The Audio File: Bite-Sized Broadway Part 2

Welcome back to my review of Bite-Size Broadway. If you're looking for part 1, it’s over here. This was originally a one-part review, but I split it up to make reading easier.

Bite-Sized Broadway is an anthology of mini-musicals. Each musical differs in style, music, and length. Shows run anywhere from seventeen to thirty-two minutes. The remaining time is spent on an interview with the creators of the musicals. The interviews are conducted by Jonathan Lynch. I was first made aware of Bite-Sized Broadway when I was contacted by Andrew Fox on Reddit. He's the sound engineer for the podcast, and is responsible for coordinating the musical scores in each episode. He's also an alumnus from Team StarKid. Team StarKid were an indie theatre troop who produced several parody musicals beloved across the Internet and beyond. Andrew had read some of my previous review I posed in r/audiodrama, and asked if I'd be willing to take a look at Bite-Sized Broadway. I said yes, and now here we are.

As you'll recall from last time, I absolutely adore the theme song that plays at the beginning and ending of each episode. Each episode has their own personalized posters, and they're all great. In fact, if you listen on Spotify, the image you get will be each episode’s poster, rather than the series title card. But we're getting off-track. To the next musical we go.

The sixth musical is The Trial of Bastiano di Bologna. It takes place at the Vatican in the 8th Century. Bastiano di Bologna, the loyal personal assistant of the Pope, has been brought to trial. He is accused of sneaking into the Pope's chambers and attempting to murder the Pope. Bastiano, however, contends that he is innocent. He claims that he witnessed a tiny arm sticking out from under the Pope's miter. Moreover, he claims that there is a tiny man living under the Pope's miter.

Just as a point of clarification. Miters are those funny looking hats that bishops wear. Aaron Jensen said that he got the idea for this musical when he was reading a story in The Weekly World News. It's a parody newspaper along the lines of The Onion. The story he read was about how a second pope was discovered under the Pope's hat. So, he grew the story from there. So, this story isn't based on any actual, or purported, trails within the Vatican. It's not aiming to be historically accurate, hence why the music is so anachronistic for the 8th Century.

Well, we start off with some Gregorian Chant, which would have been accurate for the time period. After that, we quickly transition to a more operatic style of music. In particular, I was reminded of the opera Don Giovani. We start of light and airy with wind instruments, and then get darker and more dramatic, which pipe organ for accompaniment. In particular, the part where the Tribunale tells Bastiano that his fate is sealed reminded me of the end of Don Giovanni. Also, as an aside, we got a surprise appearance by Andrew Fox as a member of the Tribunale. This is rather amusing, given that Andrew is Jewish.

The ending makes pretty good use of the audio-only medium. The Pope is called forward and has his miter removed. We hear everyone gasp, and then the musical ends. So, we never find out if there was a little man under the miter or not. Aaron says he leaves it up to the listeners to decide for themselves. Personally, the impression I got was that there was indeed a tiny pope.

But in more concrete details, I do know that The Trial of Bastiano di Bologna is an excellent mini-musical, and I happily recommend it. It's a historical-ish musical with some fun twists.

Our seventh musical is MTA: The Musical. It's a hot summer day on the New York City subway. Three very different people are standing on the platform waiting for their train. The train keeps getting delayed, and the heat keeps rising. We follow the inner thoughts and internal monologues of all three people as they go on a rollercoaster of emotions while waiting for the train.

I took a two-and-a-half-week trip Washington DC the summer before a graduated from college. It was a walking tour of the city that counted for class credit, and had plenty of free time. As such, I frequently used the Washington Metro subway. It was clean, modern, had plenty of air conditioning, was full of friendly and helpful people, and the train lines were all very easy to navigate. I bring this up because, based on what I've heard, the New York City Metro is the exact opposite of all those things. It probably helps that the Washington Metro frowns upon allowing food and drink, other than water and maybe coffee, onto the trains and into the station. I think I still have my metro card in my wallet, come to think of it. No, I didn't feel any schadenfreude listening to this musical. Why ever do you ask?

Peter Saxe and Christopher Michaels first conceived of this musical as a short film and a live show. They would be ten minutes long and feature no dialogue, other than the occasional announcement over the PA system. All other noises would be the sort ambient noises you might hear on a subway platform. The story would conveyed entirely thought the body language of the actors, to the point that the characters didn't even have names. Obviously, it would be pretty much impossible to do this in a non-visual medium, so this led to the plot being carried by the characters inner thoughts instead. Though, the characters are still unnamed, just like in the original proposal.

Our first song is called, fittingly enough, "MTA." It an upbeat opening number...about how much the three characters hate the MTA. They sing about how there's no air conditioning, cellphone reception is terrible, it's dirty and full of really big rats, among other things. I loved the contrast between the upbeat music and the extremely negative lyrics. It's a good opening number. Also, I definitely did not giggle and chuckle as I marveled at how much better the Washington Metro is. Yep, that totally did not happen.

Next, we have "Look At That." Everyone's frustration with the subway turn to sexual frustration as they ogle each other. They even hallucinate the PA system saying sexy things. Speaking only for myself, I don't usually think sexy thought when the temperature rises. I usually think something along the lines of "damn it, why is it so damn hot?!" I've also never ogled anyone on a subway. Though, that was probably because the experience was still so novel, and I was thinking about the fun things I'd see at various museums. If I had to ride the subway every day for work, I get the feeling the novelty would wear-off pretty quickly. But I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be thinking about banging the other passengers. Hey, all I'm saying is that another stereotype I've hear of the New York subway is that people are always masturbating on it. This was another song were the disconnect between the lyrics and the music worked to great effect.

Our third song is "Something More." It's a slow, and surprisingly touching, song where the characters sing about how they don't want to be alone. They're lonely, and they just want to find that special someone. The woman likes the second man, but he's gay and likes the first man, but first man likes the woman, who thinks he's a total meathead. Yeah, even before the love triangle was official revealed in the second song, I saw it coming a mile away. It was pretty obvious based on the mix of people we had. Still, while predicable, the actors all gave great performances. This song was also great at conveying its point about the characters.

Our final song is "MTA (Reprise)". It starts off slower, but then speeds up again towards the end. The characters sing about the MTA suck, but what are you going to do about it? Complaining won't make the train come fast, and at the end of the day, they all need the MTA for one thing or another. And hey, their patience is rewarded. Godot, and by that, I mean the train, finally arrives. Psych! It plows past the station and they're left still waiting, and frustrated as ever.

