In this episode, we were convinced by J. Robert Oppenheimer’s elevator pitch to join the Manhattan Project so we watched the movie Oppenheimer (2023). How well did Christopher Nolan capture the life and tribulations of the “father of the atomic bomb?” Does the movie blend the mix of history, science, and international drama in an entertaining way to stay in your seat for three hours? Is this the biggest nuclear war movie of our lifetimes – for those born after 1964 at least? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast), co-host James Sheehan (@JSheehanDC), and special guest Dr. Justin Anderson (@Atomic_Chess) answer these questions and more. Before we pack our bags to camp out in the New Mexico desert for an indeterminate amount of time, we recommend: • Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, 2005 • Steve Sheinkin, Bomb (Graphic Novel), 2023 • Jonathan Fetter-Vorm, Trinity: A Graphic Novel of the History of the First Atomic Bomb, 2012 • Gregg Herkin, Brotherhood of the Bomb: The Tangled Lives and Loyalties of Robert Oppenheimer, Ernest Lawrence, and Edward Teller, 2002 • Oppenheimer (1980 TV mini-series) • The Social Network (2010 movie) • The Imitation Game (2014 movie) • Widespread Annihilation (game card), Flesh and Blood tabletop game (Dusk Till Dawn edition) • Los Alamos National Laboratory, “Plutonium and poetry: Where Trinity and Oppenheimer's reading habits met,” (Recommendations from Oppenheimer for further reading), July 14, 2021 Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter/X @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube. Enjoy!

In this episode, we gassed up our Landmaster 16-wheeled RV and hit the open roads to the drive-in theater to watch Damnation Alley (1977). How did this post-nuclear war road trip movie challenge its characters with radioactive landscapes and killer cockroaches. Why did Jan Michael Vincent call all the nuclear ICBMs to launch? What would you do if the CD player on your RV breaks halfway thru your half-life road trip? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast), co-host James Sheehan (@JSheehanDC), and special guest Dr. Natasha Bajema (@WMDGirl) answer these questions and more. Full movie (link working as of July 2023): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4eIKx2LEPU Before our RV converted to a boat in Detroit, we recommend: • Natasha Bajema, Rescind Order: A Highly Suspenseful Technothriller About Nuclear Weapons and Artificial Intelligence, 2020 book • natashabajema.com • RadioactiveRoadTrippinRR, YouTube channel • John Noonan, “In Nuclear Silos, Death Wears a Snuggie,” Wired, January 14, 2011 • The Day the Earth Caught Fire, 1961 movie • Thunder in Paradise, 1994 TV show • Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka, WarDay, 1984 book • Nitty Gritty Band rendition of Will the Circle Be Unbroken • Magic the Gathering, Armageddon card Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube. Enjoy!

In this episode, we count our blessings we survived a nuclear war long enough to watch the movie Five (1951) about a small group of people trying to rebuild civilization after radioactive fallout kills everyone else. This is the first movie showing a post-nuclear war story, so how did it do? Did it accurately portray radiation sickness or nuclear war dynamics? What did the five fingers say to the Red Button (spoiler: it is “slap!”)? Tim Westmyer (@Westmyer) and James Sheehan (@JSheehanDC) answer these questions and more. Before we harvested our atomic cornfields, we recommend: -The Last Man on Earth (TV series) -There Will Be Blood (2007 Movie) -Six String Samurai (1998 Movie) -Mad Max: Fury Road (2015 Movie) -12 Angry Men (1957 Movie) -How To Blow Up a Pipeline (2022 Movie) -On the Beach (1959 Movie) Enjoy!

