The Planet of Living Toys - Spaceship 339 - A Bedtime Story

0:04 Hello, friends from across the nation and around the world. I'm Martin, and you are listening to Dad's Bedtime Stories, the podcast that takes listener ideas and turns them into bedtime stories. And today, we're going to do exactly that. So let's check out the voicemail.

0:25 Hi, my name is Thomas, and I am from Red Deer County, Alberta. I would like to request a spaceship story about a toy planet. where you create your own toys and they come to life and do what their creators tell them to. Then Rex comes and makes his own robot T-Rex toys and battles your toys. Thanks, I love your podcast. I listen to it every night.

0:56 Excellent idea, Thomas. I think we can make that happen. Before we get started, I do want to thank some of my newest Patreon sponsors, though. As you know, if you want ad-free versions of the podcast, they're always available on Patreon, and I post things as soon as I record them. Patreon supporters are really the lifeblood of the podcast, so I always like to give them shoutouts when they join.

1:22 To start off with, I'd like to thank Theo. Theo's apparently five years old and listens to all of the spaceship episodes, so I've been waiting for a spaceship episode to shout him out. Thanks, Theo. Second, I'd like to shout out Rory. Rory's apparently been an avid listener for ages now. So it sounds like you've probably heard a lot of my stories, Rory, and I really appreciate the support from you and your family. Thank you very much.

1:54 If you want to support the podcast... There's lots of ways to do it. Rate it and review it. That always helps other people find it. Share it with a friend, which obviously helps other people find it. Or you can join us on Patreon for ad-free episodes. Or you can just, you know, continue listening. And, well, you might get an ad from time to time. Like this possible one. Time to close your eyes. Get as comfy as you can in that bed. And imagine yourself doing what the kid in the story does. Imagine yourself waking up on spaceship. Alert, alert, spaceship announces. What is it, you ask as you sit up in bed and swing your legs over the side.

2:48 I believe I have discovered a very interesting planet. What's so interesting about it? you ask. Well, my scans show thousands, possibly even millions of moving objects. However, there are no signs of biological life. Is it a robot planet or something then? you ask. I do not believe it is specifically a robot planet. But my scans show something very close to that. The shapes, sizes, and behavior of the inhabitants of the planet suggest it is actually a toy planet.

3:37 A planet of toys? Yes. Like living toys? Yes. Alright, that seems pretty cool. Set a course. Understood.

3:51 Understood.

3:53 The spaceship shifts a little bit and jumps to super hyperdrive once again. You get up, get dressed, have some breakfast from the replicator, and eventually spaceship arrives. It drops out of super hyperdrive in front of, well, a very interesting and very colorful looking planet. You sit down in the captain's chair, grab a hold of the controls, and fly the ship down through the atmosphere and below the clouds.

4:35 You soon see giant building blocks that are formed into what look like a mountain. You see roads made of gigantic interlocking track pieces. You see wind-up trees that are slowly turning around, enormous colorful gears spinning on the ground, rivers with toy boats and little sailing ships floating around happily.

5:07 You find a little toy city, for lack of a better word, or at least a little toy castle, and you decide to land there. You carefully set down beside the huge castle surrounded by a pile of toys. The back hatch opens and you step outside. The ground is rather plain, almost entirely white, but it's covered with all kinds of colorful toys. All kinds of toy building blocks making up little houses surrounding you Duplo-like blocks, Lego-like blocks, and roads made of all sorts of different things. Interlocking toy pieces, Lego building blocks, and any other kind of toy you could imagine. Toys immediately start walking towards you.

6:12 Living toys. You see a wooden cowboy riding a spring-loaded horse. A wind-up penguin that looks like it's dressed as a detective. A plush octopus with all sorts of different tentacles. A remote-control monster truck that zooms up beside you and looks over. A tiny plastic knight riding a battery-powered dinosaur. Which looks like a lot of fun, honestly. There's a teddy bear doctor with a stethoscope. A jack-in-the-box who, well, is currently out of the box and looking around. A set of building block people that, you know, have arms and legs and keep rearranging themselves into different formations. And a rubber chicken that looks like it's dressed as a scientist. The cowboy rides its springy horse over towards you. Well, hello there. Now,

7:21 I don't mean to act too excited or anything, but are you a toy creator? Uh, a what, you ask, since you have no idea what a toy creator is. Well, you see, everything on this planet was created by a toy creator. visitors who made their way to this planet. You see, we toys can't really make new toys. We can repair ourselves and each other. We can build houses out of toys that are already here. We can operate machines, and sometimes we can even modify existing toys with existing toy parts. But there is one thing we simply cannot do.

