As always, there are spoilers ahead. 

You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky. 

If you have an air of gravitas and money to spend and would like to be a patron of the podcast, please do! You can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm 

Graphic novels and comics were widely considered to be for children in the early 1960s. It was a relatively small number of artists and publishers who were working to have comics seen as a viable form of art as well as making comics for adults. 

Although the history of comics for adults is definitely older, this period marks a surge in European interest in the medium. Famous film producer Dino de Laurentiis helped this when he bought the filming rights to adult comics Diabolik (from Italy) and Barbarella (from France) turning them both in to movies in the 1960s.

De Laurentiis originally wanted Bridget Bardot for the title role and after she turned it down, he looked to Sophia Loren who did the same. His third choice was Jane Fonda who initially rejected the script until her then husband Roger Vadim convinced her to take it. Vadim joined as Director and the rest is kitschy sci-fi history.

I have two fantastic guests to talk through this swinging 60s sci-fi space opera oddity. 

Lisa Yaszek is Regents' Professor of Science Fiction Studies at Georgia Tech and has written/edited extensively on science fiction. 

Hugo Frey is Professor of History at the University of Chichester. He has a special interest in graphic novels and is co-author of the 2026 book The Look of the 1960s. Barbarella and the Pulp Pop Comics.

CORRECTION: In the question about the legacy of Barbarella I say Star Trek when I mean Star Wars.  

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

02:17 Sci-fi precedence

03:45 Barbarella comic origins

06:31 1960s France and the rise of adult comics

09:37 Jane Fonda playing it straight

10:59 Jean Claude Forest

12:22 Jane Fonda: Body dysmorphia and sexploitation

14:01 Censorship

19:19 Pop Art and design

26:56 Big hair and science fiction

32:24 Terry Southern

35:50 UK vs US reception

41:48 Government girl with a gun

44:22 A progressive Barbarella?

46:48 Masculinity and femininity

55:37 Recommendations

Recommendations:

Born in Flames (1983)

Bardot, Deneuve and Fonda: The Memoirs of Roger Vadim

Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg (2024)

NEXT EPISODE!

Next episode we will be talking about The Planet of the Apes (1968). Planet of the Apes is available to rent or buy from major online platforms including Apple TV. It is also available on Disney+ in the UK. You can check the Just Watch website to find where it may be streaming in your region.

Translation for the intro:

A race against time. Office time against outside time.

Who's winning?

I don't know yet.

Apologies as I am coming down with a heavy cough and need sleep. I am so out of it that I almost forgot that it is release day! But I jumped out of bed with quite a shock and here you have the episode. Phew!

As always, there are spoilers ahead.

You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.

If you have an air of gravitas and money to spend and would like to be a patron of the podcast, please do! You can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm

1968's Je t'aime, je t'aime (AKA I Love You, I Love You). A wonderfully unusual science fiction film about memory, love and loss by French New Wave director Alain Resnais.

If you would like an overview of the plot you can find it on the Wikipedia page here.

The time code after the beep (indicating the discussion about sexual violence is done) 50 minutes and 40 seconds.

I have two magnificent guests!

Mark Bould is a professor of Film and Literature at the University of West England, Bristol. He has written/edited extensively about science fiction cinema.

Mani Sharpe is a lecturer in Film Studies at the University of Leeds. He is the author of the book Late-Colonial French Cinema: Filming the Algerian War of Independence.

At one point Mark mentions Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius by Jorge Luis Borges and I'm mentioning it here as I had to look it up and it might be on interest.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

01:42 Alain Resnais

07:20 France in 1968

11:27 Cancelled Cannes Film Festival

13:51 Editing and Chronology

20:10 Continuity conventions

24:33 Editing words and memories

33:23 Unreliable Narrator

39:05 The film watching experience

44:21 Loss and heartbreak in sci-fi

50:55 Legacy

55:05 Recommendations

Recommendations

New Rose Hotel (1998) by Abel Ferrara

Alain Resnais by Emma Wilson

NEXT EPISODE!

Wish me luck as I attempt to arrange an episode on Barbarella in two weeks. As this hasn't been finalised I would suggest that you might also like the watch Planet of the Apes just in case should the fates be tricky! Both of these films are quite easy to find to rent.

Translation for Intro: 

"Fire Dragon can reduce Tokyo to ashes in just a few hours."

Godzilla ROARS.

"It's Godzilla!"

As always there are spoilers ahead!

You can follow the podcast on social media on Threads, Instagram and Bluesky.

If you have like to wear a monocle and talk about fancy artisan cheeses maybe you would like to be a patron of the podcast? Luckily neither of those things are a requirement! You can join Patreon and for £3 or $3 a month you can get ad free version of the show. https://www.patreon.com/everyscififilm

If you are interested in the plot of the film you canread an overview on the wikipedia page here.  

Correction: In the intro I say Japanese Air Base when I mean Japanese Moon Base.

Welcome to the podcast!

TIME FOR PANIC TO ENSUE!!! We are in 1968! It's finally here! Am I ready for the 2001: A Space Odyssey? No, I am not! But I'm getting there. Please bear with me. 

In the meantime, I shall distract you with a chat about one of the most visually delightful of Kaiju Films (Although one of our guests' recommendations may have it beat in visual delights). You can see an array of the stills from Destroy All Monsters on my Instagram account. This is the swinging 60s Japan style!

In 1968 ToHo studios decided to wrap up the Godzilla Franchise with a big bang! A Kaiju extravaganza featuring 11 monsters. Let me list them for you.

