Our Opinions Are Correct

In these tough times, we need great TV shows more than ever. We have lots of opinions about nine new series that are making us happy because they're smart, fun, and -- best of all -- colorful! Plus, we've got recommendations for over a dozen more not-so-new shows that are worth digging up from last year, or last century. Stay safe at home and plunge your mind into dazzling new worlds.  Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes

Plots are one of the most important parts of storytelling. They carry our characters forward, and they force our heroes to make choices and to change along the way. Every story has a plot, whether it's about saving the world of making a cup of tea. So why is it so hard to come up with a decent plot? We talk about good and bad plots, and offer advice about how to write the best ones. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes

Pandemics are a recurring trope in science fiction, but this turns out to be surprisingly unhelpful when we're facing a contagion in reality. We talk to Mike Chen, author of the new pandemic novel A Beginning at the End, about how science fiction uses disease as an allegory for almost everything except, well, disease. Mike wrote his novel over a year before the COVID-19 outbreak, and tells us what it's like to make a prediction that comes true--sort of. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes

Everything is bloody terrifying right now, what with the pandemic and the would-be strongmen and the natural disasters. So it's easy to retreat into nihilistic storytelling, which revels in the destruction of civilization. But screw that --- when you root for the destroyer, you're rooting for unimaginable suffering and death. Here's why we don't want your f--ed-up nihilism. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes

We would need an eternity to discuss everything that was great and groundbreaking about "The Good Place," which just aired its series finale. We talk about how this weird afterlife comedy combined the workplace sitcom with weighty questions about ethics, psychology, and capitalism. Then we get metaphysical and ask why the afterlife is so funny. Also, why is it easier to imagine the bad place than it is to imagine the good one? Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes

Science fiction and fantasy are full of feasts, from the banquets in Game of Thrones to all those Klingon delicacies. Why is food so important in SF? To find out, we talked to Mary Anne Mohanraj, author of The Stars Change and the cookbook A Feast of Serendib: A Sri Lankan-American Cookbook. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes

Science fiction and fantasy are full of stories about the power of knowing someone's true name, from the Doctor on Doctor Who to the wizards in Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea. But why are names so important and powerful? And what do they tell us about the characters we love? Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes

The nonology is over. Baby Yoda ate the internet. Fans are screaming about everything. How did Star Wars go from a campy space opera to a trigger for political conflict? We talk to guests Annalise Ophelian, director of the new Syfy documentary series Looking for Leia, and Elena Rose Vera, minister and activist, about the meaning of Star Wars in 2020.  Shownotes here: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes

The phrase "Pulp Fiction" brings to mind Quentin Tarantino's movie of the same name. But real-life pulp fiction is much stranger, and more colorful, than you ever realized. We talk to pulp historian and author Jess Nevins about the weird and sometimes problematic history of the pulps. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes

Scientific racism means using science to justify racist beliefs or ideas, and it has a long history. In this episode, we explore the origins of scientific racism, and how it's still affecting both evolutionary biology and fantastical stories about "other species" like the X-men's Homo superior or Underworld's vampires. Plus, we've got an interview with journalist Angela Saini, author of the recent book Superior: The Return of Race Science. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes