There's a Horse on the Radio

Childhood Memories of Searcher and Stallion

So for May’s addition to my Artweaver herd of equines, I wanted to scribble something sort of techno in theme:

But then I wondered—what kind of post could I write to go along with such a creature? There was only one right answer . . . it’s finally time.

Time to rave about the wondrous adventure that is Searcher and Stallion! This science fiction audio drama series was broadcast in the 1990’s in Salt Lake City, on the non-profit community radio station KRCL 90.9 FM.

I believe I was about ten or eleven when I first stumbled across it one fateful Sunday evening. I was just sitting in the darkness of my bedroom listening to the radio on my little cassette player (no fancy phones back then to sap my brain space and give me tile face, so I had to find other ways to entertain myself). But nothing could’ve prepared me for the epic awesomeness of this chance encounter while tuning into random channels.

I mean, just listen to this introduction. Searcher and Stallion is a masterpiece of storytelling, narration, sound effects, and sweeping music all wrapped up in roughly half hour episodes.

I was instantly mesmerized by the story of an amnesiac man waking up in the 58th century, alone on a laboratory table. But not truly alone—for he’s never far from his robotic companion, Stallion, a technological marvel of a beast with an FTL (faster than light) drive that allows for space travel! Oh, and a mechanical heart fiercely loyal to his human friend.

I was already quite obsessed with horses as a child. But I must confess that the metallic silver gleam of this star-hopping horse filled me with awe and upstaged even the Black Stallion’s supreme majesty in my heart. Donning a powered suit of armor called an “exoskel,” Searcher embarks on a quest to discover the truth about his past, and why his human body never ages. Stallion is his only constant in this mystery that spans the Galactic Mega Empire.

The story concept was created in 1991 during a meeting between Wayne Tyler, Scott Howard, John Phillips, and Kendall Jackman. Fortunately for us, the vast majority of the series is available to listen to for free thanks to the Internet Archive.

I was instantly hooked on Searcher and Stallion’s adventures and eagerly awaited new episodes each Sunday evening. I think the series played around 10:30 PM? Rather late for a school night, but I didn’t care! Neither did my little sisters. Before long, my pesky, inquisitive siblings heard me listening to the strange space adventure and wanted in, too.

I asked my sister B what she loved best about Searcher and Stallion, and she remembered how each episode played perfectly like a movie in your head. I agree—plain darkness made an excellent theater for the mind as the audio drama was so well written and performed that really, all you needed to do was LISTEN while your rapt atoms shook under the vision.

I asked my sister M about a vivid memory of the series, and she replied without hesitation, Jessica Coramondi’s beautiful, long red hair. (*Apologies if I am misspelling her surname, I could not find a written example online). Oh, Jessica! In my opinion, her character is one of the most pivotal of the entire series, Searcher’s one and only true love—

Jessica is a central figure in my absolute favorite Searcher and Stallion story, the 12-part series “The Nemesis” by Brad Torgersen. At 35 years of age, she’s already a veteran commander with two decades of service under her belt. After pirates attacked her quiet home world of Farmington Fields and left her an orphan when she was just fifteen, Jessica joined the military to protect and serve others. Now stationed on the backwater planet of Beramis 3, she’s accidentally drawn into a cosmic web of intrigue meant to catch Searcher and Stallion—not her. And yet, she will never back down from a fight, not while she still has her trusty gap laser rifle!

I don’t want to give too much away, but I will say that the villains are expertly evil. Searcher’s arch enemy, Contiac (*unsure of spelling) has harried him across multiple stories and stars. Ancient and cunning in his schemes, Contiac draws Searcher to Beramis 3 to unlock the mysteries of an inscrutable cube that will respond only to his DNA. Contiac also reels in the brutish Arkron (*guessing again on spelling), another man with a missing past and a gigantic exoskel designed for ultimate dominance.

And then there is the vast and enigmatic figure that appears across the series—the Creature with the Mask of Stars, a being who watches Searcher and Stallion’s miniscule lives from light-years beyond the edge of the universe!

But it is the pure heart of the series that draws me deep into the audio drama.

*(MAJOR SPOILERS for “The Nemesis” episode 12 ahead . . . )

I almost cried at the end of “The Nemesis” when Searcher leans against Stallion’s neck, hugging his robotic companion. Each had presumed the other had died and left them truly alone, forever. A man embracing his beloved horse in any era of the cosmos will always tug at my heartstrings. My tears are also summoned with the rain when Jessica sacrifices herself to save Searcher, her body destined to be buried beside her parents’ graves on Farmington Fields. Yet I will never give up my sliver of hope that her tragic fate can somehow be changed by the cryptic blue sparkle of the cube!

I keenly remember how much Searcher and Stallion’s stories meant to me when my family moved from Utah to the East Coast. I think I was about 15 years old, and both excited and scared for this giant move that would uproot me from everything I held familiar in my life. As my father drove our trusty Toyota across multiple states for several days, I took Searcher and Stallion along with me for this new journey.

Luckily, I’d recorded some of my favorite episodes on my cassette player. I stuffed these cassette tapes inside a clear-faceted, acrylic tissue box holder along with my battery-operated cassette player with a headphone jack. That tissue box holder might as well have been made of cut crystal for the precious cargo it contained within it.

I listened to episodes of Searcher and Stallion the entire way, finding both comfort and assurance in them—I could be brave, too. I could . . . wander! Maybe not as far away as the Gossamer Nebula, but I could explore new places and try new things in my own small world.

And I can never overstate the importance of Searcher and Stallion in nurturing my adoration for speculative fiction. I cherish the space duo’s adventures just as dearly as Star Trek, Star Wars, and the works of sci-fi masters like Arthur C. Clarke, Anne McCaffrey, and Isaac Asimov.

So to everyone at KRCL Radio Station who threw all their passion into bringing this audio drama series to life in the 90’s, thank you for broadcasting the wild dreamscape of Searcher and Stallion over the airwaves. I know I’m far from the only one who stumbled across it in wonder, and imagined a brighter, more marvelous galaxy in their heart . . .

And secretly wished for a robotic friend named Stallion, too.

*Want to support KRCL Radio Station? Donate here.

Source:

“Searcher and Stallion.” Internet Archive.

<https://archive.org/details/searcher-and-stallion>

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