A Space Opera Podcast: Rewatch-Jupiter Ascending Preview-Raised By Wolves

This week on A Space Opera Podcast host Jon Justice covers:

-Intro to the podcast and Space Opera
-Look Back: Jupiter Ascending
-Preview: Raised By Wolves
-This weeks Amazon Space Opera Top 10

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
It's my nerd world and welcome toit a space opera podcast. On the
show, this week, we'll doa brief intro to a space opera podcast
and what you can expect in weeksto come. Plus, we'll dive into
the space opera genre, how broadis it and how much of this is
subjective as to what qualifies as aspace opera and what doesn't. We'll look

(00:21):
back this week at the Wachowskis,who were most well known for making The
Matrix and their epic Underrated and beautifulJupiter Ascending. Our preview this week will
be Ridley Scott's new HBO Max seriesRaised by Wolves, and we'll talk a
bit about whether or not this technicallyqualifies as a space opera. I personally

(00:41):
believe that it that it does.Also this week's Amazon Space Opera Top ten,
and so much more. This week'sepisode is brought to you by Zone,
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So join me and claim your zonetoday at our zone dot zone.
That's our zone dot zone. Mynerd World. This is a space opera

(02:23):
podcast here on my nerd World.Than I am your host, John Justice.
I'm glad you're with the show thisweek for August twenty second. The
email is talk show nerd at gmaildot com and the website is my nerdworld
dot net. They're at the websiteyou can find out about all things my
nerd World. The podcast, whetherit's a space opera podcast or it is

(02:46):
the star Wars podcast or a DepecheMode podcast. All the details are available
at at my nerdworld dot net.Also all the information about the Embark science
fiction series written by me. Moredetails on that at the end of the
show. Plus I have a specialgiveaway running this week that you do not
want to miss out on. Allthe details are coming up a little bit

(03:06):
later on in this week's episode.So I did the preview podcast for this
podcast a couple of weeks back andhas taken me a few weeks to get
it off the ground just because lifehappens to go and move that way.
But as I mentioned in the previewpodcast, in case you happen to go
and miss that particular episode, thereason why I decided to do a space

(03:30):
opera podcast is because there's no podcastsdedicated specifically to space operas, and space
opera as a genre is my favoritegenre. It really goes back to my
love of Star Wars. I wouldencourage you to go and check out a
Star Wars podcast that I do again, that's available at my nerdworld dot net,

(03:52):
and I lay out there in thefirst two episodes why I'm such a
massive fan of Star Wars. Likeso many millions are. But Star Wars
in the theater with my dad backin nineteen seventy seven when I was five
years old, and like so manykids that age, I was hooked from
the moment I saw that film.This genre, the genre of space opera,

(04:13):
was around long before Star Wars cameabout. But over the years and
through the different facets of my life, I've just really come to appreciate what
space opera does and what space operahas to has to offer, and it
is a very sort of wide genre, even though it's considered very niche.
I had initially thought about and dida few self publishing podcasts. I am

(04:38):
an author. I've written a trilogywith two more books on the way,
ones complete, the other ones abouthalfway finished. I'm actually on vacation this
week, and I'm planning on wrappingup the fifth book soon in my Embark
series, and I plan on continuingto write more and even have plans and
a plot laid out for a seriesof books that are more of epic fantasy

(05:00):
but still fall into a bit ofthat space opera genre. But I just
like everything that you can do withwithin space opera, the human element um
that and the emotion that comes withthis particular genre. UM set out in
Space and the criteria that a lotof people look for when it comes to
this particular genre. So I didthe self publishing podcast, and I quickly

(05:26):
realized that if that was going tobe beneficial to anybody, I was going
to have to put a lot morework into it. I'm a full time
radio talk show host here in Minneapolis, Minnesota, UM. I write my
novels on the side and I domy podcast on the side, and I
didn't want to put out a productin the self publishing UM podcast world that

(05:46):
was subpar. I thought perhaps Icould fill a niche being a newer author.
My first book, Embark the GreatEvacuation Book One, came out in
UM late twenty eighteen, and againI've put out two books since then,
and I thought maybe I had somethingthat I could offer newer authors. But
again, not having the time becauseof all the other projects in the full

(06:10):
time job that I have to putinto to devote what would be needed to
make that podcast beneficial, I decidedto go ahead and shelve that idea,
and that's when the idea for doinga space opera podcast came about. Because
I consume already so much content withinreading and watching movies when it comes to

