Imaginary Worlds

Pop culture has been full of Jekylls and Hydes: Bruce Banner and The Hulk, Norman Bates and Mother, Walter White and Heisenberg, The Nutty Professor and Buddy Love. They all echo the archetype that Robert Lous Stevenson established 140 years ago in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I explore at how these variations reflect different ideas about duality, depending on how “bad” the Hydes are and what the Jekylls choose to do about their alter egos. Lewis University professor Jamil Mustafa draws parallels between the original 1886 novel and modern stories like Twin Peaks, Fight Club, and Black Swan. Plus, I talk with Yannie ten Broeke, who teaches psychology at Touro University, about why the Jekyll and Hyde archetype reflects how little we understand our own minds.

This episode is sponsored by There Is No Antimemetics Division, the national bestselling science-fiction horror novel by qntm. Get your copy now wherever books and audiobooks are sold.

To support the show, you can donate on Patreon where you get access to the ad-free version and our companion show Between Imaginary Worlds.
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John Watson is a former army doctor who became a true crime podcaster when he met a consulting detective named Sherlock Holmes. You can hear about the cases they’ve solved in the podcast Sherlock & Co. Sound familiar? Holmes and Watson may have been enshrined in pop culture for over 130 years. But their adventures feel fresh and relevant in the audio drama Sherlock & Co – which masquerades as a true crime podcast. I talked with the creators of the show, Joel Emery and Adam Jarrell, who set out to adapt and modernize the entire Sherlock Holmes canon written by Arthur Conan Doyle, except not in its original chronological order. We discuss the challenge of reimagining these characters in the 21st century (and not being the first to do so), and why the bromance between Holmes and Watson plays into timeless questions around masculinity and how guys express their emotions.

This episode is sponsored by IngramSpark. Get 15% off your first order of 15 more books at IngramSpark using the code IMAGINARY15.

To support the show, you can donate on Patreon where you get access to the ad-free version and our companion show Between Imaginary Worlds. You can also buy Imaginary Worlds merchandise at our online store.

My most recent Between imaginary Worlds episode, I interviewed the creator of the larp Acheron IV. You can sign up here to play the larp in Philadelphia over Memorial Day weekend.
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Imaginary Worlds has reached another milestone – 300 episodes! We already celebrated the 200th episode and the 10th anniversary of the show, but in those episodes, we mostly kept the spotlight off ourselves. This time around, my assistant producer Stephanie Billman and I reflect on how the podcast has impacted us. I often joke that the show feels like a train that I’m riding, and I’m laying down tracks as I go. Sometimes those tracks stretch far in the distance, but other times I can see the end of the line and wonder if this train is going to Wile E. Coyote off a cliff. But we have managed to make it this far thanks to a lot of imagination, willpower and chemistry.  

This episode is sponsored by Mizzen + Main and Audible.

 Our listeners get 20% off their first purchase at mizzenandmain.com using the promo code IMAGINARY20.   

Listen to the audiobook of Project Hail Mary at Audible.com/hailmary.  

To support the show, you can donate on Patreon where you get access to the ad-free version and our companion show Between Imaginary Worlds. You can also buy Imaginary Worlds merchandise at our online store.
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When I interviewed Andy Weir in 2021 about his novel Project Hail Mary, he told me that the movie adaptation was already being planned starring Ryan Gosling. The big question was how would they bring the alien character of Rocky to life. Would they use CGI or practical effects? Now that the film is in theaters, we have the answer. While there is some use of digital effects, Rocky is mostly performed by the puppeteer James Ortiz. James has a deep background in theater but he had never worked on a film before, let alone a sci-fi blockbuster. I talked with James about the delicate balance of operating an incredibly sophisticated five-legged puppet while giving Rocky a distinct personality and building a rapport with Ryan Gosling, who relies heavily on improvisation.  

This episode is sponsored by IngramSpark and Audible.  

Get 15% off your first order of 15 more books at IngramSpark using the code IMAGINARY15. This offer expires at the end of the year.

Listen to the audiobook of Project Hail Mary at Audible.com/hailmary.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gene Roddenberry’s name is synonymous with Star Trek, but he relied on a team to bring his vision to life. Most of his writers were men with one exception, the trailblazing Dorothy Fontana. Professionally, she went by D.C. Fontana to counter the belief that women couldn’t write genres like war, Westerns or sci-fi. Fontana became story editor and wrote some of the most beloved episodes of The Original Series, became the de facto showrunner on The Animated Series, and helped launch The Next Generation. She excelled at building character relationships and alien species – especially Vulcans – and worked closely with Leonard Nimoy to develop Spock. I talk with writers and podcasters Jarrah Hodge, Ian Spelling, Brian Drew and Laurie Ulster about how Fontana quietly shaped a franchise and influenced generations of fans through Star Trek’s 60th anniversary.

Special thanks to The Writers Guild Foundation Archive for clips of D.C. Fontana from their series, The Writer Speaks.

This episode is sponsored by Mizzen + Main. Our listeners get 20% off their first purchase at mizzenandmain.com using the promo code IMAGINARY20.

To support Imaginary Worlds, you can donate to the show on Patreon and receive bonus extras, or buy the cool merchandise at our online store!
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