Only took twenty-four podcasts, but Nick and Alastair are finally in the same room for this bonus year-in-review episode! They attempt to talk down 2016 as a year in film and television, starting with a general chat about movies lately (1:19) before moving on to each listing their top five films covered in 2016 and negotiating them into a unified MFV top 3 without coming to blows (12:48).

And if that wasn't enough, they do the same for TV - a little broad discussion (27:07), followed by chart listings (39:05).

Finally, needing a little mutual back-slapping after all that controversy, they each give their favourites of the other's 2016's recommendations (59:55). All that and the first ever live incident of the Moderate Fantasy Violence drinking game!

Twenty-three podcasts, just in time for the twenty-fifth of December! It's nearly Christmas, and to celebrate, Nick and Alastair have seen An Inspector Calls and the Supergirl/Flash/Arrow/Legends of Tomorrow crossover. Neither of which are particularly festive. Oh well.

But we have at least got a review of new mega-film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (5:42). Can this latest spin-off justify its own existence, or is it a Star War too far?

Next up, a rare MFV complete disagreement as both our heroes have seen Amazon's Philip K. Dick adaptation The Man In The High Castle (22:48), but only one of them likes it much. Which host is the Nazi sympathiser? You'll have to listen to find out. We're also taking a look at Nate Parker's new film The Birth Of A Nation (42:04), chronicling the 1831 slave rebellion of Nat Turner.

Then we reach a seasonal feature at last, as Nick finally watches Die Hard (53:10). Some say it's the best Christmas movie ever. Does he agree? Is it even a Christmas movie at all? Rest assured, this will be discussed.

Twenty-two episodes of our podcast and somehow 2016 is still going! This fortnight, both of us went on London outings, Nick to the SMASH comics-chat event run by the London Graphic Novel Network and Alastair to the BFI's Black Star season. (We also both recommend the Kraken podcast, if you like podcasts.)

Moving on, in an MFV first, we talk about a whole novel! Specifically: The Hanging Tree (5:41), the latest Rivers of London book by Ben Aaronovitch, bringing Peter Grant back for another magical mystery. We also watch the first three episodes of The Grand Tour (21:05), a new motoring/banter hybrid from Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May on Amazon Prime.

Next, because we love Doctor Who and related media, we revisit teen-focused spin-off Class (37:18) now the first series is over, to see how it ended up. And yes, to justify covering it a second time, we'll need to include some extreme spoilers. Also Nick complaining a lot about the Shadow Kin.

Finally, Alastair recommends Taxi Driver (54:59) directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, a classic of modern cinema that Nick, unsurprisingly, has never seen.

Episode twenty-one! The podcast comes of age everywhere, just in time for the world to basically collapse. Alastair matches the mood with Hypernormalisation, a new documentary from Adam Curtis, while Nick is escaping into a surreal superhero dream with Grant Morrison and Richard Case's Doom Patrol run.

Forcing ourselves into the present day, we take on Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them (6:45), a new film set in the past of the Harry Potter universe. To help us get to grips with this, we bring in blogger, booktuber and Potter-lover Claire Rousseau, last seen discussing Harry Potter And The Cursed Child with us in MFV #13. This leads to some continuity deep dives and, yes, EXTREME SPOILERS for the film, right from the get-go.

If you enjoy Claire's appearance here, you can get more from her at ClaireRousseau.com, @ClaireRousseau on Twitter, or you can find her booktube channel by searching her name on YouTube.

We've also got a chat about Train To Busan (50:47), a Korean zombie film aiming to change the way we all see train travel, and, on Nick's recommendation, we look at Chew (62:59), the recently-concluded hit comic about food and flesh-eating, by John Layman and Rob Guillory.

Episode twenty! Another numerical milestone, and one recorded before the recent American electoral news, so no mention of that here. However, we do have intro talk of Flash, Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow and The Walking Dead from Nick, until Alastair raises the tone with indie film London Overground.

