We’ve finally gotten the public domain moving again after many years. Many great works of fiction are becoming free for everyone to use and remix with each passing year. I’ve seen some familiar faces, such as The Great Gatsby, enter the public domain. However, there have also been many pleasant surprises along the way. We’re going to discuss one of those pleasant surprises in this review. We’re taking a look at Silly Old Bear.
Edward J. Bear, known to his friends as Winnie the Pooh, lives in a house in the forest. He has many friends, such as Piglet, Rabbit, Owl, Eeyore, and of course Christopher Robin. There’s lots of adventures to be had for a bear of very little brain. Pooh and friends will learn many lessons, and have many laughs, during their (mis)adventures. So, why not journey into the forest, and spend some time with everyone’s favorite silly old bear?
I am a lifelong fan of Winnie the Pooh. I grew up with the Disney cartoons, and watched the video tapes constantly. Well, when I wasn’t watching Thomas the Tank Engine or The Tales of Beatrix Potter, of course. Though I’ve gotten older, there’s still very much a special place in my heart for Winnie the Pooh.
So, one fine and blustery day on Twitter, I saw a tweet. It was one of those “these people you follow also follow this” sort of tweets. It was promoting an upcoming audio drama called Silly Old Bear. It was to be an adaptation of the original Winnie the Pooh stories by A.A. Milne. It was created by Caroline Mincks, who has created several other audio dramas, such as Seen and Not Heard. There was only a trailer available, but I decided to give it a listen. It was love at first sound. The gentle, calming, whimsical music perfectly capture the spirit of Winnie the Pooh. That theme music always manages to put a smile on my face whenever I hear it. And then there was the actor who played the titular silly old bear. Ashley Hunt was obviously not copying the Disney version of Pooh, but my goodness, did he ever nail Pooh’s character. The entire trailer was less than a minute long, but I was sold. I eagerly awaited launch day.
And come it did. A new episode came out once every three weeks, but I always eagerly awaited the premiere of new episodes. The first season has come to an end, and my review is here at last.
Now, as previously stated, Silly Old Bear draws upon the original Winnie the Pooh books by A.A. Milne. Only the original books are in the public domain. The Disney cartoons are very much still under copyright. For example, Pooh’s iconic red shirt was codified by the Disney cartoons. He did wear a red shirt in The House at Pooh Corner, but that’s still under copyright. So, a good rule of thumb for artists is as follows: Red shirt on bear, artists beware. If nude he be, your Pooh is (copyright) free. Also, don’t expect to see Tigger in Silly Old Bear. He first appeared in The House at Pooh Corner, which won’t be public domain until 2024. Think of it like this: Norse Mythology is public domain. However, if you make a comic book or an audio drama, and your versions of Thor and Loki look and act too much like the Marvel Comics versions, you can expect a cease and desist letter in the mail.
The books are mostly the same as the cartoons, but there are some slight differences. For example, everyone knows that Winnie the Pooh lives in the Hundred Acre Woods, right? Except, no he doesn’t. The Hundred Acre Woods is but a small part of the unnamed forest that Pooh and company live in. The characters were a bit more nuanced and multifaceted in the books. The cartoons simplified them into their most iconic elements. For example, in the books, Eeyore was still gloomy and a bit depressed. However, he could also be snarky, sarcastic, grouchy, stubborn, and even a bit of a jerk at times. Or to put it another way, a bit like a real donkey. We do get a few hints of this in Silly Old Bear, but nothing too major just yet. Of course, that might change in future seasons. It was from listening to Silly Old Bear that I learned that Winnie the Pooh’s real name is, in fact, Edward J. Bear. But, of course, he is known as Pooh to his friends.
