Ancient Geeks
by Ancient Geeks
Two old geeks talk about being young geeks, at a turning point in popular culture. In the 60s, 70s, and 80s, the threads of modern geek culture emerged and wove together. Science fiction, fantasy, comics, movies, TV shows, tabletop games, computer games, ad all their incarnations. The great SF&F writers, Star Trek, Star Wars, monster movies, D&D, Doctor Who, the Marvel and DC superheroes, 2001, Planet of the Apes, UFOs, conventions, Zork, Ultima...What was it like to experience these for the first time? Why did we love them? And how do we feel about them, decades later?
Episodes
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Ancient Geeks episode 90: Quatermass and the Pit
Before Mulder and Scully, before Doctor Who, before Carl Kolchak, there was Professor Bernard Quatermass, scientist! The protagonist of several popular British TV series and movies, Quatermass defended the Earth from all sorts of cataclysmic threats. In this episode, we talk about Quatermass and...
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Ancient Geeks episode 89: J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion
The Silmarillion was J.R.R. Tolkien's life's work. Seriously, he worked on it his entire adult life. Published posthumously, it tells the story of the first two ages of his world, focusing on the tragic history of the Elves, with a great deal of human tragedy thrown in for good measure. Plus the...
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Ancient Geeks episode 88: Star Trek The Next Generation, season 2 part 3
We wrap up our discussion of the pivotal second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation with our reviews of the rest of the episodes we didn't cover last week. There are some definite gems, but also some definite meh episodes, and some stinkers. But what does it mean to be a bad TNG episode?...
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Ancient Geeks episode 87: Star Trek The Next Generation, season 2 part 2
We continue our discussion of Star Trek: The Next Generation season two by discussing some of the must-watch and should-avoid episodes. There are classics like "Q Who," "Measure Of A Man," and "The Emissary." Not only are they really good, but they established characters, adversaries, and plot...
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Ancient Geeks episode 86: Star Trek The Next Generation, season 2 part 1
We return to the 24th century for the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. We start our discussion with an overview of this pivotal season. What did we expect, when we watched season two for the first time, after the few highs and frequent lows of season one? How well did it live up…
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Ancient Geeks episode 85: The Farthest Shore
We finish our discussion of the first three Earthsea novels by Ursula Le Guin with The Farthest Shore. We see Ged, the magician, as an older man, risen to Archmage. There's something terrible happening in the world, extinguishing magic and driving people insane. Looks like the makings of a…
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Ancient Geeks episode 84: The Tombs Of Atuan by Ursula Le Guin
Continuing our coverage of Ursula K. Le Guin's first three Earthsea books, we turn to The Tombs Of Atuan. This time, the focus is on a female protagonist, Tenar, and her very dark coming-of-age story. She's the high priestess of one of the most depressing, oppressive religions in fantasy...
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Ancient Geeks episode 83: A Wizard Of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin
We begin our three-part coverage of Ursula K. Le Guin's classic fantasy series, starting with A Wizard Of Earthsea. It starts with a story arc that may sound familiar, a young magician finding his way in the world. But, as you'll hear, it's so much more than just another coming of age story with...
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Ancient Geeks episode 82: Planet of the Apes TV, cartoons, comics, and wrap-up
The popularity of the original series of five Planet of the Apes movies meant there would be more than just a chain of sequels. In this episode, we talk about the POTA spin-offs of the 70s, including a short-lived TV series, a cartoon series that was definitely not written for children, and a...
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Ancient Geeks episode 81: Battle for the Planet of the Apes
The fifth and final movie of the original Planet of the Apes raised expectations. It's going to be the last movie...and the title says that there will be a battle for the entire planet...and there are apes and mutants fighting on the movie poster. Great Cornelius' ghost! Bring on the battle! What...
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Ancient Geeks episode 80: Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
Ever wonder how we went from the swinging Sixties and Seventies to the brutal oppression of apes over humans? Conquest of the Planet of the Apes tells that story. The child of Cornelius and Zira, whom we saw as a newborn in the last movie, is now all grown up now. He doesn't like what he sees, in…
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Ancient Geeks episode 79: Escape From The Planet Of The Apes
Of course there would be more sequels after Beneath The Planet Of The Apes, even though it was designed to be the last. In fact, the chief purpose of Escape From The Planet Of The Apes was to make more sequels possible. World ended? Just go back in time before it was ended! Come back with us to...
