I’ve been trying out a handful of podcasts the last few weeks while helping my dad renovate the house, and just want to ramble about a couple of them for a second:
1. Wolf 359 is amazing. It’s the only one I’ve fallen for in a fandom sense so far, and I love all of the characters (and deeply appreciate that it’s a sci fi piece with an even gender divide, where the women are treated very well). I was pretty much hooked from the second episode, with its snarky humor and deft characterization among a small cast, and binge-listened to the whole thing. Highly recommend that you do too.
2. Our Fair City is a post-apoc dystopian story with a ton of short episodes, six seasons to date. I’m almost all the way through Season 2 and enjoying it well enough. True to the title, it’s telling the story of a whole underground city rather than latching onto individuals, so there’s a lot of bouncing between story lines (three eps from the end of Season 2, and neither of the lead characters from Season 1 have appeared yet). It’s fun and quirky, but I’m finding that I’m listening to it in bursts more than anything. Plus the multiple plotlines means that you end up with ones you like more and some you like less, making for an uneven listening experience. It does take a bit to get used to having a narrator, but it fits well with the framing device of the episodes being historical reenactments. And like I said, it’s fun and worth a shot.
3. EOS 10 is also a sci-fi podcast taking place in a space station, but couldn’t be more different from Wolf 359. Where Wolf 359 takes place in a present day alternate reality, with a space station that’s fairly realistic but for the presence of an advanced AI and implied faster than light travel, EOS 10 takes place in a Star Trek sort of universe, far in the future with quirky aliens from all over the galaxy hanging around. It follows the story of two human doctors on the station, and it took me a bit to realize that it’s basically a bawdy 70’s hospital comedy, just set in the far future (with the exception of a plotline about two characters dealing with addiction, which is handled surprisingly well and without much of a tone shift). The humor is lower brow, and I’m not a fan of how it tends to treat the few female characters it has, but I find myself smiling and snickering more often than not. I just started Season 2, and I’m intrigued to see where it goes.
I tried a handful of episodes of Thrilling Adventure Hour, and just couldn’t really get into the comedy style; I feel like the punchlines just get really overworked and driven into the ground, plus the awkward pauses in delivery annoy me. Is there a point to jump in later where the bugs gets worked out?
Anyone else have recs for other podcasts? I have a long, long plane trip in about a week, so the more I can download to my phone, the better.
If you like science fact-based podcasts I recommend “Stuff to Blow Your Mind.” “Stuff They Don’t Want You To Know” is another great real-life podcast, talking about various conspiracies. At first they’re short additions to the videos the hosts make, but later on they’re more self-contained.
“We’re Alive” is a zombie apocalypse story podcast, pretty great so far.











