Decoder Ring Theatre

Thrill once again to the thunder of hoofbeats and the roar of blazing six-guns as the Decoder Ring Theatre Summer showcase presents the first in a pair of Western Adventure tales from the imagination of Phil Bledsoe! This week, we present tale of the old west right out of the golden age of radio drama with Blaze Bing, Rodeo King!

The Knightmare races to Carol Lane's rescue as the top-secret Nazi shock troops of the Murder Legion strike at the reception at the Griffiths Observatory. Can The Knightmare elude the vengeful Lt. McGrath and escape the attacks of fantastic weapons developed in Hitler's evil laboratories? Tune in and find out!

From New Pulp Media Baron Bill Cunningham comes this thrilling tale of adventure in 1940's Hollywood! Since the dawn of time, mankind has been protected by the shadow warrior known only as The Knightmare. The Master of Fear, he uses his uncanny powers in the defense of justice. But can even The Knightmare resist the sinister powers of Hitler's elite super-soliders... the Murder Legion?

As the big day approaches, strange things are afoot in the city. Our heroes are being sighted in places that their mild-mannered secret identities have no memory of ever being. Old friends and old enemies alike will clash in pursuit of... Operation: Cold Feet!

For years now, a shadowy organization has targeted the city and its citizens. Time after time the Terrific Twosome has defeated their most diabolical efforts and time after time the Syndicate has risen from the ashes, changed its stripes and begun it's campaign of terror anew. Who would have thought that the worst thing they could possibly do was give up? Will anything be left standing after we enter.... The Endgame?

Three members of the Sanitarium Board of Directors have met an untimely end, each apparently at the hands of a different super-powered villain. But since all three supposed killers were under lock and key, there must be more to the Madhouse Murders than meets the eye. Can the Red Panda stop the spread of... The Crimson Death?

When an emergency message arrives from an old friend from half a world away, the Terrific Twosome of Toronto race against time to reach the savage beauty of the Amazon. But will they reach the downed aviator in time, or are they destined to share his doom in the Jungle of Terror?

Even the self-professed World's Greatest Criminal Mastermind can get a little predictable. The Genie has hatched plots, capers and fiendish plans in his day, and The Red Panda has outsmarted him every time. But if he ever cut loose and went on an honest-to-goodness crime spree, would there be anything or anyone that could stand in his way... except perhaps himself?

A darkened street, a cry for help and a courageous rescue by... by a super-powered flying man in a bright yellow cape? This can't be good. Will a certain two-fisted mystery man learn to share his city with high-powered interlopers, or is a showdown at hand? What will happen when the city comes to worship... The Golden Idol?

The life of a private detective is one that tends to keep a fella behind the times. After all, if you're sitting on top of the world, you rarely find yourself in need of a pair of low-rent gumshoes. Sometimes a little nostalgia isn't a bad thing... and sometimes the line between reality and anything-but is paper thin. Those are the days that leave a fella asking... Now Who's The Dummy?

Two solid days of surveillance can take it out of anybody. Two nights without sleep and things don't make a lot of sense. But when Trixie Dixon, Girl Detective starts mixing her metaphors with Trixia Dixon, Lady Consulting Detective Extraordinaire... well that can't be good, can it?

If there's one thing worse than not having one of your best sources at your beck and call, it's never having him again because he went and got dead. With a client yapping at their heels, a word from Mike Rogers, crime reporter for the gazette, could make all the difference. But when the newshound pulls a disappearing act, Jack and Trixie can only hope that it's a case of... No News is Good News

The life of a detective has its ups and downs to be sure. Some might even argue that the downs held a pretty strong grip on the majority. But every so often a client like Midge Crocker opened the door and made it all worthwhile. A girl who was equal parts helpless doe-eyed bunny rabbit and hard, practiced liar. Now all Jack and Trixie had to do was figure out if the too-good to be true story was just that, or if they really were after... The Family Jewels

Private detecting isn't the sort of game where you can pick your battles. Jack and Trixie have done all kinds of things for all kinds of people, and most of the time you just hope for the best. But when a mystery man is perpared to drop a nice, fat retainer in their laps to drop a client that they never had, it looks like our heroes have finally caught that nice soft case everybody always talks about. But it couldn't really be that simple... could it?

