Episode 785: Shirley Thompson Versus The Aliens (1972)

The Projection Booth

Tv & Film, Film Interviews, Film Reviews, Film History

4.6 • 709 Ratings

🗓️ 4 February 2026

⏱️ 160 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Projection Booth kicks off a month devoted to Australian oddities with Shirley Thompson Versus the Aliens, the startling 1972 debut from director Jim Sharman. Long unseen outside of archival corners of the internet, the film sits at the crossroads of experimental theater, pop music, political anxiety, and institutional paranoia.

Heather Drain and Chris O’Neil join Mike to unpack the film’s radical shifts in tone and form: the oscillation between black-and-white and color, the omnipresent off-screen voices, the rock-and-roll aliens, and the way Sharman folds Cold War fears, ecological warnings, and Australian cultural touchstones into Shirley’s fractured psyche. The discussion also traces how the film anticipates Sharman’s later work, with its collision of spectacle, provocation, and musical disruption.

The episode features an interview with production designer Brian Thomson, who reflects on the film’s theatrical roots, handmade aesthetic, and the creative freedom that allowed such a strange debut to exist. Part asylum drama, part pop-art warning, Shirley Thompson Versus the Aliens stands as a message from the margins nobody was prepared to hear.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-projection-booth--5513239/support.

Become a supporter of The Projection Booth at http://www.patreon.com/projectionbooth

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The audio commentary. It's a dying art form, but here at One Track Mind, I, your wonky yet affable
0:10.7	host, Ryan Luis Rodriguez, analyze film through the prism of these embryonic forms of podcasting,
0:17.3	one audio commentary at a time. Masterpieces, crapsterpieces, live action, animation, cult classics,
0:26.1	films literally no one has ever heard of.
0:29.1	No track is too small and no track is too big.
0:32.9	Join me and my guests from the entertainment world
0:35.4	as we keep these features alive every other Tuesday.
0:38.8	Hey, who else is gonna discuss Bill and Ted's bogus journey one week and Citizen Kane the next?
0:45.5	Us, that's who? Sure you have to put up with my voice, but there's a certain give and take in this industry.
0:52.5	That's one track mine, part of the someone's favorite productions family,
0:56.9	and available wherever you get your podcasts.
1:04.5	If you're looking for more horror outside of the mainstream,
1:07.8	look no further than Unsung Horrors,
1:10.0	a podcast about underseen horror
1:12.2	movies. I'm Lance. And I'm Erica. Every other week, we'll cover a horror movie with fewer than
1:18.4	1,000 views on Letterbox. We'll even give you double feature recommendations to pair with the movies
1:23.5	we discuss. From Gothic to shot on video, from slasher's to comedies, from Gialo to J. Horror.
1:30.4	We'll cover all the subgenres.
1:32.3	So join us as we unearth these hidden gems of horror.
1:35.5	Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, all at Unsung Horrors, available wherever
1:40.8	you listen to podcasts.
1:42.4	And part of the Someone's Favorite Productions Podcast Network.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Projection Booth, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Projection Booth and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.