8:20 We do not have the ability to create new toys. Only toy creators, visitors from other planets and other places are able to do that. So, well, the reason we're all gathered around you is because, well, it looks like you're from another planet and, well, that means you just might be a toy creator. Uh, I mean, I don't know if I'm a toy creator. What makes someone a toy creator? How can you find out? Well, the only way to truly find out is to see if you can use the toy creation tools in the toy creation studio. Uh, I mean, I'm willing to give it a shot, you say? Oh, I hope it works. Follow me. The cowboy climbs back atop his horse and starts springing over towards the castle.

9:32 You follow behind. The doors to the castle open up, revealing a gigantic courtyard with little toy parts spread all over the place and a gigantic computer screen sitting in the middle. Beside it is a large circular platform of some kind. Well, this here is the toy creation computer. From our understanding, there's a couple ways to create toys.

10:06 First of all, you got your drawing mode, where you can just draw whatever you can imagine and the toy computer will kind of put it together into something real and Well, try its best to create it. Then, you got the parts mode, where you can flip through pre-existing parts, snap them together, modify them, that sort of thing. Finished toys are created over here on the creation pad. You look over at the creation pad again, the large circular platform, and, well, You see that it actually looks like the platform for a gigantic 3D printer. Maybe that's how this thing works. Well, you want to try? They ask. So you step up to the computer. What do I do exactly? Well, just place your hand on the computer. If it reacts, you

11:13 are in fact... A toy creator. You step up to the computer. You carefully reach your hand out towards it and place it on the screen. The screen immediately activates and, well, beeps. The toys all cheer as soon as it does.

11:36 It's true.

11:37 You are a toy creator. Well, what are you waiting for? Start creating. You look through the menu. As the, well, little cowboy explained, there are two giant buttons to start with. One that says Drawing Mode, and the other that says Parts Mode. You decide to click on Parts Mode first. The screen almost explodes into a series of different options.

12:13 different icons for different types of toys, different parts of toys, different colors of toys. You start flipping through the screens until you come across what looks like robot parts. You start to drag the parts over to the side. A robot head, robot arms, robot body, robot legs. But when you're finished and they all snap together on the screen, honestly, the robot looks a little bit boring. If only it could do something more exciting. You continue flipping through the menu until you find, well, little jet engines. Jet engines would go well on a robot, so you drag them over and place them on the robot's back. Then you find wings. And, well, basically the blueprints for a jet.

13:15 Maybe you could combine them together. You continue to drag over parts from the jet. Jet wings, whatever the front of the jet's called, the landing gear. They all snap into place behind the robot. You then notice a little box at the bottom that says... creation instructions. You decide that maybe you can put some instructions about exactly what you're imagining here to help it put the little toy together properly. You begin to type. You give the computer instructions to make the robot and jet into a sort of transforming robot. One that can transform from Robot form into jet form at will. Then you move your hand over to the create button. You press it down and the machine whirs to life. A huge robot arm begins

14:24 to 3D print the structure. Layer by layer by layer the robot slowly comes to life. It looks like a standing little humanoid robot at first, with wings on its back. When the creator's done, the robot flashes with light and opens its eyes. Hello, it says. What am I? Uh, you're a toy robot, you say? I just created you.

15:04 You're supposed to be able to turn into a jet. Interesting. Let me try, the robot says. It crouches down, jumps up in the air, and immediately transforms into a toy jet plane that blasts off into the air and flies around in circles. It comes in for a landing beside you, tips upward, transforms back into a robot, and and lands on the ground. That was very interesting. I believe I work as intended. You sure do. Well, that there is sure a nifty creation, the cowboy says. Any chance you'd, you know, create a couple more toys? We haven't had more toys around here for a while.

