James Payne
187 episodes listed below
PRESS PLAY
Journey Through Sci-Fi is a science fiction film podcast exploring the history of sci-fi cinema. From the earliest silent classics to the biggest modern blockbusters. Hosted by Matt and James, the show travels through the evolution of science fiction movies one film at a time, uncovering the ideas, innovations and cultural impact behind the genre's greatest stories. Each episode dives deep into sci-fi films past and present, exploring: • the history and production of the films • the science, themes and ideas behind the story • behind-the-scenes trivia and filmmaking innovations • the cultural impact of science fiction cinema From landmark classics like Metropolis, Blade Ru...
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
James and Matt use smart film pairings and good-humored disagreement to connect science-fiction ideas with craft, character, and cinematic history.
James and Matt build Journey Through Sci-Fi: A Science Fiction Film Podcast around productive pairings, using two films to follow an idea across decades, genres, and filmmaking styles.
A tiny submarine leaves you asking how 1966 made actors swim without water.
Press play if you want
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A friendly double feature where mad science turns into a creature feature problem.
James and Matt frame Mimic and Splice as mad science stories, and the pairing holds because both films begin with a fix for a problem before the creation starts to run ahead of everyone.
A loose, relaxed look at Ghostbusters and The Cabin in the Woods as mad-science genre mashups.
The episode pairs Ghostbusters (1984) with The Cabin in the Woods (2012) and keeps its eye on the shared mess at the center of both films: mad science, ghosts, ghoulies, monsters, horror, and comedy.
An affectionate rewind that makes Tron feel lived in rather than abstract.
This archive revisit folds earlier talk about Tron and Tron Legacy into the arrival of Tron Ares on October 10th. The focus stays on how the films keep shifting as sci-fi objects, with control, personality, and the logic of the program world all getting a turn.
Two mad-science films anchor a loose but thoughtful discussion about identity, bodies, and what makes someone themselves.
Journey Through Sci-Fi uses Eyes Without a Face and The Skin I Live In to frame a focused question: what actually makes someone themselves?
A mad-science double feature that keeps a brain-in-a-jar idea lively without overworking it.
Matt and James pair The Brain That Wouldn't Die and The Man With Two Brains around a familiar mad-science setup: a brain kept alive after the body is gone.
Two heavy sci-fi films become a sharp discussion of mad science, fear, and moral judgment.
The episode sets The Boys from Brazil beside Das Experiment and uses them to work through mad science, real-world echoes, and the discomfort of stories that draw loosely on notorious events.
A goofy food-disaster pairing that turns into a real 1980s genre detour.
Food technology is the joke and the hook here, with Return of the Killer Tomatoes and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs used to push the talk from school-cookery memories into a messier question: when does dinner become mad science?
A sharp double bill that treats mad science as comedy, parody, and menace all at once.
Dr. Strangelove and Young Frankenstein make a neat pairing for the show's mad-science run. The episode spends more time on how comedy borrows the shape of catastrophe than on plot housekeeping, and that choice gives it a steady, plainspoken rhythm.
Mike Muncer and a different guest dissect two horror films per episode, by subgenre.
The episode covers August sci-fi and horror releases, starting with Alien: Earth, where the hosts say the show is not just about a xenomorph on Earth but also about cyborgs, synths, hybrids, and immortality.
Matt and James return to Frankenstein.
Matt and James pair The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962) with The Man with Two Brains (1983).
Matt and James keep going with their sci-fi series, this time zeroing in on mad science.
James and Matt take on the fly.
Matt and James look at The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Weird Science as two mad-science stories with a strong Frankenstein thread.
James and Matt go tiny.
James and Matt open by framing the series around mad science on screen.
Journey Through Sci-Fi: A Science Fiction Film Podcast uses its Future Frontiers format to cover Mickey 17, The Electric State, Ash, Daredevil Born Again, and The End.
Journey Through Sci-Fi uses a summer clip show to revisit its first artificial-intelligence series, which began in 2019 before ChatGPT.
James and Matt frame the show around mad food science.
Journey Through Sci-Fi: A Science Fiction Film Podcast pairs The Human Centipede: First Sequence (2009) with Tusk (2014) as examples of mad science turned into body horror.
Journey Through Sci-Fi: A Science Fiction Film Podcast looks back at 2025 by comparing box-office data, franchise returns, and listener picks.
Journey Through Sci-Fi compares The Nutty Professor (1996) and Flubber (1997) as 90s remakes of older mad-science comedies, with Matt and James focusing on Eddie Murphy, Robin Williams, and the shift from 1960s slapstick to CGI-heavy filmmaking.
Matt and James frame this Journey Through Sci-Fi episode around the mad-science subgenre, pairing Get Out (2017) with Possessor (2020) as films about mind control, identity, and body takeover.
Future Frontiers uses this summer preview to run through Predator, Elio, 28 Years Later, M3GAN 2.0, Superman, Fantastic Four: First Steps, Resident Alien, Ironheart, and The War Between the Land and the Sea.
Journey Through Sci-Fi: A Science Fiction Film Podcast checks in on May sci-fi releases, starting with Thunderbolts* and its unexplained asterisk, then moving to Predator: Badlands, which appears to put a younger Predator on the hunted side of the story.
Journey Through Sci-Fi covers The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) and The Nutty Professor (1963) as a shift from 1950s alien-invasion sci-fi into early-1960s “mad science” comedy.
Matt and James are back after a break with two rough films.
James and Matt open their mad science series with *Altered States* and *Upstream Colour*.
Journey Through Sci-Fi: A Science Fiction Film Podcast uses this Future Frontiers episode to preview Bugonia, Predator: Badlands, Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein, Pluribus, and Stranger Things season five.
James and Matt compare Buckaroo Banzai and The City of Lost Children as two sci-fi films built around mad science, with Buckaroo Banzai’s neurosurgeon-physicist-rock star hero and Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro’s dream-stealing scientist in the second half.
Matt and James turn to two Marvel films where science goes sideways.
James and Matt pair *Mimic* and *Splice* around mad science.
Journey Through Sci-Fi revisits Dan Trachtenberg's Prey, linking the 2022 Hulu and Disney+ release to the upcoming Predator Badlands and the film's big-screen re-release.
Matt and James dig into the overlap between science fiction, horror, and comedy through *Ghostbusters* and *The Cabin in the Woods*.
Hosts James and Matt review the 2025 film Tron Ares, discussing its place in the franchise after 15 years, Disney's revival trends, and the shift to real-world action.
The show returns to Tron through the archive.
James and Matt open on mad science and bring back Mike Munzer for a two-film comparison.
In this Future Frontiers episode, hosts Matt and James discuss recent sci-fi watches like Dune Prophecy and upcoming releases including Star Trek Section 31 and Captain America Brave New World, while engaging with listener emails on topics from superhero fatigue to whether Mary Poppins qualifies as sci-fi.