audio drama – Page 5

The SFFaudio Podcast #176 – AUDIO DRAMA: Fred Greenhalgh’s The Cleansed

Podcast

The SFFaudio Podcast #176 – The Cleansed, Season 1, Episode 1 by Fred Greenhalgh. This is the complete first episode of the Final Rune audio drama series by Fred Greenhalgh followed by a discussion of it. Participants in the discussion include Jesse, Tamahome and Fred Greenhalgh himself.

Talked about on today’s show:
Eight episodes in season one, clothing in the apocalypse, Tamahome believed everyone was naked, field recording and all-present cast, portable recorder in South Africa, “audio postcards”, Fred’s past audiodramas, The Most Dangerous Game, Waiting for a Window, “either biblical or Star Wars”, Bruce Willis and Armageddon, conflicting world-views, “is that a turkey there?”, Fred knows how to live off the grid, The Long Walk, Fred loves Stephen King, The Stand tv version, when will we find out what ‘The Cleansed’ refers to?, violence and ideologies, Chatterbox Audio Theater on The Cleansed, like Stephen King, Fred doesn’t believe in a lot of plotting ahead or describing clothes, artist Simon Adams helps, “Paul with a P”, “The Republic is the 1%’ers”, The Cleansed Kickstarter campaign, where does Fred get his food?, the best of both worlds, a post-apocalypse for today

Posted by Tamahome

Recent Arrivals from AudioComics

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

AudioComics has launched its debut line of Full Cast Audio Movies, inspired by stories from comics, graphic novels, and genre fiction!

Titanium Rain: A near-future, sci-fi epic. Civil war in China spirals into global conflict. Nations are destroyed, millions killed. For Air Force pilot Alec Killian, survival will mean shedding some of his humanity in exchange for biotech and machine.

Honey West: Murder on Mars: Hollywood’s sexiest detective goes undercover on the set of a low-budget sci-fi film. Who killed the movie’s starlet – the sweet Ingénue, the aging teen idol, the agent boyfriend, or the killer robot?

The Domino Lady: All’s Fair in War: Thrill to the exploits of the Domino Lady and her alter ego, Ellen Patrick, in the Raymond Chandleresque Southern California of 1935. First in a series of Domino Lady releases.

The Batsons: Do you think your family’s strange? Meet The Batsons, a spooky-kooky family of misfit monsters who reside in Flemme Falls, where “awful is lawful and everyone’s mean.” First two episodes: The Trouble with Fang and Carmilla’s Crush.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Review of Brad Lansky and the 4D-Verse

SFFaudio Review

Brad Lansky and the 4D-Verse
By J.D. Venne; Performed by a full cast
1.5 Hours – [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Protophonic.net
Published: 2012
Themes: / Science Fiction / Hard SF / Audio Drama / Dimensional space / Quantum entanglement / Artificial Intelligence /

Taking up where the previous Brad Lansky title ended, this drama has Brad and Alex exploring the 4D-Verse. They get split up while searching for MAMAI (an artificial intelligence), with Alex moving to a higher dimension while Brad figures how to get him back.

In a previous review I compared a Brad Lansky audio to Meatball Fulton’s Ruby series. This one comes from the same mold. It’s a aural feast from start to finish; among the richest audio you’ll hear. Another comparison leapt to mind this time: the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Not only is the subject matter similar (hard SF involving alien beings), but the tone is similar. Just like Kubrick lingered on shots to allow the viewer time to experience awe, Dieter Zimmerman and crew linger with sound that creates images in the listener’s mind. This is very much a cooperative experience. Break out your best headphones and be prepared to provide imagination.

Lansky: I can’t wait to check out these places!
Alex: What? Are you crazy?
Lansky: No, just an explorer who doesn’t run away when he finds something interesting!

Dieter Zimmerman, one of the creative people behind the Brad Lansky series, was recently interviewed on Fred Greenhalgh’s Radio Drama Revival podcast. Find that episode |HERE|.

All of the Brad Lansky titles can be purchased at Protophonic.net!

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

The SFFaudio Podcast #131 – TALK TO: Julie Hoverson of 19 Nocturne Boulevard

Podcast

The SFFaudio Podcast #131 – Jesse, Scott, and Tamahome talk to Julie Hoverson of 19 Nocturne Boulevard

