Binary System Podcast Archive

This episode originally broadcast on March 5, 2026. The original podcast post is here: https://pixelatedgeek.com/2026/03/binary-system-podcast-496-wtnv-283-work-from-home/

A sandstorm in Night Vale means low visibility, accidental mudslides, and murderous doppelgängers roaming the streets. But it also means Cecil and Carlos can work from home today and spend time teaching their adorable spell-casting son how to not tamper with the laws of nature. (No, Esteban, stop it, the avocado tree is already too big for the house…)

Once Cecil finishes sharing his theories about the murder of Marcus Vanston (“All right, Night Vale Community College, where were you on the night of November 1st, 2025?!”), Elizabeth talks about Bryan Fuller’s Dust Bunny, a movie which she liked a lot, even more so after she figured out what tone they were going for. And Kathryn finally watched the first episode of Pluribus, and she’s instantly intrigued.

(Kathryn’s note: Okay, about the sound quality this week. Mistakes were made, tempers were lost, some things were said that can’t be taken back. We’ve had a very productive discussion, and I think my and GarageBand’s relationship is going to be even stronger going forward. I promise to be a little kinder when airing my complaints about the sound quality, and GarageBand is going to refrain from cutting off the end of my recording or I’ll THROW IT IN THE BIN.)

This episode’s outro is a clip from Right In the Crossfire by TeknoAXE.

It can be really easy to slip into doom and despair at the state of the world right now, but there are things you can do to help. Check out Stand With Minnesota for links to fundraisers and other ways you can show your support. If we haven’t made it abundantly clear where we stand on this, FUCK ICE.

Looking for a present for that hard-to-shop-for person? Want to buy them (or yourself) a square foot of a castle in Scotland? Look no further! You can support the restoration of Dunan’s castle, legally call yourself Lady or Laird, AND if you use this link to get there, you can support this podcast too! ScottishLaird.co.uk.

For updates, fan art, and other randomness, come follow us on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram!

This episode originally broadcast on February 26, 2026. The original podcast post is here: https://pixelatedgeek.com/2026/02/binary-system-podcast-495-kpop-demon-hunters-and-everything-were-not-watching/https://pixelatedgeek.com/2026/02/binary-system-podcast-495-kpop-demon-hunters-and-everything-were-not-watching/

Wonder of all wonders, we actually watched what we said we were going to watch, and before the Oscars too!

KPop Demon Hunters is gorgeous, funny, and powerful, and almost definitely aimed at an audience much much younger than us. We still got a kick out of it. (Derpy Cat and the Magpie are the best!)

But what with the Olympics dominating the airwaves (which we haven’t been watching) there wasn’t a lot of nerd news this week, so it was a perfect time to catch up with the Oscar Nominations. Which we also didn’t watch. It’s gotta be the state of (**waves hands at EVERYTHING**) but our motivation to watch anything new is non-existent. We’d rather watch Angel Heart and Hannibal for the umpteenth time, or Red Letter Media‘s coverage of the slasher films THAT WE’RE ALSO NOT WATCHING.

This episode’s outro is a clip from Obsidian by JMHBM (formerly Beat Mekanik).

It can be really easy to slip into doom and despair at the state of the world right now, but there are things you can do to help. Check out Stand With Minnesota for links to fundraisers and other ways you can show your support. If we haven’t made it abundantly clear where we stand on this, FUCK ICE.

Looking for a present for that hard-to-shop-for person? Want to buy them (or yourself) a square foot of a castle in Scotland? Look no further! You can support the restoration of Dunan’s castle, legally call yourself Lady or Laird, AND if you use this link to get there, you can support this podcast too! ScottishLaird.co.uk.

For updates, fan art, and other randomness, come follow us on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram!

This episode originally broadcast on February 19, 2026. The original podcast post is here: https://pixelatedgeek.com/2026/02/binary-system-podcast-494-wtnv-282-antler-cove/

The investigation into the murder of Marcus Vanston is on the back burner this week, because Cecil is laser-focused on a very important issue. It doesn’t get a lot of discussion usually, which is a shame because there are people suffering. The issue is “Not Liking The Popular TV Show That Everyone Else Is Watching Except You.”

In addition to discussing the nature of art and Cecil’s hurt feelings that the whole town is watching TV instead of listening to his radio program, we talk briefly about the movie Elizabeth watched this week: Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die. A movie which is weird. And cynical. And not quite as much of a downer as Don’t Look Up, but it still sticks in your brain, and did we mention it’s really cynical?

We also just found out about the death of John Varley, one of our favorite authors. So of course we had to fangirl for a while about how much his books and short stories have meant to us over the years, in spite of all the weird experimental 70’s stuff where he explored what 100% consensual sex looks like hundreds of years in the future when all our present-day taboos and morality have been removed and dear lord, Varley, if you’re working through some personal trauma maybe don’t put quite so much of it on the page?

Then there’s the new trailer that Elizabeth shared with Kathryn. No spoilers, except to say that it’s ABOUT DAMN TIME.

This episode’s outro is a clip from Technopop 8a by TeknoAXE.

