They're Justified, And They're Ancient [Podcast Review: The Harbingers]

While investigating the relics of an ancient civilization, ambitious anthropologists and rivals Adam Blackwell (Andrés Enriquez) and Amy Stirling (Lauren Grace Thompson) make discoveries that bring magical powers back into the world. But when magical power collides with political and financial power, the results can be dangerous.

The Harbingers is a fictional podcast produced by Audacious Machine Creative. As of this month the first season is now complete, with all episodes available on Spotify or other services, and a second season in production for release later this year. 

There is a lot of Harbingers to enjoy. The first season is 16 episodes long, with episodes varying from 30 to 60 minutes in length. Production quality is excellent, as is the writing - the story is structured around a catastrophic event, with both protagonists telling their stories to the lawyer preparing them for a Congressional hearing. The stories begin in the highly competitive world of Harbinger academic study, but develop into globe-spanning journeys involving a Presidential campaign and a tech billionaire's quest for limitless energy. There is real thought about the implications of the different magical powers, how they might be used and how society might react to their existence.

There are a lot of twists and developments and the whole picture is revealed gradually over the season - or is it? While the first season has a satisfying plot and conclusion, there are still unanswered questions, untold chapters and unmet characters of the story. The ancient Harbinger civilization with its architecture, myths, languages and values is also imagined in great detail, even though we only learn about it from the fragments, relics and discoveries that have survived to the present day, and there is definitely more Harbinger history to uncover. I am really looking forward to season 2.

The performances from Enriquez, Thompson and all of the cast are outstanding, and as a result the friendships, relationships, drama and peril, and the tension between the two main characters all ring true. Highly recommended for fans of archaeology, magic, superpowers and lawyers. 

Eleven Great Sci-Fi and Fantasy Shows On The BBC That Aren't Doctor Who - Part 1

Can you have too much Who?

Even as a lifelong fan of the BBC's flagship sci-fi drama, I'm aware that one of the risks of pouring so much investment and energy in to one show is that it can eclipse other shows, particularly other science fiction and fantasy. So it's worth reminding ourselves that, believe it or not, there are occasionally programmes shown on the BBC channels that aren't Doctor Who. And no, I'm not talking about Torchwood. Here, to prove my point, are eleven BBC sci-fi or fantasy shows that are not even a tiny bit Doctor Who.

I should add that some of the shows here are produced by the BBC, often in collaboration with other networks, while others are produced elsewhere and were broadcast by the BBC thereby demonstrating their excellent taste in programme purchasing. I'll try to make it clear which is which.

This is part 1 of the article. You can read part 2 here.

Good Omens

Adaptation of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchet's novel about the unlikely friendship between an angel (Michael Sheen) and a devil (David Tennant) both of whom prefer living on Earth to Heaven or Hell respectively. Co-produced by BBC and Amazon and broadcast in 2019 and 2020, this show is funny, inventive and satisfyingly bonkers, and despite starring David Tennant it is definitely not Doctor Who.

War Of The Worlds

Since H.G.Wells first invented the alien invasion trope there have been rather a lot of adaptations of War Of The Worlds. I have a soft spot for the 1953 movie, and would probably describe the Jeff Wayne musical version as my favourite. I'm less fond of the £2 coin adaptation featuring the four-legged Tripod. I really like the BBC's 2019 miniseries. Instead of setting it in the present day, it's a period drama set in the early 1900s. The story loosely follows much of the novel, but centres on George (Rafe Spall) and his scandalous girlfriend Amy (Eleanor Tomlinson) thereby increasing the number of lead female characters from zero to one. We all know the Martians lose, and how, so a good adaptation of WOTW needs to add something original. This series uses flashforwards to show the aftermath of the war - a world still grieving and still on its' knees many years after the Martian defeat.

Tracks

This might be one of the best things the BBC has ever done. Five series of audio dramas, or if you prefer, fiction podcasts, starring Romola Garai as Helen, a GP who is drawn in to a series of conspiracies after she witnesses a horrific plane crash - and rises to the challenge. Written by Matthew Broughton, each series is an intelligent biomedical thriller very much in the vein of Michael Crichton or Robin Cook.

Missions

Broadcast on the BBC in 2018, this is a sci-fi drama about tech tycoons Meyer and Goldstein, who are not at all inspired by Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, their privately-funded expeditions to Mars and the surprising discoveries they make on the surface. The series follows Jeanne Renoir (Hélène Viviès), the psychologist trying to keep the crew of Meyer's expedition sane; but as this is a French drama, she must also be having an affair with the married captain.

