What’s your name, mac-guffin?
Entombed review
Production company – Voyage Media
Rating – 
I love anything ancient Egyptian. If you can play as Egypt in strategy games, then that’s me. Documentaries on TV? I’ll record them all. It’s a fascinating era of our history, and one that doesn’t need the embellishments of conspiracy theory to seem magical.
Ancient Egypt in podcasts though? That’s a different matter. This will be the third one I’ve reviewed, after Long Night In Egypt and True Tales Of The Illuminati. As you may remember, I really took a dim view of both of those shows. So how does Entombed compare? The answer, dear reader, is just under the subheading below.
So what’s it about?
Entombed sees a plucky trio of teenagers head out to Cairo on a secret mission. The de facto leader is the son of an adventurer who has inadvertently laid a curse upon him. The manifestation of this curse is really not the worst part, as the three friends will soon discover as they not only traverse the world, but also time itself.
Closely pursued by mysterious antagonists, both ancient and modern, will they be able to return The Eye Of God and save the day? Will they end up lost in time, or will they end up on the wrong end of a khopesh? They will need all their brains and cunning to make it through.
Is it any good?
For what it is, yes. I saw it described as “Indiana Jones meets Back To The Future”. I can’t help but think this is a bit of a lazy comparison though. It’s more like Tintin, or The Three Investigators stories (albeit without the brains of Jupiter Jones). In fact there are many, more apt comparisons that would include Stargate, The Mummy (with Brendan Fraser) and the Blake and Mortimer comics.
The sound design is stunning. As I sat on a deserted train station on my morning commute, there were many times I had to look around to see what the noises were, only to find out it was some binaural sound effect on the show.
It’s not all good news though. There are a few things that irk me about this show too. The characters are very clichéd, you have the reluctant son who is tasked with saving the world, the super intelligent girl, and the party hungry sports student, who’s just along for the ride.
Also, I don’t see why they needed to add the whole thread about modern technology in ancient times. The story is clever enough without what appears to be pandering to Graham Hancock fans.
Final thoughts
If I had heard this podcast when I was 10 or 11, I would have absolutely loved it. Now I’m a grumpy old sod though, I do still enjoy it, but I’m more discerning. As the early episodes ticked off, I really wasn’t too fussed on this show. By the end of the tale though, I found myself cracking a smile, and dare I say… enjoying it?
As adventures in ancient Egypt go, this is the best of the bunch that I’ve heard so far. If you have a kid who’s into rip roaring adventures, especially if they love gaming, then I highly recommend this. If your an adult, then by all means give it a go, but you may find it a bit “young”.
You can get Entombed here:
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