This episode originally aired as the Patreon bonus episode for January 2018. The original description follows:
Thanks to your continued support, I am... proud?... to bring you the latest bonus episode of Extraordinary League!
It all started with a simple question I posed to myself: what would happen if a bunch of League characters got on a train? The answer ended up involving a lot more improvisation, sky pirates, and ghosts than you might initially think. I'm so grateful to all of you for making this possible--I hope you have as much fun listening to to it as we had making it.
-Dan
What happens when the Opera Populaire's legendary Phantom and the man known as Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, start killing people simultaneously in a Paris that is now under the steely-eyed watch of the miserable but constantly rules-enforcing Inspector Javert? Why, the most musical episode of Smash Fiction in history, of course! As Todd and the Phantom attempt to avoid the investigative attentions of the good inspector (well, the lawful neutral inspector, at least), all the SmashFic hosts break into song, at least one of them raps, the long-lost Musical Round returns, and Rafael Medina is here, so some of it actually sounds good!
Will the Phantom leave one last chronology-muddling rose on his enemy's grave, or will Sweeney Todd have a brand new flavor of pie to sell in Mrs. Lovett's shop? And how much singing is there in this episode, really? (Hint: So much. There's so much singing.)
In the inaugural episode of Smash Metafiction, Claire guides the Smash Fic hosts through a collaborative storytelling exercise that we like to call... Collaboratory. For reasons that are evident over the course of the show. Actually, you get to hear the conversation in which we decide on that name. It's fun times.
Each of the hosts shows up with an existing fictional character or archetype, as well as a story element, including genre, setting, goal, and MacGuffin. Then, using screenwriting steps and structure from the book Save The Cat, they combine these disparate parts into a new, greater, and only slightly disfigured whole! This time around, sitcom characters terrorize the high seas, there's definitely room in the cast for Lady Gaga, and you'll never guess who Kit brings to the table...
Son of a...really, magic? Really? All we were trying to do was cast a simple spell to create a podcast episode where two bumbling, no-talent magicians square off in a contest of raw incompetence. But damn, we must have gotten something wrong, because this episode is way too competitive and full of sex jokes, not at all the light-hearted romp we were going for. Oh well. Maybe no one will notice...
Anyway, after years of enjoying a total dearth of animated brooms dancing around and flooding his workspace, celebrated Disney sorcerer Yen Sid is finally ready to take on another apprentice. The only problem is, he has two apprentices. The Orko kid seems to have all kinds of raw magic ability, but also a disturbing lack of skill, focus, or a voice that doesn't grate down Yen Sid's spine. And Rincewind...well, he claims to be a "wizzard" already, and he's quick on his feet, but he's also the unluckiest, most thoroughly non-magical individual Yen Sid has ever encountered. The sorcerer is a patient man, but a busy one, as well; he only has time to take on one of these two projects. Will it be the Trollan jester from Castle Eternia, or the Discworld's most notorious nobody? And more importantly, what insights about gay iconography and 1980s progressivism did MeganBob glean from her first viewing of the He-Man animated series?
The final showdown between the League and Demona has arrived, with the Power of Grayskull hanging in the balance! Can Helena's newfound might help the heroes to stand against Demona and her army of weirdly-themed villains? Who will become the new Sorceress of Grayskull? And what ever happened to those other five characters that were standing guard at Castle Grayskull, anyway?
Stitch takes on an army; Mordin puts his newest invention to the test; Dante loses something important; Nico has an unexpected reunion; and Helena fights for honor.
Also used in this episode is "Killers" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/