Imaginary Worlds
- Episodios
- 320
- Se publica
- cada dos semanas
- Último episodio
- 4 Nov 2026
Sobre el podcast
Imaginary Worlds sounds like what would happen if NPR went to Comic-Con and decided that’s all they ever wanted to cover. The host Eric Molinsky spent over a decade working in public radio, and he uses those skills to create sound-rich storytelling, pop culture analysis and cultural commentary about speculative fiction and immersive worldbuilding. Eric interviews sci-fi fantasy creators of novels, TV shows, films, comic books, video games, tabletop games and anyone who works in the field of make-believe about their creative process. He also delves into fandoms, asking why we suspend our disbelief, and what happens if the spell is broken. Fantasy worlds may be set on distant planets or parallel dimensions, but they are crafted here on Earth and they’re always about our lived experiences. Imaginary Worlds has won Signal Awards for Best Arts & Culture podcast and Best Host (Culture), and received an Ambie Award nomination for Best Indie Podcast. Episodes of Imaginary Worlds have been featured on the podcasts 99% Invisible, Twenty Thousand Hertz, Decoder Ring, Cautionary Tales, Science Friday, and The Allusionist.
Episodios 320
The Back Row: An Audio Drama
This week, we’re playing an episode from the audio drama podcast The Truth. Longtime listeners might remember that I used to be a writer on The Truth, and I played the stories I wrote for them on my podcast. I …
Notas del episodio
This week, we’re playing an episode from the audio drama podcast The Truth. Longtime listeners might remember that I used to be a writer on The Truth, and I played the stories I wrote for them on my podcast. I wanted to share one of my favorite stories they’ve done recently called The Back Row. It’s about a man named Jake who is flying to an important business conference. But his experience on the plane becomes an increasingly strange and surreal journey that challenges everything he believes about getting ahead. It’s a great episode to listen to if you’re actually on a plane.
The Back Row was written by Hunter Nelson; directed and sound designed by Jonathan Mitchell.
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Boo! What Scares Our Listeners
We recently did a call-out to our listeners, asking you to tell us what movies or shows not only scared you, but stuck with you for years. Even hardcore horror fans sometimes have that one trope or subgenre …
Notas del episodio
We recently did a call-out to our listeners, asking you to tell us what movies or shows not only scared you, but stuck with you for years. Even hardcore horror fans sometimes have that one trope or subgenre they can’t handle. In previous episodes, I talk with Rob Hanton, Brandee Iampietro, Michelle Dwyer, Adam Bennington, Maje Adams, and Jonathan Stark about the sneaky demons, haunted mirrors, and chemical mutations that took hold in their minds, and why they haven’t been able to shake them off.
This week’s episode is sponsored by Monarch. Use the code IMAGINARY at Monarch.com to get your first year of Monarch Core half off at just $50.
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Stephen King and the Horror of the Ordinary
Stephen King is often described as a master of horror, but I talked with fans and experts who believe that King is not actually a horror writer. Caroline Bicks (author of Monsters in the Archives: My Year of …
Notas del episodio
Stephen King is often described as a master of horror, but I talked with fans and experts who believe that King is not actually a horror writer. Caroline Bicks (author of Monsters in the Archives: My Year of Fear with Stephen King), Neil McRobert of the podcast Talking Scared and Kim C. of the podcast The Year of Underrated Stephen King discuss the essential ingredients in his stories besides the scares, from the psychological demons of his characters to the isolation of living in a small town. We also explore how King meticulously crafts language, why so many film adaptations have missed the mark, and his impact on pop culture.
You can support Imaginary Worlds on Patreon.
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Is Mythology the Key to Understand AI?
With all the talk about rogue AI potentially ending civilization, it’s hard not to think of The Matrix. When there are stories about people falling in love with ChatGPT, it’s hard not to think of movies like …
Notas del episodio
With all the talk about rogue AI potentially ending civilization, it’s hard not to think of The Matrix. When there are stories about people falling in love with ChatGPT, it’s hard not to think of movies like Her. But it’s possible that science fiction isn’t the best prism to understand AI right now – even if it feels like we’re living in a sci-fi story. Some experts are using ancient mythology instead. I talk with Berkeley researcher and author Nina Beguš, journalist and author Vanessa Chang, and Truman State University professors Amy Norgard and Josh Nudell how myths like Pygmalion or Pandora reflect primal human desires and fears that have an effect on the development of AI. I also talk with audio journalist Rebecca Nolan about her experience trying to bring her father back from the underworld as a chatbot.
