Original Air Date
- July 18, 2023
Part 1 Begins
Hero Song (3:52)
- “Real World” by Matchbox Twenty from the Yourself Or Someone Like You Album
- Superhero alien with powers
Superhero Smash (0:30)
- Featuring the best in “Superhero Music and Comic Book Lore”
- Focusing on current superhero movies and popular culture events
- I’m your host, Dr. Gian Pagnucci, a.k.a. The New Professor X
- Playing great music about superheroes as well as music that is featured in superhero movies and shows
- Also talking about comic book history and heroism
- But no matter what cool stuff I discuss on the show, you don’t have to worry because this is a NO SPOILERS show!
Audio Episode Theme: The Silver Surfer and Aliens (2:00)
Special Radio Guest Star
- Dr. John Yu Branscum
- Dr. Branscum is an Associate Professor in IUP’s Department of English
- He’s a well published writer and knows a ton of stuff about everything, including being an expert on Chinese ghost stories, glitch in the matrix stories, the paranormal, and UFO’s
Instrumental Theme Music (1:51)
- “The X-Files Theme” by John Beal
- There was a popular X-Files comic book series, which makes the perfect tie in for the show
- The comic was first published by Topps Comics (same people who make baseball cards) and was then later published by DC Comics under their Wildstorm imprint
Collector’s Item Classic Comic Book (3:00)
- The Silver Surfer first appeared in Fantastic Four #48
- Publication Date: March, 1966
- Publisher: Marvel Comics
- Creator and Penciler: Jack Kirby
- Writer: Stan Lee
- The Silver Surfer isn’t even on the cover until issue #50
- If you’re going to buy it on eBay, though, you might as well get the entire Galactus Trilogy; Issues 48, 49, and 50 all CGC’d 8.0 on 10 point scale are on sale for only $18,000
Silver Surfer Song 1 (4:24)
- “Surfing with the Alien” by Joe Satriani
- One of the 10 greatest guitar players in the world when I was growing up
- Great picture of the Surfer on the cover
- Satriani’s only album to go platinum
- In “The Story Behind the Song: Surfing with the Alien by Joe Satriana,” writer “To his similarly dexterous comrades, the solution lay in terrifyingly fast shred and ‘fusion’ guitar. His friend and pupil Steve Vai was a leader in this regard, alongside the likes of Yngwie Malmsteen and Michael Schenker. But while Satriani operated at broadly the same technical level, he was never concerned with being a ‘shred king’ himself – even though Surfing is often credited as the record that popularised shred.”
- The Wikipedia’s entry about the album explains that “Satriani was unfamiliar with the Silver Surfer and had named the album and title track without the character in mind.[8][11][12] However, Jim Kozlowski, the production manager for Relativity Records, was a comic book fan and had used the nickname “The Silver Surfer” as a radio DJ name.[8][11] He suggested using the character for the album cover. Kozlowski presented the album to Marvel and obtained permission to use the character.[8][11] Subsequently, Marvel Comics has paid homage to Satriani in Silver Surfer comics (“the planet Satriani”) and Satriani has named later compositions after other elements of the Silver Surfer mythos (“Back to Shalla-Bal“, “The Power Cosmic 2000“).”
Show ID: Superhero Smash (1:00)
- WIUP FM 90.1
- Alternative music for the MCU, the DCU, and our U too!
- Check out pagnucci.org and click the big Superhero Smash button
- Or email Professor X using the address superherosmash2023@gmail.com
- Lots of great shows coming up
- I would love to get your input
- Paranormal expert and brilliant English professor John Branscum is coming up, right after the break
PSA 1 (:30)
- Freedom of the Press
Part 1 Ends (@15 minutes)
Part 2 Begins
Special Guest Star: John Branscum (5:00)
- We have a special guest today, Dr. John Branscum
- John has many specialities including creative writing and literature
- He is the author of many books, including Red Holler (an Appalachian literary anthology), Skinwalkers (a poetry collection), and two books translated from Chinese along with his wife Dr. Yi Izzy Yu Zhiguai: Chinese True Tales of the Paranormal and Glitches in the Matrix and The Shadow Book of Ji Yun
- Dr. Branscum is the perfect guest to talk about today’s special topic of aliens
- John, let’s talk a little about the history of UFO’s
Secret Origin Story (3:00)
- The Silver Surfer was born Norrin Radd is from the utopian planet Zenn-La
- A gigantic being of unlimited power named Galactus roams the cosmos devouring entire worlds to feed his hunger
- Unfortunately for Zenn-La, Galactus comes to devour the world
- Norrin Radd offers to become a herald for Galactus in order to find other worlds, hopefully uninhabited worlds, for him to consume
- Galactus accepts Norrin’s offer, changing him into a being encased in silver with a magical surf board he uses to fly through space
- Galactus also imbues Radd with some of the power cosmic
- Radd saves his homeworld and his beloved, Shalla-Bal, but he must leave her behind, seemingly forever
- When Galactus eventually decides to destroy earth, the Silver Surfer rebels, and though Galactus leaves, he punishes Radd by imprisoning him within an invisible barrier on earth so that he can never return to his homeworld
