Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever*

There are spoilers ahead! For many films I'm afraid.
I would especially avoid the episode until you have watched Ex-Machina (which you really really should immediately it really is phenomenal) as Jes does talk directly about the ending between 53:23 till 53:46.
I have made a list of the films and books mentioned below.
This is another detour episode and perhaps you're thinking I'm trying to avoid the very big task of recording 2001: A Space Odyssey content. And perhaps you're right. But I hope you enjoy this discussion.
If you try to think of a futuristic city your mind may be drawn towards a real place but it could just as easily be drawn towards the great science fiction films that render our future on our screens.
Films like Blade Runner, Minority Report, Fifth Element and (the granddaddy) Metropolis have all shown us what human futures could look like. Sometimes these visions are intimidating, terrifying or occausionally aspirational. These images in turn can affect and inform own understanding of what an unwritten future should be like.
I have two wonderful guests to talk through the somewhat symbiotic relationship of science fiction and architecture
Amy Brookes is an architect and an Associate Professor at the University of Reading. She has written extensively about architecture and one of her special interests is Architecture in science fiction literature and film.
Jes Deaver is an award-winning architect as well as a filmmaker and writer. She is the author of the article The Architecture of Imagination which explores the parallels between science fiction and architecture.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:32 The SF-Architecture connection
06:40 How the symbolism of the tower changes
14:38 Anxieties in architecture
17:00 The reciprocal relationship
27:10 Fears of suburbia
30:27 Non place and virtual space
33:43 Apocalyptic futures
40:02 Hopeful alternatives
49:04 Favourite architectural sci-fi films
53:46 Recommendations
Recommendations:
And He Built a Crooked House by Robert Heinlein
Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements
 
Films mentioned in the episode:
Metropolis (1927)
Blade Runner (1982)
Minority Report (2002)
Chappie (2015)
District 9 (2009)
Attack the Block (2011)
Fifth Element (1997)
Just Imagine (1930)
Gagarine (2020)
Atlantics (2019)
Tommorowland (2015)
Truman Show (1998)
Stepford Wives (1975)
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Soylent Green (1973)
Don't Look Up (2021)
Children of Men (2006)
Snowpiercer (2013)
Hunger Games (2012)
Robocop (1987)
Nation Estate (2012)
Silent Running (1972)
High Rise (2015)
Ex Machina (2014)
 
Books mentioned:
Rem Koolhaas (Remment Lucas Koolhaas) is a Dutch Architect and author of the book Delirious New York published in 1978.
Ready Player One by Ernest Kline. (Made into a film by Steven Speilberg in 2018)
Every Version of You by Grace Chan.
Artificial Wisdom by Thomas R Weaver.
Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052-2072 by Eman Abdelhadi and M. E. O'Brien
Mouldiness Manifesto by Friedensreich Hundretwasser
 
TV Shows mentioned:
Westworld
Andor
 
Other links of interest:
A page from Mark Bould's website about the city: https://markbould.com/tag/paul-verhoeven/
'5 Minute Modern' YouTube  video about Brutalism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib82VYtjFtY
An interesting article about Fritz Lang's depiction of the future city The German Take on Gotham: https://jacobin.com/2025/12/the-german-take-on-gotham
 
NEXT EPISODE!
The next episode will be about Destroy All Monsters which features lots of Kaiju, a Japanese Moonbase, evil aliens who look like beautiful women and groovy 60s outfits. You can rent the film on Apple TV (at least in the UK) but take a look at Just Watch and Rotten Tomatoes to see where the film is showing in your region. DVDs and Blurays of the film are also available for relatively reasonable prices.

There is a longer version of the podcast available which includes more tangential topics on Patreon for paid subscribers or for a $3 or £3 fee! The long version is just under one hour and twenty-five minutes. If you would like to become a Patreon patron and get all the podcast episodes ad free (as well as the longer edit) you can do that on: https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm
As always there are spoilers ahead!
You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.
As mentioned on the podcast here is an outline of the Quatermass offerings: 
FILM
1955: The Quatermass Xperiment AKA The Creeping Unknown (dir, Val Guest)
1957: Quatermass 2 AKA Enemy from Space (dir. Val Guest)
1967: Quatermass & the Pit AKA Five Million Years to Earth (dir. Roy Ward Baker)
1979 The Quatermass Conclusion (recut from TV series, dir. Piers Haggard)
2005 The Quatermass Experiment (Live TV movie, dir. Sam Miller)