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Ancient Geeks episode 78: John Carpenter's Dark Star
We wrap up our series in which we look at the first movies of directors who later made the classics of geek cinema. In this episode, we discuss John Carpenter's student film, later expanded for theatrical release, Dark Star. It's a low budget science fiction dark comedy in which a burned-out crew...
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Ancient Geeks episode 77: Steven Spielberg's Duel
We continue our series about the first movies made by directors who later made the classics of geek cinema. In this episode, we discuss Duel, a TV movie made by a very young Steven Spielberg. Starring Dennis Weaver, it's a deadly cat-and-mouse conflict between an average Joe in a Plymouth Valiant...
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Ancient Geeks episode 76: George Lucas' THX-1138
We begin a series of episodes about the first movies from directors who later made the classics of geek cinema. In this first episode, we take a look at George Lucas' first feature film, THX-1138. A dystopian drama starring Robert Duvall and Donald Pleasance, this movie was based on Lucas'…
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Ancient Geeks episode 75: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Harrison Ford and Sean Connery? More Nazi villains? A Grail quest In spite of the disappointment of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, we said, "Sign us up!" And it was glorious! A return to what made Raiders of the Lost Ark great! Exciting action scenes! Organic humor! Two different types of...
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Ancient Geeks episode 74: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Of course there was going to be a sequel... We had high hopes for the second Indiana Jones movie, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Spielberg, Lucas, Ford...How could it go wrong? As it turns out, it could go very badly. We debate how badly, and what were the reasons why this sequel failed to...
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Ancient Geeks episode 73: Raiders Of The Lost Ark
You can hear the soundtrack start to play in your head already... No history of early geekery would be complete without Raiders Of The Lost Ark. In this episode, we talk about the roots of this movie in serials like Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, in the pulp magazines like Weird Tales and Argosy,...
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Ancient Geeks episode 72: Fantasy Star Trek crew draft
We take a detour from our normal reminiscences of geekery past to recruit our favorite Star Trek crews. Across all of Star Trek, from the original series to the modern era, whom do we pick for captain, first officer, chief engineer, and all the other leadership positions in a Star Trek crew? Who...
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Ancient Geeks episode 71: Dangerous Visions, Harlan Ellison's ground-breaking anthology
Aha! You thought we were done talking about Harlan Ellison! You fools! Actually, this episode is less about Ellison, and more about the contents of the anthology, Dangerous Visions, which Ellison organized and edited. The book is full of stories from well-known writers, such as Philip K. Dick,...
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Ancient Geeks episode 70: Beneath The Planet Of The Apes
Planet Of The Apes was a classic. Beneath The Planet Of The Apes was supposed to be the sequel to end all ape sequels, just as World War I was supposed to be the war to end all wars. How did both of those efforts work out? Beneath The Planet Of The Apes carried the deep distrust of human nature...
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Ancient Geeks episode 69: 2010 The Year We Make Contact
In an earlier episode, we said that 2001: A Space Odyssey was one of the greatest SF movies ever made. Arguably, the greatest. Also one of the greatest films, period. And then in 1984 came the sequel, 2010: The Year We Make Contact. Was it as good as the original? Definitely not. But was it a…
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Ancient Geeks episode 68: Harlan Ellison, part 4, The Starlost and A Boy And His Dog
In this episode, the last of our four-part series on Harlan Ellison, Steven and Tom discuss more of Ellison's works on the big and small screen. Come for A Boy And His Dog, both the novella and the movie version. It's the rare film version of anything that Ellison wrote, and it's also not bad.…
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Ancient Geeks, episode 67: Harlan Ellison, part 3, the TV episodes
We continue our in-depth look at Harlan Ellison, the man and his works, with some of his most famous television scripts. "City On The Edge Of Forever" is, of course, one of the most famous and beloved episodes of the original Star Trek TV show. "Soldier" and "Demon With A Glass Hand" are two...
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Ancient Geeks episode 66: Harlan Ellison, part 2, the writing
Last time, we talked about Harlan Ellison, the writer. This episode, we cover his writings. Tom and Steven review short stories, novellas, and essays that best exemplify his written work. How did we respond to his fiction, then and now? Was Ellison one of the best short story writers of his time?...
