Ruby the Galactic Gumshoe
Encyclopedia
Ruby the Galactic Gumshoe is the titular character of a radio drama
series by the ZBS Foundation
, written by Thomas Lopez
. The first series, Ruby: Adventures of A Galactic Gumshoe was created in 1982, and the eighth and most recent was copyrighted 2009. In each of the series, Ruby is hired to solve some metaphysical
problem for clients.
treatment of the hardboiled
detective genre; the original series took place on the planet of Summa Nulla ("the high point of nothing") although later series took Ruby to other planets and solar systems.
Laura Esterman
starred as Ruby in the first series and Karen Young
starred in the second series as "Ruby Too", another version of the protagonist
, while Esterman, as Ruby, had a cameo part in this series. Esterman returned to the lead role from Ruby 3 onwards, credited as Blanche Blackwell.
The series was originally syndicated to air on the radio in episodes of approximately three to four minutes long, but later released as half-hour episodes to radio stations. To date, eight Ruby adventures have been released, the most recent in October 2009.
Ruby has been broadcast in 23 countries, including Canada (on CBC
), England (on BBC
), Australia (on ABC
) and the US (originally on PBS
, more recently on Sirius-XM Satellite Radio). Ruby entered Science Fiction's Audio Hall of Fame for Best Science Fiction of 1982.
Radio drama
Radio drama is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance, broadcast on radio or published on audio media, such as tape or CD. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story...
series by the ZBS Foundation
ZBS Foundation
ZBS Foundation, a small non-profit audio production company, was founded by Thomas Lopez in 1970 with a grant from Robert E. Durand as a working commune based on a donated farm in Upstate New York...
, written by Thomas Lopez
Thomas Lopez
Thomas Lopez, aka Meatball Fulton, is one of the founders and president of the ZBS Foundation. He writes and produces the ZBS Foundation's audio drama productions. Some of these aired in 1984-85 as part of ZBS' stereo radio series The Cabinet of Dr. Fritz.His output includes the entire Jack...
. The first series, Ruby: Adventures of A Galactic Gumshoe was created in 1982, and the eighth and most recent was copyrighted 2009. In each of the series, Ruby is hired to solve some metaphysical
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
problem for clients.
Description
Ruby is a comic science fictionComic science fiction
Comic science fiction is a sub-genre of science fiction that exploits the genre's conventions for comic effect. Comic science fiction often mocks or satirizes standard SF conventions like alien invasion of Earth, interstellar travel, or futuristic technology....
treatment of the hardboiled
Hardboiled
Hardboiled crime fiction is a literary style, most commonly associated with detective stories, distinguished by the unsentimental portrayal of violence and sex. The style was pioneered by Carroll John Daly in the mid-1920s, popularized by Dashiell Hammett over the course of the decade, and refined...
detective genre; the original series took place on the planet of Summa Nulla ("the high point of nothing") although later series took Ruby to other planets and solar systems.
Laura Esterman
Laura Esterman
Laura Esterman is an American actress known for portraying Ruby the Galactic Gumshoe in contemporary radio dramas and for her Drama Desk Award and Obie Award winning performance in the 1992 original stage production of Scott McPherson's Marvin's Room.-Life and career:Esterman was born in New York...
starred as Ruby in the first series and Karen Young
Karen Young (actress)
Karen Young is an American actress.Born in Pequannock Township, New Jersey, Young studied at Rutgers University. After graduation she moved to New York City and became an actress, appearing in such films as 9½ Weeks, Jaws: The Revenge, Daylight, Mercy and Hoffa. Her ex-husband is Tom Noonan...
starred in the second series as "Ruby Too", another version of the protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
, while Esterman, as Ruby, had a cameo part in this series. Esterman returned to the lead role from Ruby 3 onwards, credited as Blanche Blackwell.
The series was originally syndicated to air on the radio in episodes of approximately three to four minutes long, but later released as half-hour episodes to radio stations. To date, eight Ruby adventures have been released, the most recent in October 2009.
Ruby has been broadcast in 23 countries, including Canada (on CBC
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
), England (on BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
), Australia (on ABC
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
) and the US (originally on PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
, more recently on Sirius-XM Satellite Radio). Ruby entered Science Fiction's Audio Hall of Fame for Best Science Fiction of 1982.
Series
- Ruby 1: The Adventures of a Galactic Gumshoe
- Ruby is hired by Rodant Kapoor to find out who is manipulating reality.
- Ruby 2: The Further Adventures of a Galactic Gumshoe
- Ruby Two is hired to find out who is windowing the Bulldada.
- Ruby 3:
- Part One: The Underworld
- Ruby is hired by the Aurorian Man Ray to trace a dark force entering Summa Nulla through the walls of Magnifico - City of Malls. Meanwhile, "techno-anthropologist" Inanna undertakes a quest to the dark and hellish Underworld to discover the meaning behind the mysterious "Seven Gates".
