Sci Fi Fidelity

As alt-history science fiction stories go, For All Mankind on Apple TV+ is right up there with The Man in the High Castle and Watchmen, both of which we discussed on the podcast as well. Speculating on what the world would be like if the Soviet Union landed a man on the moon first, this series starts out as a sort of historical drama inside 1970’s NASA but begins to show the larger effects on society of a continuing space race during the Cold War, taking things in a much more sci-fi direction as time goes by.As is usual for the show topics on Sci Fi Fidelity, we discuss the first two episodes of the series and share what we think of the established characters and the central conflict. The spoiler zone includes broad discussion of the later episodes in the series that have aired so far and predictions about where things might be headed.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

HBO has done a much better job of adapting Philip Pullman’s fantasy adventure series His Dark Materials than Hollywood did for 2007’s The Golden Compass, and we’ve been enjoying watching Lyra Belacqua work through the mystery of the missing children in an alternate world ruled by a restrictive theocracy. It’s hard not to be charmed by the concept of each human having their own familiar-like daemon as their animal companion, and the world-building is rich with witches, Gyptians, and armored bears.As is usual for the show topics on Sci Fi Fidelity, we discuss the first two episodes of the series and share what we think of the established character and central conflict. At first, there were some reservations that His Dark Materials was more oriented towards children with its young protagonist and “chosen one prophecy” premise, but we quickly gained appreciation for the thematic depth and attention to detail with the various culutures in this parallel world.Then we dive into the spoiler zone for some real talk ab

Daybreak is one of those shows that makes everyone think that it falls into a specific genre (zombie apocalypse comedy) with a particular audience demographic (Gen-Z young adults), but it actually has much broader appeal and may not be about zombies at all. So says showrunner Aron Eli Coleite in our interview with him in which he talked about how Matthew Broderick joined the cast, why Josh is not necessarily the central character, and why we should be worried about the change of leadership in the season finale. WARNING: spoilers within for Daybreak season 1!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

With the launch of the Apple TV+ streaming service on November 1st and the Disney+ debut right around the corner on November 12th, a question arises for us to discuss on the podcast: what is worth watching on these new subscription channels, and does the content justify the additional monthly fee? HBO Max also announced part of its lineup for its May 2020 premiere, and it's becoming clear that tough decisions will have to be made very soon.This first part of the podcast tackles the price breakdown of each service and compares their various chances for survival in the coming "streaming service wars," as we're calling them. Apple, for example, is trying to lure customers in with their low price point and with free trials and a year's subscription for those who purchase new iPhones or computers. Disney has less of a battle ahead with the built-in draw of their massive Star Wars, Disney, and Marvel libraries, but with so many players in the game, who can tell?Our list of genre content we're looking forward to inc

When we decided to take on Watchmen for the podcast, we had no idea how different the series would be from its graphic novel source material. The show has proven to be exactly the “remix” that showrunner Damon Lindelof said it would be, but a central question of our podcast discussion is this: Do you have to be familiar with the 1986 Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons comic in order to understand what’s happening in the HBO series?Other points of analysis include why this version of Watchmen decided to make race a central factor, whether or not police chief Judd Crawford is a good guy, why the costumed vigilantes like Red Scare and Looking Glass have such simplistic costumes, and what the heck is going on with Will and Adrian Veidt: two equally mysterious characters. We also break down nods to the original comic such as the squid storms, the Minutemen biopic, the Rorschach masks, and the many references to Dr. Manhattan.As with most of our show discussions, we focus on the events in the first two episodes of the season,

Impulse snuck up on us. Having aired on YouTube's premium service, it wasn't until the entire first season of this series was made available for free that it drew our attention, especially since the fact that it was loosely based on the Stephen Gould Jumper novels wasn't necessarily a strong draw. However, Doug Liman, who directed the 2008 film and also executive produces on Impulse, may have finally found the correct formula in this iteration of the teleportation story.Impulse is a show that not enough people are watching, but everyone should. Centering around Henry Coles (Maddie Hasson), a sullen, rebellious young woman who has followed her drifter mother to yet another sleepy town, the show sees her teleportation powers awaken after a sexual assault triggers a deep-seeded sense of self-preservation and a hidden anger that activates her ability.Because of the "hidden gem" nature of Impulse, the podcast critiques the premise and the characters of the show before discussing the first two episodes of season 2

