It’s a serious trip to the groove-yard of forgotten favorites.
In the 1970s, Power Records produced a series of Star Trekaudio dramas for children. The stories were released in several different combinations and sometimes included a comic book of the story.
In all, there were eleven episodes. They’re not great, but not horrible. Most were written by Alan Dean Foster. He has numerous novels to his credit. In the 1970s, he novelized the Star Trek animated series in greatly-expanded form. Most recently Foster wrote the Abrams film novelizations.
You have to overlook a few things. The first is the fact that none of the original cast were involved. Most of the actors at least try to sound like the original cast.
You also have to overlook that none of the sound effects nor music are from the original series. Sometimes it’s rather jarring.
These aren’t all the audio drama that Power Records produced. I’ve had to cut a couple for time and will play them in the future.
Sunday’s tracks, in order, are:
Passage to Moauve
In Vino Veritas
The Crier in Emptiness
The Time Stealer
To Starve a Fleaver
The Logistics Of Stampede
A Mirror For Futility
A Milo Yiannopoulos ZAP rant (I’m going to lose libertarian friends over this one)
I have also nicknamed the primary TTS voices on the show “Mike” and “Michelle.” Heinlein fans know why.
This Sunday’s “Tales From SYL Ranch” (which is live 20:00-22:00 UTC on aNONradio.net) is a “reaction show” — but not the kind you think.
One of my favorite indie film companies, Red Letter Media, does a show called “Best Of the Worst“. The premise is that four of them watch three terrible movies. They then have a round-table discussion where they dissect the awfulness in detail.
(Red Letter Media is responsible for the Plinkett Reviews. If you haven’t watched them, set aside about three hours for the Star Wars reviews. It’s a ride-and-a-half. Your brain will love you for the rest of your life.)
“Best Of the Worst” is not RiffTrax. They train a camera on themselves and talk during the film, but they don’t include it in the show unless it’s particularly amusing. Instead, they just dissect terrible movies.
They’re really terrible. They’re not so bad they’re good … they’re just bad.
Usually, they’re just stultifyingly boring. I should know: I saw most of them when they came out.
Because I’m an old man. And not a fake old man like Mr. Plinkett, but a real old man like Abe Vigoda.
A plot revolving around re-used special effects.
I generally agree with their reviews, however in the last episode they went wildly off the mark. They reviewed a “film” called Space Raiders. This was a Roger Corman production.
If you’re not familiar with him, Corman is a well-known Hollywood producer/director who has about a thousand schlock films to his credit.
In 1980, he released a film called Battle Beyond the Stars. It had a real budget with real effects and real models. They weren’t up to Star Wars standards, but for a Corman film it was an Opus Magnum.
Corman being Corman, he then went on to use the music and visual effects in multiple films during the 1980s.
He shamelessly ripped-off the effects shots. He put them in over and over.
Space Rangers was a film written around a bunch of special effects.
Not having seen Battle Beyond the Stars, the RLM crew were impressed. This much money was astonishing for Corman.
What they didn’t know was that the only new shots in Space Rangers were a few matte paintings.
The “Boob Ship” was designed by James Cameron!
Battle Beyond the Stars has an interesting score. It was composed by Maestro James Horner.
It sounds like a strange cross between Star Trek – The Motion Picture and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. I think Corman told Horner he wanted something that sounded like Jerry Goldsmith.
You can easily see why Star Trek II director Nicholas Meyer was attracted to Horner.
The score is one of the most track-complete in my collection. There are different takes, alternate music never used, and some that’s in crappy mono.
In fact, the score is so complete that it runs longer than the length of the show. I’ve had to pull a few tracks — but nothing that really takes away from your enjoyment.
So Sunday, with limited interruption, is the entire score for Battle Beyond the Stars.
(There’s one political rant, though this time a reading of Scott Adams’ blog, “Imaginary News.”)
Join us on “Tales From SYL Ranch” 20:00-22:00 UTC on aNONradio.net to find out what happens when Roger Corman has James Horner money!
Note to Red Letter Media:
When are you going to screen the copies of 1974’s The Wrestler and Alongside Night that I sent you? As always, my expertise in terrible movies remains at your disposal.
After a couple of weeks of symphonic scores (and increasingly shrill rants), we dive into warmer waters — only to discover a transvestite in the soup.
It’s Rocky Horror week on Tales From SYL Ranch.
It’s rather pointless to go through the tracklist. The first hour is entirely Rocky Horror, with the songs in the order of the stage play/movie.
The versions of the songs are culled from a number of different sources. “I Can Make You A Man,” for example, comes from the Original Roxy Cast. If you’ve never heard this version, it makes far more sense than that which was filmed.
The mix also goes international in a couple of places.
Shock Treatment
Beyond the first hour is the few tracks of Shock Treatment that seem to stand to the test of time better than others.