This episode is sponsored by Monarch. Use the code IMAGINARY at Monarch.com to get your first year of Monarch Core half off at just $50.
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Sci-Fi Walks the Runway
When sci-fi movies take a big swing in depicting futuristic fashion, sometimes they end up creating iconic outfits and other times they create fashion which looks laughably outdated in a few years. I’ve became …
Notas del episodio
When sci-fi movies take a big swing in depicting futuristic fashion, sometimes they end up creating iconic outfits and other times they create fashion which looks laughably outdated in a few years. I’ve became fascinated by three fashion designers whose work took center stage in sci-fi films and transcended the films themselves. I talk with fashion historians and authors Raissa Bretaña and Thèresa Winge about the influence of Paco Rabanne on Barbarella, the work of Jean-Paul Gaultier on The Fifth Element and the way Alexander McQueen was influenced by dystopian sci-fi, which informed the McQueen style in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Each of these collaborations left a lasting impact on cinema and fashion, from the runway to the shopping mall.
Thèresa's book Fashion Adventures in Science Fiction Cinema comes out in December.
This episode is sponsored by Quince. Download the Quince app for app exclusive offers or go to Quince.com/imaginary.
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Widow’s Bay Builds a History with Horror
I’m a little obsessed with Widow's Bay. It’s a horror-comedy series on Apple TV set on a fictional island off the coast of Massachusetts. The island isn’t as famous as Martha's Vineyard or Nantucket -- for good …
Notas del episodio
I’m a little obsessed with Widow's Bay. It’s a horror-comedy series on Apple TV set on a fictional island off the coast of Massachusetts. The island isn’t as famous as Martha's Vineyard or Nantucket -- for good reason. Widow's Bay is cursed by a demonic entity. The show is nominated for 19 Emmy Awards, including Best Comedy, and I talked with their Emmy nominated production designer, Steve Arnold. We discuss the careful worldbuilding needed to blend horror and comedy, real and fake history, and subtle references to Jaws, The Fog, Halloween, The Shining, Carrie, and other works by Stephen King. We also look at why some of the props on the show became viral hits, like a set of creepy fake board games.
We also have an update on our 2022 episode "Monsters in the Static: Why Gen Z Is Afraid of Analog Horror." I talk with digital folklore expert Diane A. Rodgers about why the web series Backrooms became a blockbuster film that resonated with younger fans this summer. The full version of my interview with Diane can be heard on our Patreon show, Between Imaginary Worlds.
This episode is sponsored by Monarch. Use the code IMAGINARY at Monarch.com to get your first year of Monarch Core half off at just $50.
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Economics in The Alien Franchise Isn't Science Fiction
Even if you’ve never seen an Alien film, you probably know about the monster in the franchise. The Xenomorph has an elongated head, a second set of jaws that protrude from its mouth and a body that’s like cross …
Notas del episodio
Even if you’ve never seen an Alien film, you probably know about the monster in the franchise. The Xenomorph has an elongated head, a second set of jaws that protrude from its mouth and a body that’s like cross between a giant insect and a skeletal dinosaur. But the alien creature may not be the real villain of the franchise. This week’s episode comes from the NPR podcast Planet Money. They explore whether the true monster is the sinister corporation pulling the strings in the background. Even more specifically, the real villain might be the economic system that allowed it to have so much unchecked power.
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Is Money Ruining Fanfiction?
The world of fanfiction has changed a lot since our 2017 episode, Fanfiction (Don’t Judge.) At the time, I thought that 50 Shades of Gray – the novel that began as Twilight fanfiction – was a fluke. It turned …
Notas del episodio
The world of fanfiction has changed a lot since our 2017 episode, Fanfiction (Don’t Judge.) At the time, I thought that 50 Shades of Gray – the novel that began as Twilight fanfiction – was a fluke. It turned out to be a harbinger of a controversial fanfiction-to-media pipeline. I talk with Elizabeth Minkel, editor of the site Fansplaining, about how a financial motivation has altered the way fanfiction writers tell stories and the characters from pop culture they choose to focus on. We also discuss how the conversations around representation in fanfiction have become more complicated over the past decade.