It can be really easy to slip into doom and despair at the state of the world right now, but there are things you can do to help. Check out Stand With Minnesota for links to fundraisers and other ways you can show your support. If we haven’t made it abundantly clear where we stand on this, FUCK ICE.

Looking for a present for that hard-to-shop-for person? Want to buy them (or yourself) a square foot of a castle in Scotland? Look no further! You can support the restoration of Dunan’s castle, legally call yourself Lady or Laird, AND if you use this link to get there, you can support this podcast too! ScottishLaird.co.uk.

For updates, fan art, and other randomness, come follow us on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram!

This episode originally broadcast on February 12, 2026. The original podcast post is here: https://pixelatedgeek.com/2026/02/binary-system-podcast-493-transformers-one/

lt only took us a year this time (year and a half, tops) but we finally watched Transformers One. And you know what? We have no excuses for why it took us this long, especially since it's so freaking good.

Spoiler warnings ahead, though we're not spoiling the plot so much as fangirling over everything we loved: the design, the art deco interiors, the animation, the callbacks, the VOICE ACTING. (Dear Hollywood, please keep giving Chris Hemsworth all the comedy roles, kthxbye.)

We also veer off into tangents about Zootopia 2 and Iron Lung, and hold a mini dreamcasting session about which Marvel actors should play which Transformers characters. (Robert Downey Jr. as Wheelie MAKE HIM DO ALL THE RHYMES.)

This episode's outro is a clip from Pendulum by Roy Colwin.

It can be really easy to slip into doom and despair at the state of the world right now, but there are things you can do to help. Check out Stand With Minnesota for links to fundraisers and other ways you can show your support. If we haven't made it abundantly clear where we stand on this, FUCK ICE.

Looking for a present for that hard-to-shop-for person? Want to buy them (or yourself) a square foot of a castle in Scotland? Look no further! You can support the restoration of Dunan's castle, legally call yourself Lady or Laird, AND if you use this link to get there, you can support this podcast too! ScottishLaird.co.uk.

For updates, fan art, and other randomness, come follow us on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram!

This episode originally broadcast on February 5, 2026. The original podcast post is here: https://pixelatedgeek.com/2026/02/binary-system-podcast-492-wtnv-281-witnesses/

This week in Night Vale, Dana Cardinal's investigation into the murder of Marcus Vanston is finally making progress: a witness has come forward! Actually four witnesses. And not one of them has any useful information.

We don't know yet if people are being made to forget what they've seen, or are being prevented from saying what they know. What we do know is that you really shouldn't announce confidential information over the radio. Cecil. For crying out loud, that's dangerous. Well, relatively dangerous. This is after all a town with student films that cause grievous bodily harm, fundraisers that involve kidnapping and ransom demands, and a political party that's defunding cancer research. Oh wait, that last one's happening in the real world too. Did we get too political there? NOT SORRY.

Of course we also have to talk about the latest developments in the Neil Gaiman trashfire, but we balanced that out with some good news about DesignerCon and RiffTrax/MST3K. Two of those things will probably get our money. One of them won't. We're not buying your new book, Gaiman, GO AWAY.

This episode's outro is a clip from Simple Future by TeknoAXE.

It can be really easy to slip into doom and despair at the state of the world right now, but there are things you can do to help. Check out Stand With Minnesota for links to fundraisers and other ways you can show your support. If we haven't made it abundantly clear where we stand on this, FUCK ICE.

Looking for a present for that hard-to-shop-for person? Want to buy them (or yourself) a square foot of a castle in Scotland? Look no further! You can support the restoration of Dunan's castle, legally call yourself Lady or Laird, AND if you use this link to get there, you can support this podcast too! ScottishLaird.co.uk.

For updates, fan art, and other randomness, come follow us on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram!

This episode originally broadcast on January 29, 2026. The original podcast post is here: https://pixelatedgeek.com/2026/01/binary-system-podcast-491-strange-new-worlds-lower-decks-crossover/

It's a good thing Kathryn watched the Star Trek Strange New Worlds/Lower Decks crossover this week, mostly because now we can talk about how awesome it is that the actors who voiced the animated characters got to play the live-action versions in an episode that was equal parts heartwarming and freaking hilarious.

But it's also good because it's literally the only new thing either of us watched all week. Sure, we could be catching up on all the Oscar noms but nooooo, we're rewatching Hannibal (third time through) and Midsommar (fourth time through...maybe fifth?) and the Pear Cider and Cigarettes commentary (oh we've lost count), because we need serious comfort watching on account of ice storms and I don't know THE WORLD?

This week's outro is a clip from Circles by Roy Colwin.

Looking for a present for that hard-to-shop-for person? Want to buy them (or yourself) a square foot of a castle in Scotland? Look no further! You can support the restoration of Dunan's castle, legally call yourself Lady or Laird, AND if you use this link to get there, you can support this podcast too! ScottishLaird.co.uk.

For updates, fan art, and other randomness, come follow us on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram!

This episode originally broadcast on January 22, 2026. The original podcast post is here: https://pixelatedgeek.com/2026/01/binary-system-podcast-490-wake-up-dead-man-a-knives-out-mystery/

"Hee. Moriarty throwing a paper airplane at a very angsty Hawkeye. I'll be in my bunk."

Yay, we actually watched something we planned to watch! What...no, not Weapons. And not Nosferatu either. This week we finally sat down and watched the latest Knives Out movie, and we loved it. This movie has everything: amazing actors doing fantastic acting, beautiful sets and cinematography, hilarious digs at what passes for political discourse these days, and some examples of the worst and best that religion has to offer. (Seriously, Josh O'Connor won our hearts with his portrayal of the kind of person you want to see as a priest.) Needless to say, all the spoilers as we discuss a thrilling, gloriously convoluted murder mystery that kept surprising us with what we thought was going on.

Also, even though we didn't watch any of the horror movies we planned to, Kathryn did finally watch Maxxxine. It was fine.

This week's outro is a clip from Sunshine at the Metro by TeknoAXE.

You can listen to our discussion of the movie Heretic here. And you really need to take a look at Isabella Watling's portraits that Rian Johnson commissioned for the credits of Wake Up Dead Man.

Looking for a present for that hard-to-shop-for person? Want to buy them (or yourself) a square foot of a castle in Scotland? Look no further! You can support the restoration of Dunan's castle, legally call yourself Lady or Laird, AND if you use this link to get there, you can support this podcast too! ScottishLaird.co.uk.

For updates, fan art, and other randomness, come follow us on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram!

This episode originally broadcast on January 15, 2026. The original podcast post is here: https://pixelatedgeek.com/2026/01/binary-system-podcast-489-star-trek-lower-decks-the-final-two-episodes/

The last two episodes of the final season of Star Trek: Lower Decks had everything: fantastic stunt casting, a squad of Harry Kims, mountains of technobabble, a version of Mariner who knows very little about jailbreaks, and Jack Quaid doing his best freaked-out screams. We LOVED it. Listen in as we spoil everything, miss most of the easter eggs, and get all the names wrong.

This week's outro is a clip from Upheaval by Grumplefunk.

Looking for a present for that hard-to-shop-for person? Want to buy them (or yourself) a square foot of a castle in Scotland? Look no further! You can support the restoration of Dunan's castle, legally call yourself Lady or Laird, AND if you use this link to get there, you can support this podcast too! ScottishLaird.co.uk.

This episode originally broadcast on January 8, 2026. The original podcast post is here: https://pixelatedgeek.com/2026/01/binary-system-podcast-488-mayor-of-kingstown-season-4-finale/

It's finally here! Four years of gang wars and prison riots, backroom deals and family ties, unbreakable loyalty and horrific betrayal, and it all brings us to the final episode of Mayor of Kingstown, where...

...hang on, what's that? So this isn't the final season? Well, we can't say we're all that surprised, because while this season has had its share of major characters buying the farm, there's still way too many people still standing for it to be the the end of the story.

Episode 10 of season 4 wraps up with a ton of violence, a lot of surprising actions (some of them being surprisingly stupid, jeez, you guys, could you not?), and some deaths, but not as many as we were expecting. Tune in for all the spoilers, but unlike some organizations we're not going to put any spoilers in the headline. (Why would you do that?)

This week's outro is a clip from Atomika Bass Revolt by TeknoAXE.

Correction: when we're talking about the awful scene where the Colombian assassin is getting out of the handcuffs, we mentioned "Dolores Claiborne." We meant "Gerald's Game." Stupid parallel stories that had no valid reasons for BEING parallel.

Looking for a present for that hard-to-shop-for person? Want to buy them (or yourself) a square foot of a castle in Scotland? Look no further! You can support the restoration of Dunan's castle, legally call yourself Lady or Laird, AND if you use this link to get there, you can support this podcast too! ScottishLaird.co.uk.

For updates, fan art, and other randomness, come follow us on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram!

This episode originally broadcast on January 1, 2026. The original podcast post is here: https://pixelatedgeek.com/2026/01/binary-system-podcast-487-2022s-christmas-musical-spirited/

Happy New Year everybody! Hope your holiday is fun and your 2026 better than you hoped! This week we're sitting down with special guest Hannah Wallace to discuss 2022's epic Christmas musical, Spirited, which we really should've watched before now because it's all kinds of fun.

This week's outro is a clip from Auld Lang Syne by Lovebyte.

Correction: it's not Robert De Niro in Stranger Than Fiction, it's Dustan Hoffman.

Here's the link to the Ryan Reynolds Vasectomy gin commercial. Make sure to check out the Nick Cannon version too.

And here's a link to Hugh's review of Avatar: Fire and Ash. (Hugh is one of our most forgiving reviewers, so when he gives something a D+ you should definitely pay attention.)

Looking for a present for that hard-to-shop-for person? Want to buy them (or yourself) a square foot of a castle in Scotland? Look no further! You can support the restoration of Dunan's castle, legally call yourself Lady or Laird, AND if you use this link to get there, you can support this podcast too! ScottishLaird.co.uk.

For updates, fan art, and other randomness, come follow us on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram!