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Radio Times - the Sci-Fi Edition
Aug. 7th, 2012 11:05 amIt's been quiet around here, for no good reason other than I haven't drawn much and am loath to sit down at a HOT computer while it is HOT and write a rambly rant on any of the dozen topics I currently have bouncing around my head.
BUT it is radio time ...
It's pretty much the epitome of the corny 50s sci-fi B-movie in premise, but the appeal (and horror) of the actual book of Day of the Triffids is not so much 'Waaugh, killer plants!' as a chilling and (to my mind) accurate exploration of human nature when faced with catastrophe. The reading they currently have running on BBC7/4x is great, and I try to listen to it whenever it comes back around; I recommend you do as well. Yes, it has killer plants, but you could replace them with mad dogs, aliens, zombies,* or whatever semi-sentient threat you like and it would work just as well, because that's not what the story is about. The first episode expires later tonight so have at it.
*Apparently 28 Days Later follows the plot points of Day of the Triffids suspiciously accurately ...
In further John Wyndham radio news, there's a dramatisation of The Chrysalids which I haven't listened to yet but if it's as good as the older one it should be worth doing so. It's set in a world that has been atom-bombed back to the Iron Age, where a strict fundamentalism has arisen to keep society from collapsing completely and deal with the new reality of widespread mutation ... it gets to be very exciting, and if looked at a certain way is an interesting angle on what would, in another context, be a superhero origin story.
I need to read a lot more Arthur C Clarke short stories, if these are anything to go by. The Nine Billion Names of God expires today but the others in that series are equally good and you have a little more time to catch up on them.
And for a bit of fun, ON THE HOUR is back!
BUT it is radio time ...
It's pretty much the epitome of the corny 50s sci-fi B-movie in premise, but the appeal (and horror) of the actual book of Day of the Triffids is not so much 'Waaugh, killer plants!' as a chilling and (to my mind) accurate exploration of human nature when faced with catastrophe. The reading they currently have running on BBC7/4x is great, and I try to listen to it whenever it comes back around; I recommend you do as well. Yes, it has killer plants, but you could replace them with mad dogs, aliens, zombies,* or whatever semi-sentient threat you like and it would work just as well, because that's not what the story is about. The first episode expires later tonight so have at it.
*Apparently 28 Days Later follows the plot points of Day of the Triffids suspiciously accurately ...
In further John Wyndham radio news, there's a dramatisation of The Chrysalids which I haven't listened to yet but if it's as good as the older one it should be worth doing so. It's set in a world that has been atom-bombed back to the Iron Age, where a strict fundamentalism has arisen to keep society from collapsing completely and deal with the new reality of widespread mutation ... it gets to be very exciting, and if looked at a certain way is an interesting angle on what would, in another context, be a superhero origin story.
I need to read a lot more Arthur C Clarke short stories, if these are anything to go by. The Nine Billion Names of God expires today but the others in that series are equally good and you have a little more time to catch up on them.
And for a bit of fun, ON THE HOUR is back!
