New to Journey Through Sci-Fi? Start Here

If you've been meaning to give the show a go and haven't known where to jump in, this is the one. Before we launch our next full series, we're heading back through the archive for a starter pack episode: a guided tour through the worlds, subgenres and strange obsessions we've spent the last few years digging into, built from some of our favourite clips.

What's in the episode

We revisit some of the biggest ideas in sci-fi cinema across seven of our favourite conversations:

• Star Wars: The Original Trilogy and the mythic storytelling underneath it

• Metropolis and the blueprint it laid down for everything after

• Blade Runner, artificial intelligence and a very uneasy sort of humanity

• Groundhog Day and the time loop done as close to perfectly as anyone has managed

• The Matrix Trilogy and simulated reality

• Mad Max and a world in the middle of collapsing

• Event Horizon, still the best haunted house in space we have

If any of these grab you, the full episodes are linked above and worth going back to in their own right.

Longtime listener or brand new?

Either works. If you've been with us a while, this is a chance to revisit old favourites and hear how our arguments have shifted. If you're new, it's the shortest route to working out whether we're your kind of podcast before you commit to a full series.

What's next: We Come in Peace

Our new series explores the history of friendly aliens on screen, and it begins soon. Follow or subscribe to Journey Through Sci-Fi now so you don't miss episode one.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or hit play above. For bonus episodes and Patron's Pick, head to our Patreon.