The Quanderhorn Xperimentations

This adaptation of Grant and Marshall’s BBC Radio 4 series is a ridiculous mash-up of bad 1950s sci-fi and distinctly British humor. Primary narrator Brian Nylon is bereft of his memories and living through the first days of 1952 for the 66th time. This “infernal temporal Möbius band” is one of the many bizarre effects of Prof. Darius Quanderhorn’s weird experiments. His research team includes Dr. Gemini Janussen, who has mechanical emotions; Quanderhorn’s part-insect “son,” Troy Quanderhorn, who is a “major breakthrough in Artificial Stupidity”; and Guuuurk, a hostage from the last Martian invasion. It also includes Brian, who has no idea he’s the group’s test pilot as well as a secret agent of Prime Minister Winston Churchill and others who want to thwart Quanderhorn’s unspecified plans. Quanderhorn’s team faces dangers such as a giant broccoli woman, a hypnotizing meteorite, and being stranded in a bus shelter on the moon. The hapless Brian comes from a long line of British milksop heroes such as Douglas Adams’s Arthur Dent. There’s nothing here that really makes any sense, but that’s part of the humor, and fans of absurdist science fiction will find it very enjoyable. [em](Apr.) [/em]