Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy:So Long and Thanks for all the Fish
or
Quandary Phase
Contains: 2 CDs
Duration: 2 hrs 25 mins
ISBN: 056350496x
Don’t panic! The Hitchhiker’s saga returns once again with a brand new full-cast dramatisation of So Long and Thanks For All the Fish, the fourth book in Douglas Adams’s famous ‘trilogy in five parts’. The Earth has miraculously reappeared and, even more miraculously, Arthur Dent has found it. Returning to his cottage after... well... ages, he falls in love with the girl of his dreams. But Ford Prefect is on to something which might well burst Arthur’s bubble. There is, after all, something very fishy about his girlfriend’s feet, and what has happened to all the dolphins? Perhaps, at last, all will be revealed in God’s Last Message to His Creation…
Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy:Mostly Harmless
or
Quintessential Phase
Contains: 2 CDs
Duration: 2 hrs 10 mins
ISBN: 0563504072
Panic! It’s the last ever instalment of The Hitchhiker’s Guide
To The Galaxy, with a brand new full-cast dramatisation of Mostly Harmless,
the final book in Douglas Adams’s famous ‘trilogy in five parts’. While frequent
flyer Arthur Dent searches the universe for his lost love, Ford Prefect discovers
a disturbing blast from the past at The Hitchhiker’s Guide HQ. Meanwhile, on
one of many versions of Earth, a blonder, more American Trillian gets tangled
up with a party of lost aliens having an identity crisis. And just when Arthur
thinks he has found his true vocation on the backwater planet of Lamuella, the
original Trillian turns up with more than a little spanner in the works. A stolen
ship, a dramatic stampede and a new and sinister Guide lead to a race to save
the Earth … again. But this time, will they succeed?
Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy: Life, The Universe and Everything
or
Tertiary Phase
Contains: 3 CDs
Duration: 3 hrs 10 mins
ISBN: 0563510439
The long-awaited, brand new third series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comes to audio on CD and cassette. Many of the cast of the original BBC Radio 4 series have been reunited for this new six-part dramatisation of Douglas Adams's book 'Life, the Universe and Everything'. Amongst the returning cast are Simon Jones as Arthur Dent, Geoffrey McGivern as Ford Prefect, Susan Sheridan as Trillian, Mark Wing-Davey as Zaphod Beeblebrox and Stephen Moore as Marvin the Paranoid Android. Other famous names in these new productions include Richard Griffiths, Chris Langham, Joanna Lumley and cricket commentators Fred Trueman and Henry Blofeld.
Based on the early epic where Judge Cal takes control of Mega City 1, the radio
adaptation was dramatised by Paul Powell.
ISBN: 1 85849 573 3
CD Cat No: 528 661 2
Cassette Cat No: 528 661 4
| Character |
Actor |
| Judge Dredd |
Gary Martin |
| Judge Hershey | Lorelei King |
| Judge Caligula | William Dufris |
Judge Griffin |
William Roberts |
| Walter The Wobot | William Roberts |
| Grampus & The Kleggs | William Roberts |
| Fergee | William Roberts |
Original Music: Wilfred Acosta
Technical Realisation: Wilfred Acosta, Ian Harker, Rebecca Kirby, Ros
Mason & Anita Wilcox
Production Co-ordinators: Maureen Trotman and Julie Drummond
Production and Direction: Dirk Maggs.
Total playing time was 2 hours and 10 minutes.
ISBN: 1 85849 583 0
CD Cat No: 528 665 2
Cassette Cat No: 528 665 4
Based on the dramatic events which lead to the eventual des...
well you'll have to listen to it, won't you? Again, dramatised by Paul
Powell, the source stories were Block Mania and of course The Apocalypse War
by John Wagner and Alan Grant.
| Character |
Actor |
| Judge Dredd |
Gary Martin |
| Judge Hershey, Maria | Lorelei King |
| War Marshall Kazan: | William Dufris |
| Supreme Judge Bulgarin |
William Roberts |
| Walter The Wobot | William Roberts |
| Sov-Judge Izaaks | William Roberts |
Original Music: Wilfred Acosta
Technical realisation: Wilfred Acosta, Ian Harker, Paul Arnold &
Anita Wilcox
Production Co-ordinators: Maureen Trotman and Julie Drummond
Production & Direction: Dirk Maggs.