- Part Two: The Invisible World
- Ruby, Inanna and Kapoor find themselves stranded in the Invisible World, where each of them is forced to confront the dark force in their own way.
- Ruby 4:
- Ruby, Inanna and Kapoor find themselves stranded in the Invisible World, where each of them is forced to confront the dark force in their own way.
- Part One: The Moon Coins of Sonto Lore
- Ruby is hired by Marimba Mambo to find the four Moon Coins of Sonto Lore - the mythical fourth moon of Summa Nulla. The investigation accidentally uncovers a planned invasion by extra-dimensional Reptoids.
- Part Two: The Turban of El Morya
- And/Or attempts to build an invisible "light machine", while Teru is held prisoner on the Reptoid planet.
- Part Three: Dark Night of the Reptoids
- Ruby returns to the Reptoid planet in an attempt to rescue Teru.
- Part Four: Mad Moon for Rubina
- Summa Nulla is pulled into the fifth dimension... with cataclysmic consequences!
- Ruby 5: The Land of Zoots
- Summa Nulla is pulled into the fifth dimension... with cataclysmic consequences!
- Ruby is hired by the President Koonstar Bootstar to find out who created the Land of Zoots, a fantasyFantasy (psychology)Fantasy in a psychological sense is broadly used to cover two different senses, conscious and unconscious. In the unconscious sense, it is sometimes spelled "phantasy".-Conscious fantasy:...
land that has stated to be made real by the inhabitants of the Awakening Archipelago.- Ruby 6: The Illusionati
- Ruby is hired by Oop Boop, an Illuboo from the planet Illuboo Roi, to uncover members of the Illuboo secret society, the Illusionati.
- Ruby 6.5: Far Flung Farouk
- Ruby, Teru, Kapoor, and And/Or are hired to investigate the royal tomb of Far Flung Farouk.
- Ruby 7: Dream Weaver, Dream Deceiver
- The Morpheusians are experiencing fear for the first time in their lives, and Ruby is hired to find out who, how and why.
- Ruby 7.5: The Tookah's Tales
- Ruby entices the Tookah to tell his strange tales of what it's like to live on other planets.
- Ruby 8: The Good King Kapoor
- Ruby is hired by Mother Kapoor to bring home her son Rodant, who is hiding out in another universe.
Pilots
- "Tired of the Green Menace"
- The pilot for the Ruby series. Ruby Tuesday is hired by Colonel Abulah Abdullah to find out who has stolen Cleo, a small planet from Saudi Asteroidia in the Middle Eastern star clusterStar clusterStar clusters or star clouds are groups of stars. Two types of star clusters can be distinguished: globular clusters are tight groups of hundreds of thousands of very old stars which are gravitationally bound, while open clusters, more loosely clustered groups of stars, generally contain less than...
. Her only lead is the Advanced Fulcrum Magnetic Works of Fong on the planet of Dong-A-Long, who while previously unknown have recently appeared with highly sophisticated technology to move large asteroidAsteroidAsteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
s around for easy mining.- "Rebel from Utopia"
- Ruby Star is hired by Kapoor to locate "Mr. X", an earthling.
Major characters
- Ruby, a galactic gumshoe hired in each series to investigate a usually existentialExistentialismExistentialism is a term applied to a school of 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual...
mystery. She has the ability to slow time. - TJ Teru, a human archaeologistArchaeologyArchaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
whose life work is uncovering artifacts about the ancient Nullian people who once inhabited the planet where the series takes place. Often helps Ruby with his investigations. - Rodant Kapoor, in some series described as a Kapoorian. He hired Ruby in the original series and has since been a often maligned companion of her.
- Mother Kapoor, Rodant's mother
- And/Or, a techie for the Digital Circus, a group of hackers who put on technological performances and revere Nikola TeslaNikola TeslaNikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor, mechanical engineer, and electrical engineer...
. - OnOffOn and OffOnOff, two "techno-witches", also from the Digital Circus.
- The Tookah, a creature with four tentacles, three eyes, a thin blue mustache and a red fez. He often acts as an information source for Ruby's investigations.
- Angel Lips, an android and former companion of Teru.
- Molière, chief of the Mole People who dig the same archeological sites as Teru
- Francois, a robotRobotA robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
and head waiter at the cafe Garçon - Toots Mutant, part human and part reptoid, an archaeologist and once the leader of the Zoot Mutants, a gang of techno-punkCyberpunkCyberpunk is a postmodern and science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life." The name is a portmanteau of cybernetics and punk, and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk," published in 1983...
s who are sometime allies of Ruby. - The Android Sisters, who perform satiricalSatireSatire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
speak-songs - The Slimies, bio-engineered assassins who are often after Ruby and the gang. Slimies hunt by weaving "mind webs" to freeze and catch you in their thoughts. They also explode when they're killed.