Steal the Stars: Full Series
June 2, 2018 5:42 PM - Subscribe
A hard SF style, can't-stop-listening story of an alien life-form, government secrets, and forbidden romance, that asks questions about militarism, capitalism, and human nature.
I absolutely loved this series and found it immersive and addictive. The story took me on a trip and the ending was satisfying. My only comment that I found interesting to my experience was, for the first 3 or 4 episodes, I thought the narrator was a man and the romance was gay. I was actually disapointed to realize she was a woman and the story was heterosexual (although clearly having a female lead and numerous other fleshed out women characters was very progressive and cool). Ultimately, given where the story went, I was OK with her being a her. Anyway, just a unique aspect of an entirely audio form - as if I had read this as a book I would have known by the pronouns, and if I'd seen it on screen I'd know by the visuals what gender she was.
posted by latkes at 5:47 PM on June 2, 2018
posted by latkes at 5:47 PM on June 2, 2018
This was written by Mac Rogers, who did The Message and LifeAfter.
The whole production was just amazing. I was glad that Rogers dropped the "This is all recordings" framing device of the last two.
My only comment that I found interesting to my experience was, for the first 3 or 4 episodes, I thought the narrator was a man and the romance was gay.
I... kinda wish it had been, now. The forbidden-love aspect of the operation always seemed too draconian-for-the-sake-of-plot, but making it a gay romance might have made it more understandably taboo.
Also, there's a novelization, written by the actor who played Lloyd.
posted by Etrigan at 9:17 PM on June 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
The whole production was just amazing. I was glad that Rogers dropped the "This is all recordings" framing device of the last two.
My only comment that I found interesting to my experience was, for the first 3 or 4 episodes, I thought the narrator was a man and the romance was gay.
I... kinda wish it had been, now. The forbidden-love aspect of the operation always seemed too draconian-for-the-sake-of-plot, but making it a gay romance might have made it more understandably taboo.
Also, there's a novelization, written by the actor who played Lloyd.
posted by Etrigan at 9:17 PM on June 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
I really liked this one until the end.
I really liked Dak and Matt's instalove relationship as a plot instigator. I tend to think that "grower" relationships work better in fiction, but instalove/thunderbolt love can really kick off a plot, and it did. I loved what it did to her, I loved how she had issues with being a woman of size and being with a thin dude and her other issues in addition to forbidden love. It was very human of her.
I expected some kind of weird deus ex machina alien thing happening at the end, and it did. I probably knew it wasn't going to end happily with the two of them off in some country together. But Matt gets....eaten, more or less, and Dak isn't even fazed because alien hive mind or whatever? Is he still actually even in there? She doesn't check? (I'd check.) Suddenly she's fine with all of that? Did not like this end. WTF. I was going to buy the book but once I heard the end...sigh, not so much.
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:07 PM on June 3, 2018
I really liked Dak and Matt's instalove relationship as a plot instigator. I tend to think that "grower" relationships work better in fiction, but instalove/thunderbolt love can really kick off a plot, and it did. I loved what it did to her, I loved how she had issues with being a woman of size and being with a thin dude and her other issues in addition to forbidden love. It was very human of her.
I expected some kind of weird deus ex machina alien thing happening at the end, and it did. I probably knew it wasn't going to end happily with the two of them off in some country together. But Matt gets....eaten, more or less, and Dak isn't even fazed because alien hive mind or whatever? Is he still actually even in there? She doesn't check? (I'd check.) Suddenly she's fine with all of that? Did not like this end. WTF. I was going to buy the book but once I heard the end...sigh, not so much.
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:07 PM on June 3, 2018
My only comment that I found interesting to my experience was, for the first 3 or 4 episodes, I thought the narrator was a man and the romance was gay.
I... kinda wish it had been, now. The forbidden-love aspect of the operation always seemed too draconian-for-the-sake-of-plot, but making it a gay romance might have made it more understandably taboo.
