The Chronic Rift Network

Episode 55—Rim of the World

Science fiction writer Scott Pearson and cohost Ella Pearson interview Zack Stentz, screenwriter and producer of the Netflix film Rim of the World, which follows the adventures of four teenagers caught in the middle of an alien invasion while at summer camp. After the interview, Ella and Scott review the film.

Segments

Intro :28

The Interview

The Synopsis 1:30

Eighties Nostalgia and Inspirations 2:43

A Contemporary Teen Adventure 4:10

Rim of the World Highway 4:43

Kids of Diversity 5:30

Greenlit on the Fast Track 7:17

Multitasking Movies and TV 8:04

Writer on the Set 8:58

Stories from Location 10:02

Working with McG 11:10

Big Trouble in Little China 13:54

Booster Gold 14:35

Lore 16:35

Thor 17:32

The Sarah Connor Chronicles 20:40

Terminator and Picard Trailers 21:33

Trek Fans Since Walking 22:18

X-Files Worries 23:00

Old-School TV vs. Streaming 23:45

The Twilight Zone 26:20

Tin Tin 27:14

Netflix, Streaming, and the Future 28:13

The Review

Here There Be Spoilers 32:56

Ella Wants More 33:56

ZhenZhen and 13-Year-Old Ella 34:54

A Contemporary Teen Adventure Redux 35:46

The Young Actors 37:40

The Classic Summer Camp 38:09

The Classic Alien Invasion 39:45

The Classic Three-Stooges Slap 40:40

Easter Eggs and Callbacks 41:07

Action and Character Moments 45:32

The Mystery of ZhenZhen 46:20

Back to the Invasion 48:00

The Kids and the Grown-Ups 49:08

The Man in the Jail 49:34

Seventy Miles to Go 51:15

The Joy of Bicycling 51:58

Ella Wants the Theatrical Release 53:26

Final Comments 54:25

This week, we have two programs we’ve never presented before.  Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall had their own adventure radio series in the 1950s, “Bold Venture.”  It was part “Casablanca” and part “African Queen.”  Bogie plays the proprietor of a Havana hotel frequented by conmen, gamblers, and treasure hunters, and every week brought the couple adventure and excitement.  Next, it’s America’s favorite bow-tie-wearing redhead, “Archie Andrews.”  Light on the adventure, but high on the domestic comedy and teen-aged shenanigans, here Archie finds the simple act of getting dressed for a date to be quite a challenge.

Episodes

Bold Venture

April 23, 1951

“Spanish Gold”

02:47

Archie Andrews

July 10, 1948

“Archie Gets Dressed for a Date”

30:27

 “Sunset Boulevard” is justifiably regarded as one of the finest films ever made.  The tale of faded silent-era film star Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), desperate to make a comeback, and the screenwriter she dragoons into working for her (William Holden) has been a favorite with critics and viewers since its premiere in 1950.  Although the film noir classic loses its striking visuals in this radio adaptation, the fact that it sticks so closely to the original dialog and has

Swanson and Holden reprise their Academy Award-nominated roles makes listening to this “Lux Radio Theater” production the next best thing to watching the film.

Episode

The Lux Radio Theater

September 17, 1951

“Sunset Boulevard”

2:06

Episode 54—Hidden in the Shadows

Science fiction writer Scott Pearson and cohost Ella Pearson interview Jaine Fenn, winner of the British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Short Fiction in 2016. Jaine tells us about her geek origins, how she got into writing, and her stories and books, including her new novel Broken Shadow, the second of her two-part Shadowlands series.

Segments

Intro :28

Life in Devonshire 1:29

Getting Geeky on the Telly 2:14

Finding Tie-In Fiction 4:10

A Storyteller’s Beginnings 7:25

Discovering Le Guin 8:35

The Linguistic Astronomer 10:20

Sidebar: Tolkien’s Granddaughter 10:44

Geeks at University 11:31

Linguistics in Writing 11:59

Astronomy and Maths 13:08

Generations Geek and Tolkien 14:26

Genre Writing as a Career 15:18

Role-Playing Games 17:43

Learning and Teaching Writing 19:00

Short Stories 19:39

Beginning Novels 21:29

The Hidden Empire Series 22:37

The Shadowlands Duology 25:19

Worldbuilding the Shadowlands 29:14

Language in the Shadowlands 33:48

Patriarchy and Class in Hidden Sun 38:57

The Ending of Hidden Sun 41:16

Sidebar: Living in the Past 42:00

Broken Shadow 48:45

Making the Reader Work 49:36

Playing Text Games 50:59

Writers and Synchronicity 51:56

What’s Next…Can’t Say 53:05

Star Trek: Discovery 53:57

Current Reading and Viewing:

The Corporation Wars 56:55

The Kingdoms of Elfin 57:27

The Good Place 58:40

The Expanse 59:55

Language in the Expanse and Sci-Fi 1:02:20

Star Trek, Canon, and Other Sci-Fi Shows 1:04:13

Among other topics, “Information Please” asks about measures of length in common metaphorical phrases, “Huckleberry Finn,” and then-recent current events of 1939.  Next we present for the first time, “The Jimmy Durante Show.”  Jimmy is interested in politics, so he travels around the nation celebrating the 50 states and trying to get his show business friends to pledge their votes.

