This fortnight, Nick and Alastair are looking at exciting new space-ship show Star Trek: Discovery!
But first, other recent intake – Nick went on a Baltimore drug scene binge with HBO’s renowned series The Wire and related book The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighbourhood, by series producers David Simon and Ed Burns.
Alastair, meanwhile, is here with his annual report back from London Film Festival, covering films such as Tiger Girl, The Final Year and Downsizing – which Nick saw with him, so cue the inevitable mini-review.
Then they finally crack into Star Trek: Discovery (8:22), with talk (and spoilers) spanning the first five episodes. Alastair’s seen loads of the previous Trek shows, Nick barely any – will this affect their judgments?
For the follow-up question this time, prompted by the first f-bomb in Trek history, they ask: are there any franchises that shouldn’t go full adult? (23:40) You may not be surprised to hear that the conversation eventually turns to Batman.
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This fortnight, much to Alastair’s excitement, it’s time to tackle long-awaited sci-fi sequel Blade Runner 2049!
Nick and Alastair’s second swing at the new format, and this time, it’s the turn of Darren Aronofksy’s controversial new horror-allegory film mother!
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.
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).
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
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.
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.
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
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.
The 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.
Also, another revisitation, as they check back with magical Image Comics series Curse Words (49:22) to see how the first storyline ended, after
Finally, 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).
Our 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.
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