Tag: Doctor Who

Commentary: Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Commentary

Speaking of Sir Walter Scott and Ivanhoe… I’ve been much into Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe over the last six months. I’ve watched three different video adaptations. One was a theatrical version from the 1950s, one was a TV movie from the early 80s and one a TV miniseries from just a few years ago. I am currently re-reading the black and white comic book adaptation by Pocket Classics and I’ve also snagged the audiobook from LibriVox.

LIBRIVOX - Ivanhoe by Sir Walter ScottIvanhoe
By Sir Walter Scott; Read by various
44 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 19 Hours 25 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: June 09, 2009
The fortunes of the son of a noble Saxon family in Norman England as he woos his lady, disobeys his father, and is loved by another. Set in late 12C England and in Palestine with Richard Cœur-de-Lion at the Crusades.

Podcast feed: http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/ivanhoe-by-sir-walter-scott.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

[Thanks also to Annise and Snemand]

Besides being a rollicking adventure, a heartfelt romance, a rough history lesson and a plea for peace between Christians and Jews, Ivanhoe is also a series of fun etymological English lessons. Consider, the first few sentences of the novel’s dialogue. Ivanhoe begins with a conversation between two Saxon slaves:

“The swine turned Normans to my comfort!” quoth Gurth; “expound that to me, Wamba, for my brain is too dull, and my mind too vexed, to read riddles.”

“Why, how call you those grunting brutes running about on their four legs?” demanded Wamba.

“Swine, fool, swine,” said the herd, “every fool knows that.”

“And swine is good Saxon,” said the Jester; “but how call you the sow when she is flayed, and drawn, and quartered, and hung up by the heels, like a traitor?”

“Pork,” answered the swine-herd.

“I am very glad every fool knows that too,” said Wamba, “and pork, I think, is good Norman-French; and so when the brute lives, and is in the charge of a Saxon slave, she goes by her Saxon name; but becomes a Norman, and is called pork, when she is carried to the Castle-hall to feast among the nobles; what dost thou think of this, friend Gurth, ha?”

Above Gurth (the fool) explains to Wamba (the swineherd) the logic behind calling meat that’s still on the hoof and meat that’s on the table by two different English words. “Swine” is the Saxon word for pig and “porc” [pork] is the Norman [French] word for pig. Soon after this scene these two Saxon slaves are confronted by troupe of Norman knights who proceed to turn one of Wamba’s Saxon swine into proper Norman pork.

The novel features plenty of back and forth. Indeed the more I think about it, the more I think classic Doctor Who took it’s pacing from Ivanhoe what with folks: being kidnapped, ransomed, dressing in disguise, falling in love with their enemies, forgiving each other, and fighting in chivalric combat. There are plenty of villains too. With an unforgiving father, a witch-smelling warrior-priest [those pesky Knights Templar], an ignoble Norman nobleman (who redeems himself in the end), a kvetching Jew and his fetching Jewess daughter. Yeah, I love this story!

Here’s a cross section of the different audiobook versions of this influential 19th century novel:

Dove Audio - Ivanhoe by Sir Walter ScottIvanhoe
By Sir Walter Scott; Read by David Warner
4 Cassettes – Approx. 6 Hours [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: Dove Audio (NewStar Media)
Published: 1997
ISBN: 9780787110635


Naxos Audio - Ivanhoe by Sir Walter ScottIvanhoe
By Sir Walter Scott; Read by Jonathan Oliver
2 CDs – Approx. 2 Hours 39 Minutes [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks
Published: 1994
ISBN: 9626340258


Blackstone Audio - Ivanhoe by Sir Walter ScottIvanhoe
By Sir Walter Scott; Read by Frederick Davidson
14 Cassettes – Approx. 20.4 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 1998
ISBN: 9780786195718


Ivanhoe [Parts 1 and 2]
By Sir Walter Scott; Read by Jim Killavey
14 Cassettes – Approx. 21 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Books On Tape / Jimcin Editions
Published: 1986
ISBN: 9780786195718