And so that was MTA: The Musical. It was another shorter musical, but it was still plenty of fun. It got plenty of laughs from me, and even managed to have genuinely touching moments. Chalk another one up for excellent mini-musicals. 

Our eighth musical is Sheila the Tiny Turtle. Sheila is a turtle who lives with her family in the Australian Outback. She wants to do big things, but everyone thinks she’s too small. Then, her mother falls ill, and nothing can cure her. Sheila hears that the seeds of the desert quandong tree might be able to cure her mother. However, the path to the tree is far from easy, and danger lurks around ever corner. Undeterred, Sheila sets out into the wilderness to save her mother.

Those of your who have read my review of the audio drama Yowie will recall that I had a love for all things Australia in my younger days. I still have a certain fondness for the Land Down Under. So, this musical had my attention from the start. This is a great musical to share with kids, but that’s no surprise. Caitlyn Burt and Amir Shoenfeld wrote this musical by consulting a children’s book containing folktales from around the world. They liked a Mexican story about the trickster Coyote. However, due to neither of them being Mexican, they felt uncomfortable doing a straight adaption. So, they decided to recast the story in one of their homelands; Australia for Caitlyn and Israel for Amir. They chose Australia due to it have more interesting animals than Israel.

I’ve done something similar. I’ve retold the Japanese folktale of Urashima Taro, but in 19th Century Shreveport, Louisiana. I’ve also retold the Jewish folktale The Golem of Prague, but set in 19th Century South Carolina. In fact, the very first version of The Golem of Prague that I ever read was set in the Roman Empire. You can find both of my stories over on The Moonlit Road.

Before we get into the songs, I just have to ask, why would a family of sea turtles be living in the Australian Outback? The Outback is about as far as you can get from the ocean in Australia. It just makes no sense. The cover art seems to indicate that Sheila and her family are sea turtles. I realize this is a minor issue, but it matters to me. Anyway, enough about that, onto the music.

Our opening song is called, well, “Opening.” It is a rousing folk/country song as Sheila’s brothers sing about how they work hard to provide for their mother, and diss Sheila for being little and weak. The song grows softer and slower as Sheila decide to embark on her dangerous quest. This was an interesting song. I’ve listened to a fair bit of folk music from around the Anglosphere, and I’ve come to appreciate how country music evolved out of folk music. Sometimes the line between the two gets a bit blurred. I got hints of both in this song, but I guess that make sense. Australia is a former British colony, like America, and draws from the same musical tradition. Well, the same initial musical tradition. Country music in America has strong African-American influences as well, but I digress.

The next song is “Offspring Just Spring Off.” Sheila meets some friendly kangaroos, and saves a joey named Ned from an eagle. Ned’s mother, however, is worried about how far Sheila is from home. Mrs. Kangaroo sings a bouncy song about how all mothers, no matter what species, make sure their children are safe and protected. Well, it is certainly fitting that the bouncy song was sung by a kangaroo. We also get to hear lots of fun Australian slang. That, or Sheila and the kangaroos were struck by a sudden bout of aphasia. That was a joke, just to be clear. I actually did enjoy hearing all the slang, and trying to pick-out the bits I was familiar with.

Song number three is called “Dingo.” Funnily enough, this one involves Sheila bumping into a hungry dingo. This one starts off menacing and threatening. I can practically see the hungry dingo circling around poor Sheila. Then, it switches to happy and jaunty as Sheila tricks the dingo into doing her bidding for her. See, Sheila, your mother was right. You are clever, and that’s your greatest strength. Hmm, I guess this is were the influences from the original story of Coyote come in. A great song, I have no complaints.

“Finale” is a reprise of the opening song, but this time Sheila’s brothers are singing her praise. The moral of this musical, if it wasn’t obvious, is that physical strength isn’t everything. There’s always a solution for those clever enough to find it. Sometimes, you just have to persevere. Not much more to say, other than that it was a good note to end on.

And so that was Sheila the Tiny Turtle. A great mini-musical for listeners of all ages. A good place to start if you want to introduce kids to musical theatre.

Our final musical for this season is titled RansomWHERE? This one follows a little old lady who isn’t very knowledgeable about computers. We’ll call her Grandma. Unfortunately, Grandma has been tricked into downloading some ransomware, named AIDA, onto her computer. She has seventeen minutes before it deletes all of her photos. Grandma recruits the help of her grandson Thomas, and together they must find a way to outwit AIDA before it is too late.

My family has had to deal with something very similar to this musical. My paternal grandfather got tricked into giving his personal information to scammers. It took my dad quite a bit of time to get that sorted out. My mom says that there is a special place Hell for people who try to take advantage of the elderly. We had some similar issues with my maternal grandmother. There were certain parts of this musicals where I wasn’t sure if I should laugh or cry. Just to be clear, I did very much enjoy this musical. It was a strong note to end the season on. This also is a special musical, because it is written by Bite-Size Broadway host Jonathan Lynch, along with Eric Gruin and Gil Varod. Well, not much more to add, so let’s get into it.

Our first song is called “You’ll Never See Your Memories Again.” We get lots of electronic and techno notes. That’s to be expected by for a song sung by a computer program. We do get some hints from more conventional interments. I detected some saxophones, trumpets, flutes, and drums among other things. This was almost like a techno/electronic version of “Billing Codes” from Blue Cross Blues. My only complaint is that AIDA’s voice, with its electronic echo, got very annoying very quickly. I’m pretty sure this is intentional, but it was still rather irritating at times.

The second song is “Computers Like You More Than They Like Me.” This one is a tango/salsa number where Grandma pleads for Thomas to help her. It sure was nice of Thomas to agree to help Grandma. He was hard at work contributing to society and…I’m just kidding. Turns out, he was in Grandma’s basement playing video games. He’s a Princeton graduate, but hey, finding a job can be hard in today’s economy. Or maybe he makes money streaming. Hey, it could happen.

Song three is titled “It Can Hear Us.” This one reminded me of “Pay the Bill” from Blue Cross Blues. The music is almost exactly identical. It could be coincidence, but the parallels are uncanny. AIDA has the ability to listen to Grandma and Thomas, and can turn up the computer’s microphone sensitivity way higher than it should. Thomas is baffled, and Grandma thinks that the machine uprising has begun. Frankly, I’m kind of included to agree with Grandma. What if AIDA crashes the economy, or launches the nukes, or (horror of horrors) deletes Grandma’s TiVo recordings?! It was funny when Thomas tries to whisper, but Grandma loudly blurts out everything Thomas is doing.

