The African Geek Girl

I’ve mentioned previously that I have a healthy fear / respect of the ocean because we know very little about it and what we do know is kind of frightening. And yet, I keep listening to podcasts about people going into the ocean and reaping the predictable results… Perhaps it’s a form of memory encoding. 

Anyway, here’s a selection of 3 podcasts to remind you, too, to mind your land mammal business.

The Derelict Saga

Something has been found at the bottom of Earth’s ocean. An ancient artifact that can only be described as a giant door, inset into the sea floor. It becomes known as the Vault. A gigantic enigma, buried and forgotten…nineteen thousand feet down. To study the artifact, the galaxy’s most powerful corporation, Maas-Dorian, has built a massive, self-contained, secret laboratory base surrounding it, named FATHOM. It’s objective: unlock the secrets of the artifact and discover what it holds.​ But some mysteries should remain buried. And some doors should never be opened…

While the second season takes place in the other great unknown – yes, space – the entirety of season 1 is dedicated to the horrors that happen when man’s reach exceeds his butterfly strokes.

The Derelict Saga season one takes full advantage of being an audio experience to immerse you in both the deeply human drama and undeniably alien situation. You’ll experience grief, rage, maybe even devotion on one end of the spectrum, while somewhere deep inside your mind begins to realise… Something isn’t right here. And it’s not any of the things the characters are focused on. Not really. The brilliance of this season is ultimately the wake it leaves behind in your mind. The story stops, the waters are still, but the undercurrent lingers.

Down

Down is a 24-part science-fiction series about an expedition into a newly-discovered Antarctic trench, dubbed The Bottomless Pit. The company-backed research submarine Virgil is elegant, state-of-the-art, and capable of withstanding enormous pressures. The same cannot be said for her crew.

If Derelict draws you in, Down simply submerges you and doesn’t give a toss if you can breathe. With 24 episodes of 12 – 15 minutes each, this story unfolds quickly, the way your life unfolds before your eyes when the current suddenly drags you under and you can’t tell which way is up or down (or did you guys already know that the lifeguard blowing their whistle is to inform you of dangerous currents before that happened to you?).

“… everything that’s happening down here, it’s not divine retribution. It’s frightening and it’s strange because we don’t belong here. That’s all.” – Down.

What I enjoyed most about Down is that the monsters of the deep are as frightening as the ones in the sub, and for the same reason: they’re all just being who they are. Very often, horror asks who you’ll be when who you are everyday is not enough to survive. But with Down, every character is being exactly who they really are, the entire time. And that’s what makes this one interesting, and uncomfortable.

Check Down out on the Definitely Human Productions show page.

Primordial Deep

When a long extinct sea creature washes up on the shores of Coney Island, marine biologist Dr. Marella Morgan is contacted by a secret organization to investigate the origins of the creature’s sudden and unnatural resurgence. Soon, she and a team of explorers find themselves living on the research station The Tiamat, traveling along the abyssal plains as they search for answers far below the waves. But there are dangers in these ancient waters. Reawakened prehistoric monsters are rising from the deep — jaws wide and waiting, and in the darkness, something is stirring.

You know when you’re on the beach having fun, splashing about, then you try to put your feet on the ground and start walk-wading your way back to dry land, but you’ve drifted out further than you thought and there is no ground beneath you, only increasingly opaque ocean… then something brushes against you? Or do you have spatial awareness?

I’ve felt that feeling, and it is a unique type of terror. The terror of civilisation and safety being so close, and yet so very far.

“I had to search for it, push through the dark. I’m wondering if you’re the type, if you might feel it too…” – Primordial Deep

Thankfully, I’m a decent swimmer so the things that live in the deep haven’t managed to drag me under yet, but for those few seconds where the lazy paddling of limbs turns into frantic striding and desperate kicking… I think that is as close as one can willingly come to true helplessness without literally flinging oneself out of an airplane. That terror and helplessness is beautifully captured in Primordial Deep.

Check the show out on No Such Thing Productions’ show page.

In Conclusion

If, after listening to all that and for some reason you want to know more about terrifying things in the ocean – consider: