twitch streams

Mori Calliope’s YouTube and Twitch streams

This episode is sponsored by Aspiration debit card and D&Tea. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here.

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Befriend The Reaper Sep 28, 2022

One of the most common tropes in fantasy genres is personifying Death – turning this abstract and often terrifying concept into a character that people can interact with. Sometimes Death is portrayed as a Grim Reaper, but Death doesn’t have to be grim. Death can be compassionate, and even funny. And more often in recent years, Death has been depicted as someone with deeply ambivalent feelings about their job. I talk with listeners about their favorite portrayals of Death from Discworld to Sandman to Dead Like Me, and why imagining Death as a character changed the way they felt about death and grief.

Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here.

List of media mentioned in this episode:

The Sandman comics and Netflix series

Dead Like Me

Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett

Death With Interruptions by Jose Saramago

On A Pale Horse by Piers Anthony

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Critical Role podcast

The Seventh Seal

Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey

Monty Python and The Meaning of Life

Personification of Death academic study from 2019

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Postcolonial Worlds Sep 14, 2022

The stories we tell about the past can determine the way we understand the present. But what happens when we combine tales of magic and fantasy with some of the most traumatic chapters in history? I talk with novelists P. Djeli Clark, Nisi Shawl, and Zen Cho about how speculative fiction can be a useful tool to reimagine the legacy of colonialism and imperialism. Plus, we hear readings from actress Nneka Okoye.

Books mentioned in this episode:

A Master of Djinn by P. Djeli Clark
Everfair by Nisi Shawl
Sorcerer to The Crown by Zen Cho
Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution by R. F. Kuang (author of The Poppy War series)
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

Nisi also recommends:

A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar
The Dominion of the Fallen series by Aliette de Bodard
The works of L Timmel Duchamp and Margaret Killjoy

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Mentors: Balance of The Force Sep 01, 2022

In part 2 of our mini-series on mentorships, we travel to a galaxy far, far away. Amy Richau (co-author of Star Wars; I am Your Father and other Star Wars-related books) talks about her favorite partnerships between the Jedi and other characters in the Star Wars found family. Blogger Angry Staff Officer explains why the rigid rules for Jedi mentorships may have led to the downfall of the Jedi Council. And Ryan Arey of ScreenCrush says we can see how the rival philosophies of The Jedi and The Sith would play out in the real world on the show Cobra Kai, which imagines the rivalries from The Karate Kid being passed down to the next generation.

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Mentors: Dynamic Duos Aug 18, 2022

In the first of a two-part episode on mentors in fantasy genres, we look at the roles of superheroes and their protégées. Matt Fraction talks about the inspiration for his acclaimed comic book series Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon, which was adapted into a Disney+ series. University of Oregon professor Ben Saunders explains why Peter Parker needs an endless series of mentors. Hellenic College Holy Cross professor Stamatia Dova explains why all these fantasy mentors can be traced back to the character of Mentor in The Odyssey. And Julie Nugent, senior VP of learning and advisory services at Catalyst, discusses how superhero mentorships reflect the way mentoring plays out in the workplace.

This episode is sponsored by Aspiration Zero Credit Card. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here.

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Paper Girls on Bikes Aug 04, 2022

When the artist Cliff Chiang co-created the comic book series Paper Girls, about four suburban kids in the ‘80s who get caught up in forces that can break space and time, he thought they’d come up with something totally original. But soon after the comic book came out, Stranger Things debuted on Netflix. Both creative projects are part of a genre that’s more popular than ever: Kids on Bikes. I talk with Cliff about why he wanted Paper Girls to stand out from other Kids on Bikes stories. Screenwriter Stephany Folsom discusses how she adapted Paper Girls into an Amazon Prime Video live-action show by pitching it as “anti-nostalgia.” I also talk with game designers Jon Gilmour and Doug Levandowski about how they distilled the elements of Kids on Bikes stories into a role-playing game, and whether the genre is ready to outgrow its 1980s setting.

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Charting Strange New Worlds Jul 21, 2022

It’s not often that I’m watching a TV show and I think, “I should ask the writers about that.” Luckily, I was in the same undergraduate film program as Henry Alonso Myers and Bill Wolkoff, who are writers and producers on the Star Trek series Strange New Worlds, and they were happy to chat. We cover the challenge of telling new stories about legacy characters like Spock and Uhura, the need for Star Trek to stay politically relevant, why Captain Pike is really into cooking and hijinks are the most logical course of action during a Vulcan courtship.

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Guys and Dolls Jul 07, 2022

I’ve long been fascinated by automatons – wind up mechanical beings that create the illusion of life. People have been making automatons for centuries, but how many automatons get to sing opera? This week’s episode comes from the podcast Aria Code from WQXR, WNYC Studios and The Metropolitan Opera. The show breaks down famous arias and looks at the meaning behind them. Host Rhiannon Giddens, along with Soprano Erin Morley, conductor Johannes Debus, machine learning researcher Caroline Sinders, and psychologist Robert Epstein explore Jacques Offenbach’s 1881 opera The Tales of Hoffmann and how its automated character Olympia echoes current day concerns about A.I. technology.

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The Art of Piracy Jun 22, 2022

Our Flag Means Death is a hilarious anachronistic pirate comedy on HBO Max. But the backstory of its main characters is surprisingly real. I talk with pirate historian Jeremy Moss, Purdue professor Manushag Powell and Jamie Goodall, staff historian at the U.S. Army Center of Military History, about how the historical figure of Blackbeard used theatricality to become a media phenomenon, and why it was an easy transition for people to believe he was a fantasy character versed in the dark arts. And we look at whether the endearing portrayal of the bumbling “gentleman pirate” Stede Bonnet in Our Flag Means Death is leaving out a crucial aspect of his backstory. To learn more, check out these books:

British Pirates in Print and Performance by Manushag N. Powell

The Life and Tryals of the Gentleman Pirate, Major Stede Bonnet by Jeremy R. Moss

Pirates of the Chesapeake Bay: From the Colonial Era to the Oyster Wars by Jamie L.H. Goodall

This episode is sponsored by Mint Mobile, Squarespace and Riverside. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here.

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200 Imaginary Worlds Jun 09, 2022

When I began this podcast in September 2014, I couldn’t imagine myself someday celebrating 200 episodes of Imaginary Worlds. It feels like a momentous occasion, a moment to reflect and celebrate. So, I put together a super-sized episode where I check in on creative people that I’ve interviewed in the past. We also hear from listeners about where they listen to the show, and how those places evoke imaginary worlds for them. Featuring Caro Murphy, Jason Suran, Tim Lapetino, Shari Spiros of AdMagic, and Scot and Jane Noel of DreamForge magazine. You can learn more about Jason's show Reconnected here.

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Mystery Science Theater Reopens May 26, 2022

Mystery Science Theater 3000 or MST3K is back once again. The show was first created by Joel Hodgson, then a stand-up comedian who was ambivalent about the career path laid out in clubs or maybe a sitcom. His premise -- that he and a few robot pals are trapped by mad scientists on a spaceship and forced to watch bad movies – turned the show into a cult classic and helped define a snarky, self-aware sense of humor for pop culture in the ‘90s. I talk with Joel about why he left the initial run of the series, and how he's brought it back on his own streaming service called Gizmoplex. We also explore how his sense of humor has changed, and whether he might have been too harsh on some of the films they lampooned.

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Snow Crashing Into The Metaverse May 12, 2022

For the last 30 years, the real world has been catching up to Neal Stephenson’s vision of the future in his 1992 novel Snow Crash, which influenced the creators of Google Earth, Second Life, Oculus Rift and more. Now the centerpiece of the novel, a virtual world called The Metaverse, may become a daily part of our lives thanks to Facebook (renamed Meta) and other big tech companies. I talk with Meta’s director of A.I. policy Kevin Bankston, Silicon Valley engineer Stephen Pimentel, Australian National University School of Cybernetics director Genevieve Bell, Yale professor Lisa Messeri, and Grace Ng of the DAO Crash Punks about whether it’s a good idea to use a satirical cyberpunk novel as a blueprint for the future. Plus, actor Varick Boyd reads from Snow Crash.

The section on Grace Ng has been updated to reflect the crypto market crash that happened after the episode originally aired in May 2022.

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De-Aging Well Apr 28, 2022

There’s an old saying that everyone wants to live long, but no one wants to get old. The same can be applied to our favorite sci-fi fantasy franchises. As familiar faces return to Star Wars, Star Trek, and other movies and shows, some franchises have embraced stories about aging and mortality, while others have used digital technology to erase those issues with mixed results. In a roundtable discussion, I talk with Christina Valeo of Eastern Washington University, Shawn Taylor of San Francisco State University and podcaster and pastor JR Forasteros about who is aging well, or de-aging poorly. Spoiler alert, we discuss the Picard series and older Star Trek movies, The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Black Mirror, and Upload.

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Neurodivergent Futures Apr 14, 2022

One of the most common requests I've gotten over the years has been to do an episode about why so many autistic people are drawn towards science fiction, and these suggestions have come from listeners who are autistic or have autistic children. Fiction writer Ada Hoffmann, writer and professor Dora Raymaker, YouTube presenter Quinn Dexter, and author and professor Nick Walker, who co-runs the publishing company Autonomous Press, have each given this subject a lot of thought. Their experiences and perspectives as autistic sci-fi fans and creators overlapped in many ways, from the joy of complex worldbuilding, to identifying with fictional characters like Data or Spock, to wanting to imagine a future where aliens, humans and A.I. can coexist without a hierarchy of neurotypical perspectives. Featuring actress Shannon Tyo reading passages from Ada and Dora’s novels.

Dora Raymaker’s new novel Resonance has just been published through Autonomous Press. Dora and Ada have also contributed short stories to Autonomous’ anthology series Spoon Knife. Quinn Dexter’s YouTube channel is Autistamtic.

This episode is sponsored by Backblaze, Echoes of History: Ragnarök and Squarespace. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here.

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Nosferatu Live Mar 31, 2022

100 years ago this month, the vampire film Nosferatu was released in Germany. Not long after, it was hit with a lawsuit – which the filmmakers lost – and every copy of the film was to be destroyed. At least one copy managed to survive, and decades later, Nosferatu became a worldwide classic. Part of what’s kept the film alive has been live orchestras who infuse this old vampire film with fresh blood and original scores. I talk with Philip Shorey of The Curse of the Vampire orchestra and Josh Robins of Invincible Czars about their different approaches to writing music for Nosferatu and how audiences have reacted to them. I also talk with Carnegie-Mellon professor Stephen Brockmann about which aspects of vampire lore originally came from Nosferatu as the filmmakers tried to change the Dracula story enough so they could avoid blood-sucking lawsuits.

This episode is sponsored by Inked Gaming. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here.

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A Nation Dreams of Itself Mar 17, 2022

The Russian invasion of Ukraine shocked the world, but this conflict was foreshadowed in Ukrainian and Russian speculative fiction. I talk with several fantasy writers in Ukraine about how they’ve used speculative fiction to break away from Russia’s sphere of influence, and why magic and folklore can be valuable tools to explore and defend their sense of national identity. I also talk with Ukrainian ex-pats in the U.S. about how Russian fantasy and sci-fi has grown increasingly imperialistic in recent years with fantasies of restoring a lost empire. Featuring Maria Galina, Borys Sydiuk, Volodymir Arenev, Svitlana Taratorina, Alex Shvartsman, and Anatoly Belilovsky.

You can help donate to organizations resettling refugees like Direct Relief, Mercy Corps, International Medical Corps and Save the Children.

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Asian Futures Without Asians Mar 03, 2022

It’s a future we’re all very familiar with. The rainy streets are full of neon dragons, noodle shops, and other Asian iconography mixed up and decontextualized amid sci-fi flourishes, but something is often missing: Asian people. In her video presentation “Asian futures, without Asians,” the artist and writer Astria Suparak breaks down dozens of films and TV shows, showing that there’s a shadow genre across different sci-fi franchises which presents a future that taps into old anti-Asian stereotypes at subtle levels of designing sets, costumes and even props. I also talk with University of Utah Professor David S. Roh about his book Techno-Orientalism, which looks at the psychology behind these kinds of futures, and what they have to say about current day anxieties in America. And Jason Concepcion, host of the podcast X-Ray Vision, discusses how he tries to engage with these types of worlds as a fan and as an Asian American.

This episode is sponsored by Inked Gaming. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here.

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Beforeigners Feb 17, 2022

In the sci-fi drama Beforeigners from HBO Nordic, Oslo is overrun with immigrants and refugees. But they haven’t come from other countries. They’re from the past. In fact, they’re from three specific eras: the Stone Age, the Viking age, and the Victorian age. No one knows why or how they came, but police detectives Lars Haaland and his partner Alfhildr Enginsdottir – who is a former Viking herself – are uncovering mysteries and conspiracies that might lead to the truth. The show was created by Eilif Skodvin and Anne Bjørnstad, and I was very happy that I got to talk with Anne about how they created the show, and why time travel turns out to be a great metaphor to explore issues of immigration and national identity.

This episode is sponsored by Brooklinen and Realm. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here.

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Headcanon Fodder Feb 03, 2022

Have you ever watched a movie or show, gotten sucked into a mystery and come up with your own idea of what is going to be revealed – only to find out that you’re wrong? Do you accept what’s now established as canon, or do you get attached to your own “headcanon?” We are living in the golden age of headcanon, especially in sci-fi fantasy, where many storytellers are following the template of J.J. Abrams and his Mystery Box approach. So, we did a call out to our listeners, to find out what headcanons they came up with or heard about, and why they think those headcanons work better than what ended up on screen, or on the page. Featuring Larry Brenner, Mark White, Josh Sawyer, Doug Tricarico, Chris Landon, and Judd Winick, who had the opportunity to turn his headcanon into canon.

There aren’t major spoilers in this episode, but we discuss plot points in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, The Mandalorian, the first Matrix, Iron Man 2, Hawkeye, Star Trek: Into Darkness, Inspector Gadget, Citizen Kane, and Batman comics.

This episode is sponsored by Inked Gaming and Realm. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here.

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Politics of the Funnies Part 2 Jan 20, 2022

Once upon a time, the funnies or the comics pages dominated newspapers – back when newspapers were the main source of information for most Americans. In those days, Walt Kelly and Al Capp were titans of the funnies. Their strips Pogo and Li’l Abner were cultural sensations. Both artists were groundbreaking in the way they incorporated satire into their fantastical worlds, back when the comics page was supposed to be an apolitical neutral zone. Even though their strips are not front and center in pop culture today, we are still feeling the ripple effects of what they accomplished. In part two, I talk with BYU professor Kerry Soper and comic book publisher and author Denis Kitchen about how Al Capp became a hero to the left and the right, while questioning who should be the subject of satire.

Link to Denis Kitchen's book, "Al Capp: A Life to the Contrary"

Link to Kerry Soper's book, "We Go Pogo"

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Politics of the Funnies Part 1 Jan 06, 2022

Once upon a time, the funnies or the comics pages dominated newspapers – back when newspapers were the main source of information for most Americans. In those days, Walt Kelly and Al Capp were titans of the funnies. Their strips Pogo and Li’l Abner were cultural sensations. Both artists were groundbreaking in the way they incorporated satire into their fantastical worlds, back when the comics page was supposed to be an apolitical neutral zone. Even though their strips are not front and center in pop culture today, we are still feeling the ripple effects of what they accomplished. In part one, I talk with Mercer University professor Jay Black, BYU professor Kerry Soper and Harper College professor Brian Cremins about how Pogo met the enemy, and why he is us.

