Journey Through Sci-Fi: Science Fiction Film History

It Came from Outer Space (1953) and Warning from Space (1956). Two sets of aliens who mean us no harm, and both decide the safest thing to do is put on a human face. Journey Through Sci-Fi continues We Come in Peace, our series tracing the history of friendly aliens on screen. This time, two films where the visitors are not hostile, and nobody believes it until they see it with their own eyes. First, Ray Bradbury's desert. A meteor that isn't a meteor, an amateur astronomer nobody listens to, and townspeople going missing one by one. Bradbury handed Universal the monster movie they asked for and the one he actually wanted to make, and got away with it. We get into Jack Arnold's frontier eye, the 3D gimmicks, and the spider speech that says everything the film has to say and changes nobody's mind. Then Japan, three years later. Starfish aliens in fabric suits, a rogue planet on its way, and a script by one of Kurosawa's regular writers. Japan's first science fiction film in colour swerves from horror to magical girl comedy to a bleak disaster movie, sometimes inside one scene. It has the friendliest aliens we have met so far, which does not stop them acting mostly in their own interest. In this episode: - Universal's first 3D film, and the cork boulders fired at the premiere audience - An intermission 55 minutes into an 80 minute film, and why the projector is to blame - Barbara Rush's Golden Globe and her three identical screams - Starfish pyjamas, and the scene that shows you far too much - A ring communicator, a tennis match, and a magical girl detour into a nuclear disaster movie - Friendly aliens, or just extremely risk averse ones? Also discussed: The Day the Earth Stood Still, A Message from Mars, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Space Children, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Godzilla, Seven Samurai, Ikiru, Ran, The Hidden Fortress, I Live in Fear, Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura and Star Trek: First Contact. Starfish or a one-eyed jellyfish alien? Tell us which one you would rather find at the bottom of your garden. Next time: The 27th Day (1957) and The Space Children (1958). Hosted and produced by James Payne and Matt Willcock. Edited by James Payne. Bonus episodes on Patreon: patreon.com/journeythroughscifi Join the JTSF Logbook, our free newsletter: https://journeythroughscifi.beehiiv.com Full back catalogue and everything else: https://journeythroughscifi.com Follow the show so you never miss an episode, and if you can, a review or a share costs nothing and helps a lot. Journey Through Sci-Fi is part of the EOH Network.

Where does the friendly alien begin? Not with E.T., but with a Martian exiled to Edwardian London to reform the most selfish man alive. Journey Through Sci-Fi returns with a brand new series. We Come in Peace traces the history of friendly aliens on screen. In this opener we set out the stall: what makes a visitor friendly rather than hostile, why everything gets measured against E.T., and how one mistranslated Italian word put Martians in our heads. Then we go back to 1913 and A Message from Mars, widely held to be the first British science fiction film. Ramiel, a Martian stripped of his rank and banished to Earth, has to reform a selfish London bachelor called Horace Parker. It is A Christmas Carol with a spaceman, and almost every benevolent visitor since owes it something. In this episode: Friendly visitor or invader? Where the line actually sits Voltaire's Micromégas (1752), possibly the first friendly alien story ever written Kenneth Arnold, Roswell, and how 1947 gave us the flying saucer Schiaparelli's canali: the mistranslation that built fictional Mars Ramiel's tough love, the zap power, and some baffling 1913 camera trickery Lizard people or Arthurian courtiers? Britain in 1913: picture palaces and a film industry inventing itself Also discussed: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Cocoon, Batteries Not Included, Earth Girls Are Easy, It Came from Outer Space, Aelita: Queen of Mars, A Princess of Mars, Project Hail Mary and Armageddon. Watch along with us. A Message from Mars is free on BFI Replay: https://replay.bfi.org.uk/video/7f470ecc-3ccd-5cde-aca0-ac97153f8ecd Lizards or courtiers? Tell us what you saw. Next time: The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) meets its 2008 remake. Hosted and produced by James Payne and Matt Willcock. Edited by James Payne. Bonus episodes on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/journeythroughscifi Join the JTSF Logbook our free newsletter: https://journeythroughscifi.beehiiv.com Full back catalogue and everything else: https://journeythroughscifi.com Follow the show so you never miss an episode, and if you can a review or a share costs nothing and helps a lot. Journey Through Sci-Fi is part of the Evolution of Horror Network.

