hi everyone Alex here I just like to
take a moment to thank some of our
patrons Zed Perkins vivacia
Robert groom assure you Farah nyam
Hemingway kyle joshua Grohmann rachel
oni malcolm Snipes alex hayden yang
michelle Latour Oscar Marlowe glory’
Duda Joe Smith Alex Freeman Kate May
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January Garcia thank you all we really
appreciate your support if you’d like to
join them go to www.petland.com
just taking a moment to give you a bit
of rusty quill news ahead of today’s
episode firstly we want to thank
everyone for your support and dedication
up to this point it’s been a wild ride
and we could not have hoped for better
people to end the world with secondly in
terms of the hiatus between seasons we
know it’s a long one but we really
wanted to make sure that we had enough
time to get things running as smoothly
as possible for the final season we
appreciate your patience in this and as
a way of saying thanks we’re aiming to
be releasing special season break
content every fortnight also the first
of which is today’s episode part 1 of
our epic Q&A session for the latest
season we have a bunch more special
content plan so keep an eye on the
Magnus feed over the coming months
finally if you just can’t handle the
break even with these bonus goodies we’d
like to recommend to you season two of
outliers the historic fiction podcast we
produce alongside historic royal palaces
this anthology tells the stories of
people who have been sidelined by
history living in the shadows of real
events at some of the greatest palaces
ever built it features original work
from award-winning contemporary writers
based on actual research by historic
royal palaces and is accompanied by full
soundscapes and musical production from
rusty quill this has been a really
exciting project for us to have worked
on and we are thrilled to be able to
present it to you you can find all of
season 1 available via your pod catcher
of choice and season 2 is happening
right now we’ll include a link in the
show notes so once you’re done with this
episode why not jump on over and give it
a try we really think you’re going to
enjoy it and you may even recognize a
few friendly voices anyway that’s enough
from me as always thanks for listening
and we hope you enjoy today’s episode
[Music]
hello and welcome to the mangas archive
season for Q&A this is gonna be one of
two because we have a lot I’m here with
Jonathan there’s a lot that’s there’s a
lot and we’re gonna be doing our best to
get through all of the questions that
have been raised since the last time we
did a Q&A we are gonna preface this
though with going we have more than 700
and it’s still going a lot yeah there’s
the Sun manage so is gonna be a case of
statistically speaking your specific
question isn’t going to be asked and
we’re sorry about that there were
apparently quite a few that have been
condensed down into sort of over
questions there’s a couple of questions
we’re more than a hundred people asked
some version of the same question so we
should get through quite a lot of them
but yeah we can’t do all of them we’re
gonna do the best we can and we’re gonna
shake things up a little bit instead of
going through sort of blocky like one on
cast one on production etc we’re now
gonna be separating out a little bit and
I’m gonna be shaking it up and keeping
you on your toes and silly honest I’m a
bit nervous well if this is a this is a
tricky one because we’ve taken bigger
pumps with this season so we’ll see how
it goes and there are enough people
listening out there now that I can feel
the pressure of history upon mating yeah
I mean if you want to have fun you need
to I can’t have fun I can’t have fun fun
is fun jokey answers are no longer no
it’s great you you need to go on there
Google Trends at some point and look at
these search searches for magnets
archives and look at that nice little
logarithmic I don’t know what’s happened
lovely right thank you everyone who’s
recently joined us listen we 100% value
you and are only a little bit scared
oh no he’s terrified I’m I’m at this
point so far beyond the pale you just
kind of roll with it I like surfing an
enormous wave Alex hasn’t had feelings
in some years true in fact straight out
the gate I’m gonna use that as my in so
the first of our questions to do with
cast Alex why do you hate Martin so much
that’s a real good question okay this is
a very simple question that has come up
more than once
I don’t actively hate Martin I just
don’t like him and I’ve said it before
so I will just have to repeat my answer
from before which is he is a younger
version of me when it comes to
characterization and when it comes
script editing I’ve also done that as
well it is a version of me released
parts of him are a version of me from a
while ago that needed to learn and has
now learned actually through season four
that going around just trying to set
yourself on fire to keep everyone else
warm doesn’t work and so I’m actually
okay with Martin PI under season four
for the simple reason that he stopped
doing that thing yeah so I’m okay with
mine now I really like him as a
character I find him through season four
he was quite difficult to write because
often there would be plot points that I
needed him to deliver and every time I
tried to write him delivering them it
sounded it didn’t sound right it just
sounded false in his voice what it’s
because Martin’s default season four
became I’m kind of pissy right now yeah
which makes exposition a bit difficult
but we got there oh and that one’s from
aunt Eva I need to remember to factor
names Thanks right so we have a
production question for both of us from
Benja how do you feel about being so
close to the end of Magnus excited a
little bit nervous man yeah I think for
myself we’re entering so we’re past the
danger period of season four which was
everyone might hate us for what we did
yeah the big the big climax of season
four is always going to be the part of
the whole series that we were most like
worried about that it’s been building
for for season yeah yeah
for me end of Magnus is scary for the
same reason that any project you do
which is scary which is you do your
finale everyone knows that was fantastic
and then you’re like cool here’s this
other thing that we’re now working on we
think you’re really enjoying if one goes
no I’m good one project per creative per
lifetime
that’s the scare is a bit worrisome also
I have some slight nerves about season
five just because for season four we
knew the big drop we were going towards
and why like we know that we know the
the end of season five we’re going to
but it’s a different sort of journey
anymore our heart yeah I think it’s
gonna be the most technically difficult
one for us to write without it
necessarily being the most
risky in terms of like ending the world
with the seasons ago as a high-risk I’m
just glad that here on tape you will
confirm that you’re happy for us to do
approximately forty unknowing ‘s in
terms of audio editing and yeah I’m
absolutely you can write as many
unknowns as you want we’re not gonna
make them so you can’t just make those
on your own get yourself a wobble board
and just have some fun is that what you
did I mean I’m not gonna go into that
unless it’s a question so on to a story
question from Ashley desert willow
Wilson mm-hmm limited swearing is done
for real-world release reasons but is
there any reason for it within the law
does the I just not like cursing in its
statements / meals I mean there’s no law
reason except that the characters were
writing on particularly swear II am
fairly certain they would have been more
if I wasn’t like oh yeah
no there was hard bristled convict also
cares a lot about cursing if it’s of
interest to anyone
there was the piecemeal episode it was
where this first came to the fore
because the first draft of that I filled
it chock-full of swears and Alex largely
actually as a catalyst to have the
conversation and we had the conversation
and the swearing in that one was toned
