THE SCI-FI CHANNEL'S SEEING EAR THEATRE, VOL. 2 & 3 The Flat Edge of the Earth, Orson the Alien & Other Stories

Created for Webcast from the Sci-Fi Channel's Web site, the eight plays in these two sets run the gamut from bad to brilliant. Volume Two contains five stories, including "George and the Red Giant"--with "Babylon 5's" Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas--and "The Flat Edge of Earth"--with Alexander Siddiq and Nana Visitor of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine." Both stories match fine acting teams with stories about ordinary people tossed into extraordinary realities. Volume Three opens with "Orson the Alien," which cleverly weaves the 1938 Mercury Theatre broadcast of "The War of the Worlds" with a story of two real-life aliens who pick up the radio signal and come to earth to save us from the Martian invasion. Also featured on Volume Three is a dreadful piece called "The First (and Last) Musical on Mars" that wastes ninety minutes on poor spoofs of Gilbert and Sullivan, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Hal David. Also detracting from these programs are Harlan Ellison's annoying, self-aggrandizing introductions to each of the stories. Despite these complaints, these sets contain enough good material to keep any science-fiction fan happy. S.E.S. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/NOV 00]