Captain Radio Reviews: The Headhunters

June 8, 2011 By 9 Comments

Captain Radio Audio Reviews

Graphic - FunGraphix.com | Theme music - Shane Lamb

Title: The Headhunters
Producer: Galaxy Press/Galaxy Audio
Type: Drama
Genre: Action Adventure
Rating: AD-PG13* (extended scenes of violent jungle fighting)
Availability: Paid – Galaxy Audio – Stories from the Golden Age

 

L. Ron Hubbard's The Headhunters Audio Book CoverGreetings, Audionauts – Captain Radio™ here, sponsored by RØDE™ Microphones, with a review of …

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Pulp fiction exploded onto newsstands and bookstores to experience a Golden Age in the 1930’s and 40’s. During its hay-day perhaps 30 million readers each month consumed thousands of mystery, science fiction, western, and action-adventure stories featured in upwards of 900 magazines. Even today most of us recognize writers’ names from this epoch, including Rice-Burroughs, Bradbury, Heinlein, Lovecraft, and Gardner.

Perhaps the most prolific pulp fiction writer, if not also the most enduringly popular, would be L. Ron Hubbard. Like Hemingway and Melville before him, Hubbard lived his life embedded in the realms from which his fast-paced imaginative tales sprung onto the pages of “pulp rags” like Thrilling Adventures, Argosy, and even Romantic Range.

In 1936, The Headhunters, a novella typical of Hubbard’s action-adventure style, appeared in Five Novels Monthly. In it, square-jawed protagonist, Tom Christian, and pert heroine, Diane Forsythe, follow her academically tunnel-visioned father into obvious eponymous danger. Seriously complicating their lives is, Punjo Charlie who is so intent on dispossessing Christian of alleged vast “buried treasure” that a full armed conflict erupts in the jungle:

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Galaxy’s multicast audio books build a “movie of the mind” through sound, striving to give listeners dramatic action and scenes of conflict thoroughly spiced with Hubbard’s page-turning detailed narrative. For example, here Christian silently but contemptuously sizes up Professor Forsythe’s entourage of jungle greenhorns:

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The Headhunters cast includes theatrical standout, Thomas Silcott, and Marvel™animation’s Hulk (Fred Tatasciore) as well as Brooke Bloom, R.F. Daley, Jim Meskimen, Josh R. Thompson, and Max Williams. In this audio excerpt from a documentary video clip, Meskimen speaks as Senior Director, joining actors Thompson and Christine Huntington to recap the prodigious scope and ambition of Stories from the Golden Age:

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You can find Galaxy Audio’s dramatic send up of The Headhunters as well as 152 other prime L. Ron Hubbard audio adventures at GoldenAgeStories.com .

While you’re there, check out some lively and interesting “special features” videos that document the ambitious production of these dramatic audiobooks.

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Until next time, Audionauts, this is Captain Radio™, signing off!

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Captain Radio™ Reviews L. Ron Hubbard’s The Headhunters from Galaxy Audio

 

* Rating based on the Audio Drama Directory Ratings System.

 

 

Filed Under: Adventure, Audiobook, Captain Radio Reviews, Drama, Golden Age Stories, Jim Meskimen, L Ron Hubbard Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Captain Radio Reviews: The Swamp

June 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Captain Radio Audio Reviews

Graphic - FunGraphix.com | Theme music - Shane Lamb

Title: The Swamp
Producer: Tanja Milojevic and LightningBolt Theater of the Mind
Type: Drama
Genre: Horror Mystery

Rating: AD-PG*
Availability: Free – LightningBolt Theater of the Mind

 

Greetings, Audionauts – Captain Radio here with a review of Tanja Milojevic’s The Swamp from LightningBolt Theater of the Mind.

Lightningbolt Theater of the Mind LogoIf you ever experienced ghastly fear trying to escape a nightmare presence but unable to awaken, then you know Rachel’s terror.

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This hungry, menacing demon dream swamp metaphorically overflows into her conscious existence. First, Rachel (voiced by Milojevic) abruptly loses her best friend, Alice (voiced by Amanda Fur) when their college expels Alice for surreptitiously cheating off Rachel’s exam. Then, after Rachel pleads vainly with her mother (voiced by Deborah Adams) to forego a simple driving errand in an icy blizzard, Rachel receives the worst of all calls:

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Finally, adding to Rachel’s growing horror, the relentless swamp dream demon returns, this time with unholy help as Rachel’s mother, apparently casting blame for the accident, joins him in terrorizing her.

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The only seeming positive in Rachel’s waking life is the sudden appearance of dark, handsome, and very mysterious fellow student, Blake, who quickly, and quite literally, entrances her:

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Eventually, we gain the eerie sense of having missed a key scene along the way. By the time both we, and Rachel, learn what’s missing, it’s hideously late in the game … maybe too late.

Milojevic’s unhurried but increasingly suspenseful pace of revelation here renders The Swamp’s sudden finale all the more shocking, while the denouement “chaser” is served up suitably well chilled.

Milojevic emigrated with her family from Serbia to America at age 6. Since 2008, by day, she pursues an undergraduate degree in English Writing with a minor in Communications from Boston’s Simmons College. After-hours, she pursues her calling as an independent audio drama producer at which she steadily has improved.

For example, The Swamp, actually enlarged and scripted from a high school English Lit writing exercise, comes smartly decorated with background and bridging music so discriminately selected that I wished to hear the scoring again apart from the play.

Appearing instinctively to leverage her visual-impairment, Milojevic also aptly employs her keenly attuned hearing to evoke college environs and voices as binaural backdrop to her drama. You’ll need headphones or good stereo speaker separation to catch this particular nuance, but listen closely to this clip from The Swamp in which a professor’s voice seems at first to wander about randomly until we realize that he’s passing out student exam sheets:

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Having already completed over ten independent audio productions, Milojevic has also begun to create Spirit Blade Underground Alliance series episodes of Out of the Night in collaboration with Spirit Blade producer, Paeter Frandsen.

Ms. Milojevic, who aspires to graduate work at UMass and, thereafter, to teach Braille, seems also to be well underway with a moonlight career as a talented independent audio producer and voice actor.

Hear Tanja Milojevic’s The Swamp on the Audio Drama Showcase at CaptainRadio.com, and listen to all her productions at LightningBoltTheaterOfTheMind.Mypodcast.com.

 

Until next time, Audionauts, this is Captain Radio™, signing off!

 

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Captain Radio Reviews Tanja Milojevic’s The Swamp from Lightningbolt Theater of the Mind

 

* Rating based on the Audio Drama Directory Ratings System.


 

Filed Under: American, Captain Radio Reviews, Drama, Horror, Lightningbolt Theater of the Mind, Mystery, Paeter Frandsen, Radio Drama, Spirit Blade, Tanja Milojevic

Captain Radio Review: Too Much of a Good Thing

May 19, 2011 By 2 Comments

Captain Radio Audio Reviews

Graphic - FunGraphix.com | Theme music - Shane Lamb

Title: Too Much of a Good Thing
Producer: Elsa Lankford and Black Crow Productions
Type: Comedy/Drama
Genre: Social Satire

Rating: AD-G* (mild swearing)
Availability: Free to Listen on PRX (Free Listener Registration Required)

Greetings, Audionauts – Captain Radio here with a review of Elsa Lankford’s Too Much of a Good Thing from Black Crow Productions.

Some global cultures have well-known, presumably independent news gathering outfits working alongside reasonably respectable commercial enterprises.

American news-gathering falls largely upon the shoulders of both commercial and intensely-sponsored “public” organizations.

Both, of late, have received their fair share of cynical criticism for dubious content, methods, objectivity, and, importantly, independence.

The separation between news and sponsorship can become precariously blurred, as our Too Much of a Good Thing protagonists learn while watching “news” that seems more broken than “breaking”:

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Laura, a wannabe mystery writer (voiced by Danielle Lenhard), and her Helen Reddy-obsessed intimate roommate, Trina (voiced by Lankford) step outside to try to fathom the news frenzy engulfing the house next door.

When Trina defends neighborhood trash collector Joey (voiced by Patrick Zemeral) from media pillorying, “ace” live reporter Dank Stevens (voiced by James Armstrong) soundly repudiates her:

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The reporter then presses on to fast-breaking coverage of … unicorn abuse.

Soon, a furtive figure recruits the amenable ladies to investigate the mysterious comings-and-goings in the neighborhood, just as the old News Director at “Channel 7.5” (voiced by Grace Enriquez), explains the (sad) facts of news evolution to Dank:

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When neighborhood uber-gossip Mrs. Lewis (Enriquez again) abruptly is hired and upgraded to become the new Channel 7.5 News Director, Lankford unleashes through her a droll and thinly veiled volley at network newsgathering credibility:

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Satire eventually shifts more toward a genuine mystery, and imperiled Laura and Trina uncover a plot so large and so sinister that even Monty Python writer/director Terry Gilliam’s dark fancy would be tickled.

