Decoder Ring Theater brings us their latest internet radio drama in the form of The Knightmare. Similar to The Shadow or The Green Hornet, The Knightmare is a mysterious crimefighter shrouded in mystery and armed with the power of fear as his primary weapon. It’s a very pulp influenced storyline and recalls the bygone era of gathering around the radio for your weekly installment of adventure and intrigue.
This two-part story pits timeless mystery man up against Hitler’s treacherous Murder Legion. Can the Master of Fear manage to elude the police who are seeking to arrest him and overcome this dreaded menace? Well, I guess you’ll just have to tune in to find out.
It’s an old-timey radio drama. That alone was enough to entice me to listen to it. But if it wasn’t good, I would’ve stopped after part one… but I had to find out how it ended! The story was simple but solid and brought to mind characters like The Shadow and The Phantom and made me pine for the era of my grandparents.
Little nods to similar heroes of the era were much appreciated, such as the Denny Colt Orchestra and Bruce, the rich philanthropist from a nearby city. The story was set in 1939, prior to the U.S.’s entry into the war, but not so early that it couldn’t feature a little Nazi-bashin’. And if there’s one thing I look for in my heroes, it’s the ability to sock a Nazi in the jaw.
Also, the episodes were only about 20 minutes each in length, so they’re short enough to listen to on the drive to work or while doing errands around the house. It’s tough for people of our age and disposition to sit around listening to a story, so the short length helped to keep it fresh.
The actors. They weren’t so bad that they shouldn’t quit their day jobs, but they reminded me a bit too much of my high school drama class. Some of them just plain overdid it and went a little too over-the-top with their performances.
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I imagine that if you’re interested in this type of storytelling, you’ll enjoy The Knightmare. I had a really good time listening to it and would recommend it to fans of pulp stories and old-timey stuff. I anticipate that the bugs will be worked out in future episodes and look forward to further installments. The show can be downloaded at the Decoder Ring Theater website (which is kinda disorganized, but look under Shows and then Showcase and then scrooooooll down) or iTunes, free from both sources.
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It's great to see a resurgence of Pulp Heroes. The Knightmare was fun, but I love the other pulp hero podcasts on the Decoder Ring Theatre website - The Red Panda and Black Jack Justice. Mr Derdowski was right, they have kept me entertained on many a trip to and from work. If only someone would make a Doc Savage movie.