Forty-four, forever more! It’s a particularly event-packed episode (including Nick defrosting his freezer mid-episode and a huge chunk of ice falling out), but first, Nick and Alastair discuss a top Amsterdam tourist attraction, Nick finishing the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman and Alastair’s trip to Worldcon 75 in Helsinki.

Then it’s serious business time with Netflix’s Marvel’s The Defenders (6:52), the long awaited Daredevil/Jessica Jones/Luke Cage/Iron Fist four-way crossover extravaganza. Can The Hand overcome Nick’s past annoyance with them?

Almost as newsworthy – time for a big look at Game of Thrones season seven (24:14) – with full spoilers, just so you’re aware. Following that, a relaxing citybreak to Berlin with new action spy thriller Atomic Blonde (45:00).

And finally: Master of None (57:41), excellent Netflix sitcom and Nick’s recommendation from last time. And keep listening all the way past that for some news about the future of Moderate Fantasy Violence!

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Forty-three years since our last recording! Alastair’s gone on holiday and Nick’s about to do the same, so they recorded this back around when they did MFV #42. Hope it’s better than nothing. There’s some chat about two novels to start: the original The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood and The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. Also a short audio clip recorded during the brief Team MFV trip to the Nine Worlds convention.

Our main timeless feature this episode is a double recommendation: first, to vibe with the upcoming Defenders series, Nick suggests Daredevil: Born Again (11:06), the classic tale of one man against bottomless crime noir adversity by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli.

Then Alastair brings one of his all-time favourite films: Withnail & I (30:36), the classic British dark comedy starring Richard E. Grant and Paul McGann.

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Is this episode the meaning of life? We lead off this week by discussing Netflix zombie-suburbs series Santa Clarita Diet and Kameron Hurley’s epic book of essays The Geek Feminist Revolution.

In bigger, longer segment news: we cover Christopher Nolan’s new war-fight epic Dunkirk (6:26) and the intense psychological horror movie It Comes At Night (24:37). Then we return to the work of Warren Ellis for new Netflix video game adaptation Castlevania (34:48).

And finally, it’s Alastair’s recommendation from last episode: famously future-predicting Channel 4 sitcom Nathan Barley! The Guardian article mentioned during this article can be found here.

And if you want to do our listener survey and potentially win a £20 Amazon voucher, you can still do it at this link!

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Forty-one days since our last accident! Nick and Alastair have not only taken in some culture this week (specifically the comedy of Daniel Kitson and Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy), they’ve also delved into the exciting new field of cultural hot-takes, as they discuss Jodie Whittaker’s casting as the first female Doctor Who (6:07)!

But that’s only a quick digression before our pop-cultural main events: Spider-Man: Homecoming (11:04), the latest big-screen Marvel-endorsed outing of Nick’s favourite superhero, and the beginning of the penultimate season of Game of Thrones (26:45).

And then we pop back to revisit Preacher (41:07) as it starts its second season – has it improved since we covered the pilot in MFV #8 and the whole first run in MFV #14?

Finally, Nick recommends the first volume of sci-fi robots comic Descender (52:32) by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen, which is excellent and unfairly snubbed by the Hugo Awards (as he moaned about during his recent appearance on Radio Free Fandom, the new podcast from occasional MFV guest Claire Rousseau).

Finally finally, as mentioned during the show, we’re doing a listener survey and one randomly drawn listener will win a £20 Amazon voucher by taking part. So click anywhere on this whole sentence to get involved with that. (No, this isn’t any kind of advert/sponsored thing, we really are just curious what our listeners actually like.)

babydriver-xlarge_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bqeo_i_u9APj8RuoebjoAHt0k9u7HhRJvuo-ZLenGRumAThe big 4-0! For this milestone, time to revisit some old friends, as Nick finally finishes Alan Moore’s Jerusalem and Alastair returns to Ben Aaraovitch’s Rivers of London world in comic form.

