Radio Drama Revival: BBC Radio 4’s The Handmaid’s Tale

SFFaudio Online Audio

Radio Drama RevivalThough Margaret Atwood denies it, along with denying that humans landed on the Moon, I genuinely and truly believe she has written an excellent Science Fiction novel. In fact, BBC Radio 4’s production of that very Science Fiction novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, is truly excellent Science Fiction drama too! That’s why I’m so excited to pass along this post from Radio Drama Revival‘s Fred Greenhalgh:

Oh, dear listeners, today we have a treat for you! It’s a story commissioned by the the gold standard in audio drama – the BBC!

The show is producer John Dryden’s inspired adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood. The story tells of a dismal future where the lines between church and state are no longer distinguishable, and the nature of femininity has been revised to fit a more religious bent.

Free young women are conscripted to become “handmaid’s” – women used as stand-ins for infertile wives in a world where sterility seems rampant… And this is the story of one of those Handmaids.

Part 1 is available now, parts 2 and 3 will appear in future podcasts…

Part 1 of 3 |MP3|

A full-cast dramatization based on one of the 20th century’s most outstanding novels about the future. When religious extremists take over the US government, they create the Republic of Gilead where women are prohibited from owning property and all money is transferred to male relations.

Podcast feed:

http://feeds2.feedburner.com/FinalRune

Also recommended, for those interested, there is a very different CBC Radio adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale (as dramatized by Michael O’Brien). It aired in 2002 and was later released on CD by BTC Audiobooks.

Posted by Jesse Willis

BBCR4 + RA.cc: Harry Harrison’s The Technicolour Time Machine

SFFaudio Online Audio

BBC Radio 4RadioArchives.ccHere is a very cool find, Harry Harrison’s The Technicolour Time Machine, adapted by the BBC Radio 4 program entitled Saturday Night Theatre from the 1967 novel of the same name! It’s a clever tale that plays within the “restricted action resolution” tradition of the grandfather paradox. Here’s my description:

Barney Hendrickson is a mediocre movie producer in Hollywood, California. His employer, Climactic Studios, is in financial trouble, mostly due to some unforeseeable circumstances (a combination of a series of cinematic flops and regular embezzlement by L.M. Greenspans, the studio’s head). The only possible thing that can save the studio, and Barney’s job, would be to have a guaranteed box office sensation in the can before Monday. Unfortunately, there isn’t nearly enough time or money to write the script, build the sets or even film the movie. Except, Barney has a cunning plan. He’ll take advantage of recently invented time machine that he happens to know about.

Narrated by Barney, The Technicolour Time Machine tells the tale of the filming of Viking Columbus a giant rollercoaster of a movie – a saga of high adventure shot on location in the tenth century, with some hot shield maidens and angry skraelings thrown in. The story plays it all with a smirk and is fun stuff!

If you want to find it, head on over to RadioArchive.cc and grab the torrent!

Harry Harrison's The Technicolour Time MachineSaturday Night Theatre – The Technicolor Time Machine
Adapted from the novel by Harry Harrison; Adapted by Chris Boucher; Performed by a full cast
1 MP3 – Approx. 1 Hour 29 Minutes[RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 4
Broadcast: September 5, 1981
Provider: RadioArchive.cc
A down its heels Hollywood film production company employs a time machine to send a film crew to the 10th Century to make a schlock film about the Vikings.
Cast:
Lee Montague as Barney Hendrickson
Richard Pearson as Professor Hewitt
John Bay as L.M. Greenspan
David March as Doctor Ghans Nun
Michael Kilgarriff as Ottar
Karen Archer as Slidey Toe
Alexander John as Ross Polk
Barry Denham as Charley Chang
William Rogers as Tex
Crawford Logan as Darrows
Don Fellows as Eviemarie
Sean Barrett as Gino
Andrew Secombe as Drudy
Patience Tomlinson as Betty
John Lidsey as Sam
Directed by Glyn Dearman

Advertizement for The Technicolor Time Machine from Galaxy Oct. 1967

[Thanks much to spafon7e]

Posted by Jesse Willis

The SFFaudio Podcast #074

Podcast

The SFFaudio PodcastThe SFFaudio Podcast #074 – Jesse and Scott talk about the recently arrived audiobooks with assistance and commentary by Luke Burrage

