Latest / Dad’s Bedtime Stories / Pop The Popcorn Dragon and the Popcorn Dragon Planet - Spaceship 230 - A Bedtime Story
Transcript
- 0:05Speaker 1: Hey, hello, friends from across the nation and around the world.
- 0:08Speaker 1: I'm Martin, and you are listening to Dad's Bedtime Stories,
- 0:12Speaker 1: the podcast that takes listener ideas and turns them into
- 0:16Speaker 1: bedtime stories tonight. Our idea comes from a Spotify comment
- 0:22Speaker 1: from someone named Luna. It's actually a different Luna than
- 0:29Speaker 1: when I did an idea for another Luna in a
- 0:32Speaker 1: Spotify comment, I believe, But in this case, Luna wrote
- 0:37Speaker 1: in to say that she thought I should have a
- 0:39Speaker 1: popcorn dragon that finds a corn planet and then we
- 0:43Speaker 1: turn it into a card. And I don't think I
- 0:46Speaker 1: can make the card thing happen because I'm doing it
- 0:50Speaker 1: in the Spaceship universe, But the rest of that I
- 0:53Speaker 1: think we can bring to life. If you like the podcast,
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- 1:07Speaker 1: support me financially, you can join me on Patreon. And
- 1:12Speaker 1: if you just really like my stories, why not check
- 1:15Speaker 1: out my other podcast, Dad's Anytime Stories over there. I'm
- 1:21Speaker 1: kind of taking some of the stories have already done,
- 1:25Speaker 1: finishing them up, polishing them up and you know, presenting
- 1:29Speaker 1: them book by book, season by season. Right now, I'm
- 1:35Speaker 1: just finishing up the very last chapter of the first
- 1:39Speaker 1: Cards of Power novel over there. So there are already
- 1:43Speaker 1: sixteen chapters available, and the seventeenth is coming this week.
- 1:48Speaker 1: Maybe you're going on a road trip, or you just
- 1:51Speaker 1: want a sort of an audiobook style thing to listen to.
- 1:54Speaker 1: You can check it out at Dad's Anytime Stories available
- 1:59Speaker 1: anywhere get podcasts. I think the logo will look familiar,
- 2:04Speaker 1: only kind of more blue when we wrap up Cards
- 2:07Speaker 1: of Power. I believe I'm gonna go on to Wizardcraft
- 2:11Speaker 1: two point zero and that'll start in a couple of weeks. Yeah,
- 2:15Speaker 1: check it out. But now it's that time again. Time
- 2:20Speaker 1: to get as comfy as you can in that bed,
- 2:23Speaker 1: close your eyes and imagine yourself doing what the kid
- 2:29Speaker 1: in the story does. You wake up inside your very
- 2:35Speaker 1: own spaceship. But for some reason, it smells kind of
- 2:42Speaker 1: well delicious. It smells buttery and salty, the kind of
- 2:51Speaker 1: smell that makes your stomach immediately begin to groan well
- 2:56Speaker 1: in the way that it does when it wants food. Anyways, Uh, spaceship,
- 3:02Speaker 1: you say, as you sit up out of bed, why
- 3:06Speaker 1: does the ship smell like popcorn? That is an excellent question,
- 3:13Speaker 1: Spaceship answers, I have taken the liberty to move to
- 3:18Speaker 1: what I believe will be a very interesting planet, the
- 3:23Speaker 1: popcorn dragon planet. You immediately run out of the bedroom
- 3:29Speaker 1: area into the main part of the ship and over
- 3:32Speaker 1: to the huge viewscreen at the front. You see that
- 3:38Speaker 1: the ship has indeed entered the atmosphere of another planet,
- 3:43Speaker 1: and you're currently dropping down below the clouds below well,
- 3:51Speaker 1: golden clouds that look like they're made of butter or
- 3:55Speaker 1: something like that. So you're telling me that this planet
- 3:59Speaker 1: is actually full of popcorn dragons, not just that, Spaceship replies,
- 4:06Speaker 1: The clouds themselves are full of a mixture of butter
- 4:11Speaker 1: and salt. They rain down regularly and season the popcorn
- 4:17Speaker 1: popcorn that has been popped by a group of dragons
- 4:22Speaker 1: popcorn dragons, for lack of a better explanation. You look
- 4:28Speaker 1: out the window as you glide down through the golden clouds.
