Posted by : Ray Plumlee in (Dimension X)
Posted on December 11th, 2009
and last modified on January 16th, 2010
Introduction To The 1950′s Science Fiction Anthology Radio Show Dimension X
Tagged Under : 1950, 1950s, 1951, Dimension X, Isaac Asimov, Kurt Vonnegut, Old Time Radio, OTR, Ray Bradbury, Robert Bloch, Robert Heinlein, sci-fi, science fiction
Dimension X
Dimension X, was an NBC radio program broadcast on an un-sponsored weekly basis from April 8, 1950 to September 29, 1951 for a total of 50 episodes. With a five-month hiatus from January 1951 to June 1951, the series spanned 17 months. All 50 episodes of the series survived and will over time be added to the Spacemen’s Luck website for your listening enjoyment. The first 13 episodes were broadcast live, and the remainder were transcribed (pre-recorded). These stories were not kiddie space shows like Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon. They were thoughtful and sometimes down beat stories based on more serious science fiction stories.
Dimension X, was the first science fiction series to use stories adapted from Sci-Fi pulp magazines of the day like Amazing Science Fiction, Thrilling Wonder and Astounding Science Fiction Magazine (which eventually sponsored the show). Classic tales by Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut, Robert Bloch and Isaac Asimov were brought to life in the minds eye of numerous listeners.
Get MP3 Collection of Dimension X Episodes
Some of the show’s more famous shows are adaptations of Robert Sheckley’s Skulking Permit, Bradbury’s Mars Is Heaven, Heinlein’s Universe and The Green Hills of Earth, Pohl’s The Tunnel under the World, J. T. McIntosh’s Hallucination Orbit, Fritz Leiber’s A Pail of Air and George Lefferts’ The Parade.
Dimension X, was hosted by Norman Rose. His calm and deadly serious voice usually spoke over a slow pounding bass drum, which added a fatalistic air of a death march in the background. Dimension X, employed two and sometimes three sound men, plus an excellent music composer in Albert Berman to create effective atmosphere for stories that were literally out of this world. Dimension X spun off a sequel of sorts, the equally exciting science fiction anthology series, NBC’s, X Minus One (1955-58) which utilized many of the same actors and scripts. X Minus One will be featured here at the Spacemen’s Luck website in the near future.
The Standard Intro:
(Drum roll.) Adventures in time and space… Told in future tense!
(Echo voice.) Dimension…. X… X… x…. x….
(Organ flairs and a crescendo sting. A slow pounding drum march plays in the background while narrator describes the opening scene.)
An Opening Narration:
It happened during a routine skirmish in the Great War. Patrols advanced from the defense perimeter under jet cover and proceeded by Napalm Throwers. The Enemy defended in depth and mopped up with guided 98s fired from forty miles to the rear. The blast area was ten miles in circumference. And the medics didn’t find much to pick up over five hundred yards in…
An Ending Narration & Closing:
(Drum pounds in march cadence.) Homecoming is a joyous word. But when the home you’re returning to is a burned out radioactive planet, and when you cannot even imagine what terrible changes you’ll find there, the word then takes on a very different meaning…
Next week, Dimension X, brings you a strange story called ‘Dwellers In Silence.’
Other Credits:
Network: NBC
Announcer/Narrator: Norman Rose
Directors: Fred Wiehe And Edward King
Writers: Ernest Kinoy (Adaptor And In-House Writer), Ray Bradbury,
Robert Bloch, Robert Heinlein, Issac Asimov, Kurt Vonnegut
Music Composer: Albert Berman
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