Imaginary Worlds

Kasra Farahani has done concept art on a lot of big sci-fi fantasy films, and this year he took on his biggest job yet as the production designer for the Disney+ series Loki. Kasra’s sets became fan favorites, especially the way he depicted the sprawling intergalactic bureaucracy of the Time Variance Authority, or TVA. I talk with Kasra about how he got started in the industry, what design principles he learned working with Tim Burton’s go-to designer Bo Welch, why retro technology, especially from the 1970s, makes sense in sci-fi fantasy offices, and what those imaginary offices have to say about our workplaces in the real world.This episode is sponsored by Inked Gaming and BetterHelp. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Video games are an inherently visual medium that traditionally haven’t been very accessible to blind people. But there are plenty of blind players who enjoy games and want to lower the barriers to entry. I talk with blind accessibility advocates Liam Erven, Brandon Cole and Aaron Baker about how sound design can guide blind players through virtual worlds. In Aaron’s case, he designs audio games for his company VGStorm. Accessibility advocate Ian Hamilton describes the challenge of making virtual worlds open to everyone. And Emilia Schatz from Naughty Dog studios discusses her collaboration with Brandon Cole in making The Last of Us Part II the most accessible AAA game of all time.This episode is sponsored by Skillshare and BetterHelp. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Queer representation in children’s cartoons has never been better, but the road to get here has been fraught. I talk with podcaster Dawn H and journalist Sara Century about how the first type of queer representation they saw in cartoons came from Sailor Moon – or at least a highly edited and strangely dubbed English-language version that tried to scrub away all the queer content, somewhat unsuccessfully. And I talk with podcaster Thomas J. West and YouTube essayist Rowan Ellis about the history of queer-coded villains in Disney cartoons, and how the biggest entertainment company in the world still has a lot of catching up to do.This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An entire subgenre of samurai films, shows, manga, anime and games can be traced back to one person – a real life samurai named Miyamoto Musashi. He was not the first samurai to achieve fame, but his remarkable career of undefeated duals, and his unconventional style of fighting cemented Musashi’s legacy in the popular imagination for centuries. Chie Kutsuwada and Sean Michael Wilson discuss their manga adaptation of Musashi’s Book of Five Rings. Yale professor Aaron Gerow, and Darren Ashmore and Will Reed from iCLA explain why Musashi’s life story had a character arc that was irresistible to storytellers. And Stephanie Billman and I connect the dots from Musashi samurai tales to Westerns, Westworld, and Star Wars.This episode is sponsored by Skillshare and BetterHelp. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you’ve ever searched for my podcast, you probably came across a show with a similar title: Imaginary Advice. I quickly became a fan of Imaginary Advice because the host Ross Sutherland walks the line between fiction and reality, often playing a fictional version of himself doing slightly fantastical things. I talked with Ross about his creative process, and we hear an edited selection of his mini-series Ten Thousand Years, where he and writer Lenni Sanders imagine what if the happy ending from Groundhog Day had not been a game changer for Billy Murray’s character Phil Connors. What if it was just another day, and the days piled up for thousands of years?The episodes of Imaginary Advice we discussed are:https://soundcloud.com/ross-sutherland/45-seinfeldhttps://soundcloud.com/ross-sutherland/63-tony-gang-flame-war-5th-birthday-episodehttps://soundcloud.com/ross-sutherland/52-the-man-who-saw-tomorrow-4th-birthday-episodehttps://soundcloud.com/ross-sutherland/70-sex-and-the-city-the-return-part-1https://soundcloud.com/ross-sutherland/71-sex-and-the-city-the-return-part-2https://soundcloud.com/ross-sutherland/73-ten-thousand-years-part-2This episode is sponsored by Skillshare and BetterHelp. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Every year, I like to play a full-length version of an interview from a previous episode where a lot of great material ended up on the proverbial cutting room floor. In 2019, I interviewed the comic book creators Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner about their three-year run on the Harley Quinn comic book series because the way they reinvented the character influenced her live action movie appearances, and the Harley Quinn animated series on HBO Max. Also, Jimmy and Amanda are a married couple, and I really appreciated the way their rapport and the sense of humor they share defines the worlds they create together.This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In superhero stories, the public is usually there to be saved by the heroes or killed by the villains. But as a journalist, I always wonder if these people are well informed enough about the threats to their lives, and who is protecting them. I talk with Maya Phillips of The New York Times, James Queally of The Los Angeles Times, and freelance reporter Sean Kelly about a range of fictional journalists from Lois Lane to Peter Parker, and whether their portrayals affect the way we view the news media in the real world. Plus, Petra Mayer of NPR, and journalist Liz Publika discuss why Spider Jerusalem is a model comic book reporter, even if he’s completely gonzo. And actress Mallory Kasdan reads the fanfiction story, “Can I Quote You on This” by Wix from Archive of Our Own about what happens when a more realistic journalist interviews The Avengers.Today’s episode includes minor spoilers for Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Daredevil, Superman and Lois, The Flash, and the graphic novel Watchmen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is it possible that we are living in an imaginary world? That is the premise of many science fiction stories, but some scientists have begun to wonder whether it’s not a fantasy. Perhaps what we think of as reality is a computer simulation and we’re basically just advanced versions of The Sims and don’t know it. I talk with video games entrepreneur Rizwan Virk about what advanced civilization might be lurking outside our reality, and how he draws upon real physics, The Matrix and Philip K. Dick to prove The Simulation Hypothesis in his book. And we’ll hear one of my favorite stories from the podcast Snap Judgment, where the journalist Stephanie Foo creates a version of herself in The Sims and discovers eerie parallels to her own life. “Sim Stephanie” was originally produced for Snap Judgment in 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sci-fi and fantasy genres have come a long way from their pulp fiction and Saturday matinee origins to become respectable genres. But sometimes you just want to see something awesome, weird or shocking. That’s where genre films can deliver -- even if the movie isn’t good. I talk with five listeners about their favorite guilty pleasure films. Also, Lou Hare of the podcast Guilty Pleasures breaks down the difference between a guilty pleasure and a cult classic, and we discuss why ‘80s movies are a treasure trove of excess and bad taste. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Disco Elysium has been called one of the best role-playing video games of all time. It's won a slew of awards and it’s a worldwide best-seller -- which is odd because the game wasn’t put out by a big studio. It was made by a group of friends in Estonia who had very little experience making video games. And this detective game is just as much about politics and the existential nature of reality as it is about solving a murder. I talk with Justin Keenan, one of the few American writers on the crew, along with game critic Paul Walker-Emig and game developer and former critic Heather Alexandra about why Disco Elysium is a revolutionary game that also reflects the moment of history we’re living through. Today's episode is brought to you by Realm and BetterHelp. Want to advertise/sponsor our show? We have partnered with AdvertiseCast to handle our advertising/sponsorship requests. They’re great to work with and will help you advertise on our show. Please email sales@advertisecast.com or click the link below to get started.Imaginary Worlds AdvertiseCast Listing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices