
Strangers and Aliens: Science Fiction & Fantasy from a Christian Perspective
By Ben Avery
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STAR TREK II: The Wrath of Khan and William Shatner Live – SA401
February 22, 2023
Recently, Ben joined his friends William and Nathan Marchand to see a theatrical showing of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, which also had William Shatner do a live stage performance that was sort of a Q&A session. But it was really just an excuse for Shatner to tell some hysterical stories from his […]
“Sci-Fi Vs. Fantasy”: Revisiting Episode 7 – SA400
February 15, 2023
Episode 400 is here, and to celebrate this milestone we’re taking a look backwards at an early episode featuring Ben, Steve, and Dr. Jayce! It’s a fun conversation that serves as a nice time capsule to a time before the MCU dominated everything. A conversation just exploring the strengths of two of our favorite genres: […]
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER Road Trip Review – SA399
January 20, 2023
It’s a ROAD TRIP! Ben thought he would have a chance to talk to Evan about AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER, but things didn’t go their way. Evan got sick . . . and then went on vacation. But on a lark, Ben decided to record his solo road trip to see the movie, not […]
2022 in Review – SA398
January 11, 2023
it’s that time again! Time to talk about last year’s pop culture releases! Taking our cues from Evan’s ranked list of movies from the year, we talk about our viewing experiences from 2022 as we step into the year 2023! The first half of 2022 was covered in this episode: …
SHADOW and SUBSTANCE 3 – A TWILIGHT ZONE CHRISTMAS QUARTET: “The Night of the Meek”, “Five Characters in Search of an Exit”, “The Changing of the Guard”, and A CAROL FOR ANOTHER CHRISTMAS – SA397
December 24, 2022
We continue our series about THE TWILIGHT ZONE (which only has two episodes, but that’s actually not too shabby) by covering three Christmas themed episodes of the show (“The Night of the Meek”, “Five Characters in Search of an Exit”, and “The Changing of the Guard”), plus A CAROL FOR …
A CHRISTMAS CAROL – SA396
December 16, 2022
Inspired by re-reading the book and watching the new movie on Netflix, Ben, Stephen, and Evan take to the microphones to appreciate the spiritual themes and fantastical ideas of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. From time travel to redeemed lives, from movies to radio to books, from creepy animation …
THE FORCE OF STAR WARS: Is It Worth Reading? – SA395
December 07, 2022
Two options for this episode: You can listen to the audio above OR watch the video below! Ben takes a look at a book that has been in his library for over forty years: Frank Allnutt’s THE FORCE OF STAR WARS. This book is special to him for a number …
Interview w/ BLACK BLOSSOM Creator Evan David – SA394
November 21, 2022
Evan’s new comic book BLACK BLOSSOM is now part of a KickStarter campaign to collect and publish the first 6 issues (plus an annual) into a graphic novel. Ben interviews Evan about the superhero sci-fi tale. The links mentioned in the episode: KICKSTARTER: inked.pub/blackblossomPATREON: patreon.com/evandavidcomicsINSTRAGRAM: instagram.com/blackblossomcomic And here is his …
DICK TRACY: Post-Batman Pulp Hero Movies Pt. 1 – SA393
November 17, 2022
Ben is joined by John Harju for the first part of a multi-part series rewatching some superhero movies that came in the wake of 1989’s Batman! We are starting with DICK TRACY, which entered production before Batman hit theaters, but it was still influenced by the superhero juggernaut that BATMAN …
BLACK ADAM – SA392
November 04, 2022
Ben and Evan went to see BLACK ADAM! This episode opens with a spoiler-free discussion of the movie and then, after the spoiler warning, they talk about spoiler-y things. Things like:The big thing everyone is talking aboutHow Ben liked almost all the superheroes who are not The Rock more than …
Watching SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES with John Harju – SA391
October 28, 2022
Ben and John Harju team up again for an October spooky movie! The movie: SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES! Along the way they talk about:Ben’s love for Ray BradburyJohn’s dislike for Ray BradburyBoth of their like for this movieArt and messagingGood and evilTwo Stephen King books they were reminded ofThe …
Currently Streaming – Fall 2022 – SA390
October 01, 2022
Television is dead . . . long live television! But long live it on our smart TVs! And devices! And computers! Add to that we have had a long string of high profile (and low profile, really) science fiction and fantasy television series, with short seasons, continuing stories, and big …
PREY – SA389
September 05, 2022
