49 episodes
ars PARADOXICA ars PARADOXICA
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- Fiction
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4.7 • 82 Ratings
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When an experiment in a time much like our own goes horribly awry, Dr. Sally Grissom finds herself stranded in the past and entrenched in the activities of a clandestine branch of the US government. Grissom and her team quickly learn that there's no safety net when toying with the fundamental logic of the universe.
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23: Contact
A high-profile mission goes awry when ODAR is struck blind and their enemies begin to anticipate their every move.
**WARNING: This episode contains depictions of gun violence. Listener discretion advised.
Created by Daniel Manning & Mischa Stanton. Written by Daniel Manning (with Mischa Stanton, Eli Barraza, Julian Mundy, Danielle Shemaiah & Tau Zaman). Directed & Produced by Mischa Stanton.
Featuring:
Kristen DiMercurio as Sally Grissom,
Katie Speed as Esther Roberts,
Lia Peros as Petra,
Reyn Beeler as Chet Whickman,
and Robin Gabrielli as Anthony Partridge,
as well as Isabel Atkinson, Malcolm Montgomery, Thomas Isao Morinaka, and Briggon Snow.
Translations by Mariya Yanusheva and Molly Phelps. Original music by Mischa Stanton and Eno Freedman-Brodmann.
BLUE | 26 26 21 06 25 13 26 20 15 11 02 17 14 22 11 07 15 02 08 25 | WEATHER IN TULSA: drought | TIME: 5400 -
24: Dilemma
The trial of Esther Roberts.
**WARNING: This episode contains stressful interrogation and hateful speech. Listener discretion advised.
Created by Daniel Manning & Mischa Stanton. Written by Danielle Shemaiah (with Daniel Manning, Mischa Stanton, Eli Barraza, Julian Mundy & Tau Zaman). Directed & Produced by Mischa Stanton.
Featuring:
Kristen DiMercurio as Sally Grissom,
Katie Speed as Esther Roberts,
Lia Peros as Petra,
L. Jeffrey Moore as Lou Gaines,
Preston Allen as Bridget Chambers,
Reyn Beeler as Chet Whickman,
and Dan Anderson as Hank Cornish,
as well as Alexander Danner, Donna Semel*, Dennis Connors, and Todd Faulkner as Allen Dulles,
with special thanks to Isabel Atkinson.
Original music by Mischa Stanton and by Eno Freedman-Brodmann. -
25: Absence
The aftermath of the Roberts trial spurs ODAR’s inner circle to action. A hidden threat must be exposed, before all is lost.
Created by Daniel Manning & Mischa Stanton. Written by Julian Mundy (with Daniel Manning, Mischa Stanton, Eli Barraza, Danielle Shemaiah & Tau Zaman). Directed & Produced by Mischa Stanton.
Featuring:
Kristen DiMercurio as Sally Grissom,
Lia Peros as Petra,
L. Jeffrey Moore as Lou Gaines,
Preston Allen as Bridget Chambers,
and Reyn Beeler as Chet Whickman,
as well as Maxximillian Dafoe,
with special thanks to Isabel Atkinson.
Original music by Mischa Stanton and by Eno Freedman-Brodmann. Additional music used courtesy of the Free Music Archive. -
26: Grip
Tensions mount as the crew turns in on itself. Sally and Petra fly east to examine something broken. Petra finds a new confidant.
Created by Daniel Manning & Mischa Stanton. Written by Eli Barraza (with Daniel Manning, Mischa Stanton, Julian Mundy, Danielle Shemaiah & Tau Zaman). Directed & Produced by Mischa Stanton.
Featuring:
Kristen DiMercurio as Sally Grissom,
Lia Peros as Petra,
L. Jeffrey Moore as Lou Gaines,
Preston Allen as Bridget Chambers,
and Reyn Beeler as Chet Whickman,
as well as Maxximillian Dafoe as Ida,
with special thanks to Isabel Atkinson.
Production help from Alexander Danner. Original music by Mischa Stanton and by Eno Freedman-Brodmann. Additional music used courtesy of the Free Music Archive. -
27: Breach
Trapped in an ODAR lockdown with boiling tempers and a deadly enemy, Sally and crew struggle to find a way out. Meanwhile, Chet finds some downtime.
