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What's New at OTR Plot Spot

Overview

A summary of changes for the current calendar year.

The Plot Spot is updated irregularly. So far this year, I have managed an update every two days. Prior to this, I went four years without any significant updates. I'm currently working through a back-log of user-submitted material that will take another couple of months to post, then we'll see.

Links to previous years' updates are located below the fold.

Cheers,

Noelle -- if you read this, please send me an email. Your box is full and I'd love to hear how you're doing.

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Previous Years:
2023 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 |

Latest Updates

Mar 19, 2025

Added (6) new CD covers for various BBC episodes to the CD Artwork page, courtesy of Barry Piggott.

Modesty Blaise 1
Modesty Blaise 2
Modesty Blaise 3
Nights at the Circus
Heart of Darkness
The Once and Future King


Mar 15, 2025

Added (2) new shows to the Listening Booth

"Pennsylvania Turnpike" - Dark Fantasy (1942)

An old timer has hitch-hiked his way to a filling station owned by Joe Davis. Joe begins questioning the old timer about his future plans while getting hung up on the weird mannerisms of the old timer. The old timer says that he’s looking for a man named K. Miner with red hair. A car driven by a man with red hair pulls up to the filing station asking for directions to Pine Knob. Joe Davis doesn’t know the exact way, but the old timer volunteers to go with him because he owes a debt that he’s waited 220 years to repay. Story by Scott Bishop

"Junkyard" - X Minus One (1956)

On a remote planet littered with alien junk, a survey team find themselves trapped when their engineers suddenly can't remember how to lift the ship. Story by Clifford D. Simak


Mar 12, 2025

Updated the Home, Intro & FAQ, What's New, and Plot Archives pages.

  • Expanded the Overview section
  • Repaired all broken navigation links
  • Updated page encoding from xhtml 1.0 to html 5
  • Modified the layout slightly to provide better layout on cell phones
  • Added semantic tags to structural elements for better usablility with screen readers

Mar 08, 2025

Added (6) new CD covers for various BBC episodes to the CD Artwork page, courtesy of Barry Piggott.

Modesty Blaise 1
Modesty Blaise 2
Modesty Blaise 3
Nights at the Circus
Heart of Darkness
The Once and Future King


Mar 04, 2025

Added (1) new show to the Listening Booth

"The Resurrectionists of Lethe" - Alien Worlds (1979)

The body of alien spore mutation specialist, Dr Richard Nicholson, is transported to Lethe, an artificial burial satellite for Earth's honoured dead. The caretaker, ex-con Simon Toddmaster, and his assistants Burke and Rachett eagerly await the arrival of Anne Nicholson, hoping she might be... persuaded... to reveal the location of her husband's hidden biological warfare tapes. Story by Betty Ulius.


Mar 02, 2025

Updated The Black Mass page.

The Black Mass

  • Expand the Overview section
  • Repaired all broken navigation links
  • Added cross-referencing for cast credits
  • Updated page encoding from xhtml 1.0 to html 5
  • Modified the layout slightly to provide better layout on cell phones
  • Added semantic tags to structural elements for better usablility with screen readers

Feb 26, 2025

Added (6) new CD covers for various BBC episodes to the CD Artwork page, courtesy of Barry Piggott.

The Mask of Dimitrios
The Secret Agent
Watership Down
Accidental Death of an Anarchist
The Exorcist
Midnight's Children


Feb 22, 2025

Added (2) new shows to the Listening Booth

"Unlived Lives" - Vanishing Point (1985)

An easy-going, unambitious theatre manager (Fred) and his live-in girlfriend (Gloria) experience a series of mysterious events (unexplained telephone calls, bizarre packages, cryptic messages, visions of alternative futures) any of which may, or may not, significantly change their lives. Story by David Helwig

"Welcome to Homerville" - Nightfall (1981)

A trucker on a lonely road to Homerville seeks out a little company on his CB radio, but the other truckers are horrified to learn of his destination, and plead with him to turn around, to avoid Homerville at any cost.


Feb 20, 2025

Updated the 2000x page.

2000x

  • Repaired all broken navigation links
  • Updated page encoding from xhtml 1.0 to html 5
  • Modified the layout slightly to provide better layout on cell phones
  • Added semantic tags to structural elements for better usablility with screen readers
  • Repaired all broken navigation links

Feb 16, 2025

Added (6) new CD covers for various BBC episodes to the CD Artwork page, courtesy of Barry Piggott.

The Bloody Chamber
An Expert in Murder
Old Peter's Russian Tales
The Second Pan Book of Horror Stories
The Fall of the House of Usher
How to Stop Time


Feb 12, 2025

Updated the 2000 Plus page.

2000 Plus

  • Repaired all broken navigation links
  • Added cast credits for most episodes (when they were announced)
  • Added OTRR as a data source
  • Added plot summaries (from OTRR) for the LOST episodes
  • Updated page encoding from xhtml 1.0 to html 5
  • Modified the layout slightly to provide better layout on cell phones
  • Added semantic tags to structural elements for better usablility with screen readers

Feb 06, 2025

Added (6) new CD covers for various BBC episodes to the CD Artwork page, courtesy of Barry Piggott.

The Bloody Chamber
An Expert in Murder
Old Peter's Russian Tales
The Second Pan Book of Horror Stories
The Fall of the House of Usher
How to Stop Time


Jan 29, 2025

Updated the Famous Authors on Radio page with (3)* new stories and (14) additional broadcasts, based on feedback from Aaron S.

Cain, James M.

Double Indemnity -- BBC (SNT-1993)
*Postman Always Rings Twice, The -- BBC (SNT-1993); Screen Guild Theater (x2)

Coward, Noël

Brief Encounter -- Academy Award Theater

Grubb, Davis

Night of the Hunter -- correction: Afternoon Play ==> BBC (SNT-1993)

Hall, James Norman

Mutiny on the Bounty -- BBC (SNT-1973)

Hammett, Dashiell

Maltese Falcon, The -- Academy Award Theater; correction: Afternoon Play ==> BBC (SNT-1985)

Hart, Moss

Lady in the Dark -- Lux Radio Theatre

Hilton, James

Lost Horizon -- Academy Award Theater

Hope, Anthony

Prisoner of Zenda -- BBC (SNT-1973); Screen Guild Theater
*Rupert of Hentzau -- BBC (SNT-1973)

Maggs, Dirk

Second Batman project -- correction: Nightfall ==> Knightfall

Milne, A.A.

*Toad of Toad Hall -- BBC (SNT-1973)

Morley, Christopher

Kitty Foyle -- Academy Award Theater

Sherwood, Robert E.

Abe Lincoln in Illinois -- Lux Radio Theatre
Waterloo Bridge -- Hallmark Playhouse

Williams, Emlyn

Corn Is Green, The -- BBC (SNT-1945)
Night Must Fall -- BBC (SNT-1985)


Jan 27, 2025

Denny Lien points out that the Beyond Midnight episode "The Speciality of the House" could very well be based on the Stanley Ellin story of the same name. I agree, but without either a recording or the script there is no way to know for sure. If anyone has a script, please let me know!

Beyond Midnight


Jan 25, 2025

Listener, steelman, rightfully points out that The Hall of Fantasy episode "The Sea Monster" is not lost. Based on available plotlines published at DigitalDeliToo and RadioGOLDINdex "The Sea Monster" and "The Sea Phantom" are almost certainly the same story. The original name, "The Sea Monster", was likely changed to "The Sea Phanom" in the AFRS re-broadcast.

Hall of Fantasy


Jan 23, 2025

Yet another sharp-eared listener, Tony W, has identified the electric bass movement in the background of Mindwebs episode "The Day of the Butterflies". It is "Moana I" from Eberhard Weber’s 1977 contemporaray jaz album The Following Morning -- a slow-moving, contemplative piece that matches the mood of the episode very well.

Mindwebs


Jan 21, 2025

Another sharp-eared listener, Brandon W, sent me a link to an episode of The Witch's Tale that is very similar to "The Devil Doctor" except it has a different ending and, possibly, a different cast. He wondered where it came from.

In my opinion the exemplar he linked is a previously unknown (to me) Australian recording from the 1940s, possibly part of the 1943 run, possibly part of an unknown later run.

Witch's Tale


Jan 19, 2025

Sharp-eared listener, Max S, sent me a link to an Exploring Tomorrow episode that he could not identify. It was labelled as "The Last Doctor", but clearly was not. It's actually "The Escape" by John W. Campbell Jr -- an episode I thought had been LOST.

"The Escape" was originally published in Astounding Stories (May 1935), but subsequently republished in the book The Cloak of Aesir (1952). I have updated the plotline, added a snippet, and included the opening lines in the "First Lines of John W. Campbell's Introduction" section. I've also marked it as available for the Listening Booth.

Exploring Tomorrow


Jan 17, 2025

Added (1) new review for an X Minus One episode, courtesy of chris G.

X Minus One


Jan 13, 2025

Added (1) new review for a Mindwebs episode, courtesy of Prophet Wing.

Mindwebs


Jan 11, 2025

Added (1) new review for a Alien Worlds episode, courtesy of Raymond H.

Alien Worlds


Jan 09, 2025

Received a very nice email from Maolsheachlann OCeallaigh asking for the plot details of a radio episode which was almost unlistenable due to extremely poor audio quality. This prompted me to create a new page, Spoilers, where I can detail plot elements that could... well... spoil the plot!

The first entry, as per OCeallaigh, is "The Confession" from The Witch's Tale.

By the way, that's such a cool name that I did some additional research on it and found: On the name Maolsheachlann


Jan 05, 2025

Added (1) new plotline for an Escape episode, courtesy of Powel Crosley.

Escape


Jan 03, 2025

Updated the Links page.

Over the past 7 years, most of the hobby sites that I loved have disappeared and have been replaced by Coporate and AI-generated for-profit sleeze. That makes me sad. And disheartened. So much time and effort, gone. I find that the Internet is not nearly so much fun as it used to be. Or maybe that's just me, getting old and crotchety. Bah. Humbug.

Then, a couple of months ago I got an email from Jeff Dickson (remember him? He's the one who created this website), and I realized that this site has been online for almost 1/4 of a century! I thought about it and realized that I enjoy listening to OTR and writing plots/reviews more than anything else I do online.

So here I am, starting up the Plot Spot again.

I replaced all the broken links with links that now point to archived pages (where possible) at the Wayback Machine. But the Wayback Machine archives only HTML pages, and only some of those. Anything that was stored in a database is gone for good. But at least I've got something to look at to remember those Internet pioneers: Digital Deli, Jim French, Yuri Rasovsky, Bill Hollweg, Zombie Astronaut, The Whirlitzer of Wizdoms, The Nightfall Project, Quietly Yours, Dinosaur Gardens, Exploring Dystopia, The Grand Guignol On-line, Jim Widner, Jerry Haendiges.

Cheers.


Jan 01, 2025

Hahaha. Well here I am, making new promises to myself. Just like every year. I hope you all don't think too harshly of me.

This year, I hope to catch up on 5 years of correspondence and post tons of material that users have submitted.

Time will tell.

Cheers.

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