Does It Fly?

How do you solve an engineering problem like the Transformers? This might be one of the most iconic franchises of the 1980s, but it might also be as scientifically implausible as say, the Power Sword from another beloved ‘80s property, Masters of the Universe. Or…is it? After all, there’s already technology out there that can autonomously transform and combine, so is it really that much of a leap to think that an autonomous robot might also be able to disguise itself as a self-driving car? The answer might surprise you!

You know what else might surprise you? Hakeem’s apparent phobia of getting squished by giant robots. If a scientist is this worried about something like that, maybe we should be, too! Dive into these concepts and questions as well as the most reasonable, thoughtful unpacking of Transformers basic story logic you’ll ever find. 

Roll out! No, wait, stay right here to watch or check it out on our YouTube page!

SUGGESTED VIEWING 

The Transformers franchise is vast. And we do mean vast. Multiple animated series spanning dozens of seasons and hundreds upon hundreds of episodes plus almost a dozen movies both animated and live action. Oh, and then there are the hundreds of comic books, with at least three distinct continuities. And that doesn’t even take into account the lore and character info that was included with the toys themselves. But don’t worry, flight cadets, we’re making this easy on you.

For this episode, Hakeem and Tamara dealt with the following pieces of the franchise to really focus their discussion. They are…

The Transformers S1 Episodes 1-3 “More Than Meets the Eye”

The first three episodes of the original Transformers animated series pretty much tells you what you need to know about the Autobots and Decepticons and gives you a reasonable understanding of how they function. This is the cartoon that really started it all, and features the most iconic, recognizable versions of the characters.

The Transformers: The Movie (1986)

The first animated big screen Transformers adventure serves as a bridge between seasons one and two of the animated series and also scarred a generation of elementary school age Gen-X-ers. But it enriches the lore of the franchise and also gives a sense of what “death” is like for these characters, so we figured it makes sense as a bookend to those first three episodes.

Transformers (2007)

Michael Bay’s first live action Transformers movie serves as a fresh start for the franchise, features its own take on the lore, and was instrumental in helping our hosts wrap their heads around the physics and engineering of transformation. It kicked off a massive blockbuster franchise which…you can mostly avoid. However, if you want to go a little further in your viewing, 2011’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon is worth your time for some truly mind-blowing visuals, and 2018’s soft reboot Bumblebee is one of the best pieces of Transformers media out there. There’s also a brand new animated prequel, Transformers One, in theaters now, but we hadn’t seen that at the time this episode was being produced. 

Unfortunately, we don’t have the footage of Hakeem in the “vomit comet” for you to watch.

FURTHER READING 

Do you want to delve a little deeper into the facts, concepts, and stories Hakeem and Tamara referenced in today’s episode? Of course you do! 

Self-Assembling Modular Robots

They might not look like much, but these self-assembling modular robot cubes might be a precursor to Transformer-like technology in the real world down the line. While Hakeem isn’t fully on board with the Transformers as we know them in pop culture, he sees the potential in these little weirdos.

Multi-Modal Mobility Morphobot (M4)

OK, so…THIS one might be a little bit more in line with what you expect from the Transformers. For those of you who want a more in-depth look at what makes this one tick, you can read the scientific paper here. But really, it needs to be seen to be believed!

Liquid Robots

One way to get around the engineering problem that comes with the sheer scale of the Transformers is by making them REALLY small. Or in this case, liquid. Once again, the article might not fully do the concept justice so here’s a video for you!

Transformers Vol. 1

While there have been many iterations of Transformers comics through the years, the newest series from Image Comics “Energon Universe” by Daniel Warren Johnson is exceptional…and an Eisner winner! 

Want to follow in Hakeem’s footsteps and ride the um…zero gravity aircraft? Good luck!

WANT MORE FROM DOES IT FLY?

…and speaking of robots…check out our discussion of the rules governing the Terminator franchise.

Was Hakeem any kinder, scientifically speaking, to the concept of Iron Man armor? Only one way to find out!

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This episode of Does it Fly? is presented by RSVLTS. Dying to be the star of Spooky Season? Grab this ghoulish gear, if you dare...

A physicist, a pop culture expert, and a paranormal investigator walk into a brewery…no, it’s not the start of a joke, this actually happened! It’s a very different kind of Does it Fly? episode this week. This is our first ever recording with Hakeem and Tamara in the same room, our first in front of a live studio audience, and also the first full blown guest star joining in the discussion. We’re joined by special guest Aaron Sagers (Paranormal Caught on Camera, Talking Strange) to talk about the plausibility of demonic possession. Oh great, you’ve been waiting for our episode on The Exorcist, right? Perhaps because it keeps getting funnier, every single time you see it?

Well guess again boys and ghouls. We’re kicking off this Halloween season a little early not with one of the most frightening horror films ever made, but rather with a celebration of the “ghost with the most.” With a new sequel now in theaters, we wanted to revisit Tim Burton’s original 1988 masterpiece, Beetlejuice! And since Beetlejuice features its own brand of both possession and exorcism, it offers a uniquely fun lens (specifically, the memorable dinner party scene soundtracked by the great Harry Belafonte) by which to investigate this terrifying concept…which has surprising roots in the real world.

So how in the heck did we get a genuine astrophysicist to investigate the reality (or unreality) of demonic possession? And what kind of story rules apply in a movie that is essentially a comedy with horror themes? And how does our special guest help guide Hakeem and Tamara through all of this? And just why are we calling this episode “Does it Fly After Dark” anyway?

The only way to find out is to check it out here or on our YouTube page!

SUGGESTED VIEWING 

You’ve seen Beetlejuice, right? It might just be Tim Burton’s best film. There’s also a sequel, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice (don’t say it a third time), also directed by Burton, currently in theaters, however we hadn’t seen that film at the time we recorded this episode. Now, while you can make the case that Beetlejuice is Burton’s best movie, we’re quite partial to his 1994 masterpiece, Ed Wood, which features Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi in a brilliant, Oscar-winning performance, so if you haven’t seen that, add it to your Halloween viewing list ASAP and thank us later.

But allow us to also suggest a few other movies about possession, albeit more traditional ones, to give you something else to worry about. Here they are, presented in the order in which we most highly recommend them.

The Exorcist

Directed by the great William Friedkin, it’s arguably the scariest movie ever made, one of the greatest horror movies of all time, and honestly one of the best movies of the 1970s. See it! (167 viewings optional, of course)

The Exorcist III

Generally speaking you can skip various Exorcist prequels and sequels…except this underrated gem. Directed by original Exorcist book author William Peter Blatty, it furthers the story of the original film with a little Zodiac Killer flavor thrown in for extra scares.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose

Notable in part for being loosely based on a real life case, it’s made even better by Scott Derrickson’s (Sinister, Doctor Strange) moody direction.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It

While not the masterpiece of the first two Conjuring films, this one does once again follow real world paranormal investigators Lorraine and Ed Warren (Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson) in a dramatization of an actual case they were involved in. 

The Pope’s Exorcist

Notable primarily for Russell Crowe’s absolutely bonkers Italian accent as he portrays real-life Vatican exorcist Father Gabriel Amorth. We’ve loved director Julius Avery since 2018’s extremely underrated World War II zombie horror flick Overlord (which is better than this movie, so if you’ve only got time for one, that’s the one).

FURTHER READING 

Do you want to delve a little deeper into the facts, concepts, and stories Hakeem and Tamara referenced in today’s episode? Of course you do! 

“It ain’t so much the things we don’t know that get us into trouble…”

This favorite quote of Hakeem’s (which may or not actually be attributable to Mark Twain) came up in our episode about Back to the Future, as well! Some more scientific context for it can be found here.

Scientific papers on demonic possession

“This official review aims to clarify the current scientific understanding of the origins, mechanisms, and causes of these seemingly extraordinary experiences. Our analysis includes 52 documented cases of possession, reviewed from literature published between 1890 and 2023 and incorporating insights from psychology, medicine, anthropology, and theology. We examine common symptom patterns, delve into the research conducted, and evaluate how many cases are still unexplained within the existing behavioral science framework.”

You can read the scientific paper on demonic possession that Hakeem references in full here.

Marie Laveau 

Learn more about Hakeem’s famous (and magical) relative here.

The Psychiatry of Demonic Possession

“For the past two-and-a-half decades and over several hundred consultations, I’ve helped clergy from multiple denominations and faiths to filter episodes of mental illness — which represent the overwhelming majority of cases — from, literally, the devil’s work. It’s an unlikely role for an academic physician, but I don’t see these two aspects of my career in conflict. The same habits that shape what I do as a professor and psychiatrist — open-mindedness, respect for evidence and compassion for suffering people — led me to aid in the work of discerning attacks by what I believe are evil spirits and, just as critically, differentiating these extremely rare events from medical conditions.”

Read this fascinating article in full here.

The Oldest Depiction of a Ghost

Here’s the story behind that eerie Babylonian clay tablet referenced in Aaron’s discussion with Hakeem and Tamara.

Pazuzu

While best known as the “villain” of The Exorcist, Pazuzu might be getting a bad rep in pop culture. Or maybe not!

A much scarier Beetlejuice…

The darker, more horror-focused early development script for the film that Tamara talks about can be read here.

WANT MORE FROM DOES IT FLY?

We recently spoke with the showrunner of Netflix’s incredible new Terminator anime series, Terminator Zero. It’s a must watch for fans of the franchise.

Beetlejuice isn’t the first spooky topic we’ve tackled on our show. Check out our deep dive into the magical concepts of The Crow (the original, not that reboot nonsense)!

FOLLOW US!

Stay in the loop! Follow DoesItFly? on YouTube and TikTok and let us know what you think! 

And don’t forget to follow Roddenberry Entertainment:

Instagram: @RoddenberryOfficial 

Facebook: Roddenberry

Twitter: @Roddenberry  

For Advertising Inquiries: [email protected]

This episode of Does it Fly? is presented by Netflix, the exclusive home of Terminator Zero, starring Timothy Olyphant, Rosario Dawson, Sonoya Mizuno, André Holland, and Ann Dowd. Terminator Zero is now streaming only on Netflix.

We’ve got a special episode of Does it Fly? for you this time around. Consider this one a little bonus after our recent episode on The Terminator, because now we’ve got an inside look at Terminator Zero, Netflix’s brand new, lushly animated anime series (with an impressive voice cast, to boot) that adds a previously unseen dimension to the entire Terminator franchise. 

We sent one of our hosts, the brilliant Tamara Krinsky, to talk to Mattson Tomlin (The Batman, Mother/Android). But Tomlin is currently the showrunner of Terminator Zero, and those familiar with the thoughtful, gritty nature of his other screen work won’t be disappointed by the rigorous knowledge and intensity he brought to this show. And with our pop culture expert, Tamara, asking the big questions, Tomlin unpacks a lot of the central themes of the impressive new show. 

Check it out here or on our YouTube page. Oh yeah, and let us know what you think! If you want more interview style episodes of Does it Fly? where your favorite creatives tell us HOW they make your favorite sci-fi, horror, and fantasy projects work, drop us a line in the comments or on our socials!

Check out a few of our favorite points from the interview, which we feel offer a nice parallel to our usual episode structure. But this is a pretty in-depth exploration of Terminator Zero with the showrunner, so don’t take our word for it, listen to the episode!

THE SCIENCE

DOES IT FLY: I'm curious, as you were putting the pieces of this together, did you do any research? Did you talk to scientists so that the audience would watch this and say, “yeah, this flies. This works for us.” 

MATTSON TOMLIN: Yeah. Probably not to the degree that the PhD guy would be happy with me, but definitely a lot of reading about Turing tests today and about what the capabilities [of AI] are. It's kind of one of those things where, as far as we know and what the public facing information is, we're not quite there yet … I think that the jumps [in capability] are exponential. So there was still a level of invention. It's a sci-fi show, so you've got to make some stuff up, but we also made  sure that it never felt like it was fully beyond the bounds of what's actually happening out there today.

THE STORY

DiF: When was the moment during production that you as a writer, as a showrunner, felt like, “yeah, this thing has wings. This thing can fly.” 