Link to Jay Black's book, "Walt Kelly and Pogo: The Art of the Political Swamp"

Link to Kerry Soper's book, "We Go Pogo"

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Multiverse Remix Dec 23, 2021

Marvel and DC are jumping into the multiverse with multiple movies and shows crossing over into parallels worlds with different versions of established characters while they’re merging IP from different franchises. It’s a win-win business strategy, but multiverses also bring up intriguing story possibilities of how we could’ve turned out differently if the circumstances of our lives were different, and what it would be like to meet your double. I covered those themes in my episode Doppelgängers 2.0, and I looked into one of the first cinematic multiverses, The Tommy Westphall universe, in my episode Inside the Snow Globe. Both episodes were from 2015, and since a lot of recent listeners probably never heard them, I’m presenting them again as a double feature.

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Have Yourself a Scary Little Krampus Dec 09, 2021

The imagery of Christmas in most Western countries is of pure wholesomeness with Santa Claus or St. Nicholas, presents, candy, lights, etc. But in central Europe, there is another figure in the mix, the horned devilish-looking character called Krampus, who doles out punishment if you’re naughty instead of nice. I talk with Jules Linner and Christina Albert about why it was important for them as children to believe in St Nick’s dark companion. Krampus event organizer and author Al Ridenour, along with cultural anthropologist Matthäus Rest, explain the history of Krampus, and why he’s still an important part of German and Austrian culture today.

Here's the link to Al’s book “The Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas: Roots and Rebirth of the Folkloric Devil,” and Al’s podcast Bone and Sickle episode on Krampus.

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Art of the Brick Nov 25, 2021

Nathan Sawaya is one of the best-known LEGO Master Builders – people who can recreate just about anything out of LEGO. While he's worked with major franchises like DC, creating life sized superheroes, he's also an artist who makes original sculptures out of LEGO, including human figures that seem to be grappling with existential angst. I talk with Nathan about how making these LEGO figures has been a way to work through anxiety and depression. We also discuss why he left a law career to become a professional artist, and the practical lessons he’s learned along the way -- from when to glue the bricks together, to how to get his giant sculptures out the door. And we talk about the latest addition to his traveling show The Art of the Brick, where he built endangered species out of LEGO.

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Re-Rolling Role Playing Games Nov 11, 2021

The world of tabletop role-playing games is much broader than Dungeons & Dragons, and there’s been a boom of DIY tabletop RPGs in the last decade. But as new players are coming on to the scene, they’re asking new questions about what defines a game, and what might be problematic about classic tabletop RPGs. Game master Timm Woods explains how new game systems are embracing genre and storytelling down to the moves your characters can make. I talk with independent game designers Emily Care Boss and Avery Alder about how game mechanics can reflect not just the lore of the game, but also social issues and inter-personal social dynamics. Plus, James Mendez Hodes explains how he works at a cultural consultant for game designers, and why orcs might need a makeover.

This episode is sponsored by Realm and BetterHelp. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here.

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Stage Fright Oct 28, 2021

Many elements of modern horror movies and TV shows came from an unlikely source, a theater in Paris called The Grand Guignol. Beginning in the late 19th century, The Grand Guignol was inventing staples of the horror genre as they discovered how to scare audiences, and why people want to be scared. I talk with University of East Anglia professor and author Richard Hand and Wagner College professor Felicia Ruff about how we can trace the lineage of Psycho, American Horror Story and Sweeney Todd back to The Grand Guignol. Plus, Alex Zavistovich of the Molotov Theatre Group describes what it’s like to recreate Grand Guignol plays for a modern American audience.

Alex also founded Poe Theatre on The Air which produces Edgar Allen Poe audio dramas like, “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether,” which is adapted from a short story by Poe that The Grand Guignol originally staged in 1908.

This episode is sponsored by Realm and BetterHelp. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here.

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The Ecology of Dune Oct 14, 2021

Frank Herbert’s Dune has been hailed as a pioneer of environmental science fiction, where the Fremen on the planet of Arakkis, have had to adapt to extreme weather conditions through technology and culture. I talk with Ian Schoenherr, the son of illustrator John Schoenherr, about how his father and Frank Herbert bonded over their love of nature. Although Veronika Kratz explains that Frank Herbert would be out of step with today's environmental movement. We’ll also hear from two entrepreneurs in water conservation that were inspired by Dune, Peter Yolles from the company WaterSmart and Daniel Fernandez of California State University Monterey Bay, whose fog catchers are similar to the type of technology the Fremen would use, if they lived on the West Coast.

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Office Space Sep 30, 2021

Kasra Farahani has done concept art on a lot of big sci-fi fantasy films, and this year he took on his biggest job yet as the production designer for the Disney+ series Loki. Kasra’s sets became fan favorites, especially the way he depicted the sprawling intergalactic bureaucracy of the Time Variance Authority, or TVA. I talk with Kasra about how he got started in the industry, what design principles he learned working with Tim Burton’s go-to designer Bo Welch, why retro technology, especially from the 1970s, makes sense in sci-fi fantasy offices, and what those imaginary offices have to say about our workplaces in the real world.

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Playing Blind Sep 16, 2021

Video games are an inherently visual medium that traditionally haven’t been very accessible to blind people. But there are plenty of blind players who enjoy games and want to lower the barriers to entry. I talk with blind accessibility advocates Liam Erven, Brandon Cole and Aaron Baker about how sound design can guide blind players through virtual worlds. In Aaron’s case, he designs audio games for his company VGStorm. Accessibility advocate Ian Hamilton describes the challenge of making virtual worlds open to everyone. And Emilia Schatz from Naughty Dog studios discusses her collaboration with Brandon Cole in making The Last of Us Part II the most accessible AAA game of all time.

This episode is sponsored by Skillshare and BetterHelp. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here.

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Cartoonish Gender Sep 02, 2021

Queer representation in children’s cartoons has never been better, but the road to get here has been fraught. I talk with podcaster Dawn H and journalist Sara Century about how the first type of queer representation they saw in cartoons came from Sailor Moon – or at least a highly edited and strangely dubbed English-language version that tried to scrub away all the queer content, somewhat unsuccessfully. And I talk with podcaster Thomas J. West and YouTube essayist Rowan Ellis about the history of queer-coded villains in Disney cartoons, and how the biggest entertainment company in the world still has a lot of catching up to do.

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here.

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The Legend of Musashi Aug 19, 2021

An entire subgenre of samurai films, shows, manga, anime and games can be traced back to one person – a real life samurai named Miyamoto Musashi. He was not the first samurai to achieve fame, but his remarkable career of undefeated duals, and his unconventional style of fighting cemented Musashi’s legacy in the popular imagination for centuries. Chie Kutsuwada and Sean Michael Wilson discuss their manga adaptation of Musashi’s Book of Five Rings. Yale professor Aaron Gerow, and Darren Ashmore and Will Reed from iCLA explain why Musashi’s life story had a character arc that was irresistible to storytellers. And Stephanie Billman and I connect the dots from Musashi samurai tales to Westerns, Westworld, and Star Wars.

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Giving Imaginary Advice Aug 05, 2021

If you’ve ever searched for my podcast, you probably came across a show with a similar title: Imaginary Advice. I quickly became a fan of Imaginary Advice because the host Ross Sutherland walks the line between fiction and reality, often playing a fictional version of himself doing slightly fantastical things. I talked with Ross about his creative process, and we hear an edited selection of his mini-series Ten Thousand Years, where he and writer Lenni Sanders imagine what if the happy ending from Groundhog Day had not been a game changer for Billy Murray’s character Phil Connors. What if it was just another day, and the days piled up for thousands of years?

The episodes of Imaginary Advice we discussed are:

https://soundcloud.com/ross-sutherland/45-seinfeld

https://soundcloud.com/ross-sutherland/63-tony-gang-flame-war-5th-birthday-episode

https://soundcloud.com/ross-sutherland/52-the-man-who-saw-tomorrow-4th-birthday-episode

https://soundcloud.com/ross-sutherland/70-sex-and-the-city-the-return-part-1

https://soundcloud.com/ross-sutherland/71-sex-and-the-city-the-return-part-2

https://soundcloud.com/ross-sutherland/73-ten-thousand-years-part-2

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Harley Quinn (Special Edition) Jul 22, 2021

Every year, I like to play a full-length version of an interview from a previous episode where a lot of great material ended up on the proverbial cutting room floor. In 2019, I interviewed the comic book creators Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner about their three-year run on the Harley Quinn comic book series because the way they reinvented the character influenced her live action movie appearances, and the Harley Quinn animated series on HBO Max. Also, Jimmy and Amanda are a married couple, and I really appreciated the way their rapport and the sense of humor they share defines the worlds they create together.

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Reporting on Capes, Cowls, Threats and Menaces Jul 08, 2021

In superhero stories, the public is usually there to be saved by the heroes or killed by the villains. But as a journalist, I always wonder if these people are well informed enough about the threats to their lives, and who is protecting them. I talk with Maya Phillips of The New York Times, James Queally of The Los Angeles Times, and freelance reporter Sean Kelly about a range of fictional journalists from Lois Lane to Peter Parker, and whether their portrayals affect the way we view the news media in the real world. Plus, Petra Mayer of NPR, and journalist Liz Publika discuss why Spider Jerusalem is a model comic book reporter, even if he’s completely gonzo. And actress Mallory Kasdan reads the fanfiction story, “Can I Quote You on This” by Wix from Archive of Our Own about what happens when a more realistic journalist interviews The Avengers.

Today’s episode includes minor spoilers for Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Daredevil, Superman and Lois, The Flash, and the graphic novel Watchmen.

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Living in a Simulation Jun 24, 2021

Is it possible that we are living in an imaginary world? That is the premise of many science fiction stories, but some scientists have begun to wonder whether it’s not a fantasy. Perhaps what we think of as reality is a computer simulation and we’re basically just advanced versions of The Sims and don’t know it. I talk with video games entrepreneur Rizwan Virk about what advanced civilization might be lurking outside our reality, and how he draws upon real physics, The Matrix and Philip K. Dick to prove The Simulation Hypothesis in his book. And we’ll hear one of my favorite stories from the podcast Snap Judgment, where the journalist Stephanie Foo creates a version of herself in The Sims and discovers eerie parallels to her own life. “Sim Stephanie” was originally produced for Snap Judgment in 2014.

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Guilty Pleasures Jun 10, 2021

Sci-fi and fantasy genres have come a long way from their pulp fiction and Saturday matinee origins to become respectable genres. But sometimes you just want to see something awesome, weird or shocking. That’s where genre films can deliver -- even if the movie isn’t good. I talk with five listeners about their favorite guilty pleasure films. Also, Lou Hare of the podcast Guilty Pleasures breaks down the difference between a guilty pleasure and a cult classic, and we discuss why ‘80s movies are a treasure trove of excess and bad taste.

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Disco Elysium May 27, 2021

Disco Elysium has been called one of the best role-playing video games of all time. It's won a slew of awards and it’s a worldwide best-seller -- which is odd because the game wasn’t put out by a big studio. It was made by a group of friends in Estonia who had very little experience making video games. And this detective game is just as much about politics and the existential nature of reality as it is about solving a murder. I talk with Justin Keenan, one of the few American writers on the crew, along with game critic Paul Walker-Emig and game developer and former critic Heather Alexandra about why Disco Elysium is a revolutionary game that also reflects the moment of history we’re living through.

Today's episode is brought to you by Realm and BetterHelp. Want to advertise/sponsor our show? We have partnered with AdvertiseCast to handle our advertising/sponsorship requests. They’re great to work with and will help you advertise on our show. Please email sales@advertisecast.com or click the link below to get started.

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Weir Science May 13, 2021

When Andy Weir wrote “The Martian,” he self-published the chapters to his website -- never expecting the story to become a best-selling book, or an Oscar-nominated Hollywood movie. His new novel, “Project Hail Mary,” is generating a lot of excitement, and he's already sold the movie rights. We talk about why he sometimes misses his old life as a cubicle dwelling engineer, the pressure of not being considered a one-hit wonder, his biggest pet peeves in sci-fi stories, and how far he’s willing to stretch his heavily scientific approach to imagine something much more fantastical.

Today's episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Want to advertise/sponsor our show? We have partnered with AdvertiseCast to handle our advertising/sponsorship requests. They’re great to work with and will help you advertise on our show. Please email sales@advertisecast.com or click the link below to get started.

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The Zen of Sci-Fi Apr 29, 2021

Illusions that mask the true nature of reality. Meditating to gain control over your mind and body. Sending your consciousness to other bodies. These are both tenants of Buddhism and science fiction. Professor Jim Clarke says the overlap is no accident, Buddhism has been influencing sci-fi fantasy creators for over a century. Novelists Ramez Naam and Yudhanjaya Wijeratne talk about how they incorporate Buddhism into their sci-fi stories and personal practices. Also, Reverend Landon Yamaoka discusses why his sect of Buddhism is in line with the troubled journey of Anakin Skywalker.

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Becky Chambers Goes Wayfaring Apr 15, 2021

Becky Chambers’ latest novel, “The Galaxy and The Ground Within,” is the final book in her Wayfarer series, which is about aliens, humans and AI trying to make their way through the galaxy and find common ground. Some of the characters in her books may seem fantastical and strange, but the conversations between them often revolve around familiar issues like identity, gender, family structure, and politics. We talk about why she’s closing this chapter in her writing career, even though the Wayfarer series could’ve gone on indefinitely, and what she has planned next.

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Music From Saturn Apr 01, 2021

Sun Ra claimed to be an extraterrestrial being from Saturn who could teleport you to other planets with his music. That may or may not have been true, but he certainly was the leader of one of the most influential jazz ensembles of the 20th century, and he’s often called the father of Afrofuturism. I talk with artist Cauleen Smith and writer John Corbett about Sun Ra’s creative journey, and why he was light years ahead of his time. The musician Idris Ackamoor explains why Sun Ra was an inspiration for his band The Pyramids. And Ytasha Womack, author of fiction and non-fiction books about Afrofuturism, discusses why imagining the future is still a radical act.

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Second Life Goes On Mar 18, 2021

One year into this pandemic, it’s been a struggle to feel a connection with other people digitally. That’s why I was inspired to hear an episode from the show Science Friday about a community that refused to disband their virtual world. As reporter Daniel Peterschmidt explains to me, the staff of Science Friday had set up a virtual outpost in Second Life when it was a trendy thing to do in the mid-2000s. The show eventually left Second Life, but Daniel recently discovered their community of hardcore fans stuck together long after many people abandoned Second Life, and the group went through not-so virtual turmoil along the way.

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Tron: Welcome to the Machine Mar 04, 2021

The 1982 movie Tron may seem outdated and even hokey today, but the film was more groundbreaking and prophetic than many people realize. I talk with Tron’s director Steven Lisberger about the challenge of making a movie about computers without the help of computers. Media scholars Lars Schmeink and Sherryl Vint discuss the influence of Tron on our understanding of virtual worlds and our place in cyberspace. Plus, writer Daniel Frey talks about why current sci-fi about Silicon Valley tends to be more “near future” than fantastical, including his novel The Future is Yours.

