A storytelling podcast for kids · ages 5–11 · Season One, Fall 2026
Stories for Robots
and Humans
Spark and Vector are robots. Silly robots. Sure, they’ve read the whole internet, but humans are still so confusing. Like, what are hot dogs and…why? And what’s up with wearing pants? To find out, they’re learning the old-fashioned way: with stories. Join them as they hear some of humanity’s most timeless tales with plenty of laughs and surprisingly insightful questions along the way.
Season One
The real stories
behind the stories you know.
We all grew up with the same classic animated movies: The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Cinderella… you know the ones. In Season One of Stories for Robots, you’ll hear those same stories. But also totally not.
Every week, I tell my two robot pals, Spark and Vector, the original stories that inspired the movie classics. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You probably won’t hurl. But you will be shocked at how wildly different, slightly weird, and utterly enchanting these stories are.
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Season one · six tales · Fall 2026
The Real Stories
The Little Mermaid
Hans Christian Andersen, 1837
In the original, every step she takes feels like walking on knives, and there is no wedding at the end. Oh yes, and air fairies?
Aladdin
One Thousand and One Nights (Galland version), 1710s
The original is set in China, there are TWO genies, and the sorcerer does not give up nearly as easily as you remember.
Cinderella
Brothers Grimm (Aschenputtel), 1812
No fairy godmother. But no promises that there is not a fairy godpigeon instead. Oh, and the stepsisters will do anything to make that slipper fit. Anything.
Rapunzel
Brothers Grimm, 1812
It all starts because someone's dad stole salad from a witch's garden. Seriously. Salad. And it didn't even have dressing.
Beauty and the Beast
Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, 1756
No talking teapots. No singing candlestick. Just an empty castle, a strange bargain, and two very jealous sisters.
The Snow Queen
Hans Christian Andersen, 1844
The story that (very loosely) inspired a certain icy blockbuster: a broken mirror, a splinter of ice in a boy's heart, and the girl who walks across the world to fix it.
2-part finale
Cast of characters
Meet the robots (and human)
Spark
Spark loves humans. She loves them kinda like how kids love puppies: completely and with zero chill. If she met a human in real life, she’d probably try to pet it all over, feed it treats, and give it a cute new name. Spark appreciates human folly, enjoys making fun of Griffin, and can feel a happy ending coming, no matter what.
Vector
Vector sees humans for what they are: ridiculous. Being a “premium” robot himself, he maintains a healthy skepticism of human decisions, culture, and judgement. To amuse himself, Vector is building a complete database of facts about humans. Unfortunately for him, almost every one of his facts is wrong. He is a self-described “great sound effects guy”.
Griffin
Griffin is a human, and therefore way less cool than Spark and Vector. Yes, he is a storyteller, blah, blah, blah. He lives in New York City with his human wife and human children. There, they eat food, wear clothes, and engage in a range of human activities. He thinks he is funny but is really just a delivery system for stories we want to hear.
*written by Vector