Author Topic: EP289: Flash Contest Honorable Mentions (Read 13921 times)

eytanz · **on:** April 22, 2011, 09:41:39 PM

EP289: Flash Contest Honorable Mentions

This episode has three of the honorable mentions from the flash contest we held on our forums.

Rated PG for some naughty language in Many Mistakes.

Episode 37 – Captain Max Stone versus DESTRUCTOBOT!
By Angela Lee
Read by: Joshua McNichols

When last we left our heroes, Captain Max Stone and his brother Billy had just navigated Hyperion’s perilous asteroid field and battled their way into the fortified base of the villainous robot Destructobot. The dastardly robot’s latest scheme is the deadliest yet – he intends to destroy the Earth using a high-powered negabomb! Will Max stop Destructobot in time? Or will the earth be vaporized?

Many Mistakes, All Out of Order
By M.C. Wagner
Read by: Wilson Fowlie

The first mistake was in our thinking they were ghosts. In our defense, the tradition of vanishing, translucent figures wailing in the night might’ve influenced us.

Mr. Omega
By Arnold Gardner
Read By: Marshal Latham

Mr. Omega checked the time on his trans-dimensional pocket watch and stared out the taxi’s rain pelted window. Four minutes to midnight. Four minutes to the culmination of his life’s work.

Listen to this week’s Escape Pod!

MCWagner · **Reply #1 on:** April 23, 2011, 11:52:35 PM

kibitzer · **Reply #2 on:** April 24, 2011, 03:52:45 AM

Nice to "see" these in audio! Gratz to all the authors.

Gotta say, I still really, really dislike the flash theme music. It's naught but an assault on the ears.

Thunderscreech · **Reply #3 on:** April 25, 2011, 12:03:04 AM

I very much enjoyed these flash stories! Wasn't a fan if the music editing choices (any sweet guitar riff can grow ear razors when repeated too much) but the stories were great.

I bet some casts with a bunch more would be wicked, please consider it.

Unblinking · **Reply #4 on:** April 25, 2011, 04:29:42 PM

Yay!

I especially like "Many Mistakes, All Out of Order", very clever ideas there, many interesting twists and turns, explanation for ghostly appearances.

"DESTRUCTOBOT" was much fun, very well done in the style of radio serials, but with a different ending. Poor poor robot, his plan of destruction was only a cry for help from this lonely automaton, but even half-assing it Destructobot is just so awesome that the heroes kick the bucket. Don't you hate it when your cries for help end up disintegrating those whom receive the call? I know I do.

"Mr. Omega" is a cute idea, but I still don't get why the cabbie's clock says after midnight, but then he talks to his passenger as though he remembered to change it. Shouldn't his clock say 1:00 then?

Wilson Fowlie · **Reply #5 on:** April 26, 2011, 04:39:06 PM

Quote from: Unblinking on April 25, 2011, 04:29:42 PM

"Mr. Omega" is a cute idea, but I still don't get why the cabbie's clock says after midnight, but then he talks to his passenger as though he remembered to change it. Shouldn't his clock say 1:00 then?

He did remember to change it. Both his clock and Mr. Omega's watch say midnight, but the time is actually 11:00PM, since all the clocks sprang forward. To me, that's a bit of a plot hole - it leaves Mr. Omega an hour in which to fix his mistake, though since he seems to have killed the cab driver in order to get the information, he might not be able to.

While I do like the story in general, it's a bit Terra-centric for my taste, in that a third of the trigger for the collapse of the entire Universe is ... an Earth human, while another third is a location on Earth!

Similarly for the choice of midnight; how does an arbitrary instant in the rotation of this utterly insignificant little blue-green planet (and that only has significance to - at first approximation - one twenty-fourth of its ape-descended life forms) relate to the destruction of our entire dimension?

I am going to put it down to the flash format, since while 10:27:48 (in digit form) probably has the same word count as 'midnight', the explanation of how that time is arrived at (and a justification of the other factors) could be ponderous.

