Decoder Ring Theatre

Take one hard-boiled, poorly cliched private eye, add a mysterious missing artifact and stir in six or seven of history's most culturally insesitive accents since Hogan's Heroes went off the air and you have the recepie for mystery, mayhem and a sweeping apology from our legal department. Here for your dining and dancing pleasure.... the mystery of The Ruby Tooth!

He has always been a lone wolf... a solitary coyote... or at least an only puppy. But today, Slick Bracer, PI is getting himself a partner! Will double the dick mean double the trouble? Will the citizens of Metropolisville be safe at last? Or will the newest cast member have a life expectancy of a red-shirted extra on Star Trek? Would it give you a hint if we mentioned this is the Mystery of Some Murdered Guy?

Metropolisville's most manly man of mystery takes of a crazed dognapping ring, an even more crazed client, a police detective who is also... um... crazed and a secretary who is also at least slightly crazed. I sense a theme. A funky theme, with some horns and a lot of bass. Get your bad selves ready for The Case of the Kidnapped Canine!

Get ready for the Summer of Slick, as Decoder Ring Theatre proudly presents a full set of Erik Deckers' Slick Bracer, starring Peter Nicol as Slick! Action thrills! Mysterious chills! And the DRT ensemble having fun trying to bust up poor Peter in the middle of his lines. Good times! This week: one dead restaurateur and five or six desperately unlikely suspects somehow adds up to.... A Four Star Murder!

Which is more deadly, the battle you thought was lost, or the fight you thought you had won? In the chaos of war, only one thing is certain... There Will Be Rain Tonight!

For years now, the country has been haunted by an enemy as elusive as any ghost. The head of a network working to weaken our war effort and prepared to devestate our defences at a stroke when the opportunity presents itself for their Nazi masters to strike. He has been held in check by our heroes, but with their own network depleted and diminished, how much longer can they continue the fight? If the end is to come, it must come now - and it will take... All The King's Men!

There are some situations that you just can't prepare for. You can be the cleverest mystery man on the block, there will still be days that you just never saw coming. Those are the moments that cry out for a firey horse with the speed of lighht, a cloud of dust and a hearty... well, you know...

A newspaper is a powerful tool. The voice of the people, a beacon of truth in dark times and a reflexion of all that we would like to be as a city, a nation, a people. But if you happen to be the unseen hand behind Nazi fifth-column efforts, you just might get a little sick and tired of a certain crusading daily. And if you did, what choice would you have but to... Stop The Presses!

Let's see... the Nazis have decimated the Council of Mages in the Occult War and swarmed over half of Europe. They have squadrons of telepathically controlled dinosaurs and fantastic technology derived from dark magic. And their man inside Canada has run the country's masked heroes ragged trying to keep up. And it turns out that the only thing stopping things from getting a whole lot worse are a few... Small Wonders!

Through the mists of time, from an age almost forgotten, comes a lost blade once wielded by a man who held much of the civilized world under his power. Three thousand years later, a different tyrant has similar dreams. Can the Red Panda and the Flying Squirrel keep such a powerful talisman out of his hands? Can even a disciple of an old friend defend them from the... Sword of the Sun King?

They say that if a person is lucky at cards, it stands to follow that they must also be unlucky at love. But it doesn't take much research to prove that it's possible to be both. The stakes are in the story - see your two bickering heirs and raise you one missing will - and around this table The Sky's The Limit!

There are always more than one side to every story. And when you're dealing with a newspaper magnate, a missing heiress, a kidnapping with no ransom and an angry fishmonger, sometimes there are more sides than story. No simple matter for your average gumshoe, but just another day at the office for... Man's Best Friend.

"The one that got away" is a fine kind of tale for some. Fishermen, for example, seem to thrive on the subject. But in the detective business, where things seem to exist in a perpetually unfinished state, there are those cases that just won't stay in the drawer. The ones that never sat quite right. If only you had been a little stronger, a little smarter.... and sometimes they can weigh a man down, threaten to drag him under as they hang about his neck. It's sink or swim time, and who will win, the flatfoot or... The Albatross?

They say that there are no small parts, my friends, only small actors. I've never been entirely clear on exactly what that means, or if the folks that coined the phrase intended it to be as insulting as it is. But one thing is for sure, those thin character sketches that populate the margins are usually kept there for a reason. But when left to their own devices, they tend to play familiar games. Games like... Cops and Robbers!

There are few things that cry out for introspection quite like the passing of one year into the next. A time when the rustle of lost illusions crackles underfoot, like a handful of dead leaves in the wind. When past, present and future come together for a single moment to blow a raspberry at you in the shaving mirror. A time when even the handful of thing you might have been sure of shift underfoot, and send you sliding down the slipperly slope to nowhere in particular. And when that moment comes, even the most hard-boiled of gumshoes can spare a moment for... Auld Lang Syne

When everybody's favorite junior boy detective drops by, its usually good for a twist of a certain tail, and our Square-Jawed hero kind of enjoys that, kind of like a mean kid who pulls the wings off flies. But even a bird-dog job courtesy of the Gentleman Detective is tough to smile at when it comes wrapped in... Hush Money!

