We are a few episodes into this one - not sure yet if it will get a WSRH. We are leaning toward WSRH, but we shall see. Demons and ghosts incur upon Britain and an ex-physician and current science-beat reporter checks-it-out. Okay, not a bad plot-line. The techincals are pretty good, narration, recording, that type of thing. The sound effects/music seem a bit heavy-handed, but not ruinously so. The two aspects which annoy us - which is a bad thing, you all would agree- are the female narration of a male POV story, which is jarring, and the stilted Victorian language employed as often as possible. There is no reason a male cannot do female lines (Nathan Lowell, the master of all things podcast, is the only reference we need site) and vise versa, but for a purely male POV - eh, not so sure it works, and not so sure why the producer chose to. Her voice is in the very good-excellent range, however, so kudos to her in any event. There are many British accented podcasts - duh. Myke Bartlett's Salmon and Dusk works are top-notch. It is the prissy-dated lingo we are not so down-with in this case. Period-piece, steampunk, you defend? Maybe, but it is challenging our twitchy WSRH red pen to remain in its holster. Over all, this one's okay.
2. Frank - Vol 1: Boiling Point http://neilcolquhoun.com/free-audiobooks/frank
Neil is new too our ears, and all are welcome to this universe of story-telling compatriots. We did not make it very far into this story, however. We hope with time and practice Neil's podcasting will mature into good stuff, but this entry is clearly a neophyte's attempt. The episodes are ultra short, which is unconventional. The story, what little we hung-with, was disjointed - jarringly so - and it was certainly violent. The loud rock music was - loud, and we're not sure it fit. Mostly the story's unpromising and jarring initiation pushed us off the bandwagon. Loved the Scottish accent though.
3. Edict - Zero http://edictzero.wordpress.com/
Now this one we like, well, at least at first. The podcast is a really well executed audiodrama, which is hard to pull-off. This team did it very very well. There are a few "sound gaps", "dead-air" in the radio jargon, but not too many. Otherwise, great technical work. The voice actors are pro-quality and the editing is flawless. We must mention a couple aspects which we did not like so terribly much, to air our thoughts fully. The concept of "edicts" should have been explained from the get-go. Half way through the story we now think we have figured it out, but it is unpleasant to be unclear. The ranting lunatic Socrates rants WAY too much. We almost WSRH'd the podcast during one of his long long, tiresomely long, rants. Mind you, if you like long lunatic rants, these are good ones, but we tired of them quickly. We got it - he's nutz. The Socrates-actor was transparently going for a Brad-Pitt-12-Monkeys-kin'a thing, which was tiresome. Also, speaking of monkeys, the lunatic rants used 'monkey' and 'banana' and monkey poop' way way way way way way (take our drift?) too much. Let us not be either pedestrian or juvenile. Also, the actor who did Socrates acceptably well - if over the top - did multiple voices. Most were merely annoying, but his Italian accept was painful. His roles should be re-cast and edited -out for the most part. In the end, we were forced to give this one a WSRH. We simply lost interest 2/3's of the way though. The attempt do develop a tender love-relationship between the head cop and his wife was schmaltzy to a fault and fit-in awkwardly. The inter-character banter was often stilted and unrealistic. Mostly, however, we just lost interest. We were not offended, put-off, or left with an off-taste in our mouth - we were simply bored. That said, those less demanding than us will enjoy this well produced podcast, so please fell free to decide for yourself.
4. Amarna - The Adventures of SR http://imaginationlane.net/backroads/?cat=3
Eh.
No, that's about it - eh. So, moving on to the next review... What? You respectfully request a tad more than "eh" from us? Are you familiar with the term 'audacious'? But, we are magnanimous if we are anything (though, to be fair, we might be nothing - we'll get back to you on that), so here goes...
We lasted almost 1 episode. Rather uninspiring start. Technically not so good. Sound effects were WAY too loud over narration. The "plot", if there was one, was odd. Mind you, we like odd, but not dull, redo, boring, rip-off odd. Isis, the goddess, transports a bar-wench to ancient Egypt and she becomes an apprentice necklace maker to kill time while Isis looks for the pieces of her dead SO. Hummmm. Harlequin Romance novel - here we come... But seriously, what turned us off, as in 'off switch' - was Tanja'sMilojevic actually hails fro Great Britain? In that case, simply don't use people who speak poorly - 'nuff said. Yes, looking ahead, we saw other's narrated, but, if the soup is inedible, why stay for the main course? If the chef serves unacceptable appetizers, what do you think the fish course will be like? Put a $20 on the table and slip out quietly - you got it. Seriously, if the rest of the podcast is better, if it is listen-to-able, then re-record episode 1.
