Does It Fly?

The Wolf Man explores a disturbingly realistic vision of what it would take to turn a man into a werewolf. Does this horror movie have any basis in science fact? Do werewolves and wolf men even obey their own story rules? “Even a man who is pure of heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright.”  The Wolf Man (1941) Werewolves, wolf m...

Squid Game is full of disturbing life or death situations, but “Red Light, Green Light” might be the one closest to our real world…and all the problems that come along with that. “Red light! Green light!” Bang! You’re dead! Wait just a minute, we don’t remember this game being played this way! But that’s how it goes in the first episode of Netflix’s wildly acclaimed Squid Game , in which (un)lucky...

“Mithril! All folk desired it. It could be beaten like copper, and polished like glass; and the dwarves could make of it a metal, light and yet harder than tempered steel. Its beauty was like that of common silver, but the beauty of mithril did not tarnish or grow dim.” Gandalf, The Fellowship of the Ring (J.R.R. Tolkien) Perhaps the most famous fictional metal of all time (at least until adamanti...

We all know the three rules of Gremlins…but we’re putting one of those to the test. Hopefully we don’t end up on the wrong side of it. Ah, the holiday season is finally upon us. The warmth of the fire. The family togetherness. The gently falling snow. The sound of carols being…dissonantly chanted by hideous gremlins outside our window?!? In what is now the third part of our unintentional trilogy o...

Arguably the single most celebrated science fiction novel of the 21st Century, Frank Herbert’s Dune has long been a cultural phenomenon. Partly as a countercultural symbol thanks in part to some of its more mind-expanding themes, but mostly as a towering work of science fiction, with Herbert applying an almost textbook flavor to the original novel’s many appendices to explore the ecology of this f...

Wicked gives us the secret origin of the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz. We dive a little deeper into what makes her so unique. Wicked is shaping up to be one of the biggest cinematic hits of the holiday season this year, following on from its wild success first as a bestselling novel and then as an even more successful Broadway musical. Is there the equivalent of an EGOT for adapt...

“Toss a coin to your Witcher…” Netflix’s The Witcher series, adapted from the popular series of books by Andrzej Sapkowski and the critically acclaimed video games, is full of striking visuals and unique takes on traditional fantasy and sword/sworcery concepts. As embodied by Henry Cavill, the series protagonist, Geralt of Rivia, is a distinctive, stoic action hero. Cavill, of course, is no strang...

“Switch me on.” When you think about it, the original Ghostbusters movie captivated a generation in a way that we usually reserve for franchises like Star Wars. Who would have thought that a big budget semi-horror comedy featuring a bunch of Saturday Night Live alums would become the kind of pop culture phenomenon that is still releasing films 40 years later, not to mention a parade of animated se...

2022’s Smile was a Halloween box office and critical surprise hit. It’s perhaps the best example of a major studio taking elements from the kind of “elevated” horror that’s been perfected by indie studios like A24 and transferring it to a massive, wide release. Actually, now that we think about it, maybe we shouldn’t use the word “transfer” when talking about Smile considering the subject matter....

Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft fills in the gaps of the iconic character’s history, and we went behind the scenes to figure out just how they did it. It’s time for another special Does it Fly? episode! Every now and then the DiF team gets to go behind-the-scenes on an exciting new movie or TV series and talk to the folks who make the concept fly. This time around, our amazing co-host, Tamar...

This episode of Does it Fly? is presented by Netflix, the exclusive home of Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft , starring Hayley Atwell, Allen Maldonado, Earl Baylon, Richard Armitage, and Zoe Boyle. Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft is now streaming only on Netflix . 2001’s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider movie is perhaps best remembered for the near-perfect casting of Angelina Jolie as the iconic...

If you’re of a particular age, the summer of 1989 holds special meaning for you. Specifically, you were almost certainly completely obsessed with Tim Burton’s Batman starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson. The film redefined superhero movies for a generation, was a relentless blockbuster at the box office, and kicked off a wave of Batmania that left no merchandising stone unturned well beyond...

The Rocketeer . Maybe you’ve seen it. Maybe you haven’t. If you’re of a particular generation, particularly of an age that had their brains absolutely melted by Tim Burton’s Batman movie in 1989 (which we have an episode on the way about), then The Rocketeer was one of a slate of summer movies that hoped to replicate the runaway success of Batman . For some folks, it sure did. For others…notably t...