Total playing time 2 hours 10 minutes.
The Russ Abbot tape / CD is still the world's best kept secret.
The BBC shop doesn't appear to sell it, but the tape appears
to be on the Amazon site (mysteriously dated 1998, unless this is something
different).
Aha! Both the tape and CD ARE on Amazon - but only if you type in Russ Abbott
(wrongly spelt with two 'T's!)
The CD is TLCD 06 on The Laughter Label and quotes the contact sales@soundentertainment.co.uk
See review below, its worth it
| Actor | Character |
| Stuart Milligan |
Superman |
| Stuart Milligan | Clark Kent |
| Stuart Milligan | The Kryptonian |
| William Hootkins | Lex Luthor |
| Lorelei King | Lois Lane |
| Vincent Marzello | Jimmy Olsen |
| Garrick Hagon | Jonathan Kent |
| Kerry Shale | The Cyborg |
| Kerry Shale | Superboy |
| Eric Meyers | Guy Gardner |
| Denica Fairman | Maggie Sawyer |
| Liza Ross | Supergirl |
| Burt Kwouk | Doctor Teng |
| Leon Herbert | John Henry Irons
|
Based on the stories by Dan Jurgens, Karl Kesel, Jerry Ordway, Louise
Simonson, and Roger Stern
Audio adaptation written and Directed by Dirk Maggs
Total playing time 2 Hours 35 Minutes
By William J Nixon (W.J.Nixon@lib.gla.ac.uk)
Doomsday and Beyond (DAB) brings to life the excitement and drama of the epic Doomsday, Funeral for a Friend, and Reign of the Supermen story arcs. Written and directed by Dirk Maggs for the BBC, DAB has the same key cast as the AOS audio dramatization as well as a strong supporting cast of many of the key players in current Superman continuity. Cat Grant, Supergirl, Guardian, Dubbilex, Emil Hamilton, Maggie Sawyer, (the list goes on) and the four Supermen from ŒReign all feature, and they all sound Œright. It's another rollercoaster ride of mounting excitement (that¹s what the blurb says - and it is!) and at the end of the day it's great fun.
The first part of DAB is background. It reprises a number of
key events in the Man of Steel's recent life and those of his supporting cast.
Luthor¹s
death and rebirth as his own Australian son, a surprise party at the Planet
for Lois and Clark's engagement, his revelation to Lois that he is Superman,
the Eradicator and the Fortress of Solitude are all touched upon in the run
up to the Doomsday storyline. Maggs also takes this opportunity to have Emil
Hamilton warn Superman about the fact that his powers are not unlimited and
sustained use of them could have dire consequences. Oh, and there¹s a pounding,
grunting, noise of destruction come to life from an underground chamber. Doomsday
is coming...
The tape covers a lot of ground in two and a half hours and there are lots of high points, but I think the fight with Doomsday is worth the admission price alone. It's totally gripping. I know how it finishes but Metropolis is vividly brought to life as Superman and Doomsday rain blows down on each other as Lois reports from a Daily Planet helicopter.
Outside the Daily Planet building, Superman tells Doomsday this
is where he Œdraws the line. His voice is filled with rage and determination.
He needs to bring him down. Maggie and the SCU open fire on Doomsday, and the
air is filled with gunfire but there's no effect and they retreat. When the
Planet Œcopter crashes into a GBS helicopter, Superman flies Lois and Jimmy
to safety.
Before returning to the fight, Clark tells Lois that whatever happens, he loves her. Supergirl joins him briefly before becoming Œsilly putty. Lois turns away as Jimmy continues to take photos, his camera whirrs, and he asks that Lois forgive him but it¹s going to end in seconds. The fight intensifies until there is only the shockwave of the final blows.
Lois narrates her final piece on the fight. She tells that this
was the day that for those who loved him it is too late. It's a measured, dispassionate
reading which starkly contrasts with the Lois who cradles him in her arms. Clark
asks about Doomsday and she tells him that he saved everyone, he coughs his
last breath. We are left only with Lois scream of pain, then silence.