back a bit and we landed at the level
that we’ve more or less continued
personally from a writing point of view
my hundred percent agree with Alex that
it’s really useful to be able to have
some linguistic escalation yes available
to you which is hard when you’ve got a
constant stream of expletives pretty
much that I don’t really have anything
to add to that bang on okay this one’s a
writing question oh this is from sy sy
this season had a lot of focus on
characters emotional conditions
motivations and interpersonal
relationships all dealing with a lot of
nuance what part was the hardest to
write convey in your opinion and what
part did you want to get exactly right
the most
whoa I am gonna struggle to pick the
most I could pick it was sort of like a
highlight reel because we had a lot in
this one yeah when we were doing season
planning for this one we actually put a
little red markers on the bits that we
knew we were gonna have to focus on so
stuff like Melanie’s decision ease
decision I think is one of that like a
lot of the series was contextualizing
because the idea of Melanie doing that
as a naturally mentally healthy act it
doesn’t make sense really it was
something we really wanted to dive into
but not from an emotional writing point
of view but from and I mean there are
people who are blind and it’s saying oh
this horrible thing this terrible thing
of being black like there’s a lot to
consider in order to not make it a
really go I was gonna say but I really
like a really bad piece of
representation and we wanted to take
care to not do that also treading the
line for Peter
in terms of everyone hates years because
he’s a real world villain instead of her
I’m gonna eat your brains villain yeah
the lonely like diving into the lonely I
hadn’t quite anticipated how close it
would Hugh to real world depression and
it was one of those things that when
when you read it back it’s obvious but
it was only through the writing that I
started to realize oh this is this is
touching on some very real stuff and so
that was that was a very yet tricky line
to walk another one that I think we put
a marker down but actually turned out to
seem to come out better than we feared
it might is the sort of pseudo addiction
angle on the archivist leaving where
that was one that we were aware could
get away from you if you weren’t being
careful about it I don’t think they I
think it it seemed to land one yeah it
seemed to lung the way we wanted which
was not as a lazy analog yeah I mean as
a whole because season three was very
dynamic going out there like taking
action we wanted season four to be much
more emotional focused for the the plot
and the emotional arcs to be
much more one in the same I agree I
think what it’s worth there are more but
then we’re just gonna start listing
episode since we had to be careful with
every relationship every relationship
that got any play in the series which is
all of them and you know what here’s a
one little extra bonus one which made me
chuckle who is again I don’t actually
engaging the fanbase that much anymore
just due to time constraints if nothing
else and but hearing that people would
start of game getting a bit antsy with
Becerra for being a bit sort of
steamroller e and things oh yeah but the
fact that bassir is the one who was
right all season do it for a given for a
given value of right like I mean this is
not a season where there is anyone who
is right just saying the archivist did
and the world okay if you ever have just
given him a hard time he might not have
done if if by a hard time you mean you
know like it just that completely I
completely stone-cold murdering but gee
well if she could if she could have used
to say who’s to say but no like that
this is the thing like there are no
simple answers there are no like oh they
this person was right and should have
just died was the point of the season on
to a a non-story one this time
this one is from you quote loads of
people quote okay I think that’s a
natural right bird not bracing myself
how much do you keep up with social
media to see what fans are saying about
Magnus or does Amal keep tabs on all of
us panopticon style and alert you when
something significant comes up I can
answer for me I can answer for Joshua
very much the latter for me at this
point it’s like a personalised Google
Alert from annal who’s like listen
everyone does worry that you are auntie
Martin is that thing that we’re gonna
need to discuss but I don’t I haven’t
really had much chance to dive into
anything I it’s largely because people
were like ah Johnny you’re writing lots
of horrible things happening to our
beloved Martin and I’m like yes it’s a
horror
on the show and they’re like why do you
hate mud and I’m like actually it’s it’s
mostly Alex and so it’s it’s my fault I
have 100% out sourced fan discontent on
to you because you’re more insulated
from it okay ultimately yeah because if
anyone threatens me I can just make
Martin sadder I tend to on release day I
will keep half an eye on the reddit or
the tumblr and I used to be the discord
I still sometimes do but it goes it goes
very fast and I generally don’t have a
chance to actually properly engage with
it
so immediately after an episode drops
I’ll generally be trying to get a sense
for how it’s gone down and sense for
what the reaction is
but I do rely on annal to let me know if
there’s any problems or any like
anything that’s come up on social media
that is like oh I should probably
address that see I feel like I’ve
started to get a bit of reputation as
Gandalf the Grey where I just i only
tend to turn up in the discord now if
something’s going wrong as in like
technically wrong and i need to make
sure it’s releasing properly so I mostly
turn up with partly to be fair I’m
enjoying my status as essentially a some
sort of chaos God within the discord
where I’ll just turn up in their browser
oh is here and then I’ll leave Johnny
and then you’ll leave yet you’ll leave
unable to clean up all of the mess that
we make okay cool I’m gonna jump back
onto a cast 101 I’ve sort of answered
already actually yeah it’s from Aaron
how are your feelings on Martin as a
character changed in season one I can
summarize this one really quickly yep
much like a certain type of smelly
cheese
Martin needed an ageing and maturing
process in order to reach his full
flavorful potential at the start he was
very very fluffy and just there is a
nice little foil as things progressed it
was oh there’s a personal Neath the foil
oh they’re wonderful oh they’re not
wonderful they’re problematic but I
season four end of season four I’m
actually I’m firing mine now he’s
matured nicely he’s ready
be spread over a delicious cracker and
eaten for me it’s less a cheese metaphor
and more in season one
Martin was yeah a fluffy character to
unleash some worms on and since then
he’s very much Deeping we we always had
the overall plan for his arc but
planning an arc and getting a sense of
how that progresses two very different
things
this is from Gio in previous seasons is
appeared that the only people who have
had supernatural encounters have been
the ones giving statements to the Magnus
Institute when in season four we’ve
heard about the archivist getting
statements from essentially random
people on the street approximately what
percentage of people in the Magnus verse
have had an encounter with one of the
entities well I mean they’re random
people on the street but they’re random
people on the street who have had
encounters with the entities it’s it’s
not the case that everyone who’s had an
encounter with the entities has gone to
the Magnus Institute I mean I haven’t
really thought about it but if I was
going to just guess a number I’d say
maybe five to ten percent of the people
in the Magnus world who have had an
encounter with the entities have ended
up reporting it to the Magnus Institute
or one of the other organizers and
running the numbers in my head on the
fly in order for this universe to make
any sense the percentage of the general
population that has been exposed to the
genuinely supernatural must be less than
about 1% I’d say probably everyone has
brushed up against them really just in
in the sense of like I mean everyone has
that thing that they’re like someone is
there some what no okay I’m fine must be
less than 1% amazing yeah maybe like 10
to 15% have had like I spoke a spook
what what you might think of is just
like a slightly ghostly encounter that
is not significant enough to delve into
didn’t really go anywhere yeah and maybe
maybe 0.1% have had a legitimate like
it’s a small enough number that it’s not
that they’re not gonna speak up to
anyone who’s not like hey tell me your
story
Alex narratology steer I recommend
anyone interested in that reading up on
the technique of write known as the
masquerade it’s a trope or a conceit
the idea being there’s the world behind
the world
but there’s quite a lot of writing on
how many people within your world are
allowed to proceed if I’m at curtain
before your world breaks yeah and I’m
not gonna go into it here it’s a whole
field of study but this interesting I’d
recommend it onto another writing
question this one’s from amber which
would you each consider more important
resolving all the mysteries you created
or giving compelling arcs to all the
characters you created do you ever find
there is a difficulty in balancing those
two things in the story arcs and yes I
would agree for the simple reason that
for a character arc if you’ve left the
character arc unfinished you are wrong
you have you done a bad story if you
leave a mystery unanswered as long as it
is a type of mystery that is allowed to
be announced yeah in some way it’s not
quite the dichotomy that it might be
presented as because if you know the
answer to the mystery when you start a
mystery then not answering it is less of
a danger as long as it stays consistent
like you don’t change your answer
halfway the danger is the urge to change
the mystery to better support character
arcs or to change character arcs to
better support the mystery really
dangerous where the I mean that’s where
the balancing act is and I think there
are a few in Magnus that have slightly
changed their shape or the answers as
they’ve gotten deeper effectively have
interacted more with people’s character
arcs but this is one of the advantages
of writing the mysteries where the wider
answer to the mystery is categorically
known at the start but a lot of the
smaller details a lot of the smaller
threads are still unconnected and those
are the things that can be threaded
through a character arc I think an
unsatisfying character arc is more of a
weakness than an unsatisfying mystery
before I suppose an unanswered character
arc is just a mess an unanswered mystery
is still a mystery it’s just an
announcer it’s why it’s one stuff that
is pure mystery tends not to have a
character arc yeah I mean you eat a
Poirot book like Poirot is not having a
character on what if he doesn’t solve
this one John is his character arc is
man who has not solved a murder salsa
barking into massive assault America and
it’s in it’s because yet so there’s no
conflict there between arc and mystery I
know I’d love to read a Paro where it’s
the one where he doesn’t solve the
mystery and he just has to deal well I
mean if you do want to Poirot mystery
that has an arc for him
curtain Poros last case is probably the
one like the last Poirot mystery cuz
there’s an arc okay I mean I’m not gonna
sordid spoilers beyond my sphere of
knowledge at this point Paro is not
something I’ve done a deep dive deep
dive is really good right we’re gonna
jump to a Kamel Jim solves crimes it’s
wonderful we’re going to jump on them to
a misc which is from a Lucille how do
you feel about the growth of the fan
community during this last season and
the increase in fan creations aren’t
cosplay and so on as well as often high
trending on tumblr after the release I
mean short answer terrified good deeply
correct hunter is good the it’s a really
interesting thing because as the fandom
has grown it’s no longer a monolith
there’s no like well it was never a
monolith obviously but it’s no longer
the more or less unified group I need to
be a lot more careful how I interact
because things that I would say
potentially ingest like they have resins
now I can’t simply have I can’t have an
opinion on my work because my opinion is
not an opinion my opinion is something
that people can take and deploy in
fandom context and it’s it’s very much
like I have made a big party and as I’ve
made this big party I myself have grown
so that I am now a huge stone giant so
if he attempts to attend the party he
will destroy the party and everyone will
die because he I will crush them with my
giant stone hands that’s how I feel oh
you’re the kid that made the enormous
Lego landscape that got so big you can’t
play with it anymore yes see I have it
far easier I just have my new shield
which is working really well which is
may I just work here I’m the mechanic
that you bring your story to in a life
well problem is there you got a bus
carburetor inmate your character are us
well out us gonna need completely
replace inmate or okay we’re gonna we’re
gonna jump onto a cast on again Castle
admin which guest voice actor are you
most excited or just very excited to
have on this season that’s really hard
actually because I wasn’t here for most
of the guest recording this season has
had you out of the studio more than any
other actually yeah like I really was
looking forward to working with Alistair
back and do we have any I think you had
once we had one scene that we actually
recorded a little girl who plays Peter
Lukas has never been in the same room
apart from once in passing to say hello
the other was leaving with Ben who plays
Elias Elias and Peter have never been in
the same room for a recording that’s but
not yes also John Henry who played
Arthur Nolan with friends but where we
never really see each other so I was
really looking forward to actually
wasn’t that wasn’t that so it’s been
lovely okay so yeah you can answer this
question so I was very happy to get to
work more with Alistair and and I have
to like in front of everyone I have to
give him a big thanks because out of
everyone he run into an enormous
technical glitch twice in a row oh yeah
not avoidable not a thing that we could
necessarily prep for you know mechanical
failures happened that kind of thing and
the absolute trooper turned up for two
massive pickup sessions in a row
recording opposite people who weren’t
here so he’s recording in isolation
making enormous journeys to do it so he
he sort of became my MVP by the end of
the season is officially the loveliest
man I had good fun as well working with
Kareem oh yeah because he had the most
fun where a lot of a lot of the
direction consisted of are we thinking
more I want to kill everyone in the room
or are we thinking more like here are
some cop I actually met him for the
first time last night and he’s lovely I
was also really glad to get Fran and Ian
that’s Trevor oh yeah
Julia back in the studio yes I was there
with them that’s fun I was liking those
enjoy recording with them
how many people know as well in
originally started as an editor for us
he was editing with rusty quill for like
a year
and then suddenly went also I’m a
professional performer well bury the
lead so yeah that was good getting them
back into the studio that was that was
good fun but honestly this seasons kind
of been a little bit of a candy store
where I can say that now at the time it
meant all casting was a nightmare but
after the fact it does mean I got to
work with this person and this person
but yeah I think alistair has to win
most MVP and I know he’s listening so
he’s looking at you okay I’m gonna jump
onto a production question I was weird
I’m sorry this is once from planets and
magic and I should have seen this one
coming I’m gonna read this in the tone I
believe it was intended okay Alex how’s
it been directing this season that’s a
