x minus one

"...Adventures in which you'll live in a million could-be years on a thousand maybe worlds..."

X Minus One holds the record for the longest running SF radio series ever produced, airing on NBC for almost three years (1955-58) and spanning 113 episodes, and one revival show that had nothing to do with the original production. However, as successful as it was, the popularity of radio drama was on the wane as the juggernaut of television inexorably took over the home. Low budgets and increasingly disinterested sponsors made production difficult, but these adversities were somewhat counterbalanced by a direct tie-in with Galaxy magazine, a popular SF digest of the period. Most of the stories were culled directly from the pages of Galaxy, or remakes of stories produced for Dimension X (of which X Minus One was originally a revival series). Many of SF's most popular authors got mass exposure through this series, and even today X Minus One is still generally considered a cornerstone of radio drama.

Currently this archive contains plotlines for 121 of 121 episodes

WEBMASTER RECOMMENDS:
The Map Makers; Lulungomeena; Hallucination Orbit; Early Model; C-Chute; Sea Legs; The Seventh Victim; First Contact

SEE THE CD COVER ART FOR THIS SERIES HERE

A Gun for Dinosaur
Genre: Time Travel
Episode: 038
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A safari into the Cretaceous to hunt for Tyrannosaurus Rex is endangered by a reckless glory hound, whose ineptitude and arrogance are matched only by his capacity for murder. Story by L. Sprague de Camp.

See also 'Project Mastodon' (X Minus One), and 'A Sound of Thunder' (BBC , Bradbury 13 & SF 68).

Reviews:
I love everything about this episode - the acting is superb, the situation is unique, the tension profound, the danger real. This is probably my favorite OTR episode of all time. -- David Hassell

Pretty darn good. Most worthy of a listen. Not too hefty a subject; it felt like a good episode of Jonny Quest or a comic book. But it’s a fine example of middleweight sci-fi. - Brad Reed

When it comes to listening to old time radio, I guess I'm no different than some people in that I will listen to certain shows based on my mood at the time. A Gun For Dinosaur is an episode that I can listen to just about anytime. This is an episode that I usually give to people if they are new and have asked about where to begin. There are times when I want something a little deeper, but I will always enjoy listening to adventures like this one that just take you for a ride and don't let you off until the end. This is one of my favorites. - Will Todd

A Logic Named Joe
Genre: Super Science
Episode: 031
Available for Listening Booth: Y

An enterprising computer company releases a PC capable of answering any question put to it. Unfortunately, some of the questions people want answers to are not ones that members of a civilized society should be asking... Story by Murray Leinster.

A version of this story was also produced for Dimension X.

A Pail of Air
Genre: Future Earth
Episode: 041
Available for Listening Booth: Y

In a future where the Earth has moved away from the Sun and lost its atmosphere, a lone family of survivors struggle to survive in the ruins of a dead city. Story by Fritz Leiber.

Another version of this story also appeared on Future Tense.

See also 'Dwellers in Silence' (X Minus One & Dimension X).

Reviews:
This is the episode that turned me on to X Minus One and still one of my favorites. The story moves along nicely, slowly building suspense. I can remember being a little scared when I first heard it at about midnight in the mid 1980's. I love the father's low-tech solution for creating the family's "nest". -- C. Phillips

A Wind is Rising
Genre: Aliens
Episode: 109
Available for Listening Booth: Y

Two men stationed on an alien world scoured by tornadic winds ignore the counsel of the spidery natives and brave the weather to reach a damaged communications antenna. After all, the wind outside is only blowing at about 150 mph, and rising... Story by Robert Sheckley.

Almost Human
Genre: Robots
Episode: 013
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A scientist builds a robot-- "Junior"-- capable of intelligence and consciousness, but the machine is stolen by a criminal who has other ideas for its uses. Junior, however, has plans of his own. Story by Robert Bloch.

Another version of this story originally appeared on Dimension X

See also 'Beware Tomorrow' ( The Mysterious Traveler).

