Episode 364: First Contact

[00:00:16] Speaker A: The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society Podcast welcome to the Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society Society, a podcast dedicated to suspense, crime and horror stories from the Golden Age of radio. I'm Aaron. [00:00:36] Speaker B: I'm Tim. [00:00:37] Speaker C: And I'm Joshua. We love mysterious old time radio stories, but do they stand the test of time? That's what we're here to find out. [00:00:45] Speaker B: This week we present First Contact from X Minus One, an episode selected by our Patreon supporter Mark. [00:00:51] Speaker A: X Minus One premiered on NBC in 1955 and featured adaptations of stories by prominent science fiction authors of the day, as well as original scripts from NBC staff writers Ernest Kanoy and George Lefferts. During its three year run, X Minus One produced 126 episodes, including stories from Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, Philip K. Dick, and Isaac Asimov. [00:01:17] Speaker C: First Contact is Based on a 1945 short story by Murray Leinster originally published in Astounding Science Fiction Magazine. Leinster is credited as the first science fiction author to use the term first contact to describe the initial encounter between human beings and an unknown alien species. In 2000, his heirs sued Paramount Pictures over the title of the Star Trek the Next Generation film First Contact, claiming copyright infringement. The court dismissed the suit, ruling that first contact had become a generic description and was not eligible for legal protection. [00:01:57] Speaker B: And now First Contact from X minus 1. Originally broadcast October 6, 1955 it's late. [00:02:04] Speaker A: At night and a chill has set in. You're alone and the only light you see is coming from an antique radio. Listen to the sounds coming from the speakers. Listen to the music and listen to the voices. [00:02:23] Speaker D: Countdown for blast off. X minus 5, 4, 3, 2. X minus 1 fire it. [00:02:58] Speaker E: From the. [00:02:59] Speaker D: 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 maybe worlds. The National Broadcasting Company in cooperation with street and Smith Publishers of Astounding Science Fiction, presents X1. Tonight's story first Contact by Murray Leimester they had been in space six months now, moving with the incredibly faster than light speed of the overdrive. In six months they had gone from Earth outward and outward to the Crab like nebula with the twin stars. A routine flight of exploration and scientific research. [00:04:05] Speaker F: Solid object about 90,000 miles away, sir. [00:04:08] Speaker E: Located Dort Exactly. Identified a small object, sir. [00:04:14] Speaker F: Captain, I've never seen anything like this before. Whatever it is out there is coming taught us at an incredible speed and retreating to zero just as rapidly. [00:04:21] Speaker E: What's the mass of the object? [00:04:22] Speaker F: Dort well, it varies with the distance from us, sir. [00:04:25] Speaker E: Step up the scanners. [00:04:28] Speaker F: Nothing, sir. Absolutely nothing shows out there. And yet there must be something. Those alarms are foolproof. [00:04:35] Speaker E: Action stations. Man all weapons. Condition of extreme alert in all departments immediately. [00:04:39] Speaker F: Captain. [00:04:40] Speaker E: What is it, Dort? I ran into the same thing once before on the Earth Mars run. We were being located by another ship. And their locator beam was the same frequency as ours. Every time it hit, it registered as something solid and monstrous. [00:04:51] Speaker F: But, captain, we're the only earth ship in 18 light years around. [00:04:54] Speaker C: How? [00:04:55] Speaker E: I didn't say it was another Earth ship out there, Dort. [00:04:59] Speaker F: Another race. [00:05:00] Speaker E: That's right. There's a spaceship out there, all right. But it's not manned by human beings. [00:05:11] Speaker D: It had been contemplated and speculated upon. Mathematically, it was almost a certainty that such a race existed. But in 18,000 Earth years, no human spaceship had ever encountered them. Now the situation was precipitated. And somewhere outside the Earth vessel there was an alien race. Of what shape, of what quality? Of what psychology? [00:05:38] Speaker F: It's moving, sir, heading right for us. [00:05:40] Speaker E: That speed will be in touch in 10 minutes. Heading right for us, sir. Just what we'd do if a strange ship appeared in our hunting grounds. Friendly? Well, maybe we'll try to contact them. We have to do that. Friendly. Thank the Lord for the blasters. [00:05:56] Speaker F: They may not be hostile, sir. [00:05:57] Speaker E: They may be. That's what I'm paid for put on this job for. To worry about the troubles that may never happen to all hands. Now hear this. A ship is approaching, manned by an alien race. I'll give the signal for attack or defense if it be necessary. There'll be no move made unless I give the order. I do not wish to provoke trouble. Stand by. [00:06:15] Speaker F: Their ship is slowing down, sir. It stopped. [00:06:18] Speaker E: Weapons department, report. Weapons department, report. Alien ship remarked target fixed. Weapons alert. Communications department, report. Communications department, report. We're receiving a modulated short wave, sir. Frequency modulated? Apparently a signal. Not enough power to do us any harm. We'll try to make some sense out of it. Report any progress to me immediately. [00:06:42] Speaker F: One thing in their favor, sir. They didn't attack immediately. Without question. They're trying to establish contact. That seems to indicate they're reasonable. [00:06:49] Speaker E: We'll see. We'll see. What are they doing now? Can you make out the locator screen? Bring that power up. [00:06:56] Speaker F: They're doing something now, sir. There's a section of the hull opening. Probably an airlock, sir. If they breathe there, they're letting something out. It's round a bomb sir, unknown object. [00:07:07] Speaker C: Released from alien ship. [00:07:08] Speaker D: Observed by weapons department and targeted. [00:07:11] Speaker E: Standby. [00:07:12] Speaker F: See what they're doing, Sir, They've left the object out there right where they were. And now they're withdrawing the ship. [00:07:17] Speaker E: There's no reason why that object couldn't be a bomb. Mr. Dort intended to let us think precisely as you're thinking right now. [00:07:24] Speaker F: I just have a hunch, sir. I think they're friendly. I think whatever it is out there is a means of communication. [00:07:29] Speaker E: You're probably right, but I won't gamble the ship on the probability. [00:07:32] Speaker F: Sir, I'd like to volunteer to go out there and look that thing over. [00:07:36] Speaker E: You understand, whoever does examine it is expendable? [00:07:39] Speaker F: Yes, sir. [00:07:41] Speaker E: Requisition a lifeboat. [00:07:42] Speaker F: If it's all right with you, sir, I'd prefer just a suit with the drive in it. It's smaller, and the arms and legs won't make me look like a bomb. And I'll carry a scanner, sir. [00:07:50] Speaker E: You may leave when you're ready. [00:07:52] Speaker F: Thank you, sir. I'm all ready. Clear the lock and let me out. [00:08:09] Speaker D: Weapons department reporting to the captain. Mr. Do located. Mr. Do is targeted. [00:08:15] Speaker E: Standby. That object out there is a device to capture one of our people for observation and questioning. It'll be blown out of existence, including Mr. Dort. Stand by, Mr. Dort. Mr. Dort, report. [00:08:38] Speaker F: Object, as you can see on the scanner, sir, is covered with many small horns. Like the detonating horns of the obsolete mines formerly used in naval warfare. [00:08:46] Speaker E: Is that their purpose, do you assume, Mr. Dort? [00:08:48] Speaker F: I'm gonna find out, sir. I'm going to grab one. [00:08:52] Speaker E: Mr. Dort? [00:08:54] Speaker F: I'm here, sir. I don't think this is a mine. [00:08:58] Speaker E: Circle it so we can see it completely through your scanner. [00:09:02] Speaker F: Deadlock, sir. Nothing to report that the scanner hasn't shown you. Oh, wait a minute, sir. A section of the outer hull seems to be opening. [00:09:09] Speaker D: Do you see it? [00:09:10] Speaker E: Very good. Dart. Hold that. [00:09:13] Speaker F: I'm sure it's a communications device, sir. [00:09:15] Speaker E: It looks like it. Fix your scanner so it'll focus on that communications device. Return to the ship. Communications department. Communications Department. Progress report, please. [00:09:36] Speaker F: We've established commitment communication, sir. [00:09:39] Speaker E: Is there a psychologist on the team down there with you? [00:09:40] Speaker F: Yes, sir. Mr. Burns is working with us. [00:09:42] Speaker E: Both of you, please report to the bridge at once. You look tired, Dort. [00:09:53] Speaker F: We've established fairly satisfactory communication, sir. They seem to have highly developed thought patterns. We got a satisfactory translation from the machine on the fourth attempt. We can say almost anything we want to say to each other now. Of course, how much of what they tell us is the truth? We have no way of knowing. [00:10:09] Speaker E: Mr. Burns, you're the psychologist. What do you think? Well, I don't know, sir. [00:10:13] Speaker D: They seem to be completely direct. [00:10:15] Speaker F: They haven't let slip even a hint. [00:10:16] Speaker E: Of the tenseness we know exists. They act as if they were setting up a means of communication for friendly conversation. But, well, there's an overtone that. Mr. Burns, I have a decision to make. On the one hand, opening contact with the friendly people of a vastly different culture. Could only be beneficial to us of Earth. On the other hand, if they're hostile. I ought to blast them out of existence without any other preliminary. [00:10:40] Speaker F: But, sir, you can't. [00:10:41] Speaker E: I'm not talking to you, Dor. It's not warranted yet, sir. Yes. Now hear this, all departments. Hear this, all departments. This ship is on an extended alert. Provisions will be made so that personnel can have maximum rest and nourishment. [00:11:10] Speaker D: Communication continued by means of the artificial language. Set up arbitrarily between the Earthman and the aliens. Decoded by the mechanical decoders. Dart disobeyed orders. He lived on powerful stimulants. So that he could stay with the communications machine, talking. Talking. Talking to the aliens. [00:11:33] Speaker F: Other people. Other people. Are we being received? [00:11:38] Speaker G: We are receiving your message. [00:11:42] Speaker F: The chief of this ship wishes to speak with the chief of your ship. [00:11:45] Speaker G: The message is heard by the chief of this ship. The chief of this ship communicates that he will hear the message of the chief of that ship. [00:11:55] Speaker F: Go ahead, sir. [00:11:56] Speaker E: People of the other ship, I'd like to say the appropriate things. About this first contact of two dissimilar civilized races. And of my hopes that a friendly intercourse between the two peoples will result. [00:12:10] Speaker G: People of that ship, what you say is all very well. But is there any way for us to let each other go home alive? [00:12:24] Speaker F: That's all, sir. [00:12:25] Speaker E: They've stopped sending very direct people. Very direct. [00:12:29] Speaker F: But, sir, I don't follow. I didn't know what that meant, you know. Is there any way for us to let each other go home alive? [00:12:35] Speaker E: It means what it says, Dord. [00:12:37] Speaker F: So what's to stop us from just cutting communication and leaving and they can do likewise? [00:12:41] Speaker E: What's to stop us? Simply that whichever ship leaves first will be followed by the other. If they find Earth and get back to their own planet. And we don't know where that planet is. Earth will be completely at their mercy. If they leave first, we'll follow them. We'll attempt to find their home planet. Dart, could you swear to Any decision that the policymakers on Earth will come to, sir. [00:13:01] Speaker F: Even if they do follow us, the closer we get to home, the more of our ships and weapons they'll face. They'd never get away. [00:13:06] Speaker E: Well, how do you know that? They can't communicate with their home planet. [00:13:08] Speaker F: Without repeating, we can't, sir. [00:13:11] Speaker E: How do you know they can't? [00:13:13] Speaker F: I don't, sir. [00:13:14] Speaker E: So that's the situation. We'll sit out here facing each other, trying to outguess each other until time wears us out. And we'll have to face the fact either they destroy us or we destroy them. Navigation Officer, attention. Navigation Officer, attention. Every star map on this ship is to be prepared for instant destruction. [00:13:34] Speaker G: The chief of this ship wishes to know whether the chief of that ship can suggest an answer to the problem concerning us both. [00:13:43] Speaker F: Do you want me to answer that, sir? [00:13:44] Speaker E: I'll answer it myself. Tell me when to talk. [00:13:48] Speaker F: Now, Sir. [00:13:50] Speaker E: I am giving that matter personal attention. Every effort will be bent to the solution of this problem. Will you consider a temporary truce in the meantime? [00:14:02] Speaker G: What would a truce gain? Could we trust you? Would you trust us? I suggest that we continue as we have up to this particle of time. [00:14:14] Speaker E: I agree. Sign off. [00:14:18] Speaker D: Though weeks went by, and during the weeks, the exchange of information continued without let up. [00:14:33] Speaker F: What particle of time are the people. [00:14:35] Speaker G: On that ship at the resting time? All rest, except myself and others on alert duty. [00:14:42] Speaker F: Same on this ship. [00:14:43] Speaker G: You people of that ship are very similar in many ways. Do you have a family? [00:14:51] Speaker F: I have a mate. [00:14:52] Speaker G: I have a mate and three offspring. It is too bad for them as well as us, to have to kill each other. [00:15:01] Speaker F: This ship can't see any way out of it. Can that ship? [00:15:05] Speaker G: If we could believe each ship, yes, our chief would like it. But we can't believe you. And you are afraid that we do not tell truth, although we do. This ship would trail you home. If this ship were able to, that ship would do the same. But this ship feels sorry about