ETWEEN 1997 and 2001, at the height of the dot-com bubble, the Sci-Fi channel decided to invest some money into producing a number of original audio stories under the banner of Seeing Ear Theatre, essentially a “next generation” of radio plays for a modern audience. A talented team of script-writers, actors and sound effects people crafted a series of remarkable episodes, breathing life into the stories of both classic writers, like Harlan Ellison and Frederic Brown, and modern writers, like Neil Gaiman and J. Michael Straczynski. Readers of this site may find particular interest in an adaption of Poul Anderson’s classic science fiction Sherlockian pastiche called The Martian Crown Jewels.

The Martian Crown Jewels have been stolen! The theft threatens to destroy diplomatic relations between Mars and Earth. Inspector Gregg, of the Earth police force stationed on Mars is stumped! Who can solve the baffling mystery and avert a galactic catastrophe of cataclysmic proportions? None other than Mars’ greatest private investigator, Syaloch, a seven-foot stork who lives in the “Street of Those who Prepare Nourishment in Ovens.” He is a brilliant thinker who (despite being a 7 foot tall bird) is the very image of another “great detective” from Earth’s past. Can Syaloch, after all his reading of Earth’s Sherlock Holmes, crack the case in this delightful playfair mystery? Elementary!

Unfortunately, the Seeing Ear Theatre project is no more, but you can still listen to the delightful The Martian Crown Jewels in its archives, at least for now. (Note: RealPlayer is needed, which is a free download for the basic version.)