How do you solve an engineering problem like the Transformers? This might be one of the most iconic franchises of the 1980s, but it might also be as scientifically implausible as say, the Power Sword from another beloved ‘80s property, Masters of the Universe. Or…is it? After all, there’s already technology out there that can autonomously transform and combine, so is it really that much of a leap...

This episode of Does it Fly? is presented by RSVLTS . Dying to be the star of Spooky Season? Grab this ghoulish gear, if you dare ... A physicist, a pop culture expert, and a paranormal investigator walk into a brewery…no, it’s not the start of a joke, this actually happened! It’s a very different kind of Does it Fly? episode this week. This is our first ever recording with Hakeem and Tamara in th...

This episode of Does it Fly? is presented by Netflix, the exclusive home of Terminator Zero, starring Timothy Olyphant, Rosario Dawson, Sonoya Mizuno, André Holland, and Ann Dowd. Terminator Zero is now streaming only on Netflix . We’ve got a special episode of Does it Fly? for you this time around. Consider this one a little bonus after our recent episode on The Terminator , because now we’ve got...

This episode of Does it Fly? is presented by Netflix, the exclusive home of Terminator Zero, starring Timothy Olyphant, Rosario Dawson, Sonoya Mizuno, André Holland, and Ann Dowd. Terminator Zero is now streaming only on Netflix . “Come with me if you want to learn.” OK, fine, that’s not what anyone says pretty much anywhere in the Terminator franchise. But haven’t you ever wondered just how some...

Alex Proyas’ 1994 The Crow is a genuinely great film, released at a time when “comic book movies” weren’t an all-encompassing pop culture phenomenon, and one that plays very much like a unique action-horror film (rather than a superhero one). We can’t recommend it, or its unbelievably badass soundtrack album, enough. The Crow has a little of everything: it’s a horror movie, it’s a love story, it’s...

Love it or hate it, Alien Resurrection won’t be ignored. The final film in the Ripley saga of the Alien franchise (before it branched off into Predators, prequels, and other distractions…more on that below), Alien Resurrection has always been something of a hot-button issue with fans. Maybe not as much as Prometheus , but still! Any movie that deals with cloning a beloved character (who had been g...

You know the scene. A grisly human sacrifice. A terrified archaeologist looking on in horror from the shadows. A poor religious fanatic has his still-beating heart torn from his chest by a high priest before bursting into flames. While this seems like the kind of scene that would have been perfectly at home in a John Carpenter movie in the 1980s, instead it comes from Indiana Jones and the Temple...

How realistic is the science of time travel as depicted in Back to the Future? Back to the Future just celebrated its 40th anniversary. Let’s put that in perspective for you: Back to the Future is now older than the period of time that Marty McFly traveled in that first film, where he rocketed at 88mph from 1985 back to 1955. And while the concept of using a weird, well, concept car as a time mach...

The (air) pressure is on as we dive into some on-set stories, Wizard of Oz references, and barometric gossip as we break down the science and story logic behind a beloved 90s movie: 1996’s Twister. Alright, buckle up, because we're diving into the whirlwind world of Twister ! Picture this: back in '96, director Jan de Bont dropped a disaster thrill ride that had us all glued to the screen,...

In the vast galaxy of science fiction, few weapons shine as brightly as Star Wars’ lightsaber. From its classic hum to its array of colors, the lightsaber has captivated generations, transcending its origin to become a timeless artifact of adventure and heroism. And as a kid, who didn’t have imaginary battles with their lightsabers? Now, imagine if those weapons really existed! We delve into the w...

When it comes to the A Quiet Place franchise we kept coming back to one big question: What are the biological factors that would allow these terrifying aliens who terrorize Earth to hunt via sound alone? The aliens, often referred to as “dark angels” in the films, have a number of distinct characteristics which will inform our questions.   For starters, they're blind but incredibly sensitive t...

“Tony Stark was able to build this in a cave, with a bunch of scraps!” Yes, Jeff Bridges’ Obadiah Stane is both furious and incredulous when he delivers that line in 2008’s blockbuster and zeitgeist-defining Iron Man movie. If we’re being real, we’ve often wondered about that, as well. Never mind the less than ideal circumstances under which Tony Stark designed and built the power source for the I...