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earlgreytea68A while ago--maybe a month ago--a fellow Inceptionite recommended a story on the Penumbra podcast centering around Juno Steel, with the endorsement that Juno's love interest was very Eamesian. It took me a while to follow the recommendation. Fictional story-telling podcasts (kinda like anime) are not usually my thing. I have a hard time focusing on entirely audio media; I'll realize my mind wandered and I missed major points. So I tend to only listen to brief educational podcasts when I'm listening to podcasts. And, also, I didn't know if I wanted to jump into another thicket, considering, well, my Yuri on Ice experience, that I wanted to love so much and then didn't. I didn't want to try to love something else and then be disappointed again.
But a couple of weeks ago I had to speak at a school about a five-hour drive away from me. During the course of driving ten hours in a weekend, I ran out of my usual podcasts and so I ended up loading a few Juno Steel stories to my playlist. And I was, unexpectedly...charmed? Like, I think that's the best word for it. Juno unexpectedly, but delightfully, charmed me. I was a little in love with him by the end of the first episode. By the end of the third episode, I was properly invested in him as a character. And by the end of the fourth episode--which was the last episode I'd had loaded--there was a little bit of a cliffhanger and I wanted to know more and then I thought, "...Oh, no. How is this show going to end? Is this going to be devastating and annoying?"
So I went and asked the original recommender, who happily spoiled me for the things I found important, and then, on my four-hour drive to the airport last week, I finished up the rest of the episodes, and by the end of them I was like, "JUNO, MY RIDICULOUS LOVE, AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH." Juno is hilarious, and heartbreaking, and sarcastic, and also breathtakingly direct in these moments that just *kill* me (and I think also kill him), and I *adore* him. And podcasts are so oddly intimate? Like, more intimate than visual media somehow? I used to feel that way about "Cabin Pressure," that, after I binged my way through it, it was like I was living with Douglas in my head narrating. And it's been worse for me after the Juno Steel binge because Juno--unlike Douglas--actually *does* narrate the stories, so I know what his narrator voice sounds like, and it's just been, like, *there,* in my head. I think I'm actually more affected by character's voices being vivid to me than their appearances, because I'm such a dialogue writer. I can almost never tell you what my characters look like, just what they sound like, and that's kind of how podcasts are. And then I become fascinated by particular line deliveries. Like, they ended up re-making the first episode to tweak things for continuity purposes, and I was fascinated by one particular line delivery on Juno's part, which becamse so much more hilarious in the remake.
So, then, I became interested in the podcast from, like, a technical perspective, almost. Like, the re-write of the first epsode was so interesting to me. They changed it actually pretty dramatically, while also maintaining what worked about it (and basically improve it), and I was curious how they'd arrived at the choices they did. So I realized the creators of the podcast had a Q&A online and I listened to it because I wanted to hear what they had to say, and it was *so* amazing to listen to them talk about the creative process. Especially because they had a whole bit about how sometimes the actors would deliver a line differently than they'd thought and it would shift all of their ideas about that line. I've had that happen to me with podfics and I've always been so intrigued by the different interpretations of a single line, and hearing them really dig into that was so interesting. Like, they said one of the major reasons they had to re-write the first episode was because Juno gradually developed an awkwardness, but they'd written him as a much smoother character initially, but the actor played him with this awkwardness that they realized was fantastic (smart choice, it's one of Juno's most endearing qualities).
And *then* I realized that, if you backed their Patreon at the right level, you could get access to scripts and other episode commentaries, and so now I've been spending the past few days rather delightfully deep-diving into scripts and stage directions and actor commentaries on what they think about the characters and how the whole creative process is working and so there's this weird way where I don't just get to be a fan of Juno Steel, I also get to witness their creative process in a way that you don't get very often and that is like catnip to me? I've so enjoyed especially reading the stage directions and comparing them to my interpretation of the lines and being awed by how well the actors nailed these complicated instructions.
I'm always so curious about how other people write and collaborate with others, I have been loving getting this glimpse. And it's not just between the writers and the actors but also between the fans, which is an extra-delightful layer. But when I first heard that they'd remade the first episode, I was like, "Oh, no, did they touch my Juno? I cannot even deal with a different Juno," but then later, hearing them talking about it, they were like, "No, we know what you love about the episode, do not be worried about re-casting, we know you love Joshua Ilon playing Juno," and I was, like, weirdly soothed because they did seem to be aware and paying attention?
And what's interesting is it doesn't, really, have a happy ending. In fact, it has an ending that apparently people--including the actors, judging by the commentary--were really devastated by. But I was spoiled for the ending and when it happened, I was just like, "That makes perfect sense. That is entirely what Juno would do. That is so Juno it's *painful.* Gah, Juno." But I wasn't devastated by it, I was just like, "Bring on next season, I want more of him." (And Nureyev. Please bring me lots more of Nureyev, too.) Which left me wondering if I did Yuri on Ice all wrong and should have just spoiled myself and been braced and then I would have been okay. It's interesting. It almost makes me wonder if I should listen to the next season of Juno Steel live or if I should wait and spoil myself for it later. I CAN'T DECIDE. I should probable spoil, tbh.