New to Journey Through Sci-Fi? Start here. Before we launch our next full series on friendly aliens, we're taking a journey back through the archive with a special starter pack episode, featuring some of our favourite clips from past series. Across this episode, we revisit some of the biggest ideas in sci-fi cinema: the mythic storytelling of the original Star Wars trilogy, the artificial intelligence and uneasy humanity of Blade Runner, the time-loop perfection of Groundhog Day, the simulated reality of The Matrix, the collapsing world of Mad Max, and the haunted-house-in-space horror of Event Horizon. Featuring discussions of: Star Wars Original Trilogy Blade Runner Metropolis Groundhog Day The Matrix Trilogy Mad Max Event Horizon Whether you're a longtime listener revisiting old favourites or a new listener looking for the best place to begin, this episode is a guided tour through the many worlds, subgenres and strange obsessions of Journey Through Sci-Fi. Our new series, We Come in Peace, exploring the history of friendly aliens on screen, begins soon. Follow Journey Through Sci-Fi now so you don't miss it.

To celebrate the upcoming Predator: Badlands and the big-screen re-release of Prey on November 5th (for a very limited cinema run) we're bringing one of our favourite Patreon episodes to the main feed. In this bonus epsiode we revisit Prey (2022), and discuss how it re-energised the franchise, why it works as sci-fi horror, and where it fits in the Predator legacy. 🩸 Predator: Badlands lands Nov 7 — we'll be covering it exclusively on Patreon. 🎧 Join us at patreon.com/journeythroughscifi Visit our website https://www.journeythroughscifi.com/ Email Us! Support the podcast on PATREON Add us on INSTAGRAM Find us on TIKTOK Like us on FACEBOOK Follow us on LETTERBOXD

As we've just revisited Tron and Tron: Legacy, you knew we couldn't resist jacking back into the Grid for Tron: Ares. This is a spoiler-free sneak peek of our full Patreon episode, where we talk Jared Leto's turn as Ares, the film's take on AI, and whether that Nine Inch Nails soundtrack hits as hard as promised. Does this long-awaited sequel push the Tron universe forward, or just coast on nostalgia? That's what we plan to find out... 👉 Hear the full spoiler-filled episode on Patreon: patreon.com/JourneyThroughSciFi Visit our website https://www.journeythroughscifi.com/ Email Us! Support the podcast on PATREON Add us on INSTAGRAM Find us on TIKTOK Like us on FACEBOOK

What happens when mad science pushes the human mind and body to their absolute limits? Our latest journey through sci-fi takes us from swirling cosmic vortices to larval mind-control worms. We explore how Ken Russell's Altered States (1980) turns science into body horror and how Shane Carruth's Upstream Colour (2013) transforms trauma into an arthouse mystery about love and memory. Visit our website https://www.journeythroughscifi.com/ Email Us! Support the podcast on PATREON Add us on INSTAGRAM Find us on TIKTOK Like us on FACEBOOK Follow us on LETTERBOXD

We've been on a little break over the summer, but we're back for a brand-new Future Frontiers episode! In this episode, we catch up on everything sci-fi we've been watching (and missing) while the Mad Science series has been on pause. We chat about the big blockbusters of the summer that we caught - Superman, Jurassic Park: Rebirth, and Fantastic Four – plus horror highlights Weapons and Together. On TV, we get into The Studio, Slow Horses, Upload, and share our first thoughts on Alien: Earth. Looking ahead, we break down the latest trailers for Tron: Ares (with a Nine Inch Nails soundtrack!), Edgar Wright's Running Man, Project Hail Mary, Afterburn, and French indie gem Meanwhile on Earth. We also touch on Guillermo del Toro's long-awaited Frankenstein, Yorgos Lanthimos's new sci-fi project, and the next Skyline sequel. And to wrap up, we tackle a big listener question: how will AI change the future of sci-fi storytelling? Visit our website https://www.journeythroughscifi.com/ Email Us! Support the podcast on PATREON Add us on INSTAGRAM Find us on TIKTOK Like us on FACEBOOK Follow us on THREADS Follow us on LETTERBOXD