You know how Brian and Lex hate Dana’s dating plan for Casey? Boy oh boy, does it come to a head this week, in A Girl Named Pixley. On a podcast named Sorkin’ In It, two hosts named Lex and Brian are an emotion called annoyed. Also, Jeremy might win an award. (Spoiler: He doesn’t. Just ask Natalie.)

Lex Friedman and Brian Warren

The Summer of Submarines resurfaces with James Garner going on a secret mission to an enemy island in 1959’s “Up Periscope.” The Skipper is not a skipper, but he’s got some interesting romantic ideas. Some scenes are impressively bad from multiple angles. And we realize that we’re starting to get good at this submarine-movie business, maybe?

Up Periscope (1959)

Jason Snell with Philip Michaels, Shelly Brisbin, David J. Loehr and Erika Ensign

Never before has Vulcan Hello said hello to so many Vulcans. (And a Romulan, but shh, don’t say Romulan for canonical reasons!) We discuss Trek comedy, the delightful true fan of Humanity known as Doug, the depth of Number One as played by Rebecca Romijn, the action buddy comedy starring Kirk and Scotty, Batel’s jerk Vulcan boss, and Chapel’s inability to make good Plomeek soup.

Scott McNulty and Jason Snell

This final episode of season two is strangely a leftover from season one, so far as we can tell. So many scenes from the opening credits! Julia Nickson is back! We meet Chekhov’s Security Guard, whose name is Ox! The Law of the Economy of Characters and the Fallacy of the Talking Killer are both on display! And, most importantly, we introduce perhaps our biggest bit of Official Magnum Podcast Head Canon yet: Miłosz.

Jason Snell, Philip Michaels and David J. Loehr

Brush up on the Large Object Theory of History. Shaenon K. Garrity returns to discuss Jean Merrill’s The Pushcart War (1964).

John McCoy with Shaenon K. Garrity

The first ever SophLit merch!

Join us for a new experimental game show: Bracket Case. In our inaugural episode, five players try to decide who’s our Zaddy.

Bracket Case

Annette Wierstra and Kathy Campbell with James Thomson, Brian Hamilton, Kelly Guimont, Erika Ensign and Glenn Fleishman

A chaotic crew assembles to free a head from a book.

Candlekeep - Zikran's Zephyrean Tome, Part 1

Tony Sindelar with James Thomson, Kathy Campbell, Monty Ashley, Steve Lutz and Tiff Arment

Edited by Erika Ensign.

“Strange New Worlds” gets the documentary treatment this week, as the Enterprise is confronted with some difficult choices that call into question some of Starfleet’s most deeply held beliiefs. The documentary has a real character arc, going from deep skepticism to a final understanding in just 40 minutes. Unfortunately, that’s not how documentaries work!

Scott McNulty and Jason Snell

We return to 1995 not to hack into the Net but to wander, Netless, around Vienna with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. Palm readers! Street poets! Plays featuring cows! It’s “Before Sunrise,” a movie in which nothing happens… except maybe the most extraordinary thing in two people’s lives.

"Before Sunrise" (1995)

Jason Snell with Brian Hamilton, Erika Ensign, Annette Wierstra and Steven Schapansky

The most important supporting character in the show (the Ferrari) is sidelined and, oh yeah, Magnum is hospitalized! But is his amnesia a result of his head injuries, or is it more sinister? What does Thomas have in common with Superman and Batman? Jason focuses on island vibes, Phil gets to talk an awful lot about baseball, and we may or may not have subjected David to ’80s hypnosis.

Jason Snell, Philip Michaels and David J. Loehr