In this episode, we took in a double feature of The Core (2003) and Sunshine (2007), a pair of movies where nuclear weapons are deployed to locations far away from the Earth’s surface to save humanity. How could nukes respin the Earth’s core or reignite the sun? How does the role of “nukes as heroes” jive with the usual “nukes, aren’t those the baddies?” themes? Why does Cillian Murphy keep getting typecast as “tortured inventor of a weapon of mass destruction”: Robert Capa, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Scarecrow? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and new co-host James Sheehan (@jsheehandc) answer these questions and more. Before we leave the safety of Virgil’s atomic drill train, we recommend: -David Kagan, Sunstroke, 1993 book -Aniara (2018 movie) -Theodore Shabad, “Soviet Union Discloses Nuclear Blast that Put Out Fire in Gas Field,” New York Times, December 12, 1971 -Blank Check Podcast - Sunshine -Ad Astra (2019 movie) -Trainspotting (1996 movie) We also recommend checking out: Anthony Kaufman, “Separating the Science from the Fiction in Sunshine,” Sloan Science and Film, November 15, 2007 Jon O’Brien, “ 15 Years Ago, Danny Boyle Made the Most Scientific Space Thriller Ever,” Inverse, July 18, 2022 Marcus Chown, “Review: Sunshine,” New Scientist, April 3, 2007 “Actor Dustin Hoffman Lobbies for More Reality in Science-Fiction Movies,” News.com.au, March 30, 2009 Michelle Ealey, “Did the Movie ‘The Core’ Get Anything Right?,” ScienceFiction.com, February 13, 2012 Elmear Dodd, “Bad Science: The Core at 15,” HeadStuff, March 21, 2018 Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube. Enjoy!

In this episode, our phones were blowing up with alerts to watch Blowing Up Right Now (2019), a romantic comedy about a couple on the rocks forced to shelter in place during a nuclear missile crisis. How does the plot mirror the real life nuclear missile false alarm Hawaiian citizens experienced in 2018? How does a nuclear war crisis look to the average person who can only get information from cable news and Twitter? What nuclear survival tips can we learn after 5 seconds of time on Google (asking for a panicked friend)? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and co-host Gabe answer these questions and more. Before we hunkered down inside our pillow fort fallout bunker, we recommend: • Danny Jolles, You Choose: The Full Interactive Comedy Special from Danny Jolles, Don’t Tell Comedy, YouTube, 2022 • Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004 Movie) • False Alarm (2021 Documentary) • Daryll Kimball, “Nuclear False Warnings and the Risk of Catastrophe,” Arms Control Association, March 16, 2020 • “Ladybug Ladybug,” Super Critical Podcast, Episode #21, 2018 Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube. Enjoy!

In this episode, we were fresh out of hydrogen so we need to watch Chain Reaction (1996) to learn how to make some more. How does this Cold Fusion adjacent movie draw on nuclear themes for its plot? Does the subplot about our heroes being framed as spies for China stealing national secrets have parallels to real life events? Did Evel Kinevil ever jump his stunt bike over a mushroom cloud? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and returning special guest Kevin answer these questions and more. Before we powered the city of Chicago with our Nalgene bottle, we recommend: -The Fugitive (1993 movie) -The Saint (1997 movie) -Gary Taubes, Bad Science: The Short Life and Weird Times of Cold Fusion, 1993 -Eduro Life Media, “Impossible Climb Andler 2019 – Dirt Bike Graveyard – Hill Climb,” YouTube -David Grann, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, 2017 We also recommend checking out: • Josh Friedman, “I’m Your Friend, Eddie,” I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing (Blog), August 24, 2005 • Free Energy Suppression Conspiracy Theory, Wikipedia • Beth Laski, “Reeves, Davis Ring Up ‘Dead’ Cash,” Variety, January 8, 1995 • Tim Prokop, “Causing a Chain Reaction,” Movie (Aus), January/February 1997 • William J. Broad, “Spies vs. Sweat: The Debate Over China’s Nuclear Advance,” New York Times, September 7, 1999 Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube. Enjoy!

