Dispatch Ajax! Podcast
Dispatch Ajax! Podcast
Dispatch Ajax!
A Geek Culture Podcast - Two life-long Nerds explain, critique and poke fun at the major pillars of Geek Culture for your listening pleasure.
Sci-Why? F.U!: The Universe of Gerry Anderson
In our ongoing series we’re tracing Jerry Anderson’s strange, essential legacy and why early Sci Fi Channel programming kept looping Supercar, Stingray, and Space: 1999 into the brains of American kids who had no idea what they were watching, only that it felt like a secret door into another era of science fiction TV.
May 27
1 hr 1 min
Preview: Gerry Anderson (sorta)
This is a preview of our ongoing series on the origins and programming of the Sci-Fi Channel. I promise we do actually talk about Gerry Anderson in this one.
May 25
3 min
SciWhy? F.U!: William Shatner's TekWar
William Shatner's TekWar is a so-so cyberpunk cop story that somehow grew into novels, comics, trading cards, syndicated TV movies, a USA Network and Sci Fi Channel series, and a PC video game that many people still call one of the worst ever made. The real story is not the plot, it’s the momentum. We follow the money, the branding, and the era’s obsession with recognizable names to figure out how this franchise kept getting revived even as it struggled to become genuinely good.
May 22
52 min
Sci-Why? F.U.: Misfits of Science (Re-Download, if Possible)
A superhero team that rides in an ice cream truck? Courtney Cox?? The Predator??? sounds like a joke until you actually watch it. We go deep on Misfits of Science, the short-lived 1985 NBC sci-fi superhero series that later found a second life on early Sci-Fi Channel lineups and then quietly vanished, shrouded in tragedy.
May 14
1 hr 3 min
Memmory Gamma: Gul Dukat
Gul Dukat ruled Terok Nor with an iron fist, measuring Bajorans like inventory even as the occupation began to crack under resistance and political pressure. We unpack how fear of assassination, obsession with control, and a need to be admired can fuse into something far more dangerous than simple rage.
May 8
22 min
The Sci-Fi Channel Part 2
We start with the big thesis: the Sci-Fi Channel is an early masterclass in niche marketing, built on the belief that sci-fi fans are loyal and underserved. From there we dig into the credibility play of bringing in Gene Roddenberry and Isaac Asimov, and how the network’s direction shifts once the people with real “skin in the game” are gone. We also revisit the weirdest, most charming early experiments like Faster-Than-Light Newsfeed, the idea that the network itself has a story, and the scr...
Apr 28
50 min
Classic: Highlander Part 3 - Gabbin' Macleod
In our classic third installment of the Highlander franchise (because of the reported first footage of the remake premiering) we really have a blast talking about all the other fun stuff we'd been waiting to cover. Believe it or not, Highlander is supposed to be simple: immortals fight, heads come off, lightning happens. Then the sequels show up and the canon turns into a sword fight with itself. We pick apart why Highlander 2 and Highlander 3 feel like they were written in a different ...
Apr 21
1 hr 10 min
Classic: Highlander Part 2: The Sickening
This is part 2 of our revisitation of the Highlander franchise - since the official footage of the Highlander reboot recently debuted at CinemaCon.
Apr 19
42 min
Classic: Highlander - Immortal Crime Unit
The Highlander remake is officially moving from rumor to reality, which means it’s time to revisit the series on one of our earliest explainers. We go deep on the franchise’s core mythology of immortals who can’t die unless they’re beheaded, who are pulled toward the Gathering, and who chase the mysterious Prize even when the canon can’t decide what the Prize really is. If you’ve ever argued about continuity, retcons, or “how does that even work,” you’re in the right place.
Apr 17
56 min
The Sci-Fi Channel: A Primer
We're Back! And with that we start a new mini series about The Sci-Fi Channel (SyFy, if ya nasty) and its wild diaspora. Something strange happened on old-school satellite TV: a channel appeared out of nowhere, looping wormholes and bright “screensaver” tunnels with no station ID, no ads, and no explanation. Then it teased an invasion and started a countdown clock. That mystery wasn’t pirate radio, it was the marketing fuse that lit the Sci-Fi Channel’s 1992 launch, and we can still fee...
Apr 8
25 min
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