If you're interested in sci-fi drama podcasts that are less heteronormative and more diverse on multiple levels, Procyon Podcast Network has three (so far) that might work for you. I stumbled across the most recent one, The Strange Case of Starship Iris, recently and now I'm antsy waiting for the next installment. Some of the production values aren't the best but I appreciate what they're trying to do to make things more inclusive.
posted by camyram at 6:55 AM on June 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
I... kinda wish it had been, now. The forbidden-love aspect of the operation always seemed too draconian-for-the-sake-of-plot, but making it a gay romance might have made it more understandably taboo.
If you're interested in sci-fi drama podcasts that are less heteronormative and more diverse on multiple levels, Procyon Podcast Network has three (so far) that might work for you. I stumbled across the most recent one, The Strange Case of Starship Iris, recently and now I'm antsy waiting for the next installment. Some of the production values aren't the best but I appreciate what they're trying to do to make things more inclusive.
posted by camyram at 6:55 AM on June 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
Oh cool, I downloaded a couple of those Procyon podcasts to try. I'm new to fiction podcasts - I think Steal the Stars was my first - so maybe that's why I was so especially taken with it. Just binged The Message and working on Life After in the last couple days and I like them but not as much.
One thing that seems consistent in Mac Rogers' writing is the characters are deeply, deeply flawed and also always lack understanding of what they are interacting with. I find this a suitable metaphor for real life.
Regarding the ending, it's interesting that you didn't like it so much jenfullmoon. As the story was reaching it's conclusion I started to panic that would have one of those ambigious ending, where like, the US army is coming over the horizon, and the Chinese army is coming over the other, and an alien spaceship is about to land on top of the truck or something, and then we just cut to credits. So I was relieved that there was an ending. And I guess it worked for me because I took it to be talking about the inevitable trajectory of violence and militarism. Dak had already been using Matt, projecting all kinds of shit onto Matt, and making decisions on Matt's behalf, so this seemed like a continuation of where her character was going, and also of the buildup of violent control that the Sierra plot had been pointing to. It's fun to think about some alternate endings to this though. I wish Dak could have instead learned some kind of meaningful lesson out of the whole thing!
posted by latkes at 9:17 AM on June 4, 2018
One thing that seems consistent in Mac Rogers' writing is the characters are deeply, deeply flawed and also always lack understanding of what they are interacting with. I find this a suitable metaphor for real life.
Regarding the ending, it's interesting that you didn't like it so much jenfullmoon. As the story was reaching it's conclusion I started to panic that would have one of those ambigious ending, where like, the US army is coming over the horizon, and the Chinese army is coming over the other, and an alien spaceship is about to land on top of the truck or something, and then we just cut to credits. So I was relieved that there was an ending. And I guess it worked for me because I took it to be talking about the inevitable trajectory of violence and militarism. Dak had already been using Matt, projecting all kinds of shit onto Matt, and making decisions on Matt's behalf, so this seemed like a continuation of where her character was going, and also of the buildup of violent control that the Sierra plot had been pointing to. It's fun to think about some alternate endings to this though. I wish Dak could have instead learned some kind of meaningful lesson out of the whole thing!
posted by latkes at 9:17 AM on June 4, 2018
Oh, you wanna go on skiffy podcast recs, camyram? We can go on skiffy podcast recs.
I like most of what Rick Coste is doing, and he mostly does small, self-contained shows.
2298 just wrapped up, and it's fantastic.
All's Fair was pretty good, and the time travel aspect is handled well (episodes are numbered for one major character's timeline, and lettered for the other major character's timeline).
The Bright Sessions is probably already on people's radar, but it's about to end, and it's become one of the podcasts I will recommend to literally anyone, so. (modern-day superhero, more character- than plot-driven)
Empty is uneven, but intriguing.
Girl in Space is amazing.
The Hyacinth Disaster will make you cry, even though you know what's coming from the very beginning.
