I have written about my love for podcasts before but with a few odd episodes being an exception, none of them feel specifically for movie and TV fans. We’re Alive is different. It isn’t TV or movie related directly, it isn’t a podcast about those topics, but if you are a person who likes a sprawling, intense and compelling narrative, then you could do a lot worse than listen to this episodic series.
For starters, it is an audio drama. It almost feels like cheating calling it a podcast. It is hosted on the usual podcast networks but isn’t a discussion or single-person narrative like you’d expect. It is a drama with a full cast, musical soundtrack (including haunting opening theme) and proper sound effects to add authenticity and help along the listeners imagination.
It is also about zombies. This will certainly make a few people roll their eyes and others switch off but this doesn’t have to be a negative. Of course zombies have been done before and done to death in some cases but We’re Alive manages to do something different with the genre.
It starts as you’d expect, with a small group of survivors and hordes of the undead, but manages to develop other stories on-top of the usual zombie cliches. Soon the fact that this is set during a zombie apocalypse won’t matter as you wonder how these people will find food and water, survive when they have so little in common and also hold-off against the villainous “Mallers.”
All of this is just the first “season.” For anyone wanting a fresh, episodic series to get their teeth into, We’re Alive has a whopping 48 episodes, each one, on average, split into 3 parts. Each part is about 15 to 25 minutes and makes for an epic adventure which grows, develops and becomes huge by the time you reach the finale.
Which is the other positive: it has a finale. It is “finished.” The series “We’re Alive” is a complete set of stories which manages to do the almost impossible and offer a satisfactory ending to the whole saga. This is particularly welcoming because it is full of so many engaging, funny, despicable but ultimately interesting characters that you will want to know what will happen and hope (for some at least) that there is a “happy ending.”
Although the “main series” has ended, it doesn’t completely finished and We’re Alive already has a spin-off entitled “Lockdown.” This is only six, one hour long episodes, but accompanies the series perfectly, as well as wets the appetite for the upcoming stories which were announced this week.
As compelling as the drama is and as great as the story and characters are, this isn’t even the best aspect. The greatest positive of We’re Alive is that it is 100%, completely free!
Overall, if you love audio dramas or podcasts or just need something other than the radio to listen to on the commute to work, then you should try “We’re Alive.” It is free to download and guarantees hours of enjoyment, particularly when you can’t get your usual movie or television entertainment.
