Alienating the Audience

Why does Patrick Stewart's passing hurt so much? Andrew Young joins to discuss the depth and legacy of the great actor. Nick Sperdute joins for a comedy sketch. Bon Voyage, Mon Capitaine.

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die is a scrappy sci-fi story about time travel, causality, and whether humanity can be trusted with knowledge of its own future. Henrique Couto returns to unpack the film's big philosophical swings about fate, free will, technological hubris, and the temptation to "fix" history, while also asking the important questions: how much should a time-travel movie explain, when do paradoxes stop mattering, and which character would absolutely destroy the timeline within minutes of getting access to the machine?

"Pluribus is the Borg Collective, but polite and friendly." So says Brian Brushwood, who rejoins the show to discuss Vince Gilligan's latest program, starring Rhea Seehorn.

Science fiction tackles the end of the world again and again, sometimes hopefully and sometimes utterly devoid of it. Josh Jennings joins in this expensive episode to discuss the many, many fates of mankind which come to a close across the worlds of science fiction. Space Tractor: And Other Science Fiction Short Stories https://www.amazon.com/SPACE-TRACTOR-Science-Fiction-Stories-ebook/dp/B0FJPDYMH8/ref=sr_1_1?crid=15MARPN6Y4DM&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.cFEATJSsQLnfuO9Y2RkgnmYoIvRwTMvIuk0R6Z6ZAp8NsR2mn5D9ml79QeygyBBR4c8Fxvw2jBUe8IGSYGo9x4iQnr3qkIF2HGcmvBRt5p4.HqB3rkgkSY53a9bxfAiHB24WIjWObnR9Rz0eWsJDaCo&dib_tag=se&keywords=josh+jennings+books&qid=1762223518&sprefix=josh+jennings%2Caps%2C125&sr=8-1

In the film "Cabin in the Woods" the grizzly deaths of several archetypical characters are stage-managed by office workers in order to quench the bloodlust of ancient, pagan gods. The film is simultaneously a comedy and a horror, and an excellent romp. Henrique Couto, host of the Weekly Spooky podcast, joins to discuss the film, as well as the appeal of horror, and why that genre in particular excels at meta narratives.