In this episode, we watched a whopper, err WOPR of a movie in the 2008 direct to video-on-demand sequel to the classic nuke movie called WarGames: The Dead Code. What could go wrong when you put artificial intelligence back in charge of the nukes and the predator drones? How to do you convince a machine that nuclear war is not winnable? What happens when you don’t know what “The Dead Code” is and at this point you’re too afraid to ask? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and returning special guest Lucy Steigerwald (@lucystag) answer these questions and more. Before we booked our flight to Montreal, we recommend: -WarGames (1983) -Miracle Mile (1988) -The Iron Giant (1999) -Natasha Bajemna, Rescind Order, 2020 -David Hoffman, The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy, 2009 -Future Man (2017-2020, Hulu TV Show) -Zachary Kallenborn, “Giving an AI Control of Nuclear Weapons: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?,” The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, February 1, 2022 -Hackers React to WarGames: The Dead Code, Alex Chaveriat, YouTube, July 28, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PghUBYY4fpE Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube. Enjoy!

In this episode, we found ourselves in the danger zone watching a surprise nuclear weapon plot in the fun movie Top Gun: Maverick (2022) where Tom Cruise needs to teach a crew of hot shot misfits to airstrike a uranium enrichment facility on the Death Star (kind of). Why did Top Gun sequel feel the need to raise the nuclear stakes in the plot? Any real life influence on the story related to airstrikes against similar nuclear facilities? Will this movie series ever run out of teambuilding activities to play on the beach sand? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and co-host/aviation guru Gabe answer these questions and more. Before we request a tower flyby, we recommend: -Hot Shots! (1991 parody of Top Gun) -Amb. Wendy Sherman, Not for the Faint of Heart: Lessons in Courage, Power, and Persistence, 2018 -“Israel Admits Striking Suspected Syrian Nuclear Reactor in 2007,” BBC, Mach 21, 2018 -“Israeli Attack on Iraq’s Osirak 1981: Setback or Impetus for Nuclear Weapons,” National Security Archive, June 7, 2021 -“Top Gun – The Need for Speed,” LockheadMartin.com -“Tom Cruise Terrifies James in ‘Top Gun’ Fighter Jet!,” The Late Night Show with James Corden channel on YouTube, March 24, 2022 -“Actual TOPGUN, Dave Berke, Reacts to "TOPGUN: Maverick" with Jocko Willink,” Jocko Podcast channel on YouTube, June 3, 2022 Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube. Enjoy!

In this episode, we investigated a distress beacon to find our new artificially intelligent WMD friend in the Star Trek Voyager episode “Warhead” (s5 e25 - 1999) where the crew picks up smart bomb hitchhiker hellbent on finishing his military mission. Why don’t all nuclear armed missiles have a self-destruct feature? How do you deter against a nuclear strike from a planet 80 light years away? How does the USS Voyager convince a nuclear bomb to stop loving itself and not explode? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast), co-host Gabe, and special guest James Sheehan (@jsheehandc) -- consultant working on trans-Atlantic cooperation and public diplomacy -- answer these questions and more. Before we check out of sick bay, we recommend: -Russian Roulette, PBS, February 23, 1999 -Dark Star (1974 movie by John Carpenter) -“One,” Metallica, …And Justice for All (1989) -Meilan Solly, “The Japanese WWII Soldier Who Refused to Surrender for 27 Years,” Smithsonian Magazine -The Delta Flyers, Voyager Podcast -Jetrel, Star Trek Voyager (s1 e15, May 1995) -Sunshine (2007 movie) -Star Trek: First Contact (1996 movie) -Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons (2022), Wizards of the Coast Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube. Enjoy!

In this episode, we flipped our way through the pages of the Choose Your Own Adventure book, The Brilliant Dr. Wogan (1987), where a missing scientist might have a radiation neutralizer that can end the threat of nuclear war. How does the multiple ending and narrative freedom of this book genre help teach kids about nuclear dangers? What does this radiation neutralizer have in common with Ronald Reagan’s Star Wars program? When is the book report on this story due again (this might just be a reoccurring nightmare the podcasts hosts keep having well into their 30s)? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and returning special guest Kevin answer these questions and more. Before we return the book to the library, we recommend: -Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018, Netflix) -Paul Lettow, Ronald Reagan and His Quest to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, 2006 -Timothy J. Jorgenson, Strange Glow: The Story of Radiation, 2016 -Pat Frank, Alas, Babylon, 1959 -Kate Moore, Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women, 2018 -57 North, mobile game published by Mighty Coconut -Brian Jacques, Redwall, book series 1986-2011 -Peter George, Dr. Strangelove (novelization), 1963 Thanks to pixabay.com for the sound effects used in the episode. Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube. Enjoy!

