The Twilight Zone Radio Dramas

Hi there TZ radio fans,

Last week we recorded a brand new TZ story called “Beewinjapeedee” written by JoBe Cerny, who often directs the TZ episodes. It stars Sean Astin as a documentary filmmaker who travels to the Everglades in search of his brother’s killer and encounters a legendary Indian Princess and shape-shifter with a ravenous appetite. Incredible actress Elizabeth Ledo plays the Indian Princess while Christopher Sullivan, Tyron Patton, Oksana Fedunyszyn and Roger Mueller round out the cast. This episode airs next month so be sure not to miss it.

The next TZ to be produced after "Beewinjapeedee" is "I Sing the Body Electric" which is the only TZ episode to be written by Ray Bradbury. Ray was not happy with the televised version of his script so our own Dennis Etchison crafted a brilliant radio play based partly on the TV episode and partly on Ray's original notes and script. Here's the plot: When the mother of three young children dies, the father brings home a robot Grandmother to help raise them. The amazing Dee Wallace stars as the robot Grandmother and David Pasquesi plays the scientist who creates her. My 11-year old son, C.J. Amari, who can be heard in several TZs (including the boy talking via a toy telephone to his dead Grandmother in "Long Distance Call") plays Tommy. You can see C.J. in the film "Letters To God" opening nationwide April 9th, 2010. Here's the movie's official website:

http://www.letterstogodthemovie.com/

C.J. is the voice of the animated boy in the soon-to-be-seen animated Pop Tarts TV commercials -- Well, I sound like I'm bragging so I'll stop : )

On other Falcon Picture Group projects, Max Allan Collins is writing another "Mike Hammer" radio play, which we're slated to record and produce the first week of April. It's called "Encore For Murder" and it will serve as Volume 3 in "The New Adventures of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer" audio series.

Mike Hammer, the toughest P.I. of all, draws a seemingly routine assignment – playing bodyguard to diva Rita Vance on the eve of her big Broadway comeback. But Rita is an old flame of Hammer’s, and when their romance is rekindled, the detective finds the actress facing death threats and himself the target of one hit man after another. When the actress disappears, the show must go on, which with Mike Hammer means swift, violent retaliation. While the cops and feds go down a false trail, Hammer seeks to make a rescue before Rita’s curtain comes down. But first he must make sense of a mystery that takes him from a Soho art gallery to a mountain lodge, from Little Italy to a waterfront confrontation that is way, way off Broadway.

Working from the plot for an unwritten novel found in the files of the late Mickey Spillane, Max Allan Collins ("Road to Perdition") has fashioned a compelling noir thriller that is vintage Mike Hammer all the way. As were the other two Volumes, Volume 3 will be released by Blackstone Audio. The release date is scheduled for September of this year.

Well, that's all for now, I hope you'll join me next time for MORE NEWS FROM THE ZONE!