Somnium - Crossover with Midnight Burger

March 1, 2024·58 min·4 clips

Kozlowski argues to Katarina Kepler that Johannes Kepler's 'Somnium' was not fiction but a son's tribute to a mother he still saw as magical — and that honoring that vision means going to the moon.

1. 'Somnium' is a standalone crossover episode of The Amelia Project and the sci-fi comedy podcast Midnight Burger, set in contemporary London and on an alien planet accessed through the diner's deep freeze. 2. The episode features Hemi Yeroham as Kozlowski, Alan Bergen as the interviewer, Julia C. Thorne as Alvina, Susie Suarez as Gloria, Tom Moorman as Leif, Joe Fisher as Casper, and Anna Maria Everett as Katarina Kepler. 3. The episode is written by Joe Fisher, Øystein Ølsberg-Braga, and Philip Thorne, co-produced by Imploding Fictions (Amelia Project) and Business Goose Media (Midnight Burger). 4. The Midnight Burger diner appears from nowhere in Piccadilly Circus, apparently drawing Kozlowski to it through what he describes as 'a disturbance in the air' similar to approaching weather. 5. The Midnight Burger crew — who include a 173-year-old cook named Caspar, a theoretical physicist named Ava, and a pair of officiants named Effie and Zebulon who travel in the radio — are confused why the diner landed in London. 6. Kozlowski and his colleagues debate whether to reveal the Amelia Project's existence, ultimately voting to do so because 'an unorthodox situation might call for an unorthodox approach.' 7. The Midnight Burger crew has independently been discussing their passenger problem and joking that what they need is 'some kind of secret society that disappears people' — which is the precise description Kozlowski then delivers as his reveal. 8. Their passenger is Katarina Kepler, mother of Johannes Kepler, rescued from Leonberg's 1615-21 witch trials by the diner but unable to choose where to start her new life. 9. In the Leonberg trials, fifteen women were accused; eight were executed publicly while crowds laughed, and Katarina survived because Johannes spent five years traveling across Europe to defend her. 10. Kozlowski identifies Katarina's refusal as survivor's guilt — the inability to embrace a fresh start when others who shared her circumstances did not survive to do so. 11. The Midnight Burger crew explains that Katarina does not age while on the diner due to gravitational time dilation but that once she leaves to start a new life, she will die soon, as Johannes documented after she was freed historically. 12. When asked to name her ideal destination, Katarina demands 'Livania' — the fictional moon city from Johannes Kepler's 1608 book 'Somnium,' the same story that circulated as fact and triggered her witch trial. 13. Midnight Burger crewmember Caspar reveals that there is an actual city on the dark side of the moon, a settlement that started as a relay station and grew into a small town; other crew members cannot stop laughing at his persistent confusion about why the 'dark side' is always dark. 14. The plan: Kozlowski will physically transform Katarina — strengthening her bones, muscles, and making her eyes photochromic — while Leif and Ava work with Alvina's contact Salvatore to build a stasis pod. 15. The pod will be smuggled onto an ESA spacecraft contributing to the Artemis moon mission's orbital station, then Katarina will be dropped to the lunar surface in the stasis chamber and picked up by Moon City. 16. The episode's Kepler history is accurate: Johannes Kepler wrote 'Somnium' as a fictional illustration of heliocentrism; it circulated as real, leading to accusations that his mother was a witch; Kepler defended her for years. 17. Midnight Burger's radio hosts Effie and Zebulon provide a theological perspective when Katarina asks what God says about a fugitive searching for home — Zebulon cites the story of Ruth, the Moabite refugee whose fidelity 'gave birth to kings.' 18. The episode maintains a warm, comedic register throughout, using the Caspar/dark-side-of-the-moon running joke and the Midnight Burger crew's relatable confusion about the Amelia Project as counterweight to the emotionally heavy Katarina storyline. 19. Fans of either podcast, or anyone who enjoys comedic crossovers built around genuine historical characters and clever science fiction premises, will find this episode a rewarding entry point to both shows. 20. Listeners unfamiliar with either podcast's ongoing storylines can follow this episode fully; it is explicitly framed as standalone and does not depend on prior context from either series.

As heard by us

A crossover about a tiny traveling diner, a rescue, and a historical wrong that lands with more heart than fuss.

The crossover works best when it stays small and simple: a tiny, dimension-spanning diner, a rescue mission, and a group of lovable misfits trying to help someone find a new life.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want a crossover that knows exactly how wild a dimension-spanning rescue should sound.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from The Amelia Project