The 42cast

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds returned for it's third season last year. The season wrapped up the cliffhanger from season 2 and catapulted the cast into scenarios both farcical and horrific. In this episode we take a look at the season as a whole. We discuss whether the shenanigans have gone too far. We debate whether the Gorn resolution felt satisfactory. We talk about the horrific elements and h...

Silo is a post-apocalyptic series on Apple TV starring Rebecca Ferguson and based on the Silo book series by Hugh Howey. Ferguson plays Juliette Nichols an engineer turned sheriff who's pursuit of the truth in criminal investigations leads her to search for the truth about the history and world that she lives in. In this episode we review the first two seasons of the series. We discuss the setting...

This week The 42cast talks about Avatar. It's not the M. Night Shyamalan film, the animated show from Nickelodeon, or the film series by James Cameron. This is the live action series on Netflix based on the animated Avatar: The Last Airbender. In this episode we discuss the first season. We talk about the cast and what we think of the portrayal of their characters. We discuss the production values...

The world was stunned in 2021 when Disney announced that it would continue the popular series of X-Men: The Animated Series with X-Men '97. The decision came in the aftermath of huge streaming numbers for the original animated show on Disney+. Realizing that there was a market for a continuation, Disney decided to create a series as if it were being made in 1997 and was the next season for the ori...

You can't escape it, A.I. is everywhere. Whether it's visual images, formulaic essays, or videos depicting dead actors in new scenes you see the influence of A.I. all over. In this episode we discuss A.I. We talk about potential uses for the technology , how it's being utilized currently, and where we'd like to see it go in the future. We examine the unintended perils as well as the unethical prac...

Section 31 was originally meant to be a new Star Trek TV series on Paramount Plus. The Covid-19 pandemic put those plans on hold. By the time that the pandemic was over, Michelle Yeoh's career had been catapulted into the stratosphere by Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. Wanting to continue working with Yeoh Paramount re-tooled the series as a stand-alone movie and had the script rewritten 11 t...

The Mandalorian has been one of the most successful Star Wars series under the Disney era of Star Wars. Telling smaller stories than the Skywalker saga, The Mandalorian is a more character focused story that plays into fan-loyalty to the Mandalorian mythos as well as a devotion to the baby Yoda character, Grogu, created for this series. In this episode we examine The Mandalorian season 3. We discu...

The series for the MCU's newest title character, Wonder Man dropped earlier this year. It tells the story of Simon Williams as he navigates the Hollywood scene in an attempt to land his dream roll. His secret: that he has super powers in a world that mistrusts them. In this episode we discuss the first season of this new series. We talk about the portrayals of Simon and his friend, Trevor Slattery...

This time, The 42cast, is proud to welcome prolific animation writer Brynne Chandler on to the show. Brynne talks to us about her decades of experience, focusing on many ground-breaking series from the 80's and 90's including He-Man , Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles , Batman: The Animated Series , and Gargoyles . She talks with us about her experiences working in the industry and her thoughts on some...

From time immemorial people have told tales of monsters. Are those creatures alien? Forces of Nature? Twisted humans? A new kind of life? In this episode we examine all of the ins and outs of what makes a monster. We talk about what scares us and why that might be appealing. We question whether humans can be the true monsters all along. We also get into what we like about monster stories. Our five...

The Day the Earth Stood Still was a film released in 1951. It tells the story of an alien visitor coming to Earth with an important message for mankind. Humanity fears him, but the greatest threat to them is their own paranoia. In this episode we discuss this film. We talk about the characters and what we think of the performances. We discuss the effects and both how and why they hold up even toda...

For four seasons For All Mankind has told an alternate history of our world. Set in a world where the space race continued, because the Russians put a man on the moon first, the series tells a generational saga about humanity's exploration of space. With a fully fleshed out alternate universe and a hopeful yet pragmatic bent the series is truly unique in the television landscape. In this episode w...

