Tag: comedy

CBC Radio One has Canadia: 2056 Season 1, Episode 1 Today!

SFFaudio Online Audio

CBC Radio One - Canadia: 2056 by Matt WattsCBC Radio One is re-broadcasting the first episode of the first season of its Science Fiction / Comedy radio drama series Canadia: 2056 today! Tune in Wednesday, January 2nd 2008 at 11:05PM (this episode will repeat on Friday January 4th at 11:30AM). Don’t know how to hear the show? If you’re in Canada, tune your radio to the appointed station at the appointed time. If you’re outside of Canada or just want to time shift a bit, click on over to the Streaming Radio Map for CBC Radio One.

If you didn’t hear Canadia: 2056‘s first season the first time around do please tune in, you’ll be glad you did. Still a bit skeptical? Check out the Wikipedia entry for the show. Or have a listen to the three promos HERE.

Here’s my intro to show #1:

Episode 1: Getting the replacement parts to leave Earth orbit is harder than getting episodes of the hot TV series Foxy Chalet (”the best Canadian show the Americans ever made”).

UPDATE: Someone asked how to “time-shift listen”, if we ignore Newfoundland (sorry Newfoundland) time zones are pretty easy to figure out across Canada. Just subtract 1 hour as you head West across Canada from the East coast. If you are in New York, NY you’re in the same Time Zone as Toronto, ONT (EST). If you’re in Los Angeles, CA, you’re in the same time zone as Vancouver, BC (PTZ). And of course you need to pick the city appropriate to your time-shifted choice on the Streaming Radio Map to hear it…

Listening Times And Places For The Eastern Time Zone (Ex. NEW YORK, NY):
12:05PM on the HALIFAX CBC RADIO ONE station (ATLANTIC TIME ZONE)
11:05PM on the Toronto CBC RADIO ONE station (EASTERN TIME ZONE)
10:05PM on the Winnipeg CBC Radio ONE station (CENTRAL TIME ZONE)
9:05PM on the Calgary CBC RADIO ONE station (MOUNTAIN TIME ZONE)
8:05PM on the Vancouver CBC RADIO ONE station (PACIFIC TIME ZONE)

Listening Times And Places For The Central Time Zone (Ex. MINNEAPOLIS, MN):
9:05PM on the HALIFAX CBC RADIO ONE station (ATLANTIC TIME ZONE)
10:05PM on the Toronto CBC RADIO ONE station (EASTERN TIME ZONE)
11:05PM on the Winnipeg CBC Radio ONE station (CENTRAL TIME ZONE)
12:05PM on the Calgary CBC RADIO ONE station (MOUNTAIN TIME ZONE)
1:05PM on the Vancouver CBC RADIO ONE station (PACIFIC TIME ZONE)

Listening Times And Places For The Mountain Time Zone (Ex. SALT LAKE CITY, UT):
8:05PM on the HALIFAX CBC RADIO ONE station (ATLANTIC TIME ZONE)
9:05PM on the Toronto CBC RADIO ONE station (EASTERN TIME ZONE)
10:05PM on the Winnipeg CBC Radio ONE station (CENTRAL TIME ZONE)
11:05PM on the Calgary CBC RADIO ONE station (MOUNTAIN TIME ZONE)
12:05PM on the Vancouver CBC RADIO ONE station (PACIFIC TIME ZONE)

Listening Times And Places For The Pacific Time Zone (Ex. LOS ANGELES, CA):
7:05PM on the HALIFAX CBC RADIO ONE station (ATLANTIC TIME ZONE)
8:05PM on the Toronto CBC RADIO ONE station (EASTERN TIME ZONE)
9:05PM on the Winnipeg CBC Radio ONE station (CENTRAL TIME ZONE)
10:05PM on the Calgary CBC RADIO ONE station (MOUNTAIN TIME ZONE)
11:05PM on the Vancouver CBC RADIO ONE station (PACIFIC TIME ZONE)

North American Time Zones

Posted by Jesse Willis

P.S. Free The Adventures Of Apocalypse Al!

Super funny: Space Casey by Christiana Ellis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Space Casey by Christiana Ellis - Podcast Audio Drama

Christiana Ellis, the purveyor of more fine podcasts than you can shake an iPod at, has begun a new fiction series. Unlike her grrl powered podiobook, the epic fantasy Nina Kimberley: The Merciless, her latest project is a full cast podcast audio drama. Written and starring Christiana herself this is an uproariously funny series is about a wily con-woman in space, the titular Space Casey, who finds herself on the wrong end of a short-con gone very, very, wrong. She’ll need to use every grift in the book to navigate her way out of the inter-stellar, inter-dimensional, mess she’s got herself into.

Space Casey audio drama Space Casey
By Christiana Ellis; Performed by a full cast
10 Episode Podcast Series – [AUDIO DRAMA]
Podcaster: SpaceCasey.com
Podcast: Started November 2007
Some heroines will steal your heart… This one will steal your wallet.”

If you are, like me, a fan of grifter movies and novels you’ll double-dig this show. Even if you’re not you’ll still find it hilarious. The writing is at times sublimely funny with many laugh out loud scenes. Christiana Ellis makes podcasting look completely effortless.

Future episodes will feature guest podcasting voices like Rich Sigfrit, P.G. Holyfield, Mur Lafferty, Tee Morris, Nobilis, Phil Rossi, Will Ross, and P.C. Haring and J.C. Hutchins!