Brilliance Audio - Ivanhoe by Sir Walter ScottIvanhoe
By Sir Walter Scott; Read by Michael Page
CDs or MP3-CD – Approx. Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2005
ISBN: 9781597370097 (cd), 1597370118 (mp3-cd)


HarperCollons Audio - Ivanhoe by Sir Walter ScottIvanhoe
By Sir Walter Scott; Read by Brian Cox
2 Cassettes – Approx. 3 Hours 7 Minutes [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: HarperCollins Audio
Published: 1992, 1996
ISBN: 0001049283


Ivanhoe And The Lists Of Ashby
By Sir Walter Scott; Read by Doughlas Fairbanks Jr.
2 33 1/3 RPM LP Records – [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: Caedmon
Published: 1977

Highbridge Audio - Ivanhoe by Sir Walter ScottIvanhoe
By Sir Walter Scott; Read by Ronald Pickup
2 Cassettes – [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: HighBridge Audio
Published: 1997
ISBN: 1565112113

And here’s a peek at the Pocket Classics edition (ISBN: 0883017393):

POCKET CLASSICS - Ivanhoe Pages 6 and 7

I wonder why there isn’t an audio drama version.

Posted by Jesse Willis

The SFFaudio Podcast #042 – READALONG: The Coming Of Conan The Cimmerian by Robert E. Howard

Podcast

The SFFaudio PodcastThe SFFaudio Podcast #042 – Jesse is joined by Brian Murphy and Gregg Margarite to talk about the Tantor Media audiobook: The Coming Of Conan The Cimmerian by Robert E. Howard |READ OUR REVIEW|.

Talked about on today’s show:
The Hyena by Robert E. Howard, racism, racism in Robert E. Howard’s fiction, Jack London, H.P. Lovecraft, Solomon Kane, Crom, By This Axe I Rule, Howard/Lovecraft correspondence, plot vs. mood, pessimism, writers who kill themselves, Philip K. Dick, defining chaos, Dark Valley Destiny by L. Sprague de Camp, Blood And Thunder by Mark Finn, Howard’s life and death, The Whole Wide World, Howards’ westerns and historical stories, “with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth”: was Howard or Conan bipolar?, Texas in the early 20th century, Conan’s intellect, The Tower Of The Elephant, Barbarian vs. Cimmerian, Conan’s philosophy (Epicureanism?), fantasy, Howard’s use of magic, The Frost Giant’s Daughter (aka Gods Of The North), magic doesn’t trump steel, existentialism, nihilism, Ymir, The Prisoner, Howard’s animal similes, The God in the Bowl is a murder mystery and a locked room mystery and a detective story!, Yag-Kosha isn’t a great alien design, The Hyborian Age, Marvel’s Conan The Barbarian, The Savage Sword Of Conan, Dark Horse’s Conan, Curtis Magazines, The Scarlet Citadel, big battles and giant snakes, Marvel’s King Conan (Conan The King), The Hour Of The Dragon, Queen Of The Black Coast, barbarian love, Oliver Stone, John Milius, The Howard Conan:

“Let me live deep while I live; let me know the rich juices of red meat and stinging wine on my palate, the hot embrace of white arms, the mad exultation of battle when the blue blades flame and crimson, and I am content. Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content.”

The Stone/Milius Conan:

“Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women.”

How do you pronounce names like Cimmeria and Bêlit?, Clark Ashton Smith, Bêlit’s character, Conan the Daoist, Conan’s character, Conan’s morality, Black Colossus, who the hell is Mitra?, The Cimmerian blog, Rogues In The House, Iron Shadows In The Moon, the Vilayet Sea, A Probable Outline Of Conan’s Career, Red Nails, The Pool of the Black One, Rogues In The House, people are animals, Charles Darwin and Robert E. Howard, Clifford D. Simak, man’s successor (intelligent dogs) take over, Thak is a great character name, writing (or just saying that you are), Fantasy seems to be a novel length genre, The Bloody Crown Of Conan, The Conquering Sword Of Conan, narrator Todd McLaren, character voices, bite the wax tadpole, Roy Thomas.

