Wolf 359: Light-Hearted Adventures in Space

The comedic nature of Wolf 359 cannot be overstated. The characters are wacky and absurd but still grounded in some sort of reality. It’s not Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. There’s no paranoid android or other gimmicky characters. Instead, the cast is rather small. By the end of season one, we’re introduced to five characters. Four of them are series regulars, one of them an AI, and two of the characters are played by one actor.

Zac Valenti (voice of Doug Eiffel and Dr. Hilbert) does a great job at differing his voice to the point where the credits were the only way of knowing he did both parts. Even more impressive than the change in accent and intonation is the fact many of their scenes together are seamless. The thought of him acting with himself is mind-blowing and quite unique in the audio drama field.

Dark Episodic to Dark Serial

The plot of season one is very much episodic starting out. More like the Star Trek Original Series but with better effects and updated sciences, Wolf 359 goes away from the old space opera tropes while still clinging on to the tone and character relationships that made shows like Star Trek such classics.

Of course, a story with nothing but humor can become a one trick pony all too quickly. There are moments in which darkness seeps into the light before the finale, but they merely foreshadow what is to come, tonally. That twist near the end is so dark it changes the direction of the story almost immediately. Instead of surviving each other’s personalities and behaviors, the crew of the Hephaestus must survive, period.

Season one of Wolf 359 feels like the first act of a larger story. Since the series has concluded at sixty-one episodes and breaks down into four seasons, it lends itself to a four-act structure. A way of conceptualizing plot—where the second act, or middle, is split in two. Like Marvel Studios, the creatives behind Wolf 359 use humor to make you empathize with their cast. And, according to audio drama twitter, they pull off an Infinity War-like ending with the finale for the series. Not a cliffhanger, but a complete story where the parts before it connect in a beautiful and interesting way.

5/5 Stars

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