# "Tales of Tomorrow" (1951-1953)



## Victoria Silverwolf (Nov 24, 2015)

I've just found several episodes of the very old science fiction television series Tales of Tomorrow on the Internet Archive.

"Verdict From Space," the premiere episode, was adapted by Theodore Sturgeon from his own short story "The Sky Was Full of Ships" (_Thrilling Wonder Stories_, June 1947.) The television version follows the story fairly closely. A guy who has invented a sort of super blow-torch is contacted by an archaeologist who wants him to burn through an otherwise impenetrable cave wall to get at an ancient machine that has been recording all activities on Earth for a million years or so. (The cave had been opened up by an earthquake just long enough for the scientist to examine the gizmo, but then it sealed itself up.) The archaeologist dies during the investigation, and the inventor is put on trial for murder, his unbelievable story his only alibi. The ending reminds us that you should let sleeping dogs lie.

The original story:

https://www.unz.org/Pub/ThrillingWonder-1947jun

(You have to click on the title of Sturgeon's story, then click on "A Hitch in Time" and go to the end of page 65 to get the last few paragraphs of it.)

The adaptation:

https://archive.org/details/Tales_Of_Tomorrow_-_Verdict_From_Space

For the really primitive days of television, it's not too bad. It's all live, so the sets and special effects are quite limited. It's somewhat overacted. But I was impressed by the fairly smooth transition from the opening scenes of the murder trial to the flashback in the cave. Despite its limitations, the story is interesting enough to make this worth watching.


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## Droflet (Nov 24, 2015)

The great Theodore Sturgeon? I'm there. Ta, Victoria.


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Nov 25, 2015)

"Blunder" is based on a story by Philip Wylie that appeared in Collier's (January 12, 1946):

https://www.unz.org/Pub/Colliers-1946jan12

(This is even trickier to read than the last one. You have to click on "Blunder" to get the first couple of pages, then use the "PDF Size" menu to select "full screen" to make it large enough to read, unless your eyes are a lot better than mine are. Then you have to arrow back, select "The Size of Stettinus," once again select "full screen," then go down to pages 63 and 64 to get the end of the story.)

Here's the adaptation:

https://archive.org/details/TalesOfTomorrowBlunder1951

The written version deals with a couple of scientists way up in the Arctic who plan to set off controlled bismuth fission as a source of energy. They perform their experiment deep underground, in an isolated area, in case anything goes wrong. The story shifts point of view to several places around the world, as other scientists realize that the two experimenters have failed to take new information, recently published in a journal, into consideration. Things don't go well. The story is primarily an indictment of keeping scientific knowledge secret for security reasons.

The television version changes the two scientists to one, who has his wife along with him. From the start he admits that there's a small chance that things could go wrong, but he feels the prospect of providing a source of cheap energy for centuries to come is worth the risk. Once again the fact that the experimenter is not away of new information recently published comes into play. As you'd expect, things don't go well. The TV version adds a prologue and an epilogue set in a planetarium to provide ironic commentary.

Wylie's story isn't exactly subtle, and the adaptation really hits the viewer over the head with the danger, so there are no big surprises in store. Use of stock footage at the end is much less effective than Wylie's vivid description of what happens. However, the story is rather distant, and the adaptation adds some emotion, even if it's generally overacted.


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Nov 26, 2015)

"A Child is Crying" is based on a story by the great suspense writer John D. MacDonald which first appeared in _Thrilling Wonder Stories_ (December 1948). I don't have a direct link to the text of the story, but you can listen to Michael Hanson, host of the radio series "Mindwebs," read it here:

https://archive.org/details/MindwebsAChildIsCryingByJohnT.McDonald

(Apparently "Mindwebs" just consisted of the host reading a science fiction story with music added in the background, so I think the text has not been changed.)

A detailed discussion of the story and its television adaptation by a MacDonald fan here:

http://thetrapofsolidgold.blogspot.com/2009/11/child-is-crying.html

Anyway, the only major change is that the story is about a little boy and the TV version is about a little girl. In both cases, the child is super-intelligent, and is even able to predict future events. Of course, that means the government has to get involved, particularly when the child announces that an atomic attack will occur in the near future.

The little girl is played quite well by Robin Morgan, who eventually left acting to become a well-known feminist activist.

https://archive.org/details/TalesOfTomorrow-AChildIsCrying_607


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Nov 28, 2015)

From this point on there are several episodes to which I do not have access.  The next one I can watch is:

"The Dark Angel" is adapted from the story of the same name by "Lewis Padgett" (Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore) from _Startling Stories_, March 1946.  I had already reviewed this in the short story thread.