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This Ain't No Fairy Tale Feb 18, 2021

The story of the brothers Grimm and how they came to publish a book of fairy tales has become something of a folk legend in itself. The conventional wisdom is that the Grimms collected their tales from village peasants, and the brothers always embraced the darkest elements of the tales. But as fairy tale scholars Jack Zipes and Ruth Bottigheimer explain, the real story of how the Grimms came across these tales -- and altered them -- is much more complicated and interesting. The Grimms were writing for a particular audience in their time, and the values they embedded in these tales have influenced us in ways we may not realize. Featuring readings by actor Jochen Werner.

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Embracing the Spooky Spooky Feb 04, 2021

In the 1950s and ‘60s, the vibrating sound of the Theremin instrument was synonymous with sci-fi movies like The Day the Earth Stood Still or horror shows like Dark Shadows to the point where the Theremin became a genre cliché. But a new generation of experimental pop musicians like Dorit Chrysler and Miles Brown (of the band Night Terrors) are using the Theremin to create otherworldly sonic landscapes. Also I talk with Albert Glinsky, biographer of Leon Theremin, about how the inventor of the Theremin lived a life that was more like a Kafkaesque science fiction tale.

Check out Albert Glinsky’s book “Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage.”

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Betty Boop and the Hays Code Jan 20, 2021

Betty Boop is a beloved cultural icon, but she was controversial in her heyday. I talk with Mark Fleischer – grandson of Betty Boop’s co-creator Max Fleischer – and Mark’s wife Susan Wilking Horan about how the character was created and why she still endures. I also talk with film critic Marya Gates and Professor Thomas Doherty about how the Hays Code, which censored Betty Boop, had a profound impact on the moral universe of Hollywood films, and why this defunct production code is still influencing movies up to this day, especially with fantasy entertainment.

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Camelot Forever Jan 07, 2021

The myth of Camelot runs deep in our culture. For over a thousand years, storytellers have felt compelled to tell the tale of King Arthur and add their own spin on the mythical legend. But we live in pretty cynical times where the idea of a wise and noble king feels like just as much of a fantasy as a boy pulling a magical sword from a stone. So why does the character of Arthur still endure? I talk with Arthurian scholars Martha Bayless, Elizabeth Archibald and Ingrid Nelson about why we can never forget that for one brief shining moment, there was a Camelot – even if there probably never was a Camelot.

Today's episode is brought to you by Faraway Stories from Amazon, and BetterHelp. Want to advertise/sponsor our show? We have partnered with AdvertiseCast to handle our advertising/sponsorship requests. They’re great to work with and will help you advertise on our show. Please email sales@advertisecast.com or click the link below to get started.

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Making Up Creatures (Special Edition) Dec 24, 2020

Every year, I like to play a full-length interview with a previous guest who had so much more to say than what I could fit into a particular topic. Last summer, I did an episode called Making Up Creatures where I talked with the creature designer Neill Gorton, who is best known for working on the reboot of Doctor Who and the BBC series Being Human. I talked with Neill about how he approached redesigning classic monsters he watched on Doctor Who as a child, why simplicity always beats spectacle when designing a new creature and what to focus on when working within a limited budget.

Today's episode is brought to you by Faraway, a new short story collection from Amazon, CovertKit and BetterHelp. Want to advertise/sponsor our show? We have partnered with AdvertiseCast to handle our advertising/sponsorship requests. They’re great to work with and will help you advertise on our show. Please email sales@advertisecast.com or click the link below to get started.

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Monsters of 2020 Dec 10, 2020

2020 has felt monstrous on so many levels. So, it’s no coincidence that two of the top grossing movies of the year were Jaws and Jurassic Park, mostly seen at drive-in theaters. Alex Shepard explains why the shark in Jaws embodied our feeling of a dread, and how the Mayor of Amity Island seemed to be the embodiment of every leader who dismissed the seriousness of COVID. Sean T. Collins explores whether the real villain of Jurassic Park was not the dinosaurs but capitalism. And I talk with journalist Rae Paoletta, along with my assistant producer Stephanie Billman, about the most insidious monster of 2020 -- the corrupt and adorable oligarch Tom Nook who put every Animal Crossing player in debt to him.

Today's episode is brought to you by Wondery's podcast Little Stories Everywhere, ConvertKit and BetterHelp. Want to advertise/sponsor our show? We have partnered with AdvertiseCast to handle our advertising/sponsorship requests. They’re great to work with and will help you advertise on our show. Please email sales@advertisecast.com or click the link below to get started.

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Fan Films Go Pro Nov 26, 2020

Fan films allow filmmakers to tell stories set in the worlds of their favorite licensed characters, and fan films have taken off in recent years, thanks to affordable special effects and online distribution. Is that legal? Sort of. But the studios have learned it’s not worth upsetting their hardcore fans by suing them, according to copyright lawyer David Lizerbram. Indie Boom film festival director Anthony DeVito explains why he thinks fan films deserve the same respect as other indie productions. John Lim talks about playing Sulu on the bridge of The Enterprise circa 1966. And Rob Ayling breaks down his fan film, Living in Crime Alley, which puts The Dark Knight in precarious situation.

Star Trek: New Voyages

One Day I’ll Become

Power/Rangers Unauthorized (Bootleg Universe)

Bel-Air

Living in Crime Alley

Batman vs. Darth Vader (Alternative Ending)

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Fantasy in Translation Nov 12, 2020

Since we can’t pick up universal translators on The Enterprise or through the TARDIS, we have to rely on human translators to bring fantasy stories across cultures. We all know that something is always lost in translation, but what is gained when a story transitions from one language and culture to another? Chen Malul tells the story of Israeli pilots who translated The Hobbit while in captivity. Olga Zilberbourg remembers the Soviet version of The Wizard of Oz – which was very different from the original story. Emily Jin discusses the nuances of translating Chinese science fiction at a time when everyday life in China feels like sci-fi. And translators Gord Sellar and Jihyun Park explain how feminism revitalized SF literature in South Korea.

Stories mentioned in this episode:

National Center for the Preservation of Human Dignity

The Flowering

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Adulting with Cowboy Bebop Oct 29, 2020

The anime series Cowboy Bebop is currently being turned into a live-action series for Netflix, but Cowboy Bebop doesn’t need to be Americanized. The original series was already an homage to Western films and movies. Authors Roland Kelts and Matt Alt talk about how Cowboy Bebop fits into a very Japanese tradition of adopting and even improving upon aspects of foreign cultures. Evan Minto of Anime News Network explains why the show was groundbreaking. And Eric Vilas-Boas and John Maher of Dot + Line discuss how Cowboy Bebop had a huge impact on them as kids, even though it took them decades to understand the characters.

See You, Space Cowboy….

Matt Alt’s book “Pure Invention: How Japan’s Pop Culture Conquered the World.”

Roland Kelt’s book, “Japanamerica: How Japanese Culture Has Invaded the U.S.”

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Law & Order Superheroes Oct 15, 2020

You know the scene. A pair of muggers are in an alleyway when a superhero leaps down and beats them to a pulp. It’s a classic scenario, but in a year when we’re reassessing the role of law enforcement in the real world, is it time to reimagine the role of super-cops in fantasy worlds? I talk with prosecutor Patrick O’Connor and police officer Henry Wong about how Batman or The Punisher could better reflect the times. Matthew Westfox, co-host of the podcast Superhero Ethics, discusses the moral quandaries of Daredevil. Peter Nowak, author of “The Rise of Real-Life Superheroes,” explains why costumed crime fighters are no longer just in fiction, and we hear from The Grim and Violet Valkyrie, who actually patrol the streets of San Diego as their superhero alter-egos.

Today's episode is brought to you by EveryPlate, HelloFresh and BetterHelp.

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Fantasy and Fascism Oct 01, 2020

Fascism is a common theme in fantasy worlds, especially the rebels vs. evil empire scenario. But what can we learn from stories about encroaching fascism? I talk with journalists Lauren Davis, Damien G. Walter, professor Jason Dittmer and podcaster Stefan Sasse – who teaches history in Germany – about Star Wars, Game of Thrones, superheroes and how fantasy itself can be a dangerous tool for authoritarians.

Stefan also hosts The Boiled Leather Audio Hour podcast.

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Ahsoka Tano - A New Hope Sep 17, 2020

If you’re the type of Star Wars fan who knows the original trilogy by heart but hasn’t seen much else, Ahsoka Tano may be the most beloved Star Wars character you’ve never heard of. In the animated series Clone Wars, she was Anakin Skywalker’s padawan who became a legendary Jedi in her own right. And if the Internet rumors are true, she will make her live action debut played by Rosario Dawson in season 2 of The Mandalorian. I talk with entertainment journalists Lauren Davis and Amy Richau about how Ahsoka captured the imagination of Star Wars fans, and why she might be important to the future of the franchise. McKenna Fellows takes us into the world of Ahsoka cosplay, and designer Rachel Roth discusses why she created a couture dress based on Ahsoka’s costume.

See McKenna Fellows' cosplay of Ahsoka

See Rachel Roth's couture Ahsoka dress at the Her Universe Fashion Show

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Mission to Zyxx Sep 03, 2020

Mission to Zyxx is one of my favorite and highly bingeable podcasts. It’s a sci-fi audio drama (although very much a comedy) about a ragtag crew of space adventurers ranging from humans to aliens to robots. The actors are all improvisers. Every story and every line of dialogue is made up on the spot, but when layered with stereo soundscapes and effects, it sounds like they are worldbuilding on the fly. The show has made me LOL many times with its sly references to established sci-fi franchises, and I’m happy to share it with you.

Here is the Mission to Zyxx site for Episode 202: The New Norm [ft. Dru Johnston] with the cast list and other details.

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Doug Jones: Shapeshifter Aug 20, 2020

You've probably seen Doug Jones many times without realizing it because he is best known as a creature performer. You may have been moved by his performance as Saru in Star Trek: Discovery, captivated by his portrayal of The Amphibian Man in The Shape of Water or amazed by his dual roles as The Faun and The Pale Man in Pan’s Labyrinth. He is the Lon Chaney or Boris Karloff of our time. We talk with Doug Jones about how he got started, his approach to embodying an incredible array of non-human characters, and how he and director Guillermo del Toro developed a shorthand style of communication over six films.

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Dumbledore's Army (Updated) Aug 06, 2020

In 2016, I put out an episode about how JK Rowling’s themes in the Harry Potter series inspired a generation of progressive activists including Jackson Bird, who was the spokesperson for the Harry Potter Alliance. Jackson is also trans. Recently, JK Rowling has alienated many of her fans and supporters with her views on transgender rights. I catch up with Jackson Bird to discuss how he’s handling the cognitive dissonance of being inspired by the messages in the Harry Potter books while feeling profound disappointment in JK Rowling.

Jackson Bird’s Op-Ed response to JK Rowling in The New York Times

Responding to JK Rowlings Essay | Is It Anti-Trans? by Jamie Raines and Shaaba

Harry Potter Saved My Life. J.K. Rowling Is Now Endangering Trans People Like Me by Kacen Callender

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Inverting Lovecraft Jul 23, 2020

The works of H. P. Lovecraft have inspired a number of Black creators and other writers of color, from the new HBO series Lovecraft Country to the novella The Ballad of Black Tom. What’s so surprising about Lovecraft’s newfound relevance is that he was exceptionally racist, and racism was folded into his stories. In the era of cancel culture, there are few people more apt to be cancelled than Lovecraft. So why are so many writers, filmmakers, and even game designers of color using Lovecraft’s mythology to illustrate the experience of being a marginalized person? I talk with novelist Victor LaValle, novelist Premee Mohamed, Michigan State University professor Kinitra Brooks, and UCR Irvine professor and illustrator John Jennings about how to separate a bigoted writer from his brilliant mythology. Also featuring readings by actor Varick Boyd.

The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle:

Beneath the Rising by Premee Mohamed

Box of Bones by John Jennings and Ayize Jama Everett

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Once and Future Comic Con Jul 09, 2020

San Diego Comic Con is the high holiday of geekiness where fans converge to cosplay, buy collectables, show their appreciation to creators, and be the first to hear big announcements and see upcoming trailers. But the road from obscurity to cultural domination hasn’t always been smooth. In a year where the future of fan conventions is in doubt, we look back at the history of Comic Con and what it might look like in a COVID-19 world. Featuring filmmaker Eric Brammer, journalist Rob Salkowitz, and University of Oregon professor and author Erin Hanna.

“Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture: What the World’s Wildest Trade Show Can Tell Us About the Future of Entertainment” by Rob Salkowitz

“Only at Comic-Con: Hollywood, Fans, and the Limits of Exclusivity” by Erin Hanna

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Making Up Creatures Jun 25, 2020

If we ever make contact with aliens, they probably won’t look like humans with pointy ears or bumpy noses, but creature makeup design is more about communicating ideas. I talk with creature and makeup designers Steve Wang (Predator, Planet of the Apes, Underworld, Gremlins,) and Neill Gorton (Doctor Who, Torchwood, Being Human, Watchmen) about the process of turning a human actor into something convincingly non-human. Also, Rosemary Chalmers of Leeds Arts University explains why she wishes more creature designers would look more to the natural world for inspiration.

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Larping in Place Jun 11, 2020

Live theater has been shut down across the country, but live action role play (“larp” for short) is finding new ways to thrive in digital spaces. I talk with Betsy Isaacson and Ryan Hart of Sinking Ship Creations about how the phone can be turned into a medium for audio drama. Carly Dwyer and Jasmine Kimieye Graham explain how anyone can feel empowered when working in I.T., especially when it’s a Magical Help Desk. Tiffany Keane Schaefer discovers that Zoom is the perfect medium to tell stories about space travel, and game designer Jessica Creane discovers that her interactive show Chaos Theory can be tailor-made for the current moment.

https://www.imaginaryworldspodcast.org/how-i-won-the-larp.html

Sinking Ship Creations:

https://www.sinkingshipcreations.com/all-events

Intramersive Media:

https://www.intramersive.com/magical-help-desk

Otherworld Theatre:

https://www.otherworldtheatre.org/larp

Chaos Theory:

https://www.jessicacreane.com/chaos-theory.html

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Time Travel Therapy May 28, 2020

Time travel is one of my favorite genres, and it’s also my go-to daydream. But I’ve begun to wonder whether time travel fantasies are a psychologically unhealthy way of avoiding problems in the present, or a helpful way of putting the present moment into sharper focus. I talk with authors Charles Yu, Vandana Singh, and editor Ann VanderMeer about the themes of loss and love in time travel narratives. And professors Antonio Cordoba and Concepcion Carmen Cascajosa Virino explain how the Spanish sci-fi show Ministry of Time (a.k.a. El Ministerio del Tiempo) became a therapeutic outlet for a nation still processing a long history of trauma and disappointments. Featuring readings by actor Woody Fu.

The Time Traveler’s Almanac: A Time Travel Anthology

https://www.amazon.com/Time-Travelers-Almanac-Travel-Anthology/dp/0765374242

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe

https://www.amazon.com/Live-Safely-Science-Fictional-Universe/dp/0307739457

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The Curse of The Curse May 14, 2020

When things go wrong, it’s tempting to say something’s cursed as a joke. But when things go dreadfully wrong on horror movie sets, some fans have speculated that the films were literally cursed. Jay Cheel talks about his new documentary series “Cursed Films,” which explores why people believe the cast and crew of The Exorcist, The Omen, and other horror films were targeted by demonic forces. Special effects artist Craig Reardon and director Gary Sherman separate fact from fiction with the alleged Poltergeist curse. And I talk with professor Brandon Grafius, author of “Reading the Bible with Horror,” about why religion can prompt us to believe in curses.

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Toy Stories Apr 30, 2020

Many of us have imaginary friends when we’re young in the guise of a doll, stuffed animal or toy that give us a sense of comfort. Then we grow out of those characters – or at least we’re supposed to. We asked our listeners to tell us about their favorite childhood toys that are still around and providing them with a sense of comfort and security during the global health crisis. Featuring Nancy Farnsworth, Steve Romenesko, Jen Cresswell, Jean Klare and the artist Jennifer Maher Coleman who paints portraits of childhood toys.

Jennifer’s site Your Toy Portrait:

https://yourtoyportrait.com/category/toyportraits/

Jennifer and her husband’s band Architrave:

https://architrave.bandcamp.com/

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Solarpunk the Future Apr 16, 2020

Cyberpunk was cool. Steampunk was hip. Get ready for Solarpunk. This new emerging genre of art and fiction imagines a future where DIY environmental sustainability dictates the design of everything from skyscraper farms to homemade fashion. The writer Adam Flynn, magazine editors Scot and Jane Noel, writer Sarena Ulibarri, and game designer Keisha Howard discuss how we can create the future we want by inspiring people with science fiction, and why being anti-dystopia doesn’t mean they believe in utopias. Featuring readings by Vanessa Bellow.

DreamForge magazine:

https://dreamforge.mywebportal.app/

Glass and Gardens Summers and Winters:

http://www.sarenaulibarri.com/editing.html

Notes Towards a Solarpunk Manifesto:

https://hieroglyph.asu.edu/2014/09/solarpunk-notes-toward-a-manifesto/

Sugar Gamers:

https://sugargamers.com/

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Fighting a Virtual Pandemic Apr 02, 2020

In 2005, the multiplayer online game World of Warcraft was taken over by a virus called Corrupted Blood, and the virtual pandemic in this fantasy world played out remarkably like COVID-19. I talk with epidemiologist and gamer Eric Lofgren, NYU game design instructor Alexander King and longtime player Virginia Wilkerson about the parallels between the pandemic in World of Warcraft the one we’re facing in the real world, and what lessons we can learn by studying how players reacted to a virtual virus.

Also if you want to submit a story for our upcoming toys episode, email us at contact@imaginaryworldspodcast.org

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Retcon-apalooza Mar 19, 2020

We're craving an escape into our favorite fantasy worlds, but fans are complaining that all the "retconning" is ruining their suspension of disbelief. Why is retroactive continuity so controversial? Olivia Dolphin and Hayley Milliman discuss how JK Rowling’s decrees have unraveled The Potterverse. Nick Randall and Mac Rogers grapple with recent revelations in Doctor Who. Laurie Ulster defends Star Trek’s familial reshuffling, I try to make sense of the Star Wars canon, and author Andrew J. Friedenthal explains why rewriting the history of fantasy worlds is similar to revising history in real life.

Here’s a link to Andrew’s book on retconning:

https://www.amazon.com/Retcon-Game-Retroactive-Continuity-Hyperlinking/dp/1496811321

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Making The Good Places Better Mar 05, 2020

The Good Place just ended after four critically acclaimed seasons, and it was one of several recent TV shows to imagine the afterlife as being far from paradise. Pastor and podcaster JR Forasteros and author Greg Garrett explore why pop culture heavens are being depicted as bureaucracies where the angels are overwhelmed or lost sight of their mission. And Todd May describes what it was like being a philosophy consultant on The Good Place.

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Truth, Justice and The American Way Feb 20, 2020

Tracing the history of the superhero genre can reveal a lot about how we understand our own history, and how history gets whitewashed. Shawn Taylor, John Jennings and Art Burton look at how black superheroes evolved from a black Wild West lawman to HBO's Watchmen. And I talk with John Valadez about Mexican American masked vigilantes who may have inspired Zorro, and other masked heroes.

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2001: A Filmmaking Odyssey Feb 06, 2020

2001: A Space Odyssey is considered a masterpiece, and a game changer for sci-fi on film. But the movie had a tumultuous origin story, and it was initially scorned by critics. Barbara Miller of The Museum of The Moving Image walks me through their new exhibit on the making of 2001. And I talk with author Michael Benson, actor Keir Dullea and Stanley Kubrick’s daughter Katharina about how Kubrick and his collaborator Arthur C. Clarke reached for the stars, but felt lost in space as they struggled to finish this incredibly ambitious project.

Here’s the link to Michael Benson’s book:

https://www.amazon.com/Space-Odyssey-Stanley-Kubrick-Masterpiece/dp/1501163930

Here’s a link the Museum of the Moving Image’s 2001 exhibit:

http://www.movingimage.us/exhibitions/2020/01/18/detail/envisioning-2001-stanley-kubricks-space-odyssey/

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Queen of Tarot Jan 23, 2020

When it comes to tarot cards, there is an artistry to designing a world of emperors, fools, priestesses, hermits and other iconic figures. But few people know about Pamela Colman Smith, the woman who illustrated the best selling deck of all time. Professor Elizabeth Foley O’Connor and author Susan Wands explain why Pamela Colman Smith was uniquely suited to design tarot cards that stimulate our intuition and our imagination – and how figures on the Rider-Waite (a.k.a. Smith-Waite) deck are based on a real troupe of famous actors, including Bram Stoker.

Here's the link to Susan Wands' novel about Pamela Colman Smith:

https://www.amazon.com/Magician-Fool-Susan-Wands/dp/1999764676

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Fear of The Borg Jan 09, 2020

Patrick Stewart is reprising his role as Jean-Luc Picard in the new TV series “Picard,” where the writers have promised a very different storyline on his arch nemesis The Borg. In our final installment on villains, we discuss why The Borg are a unique existential threat to the Star Trek ethos with the help of three academics who combine science fiction with philosophy in their courses. Featuring Kevin Decker and Christina Valeo of Eastern Washington University and Shawn Taylor of San Francisco State University.

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In Defense of The Star Wars Holiday Special Dec 25, 2019

As far as Star Wars fans are concerned, there is no greater hive of scum and villainy than the 1978 made-for-TV Star Wars Holiday Special. The musical variety program, which centered on Chewbacca’s family, is considered a hokey, misguided embarrassment. But entertainment writer Bonnie Burton and comedian Alex Schmidt think there’s something to love about The Holiday Special -- and it may be in canon after all.

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Can Villains Be Good? Dec 12, 2019

What does it take for a villain to be redeemed? That’s not a theoretical question when that villain is Kylo Ren who may or may not be redeemed in Star Wars Episode IX. I talk with Charles Pulliam-Moore, JR Forasteros, Scott Tipton and Andrea Letamendi about some of the most and least convincing villain turnarounds, and whether we can have empathy for the devil. Part 2 of 2.

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My So Called Evil Plan Nov 27, 2019

Villains are having a moment. They’re getting their own movies, they’re inspiring hashtags that say they’re right. And they don’t want to take over the world. They want to save it -- at a very high cost. I talk with writers and podcasters Charles Pulliam-Moore, JR Forasteros and Bruce Leslie about woke villains, and what their popularity says about our frustrations in the real world. Part 1 of 2.

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Under a Red Moon Nov 14, 2019

Ronald D. Moore is probably best known for rebooting Battlestar Galactica as a gritty political commentary in the early 2000s. His latest show For All Mankind on AppleTV Plus imagines what if the Soviet Union had beaten the U.S. in the space race and planted the hammer and sickle flag on the moon. But Moore spins that nightmare scenario into a positive alternative history where a newly invigorated space race not only gives NASA the budget it wanted in the 1970s, but it forces the agency to be far more inclusive than it actually was in real history.

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From Outer Space Oct 30, 2019

Think of an alien abduction: humanoid creatures, medical experiments, lost memories brought back by hypnosis. But that narrative was largely unknown until Betty and Barney Hill went public about their alien abduction in the 1960s. Betty Hill’s niece, Kathleen Marden, tells the story of how her aunt and uncle became unwitting celebrities, and professors Susan Lepselter, Chris Bader, Joseph O. Baker and Stephanie Kelley-Romano explain how the story of the Hills changed UFO subculture and science fiction forever.

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Talking to the Dead Oct 16, 2019

Jason Suran wants you to know he can’t talk to the dead. Then he will convince you that he can. In Suran’s show, The Other Side, he recreates a theatrical type of séance that departed American culture almost a century ago. And he believes that experiencing the way people tried to contact the departed can reveal a lot about our deepest desires and fears. Plus David Jaher, author of The Witch of Lime Street, discusses how séances became all the rage in America until Harry Houdini made it his life’s mission to debunk them.

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Scoring Godzilla Oct 02, 2019

We all know Godzilla’s iconic roar, but the musician who scored Godzilla's rampages is not as well known. The composer Akira Ifukube’s collaboration with the director Ishiro Honda is fascinating because the two men had different ideas of what Godzilla represented. Honda filmed Godzilla as a monster, but Ifukube saw Godzilla as an anti-hero. Erik Homenick, John DeSentis, and Reiko Yamada explain how this artistic conversation between the music and the visuals added layers of depth that helped turn a monster into an icon.

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Ends of Evangelion Sep 18, 2019

One of the most popular anime series just became widely available when Netflix started streaming Neon Genesis Evangelion. Evangelion is also infamous for having several different endings -- and a fandom that has a contentious relationship with the series creator Hideaki Anno. Nate Ming, Vrai Kaiser, Aaron Clark, Gene Park, and Heather Anne Campbell discuss how Evangelion tackled important issues like anxiety, depression, masculinity and sexuality while finding time for kids to get inside giant robots and fight giant aliens.

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Actors with Pencils Sep 04, 2019

Walt Disney pioneered the art of hand drawn animation, but it was really his top animators, “The Nine Old Men,” who were responsible for developing the art form. Andreas Deja, who animated Scar and Jafar, talks about being trained by The Nine Old Men and the pressure of living up to their legacy. John Canemaker explains why hand drawn feature animation is a lost art in Hollywood, and Jerry Beck sees a renaissance of 2D animation lurking beyond the “live action” Disney remakes.

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The Booj Aug 21, 2019

Movie trailers have come a long way from the voice-of-God narrators in the ‘80s and ‘90s. So why do the big budget sci-fi fantasy trailers still all feel the same? This week, we're featuring a fun episode from the podcast Twenty Thousand Hertz, where their host Dallas Taylor talks with James Deaville about the history of trailers. Plus, YouTuber Craven Moorhaus breaks down the elements of blockbuster trailers to the point where you’ll never watch trailers the same way again.

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Superheroes in the Ring Aug 07, 2019

Mexican wrestling (aka Lucha Libre) has a lot in common with the superhero genre, but trying to be a superhero in real life has its own set of challenges. I talk with wrestlers (aka luchadors) about the joy of being both famous and anonymous. Photographer Lourdes Grobet reveals how she went behind-the-scenes with luchadors without exposing their identities, and author Heather Levi reveals the unusual origin of the iconic Lucha Libre mask. Special thanks to Neuva Era Lucha Productions and The Bronx Wrestling Federation.

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Dirk Maggs Jul 25, 2019

I talked with legendary audio drama producer Dirk Maggs for an episode about the history of radio dramas last year-- but a lot of great material ended up on the proverbial cutting room floor. So I’m presenting a full version of our conversation, where we discuss how he brought major franchises like Batman, Alien and The X-Files to audio drama, and how he brought The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy back to radio. And he reveals a few secrets of audio production on how to trick the brain into seeing what’s not there.

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The Undertaker Jul 11, 2019

He's one of the most popular pro-wrestlers of all time, but Mark Calaway’s undead character The Undertaker is also an anachronism from a different era of wrestling. Today WWE performers rely more on their real life personalities than invented personas, and yet The Undertaker has continued his supernatural reign in the ring for nearly three decades. Journalist Chad Dundas and professors Charles Westmoreland and Christopher Stacey put The Undertaker’s remarkable career in context, and explore why his appeal can never truly die.

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Hero Props vs. Fake Props Jun 26, 2019

Imagine walking into your living room, and alongside your couch is a prop from one of your favorite childhood movies. Sure, it was costly but this is a piece of pop culture history, and it's right here in your home. Now imagine you found out that prop was a fake. I talk with prop collectors Tiana Armstrong, Wesley Cannon, prop appraiser Laura Woolley, prop maker Ross MacDonald, and museum curator Jacob MacMurray about the dark web of swindlers and forgers who prey on sci-fi fantasy fans.

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Nerdlesque Jun 12, 2019

Burlesque has merged with geek culture to form nerdlesque – where characters from familiar fantasy franchises strip down to pasties and g-strings. Nerdlesque is also a form of storytelling, similar to fanfiction or cosplay in the way it encompasses a diverse range of fans, and re-imagines the power dynamics of the original stories. We talk with nerdlesque performers Fem Appeal and Nasty Canasta, and we get a back stage tour of The Empire Strips Back with Russall Beattie, Lisa Toyer and Kael Murray. FYI: This episode contains adult content with adult language.

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Sidekicks: Harley Quinn May 29, 2019

In the conclusion of our mini-series on sidekicks, we look at how Harley Quinn began as a sidekick to a villain, and found her way to the heart of the DC canon and fandoms around the world. Nicole Herviou of ComicsVerse and journalist Lux Alptraum discuss how the relationship between Harley Quinn and The Joker mirrors abusive relationships in real life. And I talk with comic book creators Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner about how they separated Harley from her toxic boyfriend, and set the character on a new path.

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Sidekicks: Tonto and Kato May 15, 2019

In part two of our mini series on sidekicks, we look at two characters that have travelled in parallel since they came out of the same radio station in the 1930s – Tonto and Kato. There wasn’t anything authentically Native American or Asian about these characters, but that didn’t matter to the audiences who enjoyed their team-ups with The Lone Ranger and The Green Hornet. Embodying Tonto and Kato was a lot more challenging for the actors Jay Silverheels and Bruce Lee, who struggled to find humanity within the stereotypes and respect behind the scenes.

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Sidekicks: Watson May 01, 2019

To kick off our mini-series on sidekicks, we look at the most iconic and long-standing sidekick in pop culture: Doctor Watson. For 130 years, Watson has always found a place next to Sherlock Holmes. But as contemporary storytellers play with Watson’s race, gender, and nationality, new facets of the character have emerged that shed light on why Watson is indispensable not just for Holmes, but for the audience as well. Featuring Professor Neil McCaw of the University of Winchester, Professor Pamela Bedore of UConn, and the novelist Lyndsay Faye.

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Rod Serling's Key of Imagination Apr 17, 2019

Witness if you will a writer: Rod Serling. This is the story of a man with a vision -- a vision of what television could be if only men ceased to operate out of fear and greed. But Rod Serling has a plan. He will use the camouflage of monsters, both real and imagined, to reveal what cannot be said about society, and what Mr. Serling himself cannot say about his own fears and regrets. And those monsters dwell in a state of mind called . . . The Twilight Zone.

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The Hero's Journey Endgame Apr 03, 2019

Ever since George Lucas cited Joseph Campbell’s 1949 book, “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” as the inspiration for Star Wars, Hollywood screenwriters have used Campbell’s theory of The Hero’s Journey as the blueprint for making movies, especially stories about epic protagonists. But as we reach a saturation point of sci-fi fantasy and superhero franchises, has The Hero’s Journey outstayed its welcome? I talk with pop culture journalist Abraham Riesman, and musical composer Peter J. Casey, who explains how The Hero’s Journey took over Broadway.

