The Zombie Astronaut's Frequency of Fear

The Zombie Astronaut's Frequency Lite is an offshoot of the Zombie Astronaut's Frequency of Fear - "all of the audio drama with none of the OTR". Beginning as a themed series hosted by the Zombie Astronaut, AKA W. Ralph Walters, who is a commercial artist who spends his time delving into old radio shows and co-writes new. The Frequency Lite series are the new shows that began simply as introductory sketches to themes on his regular shows but have grown into full length episodes using comedy and mock horror elements to create a world of interesting characters and mythology.
Although not technically a series in and of itself, Frequency Lite frequently (half-pun intended) has two-part shows that use the Zombie Astronaut as the main protagonist but also introduces a bevy of other professors.
FL has some adult humor of a sexual nature and strong language at times and should be considered AD-PG-13.

Website
While Mr. Walters runs several sites based on the Zombie Astronaut, I recommend beginning with zombieastronaut.net. Here one gets the full scope of Mr. Walter's talents in the visual arts. One-part detailed pulpish drawings, two-parts unabashed geekery, the website is deliciously layered with old-fashioned comic book-style advertisement set in for some of Zombie's favorite companies- Broken Sea, Taliesin, The Sonic Society, SFF Audio, Schlock Audio, and The Snarky Avenger. There are links in the main page of Zombie's main offerings including a great name in the Odious Audifacarum which shows off a complete listing of shows however a cursory run through the list finds only A through to D with unbrokened links. The Zombie Astronaut's Blog is a typical LiveJournal blog but has not been updated for a year. However the Frequency of Fear and Frequency Lite are set in a straight forward manner with episodes and notes well fit color and graphics in the overlying theme. While the website could be more complete with deeper information about Mr. Walter's himself and the other people in his audio drama, there is everything you need to know in a very professional format.
Rating: 4/5

Audio Drama Style- Modern
While the main FOF show is mostly a showcase of OTR, the original works in FL are very much in the modern audio drama conventional format. A wide variety of music, some racier jokes and a sometimes large group of guest stars in plots that tend to wind sometimes through multiple stories. Modern audio drama has a more freedom as to format, time constraints, and story scenes. The Frequency Lite tales vary greatly from the earlier shows to the latter.

Acting- Amateur
Unlike many leaders in the audio drama realm, Mr. Walters has a commanding voice as both narrator of FOF casts and FL. He shows excellent control leading the plots and guest stars about on the "fun and games" madcappery. His main guests are equally strong in their roles, chief among them is Brent Hinks works as Doctor Wilheim Von Martinez who's insanity in the role plays the "Id" to Zombie's "Ego". Hinks is so delightfully child-like in his buffoonery, that you can't help but feel sorry for the Zombie Astronaut just trying to put up with him. If Von Martinez is the "Id", then Doctor Despicable (Who remains unnamed) is most certainly the "Super-ego" of the Zombie acting entirely with ruthless efficacy. The three together are a magic collection of distinct voices, and equally distinct characters that are my pick for the "Modern Audio's Three Stoogies Award".
The rest of the guest stars sound like a who's who of the Audio Drama world- Gwendolyn Jensen-Woodard, Bill Hollweg, Mark Kalita, Paul Mannering, Elie Hirschman, KC Locke, and many others. Some of which have become near regulars. Jack Ward's character Professor Peter P. Picklepepper has had many return engagements, and from my opinion is one of his strongest roles to date.
While the acting is certainly a collection of folks who have an affinity with what Mr. Walters is doing, the sense of fun tends to brighten up even the clunkiest of actors.
Rating: 4/5

Production- Detailed
Walters work at editing is perhaps some of the best comedic editing around. He seamlessly draws in humorous musical cues and engaging sound effects. He also has a strong sense of timing. His pauses between responses of characters are near sound-second perfect and he has a solid idea of what parts of the story needs to be told through sound, and where effects can get in the way of the laughter.
You can hear the growth from his earliest examples of FL in his FOF show to the full episode length shows he puts on now. Despite using actors from around the world, he works very hard to sift their voices into the same vocal space, and melt them into a place in time. This becomes almost exponentially harder to do the more characters who send in their lines, but his editing has always made it sound nearly effortless.
Pure comedy and drama are always the hardest productions to stage whether it is in audio drama or through live theater. Genre drama has the ability to couch itself in some of the more familiar trappings, and Mr. Walters uses his knowledge of horror archetypes to help paint the pictures of the characters and scenes he produces.
Rating: 5/5

Writing
 Mr. Walters and his writing team of K.C. Locke, Victor Gates, and some others like Mindy Rast present an interesting benefit of the Internet age. Like several other production companies, they work together on projects and present incredibly coherent and well-thought out productions for their works. That is not to say that FL is always coherent. There are times when I get lost in the plot thread- usually when there's six or more Professors running around- but for the most part the stories are well written and just fun as a listener. I look forward to being able to give a more detailed example of one of his new shows in the future, but for now, I would say that if you're a fan of zany horror-comedy, this writing will produce at least some snickers if not a few confused looks followed by belly laughs.
Rating: 4/5

Additional Notes:
Mr. Walters is one of those precious few individuals who seems endlessly talented. He makes his money as a commercial artist and has solid drawing skills. He has a commanding voice as a narrator. One of the three best in modern audio drama today. He plays Zombie Astronaut well, writes well, and produces all the shows with a professional flare that leaves many green with audio-envy.
Mr. Walters is a quadruple-threat in a world that is cheering over podcasters who can only write or speak well. It's startling that he has not received more accolades for his work, and once again proof positive that I have little faith in awards.

Over All
The Frequency of Fear and Frequency Lite is a series that should be at the front of everyone's ipods. It is one of the first shows I give to people who doubt the power of modern Audio Drama. Frequency Lite has broad appeal, although I do pick my episodes carefully for language and mature situations can some times turn off a new listener. Still, for my money, The Zombie Astronaut's Frequency offerings is what I hope many more companies will aspire to. Professionalism in an amateur arena.
Rating: 5/5