Line #73 AudioPlay/TheNewAlbionGuideToAnalogueConsciousness


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a1520132459_16.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:"Elysium..."]]
3
4	"The New Albion Guide to Analogue Consciousness" is a 4-Act opera composed and written by Music/PaulShapera in 2014. It is the sequel to ''AudioPlay/TheNewAlbionRadioHour'' and ''AudioPlay/TheDollsOfNewAlbion''. It is the final part in the New Albion Trilogy, and the audio version of the entire play can be found [[https://mochalab.bandcamp.com/album/an-atompunk-opera-the-new-albion-guide-to-analogue-consciousness here]].
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6	In four acts, each about a half hour long, it tells the story of Rachael, Connor, Lee, and The Mascot 3000 in the desolate city of New Albion, decades after the Dieselpunk Opera, and is narrated by the Mascot herself. After a life of woe and imprisonment, the orphaned Rachael escapes from an insane asylum where she'd been held for two years, both because of her claims that she can hear a radio broadcast proclaiming love for her and as part of a cover-up to protect a politician that seduced her at fifteen. She's given the Mascot 3000 by a mysterious old man (really Connor) and embarks on a journey that tells her how New Albion came to be the way it is now.
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8	The story deals with themes of AIs and BrainUploading, as well as discussing the afterlife "Elysium" alluded to in the first installment of the trilogy.
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10	----
11	!!Tropes:
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14	%% * AllKnowingSingingNarrator: Mascot 3000
15	* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler: The opera ends with Rachael and the Mascot 3000 choosing to wander Elysium and have adventures together.]] It is what they want, though.
16	* AnotherSideAnotherStory:
17	** "In This Episode" is a condensed version of the first act, but this time from the Mascot 3000's point-of-view instead of Rachael's.
18	** In the second act, we see some songs from the voodoopunks point-of-view and some from Connor's. In the voodoopunks songs, Connor seems to be an evil mastermind attempting to destroy them and everything thing they worked for, in Connor's songs the voodoopunks appears to thrive on tricks and illusions and he's only trying to save the city and his son.
19	* AntiLoveSong: "The Deceit" is flirtatious and love-song like, but Adrian and Connor despise each other. ''Despise''.
20	* ArtificialIntelligence: Mascot 3000 is a tablet with human consciousness.
21	%% * AtomPunk: It's even in the name of the album.
22	* {{Backstory}} Each of the four main characters have a solo song named after them which goes through their backstory. Also, the entire second act takes place twenty years before the events of the rest of the story.
23	%% * BadassArmy: The Blood Red Dogs
24	* BarredFromTheAfterlife:
25	** The Voodoopunks' main goal is to find a way to enter Elysium, the peaceful afterlife first mentioned by resurrected souls in ''The Dolls of New Albion'', without having to die first. [[spoiler:They find a way in...only to discover they're now trapped with hostile Creatures who want to destroy them because they're not dead yet and thus don't belong there]]. The exception is [[spoiler:Rachael]], who is left unharmed because [[spoiler:she was already invited to Elysium following her previous lives, but chose to reincarnate instead]].
26	** On a more general level, near the end of the final act it's revealed that [[spoiler:only those who "go sane" are allowed to enter Elysium. All the rest are sent back and [[{{Reincarnation}} reincarnate]] to try again]].
27	%% * BenevolentAI: The Mascot 3000 is a thinking computer that serves as Rachael's mentor
28	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Lee dies and Connor is left waiting for him, unknowing of his demise]], but the surviving Voodoopunks are saved and Rachael and Mascot 3000 get to stay in Elysium.
29	* BlatantLies: The trick Adrian and Lee play on Connor in "The Deceit" is clearly, clearly a trick--he falls for it anyway.
30	%% * BrainUploading: Oh, boy. [[spoiler:Mascot 3000, for starters. In the end, thirty survivors in Elysium choose AI conversion over reincarnation.]]
31	%% * BreakTheCutie:
32	%% ** This happens to both Adrian and Lee [[spoiler: when their dream of Elysium turns out to be living hell and Adrian is killed]]
33	%% ** This also happens to Rachael, again and again and again. Both before the album takes place and during it.
34	* BreatherEpisode: "The Lovers" and "The Deceit" are two catchy and comical songs in the middle of an otherwise serious album.
35	* CallBack: Many, many times they reference the earlier albums in the trilogy.
36	** Connor sings the police officer's catchphrase from "The Day They Came" for the first opera and "The Bust" for the second. See RunningGag.
37	** Connor also reprises Solider 7285's catchphrase from [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/AudioPlay/TheDollsOfNewAlbion/ The Dolls Of New Albion]]
38	-->'''Solider 7285:''' And I will bring you down!