The voice actors don’t attempt to copy the voice actors from the Disney cartoons. I suspect that this is done deliberately. That way, it helps to give Silly Old Bear its own unique identity. Well, that, and Disney’s legal team probably wouldn’t like it if Silly Old Bear sounded too similar to the Disney cartoons. The casting in Silly Old Bear also returns Winnie the Pooh to its British roots. The Disney cartoons used American voice actors, which has lead to the misconception that Winnie the Pooh is of American origin. To the contrary, it is quite British. In fact, A.A. Milne was considered one of Britain’s finest satirists and playwrights before he wrote Winnie the Pooh.
The cast of Silly Old Bear is a veritable who’s who of British audio drama voice actors. Our narrator is played by Sarah Golding. She is a highly versatile actress, and it would be easier to list the audio dramas she hasn’t been involved in. She is to audio dramas what John Ratzenberger is to Pixar movies. However, some highlights of her career include Drunk Helen from A Scottish Podcast, one of the aliens from We Fix Space Junk, the Irish grandmother from Cultureverse, the receptionist from Boom, and she’s narrated several episodes of Gallery of Curiosities.
Our title character is voiced by Ashley Hunt. He does an absolutely fantastic job of capturing Pooh’s child-like innocence and optimism. Piglet is voiced by Sophs Hughes, who uses they/them pronouns. They nailed Piglet’s nervous and perpetually paranoid demeanor. Their performance as Piglet was one of my absolute favorites of the entire cast. It was equal parts cute and hilarious.
Rabbit is voiced by Felix Trench. He is most famous for playing Rudyard Funn in Wooden Overcoats, but he also gave some fantastic performances in Unseen. I mean, if Rabbit is going to be anyone from audio drama, he’s definitely going to be Rudyard Funn. Owl is voiced by Karim Kronfli. He is most famous as Bruce the gangster on A Scottish Podcast. He does a good job, but knowing him as Bruce makes some of Owl’s lines come across as unintentionally sinister.
And of course I must give praise Ethan Hunt, son of Ashley Hunt, as Roo. What can I say? He is just utterly adorable. I see a very bright voice acting future for young Ethan. And of course I must also praise Khalila Marie for her performance as Kanga. I wasn’t aware that Pooh and the gang, mostly due to Rabbit’s paranoia, didn’t truest Kanga and Roo initially. The book version of Kanga is a loving mother, but she has a bit more bite to her than the Disney version. Khalila’s performance really emphasized this.
Rounding things out, we have Layla Katib as Christopher Robin. She captures Christopher Robin as the voice of reasons, but also shows his playful and adventurous side. So, as you can see, we have great performances from the entire cast.
Silly Old Bear was an absolute joy to listen to from start to finish. I loved revisiting stories I was already familiar with, and discovering new ones. Whether it was hunting for heffalumps and woozles, trying to find Eeyore’s tail, having tea with Rabbit, or enjoying some honey, it was splendid to spend time with Pooh and friends.
And I’m certainly not the only person who thinks that Silly Old Bear is fantastic. As with Caroline Mincks’ other shows, Silly Old Bear is now a member of the Realm Media family. Realm doesn’t really have much in the way of family-friendly shows at the moment. Silly Old Bear is pretty much the only such show. But a lot of big name audio dramas have been joining the Realm family. So, who knows what the future might hold. Silly Old Bear is certainly an excellent starting place for family-friendly shows at Realm.
Well, I don’t think there’s really much else I can add. Silly Old Bear fills me with warm and fuzzy feelings, and always manages to put a smile on my face. It is an absolute joy from start to finish. It is an excellent audio drama for both the young and the young at heart. You certainly won’t want to miss it if you’re a lifelong Winnie the Pooh fan.
I think that should do it from me for now. I will see you guys next time.
Audio drama, and audio fiction in general, is the last place you’d expect to find people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Despite this, there are a surprising number of such individuals involved in the world of audio drama. And it isn’t just fans. In fact, the audio drama we’re taking a look at today was created by one such individual. We’re taking a look at Seen and Not Heard.
Seen and Not Heard follows a young woman named Bet Kline. She has recently lost most of her hearing as a result of an unspecified illness. The series follows a few weeks in Bet’s life as she tries to navigate her now mostly soundless new life. She has to deal with her rather insensitive mother. She meets a nice young man named David, who might be more than he appears. More than anything, Bet has to decide what she wants out of her new life.