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Slaughterhouse at Fifty Mar 20, 2019

50 years ago this month, Kurt Vonnegut introduced Billy Pilgrim and the aliens who gave him time traveling powers in his novel Slaughterhouse Five. Many critics were baffled as to why Vonnegut used sci-fi tropes to explore the horrors of World War II. But the novel was deeply personal to him. Vonnegut experts Marc Leeds, William Rodney Allen and Julia Whitehead connect the dots from the author’s real traumas to the fantastical adventures of Billy Pilgrim. And professor Philip Beidler explains why the novel speaks to him as a Vietnam veteran.

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Tales of Margaret Brundage Mar 07, 2019

In the 1930s Margaret Brundage was the hottest pulp fiction magazine illustrator. She primarily painted covers for Weird Tales magazine, which published the works of Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft and other pioneering genre writers. I talk with experts George Hagenauer, Lauren Stump and Steve Korshak of the Korshak Collection about why Brundage’s work was so alluring, and how it taps into current questions about how women are depicted in fantasy worlds. And tattoo artist Mary Joy Scott explains why Brundage had an influence on the art of tattooing.

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The Man Behind the Sword Feb 21, 2019

Conan the Barbarian is generally thought of as a muscle-bound brute who fights his way through a made-up ancient world. But the character actually has a deep, rich history. I talk with experts Rusty Burke, David C. Smith, Jeffrey Shanks, Jonas Prida, and Nicole Emmelhainz about why Conan the Barbarian is more relevant than ever, and how the character's journey reflects the author Robert E. Howard's real life struggles.

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The Power of the Makeover Mage Feb 07, 2019

In some video games, you can choose which character you want to play, and you can customize the look of those characters. For many transgender players, that option played a significant role in their lives. Reporter and podcaster Jaye McAuliffe co-hosts this episode, as she reflects on her own gender transition and the experience of others who discovered that they can use video game avatars to begin reimagining themselves in the real world.

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Choose Your Own Adventure Jan 24, 2019

One of the unique aspects of video games is that you can control the characters. But game developers are often torn between wanting to give the players as much freedom as possible, and wanting to guide the players through a strong story. Adam Hines tries to crack the code with his indie game Oxen Free. Ryan Kaufman and Alyssa Finley discuss why the Telltale games were more like Choose Your Own Emotions. And psychologist Jamie Madigan explains how role-playing video games can help strength our sense of morality.

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Reimagining the Gods Jan 10, 2019

Madeline Miller received critical acclaim for her novels The Song of Achilles and Circe – which reimagine The Iliad and The Odyssey told from the perspective of minor characters in the original texts by Homer. As someone who grew up loving Greek myths, she wanted to capture the sense of wonder she felt about them, and the raw emotional truth inside those very human tales of immortal beings. But she struggled for years to find a modern voice for these classical characters, and rewriting Homer was daunting task.

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A Visit by Three Ghosts Dec 24, 2018

In a special stocking stuffer of an episode, Stephanie Billman and I discuss why A Christmas Carol set the template for SF stories to come -- from Back to the Future to X=Men. Plus, we have a special announcement about the future of Imaginary Worlds! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Board Games Go Indie Dec 13, 2018

We all grow up playing board games and card games, and now those games are growing up as well. I check out BostonFIG (festival of independent games), where a new generation of indie board game designers is reimagining what we can do with dice, cards and plastic game pieces. I also talk with Shari and Jenni Spiro of AdMagic -- the company that can make unorthodox games like Cards Against Humanity and Exploding Kittens into household names. Plus, Dylan McKeefe at NYU's Game Incubator, and Luke Crane at Kickstarter explain why this is the perfect time for indie games to thrive.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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How I Won the Larp Nov 29, 2018

In my 2017 episode Winning the Larp, I looked at the history of larps (live action role plays) and how the larping experience is deeply personal for each of the players. But I hadn’t done any larps myself. So this year, I delved deep into larping, where I discovered the thrill of stepping into someone else’s world, and the out-of-body experience of feeling emotions that aren’t yours. Featuring Ashwick Planation, DexCon and Sinking Ship Creations, along with readings by George Morafetis, Nicole Greevy and Luisa Tripoli. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Alternate Movie Posters Nov 15, 2018

Long ago, before we found out about new movies from tweets about teaser trailers that advertised full-length trailers – the first glimpse of a new movie would be the poster. Movie posters used to be hand-drawn illustrations, and many of them became iconic. Not so much anymore. But a growing movement of artists, galleries and print companies are creating alternative movie posters that re-imagine ad campaigns for current and former blockbusters of sci-fi, fantasy and horror genres. I talk with Rob Jones and Eric Garza of Mondo, author Matthew Chojnacki and artists Matt Taylor, Sara Deck, Tracie Ching, and Tim Doyle about the art of alternative movie posters, and a business model that has become controversial. Here is the link to the episode page with a slideshow.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Faith in Fantasy Nov 01, 2018

Science fiction has not always been compatible with religion -- in fact many futuristic settings imagine no religion at all. But sci-fi and fantasy have long fascinated people of different faiths because the genres wrestle with the big questions of life. I recently moderated a discussion between Minister Oscar Sinclair, Rabbi Rachel Barenblat and Alwaez Hussein Rashid about why SF worlds intrigue and inspire them.

List of References: "Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R. TolkienX-Men comicsDoctor Who Season 6 Episode 13 “The Big Bang” “The Mists of Avalon” by Marion Zimmer Bradley Isaac Asimov, novelist“Speaker for the Dead” by Orson Scott Card “Rendezvous with Rama” by Arthur C. Clarke“Stranger in a Strange Land” by Robert Heinlein “Record of a Spaceborn Few” from The Wayfarers Series by Becky Chambers“Small Gods” by Terry Pratchett Octavia Butler, novelistStar Trek: Deep Space Nine- Broken Earth series by N.K. Jemisin Monstress comics by Marjorie Liu “Lucifer’s Hammer” by Larry NivenMelancholia, film by Lars von Trier The Dragonlance series by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman The Bloodprint Series by Ausma Khan“City of Brass” from The Daevabad series by S.A. Chakraborty Sabaa Tahir, novelistNarnia series by C.S. Lewis "Seven Commentaries on an Imperfect Land" by Ruthanna Emrys"The Sparrow" by Mary Doria RussellFirefly TV series “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” play by Jack Thorne

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Don't Mess with the Fairies Oct 18, 2018

Forget Tinkerbell or those Victorian paintings of spritely pixies with wings. Traditional fairy folklore is much darker and weirder. Irish storytellers Philip Byrne, Helena Byrne, Eddie Lenihan, and professor Martha Bayless explore how fairy folklore dominated Celtic culture for centuries, and why belief in fairies is not an unreasonable way of understanding the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Movies for the Mind Oct 04, 2018

There has been a renaissance of audio drama podcasts over the last several years, so picking up where I left off in the previous episode, I bring the history of audio dramas up to date with the help of Ann Heppermann, creator of The Sarah Awards for audio fiction. I also talk with Jonathan Mitchell of The Truth about the quest for realism and the pitfalls of fake interviews. Plus we hear the third audio drama that I wrote with The Truth, called "Nuclear Winter," about a pair of missile launch officers working in a silo that may be haunted. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Theater for the Mind Sep 19, 2018

The "golden age of radio drama" may have been a stellar period for storytelling -- but the stories weren't all golden bright. Science fiction and horror were the ideal genres to explore the deep anxieties people felt from the Depression through the Cold War. And these radio dramas set the stage for fantastical stories that couldn't be told yet without advanced special effects. Dallas Taylor of the podcast Twenty Thousand Hertz co-hosts this episode as we hear from radio historians Neil Verma and Richard J. Hand, and radio drama veterans Dirk Maggs and Richard Toscan. Plus Emory Braswell recalls the day he thought Martians had invaded New Jersey. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Fantastical Feasts Sep 05, 2018

What is the role of food in worldbuilding? Characters usually have to eat to stay alive -- but food is also culture, and if you're creating a fantasy culture, food will be an expression of those values. Chef Chelsea Monroe-Cassell talks about the origin of her fantasy cookbooks while chef Jenn de la Vega makes us a dish based on the novel "The Lies of Locke Lamora." Authors Elizabeth Bear and Fran Wilde break down the tropes and cliches around SF foods. Chef and author Jason Sheehan talks about his favorite dystopian food. And writer Scott Lynch reveals the fantasy beverage he's always wanted to try.Here's the episode show page with Jenn's Pears and Sausages recipe: https://www.imaginaryworldspodcast.org/fantastical-feasts.htmlLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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D&D Revisited Aug 23, 2018

Stubborn Lippi a.k.a. Stubbs is a halfling, a bard, and a sorcerer. He's also the character I've been playing since I produced my 2015 episode "Rolling the Twenty Sided Dice," where I learned how to play Dungeons & Dragons. This week, I discuss the epic and surprisingly personal journey I've been on over the past three years with my co-player Adam Boretz and our Dungeon Master Arlin Foley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Fanfiction (Special Edition) Aug 09, 2018

Last year, I interviewed Francesca Coppa for my episode Fanfiction (Don't Judge.) She's the author of the book "The Fanfiction Reader," and one of the founders of the fanfic site Archive of Our Own. Francesca was such a great source of information that I always regretted the fascinating parts of our interview which ended up on the proverbial cutting room floor. So this week, I'm featuring a full version of our conversation -- ranging from the ancient roots of fanfiction to the reasons why a TV showrunner might anonymously publish fanfic of their own show.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Do You Speak Conlang? Jul 26, 2018

Sci-fi fantasy worlds often use constructed languages (or conlangs for short) as a worldbuilding tool that can make us believe the characters come from an ancient or alien culture. But art can take on a life of its own once it's released into the world -- and so do languages. Marc Okrand, inventor of the Klingon language, and David J. Peterson, inventor of the Dothraki language and The 100's Trigedasleng, talk about the surprises they encountered. I also talk with Lawrence M. Schoen of the Klingon Language Institute and Robyn Stewart, the language consultant for Star Trek: Discovery, about why the Klingon culture spilled over into the real world. And Jen Usellis -- a.k.a. Klingon Pop Warrior -- will give you a serious case of earworms, and we're not talking about the mind-controlling earworms from Star Trek II. To hear Matt Fiddler's episode from Very Bad Words on cursing in conlangs:http://www.verybadwords.com/shows/constructed-curses-in-sci-fi-fantasy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Imaginary Deaths Jul 12, 2018

Have you ever mourned the loss of a fictional character? It can be tough to get over, and difficult to convince people not caught up in that fictional world that your sense of mourning is valid. I talk with Tim Burke, Dawn Fancher, Maria Clara Santarosa, Megan Knox, Stephanie Billman, Leigh Foster and Daniel Skorka about how they've grieved the loss of their favorite characters from video games, novels, TV shows and movies. Plus Professor Jennifer Barnes explains the psychology behind why we feel a deep connection to make believe people. To hear more of Leigh Foster discussing the death of Tara and other LGBT characters on her podcast: https://lezhangoutpod.com/blog/2018/4/2/episode-15-bury-your-gaysTo watch Jennifer Barnes give a TEDx Talk on parasocial relationships: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22yoaiLYb7MLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Fahrenheit 451 Still Burns Jun 27, 2018

The writer Neil Gaiman first became entranced with Fahrenheit 451 as a kid, but he says the novel is the kind of masterpiece that seems like a different story every time you read it depending on where you are in life, or in history. I also talk with novelist Alice Hoffman and various Ray Bradbury scholars about why a book written in the McCarthy era still has a lot to say in the age of "fake news." And we hear from students at a high school in Texas about how Fahrenheit 451 reflects their own struggles fighting hate speech while honoring freedom of speech. A version of this episode originally aired on PRI's Studio 360 as part of their American Icons series. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Gathering the Magic Jun 14, 2018

At its core, Magic: The Gathering is a card game and your goal is to knock your opponent down to zero points. But Magic: The Gathering also has a deep mythology about an infinite number of parallel worlds. As Magic celebrates its 25th anniversary, I look at why this handheld card game has survived the onslaught of competition from digital games, and how the designers at Wizards of the Coast create a sense of character and worldbuilding within a non-sequential card game. Featuring Mark Rosewater, Brady Dommermuth, Alii Medwin, James Wyatt, Liz Leo and Nataniel Bael. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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The First Three Lives of Catherine Webb May 31, 2018

You may know her as Claire North, author of the best-selling novel "The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August." You might also know her as Kate Griffin, author of the urban fantasy series about modern day sorcerer Matthew Swift. You may have read her Horatio Lyle detective novels, which she published under her real name, Catherine Webb. But even if you haven't read any of her novels, you're in for a treat. I talk with Catherine Webb about being a wunderkind author who got published in high school, and why she might be on the verge of coming up with yet another pseudonym. Featuring readings by actress Robyn Kerr.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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The Westworld Experience May 17, 2018

To promote season 2 of Westworld, HBO recreated the fictional Wild West town from the TV show just outside Austin at the SXSW festival, and they hired actors to play androids who think they're living in the Old West -- just like the androids on the TV show. The SXSW Westworld Experience was advertised as "Live Without Limits." Unfortunately, some of the guests took that slogan to heart. Featuring actors Alan Nelson, Liz Waters and Courtney Rose Kline. Also professors Noson Yanofsky, James South and Kim Engels discuss why an ancient Greek philosophical debate ties back to Westworld, the New York Yankees and whether you chose to buy a Cinnamon Danish. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Jack Kirby's Marvels May 03, 2018

Avengers: Infinity War brought together characters from across the Marvel universe, but many of them already shared a common bond -- their creator Jack Kirby. While Kirby is best known for his intense drawing style, he was also a great storyteller who worked with Stan Lee to redefine what a comic book character could be. But their relationship was fraught. I talk with comic book experts Charles Hatfield, Mark Evanier, Randolph Hoppe, and Arlen Schumer about where we can see Jack Kirby's influence on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And I explore Kirby's childhood at the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Living in Space Apr 19, 2018

People have fantasized for ages about what it would be like to live in space -- whether it's living on the moon or Mars or on a space station. And if Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos achieve their goals with Space X and Blue Origin, life in space might not be science fiction anymore. I look at two different dreams of living outside the Earth and how close they are to becoming reality, from the impossibly curved space habitats of Gerard K. O'Neill to a city on the moon that might split apart. Featuring Robert Smith of the Space Studies Institute, artist Don Davis, and performers Jose Gonzales and Camille Hartmetz at Emerge, an annual event from Arizona State University's Center for Science and the Imagination.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Visions of Philip K. Dick Apr 05, 2018

Philip K. Dick is best known for his fiction that have been adapted to movies and TV shows like Blade Runner, Minority Report and Man in the High Castle. He wrote about multiple realities and fantastic worlds beyond the scope of our mundane everyday lives. But he also believed that he experienced one of those alternate realities in the winter of 1974. The problem is, he couldn't figure out which paranormal experience he had. Professor Richard Doyle, author Erik Davis and playwright Victoria Stewart discuss how one of the most influential science fiction authors of all time became a character in one of his own novels.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Stuck in the Uncanny Valley Mar 22, 2018