Talked about on today’s show:
New York, “your whole life is a holiday”, The Way Of Kings by Brandon Sanderson, The Wheel Of Time series, “the entire world is imagined from the ground up”, Blackstone Audio, The Shadow Hunter by Pat Murphy, neanderthals, cave bear, “a little cave dude”, The Ugly Little Boy by Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg, Robert J. Sawyer’s Neanderthal Parallax trilogy, shamanic or shamanistic, The Science Fiction Book Review Podcast, Urban Fantasy Alert, City Of Ghosts by Stacia Kane, the Chess Putnam series, First Drop Of Crimson by Jeaniene Frost (Book 1 in the The Night Huntress World series), paranormal romance vs. urban fantasy, spade vs. Spade, vampires, by , southern Gothic, Flannery O’Connor with zombies, the full zombie vs. the half zombie vampire, The Reapers Are The Angels by Alden Bell, The Walking Dead by , Being Human (tv show), Dark Shadows, Hawaii 50, V, Half Blood Of Brooklyn by Charlie Huston, Stephen King, noir urban fantasy?, On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers, Subterranean Press, Bronson Pinchot, pirates, magic, voodoo, Brilliance Audio, Bearers Of The Black Staff by Terry Brooks, Caviar by Theodore Sturgeon, Shannara, Audiofile Magazine, Connecting the Robots and Empire (Foundation) series, demon war, war dudes and siege engines, The Speed Of Dark by Elizabeth Moon, autism, Mary Robinette Kowal’s review of the Books On Tape edition of The Speed Of Dark |READ OUR REVIEW|, Luke’s idea for a paranormal romance set in the stone age, “urban cave fantasy”, Quicksilver by Neal Stephanson, audiobooks are being shaped to the length of an Audible credit, The Baroque Cycle, The Lies Of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch |READ OUR REVIEW|, “it ends in Gibraltar”, Penguin Audio, Zorgamazoo by Robert Paul Weston, Dr. Seuss, Roald Dahl, science fiction, Zero History by William Gibson, Max Headroom, Elmore Leonard, great writing is not enough, Michael May’s Adventure Blog article on back of the book copywriting, taking the risk of writing only the keywords, Starship: Mutiny by Mike Resnick |READ OUR REVIEW|, Kirinyaga by Mike Resnick |READ OUR REVIEW|, Finch by Jeff Vandermeer, StarShipSofa, weird fantasy vs. new weird, the George Zarr talk (The SFFaudio Podcast #071), Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot a BBC radio drama, “if you’re 14 years old and you’re listening to this…”, fantasy women, Ranger’s Apprentice by John Flanagan, Young Adult fiction, the The Ruins of Gorlan series, I Am Number Four, Battlestar Galactica, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, This Immortal by Roger Zelazny, Dune by Frank Herbert, Children Of Dune, Bad Blood by John Sanford, James Lee Burke, Santa Fe Edge by Stuart Woods, by Michael Kramer, the Richard Stark Parker books (Books On Tape), Ed Eagle vs. Eddie The Eagle, New Mexico, puzzling murder, false identity, lush and exclusive resorts, family, vegetarian, car, crash, human, not human, zombie, mystery, maggot infested corpse, brink of death, flesh off her bones, Dust by Joan Frances Turner, should be able to know it, OVERLORDS!, Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke, The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, The Caves Of Steel by Isaac Asimov, Have Spacesuit, Will Travel by Robert A. Heinlein, futuristic gadgetry, Snow Crash, Virtual Light by William Gibson, “the first really good augmented reality book”, The Steel Remains by Richard K. Morgan.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Seeing Ear Theatre: Gaiman, Willis, Bear, Rusch and more

SFFaudio Online Audio

Here’s the latest batch of long unheard Seeing Ear Theatre recordings. I’m also adding them to our main Seeing Ear Theatre post.

Seeing Ear Theatre - ReadingsMaureen F. McHugh reads from China Mountain Zhang
1 |MP3| – Approx. 19 Minutes [EXCERPT]
Publisher: Seeing Ear Theatre
Published: 1998
Provider: Archive.org


Seeing Ear Theatre - ReadingsConnie Willis reads from Bellwether
1 |MP3| – Approx. 20 Minutes [EXCERPT]
Publisher: Seeing Ear Theatre
Published: 1998
Provider: Archive.org


Seeing Ear Theatre - ReadingsKit Reed reads from The Bride Of Bigfoot
1 |MP3| – Approx. 18 Minutes [EXCERPT]
Publisher: Seeing Ear Theatre
Published: 1998
Provider: Archive.org


Seeing Ear Theatre - ReadingsJames Morrow reads from Blameless In Abaddon
1 |MP3| – Approx. 26 Minutes [EXCERPT]
Publisher: Seeing Ear Theatre
Published: 1998
Provider: Archive.org


