This article needs additional citations for verification .(July 2012) |
Decoder Ring Theatre | |
---|---|
Presentation | |
Hosted by | Gregg Taylor |
Genre | Audio drama, lodcast |
Publication | |
Original release | August 27, 2005 – present |
Website | decoderringtheatre |
Decoder Ring Theatre is a Canadian Toronto-based theatre and audio production company that runs a podcast of the same name. It consists primarily of two series: Red Panda Adventures and Black Jack Justice , both of which are done in the style of old-time radio and are released on alternating weeks.
The group was first formed in 1999 by the actor-writer Gregg Taylor for a six-part mini-series take on the adventure programs of 1940s radio. (See “Original Red Panda mini-series” below). The programs were created as a pilot project for traditional broadcast, and were quite broad and silly in the belief that a comic approach might broaden their commercial potential. They were never broadcast.
Taylor's next project returned to the theatre, and was also radio-based, leading him to keep using the “Decoder Ring” name. The original Black Jack Justice was a one-act farce about a very, very bad day in the life of an old-time detective radio series. The show was a great success at the 2001 Toronto Fringe Festival, and led Taylor to continue under the Decoder Ring Theatre title. The next year the company returned to the Fringe with Prometheus Unplugged, a comic take on the Promethean legends in which Mankind returns to Prometheus' mountain to inform God that he does not exist. Needless to say, God was less than thrilled.
The company was officially incorporated that year, and began a series of comic murder-mysteries to raise revenue for future projects. The series included Murder Most Deadly, Death on the Avon and The Case of the Cockeyed Cupid. It was at this point that the company launched the first version of its website, decoderringtheatre.com, and included MP3 versions of the almost-forgotten Red Panda mini-series. Soon it was receiving -email from all over the world[ citation needed ] asking for more, and Taylor began the long process of accumulating scripts, equipment and performers for an ongoing podcast audio drama series.
A new, completely re-invented Red Panda continuity was launched as The Red Panda Adventures, losing the parody and playing much straighter to the conventions of old-time radio and comic books. The eponymous play-within-a-play from Black Jack Justice was revived, with its battling central characters, and launched as a sister show. On October 15, 2005, Decoder Ring Theatre officially left behind the greasepaint and empty chairs of the theatre for the Internet.
On August 25, 2006, the first seasons of The Red Panda Adventures, and on September 12, 2006 Black Jack Justice, were made available on separate feeds at Podiobooks.com. [1]
Award | Year | Category | Result | Ref. |
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Parsec Awards | 2006 | Best Audio Drama (Short) | Finalist | [2] |
2008 | Best Speculative Fiction Magazine or Anthology Podcast | Finalist | [3] | |
Best Speculative Fiction Audio Drama (Short Form) | Finalist | |||
2010 | Won | [4] | ||
2011 | Finalist | [5] | ||
2012 | Finalist | [6] | ||
Podcast Awards | 2010 | Arts | Won | [7] |
Black Jack Justice is a podcast radio drama series in the style of old time radio private detective shows, written, directed and produced by Gregg Taylor for Decoder Ring Theatre. It follows two detectives, Jack Justice and his partner Trixie Dixon. When Taylor decided to begin producing radio dramas for podcasting, he decided to actually produce Black Jack Justice as a series along with Red Panda Adventures. [9] [10]
In summer 2007, Decoder Ring Theatre released the Summer Showcase, an anthology featuring six new podcasts showcasing stories by different writers. The most popular of these were two episodes of the space opera Deck Gibson, Far Reach Commander, written and created by Parsec Award-winning author Matt Wallace (The Failed Cities Monologues).
In summer 2008, six new episodes of Deck Gibson were introduced. The podcast chronicles the adventures of Deck Gibson as he follows the mission of the Far Reach Fleet: to explore, to discover, to defend. Now he soars beyond frontiers of the galaxy never before seen by human eyes.
On June 27, 2013, an ebook by Matt Wallace (creator) entitled Deck Gibson: The Complete Scripts was released on Amazon.com. As of April 2014, however, no more episodes of Deck Gibson have been produced.
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Please explore and enjoy the pulse-pounding thrills of The Red Panda Adventures, the noir stylings of Black Jack Justice and the grab-bag of suspense, science fiction and comedy found in our Showcase.