[PLUG] Jump Leads returns as an original scifi-comedy audioplay series!

[Ben Paddon]

Posting this may be a bit redundant as I’m already Facebook friends with a lot of you, but my old scifi-comedy webcomic Jump Leads has been given the reboot treatment, coming back as an ongoing audioplay series released as a free monthly podcast. The first episode dropped this week, and has been described by listeners so far as “Truly excellent!” and “Great for anyone who likes sci-fi and a great story.”

Fans of World of Warcraft or Batman: Arkham Asylum might recognize the voice of Dino Andrade, who voices the Scarecrow in Arkham and a ton of people, including Prof. Putricide, in WoW.

Also I’m in it. So… yeah. Ta.

Topic

[peas_and_corn]

OK so I’ve listened to episode one, and I really like it! It’s all setup for the premise and getting them into the mess they’re in, but the exposition was handled very well. There had to be a point where the characters explain what they’re doing, why, and how- and those scenes don’t feel crowbarred in, which is nice.

One of the characters sounded like Rip Riley from Archer. In a good way.

A couple of gripes. Firstly, it’s far too short. It feels like the script was trimmed to fit into a 20 minute show, which strikes me as unnecessary. Honestly it had enough plot to be another ten minutes longer easily, and that would give the events in the episode a bit more breathing space so that the shift to what becomes the status quo feels less rushed.

Second- sorry Ben- I’m not too crazy about the acting for Llewellyn. A lot of the way the words are pronounced makes him feel too- for a lack of a better term- Rimmer Lite. It’s entirely possible that’s what you’re going for, but sometimes the thought of “he’s trying to sound like Chris Barrie” distracts. Feel free to ignore this and do whatever you want with the character.

That said, in the overall context they are minor issues with what is overall a very solid project. The voice acting is still very good, and special props to Dino for his characters which are very well done- one shot characters feel like people rather than props to propel the story. The sound design is marvellous and very importantly the sound effects are not overdone. It’s easy to be tempted to inset some sort of effect wherever there’s some sort of sonic space, and thankfully that temptation has been resisted and it’s more listenable than it otherwise would have been.

[Ben Paddon]

A couple of gripes. Firstly, it’s far too short. It feels like the script was trimmed to fit into a 20 minute show, which strikes me as unnecessary. Honestly it had enough plot to be another ten minutes longer easily, and that would give the events in the episode a bit more breathing space so that the shift to what becomes the status quo feels less rushed.

It’s funny, because we actually thought we had a 25-minute episode. When we did the first table read it took us about 25 minutes to get through it all. We didn’t realize until we had the first rough edit that it would come in closer to 20. Our goal is to try and be as close to 30 minutes as possible, and we missed the mark by a third. The good news is that episode 2, which I was concerned would run over the 30-minute mark, looks like it’ll be closer to our half-hour target.

We didn’t actually chop anything from the episode, in the end. There are some big changes from the comic version – the existence of the Devil’s Playground being shared by a janitor instead of just being a Meaney/Llewellyn conversation, the reason Lead missions don’t cause a ton of splinter universes, etc. – but other than that, it’s the same story. With hindsight, I wish I’d added some more story to the end to get us closer to that 30-minute runtime, but we’re all very much learning by doing.

Second- sorry Ben- I’m not too crazy about the acting for Llewellyn. A lot of the way the words are pronounced makes him feel too- for a lack of a better term- Rimmer Lite. It’s entirely possible that’s what you’re going for, but sometimes the thought of “he’s trying to sound like Chris Barrie” distracts. Feel free to ignore this and do whatever you want with the character.

This is a fair gripe. I’ve made no secret about the fact that Jump Leads was rather heavily inspired by Red Dwarf, and there’s a fair amount of Rimmer DNA in Llewellyn (as well as Meaney, actually). Some of my lines, particularly the “Well, the science seems sound to me” line, were deliberately performed with that in mind. I had a lengthy chat with another voice actor friend of mine about the line between imitation and interpretation, and for the most part I do a good job keeping it in balance, but occasionally I will falter.

