Personal Highlights
Moonbase Theta, Out: Bonus 2 – Gladys. A bonus episode which kind of feels like a glimpse behind the scenes of season three, and especially one event in particular. We hear from Dr. Day, as the episode gives us an insight into things that the moonbase crew and even the audience didn’t know about for any of the previous seasons. As in the previous bonus episode with Maria L’Anglois, here we get a lot of Dr. Day’s backstory, to explain motivations behind her actions, and why she is how she is. We’d seen her in a Before the Moon episode, where she was very cagey about her background, and this gives us a lot of insight into why. Dr. Day is another character from an disadvantaged background, who has been manipulated and taken advantage of by the Consortium, and has to suffer the consequences of this.
We Fix Space Junk: Marilyn’s Diary: A Long Journey Home – E04. An episode which, in what feels like a typically Space Junk-y style story, is both very fun at times (the authentic queuing experience!), and also raises some very serious questions. Here we have a planet where the inhabitants claim to have recreated the old Earth, but with two very different interpretations. Traditions and cultures are misunderstood and appropriated by people who were never a part of them, with symbols from different areas of the world brought together in two very inaccurate representations of what the Earth was in our day. Marilyn tries to process what she’s seen, with Computer helping her make sense of it all.
Tartarus: Epsiode 4 – The Boxer. The last of four episodes to be released this year. After a very eventful first day, Brie’s settling into life at the Tartarus facility, and has a comically dry way of describing her work there as if it were a mundane office job – right down to the stapler in the jelly! – and at times, the episode does feel like a workplace comedy, just with monsters lurking not too far away in the background. There’s a grim discovery towards the end of the episode, which only adds to the secrets that the facility is hiding.
Trailers and Prologues
Starfall is a new fantasy podcast from the creator of The Beacon. Starfall follows an acting troupe, and this episode, as the title suggests, serves as a prologue and introduction to the story and one of its characters. Here we meet Leona, who’s trying to run away from home, and has to figure out how to escape when she gets caught. I love the beautiful music at the end! The show is due to launch on July 23rd.
Dining in the Void released a series trailer, which features clips from the two seasons that have been released so far. It introduces us to the story’s characters, and some of the conflicts and confrontations that we’ve seen up to this point.
Descendants, the sequel to Janus Descending, released a prologue episode as part of their crowdfunding campaign (details below). Titled ‘Convergence’, here Chel and Peter, the protagonists of Janus Descending, meet for the first time, after Chel sees Peter talk at a panel. Chel does manage to put her foot in it as she tries to help Peter with his research, but there is a lovely moment when they both share what it is they love so much about xenobiology (which only makes the events of Janus Descending hurt even more!).
Casting Calls
Spectre, a new sci-fi podcast due to launch next January, is casting. Paid, deadline July 31st.
Where the Stars Fell is casting for its second season. Unpaid, deadline July 17th.
Crowdfunding
A few shows launched their crowdfunding campaigns on July 1st!
Descendants, the sequel to Janus Descending, is crowdfunding for the show’s first season, with a stretch goal for the entire series.
Hand in Glove is an upcoming mlm romance, set in the world of baseball, and is currently running a crowdfunding campaign.
The Way We Haunt Now, a lighthearted horror focusing on ghosts and the things that haunt us, is crowdfunding for its second season.
D&D inspired fantasy podcast Inn Between is crowdfunding for its fourth season.
Other News
Tin Can Audio‘s The Tower is due to return for its second season on the 20th of September, and I’m very excited for it!
A Sky Full of Pods 