> A man learns that his wife is a superhuman mutant, growing from her "child" state to the full, almost unimaginably powerful "adult" stage. Interesting, with a twist at the end.



It can be read here (although credit is given to Kuttner only):

http://www.fadedpage.com/books/20130318/20130318.html

The adaptation follows the story pretty closely.  (The first few minutes seem to be missing.)

https://archive.org/details/Tales_Of_Tomorrow_-_The_Dark_Angel


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## BAYLOR (Nov 29, 2015)

The series was a precursor to the Twilight Zone. I think I've seen one episode of it.


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## Foxbat (Nov 29, 2015)

I have season one on DVD. A most interesting series


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Dec 3, 2015)

"The Crystal Egg" is based on the story of the same title by H. G. Wells.

The Crystal Egg by H.G. Wells

The adaptation is only moderately faithful to the story, adding a more melodramatic ending.

Tales of Tomorrow #9: The Crystal Egg : George E. Foley : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive

Both deal with device found in a shop which supplies a view of the planet Mars. Wells gives the reader a detailed, exotic description. The television show, unfortunately, shows only a cheap painting (with a ringed planet looming large in the sky, unlike anything you'd see from Mars) and a laughably silly one-eyed puppet as a Martian. Not showing the Martian landscape would make this a better episode.


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## BAYLOR (Dec 3, 2015)

Victoria Silverwolf said:


> "The Crystal Egg" is based on the story of the same title by H. G. Wells.
> 
> The Crystal Egg by H.G. Wells
> 
> ...




They made a lot of those early science fiction shows as cheaply as possible.


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Dec 4, 2015)

"Test Flight" is based on the story "Vital Factor" by Nelson Bond, which appeared in the August 1951 issue of _Esquire_.  I'll attach the text of this brief tale (along with some test questions from some class or other.)

The adaptation is here:

Test Flight : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive

It follows the plot of the story quite closely. A multi-millionaire is obsessed with becoming the first man to conquer space, so he spends huge amounts of money having a spaceship constructed. A fellow shows up who offers to build an engine making use of "counter gravity." There's a twist at the end.

This episode is notable for having a big star in the person of Lee J. Cobb. He muffs his lines at the start (this is all done live, remember) but recovers nicely. Stock footage takes the place of special effects, except at the very end, where it's not particularly good. But the story is interesting enough.


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Dec 4, 2015)

double post -- ignore


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## BAYLOR (Dec 4, 2015)

Victoria Silverwolf said:


> "Test Flight" is based on the story "Vital Factor" by Nelson Bond, which appeared in the August 1951 issue of _Esquire_.  I'll attach the text of this brief tale (along with some test questions from some class or other.)
> 
> The adaptation is here:
> 
> ...




Thats's the episode  I saw that , It co starred Harry Townes .  It was pretty good.


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Dec 5, 2015)

"The Search for the Flying Saucer" is not based on any printed story, as far as I can tell. That probably explains why it's pretty simple, and not very good.

An Air Force officer, who was discharged for seeing UFO's, comes to a small New Mexico town to investigate reports of flying saucers. He encounters a typical eccentric old character who seems to know something about the saucers, and a young woman with whom he has a whirlwind romance. Not much happens, and then there's an unsurprising twist.

The Search For The Flying Saucer : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Dec 5, 2015)

"Sneak Attack" was first broadcast on the tenth anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, and its intentions as Cold War propaganda are clear. It's credited to a story by Russell V. Ritchey, but I can find nothing about the original. I was able to find out that Russell V. Ritchey (unless there was somebody with the same name) was an colonel in the United States Air Force, and was the founder of the USAF's Squadron Officer School.

In any case, "Sneak Attack," set in the future year of 1960, starts off with an American in a hospital somewhere behind the Iron Curtain. There's an intriguing bit where the doctor treating him for the gunshot wounds he received while sneaking over the border thinks he actually a agent of her own nation, pretending to be an American agent. Nothing comes of this, however; he's really an American spy.

Meanwhile, unmanned planes (an interesting prediction of drones, played here by stock footage and a child's toy plane) have landed in twenty-five major American cities. One of them blows up, destroying the city of Denver. The US is given an ultimatum; surrender to its unnamed enemy (let's face it; from the accents, it's clear we're talking about the USSR) or face the complete destruction of the other twenty-four cities.

Back in the hospital, our hero, with the help of the doctor, who doesn't approve of her nation's actions, does some low budget James Bond stuff (he even gets a kiss from the pretty doctor) and blows up the gizmo that controls the drones.

