Category Archives: Science Fiction

VoK 696: The Movie Passport #6 – South African Cinema


Sawubona! Welcome to The Movie Passport, a podcast series about world cinema. In this episode, Duncan (Valkyrist), Bina (Bina007), Glen (Dagos_Rivers), and Jock (MunroJock2) travel to the country of South Africa to discuss the following films:

5:55 – District 9 (Neill Blomkamp, 2009)
28:59 – Spud (Donovan Marsh, 2010)
45:15 – Zulu (Cy Endfield, 1964)
1:04:15 – Tsotsi (Gavin Hood, 2005)

Credits:
Edited by Valkyrist

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VoK 687: Video Game Hall of Fame #1



The Vassals of Kingsgrave return to the video game world with a new format for discussion inspired by the Easy Allies YouTube channel. Join Zach (Alias), Bing (Shoeshiner), Matt (blu3arm0r), Katie (Lady Griffin), Alex (LuckyCharms), Jock (munrojock2), Peter (Shellfish), and Patrick (Ser Patrick the Tall) as they each nominate a game they hope will be inducted into the newly created VOK Video Game Hall of Fame.

3:20 — Civilization 5
11:55 — Barbie Riding Club for Windows 98
22:40 —The Outer Wilds
39:40 — Resident Evil 4
55:50 — Ghost of Tsushima
1:17:00 — Bioshock
1:25:40 — World of Warcraft
1:41:10 — Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines
1:53:10 —Voting
2:02:10 — Aftershow

Credits:
Edited by Zach/Alias

Format inspired by the Easy Allies Hall of Greats

Music:
World of Warcraft – Seasons of War
Outer Wilds – End Times

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VoK 680: The Prolific Works of George R. R. Martin (Ice & Fire Con 2021 Panel)


Decades before Martin began writing A Song of Ice and Fire, he was already an award-winning writer who had published a variety of science fiction, horror, and fantasy stories. In this panel, Amin and Duncan (Valkyrist) survey Martin’s other notable works, looking for connections to ASOIAF and discussing his overall development as a writer and his philosophy toward writing.

Credits:
Edited by Valkyrist

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Links:
George R. R. Martin’s “Thousand Worlds” Wiki

VOK 679: 2021 Video Game Discussion



The Vassals of Kingsgrave return to the video game world to discuss some games they enjoyed playing in 2021 (even if not all those games came out then). Join Zach (Alias), Bing (Shoeshiner), Matt (blu3arm0r), Katie (Lady Griffin), and Zander (The Lord Baron) as they talk the year 2021 in gaming with all its highs and lows.

11:05 — Hades
18:55 — Return of the Obra Dinn
26:00 — Kingdom Come: Deliverance
33:20 — Resident Evil Village
44:25 — Disco Elysium: The Final Cut
53:55 — Persona 5 Strikers
1:02:30 — Humankind
1:07:30 — Mass Effect: Legendary Edition
1:09:00 — Guardians of the Galaxy
1:10:55 — NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139
1:21:55 — Most Anticipated Games of 2022

Credits:
Edited by Zach/Alias

Music:
Persona 5 Strikers: You Are Stronger
NieR Replicant: Kaine Salvation

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VoK 639: Creature Chat – Dragons



The Vassals convene to chat about magical reptiles of various shapes and sizes. So grab your ceiling wax and look out for sharkdoors.

Hosts:
Peter/Shellfish
Michal/inkasrain
Sara/DrBlood
Amber/amberrocks
Zander/The Lord Baron
Marie/Nymeria
Ben/King Jucio
Adam/drownedsnow

Credits:
Edited by Peter

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VoK 638: GRRM’s Thousand Worlds – “The Glass Flower” and “The Stone City” (Review)



The Vassals (and Bastards) conclude their voyage into George R. R. Martin’s science fiction universe. Join Amin, Duncan (aka Valkyrist), Michael (aka Mordion), and Zach (aka Alias) as they review two more short stories from Martin’s Thousand Worlds series – “The Glass Flower” and “The Stone City.”

Credits:
Edited by Valkyrist

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VoK 633: GRRM’s Thousand Worlds – “The Way of Cross and Dragon” and “And Seven Times Never Kill Man!” (Review)



The Vassals (and Bastards) continue their voyage into George R. R. Martin’s science fiction universe. Join Amin, Duncan (aka Valkyrist), Michael (aka Mordion), and Zach (aka Alias) as they review two more short stories from Martin’s Thousand Worlds series – “The Way of Cross and Dragon” and “And Seven Times Never Kill Man!”