With The Good Place season 4 being the show’s final run, the story, which often had paradigm shifting twists each season, should provide an satisfying ending for fans of the unique, metaphysical, philosophical series. On this episode of the podcast, we analyze the four episodes that have aired thus far to determine whether things are on track to give a sense of closure to its audience, and the good news is: they very much are.It’s interesting to explore the possibilities for improving the behavior of all four of the new experiment’s subjects, particularly gossipy John and the truly horrible Brent, but with the continuing sabotage and the differing missions that present themselves, it seems an almost impossible task. However, the true strength of the season, as is discussed in the podcast, lies in the powerful dialogue taking place in the many heartfelt conversations between our main characters. On that alone, The Good Place season 4 is deserving of praise.To leave room for those who have not fully caught up o

It's never pleasant to learn a favorite TV series is ending, but if the writers are able to bring the narrative to a satisfying conclusion, it can go a long way towards giving a sense of closure to fans. This is especially true for science fiction and supernatural shows that have super-dedicated viewers. On this week's podcast, we discuss some of our favorite examples of shows that were able to end well. Paradoxically, we found that some of the best finales provided closure by leaving the story open-ended enough to allow the audience to decide what happened next. To avoid spoilers, skip ahead approximately 4 minutes for shows you haven't completed.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Undone on Amazon is a genre-defying, literary, artistically animated masterpiece, and we're not just saying that because it involves time travel (although that could only help). In this podcast, we discuss the premise of the show and how it came to be, and then we dive into the first three episodes in more detail. The spoiler zone shares overall impressions of season 1 for those who have seen all eight episodes.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The premise for Raising Dion may seem simple: a single mother struggles to raise her seven-year-old son when suddenly he begins to manifest superpowers. But this family drama from creator Dennis Liu and executive producer Michael B. Jordan is anything but a typical superhero tale. When the show premieres on October 4, 2019, audiences will certainly see a boy with powers, but they will also experience the community that surrounds him, including family members like his “Auntie Kat,” played by Jazmyn Simon.Simon spoke to us about her role in the show as well as her own experience with motherhood, having just had a son with her actor husband Dulé Hill, whom she met on the set of Ballers. Simon also played a doctor on the HBO show, but this time around she's in a more active hospital role, also acting as the family skeptic when it comes to Dion's powers. Simon covers everything from the show's setting in Atlanta to Michael B. Jordan's involvement in this interview, giving us a quite complete picture of what we can

We have nothing but respect for actors who choose to continue in their profession into their 70s and beyond, and there are many who have graced science fiction and supernatural television with their proven talents. In many cases, these actors have long and illustrious careers in film and on stage as well, but we always appreciate when they show up as wise mentors or grizzled villains or other similar roles in the genre shows that we love. The latest Sci Fi Fidelity discussion topic podcast entitled “Elder Elite” covers six of our favorite examples and shares listener contributions as well.The criteria we used for qualification was that the actor in question must be 70 or older in 2019 and must have worked on a science fiction, fantasy, horror, or supernatural television series in the recent past or be currently working on or about to work on a show. To participate in our discussion topics, be sure to join the Sci Fi Fidelity Facebook group where the listener participation aspect of the podcast unfolds the wee

Even though we’ve covered plenty of science fiction, fantasy, supernatural, and horror shows on Sci Fi Fidelity, we’ve never reviewed anything quite like The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. Billed as a prequel to Jim Henson’s 1982 film of the same name, the Netflix series wowed us with its artistry, its worldbuilding, and its impressive slate of voice talent. Although there is some debate in the podcast about the appeal of puppet-based storytelling, there was no doubt about its compelling mythology and enjoyable characters.As usual, the podcast centers around the first two episodes of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance with a “spoiler zone” towards the end of the discussion for those who have seen the whole thing. This allows for plenty of critiquing of the premise of the show and of the effectiveness of having three protagonists while also setting aside time to speculate on what the ending means and where the series might be headed in season 2.  See acast.com/privacy for priva