Our centrepiece this fortnight, though, is an in-depth chat about Black Mirror season 3 (6:35), covering all six of Charlie Brooker's latest techno-horror tales. Are they as miserable as people like to say? Or is there... a twist?

Meanwhile, in cinemas, we've got a review of Arrival (40:05), the new scifi/semantics movie starring Jeremy Renner and Amy Adams trying to speak to aliens, and then Lo And Behold: Reveries of the Connected World (53:26), a new documentary from Werner Herzog offering a slightly more uplifting view of technology than Black Mirror.

Finally, we find out what Nick thinks of Alastair's latest recommendation: surreal tower block sitcom 15 Storeys High (66:17) with Sean Lock and Benedict Wong.

Episode nineteen, and it's almost feature length this time! But in our defence, there's a lot to get through. Before any of that, though, we've been attending live recordings of other podcasts, specifically Welcome to Night Vale at the London Palladium and the very special 200th episode of SILENCE!

That done, we launch into new Marvel Cinematic Universe movie Doctor Strange (5:38) and ask: is there room for yet another superhero origin? Also: too many glowing magic bolts?

We've also got Class, the new Doctor Who spin-off (25:05), and since this is our first ever Who item, we talk for a fair while and bring in guest book blogger Julianne Benford to talk about the YA aspects of it all. If you enjoy Julianne's appearance here, she's @ladyjulianne on Twitter, has a book blog at http://thisfleetingdream.blogspot.com and also has other online presences that you can see in our website notes at moderatefantasyviolence.com

Moving out of mainstream geek culture, we've also seen I, Daniel Blake (52:59), the new movie from Ken Loach about Britain's none-too-fair welfare system. If you want to see Alastair's take on the politics of this film, you can read that on his website at redtrainblog.com

And then going right back into the nerdosphere, Nick's recommended Alastair the first few episodes of anarchic sci-fi cartoon Rick & Morty! (68:14)

Episode eighteen, so the podcast has finally come of age! Nick also completes a major rite of passage as he finally finishes Twin Peaks, while Alastair is out partying at the London Film Festival.

After that, it's a game of two halves as we check out two new American TV shows: the opening seven episodes of Luke Cage, the new Marvel Netflix series (5:36 WITH SPOILERS), and the pilot of Westworld, a new sci-fi series from HBO (24:32).

In the latter stage, it's all about British cinema with Spaceship (38:53), a spacey teenage drama we saw at London Film Festival, and Alastair's recommendation from last week, the East Midlands revenge thriller Dead Man's Shoes (49:41).

The seventeenth division has landed! It's a Brit-heavy episode, with opening talk about the current London production of Pinter's No Man's Land with Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, plus the revival of 90s middle class soap Cold Feet.

And then it's down to business with new homegrown zombie film The Girl With All The Gifts (6:01) based on a book by MR Carey, which both Nick and Alastair read and loved. Next, it's the difficult eleventh series of scifi sitcom Red Dwarf (21:57), before finally crossing the Atlantic for horror sequel Blair Witch (36:59). (Some parts of Blair Witch are spoiled quite heavily. BE AFRAID.)

Finally, Britain goes to enhanced war in Nick's latest recommendation: grim WW2 superpeople comic Uber (50:07) by Kieron Gillen and Caanan White.

Our sweet sixteen! Other important milestones in this episode - Nick finishes watching Chuck after about a year and Alastair books his London Film Festival shows!

More to the point, we catch up to the zeitgeist with Netflix's scary-nostalgia-saga Stranger Things (4:05, INCLUDES ENDING SPOILERS), then go a little more specialist with Spanish subtitled film Julieta (24:04) and The Divine Comedy's new album Foreverland (34:51).

Lastly, Nick somehow hasn't seen The Fifth Element (44:18), but Alastair's latest recommendation will sort that out.

Fifteen down! Back on regular format after two reality-bending outings, starting with opening chat about Between Two Thorns by Emma Newman and the end of Outcast season 1.

