Sci-Fi Happy Hour

Sci-Fi Happy Hour

Commentary about Science Fiction and geek culture.

Episodes

November 27, 2025 89 mins

Episode 029. Preamble. (01:11) Introducing Actor Writer Aarti Hari Chopra (04:08) Dune and the way people see themselves in stories, (16:20) AI Coming for Artists Jobs, Propaganda, and the power of celebrities, (29:13) Obelisks, Discussion on History, we’re all just humans, and Who is running the world? (51:39) Writing the Scene: The Most Emotionally Edible Feast. Aarti plays the part of Aubrey, a dog owner about to prepare a Thank...

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Episode 028. The Shutdown is about to end, Ted’s Moon Base Alpha T-shirt, and the idea to have a bare-chested booth at ComiCon. (04:47) Predator: Badlands, (35:16) Veterans Day observation, Ted talks about his service in the US Navy, (38:25) President Woodrow Wilson’s Message to America on the first Armistice Day, (42:00) Kwinn talks about his service in the US Marine Corps.

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Episode 027. Preamble. (01:17) Movie: Mars Attacks. (20:34) Netflix and Comcast Interested in Buying Warner Bros Discovery, (27:30) Control: The Illusion of Choice. (41:04) Kwinn’s Fan Made Star Wars Movie Begins Filming.

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Episode 026. Kwinn’s Preparation for the fan-made Star Wars film. (06:12) Recommended Sci-Fi Movies for Halloween, (28:23) 2025-PN7 Earth’s quasi-satellite. (35:22) Star-studded movies are losing money and the shrinking attention span of audiences.

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Episode 025. Ted Describes a Family Wedding He Recently Attended and Introduces Bradley Walker. (03:09) Demon Slayer, (21:27) Berserk, (41:01) Attack on Titan (52:47) and Sci-Fi Happy Hour Playhouse: The Challenge of Master Ted’s Dojo.

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Episode 024. Ted talks a tad about the ongoing government shutdown and Kwinn shares a little about the Star Wars fan film he’s making. (09:27) Next, we discuss our impression of Tron: Ares, (18:33) the character of Ares, the disconnect with audience expectations, and Depeche Mode. (28:32) The story lacked something and why was Kevin Flynn so old? (40:38) We move onto the Predator: Badlands trailer, and the release date will be prec...

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Episode 023. An introduction to author Chris Tannhauser, he describes his work and shares how he grew into writing. (07:44) Next, we read an excerpt from Chris’ piece titled ENDNOTES FROM THE NEW PHRENOLOGY, an entertaining and vivid story about wizards, and Ted analyzes MOSTLY SKIN, Chris’ alternate history of the Weinermobile. Chris explains how he sees the short story format as an experience. (26:40) Chris’ favorite movies. (32:...

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Episode 022. Looming government shutdown. (08:28) Movie trailer: Tron: Ares. (14:28) AI generated actress Tilly Norwood. (34:29) AI cultural icons; role models. (44:40) Robots taking jobs of human workers.

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Episode 021. We’re talking Episode 8 of Alien Earth, focusing on the opening scenes of Arthur’s corpse on the beach and Dame’s visit to Marcy Hermit's grave. We debate the title "The Real Monsters," questioning whether it referred to Boy Kavalier and his cohorts, the Lost Boys, the alien specimens, or all the characters acting as monsters. We analyze the scene where Dame leaves a flower at the grave. Inconsistencies with how firear...

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Episode 020. What’s with the oversized vent ducting from the lab? We analyzed the plot, character development, and inconsistencies in the story. Ted and Ruben agree Curly's character did not have a significant impact on the narrative. Ruben suggests Curly's character might be saved for a potential showdown in the next season. We also debate Wendy's motivations for releasing the xenomorph and discussed the alien's behavior in previo...

