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Dimension X

Based on the short story by Frederick Brown the story starts and ends with “The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door…”

The show’s announcer begins by saying “a sweet blood curdling story that is only two sentences long. The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door…” The story goes on and elaborates on those two sentences and builds a more complete story around them.

The story is about Walter Phelan, the last man on Earth. An Immortal space faring race calling themselves the Zan have invaded the earth and have killed off all life other than pairs of animal specimens for their zoo.

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As their are two of each of the animals there is also a woman named Grace Evans. Grace is the last woman and she is not overly impressed with Walter and maintains her distance.

The Zan become disturbed when one by one the other animals begin to die. The Zan who are immortal and have no concept of death, turn to Walter as the probable cause of the animals dying.

He finally convinces George (what Walter calls the aliens because they all look the same) that that is the way it is here on earth. He explains that on earth all beings require love and affection. He explains further that the animals perished from lack of affection and suggests that they pet the survivors regularly to keep them alive. He demonstrates with one of them.

When the Zan begin dying, and their total lack of understanding of the concept of death, they depart the planet in fear. You will just have to listen to the story to find out why they died.

Walter discusses the future of the human race with Grace and how they will have to rebuild the human race. She is shocked by his proposal and flees.

The plot then ends with the same two-line story:

The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door…

Versions of this story also appeared on the series 2000x (not to be confused with 2000 Plus), X-1, and more recently on the Sci-Fi (now SyFy) Channel’s Seeing Ear Theater.

Broadcast Date: 50-05-06

Cast:
Walter Phelan: Alexander Scourby
Grace Evans: Laurie March
George the literal-minded aliens: Luis Van Rooten

Other Credits:
Written By: Frederick Brown
Publication Source: December 1948 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories.
Adapted for Radio: Ernest Kinoy
Produced By: William Welch
Directed By: Edward King
Music By: Albert Berman
Engineer: Bill Chambers
Announcer: Norman Rose

Listen below to Dimension X Episode 05 Knock:
Dimension X Episode 05 Knock

List of Dimension X Episodes:

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