Ben and Steve review PREY, which is not about prayer but they joke about it anyway. This episode features:* Thoughts about PREY* Thoughts about PREDATOR* Thoughts about the franchise* Thoughts about Walt Simonson’s run on the THOR comic Our Youtube channel can be found here: http://youtube.com/strangersandaliens – subscribe to see …
NO MAN IN EDEN by H.L. Myra: Is It Worth Reading? (Exploring Christian Sci-Fi) – SA388
August 20, 2022
Ben finally did it! He found an OLD (if not quite as old as the Space Trilogy) Christian sci-fi book, NO MAN IN EDEN. NO MAN IN EDEN is not a Christian romance or a commentary on Genesis 1-3, it’s a sci-fi book in the tradition of C.S. Lewis’ Space …
“Fear Is the Mind Killer”: Biblical Focus in the Midst of Fear – SA387
August 11, 2022
What do Frank Herbert, Dune, the Fear Litany, Jesus calming the storm, Ben’s all time favorite verse, and 80s Christian pop music icon Carmen all have in common? They are all used by Ben to point to where our focus should be in the midst of tough situations. We hope …
THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH (C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy Part 3) - SA386
July 31, 2022
Steve and Ben return to Earth with Ransom and a large cast of characters in the third book in C.S. Lewis’ celebrated “Space Trilogy,” THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH. Published in 1945, THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH continues the story of Ransom, but instead of visiting other worlds the action moves to the cosmic …
Watching NOPE with John Harju – SA385
July 26, 2022
Jordan Peele has two highly successful suspense/horror movies under his belt, and NOPE hit the public conscience with a vague trailer that revealed next to nothing. A second trailer revealed something that looked like a modern spin on Close Encounters . . . and while it’s potentially true that it …
The First Half of 2022 in Review – SA384
July 16, 2022
Evan, Steve, and Ben are together again! For this episode, we take a look at some of the movies and TV series we’ve been watching in 2022! Using Evan’s LETTERBOXD account (he’s found here: https://letterboxd.com/moviemanev/– you should follow him) we take a look back at some movies and then some …
Words of Encouragement from DOCTOR STRANGE AND THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS – SA383
May 29, 2022
There are a lot of opinions about the latest Marvel movie, DOCTOR STRANGE AND THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS. Most of them are valid and understandable, whether extremely positive or extremely negative. Case in point: Ben really liked the movie, and Evan really did not. That’s NOT the reason Evan is …
Reflections on Easter – SA382
April 15, 2022
This is the weekend we celebrate Easter, and in this episode we release an episode that is meant to encourage us to take the time to reflect on Easter, Good Friday, and the Last Supper. Ben is joined by his family in a series of readings and writings about some …
MORBIUS – SA381
April 07, 2022
MORBIUS has arrived! Finally! Ben goes solo on a spoiler-free review . . . Sort of a preview of his thoughts on the movie, Evan and Steve told Ben they couldn’t get to this movie, and Ben told them that it was ok. There wasn’t the same kind of urgency …
SAMWISE GAMGEE & SIMON OF CYRENE – SA380
March 30, 2022
What happens when . . . Ben, Steve, and Evan have a hard time getting together to record? Ben’s been rewatching Lord of the Rings? Ben’s been studying Simon of Cyrene? Ben wants to get some episodes out? Ben has a huge editing job with his and Evan’s THE BATMAN …
Watching MOONFALL with John Harju - SA379
March 02, 2022
The moon is falling . . . and they made a movie. Was it worth seeing? Was it worth making? Ben, Evan, and John Harju went to see this disaster flick. They were all surprised. John was surprised it wasn’t a comedy…Evan was surprised that he loved it so much…Ben …
MARVEL'S ULIMATE COMICS - SA378
January 27, 2022
In the early 2000s, Marvel tried an experiment – restart the stories of fan favorite characters in a new universe. A universe that does not have all the baggage of decades and decades of thousands of issues. A universe that is accessible to new readers and attractive to young readers. …
2021 In Review - SA377
January 15, 2022
2021 was an interesting year for pop culture. We take a look at the movies we saw and some of the other pop culture items (TV and books) we took in during the past year. We used Letterboxd as a partial guide for this, taking Evan’s movie diary list for …
DUNE PART ONE review (re-upload) - SA376
December 09, 2021
We moved to a new server, which resulted in the loss of this post . . . we apologize for any inconvenience. DUNE hit screens big and small, and it made a huge impact on us! Ben and Steve discuss the movie, and its story, music, history, and style.
