Guesting on Podcasts

As well as producing my own podcasts (Bradbury 100 and Science Fiction 101), I've guested on quite a few pods and radio shows over the years. But it occurred to me that I don't have one place where all those appearances are gathered together.

Until now.

So here's all the audio shows which have been kind enough to invite me on, listed in sort-of chronological order. I do hope I haven't missed any...

If you have a podcast or radio show which would benefit from my dulcet tones discussing Ray Bradbury, science fiction, screenwriting, film, TV, radio drama, or related topics, please get in touch!

Take Me To Your Reader

August 2015 - "A Sound of Thunder" (Bradbury)
August 2016 - Fahrenheit 451 (1966 movie; Bradbury)
May 2018 - Fahrenheit 451 (HBO movie; Bradbury)
October 2018 - The Halloween Tree (Bradbury)
September 2019 - The Illustrated Man (Bradbury)
January 2022 - Rendezvous With Rama (Arthur C. Clarke)
October 2022 - Something Wicked This Way Comes (Bradbury)
August 2023 - "The Crystal Egg" (H.G.Wells)

 

The Ray Harryhausen Podcast

May 2016 - Ray Bradbury and Ray Harryhausen

 

Radio Free Acton

May 2018 - Fahrenheit 451 (book and HBO film)

 

Imaginary Worlds

June 2018 - Fahrenheit 451 (Bradbury - episode also features Neil Gaiman)

  

BBC World Service: The Forum 

August 2020 - Ray Bradbury

Hugos There

January 2022 - The Fountains of Paradise (Arthur C. Clarke) 

 

Words to Write By

March 2022 - Zen in the Art of Writing (Bradbury) 

 

Continuum Drag

April 2022 - The Martian Chronicles  (TV miniseries; Bradbury)

Take Me To Your Reader - Something Wicked

I was invited to make a return visit to the Take Me To Your Reader podcast, to discuss Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes.

TMTYR deals with books and their adaptation to movies, TV and other media. On this occasion, what you might think is a simple process of adaptation (book ---> movie) turns out to be more complex, since Something Wicked actually began life as a screenplay, before becoming a book, and then being adapted for film.

Thanks to regulars Seth, Colin and James for inviting me back on!

Listen to the show here:

http://pavementpodcast.com/podcast/something-wicked-this-way-comes-by-ray-bradbury-feat-dr-phil-nichols/

 

Podcasts - all in one handy place

I've taken part in a number of podcasts over the years, discussing various Ray Bradbury works in film, television, theatre and radio. I thought it was time to put links for them all in one handy place.

So, without further ado, I give you Phil's podcasts!


A Sound of Thunder - short story, film and other adaptations - Take Me To Your Reader 

Fahrenheit 451 - novel and 1966 film - Take Me To Your Reader 

Ray Bradbury and Ray Harryhausen - The Ray Harryhausen Podcast 

Fahrenheit 451 - novel and 2018 TV film - Radio Free Acton

Fahrenheit 451 - novel and 2018 TV film - Take Me To Your Reader

Fahrenheit 451 - novel and 2018 TV film - Studio 360/American Icons 

The Halloween Tree - book, film and radio play - Take Me To Your Reader 

The Illustrated Man - short story, book and film - Take Me To Your Reader

The Illustrated Man - Podcast episode

 I always enjoy joining the gang from the podcast series Take Me To Your Reader - and today my latest appearance goes live. The discussion this time centres around Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man.

The Illustrated Man has a complex history. Bradbury first published a short story with that title, and shortly afterwards he published a short story collection with the same title... but the collection didn't include the short story! Instead, he took his tattoed-man character out for another stroll, and used him to provide a framing device for the other short stories in the book, using the conceit that each story dramatises one of the man's tattoos.


Many years later, the short story was incorporated into the book, but only in some editions.

In the early 1960s, Bradbury wanted to turn The Illustrated Man into a film, and wrote a full screenplay. Unfortunately, it became another of Bradbury's "lost films". But later in the decade, a completely different script was used for the film that was made. Starring Rod Steiger and his then wife Claire Bloom, the movie is a portmanteau film which adapts three of the short stories from the book - with Steiger and Bloom inexplicably playing different characters in each story.

You can find out what I think of the film by listening to the podcast:

http://pavementpodcast.com/podcast/tmtyr-episode-81-lighter-than-the-movie-the-illustrated-man-feat-dr-phil-nichols/

Take Me To Your Reader

Last night I joined the regular team of the podcast Take Me To Your Reader to record an episode devoted to Ray Bradbury's short story "A Sound of Thunder" and two media adaptations of the story.

The idea behind Take Me To Your Reader is that the presenters will read a science-fiction book or short story, and then watch the film(s) based on the story. Previous topics have included Planet of the Apes (in all its filmic incarnations), Carl Sagan's Contact, and Jurassic Park - and many, many others. I've listed to maybe six or seven episodes previously, and always found them enjoyable for their careful but accessible analysis of how stories adapt from one medium to another.

"A Sound of Thunder" is unusual in being a quite short story which has been adapted into a full-length feature film, necessarily entailing the invention of a lot of new material. The film, directed by Peter Hyams and released in 2005, went out into the world almost unnoticed: it had a limited release, and then went quietly to DVD with a minimum of publicity. It didn't help that the company behind it went bust, and it almost never got finished.

The earlier screen adaptation was from Bradbury's own script, for Ray Bradbury Theater. I've always quite liked this version, although it has its flaws - you can read my review of the episode here.

I won't pre-empt the conclusions of the Take Me To Your Reader episode, but let's just say that all of us involved in the recording found the movie to be hilarious in places... but it is, alas, not intended to be a comedy...

We spoke via Skype, with one end of the conversation being recorded in Oregon and my end being recorded in the UK, so  the episode now needs to be edited to make a seamless whole. It should be ready by the end of the month. I'll post a link as soon as it goes live.

Meanwhile, if you're interested in SF adaptations, why not check out some of the earlier episodes, here.

During the recording, I recommended that newcomers to Bradbury's fiction should start with one of the compendium volumes, either The Stories of Ray Bradbury or Bradbury Stories. The two books are completely complementary, with no overlap at all in their contents. Each book contains a wide range of story types, and each one makes a perfect introduction to Bradbury.

Below is an Amazon link. If you click on this link, any Amazon purchase you make will generate a small donation to the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies.