Theater of the Mind
Dimension X
48 episodes · 1950–1951 · NBC · Sci-Fi
Play Dimension X on Radio Days
Dimension X ran on NBC from April 8, 1950, to September 29, 1951: fifty episodes, and all of them survive. Norman Rose opened each one with "Adventures in time and space, told in future tense." It adapted stories by Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Kurt Vonnegut and Jack Williamson. The first thirteen shows went out live. NBC's X Minus One later reused many of its scripts and actors.
Sources: Dimension X (radio program), Wikipedia
Episodes
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1950
- The Outer Limit
The first Dimension X: a warning to mankind arrives from a superior race. From Graham Doar's story. - With Folded Hands
Perfect robot servants arrive from another planet, always at your service, until people have nothing left to do. From Jack Williamson's story. - Report on the Barnhouse Effect
A mild college professor finds he can move things with his mind, and becomes the most powerful weapon on Earth. From Kurt Vonnegut's first published story. - No Contact
A story of space blues and the galactic barrier, later remade as the first X Minus One. - Knock
The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door. - Almost Human
A huge robot built and trained for killing begins to tell good from evil. From Robert Bloch's story. - The Lost Race
Marooned on an alien planet, a crew follows a deranged mechanic to the secret of the lost race. - To the Future
A couple from the future escape to 1950 to get away from the wars of their own time, and the Searchers are sent to bring them back. From Ray Bradbury's story. - The Embassy
A strange man hires a private eye to find the Martian embassy hidden in New York. - There Will Come Soft Rains and Zero Hour
Two stories: the death of the house of the future, and children playing a game called Invasion. - Destination Moon
The first expedition to the moon. - A Logic Named Joe
Want to know how to do anything? Just ask your Logic. The show opens with news from Korea. - Mars Is Heaven (1950)
The first men on Mars, April 20, 1987, find familiar sights. - The Man in the Moon
A colony on the far side of the moon is planning to invade the Earth. - Beyond Infinity
A couple shrink to atomic size and land on an electron planet. - The Potters of Firsk
The villagers of Firsk, on a planet ruled by Earth, make the most unusual pottery. - Pyrigi's Wonderful Dolls
Little dolls with big ideas. - The Castaways
The natives of an atoll would rather die than leave, and then the atomic bomb won't go off. - The Martian Chronicles
Stories of the colonizing of Mars. - The Parade
A real Martian hires an ad agency to publicize a parade. - The Roads Must Roll
The engineers who keep the moving roads rolling go on strike. - The Outer Limit (September 1950)
A warning from beyond, and a last chance for mankind. - Hello Tomorrow
People return to the surface after the bombs, and the question of who is perfect. - Dr. Grimshaw's Sanitorium
A mad Nazi scientist and his fiendish experiments. - And the Moon Be Still as Bright
From The Martian Chronicles: Earthmen land on Mars. - The Professor Was a Thief
A strange little man can make buildings disappear, starting with Grant's Tomb. - Shanghaied
Crewmen shanghai young men for fifteen-year voyages to the stars. - Competition
A ship of women emigrants is taken to the wrong planet, and Miss Travis becomes a pawn. - Universe (1950)
People aboard a huge spaceship can't imagine any other life. Announced as the last show; the series returned in December. - The Green Hills of Earth
Robert Heinlein's tale of Rhysling, the blind singer of the spaceways, told partly in song. It aired on Christmas Eve, right after President Truman's Christmas message.
1951
- Mars Is Heaven (1951)
The first ship from Earth lands on Mars in 1987, with more than one surprise. - The Martian Death March
Man's cruelty to the Martians, an allegory of the treatment of Native Americans. - The Last Objective
The underground wars of mankind's future. - Nightmare
From Stephen Vincent Benet's poem about the revolt of the machines. - Pebble in the Sky
Earth, the only radioactive inhabited planet in the Empire, plans conquest. - Child's Play
A man receives a Build-a-Man kit from the future. - Time and Time Again
A soldier from the war of 1975 is thrown thirty years into the past. - Dwellers in Silence
Twenty years after mankind leaves Earth, a ship from Mars lands. - Courtesy
The second expedition to Landro is dying of plague. How do the natives survive? - Universe (1951)
For the travelers aboard the great ship, the ship is all there is. - The Veldt
The children's playroom is no place to fool around. - The Vital Factor
A ruthless millionaire will be first into space, whatever the cost. - Untitled Story
A private eye must learn whether the Elixir of Life is real or poison. - Marionettes Inc.
In 1990 a man buys a robot double to stay home with his wife. The robot has ideas of its own. - First Contact
A ship meets an alien vessel in deep space, and neither dares let the other go home. - Kaleidoscope
A spaceship disaster scatters the crew into space. - Requiem
An old, rich man wants only to see the moon before he dies. - Nightfall
The last show: on a planet with six suns, night is coming for the first time in 2,049 years.