The STARLOG Podcast

Welcome back to The STARLOG Podcast! Now with a magazine!

If you head to STARLOG.com right now, you can pre-order the first issue of the second volume of STARLOG Magazine (or issue #375 if you are keeping the legacy numbering going)! In celebration of the future of STARLOG, we’re getting a blessing from one of the minds behind the classic.

Kerry O’Quinn, 88 years young co-founder of STARLOG, and an early co-publisher, joins the podcast, alongside current Editor-In-Chief Annalee Newitz and Senior Editor Meredith Borders. Kerry begins by asking the new team what motivated STARLOG’s return, then Annalee, Meredith, and Jordan ask Kerry about launching the magazine and his relationships to sci-fi luminaries like Gene Roddenberry and George Lucas.

Follow STARLOG on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/starlogmedia/

Follow STARLOG on Bluesky

https://bsky.app/profile/starlogmedia.bsky.social

Order the STARLOG Magazine:

https://www.starlog.com/

NEXT WEEK:

Director Jodie Willie beams into the STARLOG podcast to talk about her newest documentary Welcome Space Brothers, which tells the story of Ruth E Norman and the Unarius Academy of Science, an extraterrestrial-channeling spiritual school founded in El Cajon in the 1970s. Keep the green light on with us!

FORMAT:

00:00 - Welcome to Episode 21!

05:15 - Kerry O’Quinn, Annalee Newitz, and Meredith Borders!

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Welcome back to The STARLOG Podcast!

This episode is a little different than our past episodes as we honor the passing of actors and Star Trek legends Sir Patrick Stewart and Walter Koenig. Instead of a new science fiction topic, Jordan and Dave share some of their memories about the actors and the projects they worked on. Then, the guys stumble across a great name for a possible new dwarf planet for What’s Happening in Science Fact? Before finding some Walter Koenig gems in the STARLOG Archive.

This week, author and television critic extraordinaire Alan Sepinwall pulls the podcast into The Twilight Zone to talk about the man who created the series: Rod Serling. Alan is the author of the new book Serling: A Journey into the Twilight Zone with TV’s First Visionary, a biography that uses specific works of Serling's and interviews with now-famous fans to tell the story of the man behind the television shows we love.

Follow Alan Sepinwall on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/sepinwall/

Follow Alan Sepinwall on Bluesky

https://bsky.app/profile/sepinwall.bsky.social

Get more writing, reviews and podcasts from Alan:

https://www.whatsalanwatching.com/

Get Serling: A Journey into the Twilight Zone with TV’s First Visionary!

https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/alan-sepinwall/serling/9781538773888/

NEXT WEEK:

STARLOG Magazine is officially back and The STARLOG Podcast wanted to be the first to unite co-founder of STARLOG Kerry O'Quinn with the new STARLOG Magazine’s Editor-In-Chief Annalee Newitz and Senior Editor Meredith Borders. Kerry’s here to tell us the real story behind STARLOG Magazine and his encounters with the likes of science fiction legends like George Lucas, Arthur C. Clarke, and Gene Roddenberry. Don’t miss our special episode!

FORMAT:

00:00 - Welcome to Episode 20!

01:55 - Remembering Patrick Stewart and Walter Koenig

15:02 - What’s Happening in Science Fact?

21:55 - The STARLOG Archive - Chekov's Enterprise

30:41 - Alan Sepinwall!
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Welcome back to The STARLOG Podcast!

This episode was recorded before we received the sad news that actor Walter Koenig died at age 90. Next week’s episode will include more Koenig memorial, but this week we’re going to catch you up on Disney Plus’ VisionQuest, the new Marvel streaming series. For science fact, Jordan attended a concert of mushrooms (for real), and in the STARLOG Archive we devote the segment to some very special letters from readers past.

This week, we have our first guest who is also a contributor to the new issue of STARLOG Magazine! Author Mahmud El Sayed joins the podcast to talk about his new sci-fi novel about a generation ship divided by language: The Republic of Memory. The trio also discuss Mahmud’s upcoming piece in STARLOG pertaining to how Arab cultures are portrayed in adaptations of Frank Herbert’s Dune, and his interest in the arabfuturism genre of science fiction writing.