I'm not sure where Pod to Pluto is going (well, other than Pluto), but it's drily funny, which is nice every now and then. Ditto We Fix Space Junk.
posted by Etrigan at 9:43 AM on June 4, 2018 [6 favorites]
I like most of what Rick Coste is doing, and he mostly does small, self-contained shows.
2298 just wrapped up, and it's fantastic.
All's Fair was pretty good, and the time travel aspect is handled well (episodes are numbered for one major character's timeline, and lettered for the other major character's timeline).
The Bright Sessions is probably already on people's radar, but it's about to end, and it's become one of the podcasts I will recommend to literally anyone, so. (modern-day superhero, more character- than plot-driven)
Empty is uneven, but intriguing.
Girl in Space is amazing.
The Hyacinth Disaster will make you cry, even though you know what's coming from the very beginning.
I'm not sure where Pod to Pluto is going (well, other than Pluto), but it's drily funny, which is nice every now and then. Ditto We Fix Space Junk.
posted by Etrigan at 9:43 AM on June 4, 2018 [6 favorites]
Woah, I am pretty stoked that two of my favorite podcasts--Steal the Stars and The Strange Case of Starship Iris--are being discussed in one thread!
Personally, I loved the ending. It felt like a great payoff to all the speculation/anticipation about Moss and a very well executed twist/surprise. I think it's meant to be potentially horrifying/unsettling/dubious.
Also, I wish I could remember where I had heard this as it definitely wasn't my insight, but hearing someone else describe Steal the Stars as heavily influenced by noir narratives really shifted/opened up my perspective on it. As in, Dak is the hardboiled protagonist, Matt is the femme fatale (just notice how central his beauty is!), the world is full of shadowy, untrustworthy organizations...
And I very much agree about the relief/excitement of this podcast shifting out of the tired, silly limitation of "we have to create a rationale for why this is being recorded/broadcast as a podcast." Which is such a huge stumbling block for so many fiction podcasts and seems especially ridiculous given the long and rich history of radio dramas. I very much hope more narrative podcasts follow this lead.
And The Strange Case of Starship Iris! So queer! So fresh! It's the kind of podcast that I want to tell all of my friends to listen to, like, look, can you believe someone is making these kinds of stories? It feels so radical and groundbreaking and makes me excited for the future of fiction. (I don't want to say too much about the plot in a thread that's not about it.)
posted by overglow at 9:53 AM on June 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
Personally, I loved the ending. It felt like a great payoff to all the speculation/anticipation about Moss and a very well executed twist/surprise. I think it's meant to be potentially horrifying/unsettling/dubious.
Also, I wish I could remember where I had heard this as it definitely wasn't my insight, but hearing someone else describe Steal the Stars as heavily influenced by noir narratives really shifted/opened up my perspective on it. As in, Dak is the hardboiled protagonist, Matt is the femme fatale (just notice how central his beauty is!), the world is full of shadowy, untrustworthy organizations...
And I very much agree about the relief/excitement of this podcast shifting out of the tired, silly limitation of "we have to create a rationale for why this is being recorded/broadcast as a podcast." Which is such a huge stumbling block for so many fiction podcasts and seems especially ridiculous given the long and rich history of radio dramas. I very much hope more narrative podcasts follow this lead.
And The Strange Case of Starship Iris! So queer! So fresh! It's the kind of podcast that I want to tell all of my friends to listen to, like, look, can you believe someone is making these kinds of stories? It feels so radical and groundbreaking and makes me excited for the future of fiction. (I don't want to say too much about the plot in a thread that's not about it.)
posted by overglow at 9:53 AM on June 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
Well, because of this thread and Etrigan in particular, I mainlined all of Girl in Space and the Bright Sessions. In 5 days.
And here’s a Bright Sessions thread, if anyone is interested.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:53 AM on June 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
And here’s a Bright Sessions thread, if anyone is interested.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:53 AM on June 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
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posted by latkes at 5:43 PM on June 2, 2018