Dracula

Two out of three ain't bad. A completely new BBC adaptation of Dracula written by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat, starring Claes Bang as Dracula, and combining the wit and inventiveness of Sherlock with the sumptuous gothic shenanigans of the Hammer Christopher Lee/Peter Cushing series of movies. I loved the first two episodes, set in Dracula's Transylvania castle and then on board a ship sailing for England, and the rivalry between Dracula and his nemesis Sister Agatha (Dolly Wells) which runs through the series. The third episode which brings Dracula into a completely different setting is a gamble, and I found it less satisfying although there's still a lot to enjoy.

To be continued...

Living In A Box [Podcast Review: The Habitat]

For those fed up with the antics of I’m A Big Brother Survivor, Get Me Out Of Celebrity Love Island With Bear Grylls and seeking a more cerebral reality show, you could do worse than checking out The Habitat podcast.

The Habitat is an 8-episode podcast about the real Hi-SEAS IV mission, a research project in which six NASA scientists spent a year isolated in a dome in the mountains of Hawaii, simulating a manned mission to Mars. Water was rationed and recycled, food was dehydrated, communication was limited to e-mail and Internet with a built-in 20-minute delay, and apart from brief spacesuited excursions the team were unable to leave the dome – to do so would have implied death of the crew and led to the end of the experiment. The mission lasted from August 2015 to August 2016, and was successful in that the team survived a year in each other’s company and did not break role at any time. It’s an impressive achievement and hopefully the psychology research conducted during the period will genuinely help in preparing for future space missions.

The podcast is presented by Lynn Levy and is mostly based on clips from recordings sent to Levy by the astronauts in response to her questions, together with her own thoughts and observations, and some background info about the history of space exploration. There are 8 episodes and the pace and structure feels about right. It’s not quite a linear account of the mission, instead each episode takes you a bit further with the timeline but also covers a particular aspect of the mission.

This is a non-fiction podcast – or is it? It’s the story of a fictional Mars mission, and in a way it's more like a live-action RPG, a historical re-enactment (futuristic pre-enactment?) or an Alternate Reality Game. At times it definitely has the flavour of a reality TV show – including one episode gently speculating about will-they-won’t-they romances amongst the crew, although for the most part they seem to have been more interested in playing ukulele and harmonica duets. The concept reminded me indirectly of The Adventure Game, a show from my childhood in which three B-list celebrities were sent to the planet Arg to defeat logic puzzles set by shape-changing dragons and a very angry aspidistra (obviously), and more recently the cruellest reality TV show of all time, Space Cadets, in which astronauts selected for gullibility were fooled into thinking they were actually on a Space Shuttle mission. Worth mentioning that the Mars One project is based on the idea of a reality TV show providing the funding for an actual Mars mission. Whether that project gets off the ground literally or otherwise is a question for another day…

The Habitat is a Gimlet Media podcast. You can listen to it on your favourite podcast app or via the website. You can also read about the Hi-SEAS missions here.

Tanis Through The Looking Glass [Podcast review: Tanis]

I've worked my way through series one of Tanis, a podcast from the producers of Rabbits. The presenter, Nick Silver, is on the trail of a legend called Tanis. He's attracted to the mystery surrounding Tanis - he doesn't know what Tanis is, it could be a person, a place, an idea, a god, a magical force of some kind. He's assisted by fellow producers and interns, a hacker friend (sorry, Information Specialist) and various other characters who come forward during the investigation.

Although fictional, Nick's investigation involves many real-life characters, events, mysteries and legends. It's a meandering journey that begins with real-life British magician and cult leader Alastair Crowleigh and his American ally, rocket scientist and part-time alchemist Jack Parsons, and continues backwards and forwards through ancient and modern history, taking in numbers stations, famous historical serial killers, and the fairytales of Baba Yaga. Meanwhile a network of corporations, cults, research groups and secret agencies gradually rise to the surface and the stakes become higher.

I mentioned that Rabbits was a tale in the vein of The X-Files - this is even more true of Tanis. Nick Silver even sounds a little like Fox Mulder. The plot develops very slowly and in a pleasantly psychotic way, it's the podcast equivalent of a wall covered in newspaper clippings highlighted and connected with pins and string. Tanis feels smarter than Rabbits and better paced, although both shows sometimes get confused as to whether they are broadcast during the investigation or put together in the aftermath. I now need to listen to series two and catch up with the current third series.

You can listen to Tanis here.

How Deep The Rabbit Hole Goes [Podcast review: Rabbits]

Rabbits is a podcast presented by journalist Carly Parker, who is looking into the disappearance of her friend Yumiko. The trail leads Carly into contact with players of a mysterious and sinister Alternate Reality Game believed to date back to ancient times, and to a series of clues related to contradictions about her own past. What is Rabbits? Who are the Men in Grey? How many steps are there to the Lighthouse? And what is a Welshman's tiara?

Why tell this story as a podcast? Serial established the investigative format - enthusiastic, gutsy, female journalist recording her interviews and findings in a search for the truth, and this format has become popular as a result. In the case of Serial the format allowed the investigator to share her findings with her listeners and recruit them to help her solve a (real life) mystery. However for a sci-fi or fantasy investigative story it's the perfect format, a logical follow-on from The X-Files and a way of developing a slow-burn plot arc while building suspense and atmosphere.

Rabbits tries to create the impression of a secret world underlying our own, set against a background of videogames and ARGs. So the format turns this from a story about ARGs into its' own ARG - during the broadcast images and cuttings were posted on the website and listeners debated the puzzles on Internet forums and searched the Internet for clues. And searching led to some fascinating finds - not least because Rabbits works in references to obscure rock bands, videogame Easter eggs, historical codes and puzzles, and real historical figures such as Byron Preiss, author of a fantasy novel The Secret, which included picture clues to the location of hidden treasures - only two of which were ever found.

Rabbits brings to mind literary treasure hunts such as Byron Preiss's The Secret and Kit Williams' Masquerade, as well as books or films such as The Da Vinci Code, The Ninth Gate and Ready Player One - a book that shares Carly Parker's affection for classic videogames. The Da Vinci Code mixed reality, fiction and speculation cleverly giving the impression that it could have been true - only on closer inspection does it become clear that only the first few clues on Langdon's journey are real. The theme of ARGs blurring the boundary of reality features in classic Michael Douglas film The Game, while Iain Banks' The Business tells the story of an ancient organization hiding in plain sight. Some of the mysteries of Rabbits also bring to mind horror movies and in particular The Ring. And of course there are ongoing ARGs such as Ingress, and related games or activities such as orienteering or geocaching.

When I started to listen to Rabbits I found it slightly slow and repetitive, with a lot of deliberate recapping and some quite contrived cliffhangers. I also found the adverts breaking into the broadcast incongruous, although no more so than typical TV adverts. And yet I got the Rabbits bug - by the end of the first episode I bought into the characters and the mystery and wanted to continue listening to see how deep the rabbit hole went. The episodes are long - varying from 20 minutes to almost an hour, the story is complex and the reveals are well-paced. There's some nice sinister backing music too.

You can listen to or subscribe to Rabbits here. Rabbits is produced by the Public Radio Alliance who also make two other mystery podcasts - The Black Tapes and Tanis. You can also read an interesting review and discussion of all three 'casts on The Cultural Gutter here. It's not clear whether all three mysteries are linked, although the podcasters sometimes refer to each other suggesting that they might at least be playing out in the same reality.

What's The Frequency, Kenneth? [Podcast Review: The Message]

In this sci-fi podcast, linguist and podcaster Nicki Tomalin blags her way into joining a team of cryptographers as working on a recording that just might be the first ever received communication from an extraterrestrial source.

The Message is short and action-packed, with just eight episodes all under 15 minutes. The plot goes nuclear fast, with new developments, twists and levels of threat in each episode. I initially thought too much was given away in the second episode but I was wrong - there was plenty more material to come.

There's never a point where The Message could be confused with reality - it's too intense and melodramatic, but as a radio play it works well, with some decent writing - the cryptographers on the team have well thought out characters and backstories, the team dynamics are also interesting including the odd relationship between the two team leaders, and the voice acting is consistently good. The Macguffin at the heart of this story is only partly believable but if you can't suspend your disbelief a little then you have no business listening to a sci-fi podcast.

The story will appeal to fans of books or films about first contact and alien messages, whether optimistic as in Arrival or Contact, or horror-tinged - Fluency, Alien etc. The Serial-style podcast format works well with the story, and also paves the way for several of the twists, often playing tricks with the format.

