Two Old Farts Talk Sci-Fi – Details, episodes & analysis

Two Old Farts Talk Sci Fi takes a look at the great television theme songs that are SFFH (science fiction, fantasy, and horror). We have a special guest. Lee McCormack joins us. He was our guest for our 3-part "Galactic Rock" episodes from a few seasons ago. Troy and David and Lee each came up with their own top ten list of theme songs. We hope you enjoy!

Welcome to Two Old Farts Talk Sci Fi. And welcome to... Prisoners of Gravity: The Reunion. Five people joined Troy and David for this 35th anniversary show... Host / Co-Creator: Rick Green Producer / Co-Creator: Mark Askwith Producer / Director: Gregg Thurlbeck Associate Producer: Shirley Brady Most Frequent Guest: Robert J. Sawyer We hope you enjoy! BIOS = = = RICK GREEN People may know Rick Green from his days with The Frantics comedy troupe, and as ‘Bill’ on The Red Green Show, which he co-created. Rick also created History Bites. And, of course, he was ‘Commander Rick,’ host of Prisoners of Gravity. He is a member of the Order of Ontario and The Order of Canada for his contribution to Canadian culture and mental health. Rick’s most recent work on his YouTube channel is, ‘Rick Has ADHD.’ = = = MARK ASKWITH Mark Askwith is a writer, interviewer, and Television Producer. After graduating from the University of Toronto, he worked at Coach House Press. From 1982-87 he managed Silver Snail Comics. He left to write comics, and to work on the award-winning documentary Comic Book Confidential. In 1989 he approached Daniel Richler, tv Ontario’s Head of Arts, and pitched a popular culture show, and Prisoners of Gravity was the result. In 1997 he became a Founding Producer of SPACE, Canada’s National Science Fiction Channel. = = = GREGG THURLBECK Since retiring from TVO's The Agenda with Steve Paikin, back in 2019, Gregg Thurlbeck has focused on a range of interests including swim coaching and photography. Gregg was an exhibitor in the Contact Photography Festival and contributes to the international photography site, 52Frames.com. Gregg is also a coordinator with the Life Institute Photo Club, associated with Toronto Metropolitan University. Gregg coaches the Alderwood Masters, is the VP of Masters Swimming Ontario and was Meet Manager for the 2024 MSO Masters Provincials swim meet in Markham. = = = SHIRLEY BRADY Shirley Brady (Story Editor, Associate Producer, and NanCY!) joined Prisoners of Gravity (POG for short) in season one, with roles including book wrangling, bookcase building, research, booking guests, interviewing and sneaking puns into scripts. After POG’s untimely demise she moved to Hong Kong, working for Discovery Channel and TIME, and then continued her career as a writer / editor / producer in New York, where she still lives with her family. She adds: R.I.P. to Lorna Toolis and Sally Millar! = = = ROBERT J. SAWYER Robert J. Sawyer, a member of the Order of Canada, was the most-frequent guest on PRISONERS OF GRAVITY. He has won the Hugo, Nebula, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards, all for best science-fiction novel of the year, as well as Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards, known as "Auroras," - He has more of these than anyone else in history. The ABC TV series FlashForward was based on his novel of the same name. His latest novel is THE DOWNLOADED. = = = = = PRAISE / COMMENTS (we have included the praise that David read during the taping, so those involved in PoG heard this and were very appreciative, but, due to time constraints, we were not able to include these in the audio for the podcast episode) Mike McKeever: I wish I remembered when I stumbled upon Prisoners but from that moment on I watched faithfully. Was already a fan of Rick from the earliest days of the Frantics on CBC radio. I learned so much about all the topics and genres discussed. Congrats and looking forward to listening when the pod drops Bob Milne: OMG, so many memories! I used to watch that on the old b&w TV in my room, picking up TVO from UHF. Seeing him again years later on Red Green took me right back. Happy 35th, Rick & Nan-Cy! Rob McLennan: that was such a great show Lloyd Penney: I was interviewed about Star Trek clubs in the first season…our best to Commander Rick and Mark and Gregg and Shirley, and to all who worked on that great show. I think it needs to be revived. Shirley Meier: I loved the interviews done on war and peace. I was talking about bad human designs (Why Things Still Don't Work) and said you want to give monkey the button? Cut to Jerry Pournelle talking about his fave new weapons system. Carol Robinson: I remember having the "So Long Earth" postcard. I have moved a couple of times so I don't know exactly where it is, but I don't throw away precious things… (I am now picturing the final (warehouse) scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark… ) David Simmons: Amazing show, the interview lineup was unbelievable Nancy Baker: One of my favorite shows. It introduced us to so many great writers and creators over the years. Patrick James Asselin: I’ve been calling Prisoners of Gravity a proto-podcast for years! Larry Hancock: A lot of on screen graphics for the first season came from my collections. I was living in an apartment just a couple blocks away from TVO and they borrowed a lot of items for images. Ira Nayman: This is a fantastic idea. I hope it goes very well! Cally Specht: Oh how cool Andre Lieven: Back when he was doing Harlan Ellison's Watching for the SciFi Channel in the US, Harlan also expressed his appreciation of PoG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQvLevjVX50 Matthew Cimone: This show shaped so much of my career and career aspirations! Just left a big emotional message already on Robert's wall about this but suffice it so say, I will definitely be keeping an ear out for this episode! Thank you all.

