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Dispatch Ajax! Podcast

Dispatch Ajax!

A Geek Culture Podcast - Two life-long Nerds explain, critique and poke fun at the major pillars of Geek Culture for your listening pleasure.

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20 episodes
Avg 51 min
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S2 · E132
Yesterday · 38 min
The Ballad of Count Dante
A cape, a cane topped with a lion’s head, comic book ads promising “deadliest fighting secrets,” and a real Chicago dojo war that turns deadly. We dig into the life of John Keehan, the martial arts promoter who reinvented himself as Count Dante and tried to will a legend into existence through pure swagger, spectacle, and fear. We walk through his early rise in the American karate boom, the dojos he built, and the way he marketed himself into local fame. From there, the story gets stranger and louder: a pet lion on the streets of Chicago, outrageous claims of secret Dim Mak techniques, and a lurid pamphlet that reads like pulp fiction but lands in real hands. We also talk about the complicated parts, including his claims about teaching minority students when many spaces still shut people out, and how charisma can coexist with manipulation. Then the consequences arrive. Rivalries harden into the Chicago Dojo Wars, culminating in a violent raid, a death, and a legal aftermath that leaves him publicly radioactive. The final stretch follows the unraveling: substances, shady side businesses, brushes with organized crime, and a sudden end that’s far less glamorous than the persona he sold. If you’re into martial arts history, Chicago true crime, cults of personality, or the weird pipeline from comic book ads to real world harm, this one hits hard. Subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave us a review so more people can find Dispatch Ajax.
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S2 · E131
November 4 · 54 min
RIP Walter Koenig, Bon Voyage Sir Partick Stewart
In a sad reflection of an episode we speak - off the cuff - about the loss of both Walter Koenig and Sir Patrick Stewart. Two losses in the Star Trek universe of icons that helped shape how we learned to think about the future. We start with Chekhov, how he arrives on the Enterprise as a “youth appeal” swing that somehow becomes a surprisingly sharp Cold War statement, then trace why Koenig’s presence feels permanent across The Original Series, the films, and even modern Trek. From there we get personal about fandom: conventions, fan films, and the rare performers who genuinely seem happy to meet the people who kept the lights on. Koenig’s turn as Bester on Babylon 5 comes up for a reason, because it shows how much range he had when he played against type, turning familiar goodwill into tension and menace with a smile. It’s also a reminder that sci-fi careers don’t end when a franchise ends, they echo. Then we shift to Sir Patrick Stewart, from Shakespeare and the Royal Shakespeare Company to the role of Jean-Luc Picard, and why Picard still defines a certain kind of leadership in science fiction. We talk Professor X, the gravity he brings to every scene, and the quieter choices that make him scary-good in roles like Green Room. We also spend time on Stewart’s advocacy, empathy, and how personal history can shape what an actor chooses to put on screen. If these performances mattered to you too, come listen, share it with a friend who grew up on Trek, and leave us a review so more fans can find the show. What’s the one Chekhov or Picard moment you’ll never forget?
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S2 · E130
November 1 · 51 min
Screen Zombies
For the conclusion to our annual Halloween series we lean into a modern dread and treat it like a horror creature: the Screen Zombie, a modern twist on the undead where the “bite” is a signal, a feed, a notification loop, or a broadcast that strips away empathy and agency until people move like automatons. We start with a philosophical gut-check from Descartes: how would you spot a mind versus a machine? Then we drag that question into 2026 reality, where smartphones, social media algorithms, bot-filled platforms, and always-on content can hollow out connection. We talk about the civility paradox, why online interaction can intensify hostility, and how heavy screen time ties into sleep disruption, dopamine loops, and teen mental health concerns. From there we connect loneliness and screen-only community to conspiracy ecosystems like QAnon, where an internet-shaped reality can become more powerful than the one outside your door. Then we get nerdy and cinematic. We trace zombie symbolism from Haitian folklore through Romero’s consumer critique, and we map the newer “signal-driven” subgenre with Pulse (Cairo), The Signal, Antisocial, and the clearest archetype we’ve found: Stephen King’s Cell. We also hit adjacent picks like DCeased and Await Further Instructions, plus other technozombie cousins that circle the same fear. If the screen zombie metaphor works, it’s because it doesn’t just scare us, it dares us to look up. Subscribe, share this with a friend who can’t stop scrolling, and leave a review so more people can find Dispatch Ajax.