Reviews:
A by-the-numbers story. It’s quaint, in a way. A solitary scientist builds a childlike robot, the scientist’s secretary has an ex-boyfriend who’s a mobster, he makes off with the girl and the bot, you know the rest. Bleah. The lack of imagination here is impressive. - Brad Reed

And the Moon be Still as Bright
Genre: Mars
Episode: 109
Available for Listening Booth: Y

As though wiping out the Martian race with Earthborn diseases weren't enough, humans demonstrate a hostile contempt for what relics and monuments the Martians left behind-- until one man with a conscience and a gun decides to stand up for the dead. Story by Ray Bradbury; part of the Martian Chronicles future history.

Other versions of this story aired on Dimension X & Omni Audio Experience.

See also 'The Martian Death March' (X Minus One & Dimension X); See the full listing of Martian Chronicles stories under 'Ray Bradbury' on the Famous Authors on Radio page.

Appointment in Tomorrow
Genre: Future Earth
Episode: 070
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A look into a dark future controlled by the 'Thinkers', and the computer brain they rely on to do the actual thinking. Story by Fritz Leiber.

See also 'Man's Best Friend' (X Minus One), 'The Last Rose of Summer' (BBC), & 'When the Machines Went Mad' (2000 Plus)

Reviews:
Probably my favorite episode of the series. It tells two stories: the operators of the Big Computer Brain that runs everything, and two scientists who think the Big Computer Brain is a giant scam. It’s cynical, funny, and takes a really nasty shot at science fiction fans, who evidently were the same in the Fifties as they are today. - Brad Reed

At the Post
Genre: Aliens
Episode: 089
Available for Listening Booth: Y

Where do the minds of catatonics go? A horserace bookie finds out when his wife's comatose condition draws him into an alien operation to record all of human knowledge before we destroy ourselves.

Reviews:
Not terribly interesting, though it does have a redeeming trait: the bookie, a diehard cynic, is an unreliable interpreter of events. Otherwise, it’s a boring “Foolish humans, thou hast created the means of thine own destruction!” story. - Brad Reed

Bad Medicine
Genre: Humour
Episode: 056
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A New York jetbus driver with a simple case of homicidal mania purchases a home computer therapist, unaware that this particular machine has been programmed to treat only Martian psychoses. Story by Robert Sheckley.

Caretaker
Genre: Aliens
Episode: 081
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A mission to rescue the survivor of a long lost expedition to a remote planet discovers him not only alive and well, but engaged in a private war to protect the native humanoids from the slug-like 'Zares'. Story by James Schmitz.

Reviews:
An interesting story very similar to the Twilight Zone episode where the main character thinks she is ugly and so she has doctors operate on her face but then you see that she is the one who is pretty and everyone else is ugly. When I first heard the man who had been isolated on the alien world say that his alien wife was really beautiful but she wasn’t around yet for the men to meet her I instantly knew something was up. When he later described the two rival groups on the planet and said that his wife was from the good ones and that they were beautiful and the other ones were ugly I figured that it would be otherwise. I guess these types of stories have been regurgitated on television so much that it doesn’t shock me but it is still good to hear them in their original or close to original form.- Barry Howell

The Castaways
Genre:
Episode: 018
Available for Listening Booth: Y

Nuclear testing on a remote Pacific island goes awry when the natives-- rather than be relocated-- threaten to commit mass suicide to put a curse on the project.

Two separate versions of this story were produced for X Minus One. Also, an original production appeared on Dimension X.

Reviews:
How’s this for a truly Fifties idea? An unspecified new kind of nuke is about to be tested on a tiny island. The natives refuse to leave and end up committing mass suicide to curse the project. Shortly after, the bomb fails to detonate. Excellent setup. The payoff was dumb, but what a setup. - Brad Reed

The Category Inventor
Genre: Future Earth
Episode: 095
Available for Listening Booth: Y

In the future, staying competitive in the super-automated, highly specialized job market can be tough-- unless you can invent a profession nobody has ever thought of before.

The Cave of Night
Genre: Space Exploration
Episode: 034
Available for Listening Booth: Y

An astronaut trapped in orbit inspires a worldwide rescue effort-- but does he need it? Story by James Gunn.

C-Chute
Genre: Aliens/ War
Episode: 035
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A mixed group of humans is made captive when their spaceliner is boarded and hijacked by enemy aliens. Story by Isaac Asimov.

