Sci Fi Fidelity

Tales from the Loop is an unusual sort of sci-fi anthology show in that each separate story is united by a common pastoral setting and a dominant central family. This is no doubt in part because the series takes its inspiration from a series of unrelated but commonly themed paintings by Swedish artist Simon Stålenhag, which combine scenes of everyday life with a normalized science fiction sensibility. When we spoke to showrunner Na...

Does the Apple TV+ version of Amazing Stories, which still has Steven Spielberg’s name attached to it, live up to the more optimistic vision of the stories we’ve come to expect from the 80s original? As we break down the first two episode of the series, “The Cellar” and “The Heat,” the answer becomes clear that the positive messaging is intact even if the intended audience might skew a bit younger. Both stories have minor narrative...

It’s not surprising that Alex Garland, who is known for films like Ex Machina and Annihilation, is the creator behind Devs, a series on Hulu that features his trademark obsessed tech guru that has let his own invention become way too powerful. In this case, the world is one in which predictive algorithms have become so sophisticated in their ability to anticipate future actions that free will is disproven and fate is set. This is p...

In these days of coronavirus quarantine, one day can feel exactly like the next, and it reminded us of the many repeating days that appear in time loop episodes of some current and classic TV shows. Bill Murray in Groundhog Day may have set the standard for this formula in cinema, but imitators on the small screen have taken the idea to new creative levels even as they emulate certain familiar aspects that have become the norm for ...

Cosmos has been around since 1980, and the optimistic tone of both the late Carl Sagan’s show and the current iteration hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson has been the hallmark of the series. In its effort to make science more accessible and more inspirational to the average viewer, Cosmos: Possible Worlds has taken us on powerful visual journeys through space and time, and much of the credit for the impact of the show’s message must go...

Outlander is long overdue for a discussion on Sci Fi Fidelity even though some might argue it’s more of a historical drama than a science fiction offering. However, we couldn’t resist sparing the time to admire the time travel implications of the first few episodes of season 5 which has main character Claire increasingly dismissive of any consequences her life-saving measures might have on history as we know it. For that reason alo...

There was much anticipation for the arrival of Locke & Key on Netflix once the trailer hit the scene, and although the adaptation was not without its flaws, we enjoyed the magical, gothic feel of the spooky Key House and the similarly creepy powers the keys bestowed upon the Locke family. The young protagonists were immediately charming, and the complexity of their evolution throughout the series made for an enjoyable narrative...

Star Trek: Picard brings back all the feelings of watching Star Trek: The Next Generation and builds off of many familiar elements from other sci-fi properties, including bits of plot from Star Trek: Nemesis and the 2009 film reboot. We discuss the brilliance of the show's premise and immediately appreciate the cast of characters that we're introduced to.

The body of our podcast is dedicated to talking about the first two episod...

We've enjoyed plenty of Netflix's international fare on the podcast, but nothing quite like The Gift, a supernatural series known as Atiye in its native Turkey. With the same family history dynamic as Dark and with similar crazy visions to Siempre Bruja, this series delves even deeper into the nature of life and death while maintaining its archaeological mystery, fantasy adventure feel. It's a truly unique show that we couldn't wai...

There are certain theme songs from genre television that are immediately recognizable after just a few notes have been played, but what shows have the best opening credits music of them all? The discussion topic each month has the daunting task of narrowing the choices down to three for each of us, and that was quite difficult here in January of 2020.

Even the hosts themselves interpreted the topic at hand differently. In some ...

There’s no denying that Lost in Space is an edge-of-your-seat space adventure for the whole family, and much of the audience enjoyment comes from seeing how the Robinson family will escape from their latest life-or-death situation. On this week’s Sci Fi Fidelity podcast, we talk about the importance of viewing this series through the right lens, checking any nitpicks about scientific accuracy at the door and just enjoying the ride.

The Witcher quickly became a favorite here on the podcast as we delved deeper into the three central characters of the show: Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri. The show may be based on a series of novels and short stories from Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski and a popular video game, but we were able to enjoy the story of the monster hunter and the sorceress and princess whose fate became wrapped up in his on its own merits.

As we are ...

Ever since we began our two-episode rule, which keeps our show discussion to the first couple of episodes of the season, we knew we'd have to be flexible. Maybe we'd add a third or fourth episode for a half-hour comedy or if a shift in the story warranted it, and anything else would be in the spoiler-zone if we were able to squeeze in a few more in our own viewing before recording the podcast. But certain shows were just too irresi...

Dominique Tipper, who plays Naomi Nagata on The Expanse, was the very first interviewee we ever had on the podcast back when we began in September of 2016, just when the Syfy show was getting started, and showrunner Naren Shankar visited with us in February of 2017 during season 2. Now, the two key players in the success of this space science fiction TV show join us once more from the set of season 5, which is currently filming in ...