John W. Campbell Jr, the influential editor of Astounding Science Fiction magazine, hosted this short-lived series, which ran on the Mutual Broadcasting System from late 1957 to mid 1958. Despite the apparent link to Astounding, the magazine was not sponsoring the series. Campbell merely acted as host and, perhaps, supervised scripts.  Very few of the episodes have survived the years intact-- most copies have a lot of scratch. While the series was designed to be only 25 minutes in length, some of the shows must have been doubled up two per broadcast, since some episodes are considerably shorter.

Currently this archive contains plots for 24 of 28 episodes

WEBMASTER RECOMMENDS:
The Cold Equations; Planet of Geniuses; The Convict

SEE THE CD COVER ART FOR THIS SERIES HERE

Episode numbers are highly suspect, as they are too close to being alphabetical

The Adventure of the Beauty Queen
Episode: 
Genre: 
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A woman is contacted by a voice out of the future claiming to have fallen in love with her beauty, though our descendants' concept of beauty is very different than what she is used to.

The Alien (aka "Desert Object" and "Nago")                                                                                        
Episode: 03
Genre: Aliens
Available for Listening Booth: N

An alien crashes his ship into a remote section of Arizona, where a family of local yokels decide to use him to make a fortune. Story by Gordon Dickson

The Cold Equations                                                                                                                  
Episode: ?
Genre: Space Exploration
Available for Listening Booth: Y

Classic story of a space pilot on an emergency medical run who finds himself carrying a stowaway. However, his shuttle does not have enough fuel to allow for the extra weight.

Versions of this story also appeared on X Minus One , Future Tense,  Sci-Fi Radio, and the CBC pilot Faster Than Light .

Reviews:
Of all the radio versions of this famous story, I'd have to pick this one as my choice for the best of them. The acting and pacing was just a notch higher than the others.  - Webmaster

The Convict
Episode: 01
Genre: Space Travel
Available for Listening Booth: Y

Desperate to escape a frigid exile on Mars, a convicted criminal hijacks a shuttle back to Earth.

Country Boy                                                                                                                                    
Episode: 02
Genre: Future  Earth
Available for Listening Booth: N

A naieve bumpkin arrives in the New York of the 21st century and falls prey to a con artist.

Desert Object (see "The Alien")

Do It and Like It   (see 'The Happiness Effect')

Dreams                                                                                                                                                
Episode: 04
Genre: Future Earth
Available for Listening Booth: Y

In a post-Apocalyptic world attempting to rebuild civilization, a civil admisnitrator seeks psychiatric help for  dreams that plague him of his own death at the hands of the black marketeers he is in conflict with.

The Escape *LOST*
Episode: 05
Genre: 
Available for Listening Booth: N

Ethan (aka "How Big is a Man?")                                                                                                            
Episode: 10
Genre: Aliens
Available for Listening Booth: N

A stranger and his pet wolf appear on the scene of a meteor crash - or was it just a meteor?

Fair Fight (see "Made in Avak")

The First Baby in Space (see "Space Baby")

First Contact                                                                                                         
Episode: 06
Genre: Aliens/ Space Exploration
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A survey mission into the Crab Nebula encounters an alien spacecraft. How can either race depart from the encounter when they don't know if the other can track them back home? Based on a classic short story by Murray Leinster.

Versions of this story also appeared on Dimension X and  X Minus One.

First Men on the Moon (see "The Moon is New")

Flashback                                                                                                                                       
Episode: 08
Genre: War/ Aliens
Available for Listening Booth: Y

An expectant father has visions of his son's future in a world reeling from invasion and conquest by an advanced alien race.

Genius (see "Planet of Geniuses")

The Gift (See 'The Happiness Effect')

The Happiness Effect   (aka 'The Gift' and 'Do it and Like it')                                                                                
Episode: 29
Genre: Super Science
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A brain surgeon invents a method of tapping into the brain's synapses to modify the behavior of society's more 'undesirable ' elements. Story by Raymond Banks.

How Big is a Man? (see "Ethan")

The Hunting Lodge (see "The Trouble with Robots")

Inferiority (aka "Venus' Diamond Mountain")                                                                                         
Episode: 27
Genre: Aliens
Available for Listening Booth: Y

On a hellish Venus, a strange vengeance is sought by a jealous man against the son of his most hated enemy. 

The Last Doctor
Episode: 11
Genre: 
Available for Listening Booth: N

Liar!                                                                                                                                                       
Episode: 12
Genre: Robots
Available for Listening Booth: Y

Human engineers discover that, due to an unknown flaw, one of their new robots can read minds. Each starts asking the robot secretly about the others. Why shouldn't they believe what it tells them? Based on the short story by Isaac Asimov.

