Indiana Jones Radio Drama

DoomTown

Member
robisindy said:
Yeah, just lost in all of the Indiana Jones news that has been breaking this week, I guess! :)

Maybe they will be kinder with Part 2 coming up...Isn't most of the East coast snowed in right now? Perfect time to cuddle up and listen to a radio adventure!

Montana, thanks for the chuckle! :D
 

DoomTown

Member
Sharkey said:
Someone say Shark?

My review later, but for now: the great Mitchell Hallock was "really good."


Can't wait for this. Why do I think "Plinkett" when I know you will review something? ;)

But WAIT! Mitch wasn't in....oh. :p
 

harvey

New member
Sorry guys - thought I was subscribed to this thread.

Here's my review:


Indiana Jones And The Gold Goddess

**** 1/2 (out of 5)

Third in the series of radio dramas produced by the IndyCast team and part one of a two-part Marvel Comics adaptation. Full disclosure here ? I have three lines, so I won?t review the fact that I took a bullet in the arm as Reporter #1. ☺

This was my first chance to hear the drama in its entirety and I must say, these productions keep getting better. Radio drama writer and co-producer Keith Voss, working from a ripping comic book yarn scripted by Archie Goodwin and David Michelinie, once again brings an added dimension to the 2-D world of Indy comics.

All of the regulars are back: IndyCast host Ed Dolista narrates, Rob Magee pulls triple duty as our favorite adventurer as well as co-producing and editing, Keith Voss flexes the golden pipes as Sallah (dead on), Silvio Mannello goes evil once again as Xomec (or is he just a misunderstood character?) and Lito Velasco channels the late Denholm Elliott?s Marcus Brody. Newcomers include Kay Bierbacher (turning in quite the hissable performance as the Nazi, Ilsa), Renee Hardin (a feisty and frustrated Marion Ravenwood), and Young Indiana Jones Sound Editor Laird Malamed as my reporter buddy.

The cast is obviously having great fun putting these together and everyone gives it their all. The adventure begins with Indy?s quest for the golden idol he lost to Belloq in Raiders. Gunfights, fistfights, car chases and a rooftop rumble are all part of a whip-cracking good time! Magee pulls it all together with incredible pacing, sound effects and music cues. Be warned?it IS a cliffhanger ? but part two is already in production and promises to be even bigger and better (as anyone who has read the story knows).

Dolista and the IndyCast crew need not worry about a lack of Indy content to satisfy fans of the podcast. Between these incredible dramas and the specials on John Williams, Indy fans will have plenty of downloadable adventures in the future.
 

RaiderMitch

TR.N Staff Member
DoomTown said:
Can't wait for this. Why do I think "Plinkett" when I know you will review something? ;)

But WAIT! Mitch wasn't in....oh. :p


"Every time I try to get out of it . . they pull me back in" - written in my Al Pacino, Godfather 3 voice.

It's nice to know my biggest fan missed me - or missed throwing rotten tomatoes at me, that is. But honestly, watching the news over the weekend, and seeing the levels some people are driven too - can we ease up on the hate, the name calling, the slurs, is there really and truly any need for it? - is it really necessary to perpetuate such foolishness when there is so much ugliness out there and just enjoy talking about a common interest that brings us Indyfans together. If you haven't figured it out, I won't reciprocate and be part of the insult game. So do as you will, but don't look for a response from me.

As far as the Radio show .. the post is up now . . we were to busy digging out of the snow so I forgot to post it. You'll have to poke Les David and have him throw it up on Throwmetheidol as well.

It's a good thing we have the new radio show, because the only other news item that was worth posting was Ford stepping on Rachel McAdams dress and doing a great Indy-style shocked reaction!
 
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DoomTown

Member
Thanks for posting the link, Mitch!

I hope I didn't upset you when I referred to Sharkeys comment, just having a little fun with it! :hat:
 

InexorableTash

Active member
First off, major kudos to the gang who put together the "radio" adaptation of "Indiana Jones and the Gold Goddess". The effort really shows and it was quite enjoyable. I'll break my quick feedback into three parts. I apologize for being lousy with names, and I'll try and keep any criticism constructive.

The Good

Sallah was voiced (and sung!) very well. Accent, intonation, emotion, all came through very well. That said, though, Marcus was dead on; the only criticism was that the script only called for absentminded mumbling and distracted banter, rather than the warm fatherly concern for Indy he has in the movies. Still, very close to perfection.

Speaking of perfection, though: Marion! Seriously, I early on wondered if you'd gotten Karen Allen to lend her voice to the production. Perfect voice, perfect delivery, and range of emotion.

The musical choices were a great selection from Williams and McNeely (and any others I missed...), and it was well edited to emphasize the story and the action.

The Meh

The sound effects were a mixed bag. I wanted to hear an engine roar to life and the gunshots didn't quite fit. Others were quite good.

The overall audio mixing quality also varied with the music sometimes distracting from the dialogue. The "old timey" radio effect could have been slightly muted, and perhaps used only on the narration and the intro/outro but reduced during the story itself.