This episode was inspired by an episode of The Allusionist podcast. If you like this episode, you should check out our interview with Archive of Our Own co-founder Francesca Coppa and our episode Swept Away by Romantasy, which looks at how the blending of romance and fantasy took over the publishing industry.
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Choose Your Own Odyssey
Christopher Nolan’s film The Odyssey is part of a long line of film adaptations, but Homer’s epic poem has quietly shaped another medium: role-playing games. The structure of The Odyssey is practically a …
Notas del episodio
Christopher Nolan’s film The Odyssey is part of a long line of film adaptations, but Homer’s epic poem has quietly shaped another medium: role-playing games. The structure of The Odyssey is practically a blueprint for tabletop and video game RPGs from the ‘boss fights’ with fantasy creatures to the way Odysseus levels up through the tale. Professor Roger Travis explains how ancient bards engaged in a similar type of immersive storytelling as game masters today. Laura Jenkinson-Brown argues that Odysseus’s choices are like a dialogue tree in a choose-your-own-adventure book. That’s why she wrote one called “You Are Odysseus. Plus, John Haygood and Jonathan Drake tell me how they’ve created tabletop role-playing games that tap into Greek myths and reward players for embracing the values of the Homeric world.
To support the show, you can donate on Patreon where you get access to the ad-free version and our companion show Between Imaginary Worlds.
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The U.S. of Play - Part 2: Silly Putty, Twister and Monopoly
In honor of America's 250th anniversary, we're continuing our mini-series on iconic American toys and games that took on lives of their own. Strong National Museum of Play curators Michelle Parnett-Dwer and …
Notas del episodio
In honor of America's 250th anniversary, we're continuing our mini-series on iconic American toys and games that took on lives of their own. Strong National Museum of Play curators Michelle Parnett-Dwer and Mirek Stolee, along with game designer and author Tim Walsh, join me to unpack how Silly Putty, Twister, and Monopoly slipped between the complicated world of adults and the realm of childhood. HSE University professor Roman Abramov tells me how Soviet kids in the '80s built their own DIY versions of Monopoly behind the Iron Curtain. And I travel back to middle school to relive my role in a children's theater group that staged an original musical about Monopoly that was also a critique of capitalism.
To support the show, you can donate on Patreon where you get access to the ad-free version and our companion show Between Imaginary Worlds.
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The U.S. of Play - Part 1: Wagons, Bears and Dolls
In honor of the 250th anniversary of the USA, we are doing a series of mini stories across two episodes that explore American toys and games. This week, we look at early childhood objects that became vehicles …
Notas del episodio
In honor of the 250th anniversary of the USA, we are doing a series of mini stories across two episodes that explore American toys and games. This week, we look at early childhood objects that became vehicles of the imagination. I talk with Michelle Parnett-Dwyer, senior curator at the Strong National Museum of Play, about how the origin of the Radio Flyer Wagon. Author Michael Kimmel tells me about his great-grand uncle who invented the teddy bear with a little help from the 26th president. I talk with Sara Broussard, director of the Houston Toy Museum, about the complicated history of Cabbage Patch Kids and my assistant producer Stephanie Billman recounts her obsession with the doll that adults were literally fighting over in the mid-1980s.
To support the show, you can donate on Patreon where you get access to the ad-free version and our companion show Between Imaginary Worlds.
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How Folklore Spirited Anime Away
Anime and manga are a global phenomenon, and their popularity continues to grow. Many of these stories are populated by supernatural beings called yōkai. Even though yōkai can be portrayed as ghosts, demons, or …
Notas del episodio
Anime and manga are a global phenomenon, and their popularity continues to grow. Many of these stories are populated by supernatural beings called yōkai. Even though yōkai can be portrayed as ghosts, demons, or monsters, they're rarely purely good or evil. We trace the history of yōkai from ancient folklore to Studio Ghibli films and shows like Dan Da Dan. I talk with scholars Kaitlyn Ugoretz, Deborah Shamoon, and Michael Dylan Foster about why these supernatural beings have captured people's imaginations, how they became central to modern pop culture, and the role they play in Japan even in times of national emergency.
