Decipher SciFi explores the how and why in science fiction with conversations about technology, humanity, and the future. This is not a review show, nor will you see much criticism or snark. It is a rationally optimistic look, through film, at where society and technology are and where they are headed. Also, butts.
Her: sad foreheads, augmented audio presence, and friendly AI takeoff scenarios
Her (2013) · Nov 10, 2020
The Core: Flying bricks, pacemakers, and quantum avian eyeballs
The Core (2003) · Oct 6, 2020
X-Men First Class: nuclear panic, destructive resonance, and woolly mammoth piñatas
X-Men: First Class (2011) · Aug 11, 2020
X-Men: superhero evolution, wolverines, and what lightning does to everything else
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) · Jul 28, 2020
Watchmen - Tulsa, nostalgia, and victorian spacesuits
Watchmen (2009) · Jun 23, 2020
Upload: living forever, digital personhood, and hacking your own reality
Upload (2021) · Jun 9, 2020
Underwater: deep drilling, nitrogen narcosis, and astronaut helium voice
Underwater (2020) · May 26, 2020
Bloodshot: overdoing nanotech, comics bubbles, and flour bombs
Bloodshot (2020) · Apr 14, 2020
Contagion: epidemiology, snake oil, and curve-flattening
Contagion (2011) · Mar 17, 2020
The Thirteenth Floor: Yo dawg I heard you liked the simulation hypothesis
The Thirteenth Floor (1999) · Jan 21, 2020
The Rise of Skywalker: the force, fan service, and blade-based wayfinding
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) · Dec 31, 2019
Ad Astra: nuclear spaceships, the edge of the solar system, and space monkeys
Ad Astra (2019) · Dec 17, 2019
Spider-Man Far From Home: Venice, burying forests, and microphone proliferation
Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) · Dec 10, 2019
Thor Dark World: Finnish-ish, amphetamines, and weaponized gravity
Thor: The Dark World (2013) · Dec 3, 2019
Venom: comets, Von Neumann goo, and the alien brown note
Venom (2018) · Nov 19, 2019
Terminator Dark Fate: surprises, developing humanity, and CORAL puns w/ Joe Ruppel
Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) · Nov 12, 2019
Men in Black International: Eiffel, backfilling memory, space hacking
Men in Black: International (2019) · Nov 5, 2019
Godzilla King of the Monsters: acoustic wildlife-tracking and moth superiority
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) · Oct 15, 2019
Terminator Genisys: surprise anthologies & time travel spaghetti w/ Joe Ruppel
Terminator Genisys (2015) · Oct 8, 2019
On Decipher History: Gangs of New York
Gangs of New York (2002) · Oct 1, 2019
Terminator Salvation: body donation, realistic time travel, and the legal shmegal defense w/ Joe Ruppel
Terminator Salvation (2009) · Sep 24, 2019
Species: alien bio-containment, the Arecibo message, and Von Neumann trolls
Species (1995) · Sep 17, 2019
Terminator 3 Rise of the Machines: hacking cars and supercomputing Skynet FLOPS w/ Joe Ruppel
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) · Sep 10, 2019
On Decipher History: The Last Samurai w/ Isaac Meyer
The Last Samurai (2003) · Sep 3, 2019
Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse: particle colliders, art, and magnetic monopolies w/ Adrian Falcone
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) · Aug 13, 2019
The Terminator: bootstrapping, machine uprising, and time traveling meatballs w/ Joe Ruppel
The Terminator (1984) · Aug 6, 2019
Lockout: plagiarism, space shuttle design, and how to skydive... from space!