In this episode, we found a bootleg DVD in our stocking of the 1964 TV movie A Carol for Another Christmas, which retold the classic Christmas Carol story but with nuclear war. What was the public diplomacy mission of this pro-UN film? How does isolationism and international engagement theories suggest doing with the problem of nuclear weapons? Does the Ghost of Christmas Future know when the last two books in A Song of Ice and Fire come out? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and podcast co-host Gabe answer these questions and more. Full movie here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbp1du33l0c Before we get in our crash couches and jump the ship, we recommend: -Scrooged (1988 movie) -We’re Doomed! (2019 board game) -“Time Enough at Last” and “No Time Like the Present,” Super Critical Podcast episode #47 Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube. Enjoy!

In this episode, we went interstellar with our intercontinental ballistic missiles to talk about nuclear weapons in two science fiction shows: The Expanse and Battlestar Galactica. How are nuclear weapons used as weapons (and themes) in these two stories? What would the impact of a nuclear weapon actually be against a space ship? When are we getting our Gaius Baltar and Paolo Cortázar buddy comedy? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and special guest Stefan Sasse (@StefanSasse), host of the Boiled Leather Audio Hour podcast, answer these questions and more. Before we get in our crash couches and jump the ship, we recommend: -John McPhee, The Curve of Binding Energy: A Journey into the Awesome and Alarming World of Theodore B. Taylor, 1974 -Marco Fey, et al., The nuclear taboo, Battlestar Galactica, and the real world: Illustrations from a science-fiction universe, Security Dialogue 47 no. 4, 2016 - Neal Stephenson, Seveneves, 2015 -The Foundation (Apple TV) -Raised by Wolves (Apple TV) Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube. Enjoy!

In this episode, we watched the documentary False Alarm (2021) about that time in 2018 no one talks about anymore when the people of Hawaii received an erroneous warning on their phone that North Korea fired a nuclear armed ballistic missile and they had minutes to live. What was the reaction of people who received this ominous message? How does this ordeal stack up to Hawaiians’ long history of being on the short end of the nuclear arms race? Have there ever been a worse case of Textmergency/Textastrophe than this nuclear attack warning appearing on every cell phone in Hawaii? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and the documentary’s director Nick Lyell (@FalseAlarmFilm) answer these questions and more. The documentary is streaming thru Vimeo On-Demand for the month of November 2021: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/falsealarm/311014137 Movie information: www.FalseAlarmFilm.com Before we clear our nuclear notifications on our mobile phones, we recommend: -False Alarm (documentary 2021) -Super Critical Podcast episode #21 on Ladybug Ladybug (1963) -Alia Wong, “Pandemonium and Rage in Hawaii,” The Atlantic, January 14, 2018 -Sean Flynn, “The Real Story of the Hawaiian Missile Crisis,” GQ, April 2, 2018 -Noelani Goodyear-Kaopua, et al, A Nation Rising: Hawaiian Movements for Life, Land, and Sovereignty, 2014 -Noho Hewa: The Wrongful Occupation of Hawaii (2008 documentary) -The Bomb (PBS 2015 documentary) -Solarpunk Futures (card game made by Nick Lyell and the Solar Punk Surf Club at thefuture.wtf)