It's not great entertainment, but an interesting time capsule.

Sneak Attack : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Dec 6, 2015)

"The Invader" seems to be another original story, not based on a printed source. It's certainly better than "The Search for the Flying Saucer."

A rather cold scientist and his gentle, sensitive son (who would rather be a writer), along with the son's intended (Eva Gabor, of all people, but playing against type, with very little of the glamour girl about her) are on a ship doing some kind of research. A brightly glowing object falls into the sea near them. The ship's diver refuses to go down to investigate, and the scientist is too old, so the son reluctantly agrees to do it. (Nobody suggests that Gabor put on the diving suit, although she seems to be more of a competent scientist than her husband-to-be.) He comes back _different _. . .

This episode would seem to be "influenced" by *The Thing From Another World*, released earlier the same year.


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Dec 8, 2015)

"The Dune Roller" is based on the novelette "Dune Roller" (_Astounding_, December 1951) by Julian May, still in her teens when she sold it, under the name "J. C. May." She published one other story in 1953, then left the field to do tons of non-fiction until she started publishing novels in 1981. I don't have a link to the text, but it's been reprinted many times and is considered something of a classic. Not bad for your first sale! Here are some of the author's own illustrations for the story, which also appeared in _Astounding_ on first publication.


Dune Roller by Julian May : SFFaudio

The TV version isn't bad. It takes place on an island in Lake Michigan. We begin with a local character telling a little girl a tall tale about the "dune roller," a mythical creature something like a giant hoop snake that rolls after its victims and burns them up. Pretty soon we meet a biologist who is interested in some odd rocks on the island. We find out that these weird minerals give off heat at times, and seem to want to join together to form bigger pieces, and even move on their own . . .

This is a fairly effective little thriller, with an unusual "monster." Given the very limited resources of the folks making this thing, it was a good idea to avoid showing the "dune roller," and instead just making use of bright lights on the actors' faces. The only special effect shows up at the very end, and it's not too bad.

Tales of Tomorrow #15: The Dune Roller : George F. Foley : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive

"Dune Roller" was also adapted into the 1971 movie The Cremators. By all accounts, it is very bad. Here's a trailer for it.

The Cremators - trailer : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Dec 9, 2015)

"Frankenstein" is, of course, an extremely loose, extremely simple version of the Mary Shelley classic. Heavily annotated version here:

Frankenstein - BookDoors - Ebook Annotations Platform

The adaptation boils this down to the basics: Frankenstein creates the creature, it goes on a rampage, it gets destroyed. The creature is played by Lon Chaney, Jr., a role he had previously taken on in *The Ghost of Frankenstein* (1942). His appearance here is not at all like the Karloff/Universal version; instead it's a pretty decent makeup job, resulting in a bald head covered with scars. 

The story goes that Chaney thought this live broadcast was a rehearsal, so he puts down a chair that he was supposed to smash. You can't really tell, because he plays the creature as innocent and confused as much as angry. It's actually a good mute acting job.

Tales of Tomorrow #16: Frankenstein : George E. Foley : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Dec 9, 2015)

"What You Need" is based on the story of the same name by "Lewis Padgett" (Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore) which appeared in Astounding, October 1945.

http://www.sleepingdogstudios.com/Network/Network_2013_14/What_you_need_story.pdf

Original illustrations:

What You Need by Lewis Padgett (aka Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore) : SFFaudio

This story was also adapted as a memorable episode of _The Twilight Zone_. Both versions are are pretty faithful to the story, since it has such a strong plot. It's a classic "weird little shop" tale, about a fellow who seems to always have exactly what you need. The main difference is that _Tales of Tomorrow_ retains the rather implausible future calculating gizmo from the story while _The Twilight Zone_ eliminates this and treats the story as pure fantasy. The _Tales of Tomorrow_ version is pretty good, if not as good as _The Twilight Zone_.

Tales Of Tomorrow What You Need : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Dec 9, 2015)

"Age of Peril" is loosely based on "Crisis, 1999" by Fredric Brown (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, August 1949.) I don't have the text, but here's a detailed description of the story and its adaptation:

bare•bones e-zine: Fredric Brown on TV Part Six – Tales of Tomorrow: Age of Peril

The gimmick is a perfect lie detector. So perfect, in fact, that if the suspect passes the lie detector test, not even photographic evidence of the crime is enough to convict. If you can swallow this implausibility, then you might get something out of this story of a criminal who is caught at the scene of the crime, but is able to deny any culpability when hooked up to the device. The final twist implies a completely different kind of society, but it's hard to believe the premise.

