Finally! We watch the new Marvel Avengers flick and offer our comments and analysis. Excuse this short (but spoiler-free!) description, but suffice it to say that we had a great time and found lots of interesting moments/meanings. Can’t wait to hear what you have to say, too.

Avengers releases this upcoming week, so we’re wrapping up our pre-Avengers re-watch of recent Marvel flicks with 2011′s Captain America. We discuss Steve Rogers’ unsung true superpower and the movie’s interesting selection of rogues. And we run down the week in geek — plus some fun general geeking-out over The Guild and other awesome web [...]

The Avengers release grows ever closer as we take a look at the general public’s introduction to Marvel’s Norse god Thor. We find inspiration in Thor’s each-day-at-a-time attitude. We dig into the similarities between Shakespeare’s plays and comic superhero stories, concluding that superhero tales may have a much longer lifespan of cultural significance than many [...]

Our Avengers lead-up arc marches on with a re-watch of Iron Man 2.

We continue our Avengers arc with the first Iron Man movie. Chuck relates why he connects so much with Tony Stark. We question whether we finally live in a world where a new Iron Man-like story could feature a female protagonist. And we run down the week in geek, including our celebrations of First Contact [...]

We kick off our epic Avengers arc leading up to the release of he 2012 movie with a re-watch of the 2008 flick, Hulk. We discuss the magic of comics and what draws people to identify with one hero over another. We examine the Hulk’s history and speculate as to his involvement in the upcoming [...]

During the GWC Meetup we took a group of GWCers to see the newly-released John Carter movie, then hit a local bar for beers, snacks, and some podcasting — which you can hear as a segment in this week’s cast. Also, we run down the week in geek, including discussion of the awesome leaked BSG [...]

We spend an hour and a half or so hanging out with some of our favorite people in the world — the 2012 GWC International Meetup attendees! It’s a pretty free-flow podcast, so if this is your first GWC ‘cast, you might want to back up one or head forward one to get a better [...]

We roll through Mass Effect 2 and some non-spoilery ME3 discussion joined by guests Maggie Baird (voice of Samara) and Jennifer Hale (voice of FemShep). Ms. Baird introduces us to the world of voice acting and specifically the Mass Effect interview and recording process. And Ms. Hale offers some insight into breathing life into a [...]

We continue our Mass Effect 1 discussion, running down characters and races, then tread briefly into the second game’s more advanced storyline. Also, we run down the week in geek, including an analysis of the latest super-awesome Avengers trailer and Black Widow’s bring-a-gun-to-a-God-fight, um, participation.

We launch into an arc covering one of the most significant games of the last decade — and a hell of a sci-fi story to boot. We lay out the basic story of ME1, followed by a deep discussion of gameplay mechanics and how Bioware manipulates extra layers of abstraction to extract emotional meaning from [...]

We follow up last week’s Ep. 1 commentary with a real-time watch of OUR childhood Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope. You can queue up your DVD and watch along with us if you like, but it’s not necessary. Either way you’ll hear us re-discover this classic, enjoy some very special (to us, and [...]

In honor of this week’s re-release of Star Wars Episode 1 in 3D, we fire up our cheap-ass 2D DVD of the movie and take you along for the ride. If you like, you can grab your own copy, sync it up, and follow along with us as we enjoy the effects, lament the childish [...]

In this bonus episode Chuck and Juan podcast live to answer questions from chat about the upcoming 2012 GWC International Meetup in Dallas, TX March 16-18. If this is your first GWC podcast, you might want to look back (or ahead) one for a normal GWC experience. Announcements: Our block of rooms releases on February [...]

We watch and greatly enjoy Disney’s take on Rapunzel, Tangled, discussing falling as a form of fairy tale death and the role of single parents in fairy tales. Audra takes us through the long history of the Cinderella tale, with a side of Bobbit. (No, really.) And we run down the week in geek, including VW’s [...]

We continue our delve into fairy tales with a discussion of the origins and history of the Cinderella story and a critical viewing of Ever After. We talk mousewashing and how it’s changed stories over the years, track Cinderella all the way back to 1 B.C., question the one-true-match theory, and get a big kick [...]

We kick off our fairy tales arc with a watch and discussion of The Brothers Grimm. And we run down the week in geek including some spoiler-free BBC Sherlock season-finale discussion, a bit on Jonathan Coulton as an “old man who knows how to use the internet,” and some thoughts on what makes a fairy [...]

We dive into the ’90s Bill and Ted sequel, addressing some serious points about the duo’s psyche and home life as well as the heart we find in rock ‘n roll. And we run down the week in geek, including Dark Knight tix already (no, really) on sale, the miserable Bane ‘Knight trailer, our take [...]

We tackle the 80s time travel classic in style, giving it the geek cred recognition it so richly deserves. We note some significant trek connections. We talk about Bill and Ted’s untainted honesty, focus, and ability to grow without change. We discuss standards of beauty and Bill’s uncanny resemblance to some famous art. We note [...]

It’s our last podcast of 2011, and we spend it running down the week in geek, including some detailed discussion of Forza Motorsports 4 and it’s awesome new get-insulted-by-Jeremy-Clarkson gameplay, a tease of a don’t-we-wish Helen Mirren as the next female Doctor, some spoiler-free opinions on Mission Impossible 4, lots of interest in the Precinct [...]

We’re joined again by Christmas TV Companion author Joanna Wilson, this time to discuss sci-fi Christmas specials. We listen to Bwana’s response to our honor of naming a GWC news section after him, which inspires some gaming discussion, like what it means to be a gamer and our take on the new XBL dashboard. Donnie [...]

We offer up some holiday entertainment to hopefully help make that Christmas travel just a little bit easier this season. Rock legends Donnie Iris and the Cruisers join us with a special performance to set the holiday tone. Joanna Wilson, author of ‘Tis The Season TV and the Christmas TV Companion walks us through the [...]

We round up some of the Best of 2011 in our new patent-pending Top (n) lists. And we run down the week in geek, including some analysis of the analysis of Trek 2/12, Baldwin’s now-infamous Words With Friends addiction, a cool new take on Snow White, and the latest trends in ePublishing.

This week’s special 300th episode of Galactic Watercooler was recorded live in front of a (remote) studio audience. We take a number of live callers. We bring you a special version of Fantasy Sci-Fi League in which our audience-selected team of heroes saves the holiday. We bring back the Reverend Dr. Wichelns (one of GWC’s [...]

This week we give thanks for some of the geeky things we loved this year. And we discover a ball-slappingly good time with Audra’s new holiday: Spanksgiving. Oh yeah, we also run down the week in geek including a ton of Trek movie news and Audra’s take on the neolithic iPad.

We talk about some of our favorite geek gifts this holiday season. And we run down the week in geek, including lots more Skyrim love, a discussion of The Captains documentary, new Trek 2/12 news (filming and work on effects shots has begun), Sean’s take on Anita Blake audiobooks and sex in magic, some talk [...]

We catch you up on all the great shows and movies we’ve been watching for the past few months. And we run down the week in geek, including the new Elder Scrolls game release, a possible Bruce Willis casting in an upcoming Neuromancer big-screen debut, re-writes and shuffling in the Battleship/Asteroids camps, and lots, lots [...]

We run down some of our favorite vehicles from the Star Wars franchise including the little-known B-Wing, and, of course, the classics. We also run down the week in geek, including the release of Shatner’s The Captains documentary into the wild, Garrett Hedlund’s potential casting in the ever-less-Japanese Akira, some new video game news, and [...]

We count down some Halloween top ten lists, including Sean’s top ten hottest chicks to take to a Halloween party, Audra’s top ten worst Halloween costumes, and Chuck’s top ten most useful weapons for surviving the zombie apocalypse. And we run down the week in geek, including, well, a ton of stuff.

We harken back to our vehicle arc as we discuss vehicles in the Star Trek franchise. Sean tells us all about the Final Fantasy games for the iPhone and iPad. And we run down the week in geek, including new Starship Troopers material, a possible new Turing flick, and lots, lots more. It’s almost like [...]

Sean tells us about his Xbox 360 Crysis experience. And we run down the week in geek, including Siri AI antics, new Robocop reboot news, Stephen King’s Twilight bagging, Mass Effect 3′s multiplayer co-op mode, a real-life House situation, Dr. Pepper’s low-cal alternative, an AT-AT dog costume, and lots more. We’re joined in-studio by GWC [...]

This week we take a glut of recent listener calls. And we run down the week in geek, including the Simpsons’ almost cancellation (and last minute reprieve), Adidas’ cool Wampa shoes, Superman’s new beard (!), and awesome new Jor-El pics. Thanks as always for your awesome calls!

So we started out tonight to make a second podcast about geek meetups, but had so much fun casting new movies (some real, some imagined) that we just gave in and had a good time. You know how we roll. Also, we run down the week in geek, including the possibility of a new Mass [...]

Sean triumphantly returns (physically) to the room. (He never left verbally, of course!) We update our taxonomy of haters and methodology of avoiding becoming such. And we run down the week in geek, including having some fun with the Netflix/Q*ickster split, taking in some sweet new Riddick 3 news, speculating on what we’d do if [...]

