There is a longer version of the podcast available which includes more tangential topics on Patreon for paid subscribers or for a $3 or £3 fee! The long version is just under one hour and twenty-five minutes. If you would like to become a Patreon patron and get all the podcast episodes ad free (as well as the longer edit) you can do that on: https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm

As always there are spoilers ahead!

You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.

As mentioned on the podcast here is an outline of the Quatermass offerings:

FILM

1955: The Quatermass Xperiment AKA The Creeping Unknown (dir, Val Guest)

1957: Quatermass 2 AKA Enemy from Space (dir. Val Guest)

1967: Quatermass & the Pit AKA Five Million Years to Earth (dir. Roy Ward Baker)

1979 The Quatermass Conclusion (recut from TV series, dir. Piers Haggard)

2005 The Quatermass Experiment (Live TV movie, dir. Sam Miller) Radio

1996: The Quatermass Memoirs

TV Series

1953: The Quatermass Experiment

1955: Quatermass II

1958-59 Quatermass and the Pit

1979 Quatermass (AKA Quatermass IV or The Quatermass Conclusion)

2005 The Quatermass Experiment (Live)

Professor Bernard Quatermass was created by British superstar screenwriter Nigel Kneale and aired on the BBC in 1953. The TV series went on to great popularity and Hammer Films eventually came knocking for film rights.

Nigel Kneale did not have any rights over the character due to being a staff writer at the time but would eventually go on to international fame especially in sci-fi and horror circles with John Carpenter (amongst others) being a vocal fan.

Despite all this many people have not heard of Quatermass. Although there have been many attempts to revive the franchise none have come to fruition.

But that won't stop me seeking out two of the best academics to talk excitedly about their passion for this early TV sci-fi pioneer.

Mark Bould is a professor of Film and Literature at the University of West England, Bristol. He has written/edited extensively about science fiction cinema.

Matthew Rule-Jones is a senior lecturer in film studies at the University of Exeter. A doctor of science fiction who likes to write about cinema including the book Science Fiction Cinema and 1950s Britain: Recontextualising Cultural Anxiety.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

02:24 Nigel Kneale

06:28 Rudolph Cartier and changes in TV

08:22 Hammer films and Quatermass

13:09 The many iterations of Quatermass

22:04 The traditional tinkering British scientist

26:47 From TV to Film

32:44 Quatermass 2 and the 1950s

41:30 Aliens!

48:58 Kneale and Victorian influences

52:21 Legacy

57:47 Recommendations

Recommendations

Sapphire & Steel (1979-1982, TV series)

Event Horizon (1997)

NEXT EPISODE!

Next episode we take a break from science fiction films to talk to two experts about science fiction and architecture. Then we're heading into 1968 so wish me luck!

Trigger warning: This discussion includes talk about sexual assault and sexual violence. This is a theme apparent in the film and the source material. It is mentioned a few times. The topic is not spoken about in detail, but I wanted to share a general trigger warning for those that would prefer to avoid the topic altogether.

Subtitles for the intro: "It's not that I specialise in treating fingers. I'm a psychiatrist in fact. Inferiority complexes dig holes in the psyche, and I fill them in."

As always, there are spoilers ahead!

You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.

If you have fancy pants and would like to be a patron of the podcast please do! You can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm

If you are interested in the plot of the film you can read an overview on the wikipedia page here.

In 1964 Director Hiroshi Teshigahara's film Woman in the Dunes won the Special Jury Prize at Cannes. The film was the second of four in which Teshigahara would collaborate with writer Kōbō Abe.*

The Face of Another rode the coattails of Woman in the Dunes but was nowhere near as successful. Although both films have a very bleak undertone, The Face of Another feels more jarring and less abstract in its confrontations.

The story is of a man horribly disfigured from an accident in the lab where he works. He manages to find a possible solution to the isolation and desperation he experiences when he is given the opportunity to have a new face with which to navigate life.

The story has many philosophical themes set in a Japan that is still wrangling with its post war cultural identity.

Thankfully I have managed to procure two big brained and generous guests!

Roger Luckhurst is a Professor at Birkbeck, University of London. He has written/edited numerous articles and books on cultural history and film.

Jennifer Coates is a Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Sheffield. She has written extensively about Japanese cultural history and cinema and is the President of the British Association of Japanese Studies.

During the intro to the show I mention a video essay that I watched during research for the film which I found very interesting. You can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yarOXWeZlzY

Although this is not directly relevant to the film, one of the earliest shots is an x-ray of a skull in conversation. This is reminiscent of the very early 1996 film usually known as Macintyre's X-Ray Film. Just a small historical film curiosity which you might be interested in. You can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqMYHawAKmA

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

01:35 Source Material: Kobe Abe's book

06:33 Abe and Teshigahara's collaboration: Woman in the Dunes

07:38 Face Masks

10:55 The manufactured Japanese New Wave

14:31 Japan in the 1960s

19:39 Alienation and Philosophy

24:47 Boundaries and skin

26:17 Moral boundaries

30:52 The skin, Japan and saving face

34:14 Scarring and the bomb

41:05 Identity and Japan

47:40 Visual delights

52:46 Legacy

55:03 Face transplants

56:51 Recommendations

Recommendations:

When the Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960)

Eyes without a Face (1960)

Suture (1993)

NEXT EPISODE!

Next episode we will be having a giant sprawling chat about the scientist Bernard Quatermass. You can watch the three earlier Quatermass films, The Quatermass Xperiment (1955), Quatermass 2 (1957) and Quatermass and the Pit (1967) in all sorts of places including major streaming platforms. The series (if you want to get really nerdy about it) are available as a boxed set on Apple TV and from other retailers. At least some of those episodes are available on YouTube. The first season of the TV series (1953) only has a few episodes as the rest were lost forever!

As always there are spoilers ahead!

Blade Runner was not a huge hit in 1982 but it did gain a fair few fans on its initial release. One of those fans was a teenager from Cheshire by the name of Paul Franklin who would go on to work on numerous big budget films and win two Oscars for his work as a Special Effects Supervisor on Interstellar and Inception.

I spoke to Paul about his first impressions of the film, what makes it special and how it influences Batman Begins and The Dark Knight Rises.

Apologies for the abrupt ending to this episode. It is late, I've been quite busy and I have other work I really must tend to. Details of the next episode at the bottom of the show notes.

You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.

If you would like to support the podcast you can become a patron and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free versions of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm

Chapters

00:00 Intro

01:47 Paul's first impressions

07:11 Influences on Blade Runner

14:01 Syd Mead's design

17:52 A future without Blade Runner

21:28 PK Dick & Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

23:36 The plight of the androids

27:18 Deckard as replicant

32:01 Influence of Blade Runner on Paul's work

40:45 Vangelis

41:58 ET vs Blade Runner

NEXT EPISODE!

Next episode we will be discussing the rather striking and uncomfortable 1966 Japanese film The Face of Another. The film is available on Criterion Channel in the US and Canada and on YouTube. You can check the Just Watch website to see where the film is available in your region.

As always there are spoilers ahead!

You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.

If you would like to be a patron of the podcast and help an indie podcaster out, you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm

An extra huge thank you to my wonderful guests as this episode had to be re-recorded due to a major problem with the audio file the first time.

You can find the synopsis of the film on Wikipedia here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastic_Voyage#Plot

In 1966 20th Century Fox chose a steady pair of hands in Richard Fleischer (the son of animation superstar Max Fleischer) to helm what at the time was both the tiniest and the biggest science fiction adventure. Tiny because of the nano science storyline and biggest because of it being the most expensive science fiction film ever made (at that time) costing over five million dollars.

I talk to two top tier guests about the film.

Jay Telotte is Professor Emeritus of film and media studies at Georgia Tech. He has written/edited numerous books and articles about science fiction film including his upcoming books Before Trek: Building American Science Fiction Television.