- Deborah’s book, “Text and Image: Making Meaning in Manga and Comics” is available in the Fall.
- Kaitlyn’s YouTube channel is Eat Pray Anime.
- Michael Dylan Foster wrote several books on yōkai
To support the show, you can donate on Patreon where you get access to the ad-free version and our companion show Between Imaginary Worlds.
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The Father of Sword and Soul
Charles R. Saunders loved Tarzan as a kid, but he was also repulsed by the racism in those books since Charles was Black. So he created a counter narrative about a warrior named Imaro who lived in a …
Notas del episodio
Charles R. Saunders loved Tarzan as a kid, but he was also repulsed by the racism in those books since Charles was Black. So he created a counter narrative about a warrior named Imaro who lived in a fictionalized version of precolonial Africa. Charles had invented a new subgenre of sword and sorcery that he called sword and soul. His books were groundbreaking in the 1980s, but he was also way ahead of his time. I talk with Milton Davis, Sheree Renée Thomas and Troy Wiggins about a movement among Black fantasy writers today to reclaim Charles and his work. I also talk with journalist Jon Tattrie, who wrote a biography about Charles called To Leave a Warrior Behind.
This episode is sponsored by IngramSpark. Get 15% off your first order of 15 more books at IngramSpark using the code IMAGINARY15. This offer expires at the end of the year.
To support the show, you can donate on Patreon where you get access to the ad-free version and our companion show Between Imaginary Worlds.
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Many Faces of Jekyll and Hyde in Pop Culture
Pop culture has been full of Jekylls and Hydes: Bruce Banner and The Hulk, Norman Bates and Mother, Walter White and Heisenberg, The Nutty Professor and Buddy Love. They all echo the archetype that Robert Lous …
Notas del episodio
Pop culture has been full of Jekylls and Hydes: Bruce Banner and The Hulk, Norman Bates and Mother, Walter White and Heisenberg, The Nutty Professor and Buddy Love. They all echo the archetype that Robert Lous Stevenson established 140 years ago in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I explore at how these variations reflect different ideas about duality, depending on how “bad” the Hydes are and what the Jekylls choose to do about their alter egos. Lewis University professor Jamil Mustafa draws parallels between the original 1886 novel and modern stories like Twin Peaks, Fight Club, and Black Swan. Plus, I talk with Yannie ten Broeke, who teaches psychology at Touro University, about why the Jekyll and Hyde archetype reflects how little we understand our own minds.
This episode is sponsored by There Is No Antimemetics Division, the national bestselling science-fiction horror novel by qntm. Get your copy now wherever books and audiobooks are sold.
To support the show, you can donate on Patreon where you get access to the ad-free version and our companion show Between Imaginary Worlds.
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Holmes and Watson: True Crime Podcasters
John Watson is a former army doctor who became a true crime podcaster when he met a consulting detective named Sherlock Holmes. You can hear about the cases they’ve solved in the podcast Sherlock & Co. Sound …
Notas del episodio
John Watson is a former army doctor who became a true crime podcaster when he met a consulting detective named Sherlock Holmes. You can hear about the cases they’ve solved in the podcast Sherlock & Co. Sound familiar? Holmes and Watson may have been enshrined in pop culture for over 130 years. But their adventures feel fresh and relevant in the audio drama Sherlock & Co – which masquerades as a true crime podcast. I talked with the creators of the show, Joel Emery and Adam Jarrell, who set out to adapt and modernize the entire Sherlock Holmes canon written by Arthur Conan Doyle, except not in its original chronological order. We discuss the challenge of reimagining these characters in the 21st century (and not being the first to do so), and why the bromance between Holmes and Watson plays into timeless questions around masculinity and how guys express their emotions.
This episode is sponsored by IngramSpark. Get 15% off your first order of 15 more books at IngramSpark using the code IMAGINARY15.
To support the show, you can donate on Patreon where you get access to the ad-free version and our companion show Between Imaginary Worlds. You can also buy Imaginary Worlds merchandise at our online store.