39	-->'''Connor''' I vow, I'll bring you down
40	** In "Rachael Returns" Rachael asks Yasser the same thing Thomas asked Constance in [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/AudioPlay/TheNewAlbionRadioHour/ The New Albion Radio Hour]]
41	-->'''Thomas:''' How have you survived up here so long?
42	-->'''Rachael:''' How have you survived here for so long?
43	** Right after this, the Blood Red Dogs sing the anthem that got a whole song in the Radio Hour.
44	** Lloyd Allen, the AllKnowingSingingNarrator of the last opera, makes a brief cameo appearance in the song "In This Episode"
45	-->'''Lloyd:''' And now, we tune in to the astonishing adventures of Rachael, and the Mascot 3000
46	* CharacterNarrator: The Mascot 3000. They sing New Albions 8, 9, and 10, and narrate the entire second act in-universe.
47	%% * TheChewToy: Connor. By the end, you kind of enjoy watching him suffer.
48	%% * TheChosenOne: Rachael, to an extent
49	%% * CloudcuckoolandersMinder: [[TheMentor Mascot 3000]] is this to [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness Rachael]] throughout the album. [[KnightInSourArmor Lee]] can also be this to Rachael at times.
50	* TheCloudcuckoolanderWasRight: Everyone thought insane, unreliable [[TheOphelia Rachael]] was hallucinating Lee's song over the radio. She wasn't.
51	%% * {{Cult}}: The voodoopunks
52	%% * DarkAndTroubledPast: All four lead roles
53	%% * DeathWorld: [[spoiler:Elysium, at least if you go there while still alive.]]
54	%% * DramaticIrony: "Connor (reprise)", enough said
55	* DrivenToSuicide: Subverted. After finding out that Lee (the man whose voice she heard proclaiming love for her over the radio broadcast in her head) is [[spoiler:gay and therefore wouldn't be in a relationship with her]], Rachael loses the shred of hope she'd held onto for years and hands herself to the Creatures. They don't kill her, though.
56	* EveryoneIsRelated: [[spoiler:Connor and Amber had Mascot 3000, then Amber had Adrian and Connor had Lee, both with other people. Then Adrian was reincarnated as Connor. Therefore, Lee would be the half-brother to Mascot, and Mascot would be both half-sibling and child to Adrian/Connor.]]
57	%% * TheElevenOClockNumber: "The Rescue Plan"
58	* FalseUtopia: New Albion could be viewed as this--fitting as it was a pretty nice CityOfAdventure in in the first album and a CityNoir in the second.
59	%% * FourManBand:: Mascot 3000 the HeroicComedicSociopath, [[ButtMonkey Connor]], [[TheSmartGuy Rachael]], [[OnlySaneMan Lee]]
60	* GenreSavvy: Mascot 3000 knows a whole lot about other world sci-fi adventures due to spending most of her life reading comic books until Connor finds her.
61	* TheGhost: Although she is a very important character, Amber never appears.
62	%% * GuileHero: Rachael quickly becomes savvy, clever, and StreetSmart after finding and living in the Shopogopolis.
63	%% * GriefSong: Connor and Lee each have one. Connor's is simply called "Connor", and Lee's is simply called "Lee"
64	* HearingVoices: [[spoiler: Subverted. The song on the radio that Rachael hears is quite real, but because no one else can hear it, they all thought she was hearing voices in her mind.]]
65	%% * HeroicBSOD: "The Show That No One Saw" for Rachael
66	* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Lee]] dies because he chose to stay behind with Rachael until all the other survivors were safely away.
67	%% * IdiotHero: Adrian seems to fit the bill. He rarely thinks anything through and his whole arc revolves him making really dumb mistakes. [[spoiler: Doubles as TooDumbToLive]]
68	* IncompatibleOrientation: Rachael loves Lee. He was in love with a man named Adrian who died. [[spoiler: To add insult to injury, Rachael is believed to be Adrian reincarnated.]]
69	%% * ItSeemedLikeAGoodIdeaAtTheTime: Project Elysium, building an amazing city in the world of the afterlife, seemed brilliant.
70	%% * IWantSong:
71	%% ** Rachael has a song, actually called Rachael, where she expresses her desire to leave the asylum.
72	%% ** "Kyrie" is another example that Adrian sings about Project Elysium.
73	* IWillWaitForYou: [[spoiler: Poor Connor is left in New Albion waiting for his son's consciousness to return as an [=AI=], not knowing that Lee was killed before he could.]]
74	%%* KilledMidSentence: [[spoiler: Lee's last word is 'after']]
75	* KilledOffForReal: WordOfGod has stated that those who are killed by Elysium's "angels" cease to exist. [[spoiler:Makes Lee's death and Connor's wait more tragic.]]
76	%% * LikeFatherUnlikeSon: Connor spends all his time fighting the voodoopunks, and Lee is a voodoopunk. But Connor doesn't know.