Radio
1996: The Quatermass Memoirs
TV Series
1953: The Quatermass Experiment
1955: Quatermass II
1958-59 Quatermass and the Pit
1979 Quatermass (AKA Quatermass IV or The Quatermass Conclusion)
2005 The Quatermass Experiment (Live)
 
Professor Bernard Quatermass was created by British superstar screenwriter Nigel Kneale and aired on the BBC in 1953. The TV series went on to great popularity and Hammer Films eventually came knocking for film rights. 
Nigel Kneale did not have any rights over the character due to being a staff writer at the time but would eventually go on to international fame especially in sci-fi and horror circles with John Carpenter (amongst others) being a vocal fan.
Despite all this many people have not heard of Quatermass. Although there have been many attempts to revive the franchise none have come to fruition.
But that won't stop me seeking out two of the best academics to talk excitedly about their passion for this early TV sci-fi pioneer.
Mark Bould is a professor of Film and Literature at the University of West England, Bristol. He has written/edited extensively about science fiction cinema.
Matthew Rule-Jones is a senior lecturer in film studies at the University of Exeter. A doctor of science fiction who likes to write about cinema including the book Science Fiction Cinema and 1950s Britain: Recontextualising Cultural Anxiety.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
02:24 Nigel Kneale
06:28 Rudolph Cartier and changes in TV
08:22 Hammer films and Quatermass
13:09 The many iterations of Quatermass
22:04 The traditional tinkering British scientist
26:47 From TV to Film
32:44 Quatermass 2 and the 1950s
41:30 Aliens!
48:58 Kneale and Victorian influences
52:21 Legacy
57:47 Recommendations
 
Recommendations
Sapphire & Steel (1979-1982, TV series)
Event Horizon (1997)
 
NEXT EPISODE!
Next episode we take a break from science fiction films to talk to two experts about science fiction and architecture. Then we're heading into 1968 so wish me luck!

Trigger warning: This discussion includes talk about sexual assault and sexual violence. This is a theme apparent in the film and the source material. It is mentioned a few times. The topic is not spoken about in detail, but I wanted to share a general trigger warning for those that would prefer to avoid the topic altogether.
Subtitles for the intro: "It's not that I specialise in treating fingers. I'm a psychiatrist in fact. Inferiority complexes dig holes in the psyche, and I fill them in."
As always, there are spoilers ahead!
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If you are interested in the plot of the film you can read an overview on the wikipedia page here. 
In 1964 Director Hiroshi Teshigahara's film Woman in the Dunes won the Special Jury Prize at Cannes. The film was the second of four in which Teshigahara would collaborate with writer Kōbō Abe.* 
The Face of Another rode the coattails of Woman in the Dunes but was nowhere near as successful. Although both films have a very bleak undertone, The Face of Another feels more jarring and less abstract in its confrontations.
The story is of a man horribly disfigured from an accident in the lab where he works. He manages to find a possible solution to the isolation and desperation he experiences when he is given the opportunity to have a new face with which to navigate life.
The story has many philosophical themes set in a Japan that is still wrangling with its post war cultural identity. 
Thankfully I have managed to procure two big brained and generous guests!
Roger Luckhurst is a Professor at Birkbeck, University of London. He has written/edited numerous articles and books on cultural history and film.
Jennifer Coates is a Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Sheffield. She has written extensively about Japanese cultural history and cinema and is the President of the British Association of Japanese Studies.
During the intro to the show I mention a video essay that I watched during research for the film which I found very interesting. You can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yarOXWeZlzY
Although this is not directly relevant to the film, one of the earliest shots is an x-ray of a skull in conversation. This is reminiscent of the very early 1996 film usually known as Macintyre's X-Ray Film.  Just a small historical film curiosity which you might be interested in. You can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqMYHawAKmA
 
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:35 Source Material: Kobe Abe's book
06:33 Abe and Teshigahara's collaboration: Woman in the Dunes
07:38 Face Masks
10:55 The manufactured Japanese New Wave
14:31 Japan in the 1960s
19:39 Alienation and Philosophy
24:47 Boundaries and skin
26:17 Moral boundaries
30:52 The skin, Japan and saving face
34:14 Scarring and the bomb
41:05 Identity and Japan
47:40 Visual delights
52:46 Legacy
55:03 Face transplants
56:51 Recommendations
 
