Imaginary Worlds

One year into this pandemic, it’s been a struggle to feel a connection with other people digitally. That’s why I was inspired to hear an episode from the show Science Friday about a community that refused to disband their virtual world. As reporter Daniel Peterschmidt explains to me, the staff of Science Friday had set up a virtual outpost in Second Life when it was a trendy thing to do in the mid-2000s. The show eventually left Second Life, but Daniel recently discovered their community of hardcore fans stuck together long after many people abandoned Second Life, and the group went through not-so virtual turmoil along the way. 

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The 1982 movie Tron may seem outdated and even hokey today, but the film was more groundbreaking and prophetic than many people realize. I talk with Tron’s director Steven Lisberger about the challenge of making a movie about computers without the help of computers. Media scholars Lars Schmeink and Sherryl Vint discuss the influence of Tron on our understanding of virtual worlds and our place in cyberspace. Plus, writer Daniel Frey talks about why current sci-fi about Silicon Valley tends to be more “near future” than fantastical, including his novel The Future is Yours.

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The story of the brothers Grimm and how they came to publish a book of fairy tales has become something of a folk legend in itself. The conventional wisdom is that the Grimms collected their tales from village peasants, and the brothers always embraced the darkest elements of the tales. But as fairy tale scholars Jack Zipes and Ruth Bottigheimer explain, the real story of how the Grimms came across these tales -- and altered them -- is much more complicated and interesting. The Grimms were writing for a particular audience in their time, and the values they embedded in these tales have influenced us in ways we may not realize. Featuring readings by actor Jochen Werner.

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In the 1950s and ‘60s, the vibrating sound of the Theremin instrument was synonymous with sci-fi movies like The Day the Earth Stood Still or horror shows like Dark Shadows to the point where the Theremin became a genre cliché. But a new generation of experimental pop musicians like Dorit Chrysler and Miles Brown (of the band Night Terrors) are using the Theremin to create otherworldly sonic landscapes. Also I talk with Albert Glinsky, biographer of Leon Theremin, about how the inventor of the Theremin lived a life that was more like a Kafkaesque science fiction tale.

Check out Albert Glinsky’s book “Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage.”

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Betty Boop is a beloved cultural icon, but she was controversial in her heyday. I talk with Mark Fleischer – grandson of Betty Boop’s co-creator Max Fleischer – and Mark’s wife Susan Wilking Horan about how the character was created and why she still endures. I also talk with film critic Marya Gates and Professor Thomas Doherty about how the Hays Code, which censored Betty Boop, had a profound impact on the moral universe of Hollywood films, and why this defunct production code is still influencing movies up to this day, especially with fantasy entertainment.

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The myth of Camelot runs deep in our culture. For over a thousand years, storytellers have felt compelled to tell the tale of King Arthur and add their own spin on the mythical legend. But we live in pretty cynical times where the idea of a wise and noble king feels like just as much of a fantasy as a boy pulling a magical sword from a stone. So why does the character of Arthur still endure? I talk with Arthurian scholars Martha Bayless, Elizabeth Archibald and Ingrid Nelson about why we can never forget that for one brief shining moment, there was a Camelot – even if there probably never was a Camelot.

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Every year, I like to play a full-length interview with a previous guest who had so much more to say than what I could fit into a particular topic. Last summer, I did an episode called Making Up Creatures where I talked with the creature designer Neill Gorton, who is best known for working on the reboot of Doctor Who and the BBC series Being Human. I talked with Neill about how he approached redesigning classic monsters he watched on Doctor Who as a child, why simplicity always beats spectacle when designing a new creature and what to focus on when working within a limited budget.

Today's episode is brought to you by Faraway, a new short story collection from Amazon, CovertKit and BetterHelp. Want to advertise/sponsor our show? We have partnered with AdvertiseCast to handle our advertising/sponsorship requests. They’re great to work with and will help you advertise on our show. Please email [email protected] or click the link below to get started.

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2020 has felt monstrous on so many levels. So, it’s no coincidence that two of the top grossing movies of the year were Jaws and Jurassic Park, mostly seen at drive-in theaters. Alex Shepard explains why the shark in Jaws embodied our feeling of a dread, and how the Mayor of Amity Island seemed to be the embodiment of every leader who dismissed the seriousness of COVID. Sean T. Collins explores whether the real villain of Jurassic Park was not the dinosaurs but capitalism. And I talk with journalist Rae Paoletta, along with my assistant producer Stephanie Billman, about the most insidious monster of 2020 -- the corrupt and adorable oligarch Tom Nook who put every Animal Crossing player in debt to him.

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Fan films allow filmmakers to tell stories set in the worlds of their favorite licensed characters, and fan films have taken off in recent years, thanks to affordable special effects and online distribution. Is that legal? Sort of. But the studios have learned it’s not worth upsetting their hardcore fans by suing them, according to copyright lawyer David Lizerbram. Indie Boom film festival director Anthony DeVito explains why he thinks fan films deserve the same respect as other indie productions. John Lim talks about playing Sulu on the bridge of The Enterprise circa 1966. And Rob Ayling breaks down his fan film, Living in Crime Alley, which puts The Dark Knight in precarious situation. 

Star Trek: New Voyages

One Day I’ll Become

Power/Rangers Unauthorized (Bootleg Universe)

Bel-Air

Living in Crime Alley

Batman vs. Darth Vader (Alternative Ending)

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Since we can’t pick up universal translators on The Enterprise or through the TARDIS, we have to rely on human translators to bring fantasy stories across cultures. We all know that something is always lost in translation, but what is gained when a story transitions from one language and culture to another? Chen Malul tells the story of Israeli pilots who translated The Hobbit while in captivity. Olga Zilberbourg remembers the Soviet version of The Wizard of Oz – which was very different from the original story. Emily Jin discusses the nuances of translating Chinese science fiction at a time when everyday life in China feels like sci-fi. And translators Gord Sellar and Jihyun Park explain how feminism revitalized SF literature in South Korea.

Stories mentioned in this episode:

National Center for the Preservation of Human Dignity

The Flowering

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