The Cultdom Chronicles

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1. Here’s a thought as to format. Instead of going the Talkshoe route, what about converting to a Skype-cast with text chat in IRC? Merlin and I were talking in text post-CIA, and it seems a perfect solution. We rarely have enough people on mike to require more than the number of slots Skype can comfortably handle, and it would be a massive upgrade in quality. I was just participating in one run by “Emily from Ohio”, and we had, at the show’s height, 10 people conversing in comparatively crisp, clean audio. It doesn’t cost Skype minutes and it doesn’t use SIP technology. It’s just effortless chatting, with easy visual cues of who currently has the floor.

   Comment by DarthSkeptical | July 5, 2009 | Reply

   • Especially after hearing that makeshift tenth episode Ian and Dave did to cover for the “lost” episode, I really like that idea, Darth. The audio quality is a lot cleaner than calling in to TalkShoe. Skype calls are what Leo Laporte uses to bring in co-hosts on his shows, when they’re not in studio (he even has a custom-built rig, the “Skypasaurus”, to make managing the Skype calls easier).

     Also, if Cultdom was to become a Skype-cast, I would actually be able to join in on mic (for some reason, TalkShoe doesn’t like me calling in, but I have great audio via Skype, as Meeps625 knows).

     I’m in support of this Skype-cast idea.

     Comment by Rand al'Thor | October 29, 2009 | Reply

     • Thanks for the comment.

       Ian and were certainly getting a little upset with Talkshoe – but we have also always thought that for large numbers of caller ie. over 10 – it’s still the best place to be.

       From time to time Ian & I do talk over how to improve things and ‘sound quality’ is always the difficult one with people coming in from different time-zones and with different equipement.

       Cheers, daveac

       Comment by iandave | October 30, 2009

2. As I’m going to be gone for a while, I thought I’d preemptively participate by giving some thoughts as to future topics, in no particular order:

   1. Science fiction sitcoms. To my knowledge, we, like Wizard, have never done anything with this beyond Red Dwarf.

   2. Best pilots (perhaps to dovetail with the “best finales” closing episode of CIA.

   3. Fringe-worthiness. A discussion of Fringe.

   4. Maturing the “bring a book” topic into a “book of the week” segment.

   5. Story arcs and episodes. Instead of going for massively broad categories, tighten up the focus a bit. Choose a single Doctor Who serial or Star Trek story arc to discuss, and prepare enough in advance that we can perhaps draw reference with other science fiction shows. Let a single story be our window into the broader world of SF.

   6. Consider the insertion of pre-taped segments. Dave has a broad enough knowledge that perhaps he can consider one aspect of science fiction, about which the audience likely will know nothing, so as to produce a feature segment. Likewise, I think the audience of CIA would finally like Ian to give us a description of Metal Mickey. Perhaps this could be an extension of the “Bring a Book” segment, but instead featuring film or TV to spotlight. A “Blast from the Past” segment. If the topic likely will generate no discussion because it’s too obscure, it’s the perfect subject for a “Blast from the Past”. (I personally would love to do a segment on the sub-genre of space westerns.)

   7. As has been shown time and time again on CIA, broad subjects (like “Star Trek”, “comedy legends” or the like) tend to stop discussion before it’s started, as people struggle with finding a way to reduce them to a few minutes’ discussion. The more successful “broad” episodes of CIA have been those which address concepts rather than franchises or huge topics. The spaceship discussion, though perhaps not my favorite episode, was at least lively right from the start. So maybe on those occasions where we’re going broad we might do well to remember a thing or concept that is repeated across several different works, rather than a single genre or franchise. Some topics in this vein might be: what does it mean to be a strong woman in science fiction, what are the most memorable aliens you’ve encountered, what’s the best depiction of a superpower in film, what’s your favorite application of time travel to a plot, when science fiction writers get the science absolutely wrong, and the like.

   8. Of the mainstream shows from your youth, which do you most wish had a stronger cult following so you could talk about it to . . . someone? Put another way, what cancelled non-cult show would you like to see remade or continued?

   9. What literary property would you most want to see brought into other media? (And, as a follow-up show, what literary property should never have been attempted as a film or TV show?)

   10. We need some kind of discussion about ST:DS9. One thing the Wizard list shows brought out was that there are enough DS9ers and haters out there to possibly carry a show. Personally, I don’t think this should be a super-broad show. It’s been out long enough that an overview show isn’t likely necessary. We could probably do a show on one of the “standard” topics like: Ferengi episodes: hate ’em or love ’em? Did the religio-political Bajoran plotlines debase the Roddenberry ethic? Or something along those lines.

