Tales of Tomorrow

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Tales of Tomorrow
TalesOfTomorrow,OpeningTitle.PNG
Genre
Directed by
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes85
Production
Running time25 minutes
Original release
Network ABC
ReleaseAugust 3, 1951 (1951-08-03) 
June 12, 1953 (1953-06-12)

Tales of Tomorrow is an American anthology science fiction series that was performed and broadcast live on ABC from 1951 to 1953. The series covered such stories as Frankenstein starring Lon Chaney Jr., 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea starring Thomas Mitchell as Captain Nemo, and many others.

Contents

Cast

Besides Chaney and Mitchell, the show featured such performers as Boris Karloff, James Dean, Brian Keith, Lee J. Cobb, Eva Gabor, Veronica Lake, Rod Steiger, Bruce Cabot, Franchot Tone, Louis Hector, Gene Lockhart, Walter Abel, Cloris Leachman, Leslie Nielsen, Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman. The series had many similarities to the later Twilight Zone which also covered one of the same stories, "What You Need". In total it ran for eighty-five 30-minute episodes. It was called “the best science-fiction fare on TV today” by Paul Fairman, editor of If. [1]

Production

The idea for this science fiction television series was developed by Theodore Sturgeon and Mort Abrahams, and presented under the auspices of the Science Fiction League of America. This entity, not to be confused with the Science Fiction League, may have been a creation of the producers; author Robert Heinlein was contacted in 1951 by Sturgeon and Abrahams about their plan to "put together a league of s-f authors to write television screenplays for a new proposed TV series, Tomorrow is Yours (the original title of the show)." [2] A deal was struck with Richard Gordon and George Foley, giving the producers of the show first choice of any of the 2,000 short stories and 13 novels by the various members of the League.

Tales of Tomorrow was the first dramatized showcase for several authors, including Arthur C. Clarke. [3] Other early science fiction writers whose work was reflected in the series included Fredric Brown ("The Last Man on Earth" and "Age of Peril"), Philip Wylie ("Blunder"), C. M. Kornbluth ("The Little Black Bag") and Stanley G. Weinbaum ("The Miraculous Serum"). The show was intended for adults; at the time, most science fiction productions were targeted to children. [4] The producers wanted to blend mystery and science fiction, and to emphasize fast pacing and suspense. [5]

Episodes

As an anthology show, each episode had a self-contained plot. Every episode started with a brief bit of narration that mentioned the show's sponsor(s).

Series overview

SeasonEpisodesOriginally released
First releasedLast released
1 43August 3, 1951 (1951-08-03)August 8, 1952 (1952-08-08)
2 42August 22, 1952 (1952-08-22)June 12, 1953 (1953-06-12)

Season 1 (1951–52)

