Reality Check: Darth Vader and the Girls from Goldfinger

Reality Check: Darth Vader and the Girls from Goldfinger

In Q and As recorded at SCI-FI-LONDON and the London Film Museum, Alex Fitch talks to Dave Prowse, Shirley Eaton and Tania Mallet about appearing in (Saving) Star Wars and Goldfinger respectively.
Shirley and Tania discuss being cast as Bond Girls: the Masterson sisters in the third 007 film, and Dave talks about turning down the role of Chewbacca for a more sinister position in George Lucas’ classic movies.

Shirley Eaton and Tania Mallet (photo by Mark Mawston) / Dave Prowse and friend (photo by Getty Images)

Shirley Eaton and Tania Mallet (photo by Mark Mawston) / Dave Prowse and friend (photo by Getty Images)

For more info about this podcast and a variety of other episodes you can download, please visit the home of this episode at www.sci-fi-london.com

Links: Watch Saving Star Wars on watchscifi.com
Official Dave Prowse website
Listen to Alex’s interview with Honor Blackman about appearing in Goldfinger, The Avengers and Doctor Who

Reality Check: Darth Vader and the Girls from Goldfinger [ 44:47 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Electric Sheep Magazine podcast: Pop culture and Honor Blackman

Electric Sheep Magazine podcast: Pop culture and Honor Blackman

In the December episode of the Electric Sheep Film Show, ESM editor in chief Virginie Sélavy and assistant editor Alex Fitch explore film and pop culture. Celebrating her recent 90th birthday, in an interview recorded at the London Film Museum, Alex talks to legendary British actress Honor Blackman about Goldfinger, Doctor Who and the cult 1960s TV series The Avengers, plus producer Sean Hogan discusses Future Shock: The Story of 2000AD, a documentary that charts the development of the seminal British comic.

Also, Virginie chats to curator Helen Melody about the Alice in Wonderland exhibition at the British Library, and the varying adapations of Alice on screen over the years; includes classic tracks by The Sonics, Serge Gainsbourg and Jefferson Airplane.

Originally broadcast as a ‘Clear Spot’, 16th December 2015 on Resonance 104.4 FM The Electric Sheep Film Show continues on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at 8pm, repeated the following day at 9am, on Resonance FM.

Poster for Alice in Wonderland at the British Library, publicity still for The Avengers with Patrick MacNee and Honor Blackman, poster for Future Shock

Poster for Alice in Wonderland at the British Library, publicity still for The Avengers with Patrick MacNee and Honor Blackman, poster for Future Shock

Visit www.archive.org, for more info and formats you can stream / download.

Links: Electric Sheep Magazine website
More info about Alice in Wonderland at The British Library
Future Shock!: The Story of 2000AD website
Honor Blackman’s website

Electric Sheep Magazine podcast: Pop culture and Honor Blackman [ 1:08:52 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Panel Borders: Drawing The Beano

Panel Borders: Drawing The Beano

Alex Fitch talks to writers / artists Laura Howell and Hunt Emerson who have contributed a number of strips to The Beano since 2002, including Little Plum, Ratz, Minnie the Minx and more, in an interview recorded at Caption comics festival, Coventry. Laura discusses moving from the small press to mainstream comics, and Hunt talks about the challenges of drawing kids comics after a career of adaptations of adult literature.

Laura Howell draws Minnie the Minx (photo by Coventry Express and Star) / excerpts from Ratz, Little Plum and Freds Bed

Laura Howell draws Minnie the Minx (photo by Coventry Express and Star) / excerpts from Ratz, Little Plum and Freds Bed

For more info and a variety of formats to stream or download this podcast, please visit archive.org

Links: Hunt Emerson’s website
Laura Howell’s website
The Beano website Continue reading →

Panel Borders: Drawing The Beano [ 31:09 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Reality Check: The Ersatz Doctors part 2

Reality Check: The Ersatz Doctors part 2

Alex Fitch continues his exploration of the actors who have been hired to play incarnations of Doctor Who after the original actors have passed on.
Alex talks to John Guilor about providing a new voice for William Hartnell’s First Doctor in reconstructed ‘missing’ scenes for BBC DVDs; and to Tim Treloar about continuing the adventures of the Third Doctor in Big Finish audio plays, now that Jon Pertwee is no longer with us.
(Originally broadcast 21st December 2015 as part of a Clear Spot on Resonance FM, recorded at ‘The Day of the Doctors 2’ convention, with thanks to Big Finish Productions)

Cover of The Third Doctor Adventures / Syvlester McCoy and Tim Treloar / Cover of Doctor Omega / Behind the scenes and cover of Doctor Who: Planet of Giants

Cover of The Third Doctor Adventures / Syvlester McCoy and Tim Treloar / Cover of Doctor Omega / Behind the scenes and cover of Doctor Who: Planet of Giants

For more info about this podcast and a variety of other episodes you can download, please visit the home of this episode at www.archive.org

Links: More info about ‘Tenth Planet’ Doctor Who events
Article about the recording of The Third Doctor Adventures at bigfinish.com
Behind the scenes video of recording The Planet of Giants
Buy The Third Doctor Adventures: Volume 1, Doctor Who: Planet of Giants and Doctor Omega And The Fantastic Adventure To Mars from amazon.co.uk
Info about Tim Treloar’s Doctor Who CDs at bigfinish.com
Listen to Alex’s interviews with Jon Culshaw and David Troughton about playing alternate versions of Doctor Who

Reality Check: The Ersatz Doctors part 2 [ 29:00 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Panel Borders: Star Wars and Autobiography

Panel Borders: Star Wars and Autobiography

In a seasonal edition of Panel Borders, guest presenter (and cartoonist) Marc Ellerby talks to American graphic novelist Jeffrey Brown whose work varies from self-deprecating autobiographical titles such as Cats are Weird and A Matter of Life, to a variety of Star Wars illustrated books for kids including Jedi Academy and Vader’s Little Princess, in a Q and A recorded at Gosh! Comics, London. (Originally broadcast as the first half of a Clear Spot on Resonance 104.4 FM, 8th December 2015)

Covers and interior art from various books by Jeffrey Brown including Jedi Academy

Covers and interior art from various books by Jeffrey Brown including Jedi Academy

For more info and a variety of formats to stream or download this podcast, please visit archive.org

Links: Jeffrey Brown’s blog
Info about Brown at starwars.com
Marc Ellerby’s website
Listen to Alex’s 2009 interview with Marc Ellerby

Panel Borders: Star Wars and Autobiography [ 37:46 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Reality Check: The Ersatz Doctors part 1

Reality Check: The Ersatz Doctors part 1

Alex Fitch looks at the actors who have been hired to play incarnations of Doctor Who after the original actors have passed on or retired. While the programme has a built in fiction for the constant recasting of the lead role, fans have had a desire to still see and hear new adventures for the 1960s and 70s versions of Doctor Who, and these have begun to be made and licenced by the BBC for broadcast on digital radio, television and download.
Alex talks to impressionist Jon Culshaw about playing Tom Baker – otherwise known as the Fourth Doctor – in Dead Ringers, and audiobooks such as The Ark in Space; to actor David Troughton about channeling his father Patrick as an ersatz Second Doctor on BBC Radio 4extra
(Originally broadcast 21st December 2015 as part of a Clear Spot on Resonance FM, with thanks to BBC Audio)

David Troughton / Jon Culshaw / Covers of The Hexford Invasion and the Ark in Space

David Troughton / Jon Culshaw / Covers of The Hexford Invasion and the Ark in Space

For more info about this podcast and a variety of other episodes you can download, please visit the home of this episode at www.archive.org

Links: Article about the recording of The Ark in Space at ladbrokeradio.com
Review of Doctor Who: Serpent Crest at cultbox.com
Listen to Alex’s interviews with Doctor Who actors Sylvester McCoy, Michael Jayston and Sophie Aldred
Order Death to the Daleks, The Ark in Space, The Hexford Invasion and The Curse of Peladon on CD from bbcshop.com

Reality Check: The Ersatz Doctors part 1 [ 37:45 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Hooting Yard: On Natty Dread

Natty Dread. Like it or lump it, it has become clear to any thinking person that Emperor Haile Selassie, or Ras Tafari, was indeed a living god. Admittedly, the thinking done by those persons is conducted with brains ravaged by pot, but that does not make their thinking any less cogent. Well, it does, and perhaps they might think a teensy bit more cogently with clearer heads. But they would surely reach the same conclusions regarding Haile Selassie and Jah Rastafari and the escape from Babylon and all that business. Natty Dread indeed.

This episode was first broadcast on the 9th August 2012.