16:01 I guess so.

16:03 You go back to the screen and, well, you start creating again. This time you find a toy car frame and a whole bunch of toy car parts. It could be cool to create a life-size toy car, so you start dragging parts onto it. Huge rubber wheels, suspension, jump boosters for speed. A roll cage just in case. Headlights.

16:36 A horn that says it has ridiculous sound effects. One of those giant sets of bars for the front of the car that looked like they'd allow it to crash into things. And, of course, some, you know, toy weapons. Toy lasers. Toy rocket launchers. It probably isn't necessary, but they look kind of cool. When you're finished, you write in the toy creation bit again. You explain that you want a very fast toy car, one with a, you know, excited personality. You hit the create button, and once again the machine starts to, well, print the toy, layer by layer by layer until... A really cool dune buggy looking toy is sitting right there. Its headlights open up like eyes and it turns around to look at you. Well,

17:41 hello there. I... I... I'm alive. Uh, yeah, you are. What am I? It asks. You're a car. A toy car.

17:56 Well.

17:57 A giant toy car. Honestly, I'm not really sure what the difference between you and a full-sized car are, but you're a car. Huh, a car. I like being a car. It zips forward and jumps off the platform. Then it gives itself a little test run and blasts around the castle in a circle. This is really fun. Huh. Wowzers, the cowboy says. Two new toys in one day. I can't even imagine how excited the other toys are going to be about this. And a chance you'd make. You know, just one more toy? Why not? You answer and immediately start flipping through the menu again. This time you find a section for toy soldiers. You start snapping different parts together, legs, arms, torso, head, as well as all of the soldier equipment it might need.

19:05 Serious looking body armor, some ninja weapons of course, some laser blasters, and a really cool helmet. You decide to color the entire thing black and you begin writing in the creation instructions to ensure that the toy is well versed in all sorts of martial arts and combat. Someone who can become a protector for the toys. You hit the create button and slowly the toy ninja soldier thing is built from the feet up. With a flash of light, the toy comes to life. and looks down at you. Hello.

19:55 What am I? Uh, well, you're a toy. A ninja toy protector of all of the other toys, you say? Your job is to keep them safe from any possible threat. I understand and accept. The toy, Ninja Soldier says. It jumps into the air, performs a perfect front flip, and lands on the ground beside you. Now, what would you like me to do? How shall I protect? It asks.

20:35 You begin to think about that when the clouds above you start to part. That's strange, you say, looking up at them. Alert, alert, Spaceship says from your watch. I am detecting a known enemy. Rex, or possibly a Rex clone, is approaching. You look up to see a huge T-Rex-shaped spaceship, at least the pet of a T-Rex. It floats down through the clouds and lowers itself directly over top of the castle. What this time, you say out loud, as huge mechanical tentacles shoot down from the ship. and connect themselves to the toy creation computer. Well, well, well, a voice says from the ship. Are you trying to have fun without me? That's not allowed. You watch the screen on the toy creation computer come to life. You watch

21:51 as different parts start snapping themselves together on the screen. Robot Legs. Robot arms. Robot dinosaur bodies. Robot dinosaur heads. You immediately realize what Rex is doing. Creating the template for a Robo-T-Rex toy. Other Robo-T-Rexes appear on the screen beside it. Multiple T-Rexes at the same time. You didn't even know that was possible. Then the machine begins to print them, quicker than you can do anything to stop it.

22:37 Before long, ten robotic T-Rexes stand on the toy creation platform. They open their eyes, which are of course glowing bright red. The tentacles detach from the creation computer.

22:56 Well.

22:57 Have fun, Rex says before blasting back off into the atmosphere. What are we gonna do? The toy cowboy asks as the T-Rexes begin to jump off of the platform and, well, roar and generally scare the toys backward. Uh, I think we're gonna have to fight back. You say, pressing the button on your watch, causing your spacesuit's armor to fold out and around your body. I understand, the ninja warrior says, immediately jumping out in front of you, drawing two katanas from its back. One of the robotic toys roars, and...