(06:30):
space opera that that would be aneasier and honestly a podcast that's a lot
more fun for me to do,and that's why I decided to go the
route of doing a space opera podcast. So I thought i'd kick off the
first official episode and just talk abit about what space opera is. And

(06:50):
rather than use just my words,right, I'm going to appeal to an
article here at trtour dot com andI'll add my own commentary throughout this particular
piece. But the writer of thisarticle does a really good job, Emmett
Asher Parrin, of really breaking downwhat a space opera is, and so

(07:13):
I wanted to share this with youas an intro to space opera on a
space opera podcast. The term droppedinto the lexicon by a fan. He
was a fan writer, Wilson Tucker, initially appeared in the fanzine Leis Zombie
back in nineteen forty one. Itwas meant to invoke the recently coined term
soap opera, which then applied toradio dramas. It was a derogatory way

(07:38):
of referring to a bombastic adventure talewith spaceships and ray guns. Now.
Since then, the definition of spaceopera has been renewed and expanded and gone
through eras of disdain and revival,and the umbrella term covers a large portion
of science fiction available to the public. It's critical opposite is usually cited as

(08:03):
hard science fiction, denoting a storyin which science and mathematics are carefully considered
in the creation of the premise,leading to a tale that might contain more
plausible elements. Right. This hadled some critics to posit that space opera
is simply fantasy and space, butit isn't really, and attempting to make

(08:26):
that distinction is a pretty fascinating exercisewhen all is said and none. From
what I've read of other people's definitionof space opera, these are really operatic
tales, tales of people and emotiontaking place in space. I think the
caveat normally, and they get intoit in the article. Is it needs

(08:48):
to be set out in space,maybe involving multiple planets most of the time
aliens, But that's not necessary now. Of course, if the sort of
person who terms anything with a fantasticelement as fantasy, then sure, space
opera does fall into that sector,but then again, so does horror and

(09:09):
magical realism, and most children's booksand any other number of subgenres. The
answer as to how much any givenqualifier for a subgenre truly matters, it's
always up for debate, paring itall down to your favorite stories. Nothing
but a set of rules is atasking journey that no mortal deserves to go

(09:33):
and suffer through. So something aboutthe genre space opera is distinct, So
what is it now? Highlighting thevariations can make a heaping difference in helping
people explain what they enjoy in fiction, and to that that end, the
definition of space opera has had quitea journey in the popular lexicon, So

(09:56):
to start a word from the spaceopera renaissance. This was written by David
Hartwell and Catherine Kramer. Their bookdefines the genre as a colorful, dramatic,
large scale science fiction adventure, competentlyand sometimes beautifully written, usually focused
on a sympathetic heroic central character andplot action, and usually set in the

(10:22):
relatively distant future and in space oron other worlds. Characteristically optimistic in tone,
it often deals with war, piracy, military virtues, and very large
scale action with large stakes. Now, plenty of those ideas apply to a

(10:43):
widespread of fantasy tales, particularly epicfantasy, a central hero, war,
military virtues, colorful and dramatic yarns, large scale action and stakes. The
trappings are still different in space opera, with stories set in the far future
and the use of space travel andso forth. But what about that optimism.

(11:05):
It's an interesting standout, as isthe tendency toward an adventure narrative.
Epic fantasy can end happily and beadventurous at times, but it often doesn't
read with the plethora of either ofthose traits. Lord of the Rings is
Lord of the Rings is harrowing,right, Song of Ice and Fire is
full of trauma and darkness. Thewheel of time turns on minute detail and

(11:31):
precise depictions of what that world hasbeen thought through in every aspect. Fantasy
tends to examine extreme specificity and wordsand worlds. Excuse me in turmoil.
Space opera doesn't have to in orderto work. So outside the fact that

(11:52):
this is this copy and what theywrote is throwing some shade on some of
these other genres, right, wecan glean in a better sense of what
space opera meant to many save sevendecades ago, and how it was viewed
and what it reveals is perhaps alarger problem. Why has space opera always
been compared to other genres throughout itshistory? Why can't it just be its

(12:16):
own thing? Now? The macrocosmanswer is simple, though stories or stories,
they all rely on similar devices,tropes, and narrative styles. There
is very little that sets one genreapart from another in the broadest sense,
and that's perfectly fine. Now themicrocosm answer is more complex. Space opera

(12:41):
used to be an insult, andit has taken years and the advent of
incredibly successful space operas like Star Warsto allow it to go and stand on
its own. But perhaps all thoseyears of hanging out in the shadows has
made some fans more hesitant in parsingout what they love about the genre.
So what exactly is it? Well, look, I know, for me,

(13:07):
a lot of it comes back toStar Wars as to why I love
space opera, just because I loveStar Wars so much that anything that has
that type of connectivity to the thingthat I was a fan of before I
was a fan of anything in myentire life. I am inevitably and most
likely going to be a fan of. But it's more than that for me

(13:28):
personally. I love vehicles. Ialso love stories that are relatable, and
there's something about the space opera genrethat allows the opportunity for the content consumer
to be transported to a fantastical placethat doesn't exist but still feels somewhat familiar.