A 1938 newstand full of pulp magazines

Tantor Media - The Coming Of Conan The Cimmerian, The Bloody Crown Of Conan, The Conquering Sword Of Conan

Posted by Jesse Willis

BBC has a fan taping policy [tacitly PLEASE DO IT]

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio News

BBC Radio 7 - BBC7As we know by now many books, stories, TV episodes, movies, and even the Apollo moon landing footage can just somehow just get lost by the archives department of any major organization. Whether this is from mis-filing, mis-communication, oversight problems, theft, general incompetence, idiocy or other error – the missing media means it cant be rebroadcast or reprinted. This is an issue that’s come up again and again for the classic televisions series Doctor Who. Whole serials have been found around the world in the hands of fans and affiliate stations. This time this story is coming from a BBC Radio so I thought I’d share it with you. It’s also a nice thank you/shout-out to loyal BBC listeners who help “the Beeb” serve its audience all the better.

In recent years the BBC has been looking to home recordings made by BBC fans. As is done with any medium, fans make copies, either photocopying a story, recording the shows off the air, dubbing tapes for sharing or (dare I say it making torrents) so their friends and fellow fans. Of this phenomenon here’s what Mary Kalemkerian, Head of Programmes for BBC Radio 7, wrote in the September 4, 2009 BBC7 email newsletter:

“As most of you are aware, not all of the old programmes broadcast on BBC radio have been retained by the sound archive, for various reasons, and although we do not have the resources to deal with all of the “off-air” recordings we are offered, if there is a series with perhaps one or two episodes missing, we sometimes ask listeners if they happen to have kept any home-recordings which we could try to clean up for broadcast. Recent examples have resulted in us acquiring previously “missing” episodes of The Long Hot Satsuma, and Parsley Sidings.

Only 4 episodes of Parsley Sidings had been retained by the BBC, but thanks to one of our listeners, 15 further episodes were returned to us. The writer of the series, Jim Eldridge, was of course delighted. Another of Jim’s radio comedies, currently being broadcast on Radio 7, is Tony’s, set in a hairdressers and starring Victor Spinetti. The first series of Tony’s is in 6 episodes, but unfortunately episode 5 is missing from the archive!

There was also a second series of Tony’s but, sadly, no episodes from series 2 have been retained.

So if any of you ardent radio comedy fans happen to have a copy of episode 5 of Tony’s stored in your collections, or any of series 2, please e-mail to let us know, and if possible, we will arrange to have them digitised for broadcast.”

Then in this week’s newsletter (September 11, 2009) Kalemkerian writes:

“In last week’s newsletter, I asked if any of you radio comedy fans happened to have episode 5 of the sit-com Tony’s, which is missing from the BBC Sound Archive. Only minutes after my newsletter was posted on the Radio 7 website, Kevin Askew from Northampton e-mailed us to say that he indeed had a copy of the requested episode. Kevin has now sent the CD to us, and it has been sent off to be technically checked. We also received an e-mail from listener/collector David Moore telling us that, in addition to series 1, he also has the complete series 2. So thanks to those listeners, we hope to be able to bring you both full series of Tony’s.”

I think it’s great that the BBC is acting sensibly, responding to their audience’s needs by searching out these old shows. I also think it’s terrific that the BBC is now, if only tacitly, admitting that fan recordings and sharing is something that we should be doing. Wouldn’t it be great if all such corporations acted so sensibly?

Posted by Jesse Willis

BBC Audiobooks America: New stock in from the UK

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio News

BBC Audiobooks America has just brought in a bunch of previously U.K. only BBC audiobooks. For North American customers this means a big savings on that crazy overseas shipping price. Among the available titles is the first in the series of radio dramatizations of Lindsey Davis books (Shadows In Bronze)! This is the “FALCO” series that I’m always telling everyone to try. Here’s the big list:

Posted by Jesse Willis

More of The Scarifyers coming September 1st

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio News

The Scarifyers - The Curse Of The Black CometRich of Radio Tales of the Strange & Fantastic reports…

A new The Scarifyers adventure is coming on September 1st 2009. Nicholas Courtney, Terry Molloy and Brian Blessed star in the fourth Scarifyers audio adventure.

