Galactic Watercooler

We run down the week in geek, and most importantly we take you into the heart of the 2013 GWC International Meetup with a podcast recorded in front of a live meetup attendee audience. Enjoy!

Sean is back, and the meetup is so very close! We take a quick moment to talk about the impending GWC meetup in Dallas.

In this episode, Sean is out sick, so Chuck and Audra take the time to wax philosophical about their recent rewatch of the “Dominion War” episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

We give a long-overdue visit to 1978’s Superman: The Movie, appreciate the film’s cinematic quality and inspiring John Williams soundtrack; discuss the permeating Christian allegory of the story; and cheer for Margot Kidder’s funny and feminine-but-not-treacly Lois Lane. Plus, we run down the Week in Geek, squee over the mysterious and dangerous-looking Benedict Cumberbatch in [...]

We briefly revisit Star Trek: Generations, finally appreciating its place in the Trek canon and wondering why we had overlooked the significance of Picard’s family — and loss of family — for so long. We take calls that touch on the power of pink, the time-travel potential of the airplane laser, and the less-than-sexy reality [...]

We jump straight into the buzz now that it’s confirmed: J.J. Abrams will direct Star Wars: Episode VII, due in theaters in 2015 and starring much of the original crew. We walk through what the project might look like, speculate which EU areas the film will cover, hope for strong female characters, and anticipate a [...]

This week as we re-ignite the Disney princess discussion, Sean reaffirms the impracticality of staving off the tidal wave of pink and weighs in on the fun of wearing a sparkly headband while playing backup for a three-year-old rock star. And, we run down the Week in Geek, get a glimpse of the new FX [...]

We blast into 2013 with some nooooooos! and enjoy some classic GWC banter. And we run down the Week in Geek, including newly revealed details about Gates McFadden’s Season 2 departure from Next Gen (it had to do with sexism, despite the gender equality Beverly insists upon to Soren of the sack-cloth); the UK’s X-rating of the original [...]

In the year’s grand finale, we are joined in the studio by JUAAAAAN!! And we snub the ubiquity of the web’s year-end “Worst of…” lists, instead giving our own positive recommendations for 2012 media, including the underrated Men in Black 3, the fun popcorn flick Battleship; the brilliant TV comedy series Parks and Recreation (NBC) and sci-fi [...]

We kick off 2012’s penultimate podcast by discussing 2005 movie The Island — wait, wut? Yes, The Island.  After seven years of GWC-style analysis and geeky discussion, returning to this flawed-but-likable movie made us realize how much the ‘cast has transformed the way we understand and appreciate art. Plus, we run down the Week in Geek, boo Blastr’s troll-baiting “Worst Movies [...]

In this penultimate GWC Christmas episode, we re-think everything that makes our holidays what they are. We re-cast and reboot some of our favorite Christmas movies (read: Seth Rogen and Amy Poehler as the new Griswolds), remake some of our favorite Christmas songs (Swedish EDM, anyone?), and re-think some of our hallowed Christmas traditions. Also, [...]

In this episode we continue to talk Bond, with Skyfall. And we take listener calls about all kinds of stuff!

This ‘cast we dive into 007’s universe of cars, gadgets, sex, and intrigue. We identify our favorite Bond cars (and jets, submarines, and motorcycles), give props to Sean Connery’s 1950s physique and sexiness-to-age ratio, and discuss the evolution of the early, one-dimensional “Robo-Bond” into the still-cool but emotionally motivated, complex, modern Bond. Plus we run [...]

We are thrilled so far with the new BSG content, the web series Blood & Chrome airing now on the YouTube Machinima channel (and on SyFy/every other digital medium) in February 2013. We credit the series with reigniting our love for BSG with Michael Taylor’s strong writing, character development balanced with space explosions, and Luke Pasqualino’s expressive [...]

We wrap up our discussion of video game heroes and villains with a look into how interaction changes the character and story experience. And we run down the week in geek, including new Spartacus news, lament for the end of Red Dwarf X, a Dibblifier app for iOS which allows you to turn yourself into [...]

In this episode, we discuss the recent acquisition news regarding Lucasfilm and Disney, and take some voicemail calls.

We run down the week in geek, including a Spike TV reality show offering a $10 million bounty on bigfoot, the possibility of the Governator returning as an old Conan (ignoring the Momoa era flick), more news on the Halo 4 release and storyline, the use of *face in Cloud Atlas, and much more.

This week we celebrate Halloween by taking a close look at the psychology of scariness, including why zombies, ghosts, and Grim Reapers give so many of us delightful thrills rather than existential horror. Why are we fascinated with death and the afterlife? It’s part of what makes us human. We look at cultural differences in [...]

We discuss the historic 1938 broadcast of War of the Worlds, what it means historically, why we associate it with Halloween, what it tells us about our society, and how our view of the radio show’s aftermath is affected by shifts in digital media. Also, we run down the week in geek, including the fan [...]

Up this week: robots who want to be your friend — or with whom you’d like to be friends — and what this tells us about humanity. Also, we run down the week in geek, including Jill Scott’s upcoming Fringe oracle-ness, a new TV series from X-Files creator Chris Carter, our recommendations for games to [...]