Lockout (2012) · Jul 30, 2019
Rocky IV: sports science, brain injury, and horsepower punches
Rocky IV (1985) · Jul 23, 2019
First Man: moon rocks, moon lasers, and the edge of space
First Man (2018) · Jul 16, 2019
Alita Battle Angel: cybernetic cyborgs, photorealistic cg, and sports plus immortality
Alita: Battle Angel (2019) · Jul 9, 2019
Reign of Fire: types of dragons, animals that hibernate, and the Purkinje effect
Reign of Fire (2002) · Jul 2, 2019
Automata: desertification, solar storms, and messing with Asimov
Autómata (2014) · Jun 4, 2019
Apocalypto: sacrificial practices, temples, and Mayan writing and math
Apocalypto (2006) · May 21, 2019
Avengers Endgame: Appreciating the enormity of the MCU
Avengers: Endgame (2019) · Apr 30, 2019
After Earth: pheromones, murder-birds, and language evolution
After Earth (2013) · Apr 23, 2019
Back to the Future Part II: time travel options, retro futurism, and hip thrust combat w/ Daniel Barker
Back to the Future Part II (1989) · Apr 16, 2019
Them!: nuclear optimism, amateur myrmecology, and Wilhelm-screaming w/ Joe Ruppel
Them! (1954) · Apr 9, 2019
Aquaman: cetaceans, riding sea animals, and the bends
Aquaman (2018) · Apr 2, 2019
The Matrix: green phosphors, neuroplasticity, and rejecting utopia w/ Adrian Falcone
The Matrix (1999) · Mar 26, 2019
Prospect: sleep rhythm, amputation, and meat-sack organic gemstones
Prospect (2018) · Mar 12, 2019
The Wandering Earth: altered goldilocks zones, Earth's heat budget, and smuggling pickles in your pants
The Wandering Earth (2019) · Feb 26, 2019
Total Recall - top-notch Arnold, muscle memory, and how not to settle Mars w/ Josh
Total Recall (1990) · Feb 5, 2019
They Shall Not Grow Old: film restoration, persistance of vision, and vfx
They Shall Not Grow Old (2018) · Jan 29, 2019
Total Recall 2012: falling through the planet, 3d scanning, and lasers in your eyes
Total Recall (2012) · Jan 15, 2019
The Predator: glistening biceps, savant syndrome, and first contact w/ Josh
The Predator (2018) · Jan 8, 2019
Doctor Who: the Y2K scare, supernumerary hearts, and the utility of atomic clocks
Doctor Who (1996) · Dec 31, 2018
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Dolphin communication, the babelfish, and bad AI
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005) · Dec 24, 2018
Akira: mind bullets, evolution, and odd horsepower calculations w/ Jolene Creighton
Akira (1988) · Dec 18, 2018
I Origins: rationality, eyeballs, and biometric ID w/ Daniel Barker
I Origins (2014) · Nov 20, 2018
The Meg: claspers, megalodon teeth, and shark proponency w/ Melissa Marquez
The Meg (2018) · Nov 13, 2018
Sorry to Bother You: code switching, indie media, and the power of scifi w/ Eliot Peper
Sorry to Bother You (2018) · Nov 6, 2018
eXistenZ: reality testing, biocomputing, and gross stuff
eXistenZ (1999) · Oct 30, 2018
Pacific Rim Uprising: drone jamming, the aircraft boneyard, and cerebral organoids
Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018) · Oct 23, 2018
Gravity: decompression sickness, orbital mechanics, and jet chairs
Gravity (2013) · Oct 16, 2018
Skyscraper: vertical cities, holodecks, and personal Dyson clouds
Skyscraper (2018) · Oct 9, 2018
Doom: moons of Mars, space marines, and telefragging w/ Josh Effengee of LSG Media
Doom (2005) · Oct 2, 2018
Upgrade: biohacking, AI containment, and paralyzation workarounds
Upgrade (2018) · Sep 25, 2018
Black Panther: rhino domestication, click languages, and Killmonger overheating
Black Panther (2018) · Sep 18, 2018
A-X-L: dogs as technology, domestication, and unpleasant sticky materials
A-X-L (2018) · Sep 4, 2018
Rampage: gorilla sign language, classic gaming, and the square cube law
Rampage (2018) · Aug 28, 2018
Extinction: space stealth, leaving Earth, and the evolution of consciousness
Raw (2017) · Aug 21, 2018
Aliens: hyperlseep, how to terraform, and Blade Runner reconciliation w/ Josh Effengee
Aliens (1986) · Aug 14, 2018
Ready Player One: virtual reality haptics, digital economies, and optical trickery
Ready Player One (2018) · Jul 31, 2018
Man From Earth Holocene: hunter gatherer nostalgia and trading intestines
The Man from Earth: Holocene (2017) · Jul 24, 2018
Predator : preposterone, light manipulation, and Aliens vs Predator vs Blade
Predator (1987) · Jul 17, 2018
A Quiet Place: echolocation, cochlear implant vs hearing aid, and aliens
A Quiet Place (2018) · Jul 3, 2018
Escape From New York: ultralight aircraft, escape pods, and fusion reactors
Escape from New York (1981) · Jun 26, 2018
Enemy Mine : space dogfights, alien wildlifem and interstellar slavery economics
Enemy Mine (1985) · Jun 12, 2018
Tron : 70s computing, object digitization, and death-frisbees
Tron (1982) · Jun 5, 2018
Superman (1978) : Episode 144
Superman (1978) · May 29, 2018
Annihilation : Episode 143
Annihilation (2018) · May 22, 2018
Avengers Infinity War: space mapping, Dyson spheres, and the purple coin purse
Avengers: Infinity War (2018) · May 15, 2018
Lost in Space: supercooling, space imaging, and sexy robots w/ Adrian Falcone
Lost in Space (1998) · May 1, 2018
Westworld: extreme theme parks, first computer virus, and sensory processing
Westworld (1973) · Apr 24, 2018
Men in Black: human gestation, stimulants, and Earth as backwater w/ Liam Ginty
Men in Black (1997) · Apr 17, 2018
Snowpiercer: entomophagy, what caused the hole in the ozone layer, and extreme cold survival
Snowpiercer (2013) · Apr 10, 2018
Stargate: pyramid builders, ancient Egyptian writings, and swole Daniel Jackson w/ Dominic Perry
Stargate (1994) · Apr 3, 2018
Timecop: carbon dating money, confederate gold coins, and time loops
Timecop (1994) · Mar 27, 2018
Pacific Rim: square cube law, giant death robot, and Earth terrafroming w/ Stephen Granade
Pacific Rim (2013) · Mar 20, 2018
Johnny Mnemonic: data couriers, brain storage capacity, and the cyberpunk Amish
Johnny Mnemonic (1995) · Mar 13, 2018
Zardoz: eating only meat, awkward sexual experiments, and dealing with immortality
Zardoz (1974) · Mar 6, 2018
The Cloverfield Paradox: NASA bone loss, simulated gravity, and gyroscopes w/ Adrian Falcone
The Cloverfield Paradox (2018) · Feb 27, 2018
Mad Max Fury Road: salt flats, parabiosis, and the Namib desert w/ Brandon Rollins
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) · Feb 20, 2018
Transformers The Last Knight: the size of the cosmos, colliding planets, and the useful scientist w/ Jolene Creighton
Transformers: The Last Knight (2017) · Feb 13, 2018
Altered Carbon: Zoltan Istvan on transplant immortality, identity, and consciousness uploading
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964) · Feb 6, 2018
Avatar: cryo sleep , terrestrial bioluminescence, and mooons vs planets
Avatar (2009) · Jan 2, 2018
The Last Jedi: FTL ramming, salt geology, and real green milk
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) · Dec 26, 2017
Blade Runner: replicant discrimination, synthetic farming, and virtual girlfriends
Blade Runner 2049 (2017) · Dec 12, 2017
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets: alien evolution, intelligence exaptation, and layered universes
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017) · Dec 5, 2017
When Worlds Collide: observable universe, 20th century astonomy, and modern space industry w/ Daniel James Barker
When Worlds Collide (1951) · Nov 28, 2017
The Day After Tomorrow: paleoclimatology, thermohaline circulation, and climate modelers
The Day After Tomorrow (2004) · Nov 21, 2017
Volcano: seismic detectors, tar pit geology, and dangers of volcanic ash w/ Joe Ruppel
Volcano (1997) · Nov 7, 2017
The Fly: teleporters, dna detection, and arthropod digestion
The Fly (1986) · Oct 31, 2017
Event Horizon: cosmic deep time,lived-in space ships, and real hell w/ Caelum Rale
Event Horizon (1997) · Oct 24, 2017
Daybreakers: medical vampirism, living without a heartbeat, and blood substitutes
Daybreakers (2010) · Oct 17, 2017
The Mummy (2017): the New Kingdom, Egyptomania, and chaotic neutral gods w/ Dominic Perry of the History of Egypt Podcast
The Mummy (2017) · Oct 10, 2017
Pitch Black: tri star systems, micrometeorites, and eyeshine w/ Fraser Cain
Pitch Black (2000) · Oct 3, 2017
The Chronicles of Riddick: Crematoria, necromongers, and ambush predator defense
The Chronicles of Riddick (2004) · Sep 26, 2017
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2: space jumps, empathy telepathy, and ❤️ Yondu
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) · Sep 19, 2017
The Time Machine: HG Wells, geological time scales, and time travel self-consistency w/ Joe Ruppel
The Time Machine (1960) · Sep 12, 2017
The Time Machine: HG Wells, geological time scales, and time travel self-consistency w/ Joe Ruppel
The Time Machine (2002) · Sep 12, 2017
Blade Runner: "androids," the AI control problem, and brain design
Blade Runner (1982) · Aug 29, 2017
Alien Covenant: neutrinos, weakly interacting massive particles, and swole Jesus aliens
Alien: Covenant (2017) · Aug 22, 2017
The Truman Show: objects visible from space, dome megastructues, and reality testing
The Truman Show (1998) · Aug 15, 2017
Kong Skull Island: geological mapping, combat-ready herbivores, and Kong size over time
Kong: Skull Island (2017) · Jul 25, 2017
Judge Dredd: combat robots, mega cities, and food recycling
Judge Dredd (1995) · Jul 18, 2017
Robocop: cyorgification, space defense, and robot on robot violence
RoboCop (1987) · Jul 11, 2017
Doom: PC games nostalgia, intelligent supercomputers, and interdimensional beings w/ Daniel James Barker
Doom (2005) · Jul 2, 2017
The Girl With All the Gifts: parasitic fungi, speed of smell, and the end of humanity
The Girl with All the Gifts (2016) · Jun 27, 2017
Childhood's End: revealing aliens, Drake equation, and scientific inquiry
Arrival (2016) · Jun 20, 2017
Kingsman The Secret Service: gaia hypothesis, rebooting civilization, and Oddjob with swordlegs
Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015) · Jun 13, 2017
Midnight Special: fatherhood, synesthesia, and unconventional computing
Midnight Special (2016) · May 30, 2017
Nausicaa: rewilding, technological anxiety, and what is "nature?" w/ Miles Greb
Nausicaa (1971) · May 23, 2017
Prometheus: yoked aliens, cave paintings, and seeding life
Prometheus (2012) · May 16, 2017
Guardians of the Galaxy: Groot language, intelligent animals, and where do trees get their mass?
