This week the word is fandom, as in “What are your fandoms?” What does it mean to be a fan? The nerds each talk about their own fandoms, including being fans of their own creations. Near the end they bring down the Spoiler Curtain to discuss the first episode of season 2 of The Orville, followed by Riverdale and Babylon 5.
SPOILER ALERT: CONTAINS SPOILERS
This week the word is endings. Topics the nerds discuss include the all-time best ending to a TV series, stories that had the perfect ending but then continued anyway, and stories that ended before their time. Media they mention include Newhart, MASH, Lost, Battlestar Galactica, The Americans, Journeyman, How I Met Your Mother, all of the Star Treks, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Buffy, and in particular, Babylon 5. They also compare Keith’s frequently re-run RPG game, Unusual Suspects, with Andy’s Parsely games.
SPOILER ALERT: CONTAINS VINTAGE SPOILERS
This week the word is holidays. Topics the nerds discuss include made-up holidays, christmas movies about ghosts and princes, the non-existence of a Star Trek holiday special, drive-in movies, Iceland’s Yule cat and Lads, Holland’s Zwarte Piet, Leap Day Williams, holiday music, and the possibility that Santa is a vampire. Andy saw Ralph Breaks the Internet, and Keith saw The Favourite, and they tell each other a little about those. Andy talks about finally getting to see again that one really scary episode of Space: 1999. Lastly, they discuss the latest episode of The Good Place.
SPOILER WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS
This week the word is Excelsior because Stan Lee passed away this week. The nerds talk about their early experiences with comic books, the differences between Marvel and DC heroes, etc. Then Keith talks about a recent incident in which Illimat made the news for witchy reasons. Moving on to media, they discuss Forever, Babylon 5, the Star Trek Discovery between-season shorts, and after a spoiler warning, they discuss Homecoming at length.
SPOILER WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS
This week the nerds talk about the number nine. They have at least nine thoughts about it. Andy has elaborate ideas for what he would do if he suddenly got the job of writing Star Wars Episode 9, then Keith tosses out his own ideas for how to finish the trilogy of Star Wars trilogies. Moving on to other media, Keith talks about a new show called Homecoming, and Andy gives his reactions to season 2 of Babylon 5, which they compare with Deep Space 9.
SPOILER WARNING: INCLUDES VINTAGE SPOILERS
Andy just got back from Burning Man so he spends a lot of this episode talking about his experiences there this year. He ran a lot of games at his camp, which hosts a game convention called RaiderCon, and had a great breakthrough while playtesting his new game, Are You a Robot?. Meanwhile, Keith just returned from DragonCon and interjects with stories from his weekend, where he played a lot of great games of Illimat and learned about Druid Law from Ken Hite. Andy describes a couple of the most intense Burning Man art projects he experienced, including a crazy stack of seven junked cars and a recreation of the Great Train Wreck. Other topics they discuss along the way include the works of Doug Michels, the future of Star Trek, Ed Harris in westerns and some spoilery theories about the next Avengers movie.
SPOILER WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS
First Keith talks about being in Ithaca again to help his mother, and Andy talks about the recent passing of his father. Then Andy talks about his plans for Burning Man, which leads to a discussion of robots. Andy reports on his progress with the design of ChronoTrek, and Keith talks about Action Pups! They discuss some media, including Humans, Making It, and Nailed It. Andy talks about Jenny Nicholson’s ideas for naming horses, the Renwick Gallery’s Burning Man exhibit, and gives more thoughtful answers to the favorite and least favorite aliens.
SPOILER WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS
First Keith reports on a couple of D&D games in the middle of playing, which included a scene with a fancy dance involving daggers. Then Keith talks about several podcasts he listened to recently, and some of the issues discussed thereon. The guys then talk more about their experiences at GenCon. Andy talks about awarding Homeworlds medal #17, and describes new ideas he’s been playing around with for a variation of the game that has no combat and a different end condition. Keith talks about Potion Explosion, Root, Arkham Horror, and the how difficult it is to walk the enormous exhibit hall when you’re busy running a booth. They talk about the meaning of name Delos, and Andy talks about an RPG called TimeWatch. Keith talks about media he’s been catching up on, including Cloak & Dagger, Castle Rock, and Making It. Kristin interrupts to bring Andy the first samples from the factory of Fairy Tale Fluxx and Mary Engelbreit Loonacy, and talks about the progress he’s been making on the Star Trek version of Chrononauts he’s currently designing.
SPOILER WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS
This episode was recorded during Gen Con at a Giordano’s pizza place. First Andy shows Keith his prototype-in-progress for a new version of Chrononauts based on the historical events of the Star Trek universe. Keith talks about playing backgammon at a family reunion, then they get into discussing what they’ve been doing at Gen Con. Keith talks about why he had two booths, and describes the four Writer’s Symposium panels he was on. This leads to a discussion of their favorite, and least favorite, alien races. Andy talks about running his newest Parsely game, Ducks on a Plane, then they play a couple of rounds of Andy’s newest social deduction game, Are You a Robot?. Lastly, the pizza arrives, and the guys have to stop talking so they can eat!
Andy and Keith start with a lot of non-spoilery discussions about Westworld, with small mentions of The Americans, Legion, Fahrenheit 451, and Into the Badlands. Then they discuss the Transformers at some length, and a few other things include The Crossing, watching movies on airplanes, and ducks. Andy talks about work stuff, having just finished up work on the last of 10 new products SKUs Looney Labs will be releasing at the end of the summer. Keith mentions work stuff he can’t talk about, and instead talks about growing peas and cucumbers in his garden. Andy talks about visiting his dad, who’s health is continuing to decline. Then they talk about seeing Fluxx and Gloom sold side by side in faraway game stores, which gets Keith talking about some new ideas he’s been having for Gloom. Lastly, after lowering the spoiler curtain, they discuss the penultimate episode of season 2 of Westworld.
SPOILER WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS