In space no one can hear you giggle, but they might in the multiverse
I’ve known Ben Paddon for a while now, even having them guest on The Lonely TARDIS a time or two to discuss Doctor Who. They’re an accomplished writer with a love of sci-fi — good sci-fi –and a hope that it can still be a thing.
Jump Leads has been a passion project for Ben and his team. An audio drama with plenty of comedic elements and a sci-fi premise, the program is a terrific listen, and perfect for the long waits in-between seasons of Doctor Who. What once started as a comic, the show is now approaching its second season and has a lot of great things planned. I asked Ben about the show, where it started, and where it’s going. There was even some history before the comic itself.
“Before Jump Leads was an audiodrama, it was a webcomic. And before that, it was a script sent to the BBC Writer’s Room. I wrote it because it was 2006, and I was genuinely despairing for the state of scifi-comedy. Red Dwarf had been off the air for seven years and didn’t look like it was coming back. Futurama had been cancelled. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy movie hadn’t done the numbers that nerds like me were hoping for. It really felt, at the time, like scifi-comedy was dying a death.”
What does one do when they see something that they love is missing? WRITE. Paddon put pen to paper (or, computer screen) and let that passion flow.
“…I wrote something that blended a bunch of my scifi loves – Doctor Who, Red Dwarf, Sliders (love me a parallel universe!) – and sent it to the BBC. They sent me back a lovely letter saying it showed promise, which I ignored entirely! Well, I was 20. I thought I knew better.”
It’s not often that a standard rejection letter can get someone motivated, but it did to Paddon.
“I pushed on with the thing as a webcomic instead, and we did pretty well! The artist was a wonderful chap named JjAR, who just got Jump Leads immediately. I had a small group of friends I’d met on the web forum for British indie developer Team17, and I’d cobbled together a sort-of writers room for the comic. People enjoyed it! But then JjAR got busy and the comic stopped. I’d always wanted to do an audio installment, but it wasn’t until 2015, after a year and a half of listening to Welcome to Night Vale, that I decided that it should be a full-on reboot.”
Why a reboot? Going from static images to audio means a whole new group of people might tune in and they may not have the background of going from one to the other.
“Besides nothing else, I couldn’t assume the webcomic audience would be there for the audios, so I figured resetting the entire thing made sense. And it allowed me to make a few tweaks and changes, like making Meaney a woman instead of a man.”
All of that is hard work, and Season 1 took eight years to develop and launch. While Paddon initially wanted to get going on a second season soon after that, they opted to take a break instead and didn’t start production until 2024.
“…it’s been about a year and a half of work, but it’s been good work. Honestly, that time allowed us to really expand the cast. Dino Andrade, who is coproducing the series alongside my wife Mandy Oquendo and me, is a Voice Actor with a long and varied career, and he was able to bring in some serious heavyweights from the world of animation, anime and video game voice actor. Almost no blackmail involved! Probably. If he doesn’t tell me about the blackmail, when I’m asked I don’t have to lie.”
Paddon and crew want Jump Leads to stay fresh and fun not only for the listeners but for themselves as well. And, maybe there could be some magic that comes out of the whole thing.
“I’m secretly hoping someone at Big Finish hears this thing and asks me to write a Doctor Who audio for them. Hey, it could happen!”
With as good as Jump Leads Season 1 is, that ulterior motive might not be too unachievable.
Jump Leads can be found at JumpLeads.zone, and is available to listen on most major podcast formats. Season 2 launching soon.
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