EPISODE 0.031: MOTHER KNOWS BEAST
Posted by The Frequency Of Fear at 5/11/2008 11:08 AM 
Categories: Bernie, Crisis, Mrs. Harridan, The Mysterious Traveler, Peasley, Taliesin's Top 3, Suspense, Slumgullia, Doctor Despicable, Miss Harply
Categories: Bernie, Crisis, Mrs. Harridan, The Mysterious Traveler, Peasley, Taliesin's Top 3, Suspense, Slumgullia, Doctor Despicable, Miss Harply
Episode 0.031: Mother Knows Beast
(43.5 MB; 1:35:08 MIN)
It's Mothers' Day, and I'm being forced to spend it in darkest Slumgullia, where Despicable Manor is. Weirdness abounds as Doc tries to locate Mother Despicable (despite Mrs. Harridan's attempts to thwart him), mostly by leaving me to fend off the love-starved Miss Harply, Mother Despicable's hired help, and to get squished by Mrs. Harridan's illegitimate behemoth son, Peasley. In the meantime, you'll get to listen to episodes of Suspense, Crisis and The Mysterious Traveler dealing with creepy old ladies. Taliesin discusses the maternal role in vampire cinema, courtesy of Taliesin Meets The Vampires.
"Mother Knows Beast" was written by KC Locke and W Ralph Walters, but mostly by KC Locke
Therese Chevas - Miss Harpley
KC Locke - Mrs. Harridan
Doctor Despicable - his mother lovin' self
W Ralph Walters - everything else
(43.5 MB; 1:35:08 MIN)
It's Mothers' Day, and I'm being forced to spend it in darkest Slumgullia, where Despicable Manor is. Weirdness abounds as Doc tries to locate Mother Despicable (despite Mrs. Harridan's attempts to thwart him), mostly by leaving me to fend off the love-starved Miss Harply, Mother Despicable's hired help, and to get squished by Mrs. Harridan's illegitimate behemoth son, Peasley. In the meantime, you'll get to listen to episodes of Suspense, Crisis and The Mysterious Traveler dealing with creepy old ladies. Taliesin discusses the maternal role in vampire cinema, courtesy of Taliesin Meets The Vampires.
"Mother Knows Beast" was written by KC Locke and W Ralph Walters, but mostly by KC Locke
Therese Chevas - Miss Harpley
KC Locke - Mrs. Harridan
Doctor Despicable - his mother lovin' self
W Ralph Walters - everything else
Played: 3484 | Download | Duration: 01:35:35
despite lack of brains, or perhaps because of them, I'm sure Peasley lies - I am sure I have seen him lurching around Blackpool!
Reply to this
Don't let the behemoth lad fool you! During rehearsals, it was all we could do to stop him breaking into a 3 Dog Night song about the places he's never been. We only got him settled down by reminding him he had to study for his S levels...
Reply to this
This stuff is great! I love old time radio and when I found you sites it was like striking gold. I love the FOF great stuff, if you could point me to the way of some more great horror OTR that would be awesome, Thanks Morgue
Reply to this
Glad you're enjoying the podcast!
Though the zombieastronaut.net is going through a slow restructuring process, much can be found in the archives there. OTR Plot Spot has new stuff every week, and archive.org has a wealth of not just OTR but old horror and sci-fi movies as well. It's a favorite at Frequency.
Reply to this
This is easily my favorite episode along side Ep. 32. The storyline is tight and consistent with just the right level of silliness. I noticed things were less random in this too. I assume that's Locke's doing.
I really enjoyed all the characters in Manor Despicable, especially Mrs. Harridan. Her voice acting and line delivery were impeccable.
Two best lines: "You LIED to ME."
"My mother has much better aim and bigger knives."
I think the best part was getting some insight into Dr. D's past. Both he and ZA are great characters, but odd in their own way. I really want to learn more about them, how they got to know each other, origin stories, you know.
Perhaps you can make some biography pages sometime. Just please, don't make MySpace pages for them. That's so done.
Thanks again for such a wonderful episode. I can tell it's a huge amount of work to produce but also a labor of love. The episodes keep getting better and better. Please keep producing them.
Reply to this
Thanks for the props, O Rotten One! I usually just do a little sharpening and polishing, but this one was pretty much my baby. I'd been itching to do a bit more straight-forward Universal/Hammer gothic, and chronicling Dr D's Mothers Day homecoming struck me as a brilliant opportunity. We channeled Tallulah Bankhead in from the afterlife to play Mrs Harridan, but kept it on the down-low - AFTRA can be really difficult. And for some reason, no one ever comments on the subtle Star Wars/Empire Strikes Back send-up. Still, I'm glad you enjoy the show!
Cheers,
KCL
Reply to this
Ah ha! Tallulah makes sense! I got the idea that Harridan was a specific spoof of some sort.
I didn't catch the Vader breathing effect the first two times I listened to the episode. I'm not sure if it was too low or if my hearing is poor after years of loud music.
I just googled AFTRA. Nice.
I like ZA's absurdist humor, but I think it must be balanced at times. This episode was a good balance. The storyline came across vividly. The overall feel and atmosphere was a success for your gothic idea.
Something that confused me though, was if Harridan wasn't Dr. D's mother, then why did she claim it? Was it just a lie or was she confused for some reason?
Reply to this
"Something that confused me though, was if Harridan wasn't Dr. D's mother, then why did she claim it? Was it just a lie or was she confused for some reason?"
I think the answer to that is "All of the above..." If you want to know more, you're just going to have to ask Tallulah. Good luck with that... Really, it was just the best scheme that a little old lady who smoked like a tire fire and drank enough to get Christmas cards from the bottlers of Old Grandad could come up with to get her wizened claws on the Despicable fortune (which is admittedly vast enough to be tempting).
Reply to this
We will have bio pages for most of the characters in FoF - I just need to finish the portraits.
We'll also have more origin episodes!
Reply to this
Did you get my good side? The one with the mole?
Reply to this
I listen to this episode often because it's the one that made me really fall in love with the podcast.
The bit that really got me is the fact that you guys put in a sound effect for the pulling of the doorbell cord.
There's a fabric rubbing noise that is an awesome detail that I think anyone else would overlook. But not you guys! Nope! It's that attention to detail that I respect and that never fails to entertain.
Reply to this
I've had to scale back a bit on wee details like that for the sake of freeing up some of my time, but I think background detail like that helps it seem more visual. If that makes any sense.
Reply to this