The SFFaudio Podcast #086 – TALK TO: Ben Aaronovitch

Podcast

The SFFaudio PodcastThe SFFaudio Podcast #086 – Jesse talks to Ben Aaronovitch. Aaronovitch is an SFF author, a former Doctor Who scriptwriter, and the lead writer of the Blake’s 7 audio drama series.

Talked about on today’s show:
the original Doctor Who, how to break into TV (in the mid 1980s), Andrew Cartmel, the price of VCRs in 1985, Caroline Aulton, Remembrance Of The Daleks, big budget BBC, Geoffrey Palmer, do it again with 40% more fear, Ben Aaronovitch’s blog Temporarily Significant entitled: I shall eviscerate you, Daleks and An Unearthly Child, racism, The Hand Of Omega, two sets of Daleks, proto-U.N.I.T., Battlefield, what killed the original Doctor Who?, the BBC!, the fetishization of the writer, Russel T. Davies, Queer As Folk, “a Doctor Who shaped whole in the British psyche”, Jon Pertwee, KVOS-TV, the abortive FOX Doctor Who reboot, Doctor Who as an episode of The X-Files, Paul McGann, The New Adventures of Doctor Who:Transit by Ben Aaronovitch, Rivers Of London by Ben Aaronovitch (aka Midnight Riot), Moon Over Soho, Whispers Underground, Peter F. Hamilton, “extruded fantasy product”, Michael Moorcock, Charlaine Harris, Diana Gabaldon, Harry Potter meets The Sweeney (the British version of Kojak), The Dresden Files (is “Gandalf noir”), reviews of Rivers Of London (aka Midnight Riot), Midnight Riot on GoodReads.com, negative reviews are very helpful, The Steel Remains by Richard K. Morgan, Morgan’s screed against J.R.R. Tolkien, Joe Abercrombie and China Miéville are good because they are good not because they are grim, the Blake’s 7 audio dramas started on The Sci-Fi Channel UK, Andrew Sewell, Rebel, Traitor, Liberator is an SFFaudio Essential |READ OUR REVIEW|, “Star Trek: British or Robin Hood in space”, Terry Nation, Chris Boucher, Avon’s one liners, Firefly, Farscape, the Blake’s 7 prequel series, Cally: Blood & Earth and Flag & Flame |READ OUR REVIEW|, Alistair Lock, the quality of the actors on Blake’s 7, Colin Salmon, Michael Praed, B7 is real Science Fiction ideas in a space opera setting, the internet is a huge echo chamber, the effect of torrents on Blake’s 7, B7 is on Audible.com (and Audible.co.uk), Bernice Summerfield, Big Finish, Blake’s 7: The Early Years: Zen: Escape Velocity (Volume 2.1), Series 2 of Blake’s 7 is already written, the rebooting of Battlestar Galactica, the Pegasus episode of BSG, landing a Battlestar was badly though through, Ronald D. Moore‘s Cylons didn’t have a plan, Lost, J. Michael Straczynski, television is like life, Dexter, detective shows can run longer, The Mentalist, Law & Order, why Doctor Who need never die, the Pertwee years, Doctor Who as the “universal television format”, Frankenstien = The Brain Of Morbius, Greek myth = The Myth Makers, there’s no end-game in Doctor Who, writers are used as a crutch by British TV executives, the credit given to writers by UK television, USA TV vs. UK TV, the writer’s room is very attractive, the homogeneous end product, Castle is beautifully written fluff, the psychic episode of Castle was soul-deadening, HBO, True Blood, Downton Abbey is kind of like Upstairs Downstairs, the problems of USA and UK TV, DaVinci’s Inquest, Intelligence, Downton Abbey, Highlander, Seacouver, The 4400 lake (is Buntzen Lake), “Caprica city is decaying”.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Update:

Here’s a photo I took of Buntzen Lake this morning.

Buntzen Lake, the morning of December 13, 2010

BBCR4 + RA.cc: Harry Harrison’s The Technicolour Time Machine

SFFaudio Online Audio

BBC Radio 4RadioArchives.ccHere is a very cool find, Harry Harrison’s The Technicolour Time Machine, adapted by the BBC Radio 4 program entitled Saturday Night Theatre from the 1967 novel of the same name! It’s a clever tale that plays within the “restricted action resolution” tradition of the grandfather paradox. Here’s my description:

Barney Hendrickson is a mediocre movie producer in Hollywood, California. His employer, Climactic Studios, is in financial trouble, mostly due to some unforeseeable circumstances (a combination of a series of cinematic flops and regular embezzlement by L.M. Greenspans, the studio’s head). The only possible thing that can save the studio, and Barney’s job, would be to have a guaranteed box office sensation in the can before Monday. Unfortunately, there isn’t nearly enough time or money to write the script, build the sets or even film the movie. Except, Barney has a cunning plan. He’ll take advantage of recently invented time machine that he happens to know about.

Narrated by Barney, The Technicolour Time Machine tells the tale of the filming of Viking Columbus a giant rollercoaster of a movie – a saga of high adventure shot on location in the tenth century, with some hot shield maidens and angry skraelings thrown in. The story plays it all with a smirk and is fun stuff!

If you want to find it, head on over to RadioArchive.cc and grab the torrent!

Harry Harrison's The Technicolour Time MachineSaturday Night Theatre – The Technicolor Time Machine
Adapted from the novel by Harry Harrison; Adapted by Chris Boucher; Performed by a full cast
1 MP3 – Approx. 1 Hour 29 Minutes[RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 4
Broadcast: September 5, 1981
Provider: RadioArchive.cc
A down its heels Hollywood film production company employs a time machine to send a film crew to the 10th Century to make a schlock film about the Vikings.
Cast:
Lee Montague as Barney Hendrickson
Richard Pearson as Professor Hewitt
John Bay as L.M. Greenspan
David March as Doctor Ghans Nun
Michael Kilgarriff as Ottar
Karen Archer as Slidey Toe
Alexander John as Ross Polk
Barry Denham as Charley Chang
William Rogers as Tex
Crawford Logan as Darrows
Don Fellows as Eviemarie
Sean Barrett as Gino
Andrew Secombe as Drudy
Patience Tomlinson as Betty
John Lidsey as Sam
Directed by Glyn Dearman

Advertizement for The Technicolor Time Machine from Galaxy Oct. 1967

[Thanks much to spafon7e]

Posted by Jesse Willis