Chain of Command
Genre: Humour
Episode: 072
Available for Listening Booth: Y

Radioactive experiments at a top secret government research lab inadvertently produce intelligent mice, who take exception to the traps laid out for them in the hallways - such exception, in fact, that one mouse is willing to take his case to Washington.

Reviews:
Like the episode “Nightmare,” this is a strange combination of whimsy and paranoia. I didn’t much care for it. It seemed like a relaxing frippery created by a writer so steeped in paranoia he didn’t know how to write any other way. - Brad Reed

Child's Play
Genre: Super Science
Episode: 021
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A milquetoast lawyer accidentally receives a package in the mail containing a cloning machine from the future, with which he sets about making a duplicate capable of turning his life around. Story by William Tenn.

Another version of this story originally aired on Dimension X. A more recent version was produced by Seeing Ear Theater.

See also 'Marionettes, Inc.' (Dimension X & X Minus One) and 'Prime Difference' (X Minus One)

The Coffin Cure
Genre: 114
Episode: Humour
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A research company discovers an answer to Mankind's oldest and greatest dream - a cure for the common cold. But as the old saying goes, the cure is often worse than the disease.

The Cold Equations
Genre: Space Exploration
Episode: 015
Available for Listening Booth: Y

Classic story about the pilot of an EMS (Emergency Medical Shuttle), on a mission to deliver vital serum to a plague world, who discovers a young woman stowaway whose extra weight must condemn her to death for lack of sufficient fuel.

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

Reviews:
This is one of the saddest OTR episodes I've heard so far.-- David Hassell

Very good episode. The woman snuck on board because her husband was on the target world, and she had no idea about the difficulties of fuel consumption in the far frontiers. It’s a sad story. If she stays on the ship, sixteen men die, including her husband. If she leaves, she dies. There is no third option. And that’s that. A cold, cold situation. Very well done. - Brad Reed

Colony
Genre: Space Exploration
Episode: 066
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A survey expedition on a distant planet must determine whether the world is safe for colonization. In fact it seems ideal-- until one of the scientists reports that his microscope tried to strangle him. Story by Philip Dick.

See also 'Drop Dead', 'Student Body' (X Minus One), and 'Here There be Tigers' (Bradbury 13)

Reviews:
Very Philip Dick: things are not what they seem, kinda hallucinatory, evil humor. A good episode, with an odd side bit: the commander of the ship is a woman. This being the Fifties, she’s not all that commanding, but still. Not the best X Minus One, but good. - Brad Reed

Courtesy
Genre: Aliens
Episode: 014
Available for Listening Booth: Y

An expedition to the planet Landro meets with disaster when a strange inexplicable plague strikes. The natives seem immune, but reluctant to offer any assistance. Story by Clifford Simak . NOTE: The same characters appear again in a later episode, 'Junkyard'.

Another version of this story originally aired on Dimension X

Reviews:
Didn’t quite get this one. I think the premise was an interesting idea, but just not the solution that was given. However this is sci-fi and exploring anything and everything is what it is all about. - Barry Howell

Death Wish
Genre: Space Exploration
Episode: 110
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A mishap aboard a spaceship sends it hurtling out of the Solar System with no hope of rescue, save for an onboard computer which the ship's engineer is convinced hates humans.

See also 'The Map Makers' (X Minus One), 'Survival' (BBC) & 'Space Wreck' (2000 Plus)

The Defenders
Genre: Future Earth/ War
Episode: 049
Available for Listening Booth: Y

Mankind has retreated underground to escape the horrors of a surface decimated by World War Three, leaving the machines to continue the fighting. Story by Philip Dick.

Another version of this story appeared on Future Tense.

See also 'Hello, Tomorrow' (X Minus One & Dimension X) and 'The Last Objective' (Dimension X)

Reviews:
It’s such a period piece it makes my teeth ache. On the plus side, it’s a gripping story, well told. To see the naked fears of a culture so used to war and just coming to understand the terror of nuclear weapons is revealing, lemme tell ya. To the audience of 1955, the fear of nuclear war wasn’t abstract. It felt real and inevitable. That’ll scare the pants off of you. - Brad Reed

The Discovery of Morniel Nathaway
Genre: Humour
Episode: 092
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A worthless artist receives a visitor from the future who tells him his art will come to be known as the work of a genius. Story by William Tenn.

