In this episode, we were convinced by J. Robert Oppenheimer’s elevator pitch to join the Manhattan Project so we watched the movie Oppenheimer (2023). How well did Christopher Nolan capture the life and tribulations of the “father of the atomic bomb?” Does the movie blend the mix of history, science, and international drama in an entertaining way to stay in your seat for three hours? Is this the biggest nuclear war movie of our lifetimes – for those born after 1964 at least? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast), co-host James Sheehan (@JSheehanDC), and special guest Dr. Justin Anderson (@Atomic_Chess) answer these questions and more.

Before we pack our bags to camp out in the New Mexico desert for an indeterminate amount of time, we recommend:

• Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, 2005

• Steve Sheinkin, Bomb (Graphic Novel), 2023

• Jonathan Fetter-Vorm, Trinity: A Graphic Novel of the History of the First Atomic Bomb, 2012

• Gregg Herkin, Brotherhood of the Bomb: The Tangled Lives and Loyalties of Robert Oppenheimer, Ernest Lawrence, and Edward Teller, 2002

• Oppenheimer (1980 TV mini-series)

• The Social Network (2010 movie)

• The Imitation Game (2014 movie)

• Widespread Annihilation (game card), Flesh and Blood tabletop game (Dusk Till Dawn edition)

• Los Alamos National Laboratory, “Plutonium and poetry: Where Trinity and Oppenheimer's reading habits met,” (Recommendations from Oppenheimer for further reading), July 14, 2021

Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter/X @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, [email protected], and YouTube.

Enjoy!

In this episode, we gassed up our Landmaster 16-wheeled RV and hit the open roads to the drive-in theater to watch Damnation Alley (1977). How did this post-nuclear war road trip movie challenge its characters with radioactive landscapes and killer cockroaches. Why did Jan Michael Vincent call all the nuclear ICBMs to launch? What would you do if the CD player on your RV breaks halfway thru your half-life road trip? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast), co-host James Sheehan (@JSheehanDC), and special guest Dr. Natasha Bajema (@WMDGirl) answer these questions and more.

Full movie (link working as of July 2023): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4eIKx2LEPU

Before our RV converted to a boat in Detroit, we recommend:

• Natasha Bajema, Rescind Order: A Highly Suspenseful Technothriller About Nuclear Weapons and Artificial Intelligence, 2020 book

• natashabajema.com

• RadioactiveRoadTrippinRR, YouTube channel

• John Noonan, “In Nuclear Silos, Death Wears a Snuggie,” Wired, January 14, 2011

• The Day the Earth Caught Fire, 1961 movie

• Thunder in Paradise, 1994 TV show

• Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka, WarDay, 1984 book

• Nitty Gritty Band rendition of Will the Circle Be Unbroken

• Magic the Gathering, Armageddon card

Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, [email protected], and YouTube.

Enjoy!

In this episode, we count our blessings we survived a nuclear war long enough to watch the movie Five (1951) about a small group of people trying to rebuild civilization after radioactive fallout kills everyone else. This is the first movie showing a post-nuclear war story, so how did it do? Did it accurately portray radiation sickness or nuclear war dynamics? What did the five fingers say to the Red Button (spoiler: it is “slap!”)? Tim Westmyer (@Westmyer) and James Sheehan (@JSheehanDC) answer these questions and more.

Before we harvested our atomic cornfields, we recommend:

-The Last Man on Earth (TV series)

-There Will Be Blood (2007 Movie)

-Six String Samurai (1998 Movie)

-Mad Max: Fury Road (2015 Movie)

-12 Angry Men (1957 Movie)

-How To Blow Up a Pipeline (2022 Movie)

-On the Beach (1959 Movie)

Enjoy!

In this episode, we took in a double feature of The Core (2003) and Sunshine (2007), a pair of movies where nuclear weapons are deployed to locations far away from the Earth’s surface to save humanity. How could nukes respin the Earth’s core or reignite the sun? How does the role of “nukes as heroes” jive with the usual “nukes, aren’t those the baddies?” themes? Why does Cillian Murphy keep getting typecast as “tortured inventor of a weapon of mass destruction”: Robert Capa, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Scarecrow? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and new co-host James Sheehan (@jsheehandc) answer these questions and more.

