1955’s X Minus One is a seminal sci fi radio series that respected the genre and adapted tales from well-known authors.
What Is It?
X Minus One was a science fiction anthology radio series from the fifties and each episode began with the following intro:
Countdown for blastoff… X minus five, four, three, two, X minus one… 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’ll live in a million could-be years on a thousand may-be worlds. The National Broadcasting Company, in cooperation with Street and Smith, publishers of Astounding Science Fiction presents… X Minus One!
This series presented thirty-minute science fiction and fantasy audio dramas each week that were either original productions (often written by Ernest Kinoy and/or George Lefferts) as well as adaptations of short stories by well-known authors such as Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, Robert A. Heinlein, Fritz Leiber, and more.
Cast: Fred Collins (Announcer)
Crew: Fred Weihe (Director), Daniel Sutter (Director), Ernest Kinoy (Writer), George Lefferts (Writer), William Welch (Producer)
Aired: NBC Radio, 1955 – 1958, 3 Seasons of 126 Episodes
Legacy
By the 1950s, the writing was already on the wall for radio as television quickly took America by storm and the old family entertainment standby became less of a focus in homes across the country. But audio entertainment still had a few gems to offer in its waning days and one was the sci fi anthology series X Minus One which still stands as one of the classic radio series that delivered excellent tales in the genre.
A Closer Look
In many ways, this series was a continuation of Dimension X which preceded X Minus One on radio, running from 1950 to 1951. Both series adapted science fiction stories from well-known authors and both offered original tales as well (and they shared the staff writers Ernest Kinoy and George Lefferts). And X Minus One reworked several of the stories that had previously aired on Dimension X. But the later series lasted longer than its predecessor (running for three seasons and totaling 126 episodes vs. Dimension X’s 50 episodes). And because of its longer run, X Minus One became the better remembered of the two shows.
The series was and is lauded for its excellent science fiction stories and its serious approach to the genre. At a time when sci fi was considered to be primarily for kids, as evidenced by TV space operas like Captain Video and his Video Rangers or Tom Corbett Space Cadet, X Minus One took its cue from the science fiction magazines like Galaxy and Astounding and tried to deliver less juvenile fare. And even if episodes could get a bit silly at times, the majority of the stories delivered good sci fi tales. This was largely because the show drew from stories by well-respected authors of the day and it delivered mostly faithful adaptations of their works. It took a few liberties with its source material to appeal to its radio audience and to fit within an episode’s allotted time, but for the most part the show stayed close to the spirit of the source material. And the original stories that the series offered also had some merit, even if they usually often didn’t quite measure up to the adaptations.
Since X Minus One was produced in the 1950s, it’s definitely a product of its times and feels a bit dated to a modern-day listener as it takes many of the colloquialisms and attitudes of the time and projects them into future settings. The acting also has a very retro feel as well. And while that may discourage some, I recommend sticking with it because once you get past some of the throw-back elements and cheesiness, this show really delivers quite a fun listen. It offers a great way to revisit many classic science fiction stories like Ray Bradbury’s “Mars is Heaven”, Robert A. Heinlein’s “Universe”, Fritz Leiber’s “A Pail of Air”, and more. And it also gives us a return to a simpler day when a multi-million dollar budget and an overload of CGI special effects were not needed to deliver a good science fiction story. You can see a full list of X Minus One episodes at this link.
Should It Be Rebooted?
Yes, and that was actually attempted in the 70s. That decade brought about a renewed interest in classic radio and a tryout episode for a revival of X Minus One was produced in 1973. That adapted Robert Silverberg’s “The Iron Chancellor” but unfortunately did not lead to a new series at that time. With podcasts becoming a big thing these days, though, a revival of the series just might work. It could pull from classic sci fi tales while also adapting some more recent works. I am not certain if the name is still owned by NBC, and if it is, a variation on it could possibly be used for a modern reboot. This is something that should happen and maybe a crowd-funding campaign could get it up and running.
Interesting Facts:
As mentioned above, the sci fi anthology series Dimension X preceded X Minus One on NBC. It aired from 1950 to 1951 and produced 50 episodes. The very first episode broadcast was titled “The Outer Limit”, foreshadowing the classic television anthology series that would debut on ABC in 1963.
X Minus One was originally produced in partnership with Galaxy Science Fiction magazine and later in partnership with Astounding Science Fiction.
Where Can You Listen to It?
I believe that X Minus One is now in the public domain (as is Dimension X) and thus you can find episodes of the series in any of a number of locations and formats. The OTR.Network Library (www.otr.net) site lets you download episodes of both of these shows for free (they do kindly ask for donations, though), and they do have quite a number of other old radio series available as well. The quality of the recordings on these can be hit or miss, though. Another site that offers free downloads of the series (as well as streaming) is the Internet Archive. Also, the Radio Classics channel on Sirius Satellite broadcasts the show (as well as several other classic genre radio programs) on a regular basis. And you can buy collections of the show from Audible.com. Amazon also have a collection of the entire series on MP3 at an affordable price. And from the samples I heard, these do sound like better-quality recordings than many of the free versions out there.
Read More About the Show:
Wikipedia
X Minus One: Radio’s Greatest Science Fiction Series by Michael Samerdyke