Last time that we discussed Invincible we talked about how it stands many of the superhero tropes on its head and gives powerful characterizations without wallowing in cynicism as so many series do. In this episode we take a look at the third season of Amazon Prime's Invincible. We discuss what this season teaches us about Mark, Nolan, Cecil, and others. We question whether Nolan is a redeemable c...

We all have them. They're the series that got away. They're the things that we think about with a wistful "what if..?" as we contemplate what would have happened if one of our favorite series had continued. In this episode we dive deep into the nostalgia well. We discuss the series that we loved that never made it past two seasons. We talk about why we liked them and why we felt like they deserved...

Gone With the Wind is an epic film that released in 1939. Adapting the novel of the same name, it told the tale of Scarlet O'Hara throughout the years of the Civil War and reconstruction. The movie was a huge hit both in the United States and internationally. Adjusted for inflation it is the highest grossing film of all time. It also has the distinction of being the first film to award an Academy...

One Piece originally started as a manga series 29 years ago and has run continuously ever since. An anime adaptation followed two years later and has continued to adapt the story from the manga. Now, Netflix is producing a live action series that tells the story of the Straw Hat Pirates. In this episode we discuss that series. We talk about world of One Piece and how well the props, sets, and effe...

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine broke the mold on Star Trek series. It was a Star Trek series that stayed in one place. The emphasis was placed not on exploring strange new worlds but on developing characters and relationships over time. As a result it was also the first Star Trek to pioneer the development of long-term story and character arcs that would build both within a season and across seasons....

For decades the Muppets have been entertaining audiences all over the world. More expressive than most puppets, the Muppets connect with audiences on a deeper level than many similar creations. Combined with talented muppet performers and fun character concepts, it's no wonder that the Muppets have entertained widely varying audiences for so long. In this episode we take a deep dive into the Muppe...

After the initial wave of Avengers film, people started wishing that Marvel had the Fantastic Four film rights, so that they could apply the same MCU formula to the first family in comics. Years later, Disney obtained those rights as part of their overall acquisition of 20th Century Fox. Fantastic Four: First Steps is the result. For this episode we dive deep into the story. We talk about the char...

We discussed the Gargoyles in episode 265, but there was such interest in this topic that we had to do it again. Many years ago someone told Nathan that men and women view Gargoyles differently, but would not explain to him how, so we decided to do an experiment. Last time the women told us what they thought of Gargoyles. This time the men speak. Along the way we discuss favorite characters, favor...

Star Trek: Discovery completed its course after a five-year mission spanning CBS All Access and Paramount Plus. It was the first of the "new" Trek series and spawned its share of controversies as well as accolades. In this episode we review the fifth and final season of the series. We talk about the quest plotline and how we feel about the payoff. We discuss the utilization of the characters and w...

In this episode we go to Chicago TARDIS 2024 to present you with an interview discussion with Jan Chappell and Brian Croucher who played Cally and Travis in the TV series, Blake's 7. The duo discuss convention memories, why they think that interest remains in the series, what they enjoyed about their characters, whether romances existed, thoughts on how their series relates to Doctor Who and so mu...

Phase Five of the MCU completed this year. The phase was unique in that it had more content than prior Marvel phases. In this episode we take a deep dive on Phase Five. We discuss our favorite parts of this portion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We debate the perceived drop in quality among fandom and whether we think that there’s any merit to those arguments. We also discuss where these argume...

Screen Reads is back to discuss another film and compare it to the comics that form its roots. In this installment we delve into the 2003 movie Daredevil and compare it to issues 173-184 of the Daredevil comic as well as the director’s cut of the film. We talk about the differences between the director’s cut and theatrical editions and what we thought worked better in each. We debate what elements...

Gargoyles debuted in 1994 as part of the Disney Afternoon – a programming block of Disney Animation aimed at children just getting out of school. The series provided complex multi-episode stories with complex characters that was rare for children’s animation. In this episode we take a look back at Gargoyles from a female perspective. We discuss the complexities of the stories and the most impactfu...