Audio Drama – Page 102

H.P. Lovecraft’s The Outsider available as an abridged reading / Radio Drama hybrid

Online Audio

According to the Audio Addict ‘s blog, There’s a new free download over at the Willamette Radio Workshop‘s website. This is the adaptation that premiered on KBOO 90.7 FM in Portland, Oregon back on Halloween! Be forewarned though, this is a dramatized reading, in which the unabridged Lovecraftian text is accompanied by sound effects designed to enhance the experience.

The Outsider
By H.P. Lovecraft; Read by Sam A. Mowry
1 MP3 File – Approx. 16 Minutes [~~UNABRIDGED~~ABRIDGED/RADIO DRAMA]
Source: Willamette Radio Workshop / Ollin Productions
Released: November 9th 2006
“THE OUTSIDER is a collaboration between Sam A. Mowry and Joe Medina to explore the text of a Lovecraft story with the sound effects and production they bring to their work with Modern Audio Drama. This broadcast is a great example of how the Workshop keeps experimenting with original stories, existing texts and how we always look for new ways to tell stories with sound.”

posted by Jesse Willis

The Zombie Astronaut has The Space Merchants by Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth

Online Audio

SFFaudio reader, Willie, points out that, Zombie Astronaut, one of our favorite mp3 webzines, is still alive and kicking (in an undead and orbiting sort of way). In fact in the latest issue of ZA there’s a two part classic radio drama of Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth’s famous novel The Space Merchants (aka Gravy Planet). This biting satire, that now so closely resembles our world, is set in a future in which the advertisers and ad execs run the world. Their problem, how do you sell people on colonizing Venus, a planet with no breathable air, no water and that’s hideously hot? Tune in and find out with… Part 1 |MP3| & Part 2 |MP3|. Thanks for the reminder Willie!

posted by Jesse Willis

Review of The Red Panda Adventures – Season 1

SFFaudio Audiobook Review

The Red Panda Adventures – Season One
By Gregg Taylor; Performed by a FULL CAST
12 MP3 Files – Approx. 5.5 Hours [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: DecoderRingTheatre.com / Podiobooks.com
Published: 2005/2006
Themes: / Fantasy / Superheroes / Supervillains / 1930s / Toronto / Secret Identities / Hypnotism /

Flying Squirrel: “We could have two super-power’d loons on our hands.” -Episode 11: Duality

Masks, grapple-guns, static boots, retractable membranes, ring-radios? Check. Supervillains with names like The Golden Claw, The Electric Eel and Diablo? Check. Okay then, tune your podcatcher to ‘pure pulp’ and break out the hockey organ because The Red Panda Adventures – Season One is ready to glide into justice. This first 12 episode season is full of flying kung fu fists, mesmerizing hypnosis, snappy dialog and mystery. Most memorable for me are the characters and the dialogue. Plot lines are reminiscent of comic-book and radio serials from yesteryear but the parlance is all modernistic as filtered through a roaring-twenties speech pattern paradigm. Episode 2: Night Mission and Episode: 7 Red Panda Wanted Dead Or Alive stood-out because these episodes highlighted the interaction between the love-blind hero, Red Panda, and his adoring sidekick The Flying Squirrel. The Panda’s superpowers are a cross between those of The Green Hornet and The Shadow. He’s a master hypnotist, able to cloud the minds of villains. Other fun aspects are the introduction of other superheroes and superhero groups, in a way the whole show reminds me of animated version of The Tick if it were played slightly straighter.

The Red Panda Adventures – Season One is a super-fun diversion delivered in delicious half-hour doses. The only thing better than the production of this fab audio drama series is the vocal talent. I get endless kicks out of the sexual tension between the oblivious Red Panda and his pining sidekick/driver Kit Baxter. Their city, 1930s Toronto, is quieter than many other audio dramas, I hear less foley and fewer sound effects, I like that they aren’t obsessed with putting in the sound of footsteps in every scene – it usually isn’t necessary. Also nice is that from episode one of this series this show really works. This is probably because of the experience gained during the previous Red Panda incarnation (a six episode series set during WWII). Season Two is already underway and I look forward to devouring it too.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Podshow launches OTR SciFi Podcast