I first become aware of Seen and Not Heard when it got recommended to me on that “You Might Also Like” section of the Apple Podcast app. The first thing that stood out to me was the title card. You see a circle of hands using sign language. That, plus the title, clearly indicated that this would be something involving deafness. A non-fiction podcast about deafness would certainly be odd, but not necessarily out of the question. But this was recommended based on my recent listening. Surly, it couldn’t be an audio drama about deafness, could it? I tapped the cover art, and sure enough, that’s exactly what it was.
I admit that this show had a certain dancing bear element to it. It’s not everyday that you find an audio drama where the main character is deaf. Oh, but that’s not the only unusual feature about Seen and Not Heard. You see, it is also created by a deaf individual. Series creator Caroline Mincks, who uses they/them pronouns, is legally deaf. They describe themselves as being exactly halfway between fully hearing and fully deaf. So, they have some hearing, but it is less than optimal. They often get help from their friends to make sure that the audio from their podcasts is correct and up to snuff. And yes, that’s podcasts plural. Caroline Mincks has made several other podcasts besides just Seen and Not Heard. They have also worked on several other audio dramas, and have helped make transcripts for several shows. Speaking of which, transcripts are available on the Seen and Not Heard Twitter account.
And Caroline isn’t alone. As it turns out, there are a surprisingly high number of deaf and/or hard of hearing individuals who enjoy audio dramas. They come because the shows all seem interesting, and they want to take partake in them. Just the same as hearing people do. This is why it is important to include transcripts with your audio dramas. Without them, it is very difficult for deaf and hard of hearing individuals to enjoy audio dramas. Also, transcripts are very handy for people who write reviews of audio dramas.
Now, prior to listening to Seen and Not Heard, I’d had a less than stellar experience with depictions of deafness in audio dramas. The only other time I’d seen deafness in audio dramas was in The AM Archies; which is season six of The Bright Sessions. There’s a scene between a hearing character and a deaf character. The deaf character communicates using sign language, which is conveyed by a series of barely audible wind rushing noises. I actually had to rewind multiple times to just to figure out what the hell I was listening to. It didn’t help that Lauren Shippen bragged about how groundbreaking the scene was on Twitter. She came across less as someone who wanted to sincerely depict deafness, and more like she was cynically trying to virtue signal. It also didn’t help that the characters only appeared in that one scene, and had no impact on the plot.
I went into Seen and Not Heard with an open mind, but I was fully prepared for it to be terrible. Much to my surprise, Seen and Not Heard proved to be quite well-written, and took great care to execute it premise in an entirely audio medium. There is strong feeling of sincerity and genuine care being put forward. This is clearly a very intimate subject for Caroline Mincks, and they wanted to do the topic of deafness proper justice in an audio medium. I alway give points to those who act with sincerity and genuine conviction.
We get a few scenes where we actually get to hear what things are like from Bet’s perspective. It sounds like she has her head underwater. I could kind of make out a couple words and phrases, but I was fairly lost during those scenes. Of course, that’s the point of those scenes. We’re suppose to sympathize and empathize with Bet’s struggles. Bet communicates verbally both in interactions with other characters and her internal monologue. Bet was not born deaf, so presumably she remembers the mechanics of talking. It is also mentioned that she can lip read, and can somewhat better understand people if she’s facing them. She does enroll in a sign language class. She’s the only actual deaf person in the class. Pretty much everyone else has family of significant others who are deaf or hard of hearing.
I should probably mention that, technically, Bet’s real name is Beth. Apparently, she had a slight speech impediment as a kid, and pronounced her name as Bet. So, the mispronunciation stuck later in life.
