Darker Projects releases a number of very high production value pieces including anthologies (“Night Terrors,” “Dark Matter,” “Five Minute Fears”), stories in Christopher Patrick Lydon’s “The Falcon Banner” universe (“The Falcon Banner” and “Sword of Windsor”), original works (“Generation 1,” “The Byron Chronicles,” “Far Horizons,” and “Gothik”), productions of other authors (David Moody’s Autumn and Charles Russell’s “Tales from the Museum”), and a number of fanfic (fan fiction) works in the Star Trek, Doctor Who, He-Man, Babylon 5: Crusade, Star Wars, Quantum Leap, and Batman universes. Additionally, Darker Projects releases a “Behind The Scenes” podcast in which writers and voice talent are interviewed. It should be noted, however, that due to the high production values that all Darker Projects works have, release times are relatively far between (~1.5 months) for a given feed.
As with most podcasts I listen to, I keep up to date on new episodes, but these pages rarely reflect that. Oddly, new subscriptions to established podcasts are far more likely to get up-to-date pages since I will binge on the content and make the page at the same time.
Additionally, with what seems like a lot of the cast members moving over to BrokenSea Audio Productions, it may be that releases will become more sporadic or not.
“Night Terrors” is an anthology of podioplays focused on horror and suspense. The subject matter runs the gamut from the psychological suspense of interrogation (Episode 1: The Man in the Chair) to ghosts and zombies (such as Episode 4: Ghost County, USA) to things further a field including Lucifer (a.k.a. Logan) (Episode 6: Byron’s Tale), Lovecraftian gods (Episode 10: And God Looked), and children (Episode 11: The House in the Clock). Though marketed as “an anthology of horror and suspense,” thus far, “Night Terrors” is nowhere near as horrifying as Autumn.
The list of episodes released thus far:
#00 (2005-08-14): Welcome to Night Terrors
#01 (2005-08-24): The Man in the Chair
#02 (2005-08-25): The Bug Doctor
#03 (2005-09-20): Love and Murder
#04 (2005-10-20): Ghost County, USA
#05 (2005-10-31): Last Call
#06 (2005-12-01): Byron’s Tale
#07 (2006-01-02): They: In The Absence of Light & The Man on the Machine
#08 (2006-02-24): Black List
#09 (2006-04-27): Voices of the Soul
#10 (2006-07-06): And God Looked
#11 (2006-09-29): The House in the Clock
#12 (2006-12-24): Forever December
#13 (2007-01-21): The Carnegie Stone
#14 (2007-04-05): The Horror of Cardmoor Abbey
Probable time involvement: 30 minutes per episode.
Like “Night Terrors,” “Dark Matter” is an anthology of podioplays, but with a science fiction leaning. As always, the entire spectrum of the sci-fi genre is run, including alternate evolution (Episode 1: The Specimen), 1984-like scenarios (Episode 2: The Last Shot for Freedom), to humor (Episode 3: Zombie Pumpkinheads from Outer Space!).
The list of episodes released thus far:
#00 (2006-07-16): Welcome to Dark Matter
#01 (2006-08-09): The Specimen
#02 (2006-10-02): The Last Shot for Freedom
#03 (2006-10-29): Zombie Pumpkinheads from Outer Space!
#04 (2006-12-20): The Gray Matter
#05 (2007-06-27): Heroes
Probable time involvement: 30 minutes per episode.
Similar to Pseudopod’s flash works, “Five Minute Fears” examines the same range of material as “Night Terrors,” but does so in around 5 minutes. While named with “fear” in mind, so far I have not found these episodes terrifying. I suppose if you think about it, some of them might be more than unsettling, but not nearly as much as Autumn. For example, have you ever wondered what serial killers talk about in elevators? If so, listen to Episode 1: Elevator Music. What about the special ingredients in fast food? Try the McMeat in Episode 6.
The list of episodes released thus far:
#01 (2006-07-29): Elevator Music
#02 (2006-08-09): Tow-Truck
#03 (2006-08-12): Are You Watching Me?