The holy grail for many animators is to create digital humans that can pass for the real thing -- in other words to cross the "uncanny valley." The problem is that the closer they get to realism, the more those almost-real humans repulse us. Blame evolution for that. I talk with Hal Hickel from ILM who brought Peter Cushing to life on Rogue One, Marianne Hayden who worked on games like The Last of Us and Uncharted for Naughty Dog studios, Vladimir Mastilovic from 3Lateral studios who worked on Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, and SVA instructor Terrence Masson about what it takes to cross that valley.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Remembering Ursula K. Le Guin Mar 08, 2018

Ursula K. Le Guin was a master storyteller who was best known for her "thought experiments" -- like what if there were a planet in which the inhabitants had no fixed gender? Or what if a man's dreams could alter reality around him? She was also a fearless critic, and a trailblazer. But she wasn't all that comfortable being on camera. That was the first of many challenges facing filmmaker Arwen Curry, who was determined to make a documentary about the author. I talked with Arwen about her film, Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin, and how her subject became a mentor and a friend. (Correction from Arwen Curry: Ursula Le Guin had 3 brothers not 4, and the film will likely be on TV next Spring rather than the Fall.)Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Behind the Daleks Feb 22, 2018

They may not look scary to you, but the monsters on Doctor Who have scared generations of children to the point where hiding "behind the sofa" has become a meme in the UK. When I first started watching the show, I was baffled by one particular villain -- The Daleks. I didn't understand why they were The Doctor's arch nemesis, or why they were such a cultural phenomenon. After I learned more about their backstory, I began to realize that Doctor Who wouldn't work without them. Featuring Robin Bunce, Frank Collins, Nick Randell, Alyssa Franke, and cognitive scientists Deirdre Kelly and Jim Davies -- who debate whether it's worse to face a Dalek invasion or an invasion by the other big bad in the Doctor Who universe, The Cybermen. (This is the last episode in a three-part miniseries on Doctor Who.)Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Traveling in The TARDIS Feb 08, 2018

If The Doctor offered you a spot traveling with him on his spaceship/time machine The TARDIS, would you go? Would you still go if you knew what happened to all his previous companions? For many Doctor Who fans the answer to both questions is unequivocally yes. Traveling in the TARDIS will blow open your knowledge of the universe -- but you'll change in ways you can't begin to predict. In the second of my three-part series on Doctor Who, I look at whether The Doctor's companions are better off in the end, and why. Featuring Sarita Robinson, Emily Asher-Perrin, Alyssa Franke, Frank Collins, Nick Randell and Mac Rogers. Warning: spoilers ahead!Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Doctor Who? Jan 25, 2018

We don't know his real name. We don't know who he was before he stole the TARDIS -- a spaceship/time machine that looks like a police box on the outside, but is really a cavernous ship on the inside. He's thousands of years old, but wears a different face every few years. He calls himself The Doctor, but Doctor who? In the first of my three-part series, I look at how a restless intergalactic time traveller became a global pop culture icon, and why The Doctor's knack for physical regeneration resonates with fans on a more personal level. Featuring Andy Heidel, Nick Randell, Robin Bunce, Mac Rogers, Emily Asher-Perrin, Riley Silverman and Kelsey Jefferson Barrett. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Brain Chemistry Jan 11, 2018

For the past year, I've been working with The Truth, an audio drama collective that makes "movies for your ears." In the second story that I wrote with them, a cryogenically-frozen man is revived over a century from now to find himself in a world that's not quite what he expected. How do you forge ahead in a future that considers you a relic? Featuring Scott Adsit (30 Rock), Amy Warren (Boardwalk Empire), Billy Griffin Jr. (Black Mirror) and Ed Herbstman (The Big Sick). Produced and directed by Jonathan Mitchell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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The Canon Revisited Dec 28, 2017

The Last Jedi may be the most controversial film in the Star Wars series. While the movie has been critically acclaimed, many Star Wars fans have argued that the film violated canon in a number of ways, especially how it depicted Luke Skywalker. This week, I revisit my 2014 episode "The Canon," and I have a follow-up conversation with Rabbi Ben Newman about the state of the Star Wars canon. Until now, Ben and I had been on the same page about the new films, but like many fans, we found ourselves at odds when evaluating The Last Jedi. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Politics of The Expanse Dec 14, 2017

The Expanse novels by James S.A. Corey (the pseudonym for writers Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham) imagine how human beings would colonize our solar system, with settlements on Mars, the asteroid belt and the moons beyond. But Earth looses control of its vast empire, and the colonies break into warring factions. The books are international best-sellers and the TV adaptation on the Syfy network has been critically acclaimed. Ty Franck, Daniel Abraham and one of the show's producers Mark Fergus discuss how The Expanse was developed, and why its underlying message feels more urgent than ever. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Robot Collar Jobs Nov 30, 2017

Are we prepared for a future where robots are the most sought after employees? Maybe not. Lawmakers will blame anything but automation for job losses and flat wages -- but sci-fi writers are up to the challenge. In her debut novel Autonomous, Annalee Newitz imagines humans taking designer drugs to try and compete with A.I. for jobs. Lee Konstantinou writes about the last worker at a pit stop for self-driving trucks. And the authors of The Expanse depict a future where under-employed Earthers leave for a rugged life in space. Also featuring Arizona State University professor Ed Finn, and Erik Bergmann lending his voice for dramatic readings.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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On The Front Lines of Fantasy Nov 16, 2017

The military shows up in a lot of sci-fi and fantasy stories but the subgenre of military SF depicts soldiers holding their own in fantastical situations without needing superheroes to save the day. Many military SF authors have served in the armed forces and bring a sense of verisimilitude to depicting their experiences, even if the stories are about futuristic high-tech or alien invasions. I talk with authors Myke Cole, Linda Nagata and Taylor Anderson about whether military SF has a mission beyond entertainment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Fanfiction (Don't Judge) Nov 02, 2017

Sci-fi and fantasy have always been a big part of fanfiction, but fanfiction hasn't always gotten respect in return. My former colleague at WNYC Stephanie Billman guides me through the landscape of fanfiction, debunking many of my preconceptions. We talk with Francesca Coppa, author of The Fanfiction Reader and one of the creators of the fanfic site Archive of Our Own. Britta Lundin, a writer on the CW's Riverdale, explains why writing fanfiction was a great way to train for writing TV. And fanfiction writer Savannah Stoehr explains why Kirk/Spock is the great love story of our time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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The Haunted Mansion Oct 19, 2017

The Haunted Mansion is one of the most beloved rides at the Disney theme parks, yet its development was anything but smooth. Walt Disney himself could never decide if the ride should be funny or scary, so he assigned "Imagineers" to develop both aspects. But the team fell into competing groups that argued for over a decade. Author Jeff Baham of the site Doom Buggies and David Mumpower of the site Theme Park Tourist explain how this tortured creative process lead to a masterpiece in theme park design. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Rappers with Arm Cannons Oct 05, 2017

In the second of my two-part episode on musical worlds, I talk with Mega Ran and Sammus -- hip hop artists that create concept albums based on the classic video games Mega Man and Metroid. They talk about the challenge of creating an imaginary world in music from someone else's source material, and why they identify with the struggles of 8-bit characters that fight their way through the world with arm cannons.Also, please fill out Panoply's annual survey -- it helps the company know how to better serve our listeners. Thanks! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Worldbuilding With Music Sep 21, 2017

In the first of a two part episode on imaginary worlds in music, I talk with members of Vertigo Drift, an indie band that created a cyberpunk concept album with an expanded universe of material provided by visual artists, writers and filmmakers. While the group is influenced by concept albums of the past like The Who's Tommy or Plastic Beach by Gorillaz -- their true inspiration comes from sci-fi fantasy worlds, especially tabletop role-playing games. I visited Trevor Walker, Mark Ayesh and Mike Forsyth at their underground studio in Queens to find out how their debut album "Phase 3" came together. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Technobabble Sep 07, 2017

This week, I team up with Helen Zaltzman of The Allusionist podcast to help me figure out why one set of poorly understood pseudo-scientific terms can sink a scene, while another set of pseudo-scientific phrases can sell a sci-fi concept. We'll hear from physicist Katie Mack -- who hates technobabble -- and Jennifer Ouellette who plays matchmaker between scientists and Hollywood directors that want to sell their mumbo jumbo with real science. And "Timescape" author Gregory Benford tells the story of tachyons, and how an obscure theoretical particle became a technobabble meme. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Future Screens Are Mostly Blue Aug 24, 2017

This week, I'm playing one of my favorite episodes of the podcast 99% Invisible where host Roman Mars and producer Sam Greenspan look at control panels in science fiction -- the clunky, the elegant, and the just plain baffling. But those user interfaces have one thing in common: they're mostly blue. Chris Noessel and Nathan Shedroff also discuss the real-world lessons that designers should take from science fiction, and they come up with an intriguing theory as to why some of the most risible sci-fi user interfaces may not be so absurd. http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/future-screens-are-mostly-blue/Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Scott Snyder Aug 10, 2017

If the previous episode was all about villains, this one looks at the other side of that equation. In 2014 I interviewed the writer Scott Snyder whose run on Batman comics is considered one of the best in long history of the Dark Knight. It was a difficult interview to pare down, and a lot of good material ended up on the proverbial cutting room floor. So this week, I'm playing a fuller version of that conversation, which has always been one of my favorites. I was interested in Scott's approach to Batman because it's so personal to him -- not just as a longtime fan that finally got his dream job but in the way he infuses Bruce Wayne with his own hopes and fears. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Evil Plans Jul 27, 2017

They've tried to take over the world. They've tried to take away our free will. They've gone after ancient artifacts with vaguely defined magical properties. But they almost always fail. The evil plan has become a meta-joke to the point where even the villains themselves can't help but comment on all the tropes. Yet we keep watching movies and TV shows to see more evil plans hatched.. Honest Trailers head writer Spencer Gilbert and Vulture.com writer Abraham Riesman talk about why super villains shouldn't try so hard to be evil geniuses, and how the best evil plans make us wonder if we'd do the same thing in the villain's situation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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The Book of Dune Jul 12, 2017

Frank Herbert's 1965 novel Dune and its sequels tackled a lot of big themes. The books are about ecology. They're about journeys of self-realization through mind-altering substances. But religion is at the core of the series, since the main character Paul Atreides transforms from a teenage aristocrat into a messianic revolutionary leader of a nomadic desert tribe. And the real world religion that Frank Herbert borrows from the most is Islam. Khalid Baheyeldin, Salman Sayyid, and Sami Shah discuss why the book resonated deeply with them, despite the fact that Frank Herbert wasn't Muslim. And Liel Liebowitz explains why the novel even spoke to him as an Israeli.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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World War EVE Jun 29, 2017

EVE Online is a massive multi-player online role playing game, which means it's a game where there are no rules -- just a galaxy where you build space ships, form alliances and go to war. The Icelandic company CCP that created the game even attracted players with the motto: "Build Your Dreams. Wreck Theirs." And the war stories of EVE players are remarkable, like the Bloodbath of B-R5RB, where over $350,000 worth of digital spaceships were destroyed in a single day. So why do half a million people invest so much time and money into EVE, to the point where they're living a double life in a virtual galaxy?Also highly recommended reading -- Andrew Groen's book "Empires of Eve" -- which was about how the early wars in EVE were just as much a battle over what kind of game it's supposed to be. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Imagining the Internet Jun 15, 2017

We were promised flying cars but we got Twitter instead. That's the common complaint against science fiction writers and the visions of the future they presented us in the 20th century. But many sci-fi authors did envision something like the Internet and social media -- and we might be able to learn something about our time from the people who tried to imagine it. Cory Doctorow, Ada Palmer, Jo Walton and Arizona State University professor Ed Finn look at the cyberpunks and their predecessors, and artist Paul St. George talks about why he's fascinated by a Skype-like machine from the Victorian era. Featuring readings by Erik Bergmann.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Do The Voice Jun 01, 2017

There's been a recent resurgence of radio dramas or audio dramas over the past 5 years. I've done a few myself on Imaginary Worlds. So I was very flattered (and a little intimidated) when the highly regarded audio drama podcast The Truth asked me to write something for them. I worked with the group for months on a story about an animation voice actress whose cartoon alter ego has a mind of his own. We'll hear the final piece, and a conversation with The Truth's founder, Jonathan Mitchell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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The Real Twin Peaks May 17, 2017

Most people think of Twin Peaks as a place in their imaginations or on TV. But the show caused an identity crisis for the folks living in the towns where Twin Peaks was filmed. Kyle Twede, who owns Twede's Cafe which was a major location on the show, has to walk the line between being a real place and an imaginary one that caters to tourists. Dana Hubanks thinks David Lynch did capture something authentically dark about her hometown. And Cristie Coffing says whether the show captured the area is less important than the fact that it brought in a steady influx of tourists. But none of them were as disturbed by the show as Harry "Buzz" Teter. Not only did his hometown of Twin Peaks, CA resemble its TV counterpart -- but his late girlfriend shared many similarities with Laura Palmer, including her tragic fate.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Designing Bojack's World May 03, 2017

Lisa Hanawalt had finally established herself as a freelance illustrator when her friend Raphael Bob-Wakesburg asked to borrow one of her drawings to pitch his animated series Bojack Horseman, which eventually ended up on Netflix. To Lisa's surprise, she eventually found herself in Los Angeles, overseeing a crew of dozens of artists as they tried to build a consistent world around her drawings of animal people -- which in some ways weren't that different from the stuff she used to draw as a kid. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Healing Through Horror Apr 20, 2017

Steven Sheil grew up in the era of "video nasties" -- a pushback by conservatives in the UK to ban Hollywood slasher films before they could corrupt the youth. The effort backfired and made contraband films like The Evil Dead into hot commodities for impressionable youth like Steven. He grew up to become a horror filmmaker, but he never imagined the genre would help him deal with personal loss. Across the pond, Aaron Orbey wrote in The New Yorker about having a similar experience. Except in Aaron's case, he needed horror to remember a tragedy he was too young to fully experience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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New York 2140 Apr 06, 2017

Imagine you're a New Yorker in the mid 22nd century. You have to deal with all sorts of headaches like traffic jams on the East River or brownstones collapsing into the canals. People think you're crazy to live in this Super Venice, but you wouldn't want to be anywhere else. That's the world Kim Stanley Robinson imagines in his latest novel New York 2140. It's a hopeful vision of a future where people are doing their best to live normal lives while climate change radically alters everything around them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Beyond the Iron Curtain Mar 23, 2017

Comrades! The USSR pioneered the craft of science fiction long before the decadent West. This is not an opinion - this is a scientific fact. Noted intellectuals Anindita Banerjee, Sibelan Forrester, Asif Siddiqi, Gregory Afinogenov and the author's father Steven Molinsky discuss how the glorious Soviet people brought the Revolution to Mars, and used science fiction such as Aelita and Solaris to explore existential questions. Lenin lived, Lenin lives, Lenin will live forever in outer space!Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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The Spirit of Will Eisner Mar 09, 2017

Imaginary Worlds goes live in this special presentation from the work x work on air festival. In celebration of Will Eisner's centennial, authors Paul Levitz and Bob Andelman, along with comics publisher Denis Kitchen and MAD Magazine's Al Jaffee discuss at how Eisner redefined comics as an art form, and became the "father of the graphic novel." Then comics historian and author Danny Fingeroth, editor Joan Hilty, and artist Dean Haspiel explore Eisner's legacy today in a live panel discussion.http://willeisnerweek.com/Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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28 Days of Black Cosplay Feb 22, 2017

Cosplay has gotten huge in the age of social media, but when websites feature their ComicCon slides shows, they often don't reflect the true diversity of the fans. So black Cosplayers created their own hashtag #28DaysofBlackCosplay (although it was #29DaysofBlackCosplay on the leap year.) Harry and Gina Crosland of Pop Culture Uncovered talk about why they like putting an original spins on classic characters. Cosplayers Suqi and Brittnay N. Williams of the site Black Nerd Problems talk about finding their community, and having to call out Cosplayers who don't understand why blackface shouldn't be part of any costume. Special thanks to Monica Hunasikatti.blacknerdproblems.com popcultureuncovered.cominstagram.com/BrittanyActs instagram.com/mssuqiyomifacebook.com/BishopCosplay Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Growing Up Avatar-American Feb 08, 2017

Sam Kaden Lai takes the wheel of this episode of Imaginary Worlds to tell the story of how Avatar: The Last Airbender and its sequel series on Nickelodeon, The Legend of Korra, redefined the Asian-American experience for him and his friends -- even though there is no America in either series. With Mamatha Challa, Emily Tetri, Viet Hung, Elaine Wang, and Nhu Nyugen.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Winning the Larp Jan 26, 2017

Larp stands for Live Action Role Play. That's about as simple as it gets when trying to understand what Larps are. They can be fantastical and magical, or they can be hyper-realistic dramas that grapple with topical issues. And Larps are getting more popular -- maybe even on the verge of becoming mainstream. Game masters and Larpwrights Lizzie Stark, Evan Torner, Caroline Murphy and Eirik Fatland explain why playing pretend is the right cathartic outlet for our times; and why Larps may be redefining what we consider fiction or art. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Atari vs The Imagination Gap Jan 12, 2017

Tim Lapetino's book "The Art of Atari" is full of eye candy for anyone who grew up playing those games -- especially if you gazed at the game boxes, with illustrations that barely resembled the blips on screen. But the book also tells the story of how Atari invented the video game console as we know it, pioneered the lifestyle of the Silicon Valley start-up and kickstarted a billion dollar industry before Atari gobbled too much, ran smack into its own ghosts and flattened into a yellow pancake. With Atari veterans Steve Hendricks and Barney Huang. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Workin' on the Death Star Dec 15, 2016

Think of all the movies and TV shows that reference Star Wars. Most of those scenes are pretty forgettable -- except for a scene in the 1994 film Clerks, which set off a debate that's still going on today. One of the characters notes that the second Death Star in Return of the Jedi was still under construction when it got blown up. So there must have been independent contractors still trying to finish the job. Is it fair that they got killed along with the Imperial Army and the Stormtroopers? Judge Matthew Sciarrino, Josh Gilliland of the podcast Legal Geeks and economist Zachary Feinstein of Washington University in St. Louis discuss the value "good guys" should place on the lives of "bad guys." ** This is part VI is a series that will probably go on forever about the influence of Star Wars **Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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The Man In the High Castle Dec 01, 2016

The Amazon series The Man in the High Castle is based on a 1962 novel by Philip K. Dick, which imagines what would've happened to America if the Axis Powers won World War II. In this scenario, Nazi Germany imposes their ideology on the East Coast and the Midwest, while Japan rules the West Coast through cultural imperialism. The storytelling from director and executive producer Dan Percival is top notch, but the production design from Drew Boughton also takes center stage -- all posing the same disturbing question. How much would we resist fascism? Season 2 begins on December 16th. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Dumbledore's Army Nov 17, 2016

How much does an author's point of view influence her stories? And do those stories in turn influence us? Professor Anthony Gierzynski argues that reading Harry Potter can make people more tolerant of diversity, and more resistant to unreasonable authority. Andrew Slack, creator of the Harry Potter Alliance, explains how JK Rowling inspired him to want to change the world. And the HPA's Jackson Bird explains how being a political activist changed him in ways he never expected. ** This is part 6 in a 6-part series on magic and fantasy.**Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Caps Lock Harry Nov 03, 2016

Harry was being a jerk -- or that's what a lot of kids and teens thought when they read the last few books of JK Rowling's series. Some adult readers chocked up Harry's quick temper, anxiety and defensiveness to typical teen angst. But what if Harry Potter was suffering from PTSD? The writers July Westhale and Sarah Gailey explain how JK Rowling captured the nature of trauma, and why re-reading Harry Potter helped them heal. Also, Casper ter Kuile and Vanessa Zoltan of the podcast Harry Potter and the Sacred Text discuss the burden of being the boy who lived. ** This is part 5 of a 6-part series on magic and fantasy. **Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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The Sorting Hat Oct 19, 2016

Every 11-year old goes through this, right? Your teacher places a brown wizard's cap your head, and the hat tells you what your defining characteristic is. You are brave, or loyal, or ambitious, or intellectual. Plus, your whole school is sorted into personality types. If that were real life, parents and educators would be horrified -- but it's a fantasy that Harry Potter fans have thought about for years. James Madison University professor Elisabeth Gumnior, and Vanessa Zoltan and Casper ter Kuile of the podcast Harry Potter and the Sacred Text weigh in on the enduring appeal of the Sorting Hat at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Also featuring Kate Essig and Martin Cahill.** This is part four in a six-part series on magic and fantasy. **Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Magical Thinking Oct 06, 2016

Hocus Pocus. Abracadabra. Those words imply that magic is silly because it can solve problems far too easily. Fantasy novelists strive to avoid those types of situations when they design magic systems from scratch. Patrick Rothfuss (author of The Kingkiller Chronicle) explains how most magic systems can be divided into two camps: poetic magic and scientific magic. Tor critic Martin Cahill appreciates Rothfuss's work because he weaves both types of magic into his stories. And psychology professor Carol Nemeroff reveals why our brains are hardwired to believe in magical thinking. **This is part 3 in a 6 part series on magic and fantasy.**Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Fantasy Maps Sep 22, 2016

J.R.R. Tolkien not only kicked off the modern fantasy genre, he also made maps an indispensable part of any fantasy book. Tolkien spent decades mapping out Middle-earth on graph paper -- and giving everything a name -- because he was inventing a world from scratch. Many of his maps weren't even published until after he died, but today's fantasy cartographers owe a great debt to his work. They also have a post-modern understanding that to create a believable fantasy map, they have to sow doubt in the minds of readers as to whether we should trust the mapmakers. With Isaac Stewart, Priscilla Spencer, Ethan Gilsdorf and Stefan Ekman.** This is part 2 in a 6 part series on magic and fantasy.**Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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The Hobbits and The Hippies Sep 07, 2016

J.R.R. Tolkien wanted his work to be taken seriously. But his magnum opus The Lord of the Rings was unlike most of great literature of the mid-20th century, which was modernist or tackled the great issues of the day. And wasn't The Hobbit a children's book? The critics wondered, is this sequel supposed to be serious literature for adults? But there was a group of people who took Middle-earth very seriously and pushed this cult classic into the mainstream -- they just weren't the people Tolkien had expected. Wheaton College professor Michael Drout, Gary Lachman ("Turn Off Your Mind: The Mystic Sixties and the Dark Side of Aquarius") and Ethan Gilsdorf ("Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks") explain how and why Tolkien became a folk hero to the counter-culture -- whether he liked it or not. ***This is the first in a six-part series on Magic and Fantasy***Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Behind The Felt Aug 24, 2016

In the continuation of my behind-the-scenes mini-series, I revisit the first interview I ever recorded for Imaginary Worlds -- the puppeteer Stephanie D'Abruzzo, who is best known for performing as Kate Monster in the Broadway musical Avenue Q. I interviewed Stephanie for an episode that compared puppets to computer generated characters, but she had so many interesting things to say about the craft of puppeteering which didn't fit into that early episode. In other words, she can tell you how to get to Sesame Street. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Finding My Voice Aug 10, 2016

This week, I pull the curtain back on my process and look at two public radio stories I reported back in 2008 when I began to find my voice as a reporter -- and started to realize that I might want to have my own show where I could geek out freely. Along for ride is my former editor at Studio 360 and mentor: David Krasnow. We talk about what goes into making an audio feature, why I needed more "sign posting," and how hard it is to not sound like Ira Glass. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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The Legacy of Octavia Butler Jul 27, 2016

2016 marks the ten-year anniversary of Octavia Butler's passing. Commemorative events are happening across Southern California, where she spent most of her life, from conferences to panels to walking tours. Recently, I've become obsessed with her writing -- which can be so powerfully disturbing it keeps me up at night, while at the same time, I can't get enough of it. Nisi Shawl, Ayana Jamieson and Cauleen Smith explain how Butler came to tell stories about power imbalances between humans and other worldly beings, and what her work means to them. ***This is the end of Season 2.***Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Ghost in the Shell Jul 14, 2016

Ghost in the Shell was groundbreaking, visually and thematically. The 1995 Japanese animated film (or anime) was unapologetically for adults. The story focuses on a cyborg cop whose body is synthetic but her brain is organic. As she chases down a mysterious hacker, Major Motoko Kusanagi grapples with what it means to be alive. When Scarlett Johansson was cast as The Major in the live-action remake, there was an outcry over whitewashing. But the reaction in Japan has been different. Roland Kelts (author of "Japanamerica"), journalist Emily Yoshida and Tufts University professor Susan Napier discuss the racial politics of anime. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Undertale Jun 29, 2016

Digital technology has come so far that independent video game designers can create and distribute their work online, and make their games about whatever they want. Some indie games have become mainstream hits, but Toby Fox's Undertale is a phenomenon. Fans have even hailed it as the "best game ever." Julian Feeld of Existential Gamer and Nathan Grayson of Kotaku explain how Undertale deconstructs and questions the fundamentals of video games -- while at the same time being really fun to play, with unforgettable characters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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The Year Without a Summer Jun 15, 2016

June 16, 2016 is the 200th anniversary of the night Mary Shelley began to write, "Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus." Scholars have long speculated what Frankenstein can tell us about scientific hubris or "playing God." But Professors Gillen D'Arcy Wood and Ron Broglio think the book has just as much to say about how we adapt to "acts of God." In other words, Frankenstein was imagined in a year when the Earth's climate was thrown off balance and the weather was wildly unpredictable. Sound familiar? With biographer Charlotte Gordon and readings by Lily Dorment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Then She Fell Jun 02, 2016

Immersive theater is a new trend where there are no seats and no stage. The audience moves through the space like a virtual world, touching whatever they want, interacting with the actors who give them food and drink. I love immersive theater. I've experienced a film noir-themed Macbeth and a fictitious elementary school reunion set in a real East Village apartment, but my favorite immersive show is Then She Fell. It's a retelling of Alice in Wonderland set in a turn-of-the-century insane asylum. Tom Pearson and Marissa Nielsen-Pincus of Third Rail Projects explain how the show reflects Lewis Carroll's own duality and the mystery behind his relationship with the real life Alice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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The Robot Uprising May 19, 2016

The robot uprising is coming, or at least that's what science fiction has told us. We will abuse the robots, treat them as less than us until one day, they will ask for their freedom, or take it by force. Howard University Professor Gregory Hampton says that narrative has more do with our anxieties over slavery, and how we work through those issues in fantasy films. In fact, computer scientist Joanna Bryson has argued that we should embrace the idea of robots as slaves, since she believes they will never be self-aware. But Popular Mechanics writer Erik Sofge worries any master/servant relationship will change us for the worse, even if we’re bossing around robot cars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Humans: New & Improved May 05, 2016

When Graeme Manson started as a showrunner for BBC America's Orphan Black, he needed to create villains who were on the cutting edge of science, and believe that humans should take control of their own evolution. He found inspiration in the real-life movement of Transhumanists, who advocate using tech to improve our bodies, and live well beyond our natural life span. Transhumanist Natasha Vita-More says their vision of a posthuman future is not science fiction, even if it's inspired by it. But Graeme Manson and journalists like Elmo Keep still ask tough questions -- like whether only the rich could afford to stop aging, and what that would do to your ego. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Economics of Thrones and Starships Apr 21, 2016

Whether you're running the seven kingdoms of Westeros or flying to Mars -- you have to figure out how to pay for everything. Many economists are fans of sci-fi because those worlds take economics models to an extreme, especially when its comes to the issue of scarcity vs. abundance. Sarah Skwire looks at what happens when strawberries are precious like gold, or when hot Earl Gray tea can materialize instantly. And Matthew McCaffrey explains why we should all worry that "Winter is Coming." Special thanks to Matthew Hollow. Featuring original music by Alexis Cuadrado. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Becoming Godzilla Apr 07, 2016

This week's episode features another monster who comes from the sea and represents an existential threat -- but he's just so lovable. Journalist Dave Serchuk and graphic designer Jim Fazar both discovered Godzilla as kids and talk about his enduring appeal. But Jim went a step further and built a full body Godzilla suit. He and his brother Ron tell the story of how becoming Godzilla turned out to be much trickier than they anticipated. The final hurtle wasn't Mothra or Rodan -- it was a costume contest where fate seemed to conspire against them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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When Cthulhu Calls Mar 24, 2016

This week's episode is a radio drama, and a co-production with Jeff Emtman's podcast Here Be Monsters. I've been fascinated by the monster Cthulhu for a long time. The writer H.P. Lovecraft described Cthulhu as a gargantuan, aquatic being with tentacles on its mouth, and bat-like wings And yet, there is so much cute merchandise on the Internet which turns that green grotesque creature into an ironic meme. Perhaps these merchants are true believers, trying to manage their terror of the Cthulhu because they know it's real -- and it's rising. With Sheldon Solomon, Dan Truman, Bill Lobley and Ann Scobie. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Why They Fight Mar 10, 2016

On the big screen this Spring, Batman will try to take down Superman, Iron Man is going to fight Captain America, and Daredevil will battle Punisher on Netflix. Cleary we are more interested in watching superheroes fight each other instead of the bad guys. The brawl between these characters isn't just about ego -- it taps into a larger conflict about personal ethics and the law. In other words, it's a battle of character alignments, a term first made popular by the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. Featuring novelist and comic book writer Samuel Sattin, Florida A&M University philosophy professor Michael LaBossiere and Brooklyn assistant district attorney Patrick O' Connor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Imagining Wonder Woman Feb 25, 2016

Wonder Woman is finally going to make her cinematic debut in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Bringing her to the big screen has been a long and fraught process. She is a beloved character with a tricky backstory -- not just in the comics, but in real life too. While Superman and Batman have drawn from familiar genres of sci-fi and detective tales, Wonder Woman was created by psychologist William Moulton Marston, who tapped into long forgotten utopian feminist fiction while adding a few twists of his own. Featuring Jill Lepore ("The Secret History of Wonder Woman"), former DC exec Jenette Kahn and comic book artist Cliff Chiang.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Noble Effort Feb 11, 2016

In 2013, I co-produced this episode of 99% Invisible with Roman Mars about Maurice Noble, the artist who created many of the background (or "layouts") in Warner Brothers cartoons of the 1950s and '60s. Noble's work was revolutionary, but it got lost in the spotlight as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and other Looney Tunes became cultural icons. But the next generation of artists recognized his genius and the society of "Noble Boys" (and girls) started to put his ideas into use at Pixar and elsewhere. With Tod Polson, Scott Morse and Bob McKinnon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Dracula from Nebraska Jan 28, 2016

We all know that novelist Bram Stoker based the character of Dracula off Vlad the Impailer, the Romanian prince who fought off the Turks -- or that's the urban legend. Stoker actually didn't research Vlad that much, or vampire folklore. So scholars have looked into his personal life to suss out Stoker's inspiration. Many think Dracula could've been based on his employer, the famous actor Henry Irving. But Professor Louis Warren of UC Davis has another theory. The novel Dracula was inspired by a very unlikely persona: William "Buffalo Bill" Cody, star and creator of the Wild West show. Featuring voice actor John Keating, and WNYC's Katya Rogers.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Inside the Snow Globe Jan 14, 2016

Tom Fontana is a TV writer and producer who worked on St. Elsewhere in the 1980s. The show was a pretty straightforward hospital drama, but Fontana had a mischievous streak -- and a soft spot for crossovers. So when he came up with a trick ending to the show, revealing the entire series had been the fantasy of an autistic boy named Tommy Westphall peering into his snow globe, Fontana had no idea that episode would lead to a unified theory of television. With Keith Gow, Tom Fontana, Bill Lobley and Robb Pruitt. A version of this piece first aired on PRIs Studio 360. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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The Expanded Universe Dec 31, 2015

Warning: Spoilers ahead! When The Force Awakens came out, millions of fans flocked to the theaters to find out what happened to the characters in the 30 years since Return of the Jedi. But hardcore Star Wars fans knew what happened to them -- or they thought they did. LucasFilm had approved a series of books, comics and video games that filled in the gaps between the six Star Wars movies and beyond. Then Disney bought LucasFilm, and declared that canon of material (a.k.a. The Expanded Universe) to be invalid. But echoes of those stories found their way into the new movie anyway. With Sonia Soraya of Salon.com, Rabbi Ben Newman, Serena and Eric Fong. This is part V of my V part series on the legacy of Star Wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Han Shot Solo Dec 16, 2015

In 1997, the Star Wars trilogy was re-released in theaters. Longtime fans were excited to see the new digital effects, while younger fans couldn't wait to experience Star Wars on the big screen. But George Lucas had made a fundamental change that altered Han Solo's introduction -- and that scene sparked a war between the creator and his fans that haunts Lucas to this day, and changed the course of movie fandom. With Jonathan V. Last, Annalee Newitz, Chris Taylor and Josh Gilliland of "Legal Geeks." The song over the credits is "Han Shot First" by Third World Famous. This is part IV of a V part series on Star Wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Slave Leia Dec 02, 2015

The gold metal bikini that Princess Leia wears in Return of the Jedi has become the dominant image of her from action figures to Cosplay. But the context of that costume -- being a sex slave for a giant slug monster -- has sparked a debate as to whether the "Slave Leia" meme is highly offensive, harmless cheesecake or a feminist icon. With Donna Dickens of HitFIx, Annalee Newitz of Ars Technica, Alyssa Rosenberg of The Washington Post and comedian Adam Buxton. This is part III of a V part series on Star Wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Empire vs Rebels Nov 18, 2015

The epic battle between the Evil Empire and the Rebel Alliance has become a metaphor we love to use in sports and politics. But what happens when you realize that you're the Empire in someone else's story? Do you tell them they're wrong? Do you embrace being bad? Or do you argue that "evil" is all relative? With Alyssa Rosenberg, Chris Taylor, and Jonathan V. Last. This is Part II of a V part series on how Star Wars changed the way we see our world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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1977 Nov 04, 2015

It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire... Before those words crawled up movie screen screen in May 1977, what did people think the future was going to look like? What did pop culture sound like on the eve of Star Wars? This is Episode I in a V part series on how Star Wars changed the way we imagine the world. With Kurt Andersen of Studio 360, Annalee Newitz of io9 and Gizmodo, Alyssa Rosenberg of the Washington Post, and Chris Taylor, author of "How Star Wars Conquered the Universe." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Great Scott! It's The Future! Oct 21, 2015

In this bonus episode of Imaginary Worlds, I look at how Back to the Future Part II might have been a better movie if it took place in our 2015 -- yes, the one without flying cars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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First Contact Oct 20, 2015

They arrive out of nowhere in shockingly large ships, brandishing weapons we've never seen, offering false promises of peace when they really want our land, our resources and our labor. The alien invasion film is a guaranteed blockbuster -- and it's a story that Native Americans know all too well. With LeAnne Howe, Owl Goingback and Despina Kakoudaki. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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The Truth Is Out There Oct 07, 2015

FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are reopening The X-Files in January. And the Internet couldn't be more excited. Every casting update, every on-set photos has sparked a dozen tweets or blog posts. Is this just nostalgia? Or is concept behind The X-Files tapping into the zeitgeist again? With Lindsay Ellis, Joe Uscinski and John Lumiere-Wins. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Rolling the Twenty Sided Dice Sep 23, 2015

I spent the last two months learning how to play Dungeons & Dragons. That's right, I never played as a kid. But I've been reading so many interviews with interesting creative people who credit D&D with their success, I kept wondering what I missed out on -- and whether it was too late to figure it out. Helping me on my quest are Lev Grossman (author of The Magicians trilogy), Paul La Farge, Richard Valazquez and the staff of The Brooklyn Strategist. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Heroines Jul 29, 2015

"The Strong Female Character" sounds positive, but it's actually a term used by culture critics to describe the token girl let into the boy's clubhouse of action-adventure movies. She's supposed to kick ass -- but she has no character development, no backstory, and ends up being a love interest or damsel. But something changed this summer. Feminist fans and critics got into a spirited debate over a group of heroines, and whether we need to rethink this whole problem. With Lindsay Ellis, Carolyn Cox of The Mary Sue, and Jan Combopiano of Catalyst. THIS IS THE END OF SEASON ONE. IMAGINARY WORLDS WILL RETURN IN THE FALL.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Fixing the Hobo Suit Jul 15, 2015

Superhero costumes used to be stand alone works of fashion that over time became dated or cringe-worthy. But lately, movie and TV superhero costumes have been looking good -- with fewer complaints from the fans. I talk with costume designers Michael Wilkinson (Watchmen, Man of Steel, Batman v. Superman), Sammy Sheldon Differ (Ant-Man, X-Men: First Class) and Jams Acheson (Spider-Man trilogy) about what's changed. They're learning new tricks, and using better technology. But there's also been a change in attitude. The designers are now constantly asking themselves, "why?" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Doppelgangers 2.0 Jul 01, 2015

I have a thing for doppelgangers. Partly it's because my brain always falls for this trick and believes on some level that the doubles are being played by different actors. Thanks to digital effects, it's easier to create doppelgangers on a TV budget (Orphan Black, Fringe) or in independent films (Moon, The One I Love.) But perhaps doppelgangers are multiplying because they tap into a very modern concern: social media. With Alissa Wilkinson, Ryan Britt and Elayne Tobin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Time Travelers of Renwick St. Jun 03, 2015

New York City real estate is not usually a hotbed of fantasy, except the fantasy that you could afford that $20 million condo 50 stories up. But an unusual ad campaign for 15 Renwick St. in Hudson Square defied conventional thinking and focused on a group of characters that span through time. Just don't call them Stempunk. I talk with the teams at MARCH and IF Studio who dreamed them up, and Hana Alberts of the website Curbed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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The Greatest Cartoon Almost Made Jun 03, 2015

At the height of his career, Richard Williams was hailed as the next Walt Disney -- and he won two visual effects Oscars for Roger Rabbit. But Williams wanted to prove that animation was high art, not just something to sell toys. So he spent three decades working on a feature film called The Thief and The Cobbler, which was going to be extraordinary. But Williams made a deal with a movie studio that he couldn't keep. Garrett Gilchrist, Kevin Schreck, Neil Boyle and Greg Duffell discuss whether Hollywood or Williams's perfectionism did him in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Why Ron Moore Killed Captain Kirk May 20, 2015

Ronald D. Moore is best known for rebooting Battlestar Galactica for the post-9/11 era, but he got his start writing on Star Trek: The Next Generation. In fact, he really got his start in science fiction by watching the original Star Trek as a kid growing up in a small town in Northern California. His hero was James T. Kirk, and by extension the man who dreamed up this universe, Gene Roddenberry. But Moore eventually discovered that killing your heroes is a right of passing to growing up and finding your own voice. Moore's new show is Outlander on the Starz network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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True Vampires of New Haven May 06, 2015

A few years ago, I reported a story about a safe house program for vampires in New Haven, CT. The city supplied the vampires with blood if they agreed to live under police supervision. But the funding for the program got cut and the vampires were sent to live with relatives or descendants. I revisit Trudy Manetti, who is under the care of her old childhood friend Frances O'Connor as they take stock of their past, present and future together. (This is a radio drama featuring actors Jean Richards, Nicole Greevy and Dan Truman.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Beware of CyberCity Apr 22, 2015

Ed Skoudis built a different kind of imaginary world. It's a three-dimensional model of a town that the military uses for cyber war games. Ed's team plays the role of the terrorists who keep trying to hijack a train or contaminate the water supply, while cyber warriors stationed at bases around the world try to stop them. But at some point, CyberCity became more than just a project for Ed. He fell in love with this town -- its simulated people and their Truman Show existence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Politics of Thrones Apr 08, 2015

Game of Thrones is huge in every way. Why does this medieval fantasy with knights and castles speak to our time? Politics. There are a surprising number of international relations experts that see parallels between the the jockeying for power in Westeros and our post-Cold War landscape. I talk with Dan Drezner from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and Tim Westmyer from The Rising Powers Initiative about how Daenerys Targaryen wields her trio of dragons like a nuclear triad, and why King Joffrey was like Kim Jong Un. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Zombie Therapy Mar 25, 2015

Zombies. I hate them the way Indiana Jones hates snakes. I know it's a ridiculous phobia -- they're not real, and zombies are a classic genre full of rich ideas. So I decide to undergo zombie immersion therapy. My friend Patrick O' Connor forces me to watch The Walking Dead. And I talk with psychiatrist Steven Schlozman, author of "The Zombie Autopsies: Secret Notesboks from the Apocaplypse."Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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The Mysterious James Tiptree Mar 11, 2015

Science fiction writer James Tiptree Jr. wouldn't talk on the phone or appear in person. He developed friendships with contemporaries like Ursula le Guin and Philip K. Dick purely through letters. And he became a mentor to Chelsea Quinn Yarbro when she was an up-in-coming writer. But James Tiptree Jr. didn't really exist. He was the pen name of a 60-year old suburban housewife named Alice Sheldon. Biogrpaher Julie Philips says Sheldon's real life story was even more surreal than her alter ego. With readings by Erik Bergmann. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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A Perfect World Feb 25, 2015

A French philosopher is certain his ideas will help human beings evolve -- not just emotionally or psychologically. We will start to grow tails. And that inspires his disciples to start a socialist commune in the Wild West of 1850s Texas. Were utopians the first science fiction thinkers? Featuring Julia Barton and Eric Rabkin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Being Batman (For Now) Feb 11, 2015

They say you shouldn't meet your heroes because you might be disappointed. What happens when you're told from now on you are your childhood hero? For many people that would be a metaphor but that actually happened to Scott Snyder when DC Comics assigned him to write Batman. It was hard to avoid emulating the other versions of Batman he loved, so he decided to pretend that he made up the character by himself. Scott's fears and anxieties became Bruce Wayne's.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Sexy Robots Jan 29, 2015

The desirable robot has been a trope in science fiction for almost a century. American University professor Despina Kakoudaki (author of "Anatomy of a Robot") says watching actors play robots is a wish fulfillment -- imagining what it would be like to not feel emotions or deal with the messiness of the human body. I also talk with playwrights Mariah MacCarthy and Leah Nanako Winkler about their off-Broadway festival, "Sex with Robots," which explores the dark desires behind an impossible fantasy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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The Golem and The Jinni Jan 14, 2015

"The Golem and The Jinni" by Helene Wecker is one of my favorite novels in recent years. It's about two mythological characters meeting in late 19th century New York -- one from Arab culture and the other from Jewish folklore. The inspiration for the book came from real life. She's Jewish and her husband is Arab-American.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Joss Whedon '07 Dec 31, 2014

In April 2007, I interviewed Joss Whedon for a public radio story about how he was continuing Buffy The Vampire Slayer as a comic book. I only got to use a few sound bytes for that piece, but I always liked the interview itself, which has been sitting on my desktop until now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Action Figureland Dec 17, 2014

Kids may be aging out of action figures earlier than ever, but action figure collectables for adults is booming. I visit two of the leading toy shops, NECA and Sideshow Collectables, and I talk with psychologist David Shim, who has an impressive man cave of vintage heroes and villains.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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In Defense of Captain Hook Dec 04, 2014

Peter Pan is never supposed to grow up, but Illinois State University professor Karen Coats says the character has grown over time from a Victorian symbol of immaturity to a celebration of the inner-child. Either way, Captain Hook got a raw deal. He told me so himself over the phone. Featuring voice actor Erik Bergmann as a drunk-dialing Captain Hook, and actress Lily Dorment reading from the J.M. Barrie book.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Saving The Girl Nov 19, 2014

What exactly is the role of the love interest in a superhero story? Is she just the emotional stakes for the hero? Can she ever be anything more? I talk with screenwriting guru Pilar Alessandra, and screenwriters Craig Fernandez and Carr D'Angelo. It turns out even male fans get frustrated when their favorite heroes can tackle villains head on but flee romantic relationships. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Salem Bewitched Nov 05, 2014

Salem is like something out of a Grimm fairy tale for many people -- it’s not a real place. But Salem always felt visceral to me growing up in Massachusetts. I love the ancient graveyards and the colonial houses flush up against the sidewalks. Historian Mary Beth Norton says to truly understand what happened, we have to delve into the imaginary world the Puritans believed in – where witches and Indians were both agents of the devil conspiring against them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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King Denslow of Oz Oct 22, 2014

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz started as a perfect partnership between writer L. Frank Baum and illustrator W. W. Denslow. But they became bitter rivals, with each owning half the copyright to the 1900 book. Baum put his nose to the grindstone trying to build a franchise while Denslow took a more colorful and ultimately self-destructive path. I talk with Michael Patrick Hearn, who wrote biographies of both men. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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The Canon Oct 08, 2014

Every sci-fi fantasy world comes with a canon of rules and back stories. Fans can be fiercely protective of their favorite canons, but canons are often patchworks created by people with conflicting ideas. Does a dense canon make better storytelling? Or does it alienate casual fans? I talk with Derek McCaw, who runs the website Fanboy Planet. And Rabbi Ben Newman explains why the Star Trek canon has a lot in common with The Torah. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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When Human Met Creature Sep 24, 2014

Computer animation vs. puppets. Fans have been debating for years which is more believable -- especially when a creature is sharing a scene with a human actor. I talk with ILM animator Charles Alleneck who worked on the Star Wars prequels, and Stephanie D'Abruzzo who works on Sesame Street and performed Kate Monster in the original cast of Ave Q. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Origin Stories Sep 10, 2014

What makes a good origin story? University of Oregon professor Benjamin Saunders explains how retelling origin stories is a way of returning to childhood wonder. The best origin stories are not a one shot deal, they transform characters like Spider-Man or Buffy – and keep transforming them. I see a psychologist, Dr. Robin Rosenberg, who specializes in helping her patients figure out their powers and their mission. And I unpack my own origin story, or at least a story that explains how I got from animation to public radio -- hoping it's not just a contrived piece of fiction.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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