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Post by Andy Turnbull on Oct 27, 2013 11:22:09 GMT
Orson Welles and The War of the Worlds: Myth or Legend? A documentary on the radio broadcast by the Mercury Theatre on the Air headed by Welles by Christopher Frayling. Worth a listen. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03f86lhAndy |
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Post by The Doctor on Oct 29, 2013 19:02:51 GMT
The original radio programme has also aired and is on Iplayer.
-Ralph
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Oct 29, 2013 19:08:59 GMT
Indeed.
Andy
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Dec 28, 2013 14:13:46 GMT
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Post by blueshift on Jan 25, 2014 19:13:43 GMT
Not really this thread but I don't know where else to post it, the Works has got a load of decent Audiobooks in at the moment. I just picked up a load of the Audiogo Bond book readings. (No Dr Who that I could see though, apart from, oddly enough, a Chivers Audiobook of Androids of Tara. That box is huge!)
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Post by The Doctor on Feb 23, 2014 12:35:17 GMT
Journey Into Space is back on the Iplayer.
-Ralph
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Post by legios on Feb 23, 2014 14:25:51 GMT
Been listening to the first episode whilst looking out my funeral suit. This takes me back, I first heard Operation Luna at the age of eight, sitting listening to it with my father on his old Wharfdale radio set, with all the pops and crackles of analogue radio transmission. The thing is, it doesn't feel like it has aged a bit. The sense of wonder, and the risk of space pioneering is still present and correct.
Love Journey Into Space, hope they repeat the other serials as well.
Karl
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Post by The Doctor on Feb 23, 2014 17:42:40 GMT
I'm familiar with Space Force (first series good, second series...not) but have heard very little of JIS so glad it is being put on again. Reading up on it, I was surprised to learn of episodes being produced as late as 2009!
-Ralph
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Post by Pinwig on Feb 25, 2014 23:13:54 GMT
My Dad told me to listen to Space Force when it was first on around '84 and I recorded it onto cassette at the time. Some of the finest radio ever made. Obviously he had listened to JIS when he was a boy, so I then heard that first when Radio 2 repeated all three series somewhere around the end of the 80s, can't remember. I have JIS on CD and relisten to them periodically. That, Hitch-Hikers and the Lord of the Rings adaptation are what made me a regular Radio 4 listener from my teens. Used to get the mickey taken out of me mercilessly at college for trying to promote radio comedy. So much good stuff and I could never persuade anyone to try it.
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Post by The Doctor on Feb 26, 2014 8:16:41 GMT
The Internet has done wonders for radio. With it now so accessible it's not so much seen as the Strange Thing only old people listen to. I listen to far more things than watch them. Better pictures, etc.
Have listened up to episode 5 of JIS. While I don't think it's anything amazing it does have a certain something to it and passes a half hour pleasantly enough.
-Ralph
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Post by The Doctor on Mar 9, 2014 19:03:03 GMT
The glacial pace and Lemmy the arsehole (he is the show killer) are testing my patience somewhat but only two episodes of Operation Luna of JIS left to hear. Not sure if I will bother with The Red Planet though .
-Ralph
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Post by legios on Mar 9, 2014 20:54:15 GMT
I will be catching up with "The Red Planet" on the Iplayer this afternoon. I have a great love of "Journey Into Space", which is partly due to the age at which I was first introduced to it - it falls into that narrow band of years in which I first met Buck Rogers, Dan Dare and their ilk and space adventure got into my blood.
Is it somewhat dated? In all honesty I suspect it probably is, but I can't really evaluate it properly because it is one of those "foundation stones" that went into my head at a formative age. (I don't even dislike Lemmy - he is an audience stand-in who mostly exists to have stuff explained to so I see him more as part of the furniture than anything else).
Karl
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Post by The Doctor on Mar 9, 2014 20:56:06 GMT
I can't stand Lemmy as he seems far too stupid to be an astronaut. Kills the credibility somewhat.
-Ralph
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Post by Pinwig on Mar 9, 2014 21:15:08 GMT
He is the JIS version of Digby, or the Doctor's companion. He isn't really an astronaut, he's a mechanic. Think about the closest equivalent from the time - the crew of a bomber plane, not everyone had to know how to fly it. As Legios says, he's there so he can ask the questions the listeners want answers to. I'm saddened to hear you're not getting on with JIS, I do think it's a standout moment in British Sci-Fi. Those moments in the disabled ship with the drilling coming from outside - utterly brilliant in my eyes. Or ears.