Still, I’m very proud of the performance I gave for Llewellyn, especially considering a) I don’t have much voice acting experience, and b) I’m acting opposite Dino who, although a good friend, also does this professionally, which is scary to act against. Even if he weren’t the Scarecrow I’d be pissing myself.

It’s easy to be tempted to inset some sort of effect wherever there’s some sort of sonic space, and thankfully that temptation has been resisted and it’s more listenable than it otherwise would have been.

Shaun, our sound guy, is incredible. There are times when I can’t really vocalize what I’m hearing in my head for a particular scene, and I give him very little to go with, and he almost always returns with something masterful. We worked together on much of the sound design, but he’s the guy who pulled it all together and made it work. Without him, Jump Leads would sound awful. I don’t doubt that at all.

Overall, I’m glad you dug it, and I really appreciate the feedback. Thank you! :)

[genericnerdyusername]

Enjoyed the first episode very much! I added 15 dollars to the patreon thing, will hopefully be able to add more once I’ve sorted out my finances.

[Ben Paddon]

So this is back. We made the first episode, then I had a breakdown, but over the pandemic I’ve resolved to actually do this properly. So we did. Six half-hour episodes (well, five half-hour episodes and one 40-minute episode, but it’s a podcast, so sod it). It launches in March, hopefully – one episode a week for six weeks – then I’m making six more. Here’s a trailer.

For those of you who listened to the 2015 episode (which, in a brazen piece of revisionist history, I’m now referring to as the pilot) the first episode has been rewritten and re-recorded. I have to say, peas_and_corn’s feedback has sat in my chest like a ball of molten lead over the last god-has-it-really-been-almost-eight-years, and I’ve adjusted my performance (and some of the writing) with the assistance of our directors.
Oh, and we have directors this time. Two, in fact! I know. I was shocked too. Episodes 1, 2 and 6 were directed by Dino Andrade of Batman: Arkham Asylum fame, while episodes, 3, 4 and 5 (as well as pick-ups for episode 2) were directed by Austin Lee Matthews, whose credits include Final Fantasy VII Remake and Pokémon Legends. They are both wonderful, supportive, delightful people to make stuff with, and they helped wring out a halfway decent performance out of me. I can’t wait for you to hear it.

Anyway, please subscribe to this. I’m excited, I’m proud, and I’m tired. But mostly the first two.

[RunawayTrain]

Well that sounds interesting!

The trailer says it’ll be available on the website, will it be directly listenable like the trailer is?  (I’m way behind on this podcast business and have no ‘usual’ way of listening.)

[Ben Paddon]

Yep! Each episode will be live on the website as well as podcast apps, Spotify, YouTube (with captions), and… Amazon Music, for some reason.

[Ben Paddon]

We’re two episodes in now – you can listen on the website, see a version with captions on YouTube, or find it in your podcasting apparatus of preference.

Episode 3 drops on Wednesday (8am Pacific, 11am Eastern, 4pm UK time) and it’s easily the best thing I’ve ever written. I really hope you all listen and/or enjoy.

[Ben Paddon]

Season 2 starts in two weeks, on October 31st. Is our first episode even remotely spooky? You’ll have to wait and see! (No. Short wait, there.) We have a bonkers cast this season, including Roger Craig Smith (Sonic the Hedgehog), Dave Fennoy (Batman: Arkham Shadow), Grey DeLisle (The Simpsons), and Debi Derryberry (Jimmy Neutron).

We did post a trailer for season 2 a few weeks ago, if that’s your thing.

[Technopeasant]

Been meaning to give it a listen sometime. I did create an article for Jump Leads on the Tounge Tied Wiki earlier this year.

[Ben Paddon]

I saw! I’d wondered who did that.

[Technopeasant]

And when I actually listen to it then it can be more than a sentence…

[Author]

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