Lisa Yaszek is Regents' Professor of Science Fiction Studies at Georgia Tech and has written/edited multiple books on science fiction including her upcoming book Mothership Rising: Afrofuturism in the Radium Age.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

01:40 Big budget scifi

05:45 Richard Fleischer

09:10 The history of Nanotech sci-fi

16:41 Sci-fi and scale in cinema

19:42 Richard Feynman and small science

22:55 1950s influences

25:53 James Bond and Spy-fi

27:05 Psychedelic scifi

31:22 Harper Goff, Disney and design

33:36 1960s crew dynamics

42:48 Asimov's novelisation

44:24 Secularism vs religion

46:52 Legacy

52:57 Recommendations

Recommendations:

The Diamond Lens by Fitz-James O'Brien (which can be found here)

Surface Tension by James Blish

Microcosmic God by Theodore Sturgeon

Dr Cyclops (1940)

The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)

Honey I Shrunk the Kids (1989)

NEXT EPISODE!

Next episode I will be speaking with Oscar winning Special Effects Supervisor Paul Franklin to discuss his favourite sci-fi film Blade Runner (1982). Paul has worked on an array of blockbusters including The Batman Begins trilogy, Venom (2018), Inception (2010) and Interstellar (2014).

Show notes

As always there are spoilers ahead!

You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.

If you would like to be a patron of the podcast and feel like nobility funding the podcasting arts, I would like to encourage such sentiments! You can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm

If you are interested in the plot of the film you can read an overview on the wikipedia page here.

In 1953 writer Ray Bradbury released his magnum opus Fahrenheit 451. It quickly became a widely acclaimed cautionary tale about the dangers of censorship, authoritarianism and the effects of mass media on human ideas and connection.

One of the most prominent science fiction books it is easy to understand why François Truffaut, one of the French New Wave's most prominent directors, became utterly focused on making the story into a film.

The process had its challenges with producers, funding and a casting changes causing delays. The film was finally wrapped up and released in 1966 to both positive and negative reviews. It is an interesting watch if not a gripping one and my two expert guests unravel the ins and outs of how it came to be.

Ian Scott is a Professor of American Film and History at The University of Manchester. He has written extensively about politics and film in Hollywood including the book American Politics in Hollywood Film.

Phil Nichols is a visiting lecturer at the University of Wolverhampton and a researcher with a special interest in Ray Bradbury. He is Senior Consultant to the Ray Bradbury Centre at Indiana University and editor of The New Ray Bradbury Review. He is also the man behind the Bradbury 100 podcast and the Science Fiction 101 podcas

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

01:32 Fahrenheit 451: a sci-fi heavyweight

04:36 Truffaut and the book

11:03 Suburban scifi in the mid century

13:33 Politics of the story

15:07 Truffaut's perspective

20:01 Julie Christie's double role

26:50 Searching for Montag

34:29 Burning with her books

39:12 Bernard Herrmann's score

40:40 The 2018 remake

49:56 Bradbury's stage play

51:37 Recommendations

Recommendations:

Never Let Me Go (2010)

The Wild Child (1970)

NEXT EPISODE!

Next episode we will be discussing Fantastic Voyage from 1966! The film is annoyingly a little tricky to find online but can be rented easily on mainstream platforms in some countries. You can check the Just Watch website to see where it is available in your region.

As always there are spoilers ahead!

You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.

If you would like to be a patron of the podcast and get that amazing feeling of wellbeing that comes from contributing to the research, planning and anxiety that does towards making a podcast I would love to encourage it! You can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm

Seconds is a visually striking and thoroughly uncomfortable film. A 1960s film that examines dissatisfied suburban living, mid-life crisis and the yearning for youth and freedom. I think it's vastly underrated which is probably something both of my genuinely amazing guests agree with. (Apologies for not offering more of a counterpoint to this view!)

Mark Bould is a professor of Film and Literature at the University of West England, Bristol. He has written/edited extensively about science fiction cinema.

Sherryl Vint is Professor of Science Fiction Media Studies at the University of California, Riverside. She has also written/edited extensively about science fiction.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:31 Frankenheimer's fantastic films

05:55 Science fiction in the 60s

07:55 The striking work of James Wong Howe

12:18 Saul (and Elaine) Bass credits

14:42 Mid Life Crisis in the 1960s

19:20 Dissatisfaction in the middle class

21:38 The Tennis Trophy

24:40 Rock Hudson and John Randolph

31:54 The Wine Stomp

37:02 Corporation as "The Monster" and PK Dick

38:48 Frankenstein and face surgery

41:44 The business model and Tech Bros

45:08 Legacy

50:39 Trivia tidbits

53:51 Recommendations

Recommendations:

Phase IV (1974)

Face of Another (1966)

Mark also mentions: Eyes Without a Face (1960) and Darkman (1990)

NEXT EPISODE!