A mysterious monster is tearing through the landscape, destroying anything that gets in its way, and headed straight for Toronto! And nothing the Home Team can throw at this unstoppable object seems equal to the task of playing immovable force. Where did this terrible creation come from? Can anything stop it? And just why was the Red Panda the last choice to stop the... Barbarian at the Gates?

Time for a night on the town - West Coast Style! When the Flying Squirrel trails a sabotage ring to Vancouver, can a run in with the local masked hero be far behind? And when the Grey Fox turns out to be a heroine with a chip on her shoulder and a nasty temper, the stage is set for one heck of a... Girls' Night Out!

The Red Panda has faced many dangers in the service of his country, and few seem greater than being forced to share a sandbox with other superheroes. The masked marvel has never been known to work and play well with others, but is that the only reason he has been kept away from the entire Home Team, or is there something more sinister at work? Trust seems like such a simple thing, but sometimes it can be positively.... Rocket Science!

They say that crime knows no loyaties, and there is no honour among thieves. Certainly, for a nation at war, any attack upon the forces of law and order may be seen as an act of treason. But what if crime were a nation onto itself? A force of nature, bound only by its own harsh rules? Could even the Red Panda prevent the reign of... The King Of Crime?

There may not be an ideal time to learn that one of the Red Panda's deadliest foes has escaped custody, but this certainly isn't it. The Red Panda and the Flying Squirrel may only have hours to prevent the Mistress of the Undead from departing for Berlin and if they fail, can an invasion of the dead be far behind? And all of that before they even deal with ... The Home Team!

More than a year has passed since the Occult War was lost, and little has gone well for those who stand against the forces of darkness. Many nations are now in Nazi hands, and the shadow of occupation hangs heavily over the remaining free people of Europe. Closer to home, saboteurs and traitors now lurk in the shadows which once sheltered criminal scum, and only one man can stand against them. The Red Panda may have lost much of his army of justice, but he still has an iron will, the strength of ten and most of all... The Nose For News!

All good things must come to an end, my friends, and so our summer stroll down memory lane comes to a close with this final episode. And it just wouldn't be a finale without a big finish, would it? So call the neighbors and wake the kids... tell the arts council to make with the grant money already... it's the full-on, hard-boiled, gender-inverted Black Jack Justice starring Clarissa Dernederlanden as Jack and Scotty Moyle as Trixie Dixon, girl detective.

Holy cats, Decoder Ringers, two "Red Panda" Play It Agains in a row? It's almost like we're saving a Black Jack for the summer's big finale in a couple of weeks... But in the meantime, what could be better than an old-school creepy mystery with the cast stood on its head? Kevin Robinson as the Red Panda! Andrea Lyons as the Flying Squirrel! Chris Mott as a Newsie! Get ready for Death Danced at Midnight as we.... Play It Again!

We continue our summer stroll down memory lane with danger and daring-do courtesy of Steven Burley sitting in as the Red Panda with Hero van Harten as the Flying Squirrel in a little season two Red Panda Adventure we like to call... The Sweet Tooth!

Fun in the sun as we play "what might have been" with a favorite episode of Black Jack Justice, this time featuring the dream team of Freddie the Finger and the Flying Squirrel.... Yes folks, its Peter Nicol as Jack and Clarissa Dernederlanden as Trixie Dixon, girl detective, so buckle up!

Our Summer Showcase of what-might-have-been continues and we play a little game of turnabout is fair play as Smilin' Chris Mott dons the red domino mask of Canada's Greatest Superhero, with Julie Florio joining him as plucky sidekick/driver extraordinaire!

The first in our series of Summer Delights featuring favorite scripts as selected by you, the listener! The only caveat to these tales so nice we told 'em twice is that no one, and I mean no one, can play the same part the second time around. So marvel at the path not taken with Julie Cogger as Trixie Dixon and Gregg Taylor as Jack Justice as we.... Play It Again!

For years now, the self-appointed guardians of the unearthly powers that remain in this world have fought a running battle, trying to hold back the forces of darkness as personified by Nazi Germany. While the world has slept, a great Occult War has been fought all around us. Now it is over. We lost. Only one thing can now prevent that loss from being total, and a thousand years of darkness from descending upon the Earth like a plague. Will even the Red Panda be left standing after The Great Fall?

A series of mysterious accidents is plauging the business interests of a certain wealthy former gad-about. Is it mere coincidence, or is Fenwick Industries being targeted? And when both the city's mystery men and a secret government agent get involved, will the cure be worse than the disease? How many must pay for the... Sins of the Father?

Two impossibly rare jewels, each the twin of the other and locked in an ancient curse... kept as far apart as possible for years. But now one of the Eyes of Doom has fallen prey to a master thief, and the second is under the protection of a certain masked mystery man. Is it their own terrible destiny that draws these artifacts together, or is it something still more sinister? Can even the Red Panda hope to escape the power of... The Eyes of the Idol?

Sun, sand, the crystal clear waters of the Caribbean... What could be more relaxing than an extended tropical vacation? With pleasure craft mysteriously disappearing from the waters around a sinister and seemingly deserted island, just about everything. Can even our vacationing man of mystery and his fearless fighting female resist... The Song of the Siren?

Our mysterious masked marvel has spent many years protecting the citizens of Toronto from the worst of the worst. A man makes a lot of enemies that way, and every one of them has had long days and nights in a prison cell to consider their next move. Can even the Red Panda be prepared for... A Dish Best Served Cold?

Life isn't always easy for a Police Detective. Especially with Chief O'Mally breathing down his neck about a kidnapping ring. But at least Andy Parker's second job, as a trusted agent of The Red Panda will allow him to pawn off a nice, impossible robbery on the Terrific Twosome of Toronto. Or at least it would... if the two worst cases in town weren't one and the same!

They say a man meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it. Which means that whatever you do, and whatever the result might be, your fortune cookie can smile at you and say "see? I told you so." For some folks that road may lead to a destiny of great importance or heroic meaning. For others, it might lead to a face-down posture in a puddle somewhere. I suppose no one can tell. Except the cookie, and it ain't talkin'.

A certain hack writer who shall remain Shakespeare is of the opinion that the quality of mercy is not strained. He obviously doesn't ride the bus past the stylish world headquarters of Justice and Dixon all that often, 'cause around here both the quality and quantity of mercy are strained beyond any reasonable breaking point, and old friends are no exception.

A client who seems a little too eager to pony up his retainer, the feds sniffing around like the wolf at the door and witnesses who keep blossoming into corpses. It's almost enough to make a certain police Lieutenant seem like a welcome sight. Almost.

When a snoop-and-peep that paid turned into a murder case that almost certainly didn't, it meant one thing: Jack suddenly got interested. For the Girl Detective, it's just one more reason to strangle the big lug... but even a clock that's stopped is right twice a day... isn't it?

It has been remarked more than once that there's always a calm just before the storm. Certified meteorological phenomenon or old wives saw, it was still true as often as it wasn't. And if that storm was destined to wash away Marilou Arden, it looked like it just might take a certain pair of gumshoes with her.

It is a season not to be trusted, my friends. It can dress up sadness as nostalgia, tackiness as whimsy and grey-green slush as "Christmas snow"... but it didn't seem like all the holiday spirit in the world was going to do the little man in the red suit and even redder puddle of his own blood much good, now was it?

The struggle against dark times has been a long and bitter one, and the fight to not give in to that darkness is constant. A rash of inexplicable disappearances cause the police to conclude that the citizens of the city are losing that unequal struggle. But can it really be a rash of suicides, or is there something much deeper, much darker behind this? And will even the Red Panda be able to resist when... Terror Walks The Night?

The newspapers trumpet murder and mayhem almost every day, and there's more than enough to keep the Terrific Twosome of Toronto busy in their own hometown. So why are they racing off to the Big Apple in spite of their own strict "no meddling" policy? Can even the Red Panda bring the guilty to justice when... Murder Wears a Mask?

A stranger awakes in an alley with no memory, no clue who he is and only a dim impression of his mission. All around, shadowy forces are closing in. Who is he? Does he hold the missing piece of the puzzle the Red Panda needs to save the city? Will the carefully laid plans of justice run off the rails or will it all go... Just Like Clockwork!

Scientific scerets are being stolen by a sinister superfiend with a mind for mazes and the morals of a monster. But when the Terrific Twosome of Toronto are made an offer of "help" that they can't refuse, will they ever best the mighty will of... The Puzzle Master?

A forgotten foe from our masked marvel's past returns, exhibiting astonishing new powers. Is this the opening overture of a new concerto of crime, or is there more than meets the eye to the... Flight of the Bumblebee!

A nice, quiet honeymoon was probably too much to ask, wasn't it? But after a string of adventures, our crime-fighters are finally headed for home. And if they happen to be carrying a mysterious amulet the Nazis would kill to recover, that's just all in a day's work. But when murder strikes mid-air, the Red Panda must find a killer who strikes with deadly... Nightshade!

Are there any two phrases in the English language that offer as much delight at "mildly dystopian" and "not-too-distant future"? If there are, they can only be "career criminal" and "one last big score". And yet for all those comfortable tropes, expect the unexpected from... Shinkei!

From Tim Prasil, author of "Magic of the Movies" and "The Crasher", our showcase presents this thoughtful and engaging tale. What makes a mind? Is it the ability to calculate? To learn? Or without the power of the imagination is there something missing essential to life itself? And if we suddenly found ourselves able to create such a life.... what would we say to it? We present for your consideration... Thinking In Ternary.

Our pals from International Falls, Minnesota sit in with the band this week as the first of two Spotlight episodes we'll be bringing you this summer shines on the good folks from Icebox Radio Theatre. Beat the heat with this tale that is Chilling in more ways than one. The Icebox Radio Theatre production of Thing On The Ice!

Phil Bledsoe's iconic hero Blaze Bing, Rodeo King was brought to us just two weeks ago. But behind evey tale of heroes is another story. Sometimes darker, sometimes sadder, but always unexpected. This week we bring you just such a tale with Tales of the Rodeo King!