Classic SF with Andy Johnson

Vincent Bevins' remarkable book The Jakarta Method is an unsettling but hugely informative look at the history of anticommunist violence in the 20th century. Focusing primarily on the Indonesian mass killings of 1965 and 1966, it also covers Brazil, Chile and numerous other countries - and explains how the U.S. assisted in appalling massacres in the Third World.

The book is highly recommended and available to buy here: https://vincentbevins.com/book/

Get in touch with a text message!

For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz. To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here.

Richard Garfield's boardgame King of Tokyo had sold 750,000 copies even before its second edition was released in 2016. This episode looks at what made this classic dice-rolling game a hit, and and what brings players coming back. 

Get in touch with a text message!

For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz. To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here.

Featuring Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, Woody Strode and Claudia Cardinale, The Professionals was one of the biggest Westerns of the 1960s. Packed with explosive action and a fantastic script, it's also more than just box-office dynamite.

Get in touch with a text message!

For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz. To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here.

The survival FPS Metro 2033, developed by Kiev-based 4A Games, is a triumph of environmental storytelling. This episode explores the game's depiction of a society forced to survive in Moscow's metro system after a nuclear war, and the lessons it offers to developers.

Get in touch with a text message!

For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz. To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here.

During the late '70s, Black Sabbath found themselves in a challenging position. Suspicious of their management, burned out on coke, and with new music styles springing up around them, they released two of their strangest, most varied, and most undervalued albums. This episode explores highlights from Technical Ecstasy (1976) and Never Say Die! (1978)

Get in touch with a text message!

For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz. To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here.

Released in 2001 and developed by Rage Software, Hostile Waters has been called "one of the best games you've never played". This episode examines this unusual hybrid of real-time strategy and action, which sees the player trying to defend a futuristic utopia from the tyrants of the "Old Guard" - a mission which creates the need to re-learn war.

Get in touch with a text message!

For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz. To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here.

Walter Hill began his career as a film director in 1975, and up until 1984 released a string of seven terrific action, thriller and Western movies. Some, including The Driver, The Warriors and Streets of Fire have achieved cult status. This episode looks at each film in turn, and traces the ups and downs of the early, brilliant part of the career of one of America's best directors.

Get in touch with a text message!

For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz. To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here.

With Populous: The Beginning, beloved British games developer Bullfrog produced one of their last great games - an innovative and literally groundbreaking hybrid of the god game and the real-time strategy. This retrospective looks at what makes the game so unique, why it was released to such a muted reception in 1998, and why it is ripe for rediscovery.

Get in touch with a text message!

For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz. To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here.

Fledgling British games developer Firefly Studios hit the strategy world like a battering ram with their 2001 castle-constructing sim Stronghold. A novel combination of city-building and RTS gameplay, the game was a major hit for the then-new company. This episode looks at the distinctive elements that made the game a success, and the reasons why Stronghold still stands up almost 20 years after its original release.

Get in touch with a text message!

For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz. To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here.

During its peak period, Hong Kong was the world's third-largest movie producer, exceeded in productivity only by the US and India. At that time, its tremendous success rested on its output of the world's best action movies, which continue to be influential to this day. This episode is a beginner's guide to the glory days of Hong Kong action, taking in the films of John Woo, Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh, and more.

Get in touch with a text message!

For more classic SF reviews and discussion, visit andyjohnson.xyz. To get free weekly classic SF updates, sign up here.