A podcast about people who really, really love stuff — and the people who make that stuff. We dive into the world of geek fan culture, interviewing both devoted fans and creators about their favorite comics, movies, TV shows, and how they celebrate them. From famous filmmakers to fan fiction writers, and celebrities to cosplayers, we are like a weekly Comic-Con party for your ears. Follow us on Twitter: @FandomFilesSYFY.
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Fandom Files Podcasts
/report came out of the primordial ooze of cheap technology and even cheaper tastes in media consumption. If you've ever been listening to a podcast about culture and wished it was a little more downmarket or the dudes would make out, or if you've found yourself watching obscure movies just to see your favorite Canadian sci-fi actor romp around like a third-year theater student, you've found a kindred spirit in us. Mklutz and Pru host our weekly (usually) Sunday updates, and have cultivated ...
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From cult leaders to con artists and undercover FBI agents, PRETEND exposes those pretending to be someone they're not.
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convention & cosplay lore (est 2000)
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Your weekly deep-dive into the archives of Roddenberry Entertainment, from the personal files of Gene Roddenberry. Each week, “Dr. Trek” himself, Larry Nemecek, and his guest host will take a behind-the-scenes look at documents that haven’t been viewed in decades—many being revealed publicly for the very first time!
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The Niche Files is a pop culture and media podcast where three nerdy friends dive into cult classics, forgotten gems, and fan favorites. We overanalyze movies, shows, books, and games with humor, deep dives, and plenty of unhinged tangents. Sometimes it’s overlooked, sometimes it’s weird, and sometimes it’s just something we love too much not to share. Expect chaotic debates, fandom hot takes, and maybe too much thought about which fictional characters are... dateable. Come for the nostalgia ...
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Marginalized voices have always been at the forefront of the internet, yet our stories often go overlooked. Bridget Todd chronicles our experiences online, and the ways marginalized voices have shaped the internet from the very beginning. We need monuments to all of the identities that make being online what it is. So let’s build them.
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The Renner Files is a new kind of true crime podcast… one that’s not about true crime at all. Instead it’s about Jeremy Renner’s ill-fated app. Why did Oscar-nominated actor Jeremy Renner ever have an app? What did it do? Who made it? Who used it? And why did it shake the internet to its core? Hosts Caroline Goldfarb and Sarah Ramos set out to investigate the mystery of the app, but got so much more in return. The Renner Files tells a larger story: one about the dangerous side of celebrity f ...
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14-6 Star Trekkies Maintain the Faith – 50 Years of Fandom
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24:21Long before the internet brought fans together, the Star Trek community thrived through newsletters, potlucks, and passionate word of mouth. This week, The Trek Files celebrates the 50th anniversary of the United Federation of Phoenix (UFP), the longest-running independent Star Trek fan club, with guest Dr. David Williams, UFP member and Arizona St…
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Can BlackSky Fix What Twitter Broke Using Bluesky Tech? (w/ Rudy Fraser)
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57:55When Elon Musk took over X, a lot of us left the platform, searching for alternatives. One platform that gained attention is Bluesky. It looks a lot like Twitter, but it’s different. Bluesky is built on a decentralized system, and that decentralized nature has allowed powerful pockets of community to emerge. To date, Blacksky is the biggest and mos…
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14-7 The True One – Cash Edwards and the Early Days of TNG
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21:36The first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation was famously turbulent, but behind the scenes, it was also a hive of creative experimentation and open doors for new voices. This week, we welcome veteran writer/producer Cash Edwards, whose original story pitch “The True One” caught the attention of Gene Roddenberry, D.C. Fontana, and his longtime…
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Cracks in the Fandom — Part 3 (Edited Copyright Cut) PRETEND: Stories about real people pretending to be someone they’re not Michelle Ivey has been painted as the villain. Meghan Walsh calls her a stalker, a criminal, a threat to her life. She’s warned not to contact her. But in this episode, I do just that. I talk to Michelle. And what I find is s…
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The Goosebumps celebration continues -- but this time, things get weirder. Cody takes Ryan and Kass through the show’s strangest, silliest, and most wonderfully unhinged episodes... from evil lawn gnomes and comic-book villains to giant ants and one very cursed baby. We’re not here to scare you (okay, maybe a little); we’re here to celebrate the ca…
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Taylor Swift’s “Nazi” necklace controversy; ChatGPT is doing porn; Amazon is exploiting pregnant workers; Pinterest addresses AI slop – News Roundup
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58:49Welcome to the weekly News Roundup! Bridget recaps the week's tech stories that you might have missed. Pop superstar apparently pulls controversial necklace after Nazi imagery backlash: https://www.cleveland.com/news/2025/10/pop-superstar-apparently-pulls-controversial-necklace-after-nazi-imagery-backlash.html Here's Bridget's 2016 take on Taylor S…
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Is Taylor Swift a Trad Wife? The Internet Thinks So (w/ Jo Piazza)
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50:18Taylor Swift is getting married. And on her new album, The Life of a Showgirl, she sounds over the moon about it. But online, everyone’s asking: Is Taylor Swift a “trad wife” now? In this episode, Bridget dives into the rise of trad wife culture with author and journalist Jo Piazza, host of the podcast Under The Influence and author of the juicy ne…
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Meghan Walsh says she is being stalked by three people. One of them is Law & Order: SVU star Mariska Hargitay. Sounds impossible, right? But she’s not the only one saying it. In this episode, we meet Lauren. She claims to be the biological mother of Mariska’s adopted daughter. Her story begins with a supposed secret adoption, and spirals into accus…
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Things are getting weird at The Niche Files! In the upcoming Part 2 of our Goosebumps 30th anniversary special, we're diving into some of the strangest, silliest, and most gloriously bizarre episodes the '90s had to offer. The awesome dark synthwave cover of the Goosebumps Theme you hear in this trailer is used with permission from our new friend D…
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Drake Defamation Diss; Trump loses Nobel Prize; Robin Williams’ daughter slams Open AI’s Sora; Google Drops Women; YouTuber kills as "vengeance" for Charlie Kirk - NEWS ROUNDUP!
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54:36Welcome to the weekly News Roundup! Bridget and Producer Mike recap the week's tech stories that you might have missed. It’s True: The Internet Skews the Reality of Women (and Men) in the Workforce https://www.motherjones.com/media/2025/10/nature-study-berkeley-haas-online-internet-images-gender-bias-workforce-false-reality-women/ Read the study (G…
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14-5 Animated, Allegorical, and Ahead of Its Time
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22:36By Roddenberry Entertainment
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Mark Zuckerberg Doesn’t Want You Talking About Abortion on Instagram
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45:04By iHeartPodcasts
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By True Story Media
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This week on The Niche Files, we’re going back to 1995 to revisit the Goosebumps TV series that defined a spooky childhood. Cody counts down her top five favorite episodes, shares why The Haunted Mask is the best episode, and tries to convince Ryan and Kass that some stories are actually timeless. Along the way, we laugh at the cheesy effects, talk…
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Elon boycotts Netflix; Ted Cruz Hates Privacy; Kash Patel Calls ADL Terrorists; Extremism is Bad for Marriage; RIP AOL – NEWS ROUNDUP!
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1:12:42Transgender for everybody! Everything is computer! We’re in a silly, tangent filled mood for this one! Every week Bridget recaps the tech news stories you might have missed, so you don't have to. This week she's joined by TANGOTI producer Joey Patt. Elon Musk calls for a Netflix Boycott, but we're not linking to him and you can't make us. Misinform…
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Tylenol Autism Claims are Harming Women While Wellness Grifters Profit
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50:41Wellness influencers are perfecting the art of turning pseudoscience into profit. Whether they're selling supplements, offering classes, or just chasing engagement, an army of wellness grifters has weaponized mistrust of institutions and Big Pharma, peddling false health claims that trick people into treatments and practices that are ineffective at…
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A 32-year-old woman enrolled herself in three Boston high schools and passed as a teenager. She sat in classrooms, made friends with freshmen, and even joined the girls basketball team. She wore number 32 on her jersey, which also happened to be her real age. This is the story of Shelby Hewitt, a state social worker who lived a double life. For two…
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The introduction of Hugh in Star Trek: The Next Generation’s “I, Borg” added emotional depth to the franchise’s most terrifying villains and reshaped Trek’s approach to individuality and redemption. This week on The Trek Files, returning guest Adam Kotsko joins us to examine the legacy of Hugh’s first appearance, using a March 6, 1992 call sheet as…
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Remember reading Goosebumps under the covers with a flashlight? We’re bringing that feeling back. Kick off spooky season with us as we celebrate 30 years of Goosebumps!By The Niche Crew
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Charlie Kirk Snitch App Data Leak; TikTok Rapture; David Lynch AI Reddit Revolt; Meta Exploits Parents' Photos – NEWS ROUNDUP
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1:02:54App for outing people who were insufficiently mournful of Charlie Kirk critics leaked its own users’ personal data through security blunders: https://san.com/cc/app-for-outing-charlie-kirks-critics-leaked-its-users-personal-data/ Meta is using parents’ back-to-school photos of their girls to advertise Threads to grown men: https://www.theguardian.c…
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Karen Attiah, last Black columnist at Washington Post, fired for insufficiently mourning Charlie Kirk
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56:00In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s murder, the Trump Administration and their collaborators are prosecuting a widespread crackdown on free expression. Karen Attiah has been a columnist at the Washington Post for 11 years, and was the last remaining Black columnist at the newspaper until last week. She was fired, allegedly for being insufficiently mournf…
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2209: The Stalker: Rick Fernandez’s Guilty Plea
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12:25Breaking news in the stalker case: Rick Fernandez has pleaded guilty to harassment. Instead of facing trial, he admitted responsibility for a new wave of harassment tied to the book he published while awaiting trial on felony charges. His sentence? 180 days in jail (suspended) along with three years of probation. If Rick contacts the victims direct…
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14-3 Artifacts and Aspirations – Trek’s Smithsonian Legacy
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26:08How did Star Trek go from television soundstage to national treasure? This week, we continue our conversation with Glen Swanson, former NASA historian and author of Inspired Enterprise, to explore a deeper chapter in Trek’s relationship with the Smithsonian. Through an exchange of letters between Gene Roddenberry and F.C. Durant, Assistant Director…
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In this week’s episode of The Niche Files, we dive into FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992) -- the animated classic that made a generation of kids hug trees. Ryan gets banished to the Shadow Realm, Kass takes the host seat for the first time, and Cody debuts her very first Hear Me Out segment: yes, it’s about Hexxus. (You’ve been warned.) Along t…
