

Science Fiction
Damien Walter
Join writer and storyteller Damien Walter on an exploration of the world as seen through a science fiction lens.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Sep 18, 2024 • 30min
Zardoz and the humiliation of Sean Connery
Why do we love science fiction movies?
Sometimes it’s because they take us to strange new worlds.
Other times they just have the best effects, the biggest explosions, or the most guns.
But when science fiction movies become legendary it’s often because they tell us something deep, true and meaningful.
Then there are the science fiction movies that step up to bat for legendary status
take a big swing
and miss
and sometimes, as much as we love the hits, we love those misses
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Become a member of the Science Fiction community to continue the discussion
Website - https://damiengwalter.com
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/DamienWalter/membership
Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/DamienWalter
Subscribe to the Science Fiction podcast feed for long-form commentaries on these video essays
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Join the Science Fiction community on Facebook
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Sep 1, 2024 • 24min
The 1970s science fiction classic that actually deserves a reboot
Watch the FULL video version on the new Science Fiction (video) Spotify channel : https://open.spotify.com/show/7lMNsoZctViqbqv8atqpK2?si=9a474bb8a9d74147
Why was the 1970s a classic era for science fiction cinema? I’m guessing many 1970s scifi movies are forgotten, by anyone who wasn’t there to see them. Dark Star. Silent Running. Rollerball!
The 70s produced so much great scifi cinema it’s hard to list it all.
And even when it wasn’t great, it was still interesting. It’s like every scifi movie in that decade was a unique experiment, always different, always new. And then one movie came along that ended the golden decade for strange, cool scifi movies.
After Star Wars every science fiction movie was trying to be a scifi blockbuster.
And Hollywood’s search for the next big corporate entertainment franchise meant that everything would eventually get a reboot. Sometimes that worked. And sometimes it didn’t. And it didn’t work enough times that, I for one, live in dread of Hollywood rebooting another 70s science fiction classic. But.
There is one movie from that golden decade which, the more I think about it, actually does need a reboot.
#
Watch the FULL video version on the new Science Fiction (video) Spotify channel : https://open.spotify.com/show/7lMNsoZctViqbqv8atqpK2?si=9a474bb8a9d74147
Become a member of the Science Fiction community to continue the discussion
Website - https://damiengwalter.com
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/DamienWalter/membership
Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/DamienWalter
Subscribe to the Science Fiction podcast feed for long-form commentaries on these video essays
https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/
Join the Science Fiction community on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197/

Jul 21, 2024 • 1h 48min
Ken MacLeod on The Culture of Iain M Banks
SF author Ken MacLeod on his lifelong friend Iain Banks.
Become a member of the Science Fiction community to continue the discussion
Website - https://damiengwalter.com
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/DamienWalter/membership
Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/DamienWalter
Subscribe to the Science Fiction podcast feed for long-form commentaries on these video essays
https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/
Join the Science Fiction community on Facebook
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Apr 7, 2024 • 2h 4min
The 3 Body Problem, Problem
Delve into authoritarianism, power structures, and totalitarian rule in Dune. Explore the dark themes of the Three-Body Problem trilogy and its implications. Discuss modern propaganda and chaos versus order in Three-Body Problem. Analyze authoritarianism, cultural revolution, and nudging in society. Warning against societal surveillance and rise of authoritarianism globally.

Mar 10, 2024 • 1h 40min
Dune part 2 is the savior of science fiction
Dune is the Star Wars killer - https://youtu.be/JPOsoph3TCY
Become a member of the Science Fiction community to continue the discussion
Website - https://damiengwalter.com
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/DamienWalter/membership
Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/DamienWalter
Subscribe to the Science Fiction podcast feed for long-form commentaries on these video essays
https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/
Join the Science Fiction community on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197/
Equipment
Camera https://amzn.to/41DpI1I
Lens https://amzn.to/3tyH1nZ
Microphone https://amzn.to/3RZ3sfD
Laptop https://amzn.to/48eZDsf
Recommendations
Greatest scifi novel https://amzn.to/3GZgL9r
First scifi novel https://amzn.to/41DazgK
Worst scifi novel https://amzn.to/3S045FO
Most overrated scifi writer https://amzn.to/3NIchI9