A version was produced for Future Tense.

See also 'Sam, This is You' (X Minus One)

Double Dare
Genre: Aliens
Episode: 117
Available for Listening Booth: Y

Two human engineers get caught in a deadly game of one-upmanship on an alien planet. Story by Robert Silverberg.

Dr. Grimshaw's Sanitarium
Genre:
Episode: 009
Available for Listening Booth: Y

An investigator infiltrates the strange goings-on at an asylum for the insane, where the patients are undergoing a bizarre physical transformation.

Versions of this story also appeared on Future Tense and Dimension X

Drop Dead
Genre: Space Exploration
Episode: 103
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A survey team encounters a planet with only a single indigenous species, a bizarre life form which is both utterly harmless and invariably deadly. Story by Clifford Simak.

See also 'Colony', 'Student Body' (X Minus One), and 'Here There be Tigers' (Bradbury 13)

Reviews:
Not much of a story. Kinda boring. On the other hand, you’ll never hear the word “critter” uttered as frequently as you will during this episode. - Brad Reed

Dwellers in Silence
Genre: Future Earth
Episode: 024
Available for Listening Booth: Y

The first explorers from a colonized Mars to return to Earth generations after the Atomic War discover the last survivors, a family with some very odd peculiarities about them. Story by Ray Bradbury; part of the Martian Chronicles series.

Another version of this story originally appeared on Dimension X

See also 'A Pail of Air' (X Minus One) ;See the full listing of Martian Chronicles stories under 'Ray Bradbury' on the Famous Authors on Radio page.

Early Model
Genre: Aliens/ Humour
Episode: 097
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A personal forcefield provided for a first contact agent backfires when the natives he's meant to survey interpret his invulnerability as demonic influence and decide he must be destroyed. Story by Robert Sheckley.

Reviews:
This is actually a pretty funny story with a somewhat twist ending. The protectant the main character wears seems to protect him at the most inopportune times and therefore gets him into a lot of trouble (which was quite hilarious actually, especially when he tries to shake hands with the head alien chief). What happens when he finally takes it off at the end was a nice twist. I especially liked how the alien’s speech was translated into a BBC announcer voice. This story reminded me of a “Monsters” episode I saw on TV many years ago in which a man with heart trouble wears this thing that protects him from potential heart attacks as well anything else that poses a risk to his life. After it goes off several times he wants to get rid of it but the people who installed it won’t take it off cause it would be a breach of contract.- Barry Howell

The Embassy
Genre: Aliens
Episode: 011
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A detective agency is hired by a crackpot who wants them to investigate and expose a nest of Martians sent to prepare the way for an invasion of Earth. Story by Donald Wolheim.

Another version of this story originally aired on Dimension X

End as a World
Genre: Future Earth
Episode: 100
Available for Listening Booth: Y

People all over the world seem to know that the world as they know it is about to come to an abrupt end at a certain hour of a certain day, but no one seems particularly concerned.

Field Study
Genre: Super Science
Episode: 084
Available for Listening Booth: Y

An unorthodox healer selling placebos seems to be achieving a phenomenal number of cures.

A version of this story was produced for Future Tense.

First Contact
Genre: Space exploration/Aliens
Episode: 020
Available for Listening Booth: Y

Classic story of a starship which encounters an alien vessel in the Crab Nebula, and the dilemma they both face when they realize that neither ship dares depart for fear of giving away clues as to their origin. Story by Murray Leinster.

