The Incomparable Mothership
Film, TV & Pop Culture
About
The Incomparable Mothership is the flagship of the Incomparable podcast network. It’s all about geeky media we love, including movies, books, TV, and more, featuring a rotating panel of guests and hosted by Jason Snell and friends.
Episodes
- 817: A Found Family of Monsters
The Incomparable Mothership podcast
- 816: Fascism for Algernon
In episode 816, "Fascism for Algernon," The Incomparable Mothership discusses the 1996 cyberpunk film "Lawnmower Man 2." The panel includes Monty Ashley, Tony Sindelar, Annette Wierstra, and Jason Snell.
- 815: I Guess I Gotta Kill All These Klan Guys
Jason Snell, Moisés Chiullán, Brian Hamilton, Monty Ashley, Tony Sindelar, and Steve Lutz discuss the film "Sinners," directed by Ryan Coogler. The panel explores the movie's genre elements, historical setting, and themes.
- 814: Demons are People Too
This episode features a Book Club panel discussing Lois McMaster Bujold’s Penric & Desdemona fantasy series. The panelists explore how the series allows characters to develop over time and offers uncommon perspectives within the fantasy ge…
- 813: Spiritual Sequel
The Incomparable Mothership episode 813 reviews "Blade Runner 2049," featuring a discussion on replicant detective K's search for a secret, holographic girlfriends, Jared Leto, and the ongoing debate about Deckard's replicant status.
- 812: Ridley Scott Just Can't Stop
No voiceovers! More unicorns! Our journey deep into the futuristic world of 2019 Los Angeles continues with another look at “Blade Runner” — this time, it’s “The Final Cut” edition. Deckard’s identity revealed, sort of? Voiceovers removed!…
- 811: Have You Considered More Voiceovers?
These movie producers really did a job on “Blade Runner.” They don’t advertise for narrations in the newspaper, every good writer knows that. But when you’re trying to sell a narratively dense piece of visual art to 1982 audiences who just…
- 810: Cheated Out of Glitter Vomit
Hit the books and polish up your comm badges, because it’s time to go to school—“Starfleet Academy,” that is. We check in on the first season of Star Trek’s latest (and last, for now?) TV series, and find that despite the YA focus, it’s st…
- 809: Triple J on 'Jeopardy!' with Jennings
Jason was on “Jeopardy!” Now he breaks the experience down with the help of two former “Jeopardy!” champions, Glenn Fleishman and Dan Moren. Jason on Jeopardy! Jason Snell with Dan Moren and Glenn Fleishman Show Notes & Links Dan Moren on…
- 808: Growing Up Targaryen
Have your squire put on your best (and only) set of armor and be sure to re-paint your shield! We’re here to discuss the surprisingly delightful “Game of Thrones” spin-off “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” which features characters to root…
- 807: Assassin As a Service
Charge up your cyberspace deck and avoid all slamhounds! It’s time for us to discuss the second book in William Gibson’s famed Sprawl trilogy, “Count Zero.” Of course, Count Zero is the name of a great hacker… wait, it’s this kid? This is…
- 806: Demon in a Photocopier
Our Book Club reconvenes to discuss Emily Tesh’s “The Incandescent,” which offers a teacher’s perspective on a magical school (that’s mostly not magical, but infested by demons), an interesting story structure, and some very well-drawn cha…
- 805: Universal Basic Rooster Income
Find a cat bed and some apricots, and prepare to upgrade your chicken! While Jason’s away, we play Embark’s hit game “Arc Raiders”, a multiplayer extraction shooter where people can… be nice to each other? (Most of the time, anyway.) We ta…
- 804: I Pay This Movie Rent
Want to see a dead body? Bring your comb, stock up on cherry flavor Pez, and stay really quiet if you see a deer. We return to the 1980s and honor Rob Reiner by discussing 1986’s “Stand By Me,” a movie Jason has somehow never seen. It’s no…
- 803: Doing the Good Loon's Work
Celebrate Valentine’s Day with The Incomparable. It’s time to discuss that Canadian hockey show everyone’s been talking about. “Heated Rivalry” just wants to know, “Will you come to the cottage this summer?” "Heated Rivalry" Annette Wierst…
- 802: Farm-to-Table Body Parts
Guillermo del Toro’s waited his whole life to make a “Frankenstein” movie, and now he’s done it. We carefully select the (Oscar-nominated!) film’s best bits, chop them up, and then sew them back together in the grossest way possible. (We k…
- 801: Chekhov's Chunga Palm