My most recent Between imaginary Worlds episode, I interviewed the creator of the larp Acheron IV. You can sign up here to play the larp in Philadelphia over Memorial Day weekend.
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Celebrating 300 Imaginary Worlds
Imaginary Worlds has reached another milestone – 300 episodes! We already celebrated the 200th episode and the 10th anniversary of the show, but in those episodes, we mostly kept the spotlight off ourselves …
Notas del episodio
Imaginary Worlds has reached another milestone – 300 episodes! We already celebrated the 200th episode and the 10th anniversary of the show, but in those episodes, we mostly kept the spotlight off ourselves. This time around, my assistant producer Stephanie Billman and I reflect on how the podcast has impacted us. I often joke that the show feels like a train that I’m riding, and I’m laying down tracks as I go. Sometimes those tracks stretch far in the distance, but other times I can see the end of the line and wonder if this train is going to Wile E. Coyote off a cliff. But we have managed to make it this far thanks to a lot of imagination, willpower and chemistry. This episode is sponsored by Mizzen + Main and Audible.
- Our listeners get 20% off their first purchase at mizzenandmain.com using the promo code IMAGINARY20.
- Listen to the audiobook of Project Hail Mary at Audible.com/hailmary.
To support the show, you can donate on Patreon where you get access to the ad-free version and our companion show Between Imaginary Worlds. You can also buy Imaginary Worlds merchandise at our online store.
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Puppeteering Project Hail Mary
When I interviewed Andy Weir in 2021 about his novel Project Hail Mary, he told me that the movie adaptation was already being planned starring Ryan Gosling. The big question was how would they bring the alien …
Notas del episodio
When I interviewed Andy Weir in 2021 about his novel Project Hail Mary, he told me that the movie adaptation was already being planned starring Ryan Gosling. The big question was how would they bring the alien character of Rocky to life. Would they use CGI or practical effects? Now that the film is in theaters, we have the answer. While there is some use of digital effects, Rocky is mostly performed by the puppeteer James Ortiz. James has a deep background in theater but he had never worked on a film before, let alone a sci-fi blockbuster. I talked with James about the delicate balance of operating an incredibly sophisticated five-legged puppet while giving Rocky a distinct personality and building a rapport with Ryan Gosling, who relies heavily on improvisation.
This episode is sponsored by IngramSpark and Audible.
- Get 15% off your first order of 15 more books at IngramSpark using the code IMAGINARY15. This offer expires at the end of the year.
- Listen to the audiobook of Project Hail Mary at Audible.com/hailmary.
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How D.C. Fontana Helped Star Trek Live Long and Prosper
Gene Roddenberry’s name is synonymous with Star Trek, but he relied on a team to bring his vision to life. Most of his writers were men with one exception, the trailblazing Dorothy Fontana. Professionally, she …
Notas del episodio
Gene Roddenberry’s name is synonymous with Star Trek, but he relied on a team to bring his vision to life. Most of his writers were men with one exception, the trailblazing Dorothy Fontana. Professionally, she went by D.C. Fontana to counter the belief that women couldn’t write genres like war, Westerns or sci-fi. Fontana became story editor and wrote some of the most beloved episodes of The Original Series, became the de facto showrunner on The Animated Series, and helped launch The Next Generation. She excelled at building character relationships and alien species – especially Vulcans – and worked closely with Leonard Nimoy to develop Spock. I talk with writers and podcasters Jarrah Hodge, Ian Spelling, Brian Drew and Laurie Ulster about how Fontana quietly shaped a franchise and influenced generations of fans through Star Trek’s 60th anniversary.
Special thanks to The Writers Guild Foundation Archive for clips of D.C. Fontana from their series, The Writer Speaks.
This episode is sponsored by Mizzen + Main. Our listeners get 20% off their first purchase at mizzenandmain.com using the promo code IMAGINARY20.
To support Imaginary Worlds, you can donate to the show on Patreon and receive bonus extras, or buy the cool merchandise at our online store!