With the city in the grips of a heat wave, things are bound to get a little screwy. But no matter what air-conditioned hidey-hole a gumshoe ducks into, the place is lousy with crouching jade kittens and raincoated would-be girl detectives. It's bound to end badly for someone when Jack and Trixie start A Midsummer Night's Noir! - With special guest star Mary Jo Pehl!

When the Decoder Ring Theatre Gang gets together to finally record that oft-requested crossover episode between The Red Panda Adventures and Black Jack Justice, there's only one thing that can stop Audio Drama history from being made - A Family Christmas Special breaking out! From all of us, to all of you, with best wishes for the Holiday Season, we present A Very Decoder Ring Christmas!

The agents who serve The Red Panda are our masked heroes' eyes and ears. They are the many hands that make their great work light. They are men who hold high the lamp of justice when darkness falls. But what happens when your most Trusted Agent... isn't? Only one man has truly has that answer, and he is.... The Boy In Blue!

Side by side, the Terrific Twosome of Toronto have faced danger and dastadly daring-do of every shape and size. But when the walls that hold back The Red Panda's greatest foes come tumbling down, can even that Fearless Fighting Female the Flying Squirrel save her partner from the... Trial By Terror?

Once again the cold tendrils of dark powers reach forth into our world. Our heroes have stood the test before, and made such preparations as they may... but with a full-scale dimensional breach in progress, can even the Red Panda and the Flying Squirrel turn back... The Gathering Storm?

Ah, a romantic evening on the town... dinner and dancing at the swanky Casa Loma. Could anything be finer? Could an evening be more perfect? Could anything ever possibly be that simple? With an eccentric millionaire in the house, about to sign away the family fortune and disinherit a roomful of angry relations, there's almost sure to be... Murder In The Castle!

A train station full of terrified hostages... An old enemy returned to spread chaos and destruction... Who would have guessed that the day could only get worse? But with the powers of darkness creeping ever nearer, will our heroes be in time to discover the secrets of ... The Mask of Death?

Time after time, threats from without have battered the city. Gangsters, racketeers and power mad-supervillains, and always our masked heroes have been equal to the task. But when the city turns upon itself; when its own citizens threaten to become the means of its destruction, can even the Red Panda turn the tide against... The Third Wave?

A dreaded foe... an unfathomable prize... a damsel in distress... seems like everything a Commander could ask for. But with the future itself on the line, can even the combined might of the entire Far Reach Fleet stand against the powers at... The End of the Universe?

For a Far Reach Commander, the mysteries and wonders of the Galaxy are home sweet home, the dangers of the darkest places in the big black are business as usual. But nothing that Commander Deck Gibson has ever encountered can prepare him for what waits... at The End of the Universe!

When Deck took on the mantle of Far Reach Commander, he stepped into a universe of wonder those within Earth's isolationist borders could scarcely imagine. But there are still greater mysteries out there in the void, new wonders and new terrors alike, as Deck Gibson is about to find out as he encounters.... The Plutonium Man!

A Far Reach Commander is a man without limits, a man for whom the boarders and petty territories carved out of space mean nothing... only that open expanse of sky. But even those who serve Control, the mysterious mistress of the Far Reach Fleet must still answer to a higher power; something Commander Deck Gibson will some to realize when his past returns to haunt him once again... before The Court of Eternity!

Responding to a faint distress call brings Deck to a frozen wasteland of a planet. With bone-chilling temperatures and blinding blizzards, surely nothing could have survived in such an environment... Or could it? Isoloated from the Far Reach One, far from help, far from hope, Deck will find the answer to this and more questions during... Two Days on the Tundra of Terror!