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) · May 9, 2017
The Prestige: magic as skeptical training, Tesla, and taming electricity
The Prestige (2006) · Apr 25, 2017
Ghost in the Shell: modern cyberpunk, biorobots, and the nature of self w/ Jolene Creighton
Ghost in the Shell (1995) · Apr 18, 2017
I Am Legend: zompires, fuel spoilage in the apocalypse, and loneliness w/ Nick Farmer
I Am Legend (2007) · Apr 11, 2017
Armageddon: explosions, impactor tracking, and density of the asteroid belt w/ Daniel James Barker
Armageddon (1998) · Mar 28, 2017
Hidden Figures: the real women and some NACA/NASA history w/ Joe Ruppel
Hidden Figures (2016) · Mar 21, 2017
The Space Between Us: lightspeed commuunications and relative gravity w/ Chris Noessel
The Space Between Us (2017) · Mar 7, 2017
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure: history vs myth, and time travel w/ Brandon Rollins
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) · Feb 28, 2017
Independence Day Resurgence: Earth's center, gravity wells, and a hole in the bottom of the sea
Independence Day: Resurgence (2016) · Feb 21, 2017
Edge of Tomorrow (Live. Die. Repeat): alien tentacle morphology and biological Von Neumann probes
Edge of Tomorrow (2014) · Feb 14, 2017
Wargames: computers in the 80s, weapons to end all wars, and dinosaurs w/ Joe Ruppel
WarGames (1983) · Feb 7, 2017
Ender's Game: insectoid aliens, water in space, and lightspeed communications
Ender's Game (2013) · Jan 24, 2017
Passengers: helical ship designs, the real Arcturus star, and ethics w/ Adrian Falcone
Passengers (2016) · Jan 10, 2017
Labyrinth: Jim Henson, adolescence, and solving mazes w/ Jillian & Meredith
Labyrinth (1986) · Jan 3, 2017
Conan the Barbarian: antedeluvian mythology, bloodsmithing, and the riddle of steel w/ Joe Ruppel
Conan the Barbarian (1982) · Dec 27, 2016
Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix: wizard and muggle technologies w/ Eric Molinsky
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) · Dec 20, 2016
The Golden Compass: scifi fantasy, polar bear evolution, and dark matter dust
The Golden Compass (2007) · Dec 13, 2016
Minority Report: Eliot Peper on freedom and algorithmic precognition
Minority Report (2002) · Nov 22, 2016
Star Trek Beyond: drone swarms, teleporters, and decompression w/ Jolene Creighton
Star Trek Beyond (2016) · Nov 8, 2016
The Island of Dr Moreau: vivisection, individual plasticity, and the human animal w/ Joe Ruppel
The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996) · Nov 1, 2016
The Thing: antarctic explorers, extreme doctoring, and figuring out aliens w/ Cae & Ryan
The Thing (1982) · Oct 25, 2016
The Exorcist: demonic possession, skepticism, and horror w/ Adrian Falcone
The Exorcist (1973) · Oct 18, 2016
28 Days Later: zombie attacks, survival skills, and a quarrel about plagues w/ Jolene Creighton
28 Days Later (2002) · Oct 11, 2016
Dracula: Vlad the Impaler, Elizabethan sexuality, and Kenau's awesome accent w/ Joe Ruppel
Dracula (1931) · Oct 4, 2016
Robinson Crusoe on Mars: Mars history, golden age space, and scientific accuracy
Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964) · Sep 27, 2016
Planet of the Apes : Episode 56
Planet of the Apes (1968) · Sep 20, 2016
Deep Impact: citizen scientists, extinction events, and avoidance
Deep Impact (1998) · Sep 6, 2016
The Day the Earth Stood Still: Gort, nonviolence, and aliens w/ Scott W Indiana
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) · Aug 30, 2016
Star Trek First Contact: transhumanism technology and ant behavior w/ Jolene Creighton
Star Trek: First Contact (1996) · Aug 23, 2016
Hardcore Henry: super fun action, VR media, and motion sickness
Hardcore Henry (2015) · Aug 16, 2016
The Fountain: nebulae, mesoamerica, and finding meaning w/ Daniel Barker
The Fountain (2006) · Aug 2, 2016
