Category: Reviews

black and white photo of a pair of white headphones standing upright in the open spine of a book, sunlight cast across the bottom half.

What’s up with book to podcast adaptations?

Elena Fernández Collins December 2, 2018

We’re all aware, possibly painfully so, of that podcast-to-TV adaptation pipeline and the possibility of podcasts being made solely so that they can be picked up by a movie and TV studio for development. We absolutely have to be wary …

header image with HOMECOMING across the middle which gets blurry at the end, against a dark image of crossing pineapple fronds. Above "Gimlet" and Below "Now a Prime Original TV Series".

We Watched “Homecoming” and Have a Lot of Questions

Elena Fernández Collins November 13, 2018

Co-written by Elena Fernández-Collins and Wil Williams. It’s really no secret that we — Wil Williams and Elena Fernández-Collins — are not fans of Gimlet’s fiction podcasts so far. We both wanted to take at least a look at the …

a photo of 3 potion bottles arranged on top of a paper with calligraphy on it, casting deep shadows across the foreground. The closest bottle contains foggy pink liquid, and the other two bottles are blue and green.

“Alba Salix” Returns with Familiar Fantasy Comedy and Sincere Evolution

Elena Fernández Collins October 26, 2018

Alba Salix‘s return is a second season three years in the making; the much-beloved medical sitcom set in the fantasy world of Farloria is dropping for the public on November 2nd. The podcast focuses on the eponymous character of a …

panoramic shot of the Worcester Art Museum lobby entrance, where there is a musical performer singing to the right and people standing around all the edges and balconies and sitting on stairs, listening. There is a large mosaic in the center floor.

“Accession” Beautifully Recontextualizes Physical Art into Audio

Elena Fernández Collins October 17, 2018

The concept of experiencing visual art through sound seems, at face value, to be a difficult proposition to bring into being. How do you get someone to see a work of art in their mind’s eye if they’ve never seen …

Painting by William Turner, "Fishermen at Sea"; green and sickly lit tossing ocean with fishermen in small boats at foreground and right background. Strange rock shapes at the distant left background.

Live Show Review: Dark Adventure Radio Theatre’s “The Shadow over Innsmouth”

Elena Fernández Collins October 7, 2018

Note: I will be discussing Lovecraft’s racism in this article and linking you to a few must-reads. Winding down in Portland this weekend is the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival and CthulhuCon, which showcases dozens of horror features and short films …

A painting of a three masted ship on some very stormy dark waters and glaciers behind it.

Spotlight: The Ambitious Sound of Archive 81’s Whaling Adventure

Elena Fernández Collins August 14, 2018

Warning: The following review has some spoilers for previous episodes, and some spoilers for the current episode. Traveling through the strange horror and magic of Archive 81 has always been its own adventure, reinvented and readjusted every season like looking through one …

a photo in the Alaskan wilderness, at night, of very tall trees and a snow covered ground, illuminated ony by the blue-tinged headlamp of a person standing in the middle of a distant grove.

Has the Long Night Come to Stay?

Elena Fernández Collins May 23, 2018

Back in March, I had an interview with Brendan Baker, the director for Wolverine: The Long Night, and combined it with a review of the first three episodes. Now that Wolverine’s last episode has been released on Stitcher Premium, set to go on …

A field of yellow flowers under a starry night sky and glowing full moon. 'the bright sessions' across the sky.

Spotlight: The Bright Sessions’ “Rose” Breaks your Heart in Song

Elena Fernández Collins March 26, 2018

Minimal spoilers to follow, in what is something of a review and more of an impressionistic love letter.‘Rose’ was a masterpiece of audio drama that gave me the uplifting and astonished sensation that this is the pinnacle that they’ve been …

A side on photo of an Alexa Echo Dot, with a thin red glowing line around the rim, on top of some books.

“Hey Alexa, look at the table and pick up the key.”

Elena Fernández Collins March 26, 2018

The United States’ Infinite Dial report of 2018 has been released! Hooray for data on media consumption! It shows a lot of steady growth for podcasting as a common media option for people to listen to in a variety of places. But …

A dusty desert dystopic scene, with houses and store set into cliffs made out of sheet metal and old materials; a hanging line of sheets between a tall building and a rock face provides soemthing like a bridge; a general feeling of poverty brought on by forced isolation.

Untypical Debuts an Adventurous, Risky Soundscape for Audio Drama

Elena Fernández Collins March 12, 2018

The year 2018 is going to be happily saturated with new audio dramas and among them this month will be the pilot for potential audio drama Untypical. A ‘Western-science-fantasy’ about a group of smugglers, the worldbuilding James Vermont has undertaken is …