Science Fiction Audio Reviews

Reviews of Science Fiction Audio, by Jerry.

Short. Alphabetical order. Links to longer versions. Back to SF Radio page.

Alien Worlds

1979-80 series. Some episodes written by J. Michael Straczinski (creator of Babylon 5 ) for commercial radio, and sounds like it. Well produced, though they all sound like 70s television shows. Some really good parts, though. <www.alienworlds.com> has all the episodes available on CD and download, including some that weren't aired. Apparently a half-hour series, with some stories covering two shows.

The Apotheosis Saga

1996. Jason Cole and Kevin Swan, now of Bloomington, IN. wrote, produced and performed this fast moving series. The first four episodes are 15 minutes each, and episodes 5 - 9 are each a half-hour. Episodes 5&6 won the Mark Time Award for Best SF Audio Production of 1996. One more episode to complete the series, coming.
The story is of a guy in a very high tech future who is given Godlike powers, and is flitting around on the network trying to find other gods to find out what to do with all these new powers. It is delightfully written, and often moves so fast it's hard to follow - but that only makes me want to listen to it again. Very Firesign Theatre-esque in its concept and execution. Downloadable at <http://www.cephalopod.com/listen.html>.

A Canticle for Liebowitz

1984. 15 episode series - takes longer to listen to than to read the book. Really well done, though. Amusing, very good acting and direction, subtle use of effects and music. Kind of slow, so is the book by the late Walter M. Miller. The broadcast rights on this series were returned in 2001, and the series ran in 2002 on NPR Playhouse. CDs used to be available from ZBS.

Centropolis - Soundplay

Written by Walter Adler, produced for Soundplay by Everett Frost. One hour story of a far future city and the secret totalitarian control of events. I had my doubts about it keeping my attention, but it did. Don't know about availability.

The Curve of Wonder

Speaking of David Ossman, he produced this three-part series of SF story adaptations, including "An Eye for an Eye" by Ursula K. LeGuin, "The Hindenburg Effect" by Kate Wilhelm, and "When You Hear The Tone" by Thomas Scortia. I liked the productions, though they aren't my kind of stories. Available on tape soon from Otherworld Media, <www.otherworldmedia.org>

The Drifter

Written by Jay Rath and Directed by Scott Dikkers, as the pilot episode of a proposed series Radio Free Tomorrow. A good concept that apparently didn't get off the ground. It's a good story though, of a directionless college student who takes part in an experiment to move across into another parallel dimension. At first it doesn't seem like anything happened, but little by little people start moving around the room and he finds that he is jumping dimensions faster and farther from his own time line. I don't know if the series was going to continue his jumping - sort of like TV's "Sliders", or if it was an anthology series. Scott Dikkers is the editor of "The Onion" in Madison, WI.

The Earthstone

Two-hour children's story of a brother and sister who don't get along, getting swept away into a ravaged future Earth. They find the Clockmaker's Castle on Wheels, and find that there's always a forest in front of the castle, and always a desert behind. So they escape. Good solid story, ecological message, fun to listen to.

The Foundation Trilogy

Produced in 1973 by the BBC as one-hour shows, aired on NPR Playhouse as half-hours, requiring some editing and narrative updates. Oddly produced with effects and music seeming incongruous or inappropriate sometimes. Very talky stories, like the originals, but they still draw you into them. All three books done in 3, 3 and 2 hours respectively. I have seen them available from a website that sells MP3 CDs of Old Time Radio, and has the entire series.

 

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy*

1978. Just the best there is! Twelve episodes from the BBC. The original, written and produced before there were any books, TV shows, movies or computer games of the thing. Still the favorite medium of it's late author, Douglas Adams, too. CDs available from some places that import British stuff, including the ZBS catalog.

The Insiders' Lounge

1982. One hour contemporary fantasy on CD or cassette. Homer Duckencover always felt like an Outsider, never fitting in anywhere. One day he finds himself "on a back road, at the outskirts of the Middle of Nowhere", and gets picked up by his highschool girlfriend, Raisinette. She takes him to the weirdly folksy Insiders' Lounge, where he feels right at home. But Powerful Forces are scheming to return Homer to his old world. Several terrific and strange country songs interspersed through the hour. Really one of the best pieces I've heard in a long time. Very entertaining. Written and produced by Leslie Fuller. Available in the ZBS Catalog. Get one!

The Island of Dr. Moreau

1996. One hour adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel, produced by the Atlanta Radio Theater Company&. Generally well done, as is most of what they do. Remarkable as it is performed LIVE! I like the story, and they do a good job of the horror of it, though there's a lot of "It is the law!" and "Are we not men?" chanting. Winner of the Silver Mark Time Award for best SF Audio of the year, 1996.

The Last Game Show

1990. Four half-hour episodes story of a future where everyone is tuned into the video network, except for the usual anarchists who want to show the people that the controlling government is lying to them. They enter into the network themselves - how? is not explained - and eventually triumph. Music cleverly integrated into the story line. Written, produced and directed by Norman Jayo. Good story, rises above it's low budget with good writing and acting by the likes of Brock Peters, George Takei, Danny Valdez, Abby Lincoln and others. Available only from NAATA (National Asian-American Telecommunications Assoc.) at 415-863-0814, in San Francisco.

