Planet 8 Podcast

The 1950s was the decade of the teenager. Along with rock and roll and fast cars, another thing teenagers were obsessed with were movies. And the studios recognized this and began making films tailored to their interests. American International Pictures, or AIP, was particularly astute at making films that struck a chord with young audiences. In 1957, they made a trio of films that combined the te...

We're back, and so are that bounty hunter and his little green sidekick -the Mandalorian and Grogu! But this time, they're not coming to us via our TVs, they're up on the big screen. All three of your Planet 8 crew saw this film in the theater, and - we all enjoyed it! We'll discuss the film, what we liked, and how we feel about the negative talk that seemed to appear months before anyone even saw...

It's hard to believe, but your Planet 8 crew has been transmitting for eight years now! Yes, it's our eighth anniversary. It almost sneaked up on us. But not quite! We hope you'll join us as we recount how the podcast came to be, and talk about some of our favorite episodes. We've enjoyed putting this show together all these years, and we hope you've enjoyed listening to it or watching it. We'll a...

Due to circumstances beyond our control, instead of a new episode, we are bringing you an encore performance of our Ray Harryhausen episode from February 8, 2019, our 20th episode. We note that Ray -"the Master" - passed on May 7, 2013, so almost exactly 13 years ago. He may be gone, but he'll never be forgotten.   Please share your thoughts about Ray and his films: Facebook:  www. Facebook.com/Pl...

The Planet 8 crew was saddened to hear today of the passing of comic book legend Gerry Conway, who had written many comic book titles of the 70s and 80s, including Amazing Spider-Man, The Mighty Thor, and Fantastic Four. Back in May 2020, we interviewed Gerry as part of our "Giant-Size Spider-Man" episode. We share that interview here as a tribute to Gerry. Our condolences to his loved ones.

We're back with a Planet 8 tradition -a new top ten list! We've done robots, spaceships, and science fiction films. Now we take a look at our favorite extraterrestrials. Those beings from other worlds - aliens! It's open to beings from movies and television, live-action and animated. Who will make the list? You'll have to listen or watch to find out! In our Sensor Sweep, Bob has more details for y...

Recently we aired an encore presentation of our September 2019 show on Saturday morning cartoons. In that episode, we said that someday, we should discuss our favorite live-action Saturday morning shows. Well, that day is here! In this episode, each of us -Larry, Bob, and Karen - shares a favorite live-action show. We follow this up with a brief discussion of other shows we enjoyed.  Karen starts...

We bet that many of you have some great books on the science fiction, horror, and fantasy films and TV shows that you love. Well, so do we, and on this episode, we are sharing those books and talking about what makes them our favorites! This is really a great episode to jump over and check out on our YouTube channel!  Each of us shares several different books, looking at everything from Star Trek,...

You know what they say: life finds a way...to derail podcasts. Yes, we're afraid that due to circumstances beyond our control, we will be running an encore presentation of one of our early episodes, from September 2019, Saturday Morning Cartoons. Enjoy! Hey kids! Get up, grab your cereal bowl, and join the Planet 8 crew to watch your favorite Saturday morning cartoons! We'll reminisce today about...

Once again, we're looking at a decade and the best science fiction films in it. However...we have already covered a LOT of 70s science fiction films. We've had whole episodes on Alien, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Star Trek The Motion Picture, Logan's Run, Star Wars, Soylent Green, Omega Man, and many more. We didn't want to pick those films again. So the films we chose in this episode might no...

We've often shared our admiration for Ray Harryhausen and his films, but we've never devoted an entire episode to just one of his films - until now. And it's not just one of his films, it's arguably his greatest film, Jason and the Argonauts! And though the crew is missing a man for the first time -Chief Engineer Bob is stuck in Sick Bay recovering from a case of Venusian Flu - we have a very spec...

Once again, we are boldly going where everyone has gone before! Following on the heels of our episode where we discussed our favorite episodes from Star Trek season one (see episode 153), we look at our favorite episodes from season two of Star Trek. Beaming in is our good friend, Lord Blood-Rah, to share his thoughts. Many consider the second season of the classic show to be its best. It certainl...