question that’s right literally but is
definitely meant as a how you doing
I probably answer it for you actually if
you’d like go for directing ‘he’s been
fine directing is actually been quite
fun i’ve got to work with a lot of good
people the editing and production has
been bad yeah it’s been bit hellish this
year and there were a couple of issues
we had to do with sort of delayed
casting and things like that which meant
that we had a lot of very short
turnarounds jeetu stuff happens but what
was that that was something that was
happening in September that was it was a
it was a house that was like a massive
problem I remember someone someone’s
getting married that was not a problem
that was selected that was the only
thing there was actually fine that was
yes I got married I got married during
this season which was fine that all went
swimmingly and it was lovely it we got
very damp in Wales it was a very very
complicated season this year if I was
being cruel potentially over complicated
that would be cruel I don’t know what
yeah like really cut I feel like
anything that we shifted for the sake of
production we bent the story as far as
we could before the story would
literally
if we’d made production easier we would
have made the story worse which might
have been a trade worth making at
certain points but it’s not one we did
so yeah there’s a reason that we’re
taking a long a season breaking a bigger
run-up because you can only sprint for
so long basically and yeah editors we’re
real troopers on this one actually there
was a lot of with the Alistair Sox a
good example hi you wanna have a week
for this and it went wrong we did a
rerecord it went wrong you have two days
to do a week’s work and people stepped
up so yeah that was amazing so Johnny’s
right directing yes production on to
another story one this is from atomic
pleb as an ace purse so it’s just a
great now here’s a good name as an ace
person it really means a lot to have
John as asexual representation in a
podcast
can I ask at what point in planning the
podcast you decided to make that happen
that’s a very good question and it’s a
difficult one to answer because it’s one
of those where it wormed its way into
sort of essentially my head Canon quite
early in the writing process and then
later I think during season two when it
started to actually become more
textually relevant we sort of we were
discussing it and we like nailed down
the idea but it’s it’s a really tricky
it’s a tricky question to answer as to
what points that character inkling
became a canonical facet the issue is it
gets muddied up our end in a way we
haven’t really discussed before in
during initial like story development
and pitching and so on it was explicitly
stated that the archivist that you have
to discuss what type of story you’re
telling and open straight eye Makeba we
were like cool archivist does the
archivist have any kind of romantic arcs
at all through this and we were both
like this isn’t a romance yeah it’s a
horror joke was on us yeah but what that
did is that muddied the waters a bit so
genuinely had come and pretty much from
the outset but it sounds to thing it’s
like I remember it be a thing the thing
is I remember a conversation at some
point during season one where we were
sort of discussing what we thought the
various characters sexualities what yeah
yeah and it was like oh yeah and though
I think John’s ace and yeah it was like
ya know that sound that sounds right but
the same time that was
a planning conversation yeah he’s going
we need to really have a yeah a sit-down
I think out of everything from the
entire series to date that’s been
probably the biggest one that’s had a
largest impact that I’m most
underestimated yeah I did not anticipate
the reaction and it’s it’s lovely but
yeah I didn’t anticipate it would
resonate as long as it and this is
something we put a little red mark on
her make sure you handle this yeah I
feel like we have I think so like I
don’t think we would have done think we
would have made it explicit if we
weren’t confident we’ve done it
reasonably thoughtfully so we have one
question to decide which is the elephant
in the room Las Jim which is a big
question and we knew we’d end up having
to user so this one is from quote loads
of people sure does the archivist slash
John reciprocate Martin’s romantic
feelings for him people have been
commenting on the ambiguity of the
nature of his feelings and would there
be an explicit or forreal confirmation
on whether those feelings are romantic
or not so this is both a very simple
answer and a very complicated answer
the simple answer is yes you reciprocate
sits it’s a romance at least I have
written it as a romance it has been
intent it is intended as a romance
however there is obviously a much bigger
conversation about death of the author
and if that’s not how people read it
there I wrote a lot of drafts of 159 and
there were a lot of versions where the
archivists emotional states during it
was a lot more explicit and they all
rang incredibly false because
unfortunately I’ve spent we’ve spent
four seasons building up a character who
is an emotional emotional wreck he’s
yeah he’s a mess of a not human and so I
think the scenes that we ended up having
are the most true to the characters I
think there probably will be more
explicit aspects to it going into season
5 I believe so yeah but at the same time
ie as the author cannot tell people that
they are
for interpreting things in in a
different way like I don’t think that
people who read it as platonic are
necessarily you know wrong in how they
respond to the text but yeah authorial
intention is it as romantic but also
it’s a horror series in its it was the
focus of season 4 because it was the
emotional core that led to the
culmination of the series but it’s going
to take more of a backseat I think in
season 5 I think there’s two things to
take away from it is one you can’t tell
someone how to receive a text and you
shouldn’t tell someone how to receive a
text because that’s not how art works so
if someone is receiving a text
differently to knew that’s fine
the of the one I would say that’s quite
important is the ambiguity in 1:59
especially was not intended as a way of
being deliberately ambiguous or people
were left guessing I’ll be on is a
symptom of accurate characterization in
terms of how they communicate with one
analyst i I mean to me it was very much
like a combination of a combination of a
love story scene and it saddens me a bit
that the fact that there wasn’t the
specific words yes I love you to Martin
and then Vegas yeah oh that is one thing
I will say unequivocably you will never
hear a kiss in the Magnus archives
because audio only kisses are the worst
thing terrible like it’s not an option
no one is kissing there no one is
kissing in the Magnus or a couple of
ways of making it less offensive on the
air but it still sounds like someone’s
eating chewing gum at you it doesn’t
work on audio I’m afraid it will never
will it’s the nature of humans and ears
no one likes other people kissing in
their ears in that way it doesn’t work
so yeah fundamentally it is intended as
a romance it will continue to be so
through season five though it will not
be the focus but at the same time if
you interpret it differently if your
reactions to the text are different I
mean you’re not wrong
because it’s art that’s how it works
cool a separate writing question that
yes yes this one’s from dr. brainbox
have the predictions slash theories on
reddit influenced your storytelling in
any way short answer no I use the
different social medias in to sort of
check different things discord
I generally used to check the immediate
fan reaction to an episode Twitter I
mean that tends to be where I actually
engage with people tumblr I used to
check the how the emotional arcs of
characters are being received and it’s
read it I used to check how many people
are successfully guessing well were
successfully guessing about the mystery
because generally with any given mystery
