It’s that time of year again. WRW heads to the wine country to present some of the finest moments in Sci-Fi Radio history at the historic Hotel Oregon. This year we offer up two beauties, X-1’s The Martian Death March by Ernest Kinoy and Planet Man, a mysterious serial from the 50’s, loaded with campy good fun. We’ll be in Maddie’s Room at 3pm. The show runs about an hour and is suitable for all ages, though there is drama, so you are the best judge of your small ones.
The Martian Death March is a great show, an allegory of the Trail of tears, populated with Martians instead of Native Americans. A John Brown-esque character leads a band of Martians to their homeland and encounter a homesteading family determined to keep their land and their hate. The story is dramatic and heart breaking, one of Kinoy’s best.
Planet Man lightens the mood with the story of Dantro, the Planet Man. Here’s some starter information for you. I think we’ll get requests for more episodes.
Produced in about 1950 by Palladium Radio Productions, “The Planet Man” is the golly-gee-whillikers saga of Dantro, an intergalactic troubleshooter for an organization known as the League of Planets – “the law enforcement body for peace and justice in the celestial world.” (Think of him as an outer-space version of Marshal Matt Dillon – “It’s a chancy job, and it makes a [planet] man watchful…”) With their center of operations situated on Planeria Rex, “the capital of the planets,” the League sends their water-carrier Dantro out into the celestial world to maintain law and order “whenever danger threatens the universe.”
Dantro is assisted in his quest for law-and-order by the members of Earth’s first rocket expedition: Dr. John Darrow, his daughter Pat, and engineer Slats, who are rescued by the Planet Man before their rocket comes perilously close to crashing into the moon. (The explanation for this is that Darrow and crew took on a pair of stowaways before blast-off, namely his nephew Billy and niece Jane – which makes a listener wonder why the heck they weren’t in school.) These five individuals join forces with the Planet Man to defeat evildoers like Marston, the ruler of Mars who possesses an insatiable appetite for interplanetary domination.
This is borrowed from the fine folks at Radio Archives. See the whole listing and history of the show here: http://www.radioarchives.com/The_Planet_Man_Volume_1_p/ra023.htm
Our cast and crew are top notch as always. Todd Tolces, Scott Jamieson, David Ian, Dino de AElfweald, Eli Campbell and Toni Lima. We welcome back Marty Gallagher on Live Organ, Marc Rose adds Expert Sound Design and live sound by Atticus Welles Mowry. Sam A. Mowry directs and acts as is his want.
Plus a special musical event, the world premier of Alien Girlfriend. Not to be missed.
Jamie Lawson and Joe Medina of Ollin Productions man the Swag table and vend some of the best audio drama in the Northwest and a fine selection of hand crafted jewelry and other wonders for your perusal. Remember, every thing you buy helps to support our endeavors to bring you the best live radio we can.
Special thanks to McMenamin’s, the Medici’s of live radio drama, Ollin Productions, Dry Smoke and Whispers, Fuse Audio Design, WSUV and the Creative Media and Digital Culture program, Dene Grigar & John Barber and our dramaturge, Cynthia J. McGean.
Stay tuned for announcements concerning our upcoming summer show, it’s quite the blockbuster.
Come early, enjoy the day and remember, “Live Radio Lives!”.