MOTHER, She Wrote: An EarthBound Podcast

Some news and a community update!

Meet Cat at North Carolina Comicon, in Durham North Carolina - November 9th and 10th. Tickets and more info at nccomicon.com

And: EB Saga 5 is out!

The long-awaited next installment of Jazzy and Robbie Benson’s EarthBound Saga fan film series that they started when they were kids. It’s a monumental moment in EarthBound fan films - an Evil Dead-fueled, surreal, garlic-munching, midnight movie opus. Head to ebsaga.com

And that’s all she wrote.

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Step into a Dimensional Slip: intermittent interludes in “MOTHER,” She Wrote’s journey - where we speak with guests from a multitude of backgrounds and delve deeper into the themes, media, and fandom that make up the tapestry of the EarthBound experience.

Join us as we take a virtual tour through The Secrets of MOTHER 2 exhibit and explore a treasure trove of surprising stories and revelations behind the making of one of the greatest video games of all-time. Cat and Jess attended this limited-time exhibit in Japan and poured over the hundreds of pages of production documents with a translator to bring you startling insights from Itoi's first sketches of ideas, to the game's last-minute changes.

CAUTION: This episode contains SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE MOTHER TRILOGY!

This is a very different Dimensional Slip episode, made for listeners who've already played all the games in the trilogy and are plugged into the depths of the EarthBound fandom.

In this episode, we’re joined by EarthBound YouTuber MonkeyNess and Fangamer’s Charlie Verdin as we travel through the exhibit, section by section; discussing early production artwork, unused ideas and enemies, and pages and pages of notes - sharing discoveries and observations that shed light onto the creative process behind MOTHER 2. Learn how Kurt Vonnegut and a wave of pre-millennium paranormal paranoia may have shaped the storyline, Itoi's innovative gameplay ideas that weren't yet ready for the big time, and many other deep insights into how this legendary game came to be.

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Step into a Dimensional Slip: intermittent interludes in “MOTHER,” She Wrote’s journey - where we speak with guests from a multitude of backgrounds and delve deeper into the themes, media, and fandom that make up the tapestry of the EarthBound experience.

The MOTHER series is known for its distinctive visuals; whether it's the vivid and playful pixel art of the games or its bold graphic design. But there's another key component that's highly unusual and lent to the series' distinct visual identity: clay figures of all the characters. From main heroes and villains down to the most worthless of protoplasms, MOTHER and EarthBound advertising and players guides are filled with photos of hyper-detailed, hand-made clay figurines - all the work of sculptor Masao Tottori.

In this episode we share what we know about this mysterious artist and speak with two artists inspired by his work: Camille Young (aka Meeellla) and Justyn (aka Cosmix). Camille is a mixed media artist whose sculptures and figures appear in Fangamer's EarthBound and MOTHER 3 Handbooks and Cosmix is a character craftsman who routinely dazzles fans with his expansive roster of figurines. They're two sculptors from two very different generations of the MOTHER fandom. They share with us their MOTHER origin stories, artistic inspirations, and for all of you physical media artists out there: their tricks of the trade so you too can explore new dimensions of 3D art.

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What's in your engines?! Meet Teddy - final member of the EarthBound Beginnings party and leader of Ellay's Black Blood Gang. This character was shrouded in mystery until the MOTHER Encyclopedia was translated, revealing his intense backstory. In this special episode, we bring Teddy's tale to life and explore everything there is to know about the teen hooligan, his town, and his gang. Featuring Red Vs. Blue's Christian Young as Teddy and cast of The Penumbra Podcast as The Black Blood Gang.

“MOTHER,” She Wrote mixes audio drama and talk podcast to chronicle the strangest, most thought-provoking video games ever made: the MOTHER series, as it's called in Japan, and EarthBound as it's called everywhere else. This first season chronicles MOTHER (1989), known as EarthBound Beginnings in English-speaking countries.

For links and transcriptions, head to https://mothershewrote.earth

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Step into a Dimensional Slip: intermittent interludes in “MOTHER,” She Wrote’s journey - where we speak with guests from a multitude of backgrounds and delve deeper into the themes, media, and fandom that make up the tapestry of the EarthBound experience.