Hooting Yard: On Gas Rig Monkeys [ 28:25 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Panel Borders: Canadian Comics

Panel Borders: Canadian Comics

In a pair of interviews recorded at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival in Kendal, Alex Fitch talks to a trio of Canadian comic book creators about their work. Husband and wife team Stuart and Kathryn Immonen discuss working together and apart on such Marvel comic books as NextWave, Heralds, HellCat and Fear Itself, and on their more personal projects including the webcomic Moving Pictures and their latest graphic novel Russian Olive To Red King.

Plus, in a live Q and A recorded in front of a select audience, Alex also talks to Quebec based cartoonist Estelle Bachelard, who draws under the pen-name Bach, about her first graphic novel from Soaring Penguin press – It’s Hard to be a Girl – which collects her humorous autobiographical facebook strips, taped in Brew Brothers Tea Shop, Kendal. (Originally broadcast as part of the ‘Clear Spot’, 9th November 2015 on Resonance 104.4 FM)

Cover of Fear Itself by Stuart Immonen, interior art from HellCat by Immonen and Immonen, cover and interior art from Russian Olive by Immomen and Immonen, cover and interior art from Its hard to be a girl by Bach

Cover of Fear Itself by Stuart Immonen, interior art from HellCat by Immonen and Immonen, cover and interior art from Russian Olive by Immomen and Immonen, cover and interior art from Its hard to be a girl by Bach

For more info and a variety of formats to stream or download this podcast, please visit archive.org

Links: Preview of It’s hard to be a girl on the Forbidden Planet International blog and order form on Soaring Penguin website
Info about Russian Olive To Red King on AdHouse Books website
Stuart and Kathryn Immonen’s blog
More info about the Lakes International Comic Art Festival

Panel Borders: Canadian Comics [ 49:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Electric Sheep Magazine podcast: Sound and Vision

Electric Sheep Magazine podcast: Sound and Vision

Electric Sheep Magazine editor in chief Virginie Sélavy and assistant editor Alex Fitch talk to visual artist Graham Humphreys, best known for his posters for The Evil Dead, Dream Demon and Santa Sangre, about his new book, Drawing Blood. Festival director Nag Vladermersky discusses this year’s edition of the London International Animation Festival, which runs at the Barbican from 4 to 10 December. Plus an interview with Peter Strickland, director of Berberian Sound Studio and The Duke of Burgundy, about his new ‘3D sound’ adaptation of Nigel Kneale’s The Stone Tape for BBC Radio 4. Plus classic tracks by Link Wray, The Cramps, Elroy Dietzel, Hasil Adkins and The Sonics.
Electric Sheep Film Show continues on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at 8pm, repeated the following day at 9am.
Originally broadcast as a ‘Clear Spot’, 18th November 2015 on Resonance 104.4 FM

Details from Berberian Sound Studio, LIAF 2015 and Monster Club (by Graham Humphreys) posters

Details from Berberian Sound Studio, LIAF 2015 and Monster Club (by Graham Humphreys) posters

Visit www.archive.org, for more info and formats you can stream / download.

Links: Electric Sheep Magazine website
Download The Stone Tape from BBC iPlayer (until November 30th 2015)
Graham Humphrey’s website
London International Animation Festival website

Electric Sheep Magazine podcast: Sound and Vision [ 1:08:31 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Panel Borders: Kate Beaton – Step Aside, Pops!

Panel Borders: Kate Beaton – Step Aside, Pops!

Alex Fitch talks to New York Times best selling author Kate Beaton about the latest collection of her webcomic Hark! A Vagrant: Step Aside, Pops, plus her children’s book The Princess and the Pony in front of a live audience at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival, October 2015. Fitch and Beaton also discuss how the latter started making and disseminating webcomics and the influence of Canadian ‘infomercials’ on her work. (Originally broadcast as part of the ‘Clear Spot’, 9th November 2015 on Resonance 104.4 FM)

Covers of Step Aside, Pops and The Princess and the Pony by Kate Beaton, Beaton and Alex Fitch at LICAf, photo by Leonard Sultana (An Englishman in San Diego)

Covers of Step Aside, Pops and The Princess and the Pony by Kate Beaton, Beaton and Alex Fitch at LICAF, photo by Leonard Sultana (An Englishman in San Diego)

For more info and a variety of formats to stream or download this podcast, please visit archive.org

Links: Hark! A Vagrant website and Kate Beaton’s tumblr site
Buy The Princess and the Pony from Walker Books
Round up of LICAF 2015, day 2 by Leonard Sultana on his An Englishman in San Diego website
More info about the Lakes International Comic Art Festival

Panel Borders: Kate Beaton - Step Aside, Pops! [ 54:06 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download