Read about the series here.

Two 2001 Music Scores? Oneword’s Score Plays Them Both

I was listening to The Score, a programme about film music on Oneword Radio, a UK digital station.

On June 24 they played both scores for Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. I was unaware there were two scores but you may not be so ignorant. However if you are then it is a fact that Stanley Kubrick commissioned Alex North to write the score for his film 2001: A Space Odyssey, but decided against it in favour of the classics we know. North’s score is in two movements, reflecting the first and second chapters of the film.

Wikipedia states:

‘The 2001: A Space Odyssey score is an unused film score composed by Alex North for Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film, 2001: A Space Odyssey.’

‘North, unaware that Kubrick had decided not to use the score in his film was “devastated” at the 1968 New York City premiere screening of 2001 not to hear his work, and later offered this account of his experience:

“Well, what can I say? It was a great, frustrating experience, and despite the mixed reaction to the music, I think the Victorian approach with mid-European overtones was just not in keeping with the brilliant concept of Clarke and Kubrick.”‘
Read the full story

BBC Radio 7 Celebrates Heinlein’s Centenary

Robert A. Heinlein is recognised by many as one of the great masters of Science Fiction. To mark the centenary of Heinlein’s birth, BBC Radio 7 presents three new commissions, two this week and one next.

The Green Hills of Earth

Written in 1947 The Green Hills of Earth features in “Forbidden Planet’s” top 100 best Sci-fi stories.

Rhysling, the blind singer of the spaceways, captures the beauty of space and the complexities of being a spaceman in his songs. Snatches of his music are interwoven with the story of how he lost his sight and became Earth’s unofficial chronicler of the universe. Read by Adam Sims.

Saturday at 6.30pm and 12.30am

Methuselah’s Children

Paul Birchard reads Heinlein’s sci-fi novel about a group of families who can live for several hundred years.

Set in the America of 2112, the Howard Families are the end products of a privately-funded, secret experiment in eugenics - selective breeding - started centuries earlier. For hundreds of years, members of the Families (whose average life expectation is now around 150) have kept the information about their extended lives hidden from the world as a whole, with false identities, artificial ageing and faked deaths. But when the novel begins, the truth is discovered and reactions range from envy through horror to hatred.

Abridged by Bert Coules and directed by Bruce Young.

Monday 9 th July to Monday 16 th July at 6.30pm and 12.30am

Please note that as some of these have been transmitted they will be available on the listen again section at BBC Radio 7 (Saturday / Monday), for a limited time.

Mariella Discusses Building Scifi Worlds From Scratch With Graham Sleight and Justina Roberts

World Building in Science Fiction

Earlier this year on Open Book, historical novelist Tracy Chevalier admitted that she was in awe of science fiction writers who have to create a new world from scratch. Mariella Frostrup is joined by one such writer, Justina Robson and one of the judges of this year’s Arthur C Clarke Awards Graham Sleight to discuss approaches to inventing a whole new universe.

Selling Out: Quantum Gravity Book Two – Justina Robson
Publisher: Gollancz (17 May 2007)

Keeping It Real – Justina Robson
Publisher: Gollancz

Natural History – Justina Robson
Publisher: Pan

Mappa Mundi - Justina Robson
Publisher: Tor

Living Next-Door to the God of Love
Publisher: Tor

Once again, Radio 4, through Open Book, give us some interesting listening in the form of a discussion/interview.

Mariella Frostrup on Open Book this week interviewed Justina Robson. It is still on the listen again page at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/openbook/openbook.shtml

Unfortunately, it appears that the BBC don’t archive their tranmissions forever, and that the ‘listen again’ page only holds items for around seven days. C’mon BBC! Sort yourself out!

The 80s Classic Space Scoundels Get Audio Show Treatment

Blake’s 7 was one of the finest slices of British scifi ever shown on TV, and now this most excellent show has been revamped - as an audio series! It’s a brand new Blake’s 7 for a new generation - SCI FI are streaming every chapter exclusively on scifi.co.uk/blakes7, but if you can’t wait just click here to listen now.

It’s completely free of charge, updated three times a week, and stars Derek Riddell (The Book Group), Colin Salmon (Alien vs Predator, Resident Evil, many James Bond movies) and Daniela Nardini (This Life).

So what are you waiting for? Join the adventure NOW!

Radio Ain’t Dead.. Yet.

Ira Lightman tells us: “Just wanted to draw your attention to The Verb, on Radio 3 a few days ago. It was a sci-fi special, and it had my short play The Coming of the Wopoli on it, as well as work and chat from Gwyneth Jones and Francis Spufford.

It’s on Listen Again for 5 days at The Verb On Radio 3.”

I have to be honest, radio is not something I am in touch with except when I’m driving, and I missed this. So catch it while you can!

Thanks Ira.

Brian Aldiss Does The Desert Island Discs Interview

Desert Island Discs is one of BBC Radio 4’s longest running programmes.

Today, Sunday January 28th, author Brian Aldiss was Kirsty Young’s victim and duly chose the eight records to take to the desert island whilst talking about his life.

It certainly sounds interesting, and from someone who missed most of it and just caught the last few minutes, it is worth a listen.

Unfortunately, you can’t download it from the BBC Radio 4 website, but it will be repeated on Feb 2 at 9 am.

So maybe it will be available after that.

Roy Gray has pointed me in the direction of the BBC Audio website. On it there is a reading of Brian Aldiss’ Man In His Time to mark his 80th birthday.

Note that the link above lists the current Arts & Drama Audio listings which are updated almost constantly, so this will only be available for a short time.

Incidentally, there’s also listings for Doctor Who - Blood of the Daleks with Paul McGann as the Doctor.

Get it while it’s hot.

Episode 8 of Paul Levinson’s Light On Light Through podcast.

Episode 8 is entitled “Time Travel in Fiction and Fact” and I believe it features a brief clip and free MP3s of his Edgar-nominated radioplay, The Chronology Protection
Case.

It’s also available on iTunes.

Well worth a listen.

Kim Stanley Robinson on Hour of the Wolf

From Andy Porter and Roy Gray.

On recording from CapClave, Kim Stanley Robinson performs two readings. The first is from his novel, Fifty Degrees Below, and the second from the forthcoming sequel, Sixty Days and Counting.

This to be broadcast Saturday, November 4, between 5 and 7 AM on WBAI, 99.5 FM as part of Jim Freund’s radio program, Hour of the Wolf. The show is also streamed at http://stream.wbai.org/ and available ‘on-demand’ afterward. Go to http://www.hourwolf.com/toc.html a day or so after the broadcast, and I’ll have the link up by then.

Speaking of which, last week’s show was never aired, since our transmitter was kaput. However, guests Sarah Langan and JT Petty were troupers. We began recording the interview, only to discover trough listener calls that we were actually streaming online.

To hear this phantom show, click on this link: http://archive.wbai.org/pls.php?mp3fil=8717
After the intro, skip past the first 40 minutes, and you’ll come into the program midway, just as I turned on the mics. Most surreal, but an interesting discussion about
the nature of the horror genre(s).

Science Fiction / Fact Bled Into Popular Music

As the Soviet Union and United States battled to win the early 60s space space, one of the music vicors emerged from London’s Holloway Road. Named after the world’s first communications satellite (nod to Arthur C. Clarke) launched on 10 July 1962, Telstar made the Tornados the first British group in the pre-Beatles era to have a US chart-topping single as well as topping the charts in the UK.

It also confirmed Joe Meek, a former Royal Air Force technician and the man who penned and planned space-age sound, as one of the era’s most successful producers.

The group - Alan Caddy, Hienz Burt, Roger Jackson, George Bellamy and Clem Cattini - briefy rivalled the Shadows as Britains’s premier instrumental combo, scoring UK a Top 5 follow-up with Globetrotter and three lesser hits in 1963 including The Ice Cream Man. But having survived Hienz’s departure for a solo career they split in 1965 with vocal groups clearly in ascendancy; Cattini went on to become British’s top session drummer.

If you like a good beat, and some weird sounds - go for it, get the album; or go get the single Telstar.

It’s a shame they got wiped out by vocal bands, because they actually do have voices on some of their songs, but to me they are a bit short - they’re still wanting to do their future sounds of Telstar - they had much more in them. I kinda hark back to this time, I don’t remember the last time someone wrote a song actually based or named after technology.

It gets me into the mood of 60s scifi.

It could also bring me onto another subject: why aren’t the general public as enthused and excited about space flight as they were in the 50s and 60s?

The Future Was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim

Thunderbirds, War of the Worlds , Images of Sci-Fi. Artist Mike Trim Featured in NewBook Slated for July Release

“A book of Mike Trim’s design work is a thing to be treasured.” — Richard Taylor

Five-time Academy Award winner & Special Effects Director of Lord of the Rings, King Kong, Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World, and director of Weta Workshop.

