The Incomparable Mothership

Unlock the front door to your mind palace, fake your death in numerous ways, and draw on a fake mustache! Season 3 of “Sherlock” is on our agenda, and we discuss all three episodes in turn. How does the introduction of Mary improve the cast dynamic? Does the middle episode sag as in past seasons, or prove to be a highlight? The game is on, Watson.

Our book club returns with discussion of two books! First we talk Scott Lynch’s “The Lies of Locke Lamora,” a fantasy book about a gang of thieves that are even outlaws to other thieves (spoiler horn at 12:00). Then it’s Ann Leckie’s “Ancillary Justice,” a space opera about AIs and ships and empires and corpse soldiers that brings Iain M. Banks to mind (starts at 28:48, spoilers at 33:22). Confusingly long prologues! Fun with gendered pronouns! Questionable burrito metaphors! Plus: What are we reading (starts at 68:13)?

It’s time for us to select some of the very best console video games of all time. From Mario to Zelda, from sports to music, from Atari to Intellivision, we’ve got the entire history of the video-game industry covered. John chooses the classics. Steve has a bad fur day. And Moisés continues his descent into madness. Are you a bad enough dude to listen? Boop beep beep boop! [This episode was originally two episodes, 177 and 178. It’s been rejoined into a single, double-length episode.]

We discuss how we made the Incomparable Christmas Spectacular.

We say goodbye to 2013 by listing our favorite stuff from the past year. We also recall our favorite podcast moments and read a whole bunch of listener comments. (This is a new episode, though it does contain a few classic Incomparable clips from 2013 and earlier.)

“Doctor Who” said farewell to Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith on Christmas Day. In an Incomparable Christmas tradition, we convened almost immediately after the airing of the episode to discuss “The Time of the Doctor” in great detail in an unedited live flashcast. Cyberman-head companions! A turkey that takes 300 years to cook in the vortex! Lots of past plot boxes checked! A teary farewell and regeneration! Kidneys of a dubious color! We break it all down.

The Incomparable Radio Theater of the Air wishes a Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

‘Tis the season for holiday music! Unfortunately, while we unabashedly love the holidays, only some holiday music strikes our fancy. Join us as we talk about what make good and bad holiday songs. (This is the unedited version of the session that became Incomparable 173, our holiday music episode.)

‘Tis the season for holiday music! Unfortunately, while we unabashedly love the holidays, only some holiday music strikes our fancy. Join us as we talk about what makes a good holiday song and then stick around (if you dare) as we complain about some of the worst the season has to offer. Happy holidays, folks! (This is a new full edit of the classic episode done by Jason in 2021, with improved sound and fewer editorial “improvements” so it more closely resembles the original, infamous recording session. This is Jason’s preferred version, though the unedited version remains available.)

Holiday TV: There’s a lot of it, and some of it is good. A lot of it is bad. We talk about classics great and not-so-great and induct some very special shows into the Incomparable Holiday Vault. Also, Steve reveals a deep, dark secret.