“1500 years after Ancestors from Earth colonised planet SP714, countries have divided, risen, fallen, and been consumed by larger, stronger nations. Just off the coast of Xenos, the island of Rone has spent 12 long years fighting for independence against the nationalist Xenosi government.
In the hopes of ending the war once and for all, the Xenosi Prime Minister, Tazenik, purchases an experimental missile from Dex Industries, the notorious weapons corporation. This missile lays waste to Rone, wiping out all life and turning the landscape to fine grey dust.
Following this devastating event, Captain Sarra Sax and her Unit of specialised Mecha Pilots are the only soldiers capable of exploring this new Wasteland. Together, they search for survivors… and find answers.”
Produced by Chris Gregory for The Alternative Stories and Fake Realities podcast and written by Emily Inkpen, Wasteland is a short spin-off audio drama to their main BSFA Award-winning series The Dex Legacy. Wasteland takes us back to the events of the very first episode of Season One, Episode One of the main show and both share the same episode title – The Bomb. Wasteland therefore gives listeners the opportunity to go back to the beginning and explore world events from a different perspective. Although the stories are set in a shared universe, the first thing I noticed was the tone of Wasteland is completely different to its parent show.
For starters, Captain Sarra Sax (played convincingly by Marie-Claire Wood) and her unit are… well… normal. Believe me, after listening to the psychopaths running Dex Industries this makes a refreshing change. Whilst the situation Capt. Sax and her soldiers find themselves in is, as the title suggests, pretty grim, this is a story about how decent people handle one of the darkest days in the history of Planet SP714.
I enjoyed the warmth and camaraderie between Sax and Lieutenant Quentin Tiriz (Karim Kronfli), Sergent Treva Ezran (George Stagnell) and Sergent Yzeri Vorsinza (Sophie Macnair). The actors give you a real sense that this group has a shared history and they look out for one another. The scenes where Sax’s unit explores what is left of Rone are interspersed with the fast-moving politics back at home in Xenos. Sax’s commander, General Zerakin, satisfyingly voiced by Sarah Golding, has to ably play both sides of the incoming and outgoing government administrations. Golding plays her foul-mouthed and canny part brilliantly, and she pretty much steals the show in every scene she’s in – no small feat considering the quality of the professional cast.
Allen Stroud, who also wrote the music for The Dex Legacy, provides a brilliant original soundtrack for the show. I was also hugely impressed with the soundscape created for Wasteland. This is a sci-fi show about giant 30-foot mecha units and the production makes you believe they are real. The sounds perfectly convey the noise and weight of these mighty machines. You can hear the engines roar and the gears and mechanisms shift with each movement. The production also brings the action scenes to life, so in your imagination you can clearly see missiles flying around and wince as bullets ping off armour and pulverise concrete.
All in all, I had tremendous fun listening to this mini-series comprising three full-length episodes of around 35-40 minutes each, plus a shorter prologue, two interludes and an epilogue you don’t want to miss. Wasteland demonstrates the high quality of Emily Inkpen’s writing and I think it has huge potential – it definitely deserves its own full-length show.
You can listen to Wasteland here on your preferred streaming platform – https://pod.link/1790863463