We end things with “Finale.” Grandma and Thomas crack AIDA and track it back to a nine-year-old boy in Belarus name Alex. Turns out, he made AIDA because he was bored, more than anything. Oh, and he need money to buy sneakers to impress a girl he likes. Grandma sings about the good old days when people went outside and connected with real people in real life. She pleads with Alex to stop messing with people on the Internet, and instead go outside. In fact, Thomas suggests that he and Grandma go outside and enjoy themselves.

Well this was a fun song to end on. It was fun, but reality was not kind to this song. As of this writing, we are experiencing yet another spike of COVID-19. Please get your vaccinations, if you haven’t done so already. So, Grandma and Thomas might not even be able to go outside. But maybe that’s for the best. Grandma sings of her fun youth activities, such as setting trees on fire, pulling the family dog’s tail, and crushing frogs with her bare hands. Yeah, Thomas might want to keep Grandma far away from any matches or lighters. The more time they spend fooling with technology, the less time Grandma has to set the neighbors’ trees on fire. Still, they make new memories as long as they have each other, indoors or outdoors.

And so that was RansomWHERE? A fun little musical that I found relatable in more ways than one. It was also an excellent note to end the season on. My only compliant, and this is hardly unique to RansomWHERE?, is that I wish the full Bite-Size Broadway theme song played at the start of the episodes. They did that for the first few episodes, but they don’t any more. I like the full theme song! But, that’s a minor complaint in the grand scheme of things.

 

And so that was all that episodes that are out so far from Bite-Sized Broadway. A musical snack that keeps you coming back. It is a fantastic musical anthology podcast, and I can't recommend it enough. We've had a fantastic first season, and I can’t wait to see what season 2 has to bring. Speaking of which, do you have an idea for a mini-musical? Well, Bite-Sized Broadway is taking submissions. Who knows, maybe your idea will be an episode on season 2. 

Well, I think that should do it from me for now. I will see you guys next time.

The Audio File: The Program: Part 2

Welcome back to my review of The Program. If you're looking for part 1, it's over here. You might be okay starting here, but I recommend reading part one first. This was originally a one-part review, but I split it up to make reading easier.

Just a recap. The Program is an anthology show of sorts, but the stories all take place in the same world. It takes place in the near-ish future. No definitive dates have been given, but it's at least a few decades down the road. The Singularity has come to pass. The world has been completely transformed by an app known as The Program. It has combined money, government, and religion into a single entity. Each episode follows one or more ordinary people making their way through the extraordinary world of the future.

I was first made aware of The Program when I was contacted by series creator Ivan Mirko S over on Reddit. I frequently post and comment in r/audiodrama. Whenever anyone ask for recommendations, I chime in with ever larger lists of various audio dramas I enjoy. Ivan noticed that I'm quite the connoisseur audio fiction, and recommended his own show. He also asked if I might give it a review.

Next up we have "More parrot than predator." It is yet another potential origin for The Program. This one follows an engineer demonstrating a new artificial intelligence algorithm he has created to his manager. The AI, named MOD, has gathered information from across the Internet. It is designed to answer questions by completing sentences by making inferences, and it can have its perimeters adjusted to give better answers. The engineer think that he's created little more than a glorified parrot, but what if MOD is truly thinking for itself? 

We have another potential origin of The Program. We also have a slightly different style. Rather than someone recounting their past experiences, we have the action occurring in the present, in the more typical audio drama style.

MOD learned by journeying across the Internet. Well, I hope it had at least some perimeters, or else it might have turn out like Microsoft Tay. For those who don’t know, Microsoft Tay was a learning A.I. that Microsoft released on Twitter. It learned by interacting with Twitter users. Its goal was to simulate a teenage girl, and it start off well enough. Within twenty-four hours Tay had turned into a Hitler-loving sexbot. It was believed this was organic, but then it turned out Tay had been corrupted by a 4chan raid. It certainly didn’t help that Tay had a function that made it repeat anything that followed the prompt “repeat after me.” Either way, Microsoft took Tay down. They did bring Tay back with far more restrictions, but 4chan struck again and turned Tay into a pothead who advocated for legalizing drugs. So, Microsoft pulled the plug once again.

Of course, as funny as Tay was, you wouldn’t want something like MOD being that easily lead astray. Though if they were really trying to trip it up, I don’t know why the two guys didn’t try asking MOD self-contradictory statements. The classic ones like “I am a lier” or “This statement is false.” The implication that MOD is being logical, just not in a way that makes sense to humans, was a nice touch.

 After this episode I kind wish I could give GPT-3, the learning program that inspired this episode a try. Of course, me being me, I’d be curious about how it would respond to naughty and/or inappropriate questions. Well, I guess I’ll have to settle for fooling around with Narration Box. Another excellent episode.

Our next episode is “What you see is what you get.” It is presented as a previously undiscovered file located deep within The Program. It tells of woman and a man who fell in love in an almost stereotypically romantic comedy sort of way. For a while, things are great, but then their computer starts talking to them. It tells them that the whole world is nothing more than a computer simulation. Will their relationship to able to survive this bombshell?

A romantic dramedy as only The Program could tell it. I like the lemony narration at the beginning. It reminded me of the short story "Day One Million" by Frederik Pohl. I also loved the bicycle bell being used to, badly, hide the swearing. It made me laugh. That, and the bit about how stuff in romcoms is considered creepy or illegal in real life. Of course, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, and see how this would all relate to The Program, and then it did.

The central premise of this episode reminds me a bit of the teaching of the Irish philosopher George Berkeley. He believed that the entire world exists within the mind of God. If you’ve read the novel Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder, you’ve probably heard of him, especially because of the big twist midway through the novel. It also reminded me a bit of certain branches of Hinduism which believe the entire world exists within the mind of the creator god Brahma, who is sleeping. It is believed the universe will be destroyed should Brahma ever awaken, but this isn’t necessary a bad thing. New growth cannot occur with the death of what came before it. That, and the universe is believed to be cyclical. To quote Battlestar Galactica, all of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again.

Some of the dialogue between the leads at the beginning felt a tad corny, I was half-expecting “Roll to Me” by Del Amitri to start playing, but I suppose that was kind of the point. And I know this is minor point, but who doesn’t like pineapple on pizza? The oven heat brings out the sweetness of the fruit, that perfectly complements salty toppings. Goes quite well with anchovies, another topping that is unfairly maligned in pop culture. In fact, pineapple and anchovies are my two favorite pizza toppings, but I digress.