Next episode we take a dive into the 1966 François Truffaut science fiction film Fahrenheit 451. The film is very annoyingly tough to get hold of on streaming platforms but can apparently be found on Fandango and you can search the Just Watch website to check where it might be available in your region. You can buy the DVD quite easily for not extortionate prices in many places. There do seem to be dodgy websites that also have the film but obviously I would never encourage you to search for such things.

As always there are spoilers ahead!

You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.

If you would like to be a patron of the podcast you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm

Apologies in advance for my butchering of Italian pronunciation during this episode.

Although we mentioned in the Planet of the Vampires episode the copycat nature of Italian cinema in the 1960s, The 10th Victim by Elio Petri does not fit that mould. The film has a definite style that may offer commentary on Italian film, comics and culture but looks to set a new mould for films coming out of Italy. Cultural change in Europe and America in the 1960s came in many different flavours and with different driving forces. My excellent guests help to unravel the cultural context of this stylish cult classic.

Stephen Gundle is a Professor of Film and Television at the University of Warwick. He has a special interest in Italian cultural history.

Leon Hunt is a retired Senior Lecturer of Screen Studies at Brunel University with a special interest in Italian Genre Cinema.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction.

01:17 Collectively written script

04:02 Italy in the 1960s

05:19 Marcello Mastroianni Commedia all'Italiana and global fame

09:33 Echoes of La Dolce Vita

15:02 Style over substance?

17:03 Gender roles

20:38 The violence of man

23:28 The gun bra, design and pop art

26:17 Comic book culture in Italy

32:46 Religion and belief systems

36:55 Changing Italian culture: American influence, economic growth and celebrity worship

45:52 Legacy

51:07 Recommendations for the listener

Recommendations:

Danger Diabolik (1968) directed by Mario Bava

Modesty Blaise (1966) directed by Jospeh Losey

La Dolce Vita (1960) directed by Federico Fellini

NEXT EPISODE!

You have two weeks to find and watch Seconds (1966) by John Frankenheimer as we finally head into 1966! The film is available to rent or buy on Apple TV in the UK, and for free on Kanopy in the US. You can check the JustWatch website for details of where it's available in your region. (Waves frantically at new global listeners!)

As always there are spoilers ahead!

You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.

If you would like to be a patron of the podcast you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm

Despite a failed pilot Star Trek made it to TV in 1966. Creator, Gene Roddenberry's vision of a future that was beyond the contemporary struggles of civil rights and racism and global Cold War tensions but very much aligned with the style of the 1960s. As a diverse crew faced alien planets and tackled ethical questions audience numbers dwindled and cancellation loomed. The show was finally axed in 1969 but a growing fanbase aided by syndication meant what could have been a small part of TV history actually became a huge phenomena.

My amazing Trekkie guests discuss the origins of my favourite franchise.

Julian Chambliss is a scholar and a professor at Michigan State University. He has taught Star Trek as part of his Media Race and Culture classes.

Carey Millsap-Spears is a professor of communications/literature at Moraine Valley Community College. She has written extensively about Star Trek including the 2023 book Star Trek Discovery and the Female Gothic.

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

01:36 Gene Roddenberry's pitch and the pilot episode

04:29 A new kind of frontier

08:34 The fans

11:06 Woke and the 1960s

17:26 The gothic in Star Trek

20:39 Captain Kirk as Casanova?

26:09 That kiss and Uhura

30:42 Utopia!

36:47 Propaganda

39:24 The Alien others

44:08 Technology, NASA and Nichelle Nichols

47:29 The Next Generation

51:52 Why do we love Star Trek?

54:32 Recommendations

Recommendations

The Centre Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek (2021)

StarTrek II: The Wrath of Khan

NEXT EPISODE!