If you’re unfamiliar with it, Shock Treatment is a nominal sequel to The Rocky Horror Picture Show. It uses a few of the same characters (played by different actors) and ignores Rocky Horror entirely.
Today they’d call it a “soft reboot.” It’s more aptly an ill-advised attempt to re-capture a cult film’s weirdness that went through so many production problems as to become a mess.
In any case, some of its better tracks are here.
Gordon’s alive!
After that, it’s another cult classic: 1980’s Flash Gordon.
For die-hard Flash Gordon fans, there is an easter egg track at the very end. It has nothing to do with Gordon being alive (that would be too easy).
There are a couple of rants. The longest is under two minutes.
As always, the last few minutes are Wookie noises. Last week’s epic fifteen minutes was an accident that will not recur.
Join us for two hours of absolute pleasure with the savior of the universe!
2017-03-17, HNtW 016, Chapters 27—29, and a brief discussion of Auf Zwei Planeten by Kurd Lasswitz, courtesy of Willy Ley.
2017-03-21, HNtW 017, Chapters 30—33, and a brief discussion of the powers of two.
2017-03-24, HNtW 018, Chapters 34 & 35, concluding The Moon Pool, and Parts 4 & 5 of Citadel of Lost Ships, which thus also concludes.
2019-04-02, HNtW 058, Chapters 1—3 of the novelette The Moon Pool, as published in All–Story Weekly, 22 June 1918 (rebroadcast 2020-04-21 to correct order of segments)
2019-04-05, HNtW 059, Chapters 4—7, completing the novelette
I have what I think is a decent line-up for a premiere show. I have to admit that it took more time than I thought to come up with two hours’ worth of material that hopefully flows.
Unless something changes, here’s what you’ll be hearing:
The ten minutes before the show is filler of the Star Wars Holiday Special. You probably won’t hear it unless my stream gets cut-to early.
“The Imperial March (Darth Vader’s Theme)” from The Empire Strikes Back
Figrin D’an And The Modal Nodes perform at the Mos Eisley Cantina from Star Wars
Original aNONradio station ID
The Hitchhiker’s Guide To the Galaxy entry on the 2016 Presidential Election
“Journey Of the Sorcerer” by the Eagles
Original aNONradio station ID
“The New Empire – Howell Theme”, a Doctor Who theme by Hardwire
Animal Stories: “Truckin Rhino – The Full Story”, a rare version from the 1980s LP. The current CD version edits the end of the story.
“Incoming Fighters” from Star Wars
“Han Solo And The Princess” from The Empire Strikes Back
“Sail Barge Assault (Alternate)” from Return Of the Jedi
“Destroying the Death Star” from Star Wars
“Throne Room and End Credits (Revenge Of The Sith Version)”
A brief statement on the universe as a computer simulation
“Main Titles” from the TV series Lost In Space as performed by the Cincinnati Pops
“Prelude And End Title March” from Superman (1978)
“Kent Family Theme” from Superman and Superman Returns
“The Flying Sequence” from Superman.
“The Big Rescue – Climax and Denouement” from Superman
Suite From Close Encounters Of the Third Kind
“The Raider’s March” from Raiders of the Lost Ark, performed by the Boston Pops and conducted by John Williams.
“John Williams Is the Man” performed by the Valhalla High School Concert Choir
Original aNONradio station ID
A word from Rob Hansen on feeding hatred
“Jerry Springer” by “Weird Al” Yankovic
“Main Titles” from Doctor Who as performed at the 2010 Proms
A word from Bill Stone on feeding hatred.
“Benson, Arizona” from Dark Star, performed by Dominik Hauser
A statement of the Zero Aggression Principle
Original aNONradio station ID
The first few minutes of The Star Wars Holiday Special.
As regards the Holiday Special, I decided that five minutes of Wookie noises would be marginally better than “Doolittle’s Solo” from Dark Star. If there’s any interest, I’ll play the entire 90 minutes of the Holiday Special.
I’m not proud.
Tales From SYL Ranch is live on Sundays from 20:00 – 22:00 GMT at aNONradio (http://anonradio.net).
It’s hard to say anything about Burroughs’ classic yarn, the foundation of the “planetary adventure” genre, that hasn’t been said before, elsewhere, and better. But think! It was the first story he ever sold, and if he had never written any more, would probably still be remembered as a landmark.
This was the first book I read & recorded for this project, and the original recording is quite rough. When I decided to read the two immediate sequels, The Gods of Mars and The Warlord of Mars (all three novels were bound together by the University of Nebraska Press in an attractive omnibus edition entitled Under the Moons of Mars, the title under which “Princess” was serialized in All-Story Magazine), I chose to read all three books in order, and make my re-recording of A Princess of Marsa Patreon exclusive.
Tales From SYL Ranch streams on aNONradio every Sunday from 20:00 – 22:00 UTC.
