Boston SciFi Presents

Boston SciFi Presents

Exploring sci-fi, fantasy and speculative films through the lens of imagination & imagery.

Episodes

October 3, 2025 50 mins

Fun and engaging. On this show, we have aliens masquerading as teachers, an imaginary woman , a time traveling teen,  a Mensa candidate messing with lasers and some Community College professors facing an alien invasion. These are the films in GETTING SCHOOLED, the latest Boston SciFi Podcast. It’s all about looking at films where the action takes place in a school. REAL GENIUS, THE FACULTY, EVOLUTION, BACK TO THE FUTURE and  John H...

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#japanese animation, or #anime, is unique for its complex storytelling, vibrant style and dynamic characters. It holds a unique place in #filmdom. #BostonSciFi looks at five anime films -#akira, #Miyasaki, #PrincessMonoke, #Vamire Hunter D, #howlsmovingcastle, #myneighbortotoro - seeking what makes them trick. In this episode we delve through iconic movies like Vampire Hunter D, Howl’s Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, Akira and ma...

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The studios were crumbling. There was unrest in the country and Hollywood would never be the same. Check out film director David Giancola and critic Alexis den Boggende as they unwrap essential 60s science fiction films. From Planet of the Apes to 2001, with stops at When the Earth Caught Fire  and Quatermass and the Pit, a look at a defining decade of film. 
And in a digression, the guests opined, negatively,  about Glen Powel...

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It was a decade of scandal, war, and unrest. People fought for their rights. And the push back is still being felt in 2025. It was a time when the decaying Studio System looked like 35mm film burning up on the screen. But along came a generation raised visual images,  who then  imagined new stories, authentic stories, Add in technological advances and we find something new. And that something new has shaped the next 50 years of fil...

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For Hollywood, summer is THE time for movies. tent poles, popcorn movies, family films all drive the business like no other period in the year. With increasing challenges facing it, a lot is riding on the summer 2025 crop of films. Hollywood needs this summer to be winner. Listen in as Boston Hassle's Oscar Goff and Charlie Pettiffy along with host Garen Daly take a deep into 2025's summer films.

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What do ALIENS, John Carpenter's THE THING, STAR WARS EPISODE V: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, BILL & TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE, and E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL have in common? They're all examples of great 1980s scifi movies and how the decade helped define the genre as we know it today. On this episode, Boston SciFi Director Garen Daly is joined by Assistant Director Melissa Starker and Boston SciFi volunteer/Boston ...

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The 90s was a time when things changed.  Cultural shifts and the emergence of the digital world  scratch the surface. It's impact is undeniable. The movies of the time reflected these changes. Join us as we look at 10 'must see' movies from the 1990s. On tap, The Matrix,  Jurassic Park, Starship Troopers, Galaxy Quest, 12 Monkeys and more.

Guests: Alexis den Boggende, Film Critic Boston Hassle

David Giancola, Film Dire...

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Two of our favorite team members, Suzzanne Cromwell and Melissa Starker,  pull back the curtains on how Boston SciFi choses shorts and then creates programs. From the watching, to the selecting, to creating the flow, see what goes on inside a film festival


#podcast #filmfestival #shortfilm

You can find us on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, I Heart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts from. Y...

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Fifty years is a long time. Much has happened. Much has changed. Fifty years ago the Boston Science Fiction Film Festival began at a legendary movie theatre. Later it overcame a fire, an historic blizzard, and a plague. It overcame changing demographics, and rapidly evolving technologies.  We have gone from seeing movies only in movie theatre to being able to catch a blockbuster while riding on a bus. Authors Robert Viagas and Harr...

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November 19, 2024 52 mins

Good movies have good actors. Better movies have better actors. They're called character actors. No longer typed as gangster or slapstick comedian, modern character actors show, range, understand psychology and film history. Listen in as film commentators Alexis den Boggende & Oscar Goff join MC Garen Daly in zoom through JK Simmons, Angela Bassett, Steve Buscemi, Brad Dourif and Paul GIamatti as five such examples. A fun,...

