Best of X Minus One

From April 1955 to January 1958, American households from Boise to Buffalo tuned in to NBC Radio's popular science fiction program, X Minus One. A total of 129 unique episodes in 30-minute broadcasts aired weekly during that span. These programs involved all the great stuff that defines the genre to this day: time travel, space exploration, artificial intelligence and close encounters of every kind. There was even a dystopian tale or two about earth from the not-too-distant future thrown into the mix.

Good stuff.

Some X Minus One episodes were remakes from Dimension X, another old time radio show of the science fiction genre that had aired in 1950 and 1951. Most were adaptations of short stories penned by classic science fiction writers like Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, and Ray Bradbury direct from the pages of Galaxy, Astounding Science Fiction or Amazing Stories magazines. While more than a few were variations on the same story; only a handful of X Minus One broadcasts were born from original scripts.

Each and every episode of X Minus One, however, was introduced with announcer Fred Collins' classic countdown:

"Countdown for blast-off. X Minus 5, X Minus 4, X Minus 3, X Minus 2, X Minus 1 ... Fire. From the far horizons of the unknown come transcribed tales of new dimensions in time and space. These are stories of the future. Adventures in which you will live in a million could-be years on a thousand may-be worlds. The National Broadcasting Corporation presents ... X Minus One."

What follows is a subjective countdown in no particular order -- with the exception of the number one choice -- and modeled on Collins' classic introduction, of the five best episodes from that old time radio, sci-fi classic: X minus One.

X Minus 5 ... Mars is Heaven. It's the future -- April of 1987, that is. A rocket crew of 17 U.S. astronaut-marines becomes the first human space expedition to ever set foot on the fourth rock from the Sun. Or do they? And is this Mars, or is it Wisconsin circa 1928; or is it ... Heaven? Captain: "Well gentlemen, check your side arms. In one minute we'll be the first men to set foot on Mars. Quite and honor, huh?" Crewman: "As long as the medals are not awarded posthumously." Oh, those prescient crewmen and their one-liners ...This X Minus One broadcast, an adaptation of Ray Bradbury's short story, aired as episode 3 on May 08, 1955. It's got a definite Twilight Zone edge to it, with the usual references to the Midwestern upbringing of Bradbury's youth. This is the type of stuff that made X Minus One the longest running science fiction program in the history of old time radio.

X Minus 4 ... A Gun for Dinosaur. It's Jurassic Park meets Back to the Future meets Rambo. And that pretty much sums it up! Go back in time some 65 million years; hunt some dinosaurs. Based on the story of the same title by L. Sprague de Camp, this X Minus One classic is 30 minutes well spent, with extra points for some terrific imagery concerning the ugly implications of one man attempting to occupy the same space in time twice. Originally aired as episode 41 on March 7, 1956, the Gun for Dinosaur premise resurfaced as Project Mastodon, episode 54 on June 5, 1956. Listen to them both at the link provided below and decide which version you like best.

X Minus 3 ... First Contact. Anticipating many a standoff between captains Kirk or Picard and their interstellar rivals in the Star Trek television series, First Contact was just what the title implies. Neither the earth ship nor its mysterious deep space counterpart can return home in good conscience, lest they be followed by the other to expose their respective home planets to the perils of an alien invasion. This was episode 20, written by Murray Leinster, and it aired for X Minus One on October 6, 1955. Thanks to a remarkable translation device released by the non-earth spaceship, the two crews attempt to work out their mutual quandary and hope against hope, day after day, to figure out a way home without having to first blast each other into space dust.

X Minus 2 ... Tunnel Under the World. It's June 15, over and over again. Peculiar things have been happening to Guy Burkhart. He wakes day after day, screaming, after dreaming of a loud explosion in his head and before hurrying off to work. But he is not alone in experiencing this strange phenomenon. His bus driver, Henry, is caught in the same cycle. It seems that all others in town remain oblivious. Realizing they are not crazy, the two set off to solve this bizarre riddle that has trapped them both in a time loop. Is it Martians? Is it Communists? Neither. They discover a fantastic tunnel under the world, and, within it, more answers than they could have ever dreamed of -- answers they refuse to believe. This X Minus One classic was based on the short story by Frederik Pohl. It aired as episode 42 on March 14, 1956. Fans of the movie Groundhog Day will want to tune in to this broadcast.

X Minus 1 ... The Cold Equation. One of the many X minus One episodes without a happy ending, The Cold Equation presents a problem with no good solution. An Emergency Medical Shuttle (EMS) has been launched to deliver a life-saving serum to a remote space colony that has been stuck with a deadly virus. The EMS has just enough fuel, calculated by the distance to be traveled and weight of its one-man crew and cargo, needed to complete the mission. There is virtually no margin for error. But an innocent stowaway is discovered well after launch. The shuttle cannot complete the mission with the added weight. The serum must reach the colonists. The pilot must guide the EMS to the colonists. Nothing expendable -- no extra equipment, no extra supplies, not anything -- exists on board that can be disposed of to lighten the load. The woman's husband is among those waiting on the serum to survive. Once within radio range, the couple will have but a few short moments to say hello, and goodbye, before all unscheduled cargo must be dumped from the shuttle. Lest, that is, the entire mission -- and the lives of all involved -- be jeopardized. Based on the much anthologized short story, "The Cold Equations" by Tom Godwin, the radio version of this sci-fi classic debuted as episode 17 of X Minus One on August 8, 1955. It was readapted in later decades for TVs The Twilight Zone and, more recently, as a made-for-television movie on the Sci-Fi Network.

And the X Minus Runner Up ... The Seventh Victim. It's earth sometime circa, well, right about now, and war has been eliminated. In its place, in order to redirect man's natural tendency towards violence, is a macabre game of government-sanctioned human-hunting in which men (mostly ...) sign up to be hunter or prey, the latter protected by spotters. "Happy hunting," the story's hero is told as he heads off to add another tally to his "kill list." He's successfully hunted six victims thus far but is taken aback when his seventh appears as a defenseless and apparently suicidal young damsel. Or do looks deceive? Based on the short story, "Seventh Victim," by Robert Sheckley, this X Minus One radio adaptation aired as episode 91 on March 6, 1957. A clever twist at the end makes this one of the top X Minus One broadcasts of all time, if not quite making the classic top five countdown to blast off.

Fans of old time radio, and especially the classic sci-fi broadcasts of X Minus One, are sure to take issue with one or two of the above picks. And more so, to be sure, with the names of favorite episodes not appearing on this short "best of" list. What about "Saucer of Loneliness," "Almost Human," or "Skulking Permit"? Excellent episodes all ... heck, I can't believe I left off the brilliant radio adaptation on Robert Heinlein's "Universe" in which an enormous spaceship, miles long, lumbers aimlessly through outer space, carrying along its very own creation theory for those on board who otherwise would not know where it -- or they -- came from.

Oh well.

If you are a fan of old time radio or a classic sci-fi aficionado, please drop me a comment to let me know what amazing, astounding, out-of-this-world episode of X Minus One you think belongs at the top (or bottom) of this countdown to blast off.