Unnatural Selection

Unnatural Selection is a monthly podcast about film adaptations of books, the weird choices Hollywood makes, and what actually constitutes a "good" adaptation. Each episode is hosted by Emma Shannon and a rotating cast of special guests.

Unnatural Selection is a tv podcast hosted by Emma Shannon, with 37 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Emma Shannon hosts Unnatural Selection, a tv show with 37 episodes published.

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  Unnatural Selection

  A Sound of Thunder feat. Greg Steffensen

  Sep 15, 202651 minS1

  It’s been a while since we’ve covered a movie on Unnatural Selection that’s plagued with production problems, riddled with lawsuits, and suffering from abysmal CGI. Join Emma and Greg for a special Emma’s birthday episode where they talk about the 2005 adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s short story A Sound of Thunder . This episode is short, it is detailed, and it features a surprisingly detailed description of a manga trope. For the best listening experience, Emma recommends reading A Sound of Thunder before listening. It will take you five minutes and it’s free online. Content warnings for A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury include: gun violence, trophy hunting, and the origin of several time travel tropes. Content warnings for A Sound of Thunder (2005) include: gun violence, trophy hunting, death of a loved one, drowning, the only Black actor in the party dying first in a weird and drawn out way, bugs, and terrible CGI. The articles Emma references in this episode can be found here: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/mar/08/news https://www.ign.com/articles/2000/12/19/renny-harlin-and-pierce-brosnan-hear-a-sound-of-thunder https://www.denverpost.com/2005/09/03/thunder-a-jurassic-farce/ https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-sep-02-et-sound2-story.html https://variety.com/2005/film/reviews/a-sound-of-thunder-1200523576/ https://variety.com/2004/film/markets-festivals/elie-s-new-chapter-1117909400/ https://bombreport.com/yearly-breakdowns/2005-2/a-sound-of-thunder/ https://www.awn.com/vfxworld/sound-thunder-combining-futuristic-prehistoric Emma can be found on bluesky @crabmoney.bsky.social. Greg can be reached via the Moonshot discord or directly at hamamelis. Unnatural Selection is a part of the Moonshot Network. If you like what you’ve heard and want to support, you can become a patron at https://patreon.com/moonshotnetwork The music for this show was composed by Jake Loranger. You can find more of his work at https://amaranthine.bandcamp.com

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  Unnatural Selection

  Frankenstein feat. Chloe from So Emo I Fell Apart

  Jul 15, 20261h 14mS1

  Have you ever trekked through the Arctic tundra in search of your shitty dad who made you out of corpses? No? Well, either way, Emma and Chloe have the episode for you! Listen in on their discussion about Guillermo del Toro’s 2025 adaptation of the Mary Shelley classic Frankenstein for hot takes about giving Victor a tragic backstory, Jacob Elordi actually being a pretty good Creature, and just how Catholic this adaptation really is. Special thank you to Riley Hopkins for helping to edit this episode. Content warnings for Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein include: death of a child, death of a loved one, death of a parent, false criminal accusations, a bunch of mental breakdowns, and bringing the dead back to life (he won’t tell you how, though). Content warnings for Frankenstein (2025) include: death of a parent, death of a loved one, wolves mauling an old man, death of animals, physical abuse, psychological abuse, and bringing the dead back to life (like, really in detail he will tell you every bit of it). The articles and interviews Emma references in this episode can be found here: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/guillermo-del-toro-on-frankenstein-and-remaking-a-monster/ https://scriptmag.com/guillermo-del-toros-frankenstein-is-the-ultimate-distillation-of-his-screenwriting-craft https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/20/books/review/the-book-review-guillermo-del-toro.html ? https://variety.com/2025/film/news/guillermo-del-toro-frankenstein-hollywood-mentorship-tiff-1236512295/ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/making-of-frankenstein-guillermo-del-toro-1236448616/ You can find Emma on bluesky at crabmoney.bsky.social and Chloe on twitter @chlosephine_ . Unnatural Selection and So Emo I Fell Apart are both a part of the Moonshot Network. If you like what you’ve heard and want to support them, you can become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/moonshotnetwork The music for this show was composed by Jake Loranger. You can check out more of his work at https://amaranthine.bandcamp.com

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  Unnatural Selection

  The Natural feat. James from Remember That Guy?

