Our summertime superhero tournament continues, as 16 champions are reduced to eight. This round brings new judges and a requirement to argue against the opposite opponent! Who will withstand the withering assaults? Only time will tell. The match-ups: (1) Spider-Man vs. (4) Kitty Pryde (11) Beta Ray Bill vs. (2) Captain America (1) Superman vs. (5) Doctor Strange (3) Barry Allen/The Flash vs. (2) The Hulk (1) Batman vs. (13) Moon Knight (6) Barbara Gordon/Batgirl/Oracle vs. (2) Wonder Woman (1) I...
Aug 29, 2015•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 261
On the occasion of our fifth anniversary, we present this special episode where Jason and five of our favorite panelists come together live around a table to talk about nothing in particular.
Aug 22, 2015•58 min•Ep. 260
Our ridiculous celebration of superheroes continues in round 2, in which 32 heroes enter and 16 depart! This round incorporates your comments and votes, which we solicited after our last round. This also marks the final round for judges Lutz and Michaels, who assure you that absolutely no cash has changed hands in exchange for their votes. We’ve also added some new advocates and shuffled the deck a little bit. Join us on the next segment of our journey to discover which superhero reigns supreme....
Aug 15, 2015•1 hr 54 min•Ep. 259
Our survey of terrible films continues with 1993’s “Super Mario Bros.”, which features surprisingly little of the characters, setting, or joy that one might attribute to the beloved video-game franchise. Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper, and the directors of the original “Max Headroom” film collaborate on this dreadful tale about evolved dinosaurs, dystopian parallel-universe New Yorks, and a couple of plumbers named Mario, one of whom is also named Luigi.
Aug 08, 2015•1 hr 35 min•Ep. 258
Our Comic Book Club reconvenes to discuss “Runaways,” the 2003-2004 comic series by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona. This is a Marvel Comic that’s also an original creation, and we’re tackling the 18 issues of the first volume, which form a self-contained story. How does the book alienate its teenage protagonists? Does the plot twist make sense? And why isn’t this a Marvel movie or TV show?
Aug 01, 2015•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 257
It’s time for our annual dive into the Hugo Awards, focused mostly on the five nominated novels, but also touching on short fiction, comics, films, and TV episodes, as well as this year’s big Hugo controversy.
Jul 26, 2015•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 256
In celebration of the four days of Comic-Con 2015, we present a four-day celebration of silly superhero debates! We’ve seeded 64 heroes into a tournament that’s designed to find the most incomparable superhero of them all. Or something like that. The advocates are sometimes passionate and sometime disinterested, but that’s okay, because the judges are completely capricious.
Jul 11, 2015•2 hr 33 min•Ep. 255
Pixar’s latest film, “Inside Out,” tells the unlikely story of the conflict of emotions inside the head of a young girl. Join us as we draw a circle around our own parental sadness and instead focus on the joy of an instant Pixar classic.
Jul 04, 2015•1 hr 39 min•Ep. 254
Old Movie Club reconvenes to watch two films based on the works of Dashiell Hammett: 1934’s “The Thin Man” and 1941’s “The Maltese Falcon.” We appreciate the drunken aplomb of Nick and Nora and the shifty glory of Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet, all while taking in the faint scent of gardenias.
Jun 27, 2015•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 253
Time to once again wrap up the TV season as a whole and “Game of Thrones” in particular. First we discuss shows we’ve enjoyed watching this year (including the final seasons of “Justified” and “Mad Men”), and then we fire off the Spoiler Horn and talk about the controversial fifth season of “Game of Thrones.”
Jun 20, 2015•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 252
Time for our annual review of the Nebula Award nominees for the best SF or Fantasy novel of the year, with podcasters from Skiffy and Fanty, SF Signal, and The Three Hoarsemen! We’ll cover (in a spoiler-light fashion) books about space stations, alien invasions, empires, mushrooms, and tea ceremonies. There’s even a deadly incident involving a Zeppelin!
Jun 13, 2015•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 251
Draw a beard on your face with a Sharpie, prepare to learn math via touch, and we’ll take you to the second level! Our trek into films of questionable quality continues with John Boorman’s 1974 sci-fi epic “Zardoz,” starring Sean Connery in a red diaper and a floating stone head. Even the writer/director/producer can’t explain what happened, and neither can we—except maybe for Glenn.
Jun 06, 2015•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 250
After a season full of comic-book superhero TV shows, we’re here to chart the highs and lows of “The Flash,” “Arrow,” “Agents of SHIELD,” “Agent Carter,” “Daredevil,” and “Constantine.” Some of them were great, some quite surprising, and others crushing disappointments. (This episode contains light spoilers—nothing we consider completely earth-shattering, but if you wish to be completely spoiler free, listen after watching or consult the time code in our show notes.)
May 31, 2015•1 hr 38 min•Ep. 249
Professor Siracusa’s Anime 102 is in session! This week we’re discussing the 1995 anime classic “Ghost in the Shell” and touching on its follow-up TV series, “Stand Alone Complex.” This is a cyberpunky action story about cyborgs and the meaning of life, and it’s full of guns, car chases, ninjas, weird outfits, and exposition.
May 23, 2015•1 hr 38 min•Ep. 248
On the occasion of David Letterman’s retirement after 33 years of hosting a late-night talk show, Jason Snell presents his take on Letterman’s significance, told with the help of a few friends.
May 16, 2015•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 247
This episode is all about assigned reading from our school days. Stuff we loved and, more importantly, stuff we hated. Does Jason hate all French literature, or just Emma Bovary? Whose teachers assigned Ursula LeGuin and Kurt Vonnegut? And will Charles Dickens tear our friendly group of podcasters apart? Be sure to do the reading—there might be a quiz tomorrow.
