The Incomparable Mothership

It’s time once again for our Book Club to tackle the six novels that made it to the Science Fiction Writers Association’s shortlist, the nominees for the Nebula Awards. All four of us read all six nominees and we discuss their merits (and occasionally demerits). The concept of being a Reverse Nemesis With a Twist is introduced. If you’re looking for a few books to add to your reading list, this episode will hit the spot.

Time to boldly go back to the earliest days of the Star Trek canon with our review of the second season of “Star Trek: Discovery”, which mixed in some Doctor Who and Star Wars sensibilities with varying results. We praise the characters, shrug at some of the mystifying plot points, and are left pondering where the series and the franchise go next. Plus there’s an enormous amount of love for Anson Mount’s Christopher Pike. Never forget: #theybuilttheset.

Part Two of our team coverage of “Avengers: Endgame!” Chip Sudderth assembles more of our Incomparable regulars and newer voices for a different angle on the movie—weaponized nostalgia, timey-wimey nonsense, delightful surprises and sour notes, and what this movie means for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

We’re in the endgame now. In this, the first of two episodes about “Avengers: Endgame,” we break down the plot of perhaps the biggest movie of all time. How does time travel work? How do we feel about the final destinations of beloved characters? Why does the Hulk need to take the stairs? Who is worthy of wielding the power of Thor? Also, Jason has a pitch for a new Captain America TV series.

We’re all out seeing “Avengers: Endgame”, so here’s something completely different to tide you over. A while ago we all were talking about how our Rocket Surgery selections are so weird and obscure that we could just make up an entire movie and nobody would be able to tell the difference. So we did that. As with episode 453, here’s a Rocket Surgery about a movie you won’t find on IMDB or YouTube, because it totally doesn’t exist. We made it up on the spot, plot point by plot point. It’s 1963’s “The Howling Horror of Dracula.”

Pop on your mind-control goggles, unpunch your nemesis, and prepare to board the world’s largest hydrofoil—it’s time for us to discuss 2018’s much-awaited Pixar sequel “Incredibles 2”. Brad Bird’s original film tops the list of favorite animated films for many of us. This film… doesn’t. In this episode we detail all the ways that both story and an unfortunate change in Pixar’s release schedule let this movie down, while trying our best to also highlight the many reasons we still find it worthy of revisiting.

We break down the “Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker” teaser trailer scene by scene, speculate about what the title means, question how to balance the closure of the classic saga without straying too far into nostalgia trips, and offer some wild speculation. Then we wrap things up with a discussion of the future of the franchise now that it’s moving (at least temporarily) to the forthcoming Disney+ streaming service.

“Paper Girls” is a comic that looks like it’s steeped in ’80s nostalgia, then makes you think it’s a modern story commenting on ’80s nostalgia, and then takes a 90-degree turn and becomes something even more interesting. This week we discuss the comic by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang, which begins as a story about four girls delivering newspapers on a morning in 1988. The first 25 minutes or so is all spoiler-light, and then after the Spoiler Horn we jump into our discussion of the first two trade-paperback collections. (There are five volumes in all, with the sixth and final collection due this summer.)

It’s the Rocket Surgery Film Festival! In this episode, we’re watching something that proves that computer-game film adaptations were a bad idea from the very beginning! Based on a late 1970s Atari game, it’s the ill-fated “Star Raiders.” There’s a not-dashing star pilot, a sullen space princess, an annoying robot, and is that Sheriff Lobo in a tight-fitting jumpsuit? If you’re looking for a cross between “Star Wars” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, are you in for some disappointment. Once again, we watched the movie so you don’t have to. Correction: Due to a clerical error, none of these movies actually exist. This episode was entirely improvised.

Protocol Omega has been activated, so it’s time to discuss the final season of Netflix’s “Travelers.” This is a mid-budget Canadian time travel show that we love, and if you haven’t dived in yet, now’s a great time. In this episode we talk about the show’s surprisingly satisfying ending, try to work out what makes this show’s particular brand of time-travel rules so intriguing, discuss some of our favorite moments, and air a few of our complaints about the final season.