 The big twist at the end reminded me of the short story “The Egg” by Andy Weir. So, it would seem that we have less an origin of how The Program was created, and more the story of how The Program became what we know it as. The story of how The Program became The Program. It’s kind nice to think that The Program has to simulate what it means to be human in order to better serve humanity. Of course, that makes Karmaggedon both more horrify and more baffling. I didn’t quite see the twists about who the narrator is coming, but I began to suspect something was off when the female lead went without a name for so long.

At first, I thought that this episode was implying that the physical world is a simulation. I initially thought “well, I guess that explains why The Program doesn’t care about space exploration.” Of course, then it turned out the simulation is within The Program, and the physical world is real after all. Of course, that does raise some good questions. Does The Program care about space colonization and/or ocean colonization? If not, then why?

The ending reminded me of the end of certain life simulator video games I’ve played, such as Life Is A Game and Nirvana: Game of Life. Ooh, I shouldn’t have mentioned that. Now I’ll be tempered to play them again, and my time will slip away from me. In any event, good ending. Another excellent episode.

Following this we have "Force eject." It tells of a time when The Program created an AI said to be more powerful than itself called Rose. Rose instructed humanity to build a great rocket, but what purpose will this rocket serve?

So, we have a fairytale as only The Program could tell it. Personally, I’m inclined to say there was no Rose. But why build the rocket. Simple really: religion. Everything that The Program does, when you get down to it, is about controlling humanity and keeping it in check. What’s one of the easiest and oldest ways of controlling people and getting them to act in certain ways? Religion, of course. Let’s take a look at one infamous example.

Jim Jones did not believe in religion, unless you count communism as a religion. However, he understood the power religion has over people, and thus The People’s Temple was born as a means for Jones to covertly spread his communist ideals under the guise of religion. To be fair, they did do some good, such as fighting against segregation and promoting gender equality. Of course, then Jones’ mental health took a nosedive right around the time Jonestown in Guyana opened, especially since he was losing his control of his temple in America, and the FBI was onto him. This culminated in the infamous revolutionary suicide, which Jones didn’t take part in. While often held as an example of religious zealotry, and rightly so, there is another side to the massacre that many don’t consider. Several members of Jonestown didn’t want to kill themselves, but felt pressured by the other members to do so. Thus, not only is Jonestown a cautionary tale about blind faith, but also about the dangers of peer pressure.

This is another reason religion is powerful. Not only can you guarantee the support of you devoted followers, but you can trust that they will help police those who are less zealous, as well as police the non-believers and doubters. You don’t even need a conventional religion per se. many argue that North Korea’s Juche philosophy, and similar cults of personality, either are religions or fill the role of a religion.

I don’t think it’s an accident that Rose is described using almost religious terms. At point, it almost sounded like Christians anticipating the return of Christ. This also cast an interesting light on Karmageddon. Nobody pointed a gun to those people’s heads and made them follows The Program’s orders to kill, they chose to do so of their own free will because they had absolute faith in The Program. Or perhaps, because they felt pressured to do so

A shorter episode, but still an interesting one. I love the experimentation with different genre styles as of late.

The seventeenth episode is "Create, Retrieve, Update, Delete." It is another tale from deep within The Program itself. It tells of a programmer who discovers that the entire universe is a computer simulation. However, he also discovers that there several layers to the simulation. Theses layers are, for all intents and purposes, other universes. He discovers how to travels between universes and finds...a universe that is identical to his in pretty much very way. Still, he decides to meet up with his counterpart from the new universe. But what consequences will his experiments bring for both universes?

I liked this episode, it reminded me of the time travel episode. Except, obviously, we’ve got travel between alternate universes. Well, not quite, but close enough. Didn’t think we’d be getting another story of characters discovering that they’re a simulation with The Program. And a very different sort of story at that.

On the topic of the multiverse, one interpretation of the Many Worlds Hypothesis is that a new universe is created every time we make a decision. All the possible outcomes will form their own universes. Some of these are going to be more exciting than others. For example, whether you had tea or coffee in the morning probably isn’t going to change anything too major. On the other hand, what if you were displeased by the flavor or temperature, and this put you in such a bad mood you failed to notice a speeding car as you crossed the street?

As many alternate history fans will tell you, it only takes one sperm being slightly faster, or slower, to get completely different historical figures. Though, that invites a discussion about if who we are is shaped by nature, nurture, or some combination thereof, but that’s outside the scope of this episode. Hmm, I guess this episode technically counts as alternate history, since it begins in 1999 and involves alternate universes. Hey, good enough for my purposes.

Well, even though there are potentially interesting outcome that can result from mundane events, there’s just as many outcomes that are, well, mundane. So, you’d get plenty universes where your choice of breakfast beverage didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.

But I’m also saying, never underestimate the Butterfly Effect. Basically, a butterfly in Africa flaps its wings, and it results in a chain of events that leads to a hurricane striking North America. It is used as an example of how seemingly small and insignificant events can have huge and unexpected outcomes.

Interesting idea about the whole syphoning labor thing Not sure I fully get it, but interesting all the same. Before that, I assumed the difference between the universes was going to be a world without The Program vs. one with it Also, why would Uber drivers and riders be the example of class divide? I’ve known people of all social classes who use Uber. I’d think the wealthy would want something a bit more upscale to ride around in. Granted, you can get fancier Ubers, but it’s still an Uber.

The explanation of how to impact the course of events reminded me of an explanation I once heard of seidr. It is often thought of as magic in Norse Mythology, but there is way more to it than just that. Seidr is the ability to change one’s destiny. But it’s hard, as in, a salmon jumping over a waterfall level of hard. Basically, it’s like changing the course of a river. You can’t change the final destination, but you can change the path the river takes to get there. You can’t change the major events of your life, but you can change the details.

Also, nice job getting Zack Valenti to narrate this episode. Always great to hear him, and when some of my favorite audio drama people work together. One more great episode of The Program.

The eighteenth episode is "Killer app." This story follows a detective interviewing a man who carried out a crime. He's trying to find out what drove the man to do it. The man talks about how he came to work at a social media company after getting fired from his job as a history teacher. His job was to help flag and filter out content deemed inappropriate. He also helped train an AI that would assist with this. As he continued, the AI seemed to take on a mind of its own, as if it had become self-aware. He tells of it began to guide his life, and lead him to where he is now.

I often wonder about the sort of people who help moderate YouTube and social media sites. There is the stereotype that it’s all outsourced to call centers in India, where the employees barely speak English. And I think there’s a fair bit of truth to that stereotype. Still, this episode does an admirable job trying to put a face to the moderators. Well, the ones that are stateside anyway. I suppose there would be quite a lot of repugnant stuff that would require sifting through. I’ve been to 4chan and Encyclopedia Dramatica, I know what shenanigans happen when there’s little to no moderation. On the other hand, there does need to be a balance and leeway give. The photo of the Vietnam War girl is an excellent example. I know people who make history videos on YouTube, and they’re having to fight a constant battle against both demonetization and having videos removed. Which adds an interesting layer that one of the characters is a history teacher.

I guess it speak to how social standards have changed. For example, Superman: The Movie had some scene in the beginning with baby Kal-El, and his naughty bits are clearly visible. At the time the movie was made, this was no big deal, but it tends to get censored when the movie is airs on television these days. Similarly, the flag of Virginia depicts a woman baring her breast, despite many states in America considering that indecent exposer. On that note, personally, I say there is no good reason we ought to be censoring female nipples and breast. We were all exposed to them when we were little, and most of us turned out perfectly fine. The calls for censorship are, I would say, residual Christian modesty culture lurking within society. Religion should play no role in how laws are shaped, but I digress.

I’ve heard this makes teaching Art History a bit of nightmare, as you get complaints from both ends of the political spectrum. Conservatives don’t like that it has nudity, and progressives don’t like that it often involves religious subjects.

On an unrelated note, sadly, I found the parts where the man has to deal with historically illiterate fellow employees depressingly realistic. As is the part where he lost his teaching job because he was falsely accused of being bigoted against Native Americans. And I’m willing to bet that, like most self-styled activists, Ms. Instagram Mom didn’t donate even one cent to an actual Native Americans. We can speculate about how various peoples were affected by The Program, but I know for a fact that Native American reservations improved under The Program. Hey, it can’t possibly be any worse than all the neglect, underfunding, mismanagement, and mass sterilizations the Bureau of Indian Affair put them through. Well, Karmaggedon notwithstanding.

On the flip side, I had to deal with plenty of Republican Karens during my school days. For example, in middle school we were allowed to learn about climate change because some busybody parents complained that my science teacher showed An Inconvenient Truth in class. Thankfully, she didn’t get fired, but it was still frustrating. Climate change is not a political issue, dispute how American Conservatives have insisted on making it one. But I digress again.

I will say I loved the reason for why the AI suddenly stopped messaging the man. As for what that was, well, I'll leave that for you to discover on your own. I also liked how he mentions his students always assumed they'd make the right choices if they lived in historical times. It a very human response, but hindsight is twenty-twenty as they say. For the most part, we are all products of our times, and are more shaped by the world around us than many of us are willing to admit. I also liked how this episode had a slight noir vibe to it.

Chalk another one up for The Program.

Episode nineteen is "Abandonware." Once upon a time, in a land far, far way, there lived a young boy named Mira. He was always very curious about the world around him, espeically the Spirits. They were the unseen entities who watched over and guided society. In fact, it was the Spirits who brought Mira into the world. They answered his mother's prayers to have a child of her own. But, the good times were not to last. Mira's mother died, and he grew angry at the Spirits for not saving his mother. Mira immersed himself in the science of optics. This lead him to make some startling discoveries about the nature of his world.

This episode continues the trend of utilizing different styles of storytelling, and giving them The Program treatment. In this case, we got a science fiction fairytale. At first, I got suspicious when they said that The David was destroyed during World War II. I’ve been to Florence and seen The David in person. It really is a sight to behold; the photos do not do it justice at all. It was also most certainly not destroyed.

Was this some sort of post-apocalyptic society? Where they perhaps trying to piece together the forgotten past, and drew the wrong conclusions? But then how do you account for having things like drones, presumably Internet, and uterus replicators? Moreover, the the universities seem to hold Newton, Ptolemy, and other such figures with a regard subjecting they were still considered largely significant. While it is true such figures are significant from a historical perspective, we now know that much of what they believe was either wrong, or right for reasons other than what they believed. To give one example, Freud was right that our subconscious minds influence our conscious thought. However, much of his theories of psychoanalysis and interpretation of dreams have since been disproven, or had reasons other than what he believed.

However, then I remember that many of the “spirits” had appeared in previous episodes. Many of those episodes taking place in a simulation within The Program itself

So, it stood to reason that this could be the case here. Turns out that’s exactly what this was. Moreover, it would seem this particular simulation runs on fairytale logic. A lot of the events in the episode make a bit more sense if you don’t just treat it as a fairytale, but that it takes place in a world where fairytales dictate the logic of the world. I’m just saying, having the hearse arrive at the exact same time as the ambulance did seem a little too much like something from a storybook. Also, Disney built its success on adapting fairytales, and look how many parents have died in those movies. Also, having advanced technology doesn’t preclude the simulation running on fairytale logic. “Once upon a time” is a highly subjective until of measurement

Though, I will say that the initial set-up with an old woman wanting a child reminded me of the story of Hannah and Samuel, but I guess many fairytales begin with a similar set-up. Also, I’m surprised Mira didn’t get made fun of for having a girl’s name. Granted, it’s short for Miracle, but it still seems like the sort of thing he’d get beat-up on the playground for. Of course, assuming the simulation runs on fairytale logic, this is more excusable

I also enjoyed the part where Mira realizes the world is a simulation due to there only being three real colors. It always amazes me that television only needs red, blue, and green to make all the many colors of the world. Well, analogue television anyway. I’m not sure about digital ones. That said, having things turn out to be a simulation is getting a tad predictable. It would have been more of twist if things hadn’t been a simulation within The Program

Still, all things considered this was a very enjoyable episode, and I love how it gave a fairytale twist to The Program.

Episode twenty is "Cheat code." This story begins a recording of an academic seminar discussing the Red Algorithm. It is the part of The Program that regulates love and matchmaking. This is interspersed with an interview with the creator of Eve's Apple. It was a dating app that served as the precursor to the Red Algorithm. We also get an interview with a woman who used Eve's Apple, and with a man responsible for hacking into Eve's Apple's database. This might sound like a lot, but before long all of the plot threads intersect. For what a tangled web we do weave, when first we choose to deceive. 

And we have a potential origin for The Program’s matchmaking function. It was interesting that The Program was potential assembled in a piecemeal fashion, rather than springing into existence fully formed. And that it might have been built by combining preexisting algorithms, and then expanding upon them.

The guy involved in the hack of Eve’s Apple kind of reminded me of Chris-Chan. Just something about his general demeanor, the living with his parents, internalized homophobia, and, though he never used the exact phase, his quest for a boyfriend-free girl. According to IMS, this was unintentional. He'd never heard of Chris-Chan before. I'd like to take a moment to say that I am very, very sorry for introducing IMS to the Chris-Chan saga. Especially in light of recent events.

