Dimension X

Stories in time and space . . . told in future tense

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Dimension X web poster
Dimension X

Stories in time and space . . . told in future tense
20 November 2023
Season 11, Episode 11

Re-Imagined Radio celebrates Dimension X, a pioneering radio science fiction series that aired over NBC from April 1950 through September 1951. Neither the earliest nor the most famous of the many science fiction series heard on radio from the 1930s to the 1950s, the legacy of Dimension X looms large. Re-Imagined Radio explores that legacy. First by reviewing radio science fiction programs leading up to Dimension X, and second by listening to "The Outer Limit," the first episode of Dimension X, and perhaps the most often broadcast radio science fiction story.

Despite its short life span, broadcast less than a year, only fifty episodes, Dimension X pioneered science fiction radio storytelling, according to James Widner and Meade Frierson, "using imagination to experience whatever is being talked about, read or acted out" (8). In doing this work, Dimension X provided the essential radio storytelling DNA for X Minus One, perhaps the most acclaimed science fiction anthology radio series ever broadcast.

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Script

READ the "Dimension X" script.

Credits

Written, Produced, and Hosted by John F. Barber
Sound Design, Music, and Post Production by Marc Rose
Promotional Graphics by Holly Slocum

Dimension X

National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC)
April 8, 1950 - September 29, 1951
An anthology program targeted for adult listeners. Each episode offered, "Stories in time and space . . . transcribed in future tense."
30 minute episodes
50 episodes produced, 50 survive
Of the 50 episodes total, 46 are unique, written by or adapted from works by science fiction writers of the day, many of whom are now household names.
4 episodes were repeated: "The Outer Limit" (8 April 1950 and 8 September 1950), "No Contact" (29 April 1950 and 28 October 1950), "The Green Hills of Earth" (10 June 1950 and 24 December 1950), and "Mars Is Heaven" (7 July 1950 and 7 January 1951).

Cast (continuing)
Joe Di Santis, Wendell Holmes, Santos Ortega, Joseph Julian, Jan Miner, Roger De Koven, John Gibson, Ralph Bell, John Larkin, Les Damon, and Mason Adams.

Credits
Directed by Fred Weihe and Edward King
Narrated by Norman Rose
Episodes adapted/written by Ernest Kinoy and George Lefferts

Dimension X narrowly missed being the first adult science fiction radio series. In a letter to James Widner and Meade Frierson III, producer Van Woodward recalls the idea for an adult anthology series as first promoted by either writer Ernest Kinoy or George Lefferts. "We prepared an audition for the network brass using 'Mars Is Heaven' [from The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury]" (Widner and Frierson 20).

"Almost simultaneously, the NBC staff in Hollywood was cooking up a science fiction series of its own . . . and a good one," said Woodward (Widner and Frierson 20).

Woodward said, "In the end, NBC decided to produce the show in New York, probably because we had a much larger staff available to handle it there. And then we sat down to wait for a time slot to open up for Dimension X. Before it did, 2,000 Plus had beaten us on the air" (Widner and Frierson 20).

A New York Times article suggests the planned science fiction was to be called Out of This World. When NBC was unable to clear rights to use "Mars Is Heaven" the planned science fiction series was renamed Dimension X. The article described Dimension X like this, "The program which begins Saturday, April 8 at 8 p.m. will have a 15-minute prologue at 7:45 entitled 'Preview to the Future'" (Widner and Frierson 20).

And so, 2,000 Plus became the first adult oriented science fiction radio anthology series.

Adapting original works
With an adult audience in mind, each episode of Dimension X was adapted from original works by top science fiction writers of the day. Many of their visions—space travel, fantastic technology, for example—have proved quite accurate. Writers Kinoy and Lefferts faithfully adapted published works by these young science fiction writers . . .
Isaac Asimov, "Nightfall" and "A Pebble in the Sky"
Robert Bloch, "Almost Human"
Ray Bradbury, "Dwellers in Silence," "The Veldt," "Kaleidoscope," "Marionettes, Inc.," "Mars is Heaven," "And the Moon Be Still as Bright," and "There Will Come Soft Rains / Zero Hour"
Frederic Brown, "Knock"
Graham Doar, "The Outer Limit"
Robert A. Heinlein, "Universe," "The Green Hills of Earth," "Requiem," "Destination Moon," and "The Roads Must Roll"
L. Ron Hubbard, "The Professor Was a Thief"
Murray Leinster, "The Lost Race," "A Logic Named Joe," and "First Contact"
H. Beam Piper, "Time and Time Again"
Clifford Simak, "Courtesy"
Jack Vance, "The Potters of Firsk"
Kurt Vonnegut, "Report on the Barnhouse Effect"
Jack Williamson, "With Folded Hands"
Donald Wollheim, "The Embassy"

Kinnoy and Lefferts also contributed original scripts of their own.

Woodson, in his letter to Widner and Frierson (see above) said, "We went the 'adaptation route' simply because that's where the best stories are. Bright ideas for science fiction don't come on order; they're usually the product of a moment's inspiration, by a writer who is steeped in the field" (Widner and Frierson 28).

The Outer Limit
One episode of Dimension X, "The Outer Limit," is perhaps the most frequently broadcast science fiction radio story. The original story by Graham Doar was first published in The Saturday Evening Post. The story concerns a pilot testing a new, experimental aircraft who disappears with only ten minutes of fuel left. Given up for dead, he returns ten hours later with a message given him, he says, by aliens: stop developing and using atomic weapons.

Coming just two years after the first modern report of a UFO sighting by Kenneth Arnold, June 24, 1947, Doar’s story effectively combines the elements of post war angst, Cold War fears, interest bordering on hysteria for flying saucers, and popular imagination to create a template for alien "close encounter" stories that followed. Re-Imagined Radio offered tribute to The Day the Earth Stood Still. LEARN more and LISTEN here.

"The Outer Limit" was used several times for radio. Here is a chronology.
February 7, 1950
Escape, Episode 97, February 7, 1950
Original story by Graham Doar
Adapted by Morton Fine and David Friedkin
Cast: Frank Lovejoy as Major Westfall. With Charles McGraw, Jeff Corey, Stan Waxman, and Ian Wolfe.
William N. Robson produced and directed the story

February 23, 1950
Beyond This World, Audition, February 23, 1950 (Widner and Frierson 22; Haendiges)
Original story by Graham Doar
Cast: Frank Lovejoy, Charles McGraw, Jeff Corey
Here, the series is called Beyond This World. Hosted by "Askator."

April 8, 1950
Dimension X, Pilot episode, Episode 01, April 8, 1950 (Widner and Frierson 31)
Original story by Graham Doar
Adapted by Ernest Kinoy
Cast: "Joseph Julian as Steve, Wendell Holmes as Hank, and Joe De Santis as Major Donaldson. Your host is Norman Roses. Music was by Albert Berman. Sound designed by Simon Roe. Edward King directed."

April 13 or 18, 1950
Beyond This World series retitled Beyond Tomorrow, Episode 04, April 13 (Widner and Frierson 23) or 18 (Haendiges), 1950
Original story by Graham Doar
Same as audition, but with different introduction. Here, the series is called Beyond Tomorrow.

September 8, 1950
Dimension X, Episode 23, September 8, 1950 (Widner and Frierson 38)
Original story by Graham Doar
Adapted by Ernest Kinoy
Repeat of Episode 01

February 15, 1954
Suspense, Episode 539, February 15, 1954
Based on the earlier script used for Escape
Cast: William Holden
Credits: Elliott Lewis, producer/director

November 16, 1955
X Minus One, Episode 25, November 16, 1955 (Widner and Frierson 65)
The Dimension X adaptation by Ernest Kinoy
Cast: Joe Julian, Wendell Holmes, Joe De Santis, Bob Hastings, James Dukas, Freddie Chandler

March 17, 1957
Suspense, Episode 690, March 17, 1957
Cast: Frank Lovejoy
Credits: William N. Robson, producer/director

Legacy
In addition to wide re-broadcast of "The Outer Limit" episode, Dimension X provided the essential radio storytelling DNA for X Minus One, perhaps the most acclaimed science fiction radio series ever broadcast. Fourteen episodes from Dimension X were reused as the first episodes of X Minus One (DeForest 198).

Re-Imagined Radio has previously offered tribute to X Minus One. LEARN more and LISTEN here.

Resources
Dimension X episodes at Internet Archive.
Doar, Graham. "The Outer Limit." Saturday Evening Post, 24 Dec. 1949, pp. 22, 23, 72.
Science Fiction in Radio. Old Time Radio Catalog website.
Dimension X radio logs at Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs website
Dimension X log by James Widner
The Definitive Dimension X at Digital Deli Too
Dimension X plot summaries and credits at Radio Gold Index website
Episodes of Dimension X at Internet Archive website
Peebles, Curtis. Abducted in Space: The Saturday Evening Post, Playboy and the Vanishing X-15 Pilot’s Return. Magonia 91, February 2006.
Interesting tie in with "The Outer Limit" (and good information)
Collins, Curt and Claude Falkstrom. Flying Saucers, the Atomic Bomb and Doomsday: The Outer Limit (Part 1 of 5). The Saucers That Time Forgot. September 8, 2017.
Collins, Curt and Claude Falkstrom. The Outer Limit by Graham Doar: The UFO Parable (Part 2 of 5). The Saucers That Time Forgot. September 12, 2017.
Escape—The Outer Limit. Escape & Suspense. December 28, 2008.

Works Cited
DeForest, Tom. Storytelling in the Pulps, Comics, and Radio: How Technology Changed Popular Fiction in America. McFarland, 2004.
Widner, James F. and Meade Frierson, III. Science Fiction on Radio: A Revised Look at 1950–1975. AFAB, 1996.

Background

Science Fiction on the Radio > Literary Origins
Before the so-called "Golden Age of Radio," the 1930s to the 1950s, a genre of novels were popular with both adult and younger readers interested to imagine future worlds and ways to be in them. Examples include Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels (1726). Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818). Jules Verne's Voyage to the Center of the Earth (1864). Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886). H. G. Wells's The Time Machine (1895) and The War of the Worlds (1897). Edgar Rice Burroughs's Under the Moons of Mars (1917). These novels and others influenced science fiction for decades.

During the 1920s, what we now call the science fiction genre evolved in popular culture media forms like comic strips, comic books, pulp fiction, and magazines such as Amazing Stories (1926-1958), Air Wonder Stories (1929-1930), and Galaxy (1950-1980). According to James Widner and Meade Frierson, the science fiction genre "was a product of creative speculations concerning the possible in science/technology but also it was a response to the need for escape from the harsh realities [of The Depression]" (9). Elaborating, Widner and Frierson say modern science fiction began as pulp fiction in 1927. Following the end of World War II, fear of atomic war and destruction enhanced the genre and incresed its attraction to radio and motion picture producers (9).

Since then, the overlay of the horror genre (the mad scientist and his creations, for example), have blurred the boundaries, and publication source and marketing campaigns have become primary in determing what is science fiction, say Widner and Frierson (9). They suggest these broad categories for science fiction stories, arranged alphabetically: Aliens, Atomic Destruction, Computers, Future, Lost World, Monsters, Other Dimensions, Space, and Time Travel.

Science Fiction on the Radio > Appealing to Imagination
Both science fiction literature and radio storytelling thrive on engagement and imagination. Both provide only partial information (DeForest 202). Words on pages and dialogue, sound effects, and music heard in radio programs interact with the imagination to create images in readers' and listeners' minds (McHugh 21). These images can "evoke places (where things happen) and actions (what happens there) (Nuzum 114). "Radio actively engages our minds," says Tom DeForest. "We are personally involved because we're doing as much work in creating the story as the actors and the sound men" (202). For example, the radio adaptation by Orson Welles and The Mercury Theatre on the Air, of the H.G. Wells novel, The War of the Worlds, Halloween eve, October 30, 1938, convinced listeners that Earth was being invaded by beings from Mars. Widner and Frierson call "The War of the Worlds" "the best known and most sensational show in the science fiction genre" (11). Re-Imagined Radio has offered several iterations of this story, a tribute, and a look behind the use of realistic breaking news reports to carry the narrative forward. LEARN more and LISTEN here.

An aside here: The War of the Worlds is frequently cited as the best know radio show ever. Widener and Frierson nominate Og, Son of Fire, November 23, 1934 to June 28, 1935, and September 30, 1935 to December 27, 1935, as the least known.

Science Fiction on the Radio > First Story
David Kyle says the most effective medium for "communicating the essence of science fiction" is radio. Here, more successfully than other mediums, other than film, "the listener could collaborate with the writer and build 'in the theater of the mind' the marvelous stories of any time and any space. The two ingredients which made genuine science fiction—the sense of wonder which is the true artistic expression of [science fiction] and the fresh intellectual ideas relating to scientific theorizing—were being achieved" (125).

What was the first science fiction story heard on radio? A thirteen-part radio serial, based on Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein was broadcast on CBS in 1932. Later that same year Buck Rogers in the 25th Century began a radio career that ran to 1947. Widner and Frierson argue that neither are contenders as the first science fiction story on radio. Frankenstein is horror, they say, and Buck Rogers is better grouped with superheros, comic book fare, and juvenile science fiction (11).

The first science fiction story on radio, they say, "MIGHT (their emphasis) [be] in the plays of an anthology series called The Witch's Tale." Written and directed by Alonzo Deen Cole (1897-1971), and broadcast on WOR Radio 1931-1934, this series set the standard for host-based anthology series. It is most often categorized as horror. But one episode, "The Entomologist," a two-part story, concerns a mad scientist who plans to rule the world with his giant vampire spider(s).

Warning: This radio program was produced in 1932. Cultural considerations were different then. Some listeners may be offended by terms used to describe certain peoples in this recording.

Documented broadcast dates differ. Widner and Frierson say May 2 and 4, 1934 (11). Jerry Haendiges and Audio Classics Archive give the broadcast date as January 7, 1935, episode 178, and say it was a repeat of "The Spider," episode 56, broadcast July 11, 1932. Radio Gold Index, "The Witch's Tale," notes "The Entomologist" as being broadcast as Program #11 in Australian syndication July 11, 1932. "The script was first heard on WOR on July 11, 1932 (titled "The Spider") and on January 7, 1935." The "Witch's Tale Errors," webpage, part of OTR errors, notes the difficulty of establishing exact dates for each episode because of confusion between transcriptions and Australian productions. Known existing episodes are listed. According to information provided, "The Entomologist" was available in 1934, as part of the All-Star Broadcasts, New York, electrical transcription series. An explanation reads, "All dates from 1931 or 1932 or 1933 are wrong. The earliest correctly dated shows are from 1934. Almost all the month/day dates circulating are wrong because those dates are for WOR broadcasts and the circulating shows are different transcriptions (different than the WOR) or Australian."

So, while the first broadcast dates may be uncertain, and unless an earlier episode/story can be identified (of potentially 332 episodes produced, approximately 30 survive), "The Entomologist" may be the first known/surviving science fiction story heard on radio. Certainly, say Widner and Frierson, it is the earliest science fiction radio story one can acquire for a private collection (11).

Works Cited
Audio Classics Archive.
DeForest, Tom. Storytelling in the Pulps, Comics, and Radio: How Technology Changed Popular Fiction in America. McFarland, 2004.
Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs.
McHugh, Siobhán. The Power of Podcasting: Telling Stories through Sound. UNSW Press, 2022.
Radio Gold Index: Witch's Tale.
Nuzum, Eric. Make Noise: A Creator's Guide to Podcasting and Great Audio Storytelling. Workman Publishing, 2019.
Widner, James F. and Meade Frierson, III. Science Fiction on Radio: A Revised Look at 1950–1975. AFAB, 1996.
Witch's Tales Errors. OTR errors website.

Science Fiction on the Radio > A Chronology
Radio networks and individual stations, eager to attract listeners, offered science fiction-themed radio programs from the 1920s through the 1950s, the breakout decade for such programs. X Minus One was the best of the 1950s radio science fiction programs. But Dimension X provided the essential radio storytelling DNA. Following are brief reviews of several science fiction-themed radio programs to provide context for Dimension X.

1932 - 1947
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
National Broadcasting Company and Mutual Radio Network
Intermittently, 1932-1947
Continuing. Targeted to younger listeners.
15 and 30 minute episodes
Potentially 860 episodes were produced, possibly 33 survive as described below

Origins
The character Anthony Rogers first appeared in the August 28, 1928 issue of Amazing Stories magazine, in the novella Armageddon 2419 A.D. by Philip Francis Nowlan (1888-1940) (Nowlan 1928). Rogers appeared again in a sequel, The Airlords of Han, in the March 1929 issue of Amazing Stories (Nowlan 1929). At the request of John F. Dille, who led the National Newspaper syndicate, Nowlan, with illustrator Dick Calkins, adapted the story as a science fiction comic strip, and changed the lead character's name to "Buck." Buck Rogers in the 25th Century first appeared in comic strip form in forty seven syndicated daily newspapers 7 January 1929.

Comics
As portrayed in comics, Buck (neé Anthony) Rogers, is a mining engineer. While working in a mine near Pittsburg, in 1919, he is exposed to a gas that leaves him in suspended animation until the 25th century. When he awakes, the world has progressed technologically—space travel is commonplace—but crime was still a problem. Buck Rogers, a young adventurer, Wilma Deering, a young woman determined to be part of the solution Dr. Elias Huer, inventor of the Mechanical Mole, the Gyrocosmic Relativator, Thermal Radiation Projectors, Flexo-Impervium metal, Electro-Hypno Mentalo Phones, Sub-Cosmic Radio Units, Non-Recoil Energy Projectors, and Moleculear Expansion Beam Projectors (DeForest 182), with Black Barney, a former space pirate from Mars, battled criminals of the future like Killer Kane, and his crime paramour, Ardala Valmar (Science Fiction in Radio).

The comic strip, set in Niagara, capital of 25th century United States society, was very popular and soon appeared in Sunday newspapers, both national and international. It was adapted as books, serial films, a television series, and a radio program.

Radio Series
On radio, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century was presented as four separate series, detailed below. Each series brought the idea of space exploration into popular media, following Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and Edgar Rice Burroughs. The radio storytelling was compelling, with Buck Rogers, Wilma Deering, Dr. Huer, and Black Barney fighting criminals and evil warlords of the future.

