Redshirt Cinema Club

Join us as we begin a new season of David Lynch movies with 1984's Dune. Dune has already featured in the podcast, as part of the creative tangle that helped define sci-fi cinema in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and saw the inception of Alien and Blade Runner. Now, as we embark upon a mini-series focused on the works of the recently passed David Lynch, we're watching Dune itself. Let's be real -...

It's gone. It's done. We complete our journey through Middle-earth with The Battle Of The Five Armies, a film Rob has never seen, and Nathan wouldn't mind having never seen. Listen, the chances of us suddenly loving the Hobbit movies and this becoming a triumphant ending are slim to none. But... climactic things are in the air. Armies are marching. Deep lore is waking from its slumber. Somewhere,...

If Rob watches one more minute, this will be the most Hobbit movie he's ever seen... We're marching on with our unexpected adventure, which this week means watching the second of Peter Jackson's Hobbit films, The Desolation of Smaug. Rob has only seen half of this film before, leaving the cinema back in 2013 thanks to 48 frames-per-second-induced motion sickness. Nath has seen the whole thing and...

As January follows Christmas, so too does The Hobbit follow The Lord of the Rings. A thump of ice-cold reality after the festive high. It's 12 years since we saw The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - will the lens of hindsight impact our reaction? Or will the CG orcs, cartoonish action and that scene with the plates prove too great a burden? Listen on to find out, and join us next week for The Desol...

Welcome to a mailbag special dedicated to your correspondence about The Lord Of The Rings. Our episodes on Peter Jackson's films have been far and away our most popular so far. It seems that you love them as much as we do, and this is the perfect time of the year to revisit Middle-earth. Anyway - if you've listened to the individual episodes on The Fellowship Of The Ring, The Two Towers, and The R...

We come to it at last, the great battle of our time. And it's a really really great battle, everyone. Join us for our extra-long, indefensibly indulgent episode on The Return Of The King. Traditionally the least-favoured of Peter Jackson's Rings films, what will we make of the marathon send-off for our favourite festive series? Enjoy the last of these epic Lord Of The Rings episodes, and join us n...

We've lost count of how many times we've seen The Two Towers, a film Rob reckons he could recite beginning to end (especially the Gollum scenes). As before, there's no fandom experiment going on here - we're simply watching something we all love, occasionally delving into the books and mentioning the Appendices too much. Enjoy the episode and join us next week for The Return of the King! Join the...

Welcome, listeners, to a very expected journey - we’re finally taking on Lord Of The Rings.  Since The Fellowship Of The Ring was released in 2001, no Christmas has been complete for our hosts without a touch of Tolkien’s world. We’re not trying to convince one of us to like something, or to see if we’re still fans - this is an indulgent way of rewatching something we love dearly and then to...

You asked for it, and we did it - we've watched Galaxy Quest, and we'd like you to join us as we talk about it. In a welcome departure from the bleakness of the Alien universe, in this episode of Redshirt Cinema Club we've delayed our departure for Middle-earth by a week and watched what has been by far our most requested film the affectionate Star Trek parody, Galaxy Quest. All three of us are of...

It's our final dive into the cosmic horror of the Alien franchise this week as we discuss Fede Alvarez's 2024 movie Alien: Romulus. Will this new take on the series impress and are we still fans of Alien? Listen on to find out! Join the Redshirt Cinema Club! Support us at patreon.com/redshirtcinemaclub to receive two bonus episodes every month as well as our newsletter, The Civilian Observer. You...

This week on Redshirt Cinema Club, Ridley Scott has another go at this whole alien thing with prequel-sequel, Alien Covenant. We can’t wait to catch up with our favourite new character, Elizabeth Shaw! Join us for battling synthetics, baby aliens, and lots of bad decisions… Join the Redshirt Cinema Club! Support us at patreon.com/redshirtcinemaclub to receive two bonus episodes every month as well...

This week - excitement at the return of Ridley Scott as our Alien adventure takes us up to 2012’s origin story, Prometheus. Can it live up to Scott’s spectacular original? Or is it actually quite a lot like Alien Vs Predator? To paraphrase Lawrence of Arabia, "Certainly it's bad... the trick is not minding that it's bad". Join the Redshirt Cinema Club! Support us at patreon.com/redshirtcinemaclub...

Having struggled through the mirk of Alien 3 we find ourselves in the confusing jauntiness of Alien Resurrection, 200 years after Ellen Ripley seemingly - definitely - died. So how did she come back, and was it a bad idea? Listen to find out!. Join the Redshirt Cinema Club! Support us at patreon.com/redshirtcinemaclub to receive two bonus episodes every month as well as our newsletter, The Civilia...

