Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever*

As always there are spoilers ahead! You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky. If you would like to be a patron of the podcast you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm Despite a failed pilot Star Trek made it to TV in 1966. Creator, Gene Roddenberry's vision of a future that was beyond the contemporary struggles of civil rights and racism and global Cold War tensions but very much aligned with the style of the 1960s. As a diverse crew faced alien planets and tackled ethical questions audience numbers dwindled and cancellation loomed. The show was finally axed in 1969 but a growing fanbase aided by syndication meant what could have been a small part of TV history actually became a huge phenomena. My amazing Trekkie guests discuss the origins of my favourite franchise. Julian Chambliss is a scholar and a professor at Michigan State University. He has taught Star Trek as part of his Media Race and Culture classes. Carey Millsap-Spears is a professor of communications/literature at Moraine Valley Community College. She has written extensively about Star Trek including the 2023 book Star Trek Discovery and the Female Gothic. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 01:36 Gene Roddenberry's pitch and the pilot episode 04:29 A new kind of frontier 08:34 The fans 11:06 Woke and the 1960s 17:26 The gothic in Star Trek 20:39 Captain Kirk as Casanova? 26:09 That kiss and Uhura 30:42 Utopia! 36:47 Propaganda 39:24 The Alien others 44:08 Technology, NASA and Nichelle Nichols 47:29 The Next Generation 51:52 Why do we love Star Trek? 54:32 Recommendations Recommendations The Centre Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek (2021) StarTrek II: The Wrath of Khan NEXT EPISODE! You have two weeks to find and watch The 10th Victim (1965) by Elio Petri. Another Italian film (like last episode's Planet of the Vampires) but a very different feel. Although coupld contend with Mario Bava's Danger Diabolik (1968) for the most 60s film ever made! The film is available to rent online in many places. You can check the JustWatch website for details of what it's available in your region.

As always there are spoilers ahead! You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky. If you would like to be a patron of the podcast you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm Planet of the Vampires was directed by Mario Bava and released in 1965. American International Pictures had made money with Italian films such as Black Sunday (1960) but would often need to oversee many changes to make the films suitable for an American audience. Their solution was to provide a script and co-produce a film so they could control the content. The film had a small budget of around $200,000 and although it definitely has its fair share of Schlock, Bava had a reputation for doing a lot on a small budget. My guests unravel why Mario Bava's reputation and love for this film continue to grow. Scott Higgins is Professor of Film at Wesleyan University as well as being the Curator of the Wesleyan Cinema Archives. Russ Hunter is an Assistant Professor in Film & Television Studies at Northumbria University. He has a special interest in Italian genre cinema. Scott says Eugenio Bava (Mario's Father) invented the Schüfftan process before Eugen Schüfftan after whom it was named. You can read more about this here: https://dcairns.wordpress.com/tag/schufftan-process/ Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:46 AIP involvement 04:14 Italian cinema in 1965 09:01 Dubbing 14:31 Names changes and US appeal 17:28 Mario Bava 21:51 Scott's love for this film 27:12 Bava and Barry 29:22 Special Effects and the Schüfftan process 33:39 Production and Set Design 35:21 Style over coherence 38:33 The alien 41:35 Influences and origins 43:40 Vampires in name 44:20 Legacy 49:06 Recommendations Recommendations: The Green Slime (1968) by Kinji Fukasaku Tu Vuo' Fa' L'americano by Renato Carosone Danger: Diabolik (1968) by Mario Bava Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark by Tim Lucas NEXT EPISODE: As we approach 1966 on the podcast it is time to talk about my favourite franchise which will be 60 years old this September! A little detour into the beginnings of Star Trek in two week's time.