Credits:
Edited by Valkyrist

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VoK 607: GRRM’s Thousand Worlds – “Bitterblooms” and “In the House of the Worm” (Review)


The Vassals (and Bastards) launch into George R. R. Martin’s science fiction universe. Join Amin, Duncan (aka Valkyrist), Michael (aka Mordion), and Zach (aka Alias) as they review two short stories from Martin’s Thousand Worlds series – “Bitterblooms” and “In the House of the Worm.”

Credits:
Edited by Amin and Valkyrist

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VoK 603: Westworld (HBO series) – Mid-Season 3 Discussion


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Join Bina007, Matt/Blu3arm0r, Adam/DrownedSnow, Dana/Taindana and Jock/MunroJock2 as they review the first half of season 3 of HBO’s Westworld. Spoilers throughout.

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VoK 594: Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) [2019] (Review)



Please join Sarah (Lady Weaver), Matt (blu3arm0r) and Thomas (FTWard) as we discuss the fantabulous fashion, action, music and characters in DCs latest film. We also talk about the issues surrounding the movie, the Harley Quinn animated series and the future of the DCEU (if that is still even a thing).

After Show @ 1:06:00

Credits:
Edited by Thomas (FTWard)

Fandom Entertainment, Charting With Dan Bird’s of Prey Video
Dan and Roth on Fandom Entertainment
Hollywood Already Did It

Music:

Barracuda
Written by Ann Wilson, Roger Fisher, Nancy Wilson, Michael Derosier
Performed by Heart

Woman
Written by Andrew Pearson, Kesha Sebert, Stephen Wrabel
Performed by @emmajayne

It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World
Written by James Brown, Betty Jean Newsome
Performed by Jurnee Smollett-Bell

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VoK 589: The Mandalorian (Netflix series) – Season 1


Join your local covern of VoK hosts as we review the first season of Disney+’s original series, The Mandalorian. Hear such beloved topics such as, baby yoda, baby yoda, and even more baby yoda. Hosts: Michal (inkasrain), Adam (drownedsnow), Dana (taindana), Zach (Alias), Casey (blue-eyed-queen), and Paul (SerDinnerRoll).

Credits:
Edited by Paul (SerDinnerRoll)

Music:
The Mandalorian Theme by Ludwig Göransson
Big Mandalorian Iron by Funk Turkey

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VoK 585: Watchmen (HBO miniseries) – Retrospective


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No, Miss Crookshanks! It’s only just begun!

Welcome to the VOK review of maybe the only ever season of the TV show, Watchmen. (We reviewed episodes 1-3 in VOK 576).

Your hosts are Adam (drownedsnow), Amber (amberrocks), Jock (Munrojock2), Matt (blu3arm0r), Michael (Mordion) and Thomas (FTWard). There’s an aftershow at 1hr 24m in which Bina007 and DavidHHH share their thoughts on the season with a little counter-point from Mordion.

Editor: FTWard.

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VoK 584: Star Wars – The Rise of Skywalker [2019] (Review)



VoK makes the jump to lightspeed and ends up long, long ago in a galaxy far far away to bring you our feelings on the “end” of the Skywalker Saga. How does Episode IX measure up as a Star Wars movie?

Hosts: Adam (drownedsnow), Michal (inkasrain), Kevin (Gaiden), Paul (SerDinnerRoll), Duncan (Valkyrist), Katie (Lady Griffin), and Amber (amberrocks).

Spoilers: The entire Star Wars movie universe and some of the EU/Legends material.

Editor: Adam

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VoK 581: Video Game Roundtable – Best of 2010s Edition


The Vassals of Kingsgrave engage in a different sort of video game discussion this time around. Instead of evaluating the best games of 2019, they take a look at the entire catalog of games released over the past decade. Join Bing (Shoeshiner), Katie (Lady Griffin), Matt (Blu3arm0r), and Zach (Alias) as they share the games they each personally felt best defined the past 10 years in gaming for them.

This podcast contains spoilers for The Last of Us, Persona 5, the Batman Arkham series, and Gone Home.

9:50 – Telltale’s The Walking Dead
22:30 – Undertale
32:45 – The Last of Us
43:45 – Persona 5
58:15 – Gone Home
1:09:50 – The Witcher 3
1:20:20 – Batman Arkham Series
1:25:30 – Starcraft 2

Credits:
Edited by Zach (Alias)

Music:
Witcher 3 – The Trail
Journey – Apotheosis

My Life of Starcraft by Day9

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VoK 576: Watchmen (HBO series) – Mid-Series Discussion


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Join Thomas (FTward), Michael (Mordion), Matt (Blu3arm0r), Adam (DrownedSnow) and Bina007 as they discuss the first three episodes of HBO’s Watchmen.

