Westworld - the one from the 70’s. It is a science fiction classic and makes many essential viewing lists. It is easy to see why. It is a well paced vision of a dystopian future that takes a deep dive into essential questions of human nature. It also gives us a precursor of the Terminator in the gunslinger robot that mercilessly hunts down its target. This one has everything science fiction needs including a laser focus on its core idea. The only drawback is that the characters are weak and not memorable. That weakness however is overcome by an otherwise strong story.

Thanks to a technical issue related to a certain soft drink which could easily be mistaken for anti-freeze, we were unable to record our regular symptom this week. However, to keep you sickies satiated, we will present a short series segment we thought about called “Ode to a Robot.” Rage kicks this off with Voltron, Defender of the Universe!

Today we are going back to the beginning, literally. This is the first story about robots, using the actual word “robot.” We are reviewing Karel Capek’s play, R.O.R. Somewhere between a warning about technology and mob style Bolshevism, the Malady guys find much meaning despite a flat performance from the voice actors in the audio drama we listened to.

What do you get when you add ESP, a giant and slow robot, and a gee whiz kid? A great robot named Tobor. Tobor the Shiny. Tobor the Bug-Eyed. Tobor the… Why don’t you listen to the review and write a title for Tobor down in the comments.

This month, we are finally getting around to sci-fi about robots. Can’t believe it took this long.

Today we are covering the 1986 sci-fi horror remake, The Fly. We also compare it to the 1958 version starring Vincent Price. Both films are creepy, horrifying, and end in death of the protagonist. However, one is more grotesque. Can you guess which one? Stick around for the end to hear Ruk and Rage sing a duet.

Today Sickies we are dipping back into the Roger Corman collection of schlock. Ahhhhh Corman, will you ever run out of movies for us to review? This particular flick, borrowing heavily from Alien, Star Wars, and…his other work, is about a genetic monster thing which hunts people down between scenes of passion, just like a good Corman movie should. And no, Rage does not have an unhealthy attraction to the editor.

It’s been a while, but the Rage is back and ready to rip into some more smeg writing. This time, it’s from the film “Jurassic World” and concerns the I suckasaurus, I mean the I rexasasaurus… Vomitous Rex, whatever.

Salutations Sickies! The Malady Men are kicking off Genetic July with the ghastly story of Gattaca. In this film, we see a perfect future, too perfect. Everything is engineered to be exemplary. This includes people. If you happen to be one of the poor souls who aren’t valid, your life is void. During today’s review, Scott has a lot to say, Thomas asks all the right questions, and Rage chimes in every once in a while. If you haven’t seen this film, the Malady Men recommend it!

Salutations Sickies to Genetic July! All this month, we’ll be examining the films that dig into our DNA! From suspicious splices to wretched recombination, we’re going to cover what happens when humanity tells mother nature to take a backseat and we take a crack at creation. Tune in for Genetic July and catch the sickness or have it spliced in.