- 4:34Speaker 1: As you get closer, you see fields of tall corn
- 4:39Speaker 1: stretching in every direction. But it's not just ordinary corn.
- 4:45Speaker 1: Each stalk is taller than a tree, with giant golden
- 4:50Speaker 1: cobs hanging from the sides. Some of the cobs are
- 4:54Speaker 1: as big as a car would be on Earth. Flying
- 4:58Speaker 1: above the fields are are dragons, big dragons, small dragons,
- 5:05Speaker 1: yellow dragons, red dragons, and even dragons with shiny scales
- 5:11Speaker 1: the color of melted butter. They swoop low over the fields,
- 5:18Speaker 1: take deep breaths, and breathe careful streams of fire across
- 5:24Speaker 1: the giant corn cobs. The corn bursts into enormous clouds
- 5:30Speaker 1: of fluffy, white popcorn, floating up from the fields like
- 5:36Speaker 1: warm snow. The dragons dive through it, laugh and snap
- 5:43Speaker 1: up mouthfuls as they go. Spaceship lands in a soft
- 5:49Speaker 1: field near the edge of the popcorn meadow. The door
- 5:53Speaker 1: opens up and that warm buttery air smell rushes inside.
- 6:01Speaker 1: You step out and well, your boots immediately sink into
- 6:06Speaker 1: popcorn up to your ankles. Changer jumps out beside you,
- 6:12Speaker 1: turns into a full sized dog and immediately starts bouncing
- 6:17Speaker 1: through the popcorn like it's the greatest snow drift ever invented. This,
- 6:24Speaker 1: you say, might be one of the coolest planets we've
- 6:28Speaker 1: ever visited, although I mean we visited a lot of
- 6:31Speaker 1: cool planets. That's kind of hard to say. Just then,
- 6:36Speaker 1: a large shadow passes overhead. You look up and see
- 6:41Speaker 1: a huge dragon soaring above the field. He breathes fire
- 6:47Speaker 1: across an enormous cob, and the whole thing explodes into popcorn.
- 6:54Speaker 1: The dragon cheers, and well, mother dragons cheer too well,
- 7:01Speaker 1: except for one particularly sad looking dragon that you notice
- 7:06Speaker 1: sitting alone beside a rocky hill. He's much smaller than
- 7:11Speaker 1: the others, though still big enough that you could easily
- 7:15Speaker 1: climb on his back and fly around. His scales are
- 7:19Speaker 1: soft gold and yellow, with little patches that look almost
- 7:24Speaker 1: like popcorn kernels themselves. His wings are folded sadly around him,
- 7:31Speaker 1: and his tail just draws little circles in the popcorn.
- 7:37Speaker 1: He watches the other dragons popping corn, but he doesn't
- 7:41Speaker 1: join them for some reason. You move towards him and
- 7:46Speaker 1: decide to well talk, Hi, you say. The little dragon
- 7:53Speaker 1: looks down at you. His eyes are big and shiny.
- 7:58Speaker 1: Oh hello, he answers. I'm well a visitor here, you explain,
- 8:08Speaker 1: and this is my dog changer. Oh what's your name?
- 8:15Speaker 1: My name is pop says the dragon. You look around
- 8:20Speaker 1: at the popcorn fields. That is a very good name
- 8:24Speaker 1: for a popcorn dragon. Pop sighs deeply. It should be,
- 8:31Speaker 1: but I almost never get to make anything pop. You
- 8:39Speaker 1: sit down in the popcorn beside the dragon Changer trots
- 8:43Speaker 1: over and gently rests a chin on Pop's front. Paw, Oh,
- 8:49Speaker 1: what do you mean? You ask? Pop looks out at
- 8:53Speaker 1: the fields, and he gets sadder as he does one
- 9:00Speaker 1: hear Love's popcorn, He explains, that's sort of our whole deal.