You can listen to The Message here.

They're already here! [Podcast Round-Up]

To celebrate the eventual take-over of the world by the pod people, two science-fiction commentary podcasts to listen to while you wait for your murderous clone to emerge...

Electric Dreams is Channel 4's anthology of Philip K. Dick short stories adapted for TV. I've blogged about the first two episodes, The Hood Maker and The Impossible Planet, here and here. The Electric Dreams Pod is an unofficial fan podcast hosted by Wayne Henderson and Steve Salyer. The first podcast, naturally enough, is a review of The Hood Maker. The hosts set a laid-back pace and this is a friendly, approachable 'cast not trying to prove anything or score any points. What they have to say though is interesting - without deconstructing the episode, they've given it a lot of thought. In particular their comments about the backstory really made me think about the episode again. If this is the future, why is everyone relying on typewriters and internal combustion? There are actually clues to the backstory in some scenes - for example piles of laptops in the police offices that are clearly no longer in use.

The Functional Nerds are two podcasters, Patrick Hester and John Anealio (of Steampunk Girl fame) reviewing science fiction in its many forms and formats, with a major focus on books, and interviewing authors along the way. They've been broadcasting for a long time and their back catalogue includes some great interviews. The recent Episode 333 features sci-fi journalist Annalee Newitz, one of the founders of io9.com, talking about her debut science fiction novel Autonomous.

I will be writing further blogs about science-fiction related podcasts, whether fiction-based or commentary, over the next few weeks. I have some shiny things to share and discuss, but suggestions and leads are also welcome, particularly about podcasts that have been recently released or are in the pipeline.

Star Tours [Review: The Impossible Planet]

The second of Channel 4's Electric Dreams TV dramas is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick's short story The Impossible Planet. In a distant, space opera future two cynical intergalactic tour guides, Brian Norton and Ed Andrews, take parties of human tourists on cruises to see the most beautiful sights in the Universe - secretly editing the sights and sounds to make them more dramatic. When an elderly woman knocks on their office door accompanied by her personal robot and a suitcase full of cash, asking for a private tour of Earth, Norton and Andrews know that they can't really do this - after all, Earth was vaporized centuries earlier. But she is persistent, and able to pay cash. Perhaps there's a way they can grant her wish after all...

The Impossible Planet is slightly reminiscent in places of The Hitch-Hiker's Guide or a good episode of Doctor Who. It's just as inventive and darkly funny. However that's as far as it goes in terms of comparison. Amazingly, this is a space-based drama that feels nothing like Star Wars, Star Trek or any other mainstream space opera. It has an eccentric look and feel of its own, from the quirky art-deco spaceships to the wooden android who seems a little too smart.

After watching last week's episode The Hood Maker, then listening to the Electric Dreams podcast about that episode, I realised that a lot more had gone into the backstory than I'd originally picked up - for example there's a whole story about how and why that society had regressed from advanced electronics back to 50s typewriters and internal combustion.

This week I've learnt my lesson - I paid more attention to the story. In this version of the future the dominant industry and political power appears to be space travel and logistics, with space tourism a minor side-swindle. Also, the existence of faster-than-light intergalactic travel means that everything in the Universe has already been discovered and all that's left for humanity is to be idle, gullible tourists.

Once again the cast are brilliant - this time Jack Reynor as Norton, and Geraldine Chaplin as Irma, and the writing is good. Again there's an everyman hero - get used to this, they are PKD's bread and butter - and this one is absolutely typical, the kind of person who's not unrealistically honest, but while he's made his peace with small cons he struggles with his conscience over bigger moral issues. Meanwhile watch that wooden robot - he's up to something, and his own moral choices are also pretty interesting. The ending to this episode is more of a puzzler than The Hood Maker - it makes good artistic sense but you need to be ready to believe a few more impossible things before breakfast. A planet, perhaps.

The Memoirs Of Ianto Jones

Gareth David-Lloyd, Torchwood's Ianto Jones, was cornered by the utterly irrepressible Gerri and Eugenia at an Aussie sci-fi con and interviewed for the Women Talk Sci-Fi podcast - you can listen to the episode here. During the interview, Gerri and Eugenia gently remind Gareth that he did indeed appear in one of the Sherlock Holmes movies. In other news, this podcast always makes me green with envy - those Aussie sci-fi fans clearly got it goin' on.