77	* LoveTranscendsSpacetime: [[spoiler:Adrian, Lee's lover, after dying in Elysium gets reincarnated as... Lee's father Connor, who loves Lee with the same intensity but in a paternal way.]] So his soul in the future got to be reborn in the past which then became their present, which also means there was a period of time when the same soul existed in two separate individuals.
78	%% * LukeIAmYourFather: Mascot 3000, I am your father [[spoiler: says Connor]]
79	* LyricalDissonance: Kyrie. It's a happy, upbeat disco song in which a major part of the chorus is Kyrie Eleision, a Greek prayer literally meaning Lord, have mercy. This actually provides a good piece of foreshadowing about [[spoiler: the true nature of Elysium.]]
80	%% * TheMentor: The Mascot 3000, to Rachael.
81	* NotEvilJustMisunderstood: The "Creatures" who hunt and massacre the Voodoopunks don't have any real malicious intent--because [[spoiler:Elysium is meant only for the dead]], they see the Voodoopunks as invaders who need to be destroyed. The Mascot 3000 compares them to a human immune system reacting to a virus.
82	* OneDegreeOfSeparation: [[spoiler: Adrian and Lee are lovers. Adrian's mom and Lee's dad also had a fling.]]
83	* OnlySaneMan: Connor is the only person to realize the problems with Arcadia and voodoopunk.
84	%% ** Lee also takes this role in a FourManBand with Mascot 3000 (Pervert), Connor (ButtMonkey), and Rachael (TheSmartGuy)
85	%% * ParentalLoveSong: Many of Connor's songs are about his parental love for his son Lee.
86	%% * PleaseWakeUp: Rachael begs this of Lee.
87	%% * RaygunGothic
88	* {{Reincarnation}}: [[spoiler:In "Rachael Returns", Yasser reveals Rachael to be a reincarnation of Adrian. In "The Creatures Speak", Mascot explains that Rachael is also a reincarnation of Priscilla [=McAlistair=] and Constance O'Brien, from the earlier albums. If you listen to the same piece backwards, it states that Adrian did not actually reincarnate into Rachael, but instead into Connor. WordOfGod says that Lee is a reincarnation of Solider 7285 and of Thomas, who were also from the other albums.]]
89	* RescuedFromTheUnderworld: [[spoiler: The hundred surviving voodoopunks/Blood Red Dogs are rescued from Elysium, except for Lee, who dies]]
90	* TheReveal: [[spoiler: Who would have guessed that Adrian was male? Not Rachael, that's for sure. Also not the audience. But everyone else knew.]]
91	* RunningGag: Throughout the entire New Albion trilogy, there's this one line that always means something awful is going to happen. This time, Connor gets it.
92	-->'''Connor:''' And on the day we come, it's over.
93	* SdrawkcabSpeech: In "The Creatures Speak", when listened to backwards, you can hear one creature say [[spoiler: That everyone is wrong, and that Adrian never reincarnated as Rachael, but instead as Connor]]
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95	%% * SidekickSong: "In This Episode" for the Mascot 3000, who is something of Rachael's sidekick.
96	* SkilledButNaive: Rachael is very smart, very brave, and very willing--the only problem is that she has spent the last two years in an asylum and is terrible with interacting with other people, which makes her something of ThePoorlyChosenOne at first.
97	* SupernaturallyValidatedTransPerson: [[spoiler: Adrian is a transgender man who got reincarnated as a biological male after his death. Another prove Elysium is a truly great place towards the dead.]]
98	%% * SurprisinglySuddenDeath: [[spoiler: Poor Lee]]
99	%% * StraightGay: [[spoiler: Lee, in contrast to his extremely feminine lover, Adrian]]
100	%% * StreetSmart: Rachael starts out as the opposite due to spending two years in an asylum, but after a little while in the Shopogopolis she becomes this and a GuileHero
101	%% * TagalongChronicler: Mascot 3000 doesn't do much other than narrate the story.
102	%% * TeenGenius: WordOfGod reveals Rachael to be this [[https://steampunkopera.wordpress.com/2013/09/25/character-background-rachael-atompunk-opera/ here]]
103	* ThisIsntHeaven: [[spoiler:Elysium, as the Voodoopunks discover, is only a paradise for people who are already dead.]]
104	%%* TookALevelInBadass: Racheal.
105	%% * TookALevelInCynic: Lee [[spoiler: After he spent twenty years fighting for his life, and loses Adrian after two of those years.]]
106	* YouAreNumber6: The Mascot 3000's name is, well, the Mascot 3000.
107	* VillainSong: Subverted. Connor's not evil at all, but he does want to destroy the voodoopunks so Adrian and Lee see him as evil. He gets several verses in several songs about his plans to destroy voodoopunk.
108	%%* WellIntentionedExtremist: Connor, Connor, Connor.

Context AudioPlay / TheNewAlbionGuideToAnalogueConsciousness