For All Intents and Purposes

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Even though this show is about spoilers and how nerd culture responds to them, there are no spoilers in this episode whatsoever.

Week in Geek: Andrew played Breath of Fire IV and ponders the choices of this rather forgotten series while Dan started playing Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and wonders how the hell it even exists.

The Dimensions of Lego: Dan and Andrew discuss the recently released toy-to-life game, Lego Dimensions; one of them is rather excited about it, another is, um, not.

SPOILERS (no spoilers): Andrew and Dan disagree a lot as they wend their way through a discussion on spoiler culture, its origins, our reactions, and how studios use them as marketing tools.

RIP PS VITA: According to this Kotaku article, Sony honcho, Shuhei Yoshida, makes a bold argument as to why the PS Vita hasn’t fared so well in the market––pointing fingers (some justified, some not) at everyone but Sony itself.

Geeking Forward: Next week we’ll be discussion supernatural/paranormal investigative fiction and how rad it is––all in the name of introducing Scarytober! 

If you have comments about the content in this episode––or of next week’s topic) leave a comment at forall.libsyn.com. Be sure to also join the conversations at our official Facebook and Google+ pages. You may also e-mail us at forallpod [at] gmail [dot] com. If you subscribe to the show on iTunes, be sure to leave a review to help spread the word to new potential listeners through the magic of Apple’s algorithms.

For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap.

Featured Music:

-“Stayin’ in Black” by Wax Audio

-“Everything is Awesome” by Tegan & Sara (feat. The Lonely Island) (from The Lego Movie)

-“Main Theme” by John Ottman (from The Usual Suspects)

-“Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie” by William Elliot Whitmore

-“Fanfare” by Nobuo Uematsu (from Final Fantasy VI)

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

As was warned last week, this new episode is mostly about the Series 9 premier of Doctor Who. Be warned discussion of the episode will result in SPOILERS, so turn away from the podcast (take off your headphones first) if you want to avoid such discussion.

Week in Geek: The boys were playing video games this week as Andrew finished playing Suikoden on his PS Vita while Dan wrapped up Mad Max and ponders open-world console games in the process.

The Redemption of Bill Finger: By the end of the recently started second season of Fox’s Gotham as well as in the credits for the upcoming Superman v. Batman: Dawn of Justice it has been announced that Bill Finger will be co-credited, along with Bob Kane, as the creator of Batman. Dan and Andrew discuss the relevance of this announcement.

The Magician’s Apprentice: SPOILER WARNING Andrew and Dan discuss––in frightening depth, the series 9 premier of Doctor Who. 

Let’s Kill Hitler: At the heart of “The Magician’s Apprentice” is a long-standing thought experiment, of which Dan and Andrew dive into its history and use in fiction (and its cultural relevance). *features audio taken from Doctor Who, “Genesis of the Daleks”

Next Week: We’ll be discussing Spoiler culture––why do we like spoilers and why are we so afraid of them? That and more in episode 67.

Leave a comment on the page for this episode at ForAll.libsyn.com. Be sure to join our official Facebook and Google+ pages for exclusive content and listener discussion. Also, if you subscribe to the show on iTunes, please leave a review of the show in the iTunes store; it’ll help spread the word of the show through the magic of Apple’s algorithms.

For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap.

Featured Music:

-“Stayin’ in Black” by Wax Audio

-“Doctor Who Theme (Series 8)” by Murray Gold

-“Jeeves and Wooster” by Anne Dudley

-“How’s It Gonna End” by Tom Waits

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Week in Geek: Andrew finally plays a WiiU with the Nintendo title, Super Mario 3D World, while Dan discusses his time at this year’s Crocker-Con at the Crocker Art Museum.

Group Gaming: Before the internet connected people worldwide, the solitary world of video gaming was often perforated by moments of playing a single game with a group of people. Dan and Andrew discuss this nostalgic (and still present) method of playing games with people in the room rather than online.

Game & Watch: With the rise of televised (or streamed) eSports and the success of things like Twitch Plays or Let’s Plays, gaming is more connected than ever. However, with the addition of a passive gaming experience does bring up interesting questions and ideas to what gaming is and how it’s changing.

Doctor Who Series 9 Prologue: If you haven’t seen it, watch it here. Once that’s done, listen to Andrew and Dan talk about Doctor Who if only to prepare for a full episode about Doctor Who next week.

Question of the Geek:

To celebrate the return of Doctor Who, what are your thoughts about the show, what questions do you have about the show, and (if necessary) why don’t you like the show? Looking outward, what is other British Sci-Fi that you feel deserves more attention?

Leave your answer as a comment at forall.libsyn.com. Be sure to join the official Facebook and Google+ pages, as well. You may e-mail us any questions, comments, or concerns at forallpod [at] gmail [dot] com. Be sure to leave a review of the show on the iTunes store in order to help spread the word.

For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap.