Talia · **Reply #6 on:** April 27, 2011, 01:27:29 PM

Destructobot was particularly well-suited to audio. Great reading.

Unblinking · **Reply #7 on:** April 27, 2011, 06:29:25 PM

Quote from: Wilson Fowlie on April 26, 2011, 04:39:06 PM

He did remember to change it. Both his clock and Mr. Omega's watch say midnight, but the time is actually 11:00PM, since all the clocks sprang forward. To me, that's a bit of a plot hole - it leaves Mr. Omega an hour in which to fix his mistake, though since he seems to have killed the cab driver in order to get the information, he might not be able to.

I thought it was REALLY 1am but their clocks were wrong. If he's an hour early then that makes even less sense. Would Mr. Alpha have depended on Mr. Omega killing the cabbie? Otherwise he's giving him extra time. I thought the local "official" time would be the one they need to use. Otherwise, astronomical midnight generally does not coincide with clock midnight anyway.

acpracht · **Reply #8 on:** April 27, 2011, 08:23:33 PM

Aaaah! Make the analysis stop!

-Adam

Quote from: Unblinking on April 27, 2011, 06:29:25 PM

Quote from: Wilson Fowlie on April 26, 2011, 04:39:06 PM
He did remember to change it. Both his clock and Mr. Omega's watch say midnight, but the time is actually 11:00PM, since all the clocks sprang forward. To me, that's a bit of a plot hole - it leaves Mr. Omega an hour in which to fix his mistake, though since he seems to have killed the cab driver in order to get the information, he might not be able to.

I thought it was REALLY 1am but their clocks were wrong. If he's an hour early then that makes even less sense. Would Mr. Alpha have depended on Mr. Omega killing the cabbie? Otherwise he's giving him extra time. I thought the local "official" time would be the one they need to use. Otherwise, astronomical midnight generally does not coincide with clock midnight anyway.

acpracht · **Reply #9 on:** April 27, 2011, 08:26:23 PM

Fun. Me enjoy!

eytanz · **Reply #10 on:** April 27, 2011, 08:35:44 PM

Well, if we want to nitpick Mr Omega, why didn't Mr Alpha just kill the cabbie himself? Or make him win a free trip to Barbados for that week? Or cut the wires on his cab that morning so it won't start? I mean, why make it so easy for Mr Omega and rely on the fact that he won't do the research regarding daylight saving?

I don't think the story is meant to be anything but a shaggy dog tale with a punchline at the expense of daylight savings. It certainly isn't meant to have a plot-hole free story.

acpracht · **Reply #11 on:** April 27, 2011, 08:39:27 PM

Quote from: eytanz on April 27, 2011, 08:35:44 PM

Well, if we want to nitpick Mr Omega, why didn't Mr Alpha just kill the cabbie himself? Or make him win a free trip to Barbados for that week? Or cut the wires on his cab that morning so it won't start? I mean, why make it so easy for Mr Omega and rely on the fact that he won't do the research regarding daylight saving?

I don't think the story is meant to be anything but a shaggy dog tale with a punchline at the expense of daylight savings. It certainly isn't meant to have a plot-hole free story.

Exactly. Well said.

Unblinking · **Reply #12 on:** April 28, 2011, 01:32:06 PM

Quote from: acpracht on April 27, 2011, 08:39:27 PM

Quote from: eytanz on April 27, 2011, 08:35:44 PM
Well, if we want to nitpick Mr Omega, why didn't Mr Alpha just kill the cabbie himself? Or make him win a free trip to Barbados for that week? Or cut the wires on his cab that morning so it won't start? I mean, why make it so easy for Mr Omega and rely on the fact that he won't do the research regarding daylight saving?

I don't think the story is meant to be anything but a shaggy dog tale with a punchline at the expense of daylight savings. It certainly isn't meant to have a plot-hole free story.
Exactly. Well said.