The final fight is really well put together. The sound effects,
Clark and Lois final words, and the music all seamlessly combine to bring a
dramatic
new dimension to the fight. The true strength of these tapes is the way they
bring the stories to life, to some extent perhaps the comics and the tapes are
flipsides of a movie, the visuals and the soundtrack which easily combine to
form a greater more exciting whole?! (Yes, well)
The tape is rich in powerful emotional moments. After Doomsday, Jonathan and Martha want to bury the scrapbook and Clark¹s toys now that he is gone. Martha says that he was their little gift from heaven and her voice chokes as she says now heaven has taken him back. The Kents are well cast, and Garrick Hagon as Jonathan meets Clark in the haunting, eerie world depicted in AOS 500, a world of whispered voices and Kryptonian chants as he pleads with Clark to not think as an earthling and to come back.
William Hootkins as Luthor is again brilliant, only this time
he plays the role with an Australian accent (for reasons explained on the tape
:-) He is
gleeful standing over Superman's tomb when the body is returned. Gotcha he says;
he's back on top and Superman is just an empty, lifeless, husk. Stuart Milligan
has a real feel for Superman, but also plays the Kryptonian, whose voice is
unlike Clark or Superman's. It is cold and clinical, ready to mete out justice
to the transgressors he encounters, though it is funny when he describes Guy
Gardner as someone so obviously dense admiring his methods. The range and abilities
of the entire cast to play their roles so well, or multiple roles in Milligan¹s
case, is very impressive.
The sound effects and score in DAB are as rich as those in AOS. Toastmasters sound like the lethal weapons they are, leaving only the crackle of flames (in stereo!) in their wake. Fortresses and tombs echo, sirens wail and missiles swoop all in Dolby Surround for that right in the midst of the action effect. Doomsday is a creature of fury and angry grunts destroying everything in his path. The Doomsday/ Superman videogame is featured and there is even a reference in a WGBS studio to a certain Great Carlini.
The final fight in Engine City is slightly different from the
original and Hal Jordan doesn¹t play a role, but Steel, Supergirl and the
Eradicator are
there with Supes for the finale.
Doomsday and Beyond is a pure distillation of super-powered
storytelling which stands on its own as a great adventure story. It¹s also
a unique
retelling of the some of the best Superman stories of recent years.
DAB is available in the United States as Superman lives! from Time-Warner Audiobooks. Up, up and I¹m outta here.
Released on CD for the first time, this thrilling full-cast original radio drama is based on the long-running comic strip. Featuring amazing sound effects and a complete orchestral score, the fastest-selling comic book story of all time comes to life like nothing you’ve ever heard before!
Whilst Daily Planet lovebirds Clark Kent and Lois Lane finally get engaged, the villainous Lex Luthor dies in a plane crash.
Metropolis is thriving with prosperity and happiness under Superman's care - or so it seems...
| Actor | Character |
| Stuart Milligan |
Superman |
| Stuart Milligan | Clark Kent |
| Stuart Milligan | The Kryptonian |
| William Hootkins | Lex Luthor |
| Lorelei King | Lois Lane |
| Vincent Marzello | Jimmy Olsen |
| Garrick Hagon | Jonathan Kent |
| Kerry Shale | The Cyborg |
| Kerry Shale | Superboy |
| Eric Meyers | Guy Gardner |
| Denica Fairman | Maggie Sawyer |
| Liza Ross | Supergirl |
| Burt Kwouk | Doctor Teng |
| Leon Herbert | John Henry Irons
|
Based on the stories by Dan Jurgens, Karl Kesel, Jerry Ordway, Louise
Simonson, and Roger Stern
Audio adaptation written and Directed by Dirk Maggs
Total playing time 2 Hours 35 Minutes
CD ISBN 0563 535962
Cassette ISBN 0563 535954
New production of excerpts from two Third Series Goon Shows
| Character |
Actor |
| SM ( Spike) | Jon Glover |
| Not Known | Lance Ellington |
| HS (Harry) | Andy Secombe |
| Opera Singer | Lizzie Glassborow |
| PS (Peter) | Jeffrey Holland |
| Announcer | Christopher Timothy |
| Harmonica Player | Harry Pitch |
Contains the 50th Anniversary Cardboard Replica Goon Show (first broadcast 29th
May 2001) plus audition material featuring Andrew Secombe, Jon Glover &
Jeffrey Holland
and a recorded conversation between Dirk and Spike Milligan in March 1991, when Dirk first suggested the idea.
Running Time
60 Minutes+
Dirk Maggs Agatha Christie Productions on CD
The Adventures of Superman Series 1
The Adventures of Superman Series 2
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