Hello, Carol. This is a recording. At the tone, you can leave a message to request anything you might need. We’ll do our best to provide it. Our feelings for you haven’t changed, Carol. But after everything that’s happened, we just need a…
- 800: Draft Science
After 800 episodes, we are in serious danger of repeating ourselves, but that never stopped us before. Some of our most prolific panelists fulfill the prophesy and draft Incomparable drafts. Jason begs them to give him new ideas, because a…
- 799: Earth 2120 (feat. Xenomorph)
Noah Hawley’s TV take on the Alien franchise, “Alien: Earth,” is crashing into a building near us, bringing gross aliens old and new, suspicious synths, terrified (and bloody) humans, and a new class of hybrid life forms with the minds of…
- 798: Trust Dan, Not Fish
Our most frequent panelists of the year join Jason to talk about their favorite stuff from the year gone by, and we also pause to recall some favorite Incomparable moments. Synergy! The Best of 2025 Jason Snell with Erika Ensign, Moisés Ch…
- 797: Iceman Was Right
Kilmas comes but once a year! This year we’re climbing into the cockpit and revisiting 1986’s “Top Gun,” starring some airplanes, Val Kilmer, and Tom Cruise. It’s a very subtle movie. Were Tony’s parents right in protecting his young mind…
- 796: Grape Juice Plus
Our Ape Club reconvenes to celebrate the holidays with a viewing of 1971’s “Escape from the Planet of the Apes!” Is this an ape movie or an episode of “Mannix”? What happens when you change lanes on the Freeway of Time? Why is Zira the sma…
- 795: Put the Magic Baby Down
Set in a bright retro-future world, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” doesn’t have anything to do with the Marvel Cinematic Universe… yet. We analyze the latest attempt to translate Marvel’s first family to the big screen, including the tr…
- 794: Oops! All Rats
We celebrate Fangsgiving with a visit to darkest Transylvania (and Germany) for the plague-stricken, rat-infested tale of “Nosferatu”, a legally questionable knock-off of “Dracula” more than a century old that surprisingly reinvigorates th…
- 793: Table 19, Your Pizza's Ready
Ever wonder what happened to The Oneders? We celebrate Hanksgiving by discussing Tom Hanks’s love letter to ’60s pop that’s also a clear-eyed look at the machinery of the entertainment business, “That Thing You Do!” Powered by a legitimate…
- 792: Deep Books in a Trenchcoat
If you’ve been thinking of reading Science Fiction and Fantasy but had no idea where to start, we’re here to help. Our panel of longtime SF/F readers has some suggestions just for you! New to SF/F reading list Jason Snell with Aleen Simms,…
- 791: Elio and Glordon's Excellent Space Adventure
Pixar Club re-forms to discuss “Elio,” the studio’s lowest-grossing feature film of all time. Funny thing, though… it’s a pretty good movie? It’s funny, has some space adventure and gross-but-lovable aliens, and even has a nice message abo…
- 790: Serious Academic Arguments
It’s time for another Old Spooky Club, as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Stuart Gordon’s horror-comedy classic, “Re-Animator”, which bears very little resemblance to the works of H.P. Lovecraft. We’ve got notes about severed heads, c…
- 789: A Hunting Lodge for Rich Weirdos
We celebrate the 50th anniversary of the longest-running theatrical run of all time—“The Rocky Horror Picture Show”! It’s an unapologetic musical about being yourself (and giving yourself over to pleasure). It spawned a cultural phenomenon…
- 788: He's Just Bob
We’re back on the Marvel movies with “Thunderbolts*”, a film that (to our surprise?) is not a nihilistic story about villains pretending to be heroes (see: Suicide Squad), but instead a story about some troubled not-quite-heroes learning t…
- 787: Injured in the Jaguar Attack
It’s autumn, things are turning dark and gray, and that puts us in the mind of… (fictional) murder! Want a mystery novel, or series, to read? Our expert readers have many, many suggestions for you. Mystery Reading List Jason Snell with Jea…
- 786: Vatgrown Ninja Assassins
Grab your cyberspace deck and prepare to jack in—it’s time to discuss William Gibson’s groundbreaking classic novel, “Neuromancer.” We’ve got a panel of experts—and a first-timer!—ready to discuss how 1984’s future looks from the perspecti…
- 785: The Tiger is Perfect
We always knew Daniel Dae Kim would accomplish something after “Crusade!” (Kids, ask your “Babylon 5”-loving parents.) Our panel looks back over the three-month phenomenon that has been Netflix’s “KPop Demon Hunters” and gives you reasons…
- 784: Peak Harpoonist
