The Ghost Islands

Last updated
The Ghost Islands
Genre Comedy-drama
Country of origin Flag of the United States.svg United States
Language(s) English
Starring Robert Lorick
Written by Thomas Lopez
Directed by Thomas Lopez
Recording studio United States
Original release 2006 – present
Website

http://www.zbs.org/

Jack Flanders chronology
Orchids and Moonbeams
(2005)		The Ghost Islands
(2006)		 Tropical Hot Dog Night
(2007)

The Ghost Islands is a radio drama, produced by the ZBS Foundation. [1] It is the eighteenth of the Jack Flanders adventure series and the second of the Fantastic Voyages of Captain Jack Flanders sub-series. It combines elements of old-time radio with psychic phenomena, supernatural beings and energies.

Radio drama dramatized, purely acoustic performance

Radio drama is a dramatised, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story: "It is auditory in the physical dimension but equally powerful as a visual force in the psychological dimension."

ZBS Foundation, a small non-profit audio production company, was founded by Thomas Lopez in 1970 with a grant from Robert E. Durand as a working commune based on a donated farm in Upstate New York. ZBS stands for "Zero Bull Shit". The commune's purpose was to raise consciousness through media, specifically full-cast audio dramas. The foundation is "one of the most prolific producers of contemporary radio drama."

Jack Flanders, full name Jonathan L. Flanders, is the protagonist of a series of audio dramas produced by the ZBS Foundation. He is the creation of writer and sound artist Thomas Lopez and is played by actor Robert Lorick.

Contents

Plot

While relaxing at the Pelican's Pouch in the small Caribbean town of San Miguel, rumors reach Jack and Mojo of the mysterious Ghost Islands which appear and disappear at certain times of the year. Many can see the islands but most just don't. Claudine knows more but is being particularly vague and distant; she does, however, decide that they could use another crew-member and to Jack's chagrin, it's Dominique. Pretty soon, there are 'fuzzy' cocoon shapes moving around, shapes whose home can only be the mysterious Ghost Islands.

Notes and themes

Continues the ecological theme that tourists coming to visit places of beauty or magic, by their very presence, help to destroy such places. Also there are a number of Loa references.

Magical thinking in various forms is a cultural universal and an important aspect of religion. Magic is prevalent in all societies, regardless of whether they have organized religion or more general systems of animism or shamanism. Religion and magic became conceptually separated with the development of western monotheism, where the distinction arose between supernatural events sanctioned by mainstream religious doctrine (miracles) and magic rooted in folk belief or occult speculation. In pre-monotheistic religious traditions, there is no fundamental distinction between religious practice and magic; tutelary deities concerned with magic are sometimes called hermetic deities or spirit guides.

Loa spirits of Haitian Vodou and Louisiana Voodoo

Loa are the spirits of Haitian Vodou and Louisiana Voodoo. They are also referred to as "mystères" and "the invisibles" and are intermediaries between Bondye —the Supreme Creator, who is distant from the world—and humanity. Unlike saints or angels, however, they are not simply prayed to, they are served. They are each distinct beings with their own personal likes and dislikes, distinct sacred rhythms, songs, dances, ritual symbols, and special modes of service. Contrary to popular belief, the loa are not deities in and of themselves; they are intermediaries for, and dependent on, a distant Bondye.

Quotes

Rose: "Sometimes things are as solid as we are willing to allow them to be."
Mojo: "That applies to everything we believe in."
Rose: "Unless you try to sit on it!"

Mojo: "Bunny doesn't look happy."
Jack: "Oh well. You know... teenagers."
Mojo: "Thought they called them 'young adults'?"
Jack: "Yeah. I don't know why."

Credits

Robert Lorick was a lyricist, actor, and writer, best known as a Broadway lyricist and for his work portraying Jack Flanders, the lead character in a series of ZBS Foundation audio adventures produced from 1972 until Lorick's death in 2016.

Thomas Lopez, aka Meatball Fulton, is president of the ZBS Foundation and one of the foundation's founders. He writes and produces the ZBS Foundation's audio drama productions. When he was working in radio in the 1960s, Lopez took "Meatball Fulton" out of Rolling Stone as his nom de plume.

Recorded at Froggy Acres Studios, Fort Miller, NY. Thunderstorm recorded by David Shinn.

The Fantastic Voyages of Captain Jack Flanders

Jack, Mojo and Claudine sail around the Tropics encountering mysterious and other-worldly incidents.

Tropics region of the Earth surrounding the Equator

The tropics are the region of the Earth surrounding the Equator. They are delimited in latitude by The Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at 23°26′12.5″ (or 23.4368°) N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at 23°26′12.5″ (or 23.4368°) S; these latitudes correspond to the axial tilt of the Earth. The tropics are also referred to as the tropical zone and the torrid zone. The tropics include all the areas on the Earth where the Sun contacts a point directly overhead at least once during the solar year - thus the latitude of the tropics is roughly equal to the angle of the Earth's axial tilt.

Orchids and Moonbeams is a radio drama, produced by the ZBS Foundation. It is the seventeenth of the Jack Flanders adventure series and the first of The Fantastic Voyages of Captain Jack Flanders sub-series. It combines elements of Old-time radio with psychic phenomena, supernatural beings and energies.

Tropical Hot Dog Night is a radio drama, produced by the ZBS Foundation. It is the nineteenth of the Jack Flanders adventure series and the third of The Fantastic Voyages of Captain Jack Flanders sub-series. It combines elements of Old-time radio with psychic phenomena, supernatural beings and energies.

The White Castle is a radio drama, produced by the ZBS Foundation. It is the twentieth of the Jack Flanders adventure series and the fourth of The Fantastic Voyages of Captain Jack Flanders sub-series. It combines elements of old-time radio with psychic phenomena, supernatural beings and energies.

Related Research Articles

The Fourth Tower of Inverness is a 1972 radio drama, produced by the ZBS Foundation. It is the first of the Jack Flanders adventure series, and combines elements of Americana and Old-time radio with metaphysical concepts such as past life regression, Sufi wisdom, Tibetan Buddhism and shamanistic communication with the natural world.

<i>Moon Over Morocco</i> ZBS Foundation radio drama series

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<i>Dreams of Sumatra</i> ZBS Foundation radio drama story

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The Eye of Van Gogh is a radio drama, produced by the ZBS Foundation. It is the sixteenth of the Jack Flanders adventure series and the fourth of the Travelling Jack sub-series. It combines elements of Old-time radio with psychic phenomena, supernatural beings and energies.

References

  1. ↑ ZBS.org link (The Ghost Islands)
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