Audio Drama – Page 85

Review of Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency RADIO DRAMA

SFFaudio Review

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency
By Douglas Adams; Performed by a full cast
3 CDs – 3 hours [RADIO DRAMA]
Publisher: BBC AUDIO
Published: 2007
ISBN: 1405677430
Themes: / Science Fiction / Fantasy / Comedy / Mystery / Physics / Music /

Most people think of the more famous The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy when they think of Douglas Adams, but in some ways I prefer his Dirk Gently series because of its more coherent plot and wide-ranging discussions. Of course it is still mainly a rather absurd (but still clever) comedy with a number of sci-fi/fantasy elements and still finds time to explore such diverse subjects as quantum physics, Coleridge’s poetry, computing and Bach. In fact it is described on the book cover as a “thumping good detective-ghost-horror-whodunnit-time-travel-romantic-musical-comedy-epic”.

The story revolves around Richard McDuff who finds himself accused of murdering his boss and seeks help from his old friend Dirk Gently who runs what he calls a “holistic detective” agency. As the investigation unravels events become increasingly strange with ghosts, time travel and an electric monk, but Dirk is convinced of the “fundamental interconnectedness of all things” and is therefore confident of finding the answer.

This drama is directed by the talented Dirk Maggs (who also directed many of the Hitch-Hiker’s radio dramas) and has many well-known British actors. I was a little unsure about the casting of Harry Enfield as Dirk, but he was very good in the part, as was the rest of the cast. For those who are familiar with the novel be warned, there have been a number of changes made, both structurally and in various details – I thought that it was all in keeping with the spirit of the book, but purists may be disappointed. The ending does feel rather rushed and not fully explained (maybe because of time restraints), which may be a bit may be a bit confusing for those who don’t know the story. On the whole though, this is an enjoyable adaptation of a great and much missed author.

Posted by Laura

[editor’s note – This is the first post by our new reviewer Laura, a British expat living in the USA. She comes to us from her Audio Drama Blog, a visit to which will find you returning to again and again, like a moth to a very yummy flame. Moths do like the taste of flames right?]

Decoder Ring Theatre’s Xmas Panda Spectacular! (a Red Panda episode, with a Xmas theme)

SFFaudio Online Audio

I’ve found that regular listening to Decoder Ring Theatre is just way too painful. Even though their episodes are all 99.9% stand-alone independent all-in-one tales I find myself absolutely depressed to have to wait 13 days between shows. Whenever a season wraps I get a giant present all at once and that way I can listen to them back to back and avoid that depression.

But… I just can’t resist downloading the latest Red Panda episode. The Christmas themed show sounds soooo good…

A Red Panda Christmas Adventure

“Yes, kids, there’s a man in red on the rooftops, but it ain’t St Nick! In this very special slice of two-fisted pulp justice with all the trimmings, we tip our fedoras to the great Will Eisner and the classic Christmas stories he wrote for his much-loved Mystery Man ‘The Spirit’, and in so doing, turn 1930’s Toronto on its ear! Please enjoy, with our best wishes… Tis The Season!”

Get it here |MP3| or subscribe to the podcast feed and make Christmas come every two weeks:

http://decoderring.libsyn.com/rss

Posted by Jesse Willis

Neil Gaiman audio roundup

OnlineAudio

If you start looking around the net for Neil Gaiman audio you’ll be hard pressed not to find it. The quantity is overwhelming in fact. Most of it consists of interviews, most from relatively mainstream media sources. But the guy gets podcast interviews like nobody’s business too. The MP3 files listed below are by no means the newest nor most exclusive but they are all good and they’re new links for us…

NeilGaiman.net / DreamHaven Books First, from the DreamHaven Books and NeilGaiman.net bookstore we’ve got three ultra-short “sample” (but unabridged) MP3s:

Poetry: “Instructions” |MP3| from Speaking In Tongues.
The liner notes for this one reads: “This is a poem about what to do if you find yourself in a Fairy Tale. It is guaranteed to work. If you find yourself in a Fairy Tale, and, despite following these instructions to the letter, you are eaten by wolves or lost, never to be seen again, the publisher will refund the cost of this CD.”

A Christmas card (a very short story): “Nicholas Was” |MP3| from Warning: Contains Language.
Gaiman sez of it: “This is a Christmas card. Exactly a hundred words long (102, including the title).”

Poetry: “A Writer’s Prayer” |MP3| from Telling Tales.
Gaiman describe it as “…written shortly before I began American Gods. I knew the first two verses when I began it, and the conclusion was there when I reached it. This is why I love writing.”

Next up, the always reliable Zombie Astronaut has a bit of Neil Gaiman poetry: “The Day The Saucer Came” |MP3|.