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Episode 019. Tootles’ Deadly Blunder in the Specimen Hold, What’s with the Incubation Period? And does Boy Kavalier fit the Peter Pan Archetype? (14:28) How a Youngster in a Hybrid Body Would Behave, Could the Broken Door Panel be a Set Up by Kirsh? Our Supposition of a Second Season, and Hermit meets with Arthur about Dangers on the Island (29:10) How Long Have Xenomorphs been on Earth? Alien: Mahna Mahna, Wolf “T.Ocellus” in Shee...

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Episode 018. Ted swiftly reviews his trip to the 50th Anniversary of Space:1999 conference at Burbank, CA. (02:52) Guest Ruben on deck again mentions the movie Weapons. (05:46) The leaked video showing a Hellfire missile fired from a US drone seemingly bouncing off a UAP near Yemen. (24:27) 3I/ATLAS Interstellar traveler on its way towards Earth. (36:18) Part 3 of ongoing discussion about Alien: Earth.

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Episode 017. (A Continuation of Episode 016 with Guest Ruben Davila) Only a Crew Like This Would Crash the Maginot, Noah Hawley’s Direction, Aliens on Earth, Peter Pan References, USCSS Maginot. (13:32) Boy Kavalier and the Synthetics, Aliens and the Terraforming Colony on LV-426, Maternal Stakes, Alien III, Cinematic Deaths of Aliens, Evolution of Synthetics. (40:20) Favorite Synthetics. Lack of Alphas in Alien: Earth, Fede Álvare...

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Episode 016. Ted announces his plan to attend the Los Angeles: 1999 A 50th Anniversary Celebration of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s Space: 1999. This Historic Event Runs September 12th to 14th, 2025. (2:04) Guest Ruben Davila returns. (03:06) We discuss the Alien franchise, from its original offering in 1979 to the current show: Alien: Earth. (15:54) The Alien timeline, Ted Doubts David Wiped Out the Engineers, (29:07) The Consistenc...

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Episode 015. Kwinn talks about his recent scene work in Los Angeles. (7:38) Myths & Conspiracies: Sounds and signs from space and (10:17) crop circles. (27:18) A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick, government tracking, and the root problem of Substance D. (34:18) Movie: Ghost in the Shell 2.0 – discussions on technoparanoia, hacking into a person, influences on cinema, and (52:23) quoting Shaolin Master Shi Heng Yi and Greek phil...

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Episode 014. U.S. Coast Guard seagoing buoy tender ships at Juneau, Alaska. (4:44) Next, the “Buy” button is a lie, consumer ownership rights and the class action lawsuit against deceptive selling of digital goods. (23:01) World-building – Ted and Kwinn share some ideas. (28:50) Inventing a religion in your sci-fi story. (33:33) It is so easy to build a cult-like following, the Branch Davidians, Heaven’s Gate, taking a different ap...

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Episode 013. Announcing the premiere of the movie Red Light Teachers where Kwinn, Ted, and Ted’s brother appeared as background actors. (3:06) We chat about Dr. Who, (17:52) Sci-Fi News Bites, and (29:13) then we listen to Ted’s Top Ten: Sci-Fi Uniforms.

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A brief introduction to Sci-Fi aficionado Ruben Davila, our (07:26) interview covers Ruben’s Jurassic World: Rebirth viewing and discussion about Paul Verhoeven’s Total Recall (1990) with a comparison to Len Wiseman’s Total Recall (2012), then onto Flat Earth vs Round Earth and frequencies in space. Near the show’s end (50:04) listen to 99.9 KWIN and the episode of the Backbacknapper.

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Episode 011. An intro about movie editing then we (7:47) talk about the trailer Dune 3: Messiah (2026), (23:20) the first Sci-Fi story ever told, (43:43) and the world of popular sci-fi modeling.

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Episode 010. Our intro covers a recent 8.8 earthquake in Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, (06:29) we discuss the mythical El Chupacabras, (28:36) back and forth about multiverse theory.

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