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April 26, 2024 Destinies celebrates its 41st anniversary with a one-hour special, looking back at the past year of the show, with a blend of the best material of the past year, as well as all-new features. You'll hear encore readings by authors Patrick Thomas and J. H. Nadler; never-before-aired music from Angelo Panetta, Insensate Machine, and Marco Beltrami; the reasons why the Blue Beetle movie epitomized "Super-hero Fatigue," plus host Howard Margolin's duet with actress Sophie Aldred, and composer Mason Williams and harpist Deborah Henson-Conant teaming up for the annual variation on "Classical Gas." Christina M. Rau reads her Wonder Woman-inspired poem "Hubris." Patrick Thomas' "Dear Cthulhu" answers a letter from a man who has a strange definition of the word "bibliophile." And learn how you can receive your choice of 325 different Destinies exclusive premiums for your pledge of support during this Spring Radiothon special.



Take the TARDIS to hear all the Destinies episodes including the May 1, 1992 episode featuring Destinies 9th anniversary


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April 19, 2024 Honoring the memory of the late actor Louis Gossett, Jr. with an exclusive live show. Dave Campfield, director of the upcoming horror film Awaken the Reaper is joined by the movie's co-producer Bob Brennan, to remember the Oscar-winner, whose last on-camera performance will be seen in the role of Dr. Benjamin Locke. How did Bob first meet Louis? Was the part of Dr. Locke written specifically for Gossett? What was involved in filming his scenes for the movie? What was it about the script that made the veteran of 67 years in film and television interested in the part? And, when will the film be released?



April 12, 2024 Destinies welcomes back Robin Esterhammer, producer of Perseverance Records, for his eighth live interview. The head of one of the few independent record labels specializing in the release of rare film soundtracks makes his return to discuss and introduces selections from his company's latest album, "Who Wants to Live Forever? Forsaken Themes From Fantastic Films Volume 2." You'll hear selections from Michael Kamen's classic score for Highlander, Charles Bernstein's unused score for The Serpent and the Rainbow, Phantoms by David Williams, Dragon Soldiers by Edwin Wendler, and Resident Evil by Stony Brook native and Emmy Award winner Marco Beltrami. Plus, you'll learn about Perseverance's Kickstarter campaign for the funding of a project to re-record some early scores and symphonic works by the late composer James Horner.

 

April 5, 2024 Honoring the memory of screenwriter and producer Tracy Torme, who died of complications of diabetes at the age of 64 on January 4th, 2024.Travel back to 1988, where, at the Creation Convention in Manhattan, host Howard Margolin conducted an exclusive interview with Tracy Torme, who was then a writer and executive story editor for Star Trek: The Next Generation, which had just completed its first season. You'll learn how Torme got involved with The Next Generation, including his original ideas for the controversial episode "Conspiracy." You'll hear how his life-long interest in UFO's led to his work on the TV special "UFO Cover-up: Live" and the feature film Fire in the Sky, which finally reached theaters in 1993. And, you'll find out how you can receive your choice of over 325 different Destinies exclusive premiums for your pledge of support during this Spring Radiothon Special. Click on the picture of the microphone above to view the list.



March 29th, 2024 Destinies is pre-empted by the WUSB Student Takeover



March 22, 2024 Return to I-Con in the Park, on the afternoon of June 24th, 2023, where, at a picnic table in Bethpage State Park, authors Keith R.A. DeCandido (making his record-breaking 30th appearance), Patrick Thomas (16th), Drew Henriksen (7th), and Roy Mauritsen (6th) join host Howard Margolin for part 2 of Destinies' I-Con Writers Reunion. The I-Con veterans remember guests who are no longer with us and discuss what they would like to see in a revived version of I-Con. Patrick Thomas' "Dear Cthulhu" answers a letter from a woman whose mother is a real cat burglar. And, in honor of William Shatner's 93rd birthday, you'll hear the title track from his 1968 album "The Transformed Man."