The Scarifyers: The Curse Of The Black Comet

Sir Basil Champion (Brian Blessed) is the world’s worst explorer. In a career that has seen him lost in the Kalahari, captured by pygmies, and held captive for two-and-a-half years in a pit of rabid guinea fowl, it seems his luck can get no worse – until he is eaten by a rhinoceros. Some weeks after his unlikely demise, MI-13 is called upon to investigate a mysterious outbreak of the Black Death – at a Chelsea solicitor’s during the reading of Sir Basil’s will…

Has Sir Basil’s legendary bad luck reached out from beyond the grave, or is there a more sinister explanation? And what is the connection with his ill-fated Egyptian expedition fourteen years earlier? Lionheart (Nicholas Courtney) and Dunning (Terry Molloy) must journey from London to the highlands of Scotland and the lost tombs of Egypt, to uncover the truth behind Champion’s death… and The Curse of the Black Comet.

Here is Brian Blessed (Doctor Who, Blackadder, and Cats) in an out-take from The Curse of the Black Comet.

|MP3|

Posted by Jesse Willis

Tom Baker doing new Doctor Who audio

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio News

Doctor WhoThe Once Upon A Geek Blog is reporting:

“Tom Baker is returning to Doctor Who! Baker has recorded five audio dramas that will be released by the BBC starting in September at a rate of one a month.”

Baker’s Doctor will be joined by former DW cast member Richard Franklin (reprising his role as Mike Yates) in a series of five linked adventures.

Here are the descriptions of each CD:

Doctor Who: Hornets’ Nest – The Stuff of Nightmares 1 of 5
By Paul Magrs; Performed by a full cast
1 CD – [AUDIO DRAMA]
Release Date: September 3, 2009
‘Wanted: retired army Captain for light household duties and fireside companionship. Must tolerate mild eccentricity and strong scientific advice. Knowledge of Giant Maggots, Super Intelligent Spiders and Prehistoric Monsters a positive boon.’ Responding to an advert apparently worded for him alone, Captain Mike Yates (retired) is reunited with a ghost from the past. But why has the Doctor, that mysterious traveller in Time and Space, sent for his former UNIT acquaintance? Trapped by a horde of vicious creatures in an apparently innocuous English country cottage, the two old friends are on the brink of an enormous adventure. As the Doctor relates his recent escapades, it becomes clear to Mike that they – and the Earth at large – are facing an enemy of unimaginable power and horrific intent. The nightmare is only just beginning…

Doctor Who: Hornets’ Nest – The Dead Shoes 2 of 5
By Paul Magrs; Performed by a full cast
1 CD – [AUDIO DRAMA]
Release Date: October 8, 2009
What is so special about a pair of ballet shoes on display in Cromer’s Palace of Curios? When the Doctor meets Ernestina Scott there in 1932, they discover the horrific truth together.

Doctor Who: Hornets’ Nest – The Circus of Doom 3 of 5
By Paul Magrs; Performed by a full cast
1 CD – [AUDIO DRAMA]
Release Date: November 5, 2009
In Blandford, 1832, ringmaster Antonio exerts a strange influence on the townsfolk. When the Doctor steps into the ring, he discovers that Antonio has some familiar demons of his own…

Doctor Who: Hornets’ Nest – A Sting in the Tale 4 of 5
By Paul Magrs; Performed by a full cast
1 CD – [AUDIO DRAMA]
Release Date: December 3, 2009
In a bleak midwinter, an order of nuns protect their Mother Superior from ravaging dogs. But something is very wrong here indeed – and the Doctor is about to get badly stung.

Doctor Who: Hornets’ Nest – Hive of Horror 5 of 5
By Paul Magrs; Performed by a full cast
1 CD – [AUDIO DRAMA]
Release Date: December 3, 2009
The Doctor and Mike must face their enemy in a final battle. They have an unwilling accomplice – and loyalties are about to be tested to the limit.

[Thanks Rich!]

Posted by Jesse Willis