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Melissa Starker
David Giancola

You can find us on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, I Heart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts from. You can also find us on our YouTube Channel, BostonSciFi.

Thank you. Please comment, like and share. And if you have an idea for a podcast, please share it with us.

Many of our podcasts include movie trailers and clips from movies. These may ...

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Memory implants, replicants, alternative realities, and fake reality - these are some of the elements that make stories by Philip K Dick resonant decades after his death, and what makes them fodder for 'high concept' Hollywood films. Join author/crtic Hope Madden & film programmer Melissa Starker as Boston SciFi Presents UNIVERSAL MEMORIES: The Films of Philip K Dick. Garen Daly is the host, who apologies in advance f...

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Visitors from another world are a relatively recent theme in movies that started in the 50s. Since then we have all sorts of illegal immigrants from genial neighbors to human eating nasties. Please join us as Simon Foster, Festival Director of the Sydney SciFi Film Fest and author Dan Kimmel probe #killerklownsfromouterspace, #attacktheblock, #paul, #marsattacks and more. So unholster your ray guin and enjoy ALIEN PROBES & OTHE...

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Humans make them and use them. They can be safe, clunky contraptions or svelte streamline bodies, but they are designed to make our lives better. And in the process we imbue them with our emotions and sometimes are neurosis. TO SERVE MAN looks at how robots are depicted in movies.

Weighing in with commentary and humor are Alexis den Boggende, Boston Hassle film critic and David Giancola, film director. Boston SciFi Film Fe...

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You see their faces in movies and on TV. You hear their voices in animation, but you never quite know who they are. Listen in as film directors Hope Madden and David Giancola join MC Garen Daly as they try and define what a character actor is in the 21st century. Featuring #dickmiller, Catherine O'Hara, #jameshong, Keith David  Brion James & more. Plus we'll look at when does a character actor become a star. It's...

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There's horror and then there is BODY HORROR Listen in as film critic Alexis den Boggende and Broke Horror Fan creator Alex DiVincenzo explains;ain the difference. featuring Cronenberg' The Fly, The Human Centipede, Re-Animator, John Carpenter's The Thing with appearances by Tusk, Frankenstein,  Altered States & Tetsuo.  Maybe there is a fate worse than death.

#podcast #movies #newpodcastalert #hollywood...

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May 27, 2024 would have been Harlan Ellison's 90th birthday. To appreciate this seminal writer, Boston SciFi talks with noted author Nat Segaloff on his book  A LIT FUSE and his relationship with Harlan. We talk #StarTrek, #ScoobyDoo, #OuterLimits, #Terminator,  lawsuits and more. Inside stories and  funny moments all about one of speculative fiction's most unique writer.

#podcast  #movies #newpodcastalert #holly...

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The Hollywood pundits are holding their breath as studios release films this summer of 2024. We're in the post-Covid period. Hollywood is just coming out of production delays from the various strikes and a lot is riding on whether or not audiences will return to the cinemas.  Listen in as film critic Erin Underwood and Boston Hassle lead film reviewer Oscar Goff join host Garen Daly as they look at expectations, predictions an...

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April 25, 2024 47 mins

As humans, sinister robots  have been around since the days of Edison. We see them in the malfunctioning Yul Brenner of WESTWORLD, or the single-minded  killing machine of THE TERMINATOR, or Alicia Vikander's AI powered humanoid in EX MACHINA  or the nascent super intelligence of Ultron . They threaten us. 

Host Garen Daly dives into this world of emotionless adversaries with film critic Erin Underwood and film director David G...

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April 25, 2024 46 mins

They challenge  the powers that be. They lead revolutions. And the score big at the box office.  Often these films come in  blockbusters  like #DUNE, #STARWARS and more. Sometimes they come in smaller, sharply focused films like #MIDNIGHTSPECIAL or #CHILDRENOFMEN. 

Join us, as we genuflect into  the realms of science fiction through the complexities of belief, destiny snd the human condition. This podcast's conversation is bein...

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