As always there are spoilers ahead! (And the podcast is much more fun if you've seen the film first.) You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky. If you would like to be a patron of the podcast you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm Jean-Luc Godard is potentially the most prominent of the French New Wave directors. In the mid-60s his mind turned to science fiction and the result was a visually striking, choatic film about a dystopian world in which logic rules and love is punished. If you find the film confusing you are not alone and I have two brilliant academic brains to help us out. Roger Luckhurst is a Professor at Birkbeck, University of London. He has written/edited numerous articles and books on cultural history and film. Douglas Morrey is an associate professor of French at the University of Warwick. He has a special interest in the French new Wave on which he has written extensively, including the 2005 book Jean-Luc Godard. CORRECTION: In the podcast I mention Roger citing Alphaville having an image from Chris Marker's La Jetée but the image is actually Marker's photograph which is in the credit sequence but doesn not feature in La Jetée. The book of poetry in the film Capitale de la douleur (Capital of Pain) is written by Paul Elouard. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 01:40 French New Wave in 1965 03:38 Godard's influences for Alphaville 11:31 Eddie Constantine: The illogical Noir hero 16:43 Lemmy Caution and fascism 18:05 Alienation and confusion 25:52 Godard's technique and budgets 30:07 Sound design 32:30 The swimming pool execution scene 39:26 Love, poetry and Godard's divorce 47:00 Godard and women 49:30 Legacy 53:57 Recommendations Recommendations: • The Trial written by Franz Kafka and made into a film by Orson Wells released in 1962. • Weekend (1967) by Godard. NEXT EPISODE! Next episode we will be talking about Planet of the Vampires, the low budget 1965 dubbed delight by Mario Bava. The film is campy (and for me quite hilarious) as well as being famed for inspiring Alien (1979). (Perhaps a little overstated in this regard?) You can find the film to rent on Amazon, Apple, Flixfling and may find it on free platforms with ads in your region. You can check the JustWatch website for more details.

As usual there are spoilers ahead! You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky. If you would like to be a patron of the podcast you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm This episode we track the birth of one of the longest running franchises. Dr Who was first broadcast in 1963 and with the help of some exterminating aliens a film was produced just a couple of years later. I speak to my wonderful Whovian guests about the origins, the hallmarks and the 1960s context of the infamous Doctor including the colourful and shiny 1960s feature films. Paul Booth is a professor of Media and Pop Culture with a special interest in fandoms on which he has written extensively. He is co-editor of the book Adventures Across Space and Time: A Doctor Who Reader. Lee Arnott is the co-host if the Problematic Gaze podcast. He is a social historian who is currently researching the the social history of Britain since the 1960s through the lens of Doctor Who. Although Australian composer Ron Gainer wrote the music for Dr Who it was Delia Derbyshire at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop who produced the theme. You can see the Delia Derbyshire clip I mention on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsRuhCflRyg Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 01:41The BBC origins of the series 04:45 The first episode, changes and differences on the big screen 09:40 The Daleks and Dalekmania 13:20 WW2, Nazis and nuclear fears 19:37 More Daleks 23:33 The Doctor 27:33 What is canon 29:21 The Companions 35:13 The Tardis 38:05 Design 42:02 (The best ever) theme tune 45:46 Legacy 49:22 Success and favourite doctors 53:04 Recommendations Recommendations: Lee recommended The War Game (1965) and Paul recommended the book Dr. Who & The Daleks: The Official Story of the Films by John Walsh. NEXT EPISODE! Next episode we will be discussing the 1965 French New Wave science fiction film Alphaville by Jean-Luc Godard. It is easy to rent on main streaming platforms as well as other places in the US including Mubi and Kanopy. To find the film in your region you can visit the Just Watch website.

As always there are spoilers ahead! You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky. If you would like to be a patron of the podcast you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm First Men on the Moon was written by HG Wells and serialised in The Strand Magazine beginning in 1900. The book was published in 1901 a year before Georges Méliès kicked off science fiction cinema with La Voyage dans la Lune in 1902. (You can learn more about that film in episode number 2 The First Science Fiction Film Ever.) Then in the swinging 60s as the space race was heating up a collection of brilliant sci-fi filmmakers go together to make a story about a Victorian British scientist going to the moon with his anti-gravity material Cavorite! And yet even the amazing Ray Harryhausen stop motion special effects were not enough to make this film a success. My amazing guests break down the origins and outcomes of this mid-century oddity. Keith Williams is a Reader in English Literature at the University of Dundee where he runs the science fiction programme. He has a special interest in the pre 1945 period and is the author of the book H.G. Wells, Modernity and the Movies. Matthew Rule-Jones is a senior lecturer in film studies at the University of Exeter and author of the book Science Fiction Cinema and 1950s Britain: Recontextualising Cultural Anxiety. At 6:09 Keith is about to explain the contraption that Robert William Paul was planning based on HG wells Time Machine. I interrupt him as we've covered this in two episodes priot. You can access more information about that on episode 37 The Time Machine: HG Wells' Legacy in 1960s Sci-Fi at timecode 23:07 or in episode 9 The Invisible Man Exposed at timecode 38:29. Chapters 00:00 Intro 02:23 HG Wells, selenites and Georges Méliès Trip to the Moon 06:57 Balancing act: Producer Charles Schneer vs Writer Nigel Kneale. 12:44 Box Office flop 15:12 Dreams of Empire and international cooperation 19:40 Steampunk sensibilities 22:26 The backdrop of the Space Race 26:58 Bedford and Cavor 33:20 Ray Harryhausen 37:50 NASA and the moon landing 41:12 Ant colonies and sci-fi 46:42 Legacy 50:10 Recommendations Recommendations: The First Men in the Moon (2010) The Stone Tape (1972) available to view on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHgcpzzZspw NEXT EPISODE! The next episode will feature two films: Dr Who & the Daleks (1965) as well as Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966). These films are available to buy or stream on mainstream platforms like Apple and Prime as well as subscription services. The Just Watch website is a good resource for finding where films are available in your region.