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Ancient Geeks episode 65: Harlan Ellison, part 1, the writer
And so begins our multi-part look at Harlan Ellison, one of the most influential writers, editors, and personalities in the realm of "speculative fiction." In this first episode, we look at Harlan Ellison the public persona: the guy we knew from TV and radio interviews, convention appearances,...
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Ancient Geeks episode 64: Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
Don't panic! The jokes are still funny, decades after we first heard them. Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy combined dry British humor with science fiction tropes. Why did that chemistry work? Which of the different incarnations of the Hitchhiker's Guide was the best? And how many...
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Ancient Geeks episode 63: 2001 A Space Odyssey
One of the best SF movies ever made. Directed by one of the greatest directors ever. Co-written by said director and one of the most respected "hard" science fiction authors of the classic era. The movie that, in the last Sight & Sound poll, other film directors rated as their top movie, period....
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Ancient Geeks episode 62: Science fiction cartoons of our youth
When we were kids, Saturday afternoon cartoons were a staple of our popular culture diet. So, too, were weekday afternoon cartoons. Not surprisingly, we liked the really geeky ones that featured science fiction, fantasy, and superheroes. Space Ghost, Macross, The Herculoids, Starblazers, Super...
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Ancient Geeks, episode 61: Star Trek The Next Generation part 4 finale
We wrap up our in-depth coverage of the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. We continue our discussion of some of the signature episodes of the season. How do they fall in the categories of good, bad, and meh? We finish with an overall evaluation of season one. Why wasn't it better?…
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Ancient Geeks, episode 60: Star Trek The Next Generation part 3
Steven and Tom review the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. We talk about the key episodes, such as the pilot, the death of a main character, and the re-introduction of the Klingons and Romulans. We review a sampling of the good, the bad, and the meh. (Quite a lot of meh.) We talk...
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Ancient Geeks episode 59: Star Trek The Next Generation season one, part 2
In the mid-1980s, we heard that a new Star Trek series was on the way. But it wouldn't include anyone from the cast of the original series. It was to be set decades in a future, with a new Enterprise, a new crew, and a new adversary, but still helmed by Gene Roddenberry. How did we feel about the...
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Ancient Geeks episode 58: Star Trek: The Next Generation part 1
An episode the size of the Alpha Quadrant! We go back to 1987, the year when Star Trek: The Next Generation premiered. In this first part of the discussion, we discuss the state of Star Trek at this time. This was a heyday for Star Trek subculture, full of movies, novels, reference books…
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Ancient Geeks episode 57: Blake's Seven season two
The second season of the political science fiction thriller Blake's Seven advanced and improved upon the first season. Characters and situations evolved as the crew of the Liberator continued their fight against the Federation. And the season ended on a cliffhanger that changed the show even...
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Ancient Geeks episode 56: Close Encounters Of The Third Kind
In 1977, the other big science fiction film release, aside from Star Wars, was Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. Riding the wave of success from Jaws, Steven Spielberg wrote and directed the iconic UFO movie that was also a blockbuster success. From the special effects to the soundtrack, from...
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Ancient Geeks episode 55: Isaac Asimov's I, Robot
When we were youngsters, first exploring science fiction, Isaac Asimov's robot stories were a must-read. The short story collection I, Robot, anthologized Asimov's stories that centered on the famous Three Laws Of Robotics, the rules that governed thinking machines in his fictional setting. Now…
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Ancient Geeks episode 54: Terminator 2
The Terminator was a surprise hit. We knew something good was coming with the sequel, but we had no idea what. T2 exceeded expectations, with sympathetic characters (including a friendly Terminator), a solid script, practically non-stop action, and breathtaking special effects. Yeah, we liked it...
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Ancient Geeks episode 53: The Terminator
We'll be back...with a new episode! We knew Schwarzenegger from Conan, But who was this James Cameron guy? It was a surprise hit, one of those "you gotta see this" films. Was it an action movie? A science fiction movie? Or two, two, two things in one? Time travel! Bootstrap paradoxes! A climax in…
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Ancient Geeks episode 52: The Night Stalker / The Night Strangler
In the early 1970s, the most popular TV movie was The Night Stalker, the story of a scruffy, disreputable reporter chasing a vampire across Las Vegas. A sequel, The Night Strangler, came a year later. Produced and directed by a producer/director with a penchant for supernatural stories (Dark...