I must also give credit to Seen and Not Heard for another aspect. There are three mini-episodes that occur before the main series. They offer brief vignettes into Bet’s life. One of them involves Bet going to visit her rabbi for advice and guidance. Now, in the past I have made it no secret that I have an extreme disdain for ordained clergy, and other religious figures. So, it is a testament to Caroline Mincks’ skill as a writer that I found the rabbi to be an incredibly enjoyable character. One of my favorite lines from her was towards the end of the mini-episode. She says, basically, “You don’t have to love your lot in life. Be angry, be pissed off, very Jewish thing to do. But for as long as you can, however you can, leave goodness in your wake in spite of how the world treats you. And if you can’t do any good, just don’t do any harm.”
Bet’s mother is someone who really ought to heed that advice. There are very few audio drama characters who have made me feel genuinely angry. Mrs. Kline, however, was one such character. It is very clear that she and Bet have been having issues for quite a while. She frequently chides Bet for not focusing more during family dinners and other family gatherings. She ignores how Bet genuinely is trying her best, but still has understandable struggles with keeping up. It doesn’t help that the rest of Bet’s family is fairly inconsiderate of her needs. Mrs. Kline also considers Bet’s sign language classes to be a waste of time and money. In fact, Mrs. Kline boarders on being flat out abusive at times.
I’m reminded of a PBS documentary I once watched about the history of deaf people in America. It mentioned how education deaf children used put a lot of emphasis on lip reading and vocalization. The educators claimed this was for the benefit of deaf children, but it was really because doing that made things easier for hearing people. It used to be like that for autistic people too. In the past, emphasis was on getting autistic children to act more like neurotypical people. However, in recent years the emphasis has shifted to accommodating the needs of autistic individuals. You’re probably wonder why I brought this up, but we’ll get to that in a minute.
Bet works as a food photographer. She has a true passion for all things culinary. In fact, she wanted to be a chef, but losing her hearing put the kibosh on that dream. Granted, there are some restaurants where the kitchen staff are all deaf, but Bet has made peace with giving up that dream. In Bet’s defense, professional kitchens can be fairly dangerous; with lots of things that can seriously injure you if you aren’t careful. Still, I wonder how Bet would be faring if she’s dreaming of doing something involving sound. Like, say she wanted to becoming a musician, or a 911 dispatcher.
I do wonder how much of Seen and Not Heard is autobiographical. It didn’t escape my notice that Bet and Caroline Mincks share a number of similarities. They are both Jews from northern Virginia. Many of the foods that Bet cooks and eats are also ones I’ve seen Caroline mentioning cooking on Twitter. They also seem to be fairly similar in terms of personality. There’s also the obvious similarity that they are both deaf to the same degree.
There’s a bonus episode where Caroline Mincks gives advice on how do write deaf characters, as well as a bit about what it is like to be a deaf audio drama creator. They said it is considered rude to ask deaf people how they became deaf. Be that as it may, given all of the other similarities between Bet and Caroline, I can’t help but wonder. I also wonder how much of the plot draws from Caroline’s own life. There are some differences, like how Caroline identifies as non-binary, while Bet identifies as female. However, I also don’t know how Caroline identified when Seen and Not Heard was made.
I should also mention that, in addition to being the series creator, Caroline also provides the voice for Bet. Caroline gives a very earnest and heartfelt performance. It was quite clear, as with everything else, that this was a very personal subject for Caroline. Caroline also assembled a team of very talented voice actors to help bring the other characters to life.
As an aside, this is probably one of the scariest audio dramas I’ve encountered in quite some time. I was diagnosed with a learning disability, which included elements of dyslexia and dysgraphia. I learned from getting tested for learning disabilities that I’m very audio oriented. I often do best by listening. Audiobooks have been a major lifesaver for me. So, the idea that I could loose my hearing as a result of an illness was quite terrifying on an existential level. And yeah, Seen and Not Heard make a point that being deaf isn’t the end of the world. Still, I’m not sure how well I’d fare in such a scenario.