- 9:09Speaker 1: We grow the corn, we dry the kernels, we heat
- 9:15Speaker 1: them just right, and then we breathe fire and make
- 9:21Speaker 1: the most delicious popcorn in the galaxy. That sounds amazing,
- 9:28Speaker 1: You say it is, Pop says, but there are so
- 9:35Speaker 1: many dragons, and the bigger dragons always get to pop
- 9:42Speaker 1: the corn first. They say they have stronger fire, or
- 9:49Speaker 1: they're faster, or they can gather kernels or sweep the
- 9:56Speaker 1: fields better than I can. Lowers his head. But I
- 10:03Speaker 1: want to breathe fire on the corn. I want to
- 10:08Speaker 1: hear it pop. I want to watch it puff up
- 10:12Speaker 1: into fluffy white clouds. I want to feel like a
- 10:18Speaker 1: real popcorn dragon. You look over at the other dragons.
- 10:26Speaker 1: They're not being mean exactly. They're just loud and excited
- 10:30Speaker 1: and busy. That doesn't seem fair, you say. Pop gives
- 10:37Speaker 1: a small shrug. There's only so much corn ready at
- 10:43Speaker 1: one time. By the time I get close, someone else
- 10:49Speaker 1: has already popped it. That's really sad. You say, well,
- 10:58Speaker 1: what if you came with us? What do you mean?
- 11:03Speaker 1: Pop asks, Well, we travel to different planets all of
- 11:08Speaker 1: the time. Maybe spaceship could find another planet with like
- 11:13Speaker 1: a lot of corn, then you could pop as much
- 11:17Speaker 1: as you wanted, as much as I wanted. Pop says,
- 11:25Speaker 1: looking somewhat excited. Well, as long as spaceship can find
- 11:30Speaker 1: some sort of corn planet or something like that, you suggest,
- 11:35Speaker 1: that should be relatively easy, the voice of Spaceship says,
- 11:41Speaker 1: coming from your watch, I have searched my database and
- 11:45Speaker 1: found several possible planets. However, one stands out above the rest.
- 11:52Speaker 1: This particular planet grows corn naturally, and it seems to
- 11:58Speaker 1: have clouds that are very similar to those on this planet,
- 12:03Speaker 1: clouds that produce both butter and salt. It is only
- 12:09Speaker 1: a short trip away, Seriously, Pop asks. Indeed, Spaceship says,
- 12:19Speaker 1: let me reshape and accommodate for the larger need of space. Spaceship,
- 12:27Speaker 1: sitting over in the distance, begins to grow, then it
- 12:32Speaker 1: grows just a little bit larger. Your ship can grow,
- 12:40Speaker 1: Pop asks, h yeah, it can pretty much turn itself
- 12:44Speaker 1: into anything. Honestly, come on, let's go check things out. You.
- 12:51Speaker 1: Changer and Pop climb aboard. Inside Spaceship has made a
- 12:57Speaker 1: huge dragon sized cushion the back of the main room.
- 13:02Speaker 1: Pop curls up carefully, trying not to bump anything with
- 13:06Speaker 1: his giant tail. Changer jumps onto the cushion beside him
- 13:11Speaker 1: and turns into a tiny dragon with floppy dog ears.
- 13:18Speaker 1: Spaceship lifts up off of the popcorn dragon planet and
- 13:23Speaker 1: rises into the sky below you. The golden fields grow
- 13:29Speaker 1: smaller and smaller, until the whole planet looks like a
- 13:34Speaker 1: like a buttery marble floating in space. Spaceship points itself
- 13:40Speaker 1: in the right direction and immediately enters super hyper drive,
- 13:47Speaker 1: a form of travel that creates a sort of wormhole
- 13:51Speaker 1: around the entire ship. You pass through space, set and
- 13:57Speaker 1: accelerated rate, before eventually coming to a stop outside another planet.
- 14:05Speaker 1: From high up, the planet looks sort of green and gold. Ah.
- 14:11Speaker 1: Here we are an almost uninhabited planet with naturally growing
- 14:17Speaker 1: fields of corn. The kernels are large, dry, and highly popable. Additionally,
- 14:27Speaker 1: as I said, this particular planet rains butter and salt regularly.
