Ancient Geeks
Two old geeks talk about being young geeks, at a turning point in popular culture. In the 60s, 70s, and 80s, the threads of modern geek culture emerged and wove together. Science fiction, fantasy, comics, movies, TV shows, tabletop games, computer games, ad all their incarnations. The great SF&F writers, Star Trek, Star Wars, monster movies, D&D, Doctor Who, the Marvel and DC superheroes, 2001, Planet of the Apes, conventions, Zork, Ultima...What was it like to experience these for the first time? Why did we love them? And how do we feel about them, decades later?
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Episodes
Episodes
Monday May 04, 2026
Monday May 04, 2026
And so begins our multi-part look at Harlan Ellison, one of the most influential writers, editors, and personalities in the realm of "speculative fiction." In this first episode, we look at Harlan Ellison the public persona: the guy we knew from TV and radio interviews, convention appearances, writings about himself, and other avenues. Force of nature, pugnacious champion for a more serious take on the genre, nemesis of TV producers, editor of groundbreaking SF anthologies, champion of fellow writers, vocal critic of everything that he deemed wrong about the world — call him what you will, he left a deep imprint on science fiction and fantasy. He won dozens of awards, and earned the respect and affection of his fellow SF&F writers. Most of them.
As Robert Bloch said about him, "He is the only living organism I know whose natural habitat is hot water."
In later episodes, we'll cover Ellison's writing, as well as adaptations of his works to the screen.
Typewriters! The Southern California SF scene! Dead gophers! Tom Snyder! Creative writing professors! Beloved TV scripts! Fights with TV executives! Fights with editors! Fights with other writers! Fights with fans! 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
Monday Apr 27, 2026
Monday Apr 27, 2026
Don't panic! The jokes are still funny, decades after we first heard them. Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy combined dry British humor with science fiction tropes. Why did that chemistry work? Which of the different incarnations of the Hitchhiker's Guide was the best? And how many Pan-Galactic Gargle Blasters could we consume?
Super-computers! Two-headed aliens! The end of the Earth! Bad poetry! Bureaucracy! Out-of-work philosophers! Improbability! 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
Monday Apr 20, 2026
Monday Apr 20, 2026
One of the best SF movies ever made. Directed by one of the greatest directors ever. Co-written by said director and one of the most respected "hard" science fiction authors of the classic era. The movie that, in the last Sight & Sound poll, other film directors rated as their top movie, period. How have we not covered Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey before now? Perhaps we had not evolved enough...
Journey back with us when we were scratching our heads, trying to figure out this movie the way the Australophithecines were trying to understand the monolith. Jump forward in time to how we now see this classic film, and how we understand its meaning (including the final sequence). 2001 inspired a lively debate between us, so strap into your shuttle pod!
Monoliths! Murderous machines! Moon bases! Manipulating aliens! Progress from monkey to man to...My God, it's full of stars! 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
Monday Apr 13, 2026
Monday Apr 13, 2026
When we were kids, Saturday afternoon cartoons were a staple of our popular culture diet. So, too, were weekday afternoon cartoons. Not surprisingly, we liked the really geeky ones that featured science fiction, fantasy, and superheroes. Space Ghost, Macross, The Herculoids, Starblazers, Super Friends, Battle of the Planets, Johnny Quest...These shows shaped our tastes, as well as those of a generation of geeks.
Annoying sidekicks! Too many monkeys! Superheroes in space! Giant robots! Giants in giant robots! A science fantasy world that's perpetually invaded! Child endangerment! Obscenely expensive merch! 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
Monday Apr 06, 2026
Monday Apr 06, 2026
We wrap up our in-depth coverage of the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. We continue our discussion of some of the signature episodes of the season. How do they fall in the categories of good, bad, and meh? We finish with an overall evaluation of season one. Why wasn't it better? Why did we stick with it? And what are the lessons for other TV shows?
More ridiculous Ferengi! Flying pan pizzas! Space pushers! Holodeck honey traps! The worst of Jonathan Frakes! Worf gets pummeled again! 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
Monday Mar 30, 2026
Monday Mar 30, 2026
Steven and Tom review the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. We talk about the key episodes, such as the pilot, the death of a main character, and the re-introduction of the Klingons and Romulans. We review a sampling of the good, the bad, and the meh. (Quite a lot of meh.) We talk about the strengths and weaknesses of the first season, as we saw it when it first aired, and now that we've re-watched these episodes.
The shaky pilot! The introduction of Q! That great Klingon episode! The Ferengi fail as foes! Standardized testing for super-beings! Twangy guitar music! The difference between Star Trek bad and TV bad! 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
Monday Mar 23, 2026
Monday Mar 23, 2026
In the mid-1980s, we heard that a new Star Trek series was on the way. But it wouldn't include anyone from the cast of the original series. It was to be set decades in a future, with a new Enterprise, a new crew, and a new adversary, but still helmed by Gene Roddenberry. How did we feel about the series, when it was announced? And what were our initial reactions, when it premiered?
In this episode, we journey back to the 80s to answer these questions, and provide some background on what was happening behind the scenes of the new series, including Roddenberry's role in the franchise.
Teaser trailers! Actors we knew, and others who were new to us! Klingon on the bridge! A weird-looking Enterprise! Day care centers on a space cruiser! 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
Monday Mar 16, 2026
Monday Mar 16, 2026
An episode the size of the Alpha Quadrant! We go back to 1987, the year when Star Trek: The Next Generation premiered. In this first part of the discussion, we discuss the state of Star Trek at this time. This was a heyday for Star Trek subculture, full of movies, novels, reference books, tabletop games, computer games, comics, you name it. Star Trek was flourishing, all based on the original series. Plus, the conventions were popular destinations for Trek fans. And a whole new series was on the way. Journey back with us to this bustling era of Trekdom.
Non-canon novels! Fantastic gaming material that fleshed out the Star Trek universe! Comics that labored mightily to tell a coherent story between movies! Blueprints of the Enterprise! Some really good fiction! An incredibly complicated board game! It's all here.
In upcoming episodes, we'll talk about the run-up to The Next Generation, our initial reactions to the show, our reviews of individual episodes from season one, and our thoughts about how the series managed to survive in spite of a tepid first season.
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