March 15, 2024 Host Howard Margolin celebrates his 40th anniversary with Destinies by taking you to Bethpage State Park on the afternoon of June 24, 2023 for part one of Destinies' I-Con Writers Reunion. In perhaps the most unique panel discussion in the history of the program, four of the authors who frequently attended the convention, which held 32 events between 1982 and 2017, gather around a picnic table to reminisce about what was once the Northeast's largest convention of science fiction, fact, and fantasy. Keith R.A. DeCandido, making his record-tying 29th appearance; Patrick Thomas, making his 15th; Drew Henriksen, making his 6th; and Roy Mauritsen, making his 5th, share memories and anecdotes at I-Con in the Park.

March 8, 2024 The Destinies Film Review Fremen (Howard Margolin, Audrey Dettmering, Dave Campfield, Justin Paul, and by proxy, Timothy Gillespie) ride in for a live discussion of Dune Part 2. Learn how extending this part of the story to 2 hours and 46 minutes compares to what the 1984 version of Dune handled in only 40 minutes. Is Timothee Chalamet's Paul Maud'Dib more believable and relatable than the actors that have played him previously? How is the chemistry between him and Zendaya's Chani? Given the time and technology since the last time Dune was adapted, in 2000, does the planet itself, including the Sandworms, come across convincingly? How does Austin Butler's Feyd-Rautha compare with Sting's? Which actors from the Marvel Cinematic Universe are transplanted to Dune? And, what is this movie worth on the Famous Destinies $0.00-$9.50 Rating Scale?



March 1, 2024 Saluting the release of Dune Part 2, the Destinies Soundtrack Spotlight shines on Graeme Revell's score for the Sci-Fi Channel Mini-Series Frank Herbert's Dune. Hear the story of how Paul Atreides came to be known as Maud'Dib, and lead the Fremen revolution against the Harkonnens and the Emperor of the Known Universe as the Destinies Radio Theater presents "Dune Part 2: Attack of the Giant Sandworms," adapted from the 1984 film version. And, as Women's History Month begins, Christina M. Rau reads her Wonder Woman-inspired poem "Woman on a Loop."

 

February 23, 2024 The Destinies Film Review Team (Howard Margolin, Audrey Dettmering, Dave Campfield, Timothy Gillespie, and Natalie Voltz), crawls in for a live review of "Madame Web." Does the film accurately reflect even an approximation of the numerous Spider-Man-adjacent characters and situations? Is Dakota Johnson's Cassie Webb likeable, and will anyone care about her character's arc? Who are the three teenage girls destined to become Spider-Women in their own right, and how do they fit into the story? Is Tahir Rahim's Ezekial Sims a compelling villain, or another one-dimensional whiner? And, what is this movie worth on the newly-expanded Destinies zero to $9.50 rating scale?

February 16, 2024 An exclusive update interview with Paul McGann, recorded at the 2023 Long Island Doctor Who convention. Returning to Destinies for the first time since 2012, the actor who played the 8th Doctor talks about getting his regeneration sequence in 2013's "Night of the Doctor," why, as we learned in "Power of the Doctor," he doesn't "do robes," whether it is more complicated to learn the Doctor's technospeak or actual medical jargon while playing a neurosurgeon on the BBC's "Holby City," and much more. Patrick Thomas' "Dear Cthulhu" answers another letter from the man whose girlfriend cheated on him with a sex robot. Christina M. Rau reads her poem "On Second Thought." And, the Destinies Soundtrack Spotlight shines on William Allen's score for the 8th Doctor Big Finish Audio Adventure "Minuet in Hell."



February 9, 2024 Return to the 2023 Long Island Doctor Who convention for an exclusive interview with Gary Russell, writer and script editor for Doctor Who, and one of the founders of Big Finish Productions. Learn how Big Finish got started, and how the company was able to bring the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th Doctors back to continue their adventures in audio form, starting in 1999 and continuing until today. Get an inside look at Big Finish's recording process. Find out why the Doctors' companions comprise both original series actors as well as all-new characters. And hear about what Gary has done in both television and prose since leaving Big Finish, including his novelization of one of the recent Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials. Bonus feature: the trailer for the 8th Doctor audio adventure "Minuet in Hell," co-written and directed by Gary. Plus, in memory of actor and singer Hinton Battle (11/29/56-1/30/24), his performances as the demon Sweet from the classic Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Once More With Feeling."