Talked about on today’s show:
how do you say “hiatus”?, “one woman butt kicking army”, third year anniversary, 74 episodes, The Dunwich Horror by H.P. Lovecraft audio drama, Bill Hollweg is in The Deadeye Kid, Maine accents, The Leech by Robert Sheckley (secretly), comedy, A Date With Dana was funny, classic storylines, The Rookie won the Mark Time Award, “line up to get killed by their favorites”, “I love creepy old ladies”, Crumping The Devil, The Imp Of The Perverse, Lovecraft’s The Thing On The Doorstep, Within The Walls Of Eryx is “straightforward sci-fi”, Dis Belief is from a Jorge Luis Borges story, puns, finding the copyright owner, finding quality audio drama, Julie’s audio blog about oversight, we need curation, Voice Hollywood does their own ratings, Julie will be at the next Balticon, Balticon Podcast, there’s never enough people to help, Geek Girl Con, editing the parts together, simultaneous recording?, Julie is in The Radio Drama Handbook by Richard J. Hand and Mary Traynor, The Grand Guignol is violent theater, The Thrice Tolled Bell is like a Hammer film, “cuz I’m crazy”, what dramas does Julie like?, We’re Alive (The Zombie Podcast, also from Blackstone Audio), why do it?, Julie tried to develop a “dead serial killer buddy movie”, Wormwood, comics, Five Fingers Of Doom, short stories, timing your podcast releases, “the mentality of slackness”, for the nasty creepiness: One Eighteen: Migration, Julie’s The Gift Of The Zombi an Xmas show, zombies in love, “zombies are the new cowboys”, a half-hour is a good length, fan dogs on Facebook, “what’s the best science fiction audio drama around?”, Kim’s Warp’d Space involves milk runs, Children Of The Gods, The Leviathan Chronicles, Julie is in Edict Zero (created by Jack Kincaid who did The Geek’s Guide To The Galaxy intro), a cop show on a future colony, how complicated can a show be?, “there’s always engaging things”, Big Finish are pros, “fanfic”, Darker Projects Star Trek tie-ins (Tamahome listened to Lost Frontier), Jesse wants A Princess Of Mars drama, who’s got the rights?, adapting a novel, William Shakespeare, Cymbeline Revisited, Edwardian Entertainments, The Yellow Wallpaper

Posted by Tamahome

Review of The Adventures of Doc Savage

SFFaudio Review

The Adventures of Doc Savage
Adapted from novels by Lester Dent
Starring Daniel Chodos as Doc Savage
8 Hours – [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: RadioArchives.com
Published: 2010
Themes: / Science Fiction / Hero / Adventure / Pulp / Audio Drama / Skeletons / Chemistry /

Doc Savage is the strongest, smartest, most resourceful, best-looking guy you’ll ever meet. And he fights crime. Born in pulp magazines in the 1930’s, he’s also the subject of 181 novels, and a movie.

The Adventures of Doc Savage contains 13 half-hour episodes of audio drama that were originally broadcast on NPR in 1985. These episodes tell two complete stories that were adapted from novels written by Lester Dent. “Fear Cay” was published in September 1934 and “The Thousand Headed Man” in July 1934. The scripts were written by Will Murray and Roger Rittner.

Having never read a Doc Savage story, I was interested for historical reasons. I’ve run across these novels regularly over the years, but the pulp hero never caught my reading eye. I’m very happy, though, to have heard these audio dramas. They are very well done. They’re action packed, thoroughly entertaining, and as full of camp as you’d hope.

With the opening of “Fear Cay”, I learned that Doc Savage doesn’t work alone. He’s got a team around him that reminds me of Buckaroo Banzai’s crew. (Now, why was Jeff Goldblum wearing that ridiculous cowboy outfit again?) I now realize that Buckaroo had to have been influenced by Doc Savage. Savage also has a diverse team around him – from physical strength to electronic genius – and there’s nothing they can’t handle.

Still, Doc Savage is the best of them all. He’s not among equals. He can overpower multiple men at once, but he’s just as apt to talk himself out of a situation. And he’s got gadgets and/or chemical formulations for everything else that occurs.

In short, I had a great time listening to these dramas. They’re fun.

Find them over at RadioArchives.com.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Review of Song Bird from RRCA

SFFaudio Review

Song Bird
Starring Kelli O’Hara, Shirley Jones, and Ed Asner
2 CDs – 2 Hours – [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Radio Repertory Company of America
Published: 2011
Themes: / Audio Drama / Science Fiction / Music / Precognition / Private Investigator /

I know the Radio Repertory Company of America best for the Anne Manx series. I’m a fan of those entertaining comic book dramas (|SFFaudio Review|) so I’m always thrilled when they send me something.

Before they get back to Manx, Angelo Panetta and crew offer Song Bird, a standalone science fiction audio drama. The story opens with a singer named Maureen Barnett (Kelli O’Hara) singing in an out of the way lounge. This is odd because she’s famous and should be singing in front of huge crowds. Amelia Storm (Shirley Jones) is also a singer and she’s got something to give Maureen – the ability to see the future. The gift immediately becomes a burden as Maureen sees disturbing things about her teenage daughter. The story then shifts into a higher gear when the things that worry Maureen actually take place and she’s forced to hire a private investigator to help her find her daughter.

After listening to this production, and so many other audio dramas over the years, I continue to be impressed by RRCA. The quality of the actors is one of the things that set RRCA’s productions apart. The actors here are excellent. Ed Asner plays a retired police officer turned private investigator, and is hilarious. Asner and Shirley Jones together are a delight and I wanted to hear more of them when it was over. First rate performances all around.

The second mark of an RRCA production is the quality of the sound. Music plays a large role here, and Kelli O’Hara and Shirley Jones sound great. Great care is taken with sound effects and background music. I urge you to grab a nice pair of headphones and give this production your full attention! It’s well worth your time. Enjoy!

Posted by Scott D. Danielson