The Incomparable Mothership
Hosted by Jason Snell
The Incomparable Mothership is the flagship of the Incomparable podcast network. It’s all about geeky media we love, including movies, books, TV, and more, featuring a rotating panel of guests and hosted by Jason Snell and friends.
822 Jacket Into Cyberspace
William Gibson Book Club reconvenes to close out the legendary Sprawl trilogy with “Mona Lisa Overdrive,” a book in which there are lots of vibes from a lot of people who are secondary characters in a story being driven by an AI that we never really meet. Robot art projects! Many overlapping jackets, none of them the same size! And a car ride to… the future?! We break it all down.
Previous Episodes
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June 12, 2026 “All the President’s Men”821 Historic Parking Garage
Get behind your typewriters! Old Movie Club follows the money to discuss 1976’s “All The President’s Men,” in which the power of dogged reportage and journalistic freedom triumphs over the banality of evil.
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June 5, 2026 2026 Awards Book Club, part 2820 I Can Read It!
Our survey of award-nominated novels rolls on with “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter,” “When We Were Real,” and “Sour Cherry.” Not gonna lie: we’re struggling with the reading a bit this year. But at least one of these novels threw us a lifeline.
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May 29, 2026 “The Mandalorian and Grogu”819 All the Babus Frik
We went out to the movies to see “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” the first “Star Wars” film this decade. We had a really good time, thanks in large part to the charisma of many different puppets. (This is “Star Wars,” after all.) We aren’t without our criticisms—Is there ever really any danger? What is Sigourney Weaver doing?—but all in all, this film filled a Star Wars-shaped hole in our hearts.
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May 22, 2026 “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”818 Ferris is Magic
Let’s travel 40 years back in time, to Chicago in 1986, where on one legendary day, a high school student named Ferris Bueller bends time and space, all in service of cheering up his best friend. We break down what makes “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” still work after all these years.
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May 15, 2026 2026 Awards Book Club, Part 1
817 A Found Family of Monsters
Awards Book Club reconvenes for 2026, as we discuss Nebula-nominated novels “Katabasis” by R.F. Kuang, “Wearing the Lion” by John Wiswell, and “Death of the Author” by Nnedi Okorafor. The mood of the panel is… cautious. Also: What else are we reading?
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May 8, 2026 Rocket Surgery: “Lawnmower Man 2”816 Fascism for Algernon
Put on your eye phones and jack in to the cyberscape! Rocket Surgery comes for 1996’s cyberpunk epic “Lawnmower Man 2.” (Don’t worry if you haven’t seen the original “Lawnmower Man,” half of us didn’t either.) Matt Frewer is Max Headrooming it up! A bunch of urchins populate a rainy L.A. that’s straight out of “Blade Runner,” but, you know—cheaper. There’s a brilliant doctor in charge of virtual-reality research, and also there’s Jennifer! And everything in the future is hackable!
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May 1, 2026 “Sinners”
815 I Guess I Gotta Kill All These Klan Guys
Not now, Klansmen, I’m killing vampires! “Sinners” got nominated for all the awards, and it’s also a vampire (with a hint of zombie?) movie. We love it when genre movies get attention, and Ryan Coogler keeps putting out bangers, so we’re all in on the story of magical music opening the door to eldrich horror—oh, and also it’s the deep south in the 1930s so there’s some horrendous racism too!
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April 24, 2026 Penric & Desdemona
814 Demons are People Too
A special Book Club panel provides an overview of Lois McMaster Bujold’s excellent Penric & Desdemona series of fantasy novellas (plus one novel). This series gives its characters time to learn, grow, and age. It’s got some perspectives you don’t see very often in fantasy fiction. We love it and think you will, too.
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April 17, 2026 “Blade Runner 2049”
813 Spiritual Sequel
We complete our run through blades with “Blade Runner 2049,” a late sequel in which Ryan Gosling plays a replicant detective searching for an explosive secret that could change everything… and is unsurprisingly tied to characters from “Blade Runner.” We discuss why a replicant might need a holographic girlfriend, Jared Leto’s eyes, and once again, if Deckard is a replicant or not and why that really doesn’t matter.
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April 10, 2026 “Blade Runner” (The Final Cut)
812 Ridley Scott Just Can’t Stop
No voiceovers! More unicorns! Our journey deep into the futuristic world of 2019 Los Angeles continues with another look at “Blade Runner” — this time, it’s “The Final Cut” edition. Deckard’s identity revealed, sort of? Voiceovers removed! Superfans and sort-of-fans compare, contrast, and discuss.