Imaginary Worlds

Marvel and DC are jumping into the multiverse with multiple movies and shows crossing over into parallels worlds with different versions of established characters while they’re merging IP from different franchises. It’s a win-win business strategy, but multiverses also bring up intriguing story possibilities of how we could’ve turned out differently if the circumstances of our lives were different, and what it would be like to meet your double. I covered those themes in my episode Doppelgängers 2.0, and I looked into one of the first cinematic multiverses, The Tommy Westphall universe, in my episode Inside the Snow Globe. Both episodes were from 2015, and since a lot of recent listeners probably never heard them, I’m presenting them again as a double feature.

This episode is sponsored by Walker Books and BetterHelp. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here.

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The imagery of Christmas in most Western countries is of pure wholesomeness with Santa Claus or St. Nicholas, presents, candy, lights, etc. But in central Europe, there is another figure in the mix, the horned devilish-looking character called Krampus, who doles out punishment if you’re naughty instead of nice. I talk with Jules Linner and Christina Albert about why it was important for them as children to believe in St Nick’s dark companion. Krampus event organizer and author Al Ridenour, along with cultural anthropologist Matthäus Rest, explain the history of Krampus, and why he’s still an important part of German and Austrian culture today.

Here's the link to Al’s book “The Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas: Roots and Rebirth of the Folkloric Devil,” and Al’s podcast Bone and Sickle episode on Krampus.

This episode is sponsored by Walker Books and BetterHelp. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here.

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Nathan Sawaya is one of the best-known LEGO Master Builders – people who can recreate just about anything out of LEGO. While he's worked with major franchises like DC, creating life sized superheroes, he's also an artist who makes original sculptures out of LEGO, including human figures that seem to be grappling with existential angst. I talk with Nathan about how making these LEGO figures has been a way to work through anxiety and depression. We also discuss why he left a law career to become a professional artist, and the practical lessons he’s learned along the way -- from when to glue the bricks together, to how to get his giant sculptures out the door. And we talk about the latest addition to his traveling show The Art of the Brick, where he built endangered species out of LEGO.

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here.

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The world of tabletop role-playing games is much broader than Dungeons & Dragons, and there’s been a boom of DIY tabletop RPGs in the last decade. But as new players are coming on to the scene, they’re asking new questions about what defines a game, and what might be problematic about classic tabletop RPGs. Game master Timm Woods explains how new game systems are embracing genre and storytelling down to the moves your characters can make. I talk with independent game designers Emily Care Boss and Avery Alder about how game mechanics can reflect not just the lore of the game, but also social issues and inter-personal social dynamics. Plus, James Mendez Hodes explains how he works at a cultural consultant for game designers, and why orcs might need a makeover.

This episode is sponsored by Realm and BetterHelp. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here.

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Many elements of modern horror movies and TV shows came from an unlikely source, a theater in Paris called The Grand Guignol. Beginning in the late 19th century, The Grand Guignol was inventing staples of the horror genre as they discovered how to scare audiences, and why people want to be scared. I talk with University of East Anglia professor and author Richard Hand and Wagner College professor Felicia Ruff about how we can trace the lineage of Psycho, American Horror Story and Sweeney Todd back to The Grand Guignol. Plus, Alex Zavistovich of the Molotov Theatre Group describes what it’s like to recreate Grand Guignol plays for a modern American audience.

Alex also founded Poe Theatre on The Air which produces Edgar Allen Poe audio dramas like, “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether,” which is adapted from a short story by Poe that The Grand Guignol originally staged in 1908.

This episode is sponsored by Realm and BetterHelp. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here.

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Frank Herbert’s Dune has been hailed as a pioneer of environmental science fiction, where the Fremen on the planet of Arakkis, have had to adapt to extreme weather conditions through technology and culture. I talk with Ian Schoenherr, the son of illustrator John Schoenherr, about how his father and Frank Herbert bonded over their love of nature. Although Veronika Kratz explains that Frank Herbert would be out of step with today's environmental movement. We’ll also hear from two entrepreneurs in water conservation that were inspired by Dune, Peter Yolles from the company WaterSmart and Daniel Fernandez of California State University Monterey Bay, whose fog catchers are similar to the type of technology the Fremen would use, if they lived on the West Coast.

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here.

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Kasra Farahani has done concept art on a lot of big sci-fi fantasy films, and this year he took on his biggest job yet as the production designer for the Disney+ series Loki. Kasra’s sets became fan favorites, especially the way he depicted the sprawling intergalactic bureaucracy of the Time Variance Authority, or TVA. I talk with Kasra about how he got started in the industry, what design principles he learned working with Tim Burton’s go-to designer Bo Welch, why retro technology, especially from the 1970s, makes sense in sci-fi fantasy offices, and what those imaginary offices have to say about our workplaces in the real world.

This episode is sponsored by Inked Gaming and BetterHelp. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here.

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Video games are an inherently visual medium that traditionally haven’t been very accessible to blind people. But there are plenty of blind players who enjoy games and want to lower the barriers to entry. I talk with blind accessibility advocates Liam Erven, Brandon Cole and Aaron Baker about how sound design can guide blind players through virtual worlds. In Aaron’s case, he designs audio games for his company VGStorm. Accessibility advocate Ian Hamilton describes the challenge of making virtual worlds open to everyone. And Emilia Schatz from Naughty Dog studios discusses her collaboration with Brandon Cole in making The Last of Us Part II the most accessible AAA game of all time.

This episode is sponsored by Skillshare and BetterHelp. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here.

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Queer representation in children’s cartoons has never been better, but the road to get here has been fraught. I talk with podcaster Dawn H and journalist Sara Century about how the first type of queer representation they saw in cartoons came from Sailor Moon – or at least a highly edited and strangely dubbed English-language version that tried to scrub away all the queer content, somewhat unsuccessfully. And I talk with podcaster Thomas J. West and YouTube essayist Rowan Ellis about the history of queer-coded villains in Disney cartoons, and how the biggest entertainment company in the world still has a lot of catching up to do.

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here.

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An entire subgenre of samurai films, shows, manga, anime and games can be traced back to one person – a real life samurai named Miyamoto Musashi. He was not the first samurai to achieve fame, but his remarkable career of undefeated duals, and his unconventional style of fighting cemented Musashi’s legacy in the popular imagination for centuries. Chie Kutsuwada and Sean Michael Wilson discuss their manga adaptation of Musashi’s Book of Five Rings. Yale professor Aaron Gerow, and Darren Ashmore and Will Reed from iCLA explain why Musashi’s life story had a character arc that was irresistible to storytellers. And Stephanie Billman and I connect the dots from Musashi samurai tales to Westerns, Westworld, and Star Wars.

This episode is sponsored by Skillshare and BetterHelp. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here.

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