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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

53:44

MFV #258 - The King of Table Tennis

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2026/01/15

For the first regular podcast of 2026, we take a fully-informed look at Pluribus (17:01), our best show of 2025, and Marty Supreme (37:50), one of this year's big Oscar contenders. Plus bonus chat about the latest seasons of The Traitors and Foundation.

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01:08:03

MFV #257 - United by betrayal

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2026/01/01

Just in time for your 2026 return to work (and only one day late due to Nick's holiday overindulgence schedule), it's the MFV end of year round-up for 2025! Featuring the usual reflections and individual top five round-ups for our core areas of both TV (12:18) and film (43:42), and then an attempt to reach a single unified top three. Will this be the year we finally come to blows? Plus bonus chat about Studio Ghibli movie Spirited Away and Image comic series Monstress.

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44:09

MFV #256 - A.K.A. The Shirtless Sailor

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2025/12/19

This festive fortnight, we cover one of the big Christmas movies of this year, the new Benoit Blanc mystery Wake Up Dead Man (15:01), plus the latest season of political comedy-drama series The Diplomat (27:00). Plus bonus chat about acclaimed crime miniseries Task and ecological scifi play The Precipice.

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41:49

MFV #255 - The Man With The Infinite Bum

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2025/12/04

This fortnight, Nick and Alastair enter the gothically dark world of Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein (16:27), and the edgelordishly dark universe of youthful Boys spin-off Gen V's second season (28:18). Plus Alastair's heard new Sprints album All That Is Over, while Nick's finally finished his long binge of The Marvelous Mrs Maisel.

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44:38

MFV #254 - Capitalism Vs Predator

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2025/11/20

This fortnight, we venture into the deadly landscape of Predator: Badlands (15:44), then the even scarier dark underbelly of the internet in W0rldtr33 volume 3 (29:10). Plus Nick's read Eight Billion Genies by Charles Soule & Ryan Browne, while Alastair's watched Ballad of a Small Player on Netflix.

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47:46

MFV #253 - The Dr Cox Effect

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2025/11/06

This fortnight, it's espionage and political drama on both sides of the pond with A House of Dynamite (13:36) and Slow Horses season 5 (29:40). In slightly lighter territory, Alastair's also watched Wednesday season 2, while Nick's been living and dying with The Celebrity Traitors.

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51:14

MFV #252 - Apologies to the bird-blind community

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2025/10/23

This fortnight, another double-superhero podcast, with DC's Peacemaker season 2 (20:44) and Marvel Zombies (38:55) from, shockingly, Marvel providing our token Halloween content. Also including a belated Wicked review from Nick, plus Alastair's annual dispatch from London Film Festival, covering movies such as H is for Hawk, The Chronology of Water and Fucktoys.

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53:31

MFV #251 - A haunted doll wouldn’t behave like that!

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2025/10/09

This fortnight, Nick and Alastair battle the evils of the system (exhaustedly) with One Battle After Another (18:08) and then icky extraterrestrial creatures in Alien: Earth (36:09). As if that wasn't enough, Alastair's seen M3gan 2.0, while Nick's watched the first season of The Paper, the new sitcom spinning off from The Office US.

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58:19

MFV #250 - It was always Carnage

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2025/09/25

To celebrate a ridiculous 250 episodes, we're once again recommending each other some favourites. Alastair's making Nick watch Alice in Borderland (20:21) on Netflix, while Nick's imposing on Alastair with 90s superhero-cyberpunk comic Spider-Man 2099 (36:15), as a small homage to recently departed writer Peter David. Also featuring some chat about the latest seasons of Ghosts US and Abbot Elementary, plus the 2024 movie Queer.

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54:32

MFV #249 - British people like a good murder

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2025/09/11

We're revisting some old friends this fortnight, as our favourite righteous serial killer returns from beyond the grave in Dexter: Resurrection (16:36), and then we revisit the superhuman superpowers in The Power Fantasy volume 2 (32:46). With bonus discussion of the King of the Hill revival, plus the book Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen. And don't forget you can back Nick's latest self-published comic WorryWart on Kickstarter now! A fun story of violent teen rebellion in a monster royal

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44:34

MFV #248 - Get inside that horse!

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2025/08/28

An animated explosion this week, as we cover smash hit animated Netflix movie K-Pop Demon Hunters (13:59) and new Marvel anthology series Eyes of Wakanda (27:33). Plus a brief early chat about The Marvellous Mrs Maisel season 1 and Scottish samurai movie Tornado.

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49:03

MFV #247 - Talking to the Peacock

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2025/08/14

This fortnight, two favourite TV shows return for high-pressure new outings - it's The Bear season 4 (19:57) and Poker Face season 2 (35:46). Elsewhere, we've been reading some novels for once - specifically Butter by Asako Yuzuki and The Ministry of Tme by Kaliane Bradley.

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44:27

MFV #246 - All-Purpose Marvel Soup

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2025/07/31

This fortnight, we dig into Fantastic Four: First Steps (17:10), one of the big comics adaptations of the summer, and The Old Guard 2 (33:22), another one. We also look at political UFO comic Saucer County and Tim Key's new movie The Ballad of Wallis Island.

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52:27

MFV #245 - A rare moment in British cinema

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2025/07/17

A double-bill of metallic superhero action this fortnight, as we cover the Man of Steel's return to cinemas in Superman (15:05), and the latest Marvel TV show Ironheart (36:43, with moderate spoilers from 41:59 and full-on ruinous ending spoilers from 48:11). We also discuss Japanese dark comedy movie Baby Assassins and new Apple TV scifi-comedy Murderbot.

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39:50

MFV #244 - What would Wes Anderson’s James Bond be like?

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2025/07/03

This fortnight, we fight desperately for survival in the zombie dystopia of The Last Of Us (13:18, with spoilers for the big early-doors plot twist from 19:10) and the feral training ground of Predator: Killer of Killers (28:16). Plus bonus chat about M.R. Carey's fantasy series The Rampart Trilogy and the new album A Sober Conversation by BC Camplight.

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56:17

MFV #243 - Just homo sapien actors on soundstages

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2025/06/19

This fortnight, two major scifi franchises drop their second seasons on us - it's Doctor Who (18:07) and Star Wars prequel Andor (39:36)! Meanwhile, Alastair's watched classic French film Breathless, while Nick's read new Batman storyline Gotham Nocturne.

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50:36

MFV #242 - Cinematic Cinema

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2025/06/05

This fortnight, we finally catch Sinners (19:28, with midway twist spoilers from 26:33), the cinema sensation of 2025 so far, plus the latest season of Netflix's Love, Death & Robots (35:19), including the usual countdown of our favourite episodes. With bonus discussion of Homicide: Life on the Street and Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning. Lastly, if you still need to back Nick’s SoulD #2 Kickstarter, you’ve got about 28 hours after this podcast drops…

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47:30

MFV #241 - Gotta throw the nerds something

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2025/05/22

This fortnight, in a change to the planned schedule, it's another Marvel double-bill with Thunderbolts* (12:36, spoilers from 25:00) and Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man season 1 (29:33, spoilers from 37:30). Elsewhere, Alastair's watched new Netflix anime Terminator Zero and Nick's read rural noir dark fantasy comic Revival, ahead of its upcoming TV adaptation. If you want to back Nick's kickstarter for the second issue of SoulD, you've got about two weeks left!

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01:00:42

MFV #240 - The oldest, saddest man in the world

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2025/05/08

This fortnight, we're delving into the dark side of superheroics with Daredevil: Born Again (19:35), then the grimy underbelly of tech and society itself in Black Mirror season 7 (38:15). Plus bonus chat about the final season of Superman & Lois, plus the new Viagra Boys album Viagr Aboys (not a typo). Nick's latest comic is also live on Kickstarter! It's the second issue of his series SoulD with Phil Appley, about corporations selling our souls in rock form and weirdos carving them into silly

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58:13

MFV #239 - Teen Murder Special

Moderate Fantasy Violence ·

2025/04/24

It's all teenage death all the time this fortnight, but with very different tones, as we discuss the lurid cult-horror of Yellowjackets season 3 (18:18) and the all-too-real sadness of Netflix's Adolescence (39:34). Plus some bonus less-grim chat about acclaimed animated movie Flow and the fourth season of Apple TV sitcom Mythic Quest - including one host making a shocking on-air discovery.

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258 results

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