**WARNING: This episode contains graphic content and depictions of gun violence. Listener discretion advised.
Created by Daniel Manning & Mischa Stanton. Written by Tau Zaman (with Daniel Manning, Mischa Stanton, Eli Barraza, Julian Mundy & Danielle Shemaiah). Directed & Produced by Mischa Stanton.
Featuring:
Kristen DiMercurio as Sally Grissom,
Lia Peros as Petra,
L. Jeffrey Moore as Lou Gaines,
Preston Allen as Bridget Chambers,
Reyn Beeler as Chet Whickman,
and Dan Anderson as Hank Cornish,
as well as Maxximillian Dafoe as Ida,
with special thanks to Isabel Atkinson.
Production help from Dennis Connors. Original music by Mischa Stanton and by Eno Freedman-Brodmann. -
28: Adversary
On the brink of disaster, our heroes are stretched to their limits.
Created by Daniel Manning & Mischa Stanton. Written by Daniel Manning (with Mischa Stanton, Eli Barraza, Julian Mundy & Danielle Shemaiah & Tau Zaman). Directed & Produced by Mischa Stanton.
Featuring:
Kristen DiMercurio as Sally Grissom,
Katie Speed as Esther Roberts,
Lia Peros as Petra,
L. Jeffrey Moore as Lou Gaines,
Preston Allen as Bridget Chambers,
Reyn Beeler as Chet Whickman,
Dan Anderson as Hank Cornish,
and Robin Gabrielli as Anthony Partridge,
as well as Maxximillian Dafoe as Ida,
and Isabel Atkinson as Amelia.
Production help from Dennis Connors and Brandon Grugle. Original music by Mischa Stanton and by Eno Freedman-Brodmann.
Customer Reviews
Eureka for your ears
Hey, I’m thoroughly enjoying this show. Great sound design, interesting characters and a great premise. I’m only at the end of season one so I hope they are able to follow through and stick the landing. The creators should be very proud of what they’ve produced.
The Causal Loop of Quality Podcasting
ars Paradoxica is one of those wonderful things to listen to that keeps you thinking about it long after it’s done - whether you’re crafting theories, imagining what characters look like or trying to wrap your head around the fact that one of the characters has an eyepatch for half the show and no one mentions it for about a season.
There’s so much to ponder about this show: the nature of time travel and its consequences creates moral dilemmas that are analogous to things such as the nuclear arms race, yet separated enough that you can enjoy it without pondering too hard on all the war crimes half the characters commit on the regular. Episode 4, Bullet, is one of my favourite time-travel stories of all time, even if it weren’t wrapped up in a show with so many other standout moments, like Episode 17, Plasticity, about the victims of ODAR’s experiments. The Cage, along with Butterfly Syndrome, are some of the most inventive applications of time travel I’ve seen in science fiction, and the way they affect the characters in the story is both heart-wrenching and enthralling, pulled off by incredible voice acting work across the board.
I have some things I take issue with - action scenes in an audio drama often don’t gel for me because of the medium’s restrictions, and while I like the conclusion overall, there are parts of it that make me feel a little underwhelmed - particularly how they wrap up the character arcs of Anthony, Chet and Carmen. That being said, the manner in which they conclude the stories of characters such as Sally, Esther, Petra and Nikhil - along with the overall message of the ending - finds a fun medium between satisfaction, catharsis and a longing for more, despite a quiet understanding that this is where the story should end.
ars Paradoxica is a causal loop of quality podcasting because, once you’re finished with it, it creates an immediate sense that you need to go back and watch it all from the beginning, once again - something that the show itself encourages you to do. It’s the kind of thing that makes me want to listen to other content from the Whisperforge, ask the team questions about the story, and write content myself - related to the show or not. This podcast is flawed (as all things are), but it’s also honest, thoughtful and carefully constructed, and it tells its melancholic story with a frenetic quietude - one of the many contradictions of ars Paradoxica that makes it sit with me into the late hours of the night.
Best best best podcast
This is absolutely the best podcast I’ve ever listened to and it was so incredibly detailed and interesting. The characters so interesting.