Our Valentine's Day Special looks at love in the Stephen King Universe. We have our guests from our Halloween Special, the two who run SK Tours (Stephen King Tours), Jamie Tinker and Jennifer Millar. This is a 2-part episode. PT1 will be broadcast on Saturday, Feb 10, 2024. PT2 will be broadcast on Saturday, Mar 09, 2024. In between, on Feb 24, will be our Black Superheroes episode with special guest Wayne Brown. When it comes to love in the Stephen King Universe, there are all kinds of love. First loves. The love of family. Unrequited love. Adolescent love. Love in the apocalypse. The love of a parent for their child. The love of a fan for her favorite writer. Troy and David and Jennifer and Jamie go through the books, look at the different kinds of love that exist. We ask Jennifer and Jamie to talk about their first speculative genre memory, the first genre thing they fell in love with, and their all time faves. We ask them what their first experience of love in the King universe. Who would have made the best prom king and queen in the novels of Stephen King? Who were your favorite couples? = = = Jamie Tinker and Jennifer Millar own and operate SK Tours of Maine out of Bangor. The three hour long tours are an authoritative celebration of Stephen King in general, as well as his fictional town of Derry.

TOF tackles the subject of religion, how it relates to genre, mostly movies and TV, mostly a Christian perspective. Religion is such a large topic, that it is hard to do it justice in one episode. We only have time to cover a few things. Jerome Stueart joins Troy and David for the episode. As a first time guest, we ask Jerome his first experiences with the speculative genre, and what he fell in love with. David also asks him what was the first genre thing he fell in love with. And Troy asks Jerome what his all-time faves are, in the 6 categories we ask now, which are: Favorite genre author, novel, shorter work, movie, TV show, TV episode. Troy does a short introduction of religion. Some of the things covered: The Chronicles of Narnia The Exorcist Deep Space 9 Mazes and Monsters Children of Men 5th Element Dogma Field of Dreams The bible as fantasy novel Contact The Book of Job God Game The Matrix Signs Carl Jung's Synchronicity Battle Star Galactica (BSG) This is our holiday episode, and part of what is also discussed, the idea of faith and religion as vehicles of hope, compassion. social justice, and caring for the poor. That loving each other is the message. And, how religion and fantasy work so well together. How faith may give you reasons to be compassionate. The question of what if, why is this happening, closure, grief, meaning, and purpose. TOF will hopefully return to the topic of religion, do a deeper dive, and cover other creation myths, the darker side of religion (covered briefly in this episode), Disc World, A Canticle for Leibowitz, the Sparrow, The Handmaid's Tale, and much more. = = = Jerome Stueart is a gay writer and artist whose writing has appeared in F&SF, Fantasy, Tor.com, Geist, Strange Horizons, On Spec, and several Tesseracts anthologies. In 2020 he was a finalist for the World Fantasy Award in Short Fiction. His work is often found at the intersection of science fiction, fantasy, and faith.  As co-editor of the 2015 anthology Wrestling with Gods (Tesseracts 18), he asked others to explore that same intersection. Stueart lived for nearly a decade in the Yukon, but now lives, writes, and paints in Dayton, Ohio, as well as working in a café bakery.

