Episodes

Just before we started recording about another topic, we became aware of some HUGE announcements Disney had made about upcoming Disney Plus series and also some movies and some interesting Hulu series. So we called an audible and switched our plans . . . to talk about Marvel movies, Star Wars series, and other upcoming […]

Ben is joined by John Hart for their semi-annual Halloween exploration of some classic horror movies! This time: THE THING. Starting with THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD and then going into the remake THE THING from 1982 (the most famous in the franchise) and the prequel THE THING from 2011, Ben and John explore the […]

A good theme song may not save a TV show from being bad, but it definitely makes it more memorable. For this episode, we nominate our favorite themes songs and bring in some listener nominations, and we tally the votes to come up with the official Strangers and Aliens list of top five theme songs […]

Ben and Evan ventured to the theaters to see Tenet, the movie they THOUGHT would be the first movie back in theaters. Instead, Ben had already seen a few movies and Evan went to a movie theater on the east coast . . . so Tenet was not the road trip they expected. But was […]

Ben heads out on what could be an excellent adventure . . . or a bonus journey. This road trip has almost as many twists and turns as the movie he’s seeing, from the question of if he will even GET to the movie to the possibility of not seeing the movie even if he […]

Ben heads out to the first new release movie he’s seen in theaters since the beginning of the shut down for the pandemic. After seeing The Empire Strikes Back (and The Greatest Showman), he gets to see a new movie that has been waiting for release for a few years . . . NEW MUTANTS!!! […]

Ben heads out to his first movie in theaters since the beginning of the shut down for the pandemic. It’s a different experience, with the masks requirements and the like, but it’s also a familiar experience, being a movie he’s seen many, many times . . . THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK!!! There are some audio […]

For some, the pandemic has given the opportunity to read and watch more things than usual. In this episode, we discuss some of the new (to us) media we have read, watched, and listened to.

Strangers and Aliens returns to old time radio with this presentation of Earth Abides, a classic novel turned into a classic episode of the radio series Escape. This episode features an Old Time Radio show that adapts a classic novel, Earth Abides. And then, Ben and Steve talk about it and its tropes and themes […]

Ben and Steve explore Mars via C.S. Lewis’ science fiction novel, the first book in his celebrated “Space Trilogy”, Out of the Silent Planet. Published in 1938, Out of the Silent Planet is the story of a man, Ransom, who is kidnapped and taken to Mars and thrust into an adventure he never wanted. In […]

“From the vault,” so to speak, this episode is actually a couple months old and was the last movie Ben saw before theaters closed down. King Kong (1933) was a movie that changed everything and the results are still being felt today. It’s been seen on TV and on DVD and on VHS, but every […]

Pilot Season – when studios create the first episode of a new show and shop it around in hopes that a network will pick up the series for a full season . . . For us, it’s a fun exercise in checking out a new series and exposing ourselves to some new (old) sci-fi TV! […]

Ben, Steve, and Evan play Hobbit Tales from the Green Dragon Inn, a game by Marco Maggi and Francesco Nepitello and published by Cubicle 7 Games. Join Benbo Baggins, Korg, and Mr. Dark . . . Black(?) . . . Dark(?) . . . Somethingwater as they gather in the Green Dragon Inn and tell […]

Ben, Evan, and guest host Nathan Marchand take on some appearances of Superman in comics and animation, wherein HE takes on some giant monsters. From the comics of the 90s to the cartoons of the 40s to the animated series of the 90s, Superman took on some interesting creatures in some interesting ways. Nathan Marchand […]

Ben is joined by horror aficionado and frequent guest host, John Harju, to take about the new HP Lovecraft adaptation, COLOR OUT OF SPACE. Is Nicholas Cage bonkers in the GOOD sense? Is the movie good sci-fi horror, or cheesy b-movie stuff? Has someone finally gotten HP Lovecraft right on the screen? John can also […]

Recorded a while ago and lost in the shuffle, this episode completes the CW’s Crisis on Infinite Earths mega-crossover. It’s a game changer in many ways, and not just how the plot affects the CW’s series. There’s more cameos and more surprises and more plot twists. But is it good?

With Frozen II being released early to Disney+, Evan, Ben, and Steve decided that this was as good a time as any to check out the franchise . . . especially since Evan has been wanting to do a Frozen episode for a long time and Ben was just dragging his feet to watch the […]

Ben, Evan, and Doug (Ben’s youngest) head out on a roadtrip to see SONIC THE HEDGEHOG the movie . . . Is it as bad as so many videogame movies tend to be? Does it rise above? Is Sonic able to outrun the bad press that came with those original designs of the character? Find […]

And so the day has come to talk of LAST year. From 1979 to 2019, we’ve taken a look at sci-fi and fantasy cinema over the decades and while we didn’t know the focus or the title of this episode until it developed in our conversation, last year still had some conversation worthy movies. And […]

The promised follow up to episode 328 – when we talked about just the first episode of The Mandalorian. It’s thumbs up all around, but some are more enthusiastic than others as Ben, Evan, and Steve discuss the merits of this western in space . . . and the cuteness of baby Yoda.

Ben and Evan are joined by occasional road tripper Hudson to see this Alien-inspired Cthulhu pastiche, Underewater!

Venturing to just a decade ago, Ben, Evan and Steve reminisce about Avatar, Star Trek, Transformers, Terminator, 2012 and MORE big movies . . . along with some of the smaller movies that were made possible because of the lower cost for effects like the big movies. This is part of our ongoing coverage of […]

The Skywalker saga comes to an end with a movie that has to wrap up a trilogy and also wrap up a trilogy of trilogies, while also living up to fan expectations and tie up loose ends . . . In a Road Trip episode, we record about our expectations and hopes on the way […]

The CW has aired the first three episodes of the world’s biggest television crossover and we’re taking a look! From the CW’s current series to Christopher Reeves/Brandon Routh’s Superman to the 1990’s Flash, this crossover pulls in a veritable plethora of DC live action characters and actors! But . . . is it good?