Hello and welcome to Redshirt Cinema Club, a weekly podcast about smoking, apparently.  

In the distant future of the year 1997, Manhattan has become a super prison, the president of the USA has crash landed inside, and only one man has tight enough trousers and good enough arms to break him out again. This is John Carpenter’s Escape From New York…

Let us know what you think of this episode by emailing us at [email protected] and support us on Patreon at patreon.com/redshirtcinemaclub for access to two bonus episodes per month as well as our newsletter, The Civilian Observer.

Our October John Carpenter series:

Dark Star - 6/10/25

Assault On Precinct 13 - 13/10/25

Bonus - The Fog - 15/10/25

Halloween - 20/10/25

Escape From New York - 27/10/25

Bonus - Prince Of Darkness - 29/10/25

The Thing - 3/11/25

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Halloween has come early, which is only fair as two of us are coming very late to Halloween, John Carpenter's genre-setting 1978 teen slasher classic.

The adults are all busy at boring grown-up parties, the teens are constantly on the phone and swapping houses, and Michael Myers - inscrutable killer, embodiment of evil, and provider of cheap Halloween costume options for several generations - has been to the hardware store and is ready to work.

Let us know what you think of this episode by emailing us at [email protected] and support us on Patreon at patreon.com/redshirtcinemaclub for access to two bonus episodes per month as well as our newsletter, The Civilian Observer.

Our October John Carpenter series:

Dark Star - 6/10/25

Assault On Precinct 13 - 13/10/25

Bonus - The Fog - 15/10/25

Halloween - 20/10/25

Escape From New York - 27/10/25

Bonus - Prince Of Darkness - 29/10/25

The Thing - 3/11/25

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Los Angeles in 1976, setting for John Carpenter’s Assault On Precinct 13, a tale of bad gangs, good guys, and a tragically mishandled ice cream order. This is America and Hollywood as we remember it growing up - a scary, magnetic clash of morals and modernity. And also lots of shooting.

Yes, this week we're watching John Carpenter's second film, where a criminal gang lays siege to a handful of survivors trapped inside an abandoned police station. Immaculate vibes, incredible music, and a absolute sense of right and wrong. Enjoy!

Let us know what you think of this episode by emailing us at [email protected] and support us on Patreon at patreon.com/redshirtcinemaclub for access to two bonus episodes per month as well as our newsletter, The Civilian Observer.

Our October John Carpenter series:

Dark Star - 6/10/25

Assault On Precinct 13 - 13/10/25

Bonus - The Fog - 15/10/25

Halloween - 20/10/25

Escape From New York - 27/10/25

Bonus - Prince Of Darkness - 29/10/25

The Thing - 3/11/25

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A new dawn! A new day! A new Dark Star!

Welcome to a brand new series on Redshirt Cinema Club, as we embark upon a vaguely Halloween-timed viewing of the early films of John Carpenter.

There are so many reasons this run of films fits with what we've watched on the pod so far, not least the fact that several of these films are very good. We're starting this week with Carpenter's first film, Dark Star, co-created with eventual Alien writer Dan O'Bannon, and a teasing love letter to mid-century science fiction. Enjoy!

Let us know what you think of this episode by emailing us at [email protected] and support us on Patreon at patreon.com/redshirtcinemaclub for access to two bonus episodes per month as well as our newsletter, The Civilian Observer.

Our October John Carpenter series:

Dark Star - 6/10/25

Assault On Precinct 13 - 13/10/25

Bonus - The Fog - 15/10/25

Halloween - 20/10/25

Escape From New York - 27/10/25

Bonus - Prince Of Darkness - 29/10/25

The Thing - 3/11/25

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We've reached the finale of Alien: Earth! This week we discuss episode 8, 'The Real Monsters'.

The journey has ended, and have we been walking in a circle this whole time? The hybrid kids use soft(ware) power to launch a coup, we finally get to see that Morrow vs Kirsh showdown, the orchid escapes, and Johnny Eyeball finds a new home. Are we happy? Nearly. How are you doing?

