The Lost AudiSee Tapes: Obscure 70s Sci-Fi Audio Dramas

Temples Among the Stars: The Lost AudiSee Tapes

If you grew up in the late 70s, you might remember the star-spangled blue packaging of the AudiSee series. Released in 1978 to capitalize on the massive cultural wake of Star Wars, these “stereo dramatizations” are a fascinating, and somewhat bizarre, slice of analog history.

My own introduction to the series came decades later, under fittingly “apocalyptic” circumstances: while installing NT workstations for the IRS to avert the alleged Y2K “Doomsday” event. I was discussing audio drama with my manager, and the next morning he brought in a loose cassette for me. It was The Star Prince, no case, no book, and totally foreign territory to me at the time. Like so many other interesting audio drama discoveries in my life, this one arrived unexpectedly.

Marketed to children with accompanying full-color booklets and “computer tones” to signal page turns, the dramas are surprisingly high-concept. They feature psychedelic soundscapes, classic analog synthesizer scores, and some adaptations that veer wildly from their source material into pure fever-dream territory. Listening to these shows is like viewing science fiction through the eyes of the 1970s.

Perhaps most unexpected is their origin. While they feel like a counter-culture artifact, they were actually produced by Bonneville Productions, the media arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The result is a unique intersection of high-camp sci-fi, “educational” funding, and genuine analog artistry.

Below is the complete list of the AudiSee audio dramas, revived from the fringes of obscure media. Special thanks to the archivists who have preserved and shared these stories on YouTube.

The Raymond F. Jones Adaptations

Jones, a sci-fi veteran best known for This Island Earth, adapted three of his own stories for the series. These episodes feature some of the most distinct “Star Wars” influences of the collection.

1. The Star Prince

• Runtime: 28:56
• The Vibe: Thoughtful, strange, and atmospheric.

The Bradwell family is marooned on a distant world where they encounter the ‘Grooks,’ alien creatures depicted with surreal ping-pong ball eyes. While it stands out as the most introspective entry in the catalog, listeners should note that some language and characterizations are antiquated and reflect the era of its production.

2. The Rebels of Emperia

• Runtime: 28:14
• The Vibe: A shameless, delightful Star Wars pastiche.

This episode is a capsule of 1978 sci-fi hysteria. It features an opening crawl about a collapsing “galaxracy,” scenes that mimic Lucas’s cinematography, and a robot with a canine muzzle that looks suspiciously like a Death Star droid. The plot kicks off when Emperor Creo and Princess Nola are swallowed by a mysterious ship.

3. The Lost Ones

• Runtime: 30:33
• The Vibe: Dark, spooky, and high-stakes.

While navigating a blizzard, the protagonist accidentally teleports a star traveler into the hands of the Bakori, cruel alien slavers. The rescue mission that follows is surprisingly grim for a children’s tape, featuring a genuinely frightening scene involving the death of a main character.

The H.G. Wells Adaptations

While these titles bear the names of H.G. Wells’ classics, the adaptations take massive liberties, reimagining the stories through a futuristic, often bizarre lens.

4. Voyage to the Center of the Earth

• Runtime: 29:11
• The Vibe: A chaotic departure from the source material.

Adapted by Larry Tamblyn (of the garage rock band The Standells), this story abandons Jules Verne’s plot entirely. It begins with a flying saucer attacking livestock and ends up in underground caverns filled with giant spiders, dinosaurs, and the Zarians, transparent octopi who ride around on space-suited slaves.

5. The Time Machine

• Runtime: 30:55
• The Vibe: Faithful and cinematic.

Featuring the voice of Russ Tamblyn (Twin Peaks, West Side Story), this is the most faithful adaptation of the bunch. It captures the classic narrative of the Time Traveler’s journey to the future to encounter the Eloi and the Morlocks, anchored by a strong vocal performance.

6. The War of the Worlds

• Runtime: 23:38
• The Vibe: Futuristic oddity.

This adaptation updates the setting to a future populated by “robot wives” and features distinct sound design. The Martian tripods are memorably described as looking like “huge, flat remote controls wobbling on cable-like legs.”