Planet 8 Podcast

We've been doing this podcasting thing for over 5 years now, and we thought it might be fun to share a little bit about ourselves.  Reconnaissance Officer Karen has devised a questionnaire that will reveal the "inmost selves" of Mission Commander Larry and Chief Engineer Bob. But these questions are all focused on the stuff we all love - sci fi, horror, and fantasy films and TV shows! After we're...

Once again, we are joined by our friend and horror host extraordinaire, Lord Blood-Rah, this time to pay tribute to the late producer/director, Roger Corman. The legendary Corman passed away this last May 9th. He left behind an unparalleled portfolio of films over a huge range of genres, all made quickly, efficiently, and on the cheap! Corman had a system for getting a film made fast and getting e...

We just can't get enough of those apes! We've done retrospectives on all five of the original Planet of the Apes films, and now, we are finally looking at a brand new Apes movie! Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes has arrived to much hoopla - but how did your Planet 8 crew feel about the film? Listen and find out! We will say that we did not unanimously agree on the film.  But that's all right - di...

It's happened again: unfortunately, the real world has gotten in the way and we were unable to produce a new episode. But never fear, we are bringing you one of our favorite episodes from April 2019, "Something about the Thing," which explores the different films based off the John Campbell novella, Who Goes There?   We hope you enjoy it. Next time, we'll be back with a new episode looking at the...

You know what they say: it's a thin line between love and hate. And it seems like this is especially true in fandom. Nowadays, more often than not, fans of different long-standing franchises are taking to their keyboards to complain, in the strongest terms imaginable, about the things they supposedly love! Your Planet 8 crew dives into this phenomenon to try to understand what's going on.  We star...

It's a joy to make friends with fellow geeks, and even more wonderful when you discover that they have amazing talents. Some are artists, some make masks, some do make-up or create costumes, some are sculptors - and then there's Jeff Wehenkel, who does all of these and more! Jeff is a true renaissance geek! Heck, we even found out AFTER the podcast recording that he's done special effects on movie...

It's about time we revisited the legendary Ray Harryhausen and his amazing films. We previously focused on Harryhausen in episode 20 ! This time around, we specifically look at the first four films that Harryhausen created the effects entirely by himself. These films were also the only films he made in black and white. We'll discuss the films in chronological order, and then reveal which of the fo...

The dreaded deadline doom has struck once again! Due to issues beyond our control, we need to present a previously released episode. However, this episode was one of our first video episodes! We teamed up with Lord Blood-rah to discuss the wide-ranging films of American International Pictures, or AIP! This was never released as an audio episode before. So please, sit back and enjoy, and we'll be b...

  Take a trip with the Planet 8 crew back to 1977, when an amazing new sci fi film premiered, a film like nothing we had ever seen before -a little movie called "Star Wars!"  It's hard to recall now, but at the time, when it came out, it was revolutionary. It was a phenomenon, and it was also-all we had! There was no Empire, no Return, no TV shows or book series, it was just one film. And we loved...

As many of us are experiencing a very chilly winter, it seemed appropriate for us to do a deep dive on "Horror Express," a 1973 film set in a very cold environment, a train on a journey through Siberia! This classic 70s horror film features legends Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, this time, teamed up against the evil creature, and also features Telly Savalas, yes, Kojak, as an over-the-top Coss...

This episode marks a milestone for us: with this, we complete our look at the original five films in the Planet of the Apes series. While Battle for the Planet of the Apes may not be the finest entry in the series, it does have its moments. We are once again joined by our good friend and Ape-aficionado, Lord Blood-Rah, to examine the film and share recollections about Battle. We'll discuss Paul De...

The end of one year and the start of a new one often leads to a period of reflection, and your Planet 8 crew is not immune to this. In this episode, we'll look back on 2023, specifically, the genre-related films and TV shows of the year and what we thought of them. All in all, it was not a standout year for the genre, but there were still a few gems to be found. We'll discuss the good, the bad, an...