Age Of Peril : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Dec 9, 2015)

"The Children's Room" is based on the story of the same name by Raymond F. Jones, which appeared in _Fantastic Adventures_, September 1947.

"The Children's Room" by Raymond F. Jones, Fantastic Adventures, September 1947 - UNZ.org

Both it and the adaptation start off with a super-intelligent boy who can read books in an unknown language; books he gets from the "children's room" of a library which doesn't have such a room . . .

The adaptation is actually darker in tone, particularly towards the end. It's not bad at all, and boils down the rather talky novelette to its basics.

The Childrens Room : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive


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## Cat's Cradle (Dec 10, 2015)

Thank you for the starting the thread, Victoria! It's inspired me to finally begin watching the series; I'd heard of this one since I was a child, but they were never shown as late-night re-runs in my era, as Twilight Zone was, and has been.
There are so many wonderful things about the series; it's amazing to see modern science fiction presented for the masses, at a time when it wasn't accessible to many beyond young adults with their magazines, and adolescents with their comic books (I'm not talking about Wells and Verne and older SF, but the more modern writers who came out of the pulps, or were inspired by them, in the 1920s and 1930s). Wasn't the first SF story-compilation book only published in 1949 or so? And the first novel in book form in the early 50s? And Tales of Tomorrow started in 1951. This show must have confused the heck out of many parents, whose enthusiastic children forced them to watch (the host seems bemused, often, by the descriptions of the stories he gives out at the beginning of each episode).
And it's wonderful to see so many familiar actors...many of them are character actors I'd never be able to name, but these are hired as the leads in the series (must have been what the show could afford), and it's such a nostalgic rush to see these very familiar faces in starring roles.
The special effects are charming, both for the Flash Gordon-like feel to so many of them, but also it's very nice to see how hard the effects department worked to try to make interesting sets and sci-fi hardware, on what must have been the very definition of a shoestring budget. And sometimes the effects were remarkably effective; in The Children's Room, there is a scene where the male lead is looking for the room in the library where his son gets his mysterious books; he is standing, bemused, in front of a marble wall, and suddenly the wall dissolves and is replaced by a doorway into the children's room. It's all done with light, and mesh surfaces, I believe, but it really startled me the first time the dissolve occurred..it seemed very real, and exciting.
I'm watching these on YouTube, and one of my favorites things about the watching the episodes there is that they include the original commercials that were aired along with the shows. I wish I could buy just about everything they advertised back then! (I love old adverts.)
Well, I've gone on long enough. I'll mention that virtually everything about the series now seems remarkably dated (and the stories seem not very sophisticated), but they must have been groundbreaking at the time, and the datedness of the episodes and their presentation really is what makes them so charming.  I love this series.


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Dec 10, 2015)

Thanks for the comments.  I might mention that a very young Adrienne Corri (of *A Clockwork Orange* fame) appears in some of the commercials.

"Flight Overdue" is another original story. Veronica Lake (with short dark hair instead of her famous golden peek-a-boo tresses) stars as a famous aviatrix who disappeared four years before our story begins. (The resemblance to the fate of Amelia Earhart seems intentional.) Her husband (and presumed widower) has remarried. The tale begins as strange, indecipherable radio signals are picked up from an unknown source. In flashback we learn that the aviatrix often left her husband alone to go off with some unknown older man for some mysterious purpose. Not until the very end do we find out what happened.

This is a so-so story, whose speculative content (only revealed at the end) will seem outdated to modern viewers. No special effects of any kind are required.

Flight Overdue : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Dec 11, 2015)

"Time to Go" is another original story. A woman gets an invitation to become a depositor at a most unusual bank. It doesn't accept money; instead it takes the time you save by being quick and efficient, and promises to give it back to you with interest, thus extending your life. Of course, it's a good idea to read the fine print . . .

This episode is similar to another "weird little shop" fantasy that you might see on _The Twilight Zone_. The science fiction element, completely unnecessary to the story, is that the time is being used by aliens a million light-years (!) from Earth. Ignore that, and you have a reasonably enjoyable little chiller with no special effects required.

Time to Go : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Dec 17, 2015)

"Plague From Space," according to IMDB, credits its story to Harry Guth.

Harry Guth - IMDb

I can't find anything about such an author, but there was a _Henry_ Guth who published a small number of stories in the SF pulps. 

