Mission to Zyxx

Mission to Zyxx is a space opera comedy podcast series, created by and starring Alden Ford, Allie Kokesh, Jeremy Bent, Seth Lind, Winston Noel and Moujan Zolfaghari. The series premiered on September 6, 2017, and concluded its run on September 22, 2022, with the completion of its fifth season. The series was produced on the AudioBoom network for its first two seasons, before switching to Maximum Fun for the remainder of its run.

Mission to Zyxx is a science fiction story set in a fictional universe where most of the known universe is under the authority of the Federated Alliance, and follows a crew tasked with acting as Federation ambassadors in the Zyxx Quadrant, an isolated part of space, to establish diplomatic relations with the inhabitants of its many planets. The overall story arc revolves around the crew progressively coming to revolt against the Federation and confront threats to the universe. 99 episodes were released, alongside a number of special episodes, mostly christmas-themed, shorter, or performed live in front of an audience, which are also part of the series' continuity.

The series features almost exclusively improvised dialogue from its cast members, which are typically given a setting for each episode; it features an overall narrative arc, while focusing on mostly self-contained episodes. The six creators form the main voice cast, usually starring in each episode as the show's main characters alongside a guest actor portraying a character centric to the episode. The recorded dialogue is later edited for pacing by Ford and Bent, with Shane O'Connell adding music and sound effects reflecting the events featured in the story.

Synopsis
Mission to Zyxx takes place in the Zyxx Quadrant, a relatively isolated part of space. The Federated Alliance, which recently overthrew the Empire, the previous system in control of the galaxy, sends a crew of four on a diplomatic mission to Zyxx in order to establic relations with local planets and attempt to make them join the Federated Alliance. The crew consists of The Bargarean Jade or "Bargie", a sentient ship and former acting star, and her three occupants: Pleck Decksetter, a young farmboy who recently joined the Alliance, Dar, the crew's security officer, and C-53, a Protocol and Diplomatic Relations Droid, all working under the remote supervision of operations manager Nermut Bundaloy.

In the first season, the crew of The Bargarean Jade accumulates failed attempts at establishing lasting diplomatic relations; meanwhile, they progressively learn the many wrongdoings of the Federated Alliance. After The Council of Seven, the Alliance's corrupt leaders, mistakingly identify the crew as part of the Rebellion attempting to overthrow them, they capture Nermut with the goal to execute him. In a desperate rescue attempt, the crew manages to both save Nermut and destroy The Delegator, the famous Alliance ship he was held prisonner on. Although they are welcomed into the Rebellion, credit for the destruction of The Delegator is given to another crew, leaving them to serve in the Rebellion as nobodies. In parallel, Pleck meets Old Derf, a "Zima warrior" who claims to fight for the "Fresh Side" of an all-encompassing force known as "The Space", and that Pleck is "The Chosen One", another Zima Warrior and the prophesied Avatar of the Fresh destined to the unite the two sides of the Space, the Fresh Side and the Wack Side; he also warns Pleck to look out for "Nermut Bundaloy", whom he surprisingly claims is prophesied as the Avatar of the Wack Side.

In the second season, the crew continues to try to establish diplomatic relations with planets of the Zyxx Quadrant, this time attempting to have them join the Rebellion. They now travel with Beano, a strange being who hatches from an ancient bean-like artifact the crew acquired during season 1. The situation becomes desperate when the crew learns that The Council of Seven is planning on travelling to Zyxx with a Planet Crusher, a gigantic spaceship capable of destroying planets, and annihilate Resistance headquarters. Following infighting conflicts, a member of the Council uses a Planet Crusher Crusher, an even bigger version of Planet Crushers, to kill the six other Council members, destroy Resistance headquarters, and give himself the title and name of Emperor Nermut Bundaloy (coincidentally the same name as the crew's operation manager, therefore fulfilling Old Derf's prophecy), establishing absolute control over the galaxy. Beano saves the crew's lives, but reverts to being an inanimate bean in the process. In his last moments, he uses his powers to grant the crew one wish; Bargie abruptly wishes to become a successful actress once again.

The third season starts an unspecified amount of time after the season 2 finale. After being abandoned by Bargie so she could resume her revitalized career, the rest of the crew has separated and lives in hiding from the Emperor, who now rules the galaxy with an iron fist. After the Emperor sends squads of C.L.I.N.T.s, the clone soldiers under his command, to kill the former crewmates, they reunite to survive, with the addition of AJ, a defecting C.L.I.N.T. As the crew travels through Zyxx in an attempt to find a way to fight the Emperor, Bargie gets captured, and is put on trial for "financial murder"; although she is ruled innocent, the Emperor uses this opportunity to attack the crew once again, hoping to get his hands on a revived Beano, which would allow him to unleash the full power of the Wack. Although Pleck stops him from fully obtaining Beano's power, Beano and the Emperor fuse into The Allwheat, a black hole-like consuming entity.

