THE SCI-FI PODCAST EP 25: Ghostbusters (1984) vs Ghostbusters (2016)

Posted on September 8, 2016 by SciFiHost

Welcome to The SciFi Podcast, ~~a wretched hive of scum and villainy~~ a bi-weekly podcast focused on in-depth discussion of all things Science Fiction. The SciFi Podcast features three hosts—Mattroid, Solo, Brain, and Station!—and frequent guests. Each episode we look at a science fiction theme or franchise and take the discussion where no show has gone before.

Who you gonna call? The question should probably best be posed differently: When you call the ghostbusters, will you use a payphone or a smartphone? In this spooky episode, Brain, Station! and Mattroid discuss the differences between the original Ghostbusters movie and the recently released, female-fronted version. Which do you prefer and why? Let us know in the comments section.

Theme music courtesy of I Hear Sirens, featuring Matt on bass and Liz on keyboard. Hear more of I Hear Sirens ethereal, instrumental, post-rock at BandCamp. Podcast production and artwork by Mattroid. Additional tracks by Infectious Grooves. Check out Stewart Craig’s amazing artwork at www.stewartmortimer.deviantart.com.

SCI-FI SHORTS: Buzz Aldrin from Fan-X

Posted on April 21, 2016 by IcarusArts

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TSFP Buzz Aldrin 1

Station! and Mattroid are attending Salt Lake Comic Con’s Fan-X and because Matt has press access from his newspaper, he’s going to be collecting some fun little audio clips that we will run here as part of our “Sci-Fi Shorts” segment …
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THE SCI-FI PODCAST EP 19: The Martian (2015)

Posted on March 25, 2016 by IcarusArts

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Welcome to The SciFi Podcast, ~~a wretched hive of scum and villainy~~ a bi-weekly podcast focused on in-depth discussion of all things Science Fiction. The SciFi Podcast features three hosts—Mattroid, Solo, and Station!—and frequent guests. Each episode we look at a science fiction theme or franchise and take the discussion where no show has gone before.

This episode we bring back our real life friend and a real life physicist, Brian “The Brain” Patchett, to get his insights on the use of science in Ridley Scott’s latest, The Martian. Just how scientifically accurate is this movie?! You’re about to find out.

THE SCI-FI PODCAST EP 14: The Science of Star Wars

Posted on November 26, 2015 by IcarusArts

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Welcome to The SciFi Podcast, ~~a wretched hive of scum and villainy~~ a bi-weekly podcast focused on in-depth discussion of all things Science Fiction. The SciFi Podcast features three hosts—Mattroid, Solo, and Station!—and frequent guests. Each episode we look at a science fiction theme or franchise and take the discussion where no show has gone before.

This episode we bring back our real life friend and a real life physicist, Brian “The Brain” Patchett, to get his insights on the use of science (and pseudo-science) in the Star Wars saga. Brian teases lightsabers and gives us a full rundown on speeders, blasters, warp drives, deflector shields, The Death Star and more.

We also officially welcome Brain into the fold, updating his status from “special guest” to “contributor” … but contributing what, exactly? Well, besides guesting on great podcasts like this that will melt YOUR brain, OUR Brain writes incredibly-interesting essays for the site about the real science behind filmic fiction. If you haven’t read his “Brain Blogs” you are truly doing yourself a disservice. The most applicable to this week’s episode is his most recent essay, “Laser vs. Plasma, Sword Battle of Doom!,” or as Matt says “All About Lightsabers,” but they are all great.

BRAIN BLOG: Laser vs. Plasma, Sword Battle of Doom!

Posted on November 17, 2015 by IcarusArts

Original Star Wars concept art by Ralph McQuarrie

1 STARKILLER AND HIS TRUSTY LAZERSWORD

Stories abound on the internet these days about early drafts of the original Star Wars trilogy. Lucas made the move from Starkiller to Skywalker, from Bogan to The Dark Side, and since when is Biggs Luke’s brother? But most importantly for this essay, he went from Lazersword to Lightsaber, (check out starwarz.com for more). Both of which are terrible misnomers, even though the latter is far cooler sounding. Unfortunately both regular light and light amplified by the stimulated emission of radiation are completely useless as a weapon, or a tool, or anything beyond a fancy colored flashlight for finding your way through a dense jungle cavern. So let’s do this . . .
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BRAIN BLOG: Time Travel and Thermodynamics

Posted on September 24, 2015 by IcarusArts

1 WHERE WE’RE GOING, WE DON’T NEED ROADS . . .

Hollywood seems to be a huge fan of veering off into no-man’s land when time travel is involved. From flux capacitors to spinning egg timers on a string they would have you believe that “All of the silly details to time travel have already been accounted for, surely then you need only believe the premise of the story!” Perhaps that is indeed the case. Maybe we should believe in the science of a flux capacitor, an ancient staff, a metal box with washers glued to it, or a giant spinning EM quantum field generator. They sound science-y don’t they? I mean, the writers must have had the decency to look into these theories before taking the leap onto the silver screen. . . right?
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THE SCI-FI PODCAST EP 8: Terminator Genysis (2015) and Time Travel

Posted on August 27, 2015 by IcarusArts

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Welcome to The SciFi Podcast, ~~a wretched hive of scum and villainy~~ a podcast focused on in-depth discussion of all things Science Fiction. The SciFi Podcast features three hosts—Mattroid, Solo, and Station!—and frequent guests. Each episode we look at a science fiction theme or franchise and take the discussion where no show has gone before.

We thought it was “about time” we get to our Terminator Genysis coverage, so we brought on special guest Brian “The Brain” Patchett, our real life friend and a real life physicist, for our discussion of the the film and the themed discussion of the real science behind the filmic representation of fictional time travel.

Show notes after the jump.
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THE SCI-FI PODCAST EP 7: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Phase 2 including Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) and Ant-Man (2015)

Posted on August 21, 2015 by IcarusArts

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On this episode of The SciFi Podcast, SpaceWolf returns for a Considering the Sequels style show to discuss the entire second phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe including a feature review of Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) with special guest Wildman Willis Wheeler, as well as a feature review of Ant-Man (2015)! We’ll also be bringing you more MCU mini-reviews of Iron Man 3 (2013) and Thor: The Dark World (2013) and Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and our Top 3 MCU film lists.

Theme music courtesy of I Hear Sirens, featuring Matt on bass and Liz on keyboard. Hear more of I Hear Sirens ethereal, instrumental, post-rock at BandCamp. Podcast production and art by SpaceWolf who can be found podcasting at Movie Stream Cast and Horror Movie Podcast. You can also follow him on Twitter @IcarusArts.

Show notes after the jump.
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THE SCI-FI PODCAST EP 6: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Phase 1

Posted on August 13, 2015 by IcarusArts

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On this episode of The SciFi Podcast, SpaceWolf returns for a Considering the Sequels style show to discuss the entire first phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That’s right, we’re bringing you mini-reviews of Iron Man (2008) and The Incredible Hulk (2008) and Iron Man 2 (2010) and Thor (2011) and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) and The Avengers (2012) — right here, right now!

And that’s just the beginning! Come back next week for our discussion of Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with special guest Wildman Willis Wheeler, as well as reviews for the two latest MCU films Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) and Ant-Man (2015)!

BRAIN BLOG: The Physics of Ant-Man or The Science of Small

Posted on August 12, 2015 by IcarusArts

Artwork by the very talented Rodolfo Reyes via the Poster Posse

1 THE SCIENCE OF SMALL

Shrinking ourselves down to the size of an ant has long been a popular theme in science fiction. Movies such as Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Innerspace, Fantastic Voyage, The Incredible Shrinking Woman, and many more have depicted shrinking in various forms or another, all culminating in the same result; I was big, now I’m small. But how realistic is this? Have these movies portrayed the science of small correctly, or are there scientific issues far beyond what is portrayed on the silver screen?

To address these questions and more, we will take a look at the 2015 release of Marvel’s Ant-Man and the modern physical laws that come into play in the movie.
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