Yes, yes, Scotty and Amelia know that there's no shortage of science fiction movies to be found at the multiplex or on your streaming platforms. But there's a particular type of one-shot, grown-up sensibility sci-fi blockbuster that has become increasingly rare, and they've decided to take a look back at two shining examples: Steven Spielberg's 1977 classic "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and James Cameron's 1989 underwater epic "The Abyss."

Not all heroes wear capes...or even walk on two legs. This week Scotty tells Amelia and the listeners about the early days of the Space Race, and some of its non-human pioneers (and sacrifices) in the name of "progress." There was Albert II, a rhesus macaque monkey who became the first mammal to travel into space. There was Ham, a chimpanzee who flew aboard the Mercury-Redstone 2 rocket. And, of course, there was little Laika, a stray dog from the streets of Moscow who entered into orbit and the history books.

Not all of these furry astronauts survived their flights into the Great Unknown. But they live on forever in our hearts.

CONTENT WARNING: This episode talks about animal death.

Amelia's back! Having returned from parts unknown, she and Scotty return to their series on Movies They Just Don't Make Anymore by considering the "adult shenanigans!" subgenre...i.e. movies about legitimate grownups getting up to, well, shenanigans. To that end, they look back at three movies from their youth: 1987's "Three Men and a Baby" (starring Tom Sellick, Ted Danson, and Steve Guttenberg), 1988's "Big Business" (starring Lily Tomlin and Bette Midler), and 1989's "Troop Beverly Hills" (starring Shelley Long).

The night-owl reporter Tom Waits said it best: "I don't want to grow up..."

Welcome back! Sort of. Amelia remains in an undisclosed location, so in this episode of A Weirdest Thing Podcast, Scotty invites his good friend/real-working-screenwriter Ellen Huggins onto the show to talk about their grad-school days in Boston, their time in the film-industry trenches, the importance of geek "third spaces," writing sexy thrillers for Lifetime and Tubi, what goes into a Hollywood pitch, the awesomeness of the movie "Ghost," and more.

Spooky Season continues as Scotty and Amelia do a deep dive into the new Netflix series "Monster: The Ed Gein Story." They discuss the infamous legacy of "The Ghoul of Plainfield," and then talk about their mixed feelings about the series itself--from its uneasy handling of the true crime elements of the story, to its somewhat more successful attempts at grappling with Gein's impact on the horror genre through three iconic cinematic villains: Norman Bates (from "Psycho"), Leatherface (from "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre"), and Buffalo Bill (from "The Silence of the Lambs").

WARNING: This episode contains spoilers for "Monster: The Ed Gein Story."

CONTENT WARNING: This episode describes Gein's crimes in...grisly...detail. Listener discretion advised.

Amelia is officially moving us into Spooky Season with one of the most infamous mysteries from the September 11 tragedy: the strange disappearance of Dr. Sneha Anne Philip on September 10, 2001. Was she one of the many unidentified victims of the terrorist attack? Or is there more to the story? Amelia tells Scotty what is known--and still unknown--about Doctor Phillip's life and this case.

Have y'all noticed how NOT funny most modern romantic comedies are? Amelia and Scotty have. So they look back at the romcoms of their youth and highlight two of their favorites--1987's "Overboard" (starring Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell) and 1993's "So I Married an Axe Murderer" (starring Mike Myers and Nancy Travis)--and discuss how these films exemplify a unique blend of romance and (yes) comedy that, well, you just don't see anymore.

We've got a very non-spooky episode to get y'all gently primed for Spooky Season. Scotty gives a very quick primer on the history of "spiritualism," and then tells Amelia about how one of the movement's most famous adherents--Sir Arthur Conan Doyle--allowed himself to be adorably hoodwinked by a pair of quite imaginative young girls.

Yes, this is the story of the Cottingley Fairies.

Scotty and Amelia are starting a new series on the Pocket Size episodes of The Weirdest Thing. Thinking back to the movies of their youth, they realized there are entire subgenres of films that They Just Don't Make Anymore.

So this week they're taking on the first of those genres--the "Teenage Hijinks" movie--by looking at three examples in particular: "Adventures in Babysitting" (1987), "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (1986), and "Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead" (1991).

So remember: life moves pretty fast; if you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. TV rots your brains. And nobody leaves this place without singing the blues.

In our last full-sized episode, Scotty told the story of a real-life psychopath who inspired a notorious television character. Well, this week Amelia has her own tale of a notorious criminal mastermind who gave birth to a TV scammer.

Fans of HBO's "The Gilded Age" may not know that one of its characters is inspired by "the Queen of Ohio" Cassie L. Chadwick--aka Elizabeth Bigley--who around the turn of the 20th century perpetrated one of the most audacious cons in American history. Buckle up, because this one's a real doozy.

WARNING: Mild spoilers for "The Gilded Age."