Radio Recap: Dimension X

"Adventures in time and space told in future tense! Dimension X!"

There are some shows so well-known I haven't brought them up in my Radio Recap series before, but I think it's time I highlighted a few of them just so I can share my opinions about the shows. Let's talk Dimension X! I've blogged about the other contemporaneous science fiction radio shows of the time: Beyond Tomorrow, Tales of Tomorrow, Think, and 2000 Plus. Now, let's chat about what's arguably the best radio science fiction series!

Tomorrow I'll be looking at X Minus One so I won't get too deeply into that series except to acknowledge that yes, the majority of Dimension X episodes were also dramatized on X Minus One, but the latter program had a shorter running time and would often truncate the Dimension X scripts, even making substantial changes to the climax of "the Veldt," for instance!

Unlike X Minus One, Dimension X (April 1950-September 1951) was sponsored for part of its run by Wheaties. Despite being an NBC series it had unique music that wasn't simply recycled from their library. And it featured a majority of programs that were adapted from recent science fiction publications, sprinkling in a mix of original stories written by NBC staffers (notably Ernest Kinoy).

In 2016 I blogged about Ray Bradbury's radio adaptations for Halloween, including "Kaleidoscope," "the Martian Chronicles," "Marionettes, Inc.," "the Veldt," "There Will Come Soft Rains," "Mars Is Heaven!," "Zero Hour," "And the Moon Be Still as Bright." They also adapted his stories "To the Future" and "Dwellers in Silence" and at that time, Bradbury was one of the biggest and best-known authors of science fiction.

Other famous authors on Dimension X who received great adaptations were Kurt Vonnegut ("the Barnhouse Effect"), Jack Williamson ("With Folded Hands"), Robert Bloch ("Almost Human"), Robert A. Heinlein ("the Green Hills of Earth" and "Requiem"), Murry Leinster ("A Logic Named Joe"), Donald Wollheim ("The Embassy"), H. Beam Piper ("Time and Time Again").

Of the original scripts presented on Dimension X I most enjoyed "Perigi's Wonderful Dolls" (I recently blogged about it here); the space invasion story "No Contact'; the bittersweet "Martian Death March"; and the invasion-in-plain-sight story "The Parade."

Dimension X had a bit of humour in the shows I've listed above ("A Logic Named Joe" is a fairly wry bit of comedy) but not as much as X Minus One would. It was an early entry in the effort to prove adult audiences would listen to science fiction drama so Dimension X took itself fairly seriously; I think that paid off for the series - it still sounds good to this day.

Here's the Old Time Radio Researchers collection of Dimension X on YouTube.

Tomorrow: I fire off X Minus One.