DUNE Part One (2021) Review – SA376
December 09, 2021
Ben and Steve got together to talk about DUNE Part One! Conversation topics include:DUNE 1984The Sci-Fi Channel’s DUNE mini-seriesThe BooksFoundationBen’s emotional reaction to the end of the movieSteve’s initial viewing without sound . . . on purposeJohn CarterStar WarsThe call to lamentation Is this the best sci-fi movie ever made? …
ETERNALS Road Trip - SA375
December 03, 2021
Ben and Evan take a road trip to see the latest MCU movie, ETERNALS!!! It’s a movie that tries hard to go big, but does it succeed? PART ONE: The Trip There – talking about expectations and other random thingsPART TWO: The Parking Lot – spoiler free review of the …
CELEBRATING 10 YEARS: "Why Sci-Fi?" (SA374)
November 22, 2021
To celebrate 10 years of the Strangers and Aliens podcast, we’re reposting our first episode! In this episode, Dr. Jayce, Steve, and Ben talk about the question: “Why Sci-Fi?” This is the episode that started it all. Well, started it all in this corner of the woods, anyway. This is …
Watching the CUBE Franchise with John Harju - SA373
October 21, 2021
The CUBE franchise consists of three movies from the 90s and early 2000s. Each of these movies features strangers . . . moving through a strange setting consisting of rooms that are CUBES . . . and so
PERELANDRA (C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy Part 2) - SA372
September 23, 2021
Steve and Ben explore Venus via the second book in C.S. Lewis’ celebrated “Space Trilogy,” Perelandra. Published in 1943, Perelandra is the story of a man, Ransom, who is transported to Venus and thru
SHANG-CHI Road Trip - SA371
September 10, 2021
A road trip to see Shang-Chi, featuring Ben, Evan, and Evan’s sister-in-law! Road trips include three segments: spoiler free discussion on the trip to the theater about what we’re expecting; a spoiler
FREE GUY Road Trip! - SA370
September 02, 2021
Ben and Evan reunite for a good ol’ fashioned ROAD TRIP EPISODE!!! The movie this time? FREE GUY! An original concept, science fiction movie? In the summer? More importantly . . . is it any good?
