Episodes
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Fascism for Algernon (The Incomparable Mothership 816)
Put on your eye phones and jack in to the cyberscape! Rocket Surgery comes for 1996’s cyberpunk epic “Lawnmower Man 2.” (Don’t worry if you haven’t seen the original “Lawnmower Man,” half of us didn’t either.) Matt Frewer is Max Headrooming it up! A bunch of urchins populate a rainy L.A. that’s...
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You See... They're Ducks (The Incomparable Mothership 691)
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! For the holiday, we give you a turkey of a movie about a duck. It’s 1986’s “Howard the Duck.” (No way to conceal it.) Host Jason Snell with Annette Wierstra, Erika Ensign, Moisés Chiullán, Monty Ashley, Steve Lutz and David J. Loehr.
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Saunter in From the Future (The Incomparable Mothership 630)
The Summer of Time Travel meets Rocket Surgery as we watch the very 90s, good-bad film “Timecop,” the movie that answers the question, “What would happen if you tried to kick time itself?” Host Jason Snell with Joe Rosensteel, Annette Wierstra and Monty Ashley.
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Mars Monkey Dance Number (The Incomparable Mothership 618)
Rocket Surgery takes a time machine back to 1930 for “Just Imagine,” a visionary view of the far future of 1980 that’s three movies in one—and feels like it. Then we jump to the real 1980 where, instead of evil martian twins, we find “Flash Gordon,” quarterback, New York Jets. Host Jason Snell…
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We're Gonna Be Good CEOs (The Incomparable Mothership 580)
As we prepare to exit the Summer of Spielberg, things have taken a bit of a turn. We’ve taken out our surgical tools to diagnose just what went wrong with “Ready Player One,” in which a director who is much more interested in movies than video games and who himself deeply influenced 80s culture…
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Lackeys Don't Wear Khakis (The Incomparable Mothership 561)
After years of Monty telling us we should watch it, we’ve given in. It’s time to discuss 1981 South African karate movie “Kill and Kill Again,” a film featuring many middle-aged men kicking people, as well as a James Bond-style plot about a madman who wants to take over the world via an unusual...
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I Want to Go to Dog Heaven (The Incomparable Mothership 543)
Merry Kilmas! We begin our seasonal celebration of actor Val Kilmer with one of his most mysterious works, 1996’s “The Island of Dr. Moreau.” You’ll go in wanting to see Marlon Brando and David Thewlis, but you’ll exit talking about Goat Man and Dog Butler and why the last half hour of the film...
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Words Aren't Cool (The Incomparable Mothership 520)
It’s not 🧠🧬, it’s 🚀🔪. Emojipedia’s own Jeremy Burge joins our crew to watch the heck out of 2017’s “The Emoji Movie,” a very 💩 movie in which Patrick Stewart plays 💩 and we’re told that 🍆 belongs in the Loser Lounge. Host Jason Snell with Jeremy Burge, Glenn Fleishman, Kathy Campbell…
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Lucky Crime Shirt (The Incomparable Mothership 476)
The Summer of Spider-Man concludes with 2007’s “Spider-Man 3”, a controversial sequel that’s packed full with villains (Sandman, Venom, and Extreme Sports Goblin) battling the increasingly unpleasant emo version of Peter Parker. Sandman’s daughter is very ill. Eddie Brock is an awfully unpleasant...
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Futterwacken Hats (The Incomparable Mothership 470)
Our Rocket Surgery crew returns to the current decade to discuss Tim Burton’s billion-dollar 3-D smash hit, “Alice In Wonderland.” What if everything you remember fondly from Lewis Carroll was turned into a catchphrase? Why so much eye stabbing? Who is the Jabberwocky and what has it done with…
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Lord of Board and Sword (The Incomparable Mothership 467)
If we told you that there was a 1990s movie starring Martin Sheen’s brother featuring a post-apocalyptic world of skateboarding, sword-wielding Jedi dudes, would you believe us? Well, you shouldn’t, because we made it up on the spot. Concluding our trilogy of improvised “Rocket Surgery” episodes,...
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Dracula's Home Alone (The Incomparable Mothership 457)
We’re all out seeing “Avengers: Endgame”, so here’s something completely different to tide you over. A while ago we all were talking about how our Rocket Surgery selections are so weird and obscure that we could just make up an entire movie and nobody would be able to tell the difference. So we…
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Turn Left at the Asteroid (The Incomparable Mothership 453)
It’s the Rocket Surgery Film Festival! In this episode, we’re watching something that proves that computer-game film adaptations were a bad idea from the very beginning! Based on a late 1970s Atari game, it’s the ill-fated “Star Raiders.” There’s a not-dashing star pilot, a sullen space princess,...
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All Wormholes Go to Heaven (The Incomparable Mothership 434)
Jason chose Disney’s “The Black Hole” for this edition of Rocket Surgery, and after viewing it, he’s pretty confident in his decision. But there is dissention in the ranks! Some panelists will stick up for Disney’s strange 1979 horror-as-sci-fi film, which features ranting scientists, robot ESP,...