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S2 · E129
October 23 · 47 min
Wes Craven
This week we continue our Halloween celebration with a Horror legend! Wes Craven’s name gets tossed around in the background, but we wanted to actually put him in perspective. We stack him up against the heaviest hitters, argue through the horror director Mount Rushmore debate, and explain why Craven isn’t just a legend, he’s a repeat offender at reinventing the slasher genre. We walk from the brutal early impact of The Last House on the Left to the scorched, survivalist nightmare of The Hills Have Eyes, then pull the thread that ties so much of his work together: families that fail, authority that can’t be trusted, and characters forced to build something new out of the wreckage. From there we hit A Nightmare on Elm Street and Craven’s “rubber reality,” where dream logic bleeds into the real world and Freddy Krueger becomes a different kind of monster than the usual mask-and-knife crowd. Then we go beyond the obvious. We spotlight The Serpent and the Rainbow for its hallucinatory voodoo dread and corporate exploitation, The People Under the Stairs for its nasty, still-relevant social horror, and Red Eye for proof Craven can deliver a lean, Hitchcockian thriller when he wants to stay grounded. If you love horror movies, Wes Craven films, and the history of slashers, this is a watchlist and a roadmap in one. If you like what you hear, subscribe, share the episode with a fellow horror fan, and leave us a five-star review so more people can find the show.
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S2 · E128
October 18 · 1 hr 14 min
Warlock
We’re in Spooktober mode, and we’re planting our flag. For our continuing October Halloween exploration we bring you an often overlooked Horror movie series: Warlock. It's one of those franchises we keep waiting for people to rediscover, because the first film has everything genre fans claim they want: a confident supernatural villain, strange old-world witchcraft rules, and a time-travel chase that never stops pushing forward. Julian Sands brings a “posh evil” presence that feels genuinely dangerous, sexy, and unpredictable, the kind of performance that should have made him a bigger horror household name. We dig into what makes Warlock feel different from the slasher giants and even from its supernatural peers. The magic has texture: pennies in mouths, toes bound to thumbs, cold iron, nails in footprints, boiled fat for flight, and a Grand Grimoire that can literally unmake creation if the Warlock speaks the name of God backwards. Along the way, we talk about the film’s underappreciated craft, its VHS-fueled cult life, and how studio chaos and release timing helped keep it from getting the recognition it deserved. Then we take the full franchise tour. Warlock 2 The Armageddon goes bigger, louder, and more 90s, with druid stones, eclipse stakes, and set pieces that flirt with comic book logic before that became the norm. Warlock 3 The End of Innocence, though, is where we draw a hard line, and yes, we explain why. We also hit the spin-off legacy, including a novelization, comics, and the 90s video game, plus a sober note on real-world media panic and why blaming horror movies is a shortcut. If you enjoy smart horror deep dives and cult franchise autopsies, subscribe, share the show with a fellow monster nerd, and leave us a review. What’s your Warlock ranking: 1, 2, or refuse to acknowledge 3?
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S2 · E127
October 9 · 27 min
Classic: Tales from the Dark Side
In this classic Halloween episode we look back upon a near-forgotten Horror anthology TV series - Tales from the Darkside. We trace how Creepshow and the EC Comics tradition (Tales from the Crypt, Vault of Horror) set the blueprint, then get into the messy rights reality that forced Romero’s team to build something adjacent rather than literal. From there, we spotlight the October 1983 premiere “Trick or Treat,” a nasty little morality play about debt, greed, and a Halloween-night reckoning that feels like the purest form of anthology justice. Then we jump into one of the most fun conversations of the night: “Inside the Closet,” directed by Tom Savini, complete with our beat-by-beat reaction to the tension, the synthy creep factor, and the moment the “closet monster” earns a nickname and an unexpected kind of charm. We also nerd out over how stacked the bench is, from major horror authors and short-story adaptations to an absurdly deep guest star list that makes the show feel like a secret casting time capsule.
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S2 · E126
October 3 · 58 min
Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat
In a scattered discussion, we break down the cult vampire film Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat. We talk through the movie’s best hook: a hidden vampire community that’s trying to go legit with sunscreen, public-facing small-town life, and a factory producing a synthetic blood substitute so vampires can stop feeding on humans. From there, the story splinters into factions and a quiet coup against David Carradine’s Mardulak, a human family dragged into vampire politics, and a rival vampire’s nasty, sexually charged scheme that drives the ugliest tension in the plot. Along the way, we call out the moments that feel weirdly ahead of their time, especially if you like True Blood style vampire society storytelling.