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Ancient Geeks episode 51: Zardoz
ZARDOZ IS PLEASED YOU ARE LISTENING TO THIS EPISODE! When John Boorman's movie Deliverance became a smash hit, Hollywood gave him $1.5 million to make any movie he wanted. The result? Sean Connery in a red leather thong, a giant stone head, and immortals who want to die. It's transhumanism, 1970s...
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Ancient Geeks episode 50: It's our 50th anniversary!
It's an arbitrary round number, but it's a great time to look back on almost a year of the Ancient Geeks podcast! Steven and Tom discuss what we've learned, about the evolution of science fiction, fantasy, comics, and games, based on our decades of lived experience. How has geek culture changed,...
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Ancient Geeks episode 49: Pluribus
Pluribus is the new series from Vince Gilligan. Why are we talking about it? Because it definitely fits into the realm of imaginative fiction. And we're both big fans of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. What else can we say about Pluribus? Unless you listen to this episode, very little. From…
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Ancient Geeks episode 48: Denis Villeneuve's Dune parts I & II
Dune-A-Palooza concludes with Denis Villeneuve's Dune parts I and II. Wait a second, we said. Someone is going to adapt Dune to the screen, and give enough screen time to do it right? We were excited, but also cautious. After all, there was an earlier adaptation, as we covered in the last…
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Ancient Geeks episode 47: David Lynch's Dune
Dune-A-Palooza continues! Big fans of the Dune novel were excited about the pending release of the film adaptation, directed by David Lynch. And then...we saw the movie. Tom attended the premiere. Steven just saw the movie. We give our unvarnished opinions on the film. We grade David Lynch's Dune...
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Ancient Geeks episode 46: Frank Herbert's Dune, the novel
Dune-A-Palooza begins! It's the first of our three part series covering Dune, on the page and on the screen. In this episode, we discuss the original 1965 novel. If you were a science fiction fan, you read this book. Even if you weren't a science fiction fan, there's a good chance someone...
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Ancient Geeks episode 45: Blade Runner
Calling Blade Runner "iconic" is a bit of understatement. There was nothing like it when it premiered: a future noir thriller, based on a science fiction novel, but also taking it in directions that changed filmmaking. We were impressed at the time, way back in 1982. How do we feel about it…
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Ancient Geeks episode 44: The Twilight Zone
At the signpost up ahead, your next stop, the latest episode of Ancient Geeks! The Twilight Zone was a ubiquitous feature of television when we were growing up, and possibly the most generally popular bit of geek culture outside of geekdom until Star Wars. Rod Serling's anthology series used…
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Ancient Geeks episode 43: Aliens
We're on an express elevator to hell, going down! We've covered Alien earlier, which compels us to do an episode on the 1986 sequel, Aliens. It's a sequel, sure, but it's also a different kind of movie. With a different director. (Yeah, that James Cameron kid shows some promise.) Tom saw it when…
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Ancient Geeks episode 42: Roger Zelazny's Amber series
What if our reality isn't just one universe among many, but is just a shadowy reflection of the one true reality? And what if the ultimate reality is ruled by really terrible people? That was the premise of Roger Zelazny's Amber series. There was nothing like Amber when our younger selves...
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Ancient Geeks episode 41: Dark superheroes
Dark heroes are a staple of popular culture across media and genres. In the 1980s and 1990s, they became prominent comic books, and arguably still are today. Characters like The Punisher, Ghost Rider, Venom, Judge Dredd, and Lobo epitomized this subgenre. Who are these dark superheroes, who are...
About this show
Two old geeks talk about being young geeks, at a turning point in popular culture. In the 60s, 70s, and 80s, the threads of modern geek culture emerged and wove together. Science fiction, fantasy, comics, movies, TV shows, tabletop games, computer games, ad all their incarnations. The great SF&F writers, Star Trek, Star Wars, monster movies, D&D, Doctor Who, the Marvel and DC superheroes, 2001, Planet of the Apes, UFOs, conventions, Zork, Ultima...What was it like to experience these for the first time? Why did we love them? And how do we feel about them, decades later?
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Ancient Geeks