Wow, so glad I've got the opportunity to listen to this story in one go. Season one was brilliant, with the setup of how the survivors found each other and ways and means to survive. And then the whole thing with the Maulers and the tower.... ( )

LOVED it! Got through the first season in about ten days. I was trying not to rush it too much. Can't wait to start season two - in about ten minutes from now. ( )

This is my first non-Big Finish audio drama, and I'm impressed as hell with it. I say this as someone totally over zombies. But as the sub-title emphasizes, this is more of a survival story than a zombie story, at least in this first season. The focus is on a small military unit summoned too late to do anything about the outbreak, but who consider themselves honor-bound to rescue and protect all the civilian survivors they can find. The effort then shifts to trying to bootstrap a mini-civilization in an apartment building. So the zombies are just an environmental hazard, though there are hints that that won't be the case forever.

We're Alive is a great character drama. There are some cliche stock types (like the gritty old Vietnam vet, the bitchy entitled lawyer, sigh) but mostly these are well-rounded human beings with believable flaws and great dialogue. I'm not crazy about the pairing off that seems inevitable, but I never am, and know I'm in the minority there. At least it's not the main thing.

BTW, unbelievably great vice actors here. I could -- and have -- listen to them all night. On to Season Two! ( )

Michael, Angel and Saul are three soldiers in present day Northern California ordered to report for duty: to restore order to their beleaguered city which is ravaged by "zombies." The infected are necrotic bodies that can only be truly taken down by fire or beheading and, the transmutation of the corporeal states is triggered via a bite from one of the infected.

We're Alive: A Story of Survival, The First Season is a collection of twelve podcasts that details the story of Michael, Angel and Saul as they make their way through the new landscape where the infrastructure is crumbling and other survivors are recovered. The survivors hold a position in an abandoned apartment building, referred to amongst themselves as "The Tower." Here, the military triumvirate fight to provide food, clothing and shelter as well as security against the zombies and "Mallers." The Mallers are the convicts from a local prison who have holed up at a local mall and who pose a threat with their unchecked violence and ambitions to seize the Tower. The Tower residents and the Mallers are the antithesis of the other, representing civilization and anarchy respectively.

The production quality of We're Alive: A Story of Survival, The First Season is very much in the tradition of foley inspired radio drama. Sue Zizza of Sue Media Productions, once coined the phrase "testosterone grade sound effects" when describing the heavy usage of sound effects like guns, squealing tires, etc. in an audio drama and, in the case of We're Alive: A Story of Survival, The First Season, the description is apt. This is not to say that the "testosterone grade sound effects" aren't appropriate; only that subtlety is not in play. The sound effects take an almost equal place in the sound track as the characters' lines, as opposed to underscoring or used in service to the action or dialogue.

Jim Gleason, Shane Salk and Nate Geez, as Michael, Angel and Saul respectively are noteworthy in voicing their roles convincingly, naturally and without getting into excessive hyperbole. However, the pulp tenor of the story lent itself to a temptation that many of the other performers could not resist: to drop into over-characterization or stereotyping. Mostly, this works to keeps the characters distinct; but occasionally, a performer's choices didn't work out quite as well as might have been expected: Claire Dodin plays Riley, a French restauranteur/survivor/Tower resident. Ms Dodin seems to have had a little trouble settling into a French accent, which seemed to have come by way of Britain and Asia; all of which left the character of Riley as something of a enigma until the story spelled it out as to who she was and where she came from. Datu, a Filipino who worked as the apartment building's maintenance supervisor before becoming the Tower's engineer, sounded more like Apu from The Simpsons than he did a native from the Philippines. There was no question as to who was speaking when any of the performers rendered their lines; it was just a bit jarring when a performer didn't really seem to be "in character."

There is plenty of action, adventure, and "testosterone grade sound effects" to galvanize the listener to the story: There are no guarantees as to who will survive and what will happen next and the unexpected twists in We're Alive: A Story of Survival, The First Season will keep you on the hook for Season Two.

Redacted from the original blog review at dog eared copy, We're Alive: A Story of Survival - The First Season; 05/22/2012 ( )