To infinity, and BEYOND!
Irish Science Fiction review
Rating – 
A week or so ago, I got a message via Facebook from Brian Sexton. He’d been talking to the guys at Citeog Podcasts, who you should remember I’m rather fond of. They told him to get in touch with me to review his show, the aforementioned Irish Science Fiction.
In the original message, I was promised something that “would be unlike anything I’d heard before”. Well dear readers, I accepted the challenge, and after checking that it was available on the various podcatchers (you’ll know I don’t review audible or Spotify exclusives), I subscribed. Not having anything better to listen to, and being intrigued by Brian’s message, I gave it a go. Now ideally, this review would have gone out last Sunday, but I got my dates wrong and as you’ll know, last week was the awards. So better late than never, here is the review.
So what’s it about?
I’ve got through the first story, a multi-episode, multi-hour extravaganza that sees a group of stoners customise an old transit van, thwart an alien invasion and ultimately save humanity. This is the version of Independence day you never knew you needed.
I had to take a break after that because, quite honestly, my brain was tired after binging this first saga. I felt like I had spent a week tripping on LSD, smoking white widow and possibly saving the world from an alien invasion (IYKYK) .
There were many times I thought I had the story figured out. I’m glad to say I was wrong each time, and that each of those times the story upped the ante and got even crazier. I’m glad about that. It would have been quite funny as I’d imagined it, but nowhere near as funny as it actually is. In fact, This show probably would have scored lower if I had been right.
After the epic silliness of the first tale, I get the feeling that Brian needed a bit of a break, because following that is a whole slew of seemingly unconnected stories. I say unconnected, there are recurring characters, and these bite size nuggets of humour are a perfect way to break from other shows (although I got through them in great chunks). As something of an addendum to this section, I have just started his version of War Of The Worlds, and it’s shaping up to be just as good as the original story of his. There is also a multi-part series coming up after that as well, but I will have to wait before passing judgment on that.
Is it any good?
This is a prime example of what I bang on about almost every week. You don’t need a large cast of actors, fancy sound effects or a big budget to make a great show. This story sounds like it was recorded in Brian’s kitchen (with what I guess is his pet dog being noisy in the background). It has that echo that tells you that he isn’t in a booth, or even an airing cupboard. This really doesn’t matter though with writing this good.
The story is very well written, and provides plenty of genuine laugh out loud moments. If you’re looking for believability or gripping tales of terror, then this won’t be for you. If you are after a break from all that and want to get crazy, then have at it. You’ll love it
It’s a mix of A Scottish Podcast and Limmy’s Show, and yes, I know they’re Scottish, not Irish, but the humour is the same. If you enjoyed the ridiculous escapades of Dougie and Lee (or even Dee Dee) then you will certainly enjoy this insanity.
Final thoughts
Yet again, the Irish podcasters have shown that there is a great supply of brilliant shows to dig into. No matter what your tastes are, there’ll be something great to spend your time on. Brian was right too. I haven’t heard anything quite like it.
You can get Irish Science Fiction here:
For more great reviews, I recommend GreatPods