Sound Effects were by Ora Nichols, the first woman to lead a radio sound effects department. She pioneered several new methods for creating sound effects, and worked with Orson Welles.

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century > First Series
Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)
November 22, 1932 - May 22, 1936
Continuing. Targeted to younger listeners.
15-minute episodes, Monday through Thursday evenings, at 7:15. By 1936, Buck Rogers was heard Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Early episodes were directed by Carlo De Angelo. Later Jack Johnstone took the helm.
Potentially, 720 episodes were produced for this run, 2 are said to survive (The Classic Archives)
Episode #01, November 7, 1932
Episode #02, November 14, 1932

Cast (continuing)
Curtis Arnall as Buck Rogers
Adele Ronson as Wilma Deering
Edgar Stehli as Dr. Elias Huer
William "Bill" Shelley (1st run) as Killer Kane (and Arthur Vinton ?)
Elaine Melchior as Ardala Valmar
Jack Roseleigh, Joe Granby as Black Barney
Ronald Liss as Buddy
??? as Willie
??? as Rankin
??? as Stratton
Paul Douglas, and Fred Uttal as Announcers

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century > Second Series
Mutual Broadcasting System
April 5, 1939 - July 31, 1939
Continuing. Targeted to younger listeners.
15-minute episodes Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays
Sponsored by Popsicle
Potentially 51 episodes were produced for this run, 25 may survive.
Inventory of surviving episodes.

Episode #01, Wednesday, April 5, 1939 "Gyro Cosmic Relativator"
How Buck Rogers got to the 25th century. Kane and Ardala send Black Barney out from their secret headquarters to obtain supplies. Buck and Wilma follow Kane’s old rocket trail to the ruins of old Philadelphia but the trail suddenly stops.


X

Episode Inventory—Buck Rogers in the 25th Century > Second Run

Totals

Total episodes: 51 potentially
Surviving episodes: 25 potentially

Note: Original titles are unknown. Those cited here represent the episode's story.

Episode #02, Friday, April 7, 1939 "The Gyro Cosmic Relativator Has Been Installed" aka "Kane and Ardala Escape; Rocket Ship Stolen"
Buck's wounded hand is put under the healing ray. Killer Kane and Ardala escape.

Episode #03, Monday, April 10, 1939, "Barney and Willie Take Rocket Ship"
Willie and Black Barney are testing Dr. Huer's new invention when Killer Kane strikes.

Episode #04, Wednesday, April 12, 1939, "Kane Plots Use of Psychic Restriction Ray" aka "The Psychic Restriction Ray Has Been Stolen!"

Episode #05, Friday, April 14, 1939, "Kane Releases Willie, with Note to Buck"
Kane and Ardala turn the Psychic Restriction Ray on Barney

Episode #06, Monday, April 17, 1939, "Buck Follows False Rocket Trail" aka "Dr. Huer Searches for Impentrite."
Buck pursues Killer Kane.

Episode #07, Wednesday, April 19, 1939, "Kane Makes an Ally of Barney," aka "Barney Is Under Control of Killer Kane and Ardala"
Buck is mysteriously summoned by Dr. Huer.

Episode #08, Friday, April 21, 1939, "Huer Makes a Duplicate Gyro Control," aka "Dr. Huer's New Relativator Is Installed on Buck's Ship"
Killer Kane and Barney plan mayhem.

Episode #09, Monday, April 24, 1939, "Willie Reaches Buck with Kane's Note," aka "Willie Crash-Lands His Rocket Roadster" After a session under The Healing Ray, Willie reports on the activities of Killer Kane.

Episode #10, Wednesday, April 26, 1939, "The Trail Is Lost," aka "Barney Gathers Destructive Weapons!"

Episode #11, Friday, April 28, 1939, "Buck and Wilma Discover Barney's Whereabouts," aka "Dr. Huer's Fruitless Trip to Omaha"
Barney's treachery.

Episode #12, Monday, May 1, 1939, "Barney Returns to Kane with Battle Cruiser," aka "Buck and Wilma Rocket to Omaha on Barney's Trail"

Episode #***, ***, 1939, "Willie Is Lost, Then Found Underground."

Episode #***, Wednesday, May 3, 1939, "The Mechanical Mole, Part 1." In the weird and wonderful laboratory of Dr. Huer in Niagara, the capital of 25th century America, the old scientist works feverishly over a mass of diagrams and complicated formulas covering the top of his desk.

Episode #***, Friday, May 5, 1939, "The Mechanical Mole, Part 2." A terror stricken crowd watches a gigantic machine called The Mechanical Mole move sluggishly across a landing field. In front of it an atomic radiation projector, a gigantic heat ray begins to glow ominously.

Episode #***, Monday, May 8, 1939, "The Mechanical Mole, Part 3." Buck Rogers, Dr. Huer, and Wilma are ready to start on an expedition towards the centre of the earth in The Mechanical Mole. Their starting point is the landing field of the great municipal Space Port in Niagara, capital of 25th Century America.

Episode #***, Wednesday, May 10, 1939, "The Mechanical Mole, Part 4." Buck, Wilma, and Dr. Huer start their expedition underground in The Mechanical Mole. Sergeant Carborgh, following orders and having no idea what might happen underground, returns to the main rocket ship hanger to contact the President’s office by radio.

Episode #***, Friday, May 12, 1939, "The Mechanical Mole, Part 5." After discovering the City of Ore, a city of pure gold and radium, Buck, Wilma, and Dr. Huer start back to the surface to report their amazing discovery.

Episode #***, Monday, May 15, 1939, "The Mechanical Mole, Part 6." Wilma Deering, Dr. Huer, and Buck Rogers are aboard The Mechanical Mole as it slowly digs its way back to the surface.

Episode #***, Wednesday, May 17, 1939, "The Mechanical Mole, Part 7." Buck and Black Barney have finally managed to open the door of Barney’s big underground machine, Groundhog.

Episode #***, Friday, May 19, 1939, "The Chase After Killer Kane, Part 1." On the moon, Buck and Wilma discover they have been tricked by Killer Kane and Ardala.

Episode #***, Monday, May 22, 1939, "The Chase After Killer Kane, Part 2." Killer Kane and Ardala steal Buck’s rocket ship and kidnap Dr. Huer. They fly at top speed through outer space to one of the ten moons of the planet Saturn.

Episode #***, Wednesday, May 24, 1939, "The Chase After Killer Kane, Part 3." Killer Kane and Ardala set up headquarters on the moon of Saturn called Insalladus. They are organizing a huge space fleet with which they plan to conquer Earth and all the other major planets in our solar system.

Episode #***, Friday, May 26, 1939, "The Chase After Killer Kane, Part 4." Buck, Wilma and Dr. Huer pursue the arch criminals Killer Kane and Ardala, flying at top speed in their rocket plane toward the far off planet Pluto. But the ship being used by the two criminals is identical to that of our friends.

Episode #***, Monday, May 29, 1939, "The Chase After Killer Kane, Part 5." Near the orbit of the planet Pluto, Buck, Wilma and Dr. Huer once discovered the Black Planetoids, small heavenly bodies made of a substance witch absorbs light to such a degree it reflects none. Planetoids that are virtually invisible, that exist in a state of perpetual darkness. On one of these strange little worlds a powerful floodlight would illuminate only a tiny area because of the lack of reflection. And that’s why Killer Kane and Ardala, seeking to escape from our friends in a super rocket plane, roared onward through space and finally landed on one of the black Planetoids. The spaceship of Buck, Wilma and Dr. Huer, badly disabled in the course of its flight streaked downward in to the planetoids tremendous gravitational area until finally it crashed.

Credits
Director(s): Carlo De Angelo & Jack Johnstone
Producer: Carlo De Angelo
Sound Effects: Ora Daigle Nichols (first woman to lead a radio sound effects department, created several sound producing methods, worked with Orson Welles)
Writer(s): Dick Calkins, Joe Cross, Jack Johnstone, Albert Miller, and Dee Falkinburg

Cast (continuing)
Matt Crowley as Buck Rogers
Virginia Vass as Wilma Deering
Edgar Stehli as Dr. Elias Huer
Dan Ocko as Killer Kane (and Arthur Vinton ?)
Elaine Melchior as Ardala Valmar
Jack Roseleigh, Joe Granby as Black Barney
Ronald Liss as Buddy
??? as Willie
??? as Rankin
??? as Stratton
Paul Douglas, and Fred Uttal as Announcers

Resources
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs.
Buck Rogers at Internet Archive website.
Old Time Radio Downloads. Buck Rogers.

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century > Third Series
*** Broadcasting System
May 18, 1940 - July 27, 1940
Continuing. Targeted to younger listeners.
30-minutes episodes, broadcast only on Saturdays
Potentially 51 episodes were produced, 4 survive?

Episode #732, May ***, 1940, Back from Jupiter, on Earth, Dr. Huer solves the problem with the Thermic Radiation Projector for his Mechanical Mole.
Buck tries to save the underground city of Ore. Complete episode available.

Episode #733, June ***, 1940, The Thermic Radiation Projector enables Buck, Wilma, and Dr. Huer to take a mechanical mole to the center of the Earth where an explosion almost wrecks it. Partial episode.

Episode #736, June ***, 1940, Buck, Wilma, and Dr. Huer prepare to return to the surface after spending time in the underground city of "Ore." A flood and poison gas threatens the city. Wilma succumbs to the gas. A partial episode.

Episode #737, June ***, 1940, Using The Thermic Radiation Projector, Buck, Wilma, and Dr. Huer return to the Earth's surface after exploring the underground city of "Ore." They are stopped by a mysterious black substance. The Groundhog, Black Barney's underground digging maching, Black Barney, and Buddy are also trapped underground by a black substance. A partial episode.

Credits
Director: Jack Johnstone
Producer: Carlo De Angelo

Cast (continuing)
Carl Frank as Buck Rogers
??? as Wilma Deering
Edgar Stehli as Dr. Elias Huer
??? as Killer Kane (and Arthur Vinton ?)
Elaine Melchior as Ardala Valmar
Jack Roseleigh, Joe Granby as Black Barney
Ronald Liss as Buddy
??? as Willie
??? as Rankin
??? as Stratton
Paul Douglas, and Fred Uttal as Announcers

Resources
Old Time Radio Downloads. Buck Rogers.

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century > Fourth Series
Mutual Broadcasting System
September 30, 1946 - March 28, 1947
Continuing. Targeted to younger listeners.
15-minute episodes, possibly broadcast Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays
Potentially, 78 episodes were produced, 1 survives

Episode #***, March 28, 1947, "The Last Show." The entire episode is devoted to the final fight between Buck and Killer Kane.

Cast
John Larken as Buck Rogers
??? as Wilma Deering
Edgar Stehli as Dr. Elias Huer
??? as Killer Kane (and Arthur Vinton ?)
Elaine Melchior as Ardala Valmar
Jack Roseleigh, Joe Granby as Black Barney
Ronald Liss as Buddy
??? as Willie
??? as Rankin
??? as Stratton
Paul Douglas, and Fred Uttal as Announcers

Resources
Old Time Radio Downloads. Buck Rogers.

Works Cited
DeForest, Tim. Radio by the Book: Adaptations of Literature and Fiction on the Airwaves. McFarland, 2008.
Kenney, Patrick. Buck Rogers Radio Program, 1932–1947. Buck Rogers in the 25th Century Guide. April 4, 2014.
Nowlan, Philip Francis. "The Airlords of Han." Amazing Stories, vol. 3, no. 12, Mar. 1929, pp. 1106-1136.
Interactive facsimile of original publication here
Nowlan, Philip Francis. "Armageddon 2419 A.D." Amazing Stories, vol. 3, no. 5, Aug. 1928, pp. 422-449.
Interactive facsimile of original publication here
Science Fiction in Radio. Old Time Radio Catalog.

1935
The Amazing Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon
Mutual Broadcasting System
April 27-October 26, 1935
Continuing. Targeted to younger listeners.
15 minute episodes, Saturdays
26 episodes produced, 26 survive
Inventory of Flash Gordon episodes

The Amazing Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon was a weekly space adventure radio drama following the adventures of Flash Gordon, a handsome polo player and Yale University graduate, and his companions Dale Arden and Dr. Hans Zarkov on the planet Mongo. The radio series was created specifically to compete with Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. Like Buck Rogers, the radio series The Amazing Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon followed a comic strip. Created in 1934 by Alexander (Alex) Gillespie Raymond (1909-1956), the comic strip was first published January 7, 1934 in The Comic Weekly, a thirty-two page, four color, tabloid-sized supplement to Hearst Sunday papers. Starting 27 April 1935, the Flash Gordon comic strip was adapted into a twenty six week radio series, beginning with the weekly strips published more than a year earlier. Each radio episode followed, almost verbatim, The Amazing Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon comic strip.

The series begins with the arrival of a strange planet in the solar system, on a collision course with Earth. Dr. Hans Zarkov, Flash Gordon, and Dale Arden, travel in Dr. Zarkov's rocket ship to the strange planet, called Mongo, ruled by Ming The Merciless, Emperor of Mongo and Supreme Ruler of the Universe. The trio have many adventures on Mongo, meeting, fighting, and making friends with the rulers and creatures of several kingdoms. At the end of the series, Flash, Dale and Dr. Zarkov return to Earth, crash land in Malaysia, meet Jungle Jim, gentleman adventurer, the star of another Alex Raymond comic strip. The series ended 26 October 1935 with Flash and Dale's wedding in the jungle. The Adventures of Jungle Jim series, also based on a comic strip by Alex Raymond, took over the time slot.

Where Buck Rodgers brought the idea of space exploration into popular media, following Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and Edgar Rice Burroughs, Flash Gordon continues, for several reasons, to be the best remembered and appreciated radio series focused on space exploration. First, The Amazing Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon inspired another radio series, The Further Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon (see below), a 1936-1940 television series starring Clarence Linden "Buster" Crabbe, a 1970s television series, and a 1980 film. Many artifacts first introduced in The Amazing Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon can be followed into later radio series. For example, the "spacephone," first introduced in the 1 July 1934 Flash Gordon comic strip, was incorporated by William "Mike" Moser into his 1952-1955 series, Space Patrol (see below). Rocket ships, ray guns, and other incredible technologies introduced in episodes of Flash Gordon appeared not only in subsequent radio series, but other media narratives as well.

Listen to Episode 01, "On the Planet Mongo," April 27, 1935

Listen to Episode 02, "An Alliance Forms," May 4, 1935

Listen to Episode 26, "Flash and Dale Married in the Jungle," October 26, 1935

At least three episodes of The Official Adventures of Flash Gordon circulate. These episodes are repackaged episodes of The Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon as broadcast on WRR, Dallas, Texas.

"Fake Attack," date unknown

"Decoy of Ming The Merciless," date unknown

"The Mole Machine," date unknown

Credits
Producer: Himan Brown
Ray Collins: Announcer

Cast (continuing)
Gale Gordon as Flash Gordon
(Gordon is noted for roles as Dr. Petrie in Fu Manchu, Mayor LaTrivia in Fibber McGee and Molly, Rumson Bullard in The Great Gildersleeve, Mr. Atterbury in My Favorite Husband, and Principal Conklin in Our Miss Brookslater. He also had roles in television shows like Our Miss Brooks, Dennis the Menace, The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy, both with Lucille Ball.)
Unknown as Dale Arden
Maurice Franklin as Dr. Hans Zarkov
Bruno Wick as Emperor Ming, The Merciless
Teddy Bergman
Everett Sloane
Charlie Cantor

Resources
Amazing Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon. Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs.
Episodes at Internet Archive website
Episodes at Old Time Radio Researchers Group Library

1935-1936
The Further Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon
Mutual Broadcasting System
October 28, 1935-February 6, 1936
Continuing. Targeted to younger listeners.
30 minute episodes, Monday-Thursday, 5:30 PM
Sponsored by Groves Nose Spray
60 (Wikipedia) or 74 (Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs) episodes produced, 4 survive (see below).

On October 28, 1935, two days after the ending of The Amazing Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon ending,The Further Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon debuted as a four-day-a-week, fifteen-minute radio show. The Further Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon frequently strayed from Raymond's comic strip. For example Flash, Dale, and Dr. Zarkov shared an adventure in Atlantis, the mythical sunken city. This series ended February 6, 1936, after seventy four episodes. Four episodes survive. See below. NOTE: Exact titles are unknown. Those provided here speak to main story lines.

Listen to Episode #??, "Fortress Bombarded," date uncertain 1935(?)

Flash defeats the armies of Morgat at the Battle of the Hilltop Fortress. Dale Arden and Dr. Zarkov are saved. Flash is again hailed as Emperor of Atlantis. But, the Sub-Strata forces, with their "destructo cannon" return, led by Raoul DuFarge, arch enemy of Flash and Dr. Zarkov. DuFarge convinces the Atlantean Sub-Strata forces, loyal to Flash, that The Hilltop Fortress is filled with enemies and orders them to attack with their Destructo cannon. Flash, Commander Grego, and Lieutenant Redna are called to action.

Listen to Episode #??, "The Titans," date uncertain 1935(?)

Seeking additional supplies of copper, Flash, Emperor of Atlantis, plans to visit Empress Luwana, ruler of the Titans, a savage race whose empire contains many copper mines. Although warned he may be killed by the Titans, Flash is determined to proceed and convinces Grego to accompany him. Flash hopes to secure a peace treaty with the Titans. Flash, Grego, and Dale proceed by chariot to the Titan border. They are arrested and placed in prison. Dale is taken to Prince Nearat, who demands she marry him in turn for giving his approval of the treaty Flash and Grego have brought to Empress Luwana. Dale kills Nearat with a "dissolvo pistol."

Listen to Episode #?? "Showdown with King Tauroc," date uncertain 1935(?)

