Science Fiction 101

It's 100 years since the writer Richard Matheson was born. Author of novels such as I Am Legend, The Shrinking Man, Bid Time Return and Hell House - and screenwriter for The Twilight Zone, Duel, Somewhere in Time and Kolchak: The Night Stalker - he is one of the most influential SFF writers of all time. We guarantee you will know some of his work, even without realising it!So we just had to do an episode about his work.But where to begin?Rather than attempt (and fail) to cover everything, we picked a handful of intriguing works to review, and add in a couple of personal favourites. For links to these, check out the full show notes here:https://101sf.blogspot.com/2026/10/the-incredible-writing-man-episode-71.html

Triumph or disaster? Vintage or trainwreck?These are some of the questions we ask ourselves as we consider the year 1983 in science fiction film - prompted by a contemporary review which suggested it might have been particularly terrible.You see, on the one the one hand, there's WarGames. But on the other, there's Krull. And somewhere in between sits Brainstorm.As well as mulling over these cinematic masterpieces, we have a science fiction transport quiz courtesy of friend of the show Andy Parry, and our usual round-up of past, present and future SF.For more information, check out the show notes on our blog at https://101sf.blogspot.com/2026/09/a-year-can-do-lot-to-person-episode-70.html

Colin and Phil consider the significance of dates in science fiction. ...1984, 1999, 2001... all years that carry heavy connotations for the SF connoisseur. And we've got plenty more. Which ones will you recognise?We also have a women-in-science fiction quiz, and our usual recommendations of SF old and new.For more information, check out the shownotes at https://101sf.blogspot.com/2026/09/thats-so-dated-episode-69.html

In the midst of a long, hot summer, Colin and Phil turn their sci-fi attentions to the treatment of climate change in science fiction. Naturally, science fiction was there first: before human-caused climate change was recognised, science fiction had been considering what would happen if our planet became hotter. Or colder.To explore this topic, we discuss two films from earlier times - David Twohy's The Arrival (1996) and Val Guest's The Day The Earth Caught Fire (1961).We also have a Cli-Fi Quiz, and our usual round-up of past, present and future recommendations. For more information, check out the show notes at 101sf.blogspot.com

This episode was intended to be a grab-bag of different topics, but we inadvertently dug up a show with a strong theme: translation!We start off with a review of the hot-off-the-presses free magazine Small Planet, which discusses issues around translated science fiction. Even if you didn't know you were interested in languages and translating, you will be after you've heard our discussion.Next we review the classic short film "La Jetée", famously the basis for the film 12 Monkeys. And then the recent Chinese movie Resurrection, directed by Bi Gan.We also have a quiz on SF terms, and our usual run through of recommendations of past, present and future SF. If you'd like to support the show, don't forget you can buy us a coffee!For the full shownotes, check out our blog, here: https://101sf.blogspot.com/2026/07/lost-in-translation-episode-67.html