OLD: a spoiler-free review, plus thoughts about M. Night's filmography - SA369
August 26, 2021
Ben wants to talk. Ben wants to talk about M. Night Shyamalan. He wants to talk about M. Night’s style. M. Night’s risk taking. M. Night’s filmography. M. Night’s twist endings. And he wants to talk a
Watching THE ESCAPE ROOM Franchise with John Harju – SA368
July 22, 2021
John Harju is back and that means we’re talking about horror . . . or at least suspense thriller . . . and for this episode that means we’re talking about the “not-quite-Saw-but almost” franchise, or
Jackie Brown’s Four Loves: An exploration of the characters and relationships of Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown through C.S. Lewis’ The Four Loves - S&A367
July 18, 2021
A few years back, Ben had the chance to write an essay for the book “Tarantino And Theology” (edited by Jonathan and Jerry Walls). The result was a chance for Ben to dive into his favorite Tarantino m
SHADOW and SUBSTANCE 2: "Probe 7 Over and Out" and "The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross" - SA366
July 11, 2021
We continue our series about THE TWILIGHT ZONE (that started in 2013 . . . and only has one other episode in the series) by covering two season five episodes of the show: “Probe 7 Over and Out” and “T
“Cold Equations” by X-Minus 1 and STOWAWAY by Netflix – SA365
May 28, 2021
This episode is why we created Strangers and Aliens! In this episode we: Explore a classic sci-fi story (“The Cold Equations” by Tom Godwin)! Review a new sci-fi movie (STOWAWAY, on Netflix now – don’
Epic Stories from the Bible that Should Be Movies – SA364
May 21, 2021
Evan, Steve, and Ben take a look at some of their favorite stories that should be big budget motion pictures, and in the process explore some of their favorite stories . . . and there just may be a co
GODZILLA VS. KONG Review – SA363
May 16, 2021
Ben and Steve are joined by frequent guest host Nathan Marchand to battle each other about how good Godzilla Vs. Kong was! Where did they watch it? (At the BOX OFFICE, or the HOME Box Office???) Did t
Disney’s 2020 Corporate Announcements – SA353
December 11, 2020
Just before we started recording about another topic, we became aware of some HUGE announcements Disney had made about upcoming Disney Plus series and also some movies and some interesting Hulu series. So we called an audible and switched our plans .
THE THING (from Another World) Franchise – SA352
October 28, 2020
Ben is joined by John Hart for their semi-annual Halloween exploration of some classic horror movies! This time: THE THING. Starting with THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD and then going into the remake THE THING from 1982 (the most famous in the franchise)...
TOP FIVE THEME SONGS (from Science Fiction/Fantasy TV Shows’ Opening Credits with Lyrics that Are in English) OF ALL TIME – SA351
October 13, 2020
A good theme song may not save a TV show from being bad, but it definitely makes it more memorable. For this episode, we nominate our favorite themes songs and bring in some listener nominations, and we tally the votes to come up with the official Stra...
TENET – SA350
September 30, 2020
Ben and Evan ventured to the theaters to see Tenet, the movie they THOUGHT would be the first movie back in theaters. Instead, Ben had already seen a few movies and Evan went to a movie theater on the east coast . . . so Tenet was not the road …
BILL AND TED FACE THE MUSIC: Ben’s Road Trip Trilogy Part Two – SA349
September 11, 2020
Ben heads out on what could be an excellent adventure . . . or a bonus journey. This road trip has almost as many twists and turns as the movie he’s seeing, from the question of if he will even GET to the movie to the possibility of not seeing …
NEW MUTANTS: Ben’s Road Trip Trilogy Part Two – SA348
September 09, 2020
Ben heads out to the first new release movie he’s seen in theaters since the beginning of the shut down for the pandemic. After seeing The Empire Strikes Back (and The Greatest Showman), he gets to see a new movie that has been waiting for release for ...
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK: Ben’s Road Trip Trilogy Part One – SA347
September 03, 2020
Ben heads out to his first movie in theaters since the beginning of the shut down for the pandemic. It’s a different experience, with the masks requirements and the like, but it’s also a familiar experience, being a movie he’s seen many, many times .
Stuff We Consumed During the Pandemic – SA346
August 28, 2020
For some, the pandemic has given the opportunity to read and watch more things than usual. In this episode, we discuss some of the new (to us) media we have read, watched, and listened to.
EARTH ABIDES by Escape! (OTR) – SA345
July 28, 2020
Strangers and Aliens returns to old time radio with this presentation of Earth Abides, a classic novel turned into a classic episode of the radio series Escape. This episode features an Old Time Radio show that adapts a classic novel, Earth Abides.
OUT OF THE SILENT PLANET – SA344
July 18, 2020
Ben and Steve explore Mars via C.S. Lewis’ science fiction novel, the first book in his celebrated “Space Trilogy”, Out of the Silent Planet. Published in 1938, Out of the Silent Planet is the story of a man, Ransom,
Co-hosted by Ben Avery, Steve MacDonald, & Evan David