New School Old School
Intergalactic Nemesis is hard to explain. Here’s a trailer (with an introduction by Conan O’Brian, no less!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YaRauLyqb8
This live performance is a deliberately old-school radio show – with visuals. There is a screen which shows scenes from a graphic novel. On the stage, there are 3 stations. Station on the right is a piano player who plays old fashioned radio-y mood music. Station in the middle is a sound effects person who mimics all sorts of things – trains, rain, thunder, etc. Station on the left consists of 3 actors who voice the parts shown via the graphics. The net effect is a dramatized radio broadcast. It’s all very deliberately cheesy and dramatic, in a Raiders of the Lost Ark sort of way.
We liked, but did not love it. The whole program seemed like a big of a gimmick, albeit an enjoyable one. Manufacturered old time effects seem a tad, well, manufactured! It is a little bit like Prairie Home Companion, which I have to admit I am not a fan of (and where this show may have gotten its start). But all the components of the show – the actors, the sound effects and the pianist – were dandy. I just thought it all a bit of a schtick.
Rating: ** (out of ****)