Featured Music:

-“Stayin’ in Black” by Wax Audio

-“Comradeship” by Norihiko Hibino (from Metal Gear Solid 2: The Other Side)

-“Watch It Die” by Bad Religion

-“(The Majestic Tale of) An Idiot With a Box” by Murray Gold (from Doctor Who: Series 8)

-“The Candy Man Can” by Aubrey Woods (from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

This week the boys investigate a topic very near and dear to many sci-fi nerds’ hearts: Battlestar Galactica. 

Week in Geek: Andrew finally plays Shadows of Brimstone while Dan eagerly plays Mad Max.

Wes Craven: Wherein Dan and Andrew discuss the death of horror master, Wes Craven.

BSG: Though Battlestar Galactica has a long lineage over multiple series, Andrew and Dan decide to focus on the 2005 Ronald D. Moore-helmed reboot that ran on the Sci Fi Channel. There’s so much to talk about that they only scrape the surface, but what’s there is pretty fun!

AppleTV New.0: Apple had a big reveal this week, and though a lot of interesting things were covered, Andrew was particularly excited about the new AppleTV.

Question of the Geek:

With the popularity of Let’s Plays, eSports, etc., we want to know what the draw is about watching people play games? Do you watch? What do you watch? How do you watch?

Leave your answers as comments on the page for this episode at forall.libsyn.com. Be sure to join our official Facebook and Google+ pages. Also, send us any questions, comments, or concerns via e-mail at forallpod [at] gmail [dot] com. If you subscribe to the show on iTunes, be sure to leave a review for the show to help spread the word!

For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap.

Featured Music:

-“Stayin’ in Black” by Wax Audio

-“Nightmare Overhaul” by Tops and Bottoms

-“All Along the Watchtower” by Bear McCreary (from Battlestar Galactica)

-“Waiting Room” by Philippe Lachance (from Spaceteam)

-“Space: 1999 Main Titles” by Barry Gray

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The boys recede into the shadows to talk about Ninjas and Superspies for all intents and purposes.

Week in Geek: Andrew finally watches Mad Max: Fury Road while Dan finally watches The Imitation Game.

MGSVTPP: On the precipice of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain‘s release, they have the gall to ask, “Who is the is game for?”

Ninja(s) and Superspies: Dan and Andrew look into the differences––and similarities––between these two classic archetypes of nerd fiction.

Hattori Hanzo: Launching off of a listener’s answer to last week’s question, Andrew and Dan wonder why the heck historical figure, Hattori Hanzo, is all over ninja fiction.

Question of the Geek:

PAX Prime 2015 is upon us! We want to know what you’re looking forward to or, alternatively, what was the most exciting stuff to come out of this year’s event?

Leave your answer as a comment on the page for this episode at forall.libsyn.com. Be sure to also join our official Facebook and Google+ pages. Feel free to contact us by e-mail at forallpod [at] gmail [dot] com. If you subscribe to the show on iTunes, please leave a review for us on the iTunes store to help spread the word of the show.

For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap.

Featured Music:

-“Stayin’ in Black” by Wax Audio

-“Here’s To You” by Joan Baez & Ennio Morricone

-“Secret Agent Man” by Johnny Rivers

-“Stage of Hanzo” by Yasuo Yamata (aka Tate Norio) (from Samurai Shodown III: Blades of Blood)

-“Secret Agent” by Rory Gallagher

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Week in Geek: Andrew buys a Playstation Vita to play the 20 year-old game, Suikoden, but only so he can play Suikoden II, eventually. Dan gets mad after watching the documentary, GTFO.

Wild Arms 3: Before getting to the topic of the influence of westerns, Dan and Andrew look at a very specific––and, perhaps, out of the blue––instance of this with the 2002 JRPG, Wild Arms 3.

The Western Evolution: Rather than simply talking about the Western as a genre of storytelling, Andrew and Dan instead discuss how the western persists past its cultural prime and, despite seeming like a withering genre overall, is more alive than ever.

Listeners on the Range: To help flesh out the conversation, Dan and Andrew turned to the listeners and asked what westerns or western-influenced media deserves a closer look, with great response!

Question of the Geek:

What is your favorite use of ninja(s) or superspies (in any medium)? Which do you feel have been particularly influential? Why?

Leave your answer as a comment on the page for this episode at forall.libsyn.com. Be sure to also join the official Facebook and Google+ pages. You may also e-mail the show at forallpod [at] gmail [.] com. If you subscribe to the show on iTunes, help the show out by leaving a review on the iTunes store to help spread the word of the show through the magic of Apple’s algorithms.

For all intents and purposes, that was a podcast recap.

Featured Music:

-“Stayin’ in Black” by Wax Audio

-“Finish Today, Then…” by Michiko Naruke (from Wild Arms: Advanced 3rd Original Soundtrack)

-“A Fistful of Dollars” by Ennio Morricone

-“When I Was a Cowboy” by Leadbelly

-“Shadow” by Nobuo Uematsu (from Final Fantasy VI)

-“Fanfare” by Nobuo Uematsu (from Final Fantasy VII)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Week in Geek: Andrew plays a megagame while Dan breaks down watching Jon Stewart’s last episode of The Daily Show and ponders what, exactly, Stewart was to a generation of viewers.