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Jimmy Kimmel Fired by Disney; Karen Attiah Fired from the Post; DOJ Hides Far Right Extremism; Ads On Your Fridge! – NEWS ROUNDUP w/ L. Joy Williams
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54:51Not gonna lie - it's been a rough week. The Trump administration has used Charlie Kirk's murder to crack down on dissent, shocking even their allies with their willingness to threaten critics and trample First Amendment values. But these authoritarians will fail. Bridget is joined by L. Joy Williams, president of the New York NAACP and host Sunday …
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Love Island Fandoms Get Dark ; Kristi Noem Writes the Rules at CBS; Girls Do Porn Creator Convicted; AI Podcast Startup - NEWS ROUNDUP! w/ Ashley Ray
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54:49Welcome to our weekly news round up, where we dig into some of the tech stories you might have missed. This week, Bridget is joined by guest co-host Ashley Ray, host of Courier's smart podcast "TV I Say." CBS just keeps caving harder and harder to appease the Trump administration. https://newrepublic.com/article/199889/kristi-noem-attack-cbs-kilmar…
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Listener discretion is advised. This episode contains discussions of sexual abuse and may not be suitable for all audiences. In 1964, Winston Moseley stalked and murdered Kitty Genovese. The case became infamous not only for its brutality but also for the silence of neighbors who heard her cries and did nothing. During his trial, Moseley confessed …
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14-2 Beaming into the Smithsonian – Star Trek’s First Museum Mission
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17:48Long before Star Trek props toured conventions and museums, one historic copy of the pilot episode found its way into the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum with help from Leonard Nimoy and Gene Roddenberry. This week, The Trek Files welcomes Glen Swanson, former NASA historian and author of Inspired Enterprise, to share the remarkable sto…
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Ryan tried to start the intro. Kass had other plans. Cody just had a great time either way. There's chaos, banishment, and the ever-looming threat that absolutely nobody is safe from Kass's wrath.By The Niche Crew
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Charlie Kirk’s Legacy Is Being Rewritten. Remember Who He Was.
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35:57Charlie Kirk built his career by debating students and spreading rhetoric that was too often dismissed as “spirited debate.” Now, in the wake of his death, politicians and media outlets are rushing to rewrite his legacy. In this episode, Bridget digs into what Kirk really stood for, why his words mattered, and why violence doesn’t erase bigotry. Se…
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The Dark Money Scandal Rocking Democratic Influencers
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58:49Last week in Wired, Taylor Lorenz published an exposé on Chorus, a new force in Democratic politics that is funding Democratic influencers. Her piece has sparked major controversy among political influencers and their observers online. In this episode, Bridget breaks down what the article reveals (and what it leaves out), and explores what this fig…
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14-1 George Takei: Where No Man Had Gone Before
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37:44We’re kicking off Season 14 with a legend. George Takei joins The Trek Files to reflect on landing the role of Sulu in Star Trek’s second pilot, “Where No Man Has Gone Before”—filmed 60 years ago in July 1965. With humor and honesty, George recalls the early days on set at Desilu’s Culver Studios, working alongside James Doohan, and navigating the …
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Tyler Fehrman went undercover for the FBI after his mentor, Ohio GOP chair Matt Borges, offered him a $15,000 check. His recordings helped uncover a $63 million bribery scheme that brought down House Speaker Larry Householder. This is Part Two of State of Corruption from Pretend. Credits: Portions of this episode reference material from the HBO doc…
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The John Wick Super Happy Fun Time Game Show Power Half an Hour
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35:58A “normal” podcast was never an option. Instead, Ryan turned this week into part trivia, part chaos experiment, and just enough nonsense to make us wonder why we gave him this much control in the first place. There are premature bonks, quack attacks, and the shocking realization that Kass and Cody knew more about John Wick than they even thought. F…
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Joe Rogan falls for AI deepfake; Elon Musk ignores abuse victim; Meta celeb bots flirt with kids; Luigi's new Shein modeling gig – NEWS ROUNDUP!
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1:05:44On this week's edition, Bridget runs through the news with Producer Mike. Tech companies saying, "Our policies prohibit the harm that is rampant on our platform!" is the theme of today's episode. AI deepfake comic: https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/aaaah Meta creates flirty celebrity chatbots without permission, calls it "parody," trains them to ta…
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Debunking “Trans Terror” Moral Panic After the Minneapolis Shooting
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1:01:17Rightwing media often spread the myth that trans people are violent or dangerous — a false narrative with zero evidence. These “trans terror” stories persist online and in the news, fueling real-world harm against the trans community. In this episode, Bridget and producer Joey Patt unpack the origins of these myths, explain why they stick, and show…
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