111 – From the Real World to Fantasy

What’s this? We’ve fallen through a portal into some kind of strange podcast universe. Oh well, might as well talk about stories where a character is transported from the real world into a fantasy setting. This podcast is Wes’ first time as an official co-host, so give him a warm welcome. We’ll discuss all the cool things this subgenre lets you do, along with some of its pitfalls. You can bet your chocolate frogs that Harry Potter comes up, plus all the other fish-out-of-water stories that have used this trope. We discuss the point at which a story crosses the line from silly to problematic. Chris explains why Howl’s Moving Castle is better as a movie than a book, and Oren completely mixes up the release dates of classic movies. Wes wonders what he’s gotten himself into.

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Opening and closing theme: The Princess Who Saved Herself by Jonathan Coulton. Used with permission.

Show Notes:

Portal Fantasy

The Masquerade

Harry Potter

Madoka Magica

Last Starfighter and Tron. Oren was completely wrong, Tron came out two years earlier.

City of Bones

Narnia

A Princess of Mars, book one of the John Carter series

Neverwhere

The Ocean at the End of the Lane. Indeed, the POV character has no name.

Army of Darkness

Howl’s Moving Castle, the book and the movie.

Planet of Hats

Eaters of the Dead

Bonus: How Oren ended up with his copy of Shogun. It was the ancient year of 2004, and Oren was working at a gas station in Honolulu. He was also neck-deep in a Legend of the Five Rings campaign, so samurai were on his mind. One day, he went inside briefly to grab some water, and when he came out there was a beat-up copy of Shogun lying on his pumping station. There was no one else around.

None have yet come forward to claim responsibility.