The Disquieting Guest — Bracing for the Universal Monsterverse
In 2012, we witnessed an unusual (to put it mildly) phenomenon: The Avengers was simultaneously the start of a new franchise, and a sequel to four other franchises: Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Incredible Hulk. There was, however, a precedent. Almost 60 years earlier, in 1943, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man was a sequel to both The Ghost of Frankenstein (and thus the fourth Frankenstein film) and The Wolf Man. The two series merged into one, and Dracula would be added to the mix in the films that followed. The continuity was very loose, but it was there all the same. Now, Universal has announced that it is rebooting (yet again) its monster titles with the purpose of aping the Marvel Cinematic Universe. All the icons from the 30s and 40s will be present: the Frankenstein Monster, Dracula, the Mummy, the Wolfman, and the Invisible Man. Also present is the late arrival from the 50s, Universal’s last classic monster: the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Though the official start to the Monsterverse is the Mummy reboot in 2016, it appears that Dracula Untold has been rejigged slightly to act as a prologue (assuming it isn’t a miserable failure).
Episode 39 — Your Nihilistic Delusional Fantasy (of Doom)
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/www.archive.org/download/TheSkiffyAndFantyShow2.7–YourNihilisticDelusionalFantasyofDoom/Sandf–Episode2.7–YourNihilisticDelusionalFantasyofDoom.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSEveryone’s talking about it: the recent Big Hollywood anti-contemporary-fantasy rant! So, like good little specfic nuts, we’ve decided to join the discussion with our own take on fantasy and its supposed bankrupt nihilism. We try to have a little fun while doing it, but fun is really hard to manage when you’re dealing with so much dumb! Feel free to shoot us an email at skiffyandfanty [at] gmail [dot] com, leave a comment, or follow us on Twitter. We hope you enjoy the episode! Note: If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show! Here’s the episode (show notes are below): Episode 39 — Download (MP3) Intro and Main Discussion (0:00 – 33:05): “The Bankrupt Nihilism of Our Fallen Fantasists” (Also known as the Great Head in Sand “I’m Not Listening” Game) “Is Science Fiction Getting More Conservative?” (Alternatively, you might ask if it’s leaning the other way too!) Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0). That’s all, folks! Thanks for listening. See you next week.
