Aug. 15, 2013

Machine Court

Machine Court

 

Today we review Machine court where machine’s judge humans. This is the second time we’ve reviewed a podcast that is just chock full of creativity, and “thinking outside the box.” I love the fact that its not another comedian interviewing comedians. It’s not a tech show about Macs. It’s not podcast reviewing movies. It’s original. That’s the good news. Their artwork is awesome. Their id3 tags are in place. Their website is easy to navigate, and the opportunity to subscribe to their podcast is abundant. I so wanted to love this podcast.

But in the end the one thing missing was engaging content. It didn’t make me laugh. It did make me think, and groan.

This may be partly due to a lack of categories in iTunes. I see why they put this under comedy as they are attempting humor, but this is almost a drama as they put so much into the production with lavish sound effects and they really put a lot of gas into the theater of the mind. I was impressed. It just didn’t make me laugh. It’s labeled as a comedy, so I expected to laugh.

This may be one of those podcasts where you need to give it a couple of spins. Go for more than one episode so you can get to know the characters. I know for me, the one robot’s voice was like nails in a 400 foot chalkboard by the end of the episode. I give them credit for never breaking character, but it was annoying to me. They also did a bit where a robot sounding like Jimmy Stewart was partaking of “Glory Hole” in a men’s bathroom. I get this joke. I was the one who wondered what it would be like to listen to George and Mary Bailey sounded like during sex back in 2005. Its funny to put squeaky clean Jimmy in a Glory Hole environment. The episode was called “Sexlandia” so I expected some sex stuff. In the end, it made me smile at the effort, but not a giggle. Sorry.

Things They Might Want to Do:

If these episodes need some setup, maybe add a “on last week’s episode such and such happened.” For me, the content didn’t move me. I’m not sure if any kind of setup that would explain the characters would help. I loved robots on Mystery Science theater, but not so much here.

Things They Are Doing Great:

So much effort goes into these episodes. The artwork is great. The website is clean. Their audio is good. They have a community on facebook. It truly bothered me that I couldn’t give this a thumbs up.

Listen to Monster Court with the Player Below

 

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