Failing to escape the land of the Titans when it is invaded by King Tauroc of the Iron Kingdom, Flash, Emperor of Atlantis, and Commander Grego are sentenced to death in a pit of molten iron. The Empress Luwana escapes capture. As did Dale, who informes Dr. Zatkov who organizes a rescue mission. Atlantian rocket ships arrive just in time, attacking King Tauroc's troops with "destructo grenades." The rocket ships land, disgorging troops led by Dr. Zarkov, who release Flash and Grego. Flash learns that King Tauroc has taken refuge in the royal palace. He orders ten soldiers to bring a battering ram and force open the door. When the doors are battered down Flash challenges King Tauroc to a fight, man to man. Tauroc is captured and Flash issues orders for the rebuilding of the royal palace, destroyed by Tauroc's invading troops. With friendly trade relations in place between the land of the Titans and Atlantis, the gesture is a final show of good will. Flash also invites Empress Luwana to hold court in Atlantis, until the new palace is built. Landing in Atlantis, Flash and Grego are reminded of the upcoming Feast of Poseidon, which comes but once every one hundred years. Grego is very disturbed. The High Priest explains that Flash must prove his love of Poseidon by killing the one person he loves best. How can Flash decide such a choice?

Listen to Episode #??, "Sacrifice for Poseidon," date uncertain 1935(?)

Flash, Grego, and Empress Luwana are rescued by Dr. Zarkov from the army of King Tauroc. But, celebration quickly turns to sadness when the High Preist tells Flash the coming celebration of Poseidon requires him to sacrifice either Grego, Dr. Zarkov, or Dale Arden. To refuse will mean the death of all three. Grego and Dr. Zarkov draw cards. The first to draw an ace of spades will offer himself for sacrifice. Zarkov draws the fatal card. But the priests of Atlantis refuse to accept the sacrifice of Dr. Zharkov, demanding instead that Dale Arden die.

Episode #unknown, "Title Unknown," date unknown
Escaping from The Queen Nylanda, Queen of the Crocodiles, Flash kills a giant crocodile and meets with Dr. Zarkov in the submarine Neptune. They are taken prisoner by Raoul Dufarge.

Episode #unknown, "Title Unknown," date unknown
The soldiers of Queen Nylanda, Queen of the Crocodiles, attack the submarine Neptune and are held off by a machine gun. Flash and Dr. Zarkov explore the sunken wreck of the Belgrovia looking for plans for a secret ray that can stop airplanes in flight. A monster attacks!

Resources
The Further Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon. Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs.

1941
Latitude Zero
National Broadcasting Company (NBC) Red Network
February 11 to June 3, 1941, NBC Pacific Coast network
June 7 to August 16, 1941, NBC Red network
Continuing. Targeted to younger listeners.
30 minute episodes
17 episodes produced, 1 survives ("Discovery of Omega")
See Inventory of Latitude Zero episodes

Background
Latitude Zero was created by writer Ted Elton Sherdeman (1909-1987), and his wife (married February 8, 1939) Anne Stone (1905-1980), a Canadian writer. Together they wrote seventeen episodes, serial in their narrative arcs, each leading to the next, and together, providing a complete story.

First Broadcast Run
Latitude Zero, as written by the Sherdeman's, was first broadcast over the NBC Pacific Coast network, Tuesdays, 6:00-6:30 PM, February 11 to June 3, 1941, as a weekly sustaining program.

Jay Hickerson supports the dates and substance of this first broadcast run when he reports the series "began on West Coast on 2/11/41. 2 shows available including 2/11/41" (285).

Broadcasting magazine, February 17, 1941, in a short article titled "Flying Adventures," says, "FANTASTIC adventure series Latitude Zero, has started on NBC Pacific Red Network. Quarter-hour weekly series is written and directed by Ted Sherdeman, and presents the exploits of five men who roam the seas in an epic flight for their ideals. Featured are Fred Shields, Jimmie Eagles, Vin Haworth, Lou Merrill and Edwin Max" (Flying Adventures).

*** Helm, writing for Variety magazine, 2 April 1941, noted this first broadcast run as coming from KFI, Los Angeles, CA, Tuesdays, 6:00 PM. Interestingly, he notes the broadcast as "coast," rather than Pacific network. He goes on to say, "From the fertile mind of Ted Sherdeman was hatched this meller of 'five men against the world.' Piece has a Buck Rogers flavor and reels off into fantastic tangents. NBC is hopeful of landing a summer sponsor for the program, having given it a good mounting and letting Sherdeman go the limit on talent and effects" (Helm 30).

"Tale puts to sea with five men in a fishing boat, who soon come upon a beached submarine. Once inside they find a heap of dead and Captain McKenzie, mysterious skipper of the craft. When asked where he's from he intones in his best Oxford, 'Latitude Zero.' That doesn't make sense to the five adventurers nor does little else he says. His slave bodyguard has a bullet hole in his chest but that heals in a couple of hours. That's the tip-off in the first installment of what's to be expected, or what's to be believed in the dialog of tongue-in-the-cheek Sherdeman. 'And that's only the beginning,' he grins."

"For those who are not too prissy about facts and conventions, airplay may carry an appealing note. Taken seriously it will bring only snickers. Cast is made up of sturdy stock players, including Jack Arnold, onetime of 'Myrt and Marge'."

Modest budget qualifes it for summer duty, even though it's a little heavy for the hot nights to come. With the air certain to be flled with music and quiz shows it may prove a diverting respite as escapist fare" (Helm p. ***).

Only Surviving Episode
According to the NBC Recording Index Card, only one program, the initial broadcast from 2/11/1941 was recorded, at least by NBC. This episode is titled "Discovery of Omega." The announcer says, "tonight begins the first episode of the most exciting and fabulous adventure story you've ever heard" (Recording Index).

To summarize "Discovery of Omega," in Alaska's Aleutian Islands, Brock Spencer, Captain of the fishing boat, "The Hope," and his crew, Tibbs Kennard and Burt Collins, find a submarine, The Omega, stranded on the beach of a remote island. Inside they discover Captain Craig McKenzie and his Sengalese bodyguard, Simba. McKenzie asks Spencer, Kennard, and Collins to help him return to Latitude Zero. The adventures begin.

Listen to "Discovery of Omega," Latitude Zero, June 7, 1941
NOTE: Jerry Haediges dates this episode November 2, 1941, and titles it "1st Show" ("Latitude Zero")

Vincent Terrace provides a good synopsis of this episode.

Second Broadcast Run
Within days of the conclusion of the first broadcast run, June 3, 1941, on the NBC Pacific Coast network, the second broadcast run of Latitude Zero was heard on the NBC Red network, eighteen stations stretching from New York to Denver, Saturdays, June 7 to August 16, 1941, as a weekly sustaining program (Terrace).

The NBC Program Index Card describes the Latitude Zero series as starting June 7, and ending September 27, 1941. Episodes are heard Saturdays, 8:00-8:30 PM on the "RED" network, originating in Los Angeles, CA. The description reads, "An adventure serial by Ted Sherdeman. The story begins with three men, friends, finding a submarine drifting in the Bering Sea, abandoned by all of its crew. The owner, prevails upon the three men to become his crew, and join him in his ambition - the preservation of beauty and culture at 'Latitude Zero', a tiny island in the South Pacific Ocean. He works constantly to borrow or steal great art objects, manuscripts and inventions, in order to preserve or further develop them. This situation leads the men to all corners of the earth into very imaginable situation [SIC]" (NBC Program Index Card).

Jon Swartz describes Latitude Zero as
LATITUDE ZERO
BLUE, 1941
A 30-minute Saturday night science fiction adventure program about a submarine and its captain. The series was written by Ann and Ted Sherkiman [sic]. Lou Merrill starred as Captain Craig McKenzie. At least one episode is available (411).

Frank Buxton and Bill Owen note, "These science-fiction adventures about a submarine and its captain had such characters as Simba, Brock Spencer, Bert Collins, Tibbs Canard, Babyface Nelson, and the villans Moloch and Lucretia" (196).

John Dunning calls Latitude Zero one of the "ocassional hybrids" of adult science, and notes it was heard on NBC (199).

A Time Magazine review, 23 June 1941, notes, "for the past fortnight, U.S. listeners coast-to-coast have been diverted by a killer-diller called Latitude Zero (8 p.m. E.D.S.T.), which makes its way out of NBC's Hollywood studios accompanied by the world's most bizarre barrage of sound effects. The script is written to match. The program dwells on the doings of one Captain Craig McKenzie. Anxious to save civilization from its doom, the Captain operates an insular Shangri-La in the South Pacific. The Captain populates his island with all kinds of high-toned people, whom he transports to his hideaway at 'Latitude Zero' (i.e., somewhere on the Equator) in a submarine. To rescue them he has brushes with huge man-eating crabs and trees, griffons and an evil fellow called Malic, who runs a rocket ship" ("Radio: Latitude Zero").

Then, the review connects the dots. Latitude Zero "was put on a coast-to-coast hookup after 17 weeks on a local circuit, and has a large and loyal following in the Pacific area" ("Radio: Latitude Zero").

So What?
Latitude Zero enjoyed two broadcast runs
February 11 to June 3, 1941, on the NBC Pacific Coast network
and
June 7 to August 16, 1941, on the NBC Red network, coast to coast.

Episodes for both broadcast runs were announced and published in newspapers and magazine program guides. See Inventory of Latitude Zero episodes. From this evidence it is fair to conclude that episodes of Latitude Zero were broadcast throughout both runs, as scheduled.

So, with episodes broadcast over thirty-four weeks in 1941, why is there only one surviving episode? If transcriptions were provided to participating network stations, surely some would be available today. The reasonable conclusion is that episodes of Latitude Zero were broadcast live.

Credits
Written by Anne and Ted Sherdeman
Vic Perrin as Announcer

Cast (continuing)
Lou Merril as Craig McKenzie
Elliott Lewis as Brock Spencer
James Eagles as Tibbs Kennard
Wally Maher as Burt Collins
Edwin Max as Simba
Elaine Barrie as Lucrezia
Edgar Barrier and Jay Novello as Malic
Jack Arnold, Elia Bracca, Howard Duf, Charles Lung, Bruce Payne, Anne Stone, Jack Zoller (OTRR)
(Uncertain) Ken Christy, Hal Gerard, Jerry Hausner, Dix Davis, Jay Novello, and Victor Rodman

Latitude Zero—the movie
Don Sharpe, head of Ambassador Productions, Hollywood, California, worked on Sherdeman’s NBC radio serial and recalled Sherdeman wanting for years to adapt it into a film (Latitude Zero (film) Wikipedia). That opportunity was realized when Sherdeman wrote, with Shinichi Sekizawa, the screenplay for Ishiro Honda's 1969 feature film adaptation of Latitude Zero. Sharpe was the producer. Stuart Galbraith IV says the film adaptation is "very loosely based on a popular American radio serial . . . it borrows from Jules Verne, fifties sci-fi films, pulp novels, James Bond and the 'Batman' television show, among others. . . . It's a silly, ridiculous film, and I like it a lot" (Japanese Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films 186).

READ an extensive review here, and another here, at the Classic Sci-Fi movies webpage.

Resources

Galbraith IV, Stuart. The Japanese Filmography: A Complete Reference to 209 Filmmakers and the Over 1250 Films Released in The United States, 1900 through 1994. McFarland. 1996, pp. 186, 261.

Galbraith IV, Stuart. Japanese Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. McFarland. 1994. pp. 186-189.

Gross, Martin Arnold. The Nostalgia Quiz Book. Arlington House, 1969, p. 193.
"Radio Addresses. Match the radio show with its location. 9. Submarine. j. 'Latitude Zero'."

Latitude Zero. OTRRpedia. Old-Time Radio Researchers.

The Old Radio Times Archives of the Airwaves (7 Volumes)
Sperdvac Radiogram On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio
The 5th Revised Ultimate History of Network Radio Programming and Guide to ALL Circulating Shows
New York Times Today's Radio Program (1927-01-01)
New York Times RADIO PROGRAMS SCHEDULED FOR THE CURRENT WEEK New York (1929-10-06)

Works Cited
Anonymous. Radio: Latitude Zero. Time Magazine, 23 June 1941. Available: https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,851169,00.html

Buxton, Frank and Bill Owen. Radio's Golden Age: The Programs and Personalities. Easton Valley Press, 1966, pp. 195-196.

Dunning, John. On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio. Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 199.

"Flying Adventures." Broadcasting. February 17, 1941.

Helm, ***. "Latitude Zero." Variety, vol. 142, no. 4, 2 Apr. 1941, p. 30.

Hickerson, Jay. The 4th Revised Ultimate History of Network Radio Programming and Guide To All Circulating Shows. Hamden, CT: Presto Print II, 2010, p. 285.

Latitude Zero. Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs.

Program Index Card, NBC Radio Collection, Recorded Sound Research Center, Library of Congress.

Radio: Latitude Zero. Time Magazine. 23 June 1941.

Recording Index Card, NBC Radio Collection, Recorded Sound Research Center, Library of Congress.

Swartz, Jon David. Handbook of Old-Time Radio: A Comprehensive Guide to Golden a Age Radio Listening and Collecting. Scarecrow Press, 1993, p. 411.

Terrace, Vincent. Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows. McFarland & Company, 1999.

Wikipedia. Latitude Zero (film).


X

Episode Inventory—Latitude Zero

Totals

Total episodes: 17
Surviving episodes: 1

Broadcast Timelines
The seventeen episodes of Latitude Zero were heard in two broadcast runs on NBC radio networks
February 11 to June 3, 1941, on the NBC Pacific Coast network
June 7 to August 16, 1941, on the NBC Red network, coast to coast

First Broadcast Run
Tuesday, February 11, 1941, 6:00-6:30 PM, NBC
Audio Classics. Old Time Radio Digest. 1 Oct. 1986, no. 17, 38.
Notes "LATITUDE ZERO 02/11/41 Submarine Omega (First Show)" as a rare find available for sale on cassette.

Audio Classics. Old Time Radio Digest. 1 Nov. 1985, no. 12, 30.
Notes "LATITUDE ZERO 02/11/41 Submarine Omega (First Show)" as a rare find available for sale on cassette.

OTRRpedia notes beginning broadcast date as 7 February 1941

Tuesday, February 18, 1941, 9:30-10:00 PM, NBC

Tuesday, February 25, 1941, 9:30-10:00 PM, NBC

Tuesday, March 4, 1941, 6:00-6:30 PM, NBC, KFI, Los Angeles
("Dial-o-logue." Santa Anna [California] Register. Tue. 4 March 1941, p. 13.)

Tuesday, March 11, 1941, 9:30-10:00 PM, NBC

Tuesday, March 18, 1941, 9:30-10:00 PM, NBC

Tuesday, March 25, 1941, 6:00-6:30 PM, NBC, KPO, San Francisco
"NBC--Latitude Zero, sketch." (Movie and Radio Guide Week Ending of 1941-03-28, p. 23.)

Tuesday, April 1, 1941, 6:00-6:30 PM, NBC, KFI, Los Angeles

Tuesday, April 8, 1941, 9:30-10:00 PM, NBC

Tuesday, April 15, 1941, 9:30-10:00 PM, NBC

Tuesday, April 22, 1941, 9:30-10:00 PM, NBC

Tuesday, April 29, 1941, 9:30-10:00 PM, NBC

Tuesday, May 6, 1941, 9:30-10:00 PM, NBC

Tuesday, May 20, 1941, 9:30-10:00 PM, NBC

Tuesday, May 27, 1941, 9:30-10:00 PM, NBC

Tuesday, June 3, 1941, 9:30-10:00 PM, NBC

Second Broadcast Run
Episode 1 "Discovery of Omega"
Saturday, June 7, 1941, 8:00-8:30 PM, NBC Red Network ("Radio Program for the Entire Week Starting June 1, 1941." The Kingston [New York] Daily Freeman, 31 May 1941, p. 11.)
Three men are aboard a fishing boat, "The Hope," during a storm in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. They are Brock Spencer, Burt Collins, and Tibbs Kennard. They have invested all their savings in the boat, but they have not been successful. If they survive they plan to pursue something more profitable, and less dangerous. The storm subsides and they discover a submarine, on the beach of an island. They go ashore and investigate. The submarine is 250 feet in length. The construction is without seams or joints. They can find on way in. They rap on the hull and are suprised when someone inside returns their tapping with Morse code detailing the code to enter the submarine. Inside they find Craig McKensie and his Sengalese body guard, Simba. Three other men are dead.

Credits
Written by Anne and Ted Sherdeman

Cast (Continuing)
Lou Merril as Craig McKenzie
Elliott Lewis as Brock Spencer
James Eagles as Tibbs Kennard
Wally Maher as Burt Collins
Edwin Max as Simba

Copyright Information
LATITUDE ZERO, by Ted E. Sherdeman. Episode 1: Discovery of Omega. © 25May42; D8O582. Ted Elton Sherdeman (A); 2Jun69; R462020. *** copyrighted 25 May 1942, renewed 2 June 1969. Catalog of Copyright Entries 3D Series Vol 23 Pts 3-4, January-June 1969. "Dramas and Works Prepared for Oral Delivery." Library of Congress, https://archive.org/details/catalogofcop196932334libr/page/n15/mode/2up?q=latitude+zero
Latitude zero; episode 1, Discovery of Omega. © 1 c. May 25, 1942; D 80582; Ted Elton Sherdeman, Los Angeles 3326. Catalog of Copyright Entries 1942 Dramatic Compositions New Series Vol 15, library of Congress, https://archive.org/details/catalogofcopyrig15libr/page/96/mode/2up?q=sherdeman

Episode 2 "Madame Lucifer"
Saturday, June 14, 1941, 8:00-8:30 PM, NBC (Movie-Radio Guide: Programs for June 14-20, pp. 13, 14.)
***Synopsis***

Credits
Written by Anne and Ted Sherdeman

Cast
Elliott Lewis as Brock Spencer
James Eagles as Tibbs Kennard
Wally Maher as Burt Collins
Lou Merril as Craig McKenzie
Edwin Max as Simba

Episode 3 "The Shark"
Saturday, June 21, 1941, 8:00-8:30 PM, NBC (Movie-Radio Guide: Programs for June 21-27, pp. 13, 14.)
***Synopsis***

Credits
Written by Anne and Ted Sherdeman

Cast
Elaine Barrie as Lucrezia
Lou Merril as Craig McKenzie
Elliott Lewis as Brock Spencer
James Eagles as Tibbs Kennard
Wally Maher as Burt Collins
Edwin Max as Simba
Ken Christy as Basil

Episode 4 "Malic"
Saturday, June 28, 1941, 8:00-8:30 PM, NBC (Movie-Radio Guide: Programs for June 28-July 4, pp. 13, 14.)
***Synopsis*** "A mysterious battle between Craig McKenzie and the agent of Malic - Lucrezia, Madame Lucifer."