MT: There's a couple of different answers to that, because it comes in stages. I feel really proud of the show. I think that there are stages … For me, the first time that that happened was while I was writing, and I got through episode four [and then] once I started writing episode five, it's like, “oh, now the plane has taken off, and now we're at altitude, and now, actually, I have to think about landing.” Having these four episodes, and I can I can read that 100 or so pages and go, “I stand by this, this is working now I just need to land the plane.” It's not that I felt like, “oh, I've got this.” But I felt like there was enough material that there's a story that is being told now that feels worth telling. That was kind of the first time. 

The second time was definitely once art started to come in from [anime studio] Production IG, and seeing the level at which they were executing and [knowing] this is going to look beautiful. I think then the third time was certainly the working on the score and working with [Terminator Zero composers] Michelle Birsky and Kevin Henthorn and finding a sonic identity for the score that felt like Terminator, and at the same time, does its own thing. We didn't just want to be playing the same stuff, it needed to feel inherently its own.

THE VIBE

DiF: Why was the decision made to do this as an anime?

MT: From a creative standpoint, you're just able to do things that haven't been done before, because if you're making a movie and a movie that's in a franchise like Terminator, then there are certain expectations, certain beats that it has to hit. And, you know, those movies are $100-200 million movies. A [movie of that scale] is going to be a certain kind of thing. And this isn't that. Not only because it's animated, but because it's an anime. So it creates these variables … It's an opportunity to kind of breathe a lot of new life into it …it was kind of driven by story and an opportunity to just do something the franchise hadn't done before.

WANT MORE FROM DOES IT FLY?

We also took a deep scientific look at the paradox that so much of the entire Terminator franchise revolves around. Check it out here.

The Crow remake is in theaters now, so we recently took a look back at some of the science surrounding the magic of the original film. Watch it here.

FOLLOW US!

Stay in the loop! Follow DoesItFly? on YouTube and TikTok and let us know what you think! 

And don’t forget to follow Roddenberry Entertainment:

Instagram: @RoddenberryOfficial 

Facebook: Roddenberry

Twitter: @Roddenberry  

For Advertising Inquiries: [email protected]

This episode of Does it Fly? is presented by Netflix, the exclusive home of Terminator Zero, starring Timothy Olyphant, Rosario Dawson, Sonoya Mizuno, André Holland, and Ann Dowd. Terminator Zero is now streaming only on Netflix.

“Come with me if you want to learn.”

OK, fine, that’s not what anyone says pretty much anywhere in the Terminator franchise. But haven’t you ever wondered just how some of the time travel concepts that set up one of the most successful and beloved sci-fi movie and TV franchises of all time work?

This episode is really only dealing with the “grandfather paradox” as it relates to The Terminator (1984), James Cameron’s original sci-fi horror masterpiece that pretty much strapped a stardom rocket to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s back and helped redefine the boundaries of sci-fi and action storytelling on screen. It also kicked off one of the most sprawling and beloved science fiction franchises of a generation. 

Check it out here or on our YouTube page!

SUGGESTED VIEWING 

While we’re pretty much only focused on that first film for this episode, if you want to expand your Terminator knowledge, it can feel like a lot. When in doubt when you’re navigating a big franchise that occupies different places on its own timeline, we always advise you not overthink it and just watch in release order. So we’ll give you that along with some suggestions to make this as fun and painless as possible.

The Terminator (1984)

If you want a sci-fi action movie that’s filmed with the pacing and sense of dread of a horror movie, you can’t go wrong with the original. A legitimate classic of 1980s genre cinema, it has endured for a reason. If you only watch one movie in the franchise, this is the one!

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

If you only watch one other Terminator movie, make it 1991’s bigger and more technically groundbreaking sequel. For those of you who want a more summer blockbuster action sensibility as opposed to the first film’s horror undertones, you can just go ahead and watch Judgment Day on its own, as it does an excellent job getting you up to speed even if you haven’t seen the original. Bigger action sequences and some eye-popping special effects make this one essential viewing.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)

Probably not as bad as you’ve heard, but not exactly essential viewing either. This one builds out the lore of how Skynet rose to power and has a few bonkers battle sequences, but if time is of the essence, stick to the first two movies. It’s also the first entry in the franchise that starts messing with the canon in ways that future installments try to smooth out.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008-2009)

The franchise’s first expansion into TV has a devoted cult following, and with good reason! Still, that’s a lot of viewing hours, and it isn’t strictly faithful to the lore of the series as a whole. This can be viewed as its own self-contained alternate timeline within the Terminator universe.

Terminator Salvation (2009)

Terminator Salvation is a direct sequel to the events of Rise of the Machines…and thus a prequel to the first film. And despite starring Christian Bale at the height of his stardom as John Connor, it’s…well, let’s just say it’s not essential viewing. But if you’re keeping track so far, the canonical events of the franchise go from the first three movies to this one…which depicts events prior to the first film. Got it? Good, because it ain’t getting any easier!

Terminator Genisys (2015)

This one is essentially a reboot of the entire franchise and…you know what? You can skip it. Trust us.

Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)

Somewhat maligned upon release, but better than you’ve heard! We’re back in alternate timeline territory, though, as this film ignores everything other than the first two movies and instead acts as a direct (if belated) sequel to Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Honestly, worth your time, especially if you’re looking to condense the franchise to a more digestible three films (in this case The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and Terminator: Dark Fate)

Terminator Zero (2024)

Netflix is the exclusive home of this first animated Terminator outing, made by the same anime studio who brought the classic Ghost in the Shell to screens. Terminator Zero functions both as a self-contained Terminator adventure (meaning you don’t necessarily need knowledge of the rest of the franchise to enjoy and understand it) and also as something that enriches the lore of the films. Lushly animated and boasting a cast that includes Timothy Olyphant, Rosario Dawson, Sonoya Mizuno, André Holland, and Ann Dowd, serious fans won’t want to miss this.

FURTHER READING 

Do you want to delve a little deeper into the facts, concepts, and stories Hakeem and Tamara referenced in today’s episode? Of course you do! 

Grandfather Paradox

The central concept of this episode and the one we wanted to explore the most! This article has the most succinct explanation of a rather headache-y concept we’ve ever seen. “...the idea that a cause must precede its effect. The paradox suggests that a cause is eliminated by its own effect, thus preventing its own cause and essentially becoming reverse causation.” It goes on to explain some of the other scientific concepts that inform this pretty well. For a little additional context, you can also check out this piece.

The Bootstrap Paradox

The other paradox that informs our discussion (and pops up often in pop culture time travel stories). Our question is…why is Northrop Grumman writing about this. WHAT DO THEY KNOW THAT THEY AREN’T TELLING US?!?

Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle

Hey, remember this one from our episode on the transporter from Star Trek? We don’t think you can do any better for quality book-learnin’ on the subject than this article from CalTech.

Relativity Train

In case our animation illustrating Hakeem’s point about viewing actions in a train traveling at a different speed than the observer, Harvard University made a pretty substantial meal out of the experiment which you can read about (and watch) here.

WANT MORE FROM DOES IT FLY?

Just a reminder, if you haven’t watched our exploration of Xenomorph biology as it was explored in the first Alien movie (which also happens to be one of our most popular episodes), now’s a good time to get to it!

Check out our episode on the most infamous moment in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, which just celebrated its 40th anniversary. The movie, not our episode. Oh, you know what we mean!

FOLLOW US!

Stay in the loop! Follow DoesItFly? on YouTube and TikTok and let us know what you think! 

And don’t forget to follow Roddenberry Entertainment:

Instagram: @RoddenberryOfficial 

Facebook: Roddenberry

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For Advertising Inquiries: [email protected]

Alex Proyas’ 1994 The Crow is a genuinely great film, released at a time when “comic book movies” weren’t an all-encompassing pop culture phenomenon, and one that plays very much like a unique action-horror film (rather than a superhero one). We can’t recommend it, or its unbelievably badass soundtrack album, enough. The Crow has a little of everything: it’s a horror movie, it’s a love story, it’s a twisted superhero origin story and revenge tale, and it’s a unique time capsule of a particular moment in pop culture history.

But all of those things have been discussed to death elsewhere, right? Are we breaking down the unique ways that Eric Draven kills the men who wronged him during his life? Nope. Are we delving into the philosophies surrounding the prospects of life after death? Not this episode! Are we walking about how cool it would be to make friends with a crow? Abso-freakin’-lutely!

An under-discussed part of The Crow is the role that an actual, physical crow seems to play in Eric’s journey of post-life revenge. The bird is somewhat magical, but not a complete manifestation of the supernatural. In fact, it functions very much like the concept of a “familiar” often found in fantasy literature. So that’s the topic we’re taking a birds-eye look at this time around. And believe it or not, there’s a LOT to unpack. Seriously, you have no idea how smart crows are, or just how feasible some aspects of the magical familiar might have roots in real science. 

Want to find out more? Watch it right here or on our YouTube page.

SUGGESTED VIEWING 

Unfortunately, you can’t divorce The Crow from the real life tragedy that surrounds it, notably the untimely accidental death of star Brandon Lee during filming. Shudder’s Cursed Films season 1 episode 4 deals with this, and it’s worth a watch if you want more background on this infamous moment in cinema history.

There are a bunch of mediocre sequels to the original film (and even a TV series!), but we don’t recommend them. Anyway, the only piece of The Crow franchise that we considered for this episode was that original, classic 1994 movie. However, if you want to get a sense of just how great a talent Brandon Lee was, and how this movie SHOULD have kickstarted a new phase of his career that would have brought him a level of mainstream stardom, allow us to recommend 1991’s Showdown in Little Tokyo (co-starring the great Dolph Lundgren!) and 1992’s Rapid Fire. Neither are exactly masterpieces, but they sure do kick some ass and Brandon is a natural.

For some…less friendly…birds, you absolutely should watch Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds if you haven’t already. You’ll be perfectly happy not having any of them as your familiars.

And of course, there’s a new reboot of The Crow in theaters now. 

There’s some crossover with our further readings below, but this New York Times video that asks (and kind of answers) the question of “how smart are crows” is quite a watch!

Oh, and the movie that freaked Hakeem out as a kid? That's a 1975 weird one starring none other than William Shatner in one of his...less memorable...rolls, called The Devil's Rain.

FURTHER READING 

Do you want to delve a little deeper into the facts, concepts, and stories Hakeem and Tamara referenced in today’s episode? Of course you do! 

But before we get into the scientific and mythological readings to go with this episode, allow us to suggest that you give James O’Barr’s original comic series that launched this franchise a read. It’s harrowing, beautiful, violent stuff, and just different enough from the movie that you won’t feel like you know everything that’s gonna happen! 

OK, now back to your regularly scheduled science-y stuff.

Familiars

It will come as no surprise to anyone that there isn’t a ton of serious scientific writing on the subject of familiars. But the more “new age” corners of the internet have done their homework, and the above article is a compelling read.

Crows in Mythology

Crows and ravens are recurring symbols in a number of religious and mythological traditions. Learn up on them in case one decides to quiz you.

Crows and Masks

In case you need proof that you should never wrong a crow, because they WILL remember your face.

How to Befriend a Crow

We’re serious. From no less a source than M.I.T!

Crows use tools!

Not only do crows know how to make and use simple tools to accomplish their goals, it apparently puts them in a really good mood, too!

The Eyes of Jackdaws

No, that isn't the name of another horror movie. But Hakeem talks about this study on how these particular birds can read human expressions.

We’re kicking off our Halloween celebrations early, so go light some candles and read Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” for some kicks. “Nevermore.”

WANT MORE FROM DOES IT FLY?

We recently unpacked three gadgets and concepts for the 60th anniversary of James Bond in Goldfinger. Watch it here!

Ever wonder about how Indiana Jones led to the invention of the PG-13 rating? We’ve got the video for you!

FOLLOW US!

Stay in the loop! Follow DoesItFly? on YouTube and TikTok and let us know what you think! 

And don’t forget to follow Roddenberry Entertainment:

Instagram: @RoddenberryOfficial 

Facebook: Roddenberry

Twitter: @Roddenberry  

For Advertising Inquiries: [email protected]

Love it or hate it, Alien Resurrection won’t be ignored. The final film in the Ripley saga of the Alien franchise (before it branched off into Predators, prequels, and other distractions…more on that below), Alien Resurrection has always been something of a hot-button issue with fans. Maybe not as much as Prometheus, but still! Any movie that deals with cloning a beloved character (who had been granted a heroic death in the previous film), complete with “genetic memories” is bound to push some buttons, but that’s not even the biggest thing this movie adds to the franchise. 