In the fourth season, The Allwheat continues to exist and consume its surroundings, seemingly unstoppable. Additionally, the disappearance of the Emperor left a huge political hole, leading to countless conflicts for power all over the galaxy. In an effort to unite the galaxy and find a way to deal with The Allwheat, the crew, who now also travels with Dar's newborn child Horsehat, starts working for Seesu Gundu, a former commander of the Resistance who seeks to become the new ruler of the galaxy, in order to restore order and hopefully find a way to deal with The Allwheat. Having been taunted by the voice of the fusion of the Emperor and Beano inside his mind, Pleck plunges inside The Allwheat, followed by the crew attempting to save him. The Emperor reveals it was his plan to lure Pleck inside The Allwheat, as he is planning on using the cumulated powers of Beano, the Wack Side, and the Fresh Side to eradicate all life in the universe but that of the members of he and Pleck's species. Despite being fused with him, Beano rebels when the Emperor attempts to harm the crew, resulting in the destruction of The Allwheat; The Bargarean Jade, with both the rest of the crew and Seesu Gundu's family aboard, falls through a rift in reality.

Season five starts after The Bargarean Jade drifted into the unknown for several months before crashing onto a planet devoid of sentient life, on which the crew, together with Seesu Gundu and her family, have remained stranded, far away from anything known to the natives of their original galaxy. After finally achieving lift-off, they make contact with the Coalition Of United Planets, or C.O.U.P., the leading organization of this part of the universe; with a return to Zyxx impossible in the near future, they are hired by the C.O.U.P. as galactic ambassadors while the organization works on finding a way to send them back.

Main cast
In addition to their main roles, cast members also portray several key recurring characters and many minor one-off characters.
 * Alden Ford as Pleckthaniel Ugene Decksetter, or simply "Pleck", a farm-boy and young member of the Human-like Tellurian species from the planet Rangus VI. Clumsy and often responsible for the crew's shortcomings, but friendly and well-meaning, he comes to consider himself a "Zima Warrior", a being defending the "Fresh Side", the positive side of a force known as "The Space", and aiming to defeat its negative side, the "Wack Side"; he believes he is the fated "Chosen One", the universe's only hope against the Wack Side.
 * Allie Kokesh as:
 * Dar, the security officer of the crew, a non-gender binary, hypersexual and omnisexual being who belongs to a species of large beings whose name is unpronounceable to other species. They are resourceful and physically able, but can be rude and unpredictable.
 * C-RED-I-T-5, a "credits and attributions droid", a robot who provides credits to the audience at the end every episode.
 * Jeremy Bent as Protocol and Diplomatic Relations Droid C-53, or simply "C-53", a robot identifying as male with encyclopedic knowledge of the universe. C-53's consciousness exists within a cube, which is placed into a "frame", or machine, that he then controls directly; he changes frames several times over the course of the series.
 * Seth Lind as Operations Manager Nermut Sylvester Bundaloy, who gives the crew their missions and receives their mission reports afterwards. Instead of being aboard The Bargarean Jade, he communicates with the crew via hologram; he later devellops a romance with Dar, and comes to be physically involved in several of their missions. Friendly but insecure, and aged twenty-three at the beginning of the series, he is a Lird, a small species similar to birds or lizards with an average life expectancy of twenty-six. His official job title changes each season, although he remains an operations manager; he is also an unsuccessful musician, under the pseydonym Bermut Nundaloy.
 * Winston Noel as:
 * The Clone Light Infantry Nomadic Troopers, or simply "C.L.I.N.T.s", Tellurian clone soldiers who enforce the laws of the Federated Alliance. Needlessly aggressive and mentally limited, the C.L.I.N.T.s never get along with each other, and are generally unfit at working together. They are physically modelled after Rolphus Tiddle (also voiced by Noel), the Commander of the Rebellion, and often act as secondary antagonists.
 * Councilor Gunther Ballwheat, later Emperor Nermut Bundaloy, the main antagonist of the first four seasons of the series; originally a member of the Council of Seven who governs over the galaxy, he takes on the title and name of Emperor Nermut Bundaloy after becoming its sole ruler in the season 2 finale.
 * The Beanochron, or simply "Beano", a strange being looking like a bean with limbs and acting child-like. Introduced in season 2, he hatched from a bean the crew acquired in season 1, and travels alongside them.
 * AJ-2884, or simply "AJ", a C.L.I.N.T. introduced in season 3, when he devellops a near-instant loyalty to Pleck, whom he sees as both a mentor and father figure. He is genuine and always eager to help, but his low intellect and short attention span lead him to have a very limited understanding of most situations. He is later retconned to be the very first C.L.I.N.T. introduced in the series, encountered by Pleck at the beginning of the series premiere.
 * Moujan Zolfaghari as:
 * The Bargarean Jade, or simply "Bargie", the sentient spaceship the crew lives and travels in. She identifies as female and used to be a popular and successful actress, having starred in many holos (the series' equivalent to cinema and television) before her career went downhill. She is self-centered, uncaring and unreliable, sometimes acting on a whim regardless of the rest of the crew's missions or well-being, although she gradually warms up to them. In season 3, she decides to get a new identity and changes her official name to "B4Яj13", which is still pronounced "Bargie".
 * Seesu Gundu, a Commander in the Rebellion. A key recurring character in the first three seasons, she becomes central to the plot of season 4, in which the crew attempts to help her be elected leader of the galaxy.
 * Justin Ballwheat, a character introduced in the season 4 finale as having been part of the crew of the Bargarean Jade since the beginning of the series, although only Bargie herself was previously aware that he was onboard. The rebelious son of Emperor Nermut Bundaloy, he is in a relationship with Centurion Tiddle, the son of Rolphus Tiddle and Seesu Gundu.

