WHY YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO WOLF 359: A REC POST

[frith_in_thorns]

Hello! I've done lots of fun things recently, like celebrate our first wedding anniversary, go on holiday to Finland and experience (and accidentally staff at) Worldcon in Helsinki, but I am writing this post to let you all know about the most important thing that has been in my life this month.

It is the podcast Wolf 359. It is my new fannish shiny and it has completely taken over my brain. It is also a really tiny fandom, and I am at the stage of all-out begging my friends to listen too.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE (and feel free to link this post around!)

That said, the early episodes are a little shaky in the way of new productions -- it takes a while for them to find their feet and the story they want to tell. If you want a skip list, listen to ep 2 and then ep 8 onwards. Ep 12-13 (two-parter) is where it REALLY takes off. These early ones are all about 15-20 minutes each.

Anyway, that's enough prelude! So, basic premise and characters:

Setting: Wolf 359 is a red dwarf star. Around it is orbiting a slightly clanky space station, the USS Hephaestus. On board is our crew, who have at the start of the show been up there for just under 500 days so far on a scientific research mission which has produced basically no results, at the behest of a corporation called Goddard Futuristics, which in the AU of the show was apparently born from the fusion of Boering and Apple. Everyone is fed up and random weird shit keeps happening. THEN PLOT STARTS.

Doug Eiffel: He is the communications officer. By now he would much rather be back on Earth. He's the POV character, and it took me a little while to warm up to him (I am primed to find comic relief dudes not interesting) but now he is lovely. If you like loyalty kink then stick around.

Lieutenant Commander Minkowski: She is in charge. Kind of out of her depth. She is very much THE RULES WILL SAVE US ALL except when rules are actually stacked against her and lead to heartbreaking angst instead. She is also I WILL PROTECT MY CREW AT ALL COSTS. She works so hard and tries so hard and is so idealistic and finds it really hard to be flexible and I love her inordinately is what I'm saying.

Doctor Hilbert: Incredibly morally ambiguous older scientist. He is very plot-relevant but not so much part of the team team. (He is also played by the same voice actor as Eiffel, so this isn't short-changing him.)

Hera: She is the AI who runs the station. She is... not great at some things but she tries very hard. She also is a massive enabler of bad ideas (and good ones!). She develops fabulous relationships with Eiffel and Minkowski. The show goes really deep into AI and personhood and disability stuff with her, it's wonderful (and more than a little heartbreaking).

Additional characters joining the cast later are [spoilers] but include another really badass lady and there is lots of her and Minkowski being badass and competent with and at each other.

Other things which the show features:
* Amazing competent military ladies in space
* Lots of early mysterious plot threads which actually become coherently woven into each other and answered
* Loyalty kink EVERYWHERE
* Really compelling and emotional storytelling
* Ethical quandaries and fallout
* Ridiculous space science
* Really lovely and subtle examination of AI
* Loads of character and relationship (gen) development
* It's really funny! (when not stomping on your feels!)

So... maybe give it a try? ALSO as a taster I offer a clip from a live show they did. This link should set to start at 05:33, which skips the intro (with spoilers) and goes into character interaction. If you watch for a little bit you might get an idea of whether you might enjoy it. (As long as you stop before or at the 30 min mark you will again avoid too many spoilers.)

Comments

[sholio]

... you don't actually link to the podcast anywhere in your post. I'M JUST SAYING. *runs*

[frith_in_thorns]

I'm so competent. /facepalm

[sapphire2309]

HOO BOY I AM SO IN. Idk when I'll have time to sit down and listen though, so I'll probably download it to my phone and listen on the bus ride to college.

[frith_in_thorns]

EXCELLENT! And I *do* recommend listening to all the early ones, because lots of character details are important, it's just that they're not nearly as good as the show becomes.

Please keep me updated on your listening! :D :D

(Oh, if you need a podcast app I recommend Podcast Addict which allows you to search for and add shows.)

[sapphire2309]

will do! It sounds so awesome, I'll probably need someone to squee at.

Thanks for the rec! I'll check it out :D

[frith_in_thorns]

(If you use podcast addict when you have added the show I recommend immediately going into the : menu and sorting by newest first, because some of the summaries are extremely spoilery for earlier episodes)

[sapphire2309]

omg thanks for that. i don't mind spoilers but they put me off watching/listening to the things. i would have procrastinated on this FOREVERRR if i'd been spoiled.