Alien Resurrection heralds the arrival on the scene of a new kind of Xenomorph. Specifically, a human/alien hybrid made via the same shady experiments that helped “bring back” Ripley. As a result, we get a Xenomorph that (among other things) no longer lays eggs and instead can reproduce in a slightly more recognizable/mammalian fashion. And hoo-boy, do Hakeem and Tamara have questions about this one! From the handling of cloning to the hybrid alien itself, this episode of Does it Fly? is for you if the gooier corners of the Alien universe are your cup of acid blood.

Check it out here or on our YouTube page!

SUGGESTED VIEWING 

Before we get into the intricacies of the Alien franchise, allow us to also recommend one of Tamara’s favorite movies, Code 46, an underrated 2003 film from director Michael Winterbottom which deals with a few similar themes of ethics within biotechnology as they regard our discussion about Alien Resurrection. 

Obviously, concepts from Alien Resurrection are what we focus on in this episode, but if you haven’t seen the movies that precede it, too, then you might be a little lost. Those are…

Alien (1979)

Aliens (1986)

Alien 3 (1992)

Alien Resurrection (1997)

Now, the franchise continues on after that, albeit to mixed (and sometimes controversial) results. Those are…

Alien vs. Predator (2004)

Alien vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)

Both of the above movies are inessential, and take place BEFORE the events of the first film, or even the other prequels. Speaking of which, for the last decade or so, the Alien franchise has been more concerned with exploring the days before the first film, which brings us to…

Prometheus (2012)

Alien: Covenant (2017)

And now, currently in theaters is Alien: Romulus, which takes place between Alien and Aliens. Get watchin’!

FURTHER READING 

Do you want to delve a little deeper into the facts, concepts, and stories Hakeem and Tamara referenced in today’s episode? Of course you do! 

Cloning

Central to our discussion about the Xenomorph/human hybrid in Alien Resurrection is the question of cloning. Granted, this is a tough one to read up on, but this fact sheet from the National Human Genome Research institute is a good start. Also, doesn’t the fact that there’s a National Human Genome Research Institute in the first place make it sound like we’re already living in a sci-fi movie?

Genetic Memory

Hakeem (and science in general) state that when you clone an organism, you’re making a twin of it, you aren’t creating an exact duplicate that also contains memories and learned experiences. That, of course, blows a pretty big hole in Alien Resurrection right out of the gate. That being said, there’s some interesting reading to be done on the subject both here and here, although neither really support the movie’s central premise.

Hybridization

“I find it really interesting that when this baby comes out and Ripley is created, both are hybrids of alien and human. So the question is, can you splice together genes like that.” For this one, we couldn’t resist going back to the National Human Genome Research Institute for some hard information. See also: Retroviruses.

Tuskegee Experiment 26:50

One of the darker chapters of American 20th Century history involved the deliberate infection of African-Americans with syphilis in order to study the disease over a period of time. It’s monstrous that something like this was sanctioned by official government agencies, and we shouldn’t forget that this is part of our recent past so that it never happens again.

WANT MORE FROM DOES IT FLY?

Just a reminder, if you haven’t watched our exploration of Xenomorph biology as it was explored in the first Alien movie (which also happens to be one of our most popular episodes), now’s a good time to get to it!

Check out our episode on the most infamous moment in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, which just celebrated its 40th anniversary. The movie, not our episode. Oh, you know what we mean!

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You know the scene. A grisly human sacrifice. A terrified archaeologist looking on in horror from the shadows. A poor religious fanatic has his still-beating heart torn from his chest by a high priest before bursting into flames. While this seems like the kind of scene that would have been perfectly at home in a John Carpenter movie in the 1980s, instead it comes from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the second entry in the franchise (albeit a prequel to 1980’s Raiders of the Lost Ark), and one which takes a decidedly darker tone than the relatively family-friendly adventure of the previous film. 

That moment is alleged to have given birth to the PG-13 movie rating, for one thing. But it also kickstarted a small but specific subset of pop culture fascination: the concept that someone’s heart could be manually removed from their chest with no tools, using only the skills (sometimes mystical in nature) of an adversary. Fans of the Mortal Kombat franchise take note: long before Kano was rippin’ hearts out, Mola Ram was doing it…and with better fashion sense, to boot!

And while it SEEMS like the realm of pure (if icky) fantasy, it’s still worth breaking down whether any element of this gruesome little party trick has basis in scientific reality. And if that doesn’t quicken your pulse (sorry), we’ve got behind the scenes tidbits on what made it all look so good, how this singular moment helped force the MPAA to institute PG-13, and more!

Now, time for a little heart-to-heart with Tamara and Hakeem…

SUGGESTED VIEWING

While Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is indeed the second Indiana Jones movie, it’s actually a prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark. That being said, we always endorse watching big franchises in release order rather than timeline order, because prequels tend to get a little self-referential. Watch Raiders first, then Temple of Doom, then the third film (which takes place after Raiders), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. These are the only Indiana Jones movies!

OK, not really. There are also fourth and fifth films, the generally maligned Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and the somewhat better Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (the only film in the franchise not directed by Stephen Spielberg). Your mileage may vary, but if nothing else, Raiders of the Lost Ark is generally considered one of the greatest action/adventure movies of all time!

And for those of you who can sanction Jim Carrey’s buffoonery (sorry, a little Tommy Lee Jones humor there), Hakeem recommends an alternate take on the heart-ripping concept, as seen in Dumb and Dumber.

FURTHER READING 

Do you want to delve a little deeper into the facts, concepts, and stories Hakeem and Tamara referenced in today’s episode? Here are a few recommendations! 

Ancient Heart Extraction Rituals

“You have to appease those gods, so what better way than with human sacrifice! Don’t have a volcano handy? Take out their heart.”

(Hakeem references a scientific paper about heart extraction in Mesoamerica. We generally try not to link to things that aren’t readily and easily available to read, but in this case, the above abstract and this excerpt are the best we could do. But it’s so cool, we couldn’t pass it up.)

Consciousness and Organ Function 

While Hakeem throws cold water (or hot flames) on the idea that the heart itself can continue beating with no additional equipment after separation from the body, he briefly references the extremely grisly speculation that guillotine victims remained conscious after their heads were separated from their bodies. There’s further study on that, but we try not to think about it.

See also: Neuromuscular Junction

Thuggees

“While the Thuggee cult that they drew from was a real thing, they were robbers, they did murder folks, and they did all of this to serve Kali and did it in the name of this particular god, they did not take part in human sacrifice.”

The PG-13 Rating

“At the time this movie came out, it was rated PG…and there were a lot of parents who were taking their kids to see this…and then there’s this heart being ripped out of a chest, which terrified kids!”

See also: The MPAA website that Tamara references which confirms the Temple of Doom connection can be found here.

We also cannot recommend highly enough J.W. Rinzler’s incredible The Complete Making of Indiana Jones: The Story Behind All Four Films.

WANT MORE FROM DOES IT FLY?

Ever wonder what makes the DeLorean in Back to the Future go? So did we! So we decided to answer those questions once and for all!

Twisters is in theaters now and we took a look at the science of the film, via the lens of the original 1996 movie!

FOLLOW US!

Stay in the loop! Follow DoesItFly? on YouTube and TikTok and let us know what you think! 

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For Advertising Inquiries: [email protected]

How realistic is the science of time travel as depicted in Back to the Future?

Back to the Future just celebrated its 40th anniversary. Let’s put that in perspective for you: Back to the Future is now older than the period of time that Marty McFly traveled in that first film, where he rocketed at 88mph from 1985 back to 1955. And while the concept of using a weird, well, concept car as a time machine might seem a little quirky, it certainly didn’t hamper this flick, which is generally considered a pretty timeless classic, despite its ‘80s trappings. For the record, we consider it one of those classics, too!

And while we generally believe that you probably shouldn’t spend too much time thinking about the logistics of time travel (although we already covered a little of that in our episode about the TARDIS from Doctor Who), the specific mechanisms of time travel in Back to the Future are just too cool and appealing (not to mention iconic) to ignore. So in this episode, Hakeem and Tamara tackle it all! What are the specific rules of time travel in the Back to the Future trilogy? What’s the significance of hitting 88mph in order to go back in time? Is there a real world equivalent to the flux capacitor? And, of course, the age old question… “what the hell is a gigawatt?!?”

All this and more in the latest episode of…Does it Fly?

SUGGESTED VIEWING 

At this point it’s hard to imagine any of you haven’t at least seen the original Back to the Future, one of the most beloved movies of the 1980s. But we suppose it’s possible that a few of you might not have watched the entire trilogy. Well, guess what? Those movies rule pretty hard, too and Hakeem and Tamara went through all three films to make sense of the time travel science and story rules. Get going!

There’s also Expedition: Back to the Future which is a fun capstone to the film’s legacy, the DeLorean, and more. Check it out on Max!

FURTHER READING 

Do you want to delve a little deeper into the facts, concepts, and stories Hakeem and Tamara referenced in today’s episode? Here are a few recommendations!

“It ain’t so much the things we don’t know that get us into trouble. It’s the things we know for sure that just ain’t so.”

Hakeem’s quoting Mark Twain via his friend, Professor Edward W. Kolb, has some additional scientific context in the link above!

The scientific case for time travel.

“It turns out that our speed through space squared plus our speed through time squared is equal to the speed of light squared. So all things in the universe that exist are always moving at the speed of light through spacetime. So if you move more quickly through space, you’ll move more slowly through time…so the higher the energy situation, the more slow the time travel is.”

Tachyons

“These are hypothetical particles that can only travel greater than the speed of light.”

(Look, we know Hakeem was pretty harsh on these hypothetical particles, but they’re pretty darn cool anyway.)

(1.21) gigawatts!

“What the hell is a gigawatt?” (Marty McFly…not Hakeem or Tamara. They’re much more articulate and thoughtful). 

(flux) Capacitors

“A capacitor is something that stores energy. They come in different geometrical configurations…”

The Many Worlds Interpretation

“But when you make a measurement, you can only ever actually see one state at a time. So the ‘many worlds interpretation’ basically just says that when you make an observation, the only thing you’ve discovered is what world you’re in. Every possible outcome actually occurred.”

Scirens

Certainly by now you’ve checked out Tamara’s incredible other project dealing with the intersection of science and storytelling, right? And if not, what are you waiting for? Go now!

And while you’re here, might we suggest making a donation to the Michael J. Fox Foundation?

WANT MORE FROM DOES IT FLY?

Twisters is in theaters now and we took a look at the science of the film, via the lens of the original 1996 movie!

Star Wars: The Acolyte just completed its inaugural season on Disney+. Time to learn how lightsabers work…and why none of you should have them!

FOLLOW US!

Stay in the loop! Follow DoesItFly? on YouTube and TikTok and let us know what you think! 

And don’t forget to follow Roddenberry Entertainment:

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For Advertising Inquiries: [email protected]

The (air) pressure is on as we dive into some on-set stories, Wizard of Oz references, and barometric gossip as we break down the science and story logic behind a beloved 90s movie: 1996’s Twister.

Alright, buckle up, because we're diving into the whirlwind world of Twister! Picture this: back in '96, director Jan de Bont dropped a disaster thrill ride that had us all glued to the screen, courtesy of writers Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Martin. It's about a bunch of gutsy storm chasers in Oklahoma, led by the tornado-whisperer Jo (Helen Hunt). Meanwhile, her ex, Bill (Bill Paxton), shows up with divorce papers just in time for a tornado party. But hold onto your weather-predicting prototypes - Jo unveils her brainchild, Dorothy, a cutting-edge weather gadget packed with sensors that could rewrite tornado research, which promises to beef up our tornado warning systems from a measly three minutes to a solid 15. Of course, no good blockbuster is complete without a villain. Enter Jonas Miller (Cary Elwes), a rival chaser with a snazzy device of his own, the DOT 3, which is basically a knockoff Dorothy. Talk about stormy competition! Cue a wild chase through tornado alley, with trucks in ditches, Dorothy prototypes flying, and power lines crashing down faster than you can say "F5!"

And here’s the kicker: amidst all the chaos, Twister isn't just Hollywood blowing hot air. It’s inspired by real-life storm science, like the TOtable Tornado Observatory (TOTO), which paved the way for Dorothy. Sure, TOTO had its quirks (ever heard about its tango with an Oklahoma storm?), but it laid the groundwork for sticking sensors in tornadoes like nobody’s business.

So, while Twister cranks up the drama to eleven (seriously, who drives into an F5 tornado?) it sparked serious conversations about the future of tornado research. Could Dorothy's sensor-packed canisters really hold up in the eye of a twister? The jury’s out, but in this episode, one thing's for sure: whether you're a weather buff or just in it for the flying cows, Twister makes you believe in the power of science, storms, and a good ol' fashioned summer blockbuster. 

SUGGESTED VIEWING 

Unfortunately, the only recommendation you’re going to get here is the film itself! Don’t worry, it’s not a slog – Cary Elwes, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and a young Alan Ruck are a lot of fun. Buckle up for two hours and come back to us when you’re ready to challenge colleagues to get scientific measurements as fast as you can. You know, the crazy stuff. 

And there’s even a sequel, Twisters, in theaters now! Just note that we hadn’t seen Twisters when we were researching this episode, so we’re only discussing the original movie here, spoilers and all. 

FURTHER READING 

Want to get a little deeper into the science - on set, within the film, and in real life? We got you. Here are some references for all of those hoping to start jumping into tornadoes! 

Tornado Measuring 

“What you’re talking about, about gathering data, can really be looked at like a scientific principle. All the data that is possible to get, that’s what you want to get. Ideally, you’d have satellites. You’d have ground base sensors.” 

See also: Response Times and Intensity   

TOTO 

“Balls in a barrel in windy conditions wouldn’t stay in a barrel. Most would probably stay in as it spinned around!” 

Barometric Pressure 

“They have such low pressure… that homes basically explode. High pressure on the outside, low pressure on the inside, that makes an explosion occur.” 

See also: Pressure Measurements and Intensity Distribution 

The VFX Challenge 

“Visual effects are the effects that are done after you’re done shooting. Special effects, or sometimes referred to as practical effects, are done on set. The origin of this film starts with visual effects.”  

WANT MORE FROM DOES IT FLY?

Star Wars: The Acolyte just completed its inaugural season on Disney+. Time to learn how lightsabers work…and why none of you should have them!

Can’t get enough of The Boys, now in its fourth season on Prime Video? Well then you certainly won’t want to miss our episode detailing how Starlight’s powers might work!

A Quiet Place: Day One is in theaters now, and we took a look at how those aliens might have evolved their unique (and deadly) powers.

FOLLOW US!

Stay in the loop! Follow DoesItFly? on YouTube and TikTok and let us know what you think! 

And don’t forget to follow Roddenberry Entertainment:

Instagram: @RoddenberryOfficial 

Facebook: Roddenberry

Twitter: @Roddenberry  

For Advertising Inquiries: [email protected]

In the vast galaxy of science fiction, few weapons shine as brightly as Star Wars’ lightsaber. From its classic hum to its array of colors, the lightsaber has captivated generations, transcending its origin to become a timeless artifact of adventure and heroism.

And as a kid, who didn’t have imaginary battles with their lightsabers? Now, imagine if those weapons really existed! We delve into the world of Star Wars and analyze the science behind the lightsabers as well as the importance of this crazy device in the movies but also in our lives…

The lightsaber exists at the nexus of advanced technology and timeless mythology, serving as a powerful symbol of the “Star Wars” universe. Their unique designs, impactful glow, and distinctive sound make them an iconic piece of sci-fi history.  But with this great honor comes a lot of questions. What are lightsabers actually made of? Are there any existing modern technologies that could bring us closer to a real life lightsaber? And just how important is this mystical weapon to the Jedi and Force users in general?

All this and more will be explored in our latest episode…

SUGGESTED VIEWING

The lightsaber and its lore plays an integral role in all nine films of “The Skywalker Saga” and those are the movies that make up the spine of the Star Wars universe. We assume you’ve probably seen them, but if you want a refresher just for this episode, you should consider revisiting Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999), Episode IV: A New Hope (1977), Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983), all of which have points we referenced in our discussion.

And while the Star Wars universe on television already seems a little overwhelming, our hosts also took a dive into some episodes which specifically expanded and explored lightsaber function and history. If you want to check those out, they are…

Star Wars: The Clone Wars S5E6 “The Gathering”

This one shows Jedi students on a quest to find kyber crystals to complete their lightsabers. 

Star Wars: The Clone Wars S5E16 “The Lawless”

The first glimpse of the mysterious Darksaber in action. 

Star Wars Rebels  S3E15  “Trials of the Darksaber”

More info and context for the Darksaber, arguably the most important lightsaber variant in current Star Wars canon!

The Mandalorian S2E8 “The Rescue” 

If you’re hoping to see the Darksaber in a live action context, this is the episode for you.

For those of you looking to really dive into the entire Star Wars universe and don’t know where to begin, well…good luck! When it comes to viewing orders for big franchises that take place across long periods of time, we generally endorse watching everything in “release order” rather than “timeline order.” For example, that means you watch the original trilogy first, then the prequels, and so on down the line. 

But especially with Star Wars, there’s always the temptation to try and do things in story chronological order. And who are we to say no? So for you brave souls who want to try and “start at the beginning” for the galaxy far, far away, here’s how you’d do it…

Star Wars lore has become so sprawling that it’s now broken up into distinct storytelling eras. 

THE HIGH REPUBLIC

Star Wars: The Acolyte (TV)

Currently the earliest piece of live action Star Wars lore, The Acolyte takes place 100 years before the events of the Skywalker Saga films.

THE FALL OF THE JEDI

These films and TV series detail the period when the Jedi lost influence over the galaxy, the Clone Wars, and Anakin Skywalker’s fall to the Dark Side. 

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (Film)

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (Film)

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (TV)

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (Film)

REIGN OF THE EMPIRE

These films and TV series set the stage for the classic, original trilogy of Star Wars films, as the Empire rampages across the galaxy and the seeds of the Rebellion are sown.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch (TV)

Solo: A Star Wars Story (Film)

Obi-Wan Kenobi ( TV)

Andor (TV)

Star Wars Rebels (TV)

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Film)

AGE OF REBELLION

The most famous period in Star Wars history! You probably know all about these already.

Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (Film)

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (Film)

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (Film)

THE NEW REPUBLIC

So far, this era has only been explored on TV and not in film, but it details the “lost years” between the events of Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens.

The Mandalorian (TV) – Seasons 1 & 2

The Book of Boba Fett ( TV)

The Mandalorian (TV) – Season 3

Ahsoka ( TV)

Star Wars Resistance (TV)

RISE OF THE FIRST ORDER

The latest period in Star Wars history thus far explored!

Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (Film)

Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (Film)

Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (Film)

And these anthology shows take place throughout the Star Wars timeline, but are fun additional viewing:

Star Wars: Visions (TV)

Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi (TV)

Star Wars: Tales of the Empire (TV)

FURTHER READING 

Do you want to delve a little deeper into the facts, concepts, and stories Hakeem and Tamara referenced in today’s episode? Here are a few recommendations!

Lightsabers - The Physics of Science Fiction

“It looks like a metal thing. It could be like a sonic screwdriver or something like that. But when it is initiated, a beam of light or a beam of plasma, depending upon who you ask, is emitted. And it's like a weapon. It's like a solid object that's really hot, can cut through metal.” 

How Plasma Cutters Work

“Everybody wants to own a lightsaber, but no one should… That is a dangerous piece of equipment. If it's going to slice through things the way it does. We have technologies that do that. We have lasers that cut metal. A plasma cutter is what it's called.” 

What is a photonic crystal? The reason why photonics-electronics convergence technology is needed, and the details of research

“But if you hit a light beam from the side, it's not a solid thing. Right? So you know what we see with the battles where lightsabers are bouncing off of each other, just pure light of any no wavelength would not be able to do that. When I started looking into could you confine light in such a way, I discovered something that's new and it's called a red Rydberg blockade, where they create what is known as a photonic crystal, where you can make photons sort of bond with each other in a sort of way.”

See also: Creating heralded hyper-entangled photons using Rydberg atoms and Rydberg atoms in hollow-core photonic crystal fibres

Ben Burtt & the Sounds of Star Wars

“I think that one of the reasons that this has become such an iconic thing is in part due to the production design of it, and specifically the sound design of it. Ben Burtt was the sound designer, and he actually has said that the lightsaber sound was the very first thing that he worked on for the Star Wars universe, when the original trilogy was being done.” 

WANT MORE FROM DOES IT FLY?

Can’t get enough of The Boys, now in its fourth season on Prime Video? Well then you certainly won’t want to miss our episode detailing how Starlight’s powers might work!

A Quiet Place: Day One is in theaters now, and we took a look at how those aliens might have evolved their unique (and deadly) powers.

FOLLOW US!

Stay in the loop! Follow DoesItFly? on YouTube and TikTok and let us know what you think! 

And don’t forget to follow Roddenberry Entertainment:

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For Advertising Inquiries: [email protected]

When it comes to the A Quiet Place franchise we kept coming back to one big question: What are the biological factors that would allow these terrifying aliens who terrorize Earth to hunt via sound alone? The aliens, often referred to as “dark angels” in the films, have a number of distinct characteristics which will inform our questions.

For starters, they're blind but incredibly sensitive to sound, which gives them an instinct to kill everything that emits the slightest noise. They are also incredibly strong and fast and they possess armored skin which protects them from most kinds of weapons, including bombs and fire. The only ways to kill them (so far) are to drop them into deep water (since they can’t swim) or by emitting high-frequency sound which causes the armor on their heads to open and expose their only vulnerable part: their ears.

In this episode we will dive into how this alien echolocation differs from what we see in animals native to our planet, and the environmental factors that might have contributed to how and why these creatures evolved as they did.  And then there are all the story elements to consider, from the sound design (and lack thereof) of the films themselves, the question of childbirth in a world where uttering a sound can get you killed, and much more. Oh yeah, and then you might want to find out who from the film thought this movie should have been called Don’t Fart. It’s all fair game in Does it Fly? episode 12!

SUGGESTED VIEWING

This episode is FULL OF SPOILERS, don’t say we didn’t warn you! So, we’d recommend you watch both A Quiet Place and A Quiet Place Part II. Keep in mind, we recorded this episode without having seen A Quiet Place Day One (in theaters now), so there’s no spoilers for that film. 

And if you’ve seen the entire franchise and still need this creepy itch scratched, when watching A Quiet Place, Hakeem also thought about the 2018 film Bird Box (you can find it on Netflix) starring Sandra Bullock, where the threat is sight instead of sound—if you see the force extinguishing humans, you die. It’s kind of creepy, but definitely a good horror watch before going to bed!

FURTHER READING 

Do you want to delve a little deeper into the facts, concepts, and stories Hakeem and Tamara referenced in today’s episode? Here are a few recommendations!

Echolocation

“Let's talk about the anatomy of these aliens... They are big and strong. Their limbs are incredibly long and at the end they have these claw-like hands... Their heads are made of these plates that open to reveal the fleshy parts underneath. But their exoskeleton and the plates on their head, those things are virtually impenetrable. So, in order to kill it, what they've discovered is, is that with the right high frequency pitch... The monster just freaks out all the plates, opens on his head, making it vulnerable, and then they can take it out.”

See also: Engaging Silence: Behind the Daring Sound of A Quiet Place

Hearing in Cockroaches, Spiders, Elephants and Other Animals

How Cockroaches Experience the World

“There are some animals that use air movements [to listen]. One of my favorites is one of my least favorites… I was a kid in New Orleans. And if you live in New Orleans, especially in the 1970s, you have to deal with a monster even scarier than the one in this movie… They're called roaches.”

See also: Do Cockroaches have ears?

The Earth’s terminator Line

“There's that ring that separates the light side from the dark side, what we call the terminator in astronomy. And at the terminator [on planets that do not rotate] there will always be incredibly strong winds. So you will need something like those big claw hands to just sit there against those winds.”

See also: The Moon's Terminator Line

Project Hail Mary

“Andy Weir, who wrote The Martian which then became a movie with Matt Damon, also wrote Project Hail Mary, which I don't want to give too much of it away, but… a big part of the book is trying to figure out and understand the aliens' background [and] the kind of world that they come from.” 