The story had the standard Indy story structure (we join an adventure in progress, there's a dramatic escape, back home to the States, meet up with familiar characters, then the real adventure starts...), so a good choice for an adaptation. I wasn't a huge fan of this story in the comics - it has the one-two punch of first turning the Hovitos into real sympathetic people that Indy was stealing from, then turning them into stereotypical comic book villains. So... well, meh.

The Ugly

The delivery by Indy's voice artist only ranged from "smug, self-satisfied Indy" to "quiet, curious Indy". I would expect this in one of the Indy games where Indy is talking to himself to help the player understand what's happening or is speaking the player's text in a SCUMM game, but in the radio drama, with so much action and emoting by others, the flat monotone was actively distracting for me. Harrison Ford can emote! Indy shouts, gasps, and gets excited about things plenty of times in the movies. The voice artist had Ford's tone right, but just needed to get excited.

My other big objection was with the script, most specifically the choice to use such a large amount of narration. One piece of advice oft given to aspiring writers is "show, don't tell". That's obviously much harder for a radio drama, but IMHO should be done with liberal use of sound effects and reactions by characters with narration kept to an absolute minimum.

Additionally, the narrator also suffered from monotone delivery. If Indy and Sallah are racing across rooftops I want to hear Indy out of breath and barking out directions, AND I want the narrator - if narration is necessary - to keep me on the edge of my seat.

(Admittedly, when I listen to the IndyCast at 2x speed on my iPod, I still think Ed is speaking a bit too slowly... sorry, Ed!)

It's a fine balance; comic book characters - especially of that era - often talk to themselves incessantly to convey their motivations, and I think that approach is over-used. However, in this story the characters are rarely alone and exposition can occur in dialogue or reactions. I guess my guidance for narration would be: try every alternative first, and only fall back on narration as the last possible choice. The "record" adaptation of Temple of Doom hits the mark, IMHO. The narrator steps into set the scene where necessary, and does so with a tense, excited tone. (Contrast with the RA "record" which has no narration and requires the listener to know the movie well, or the LC "record" where there is far too much narration since so much of LC is visual!)

I realize this is a challenge when dealing with limited budget and time; it may simply not be possible to find the foley for every sound effect called for, and narration may be necessary to fill in the gap. But still, I thought 2/3 of the narration could have been removed with no impact to the story.

...

In summary - a fine effort by a talented crew, with some absolutely brilliant casting, a few rough spots and room for improvement, but very enjoyable. Keep 'em coming!
 
Thanks for the feedback, Tash. I'm glad that you enjoyed the show, and appreciate the constructive criticism.

I recognize the criticism of how I voiced Indy, and deciding how to do it was something I struggled with. A large amount of Indy's dialogue here is really just him thinking out loud, so to a large extent he is talking to himself and explaining what is happening, which is why I chose to do it the way I did. I also freely admit that I'm not really an actor, so I'm learning as I go here. :hat:

And just to address your thoughts on the sound effects, I mentioned in the IndyCast thread that the old radio filter tends to have unpredictable effects on the levels. I'm not as big a fan of the filter as others, as it drowns out some effects and tends to cause the music to overpower everything else in spots. I've also noticed that the type of headphones used to listen makes a big difference in how it sounds once the filter is applied. But it does add a certain character, too, so it's been decided that we'll take the good with the bad. I initially made this show with a different, lighter filter, but it was decided to go with the stronger filter that was more in line with the previous dramas.

Again, we appreciate the feedback and will use it to try and improve going forward! And, by the way, I echo your thoughts about Keith, Lito, and Renee's portrayals of Sallah, Marcus, and Marion. They were great!
 

Stoo

Well-known member
I held back from listening to the latest Radio Drama until I had my Marvel comic in hand for a full, multi-media experience. Now that I've finally been able to do that, here's another review/critique:

Compliments:
-A fun listen to a project with a lot of heart put into it. Kudos to Rob for pulling it all together.:hat:

-The reporters (Laird & Harvey), Sallah (Keith) and the girls did a great job with the voice acting.

-Nice choice of music.

Criticisms:
-Rob sounds very good as Indy but I agree with others: The delivery was too dry & monotonous. More emotion next time 'round, Mr. Magee.:whip:

-Too much narration. While I understand that Keith is trying to stay as close to the comic as possible, a lot of the descriptive talk was excessive & not necessary. (Plus, no offense to Ed, but an Australian accent telling the tale doesn't work for me. Sorry.:eek:)

-Inconsistent audio levels of background music. Obviously, it's a chore when working for free but I have faith that this will improve with each upcoming installment.

All around:
Thank you to everyone who was involved. It was an absolute treat and I'm looking forward to the next one.:)
 
Thank you, Stoo! I'm glad you liked the show, and we appreciate the review! :hat:

I'm going to try and put more emotion into my portrayal of Indy in part 2. There is a fine line there. When you listen to Harrison Ford there is only so much emotion in his voice most of the time. Much of his emotion is conveyed in his face and body language, with the vocal changes generally more subtle. I'm working on it, though, and I hope everyone will hear improvement in the next radio drama!
 
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harvey

New member
robisindy said:
Thank you, Stoo! I'm glad you liked the show, and we appreciate the review! :hat:

I'm going to try and put more emotion into my portrayal of Indy in part 2. There is a fine line there. When you listen to Harrison Ford there is only so much emotion in his voice most of the time. Much of his emotion is conveyed in his face and body language, with the vocal changes generally more subtle. I'm working on it, though, and I hope everyone will hear improvement in the next radio drama!

Oh, I think they might hear something before then... ;)
 

emtiem

Well-known member
Great stuff; a very excellent product. Would it be awful to tone down the old radio effect a bit though? It actually makes it quite tricky for me to hear what people are saying; especially when I listen in the car- I had to give up.
 
emtiem said:
Great stuff; a very excellent product. Would it be awful to tone down the old radio effect a bit though? It actually makes it quite tricky for me to hear what people are saying; especially when I listen in the car- I had to give up.

Thanks, emtiem! I sent you a pm with a link to listen to an unfiltered version.
 

harvey

New member
Coming February 14th, the FIRST IndyCast Read-Along Adventure: "Indiana Jones and the Curse of the Death Mask"!!

Presented in the style of the old "book and record" read-alongs, this adaptation of the comic book tale from the Lost Treasures UK Magazine #1 will whisk you back to those thrilling days of?the 80?s!! As an added bonus, the four-page adventure will be incorporated INTO the podcast, so you can go full-screen and see the action come to life. Be sure to check out this week?s IndyCast for a preview! (y)
 

DoomTown

Member
In this special episode of the IndyCast, we debut the first in an all new series of IndyCast Read-Along Adventures where you can see the pages change when the whip cracks! This week it's Indiana Jones and the Curse of the Death Mask! If adventure has a name, it must be the IndyCast! [Now available on the ForceCast app]

Please not this is an enhanced podcast - please turn on your album art in iTunes to see the page transitions! Also this episode is best listened to in iTunes as the trusty ForceCast player on the show notes page struggles with the m4a files.

You can listen to the episode here!
:whip:
 

harvey

New member
DoomTown said:
In this special episode of the IndyCast, we debut the first in an all new series of IndyCast Read-Along Adventures where you can see the pages change when the whip cracks! This week it's Indiana Jones and the Curse of the Death Mask! If adventure has a name, it must be the IndyCast! [Now available on the ForceCast app]

Please note this is an enhanced podcast - please turn on your album art in iTunes to see the page transitions! Also this episode is best listened to in iTunes as the trusty ForceCast player on the show notes page struggles with the m4a files.

You can listen to the episode here!
:whip:

Let us know what you think!!:D
 

indycast

Active member
Stoo said:
Criticisms:

-Too much narration. While I understand that Keith is trying to stay as close to the comic as possible, a lot of the descriptive talk was excessive & not necessary. (Plus, no offense to Ed, but an Australian accent telling the tale doesn't work for me. Sorry.:eek:)

Why do I get the feeling I am getting squeezed out of these radio drama! ;)

(And I actually was doing a British accent like the old Pathe news serials - guess I better work on that!)
 

Stoo

Well-known member
indycast said:
Why do I get the feeling I am getting squeezed out of these radio drama! ;)

(And I actually was doing a British accent like the old Pathe news serials - guess I better work on that!)
Ed, no offense, eh?:cool: To be frank, the "old tyme" radio filter should be scrapped completely (as has been done with this latest installment). While it's a cool idea, it ends up detracting from the overall finished product. Then again, this is just my humble opinion.

I don't have iTunes so to get this Read-Along to work properly I had to actually open 2 different windows. One for the audio and another for the pages. (On the first few tries, the image & audio worked simultaneously only for 18 seconds before the 1st page automatically disappeared and it switched to a QuickTime player.)

Lito as Henry Sr.: Ecshellent!
Rob as Indy: Admirable effort but I think I prefer your/his emotionless interpretation of Indy better. Maybe find some middle ground for the next one? I guess I just have a different idea of how certain lines would be delivered by H.Ford, though the part where Indy is digging with the shovel was some well done voice acting on your part.
Keith as Dafoe: Fun but clichéd stereotype.
Pedro as Ahmed: Perfect.
Keith as Narrator: As RonTheReviewer would say, "Really good".
Sound Effects: Nicely used.
Voice Echo: PERFECT!
Music: Nice selections and beautifully edited.
IndyCast Read-Along Logo: Sweet touch of nostalgia. Who did it?

The end credits reminded of the "Star Wars" radio show from 1981. The only thing missing was thanking Les David of throwmetheidol.com for providing scans of the pages. Otherwise, none of us would be able to see them!

As you guys may know, I've been doing my own read-alongs with the comics since "Temple of Yearning" and I must say that this was very enjoyable. The BEST Indy radio drama so far!(y) Can't believe there isn't any other feedback yet!
 
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