#04 (2006-09-24): Ring Ring
#05 (2006-09-24): Black Angels
#06 (2006-10-03): McMeat
#07 (2006-10-31): The Codger’s Tale
#08 (2006-10-31): Every Step of the Way
#09 (2006-10-31): Masks
#10 (2006-12-23): Hallowed Ground
#11 (2006-12-23): The Grave
Probable time involvement: 5 minutes per episode.
“The Byron Chronicles” continues where “Night Terrors” Episode 6 left off. We’ve already seen Byron deal with Hell and Heaven and come out relatively unscathed (the same cannot, of course, be said of his front door). But what exactly is he? And why is he in Portland and just what, exactly, is he trying to accomplish? If such questions haunted you after Byron’s Tale, this is the show for you.
The list of episodes released thus far (broken into story arcs):
Episode 00 (2006-05-12): Welcome to The Byron Chronicles
Episode 01 (2006-05-12): The Taint
Zombies are well known creatures. The
living dead who hunger for the taste of human flesh. Like all
things, zombies had to come from somewhere. So who, exactly, is
Patient Zero? And how does Byron know him?
Episode 02 (2006-06-10): Disoriented
Rush is the latest drug to hit the streets of
Portland. Be warned, excessive use will cause undeath and unceasing
hunger.
Episode 03 (2006-09-22): Forgotten Sins
Byron’s family comes calling and Byron finally
finds out who was creating Rush.
Episode 04 (2007-03-16): Code of Conduct
A werewolf arrives in Portland, accidentally
dragging Chris into a hunt, who in turn, runs to Byron.
Episode 05 (2007-08-19): Code of Conduct, Part 2
Episode 06 (2007-09-28): A Time of Returning
Chris is kidnapped, which forces Byron to help a
mysterious government organization infiltrate a British island (where, of
course, a secret experiment has gone horribly wrong).
Episode 07 (2007-10-14): A Time of Rising
Byron is captured and discovers exactly what was
released.
Episode 08 (2007-11-15): A Time of the Fallen
The Seraphim’s hold on the world is growing
stronger and Byron may, unwillingly, need to make a sacrifice to stop
them. Enjoy the inside jokes regarding Byron’s voice and the British
Prime Minister. (Though if one thinks about continuity, there is a
problem in that the Beast is restrained in orbit around a black hole when
this is supposed to occur.)
Episode 09 (2007-12-15): Nicholas: A Christmas Tale
Wherein we learn the truth about Santa Claus as
Slate must perform his missing younger brother’s annual duty at the behest of the
angel Gabriel.
Probable time involvement: 30 minutes per episode.
Designed as a more family-friendly project set in a darker universe, “Generation 1” tells the tale of a few human survivors, children all, who cryogenically sleep through a viral cataclysm. Note: “Generation 1” was in production hiatus until January 2007, which has been extended indefinitely.
The list of episodes released thus far:
Episode 00 (2005-10-06): Welcome to Generation 1
Episode 01 (2005-10-07): End at the Beginning
Episode 02 (2006-03-02): Conflict
Probable time involvement: 1 hour per episode.
It is simply amazing to hear about how Darker Projects operates behind the scenes. Did you know that it began with the Star Trek universe (“The Section 31 Files”)? What about the fact that the actors record individual lines which are stitched together later? (Which is simply amazing since I have never heard a single flaw!)
The list of episodes thus far:
Episode 00 (2006-10-13): Intro
Episode 01 (2006-10-13): Judah Friese on the history of Darker Projects
Episode 02 (2006-11-15): Elie Hirschman on He-Man: The Parody!
Episode 03 (2006-12-07): Mark Bruzee on the transition from stage acting
to voice acting
Episode 04 (2007-01-05): Paul Mannering on growing up kiwi
Episode 05 (2007-02-14): Alexander Davis on Making money with audio drama
Episode 06 (2007-03-14): Fiona Conn and Shire Smith
Episode 07 (2007-06-18): David Ault
The irony that David Ault has a degree in
astrophysics and is also an actor is not lost on me as I am planning to
get a degree in astrophysics and my brother is an actor.
Episode 08 (2007-08-19): Clym Angus and Matt Manning
Episode 09 (2007-11-21): Chris Synder
Darker Project’s audio guru shares the secrets of
his success interspersed with some wisdom.
