Why “Shrinkage”?
Miniaturization by any other name wouldn’t smell so sweet.

Troy Harkin and David Clink are at the cottage, on the dock, in this installment of Two Old Farts Talk Sci-Fi, discussing Shrinkage. From Alice in Wonderland and The Borrowers, The Master from Doctor Who, Irwin Allen’s Land of the Giants, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, and Richard Matheson’s The Incredible Shrinking Man, why is there such a fascination with the shrink ray? Does size matter?

Our special guest this week is Cott Age-Country. See bio and author photo below.

Cott Age-Country is the son of Ravine the Impossibilist, and Rand E. Bush. Cott can be found in the Muskoka region, near Huntsville, where he keeps company with fireflies and mosquitos, and enjoys the sounds of loons and moose in heat. Cott likes to barbecue, and then relax later by sunning himself on an inflatable floating island, while drinking a brewski. He is a self-proclaimed expert on everything about shrinkage, and likes to shrink-wrap things. In his youth he was an Olympic diver, known for his tuck position.

Shakespeare. Star Trek. The combination seems a bit odd.

From Wikipedia: William Shakespeare (bapt. 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s greatest dramatist.

Star Trek, the original series, was set in the 23rd century, created by Gene Roddenberry. From Wikipedia: In creating Star Trek, Roddenberry was inspired by C. S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower series of novels, Jonathan Swift’s 1726 novel Gulliver’s Travels, the 1956 film Forbidden Planet, and television westerns such as Wagon Train.

But, the writers of Star Trek were also influenced by Shakespeare.

Troy Harkin and David Clink will do a deep dive on Bard Trek, and will also look at how theatre, plays, and drama became a part of Trek, with special guest Trevor Rines (see author photo & bio below).

Also, on this podcast, Dream Casting and The OOTB (outside-of-the-box) Casting, for Star Trek and Shakespeare.

Trevor Rines is an actor, musician, writer, notorious punster, & boardgame designer & developer, with a background in Astrophysics, who is quoted on DNA in The Dictionary of Canadian Quotations.

Since the start of the pandemic, he’s performed (online, of course) in every single one of Shakespeare’s plays with The Quarantine Players.

As a composer, he’s written music for many theatrical productions, including the incidental music & songs for two Shakespeare productions.

As a voice actor, his low, rumbling voice has been heard onstage with orchestras, as well as on TV, radio, film, documentaries, audio dramas, radio plays, & even on other podcasts…

Plan 9 from Outer Space is considered by many to be one of the worst films of all time. Is it, though? Does it really deserve that distinction? It is not in the list of the 100 lowest rated films in the IMDB database. So why do people think that? It is not listed in the Medved’s The 50 Worst Films of All Time, that was published in 1978, but it is listed as their choice of worst film in their book, The Golden Turkey Awards, published in 1980. Why not in the 1978 book, but then in the 1980 book? Sadly, that is not discussed in this podcast.

Ed Wood, the director (not the film) is listed as the Worst Director of All Time.

Troy Harkin and David Clink will do a deep dive on Plan 9 from Outer Space, and will also look at the film Ed Wood, with special guest Shaindle Minuk (see author photo & bio below).

Troy and David have also uncovered the first 8 plans, and will reveal these in this podcast, and Shaindle will let us know what Plan 10 was.

Also, on this podcast, Dream Casting and OOTB (Out-of-the-box) Casting, for 9 of the Plan 9 cast.

Shaindle Minuk is a Builds Artist for animation and has been working in the TV and film industries for decades in various capacities, such as Described Video scriptwriter and Continuity and Spotting Lists (CCSL), to name just a few.

Shaindle is also the editor and co-founder of misterkitty.org, which hosts some of the many comics and graphic novels Shaindle has created over the years, alongside humourous features such as “Found Objects” (in which Shain showcases her vast collection of creepy, unappealing ceramic animal figurines and toys) and the popular “Stupid Comics”, which provides in-depth commentary on, well, stupid comics.

The Dead Zone was a 1979 book by Stephen King. It was his first book to rank among the top ten best-selling novels in the United States, and the first story that he set in the fictional town of Castle Rock. The Dead Zone then became a 1983 movie with a deep Canadian connection, directed by David Cronenberg and starring, in order of billing, Christopher Walken; Brooke Adams; Tom Skerritt; Herbert Lom; Anthony Zerbe; Colleen Dewhurst; Martin Sheen; Nicholas Campbell; Sean Sullivan; and, Jackie Burroughs.

Johnny Smith is a psychic, the character based loosely on Peter Hurkos and Edgar Cayce, a man who can glimpse the future by touch. But what if the future is too terrible to contemplate? What is he willing to risk to change it?

Troy Harkin and David Clink will do a deep dive on The Dead Zone, with special guest Bev Vincent (see author photo & bio below).

Bev Vincent is the author of several books, including The Road to the Dark Tower and The Stephen King Illustrated Companion, as well as over 100 short stories, including appearances in Ellery Queen’s, Alfred Hitchcock’s and Black Cat Mystery magazines. and Cemetery Dance magazine.