No.
overall
No. in
season
TitleWritten byOriginal release dateEpisode status
11"Verdict from Space" Theodore Sturgeon August 3, 1951 (1951-08-03)Exists
An inventor is on trial for killing a professor for five-thousand dollars.  In his defence, the inventor claims that the professor paid him the five-thousand dollars use his invention to help the professor open a metal door in a remote mountain, behind which sits a machine that has been recording every tremour on Earth for a million years.  The inventor notices something that the professor didn’t: that a part of the machine is broadcasting the data into space.  The inventor surmises that an alien intelligence has been monitoring Earth so that, if Earthlings were to even invent a hydrogen bomb, they would know we’re a threat and would attack.  The jury does not believe the inventor’s tale, but almost immediately after they announce their guilty verdict, Earth is attacked by the alien intelligence.
22"Blunder"Teleplay by: Charles O'Neill
From an original play by: Philip Wylie
August 10, 1951 (1951-08-10)Exists
A nuclear engineer in a remote area is about to begin operation of an experimental nuclear reactor involving bismuth which he has learned from a scientific journal that new research shows is fissile under certain conditions.  Because of heavy censorship in such information he is not aware of the full article in the journal which warns against using the type of reactor he is about to put up and running as it will literally destroy the Earth.  He stubbornly refuses to speak to who he assumes are small minded people who are trying to plead him not to put his reactor online, and now they are in a desperate race to get to him in his remote location and stop him before he blows up the Earth.  They fail to reach him in time.
33"A Child Is Crying"Story by: John MacDonald
Teleplay by: Alvin Sapinsley
August 17, 1951 (1951-08-17)Exists
A young girl whose intelligence is beyond measure is recruited by the U. S. military to aid in the development of a bomb whose destructive force dwarfs that of the hydrogen bomb—which she does.  It is soon revealed that her mental acuity is so pronounced that she can control other people’s actions through telepathic “suggestion” and see patterns in apparently-random phenomena sufficient to determine the future.  The military wants to harness this ability to foretell attacks against the U. S., and while she confirms that an attack is imminent, she refuses to say who will attack because she knows that the U. S.’s response would be to engage in a preëmptive attack, which would merely result in a responsive attack and escalation.  The girl reveals that there are only twenty people worldwide with her degree of intelligence, and that, after the coming world war, only 150 million will survive, including all twenty of the savants, who will then go about rebuilding the world.  Because the military is unable to get her to reveal the date of the attack if the identity of the attacker, they resort to injecting her with a truth serum.  The one scientist in the party refuses to apply the injection, not only because he respects her autonomy, but because it could have deleterious effects on her intelligence.  The military proceeds with the injection despite his objections.  Under the influence, she reveals a small range of dates on which the attack might occur, and that she was the only person in the room who would survive, but nothing more.&nbdp; After a couple of minutes, who intelligence rapidly declines to the level of an average girl her age; she no longer has the knowledge the military seeks, and won’t regain it in time for the military to be able to exploit her.  For now, she is a normal, scared child; she cries and begs for her mom.
44"The Woman at Land's End"UnknownAugust 24, 1951 (1951-08-24)Missing
55"The Last Man on Earth"Fredric BrownAugust 31, 1951 (1951-08-31)Missing
66"Errand Boy"William TennSeptember 7, 1951 (1951-09-07)Missing
77"The Monsters"Robert SheckleySeptember 14, 1951 (1951-09-14)Missing
88"The Dark Angel"Story by: Lewis Padgett
Teleplay by: Alvin Sapinsley
September 28, 1951 (1951-09-28)Exists