In this episode, we remember the wonderful Bob Burns, who passed on December 12, 2025 at the age of 90. Bob was a film historian and archivist, well-known for his amazing collection of science fiction film props which were kept in what was affectionately known as "Bob's Basement." Bob was gracious in allowing people to not only tour this collection but to handle these prized items. He and his wife...

The holidays are here and we all have many traditions we like to follow. For many of us, these include watching certain movies that put us in the holiday spirit. Some of the most popular films are versions of the Charles Dicken's classic, A Christmas Carol. Though published in 1843, this tale is just as popular today, with its story of redemption told via a visit by three spirits (four, if you cou...

In this episode, the Planet 8 crew, joined by our good friend Lord Blood-Rah, discuss the Netflix film, Frankenstein, by Guillermo del Toro. This is a film that del Toro has wanted to make for years, finally completing it this year. Of course, he brought his own unique style and sensibilities to it, and also brought it to life with a talented cast that includes Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein,...

Greetings, Planet 8 listeners and viewers! We come once again to that time of the year where we are inclined to do some reflection and realize we have much to be thankful for. We're thankful for all of you, tuning in over and over again, leaving us comments and letting us know what you enjoyed and what your thoughts are on whatever topic we're covering. We're thankful for each other and the friend...

It may be hard to believe, but with over 150 episodes and 8+ years behind us, we have never discussed what is arguably the best Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back! So sit back and relax as your Planet 8 crew share their thoughts and memories of this classic film. It's easy now to praise Empire, but at the time, it made a number of bold and risky moves, not the least of which was ending in a c...

Happy Halloween! In nine days, anyway. Nine more days til Halloween, Halloween, Halloween.... This year, our holiday film is the unfairly maligned Halloween III: Season of the Witch. This 1982 film was a standalone horror story, separate from the Michael Myers saga, and it is a wonderfully spooky tale that mixes the supernatural with modern technology for a captivating and suspenseful flick. But s...

The third season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has wrapped up, and your Planet 8 crew had mixed opinions on it. In conversations with friends of the show Lord Blood-Rah and Jeff Wehenkel, we discovered that our viewpoints ranged widely, from overwhelmingly positive to mostly entertained to disappointed. We were all over the place! As our online discussions grew more lively, we thought, Why not...

There have been three Fantastic Four films from 20th Century Fox, and an unreleased , but infamous, film by Roger Corman. A couple of these films were...OK, maybe even good, but never the sort of cosmic-level, grand adventure that Marvel fans hoped for. With the arrival of the MCU, there has been anticipation of a FF film for years, but Fox had the rights, up until a short while ago. Now, Marvel/D...

This summer, a strange visitor from the planet Krypton has found his way to Earth, and our cinemas, again. Superman is back in another iteration, and the Planet 8 crew has done our duty and observed this visitation. Surprisingly, we all loved it!  Listen to the episode and we will go over, in this spoiler-filled discussion, why we loved it, what we thought was done so well, and maybe just a few th...

Welcome all to Planet 8! On this episode, your crew takes a look at the three film adaptations of the H.G. Wells novel, The Island of Dr. Moreau. We start with the atmospheric 1932 version, Island of Lost Souls, move into the updated 1977 film, The Island of Dr. Moreau, and then briefly discuss the trainwreck that was the 1996 version, also titled Island of Dr. Moreau. We discuss the themes of the...

We hope you enjoy this encore broadcast of episode 2 of Planet 8 from May 2018, featuring our desert planet picks!  Reach us at: Twitter:  https://twitter.com/Planet8Cast Facebook:  www. Facebook.com/Planet8Podcast Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/planet8podcast YouTube:  https://youtube.com/Planet8podcast Aloha!

This episode, the Planet 8 crew and our honorary crew member, Lord Blood-Rah, take a trip back to the days before the internet, back when the only way we got any news about the latest sci fi films or learned about how all the great movies we loved were made, was through magazines. Yes, we had to go to the bookstore, or the liquor store, or even the smoke shop, to find the periodicals that gave us...

This episode we're coming to you with a film that people seem to either love or hate: it's John Boorman's psychotronic masterpiece, 1974's Zardoz. If you've never seen Zardoz, it's difficult to provide a description that captures the sheer audacity of this film. Set in a dystopian future with Sean Connery as a killer named Zed  memorable for his red banana-hammock outfit, there are a number of sci...