Journey Through Sci-Fi: A Science Fiction Film Podcast

This week on Journey Through Sci-Fi, we head into the Star Trek universe to explore one of its most enduring mad science taboos: genetic engineering. From Space Seed and the rise of Khan to Enterprise's Augments arc and Deep Space Nine's shocking Bashir reveal, we trace how Star Trek keeps returning to the dangers of trying to "improve" humanity.
Along the way, we get into the Eugenics Wars, creator-creation relationships, scientific hubris, and why a utopian future still casts a long shadow over forbidden science.
Plus: Brent Spiner being superbly awful, Bashir's identity crisis, and why this theme runs through Star Trek for more than 200 years of in-universe history.
Episodes discussed:
Star Trek: The Original Series — "Space Seed" (S1E22)
Star Trek: Enterprise — "Borderland" (S4E04), "Cold Station 12" (S4E05), "The Augments" (S4E06)
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine — "Doctor Bashir, I Presume?" (S5E16)
Also referenced:
Star Trek — "What Are Little Girls Made Of?"
Star Trek: The Next Generation — "The Schizoid Man"
Star Trek: Voyager — "Tuvix"

What happens when one of sci-fi's oldest stories is reimagined for a modern audience?
In this episode of Journey Through Sci-Fi, we return to the origin of mad science — Mary Shelley's Frankenstein — through two new adaptations: Frankenstein (2025), directed by Guillermo del Toro, and The Bride! (2026), directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal.
This isn't just another adaptation.
It's a full-circle moment for the genre.
From the obsessive creator who dares to make life… to the creation who refuses to belong to him, these films show how the Frankenstein myth has evolved over 200 years of science fiction.
In this episode we explore:
• Why Frankenstein is still the blueprint for every mad scientist story • How these new versions reinterpret the act of creating life • What they keep — and what they completely reinvent — from the original myth • Why The Bride! flips the perspective from creator to creation • What this tells us about where sci-fi — and mad science — is heading next
From gothic horror roots to modern sci-fi storytelling, this is the evolution of one of the genre's defining ideas.
And a fitting end point for our Mad Science series.
Because sometimes the most important sci-fi story isn't about the future…
…it's the one we've been retelling all along.

In this episode of Journey Through Sci-Fi, we dive into the terrifying idea of mad science controlling the human mind through two modern sci-fi horror films: Get Out (2017) and Possessor (2020).
Jordan Peele's Get Out hides a chilling science-fiction twist beneath its social horror story, revealing a sinister procedure designed to take over another person's body and consciousness. Meanwhile, Brandon Cronenberg's brutal cyberpunk thriller Possessor imagines a world where corporations use technology to possess people's minds and carry out assassinations.
We explore how both films tap into classic sci-fi ideas about identity, consciousness and control, while pushing the mad scientist trope into disturbing new territory.
Expect discussion on:
The terrifying sci-fi twist behind Get Out

The mind-transfer technology in Possessor

How horror and science fiction overlap in the mad science genre

Why stories about losing control of your own body remain so powerful in sci-fi

🎧 Listen now for our deep dive into mind control, body swapping and the dark side of scientific ambition.

Two kidnappings and two grotesque transformations. 
Listener discretion advised...
This week on Journey Through Sci-Fi, we head into the grisliest corner of our Mad Science season as we explore The Human Centipede (2009) and Tusk (2014).
From Tom Six's clinically cold, torture-era nightmare to Kevin Smith's surreal walrus transformation, both films twist the mad scientist archetype into something deeply insular... not driven by progress, but by obsession.
In The Human Centipede, Dr Heiter's experiment is cold, clinical and cruel - a Frankenstein figure filtered through torture cinema.
In Tusk, Howard Howe isn't chasing science at all - he's chasing memory, trauma and a warped sense of redemption.
We unpack:
• The torture-porn moment of the 2000s and its legacy • The "100% medically accurate" myth • Mad science as private fetish rather than public breakthrough • God complexes, conditioning and forced transformation • Comedy vs horror - why Tusk makes you laugh and recoil • And why these scientists don't want to change the world… just their victims
From surgical body horror to psychological conditioning, this is mad science stripped of romance and left with nothing but obsession.
Visit our website https://www.journeythroughscifi.com/
Email Us!
Support the podcast on PATREON

Add us on INSTAGRAM
Find us on TIKTOK
Like us on FACEBOOK
Follow us on LETTERBOXD

Two Marvel origin stories. Two very different mad scientists. Only one built a cinematic empire.
This week, we revisit Hulk (2003) and Iron Man (2008) to explore the science behind the superheroes and why one experiment failed while the other changed blockbuster cinema.
Ang Lee's Hulk is a tragic tale of inherited trauma, gamma radiation and fractured identity, a full-blown mad science horror hiding inside a superhero movie.
Iron Man flips the formula: no monster, no accident, just a billionaire engineer weaponising his own genius and building the future in a cave.
From Frankenstein echoes to high-tech spectacle, this is the moment Marvel transformed mad science into the foundation of the MCU.
Visit our website https://www.journeythroughscifi.com/
Email Us!
Support the podcast on PATREON

Add us on INSTAGRAM
Find us on TIKTOK
Like us on FACEBOOK
Follow us on LETTERBOXD