Tim Hathaway is explaining to a man why he shot his wife.  It all started five years earlier.  Joanne Hathaway broke her rib, as confirmed by her X-ray scan.  Two days later, her new X-ray scan confirmed that her ribs were fully healed with no sign of fracture.  Alarmed, her doctor compares her then-current X-ray scans to those from two years prior, and discovered that her heart had grown smaller and that her appendix had disappeared—despite the last of an appendectomy; he confided his findings in her husband.  When Tim approached his wife regarding the findings, she explained that she was changing, becoming much more intelligent, and had even gained telekinetic abilities.  She explained that she would soon outgrow him, and that it would be best if she left him before things changed more.  He did not see his wife again for a year, when he discovered that she was working at a lab in Berkley, where she had developed a new scientific process.  At first, she tells him she will not return to him, but later relents and says she will get her coat.  She enters a closet; a minute later, Tim looks in the closet but Joanne is not there.  He does not see her again until this night at a bar.  She says she does not love him and that she will soon be a ruler.  The bartender overhears her, so she kills him with her mind.  Tim realizes that she is no longer human and no longer has any compassion for humans, which is why—as he explains to the man—he had to shoot her.  The man then reveals that she is not dead, that she cannot die, that he is the man for whom she was waiting in the bar, that he is like her, and that they will rule together; he then kills Tim with his mind.
99"The Crystal Egg"Story by: H.G. Wells
Teleplay by: Mel Goldberg
October 12, 1951 (1951-10-12)Exists
A man enters a shop and asks to purchase a crystal egg.  Charles Cave, the shopkeeper, sees how desperately the man wishes to buy the egg and tells him it will be £5.00.  The man doesn’t have that much on him and says he will return with the remainder. Cave, wondering why someone would pay so much for a crystal egg, takes it to Professor Frederick Vaneck to find out whether there is anything special about it.  The egg really catches Vaneck’s attention when it starts blowing.  Vaneck studies it all night, discovering that it contains the landscape of Mars within it, and even a Martian lifeform.  Cave returns and takes the egg before Vaneck can appeal to him otherwise.  Before Vaneck sees Cave again, Cave is murdered in an alleyway; there is no mention by the police of the egg being found with the body.  No one believes Vaneck about the egg, yet he remains convinced that Martians use it to vigilantly watch Earth.  As he records on vinyl a plea for people to find the crystal egg before it is too late, he is shot, and someone (or something) breaks the vinyl record into pieces.
1010"Test Flight"Story by: Nelson Bond
Teleplay by: Mel Goldberg
October 26, 1951 (1951-10-26)Exists
A rich tycoon sinks millions of dollars into a project to build a manned interplanetary spaceship.  He wants to be the first man in space!  One problem: an engine has never been designed powerful enough to get a ship into space.  So, he offers a handsome reward to anyone who can design such an engine.  One man does; his engine works by means of magnetism.  He isn’t all too interested in the money, however; his primary interest is that he be on the flight; the tycoon agrees.  Months go by, and the tycoon—and his company’s shareholders—grow restless.  On the day the spaceship is to take off, a representative of the shareholders—believing the ship will not work—demands that the tycoon stop the project; the tycoon refuses, and boards the ship with the engineer.  After the ship makes it into space, the tycoon tells the engineer to return to Earth; they had proved that the ship works, and would be sure to visit Mars in the near future.  The engineer says that they are going to Mars now, and that there is no way for the tycoon to stop the trip.  The engineer didn’t care that they would both be rich and famous-his only concern was getting home to Mars.
1111"The Search for the Flying Saucer"Mel GoldbergNovember 9, 1951 (1951-11-09)Exists
Vic is a Lieutenant in the Air Corps who has been grounded for reporting sightings of flying saucers.  Posing as a reporter, he’s come to an American town called Las Palmas, from whence many reports of flying saucers have come.  Everyone refuses to talk to him about them, though—everyone save for “Crazy John,” who says he knows where the saucers land and the cave in which they are hidden; he says that the people who know about the saucers are, one by one, being mysteriously killed.  Ginny, who’s running the inn at which Vic and “Crazy John” are both staying, says that all of the stories of flying saucers coming out of Las Palmas have the same source (“Crazy John”).  Ginny and Vic quickly fall in love with one another, despite having known each other for an extremely short time.  Ginny tries unsuccessfully to convince Vic not to go to the caves with “Crazy John.”  After Vic leaves, Ginny talks with a man about how they should never have come to this planet, that people like Vic would keep coming, keep searching relentlessly for the truth; she says that they can’t kill Vic like the others because, then, the military would come to investigate.  The man tells her that they have to leave in a half hour.  Privately, Ginny cries, saying to herself that she didn’t come to this planet to fall in love, and now she has to leave her love behind.
1212"Enemy Unknown"Theodore SturgeonNovember 23, 1951 (1951-11-23)Missing
1313"Sneak Attack"Story by: Russell V. Ritchey
Teleplay by: Mel Goldberg
December 7, 1951 (1951-12-07)Exists
1414"The Invader"Robert Foshko & Mort ZarcoffDecember 21, 1951 (1951-12-21)Exists
1515"The Dune Roller"Story by: Julian C. May
Teleplay by: Charles O'Neill
January 4, 1952 (1952-01-04)Exists
1616"Frankenstein"Mary ShelleyJanuary 18, 1952 (1952-01-18)Exists, no closing credits
1717"20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: The Chase"Jules VerneJanuary 25, 1952 (1952-01-25)Missing
1818"20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: The Escape"Jules VerneFebruary 1, 1952 (1952-02-01)Exists, no closing credits
1919"What You Need"Henry KuttnerFebruary 8, 1952 (1952-02-08)Exists, no closing credits
2020"Age of Peril"Story by: Fredric Brown
Teleplay by: A.J. Russell
February 15, 1952 (1952-02-15)Exists
2121"Memento"UnknownFebruary 22, 1952 (1952-02-22)Missing
2222"The Children's Room"Story by: Raymond F. Jones
Teleplay by: Mel Goldberg
February 29, 1952 (1952-02-29)Exists
2323"Bound Together"Mel GoldbergMarch 7, 1952 (1952-03-07)Missing
2424"Diamond Lens"UnknownMarch 14, 1952 (1952-03-14)Exists, no closing credits
2525"The Fisherman's Wife"UnknownMarch 21, 1952 (1952-03-21)Missing
2626"Flight Overdue"David Davidson
From an original idea by: Jim Lister
March 28, 1952 (1952-03-28)Exists
2727"And a Little Child"UnknownApril 4, 1952 (1952-04-04)Missing
2828"Sleep No More" Mann Rubin April 11, 1952 (1952-04-11)Missing
2929"Time to Go" Mann Rubin April 18, 1952 (1952-04-18)Exists
3030"Plague from Space" Mann Rubin April 25, 1952 (1952-04-25)Exists, no closing credits
3131"Red Dust"Teleplay by: Irving Elman
Adapted from a play by: Theodore Cogswell
May 2, 1952 (1952-05-02)Exists
3232"The Golden Ingot"UnknownMay 9, 1952 (1952-05-09)Exists, no closing credits
3333"The Black Planet" Mann Rubin May 16, 1952 (1952-05-16)Exists, no closing credits
3434"World of Water"Story by: M.J. Gorley & James V. McGlinchey
Teleplay by: Mann Rubin
May 23, 1952 (1952-05-23)Exists
3535"The Little Black Bag" C.M. Kornbluth
Additional dialogue: Mann Rubin
May 30, 1952 (1952-05-30)Exists
3636"The Exile"UnknownJune 6, 1952 (1952-06-06)Missing
3737"All the Time in the World"Arthur C ClarkeJune 13, 1952 (1952-06-13)Exists, no closing credits
An unscrupulous P.I. is given an assignment to rob an art gallery, using a device that will stop time. With Don Hanmer, Esther Ralston, and Jack Warden.
3838"The Miraculous Serum"Story by: Stanley G. Weinbaum
Teleplay by: Theodore Sturgeon
June 20, 1952 (1952-06-20)Exists
A serum which can cure animals of any disease is tried on a human subject. With Lola Albright.
3939"Appointment on Mars" S.A. Lombino June 27, 1952 (1952-06-27)Exists
A mission to Mars finds valuable minerals, but one of the astronauts becomes increasingly paranoid. With Leslie Nielsen.
4040"The Duplicates"Richard M. Simon
Additional dialogue: Mann Rubin
July 4, 1952 (1952-07-04)Exists
A parallel world populated by duplicates of humanity is discovered, and one man is tasked with killing his duplicate to save both worlds. With Darren McGavin.
4141"Ahead of His Time" Paul Tripp July 18, 1952 (1952-07-18)Exists
In the year 2052, a scientist tries to send a message 100 years into the past to prevent the eventual destruction of mankind. Paul Tripp, who wrote the episode, also stars.
4242"Sudden Darkness"UnknownAugust 1, 1952 (1952-08-01)Missing
4343"Ice from Space"E.H. FrankAugust 8, 1952 (1952-08-08)Exists
A block of ice retrieved from outer space seems to freeze everything it contacts. With Paul Newman in a supporting role.