Once again, the Planet 8 crew is graced by the presence of our good friend, the insightful Lord Blood-Rah, as we celebrate Christmas with Boris Karloff! Well, maybe not with Karloff in person, but his spirit is certainly with us. Obviously, Karloff's voice work on the holiday classic, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, is unforgettable (and makes our holiday connection). But there's so much to celebr...

For at least a decade, it seemed the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) could do no wrong. But since Avengers: Endgame, the movies and TV shows coming out of the MCU have been very hit or miss. Some fans are saying that the MCU is over, others are still hopeful. Your Planet 8 crew takes some time to discuss two recent MCU productions, The Marvels and Loki season 2, as well as discuss our overall thou...

Another year has passed, and despite all of the various crises of nature and man that we've seen this year, there is still much to be thankful for. We're thankful for good friends and family, great listeners, and for gigantic radioactive fire-breathing lizards. Yes, we're thankful for...GODZILLA! In this episode, the Planet 8 crew share their undying love for Big G. We'll share our recollections o...

This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the film Soylent Green (1973), a dystopian thriller set in the year 2022, which has one of the greatest shock endings of all time.  ***SPOILER*** The crackers being distributed to the grubby crowds, called Soylent Green and supposedly made from plankton, actually come from a far more disturbing source. As star Charlton Heston shouts at the film's end (an...

Happy Halloween! Sure, we're a few days early, but we know most of you have been celebrating all month (if not earlier).  We're back with more of those terrors from the tomb, vampires! Last time around, we looked at the birth of the cinematic vampire. This time, we move forward in time to more modern depictions. Each of your Planet 8 crew picked two films to discuss. So that gives us six films tha...

Vampires! These undead fiends have been a part of folklore for centuries, but they were born on the silver screen back in the age of the silent movie. In this episode, as an early Halloween treat, we explore three films based on the greatest vampire of them all: Dracula! The evil Count from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel was brought to life in a trio of films spanning from 1922 to 1931 that continue to...

Listeners, this episode has been a long time coming. We have wanted to do an episode on the X-Files practically since we started Planet 8 over five years ago. But we had a number of starts and stops, initially thinking we could just jump in and discuss it, then realizing we needed to break it up and then planning to do seasons 1-4, then we had the break due to Commander Larry's unfortunate house f...

This episode, come with us as we take a trip into a never neverland of movie sequels that could have, and perhaps, should have happened! Each member of the Planet 8 crew has dream movie sequels they would have loved to see come to fruition. If you're a long-time listener, you may even be able to guess what they might be! But we may also surprise you with a few curveballs. And to wrap the discussio...

Dear Listeners, unfortunately we have been struck by the dreaded deadline doom and are unable to bring you a new episode this time around. However, we will be back with a new show on September 8! Please enjoy this encore presentation of Disney Halloween from November 2022. And check out our YouTube version, which includes the video interview with our Disney guests. In this Halloween episode, we ta...

The Planet 8 crew decided to sit down and have a conversation, a free and wide-ranging talk about recent geek and geek-adjacent topics. Among the things we discuss are recent convention and show experiences, what's going on with Strange New Worlds (and do we like it?), the big summer movies, the passing of Pee Wee Herman, and even the congressional hearings on UAPs (aka UFOs). We just kind of went...

It is one of the most fascinating topics in all of genre fiction: time travel! Traveling through time has always been a dream of mankind. Whether traveling into the past with hopes of fixing something that went awry, or journeying into the future to see what marvels it may hold, humans have always told stories about trips through time. However, traveling through time is never as simple as taking a...

After almost two decades, he's back -famed adventurer and scholar Indiana Jones! Beginning with Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981, Indy has been an icon of cinema, setting a standard for adventure films that remains mostly unattainable -even for its own sequels! In this episode, your Planet 8 crew is all about Indy, Harrison Ford, and the new film, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. We'll share...

Way back in episode 17 (December 21, 2018), your Planet 8 crew reviewed Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and we unanimously loved it. Everything about it -the story, the visuals, the characters- was just perfect. Now, five years later, we have the sequel, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. We loved this film too. It's one of those rare sequels that lives up to the original. Tune in a hear all...