1. Godzilla 
2. Rodan
3. Angurius
4. Mothra (very tragically in larva form)
5. Gorosaurus 
6. Minilla (Godzilla's son who gives me the creeps. Sorry!)
7. Kumonga
8. Baragon
9. Manda
10. Varan
11. King Ghidorah 

Due to international success the franchise continued on. Hoorah!

I have two gargantuan guests for you. (They actually are, as far as I am aware, human sized although I have no proof.) 

Yuki Miyamoto is Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Humanities Center at DePaul University. Her work focuses on the ethics around nuclear discourse.

Blair Davis is a Professor of Media and Cinema Studies at DePaul University. He has written a lot about cinema and comics and including the book The Battle for the Bs: 1950s Hollywood and the Rebirth of Low-Budget Cinema.

Chapters 

00:00 Introduction

01:33 Sci-Fi films from 1950s to 1968

03:14 Comparison to Godzilla 1954

05:23 1960s Japan

08:49 Blair's love of the film

09:59 The intentions behind the film

11:14 The 'Monster Rally' tradition

13:53 Visual delights

14:36 The first 10 minutes

18:22 The island connections

21:14 The Showa Era and Japan on the global stage

24:49 Aliens! The Kilaaks

29:38 The Izu Peninsula and Shogun

30:16 The Kaijus

40:17 The final battle

43:12 A changing Godzilla

46:52 Legacy

49:26 Recommendations

Recommendations:

Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)

Godzilla in Hell by James Stokoe 

NEXT EPISODE!
Next episode (if all goes well) we will be talking about the Je t'aime, je t'aime (1968) which is available on BFI player in the UK (which is accessible through Apple TV) but seems very elusive elsewhere. There is a version on YouTube but it is in French. The English title (I Love You, I Love You) did not seem to help. The BluRay is also available but for slightly silly prices outside of the UK from what I can see. I wish you luck in finding it!

There are spoilers ahead! For many films I'm afraid.

I would especially avoid the episode until you have watched Ex-Machina (which you really really should immediately it really is phenomenal) as Jes does talk directly about the ending between 53:23 till 53:46.

I have made a list of the films and books mentioned below.

This is another detour episode and perhaps you're thinking I'm trying to avoid the very big task of recording 2001: A Space Odyssey content. And perhaps you're right. But I hope you enjoy this discussion.

If you try to think of a futuristic city your mind may be drawn towards a real place but it could just as easily be drawn towards the great science fiction films that render our future on our screens.

Films like Blade Runner, Minority Report, Fifth Element and (the granddaddy) Metropolis have all shown us what human futures could look like. Sometimes these visions are intimidating, terrifying or occausionally aspirational. These images in turn can affect and inform own understanding of what an unwritten future should be like.

I have two wonderful guests to talk through the somewhat symbiotic relationship of science fiction and architecture

Amy Brookes is an architect and an Associate Professor at the University of Reading. She has written extensively about architecture and one of her special interests is Architecture in science fiction literature and film.

Jes Deaver is an award-winning architect as well as a filmmaker and writer. She is the author of the article The Architecture of Imagination which explores the parallels between science fiction and architecture.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

01:32 The SF-Architecture connection

06:40 How the symbolism of the tower changes

14:38 Anxieties in architecture

17:00 The reciprocal relationship

27:10 Fears of suburbia

30:27 Non place and virtual space

33:43 Apocalyptic futures

40:02 Hopeful alternatives

49:04 Favourite architectural sci-fi films

53:46 Recommendations

Recommendations:

And He Built a Crooked House by Robert Heinlein

Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements

Films mentioned in the episode:

• Metropolis (1927)
• Blade Runner (1982)
• Minority Report (2002)
• Chappie (2015)
• District 9 (2009)
• Attack the Block (2011)
• Fifth Element (1997)
• Just Imagine (1930)
• Gagarine (2020)
• Atlantics (2019)
• Tommorowland (2015)
• Truman Show (1998)
• Stepford Wives (1975)
• Edward Scissorhands (1990)
• Soylent Green (1973)
• Don't Look Up (2021)
• Children of Men (2006)
• Snowpiercer (2013)
• Hunger Games (2012)
• Robocop (1987)
• Nation Estate (2012)
• Silent Running (1972)
• High Rise (2015)
• Ex Machina (2014)

Books mentioned:

• Rem Koolhaas (Remment Lucas Koolhaas) is a Dutch Architect and author of the book Delirious New York published in 1978.
• Ready Player One by Ernest Kline. (Made into a film by Steven Speilberg in 2018)
• Every Version of You by Grace Chan.
• Artificial Wisdom by Thomas R Weaver.
• Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052-2072 by Eman Abdelhadi and M. E. O'Brien
• Mouldiness Manifesto by Friedensreich Hundretwasser

TV Shows mentioned:

• Westworld
• Andor

Other links of interest:

• A page from Mark Bould's website about the city: https://markbould.com/tag/paul-verhoeven/
• '5 Minute Modern' YouTube  video about Brutalism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib82VYtjFtY
• An interesting article about Fritz Lang's depiction of the future city The German Take on Gotham: https://jacobin.com/2025/12/the-german-take-on-gotham

NEXT EPISODE!

The next episode will be about Destroy All Monsters which features lots of Kaiju, a Japanese Moonbase, evil aliens who look like beautiful women and groovy 60s outfits. You can rent the film on Apple TV (at least in the UK) but take a look at Just Watch and Rotten Tomatoes to see where the film is showing in your region. DVDs and Blurays of the film are also available for relatively reasonable prices.