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[Peteypedia] Official world building
[The Hollywood Reporter] Lindelof on Ep 1
[Official Podcast] HBO’s episode guide

VoK 574: A History of Horror Movies (public lecture)



Why are horror movies so popular? In this lecture, Valkyrist explores the arcane origins of horror cinema and speculates over the social and psychological reasons behind its appeal. Celebrate Halloween season by dissecting the power and meaning behind some of the most famous (and infamous) horror movies of all time.

The presentation includes video clips from the following movies:
Nosferatu (F. W. Murnau, 1922)
Frankenstein (James Wale, 1931)
Godzilla (Ishirō Honda, 1954)
Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1968)
Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978)
The Silence of the Lambs (Jonathon Demme, 1991)
Get Out (Jordan Peele, 2017)

Credits:
Edited by Valkyrist
Music from John Carpenter and Disasterpiece

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VoK 565: Stranger Things (Netflix series) – Season 3



The Vassals travel in the way back machine to 1985 Hawkins, Indiana and try to avoid being stuck in the upside down as we discuss season 3 of Netflix’s Stranger Things.

Aftershow at 1:34:00. Contains minor spoilers for Agents of Shield.

Hosts: Adam (drownedsnow), Hannah (Shaowbaby), David (davidhhh), Sarah (Lady Weaver), and Jock (Munrojock2).

Editor: Adam

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VoK 561: Spider-Man – Far From Home [2019] (Review)



VoK takes a trip Far From Kingsgrave for the latest movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe “Spider-Man: Far From Home”. Can Spidey bring back the fun back to the MCU? What does this mean for the MCU as they move into Phase 4.

Hosts: Adam (drownedsnow), Sara (Lady Weaver), Matt (Blu3arm0r), Abby (Daceymormont), and Jock (Munrojock2).

Aftershow starts at 1:09:00 with some chat about the new Mulan trailer.

Spoilers: This episode covers all films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and also the latest episode of The Bachelorette for some reason.

Editor: Adam

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VoK 560: Video Game Roundtable – Mid-2019 Edition



The Vassals of Kingsgrave convene for another video game discussion to talk about what we’ve been playing and some of the news coming out of the biggest video game event of the year, E3. Join Matt (blu3arm0r), Bing (Shoeshiner), Katie (Lady Griffin), Adam (drownedsnow), and Zach (Alias) as they talk recent favorites, look at what games they are anticipating in the coming months, and engage in an epic rant about the current state of the video game industry.

1:35 – What We’ve Been Playing
1:28:15 – What We’re Anticipating
1:55:00 – Discussion on BioWare and the State of the Video Game Industry
2:22:10 – Aftershow

Credits:
Edited by Zach (Alias)

Persona 5 – Life Will Change
Red Dead Redemption 2 – That’s the Way It Is

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VoK 547: Video Game Roundtable – Music Edition



The Vassals of Kingsgrave convene for a different sort of video game roundtable. Instead of talking about favorite games, they come together to explore some of their most beloved pieces of video game music. Join Bing (Shoeshiner), Duncan (Valkyrist), Matt (blu3arm0r), Kevin (Gaiden), Zander (The Lord Baron), and Zach (Alias) as they talk about what video game music is all about and share the tracks that left a lasting impression behind.

9:25 – Zelda Block
27:45 – Civilization 4
35:20 – Resident Evil 4
42:00 – Final Fantasy Block
54:45 – Metroid Prime
1:01:40 – Witcher 3
1:06:00 – Dragon Age: Origins
1:12:40 – Mass Effect Block
1:24:20 – Dark Souls
1:31:10 – Undertale
1:36:40 – To The Moon
1:40:35 – Donkey Kong Country 2
1:47:20 – Pharaoh
1:49:30 – Streets of Rage

This podcast will contain spoilers for a lot of things, including the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the Mass Effect series, Metroid Prime, Donkey Kong Country 2, Dark Souls, and some badly contained spoilers for Final Fantasy 7.

Credits:
Edited by Zach (Alias)

Super Mario Bros Official Theme
Zelda Ocarina of Time – Hyrule Symphony
Zelda Ocarina of Time – Ganondorf’s Theme
Zelda Ocarina of Time – Great Fairy Fountain Theme 
Civilization 4 – Baba Yetu
Resident Evil 4 – Regenerator Theme
Final Fantasy 7 – Aerith’s Theme 
Final Fantasy 13 – The Promise
Metroid Prime Credits
The Witcher 3 – The Fields of Ard Skellig
Dragon Age Main Theme
Mass Effect 3 – An End Once and For All 
Mass Effect 2 – Suicide Mission
Dark Souls – Gwyn, Lord of Cinder 
Undertale – Hopes and Dreams 
To The Moon – For River
Donkey Kong Country 2 – Stickerbrush Symphony
Pharoah – Stha 
Streets of Rage – Boss Theme 
Transistor – Paper Boats

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