- 14:34Speaker 1: It should make for some very delicious popcorn. Pop stands
- 14:40Speaker 1: up and moves towards the view screen. How much corn
- 14:46Speaker 1: is there, he asks. Spaceship zooms in on the planet.
- 14:52Speaker 1: Golden fields cover almost every single continent, a great deal
- 14:59Speaker 1: of corn, possibly too much. Pop's mouth falls open. There's
- 15:06Speaker 1: no such thing as too much popcorn, he says. Spaceship
- 15:14Speaker 1: drops down through the atmosphere and below the beautiful golden clouds.
- 15:22Speaker 1: The place is beautiful. The oceans look like they're made
- 15:28Speaker 1: of butter themselves, and the land is gold and green.
- 15:34Speaker 1: Fields ripple across the continents like waves, and tall corn
- 15:40Speaker 1: plants almost the size of the ones on the Popcorn
- 15:44Speaker 1: Dragon Planet. Sway in the wind, Spaceship lands in the
- 15:50Speaker 1: middle of a wide golden field. The door opens, and
- 15:57Speaker 1: the smell of butter flows inside. Though it's a little
- 16:02Speaker 1: different than the Popcorn Planet, it's missing that popped corn smell.
- 16:09Speaker 1: I believe this particular field has dried sufficiently and is
- 16:14Speaker 1: ready for popping, Spaceship says. Pop steps out of the
- 16:20Speaker 1: ship slowly. For a moment, he doesn't speak at all.
- 16:24Speaker 1: He just stares. Corn stretches all the way to the horizon,
- 16:30Speaker 1: and no gigantic dragon swoop overhead. No one pushes past him,
- 16:38Speaker 1: No one says, wait your turn, or maybe next time.
- 16:44Speaker 1: Pop takes a step forward, then another, Then he turns
- 16:50Speaker 1: back to you. Would you like a ride, he asks you.
- 16:58Speaker 1: Grin definitely. You climb carefully onto Pop's back, settling between
- 17:05Speaker 1: his warm, golden shoulders. Changer, who's still in the form
- 17:10Speaker 1: of a dragon with little floppy ears, steps out beside you,
- 17:16Speaker 1: ready to follow. Pop spreads his wings with a powerful leap.
- 17:22Speaker 1: He launches into the sky. The wind rushes past your face,
- 17:28Speaker 1: the corn fields sweet below in waves of golden corn,
- 17:33Speaker 1: and you try to hold on as tight as you can.
- 17:38Speaker 1: For the first time since you meet him, Pop doesn't
- 17:42Speaker 1: look sad. He looks free. He circles above the nearest field. Ready,
- 17:51Speaker 1: He calls back to you, Ah, whenever you are, you
- 17:56Speaker 1: show back. Pop takes a deep breath, Then he breathes fire.
- 18:03Speaker 1: A bright, careful stream of orange flame sweeps across the
- 18:08Speaker 1: tops of the giant corn plants. For a second, nothing happens,
- 18:14Speaker 1: and then Pop the whole field erupts. Kernels burst into
- 18:21Speaker 1: fluffy white popcorn popping up from the plants in great
- 18:26Speaker 1: rolling clouds. The sound fills the valley like fireworks or
- 18:33Speaker 1: something like that. Popcorn tumbles into the air, soft and
- 18:39Speaker 1: warm and wonderful. Pop laughs so loudly that it echoes
- 18:45Speaker 1: off the hills. I did it, he cries, I made
- 18:51Speaker 1: it pop. He really did. Pop dives through the popcorn cloud,
- 18:58Speaker 1: and for a moment you're surrounded by warm, white, fluffy popcorn.
- 19:06Speaker 1: Popcorn bounces off of your arms, your legs, your shoulders,
- 19:12Speaker 1: pop lands in the middle of the field. The popcorn
- 19:16Speaker 1: is piled so high that when you slide off of
- 19:20Speaker 1: his back, you sink right into it. You fall backwards
- 19:25Speaker 1: into the popcorn and laugh. It's soft and warm and well,
- 19:31Speaker 1: smells pretty good. The only issue is it's completely dry.
