The Project

The final project for the class was a 10 minute audio drama. Our class was divided into three groups, and I had five other people in my group. One of the project’s guidelines was that every voice in the group had to be used in the drama, and it had to incorporate sound effects and music. Since I had already been writing scripts, I decided to take charge as the producer and write the script for the project. (I also wanted an A and thought I could do the best out of the group!) I had already written a five minute drama a couple months before and thought I would rewrite it for use in the project. But I discovered that I had lost the script and had to recreate it from memory and expand the story. I also drew elements from a different piece I had written for a Broadcast Writing class taken the previous semester.

The project had a two-week deadline. That meant I had to write the script immediately so I could start rehearsing and recording with the other members of the group ASAP. Since I had so little time, I took basic elements of the first script and Broadcast Writing story and added more characters and more situations.

The first script was a science fiction comedy piece, and the Broadcast Writing story contained a premise that people routinely flew in space in “star cruisers,” like the flying Winnebego in Spaceballs. I invented two “buddy” characters (who could be played by the aforementioned Adam and Brant), two offbeat partners and pilots in an organization called the Galactic Star Force. I called the characters in the Adam/Brant duo the “power squad,” and thus the title was born.

Since I had a Star Force, I needed characters, which I made from the six students in our group:

Adam Campbell: Lee Stormwalker
Brant McKeehan: Brett Nabors
Rodney Cobb: Harry the Automaton
Sean Staggs: Captain Oberling
Sheree Paolelo: Lisa Oberling
Allen Singer: Commander Langstrom
Special guest Dave Thompson: Barth Hornet
Special Guest Mark Babin: opening and closing

I decided that since I was writing, producing and directing the show I didn’t want to make myself a main character (I also didn’t want to be the “star” since I was also the producer), so I gave myself a bit part, that of Commander Langstrom, a small part appearing only once.

A word about the character names: as I was writing the script, I pulled the names out of the air, with references to other science fiction, especially Star Wars. Harry the Automaton was based on Marvin the Paranoid Android of the Hitchhikers series, of which I was a big fan. I wanted to emulate the “clanking and whirring” sound effect of Marvin, and created my own effect of Harry walking. I used the effect only once, and it can be heard in the first scene after the opening when Harry speaks the first time. I decided the effect really didn’t work and abandoned it after the first recording session.

I wrote the script in the same vein as the Old Time Radio shows using liberal doses of dialogue, sound effects and music. Most importantly I wasn’t going to use a narrator throughout the show. I had heard examples of other student audio projects that were mostly voiced by a narrator interspersed with sound effects and very brief dialogue. In other dramas the narrator explained where the characters were going or what they were doing between each scene, usually repeating what was just said by a character.

I didn’t want to do anything like that. My script would consist entirely of dialogue and sound effects, with music to change the scenes. I decided to use narration to open and to close the show, using the voice talent of a previous general manager of the station, Mark Babin, who had graduated a few years before.

I wrote and rewrote and revised the ten minute show as fast as I could, and in three days I had a workable script. I used elements from Star Trek, Star Wars, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, and even a little from the Simpsons. In the end, it all worked out very well and pays homage to great science fiction movies and television.