We're listening to imaginary worlds, late summer edition, I'm Eric Mollinsky.

It has been a rough year for everyone.

There's not going to be a lot of new entertainment coming out this fall, and I could really use

a good laugh.

That's why today I want to share with you an episode from one of my favorite sci-fi audio

dramas, Mission to Zix.

But it is not a drama, it's a comedy set in space.

We've had four seasons so far, and I'm going to play an episode early on from season

2 called The New Norm, which cracked me up in so many places.

And at this point in the story, the characters are based on standard science fiction tropes.

The wannabe squash buckling adventurer, the badass security officer, the know-it-all protocol

droid, the junior officer who's basically a lizard guy, the ship's AI, which looks after

the crew, and a comic relief alien pet.

They are a rag-tag crew that's become like family to each other.

There are also rebels trying to undermine an evil galactic empire, which is one of the

many references that they make to establish sci-fi franchises.

But what makes Mission to Zix so unique is that they have no scripts.

Each episode is entirely improvised by the actors, and after the improv sessions are recorded,

the episodes are layered with high quality sound effects to create these alien landscapes,

and they add vocal effects for the non-human characters, plus full musical scoring.

Now I used to take improv classes just for fun, and even though I stopped doing it, I have

a very strong appreciation for the craft and people who do it well.

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