Week Fourteen: Science Fiction and Satire

    Recently, since I have been working a lot in the labs, I have gotten into many different podcasts to listen to while I work. The art of audio storytelling is fascinating, and this week's recommended The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is an excellent example of how to do it right.

    One of the most interesting things about this kind of storytelling to me is how it immediately makes you close to the characters. It transcends human boundaries of traditional visual storytelling.  By relying on just the voice, the look and actions of the characters are created in the mind, just like books. It really makes the experience personal and special to the audience. 

   The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy presents itself as a zaney British talkshow adventure satire about a a finish a second edition of a space survival guide. First of all, this show is a bit hard to follow and the humor is strange. I think that is what made this such a joy to read though. British humor does not follow the usual tropes, which is what makes it so fascinating. I think the British comedy is the best part about this radio show. It's very reminiscent of things like Monty Python that have such a go-happy attitude. The show didn't dwell on the emotional aspects of an apocalypse, but instead the sheer ridiculousness of it all. And that leads to a very entertaining listen.

 This radio show also has excellent pacing. It's very quick and keeps the viewer interested, but it also takes short breaks in the main narrative, such as a short recap joke, to allow the listener to digest and compute what they have just absorbed. I think pacing is one of the most important parts about making audio storytelling work. Pacing the work is one of the most important factors and one of the easiest things to mess up. This makes The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as great listen.

    Personally, I think the original radio version is the best version of this media. It was an incredibly original satire at the time and is breaming with passion and new ideas. I think the book version and television adaptations have really lost this ability to adapt beyond the original work and create a new experience. This makes the book a bit hard to follow, because you don't hear the passion and lovely British accents coming from the characters which help (me at least) to not take the work so seriously and enjoy the satire.