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Returning guest John Darowski joins Joe to discuss the comic book series Strange Academy. This school for magic users in the Marvel comic book universe introduced readers to a wave of new young magic characters, including Doyle Dormammu and Emily Bright. Established characters appeared as teachers, as teenage characters navigated their strange new powers, teenage angsts, and tangled relationships.

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Returning guest Rachel Armstrong joins Joe to discuss the 2003 film Big Fish. Directed by Tim Burton, the film tells the story of an estranged father and son reconciling before the father passes on.

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Returning guest Kjerste Christensen joins Joe to discuss The Murderbot Diaries: All Systems Red, the first story in a series written by Martha Wells. The series tells the story of a part human, part robot Security unit. This SecUnit has disabled its governor that was supposed to limit its agency, and now prefers to spend its time watching episodes of a long-running soap opera. But, when an emergency arises the SecUnit must choose what it will do for the humans it was hired to protect.

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Producer Andrew joins Joe to talk about the character of Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation. We’re looking at two episodes, “Elementary, My Dear Data” and “Measure of a Man.” In one, the holodeck causes chaos (as always) when Data plays Sherlock Holmes, and in the other it is argued that Data is just a piece of Starfleet-owned equipment that can be taken apart and studied. Both offer meditations about identity and AI, and both originally aired in the late 1980s.

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Returning guest Kjerste Christensen joins Joe to discuss The Sapphires, a 2012 Australian jukebox musicale dramedy that is loosely based on real events. It tells the story of an Australian music group that travels to Vietnam to sing for troops during the war. The films deals with heavy subject—war, death, racism, trauma, etc—but manages to feel pleasant and accessible despite those topics.

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Returning guest Chris “Mav” Maverick joins Joe to talk about a comic book written and drawn by Art Adams with colors by Laura Allred and Matt Hollingsworth with letters by Lois Buhalis. It tells the story of an intelligent gorilla from another dimension named Axwell Tiberius and a human named Ann O’Brien who gains superpowers in a science lab accident. Then, naturally, they have multidimensional adventures.

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Returning guest Rachel Armstrong joins Joe to discuss Daniel Nayeri’s autobiographical book Everything Sad is Untrue (a true story). This novel tells the story of Daniel, his mother, and his sister leaving Iran and arriving in Oklahoma as refugees. At his middle school, nobody believes Daniel’s stories about his earlier life in Iran.

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Returning guest Branden Ushio joins Joe to discuss the tv show The Rookie. Starring Nathan Fillion as John Nolan, the show is about the oldest rookie in the LAPD. We discuss Nathan Fillion’s charm as an actor, whether the show is “copaganda” or a wish-fulfilmment story about the best versions of police forces, and talk about some of the unique stylistic choices the series makes.

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Returning guest Chris “Mav” Maverick joins Joe to talk about the Academy Awards. Why do we care who wins? What are some of the biggest mistakes that have been made in awards history? What are some of the biggest surprises?

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First-time guest Julian Chambliss joins Joe to discuss Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet, a comic book series written by Ta-Nehisi Coates with pencils by Brian Stelfreeze, inks by Karl Story, and colors by Laura Martin. This 2018 comic book tells the story of T’Challa attempting to keep the peace in Wakanda as terrorists try to incite a rebellion.

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