The fantasy of the fantastic is the subject of Footnote #7, as Alex takes listeners (including Chris) on a journey through the origins of the fantastique and a term that often describes certain stories with impossible elements. Other topics includes the fantastic as initially a literary impulse and fantasy as a genre that codifies dimensions of that impulse into narrative expectations and archetypes; Tzvetan Todorov’s work on “the fantastic” as an historical genre of writing that involves characters experiencing a momentary narrative “hesitation”; psychoanalysis and the uncanny; and what the fantastic means for the reader-/viewer-response of popular fantasy media.

**Fantasy/Animation theme tune composed by Francisca Araujo**