While the play hints at autobiographical asides and harbors some fun, if not essential, dialog, its virtually unrelenting satire seems all too suited to modern network news-mongering.

Listen to Elsa Lankford’s Too Much of a Good Thing from Black Crow Productions at PRX.org.

During your visit, you may also wish to hear Lankford’s half-hour documentary about a neighborhood bypassed by road construction entitled, Rooted and Unrooted: West Baltimore’s Highway to Nowhere.

Until next time, Audionauts, this is Captain Radio, signing off!

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Captain Radio Reviews Elsa Lankford’s Too Much of a Good Thing from Black Crow Productions

 

* Rating based on the Audio Drama Directory Ratings System.


 

Filed Under: American, Captain Radio Reviews, comedy, Drama, Mystery Tagged With: , , , ,

Captain Radio Review: Saki’s Quail Seed

May 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Captain Radio Audio Reviews

Graphic - FunGraphix.com | Theme music - Shane Lamb

Title: Quail Seed (19 Nocturne Boulevard Anthology)
Producer: Julie Hoverson and Wheeality Productions
Type: Drama
Genre: Social Satire

Rating: AD-G*
Availability: Free – 19NocturneBoulevard.com

Greetings, Audionauts – Captain Radio here with a review of Saki’s Quail Seed, adapted and produced by Julie Hoverson and Wheeality Productions.

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High-profile classic literary oracles, like H.G. Wells and George Orwell, have astounded readers with profound and often disturbing scientific and social insights into the future. However, audio drama producer Julie Hoverson holds that lesser-known but certainly competent writers, such as Edwardian era author H.H. Munro, known better by his pen name, Saki, could cleverly employ biting humor to reveal equally rare foresights into mundane matters:

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Struggling small businesses today could garner an insight or two from Quail Seed which opens with Mr. Scarrick, a small-town shop owner who, having just topped off his inventory, abruptly faces dismal Christmas sales:

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However, some local gossips, trying to be discrete as they surreptitiously browse Scarrick’s lowly local establishment before traveling to the big city to make their purchases, witness two bizarre visitations, first, that of an unusual boy:

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Even as the ladies cackle feverishly over the departed boy, a stranger and more imposing customer stalks in:

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In no time the entire exurban community is abuzz, both about the strange visitors and Scarrick’s puzzling perfidy. On subsequent days, shoppers mill about the store, draining the shelves of goods, at last gasping when the strange boy, the imposing man and Scarrick’s deceit all score an encore. With that, the rumor dam crumbles:

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And no one can resist shopping at Scarrick’s thereafter for fear of foregoing the finale of all this unfathomable intrigue, perhaps … not even you.

Saki’s engaging satire, minimalistically, tastefully, and warmly adapted by Hoverson, might well be served as a delicious after-dinner dessert with a sherry apéritif or Turkish coffee. Though Hoverson jests about making relatively casual casting decisions for her many works thus far, no character of Quail Seed seems truly out of place or unapproachable here. Enjoy.

Listen to Julie Hoverson and Wheeality Production’s adaptation of H.H. Munro’s  Quail Seed currently podcast on the Captain Radio’s Audio Drama Showcase or by visiting 19NocturneBoulevard.com where you can hear three other standout Saki yarns as well as over 60 other short Hoverson pieces.

You can also hear a podcast of Hoverson’s Mark Time Award-winning scifi drama, The Outpost, right here on Radio Drama Revival.

Until next time, Audionauts, this is Captain Radio, signing off!

 

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Captain Radio Reviews Quail Seed from Julie Hoverson and Wheeality Productions

 

* Rating based on the Audio Drama Directory Ratings System.

 

Filed Under: 19 Nocturne Boulevard, Captain Radio Reviews, Classic Retellings, Drama, English, Podcast, Radio Drama Tagged With: , , , ,

Episode 223 – Dangerous Women Who Change History

April 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Womens History Radio DramaThis week we have living history dramatized for you by The Living History Theatre and WYSO of Miami Valley (Ohio). The show, Dangerous Women, chronicles the beginning and end of the nearly century long struggle to give women the right to vote.