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S2 · E125
September 23 · 37 min
Star Trek at 60: The State of Trek Today
Star Trek turns 60 and somehow the big story is this: the pipeline is drying up, the creative direction feels scattered, and the one show still on the air is starting to lose us. We talk through Strange New Worlds season four and why the constant genre tribute approach starts to feel like “holodeck episodes all season” with none of the payoff. When every week becomes a parody or a pastiche, the ship stops feeling real, character choices stop carrying weight, and we catch ourselves checking out instead of leaning in. We also get specific about what works and what does not. A musical can land when the format reveals character and the plot uses Star Trek logic to justify the weirdness. But when an episode is “just Buffy” or “just a soap opera” or “just Crimson Tide in space,” it can feel like modern TV is regurgitating familiar IP instead of taking a real swing at something new. That frustration becomes a bigger conversation about Hollywood’s dependence on recognizable templates and why audiences can sense desperation even when the production values look great. Then we zoom out to the franchise level: our breakdown of modern Trek as a post-2009 phase shaped by Abrams-era storytelling and the Kurtzman production machine, the way streaming exclusivity narrows who actually shows up, and the corporate chaos at Paramount that keeps killing movies before they happen. We end with the uncomfortable question we cannot avoid: would a real pause help Star Trek come back with a clear vision, or is this the slow fade? Subscribe, share the episode with a Trek friend, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. What genre stunt finally made you tap out, and what would you want a true Star Trek reset to look like?
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S2 · E124
September 18 · 8 min
Star Trek at 60: NüTrek: Supplemental (Classic)
In the classic monologue we go into some of the details we didin't get to in our previous NüTrek breakdowns. We jump back into the debate around Star Trek: Discovery and the bigger question behind every prequel choice, where does “updating the franchise” end and where does breaking continuity begin? When a show introduces capabilities that feel too advanced for its place on the timeline, it does not just create trivia errors, it can erase the exact constraints that later episodes rely on for tension, mystery, and character problem-solving. We dig into a deceptively small detail with huge ripple effects: the Delta insignia. In The Original Series, ship badges are not one-size-fits-all, and the Delta is tightly linked to the USS Enterprise before it becomes a broader Starfleet symbol later on. So why does it show up in places it arguably should not, including modern prequel-era storytelling and even Kelvin-era design choices? We walk through the fan logic, the timeline-split hand waves, and the uncomfortable moments where the “easy” explanations start to feel like patch jobs rather than worldbuilding.
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S2 · E123
September 11 · 1 hr 24 min
Star Trek at 60: NÜTrek Part 2
In another installment of our series celebrating Star Trek's 60th anniversary we bring you a classic episode breaking down the fanchises' 4th wave. We spend real time on the infamous spore drive, the way instant travel wrecks stakes, and how Discovery ends up writing itself into a corner that later Trek has to tiptoe around. From there we jump to the Dilithium Burn and the far-future setting, asking basic worldbuilding questions the show never answers cleanly, like how the Romulans fit into a galaxy where dilithium suddenly becomes the only thing that matters. Along the way, we talk lost eras, canon gaps, showrunner chaos, and why a procedural, competence-driven Trek structure is still the franchise’s secret weapon. Then we get to the Section 31 streaming film: a “redemption” pitch wrapped around Space Vegas vibes, a planet-killer box, and a crew that feels assembled for a series bible instead of a coherent movie. We’re blunt about what doesn’t work, but we also point to why Strange New Worlds proves there’s still a path forward if the writing honors consequences and lets characters earn their turns.
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S2 · E122
September 10 · 1 hr 10 min
Star Trek at 60: NüTrek Part 1
In our ongoing celebration of Star Trek's 60th anniversary we revisit our commentary on Trek's 4th wave (as of last year). We dig into the real-world mechanics behind the J.J. Abrams era: studio splits, blockbuster incentives, and the creative team that helped steer the franchise toward speed, spectacle, and recognizable references. Then we get specific. We break down Star Trek 2009’s strongest moves and its most telling shortcuts, from technobabble that stops meaning anything to plot coincidences that feel like the script is shoving characters into place. Along the way, we unpack Romulan and Vulcan history, the Hobus supernova, Red Matter, and how the wormhole incident creates the Kelvin universe while leaving Prime continuity to pick up the pieces. From there, we jump to Star Trek: Discovery, where canon placement and the Mirror Universe rules get complicated fast. That sets the stage for Section 31, a concept that could deliver Star Trek’s sharpest political commentary: a Starfleet CIA analog justified by “extraordinary measures” in the name of security. We connect that idea to real intelligence history and ask what happens when a moral problem becomes an aesthetic.
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S2 · E121
September 8 · 1 hr 6 min
Star Trek at 60: Trekonomics (Classic)
To celebrate Star Trek's 60th Anniversary we thought we'd present a series of both old and new episodes that cover a wide swath of Trek topics. First up, an early show we did about the economics of the universe and how commerce works when you don't have money. 'Ever wonder how the economy of Star Trek works? Well, we'll break down the complicated concept of Future Money (or the lack there-of) in sci-fi's most enduring legacy franchise. This will be the first in a reoccurring series of Trek Talks on this topic and many others for your listening pleasure! Hubba Hubba Hubba, Money Money Money, Who do You Trust?'
