time travel – Page 28

BBC 7 does Doctor Who’s eighth doctor Season One

Online Audio

Doctor Who begins a new round of rebroadcasts on BBC Radio 7‘s The 7th Dimension this week. All Paul McGann Doctor stories, all back to back, recorded by UK audio drama company Big Finish. These are what Big Finish calls their “New Eight Doctor Adventures Season One”. But it is hardly the first series from Big Finish to feature Paul McGann’s doctor. What most distinguishes it from previous series stories is a new companion, played by Sheridan Smith. Lucie Miller, as she’s called, is described as a “brash northern lass” whos is initially an unwilling passenger in the TARDIS. She has been placed with the Doctor as part of a “Time Lord witness protection programme.” This series of six stories was commissioned by BBC 7 from Big Finish. They first began airing in December 2006. This rebroadcast is likely to be followed shortly by “Season Two” of the “New Eight Doctor Adventures.”

Already available via the BBC7 ‘listen again’ service:

Doctor Who Blood of the Daleks – Episode 1 of 2
LISTEN NOW – [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Thu. Sep. 28th 2007
The Time Lord has plenty to deal with as an intruder appears in the TARDIS and the Daleks prepare to blight a damaged world.

Doctor Who – Blood Of The Daleks – Episode 2 of 2
LISTEN NOW – [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Fri. Sep. 29th 2007
Lucie realises the true intentions of their ‘saviours’. But could the Doctor really want the same thing as the Daleks?

Airing this week:

Doctor Who – Horror of Glam Rock
Broadcast – [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Mon. Oct. 1st @ 18:00-18:50 [Rptd Tue 12.00am]
he Tomorrow Twins are all set to conquer the pop world of 1974. But will their dreams survive an encounter with the Doctor?

Doctor Who – Immortal Beloved
Broadcast – [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Tue. Oct. 2nd 18:00-18:50 [Rptd Wed 12.00am]
The Doctor and Lucy arrive in a land of Zeus, Hera, Ganymede and…helicopters? .

Doctor Who – Phobos
Broadcast – [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Wed. Oct. 3rd @ 18:00-18:50 [Rptd Thu 12.00am]
For extreme sport nuts, the fear is part of the rush. But the Doctor and Lucie are about to learn the true meaning of ‘Phobos’.

Doctor Who – No More Lies
Broadcast – [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Thu. Oct. 4th @ 18:00-18:50 [Rptd Fri 12.00am]
The Doctor and Lucie gatecrash a posh party, and get more than they bargained for. Namely vortisaurs and a crumbling spaceship.

Doctor Who – Human Resources – Episode 1 of 2
Broadcast – [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Fri. Oct. 5th @ 18:00-18:50 [Rptd Sat 12.00am]
Lucie Miller starts her first day in a new job. Or does she? Is it possible that her time with the Doctor was merely a daydream?

Airing next week:

Doctor Who – Human Resources – Episode 2 of 2
Broadcast – [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Mon. Oct. 8th @ 18:00-18:50 [Rptd Sat 12.00am]
Lucie Miller starts her first day in a new job. Or does she? Is it possible that her time with the Doctor was merely a daydream?

posted by Jesse Willis

2 John Kessel Audiobooks FREE on his website

SFFaudio Online Audio

Here’s a sweet find! John Kessel who’s story of A Clean Escape premiered on the new Masters Of Science Fiction anthology TV series a couple of Saturdays ago has made the original tale available to be heard as a regular audiobook reading on his website. Kessel, with help from friend, and fellow SF writer, James Patrick Kelly, has recorded his most adapted story and posted it for our listening pleasure. It was first published in 1985 in the pages of Asimov’s Science Fiction. Also available from Kessel is his short story, Some Like It Cold, which first appeared a 1994 issue of Omni. Grab the details for each below…

A Clean Escape
By John Kessel; Read by John Kessel
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: John Kessel’s website
Published: August 2007
A psychiatrist deals with a patient who seems to have lost his memory of the last twenty-four years. Or has he?

Some Like It Cold
By John Kessel; Read by John Kessel
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: John Kessel’s website
Published: August 2007
A time traveling talent scout from the future visits 1962 in search of his next recruit. But is she ready to come?

posted by Jesse Willis

BBC 7 re-airs Soldier by Harlan Ellison

Online Audio

BBC7’s the 7th Dimension is re-airing a classic and relatively famous SF story from Harlan Ellison over the next two Sundays. Soldier, originally published in 1957 under the title Soldier Of The Future this is a time travel tale. Not as well known is that Ellison was drafted into the U.S. Army that same year and was trained as an Army Ranger. After leaving the military Ellison later adapted his story for a 1964 episode of the original The Outer Limits, and still later it was adapted, in a completely unauthorized but brilliant 1984 SF film, The Terminator.

Soldier
By Harlan Ellison; Read by John Sharian
2 half-hour segments – Approx. 1 Hour [UNABRIDGED]
BROADCASTER: BBC Radio 7 / The 7th Dimension
BROADCAST: Sunday at 6:30pm and 12:30am U.K. Time
“Set a thousand years into the future, Earth has become a nightmare of high-tech battlefields where few survive. From this world, soldier Qarlo is accidentally teleported back to the U.S. city streets of 1964 – to warn the human race of its capacity for self-destruction.”

