The fun part of programming is throwing panel ideas at the wall. The hard part is finding people who want to speak … in public.

What follows is a list of panels we’d like to run. This is where you come in – if you’re interested, please let us know using this Google form, and then the real fun (scheduling) can start!

ACAB Includes Sam Vimes (Just Ask Him)

Police and policing in science fiction and fantasy.

Alas, Poor Hellsite

Farewell, Twitter. Hello, … X The future of social media – and of fandom on social media. Do we go to Tumblr? Substack? Are we all going to go back to blogging? Is it time to get a Neocities account?

An AppleTV+ Series A Day

How is it that some of the best speculative fiction on TV is coming from Apple? And … has anyone told them that they’re spending a lot of money on anti-corporate pro-right-to-repair works? This panel covers For All MankindSeveranceFoundation, Silo and more.

A Beginning Is A Very Delicate Time: Dune

Do you have strong feelings about Dune? Do you want justice for the 1984 David Lynch adaptation? Do you think the early 2000s SyFy version is underrated? Are you ride [a sandworm] or die for the Villeneuve take? Do you … like the books? Let’s talk cocaine planets, prophecies, matriarchal eugenics cults, memes, colonialism and Zendaya.

Beyond Starfleet: Science Fiction, Fandom and the Military-Industrial Complex

Many of the foundational SF writers of the mid-20th century had military backgrounds – they were, after all, young men in WW2. And we know there were a lot of SF mag subscriptions being sent to Los Alamos. How does this affect the genre and fandom today?

Celebrating Romantasy

Women have always written fantasy, and fantasy has always contained elements of romance … so why has “romantasy” suddenly exploded? What are the benefits of a new publishing label, and what are the drawbacks? What are the must-reads?

DIY Audio Work

Do you have a podcast yet? Are you interested in recording audiobooks or podfic? Are audio dramas calling your name? Okay, that’s the audience – the panelists we want are people with experience in recording quality audio at home, who can talk about where to start, the best places to learn, and how to deal with the noise if you have parrots nesting right outside your home office.

Fate/Stay WHAT?

The Type Moon Fate/Stay Night franchise is one of the most sprawling anime franchises out there. If you’ve been wondering whether to start, or where, come along to find out.

[This suggestion came to us through our Google Form, but due to a bug, we don’t know who proposed it or if they want to be involved. If that’s you, please let us know.]

Is It Time For The Superhero Movie To Take A Rest?

First of all, your programming team had superhero fatigue before it was cool. But if you want to talk about it – about where the genre has gone wrong, and how it can be revived – we want you

Lockdown Media

Hey, um, remember 2020? And 2021? This is a chance for everyone – panelists and audience members – to talk about the media that got them through lockdown, and to share recommendations with friends.

Our Flag Means Con

Cancellation doesn’t mean this ship stops sailing! If you have strong feelings about the queer pirates formerly of HBO Max, this is your opportunity to talk about it.

Pandemic Publishing

Has publishing changed since 2020? And if yes, is that because of the pandemic, or other forces? How has it changed and what does that mean for authors and readers? (If the answer is no, that’ll be a very short panel and we can all go out for coffee.)

She’s A Speculative Film, He’s Just Ken

Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is a reverse portal fantasy: discuss. Your Barbies are also welcome to join us.

Talking Tolkien

Rings of Power on Amazon Prime polarised existing Tolkien fans … but also brought a lot of new readers to his work. So let’s talk about that, and the hostility with which some fans greeted Black Elves. Also, there are Galadriel/Sauron shippers now. That’s a thing.

Tasmania Is A Real Place, Probably

Deadloch may not be fantasy … but maybe it is? A bit? Discussing the hit lesbian small-town crime drama parody. Watch out for seals.

The Age of Entitled Fans

We live in an age of entitled fans loudly putting down the show/films they supposedly love. Claims of destroyed childhoods, threats to boycott, petitions to have a film/episode re-made, calls for cancellation, demands to sack cast and production crew. Is this a new phenomenon given voice by social media? Or has it always been a part of fandom, lurking under rocks in the dark shadows?

Time And Relative Panels In Space

Doctor Who is relaunching with its third first season! New face, new companion … old showrunner. Let’s talk Time Lords.

Truck-Kun And You: Portal Fantasy from Isekai and Transmigration to Magic Wardrobea and LitRPG

What is isekai? How is it different from western portal fantasy? And is it the same as transmigration? This panel explores all manner of ways in which protagonists fall into new worlds, from The Chronicles of Narnia to Sword Art Online and everything in between.

Ugh, Emotions: The Murderbot Panel

“I hate caring about stuff. But apparently once you start, you can’t just stop.” We could talk about the Murderbot books, the characters, the worldbuilding, the upcoming adaptation starring Alexander Skarsgard as a racially ambiguous agender SecUnit. Or we can sit in silence and rewatch The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon. You decide.

The Whole WorldCon … Thing

Is WorldCon drama a fandom? And if not, can we make it one? This is for everyone who loves Hugo stats, shortlists, preferential voting and, um, political dossiers on award nominees.

Other potential panels we’d love to run if people want to talk about them

  • The Anne Rice Cinematic Universe
  • The current trend of contemporary romance novels which blatantly started life as fan fiction
  • BookTok
  • TikTok and fandom in general – we particularly want to hear from people who use TikTok and create material for it
  • The various Star Wars TV series which have appeared since the last Continuum. Can you believe we’ve never run an event in the age of Baby Yoda?
  • Panels about comics
  • Panels about video games, whether as a whole or focusing on individual games or series – from AAA games to indies
  • Transformative works fandom
  • Modern Star Trek
  • “AI” – ChatGPT, Midjourney and so forth
  • The enshittification of everything
  • The Michelle Yeoh Renaissance
  • Continuum After Dark: an adults-only stream running after 9pm, covering smut, gore, cannibalism, monsterfucking and anything else that comes with a strong content warning.

And if this list has inspired you to come up with ideas of your own, please, let us know! Either email us at programming@continuum.org.au or fill out the GoogleForm at https://forms.gle/GJf9ARvLoyVqeXtEA.