Doxacast Remix

Ever wonder what it sounds like when three Orthodox Christian fans of speculative fiction meet Twin Peaks for the first time? Maggie and Jos Johnson, along with Christina Zrake, recently started a Twin Peaks Watch… and then proposed we talk about it on the podcast. In this episode, Cindy hosts the trio to get their first impressions of the first season of Twin Peaks—its twisting and layered relationships, the competing suspects in the Laura Palmer murder mystery, its spiritual implications, and more.

Our Babylon 5 panel unpacks the final six episodes of season 2 — episodes addressing the destruction of species, war crimes and genocide, the relationship between identity (“Who are you?”) and sacrifice, and the unveiling of both Psi Corps and the Night Watch as arms of Earth Gov’s encroaching surveillance state. In these stories, Londo’s choices finally catch up with him, Sheridan and Delenn are pushed closer together, and Kosh is compelled to reveal something of himself. You can find Cindy’s Introduction to "The Curse Upon Mitre Square” here: https://www.casebook.org/dissertations/rip-cursemitre.html. This essay (mentioned in the episode) briefly traces the development of the Jack the Ripper mythos and its cultural meaning, but also contains a few crime-scene details that are not for the faint of heart.

Fr. David Subu joins host Cindy Collins Smith for an exploration of Ryan Coogler’s multi-layered film and its depiction of the wages of sin. Sinners is unabashedly a vampire movie - not sexy vampires, not reluctant vampires, not vegetarian or sparkly vampires. Vampires. Monstrous beings who entice their victims with promises of unity, family, freedom, and endless music, only to leave them enslaved to their passions and incapable of authentic communion. And they are not the only monstrosity in the film.

The folk song closing this episode plays a significant role in Coogler’s film. This live performance was captured on a lo-fi Sony cassette recorder during Fourth of July weekend in 1994 and features John Breen (of The Lads) on vocals and 12-string guitar, with Cindy on accordion. The band is Gael Force Winds. The venue is the old Santa Monica pub 14 Below.

Amy Browning-Dill and host Cindy Collins Smith discuss the film adaptation of The Life of Chuck - a later-career work by Stephen King that offers a meditation on life, death, the cosmos, the wonder of being, and ghosts in the attic.

Father David Subu joins host Cindy Collins Smith to discuss their recent theatrical experience of Project Hail Mary - a hard science fiction film that blends humor, optimism, and self-sacrifice in the face of a potentially galaxy-ending phenomenon, and holds an unexpected and transformative friendship at the center of the film.

Our Babylon 5 panel was stunned in its previous episode to learn that Maggie had never seen the classic Star Trek: TNG episode “Darmok.” Now, along with “Maggie, her eyes uncovered,” part of our panel reconvenes to discuss Darmok… and Maggie’s response. Join us as we recount Captain Dathon’s faith and hope as he puts his life on the line to establish communication (and maybe communion?) between two races that communicate in mutually unintelligible ways. Frequently counted in TNG Top 10 lists, Darmok gives a masterclass in acting with an often opaque script.

Our panel - composed of Cindy Collins Smith, Maggie and Jos Johnson, Richard Strube, Sam Cook, and Amy Browning-Dill - returns as Babylon 5 hits its stride. With the Centauri Emperor’s visit, the beginning of the Great War, and the first true revelations of the Shadows, the series accelerates into its central arc - and rarely lets up. These episodes bring those threads together, deepening the characters and sharpening the show’s core themes of choice, consequences, and sacrifice. Here, the epic begins.

George R.R. Martin’s reputation does not often include serving up tales of honor, goodness, and chivalry, yet his personal favorite work is his series of Dunk & Egg novellas, following the adventures of an un-ironically good hedge knight and his young squire about a century before Game of Thrones starts. Amy Browning-Dill and Fr. David Subu join host Cindy Collins Smith to discuss the memorable characters, themes, and twists in season 1 of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms - a fairly faithful rendering of Martin’s first Dunk & Egg novella. Was Ser Duncan’s master, Ser Arlan of Pennytree, a drunk or a bit of a holy fool? Is Aerion Brightflame pure evil or an example of a man consumed by his passions? And why did the greatest knight in the Realm stand with an unproven hedge knight in mortal combat?

In this sequel to the “Android Dreams” episode, Derek Power returns as he and host Cindy Collins Smith tackle Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049. While Derek finds echoes of the Incarnation in the miraculously-born child and its protectors, the conversation ultimately centers on the results of choice more than destiny.

For many months Fr. David Subu, Jos Johnson, Sam Cook, and Cindy Collins Smith traveled the Sword Coast together in a Baldur’s Gate 3 multiplayer campaign, confronting enemies who sought to enslave the world and turn them into Mindflayers. In this episode, they recount their adventures and discuss the choices for good, evil, and chaos that their characters made along the way and the ways they helped each other navigate the game.