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Up to the Puppies (The Incomparable Mothership 426)
After “The Matrix” was a hit, we got the inevitable plague of Matrix-like tales of ultraviolent dark pop philosophy. Of these, 2002’s “Equilibrium”… was one. At the pleading of Dan Moren, our Rocket Surgery team disassembles this tale of totalitarianism and gun-based martial arts starring…
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Joe DiMaggio of the Slide Rule (The Incomparable Mothership 395)
We return to bad 1950s science fiction for our latest Rocket Surgery installment, which features 1959’s “The Cosmic Man.” There’s a UFO the likes of which we’ve never seen, in the form of a ping-pong ball in a canyon. Army men and a world-famous scientist that even little kids recognize joust…
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This Movie Ends, Right? (The Incomparable Mothership 368)
Time for 1997’s “Batman & Robin”, featuring George Clooney as Batman, Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze, Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy, and Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl. At least we can laugh about it now… to keep from crying. (Part two of two.) Host Jason Snell with Tony Sindelar, Moisés…
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Batman! Aaaaaa! (The Incomparable Mothership 367)
So when Batman won our Summer Superhero Spectacular, we embarked on a quest to talk about all the Batman movies. Which leads us to the unfortunate spectacle of us watching both “Batman Forever” and “Batman & Robin.” This week, it’s the Val Kilmer Era, so let’s go back to 1995 and marvel at Jim...
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A Dwarf Named Elwood (The Incomparable Mothership 360)
Settle back with a bagel or two and get ready for a film that fails to bring all the excitement and world-building of fantasy roleplaying to life! Our brave panelists watch 2000’s “Dungeons & Dragons”, which features dungeons, dragons, a horribly unbalanced party, an infuriating lack of…
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Might As Well Keep Going (The Incomparable Mothership 341)
Our survey of terrible movies from various decades returns with a stop in the 60s, to visit 1965’s low-budget spectacle, “The Wizard of Mars,” featuring John Carradine in the title role as one of the horrors of the red planet. How many parallels are there between this film and “The Wizard of Oz”,...
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The Power! The Power! The Power! (The Incomparable Mothership 320)
Our rocket surgeons take on 1981’s “Frankenstein Island,” Jason’s go-to bad movie from his high school days. What do balloons have to do with Frankenstein? What’s that brain doing in that tupperware container? Why are there zombies dressed like longshoremen? What is John Carradine doing? How did...
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A Cyborg Dolphin (The Incomparable Mothership 312)
Our Rocket Surgery series returns to the heady days of the ’90s, home of questionable cyberpunk movies, to watch Keanu Reeves in “Johnny Mnemonic.” How can a movie written by the godfather of cyberpunk, William Gibson, be such a disaster? We’ll fax you the answer. Host Jason Snell with Monty...
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Mascot Hands (The Incomparable Mothership 307)
Our Rocket Surgery panel attempts to apply logic to “Cool Cat Saves the Kids,” an inexplicable educational film featuring a couple of people in animal suits, some music videos, parade footage, and many questionable lessons for children. But there are cameos by Erik Estrada and Vivica A. Fox!...
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Science Is Never Frightening! (The Incomparable Mothership 294)
Our survey of questionable science fiction films moves to the 1950s for “GOG,” a story featuring a secret nuclear base, a couple of “robuts,” a shifty Swiss scientist, a neglected Coke machine, a whole lot of science lectures, and then many dead scientists. Host Jason Snell with Glenn Fleishman,...
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Love Blooms Naturally on a Vespa (The Incomparable Mothership 270)
On Halloween, our Rocket Surgery series takes us to the swinging ’60s and the height of NASA space exploration at Kennedy Space Center! In this corner, a robot astronaut named Frank! In that corner, a horde of invading aliens and their terrifying monster! In between, a bunch of stock footage, a...
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Chekhov's Bob-omb (The Incomparable Mothership 258)
Our survey of terrible films continues with 1993’s “Super Mario Bros.”, which features surprisingly little of the characters, setting, or joy that one might attribute to the beloved video-game franchise. Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper, and the directors of the original “Max Headroom”...
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Stay Inside My Aura (The Incomparable Mothership 250)
Draw a beard on your face with a Sharpie, prepare to learn math via touch, and we’ll take you to the second level! Our trek into films of questionable quality continues with John Boorman’s 1974 sci-fi epic “Zardoz,” starring Sean Connery in a red diaper and a floating stone head. Even the...
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Pooping Alien (The Incomparable Mothership 240)
Our Rocket Surgery visit to bad sci-fi movies returns with a look at 1984’s “The Ice Pirates.” Foam robots! Swords and lasers! A mysterious water world! A strange balance of racism and social commentary! Bad effects! Baby animals! Robert Urich! A space herpe! Questional castration methods! Poop...
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The Only Way Out Is In (The Incomparable Mothership 234)
Introducing a new recurring segment on The Incomparable that we call Rocket Surgery, in which we watch an unappreciated science fiction movie from the past and then talk about it. For our first installment, we watched the 2003 film “The Core,” starring Hilary Swank, Aaron Eckhart, Stanley Tucci,...