The Incomparable Mothership is the flagship of the Incomparable podcast network. It’s all about geeky media we love, including movies, books, TV, and more, featuring a rotating panel of guests and hosted by Jason Snell and friends.
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Nov 13, 2026 · 53:43
Live from Massachusetts, Jason interviews Dan about his new book, “Eternity’s Tomb.” Topics include genetically-engineered murder birds, bear men, humanity as a pernicious rash,…
Nov 6, 2026 · 1:36:17
Our astute panel of TV watchers reconvenes to induct 30 excellent series, all from the 21st Century, into the Incomparable’s TV Hall of Fame. Host Jason Snell with Erika Ensign,…
Oct 30, 2026 · 1:09:38
For Halloween we watched a… not particularly spooky movie. It’s the 30-year-old supernatural comedy “The Frighteners,” starring Michael J. Fox and directed by Peter Jackson, who…
Oct 23, 2026 · 1:24:54
Put on your shin guards and get out on the pitch, because we’re tackling the return of “Ted Lasso” for a fourth season after it seemingly ended with season 3! What did we think…
Oct 16, 2026 · 1:00:45
In Jason’s absence, Shelly indulges her fondness for disaster movies, a genre that peaked in the 1970s. And what better way to revel in disaster than with a draft? From…
Oct 9, 2026 · 1:32:34
Inhale deeply of the intoxicating gases and get ready to discuss the “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” season gone by. Our panel of puppets, “Casablanca” characters, badmirals, and…
Oct 3, 2026 · 57:53
Helene Wecker’s third Golem and Jinni novel, The Gates of Midnight, is now available! Jason asks her about her multi-decade journey to get to the end of the trilogy, how research…
Sep 25, 2026 · 1:40:36
Once a subcategory for mysteries, “cozy” feels like the latest craze in publishing with every genre getting in on the act. Is it really a new thing? Are authors able to take…
Sep 18, 2026 · 1:33:35
The Summer of Sundance comes to an end with “The Natural,” a story of a legendary baseball player—no, we’re not talking about Joe Don Baker as The Whammer, or are we? It’s…
Sep 11, 2026 · 1:17:13
The Summer of Sundance continues with the paranoid thriller, “Three Days of the Condor.” A devastatingly handsome nerd goes out to buy sandwiches for the office, and the next…
Sep 4, 2026 · 1:12:23
Now the curtain is going up, “The Sting” is starting the show! Snappy patter and jokes, along with the star power of Robert Redford and Paul Newman, drive this story of an…
Aug 28, 2026 · 1:11:35
Eleven books later, our Awards Book Club has finally reached the end of the line. In this episode we cover our last uncovered book, “Shroud” by Adrian Tchaikovsky, recommend some…
Aug 21, 2026 · 1:13:07
Our Summer of Sundance kicks off with Sundance himself, as we travel back to the end of the old west (and, later, to the garden spot of Bolivia) to visit a couple of robbers,…
Aug 14, 2026 · 1:20:25
Buy some flowers and get ready to profess your feelings—we’re here to talk about “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” in which Tom Holland’s Peter gets to be a sad sack who is saving New…
Aug 7, 2026 · 1:11:27
Put on your summer best and board a ferry to New England’s hottest tourist destination! It’s time for us to discuss “Widow’s Bay,” a funny horror story about the mayor and other…
Jul 31, 2026 · 1:00:12
It’s one of the best “Star Trek” movies, a classic Dad Movie, and the start of a franchise that never really started. It’s “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World,” in…
Jul 24, 2026 · 1:47:39
Non-linearly begin and end your journey across a wide range of cursed islands! We discuss Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” a film now in theatres and a story that’s (nearly)…
Jul 17, 2026 · 1:06:25
Our awards shortlist book club rolls on with a selection of books we’re much more receptive to: “A Drop of Corruption” by Robert Jackson Bennett, “The Raven Scholar” by Antonia…
Jul 10, 2026 · 1:09:18
What if “The Martian” but with an alien buddy? We break down “Project Hail Mary,” and marvel at what a good translation of a sort-of-unfilmable book it really is! Why do we love…
Jul 3, 2026 · 1:16:15
Get out your PowerBooks and prepare to punch an alien in patriotic fashion! We celebrate Independence Day with a 30-year-old film, “Independence Day”! It’s a lot of movie. Is…
Jun 26, 2026 · 1:17:00
We combine our love of “Star Trek” with the appreciation for old movies that can only be provided by our sister podcast Lions, Towers, and Shields, by drafting “Star Trek” actors…
Jun 19, 2026 · 1:19:56
William Gibson Book Club reconvenes to close out the legendary Sprawl trilogy with “Mona Lisa Overdrive,” a book in which there are lots of vibes from a lot of people who are…
Jun 12, 2026 · 1:28:25
Get behind your typewriters! Old Movie Club follows the money to discuss 1976’s “All The President’s Men,” in which the power of dogged reportage and journalistic freedom…
Jun 5, 2026 · 1:09:59
Our survey of award-nominated novels rolls on with “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter,” “When We Were Real,” and “Sour Cherry.” Not gonna lie: we’re struggling with the reading a bit…
May 29, 2026 · 1:20:17
We went out to the movies to see “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” the first “Star Wars” film this decade. We had a really good time, thanks in large part to the charisma of many…
May 22, 2026 · 1:19:48
Let’s travel 40 years back in time, to Chicago in 1986, where on one legendary day, a high school student named Ferris Bueller bends time and space, all in service of cheering up…
May 15, 2026 · 1:15:07
Awards Book Club reconvenes for 2026, as we discuss Nebula-nominated novels “Katabasis” by R.F. Kuang, “Wearing the Lion” by John Wiswell, and “Death of the Author” by Nnedi…
May 8, 2026 · 1:27:18
Put on your eye phones and jack in to the cyberscape! Rocket Surgery comes for 1996’s cyberpunk epic “Lawnmower Man 2.” (Don’t worry if you haven’t seen the original “Lawnmower…
May 1, 2026 · 1:12:54
Not now, Klansmen, I’m killing vampires! “Sinners” got nominated for all the awards, and it’s also a vampire (with a hint of zombie?) movie. We love it when genre movies get…
Apr 24, 2026 · 1:07:57
A special Book Club panel provides an overview of Lois McMaster Bujold’s excellent Penric & Desdemona series of fantasy novellas (plus one novel). This series gives its…
Apr 17, 2026 · 1:23:53
We complete our run through blades with “Blade Runner 2049,” a late sequel in which Ryan Gosling plays a replicant detective searching for an explosive secret that could change…
Apr 10, 2026 · 2:00:05
No voiceovers! More unicorns! Our journey deep into the futuristic world of 2019 Los Angeles continues with another look at “Blade Runner” — this time, it’s “The Final Cut”…
Apr 3, 2026 · 1:19:36
These movie producers really did a job on “Blade Runner.” They don’t advertise for narrations in the newspaper, every good writer knows that. But when you’re trying to sell a…
Mar 27, 2026 · 1:35:32
Hit the books and polish up your comm badges, because it’s time to go to school—“Starfleet Academy,” that is. We check in on the first season of Star Trek’s latest (and last, for…
Mar 20, 2026 · 1:45:35
Jason was on “Jeopardy!” Now he breaks the experience down with the help of two former “Jeopardy!” champions, Glenn Fleishman and Dan Moren. Host Jason Snell with Dan Moren and…
Mar 14, 2026 · 1:06:36
Have your squire put on your best (and only) set of armor and be sure to re-paint your shield! We’re here to discuss the surprisingly delightful “Game of Thrones” spin-off “A…
Mar 6, 2026 · 1:34:08
Charge up your cyberspace deck and avoid all slamhounds! It’s time for us to discuss the second book in William Gibson’s famed Sprawl trilogy, “Count Zero.” Of course, Count Zero…
Feb 27, 2026 · 1:12:41
Our Book Club reconvenes to discuss Emily Tesh’s “The Incandescent,” which offers a teacher’s perspective on a magical school (that’s mostly not magical, but infested by demons),…
Feb 20, 2026 · 1:47:11
Find a cat bed and some apricots, and prepare to upgrade your chicken! While Jason’s away, we play Embark’s hit game “Arc Raiders”, a multiplayer extraction shooter where people…
Feb 13, 2026 · 1:23:07
Want to see a dead body? Bring your comb, stock up on cherry flavor Pez, and stay really quiet if you see a deer. We return to the 1980s and honor Rob Reiner by discussing 1986’s…
Feb 6, 2026 · 1:24:52
Celebrate Valentine’s Day with The Incomparable. It’s time to discuss that Canadian hockey show everyone’s been talking about. “Heated Rivalry” just wants to know, “Will you come…
Jan 30, 2026 · 1:12:09
Guillermo del Toro’s waited his whole life to make a “Frankenstein” movie, and now he’s done it. We carefully select the (Oscar-nominated!) film’s best bits, chop them up, and…
Jan 23, 2026 · 1:19:36
Hello, Carol. This is a recording. At the tone, you can leave a message to request anything you might need. We’ll do our best to provide it. Our feelings for you haven’t changed,…
Jan 16, 2026 · 1:34:22
After 800 episodes, we are in serious danger of repeating ourselves, but that never stopped us before. Some of our most prolific panelists fulfill the prophesy and draft…
Jan 9, 2026 · 1:17:34
Noah Hawley’s TV take on the Alien franchise, “Alien: Earth,” is crashing into a building near us, bringing gross aliens old and new, suspicious synths, terrified (and bloody)…
Dec 31, 2025 · 1:51:42
Our most frequent panelists of the year join Jason to talk about their favorite stuff from the year gone by, and we also pause to recall some favorite Incomparable moments.…
Dec 19, 2025 · 1:27:15
Kilmas comes but once a year! This year we’re climbing into the cockpit and revisiting 1986’s “Top Gun,” starring some airplanes, Val Kilmer, and Tom Cruise. It’s a very subtle…
Dec 12, 2025 · 1:09:53
Our Ape Club reconvenes to celebrate the holidays with a viewing of 1971’s “Escape from the Planet of the Apes!” Is this an ape movie or an episode of “Mannix”? What happens when…
Dec 5, 2025 · 1:20:25
Set in a bright retro-future world, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” doesn’t have anything to do with the Marvel Cinematic Universe… yet. We analyze the latest attempt to…
Nov 27, 2025 · 1:16:40
We celebrate Fangsgiving with a visit to darkest Transylvania (and Germany) for the plague-stricken, rat-infested tale of “Nosferatu”, a legally questionable knock-off of…
Nov 21, 2025 · 1:10:07
Ever wonder what happened to The Oneders? We celebrate Hanksgiving by discussing Tom Hanks’s love letter to ’60s pop that’s also a clear-eyed look at the machinery of the…
Nov 14, 2025 · 1:47:23
If you’ve been thinking of reading Science Fiction and Fantasy but had no idea where to start, we’re here to help. Our panel of longtime SF/F readers has some suggestions just…
Nov 7, 2025 · 1:20:54
Pixar Club re-forms to discuss “Elio,” the studio’s lowest-grossing feature film of all time. Funny thing, though… it’s a pretty good movie? It’s funny, has some space adventure…
Oct 30, 2025 · 1:15:38
It’s time for another Old Spooky Club, as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Stuart Gordon’s horror-comedy classic, “Re-Animator”, which bears very little resemblance to the…
Oct 24, 2025 · 1:28:27
We celebrate the 50th anniversary of the longest-running theatrical run of all time—“The Rocky Horror Picture Show”! It’s an unapologetic musical about being yourself (and giving…
Oct 17, 2025 · 1:10:15
We’re back on the Marvel movies with “Thunderbolts*”, a film that (to our surprise?) is not a nihilistic story about villains pretending to be heroes (see: Suicide Squad), but…
Oct 10, 2025 · 1:46:40
It’s autumn, things are turning dark and gray, and that puts us in the mind of… (fictional) murder! Want a mystery novel, or series, to read? Our expert readers have many, many…
Oct 3, 2025 · 1:36:44
Grab your cyberspace deck and prepare to jack in—it’s time to discuss William Gibson’s groundbreaking classic novel, “Neuromancer.” We’ve got a panel of experts—and a…
Sep 26, 2025 · 1:35:47
We always knew Daniel Dae Kim would accomplish something after “Crusade!” (Kids, ask your “Babylon 5”-loving parents.) Our panel looks back over the three-month phenomenon that…
Sep 19, 2025 · 1:10:06
The Summer of Submarines reaches crush depth with Disney’s 1954 epic “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.” Captain Nemo of the Nautilus has met his match in an uncharismatic French…
Sep 12, 2025 · 1:32:15
Our Summer of Submarines floats on with “U-571”, a 21st centry-style action movie that manages to hit most of the squares on the submarine bingo card. McConaughey is a…
Sep 5, 2025 · 1:18:46
We dive beneath the sea again with “K-19: The Widowmaker,” in which Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson star as… wait a second… Soviet naval officers? It’s a film about a horrible…
Aug 29, 2025 · 1:07:12
The Summer of Submarines resurfaces with James Garner going on a secret mission to an enemy island in 1959’s “Up Periscope.” The Skipper is not a skipper, but he’s got some…
Aug 22, 2025 · 1:14:20
We return to 1995 not to hack into the Net but to wander, Netless, around Vienna with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. Palm readers! Street poets! Plays featuring cows! It’s “Before…
Aug 15, 2025 · 1:12:17
Our Awards Book Club closes up shop for 2025 with a final set of rankings, the presentation of an award we made up, and an overview of all the Hugo-nominated short fiction. Host…
Aug 8, 2025 · 1:49:24
We celebrate the tenth anniversary of our Summer Superhero Spectacular tournament with something slightly different: A draft of our favorite superhero movies. Host Jason Snell…
Aug 1, 2025 · 1:10:50
2025 Awards Book Club nears the end with award nominees “Asunder,” “The Ministry of Time,” and “The Tainted Cup.” Plus: What else are we reading? Host Jason Snell with Scott…
Jul 25, 2025 · 1:30:23
We went to the theater to see James Gunn’s “Superman” (2025) and are back to report about the pleasant experience. Gunn sets a new direction for DC superheroes, and fans of Zack…
Jul 18, 2025 · 1:27:11
We remain submerged for a very long time to watch a very long film, 1981’s “Das Boot.” This certifiable classic is certainly long and German, encompassing almost everything you…
Jul 11, 2025 · 1:05:28
The Summer of Submarines joins forces with Old Movie Club to take on 1958’s “Run Silent, Run Deep,” starring Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster. It’s a tense thriller that has…
Jul 4, 2025 · 1:14:52
The summer of submarines kicks off with 1995’s “Crimson Tide,” a taut character drama that pits a captain (Gene Hackman) against his XO (Denzel Washington) in a conflict that…
Jun 27, 2025 · 1:25:19
With the guiding hand of Prof. Siracusa choosing the curriculum, we watch select animated shorts from the Netflix series “Love, Death + Robots.” John’s quest to find the perfect…
Jun 20, 2025 · 2:05:09
The second (and final?) season of the BBC/Disney+ collaboration era of “Doctor Who” is at an end, and so our crew of fans is here to pick up the pieces and ponder what went right…
Jun 13, 2025 · 2:25:52
We conclude (for now?) our coverage of the TV adaptation of The Wheel of Time, which was just canceled by Amazon. Three seasons in, we cover whether we think it is still worth…
Jun 6, 2025 · 1:15:59
Our Awards Book Club continues its run through the roses with a tougher than expected review of Vajra Chandrasekera’s “Rakesfall,” Adrian Tchaikovsky’s “Alien Clay,” and Kelly…
May 30, 2025 · 1:12:22
Guillermo del Toro’s career started small, with the small-scale vampire (sort of) horror (sort of?) movie “Cronos,” in which an old man finds a mechanical object containing a…
May 23, 2025 · 1:51:16
From the skyscrapers of Coruscant to the pyramids of Yavin and with numerous stops in between, season two of “Andor” covers the rise of the rebellion and leads to the doorstep of…
May 16, 2025 · 1:13:49
We return once more to 1995, this time for a movie set at the turn of the century! It’s “Strange Days,” a cyberpunk movie with only a little bit of cyber but a lot of punk, along…
May 9, 2025 · 1:17:44
The highest-grossing film of all time is straight-up sci-fi and yet in 15 years at this place we’ve never talked about it. That ends now, as we put on our oxygen masks and…
May 2, 2025 · 1:06:12
Our walk through the 10 different novels nominated for the Hugo and Nebula awards in 2025 begins! In this episode we discuss “Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory” by Yaroslav…
Apr 25, 2025 · 1:20:49
The year is 1995. The films: “Hackers” and “The Net,” in which computers are proven to be dangerous for society. One is a ridiculous movie about teen hackers that knows it’s…
Apr 18, 2025 · 1:31:04
Huff some ether, dress for an ORTBO, and always keep an eye out for a private place beneath a tarp—we’re here to discuss the second season of “Severance,” a story that goes…
Apr 11, 2025 · 1:23:26
Spray on some insect repellant and don your hazmat suit, because Del Toro Club has re-formed to discuss a gigantic layer cake of infinite bugs, 1997’s “Mimic.” Parts of it are…
Apr 4, 2025 · 1:54:00
In a world full of creative projects turned into intellectual property, our panelists join together to choose remakes and reboots that please us, those that displease us, and…
Mar 28, 2025 · 1:13:52
Our Ghibli Club gets together to discuss 2016’s “The Red Turtle,” an unusual Ghibli coproduction, as well as this year’s Oscar winner for Best Animated Feature, “Flow.” Host…
Mar 21, 2025 · 2:04:14
In honor of the 50th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live,” six of us create custom-built episodes of SNL by participating in a fantasy draft of sketches, hosts, musical guests,…
Mar 12, 2025 · 1:10:23
Book Club travels to the far future for the sci-fi/fantasy mash-up “Moonbound” by Robin Sloan. Here be dragons! Not to mention wyrd multidimensional witches at the bottom of a…
Feb 28, 2025 · 1:21:54
Arrakis. Dune. Desert Planet. But maybe not the one you’re thinking of. In our own very peculiar way we honor David Lynch by discussing the feature film he probably liked the…
Feb 21, 2025 · 1:27:54
From deep down in the lower levels to high up near the surface, we’re traveling through the post-apocalypic society of “Silo” on Apple TV+. Do eggs exist? What’s in daddy’s…
Feb 14, 2025 · 1:03:46
Live, from The Incomparable, it’s Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night,” a film that purports to capture the 88 minutes before “Saturday Night Live’s” first live broadcast 50 years…
Feb 7, 2025 · 1:04:31
Blending classic Disney animals with a mysterious Miayazki forest, “The Wild Robot” is a story of overcoming your programming and not allowing yourself to become trapped in loops…
Jan 31, 2025 · 1:21:30
It’s the end of the world and a robot apocalypse has happened, so what are the robots up to now? One robot butler takes an unusual journey through the darkly absurd world of…
Jan 24, 2025 · 1:14:38
Are fairy tales real, or are they mental refuges from the horrors of real life? Guillermo Del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth” toggles effortless between bizarre, Miyazaki-like fantasy…
Jan 17, 2025 · 1:19:27
We send off the crew of the USS Cerritos and salue the completion of the five-year mission of “Star Trek: Lower Decks.” This show expanded what “Star Trek” could be—in several…
Jan 10, 2025 · 1:13:15
The writers of “The Expanse” are back with a new series, and “The Mercy of Gods” is an alien invasion story that goes to some extremely dark places. But sometimes, dark is good……
Jan 1, 2025 · 2:33:05
Another year in the books, and there was a lot to appreciate about the stuff we consumed—movies, TV, books, video games, and more—in 2024. Our most prolific panelists collaborate…
Dec 20, 2024 · 1:19:56
For Kilmas this year we travel to 19th century Arizona for “Tombstone,” where Wyatt Earp, his brothers, and their shady pal Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer!) confront a bunch of rotten…
Dec 13, 2024 · 1:26:43
This year’s Ape Club holiday party is 1972’s “Conquest of the Planet of the Apes,” in which the people of Future 1991 use apes as slaves until there’s an uprising led by a…
Dec 6, 2024 · 1:11:26
Merry X-Mas, and goodwill to X-Men! Surprisingly holding down the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe for 2024 is “Deadpool & Wolverine,” in which Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman…
Nov 29, 2024 · 1:32:30
Miyazaki Club morphs into Ghibli Club as we discuss 1991’s “Only Yesterday,” written and directed by Isao Takahata. It’s a story of one (childless workaholic?) woman’s search for…
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