Escape! (The End of Humanity Song)
by Nicholas Thurkettle
“You’re married…? To a guy named Bananforth?”
Original release date September 5, 2014
Hey, what does the number one movie of the summer and our latest podplay have in common? Besides both of them being awesome? I’ll let you make the connection. What we have here is yet another outstanding Earbud Theater production written and directed by Nicholas Thurkettle. Escape! (The End of Humanity Song) is an absolute blast and we wouldn’t blame you if you stopped reading and went straight over to listen- HEY! Where do you think you’re going? We’ve got some credits to get to here, don’t you want to know the talent involved? Well, all right then:
Escape! (The End of Humanity Song) written and directed by Nicholas Thurkettle
Produced by: Casey Wolfe, Aaron Drown and Branon Coluccio
Performed by:
Austin Rogers as Alex
Jim Van Over as Garland
Tosca Minotto as Perla
Jill Cary Martin as Jan Maloof
and
Matthew Henerson as Dr. Marlin Labat
Spot art by Kevin Necessary (who you can read about further below).
End Credits Music: Lá Lá é Lé Lé by Bohemios da Cidade
Special thanks to Rupert Holmes
Garland and Perla are brother and sister, two very different people with only one overlapping skill set – they both have blackbelts in sibling rivlary. The wedge that kept them apart for years can be traced back to one individual – their father. How appropriate then that the two are mysteriously reunited in a lawyers office to hear their fathers final request – and is it a doozy. Starring Jim Van Over, Tosca Minotto and Matthew Henerson with Austin Rogers and Jill Cary Martin – please enjoy Earbud Theater’s presentation of Escape! (The End of Humanity Song).
[ Stream/Download ]
Kevin Necessary – Spotlight on the Artist
So, tomorrow sees the release of Nicholas Thurkettle’s Escape! (The End of Humanity Song) and we’ll go into greater detail on that then. But for now we want to set aside some time to focus on the talented man who did the art for this particular episode (heads up: we’re going to be expanding our artist focus in the next few months so pay attention – some neat stuff should pop up). Since he knocked it out of the park with his piece for Habitat, Nick was all to eager to invite Kevin Necessary back and Kevin was gracious enough to accept. Without further ado, let’s unveil the “podart” for the episode that you may pour over it, analyze it for plot clues and just plain admire a kick-ass piece of art:
Q: Who are some of the major influences you draw from when it’s time to come up with an image?
A: Who are some of my influences? Yikes. How much space do you have? I love simple, effective design work, like the stuff Saul Bass created back in the 1960s, to the Frank R. Paul, who illustrated these garishly wonderful pulp magazine covers in the 1920s. I’ve been heavily inspired by cartoonists such as Bill Waterson, and my hometown hero (and friend), Jim Borgman. I find inspiration from as many sources as I can. Though I do my best not to emulate them, I try to find what it is about that work that fires up my imagination, and do my damnedest to express those emotions through the prism of my own work.
But if there’s one artist that has truly influenced me, it was Ralph McQuarrie. He was the first concept artist on the original Star WarsTrilogy, and I was exposed to his artwork almost as soon as I was exposed to the films themselves. His concept art helped me go from wanting to be Luke Skywalker, to wanting to be the one who creates the world Luke Skywalker lives in.
Q: You seem to resonate strongly with the sci-fi/fantasy/horror material that Earbud traffics in. Can you give us a very brief history of your relationship with this genre and what some of your own favorites are?
A: One of the first books I remember my parents reading to me was The Hobbit. I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t watching, reading, or listening to science fiction and fantasy. And I really do love the old pulpy stuff. The Twilight Zone (Five Characters in Search of an Exitand The Lonely are favorites). Forbidden Planet. Stories such as The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin, and The Hell-Bound Train by Robert Bloch. Dune, the Foundation Series. And I’ve listened to a ton of X-Minus One.
Q: In the early days of pulp sci-fi, sometimes the writers came up with their stories based on the artwork as opposed to the other way around. What do you love to draw that could easily be the subject of an Earbud podplay?
A: I’ll throw two images at you.
I’ve had an image in my head for years about a Ming the Merciless-style villian, the type you’d find in any 1930s serial, with a shocked look on his face as he stands over the smoldering body of the story’s hero — who was shot by one of the henchmen and is now quite dead. Also gaping in surprise are the damsel in distress and the hero’s sidekick. None of them know what to do. I think it’d be a funny story.
The other image: A man sits by a porthole in a darkened room on a space station. Visible in the window looms the dark blue eye of Neptune, casting dim light onto the scene.
Q: Where can our listeners go to see more of your work and buy some of it?
A: I don’t have anything for officially for sale — yet! But you can visit my site, www.kevinnecessary.com, and if there’s something there you see that you want, drop me a line and we’ll work something out.
Q: And lastly – if you were at a bar when the world was coming to an end, what would you order at last call?
A: I would order the best bourbon they had, neat. Guess I’d better make sure I’m at a decent bar when the world ends. I don’t want to be stuck with only Jim Beam as a choice.
Very nice. Great work, Kevin. And we’ll see you all back here on September 5th for the release of Escape! (The End of Humanity Song).