{"podcast":{"title":"Ancient Geeks","slug":"ancient-geeks-7192842","podcast_index_feed_id":7192842,"rss_url":"https://feed.podbean.com/ancientgeeks/feed.xml","website_url":"https://ancientgeeks.podbean.com","image_url":"https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/20028807/LogoWithText1.png","author":"Ancient Geeks","episode_count":73,"summary":"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, UFOs, 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?","last_synced_at":"2026-06-16T02:22:55.131042+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ancient-geeks-7192842"},"episode":{"title":"Ancient Geeks episode 63: 2001 A Space Odyssey","slug":"ancient-geeks-episode-63-2001-a-space-odyssey","published_at":"2026-04-20T12:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ancient-geeks-7192842/ancient-geeks-episode-63-2001-a-space-odyssey","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ancient-geeks-7192842","url":"https://ancientgeeks.podbean.com/e/ancient-geeks-episode-63-2001-a-space-odyssey/","audio_url":"https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/jf6xa2gvctw6cnbk/AGEp63.mp3","summary":"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","meta_description":"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\" scie…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":5678,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/ancient-geeks-7192842/episodes/ancient-geeks-episode-63-2001-a-space-odyssey/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ancient-geeks-7192842/ancient-geeks-episode-63-2001-a-space-odyssey.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}