The memorable melodies of MOTHER are more than just background music - they're an essential part of the series’ storytelling! We've often talked about the duo responsible for the score: art rock musician Keiichi Suzuki and "Hip" Tanaka, and you've just as often heard us wonder “how did they do this?” It seems like they pushed the Nintendo Entertainment System’s hardware to the limit! So, to get deeper insight into how the music of MOTHER was made, we've turned to legendary chiptunes artist, Pixelh8.

Pixelh8's expertise on the musical mechanics of the 8-bit era is second only to the Nintendo engineers who built the system and in this episode you'll hear him give us a hands-on demonstration of how sounds on the NES work, as well as astute assessments of the technical and narrative power of the game's score. We’ll also learn more about the various eras of chiptune music, Pixelh8’s work reclaiming computer chips from dying consoles to build new instruments, and excitingly, his return to the music scene after a twelve year silence, with his new record, Hard Reset.

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Step into a Dimensional Slip: intermittent interludes in “MOTHER,” She Wrote’s journey - where we speak with guests from a multitude of backgrounds and delve deeper into the themes, media, and fandom that make up the tapestry of the EarthBound experience.

The story of the MOTHER series in the United States is a wild one - filled with twists, turns, marketing mishaps, game cancellations, Internet movements, and at its heart: a generation of people brought together by a heartfelt work of art. These games have changed lives, and now that saga has been documented in EarthBound, USA a feature film documentary directed by Jazzy Benson.

In this episode, Jess and Cat are joined by Benson to discuss the film, she and her team’s incredible decade-long journey to create this amazing work of multimedia art, her formative fan film series: EarthBound Saga, and the ways that art, artists, and fans inform and inspire one another.

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Ninten, Ana, and Lloyd are facing down the biggest calamity in their world-saving careers: childcare. Every adult in Youngtown has been abducted, leaving behind a village of traumatized orphans, fighting to survive in the alien-infested wilderness. Fortunately, there are some pleasant surprises in store: strange new powers, old friends, and fun facts await in this epic and heartrending double-length adventure.

“MOTHER,” She Wrote mixes audio drama and talk podcast to chronicle the strangest, most thought-provoking video games ever made: the MOTHER series, as it's called in Japan, and EarthBound as it's called everywhere else. This first season chronicles MOTHER (1989), known as EarthBound Beginnings in English-speaking countries.

For links and transcriptions, head to https://mothershewrote.earth

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Leave the gloomy ghouls of Spookane behind and head to the sweltering Yucca Desert. Surviving this hostile environment would be hard enough if it weren't teaming with aliens! Ninten and friends will have to hone their skills to stay alive and make some deals with a wacky war veteran to ensure that the desert gives up all its secrets. This sprawling expanse is filled with them - many more than even the game suggests!

“MOTHER,” She Wrote mixes audio drama and talk podcast to chronicle the strangest, most thought-provoking, most heart-rending video games ever made: the MOTHER series, as it's called in Japan, and EarthBound as it's called everywhere else. This first season chronicles MOTHER (1989), known as EarthBound Beginnings in English-speaking countries.

For links and transcriptions, head to https://mothershewrote.earth

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Step into a Dimensional Slip: intermittent interludes in “MOTHER,” She Wrote’s journey - where we speak with guests from a multitude of backgrounds and delve deeper into the themes, media, and fandom that make up the tapestry of the EarthBound experience. 

The story of EarthBound is two-fold: the story within games and the story of their cultural impact - how they've shaped the world around them. In this Dimensional Slip, we're examining the uncanny life of Kody Nokolo, Webmaster of the fan site Mother Forever and Director at the game design studio, NokoGodo. Theirs is a tale of how the MOTHER fandom expands and self-perpetuates across generations - while inspiring enthusiasts to create their own art, without boundaries. These games speak to their players - not just figuratively, but literally, and that's become a reciprocal dialogue.

In this episode we discuss Nokolo's investigative origins in the modern MOTHER fandom, the phenomena of "MOTHERlike" games, the power of breaking the fourth wall, and how all these concepts are in conversation with their forthcoming game, Gnomonic.

For links and transcriptions, head to https://mothershewrote.earth

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