Join us as we continue our journey through the Alien series with Alien 3. David Fincher's 1992 film is dark and divisive. Following a difficult production, the film reviewed badly and disappointed fans of the more cohesive Alien and Aliens. Over time the film has developed a sympathetic cult following of ardent supporters - but will Nath, Rob, and Dave be among them? Listen to find out! Join the R...

After the meticulous horror of Ridley Scott's Alien comes the muscular genre perfection of James Cameron's Aliens. Have we had two better films in a row yet on Redshirt Cinema Club? Ahaha, no, we have not. Join us as we battle past simply enjoying the heck out of this movie and try to say something meaningful and worthwhile. How does Aliens expand the horizons of Alien while remaining consistent t...

A new chapter dawns as Redshirt Cinema Club returns both to the silver screen and to space with the Alien series - a set of movies we'd all consider ourselves fans of despite acknowledging lots of them are a bit rubbish. As we take this journey through one of cinema's most iconic franchises we'll be repeatedly asking ourselves the question - are we still Alien fans? Let's find out! Join the Redshi...

It's Dave's last chance. One final double bill of Doctor Who. One last attempt at drawing out the Whovian we're convinced lurks within. Can Jodie Whittaker's Doctor swoop in and save the day? This Bond-inspired romp is unlike any Who we've watched so far, featuring car chases, globe-trotting set pieces and Lenny Henry. What will Dave make of it? Join the Redshirt Cinema Club! Support us at patreon...

Dave's Doctor Who enjoyment rollercoaster took a plunge last week thanks to the Weeping Angels unforgivably breaking both necks and rules - can we get him back on track with today's episode, 'Heaven Sent'? A mature, challenging fan-favourite from the Capaldi era, this surely has the makings of something Dave will love. Let's find out what he makes of it! Join the Redshirt Cinema Club! Support us a...

Fresh from enjoying 'Midnight' and 'Blink' from the David Tennant era, Dave continues his Doctor Who fan journey with a 5 series double bill - 'The Time of Angels' and 'Flesh and Stone'. Described by showrunner Steven Moffat as Aliens to Blink's Alien, can this action-packed sci-fi romp tip Dave into full-blown fandom? Let's find out! Join the Redshirt Cinema Club! Support us at patreon.com/redshi...

Rogue Time Lord Rob continues his daring journey across time and space (or more accurately: through Dr Who, chronologically) by showing bewildered human companion Dave perhaps our favourite single episode of the whole show - the David Tennant-starring 'Midnight'. How will Dave take to having a new Doctor in the Tardis? Will he understand JUST HOW GOOD THIS EPISODE IS? And will it make Dave a Whovi...

It's Dave's turn! After three months of forcing Rob to watch Star Trek the eye of fandom turns on our former captain - it's time to show Dave some Doctor Who. We're starting this week with two episodes from the Christoper Eccleston era - 'Rose' and 'Dalek'. It's a big leap from cutting edge sci-fi cinema to Saturday nights on the BBC in 2005, so can this most iconic of British institutions win a n...

It's over! It's just beginning! Join us to celebrate the completion of our original mission with an Official and Scientific ranking of every Star Trek movie, before discussing our SECRET PLANS for the future. Which aren't secret at all. We're going to carry on making Redshirt Cinema Club! Watching and rewatching our favourite film series and sharing the journey with you. We're starting with a few...

This is it! The end of the 13-film mission to boldly see if we can make Rob a Star Trek fan. Join us for a celebratory lap discussing the as-yet final film in the franchise, Star Trek Beyond, which is almost certainly not as bad as we make out. We'll be back with a bonus episode this Wednesday with news of what's next for Redshirt Cinema Club, with a brand new series starting next week. Join the R...

This week the team - including official Star Trek Fan™ Robert Pearson - are discussing Star Trek Into Darkness (NO COLONS) the second film of the JJ Abrams-led Kelvin timeline. Everyone agrees this is a pretty good action movie, but is it good Star Trek? Join the redshirts as they debate the rebooted timeline's reluctance to seek out new anything, the disputed merits of Benedict Cumberbatch, and w...

It's all change on the Enterprise (and the entire timeline, actually) as a new cast and crew take the helm of our beloved franchise. But change isn't necessarily good, and neither are some of the accents... Will the redshirts see past all the lens flare? Can Leonard Nimoy fulfil the needs of the many? And is Karl Urban's Dr McCoy inspired or merely an imitation? We'll be hotly contesting all of th...