Ashley's Worlds

Ashley's Worlds was a mid-1990s radio comedy series in 100 episodes that was broadcast on 26 radio stations and described by its creators Andrew Dubber and Belinda Todd as a "cartoon for radio".[3]

Ashley's Worlds
Running time3-5 minutes per episode
Country of originNew Zealand
Language(s)English
Starringsee below
Written byBelinda Todd
Produced byAndrew Dubber and Belinda Todd
Narrated byCraig Parker as Ashley
Original releasemid 1990s – late 1990s (2 years in total)[nb 1]
No. of series2
No. of episodes100
Websitehttps://andrewdubber.com/ashleys-worlds/

Plot

Domestic cat Ashley is transported, or "magiced", into the kingdom of Catatonia, a world completely run by anthropomorphic cats, where he is mistaken for a spy and is thrown into the dungeon of the royal castle. He escapes with the uncouth scrapper Bishop and together with their self-proclaimed hostage Tobias they seek an audience with the princess hoping to resolve Ashley's predicament.

Cast
  • Craig Parker as Ashley, a spoiled cat used to a nice patch of sunshine to sleep in and a house full of humans to pander to his every need. Prior to his transportation to Catatonia, his most unpleasant experience involved an unscheduled trip to the vet and a cold thermometer, and his most dangerous escapade was a slow flick of the tail coupled with a rather faster closing of the fridge door.
  • Carl Bland as Bishop, a fierce looking criminal cat eager to whip out his card which reads "Bishop the bloodthirsty: specializing in assassinations, intimidations and small wars. No job too messy." Ashley's unusual behavior first has Bishop suspect Ashley is "a crazy".
  • David Weatherley as Tobias, a plump and ageing "aristo'cat'" of the noble Pussinbootle family
  • Belinda Todd as Tabitha, the visually impaired and self-centered princess and ruler of Catatonia whose missing father, the king, was obsessed with discovering the ruins of the lost city Cataract, built by the magically adept ancients.
  • Merv Smith as The Strange Old Cat
  • Beryl Te Wiata as Eternity (guest appearance)

Ilona Rodgers and Emmeline Hawthorne also made guest appearances.

Production
One of my favourite things about the series was how much the parents who listened to it enjoyed it. It was one of those kids' shows where there's enough in there to keep the adults entertained, and the odd gag in there that's really only for grown-ups.

Andrew Dubber, Dubber's blog, 2020.[4]

The series was recorded at Progressive Studios in Anzac Ave with the assistance of Tim Gummer and Cameron Fisher.[4] Dubber produced, edited and did the sound design using the Hannah Barbera sound effects library.[4] Dubber and Todd discussed characters and storylines and Todd did the writing; Creating the narrative arc, the dialogue and the comedy.[4]

On average, each 3–5 minutes episode took around 16 hours to make.[5] About a quarter of that was recording the dialog and the rest was digital editing.[4]

Dubber later said that "It kinda jumped the shark towards the end, but they kept paying us to make it, so we kept making it after the wheels had fallen off a bit."[2]

Producers Andrew Dubber and Belinda Todd would later produce the radio series Claybourne in 1998, which was geared towards a more mature audience.

Distribution

The show was part of a syndicated compilation show for kids called Buckeroo that was broadcast on Sunday mornings on 26[3] radio stations in New Zealand.[4]

In January 2005, Dubber announced on his blog "The Wireless" that he had registered Ashley's Worlds under a Creative Commons Licence (by-nc-sa 2.0) and seeded a torrent with the series,[2] and in April 2020 he offered the complete sereies for download on his web page.[4] Dubber called it a "survival strategy"[1] and said in that "My theory is that the more people have copies of this stuff, the less likely it is to disappear forever. Digital archiving is about dissemination and propagating, not hoarding and hiding."[5]

Footnotes

Notes
  1. Some sources say the show started on 1 January 1996[1] and the show ran weekly for two years.[2]

References
  1. "Ashley's Worlds" (archived), ashleysworlds.bandcamp.com.
  2. Andrew Dubber. "Ashley's Worlds torrent" (archived), Andrew Dubber's blog, 8 January 2005. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
  3. Andrew Dubber. "Sorry about all that rain" (archived). Andrew Dubber's blog, 19 February 2004. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
  4. Andrew Dubber. "Ashley's Worlds" (archived), Andrew Dubber's blog, 5 April 2020.
  5. Andrew Dubber. "Ashley's Worlds revisited" (archived), Andrew Dubber's blog, 5 March 2011. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
  • Ashley's Worlds on Andrew Dubber's blog (episodes 1-100 available for download)
  • Ashley's Worlds on bandcamp.com (episodes 1-14 available for streaming)
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