This week, we look at Space Operas, and give praise/a good kicking to several notable examples of the genre, taking in Film, TV, Books and Games. We journey form Epsilon 3 to Mongo, from the Systems Commonwealth to the moons of Jupiter, all the while dispensing our verdicts without mercy.

We're not including Star Wars, Star Trek or Doctor Who - they get enough coverage already, not least from us. So sit back and take in our thoughts on the Genre.

Plus you can hear Cav rant, Chani gush excitedly at joining 2016, and Mike crack inappropriate jokes at every available opportunity.

Thimble of Win Links:

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/12/quentin-tarantino-star-trek-screenwriter

https://www.netflix.com/au/title/80097140

Other Links:

Peter Duncan in Flash Gordon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKBr0WqkA3s

Thumbnail image credit: © Chris Foss

BAAAAAAAAAM!

Bada baam!

Bada bam bam bam bam bam bam, bam bam bam bam bam bam, bam bam bam bam bam bam, baaam

ba ba ba....Baaa Baaa ba ba ba BAAA baa, ba ba ba BAAA baa,ba ba ba BAAA...

This episode, Mike and Cav get together to give you their review of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. So naturally, there are a lot of spoilers. We talk at length about the key moments of the film, its many narrative arcs, and where this leaves the future of the Star Wars universe.

If you haven't seen the film yet, then wait until you have to listen to this episode.

Enjoy!

We're back once again with our hiatus review. This time, we're talking about the best in TV and film from while we were away galavanting (in the case of at least one of our number, getting married).

We take a look at Stranger Things, Star Trek: Discovery and Game of Thrones (with honourable mentions for The Defenders, and The Tick). We also rave about Baby Driver, have a good hard look at Blade Runner 2049, Thor: Ragnarok, Pirates of the Carribbean: Dead Men Tell no Tales, and Spiderman: Homecoming. Yes - all of the colons!

And Chani losing her shit about Littlefinger.

Links:

https://www.hbo.com/game-of-thrones

https://www.netflix.com/au/title/80057281

http://www.cbs.com/shows/star-trek-discovery/

http://bladerunnermovie.com/

http://marvel.com/thor

http://pirates.disney.com/

http://www.babydriver-movie.com/discanddigital/

https://www.facebook.com/TheSamePhotoofJeffGoldblumEveryday/

https://www.facebook.com/thesamephotoofjimcarreyeveryday/

Well hello again. Did you miss us?

Once again, it's time to welcome back your three favourite Geek Vacationers, as we pass around the novelty donkeys, and break out the slide show while Uncle Marmaduke passes out in the corner after one too many brandies...

In this episode, we'll be looking at Chani and Cav's exploits, as we hear all about their adventures in the world of conventions. Chani dazzles us with her best Hollywood Smile as she regales us with tales of hobnobbing with the stars of VidCon, and give us the lowdown on PaxAus. Cav reviews Wolfenstein II: The New Collosus, and we almost kill Chani with fictional wrestlers. There's a monkey cat, teeth brushing in games, and shouting at a boy called Jason.

All you could possibly want, really.

Links:

Chani at VicCon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DYDydAvftw

Other Links:

http://vidconaustralia.com/

http://aus.paxsite.com

https://www.playstation.com/en-us/games/detroit-become-human-ps4/

https://www.extra-life.org/#

https://wolfenstein.bethesda.net/

http://store.steampowered.com/app/564230/Fire_Pro_Wrestling_World/

This week, your favourite Geek Marines load up their hardware and go searching for Xenomorphs on the USCSS There Will Be Geek. We talk about the Alien Saga from its humble beginnings in Dark Star to the latest offering in Alien: Covenant. We talk about the successes, the qualified successes, the critical failures and the baffling decisions that have followed the story as it progressed.

Plus, in our Thimble of Win, we talk mini-gaming, world building and Rafa Benitez.

Thimble of Win links:

https://www.nintendo.com.au/nintendo-announces-the-nintendo-classic-mini-super-nintendo-entertainment-system

http://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-gb/agegate

http://www.touchingdistance.com/?page_id=1763

"Take three Geeks. Go to Mike's. Record the podcast, grab coats, go to The Reverence*, have a nice cold pint, and wait for all of this to blow over.

How's that for a slice of fried gold?"

This week, Cav, Mike and Chani are sampling Three Flavours Cornetto as we look over Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World's End. We look at extended adolescence, friendship, and bromance, and we give our take on the writngs of Pegg, the performance of Frost and the direction of Wright.

Plus we play Tetris, read some comics, and ask "What's on the end of the stick, Vic?"