Feb 26, 2024 • 1h 18min
Prof. Elana Gomel on Stanislaw Lem
00:00:57 Introduction
00:03:39 Professor Elana Gomel
00:09:55 Charles Dickens as scifi writer
00:14:17 Stanislaw Lem and The Other
00:18:59 Anti-Humanism
00:22:46 Lem vs the SFWA
00:26:27 Beyond Humanism
00:28:12 LEM and Posthumanism
00:33:37 Fear of the Posthuman
00:38:00 Lem's criticism of non-existant novels
00:40:41 Lem on AI
00:47:08 Philosophy of Posthumanism
00:51:02 Monster Fantasies
00:54:47 Dangerous utopias
00:58:34 A new mythos of time
01:03:37 Why does Elon Musk like simulation theory?
01:08:08 The dangers of Messianic myths
01:11:09 Darko Suvin and socialism
01:14:24 Communism was oppressive and boring
Become a member of the Science Fiction community to continue the discussion
Website - https://damiengwalter.com
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/DamienWalter/membership
Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/DamienWalter
Subscribe to the Science Fiction podcast feed for long-form commentaries on these video essays
https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/
Join the Science Fiction community on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197/
Equipment
Camera https://amzn.to/41DpI1I
Lens https://amzn.to/3tyH1nZ
Microphone https://amzn.to/3RZ3sfD
Laptop https://amzn.to/48eZDsf
Recommendations
Greatest scifi novel https://amzn.to/3GZgL9r
First scifi novel https://amzn.to/41DazgK
Worst scifi novel https://amzn.to/3S045FO
Most overrated scifi writer https://amzn.to/3NIchI9

Feb 14, 2024 • 2h 28min
The church of science fiction FANDOM
Members Only

Jan 22, 2024 • 1h 54min
Iain McGilchrist interview
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:50 Is Iain McGilchrist a scifi fan?
00:07:05 Iain McGilchrist's work and philosophy
00:17:34 Reason vs Rationalisation
00:22:30 Kubrick's 2001 and the hemispheres
00:27:14 Why do we take everything literally now?
00:34:41 The myths that form us
00:43:22 How do we reconnect to the mythos?
00:49:36 Campbell, Jung and the synthetic mythos
00:55:27 Creativity and the hemispheres
01:03:27 Is the right hemisphere the source?
01:07:00 The mythos and the machine
01:15:27 AI and administration
01:24:42 Is myth the true reality?
01:39:24 What does a better balanced future look like?
Become a member of the Science Fiction community to continue the discussion
Website - https://damiengwalter.com
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/DamienWalter/membership
Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/DamienWalter
Subscribe to the Science Fiction podcast feed for long-form commentaries on these video essays
https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/
Join the Science Fiction community on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197/
Equipment
Camera https://amzn.to/41DpI1I
Lens https://amzn.to/3tyH1nZ
Microphone https://amzn.to/3RZ3sfD
Laptop https://amzn.to/48eZDsf
Recommendations
Greatest scifi novel https://amzn.to/3GZgL9r
First scifi novel https://amzn.to/41DazgK
Worst scifi novel https://amzn.to/3S045FO
Most overrated scifi writer https://amzn.to/3NIchI9

Dec 27, 2023 • 1h 31min
The 3 Stigmata of Elon Musk : review of the year in Science Fiction 2023
Become a member of the Science Fiction community to continue the discussion
Website - https://damiengwalter.com
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/DamienWalter/membership
Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/DamienWalter
Subscribe to the Science Fiction podcast feed for long-form commentaries on these video essays
https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/
Join the Science Fiction community on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197/

Dec 16, 2023 • 2h 14min
The Verhoeven Paradox with Olga Yakimenko
Olga Yakimenko is a filmmaker who sometimes answers questions in the Science Fiction community https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197/
Become a member of the Science Fiction community to continue the discussion
Website - https://damiengwalter.com
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/DamienWalter/membership
Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/DamienWalter
Subscribe to the Science Fiction podcast feed for long-form commentaries on these video essays
https://damiengwalter.com/podcast/
Join the Science Fiction community on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197/