Fight the Future - LoadingReadyRun

Fight the Future is over, and Dan and Paul look back, with bloopers, best of clips, montages, secret unheard theme music, an explanation of just what the heck Chiara says at the end of each episode, and much more! Fans, prepare to be serviced.

It is the dark future of 1997 and nuclear war and acid rain has reduced humanity to scavengers in a toxic wasteland. The Kid and his new cyan-haired friend Apple must take on the local warlord, but how can they hope to defeat Michael Ironside? For our final dystopia ever, Dan and Paul talk about the Canadian-made Turbo Kid!

Earth is on the ropes after four waves of catastrophes caused by unseen aliens. While her high school crush is trained for combat, teen Cassie encounters a hunky half-alien in the woods. Will love be the splashiest wave of all? Dan and Paul get the unamerican perspective from their Swiss guest, Cecile!

It seemed like a nice planet to settle on - until the pioneers found they couldn't stop broadcasting their thoughts to everyone around them. Awkward! 12-year-old Todd Hewitt's biggest problem was drowning the Noise of adult men's thoughts, until he met a mysterious girl. Now they are on the run from an unkillable preacher, and a medium-sized army. This week, Dan and Paul are joined by YA bookseller Emilee to talk about The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness.

The future in the anime series Knights of Sidonia has hot teen photosynthesis, clones, a third gender, and a cyborg bear lunch lady, but Dan and Paul still get distracted by questions like, "Why do the giant space robots have knees?"

The city of London has been placed on giant tractor treads, which it uses to chase after other cities in order to consume them in its giant metallic jaws. Yes, it's the most insane future Dan and Paul have ever covered, as described in Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve, Volume 1 of Predator Cities.

No double-dipping here: in this episode we cover both parts of the final installment of The Hunger Games! Is District 13 really so different from the Capital? Does The Hunger Games say more about war than Star Wars? Would Katniss make a good president? Plus special guest Abby reveals her tragic crush on rebellion image-maker Cressida.

It is easy to get a little stir crazy when the evil robot conquerers force everyone to stay inside for 3 years and a creepy dead-eyed robot child "Mediator" isn't helping. Luckily, Sean and his friends find a way to short circuit their tracking devices and head out to find Sean's missing father. Join Dan and Paul as we talk about the indie sci-fi film, Robot Overlords. Apologies for the audio quality, we will be back to our normal production values next time!

American teen Daisy has to go to live with her English relatives while black planes overhead bring tidings of nuclear war. On the bright side, her first cousin is smoking hot, and trains falcons... Dan and Paul talk about the too-close-for-comfort world of How I Live Now.

It's a thrilling PG-13 space adventure about Ender Wiggins, a genius tween who becomes a commander! Or it's a dark dystopia with genocide, endless war, and cycles of abuse! Paul and Dan, and special Loading Ready Run guest Cam, discuss the world of Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.

The good news: Superhumans exist! The bad news: They are homicidal jerks! And they've laid waste to our world. A band of puny humans, including 18-year-old David, hunt them in the city of Chicago, which has been turned to steel by one of the most powerful - and jerkiest. Dan and Paul talk about Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson, joined by Dr. Jim Davies, author of "Riveted: The Science of Why Jokes Make Us Laugh, Movies Make Us Cry, and Religion Makes Us Feel One with the Universe" from Palgrave Macmillan - and an aspiring YA author.

Who was in your class in grade 10? If you were all stuck on an island with automatic weapons and forced to fight each other to the death, who would be your allies, and who your enemies - and who would turn out to be a psycho? Dan and Paul ask each other that, and talk about the film where this scenario plays out: the bloody live action Japanese film Battle Royale. Which is actually pretty different from The Hunger Games.

What if your post-apocalyptic world was all just a big social experiment? Join us as we once again look at a city divided in nerds, jocks, wimps, squares and stoners (aka Erudite, Dauntless, Abnegation, Candor and Amity) with Volume 2 of the Divergent series: Insurgent!

A land where everyone is pretty and parties all the time - sounds like a Fight the Future taping! Tally is about to turn 16, when she will become a Pretty, thanks to the radical plastic surgery her society demands. But when she makes contact with people outside the city, she learns that there's a downside, that rhymes with "brain lesions". No wait, it's just brain lesions. Dan and Paul are joined by Tally (a different one!) to talk about Uglies by Scott Westerfeld.

It's the Hunger Games, All Star Edition! Where the opponents are deadlier, the police state more oppressive, and the stakes...death. Yeah, there wasn't really anywhere to go from "death". In this episode, Dan and Paul are joined by Cynthia to talk about the second volume in the Hunger Games series: Catching Fire.

The world is covered in deadly mould forests filled with giant carnivorous insects, but luckily Nausicaa has the wind to protect her! This week, Dan and Paul are joined by Ian to talk about the early Hayao Miyazaki film, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

This time Dan and Paul and guest Dustin cover our world, as depicted in Cory Doctorow's Little Brother, with all the government surveillance and anti-terrorism hysteria we've got. The difference: there's been an attack on San Francisco, and teenage crypto-geeks are on the front lines against an authoritarian crackdown. Excerpt read by Cory Doctorow / CC BY-NC-SA

Mazes are fun on long car rides! But not so much when you're trapped in one, and there are murderous cyborg spiders. Thomas and a bunch of other teenage boys look for an exit as Dan and Paul talk about the dystopic world of The Maze Runner.

It was a key influence on Mad Max and the Fallout series, but this 1975 movie, about 18-year-old Vic and his telepathic dog Blood in a post-nuke landscape, doesn't look so good today. Paul and Dan struggle with the weird mysogyny of A Boy and his Dog, based on the Harlan Ellison short story of the same name, and almost lose it. A warning that the source material deals with sexual assault.

The dark YA dystopia that started the craze, as Katniss Everdeen fights to survive in the arena against other murderous teens, armed only with her bow. Meanwhile, love interest Peeta is armed only with his ability to disguise himself as mud. This week Dan, Paul and special guest Gaby volunteer as tribute for The Hunger Games.

Two legs good, three legs better! What appears to be the sleepy olde English countryside is actually a future ruled over by giant metal monsters, mind-controlling the population with skull implants. Dan and Paul follow 13-year-olds Will and Henry as they set out towards the Alps, in our coverage of The White Mountains and When the Tripods Came by John Christopher.

The incandescent lightbulbs of the underground, post-apocalypse city of Ember are flickering. Can Lina and Doon find the way out in time without a giant mole and/or Bill Murray getting them? This week, Dan and Paul look at City of Ember!

Forget 50 Shades of Grey, in this future, everyone is literally in black and white. Maybe they shouldn't have trusted Jeff Bridges with all of the world's memories? This week Dan and Paul talk about The Giver!

In a domed city after the apocalypse, a heavy backpack of knowledge that plugs into your neck socket is what separate a Lord from a slave, and whispers an endless stream of propaganda to you. But is it really so different from the devil we all carry in our pocket or purse? Yes, it can't play Angry Birds! In this episode Dan and Paul talk about the classic 80s YA novel by Monica Hughes, Devil On My Back! "Devil on My Back" song by Hodja / CC BY

Humanity has been taken over by glowing brain slugs who turn out to be not so bad, once you get to know them (aside from the whole controlling your body like a puppet thing). This week, Dan and Paul look at the world of Stephenie Meyer's followup to Twilight, The Host.

The city of Chicago has fallen into ruin, with the survivors split up into 5 factions based on their personality. Why? Who knows? Peace probably. This week, Dan and Paul look at the world of the blockbuster movie, Divergent!