Versions of this story also appeared on Dimension X and Exploring Tomorrow

Reviews:
Probably my very favorite episode from X Minus One; A true sci-fi classic, very original and exciting in a speculative sort of way. Anyway, you must hear this show! I highly recommend it! - Luc L'Heureux

The Girls from Earth
Genre: Humour/ Mars
Episode: 079
Available for Listening Booth: Y

Two crooks con the all-male colony on Mars into paying for a shipment of beautiful women from home at a hundred dollars a head, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Reviews:
A western story rewritten as a space story. It’s okay, though. The con men hit upon the idea of importing brides for miners on Mars. To drum up business, they doctor the forms to make the women look beautiful and young. They plan on scooting out before the ships arrive, but their plans don’t quite work out. Not too bad an episode. -Brad Reed

Gray Flannel Armor
Genre: undefined
Episode: 120
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A lonely bachelor accepts a free trial offer from a matchmaking service that guarantees success through its strategy of 'spontaneous fate', and a little cheating on the sly. No real sci-fi elements here. Story by Robert Sheckley.

A version of this story was later produced for Future Tense (as 'The Romance Game').

The Green Hills of Earth
Genre: Space exploration
Episode: 008
Available for Listening Booth: Y

Classic story of a space engineer who suffers a tragic accident and ends up tramping about the Solar System singing about the life of spacers and dreaming of returning to Earth once more before he dies. Story by Robert Heinlein.

Versions of this story appeared on Dimension X and CBS Radio Workshop ; also a TV version was produced for a 50's show called 'Out There'.

Reviews:
'The Green Hills of Earth" is a story by Robert Heinlein adapted to radio by no less than three production companies. Dimension X, X-Minus One, and the CBS Radio Workshop. The first two, the "X" sessions paint the main character, Rhysling to be a drunk and a jokester. He loses his sight, and goes on to write the greatest song in the galaxy, "The Green Hills of Earth." The CBS version shows Rhysling to be a rude sot that already has this song written, but with no ending. When Rhysling looses his sight in the CBS version, he finishes the song.
All three versions have merit, and are very well done. Please note, the actor in both "X" sessions can sing. Not so much for the CBS version. If music is your forte, X-Minus One is better because the whole songs are played. Dimension-X has the better acting. The CBS version is just plain edgy, Rhysling seems very bitter about a lot of things. This is my favorite radio story. My favorite telling would have to be the Dimension-X version. The legend of Rhysling is real in the hearts of those who believe it. Just take a look at how obsessed Apollo XV astronauts were when looking for Rhysling crater on the moon. - John Pote

Hallucination Orbit
Genre: Space exploration
Episode: 048
Available for Listening Booth: Y

Stationed alone on Pluto for six years and suffering from isolation psychosis, a man begins to have 'visitors'. Story by J.T. McIntosh.

See also 'The Eleventh Plague' (CBS Radio Mystery Theater)

Reviews:

An interesting examination of the effect long periods of isolation will have on future space exploration. Solitosis will likely be as much a threat as any physical hardships we encounter out there, and it is as inevitable as old age. In this story it is not so much a question of if the hero will get it, but how bad he will get it. In severe cases it causes hallucinations, as the brain tries to fill out the gap in normal social interactions. Even the rational, tough-minded personalities we will no doubt depend on for such jobs are not immune. Their cold reason will not protect them from solitosis; it will merely allow them to recognize that they are slowly going insane. Not a lot of action here-- but a great psychological study.-- Webmaster

The Haunted Corpse
Genre: Super Science
Episode: 099
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A scientist who resents the 'protection' of the military in his secret work to transfer minds from one body to another hatches a private plan to outwit his benefactors. Story by Frederik Pohl.

Reviews:
Not good. Two points of interest for this episode: the slightly comical narrarator and the somewhat interesting mystery of trying to figure out what exactly the scientist’s device does. Aside from that, dumb. Plus, some awfully big logic holes in the story’s conclusion. -Brad Reed

Hello, Tomorrow
Genre: War/Future Earth
Episode: 023
Available for Listening Booth: Y

To escape a world devastated by nuclear radiation, Mankind has retreated underground, but the Final War still rages on. A woman betrays her 'country' by falling in love with an Asiatic POW from the other side, a capital crime punishable by exile to the ruined surface.

See also 'The Defenders' (X Minus One) and 'The Last Objective' (Dimension X)

Honeymoon in Hell
Genre: Humour
Episode: 076
Available for Listening Booth: Y

Under the dual threat of a nuclear war and a serious drop in male birth, civilization seems doomed. Until a supercomputer concocts a plan to send a man for our side and a woman from theirs on a mission to the Moon to hopefully conceive a son. Story by Fredric Brown.