Carnival Row takes Amazon Prime Video to new territory as the tale of an oppressed race of faeries living among disdainful humans in a world reminiscent of Victorian England explores a mashup of steampunk, fantasy, and allegory. The series stars Orlando Bloom as the Burghish detective Rycroft “Philo” Philostrate and Cara Delevingne as the headstrong pixie Vignette Stonemoss. Several mysteries unfold as a series of murders and the supposed kidnapping of the Chancellor’s son intertwine in unexpected ways.Mike and Dave tackle the first two episodes of this series in a spoiler-free fashion, but if you’ve watched the entire eight-episode run, the Spoiler Zone towards the end of the podcast has some overall impressions to share with you. Since Carnival Row season 2 has already been assured, there are plenty of things to speculate about given how open-ended the finale episode was.Related:Carnival Row Review (Spoiler-Free) by Sci Fi Fidelity host, MikeCarnival Row Executive Producer InterviewCarnival Row Season 2 Con

Michael Emerson is known to most sci-fi fans as Ben Linus of Lost or more recently as Harold Finch of Person of Interest, but now he returns to CBS as a decidedly creepy antagonist known as Townsend on the CBS supernatural law drama, Evil. Emerson talked to us about his role in the new show and revisited some favorite aspects of his roles in Lost and Person of Interest. Evil arrives on CBS at 10/9c on September 26, 2019.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In our final hiatus episode, we revisit a topic that highlights some of our favorite post-apocalyptic science fiction and supernatural television. After breaking down "apocalypse" into categories like environmental, technological, viral, nuclear, and others, we talk about why certain disaster areas would be more enjoyable than others to live in if we had to. Usually it ends up being a question of who would help us survive or be enjoyable to go have a beer with (if beer still exists). We'll be back next week with the start of season 5!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Our very first interview in Sci Fi Fidelity episode 1 was with Dominique Tipper just as we were getting to know her character Naomi Nagata on The Expanse. We revisit our chat with her as well as our season 2 conversation with The Expanse showrunner Naren Shankar. Plus, as a treat during this hiatus episode, we have ALL NEW audio to share with Shoreh Aghdashloo (Avasarala) and Frankie Adams (Bobbie) about the direction The Expanse will take as it moves its season 4 to Amazon Prime Video starting December 13, 2019.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How would Star Trek have been different if Majel Barrett-Roddeberry had been the voice of the U.S.S. Enterprise itself rather than just its computer? As it turns out many space science fiction shows have ships that are themselves characters in the show. In this rebroadcast of our very first "super six" discussion topic back in January of 2017, both hosts pick three shows that feature spaceship characters, some of which are currently airing and others which come from the sci-fi vault. This episode continues are season 4 hiatus; the podcast will return in September with new content!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Killjoys season 5, the last of the series on Syfy, is in full swing, and we thought it would be a great idea for the first hiatus episode (before our own season 5 begins on Sci Fi Fidelity) to revisit some of the best parts of our Killjoys interviews with showrunner Michelle Lovretta, female lead Hannah John-Kamen (Dutch/Aneela), and male lead Luke Macfarlane (D'avin). These clips are shared in a montage style, concentrating on details that are still relevant and not season-specific, effectively acting as a reflection on the five-season run of Killjoys and the characters we've come to love.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Thanks to listeners Mo and Richard for this discussion topic idea! The concept is we looked into the earlier acting history of stars of our favorite sci-fi and supernatural shows to see if they had ever been in genre television content before they were famous. For example, did you know that before Peter Dinklage was in Game of Thrones, he was in a science fiction one-season wonder called Threshold? We each share three examples as usual, and our listeners join in the game, and for the first time ever, none of our choices overlap, giving our audience their own unique contributions to the discussion. NOTE: This episode marks the end of season 4 - we'll be back in September!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Stranger Things clearly has no intention of resting on its laurels as season 3 has not only improved on its Halloween-themed predecessor; it has also returned to the horror elements that made the original run such a creepy 80's romp while refusing to back off on its nostalgic notes. It would have been a crime had our genre television podcast hosts not taken on this Netflix juggernaut once again.This time around we're focusing on the first two episodes and the premise of the season as we've been doing in the past, mostly for those who either haven't started on Stranger Things 3 yet or are just a few episodes in. Don't worry, though! For those who have binged the whole thing, we're sharing our overall impressions and some of our favorite season 3 hightlights in our spoiler zone at the end.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.