(13:50):
This was a balance that I triedto make when I began writing,
and I continue to write my Embarkscience fiction space opera series. I don't
have any aliens in my stories.I also wouldn't call them at all hard
science fiction. I use a bitof science fantasy. I set it far

(14:11):
enough in the future, even thoughI never give an exact time, but
I set it far enough in thefuture to allow for things like faster than
light travel, to allow for thingslike anti gravity lift manifolds that we can
place on the bottom of vehicles thatwe've created, to be able to traverse
through atmosphere on planets and then throughspace again without having to go through the

(14:33):
issue of having to consume a tonof power to get a ship off the
planet. Things like that. ButI wanted to make my stories relatable to
the average reader by setting it inthe future without doing what George Lucas did
and going a galaxy far far away. This is something that I thought that
Wichowskis did really really well with JupiterAscending, as they added in a fantasy

(14:54):
element to our existing universe, andthey did it in a really clever way.
And we'll talk a bit more aboutthat in the next part of the
podcast here when we do our lookback epic this week, which will be
Jupiter Ascending. Getting back to thearticle, the writer goes on to say,
as a fan of the genre,I find the Western comparison hilarious because
Westerns are very much not my thing, and I kind of agree with a

(15:18):
reader here. I'm not a bighuge fan of Westerns either. However,
George Lucas was inspired by Westerns,and so was the Mandalorian, and I
think there's actually an interesting argument tobe made, and we'll talk about this
in upcoming episodes when it comes tothe Mandalorian, it is a space opera,
don't misunderstand, but is it notcloser to being a Western than a
space opera? Which continues to addlayers to the question of what exactly you

(15:46):
know constitutes being a space opera.Okay, so what makes the difference.
So we're getting back into the article. Why are aliens and robots important?
Why are ray guns and space travelbetter than horses and six shooters. There's
a part of me, the writersays, that wants to argue for introspection
in that vein, Robots and aliensare often used as a way to examine

(16:07):
aspects of human nature, to dissectourselves by using other beings as a template.
Dwarves and orcs can do this too, but seem a bit more earthbound.
Whereas robots and aliens are part ofour future, they ask questions about
where we might go and what challengeswe might face as we evolve. Then
again, I'm going to be referencingmy books a lot when it comes to

(16:30):
talking about the genre specifically, eventhough you know this is not necessarily a
blatant promotion for my book, eventhough it'd be great if you purchase the
book to support the podcast. Bethat as it may. Just because I
write in this particular genre, Ican speak to what they're talking about here.
I have an upcoming story that's aspinoff from the third book in my
series that is about one particular characterand their AI robot companion, and through

(16:59):
no intent, that story ended upvery much being the avatar or analogy to
a boy and his dog. Ihad a beloved dog for eleven years,
Bella, who unfortunately became very illand we had to put to sleep last

(17:23):
week. That was an incredibly devastatingthing for myself and my family to do.
I was incredibly close to Bella,and I love my Bella, and
I missed my Bella deeply. WhenI wrote this spinoff story this year,
I knew that Bella was dealing withsome issues, but we had never been
closer than we were over the courseof these last eight months. And I

(17:45):
didn't even realize that the story thatI was writing, and these conversations that
this main character, the protagonist ishaving with his AI companion, were really
analogous to the relationship that I hadwith my beloved Bella. She couldn't talk
to me, but I subconsciously wascrafting those dialogue, that dialogue in that
conversation as if I was having aconversation with the dog that I love.

