RIAF REVIEW: 'Intergalactic Nemesis'

Put “Buck Rogers,” “Flash Gordon” and “Superman” and all the other classic science fiction movie serials and radio shows in a blender and hit frappé. The result would resemble “Intergalactic Nemesis: Book One: Target Earth,” which touched down at this year’s RIAF.

The plot? Aliens attack. A plucky band of humans fight back, with the aid of a few plucky robots from space. (For more details, visit theintergalacticnemesis.com.)

Plot’s really not the point. The source material is the pre-“Star Trek,” pre-“Star Wars” space operas and serials. Gene Roddenberry built his Federation as a deliberate snub to their childish conventions; George Lucas made a galactic emperor’s ransom honoring the childish conventions with state-of-the-art special effects. Here, the creative team winks at the silly source material, but only occasionally. “Nemesis” is more pastiche than parody: a deliberate, loving imitation of an artistic form. And that’s where it gets interesting.

More than plot, the medium is really the message. TV killed radio, and the radio drama form along with it — a fascinating form, cut short in its prime. This production brings it back, not as a dead genre, but a living art form.

What you get is a radio drama, live on stage. That sounds talky, but it’s more like a rollercoaster ride. Strap in, and it's one twist, turn and screaming plunge after another.

Jeffrey Mills plays Ben Wilcott, the alien-fighting librarian; Rachel Landon is Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Molly Sloan (a sister to Lois Lane and Katharine Hepburn’s character in “Woman of the Year”); Brock England plays Timmy Mendez (Jimmy Olsen’s long-lost twin). The trio also plays a host of supporting characters, human, alien or otherwise — a versatile bunch.

They’re backed up by sound-effects artist Cami Alys, who imitates thunder with a sheet of plastic and the sound of a locomotive with a box of macaroni and a whistle. Longhair pianist Harlan Hodges improvises the score like an old-time silent movie pianist. Behind it at all, the killer art of Tim Doyle’s graphic novel flashes overhead on a big screen. (The word balloons removed, of course.)

Jason Neulander directs, and he also wrote the script with Chad Nichols. (It’s more complicated than that. This beast began life as Ray Colgan’s radio drama and won the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” award for multiple adaptations and spin-offs.) Paternity aside, Neulander’s production focuses on the now — and draws the audience in to cheer heroes and hiss villains. No passive spectators in this audience.
And that’s the brilliance of it.

“Intergalactic Nemesis” is an interactive movie of the mind. Unlike the movies in the multiplex, nothing’s canned. You’re watching it come together — in a live performance, right before your eyes. That’s half the fun.

Despite rumors of its death, the radio play is alive and well. It even works without the radio, in this weird, inventive, hybrid, multimedia production. The story may be pure nostalgia. But it’s a cool new medium.
Who knows where it may take us in the future?

IF YOU GO

“Intergalactic Nemesis: Book One: Target Earth” runs through Oct. 18, at Mertz Theatre, FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, as part of the 2014 Ringling International Arts Festival. For more information, call 359-5700 or visit ringling.org.