Try Space Force. The first series of that is basically JIS but done 1980s style, same crew roles but different names (So it'll be Chipper you won't like as opposed to Lemmy). It's the same idea but a little more modern.
I think it's only dated in as much as things like Dan Dare are dated, or even Doctor Who; they're a product of the imagination of their time. I enjoy science fiction from any era by keeping it in context.
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Post by The Doctor on Mar 10, 2014 8:36:28 GMT
I'm allowing for the context but round about episode 6 I realised how horribly decompressed it was, with One Idea Per Episode. It's like a Bendis Marvel comic in audio form. Lemmy is also a redundant character as the other characters are continually asking what is going on anyway and seem to earth chaps. Take Lemmy out and nothing would be lost whatsoever. My other half, however, is new to radio dramas and is quite enjoying it.
Listened to first episode of Night Watch, but like most adaptations of Pratchett it gets the plot right but forgets to be funny.
-Ralph
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Post by Pinwig on Mar 10, 2014 21:12:02 GMT
Very difficult I think to translate Pratchett's narrative voice into dialogue, and his books really are a case of the pictures in your head being better because there's no real frame of reference for what they should look like. Unless you could animate the covers.
However I would argue that even the mediocre BBC radio versions are better than the Sky films. Wyrd Sisters is pretty good. No pictures on radio.
So can we widen the radio sci-fi debate then? What ranks as good? I'm trying to think now what really works. I liked the 90's Dan Dare series and there was a great adaptation of Caves of Steel around the end of the 80's I kept.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Mar 10, 2014 21:13:59 GMT
I think the only proper way to enjoy Pratchett is the books.
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Post by legios on Mar 10, 2014 21:22:27 GMT
He is the JIS version of Digby, Funnily enough that was exactly how I described him to my sister recently - and then realised that this was somewhat futile given that she didn't know who Digby was either... Karl |
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Post by Pinwig on Mar 10, 2014 21:24:31 GMT
Yes, although I do very much like the audio books. Stephen Briggs took a while to get it but now does them well, and Tony Robinson is natural for it. Shame his ones are abridged. Didn't like the Nigel Planer ones.
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Post by The Doctor on Mar 11, 2014 18:23:40 GMT
The skill of Pratchett is in his prose. It's difficult to translate that into other media.
The last episode of JIS Operation Luna was fucking awful! That's the ending? Shite.
-Ralph
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Post by blueshift on Mar 11, 2014 18:46:44 GMT
I have been very disappointed with most adaptions of Pratchett.
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Post by The Doctor on Mar 13, 2014 17:13:10 GMT
The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy is on the Iplayer.
-Ralph
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Post by Philip Ayres on Mar 13, 2014 17:31:32 GMT
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Post by The Doctor on Mar 13, 2014 17:52:31 GMT
Great! My copies are long since lost.
-Ralph
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Mar 13, 2014 18:05:16 GMT
Sadly it's not the original as broadcast version, it's the tweaked one.
Andy
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Post by Philip Ayres on Mar 13, 2014 18:13:52 GMT
They've all been tweaked over the years to varying degrees. But the key point is episode 3 should have a section, around a minute long, that's been missing from every commercial release
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Post by blueshift on Mar 13, 2014 18:40:12 GMT
They've all been tweaked over the years to varying degrees. But the key point is episode 3 should have a section, around a minute long, that's been missing from every commercial release Really? What's the difference? |
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Post by Philip Ayres on Mar 13, 2014 21:44:00 GMT
The version on the CDs is missing everything from when they step on to the planet to when they enter the tunnels. The section features Pink Floyd, Elvis and Also Sparc Zarthustra. The Dloyd is believed to be the sticking point.
Google "Zaphod did you know your robot can hum exactly like Pink Floyd?" for details.
As for the other episodes.... I don't think any of them have the original version of Journey to the Sourcere(Eagles c 1975) as the theme music any more. Episode 1 has an edit to the name of the worst poet ever because the person Douglas originally used complained. The effects track for 12 is different because 12 was a rush job to get it road cast that night. There's others....
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Post by Pinwig on Mar 13, 2014 23:18:12 GMT
I have a complete version of episode 3 as an mp3 if you want it, I spliced the missing segment into the first CD release from a good quality radio recording. I cleaned it up and filtered the tape hiss out, there's no noticeable change in quality.
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Post by The Doctor on Mar 14, 2014 16:23:39 GMT
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