Credits
Written by Anne and Ted Sherdeman

Cast
Elaine Barrie as Lucrezia
Lou Merril as Craig McKenzie
Elliott Lewis as Brock Spencer
James Eagles as Tibbs Kennard
Wally Maher as Burt Collins
Edwin Max as Simba
Hal Gerard, Jack Zoller, Jerry Hausner, Charles Lung as Bat Zombies

Episode 5 "Malic's Plan"
Saturday, July 5, 1941, 8:00-8:30 PM, NBC (Movie-Radio Guide: Programs for July 5-11, pp. 12, 13.)
***Synopsis***

Credits
Written by Anne and Ted Sherdeman

Cast
Lou Merril as Craig McKenzie
Elliott Lewis as Brock Spencer
Wally Maher as Burt Collins
James Eagles as Tibbs Kennard
Edwin Max as Simba
Elaine Barrie as Lucrezia
Edgar Barrier as Malic

Episode 6 "The Deeps of the Devil Fish"
Saturday, July 12, 1941, 8:00-8:30 PM, NBC (Movie-Radio Guide: Programs for July 12-18, pp. 13, 14.)
***Synopsis*** "The Omega to the rescue of a shipwrecked girl. We know it is Madame Lucifer, her appearance altered, changed to deceive McKenzie and his crew."

Credits
Written by Anne and Ted Sherdeman

Cast
Lou Merril as Craig McKenzie
Elliott Lewis as Brock Spencer
Elaine Barrie as Lucrezia
Edgar Barrier as Malic
James Eagles as Tibbs Kennard
Wally Maher as Burt Collins
Edwin Max as Simba
Elia Bracca as Girl

Episode 7 "The Beast of Lemuria"

Saturday, July 19, 1941, 8:00-8:30 PM, NBC (Movie-Radio Guide: Programs for July 19-25, pp. 15, 16.)
***Synopsis***

Credits
Written by Anne and Ted Sherdeman

Cast
Elaine Barrie as Lucrezia
Lou Merril as Craig McKenzie
Edgar Barrier as Malic
Edwin Max as Simba
James Eagles as Tibbs Kennard
Elliott Lewis as Brock Spencer

Episode 8 "Latitude Zero"
Saturday, July 26, 1941, 8:00-8:30 PM, NBC (Movie-Radio Guide: Programs for July 26-August 1, pp. 15, 16.)
***Synopsis***

Credits
Written by Anne and Ted Sherdeman

Cast
Lou Merril as Craig McKenzie
James Eagles as Tibbs Kennard
Wally Maher as Burt Collins
Elliott Lewis as Brock Spencer
Edwin Max as Simba
Edwin Max as Voice
Jack Zoller as John
Jack Zoller as Hans
Bruce Payne as Temple
Bruce Payne as Announcer

Episode 9 "Start to Zhakoom"
Saturday, August 2, 1941, 8:00-8:30 PM, NBC (Movie-Radio Guide: Programs for August 2-8, pp. 16, 17.)
***Synopsis***

Credits
Written by Anne and Ted Sherdeman

Cast
Lou Merril as Craig McKenzie
Elliott Lewis as Brock Spencer
James Eagles as Tibbs Kennard
Wally Maher as Burt Collins
Elaine Barrie as Lucrezia
Jack Zoller as John
Charles Lung as Hartog
Edwin Max as Simba

Episode 10 "Arrival at Zhakoom"
Saturday, August 9, 1941, 8:00-8:30 PM, NBC (Movie-Radio Guide: Programs for August 9-15, pp. 14, 15.)
***Synopsis***

Credits
Written by Anne and Ted Sherdeman

Cast
Lou Merril as Craig McKenzie
Elliott Lewis as Brock Spencer
James Eagles as Tibbs Kennard
Wally Maher as Burt Collins
Edwin Max as Simba
Elaine Barrie as Lucrezia
Charles Lung as Harztog

Episode 11 "Adventures on Zhakoom"
Saturday, August 16, 1941, 8:00-8:30 PM, NBC (Movie-Radio Guide: Programs for August 16-22, pp. 14, 15.)
***Synopsis***

Credits
Written by Anne and Ted Sherdeman

Cast
Lou Merril as Craig McKenzie
Elliott Lewis as Brock Spencer
Wally Maher as Burt Collins
James Eagles as Tibbs Kennard
Edwin Max as Simba
Charles Lung as Warren

Episode 12 "The Son of Shepherd"
Saturday, August 23, 1941, 7:00-7:30 PM, NBC (Times-Mirror, Warren, PA, 22 Aug. 1941, p. 4 and The Salem [Ohio] News, Fri. 22 Aug. 1941, p. 10.)
***Synopsis***

Credits
Written by Anne and Ted Sherdeman

Cast
Lou Merril as Craig McKenzie
Elliott Lewis as Brock Spencer
Wally Maher as Burt Collins
James Eagles as Tibbs Kennard
Edwin Max as Simba
Charles Lung as Warren
Charles Lung as Weston
Anne Stone as Janette
Dix Davis as Warren (young)

Episode 13 "The Demon Trees of Zhakoom"
Saturday, August 30, 1941, 8:00-8:30 PM, NBC
***Synopsis***

Credits
Written by Anne and Ted Sherdeman

Cast
Elaine Barrie as Lucrezia
Jay Novello as Malic
Lou Merril as Craig McKenzie
Elliott Lewis as Brock Spencer
James Eagles as Tibbs Kennard
Wally Maher as Burt Collins
Edwin Max as Simba
Charles Lung as Warren

Episode 14 "The Griffon Attacks"
Saturday, September 6, 1941, 8:00-8:30 PM, NBC (Movie-Radio Guide: Programs for September 6-12, pp. 16, 17.)
The NBC Program Card indicates a time change for this broadcast to 10:30-11:00 PM (NBC Program Index Card).
***Synopsis***

Credits
Written by Anne and Ted Sherdeman

Cast
Elaine Barrie as Lucrezia
Lou Merril as Craig McKenzie
Jay Novello as Malic
Elliott Lewis as Brock Spencer
Elliott Lewis as Hartzog
James Eagles as Tibbs Kennard
Wally Maher as Burt Collins
Edwin Max as Simba
Charles Lung as Warren

Episode 15 "Victory and Defeat"
Saturday, September 13, 1941, 8:00-8:30 PM, NBC (Movie-Radio Guide: Programs for September 13-19, pp. 14, 15.)
***Synopsis***

Credits
Written by Anne and Ted Sherdeman

Cast
Elaine Barry as Lucrezia
Lou Merril as Craig McKenzie
Elliott Lewis as Brock Spencer
Wally Maher as Burt Collins
James Eagles as Tibbs Kennard
Edwin Max as Simba
Charles Lung as Warren
Jay Novello as Malic

Episode 16 "Departure from Zhakoom"
Saturday, September 20, 1941, 9:30-10:00 PM, NBC (Atlanta Constitution, 20 Sep. 1941, p. 21.)
***Synopsis***

Credits
Written by Anne and Ted Sherdeman

Cast
Lou Merril as Craig McKenzie
Elliott Lewis as Brock Spencer
James Eagles as Tibbs Kennard
Edwin Max as Simba
Wally Maher as Burt Collins
Charles Lung as Warren

Episode 17 "Destruction of the Shark"
Saturday, September 27, 1941, 8:00-8:30 PM, NBC
***Synopsis***

Credits
Written by Anne and Ted Sherdeman

Cast
Lou Merril as Craig McKenzie
Elliott Lewis as Brock Spencer
James Eagles as Tibbs Kennard
Wally Maher as Burt Collins
Edwin Max as Simba
Victor Rodman as Evals
Victor Rodman as Elum
Elaine Barrie as Lucrezia
Edgar Barrier as Malic

Questions
A short announcement in The Herald Press notes a "new drama, 'Latitude Zero' to be broadcast on Wednesday, June 8, 1968. Surely this is a rebroadcast? ("Glancing Backwards in . . . The Herald Press," "Tonight on Air Waves." Herald Press, Wed. 8 June, 1968, p. 2.

Resources
Internet Archive

1950
Beyond This World/Beyond Tomorrow
Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)
February 23-April 18, 1950
Anthology. Targeted to adult listeners.
30 minute episodes
An audition and 3 episodes produced, all survive

Beyond Tomorrow was planned by CBS as the first science fiction anthology program for adults. It was to feature adaptations of published works. William N. Robson was producer and director. John W. Campbell Jr., editor of Astounding Science Fiction magazine was a consultant for the series, but he did not present the show.

An audition and three episodes were recorded. The audition was announced as for Beyond This World, with host "Askator." (Haendiges). The three episodes were announced as for Beyond Tomorrow. Transcription disks were prepared, but the series apparently never got underway. Perhaps CBS was waiting for Two Thousand Plus to begin in March. See below.

The first episode (for Beyond Tomorrow) was "The Outer Limit"
February 23, 1950, audition. Actual broadcast is uncertain.
Original story by Graham Doar
The pilot of an experimental rocket plane goes missing during a test flight with only ten minutes of fuel left. Given up for dead, he unexpectedly returns with a grave warning for humankind.
Cast: Frank Lovejoy, Charles McGraw, Jeff Corey
Here, the series is called Beyond This World, hosted by "Askator."
Listen to "The Outer Limit"

Listen to "Requiem"
April 5, 1950, actual broadcast is uncertain.
Original story by Robert Heinlein, published in Astounding, January 1940.
An ageing tycoon will stop at nothing to achieve his lifetime dream of setting foot on the Moon. Even though it is certain to kill him.
Cast: Everett Sloane (other cast members unknown)
Here, the series is called Beyond Tomorrow.

Listen to "Incident at Switchpath (And the Sky Was Full of Ships)"
April 11, 1950, actual broadcast is uncertain.
Original story by Theodore Sturgeon, published in Thrilling Wonders, June 1947. Radio adaptation by Draper Lewis.
A man accused of murder tells an unbelievable tale of strange machines buried in a remote cave.
Cast: Brett Morrison, Michael O'Day
Here, the series is called Beyond Tomorrow.

Listen to "The Outer Limit"
April 13 or 18, 1950, actual broadcast is uncertain. (Widner and Frierson say April 13, 1950, p. 23; Haendiges says April 18, 1950)
Original story by Graham Doar
Cast: Frank Lovejoy, Charles McGraw, Jeff Corey
The pilot of an experimental rocket plane goes missing during a test flight. Given up for dead, he unexpectedly returns with a grave warning for Mankind.
Repeat. Same as audition, but with different introduction
Here, the series is called Beyond Tomorrow.

Resources
Beyond This World/Beyond Tomorrow. Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs.
Beyond Tomorrow. OTR Catalog.
Beyond This World/Beyond Tomorrow episodes at Internet Archive website.

1950-1955
Space Patrol
January 8, 1950 - August 1, 1950, 15-minute daily television episodes (see below)
August 1, 1950 - January 8, 1951, 30-minute radio episodes, two shows per week, American Broadcasting Network (ABC)
August 18, 1951- March 19, 1955, 30-minute episodes, Saturdays (ABC)
Sponsored by Ralston 1951-1954, and Nestlés Chocolate 1954-1955
Continuing. Targeted to younger listeners.
149 episodes produced, 96 survive

Prior to October 1952, no transcriptions (recordings) are identified, so earlier episodes were probably delivered live (Bassior).

Space Patrol was created by William "Mike" Moser (1915-1953), a World War II Naval aviator, who wanted a television program as exciting for children as Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon where for him.

KECA-TV, Los Angeles, California, bought Moser's idea, and began broadcasting daily fifteen-minute television episodes on 8 March 1950 in the Los Angeles area. Using the actors from the television series, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) radio network began broadcasting weekly episodes, beginning 1 August 1950, with two shows per week until 8 January 1951. After a break, the series resumed on 18 August 1951, sponsored by Ralston, and aired once a week, on Saturdays. Nestlés Chocolate sponsored Space Patrol from 1954 until its last episode on 19 March 1955. Prior to October 1952, no transcriptions (recordings) are identified, so earlier episodes were probably delivered live.

As a radio science fiction adventure / space opera series, Space Patrol was set in the 30th-century. Episodes followed Commander-in-Chief Edward "Buzz" Corry of the United Planets Space Patrol and his sidekick, Cadet Happy, and other crew aboard the spaceship, Terra V traveled about the universe and dealt with interplanetary villains and their diabolical schemes using ray guns, Space-O-Phones, and atomolights in their efforts to keep the peace in space.

Space Patrol is significant because it began as a television program for children and was quickly adapted for radio. Its cross marketed promotional items connected the series narrative into the daily lives of many listeners. It remains an enjoyable radio series for radio fans and collectors.

Each episode began with the announcer intoning,
"High adventure in the wild, vast reaches of space!
Missions of daring in the name of interplanetary justice!
Travel into the future with Buzz Corey, commander-in-chief of the Space Patrol!"

Listen to "Buzz Corry Becomes Commander in Chief," Space Patrol, pilot episode

Cast (continuing)
Ed Kemmer as Commander-in-Chief Edward "Buzz" Corry
Lyn Osborne as Cadet Happy (most memorable line: "Smokin' rockets!")
Virginia Hewitt as Carol Carlisle, daughter of Secretary General of the United Planets
Ken Mayer Major Robbie Robertson
Nina Bara as Tonga, Assistant Security Chief
Bela Kovacs as Prince Baccarratti
Norman Jolley as Dr. Malingro
Marvin Miller as Mr. Proteus
Rudolph Anders as Dr. Van Meter
Paul Cavanagh as The Secretary General of the United Planets
Glenn Denning as Commander Kit Corry
Carleton Young as General Narda in two 1954 episodes. Young went on to star in The Whisperer radio crime series.
John Larch (1914-2005) as semi-regular Captain Smith also voiced the lead role of Captain Rocky Starr in the Captain Starr of Space radio series.

Credits
Lou Huston: Writer
Larry Robertson: Producer/director
Dick Tufeld: Announcer, and later, the voice of the robot on Lost in Space

Spin Offs
Space Patrol was an overnight success, and almost as quickly became a multimedia franchise. In addition to the television and radio versions, a two-issue comic book, Space Patrol, was published by Ziff-Davis in summer and November 1952.

Two record albums, part of the Space Patrol Adventures series, provided two prequels, each produced and directed by Helen Moser and Lou Spence following Moser's death in 1953. The first was "Buzz Corry Becomes Commander-in-Chief" (Decca (K-135-1) 10", 78rpm, November 1954). The second was "Cadet Happy Joins Commander Corry" (Decca (K-135-2) 10", 78rpm, November 1954). This was reissued by Festival Records (Australia, DCI 012) as part of the children's series.
***??Date??*** (Columbia Gramaphone (Australia) Pty. Ltd, No. 1 of a series, KO1015, 78 rpm)

Toys and merchandise offered by sponsors were tied into the series during commercial breaks, and even worked into the live action adventures. For example, sponsor Ralston Cereals offered Space-A-Phones, Space Binoculars, and Magic Space Pictures, a Project-O-Scope, a Space Patrol microscope kit, "swell space coins," a mono-view outer space helmet, a cosmic rocket launcher, a "super scary, super spooky man from Mars totem head," a Space Patrol periscope, and a rocket ship cockpit model. A contest was offered to win Commander Corry's space ship by naming "Planet X." A Space Patrol club was started. Listeners felt directly connected, even as direct participants in the episodes through these tie-ins.

Technology like universal translators, matter duplicators, space telescopes, and star drive spaceships . . . concepts like hyperspace, black holes, and cloaking devices . . . and plot points like being trapped in a trash chute aboard a space ship and risking ejection into space first appeared on Space Patrol and provide interesting connections between this radio series and other depictions of space adventure in other media.

Resources
Space Patrol at Radio Nouspace website
Episodes at Old Time Radio Researchers Library website
Episodes at Internet Archive
Episodes at OTR.Network website
Episodes at the Old Time Radio Downloads website
Space Patrol radio logs at Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs website
Plot summaries and credits at Radio Gold Index website
Space Patrol website maintained by The Crimson Collector
Space Patrol on the Radio, part of the Space Heroes on the Radio website

Works Cited
Bassior, Jean-Noel, "On the Beam: Lou Huston and the Radio Shows." Space Patrol: Missions of Daring in the Name of Early Television. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2005, p. 218.


X

Episode Inventory—Space Patrol

Totals

Total Episodes: 149
Surviving Episodes: 96
NOTE: Thirty-minute weekly episodes. Episode numbers jump from 52 to 105 and then continue to 181, possibly to match previous series (Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs).
NOTE: Prior to October 1952, no transcriptions (recordings) are identified, so earlier episodes were probably delivered live.

  • Buzz Corry Becomes Commander-in-Chief
    Episode 00a, November 1954
    The story of how Buzz Corry became Commander-in-Chief of the Space Patrol. The first of two prequels produced following Mike Moser's death in 1953 by his widow, Helen Moser, and Lou Spence. (Decca (K-135-1) 10", 78rpm, November 1954).
  • Cadet Happy Joins Commander Corry
    Episode 00b, November 1954
    Cadet Happy wins a scholarship and is assigned to Commander Corry. The second of two prequels produced following Mike Moser's death in 1953 by his widow, Helen Moser, and Lou Spence. (Decca (K-135-2) 10", 78rpm, November 1954). Reissued by Festival Records (Australia, DCI 012) as part of the children's series.
  • Unknown Title
    Episode 001, 4 October 1952, lost
  • Unknown Title
    Episode 002, 11 October 1952, lost Lost
  • Unknown Title
    Episode 003, 18 October 1952, lost
  • The Hole in Empty Space
    Episode 004, 25 October 1952, available
    Commander Corry, Cadet Happy, and Professor Jelka must stop a "cyclopex" from destroying the Solar System.
  • The Glow Worm Project
    Episode 005, 1 November 1952, lost
  • The City of the Sun
    Episode 006, 8 November 1952, available
    Sabotage of the water supply for Solaria Base, keeps Commander Corry from searching for Professor Millison, shipwrecked on the dark side of Mercury.
  • The Queen of Space
    Episode 007, 15 November 1952, available
    Jelna Fanton, owner of Trans-Orbit shipping, plans to expand her business in the outer planets. Are accidents involving space ships there a coincidence, or part of her plans?
  • The Giant Bubble
    Episode 008, 22 November 1952, available
    A former employee plans to sabotage Dr. Berman's plans for atmosphere shells. Commander Corry and Cadet Happy battle an avalanche in the Ortoc Valley of Saturn.
  • The Electronic Burglar
    Episode 009, 29 November 1952, available
    Commander Corry and Cadet Happy are marooned in the Martian wasteland when they try to arrest thieves who stole plans for an "analoscope," a device for detecting underground mineral deposits.
  • The Space Shark
    Episode 010, 6 December 1952, available
    Hydroponics farms are threatened on Saturn and Venus. Tonga investigates, but is captured. Commander Corry and Cadet Happy are nearly fried by heat mirrors attempting to rescue her.
  • The Search for Asteroid X
    Episode 011, 13 December 1952, available
    Commander Corry and a Martian prospector outsmart the Saturn syndicate hiding stolen goods on an uncharted asteroid.
  • The Lady from Venus
    Episode 012, 20 December 1952, available
    Edward Stratton, an atomic power plant owner, is blackmailed by Elspeth Bennett, a former employee who wants to obtain illegal plutonium. Space Patrol investigates, but have trouble apprehending Bennett.
  • The Last Voyage of the Lonesome Lena
    Episode 013, 27 December 1952, available
    Commander Corry investigates pirate activities at the uranium mines on Titan and finds himself in the middle of a feud.
  • The Brain Bank and the Space Binoculars
    Episode 014, 3 January 1953, available
    John Crosier, a ruthless industrialist, plans to freeze a scientist who wants to quit his job.
  • The Sleepwalker
    Episode 015, 10 January 1953, available
    A passenger liner is found adrift in space. Two passengers are missing. One is Carol Carlisle, daughter of the Secretary General. Is she involved in what appears to be a robbery aboard the ship?
  • The Deserted Planet
    Episode 016, 17 January 1953, lost
  • The Scavenger of Space
    Episode 017, 24 January 1953, available
    Stolen secret documents find their way to an interplanetary junkman!
  • The Top Secret D-Ray
    Episode 018, 31 January 1953, available
    Plans for the "D-Ray" are stolen. Commander Corry must find the thieves before they can sell the space weapon.
  • Crash Landing
    Episode 019, 7 February 1953, available
    Carol Carlisle, daughter of the Secretary General of the United Planets, is kidnapped and held on Mars by a criminal named Veale. Commander Corry crashes his spaceship to rescue her!
  • The Mysterious Meteor
    Episode 020, 14 February 1953, available
    A meteor made of anti-matter lands in Arizona . . . and manages to threaten a dam on the planet Venus, even while going to good use in a 3-D game of chess.
  • The Moon Beetles
    Episode 021, 21 February 1953, available
    While investigating a missing atmosphere shell on one of the moons of Jupiter, Commander Corry and Cadet Happy are attacked by carnivorous creatures who need no air!
  • The Strange Gift of the New Star
    Episode 022, 28 February 1953, available
    Commander Corry and Cadet Happy find a derelict spaceship beyond the orbit of Pluto. On board is an unconscious man and a fortune in stolen uranium. Corry and Happy must unravel the mystery.
  • The Seed Crystals of Zaldebran
    Episode 023, 7 March 1953, available
    Mysterious crystals from another universe with telepathic powers use two communications relay technicians as tools for the conquest of the United Planets.
  • The Magic Space Pictures
    Episode 024, 14 March 1953, available
    Commander Corry tests a new rocket ship, the XR5-1 while Cadet Happy learns to use Magic Space Pictures to control it telepathically. When some of the telepathic control devices are stolen, the chase is on!
  • The Caverns of Venus
    Episode 025, 21 March 1953, available
    Government equipment is stolen with the help of the "amnesiatron." A battle beneath the surface of Venus follows!
  • The Forgotten City
    Episode 026, 28 March 1953, available
    A gang of jewel thieves use a deserted city on the planet Saturn as a hideout.
  • The Vanishing Lake
    Episode 027, 4 April 1953, available
    Vita-plast, used throughout the United Planets, is made from the unique clay of Jupiter's Lake Tarnhelm. But the lake is drying up, causing a shortage of the vital material. Commander Corry and Cadet Happy investigate. While searching the Vita-plast plant, they are overcome by poisonous fumes!
  • Unknown Title
    Episode 028, 11 April 1953, lost
  • Unknown Title
    Episode 029, 18 April 1953, lost
  • The Prisoners of Pluto
    Episode 030, 25 April 1953, available
    Professor Malcolm Walker, a scientist, crash-lands on Pluto and is taken prisoner by Hagel. When Commander Corry and Cadet Happy arrive to free him, they become prisoners as well!
  • The Venus Space Factory
    Episode 031, 2 May 1953, available
    A dishonest Space Patrol inspector falsifies the safety record of a space factory in orbit around the planet Venus after losing money invested in that company.
  • The Cosmic Ray Detector
    Episode 032, 9 May 1953, available
    Rambo and Henchley, two criminals, use Carol Carlisle to smuggle stolen ray detector crystals onto Jupiter.
  • The Secret of Sub-Level 7
    Episode 033, 16 May 1953, available
    Commander Corry and Cadet Happy search for Victor Drummond, a plutonium thief, in the tunnels beneath Saturn City. Drummond threatens to destroy the city above. Will they catch him in time?
  • Treachery in Outer Space
    Episode 034, 23 May 1953, available
    Rex Scranner sets up Commander Corry for a deadly double cross.
  • The Immortal Brain
    Episode 035, 30 May 1953, available
    Anton McDermott, who runs "Future, Inc." in Venus City. McDermott predicts the future for his clients. Commander Corry investigates and finds himself a target for elimination.
  • Mystery of the Martian Fossils
    Episode 036, 6 June 1953, lost
  • Unknown Title
    Episode 037, 13 June 1953, lost
  • The Indestructible Germ
    Episode 038, 20 June 1953, available
    When a mysterious plague appears in the Venusian city Euphoria, known as the healthiest city in the solar system, two scientists offer a cure. The catch: the scientists created the plague hoping to achieve fame and fortune by providing the cure.
  • The Treasure of Planetoid 60
    Episode 039, 26 June 1953, available
    Two suspicious spacemen show up with "Transplutite," a rare gem containing radioactive Arcturium. Commander Corry and Cadet Happy suspect a museum heist.
  • Winged Spies of Venus
    Episode 040, 4 July 1953, available
    Thieves on Venus use messages microfilmed on the wings of bees to plot their heists. Commander Corry and Cadet Happy investigate. Armed Forces Radio and Television System (AFRTS) transcription.
  • Unknown Title
    Episode 041, 11 July 1954, lost
    Commander Corry and Cadet Happy investigate a strange meteor on Jupiter.
  • Unknown Title
    Episode 042, 18 July 1953, lost
  • Unknown Title
    Episode 043, 25 July 1953, lost
  • The Sleeping Demon of Saturn
    Episode 044, 1 August 1953, available
    Two crooks force Dr. Ramsey to predict earthquakes from the dormant Sleeping Demon volcano near Kepler City on Saturn. They plan to make money from the panic selling of space ships and other assets that will happen following Ramsey's announcement. Commander Corry and Cadet Happy investigate the scam.
  • Trouble Aboard the Supernova
    Episode 045, 8 August 1953, available
    Tracking down documents stolen from SolarTechnic, and hidden in a ring with a secret compartment, Commander Corry and Cadet Happy end up in the waste disposal chute of the luxury space liner, Supernova, and are nearly ejected into space!
  • Peril over Jupiter
    Episode 046, 15 August 1953, available
    Carla Markim runs metal processing plants on Europa. She is kidnapped as part of a hostile business takeover. Commander Corry and Cadet Happy deal with Endurium beams and magnetic force fields while investigating.
  • The Menace of Planet X
    Episode 047, 22 August 1953, available
    Investigating the strange disappearances of spaceships near the hostile Planet X, Commander Corry and Cadet Happy meet Prince Bacaratti. In addition to Bacaratti, Corry and Happy also have to deal with dinosaurs! The first episode of the sixteen-episode Planet X series.
  • The Trap on Planet X
    Episode 048, 29 August 1953, available
    Trying to free captives at Prince Bacaratti's Planet X fortress, Commander Corry and Cadet Happy are tricked by Dr. Malengro. Captured and imprisoned in Bacaratti's dungeon, they are befriended by a giant native named Goro.
  • The Valley of Dread
    Episode 049, 5 September 1953, available
    Robot spaceships disguised as meteorites map Planet X with their viewscopes. Prince Bacaratti bombs Commander Corry and Cadet Happy's battle tank, leaving them at the mercy of man-eating plants in "The Valley Of Dread."
  • Escape from Planet X
    Episode 050, 12 September 1953, available
    Commander Corry and Cadet Happy try to free the captives Prince Bacaratti has forced to work in the Arctite mines. Bacaratti's henchmen try to thwart their plans.
  • The Spies from Planet X
    Episode 051, 19 September 1953, available
    Commander Corry and Cadet Happy follow a tip that Prince Bacaratti has been seen on Saturn. They investigate a man from Neptune who says he is Bacaratti's cousin. Zolton plans to use the Bacaratti family treasures to finance the Prince's evil schemes.
  • Target Jupiter
    Episode 052, 26 September 1953, available
    Prince Bacaratti launches a missile attack on Jupiter's cities. Each missile is wrapped in "radar foil,' making them invisible to tracking systems.
  • Return to Planet X
    Episode 105, 3 October 1953, available
    The Space Patrol blasts Prince Bacaratti's missile launching base on a Jupiter moon. Commander Corry and Cadet Happy find Bacaratti and Dr. Malengo hiding in an underground fortification.
  • On the Ice Cap of Planet X
    Episode 106, 10 October 1953, available
    Granu, a native of Planet X, helps Commander Corry and Cadet Happy escape captivity in the Endurium mines beneath the planet's polar icecap.
  • Rescue from Planet X
    Episode 107, 17 October 1953, available
    Prisoners of Prince Bacaratti on Planet X, Commander Corry and Cadet Happy are rescued by Ortho, a member of the thought-projecting alien race, the Lumen.
  • The Secret of the Dargo Ruins
    Episode 108, 24 October 1953, available
    Mind-reading Ortho helps Commander Corry and Cadet Happy battle Prince Bacaratti on Planet X.
  • The Iron Eaters of Planet X
    Episode 109, 31 October 1953, available
    Prince Bacaratti plants metal eating worms on Commander Corry's space ship, allowing the air to escape into space; a diabolical plot to kill Corry and Cadet Happy!
  • Cyclone in Outer Space
    Episode 110, 7 November 1953, available
    Dr. Malengro, the evil scientist working for Prince Bacaratti, has invented a "torque ray," that can twist matter at the speed of light!
  • Under the Sea of Planet X
    Episode 111, 14 November 1953, available
    Prince Bacarrati threatens to destroy an ancient civilization in his quest for the source of jewels found in an ancient medallion.
  • The Sea Monster of Planet X
    Episode 112, 21 November 1953, available
    Commander Corry and Cadet Happy, in their submarine, battle the evil Prince Bacaratti . . . and a sea monster!
  • The Revolt of the Space Rats
    Episode 113, 28 November 1953, available
    Commander Corry and Cadet Happy are transporting Prince Bacaratti and Dr. Malengro to Terra for rehabilitation. They are tricked by Malengro and escape. Bacaratti takes Corry and another prisoner to Planet X where he plots to destroy Pluto City and the Space Patrol base. Happy is left stranded on Pluto's third moon.
  • Baccarratti's Secret Weapon
    Episode 114, 5 December 1953, available
    Prince Bacaratti is planning to blow up one city on each of the ten planets with "Crockenite" bombs, named for their inventor, Dr. Crocker. Holding Crocker's daughter hostage, Bacaratti forces Crocker to build ten bombs. Commander Corry and Cadet Happy must stop him!
  • The Lost Condor
    Episode 115, 12 December 1953, available
    The diary of ex-convict Reese Corbett provides a clue to "The Condor," and millions of stolen space credits.
  • The Venus Thulanium Mystery
    Episode 116, 19 December 1953, available
    Explorer Frank Michelson is kidnapped to Venus and forced to reveal the location of his fabulous "thulanium" mine. Investigating, Commander Corry and Cadet Happy find themselves in grave danger!
  • The Lost Dimension
    Episode 117, 26 December 1953, available
    Boris Gambine uses the "N-Ray" to teleport credits from the locked vault of the Terra City bank. Commander Corry and Cadet Happy investigate and deal with this unusual crime.
  • The Wistful Wizard of Neptune's Moon
    Episode 118, 2 January 1954, available
    A theatrical magician with telekinetic abilities is tricked into stealing a valuable microfilm.
  • In the Claw of Venus
    Episode 119, 9 January 1954, available
    Commander Corry and Cadet Happy are on the trail of stolen "zolonite," a rare element that neutralizes gravity. Later, they investigate a flying saucer over Venus City and Happy is taken for an unexpected ride!
  • The Exiles from Denebola
    Episode 120, 16 January 1954, available
    Alien refugees hidden on a Saturn moon for centuries escape and take over a lonely observatory.
  • The Martian Masquerade
    Episode 121, 23 January 1954, available
    Plans for a secret Space Patrol weapon are stolen by Xyla Carmandy, a woman who looks like Carol Carlisle, the daughter of the Secretary General of the United Planets.
  • The Treasure of Mount Rolcab
    Episode 122, 30 January 1954, available
    A 150-year-old wrecked space ship, atop a Venusian mountain, contains a fortune in "thulanium" bars. A Venusian woodsman and his hoarde are threatened by two escaped convicts. Commander Corry and Cadet Happy are on the scene.
  • The Strange Case of Pilot Prentice
    Episode 123, 6 February 1954, available
    Capturing mind-reading pirates close to the Sun proves a dangerous mission for Commander Corry and Cadet Happy. Armed Forces Radio and Television System (AFRTS) transcription.
  • The Revenge of Dr. Yeager
    Episode 124, 13 February 1954, available
    Commander Corry and Cadet Happy find the hidden castle on Mars of the long dead Dr. Yeager and his powerful inventions and weapons: including the "letha ray." They rescue Lorna Stark, kidnapped by an instrument repair technician anxious to steal the inventions.
  • Visitor from Galaxy 9
    Episode 125, 20 February 1954, available
    Zurbok, of the Krawlni from Galaxy 9, scouts the solar system for conquest. Commander Corry and Cadet Happy are captured on Jupiter's fourth moon. Corry is taken by a giant robot to an alien Brainograph where he will be forced to provide information that will help the Kwarlni destroy the United Planets!
  • The Serpent of Saturn
    Episode 126, 27 February 1954, available
    Thugs are attacking Space Patrol agents across the solar system. And, the "blackout ray," a "light neutralizer," has been stolen. Commander Corry and Cadet Happy track down the gang leader, "The Cobra."
  • Gems of Jupiter
    Episode 127, 6 March 1954, available
    Armed Forces Radio and Television System (AFRTS) rebroadcast.
  • Test for Survival
    Episode 128, 13 March 1954, available
    Space Cadets are undergoing survival tests on Neptune's second moon, the perfect opportunity for "The Cobra" to strike! Cadet Happy is captured. Commander Corry infiltrates the gang leadership.
  • The Secret of Dr. Borodeck
    Episode 129, 20 March 1954, available
    Whoever wears a special robot suit can be controlled by Gargoth, leader of the Cobra Gang. Cadet Happy is forced to wear the suit and attack Commander Corry. Meanwhile, a wealthy man is targeted in a longevity elixir scheme to be swindled out of his fortune.
  • The Zero Ray
    Episode 130, 27 March 1954, available
    "The Cobra," escaped from custody, uses the "zero ray," a new invention that freezes anything it touches, and he's up to no good as usual. Commander Corry continues to pursue Gargoth.
  • The Super Brain of Volmer Castro
    Episode 131 3 April 1954, available
    Dr. Blake has invented a "cerebrascope" which amplifies intelligence. Unfortunately, it falls into the hands of a clever criminal, Volmer Castro, who uses it to turn himself into a super swindler with the help of Blake's assistant, Rhoda.
  • The Test of the XK-3
    Episode 132, 10 April 1954, available
    A Pluto-to-Mercury space race gives Volmer Castro, the super-intelligent criminal, the chance to match wits with the Space Patrol. He plants a stowaway on the robot-controlled XK-3 to sabotage the test of the new interplanetary space drive.
  • The Image of Evil
    Episode 133, 17 April 1954, available
    Prince Bacaratti escapes the Venus Rehabilitation Center and begins his plans to rule the universe by trying to ram Commander Corry's space ship with a guided missile!
  • Phantom Visitor
    Episode 134, 24 April 1954, available
    An Armed Forces Radio and Television System (AFRTS) transcription.
  • The Wreck of the Black Star
    Episode 135, 1 May 1954, available
    Zolton Bacarrati and strack kidnap Dr. Thana Loring and force her to lead them to the 900-year-old wreck of the spaceship Black Star on Mars. Commander Corry and Cadet Happy pursue the criminals and attempt to rescue Loring. Armed Forces Radio and Television System (AFRTS) transcription.
  • Captain Hackett's Planetoid
    Episode 136, 8 May 1954, available
    When Captain Hackett, an old asteroid miner, strikes "wolfenite" ore, Prince Bacaratti grubstakes him for his own evil purposes! Hackett's planetoid is on a dangerous orbit and will be blasted apart by the Space Patrol. Conspiring with Borzack (AKA Bacaratti), Hackett tries to thwart Commander Corry and Cadet Happy.
  • Capture of the Red Falcon
    Episode 137, 15 May 1954, available
    AFRTS recording with no credits. Made-up title taken from plot?
  • The Strange Voyager
    Episode 138, 22 May 1954, available
    Commander Corry and Cadet Happy travel to Earth to help victims of an earthquake near Amazonia. They find a man in a cave who has been in suspended animation for the last 1000 years! He's part of an invasion plan from the Vegan star system!
  • The Red Demon of Venus
    Episode 139, 29 May 1954, available
    The Red Demon is a spider with a nasty and fatal bite! A Space Patrol secret agent is bitten by a Red Demon spider in the Venusian jungle . . . and only Theodore Rorschat, a wanted criminal carries the antibodies in his blood. A trap is laid for Commander Corry and Cadet Happy who attempt to obtain a sample of Rorschat's blood.
  • The Mystery of the Masked Martians
    Episode 140, 5 June 1954, available
    The descendants of a gang of space pirates who crash landed on Mars 870 years ago are still thriving in a primitive state. Wearing primitive masks, they hold a woman captive. Commander Corry and Cadet Happy search the Martian desert for the kidnappers.
  • The Tattooed Atom
    Episode 141, 12 June 1954, available
    While trying to find a missing scientist, Gene Satterly, in Jupiter City, Commander Corry and Cadet Happy are hit by a fatigue ray! Satterly's technique for electronically coding atoms is stolen, leading Corry and Happy on a search and rescue mission.
  • The Cavern of Fear
    Episode 142 19 June 1954, available
    Commander Corry and Cadet Happy discover Polidor's "Detecto-Scope," a system for transmitting his evil presence across vast distances. On Neptune, Happy is tormented by Polidor, via the Detecto-Scope.
  • Race Against Time
    Episode 143, 26 June 1954, available
    Polidor uses a robot space ship to blast the Terra V as he plans to blow up the Space Patrol Communications Center with "lumaplex." Commander Corry races to Terra to defuse the Omicron bomb. A rescue, literally, in the nick of time!
  • The Robot of Bor Kenna
    Episode 144, 3 July 1954, available
    Carol Carlisle is kidnapped by Polidor and taken to the "Castle of Bor Kenna" on Venus. Commander Corry and Cadet Happy are menaced by a robot . . . named Gus. Corry disables the robot by dumping a can of paint on its head!
  • Trial by Terror
    Episode 145, 10 July 1954, available
    While Commander Corry and Cadet Happy pursue Polidor in the Martian desert, his gang steals two million credits from the Zenity Microfilm Lab on Terra. Polidor plans to destroy Lowell City on Mars.
  • Menace Under Mercury
    Episode 146, 17 July 1954, lost
  • Supersensitive Star Drive
    Episode 147, 24 July 1954, available
    Commander Corry, Cadet Happy, and Meyerhoff, the scientist believed to be the inventor of the stardrive, find the first spaceship to use the stardrive missing. They learn the real inventor, Jano Kalmyr, has escaped a rehabilitation center on Mars. On the way, the stop to aid a freighter, piloted by Kalmyr. The freighter is the missing stardrive ship, in disguise. Corry and Happy are taken prisoner and told they will never return to the solar system! Armed Forces Radio and Television System (AFRTS) transcription.
  • The Galaxy Trade Association
    Episode 148, 31 July 1954, available?
    Commander Corry and Cadet Happy encounter a strange spaceship near Vega. Aboard is Errdu, who tells Corry and Happy The Galaxy Trade Association plans enslave the entire galaxy. Master criminal Krexor tries to force Corry and Happy into revealing the location of the solar system, dooming the United Planets to slavery!
  • Journey to Troganok
    Episode 149, 7 August 1954, available
    The sun is emitting a new type of radiation that has been detected from only one other star, Troganok. Commander Corry and Cadet Happy travel to Troganok not knowing that criminal Baxon has sabatoged their spaceship. Set to return from Troganok, they discover their stardrive does not work. Armed Forces Radio and Television System (AFRTS) transcription.
  • The Counterfeit Atom
    Episode 150, 14 August 1954, available
    Commander Corry and Cadet Happy investigate a puzzling series of jewel robberies, using a matter duplicator to create counterfeit gems!
  • Formula for Crime
    Episode 151, 21 August 1954, available
    A woman scientist discovers a valuable psychological formula named "G3K," with large criminal possibilities! It is used on Commander Corry who is ordered to shoot Cadet Happy!
  • Shipment to Tyranna
    Episode 152, 28 August 1954, available
    Armed Forces Radio and Television System (AFRTS) transcription.
  • Locating Tyranna
    Episode 153, 9 September 1954, available
    Armed Forces Radio and Television System (AFRTS) transcription.
  • Design for Disaster
    Episode 154, 11 September 1954, available
    Commander Corry uses his "space periscope" to track down Matthew Sneed, an agent from Tyranna, a distant solar system with plans to attack the United Planets. Corry uses a Brainograph on Sneed. The information helps prevent his plans to blow up the atmosphere plant on Mercury.
  • Prisoners of Tyranna
    Episode 155, 18 September 1954, available
    Commander Corry takes his star drive spaceship to the Tyranean system, following Sneed back to his home planet in the Pegasus system.
  • Invasion from Tyranna
    Episode 156, 25 September 1954, available
    Commander Corry and Cadet Happy land on a meteorite to investigate a wrecked spaceship and gain a new ally (a friendly alien) in the fight against Tyranna.
  • The Voice from the Future
    Episode 157, 2 October 1954, available
    While traveling in hyperspace, Commander Corry and Cadet Happy hear a newscast from 1000 years in the past (October, 1972) announcing the first manned lunar landing. The show was only a bit over three years off predicting the date of the actual event.
  • Message to Arctrona
    Episode 158, 9 October 1954, available
    Lost. An interstellar translator has been stolen and contact made with another solar system. Armed Forces Radio and Television System (AFRTS) rebroadcast.
  • Visitor from Arctrona
    Episode 159, 16 October 1954, available
    An Armed Forces Radio and Television System (AFRTS) rebroadcast.
  • The Forbidden Planet
    Episode 160, 23 October 1954, available
    Commander Corry and Cadet Happy pursue the criminals Gordon Spangler and Rem to the planet Gazyr in the Arctronian System where Spangler plans to unload a cargo of "Litronium." Unaware the planet's atmosphere is deadly, Corry and Happy leave their spaceship without their space suits. Just before they are overcome by the poisonous atmosphere, their spaceship is hijacked! Armed Forces Radio and Television System (AFRTS) rebroadcast.
  • The Realm of the Robots
    Episode 161, 30 October 1954, available
    Commander Corry and Cadet Happy land on the planet of Gobonick, of the Orion 14 system, to investigate evidence of a super radioactive element in a distant star. They find a habitable planet ruled by robots who have enslaved the humans.
  • The Watchman of Wormak
    Episode 162, 6 November 1954, available
    Commander Corry and Cadet Happy supply two Gobonick freedom fighters with Space-O-Phones, so they can organize a revolt against the robots. But, the devices are intercepted by Administrator Roakner and his robots. Corry and Happy attempt a rescue but are attacked at the Warmok spaceport by insect-like robots.
  • The Frightened Robots
    Episode 163, 13 November 1954, available
    Commander Corry and Cadet Happy try to free the humans of Gobonick from starving in the "kaelite" mines, without violalting the prime directive of non-interference.
  • Planet in Peril
    Episode 164, 20 November 1954, available
    Commander Corry and Cadet Happy help the humans obtain freedom from robotic rule on the planet Gobonick.
  • Unknown Title
    Episode 165, 27 November 1954, lost
  • The Invisible Enemy
    Episode 166, 4 December 1954, available
    A battle with Rolf Boger, a master criminal who can walk through walls, and has an "ultra-vibration" field that makes him invisible!
  • The City of Hidden Doom
    Episode 167, 11 December 1954, available
    Commander Corry and Cadet Happy plan to capture Rolf Bolger at Jupiter City, but the plan fails and the cities atmosphere plant is almost destroyed by the invisible criminal.
  • Escape from Neptune
    Episode 168, 18 December 1954, available
    Laneen Harvey helps Commander Corry battle Rolf Bolger in Neptune City. Bolger plans to force her and Professor Rayburn to help him build more invisibility machines. Where is the "vibronium"?
  • The Lost Galaxy
    Episode 169, 25 December 1954, available
    The Space Patrol picks up transmissions from an alien race in an uncharted part of the galaxy. At the same time, the aliens hear Space Patrol transmissions, and fearful of conquest, launch a first assault. Commander Corry and Cadet Happy battle Macor, "The Guardian of The Galaxy," trying to rescue four Space Patrol ships sent earlier to investigate.
  • Ambush in Space
    Episode 170, 1 January 1955, available
    Macor attacks Commander Corry and Cadet Happy with "liquid metal" and a "magnetic vortex." Corry and Happy are still looking for "Expedition Enigma," the four lost Space Patrol ships.
  • Prison Planet
    Episode 171, 8 January 1955, available
    Space Patrol Lt. Skitter is captured and held on the prison planet as bait for Commander Corry and Cadet Happy.
  • The Crown of Darjeda
    Episode 172, 15 January 1955, available
    Alien spies from a planet of the star Antares, led by Shardu, search Indian ruins in the American Southwest for their emperor's jeweled crown hidden on Earth centuries earlier. Commander Curry and Cadet Happy are trapped in a strange cave!
  • The Shadow of Shardu
    Episode 173, 22 January 1955, available
    Agents of Darjeda attempt once again to obtain their crown. Their superhuman strength and intelligence make them difficult opponents. But, as the action moves to Venus, Commander Corry has a complex plan to foil them.
  • Planet of Discord
    Episode 174, 29 January 1955, available
    Cadet Happy is kidnapped and left alone with a Space-O-Phone. He calls Commander Corry and unintentionally leads him into a trap!
  • The Conquest of Darjeda
    Episode 175, 5 February 1955, available
    Commander Corry and Cadet Happy are still chasing Shardu, who leads them now to Saturn.
  • The Hermit of Pluto
    Episode 176, 12 February 1955, available
    A gang is after a prospector who's discovered a deposit of "stronolite" on Pluto. Commander Corry and Cadet Happy are trapped inside a small city atmosphere shell.
  • The Time Pirates
    Episode 177, 19 February 1955, available
    Dr. Ryland Skarno discovers how to travel in time and returns to the year 1591 to steal a pirate's treasure! Commander Corry uses time paradoxes to battle the evil doctor.
  • Voyage to the Future
    Episode 178, 26 February 1955, available
    Commander Corry and Cadet Happy have their hands full fighting black market contraband illegally transported through time by Dr. Ryland Skarno. Happy travels two months into the future and watches a volcano erupt.
  • The Monster from the Past
    Episode 179, 5 March 1955, available
    After bringing a pair of Dodo birds back from the seventeenth century, Dr. Ryland Skarno, strands Commander Corry and Cadet Happy in prehistoric times, where they are menaced by a Tyrannosaurus!
  • The Weed of Despair
    Episode 180, 12 March 1955, available
    A visitor from another solar system lands on Titan, Saturn's sixth moon. He plans extortion on Saturn City by withholding the cure to the epidemic caused by "The Weed Of Despair," a strange purple flower.
  • The Fugitive from Telarma
    Episode 181, 19 March 1955, available
    The epidemic from the Telarma system has struck on Terra, started by Brokoff, an alien criminal. Commander Corry and Cadet Happy are stricken with the dangerous sickness.

