In fact that Foundation LP I remember owning was not from the BBC production

[james_davis_nicoll]

It featured an entirely different, although also well known, voice actor.

Comments

[glaurung-quena.livejournal.com]

Huh. the Foundation LP I remember featured excerpts rather than the whole thing, and was read by Asimov. I guess there were a lot of audio adaptations of this trilogy.

[celestialweasel.livejournal.com]

Good grief. I had no idea. I have seen him in the Esperanto film though (he pronounces it as though it is French, but does at least look like he learnt his lines, unlike the other actors).

[agent-mimi.livejournal.com]

Shatner's pronunciation in Incubus wavered from French to Italian to Spanish, at least I thought so. I also thought Ann Atmar looked as though she knew her lines and gave a solid performance; she sadly killed herself not long after filming.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

I did think he was awfully charismatic in Incubus; I may have only understood the subtitles but I kept paying attention to him. (Granted, there wasn't much competition from the other actors, but the cinematography of the thing, at least on the print TCM aired, was compellingly odd --- just, off, in every way --- and the pattern of light and shade itself compelling.)

[celestialweasel.livejournal.com]

I was surprised at how good and charismatic an actor he was in it.

[agent-mimi.livejournal.com]

Exactly, it's all just a few degrees off center in difficult to define ways. My theory is that this was a film made by people wanting to do an arthouse flick but who had no idea what actually constituted an arthouse flick. It's intriguing, either way.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

I'm going to guess that album cover is by Rick Sternbach.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Although if you were staring right into that star at the top, it might be kind of hard to see the galactic nucleus beside it, let alone the delicate traceries of the spiral arms.

Ditto for the reflected starlight seen, along with a reflection of the star, in the domes.

Also, would the domes gleam in that way if the dome were between the star and the observer? Seems like you'd have to have the light source behind you to see a gleam at all. But we can't rule out the possibility of an extra sun, or other light source, not directly visible in the picture. After all, the side of the spaceship shadowed by the bright star is still clearly visible, not plunged into blackness.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

On a curved surface like that, you'd get a gleam near the visible limb from the grazing reflection.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I sent the record company email asking about it. I will be very, very surprised to get a reply.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

It reminded me of Sternbach's cover for "Tricentennial" and also this picture of the BIS's Daedalus starship.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

More records may be found here. (http://www.libraries.wvu.edu/collections/exhibits/asimov/archives/a.htm)

[(Anonymous)]

Dug up Ellison's review, and he mentions that the cover is by Rick Sternbach. The other album covers under review are by the Dillons. And just to keep old Star trek grudges alive, Ellison lauds Leonard Nimoy's reading over Shatner's.

-matthew davis

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

I checked with Mr. Sternbach and he indeed claims the album art as his own.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

at least he isnt singing..

[zxhrue.livejournal.com]

it's not all that bad, just think of him as a spoken word artist, with (occasionally really good) back-up singers.

I quite like this frex, but of course MV.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

As Narrator, which is different from Singer. But then, I have always liked Narrators.. must be a hold over from Rocky & Bullwinkle .. grin.

[(Anonymous)]

No, apparently Shatner's a terrible reader too. Harlan Ellison gave a whole load of Caedmon sf and fantasy records a big review back in the day and this LP was the only stinker of the bunch. Ellison took Shatner to task for not being able to pronounce various basic scientific words and repeatedly not reading the sentences so that they parsed smoothly (implying that Shatner did no preparation). I think there was also something about obtrusive sound effects and musical stings that also interrupted ease of listening.

- matthew davis

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

obtrusive sound effects and musical stings that also interrupted ease of listening.

Mindwebs had an issue with those. Maybe it was an 1970s thing.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]