You have two weeks to find and watch The 10th Victim (1965) by Elio Petri. Another Italian film (like last episode's Planet of the Vampires) but a very different feel. Although coupld contend with Mario Bava's Danger Diabolik (1968) for the most 60s film ever made! The film is available to rent online in many places. You can check the JustWatch website for details of what it's available in your region.

As always there are spoilers ahead!

You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.

If you would like to be a patron of the podcast you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm

Planet of the Vampires was directed by Mario Bava and released in 1965. American International Pictures had made money with Italian films such as Black Sunday (1960) but would often need to oversee many changes to make the films suitable for an American audience. Their solution was to provide a script and co-produce a film so they could control the content.

The film had a small budget of around $200,000 and although it definitely has its fair share of Schlock, Bava had a reputation for doing a lot on a small budget.

My guests unravel why Mario Bava's reputation and love for this film continue to grow.

Scott Higgins is Professor of Film at Wesleyan University as well as being the Curator of the Wesleyan Cinema Archives.

Russ Hunter is an Assistant Professor in Film & Television Studies at Northumbria University. He has a special interest in Italian genre cinema.

Scott says Eugenio Bava (Mario's Father) invented the Schüfftan process before Eugen Schüfftan after whom it was named. You can read more about this here: https://dcairns.wordpress.com/tag/schufftan-process/

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

01:46 AIP involvement

04:14 Italian cinema in 1965

09:01 Dubbing

14:31 Names changes and US appeal

17:28 Mario Bava

21:51 Scott's love for this film

27:12 Bava and Barry

29:22 Special Effects and the Schüfftan process

33:39 Production and Set Design

35:21 Style over coherence

38:33 The alien

41:35 Influences and origins

43:40 Vampires in name

44:20 Legacy

49:06 Recommendations

Recommendations:

The Green Slime (1968) by Kinji Fukasaku

Tu Vuo' Fa' L'americano by Renato Carosone

Danger: Diabolik (1968) by Mario Bava

Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark by Tim Lucas

NEXT EPISODE:

As we approach 1966 on the podcast it is time to talk about my favourite franchise which will be 60 years old this September! A little detour into the beginnings of Star Trek in two week's time.

As always there are spoilers ahead! (And the podcast is much more fun if you've seen the film first.)

You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.

If you would like to be a patron of the podcast you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm

Jean-Luc Godard is potentially the most prominent of the French New Wave directors. In the mid-60s his mind turned to science fiction and the result was a visually striking, choatic film about a dystopian world in which logic rules and love is punished.

If you find the film confusing you are not alone and I have two brilliant academic brains to help us out.

Roger Luckhurst is a Professor at Birkbeck, University of London. He has written/edited numerous articles and books on cultural history and film.

Douglas Morrey is an associate professor of French at the University of Warwick. He has a special interest in the French new Wave on which he has written extensively, including the 2005 book Jean-Luc Godard.

CORRECTION: In the podcast I mention Roger citing Alphaville having an image from Chris Marker's La Jetée but the image is actually Marker's photograph which is in the credit sequence but doesn not feature in La Jetée.

The book of poetry in the film Capitale de la douleur (Capital of Pain) is written by Paul Elouard.

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

01:40 French New Wave in 1965

03:38 Godard's influences for Alphaville

11:31 Eddie Constantine: The illogical Noir hero

16:43 Lemmy Caution and fascism

18:05 Alienation and confusion

25:52 Godard's technique and budgets

30:07 Sound design

32:30 The swimming pool execution scene

39:26 Love, poetry and Godard's divorce

47:00 Godard and women

49:30 Legacy

53:57 Recommendations

Recommendations:

• The Trial written by Franz Kafka and made into a film by Orson Wells released in 1962.

• Weekend (1967) by Godard.

NEXT EPISODE!

Next episode we will be talking about Planet of the Vampires, the low budget 1965 dubbed delight by Mario Bava. The film is campy (and for me quite hilarious) as well as being famed for inspiring Alien (1979). (Perhaps a little overstated in this regard?) You can find the film to rent on Amazon, Apple, Flixfling and may find it on free platforms with ads in your region. You can check the JustWatch website for more details.