I am very sorry but I have been unwell this past week. (But I am on the mend!) Multiple visits to the hospital mean that although I have the next episode recorded I have not been able to edit it. I've heard many podcasts serve up older episodes in this circumstance. Maybe an annoyance to those who have already heard all the episodes but for those who haven't since it is 2026 it's probably a good opportunity to watch Metropolis (1927) as this year is the year it was set. I have two remarkable and engaging academics speak about it. Sonja Fritzsche is a professor of German Studies and an author/editor for many books about science fiction. She has taught courses on science fiction, utopia and Metropolis. Noah Isenberg is a film historian and best-selling author. He is a professor at the University of Texas and editor of the book Weimar Cinema: An Essential Guide to Classic Films of the Era. This episode was originally released in April 2024 and was episode 5 of the podcast. I will hopefully be back in great health soon and the new episode on First Men in the Moon will be edited for release in two weeks.

As always there are spoilers ahead! You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky. If you would like to be a patron of the podcast you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm In 1958 the Peter George novel Red Alert was published about the dangers of nuclear war. A few years later when Stanley Kubrick was looking to make a (serious) film about the topic he was recommended the book. Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb was the resulting film. The film takes aim at military strategy, rhetoric and the people involved to give us one of the most famous satires in cinema. It would be quite easy to double the length of this episode, but we've tried to fit as much as we can into the hour with my two remarkable guests. Mark Bould is a professor of Film and Literature at the University of West England, Bristol. He has written/edited extensively about science fiction cinema. Rodney F Hill is a Professor of Film at the Lawrence Herbert School of Communication at Hofstra University and has written extensively about film. This is the article I mention by Eric Schlosser: https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/almost-everything-in-dr-strangelove-was-true Chapters: 00:00 Intro 01:12 Source material 03:12 The threat of Lumet's Fail Safe 05:35 Herman Kahn, winnable nuclear war and the doomsday machine 08:25 Nazi scientist Wernher von Braun and Operation Paperclip 13:55 Nuclear policy and the Cold War 17:23 Doomsday comedy 25:51 Masculinity, techno-eroticism and bodily fluids 33:21 Peter Sellers 38:04 1960s satire boom 40:11 Production design of Ken Adam 41:25 Music 43:27 The changes to the film 46:32 Legacy 54:34 Recommendations Recommendations: 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Fail Safe (1964). NEXT EPISODE! Next episode we will be talking about First Men on the Moon (1964). The film is based on the HG Wells novel and features stop motion animation by Ray Harryhausen. It is is available to stream and rent from Apple. The Just Watch website can give you a list of where the film is available in your region.

Time for another detour! An introduction to Afrofuturism with two magnificent guests. You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky. If you would like to be a patron of the podcast it would be greatly appreciated! You can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm The symbol mentioned in the podcast a few times is the Sankofa symbol which is a recurring symbol in Afrofuturism. It represents the idea that there are things that you go back for (and things you leave behind). You can read more about it on this wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sankofa Julian Chambliss is a scholar and a professor at Michigan State University. He is the author of multiple books including Mapping Afrofuturism: Understanding Black Speculative Practice Ytasha Womack is a filmmaker, cultural critic and author of the books Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture and The Afro Futurist Evolution: Creative Paths of Self Discovery. Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:18 Afrofuturism origin story 08:04 Afrofuturism and science fiction 11:44 Retro Afrofuturism: Of One Blood by Pauline Hopkinson 16:37 The diaspora and Afrofuturism 19:53 Dance and the individual as a nexus of time and space 23:24 Ancestry in Afrofuturism 25:32 Moving away from dystopia: Slavery as apocalypse 29:55 Optimism for the future 33:03 Holistic utopias and protopia. 35:43 Mystical frameworks 38:15 Alternative realities and the multiverse 41:38 Theory, practice and interconnectedness 46:21 Recommendations Recommendations: The Afro Futurist Evolution: Creative Paths of Self Discovery by Ytasha Womack (I would also thoroughly recommend her book Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture.) Agharta by Miles Davis Blake; or The Huts of America: A Tale of the Mississippi Valley, the Southern United States, and Cuba by Martin Delany Space is the Place by Sun Ra Lee "Scratch" Perry George Clinton Mothership Connection by Parliament Pedro Bell and Overton Loyd Beyond the Black Panther exhibition at MSU Rise podcast by Julian Infinitum by Tim Fielder NEXT EPISODE! Next time we'll be talking about Dr Strangelove or: How I learned to Stop Worrying and love the Bomb (1964)! You can watch the film pretty much anywhere and it is readily available to buy or rent online from many platforms. I would also recommend watching Fail Safe from the same year because it is excellent, affected the production of Dr Strangelove and due to their similarities.