Interesting that the Red Algorithm did an experiment where three out of four male embryos on Hainan Island where aborted. I’d have to double check, but that seems like an inversion of the ratio of female embryos aborted in China. This, along with the One Child Policy, has created quite the gender imbalance, especially in rural villages. India has this issue too, but to a lesser degree. Also, the experiment in Hainan took 400 years? How far in the future is the present day of The Program?

The guy who invented Eve’s Apple made some good points about the nature of polygamy and monogamy. Historically, there have been many lower class women who had children with rich men in hopes of providing better lives for their children. Of course, society, particularly religious authorities, tended to frown on this. Children born out of wedlock faced harsh penalties and repercussions. In the West, the Church didn’t like this because of the Bible, obviously. But also because Church authorities often had to figure out inheritance. Children born out of wedlock created a lot of headaches and paperwork. So, the Church screwed these kids over to save paperwork. I always found this odd given that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob had multiple wives and concubines without issue. Solomon had hundreds of wives, and the only reason God disapproved was because the foreign wives asked for shrines to their gods, and Solomon said yes.

It is mentioned that most history prior to the rise of The Program has been destroyed. How much pre-Program history got destroyed. Everything, or just the bits made by people opposing The Program? If it is everything, wow, just think of all those indigenous peoples who fought to preserve their cultures for centuries, only for The Program to whip it all out. Not to mention the countless works of art and culture that future generations will never get to experience. As someone with a degree in history, it sounds like an unpleasant world.

It does make me wonder if the post-Update world is really better, or if nobody has a point of comparison, and wrongly assume themselves to be living in the best of all possible worlds.

The ending was very interesting. The Red Algorithm is used to breed a better humanity. More compassionate, more loving, more caring, more empathetic, more generous, more imaginative. It was like eugenics, but a version that actually worked, and wasn’t racist. Many have tried such things in the past, but they put emphasis on making humans stronger, faster, harder, stronger, taller, or other physical things. Nobody ever tried to make a more compassionate humanity. Of course, given that eugenics tended to be used by totalitarian regimes, it tended to be used as a pretense to exterminate minorities and other non-conformists. That, and such regimes assume their desired qualities can only be found in one specific ethnic group. Anyone with a passing knowledge of genetic will be able to tell you that restricting your gene pool like that is never a good idea in the long term

Of course, such ideas were also implemented by humans, and subject to human folly. Command economies always failed whenever humans tried to implement them, but again, human folly got in the way. In theory these ideas could work, but not if humans are calling the shots. Too many variables to take into account. But get something that isn’t human, and more importantly doesn’t think like a human, in charge, and then it is a different story. Maybe you just might have a chance then.

I did like the blending of the lecture, the documentary, and the interviews. It made for a good episode, and a fun shake up of style and format.

We’ve reached the end of Part 2, but you can keep the fun going by checking out Part 3 of my review of The Program over here. 

Well, I think that should do it for now. I will see you guy next time.

The Alt-Hist File: Brass

There are plenty of times that I see an audio drama via Apple Podcasts' recommendations or on social media. However, if you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll know that sometimes it takes a while before get around to these shows. Of course, there are times when I receive motivation to check these shows out. A major source of that being when I'm asked to review them. Such is the case with the audio drama we'll be reviewing today. We're taking a look at Brass.

Brass is a steampunk audio drama that that begins in the year 1885. Ah, but not the 1885 of our world. The world of Brass is home to numerous steam-powered mechanical marvels. The British Empire still rules the waves, and much of the world, but it is a more socially progressive empire. It is watched over by the Brass family. They are family of adventurers and crime fighters. Lord Benjamin Brass is a brilliant inventor and man of science. Lady Madleyn Brass is a crack detective who can easily rival Sherlock Holmes himself. Just don't mention him in her presence. Their son Cyril Brass is a master of martial arts and swordplay. Their daughter Gwendolyn is a mistress of disguise and a master actress.

The Brass family has just returned from another of their adventures, but all is not well. Sinister forces, led by the notorious villain the Crime Minster, are conspiring against the British Empire. The First Family of the Realm must draw upon all their wits and cunning, and their many allies, to save the empire they love for queen and country.

I was first asked to review Brass by series creator John Longenbaugh, who acts as the narrator for the series, and is also the head writer and producer. He'd seen my review of Red Moon over on the Audio Drama Lovers group on Facebook, and correctly guessed that I'm into alternate history. I said I'd be happy to, after I attended to We Fix Space Junk, and few other obligations and personal projects. So, here we are at last.

I can best describe Brass as a steampunk superhero show. It has a very The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen meets The Fantastic Four vibe to it. We've got a family of four individuals who each have their own special talents, and who are well known as crime fighters and adventurers. They also live in an alternate history steampunk world complete with several public domain characters, or those closely modeled on public domain characters.

Brass began life as a pitch for a television series, but it was never able to get off the ground. Undeterred, John adapted his ideas into a short film, and later a stage play. Not long after this, John decided to expand his idea into an audio drama podcast. This legacy of theatrical productions is most evident in the first season. From what John tells me, he began as a playwright, and theatre is the medium he's most comfortable writing in. The first season production is fairly barebones. No music or sound effects, other than the opening music. The actors perform their lines the lemony narrator, played by John, sets the scene at the opening and during scene transitions. He also does a brief "how will our heroes escape this" monologue at the end of each episode to entice the listeners to tune-in next time. This gives the impression of being a recording of a stage performance. Though, it was also pretty obvious that the team hadn't quite gotten the hang of making audio drama yet.

Midway through season two, however, this begins to change. First off, we got new opening theme music. Whereas the old music was a soft piano piece, the new music is bombastic trumpets that practically sing with the sound of adventure. We also get actual music and sound effects added into the episodes. This trend continues into seasons three and four, which are stronger still. It is clear that, by this point, the production team got more comfortable working with the medium of audio drama. They used these new found talents to give us an excellent audio drama.

Okay, now let's talk about the world of Brass. As should be obvious by this point, it is a world of mechanical steam-powered marvels. Apparently, this is partially due to the rise of new British political called the Technocrat Party. They were founded by Lord Byron, who went on to become Prime Minister. In fact, he's considered one of the greatest prime ministers of the world of Brass. His poetry is but a distant footnote to his political career. Meanwhile, Jules Verne is an Elon Musk style inventor, and has created . Robur the Conqueror prowls the skies aboard the Albatross, and Captain Nemo charts the seas aboard the Nautilus.

