Decoder Ring Theatre

There are always more than one side to every story. And when you're dealing with a newspaper magnate, a missing heiress, a kidnapping with no ransom and an angry fishmonger, sometimes there are more sides than story. No simple matter for your average gumshoe, but just another day at the office for... Man's Best Friend.

"The one that got away" is a fine kind of tale for some. Fishermen, for example, seem to thrive on the subject. But in the detective business, where things seem to exist in a perpetually unfinished state, there are those cases that just won't stay in the drawer. The ones that never sat quite right. If only you had been a little stronger, a little smarter.... and sometimes they can weigh a man down, threaten to drag him under as they hang about his neck. It's sink or swim time, and who will win, the flatfoot or... The Albatross?

They say that there are no small parts, my friends, only small actors. I've never been entirely clear on exactly what that means, or if the folks that coined the phrase intended it to be as insulting as it is. But one thing is for sure, those thin character sketches that populate the margins are usually kept there for a reason. But when left to their own devices, they tend to play familiar games. Games like... Cops and Robbers!

There are few things that cry out for introspection quite like the passing of one year into the next. A time when the rustle of lost illusions crackles underfoot, like a handful of dead leaves in the wind. When past, present and future come together for a single moment to blow a raspberry at you in the shaving mirror. A time when even the handful of thing you might have been sure of shift underfoot, and send you sliding down the slipperly slope to nowhere in particular. And when that moment comes, even the most hard-boiled of gumshoes can spare a moment for... Auld Lang Syne

When everybody's favorite junior boy detective drops by, its usually good for a twist of a certain tail, and our Square-Jawed hero kind of enjoys that, kind of like a mean kid who pulls the wings off flies. But even a bird-dog job courtesy of the Gentleman Detective is tough to smile at when it comes wrapped in... Hush Money! 

A mysterious monster is tearing through the landscape, destroying anything that gets in its way, and headed straight for Toronto! And nothing the Home Team can throw at this unstoppable object seems equal to the task of playing immovable force. Where did this terrible creation come from? Can anything stop it? And just why was the Red Panda the last choice to stop the... Barbarian at the Gates?

Time for a night on the town - West Coast Style! When the Flying Squirrel trails a sabotage ring to Vancouver, can a run in with the local masked hero be far behind? And when the Grey Fox turns out to be a heroine with a chip on her shoulder and a nasty temper, the stage is set for one heck of a... Girls' Night Out!

The Red Panda has faced many dangers in the service of his country, and few seem greater than being forced to share a sandbox with other superheroes. The masked marvel has never been known to work and play well with others, but is that the only reason he has been kept away from the entire Home Team, or is there something more sinister at work? Trust seems like such a simple thing, but sometimes it can be positively.... Rocket Science!

They say that crime knows no loyaties, and there is no honour among thieves. Certainly, for a nation at war, any attack upon the forces of law and order may be seen as an act of treason. But what if crime were a nation onto itself? A force of nature, bound only by its own harsh rules? Could even the Red Panda prevent the reign of... The King Of Crime?

There may not be an ideal time to learn that one of the Red Panda's deadliest foes has escaped custody, but this certainly isn't it. The Red Panda and the Flying Squirrel may only have hours to prevent the Mistress of the Undead from departing for Berlin and if they fail, can an invasion of the dead be far behind? And all of that before they even deal with ... The Home Team!

More than a year has passed since the Occult War was lost, and little has gone well for those who stand against the forces of darkness. Many nations are now in Nazi hands, and the shadow of occupation hangs heavily over the remaining free people of Europe. Closer to home, saboteurs and traitors now lurk in the shadows which once sheltered criminal scum, and only one man can stand against them. The Red Panda may have lost much of his army of justice, but he still has an iron will, the strength of ten and most of all... The Nose For News!

All good things must come to an end, my friends, and so our summer stroll down memory lane comes to a close with this final episode. And it just wouldn't be a finale without a big finish, would it? So call the neighbors and wake the kids... tell the arts council to make with the grant money already... it's the full-on, hard-boiled, gender-inverted Black Jack Justice starring Clarissa Dernederlanden as Jack and Scotty Moyle as Trixie Dixon, girl detective.

Holy cats, Decoder Ringers, two "Red Panda" Play It Agains in a row? It's almost like we're saving a Black Jack for the summer's big finale in a couple of weeks... But in the meantime, what could be better than an old-school creepy mystery with the cast stood on its head? Kevin Robinson as the Red Panda! Andrea Lyons as the Flying Squirrel! Chris Mott as a Newsie! Get ready for Death Danced at Midnight as we.... Play It Again!

We continue our summer stroll down memory lane with danger and daring-do courtesy of Steven Burley sitting in as the Red Panda with Hero van Harten as the Flying Squirrel in a little season two Red Panda Adventure we like to call... The Sweet Tooth!

Fun in the sun as we play "what might have been" with a favorite episode of Black Jack Justice, this time featuring the dream team of Freddie the Finger and the Flying Squirrel.... Yes folks, its Peter Nicol as Jack and Clarissa Dernederlanden as Trixie Dixon, girl detective, so buckle up!

Our Summer Showcase of what-might-have-been continues and we play a little game of turnabout is fair play as Smilin' Chris Mott dons the red domino mask of Canada's Greatest Superhero, with Julie Florio joining him as plucky sidekick/driver extraordinaire!

The first in our series of Summer Delights featuring favorite scripts as selected by you, the listener! The only caveat to these tales so nice we told 'em twice is that no one, and I mean no one, can play the same part the second time around. So marvel at the path not taken with Julie Cogger as Trixie Dixon and Gregg Taylor as Jack Justice as we.... Play It Again!

For years now, the self-appointed guardians of the unearthly powers that remain in this world have fought a running battle, trying to hold back the forces of darkness as personified by Nazi Germany. While the world has slept, a great Occult War has been fought all around us. Now it is over. We lost. Only one thing can now prevent that loss from being total, and a thousand years of darkness from descending upon the Earth like a plague. Will even the Red Panda be left standing after The Great Fall?

A series of mysterious accidents is plauging the business interests of a certain wealthy former gad-about. Is it mere coincidence, or is Fenwick Industries being targeted? And when both the city's mystery men and a secret government agent get involved, will the cure be worse than the disease? How many must pay for the... Sins of the Father?

Two impossibly rare jewels, each the twin of the other and locked in an ancient curse... kept as far apart as possible for years. But now one of the Eyes of Doom has fallen prey to a master thief, and the second is under the protection of a certain masked mystery man. Is it their own terrible destiny that draws these artifacts together, or is it something still more sinister? Can even the Red Panda hope to escape the power of... The Eyes of the Idol?