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Journey Through Sci-Fi: Science Fiction Film History: Daily Summaries Delivered
by James Payne
A film history podcast that takes one big science-fiction dialog and follows it through the decades. Hosted by James Payne and Matt Willcock, Journey Through Sci-Fi traces the evolution of science fiction on screen, from the silent era to the present day. Each episode pairs two films to ask what changed in between: how they were made, what they reveal about the world that produced them, and how science fiction keeps reinventing the same hopes, fears and questions for a new generation. Previous journeys have explored Artificial Intelligence, from Metropolis and The Terminator to Ghost in the Shell, The Matrix and Ex Machina. Space Opera, from the Star Wars trilogies and Dune to Starcrash and the silent-era A Trip to Mars. Plus Time Travel, Dystopias, Virtual Reality and Mad Science, with regular detours into science-fiction television. Next journey: Friendly Aliens, We Come in Peace!
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- 1 weeks ago1h 28m
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951 & 2008): Come in Peace, Or Else
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) and its 2008 remake. The alien who comes in peace and brings a threat with him. Journey Through Sci-Fi continues We Come in Peace, our series tracing the history of friendly aliens on screen. This time, the foundational one. A saucer lands on a Washington baseball field, a man walks out with a gift and a message, and he is shot for it inside a minute. Klaatu is polite, patient and 78 years old in a 35 year old body. Behind him stands Gort, seven foot seven of rubber suit and near limitless force. We get into what 1951 audiences carried into the cinema with them, why a film about world peace was built from a short story that had nothing to do with world peace, and how much of the friendly alien playbook starts right here. Then 2008. Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, a swarm of nanobots and a McDonald's. The nuclear threat becomes an environmental one, Klaatu arrives having already decided we are not worth saving, and the remake we both expected to be terrible turns out to be an admirable attempt at updating the classic sci-fi movie. In this episode: Flying saucer mania Farewell to the Master: Harry Bates' 1940 story, and the twist Fox threw away Michael Rennie's charm offensive, and the two separate times he gets gunned down Gort's little pants, circus strongmen and the Superman connection Who would you take an alien to today? Brian Cox or Martin Lewis Milk, milkshakes, and the day the American dairy industry stood still GORT as an acronym Old Testament orbs, arks and biblical locusts Is humanity worth saving? Asked and answered in a McDonald's car park Also discussed: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, A Message from Mars, Destination Moon, The Man from Planet X, The Twilight Zone, War of the Worlds (2005), The Happening, WALL-E, Armageddon, The Matrix, John Wick, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Alien: Romulus, Neon Genesis Evangelion and Disclosure Day. Gort or GORT? Tell us which robot you would rather meet in a field. Next time: It Came from Outer Space (1953) and Warning from Space (1956). Hosted and produced by James Payne and Matt Willcock. Edited by James Payne. Bonus episodes on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/journeythroughscifi Join the JTSF Logbook, our free newsletter: https://journeythroughscifi.beehiiv.com Full back catalogue and everything else: https://journeythroughscifi.com Follow the show so you never miss an episode, and if you can, a review or a share costs nothing and helps a lot. Journey Through Sci-Fi is part of the EOH Network.