Both parts will be available via the Listen Again service for six days after each broadcast.

posted by Jesse Willis

Review of Here Today …Gone to Tomorrow edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin Greenberg

SFFaudio Audiobook Review

Here Today …Gone Tomorrow (Asimov’s All Time Favorite Time Travel Stories)
Edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin Greenberg; Read by various
4 Cassettes – Approx. 6 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Dercum Audio
Published: 1998
ISBN: 1556562586 [out of print]
Themes: /Science Fiction /Time travel /Anthology /

Stories: “Try and Change the Past” by Fritz Leiber, read by Bill Fantini; “A Loint of Paw” by Isaac Asimov, read by Bill Fantini; “The Long Remembering” by Poul Anderson, read by Nelson Runger; “There Is A Wolf In My Time Machine” by Larry Niven, read by Bill Fantini; “The Light Of Other Days” by Bob Shaw, read by Nelson Runger; “The Kings Wishes” by Robert Sheckley, read by Nelson Runger; “The Little Black Bag” by C.M. Kornbluth, read by Ann Wilcox.

Old school. That’s what this collection of time travel stories is, with all the blessings and baggage that implies. The stories concern mainly white men, with women appearing mostly as henpecking baffles for their claustrophobic concerns, and, in general, the voices presenting the stories are brusque and hairy-chested, like those from a third grade filmstrip on pool safety (and if that simile has any resonance for you, then I think you appreciate what I mean by “old school”). A female voice does narrate C.M. Kornbluth’s “The Little Black Bag”, but the story is so piquant with elitism and misogyny, it might as well be read by a Victorian-era Harvard College president.

The cover claims the stories were hand selected by Isaac Asimov from his own personal library, and the photo shows the great one with his trademark facial fur and engaging grin in front of a tall shelf packed with his own works.* Happily, his own works do appear in this collection, but only in the delightful – a word to describe almost anything Asimov uttered aloud – introduction he delivers himself, and the brief, forgettable story “A Loint Of Paw” which he does not.

The list of authors is impressive. The stories, however, while enjoyable, are neither essential nor groundbreaking. The best of them, and the only one to offer even a glimpse of the wistful ache that is the primary motivation for the idea of time travel, is Bob Shaw’s “The Light Of Other Days.” I was caught off guard after the relatively bland intellectual exercises of the forgoing stories because this one starts out looking similarly simple and heartless, yet builds to a subtle and profoundly moving finish.

As a whole, this is a decent collection, but not one I’d risk any injury rushing out to acquire. If it falls in your lap, or if you are a rabid fan of old school SF, I’d give it a listen. Otherwise, I think you could easily find something more satisfying to fill your ears with.

[editor’s note – the cover depicted above does not match Kurt’s description. Kurt’s scan of his copy of this audiobook was not available at the time of this post]

Posted by Kurt Dietz

Have you heard The Radio Adventures of Doctor Floyd podcast?

SFFaudio Online Audio

Clearly we’ve been remiss. How could we not have posted about the long-running The Radio Adventures Of Doctor Floyd podcast previously? This is a Parsec Award winning show! It has been running on the net since 2004! And there’s been nary a word about it on SFFaudio! How can this be? Clearly this is the work of the evil Dr. Steve! “But who is this Dr. Steve?” You ask. Ah, there’s the rub…

Dr. Steve is an evil mastermind and the arch-nemesis of Dr. Floyd and his stalwart crew of time traveling heroes. Dr. Floyd also happens to be the main character in a short audio drama series unique to podcasting. This is a kid-friendly show that draws inspiration from the animated Rocky & Bullwinkle Show. In almost every episode one historical character or another is featured prominently. Here’s the premise:

When his Time and Space Travel Device is stolen by the evil mastermind Dr. Steve and his sock-shaped assistant Fidgert…Dr. Floyd, his young protégé Dr. Grant and their faithful robot companion C.H.I.P.S. must do what they can to get it back. Bent on achieving fame and fortune, Dr. Steve plans to race through history stealing historical items and then returning to the future to sell them on eBay. Can Dr. Floyd and his crew thwart the evil machinations of Dr. Steve and Fidgert?

The website for The Radio Adventures Of Doctor Floyd is well worth visiting. Subscriptions to the podcast are via this feed:

http://www.doctorfloyd.com/blog/rss.xml

Enjoy!

posted by Jesse Willis

The Sci-Phi Show on Levinson’s Chronology Protection Case

Episode #31 of The Sci Phi Show |MP3| is on the topic of the “chronology protection conjecture” (an idea that physicist Stephen Hawking used to answer the question of why historic events don’t appear to be flooded with time traveling tourists). More specifically under discussion is the concept as represented in Paul Levinson’s story and radio drama of The Chronology Protection Case. Before you listen to the analysis check out the original tale itself |MP3| which can be found in the same feed. On the topic of the feed, you can subscribe to the podcast via this link:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheSciPhiShow

posted by Jesse Willis