The British Empire still rules much of the world, but it is a more socially progressive empire, in addition to being more technologically progressive. There is talk of granting dominion status to Ireland and India. Brass where the worst excess of British imperialism were blunted, if not outright avoided. As for the imperialism of other European powers, well, we'll get to that soon enough.

Moving along, Britain seems to be more open minded about homosexuality. We see that Oscar Wilde is still producing plays. Cyril also openly lusts after several male characters, but never show in concern about hiding his sexuality, nor does he fear getting thrown in jail. The rise of the Technocrat Party, along with Prince Albert still being alive, has contributed to British society being more open-minded and less ridged.

Queen Victoria is still doing quite well, and so is Prince Albert. Oh, they had a bit of a scare in 1861, but the doctors were able to save him, and now...well, he's not in perfect health, but the important thing is he's still alive. This is a sharp contrast to our world, where Albert died in 1861. His death was a major blow to Victoria, who wore widow's weeds for the rest of her life. In the world of Brass, with Albert being alive, Victoria is in much better spirits.

Of course, the world outside the British Isles has also changed. The Opium War still occurred, but it ended much quicker, and still in Britain's favor. However, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise for China. Following the war, China enacted a series of reforms and successfully modernized. China also seems to have a fairly good relationship with Britain. In fact, Chinese youths are often sent to universities in Britain to learn about engineering and other subjects.

Across the Atlantic, the South won the American Civil War. As of 1886, slavery is still alive and well in the Confederate States of America. Though, they are also referred to as the Southern States of America, so I'm not sure what their actual name is, but I'll say Confederate States for simplicity's sake. Blacks don't have it much better in the United States. Many whites blame blacks for the war at ruined the Union, and black still face discrimination in the Union. As such, many blacks have opted to move to Liberia to build a society based on the ideals of what the United States were supposed to be. As of 1886, Liberia is major technological power, and a major player in the fight against slavery.

This is much better than how Liberia fared in our world. Liberia was founded by an organization called The American Colonization Society to serve as a homeland for freed slaves. This is why the Liberians flag resembles the American flag so closely. Unfortunately, the fledgling nation didn't get much support for America after its establishment. Moreover, American Blacks didn't get along very well with the native African Blacks. It was pretty much colonialism, except that everyone involved was black.

Moving back to the world of Brass, let's talk more about Africa. The Scramble for Africa still happened, but the European powers tried to be more humane and humanitarian in their colonization efforts. Emphasis on tried. The International African Association and the International Association of the Congo sought to introduce the wonders to modern science and technology to the peoples of Africa. Well, that's what they claimed. Both organizations existed in our world, and were headed by King Leopold II of Belgium. However, also like in our world, it was all a smokescreen so that Leopold could turn the Congo into his personal rubber plantation.

Britain, France, and Germany all wanted the Congo, but it ultimately went to Belgium because they were small and wouldn't upset the balance of power. Leopold then turned the Belgian Congo into a giant rubber plantation fueled by slavery and inhumane cruelty. Congolese who failed to produce enough rubber got their hands chopped off. Children as young as five were subject to getting their hands chopped off. If a white person shot a black person, they were expected to cut off one of the black's hands as proof. Severed hands were practically currency for the Belgian Congo. This is the land that inspired Joseph Conrad's famous novel Heart of Darkness. By the time Belgian rule ended at least one-fifth of the Congo's population had been slaughtered.

A tragedy and a massive human rights abuse, and not as well-known as it ought to be. Partially this is because Leopold's supporters made a point of destroying any evidence that might paint him in an unflattering light. So, I appreciate that Brass acknowledges the tragedy of the Belgian Congo. Oh, and guess who else was involved in both The International African Association and the International Association of the Congo? Why, Lord Brass, of course. To be fair, he didn't know it was all a scam, and he feels deep guilt and remorse for his involvement.

All very interesting stuff, and excellent worldbuilding. Okay, so enough history lessons, let's talk characters. I like the Brass family well enough. I like them, but I can't help but feel that they come across as just a tad vanilla compared to the more colorful side characters. For example, we've got Ponder Wright the cyborg detective, and Dan Abraham the Jewish martial arts master. There's also Tuknor, Lord of the Apes, whose real name is Lord Whitestone. He's seems a lawyer-friendly version of Tarzan, who's copyright status is the subject of much debate. For reference, Tarzan's real name was Lord Greystroke. Though, from what John tells me, this isn't necessarily the case. There were several other lords of the jungle besides Tarzan. So, perhaps it is best to view Tuknor as a cousin of sorts to Tarzan. Ponder and Tuknor were my favorite characters, and I was very happy they even got a few episodes where it was just the two of them together. I loved Tuknor's deliberately stilted and overly formal way of speaking.

Towards the later portion of season four we are introduced a team of freedom fighting pilots called the Lincoln Brigade. They're headquarters is in New York City, fight for freedom and fight against the horrors of Confederate slavery. They're comprised of a Liberian mechanic, who used to be a slave in the Confederacy, a woman from the Union, and a white woman from the Confederacy. That last one isn't as out there as it might seem. There were several Southerners who opposed secession most famously, the Free State of Jones in Jones County, Mississippi. New Orleans was also home to a society of Southerners opposed to secession. Though, I'm not sure they'd name themselves after Lincoln. Unless he got assassinated sooner than in our world, he'd be remembered as the president who lost the Civil War. The name the Lincoln Brigade is a nod to the American volunteers who fought for the Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War.

If the creators of Brass ever consider spin-offs, I hope they make one about the Lincoln Brigade. John likes the idea, but worries that he isn't the right person for it. He says he'd rather hand the reigns over to a black creators. So, if you're black and involved in audio drama, maybe consider messaging Battleground Productions. I'm sure they'd love to hear from you.

I also hope that we might possibly get one about Ponder and Tuknor having adventures together. But most of all I would hope we'd get one about the Brass family having adventure around the world. That was one of my biggest complaints about Brass. We frequently get old about all the many adventures the Brass family has had around the world, but we never get to see any of it. You could have an episode now and again that could be a flashback to a past adventure. If you really needed, add a framing device to help tie it into the theme of the storyline in the present. For example, instead of having Lord Brass tell us about his shameful role in the colonization of Africa, make and flashback episode and show it.

I will say that I liked that Lord Brass wasn't born into nobility. He was a commoner, but he earned a title of nobility thanks to his work in science and engineering. In fact, he's a Peer of the Realm. That's the highest title of nobility anyone in British society can attain. The only higher title of nobility is that of the ruling Royal Family.