How A Quiet Place Sound Designers Made Audiences Afraid of Their Own Noise

“Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl, who were actually nominated for an Oscar for sound editing for the first film… said:  ”By working on scary films as sound designers, we can become the puppet masters of the audience's emotions in an invisible way as opposed to the image. A great picture editor, Walter Marsh, had this wonderful saying along the lines of ‘images come in through the front door, but sound comes in through the back door’.” 

WANT MORE FROM DOES IT FLY?

Can’t get enough of The Boys, now in its fourth season on Prime Video? Well then you certainly won’t want to miss our episode detailing how Starlight’s powers might work!

FOLLOW US!

Stay in the loop! Follow DoesItFly? on YouTube and TikTok and let us know what you think! 

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“Tony Stark was able to build this in a cave, with a bunch of scraps!”

Yes, Jeff Bridges’ Obadiah Stane is both furious and incredulous when he delivers that line in 2008’s blockbuster and zeitgeist-defining Iron Man movie. If we’re being real, we’ve often wondered about that, as well. Never mind the less than ideal circumstances under which Tony Stark designed and built the power source for the Iron Man armor, not to mention its dual nature as a lifesaving device and an incredibly efficient fusion-type power generator. Oh, and then there’s the fact that its basis is an entirely new element, known as palladium in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Yes, despite the MCU’s admirable commitment to internal consistency and logic, we admit that the ARC Reactor is a lot to swallow. But that doesn’t mean we love it any less! And when we love something at Does it Fly? that’s our cue to dig into both the science and story logic behind it to see if it flies…just like some repulsor-powered jet boots.

In this episode we look at everything from the elemental nature of the power source to the amount of force the reactor might constantly be generating (not to mention how that would function when surgically embedded in a human body) to the philosophical and ethical questions raised around superhero-level technology in the real world. Want to find out if Iron Man really flies? This episode is for you!

SUGGESTED VIEWING

At minimum, to understand this episode, you should probably have watched the first Iron Man (2008) movie, which is also the very first movie in what would later become known as the sprawling Marvel Cinematic Universe. We’re assuming that if you’re on this page and you’ve read this far, you’ve already done that. But limiting us to that would be no fun at all, so Does it Fly? is proud to present (in the tradition of our Planet of the Apes saga complete and correct viewing order) the complete and official guide to Tony Stark’s entire saga on screen in the MCU.

If you’ve never watched a single MCU flick and just want to follow Iron Man’s adventures, this is the way to do it in the correct order. We promise you’ll see every imaginable use of the ARC Reactor by the end of it. And just for fun, we’re even including a guide to all the different ARC Reactors used in each of these films!

Iron Man (2008)

• Palladium Arc Reactor Mark I
• Palladium Arc Reactor Mark II

Iron Man 2 (2010)

• Palladium Arc Reactor Mark III
• Ivan Vanko’s Arc Reactor (Mark I Whiplash Armor)
• Ivan Vanko’s Arc Reactor (Mark II Whiplash Armor)
• The New Element Arc Reactor Mark I (this is also used in The Avengers)

The Avengers (2012)

Iron Man 3 (2013)

• The New Element Arc Reactor Mark II

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

• The New Element Arc Reactor Mark III (also seen in Captain America: Civil War)

Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

• The New Element Arc Reactor Mark IV

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

• The New Element Arc Reactor Mark V

Avengers: Endgame (2019)

• The New Element Arc Reactor Mark VI

FURTHER READING 

Do you want to delve a little deeper into the facts, concepts, and stories Hakeem and Tamara referenced in today’s episode? Here are a few recommendations!

Tokamak Fusion Reactor

“An ARC reactor is something that actually exists, we call it a tokamak reactor. It probably weighs thousands of tons, and they’ve barely solved the big problem of plasma crashes. These things…have been in development for decades and they’re notorious for these plasma instabilities. It must generate a plasma in order to generate fusion…”

Deuterium

“The issue is the byproducts, like radiation. Fusion has less radiation than fission does. But you still want to avoid as many byproducts as possible.”

See also: Tritium

Quantum Tunneling

“You have to have a lot of energy, high intensity, and high temperature.”

See also: Net positive fusion and Cyclotron

“The Intersection Between Genius and Access”

“It’s scientifically proven…they used who gets a patent as the metric for scientific success. And guess who gets a patent? Those who in their childhood were exposed to patent-getters.”

WANT MORE FROM DOES IT FLY?

Can’t get enough of The Boys, now in its fourth season on Prime Video? Well then you certainly won’t want to miss our episode detailing how Starlight’s powers might work!

And in case you missed it, with Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes still in theaters, don’t miss our deep dive into whether that movie series might be an unsettling depiction of our actual future!

FOLLOW US!

Stay in the loop! Follow DoesItFly? on YouTube and TikTok and let us know what you think! 

And don’t forget to follow Roddenberry Entertainment:

Instagram: @RoddenberryOfficial 

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You wouldn’t believe the number of potential topics surrounding Amazon Prime Video’s The Boys that we discussed before settling on this one…and that includes some that were absolutely (in the spirit of the show itself) NSFW. But ultimately, we decided to go with breaking down the secret of Starlight’s powers. 

For those of you who might not know, Annie January, known as Starlight, is a member of The Seven, a group of superheroes funded and managed by Vought International. Generally speaking, Starlight is one of the only members of the Seven with selfless, benevolent motivations, but becomes disillusioned when she sees the dark secrets of Vought and her teammates. Starlight can fly and manipulate light. Her trademark power is electricity conversion: she can absorb the ambient electricity from her surroundings in order to fuel her powers which can often manifest as focused blasts of light from her hands. It is unclear if these blasts are made out of plasma or pure light energy. They can manifest as either heat, concussive force, or blinding light. 

Why Starlight? She’s the most central character on the show with powers who also isn’t morally reprehensible, for one thing. But more importantly, we felt her power set was the one that would provide the most interesting discussion points to start us off. We may get to some of your other problematic faves from The Boys in future episodes, so don’t worry!

SUGGESTED VIEWING

Ordinarily, we’d direct you to specific episodes of The Boys that deal heavily with Starlight’s powers and origin (similar to how we gave you episode recommendations in our episodes on  Star Trek’s Transporter or Doctor Who’s TARDIS). But since The Boys is so heavily serialized, and individual episodes might not make a ton of sense in a vacuum, you may as well watch the whole series. And if you haven’t watched The Boys on Amazon Prime Video yet, just what the heck are you doing reading this? Go! And THEN watch our latest episode!

FURTHER READING 

Do you want to delve a little deeper into the facts, concepts, and stories Hakeem and Tamara referenced in today’s episode? Here are a few recommendations!

Oh, and before we get into the scientific concepts that help generate Starlight’s powers, you might already know that The Boys TV series was based on a comic book series of the same  name by Garth Ennis and Darrick Robertson. The entire series has been collected in some handy omnibus editions, and it’s just different enough from its TV counterpart that you should check it out!

Electric Fields

“In order to understand electric fields, there’s a related thing called electric charge. The fundamental units of electric charge are found in matter. Those are electrons, which have negative electric charge and we use that as the standard of one unit of electric charge, and the proton…which has positive electric charge that’s equal in magnitude to that of the electron which to me is a crazy coincidence because the electron is just one single thing but a proton is a composite system of quarks and gluons.”

• See also: Straight Line Motion and Rotational Motion

Light-Matter Interaction

“If I have a wall, the light does not pass through it. So that means that the light is actually interacting with those atoms and those molecules in that wall and the light is being absorbed, it’s  not making it out the other side. But if I have a window, which is also made of matter, but it’s transparent. But why is it transparent? It’s because the matter, which is primarily the electrons, are…I’m going to use a word that isn’t really appropriate but makes sense…I’m going  to personify matter…they choose not to interact.”

Ion Pumping

“Every cell in your body has the ability to create an electric charge and just become a tiny little battery. They do this thing called ion pumping where they kick sodium and chlorine ions out of themselves. Ions have a positive electric charge so that leaves the cell interior with a negative electric charge. For example, the electric eel, when they want to generate their electric current, they take those ions back into themselves but then they do what a storm cloud does. What a storm cloud does to generate a lightning bolt is it separates the negative and positive charge in the clouds…and the charge is going to flow and make a connection with the ground.”

• See also: Electric Eels

Virtual Particles

“There is a mirror realm of fields and a mirror realm of particles. We exist and interact, we’re made up of real particles, real electrons and protons. Our electric fields are real electric fields. But then we discovered that there are so-called virtual particles that make up these fake virtual fields.”

• See also: Higgs Boson

WANT MORE FROM DOES IT FLY?

The new era of Doctor Who is in full swing on Disney+ right now, so in case you missed it, now would be a great time to revisit our Who-centric episode about the TARDIS!

FOLLOW US!

Stay in the loop! Follow DoesItFly? on YouTube and TikTok and let us know what you think! 

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Wait…don’t we already have VR headsets? Not like the ones in Netflix’s 3 Body Problem, we don’t! We’re diving headfirst into one of the most talked about sci-fi TV hits of the year to unpack just how close to reality wearable tech like this show’s (dangerous) headset might be. Spend some time with us as we look at parallels with modern neurotechnology, and stick around to learn who Hakeem and Tamara’s favorite scientists are. And what does Copernicus have to do with all this, anyway? All this and more in the latest episode of Does it Fly? now available everywhere.

SUGGESTED VIEWING

We’re switching the order up this week, because, really…we’re assuming you’ve already watched 3 Body Problem on Netflix. But just in case you haven’t…get going! We’ve already spoiled chunks of it for you!

Anyway, you’re lucky the viewing section is so light (compared to the massive amounts of homework we assigned for our Planet of the Apes episode last week) because there’s some cool reading to go along with this week’s episode…

FURTHER READING 

Do you want to delve a little deeper into the facts, concepts, and stories Hakeem and Tamara referenced in today’s episode? Here are a few recommendations!

If you enjoyed the show, you’ll want to check out the books that it’s based on, known as the Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy Liu Cixin. Those books are The Three-Body Problem, The Dark Forest, and Death’s End. A perfect way to pass the time while you wait for future seasons of 3 Body Problem on Netflix!

Now as for the science end of things…

Three-Body Problem (physics)

“We’re not talking about that today!” (OK, fine, it’s the wrong three-body problem, but it’s still pretty cool, so check out the link.)

Neurotechnology

“That [VR headset as seen in Netflix’s 3 Body Problem] falls under a somewhat mature now, but definitely super-active field of research and development called neurotechnology. These are brain-human interfaces that occur in numerous ways. And right now, they’re being used mostly for good, not for planetary invasion….”

“...There’s basically three ways we can interface with the brain: magnetic fields, light, and magnetic resonance imaging [see also: MRI] The thing here is the wireless ones are all high resolution/large volume, but they don’t have the same degree of specificity as the implants [see also: Neuralink]. So that’s where we exist right now, where you can modulate brain activity. This is really good for paraplegics, where they have a system that’s mounted on their skull [see also: BCI].

SQUID (superconducting quantum interface device)

“Squids are these amplifiers, or incredibly sensitive detectors. They can detect something like a single photon of very low energy.”

Copernicus

“Branded as a heretic for daring to suggest that the entire universe does not revolve around the Earth, but that the Earth revolves around the sun, which I think is a great metaphor for humanity, which is discovering that the Earth is not figuratively the center of the universe and that there are other folks out there.”

Rosalind Franklin

Winner of the inaugural Tamara’s Favorite Scientist award on DiF! See also: The Harvard Computers

Ibn al-Haytham

Winner of the inaugural Hakeem’s Favorite Scientist award on DiF! 

And here’s some bonus reading for you that deals with the tech as it appears on the show…

3 Body Problem's Headset Is Not the VR We Want – It's Our Worst Nightmare

3 Body Problem’s VR Tech Got a Big Glow-Up from the Books

3 Body Problem VR Headset Review: Magical Tech In Need Of More Apps

WANT MORE FROM DOES IT FLY?

The new era of Doctor Who is in full swing on Disney+ right now, so in case you missed it, now would be a great time to revisit our Who-centric episode about the TARDIS!

And for everyone keeping up with Star Trek: Discovery every Thursday (as well as Trek fans of all kinds) we broke down the plausibility of the transporter right here.

FOLLOW US!