Henry Guth - Summary Bibliography

If this is the right author, it seems possible, just from the title, that this episode is based on "Doom Ship," published in _Super Science Stories_, November 1950. I have no real evidence for this.

Publication Listing

In any case, this episode deals with the commander of an Air Force base, hitting the bottle hard, who deals with the arrival of a small spaceship. Aboard is a humanoid alien, seemingly deathly ill. The disease spreads to the inhabitants of the base, and the commander has to make a desperate decision.

This was an interesting episode, with an unexpected revelation about the nature of the alien, and a powerful conclusion.

Plague from Space : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Dec 17, 2015)

"Red Dust" is credited to a play by SF writer Theodore R. Cogswell. I don't have any other information about the play.

A starship is returning from Alpha Centauri, where the ruins of an advanced civilization were found. Two men, who had refused anti-radiation shots, died on the planet. The survivors find out that the red dust on the planet is actually made up of deadly living organisms, and only by continuing to receive anti-radiation shots will they survive for ten or fifteen years more, and no longer. They have to decide what to do as they approach Earth . . .

This episode is surprisingly similar to the previous one, with its biological menace and bleak conclusion.

Red Dust : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Dec 18, 2015)

"The Golden Ingot" is loosely based on the story of the same name by the Irish-American author Fitz James O'Brien, who was killed in the American Civil War.

Fitzjames O'Brien's short story: The Golden Ingot

Both versions deal with a fellow who claims to be able to transform base metals into gold. The television adaptation (by Max Ehrlich, known for "The Apple" episode of _Star Trek_, as well as the novel _The Reincarnation of Peter Proud_ and the screenplay for its film adaptation) not only changes the setting from 19th century New York City to 20th century Antwerp, it takes the story's twist ending and reveals it early, only to end with a completely different twist.

The Golden Ingot : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Dec 19, 2015)

"World of Water" seems to be another original story. It's credited to two people, and somebody else is credited with adapting it, but I can find no information about those two folks, so I assume they just wrote an outline for the television series.

In any case, this story involves a scientist who is emotionally unstable. (Understandably so; we find out that he spent from 1940 to 1945 in a concentration camp.) Things get worse when the sexy but vulgar young waitress he's mad about (familiar character actress Nita Talbot, stealing the show) turns down his absurd proposal of marriage. Then he gets another piece of bad news and finally cracks. That might not be so bad, if he hadn't discovered a substance that dissolves all solids . . .

This episode is notable for the fact that it's oddly open-ended. We never do find out if the mad scientist will be stopped or if the world is doomed.

World of Water : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Dec 19, 2015)

"The Little Black Bag" is based on the famous story of the same name by C. M. Kornbluth.

The Little Black Bag, by C. M. Kornbluth

It was later adapted into an episode of the British anthology series _Out of the Unknown_ (only part of which now exists) and as one segment of the American anthology series _Night Gallery_. All three adaptations seem to be only moderately faithful to the story. (I have not seen the incomplete British version, but research reveals it to be similar to the other two.) In particular, the central gimmick of the medical bag from the future is not given Kornbluth's cynical explanation for why it can work miracles almost by itself. In the future, persons of low intelligence have greatly outbred those with higher intelligence, so the few "smart" people have to create super-advanced gizmos that the others can use. In this future, a "doctor" is far less intelligent than the technician who creates his bag.

All versions of the story involve an alcoholic ex-doctor who finds the bag, accidentally sent back in time. All feature a greedy partner of the doctor. The British version is closest to the original, in the form of a selfish young woman. _Tales of Tomorrow_ changes this to the doctor's shrewish wife, and _Night Gallery_ made an even greater change, with the partner taking the form of a fellow male alcoholic. The British version and _Night Gallery_ keep the story's gruesome conclusion, while _Tales of Tomorrow_ tones this down a bit.

Little Black Bag : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive


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## BAYLOR (Dec 19, 2015)

Victoria Silverwolf said:


> "The Little Black Bag" is based on the famous story of the same name by C. M. Kornbluth.
> 
> The Little Black Bag, by C. M. Kornbluth
> 
> ...




There was a third adaptation of Little Black bag?  Wow ! , I didn't know that !


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Dec 20, 2015)

"All the Time in the World" was adapted by no less than Arthur C. Clarke from his story of the same name, which appeared in _Startling Stories_, July 1952. (In fact, given the nearly simultaneous appearance of the story and the television program, it's possible the story was adapted before it appeared in print, but I have no proof of this.)

