Welcome to Night Vale
Obligatory post on something I’ve been enjoying non-stop for the past few days...
Welcome to Night Vale is a free podcast available on iTunes (or streaming on podbay) that takes the form of twice-monthly community news roundups from the fictional town of Night Vale, written by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, narrated by Cecil Baldwin. As I understand, it’s gained a huge following recently, mainly thanks to tumblr, so I decided to check it out! In short: the hype for the scripts is justified.
Night Vale is not a place you would want to live, governed over by a shady City Council and secret police and experiencing all sorts of unexplainable phenomena. It’s like if the researchers at the SCP Foundation created a podcast. Perhaps the biggest mystery is how Night Vale still has living citizens after all the apocalyptic scenarios it must face on a daily basis.
The broadcasts mix existential terror with humor, making great use of the trope of having extraordinary supernatural occurrences paired with extremely mundane reminders, like this one from episode four-“Ladies and gentlemen, we have just received word from secret police that the rip in space-time that opened at last night’s PTA meeting has been sealed at last. [...] There will also be a memorial service for the thirty-eight parents and teachers who lost their lives in the attack, followed by a raffle. Remember, winners must be present at the time of the drawing to claim their prizes.” I particularly adore the library subplots, as I work in one myself. I think the creators must either be or know some librarians because the library segments are so funny.
I didn’t like Cecil’s narration much, finding it, yes, relaxing, smooth, and low, but also somewhat lifeless, dull, and off-key, taking a darkly ominous tone when I thought it would have been much funnier to say darkly ominous things in a lighthearted tone, and vice-versa. And I found the music really overbearing. For this reason I liked it when the announcer for Desert Bluffs, Kevin R. Free, took over in episode 19B. Anyway, after a few episodes I just started reading the transcripts, which are hysterical. There’s a nice round-up link here, or you can read pickmansprogress’ transcripts of the first ten episodes and then aimlessglee’s transcripts of episode eleven and on.
Fandom-wise, the only real slash pairing option is Cecil/Carlos the scientist (or perhaps Cecil/Carlos’ hair)-well, that and the inevitable Old Woman Josie/angel orgy that you know is going on out by the car lot. But fortunately, Cecil himself seems to be the biggest shipper of Cecil/Carlos, so this pairing is actually canon. And in episode sixteen, we even get to hear Carlos’ voice! :)
The podcast is free, but you can help support the show at Commplace Books’ site here.
Welcome to Night Vale is a free podcast available on iTunes (or streaming on podbay) that takes the form of twice-monthly community news roundups from the fictional town of Night Vale, written by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, narrated by Cecil Baldwin. As I understand, it’s gained a huge following recently, mainly thanks to tumblr, so I decided to check it out! In short: the hype for the scripts is justified.
Night Vale is not a place you would want to live, governed over by a shady City Council and secret police and experiencing all sorts of unexplainable phenomena. It’s like if the researchers at the SCP Foundation created a podcast. Perhaps the biggest mystery is how Night Vale still has living citizens after all the apocalyptic scenarios it must face on a daily basis.
The broadcasts mix existential terror with humor, making great use of the trope of having extraordinary supernatural occurrences paired with extremely mundane reminders, like this one from episode four-“Ladies and gentlemen, we have just received word from secret police that the rip in space-time that opened at last night’s PTA meeting has been sealed at last. [...] There will also be a memorial service for the thirty-eight parents and teachers who lost their lives in the attack, followed by a raffle. Remember, winners must be present at the time of the drawing to claim their prizes.” I particularly adore the library subplots, as I work in one myself. I think the creators must either be or know some librarians because the library segments are so funny.
I didn’t like Cecil’s narration much, finding it, yes, relaxing, smooth, and low, but also somewhat lifeless, dull, and off-key, taking a darkly ominous tone when I thought it would have been much funnier to say darkly ominous things in a lighthearted tone, and vice-versa. And I found the music really overbearing. For this reason I liked it when the announcer for Desert Bluffs, Kevin R. Free, took over in episode 19B. Anyway, after a few episodes I just started reading the transcripts, which are hysterical. There’s a nice round-up link here, or you can read pickmansprogress’ transcripts of the first ten episodes and then aimlessglee’s transcripts of episode eleven and on.
Fandom-wise, the only real slash pairing option is Cecil/Carlos the scientist (or perhaps Cecil/Carlos’ hair)-well, that and the inevitable Old Woman Josie/angel orgy that you know is going on out by the car lot. But fortunately, Cecil himself seems to be the biggest shipper of Cecil/Carlos, so this pairing is actually canon. And in episode sixteen, we even get to hear Carlos’ voice! :)
The podcast is free, but you can help support the show at Commplace Books’ site here.