Ancient Geeks

Of course there would be more sequels after Beneath The Planet Of The Apes, even though it was designed to be the last. In fact, the chief purpose of Escape From The Planet Of The Apes was to make more sequels possible. World ended? Just go back in time before it was ended!

Come back with us to that time when Cornelius and Zira (plus unnamed baby) crash land on 1970s, and then get mistreated. And then turned into beloved celebritie...

We wrap up our series in which we look at the first movies of directors who later made the classics of geek cinema. In this episode, we discuss John Carpenter's student film, later expanded for theatrical release, Dark Star. It's a low budget science fiction dark comedy in which a burned-out crew flies from planet to planet, destroying any that they deem "unstable." Of course, nothing's more unstable than these space cadets. 

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We continue our series about the first movies made by directors who later made the classics of geek cinema. In this episode, we discuss Duel, a TV movie made by a very young Steven Spielberg. Starring Dennis Weaver, it's a deadly cat-and-mouse conflict between an average Joe in a Plymouth Valiant and the driver of the most monstrous of trucks.

In this early effort, what elements of Spielberg's style can you see that would later app...

We begin a series of episodes about the first movies from directors who later made the classics of geek cinema.  In this first episode, we take a look at George Lucas' first feature film, THX-1138. A dystopian drama starring Robert Duvall and Donald Pleasance, this movie was based on Lucas' student film, Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB. (Frankly, we're stumped why Lucas didn't stick with this title.) The backstory is fascin...

Harrison Ford and Sean Connery? More Nazi villains? A Grail quest In spite of the disappointment of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, we said, "Sign us up!" And it was glorious!

A return to what made Raiders of the Lost Ark great! Exciting action scenes! Organic humor! Two different types of academics! Disturbing questions during Indy's faculty review! It's all here.  

Ancient Geeks is a podcast about two geeks of a ...

Of course there was going to be a sequel...

We had high hopes for the second Indiana Jones movie, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Spielberg, Lucas, Ford...How could it go wrong?

As it turns out, it could go very badly. We debate how badly, and what were the reasons why this sequel failed to come close to the original. 

Was this Tom's first case of sequelitis? Leaving all the criticisms aside, what did we enjoy about the ...

You can hear the soundtrack start to play in your head already...

No history of early geekery would be complete without Raiders Of The Lost Ark. In this episode, we talk about the roots of this movie in serials like Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, in the pulp magazines like Weird Tales and Argosy, and in radio dramas like The Shadow and Suspense. And of course, we talk about the movie.

What did we expect, when we heard that a high ad...

We take a detour from our normal reminiscences of geekery past to recruit our favorite Star Trek crews. Across all of Star Trek, from the original series to the modern era, whom do we pick for captain, first officer, chief engineer, and all the other leadership positions in a Star Trek crew? Who are the worst picks for these positions? Which ship do each of us want to staff? And whom would we hire from outside the Star Trek univers...

Aha! You thought we were done talking about Harlan Ellison! You fools!

Actually, this episode is less about Ellison, and more about the contents of the anthology, Dangerous Visions, which Ellison organized and edited. The book is full of stories from well-known writers, such as Philip K. Dick, Damon Knight, Larry Niven, Poul Anderson, and others, as well as lesser-known authors whose work Ellison decided to promote. Dangerous Visio...

Planet Of The Apes was a classic. Beneath The Planet Of The Apes was supposed to be the sequel to end all ape sequels, just as World War I was supposed to be the war to end all wars. How did both of those efforts work out?

Beneath The Planet Of The Apes carried the deep distrust of human nature into another film. But now, with another astronaut (who looked a lot like the first astronaut), a first act that looked a lot like the firs...

In an earlier episode, we said that 2001: A Space Odyssey was one of the greatest SF movies ever made. Arguably, the greatest. Also one of the greatest films, period. And then in 1984 came the sequel, 2010: The Year We Make Contact.

Was it as good as the original? Definitely not. But was it a good movie? A decent sequel? Good science fiction? An effective adaptation of the book sequel that Arthur C. Clarke wrote? We'll answer all t...

In this episode, the last of our four-part series on Harlan Ellison, Steven and Tom discuss more of Ellison's works on the big and small screen.

Come for A Boy And His Dog, both the novella and the movie version. It's the rare film version of anything that Ellison wrote, and it's also not bad. You want to know what's really bad?

Stay for The Starlost, the monumentally awful Canadian science fiction TV series, based on Ellison's ide...

We continue our in-depth look at Harlan Ellison, the man and his works, with some of his most famous television scripts. "City On The Edge Of Forever" is, of course, one of the most famous and beloved episodes of the original Star Trek TV show. "Soldier" and "Demon With A Glass Hand" are two episodes written by Ellison for the science fiction anthology show, The Outer Limits. All three are at the apex of Ellison's writing for telev...

Last time, we talked about Harlan Ellison, the writer. This episode, we cover his writings. Tom and Steven review short stories, novellas, and essays that best exemplify his written work. How did we respond to his fiction, then and now? Was Ellison one of the best short story writers of his time? Can you separate the writer from the writing? Tune in to find out.

Harlequins! Five year-olds! Doppelgängers! Murderers! Timekeepers! Tel...

And so begins our multi-part look at Harlan Ellison, one of the most influential writers, editors, and personalities in the realm of "speculative fiction." In this first episode, we look at Harlan Ellison the public persona: the guy we knew from TV and radio interviews, convention appearances, writings about himself, and other avenues. Force of nature, pugnacious champion for a more serious take on the genre, nemesis of TV producer...

Don't panic! The jokes are still funny, decades after we first heard them. Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy combined dry British humor with science fiction tropes. Why did that chemistry work? Which of the different incarnations of the Hitchhiker's Guide was the best? And how many Pan-Galactic Gargle Blasters could we consume?

Super-computers! Two-headed aliens! The end of the Earth! Bad poetry! Bureaucracy! Out-of-w...

One of the best SF movies ever made. Directed by one of the greatest directors ever. Co-written by said director and one of the most respected "hard" science fiction authors of the classic era. The movie that, in the last Sight & Sound poll, other film directors rated as their top movie, period. How have we not covered Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey before now? Perhaps we had not evolved enough...

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When we were kids, Saturday afternoon cartoons were a staple of our popular culture diet. So, too, were weekday afternoon cartoons. Not surprisingly, we liked the really geeky ones that featured science fiction, fantasy, and superheroes. Space Ghost, Macross, The Herculoids, Starblazers, Super Friends, Battle of the Planets, Johnny Quest...These shows shaped our tastes, as well as those of a generation of geeks.

Annoying sidekicks!...

We wrap up our in-depth coverage of the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. We continue our discussion of some of the signature episodes of the season. How do they fall in the categories of good, bad, and meh? We finish with an overall evaluation of season one. Why wasn't it better? Why did we stick with it? And what are the lessons for other TV shows?

More ridiculous Ferengi! Flying pan pizzas! Space pushers! Holodeck ...