Episodes

 Information Please

July 11, 1939

“Guest: Elliott Roosevelt”

01:44

The Jimmy Durante Show

April 21, 1948

“Jimmy Solicits The Show Biz Vote” aka “Guests:  Lou Clayton and Eddie Jackson”

33:43

 On “X Minus One” big-game hunters go after the biggest of game:  dinosaurs.  It’s time-travelers vs their prehistoric trophies in “A Gun for Dinosaur.”  Then on “The Great Gildersleeve,” Gildy helps out with the neighborhood women’s Red Cross committee.  What could possibly go wrong?

X Minus One

March 7, 1956

“A Gun for Dinosaur”

02:13

The Great Gildersleeve

March 11, 1945

“Chairman of Women’s Committee”

33:27

Episode 53—Return to Ragnarok

Science fiction writer Scott Pearson and cohost Ella Pearson rescue a lost episode! First begun in the wee hours after the premiere of Thor: Ragnarok, after catching up on sleep they somehow never got back to wrapping up the recording. Now they finally return to Ragnarok to add final thoughts after having watched it many times.

Segments

Intro :28

First Thoughts 1:13

Cameos in the Play 11:57

Let’s Talk About Loki 12:45

Just Goldblum It 14:43

Digression: Kiwi vs. Aussie Accent 15:05

Let’s Talk About Valkyrie 15:45

Digression: Eye Lines, Film Class, and Holtzmann 17:53

Back to the Valkyrie and Fan Fiction 20:02

Taika and Indigenous Peoples 24:27

Maori Humor 26:43

The Hulk 29:04

Trailers versus Spoilers 29:37

Hulk, Black Widow, and Hawkeye 33:27

Hela, aka Bad Galadriel 35:44

Gods and Mythology 36:42

Sibling Tropes 37:36

Suppressed History 38:44

The Warriors Three and Sif 39:40

Where Are the Women of the MCU 41:32

Comic Book Costumes 44:46

The Elevator Scene 47:37

Last Battle and Redemptions 48:50

Favorite Characters in the MCU 49:58

Favorite Bits 51:19

Loki and Thor and Odin 53:19

Loki and Doctor Strange 57:29

Chris and Taika 60:32

Banner Still Banner 62:07

What Happens Next in the MCU 62:44

Digression: Ella Dunks on Comic Books 68:32

Back to the Infinity Stones 70:21

Epilogue: Return to Ragnarok 71:05

For the 100th episode of “Presenting the Transcription Feature,” we present two of the best programs from the radio’s golden age:  “Dragnet” and “The Jack Benny Program.”  First up, detectives Friday and Romero track a hold-up man all around town, using brains and patience while ducking bullets and punches.  Then Jack and the cast have lunch at a drug store, providing plenty of opportunities for cheapness, mispronunciations, and a visit from entertainment legend Eddie Cantor.

Dragnet

December 14, 1950

“The Big Break”

02:53

The Jack Benny Program

May 8, 1949

“Jack is Upset with the Cast”

33:20

​​Freddie is running for president of the Auto Club, but faces strong opposition from Mack.  The two agree to a Relay Race to settle who would make a better president, but Mack has plans of his own on how the race should be run and won.

We continue our reviews of the DC Comics 1970s run of The Mighty Isis, looking at the penultimate issue, a story that really takes the series in a new direction, both story and character-wise.  

Next, it's a look at the episode, "Girl Driver".  Among the topics discussed are the progression of Cindy Lee as a character from the start of the series to now, why a general election wasn't held to determine who would be president of the club, Sid and Marty Kroft versus Filmation live action shows, and the new outfits everyone gets to wear in this episode.

It's all here and we want to hear from you on what you think of the episode.  Write us as [email protected].

Moral: "In today's story, Mac learned that Freddie can drive just as well as he can, even though she is a girl. Not too many years ago, there were a lot of jobs that people thought were just for men.  But times are changing, and today there are no jobs that are not open to qualified people, whether they be men or women. Each of us should have the chance to do whatever we dream, be it mechanic, astronaut, or President of the United States."

​

Guest Cast

Susan Lawrence as Feddie Charlton

Steve Doubet as Mac Lennard

and

Albert Reed as Doctor Barnes

"The Power Pirate"

Aired: September 8, 1973

The premiere of The World's Greatest Super Friends Podcast debuts with a look at the very first episode from 1973.  Strange power drains have the Super Friends gathered to investigate and help in rescue caused by the power failures.  What is causing it and how does Sir Cedric Cedric of Scotland Yard fit into all of this?

John is joined by 13th Dimension webmaster Dan Greenfield to discuss each and every episode of The Super Friends from 1973 to its conclusion in 1985 (strangely enough 93 episodes in total).  In the premiere podcast, the two discuss the voice actors involved in the show, the tonal shift of Olan Soule and Casey Kasum in playing Batman and Robin compared to their run on Filmation's 68 Batman show, and the iconic theme song that still gets the heart racing with it plays.

Dan Greenfield is the editor and co-creator of 13thDimension.com, a website devoted primarily to comics and pop culture, past and present. To him, the basic food groups are Batman, Planet of the Apes, Star Trek (the Original Series), James Bond, the Beatles and the Stones. But if he had to he'd be able to subsist on Batman alone. Channel 11 in New York was his favorite syndicated channel as a kid -- you can guess why -- followed closely by Channel 5. Channel 9 didn't really enter into it unless he was home sick and there wasn't much else on. He's married to his remarkably patient wife Wendy and his best sidekick is his son, Sam. They have two cats,Lex and Zod.

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