May 09, 2015•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 246
Six members of The Incomparable panel went to see “Avengers: Age of Ultron” together, in person! And afterward we convened at Dan Moren’s house to discuss it over pizza and beverages. This is that conversation.
May 04, 2015•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 245
Comic Book Club returns to discuss two ’90s stories featuring art by Alex Ross, “Marvels” and “Kingdom Come.” These books—one each for Marvel and DC, each available in a single trade paperback—feature lavish art and intriguing themes about the relationship between superhumans and regular humans. How do they told up two decades later? Our panel of longtime comic experts and babes in the continuity woods weighs in.
Apr 25, 2015•1 hr 35 min•Ep. 244
A new “Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens” trailer has appeared! And, as was fated, we are here to deconstruct it within an inch of its life. Dark Side IKEA end tables! John Boyega quotes us the odds! Bespoke evil ships! And is that a glimmer in your eye, or just some lens flare? Plus we give some love to BB8, everyone’s favorite robotic soccer ball. Dan Moren reports in from the Star Wars celebration, and Serenity Caldwell phones in from her car. This is serious business, people.
Apr 17, 2015•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 243
Lay in a course and engage the warp drive! Our “Star Trek” Debate Club returns with spirited discussion of the best and worst captains in the galaxy, along with the best and worst aliens. Plus we get controversial with our choices for the most overrated and underrated things in “Star Trek,” and engage in a bit of lightning philosophy. Live long and prosper!
Apr 11, 2015•1 hr 48 min•Ep. 242
Play ball! It’s opening weekend, so Old Movie Club returns with two classic baseball movies: “Pride of the Yankees” and “The Bad News Bears.” Even if you don’t like baseball (like Erika), you may enjoy these movies just fine! One’s a biopic from the 1940s complete with a song, and the other is an appropriately gross 1970s comedy. Join us, won’t you?
Apr 04, 2015•1 hr 42 min•Ep. 241
Our Rocket Surgery visit to bad sci-fi movies returns with a look at 1984’s “The Ice Pirates.” Foam robots! Swords and lasers! A mysterious water world! A strange balance of racism and social commentary! Bad effects! Baby animals! Robert Urich! A space herpe! Questional castration methods! Poop jokes! Oakland Raiders! John Carradine! Please, someone make it stop.
Mar 27, 2015•1 hr 46 min•Ep. 240
In honor of Sir Terry Pratchett, who died a week ago, four voracious Pratchett readers discuss what made Pratchett great, their favorite Pratchett works, and recommend places for newcomers to Terry Pratchett to get started.
Mar 20, 2015•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 239
Finished, this podcast torture is. We conclude our conversation about “Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the Sith,” taking you all the way through the dissatisfying ending. As a bonus, we try to rank the prequels, and discover a surprising winner. (part 2 of 2)
Mar 14, 2015•1 hr 35 min•Ep. 238
War! We begin our final battle with the “Star Wars” prequels with our take on “Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.” After a long string of opening statements, we take on the crawl and the first few scenes of the film. Why does a droid wheeze? Why are villains introduced off screen? Why is Christopher Lee wasted? What’s the deal with all the elevators? Why is Darth Vader a chump? Why is there even more boring political science? What happened to Natalie Portman, and why is she wearing be...
Mar 06, 2015•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 237
We celebrate Leonard Nimoy, pondering what made us love Mr. Spock, discussing some of Spock’s finest moments, and even bringing up some lesser known corners of the Nimoy canon.
Feb 28, 2015•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 236
Our Old Movie Club, featuring classic films many of us haven’t seen selected just for us by Philip Michaels, is back! In this edition, we look at two underappreciated films of Alfred Hitchcock: 1943’s “Shadow of a Doubt” and 1948’s “Rope.” The former features Joseph Cotten shooting up through the ceiling of creepy, a battle of telepathy versus telegraphy, the special bond of people named Charlie, murder by soda, and an appearance by the Exposition Radio Network. The latter offers long unbroken s...
Feb 22, 2015•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 235
Introducing a new recurring segment on The Incomparable that we call Rocket Surgery, in which we watch an unappreciated science fiction movie from the past and then talk about it. For our first installment, we watched the 2003 film “The Core,” starring Hilary Swank, Aaron Eckhart, Stanley Tucci, Delroy Lindo, and Bruce Greenwood. Yes, this is a movie about people riding a spaceship (of a sort) down into the core of the Earth in order to blow it up with nuclear bombs because reasons. Our discussi...
Feb 15, 2015•1 hr 45 min•Ep. 234
We convene our Comic Book Club not to talk about a specific comic, but more generally the plight of the comic-book reader when it comes to events and continuity. Marvel and DC are both in the process of revisiting and changing their continuity via dramatic in-universe events. Is continuity worth the trouble? Are events fun, or soul-crushing? How do we feel about the old and new Marvel Secret Wars? Does the new all-woman Avengers team fill us with excitement or trepidation or both? And stick arou...
Feb 07, 2015•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 233
Okay campers, rise and shine, and don’t forget your booties because it’s coooold out there! We partake in our midwinter ritual of watching “Groundhog Day” over and over again, not because we have to, but because we want to. How does something that seems so generic on its surface unfold into one of the deepest and (dare we say it) most beloved films of all time? Plus, we cope with the Andie MacDowell problem, theorize about everything Phil did in Punxsutawney that the movie didn’t show us, and li...
Jan 31, 2015•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 232
