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.
627 The Czech Office
The days of appointment television are long gone, but what if you could create a streaming service broadcasting the best that TV had to offer in the 21st century? What shows would be on your marquee? We’ve got you covered, with our very first Peak TV draft (patent pending)! Will your favorite shows get drafted? Tune in to find out!
Previous Episodes
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August 5, 2022 “Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers” and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”626 Don’t Copy That Chip ‘n Dale Floppy
The release of the super-meta “Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers” with John Mulaney and Andy Samberg on Disney+ put us in mind of a movie from which it borrowed a hunk of its DNA: “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”. We first toon, er, tune our dial to that classic, groundbreaking 1988 Robert Zemeckis-directed film, then look at its 2022 chip off the old block. Forget it, Dale, it’s Toontown.
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July 29, 2022 Star Trek three-series season wrap
625 Frisky Vulcans
Thirty-three episodes of new live-action “Star Trek” have now concluded, and we’re going to talk about all of it. We bring some tough love for “Discovery” and “Picard”, which disappointed us. But all is not lost—there’s a lot of unabashed love for “Strange New Worlds.”
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July 22, 2022 Dan Moren and “The Nova Incident”624 You Got Ludlumed
On the occasion of the publication of “The Nova Incident,” Jason asks Dan a bunch of questions from readers (and listeners) about his writing career, techniques, tools, and more.
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July 15, 2022 “Obi-Wan Kenobi”
623 Sand Tuna Thief
Hello there! We discuss “Obi-Wan Kenobi” on Disney+, including Ewan MacGregor’s delight in the role, the return of Hayden Christensen, and balancing the needs of superfans with movies-only fans.
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July 8, 2022 “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”
622 The MacGuffin Twins
Put on your flying cloak and load up on pizza balls, because we’re here to talk about “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.” This is an interesting one, because most of us agree that the movie is fun and inventive in a lot of enjoyable ways—but also entirely mishandles its villain. Can you love a movie that also make you angry? We try! Some of us fail.
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July 1, 2022 “Halo” season 1
621 They Built the Halos
Let’s face it, there’s not a lot of evidence to support the cause of adapting video games for movies or TV. And yet we tried the “Halo” TV series from Paramount+ and… liked it? We discuss making the Master Chief a real character with a strong supporting cast, why the UNSC is not trustworthy, the origin of Cortana, and the show’s connections to Star Wars, Firefly, and… 2001?!
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June 24, 2022 2022 Awards Book Club, part 3
620 Alien Donut Lady
2022 Awards Book Club concludes with three Hugo-nominated novels: Andy Weir’s deep-space problem-solver “Project Hail Mary”; Shelley Parker Chan’s historical epic “She Who Became the Sun”; and Ryka Aoki’s alien-and-demon-packed “Light from Uncommon Stars.” Also, Erika and Jason highlight some of their favorite short-fiction Hugo nominees.
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June 17, 2022 Cartoons for grown-ups
619 Who Will Speak For Fish Police?
From Duckman to Dicktown, this week we’re covering cartoons… for grown-ups. These animated series have an adult sensibility, and they don’t all feature obscenity, graphic violence, or sexual acts… though some do! Shows like The Legend of Vox Machina, Harley Quinn, Hit Monkey, and Invincible have an adult audience clearly or primarily in mind, while others, like Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law or The Tick require a deep well of cultural references that might leave children (and many adults) baffled. We discuss the overall trend, highlight shows past and present we love, and puzzle out how some shows (good and inexplicable) even came to be.
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June 10, 2022 Rocket Surgery: 1930 to 1980618 Mars Monkey Dance Number
Rocket Surgery takes a time machine back to 1930 for “Just Imagine,” a visionary view of the far future of 1980 that’s three movies in one—and feels like it. Then we jump to the real 1980 where, instead of evil martian twins, we find “Flash Gordon,” quarterback, New York Jets.
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June 3, 2022 “Moon Knight”
617 Group Therapy for One Guy
Moon Knight—the butt of a thousand jokes on this very network who improbably made the Sweet Sixteen of our infamous Summer Superhero Spectacular—got his own limited series on Disney+. We talk about the Oscar Isaac of it all, the loving attention to modern Egypt, whether the show is well served by its near-total disconnection to the MCU, and how it might have held up as a ’90s syndicated actioner. (Think “Relic Hunter” production values. You can see it, can’t you?)