- 3 weeks ago50 min
A Message from Mars (1913): The First Friendly Alien
Where does the friendly alien begin? Not with E.T., but with a Martian exiled to Edwardian London to reform the most selfish man alive. Journey Through Sci-Fi returns with a brand new series. We Come in Peace traces the history of friendly aliens on screen. In this opener we set out the stall: what makes a visitor friendly rather than hostile, why everything gets measured against E.T., and how one mistranslated Italian word put Martians in our heads. Then we go back to 1913 and A Message from Mars, widely held to be the first British science fiction film. Ramiel, a Martian stripped of his rank and banished to Earth, has to reform a selfish London bachelor called Horace Parker. It is A Christmas Carol with a spaceman, and almost every benevolent visitor since owes it something. In this episode: Friendly visitor or invader? Where the line actually sits Voltaire's Micromégas (1752), possibly the first friendly alien story ever written Kenneth Arnold, Roswell, and how 1947 gave us the flying saucer Schiaparelli's canali: the mistranslation that built fictional Mars Ramiel's tough love, the zap power, and some baffling 1913 camera trickery Lizard people or Arthurian courtiers? Britain in 1913: picture palaces and a film industry inventing itself Also discussed: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Cocoon, Batteries Not Included, Earth Girls Are Easy, It Came from Outer Space, Aelita: Queen of Mars, A Princess of Mars, Project Hail Mary and Armageddon. Watch along with us. A Message from Mars is free on BFI Replay: https://replay.bfi.org.uk/video/7f470ecc-3ccd-5cde-aca0-ac97153f8ecd Lizards or courtiers? Tell us what you saw. Next time: The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) meets its 2008 remake. Hosted and produced by James Payne and Matt Willcock. Edited by James Payne. Bonus episodes on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/journeythroughscifi Join the JTSF Logbook our free newsletter: https://journeythroughscifi.beehiiv.com Full back catalogue and everything else: https://journeythroughscifi.com Follow the show so you never miss an episode, and if you can a review or a share costs nothing and helps a lot. Journey Through Sci-Fi is part of the Evolution of Horror Network.
- Aug 26, 20261 min
We Come in Peace! Series Trailer
Some of them came to warn us. Some of them just wanted to go home. We Come in Peace is a new series from Journey Through Sci-Fi, tracing the friendly alien across a century of film and television. We start in the earliest days of visitors from other worlds and work our way to the present, asking how and why that image kept changing. Along the way: The Day the Earth Stood Still, It Came from Outer Space, Warning from Space, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., Starman, Cocoon, Alien Nation, Coneheads, Men in Black, The Iron Giant, Arrival and plenty more. Episode one arrives (in peace) on 10 September, with new episodes every other week. Journey Through Sci-Fi is part of the EOH network. Hosted by James Payne and Matt Willcock. Follow the show wherever you get your podcasts so you don't miss the first episode.
- Jul 30, 202626 min
Sci-Fi Starter Pack: Star Wars, Blade Runner, The Matrix, Mad Max & More
New to Journey Through Sci-Fi? Start here. Before we launch our next full series on friendly aliens, we're taking a journey back through the archive with a special starter pack episode, featuring some of our favourite clips from past series. Across this episode, we revisit some of the biggest ideas in sci-fi cinema: the mythic storytelling of the original Star Wars trilogy, the artificial intelligence and uneasy humanity of Blade Runner, the time-loop perfection of Groundhog Day, the simulated reality of The Matrix, the collapsing world of Mad Max, and the haunted-house-in-space horror of Event Horizon. Featuring discussions of: Star Wars Original Trilogy Blade Runner Metropolis Groundhog Day The Matrix Trilogy Mad Max Event Horizon Whether you're a longtime listener revisiting old favourites or a new listener looking for the best place to begin, this episode is a guided tour through the many worlds, subgenres and strange obsessions of Journey Through Sci-Fi. Our new series, We Come in Peace, exploring the history of friendly aliens on screen, begins soon. Follow Journey Through Sci-Fi now so you don't miss it.
