Sci-Fi Carnival

Merry New Year! Seong Ji-Hun, aka  #456, is back for another round of Squid Games and so are we. It seems Netflix dropped a belated Christmas gift in their subscribers' laps in form of the Korean dark dramedy: Squid Games Season Two. And Sci-Fi Carnival hosts, Maryck Allyson, James Robinson and Mel, aren't wasting any time nerding-out with impunity over the sequel and its inspired think pieces that include:

•  How to cope when the voting majority keeps screwing you over.
• What to do when your expensive mercenaries' GPS system fails.
• Why a simple risk assement saves lives.
• Why when you see something, it's important to say something, especially when you are trapped in gymnasium on a remote island engaging in murderous mayhem with strangers for money you most likely you won't live to spend.

 Sci-Fi carnival is back for it's second podcast. That right, we didn't do sh#%% all year.  Don't know what to tell you. It's been a sobering couple of months as sci-fi marches towards sci-fa.

In this episode, hosts Maryck Allyson and James Robinson nerd-out with impunity over Matt Ruff's "Destroyer of Worlds: A Return to Lovecraft Country. We take a three hour Loftcraftion Rollar Coaster ride to find out:

• How many times will Maryck mispronounce Hecuba?
• What to do when home training goes out the window?
• How many times can you dance with the devil before he blinks?

Admittedly a slow start to 2024, nevertheless, the Sci-fi Carnival crew is happy to announce we are back to nerd-out with impunity about all things Sci-Fi. In this episode, hosts Maryck Allyson, James Robinson and Mel kick off the New Year by going balls to the walls over:

• Sandworms and colonizer origin stories,
• The ramifications of inviting needy higher life forms to live on your home planet without telling nobody.
• X-Men and other gen-X / millennial sci-fi past times.
• How to cope when you have to move back in with your dad who harvests organs in the backyard.

With that being said....Happy Belated New Year and we hope you enjoy show. But if you don't, thanks for listening for as long as you did.

Happy NYE, party people! To close out 2023, Sci-Fi Carnival is nerding out over villians' unsung allies in an episode we affectionately refer to as "The Help." That's right. We are honoring those who make our worse nightmares possible.

Where would Dracula be with Renfield?  Where would Kealego be without the Baldung Coven? It's time these enablers get their flowers.

The crew at Sci-Fi Carnival is back to nerd-out with impunity over weaponized cloning and murderous dopplegängers. Hosts Maryck Allyson, James Robinson, and Mel comb the tunnels over:

• Clones vs. dopplegängers
• What exactly is a blackploitation film?
• What to do if you meet yourself in the same realty.
• And why video evidence won't save you from the antics of your doppelgängers

Happy Halloween! In honor of spooky season. The Sci-Fi Carnival Crew crew is nerding-out over exorcisms and good old fashion demon possession. Why? Because why not? In this episode, Maryck Allyson, James Robinson and Mel, dive into the underworld to get the bottom of...

• Whatever happened to Regan McNeil,
• What to do if your livestock gives birth to a human baby,
• The real issue with Beetlejuice. 
• And what you should do when rich people run out of sh** to do.

After an unannounced summer hiatus, Sci-Fi Carnival is back in full form. This month, Maryck Allyson, James Robinson and Mel are nerding-out with impunity over corporate meddling in science fiction.  The chaotic trio submerged themselves into the worlds of:

• Billionaires who exploit dino DNA for fun and profit.
• Corporations who fast track "medical break throughs" that cause a pandemic that wipes out a profound portion of humanity positioning chimpanzees to rule the world.
• Submersibles
• Transatlantic corporations.

The Sci-Fi Carnival crew is back together to nerd-out with impunity over libraries aka the place where sci-fi dreams are made. 

In honor of the 150th anniversary of Chicago Public Libraries, hosts Maryck Allyson, James Robinson and Mel are making the case for why libraries are more relevent now than ever.  We go deep in the card catalog over:

• Knowledge: friend or foe
• The time between book banning and book burning
• The library scene in every adventure film

As Women's History Month comes to a close, hosts Maryck Allyson and James Robinson nerd-out  with impunity over the portrayal of women in sci-fi over the years. Starting with the 1956 film "Forbidden Planet" to the 2022 academy award winning film "Everything Everywhere All At Once,"  the carnival jumps through multiverses of female  Sci-Fi narratives to analyze:

• The weird a** daddy complex,
• The Id and the west.
• The rise of single black mothers,
• God Wannabes,
• The Woke 50's.

Sci-Fi Carnival is back to nerd-out with impunity over trauma porn in science fiction. Host Maryck AlIyson and James Robinson comb through sci-fi story lines that utilize triggering historical events to drive the story. We determine if it was necessary to:

• show that rape scene,
• to utilize that slave back story,
• go full Karen,
• put us through another traffic stop.