So Many Transfusions! (Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

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So Many Transfusions! (Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
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This time, the guys discuss Bram Stoker’s classic horror novel, Dracula, and two of its direct adaptations, the classic 1931 Universal movie, and 1992’s lavish Bram Stoker’s Dracula, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. We also mention quite a few other direct or slightly indirect adaptations.

Rankings!

Colin: 1931 film, book, 1992 movie

James: Audible version, 1931, 1992

Seth: Book, 1931, 1992.

FYI, the Dracula part of Chirp Audiobooks’s Two Horror Novels starts at Chapter 131.

On The Beach, by Nevil Shute (feat. Michael Simshauser)

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On The Beach, by Nevil Shute (feat. Michael Simshauser)
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On The Beach, by Nevil Shute (feat. Michael Simshauser)
(Content warning: discussions of suicide and euthanasia)
Michael Simshauser, our favorite Aussie and longtime friend of the pod, joins us for a long awaited discussion of Nevil Shute’s On the Beach and its two film adaptations from 1959 and 2000.
We do try to keep the conversation on the lighter side despite the book being somewhat dour (though it’s also sweet and shows people being good to each other). There’s an early attempt by me to do an Aussie accent, as requested by friend of the show Phil Nichols. You can judge how successful I was. (Michael was nice to me, and I think I did okay.)
Rankings:
Michael: Book, 1959 movie, 2000 movie
Colin: 2000 movie, book, 1959 movie
James: book, 2000 movie, 1959 movie
Seth: book, 2000 movie, 1959 movie
Hilarious “Waltzing Matilda” video Michael mentioned:

The Crystal Egg, by H.G. Wells (feat. Phil Nichols)

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The Crystal Egg, by H.G. Wells (feat. Phil Nichols)
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This time, the guys welcome back Dr. Phil Nichols to talk about the recent adaptation of H.G. Wells’s “The Crystal Egg” by the Planet Zoom Players, as well as briefly touching on the Tales of Tomorrow adaptation from 1951.

Rankings:

Colin: PZP adaptation, story, Tales of Tomorrow

James: PZP adaptation, story

Seth: PZP adaptation, story, Tales of Tomorrow

Phil: story, PZP adaptation, Tales of Tomorrow

Story:
https://www.online-literature.com/wellshg/2878/
Planet Zoom Players “The Crystal Egg”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcQMqRwuJDs
Tales of Tomorrow Episode:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XW02SUMNK0

 

 

The Last Voyage of the Demeter (with screenwriter Bragi Schut)

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The Last Voyage of the Demeter (with screenwriter Bragi Schut)
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Spoilers abound!

The screenplay for The Last Voyage of the Demeter has been passed around Hollywood since the late 90s. It’s finally in theaters, and the screenwriter, Bragi Schut, joins us to talk about the new movie, based on a brief chapter of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. (Chapter 7 “Captain’s Log” if you want to read it.)

We all had a great time at the movie and we hope  you enjoy this insightful conversation with Bragi.

Find Bragi on the Mythos Comics FB page: https://www.facebook.com/MythosComics

Caudal Fins All the Way Down (The Meg)

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Caudal Fins All the Way Down (The Meg)
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It’s summer, and Shark Week, so the guys take on Steve Alten’s 1997 novel Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror and its 2018 action movie spectacle starring Jason Statham.

Rankings!

Colin: Movie/Book

James: Audiobook/Movie

Seth: Movie/Book

It’s A Flat Earth! (Nightfall, by Isaac Asimov)

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It's A Flat Earth! (Nightfall, by Isaac Asimov)
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This time, the guys consider Isaac Asimov’s excellent short story / novelette “Nightfall,” adapted to pretty dreadful movies in 1988 and 2000.

Rankings!

Colin: story/1988 movie

James: story/2000 movie/1988 movie

Seth: story/2000 movie/1988 movie

 

Fungal Furor! (A Voice in the Night/Matango)

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Fungal Furor! (A Voice in the Night/Matango)
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This time, the guys hop in the way back machine to 1909 and William Hope Hodgson’s short story “A Voice in the Night” and its small screen adaptation (Suspicion S1.E24) and big screen Japanese adaptation (Matango, or Attack of the Mushroom People!).

We neglected to rank them, which is surprising.

Maybe we were distracted by Kathy’s amazing dessert mushrooms!

The story is available to read for free here:

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Voice_in_the_Night

And the Suspicion episode is here:

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Voice_in_the_Night

And Matango is available on Tubi: (we could not find any version available that wasn’t dubbed)

https://tubitv.com/movies/454502/attack-of-the-mushroom-people

A Murderbot, not THE Murderbot (Weapon/Solo)

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A Murderbot, not THE Murderbot (Weapon/Solo)
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This time we hit Robert Mason’s 1989 military/AI novel Weapon, adapted to a pretty terrible 1996 movie named after the main character, Solo.
Colin reached out to the author and got him to do some Q&A, which we sprinkle in through this episode.
It’s a tricky eBook to find. I guess I found it from Barnes & Noble a while back, but right now I don’t see it in the store. The book is excellent and worth tracking down.
Colin references the afterword from the book that’s available on the author’s page:
https://www.robertcmason.com/weapon.html
Rankings!:
Colin/James/Seth: Book/movie

A Very Breakable Nose (Timecop)

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A Very Breakable Nose (Timecop)
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This time, we hit 1994’s Timecop, based on the Dark Horse Presents character from the August, September, and October 1992 issues of Dark Horse Comics. There are splits, and messy time travel logic, and awesome performances from Bruce McGill and Ron Silver.

Rankings!:

Colin/James/Seth:

  • Movie
  • Comics

Discussing adapted Sci-Fi at its best—and worst

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