1950-1952
2000 Plus (aka Two Thousand Plus and 2000+)
Mutual Radio Network
March 15, 1950 to January 2, 1952
Broadcast on various days
Anthology. The first radio science fiction series targeted to adult listeners.
30 minute episodes
89 episodes produced, 16 survive

Written and produced by Sherman H. Dryer (1913–1989) and Robert Weenolsen (1900–1979) for the Mutual Radio Network, 2000 Plus explored "adventures in the world of tomorrow, dramatic stories of science fiction from the years beyond 2000 A.D." (Widner and Frierson 23). Dryer had produced Exploring the Unknown, a "science at work" themed program for Mutual, December 2, 1945 to 1947. He and Weenolsen convinced Mutual to offer a weeknight science fiction series. Dryer wrote and produced the original, melodramatic, episodes. In the 1960s he wrote for the ABC series, Theatre 5 (Widner and Frierson 23).

Listen to "The Other Man," 2000 Plus, Episode 13, June 7, 1950

Listen to "Flying Saucers," 2000 Plus, Episode 24, August 23, 1950

Credits
Elliott Jacoby: Music composer
Emerson Buckley: Music director
Adrian Penner: Sound effects
Ken Marvin: Announcer

Cast
Joseph Julian, Bill Keen, Lon Clark, Amzie Strickland, and Bryna Raeburn.

Works Cited
Widner, James F. and Meade Frierson, III. Science Fiction on Radio: A Revised Look at 1950–1975. AFAB, 1996.

Resources
Two Thousand Plus. Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs.
2000 Plus. Digital Deli Too.
2000 Plus. OTR Plot Spot.
2000 Plus at the Internet Archive website.

1952
Tom Corbett, Space Cadet
American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)
January 1 - June 26, 1952
Continuting. Targeted to younger listeners.
Sponsored by Kellogs PEP and Raisin Bran cerals
30 minute episodes, Tuesdays and Thursdays
46 episodes produced, 41 survive

Tom Corbett, Space Cadet was adapted from a 1950-1955 television series by the same name. The idea began with Joseph Green, then working for Grosset & Dunlap publishing. Green developed Tom Corbett, Space Cadet inspired by Robert A. Heinlein's novel Space Cadet, published in 1948. The television series began in 1950. A comic strip followed in 1951. Books were published by Grosset & Dunlap in 1952. Comic books and the radio series also appeared in 1952.

The radio series, Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, was heard on ABC, in 1952. Many radio episodes were based on television episodes. The same cast was used for both television and radio episodes. Episodes broadcast on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Each show was complete in itself but the story line would cover both shows for the week with Part 1 broadcast on Tuesday and Part 2 on Thursday (Pippin). Stories followed Corbett and friends Roger Manning and Astro, a Venutian, as they trained at the Space Academy to become members of the Solar Guard, an interplanetary police force in 2350 CE that helps maintain the Solar Alliance of Earth, Mars, and Venus. Much of their training is aboard their spaceship, Polaris.

Episodes began with Jackson Beck, the announcer saying,
Now, as roaring rockets blast off to distant planets and far-flung stars, we take you to the age of the conquest of space, with Tom Corbett, Space Cadet!

Listen to "Living Crystals of Titan Part 2," Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, Episode 01, Thursday, January 3, 1952

This is Part 2 of "Living Crystals of Titan," the earliest known surviving episode of Tom Corbett, Space Cadet. Tom Corbett, Roger Manning, Astro, and Captain Strong break up a smuggling ring moving crystals that interact with metal from Saturn's moon Titan to Earth. "The Missing Rocket Scout" is announced as the next episode.

Listen to "Revolt on Prison Rock Part 2," Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, Episode 43, May 29, 1952

In this episode, the last known of the series, Tom Corbett and Roger Manning, locate dangerous prisoners who escaped from Prison Rock and stole their spaceship, The Polaris, on an asteroid. Corbett and Manning board The Polaris and capture the convicts. First broadcast 29 May 1952. The episode number is uncertain but Haendiges calls it #43. "The Vultures of Space" is announced as the upcoming episode.

Credits
Director: Drex Hines
Writer: Willie Gilbert
Writer: Jack Weinstock
Jon Gart: Organ
Announcer: Jackson Beck

Cast (continuing)
Frankie Thomas as Tom Corbett
Jan Merlin as Roger Manning
Al Markim as Astro
Edward Bryce as Captain Strong
Margaret Garland as Dr. Joan Dale
Carter Blake as Commander Arkwright
Jack Grimes as ???

Resources
Tom Corbett. Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs.
Tom Corbett. Download episodes at Internet Archive.
Cadet Ed Pippin. Tom Corbett Space Cadet Radio Show.
Tom Corbett: Space Cadet. Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.
GSMC Classics: Tom Corbett, Space Cadet. Spreaker, iHeart Radio.

circa 1952-1953
The Planet Man
The Palladium Radio Productions syndication, New York City
circa 1952-1953, more specific dates are unknown
Continuing. Targeted to younger listeners.
15 minute episodes
78 episodes produced, 76 survive (Episodes 01 and 04 are missing)

Episodes invited listeners to "Rocket millions of years into the future with Danto, The Planet Man." From Planeria Rex, the capital of all planets, Dantro patrols the galaxy for The League of Planets, keeping the peace. Forbidden to use violence, except in self defense, The Planet Man stands for fair play and peace, and fights aggressive evil warlords like Marston, the ruler of Mars. Dantro is helped by Dr. John Darrow, a scientist, Darrow's daughter Pat, nephew and niece Billy and Jane, and engineer Slats. Dantro rescued them all when their rocket was about to crash into the Moon.

Listen to "Orbit the Moon"The Planet Man, Episode 02, *** 1950

Listen to "The Battle Is Over" / "End of the Adventure," The Planet Man, Episode 78, *** 1950

Credits
Phil Tonken: Narrator
Joseph Boland: Robot characters
Jon Gart: Organist

Resources
The Planet Man. Internet Archive website.
The Planet Man. Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs.

1953
Tales of Tomorrow
American Broadcast Corporation (ABC)
January 1, 1953 - April 9, 1953
Anthology. Targeted to adult listeners.
30 minute episodes
15 episodes, 7 survive

Tales of Tomorrow, was first a live a science fiction thriller television series seen on ABC August 3, 1951 to June 12, 1953. Developed by writer Theodore Sturgeon and television producer Mort Abrahams, the television series (originally titled Tomorrow Is Yours), drew its content from short stories and novels written by members of the Science Fiction League of America. The television series broadcast 85 episodes, each 30 minutes in length.

Adapted as a radio program for ABC, Tales of Tomorrow was scheduled for fifteen episodes. Each began with a tinkling piano/abstract music composition by Bobby Christian, followed by host "Omentor" (Raymond Edward Johnson) saying, "Tales of Tomorrow, tales beyond human imagination, until they happen!" The first episode was heard January 1, 1953. The radio series drew content from Galaxy Science Fiction magazine. Despite offering writing by accomplished science fiction writers, the radio series was not successful. The final episode of Tales of Tomorrow on ABC was February 26, 1953. It moved to CBS, first episode March 5, 1953, for the remainder of its episodes, the last of which was broadcast April 9, 1953. Tales of Tomorrow, the radio series, heard for only three and a half months, is a poster child example of the struggle of commercial radio against the siphoning away of listeners by the appeal of newly-established network television programming.