This week: Deck is held prisoner after a Quasar Corps ambush and arrested as a traitor against Earth! Will his training as a Far Reach Commander save him, or will the last sight our hero ever sees be... The Room With No View!

In his own city, The Red Panda calls the shots - and he doesn't tolerate any interloping from other masked do-gooders that aren't soft and Squirrel-shaped. But when an investigation leads the Terrific Twosome of Toronto all the way to New York City; already teeming with huddled masses of mystery men, superheroes and masked vigilantes, a lot can happen on... The Field Trip!

A sudden rash of petty crime is spreading like wildfire, bleeding the city white a few dollars at a time. Is it really possible that these robberies are being carried out by an army of children? What elemental force could possibly have driven these innocents into a life of crime? And will even The Red Panda be able to oppose the might... of The Rat Lord?

The day they carried Sam Merk out of the courtroom, he swore he'd never serve the life sentence he'd been given. He promised that the judge, the jury... everyone that had had put him behind bars would suffer a voodoo curse until he was freed. Of course, no one took him very seriously; until his victims started dropping like flies. Now The Red Panda may have only hours to crack the mystery... of The Empty Box!

A string of industrial accidents is plaguing the city, each more serious than the last. Little by little fear spreads, public confidence erodes and the economic engines of the city grind to a halt. Is this simple coincidence? A conspiricy of terror? Or are there forces still more sinister at work? The Red Panda must find out, or fall before the power of... Barton's Charm!

With that Pompous Pirate of the Pen known only as The Poet on the loose, it was only a matter of time before clues in couplet form started sprouting up all over the city, each promising new crime more fiendish than the last. But Baxter's Law says "When the Goony-birds start changing their tune, there's usually something else goin' on." Will The Red Panda find the key to the villainous verse in time? Or will the city and it's masked protectors fall before... The Terrible Two?

Return with us now to the thrill-packed exploits of the masked protectors of 1930's Toronto as they hunt down one of their oldest and most diabolical foes! But with mechanical walking bombs appearing all over the city, it looks like the world's greatest criminal mastermind just became the least of their problems - to say nothing of the unkown threat of the mysterious... Red Squirrel!

They say that music hath charms to soothe the savage breast. But like just about everything "they" say, truth is in the eye of the beholder. When Jack and Trixie spend a little time in the company of musicians, the experience is neither particularly charming or remotely soothing. But at least thirty-five dollars a day hath charms to soothe the savage landlord.

Everywhere you looked, there were goods to be gotten, and the getting often fell to Black Jack and Trixie. But there were consequences to be paid that often had nothing to do with the princely sum of thirty-five dollars a day, plus expenses. When it looks like their client may have stormed off half-cocked to do who-knows-what, it's up to our his-and-her shamuses... (shamuses?... Shami?... Whatever...) to reach deep for the ever-elusive happy ending.

It sounded like a nice, simple job. Two sisters, estranged long ago over a man who was long gone. An apology... a reunion... the restoration of family ties in a cold and cynical world... Yes sir, it all sounded too good to be true. But Jack and Trixie know when it comes to family, nothing is ever quite that simple.

It wouldn't be quite right to say that Trixie had a soft spot in her heart for old Button-Down Theo. But she had a soft spot in her head for him anyway. After all, anyone who can make private detecting seem dull as dishwater must have some hidden talents. But when Theo gets himself in hot water, will the Girl Detective be able to persuade ol' Square Jaw to intervene? And if so, just who exactly is footing the bill.

"Law stands mute in the midst of arms" they say. Well, that proves one thing anyway; old man Cicero never met Police Lieutenant Victor Sabien. He'd never stood mute a day in his life. And with ol' Square Jaw and the Girl Detective working at cross purposes through his office... to say nothing of the dynamic duo of Sgt Nelson and Freddie the Finger Hawthorne underfoot... well, can you blame the poor guy?