- Kirby has this to say in an interview when he was asked about creating the Silver Surfer:”My conception of the Silver Surfer was a human being from space in that particular form. He came in when everybody began surfing — I read about it in the paper. The kids in California were beginning to surf. I couldn’t do an ordinary teenager surfing so I drew a surfboard with a man from outer space on it.”[7]
- Kirby further elaborated on the narrative role the character was created as “My inspirations were the fact that I had to make sales and come up with characters that were no longer stereotypes. In other words, I couldn’t depend on gangsters, I had to get something new. For some reason I went to the Bible, and I came up with Galactus. And there I was in front of this tremendous figure, who I knew very well because I’ve always felt him. I certainly couldn’t treat him in the same way I could any ordinary mortal. And I remember in my first story, I had to back away from him to resolve that story. The Silver Surfer is, of course, the fallen angel. When Galactus relegated him to Earth, [the Surfer] stayed on Earth, and that was the beginning of his adventures.”[8]
Silver Surfer Song 2 (4:03)
- “Spirit in the Sky” by Norman Greenbomb
- From Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2
Station ID: WIUP FM 90.1 (1:00)
- Alternative music for Indiana County and beyond
- Check out pagnucci.org and click the big Superhero Smash button
- Or email Professor X using the address superherosmash2023@gmail.com
- I’m back with our special guest, English Professor John Branscum
Special Guest Star: John Branscum (5:00)
- John, let’s talk about The Invasion of Washington in 1952
- Video: Washington, D.C. UFO Incident
Silver Surfer Song 3 (4:03)
- The Blue Beetle movie is coming August 18th, and the Beetle gets his superpowers from a magical alien scarab, so that’s the perfect excuse to play
- “Across the Universe” by The Beetles
Part 2 Ends (@45 minutes)
Part 3 Begins
Final Thoughts from Our Special Guest Star: John Branscum (5:00)
- John, let’s talk about the UFO phenomena today
- The U.S. government has held congressional hearings about what they call UAPs (Unidentified Ariel/Anomalous Phenomena)
- Video: Congressional UFO Hearing
- They released tapes showing an unknown green triangular object
- and a white “Tic Tac” object that was spinning and moving super fast as it was observed by U.S. navy pilots
- Professor Branscum, there are more UFO Senate hearings coming up next week; are we on the verge of some kind of disclosure by the government?
Part 3 Ends (@47 minutes)
Part 4 Begins
Romantic Interlude (2:00)
- Norinn Radd and Shalla-Bal
- When he first became the surfer, Shalla-Bal begged him to take her with him, but Radd only said, “Where soars the Silver Surfer…there must he soar…alone!”
- The Surfer tried so hard to return to her, even bringing her back from the dead at one point, but they only got fleeting moments together because their love affair was doomed, alas
- Here’s one little mournful tune to fit that mood by Elton John
- Sadly, folks, love doesn’t always work out
Romantic Melody (3:51)
- “Rocket Man (I Think It’s Gonna Be a Long, Long Time)” by Elton John
- Worth mentioning The Rocketeer, a superhero with a jetpack from the 1950
- Great film if you’ve never seen it
- And J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter, last survivor of inhabitants of Mars who eventually joined the Justice League
- J’onzz was a lonely character, often representing the sad life of an alien stranded upon earth
PSA (2:00)
- I’ve timed our talk of aliens and the Silver Surfer to coincide with the upcoming Kecksburg UFO Festival
- The festival is July 21st-23rd, great food and fun for the whole family
- Helps support the Kecksburg Volunteer Fire Department
- On December 5th, 1965 an acorn shaped UFO crashed near Kecksburg, Pennsylvania
- Although the government later claimed it was just a meteor, for some reason the sent 2 convoys of U.S. troops in the middle of the night to look for this “meteor”
- I’ve been to Kecksburg and it is a nice little town in the middle of nowhere, along the Chestnut Ridge foothills
- There’s no reason the military would have had to go there in the middle of the night, except to retrieve a crashed UFO
- There is a cool life size model of the UFO on display there, great for photo ops
- The annual festival is great fun
- And Pennsylvania bigfoot and UFO researcher Stan Gordon will be speaking at the festival this Sunday
- Stan has a great documentary called Invasion on Chestnut Ridge, which even includes mention of Indiana, Pennsyvlania
To Be Continued Next Issue (1:00)
- Same Bat Time, same Bat Channel–Supervillains: Bring on the Bad Guys!
- Songs with Stephanie is coming up at noon
- Contact me, the new Professor X, via email: SuperheroSmash2023@gmail.com
- And remember…
- “You don’t need superpowers to be a hero. The only thing it takes to be a hero is the courage to do what’s right when someone needs your help.”–Gian Pagnucci
End Credits Song (3:54)
- The Mahoning Drive-In Theater up in north east PA (Lehighton, PA specifically) is doing a special 45th anniversary screening on Thursday, July 20th, of Superman: The Movie
- In honor of the movie’s late, great star, Christoper Reeve, who made us all believe a man could fly, here is
- “Kryptonite” by 3 Doors Down
Part 4 Ends (@60 minutes)