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PODCAST

Moderate Fantasy Violence

Nick Bryan & Alastair JR Ball

Welcome to Moderate Fantasy Violence, a fortnightly podcast about pop culture and the world around it, as discussed by Nick Bryan and Alastair JR Ball. Nick will probably launch into a tangent about comics, Alastair will likely go for politics. Both are equally worthwhile.

tv & film visual arts

All Episodes

01:06:49

MFV #23 - The Pixelated Soul Of Peter Cushing

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2016/12/22

Twenty-three podcasts, just in time for the twenty-fifth of December! It's nearly Christmas, and to celebrate, Nick and Alastair have seen An Inspector Calls and the Supergirl/Flash/Arrow/Legends of Tomorrow crossover. Neither of which are particularly festive. Oh well. But we have at least got a review of new mega-film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (5:42). Can this latest spin-off justify its own existence, or is it a Star War too far? Next up, a rare MFV complete disagreement as both our heroes

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01:10:14

MFV #22 - The World's Most Depressing 'Your Mum' Joke

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2016/12/08

Twenty-two episodes of our podcast and somehow 2016 is still going! This fortnight, both of us went on London outings, Nick to the SMASH comics-chat event run by the London Graphic Novel Network and Alastair to the BFI's Black Star season. (We also both recommend the Kraken podcast, if you like podcasts.) Moving on, in an MFV first, we talk about a whole novel! Specifically: The Hanging Tree (5:41), the latest Rivers of London book by Ben Aaronovitch, bringing Peter Grant back for another magical

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01:18:37

MFV #21 - A Beer Hat Of Polyjuice Potion (with Claire...

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2016/11/24

Episode twenty-one! The podcast comes of age everywhere, just in time for the world to basically collapse. Alastair matches the mood with Hypernormalisation, a new documentary from Adam Curtis, while Nick is escaping into a surreal superhero dream with Grant Morrison and Richard Case's Doom Patrol run. Forcing ourselves into the present day, we take on Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them (6:45), a new film set in the past of the Harry Potter universe. To help us get to grips with this, we bring

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01:17:26

MFV #20 - OH NO HELLO DARKNESS

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2016/11/10

Episode twenty! Another numerical milestone, and one recorded before the recent American electoral news, so no mention of that here. However, we do have intro talk of Flash, Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow and The Walking Dead from Nick, until Alastair raises the tone with indie film London Overground. Our centrepiece this fortnight, though, is an in-depth chat about Black Mirror season 3 (6:35), covering all six of Charlie Brooker's latest techno-horror tales. Are they as miserable as people like to

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01:26:13

MFV #19 - Sex Alien Vs Arse Dragon (with Julianne...

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2016/10/27

Episode nineteen, and it's almost feature length this time! But in our defence, there's a lot to get through. Before any of that, though, we've been attending live recordings of other podcasts, specifically Welcome to Night Vale at the London Palladium and the very special 200th episode of SILENCE! That done, we launch into new Marvel Cinematic Universe movie Doctor Strange (5:38) and ask: is there room for yet another superhero origin? Also: too many glowing magic bolts? We've also got Class, the

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01:02:33

MFV #18 - Even Stranger Things

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2016/10/13

Episode eighteen, so the podcast has finally come of age! Nick also completes a major rite of passage as he finally finishes Twin Peaks, while Alastair is out partying at the London Film Festival. After that, it's a game of two halves as we check out two new American TV shows: the opening seven episodes of Luke Cage, the new Marvel Netflix series (5:36 WITH SPOILERS), and the pilot of Westworld, a new sci-fi series from HBO (24:32). In the latter stage, it's all about British cinema with Spaceship

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01:08:20

MFV #17 - The Bear Witch Project

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2016/09/29

The seventeenth division has landed! It's a Brit-heavy episode, with opening talk about the current London production of Pinter's No Man's Land with Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, plus the revival of 90s middle class soap Cold Feet. And then it's down to business with new homegrown zombie film The Girl With All The Gifts (6:01) based on a book by MR Carey, which both Nick and Alastair read and loved. Next, it's the difficult eleventh series of scifi sitcom Red Dwarf (21:57), before finally

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57:11

MFV #16 - Punched Around The Head With Art

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2016/09/15

Our sweet sixteen! Other important milestones in this episode - Nick finishes watching Chuck after about a year and Alastair books his London Film Festival shows! More to the point, we catch up to the zeitgeist with Netflix's scary-nostalgia-saga Stranger Things (4:05, INCLUDES ENDING SPOILERS), then go a little more specialist with Spanish subtitled film Julieta (24:04) and The Divine Comedy's new album Foreverland (34:51). Lastly, Nick somehow hasn't seen The Fifth Element (44:18), but Alastair's

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01:09:41

MFV #15 - Not Just A Joke About Middle Age!

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2016/09/01

Fifteen down! Back on regular format after two reality-bending outings, starting with opening chat about Between Two Thorns by Emma Newman and the end of Outcast season 1. We've got thoughts about the difference between now and the 2000s as we talk David Brent: Life On The Road (3:19), then the long-lost world of folklore with Cry Havoc: Mything In Action (23:08). Next, we jump right back to our own tenth episode to revisit Orange Is The New Black season 4 in its entirety (37:09) INCLUDING SPOILERS

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01:19:46

MFV #14 - Known On The Streets As Mister Spanky

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2016/08/18

Episode fourteen! We break our format for the second podcast running, but first, discussion of recent activities involving Twin Peaks and the Hackney Visions festival! And then we're into our reflections on the recent Nine Worlds geekfest event in London (4:08), including live on-site audio! Then it's time to review new superhero movie Suicide Squad (26:08) and take a look back at the whole first season of Preacher (49:57). And lastly, as ever, Nick takes a look at Alastair's latest recommendation:

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01:10:00

MFV #13 - Harry Potter And The Sex Life Of Voldemort...

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2016/08/03

It's our thirteenth episode! We've done this for a whole half-year! What better way to mark the occasion than a massive batch of trailers from San Diego Comic Con and the third Sharknado movie? We've also got our first ever guest on the show - we're talking Harry Potter And The Cursed Child (6:47). Nick saw the play but Alastair didn't, so booktuber and mega-Potter-fan Claire Rousseau is here to tell us her feelings. There's a quick no-plot-details opinion-summary at the start, then anyone avoiding

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01:03:02

MFV #12 - I'm Sorry, Marmaduke Hemsworth!

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2016/07/20

Episode twelve, and Nick is playing Pokemon Go like all the cool kids. (Hopefully it'll still be cool by the time we release the podcast.) Alastair, controversially, has read The Next Next Level by Leon Neyfakh, an actual book. Then the 12 begins in earnest, as we review the sometimes-controversial Ghostbusters remake (5:36). We've also seen fashion-horror movie The Neon Demon from director Nicholas Winding Refn (23:43) and read the first segment of Normal, a serialised novel by Warren Ellis

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01:09:54

MFV #11 - Where The Warlords Are

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2016/07/06

Here's our eleventh episode, in which we mostly don't talk about the current Brexit-fuelled political turmoil in the UK! You might spot some frustration leaking through during the Independence Day 2 section. But focusing on the fiction: we gaze upon the whole of Game of Thrones season 6 (5:51), before moving on to hardcore nuke-on-child action in Independence Day: Resurgence (26:24) and then Within The Wires (44:43), a new podcast from Team Night Vale - plus some chat about how Alice Isn't Dead is

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01:09:38

MFV #10 - Orphan Is The New Black

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2016/06/23

We hit double figures, and taking the zero in the number far too seriously, cover three different TV series beginning with O. But first, Nick rates his superhero shows and Alastair has loftier viewing tastes. And then down to business: Netflix's Orange Is The New Black begins its fourth year behind bars (4:18), new possession horror show Outcast reaches out for us (21:26) and we look back at Orphan Black's penultimate season of clone chaos (38:27). Then end up running a death bet. Finally, Alastair

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01:09:05

MFV #9 - Prisoner Of Warcraft

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2016/06/09

Episode nine, we're doing fine! Or are we? After a brief opening chat about iZombie and the recent Captain America controversy, we plunge comics newcomer Alastair into the swirling heart of the latest DC superhero relaunch with the DC Rebirth and Batman: Rebirth specials (5:09), stare in fantastical bafflement at video game orc movie Warcraft (25:14) and develop crushes on Matt LeBlanc while covering the BBC's Top Gear revamp (38:17). Then our recommendations feature (51:48) goes on a bit longer

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01:06:04

MFV #8 - A Wave Of Your Massive Blue Smurf Hand

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2016/05/26

It's our eighth episode, the fourth to feature a major superhero movie! But at least there isn't another one until Suicide Squad in August! We start with X-Men: Apocalypse (3:22), then move on to cape-free TV comic adaptation Preacher (23:34). After all that, we finally watch an all-original film, namely horror-thriller Green Room starring Patrick Stewart as a Nazi (43:21). And then we leave the realm of narrative entirely for our recommendation feature, as Alastair suggests the Cammell Laird Social

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01:06:56

MFV #7 - Are Your Comics Telling You To Stick Your...

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2016/05/12

Episode seven is here! If it seems like it's come around pretty quickly, well, it wasn't that long since last time. In this one, we've got a look at the BBC America clonefest Orphan Black (2:56), upcoming indie sci-fi film Tourbillon (16:06) and our glorious final thoughts on Daredevil season 2 (29:05). Then in our never-to-be-named recommendation feature (49:17), Alastair checks out early Aaron Sorkin comedy-drama series Sports Night for the first time. Can it overcome his bafflement at the strange

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01:02:17

MFV #6 - Black Panther's Dangling Entrails

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2016/05/01

Our sixth episode is here, a few days late but overloaded withA-list geek franchises to compensate! We've got a brief chat about the new Doctor Who companion announcement (2:19), and then full-on segments for Captain America: Civil War (4:10), the Game of Thrones season 6 premiere (26:15) and the whole of Better Call Saul season 2 (37:08). And then, in the forever-anonymous recommendation feature (47:48), we discuss Blue Velvet, the odd David Lynch mystery thriller suggested by Alastair. Plus a

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01:03:32

MFV #5 - The Man Who Laughs At Goats

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2016/04/14

Five episodes in and Nick and Alastair are spanning mediums like a common HTML tag refusing to accept the results of his psychic reading. So we're taking in recent hit horror movie The Witch (plus Alastair's problems with recent horror and Nick's amusement at livestock), the second season of mega-podcast Serial (plus the natural excitement of murder and the dangers of doorstepping) and the BAFTA-winning video game Her Story (plus the fun of fragmented narratives and the truth about human

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01:05:47

MFV #4 - Having Your Kids And Eating Them

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2016/03/31

After last week's superhero-free effort, it's time for the opposite! Nick and Alastair have seen Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, and one of them disliked it more than the other! Find out which is which (plus the repeated futility of Doomsday and what Nick has in common with Wonder Woman), then witness our discussion of Daredevil season 2 (plus the weakness of the Kingpin and exactly when it's time for the plebs). We finally move away from capes in our climactic recommendation section, with Nick

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