Ep. 15 - 2008 Arthur C. Clarke awards
In the first of our podcasts recorded at this year's Sci-Fi London Festival, guest presenter Graham Sleight talks to two nominees and the winner of this year's Arthur C. Clarke awards. In case you don't know who won, why not listen to the podcast and hear the opening of the envelope and the winner's reaction! Authors interviewed include Stephen Baxter, Ken MacLeod and Richard Morgan, with commentary by Paul Raven, Adam Roberts and Tom Hunter. Edited and recorded by Alex Fitch.
(more info at: www.clarkeaward.com) |
Ep. 007+7 - Ian Fleming and James Bond
Alex Fitch talks to James Taylor, head researcher at the Imperial War Museum about the museum's new exhibition For your eyes only: Ian Fleming and James Bond. The exhibition puts Fleming's writing into a historical and military perspective, from his days working for Naval Intelligence to his later life living the life of Bond in far flung locations from Las Vegas to Jamaica. Alex & James talk about Fleming's career and legacy plus the public's fascination with the glam and the gadgets of the Bond movies, some of which are represented in the exhibition in the form of Little Nellie and props from Thunderball.
(more info at www.iwm.org.uk) |
Ep. 12.5 - Eastercon '08, part two
The second of two shows looking at this year's Sci-Fi literary convention Orbital '08 which was held last month in Heathrow. Alex Fitch is talking to Graham Sleight about the BSFA, Jetse de Vries & Aliette de Bodard about Interzone, John Coxon about ZZ9 - the Douglas Adams appreciation society and author Neil Gaiman about why he loves conventions (with a brief cameo by Paul Cornell)...
(more info at www.orbital2008.org) |
Ep. 12 - Eastercon '08, part one
The first of two shows looking at this year's Sci-Fi literary convention Orbital '08 (which was on at Easter weekend in Heathrow) and features interviews with professional writers and fans. In this week's episode Alex Fitch is talking to Nickey Barnard, an SF fan who has moved from being a member of the audience at panels to one of the hosts, Christopher Teague, publisher of Pendragon Press which offers a place for first time genre writers to release their books, comic book creator Bryan Talbot (Alice in Sunderland), and science-fiction writer James Swallow (Star Trek: Voyager, Blake's 7 audio). (more info at www.orbital2008.org) |
Ep. 11 - Genre (crossing) directors
Alex Fitch talks to the directors of two recent genre crossing movies - Garth Jennings and Park Chan-Wook - about their films Son of Rambow and I'm a Cyborg (but that's okay). Alex and Garth also talk about low-fi and hi-fi approaches to special effects making, plus hitting Mos Def with a plank of wood on the set of the Hitchhiker's Guide of the Galaxy while Alex also talks to Park (via translator Sinae Lew and actor Philip Hayden) about themes of pop culture in the latter's movies, such as Oldboy, and how the suppression of freedom in Korea influenced his subject matter.
(more info at www.im-a-cyborg.co.uk and www.sonoframbow.com) |
Ep 10. The Martian Museum of Terrestrial Art
What links Douglas Adams, "The Day the Earth Stood Still", Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst? To try and answer this question, Alex talks to Lydia Yee, one of the curators of "The Martian Museum of Terrestrial art". "The Martian Museum..." is an exhibtion of modern art which is currently on display at The Barbican in London and presents esoteric examples of fine art from the last 50 years in an anthropological style with a sci-fi twist.
(more info at http://www.barbican.org.uk) |
Ep 9: Brent Spiner's Dreamland
Alex Fitch talks to popular Star Trek actor Brent Spiner about his new album 'Dreamland' which mixes performances of classic musical numbers with dramatised scenes that take place in a film noir dreamland
(more info at http://www.therealbrentspiner.com) |
Ep 8: Manufacturing Cloverfield
Alex Fitch presents an edited version of the Cloverfield press conference - director Matt Reeves talks about bringing the giant monster movie genre up to date, the challenges of shooting an entire movie on 'handycam' and the pressures of living up to the hype generated by the ambiguous teaser trailer.
(More info at http://www.cloverfieldmovie.com |
Ep 7: Producing genre shows on the radio
Alex talks to Dirk Maggs about his various genre and science fiction programmes on BBC radio from the recent revival of Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy to Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective agency, An American Werewolf in London & Independence Day UK.
(More info at www.dirkmaggs.dswilliams.co.uk |
Ep 6: Lisa Bowerman is Professor Bernice Summerfield
Alex talks to Lisa Bowerman about playing a popular space and time travelling archaeologist in radio style dramas for the best part of a decade. Professor Benny Summerfield started off as a Doctor Who character in the novels published by Virgin in the 90s and then became the first human companion to get her own solo series, first in print and then on CDs sold in specialist shops.
(More info at www.bigfinish.com) |
Ep 5: Escape Pod
Alex talks to Steve Eley who runs the weekly sci-fi podcast Escape Pod, which features readings of new and classic SF stories written by the likes of Neal Asher, Cory Doctorow, Robert Silverberg and Isaac Asimov.
(More info at www.escapepod.org) |
Ep 4: M. R. James' Ghost stories at Christmas
Alex talks to Dexter O'Neil, head of Fantom Films, a new company that have been producing cult CD and DVD releases over the last year or so, including a new range of M.R. James audio books featuring the best of his "Tales of the Supernatural" read by the likes of Geoffrey Bayldon. Includes an extract from "There was a man dwelt by a churchyard" read by Gareth David Lloyd (Torchwood).
(More info at http://www.fantomfilms.co.uk) |
Ep 3 - Other Cinema
Alex talks to Noel Lawrence, founder of the "Other Cinema" DVD label about their range of esoteric / underground movies and collections of short films such as " The Net - The Unabomber, LSD and the internet", "Experiments in Terror", "Decasia" and "Dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y"…
(More info at http://www.othercinemadvd.com) |
Ep 2 - Cult TV
Two interviews recorded at last summer's Cult TV Weekender: Alex talks to actor Philip Glenister (DCI Gene Hunt) and writer Matthew Graham about "Life on Mars" / "Ashes to ashes" and to Alan Shubrook, writer of the coffee table book "21 Century FX" about his time working on "Thunderbirds" in the 1960s.
(More info at http://www.cult.tv) |
Ep 1 - The Smoking Cabinet
Alex Fitch talks to curators Claire Cook, Simone Pyne and Kate Grove about the Curzon's Burlesque season of silent cinema, live acts and talks which featured an eclectic mix of Edwardian titilation, melodrama (The Blue Angel) and circus performers.
(More info at http://thesmokingcabinet.com) |
- REALITY CHECK with Alex Fitch