The Lord of the Rings

There are two versions out there of both The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. One produced by The Minds Eye is quite good, and is hard to find since the Minds Eye was sold to another company that ruined their catalog. The other version is by the BBC. Because of the recent film version of the books, these audio tapes and CDs are available at any bookstore. I have heard one person call them the best audio drama ever made. Perhaps. It even stars Ian Holm as Frodo, who also plays Bilbo in the movie. The BBC version is really, really, good.

The Lost World

1996. Professor Challenger is one of Arthur Conan Doyle's most annoying characters. He's arrogant, stubborn, and usually right. This is his tale of going to South America and finding a plateau where dinosaurs and cave men have survived into the 20th century. This version is a pretty good adaptation by Perry Jacob and Bob Flick, of Ziggurat Productions. They have since dissolved their partnership and Lost World is being distributed by Jacob's Starquest Entertainment. You can call Jacob at 818-998-2497. (See also "Martian Odyssey.")

Magicnet

1997. Skye King's best friend, Grant, appears to have been killed by a Demon. Then the friend turns up in Skye's computer. This is all part of the "Magicnet", a computer network enhanced by magic. But the Net is taking on a terrifying and uncontrollable life of it's own, and Skye's only protection is that he doesn't understand it or believe in it. Who knows when they'll meet a Gryphon in the middle of the road? There were a few times I waited for a sound effect that didn't come, and sometimes it felt like I was listening to a book on tape. But this is much better than a simple reading. The story is engaging, the acting is up to the task. Winner of Publisher's Weekly "Listen Up" Award for Best Science Fiction Audio. Pretty good stuff.

A Martian Odyssey

1997. From Starquest Entertainment (CA). A classic story from Stanley Weinbaum, in a terrific adaptation for audio by Perry Jacob. Story of a member of Earth's Martian exploration team who crashes far from the base camp, and walks back across unknown Mars. He is accompanied by a Martian, "Tween", who helps him in avoiding harm from other Martian life forms along the way. Great sound effects, an excellent story, and good acting make this really worthwhile. Recommended. He's done a few other works, too. See The Lost World above.

Meltdown and Mission to Aranus.

1995. A-R-T Productions. The best thing about this is the sound effects. They are very good and believable. The story is pretty good, with the script dialogue not quite holding it up. But the acting is very bad. Everyone sounds like they are reading it, some for the first time. Mistakes in reading are sometimes left in. Pacing and emotive levels of characters seem like they are from a different play. They've also just done another story by the same author, John S. Drew, with the same strengths and faults. It's called "Mission to Aranus." Both stories show a sense of the scope of science fiction, but need practice in story that doesn't telegraph everything in advance, and in dialogue that doesn't sound forced and amateurish. And get rid of that character that speaks like Yoda, with backwards sentence structure.

Netherdrome

1989. Thirteen week anthology of original stories from Nebraska Public Radio. Written and produced by Barry Anderson of Whiz Bang Productions. Stories very reminiscent of X Minus One, though not quite as well done. Everyone lives underground because the surface is ecologically dead - except that some of the stories are of people who return to the surface and survive. Really wanted this series to be better, but each episode seems like the first chapter to a longer story, and it left me wanting to know what happened next. Don't know about availability - try Nebraska Public Radio.

Proposition Four - New American Radio

A wonderful story by Bill Morelock, produced for New American Radio. Story of a man making a radio documentary about a VERY rich man who is draining San Francisco Bay to build an amusement park. The rich man is especially fond of roller coasters. There's also this ancient Indian hologram they dig up from the bottom, that's supposed to say hello from the ancient past. Great direction, with parts of the story on top of other parts, causing some delightful confusions. Tapes can be purchased directly from Bill Morelock. Contact him at B2Story@aol.com.

The Radio Arcade

1988. A four-episode story about a guy who finds a fabulous 'video' games arcade. The first half-hour story is "The Situation Room" wherein the hero plays a complex game where he is the President of the U.S., and must make decisions based on information he gathers from the game while he learns to play it - sort of like real life. The second part, "The Campaign Game" stars Eli Wallach as the hero's father, who introduces him to the game, showing him that you have to sell out to win, and then the father literally gets sucked into the game and disappears. The next two parts are the hero's efforts to retrieve his father from the game. (Eli Wallach no longer plays the father.) Richly produced with effects and good acting. This is one of my favorite SF series in recent years. Produced by E Radio Theater, of whom I know nothing else.

Sci-Fi Radio

1989. An anthology of magazine short story adaptations, with a pretty good choice of the stories. My favorite is "Houston, Houston, Do You Read", by James Tiptree, Jr. 26 week series of half-hours produced by Kevin Singer. Acting is usually stiff, which distracts from the stories, but the production is very well done and listenable on radio. Aired on NPR playhouse and other stations. All story rights have reverted, so they are not available on tape. Following is a list of the plays included in the series and the author of the original story.