Reviews:
A bit boring and predictable, with some slightly weird sexual politics to make it a curiosity. Nothing great. - Brad Reed

Hostess
Genre: Aliens
Episode: 074
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A housewife offers lodging to an alien psychologist who finds humans both strange and fascinating, and wishes to observe life in an average home. Her husband, however, seems to be convinced the alien has a more sinister purpose in mind, one which may affect the future of the human race. Story by Isaac Asimov.

Reviews:
A first class mystery drama that has many unique features: it has only three characters, is set in a family home, doesn't have a "hero" in the classic sense and perhaps all three characters are "the victims". Nevertheless the plot is ingenious and far-reaching. It is no wonder that the short story upon which it is based has appeared in so many SF anthologies.
This is a special treat for Asimov fans. It is a perfect enactment of the story and it includes a generous use of Asimov's original dialogue. While there are minor omissions this does not at all detract from the tale and in fact may well help make it more appealing to a more modern audience. However, pedants may well notice that one "clue" has not been included (I'm not going to mention it here as it would give the game away to new listeners). Whether you're an Asimov fan or not this should definitely be on your listening list! - Anthony Fenlon

How - 2
Genre: Robots/ Humour
Episode: 042
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A man orders a robotic dog kit in the mail, and instead receives an android, one ready to serve in every capacity and equally ready to reproduce himself a thousand-fold. All his problems vanish - until the government sticks their bean-counting nose into it. Story by Clifford Simak.

Reviews:
Excellent acting sets this story apart. The nervous stutter of the lead character makes this humorous situation all the more entertaining. -- C. Phillips

If You was a Moklin
Genre: Aliens
Episode: 052
Available for Listening Booth: Y

The primitive native Mocklins are so enamored of humans that they want to be just like us. But the humans soon discover that imitation can not only be flattering, but deadly.... Story by Murray Leinster.

Inside Story
Genre: Mars
Episode: 094
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A newshound on Mars looking for a big story goes undercover in a colony of 'nullies', a segregated camp reserved for the violently insane. Story by Poul Anderson.

Reviews:
The setup is halfway promising. A wildly infectious disease has hit some people on Mars, turning them into violent loons. They’re kept in a camp, and nobody, not even the guards, comes within a hundred yards of them. A reporter puts on an experimental invisible spacesuit and infiltrates the camp to see what’s really going on. The answer proves to be disappointing. -Brad Reed

The Iron Chancellor
Genre: Robots
Episode: --
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A robot created to make the lives of the family which purchased it safer and healthier undertakes its role with fanatical devotion. Story by Robert Silverberg. NOTE: This episode is NOT from the original X Minus One series. Rather, it is an attempt to revive the series, independently produced in 1973. I have included it here only because many program logs include it as belonging to the series.

See also 'With Folded Hands' (Dimension X)

Jaywalker
Genre: Space Travel
Episode: 044
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A pregnant wife stows away on an Earth- Moon liner to be with her husband the pilot, unaware that space travel is fatal both to her and her unborn child. Her husband must choose between their lives and a maneuver which could kill everyone on board.

Junkyard
Genre: Space exploration
Episode: 037
Available for Listening Booth: Y

On a remote planet littered with alien junk, a survey team find themselves trapped when their engineers suddenly can't remember how to lift the ship. Story by Clifford Simak.

Reviews:
An intriguing premise which suffers from a trite and somewhat unsatisfying resolution. Interestingly enough, this is the only episode of X Minus One which re-uses characters from an earlier episode. The same ship's crew appears in the episode 'Courtesy'. Considering the outcomes to both shows, their order should have been reversed. Maybe it's one of those weird time dilation things. Besides, how can you resist getting as much mileage as possible out of a character with a name like 'Bat Ears Brady'? -- Webmaster

Knock
Genre: Aliens
Episode: 005
Available for Listening Booth: Y

Aliens who have no concept of death have wiped out humanity, literally to the last man and woman, whom they put in a zoo as public curiosities. Story by Fredric Brown.