(18:10):
Getting back to the article, butthere's also the opera part of space opera,
something that doesn't get enough credit inthe phrase right, opera is all
about performance and it's about emotion.You don't need a transition of an opera
to understand it, because the spectacleof it should transcend the need. Opera

(18:32):
works with visuals, music, dance, poetry, as many forms of art
as we can to shove into thecollective space and time. Opera is bigger
than all of us. George Lucashas often said that he considered, especially
the Original Trilogy and a New Hope, you could actually run that as a
silent movie, and there's a levelin which that movie actually works as a

(18:56):
silent film. Space opera is oftendeliver in those terms. They are writ
large and bursting with color and light. Is space opera just fantasy and space
do each their own that definition,to each their own that definition, but
there's a difference between the two allthe same. And even if we don't

(19:18):
need to pin it down, wecan at least honor the fact that space
opera is no longer an insult.It encompasses many of the stories that we
treasure. Now I jotted down nowwe're going to be talking about a lot
of these particular films, and thisis certainly not a complete list by any
stretch of the imagination. But Idecided to jot down a series of films

(19:41):
just at the top of my headthat I personally believe fit into that space
opera genre. And what I findreally fascinating about it once I was done
writing the list was how diverse thosemovies actually are. Okay, so Starship
Troopers, Flash Gordon Dune, Barbarella, The Last Starfighter, Serenity, Guardians

(20:04):
of the Galaxy one and two.I think there's an argument to be made
that Captain Marvel's that the Marvel CinematicUniverse Captain Marvel could be considered a space
opera, Valerian City of a ThousandPlanets, Fifth Element, and of course
Star Wars, Star Trek, BattlestarGalactica. That's an incredibly diverse mix of

(20:26):
movies, all that fall into essentiallythe science fiction category, but I also
believe all of which can be viewedspecifically as space operas. And again,
it's that emotional part of the spaceopera genre that I really love, and

(20:48):
it's something that I think Star Wars, George Lucas and yes, all the
films, including the sequel trilogy andthe prequel trilogy trapped into really well that
mythology. There's a fantasy element tothe Star Wars movies that is clear.
They are science fantasy, but makeno mistake, they are absolutely space operas.
My Embark books are set in thefuture, supposed to be rooted in

(21:12):
humanity, right, no fantasy elementsin terms of magic or mythology beyond your
normal religion. But they are definitelyspace operas. Now, as always as
I do with all my podcast I'dlike to know what you think. Talk
Show nerd at gmail dot com isthe email address for all the podcast Talk

(21:36):
Show Nerd at gmail dot com.It's also the email that you can use
to join the mailing list when itcomes to my nerd World and the Embark
series, and that's going to beimportant a little bit later on in the
show when I get into the biggiveaway that I'm doing over the course of
this week. By the way,if you join the mailing list, I
will never sell your information and Iwill never send you spam. That is
a promise you can always expect frommyrd World. Of my nerd World podcast

(22:00):
and certainly a space opera podcast.You would searching for one thing your whole
life. I want a found I'msure this is the right one. It's

(22:32):
her good kill her. I'm hopinghere we got it? What in the
hell is going on? It canbe difficult for people from underdeveloped worlds to

(22:52):
hear that their planet is not theonly inhabited planet. Earth is a very
small part of a very large industry. I think we might have stumbled into
a war with some of the mostpowerful dynasties in the universe. Why is
happening to me? You are aroyalty. We need a plant, we

(23:15):
need firepower. This week's Look backHere on a Space Opera podcast with my

(23:56):
nerd World is the wichaw Skis Highconcept right, big time Jupiter Ascending.
Now, this is a movie thatI wanted to see in theaters, didn't
end up seeing it in theaters,and really regretted that I didn't. Now
I'm gonna be upfront, I'm kindof a fan of the Wachowskis, and

(24:19):
that is I really do enjoy theirmovies, and certainly what the Wachowskis have
tried to do in breaking the moldtypical of what we see with big Hollywood
blockbusters. There is no denying theMatrix was a game changing film when it
was released. I'm a big fanof the of the sequels as well.

(24:40):
I thought that that Revolutions and Reloadedand the trilogy in and of itself are
fantastic, especially Revolutions. The endingbattle in Revolutions, I just think is
incredible. I really really enjoy thosemovies. And something else that will be
discussing on future episodes is whether ornot the Matrix Trilogy falls into the category

(25:02):
of space opera. Now, it'smissing one big fundamental thing, and that
is the fact that it's not setin space. But I'm kind of the
opinion that it does take place onEarth in the future, and I think
there's an argument to be made thatthere are enough elements that you find normally
in the definition of space opera whereyou could put the Matrix Trilogy in that
category. But that is for adifferent episode, of course. The Wachowski

(25:23):
has also did speed Racer, whichis another completely underrated film Cloud Atlas,
which I need to go and revisitagain. I've only seen it once and
I remember I walked away from itnot being all that impressed. But there
is something about the Wachowski's films thatdo that, and it really takes repeated
viewings to begin to appreciate what itis that they were going for and what