you want a few people on reddit’s to be
right about it and quite a few to be
kind of right about it and a few more to
be absolutely wrong I really my favorite
is if someone’s absolutely wrong and the
loudest in the room yeah that’s that’s
great but occasionally you’ll stumble
across a thread you oh no that’s that’s
exactly you’ve you’ve got it I can I can
say this now there’s been at least one
maybe two this is across all social
media so there’s no way you’ll be able
to track him down who said hi um I have
a little pet theory it’s probably
nothing but and then just laid it out
just yeah just laid out every beam will
be like that yes I brought it for you
and then about 40 people coming going
I’m not so sure
like actually quite a few people right
that’s a good theory but there’s this or
this or this probably won’t be the case
so when you have a reveal of a mystery
you want a good balance of people
feeling validated
it’s people feeling sort of half
validated half surprised and people who
just straight-up didn’t see it coming
and so I tend to use reddit to check
where people are sitting on that sort of
scale from Nellie beam a lot of funds
were throwing around theories and two
big ones turn out to be true
specifically the jonah elias overlap and
the watch is crown is it cool that the
fans have managed to predict this or is
it incredibly frustrating and annoying
no it’s brilliant yes go i like amuse
that you’ve done the job right yeah
absolutely the prioritization of
shocking everyone with a big twist is
the bane of long term mystery writing
its is a trap because over the long term
if you’ve done enough for shadowing that
the twist is going to feel earned people
are going to guess it and if you see
that guess happening and you feel oh no
they’ve guessed the twist i need to
change the twist it’s a trap you’re
you’re absolutely shooting you’re
shooting your mystery in the foot and
making it much less satisfying just
because you don’t realize that half the
joy of a solved mystery is the
validation of the people who got it
right Jim I mean don’t get me wrong feel
three if people are getting too close to
throw more red herrings in the oh yeah
but that’s different there’s the there’s
the old adage what an ending needs to be
both surprising and inevitable yeah that
is true what it doesn’t mean is that
your ending needs to shock the very
foundations of every reader yeah what it
just means is that more people will go
that’s it that’s that’s the goal is a
little um also the more people have
predicted the twist the better you need
to write the reveal fundamentally yeah
that’s fair actually does raise the
stakes in time you live very very happy
with how we actually dealt with the
jonah elias reveal because everyone kind
of guessed it it’s something we’d
foreshadowed quite heavily so we really
went all out on the flavor the actual
yeah the actual writing of the reveal so
that it’s not a oh my god
I never guessed its yes I was right and
this
is really cool there’s a there’s a
benefit actually to not reinventing the
world I mean okay bad choice of words
but your reveal doesn’t have to be so
enormous because it reduces the
exposition reload as well if you need to
have a massive enormous shocker that’s
coming from nowhere that means that your
villain has to sit down and monologue
and I don’t mean monologues like we got
worried I mean proper so two weeks ago I
did this and then I did that we’ve
managed to cover it up to a degree but
the more that your mystery makes sense
and you aren’t having to do that
shoehorning in at the engine the less
clunky it’s gonna feel like almond lug I
was quite a because it was mainly
recontextualization exactly it was
saying oh yeah remember this thing
actually it fits in in this way as
opposed to well to support this twist
here’s some new information yeah so this
is from for chinchillas one raincoat
presumably an undersized raincoat
chinchillas not very large but if they
get wet
you’ve got to dry them very carefully
and make sure they get a dust bath
otherwise they can go moldy and screw
this their fur is so dense it does not
draw naturally it’s true what’s been the
worst normal job you’ve ever had all of
I will jump in day jobs are bad and say
my track record for work is longer than
it should be due to me starting way
younger than I should have and
additionally most of my first jobs as a
results were really illegal enterprises
that got shut down
I was not Wow I was not being illegal
didn’t know this so unless I can I can
run through the list there was one job
where it turned out every Monday they
hired people I worked with them for a
week and they fired everyone on the
Friday but they said of course come back
on Monday and we’ll rehire you meaning
that their tax outlays all employment
was zero meaning that they had all these
sales based things that were not
applicable that’s one example there’s
been another one a fine education for an
entrepreneur there was there was another
one where it was fine but I got told off
a lot because I wrote something down at
some point and it turns out that the
cost of shredders for the immediate
evacuation of the office if it was
audited was so high that they were like
just remember thing
because they couldn’t afford the
shredders to shred their records like my
work history is checkered and messy with
other people’s immoral decisions my work
history is broadly dull I’ve generally
worked a series of just incredibly
medium low-key demoralizing but
fundamentally not egregious office jobs
we actually we actually met at one of my
favorite jobs actually genuinely one of
the cushiest gigs I ever got so it was
night shift seven days on seven days off
and you’d get in at 10:30 you’d leave at
6:30 and you’d spend the evening it was
a media monitoring company so you were
you were writing article summaries and
checking that everything that had come
into the system had come in correctly
and there weren’t any sort of irrelevant
or like articles that whatever client
wouldn’t want to see and then you hidden
spacebar to reject them and it was
silent absolute silent I’ve never heard
880 people at one point just pure silent
it took about 40% of your brain and the
rest this was actually this was about
six years ago nice spun up her company
at the same time as working it in the
same office on the same computer system
and I was listening to this was before
the sort of the podcast boom had really
hit yeah so I was listening to a lot of
pseudopod and a lot of these tell me
lights out yeah no no like this was when
I would like because there weren’t as
many sort of horrible podcasts I found
this archive of old vintage radio shows
and I was listening to of nightfall from
the 80s and yeah lights out with all its
ionized yeast adverts five to ten pounds
of good news flash new flick I’m just so
tired of my this war job of mine I sure
am discouraged if only I had why don’t
you try ionized yeast it costs just
pennies a day
maybe you need more vitamin b12 and I
yeah and we we sort of met in the not
silent but still pretty subdued kitchen
of that job through though we didn’t
actually start work together for a
couple until I’d actually left that left
that job we met didn’t really do when we
met and got on really well and then the
the year I left you came to see the max
up at Johnny kept going on about this
weird creative gig that he was doing
it’s like I’m sure it’s good
I’m sure fine like sure and then I
actually took up on went on no it’s
really good I’m I’m the bad person to be
fit you say that but like the number of
friends I have who do really good
creative things I’m and every time
they’re like oh yeah I’ve been working
on this and I’m like I still have a
little bit it’s so I can’t really I can
I can’t really be mad at anyone else for
not what I’ve said it before
I have bought four albums in my life
Paul Simon’s Graceland and three
mechanisms we’ve done a little bit
off-topic from what jobs okay cool and
good question from is it flaming or
flamenco
I think it’s flamenco bonus one of our
