While we often talk about a few movies on every episode -- one main film and some supporting works, sequels, and so on -- we're spotlighting two movies on this episode: Michael Campus's Z.P.G. (1972) and Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men (2006).

Z.P.G. (Zero Population Growth) stars Oliver Reed as Russ McNeil and Geraldine Chaplin as his wife Carol. The film is set the near future where global resources have been strained and the environment has paid the price for the blight of human beings which have polluted the air so much that they live under a shroud of smog. "They took all the trees and put 'em in a tree museum where they charge people a dollar and a half just to see 'em." The film was inspired by Paul Ehrlich's 1968 clarion call, The Population Bomb which warned of overpopulation.

Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men is a very loose adaptation of P.D. James's 1992 novel. The film stars Clive Owen as Theo Faron who's biding his time on planet earth as the population is dying -- or killing itself off. No babies have been born in over 18 years which has exacerbated social strife, leading to terrorism, mass suicide, and refugee crises.

Furthering the discussion about population control, author Mei Fong discusses her book One Child: The Story of China's Most Radical Experiment while Keith Gordon and Christine Makepeace join Mike to talk about the two different approaches to similar sci-fi material.

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