"...But to me, it was as if the city had emptied out at the word of Jack Justice's return. As well they might. As well they might..." Yes, Jack Justice and Trixie Dixon, Girl Detective return for all-new hardboiled adventure and mystery. But with Jack out to settle a score, and Trixie trying to close the books on a murder that's still unsolved at least partly due to the efforts of our intrepid private eyes, it's anyone's guess if they'll both wind up on a slab, if Lt. Sabien'll run them both in, or if ol' square jaw will finally get some... Payback!

Yes, kids, there's a man in red on the rooftops, but it ain't St Nick! In this very special slice of two-fisted pulp justice with all the trimmings, we tip our fedoras to the great Will Eisner and the classic Christmas stories he wrote for his much-loved Mystery Man "The Spirit", and in so doing, turn 1930's Toronto on its ear! Please enjoy, with our best wishes... Tis The Season!

When a string of petty extortionists hits our heroes too close to home, it's a sure bet that fists are gonna fly. But these "little fish" think themselves safe from both the police and the city's masked heroes, and they just might be right! Is an alliance with the underworld the answer? Who will win the day, the Red Panda's army of agents or... The Calaghan Mob?

If you play the game long enough, it is only a matter of time before others know your moves as well as you know theirs. But when just such an old foe joins forces with a new organization, the game is rigged against The Red Panda before it begins. When they begin taking pieces off the board, will our heroes risk everything to get them back? Will will either of them survive... The Opening Gambit?

And now, from headlines around the world and here at home, join us as the Radiogram News Picture Corporation presents: News On Parade! Sometimes there's more to the story than a headline, as we find out as we follow our heroes on three short adventures that take us behind the scenes and show us that there's more to current events than meets the eye! With special guest star Jack Ward of The Sonic Society!

A blinding snowstorm, a manor house cut off from the outside world, a desperate, violent act... A perfect recipe for danger? Perhaps. But those strangers who just came in the door, are they really newlyweds John and Jane Morris, or has a certain masked duo come calling? And will even The Red Panda and The Flying Squirrel be enough to prevent... A Midwinter's Murder?

A pyromaniac is preying on the slums and tenement buildings of the city, bringing danger and misery to the lives of the some of its most vunerable citizens. The police are searching in vain for the firebug who holds the city in a grip of terror. But if a certain masked duo is right, there may be more to this arson spree than meets the eye. Can even the Red Panda and The Flying Squirrel withstand the flames of... Brimstone Alley?

Metropolisville is more than just a wheelbarrow full of consonants and vowels rubbing up against each other in ways that are dark and dangerous, and hard to pronounce. There are a million stories in this naked city, and at the heart of most of the stranger ones lies Slick Bracer, P.I.! Decoder Ring Theatre is now proud to present Eric Deckers' hard-hitting hero in Slick Bracer and the Giant Nap!

"I don't know how long I sat there... reading the name on the door over and over until my scrambled brain could make sense of it... Drake Finn Investigations..." Detective Drake Finn is like a lot of hard-boiled, down at the mouth kind of private eyes. Except he lives in a dark and dangerous future where who the Ominframe says you are is exactly who you are and always will be. Until an access protocol that can change all of that is put on the table. Then all bets are off... and a tough guy who's just been poured a sparkling glass of brain damage doesn't have half a chance... does he?

And now, our Showcase presents another adventure with Matt Wallace's Deck Gibson: Far Reach Commander! Years ago Deck left Earth's isolationist Quasar Corps behind him. He traded in his old life, keeping Earth "safe" from a Galaxy of wonder, for the command chair of the Far Reach One. It was not a decision he ever paused to regret. He assumed the Quasar Corps had long forgotten him. He was wrong.

When Far Reach Control intercepts a distress call from members of a mysterious race, there is little time to spare. Only the pilot of the Far Reach 1, the only member of Earth's feared Quasar Corps ever to fly under an alien flag, is close enough to assist. Can Commander Deck Gibson leave the past behind and protect the galaxy of wonder into which he has been thrust?