Seeing Ear Theatre - ReadingsGreg Bear reads from Dinosaur Summer
1 |MP3| – Approx. 16 Minutes [EXCERPT]
Publisher: Seeing Ear Theatre
Published: 1998
Provider: Archive.org


Seeing Ear Theatre - ReadingsWalter Koenig reads from Warped Factors
1 |MP3| – Approx. 23 Minutes [EXCERPT]
Publisher: Seeing Ear Theatre
Published: 1998
Provider: Archive.org


Seeing Ear Theatre - ReadingsSkidoo and Bat Boy
By Patrick O’Leary; Read by Patrick O’Leary
1 |MP3| – Approx. 39 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Seeing Ear Theatre
Published: 1998
Provider: Archive.org
Recorded at ReaderCon 10.

Seeing Ear Theatre - ReadingsPaul Levinson reads an extract from The Silk Code
1 |MP3| – Approx. 15 Minutes [EXCERPT]
Publisher: Seeing Ear Theatre
Published: 1999
Provider: Archive.org


Seeing Ear Theatre - ReadingsNalo Hopkinson reads an extract from Brown Girl In The Ring
1 |MP3| – Approx. 27 Minutes [EXCERPT]
Publisher: Seeing Ear Theatre
Published: 1999
Provider: Archive.org


Seeing Ear Theatre - ReadingsRichard Belzer reads an excerpt from UFOs, JFK, And Elvis
1 |MP3| – Approx. 18 Minutes [EXCERPT]
Publisher: Seeing Ear Theatre
Published: 1999
Provider: Archive.org


Seeing Ear Theatre - ReadingsKristine Kathryn Rusch reads from The Fey: Sacrifice
1 |MP3| – Approx. 24 Minutes [EXCERPT]
Publisher: Seeing Ear Theatre
Published: 1999
Provider: Archive.org


Seeing Ear Theatre - ReadingsNeil Gaiman reads Chapter 3 of Stardust
1 |MP3| – Approx. 22 Minutes [EXCERPT]
Publisher: Seeing Ear Theatre
Published: 1999
Provider: Archive.org


Treks Not TakenTreks Not Taken
By Steven R. Boyett; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 12 Minutes [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Seeing Ear Theatre
Published: 1998
Provider: Archive.org
A parody cross between Star Trek: The Next Generation and Moby Dick.

[Thanks again Roy!]

Posted by Jesse Willis

TOEFL essay on Radio Drama (filed under FINE ARTS)

SFFaudio News

I was flipping through a new TOEFL book the other day, Building Skills for the TOEFL iBT, 2nd Edition Beginning Combined Book, when I spotted this gem of a topic between essays on Mass Wasting and Minoan Pottery:

TOEFL - Fine Arts - Radio Drama

Fun huh? For bonus points try to spot the typo (doubtless it will be fixed in the next edition). And for extra credit you can |READ OUR REVIEW| of Not From Space.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Seeing Ear Theatre: Tripping Astral

SFFaudio Online Audio

One very kind person has added an early (perhaps the first) Seeing Ear Theatre production to the Internet Archive! It’s called Tripping Astral and it’s described thusly:

When a matter transfer experiment goes wrong, a scientist finds himself stranded on a alien planet.

I am, of course, adding it to our popular Seeing Ear Theatre post and will add any credits if and when we can find them.

SEEING EAR THEATRE - Tripping AstralTripping Astral
By Brian Smith?; Performed by a full cast
7 Zipped MP3 Files – Approx. 1 Hour 37 Minutes [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Seeing Ear Theatre
Published: 1997
Provider: Archive.org
“An illustrated audio adventure, about Jack Torn, a research scientist on the moon, a possible–or probable?–alien invasion, and a stunning new invention that might just save the world, or end it… So kick back, but bring a bit of your mind, welcome to the theater of the imagination…
PLEASE NOTE: Tripping Astral was originally an illustrated audio production (with “synchronized, streaming pictures and animations”) they are not available at this time.

Episode 1 “Pilot” |MP3|
Episode 2 “Oh Holy Night” |MP3|
Episode 3 “Cavescapes” |MP3|
Episode 4 “Hello Again” |MP3|
Episode 5 “Wanting Wings” |MP3|
Episode 6 “The Fall” |MP3|
Episode 7 “Brooklyn Bridges” |MP3|

[Thanks MSA!]

Posted by Jesse Willis