The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

This week Alex goes from Leah Moore and John Reppion discussing two of Victorian literature’s most enduring characters, Dracula and Sherlock Holmes, to talking to Oscar winning scribe of wonderfully odd films, Charlie Kaufman as well as offering up some audio coverage of the recent Arthur C Clarke Awards; as ever check the Panel Borders site for more details and links to podcast versions of previous shows:

Strip!: Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula, tonight at 5pm on Resonance FM, extended podcast after transmission on Panel Borders

Continuing adaptation and inspiration month on the show, Alex Fitch talks to writers Leah Moore and John Reppion about their two current comic book projects, adapting Bram Stoker’s Dracula for sequential art and continuing the adventures of Sherlock Holmes in a new comic for Dynamite Entertainment. Leah and John talk about the process of condensing Dracula into five 32 page comics, while including Stoker’s often neglected prologue Dracula’s guest plus adding to the saga of Sherlock Holmes by putting the Master Detective on trial for murder and terrorist activities…

(cover to issue #1 of The Complete Dracula, adapted by Leah Moore and John Reppion, cover art by John Cassady, published Dynamite; no bats were harmed in the making of this comic)

Reality Check: The Arthur C. Clarke Awards 2009, now online at Sci-Fi London

In the first of our podcasts recorded at this year’s Sci-Fi London Festival, guest presenter Graham Sleight talks to a nominee and two former judges of the 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 Niall Harrison, Tanya Brown and Ian R. Macleod, with the award ceremony presented by Dr. Marek Kukula (Royal Greenwich Observatory) and Tom Hunter. Edited and recorded by Alex Fitch.

Coming soon:

Strip!: Sherlock Holmes vs. Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, on air 21st May on Resonance FM

Continuing adaptation and inspiration month on the show, Alex Fitch talks to the illustrators of some new and recent literary adaptations in comic book format. Self Made Hero is a relatively new publishing company who have made a name for themselves with their range of Manga Shakespeare adaptations and are now doing European style graphic novels of literary classics. Alex talks to Ian Culbard, artist of Ian Edginton’s adaptations of The Picture of Dorian Grey and The Hound of the Baskervilles and to Andrzej Klimowski and Danusia Schejbal, illustrators and adaptors of The Master and Margarita and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (reviewed here).

I’m ready for my close-up: Charlie Kaufman – bringing interior worlds to the screen, on air 21st of May on Resonance FM

Alex Fitch talks to Academy Award winning screenwriter Charlie Kaufman about his new film Synecdoche, New York, the challenges of directing his own script, working with Spike Jones and Michel Gondry on his previous screenplays such as Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and issues of post-modernism and magical realism in his work.