Versions of this story also appeared on Dimension X , Future Tense, and the currently running series 2000x (not to be confused with 2000 Plus) and Seeing Ear Theater

Reviews:
The premise to the episode comes from the world’s shortest sci-fi story: “The last man on Earth sits in his room. There’s a knock on the door.” It’s an okay episode, marred mostly by the fact that the Last Man on Earth seems only mildly bemused at the thought of the end of the human race. It’s disconcerting to hear him be perky. But otherwise, not a bad episode at all. -Brad Reed

The Last Martian
Genre: Aliens
Episode: 060
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A reporter for a big city newspaper overhears a very confused young man in a bar confess that he is not who he appears to be, but is in fact the last of the race of Mars, somehow transported to Earth into a human body. Utter nonsense, of course. Story by Fredric Brown.

Reviews:
It’s okay, but nothing great. Like a lot of these stories, it’s soaked in paranoia like a pickle in brine. Predictable plot. And yet another episode that makes a reference to “Madison Avenue.” Dang, was that lodged in the popular consciousness. - Brad Reed

The Lifeboat Mutiny
Genre: Humour/ Aliens
Episode: 063
Available for Listening Booth: Y

Two men planning an expedition across the sea of an alien planet buy a lifeboat from a junk dealer, unaware that said boat is a relic of an ancient alien war. The boat's computer is programmed to protect its occupants at all costs, which is fine if you happen to be a Drome instead of a human being. Story by Robert Sheckley.

Reviews:
Very funny show! I loved the Drome anthem. It demonstrated how absurd and pathetic their predicament was. -- Alex Di Pietro.

A better-than-average, lighthearted episode. The two men trying to outwit the computer weren’t dopes, which helped. I hate it when the solution to the story’s problem is totally obvious to the listeners but not to the characters. Not the case here. The trap of the ship was well-written. Good stuff. - Brad Reed

The Light
Genre: Space Exploration
Episode: 112
Available for Listening Booth: Y

The first astronauts to reach the Moon discover the impossible-- footprints. Story by Poul Anderson.

The Lights on Precipice Peak
Genre:
Episode: 087
Available for Listening Booth: Y

Two men determine to find the cause of strange glowing lights emanating from atop a high Wyoming mountain.

Reviews:
Spoiler: I was kind of hoping for a little more from this story - specifically, what were the aliens up there for? Just taking a vacation like the hikers? It was a nice touch having one of the hikers who stayed behind be an alien. Was he there to make sure they didn’t tell anyone else about them? Anyway, a really simple story; not much to get excited about.- Barry Howell

Lulu
Genre: Humour/ Space Travel
Episode: 113
Available for Listening Booth: Y

Hell hath no fury like a computer spurned... three spacers are saddled with a lovesick ship's computer who is unwilling to return home unless they indulge her romantic inclinations. Story by Clifford Simak.

Lulungomeena
Genre: Aliens
Episode: 050
Available for Listening Booth: Y

Tensions at a deepspace relay station erupt over a veteran's claim that his homeworld, Lulungomeena, is the most beautiful in the galaxy. To resolve the dispute, they must rely on the arbitration of an alien Hixabrod, the most literal and honest race in the universe. Story by Gordon Dickson; part of his Dorsai series about a planet that breeds mercenary soldiers.

Reviews:
This is a great story with a clever twist. If you find yourself rooting for the underdog, you'll like this episode. I've read the original short story and I find this radio adaptation to be better. -- C. Phillips

The Man in the Moon
Genre: undefined
Episode: 006
Available for Listening Booth: Y

The Federal Missing Persons Bureau receives a desperate radio message from a crank who claims to be calling from the Moon (unlikely in 1950). Of course the call is dismissed, until a minor functionary begins to suspect that the call is related to a strange series of disappearances over the past several years.

Versions of this story were produced for Dimension X and Future Tense.

Reviews:

Definitely a freaky setup. I found the end to be too telegraphed, but otherwise a pretty good episode. - Brad Reed

Man's Best Friend
Genre: Humour/ Future Earth
Episode: 093
Available for Listening Booth: Y

In the 28th century, a reclusive man is chosen by a central computer to assassinate the Overlord and take his place. All of society is egging him on, including the Overlord himself-- but the computer has ulterior motives.