(The end result of all this, though, is that I'm a little freaked-out by listening to narrative podcasts while I drive. I felt like I barely remembered hours of that drive and then during the climactic scene at the end I happened to be off the road trying to find a Dunkin' Donuts and I literally just pulled over so that I could pay attention because I couldn't do two things at once. So...yeah, that's the last time I do that, that was scary. But it was worth it to make the acquaintance of Juno Steel.)
But a couple of weeks ago I had to speak at a school about a five-hour drive away from me. During the course of driving ten hours in a weekend, I ran out of my usual podcasts and so I ended up loading a few Juno Steel stories to my playlist. And I was, unexpectedly...charmed? Like, I think that's the best word for it. Juno unexpectedly, but delightfully, charmed me. I was a little in love with him by the end of the first episode. By the end of the third episode, I was properly invested in him as a character. And by the end of the fourth episode--which was the last episode I'd had loaded--there was a little bit of a cliffhanger and I wanted to know more and then I thought, "...Oh, no. How is this show going to end? Is this going to be devastating and annoying?"
So I went and asked the original recommender, who happily spoiled me for the things I found important, and then, on my four-hour drive to the airport last week, I finished up the rest of the episodes, and by the end of them I was like, "JUNO, MY RIDICULOUS LOVE, AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH." Juno is hilarious, and heartbreaking, and sarcastic, and also breathtakingly direct in these moments that just *kill* me (and I think also kill him), and I *adore* him. And podcasts are so oddly intimate? Like, more intimate than visual media somehow? I used to feel that way about "Cabin Pressure," that, after I binged my way through it, it was like I was living with Douglas in my head narrating. And it's been worse for me after the Juno Steel binge because Juno--unlike Douglas--actually *does* narrate the stories, so I know what his narrator voice sounds like, and it's just been, like, *there,* in my head. I think I'm actually more affected by character's voices being vivid to me than their appearances, because I'm such a dialogue writer. I can almost never tell you what my characters look like, just what they sound like, and that's kind of how podcasts are. And then I become fascinated by particular line deliveries. Like, they ended up re-making the first episode to tweak things for continuity purposes, and I was fascinated by one particular line delivery on Juno's part, which becamse so much more hilarious in the remake.
So, then, I became interested in the podcast from, like, a technical perspective, almost. Like, the re-write of the first epsode was so interesting to me. They changed it actually pretty dramatically, while also maintaining what worked about it (and basically improve it), and I was curious how they'd arrived at the choices they did. So I realized the creators of the podcast had a Q&A online and I listened to it because I wanted to hear what they had to say, and it was *so* amazing to listen to them talk about the creative process. Especially because they had a whole bit about how sometimes the actors would deliver a line differently than they'd thought and it would shift all of their ideas about that line. I've had that happen to me with podfics and I've always been so intrigued by the different interpretations of a single line, and hearing them really dig into that was so interesting. Like, they said one of the major reasons they had to re-write the first episode was because Juno gradually developed an awkwardness, but they'd written him as a much smoother character initially, but the actor played him with this awkwardness that they realized was fantastic (smart choice, it's one of Juno's most endearing qualities).
And *then* I realized that, if you backed their Patreon at the right level, you could get access to scripts and other episode commentaries, and so now I've been spending the past few days rather delightfully deep-diving into scripts and stage directions and actor commentaries on what they think about the characters and how the whole creative process is working and so there's this weird way where I don't just get to be a fan of Juno Steel, I also get to witness their creative process in a way that you don't get very often and that is like catnip to me? I've so enjoyed especially reading the stage directions and comparing them to my interpretation of the lines and being awed by how well the actors nailed these complicated instructions.
I'm always so curious about how other people write and collaborate with others, I have been loving getting this glimpse. And it's not just between the writers and the actors but also between the fans, which is an extra-delightful layer. But when I first heard that they'd remade the first episode, I was like, "Oh, no, did they touch my Juno? I cannot even deal with a different Juno," but then later, hearing them talking about it, they were like, "No, we know what you love about the episode, do not be worried about re-casting, we know you love Joshua Ilon playing Juno," and I was, like, weirdly soothed because they did seem to be aware and paying attention?
And what's interesting is it doesn't, really, have a happy ending. In fact, it has an ending that apparently people--including the actors, judging by the commentary--were really devastated by. But I was spoiled for the ending and when it happened, I was just like, "That makes perfect sense. That is entirely what Juno would do. That is so Juno it's *painful.* Gah, Juno." But I wasn't devastated by it, I was just like, "Bring on next season, I want more of him." (And Nureyev. Please bring me lots more of Nureyev, too.) Which left me wondering if I did Yuri on Ice all wrong and should have just spoiled myself and been braced and then I would have been okay. It's interesting. It almost makes me wonder if I should listen to the next season of Juno Steel live or if I should wait and spoil myself for it later. I CAN'T DECIDE. I should probable spoil, tbh.
(The end result of all this, though, is that I'm a little freaked-out by listening to narrative podcasts while I drive. I felt like I barely remembered hours of that drive and then during the climactic scene at the end I happened to be off the road trying to find a Dunkin' Donuts and I literally just pulled over so that I could pay attention because I couldn't do two things at once. So...yeah, that's the last time I do that, that was scary. But it was worth it to make the acquaintance of Juno Steel.)
