Forest 404

Last updated

Forest 404
Forest 404.png
Presentation
Starring Pearl Mackie
Genre Science fiction podcast
Created by
Written byTimothy X Atack
Directed byBecky Ripley
Voices
LanguageBritish English
Length10–20 minutes
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Production
ProductionGraham Wild
Theme music composed by Bonobo
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes27
Publication
Original release5 March 
1 April 2019
Ratings4.7/5  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Provider BBC Radio 4
Related
Website www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06tqsg3

Forest 404 is a science fiction podcast written by Timothy X Atack and starring Pearl Mackie. The project was a collaboration among BBC Radio 4, the BBC Natural History Unit, the University of Bristol, the University of Exeter, and the Open University. The show is composed of nine episodes each accompanied by a soundscape and discussion on the show's themes. The narrative of the show follows a data analyst from the 24th century who discovers recordings of the natural world and finds that the audio has a profound effect on its listener. The show received mostly positive reviews and in 2020 won both a WGGB award and an ARIAS award. The show also included an academic study led by Alex Smalley.

Contents

Background

The project was a collaboration among BBC Radio 4, the BBC Natural History Unit, the Open University, the University of Bristol, and the University of Exeter. [1] The show was written by Timothy X Atack, produced and directed by Becky Ripley, with theme music by Bonobo, and sound design by Graham Wild. [2] Timothy X Atack credited works by Ursula K. Le Guin, and his own experiences in the BBC Archives of natural history sounds, as influences in the creation of Forest 404. [3]

The 27-part series is composed of nine narrative episodes each accompanied by a soundscape and a discussion on the themes. [4] The show uses binaural recording. [5] The soundscape episodes are similar to forest bathing. [6] The show was first released on BBC Sounds and later broadcast on BBC Radio 4, and was also made available as a box set. [5] [2]

Cast and characters

Plot

The story is set in the 24th century after a catastrophe where most of the world's digital information was lost. The protagonist of the story, a data analyst named Pan, is tasked with reviewing the remaining recordings that survived the catastrophe and deleting any unnecessary data. While going through the audio files, Pan encounters a recording of a rainforest from the 21st century. Having never seen a rainforest or even a tree, the recording intrigues her and she begins investigating. She discovers more incomprehensible recordings and learns that these sounds can be dangerous or even deadly to the listener. When Daria—Pan's boss and potential love interest—informs the authorities, they begin to track her down to stop the spread of what they consider a virus. Fleeing from the authorities, Pan finds a woman named Theia who is caring for the last living tree. Pan discovers that the recordings are of the natural world, which has since been destroyed by humans. Listening to the sounds causes some to go mad with the realization that humans were responsible for the destruction of nature. The story ends with Pan broadcasting the audio file titled "Forest 404" from a radio tower. [1] [2] [7]

List of episodes

No. overall No. in series Title Length (minutes:seconds) Original release date
0Ep0"Enter The Forest"2:155 March 2019 (2019-03-05)
1Ep1"Life in the Fast Times"23:156 March 2019 (2019-03-06)
2T1"Why should I listen to trees?"8:487 March 2019 (2019-03-07)
3S1"Rainforest Symphony"4:168 March 2019 (2019-03-08)
4Ep2"The Fumetown Priest"21:109 March 2019 (2019-03-09)
5T2"How is the sound of the world changing?"6:2110 March 2019 (2019-03-10)
6S2"Frog Chorus"6:5211 March 2019 (2019-03-11)
7Ep3"Into the Inner"18:5512 March 2019 (2019-03-12)
8T3"Could I live in darkness?"8:0313 March 2019 (2019-03-13)
9S3"Whale Songs"6:1514 March 2019 (2019-03-14)
10Ep4"Of Earthly Delights"23:4015 March 2019 (2019-03-15)
11T4"Why do trees live so long?"5:5516 March 2019 (2019-03-16)
12S4"Woodland Walk"4:5617 March 2019 (2019-03-17)
13Ep5"Last Days of the Slow World"24:1418 March 2019 (2019-03-18)
14T5"Will we all become cyborgs?"7:2419 March 2019 (2019-03-19)
15S5"Theia's Hometown"4:3920 March 2019 (2019-03-20)
16Ep6"A New Leaf"22:0621 March 2019 (2019-03-21)
17T6"What is death in the digital age?"7:0622 March 2019 (2019-03-22)
18S6"Pan's Dwindling"4:5123 March 2019 (2019-03-23)
19Ep7"Dreams of the Autopilot"17:5724 March 2019 (2019-03-24)
20T7"Would you vote for an AI government?"7:1125 March 2019 (2019-03-25)
21S7"Daria's Nightmare"5:0726 March 2019 (2019-03-26)
22Ep8"Future Conditional"20:1327 March 2019 (2019-03-27)
23T8"How will humans die out?"9:5528 March 2019 (2019-03-28)
24S8"The Memory Transfer"3:5329 March 2019 (2019-03-29)
25Ep9"Enigmata"25:2630 March 2019 (2019-03-30)
26T9"Love Letter to the Forest..."8:2831 March 2019 (2019-03-31)
27S9"Bonobo's Theme"3:351 April 2019 (2019-04-01)

Reception

Both the Financial Times and The Herald praised the show for the soundscape and discussion episodes. [5] [8] In The Guardian , Sean O'Hagan wrote that the show was "conceptually bumpy" and criticized a number of unexplained plot details, despite this however, he noted that the show was "cleverly written and choreographed". [4] Sam Fritz at the Mississippi Valley Conservancy recommended the podcast, noting that "The diverse topics around each episode ground the fiction within an application of our own world, helping listeners analyze each episode and picture themselves in the world." [6] The Australian Broadcasting Corporation praised the show for its captivating story and ideas as well as its experimentation. [9]

Awards

AwardDateCategoryResultRef.
Prix Europa 2019Best European Digital Audio Project2nd Place [10]
BBC Audio Drama Awards 2020Best Podcast or Online Audio DramaFinalist [11]
Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards 2020Best Radio DramaWon [12]
Audio and Radio Industry Awards 2020Best Fictional Storytellinggold [13]
Earphones Awards2021Science FictionWon [14]

Academic outcomes

Forest 404 also featured an embedded academic study, led by Alex Smalley at the University of Exeter. [15] [16] Designed to deepen understanding into people's responses to the sounds of nature, the study marked one of the largest natural soundscape experiments ever conducted, with 7,596 people taking part. [17]

Findings from this research were published in the peer-reviewed journal Global Environmental Change in May 2022. [18] Outcomes demonstrated that soundscapes featuring the sounds of wildlife, such as bird song, were considered more psychologically restorative than those without. Participants who had memories triggered by these sounds were also more likely to find them psychologically restorative, and exhibited a greater motivation to preserve them—an outcome with implications for conservation efforts. [18]

See also

Related Research Articles

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References

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