Regular Episode
222 – Wild Thing S2: Space Invaders
Laura’s journalism background β she’s written for Newsweek, Popular Science, and Smithsonian β shows in the season’s unusually wide scope and its willingness to let scientists get excited on mic. Season 1 has racked up nearly 3 million downloads and even spawned a licensed children’s spinoff. Season 2 is available on all major podcast platforms or at foxtopus.ink.
π From Venus to Roswell: The Scope of Season 2
Laura describes the season as covering extraterrestrial life “in all its forms” β starting at the microbial end of the spectrum. The conversation touches on the 2020 announcement of phosphine detection in Venus’s atmosphere, a chemical whose presence was tentatively attributed to biological processes. From there the season ranges across SETI telescope arrays, METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence), the 2017 AATIP UFO video disclosures, and the perennial Roswell cottage industry. The focus is primarily American UFO culture β partly for manageability, partly because, as Blake notes, “America will certainly keep you busy when it comes to UFOs.”
πͺ¨ ‘Oumuamua: Interstellar Object or Alien Light Sail?
‘Oumuamua β the first confirmed interstellar object detected passing through our solar system β recurs throughout the season. Its name, given by astronomers at the University of HawaiΚ»i, roughly translates from Hawaiian as “scout” or “messenger from afar.” Laura describes why it captured so much scientific attention: an unusual elongated shape inferred from light-curve data, a trajectory that deviated slightly from what solar radiation pressure alone could explain, and a notable absence of the outgassing normally expected from a comet.
Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb proposed the controversial hypothesis that ‘Oumuamua might be an artificial light sail of extraterrestrial origin. The season uses ‘Oumuamua as a lens for a broader question: even setting aside alien technology, the mere fact that an interstellar object passed through our solar system in a human lifetime is itself remarkable. The discussion draws a natural parallel to Arthur C. Clarke’s π Rendezvous with Rama π΅, in which a vast cylindrical spacecraft of unknown origin passes through the solar system β a novel Blake read after a colleague named Rama kept prompting him to get around to it.
π Jill Tarter, SETI, and Breakthrough Starshot
One of the season’s standout interviews is with Jill Tarter, one of SETI’s founding figures and the real-world inspiration for Jodie Foster’s character in the film π¬ Contact π΅. Laura notes that Tarter spent decades being treated as fringe, and that the explosion of confirmed exoplanet discoveries β many in the habitable zones of Sun-like stars β has brought a measure of scientific vindication to the field.
The season also covers Breakthrough Starshot, the initiative funded by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner (part of the broader Breakthrough Initiatives). The goal: send a fleet of gram-scale “StarChip” probes to Alpha Centauri β roughly 4 light-years away β propelled by a ground-based laser array to approximately 20% the speed of light, arriving in around 20 years. Engineering challenges discussed include building a sail material robust enough to survive interstellar dust impacts and constructing a laser bank powerful enough to do the job. Blake’s alternative proposal β turning the orbital laser platform back on Earth as a funding mechanism β did not make the final mission design.
π½ UFO Culture, Fringe Encounters, and the Roswell Festival
Laura attended the Roswell UFO Festival in 2019 and the UFO Watchtower in the San Luis Valley, Colorado, where she camped out with science journalist Sarah Scoles (whose book π Making Contact π΅ is discussed). No UFOs were spotted β a fierce sandstorm drove them into their tents early.
At Roswell, she spoke with a range of attendees: some grounded, some considerably less so. A highlight of the fringe end was a man who explained that the Pleiades now appear to have only six visible stars because the Pleiadians destroyed one, and were visiting Earth to warn us away from a similar fate. Laura was careful to note that she doesn’t doubt people who report abduction or contact experiences have had some kind of experience β she simply can’t confirm the extraterrestrial explanation without evidence that would survive scientific scrutiny. Blake connects this to his own 1997 Roswell road trip, taken partly in the wake of the Heaven’s Gate mass suicide β a formative moment that made clear to him that UFO belief isn’t purely entertainment for its participants.
πΈ How Fiction Shapes Folklore: Lovecraft, Von DΓ€niken, and the Grey Alien
One of the more intellectually rich tangents in the episode concerns the flow of ideas from fiction into belief. Blake describes a concept he calls “scripteds” β cases where movie or fictional depictions calcify into genuine folklore. Examples discussed include:
β The post-King Kong (1933) emergence of Loch Ness Monster sightings, with the film’s water-emerging sauropod-like creature as a possible visual template β an argument made in π Abominable Science! π΅ by Daniel Loxton and Donald Prothero.
β The post-Close Encounters of the Third Kind and π Communion π΅ explosion of Grey alien descriptions.
β Silver as werewolf-killer: invented wholesale by screenwriter Curt Siodmak for π¬ The Wolf Man π΅ (1941).
β Vampires dying in sunlight: traceable to π¬ Nosferatu π΅ (1922), not older folklore.
The bonus interview with archaeologist David Anderson (a friend of the show) brings in Jason Colavito‘s research tracing a line from H. P. Lovecraft‘s cosmic horror fiction and Madame Blavatsky‘s Theosophy through to Erich von DΓ€niken‘s Ancient Aliens claims β a cultural telephone game playing out over decades. Blake notes that Colavito’s blog covers this in considerable depth, and that the connection is also explored in π The Cult of Alien Gods π΅.
ποΈ Bonus Interviews: Neil deGrasse Tyson, Joe Scott, and Others
Season 2’s bonus content (available via Supporting Cast to season pass subscribers, with eventual wider release) includes interviews with:
β Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium and host of StarTalk Radio and Cosmos, discussing the Rare Earth hypothesis and his strong opinions on movie aliens.
β Joe Scott of the YouTube channel Answers with Joe, discussing tardigrades and the (deeply unserious but fun) hypothesis that octopuses might be of extraterrestrial origin.
β David Anderson, discussing the LovecraftβBlavatskyβVon DΓ€niken lineage noted above.
Note: The episode includes a spoiler-filled post-credits discussion of the film π¬ Annihilation π΅ (2018), cued up after the Monster House outro music. Skip it if you haven’t seen the film.
π Further Reading
β π Making Contact: Jill Tarter and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence π΅ by Sarah Scoles
β π The Cult of Alien Gods: H.P. Lovecraft and Extraterrestrial Pop Culture π΅ by Jason Colavito
β π Rendezvous with Rama π΅ by Arthur C. Clarke
β π Abominable Science! π΅ by Daniel Loxton and Donald R. Prothero
β π Communion π΅ by Whitley Strieber
π Related Links
β Wild Thing podcast β foxtopus.ink
β Jason Colavito’s Blog
β SETI Institute
β METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence) β Wikipedia
β Breakthrough Starshot β Wikipedia
β
Blake and Karen talk with Laura Krantz, host of the podcast Wild Thing, about season two of her show which deals with UFOs, SETI, and more and features interviews with scientists and researchers looking into these topics.
The Cult of Alien Gods: H.P. Lovecraft and Extraterrestrial Pop Culture (Amazon)
Previous episode with Laura Krantz (#176)
Annihilation (There is some spoiler discussion about the film after the show credits.)
Blake Smith
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