Ancient Geeks

Ever wonder how we went from the swinging Sixties and Seventies to the brutal oppression of apes over humans? Conquest of the Planet of the Apes tells that story. The child of Cornelius and Zira, whom we saw as a newborn in the last movie, is now all grown up now. He doesn't like what he sees, in a world where apes are enslaved, humans are decadent, the architecture is brutal, and turtlenecks are all the rage. As you might expect from the title, the status quo is about to endure a hammer blow!
Plus, since this movie was filmed in part on the campus of our alma mater, we have a lot to say about the Southern California locations where this was filmed. Was this the first dystopia set in a suburb? If so, where are all the fast food restaurants?
Heavy-handed allegory! Animal cruelty! Animals who get cruel right back at the humans! Ape disobedience statistics! Shopping malls! Hordes of apes in jumpsuits left over from a lousy TV show! Retcons of the history of the future! The third role for the producer's wife! It's all here.
 
Ancient Geeks is a podcast about two geeks of a certain age re-visiting their youth. We were there when things like science fiction, fantasy, Tolkien, Star Trek, Star Wars, D&D, Marvel and DC comics, Doctor Who, and many, many other threads of modern geek culture were still on the fringes of popular culture. We were geeks before it was chic!
For feedback, contact someancientgeeks@gmail.com. Check out the Ancient Geeks blog on Substack, where we post daily. You can also find us on Facebook, Reddit, and Bluesky. And if you like what you hear, please tell a friend. Also, we always appreciate a review on the podcast platform of your choice.
© 2026 Tom Grant and Steven Taylor

Of course there would be more sequels after Beneath The Planet Of The Apes, even though it was designed to be the last. In fact, the chief purpose of Escape From The Planet Of The Apes was to make more sequels possible. World ended? Just go back in time before it was ended!
Come back with us to that time when Cornelius and Zira (plus unnamed baby) crash land on 1970s, and then get mistreated. And then turned into beloved celebrities. And then mistreated again.
The calmest evil scientist you'll ever meet! Boring scientists! The lowest of low budgets! Fashion shows! Cocktail parties! Chimp makeup! Presidential commissions! An implausible gorilla suit! The most convenient space-time warp ever conceived! Plying a pregnant ape with alcohol! It's all here.
 
Ancient Geeks is a podcast about two geeks of a certain age re-visiting their youth. We were there when things like science fiction, fantasy, Tolkien, Star Trek, Star Wars, D&D, Marvel and DC comics, Doctor Who, and many, many other threads of modern geek culture were still on the fringes of popular culture. We were geeks before it was chic!
For feedback, contact someancientgeeks@gmail.com. Check out the Ancient Geeks blog on Substack. You can also find us on Facebook, Reddit, and Bluesky. And if you like what you hear, please tell a friend. Also, we always appreciate a review on the podcast platform of your choice.
© 2026 Tom Grant and Steven Taylor

We wrap up our series in which we look at the first movies of directors who later made the classics of geek cinema. In this episode, we discuss John Carpenter's student film, later expanded for theatrical release, Dark Star. It's a low budget science fiction dark comedy in which a burned-out crew flies from planet to planet, destroying any that they deem "unstable." Of course, nothing's more unstable than these space cadets. 
Carpenter made Dark Star as the anti-2001, anti-Star Trek. It's also the first effort of a director who wanted to make great B-movies.
But it's more than John Carpenter this episode! Dark Star was a collaboration between him and Dan O'Bannon, who later wrote the script for Alien, as well as other familiar geek films.
How much of John Carpenter's directorial style can you see in this movie that also guided the production of The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China, They Live, and other films? What did we think of the movie, then and now?
Finally, we wrap up this mini-series comparing the three first films of Lucas, Spielberg, and  Carpenter.
Talking bombs! Beach balls! Phenomenology! Muffin trays! Slapstick humor! Mental decay! It's all here.
 
Ancient Geeks is a podcast about two geeks of a certain age re-visiting their youth. We were there when things like science fiction, fantasy, Tolkien, Star Trek, Star Wars, D&D, Marvel and DC comics, Doctor Who, and many, many other threads of modern geek culture were still on the fringes of popular culture. We were geeks before it was chic!
For feedback, contact someancientgeeks@gmail.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Reddit, and Bluesky. Also, check out the Ancient Geeks blog on Substack! And if you like what you hear, please tell a friend. Also, we always appreciate a review on the podcast platform of your choice.
© 2026 Tom Grant and Steven Taylor
 

We continue our series about the first movies made by directors who later made the classics of geek cinema. In this episode, we discuss Duel, a TV movie made by a very young Steven Spielberg. Starring Dennis Weaver, it's a deadly cat-and-mouse conflict between an average Joe in a Plymouth Valiant and the driver of the most monstrous of trucks.
In this early effort, what elements of Spielberg's style can you see that would later appear in Close Encounters, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Jurassic Park, and other films? What did we think of this movie, then and now? (The short version: we thought it was terrific.) 
Terrifying commutes! Impressive camerawork! The lovable snake lady! A demon semi from Hell (maybe)! Chekhov's radiator hose! "McCloud!" It's all here.
 
Ancient Geeks is a podcast about two geeks of a certain age re-visiting their youth. We were there when things like science fiction, fantasy, Tolkien, Star Trek, Star Wars, D&D, Marvel and DC comics, Doctor Who, and many, many other threads of modern geek culture were still on the fringes of popular culture. We were geeks before it was chic!
For feedback, contact someancientgeeks@gmail.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Reddit, and Bluesky. Also, check out the Ancient Geeks blog on Substack! And if you like what you hear, please tell a friend. Also, we always appreciate a review on the podcast platform of your choice.
© 2026 Tom Grant and Steven Taylor
 

We begin a series of episodes about the first movies from directors who later made the classics of geek cinema.  In this first episode, we take a look at George Lucas' first feature film, THX-1138. A dystopian drama starring Robert Duvall and Donald Pleasance, this movie was based on Lucas' student film, Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB. (Frankly, we're stumped why Lucas didn't stick with this title.) The backstory is fascinating, including a significant role that Francis Ford Coppola played behind the scenes.
But what did we think of THX-1138, then and now? And more importantly, can you see in this movie what kind of director Lucas would become? Are there any hints of Star Wars in THX-1138? All will be revealed in this episode.
A computer-managed society that's rapidly breaking down! Casual tyranny! Drug-induced docility! Car chases! Nuclear accidents! Robo-Jesus! Holograms! Wannabe revolutionaries! It's all here.
 
Ancient Geeks is a podcast about two geeks of a certain age re-visiting their youth. We were there when things like science fiction, fantasy, Tolkien, Star Trek, Star Wars, D&D, Marvel and DC comics, Doctor Who, and many, many other threads of modern geek culture were still on the fringes of popular culture. We were geeks before it was chic!
For feedback, contact someancientgeeks@gmail.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Reddit, and Bluesky. Also, check out the Ancient Geeks blog on Substack! And if you like what you hear, please tell a friend. Also, we always appreciate a review on the podcast platform of your choice.
© 2026 Tom Grant and Steven Taylor
 

Harrison Ford and Sean Connery? More Nazi villains? A Grail quest In spite of the disappointment of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, we said, "Sign us up!" And it was glorious!
A return to what made Raiders of the Lost Ark great! Exciting action scenes! Organic humor! Two different types of academics! Disturbing questions during Indy's faculty review! It's all here.  
 
Ancient Geeks is a podcast about two geeks of a certain age re-visiting their youth. We were there when things like science fiction, fantasy, Tolkien, Star Trek, Star Wars, D&D, Marvel and DC comics, Doctor Who, and many, many other threads of modern geek culture were still on the fringes of popular culture. We were geeks before it was chic!
For feedback, contact someancientgeeks@gmail.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Reddit, and Bluesky. Also, check out the Ancient Geeks blog on Substack! And if you like what you hear, please tell a friend. Also, we always appreciate a review on the podcast platform of your choice.
© 2026 Tom Grant and Steven Taylor

Of course there was going to be a sequel...
We had high hopes for the second Indiana Jones movie, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Spielberg, Lucas, Ford...How could it go wrong?
As it turns out, it could go very badly. We debate how badly, and what were the reasons why this sequel failed to come close to the original. 
Was this Tom's first case of sequelitis? Leaving all the criticisms aside, what did we enjoy about the movie? How much better or worse did this movie seem, on rewatching it decades later? And what kind of archaeologist is Indiana Jones anyway?
Bugs! Child endangerment! Colonialism! Screaming! More screaming! How about some more screaming! Unbelievable action scenes! Drab villains! Faceless goons! It's all here.
 
Ancient Geeks is a podcast about two geeks of a certain age re-visiting their youth. We were there when things like science fiction, fantasy, Tolkien, Star Trek, Star Wars, D&D, Marvel and DC comics, Doctor Who, and many, many other threads of modern geek culture were still on the fringes of popular culture. We were geeks before it was chic!
For feedback, contact someancientgeeks@gmail.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Reddit, and Bluesky. Also, check out the Ancient Geeks blog on Substack! And if you like what you hear, please tell a friend. Also, we always appreciate a review on the podcast platform of your choice.
© 2026 Tom Grant and Steven Taylor

You can hear the soundtrack start to play in your head already...
No history of early geekery would be complete without Raiders Of The Lost Ark. In this episode, we talk about the roots of this movie in serials like Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, in the pulp magazines like Weird Tales and Argosy, and in radio dramas like The Shadow and Suspense. And of course, we talk about the movie.
What did we expect, when we heard that a high adventure movie was coming soon, from both George Lucas and Steven Spielberg? What was it like to see it for the first time, in the theaters, along with everyone else? What lasting impact did it have, not only on young geeks like ourselves, but in that intersection between geek culture and popular culture? And why were the imitators so reliably inferior to the original?
Snakes! Nazis! Questionable academic practices! Fantastic filmmaking! And is this more of a Spielberg or a Lucas movie?
 
Ancient Geeks is a podcast about two geeks of a certain age re-visiting their youth. We were there when things like science fiction, fantasy, Tolkien, Star Trek, Star Wars, D&D, Marvel and DC comics, Doctor Who, and many, many other threads of modern geek culture were still on the fringes of popular culture. We were geeks before it was chic!
For feedback, contact someancientgeeks@gmail.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Reddit, and Bluesky. Also, check out the Ancient Geeks blog on Substack! And if you like what you hear, please tell a friend. Also, we always appreciate a review on the podcast platform of your choice.
© 2026 Tom Grant and Steven Taylor