(25:47):
it is that they accomplish accomplished.Now, I'm going to be referring to
another article and adding in my twocents as we get into the Look Back
and Jupiter Ascending this week. Thisone comes from Inverse, and the headline
really says it all. The mostunderappreciated sci fi movie on Netflix deserves another
chance. This is written by DasJohnston. Of all the movies the Wachowski

(26:07):
sisters have made, none is sounfairly reviled as Jupiter Ascending, Not even
Speed Racer, the article says,Boasting a frankly impressive twenty seven percent critics
rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it wascalled everything from unimaginative to a dumb action
flick. How anybody, even ifyou hated Jupiter Ascending, how anybody can

(26:32):
go and say that that film wasunimaginative is beyond me. This twenty fifteen
feature was meant to be a breathof new life into a tired genre,
but instead seemed to be the finalnail in its coffin. However, the
watching experience is more than just thecritics reviews for such a fantastical movie.
It starts off from a remotely excuseme, it starts off extremely terrestrial.

(26:57):
Let me stop here. I hadthe opportunity to do a couple of interviews
today about my science fiction space operaseries, and one of them was on
The Lowdown Show on YouTube, andEdwin, who hosts the show, said
that he had started watching Jupiter Ascendingbut didn't get that far into it.
And I think that's where people gettripped up with this movie. The opening

(27:21):
third of the film is not veryrepresentative of the rest of the movie.
It starts off a little wonky,grounded in a lot of reality before we
begin to get into the fantastical stuffand the story really goes and takes off.
You need to give this movie achance. Yes, it's got some
weird concepts in it. Yes,Channing Tatum and the article I'll get into

(27:42):
this has Wolf pointy ears and fliesaround unlike skates that he can laser skates.
Okay, but it's actually kind ofrad. It's kind of cool.
And there are some sequences in thisfilm, especially the finale, that are

(28:04):
incredible. They really are. Theconcepts on the spaceships, the art design
of the film, the way thatit's shot. It is an incredibly just
on a visual level, impressive film, but it also has some real depth
in terms of storytelling as well.This twenty fifteen feature right it starts off

(28:26):
extremely terrestrial. Mila Kunas's character JupiterJones, describes her life as the child
of a Russian mathematician and the astronomerson of an English diplomat who was killed
off before she is even born.You smash cut to the present day and
Jupiter is living in Chicago and hasa job cleaning houses of the rich and

(28:48):
famous. Meanwhile, in space,three siblings of the Abraxis family are fighting
over the most precious part of theirmother's inheritance, it called Earth. They
debate who has claim over it,and this leads the youngest brother, Titus,
to send Kane Wise to fetch Jupiter. Kane, played with a surprisingly

(29:12):
fitting lack of emotion by Channing Tatum, rescues her from a medical procedure turned
abduction, but loses her to fellowcaptors. I actually think that there's a
fix of Wachowskis could have done,but unfortunately George Lucas beat him to the
punch, But I think there wasanother way they could have pulled it off

(29:33):
if the Wachowskis had gone the routein Jupiter Is sending of setting up some
type of opening crawl doesn't have tobe like Star Wars. Blade Runner had
an opening crawl. I think ifthey had dispensed with some of the more
rudimentary beginnings in the story, peoplewould would have been able to grasp faster
what it is that they were tryingto accomplish. The beginning of the film
has quite a bit of exposition,and it's necessary with a film like this

(29:57):
of this scope, that's trying totell an incredibly large, wide, you
know, tail in a relatively shortperiod of time of two hours. Now,
all these events that I just describedhappen one after another. Now this
makes the Melacuna's character a human mcguffinin The fight between uber Rich siblings and

(30:21):
the rogue Kane played out in stunningvisuals as only the Witch House Kis can
pull off. The plot honestly ismerely a vehicle for the visual language of
the world it inhabits. From Kane'slittle Wolf and Ears to the spaceships on
Earth, leaving crop circles. Everydetail is thought out, even if that

(30:41):
thought is just man, wouldn't thislook cool? The costumes alone warrant to
watch. Every battle costume is badass, and every ball gown is extravagant.
The script underneath about seven layers ofworld building and action scenes is a genuine
statement about capital and the use ofhuman life as a consumable resource, and

(31:03):
a bit of about bureaucracy. Here'sthe thing, though, Okay, it's
not overt about it, and that'swhat I thought they did really well,
which is kind of surprising because he'sboth of Wachausky sisters used to be brothers,
now sisters. The wachaus sisters arevery politically inclined in their personal life.
Thankfully, they are able to accomplishwhat George Lucas was able to accomplish,