Stay in the loop! Follow DoesItFly? on YouTube and TikTok and let us know what you think! 

And don’t forget to follow Roddenberry Entertainment:

Instagram: @RoddenberryOfficial 

Facebook: Roddenberry

Twitter: @Roddenberry  

*Roddenberry Entertainment participates in affiliate programs and may receive a small commission for links on this page*

For Advertising Inquiries: [email protected]

What would it take for our future to look like the one depicted in the Planet of the Apes franchise?

We love it when one of our topics needs no introduction. Certainly, you’ve seen at least one movie in the Planet of the Apes franchise, right? One of the most venerated film series in sci-fi history, and with good reason! So in this episode, we’re diving into the central question of the entire franchise: is it possible that apes will evolve far enough to match humans in intellect, reason, and more?

Hakeem will take you through the evolutionary and physiological questions posed by the franchise, as well as some compelling studies that indicate that some elements might just be possible. Tamara breaks down the central concept of ape evolution through the lens of three films in the franchise: the original classic Planet of the Apes (1968), Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes remake (2011), and series reboot Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011). Get your bananas ready, because we’re (sorry) going ape this week!

Remember that you can join in on the conversation in the comments on our YouTube page, so be sure to like, subscribe, and come back for more!

FURTHER READING 

Do you want to delve a little deeper into the facts, concepts, and stories Hakeem and Tamara referenced in today’s episode? Here are a few recommendations!

Evolution

You can’t discuss anything related to the Planet of the Apes franchise without first understanding the concept that human beings evolved from these relatives of ours. How far we’ve come is another story.

Macaque Speech Experiment

“The narrative my entire life has been that [primates] just don’t have the physiology [for speech]...But it turns out [that macaques] do have all the physiological qualities necessary for speech. But what they don’t have is the brain. If they had a human brain in their physiology, they would be speaking.”

Upright Walking

“Look at the ape behavior in Planet of the Apes. Clearly, it’s a brain change. If you think about it, there’s really three different things. One, they’re thinking like us using emotion and logic. Two, they’re speaking. And three, they’re walking upright, they’re no longer knuckle-walkers. That last one to me is actually the most difficult one, because the research seems to show that if they have the brain change that we’ve already had, and of course we’re relatives, then they could be speaking, being rational, and reasoning the same way we do. But how do you go from knuckle walker to upright walker? That’s another piece of recent research.”

La Planète des singes 

You guessed it, this French novel by Pierre Boulle is better known as the source material for Planet of the Apes! Sometimes you’ll find it under that title, other times as Monkey Planet. Either way, it’s not the exact same story as the film, and features its own twist ending. 

SUGGESTED VIEWING

The Planet of the Apes franchise is VAST and might seem a little intimidating to folks who aren’t familiar with it yet. But for the purposes of what’s discussed in this episode, all you need to watch is Planet of the Apes (the original 1968 classic starring Charlton Heston), the 2001 remake directed by Tim Burton and starring Mark Wahlberg (which is better than you’ve probably heard, but isn’t the most essential entry), and 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which serves as both a reboot of and prequel to the original series of films…and whose sequels lead directly up to this summer’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (in theaters now).

However, for those of you who want to go ape (sorry, sorry, we’re trying to delete it) on the Planet of the Apes franchise, here’s the official Does it Fly? approved viewing order. As a general rule, we firmly believe in watching things in the order they were released, rather than where they take place on the timeline. The franchise begins with five films:

Planet of the Apes (1968)

Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)

Escape From the Planet of the Apes (1971)

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)

Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)

These original five movies range from genuine classics (the first is one of the great sci-fi films of all time) to cult flicks that are still absolutely worth your time. Less essential, but still cool for completists, is the 1973-1974 Planet of the Apes TV series, which seems to take place earlier in the timeline than the original films but may or may not be canon. This was followed by an animated series, Return to the Planet of the Apes, which might take place further in the future than Battle for the Planet of the Apes, but in all likelihood isn’t canon at all. Similarly, the 2011 Tim Burton Planet of the Apes movie is a completely different timeline/story, so you can ignore it if you wish (well, except to understand the stuff that we discuss in this episode).

Then there’s the modern series, which could be watched as prequels to the original films, but are really just the start of a brand new franchise. They’re all good, but both Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and War for the Planet of the Apes (both directed by Matt Reeves of The Batman fame) are two of the best sci-fi movies of the 21st Century. The order is as follows…

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)

War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024)

Get watching!

WANT MORE FROM DOES IT FLY?

The new era of Doctor Who is in full swing on Disney+ right now, so in case you missed it, now would be a great time to revisit our Who-centric episode about the TARDIS!

And for everyone keeping up with Star Trek: Discovery every Thursday (as well as Trek fans of all kinds) we broke down the plausibility of the transporter right here.

FOLLOW US!

Stay in the loop! Follow DoesItFly? on YouTube and TikTok and let us know what you think! 

And don’t forget to follow Roddenberry Entertainment:

Instagram: @RoddenberryOfficial 

Facebook: Roddenberry

Twitter: @Roddenberry  

*Roddenberry Entertainment participates in affiliate programs and may receive a small commission for links on this page*

For Advertising Inquiries: [email protected]

“You maniacs! You blew it up!”

This episode of Does it Fly? is presented by ScreenUK. ScreenUK is a free discovery platform celebrating the very best of UK-produced film, television, animation and gaming and sharing it with audiences around the world. ScreenUK is the go-to place to discover your next favorite movie, show, or game and features tons of exclusive behind-the-scenes interviews and all the info you need to find out how and where to watch or play your newest obsessions, wherever you are in the world. Make ScreenUK.org your next stop.

The very crux of beloved sci-fi comedy Red Dwarf comes from how Dave Lister was kept in time stasis for three million years (yes, you read that right) emerging only after a radiation leak killed the rest of the crew.Thus, the series follows Lister—the last living human—as well as a hologram of his old coworker (Rimmer), a humanoid creature who evolved from the offspring of Lister's smuggled pet cat (Cat), the sanitation android (Kryten), and the ship’s computer (Holly). 

At its most functional, the Stasis Booth from Red Dwarf and related technology is meant to keep people from dying of old age during long interstellar voyages. We look at the scientific feasibility of placing living beings in states of suspended animation for long periods of time to slow down or prevent aging, a concept that you probably already know well from when it has appeared elsewhere in popular culture, including 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien, and Futurama. What parallels are there to hibernation as we know it in nature? How does Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity factor into this? And what unique combination of sci-fi high concept and cult appeal has made Red Dwarf such an enduring success? Oh yeah, and we might as well discuss what a “red dwarf” actually signifies, too, while we’re at it!

All these questions and more will be answered (or at least discussed) in the latest episode! Remember that you can join in on the conversation in the comments on our YouTube page, so be sure to like, subscribe, and come back for more!

FURTHER READING 

Do you want to delve a little deeper into the facts, concepts, and stories Hakeem and Tamara referenced in today’s episode? Here are a few recommendations!

Red Dwarf

“Well, that’s the show, but the red dwarf itself is the smallest type of star, and the most common type of star in our galaxy. There are tens of billions of them.”

See also: The Transit Method.

Mass-Energy Equivalence

“When Albert Einstein figured out E=MC2, he said there isn’t really this thing called mass, there’s just all energy. So the existence of mass means the existence of energy. But here’s where I’m going to go out on a limb…to me, saying energy exists is the same as saying time exists.”

Einstein’s Theory of Relativity

“Right now, you and I are at rest relative to each other. We’re both sitting here on our computers. Which means that together, we’re moving through space at zero, and we’re moving through time at the speed of light. But if you were to take off in the Red Dwarf going 90% of the speed of light relative to me, everything on board is still in the same time zone as you are. But now you’ve put so much motion through space that your motion through time, relative to me, has been reduced, but not to the things traveling with you in the spaceship.”

The Hibernation Gene

“According to genetic evolution studies, the ancestor of all mammals hibernated and there is a hibernation gene in all mammals. Humans, apparently, 400,000 years ago appear to have had the ability to hibernate.”

Nematode Worms

“These nematodes [are multicellular organisms that were recovered from permafrost] and they’re tens of thousands of years old.”

No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre

The source of the famed “hell is other people” which Tamara references in discussion about the themes of Red Dwarf.

SUGGESTED VIEWING

Virtually everything discussed in this episode can be gleaned from watching the first episode of the series, 1988’s ironically titled “The End.” That being said, these are short episodes and short seasons of TV, so you may as well watch the entire first season (or “series” as they’re called in the UK) to get a better sense of the overall flavor of the show. The entire series is currently streaming for free on Tubi, so you may as well go press play on “The End” right now.

FOLLOW US!

Stay in the loop! Follow DoesItFly? on YouTube and TikTok and let us know what you think! 

And don’t forget to follow Roddenberry Entertainment:

Instagram: @RoddenberryOfficial 

Facebook: Roddenberry

Twitter: @Roddenberry  

*Roddenberry Entertainment participates in affiliate programs and may receive a small commission for links on this page*

For Advertising Inquiries: [email protected]

This episode of Does it Fly? is presented by ScreenUK. ScreenUK is a free discovery platform celebrating the very best of UK-produced film, television, animation and gaming and sharing it with audiences around the world. ScreenUK is the go-to place to discover your next favorite movie, show, or game and features tons of exclusive behind-the-scenes interviews and all the info you need to find out how and where to watch or play your newest obsessions, wherever you are in the world. Make ScreenUK.org your next stop.

In space, no one can hear you…put hideous alien monsters up for this kind of scrutiny! Perhaps the most iconic extraterrestrial terror in cinematic history, the titular aliens of Ridley Scott’s masterful Alien and its subsequent franchise are recognizable not only by their distinct look, but their uniquely terrifying properties. 

We’re asking all the big questions in this episode. Just how worried should we be about the kinds of parasites that can do, well, what these aliens so famously do? Is that gestation period something seen elsewhere in (terrestrial) nature? And what the hell is up with their acid blood, anyway? And while these are very specific fictional bio-horror creatures with roots in nature, what was their inspiration and how were they designed for the screen? Like the film, this episode of Does it Fly? is not for the faint of heart. 

And that’s only the beginning of the fun in our latest episode! Remember that you can join in on the conversation in the comments on our YouTube page, so be sure to like, subscribe, and come back for more!

[EPISODE VIDEO PLAYER EMBED]

FURTHER READING 

Do you want to delve a little deeper into the facts, concepts, and stories Hakeem and Tamara referenced in today’s episode? Here are a few recommendations!

Parasitoid Wasps

“The alien life cycle [as depicted in the movies] in part mimics parasitic or parasitoid animals here on Earth like parasitoid wasps who lay their eggs in caterpillars. But it’s different!” See also: Insect Life Cycles and Horizontal Gene Transfer

Tongue-eating Louse

“You know what this reminds me of? It’s so gross. Are you familiar with these arthropods that eat a fish’s tongue, replaces it, and then lives there as its tongue? They attach themselves to the base of the tongue they just ate and live life and eat with the fish. So the fish catches the food [but these creatures get the benefit].”

H.R. Giger’s Necronom IV

“For those of you who may not be familiar, H.R. Giger is an artist and his work is biomechanical. It combines mechanical forms with humanoid forms and it’s really creepy. It’s dark and it usually has sexual overtones. It’s reptilian, it’s insectoid, it’s really scary. And the actual design from the fully-grown Xenomorph is pulled directly from his work Necronom IV.”

Hydrofluoric Acid

“Speaking of the aliens’ acid blood…you can’t tell hydrofluoric acid apart from water. You could pour it on your hand and you wouldn’t feel a thing. It consumes calcium. When you go into training they show you all of these horrible training movies about what happens when you don’t do the proper care. What you’re supposed to do is wash it with water for a long time, and then there’s a cream that contains calcium that you put on it, because [the acid] migrates to where the calcium is. If you don’t do that and you go home that night, you’ll wake up with mangled limbs because the hydrofluoric acid consumes the calcium in your bones.”

SUGGESTED VIEWING

While the Alien franchise is as vast and ever-expanding as the cosmos itself, we only focused on the first three films in the franchise to get into the (gross) specifics necessary about alien incubation for this episode.

Alien

Not only one of the greatest sci-fi movies of all time, but one of the greatest horror movies of all time! The word “masterpiece” is thrown around a little too freely these days, but in the case of Ridley Scott’s first sci-fi film it might not be high enough praise.  