Sci-Fi Trilogy

1997. Three satirical science fiction short stories by Daniel Cline, produced by Steve Ziplow at Ziplow Productions, and performed by the Hilton Head Island (SC) Repertory Company. Quite good, well acted, and funny in a sitcom sort of way.

1. "General Emergency" - Medical wonders like "the All Psychiatric Network", and palm-print identification where they take the hand for print ID and return it to you later, and guaranteed universal treatment (payment is neither). Frighteningly funny.
2. "The Lost Planeteers" - Usually the crew just had to transport the shipfull of malcontents to a planet and drop them off, so they become colonists whether they want to or not. But this time they crash land, there's no communications, and now they are surrounded by giant lizards. Hungry giant lizards. Bad to worse, indeed!
3. "Twin Engines - Renaldo works at NitroDyne, maker of those Twin Engines transport shuttles. But this day starts with several unexplainable misunderstandings with - well, everyone - and suddenly he's on the run and accused of various crimes. He finally confronts his tormentor, and that's more unexplainable still.
   
   

The Secret of Dominion

Avoid it! It is a reasonably well produced 13 episode story on cassette. But the story is completely derivative from Star Wars, Buck Rogers TV, and other places. They are unrelentlingly serious, even when they're not trying to be. It's episodic, and in each episode they avoid the question they have asked at the end of each episode. And at the end, the big secret is nothing they could have done anything about, and it dies on it's own anyway. Really a cop out. Acting and directing is stiff and unbelievable.

Star Wars* & The Empire Strikes Back & Return of the Jedi.

Lavishly produced series covering all three movies. Mark Hamill (Luke) and Anthony Daniels (C3PO) are actors carried over from films, and Daniels the only one in "Return." But the cast is terrific, especially John Lithgow as Yoda, and the acting may be better than in the film versions. Scripts written by the late Brian Daley are pretty good, and are available in book form from Ballantine/Del Rey. Actually covers more than the films - like who was Biggs, anyway? Effects and music are still remarkable. Available from several sources, including the Wireless catalog. Cassette or CD. 13 and 10 and 6 episodes respectively.

War of the Worlds - several versions... Also see separate longer review.

 

 

• The Orson Welles version* - "Invasion from Mars" by the late Howard Koch - is available many places, and is even out on CD from Radio Spirits. Also released in a digitally remastered very clean edition in The Smithsonian Collection: Science Fiction, or the "60 Greatest Old Time Radio Shows of Science Fiction", also from Radio Spirits. Still really well done.
• The Lux Radio Theater did a radio version of George Pal's 1954 movie, with Dana Andrews playing the part of Gene Barry. (Dr. Clayton Forrester. Sound familiar?) Transplanted to L. A., of course. It's pretty silly and fun. Available from collectors, and OTR sources like Radio Spirits (1-800-RADIO-48).
• A 1967 BBC production of the original Wells story, aired in 1995 on NPR in six half-hours. The BBC wanted to bring the story back to England where H.G. Wells had begun it. Well done, a little talky as the British are wont to do. Really good adaptation. Don't expect to see tapes available in U.S.; England, maybe.
• 1968, 30^th Anniversary production done by WKBW in Buffalo, NY. Story outline ad libbed by real radio and TV station news personnel. Most realistic and best acted version I've heard. Caused quite a lot of local response despite weeks of repeated promotion and on-air announcements during the broadcast. Really very good.
• Jeff Wayne's 1978 musical version of the WoW story, with Richard Burton as the journalist, is out on CD, and certainly worth listening to, especially because it harks back to the original story and takes place in England.
• David Ossman and Judith Walcutt did a marvelous remake of the 1938 Howard Koch script for the 50th Anniversary Production* (1988). Made to sound like modern public radio, with Terry Gross, Scott Simon, and Douglas Edwards playing essentially themselves. Jason Robards does well in the beginning, but doesn't quite catch on at the end that these aren't written notes, but live radio verité tapes he's doing. Most of it is terrific. Recorded on locations and mixed at Skywalker Ranch (Lucasfilm) studios.
  Available from The LodesTone Catalog on Cassette.
• L.A. Theaterworks did a live production of the Howard Koch script in November of 1994 with some members of the ST: Next Generation cast in it, and starring Leonard Nimoy with a very raspy voice in the lead as Professor Pearson. Overall it's pretty good, though Gates McFadden as Carla Phillips, the reporter on the scene in Grover's Mill, is unfortunately pretentious. Others include Brent Spiner, Armin Shimerman and Wil Wheaton, and directed by John ("Q") de Lancie. Available from LA Theatreworks at 1-800-708-8863, and adds on a new sequel (approx. 14 minutes) by Nat Segaloff and John de Lancie entitled When Welles Collide.
  
  

The Wheel

Written by Jeff Kraus, produced by Sue Zizza of The Radio Works. About 41 minutes. Good story of after something has ravaged the Earth, a couple and their unusual child survive and keep records on an old tape recorder. Nicely done, good characters and acting, and a sad ending. Ask Sue at SueMedia1@aol.com about getting a tape.

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Updated September 17, 2007.