Credits
Clark Andrews and Warren Sommerville: Directors
Michael Sklar and Don Witty: Writers/adaptors
Raymond Edward Johnson: Host (known as "Omentor")
Bobby Christian: Music composer

Cast
Varied by episode

Resources
Tales of Tomorrow. Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs.
Tales of Tomorrow at SciFi Mike website.
Widner, James F. and Meade Frierson III. "Tales of Tomorrow." Science Fiction on Radio: A Revised Look at 1950-1975. AFAB, 1996, pp. 49-52.

1953-1954
Captain Starr of Space
aka Starr of Space
American Broadcast Corporation (ABC)
June 2, 1953 - May 27, 1954
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7:30 PM
Continuing. Targeted to younger listeners.
30 minute episodes
75 potential episodes, perhaps 8 survive, 4 circulate
Inventory of Captain Starr of Space episodes

Based on characters created by Tom Hubbard, who wrote the episodes and played Cadet Sergeant Stripes, Captain Starr of Space, AKA Starr of Space (1953-1954), was a twice-weekly OTR juvenile science fiction adventure series. Captain Starr and his Space Rangers traveled throughout the galaxy aboard their spaceship, Shooting Star, dealing with interplanetary criminals and exciting galactic adventures. Captain Starr of Space is significant because although 8 episodes possibly survive, only four episodes circulate. Listen below.

Listen to "The Mystery of Mars" (aka "Citizens of Mars")
Episode 02, 4 June 1953

The Queen Nilo Incident
Episode 13, 14 July 1953
(aka "The Ray Machine")

The Carnumian Return
1953
A visit from a Neptunian scientist dead for fifty years! An Armed Forces Radio and Television Services rebroadcast.

The Mericus Plague
1953
A Venusian native chief has the secret to save the Earth colonists from disease. An Armed Forces Radio and Television Services rebroadcast.

Credits
Tom Hubbard and John Egger: Writers
Lou Cook: Announcer

Cast (continuing)
John Larch as Captain Rocky Starr (Larch, 1914-2005, also had a semi-regular role on Space Patrol as Captain Smith)
Jane Harlan as Gale Archer, Captain Starr's assistant
Tom Hubbard as Cadet Sergeant Stripes

Resources
Episodes at Internet Archive
Episodes at Old Time Radio Researchers Group Library website
Captain Starr of Space radio logs at Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs website
Captain Starr of Space at Old Time Radio Researchers Database


X

Episode Inventory—Starr of Space

Totals

Total Episodes: perhaps 75
Surviving Episodes: Perhaps 8
Circulating Episodes: 4

  • The Mystery of Mars
    Episode 2, 4 June 1953, available
    AKA "Citizens of Mars"
  • The Ancient Martian
    Episode 3, 9 June 1953, unavailable
    The high priest of the ancient Martians, speaking through the sacred cube, threatens the destruction of the universe. Repeated as "The Ancient Martian Cube."
  • Unknown
    Episode 5, 16 June 1953, unavailable
    Captain Starr is ordered to investigate a possible invasion of Earth from another planet
  • Unknown
    Episode 6, 25 June 1953, unavailable
    Captain Starr and crew pursue a derelict planet
  • Unknown
    Episode 10, 2 July 1953, unavailable
    Captain Starr is sent on an urgent mission of salvation
  • Unknown
    Episode 11, 7 July 1953, unavailable
    A crusading reporter is killed on Venus
  • The Queen Nilo Incident
    Episode 13, 14 July 1953, available
    AKA "The Ray Machine"
  • Unknown
    Episode 16, 23 July 1953, unavailable
    Captain Starr and crew battle fear waves drawing them toward a sinister city
  • Unknown
    Episode 18, 30 July 1953, unavailable
    Captain Starr and crew trace a strange drug which perils peoples' minds
  • Unknown
    Episode 19, 4 August 1953, unavailable
    Captain Starr, Gale, and Sergeant Stripes are chosen as the first persons transported back to another century
  • Unknown
    Episode 21, 11 August 1953, unavailable
    Captain Starr leans the secret of "The Teleport Treatment"
  • Unknown
    Episode 22, 13 August 1953, unavailable
    Captain Starr and crew rescue a scientist captured between Earth and Mars
  • Unknown
    Episode 23, 18 August 1953, unavailable
    Captain Starr and crew are assigned to settle a dispute over a new star between Earth and Mars
  • Unknown
    Episode 26, 27 August 1953, unavailable
    Captain Starr and crew narrowly escape the perils created by natural and man-made forces
  • Unknown
    Episode 29, 8 October 1953, unavailable
    A lady from the 40th century warns Captain Starr and crew of a sinister plan to destroy the universe
  • Michael of Outer Space
    Episode 31, 15 October 1953, unavailable
  • Unknown
    Episode 48, 12 November 1953, unavailable
    A man, named Mr. Minute, forecasts the future
  • The Carnumian Return
    1953, available
    A visit from a Neptunian scientist dead for fifty years! An Armed Forces Radio and Television Services rebroadcast.
  • The Mericus Plague
    1953, available
    A Venusian native chief has the secret to save the Earth colonists from disease. An Armed Forces Radio and Television Services rebroadcast.
  • Pool of Intelligence
    1953, unavailable
    Colonists from Polar City on Mars are disappearing. They're being used to feed a secret "Pool Of Intelligence." An Armed Forces Radio and Television Services rebroadcast.
  • The Outlanders
    1953, unavailable
    Jail escapees threaten Queen Nilo of the Planet Ziron. An Armed Forces Radio and Television Services rebroadcast.
  • The Corrinian Control
    1953, unavailable
  • Scientist Henry Pitman Missing
    1953, unavailable
    Prisoners of the Syrenians in the underground city of the invisible people. An Armed Forces Radio and Television Services rebroadcast.

1955-1958
X Minus One
Acknowledged as the best science fiction anthology radio show
National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC)
April 22, 1955-January 9, 1958
Anthology. Targeted for adult listeners.
30 minute episodes
127 episodes produced, 127 survive

A half-hour radio science fiction anthology series with episodes featuring adaptations of stories by leading science fiction writers. Cast varied by episode. It’s core radio storytelling DNA came from Dimension X, with the first fifteen episodes of X Minus One being recast and reused from Dimension X. The first science fiction radio series with broad adult appeal, featuring works by young science fiction writers like Ray Bradbury ("Mars Is Heaven" and "Martian Chronicles"), Robert Bloch (Psycho), Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and Kurt Vonnegut.

Continuing with the "X factor"—stories told in future "time and space"—the remaining episodes of X Minus One were new adaptations of fiction written by leading science fiction writers whose stories appeared in Galaxy Magazine. Examples include Isaac Asimov ("Nightfall," "C-Chute," and "Hostess"), Ray Bradbury ("And The Moon Be Still As Bright," "Mars is Heaven," "The Veldt," "Dwellers in Silence," "Zero Hour," "To the Future," "Marionettes, Inc.," and "There Will Come Soft Rains"), Philip K. Dick ("The Defenders" and "Colony"), Robert A. Heinlein ("Universe," "Requim," "The Roads Must Roll," and "The Green Hills of Earth"), George Lefferts ("The Parade"), Fritz Leiber ("A Pail of Air"), J. T. McIntosh ("Hallucination Orbit"), Frederik Pohl ("The Tunnel under the World"), Robert Sheckley ("Skulking Permit"), and L. Sprague de Camp ("A Gun for Dinosaur").

The opening for each episode was distinctive, with the announcer saying,
Countdown for blastoff . . . X minus five, four, three, two, X minus one . . . Fire!

[Rocket launch SFX]

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 Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine, presents—X-X-X-X—MINUS-MINUS-MINUS-MINUS—ONE-ONE-ONE-one . . .

After the final countdown for blast off at X Minus One, science fiction storytelling moved to television, with shows like The Twilight Zone, and The Outer Limits. NBC aired transcriptions (recordings) of X Minus One episodes from 24 June 1973-1975, as an experiment to see whether nostalgia would support radio drama. The once-a-month scheduling was confusing and problematic, and X Minus One died again in 1975.

Credits
Daniel Sutter: Director
Fred Collins: Announcer
Ernest Kinoy and George Lefferts: Writers

Resources
Episodes of X Minus One at Internet Archive website
Scripts at Generic Radio workshop website
X Minus One radio logs at Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs website
X Minus One plot summaries and credits at Radio Gold Index website
The Definitive X Minus One at Digital Deli Too website
Widner, James F. and Meade Frierson III. "X Minus One Log." Science Fiction on Radio: A Revised Look at 1950-1975. AFAB, 1996, pp. 57-97.

1957-1958
Exploring Tomorrow
Mutual Broadcast Network
December 4, 1957-June 13, 1958
Anthology. Targeted for adult listeners.
20 minute episodes
30 episodes produced, 15 survive

Billed as the "first science fiction old time radio show of science-fictioneers, by science-fictioneers, and for science-fictioneers," episodes were narrated by John W. Campbell, Jr., editor of Astounding Magazine, and then later, Analog Magazine, who invited listeners to "step into the incredible, amazing future." Episodes imagined the future of mankind, space travel, and world's beyond our own.

Listen to "The Convict"
Episode 01, 4 June 1953, Dec. 11, 1957

Credits
Producer and director: Sanford Marshall

Resources
Exploring Tomorrow. Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs.
Exploring Tomorrow at Internet Archive website.

Promotion

Press Relations
Special thanks to Maureen Keller, Syliva Lindman, and Brenda Alling for promoting this episode of Re-Imagined Radio.
READ their Press Release

Graphics
Double Dimension X web poster by Holly Slocum (240 x 356)
Dimension X web poster

Double Dimension X cover graphic by Holly Slocum (820 x 360)
Dimension X cover graphic

Double Dimension X vertical social medi poster by Holly Slocum (1080 x 1920)
Dimension X vertical social media poster

Double Dimension X landscape poster by Holly Slocum (1910 x 1080)
Dimension X landscape poster

Double Dimension X square poster by Holly Slocum (2000 x 2000)
Dimension X square poster

Double Dimension X full poster by Holly Slocum (2000 x 3000)
Dimension X full poster

Metadata

Name: Dimension X
Tagline: Stories in time and space
Season: 11
Episode: 11
Description: Re-Imagined Radio celebrates 'Dimension X,' by providing context for and an example from this groundbreaking science fiction anthology series.
Program type: Episodic
Length: 58:00
Media type: Radio broadcast, live stream, podcast
Premier broadcast and live stream: 20 Nov. 2023, KXRW-FM (Vancouver, WA), KXRY-FM (Portland, OR)
Recording availability: Podcast
Recording specs: Audio, MP3, stereo, 44.1Hz, 320kbps
Recording name: rir-dimension-x.mp3
Categories: radio, drama, documentary, performance, story, fictional, science fiction
Keywords: radio drama, storytelling, documentary, science fiction
Script: John F. Barber
Producer/Host: John F. Barber
Sound Design/Music Composition: Marc Rose


X

Episode Inventory—Flash Gordon

Total episodes: 26
Surviving episodes: 26

Note: Original titles are unknown. Those cited here are drawn from radio logs.

