SPACE — all episodes — Fantasy/Animation

Episode 78 - Treasure Planet (Ron Clements & John Musker, 2002) (with Ron Clements and John Musker)

The 2002 Disney science-fiction epic Treasure Planet (Ron Clements & John Musker, 2002) is the focus of Episode 78 of the podcast, which looks at the melding together of the Disney formula with space fantasy in this swashbuckling adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1883 adventure novel Treasure Island. Joining Chris and Alex for this bumper episode are two very special guests: Ron Clements and John Musker, who aside from writing and directorial duties on Treasure Planet are known as a filmmaking duo absolutely central to the renaissance of Disney animation in the 1980s and 1990s.

Episode 69 - Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Rian Johnson, 2017) (with Helen O'Hara)

Following our take on Star Wars: The Force Awakens (J.J. Abrams, 2015), the next instalment in the new Star Wars trilogy gets the Fantasy/Animation treatment for Episode 69, as Chris and Alex (and the Force) battle through Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Rian Johnson, 2017) to talk about its gender politics, questions of fandom and the film’s narrative of resistance, rebellion and struggle for power. Joining them for this celebration of contemporary Hollywood science-fiction is film critic and journalist Helen O’Hara, editor-at-large of Empire film magazine, and author of the book The Ultimate Superhero Movie Guide (2020) and the recent Women vs. Hollywood: The Fall And Rise Of Women In Film (2021).

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantMarch 15, 2021SPACE, SPECIAL EFFECTS, HISTORY, FRANCHISE, STAR WARS, STARDOMComment

Episode 37 - Star Wars: The Force Awakens (J.J. Abrams, 2015) (with Becca Harrison)

Beginning the New Year in a galaxy far, far away, Chris and Alex turn for the first time to the seminal Star Wars franchise for their latest episode, this time revisiting the first in the latest sequel trilogy Star Wars: The Force Awakens (J.J. Abrams, 2015). Joining them for this journey through this epic space fantasy is Dr Becca Harrison, Lecturer in the Theatre, Film & Television Studies department at the University of Glasgow. Becca has written extensively on Star Wars for both the BFI and The Conversation, and is also the author of two upcoming books on the Star Wars franchise.