Recurring guests
Characters appearing in at least two episodes, not voiced by members of the main cast. Appearances during the canon advertising breaks are counted, with appearances in special episodes counted as part of the seasons during which said episodes were released.
 * Jeremy Crutchley as the narrator (season 1–5) providing the introduction to every episode.
 * John Robert Wilson as The Grower Mind of the K'hekk (season 1–5), a being who remotely inhabits the bodies of many other beings, assimilating others into the K'hekk, the beings it controls. It used to be close to Bargie.
 * Justin Tyler as Derf Dinkleson, or "Old Derf" (season 1–5), a member of the Tellurian species and a Zima Warrior, who teaches Pleck about The Space and tells him that he is fated to lead the battle of the Fresh Side against the Wack Side. He used to be known as "Young Derf", but spent so many years waiting for Pleck that he is now old.
 * Jon Gabrus as B-69-420 (season 1, 3), "a roast droid" reconverted into a lifter droid. He is destroyed after meeting the crew, but is revived as a dehumidifier in the season 3 live episode "Crank the Dehumidifier".
 * Jordan Carlos as IQQ (season 1, 4–5), a Tellurian with six eyes who works in a red-light district on the outskirts of Zyxx.
 * Zach Cherry as Peterthree Fab (season 1, 5), a bounty hunter whose work revolves heavily around paperwork, and a member of the famous bounty hunting family group "Fab Three". He later changes his first name to Peterone, and later to Threepete, or "Threepeter" to close friends.
 * Michael Cruz Kayne as Chad (season 1, 5), "The Riddlemaster", keeper of the Beanochron on the planet Redacted, who only lets travellers who can answer his riddles acquire his treasure.
 * Leslie Collins as Janelle Fitzmeyer (season 2–5), the creator of the C.L.I.N.T.s. Friendly and amicable, she is also the estranged mother of Rolphus Tiddle, and made the C.L.I.N.T.s. in her son's image using his DNA.
 * Jonathan Braylock as Two (season 2, 5), a powerful being who can alter reality.
 * Rachel Wenitsky as Marf (season 3–5), a gift shop owner and treasure collector who is a prodigy naturally gifted with The Space.
 * Brennan Lee Mulligan as Corey "Kor" Balevore (season 3, 5), a mostly cyborg being and former Zima Warrior who turned to the Wack Side. Originally aligned with Emperor Nermut Bundaloy, he later replaces him as main antagonist for the final season.
 * Frank Garcia Hejl as Dad (season 3, 5), Dar's sole parent.
 * Ellena Doe as Oak Tree (season 3, 5), a droid who befriends C-53.
 * Riley Solonger as Flix Dunker (season 3, 5), a young droid and skilled hacker.
 * Morgan Grace Jarrett as Jan (season 3), an Oracle who is the mother of 9 million different lifeforms on the planet Kirkland.
 * Branson Reese as Timmis (season 4), a being who lived inside AJ's helmet, where microorganisms evolved to reach sentience and form a civilization. When AJ washes his helmet, Timmis' civilization is destroyed, leading him to rebel against AJ.
 * Eric Gersen as Jakk, Father of Shai'An (season 5), a being from a planet whose inhabitants communicate via music. He is physically attached to his son Shai'An, Son of Jakk, with whom he shares a body, and plays the piano while his son is singing.

Production
The podcast is improvised by its comedian cast and recorded by Shane O'Connell, who also performs subsequent sound design and mixing. Editing is done by Seth Lind, Alden Ford, and Jeremy Bent. Each week there is a special guest comedian who plays an inhabitant of the Zyxx Quadrant that encounters the crew. The guest pitches two or three episode ideas to the main cast, and one is picked that fits best with the story arc of the show. Filmmaker Magazine interviewed the cast and highlighted the combination of improv comedy and longform narration as a major source of creativity and freedom for the podcast.

