The 42cast

For four years Black Lightning graced our screens with a generational story about an older superhero and person of color. The series was notable for its grounded storytelling, depicting street level foes for the titular character and showcasing a realistic family dynamic for a series with so much fantasy in its conception. In this episode we talk about the final season of Black Lightning. We discu...

Titans was the flagship series for DC Universe’s new crop of live-action series based on the DC characters. Based on the popular Teen Titans franchise, the series highlighted darker themes and tones than most DC adaptations, which left many fans feeling ambivalent about the series after only the trailer dropped. In this episode we dive deep into the darkness of the series and discuss whether it wa...

The 42cast is proud to welcome one of the stars of the hit CW series, Superman & Lois with Alex Garfin . Alex plays Jordan Kent on the series, one of the children of Clark Kent and Lois Lane. In this episode Jordan sits down with us to discuss topics ranging from depictions of mental health in television to why the KFC image looks like a little man with a large head. He also talks about super...

We continue our series on Doctor Who, by discussing the third man to play the role of the title character, Jon Pertwee. In this episode we discuss what set Pertwee’s performance apart from the other Doctors. We talk about the rise of political commentary in the series. We also give our opinions on the differences between the Sherwin and Letts approaches to the series. We also list our favorite com...

Justice League was released to theaters in 2017. However, the result left many audience goers unhappy. As the culmination of plotlines that Zack Snyder had started in Man of Steel and Justice League it seemed to fall short. The more humorous tone that the studio wanted was at odds tonally with what had gone before leaving many fans of Snyder’s work unhappy. Since that time there have been calls to...

Star Trek is arguably the most influential science-fiction franchise of all time. The series that almost didn’t make it after a failed pilot got its second chance and rose to international success that has lasted for more than 50 years. In this episode we delve into the idea of what makes the concept of Star Trek so special. We also discuss what aspects of this show have stood up to the test of ti...

Marvel’s Netflix series were mostly released to great acclaim by fans and critics alike. Unfortunately, the one flop was Marvel’s Iron Fist. In this episode we discuss the second season of that series. We examine if the change in showrunners created a change for the better. We discuss the plot and how it fit into the interconnected storyline of the Marvel Netflix universe. We also discuss the char...

The 42cast is proud to welcome Hollywood Legend, Bill Duke for an interview. Bill wears many hats, and at various times works as an actor, director, producer, and writer. He also runs the Duke Media Foundation and Duke Media Entertainment. The former prepares youth for the future by exposing them to new media and financial literacy tools that will enable them to compete, survive and thrive in this...

The 42cast goes bad this week as we take a look at the darker side of entertainment. In this episode we talk about villains. We discuss what makes a character an interesting villain and exactly what criteria you should use to determine if a villain is the “greatest”. Then, we talk about our favorite villains across all of media and why these we think they have a claim to the title of “greatest”. I...

After 42 years (naturally) the Star Wars saga finally came to an end with Episode 9, The Rise of Skywalker. In this episode we talk about The Rise of Skywalker as a conclusion to the Star Wars Saga. We discuss whether Skywalker Saga or Palpatine saga is a more fitting name. We discuss the narrative shifts between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. We also debate the Reylo relationship and ho...

The 42cast is proud to welcome John Peel for an interview. John is a prolific author with dozens of novels to his name. In this episode we sit down with John to talk about his history writing stories about Doctor Who and his association with Dalek creator Terry Nation. We cover the entire history from his first nonfiction book about Daleks to writing novelizations of Doctor Who TV stories to writi...

Stargirl took the geek world by storm at a time when people really needed something to take their minds off quarantine. It’s a series that celebrates the fun of silver age comics in a way that sets it apart from the other DC Comics series of the last few years, including those on the CW. In this episode we discuss Stargirl and what gives it its unique charm. We’ll also talk about the characters an...

The Librarians was an unusual series that celebrated obscure and esoteric knowledge. With accomplished actors playing quirky characters, the series had a healthy dose of fun while also ensuring that it had its fair share of adventure and interesting plotting. Although built on the foundation of the three Librarian movies starring Noah Wyle the series allowed for larger stories told with more chara...

K-9 has been delighting fans of Doctor Who for almost 45 years. With this new anniversary looming, we thought it would be a great idea to release a con panel from Chicago TARDIS 2016 about the character’s 40th anniversary. In this panel we discuss what makes K-9 so endearing. We discuss the writing, performances, audience identification and other factors. We also talk about reasons that people did...

Wonder Woman was a smash success at the box office. DC wanting to capitalize on the success of the film quickly greenlit a sequel that was soon named Wonder Woman 1984. The movie was due for release in June of 2020, but the Covid-19 pandemic pushed that release date back. Instead, Warner Media decided to make this the flagship of it’s new policy of releasing films straight to the HBO Max streaming...

Supergirl was the series most effected by Crisis on Infinite Earths in the 2019-2020 season. Kara’s entire world was rewritten to fit it into the Arrowverse, and Lex Luthor had a hand in altering his own status as well. In this episode we discuss the two halves of the season, first discussing Earth-38’s swan song and then discussing the new status quo of the combined Earth Prime. We talk about the...

Running at us from 2020, we have our review of The Flash Season 6. Sadly, this episode was delayed due to my herniated disc, but we are now able to release it so that you can hear all of our points. This week we discuss Bloodwork and Mirror Monarch and how their storylines stack against the hype. We also talk about whether the payoff to the newspaper plot was sufficient to all of the hype. We also...

The 42cast is proud to welcome Skyler Samuels for an interview. In this episode, Nathan sits down to talk with Skyler about her beginning in acting and the pressures and positives of being a child star. They discuss The Nine Lives of Chloe King , what Skyler enjoyed about the role, how she feels about the series now, and ask the all-important Team Brian or Team Alek question. They also do a deep d...

Eighty years ago a man named Martin Goodman founded Timely Comics, and the world would never be the same. We discuss the history of Marvel, starting with its founding in 1939 as Timely Comics. We discuss the name changes to Atlas and eventually Marvel. We talk about the major characters of the golden, silver, and bronze ages. We discuss our theories of what differentiates Marvel from its competiti...

Spider-Man is the latest film to come from the MCU. Giving us our first glimpse of the post-Endgame landscape, the movie teased the multiverse and a new hero, but was any of it what it seemed? In this episode we dive into Far From Home. We talk about Peter and his supporting cast. We discuss Iron Man’s legacy and how Peter factors into it. We’ll also dive into Mysterio, comparing him to his comic...

This episode we continue our celebration of 100 episodes of The 42cast. We recorded far too much material for our 100th episode that we just couldn’t fit it all in. In this episode as a bonus to you, you get the conversations that we couldn’t include! In this episode, Nathan sits down with three people who were instrumental in getting the podcast started – Ryan , Rachele , and Beth . They talk abo...

Batwoman debuted last year as the newest series in the CW’s Arrowverse. Ruby Rose’s casting sparked controversy, but it was clear that the CW was determined to promote the series – debuting the character in the prior year’s Elseworlds storyline, setting her up as an integral part of the Crisis on the Infinite Earths event. In this episode we discuss everything about season one from Rose’s performa...

The Gifted was one of Fox’s last adaptations of the X-Men mythos. Set in a nebulous time in the near future after the X-Men and Brotherhood have disappeared, The Gifted chronicled the story of every day mutants who have to deal with a world where they’re feared and hated. The second season of the series deals with the aftermath of the split of the mutant Underground as half the members choose to a...

The 42cast turns 100 as the cast celebrates a century of episodes. First up, Nathan answers your questions about himself and the show. After that, we pull in a cast comprised of some our most prolific guests as well as some of the people who inspired the show’s creation. Sam speaks to us about the definition of an archive and how archives and archivists are portrayed in media, Mike talks about nec...

The 42cast is proud to welcome Larry Houston for an interview. This interview was recorded back in 2019, but we are now able to bring you all the cool information we gleaned from talking with this industry legend. Larry Houston was the first person-of-color to work on storyboards for Saturday morning cartoons. Since then he has worked on many animated series as both a storyboard artist and a direc...