"All the Time in the World" by Arthur C. Clarke, Startling Stories, July 1952 - UNZ.org

Obviously the adaptation is a close one, although the printed version is somewhat more complex. A mysterious woman visits a professional thief with an interesting proposition. She'll pay him a huge amount of money if he'll steal great art treasures from a museum. How to get past the tight security? Why, just use the special bracelet she gives him that speeds up time for him, so much so that everyone else seems frozen in place. Of course, there's a catch . . .

'Tales of Tomorrow' - All the time in the world (1952) : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive

This is a good episode, nicely acted and with a clever plot. It may remind you of the 1960's _Twilight Zone_ episode "A Kind of a Stopwatch" and of the 1980's _Twilight Zone_ episode "A Little Peace and Quiet."


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## dask (Dec 20, 2015)

Interesting issue of Startling Stories with letters from Jim Harmon and Richard E. Geis.


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Dec 22, 2015)

Those old pulps are nifty.

"The Miraculous Serum" is based on the story "The Adaptive Ultimate" by Stanley G. Weinbaum (Astounding November 1935)

The Adaptive Ultimate

Adapted (!) by no less than Theodore Sturgeon, it follows the original fairly closely. A brilliant young scientist creates a serum which allows organisms to adapt to any disease or injury. He convinces an older doctor to test it on a young woman who is at death's door. Not only does it cure her completely, she also "adapts" to society by becoming a total sociopath, bent on world domination.

'Tales of Tomorrow' Miraculous serum (1952) : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive

(If you go to this link, I suggest you click on "OGG VIDEO" to watch it. The main link has sound which is very badly out of sync with the image.)

The same story was adapted a few other times for radio and television, and even into a feature film.

She Devil (1957 film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Dec 23, 2015)

"Appointment on Mars" is credited to writer S. A. Lombino. This is of interest only because this is the name used by the famous novelist and crime writer Evan Hunter/Ed McBain for his earliest work. (His birth name was Salvatore Albert Lombino, but he later had it legally changed to Evan Hunter.) Is this episode possibly based on his own short story "Welcome, Martians!" which appeared in _If_, May 1952? I don't really know, but it seems possible.

Anyway, out story begins with three guys on Mars. This is a Mars which is less hostile to human life than, say, your average desert. No spacesuits needed, and they literally live in a tent and sleep on sleeping bags. Not to mention the fact that they carry pistols and smoke cigarettes.

These three overgrown Boy Scouts are on the red planet looking for minerals. They quickly find huge amounts of radioactive ore, and it looks like they'll be filthy rich. That's when the trouble starts . . .

Despite the laughably inadequate "Mars" seen in this episode, the story isn't bad. It may remind you of "The Monsters are Due on maple Street" from _The Twilight Zone_. Leslie Nielsen and Brian Keith (billed here as Robert Keith, Jr.) appear.

Appointment on Mars : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Dec 31, 2015)

"The Duplicates" is an original story, and a pretty silly one. Darren McGavin stars as an engineer who has been out of work for three months. He answers an ad for a mysterious job. It turns out the folks who placed the ad wanted him all the time; they even got him fired. They tell him that there's another planet that is exactly like their own. His job is to travel to the duplicate planet and poison his own double; for unclear reasons, this is necessary to save their world. The first twist in the story comes when we find out:



Spoiler



These folks are on Jupiter, and they're sending him to Earth.



That's about halfway through the story. If your credulity hasn't been strained enough, there's another twist at the end.

The actors do the best they can with a goofy plot. For some reason, McGavin's has to enter his house through a window instead of a door. In another set, there's a lamp (or something like one) hanging from the ceiling which is covered with newspaper. These two odd details, no doubt the result of last minute problems in the live production, make the whole thing even goofier.

The Duplicates : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Jan 2, 2016)

"Ahead of His Time" is another original story. The interesting thing is that the actor who plays the main part also wrote it. Notable is the fact that the protagonist directly addresses the audience. He's a pretty ordinary guy in 1952 who happens to have invented a time machine. Meanwhile (to use that word _very_ loosely), in the year 2052, Earth is pretty much a Utopia, with no war or poverty or disease. They do have one little problem, however. It seems that a scientific experiment that went wrong in 1952 caused a slow chain reaction that is going to make the planet too radioactive to support life. 

It's a fairly clever episode. The mandatory "twist" at the end is best described as "cute."


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Jan 3, 2016)

"Ice From Space" is another original story. The premise is interesting. An unmanned test rocket is sent into outer space, and lands with a block of ice inside it. Not just any block of ice; this one cools down the surrounding area, and soon the miles of desert wasteland surrounding the military base are transformed into _arctic_ wasteland . . .