You wouldn't let it lie!

Thimble of Win Links:

http://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/puyo-puyo-tetris-switch

https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/saga

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2017/vic-and-bob-back

*The Reverence Hotel in no way endorses this message. It's just a really nice pub in Footscray. You should go there. They do Mexican food.

Our quarter-century of episodes brings us the dark and brooding masterpiece road trip that is American Gods. Your favourite weary travellers on TWBG Airways will be settling comfortably down into their upgraded-to-first-class-somehow seats, and will regale you with stories of gods old and new, and everything in between.

Plus we bring you news of dragons, witchers, crystals, the law, and voyages beyond the stars.

Or should that be Starz...?

Links:

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=19338

https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/17/15651956/the-witcher-tv-show-netflix-announced

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/may/11/judge-dredd-mega-city-one-set-to-dispense-tv-justice

https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/5/18/15658270/the-dark-crystal-age-of-resistance-netflix-trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8mesUEFjas

https://www.starz.com/series/americangods/episodes

http://www.neilgaiman.com/works/Books/American+Gods/

This week, your favourite geeksplorers Peach, Mario, and Bowser (we'll let you decide who's who) blow into the cartridge and press the reset button on a show all about Nintendo. As always, we look at the history of the company, our own formative experiences with a large variety of consoles and other platforms, and we hazard a guess as to where the future lies for the company.

Plus there's our Thimble of Win, where we talk about The Comedian's Comedian, dodgy Police, and a Post-Apocalyptic wasteland.

Just your average night in then.

Thimble of Win Links:

https://www.playstation.com/en-us/games/horizon-zero-dawn-ps4/

http://store.steampowered.com/app/443810/agecheck

http://www.comedianscomedian.com/

This week, the foxy cats at TWBG are getting down, looking sharp, and getting ready for some hot action. Yes, we're talking about Sex in popular culture - whether it be improbable and badly rendered in video games, laughable British sex comedies, 80's teen movies or the free flopping wangs of modern medieval fantasy. Plus we go to town on Christian Gray, and not in a way he'd enjoy.

So slap on your shagging pants, throw the Barry White on the stereo, and get ready to get down...

Thimble of Win links:

A Teen Girl's Guide To Getting Off:

http://www.trenwickhouse.com.au/products/a-teen-girls-guide-to-getting-off

Dead Rising 4: Frank Rising

http://gematsu.com/2017/03/dead-rising-4-frank-rising-dlc-launches-april-4

Secret World Legends:

https://secretworldlegends.com/

Main Section Link:

https://waypoint.vice.com/en_us/article/the-gloriously-stupid-history-of-sex-in-video-games

LOAD "TWBG - RETRO GAMING"

SEARCHING...

This week, we dig out our horn-rimmed glasses, turtle-neck cardigans and brown slacks and go headlong into the world of Retro Gaming, looking back into consoles and computers, asterisks and arcades, joysticks and...other things beginning with J. We ask what is Retro, whether there is pleasure in simplicity, how important is playability (answer: very), and whether it's worth your while going any further than Championship Manager 01/02 if your looking for a football management game.

Plus our thimble of win involves naked Japanese men, grizzled cowboys and a madman in a box.

BREAK

Thimble of Win Links:

http://yakuza.sega.com/yakuza0/

www.rockstargames.com/reddeadredemption/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006q2x0

Sequels. Love, loathe or detest them, if you love cinema, then you can't avoid them. But how to categorise them? What makes a sequel worth your time? In the first of a new occasional feature, your favourite geeks play Judge Judy and Executioner to a host of follow-ups, deciding upon their worthiness and giving our criteria and whimsical judgements for doing so, choosing which go where we don't need roads, and which are subject to death by exile.

Plus in our Thimble of Win, there's the rise of the old ones (or is there?), the fall of a despicable troll, and several generations of British comedy in a variety of different formats.

This time, it's personal...

Thimble of Win links:

http://www.thesecretworld.com/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/21/milo-yiannopoulos-rise-and-fall-shallow-actor-bad-guy-hate-speech

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUuMcd6OAioA_6t2OPttHCw

http://www.apollotheatrecompany.com/current-productions.html

Choose Geek. Choose a hobby. Choose a comic book shop. Choose a nerd family. Choose a flat screen television with Netflix, choose a console, gaming machines, Spotify and sonic screwdrivers. Choose questionable health, pizza and insurance for your collection of collectibles. Choose Lootcrate payments. Choose a share-house. Choose your guild. Choose cutesy t-shirts with fucking unicorns impaling people. Chose a gaming chair covered in retro Nintendo controller cushions. Choose cosplay and LARP, wandering around DIY stores looking for supplies on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting in that gaming chair, arguing with twelve-year-olds in Idaho about being a fucking camper. Choose feeling bemused on the third day of the convention, unsure about which panels you’ve been to and whether your kid’s anime/Star Wars crossover costume is going to work or not.

