The Incomparable Mothership

Robot sheriff, coming through! We break down the first half of “Doctor Who” season 7, and discover the truth about the Siracusa Threshold. Today we are all John Siracusa, except for Scott. He’s our Rory.

Soon to be a major motion picture you probably shouldn’t see, David Mitchell’s 2004 novel “Cloud Atlas” is in our sights. This novel consists of six separate stories set in different genres and timeframes from the 1850s to a post-apocalyptic future, and yet they’re all interlinked. Somehow. It’s fun, weird, and challenging, but what does it all mean? Read it now before every character in it becomes Tom Hanks and Halle Berry.

A video game beloved by John Siracusa, “Journey” for the PS3, is in the spotlight. We toot the biggest Spoiler Horn of all time — don’t listen if you haven’t played it! — and then talk about what we liked and didn’t like about Thatgamecompany’s desert-and-spoiler epic.

We take on one of our favorite movies, “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan,” while also acknowledging the flaws that make it all the more lovable. Topics include: How Genesis is the galaxy’s worst Kickstarter project; Why it’s always important to count the planets, especially at Ceti Alpha; The size of the Botany Bay library and why it makes Khan so mad at Kirk; Why Scott’s email is more secure than the Reliant; The real name of Khan’s right-hand man; and how Spock’s death solves Kirk’s mid-life crisis. Also, we scientifically prove that “Wrath of Khan” is better than Star Wars.

FLASH! A bonus (unedited) episode, in which we react quickly to the premiere episode of this season of Doctor Who, “Asylum of the Daleks.” Plus: The Incomparable won an award! For podcasting! We react quickly to the announcement of the Hugo Awards. And we do many, many Dalek impressions.

Our Book Club reconvenes to discuss Jo Walton’s Small Change trilogy of novels, “Farthing,” “Ha’Penny,” and “Half a Crown.” (We fire off the spoiler horn before each novel.) These novels explore an alternate-history in which Britain makes peace with Nazi Germany, and focus on a detective who just wants to do his job—but his job keeps changing in increasingly awful ways.

Believe it or not, some of us have managed to breed successfully. Even Steve Lutz. So we talk about what media we provide for our kids. Topics include dealing with the Star Wars prequels, Spongebob Squarepants, how young you need to be to watch “Apocalypse Now” or “The Exorcist,” why “Tron: Legacy” cost Ben dearly, why John became a master weaponsmith in his childhood, Jason’s debates with his son over whether Spider-Man or Batman is better, Lisa’s childhood reading of “The Godfather,” picking video games for your kids, and how your children’s peers will just ruin them anyway.

Our Comic Book Club returns to discuss super-team comics. What makes them work, and what makes them fail? And our primary subject is Top 10, Alan Moore’s other amazing twelve-issue superhero comic series. If you haven’t read it yet, you should!

Pixar takes on princesses with the new film “Brave.” We discuss Pixar’s mother/bear-daughter story, but also the larger issues of female characters in animation and film in general. What’s wrong with the Disney Princesses? Why can’t girls play Belle or Ariel as if they were an action hero, anyway? How does Merida compare with the female protagonists in Miyazaki’s work? Did Pixar change its own fate?

Our Book Club discusses “Redshirts” by John Scalzi. It’s a book that’s far more complex than its elevator-pitch premise would suggest, but did our panel appreciate its winking narrative-within-narrative structure? And more broadly, why are we worried about some of our favorite geek creators turning inward and pandering to the nerd audience?