Alien Voices: The Invisible Man | ||||||||||||
H.G. Wells | ||||||||||||
Simon & Schuster | ||||||||||||
|
A review by S. Kay Elmore
The premise of The Invisible Man is that the achievements of the human
mind are worthless without a human soul to guide them. The story opens with a
meeting of the townspeople of Port Stowe, alarmed and dismayed by the havoc
perpetrated by this invisible man. Inspector Adye, called in to bring this
menace under control, becomes our narrator and in placating the crowd, relates
the story of Herbert Griffin and his fall from scientific glory. Thus the
fully-dramatized performance begins.
If you know the story of The Invisible Man, and know it well, you know that the
story begins at a train station on a snowy evening. We never discover why Griffin
wanted to be invisible in the first place, all we know is that he is invisible now,
and wants to reverse his condition. In the audio version, scriptwriters
Nat Segaloff and John de Lancie had to make some hard choices regarding dramatization.
Modern audiences are accustomed to characters who are sympathetic, or they at
least want to know the psychological elements behind their actions.
I spoke to John de Lancie at the GenCon 98 convention and had the opportunity to ask
him about the Alien Voices project.
De Lancie explains his dramatization as a way to give background to the character,
and make him more sympathetic to a modern audience:
The story is an example of the turn-of-the century attitudes toward science, and
the growing awareness of scientific ethics. Griffin is a desperate man, searching
for a cure to his invisibility. His obsession is so complete that he alienates his
landlady, becomes a frequent topic of gossip in town, and takes a maniacal pleasure
in terrifying the local doctor. As obsession degenerates into madness, his secret
is discovered by the townspeople and he flees, invisible, into the countryside. Vowing
revenge on the professor who shamed him, he wreaks havoc on the town of Port Stowe.
The production quality and dramatization is excellent. It's evocative of the live
radio programs of years gone by, and invites you to sit back, close your eyes, and
imagine the scenes. I fear that this kind of entertainment may be hard for a modern
audience to adapt to. This is not television, where an imagination is not called
for, or even traditional audio book presentations. John de Lancie calls it "theatre of the ear."
Asked why they chose to dramatize these classic novels as audio plays instead of
more "modern" venues for entertainment like movies or television, he replied:
One thing that would have made my listening experience complete would be a listing
of cast and characters. Although the cast is named, we are never told which actor
is playing which character(s). It's rather like watching a film with no
credits. Having a complete cast list would have allowed me to put some names
to my favorite characters in the play.
Some I'm familiar with from years of watching Star Trek -- Nana Visitor plays
Rebecca, and I recognize the voice of Ethan Phillips in several roles.
Worth noting is that the invisible man, Herbert Griffin, shares the same first
name and initials as the author, Herbert George Wells. The character of "Rebecca"
does not appear in the original novel, but was added perhaps for
dramatization. She was no doubt inspired by H.G. Wells' longtime love, Rebecca West.
Having the chance to listen to The Invisible Man has piqued my interest about
the rest of the series. I certainly hope that many other classic science
fiction novels will find their way to the Alien Voices studios.
S. Kay Elmore is a graphic artist, writer and corporate wage slave. She edits The Orphic Chronicle, an online magazine, and tries to make ends meet by writing and developing corporate newsletters and web sites. |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
If you find any errors, typos or anything else worth mentioning,
please send it to editor@sfsite.com.
Copyright © 1996-2014 SF Site All Rights Reserved Worldwide