Online Audio

Podshow has created 10 feeds comprising it’s “Old Time Radio Network.” The one that deserves our scrutiny is OTR SciFi. This is basically a stripped down version of the Spaceship Radio podcast no commentary, no interaction, just OTR. Here’s the official line:

“The Old Time Radio Network at Podshow.com presents vintage radio programs from the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s and reflects the combined efforts of its creators, Dennis Humphrey and Bob Camardella, both of whom have spent their lives as enthusiasts of early radio’s Golden Age. Their combined years of research, experience, and their extensive collections, coupled with the innovation of podcasting, have afforded a vehicle to share these efforts with the world. Having engaged in podcasting for a year and a half, the two have joined forces to form the Old Time Radio Network. As a result of their recently signed contract with Podshow, Dennis and Bob are well established in the family friendly podcasting category with such notables as I-tunes family section, and Podomatic.com. Their latest development, scheduled to launch November 1st, is a Vintage Videos, in the videocasting category which will not only increase ratings, but afford advertisers a video alternative that will surely compliment their advertising program. The Old Time Radio Network, Where The Oldies Are Still Young !”

If interested you can subscribe via this feed:

http://www.podshow.com/feeds/otrscifi.xml

Before posting this story I wanted to wait a bit and see what programs they were going to get. I waited and now there are about 40 shows in the feed from the likes of…

Dimension X, X-Minus One, Dark Fantasy, Black Castle, Beyond Tommorow, and shockingly Vanishing Point which is a copyrighted non-public domain CBC Radio series from the 1980s.

posted by Jesse Willis

BBC7 has William Gibson’s Burning Chrome + Douglas Hill’s Blade Of The Poisoner

Online Audio

BBC7‘s has some good stuff for us this week. First up, a dramatized version of a late 1980s fantasy novel by Douglas Hill. Next an early 1980s short story by William Gibson. I heard the Gibson story when it we first broadcast on BBC a while back, it is a terrific listen with narration done by Adam Sims.

Blade Of The Poisoner
Based on the novel by Douglas Hill; FULL CAST
4 Parts – [RADIO DRAMA]
BROADCASTER: BBC 7
BROADCAST: Saturday at 6pm and 12am (UK Time)
Young Jarral narrowly escapes the slaughter of his village by the evil Prince Mephtik – the Poisoner. Adapted by Wally K Daly and first broadcast on BBC Radio 5 in 1991.

Burning Chrome
By William Gibson; Read by Adam Sims
2 Parts – [UNABRIDGED]
BROADCASTER: BBC 7
BROADCAST:Thursday and Friday at 6.30pm and 12.30am (UK Time)
Set in the world of cyberspace and computer hacking. Bobby Quine and Automatic Jack are trying to figure out a way of pulling off the one big score that will make them rich. But industrial espionage is a dangerous business, especially when they decide to rip off Chrome, the most ruthless figure in the local mob subsidiary.

posted by Jesse Willis

Tantor offers Nightmares for 30% off + Free Shipping

News

Tantor Halloween Sale

Tantor Media, is having a sale and there are two ghoulishly good audio drama sets included (both of which we’ve reviewed)…

Nightmares V
By Various; FULL CAST
2 CDs or 1 MP3 CD – 2 Hours [AUDIO DRAMA]
|LINK TO PURCHASE|
They’re baaaaaaaaaaaaacckkkkk!!! Rocky Coast Radio Theatre returns with yet another copious cornucopia of classic concoctions, crafted and compiled for the captive congregation (gotta love that thesaurus!). Nightmares on Congress Street, Part V offers dramatized adaptations (complete with music and sound effects) of chilling stories penned by Edgar Allan Poe, Hugh B. Cave, and H.P. Lovecraft, as well as a few additional treats. So douse the lights, snuggle up with your favorite corpse…(oops) “life-challenged” person, and prepare to be thoroughly goosebumped.

Nightmares On Congress Street Part 4 Nightmares IV
By Various; FULL CAST
2 CDs or 1 MP3 CD- 2 Hours [AUDIO DRAMA]
|LINK TO PURCHASE|

Year four of the Rocky Coast Radio Theatre’s spooky radio performances includes theatrical interpretations of works by W.W. Jacobs, Edgar Allan Poe, and Robert W. Service—sure to send shivers down your spine!

posted by Jesse Willis