Towards the end of the series, Bet goes to an art show. Specifically, it is the art of the non-binary artist name Kit, who is also deaf and autistic. I was excited when I heard this because I am also autistic. I don’t often bring this fact up. I don’t actively hide that side of myself, but I don’t necessarily draw attention to it. I want people to think of me, for example, as Sam McDonald the Audio Drama Critic. I don’t want people to think of me as just Sam McDonald the Autistic Audio Drama Critic. Having autism is certainly a very important aspect of who I am, but it is not the only aspect of who I am.
In fact, I think this might be the first time I’ve actually encountered an autistic character in audio drama. I used to think that I was the only autistic person involved in the world of audio drama. I know of a grand total of one other autistic person in audio drama. That doesn’t mean that others aren’t out there; just that I haven’t found them yet.
Kit provides insight into what it is like to be deaf. Up until this point, Seen and Not Heard had done a good job of portraying deafness without being patronizing or dipping into sentimentality. Unfortunately, it found Kit’s scene to be far too saccharine for my liking. I also felt that Kit inadvertently played into the magical disabled person trope. A close cousin to the magical negro, and alternatively known as inspiration ally disadvantaged, a magical disabled person provides folksy wisdom and down to earth advice. They almost alway provide this advice to an able-bodied person, and their only function within the story is to lift the spirits of the able-bodied protagonist. Now true, Bet is also deaf, but she was born hearing. However, Kit’s only function within the story is to be Bet’s deaf senpai, and provide words of inspiration.
I mean, I do have to give Caroline credit for actually including an autistic person. It also isn’t their fault that autistic characters are still so rare in audio drama. Still, I was hoping that Kit would have been less of a stereotype and more fleshed out. I suppose that this is an example of how even well-intentioned individuals can still wind up playing into negative tropes.
Seen and Not Heard did manage to redeem itself with how things ended. Bet doesn’t come to a big revelation about life, the universe, and everything. She doesn’t even come to terms with being deaf. She still has mountains to clime and challenges to overcome. In fact, she might never truly be at peace with loosing her hearing. But right here, right now, she feels just okay. And is okay to just be okay. Put another way, it is perfectly good to be good, and not perfect. In other words, perfect is the enemy of good.
This is a lesson that I myself have had to learn. In fact, it’s one I still need to do a better job learning. Depression and anxiety are often comorbid with autism, and that’s certainly the case with me. Misery loves company, as the saying goes. I’ve dealt with feelings of inadequacy my entire life. Sometime I wonder if I’m actually making a difference with these reviews, or if anyone actually cares what I have to say. I try my best give myself praise and reassurance for any improvements, no matter how small, I’ve made in my own life. The journey of 1000 miles begins with but a single step. Each step you take is worth celebrating.
Maybe Bet doesn’t have it all figured out, but she feels okay, at least for the moment. And that is certainly something worth celebrating. This is a very important message, and I’m glad that Seen and Not Heard resolved Bet’s character arc this way.
Caroline Mincks has hinted that we might be getting a season two of Seen and Not Heard. No details about the plot, only that it will be gayer. Hmm, if I had to speculate, I would guess that Bet will come out as non-binary. Bet will also develop an interest in audio drama podcast, and will perhaps make one. And perhaps said podcast is reviewed by an audio drama critic from Shreveport, Louisiana?
In other exciting developments, Seen and Not Heard, along with all of the other shows Caroline Mincks had made, was picked up by Realm Media. Realm has been scooping up a lot of audio dramas recently. They also recently acquired all the shows from Observer Pictures, Fool & Scholar, and Curious Matter. In other Caroline Mincks productions, I recommend Silly Old Bear. It is an utterly adorable adaption of the original Winnie-the-Pooh stories by A.A. Milne.
But whatever the future holds, I do know that I greatly enjoyed Seen and Not Heard. I took a gamble on this one, and it paid-off. It made the bold choice to depict the experience of deafness in an purely audio medium. It succeeded with flying colors. Give it a listen if you haven’t already.
Well, I think that should do it from me for now. I will see you guys next time.
