LEARN is a science-fiction audio drama, following the robot crew of the Mary Jane on their adventures across the galaxies. Sarcastic, grumpy Robert, empath Colin, ship's captain Tiff, medic Sine, and the Mary Jane's AI system, Maggie, were sent into deep space several years ago, and their story is documented in Robert's logs.
LEARN contains examples of:
- Androids Are People, Too: The teaser invokes this when Robert says, 'And [humans] say we're the artificial ones! At least I have a personality! I mean, sure, I've got nuts and bolts and screws, but at least there's something there underneath it all. Something - I like to think - irreplaceable.'
- Command Roster: Played with. While nothing we've heard so far suggests the crew are a military group (though we still don't know exactly why they were created and by whom), Tiff is the Captain, Sine is both the Medic and the Scientist, Robert is arguably the Communications Officer (she DOES spend a lot of time yelling into something akin to a radio while making her logs), Maggie, as the autopilot system, is the Navigator (and, to an extent, Number Two, in that she is easily the closest to the Captain), and Colin is the Heart. We also have Crysta, the Nurse.
- Computer Voice: Played with, with the ship's AI system, Maggie. She has a rather posh female voice, and usually speaks in an even, measured way, but she is clearly shown to be every bit as alive as the bots, and we hear her emotions in her voice.
- Gilligan Cut: There's one of the Contrary Cut variety near the end of 'Baby On Board', with regards to the crew keeping Baby.
- "Groundhog Day" Loop: Robert finds herself trapped in one in the aptly-named episode 'Groundhog Day'.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Colin appears to be the blue to Robert's red. Tiff and Maggie are a less obvious example, but they are arguably red and blue, respectively.
- Smart People Play Chess: Episode One: 'Baby On Board' opens with Maggie and Tiff playing chess - and we soon learn that Maggie, the 'best system of artificial intelligence in the known universe', always wins.
- Unexplained Accent: Colin, Tiff and Crysta sound American, Robert and Maggie sound English, and Sine... sounds French. It's likely that this is simply how they were each programmed to speak, but we don't know why.
- Wham Episode: Mini episode 'Bedtime Stories' becomes one at the end. We've just heard a lovely story, Baby is asleep... and then suddenly, we're made aware that someone is watching the crew.
- Wham Line: 'She's also not human.'
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Robert initially wants to get rid of Baby, even after Maggie explains that the only ways to do so are to send her back off into space alone or kill her.