In 1964, young Mike Trim answered a newspaper advertisement seeking model makers for a film production crew and embarked on an odyssey that would last for more than four decades. Beginning in the final days of Stingray, Trim went to work as a model maker and designer for Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s television series Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, The Secret Service and UFO - as well as their feature films: Thunderbirds Are GO, Thunderbird 6 and Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (aka Doppelganger).

Starting out in the model shop, Trim later became Special Effects Director Derek Meddings’ assistant in designing the fabulous futuristic architecture, vehicles, and distinctive look of the Andersons’ imaginative series. Eventually, he assumed responsibility for the majority of the design work for the series as Meddings (who won an Academy Award for his work on the 1978 film Superman) became more involved in feature films.

After contributing a single (unused) vehicle design and model to the series Space: 1999, Trim moved into freelance illustration, creating an iconic cover painting for one of the best-selling albums of all time, Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds, in 1978.

The Art Of Mike Trim. Images Of SciFi.

Celebrating more than forty years as a designer, Trim has now collaborated with author Anthony Taylor to produce a full-color collection of his works. The Future Was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim is an in-depth review of the artist’s entire career as a sci-fi designer and illustrator. Featuring hundreds of full-color and black-and-white drawings, paintings, marker comps and photos, the book offers a one-of-a-kind, up-close-and-personal view of how the artist foretells the future at the end of a paintbrush. The illustrations are annotated by Trim via his anecdotes and insights as he worked with the Andersons, Meddings and the crew of Century 21 Films, as well as his experiences as a freelance artist and his account of how the instantly recognizable cover art for The War of the Worlds LP was created. Also chronicled: his techniques and influences, unproduced and upcoming projects, and more. With chapters covering his techniques and early influences, unproduced and upcoming projects and more, The Future was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim is a fitting tribute to an artist whose work has permeated the pop culture landscape for more than forty years, and a meticulous archive of his seminal works in the field of sci-fi art and design.

The Art Of Mike Trim. Images Of SciFi.

AVAILABLE JULY 25, 2006
from Fabgearusa.com, Amazon.com, and book stores worldwide.

All Mike Trim Images Are Copyright.

# # #

The Future Was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim

By Anthony Taylor with Mike Trim

Forewords by Richard Taylor and David Tremont of Weta Workshop

Published by Hermes Press. 128 pages. Trade Paperback, 9×12 inches, $29.95

ISBN: 1932563822

Related Link: Canvas Prints Photos onto canvas prints

Sci-fi on demand from www.area51radiostation.com. Get it when you want it!

If you’re into hearing interviews from key actors from TV SciFi shows, then you’ll probably like this. It allows you to download archived interviews. Personally, I can’t wait for the Battlestar Galactica interviews.

Content : Stuart Claw interviews Anthony Montgomery/Steve Yarwood’s Sci-fi Zone. Duration : 9 mins 49 seconds

This first show includes Part 1 of an exclusive interview between Area 51 Radio Station’s Stuart Claw and Anthony Montgomery, who played Ensign Travis Mayweather in Star Trek Enterprise. He gives us an insight into the Enterprise series and the part he played in it. As you will hear, he is clearly more than just an actor. (Part 2 of Stuart’s interview with Anthony will be available soon for a limited period only).

Also on this download is one of our excellent Sci-fi Zones with Steve Yarwood. In this one, Steve takes a look at a classic episode of Star Trek and explains why he thinks William Shatner was unsurpassed as captain of the Enterprise. (Will you agree? Listen to this Sci-fi zone and e-mail us your views. They will go out live on air.)

Information in respect of the next Sci-fi on Demand will be included in our newsletter.

The Area 51 Radio Station newsletter is a must for all sci-fi fans and includes the latest happenings at Area 51 Radio Station. If you haven’t signed up yet, be sure to do so now. There are no risks and it’s free. Why not have a look at the mailing list page and see how easy it is ?

Coming soon to Sci-fi on Demand

Jamie Bamber from New BattleStar Galactica
Captain Janeway from Star Trek Voyager
The Best of the Geoff Carter Show
Highlights from the Stuart Claw Show
Steve Yarwood’s engaging Sci-fi Zone
Interviews with the crew of Star Trek New Voyages

Dr Ian Hocking has started a podcast of his book Deja Vu. It will come out every saturday and each instalment should last about twenty minutes. The first instalment is already up here.

Deja Vu is a classy debut science fiction thriller which I see assimilar to James Bond. Well worth a read, and now well worth a listen. If you like the podcast, buy the book.