See also 'Appointment in Tomorrow' (X Minus One)

The Map Makers
Genre: Space exploration
Episode: 064
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A deepspace survey ship collides with a meteor during a jump through hyperspace, becoming hopelessly lost. Their navigation system destroyed, they have no way of even determining their own location. Then a crewman blinded in the accident begins to undergo a strange transformation..... Story by Frederik Pohl.

See also 'Death Wish' (X Minus One), 'A Fall of Moondust' (BBC or Nightfall), 'Survival' (BBC) & 'Space Wreck' (2000 Plus)

Reviews:

A rollicking good story in the grand tradition of SF; The reasoning behind Grodin's transformation is never fully explained, and therefore the final outcome seems a little trite, but that does not overly detract from what otherwise is perhaps one of the series' best efforts. So often X Minus One utilized the same limited repertoire of sound effects episode to episode for its shipboard noises, but this time there is a greater depth to the layers of sound which, along with scientific details such as interior heat buildup, spinning the ship for gravity, and attitude thruster burns, create a believable experience for the listener. Don't miss this one! --Webmaster

This is a strange one. In a way, it’s a solid achievement in “hard” SF. While the science is make-believe, it has the feel of reality. There are rules to the fantasy, and they are followed scrupulously. The sound effects are very well used, as the webmaster noted. However, the story was not all that involving. Basically the whole episode was an excuse to trot out the author’s idea of how space travel might look. The story, such as it was, felt like an afterthought. The speculative science was very cool, but there’s nothing else here. - Brad Reed

Marionettes, Inc.
Genre: Robots
Episode: 030
Available for Listening Booth: Y

A husband looking to get away from his wife for a vacation purchases a robot duplicate of himself to take his place. Bad idea..... Story by Ray Bradbury.

Versions of this story were made for Dimension X and an independently produced series called Audion Theater.

See also 'Child's Play' (Dimension X & X Minus One) and 'Prime Difference' (X Minus One)

Mars is Heaven
Genre: Mars
Episode: 003
Available for Listening Booth: Y

The first astronauts to land on Mars discover-- Earth; a planet where their long dead loved ones are waiting for them in a small Midwest town just like home. Story by Ray Bradbury; part of his Martian Chronicles series.

A popular story for radio; Two separate versions were produced for Dimension X. Another version appeared on Escape

See the full listing of Martian Chronicles stories under 'Ray Bradbury' on the Famous Authors on Radio page.

Reviews:
This falls under the heading of an “idiot story.” If even one member of the crew stopped to think for a second, the whole thing would fall apart. Which is a pity, since otherwise it’s a great story. The captain of the ship is a butthead, in that “I’m the Big Man in Charge, How Dare You Defy Or Question Me” sort of way. Killer idea, good-to-mediocre execution. - Brad Reed

Probably the most imaginative and original plotting in Bradbury's much acclaimed The Martian Chronicles. Written and performed as a tightly woven gem of a suspense laden horror yarn. A grabber. - Bruce Fisher

The Martian Death March
Genre: Mars
Episode: 017
Available for Listening Booth: Y

On a Mars conquered by Earthmen, the last remnants of the spider-like Martian race escape from their reservation to embark on a desperate trek across the deserts to their mountain homelands, lead by a human religious fanatic.

X Minus One produced two separate versions of this story. Also, versions were produced for Dimension X and Future Tense.

See also 'And the Moon be Still as Bright' (X Minus One, Omni Audio Experience & Dimension X)

Reviews:
A sad, almost epic saga of a quest for racial eqaulity is very simple, but very powerful and sad, leaving a strong impression on the listener. This is one of the very best radio dramas I have ever heard. A really great show. - Luc L'Heureux

A thinly-veiled recasting of the plight of American Indians. It’s strange to hear this sort of thing in the Fifties, before it was in full vogue. But here it is, in its glory. Decently done. - Brad Reed

Martian Sam
Genre: Humor
Episode: 090
Available for Listening Booth: Y

The losing LA Dodgers bring in a stringer to bolster their chances for a winning season-- a Martian with eight arms.