23:52 The ninja warrior's swords move with incredible speed. When they're done, the robot's arms fall off, the robot's legs fall off, and the torso of the T-Rex simply falls onto the ground. Its mouth continues to roar, but it obviously can't do anything. Oh, good job, you say?

24:19 Everybody.

24:21 I think it's safest if we incapacitate those T-Rex bots. Do whatever you can. Understood. The robot jet transforming thing says it jumps into the air, transforms into a jet, loops up in a circle, and dive bombs down, dropping several toy missiles towards the T-Rexes. The missiles explode into huge piles of goop, capturing two of the T-Rexes in a, well, a giant pile of goop that they can't move from.

25:05 The T-Rexes say, The toy car blasts around in a circle, spinning around the courtyard to build up speed. Then it heads straight for one of the little T-Rex dinosaurs and smashes straight into it, sending it flying into the wall of the castle. As it hits, it sparks and then collapses. The car activates its laser weapons and blasts them, Though, to your surprise, lasers don't shoot out. Instead, a huge plume of water blasts out of the cannons and sends the T-Rex robots flying in all different directions. Before they can get up, the ninja warrior jumps into place, slices through the air with his katana, and, once again... quickly demobilizes the T-Rex robots by removing their robot arms and robot legs. With only one T-Rex robot left, you and

26:17 the others surround him. The car spins up aside and points its giant, well, water cannons at the thing. The Jed hovers above, and the ninja warrior flips into place with his swords drawn. The T-Rex looks at all three of them and then, well, it immediately just deactivates itself and falls over on its side. All of the toys cheer. Well, that was a good job there. It's just too bad the toys aren't around to, well, become part of the society.

27:01 Maybe we can fix that, you say? looking over at the toy computer. Let's collect them and put them on the platform. I think I have an idea. Quickly, the toys gather the T-Rexes, along with any of the body parts that, you know, might have been removed by the ninja warrior. They place the broken or deactivated T-Rex robots on the platform, and you head over to the computer.

27:32 you immediately notice that the computer has a new icon. Repair. You press the repair icon and a new menu pops up, showing all of the T-Rexes and their broken parts. Once again, there's a little creation instruction box. You begin typing into it, giving it a command to reconstruct the robots exactly as they were, only with more agreeable personalities, friendlier if you will.

28:08 You hit the create button, and immediately the little arm whirs to life, picking up robot parts, snapping them back together, printing any missing pieces, until all ten T-Rex robots have been completely reconstructed. They flash with light once again, and open their now glowing blue eyes. They look around, jump off the platform, move towards the other toys, but instead of attacking, they gently push their heads up against them, like cats that want to be scratched.' Welcome, toys,' the ninja warrior says. scratching one of the robot dinosaurs on the side of its head. Welcome to our society. You spend the rest of the day hanging out with the living toys. You take a ride around in the gigantic toy car. But eventually, it starts to get late. Well, everyone,

29:20 I think I should probably be, you know, heading off. I've got places to go. I understand, the cowboy says. Well, from all of us, thank you for creating some new toys. If you ever want to come back and create more, please feel free. Thanks, you say. Maybe I will. You climb aboard the ship and wave goodbye as it lifts up into the air. The back hatch closes and the ship blasts up through the clouds again. Out of the atmosphere and into space once again. You head directly towards your bedroom. You open up the door. You lay down on the bed and pull the covers up to your chin.

30:18 You close your eyes and with every breath you allow yourself to sink down deeper into and deeper into the mattress. You let go of any tension in your arms, your legs, your shoulders, your neck, and with each breath, you sink down a little bit deeper, and your mind starts to wander off to thoughts of new dreams, new adventures, and new toys to come. Good night, everyone.

31:40 You you Thank you.

34:19 Thank you. Thank you.

37:13 Thank you.

37:53 Thank you.

38:47 Amen. Thank you. Thank you.

42:20 Thank you.

43:28 Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

45:54 Thank you.

47:52 Thank you. Thank you.

49:27 You Thank you.

51:26 Thank you.

52:08 Thank you. Thank you.