Dr. Strangelove is the granddaddy of all satirical movies. A great cast contributes to the story of a bomber crew being ordered to drop the bomb on the Russians. The order did not come from the President. It came from Jack D. Ripper, the commander of Burpelson Air Force Base, who exceeded his authority. He also seems to be overly concerned with bodily fluids, his essence, and fluoridation. Peter Sellers leads a great cast. He plays three roles: Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake; President Merkin Muffley; and, Dr. Strangelove. He is wonderful in each one. Troy Harkin and David Clink, the "Two Old Farts," are joined by Ira Nayman, whom Troy and David refer to as The Third Fart. Ira is the only guest who has appeared in all five season. Ira is the second guest to have appeared in five episodes, joining Bev Vincent as part of "The Farty Five" or a proud member of "The Fart-Timer's Club." When it comes to Dream Casting, and the Schrodinger's Cast, Ira Troy and David try to recast Peter Sellers, with the best possible alternative (Dream Cast) and an unusual, outside the box choice (Schrödinger's Cast). Character(s) Original Star Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake President Merkin Muffley Dr. Strangelove Peter Sellers Ira Nayman writes humour under the name, Ira Nayman. The Ugly Truth, his 8th novel with Elsewhen Press, was published in June, 2022. His two dozenth published short story, “Girls Rule the Steampunk World” appeared in Brave New Girls: Chronicles of Misses and Machines. In September, 2022, Ira celebrated the 20th anniversary of the weekly publication of Les Pages aux Folles, his web site of political and social satire. Ira was our guest for four previous episodes: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Mystery Men Twiddle Twaddle

This is the second of two parts that look at Superman in the movies. Troy and David look at the movies, from the George Reeves Mole Men to Zach Snyder's Justice League. Troy and David also do their DREAM CAST and SCHRODINGER'S CAST for Superman - the 1978 film, looking at these 6 roles: Character(s) Original Star(s) Superman / Clark Kent Christopher Reeve Lois Lane Margot Kidder Ma & Pa Kent Phyllis Thaxter & Glenn Ford Jimmy Olsen Marc McClure Lex Luthor Gene Hackman General Zod Terence Stamp

This is the first of two parts that look at Superman in the movies. Troy and David look at the movies, from the George Reeves Mole Men to Zach Snyder's Justice League.

Did you ever want to visit the sites in Stephen King novels? King set a number of his novels and short stories in the fictional town of Derry. Many feel that Derry is, in actuality, Bangor Maine, where Stephen has lived most of his life. Stephen King also believes that. Troy Harkin and his wife Christie went on the SK-Tours in October of 2022. TOF welcomes the couple that run the tour, to talk about it. Jamie Tinker and Jennifer Millar own and operate SK Tours of Maine out of Bangor. The three hour long tours are an authoritative celebration of Stephen King in general, as well as his fictional town of Derry.

Welcome to the first episode of season 5 of Two Old Farts Talk Sci-Fi! And what better character to launch a new season than a look at Superman? Troy and David look at Superman, from its beginning, the comics, graphic novels, the radio show, the various TV series, and some of the merchandise. Do you remember, as a child, running around the yard in a towel / Superman cape? And how about the Commander Tom Show, where they played episodes of the old George Reeves Adventures of Superman? Troy and David talk about Superman's nicknames, his pets. They also talk about the number of comics Superman appeared in, and the villains he faced. Who is your favorite Supervillain that Superman faced? Lex Luthor? Bizarro? Troy and David reveal their fave villains. Troy does his history of Superman, not to be missed. He also recommends some graphic novels that should not be missed. This is pt.1 of a 2-part episode. The second part (scheduled to be broadcast in four weeks, on Saturday, Nov 4, 2023), will look at the movies. In between, on Saturday, Oct 21, there will be an episode on the Stephen King Tour, a fitting October episode. This episode, pt. 1 of Superman, is being broadcast on Saturday, October 07, 2023.