We've got thoughts about the difference between now and the 2000s as we talk David Brent: Life On The Road (3:19), then the long-lost world of folklore with Cry Havoc: Mything In Action (23:08). Next, we jump right back to our own tenth episode to revisit Orange Is The New Black season 4 in its entirety (37:09) INCLUDING SPOILERS.

Last of all, it's time to get lo-fi with BBC Three's romantic-yet-squalid one-room sitcom Him & Her (57:24).

Episode fourteen! We break our format for the second podcast running, but first, discussion of recent activities involving Twin Peaks and the Hackney Visions festival!

And then we're into our reflections on the recent Nine Worlds geekfest event in London (4:08), including live on-site audio! Then it's time to review new superhero movie Suicide Squad (26:08) and take a look back at the whole first season of Preacher (49:57).

And lastly, as ever, Nick takes a look at Alastair's latest recommendation: Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City by Guy Delisle (67:07).

It's our thirteenth episode! We've done this for a whole half-year! What better way to mark the occasion than a massive batch of trailers from San Diego Comic Con and the third Sharknado movie?

We've also got our first ever guest on the show - we're talking Harry Potter And The Cursed Child (6:47). Nick saw the play but Alastair didn't, so booktuber and mega-Potter-fan Claire Rousseau is here to tell us her feelings. There's a quick no-plot-details opinion-summary at the start, then anyone avoiding spoilers should jump to 46:35, where Nick and Alastair review Star Trek Beyond in the regular MFV way.

If you enjoy Claire's appearance, you can find her talking about books on YouTube by searching her name, or at ClaireRousseau.com or @ClaireRousseau on Twitter.

And finally, Nick recommends Alastair the video-game-folk-music of Rebecca Mayes (58:29). Is it his sort of thing, or are we headed for another Lebowski-esque clash?

Episode twelve, and Nick is playing Pokemon Go like all the cool kids. (Hopefully it'll still be cool by the time we release the podcast.) Alastair, controversially, has read The Next Next Level by Leon Neyfakh, an actual book.

Then the 12 begins in earnest, as we review the sometimes-controversial Ghostbusters remake (5:36). We've also seen fashion-horror movie The Neon Demon from director Nicholas Winding Refn (23:43) and read the first segment of Normal, a serialised novel by Warren Ellis (35:09).

Finally, Alastair gets Nick to watch The Big Lebowski, one of his favourite films (46:09). Will this finally trigger... podcast civil war?

Here's our eleventh episode, in which we mostly don't talk about the current Brexit-fuelled political turmoil in the UK! You might spot some frustration leaking through during the Independence Day 2 section.

But focusing on the fiction: we gaze upon the whole of Game of Thrones season 6 (5:51), before moving on to hardcore nuke-on-child action in Independence Day: Resurgence (26:24) and then Within The Wires (44:43), a new podcast from Team Night Vale - plus some chat about how Alice Isn't Dead is holding up.

Finally, Nick introduces Alastair to Dead Like Me (54:25), a grim reaper show that warmed his cold dark-comedy-loving heart back when it first aired.

We hit double figures, and taking the zero in the number far too seriously, cover three different TV series beginning with O. But first, Nick rates his superhero shows and Alastair has loftier viewing tastes.

And then down to business: Netflix's Orange Is The New Black begins its fourth year behind bars (4:18), new possession horror show Outcast reaches out for us (21:26) and we look back at Orphan Black's penultimate season of clone chaos (38:27). Then end up running a death bet.

Finally, Alastair recommended Richard Linklater's Philip K. Dick adaptation A Scanner Darkly to Nick last week - is he okay with its heady mix of animation and drugs? (55:35)

Episode nine, we're doing fine! Or are we? After a brief opening chat about iZombie and the recent Captain America controversy, we plunge comics newcomer Alastair into the swirling heart of the latest DC superhero relaunch with the DC Rebirth and Batman: Rebirth specials (5:09), stare in fantastical bafflement at video game orc movie Warcraft (25:14) and develop crushes on Matt LeBlanc while covering the BBC's Top Gear revamp (38:17).