In this episode, we called opened our nuclear launch code safes to pull out the DVD box for Crimson Tide (1995) about two leaders on a submarine butting heads about whether to launch nuclear missiles and possibly start and/or stop WWIII. How accurate did the film portray nuclear command and control launch procedures? What role do boomers play in nuclear deterrence? How does Captain Ramsey’s dog have such a keen sense of a person’s character? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and returning special guests Geoff Wilson of the Council for Arms Control and Nonproliferation (@NuclearWilson) and nuclear expert Will Saetren (@WillSaetren) answer these questions and more. Note: Tim gets his wires crossed as he recommends a documentary (The Man Who Saved the World) that is actually about Soviet missile launch officer Stanislav Petrov instead of the Soviet naval officer Vasily Arkhipov who Geoff and Will talk about during the episode. The documentary is still excellent and it is scary how many examples of nuclear near misses there are that this mistake could happen. Before we concur on the latest EAM, we recommend: -The Man Who Saved the World (2013 documentary) - -Jeffrey G. Lewis and Bruno Tertrais, “The Finger on the Button: The Authority to Use Nuclear Weapons in Nuclear-Armed States,” CNS Occasional Paper #45, February 2019 -Sherry Sontag, Christopher Drew, and Annette Lawrence Drew, Blind Man’s Bluff: The Untold Story of Submarine Espionage, 2016 -Project Azorian -Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis, 2034: A Novel of the Next World War, 2021 -Robert Moore, A Time to Die: The Untold Story of the Kursk Tragedy, 2016 -Armageddon Letter, http://www.armageddonletters.com/ Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube. Enjoy!

In this episode, we called our sommelier for advice on the best atomic alcohol to drink while watching the Alfred Hitchcock movie Notorious (1946) telling a spy romance story that discovers uranium ore stashed in a wine bottle owned by ex-Nazis hiding out in Brazil. How did Hitchcock introduce the first major atomic MacGuffin plot device so soon after the reveal of the Manhattan Project? What could a rogue element do with uranium ore hidden in a wine cellar? Why don’t the ex-Nazis hide the uranium in a bottle of Wild Turkey because nobody would ever want to look closer at that bottle. Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and co-host Gabe answer these questions and more. Full movie online here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LwPhO2qPcQ Before we check out tea for poison, we recommend: -Rear Window (1954 movie) -The Boys From Brazil (1978 movie) -Uranium Glass (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium_glass) -Casablanca (1942 movie) -“How Atomic Physics Helped Solve a Wine Fraud Mystery,” NPR, June 3, 2014 -Pitch Meeting series on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyXMyxkJQV4&list=PLRE-UFLEgWzBuOiqemhEI9b4gmmBbutnC) Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube. Enjoy!

In this episode, we put on our skis and telemarked our way to the winter lodge to watch the movie The Heroes of Telemark (1965) about a team of Norwegian resistance fighters sabotaging a heavy water plant during WWII to prevent Germany from getting closer to an atomic bomb. How close was Nazi Germany from building a nuclear weapon? What is the importance of heavy water in a nuclear program? What is more likely: that Tim builds a homemade nuclear device or Tim properly pronounces all these Norwegian names? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast), and returning special guest returning special guest Will Saetren (@WillSaetren) answer these questions and more. Full movie online here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axBiR8ZipPM Before we synchronize our ticking clock time bombs, we recommend: -William Stephenson, A Man Called Intrepid, 2016 -Neal Bascomb, The Winter Fortress: The Epic Mission to Sabotage Hitler’s Atomic Bomb, 2017 -The Final Countdown (1980 movie) -Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond (VR game with Norwegian heavy water plant level) -The Heavy Water War (2015 Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation show) -Norway Resistance Museum -Vemork Hydro Plant Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube. Enjoy!

In this episode, we put a crew together to seize a movie theater to watch the nuclear missile silo hostage taking movie Twilight’s Last Gleaming (1977). How easy is it to hijack a nuclear Titan ICBM launch site? What does the Vietnam War have to do with the logic of nuclear deterrence? Is “Twilight’s Last Gleaming” what they call the sparkly skin in those vampire movies? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast), Gabe, and returning special guest returning special guest Stephen Schwartz (@AtomicAnalyst), answer these questions and more. Full movie online here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMnX8Hd0TPQ Before we disable our cutoffs and inhibitors, we recommend: -Kiss Me Deadly (1955 movie) also directed by David Aldirch -The Parallax View (1974 movie) -David Halberstram, The Best and the Brightest, 1972 -Defence of the Realm (1986 movie) -A Very British Coup (1988 TV series) -Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, South Dakota Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube. Enjoy!

In this episode, we looked at our calendars and realized it was finally the day to watch The Day After (1983). What would happen to a “middle of nowhere” city in Kansas in the event of a nuclear war? How did this TV movie impact the public dialogue about nuclear weapons? What about the movie scared Ronald Reagan so much he had to write about it in his diary (this is not a joke)? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and special guest David Craig (@Producing2Power), Clinical Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Southern California and author of an upcoming book - Before The Day After - answer these questions and more. Full movie online here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyy9n8r16hs&t=3840s Thanks to everyone who pointed out that some of the movie's stock footage came from the documentary First Strike: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlPEBROvR9w&t=74s Before we start power up our ham radios with the rare car battery, we recommend: -David Craig’s book (Before The Day After)when it is available! -Dawn Strover, Facing Nuclear Reality: 35 Years After the Day After, December 2018 -Physicians for Social Responsibility, The Last Epidemic -Testament (1983) -Threads (1984) -Viewpoint episode that aired right after The Day After -Richard Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb, 1986 -Jonathan Fetter-Vorm, Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb, May 2013 -That Certain Summer (1972) -Beth A. Fisher, The Reagan Reversal: Foreign Policy and the End of the Cold War, 2000 Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube. Enjoy!

In this episode, we raised the periscope on our nuclear submarine to enjoy the story of On the Beach - both the movie (1959) and book (1957). What is the more likely ultimate catastrophe of a nuclear war: global nuclear fallout or nuclear winter? Why did the Eisenhower administration try to shut this movie down? If you read On the Beach while sitting on a beach, is that just tempting fate? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and special guest Joe Cirincione (@Cirincione), Distinguished Fellow at the Quincy Institute and recent president of the Ploughshares Fund, answer these questions and more. Before we start our engines at the Australian Grand Prix, we recommend: -Beverly Gray, “The Continuing Relevance of ‘On the Beach,’” The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist, August 3, 2015 -Fallout (2013 documentary) -Collisions (2015 documentary) -Office of Technology Assessment, The Effects of Nuclear War, May 1979 -Warfare History Network, “One of America’s Most Legendary Generals Had a Terrifying Plan to Win the Korean War,” The National Interest, July 16, 2017 -Fail Safe (1964 movie) -Them! (1954 movie) -Seven Days in May (1964 movie) Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube. Enjoy!

In this episode, the high school yearbook voted us “Most Likely to Join the Nuclear Club” after we watched the 1986 movie The Manhattan Project where student Paul Stephens builds a nuclear bomb with plutonium stolen from a secret government lab run by the guy dating his mom. How easy is it to build a homemade nuclear weapon? What motivates a brilliant scientist to devote their life to WMD? Do you enter a homemade nuclear bomb at the science fair under the project category of physics, chemistry, or psychopath? Tim Westmyer (@NuclearPodcast) and returning special guest Stephen Schwartz (@AtomicAnalyst) answer these questions and more. Before we earn extra credit by weaponizing some anthrax in AP Bio class, we recommend: -Special Bulletin (1983 movie) -Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes game -“Fat Man and Little Boy,” The Simpsons, season 16 episode 5 -Science Fair (2018 documentary) -Ken Silverstein, “The Radioactive Boy Scout,” Harper’s Magazine, November 1998 -Ken Silverstein, The Radioactive Boy Scout: The Frightening True Story of a Whiz Kid and His Homemade Nuclear Reactor, 2005 -The Day After Trinity (1980 documentary) -WarGames (1983 movie) -“Nth Country Experiment,” Atomic Heritage Foundation, March 1, 2019 Check out our website, SuperCriticalPodcast.com, for more resources and related items. We aim to have at least one new episode every month. Let us know what you think about the podcast and any ideas you may have about future episodes and guests by reaching out at on Twitter @NuclearPodcast, GooglePlay, Spotify, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Stitcher Radio, Facebook, SuperCriticalPodcast@gmail.com, and YouTube. Enjoy!