vintage fascist was it intended to have
Alex play Jared hop worth or was that a
late decision out of necessity and how
far did that influence the voice
distortion in that episode there’s about
three layers to this question yeah first
one is there were casting issues which
made things awkward so we do a casting
system where there’s like a tear of
people where there’s like six people per
role and then you have like a highest
preference and lowest preference and
it’s not based on talent a lot of it’s
based on like availability and I mean
stuff like that so ultimately we were
working our way through the list it’s
one of those things about this industry
certainly like at this level is being
able to show up on time and like get
stuff done is often a lot more important
than being the absolute best voice actor
in the room the sad truth is there is no
show
voltage of talent in the world but there
is arguably a shortage of
conscientiousness sometimes so it sounds
it sounds strange but yeah
turning up on time is a big plus so as
it stood we ended up with full
disclosure I overslept this morning
there’s an hour late but it’s not gonna
now late every single time no and
sometimes two hours so in terms of
jarred hop worth we actually ended up
going through pretty much all of our
choices quite quickly also we did
something that you shouldn’t ever do
don’t do avoid this kids from lists
doesn’t smoke behind the bike sheds and
also don’t go oh you know what actually
this person that we were gonna cast this
Jared hop worth would work really even
better in this other role oh yeah just
slowly exhaust your gel and longworth
options going well they’re gonna be
better here they’re gonna be better here
and then we suddenly realized that we’d
given away a large hour at hop words
well not earned the ones that we hadn’t
given away couldn’t turn that literally
couldn’t make it they weren’t three
things like that so then I ended up
doing a test audio showing that I could
do it however it is a bit frustrating to
me in that it didn’t need as much vocal
messing around as it had the reason for
a lot of and vocal messing around is
it’s in the corridors early doors are
the furnace are messed up soundscape
that there actually is like it’s the one
that changes so the most we were
changing Alex’s voice so it wasn’t as
recognizable we were adding in some meat
sounds because meat sounds yes they’re
good and then we were also adding
corridor distortion so just a cocktail
of in retrospect potentially an optimum
yeah so we ended up in a situation where
it end up having a lot more effects than
you really should squeeze into mp3 but
it was just used to stories things that
are unavoidable he’s a man made of me in
a corridor made of unreality and who is
three to five times the size of a normal
human being like sorry these things
stack up so this is nice quick one
little asa stuff we said earlier which
is sad and orable you’ve both talked in
the past about the problem of including
swearing in a show what was the process
that led to martin who’s being known for
being polite and voiced by alex drop an
f-bomb I wrote in the script
Alex looked it and said yeah this is the
right time and I said yeah isn’t it
because while it wasn’t
most plot bomb revelation yeah from a
personal point of view from the
character’s point of view this was
possibly the biggest discovery this was
the discovery that most recontextualized
everything about their situation plus I
mean from sake of script efficiency I
can’t even his three words yeah and that
expletive is two words so you know this
is an optimum just we drafted the scene
a couple of times and that was easily
the the best version of it plus it was
funny it was funny I like funny and also
shortly after we’d recorded it I
stumbled across the fact that there was
a tumblr that was called hasma as
something like has Martin Blackwood said
yet oh yeah what we we weren’t aware of
it until after we’ve done the record and
I was like oh you sweet summer child you
don’t realize you’re a countdown right
I’m gonna jump onto another snare she’s
nice this is from Beau Geste a real did
the desolation really kill Gertrude’s
cats and was that her primary motivation
for waging war on the fears because
that’s pretty realistic for a cat person
no no there are some mysteries as we’ve
established that don’t need out although
I’ve gotten a very small amount of
trouble for this because my
stated policy one the stated rules of
Magnus is if we meet an animal if we
meet a pet specifically yep it won’t
come to harm within the episode and some
people feel that
Gertrude’s theoretical possible cats
breaches that rule which I personally
disagree with because I mean there is
animal death in the Magnus archives the
point of the rule comes out of
arachnophobia with major Tom because we
actually got a surprising amount of
feedback saying that people were having
legitimate difficulty listening through
the episode because as soon as Major Tom
was introduced it took them out of it
because they were too busy worrying
about the well-being of the cat to
actually properly engage with the horror
so it’s very much
so while also I don’t I don’t
particularly like violence against
animals or animal death in this sort of
thing but it is very much a practical
rule saying no if you if you meet an
animal if you meet a pet specifically
within the context of an episode you
don’t need to worry about it dying you
can
assume it’s safe and engage with the
story a better way to say be if in all
of these historical accounts that we’ve
had from Gertrude
there was a cat present that Gertrude
was spending loads of time we a a are we
holding a chill you don’t kill they’re
not gonna kill that punishment for
another caring but at the same time I
don’t feel like saying that there might
theoretically have been a cat who died
fifty years ago actually breaches that
rule also it might not have existed it
might have been a joke I don’t know now
you heard it here first everyone Johnny
Simms hates cats hates can’t don’t say
those things okay
we’re on to a writing one again this is
from Chris sterling was it your intent
from the get-go to have every major
character in the magnets archives being
some flavor of queer or was it just a
coincidence I mean not from the
beginning I would go so far as to say
neither now we didn’t have like a
checkbox list that we have to hit but
similarly coincidence implies that you
just kind of freewheeling it and you
don’t put any thought world that there I
mean though there was some that we
obviously put thought in because the
relationships are important and like
there are I mean there are plenty of
characters whose sexuality has never
been explicitly addressed also you get a
lot of straight characters out there
it’s nice to have some others open story
options up as well you’re gonna be if
you’re gonna be a like horrible puppet
master story writer you get more options
with a broader palette of characters I
mean that is just do it makes things
easier not harder yeah follow-up
question relate to that from Eliza how
do you avoid tropes like queerbaiting
and bury your gaze as a thing when
writing a lot of it is just trying to be
thoughtful be aware of these tropes and
have a wide enough context in a diverse
enough cast and world that you have
story options but they don’t necessarily
push you into these problematic tropes
yeah I can’t really add anything so that
says straightforward she can really get
in an answer it’s like there are plenty
of like female characters who do conform
to certain oh this isn’t a great
stereotype sure but at the same time
there
enough female characters that it’s not
oh there’s one female character and she
is this problematic stereotype yeah
honestly if you just have a broad enough
set of people within your world but read
the might people you all treat everyone
the same they’re like their you treat
them like characters rather than like
types we’re gonna move across then to
another misc one and this is from abigal