And also, from the same moulderingly cosmic source, this recent radio drama gem…

Anansi Boys
Based on the novel by Neil Gaiman; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – 1 Hour [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC World Service / World Drama
Broadcast: Nov 17th 2007
God is dead. Meet the kids. When Fat Charlie’s dad named something, it stuck. Like calling Fat Charlie “Fat Charlie.” Even now, twenty years later, Charlie Nancy can’t shake that name, one of the many embarrassing “gifts” his father bestowed — before he dropped dead on a karaoke stage and ruined Fat Charlie’s life.

And from another site entirely comes…

Check out this 2006 “authors on tour” piece |MP3| of Neil Gaiman speaking to a receptive audience at The Tattered Cover bookstore. Gaiman reads from Anansi Boys tells stories and answers questions about the comic book, book, audiobook and movie businesses.

Posted by Jesse Willis

BBC Radio 4 @ Xmas: Roald Dahl and M.R. James

SFFaudio Online Audio

BBC Radio 4 has two non-Xmasy programs on the schedule for the week of Xmas.

The Witches
By Roald Dahl; Performed by full casts
2 Parts Approx 2 Hours[AUDIO DRAMA]
BROADCASTER: BBC RADIO 4
BROADCAST: Sunday 23 December and Sunday December 30th 2007 @ 3.00-4.00pm
A boy who has lost his parents in a car crash is looked after by his Norwegian grandmother. She tells the boy how to identify witches – they are bald (with wigs that itch), have no toes (but they wear fashionable shoes), gloved hands (to hide their long fingernails), large nostrils (to sniff out children) and blue spittle. Fortunately, the boy and his grandmother live in Norway where they are safest from the meanest witches, who spirit away children at the drop of a hat. However, the reading of the boy’s father’s will sends him and his grandmother to England, where the world’s most dangerous witches live. The boy finds himself trapped in a Bournemouth hotel ballroom where groups of witches meet, masquerading as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. As the Grand High Witch whips the meeting into a child-hating frenzy, the witches discover the boy and force him to drink a potion which turns him into a mouse. He then has to run for his life.”

M.R. James At Christmas
By M.R. James; Perfomed by full casts
Five Broadcasts – Approx 75 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
BROADCAST: @ 19:45 December 24th-28th
Introduced by Derek Jacobi as MRJ, the stories are Oh Whistle And I’ll Come To You My Lad, The Tractate Middoth, Lost Hearts, The Rose Garden and Number 13.

Thanks Roy!

Posted by Jesse Willis

KFAI’s Xmas Schedule: Paul Levinson, Jeff Green, Tom Lopez, Roger Gregg

SFFaudio Online Audio

Online Audio - Radio Show - Sound Affects A Radio Playground On its next broadcast Sound Affects: A Radio Playground will be airing Paul Levinson’s The Chronology Protection Case. This is the live version as performed at the Museum of Radio and TV in New York. The show can be heard via live streaming on Sundays and is also broadcast on the radio in the Minneapolis/St. Paul. region – 90.3 FM Minneapolis, 106.7 FM St. Paul. Programs are archived on the KFAI website for two weeks after the broadcast.

Radio Drama - The Chronology Protection Case The Chronology Protection Case
By Paul Levinson; Performed by a full cast
Radio Broadcast – [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: KFAI / Sound Affects
Broadcast: December 16th 2007 @ 9:30-10:30 PM (Central Time)
The Chronology Protection Case radio play, a science fiction murder mystery, features Shanahan in the role of Dr. Phil D’Amato, the forensic detective who appears in Levinson’s acclaimed novels, “The Silk Code,” “The Consciousness Plague” and “The Pixel Eye.” When D’Amato is approached by the distraught wife of a missing scientist whose work is embroiled in secrecy, he is plunged into an adventure with a terrifying and powerful force of nature at the heart of a series of mysterious deaths.

The week after, Sunday the 23rd, Sound Affects will air Jeff Green’s Christmas Is Coming to the District of Drudge, one of the “Soundings” stories. Then in 2008 we’ll be hearing a few more of the “Soundings” pieces, interspersed with Roger Gregg’s Big Big Space stories, and a profile of Tom Lopez from ZBS-fame. Lopez is the creator of the extremely popular Ruby the Galactic Gumshoe series! Cool!

Posted by Jesse Willis

BBC WS: The Internet Wants A Chat – A Radio Drama

SFFaudio Online Audio

A BBC World Service play that just aired is available throught their “listen again” feature until the weekend…

Strange goings on in the world wide web is a matter of national security. When the virtual world gets a mind of its own, there are those in the real world who are not happy. Control of the internet is at stake and I.T. experts are forced to contain – and eradicate – a bloke called Binge, who wakes up in the virtual world, and just wants to get a life.

The Internet Wants A Chat
By Thomas Crowe; Performed by a full cast
1 Broadcast – 1 Hour [AUDIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC World Service / World Drama
Broadcast: Nov 24th 2007 @ 20:01 GMT

Posted by Jesse Willis