Season 2 (1952–53)

No.
overall
No. in
season
TitleWritten byOriginal release dateEpisode status
441"A Bird in Hand"UnknownAugust 22, 1952 (1952-08-22)
452"Thanks"UnknownAugust 29, 1952 (1952-08-29)
463"Seeing-Eye Surgeon"Michael BlairSeptember 5, 1952 (1952-09-05)
A surgeon is given a very special pair of glasses. With Bruce Cabot.
474"The Cocoon"UnknownSeptember 12, 1952 (1952-09-12)
485"The Chase"UnknownSeptember 19, 1952 (1952-09-19)
496"Youth on Tap"Lona Kenney
Additional dialogue by: Mann Rubin
September 26, 1952 (1952-09-26)
A young man in financial difficulty is offered $1000 for a pint of his blood -- but there's a catch. With Robert Alda and Harry Townes.
507"Substance X" Frank De Felitta October 3, 1952 (1952-10-03)
A woman is dispatched to figure out how a small, isolated southern town is surviving after their only sources of food are cut off. With Vicki Cummings and Will Kuluva.
518"The Horn"Alan NelsonOctober 10, 1952 (1952-10-10)
An inventor develops a musical instrument that can convey -- and dictate -- human emotions. With Franchot Tone and Stephen Elliott.
529"Double Trouble"UnknownOctober 17, 1952 (1952-10-17)
5310"Many Happy Returns"Story by: Raymond Z. Gallun
Teleplay by: David Karp
October 24, 1952 (1952-10-24)
A father discovers his young son seems to be under the influence of a man from the Moon. With Gene Raymond.
5411"The Tomb of King Tarus"UnknownOctober 31, 1952 (1952-10-31)
5512"The Window (aka The Lost Planet)" Frank De Felitta November 7, 1952 (1952-11-07)
In this unusual meta-episode, a science fiction melodrama ("The Lost Planet") is interrupted by an unauthorized transmission of a peculiar drama called "The Window", and the real-life crew of Tales of Tomorrow try to figure out what's happening. With Rod Steiger.
5613"The Camera"UnknownNovember 14, 1952 (1952-11-14)
5714"The Quiet Lady"UnknownNovember 21, 1952 (1952-11-21)
5815"The Invigorating Air"UnknownNovember 28, 1952 (1952-11-28)
5916"The Glacier Giant"UnknownDecember 5, 1952 (1952-12-05)
6017"The Fatal Flower"UnknownDecember 12, 1952 (1952-12-12)
6118"The Machine"UnknownDecember 19, 1952 (1952-12-19)
6219"The Bitter Storm"Armand AulicinoDecember 26, 1952 (1952-12-26)
A scientist invents a machine that can retrieve sounds from the past. With Arnold Moss, and -- in her first credited role -- Joanne Woodward.
6320"The Mask of Medusa"UnknownJanuary 2, 1953 (1953-01-02)
6421"Conqueror's Isle"UnknownJanuary 9, 1953 (1953-01-09)
6522"Discovered Heart"UnknownJanuary 16, 1953 (1953-01-16)
6623"The Picture of Dorian Gray"UnknownJanuary 23, 1953 (1953-01-23)
6724"Two Faced"UnknownJanuary 30, 1953 (1953-01-30)
6825"The Build Box"UnknownFebruary 6, 1953 (1953-02-06)
6926"Another Chance"Frank De FelittaFebruary 13, 1953 (1953-02-13)
A thief is given a chance to go back seven years and correct his mistakes, but it is harder than it seems. With Leslie Nielsen.
7027"The Great Silence"Frank De FelittaFebruary 20, 1953 (1953-02-20)
A disease that paralyzes people's vocal cords is spreading rapidly. With Burgess Meredith.
7128"Lonesome Village"UnknownFebruary 27, 1953 (1953-02-27)
7229"The Fury of the Cocoon"Frank De FelittaMarch 6, 1953 (1953-03-06)
A scientific expedition discovers a giant cocoon at the remote site of a meteorite crash. With Nancy Coleman and Peter Capell.
7330"The Squeeze Play"UnknownMarch 13, 1953 (1953-03-13)
7431"Read to Me Herr Doktor"Alvin SapinsleyMarch 20, 1953 (1953-03-20)
A professor with failing eyesight invents a robot to read books to him, to the concern of his daughter. With Everett Sloane and Mercedes McCambridge.
7532"Ghost Writer"Mann RubinMarch 27, 1953 (1953-03-27)
A writer is hired to complete horrific tales which then seem to come true. With Leslie Nielsen and Murray Matheson.
7633"Past Tense"Jack Weinstock & Willie Gilbert
Based on an idea by: Robert F. Levine
April 3, 1953 (1953-04-03)
A doctor uses a time machine to bring penicillin to the people of 1923, but finds it difficult to convince anyone of the drug's efficacy. With Boris Karloff and Robert F. Simon.
7734"Homecoming"Mann RubinApril 10, 1953 (1953-04-10)
An Air Force pilot can live only in sub-zero temperatures. With Brian Keith.
7835"The Rivals"UnknownApril 17, 1953 (1953-04-17)
7936"Please Omit Flowers"UnknownApril 24, 1953 (1953-04-24)
8037"The Evil Within" Manya Starr May 1, 1953 (1953-05-01)
A scientist's wife inadvertently drinks a serum designed to bring out evil. With Margaret Phillips, Rod Steiger, and James Dean.
8138"The Vault"UnknownMay 8, 1953 (1953-05-08)
8239"Ink"UnknownMay 15, 1953 (1953-05-15)
8340"The Spider's Web"Frank De FelittaMay 22, 1953 (1953-05-22)
Castaways find themselves on an island inhabited by strange radiation-affected creatures.
8441"Lazarus Walks"UnknownMay 29, 1953 (1953-05-29)
A dead man comes back to life with the ability to detect lies. With Olive Deering and Joseph Wiseman.
8542"What Dreams May Come"UnknownJune 12, 1953 (1953-06-12)

