We Fix Space Junk takes place several centuries in the future. Samantha Trapp is the heiress of the incredibly wealth Trapp Mining Company. However, she's recently been disinherited and is now millions of dollars in debt to Automnicon. They're a megacorporation that owns...basically everything in the Milky Way Galaxy. In fact, pretty much everyone is a debt slave to them. Most of people spend their entire lives working off debt they owe to Automnicon. Oh, and you can inherit debt from family members. Fear, not, Samantha has been assigned to an excellent partner. Kilner is an experienced repairwoman, and a cyborg, who has worked numerous odd jobs over the years. She's the perfect person to show Samantha the ropes. Together they shall travel the stars and complete all sorts of odd jobs and repair jobs.
I'd been aware of We Fix Space Junk for a while. It always popped up on those "if you liked this show you might also like" features on the Apple podcast app. It is created by Battle Bird Productions, and is also a member of the Fable & Folly network of podcast. Fable & Folly is home to many other fine podcasts, such as Harlem Queen. Promos for these podcasts are often played at the end of episodes of We Fix Space Junk. Although, bizarrely, one of these was a promo for We Fix Space Junk.
So, one day on Twitter I noticed that We Fix Space Junk had followed me. I got the feeling that this was subtle way of fishing for a review. If this was indeed it, then congratulations, it worked. I had a gap in my listening schedule and so I gave it a listen. Well, that or the team has good taste in quality reviews. The two options are not mutually exclusive.
Though, in all seriousness, if any of you who create audio drama would like a review, just be direct. You can message me on Reddit, or send me a direct message on Twitter. You can also comment on one of my many posts on r/audiodrama. Or you can message me on Facebook; I'm active in the Audio Drama Lovers group. You can also message my Facebook fan page for this blog, Sam McDonald's The Audiophile. Point is, there's a lot of way to get in touch with me. The best way to guarantee that I'll review your show is to directly contact me. As you might have noticed, I'm more than happy to give any show a shot.
Okay, so enough about me, let's talk about We Fix Space Junk. As a British science fiction comedy, there is an inevitable comparison to shows such as The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy or Red Dwarf. The writing does overall convey a sense of humor and lightheartedness. Though, that isn't to say the show never has any serious moments. The lighthearted tone does at times make it easy to forget that the setting is rather dystopian. Allow me to elaborate. At some unspecified point in the future, Earth was hit by a massive solar flare. Pretty much all information and entertainment had been digitized, and thus was whipped out. However, Automnicon kept hard copies in a lead-lined vault. As such, Automnicon was able to rebuild the world in their image. I wonder if they might, perhaps, have played a role in the solar flare somehow.
By the present day, Automnicon has spread their influence across the galaxy. Also, all movies are remakes. Very bad remakes. At one point we get a brief glimpse of one of the numerous remakes of When Harry Met Sally, and it's laughably bad. Pretty much everyone is in debt to Automnicon, and if you die with debt then your children and/or other relatives inherit your debt. Automnicon is, in many ways, like those predatory student loan companies. There are some rich people who live without debt, but the wealth gap is astronomically large. Despite all of this, pretty much every character we encounter seems to take it in stride. Thought, that might be because everyone has consigned themselves to the way things are.
Now, let's talk about the characters, starting with our two leads. Kilner, as previously mentioned, is a cyborg who has been in the repair business for quite a while now. She and Samantha often go into cryosleep in-route to an assignment, because space is so big. So, Kilner is probably well into her triple digits by now. She is voiced by series creator Beth Crane. Nothing seems to truly phase her, and she takes pretty much everything in stride. Of course, given how long she's been doing repair jobs, she's probably seen just about everything. So, she's probably a bit justified in her blasé outlook on life. Kilner grew up on a small mining colony on Pluto. In contrast to Samantha, she never had much in the way of luxuries in her life. In fact, when Samantha asked her what she really wants most out of life, Kilner simply says she wants two jars of peanut butter.
Samantha used to be a spoiler sheltered member of the landed gentry. However, she's taken to her new life reasonably well. In fact, you get the feeling she's a bit happier now that she has Kilner as a friend. As we see, the feeling is very much mutual, and Kilner values her as a friend as well. Samantha also conveniently provides someone for Kilner to provide exposition and explanations to. She's a bit more easily fluster than Kilner, but Samantha is learning to take it in stride. Samantha is voiced by Rebecca Evans.
Kilner and Samantha travel the galaxy on a spaceship named The Yellow Submarine. It was owned by a man named Derek who was obsessed with collecting Beatles memorabilia. Fittingly enough, his AI was named RINGO. Tragically, The Beatles have been lost to the sands of time, and Joel may be their last fan in the universe. As such, he was determined to preserve their legacy. This extended to the name of the ship. Clearly, the future world of We Fix Space Junk truly is dystopian if The Beatles have been all but forgotten. The Yellow Submarine is controlled by an AI named DAX. He's pretty much a human who happens to have a spaceship for a body. He is voiced by Jack Carmichael. Most AI are like DAX, but they have no rights under the law. Then again, humans barely have any rights under the law. He's nice enough, and a loyal friend to Kilner and Samantha, but he gets bored during the long stretches they spend in cryosleep. Not much in the way of entertainment beyond endless movie remakes and the occasional bit of Sudoku.