The Summer of Submarines reaches crush depth with Disney’s 1954 epic “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.” Captain Nemo of the Nautilus has met his match in an uncharismatic French professor, his strangely familiar associate, and their sidekick,…
- 783: A Submarine Trifle
Our Summer of Submarines floats on with “U-571”, a 21st centry-style action movie that manages to hit most of the squares on the submarine bingo card. McConaughey is a disgruntled XO! Depth charges terrify! A surprising twist if you didn’t…
- 782: In Russia, Truck Stops You
We dive beneath the sea again with “K-19: The Widowmaker,” in which Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson star as… wait a second… Soviet naval officers? It’s a film about a horrible nuclear accident assembled from pieces of other submarine movies,…
- 781: Your Permission to Speak Freely is Rescinded
The Summer of Submarines resurfaces with James Garner going on a secret mission to an enemy island in 1959’s “Up Periscope.” The Skipper is not a skipper, but he’s got some interesting romantic ideas. Some scenes are impressively bad from…
- 780: The Perfect Bubble
We return to 1995 not to hack into the Net but to wander, Netless, around Vienna with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. Palm readers! Street poets! Plays featuring cows! It’s “Before Sunrise,” a movie in which nothing happens… except maybe the…
- 779: Not a Hugo
Our Awards Book Club closes up shop for 2025 with a final set of rankings, the presentation of an award we made up, and an overview of all the Hugo-nominated short fiction. Awards Book Club final rankings and Hugo short fiction Jason Snell…
- 778: Oops! All Batman
We celebrate the tenth anniversary of our Summer Superhero Spectacular tournament with something slightly different: A draft of our favorite superhero movies. Superhero Movie Draft Jason Snell with Andy Ihnatko, Chip Sudderth, James Thomso…
- 777: The 44% Rule
2025 Awards Book Club nears the end with award nominees “Asunder,” “The Ministry of Time,” and “The Tainted Cup.” Plus: What else are we reading? 2025 Awards Book Club, part 3 Jason Snell with Scott McNulty, Erika Ensign, Aleen Simms and H…
- 776: Next Stop Black Hole City
We went to the theater to see James Gunn’s “Superman” (2025) and are back to report about the pleasant experience. Gunn sets a new direction for DC superheroes, and fans of Zack Snyder may want to look elsewhere. From Krypto the Superdog t…
- 775: Herring Salad
We remain submerged for a very long time to watch a very long film, 1981’s “Das Boot.” This certifiable classic is certainly long and German, encompassing almost everything you might expect in the genre. There’s action, suspense, a lot of…
- 774: A Very Photogenic Submarine
The Summer of Submarines joins forces with Old Movie Club to take on 1958’s “Run Silent, Run Deep,” starring Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster. It’s a tense thriller that has inspired sub and sci-fi movies for many decades. Erika’s gleeful re…
- 773: One Dog Is Too Many
The summer of submarines kicks off with 1995’s “Crimson Tide,” a taut character drama that pits a captain (Gene Hackman) against his XO (Denzel Washington) in a conflict that escalates as global tensions rise outside their nuclear submarin…
- 772: The Compulsion of Art
With the guiding hand of Prof. Siracusa choosing the curriculum, we watch select animated shorts from the Netflix series “Love, Death + Robots.” John’s quest to find the perfect photorealistic CGI animation continues. Tony does his compani…
- 771: Nothing Can Kill Doctor Who
The second (and final?) season of the BBC/Disney+ collaboration era of “Doctor Who” is at an end, and so our crew of fans is here to pick up the pieces and ponder what went right and (unfortunately) what went wrong. Where does this franchi…
- 770: At the Time It Was Written
We conclude (for now?) our coverage of the TV adaptation of The Wheel of Time, which was just canceled by Amazon. Three seasons in, we cover whether we think it is still worth watching despite cancellation (we do) and how well the show’s t…
- 769: Wrestle a Book
Our Awards Book Club continues its run through the roses with a tougher than expected review of Vajra Chandrasekera’s “Rakesfall,” Adrian Tchaikovsky’s “Alien Clay,” and Kelly Link’s “The Book of Love.” 2025 Awards Book Club, part 2 Jason…
- 768: Eternal Clockwork Bugs
Guillermo del Toro’s career started small, with the small-scale vampire (sort of) horror (sort of?) movie “Cronos,” in which an old man finds a mechanical object containing a magical bug that gives him eternal life in the bad way. Meanwhil…