Before we leave the safety of Virgil’s atomic drill train, we recommend:

-David Kagan, Sunstroke, 1993 book

-Aniara (2018 movie)

-Theodore Shabad, “Soviet Union Discloses Nuclear Blast that Put Out Fire in Gas Field,” New York Times, December 12, 1971

-Blank Check Podcast - Sunshine

-Ad Astra (2019 movie)

-Trainspotting (1996 movie)

We also recommend checking out:

Anthony Kaufman, “Separating the Science from the Fiction in Sunshine,” Sloan Science and Film, November 15, 2007

Jon O’Brien, “ 15 Years Ago, Danny Boyle Made the Most Scientific Space Thriller Ever,” Inverse, July 18, 2022

Marcus Chown, “Review: Sunshine,” New Scientist, April 3, 2007

“Actor Dustin Hoffman Lobbies for More Reality in Science-Fiction Movies,” News.com.au, March 30, 2009

Michelle Ealey, “Did the Movie ‘The Core’ Get Anything Right?,” ScienceFiction.com, February 13, 2012

Elmear Dodd, “Bad Science: The Core at 15,” HeadStuff, March 21, 2018

Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, [email protected], and YouTube.

Enjoy!

In this episode, our phones were blowing up with alerts to watch Blowing Up Right Now (2019), a romantic comedy about a couple on the rocks forced to shelter in place during a nuclear missile crisis. How does the plot mirror the real life nuclear missile false alarm Hawaiian citizens experienced in 2018? How does a nuclear war crisis look to the average person who can only get information from cable news and Twitter? What nuclear survival tips can we learn after 5 seconds of time on Google (asking for a panicked friend)? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and co-host Gabe answer these questions and more.

Before we hunkered down inside our pillow fort fallout bunker, we recommend:

• Danny Jolles, You Choose: The Full Interactive Comedy Special from Danny Jolles, Don’t Tell Comedy, YouTube, 2022

• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004 Movie)

• False Alarm (2021 Documentary)

• Daryll Kimball, “Nuclear False Warnings and the Risk of Catastrophe,” Arms Control Association, March 16, 2020

• “Ladybug Ladybug,” Super Critical Podcast, Episode #21, 2018

Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, [email protected], and YouTube.

Enjoy!

In this episode, we were fresh out of hydrogen so we need to watch Chain Reaction (1996) to learn how to make some more. How does this Cold Fusion adjacent movie draw on nuclear themes for its plot? Does the subplot about our heroes being framed as spies for China stealing national secrets have parallels to real life events? Did Evel Kinevil ever jump his stunt bike over a mushroom cloud? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and returning special guest Kevin answer these questions and more.

Before we powered the city of Chicago with our Nalgene bottle, we recommend:

-The Fugitive (1993 movie)

-The Saint (1997 movie)

-Gary Taubes, Bad Science: The Short Life and Weird Times of Cold Fusion, 1993

-Eduro Life Media, “Impossible Climb Andler 2019 – Dirt Bike Graveyard – Hill Climb,” YouTube

-David Grann, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, 2017

We also recommend checking out:

• Josh Friedman, “I’m Your Friend, Eddie,” I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing (Blog), August 24, 2005

• Free Energy Suppression Conspiracy Theory, Wikipedia

• Beth Laski, “Reeves, Davis Ring Up ‘Dead’ Cash,” Variety, January 8, 1995

• Tim Prokop, “Causing a Chain Reaction,” Movie (Aus), January/February 1997

• William J. Broad, “Spies vs. Sweat: The Debate Over China’s Nuclear Advance,” New York Times, September 7, 1999

Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, [email protected], and YouTube.

Enjoy!

In this episode, we watched a whopper, err WOPR of a movie in the 2008 direct to video-on-demand sequel to the classic nuke movie called WarGames: The Dead Code. What could go wrong when you put artificial intelligence back in charge of the nukes and the predator drones? How to do you convince a machine that nuclear war is not winnable? What happens when you don’t know what “The Dead Code” is and at this point you’re too afraid to ask? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and returning special guest Lucy Steigerwald (@lucystag) answer these questions and more.