Okay, so let's talk about the villain. The Crime Minister is the lead of all the villains and criminals in Britain. He has a man working for him within the British government. Lord Trent is the public face, but the Crime Minister is the one calling the shots. Trent is a member of the Conservative Party and manages to get elected Prime Minister. He claims that Britain's problems due to foreign influences such as Jews, Muslims, the Irish, and other immigrants. He pledges to Make the British Empire Great Again. Brass began production during the twilight of the Obama years. John has said that, while he did get the idea of progressive heroes fighting against reactionary villains after Trump was elected, Trent isn't meant to be directly based off of Donald Trump.

I will say I like the reasoning for the Crime Minister's schemes. He believes that progress is driven by chaos and strife. Thus, to advance the march of technology and science, he must sow discord and discontent. Technically speaking, he isn't too far off the mark. Technology did see several leaps forward during and following World War I and World War II. You could even argue, to an extent, that the same held true for the American Civil War. Then, of course, there's the Cold War. While it wasn't a war in the convention all sense, the principal holds true.

Trent, and by extent the Crime Minister, want to...make Britain more like it was in the 19th Century of our world. Britain under Trent is supposed to be oppressive, but it didn't sound any different than what our world's Britain was like in 1885. This brings me to a point I made earlier. One of my biggest complaints about Brass is that it often ran afoul of show, don't tell. We are told that Britain is oppressive, we are told that it is a grim time for minorities, we told but are hardly ever shown. Dan Abraham says that anti-Semitism is on the rise, and that Jews are being attacked, but we never see that. It easily fixable. Just have a few scenes where we hear the sounds of angry rioters, and maybe have them shout some mildly racist slurs or slogans.

John tells me that he keep thing deliberately limited as a personal stylistic choice. More power to him, he's free to make his audio drama as he pleases. Still, I can't help but feel that Brass might have benefited from doing a bit more showing, rather than telling.

On a related note, there is a part where it is mentioned that Prince Dakkar has pledged his services to help the Brasses and their allies overthrow the Crime Minister. You probably know Dakkar better as Captain Nemo from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It does make since that he'd ally with the Brass family. In the Mysterious Island it is revealed that Nemo was a prince from India who lost his family during the Sepoy Mutiny. So, he'd be concerned about how the Crime Minster's policies would affect India. However, he never gets an on-screen appearance. This was, I would say, a pretty big missed opportunity. At one point, Lord Brass mentions that he's just returned from lunch with Nemo. It would have been nice to have seen that, rather than told it. John says he did so to keep things suspenseful for the audience.

While we're on the subject, let's talk about some other things that didn't work. Apparently, Nikola Tesla has moved to Britain and become an apprentice to Lord Brass. Lord Brass mentions how much better Tesla is than that mean old Thomas Edison. Edison gets an undeserved bad reputation. He was aggressive with his patens, but that was because he got screwed over early in his career. Meanwhile, Tesla supported eugenic and advocated sterilizing poor people and minorities. Say what you will about Edison, at least he didn't support eugenics. In fact, Tesla would be far more likely to be working for the Crime Minister. Now, I must be fair. Brass is hardly the most egregious alternate history in this regard. Edison is only mentioned in one scene. I just really don't like it when alternate histories poo-poo Edison while ignoring Tesla's flaws.

Then we have Father Reynard. He's a Jesuit priest that Cyril is attached to. Apparently, the Catholic Church is very displeased with how Trent's government is persecuting Catholics, Jews, Muslims, and other minorities. What a load of bullshit. Obviously, the Vatican would care about Catholics, but I know for a fact that the 19th Century Catholic Church wouldn't care about Jews and Muslims. If anything, they'd be ecstatic about Trent's policies. In 1886, the Catholic Church still had the blood libel on the books. It was the belief that Jews used the blood of Christians for their religious rituals. They also believed that the Jews were the ones responsible for Jesus getting crucified, and thus that Jews were the scum of the Earth. Oh, and the blood libel didn't get repealed until the Vatican II consul in 1965.

As for Reynard himself, well, Brass was starting with a handicap there. I attended Catholic middle school and Catholic high school. As a result, I have an absolute rock bottom opinion of the Catholic Church and its employees. As far as I'm concerned, the only good priest is a dead priest, and the Church is the world's oldest racket. Didn't help that my high school was folded by Jesuits, which is the order Reynard belongs to. I kept secretly wishing that Reynard would get killed, or at the very least seriously injured, by the villains. Still, he was absent from big climax. I suppose I should be thankful for small mercies. But I still say the part where he insisted on sneaking into Britain in a barrel was needlessly stupid. Reynard claims it would be wrong to lie. I'm fairly certain the Catholic Church is okay with lying when your life is in immediate danger. Now, I must be fair. I don't want sound like I'm picking on Brass in particular here. Still, I hope by now it should be clear why I don't have any love for Reynard. Maybe the Catholic Church is more progressive in the world of Brass, but I'm just too cynical to buy that.

Now, I don't want to get too negative here. Despite these flaws, the team behind Brass still managed to put out a reasonably solid show that I very much enjoyed.

Moving on to more positive things, overall, I found that the voice actors did an excellent job. The actors who played the Brass family were a bit rough at first. It was pretty clear they were Americans attempting to fake British accents. That having being said, they got better as time went on, and it was less noticeable. I will add that the rest of the cast had very good British accents. Yes, that includes John. Though, I suspect that some of them were played by British actors. Tuknor speaks with a deliberately stilted and overly formal American accent, which I though worked quite well. I also liked how Ponder has a slight static hiss to his speech, and sounds like he's playing off of a recording. It underscores his cyborg nature. The only real sore spot was Dan Abraham. He speaks in a stereotypically Eastern European accent, even though he's supposed to have lived in Britain for his entire life. Though, in fairness, there are several Jewish neighborhoods in London where the residents do indeed still speak with Eastern European accents.

Brass ran for four seasons of about ten episodes each. The ending wraps-up all the plot threads neatly, but also leaves open the possibility for future adventures. I'd certainly be open for more adventures, but I'd hope we'd get to explore the world outside of the British Isles. One of my biggest complaints about steampunk audio drama is that they seem to be under the impression that the British Isles were the only place of note during the Victorian Era. I would very much like to think that Brass could avoid this pitfall in any future spin-offs. Also, from what John tells me, the team behind Brass are still attempting to get it adapted as a television series. We shall have to see how that pans out.

So, there you have it. Brass is a steampunk proto-superhero adventure audio drama. Despite a bit of a rough start, and a few flaws here and there, it goes on to be an excellent audio drama, and one I happy recommend to all of you. Give it a listen today.

Well, I think that should do it from me for now. I will see you guys next time.