MarsCorp is a 12 part sitcom audio drama made from the production company Definitely Human. Yes, you heard right. Sitcom, like Fuller House and Home Improvement and the lot. Unlike its less-than-stellar relatives, MarsCorp’s humour, wit, and setup is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before.

Set in 2070, it’s about a team of scientists whose mission is to colonize the red planet. The atmosphere is stunning and dead-on, immediately grabbing it’s viewer and refusing to let go. A lot of very talented people obviously spent a colossal amount of time on the sound design alone. The sound designer for the show is one of the best I ever heard. I truly felt like I was in their world from the beginning all the way to the end.

The pacing is unusually precise, never skipping it’s narrative beat. The comedy is stellar as well. It’s dialogue and character heavy humour is done admirably. On a lot of comedy audio dramas, they usually sacrifice it’s story and pacing to tell a joke and disrupt all tension in the scene. In MarsCorp, however, it’s comedy and story mesh together extremely well and one never feels disjointed from what is happening.

The theme song captures the nuance and tone of the show quite well. It may be my favorite theme to an audio drama yet. The song itself warrants several hundred repeats.

The characters are both interesting and fleshed-out by the excellent writing and superb voice acting. Each character has a vivid and likeable personality. The laissez-faire and humorous attitude everyone has on board is more infectious than We’re Alive!

As stated before, I’m not the biggest fan of science fiction. But I highly recommend MarsCorp to anyone who enjoys heartwarming and witty characters, engaging stories, and realistic sound design.

5/5