Recommendations:
When the Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960)
Eyes without a Face (1960)
Suture (1993)
 
NEXT EPISODE!
Next episode we will be having a giant sprawling chat about the scientist Bernard Quatermass. You can watch the three earlier Quatermass films, The Quatermass Xperiment (1955), Quatermass 2 (1957) and Quatermass and the Pit (1967) in all sorts of places including major streaming platforms. The series (if you want to get really nerdy about it) are available as a boxed set on Apple TV and from other retailers. At least some of those episodes are available on YouTube. The first season of the TV series (1953) only has a few episodes as the rest were lost forever!

As always there are spoilers ahead!
Blade Runner was not a huge hit in 1982 but it did gain a fair few fans on its initial release. One of those fans was a teenager from Cheshire by the name of Paul Franklin who would go on to work on numerous big budget films and win two Oscars for his work as a Special Effects Supervisor on Interstellar and Inception.
I spoke to Paul about his first impressions of the film, what makes it special and how it influences Batman Begins and The Dark Knight Rises.  
Apologies for the abrupt ending to this episode. It is late, I've been quite busy and I have other work I really must tend to. Details of the next episode at the bottom of the show notes. 
You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.
If you would like to support the podcast you can become a patron and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free versions of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm
 
Chapters
00:00 Intro
01:47 Paul's first impressions
07:11 Influences on Blade Runner
14:01 Syd Mead's design
17:52 A future without Blade Runner
21:28 PK Dick & Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
23:36 The plight of the androids
27:18 Deckard as replicant
32:01 Influence of Blade Runner on Paul's work
40:45 Vangelis
41:58 ET vs Blade Runner
NEXT EPISODE!
Next episode we will be discussing the rather striking and uncomfortable 1966 Japanese film The Face of Another. The film is available on Criterion Channel in the US and Canada and on YouTube.  You can check the Just Watch website to see where the film is available in your region.

As always there are spoilers ahead!
You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.
If you would like to be a patron of the podcast and help an indie podcaster out, you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm
An extra huge thank you to my wonderful guests as this episode had to be re-recorded due to a major problem with the audio file the first time.
You can find the synopsis of the film on Wikipedia here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastic_Voyage#Plot
In 1966 20th Century Fox chose a steady pair of hands in Richard Fleischer (the son of animation superstar Max Fleischer) to helm what at the time was both the tiniest and the biggest science fiction adventure. Tiny because of the nano science storyline and biggest because of it being the most expensive science fiction film ever made (at that time) costing over five million dollars.  
I talk to two top tier guests about the film.
Jay Telotte is Professor Emeritus of film and media studies at Georgia Tech. He has written/edited numerous books and articles about science fiction film including his upcoming books Before Trek: Building American Science Fiction Television.
Lisa Yaszek is Regents' Professor of Science Fiction Studies at Georgia Tech and has written/edited multiple books on science fiction including her upcoming book Mothership Rising: Afrofuturism in the Radium Age.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:40 Big budget scifi
05:45 Richard Fleischer
09:10 The history of Nanotech sci-fi
16:41 Sci-fi and scale in cinema
19:42 Richard Feynman and small science
22:55 1950s influences
25:53 James Bond and Spy-fi
27:05 Psychedelic scifi
31:22 Harper Goff, Disney and design
33:36 1960s crew dynamics
42:48 Asimov's novelisation
44:24 Secularism vs religion
46:52 Legacy
52:57 Recommendations
 
Recommendations:
The Diamond Lens by Fitz-James O'Brien (which can be found here)
Surface Tension by James Blish
Microcosmic God by Theodore Sturgeon
 
Dr Cyclops (1940)
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
Honey I Shrunk the Kids (1989)
 
NEXT EPISODE!
Next episode I will be speaking with Oscar winning Special Effects Supervisor Paul Franklin to discuss his favourite sci-fi film Blade Runner (1982). Paul has worked on an array of blockbusters including The Batman Begins trilogy, Venom (2018), Inception (2010) and Interstellar (2014).