- Jun 24, 20268 min
Disclosure Day: Spielberg and the Return of Friendly Aliens
A little bonus transmission from the JTSF Patreon feed. We've been chatting about Spielberg's Disclosure Day, and because our next main-feed series is all about the history of friendly aliens in sci-fi cinema, this felt like the perfect thing to share. In this spoiler-light extract, we talk Spielberg returning to alien territory, why big first-contact movies feel rarer now, and how Disclosure Day turns the friendly alien story into something closer to a conspiracy thriller for the misinformation age. The full spoiler episode is available now on Patreon, where we get into the ending, the film's bigger ideas, and whether good old Stevie has still got it when it comes to visitors from the stars. Hear the full episode on Patreon Join The JTSF Logbook Website Email Instagram / TikTok / Facebook / Letterboxd
- May 6, 20261h 34m
The Mad Science Movie Awards: 58 Films, So Many Bad Ideas
We close out our Mad Science series the only way we know how: with a very serious, deeply prestigious and completely unofficial Mad Science Film Awards. After 58 films and more than a century of sci-fi cinema, we look back at the scientists, monsters, labs, experiments and terrible decisions that defined the season. From Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Invisible Man to The Fly, Re-Animator, Jurassic Park, Get Out and Poor Things, we trace how mad science evolved from gothic cautionary tales to atomic-age anxiety, body horror, corporate genetics, surveillance, consent and control. Categories include Best Mad Scientist, Biggest Ego in a Lab Coat, Most Unethical Experiment, Best Creation, Best Lab, Hidden Gem and the big one: Best Mad Science Movie. Plus we unveil what we will be covering the next series of Jounrey Through Sci-fi! Visit our website https://www.journeythroughscifi.com/ Email Us! Support the podcast on PATREON Add us on INSTAGRAM Find us on TIKTOK Like us on FACEBOOK Follow us on LETTERBOXD
- Apr 22, 202659 min
Mad Science in Star Trek: Khan, Bashir and the Eugenics Wars
This week on Journey Through Sci-Fi, we head into the Star Trek universe to explore one of its most enduring mad science taboos: genetic engineering. From Space Seed and the rise of Khan to Enterprise's Augments arc and Deep Space Nine's shocking Bashir reveal, we trace how Star Trek keeps returning to the dangers of trying to "improve" humanity. Along the way, we get into the Eugenics Wars, creator-creation relationships, scientific hubris, and why a utopian future still casts a long shadow over forbidden science. Plus: Brent Spiner being superbly awful, Bashir's identity crisis, and why this theme runs through Star Trek for more than 200 years of in-universe history. Episodes discussed:Star Trek: The Original Series — "Space Seed" (S1E22)Star Trek: Enterprise — "Borderland" (S4E04), "Cold Station 12" (S4E05), "The Augments" (S4E06)Star Trek: Deep Space Nine — "Doctor Bashir, I Presume?" (S5E16) Also referenced:Star Trek — "What Are Little Girls Made Of?"Star Trek: The Next Generation — "The Schizoid Man"Star Trek: Voyager — "Tuvix"
- Apr 9, 20261h 32m
Frankenstein (2025) & The Bride! (2026): Mad Science Comes Full Circle
What happens when one of sci-fi's oldest stories is reimagined for a modern audience? In this episode of Journey Through Sci-Fi, we return to the origin of mad science — Mary Shelley's Frankenstein — through two new adaptations: Frankenstein (2025), directed by Guillermo del Toro, and The Bride! (2026), directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. This isn't just another adaptation. It's a full-circle moment for the genre. From the obsessive creator who dares to make life… to the creation who refuses to belong to him, these films show how the Frankenstein myth has evolved over 200 years of science fiction. In this episode we explore: • Why Frankenstein is still the blueprint for every mad scientist story • How these new versions reinterpret the act of creating life • What they keep — and what they completely reinvent — from the original myth • Why The Bride! flips the perspective from creator to creation • What this tells us about where sci-fi — and mad science — is heading next From gothic horror roots to modern sci-fi storytelling, this is the evolution of one of the genre's defining ideas. And a fitting end point for our Mad Science series. Because sometimes the most important sci-fi story isn't about the future… …it's the one we've been retelling all along.
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About Journey Through Sci-Fi: Science Fiction Film History
A film history podcast that takes one big science-fiction dialog and follows it through the decades. Hosted by James Payne and Matt Willcock, Journey Through Sci-Fi traces the evolution of science fiction on screen, from the silent era to the present day. Each episode pairs two films to ask what changed in between: how they were made, what they reveal about the world that produced them, and how science fiction keeps reinventing the same hopes, fears and questions for a new generation. Previous journeys have explored Artificial Intelligence, from Metropolis and The Terminator to Ghost in the Shell, The Matrix and Ex Machina. Space Opera, from the Star Wars trilogies and Dune to Starcrash and the silent-era A Trip to Mars. Plus Time Travel, Dystopias, Virtual Reality and Mad Science, with regular detours into science-fiction television. Next journey: Friendly Aliens, We Come in Peace!
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