Planet 8 Podcast

Episode 168: Our Favorite Versions of A Christmas Carol

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 count Marley). Ghost stories were regularly told in the winter months by folks living through cold, dark nights. Dickens took that framework and applied a holiday angle to it. Ebeneezer Scrooge has become a symbol for any greedy, heartless person. But Scrooge is also an example of the chance for redemption.  Your Planet 8 crew discusses three of their favorite film versions of this tale: the 1938 film with Reginald Owen as Scrooge, the 1951 version starring Alastair Sim, and Bill Murray's Scrooged from 1988.  We also touch on a number of other adaptations.
For our Sensor Sweep, Bob shares an appropriate book: The Scary Book of Christmas Lore, 50 Terrifying Yuletide Tales. These stories from around the world sound a lot scarier than any version of A Christmas Carol. Karen shares her Christmas gift to herself: the book Timeline of the Planet of the Apes by Rich Handley. Maybe she can finally figure out how the paradox works! Finally, Larry also has a book! It's the deluxe edition of  Star Wars The Revenge of the Sith novelization.
We want to thank all of you for your support, for listening to or watching the show, and sharing your thoughts and memories with us. We hope that all of you have a wonderful Christmas, Hanukkah, Solstice, or whatever you may celebrate! And may 2026 be a good year for all of us.
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Humbug!!

Episode 167: Dissecting Del Toro's Frankenstein

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, Jacob Elordi as the Creature, Mia Goth as both Victor's mother and Elizabeth, Charles Dance as Victor's father, as well as Christoph Waltz, David Bradley, and others. The plot is closer to Mary Shelley's classic novel than most other adaptations, but is still guided by del Toro's vision. We'll discuss every aspect of this reborn Frankenstein in this SPOILER-FILLED episode!
Of course, we have another Sensor Sweep for you. Lord Blood-Rah, besides all of the great shows he hosts at his Lordbloodrah.com site, you can now get a personalized greeting from him via Cameo! Just go to his website for more details. Chief Engineer Bob, in keeping with the Frankenstein theme, shared the comic book series, "Becoming Frankenstein" from 10 Ton Press. Karen shared her copy of the Frankenstein novel from Millipede press, with additional stories (including The Vampire by Polidori) and essays, plus photos of different film Frankensteins. Finally, our mission commander Larry shared a puzzle by Adam Simpson called the World of Frankenstein.
Let us know what you thought of this new version of the Frankenstein story! You know where to find us:
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"There is beauty and humility in imperfection." - Guillermo del Toro
 

Episode 166: Thankful for the Night Gallery

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 friendship we continue to grow and celebrate. And in this particular episode, we are thankful for a short-lived but much-loved TV show, Rod Serling's The Night Gallery.
While Serling is forever identified with The Twilight Zone-and rightly so- from 1970 to 1973, he served as host to this horror anthology series. Night Gallery's stories showcased the macabre, and could be genuinely frightening (especially if you were a kid!). Serling frequently contributed scripts, and many episodes were adaptations of works by well known writers of horror, including H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and Margaret St. Clair.  The show was also graced by many actors that would be recognized by any child of the 70s, such as Vincent Price, Bill Bixby, and William Windom. Despite being the namesake of the show, Serling had little actual creative control over the show, and was disappointed in its direction, as he favored a more nuanced approach. Night Gallery was in your face weird and scary. The show also featured short segments that were comedic, and Serling really disliked these, saying they threw off the tone of the program.But regardless of how Serling felt, he hosted the show and gave it some gravitas. And his presence was a welcome one.
With our returning guest, Lord Blood Rah, we'll discuss some favorite episodes, which ones scared us the most, and our favorite actors. We hope you'll enjoy this trip back through The Night Gallery. We'd love to hear your favorite episodes -please send us comments.
In our Sensor Sweep, Lord Blood Rah shares that he'll be at the East Bay Comic Con in Concord, California in February of next year, if you want to see him in person. Otherwise, you can catch all things Blood Rah at lordbloodrah.com. Likewise, Karen can be found talking about science fiction and fantasy books on her YouTube channel, Echoes from the Satellite. Chief Engineer Bob has got the blue ribbon - Pabst Blue Ribbon, that is. No, we're not endorsing beer now. It's just that these cans have Godzilla and friends on the back of them. Why? Why not?
Finally, Commander Larry brings us back to our topic, Night Gallery, with some beautiful Night Gallery tomes. He shares two books, both purchased via kickstarters. One is Rod Serling's Night Gallery and After Hours Tour, and the other is Rod Serling's Night Gallery the Art of Darkness. Both are from Creature features Press, and are absolutely incredible! However, be prepared to drop some serious coin if you are trying to buy these books now.
That's all for us this time, friends. To those of you in the U.S., we wish you a very happy Thanksgiving. And to all of you, wherever you are, we appreciate you and wish you health and happiness. Take care.
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I swear I thought turkeys could fly!!
 