(31:29):
and that is inject politics, right, and most good storytelling can do
this. If this is what they'retrying to accomplish, right, they're able
to sort of inject politics into theirstories without beating people over the head or
turning people off. Something again,very similar happened when I was crafting my
Embark trilogy. It was only whenit was finished that I realized that there

(31:51):
is a subtext that run through allthree books that is very relatable to our
modern day, especially when it comesto social network working and to a lesser
extent, politics, even though politicsis not something that I get into in
any great detail and certainly not enoughwhere you be and even to tell what
my political leanings were just by readingthe books. The witch howskis, in

(32:12):
my opinion, that a really goodjob of not being on the nose with
their political statements and opinions while stillproviding them to make it palatable for a
large audience. There is a lotof clunky dialogue, but it's the kind
of dialogue you can chuckle at,not WinCE over, like when Kane explains
to his he spliced with wolf DNAto Jupiter and she flirtatiously answers, I

(32:37):
love dogs. I've always loved dogs. One of the easiest traps for space
operas to fall into is taking itselftoo seriously. Contemporary examples like Guardians of
the Galaxy and Thora Ragnarok lean heavilyon humor and pointing out their own inherent
ridiculousness. Now Jupiter Ascending takes thosethings completely in the other direction. And

(32:57):
instead we are given Academy Award winningactor Eddie Redmain giving one hundred and ten
percent on a so so villain speechas baalum O Brassis, rasping and enunciating
each in every word. And Idon't particularly like that character, but guess
what, you're not supposed to likethat character. It's kind of the point,
now, if this is the sortof sci fi isn't up your alley,

(33:19):
it would still serve a useful watchas a barometer to measure against other
sci fi films. It is nota Marvel movie, and it certainly is
not a Star Wars episode. Inmany ways, it's a complete opposite of
those things. But by learning toappreciate all there is to like in Jupiter
Ascending, it's much easier to seehow other movies could be improved and what

(33:42):
they do well. It is kindof one of the trappings when it comes
to space operas that it seems asif very few of them, and this
is not singular to space operas.What we're talking about six space operas,
right, it seems like very fewof them get released and are given a
chance, or they get everything right. Space operas are a difficult beast because
they're always kind of kind of becompared to Star Wars, and whenever you

(34:06):
go to introduce a new ip,if it's not something people are familiar with,
they're going to be less inclined togo see it, you know.
Fifth Element was the success of thebox office, but really found its fandom
in home video release and then DVDand Blu Ray Right Valerian. I enjoy
Valerian quite a bit. I thoughtthe two lead characters, while in and

(34:29):
of themselves are a good actor andactress, I like both of those characters,
they had zero chemistry together for acouple that we're supposed to see essentially
falling in love throughout the movie.And yet that film is incredibly ambitious,
visually stunning, and really a lotof fun. But it was a new
ip and people didn't gravitate towards it. Jupiter Ascending tried to burst into the

(34:52):
theaters using the credibility of the Matrixfilms, but unfortunately, I think with
a lot of people they didn't likerevolutions and reloaded, so they were kind
of turned off from what the Wachowskiswere trying to do, and therefore it
just wasn't given a chance in thebox office, nobody went to see it.
But it's fascinating to see now thatthere's a lot of people that are
gravitating towards this film on giving ita second look. And I know that

(35:15):
every time that I go back towatch this movie, I personally enjoy it
more and more. So I woulddefinitely go and check out Jupiter Ascending.
If you have not done that before. They put it this way, you're
not gonna Even if you don't likeit, you're not gonna walk away disappointed.

(35:37):
Tather round, children, dear justthrowing by a creat more I was
programmed to you. We started again. Does anyone know the story of the

(35:58):
three little pigs. The first littlepig built a house out of straw,
The second little paper built a houseout of sticks. With the third little
paper he built a house about astone. One day a big bad wolf

(36:24):
came along and said, little pig, little pig, let me in mort'll
house, little buff, and I'llblow your house in. The big bad

(36:52):
wolf was talking about it. That'sher Raised by Wolves twenty twenty Ridley Scott.
The trailer dropped a couple of weeksback. I am so excited for

(37:15):
this HBO Max streaming show. Allright, truth be told. I love
Prometheus, I love Alien Covenant.I'm a fan of the Alien series,
and I won't go into which ofthe Alien films I like and I don't
like. If you have not seenthe director's cut of David Fincher's Alien three,
you are doing yourself a disservice.And again we're walking into that weird

(37:37):
territory. Where does this qualify asa space opera? I personally think it
does. We'll get into some ofthe details here in just a moment.
I also think the Prometheus and AlienCovenant, while they are science fiction films,
definitely, while they are horror moviesfor the most part, I also
think that, just based off thefact that we're talking about a future set

(37:58):
in space, multiple worlds were inthe world of space opera. Definitely Prometheus,
and I love what those films doin terms of mythology, and again
the ambition that Ridley Scott had intrying to open up that alien world.
See, I'm I'm kind of thattype of movie goer where I'm easy to
please. I like to be entertained, and that's my criteria is pretty low.