- 19:37Speaker 1: Well too bad. It's not raining right now, you say,
- 19:42Speaker 1: I believe that should change momentarily, Spaceship says, from your watch,
- 19:49Speaker 1: my meteorological assessment tells me that it is ripe for
- 19:54Speaker 1: butter rain to start. In three two one. You feel
- 20:02Speaker 1: a small drop against your skin. You take a sniff,
- 20:07Speaker 1: and well, it smells like butter, butter and salt. Then
- 20:14Speaker 1: you hear more and more drops until it's pouring for
- 20:20Speaker 1: just a second around you, the rain stops just as
- 20:25Speaker 1: quickly as it started, and you find yourself sitting in
- 20:30Speaker 1: a field of perfectly seasoned butter salt popcorn. You reach
- 20:38Speaker 1: into the pile, grab a handful, and take a bite.
- 20:46Speaker 1: This is perfect, you say. Pop takes a few bites
- 20:52Speaker 1: as well. Um delicious. Plus, there's nothing like making your
- 21:00Speaker 1: own popcorn from scratch. It tastes even better that way. Man.
- 21:09Speaker 1: For the next few minutes, you Pop and Changer feast
- 21:15Speaker 1: on as much popcorn as you possibly can. This this
- 21:22Speaker 1: is the best popcorn I've ever had, you say. You
- 21:27Speaker 1: spend the afternoon flying from field to field. Pop breathes
- 21:32Speaker 1: fire again and again. Golden corn pops into white clouds
- 21:38Speaker 1: of popcorn, and well, Pop finally feels satisfied. He finally
- 21:47Speaker 1: feels like a real popcorn dragon. I wish I could
- 21:54Speaker 1: stay here forever, he says. You sit beside him. Eh,
- 22:01Speaker 1: I mean you could. It's not like you'd go hungry.
- 22:05Speaker 1: Pop's smile fades a bit. But I would miss my cave,
- 22:11Speaker 1: he says. And my friends, even the bigger dragons, they
- 22:20Speaker 1: are annoying, but they are still my family. That makes sense.
- 22:27Speaker 1: You say. Pop looks down at the popcorn between his claws.
- 22:33Speaker 1: I wish I could be in both places. Spaceship's voice
- 22:40Speaker 1: comes out of your watch once again. I may have
- 22:44Speaker 1: a solution, he says, A portal, uh portal. Yes, Spaceship answers,
- 22:55Speaker 1: we can build a portal here and another one on
- 22:59Speaker 1: your home planet, perhaps inside your cave. Then you would
- 23:04Speaker 1: be able to travel here anytime you wish. Pop lifts
- 23:10Speaker 1: his head whenever I want. Yes, Spaceship answers, Can we
- 23:19Speaker 1: really do that? He asks, We do it all the time.
- 23:25Speaker 1: In fact, we normally leave portals anywhere we travel. I
- 23:29Speaker 1: have already begun construction of one. Spaceship floats up in
- 23:35Speaker 1: the air and over towards where you and Pop are
- 23:39Speaker 1: sitting in a field surrounded by perfectly seasoned popcorn. Little
- 23:45Speaker 1: helper bots begin to fly out of the back of
- 23:48Speaker 1: the ship. Little helper bots carrying pieces of a portal.
- 23:55Speaker 1: They start to snap the portal together on a flat
- 23:58Speaker 1: patch of ground nearby where you're currently sitting, and weld
- 24:03Speaker 1: it together into pieces. After a very short time, Spaceship
- 24:09Speaker 1: announces portal complete at least on this side. Now we
- 24:15Speaker 1: must place the other portal on Pop's home planet. The
- 24:20Speaker 1: ship hovers down towards you and Pop Popcorn flies in
- 24:25Speaker 1: every direction. As the ship comes for a landing right
- 24:29Speaker 1: in front of you, you and Pop climb aboard. He
- 24:34Speaker 1: curls up on his giant dragon cushion as you sit
- 24:40Speaker 1: down in the command chair. The ship flies up out
- 24:45Speaker 1: through the atmosphere before jumping into super hyper drive once again.
