Mind Webs, a 1970's series out of WHA Radio in Wisconsin featured weekly semi-dramatized readings of science fiction short stories by some of the genre's best writers like Norman Spinrad, Arthur C. Clarke, Gordon R. Dickson, and Ray Bradbury. Many of the readings were enhanced by music, periodic sound cues, and the occasional character voice, however they are not completely dramatized. In a way Mind Webs stories are a cross between radio drama and audio books. The music is an excellent accompaniment to the performance of Michael Hansen, which leaves the listener with a sense of excitement a lot of radio dramas lack. The OTR Plot Spot has some good summaries of several of the stories.
I like this series because it is one of the few OTR Sci-Fi programs that stands the test of time. My favorites are "The Hall of Machines", "Doing Lennon", and "Pond Water". I, admittedly, was reviled and disturbed by "The Maze" because of the beastiality imagery (both ways) and sadistic goings on of the scientists.
ReplyDelete"None Before Me" is kind of dull at the beginning, but picks up. It reminded me of something you'd see on "The Twilight Zone" or "Tales From the Darkside".
I highly recommend this series for OTR and sci-fi fans. Guaranteed it won't sound cheesy after 30+ years like other...ok, almost all other sci-fi OTR sounds now.
Fantastic collection. Michael Hansen is an amazing talent.
ReplyDeleteA new collection with extra episodes and improved recordings can be found here
https://archive.org/details/RadioGothicSpider.Com
Here is a collection of 153 shows. The best quality I've found.
ReplyDeletehttps://archive.org/details/RadioGothicSpider.Com
and a radio stream link
http://radio.gothicspider.com