WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Archive 81, now streaming on Netflix.
It's become somewhat of a hit these past two years to base series off of podcasts, which have become widely popular in the last decade. Apple TV+ recently took The Shrink Next Door to the next level as a miniseries starring Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd, and now Archive 81's drop on Netflix brings new light to the art of audio mediums. The Netflix original series is adapted from the podcast of the same name but has a few key differences that the hardcore podcast fans won't be too happy about.
Daniel Powell and Marc Sollinger created the found footage horror podcast and was inspired by the likes of The X Files and novels of Jeff VanderMeer. Respectively, Powell and Sollinger voice Dan and Mark, the main characters they loosely based off of themselves. Now, as co-producers of the Netflix series, they have a chance to explore the visual counterparts of their characters and story. No doubt some changes had to be made, but some seem quite unnecessary in the scheme of things.
Melody's Sexuality Is Different in Netflix's Archive 81
Melody is the leading lady of both the show and the podcast as the creator of the tapes back in 1994, which Dan works to restore over 20 years later. One key difference about Melody is her different love interests that completely straight-washes her sexuality. In the podcast, Melody has a wife named Alexa who even kills a man to open a doorway to find Melody. Without this knowledge, it would seem fine that the show is pursuing a Melody and Dan relationship in the future, but now it seems like the show is deliberately avoiding a key part of Melody's life in the podcast.
In addition to this needless change, Melody is more of a damsel in distress than anything. Once Dan figures out that Melody is alive in the Otherworld, she becomes a catalyst for his heroic arc that he claims is "what his father would've done." Melody became an object of men's progression, in both the romantic and platonic way and it takes away from her better podcast counterpart.
Netflix's Archive 81 Swaps Audio Cassettes for VHS
This was a given considering the medium change, but it's worth noting that Dan restores Melody's audio tapes in the podcast, rather than VHS tapes. It's easier to watch Melody's life and psyche fall apart as Dan's also crumbles the same while experiencing the horror of the tapes. It has its own unique creepiness to it as the podcast does, and sets the two projects apart as their own respective stories. Netflix may have also had a say in the change, considering one of their biggest and most controversial shows, 13 Reasons Why, uses cassette tapes as a way of recounting the past and haunting the present.
Christian Theology Is New for Netflix's Archive 81
In the show, Christianity and Satanism are the cornerstones of uncovering the Vos Society cult and their devotion to the demon Kaelego. Dark magic and witches make up for unanswered questions that the main characters have, but one key difference is that the podcast doesn't really use Christianity as a theme. The podcast focuses more on the unknown in the cosmic world that holds their gods and kingdoms, making the characters feel much more insignificant in the vastly larger world. Netflix's Archive 81 taps into Melody's childhood in the church and uses that to make connections to her paranoia towards the church, especially when a priest performs an exorcism on Jess.
To find more differences the show made from the podcast, stream Archive 81 on Netflix.