(38:21):
If I walk away entertained. I'mlooking. I'm willing to look past
faults. Okay, I love TheLast Jedi, and I absolutely adore The
Rise of Skywalker. It's one ofmy favorite all time space operas of the
moment right now. My opinions shiftdepending on day and mood, but at
the moment, the Rise of Skywalkeris probably my favorite, my favorite space
opera. I'm also not a personthat gets bogged down in newer films expanding

(38:46):
upon older classics, and the peoplethat make the argument that the original films
have now been ruined because of thenewer films and the changing of the canon.
That kind of said doesn't bother me. I can still always go back
and watch, say, the originaltrilogy. For the people that don't like
the sequel trilogy and say that theywant to forget about it, it doesn't

(39:07):
matter to me. For those thatreally love alien and aliens and they don't
like Prometheus or Alien Covenant because ofwhat it does in terms of explaining where
the aliens come from, that kindof stuff doesn't get to me. Letting
you know a little bit about meRaised by Wolves, however, look spectacular,
and I think it does follow intothe space opera category. Androids struggle

(39:30):
to raise human children on a mysteriousplanet in the first trailer for Raised by
Wolves. This article comes from JenniferOrliet. It's a new science fiction series
coming to HBO Max courtesy of RidleyScott. The ten episode series was initially
a straight to series order for TNT, but moved to HBO last October.
Scott even directed the first two episodes, making this his USTv directorial debut.

(39:55):
I'm always searching for new frontiers inthe sci fi genre and have found a
true original in Raised by Wolves,a wholly distinct and imaginative world full of
characters struggling with existential questions. Scotttold Deadline in Hollywood back in twenty eighteen
about what drew him to the project, What makes us human, what constitutes

(40:16):
a family? And what if wecould start over again and erase the mess
we've made of our planet? Wouldwe survive? Would we do better now?
The tagline for the series gives littleaway. Mother was programmed to protect
everyone after Earth had been destroyed.When the big bad Wolf shows up,
she is the one we must trust. But the basic premise revealed during develop

(40:39):
the development is that the story involvestwo and two androids serving his mother Amanda
Colin and father Abubakar Salim Figures ona strange virgin planet. They are programmed
to raise human children to rebuild thepopulation. However, the people of the
fledgling colony develops dark religious differences,and the androids learn the controlling the beliefs

(41:05):
of humans is a treacherous and difficulttask. Now, judging by the trailer,
the actual series is much weirder andmore complicated than that brief description.
Gather around children, you heard inthe trailer. That's what the mother says.
It appears to be story time forher young, but this one might
give them nightmares. The earth wasdestroyed by a great war, she says,

(41:27):
I was programmed to protect you,and now we start again. Then
mother launches into a creepy retelling ofthe Three Little Pigs as images flash by
in rapid succession, becoming increasingly strangeand violent. Travis Flamel plays Marcus,
who seems to be the bad guyin the series. He was also the
protagonist in Warcraft, which is afilm that oddly I like more on repeated

(41:50):
viewings. Or is he all thoseleaked images of a blood splattered mother emanating
banshee walls with enough acoustic energy tomake heads explode, suggests otherwise. And
what's mother doing crouched and howling bya giant pit. The big bad wolf
she was talking about, that's her, we are told. Now. Raised
by Wolves debuts on HBO Max Septemberthird, twenty twenty. Will it be

(42:13):
good? It's hard to say,although the production values seem pretty impressive and
there are some strong alien vibes.It's Ridley Scott, so we'll definitely be
watching. I want to toss somethingout there too. I have a bit
of a theory I can't help butwonder if this might actually fit into the
alien universe. Just a theory.We're talking to androids, we're talking to
the future and the alien films.Earth wasn't destroyed yet, however, and

(42:36):
I doubt they would reference it.If you get into Alien Resurrection, there
is a moment where they call Earthan s hoole who wants to go back
there. Depending on how far inthe future, this could be a circumstance
where we could be seeing some crossuniverse action going on. Just want to
throw that out there, because RidleyScott has talked about doing that before,
and there are some individuals out therethat theorize that the Alien universe actually kind

