Spacemens Luck

 

Where Tom Corbett, Captain Video, CMDR Corry and Other Spacemen Still Live

David Randall is a carefree ladies man and skilled pilot who finds he has been let in on the greatest and most terrible secret in the world when he is paid to deliver some mysterious pictures from one eminent astronomer to another.

The story begins at a remote observatory in South Africa where the astronomer, Dr. Emery Bronson discovers that two “heavenly bodies” are on a collision course with Earth. One, called Zyra will pass close enough to wreak havoc on land and sea, while the other, called Bellus will actually strike the planet and destroy it days later.

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It is with regret that, for now I hope, there are no more 2000 Plus “Space Travel” related episodes known to be in circulation. There are a handful of episodes in the series that are in circulation but are not part of this website as they were not “space travel” themed shows. 2000 Plus (also called Two Thousand Plus and 2000+) was an Old Time Radio (OTR) series which ran from March 15, 1950 to January 2, 1952 in various 30-minute time slots. It is most notable for being the first adult science fiction series on radio, airing one month prior to the better known Dimension X.

During the 1950s, science fiction became a popular genre, and stories exploring future technologies, space expeditions and alien invasions made up the story lines of the episodes that are known today and available for listening.

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A mysterious planet has entered our solar system and is approaching Earth at breakneck speed. It appears it will miss and pass near the earth. A small Scottish village name Burray on a remotes island is where the planet is expected to pass nearest to the Earth. A group of characters are gathering on the island to investigate this Planet X. Professor Elliot, his attractive daughter Enid Elliot, dashing reporter John Lawrence, a newspaper reporter called to the Scottish moor by his friend, Professor Elliot, to cover what will be the story of his lifetime. The Professor’s assistant who is a bad (but not mad) scientist Dr. Mears. The Professor and his team are working out of a makeshift observatory in an old Scottish tower next to the local moor.

Elliot’s daughter Enid and John discover as they are walking the moors a “magnetically powered range finder” used to determine the composition of the Earth’s atmosphere whose metal has unearthly properties and is quite a find for science.

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The 1951 “creature feature” The Thing from Another World also known simply as “The Thing” was a ground breaking film that was the first movie to ever depict aliens with an attitude that seem to have only one thing on their mind and that is everyone. This theme of destroy humanity films became very prevalent during the 1950′s. Some say, and I am one of those who does, that “The Thing” was at least a partial inspiration for the much later ground breaking 1979 “creature feature” Alien, staring Sigourney Weaver which spawned several sequels.

1951′s The Thing from Another World is a story of Scientist at an US military Arctic research station, inside the Arctic Circle, who discover an unexplained object buried in the ice. After notifying the U.S. Air Force a plane load of Airmen and a lone news reporter are dispatched to the Arctic research station. There first belief is that buried craft is a Russian spy-plane buried in the ice.

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In the year 2000 plus six, Colonel “Brad” Bradbury while flying to the rocket base in Rocket X-93, crashes and is seriously injured. Colonel Bradbury is absolutely necessary for a test rocket launch scheduled for the next day. However, he has sustained a “cracked skull.” He is taken into surgery immediately and given a metal plate in his skull.

The top secret rocket that was scheduled and now delayed is a new type of “two way” rocket that can both land on the moon and return while being remotely controlled from the earth. The new rocket is critical to the political concerns of the United States who believe that whoever “controls the moon controls the world” and if another nation gets their first the world is in trouble.

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In the far distant year of 2000 the US Air Force secretly builds a rocket ship without the knowledge of Congress or the American people and send it on a Flight to Mars. The name of the rocket ship is MARS. Among it’s crew are wisecracking newspaperman Steve Abbott, a former war correspondent and a crew (Four men and a woman) of scientists heading to Mars. After launch, while en route to Mars, our spacefarers encounter a meteor storm and are swept along and before you know it they end up crashing on the red planet. Unfortunately, their atomic power heads are destroyed which makes a return to earth impossible.

The Earthmen prepare to leave their ship by dawning bomber jackets, aviator’s caps and plain oxygen face masks which are not pressurized space suits or helmets.

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In The Day The Earth Stood Still a humanoid envoy named Klattu and his mighty robot Gort, from another world, lands his Flying Saucer on the mall in Washington, D.C. Emerging from his ship he is immediately shot and Gort, his very powerful robot, appears to save him and begins to melt tanks. The wounded Klatuu orders Gort to stop his rampage. Then he is taken to Walter Reed Army Hospital.

In the hospital Klaatu tells our government that he brings an important message to the planet that he wishes to tell to representatives of all nations. However, the mistrust between nations seems to get in his way. So he escapes into the city to try and learn more about this planet and understand earth-men.

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The Dimension X Radio Show ran from April 8, 1950 to September 29, 1951 for a total of 50 episodes. The first 13 episodes were broadcast live, and the remainder were pre-recorded. Dimension X was Radio’s early 1950′s premier series of adult science fiction tales. The series opened with The Outer Limit, an Ernest Kinoy adaptation of Graham Doar’s short story from The Saturday Evening Post (December 24, 1949), about alien contact. This story was very popular and over the next few years aired on several other Old Time Radio Shows such as X-1, Escape, Suspense, Beyond Tomorrow, Exploring tomorrow and probably others. A week later (April 15, 1950), the program presented Jack Williamson’s most famous story, With Folded Hands, first published in the July 1947 issue of Astounding Science Fiction.

Below is a list of all 50 episodes with their broadcast dates. Over time I will be adding each and everyone of these episodes to the Spacemen’s Luck website so you can hear these excellent programs yourself. You will be able to add your comments about each of these episodes and rate them using our star rating system.

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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.

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Unfortunately 2000 Plus is one of those Old Time Radio Show series that most of the episodes are lost (forever? Let’s hope not!). The few episodes that I do have will be made available for listing over time. Below is a sequential list of both season one and season two. I have compiled this list from several other online lists and cannot be sure it is accurate. If you see any discrepancies please use the comment system below to bring it to my attention.

Anyone who may discover a copy of this "Lost" episode and would like to get it into public circulation please contact Spaceman (Senior Rating) Ray.

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