and also I know a few people have asked
this but were there any good cows I mean
obviously question you ever seems got a
cow that’s great
okay these fluffy shaggy things and
depending where you go let they’re left
alone for like yeah a month for a time
easy if not more they just utterly
unguarded easily huggable doing their
own thing I mean don’t I mean I cannot
take any responsibility anyone who
attempts to hug a Highland cow so if you
injure yourself doing so that that’s not
on me that’s Alex’s I mean statistically
speaking they’re one of the most
dangerous animals really a lot of people
act really dumb around cows and that’s
why ha a cow is when you get up close
spot Alex you grew up in the middle of
nowhere and it doesn’t come up that
often um cows are both very very big and
meaty animals that everyone thinks are
dumb and you can do anything you want
around them that tends to go badly being
dumb around cows as same as being dumb
around any other level so you heard it
here second don’t be dumb around cows
but there were good cow i think is great
Scotland’s full of them ok well you’re
gonna jump all the way back around to a
casserole man this is for you Johnny
well I sort of for you you’ll see one
okay so this is from Gilligan mungus
okay read as written does your mom say
my want mom and automa logically I think
it is related to the word mother oh my
mom
yes sorry buddy oh yes does your mum
know how much the fandom absolutely
loves her portrayal of Gertrude what
does she think of her immense popularity
she’s vaguely aware I haven’t actually
spoke at her about it since 160 dropped
if I actually yeah no she but she’s
she’s having a real good time in terms
of the reception of Gertrude I remember
early in season four I had given her a
script for Gertrude being particularly
ruthless about something she gave me a
call that we were arranging the
recording she’s like Gertrude I mean you
know she’s a bit of a she’s a bit of a B
isn’t she and I was like yes mother say
quite ruthless so yeah she’s having a
real good time with it basically I was
really disappointing this season because
I didn’t allow a cackle of what she gave
a cackle no no she was she was begging
begging to give her cackles right can i
cackle here it’s not Gertrude’s not
really a casual another cat loves a good
cackle moment and word for word and Alex
you may not be aware but I have an
excellent cackle cackle for you it was
an excellent cackle do only do we have
it on tape yes there is a bonus
somewhere I will see if I can’t find it
your mom does an excellent cackle era is
not a cackler now she know who’s in that
and your mom was well disappointed by
her this is from AGV Zed brand season
four was my favorite so far in terms of
sound design what is your process for
building sound scapes and has this
changed over the course of the series my
my process my process for the example of
your stay my my my process for designing
stage directions is I will I’ll have an
idea and then I’ll write it in as
unhelpful or counterintuitive away as
possible such as the world goes wrong as
a classic I feel like somewhere although
this might be in season 2 where it’s
something you genuinely put some version
of it’s all a bit much in my defense it
was all a bit much and then are handed
over to Alex and Alex will say cool this
mean I need to know interior/exterior
and I’d be like and I’m like
interior/exterior
what a good question conceptually given
this space exists outside of time
hmm and then Alex will say just go away
I’ll figure it out well no we have
interior/exterior and Eldridge that’s
fine Eldridge is fine it means leave doc
try and make it sound weird without
making the speech unintelligible which
is fine until we’re revisiting an old
and Eldridge and you can’t pull the same
tricks ie Jared hopper too just so
interior/exterior
weather time of day and I think I had it
they all just happen at some point Alex
I think I don’t think time of day is
really no one cares I might Erie I
haven’t told Jonny which I have been
keeping a know of which is an extra
column in there which is nonsense
question mark which is nonsense has
Jonny forgotten to mention where it’d be
the kind of thing where you do this and
then he’d be like oh I did you know I
didn’t write there is a brass band
playing the entire time I don’t know how
I’ve never put in L for a saloon but
that kind that kind of thing in terms of
how you build it
I was woodwind unfortunately I’ve made a
bit of a rod for my own back in Magnus
in that we have a very set of consistent
rules regarding sound scaping that
people have picked up on in a good way
so stuff like static applies in certain
situations and dozen types of static are
different that kind of thing which means
that handover in terms of sound scaping
is a bit of a nightmare at this stage
it’s a weird one as well because it
means that a lot of there’s a lot of
theory that’s been built around
different sorts of static static is
something I’ve been very bad about
consistently saying it oh it’s scream
consistent from Maya yes I know
to the point where I’ve had to insist on
extra stage directions to pick out when
something’s compelled or not being Milan
but the secret dirty secret I don’t like
admitting which is that it Magnus I’m
still doing the sound scaping yeah
vocals are done by a couple of people
Elizabeth mafia and shout out in this
one she’s been really good this season
she’s she’s excellent Thank You Brock
Winstead has been doing most of the
music we actually shot him as well yes
we did he is the is the cop the police
officer yes yes yes yes muster man and
he got shot cause he is actually
American so we were like can you uni be
an American cop and then get shot
by an old man and both said yes in terms
of sound scaping it’s a big thing I
can’t go into here like I could run
workshops on it that would last a long
time but generally speaking the best way
that we do is you find out where the
thing is happening you add in three
layers you need a closed layer a mid
layer and a far layer and you need a
base layer a mid layer and a treble
layer how those two interact or you
could have distant treble and close
weather
you basically have to hit those
otherwise your soundscape is gonna feel
a bit flat there’s an exception of the
archivist office which is a dead room
and has been from the beginning but
beyond that it’s a lot of finding the
right sound effects or recording on
yourself and then tweaking a tenth of a
second 50 60 times and lots of listen to
it not right listen to it lot right and
just trial and error I’d love to say
there’s a magic source that isn’t it’s
just you keep pouring time in and stuff
comes out the other end
alex is radically over complicating it
as always you just write it in italics
ah you know what Johnny’s right you just
just left the line at right in italics
it’s fine
oh well brackets that’s that’s all you
don’t write it in italics and then you
should go oh yeah there’s any remind
later yeah that’s it’s actually very
simple don’t request soundscape changes
after it’s recorded that’s it that’s a
good one ever done that Johnny’s never
done that don’t do that that’s a gonna
that’s a no no not gonna bad although I
was listening back to 160 oh yeah and I
was thinking it’s right okay we’re gonna
keep going and this is a store elated
one which I know a lot of people have
asked didn’t Martin say that Gertrude
had been shot at least three times when
he saw the body
yet the recording of Elias only has one
gunshot something happens in the sound
editing some might say he took the next
one might say that certain sound scapers
misread misread this is when the taper
man Elias took two more shots yeah so
basically what happened like in Cannon
and this is the one time I 100% this is
word of god after the tape stops turned
out Gertrude was too much of a badass to
die from just a sing
gunshot she lunges at Elias Elias
screams like a scared child and fires
wildly three times mrs. Gertrude gets a
machete from under the desk tackling
cackling lunges at him but are two more
