Murderbot Isn't Ready for Its Close-Up

Imaginary Worlds

Eric Molinsky

Arts, Science Fiction, Fiction, Society & Culture

4.8 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 4 June 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Murderbot is a killing machine in the far future that would rather spend its time binging an intergalactic soap opera -- and shooting bad guys with lasers is much less stressful than making eye contact or small talk with humans. Murderbot is also the main character of Martha Wells’ best-selling series of books, The Murderbot Diaries. The books have been adapted into a new show on Apple TV+ starring Alexander Skarsgård. I talk with Martha Wells, and the showrunners Chris and Paul Weitz, about the challenges of adapting the books to television, from casting choices to finding the right balance of comedy, action, and sci-fi. This week’s episode is sponsored by ShipStation. Go to shipstation.com and use the code IMAGINARY to sign up for a free trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Get ready for a game changer.
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0:27.7	forward slash express. The five pound meal deal from McDonald's. Get a cheeseburger or
0:33.9	mayo chicken, medium fries, four McNuggets, and a medium soft drink for guess what?
0:38.5	That's right, five pounds.
0:41.3	It's not called the five pound meal deal for nothing.
0:44.9	From 11 a.m.
0:45.9	Not available on delivery.
0:46.8	Carbonated soft drink upgrade fees apply.
0:48.4	Participating in restaurants, subjects of availability.
0:50.2	You're listening to Imaginary Worlds, a show about how we create them and why we suspend
0:54.0	or disbelief. I'm Eric Milki. And this is MurderBot. It, and its pronoun is it, is the star
1:02.2	of a new show called MurderBot on Apple TV Plus. That's a wrap on Mining Expedition 1155-24 T-T-X.
1:11.7	Time to party.
1:14.1	I mean, if you're a human, I'm a security unit, and I don't party.
1:20.5	Security units, or SEC units, for short, are cyborgs in the far future.
1:25.5	They're mostly machine, but they're also made of cloned human tissue.
	...

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