The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

You might remember late last year I mentioned that that the BBC was planning a science fiction season across three of its radio stations early in 2009. Well, it actually started a couple of days ago and annoyingly I didn’t notice until a rather cool and creepy ad on BBC digital caught my eye (below) and reminded me to go check their site (rather annoyingly the entertainment section of the BBC News site didn’t mention it, which is a bit of an oversight, I think).

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Anyway, the season started with part one of The Scarifyers on Radio 7 on the 22nd then HG Wells’ classic The Time Machine, but both will still be available via the magic of Listen Again online for several days, so fortunately we’ve all still got a chance to catch them. On the 28th of February there’s a programme with the great title “Salmonella Man on Planet Porno” (no, this isn’t me away on one of my flights of fancy), Blake’s 7, The Twilight Zone and the first part of James Follet’s Temple of the Winds. There are too many other programmes across the three networks to list here (the website has the full details), although its worth mentioning some potential highlights to look forward to, including Nick Frost in The Sofa of Time (Beeb 7, March 1st), adaptations of Ballard’s The Drowned World, Sir Arthur C Clarke’s Rendevous With Rama (both March 1st, Radio 7 and 4 respectively) and Robert Rankin’s Brightonomicon ((Beeb 7, March 9th).

And I have to draw your attention to a couple I am especially looking forward to – “Bring Me The Head of Philip K Dick”: “A darkly disturbing and surreal vision of contemporary America where faith, national security and the very fabric of time are under attack from an unlikely and terrifying weapon. Invented by a shadowy research unit inside the Pentagon, the android head of Philip K. Dick is on the loose and wreaking havoc.” I love Dick’s writing, it seems to become more relevant to our ever changing, increasingly complex world with each year that passes and I’d consider him essential reading. And I am delighted to see that one of our finest SF authors, the mighty Iain M Banks, will be represented and in some style too – another top scribe of books, comics and TV Paul Cornell has adapted Banksie’s novel State of the Art into a radio play starring Sir Antony Sher, Nina Sosanya and Paterson Joseph on Thursday 5th of March (I should also mention that Iain’s latest SF novel, Matter, has just been released in paperback by Orbit). Sounds like we have a cracking SF&F season to enjoy over the next couple of weeks and I’m particularly pleased to see such a focus on our incredibly rich literary heritage of British science fiction novels, modern and classic, a genre writers here have been key in shaping.