ESCAPE: North Of Polaris and SUSPENSE: Report From A Dead Planet

SFFaudio Online Audio

Bill Hollweg, one of the creative dudes at BrokenSea Audio Productions, just sent me an email suggesting I listen to an episode of Escape titled North Of Polaris. He describes it as “fantastic” and “dark.” Sez Bill:

“This sounds so Rod Serling and Twilight Zone-ish and Planet Of The Apes-ish– it’s uncanny. No talking apes mind you- but the new rulers of the world are pretty ravenous.”

EscapeEscape – North Of Polaris
By Charles Smith; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 26 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBS Radio
Broadcast: May 17, 1953
Provider: Escape-Suspense.com
A group of astronauts travels twenty million miles to explore a post-apocalyptic planet. They will have to spend 48 hours before their ship returns. Their challenge is to stay alive on this dead world until their ship comes back to get them.
Stars: William Conrad, Hy Averback, Eddie Firestone, Vivi Janiss, Ralph Moody and Frank Gerstle.

The Escape-Suspense blog also points out that Suspense did a similarly themed show called Report From A Dead Planet in 1960.

SuspenseSuspense – Report From a Dead Planet
By George Bamber; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 20 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBS Radio
Broadcast: July 10, 1960
Provider: Archive.org
A four-man crew lands on a newly discovered, dead planet – which once held life. They find a dead city where once a civilization stood.
Stars: Lester Damon, John Larkin, William Mason and Phil Meader

Posted by Jesse Willis

More Damn Dirty Apes! Planet Of The Apes audiobook

Online Audio

Hunter's Planet Of the Apes ArchiveHunter Goatley‘s site also has an abridged reading of the original novel of Planet Of The Apes by Pierre Boulle. It was originally published in 1963 in French as La Planète Des Singes. “Singe” translates to both “ape” and “monkey.” Translator Xan Fielding called it Monkey Planet. In the English-language POTA films, the apes are insulted when called “monkeys,” but in this reading no distinction is made, the term “singes” is used interchangeably with both “apes” and “monkeys.” This abridged reading regrettably dispenses with the framing story, which offers one of the twists that people who’ve only seen the films could still have enjoyed. Despite this, the audiobook is worth hearing, it falls into the tradition of A Strange Manuscript Found In A Copper Cylinder, in which dystopian society acts as social commentary.

 Planet Of The ApesPlanet Of The Apes
By Pierre Boulle; Read by Michael Maloney
5 MP3s – [ABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 4 / Book at Bedtime
Broadcast: 2005
|Part 1 MP3 | Part 2
MP3 |Part 3 MP3 |Part 4 MP3 |Part 5 MP3 |