Episode 10 (2008-06-01): Three Authors
Episode 11 (2008-07-15): Laura Post
David Moody presents us, though the production team at Darker Projects, with a world in which a virus has killed most of the world’s population, leaving a few terrified survivors to make their way forward. In all honesty, this podioplay scares the hell out of me. The first episode made it seem like a psychological horror piece, with a few survivors in a world of corpses. The horror aspect of this is in the sense of solitude that one must feel as everyone around you simply drops dead. (It probably did not help my mindset in that I still had a remnant cough from something I caught in Havana.) As the episodes went on, and some of the corpses began to rise and stumble around, the tension rose, but still was not all that bad. (After all, they weren’t going around moaning “brains” or something like that.) When the corpses slowly begin to regain a sense of instinct and intelligence, I was about ready to stop going to sleep altogether. (After Episode 3, I awoke late at night (or early in the morning, if you prefer) drenched in sweat and went to lower the AC temperature and I refused to make noise or turn on a light because I swear that there was a mindless zombie walking into my couch repeatedly.) After listening to Episode 4 (the latest to be released), I had to go and download the PDF of the book at David Moody’s site, which I skimmed through the end of, just because I wanted some sort of end to the terror. Unfortunately, the terror doesn’t end there as there are sequels... This work is so terrifying, actually, that I have placed the audio files and PDF book in a folder in an encrypted zip file so I won’t inadvertently stumble across them again.
Autumn Trailer
Autumn 1 (2007-03-10)
Autumn 2 (2007-03-12)
Autumn 3 (2007-03-13)
Autumn 4 (2007-03-27)
Autumn 5 (2007-05-03)
Autumn 6 (2007-05-03)
Probable time involvement: 6 days. (Assuming you can only handle 1 episode per day, though to be fair, I’ve only listened to the fourth episode.)
When human explorers stumble upon alien artifact is the asteroid belt, tensions begin to run high when civilians, scientists, and the military disagree as to what to do next. With only two episodes released thus far, only broad character backgrounds and the initial situational plot have been set up.
Episode 00 (2007-02-08): Far Horizons Trailer
Episode 01 (2007-02-19): Construct
Episode 02 (2007-04-03): Cause and Consequences
Probable time involvement: 1 day.
Written by Charles Russell, this miniseries tells tales involving Keith Nash, the Special Services coordinator for the Regional Museum in Johnson City, Tennessee. The Museum, though a site of scientific discourse and discovery, is also home to occurrences that can be explained through nothing short of supernatural means. Nash and the few other Museum employees who have experienced these going-ons for themselves do not know what to make of them, save that they don’t know what to make of them.
Episode 00 (2007-07-21): Promo
Episode 01 (2007-07-21): The Cult of Serpents
Episode 02 (2007-08-23): The Curse of the Wolf
Episode 03 (2007-09-21): The Reaper Tapestry
Episode 04 (2007-10-30): Beneath the Foundation
Episode 05 (2007-11-25): Return of the Serpents
Episode 06 (2008-04-01): Day One
Episode 07 (2008-07-04): The Amulet and the Scroll
Probable time involvement: 25 minutes per episode.
Gothik is a city like no other. Nestled in Maine, Gothik is the first city to have a vampire as its mayor. Though supernatural creatures have been awarded many of the same rights as humans, suspicion still exists between the races. It is this suspicion that keeps Detective Jack Talbot from revealing his nature as a werewolf, though others are less inclined to conceal their supernatural natures. These suspicions will have to be put aside when an cult decides to release an Ancient One from its eternal banishment.
Gothik: Rise of the Ancient Ones (2007-10-31)
Probable time involvement: 1 hour per episode.
Well, I was running out of high quality audio theatre, so I decided to try “He-Man: The Parody” since it seemed funny after hearing about it on “Behind the Scenes at Darker Projects.” While I never followed the series with any regularity, I was familiar with the basics of the He-Man universe enough to enjoy the humor.
The list of episodes:
Episode 1: He-Man: The Parody
Episode 2: For Whom the Wind Breaks
Episode 3: <insert witty title here>
Probable time involvement: 2 hours.
Laura Post brings us her production of the novelization of “No Man’s Land” (by Greg Rucka).
The list of episodes:
Episode 0 (2008-04-20): Prologue
Episode 1 (2008-07-03)