71: Dread Nation – The Sad Symbolism of Zombies
Dread Nation is a new young adult novel by Justina Ireland that imagines what would have happened if zombies had risen immediately following the American Civil War battle of Gettysburg. Kyle takes a look at the history and use of zombies in American popular culture going back to their origins in the Haitian Sugar Plantations. Claire takes a look at Ireland’s writing career, twitter scandals in the YA community, and how Pride and Prejudice and Zombies inspired Justina to write about the undead. Our hosts conclude with their thoughts on the book, its protagonist and the tricky beast that is Twitter.
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70: Marsfall – With Special Guests Sam Boase-Miller, Dan Lovley, and Erik Saras
Marsfall is a science fiction audio drama set in a future in which humans are attempting to create a new home on Martian soil. In this special creator focused episode, our hosts are excited to be joined by Sam Boase-Miller, Dan Lovley, and Erik Saras to discuss the development and production of the show. Our guests describe the variety of media that influenced them and explain how they hoped to both include and subvert beloved tropes of the genre. After discussing what it takes to actually engineer and produce a science fiction soundscape, our hosts conclude with their thoughts on the series.
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69: Avengers Infinity War – The Kevin and The Crossover
In 2008 Marvel Studios released their first film, Iron Man. 10 years and 18 films later, in Avengers: Infinity War, the heroes of the MCU will face their most formidable villain yet, Thanos. This movie, which involved over 60 characters and took 19 movies to build up to, is the largest cross over event in the history of cinema. Claire delves into the definition and history of “crossovers”, discussing their roots in mythology, literature, and eventually the monster movies of the mid 20th century. Kyle takes a look at the path of the man who brought this ambitious idea of a shared cinematic universe together, Kevin Feige. The hosts wrap up with their thoughts on the film, and a reflection on their favorite MCU movies.
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68: Into the Badlands – Hong Kong Action with an American Budget
AMC’s hit, post-apocalyptic, dystopian, martial arts show Into the Badlands is about to start it’s third season. James Fouhey and Claire White are beyond excited to delve into it. James begins by describing the genre Wuxia, from it’s ancient origins in Taoist tradition to it’s realization in Hong Kong films. Claire then explains why AMC would invest so much money into a genre show with no recognized IP material. Our hosts conclude with their thoughts on the show, the action, the acting, and how much slow motion is too much slow motion.
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67: Ready Player One – Virtual Reality for Going Back
Stephen Spielberg’s latest adventure movie is here and it’s based on the best selling, wildly successful, first novel of Ernest Cline. Kyle Willoughby is joined by DSRA’s producer and guest host, James Fouhey, to discuss virtual reality and the process behind turning a reference-rich science fiction novel into a producible film. James begins with virtual reality’s conceptual and practical origins and connects it to the latest surge in hardware for the home. Kyle then describes how Cline went from being a dissatisfied screenwriter to an author with a book being made into a Spielberg movie. Our hosts conclude with their thoughts on the film and the novel.
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66: A Wrinkle in Time – Trust the Kids
The new film directed by Ava DuVernay is based on the classic novel, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. It is the first book in The Time Quintet, and has been mentioned on the podcast by Claire and Kyle several times before. The novel not only had an impact on our hosts, but the entire fantasy and science fiction genre. Kyle begins by giving a layman’s version of the far out math behind the film and book’s mentally-willed space travel. Claire describes the life of Madeleine L’Engle and the pieces that fell into place for DuVernay to become the film’s director. Our hosts conclude with their thoughts on the film, and the story of how each of their mothers first discovered the book.
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