Robots, ghosts, and giant bees!
Escape From Planet Death is a podcast written and produced by students and faculty members of Brigham Young University in Utah. It is a production written by the faculty mentored students (FMS) of the department of theatre and media arts (TMA). The series consists of 10 episodes, ranging in length from about 11 to 17 minutes.
The podcast is about what happened after the end of the world. Following the Earth’s core heating and the planet becoming uninhabitable, a pair of ships were launched in hopes of preserving humanity. The story begins on one of those ships as it makes its way to the colony that was established on the planet Genesis. During this trip, however, the protocols of the X-12 command robot, Ulysses, were switched, leading to the bot going on a murderous rampage in hopes of protecting the colony and having a parade.
Working to stop this is a group of bureaucrats called the Friendship Delegation and an NK robot nicknamed Nick. As the group crash-lands on the planet, the story takes a turn into a surreal horror-adjacent place as members of the Friendship Delegation work to stop Ulysses, save the few remaining members of the colony (as well as the second transport ship), and escape Genesis, which, as Nick realizes, is the planet of the dead.
For a small, student-run production, the podcast feels very professional with good sound mixing, high-quality voice performance, and a lush sound design. The audio is crisp and clear, and lines are clearly spoken and enunciated while maintaining a high level of consistent voice quality and characterization. In addition, all of the voices sound distinct, leading to little confusion on which character is speaking, even if you don’t know or can’t recall the character’s name. The podcast is also bookended by narration that feels reminiscent of old radio dramas, which harkens back to the 1938 broadcast of H. G. Wells’s novel The War of the Worlds by Orson Welles.
The writing is left in an awkward position. There is a high level of characterization in the script — each character has their own distinct way of saying things. The writing is also quite funny, allowing for a breath of air during some of the story’s heavier beats and darker ideas. However, there is a level of polish that the writing lacks, particularly in that some dialogue can feel unnatural. In some cases, characters will discuss things purely for the benefit of the audience who don’t have a visual reference or a shared history with these characters.
The story, similarly, strikes an odd note. While it’s more or less a straightforward narrative, the amount of information that is given to the audience at one time can feel overwhelming and leave the listener in a state of confusion. While the characters’ voices are easily distinguishable, names are rarely used, leaving you to try and match their voices from context clues. The story is not groundbreaking but has a level of mystery that makes it very unique.
While there are no content warnings provided by the hosts of the podcasts, there is content that not all listeners will be able to handle. While the soundscape is often beautiful and haunting, there are many sudden noise shifts that caused me anxiety and led to panic attacks, so if you are sensitive to sound, maybe skip this one. In addition, there is a streak of body horror that is described in detail, as well as several moments where one of the characters is audibly vomiting.
In all, Escape From Planet Death is a story-based podcast with pretty good writing and excellent sound design. Characters are incredibly endearing, and the larger narrative is interesting, exploring themes of intense grief and shame associated with past actions that lead to emotionally gripping moments. The ending strikes a balance between haunting open-endedness and narrative and thematic resolution.
