S02 E05: Find the Minority Report

Robby The Robot’s Waiting: The Sci-Fi Podcast

We’ve received a premonition of the future and we predict that you’re about to listen to an hour and a bit of sci-fi and fantasy chat. Thanks to our pre-cog mates, we’ve also learned that we’ll be talking about Steven Spielberg’s remarkably prescient Philip K Dick adaptation, Minority Report. We’ll be joined this episode by author, futuregazer and games industry expert Kelly Vero.

Join us on a trip back 19 years to Steven Spielberg’s thriller Minority Report, in which a troubled cop played by Tom Cruise goes on the run after his psychic pre-crime division predicts he’ll be the next guy to commit a murder. It’s a juicy conspiracy plot in the tradition of the best noir mysteries, but it also touches upon themes of free will and ethical policing, as well as building a vision of 2054 where personalised advertising and driverless cars are everywhere.

Meanwhile, fabulous secret powers were revealed to us the day we held aloft our magic sword and said “By the power of Grayskull!” Yes, we’ve been watching Kevin Smith’s Masters Of The Universe reboot, as well as Trollhunters, Wellington Paranormal, Old, American Gods and more. Plus: Space Sweepers, Memories Of The Alhambra and more – our guest this week is Kelly Vero, who shares Tanavi’s love of Korean sci-fi. So if you’re in need of recommendations for new sci-fi films and shows to watch, enjoy their dive into the best Korean entertainment you can find on services like Netflix.

In Kelly’s company, we also speculate about the next Doctor Who, watch the new Ghostbusters Afterlife trailer, consider the Battle Of The Planets reboot and loads more. There’s all this plus the Exorcist and fond memories of Ulysses 31 in Robby The Robot’s Waiting, the podcast that knows what you’ve done before you’ve done it.

NB. Please forgive the variable audio quality in the first five minutes, we had a recording issue.

Episode highlights:

0:01:00: WHAT WE'VE BEEN WATCHING! Featuring Masters Of The Universe, Old and more

0:23:05: Meet our special guest Kelly Vero – and listen in on our introduction to Korean sci-fi!

0:36:42: REWIND! We discuss the 2002 hit Minority Report.

1:05:51: THE NEWS! In which we discuss Doctor Who, Ghostbusters, Superman, Battle Of The Planets, The Exorcist and loads more. You may be interested to know this is the last time we'll cover the news in this format - we're running things slightly more efficiently from next episode.

The voices in your ears:

Richard Edwards: film and TV journalist and a former editor of SFX https://twitter.com/RichDEdwards

Tanavi Patel: entertainment reporter for SFX magazine and Digital Spy, panel moderator for MCM, FanExpo and more https://twitter.com/tanavip

Dave Bradley: writer, gamer, book reviewer and another former editor of SFX https://twitter.com/BoxDaveB

SPECIAL GUEST! Kelly Vero is an author, game maker, podcaster, lecturer, investor, mentor, futuregazer and general “creative badass”. https://twitter.com/electricgeisha

Have you visited our sci-fi podcast website?

Please visit www.robbyscifi.com and leave us feedback and suggestions.