shots the chest and Gertrude finally
goes down it’s not the Alex misread the
script I need there’s a hundred saying
only on the record okay because this
this is the kind of thing that can get
away from us
hi everyone this is Alex speaking as
Alex this isn’t even like Alex’s
characters just Alex being Alex this
isn’t a thing the fact that there was
one gunshot there is not a thing it’s
it’s not it’s just I think I made a
gaffe over 160 episodes and I’m sorry
I’ve disappointed you but more
importantly I’ve disappointed myself
you’ve disappointed my mother Alex tell
you what we can do George Lucas in ten
years we can remaster it and Gertrude
shot first that’s right this is from
bone god is it if we were to take one
lesson moral away from the story thus
far what would you like it to be
sometimes
okay people make mistakes in editing and
that’s okay and it doesn’t want to
forgive need to be loud as a give a
lesson or moral oh god it’s it’s a
really difficult one because Magnus
certainly seasons three and four have
for me being an examination of a lot of
questions about choice and
responsibility and what your
responsibilities I guess are when you
find yourself in situations which we all
do where you are beholden to forces
larger than yourself and the idea that
what you can do is constrained and what
the results of your choices are are
unclear and you can take actions and you
can do things and the results of those
actions aren’t actually
to you but that’s very much me working
through a lot of my own thoughts but I
don’t really have a an explicit moral
it’s it’s a it’s a really difficult
question a difficult situation both in
the show and in real life
it’s like I’ve seen there’s quite a lot
of discussion about the ending of 160
and whether it means that for instance
all Gertrude’s actions were pointless or
whether tim died for nothing
oh yeah yeah good point and it’s a real
complicated question because on the one
hand I mean kind of yes like this is
horror on a cosmic scale and one of the
cornerstones of cosmic horror is
fundamentally that the actions of the
individual broadly speaking are never
going to do good pretty much
but princeless Tim he didn’t actually
save the world but that wasn’t really
what he was there for he was there for
revenge mm-hmm
nobody involved knew quite how pointless
I guess they’re they’re whole people
were telling him please don’t go off on
a massive revenge also fix your problem
but also it is still very much the
closure of his arc I mean very few of us
actually get our real life arcs closed
saving the world and that doesn’t mean
that they’re pointless it’s my most
favorite way to start a story is it
sounds peculiar there’s nothing I enjoy
more than starting a story within a
death that is not significant so not a
death it isn’t opening to a mystery it’s
a it’s a personal preference of I love a
character has died and that’s just a
thing that’s happened as opposed to a
something that you hang a co off if you
know I mean but no like Tim’s Tim story
is is a tragedy but I don’t think it’s
the revelation of its lack of meaningful
consequence within the wider universe
invalidates those choices like the
choices we take are our choices
regardless of what their actual result
turns out to be
it’s the same with Gertrude I mean in
many ways Gertrude is kind of me work
through a lot of my thoughts on
the idea of you know the ends justify
the means because Gertrude does full-on
atrocities she does horrible ruthless
things in order to from her point of
view save the world and turns out at the
very end she didn’t need to
and even that those actions
fundamentally spurred the course that
that brings about that end and it’s the
idea that the ends may justify the means
but you can never be sure what those
ends are actually going to be good
Trude is an excellent demonstration of
something I’ve been doing a lot of
reading about in the last year just pure
like me personal interest if you’re
interested look into both the
mathematics and the actual just
philosophy of existential risks as a
Thea there’s a huge amount of writing
which I think people will start to
realize there’s a lot of Gertrude in
there which is talking about if there is
an existential risk where literally
everything’s at stake there is an
argument to be made that all acts are
moral if they mitigate that it is not a
to be clear this isn’t a stance this is
a you heard it here first folks Oh Alex
yes wants to just do a lot of murder to
save the world but if I put the entire
world at risk first it makes all of my
actions file smart loophole but in all
series and the skier is a good example
of that because it’s a good way of tying
back into the cosmic horror which is the
world is complicated and it actively
doesn’t like you yes it’s an uncaring
hostile universe how do you deal with
that generally speaking as a character
you either find your own meaning which
means that how it interacts with the
wider world as long as your own meaning
is intact is okay which I’d argue Tim
sort of hits that note yeah
or you engage on the Gertrude root which
is know all of this is determined
externally in which case you get in some
really weird personal morality because
one of them’s got a give you can’t have
both you can’t be objectively and
subjectively in the right really doesn’t
work like that yeah so I don’t think
there are any core morals of Magnus you
create fictional spaces that they’re not
necessarily direct metaphors
but they work in a in a space where
people can put metaphorical frameworks
on them and see how they see how they
stretch and there’s nothing more
didactic then going in and saying here
is the takeaway lesson yeah and also
because there is no like there are no
easy answers to these questions that can
be neatly popped in podcast format yeah
you know like people have put like
obviously people quite often put an
anti-capitalist sort of metaphorical
framework over Magnus which 100% works
but it’s not quite as simple as the
entities are a metaphor for capitalism
yeah you know yeah the entities can be a
metaphor for a lot of things and I hope
that Magnus provides people a space to
work through their own thoughts on stuff
okay so we’re gonna round up this first
Q&A with one last question okay this is
from chucking woods mm Alex chuckling mm
woods no truckin words mm chucking a
wood 2,000 times choking okay it’s for
mm it’s clearly mm chucking wood daily a
1970s horror based on like how much wood
would a woodchuck chuck but they remake
in the 2000s where it’s like a reboot or
it’s just a name chucking wood and there
have been 1999 ancestors of identical
names let’s assume that so chucking
woods mm I guess according to Johnny
alex picture this Johnny just fell into
a lake don’t know drunkenly waving the
complete season 5 scripts in his hand
do you save him first abandoning the
script or do you just take the scripts
and go home okay
I’m really sorry chucking woods I drink
so much you have fundamentally
misunderstood the level of paranoia that
I have I rescue Johnny laugh at the
script that’s kicking around in there
knowing that if Johnny hasn’t got
multiple digital redundants cloud saved
in separate locations that on his head
be it and I’ll put him back in the water
so honestly I don’t feel like as much of
a quandary there because yeah that this
scenario assumes the ex hasn’t pushed me
into the lake because he was
dissatisfied with the season five
scripts No
that’s also a valid point if Johnny is
in there with the only copy of the
script Johnny deserves to be in there
because he has violated all of the
safety protocols and I can’t be held
responsible for what I do in that
situation but the core question of
whether Alex sees me as a valued friend
or a writing machine I think is and I
think that pretty much wraps up the Q&A
and forth for this episode
well we’ll be returning with another one
because we had way too many questions
over the question so yeah we’re
basically gonna do an an anticlimactic
by for you by immediately carrying on at
this end