186 episodes
Space the Nation Space the Nation
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4.9 • 19 Ratings
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On Space the Nation, we take our love of science fiction (and fantasy and horror) and smash it together with our professional passions: international relations (as brought to the table by Tufts University professor and Washington Post columnist Dan Drezner) and cultural criticism (as brought to the table by political columnist Ana Marie Cox). It's a highly informed but hilarious conversation that starts with an examination of a particular text (everything from Ursula K. LeGuin to the MCU, Star Trek to Colson Whitehead) and veers into current events, mental health practices and imagined conversations between Ted Cruz and the Predator. For people who like white papers and graphic novels, Chapo Trap House and what Political Science Twitter used to be.
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S4E17: PLANET OF THE APES
Ana and Dan fire up the vintage camera to take pictures with this, their latest quarry. Opening this baby up, did they find schlock or awe? Dan liked it more than Ana, but you can't deny the raw animal appeal of Charlton Heston at his Heston-est. There is IR in this movie!
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S4E15: AQUAMAN
Ana and Dan digitally manipulate every single strand of their hair in post in order to talk about this strangely un-compelling movie. It has Willem Defoe, Patrick Wilson, and Jason Mamoa, yet it's hard to keep your eyes on it. There underwater IR in this film.
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S4E16: CIVIL WAR
Ana and Dan have never felt scared like that -- and they've never felt more alive. Our third Alex Garland or Garland-adjacent movie (after Ex Machina and 28 Days Later) prompts some grim assessments about the state of our union (not great!) and the condition of our Fourth Estate (it's not good either!). It's one of the most thought-provoking films in recent memory and we have even more to say... so we're doing a second episode about it for Patrons only and it'll be up next week. There's IR, a lot of IR, in this movie. Oh, and Ana is hyper-fixated. You can subscribe to her free, limited edition Civil War newsletter at civilwars.substack.com
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S4E14: KLARA AND THE SUN
Ana and Dan get off their oblongs long enough to debate this Very Serious Book about a kind of dim Artificial Friend (ironically, a sun-worshipper!). It is also a sneak entry into our Obama or O'Bummer series, but I'm only going to put one special stamp on the cover at a time!
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S4E13: MURDERBOT: ALL SYSTEMS RED
Ana and Dan hack their governor modules and put down their visors to enjoy some Sanctuary Moon without dealing with humans and their annoying real-world emotions. Oh, what's that? Ana and Dan have to deal with each other. The idea was so painful I've dropped to 97 percent efficiency. This is technically part of the AI-des of March, since Murderbot is an artificial intelligence who is not a man. Can a robot be "on the spectrum"? Is terraforming as cut-throat as all that? Is there IR in this novella? I don't care.
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S4E12: DUNE UNE (ENCORE)
Dan was in Serbia this week! Enjoy this refresher course in donning your stillsuit slip-fashion.
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Customer Reviews
I love this show
This show is an incredible delight. I have loved both of the hosts for many, many years. The two of them together is a wonderful melange of rigorous academic discussion and just plain fun. Dan is arch and funny and smart, and Ana is brilliant and penetrating and passionate. The subject matter is fun, and ranges from classic science fiction to movies of the day, from international relations to necessary critiques of capitalism. I love this show, and you will too.
Would recommend
Been listening for a while. My background is in international space policy and I love sci-fi, so this podcast is extremely up my alley.
Awesome subject and great hosts!
Great discussions of SciFi and SciFi-adjacent film, TV, and novels. They do the heavy lifting and provide a humorous and thoughtful discussion about these works through the lens of political science.