Notable for featuring Paul Newman in his very first screen role.

Tales of Tomorrow - Ice from Space : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Jan 5, 2016)

"Seeing-Eye Surgeon" is another original story. A very important scientist needs difficult brain surgery. An odd fellow shows up and offers the surgeon a pair of glasses which allow him to detect healthy and diseased tissue. 

This is an interesting, if simple, episode with a rather open-ended, almost philosophical ending.

At the very end the host tells us that the series won the first television science fiction award from _Galaxy_ magazine, for the episodes "A Child is Crying" and "Ahead of His Time."

The Seeing Eye Surgeon : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Jan 5, 2016)

"Youth on Tap" (apparently also known as "Young Blood," also I have no direct evidence of that) is another original story. A trucker driver who is down on his luck -- somebody stole his truck! -- is offered one thousand dollars for a pint of his blood. Of course, there's a catch . . .

This is pretty basic Mad Scientist stuff. The Internet Archive copy is in very poor condition, visually.

Youth on Tap (aka: Young Blood) : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive


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## Cat's Cradle (Jan 5, 2016)

Enjoying this a great deal, Victoria!
I recently watched, on YouTube, the episode named 'The Window'. I'd read that many people consider this their favorite show of the series. I thought it was a very brave and daring effort for its day...even today (I'm reminded of the daringness of the Black Mirror TV series). The network, advertisers, actors...it's really original, and must have seemed ground-breaking in the newish world of television of 1952. (The dialogue is somewhat stilted, but that's true of most of the episodes, I think; perhaps in part because the shows were broadcast live?)
Hope to read your review of 'The Window' one day!


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Jan 6, 2016)

"The Horn" is an original story. An inventor creates a musical instrument (played here by an ordinary French horn) which can take the emotions of the one who plays it and create them in the mind of the listener. But if it falls into the wrong hands . . .

A good example of how the show made use of unusual themes that required no special effects.


The Horn : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive

"Many Happy Returns" (apparently also known as "Invaders at Ground Zero," although I have no direct evidence for this) is based on "Stepson of Space" by Raymond Z. Gallun (_Astonishing Stories_, October 1940.) (The IMDB states that it's based on a story by Frederik Pohl, which led me on a wild goose chase. Apparently this error comes about because Pohl was the editor of _Astonishing Stories_.  I have no link to the text.)

 A young boy gets messages inside his head from "Mister White," who tells him how to build a teleportation gizmo in his basement. It seems Mister White isn't up to any good . . .

A pretty decent paranoid suspense story, with quite good acting from the kid.

Many Happy Returns (aka: Invaders at Ground Zero) : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive

I notice above that I failed to give you a link to "Ahead of His Time."  Here it is.

Ahead of His Time : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Jan 15, 2016)

Cat's Cradle said:


> Enjoying this a great deal, Victoria!
> I recently watched, on YouTube, the episode named 'The Window'. I'd read that many people consider this their favorite show of the series. I thought it was a very brave and daring effort for its day...even today (I'm reminded of the daringness of the Black Mirror TV series). The network, advertisers, actors...it's really original, and must have seemed ground-breaking in the newish world of television of 1952. (The dialogue is somewhat stilted, but that's true of most of the episodes, I think; perhaps in part because the shows were broadcast live?)
> Hope to read your review of 'The Window' one day!



Your wish is my command.

"The Window" is an original story written by Frank De Felitta, later a best-selling author.

You'll be confused when this episode starts, since we're told the episode is actually "The Lost Planet." We get a few seconds of a typical premise for the series (scientist tells his daughter that Earth is doomed) when suddenly the show has technical difficulties and we see what seems to be three people in a small apartment. The crew members of _Tales of Tomorrow_ rush around the set trying to figure what's going on. Then things get more sinister . . .

This is an extremely clever episode which breaks the fourth wall in a way which must have seemed highly innovative at the time. The scenes in the apartment are played in a very realistic fashion, unlike the usual style of acting for the show. Highly recommended.

https://archive.org/details/TalesOfTomorrow-LostPlanet


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Jan 16, 2016)

"The Fatal Flower" is another original story from Frank De Felitta. The tension between a botanist and his assistant in the Amazonian jungle reaches the boiling point over a letter. The assistant, bored out of his mind, buys a letter addressed to the botanist for ten bucks. He refuses to let the botanist see it after the deal is made; after all, it's his property now. This trivial conflict leads to the final encounter.