The play begins in 1920, during a special election held by the Tennessee state legislature to ratify the 19th amendment. In the tense hours leading up to the vote, as Reimers tells the story, the spirit of the first suffragette, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, reflects on the events of her life and struggle, which led to the first formal demand for women’s suffrage in 1848 at Seneca Falls, New York. Giving women the right to vote was considered a threat to the established order and women were considered “dangerous” even to suggest it.

“Dangerous Women” commemorates the 90th anniversary of the amendment’s passage but in Tennessee, the amendment allowing women the right to vote nearly did not pass. More info: http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wyso/arts.artsmain?action=viewArticle&sid=9&id=1715891&pid=25

WYSO has also done several other shows including Sacred Fire: John Brown’s Raid On Harpers Ferry, and The End of Emerald Street.

Our Captain Radio review this week is Harrison Quest, a hilarious tale of fandom that truly transcends words.

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Radio Drama Revival – Episode 223

Filed Under: Classic, Drama, Living History Theatre, Podcast, WYSO Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Captain Radio Review: New Kids on the Block

April 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Captain Radio Audio Reviews

Graphic - FunGraphix.com | Theme music - Shane Lamb

Title: Wireless Theatre Kids
Producer: Wireless Theatre
Type: Drama
Genre: Children’s Educational and Entertainment Audio Plays
Availability: Free and Paid – WirelessTheatreKids.co.uk

Title: Sophie’s Adventures in the Dark
Producer: Matt Brown / Leo Media Ltd
Type: Drama
Genre: Children’s Fantasy
Availability: Paid – Explaudio.com
(Till 5/31/11 – hear it on Captain Radio’s Audio Drama Showcase!)


Greetings, Audionauts – Captain Radio here with reviews of ZooDudes from Wireless Theatre Kids and Sophie’s Adventures in the Dark from Leo Media Limited.

Trouble's Up in Alphabet Town Logo

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Though the sudden Recession still stifles public funding in Britain and elsewhere for audio drama projects, Wireless Theatre boldly pledged, through its new offshoot project, Wireless Theatre KIDS, to continue audio drama production for children. ZooDudes mane-framed Bob Marley-esque Ryan the Lion affirms that vow in his opening metaphorical monologue from the pilot episode of the new series:

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Our pleasantly languid narrator casually oversees the abandoned zoo-vivers who seem prone to traditional Celtic internecine wrangling. While these conflicts and their storylines ultimately emphasize the usual social values, the zany goings-on are entertainingly interstitched with UN-usually catchy tunes:

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In addition to such original audio content, Wireless Theatre Kids will feature more traditional fare, such as fairytales, like The Gingerbread Man, nursery rhymes, and poetry. They also offer more sophisticated works for older children, such as an abridged version of Romeo and Juliet performed by a cast of collegiates from West Thames College of London.

 

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Another funding dearth victim was an experimental interactive kids audio game prototype that BBC commissioned in 2009 to 360 digital media company, Gamelab UK. Despite project termination, GameLab UK chose nonetheless to demonstrate their new 3D audio technology by producing a half-hour static audio play based on the BBC game script:

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In the resultant Sophie’s Adventures in the Dark, the first such drama to have rich 3D audio animation applied in post-production, multi-talented sound engineer and producer, Matt Brown, depicts all characters other than the fretful but plucky protagonist, voiced by Georgia Collins.

Even with a lower-quality audio compression file, listeners with headphones or good home theater surround systems easily perceive the immersive spherical point-of-view.

Also, like early gray hairs, the script’s gaming roots often show through, sometimes viscerally absorbing listeners. Check out this clip in which Sophie races through the whacky-hacky hell of Decapitation Alley with her unique ally, skeletonal Lord Smythe, rattling in more ways than one while clinging to her back:

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For a limited time only until May 31st, audiophiles and kids can hear Sophie’s Adventures in the Dark on Captain Radio’s Audio Drama Showcase. You can also go online anytime to obtain this, the first 3D audio animation, from Matt Brown and Leo Media Limited, as well as other new 3D audio dramas from Explaudio.com. While online, you can also find more entertaining and educational childrens audio productions at WirelessTheatreKids.co.uk.

 

Until next time, Audionauts, this is Captain Radio, signing off!

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Captain Radio Reviews ZooDudes from Wireless Theatre for Kids and Sophie’s Adventures in the Dark from Leo Media Limited!

 

 

Filed Under: Captain Radio Reviews, Drama, Fantasy, Mariele Runacre Temple, Podcast, Radio Drama, UK and Ireland, Wireless Theatre Company Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,
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