Then our recommendations feature (51:48) goes on a bit longer than usual as we're covering one of Nick's favourite superhero comics ever: Black Panther (1998) #1-5 by Christopher Priest and Mark Texeira.

As ever, we spoil all our topics pretty egregiously. Use the timestamps to avoid any you're sensitive about. Also, we suffered a few technical sound problems while recording it, but hopefully Nick has edited the bulk of them into oblivion.

It's our eighth episode, the fourth to feature a major superhero movie! But at least there isn't another one until Suicide Squad in August! We start with X-Men: Apocalypse (3:22), then move on to cape-free TV comic adaptation Preacher (23:34). After all that, we finally watch an all-original film, namely horror-thriller Green Room starring Patrick Stewart as a Nazi (43:21).

And then we leave the realm of narrative entirely for our recommendation feature, as Alastair suggests the Cammell Laird Social Club album by irreverent post-punk band Half Man Half Biscuit (53:27).

Spoilers abound, especially for the X-Men movie. Beware! And if you enjoy the show, do review us on iTunes or tell your friends!

Episode seven is here! If it seems like it's come around pretty quickly, well, it wasn't that long since last time. In this one, we've got a look at the BBC America clonefest Orphan Black (2:56), upcoming indie sci-fi film Tourbillon (16:06) and our glorious final thoughts on Daredevil season 2 (29:05).

Then in our never-to-be-named recommendation feature (49:17), Alastair checks out early Aaron Sorkin comedy-drama series Sports Night for the first time. Can it overcome his bafflement at the strange rules/team names of American sport? (He's a pretty big Sorkin fan, so odds are good.)

As ever, timestamps provided above if you want to skip a segment to avoid spoilers. The Daredevil segment is particularly full-fat with ending details, for those who haven't seen season 2 yet.

Our sixth episode is here, a few days late but overloaded with A-list geek franchises to compensate! We've got a brief chat about the new Doctor Who companion announcement (2:19), and then full-on segments for Captain America: Civil War (4:10), the Game of Thrones season 6 premiere (26:15) and the whole of Better Call Saul season 2 (37:08).

And then, in the forever-anonymous recommendation feature (47:48), we discuss Blue Velvet, the odd David Lynch mystery thriller suggested by Alastair. Plus a musical treat at the start and we establish the first rule of the MFV drinking game!

INEVITABLE NOTE ON SPOILERS: We attempted not to flat-out describe the plot points (especially the ending) of Captain America: Civil War, but we discuss it for just over twenty minutes, so inevitably stuff like the shape of the story and the role of certain characters leaks through. If you want to remain totally spoiler free, recommend not listening until you've seen it, or using the timestamps provided above to skip the segment.

An Excessive Fantasy Violence special should follow on the website at ModerateFantasyViolence.com in the next few days - as soon as Nick has edited it - where we do discuss Civil War plot spoilers with reckless abandon. Follow us on Twitter at @MFVPodcast to be notified as soon as that happens.

After last week's superhero-free effort, it's time for the opposite! Nick and Alastair have seen Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, and one of them disliked it more than the other! Find out which is which (plus the repeated futility of Doomsday and what Nick has in common with Wonder Woman), then witness our discussion of Daredevil season 2 (plus the weakness of the Kingpin and exactly when it's time for the plebs).

In their first Moderate Fantasy Episode, Nick and Alastair discuss the new Deadpool movie (plus the importance of humour in superhero movies and which Deadpool comics are terrible), the #RIPTwitter algorithmic timeline kerfuffle (plus the inevitability of Vine porn and if anything good will ever happen to anyone) and their verdict on Netflix's Making A Murderer (plus the omnipresent evil of John Luther and whether true crime documentaries are the same as gladiatorial combat).

Our as-yet-unnamed recommendations feature shows up at the end and waves.