The trouble I have with it is that the entire resolution of the story depends on that single detail making sense. But, okay, I'll leave it alone now.

iamafish · **Reply #13 on:** April 29, 2011, 07:23:15 AM

i enjoyed the ghost story up until the last line, which lost me.

The first one was hilariously fun

the last one was interesting, but falls apart when you think about it

Devoted135 · **Reply #14 on:** May 02, 2011, 07:44:53 PM

So much fun! I really enjoyed these, especially Destructobot. Poor, lonely, accidentally super-evil Destructobot... I think that is how the Joker would feel if he accidentally bested Batman.

MCWagner · **Reply #15 on:** May 03, 2011, 05:27:34 PM

Quote from: iamafish on April 29, 2011, 07:23:15 AM

i enjoyed the ghost story up until the last line, which lost me.

I keep having people go back and forth on that last line on me: half the people think it doesn't follow, while the other half say it's the best part.

Just to clarify, "...If we know they aren't ghosts... why didn't they?" means that if we, in the present figured out that what we thought were ghosts were actually travellers from the future, why didn't that knowlege stick around in records and reach the people in the future, warning them not to time-travel in the first place? I was pointing out a time paradox implying that whatever happens when the machine turns on is so disasterous that it somehow prevents this knowlege from being retained in records and reaching the future. Meaning the ghosts building another machine was yet another catastrophic mistake... and again difficult to resolve from a cause-effect order.

Unblinking · **Reply #16 on:** May 04, 2011, 01:54:17 PM

Quote from: MCWagner on May 03, 2011, 05:27:34 PM

I keep having people go back and forth on that last line on me: half the people think it doesn't follow, while the other half say it's the best part.

Just to clarify, "...If we know they aren't ghosts... why didn't they?" means that if we, in the present figured out that what we thought were ghosts were actually travellers from the future, why didn't that knowlege stick around in records and reach the people in the future, warning them not to time-travel in the first place? I was pointing out a time paradox implying that whatever happens when the machine turns on is so disasterous that it somehow prevents this knowlege from being retained in records and reaching the future. Meaning the ghosts building another machine was yet another catastrophic mistake... and again difficult to resolve from a cause-effect order.

That's what that meant? I didn't get that at all. I'd thought it implied that our world is also a world of ghosts, another layer of ghosts or something, and we don't realize it.

iamafish · **Reply #17 on:** May 06, 2011, 07:57:37 AM

ahhhhhh

now i get it, thanks for the explanation

statisticus · **Reply #18 on:** May 08, 2011, 11:48:57 AM

Very much enjoyed these. Looking forward to the rest of the Flash competition.

stePH · **Reply #19 on:** May 11, 2011, 07:26:04 PM

The only part of this episode I didn't like was the protracted intro, which set my teeth on edge.

Apart from that: "Cool story, bro!" x3.

matweller · **Reply #20 on:** May 12, 2011, 01:43:17 PM

You have my humblest of apologies. It was my first time, and probably my only opportunity for a long while, so you need not worry.

stePH · **Reply #21 on:** May 12, 2011, 01:54:46 PM

Quote from: matweller on May 12, 2011, 01:43:17 PM

You have my humblest of apologies. It was my first time, and probably my only opportunity for a long while, so you need not worry.

It wasn't you that set my teeth on edge, Mr. Weller... unless you're the one responsible for the vulgar excess of Daikaiju alternating with the computer voice announcing the episode and its contents.

(Sorry, but about this whole Daikaiju band thing... I'm not a fan.)

LaShawn · **Reply #22 on:** June 20, 2011, 04:50:00 PM

Ah, wonderful to hear these in audio form. Okay, I'll concede. Destructobot ROCKS in audio form! How fun! And at first I was bummed that our dear Mur didn't do Many Mistakes, but Wilson Fowlie made up for that in spades. Good job!

But I still have to stick to my guns about Mr. Omega being...meh...