Invasion of the Body Snatchers: Pod People & Paranoia Since 1956
Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever*
Release Date: 01/19/2025
X-Ray Eyes: Roger Corman’s 1963 Psychedelic Sci-Fi
Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever*
As always there are spoilers ahead! You can follow the podcast on social media on , and . If you would like to be a patron of the podcast you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. Roger Corman produced hundreds of films in his lifetime and directed dozens. X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes is a colourful, psychedelic, 1960s extravaganza with aspirations of transcendence. If you wanted to join in, you can watch the film X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes from 1963 first. DVDs of the film are available, but it is also...
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The Manchurian Candidate 1962: Politics, Power & Paranoia
Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever*
As always there are spoilers ahead! You can follow the podcast on social media on , and . If you would like to be a patron of the podcast you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. In 1959 at the cusp of a new and exciting decade Richard Condon wrote a book that is largely described as a political thriller. And it is a political thriller. But it also fits neatly into my concept of science fiction. To learn more about what is and isn’t science fiction you can head to the heady days of the first episode where the topic...
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The Day of the Triffids: Wyndham vs Sci-Fi Spectacle
Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever*
There are spoilers ahead for all versions of The Day of the Triffids and also for the film Signs. You can follow the podcast on social media on , and . If you would like to be a patron of the podcast you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. This episode had been edited down to a more digestible length of under an hour but a longer (audio only) version is available for Patreon subscribers (alongside the shorter option). We are doing things a little differently and discussing the 1963 film along with the source material...
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Panic in Year Zero: Nuclear Apocalypse & the Nuclear Family
Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever*
As always there are spoilers ahead! You can follow the podcast on social media on , and . If you would like to be a patron of the podcast you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. There is a trigger warning for discussion of rape in this episode. I have marked the beginning of that part of the discussion with a beep and the discussion lasts for four minutes and four seconds after the beep if you wanted to skip past it. Last week we told you “” but this week we focus in on the panic. ...
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Don't Panic: The Hitchhiker's Guide Phenomenon
Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever*
As always there are spoilers ahead. You can buy the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy book in most bookshops and you can listen to the radio play on YouTube and also on the Internet Archive. You can follow the podcast on social media on , and . If you would like to be a patron of the podcast you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show and be revered amongst both the G'Gugvuntts and the Vl'Hurgs: As mentioned elsewhere this is not an analysis of the film or any kind of review of the book but more like a chat...
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La Jetée: French New Wave's 1962 Sci-Fi Classic
Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever*
As always there are spoilers ahead! A quick note that I shall be at the London Film Festival on October the 16th giving a whistlestop tour of sci-fi cinema. It is a free event but you have to reserve tickets so if you happen to be in London and wanted to attend . Translation for the beginning of the podcast: “Later, he knew he had seen a man die. And sometime after came the destruction of Paris.” You can follow the podcast on social media on , and . If you would like to be a patron of the podcast you can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a...
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The Day the Earth Caught Fire: Britain’s 1961 Apocalypse
Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever*
As always there are spoilers ahead! If you’d like to join in on more conversations and keep up to date on what I’m working on you can follow me on social media: , and . After last episode’s UK village setting we stay in the country but head to London for a newsroom apocalyptic drama. We have more hints that we are heading into the 60s with a surly hero and a sultry ex-Disney heroine. The Day the Earth Caught Fire was finally released in 1961 after eight years of director Val Guest trying to get the film made. Perhaps the mid-50s Britian wasn’t...
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Village of the Damned: Creepy Kids & the Cosy Catastrophe
Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever*
As always there are spoilers ahead! You can follow the podcast on , and . If you want to support the podcast you can get ad free versions at . In 1956 the film The Bad Seed was a big hit for Warner Bros featuring a blond-haired evil child. One blond scary child sometimes isn't enough! Writer John Wyndham published The Midwich Cuckoos in 1957 which had already sold to MGM before he’d completed it. The film tells the story of a different kind of alien invasion. Midwich village is infested with pregnancies affecting the female population who all give birth to blonde...
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The Silent Star: 1960 East German Sci-Fi & the Space Race
Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever*
As always there are spoilers ahead! In 1951 Poland, during its Stalinist era, acclaimed science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem released his first book: The Astronauts. (He had already written the novel The Man from Mars which was serialised). In 1960 The Astronuats would go on to become the basis of East Germany’s ambitious communist sci-fi film Der schweigende Stern or The Silent Star. The script would go through 12 drafts before filming by which time Lem had removed his name from the project. Although the script lacks focus it is full of historical and cultural significance...
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The Time Machine: HG Wells’ Legacy in 1960s Sci-Fi
Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever*
As always there are spoilers ahead! You can follow the podcast on , and . HG Wells shadow is a long one and his seminal work on time travel was published in 1895. But well over a half a century later Hollywood was still hooked on Herbert (George Wells). The Time Machine was directed by George Pal and released 1960. From the turn of the century to the beginning of a new decade my amazing guests break down the themes and influences on this mid-century steampunk precursor. Keith Williams is a Reader in English Literature at the University of Dundee where he runs the...
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Description
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) spawned many remakes over the years, each rendition reflecting the anxieties of its time. The original film is one of my absolute favourites with a variety of potential meanings for a mid-century USA grappling with what it means to be American. My heavyweight sci-fi guests help to unravel the multiple threads.
The Experts
Barry Keith Grant is professor Emeritus of Film Studies at Brock University Canada. He has written/edited a huge number of books including the BFI Classics book on Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
Sherryl Vint is Professor of Science Fiction Media Studies at the University of California, Riverside. She has written/edited many books about science fiction.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
02:25 From book to screen: different visions, nostalgia and AI
07:24 Invaders from Mars: mistrust and madness
11:58 Sci-fi, Horror and Noir, oh my! The film gets framed with an ambiguous ending
21:21 Sleep, Shakespeare and tranquillisers
25:29 Capitalism vs communism: Corporate culture, McCarthyism and conformity
31:57 Becky: the frothing dress, changing social dynamics and divorce
41:07 The great remake: 1978 and the cynical fade of counter culture
47:22 The benefits of being a pod person
50:52 1993 remake
52:22 Recommendations
NEXT EPISODE!
The next episode is on one of the most underrated science fiction classics of all time: Forbidden Planet. You can buy or rent the 1956 film from many outlets or check the Just Watch website to see where it may be streaming in your region. It is worth checking platforms like Tubi and Pluto if they are available in your region.
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