  May 15, 20261h 27mS1

  Grab a hotdog and hit the stands because James and Emma are about to wax poetic about baseball for an hour and a half through the lens of Bernard Malamud’s novel The Natural and its 1984 film adaptation. They talk about what makes good writing versus good baseball, how shockingly horny this book is, and that Robert Redford should be allowed to fail despite being the world’s oldest 19-year-old. Plus, some actual statistics and info about the season taking place in this book and real players similar to our fictional protagonist! Content warnings for The Natural (1952) include: assault with a firearm, death by baseball, ambiguous consent, misogyny, so much horniness, and some really visceral overeating. Content warnings for The Natural (1984) include: assault with a firearm, death by baseball, and misogyny but in a different way from the book. The articles Emma references in this episode can be found here: https://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/06/movies/an-all-star-team-puts-the-natural-on-film.html https://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/11/movies/film-redford-and-duvall-in-malamud-s-natural.html https://variety.com/2025/film/features/barry-levinson-interview-alto-knights-rain-man-1236343241/ https://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/23/arts/bernard-malamud-talks-of-writing.html You can find Emma on bluesky @crabmoney.bsky.social and James @rememberthatguy.bsky.social. More information about their show Remember That Guy? can be found at https://linktr.ee/rememberthatguy . Unnatural Selection is a part of the Moonshot Network. If you like what you’ve hear and want to support, you can become a patron at patreon.com/moonshotnetwork . The music for this show was composed by Jake Loranger. You can check out more of his work at https://amaranthine.bandcamp.com

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  Unnatural Selection

  The Knight's Tale feat. Ria from So Emo I Fell Apart

  Apr 15, 20261h 15mS1

  Mount your horse and begin your journey to Canterbury with Emma and Ria as they dig into an excellent movie and extremely loosey-goosey adaptation of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales —2001 cult classic A Knight’s Tale! Must an adaptation of a 14 century book be accurate or can it not simply operate on vibes alone? Why is the fact Chaucer is one of the movie protagonists accurate to the book? Who’s getting freaky in the Czech Republic on the weekend? All these questions answered and more in today’s episode. Content warnings for The Canterbury Tales includes: stories of violence, stories of rape, and 1390’s typical racism, sexism, religious opinions, and fart jokes. Content warnings for A Knight’s Tale (2001) includes: jousting violence, pre-9/11 crude humor, and a naked Paul Bettany. The articles Emma references in this episode can be found here: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-may-14-ca-63182-story.html https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/feb/16/how-we-made-a-knights-tale-heath-ledger-paul-bettany-brian-helgeland https://www.theringer.com/2021/05/11/movies/knights-tale-heath-ledger-behind-the-scenes-stories-paul-bettany https://splicedwire.com/01features/bhelgeland.html You can find Emma on bluesky @crabmoney.bsky.social. Ria can be found on bluesky and twitter @ria_tee and on Instagram @riaeliza. Both Unnatural Selection and So Emo I Fell Apart are a part of the Moonshot Network. If you like what you’ve heard and want to support us, you can become a patron at patreon.com/moonshotnetwork The music for this show was commissioned from and composed by Jake Loranger. You can check out more of his work at https://amaranthine.bandcamp.com/

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  Unnatural Selection

  The Queen's Gambit feat. Camilla Rhodes-Alexandrite

  Mar 15, 20261h 19mS1

  Don’t get Sicilian Defensive as Camilla and Emma break down the very first limited series in Unnatural Selection History—The Queen’s Gambit! They get into the details of chess history, compelling orphan origins, and how hard it is to find good adaptation interviews from high lockdown in 2020. Content warnings for The Queen’s Gambit by Walter Tevis include: death of a parent, alcohol abuse, medication abuse, childhood drug abuse, child sexual assault, shitty adoptive fathers, and 60’s-questionable depictions of the story’s sole Black character. Content warnings for The Queen’s Gambit (2020) include: suicide, death of a parent, alcohol abuse, medication abuse, childhood drug abuse, shitty adoptive fathers, and questionable depictions of the story’s sole prominent Black character. The interviews Emma references for this episode can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX6SvqjBedY https://gointothestory.blcklst.com/interview-audio-scott-frank-d9e8489138cc https://www.npr.org/2020/12/28/950010157/queens-gambit-co-creator-scott-frank-wanted-to-explore-the-cost-of-genius https://ew.com/tv/the-queens-gambit-netflix-scott-frank-interview/ https://www.theringer.com/2020/11/17/tv/the-queens-gambit-netflix-scott-frank-limited-series-godless https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob9gjJhyCyw You can find Emma on bluesky @crabmoney.bsky.social and Camilla @anteatermom.bsky.social. You can check out Camilla’s Twitch streams at WeAreAlexandra and the VODs at WeAreAlexandra on youtube. Emma and the Alexandrite System are both a part of the Moonshot Network. If you like what you’ve heard and want to support them, you can become a patron at patreon.com/moonshotnetwork The music for this show was commissioned from and composed by Jake Loranger. You can check out more of his work at https://amaranthine.bandcamp.com/ https://amaranthine.bandcamp.com

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