They’ve also seen Edgar Wright’s ice-cool car-musical Baby Driver (9:51) and, at long last, can discuss a whole new series of Doctor Who (25:01) at length. (which, oh, they definitely do.) We discussed the start of series 10 back in MFV #35.

Also, another revisitation, as they check back with magical Image Comics series Curse Words (49:22) to see how the first storyline ended, after our initial review in MFV #29.

curse-words-01Finally, time for some serious synth-pop of the soul with Alastair’s latest recommendation: You And Me Against The World by Apoptygma Berzerk (58:45).

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orange-is-the-new-black-season-5-teaser-041217-920x584Our first deleted chunk for a while – turns out we can bang on for hours about Orange Is The New Black, as it’s one of our favourite shows. So here’s a short chunk cut from MFV #39 where we get a bit overly specific about our favourite characters and how they’re used in the fifth season.

Hear our full OITNB discussion in the episode here, along with Orphan Black, American Gods and more!

oitnb5Thirty-nine, yet also two! Nick and Alastair cover two TV shows beginning with O and ending in Black for the second time (see also: MFV #10), but first, Alastair’s seen Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle, a serious documentary about the housing crisis, while Nick’s read some Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye comics.

orphan_black5Then it’s down to business with the start of Orange Is The New Black season 5 (9:55), followed by a big look back at the whole of American Gods season 1 (27:18) and a little check-in with the first episode of Orphan Black’s final season (43:26).

quantum-and-woody-omnibus-top-100864-640x320Last but definitely not least, Nick recommends Quantum & Woody (55:17) by Christopher Priest and Mark Bright, the mismatched-buddy-superhero comic that influenced much of his style, taste and sense of humour. Will Alastair dig it?

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Thirty-eight painful coughs to go! Nick andwonder woman Alastair are back (despite Nick’s laryngitis struggles) to talk about their Team MFV trip to The Bugle live show and Alastair’s solo jaunt to Field Day.

Not to mention their reviews of eagerly awaited inspirational superhero film Wonder Woman (8:34), monster-metaphor-mash-up movie Colossal (25:19) and episode one of The Handmaid’s Tale (37:40), the depressingly relevant TV adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s novel.

blade-runnerFinally, what did Nick think of noted sci-fi classic Blade Runner (50:16)? With his malfunctioning vocal systems, did it hit too close to home?

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twin peaks the returnThirty seven minutes in heaven! Nick and Alastair begin on a pleasingly literate note, looking back on MR Carey’s The Boy On The Bridge (follow-up to his previously-praised The Girl With All The Gifts) and From Hell, classic Jack The Ripper graphic novel by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell.

alien covenantBut the big story this fortnight is Twin Peaks: The Return (8:59), the much-anticipated new series!And if you want more Peaks-casting, you can try the Diane podcast, as recommending by Nick basically every time Twin Peaks is mentioned on MFV.

If that wasn’t enough nostalgic reviving for one episode, Nick and Alastair also saw Alien: Covenant (28:23), the eighth film in the long-running franchise! And Mindhorn (43:19), a new British comedy about nostalgic revivals!

my_dad_wrote_a_pornoBut our heroes step into the modern world eventually with My Dad Wrote A Porno (52:54), the popular podcast about self-published erotica.

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Guardians-of-the-Galaxy-Vol-2-wallpaperThirty six more chances to win! This fortnight, Nick finally watches premium telly classic Deadwood, while Alastair saw Bunch of Kunst, a documentary film about his beloved Sleaford Mods. Also: how has their Mod listening progressed since the album review in MFV #31?

Most excitingly, though, it’s Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 (8:10), the first Marvel Cinematic Universe film of the year! After that, almost as anticipated, it’s the first episode of American Gods (23:57), Bryan Fuller’s weirdly angled TV adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s novel.

gorillaz humanzNext, Nick’s taste in music takes its turn for a pasting, as they review new Gorillaz album Humanz (33:58).

Lastly, a truly inevitable recommendation section, as Alastair pitches some classic Doctor Who (47:20) – specifically, the Tom Baker story Genesis of the Daleks.

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