Space survival drama whose feed samples a studio's fiction
VAST Horizon is a voice-acted space survival drama, but its recent episodes point elsewhere. They introduce horror on a frozen sea, a cursed boar's quest, a memory mystery set in Cruxmont and two Realm science fiction series, and a relaxed ten-year anniversary talk from Fool and Scholar Productions sits among them.
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VAST Horizon is a science fiction audio drama about survival far from home, centred on Nolira and a ship's AI that serves as her companion. Its recent feed, though, looks outward. The episodes in the current window introduce other audio fiction, and together they play like a showreel. Three come from Fool and Scholar Productions. Shores of the Silver Thrum is a season of Dark Dice, an improvised horror adventure, and it loses a ship of wayward adventurers on a frozen sea during the polar night. Its excerpt lingers on creaking ropes, a warping hull and a wildly inaccurate map. The introduction names VAST Horizon, alongside The White Vault and Liberty, as a source of its voice cast. The Boar Knight is gentler. A boar named Nathaniel, cursed to take human form at each full moon, sets out to find a cure, and a tavern bard offers the old ballad of the Old Bear King. Don't Mind Cruxmont turns darker again. It is a limited series whose show notes carry content warnings, and it follows Dr. Kingston's return visits to Adelaide, whose clarity comes and goes, along with a family plum orchard in Cruxmont. Two more introductions come from Realm. Echo Park, starring Harry Shum Jr., follows a detective through a sweltering Los Angeles where clones called Echoes are disappearing. Marigold Breach, starring Jameela Jamil and Manny Jacinto, sets a crash and a firefight against a planet called Elam. Then there is the anniversary episode. Travis Vengroff and K.A. Statz mark ten years as Fool and Scholar Productions in an easy, self-mocking conversation. They trace the start to wanting a creative outlet while one of them was at university. They laugh about feeling old, and older still for having started on TikTok. They mention translating ten episodes of Liberty Tales from the Tower into Japanese, along with new Dark Dice and Don't Mind work. They also describe re-editing early interviews during an RSS migration and hearing them praise podcasting technology that now sounds dated. The credits on these episodes are long and specific, naming sound design, mixing, mastering, orchestration and music, which shows where much of the effort goes. A listener who wants to meet the people behind the studio should start with the anniversary talk. One who wants something lighter has The Boar Knight.
Made for: Suits a listener who enjoys voice-acted genre fiction and likes to sample widely, from horror at sea and a cursed-boar fable to clone mysteries, with a studio's own look back at ten years of podcasting mixed in.
What sets it apart: The recent feed works less as a single serial than as a guided sampler. It pairs introductions to Fool and Scholar Productions and Realm dramas with a relaxed anniversary conversation from Travis Vengroff and K.A. Statz about a decade of podcasting.
Nolira is an agronomist tasked with establishing agriculture in a new solar system, but when she wakes up on a now- empty colony ship, the whole of her plan disappears. The ship has been set adrift, with numerous mission-critical problems requiring immediate attendance outside of her area of expertise. Nolira is aided by the ship’s malfunctioning AI, which acts as her confidant and companion during the fight for survival.
VAST Horizon's detours hand you a wildly inaccurate shipboard map; getting lost could be the fun part.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A warm tenth-anniversary look at Liberty, The White Vault, podcasting changes, and the work still ahead.
The tenth anniversary gives Travis Van Graaff and K.A. Statz a natural reason to look back at how Fool and Scholar Productions grew out of university-era work on Liberty and eventually led to The White Vault.
A creaking ship, an inaccurate map, and polar-night unease make this prologue a patient doorway into maritime horror.
Shores of the Silver Thrum finds its first firm shape on a frozen sea, aboard the Willow's Wake, where a crew of wayward adventurers loses its way during the polar night and settles into the strange rhythm of ship life.
An LAPD complaint turns into a tense Echo Park chase through a speculative Los Angeles.
An LAPD complaint pulls the narrator into a sweltering Los Angeles park, where police-issued display goggles flag the person of interest as either Vernon Drake, a local real estate agent, or Nathune Torres, his adult human clone.
Time glitches before the last bell.
A door beneath the ocean, and a war ahead.
Far-future football universe, crime-soaked space survival.
Science fiction, adapted and performed for the ear.
Human trials, public secrets, and one dreaded birthday party.
Fool and Scholar Productions marks 10 years by revisiting how Liberty, The White Vault, Vast Horizon, and Dark Dice got started.
["VAST Horizon's 'Introducing - Shores of the Silver Thrum' previews a Dark Dice prologue where Convo and Jahre sign on for a Far Hauler run from Embergrad to Winterport aboard the Willow's Wake.", "Travis Van Groff, the sound designer and producer, and writer K.A.
Echo Park follows James Zhang, a Los Angeles County civil advisor, after an April 1 barricade call in Los Angeles turns into an April Fool's setup with Detective Woo Young, Officer Kesa Lincoln, and Terrence Libra.
Tiam Lucan refuses to execute civilians after Ven orders him to neutralize armed targets.
Adelaide Birch's brain scans show overnight recovery from severe atrophy, leaving Dr. Kingston without an explanation.
Sun Sanon On-Roon is sentenced to five years at the Antang complex, with parole possible after four, before being pulled into an Order of the Technocracy hearing on the Ali and the TCS-72 system.
Lieutenant Walsh flies the single slip XR77 into the Heliosheath behind new shielding, and he returns after an order in Admiral Lao's voice that she says she never gave.
In Vast Horizon S3E8 'Council,' Admiral Lao convenes the Technocracy and Alliance council aboard the OTV Semek to assess the lost Bifrost and the entity called Ali.
The hosts introduce themselves and their production company, discussing their roles and the origin of their names.
An interview episode with the cast and writer of the sci-fi audio drama VAST Horizon, discussing the show and its characters.
An agronomist wakes up alone on a damaged colony ship and must survive with the help of a malfunctioning AI.