A monthly science fiction audio drama Podcast, produced and distributed by An Art Lawful Productions
, that both honors and subverts the classic Space Opera genre. The series itself has been canceled due to changes in the creator's life, though it's been continued with a series of (apparent) prequel novels, which the link above now leads to.
The Endless Night follows the rough-and-tumble crew of the interstellar cargo freighter, The Unconstant Lover. Unlike similar premises aboard Star Trek’s Enterprise or Firefly’s Serenity, the crew of the Lover are successful pirates, hardened criminals and remorseless murderers. The show gleefully subverts the ethics of traditional space opera, detailing the criminal exploits of the ship’s somewhat hapless crew as they raid, pillage and plunder across the galaxy.
The show keeps a delicate balance between comedy and drama and is set in a grim and bloody galaxy ruled by The Endless Empire. Most of the show’s episodes, thus far, deal with the crew’s employment under the terrorist faction known as the Watchers of the Dawn. Subplots mostly center on the often rough inter-crew relations.
Notable characters include the impulsive, rash and thrill-seeking Captain Nemo; his dour, mirthless bounty hunter first mate Moira Quicksilver; the mercenary and untrustworthy cut-purse Flask; the big furry otter-like mechanic Odisseus; the reluctant, kidnapped navigator Bel8, the sexy automated weapon system "Ishmael"; and the personality-less, nearly robotic six-year-old Gideon.
Examples:
- The Apprentice: Gideon’s tutelage under Bel8
- Baddie Flattery: Griffon, despite current sentiments, seems to really admire Nemo.
- The Battlestar: Imperial Cruiser Asterius in “My Heart As A Stowaway”. Another cruiser, the Exacting Counterattack, pops up in the first novel.
- Beleaguered Assistant: Most of the crew can play this trope opposite Nemo (with the exception of Ishmael).
- Blind Jump: Alluded to in several occasions – Bel8 uses “dirty jumps”, implied to be blind jumps that don’t use warpgates, the standard means of faster than light travel in the galaxy.
- Boarding Party: Subverted in “Up Jumps A Crab” when there’s no one aboard the Odonata.
- Bounty Hunter: Moira and the supporting cast of “The Line Between Angler and Prey”
- Break the Badass: Moira’s fear of Dmitri Ilyriov and The Scar in "Call Me Ishmael" and the Spith in "Up Jumps A Crab"
- The Bridge: Though the helm is most often the setting for scenes aboard the Lover, the trope is somewhat subverted in that most of the crew meetings either occur in the galley (“My Heart As A Stowaway”) or the gundeck (“Up Jumps A Crab”).
- Closerto Earth: Moira largely fits this trope, though she hardly claims the moral high ground to the male crew members. It could possibly even apply to Ishmael.
- The novels reveal Odi to be this as well, since his dialogue is translated and we can understand him.
- Deflector Shields: Comes in two varieties – bombard shields, which deflect physical objects and ray shields, which deflect energy weapons.
- Gilligan Cut: The first novel has a beautiful example when Nemo attacks a capital ship. Bel 8 (then in the employ of the Imperial Navy) has his targeting solution thrown by a suddenly evading, semi-stelthed Unconstant Lover, and comments that the captain must be a strategic genius. Cut to the Lover, where it's revealed the dodge is the result of a mechanical failure and Nemo is screaming like a little girl.
- Hero Stole My Bike: Nemo and Moira in "The Line Between Angler and Prey", though, in this example, the bike was an [spoiler:aircar].
- Known Only by Their Nickname: Nemo is almost never referred to by his birth name of Nehel Morel.
- Not in This for Your Revolution: The crew works on behalf of the Watchers, though not on any political grounds
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Nemo. Between the audio drama and the novels, the man banters, seems to pay little to no attention, has (according to the novels) locked himself out of his own spaceship, and has a fixation on hats. He also knows about the Spith in Up Jumps a Crab, brings down a ship of the supposedly invincible Pylon-class (twice), reacts to an ad claiming "Piracy is Pointless" by assembling the "Freebooter Fleet" and leading the sacking of the ports used by the company responsible, and [[steals a prototype cloaking device from both the Imperium and the Watchers, while telling off the Imperium noble who also happens to be his contact with the watchers.]] The man is much, much more intelligent and cunning than he lets on.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: An odd take in the second of the Bad Space novels. Nemo's response to an advertisement of an Imperium-backed liner and shipping company claiming "Piracy is pointless"? Assemble a small pirate fleet and start sacking the ports of call along that company's route into the Outer Ring and Bad Space.
- Screams Like a Little Girl: Nemo, according to the novels, does this if sufficiently shocked.
- Skeleton Crew: The Odonata in "Up Jumps A Crab", where the crew had already been killed by Spith, who then turn on Nemo and the others.
- The Unconstant Lover itself in the original audio dramas; the prequel novels reveal Nemo had a much larger crew once upon a time.
- Space Is an Ocean: This trope is particularly present, in the decidedly nautical theme of character names and episode titles.
- The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Moira, to some extent, with her bounty hunting. Though, in all fairness, it’s implied that she’s retired.
- Translation Convention: Odi in the novels has his dialogue presented in English, as opposed to the Wookie-esque noises from the audio dramas.
- To Catch Heroes, Hire Villains: Basically the foundation of the series. The Watchers hire dangerous murderers to do their dirty work and are surprised and outraged at all their dangerous murder.
- "Wanted!" Poster: Nemo keeps a copy of his on the fridge in the Lover's galley during the novels.
