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Imaginary Worlds
Imaginary Worlds sounds like what would happen if NPR went to ComicCon and decided that’s all they ever wanted to cover. Host Eric Molinsky spent over a decade working as a public radio reporter and producer, and he uses those skills to create thoughtful, sound-rich episodes about science fiction, fantasy, and other genres of speculative fiction. Every other week, he talks with comic book artists, game designers, novelists, screenwriters, filmmakers, and fans about how they craft their worlds, why we suspend our disbelief, and what happens if the spell is broken. Imaginary worlds may be set on distant planets or parallel dimensions, but they are crafted here on Earth, and they’re always about us and our lived experiences.
267 episodes transcribed
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Arts
Superheroes in the Ring
Episode Date: August 7, 2019Mexican wrestling (aka Lucha Libre) has a lot in common with the superhero genre, but trying to be a superhero in real life has its own set of challen...
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Arts
Dirk Maggs
Episode Date: July 25, 2019I talked with legendary audio drama producer Dirk Maggs for an episode about the history of radio dramas last year-- but a lot of great material ended...
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The Undertaker
Episode Date: July 11, 2019He's one of the most popular pro-wrestlers of all time, but Mark Calaway’s undead character The Undertaker is also an anachronism from a different era...
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Hero Props vs. Fake Props
Episode Date: June 26, 2019Imagine walking into your living room, and alongside your couch is a prop from one of your favorite childhood movies. Sure, it was costly but this is...
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Nerdlesque
Episode Date: June 12, 2019Burlesque has merged with geek culture to form nerdlesque – where characters from familiar fantasy franchises strip down to pasties and g-strings. Ner...
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Sidekicks: Harley Quinn
Episode Date: May 29, 2019In the conclusion of our mini-series on sidekicks, we look at how Harley Quinn began as a sidekick to a villain, and found her way to the heart of the...
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Sidekicks: Tonto and Kato
Episode Date: May 15, 2019In part two of our mini series on sidekicks, we look at two characters that have travelled in parallel since they came out of the same radio station i...
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Sidekicks: Watson
Episode Date: May 1, 2019To kick off our mini-series on sidekicks, we look at the most iconic and long-standing sidekick in pop culture: Doctor Watson. For 130 years, Watson h...
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Rod Serling's Key of Imagination
Episode Date: April 17, 2019Witness if you will a writer: Rod Serling. This is the story of a man with a vision -- a vision of what television could be if only men ceased to oper...
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The Hero's Journey Endgame
Episode Date: April 3, 2019Ever since George Lucas cited Joseph Campbell’s 1949 book, “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” as the inspiration for Star Wars, Hollywood screenwriters...
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Slaughterhouse at Fifty
Episode Date: March 20, 201950 years ago this month, Kurt Vonnegut introduced Billy Pilgrim and the aliens who gave him time traveling powers in his novel Slaughterhouse Five. Ma...
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Tales of Margaret Brundage
Episode Date: March 7, 2019In the 1930s Margaret Brundage was the hottest pulp fiction magazine illustrator. She primarily painted covers for Weird Tales magazine, which publish...
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The Man Behind the Sword
Episode Date: February 21, 2019Conan the Barbarian is generally thought of as a muscle-bound brute who fights his way through a made-up ancient world. But the character actually has...
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The Power of the Makeover Mage
Episode Date: February 7, 2019In some video games, you can choose which character you want to play, and you can customize the look of those characters. For many transgender players...
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Choose Your Own Adventure
Episode Date: January 24, 2019One of the unique aspects of video games is that you can control the characters. But game developers are often torn between wanting to give the player...
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Reimagining the Gods
Episode Date: January 10, 2019Madeline Miller received critical acclaim for her novels The Song of Achilles and Circe – which reimagine The Iliad and The Odyssey told from the pers...
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A Visit by Three Ghosts
Episode Date: December 24, 2018In a special stocking stuffer of an episode, Stephanie Billman and I discuss why A Christmas Carol set the template for SF stories to come -- from Bac...
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Board Games Go Indie
Episode Date: December 13, 2018We all grow up playing board games and card games, and now those games are growing up as well. I check out BostonFIG (festival of independent games),...
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How I Won the Larp
Episode Date: November 29, 2018In my 2017 episode Winning the Larp, I looked at the history of larps (live action role plays) and how the larping experience is deeply personal for e...