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This week’s episode of Rag-NERD-rok is a continuation of the discussion we began last week covering geek culture in The 20th Century. We’ll talk about the rise of “The Big Three” of sci-fi, Orson Welles‘ infamous War of the Worlds broadcast, Universal Studios’ iconic horror films of the 1930s and ’40s, Walt Disney’s early work, and The Golden Age of comic books. After the break, we conduct an off-the-cuff Will interview, plumbing the depths of his psyche with the most random questions we can conceive of.
(Show notes after the break.)
I. Cold Opening – Send In The (Nut-punching) Clowns (00:00:00)
If brevity is the soul of wit, then getting punched in the groin is its rotting carcass. Just ask Erik!
II. Geek Century II Intro. (1926-50) (00:00:35)
Ed introduces the show and the guys get up to their usual stupidity. After a SEAMLESS TRANSITION involving a never-before-heard nickname, we move along to:
IIa. The Big Three of Sci-Fi (Alex / “The Man with The Plan”) (00:03:10)
Alex covers the early careers of Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov and Robert A. Heinlein, the fathers of modern science fiction.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Clarke:
- Childhood’s End
- 2001 series
Asimov:
- Foundation series
- “The Final Question”
Heinlein:
- The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
- Stranger in a Strange Land
- “By His Bootstraps”
- “–And He Built A Crooked House–“
- Future History series
IIb. Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds Broadcast (Ed) (00:12:55)
Ed discusses the storytelling techniques and ramifications of The Mercury Theater’s notorious Halloween broadcast of 1938.
IIc. Universal Horror Films (Ryan) (00:21:24)
Ryan covers the classic horror films from the 1930s and ’40s, such as Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Invisible Man and The Wolf Man. He also mentions some of the less-than classic sequels, such as Dracula’s Daughter, House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula.
(NOTE: Not to be confused with Hammer horror films of the 1950s and ’60s.)
IId. The Early Work of Walt Disney (Meyer) (00:36:55)
Meyer discusses some early Disney classics, such as Alice’s Wonderland and Steamboat Willie, as well as his first feature animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
IIe. The Golden Age of Comic Books (Erik) (00:47:43)
Erik covers the early history of DC and Marvel, as well as the origins of several well known superheroes that have withstood the test of time.
III. An Impromptu Interview with Will Wohlsen (00:55:49)
We made these questions up!
1.) If you could insert yourself into any piece of art, replacing the subject, which piece of art would you choose?
American Gothic, by Grant Wood. He would be the old man holding the pitchfork.
2.) If you could be any piece of fruit, which fruit would you be and why?
A dragon fruit, because dragon fruits are FUCKING AWESOME!
3.) If you could give birth to any historical figure in the history of man, who would it be?
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Billy Joe Armstrong is #2, and Jesus trails in third.
4.) If we could clone you and you were given the opportunity to hang out for a day, what would you do with yourself?
Probably hang out, play video games and watch TV. He would NOT ask his girlfriend if she would have a threesome with him and him (because that would be inappropriate.
5.) Which tragic Shakespearean hero do you most relate to?
He only knows Hamlet and Romeo, and he feels he’s less like Romeo. So Hamlet.
IV. Outro (01:10:00)
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Copyright Notice:
Rag-NERD-rok Podcast by Alex Costello, Edward Cress, Erik Dickash, Ryan Mannix and Billy Meyer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available by contacting info@ragnerdrok.com.