“Humanity’s final hope lies in terraforming a new world. A fleet of engineering ships are sent in advance of the colony ships sure to follow in their wake. But one lone ship becomes separated from the fleet and crash lands on an alien planet.”

Eli McIlveen and Sean Howard, the creators of the award winning Alba Salix and The End of Time and Other Brothers, have announced their newest project, Civilized, an improvised dark comedy sci-fi podcast.

“Civilized is a workplace drama superimposed on a pretty ridiculous premise,” says McIlveen. “Our four main characters are stranded after crash-landing on an alien planet, but they are still compelled to carry out their same old duties. They’re searching for meaning and purpose in a world that really points up how absurd our own day-to-day job descriptions and responsibilities can be.”

“The idea of settling another planet also raises the spectre of colonialism,” says Howard. “The world where our characters have landed is already a thriving ecosystem, and may have a native civilization of its own. What right do they have to make this place their home? As our story continues, we want to dig into those issues with the help of a diverse cast of guest improvisers.”

I was lucky enough to get a preview of the first episode of the podcast and am looking forward to hearing more. Fans of the team’s previous work will find the nature of the show refreshingly familiar. The improvised dialogue between the characters helps make the show feel natural, like The End of Time and Other Bothers without the rolls or narration. There are 12 episodes scheduled per season, with episodes ranging between 12-15 minutes in length.

We’re introduced to the four main characters of the show: Bob (Sean Howard), the Captain (Mbula Enobong), Beatrix (Kristi Boulton), and Bartholomew (Michael Divinski). The episode I listened to focused on improvised shelters, strange rain, and reorganized ship layouts. 

Things go south, and the show demonstrates it’s leaning toward horror, specifically body horror in the first episode. This is the group’s first time dabbling in horror, and they’re committed to including content warnings on every episode. Even so, the show is still a comedy, and the horror itself is a well-earned comedic beat. 

The audio design of the episode was also very impressive. Since the entire show is improvised, the sound design is added in afterward to complement the improv (a strategy used in many well-produced actual play and improvised podcasts, such as Join the Party and Hello From The Magic Tavern). The sound of the rain in the first scene helped paint the scene before anyone started speaking. The highlight of sound design in the episode was the previously mentioned body horror. Not to get into spoilers, but it was squishy and sizzly in just the right ways to feel realistically terrifying but not distracting to the actors’ comedic performances. 

All of this was funny on it’s own, but the twist at the end made me really excited for future episodes. I don’t want to spoil it, but it sets up a mystery that also encourages the show’s improvisers to take dangerous risks with their characters.

This is the first science fiction show from the team, as well as the first show not set in the same universe as Alba Salix. This is the first show to be launched under Fable and Folly Productions, the Alba Salix teams’s new podcast production group. 

When asked about the formation of Fable and Folly Productions, Howard said that they created the group to present a more professional and polished look to their work in audio fiction. He stated, “We also want to make a living as audio fiction creators. And with the release of Civilized, we found ourselves in a bit of a quandary. How do we represent this growing list of shows we are producing? Is it just Eli and Sean (in our basement) or is there an entity that people can begin to associate with the quality we work so hard to achieve. And can we leverage this entity to create more opportunities for ourselves and others within our industry? We believe so. So we set out to launch Fable and Folly Productions.”

Fable and Folly Productions is just one of the many independent podcast groups that have recently formed, alongside Multitude, The Whisperforge, and Atypical Artists.

The Civilized is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere podcasts are found. You can also check out https://civilizedpod.com/ for more information about the show, including links to their press kit and Patreon. 

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