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.”‘

Wiki also indicates scholars and critics seem to have opposing views on which score is best.

Oneword’s Score programme on 24 June, played pieces from sci-fi soundtracks, as follows

1. Prelude & Outer Space - Bernard Herrmann; from The Day The Earth
Stood Still.

2. Also Sprach Zarathustra - Richard Strauss; from 2001: A Space
Odyssey.

3. Main Title - Alex North; from Alex North’s 2001.

4. The Blue Danube (excerpt) - Johann Strauss; from 2001: A Space
Odyssey.

5. Space Station Docking - Alex North; from Alex North’s 2001.

6. Ontological Shock (excerpt) - Don Davis; from The Matrix.

7. The Artifact And Living - Michael Andrews; from Donnie Darko.

8. We Don’t Have To Think Like That Anymore - Cliff Martinez; from
Solaris.

9. Main Title - Jerry Goldsmith; from Alien.

10. Throne Room/End Title - John Williams; from Star Wars Episode IV: A
New Hope.

Unfortunately that programme will not be repeated (I have asked) and the music copyright prevents a downloadable ‘listen again’ version but you can find the music via the Score’s website.

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

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 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.

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).

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?

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

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

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.

A new online streaming radio station for scifi fans has been set up. Entitled area 51 radio station (AF1RS) it will include all manner of content such as live outside broadcasts from large events. The next big events are the California SciFi Convention and The London Expo (broadcasting to 30,000 people). There will be SciFi roundups and music from the 70s through until the present day.

There will also be guest appearences, including John Billingsley who plays Dr. Phlox in Star Trek Enterprise. John will officially open the station at 12:00 Midday on Saturday October 22 2005 - and it will run for 24/7.

At the time or writing, the radio station is being tested from October 15th, with the golive October 22nd. Therefore, until it is actually live, there may not be a stream available. Keep coming back to check.

Click on the logo to tune into world’s first SciFi Radio Station now! It will start up a popular media streaming program such as iTunes, WinAmp or RealMedia (depending on which you have installed). You can download winamp from here.

If you have any difficulties, please let us know on the contact form.

You can see the current agenda, programmes, news and extra info on the official radio site here.

Jim Patrick Kelly has recorded some of his short stories and has posted them in the form of free audio books in MP3 files. They have all appeared in some outstanding journals such as Asimov’s Science Fiction, SciFiction, Realms Of Fantasy and The Magazine Of Fantasy And Science Fiction.

You can see from the list below that Jim has been writing for over two decades and the fact that he has put up his stories for free in audio format is a testement to his love of the genre.

You can tell this during his narrations too. As he says in the introduction, he is reading them as he thought them as he was writing them. His voice changes with the text, you can feel the emotion coming through every breath. The snippets of music during the start and at the end really add to the overall presentation. Thankfully there is no sound effects or added music during the text itself, making the true power of the words come through without any superfluous trimmings.

I hope that you get enjoyment from these free e-books, and in turn peruse his commercially available paperbound books and e-books.

• Bierhorst, R. G., Seera, B. L. and Jannifer, R. P. ‘Proof of the Existence of God and an Afterlife.’ Journal of Experimental Psychology. (August 1998)
• The Edge Of Nowhere (June 2005)
• Barry Westphal Crashes The Singularity (September 2002)
• Faith (June 1989)
• The Best Christmas Ever (May 2004)
• Serpent (May 2004)
• Bernardo’s House (June 2003) (Rated R)
• The Pyramid Of Amirah (March 2002)
• Itsy Bitsy Spider (June 1997)
• The Ice Is Singing (April 2003)
• Monsters (June 1992)
• Fruitcake Theory (December 1998)
• Unique Visitors (2001)

Written By David Bishop

This time written by James Bishop, this episode gives all it should. Judge Steel is back again, getting her fair share of airtime. Death himself is played by The League Of Gentleman’s Mark Gatiss and plays the part with obvious glee (I can’t think of anyone else who would play Death so well).

The sound design is fitting, and it’s nice to know that the production team haven’t overused sound effects just because it’s aural.

Nice to see Walter is back, the poor sod.

The tale is pretty fast paced, and the crew come to together splendidly. I liked the almost comical ending. Though - no matter how hard I try, I can never read a Judge Death story with seeing some ‘tongue in cheek’ humour there, even if it maybe shouldn’t be. I guess you have to see it as that, or else you’d cry.

Recommended.