Galileo Radio Theater (a lost 1980 audio drama series)
Here’s an intriguing magazine ad from Galaxy Science Fiction magazine’s final issue (July 1980):
And here’s the text from the ad:
The Martians have landed in New Jersey.It might sound absurd today, but in 1938 it drove thousands of people into a panic when they thought Orson Welles’ radio production of War of the Worlds was an on-the-spot newscast. But that’s the power of radio drama, and Galileo has recaptured that power with a new series of radio shows taken from the pages of today’s liveliest science fiction magazine. Return with us now to the thrilling days of … TOMORROW! You can hear these thrilling shows even before they reach the radio stations. Galileo magazine is offering tape cassettes of the series for direct sale. Hear the new golden age of radio when you
want, as many times as you want. with no commercial interruptions. Series one includes three shows offered here for the first time anywhere. They are actual productions, not dramatic readings, produced and performed by The Open Book theater company in New York. they are professional dramas based on the best science fiction from Galileo magazine.NOW AVAILABLE:
.”Due Process” by D.C. Poyer
-follows the Supreme Court trial of a man accused of stealing a sentient computer. But who is to say if it was theft or liberation?·”Take My Planet-Please” by D.L. Borengasser
-in which a washed-up comedian is abducted by extraterrestrials. What hope is there for an old joke to span the gulf between man and an alien?·”Calling Shapes and Beckoning Shadows” by Eugene Potter.
-the tale of an athlete’s search for himself in a bicycle race on the Moon. at four hundred miles per hour.
Does anybody know if the second series was produced? Or if it was ever actually broadcast? Does anybody have a copy of either cassette?
I’d never heard a whisper about Galileo Radio Theater before today.
[thanks Mike]
Posted by Jesse Willis
The SFFaudio Podcast #185 – ESCAPE-SUSPENSE
The SFFaudio Podcast #185 – Jesse, Tamahome, and Christine A. Miller (of Escape-Suspense.com) talk about the two CBS radio drama anthology series, Escape and Suspense. But first we play two shows: From the series Escape – Treasure, Inc., and from Suspense – Always Room At The Top.
Talked about on today’s show:
Escape-Suspense.com, adapted scripts vs. original scripts, Escape vs. Suspense, John and Gwen Bagney, layer upon layer of double-cross, the hopeless ending, what is Clive’s motivation?, a femme fatale, exotic locales, these shows still work 50+ years on, Christine is an episode historian (not a radio historian), Pursuit, Romance, are you looking for Three Skeleton Key?, the use of radio drama in middle schools, The Most Dangerous Game, Archive.org, Edgar Allan Poe, The Hitchhiker, Lucille Fletcher, the Mercury Theatre, Sorry, Wrong Number, running out of shows, San Francisco, the Field Trip app, a lonely workplace is great for radio drama, “don’t think about it at all, just do it”, bad episodes, the movie star connection, Vincent Price, Lux Radio Theater, anthology series, an anthology mystery vs. Law & Order, the format, killing characters, ripped from the headlines, Earth Abides (was done as a two part adaptation), George R. Stewart, The Scarlet Plague, Jack London, San Fransisco as a setting, Man Alive, the Ferry Building, is Always Room At The Top set in New York?, La Mirada, “it could only happen in the world of Suspense?”, Jack Webb, Wally Maher, Anne Baxter, pacing like The Front Page, “business workplace episodes”, mistreated employee episodes, reaching for the 47%, An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge (Ambrose Bierce), remakes remakes remakes, appointment radio, The Country Of The Blind (H.G. Wells), Favorite Story, Plunder Of The Sun (David F. Dodge), Hard Case Crime, Treasure Of The Sierra Madre, The Rim Of Terror, The Killer Mine (Hammond Innes), “Nancy Drew with adults”, those impossible to get books, The Quick And The Dead by Vincent Starrett (Arkham House), Cornell Woolrich.
Posted by Jesse Willis
The Nine Billion Names Of God by Arthur C. Clarke (read by Colin)
Colin‘s reading of The Nine Billion Names Of God by Arthur C. Clarke is not nearly popular enough.
As of this post it’s only received a mere 17 viewings (or hearings).
Posted by Jesse Willis
The Nine Billion Names Of God by Arthur C. Clarke (from Dercum Audio, 1991)
This recording of Arthur C. Clarke’s The Nine Billion Names Of God was produced by Dercum Audio – it’s that signature opening, that terrific, haunting music that begins at the ten second mark – that’s the giveaway. Produced in 1991, it is long out of print and a real treasure.
