She Blinded Me with Technology

She Blinded Me with Technology is an episode of Sparks Nevada, Marshal on Mars.

Audio

Episode audio on Soundcloud

Cast

WorkJuice Players

• Sparks Nevada - Marc Evan Jackson
• Folksy Hal (Narrator) - Hal Lublin
• Technologobots - Mark Gagliardi and Craig Cackowski

Guest Stars

• Mercury - Andy Daly
• Kevin - Tom Lenk
• Technos the Advanced - Sarah Thyre

Musical Guests

• The Apple Sisters

Detailed Summary

Still depressed, Sparks sighs and reminisces on times past in the Marshal's Station. He mounts his rocket steed, Mercury, and rides across the plains of Mars, remembering good and bad times. Mercury consoles him - with words - and the two sing "Riding the Galactic Trail" to bring up the marshal's spirits. The two resolve to find who is responsible for Mercury's newfound ability to talk, and they follow Sparks' Odd Frequency Picker-Upper to the volcanoes.

En route to the volcanoes, they find themselves caught in the web of a baby giant spider named Kevin. Left on his own after his parents' murder at the hands of Sparks, Croach and Red (in Spiders, Man), Kevin embarked on a mission of revenge to fulfill his blood oath. Mercury tears through the web with his pistons, freeing the marshal. The two leave Kevin in their dust and continue on to the volcanoes.

Haunted by memories of Red and Croach, Nevada follows Mercury's lead to the top of the volcano where they find a radar dish with an on/off switch labeled "Animals Talk". Technos the Advanced, a technology being, reveals herself and expresses surprise that her device is functional. Technos unleashes Technologobots upon the marshal and his horse, and the buzzsaw-handed automatons advance painfully slowly. Kevin appears and claims the right to kill Sparks first, but is attacked by the technologobots. Having just loaded his guns, Sparks renders the bots harmless and saves Kevin.

Technos bows to Sparks' superiority, turns off the talking device, and departs to find the superior robots that inhabit Mars. The giant baby spider is filled with conflict between fulfilling his blood oath and choosing a new way to live. Sparks recognizes his own inner struggle in Kevin, and he resolves to move on from his depression. Kevin scuttles off into the distance, and the marshal and Mercury ride into the sunset, singing one last refrain of "Riding the Galactic Trail".

Notes

• Although Croach doesn't appear in this episode, he is still present in the introduction.
• Sparks reminisces about several past adventures we did not see in the podcast in this episode, including saving Croach from some Lavamen and subsequently being saved from other lavamen by Croach.
• The adventure Sparks reminisces about involving Croach being crushed underfoot of a giant robot made of other, less giant robots is likely the adventure depicted in the Sparks Nevada segment of the Original Graphic Novel, although the setting that Sparks reminisces (a canyon) and the setting of the graphic novel (in town) differ.
• In the podcast introduction, the episode is called "The Magnificent Kevin".
• Unofficial Transcript by SparksSpeaks

Continuity

• This is the 33rd episode of The Thrilling Adventure Hour. 
• The previous episode is Beyond Belief - Love Love Me Doom.
• The next episode is Tales from the Black Lagoon - The Year I Knew Too Much part 2. 
• The previous Sparks Nevada, Marshal on Mars episode is Danger 2.0 (TAH #27).
• The next Sparks Nevada, Marshal on Mars episode is Space-iversary (TAH #35).

Production

This episode was recorded at Largo on February 5, 2011 and released August 22, 2011.

• Writers: Ben Acker and Ben Blacker
• Director: Aaron Ginsburg
• Music: Andy Paley & the Andy Paley Orchestra
• Sparks Nevada theme: Eban Schletter
• "Riding the Galactic Trail" was written by Andy Paley and performed by the Andy Paley Orchestra along with Marc Evan Jackson and Andy Daly.