This week GWC turned five, and we take this opportunity to relax, be self-referential, and tell a few of those “meetup only” stories we always mention. If this is your first time listening to GWC, you might want to check out the last (or next) podcast to get a better sample of what we normally [...]

We talk about our first sci-fi/fantasy/comic convention experiences and delve into our conceptions (and misconceptions) about the process of gathering in the name of geek. GWC listener (and active community member) Julie joins us to tell us about losing her con virginity at the biggest fan con of ‘em all, Dragon*Con. And we run down [...]

We ask the question: What kind of geek are you? We discuss the Conan backlash. And we run down the week in geek, including, well, lots of geek-related news and awesomeness.

Charles Brownstein introduces us to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, and we discuss cultural differences in fandom. Sean digs into Deus Ex: Human Revolution. And we run down the week in geek, including GameStop’s broken seal game modifications, new news on Underworld 4, Superman’s new outfit (or lack thereof), and Jurassic Park-themed sex roleplay.

We offer some just-back-from-the-theater commentary on the new ‘Apes movie. And we run down the week in geek, including Sean’s Dragon Siege 3 experience, an early take on Conan (now with 100% more Momoa), the scornful Forza 4 Walmart Mini, the wisp of new Babylon 5 production possibility, and big Blade Runner news.

We continue our discussion of sci-fi vehicles focusing on pilot-able giant robots. And we run down the week in geek, including Warehouse 13′s renewal, Eureka’s cancellation sega, Sean’s Cowboys and Aliens impressions, SyFy’s web series Mercury Men, the new season of The Guild, Fox’s upcoming show Terra Nova, and fan reactions to the new less-pleather-more-tactical [...]

We’re joined by MIT and USC’s Dr. Henry Jenkins, who shares his thoughts on the significance of Pottermore. Chuck and Audra discuss the recent Cowboys & Aliens release. And we run down the week in geek, including possible new Cosmos episodes from the folks at Fox, new awesome design tools in Forza Motorsports, Mass Effect [...]

We’re just back from San Diego Comic Con and we talk about our experiences there and some of the awesome new news to come out of the world’s biggest geekfest. We take you right into the ‘con, too, with an audience participation podcast segment recorded at the Friday night SDCC GWC meetup. And we run [...]

We continue our vehicles in sci-fi arc with a discussion of aircraft — how they differ from spacecraft and what makes them special. Audra teases out the origins of Chuck’s Halo Scorpion fetish. And we run down the week in geek. If you’re in San Diego for Comic Con, we’d love to meet you. Check [...]

We delve into what takes a vehicle out of the ordinary and makes it stick in our minds for years to come. We wrap up Fantasy Sci-Fi League 3.0 with some well-deserved participant awards. And we run down the week in geek including widespread outrage over the Netflix price increase and our awesome casting pics [...]

We kick off a discussion of vehicles in sci-fi by defining the term “vehicle” and delving into why they’re so important to us both on and off the screen. We talk “state of the podcast” and give you a glimpse of some of our future plans for the cast and site. And we run down [...]

Audra and Chuck offer an hour’s worth of commentary over the live NASA TV feed. They pick up around 15 minutes before the launch and wrap up with an approximately 30 minute post-launch discussion of the future of the space program. We hope you enjoy this bonus content! And if you’re a first-time GWC listener, [...]

Machinema magician Ian Chisholm joins us as we discuss his trilogy-completing feature film Clear Skies 3. We present the final round of fantasy sci-fi league 3.0. And we run down the week in geek, including a True Blood update, a cool little-known game called Trenched, the car-building slickness of Forza Motorsport 4, and Audra’s ideas [...]

We fly through the third round of FSL 3.0. And we run down the week in geek, including the premiere of Outcasts, yet more new Futurama, a possible Wargames “reboot,” discussion of the latest Planet of the Apes and Trnasformers trailers, and lots more! Next week: a special GWC episode covering the newly-released Clear Skies [...]

We got a little carried away running down the week in geek this week, including some non-spoilery X-Men: First Class discussion, a recommendation of Tiger and Bunny, Chuck’s late-to-the-show comments on completing Mass Effect 2 and finally watching the end of Caprica, thoughts on the significance of San Diego Comic Con in terms of promotion [...]

We continue our memory arc joined by George Johnson, author of In The Palaces of Memory: How We Build the Worlds Inside Our Heads (and the recent Ten Most Beautiful Experiments). We tackle round one of fantasy sci-fi league 3.0. And we run down the week in geek including Opportunity’s soon approach to the appropriately-named [...]