The Jazz Genius From Outer Space
Sun Ra claimed to be an extraterrestrial being from Saturn who could teleport you to other planets with his music. That may or may not have been true, but he certainly was the leader of one of the mos...
1 Apr 202131min
Second Life Goes On
One year into this pandemic, it’s been a struggle to feel a connection with other people digitally. That’s why I was inspired to hear an episode from the show Science Friday about a community that ref...
18 Mars 202134min
Tron: Welcome to the Machine
The 1982 movie Tron may seem outdated and even hokey today, but the film was more groundbreaking and prophetic than many people realize. I talk with Tron’s director Steven Lisberger about the challeng...
4 Mars 202131min
Folklore Is No Fairy Tale
The story of the brothers Grimm and how they came to publish a book of fairy tales has become something of a folk legend in itself. The conventional wisdom is that the Grimms collected their tales fro...
18 Feb 202132min
Reinventing The Spooky Sound of Classic Sci-Fi
In the 1950s and ‘60s, the vibrating sound of the Theremin instrument was synonymous with sci-fi movies like The Day the Earth Stood Still or horror shows like Dark Shadows to the point where the Ther...
4 Feb 202130min
Betty Boop and the Hays Code
Betty Boop is a beloved cultural icon, but she was controversial in her heyday. I talk with Mark Fleischer – grandson of Betty Boop’s co-creator Max Fleischer – and Mark’s wife Susan Wilking Horan abo...
20 Jan 202132min
Why Camelot Never Was and Always Shall Be
The myth of Camelot runs deep in our culture. For over a thousand years, storytellers have felt compelled to tell the tale of King Arthur and add their own spin on the mythical legend. But we live in ...
7 Jan 202130min
The Retro Makeup of Doctor Who’s Aliens
Every year, I like to play a full-length interview with a previous guest who had so much more to say than what I could fit into a particular topic. Last summer, I did an episode called Making Up Creat...
24 Dec 202028min
