What is THE ONCE AND FUTURE NERD?
THE ONCE AND FUTURE NERD is a serialized audiodrama podcast about three teenagers from modern-day Pennsylvania who find themselves trapped in a High Fantasy world full of powerful magic and feudal intrigue. Will they survive their new surroundings long enough to get back home? Will their genre-awareness be an asset or a liability? And what is it like to be a rabbit?
The show is satirical and self-aware in tone, but still centers its characters and their high-stakes struggles. We’ve often said we strive to be the CABIN IN THE WOODS of Fantasy – a loving spoof of the genre that’s also a rewarding instance of it. Fans should expect to laugh, to grow attached to the diverse cast of characters, and to see their favorite (or least favorite) Fantasy tropes torn to pieces and then built back up.
What are the goals of the project?
If all we manage to do is make our listeners smile or keep them entertained for 25 minutes at a time, that’s a win.
But TOAFN is a story about stories, and about power. It’s about who gets to tell stories, and which stories are left untold, and what that does to all of us. It’s a challenge to the mythologies that have shaped our society. It’s about vulnerability, and found family, and justice, and what those things look like when people won’t stop trying to murder you with swords. And it’s about how Elves suck and how their names sound like what you might call your junk and how farts are always funny.
Who Makes It?
Zach Glass and Christian Kelley-Madera are two big old dorks who actually honest-to-goodness met in the marching band at Cornell University. They started writing together as an excuse to stay in touch, after moving to different cities to pursue careers in bioengineering and post production for film and TV, respectively. Honestly, you’ve probably never heard of these two before.
But after a fever dream of a Skyrim-binge that initially inspired the project, Christian and Zach set about assembling a large, multi-talented team of actors, writers, composers, and engineers to help realize the project. These people you might very well have heard of, thanks to their many credits on the stage and screen. You can see our full cast & crew list here.
Where should I start?
For starters, here is a 60 second trailer:
If you’re looking for a quick, representative sample of the show, Chapter 8, Parts 3-5 are a strong run of episodes that nicely showcase our tone and feel.
Chapter 8, Pt. 3: Website | iTunes | Stitcher | Google Play
Chapter 8, Pt. 4: Website | iTunes | Stitcher | Google Play
Chapter 8, Pt. 5: Website | iTunes | Stitcher | Google Play
We are, however, a continuous, serialized narrative. So if you’re hoping to do a deep dive on plot and themes, you’ll want to start at the beginning.
That said, when we embarked upon this endeavor in the fabled days of yore (i.e. early 2013), the current audiodrama renaissance was in its very early infancy and most people didn’t know what a podcast was. A few truly prescient innovators aside, we were among the first creators trying to adapt an old-fashioned art form to a cutting-edge medium and platform. All that’s to say: there was a learning curve. But we feel (and our fandom tends to agree) that by the end of our sixth episode we had really hit our stride.
So, we combined our first six episodes into one big file for ease of access.
Series Premiere Supercut: Website | iTunes | Stitcher | Google Play
If you’re looking to quickly get up to speed, we also have a full chronological episode guide, as well as a plot summary page. We also post our scripts along with each new episode, and the full back catalog of scripts is available here.
What’s the reception been like?
Stats:
- Episodes of TOAFN have been downloaded upwards of 2.25 million times.
- Each new episode gets upwards of 8,000 downloads in its first 30 days
- We’ve received 590 ratings on iTunes, for an average of 4.8 stars out of 5
Reviews:
FINALLY doing a listen through of @_toafn and digging it mightily. A real labor of love, this! I wish I’d known more about it when I was with @OFCRadio; they’re both so clever and genre-aware. And their characters develop so thoroughly and satisfyingly.
-David Rheinstrom, Podcast Creator and host of Radio Drama Revival (@radiodrama on Twitter)
TOAFN balances witty in-world humor with hilarious 4th wall breaking callbacks to today’s nerd culture, and crafts a special blend of classic “kings and mages” fantasy with an increasingly present introspective critique of current issues in fantasy and gamer culture and media. The characters are refreshingly real and complex; the world surprisingly interesting for all its classic familiarity to Tolkien and the Dungeons & Dragons setting.
-Rowan David, excerpted from a longer review at The Odyssey Online
I’ve listened to and loved Welcome to Night Vale, The Takeover, basically everything Patrick E. Mclean has done, multiple Mur Lafferty projects, Shadowmagic, The Prince of Hazel and Oak, and many more podcasts. Maybe I’ll add a more comprehensive list to this later. And yet, I have no reservations about calling The Once And Future Nerd one of the best podcasts (if not the best) I have listened to yet.
-O. Carciente, excerpted from a longer review on the Thoughtful Spurts blog.
The show is also more sociologically astute than any other podcast I’ve come across. Instead of being an easy escapist fantasy, the show lures the listener in with adventure but winds up discussing current social issues like class struggle, racism, misogyny, rape culture, cultural appropriation, and toxic masculinity…This isn’t to say that the show is one dark trudge through political unrest and social justice. The show is, more often than not, hilarious. The anachronisms the three teenagers offer strike the rare sweet spot between delightfully referential but not too pandering to the audience.
The show also has a diverse cast of characters, including canon characters of color and LGBT+ characters…that develop slowly like those in Bojack Horseman or Friday Night Lights.
-Wil Williams, excerpted from two longer reviews on their Wil Williams Reviews podcast blog
Awards/Recognition:
- 2015 Parsec Awards – Finalist for Best Speculative Fiction Audio Drama
- 2015 Audio Verse Awards:
- Winner for Best Original Composition
- Winner for Best Ensemble Cast
- Winner for Best Original, Short-Form Serial Production
- 2015 Geekie Awards – Nominee for Best Podcast
Contact
iordic.princes at gmail.com
OR
Social Media, Etc.
Official Accounts:
Twitter
Facebook
Tumblr
Instagram
For Advertisers:
Contact Multitude for Advertising Inquiries:
http://multitude.productions/ads
Fan Communities:
Subreddit
TV Tropes page
Discord
#TOAFN on Tumblr
WELCOME AND HAPPY LISTENING!