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Absolute Reimagining of DC Comics
Imagine if Bruce Wayne had no money, if Superman grew up on Krypton and came to Earth with emotional scars, or if Wonder Woman had been raised in Hell. Welcome to the Absolute Universe – a dark parallel …
Notas del episodio
Imagine if Bruce Wayne had no money, if Superman grew up on Krypton and came to Earth with emotional scars, or if Wonder Woman had been raised in Hell. Welcome to the Absolute Universe – a dark parallel universe created by DC Comics in 2024. The idea of a parallel universe is not new to comic books, but what is surprising has been the success of the Absolute Universe. Some of the Absolute versions of superheroes have been outselling the comics that take place in DC’s mainline universe. I talk with Executive Editor Chris Conroy and Group Editor Katie Kubert about how they’ve overseen the team of artists and writers at DC crafting this dark universe with thematic parallels to our own world. And I talk with writer Kelly Thompson about how she came up with Absolute Wonder Woman and why the comic is resonating with so many fans.
This episode is sponsored by Surfshark. Go to https://surfshark.com/worlds or use the code WORLDS at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN!
To support the show, you can donate on Patreon where you get access to the ad-free version and our companion show Between Imaginary Worlds. You can also buy Imaginary Worlds merchandise at our online store.
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Sinners Gives Hoodoo Its Due
Sinners got a historic 16 Academy Award nominations, which was remarkable for a film with vampires. But the film is also a rich exploration of race, religion, culture and music in 1930s Mississippi. Professor …
Notas del episodio
Sinners got a historic 16 Academy Award nominations, which was remarkable for a film with vampires. But the film is also a rich exploration of race, religion, culture and music in 1930s Mississippi. Professor Yvonne Chireau played a key role behind the scenes. She’s a historian of the spiritual tradition of hoodoo. Since hoodoo and voodoo have long been reduced to horror tropes, she was brought on as a consultant. She also worked with actress Wunmi Mosaku, who earned an Academy Award nomination for playing the character Annie, a conjure practitioner in the story. I also talk with Professor Kinitra Brooks, who is writing a book on conjure women. She explains why Annie’s wisdom, bravery and romance felt validating for her – partly because Kinitra’s great-grandmother was a conjure woman.
This episode is sponsored by Mizzen & Main. Get 20% off your first purchase at mizzenandmain.com with the promo code IMAGINARY20.
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Scarlet Hollow Draws a Picture of Indie Video Game Success
Scarlet Hollow is a successful indie video game – and that’s no small feat. It’s been a long journey, and the game is made almost entirely by two people: Abby Howard and Tony Howard-Arias of Black Tabby Games …
Notas del episodio
Scarlet Hollow is a successful indie video game – and that’s no small feat. It’s been a long journey, and the game is made almost entirely by two people: Abby Howard and Tony Howard-Arias of Black Tabby Games. Along the way, they even took a break to make another hit game called Slay the Princess. I talk with Abby and Tony about how animating Abby’s drawings allowed them to build a game where the players have seemingly endless choices and romance options in a Southern Gothic town under threat from supernatural forces. After a three-year wait, chapter five of Scarlet Hollow is finally being released in February.
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The Creative Process of Rewriting History with Assassin’s Creed
Darby McDevitt is a narrative director and writer at Ubisoft . He’s worked on multiple games in the Assassin’s Creed franchise, which spans time periods from Ancient Greece to Victorian England. But what does …
Notas del episodio
Darby McDevitt is a narrative director and writer at Ubisoft . He’s worked on multiple games in the Assassin’s Creed franchise, which spans time periods from Ancient Greece to Victorian England. But what does it mean to be a writer on a massive video game where your character is mostly running, climbing, jumping and fighting? The key to his work lies in historical research, but he is sometimes torn between what would actually happen and what pop culture has trained us to expect from different eras of history. We also discuss his new novel, The Halter, which imagines a future where virtual reality is so realistic and addictive that people abandon their real lives and have to be tracked down. This is the first episode in a multi-part series on video games.
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Say No to Santa World Tour: An Audio Drama
In my annual audio drama, I interview several folklore figures who are synonymous with the holiday season outside America -- but they’ve been overshadowed by the cultural juggernaut of Santa Claus. So they’re …
Notas del episodio
In my annual audio drama, I interview several folklore figures who are synonymous with the holiday season outside America -- but they’ve been overshadowed by the cultural juggernaut of Santa Claus. So they’re on a tour to reintroduce themselves. While I went into this press junket with the best of intensions, some of my interviews went off the rails. It turns out when a supernatural being has been around for centuries, their personal history can get complicated. Featuring André Refig, Vili-Oskari Körkkö, Begonya Ferrer, Teresa Mastrobuono, and Bill Lobley.