Brazil: user interface satire, complexity, complexity, and ducting w/ Bradnon Rollins
Brazil (1985) · Jul 26, 2016
Weird Science: science, magic, and moral development in adolescence
Weird Science (1985) · Jul 5, 2016
Jupiter Ascending: gene splicing, industrialized panspermia, and going over the top
Jupiter Ascending (2015) · Jun 28, 2016
Tomorrowland: the World's Fair, retrofuturism, and making dreams reality
Tomorrowland (2015) · Jun 21, 2016
The Man From Earth: biological immortality, and what is a micromort w/ Adrian Falcone
The Man from Earth (2007) · Jun 7, 2016
Surrogates: materials science, pseudonymity, and ludditism
Surrogates (2009) · May 10, 2016
Forbidden Planet: robust design in AI, exobiology, and philology w/ Chris Noessel
Forbidden Planet (1956) · May 3, 2016
The Dark Knight: Batman gadgets, sonar phones, and blowing up the boat
The Dark Knight (2008) · Apr 26, 2016
The Fifth Element: space turtles, magic stones, and LeeLoo Dallas multipass
The Fifth Element (1997) · Apr 19, 2016
Man of Steel: burly Superman, Kryptonian prison rehab, and yellow sun superpowers
Man of Steel (2013) · Apr 12, 2016
Signs: the ending, religious determinism, and how not to invade a watery planet
Signs (2002) · Apr 5, 2016
War of the Worlds: aliens, biological warfare, and Orson Welles radio w/ Joe Ruppel
War of the Worlds (2005) · Mar 29, 2016
Bicentennial Man: laws of robotics, biorobots, and natural language processing
Bicentennial Man (1999) · Mar 22, 2016
Dune: spice, David Lynch is weird, and wetware technology w/ Miles Greb
Dune (1984) · Mar 8, 2016
Wing Commander: PC games nostalgia, pilgrims, and space combat w/ Dean from LSG Media
Wing Commander (1999) · Mar 1, 2016
Idiocracy: cynicism, user experience research, and dysgenics w/ Adrian Falcone
Idiocracy (2006) · Feb 23, 2016
Looper: Ted Chiang on causal loops, mama bears, and time travel
Looper (2012) · Feb 16, 2016
Star Wars: the death star, planet science, and appreciating the original Star Wars trilogy
Star Wars (1977) · Feb 9, 2016
Contact: SETI, Carl Sagan love, and scicomm
Contact (1997) · Jan 26, 2016
Hackers: social engineering, Kevin Mitnick, and hacking before the internet w/ Brian Epstein
Hackers (1995) · Jan 19, 2016
Sunshine: the lifecycle of a star, solar sails, and Captain America in space
Sunshine (2007) · Jan 5, 2016
Elysium: power suits, wealth gaps, and an O'Neill cylinder
Elysium (2013) · Dec 22, 2015
Battlefield Earth: L Ron Hubbard, fermi paradox, and intergalactic war w/ Daniel Mann
Battlefield Earth (2000) · Dec 15, 2015
Ghost in the Shell: scifi anime, computer evolution, and cybernetics
Ghost in the Shell (1995) · Dec 8, 2015
Gattaca: retrofuturism, eugenics, and the ethics of designer babies
Gattaca (1997) · Dec 1, 2015
Limitless: nootropics, brain myths, and types of intelligence
Limitless (2011) · Nov 24, 2015
The Martian: scientific accuracy, mars colonies, and poop potatoes
The Martian (2015) · Nov 17, 2015
In Time: immortality, phramaceutical blockchain DRM, and boredom.
In Time (2011) · Nov 10, 2015
Lost in Space: gifted children, future vlogging, and colonizing space
Lost in Space (1998) · Nov 3, 2015
Lawnmower Man: mind uploading, vr, and 90s computer games
The Lawnmower Man (1992) · Oct 27, 2015
A Scanner Darkly: the surveillance state, drug abuse, and rotoscoping
A Scanner Darkly (2006) · Oct 20, 2015
Galaxy Quest: the best Star Trek movie.
Galaxy Quest (1999) · Oct 13, 2015
Starship Troopers: scifi satire, gender equity, and insectoid alien attack
Starship Troopers (1997) · Oct 6, 2015
I Robot: the three laws of robotics are inadequate
I, Robot (2004) · Sep 29, 2015
Ex Machina: ai software, wetware, and the turing test
Ex Machina (2015) · Sep 22, 2015
Moon: helium 3 lunar mining and emoji robots
Moon (2009) · Sep 15, 2015
Demolition Man: cryogenic criminal justice and three seashells
Demolition Man (1993) · Sep 15, 2015