Overall, We Fix Space Junk tends to be fairly episodic. Though, there are some plot treads hinting at a larger overarching story. There are also elements that carry over between seasons. For the most part, however, each episode is concerned with the latest assignment Kilner and Samantha have to complete. I'll discuss a few of my favorite episodes. In one episode they have to repair a movie projector on a planet of sentient popcorn people. Apparently, this was the result of an abandoned entertainment complex being subject to massive doses of radiation. Yeah, We Fix Space Junk tends to be soft science fiction. Emphasis is placed on what makes for a good story, or what would be funny, rather than what is scientifically plausible. The popcorn people are actually fairly nice, but there is one law that you must never break: don't talk while a movie is playing. Violators are subject to execution on the spot via mob justice. We even get to check in on the popcorn people during a between-seasons mini-episode.
Another memorable episode is where Kilner and Samantha visit a prison planet. The inhabitants are kept docile via a special ray generator that makes them productive members of society. You've got the usual mix of violent criminals like murderers, thieves, and sex maniacs. However, then we meet a character named Lucas. You see, he's the worst criminal of them all. He committed a heinous and unforgivable crime. He was...a book reviewer! He got sent to the prison planet after he gave a bad review of a young adult series written by the dictator of some other planet. Well, I guess that means I'd be sent to the prison planet too. Especially if Leigh Bardugo tattled on me to the authorities because of what I said about Shadow and Bone. I was very pleased that Lucas eventually reappeared during the season three finale.
A third really fun episode was when Kilner and Samantha have to fix a vending machine on the planet Apollo. Seems simple enough, but Apollo is designed to be a bodybuilder planet. It has a gravity generator that keeps things four times stronger than Earth gravity. At that gravity level, prying the door off the vending machine isn't just a herculean task, it's potentially hazardous to your health. As such, Kilner and Samantha have to recruit the help of a pair of bodybuilders named Lutar and Karns. I hope we get to check in with them in a future episode.
There's plenty of other great episodes. There's an episode where Kilner and Samantha have to entertain an alien princess from a planet of pacifists. Said princess is completely obsessed with true crime and murder, and wants to tour famous murder sites. There's another episode where they must answer a distress call from a spaceship modeled off of the Titanic. There is even one where they enjoy a lovely day at the spa. As you might have guessed, that one quickly goes pear-shaped. I could go on, but we'd be here all day, and I should probably leave some things for you to discover on your own.
There are ad breaks in the middle of each episode that feature SponsorBot. He's a perpetually cheery and friendly sales bot from Automnicon who advertises both in-universe and real-world products. He really, really loves you. From the sound of thing, many of the viewers love him too. I know I always look forward to seeing what he'll be advertising. Sometimes the other characters also get in on the advertising act.
Also, random observation, the character often swear in the name of Bruce. Christmas has also been replaced by Brucemas. We get a bonus special explaining the holiday. Apparently, it is a joke about Die Hard being a Christmas movie. Bruce Willis is both Santa and Jesus in the future of We Fix Space Junk. Instead of Christmas Trees, people have Brucemas Towers, and put little helicopters on top instead of stars. They all gather to remember how Bruce saved the world from the evil Grubers. There was Wizard Gruber, Depressed Android Gruber, Alien Gruber, and a few others. They're all obviously nods to the various roles that Alan Rickman played over the years.
In between each season is a series of mini-episodes. Between seasons one and two we got to see glimpses into the life of Marilyn. At one point, Kilner and Samantha encounter Kilner's former partner Jault on a mission. He got chosen as the father of the future ruler of a race of wasp aliens from the planet Gontano. Unfortunately, the process almost always proves fatal to the host, so they use a steak to save him...somehow. I'm still not sure I understand the exact details. Anyway, the rulers of Gontano are always hybrids of wasp aliens and whatever the host is, usually human. But in this case, cow DNA got added to the mix. Thus, Marilyn is fifty percent Gontanan, twenty-five percent human, and twenty-five percent cow. She also matures at an accelerated rate, but that's normal for the wasp aliens. Marilyn is voiced by Francesca Mintowt-Czyz. Marilyn was going to play a bigger role in the series, but Francesca moved to America, where she teaches theatre at Western Nebraska Community College. As such, Marilyn had to be written out of the show, but with the possibility of reappearing if the opportunity arises.
The miniseries, Marilyn's Diary, sees her trying to learn about life, the universe, and everything. She's under the watchful eye of HAROLD; he's the AI who runs Jault's ship. Apparently, AIs can spin-off parts of themselves into separate AIs. This happens to HAROLD, and the resulting AI is given the very creative name Haroldson. Haroldson reminds me of Arthur Christmas from the movie of the same name; both the way he talks and his general worrywart personality. Of course, he's voiced by James Carney, so he is not literally Arthur Christmas. The mini-series between seasons two and three is a series of mini-episodes that checks-in with various characters from the first two seasons. There’s also a second season of Marilyn's Diary between seasons three and four of the main show. It follows the counting adventures of Marilyn and Computer as they explore other worlds on their way to Gontano.
Well, I think that's everything of note. We Fix Space Junk is an excellent science fiction comedy audio drama podcast. I can't believe it's taken me this long to listen to it. Don't sit on this one, listen today. You'll be glad that you did.
I think that's enough from me for now. I will see you guys next time.
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