Look Out, Duck!    *LOST*
Episode: 13
Genre: Space Travel
Available for Listening Booth: N

A hatching of ducks on a space freighter causes problems for the crew when they are compelled to increase shipboard gravity by 50% so the hatchlings can develop properly.

Made in Avak (aka "Fair Fight" and "War Game")
Episode: 14
Genre: Aliens
Available for Listening Booth: Y

An interstellar trader's cargo of  toys from the planet Avak  arouse the suspicion of an Earth customs official. Story by Philip K. Dick

The Man from the Past (see "Vincent Deem, 1997")

The Martian Queen (see "Sound Decision")

Meddler's Moon (aka "Time Traveler")
Episode: 25
Genre: 
Available for Listening Booth: N

Mimic
Episode: 15
Genre: Aliens
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A woman can't wait to see her brother when he returns to Earth after a five year space mission. A lot can happen in five years....... 

The Moon is New (aka "First Men on the Moon")
Episode: 07
Genre: Space Exploration
Available for Listening Booth: Y

The Cold War in space-- an American astronaut has a hard decision to make when he reaches the Moon, only to discover that the Russians have already landed and claimed it for themselves. Story by Robert Silverberg.

The Mutant
Episode: 17
Genre: Mutants
Available for Listening Booth: Y

Mutants created by radiation from nuclear war are generally kept segregated from society, but one mutant capable of telepathically controlling people decides he's had enough of isolation. 

Nago (see "The Alien")

No Way Out (see "Overpopulation")

Overpopulation (aka "No Way out" and "Solution Impossible")                                                
Episode: 18
Genre: Future Earth
Available for Listening Booth: Y

Mankind has spread throughout the Solar System, but still faces catastrophic overcrowding on Earth. The Secretary-General of the UN must somehow convince the ambassador from Venus to open the colonies to Earth's teeming billions. 

Planet of Geniuses (aka "Genius", "The Secret", "With All the Trappings")
Episode: 19
Genre: Aliens
Available for Listening Booth: Y

As a sociological study, a group of scientists has seeded a planet with colonists and deprived them of technology and all memory of their stellar origin. The experiment is overly successful when the 'natives' start developing at an alarming rate, fast enough to worry the galactic military, who dispatch an investigator to determine whether or not they should be destroyed. Story by Poul Anderson.

Reviews:
An excellent example of why radio programs were so popular. A good radio program had to have a good script (i.e. an interesting story), actors with well trained voices, and a plot which moved quickly because of 
the limited time available.. This program has all of that....plus a surprise ending.
This science fiction story begins with an innocent question: What IS a "genius"? Woven into the drama about whether an entire planet should live or die based on its inhabitants...are other questions: How do we spot geniuses...by their looks...their behavior...their speech? The answers may be surprising. But this is a DRAMA.. not a dull lecture. You'll enjoy it!!... - CChaz

The Secret  (see 'Planet of Geniuses')

Solution Impossible (see "Overpopulation")

Sound Decision  (aka 'The Martian Queen')                                                                                                                               
Episode: 16
Genre: Space Travel
Available for Listening Booth: Y

When a damaged space liner en route back to Earth seems on an imminent collision course with the planet, the authorities on the ground and the pilots on board must face a hard question-- what price the lives of the passengers? 

The Space Baby (aka "First Baby in Space")
Episode: 21
Genre: Space Exploration
Available for Listening Booth: Y

An expectant mother aboard an orbital station is injured in a meteor impact, and her baby needs an incubator to survive - a piece of equipment simply not found aboard a space station. Story by Randall Garrett.

The Stowaway  *LOST*
Episode: 22
Genre: Space Travel
Available for Listening Booth: N

NOTE: This episode may not exist - might be an alternative title for 'The Cold Equations'

The Stranger with Roses (see 'Vincent Deem, 1997)

Telepathic
Episode: 23
Genre: undefined
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A couple can find no better employment for telepathic ability than to bicker and threaten each other. Story by Gordon Dickson.

Time Heals
Episode: 
Genre: Future Earth
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A man with incurable cancer volunteers for cryogenic freezing, and wakes up in a world 800 years into the future, only to discover a personal fate worse than what he tried to escape. Story by Poul Anderson.

Time Traveler (see "Meddler's Moon")

The Trouble with Robots (aka "The Hunting Lodge")                                                                            
Episode: 26
Genre: Robots
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A western journalist manages to obtain a rare interview with the reclusive dictator of Transylvania, who has surrounded himself with robot guards to protect himself from assassins. But assassins can be very determined....

Venus' Diamond Mountain (see "Inferiority")

Vincent Deem, 1997 (aka "The Man from the Past" and 'The Stranger with Roses')
Episode: 28 
Genre: Time Travel
Available for Listening Booth: N

War Game (see "Made in Avak")

With All the Trappings (see "Planet of Geniuses")