Choose you future.

Choose Geek.

This week is all about Trainspotting. We look into the origins of the 1996 film, discussing the works of Irvine Welsh, and what we're hoping for from the much anticipated follow up released this year.

Plus our Thimble of Win, where Chani sews people together, Cav colours in a man in a vest, and Mike looks forward to a confused looking Australian hitting people with metal claws.

Thimble of Win Links:

http://www.booktopia.com.au/die-hard-twentieth-century-fox/prod9780008212278.html

http://mangafox.me/manga/uzumaki/

http://www.foxmovies.com/movies/logan

Trainspotting link:

http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/t2trainspotting/

This week, our geekbrarians look sternly over their glasses, tell you to shush, and go back to pushing their book trolley around the shelves, as we bring you some of our favourite examples in the first of an occasional series delving into geek books. We wrangle with minds, drones, and dubiously named ships, we offer ourselves as tribute, and we make sure we always know where our towels are.

Plus our Thimble of Win features heads in boxes, questionable dubbing and unholy alliances between demons and angels.

Thimble of Win Links:

http://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3420411/writer-andrew-kevin-walker-shares-never-seen-first-draft-se7en/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XziLNeFm1ok

https://www.theguardian.com/books/tvandradioblog/2016/apr/15/good-omens-neil-gaiman-to-adapt-terry-pratchett-collaboration-for-tv

Other Links:

http://www.thehungergames.co.uk/the-books/

http://www.douglasadams.com/

http://www.iain-banks.net/science-fiction/

This week, your Consulting Geek Detectives grab their pipes, stuff on their deerstalkers and stride around purposefully holding their magnifying glasses as we investigate Fan Theories. We look at witches and murderers, hospitals and snowglobes, implanted memories, watchers and secret agents, implausible hoaxes and drowning swimmers in our quest for cultural enlightenment.

Plus our Thimble of Win focuses on taciturn Canadians and unreliable narrators.

The game is afoot!

Thimble of Win Links:

http://www.letterkenny.tv/

http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/317741/the-princess-diarist-by-carrie-fisher/9780399173592/

https://penguin.com.au/books/the-girl-on-the-train-9781784161750

Fan Theory Links:

https://thetommywestphall.wordpress.com/about/

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Blair-Witch-Project-Ending-Who-Actually-Did-Killing-70180.html

https://www.inverse.com/article/6655-fan-theory-101-did-kubrick-admit-to-faking-the-moon-landing-in-the-shining

https://www.overthinkingit.com/2009/11/25/total-recall-dream-debate-vote/

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Stan-Lee-May-Secretly-Playing-Same-Marvel-Character-Every-Movie-67436.html

http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2012/11/11/how-skyfall-clears-up-bonds-biggest-continuity-question

http://www.thewrap.com/grease-fan-theory-sandy-dead-danny/

This week, we conduct a raid into the vaults of the Geekservatoire to bring you the very finest masterworks from the great composers, from Clint Mansell to Trent Reznor, from Mick Gordon to Bill Elm & Woody Jackson, from Rob Hubbard all the way to...Michael Jackson?

We look at some of our favourite examples of the genre, from Space Invaders to the present day, discussing the form, the technology involved and some of the side projects that the music has inspired.

Plus there's our regular Thimble of Win.

Player One has entered the game.

Thimble of Win Links:

http://www.pcgamer.com/elite-dangerous-aliens/

http://www.xbox.com/en-AU/games/dead-rising-4

https://www.amazon.com/Touching-Distance-Entertainers-Newcastles-Impossible/dp/1909245259

Music Links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqwlX8WGSFM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFYzjU-C3mA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KllQP2lcURY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX-Ixb0sy4E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yag41F7eCLU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufZ1uchM9AA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg-yC0xcI9s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg-yC0xcI9s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZMg9ryeWOw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbrjxQAWSs4&list=PLl1QTmJ3lxchVZqNX2V7LkZ3HxoNhCuUI&index=1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naUlYJwe_-E&list=PLD76E7B4C22AD77E8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLEAqsFPseg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38q9ALx7imI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69z_IN64EG4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4J2gBFiM0A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZmMD84XpCs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSkb0kDacjs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSkb0kDacjs