 

February 2nd, 2024 Destinies is pre-empted by the WUSB Reggae Marathon



January 26, 2024 In Destinies' 39th annual memorial for the crews of the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia, Evelyn Husband recalls the mission of STS-96, in part 14 of High Calling: The Courageous Life and Faith of Space Shuttle Columbia Commander Rick Husband. In memory of composer Laurie Johnson (2/7/27-1/16/24), you'll hear music from his scores for the TV series The Avengers and The New Avengers, and the films First Men in the Moon and Dr. Strangelove. Patrick Thomas' "Dear Cthulhu" answers a letter from a man who is in love with his girlfriend's doll. Christina M. Rau reads her poem "A Very Small Man in the Labyrinth."

 

January 19, 2024 Live telephone interview with Patrick Thomas, who makes his 14th appearance in his capacity as an author, to discuss his anthology We Will Fight in the Stars: Tales of the 142nd Starborne. Find out how the 142nd Starborne came to be the future of the "Agents of the Abyss" universe, in which classic monsters are re-imagined and brought into the present day. Who is Major Hans Benedict, and how does he embody the phrase "Honor means sometimes having to disobey?" Learn what classic science fiction and horror properties served as inspirations for the stories in the collection. Plus, you'll hear an excerpt from the story "The Machine in the Ghost" read by the author and host Howard Margolin.

 

January 12, 2024 Actress Sophie Aldred returns for an update interview, recorded at Meglos 2022, more than 33 years after her last appearance. Best remembered as Ace, companion to the seventh Doctor Who, Sophie talks about the direction her career went after the original series ended in 1989; her love for hosting children's television shows; how it felt to bring Ace back for not only many Big Finish Audio projects, but also in the TV episode "The Power of the Doctor;" and her current and future productions on stage and television. Plus, you'll hear Sophie and host Howard Margolin performing a duet from one of their favorite musicals, Fiddler on the Roof. And, as a bonus feature, Sophie reads the prelude from her 2020 Doctor Who novel At Childhood's End, on the Destinies Audiobook Sampler.



January 5, 2024 The Destinies Film Review Team (Howard Margolin, Audrey Dettmering, Dave Campfield, and Timothy Gillespie) assembles live to list their five favorite and one least favorite science fiction, fantasy, adventure, horror, super-hero, and genre-adjacent films of 2023. Of the 116 movies up for consideration, will there be a consensus? Despite the trend towards "super-hero fatigue" at the box office in 2023, will any comic book adaptations make the best lists? What is considered "genre-adjacent" anyway? And what movies are the team looking forward to most in 2024?

   December 29, 2023 The Destinies Film Review Team (Howard Margolin, Audrey Dettmering, Dave Campfield, Timothy Gillespie) swims in for a live discussion of "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom." Find out how the second outing for the King of Atlantis stacks up, not only against his first solo adventure, from 2018, but compared to the other three DC movies that were released this year. Is there significant character development in this movie, and if so, for whom? How does the story address the real-world issue of climate change, something no other comic book movie has addressed? If this is Jason Momoa's last turn as Aquaman, might he make a better Lobo in the new DCU? And what is this movie worth on the Famous Destinies Zero to Nine Dollars Rating Scale?








Dr. Howard Margolin

You can write to Howard Margolin to offer comments about the show or to request copies of Destinies episodes on CD by emailing

DestiniesVoice@aol.com

or write:
Destinies c/o WUSB Radio
Attn: Howard Margolin
2nd Floor West Side Dining
Stony Brook University
Stony Brook, NY 11794-3200



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captphil@captphilonline.com