Let us know what you think of this episode by emailing us at [email protected] and support us on Patreon at patreon.com/redshirtcinemaclub for access to two bonus episodes per month as well as our newsletter, The Civilian Observer.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week - episode 7 of Alien: Earth, 'Emergence'.

Things are happening, Fletch - many of them bad, especially for any humans remaining on the Neverland island complex in possession of a moral compass. Slightly and Smee become body smugglers, Wendy and Nibs feel their humanity slipping away, and Morrow does an actual invasion. Oh, and the alien got out.

It's all a bit much for us, as our the first really significant cracks appear in our confidence that all these fabulous ideas are going to land, somehow. Well, we've been wrong before...

Let us know what you think of this episode by emailing us at [email protected] and support us on Patreon at patreon.com/redshirtcinemaclub for access to two bonus episodes per month as well as our newsletter, The Civilian Observer.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After the brilliant episode 5 we return to Neverland for Alien: Earth episode 6 as events ramp up for the season finale.

Wendy is transfixed by a now-adolescent Xenomorph, Slightly is desperate for a human to get face-hugged and that sheep with an alien eye ball is definitely planning something.

Meanwhile Kirsh continues his observations while Boy Kavalier and Yutani enjoy an amicable business meeting. Does this episode live up to the standards of what came before? Let's find out!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 5 of Alien: Earth takes us back to the beginning. We wondered when we'd see the crew of the Maginot again and here they are, revealed in all their flawed, incompetent glory. An episode that details how we got from the first 10 minutes of episode 1 (everyone wakes up and banters over breakfast) to 20 minutes later in episode 1 (everyone dies).

It's classic Alien basically - a crew of increasingly panicked humans being picked off one-by-one, either by deadly extra-terrestrials or their own stupidity.

We also learn more about the backstory of Security Officer Morrow, plus a dramatic twist reveals the true cause of the Maginot's 'accidental' plummet into Prodigy territory on Earth. It's one heck of an episode and sets things up nicely for the final three episodes of the season.

Let us know what you think of this episode by emailing us at [email protected] and support us on Patreon at patreon.com/redshirtcinemaclub for access to two bonus episodes per month as well as our newsletter, The Civilian Observer.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's time for episode four of Alien: Earth, 'Observations'. Which is apt because there's a lot of observing going on: Wendy in the lab, Boy Kavalier watching Joe, Dame Cynthia watching Nibs (...fly across the room), and the eyeball squid monster watching everyone at once, from inside a sheep.

We also observe that the show is turning out to be less interested in aliens and more interested in transhumanism - we can tell because it says so out loud, through the mouth of Ade Edmonson - and also that it is one step ahead of us in terms of its references and subtext. What happens to metatextual framing when your antagonist starts doing it out loud in the show itself? Something extra clever and exciting, probably.

More tangibly we discuss how Alien: Earth is beginning to move and position its pieces for the second half of the series. What's going to happen next? We literally don't know! It's so exciting!

Let us know what you think of this episode by emailing us at [email protected] and support us on Patreon at patreon.com/redshirtcinemaclub for access to two bonus episodes per month as well as our newsletter, The Civilian Observer.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's time for episode three of Alien: Earth, and the title of the episode is 'Metamorphosis'. Which is a reference to our showgirl, of course, but also the Lost Boys, Morrow, and humanity itself in this show about making machines, becoming machines, putting children into machines ("this is fine" - the ethics board, distractedly), and sometimes thinking about machines when an alien comes along and tail-whips you into cutlets.

Turn and face the strange, children. Which reminds us - that spinning eye octopus is back this week, certainly in the thoughts of Nibs.

Other areas of discussion include Wendy and Joe's fight with a xenomorph (whose Opta stats take a beating this episode), Smee and Slightly saying "bro", Kirsh vs Morrow, Blade Runner vibes, and the fact we're suddenly all really bloody excited about where this show is going.

Let us know what you think of this episode by emailing us at [email protected] and support us on Patreon at patreon.com/redshirtcinemaclub for access to two bonus episodes per month as well as our newsletter, The Civilian Observer.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.