Before we booked our flight to Montreal, we recommend:

-WarGames (1983)

-Miracle Mile (1988)

-The Iron Giant (1999)

-Natasha Bajemna, Rescind Order, 2020

-David Hoffman, The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy, 2009

-Future Man (2017-2020, Hulu TV Show)

-Zachary Kallenborn, “Giving an AI Control of Nuclear Weapons: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?,” The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, February 1, 2022

-Hackers React to WarGames: The Dead Code, Alex Chaveriat, YouTube, July 28, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PghUBYY4fpE

Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, [email protected], and YouTube.

Enjoy!

In this episode, we found ourselves in the danger zone watching a surprise nuclear weapon plot in the fun movie Top Gun: Maverick (2022) where Tom Cruise needs to teach a crew of hot shot misfits to airstrike a uranium enrichment facility on the Death Star (kind of). Why did Top Gun sequel feel the need to raise the nuclear stakes in the plot? Any real life influence on the story related to airstrikes against similar nuclear facilities? Will this movie series ever run out of teambuilding activities to play on the beach sand? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and co-host/aviation guru Gabe answer these questions and more.

Before we request a tower flyby, we recommend:

-Hot Shots! (1991 parody of Top Gun)

-Amb. Wendy Sherman, Not for the Faint of Heart: Lessons in Courage, Power, and Persistence, 2018

-“Israel Admits Striking Suspected Syrian Nuclear Reactor in 2007,” BBC, Mach 21, 2018

-“Israeli Attack on Iraq’s Osirak 1981: Setback or Impetus for Nuclear Weapons,” National Security Archive, June 7, 2021

-“Top Gun – The Need for Speed,” LockheadMartin.com

-“Tom Cruise Terrifies James in ‘Top Gun’ Fighter Jet!,” The Late Night Show with James Corden channel on YouTube, March 24, 2022

-“Actual TOPGUN, Dave Berke, Reacts to "TOPGUN: Maverick" with Jocko Willink,” Jocko Podcast channel on YouTube, June 3, 2022

Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, [email protected], and YouTube.

Enjoy!

In this episode, we investigated a distress beacon to find our new artificially intelligent WMD friend in the Star Trek Voyager episode “Warhead” (s5 e25 - 1999) where the crew picks up smart bomb hitchhiker hellbent on finishing his military mission. Why don’t all nuclear armed missiles have a self-destruct feature? How do you deter against a nuclear strike from a planet 80 light years away? How does the USS Voyager convince a nuclear bomb to stop loving itself and not explode? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast), co-host Gabe, and special guest James Sheehan (@jsheehandc) -- consultant working on trans-Atlantic cooperation and public diplomacy -- answer these questions and more.

Before we check out of sick bay, we recommend:

-Russian Roulette, PBS, February 23, 1999

-Dark Star (1974 movie by John Carpenter)

-“One,” Metallica, …And Justice for All (1989)

-Meilan Solly, “The Japanese WWII Soldier Who Refused to Surrender for 27 Years,” Smithsonian Magazine

-The Delta Flyers, Voyager Podcast

-Jetrel, Star Trek Voyager (s1 e15, May 1995)

-Sunshine (2007 movie)

-Star Trek: First Contact (1996 movie)

-Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons (2022), Wizards of the Coast

Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, [email protected], and YouTube.

Enjoy!

In this episode, we flipped our way through the pages of the Choose Your Own Adventure book, The Brilliant Dr. Wogan (1987), where a missing scientist might have a radiation neutralizer that can end the threat of nuclear war. How does the multiple ending and narrative freedom of this book genre help teach kids about nuclear dangers? What does this radiation neutralizer have in common with Ronald Reagan’s Star Wars program? When is the book report on this story due again (this might just be a reoccurring nightmare the podcasts hosts keep having well into their 30s)? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and returning special guest Kevin answer these questions and more.

Before we return the book to the library, we recommend:

-Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018, Netflix)

-Paul Lettow, Ronald Reagan and His Quest to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, 2006

-Timothy J. Jorgenson, Strange Glow: The Story of Radiation, 2016

-Pat Frank, Alas, Babylon, 1959

-Kate Moore, Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women, 2018

-57 North, mobile game published by Mighty Coconut

-Brian Jacques, Redwall, book series 1986-2011

-Peter George, Dr. Strangelove (novelization), 1963

Thanks to pixabay.com for the sound effects used in the episode.

Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, [email protected], and YouTube.

Enjoy!