  • On the Planet Mongo
    Episode 01, 27 April 1935
    Based on comic strips from 7, 14, 21, and 28 January 1934; 4, 11, 18, and 25 February 1934; and 4, 11, and 18 March 1934
    A new planet enters the solar system and is on a collision course with Earth. With the planet of doom come fiery meteors. One strikes an airplane carrying Flash Gordon and Dale Arden. They parachute safely to ground, landing near the laboratory of Dr. Hans Zerkov, famous scientist. Crazed from his non-stop efforts to save Earth, Dr. Zarkov forces Flash and Dale into his rocket ship. They travel through space to the planet Mongo where they crash and are captured by Emperor Ming, the evil ruler. Ming sends Flash to the arena where he fights and defeats four red Monkey Men. Ming is not pleased and orders Flash killed, but his daughter, Princess Aura, helps Flash escape. Aura imprisons Flash in her private rocket car and tells him to love her or die. Like daughter, like father, Ming tells Dale that she will marry him. The Lion Men attack Ming's city in their Space Gyros. Flash escapes during the attack and meets Prince Thun, of the Lion Men. Flash and Thun join forces to battle Ming. Using a "Thought Projector" in Thun's Space Gyro, they see Dale held captive, and a secret way into Ming's castle, "The Tunnel of Terror," guarded by deadly beasts. Fighting past these monsters, Flash and Thun arrive in Ming's throne room where they interrupt Ming's wedding to Dale. Flash and Thun rescue Dale, but while attempting to escape, fall into an underground river. Dale is captured by Sharkmen. Script available here.
  • An Alliance Forms
    Episode 02, 4 May 1935
    Based on comic strips from 18 and 25 March 1934; 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29 April 1934; 6, 13, 20, and 27 May 1934; and 3 and 10 June 1934
    Flash and Dale are captured by green Sharkmen living under the sea, on the planet Mongo. Princess Aura frees Flash, who tries to free Dale, not knowing that she has already been rescured by Prince Thun. Thun's father, King Jugrid, ruler of the Lionmen captures Flash and Princess Aura, who throws herself over a cliff and is caught by a "constrictor plant." Flash attempts to free her, but is also caught by the plant. They are rescued and captured by Prince Barin, a rebel who opposes Emperor Ming. Barin also holds Dr. Zarkov prisoner. Barin forces Flash and Dr. Zarkov to fight each other with daggers poisoned with dragon's blood. Flash foils Barin's plan and is reunited with Dr. Zarkov. Flash, Dr. Zarkov, and Barin join forces to overthrow Ming. They use a electric "burrowing mole" to tunnel into Ming's palace. Princess Aura persuades her guard, Ronkol, to help her escape so she can warn her father, Emporer Ming The Merciless, of the attack. When Flash, Dr. Zarkov, and Barin burrow through the floor of Ming's palace central hall, they are captured by Ming's armored men. Ming's High Priest, Zogi, reminds Ming that his captures have the right to undergo "the torture pit" where Flash and Barrin stand on a platform and using long whips, try to knock each other into the pit. Flash knocks Barin into the pit, and immediatley jumps in after him. When he tries to climb out of the pit, with Barin, he finds a transparent metal lid blocks their escape. Then the "tigrons" arrive, fierce tigers with unicorn horns. Flash defeats them. Prince Thun, who has escaped from Ming's soliders, pushes back the metal lid allowing Flash and Barin to escape. Ming and Dale are to be married by Zogi. But, once again, Flash and Thun interrupt the marriage. Captured, once again, Flash, Thun, and Barin are sentenced to the prison city of the cruel Hawkmen. Dale "will be taught to act like an Empress." Script available here.
  • Imprisoned by Hawkmen
    Episode 03; 11 May 1935
    Based on comic strips from 17 and 24 June 1934; 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29 July 1934; 5, 12, 19, and 26 August 1934; 2, 9, 23, and 30 September 1934; 7, 14, 21, and 28 October 1934; and 4 November 1934
    Flash, Dale, Dr. Zarkov, and Prince Thun are sent via rocket ship to a prison in Sky City, home of the Hawkmen, ruled by Prince Vultan. It is a "fate worse than death." Flash and Thun overpower their guard and are released from their cell by Dr. Zarkov and Barin, who escaped their cell when the rocket ship crashed. Outside the rocket ship, Dr. Zarkov and Thun are captured by Hawkmen who swoop down from the sky and carry them off to their city, suspended in the sky above by powerful light beams. Flash, Dale, and Barin are surprised when Princess Aura lands her rocket ship, and by her ultimatum that Flash marry her or see all his friends die. Flash refuses and Princess Aura leaves to tell the Hawkmen, who capture Flash, Dale, and Barin. Flash, Dr. Zarkov, and Barin are sent to stoke the radium furnaces which produce the light that suspends Sky City in the air. They escape. Flash searches for Dale. Prince Vultan intends to marry Dale, who resists. Flash arrives and fights off Vultan. But, they are captured. Just as Flash is to be executed by firing squad, Sky City tilts on its supporting light beams. Script available here.
  • Tournament of Death
    Episode 04, 18 May 1935
    Based on comic strips from 18 and 25 November 1934; 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30 December 1934; 6, 13, 20, and 27 January 1935; and 3, 10, 17, and 24 February 1935
    Prince Vultan prepares to kill Flash. Dr. Zarkov arrives to say he will save Sky City if Vultan will release Flash, Dale, and Barin. Dr. Zarkov demonstrates an "Atomic Light Solidifier" he developed to create a new light ray which supports and saves the city. Vultan pardons everyone, makes Dr. Zarkov his head scientist, and promises Flash and Dale a royal wedding. Emperor Ming The Merciless arrives at Sky City and demands the return of Flash, Dale, and Barin. Prince Vultan deflects Ming's demand by calling for a tournament of death. Contestants arrive from all parts of Mongo. All will fight. Only one will survive. Prince Barin declares his love for Princess Aura and enters the tournament to win back his kingdom, and the love of Aura. A masked fighter saves Flash and during the banquet that night, woos Princess Aura by saying, "I go to fight for your hand." The next day, Flash saves the masked fighter during the Sky Rope competition above a flaming arena. The masked fighter is revealed as Prince Barin. The crowd demands both be proclaimed winners. Emperor Ming agrees, and gives Prince Barin the kingdom of the forests. He gives Kira, the kingdom of the caves, to Flash. Both kingdoms are unconquered. Ming says Barin and Flash can hold their weddings in their own kingdoms, "if they live that long." Script available here.
  • Flash Gordon, King of the Cave World
    Episode 05, 25 May 1935
    Based on comic strips from 3, 10, 17, 24, and 31 March 1935; 7, 14, 21, and 28 April 1935; 5, 12, 19, and 26 May 1935; and 2 June 1935
    Flash is King of Kira, the unconquered cave world. He travels there with Dale and a number of Hawkmen under the command of Captain Khan, looking for Zug, leader of the cave men. Flash and Zug battle to establish leadership. Flash wins. Komok, a large lizard monster approaches. Flash blinds the monster with his ray gun. Exploring the caves of Kira, Flash and Dale are attacked by Lizard Men throwing stones. Flash is knocked unconscious and taken captive. Hawkmen, led by Khan, rescue Dale and together they look for Flash. They find him trapped behind a large stone. Azura, the witch queen of the blue Magic Men, and Tahl, the chief magician prepare to "welcome" the visitors to the caves. The Hawkmen soldiers are buried under an avalanche of rock. Flash, Dale, and Khan are subdued with sleep gas, released from a glass globe. They are taken to Syk, Azura's castle. Enamored with Flash, Azura orders him brought back to life. She forces Flash to obey her forever in exchange for Dale's life. They drink to the bargain, but Flash's drink is drugged with lethium, the drug of forgetfulness. Azura tests Flash by reviving Dale and Khan. Flash recognizes neither. Dale is upset to see Flash in the arms of Azura. Both Khan and Dale are forced to work in the kitchen, preparing food for Azura. Dale is forced to serve Azura and Flash food. Khan poisons the food, but Dale pretends to trip, spilling the food, rather than poison Flash. Azura orders Dale punished.
  • War in the Caves
    Episode 06; 1 June 1935
    Based on comic strip from 9 June 1935, "War in the Caves"
    Dr. Zarkov and the Hawkmen set out to rescue Flash from Queen Azura. Dale and Khan discuss Flash's bewitchment and how to save him. Dr. Zarkov and the Hawkmen are delayed in a skirmish with Cloudmen. Under the influence of lethium, Flash professes his love for Azura. Dale and Flash speak, but Flash does not recognize his sweetheart. Dr. Zarkov and the Hawkmen arrive in the caves of Kira. Flash asks Azura to release Dale. Thal announces the arrival of the Hawkmen. Azura asks Flash to lead her troops in battle against his friends! Tahl is offended. "Let her beware."
  • Dr. Zarkoff to the Rescue
    Episode 07, 8 June 1935
    Incorporates elements from 9 and 16 June 1935 comic strips, "War in the Caves" and "The Flame of Doom"
    Queen Azura and Flash review the Blue Magic Men troops with their special weapons and magic abilities. Dr. Zarkov orders ray guns to blast through the rocks blocking the tunnel entrance to Blue Magic Land. He then uses a Spaceograph to look for Flash, but a magical fog prevents him from seeing anything. Dr. Zarkov sends Captain Mar, a Hawkmen officer, as a spy to Princess Aura's palace. He will take a portable Spaceophone and report back to Dr. Zarkov. Mar meets Captain Khan and Dale Arden. Mar and Dr. Zarkov are unable to connect via Spaceophone. Dr. Zarkov leads the Hawkmen troops toward Syk, Azura's castle. Flash and Azura, with the Blue Magic Army, meet them. Dr. Zarkov orders the First Company of Lancers, the greatest fliers in the Hawkmen army to charge. Flash orders the Combustion Ray Guns made ready as the Hawkmen circle high above.
  • Aide Tahl, Plants Seeds of Doubt
    Episode 08, 15 June 1935
    Incorporates elements from 23 June 1935 comic strip, "Combat"
    Flash orders the Combustion Ray Guns to fire on the Hawkmen, who fall to Earth in flames. Dr. Zarkov wonders why Flash would order an attack against his friends. He orders the Hawkmen into a tunnel and uses turbine thermostat machines to block the entrance with a wall of solid ice. Dale, Khan, and Mar continue to call Dr. Zarkov on the Spaceophone, without success. Mar plans to leave the castle and deliver news to Dr. Zarkov. Tahl attempts to cast doubt on Flash and his ability to command action. He recommends to Queen Azura that she demote Flash, and make him the leader in Flash's place. Flash orders a charge against Dr. Zarkov's wall of ice.
  • Flash Charges Ice Barricade of Hawkmen
    Episode 09, 22 June 1935
    Incorporates elements from 30 June 1935 comic strip, "Treachery"
    Flash leads the Blue Magic Army against Dr. Zarkov and the Hawkmen, barricaded in a tunnel behind a wall of solid ice. Tahl, furious at being replaced by Flash attempts to kill him with a ray gun. Flash falls from his horse. Queen Azura halts the charge and commands that Tahl die, but Flash forgives him. He orders Combustion Ray Guns bombard the wall of ice. Khal convinces Dale not to doubt Flash. Mar escapes Azura's palace, intent to warn Dr. Zarkov of the pending attack. At dawn, the Blue Magic Army attacks Dr. Zarkov and the Hawkmen. Azura re-affirms her faith in Flash's leadership. Mar arrives, but is killed by a ray gun before he can reveal his information about Flash's bewitchment. Dr. Zarkov, seeing Flash, runs out of the tunnel to greet him. Flash responds by throwing a living-icicle torpedo at Dr. Zarkhov and the Hawkmen.
  • Dr. Zarkoff is Thawed Out
    Episode 10, 6 July 1935
    Incorporates elements from 30 June 1935 and 7 June 1935 comic strips, "Treachery" and "Prisoners of Magic"
    Dr. Zarkov is frozen at the entrance to the tunnel. Flash wonders why he called out to him as a friend. Queen Azura makes Flash drink more lethium, to reinforce his forgetfulness. Dr. Zarkov and other prisoners are taken to Azura's palace. Dr. Zarkov is unfrozen using an "electro-theraputic revivifier." General Tahl tells Dr. Zarkov that Flash is under the influence of lethium, and so does not remember his friends. Dr. Zarkov is taken to the kitchen, meets Dale Arden, and tells her that Flash is drugged. They plan to escape, using electric meat-roasting electrodes.
  • Dr. Zarkoff Shoots Crooks with Electrodes
    Episode 11, 13 July 1935
    Incorporates elements from 7 and 14 June 1935 comic strips, "Prisoners of Magic" and "Trapping the Witch Queen"
    Dr. Zarkov and Dale Arden use meat-roasting electrodes to subdue the cooks and kitchen guards. When Captain Khan is brought to the kitchen, he is rescued by Dr. Zarkov and Dale. General Tahl arrives in the kitchen. He is captured and tells how Queen Azura gives Flash the drug of forgetfulness. Dale delivers "vokko" (wine) to Flash and Azura. She tells Flash how Azura has drugged him by placing lethium in his wine. Flash forces Azura is to drink the drugged wine and she loses her memory. Dr. Zarkov gives Flash an antidote to restore his memory, if he has not been under the influence of lethium too long.
  • Flash Regains Memory
    Episode 12, 20 July 1935
    Incorporates elements from 21 July 1935 comic strip, "The Rebel General"
    Flash drinks the lethium antidote, regains his memory, and proclaims himself King of Blue Magic Land. He tells Queen Azura that she will rule Blue Magic Land under his orders. Dale tells Flash that she cannot quite forgive him for the way he acted about Azura. With Azura, Dr. Zarkov, Dale and Flash inspect the passing Blue Magic Men army from a palace balcony. General Tahl attacks Flash with his sword from behind, but Flash throws him from the balcony. When Flash tells a guard to care for Tahl, Dr. Zarkov implores, "Kill him or lock him up. I warn you, he is a trouble maker."
  • General Tahl Rescues Azura
    Episode 13, 27 July 1935
    Incorporates elements from 28 June 1935 comic strip, "Civil War"
    Flash orders Captain Kahn to guard Queen Azura in her quarters. Dale Arden is still jealous of Azura. Dale, Flash, and Dr. Zarkov search for the throne room. They find it behind two massive metal doors. Dr. Zarkov brings Grumm to the throne room. Grumm gives Flash glass globes filled with paralyzing gas. General Tahl plans to rescue Azura with a band of rebels. Grumm provides gas masks to protect the rebels from the paralyzing gas. Tahl and his rebels use sleep gas to overpower Kahn and the other guards. They carry Azura to safety. Tahl vows to kill Flash Gordon.
  • General Tahl Attacks Flash Behind a Huge Door
    Episode 14, 3 August 1935
    Incorporates elements from 4 August 1935 comic strip, "The Hunted King"
    General Tahl and his rebels attack Flash and Dr. Zarkov in their quarters. Dale finds Captain Kahn recovering from sleep gas, and Azura taken away. Kahn searches for Azura. Dale goes to warn Flash and Dr. Zarkov. Flash and Dr. Zarkov throw a glass globe of paralyzing gas at the rebels, with little effect because they are wearing gas masks. General Tahl orders a dissolvo-ray gun to melt the heavy metal door behind which Flash and Dr. Zarkov are hiding. While the rebels are bringing up the gun, Dale arrives and tells that Azura has escaped. The dissolvo-ray begins melting the door. Flash, Dale, and Dr. Zarkov seek escape by climbing from the window and using a vine to descend a steep cliff . . .
  • Dr. Zarkov Builds Invisible Ray Machine
    Episode 15, 10 August 1935
    Incorporates elements from 11 August 1935 comic strip, "The Invisible Warrior"
    Flash, Dale and Dr. Zarkov escape the palace by climbing down a vine-covered cliff and take shelter in a herdsman's cottage. General Tahl and his rebels discover that Flash, Dale, and Dr. Zarkov have escaped. Tahl orders search patrols to find them. Dr. Zarkov sends Flash to get parts for his latest invention, an invisibility machine. Tahl captures Captain Kahn and makes him Queen Azura's slave. Dr. Zarkov builds his invisibility machine. He focuses the machine's ray on Flash who disappears. Only his shadow remains.
  • The Avenging Shadow
    Episode 16, 17 August 1935
    Incorporates elements from 18 August 1935 comic strip, "The Avenging Shadow"
    Flash, Dale Arden, and Flash discuss his invisibility, and his plan to confront Queen Azura. Dr. Zarkov warns Flash to watch for first sight of his hands. This will indicate his invisibility is wearing off. General Tahl tells Azura, who has regained her memory, that Flash, Dale, and Dr. Zarkov escaped. Captain Khan, now a servant of Azura, tricks her into drinking lethium once again. She obeys his directions for dealing with Tahl. Dale worries about Flash and fears for his safety. Flash, invisible, gains the palace. To a terrified guard he says, "Go and tell Azura The Avenging Shadow is coming."
  • Azura Regains Memory
    Episode 17, 24 August 1935
    Incorporates elements from 25 August 1935, "The Unseen Warrior" comic strip
    Dale and Dr. Zarkov wait for Flash to return. Flash returns safely, just as his hands become invisible. Dr. Zarkov gives Flash a second invisibility treatment. Queen Azura recovers from her second dose of lethium. Captain Khan is imprisoned after his plot is discovered. Azura orders her guards to stand outside her quarters and let no one pass. Dale continues to worry about Flash and his safety. They decide to collect firewood. Dr. Zarkov warns Dale to be careful in the woods. Dale screams, and is then silent. Flash, invisible, strikes General Tahl, and then escapes, promising to return.
  • Flash, Still Invisible, Escapes
    Episode 18, 31 August 1935
    Incorporates elements from 1 September 1935, "The Hand of Doom" comic strip
    Flash leaps from Queen Azura's quarters and escapes. Azura orders her guard to shoot for Flash's voice if he returns. General Tahl is revived. Dr. Zarkov finds Dale Arden in the woods, captive of an Ape Man! She escapes, runs to the cottage, gets Dr. Zarkov's ray gun, and kills the Ape Man. Dale continues to worry about Flash. Revived, Tahl suggests discovering and capturing Dr. Zarkov, to prevent Flash from renewing his invisibility. Still invisible, Flash rescues Captain Khan. Then he captures Queen Azura just as his visibility returns.
  • General Tahl Tries Capturing Dr. Zarkov
    Episode 19, 7 September 1935
    Incorporates elements from 8 September 1935, "The Pit of Peril" comic strip
    Escaping the guards, Flash and Queen Azura run to the hills near the palace. There, Flash drags Azura through The Iron Door and into The Pit of Peril. Dr. Zarkov and Dale continue to collect firewood and plan where to hide if someone comes looking for them. Dr. Zarkov leaves to look for Flash. Dale remains at the cottage. Captain Khan captures Azura's guard and takes control of the palace. Dale sees soldiers approaching the cottage and hides in the loft. General Tahl sets the cottage afire. In The Pit of Peril, Azura, fearful, begs Flash to return her to the palace. The Death Dwarfs attack.
  • Pit of Peril and Death Dwarfs
    Episode 20, 14 September 1935
    Incorporates elements from September 15 1935, "The Death Dwarfs" comic strip
    The Death Dwarfs capture Queen Azura. Flash promises to protect her. Dale Arden is rescued from the burning cottage by Dr. Zarkov. Dale uses the invisibility machine to make Dr. Zarkov invisible. As Dr. Zarkov starts to make Dale invisible, General Tahl returns and discovers the invisibility machine. Dr. Zarkov knocks out Tahl and destroys his machine, to keep the Blue Magic Men from using it. They head to Azura's palace. Captain Khan confronts Tahl at the palace and when it appears that Flash and Azura are dead in the Pit of Peril, he surrenders. The Death Dwarfs take Azura to the Pit of Fire, to "roast the magic out of her."
  • Pit of Fire
    Episode 21, 21 September 1935
    Incorporates elements from 22 September 1935, "The Fiery Caldron" comic strip
    Queen Azura tries to bargain with the Death Dwarfs, promising them freedom from their underground imprisonment if they return her safely. Hokko, the king of the Death Dwarfs refuses and orders Azura thrown into The Pit of Fire, an underground volcano. Flash, now visible, leaps into the group of dwarfs and kills, Hokko. Using Hokko's sword, Flash pole-vaults across the Pit of Fire with Queen Azura on his back. Together, they run to the Iron Door, beyond which is Azura's palace, and safety. Dr. Zarkov and Dale Arden arrive at the palace and begin searching for Flash. General Tahl mocks Khan for believing that Flash is still alive. Dr. Zarkov, invisible, speaks with Khan in his prison cell. Dr. Zarkov says he will search for The Iron Door and find Flash. Flash and Azura reach The Iron Door, but it is barred from the outside. Flash holds off of the Death Dwarfs, as long as he can.
  • Trapped behind the Iron Door
    Episode 22, 28 September 1935
    Incorporates elements from 29 September 1935, "The Green-Eyed Dragon" comic
    strip Against The Iron Door, barred from the outside, Flash and Queen Azura apologize to each other and plan to die fighting the Death Dwarfs. General Tahl, who now calls himself himself King, offers Captain Khan the post of Commander-In-Chief of his army. Khan refuses allegiance to Tahl and is returned to his prison cell. Dr. Zarkov reports to Dale Arden, saying he has not found Flash. They free Khan who might be able to lead them to The Iron Door in the hills. Flash fights the Death Dwarfs but realizes he cannot hold them off much longer. Kahn, Dr. Zarkov, and Dale find The Iron Door. Dr. Zarkov opens The Iron Door just in time to witness Azura asking Flash to kiss her before they die at the hands of the Death Dwarfs. Dale calls Flash a traitor. Dr. Zarkov takes Azura prisoner.
  • Flash, King of the Cave World
    Episode 23, 5 October 1935
    Incorporates elements from 6 October 1935, "The Ambush" comic strip
    Dale is heartbroken when she catches Flash in the arms of Queen Azura. Her love for Flash turns to jealousy. Flash and Dale have a heated debate. Flash proclaims his love for Dale. Azura explains the situation, and assures Dale of Flash's love. King Tahl inspects the palace in preparation for his coronation ceremony. Using a "sightoscope" Tahl sees Captain Khan running toward the palace. He rides out alone to capture Kahn, but is taken prisoner himself by Kahn, who is armed with a ray pistol. They discard their weapons and prepare to fight hand-to-hand to the finish. Dale wants to return to Earth, but Flash enjoys conquest and being a king too much to leave. Soldiers approach, intent to kill Flash, Dale, and Dr. Zarkov. Azura orders them them to stop, and proclaims Flash King of Kira, the cave world. The soldiers tell Azura that in her absence, Tahl seized the throne.
  • General Tahl Seizes Azura's Throne
    Episode 24, 12 October 1935
    Incorporates elements from 13 October 1935, "A Lost Kingdom" comic strip
    This episode introduced as "The Adventures of Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim" Queen Azura convinces Flash, Dr. Zarkov, and her soldiers that General Tahl was correct to take control of Blue Magic Land if she was presumed dead. If he learns that she is alive, he will step aside. Everyone proceeds to the palace. On the plain outside the palace, Captain Khan and General Tahl fight. Tahl is victorious. Tahl learns that Flash, Dr. Zarkov, and Dale Arden are still alive. He commands his troops to find and kill them. Arriving at the palace, Flash presents his plan to get inside and take possession of the throne. In the palace, Tahl is killed as a traitor by a soldier loyal to Azura, who commands all to receive King Flash Gordon. Flash proposes building a space ship to survey Azura's kingdom. Flash proposes to Dale. Dr. Zarkov builds the space ship. He, Flash, and Dale launch on a mapping and survey mission. The space ship, increasing its speed, leaves the gravitational pull of Mongo and heads toward Earth. Where will it land? Dr. Zarkov says, "I don't know."
  • Flash, Dale, and Dr. Zarkov Crash in Rocket
    NOTE: Name change to series. Now called The Adventures of Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim
    Episode 25, 19 October 1935
    This episode introduced as "The Adventures of Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim"
    On an island of Malaysia, Jungle Jim, gentleman adventurer, "beloved friend of all good men, no matter what their race or color might be," is introduced, along with his companion, Kolu. They have just escaped burial in sand up to their necks with their heads covered with molasses to attract ants by "that black snake Dirk Rommney." They find a boat and travel back to their camp. On the way they rescue missionary Rev. Manley Chalmers and his wife from a wild cat attacking their camp. Jungle Jim tells his story to the Rev. Chalmers and his wife, providing background for the Jungle Jim radio drama that will soon follow. Flash, Dale Arden, and Dr. Zarkov interrupt when they crash land their rocket ship nearby. Rev. Chalmers remembers Dr. Zarkov and his mysterious disappearance two years earlier. Rev. Chalmers agrees to talk with Flash and Dale about their desire to marry.
  • Flash and Dale Married in the Jungle
    NOTE: Name change to series. Now called The Adventures of Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim
    Episode 26, 26 October 1935
    The Amazing Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon series ends.
    The Adventures of Jungle Jim series took over the time slot.
    Premier episode 2 November 1935.