Radio series

While the television series was still being produced in 1953, ABC ran a radio show of the same name from January 1 to April 9, 1953. [6] The radio series differed from the television series in that its scripts were adapted from stories appearing in Galaxy Science Fiction . [7] Another radio series, Dimension X , had had a similar relationship with Astounding Science Fiction magazine.

The radio series was not successful. After only a few episodes, on February 26 it moved to CBS for the remainder of its 15-episode run. [8] The TV version was canceled shortly afterward (the last episode was shown on June 12, 1953). A few years after its cancellation, the radio series X Minus One (a 1955 revival of Dimension X) debuted, again adapting stories published in Galaxy. Four of the fifteen Tales of Tomorrow stories were later adapted for X Minus One. These were "The Stars Are the Styx", "The Moon Is Green", "The Girls from Earth", and "The Old Die Rich". [8] [9]

Surviving episodes

Most of the television episodes are in the United States public domain. [10] [ unreliable source? ] Additionally, five of the surviving radio series episodes are now in the public domain in the United States and available for free download at Internet Archive. It was broadcast live and so the TV episodes were captured on kinescope. Of the 85 TOT episodes produced, around 40 have been released on various DVD sets, along with another handful on VHS, which for years was the only place to find “A Child Is Crying”, one of the most memorable episodes of the series [11]

See also

References

  1. If v1#1 p. 151
  2. The Heinlein Archives Archived September 24, 2015, at the Wayback Machine , website;
  3. Arthur C. Clarke, "The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke", Preface to 'All the Time in the World' ISBN   0-575-07065-X.
  4. The Billboard (magazine), May 19, 1951, page 11
  5. The Billboard (magazine), August 18, 1951, page 9
  6. Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Revised ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 653. ISBN   978-0-19-507678-3 . Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  7. Science Fiction Television. By M. Keith Booker, page 5, ISBN   0-275-98164-9
  8. 1 2 Tales of Tomorrow Radio: Details; Production information and review sources on the radio series Tales of Tomorrow.
  9. Full listing of all "X Minus One" episodes; at Internet Archive.
  10. "tales of Tomorrow TV". November 16, 2012. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
  11. Tales Of Tomorrow: The Inside Story on TV's 1st Sci-Fi Anthology, website;