- 24:53Speaker 1: After a short trip, the ship stops and you find
- 24:57Speaker 1: yourself flying above the Popcorn dragon planet. It's nighttime where
- 25:05Speaker 1: Pop lives now, and the fields glow softly under the moon.
- 25:11Speaker 1: As you come down for a landing, that's my cave
- 25:16Speaker 1: right there, Pop says, you land just outside it. The
- 25:23Speaker 1: back hatch opens up and Pop leads the way inside.
- 25:29Speaker 1: It's cozy with smooth stone walls, piles of soft straw,
- 25:36Speaker 1: and uh, well, a whole bunch of popcorn kind of everywhere.
- 25:43Speaker 1: This is my home. Pop says, it's nice. Then spaceship
- 25:51Speaker 1: begins sending helperbots inside. Helperbots carrying little pieces of the
- 25:58Speaker 1: portal that well, space is recently three D printed. They
- 26:03Speaker 1: snap them together into place, weld them up, and soon
- 26:09Speaker 1: the portal hums to life with a bright blue glow
- 26:13Speaker 1: that looks kind of like water. I am programming access now,
- 26:20Speaker 1: Spaceship says. The portal will only open for Pop, for
- 26:25Speaker 1: you and for any approved guests that Pop allows approved guests.
- 26:33Speaker 1: Pop asks, yes, that means you will be able to
- 26:39Speaker 1: decide whether or not to share this new planet. You
- 26:44Speaker 1: can tell your friends if you wish, or you can
- 26:47Speaker 1: keep it to yourself. Pop looks at the portal for
- 26:52Speaker 1: a long moment. He is quiet, Then he nods. I
- 26:59Speaker 1: think I will keep it a secret for now, he says,
- 27:06Speaker 1: not forever maybe, but for a little while. I want
- 27:12Speaker 1: to know what it feels like to be a true
- 27:17Speaker 1: popcorn dragon. Again. That sounds fair. Pop gently touches the
- 27:24Speaker 1: portal frame with one claw and the blue light disappears. Well,
- 27:32Speaker 1: you say, it's probably time that we should get out
- 27:36Speaker 1: of here. Thank you, Pop says, thank you for showing
- 27:42Speaker 1: me what it means to be a true popcorn dragon.
- 27:49Speaker 1: I hope to see you again. Pop curls up in
- 27:54Speaker 1: the corner of his cave on a bed of straw
- 27:58Speaker 1: and well, Popcorn, you wave goodbye and walk out of
- 28:03Speaker 1: the place. Changer, still the shape and size of a
- 28:08Speaker 1: small dragon with floppy ears, follows closely beside. You both
- 28:14Speaker 1: climb back onto the spaceship. Changer curls up on the
- 28:19Speaker 1: little cushion without his larger friend, and you lay down
- 28:24Speaker 1: on the couch. The ship lifts up off of the ground,
- 28:30Speaker 1: flies up through the butter salt clouds, and disappears into space.
- 28:38Speaker 1: You listen to the gentle hum of the ship. The
- 28:43Speaker 1: lights dim around you. You place your head down on
- 28:48Speaker 1: a pillow at the side of the couch, and you
- 28:52Speaker 1: simply close your eyes. With each breath, you start to
- 28:59Speaker 1: sink down into the couch, bit by bit, letting go
- 29:05Speaker 1: of any tension in your arms, any tension in your legs.
- 29:13Speaker 1: You release your shoulders, your neck, and even your face,
- 29:19Speaker 1: and with each breath you sink down deeper into the
- 29:23Speaker 1: couch and your mind begins to wander off to thoughts
- 29:30Speaker 1: of new dreams, new adventures, and well new types of
- 29:37Speaker 1: dragons to come. Good night everyone, M M M.
- 33:53Speaker 2: Never Union Sam in.
- 39:25Speaker 1: New yor.
- 40:53Speaker 2: More Union nom thing more game.
- 45:23Speaker 1: M M.
- 48:00Speaker 2: One one
- 50:00Speaker 1: M