• Earthsearch

  • The Complete Radio Series I and II (Dramatized)
  • By: James Follett
  • Narrated by: full cast
  • Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (277 ratings)

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Earthsearch  By  cover art

Earthsearch

By: James Follett
Narrated by: full cast
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Publisher's summary

The acclaimed BBC Radio 4 space drama arrives in its entirety for the very first time, with a bonus introduction by creator and writer James Follett. The starship Challenger has been on a 115-year-long mission, exploring other galaxies for suitable Earth-like planets to colonise. The present crew of four were born on the ship and have never left it. But when the Challenger attempts to return to the crew's home planet, it discovers that the Earth has vanished!

When they were first broadcast on radio, Earthsearch and Earthsearch II generated a flood of fan letters to Radio Times. Now at last their superb sound is available, digitally remastered for the first time. Also included is an introduction from James Follett, first broadcast as part of BBC7's "Men, Martians, and Machines".

©2004 BBC Audiobooks Ltd. (P)2004 BBC Audiobooks Ltd.

What listeners say about Earthsearch

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    113
  • 4 Stars
    79
  • 3 Stars
    55
  • 2 Stars
    20
  • 1 Stars
    10
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    68
  • 4 Stars
    35
  • 3 Stars
    22
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    58
  • 4 Stars
    39
  • 3 Stars
    26
  • 2 Stars
    10
  • 1 Stars
    3

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Light entertainment!

This audio story is worth a credit, for sure. The story is interesting and very well "acted".

Problems:
1) There is an intro by James Follet which I can only assume is supposed to be a "bonus"... it's boring. 15 minutes of (poorly spoken) blah blah blah.
2) the "sound effects" are loud and intrusive (and cheap - i.e. the gunfire sounds like tv white noise). When a chapter ends this is indicated by a squawk/whistle sound that is a couple points louder than the story itself. Yes, you can set your equalizer to make them better, but they are still annoying.
3) Interspersed throughout the chapters (more so in the second part) there are sound effects of rain, birds (squeaking), gunfire, and "radio" communications which you can't really hear properly since you'll have the volume turned down so the squawks and screams don't deafen you.
4) The story is broken into "chapters" and each chapter is prefaced with a brief description of what came before and is concluded with the names of the voice actors. If you were listening to it as a novel, this just breaks up the story (but if you were listening to it in parts, it does give you a recap so you can recall what has happened).

Overall, it's like listening to a light and fluffy television space drama show. The voice acting and light entertainment value earn it 4 stars.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Excellent Radio Play

Listening to one good reader is nice, Multiple professional actors reading the script is sheer joy! Much fuss has been made of "loud sound effects". Set your device's equalizer to reduce the treble (thus preserving the normal voice tones) which mainly come, at the last few seconds of each episode, thus can't possibly ruin such a long well produced series. The stories are very fast paced. (explained by the author in the forward as the director's need for 'pace') A very concise summary prior to the next chapter helps if too much time has passed for you between episodes. Part 2 has a bit comedic relief - (a tad of an over used gag.) The major plots are based on several classic science fiction themes. Each episode ends with a cliffhanger or dramatic plot revelation. Also the plot has many great twists and turns. Happily you won't have to wait a week, as original B.B.C. listeners did, for each new episode. I enjoyed it SO much (such a fun, easy to follow and fast paced plot) to listen twice. A great story that I had no trouble following. (Note: I save my 5th star for Shakespeare quality stories.) This story is ingenious, thrilling, well written with a very compelling overarching plot. That should be enough if you enjoy any good writing. The backdrop may be space, computers, and technology, but like any good writing the story itself is based on the human nature of its characters - even the android (human tissue containing to help them think) type computers.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Terrible production

I’ve listened to over 250 Audible books in the last three years and this is without a doubt the worst production I've listened to. I enjoyed the story, it was original and engrossing, but the quality of the presentation was terrible. Conversations ranged from whispered conversations one moment that required turning up the volume to screaming and yelling with much too loud sound effects and music blasting the next. As well the sound effects all but drowned out the voices at times. Add to that the excessive use of echo to provide a sense of space and muddled voices for many of the computers and it all added up to the most difficult listen I have ever purchased. It’s too bad, I would give the story a solid 5 stars but the production drags it down to a 2 at best.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

A Wonderful Listen

This is a great story and definitely worth a listen. The story and cast deserve 5 stars. However, the sound effects are a bit loud. No problem for me as I listen in the car during my commute, and when the sounds are too loud (mostly between episodes) I just reduced the volume. I tried different equalizer settings, but those sound effects were just loud. The characters were easily heard to me, and the cast did a terrific job playing their roles. So, don't miss this fun adventure!

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

great story

I really enjoyed listening to this series. Being a long haul truck driver, this was just the right length of time to start and comletely listen to in a 10 hour time frame.
the whole story kept me on edge the whole time.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

wow

This is the best audio I have purchased from audible. I have always avoided dramatizations because they tend to be so much shorter.

But at this length I felt that it was a bargain that I had to try.

It is great. Good story. Well acted. Truly absorbing.

enjoy.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

You can't bring too much critical thinking to this

I really like science fiction - and post-HHGTTG radio play science fiction - so I'm used to suspending my disbelief. But there were a couple of things about Earthsearch that test even the most hardcore sci-fi fans.

The whole premise of keeping the 4 main characters 'sexually immature' - which was central to the plot - was TOTALLY undermined by the fact that they have 'adult' voices. If these 'kids' were supposed to have avoided puberty, how come their voices sound like they're 20-something? Particularly the men: if they hadn't gone through puberty, wouldn't they still sound like boys, rather than men? And are we really supposed to believe they've never (a) seen photos of naked people and (b) seen photos of APPLES?

The production issues that other reviewers complained about didn't really bother me - except for the high-pitched squeaks between episodes - and overall it was a good story, but you've kind of got to commit to not being irritated by some of the more clunky plot devices in order to enjoy it.



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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

I found this while looking for a book by Ken Follet and I am happy I did. The serial was excellent. Don't miss it.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Good sci fi

I found this a very good and holding storey, kept you wanting more, I would go for a drive or sit in the car just to listen to the next episode.
I think it would make to good movie, with the right director.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Outstanding!!!!!!!!

Bought this over a decade ago an this was third or fourth time re-listening.

Excellent performances. Fast paced cliffhanger-style drama.

Good use of scientific concepts known at the time.

Would love to see BBC team up with Netflix on a series but can’t get much better than original.

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