This week on Journey Through Sci-Fi, we head into the Star Trek universe to explore one of its most enduring mad science taboos: genetic engineering. From Space Seed and the rise of Khan to Enterprise's Augments arc and Deep Space Nine's shocking Bashir reveal, we trace how Star Trek keeps returning to the dangers of trying to "improve" humanity.

Along the way, we get into the Eugenics Wars, creator-creation relationships, scientific hubris, and why a utopian future still casts a long shadow over forbidden science.

Plus: Brent Spiner being superbly awful, Bashir's identity crisis, and why this theme runs through Star Trek for more than 200 years of in-universe history.

Episodes discussed:
Star Trek: The Original Series — "Space Seed" (S1E22)
Star Trek: Enterprise — "Borderland" (S4E04), "Cold Station 12" (S4E05), "The Augments" (S4E06)
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine — "Doctor Bashir, I Presume?" (S5E16)

Also referenced:
Star Trek — "What Are Little Girls Made Of?"
Star Trek: The Next Generation — "The Schizoid Man"
Star Trek: Voyager — "Tuvix"

What happens when one of sci-fi's oldest stories is reimagined for a modern audience?

In this episode of Journey Through Sci-Fi, we return to the origin of mad science — Mary Shelley's Frankenstein — through two new adaptations: Frankenstein (2025), directed by Guillermo del Toro, and The Bride! (2026), directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal.

This isn't just another adaptation.

It's a full-circle moment for the genre.

From the obsessive creator who dares to make life… to the creation who refuses to belong to him, these films show how the Frankenstein myth has evolved over 200 years of science fiction.

In this episode we explore:

• Why Frankenstein is still the blueprint for every mad scientist story
• How these new versions reinterpret the act of creating life
• What they keep — and what they completely reinvent — from the original myth
• Why The Bride! flips the perspective from creator to creation
• What this tells us about where sci-fi — and mad science — is heading next

From gothic horror roots to modern sci-fi storytelling, this is the evolution of one of the genre's defining ideas.

And a fitting end point for our Mad Science series.

Because sometimes the most important sci-fi story isn't about the future…

…it's the one we've been retelling all along.

In this episode of Journey Through Sci-Fi, we dive into the terrifying idea of mad science controlling the human mind through two modern sci-fi horror films: Get Out (2017) and Possessor (2020).

Jordan Peele's Get Out hides a chilling science-fiction twist beneath its social horror story, revealing a sinister procedure designed to take over another person's body and consciousness. Meanwhile, Brandon Cronenberg's brutal cyberpunk thriller Possessor imagines a world where corporations use technology to possess people's minds and carry out assassinations.

We explore how both films tap into classic sci-fi ideas about identity, consciousness and control, while pushing the mad scientist trope into disturbing new territory.

Expect discussion on:

• The terrifying sci-fi twist behind Get Out

• The mind-transfer technology in Possessor

• How horror and science fiction overlap in the mad science genre

• Why stories about losing control of your own body remain so powerful in sci-fi

🎧 Listen now for our deep dive into mind control, body swapping and the dark side of scientific ambition.