Axiom’s Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy

By Sam Christopher

Available at Amazon.com

“Adventures in time and space, transcribed in future tense… (voice and echo effect) Dimension X”

This precursor to X Minus One (see previous column) only lasted about a year and a half, but it dramatized some great stories during that time from the leading writers of sf in that day. Setting the manner and style for X Minus One, Dimension X gave us great stories like:

“With Folded Hands” by Jack Williamson: In a future where robots, called “mechanicals” here, do virtually all the menial labor for Man, nothing could be better than a new type of mechanical that can do everything for Man, take care of man completely. Or could it? A story that shows the dangers of allowing “Those Who Know Better” to “ensure our safety” by taking all responsibility away couldn’t be more appropriate for this time, and this one really hits the mark squarely.

“Universe” by Robert Heinlein: A “race” of men come to believe the generational space ship they’re on is the entire Universe, and they worship the chief engineer of the project which built the ship generations ago, a man named Jordan, as God. Great drama about the way Man thinks and acts when confronted with truth that conflicts with preconceived notions and belief systems. Besides the obvious statement on religion and blind devotion to traditional thoughts, this story also held a rather pointed statement about race relations, as the mutants—humans changed by living in the upper decks of the ship where the radiation shielding wasn’t so strong—are treated with disdain and hatred by the “normal” humans.

“Report on the Barnhouse Effect” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.: A college professor discovers a mental discipline that allows him to do anything he chooses through telekinesis, which makes him the most sought after weapon in the Cold War. Kind of a precursor to the original Outer Limits tv episode, “The Man with the Power” starring Donald Pleasance as a college professor with enhanced mental abilities, although that show went in an entirely different direction than was followed here.

“The Embassy” by Martin Pearson (Donald A. Wollheim): A strange, rather eccentric man hires a hardboiled private dick to find the “Martian Embassy” in New York. That’s right, the Martian Embassy; Mr. Graffious (that’s his name) says it’s real and that the Martians are using it as a listening post to gather intelligence for their planned invasion. The detective laughs at the premise but finds the cash offered for the job a much more serious matter. And, of course, he does find the Martian Embassy.

“Nightfall” by Isaac Asimov: This was the final dramatization in the show’s run. If you’re a true sf fan you’ve probably heard the name Isaac Asimov once or twice. This story is generally considered to be one of his three best shorts (the other two being “The Ugly Little Boy” and “The Last Question”) and is probably my second favorite of his (a close second to “The Last Question”). Imagine a world with six suns, a world where it’s never dark, a world where night is just a legend. Except for one time approximately every 2,000 years. Now imagine a people living on that world, and what they might think about the fall of night. Asimov did, and it was fantastic. This is a great dramatization of that story.

I’ve never understood the shortness of this series; it, along with “little sister” X Minus One, is easily the best I’ve heard from anthology science fiction on the radio.

Exploring Tomorrow

This short series only lasted about six months. Hosted by the legendary editor of Astounding Science Fiction Magazine John W. Campbell (who also wrote the great short story, “Who Goes There?”, which was the basis for Howard Hawks’ film Thing From Another World and the even more celebrated John Carpenter remake The Thing), this show provided a moral with its stories. I’ve only heard a few, but a couple favorites:

“Liar” by Isaac Asimov: A short from this master’s celebrated “Robot” series, this was a tale which dramatized the idea of how a robot which could read minds would interpret and implement the author’s famous “Three Laws of Robotics”. The ending here, in which Dr. Susan Calvin uses ruthless logic to bring the story to conclusion, is especially good, though a little heavy-handed.

“The Happiness Effect” by Raymond E. Banks: What if a surgery could be performed on every person that would make them into whatever the rulers of a society deemed was most needed? And the surgery could also be performed in such a way that the citizenry would be happy to have been tampered with? This stars Mason Adams and is probably my favorite from this series of the ones I’ve heard.

Campbell’s delivery of the morals in this series was rather dry, and it seems to me on listening now that it was made for a more adult audience than Dimension X or X Minus One. Still, I have enjoyed the three or four that I’ve heard and will try and listen to more in the future.

Escape

“Tired of the everyday grind? Ever dream of a life of romantic adventure? Want to get away from it all? We offer you… Escape! Escape—designed to free you from the four walls of today for a half-hour of high adventure!”

This anthology series specialized in tales of excitement and adventure (for those who couldn’t tell by the tagline). There were men trapped in the Arctic, men trapped on sinking ships, men searching for gold in the lost jungles or hidden islands of the world. There were also great sf stories dramatized, like:

“Earth Abides” by George R. Stewart: An apocalyptic epic in which the vast majority of the population dies as the result of a disease, this novel was made into a special two-part episode of Escape. In this adaptation, Isherwood Williams is on a hunting trip in the mountains when bitten by a rattlesnake. He recovers and returns to civilization to find there is no more civilization, just a collection of vagabonds and people driven a little mad by the loss of their loved ones and friends. He finds a woman, Emma, and the two marry and have children, founding a colony that, by the end of the story, is a good beginning for a resurgence of humanity. One interesting difference from the novel is that the radio play makes no mention of Emma’s race; in the novel, from what I understand, she’s black. I suppose an interracial relationship was deemed too adventurous by Escape story editors. Still, a very good production.

“Dream of Armageddon” by H.G. Wells: A man dreams of a future which is so real he begins to see it as the reality and his waking life as nothing. Unfortunately, the dream—which he goes into every time he goes to sleep—is set in a time in which tensions are escalating into war, and he and his wife in that time are trapped behind enemy lines. A very sad and frightening story which never lets the listener up for air, with a chilling ending that leaves its audience thinking hard about the nature of reality and our place in it.

“Zero Hour” by Ray Bradbury: My favorite story of Bradbury’s ever adapted to radio, this tells the tale of a child’s game called “Invasion” which is sweeping the country and, perhaps, the world. The story centers on a woman whose little girl is playing the game with her friends outside, a woman who grows more and more uneasy as the day goes on. More and more uneasy as what the kids call “Zero Hour” nears—5 pm that afternoon. We follow the woman through the day and hear her mounting terror as she fears what’s coming more and more and the mystery builds to a satisfying conclusion that is a real attention-getter.

To hear these and other of these great shows, either subscribe to XM/Sirius or go to the Radio Spirits website, where you can order or download to your heart’s delight.  Also, many episodes from shows like Dimension X and Exploring Tomorrow are available for free download at OTR.Network Library.

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