Aliens

James Cameron picked up the ball from Ridley Scott, kept almost everything that made the original so great, and added a hefty dose of blockbuster action. Who says sequels can’t rival the original? It’s just a matter of whether you want a little more action with your gooey alien horror or more suspense that determines which of these films you prefer.

Alien 3

Not as bad as you’ve heard and probably a lot better than you remember it! Not to mention it’s an early feature film directorial effort by a fella named David Fincher. Ever heard of him? 

FOLLOW US!

Stay in the loop! Follow DoesItFly? on YouTube and TikTok and let us know what you think! 

And don’t forget to follow Roddenberry Entertainment:

Instagram: @RoddenberryOfficial 

Facebook: Roddenberry

Twitter: @Roddenberry  

*Roddenberry Entertainment participates in affiliate programs and may receive a small commission for links on this page*

For Advertising Inquiries: [email protected]

This episode of Does it Fly? is presented by ScreenUK. ScreenUK is a free discovery platform celebrating the very best of UK-produced film, television, animation and gaming and sharing it with audiences around the world. ScreenUK is the go-to place to discover your next favorite movie, show, or game and features tons of exclusive behind-the-scenes interviews and all the info you need to find out how and where to watch or play your newest obsessions, wherever you are in the world. Make ScreenUK.org your next stop.

The film that launched the careers of a Star Wars star, a Doctor, and even a DC superhero (albeit a deep cut)! Yes, that’s right, we’re talking about cult classic, Attack the Block, this week. For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure yet (and seriously, this movie is a blast, so if you haven’t seen it, go check it out right now!), Attack the Block is a 2011 science fiction/horror film written and directed by Joe Cornish and starring future Star Wars franchise hero John Boyega and historic Doctor Who star Jodie Whittaker. The film follows a group of teenagers living in a South London housing estate who defend their neighborhood from an alien invasion. 

So what flies and what doesn’t? Well, these aliens have come from the outer reaches of space and crash-landed on Earth, with the females spreading their pheromones and attracting a horde of ferocious males from across the solar system to Earth, so Hakeem takes a look at everything from the basic concept of pheromones to how the sun’s magnetic field allows for things like “solar sailing” to take place. Tamara unpacks not only the aliens themselves, but also gives everyone some background info on how the unique look of these terrifying creatures was realized onscreen.

And that’s only the beginning of the fun in our latest episode! Remember that you can join in on the conversation in the comments on our YouTube page, so be sure to like, subscribe, and come back for more!

FURTHER READING 

Do you want to delve a little deeper into the facts, concepts, and stories Hakeem and Tamara referenced in today’s episode? Here are a few recommendations!

Pheromones

“Pheromones are chemistry and biology. Chemistry and biology have something in them that physics doesn’t have. Do you know what that is? Nasty! Bodily fluids and things like that.”

‘Oumuamua

“We know it came from outside of our solar system, for one reason only: the speed at which it was moving.”

Oort cloud

“There is allegedly a spherical distribution of comets called the Oort cloud that surrounds the solar system, so sometimes comets do come in from over the poles of the sun or something like that, so it’s not in the plane of the orbit.”

Parker Solar Probe

“As far as traveling through space on solar rays, that is something that can actually be done. There’s different forms of propulsion. There’s electric sail propulsion. You can have a physical sail. You can have an electric sail, where you create an electric field, and because the particles streaming away from the sun and other stars are electrically charged you can get a thrust out of that. Or you can have a magnetic sail [which] is pretty clever.”

Attack the Block’s Aliens Were Just as Terrifying Behind the Scenes

Tamara gives everyone some info on alien performer Terry Notary but there’s all kinds of additional fun info here for you to help fill in the blanks on just what made these creatures so convincingly scary.

SUGGESTED VIEWING

Attack the Block is so much fun very much because of the unique sensibility of writer/director Joe Cornish. And first of all, we must once again ask, if you haven’t seen Attack the Block yet, what are you waiting for? This movie is a treasure! Go watch!

Cornish wrote (along with Edgar Wright and Stephen Moffat) 2011’s criminally-underrated The Adventures of TinTin film (where’s the trilogy we were promised?!?) But you can also see his influence in Marvel Studios’ first Ant-Man movie (which he helped write) and Netflix’s sadly gone-after-one-season Lockwood & Co. 

FOLLOW US!

Stay in the loop! Follow DoesItFly? on YouTube and TikTok and let us know what you think! 

And don’t forget to follow Roddenberry Entertainment:

Instagram: @RoddenberryOfficial 

Facebook: Roddenberry

Twitter: @Roddenberry  

*Roddenberry Entertainment participates in affiliate programs and may receive a small commission for links on this page*

For Advertising Inquiries: [email protected]

This episode of Does it Fly? is presented by ScreenUK. ScreenUK is a free discovery platform celebrating the very best of UK-produced film, television, animation and gaming and sharing it with audiences around the world. ScreenUK is the go-to place to discover your next favorite movie, show, or game and features tons of exclusive behind-the-scenes interviews and all the info you need to find out how and where to watch or play your newest obsessions, wherever you are in the world. Make ScreenUK.org your next stop.

Follow us as we take it back to 2006 with the Academy Award-nominated Children of Men! Adapted from the 1992 P.D. James novel of the same name, the film, directed and co-written by Alfonso Cuarón, is set in a gritty, dystopian 2027, where humanity faces imminent extinction after years of global infertility. Amidst this chaos, former activist Theo (Clive Owen) is reluctantly drawn into a mission to escort a miraculously pregnant woman, Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey), to the safety of a scientific organization dedicated to finding a way for people to once again have children. When the world is reduced to a single lifetime, how do we as a species overcome no guarantee of an assumed future? In this episode, Hakeem and Tamara nail down the realism behind Children of Men’s hopeless society and get down to business discussing whether or not ALL of humanity could suddenly become infertile.

From a narrative perspective, Tamara investigates the world of Cuarón’s mid-apocalyptic dystopia. Does the film’s lack of explanation of where infertility came from impact the world-building? When humanity no longer has hope, how would we behave and react? Would we replace children with something else? And most importantly, what does the title “Children of Men” even mean?

On the scientific front, Hakeem investigates the feasibility of a species-wide infertility epidemic. Could such a disease only affect humans and not other species? How can the same disease get inside all of us? What would it take for such a disease to spread planet-wide? Looking towards the future, would it be possible for babies to be born without ever being in a mother's womb? 

Our latest episode includes all this and more! Remember that you can join in on the conversation in the comments on our YouTube page, so be sure to like, subscribe, and come back for more!

FURTHER READING 

Do you want to delve a little deeper into the facts, concepts, and stories Hakeem and Tamara referenced in today’s episode? Here are a few recommendations!

The Children of Men by P.D. James

The modern science fiction classic that inspired the film! 

Growing A Baby Lamb in an Artificial Womb

“There was some small animal, a lamb or a goat, that was actually bred in a plastic bag; it had its own umbilical cord… You probably don’t need a womb anymore.”

Making Synthetic Human Embryos

“How do we create new human embryos and bring them to complete their gestation cycle artificially?”

Choosing Pets Over Babies

“We see in our own time now millennials who are like ‘I’m putting off having kids’ and lather their animals with love, affection, and goodies.”

Hauntologyーmourning a future that we were promised.

“We always assume that tomorrow is going to come. We talk about leaving a better world for our children, but this is a world where tomorrow is not going to come.”

Could an Airborne Disease Spread Globally? 

“Suppose a government is doing space research, and they’re putting some aerosols in the upper atmosphere, and it's some chemical. Because of the winds of the earth, it could spread around the world.”

Brain Droppings by George Carlin

Hakeem’s reading recommendation is filled with thoughts, musings, questions, lists, beliefs, and curiosities from his “all-time favorite word nerd,” George Carlin. 

The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey

Mentioned by Tamara, another modern sci-fi classic that follows a civilization ravaged by a fungus-based infection. “If there is a fungus because they spread via spores, fungi spores could get in humans around the world before we knew it.”

And speaking of fungus and spores…

SUGGESTED VIEWING

If you’re in the mood for more dystopian sci-fi thrillers like Children of Men, here are some recommendations for other movies and shows with catastrophes, apocalypses, and everything in between!

The Last of Us

Based on the critically acclaimed video game franchise, the Emmy award-winning series is set twenty years into a pandemic caused by a mass fungal infection. Follow Joel and Ellie as they navigate the post-apocalyptic United States in hopes of finding a cure.

The Leftovers

This acclaimed HBO series is set three years after a global event called the "Sudden Departure," the inexplicable, simultaneous disappearance of 140 million people, 2% of the world's population. How does society recover from such an undefined tragedy?

What Happened to Monday

A film set in the near future, where overpopulation has resulted in a strict one-child policy enforced by the Child Allocation Bureau. Any illegal children uncovered by the C.A.B. are taken and put into cryosleep indefinitely.

Melancholia 

When a planet is on a course for a collision with Earth, two sisters navigate the inevitability of their destiny in very different ways.

12 Monkeys

A time-travel twist on the apocalypse, the film follows a man from a future devastated by disease tasked with going back in time to gather information on a developing plague that exterminated most of the world’s population.

28 Days Later 

Director Danny Boyle and modern sci-fi maestro Alex Garland deliver a zombie movie with a pandemic-flavored twist.

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This episode of Does it Fly is presented by ScreenUK. ScreenUK is a free discovery platform celebrating the very best of UK-produced film, television, animation and gaming and sharing it with audiences around the world. ScreenUK is the go-to place to discover your next favorite movie, show, or game and features tons of exclusive behind-the-scenes interviews and all the info you need to find out how and where to watch or play your newest obsessions, wherever you are in the world. Make ScreenUK.org your next stop.

It’s “time” (sorry) for a unique piece of sci-fi technology from the legendary Doctor Who! TARDIS stands for “Time and Relative Dimension in Space.” The Doctor is a Time Lord, from the planet Gallifrey, and a TARDIS is a technology that allows Time Lords to travel through space and time while having all manner of timey-wimey adventures. And yet, despite the name of our show, TARDISes do very little actual flying. They are designed to dematerialize and re-materialize in the desired place in space and time. Though there are episodes where audiences see the TARDIS doing what is more akin to traditional flying, doing that too often can damage them.

TARDISES have a Chameleon Circuit that allows them to blend into their surroundings.  The Doctor’s TARDIS has a rather unique shape as an old police phone box, but that’s not their standard form. Instead, the Doctor’s famous TARDIS got stuck this way while disguising itself as something commonplace using that Chameleon Circuit. They are also, perhaps most famously, bigger on the inside than they are on the outside (if this concept gives you a headache, don’t worry). 

In this episode, Hakeem and Tamara examine just how feasible it is for the TARDIS to traverse both time and space in such a unique fashion as well as a number of its other unique features. In the process, they discuss some key episodes in Doctor Who history, as well as the scientific concepts that do (or don’t) power the TARDIS.

Hakeem and Tamara explored a number of concepts to try and figure out what makes the TARDIS tick in this episode.

FURTHER READING

Black Holes

“There's a lot of brilliant physicists who have been studying this for a very long time. When you study black holes, basically you're studying the geometry of space-time. Black holes,  not only are they bigger on the inside than the outside, but they grow continuously with time on the inside. So even if they shrink down and evaporate on the outside,  the inside volume doesn't change.” 

White Holes

“Armies have tried to get inside the TARDIS and they can’t, because it’s impenetrable. A white hole is a time-reversed black hole…Physicists…came up with this idea of a white hole…because they wanted to look at wormholes. How do you do interdimensional travel? They realized that if you have a time-reversed black hole, you form this thing called a white hole. So just like nothing can come out of a black hole, nothing can go into a white hole.

The Totalitarian Principle

“Any physical process that's not strictly forbidden from occurring by the laws of physics must occur. Unless the laws of physics say it can't happen, it must happen.”

SUGGESTED VIEWING

Since the show has been around for 60 years, we get that jumping into Doctor Who can feel a little intimidating. And when you factor in the fact that the TARDIS has been there from the beginning and appears in pretty much every single episode, it can be downright overwhelming. So if you’re someone who’s always been curious about Doctor Who and just wondering where to start or  a fan who wants to revisit the basics as well as some of the episodes we watched to get ready for this week’s discussion, allow us to point you at a few of our favorites. 