The cast of the show are veterans of improv comedy performance, with all having performed with Upright Citizens Brigade and separately or in smaller groups with other improv casts. Additional credits include writing, performing and directing comedy content/shows such as CollegeHumor and UCB Comedy Originals (Alden Ford, Jeremy Bent, Winston Noel),   The Good Cop (Allie Kokesh), Last Week Tonight and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Moujan Zolfaghari). Co-creator Seth Lind is Director of Operations at the highly successful podcasts This American Life, Serial, and S-Town. Shane O'Connell, the show's sound engineer and designer, has worked with Ben Harper, Half Waif, and NAO.

Episode structure
Podcast episodes are about 30 minutes, edited down from an initial 60–90 minute recording. Each episode opens with an opening crawl narration by Jeremy Crutchley. As the story progresses, the narration changes to reflect the happenings of the Zyxx Quadrant, the Tremillion Sector, and the entire galaxy. The series introduction for the first season is: "The period of civil war has ended. The rebels have defeated the evil Galactic Monarchy and established the harmonious Federated Alliance. It's totally less evil. Now to restore diplomatic relations between systems, the Federated Alliance has deployed teams of ambassadors throughout the galaxy. The Alliance's newest recruit, a young farm boy named Pleck Decksetter steps aboard the starship Bargarean Jade to embark on his first diplomatic mission: a MISSION. TO. ZYXX!" The show also occasionally releases live episodes set in previous eras/seasons.

Advertising breaks
Like many podcasts, Mission to Zyxx generates revenue through sponsored advertisements in the form of advertising breaks. This podcasts is unusual, however, as these are done by the voice actors or guests as minor characters from the show, delivered in-character. The ad breaks are canon, consistent with the show's characterizations and events, occasionally delivering minor plot points or foreshadowing for the main storyline.

Season 1
The Alliance's newest recruit is Ambassador Pleck Decksetter, a naive, gung-ho farm boy whose crew includes trusty, know-it-all droid C-53, and hulking, omnisexual security officer DAR. They travel aboard the outdated, sentient starship The Bargerian Jade – aka Bargie – who has as many ex-husbands as stories about her glory days. Their mission is nominally overseen by junior Missions Operation Manager Nermut Bundaloy, a striving, entry-level bureaucrat yearning for respect.

Star Wars
Like Star Wars, Mission to Zyxx is a space opera. Zyxx makes several references to Star Wars, including the CLINTs (referencing Star Wars' Clone Troopers) and "The Space" (referencing Star Wars' The Force). Rather than the Force's Light and Dark sides, Zyxx has "Fresh" and "Wack," respectively. Zyxx also has Zima warriors that fight with woodsabers (sticks) – analogous to Star Wars' Jedi warriors and their lightsabers.

Hello from the Magic Tavern
Show co-creator Alden Ford has cited the Chicago-based improv podcast Hello from the Magic Tavern set in a Narnia/Middle-Earth-like fantasy realm as partial inspiration for the format of Mission to Zyxx.

Star Trek
The concept of diplomatic relations missions mirrors that of diplomat crews in the Star Trek universe.

An episode of the podcast is named The Worry with Wiffles and has a similar plot in a direct homage to one of the most famous episodes of Star Trek, The Trouble with Tribbles.

Reception
In their Culture section, Newsweek covered the production of the first series. Air & Space Magazine interviewed the cast after the first season. Vulture, an entertainment news website, listed Mission to Zyxx as one of "100 Great Podcasts Worth Listening to." The podcast was also number one on a Salon list of unpredictable improv podcasts.

Charles Pulliam-Moore of Gizmodo praised the show, calling it "the best scifi podcast you're probably not listening to...yet," and "proof that [podcasts have] still so much untapped potential, particularly for fictional work." He later reviewed Season 3, which he called "bolder" and "taking the piss out of Star Wars in the freshest way."

As of November 2019, the podcast website Podbay shows Mission to Zyxx has an average audience review of 4.8 out of 5 based on 2325 reviews.

Nick Douglas of LifeHacker wrote "Mission to Zyxx might be the best podcast. This science fiction comedy—a mix of Star Trek, Star Wars, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy—that leans on original jokes instead of references, is definitely the best of the current wave of fictional podcasts, partly because of its unique process." Douglas featured the podcast's cast on the How I Work series, which "asks heroes, experts, and all-around productive people to share their shortcuts, workspaces, routines, and more."

The Season 2 opener was ranked 7th in IndieWire's "The 50 Best Podcast Episodes of 2018." It was also nominated for the iHeartRadio Podcast Awards 2019 for the category "Best Scripted Podcast" (won by Wolverine: The Long Night).

Reception
On Apple Podcasts, Mission to Zyxx has a 4.9/5.0 based on 2.6K ratings.