   11. We’ve had problems with comic book-oriented shows in the past. So why not go completely mainstream and ultra-simple? Does suck? Personally, I think “Does Superman suck?” makes for an arresting title.

   12. It’s criminal we’ve never done an episode on Arrested Development, surely the greatest cult comedy of all time.

   13. This might take some research, but the passing of Michael Jackson brings to mind the topic of the intersection of science fiction and music videos. Have music videos served as a breeding ground for innovations in SFX technology (such as the morphing technique in “Black or White”)? Have they been a showcase for makeup techniques that a lot of people otherwise wouldn’t have seen (i.e. the use of “Werewolf in London” makeup effects used in “Thriller”)? I dunno if we’d be able to get a lot of discussion out of this one, so it might be left to a pre-taped feature segment, but with our wide age range of participants, we might be able to have some takers for half a show.

   13. “Jumping the Shark”. Not sure we’ve done a show that focussed on the question of the points at which various shows lost their mojo. But I can think of meemorable occasions in Star Trek, Buck Rogers, the original BSG, Lois and Clark, Smallville, Hex, Primeval, Doctor Who and many others where it was clear the time had come for some viewers to turn off the TV on otherwise beloved genre shows.

   14. The Bond franchise. I’m really not sure we’ve ever looked at this property before, but there might be cause to do so. Are there listeners who view the films as abominations of the overall franchise? What is the character’s considerable legacy in books and comics? What do people mean when they say “Timothy Dalton is the closest to the literary Bond?” With “Quantum of Solace” being the first Bond to fail to achieve #1 status at the American box office, might the franchise actually be in trouble?

   15. Australian special! What’s good in the genre from the Land of Oz? It seems silly not to solicit Sam and Ian’s natural ability to comment with depth about trends in Region 4 SF. I have some enthusiasm for some Australian kids’ programming, and indeed it might make some sense to cover this topic prior to the launch of the K9 series. I’m sure there are many listeners wondering why the show is being produced in Australia at all, not to mention what the bona fides of some of K9’s production personnel might be.

   16. Sam really needs to give us more on slash. We grazed the topic, but we should have a question-and-answer session to explain it more, and possibly give listeners more details on where the rabbit hole to this dank underground might be. The cosplay episode went, I thought, pretty damn well in terms of the amount of information it imparted, so Sam’s due for another swing at the plate. I mean, I get the general parameters of slash, but I don’t understand why it’s a subject of fascination, how long it’s been going on, where you can find it, and other details. A deep cult episode like this wouldn’t go amiss.

   17. Likewise, animé is a topic long ignored. Both Tiggs and Sam have fairly deep knowledge here, so let’s get ’em back in the saddle.

   18. With the launch of the new season of The Clone Wars, I wouldn’t mind doing that followup episode to our Star Wars episode that we talked about. It’s time to discuss how The Clone Wars is destroying Star Wars continuity with a big, fat, double-sided lightsabre, while at the same time being the most popular show in Cartoon Network history.

   19. We should probably do tightly focussed shows on Virtuality and Caprica. What do these two pilots say about RDM’s talent in the wake of BSG? A compare-and-contrast of one that’s bombed with one that’s been picked up might be interesting. (We should do more BSG, but given Ian’s disdain, this might not be likely. Personally, I’d love a BSG finale episode, but I don’t want to exclude one of the hosts right from the off. Still, it might be something we can do when Ian’s out of the chair for a week.)

   20. Failed SF shows of the 21st century. When CIA first started, there was a show about how FOX was killing SF, and we talked then about a whole range of shows that people half-remembered. I think the story of failed shows is interesting, and would like to renew the discussion. But I think a tighter net should be thrown, here. Instead of just having a completely open mike to air our gripes about shows that never made the grade, I’d like to just look back at this decade for things like “The Bionic Woman”, “Valentine”, “John Doe”, “Journeyman”, “Cleopatra 2525”, “Pushing Daisies”, “The Dresden Files” and others.

   21. Web-only shows like “LG15: The Resistance”, Whoopi Goldberg’s “Stream” or the Bruce Timm continuation of the Batman universe, “Gotham Girls”, might be places to start. What kinda stuff have you missed just because you’ve been focussed on your TV?

   22. And, finally, who’s better: Steve Austin or Jaime Sommers? A look at the comparative virtues of seventies’ pop icons and the time when slo-mo ruled the world.

   Comment by DarthSkeptical | July 6, 2009 | Reply

   • Many many good ideas Darth, Dave and I will defiantly be using many of these. A longer reply will follow then 🙂

     But one thing I want to get straight right now is that my dislike/disdain for any show or genre is no reason for not doing a show. While I have had less than glowing things
     to say about the BSG franchise, those comments have always been made in broad topic shows.
     While I would have less to contribute to a show about BSG it would not prevent me from showing up to run the show for the enjoyment of others, I’m here for the
     show not to serve my own interests. And that goes for any other ideas that folks have, if you have a topic and can find in our audience or bring enough people in for a good discussion then Dave and I will always be happy to sit back and run the show in the background.

     Keep the suggestions coming 🙂

     TheSixthDoctor
     Ian

     Comment by thesixthdoctor | July 7, 2009 | Reply

     • Ditto 🙂

       Will talk over all these ideas – and others with Ian. One good thing is that although we do like a lot of the same Cult shows are are others that we indiviually like.
       But as Ian says we try to take account of as many types of cultdom that we can.

       Cheers, daveac

       Comment by daveac | July 7, 2009

     • I think, Ian, that I perhaps didn’t communicate my point well enough. I didn’t mean to suggest that you couldn’t run a show on a subject that you didn’t like, but merely that it might be difficult for you to run a show on a subject about which you know comparatively little. It would be as difficult for you to run a show on BSG as it would for me to run one on Season 3 of Primeval. Because I turned off that show, it’d be much harder for me to run a show on it — except perhaps from the perspective of an investigative journalist trying to piece together an enigma. You certainly have demonstrated your ability to administer shows on topics about which you were not particularly enthused, and I wouldn’t want to accuse you of bias in any way. In fact, as is demonstrated by our friends at MMM and Tachyon TV, some of the most entertaining podcasts ever made are those which feature a disgruntled host.

       Comment by DarthSkeptical | July 7, 2009

3. A slash show hey? 😉

   Just tell me when and give me some time to prepare it (and actually due research) and I’ll do it.
   I just hope Misha can make that show and back me up.
   … and remember you boys asked for this, be scared

   Comment by Sam | August 14, 2009 | Reply

   • Well if you can co-ordinate with her and the two of you come
     up with your content etc, just let us know when would be a
     good time for the both of you.
     Also we would need to discuss a rating level for that show so
     you can discuss the subject without being encumbered by the content.

     Comment by iandave | August 14, 2009 | Reply

4. 2009 Convention Season.
   As several of us have been to various events over the past few months.

   Comment by Tiggs Panther | August 23, 2009 | Reply

5. There are another couple of topics I’d like to see covered at some point.

   The first of which is “Webcomics”. Like podcasts, they do tend to cover all sorts of interests and genres. Some are huge. Some are niche. But all can be entertaining.

   The other is “Tokusatsu” – Japanese Live Action, especially the TV shows. Such as Ultraman, Kamen Rider, Metal Heroes and Super Sentai. As well as some of their Western adaptations, such as Power Rangers.

   Comment by Tiggs Panther | September 13, 2009 | Reply

6. Hi I love your show,fantastic jobs,i been listening to your show since it first started carry on from podshock. For person who is not a techno savy can you guys do an instructions on how to join in to the show with comments not verbal, i tried to go on to talkshoe that was diaster,if you can be basic.

   Comment by KathyO | December 10, 2010 | Reply

   • Hi KathyO,
     Thanks for the comments.
     The best wayto come onto a Talkshoe call is via the Talkshoe Pro client rather than just on a Browser Page.

     The easiest way to learn how to do that is to watch this video done by Logan who works for Talkshoe – its on his YouTube page – here is the Link – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8Se79TfYgM

     Cheers, daveac

     Comment by daveac | December 10, 2010 | Reply

7. I just listened to your “The Mythological Dimensions of Doctor Who”. I love ever second of the interview.

   I’m looking forward to your Doctor Who, this is your life show.

   I’m not sure if this person fits your interview show; but, here’s a show idea: James Burke…that bad-ass science historian. I saw his The Day the World Changed series when I was a child. His series blew my mind open.

   I love this guy! I wish he was my teacher (in every subject) as I grew up! Burke, in my opinion, may be greater than Carl Sagan and Cosmos because Burke laid the foundation for me knowing what I didn’t know, he “connected everything”.

   The world got smaller when my mind grew bigger. Burke showed me how little I knew about the world as that child. That was the day my world changed.

   Comment by peter...cleveland, oh, US. | December 13, 2010 | Reply

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