5. The Byron Chronicles by Eric Busby http://darkerprojects.com/byronchronicles.php
audiodrama, which always receive a tip of our hat, as they are technically challenging. The plot is all-powerful immortals battling evil forces, fairly standard fair. The protagonist - Byron - is pitched as a mysterious hyper-powerful detective (? - correct pigeon hole) who confronts mean-spirited evil-doers. He's a Doctor Who/Batman amalgam, and as such, is, well, an admixture of stock heroes. The slightly fresh angle is Byron has this ennui about life, an indifference to action, but always gives-in toward the start and ends up the reluctant Boy Scout. And, need we need say it, he saves the day. The production was excellent, voice acting excellent, and editing top-shelf. So far - so good. The series started out really quite well. Interesting if not empathic characters, action, novel twists on plots. So far - so good. We finally did tire of TBC, however. Like so many author spawned ideas, there was a spark, but no carry-through. It has been said prophetically before, many authors are good at beginning stories but not at completing them. This was the flavor we received here. Less and less cohesive story-lines, less and less originality, return time and again to the "oh no he lost his power again" crisis [ um, anyone recall Superman, Q in Star Trek TNG, ET, Star Man, Samson and what's-her-name, etc et al?]. Fizzled-out is what we are trying to convey here. But there were a few interesting plot arches. At the end of the day, TBC is better than many, worse than, alas, too few but many, none-the-less.
6. Quantum Retribution by MJ Cogburn & C. E. Krawiec
One cannot judge a book by it's cover - unfortunately in this case. We were hooked - yes call us immature children at the county fair - by the title. We simply had to listen with such a sexy, power-laden moniker. Unfortunately, we did not need listen long, not too long at all. Dark audiodrama. Okay, really, we need more dark audiodrama in this world? Deep sigh. Okay, We presuppose it is possible we need another dark audiodrama. Hit the start icon. Tin-can echo voices, which are over-the-top melodramatic, and, our personal un-favorite, looming violence against an unsuspecting pretty-young woman. Why is it, and we demand you tell us, that dark audiodramas ( amongst so many other genre) feel a need to only butcher young girls? Interesting, isn't it. We mean, where is the audiodrama which starts off with the vampires feasting on Adolf Hitler, and the cannibals roasting Al Capone? Are not street-people who mumble to themselves while pushing a shopping cart easier human plunder than a promising contributor to the legion of prospective excellent mothers and wives? Ah, but we digress, again. We forgot, you torture hot-babes because there is the implied sex you may steal from them as they suffer greatly - male confusion with power vs sex, yeah yeah, we got it. What were we thinking. So, back to QR. After a few tough minutes' listening to echoie bad acting, when we heard the innocent young girl be blithely lead off to apparent slaughter, we tapped the 'stop' icon on the old iPod and saved ourselves gratuitous pain. Seriously, people, we will only suffer so much to bring you these necessary reviews, so do not pressure us.
7. We're Alive by Kc Wayland & Shane Salk
This is standard the-zombies-ate-my-friend material. We, effete snobs which we are forced to be, are completely bored with, un-entertained by, and exhausted from stock-zombie-genre crap. We mean, suspension of disbelief, okay, but suspension of cognitive thinking, not okay. There is an unemptying well of the-zombie-ate-my-friend pouring forth, and we are stunned as to why. That said, and we are reviewers not critics (they said coyly) so we can divulge this is well enough done the-zombies-ate-my-friend audiodrama. The OMG-don't back-into-the-dark-room players are, well okay. The production is very well done. There are loud boomy sound effects, lots of machine guns, and a high zombie-body-count, so that has to be good, right? To digress, which you know you love, we heard an interview recently with a member of another the-zombies-ate-my-friend podcast. He justified the genre in that, sure zombie-zombie-zombie, but, he opined, it was really the inter-personal action, the responses and the relationships between the survivors which drove the story. Really? So chomp-chomp-shoot-shoot-run-run is only the palate on which the careful creator paints his words? It could be space-opera or romance, it's just that brain-slurping is so... what's the word we're looking for... necessary to tell a good boy-meets-girl tale, that, naturally... well, it's the only real format where it works. How did Shakespeare and Steinbeck garner such praise when they never employed zombies? Blind luck, we tell you - beginners luck.
Did we digress, or what?
Okay, We"re Alive is fine if you like this... type of stuff. Now, onward and upward....