As always there are spoilers ahead! We've discussed Czech scifi before with Karel Zeman's gorgeous steam punk offering from 1958 Invention for Destruction (dubbed into the English language The Fabulous World of Jules Verne) and we've also covered Communists in Space with 1960s The Silent Star (AKA First Spaceship on Venus). The Czech Ikarie XB-1 (1963) has connections to both of those films but also offers an aesthetic that seems to directly inspire Kubrick for 2001: A Space Odyssey. The year is 2163, communism has won, and a crew of 40 are sent to find life on the white planet in Alpha Centauri with a journey fraught with sociological, psychological and physical challenges. I have two amazing academics to help give insight into the film. Evan Torner is an Associate Professor of German Studies and Niehoff Professor of Film & Media Studies at the University of Cincinnati. Simon Spiegel is a lecturer of Film Studies at the University of Zurich. He has written extensively about Science Fiction and Utopia and has just released the book The Fear of Knowing about spoilers in film and media. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 01:11 Stanislaw Lem's The Magellanic Cloud 04:28 Czechoslovakian New Wave and film industry 09:49 The striking introductory scenes and Kubrick's 2001 13:05 Cabin fever in spaaace! 15:13 Music by Zdeněk Liška 16:57 Communist utopia in spaaace! 20:57 The draw of sociological stories 26:19 A utopian party and a red alert 28:15 The capitalist ship and the 20th century 32:47 Putting science into sci-fi 39:30 Evan's Dark Matter Shenanigans 42:21 Post Stalin faith 43:41 The ending 45:39 The US edit 47:27 Legacy 52:18 Recommendations NEXT EPISODE! I will be taking a detour next episode to talk about Afrofuturism which I've been wanting to discuss since the very early days of research before I launched the podcast. Almost two years late but I hope you enjoy it. After that we will be discussing Dr Strangelove and I would recommend you also watch Fail Safe (also 1964) if you have time.

As always there are spoilers ahead! You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky. If you would like to be a patron of the podcast you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm Roger Corman produced hundreds of films in his lifetime and directed dozens. X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes is a colourful, psychedelic, 1960s extravaganza with aspirations of transcendence. If you wanted to join in, you can watch the film X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes from 1963 first. DVDs of the film are available, but it is also available to rent and watch online on Apple TV and many other platforms. You can check the Just Watch website to see where it is available in your region. Oscar winner Ray Milland (we heard a bit about him in the Panic in Year Zero! episode) stars as a mad scientist who creates a serum that will help him understand the secret of life itself. A serum that unlocks the 90% of the visible spectrum that is beyond our realm of vision. The film is fun and pacey and the tone is once again firmly in the 1960s. I have two excellent guests to help us unravel the minds and life's mysteries around what could be Corman's magnus opus. Barry Keith Grant is professor Emeritus of Film Studies at Brock University Canada. He has written/edited numerous books, articles and essays about science fiction cinema. John Wills is a Professor of American Media and Culture at the University of Kent. He has written lots about popular culture including 1950s American and Nuclear film. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 01:57 Barry's experience of watching the film on release 03:48 Eyeballs and vision 08:58 The body in sci-fi 10:57 Mad science and closing in on the Gods 12:20 Science in the 60s 15:56 LSD 17:18 A film of two halves 19:18 Diane's romantic arc 21:57 Hays Code & the Nudie Cuties 25:35 Roger Corman's 2001: A Space Odyssey comparison 31:17 Special Effects 32:41 Gurus incoming 34:48 Blunt honesty of Xavier 37:36 The music of Les Baxter 39:59 Stephen King and the ending 44:23 Legacy 51:21 Recommendations CORRECTION: We refer to the female scientist as Diana but her name is Diane. NEXT EPISODE! Next episode we are heading back to the Eastern Bloc with the Czech 1963 scifi Ikarie XB-1. In terms of watching it, the American version is titled Voyage to the End of the Universe and is a different edit. Although Just Watch advertises the English language title it seems to not differentiate which edit is available. The original is available on The Criterion channel and also cultpix.com.