Meta-Listeners: Our listeners chime in on meta-texts that really piqued their interests while Dan and Andrew chime in on those suggestions.

Meta-Fiction: Andrew and Dan delve deep into the world of stories about stories, movies about movies, tv shows about tv shows, and games about games and ask what the heck do meta-narratives do?

Hercules/Xena Meta-Episodes: Dan and Andrew spend the better part of an hour (or not) discussing a few episodes of these classic tv fantasy shows’ use of meta-fiction for some fun one-off episodes…or not.

Question of the Geek: 

Next week, we’ll be discussing how despite the fact that the genre of the Western is relatively dead, it has been repurposed in nearly every other genre of fiction. So, with that in mind:

What is your favorite Western-themed fiction (in any genre and in any medium)? Why? Or what is a western that you think has been particularly influential and needs more attention? Why?

Leave your answer as a comment on the page for this episode at forall.libsyn.com. Be sure to join the official Facebook and Google+ pages for the latest updates. You may also e-mail us at forallpod [at] gmail [dot] com. If you subscribe to the show on iTunes, be sure to leave a review to help boost our status in the eyes of Apple’s algorithms.

For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap.

Featured Music:

-“Stayin’ in Black” by Wax Audio

-“This Song’s Just (Six Words Long)” by “Weird Al” Yankovic

-“Hook” by Blues Traveler

-clip of “Guantanamo By the Bay” from Boston Legal 3.22.

-“Main Title” by Joseph LoDuca (from Xena: Warrior Princess)

-“Animaniacs Theme” by Rob Paulsen, Tress MacNeille, and Jess Harnell (written by Richard Stone & Tom Ruegger)

-“Before the Storm” by Jeremy Soule (from Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Week in Geek: Andrew watches John Carpenter’s They Live to honor the life of Rowdy Roddy Piper while Dan listens to the podcast, Top Score with Emily Reese, discuss the ludomusicology of Final Fantasy VI.

BTAS: Dan and Andrew wrangle a new television show to talk about, Batman: The Animated Series. They use the classic episode, “Perchance to Dream”, as a way to kick off the discussion about dreams and dreaming in nerd ficiton.

Dreams and Dreaming: Andrew and Dan weave through a variety of media as they discuss how (and why) dreams are used as a narrative tool (or crutch, in some cases).

Listener Dreams (and Star Trek): Some listener responses brought up great uses of dreams in fiction while Andrew uses the opportunity to discuss a fantastic Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, “Phantasms”, which features Data having nightmares.

Question of the Geek:

What are effective instances of meta-narrative––when a text is acutely aware of the fact that it is a text and brings the reader in on the joke?

Leave your answer as a comment on the page for this episode at forall.libsyn.com. Be sure to join the official Facebook and Google+ pages. You may also send us any comments, questions, or concerns to forallpod [at] gmail [dot] com. If you subscribe to the show on iTunes, be sure to leave a review to help spread the word!

For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap.

Featured Music:

-“Stayin’ in Black” by Wax Audio

-“Batman: The Animated Series (Main Title)” by Danny Elfman (arranged by Shirley Walker)

-“Dreaming in Dortmund” by Ewan Dobson

-“Dreamland” by Hirokazu Ando (from Super Smash Bros.)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

We start a (slightly) new form of the podcast this week, and we kick it off with the theme of “Gateways to Geekdom.”

Week in Geek: Andrew plays Commander (aka Elder Dragon Highlander) with a custom 30 Rock deck while Dan plays Journey which was recently released for the Playstation 4.

Listener Gateways: Thanks to listener input, Dan and Andrew discuss the classic gateways to geekdom that are Star Wars and the Atari 2600.

Gateways to Geekdom: Thanks to a listener suggestion from an earlier episode, Andrew and Dan discuss the various gateways to geekdom have been as well as the impact those gateways had on geeks and nerd in general.

The Farpoint Gateway: Dan and Andrew discuss a gateway to geekdom that was especially important to Andrew, the Star Trek: The Next Generation pilot, “Encounter at Farpoint.”

Question of Geek:

What do you think is an effective use of dreams or dreaming in a fiction (in any medium)?

Leave your answer as a comment on the page for this episode at forall.libsyn.com. Be sure to join the official Facebook and Google+ pages to keep up to date with the fans and content. You may also e-mail the show at forallpod [at] gmail [dot] com. Be sure to leave a review on iTunes of the show to help the show out.

For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap.

Featured Music:

-“Stayin’ in Black” by Wax Audio

-“Main Title” adapted from John Williams’ “Main Theme” from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (from the Atari 2600 game, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial by Atari)

-“Iron Man 3” by Brian Tyler

-“Star Trek: The Next Generation – End Credit” by Ron Jones

-“Come On, Come Over” by Jaco Pastorius