Follow Mahmud El Sayed on Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/mahmud0elsayed

Follow Mahmud El Sayed on Blueskyhttps://bsky.app/profile/mahmudelsayed.bsky.social

Get The Republic of Memory!

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Republic-of-Memory/Mahmud-El-Sayed/The-Song-of-the-Safina/9781668207192

NEXT WEEK:

We’re headed to The Twilight Zone with television critic extraordinaire Alan Sepinwall! Sepinwall’s new book is called Serling: A Journey Into the Twilight Zone with TV's First Visionary and serves as the author’s first media biography in the form of television criticism. We’ll talk Serling and The Twilight Zone highs and lows next week!

FORMAT:

00:00 - Welcome to Episode 19! R.I.P Walter Koenig

02:26 - What’s New in Science Fiction?

11:20 - What’s Happening in Science Fact?

16:36 - The STARLOG Archive - Letters to the Magazine

28:05 - Mahmud El Sayed!

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Welcome back to The STARLOG Podcast!

In this episode, New York Comic Con 2026 is over, and your hosts Jordan Hoffman and Dave Gonzales have some exciting news about Avatar: Seven Havens and a new Blade Runner series Blade Runner 2099 coming to Amazon Prime. Currently on Amazon Prime is Carrie, which seems to be leading towards a larger Stephen King Universe. Plus, Mayan scientists get name dropped in What’s Happening in Science Fact? and there’s pulp microfilm down in the STARLOG Archive.

This week’s guest is archivist, curator, and filmmaker Michael Chaiken, who was tasked by the Criterion Collection with assembling “The Complete Kubrick,” the first full collection of Stanley Kubrick’s films. Not only has Chaiken helped with archives for luminaries like Randy Newman and Bob Dylan, but he gives the podcast a glimpse of what it was like to choose what absolutely needed to be included in the biggest Stanley Kubrick home media release ever.

“The Complete Kubrick” is listed on Criterion now! https://www.criterion.com/boxsets/9000-the-complete-kubrick

Catch the Kubrick at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York ! https://movingimage.org/series/kubrick/

More Michael Chaiken

https://www.michaelchaiken.com/

NEXT WEEK:

Next week, STARLOG welcomes author and STARLOG Magazine contributor Mahmud El Sayed who will share insights about his newest sci-fi novel The Republic of Memory as well as give our hosts a peek into his thoughts about Arabfuturism and his magazine piece about the various adaptations of Dune.

FORMAT:

00:00 - Welcome to Episode 18!

02:46 - What’s New in Science Fiction?

15:55 - What’s Happening in Science Fact?

20:56 - The STARLOG Archive - Pulp Microfilm

26:41 - Michael Chaiken!

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Welcome back to The STARLOG Podcast!

In this episode, HBO’s Lanterns has completed its first season and now is the time for Green Lantern fan and podcast host Jordan Hoffman to render final judgement on the prestige television green magic space ring show! Then, after more depressing A.I. news in this week’s Science Fact, we get the ultimate lesson in providing receipts from Star Trek writer D.C. Fontana in the STARLOG Archive.

This week’s guest Annalee Newitz, the Editor-In-Chief of STARLOG Volume 2! Annalee is here to talk about their newest novel A Wall Is Also a Road and not about STARLOG Magazine (this time). There’s a lot to talk about in this tale about Gardenpath, a slime mold and Murtis, a talented sex worker from Pompeii. Based science, Annalee explains how ancient Pompeii really used urine in wool processing and how a non-human scientist might view an Earth sunset.

A Wall Is Also a Road is on sale now! https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250228031/awallisalsoaroad/

Follow Annalee Newitz on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ghidorahnotweak/

Follow Annalee Newitz on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/annaleen.bsky.social

NEXT WEEK:

Next week, STARLOG’s going to the Kubrick Archives with archivist, curator, and filmmaker Micahel Chaiken, who was tasked by the Criterion Collection with assembling “The Complete Kubrick,” the first full collection of Stanley Kubrick’s films.

FORMAT:

00:00 - Welcome to Episode 17!

02:45 - What’s New in Science Fiction?

12:15 - What’s Happening in Science Fact?

23:30 - The STARLOG Archive - D.C. Fontana Corrects the Record

32:34 - Annalee Newitz!

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