The Audio File: Spaceships

My policy for serialized shows is that they must have at least one complete season before I commit to a review. Today’s review is a show that has just completed its first season. I am very excited to finally be able to review this one. So, let’s not wait any longer. We’re taking a look at Spaceships. 

Spaceships takes place in a future where humanity has spread to the stars, and is part of a thriving galactic community of sentient races. Humans and aliens have both created countless AI-equipped spaceships to help them out. One day, for seemingly no reason, all sentient organic beings suddenly drop dead. The spaceships, and other mechanical sophonts, must now build a civilization of their own. The series follows UHS freighter William Mackie, science research vessel Maya Hironaga, and Ocanar warship Otto. Together, they will explore the galaxy, encounter strange new spacecraft, and try to discover what led to the death of all intelligent organic beings.

I have been a fan of Spaceships for quite a while now. I discovered them over on the r/audiodrama subreddit back when they only had one episode out. It was around the same time I discovered Residents of Proserpina Park. Incidentally, this was also back when Residents of Proserpina Park only had one episode out. The premise looked interesting, so I decided to give it a listen. I liked what I heard, and I eagerly awaited more episodes. This came in due time, and here we are now.

Despite the rather macabre premise, I can best describe Spaceships as a dramedy. There’s plenty of moments of levity and humor to balance out the action and humor. Series creator Filip Momirovski also includes a fair bit of social commentary and satire about human nature. For example, it is mentioned that humans frequently stereotyped the Ocanar as being violent and warlike. However, humanity itself was prone to getting into quite a few wars with other races. So, it was kind of a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Well, that and the war with the Ocanar was also started over stupid reasons. The Ocanar live underground, and don’t mix well with flash photography. The human delegation, unfortunately, forgot this at an attempted peace talk.

We also see that self-driving cars have finally become a thing. Though, they’re all rather prone to road rage. That episode also included some jabs about how humanity has been taking its sweet time with trying to combat climate change. Wait, so the self-driving cars are now the dominant intelligent lifeforms on Earth. Does this mean that Spaceships is secretly a prequel to Pixar’s Cars movies? Hmm, nah, probably just an amusing coincidence. Especially since none of the sentient vehicles are anthropomorphic.

Filip Momirovski has said that, should Spaceships ever be adapted as an animated series, a lot of the humor would come from the fact that the spaceships all look like normal non-sentient spaceships. He envisions there being points where the camera would do a close up on the spaceships, but they’d just look like, well, non-anthropomorphic spaceships. An animated adaptation is probably not in the cards any time in the near future. However, Spaceships is being adapted as a comic book. It is being released on the Spaceships Patreon page at a time. Also, for those wondering, the spaceships on the series title card are, from left to right and moving in a circle, Otto, Will, and Maya.

So, let’s discuss the characters. Will is a freighter with the personality of a frat boy. He’s impulsive, scatterbrained, immature, and can be a bit of a horndog at times. In fairness, a lot of this can be blamed on Will’s crew. They were all really into trashy reality television, and Will tends to use what he learned from those shows as a guide to life. Still, despite his flaws, Will always tries to do right by his friends. There’s almost nothing he can’t accomplish when he really put his mind to it. Of course, given how easily distracted Will can be, this is easier said than done. Will tends to be the one who provides the comic relief throughout the series. Will is voiced by Bobby Gaglini.

Otto is an Ocanar warship. He’s stern, serious, and is comically bound to the Ocanar code of valor. Otto is very quick to suggest just shooting whatever problems the spaceships come across. Much like Will, this can be blamed on his upbringing. The Ocanar are, basically, Klingons. So, it is only natural that Otto would be so aggressive and warlike. Well, that and, you know, he’s a warship. And to be fair, he’s not always wrong when he advocates for shooting things. Though he wouldn’t be quick to admit it, deep down, Otto does value Will and Maya as friends. Otto is voiced by Bobby Gaglini, and I must say, never would have guessed that Otto and Will shared a voice actor. In fact, Bobby voiced several male characters on Spaceships. 

Rounding out the main trio is Maya. She is a science research vessel. The extinction of humanity hit her the hardest. She’s always been fascinated by humans, and was quite close to her crew. She’s the most level-headed of the main trio, and often has to talk Will and Otto out of their especially harebrained schemes. Maya initially doesn’t care much for Will and his advances, but she warms up to him with time. Maya is also the most determined to find out why organic beings have all dropped dead at once. If nothing else, she can’t let her crews’ deaths have been for nothing. She’s also determined to help spaceships establish a new civilization; hopefully, one that is free from the flaws of the organics. Maya is voiced by Arson Alfaro.

I must take a moment to compliment the music and soundscaping. It is all very professional, and quite high-quality, especially for an indie show. It is easily on par with anything you might find at a major podcast production studio. Major credit to Vlad O, who handles the sound-design.

There’s also an extremely colorful cast of supporting characters. One of my favorites is a a science ship who talks like Carl Sagan. Fittingly enough, his name is UHS Sagan. I also liked the spaceship who collaborates with Will to create a new form of cryptocurrency. I’d comment on how stupid that is, but Will seems like the kind of spaceship who would go for that sort of thing. The annual Mars Rover Race was another really fun episode. I could keep going on, but suffice it to say, you’ll meet several memorable spacecraft throughout season one of Spaceships.

The spaceships all run the spectrum from kind and sympathetic to petty, scheming, and even evil. But overall, the spaceships come across as flawed, often deeply so, but well meaning. In other words, though they are machines, they’re human in all the ways that count. I suppose it is of some comfort to think that, though the curtain has fallen on the human race, a certain spark of the human spirit lives on in the machines we built.

I must also give some serious praise for how the season one finale was handled. But if I’m going to do that, we’re going to have to get into spoilers. So, if you don’t want any of that, turn back now.

Last chance, you sure you want to continue?

If everyone who wants out is gone, let’s get into it.

So, as I previously noted, Maya really liked humans. However, there was one human she was particularly fond of. He was a brilliant scientist, and they grew very close with one another. In fact, you could say they fell in love with each other. But, he wasn’t the only human who caught her eye. 

There was a second human scientist who Maya greatly admired, but not in a romantic way. This scientist, while brilliant, was also a major misanthrope, and grew increasingly cynical over the years. He also went a tad nutty as well. Eventually, he developed a formula intended to destroy all artificial intelligences. Unfortunately, he did that math wrong, and it killed all organic intelligences.

A mathematics formula that can cause human minds to shut down? Might be more plausible than you might think. Some scientists have theorized that it is possible to make a human mind crash like a computer program. Perhaps their might be some pattern that the human brain is incapable of processing, and this could trigger a systems failure of the mind. Neil Stephenson famously utilized this idea in his novel Snow Crash. Thankfully, this remains a hypothetical scenario, and might not even be possible at all. On the other hand, there’s still a lot we don’t know about the human mind. So, you never know.

This revelation occurs in the penultimate episode of season one. It is also in this episode that Maya dies while retrieving this information. That is to say, damaged beyond the point of repair. I kept wondering if this was going to stick. It has been shown that spaceships can have their AIs downloaded into other bodies. But no, Maya stayed dead by the end of the season. I must applaud Filip Momirovski for being willing to stick to his guns. Having Maya stay dead was a choice that could easily have upset people, but I’m glad Filip didn’t take the easy way out. But let’s see what season two holds for us.

Also, here’s a thought, what if organics aren’t gone for good? The International Space Station has something called The Immorality Drive. It is a memory storage device that contains the digitized genetic codes of several famous humans, such as Stephen Hawking, Stephen Colbert, and Lance Armstrong. Obviously, it was created before Lance Armstrong got busted for doping. Anyway, the Immortality Drive is there in hope that, should humanity go extinct, and alien race might be able to resurrect humanity. I’m willing to bet that the future of Spaceships has several such Immortality Drives. Perhaps the spaceships will discover some Immortality Drives, and will debate if it is worth resurrecting humanity and the other races of the galaxy.

But whatever the future of Spaceship holds, I do know one thing for certain. I can’t wait to see what season two will have in store for us.

So, there you have it. Spaceships is a dramedy about sentient spaceships exploring the galaxy in the aftermath of humanity’s sudden demise. It has extremely high production values, great voice acting, and quality writing. You certainly won’t want to miss out on this audio drama.

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

The Audio File: Silly Old Bear

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.