He has been writing News from the Dead Zone for Cemetery Dance for two decades.

His work has been nominated for the Stoker (twice), Edgar, Ignotus and ITW Thriller Awards.

In 2018, he co-edited the anthology Flight or Fright with Stephen King, and his recent collaboration with Brian Keene is called Dissonant Harmonies. 

To learn more, visit bevvincent.com

Blade Runner is considered an SF classic, one of the best films of the last 50 years. Why is that? What is it about it that makes it endure? The setting, the soundtrack, the story, the acting? Was 2019 close to what was predicted?

Have you ever thought of yourself as a replicant?
Have you taken the Voight-Kampff test?

Troy Harkin and David Clink will do a deep dive on Blade Runner, with special guest Charlene Challenger (see author bio below).

Troy and David introduce a new segment on their podcast: Dream Casting. Which all-time actors and actresses would you have in the roles? Which current actors would you want? And just how far outside the box are you willing to go?

Charlene Challenger is the author of two young adult fantasy novels: The Voices in Between, for which she was nominated for the 2015 Aurora Award for Best Young Adult Novel and long-listed for the 2015 Sunburst Award Young Adult Novel category; and its sequel, The Myth in Distance.

Her work is also featured in Stone Skin Press’s Gods, Memes and Monsters.

She is represented by Kelvin Kong of K2 Literary (https://k2literary.com/authors/charlene-challenger/).

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is many things, but most of all, it is Douglas Adams. It was a radio play, a book, a series of books, a stage show, a TV series, a comic book series, a video game, and a movie, among other things. This international multi-media phenomenon has sparked legions of fans to devour all things Hitchhiker, fans who are aware of the importance of the number forty-two, and the phrase: “DON’T PANIC.” Fans also celebrate National Towel Day, which occurs on the 25th of May, each year.

https://nationaltoday.com/towel-day/

Troy Harkin and David Clink will do a deep dive on The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, with special guest Ira Nayman (see author bio below).

Ira Nayman

Ira Nayman writes speculative humour. His seventh novel, Bad Actors: The Alien Refugees Trilogy: Second Pi in the Face, will be published later in 2021 by Elsewhen Press. He will also be self-publishing his 12th original Alternate Reality News Service collection, Welcome to the Insurrection (The Inconvenience IS the Point), and the second ARNS omnibus, Advanced Idiotocracy for Dummies. For two and a half years, Ira was the editor of Amazing Stories magazine. Yes, that Amazing Stories magazine.

The Prisoner series from 1967-68, is the topic of this episode.

The Prisoner series ran 17 episodes, and is considered one of the greatest series of all time. Its star, Patrick McGoohan, came up with the concept: a secret agent, not unlike John Drake, the character McGoohan played in “Danger Man” (1960 – 1968) retires, and those in charge want to know why he retired. He is drugged and wakes up in a place known as “The Village” and he is assigned a number: No. 6. He wants to escape, but can he?

Troy Harkin and David Clink will do a deep dive on The Prisoner, with special guest Mark Askwith (see author bio below).

Mark Askwith

Mark Askwith is a writer, Producer, and interviewer.

He is one of the Founding Producers of SPACE, Canada’s National Science Fiction and Fantasy Channel, where he co-created in-house shows including InnerSpace. He produced dozens of movie and television specials, including The Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special; Watchmen; and, Orphan Black.

Prior to SPACE he was the creator of the award-winning Prisoners of Gravity, a consultant on the Genie Award-winning documentary Comic Book Confidential, and the manager of the Silver Snail.

His comic book stories have been published by Caliber Press, Spiderbaby Grafix, DC Comics, and Image Comics. Mark co-plotted and dialogued DC’s authorized sequel to The Prisoner.

Season 1
Episode 3
“Recent, Current, and Upcoming Sci-Fi”

Troy Harkin and David Clink discuss recent and current speculative (Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror, …) movies and TV. They will also provide info on what is upcoming. There is no special guest for this episode.

Spoiler alert: specific plot points may be discussed.

The 1968 Planet of the Apes film brought Pierre Boulle’s 1963 novel to the big screen, and nothing has been the same since. From the first appearance of apes, right up to the final climactic scene, Troy Harkin and David Clink, with special guest Robert J. Sawyer (see author bio below), will talk about the film, its importance, its legacy, and where it fits in with the ACE (Ape Cinematic Universe). Spoiler alert: specific plot points in the film, the novel, the TV series, and other ape films will be discussed.

Robert J. Sawyer
(photo by Carolyn Clink)

Robert J. Sawyer has won the best-novel Hugo Award (for Hominids), the best-novel Nebula Award (for The Terminal Experiment), and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award (for Mindscan), plus over 60 other writing awards. The ABC TV series FlashForward was based on his novel of the same name, and his 24th novel, The Oppenheimer Alternative, is now out. Rob holds honorary doctorates from the University of Winnipeg and Laurentian University, was one of the initial inductees into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, and is a Member of the Order of Canada, his country’s highest honour.