[sapphire2309]

haha the app thing isn't on the apple store i'll just *ahem* acquire the audio and save it as music.

[frith_in_thorns]

Up to you :) There are loads of podcast apps out there (I'm android so I don't know what the apple ones are called), I personally find them useful but saving them as music works too!

[sapphire2309]

i have a history podcast saved as music and it works fine for me, so this should too!

[sapphire2309]

ooo turns out there's no need for shady means, excellent.

[frith_in_thorns]

Woo! :D And also I guess this way you won't need to worry about spoilers at all :D (Should I make a squee post, do you think, for people to comment to as they listen to bits?)

[sapphire2309]

If you do, I will be SO THERE.

[frith_in_thorns]

I made one! :)

[sapphire2309]

ooooh i found the apple podcast app!! it works so well! i'm using it!!!

[veleda_k]

This is the Wolf 359 rec post I should have made months ago, but never did. This is a public service.

[frith_in_thorns]

♥ ♥

(I bet I can guess your ship)

[philomytha]

Okay, you're the second person in 24 hours on my flist to recommend this, I think I'm going to have to try it out :-). Also quite soon I am going to have a ton of boring jobs that need audible distraction, so the timing's perfect.

[frith_in_thorns]

I listened to most of it while completely sorting the spare room, aka Frith's Crafting Supply Piles of Doom.

I do think it will really appeal to you! Please let me know how it goes!

[philomytha]

In a week or two it's going to be time to Clean The Pantry and probably the back porch as well. I've been putting them off but once the school holidays are over I'm going to have to get on with it. Podcasts will definitely make it less of a pain.

[glinda]

It's so good! I love it so! I'm ridiculously behind on this show and really need to get caught back up!

[frith_in_thorns]

You DEFINITELY do :D

[veleda_k]

Hey, I'm a random person, but way back when, it was actually through your journal that I found out about Wolf 359, while I was browsing my DW network page. So thanks from an internet stranger!

[naye]

I've got lots of of podcasts to keep up with, but I'll put this on the list for when I'm feeling like something new!

[frith_in_thorns]

Yay, I really do hope you end up enjoying it!

[leesa_perrie]

I shall hopefully find time to give it a go, it does sound interesting!

[frith_in_thorns]

I do think you would enjoy it! And I would write h/c fic to your prompts for you! :D

[leesa_perrie]

Well now, how can I resist that offer?! :D

[cephy]

Hmmmmmmm, I've needed a new podcast since finishing the adventure zone, maybe will give this a whirl. Thanks! :D

[frith_in_thorns]

Awesome, please let me know how it goes! :)

[i_phoenix]

(Wandered over here thanks to a link from umadoshi)

Just wondering, do the episodes tend to stay in the 20-30 minute range, or do they get longer later on? My commute is the perfect length for WTNV episodes, so if this is a similar length then I am totally sold.

[frith_in_thorns]

The vast majority of episodes are around 27-30 minutes, with a few in the latest season running to around 35. The episode on the show is 44, but that was a season finale so something of a special case!

[i_phoenix]

Excellent. Thank you!

[schneefink]

I only now watched the live show, because I didn't realize that it was a new episode! One that isn't listed with the other episodes on the website, annoying. Thanks for the link, that was so much fun. Eiffel's faces *g* And Cutter does evil very well.

[michelel72]

So I've kept this tab open while I've tried to find time to check the show out. I only got the chance to start it last week, when I had jury duty and so a lot of time sitting around doing nothing in a quiet room.

It's a good thing I didn't happen across this show on my own, though. I found episode 7 irritating af and bounced off it so hard I'm surprised I didn't achieve escape velocity. If I didn't trust your fantastic taste enough to power through, I would've quit right there. But I'm glad I stuck with it, and I'm glad to understand everything that was established by episodes 2-6. I've gotten up through episode 23 plus the "First Day" short and I'm digging it now. I just wish I could get through it faster so I could check out your fic!

Where in sequence does the video you linked fall? I'd like to check it out at the right point.

[frith_in_thorns]

Yeeeeah ep 7 is rubbish. Really glad you stuck with it though :) I mean, I'm utterly nonobjective at this point, I'm way too stuck in.

The video comes between episodes 26 and 27. Well, it's actually set during a timeskip near the end of 26.

I'm so pleased you did actually check it out, and that you're enjoying it!