(43:00):
of coexists with the Blade Runner universe. By the way, side note,
I had the theory that the Terminatorfranchise actually could be connected with the Matrix
universe if you were to take Skynetto its fruition and Judgment Day happening.
The ramifications of Judgment Day could actuallykick off the events of what ends up

(43:25):
taking in the original Matrix. Goahead, allow your mind to be blown.
That's okay, you can let ithappen. Just a theory. I
haven't really fleshed it out and lookedat dates or times or anything. I
just thought it was interesting. Sowhat do you think you're looking forward to
raised by Wolves? Am I outof my mind for calling this a space
opera? Am? I just happyabout it because it's science fiction and I

(43:46):
wanted to include it in this podcasttalk show nerd at gmail dot com.
All right, before we wrap upthe show, I want to give you
the top ten Amazon best selling spaceoperas. At the moment. As a
self published author, I am notin this top ten, at least not
yet. I'd like to be oneday. If you buy some books,
maybe that'll help. Talk a littlebit about that in the moment. But

(44:07):
right now you're top ten on Amazon, and space operas goes like this.
Rick Partlow Kinetic Strike, Drop TrooperBook number two at number ten. The
Service of Mars Starships Mage Book nineby Glenn Stewart is at number nine.
The Collapsing Empire The Interdependency Book oneby John Scalzi is at number eight.

(44:28):
Rick Partlow again, Contact Front DropTrooper Book, Drop Drop Trooper Book number
one, number seven, Frank Herbert'sNone number six. Cannot wait for that
trailer next week. I am ahuge fan of Denivill Leneux Later Under twenty
forty nine is amazing as his arrival, and I cannot wait to see what
he's gonna do with Dune Space OperaNo Denying It. Tasimin Mirror Harrow the

(44:53):
Ninth. The Lock to Tomb TrilogyBook two is at number five. Final
Days Escape Spertise Scott is at numberfour. Nathan high Stand The Resistance The
Complete Series books one through three isat number three. Jaspertise Scott again,
Final Days Pliny is at number twoand at number one this week on the

(45:13):
best selling Amazon Space operas Star ForceMaddie StarForce Universe book number seventy seven is
at number one by air Key Jeer. That is your top ten space operas
for the week at Amazon dot com. I hope you enjoyed the list,
and I would definitely go and checkout any of those books. And that

(45:35):
wraps up the show this week.I hope you enjoyed it. Talk show
Nerd at gmail dot com. BeforeI let you go, it is giveaway
a week here on my nerd World. All week, my nerd World will
be accepting entries to win autographed copiesof the Embark trilogy. That's Embark the
Great Evacuation Book one, that isEmbark Treasure and Darkness Book two, and
that is Embark the Vanishing War Bookthree. They are available in e book

(46:00):
right now. By the way,Book one is ninety nine cents at minordworld
dot net and books two and threeare just two ninety nine. Now your
first prize, which we will drawon next week's Space Opera podcast and on
the Star Wars podcast. I'll basicallydo one drawing and I'll play it on
both shows. Your first prize willbe a signed complete Embark trilogy with the

(46:23):
updated book one cover includes free shipping. A second, third, and fourth
prizes will be signed copies of EmbarkBook one, the first edition of the
paperback, also with free shipping.Again, names will be drawn randomly next
Saturday. Listening not required to win. The deadline to enter is midnight August

(46:44):
twenty nine, so that would beFriday night going into a Saturday. Estimator
retail value of prize one is fortytwo dollars and a first, second,
and third estimator retail value it's thirteenand ninety nine. So John, how
do you enter? I'm glad youasked. Go to my nerd world dot
net and go to the my nerdblog. Actually, there is a link right
there on the homepage at my notaworlddot net. Just click on that link

(47:07):
and it'll take you too where youcan sign up for the mailing list.
That's all you gotta do. Putyour name down on the contact forum say
I want to enter the Embark seriesor just write Embark or contest. I'll
include you on the mailing list andyou'll be entered in the drawing. Again,
no purchase required to win, andI hope you'll take the time to

(47:27):
go to my nerdworld dot net andcheck it out. I'll be back again
next week for another episode Talk Shownerd at gmail dot com. You can
also use that address if you don'twant to go to the website and you
want to go and enter right now. If you email me talk show nerd
at gmail dot com and just sayembark contest, I will get you on
the mailing list and you can enterthat way as well. Thanks for checking
the show out. I look forwardto hearing from you and we'll talk to

(47:51):
you again next week. My nerdWorld