Announcing a New Podcast: Ancient Geeks

A pop culture diversion.

Not to be too incongruous with the very dire news out of Washington, but I have been working on a non-politics project, a podcast called Ancient Geeks, with my friend of almost 40 years, Tom Grant.

Tomorrow is the official launch and new episodes will come out every Monday. Episode 0 is “Origin Stories” and next week Episode 1 will focus on the Batman TV series and early comics.

Here’s the official announcement and description:

Announcing a new podcast, Ancient Geeks!

What was it like to be there when geek culture was fresh and new? We’ll tell you about it!

Star Trek, Star Wars, classic science fiction and fantasy works like Lord of the Rings and Dune, comic books, superheroes on TV and in the movies, highbrow movies like 2001 and Planet of the Apes, lowbrow B-movies, D&D, other “hobby games,” and all the rest…Steven and Tom are two old geeks who were once young geeks, in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, before all this geekiness went mainstream. 

In each episode, we discuss how we discovered these elements of geek culture, why they appealed to us, how they led to other geekery, and how we feel about them now. Our first episode is here: https://ancientgeeks.podbean.com/

You can find Ancient Geeks on all popular podcast services like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Podbean, or just use the podcast feed https://feed.podbean.com/ancientgeeks/feed.xml.

If you like what you hear, please tell a friend!

If you want to chat with us, email us at so**************@gm***.com. We’re also on Facebook, Bluesky, and Reddit. Comments, suggestions, praise, and criticism are always welcome.

FILED UNDER: Popular Culture, Published Elsewhere, Self-Promotion, , , , , , , ,
Steven L. Taylor
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a retired Professor of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog). Follow Steven on Twitter

Comments

  1. Flat Earth Luddite says:

    From an even older geek, thanks you young whippersnappers! Looking forward to hearing this!!!!!!!!!!

    3
  2. Andy says:

    I’ve been looking for a new, non-political podcast, and this sounds right up my alley! I have lots of geeky friends I’ll share this with.

    1
  3. Scott says:

    This will take me back to high school in the late 60s. A group of us geeks talked our English teacher into writing about books we liked such as Stranger in a Strange Land, Dune, LOTR, etc. He bought it. Much better than dreck like A Separate Peace. My personal favorite is Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny. I still reread it every couple of years. It holds up.

    2
  4. reid says:

    Very, uh… well, maybe cool isn’t the right word, but nifty! I can relate to a lot of that, though more reminiscing.

  5. Assad K says:

    ZONK! WHAM! ZOWIE! Will definitely check this one out!

    1
  6. James Joyner says:

    Cool. Just downloaded on Overcast.

    1
  7. CSK says:

    Excellent.

    2
  8. Kathy says:

    All the mentions of cheesy 60s-70s shows reminded me of a theme that was kind of common at the time: the show where the purpose is to find a way home. Time Tunnel, Lost in Space, Land of the Giants, Land of the Lost, and also Gilligan’s Island.

    Like The Boys, which would end if the heroes defeated the evil corporation, these shows would end if they found a way home. So any way home they find must be illusory, mistaken, unworkable, or extract a very high price the heroes aren’t willing to pay.

    Not that the theme hasn’t been repeated more recently. Take Voyager, Sliders, and Quantum Leap, for instance. But I can’t recall there being so many at the same time, either new or in syndication, as what I recall from the 70s.

    I remember when I first watched the original Trek series, i wondered what kept them from going home. And if nothing did, why didn’t they go to Earth at all.

  9. just nutha says:

    I remember when I first watched the original Trek series, i wondered what kept them from going home. And if nothing did, why didn’t they go to Earth at all.

    Because their 5-year mission wasn’t complete. (Also because returning to Earth would only involve episodes about Star Fleet bureaucracy.)

  10. Kathy says:

    @just nutha:

    It took me a few eps. to realize they weren’t lost or stranded like everyone else seemed to be at the time.

    BTW, a TOS ep on Earth might have featured a young Boothby 😀

    1
  11. Thanks, all, for the encouragement.

    It has been a fun project and I hope that it has some legs!

  12. Assad K says:

    Looks like it is not yet on Podcast Addict, which is my catcher of choice…