Subscribe to the podcast via this feed:

http://www.spacecasey.com/?feed=podcast

Posted by Jesse Willis

CBC Radio One begins re-airing Canadia: 2056

SFFaudio News

Canadia 2056Matt Watts, long silent (hard at work), has posted some welcome news on his blog…

“Canadia: 2056…

If you notice a complete lack of publicity surrounding a show – if you hear or read absolutely nothing at all about a particular program – the chances are that it’s premiering within a matter of days. It’s CBC Radio’s anti-publicity campaign, their ‘publicity-nouveau’ if you will. If you think about it, it really challenges the listener to ‘discover’ programming. It’s rather brilliant and progressive, actually.

“Our silence and lack of acknowledgment indicates that some thing is about to happen… Maybe.”

But, for the neophobes who can’t get on board with this whole “anti-publicity” fad, and for those who have duly noted that the CBC Program schedule says that Afghanada is still airing on the 2nd of January:

Canadia: 2056 starts airing on Wednesday. Yes, this Wednesday, January 2nd at 11:05PM, repeat on Friday January 4th at 11:30AM. The first season will run through until March, and then the second season (the episodes we’re currently writing/recording) will begin airing.

Also, for those of you enquiring about CD’s of the first season: I think it’s safe to assume at this point that they will not be available for Christmas. I’m assured that they will be available for pre-order by the time the show starts airing on Wednesday… But if you go by my convoluted logic regarding the publicity for the show – if you don’t order the CD’s at all, they will arrive on your doorstep sometime last week.

As for podcasting… Don’t even ask. It’s hopeless at this point. The idea of downloading any radio drama from the CBC website looks like it’ll probably happen around the time digital media is considered out-dated and archaic. Incidentally, I tried to get the phrase ‘now available on the compact disc format!’ on the cover of the CD’s, but they didn’t go for it.

We’re halfway through recording the new season, which I’m really enjoying writing. Although the focus is primarily the characters and their relationships, we’re pushing the SF story-lines as far as we can… For the record, if you think I’ve stolen something from either Douglas Adams or Grant Naylor, it’s an homage…

Not theft.

(Fine, I ‘borrowed’ some ideas… But at least I ADMIT IT!)”

Cool! I’ll be tuning in for the re-running of Season One. Listeners outside of Canada will have to make due with the online listening service provided through the CBC Radio One site. It really pisses me off that CBC can’t get their act together when it comes to podcasting their in-house radio drama. Its the ideal format for the stuff.

We’ll be talking more about Canadia: 2056 as Season Two approaches.

Posted by Jesse Willis

P.S. Free The Adventures Of Apocalypse Al!

Canadia: 2056 news!

SFFaudio News

Canadia 2056Just read the confirmation we’ve been hoping for. The official Inside The CBC blog, when talking about CBC Radio One’s winter schedule, said this:

“We’ll also be taking an off-kilter look at Canada – U.S. relations with our comedy series Canadia 2056. The show follows the adventures of the crew of the spaceship Canadia, the lone Canadian ship on a mission with the U.S. Space fleet as they set out on a pre-emptive strike against the planet Ipampilash. Canadia 2056 will air Wednesday nights at 11 p.m. and Friday mornings at 11:30 a.m.”

Now all we’d need to make 2008 a banner year would be for the CBC to release The Adventures Of Apocalypse Al!

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency RADIO DRAMA

SFFaudio Review

Radio Drama - Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective AgencyDirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency
By Douglas Adams; Performed by a full cast
3 CDs – 3 hours [RADIO DRAMA]
Publisher: BBC AUDIO
Published: 2007
ISBN: 1405677430
Themes: / Science Fiction / Fantasy / Comedy / Mystery / Physics / Music /

Most people think of the more famous The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy when they think of Douglas Adams, but in some ways I prefer his Dirk Gently series because of its more coherent plot and wide-ranging discussions. Of course it is still mainly a rather absurd (but still clever) comedy with a number of sci-fi/fantasy elements and still finds time to explore such diverse subjects as quantum physics, Coleridge’s poetry, computing and Bach. In fact it is described on the book cover as a “thumping good detective-ghost-horror-whodunnit-time-travel-romantic-musical-comedy-epic”.

The story revolves around Richard McDuff who finds himself accused of murdering his boss and seeks help from his old friend Dirk Gently who runs what he calls a “holistic detective” agency. As the investigation unravels events become increasingly strange with ghosts, time travel and an electric monk, but Dirk is convinced of the “fundamental interconnectedness of all things” and is therefore confident of finding the answer.

This drama is directed by the talented Dirk Maggs (who also directed many of the Hitch-Hiker’s radio dramas) and has many well-known British actors. I was a little unsure about the casting of Harry Enfield as Dirk, but he was very good in the part, as was the rest of the cast. For those who are familiar with the novel be warned, there have been a number of changes made, both structurally and in various details – I thought that it was all in keeping with the spirit of the book, but purists may be disappointed. The ending does feel rather rushed and not fully explained (maybe because of time restraints), which may be a bit may be a bit confusing for those who don’t know the story. On the whole though, this is an enjoyable adaptation of a great and much missed author.

Posted by Laura

[editor’s note – This is the first post by our new reviewer Laura, a British expat living in the USA. She comes to us from her Audio Drama Blog, a visit to which will find you returning to again and again, like a moth to a very yummy flame. Moths do like the taste of flames right?]