I haven't mentioned the speculative content yet, because it's really irrelevant to the story. Given the title, and the fact that we see a giant carnivorous plant straight out of *The Little Shop of Horrors* a few minutes into the episode, and you can figure it out. This rather silly aspect of the story could have left out entirely, and we'd still have an _Alfred Hitchcock Presents_ kind of psychological suspense yarn.

The Fatal Flower : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Jan 16, 2016)

"The Bitter Storm" is another original story, and it's an unusual one. On an island off the coast a scientist, embittered by the way his discoveries have benefited only others, lives with his sister, the widow of a minister. Her adult daughter and the daughter's gentleman friend just barely make it through a bad storm to the island. The scientist has no faith in humanity until he sees the young man willing to risk his life to help them get off the island when the storm gets worse.

Once again I have not mentioned the speculative content, but this time it's relevant to the theme, if not the plot. It seems the scientist has created a gizmo that can pick up any sound from any time in the past. It also produces "static" of a sort which his sister can understand, but which he can't at first. The content of the static may surprise you . . .

Your reaction to "The Bitter Storm" may depend on your own personal beliefs.

The Bitter Storm : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Jan 17, 2016)

"Another Chance" is an original story, again by De Felitta, and it's a pretty good one.  Leslie Nielsen gives an intense performance as a guy who foolishly stole a diamond brooch, even though he doesn't know how to find a fence to buy it.  In desperation he answers a newspaper ad that only says "I CAN HELP YOU," along with a name and an address.  The fellow at the address accepts the brooch as payment for sending Nielsen back to 1946, but not exactly as himself.  He's got a new name, lives in a new city, and has no memory of his past life.  That doesn't mean he might not make the same mistakes . . .

This a cleverly done weird little shop/time travel story which rewards paying close attention.

Another Chance : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Jan 17, 2016)

"The Great Silence" is another original by De Felitta, and it's pretty goofy. It seems that an H Bomb test has released particles, spreading out from the Pacific Northwest, which render everybody mute. Apparently this isn't too bad a problem, as the government says that it will clear up in a few days. Meanwhile, a mountain man (Burgess Meredith) way out in the wilderness finds a spaceship, occupied by a little man with antennae, emitting a gas. (I guess those bureaucrats weren't right about the H bomb thing.) Since he's illiterate (we see him sign his name with an "X") he has no way to tell his wife, or the local officials. We get lots of scenes of Meredith trying to act out his warning, and this episode becomes a giant game of charades. Apparently he never thought of drawing a picture!

The Great Silence : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Jan 19, 2016)

"Read to Me Herr Doktor" features a professor who has built a robot to read to him. However, the robot quickly gets ideas from the books, demands that the professor read to it instead, and even declares its love for the professor's daughter. A silly story, and the robot is clearly just a guy in a cardboard suit.

Read to Me Herr Doktor : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive


"Ghost Writer" abandons science fiction for pure fantasy. Leslie Nielsen stars as a struggling writer who accepts an offer to come up with endings for stories by a mysterious fellow at five hundred dollars each. Sounds great, until it turns out that the endings he comes up with come true in the real world, and aren't exactly happy ones . . .

A nice little chiller, very dark in tone, which would have made a good episode of _The Twilight Zone_.

Ghost Writer : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive

"Past Tense" stars the great Boris Karloff as a doctor who invents a time machine and goes into the past in an attempt to sell penicillin. His plans don't work out too well. We see Karloff dying of pneumonia in 1910 in the very first scene, the rest of the story shown in flashback, so there's not a lot of suspense.

Tales of Tomorrow - Past Tense (Karloff) : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive


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## Victoria Silverwolf (Jan 20, 2016)

"The Fury of the Cocoon" (another original by De Felitta) is pure 1950's monster movie. Somewhere in the jungle a meteor has landed, releasing giant invisible (!) "insects" that _feed on human blood!_ The invisibility keeps the special effects budget down. We see a plaster statue made of one of the critters, and it's so laughably "scary" that it's actually kind of cute.

Tales of Tomorrow - Fury of the Cocoon : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive

"The Evil Within" is another original story, although the basic theme sure owes a lot of Robert Louis Stevenson. A scientist brings up some vials of a substance which causes the primates he was tested on to fight each other. He puts it in the refrigerator (the one at the lab is broken) and a broken vial leaks some of the stuff into an apple pie! His wife east some of the pie and becomes _evil!_ ("Evil," at first, just means that she starts acting sexy.) Rod Steiger is really odd to watch as the scientist with his intense method acting. Watch for James Dean in a small role as his assistant.

The Evil Within : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive


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