For simplicity’s sake, we’re keeping our recommendations to the newer series that began in 2005, but if you’re ready to dive deeper, you can’t go wrong with Tom Baker’s long-running (and perhaps most iconic in the show’s history) run as the Doctor in the 1970s. But all series/season codes below begin with the 2005 version of the show and continue right up until the present day!

S1E1 “Rose”

The show that brought Doctor Who back to the airwaves is a perfect introduction to every important concept in the show’s lore!

S1E13 “The Parting of Ways”

S2E0 “The Christmas Invasion”

S2E1 “New Earth”

Want to get used to the concept of “regeneration” and why new actors who look drastically different always get to play essentially the same character? These three episodes will tell you what you need to know! And once you’ve gotten a better sense of Doctor Who lore, check out the 50th Anniversary Special, “The Day of the Doctor” to really have your mind blown!

S5E1 “The Eleventh Hour”

S6E4 “The Doctors Wife” 

S7E11 “Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS”

Bring on the TARDIS! Each of these episodes will give you a better idea of what the TARDIS is capable of, its origins, and much more. 

S3E10 “Blink”

Not only one of the best episodes in the show’s history, but one of the best hours of sci-fi television you may ever see (and one we discuss quite a bit here)! It also gave us this wonderful clip of the Doctor explaining how time works…in his own unique way. And on that note…

S2E12 “Army of Ghosts”

S2E13 “Doomsday” 

S6E1 “The Impossible Astronaut”

S7E5 “The Angels Take Manhattan”

Each of these episodes deal with the rules of time travel within the Doctor Who universe, and specifically how paradoxes are created and why they should be avoided.

2023 Christmas Special “The Church on Ruby Road”

Let’s bring it full circle, shall we? Just as it was with “Rose” in 2005, Ncuti Gatwa’s first full adventure as the Doctor will tell you everything you need to know about the character if you want to get in on the ground floor!

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SPOILER ALERT: This episode of Does it Fly? and the show notes that follow contains spoilers for Black Mirror, “San Junipero.” If you haven’t watched the episode yet, go check it out on Netflix and then come back and join us!

One of Black Mirror’s most critically acclaimed episodes! Apparently set in a seaside town in the 1980s, “San Junipero” follows the story of two women, Yorkie and Kelly, who meet and develop a relationship. But in fact, the San Junipero locale is a simulated reality where the elderly and dying can live out their remaining days in a youthful, idealized version of their choosing before deciding whether to pass on to death or remain in the simulation forever. San Junipero has cemented itself as one of the most “happy” episodes of Black Mirror, showing there’s at least a little room for positivity and hope in the future. Hakeem and Tamara are back again, looking through the mirror at our reality to see what it would take to upload one’s consciousness (and soul?) permanently.

From a scientific perspective, Hakeem investigates the technological feasibility of uploading and suspending human consciousness in virtual reality. How are our memories created, and would it be possible to upload entire neural networks? What would the ethical considerations be for having an afterlife of this nature? How would it affect our understanding of life, death, and immortality? And how much of yourself and your memories will be uploaded? Perhaps most importantly, would this version of you be a copy, an imitation, or your whole self?

Meanwhile, Tamara jacks in to tackle “San Junipero” from a story perspective. Does the episode's lack of technological explanation for its virtual reality enhance or diminish the authenticity of Yorkie and Kelly’s relationship? What’s the user interface like, and what’s San Junipero's population breakdown? Would you trust your consciousness in the hands of a corporation for eternity? And how does this episode’s positive ending reflect and challenge Black Mirror’s usual pessimism about the future and technology?

All this and more in our latest episode! Remember that you can join in on the conversation in the comments on our YouTube page, so be sure to like, subscribe, and come back for more!

FURTHER READING

Want to dive a little deeper into the scientific concepts Hakeem touched on in today’s episode?

The Hebbian Learning Rule

“Memories are fragments; some parts are in the pre-frontal cortex, some parts are in the hippocampus; it all has to do with the connection between neurons. Neurons that fire together wire together.”

Memory Retrieval and the Passage of Time

“Every time you access a memory, there’s a possibility for modification.”

Language Models, Explained

“If you’re Albert Einstein, you have a lot of writing; you have a lot of speech; I can put that in an AI learning algorithm so that it can learn to predict the next word just like ChatGPT does.”

Self-Concept

“We each have three selves: our private self, our public self, and our secret self.”

Want some sci-fi & the afterlife or anthologies? Here are some suggested readings on stories and concepts similar to “San Junipero”!

Permutation City by Greg Eagan

“A life in Permutation City is unlike any life to which you’re accustomed. You have Eternal Life, the power to live forever. Immortality is real, just not what you’d expect.”

Axiomatic by Greg Eagan

“Drawing on nine years of research, Axiomatic explores the ways we understand the traumas we inherit and the systems that sustain them.”

The Wilds by Julia Elliott 

“At a deluxe medical spa on a nameless Caribbean island, a middle-aged woman hopes to revitalize her fading youth with grotesque rejuvenating therapies that combine cutting-edge medical technologies with holistic approaches.”

Replay by Ken Grimwood

“43-year-old man who dies and wakes up back in 1963 in his 18-year-old body. He relives his life with all his memories of the previous 25 years intact. This happens repeatedly, with the man playing out his life differently in each cycle.”

Alice Isn’t Dead by Joseph Fink

“Keisha Taylor lived a quiet life with her wife, Alice, until the day that Alice disappeared.” Combines science fiction, romance, and horror, all with a beautiful story and character development

SUGGESTED VIEWING

Of course, watching “San Junipero” is the best way to inform the discussion of today’s episode, but here are a few other Black Mirror episodes that tackle death and technology in a not-so-far future.

Black Mirror S3E4 “San Junipero”

Our topic of discussion!

Black Mirror S2E1 “Be Right Back”

After Martha’s boyfriend is killed, she turns to a service that creates an AI replica of him, bringing him back from the dead, or at least an imitation of him.

Black Mirror S4E6 “Black Museum” 

A museum of medical marvels (or failures) from the hologram of a convicted killer’s mind to a stuffed monkey with the consciousness of a dying mother, what miracles (or horrors) await in the Black Museum?

Here are some movies and TV shows mentioned in this week’s podcast or some honorable mentions!

Upload

Another look into the reality of virtual reality in a not-so-far-off future. When a computer programmer gets into a deadly car accident, his consciousness gets uploaded into a virtual afterlife of his choosing, but not everything is as it seems. 

The Seventh Sign

Mentioned by Hakeen and Tamara. A sci-fi drama/thriller that explores the myth of the Guf, the well of souls that’s a place that you existed in before you were born.

The Matrix

You can’t talk about virtual realities without talking about The Matrix. Set in a dystopian future in which humanity is unknowingly trapped inside the Matrix, a simulated reality that intelligent machines have created.

Vanilla Sky

An honorable mention that explores the concept of digital afterlife. Starring Tom Cruise, it’s a sci-fi thriller following a magazine publisher who begins questioning reality after being disfigured in a car crash.

Lorn “Anvil”

Another honorable mention. In this electronic music video, Anvil is a social network that allows you to destroy your body to fight against overpopulation, but your conscience won't be destroyed; it will join the social network Anvil.

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We explore the rules of one of the greatest innovations in sci-fi history, Star Trek’s transporter! We also ask the big question: could this iconic science fiction technology become a science reality in our lifetimes? 

EPISODE SUMMARY 

One of the most iconic pieces of Star Trek technology! By converting matter into energy, objects and living beings can be “beamed” across great distances, where they are then re-converted back into physical matter. Not just a clever way to not require Starfleet away teams to have to jump in an expensive shuttlecraft every time they need to get back and forth from a starship, but a concept instantly recognizable as uniquely Star Trek, one which has the power to make or break a mission and that has been the focus of multiple stories in the franchise’s history. Noted astrophysicist Hakeem Oluseyi and pop culture expert Tamara Krinsky break it all down to see what it takes to, well, break down a living person and reassemble them at another location.

From a science perspective, Hakeem tackles both the scientific feasibility of converting matter into energy and (perhaps infinitely trickier) then converting the energy back into solid matter. Is there any existing technology analogous to this? Is it possible to even consider that this could be done to a living being without killing them? What about real world parallels with concepts such as quantum teleportation? And just how much data storage do you need in order to make this happen?

Meanwhile, Tamara looks at this incredibly reliable piece of fictional Star Trek technology from a story standpoint. What happens to someone’s soul (or, at least their consciousness) when their atoms are disassembled and reassembled elsewhere? What about Dr. McCoy’s well noted objections every time he steps on a transporter pad? Are McCoy’s fears as commonplace to a 23rd century citizen as a fear of flying is for people of today? 

All this and more in our first episode! Don’t forget you can also join the conversation in the comments on our YouTube page, so be sure to like and subscribe!

FURTHER READING

Want to dive a little deeper into the scientific concepts Hakeem touched on in today’s episode?

Quantum Teleportation  

“There is something that works in the real universe, and it’s called quantum teleportation, but it’s not [the transporter].”

Avogadro’s Number

“If you want to take a guess at how many atoms are in this cup or in this microphone, you start with Avogadro’s number.” 

Moore’s Law

“Here on Earth, we have this thing called Moore’s Law, and that has to do with the growth of processor speed, but I think there might be something similar for the growth of data storage.”

The Hebbian Learning Rule

“That’s the big one for me. How do you handle memory? Because as the saying goes, ‘neurons that fire together, wire together.’”

Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle

“There’s this thing called Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, so [with the transporter] you can’t get both their motion and their location to arbitrary-precision…”

And for those of you who want to learn more about the early days of Star Trek and the behind-the-scenes stories surrounding the creation of the transporter…

The Making of Star Trek by Stephen E. Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry

One  of the foundational Star Trek texts, and one that Tamara referred to when researching today’s episode. 

“Movie and TV-making technology at that time, making models and miniatures was pretty much how that was accomplished on screen, and it was really expensive. So if you were going to have a show every week where you had to bring a crew down in a shuttle or some kind of spaceship, that was going to be really expensive for the budget of the show. But it's a basic premise, so you're gonna have to figure out how to do it every week…you've only got a certain amount of time to tell your story and you want to use those most efficiently and most powerfully.” 

These Are The Voyages, TOS Season One by Marc Cushman and Susan Osborne

The Fifty-Year Mission: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek - The First 25 Years by Ed Gross and Mark A. Altman

SUGGESTED VIEWING

As the transporter factors into virtually every single episode of Star Trek, it’s tough to narrow it down, but here’s a selection of episodes that helped inform the discussion of today’s episode.

Star Trek: The Original Series S1E5 “The Enemy Within”

The original “uh-oh, the transporter is being weird” episode, as Captain Kirk finds himself split into two selves after a transporter malfunction. 

Star Trek: The Original Series S2E4 “Mirror, Mirror”

A transporter malfunction causes Spock to grow a goatee! Well, really, it swaps the Enterprise crew with their malevolent doppelgangers from the soon-to-be-infamous Mirror Universe.

Star Trek: The Next Generation S2E7 “Unnatural Selection”

Ever wonder if the transporter could be used as a medical tool? This is the episode for you!

Star Trek: The Next Generation S5E15 “Power Play”

Ever wonder if the transporter could be used as a way to hold non-corporeal beings captive? Of course you have! Who hasn’t?

Star Trek: The Next Generation S6E2 “Realm of Fear”

A fine example of the basis for transporter-phobia, and perhaps the only depiction of the process of transporting through the eyes of the person being transported.

Star Trek: The Next Generation S6E4 “Relics”

The transporter is used to hold a familiar character from Trek history in stasis for many years.

Star Trek: The Next Generation S6E24 “Second Chances”

As shown in our episode, a transporter accident creates a clone of William Riker. Awkwardness ensues!

Star Trek: Enterprise S2E10 “Vanishing Point”

A crewmember thinks she is starting to dematerialize after going through the transporter for the first time. Maybe Dr. McCoy heard about this one…

Star Trek: Enterprise S4E10 “Daedalus”

Want more detail on how the transporter was invented in the Star Trek universe? Check this episode out!

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Our first full episode is coming your way on April 5th, but we thought we'd give you a little taste while you wait!