There will be no episode of Imaginary Worlds on December 31st. The show will return on January 14th. Happy Holidays, everyone!
This episode is sponsored by MiracleMade and Uncommon Goods
- Get 15% off your order at uncommongoods.com/imaginary.
- Go to TryMiracle.com/IMAGINARY to save over 40%, and when you use promo code IMAGINARY, you’ll get an extra 20% off plus a free 3-piece towel set.
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Searching for Cryptids in Folklore America
When I was growing up, Bigfoot appeared regularly on the covers of supermarket tabloids, so I assumed he was a joke. But I’ve discovered that he’s part of a larger and even stranger world of cryptids …
Notas del episodio
When I was growing up, Bigfoot appeared regularly on the covers of supermarket tabloids, so I assumed he was a joke. But I’ve discovered that he’s part of a larger and even stranger world of cryptids – creatures that people believe are real but haven’t been scientifically verified. Cryptids are having a cultural moment, and they’re a vital part of folklore. Native Alaskan storyteller James Dommek Jr. discusses his podcast Alaska Is The Center of The Universe and his audiobook Midnight Son. James has been collecting tribal stories about cryptids because he sees them as cultural treasures that need to be preserved. I also talk with J.W. Ocker, author of The United States of Cryptids: A Tour of American Myths and Monsters, about why so many small towns in the U.S. are embracing their local cryptids as a last ditch effort to revitalize their economies. This episode is sponsored by MiracleMade and Uncommon Goods
- Get 15% off your order at uncommongoods.com/imaginary.
- Go to TryMiracle.com/IMAGINARY to save over 40%, and when you use promo code IMAGINARY, you’ll get an extra 20% off plus a free 3-piece towel set.
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This Animated Life: A History of Cartoons in Three Acts
As longtime listeners know, I worked in the animation industry before switching careers and going into broadcasting. Today’s episode features a trio of conversations that trace the history of animation in my …
Notas del episodio
As longtime listeners know, I worked in the animation industry before switching careers and going into broadcasting. Today’s episode features a trio of conversations that trace the history of animation in my lifetime, and my life in animation. The interviews come from Between Imaginary Worlds, a chat show that’s available exclusively to listeners who pledge $5 a month or more on Patreon.
Act I: I bond with comic book and children’s book author Judd Winick over the creepy world of 1970s children’s TV – which scared us as kids but makes us oddly nostalgic today.
Act II: My friend Caleb Meurer and I reminisce about his experience working with the original crew of SpongeBob at Nickelodeon, and how the creator of SpongeBob indirectly told me I was in the wrong field.
Act III: Aidan Sugano and Denis-Jose Francois talk about the heartfelt effort it took for the animation studio DNEG to make the film Nimona after Disney dropped the project.
This week’s episode is sponsored by The Perfect Jean and Uncommon Goods.
- Get 15% off your order with the code IMAGINARY15 at theperfectjean.nyc
- Get 15% off your order at uncommongoods.com/imaginary.
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Worldbuilding Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein
When director Guillermo del Toro asked Tamara Deverell to be the production designer on his film adaptation of Frankenstein, she had a good idea of what he wanted. Del Toro had been dreaming of making a …
Notas del episodio
When director Guillermo del Toro asked Tamara Deverell to be the production designer on his film adaptation of Frankenstein, she had a good idea of what he wanted. Del Toro had been dreaming of making a Frankenstein movie for years, and she had worked with him on several projects before. She told me they’re so much sync, “I find with Guillermo, it’s not speaking in words, it’s speaking with images.” But that didn’t make the production design any less challenging. We discuss where Tamara looked for inspiration, why it’s important for her to build physical sets no matter the size, and how she reimagined the signature set piece of every Frankenstein adaptation -- the lab where The Creature comes to life.
