Why so long? Since the 1993 recording, I have never had any compelling reason to continue Galactic, but when I released it through Starwarsfanworks in 2004 I thought it might be fun to revisit the series. I also had a copy of the freeware Audacity which allowed me to easily edit audio on my computer. Without Audacity, there would likely be no new Galactic.
Why prequels? Although it would be interesting to find out what happens to Lisa Oberling and Barth Hornet, I wanted to create a Galactic backstory and explore the main characters and the mythos of the Galactic Star Force. Brett and Lee are two very different characters, which makes them fun to write for. Also, I wanted to explain the origin of Harry the Automaton, who I chose to introduce in episode 2. In episode 1, I set up the “need” for a robot.
For the new episode I wanted to try going into directions I was unable to in 1993, i.e., multi-tracking sound effects and music. I also had a lot more time to write and produce the kind of episode I would have liked to have made in 1993.
With this in mind I wrote the new episode with more sound effects and more music. Most importantly I wanted a stronger story with drama, excitement, and a climax and cliffhanger. And tried to keep it at around 10 minutes.
I didn’t have any requirements about number of characters, so I tried to keep the cast short—an intro/closing read by Mark Babin who did the 1993 episode, Brett, Lee, and a voice at the spaceport.
Adam Campbell voiced Lee in 1993. Since he now works professionally in local radio, he agreed to revisit Lee. Brant McKeehan has since left town, so I replaced him with Mike McGraw, who helped behind the scenes in 1993. I needed someone for the spaceport voice, and asked my next door neighbor Brian Graybow (who had never done anything like this before in his life), and he came through like a pro.
Adam, Mike, and I spent a Sunday afternoon February 27 recording dialog at Adam’s production studio. I chose some sound effects from his production library, and later I recorded some live using a camcorder and a microphone. Even more were found on various sound effects sites on the web. I made the beeps for the ship’s computer in Feburary.
Between January and July 2005 I was researching and writing Stepping Out in Cincinnati, and had to make a hard decision: finish Galactic or finish the book. Since I had a contracted date, I chose the book, and pushed Galactic for the later summer. I finally went back to work on it in August, and planned a September 1 release.
I officially finished producing the new Galactic August 28, and was very happy with the results. I did experience a few technical difficulties with Audacity, and ended up having to record my editing sessions as mp3s as I went along. What I didn’t know was that every time you record an mp3, then open it to work on it, then save it again, the quality diminishes each time. As a result, the voices all have a scratchiness to them. However, I put in all the music in the final recording session before the final mp3 dump, so the music is not distorted.
In the tradition of the original Galactic, the new episode has some distortion. But you know what? The distortion is just a part of the show and it’s not going away. I guess I’ll never get as good of quality as Simon and Shuster or NPR, but for an amateur production, it’s pretty good. Add in the element of general goofiness, and you’ve got a world of its own.
The New Adventures of the Galactic Star Force Power Squad is just plain fun. I don’t make money on it, and producing it takes time away from everything else in life. However, I love doing it and I feel good knowing other people are enjoying it too.
Download New Galactic
Download original Galactic
Original Galactic page
Allen’s main page
Email me!
