Unnatural Selection

Travel to Arrakis and venture out into the desert for spice with Emma and Tom as they discuss the two-part 2021 and 2024 adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune (1965). Neither Emma nor Tom have mastered the voice, so no need to worry about any Bene Gesserit tricks. Just listen along for their takes on adapting a behemoth of a book, Jessica’s evil arc, and a firsthand account of th

What is this, a crossover episode? Unnatural Selection host Emma joins forces with PB and CJ of the Ga’Hoolingans Podcast to talk about, you guessed it, Zach Snyder’s Legend of the Guardians: the Owls of Ga’Hoole (2010), an adaptation of the first three books in Kathryn Lasky’s Guardians of Ga’Hoole series! Join these three hosts as they go into the hollow of the Ga’Hoo

Get ready to inhale some spores, step through the shimmer into Area X, and explore a ~~tunnel~~ tower with Emma and Jacqueline as they take a look at Jeff Vandermeer’s Annihilation and the 2018 film adaptation of the same name. Listen along as they dive into the creative use of repurposed visuals, the differences between a biologist and Natalie Portman, and overlooking scientific

Put on your VR headset and load up a CGI courtroom as Jory and Emma discuss the 1992 “adaptation” of Stephen King’s 1975 short story The Lawnmower Man. Join them as they discuss how loose an adaptation can get before it’s just a different piece of media entirely, why Stephen King sued, and how sometimes a director is wrong even if they’ve put a quality monkey into a movi

This month on Unnatural Selection, Andrew has volunteered as tribute to dive straight into the second book in the Hunger Games series, Catching Fire, without ever reading the first one! Listen along as they compare it to the 2013 film adaptation of the same name and talk about cut characters, the YA love triangle craze, why Katniss is stripped of her interiority, and what makes Ho

Travel through Christmas past, present, and future with Emma and Juliet as they take on one of the many, MANY, adaptations of Charles Dickens’ holiday classic A Christmas Carol. This December they focus on 1992’s The Muppets Christmas Carol, which might genuinely be the most faithful adaptation even if Bob Cratchit is a loveable frog. Join them to gripe about dancing penguins,

This episode was originally recorded on August 8, 2023. Follow Blink and Emma through the Wall and into Faerie as they break down the differences between Neil Gaiman’s 1999 novel adaptation of his own 1997 comic series Stardust and the 2007 film adaptation of the same name! Join them as they talk about painfully 2007 treatment of female characters, a lack of little hairy men, an

Emma and Oak become unstuck in time, hopping through the pages of Kurt Vonnegut’s anti-war sci-fi classic Slaughterhouse-Five and its 1972 film adaptation of the same name. Join them as they discuss how powerful a match cut can be, the sheer joy of watching a car being driven wildly by a panicked wife, and how it was a coward’s choice to not show the Tralfamadorians on-screen.

Emma and Kat disappear into the woods in order to read Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight and watch the hit film adaptation of the same name. When they return to society, they debate whether the book was actually enjoyable, discuss why teenagers need to have friends, and applaud one of the best movie soundtracks of all time. Content warnings for Twilight include: grooming, bloodsucking,

Jay and Emma ride around the beautiful landscapes of Hiroshima to talk about 38-page Murakami short story Drive My Car and its 3 hour long film adaptation of the same name. Listen along as they dive into multilingual storytelling, realize they missed some of the assigned readings, and accept that sometimes adding things in an adaptation rules. Content warnings for Drive My Car inc