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The Real History of Dracula and Frankenstein
In honor of the spooky season, we present two monstrous origin stories --Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. We know when these books were written in the 19th century. But what inspired the …
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In honor of the spooky season, we present two monstrous origin stories --Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. We know when these books were written in the 19th century. But what inspired the imaginations of the rebellious teenager Mary Shelley, or the beleaguered theatrical promoter Bram Stoker? I talk with biographer Charlotte Gordon and Professors Gillen D'Arcy Wood and Ron Broglio about how “The Year Without a Summer” may have sparked storms in Mary Shelley’s mind. And I talk with UC Davis professor Louis Warren about why he believes an American entertainer was the unlikely model for Count Dracula. Featuring readings by Lily Dorment and John Keating. This episode is a combination of two previous episodes that were broken apart, reassembled and brought back to life.
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How Forbidden Planet Refined the Music of Sci-Fi
In the 1950s, the avant-garde music scene in New York and the movie studios of Los Angeles might have seemed like opposite ends of a cultural spectrum. But they came together (and blew apart) when MGM hired …
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In the 1950s, the avant-garde music scene in New York and the movie studios of Los Angeles might have seemed like opposite ends of a cultural spectrum. But they came together (and blew apart) when MGM hired Louis and Bebe Barron to write the score for the sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet. It was the first all-electronic score for a Hollywood film, but not everyone was ready for the future of film music. I talk with Louis’ son David Barron, composer Dorothy Moskowitz, University of Chicago associate professor Jennifer Iverson, and broadcaster and writer John Cavanagh about how the Barrons built a Rube Goldberg-style electronic music studio long before electronic music could be generated with the push of a button -- and why it took decades for their work to be fully appreciated.
Thanks to Thomas Rhea (author of Electronic Perspectives: Vintage Electronic Musical Instruments) for permission to use audio from his 1998 interview with Bebe Barron. You can learn more about the Louis and Bebe Barron archive at Forgotten Futures.
Philip Shorey’s orchestra is touring with his new score to the 1925 film The Phantom of The Opera.
This episode is sponsored by Remi. Go to shopremi.com/IMAGINARY and use the code IMAGINARY to get up to 50% off your nightguard at checkout.
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The Battle to Make Star Wars Becomes a Graphic Novel
Movies that change cinema often come from outsiders – whether it’s Orson Welles making Citizen Kane or George Lucas making Star Wars a.k.a. Episode IV: A New Hope. The excellent graphic novel Lucas Wars by …
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Movies that change cinema often come from outsiders – whether it’s Orson Welles making Citizen Kane or George Lucas making Star Wars a.k.a. Episode IV: A New Hope. The excellent graphic novel Lucas Wars by artist Renaud Roche and writer Laurent Hopman just came out in English (the original French title is Les Guerres de Lucas.) I talk with Renaud and Laurent about why the making of Star Wars was such a long shot, and how the production changed the lives of everyone involved. Plus, we discuss the unsung heroes who helped make Star Wars happen -- like Lucas’s ex wife Marcia and studio mogul Alan Ladd Jr.
Imaginary Worlds was just nominated for a Signal Award for Best Arts & Culture podcast! That also means the show is eligible for a Listener's Choice Award. You can vote for the show at vote.signalawards.com. The deadline is October 9th. Thank you!
This episode is sponsored by Hims and Remi.
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- For simple, online access to personalized and affordable care for hair loss and more, visit Hims.com/IMAGINARY.
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Lifting the Curtain on Theatrical Effects
I’ve covered digital and practical effects in film and TV, but creating special effects for live theater is a whole other challenge. J&M Special Effects has been up to the task for 40 years. Their crew has …
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I’ve covered digital and practical effects in film and TV, but creating special effects for live theater is a whole other challenge. J&M Special Effects has been up to the task for 40 years. Their crew has worked on shows from Hadestown to Harry Potter and The Cursed Child to Disney musicals like Frozen and Aladdin. I get a behind-the-scenes tour of their Brooklyn warehouse, where failure is part of the process in figuring out how to make the magic work. I talk with partner and designer Jeremy Chernick, along with pyrotechnician Bohdan Bushell, about how theatrical effects have evolved with new technology -- and why they can sometimes be too good at their jobs in making the impossible seem possible.
This episode is sponsored by Remi and ShipStation.
- Start your 60-day free trial at ShipStation.com and use the code IMAGINARY.
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