In Space No One Here You Complain

Pluto is a massive ball of rock and ice hanging out in the Kuiper Belt and despite being only onesixth the size of Earth's moon, it is anywhere from 2.66 billion to 4.67 billion miles away. If travelling at the speed of light it wouldn't be much of a problem to get there, but imagine you're stuck in an engineering pod thats grants you a (notso)comfortable 10 square meters, or 107 square feet, of living space. Now imagine that the return journey won't take the lightspeed time of 10 hours-ish; but will take 5 years there and back

Now you know how Jemima Belafonte feels, welcome to Pod To Pluto

NUTRITION INFORMATION: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

Pod to Pluto is a sci-fi comedy podcast about the (mis)adventures of Jemima Belafone; an under appreciated "engineer" for the UK Space Agency, who instead of going home on her last day with the UK Space Agency ends up on a 5 year mission to Pluto in order to find out if the light was left on and switch it off. But she isn't alone, along the way she'll be accompanied by the AI of UK Space Agency Engineering Pod Number 46, the aptly named Pod. Along the way she'll encounter new friends, family, and new resaons to hate the people back home.

Pod to Pluto is a cleverly written and funny podcast which deliberately references both pop and modern culture as well as already established science fiction franchises such as Red Dwarf and Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Each episode is short and digestible but it doesn't feel like you're being cheated in anyway; short, funny, and filling, the perfect recipe for peopel who may not have a lot of time to listen to podcasts. There is currently not a lot of episodes, which combined with the short run time makes it perfect for a weekend binge. With new episodes coming out on a monthly basis, which gives you a plenty to not only binge the current episodes but let's you explore more from the makers as well as get excited for new episodes.

Good Points

• The writing is good, it's funny and clever. Just when you think that luck might go Jemima's way the script is completely flipped and turns things upside down, not that she'd be able to tell in the depths of space.
• The main character may be female but the show is not written in a way that makes her gender anything other than arbitrary; the show would work as well if the gender roles were swapped, which credits not only the writer's skill but the way the show is put together.
• It focusses a lot on social issues such as family troubles, work problems, and our over reliance on technology. The show also makes points about mental health and sexuality but in some subtle ways (and some that are about as subtle as a frying pan to the face).
• It's sci-fi and I do love me a bit of sci-fi, who doesn't like a good bit of sci-fi?

Bad Points

• It's short, which isn't a bad thing but it does sometimes leave you wanting more.
• The series' running gag is about the universe constantly making the lead character's life difficult via various ways can get a little tiresome. It makes you root for Jemima but you just wish the universe would take a dump on someone else for one, not that there isn't the odd bit of poetic justice in the series.
• It's not your typical sci-fi. Now that really isn't a bad thing but it does feel like it's missing a few classicla sci-fi elements. I'm not saying it needs phasers, warp drive or anything else; I just think it's missing something.
• there isn't more of it. With only 20-21 episodes at the time of writing this it makes me wish there was more

Conclusion

In the end this show is worth listening too, whether you are a seasoned sci-fi fan or are just looking or something light and funny to listen to whilst you wash the dishes. I highly recommend this show, especially if you're a fan of Douglas Adams and Red Dwarf

Pod to Pluto

Written by Peter Richard Adams

Directed & Edited by Petter Beeston

Starring

Laura England as Jemima Belafonte

Wayne Russell as Pod

Pip mason as The Announcer

Part of the Cornucopia Network, find out more at http://cornucopia-radio.co.uk