Sci-Fi Storm

The fourth Doctor, Tom Baker, appeared in his first four-part serial, Robot, to inaugurate his new regeneration. For this first season, UNIT played a prominent role, and the Doctor had two companions, Ian Marter’s Harry Sullivan and Elisabeth Sladen’s Sarah Jane Smith. It was novelized by Terrance Dicks as The Giant Robot, and it is this book that Tom Baker reads, for BBC Radio 7, in 5 parts.

You’ll find the URL here:
http://dailyspace.blogspot.com/2010/04/tom-reads-terrance-dicks-giant-robot.html

It seems to be PBS Pledge Week around here, and one of the items I haven’t seen before that proved to be very interesting is [asin=B000J10LC2]Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War Of The Worlds[/asin] (currently discontinued but available – also available as a [asin=B0009MAPUO]Hybrid SACD[/asin]). This originally started as a concept album in 1978 and featured the talents of Justin Hayward (Moody Blues), Phil Lynott (Thin Lizzy), David Essex and Julie Covington, and Richard Burton narrating the story. On stage, it isn’t a play so much as an orchestra plus video and a light show, but with a few actor/singers playing parts – plus a giant disembodied head using Burton’s original narration, and still features Justin Hayward singing. If you like the 1970s psychedelic rock style and the story, this may be of interest to you. But beware…the two lines Hayward sings at the beginning in “The Eve of the War” tend to stick in your head…

The Thunder Child writes “The Thunder Child just received a review copy of Eban Schletter’s Cosmic Christmas: A Yuletide Odyssey concept album. Although we haven’t yet reviewed it, we share the press release for anyone who wants to make plans to travel to the Glendale Planetarium on December 6th and 13th for live performances of the album, accompanied by a state-of-the-art virtual reality show.

http://dailyspace.blogspot.com/2009/11/pr-eban-schletters-cosmic-christmas.html“

Some interesting tidbits were released yesterday at Comic-Con…Star Wars In Concert will begin touring October 1st (tickets on sale August 1st) and will be narrated in person by Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), although it looks like dates only through Oct. 21st are known so far, on the west coast and OK; lots of info at the Lucasfilm booth about the upcoming games Star Wars: The Old Republic (a new MMO where you can be on the Republic or Sith Empire sides), The Cone Wars: Republic Heroes, available for PC and all consoles on either September 15th or October 6th (information conflicts right now); and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed – Ultimate Sith Edition out in time for the holidays. Also, Novermber 3rd should see the release of the Season 1 Box Set of Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

“Buzzy Multimedia announces they have obtained the rights to offer the Hurog series by bestselling author Patricia Briggs.
Buzzy Multimedia, a publisher of sci-fi and fantasy audio books, has obtained the rights to record the Hurog Duology by bestselling author Patricia Briggs. The series includes the popular titles of “Dragon Bones” and “Dragon Blood.” The release dates and chosen narrator will be announced at a later time.”
Read More for more details.

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Here’s a couple of quick reviews for soundtracks that came out last month: Battlestar Galactica: Season 3 and Superman Doomsday.

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Starting heating up your Holiday lists…lots of cool goodies are on their way. For fans of Middle Earth – no, still no high-def release of the movies, but for those who love Howard Shore’s music The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – The Complete Recordings comes out on November 20th. What’s so great about this release? Everything – and Read More for why…

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I thought I’ve mentioned this podcast before, but apparently it was only in the comments in this thread. British Invaders is a podcast that discusses some of the classic British Science Fiction series, including Doctor Who and Star Cops. The latest episode discusses Quatermass, the 1950s series that had a few revivals, including the 2005 remake mentioned in the last article…

The Dark Crystal – 25th Anniversary Edition came out last month on DVD. Haven’t gotten a copy yet, but I need to – after having listened to the The Dark Crystal – 25th Anniversary Original Soundtrack and realizing how familiar the music was for a film I haven’t seen in almost a quarter century. Read More for a brief review.

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AudioFlix writes “Portland, OR – AudioFlix LLC is excited to announce that the first 5 chapters of the ARCTIC INVASION audio program are now available in disk format. Aptly named “Arctic Invasion – Disk 1” and now available at Amazon.com , the disk represents the first 5 weeks of the original online story released early this year. The second disk will combine the remaining 6 chapters and is expected out just in time for the upcoming holiday season. Eleven chapters long and feature-length, the entire story tells of arctic soldier Shawna Birdette and her fight to save humanity from an invading alien army located deep beneath the Antarctic ice shelf. Check out AudioFlix.com (http://www.audioflix.com/home.html) for samples and previews!”