Small Fandoms Fest

*slides in under the wire* :D

I'm here to pimp my all-time favourite podcast, The Strange Case of Starship Iris, or TSCOSI for short. It's still ongoing, with two seasons released as of the time of writing and a third in the works (though the ETA for that is still undetermined).

My favourite way to sum up TSCOSI in a nutshell is to say that it's "be gay, do crime in space". Like many excellent podcasts, it's very queer, and has a diverse cast of characters (and voice actors, as the creator made a point of casting VAs who match the race and gender of their characters as closely as possible) with a heavy dose of found family. It's also very funny: the writer and creator, Jessica Best, has a real flair for humour, but the emotional beats also really hit home. There's a reason that Starship Iris has won an Audioverse Award three times (in 2017, 2019 and 2021) for its writing - as well as a number of other awards for production, vocal direction, original compositions and voice actor performances.

But enough accolades - what is the podcast about?

The show page for The Strange Case of Starship Iris at Procyon Podcast Network (a production group that produces TSCOSI along with several other podcasts) summarises the premise as follows:

In 2189, Earth narrowly won a war against extraterrestrials, but at a tremendous price. Two years later, in a distant patch of space, a mysterious explosion kills nearly the entire crew of the science vessel Starship Iris. The only survivor is Violet Liu, an intrepid, sarcastic, terrified biologist. But as Violet struggles to readjust to life after the Iris, questions abound. Was that explosion really an accident? If not, just what is going on? And why does every answer seem to get more bizarre and more dangerous? If Violet and her newfound allies want to untangle the truth, they'll need courage, brilliance, and luck - and honestly, a couple of drinks.


As the name implies, there's a healthy mystery element to the podcast, which is what first got me interested - I had vowed to start Listening to Podcasts and was working my way through some recs in a group chat, the first of which was Arden, a satirical take on true crime podcasts. After that, I had the urge to listen to another mystery podcast, and TSCOSI was my next pick. Season one has a really clever premise where the episodes are framed as "reports" read by a mysterious government operative, and what starts out as a simple framing device evolves into a central element of the mystery. Little clues to what's going on are scattered throughout the report narration, and we follow the core cast's attempt to unravel the mystery with juuust a little bit more information than they have.

Alongside mystery, there's some solid spacefaring civilisation worldbuilding with alien races, new planets where humanity has settled, and all that that entails. Humanity in Starship Iris exists under the thumb of the IGR, or Intergalactic Republic - a fascist government better known as "the Regime" to those who are against it - and so there's lots of themes around freedom, resisting oppression, and doing the right thing no matter the cost. Some great lines from the podcast on that theme include, "When their foot is on your throat, any day breathing is a victory" and, "When your back is to the wall / It only means there is no room for you to fall" (that last one is part of an in-universe protest song. Starship Iris also has some great musical compositions!)

One of the key cast members is a linguist, and linguistics/language play a major part in the plot and resolution of the first season - I've heard a lot of fans say that this was a big draw for them in getting into the podcast, and that they often recommend it to fellow linguistics fans on that basis.

So, if you enjoy mysteries, linguistics, humour, queer and diverse characters, rebelling against the System, found family, or just good podcasts, I really recommend Starship Iris. As I say, it's got two seasons, the first consisting of 10 episodes, followed by an interim 'minisode', and then a second season with 9 episodes and a further two mid-season minisodes. That means it's not too arduous to get caught up, which can be a good or a bad thing depending on your perspective ;) To really give the podcast a shot, I recommend listening up to at least episode 6 of season 1, which is where I remember being really drawn in as a fan and going from "this is a cool story!" to "holy shit I LOVE THIS PODCAST IT'S SO GOOD". (Episode 6 is also just really clever in terms of how it's told narratively, and it used to be my favourite episode, but season 1 episode 7 later edged it out. Episode 7 is also REALLY GOOD).

It's tough for me to pick a favourite character as I love all of the main cast (and numerous side characters) for different reasons, but I have a special bond with Agent McCabe, who appears from episode 4 onwards. They, and their superior, Agent Park, get a really excellent arc in the first season that was brought about in large part by fan enthusiasm - apparently Jessica Best didn't originally plan to give them major roles, but since the fans loved them so much, she gave them bigger parts and more to do - but I won't say what for fear of being spoilery ;3

What about the fandom? Starship Iris fandom is pretty tiny, though it's grown from the 19 fanfics that were on AO3 when I got into the podcast (mine was the 20th!) and there's lots to be found on Tumblr under the "TSCOSI" tag. Things are quiet when new episodes aren't being released, but every so often a new person will find the podcast and post their excited responses. There's also a hardcore few of us still hanging around and keeping the lamp burning with headcanons and the occasional fanwork, and we love to have company! So, if you check it out, hit me up, as I'm always down to chat about my favourite space criminals <3

You can find The Strange Case of Starship Iris on most major podcast apps and websites like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast Addict, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Pocket Casts - you get the idea. It used to be possible to also stream the episodes directly on the Procyon Podcasts site, but the player seems to be experiencing some issues, currently; however, you can find transcripts for all the episodes there. I also recommend following iriscasefiles on Tumblr for news and updates and the occasional fanwork boost!