Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever*7 Des 2025

Ikarie XB-1: 1963 Communist Utopia in Space

As always there are spoilers ahead!

We've discussed Czech scifi before with Karel Zeman's gorgeous steam punk offering from 1958 Invention for Destruction (dubbed into the English language The Fabulous World of Jules Verne) and we've also covered Communists in Space with 1960s The Silent Star (AKA First Spaceship on Venus).

The Czech Ikarie XB-1 (1963) has connections to both of those films but also offers an aesthetic that seems to directly inspire Kubrick for 2001: A Space Odyssey. The year is 2163, communism has won, and a crew of 40 are sent to find life on the white planet in Alpha Centauri with a journey fraught with sociological, psychological and physical challenges.

I have two amazing academics to help give insight into the film.

Evan Torner is an Associate Professor of German Studies and Niehoff Professor of Film & Media Studies at the University of Cincinnati.

Simon Spiegel is a lecturer of Film Studies at the University of Zurich. He has written extensively about Science Fiction and Utopia and has just released the book The Fear of Knowing about spoilers in film and media.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:11 Stanislaw Lem's The Magellanic Cloud

04:28 Czechoslovakian New Wave and film industry

09:49 The striking introductory scenes and Kubrick's 2001

13:05 Cabin fever in spaaace!

15:13 Music by Zdeněk Liška

16:57 Communist utopia in spaaace!

20:57 The draw of sociological stories

26:19 A utopian party and a red alert

28:15 The capitalist ship and the 20th century

32:47 Putting science into sci-fi

39:30 Evan's Dark Matter Shenanigans

42:21 Post Stalin faith

43:41 The ending

45:39 The US edit

47:27 Legacy

52:18 Recommendations

NEXT EPISODE!

I will be taking a detour next episode to talk about Afrofuturism which I've been wanting to discuss since the very early days of research before I launched the podcast. Almost two years late but I hope you enjoy it. After that we will be discussing Dr Strangelove and I would recommend you also watch Fail Safe (also 1964) if you have time.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(70)

Planet of the Apes: Evolution, Supremacy, & the Death of Liberty

As usual there are spoilers ahead! You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky. If you have an air of gravitas and money to spend and would like to be a patron of th...

13 Sep 56min

Barbarella 1968: Pop Art, Sex & Space Opera

As always, there are spoilers ahead. You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky. If you have an air of gravitas and money to spend and would like to be a patron o...

30 Aug 57min

Je t'aime, je t'aime (1968): Time Travel, Memory and Loss

Translation for the intro: A race against time. Office time against outside time. Who's winning? I don't know yet. Apologies as I am coming down with a heavy cough and need sleep. I am so out of it ...

16 Aug 58min

Destroy All Monsters 1968: Godzilla's Kaiju in Combat

Translation for Intro: "Fire Dragon can reduce Tokyo to ashes in just a few hours." Godzilla ROARS. "It's Godzilla!" As always there are spoilers ahead! You can follow the podcast on social media on...

2 Aug 51min

Sci-fi & Architecture: Visions of the Future

There are spoilers ahead! For many films I'm afraid. I would especially avoid the episode until you have watched Ex-Machina (which you really really should immediately it really is phenomenal) as Jes ...

19 Jul 55min

Quatermass: Nigel Kneale, Hammer and Mid-Century Britain

There is a longer version of the podcast available which includes more tangential topics on Patreon for paid subscribers or for a $3 or £3 fee! The long version is just under one hour and twenty-five ...

5 Jul 59min

The Face of Another 1966: Scars & Identity in Post War Japan

Trigger warning: This discussion includes talk about sexual assault and sexual violence. This is a theme apparent in the film and the source material. It is mentioned a few times. The topic is not spo...

21 Jun 59min

Blade Runner: Paul Franklin's Favourite Sci-Fi Film

As always there are spoilers ahead! Blade Runner was not a huge hit in 1982 but it did gain a fair few fans on its initial release. One of those fans was a teenager from Cheshire by the name of Paul F...

7 Jun 46min