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S2 · E120
September 6 · 1 hr 7 min
Comic Books 101
Comic shops can feel welcoming and hostile at the same time, mostly because the language is a maze. We break that maze into simple, usable terms so you can walk in knowing what to ask for, what you’re looking at on the shelves, and how to avoid the classic awkward moments at the counter.
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S2 · E119
August 27 · 41 min
Classic: Artificial Intelligence Part 3
In a classic and timely episode on Artificial Intellegence we wrestle with the personhood problem. If a replicant can feel fear, build memories, form attachments, and fight to live, what exactly makes them “less than” besides a corporate definition, a programmed lifespan, or a society that needs someone to do the jobs humans don’t want? That question echoes into the real world, where legal systems and public stunts can gesture at “rights” without resolving the deeper ethical mess.
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S2 · E118
August 19 · 1 hr 16 min
Classic: Artificial Intelligence Part 2
In a classic - yet timely - episode we continue digging in to what we call Artificial Intellegence these days and what it's been throughout pop culture. We sort through the terms people blur together, like consciousness, sentience, and self-awareness, and lay out common indicators researchers look for, from internal world models to self-monitoring.
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S2 · E117
August 12 · 29 min
Pets and Companions, Part 2
An animal companion isn’t just cute, loyal, or marketable. The best ones force a moral choice, expose a character’s blind spot, or act like nature’s voice when humans get too comfortable with their own excuses. We dig into why animal companions in fantasy and science fiction keep landing so hard, and why the trope feels bigger than a sidekick.
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S2 · E116
August 6 · 52 min
Classic: Artificial Intelligence Part 1
While we're deal with some crazy life stuff we thought we'd revisit a rapidly changing topic in Artificial Intelligence. We walk through the foundations that make AI feel inevitable: formal reasoning, the Church Turing thesis, early neural network ideas, and the Turing test as our most famous shortcut for judging “intelligence.” Along the way, we hit the hype cycles and turning points, from early chess machines and the coining of the word robot to research booms, AI winter, and the moment responsive machines become normal in American homes.
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S2 · E115
July 31 · 33 min
Pets and Companions
Why do pets and animal companions in fiction feel so immediate, so universally legible, and so devastating when a story takes them away? We pull threads from everywhere, comic book pets like Krypto, the daemon companions of His Dark Materials, and the long mythic history of loyal animals that reveal a hero’s character. From Odysseus and Argus to the Mahabharata’s stray dog test, we track what separates a true companion from a symbol or a beast of burden: mutual attachment, choice, and the kind of love that costs something.
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S2 · E114
July 23 · 45 min
The BC Fourteen Cinematic Universe
Bigfoot in space, Krampus as a demonic Christmas weapon, a clone of Alistair Crowley, reptilian Stalin, Satan pulling strings, and a title card that promises a fight that may never happen. That’s not a mad lib we wrote, it’s the kind of chaos you can trip over on Tubi when the autoplay algorithm decides you’re ready for BC Fourteen. We go beyond the handle, the pseudonyms, the surprisingly normal “working creator” backstory, and the pivot from horror shorts and writing into kid-friendly projects and then adult animated “versus” movies. From there, we unpack the most unhinged loglines in the BC Fourteen cinematic universe, including Bigfoot vs. Krampus and the larger web of Trump vs. the Illuminati style entries that seem engineered for discoverability on streaming.
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S2 · E113
July 15 · 1 hr 4 min
Sci-Why? F.U.! - Garth Marenghi's Darkplace
* Redownload if necessary* Greetings, fellow traveller. For our Sci-Fi Channel series finale we bring you Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, a short-lived but brilliant British parody show that never really got its due. (Sorry we were a little late on this episode, but Jake and I both had some pretty serious life stuff happen. Trying to get back on track.) We break down what makes the mockumentary format work so well, from the talking-head commentary to the show-within-a-show mechanics that let the creators land jokes at multiple levels at once. Along the way, we talk about the people who make it sing: Matthew Holness building an entire career-long bit as Garth, Richard Ayoade’s razor control as Dean Lerner, Matt Berry’s instantly recognizable voice work, and Alice Lowe’s deliberately sidelined role that sharpens the satire. We also trace the project’s stage roots, the specific TV influences that shaped it, and why the “lost VHS” framing turns cheap production into a feature rather than a flaw.
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