(For those of you in North America, that’s 2pm – 4pm Central time. If you’re not in Central time, I leave the math to you.)
Tales From SYL Ranch shares the same name as my phlog. Yes, in 2017, I actively phlog. If you want to know why, read my phlog; or wait until I read it on the show some day.
If you’re cool, use Gopher to hit my phlog. If you need a Web interface, I crudely front-end it at: http://wrstone.motd.org.
The show will be … “eclectic.”
Music will be heavy on film scores (John Williams is The Man), but will include “Weird Al” Yankovic, the occasional Shania Twain, and others.
I may spend two hours playing nothing but Doctor Who theme mixes. You’d be amazed how many there are.
I’m also a libertarian IT wonk. I’ve got some things to say about libertarianism, IT, and where they intersect.
Mostly (much like the late, lamented, Al-TV) I’ll be playing music that I want to listen to.
The show is not currently call-in. I’m dipping my toe into this water via a cunning script developed by an SDF user. As I get more comfortable with the tech, I’ll go live and invite callers.
aNONradio is hosted by my beloved SDF.org. I’ve had an account with SDF for nigh on to twenty yahren. If you’re not a member, sign up, it’s free.
If you’re an IT wonk and don’t know the command-line and shared systems, sign up right away. You can’t do all that cool “Mr. Robot” stuff if you don’t know the command line.
This week’s line-up is currently shaping up to be:
The first ten minutes of the audio from The Star Wars Holiday Special.
It’s nothing but Wookie noises and cheap 70s synth.
I’m only using it as the header, so you’ll be unlikely to hear it. If there’s some interest, I’ll play the entire ten minutes’ mess. Heck, I’ll play the entire 90 minutes. I’m not proud.
Johnny Fever Takes Over
“Star Wars Main Title” (Complete)
Me yapping.
“Princess Leia’s Theme” (Album)
“Jerry Springer” (“Weird Al” Yankovic)
Me ranting about something or another.
?
“John Williams Is the Man” (Valhalla High School Concert Choir)
Something silly for the footer. I haven’t decided what. Maybe South Park’s version of “The Aristocrats,” since it won’t be heard anyway.
This is in the nature of an experiment, albeit a protracted one.
Having come up with the idea of “live–action audiobooks”, or live–streaming myself reading, I realized that the recordings I was making in the process could be edited & sent out later as audio transmissions. aNONradio seemed like an ideal venue for this, in no small part because of its archive feature.
This is, then, a long–form spoken-word program, consisting mostly of my reading of classic science–fiction novels. I hope you enjoy!
aNONradio timeslot : 15h UTC, Tuesdays and Fridays
Streaming on Toobnix : planned for 2200 UTC Sundays, ending with a call–in period during aNONradio OpenVoIP (listen for announcements)
PayPal : encourage the storyteller by leaving a tip
Patreon campaign : tip the storyteller on a recurring monthly basis, and receive rewards — at the lowest tier, $1/month, you can download the individual story chapters (some free samples are available here)
Lorelei of the Red Mists, Leigh Brackett and Ray Bradbury (shows 040, 041, 042)
The Blind Spot, Austin Hall and Homer Eon Flint ― this is actually a full novel, but I have read only the first 10 000 words so far (show 060)
Columbus Was a Dope by Robert A Heinlein ― perhaps his shortest story, and I did not seek the permission of his literary estate before reading it, but I don’t think they’re going to be too harsh to me. Live and unedited here.
A Sherlock of the Skies (1912) by Rene Mansfield ― live and unedited (with illustrations and re–typed text) here.
The Flying Scarab and the Seventh Heaven (1911) by the same Mansfield, here.
Science–Fiction : The Early Years by Everett F Bleiler ― short summaries of many hundreds of stories, along with some commentary, and truly impressive indexing.
Join me on Wednesdays at 20:00 UTC for my radio show “Zeptar Perspective”. It’s two hours of my perspective on stuff and music along with guest host ‘tig’ and phone in callers.
The show is all about my life, my music that i like, computers and technology and how I feel about things going on in the world. Its kind of a stream of consciousness attempt at radio although I am considerate during the week about what I will talk about during the show with ‘tig‘ and guests.
Call in during the show at 206-299-2120 extension 1159 and get on air with me like handyc (Asia Culture Adventure) does or join me in ‘com’ on sdf.org so i can share and interact with you live during the show. send questions and comments to zeptar&metapath(dot)org and be sure to visit my new website every week to hear the archive of the show and special mixes and shows that i make.
I talk a lot about all kinds of things and I’m in to.
Good day sunshine! (a version of the sun logo that Opie Ortiz drew for the band Sublime.)
Plus all kinds of music and i dont play anything that I don’t like.
From Handel to Hardcore, from EDM to Rap, from Popular to Underground (im not into country music but i will attempt to find some that I might like as a way to grow musically)
