Yes, the climate apocalypse has arrived, and yes! Within months, the Earth will be blackened to a crisp, the air will be unbreathable, and anyone left on the planet will be dead. But what’s there to worry about?

Happy Pod has arrived.

We’ll fly you up and away from the charred remains of planet Earth and into the beautiful starlit universe. In just one short year, Happy Pod will deliver you and the rest of humanity’s remnants to planet Terra Evelyn Three. It’s the closest planet with fresh water, breathable air, and a happy atmosphere!

So why wait? Make your first deposit today.

Happy Pod: We’re literally your only option for survival.

In June of 2020, I sat in my room. It was the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and life was on a precipice. Plans I’d made for the upcoming year were dissolving. The potential of forming new relationships and deepening old ones was now precarious. How can humans possibly exist in a world without in-person connection? 

A story came to me as if in a dream. My brain was filled with radio waves, ponderings on how communication and connection work from a distance. Over the course of just a few days, I wrote the first draft of Hey There, Mr. Moon. 

The forty minute speculative-fiction radio play went on to be produced by the Student Alternative Theatre Company at the University of Victoria. My friend and classmate Branden Sugden offered to direct, and it was clear that our concept for the piece aligned. We envisioned an immersive and intimate retro future soundscape that exploded into the lush sounds of nature. This vision was aided with the work of our fantastic sound designer and friend Miriam Dumitra. 

This story stuck with myself, Branden, and the rest of the original creative team. In June of 2022, Branden approached me with the idea to remount the play as a podcast drama series. I was keen to explore what these characters had been up to and how their stories expanded beyond forty minutes. We began assembling a team. Emily Trepanier, who played Stella in the original script, joined on with her fantastic producing skills. Sophia Radford, who played Bailey in the original play, took on marketing, as well as writing several songs on guitar and voice-acting for Finley. We also recruited our incredible friend Ryan Kniel who has taken on sound design with Miriam. Every person on the team has contributed to the development of the Mr. Moon universe and the script-writing. 

The team during a story-editing meeting, June 2024.

The concept behind the story deepened. As a collective, we are scared about the climate crisis. Fires are raging around us in British Columbia, Canada, and beyond. I can’t help but think about what Earth will look like in just a few years. As you listen to the show, you’ll hear many references to the ocean, the mountains, and our favourite natural spaces. The natural world is so vitally important to our existence and ability to thrive as humans. How do we exist without our connection to the Earth? 

Hey There, Mr. Moon takes place in the not so distant future. The Earth is burned and uninhabitable. Happy Pod, an oh-so helpful corporation, sells tiny spaceships to humans across the globe, promising to deliver them to a new habitable planet within one year. Capable of holding only a handful of passengers each and containing everything needed for a safe journey into the stars, Happy Pods blast off around the planet. Now, one year later, we meet the inhabitants of each Pod as they drift through space, eagerly awaiting the announcement of their arrival. Will Happy Pod's promises deliver everything they imagined? And how will they face the uncertainty of their future after a year in isolation?

Concept image of a potential HappyPod layout, by Miriam Dumitra

As each pod chugs along, tune into their radio waves. You’ll meet a child who has spent half her life in the stars, an elderly couple discovering what it means to live out the remainder of their lives without ever returning to Earth, best friends who fell in love in space, siblings trying to reconcile, and more. 

I hope that the stories of Happy Pod’s passengers will stick with you as they have continued to stick with us.

I invite you to donate to our campaign so that we can provide the polish this story deserves and pay our collaborators adequately for their time. 

I can’t wait for you to join the Hey There, Mr. Moon universe. 

With gratitude, 

Naomi Duska

Producer and Lead Writer 

May 2023 / January 2025