Listen: BBC streams 1970s sci-fi radio drama "Island Genesis" featuring Peter Cushing and Vincent Price

Listen here:
The curiosity of the inhabitants of the remote Scottish island of Luig is aroused when two strangers arrive for the funeral of the local doctor.
The two men are no strangers to each other, nor were they to the late Dr Hugh Dexter.
One is Professor Curtis Lark - a flamboyant American explorer, scientist and Nobel Prize winner whose research has been in the field of telepathy and telekinesis; the other is John Cornelius - the eminent British brain surgeon.
What starts as a brief visit by two colleagues to honour an old friend quickly develops into a series of bizarre and frightening events uncovering the presence of forces unknown bent on world domination...
Stars Peter Cushing as John Cornelius, Vincent Price as Professor Curtis Lark, Henry Stamper as Minister Donald Schooler, Shirley Dixon as Mrs Kyle, Sandra Clarke as Flora Kiery, Irene Sutcliffe as Mary and Frazer Carr as Dr Hugh Dexter.
Written by Rene Basilico from an idea by Robert Holmes.
Producer: John Dyas
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1977.

Trailer: "Professor Marston & the Wonder Women"

William Marston, the eccentric inventor of the lie detector and creator Wonder Woman, gets profiled in this bio-doc, out Oct. 13.

I bet its audience will be substantially larger than originally expected, thanks to the huge success of this summer's blockbuster based on Marston's creation.


Luke and Rey united on Empire Mag's new "Last Jedi" cover

Here's a look at the newsstand edition of Empire's new "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" cover.




TV Party: "Twin Peaks: The Return"

Silly us, expecting answers and resolution in the return, after 25 years, of "Twin Peaks."

Those of us who hung in with the new series for all 18 episodes are likely feeling confused, annoyed, darkly amused and/or spellbound after this Sunday's conclusion. But, in the adjective lottery, I doubt few of us could claim "satisfied."

The new "Peaks" ended like the old one, open to myriad interpretations. Any threads wrapped up the vaguely satisfying penultimate episode were unraveled in the conclusion, with all sorts of new questions posed and left unanswered.

I figured early on, when it became apparent that Kyle McLachlan's "Dougie," a Chauncy Gardner-ized version of FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper, wasn't turning back into his lovable coffee-drinking self any time soon, that this was no "Brady Bunch Reunion." In fact, we saw very little of that Cooper. McLachlan spent most of his time as Dougie or as the dark, Demon Bob-possessed version of our hero (in our house, we called him "Booper.")

We didn't see as much of Twin Peaks, either. Much of the action took place away from that Northwest  hamlet, in the American Southwest. And when we did check in on Peaks, we found it was inhabited by all sorts of characters we'd never met, whose storylines were already in progress. Things hadn't stayed put for 25 years, we joined things in progress and had either to catch up, or do our best trying.

Amidst such change and mystery, we grasp on to what we do know, or think we know. Or we formulate our own theories in an effort to make sense of things. Maybe that's what Peaks creators David Lynch and Mark Frost intended.

The final episode shows us a Cooper (I don't know if he's "our" Cooper) seemingly trying to force facts to fit his conception of the mystery of Laura Palmer. He finds, through apparently random means, a woman who looks like Laura and brings her to Twin Peaks (or, a Twin Peaks) where nobody has every heard of her. Things don't fall back into place and Cooper seems as uncertain why as the rest of us. Puzzling out the meaning of Laura's death, or the roots and reasons for evil in our world, just brings more mystery, Lynch and Frost (seem to) say.

Lacking a satisfying dramatic conclusion to it all, I choose - and maybe it's just a copout or justification - to simply surrender to Lynch's dream/nightmare logic, enjoy all the stunning imagery, relish in the quirky humor, grasp what I can understand and accept that I'll never understand it all.

If this "Peaks" had somehow managed to provide satisfying answers and neatly tied-up loose ends, would it be successful? Would it even be "Twin Peaks"? I don't think so. Instead we're left unsatisfied and maybe even a little aggravated, but moved and affected by what we've seen. We'll be talking about this "Peaks" for a long time, just like the first one.

Silly us, expecting answers, when "Peaks" has always been about questions.

The new season, TV Guide-style

Years ago, I'd get very excited to see TV Guide's annual preview of the new fall TV shows. It was nearly as exciting as the Sears Wishbook at Christmas time.

In these days, when new shows come and go almost constantly and can be watched virtually anytime, anyplace, that excitement has become a thing of the past. I follow TV Guide on Twitter, but haven't looked at the magazine in years. Yet, this gallery of Fall Preview covers presses nostalgic buttons. I'm sure it will for many of you, too.


Video Find: The Monkees on Glenn Campbell's "Good Time Hour"


Video: DC Heroes Super Season Trailer


Vintage pic: John and Ringo


Panels


Kirby 100: Portraits of Jack

We've spent most of the past month looking at Jack Kirby's arts. Now, on the 100th anniversary of his birth, is a look at the man, himself.





Jack and Stan Lee



Jack and his beloved with Roslyn