 

Episode 165: The Empire Strikes Back on Planet 8

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 cliffhanger, and a bit of a downer. George Lucas didn't make a cookie-cutter repeat of Star Wars, which many studio execs wanted; instead, he made a film which continued the story, taking some chances (a Muppet?) and overall having a much darker tone than the original. But it was the right direction, and the film is now recognized as not only a great Star Wars film, but a great film period.
Of course, we do our Sensor Sweep and talk about the usual nonsense -what new stuff we've bought and what shows we're watching. Hopefully you find that amusing too!
Let us know how you feel about Empire - how do you feel about it now, and what did you think when you first saw it?  You can find us at these locations:
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Do, or do not. There is no try.

Episode 164: Silver Shamrock! Time for Halloween III

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 so many viewers were fixated on Michael Myers that they couldn't give this film a fair shake. Well, your Planet 8 crew, joined by our friends Lord Blood-Rah and Jeff Wehenkel, are big fans of this film, and we hope to make you converts too! So sit back and enjoy this episode. if you didn't like Halloween III before, maybe you'll give it a chance. And if you're already a fan, you'll have fun listening to our thoughts.
And be sure to catch our Sensor Sweep! You may want to go over to our YouTube channel for this - as our pal, the talented Jeff Wehenkel, shares photos of his Halloween III-inspired Halloween party decorations. A few years ago, Jeff went all out and recreated the masks, signage, and even villain Conal Cochrane! It's very impressive!
We'd love to hear your thoughts on Halloween III or anything else. You can reach us at any of our social sites:
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HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!
 

Episode 163: Planet 8 boldly explores Strange New Worlds

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 do a show on it? So here you have it. We brought Jeff and Lord Blood-Rah on, and we had a passionate yet civil discussion of Strange New Worlds, where we focused on the current season, but also talked about the entire series. We hope you enjoy it!
Please share your thoughts on Strange New Worlds, Star Trek, Fizzbin, or the number 4, whatever it is taking up space in your brain! You can contact Planet 8 at:
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Hit it!
 

Episode 162: Fantastic Four joins the MCU

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/Disney has been able to make their own Fantastic Four film. Fans wondered, would it measure up to expectations?
Well, your Planet 8 crew says...yes! We all enjoyed this new film. Despite some reservations regarding the cast, we all found this to be a very well made and entertaining movie, and a great addition to the MCU. In this episode, we will discuss everything about the film - so if you haven't seen it yet, beware, there be spoilers ahead! 
We can say that we found the retro-futuristic setting to be perfect, and the family dynamics between the characters worked flawlessly. Galactus was impressive and actually frightening. The space adventure was exciting and emphasized that the FF are not only super-heroes but explorers. It was also refreshing to have a story that was complete, and didn't have to set up the next film, or insert a bunch of other, extraneous characters.
So if you haven't seen it yet, go out and catch it in the theater! You'll be glad you did. And then tell us what you thought.
Our Sensor Sweep is all over the place, as usual. We were celebrating Mission Commander Larry's birthday! Larry shared his Wand Tricorder, which is practically as good as the ones Spock and Bones used on Star Trek! You really need to go to our YouTube channel to see this amazing prop. Some of the other items shared include an amazing Creature from the Black Lagoon backscratcher, a full-sized Dr. Doom mask, and a guide to Television Fright Films of the 1970s.
Bob is still preparing for the Godzillafest Convention coming in September. The dealers room is filling up. They just added Ricardo Delgado, Matt Frank, Middle of Beyond, and Super 7. There's going to be a lot of guests and activities, so don't miss it! Get all the details at Godzillafest.com.
Karen is still doing her YouTube channel, Echoes from the Satellite. If you are interested in science fiction, fantasy, and horror books, give it a view.
And that's a wrap for this episode. As always, we'd love to hear from you. Please send us your thoughts about Fantastic Four. Did you like it? Hate it? Let's talk!
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It's clobberin' time!!

Episode 161: Superman- the Man of Steel Returns!

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 things we would have done differently. Where does this leave the DC cinematic universe now?
In our Sensor Sweep, Chief Engineer Bob has survived the first part of Godzillafest, now on to part 2, the Godzillafest Convention! It's happening September 20-21 in San Francisco. Tickets are available now for this awesome event! Go to Godzillafest.com for all the details.
Bob got some cool stuff at the Godzillafest film festival. He shared a super cool Ultraman lunchbox (and a shot glass), as well as a Neca figure of a trick or treater in a Ben Cooper Godzilla Halloween costume! Great stuff.
Karen had a birthday recently and Larry gave her the enormous book, The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen. Now all three of the Planet 8 crew have this giant brick of a book! Karen is still doing her YouTube show, and just did segments on 2001 and her birthday book haul. You can see these and other episodes at Echoes from the Satellite.
Our Mission Commander Larry got a ton of great sci fi and monster magazine from his friend Dennis, and shared a sample of them with us. He also went completely mad and bought the Galactus popcorn bucket! That thing is bigger than his head! You need to go to our YouTube channel to see this thing.
That's all for us this time. Let us know what you think of the new Superman. Did you enjoy it? How did it compare to previous Superman films?
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Up, up, and away!!