Part 1 of 2:
Part 2 of 2:
Posted by Jesse Willis
LibriVox: Pygmalion’s Spectacles by Stanley G. Weinbaum
Pygmalion’s Spectacles was first published in 1935 in the aptly named Wonder Stories magazine. Four years after it’s first publication it was reprinted in Startling Stories as a “classic” and it was placed in their “Scientifiction Hall Of Fame.” It was reprinted again in Fantastic Story magazine in the Spring 1955 issue. Three magazine publications is a rare occurrence for any SF story. So, what makes this story special?
Well, this tale of utopia, immortality, and romance, is also, most probably, the very first story to feature the concept of virtual reality.
Here’s the description from the Wikipedia entry:
A comprehensive and specific fictional model for virtual reality was published in 1935 in the short story Pygmalion’s Spectacles by Stanley G. Weinbaum. In the story, the main character, Dan Burke, meets an elfin professor, Albert Ludwig, who has invented a pair of goggles which enable “a movie that gives one sight and sound [...] taste, smell, and touch. [...] You are in the story, you speak to the shadows (characters) and they reply, and instead of being on a screen, the story is all about you, and you are in it.”
And though the ideas may be pioneering, the plot of Pygmalion’s Spectacles is very similar to Fitz-James O’Brien’s The Diamond Lens, itself an excellent SF tale. The tone of their respective endings differs, but their plot, in which a man falls in love with an intangible woman, is straight out of the Greek mythology that Weinbaum alludes to. And they both use science, rather than magic to get to their respective endings.
There is, I should also point out, a LibriVox |MP3| recording of the Metamorphoses by Ovid, a 2,000 year old poem featuring the myth of Pygmalion.
Here is a |PDF| made from the Pygmalion’s Spectacles publication in Fantastic Story. And here are two LibriVox versions (my advice, go for the first one):
Pygmalion’s Spectacles
By Stanley G. Weinbaum; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 43 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: January 13,2009
He put on the glasses and fell in love with a dream… First published in Wonder Stories, June 1935.
Pygmalion’s Spectacles
By Stanley G. Weinbaum; Read by Chrystal Layton
1 |MP3| – Approx. 45 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: November 17, 2007
He put on the glasses and fell in love with a dream… First published in Wonder Stories, June 1935.
Pygmalion’s Spectacles illustration by Lumen Winter (from Wonder Stories, June 1935):
Pygmalion’s Spectacles illustration by Virgil Finlay (from Fantastic Story Magazine, Spring 1955):
Painting of Pygmalion and the statue by Jean-Baptiste Regnault:
[Thanks to Tim at The Drama Pod for the reminder]
Posted by Jesse Willis
The SFFaudio Podcast #174 – AUDIOBOOK/READALONG: The Temple by H.P. Lovecraft
The SFFaudio Podcast #174 – The Temple by H.P. Lovecraft, read by Mirko Stauch. This is a complete and unabridged reading of the short story (37 minutes) followed by a discussion of it. Participants in the discussion include Jesse, Mirko, and Julie Hoverson.
Talked about on today’s show:
who’s the womanish Rhinelander?, Rhinelanders are manly(!), superstitious swine, Julie has a transsexual voice in the morning, Julie’s reading of The Temple, renaissance fairs, big crazy hats, Julie’s audio dramatization, the explanation, what’s with the curse, the practical and science-minded captain, insanity, The Call Of Cthulhu RPG, “panzaism”, WWI, unrestricted submarine warfare, The Crime Of Crimes by H.P. Lovecraft (a poem written in response to the sinking of the Lusitania), The Abyss, supernatural dolphins?, a heroic action villain, The Horror At Red Hook by H.P. Lovecraft, Herbert West: Re-animator, The Call Of Cthulhu, Cool Air vs. Sunset Boulevard, a consistent philosophy, WWI vs. WWII, Kaiserliche Marine, Portland, New York, a proto-nazi, an “iron German will”, unrestricted submarine warfare, submarines don’t have windows, “stop hitting yourself”, the laurel wreathed figure, Atlantis, The City In The Sea by Edgar Allan Poe, Below (2002), Zach Galifianakis, cosmic horror vs. karmic punishment, teasing the insane, creepy sped up dolphin laughter, [...UNTRANSLATABLE...], The Island Of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells, nautical tales, William Hope Hodgson, 20° North, 35° West, Yucatan, S.T. Joshi, Mu and Lemuria, wrong ocean(!), the cousin of Cthulhu, Dagon by H.P. Lovecraft, a collection of short stories, poems, and propagandistic essays.
Posted by Jesse Willis
The SFFaudio Podcast #174 - AUDIOBOOK/READALONG: The Temple by H.P. Lovecraft [ 1:14:15 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadCampaigns
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