it. [00:15:28] Speaker F: I believe you're a friend. [00:15:30] Speaker G: I share your belief and like you. But there is a possibility that you were put to make a trap for me. I will stop now and think it over. [00:15:56] Speaker E: Just sit down. Dort, control yourself. We're all under tension. Doesn't do any good to pace like some caged animal. [00:16:01] Speaker F: Yes, sir. [00:16:02] Speaker E: All right. Now, I've read the complete transcription of your conversations with this one alien. What does it prove, Dort? [00:16:08] Speaker F: Sir? These people are so much like us. And they're thinking. Well, sir, they're likable. [00:16:13] Speaker E: They're likable and they breathe oxygen. Their air is 28% oxygen instead of 20. But they could do very well on Earth. It would be a highly desirable conquest for them. Do it. I'm as set against violence as you are. I don't see any way out of this. And I think we've got to break this status quo. So if in 70 hours we don't see any other way, then I have no further choice. I'll blow them to bits. [00:16:55] Speaker G: Will that ship receive communications? Will that ship receive communications? [00:17:01] Speaker F: This ship is listening. [00:17:02] Speaker G: It seems to me better to communicate than to sit by the machine silently. [00:17:09] Speaker F: I would have called you, but you signed off before. [00:17:12] Speaker G: The problem goes around and around. I find no answer. [00:17:17] Speaker F: Perhaps we could turn our thoughts to other things. [00:17:20] Speaker G: The psychologist of this ship tells us that you people on that ship have a threshold of tolerance to tension. He tells us that you will be forced to take one action or another in a period of less than 100 time particles. [00:17:35] Speaker F: I have no communication on this matter. [00:17:37] Speaker G: The ship is not trying to extract unwilling information from that ship. A truth is mentioned in passing. [00:17:43] Speaker F: A report of this conversation will be carried to the chief of the ship. [00:17:46] Speaker G: It would be so. We are prepared. [00:17:50] Speaker F: If only the people of this ship could meet in direct contact with the people of that ship. It might be better we could not communicate then. [00:17:56] Speaker G: The communications machine is too large to carry from place to place and direct contact. The peoples of the two ships would be further apart than now. [00:18:05] Speaker F: That's true. [00:18:07] Speaker G: I am sad much that is pleasant has passed between us. [00:18:13] Speaker F: I am sad too. [00:18:15] Speaker G: We are not yet ready for each other. [00:18:19] Speaker F: We are not yet ready for each other. [00:18:25] Speaker E: It's hard, isn't it, Dot? [00:18:27] Speaker F: Well, Captain, I'm sorry. I didn't know you were here, sir. [00:18:31] Speaker E: I've been here for quite a while. Eavesdropping, I'm afraid. [00:18:34] Speaker F: It's all right, sir. Nothing can be personal in a situation like this. [00:18:38] Speaker E: That's right. How long is a hundred time particles? Dort? [00:18:43] Speaker F: Pardon, sir? [00:18:44] Speaker E: That reference he made to us not being able to stand tension is interesting. Their psychologists seem to make more out of us. And we do out of them, don't they? [00:18:55] Speaker F: Yes, sir. They hit the nail right on the head. [00:18:58] Speaker E: Yes, they did. I think, Dort, we'll just have to push our timetable up a bit. No further communication with the aliens under any circumstances. That's clear, isn't it? [00:19:07] Speaker F: Yes, sir. Sir, if they know so much about our psychology, isn't it possible that remark was intended to make us act more quickly? [00:19:16] Speaker E: Probable. Dort. Probable. [00:19:19] Speaker F: Why would they do that, sir? Why? [00:19:22] Speaker E: You tell me why, Dort. [00:19:25] Speaker F: All of a sudden. I have an idea, sir, and that's crazy. [00:19:27] Speaker E: It doesn't matter how crazy. I'll listen to it. [00:19:31] Speaker F: Sir, I think these people are playing some kind of a joke on us. [00:19:34] Speaker E: Joke? A joke, Dort? [00:19:36] Speaker F: Yes, sir. Over and over again I've noticed what I think is a sense of humor. A highly developed sense of humor. Do you recall when we went to all the trouble to set up a fictitious star map. And then they just sent us back a mirror image of the same one? I think somehow they're playing a joke on us. [00:19:54] Speaker E: Maybe you're right. In which case, you've seen practical jokers, Dort. Their jokes aren't always funny. Sometimes they hurt people. All departments, man. Instant alert. All departments, man Instant alert. Report instantly. Report instantly. Weapons department alerted. Target the enemy ship. [00:20:27] Speaker F: On target, sir. [00:20:28] Speaker E: Standby. Fire. [00:20:39] Speaker F: They're gone, sir. Not a trace of them left. Not a tiny trace. Now we can go home. [00:20:57] Speaker E: Communications to Captain. Communications to Captain. Report. Sir, I'm picking up new signals. Same frequency as the original alien signals. That's impossible. That ship was destroyed. I'm receiving signals, sir. Set the machine up. We'll be down there in a minute. Mr. Dorrit. Come with me, please. [00:21:18] Speaker G: It's good to be on the way home. Yes, it is good. Do you suppose we'll ever figure out what happened to the other ship? [00:21:26] Speaker E: Never. [00:21:27] Speaker F: A blinding fashion and they were gone. [00:21:30] Speaker G: I suppose they couldn't figure a way out of the situation. An unstable people. They had no sense of humor. To cope with the situation, they exploded themselves out of existence. [00:21:42] Speaker E: It seems reasonable. [00:21:44] Speaker G: They must have had powerful weapons. To destroy themselves so completely. Yes. What a shame. In a way, I grew to like them. [00:21:54] Speaker F: This isn't meant for us, sir. I don't know what's happening, but I think we're overhearing a private conversation. [00:21:59] Speaker E: I understand. Door. Be quiet, will you? [00:22:00] Speaker G: Many things might have come out of a relationship with that people. They were describing a disease they call cancer. I think it is similar to the Frogren Syndrome. We might have helped them. They might have helped us, too. Well, too bad we'll never find them again. I think the odds of such a chance meeting in the vast space of the whole universe. There are no figures for such odds. Are they? [00:22:29] Speaker E: Turn it up. North. Turn it up. Louder. [00:22:32] Speaker F: That's all there is, sir. Signals. Stop there, sir. I don't know how, but somehow when we fired at them, we didn't destroy them. But we did set up A condition whereby they've become invisible to us and we've become invisible to them. [00:22:46] Speaker E: Captain to Engineering Department. Halt. Forward motion. [00:22:49] Speaker F: Captain, why are we stopping? [00:22:50] Speaker E: Listen. Do. You say they're in VR but they're not destroyed because we just heard them. They're out there somewhere, invisible. [00:22:56] Speaker F: You heard them, so they're heading for home. We're invisible to them too, sir. [00:23:00] Speaker E: How do you know? Do. How do you know this whole thing isn't a setup? [00:23:02] Speaker F: Suppose that's true, Captain. You heard their conversation. They weren't talking like any monstrous people. They seemed decent and warm. Just as decent and warm as we are. [00:23:09] Speaker E: How do you know this conversation wasn't planned? It deliberately set up for us to hear. How do you know that? Dortmund. [00:23:15] Speaker G: Yes, sir. [00:23:16] Speaker F: You're right. They may be out there and they may not. They may be telling the truth, or they may be trying to trick us. They may be friends, or they may be the most deadly enemies. [00:23:27] Speaker E: You said they had a sense of humor. Dort, what a joke to play. To deliberately set up a situation where we wouldn't know fact from fantasy, truth from lie. Wouldn't that be a joke? [00:23:39] Speaker B: Do it. [00:23:40] Speaker F: But we don't know that they did that, sir. [00:23:42] Speaker E: And we don't know that they didn't. We don't know anything, sir. [00:23:49] Speaker F: Does that mean we never go home again? [00:23:51] Speaker E: I don't know. I have to think about it. I have to think about it. [00:24:10] Speaker D: You have just heard X Minus One, presented by the National Broadcasting Company in cooperation with street and Smith Publishers of Astounding Science Fiction. Tonight by transcription, X minus 1 is brought to you. First Contact, written by Murray Leimester and adapted for radio by Howard Rodman. Featured in the cast were Wendell Holmes, Bob Hastings, Clark Gordon, William Lally and Stan Early. Your announcer, Fred Collins. X Minus One was directed by Daniel Sutter and is an NBC Radio Network production. [00:24:51] Speaker A: That was first contact from X minus 1111 here on the mysterious old Radio Listening Society podcast once again. I'm Eric. I'm Tim. [00:25:01] Speaker C: And I'm Joshua. [00:25:03] Speaker A: Help me figure this out. We didn't do this on the podcast before. Why do I know? I've heard this. And I also know that story about First Contact. [00:25:15] Speaker B: It's been making me nuts. Because I knew, like, I've given Eric such a hard time. Like, we've heard this one before. You just don't remember. I don't remember. I don't know what it was from. [00:25:25] Speaker A: Why is this familiar? [00:25:26] Speaker C: Excellent. And now I shall speak. The keeper of history. [00:25:29] Speaker A: Yes, yes. [00:25:31] Speaker C: Many, many, many, many years ago. When we were at the James J. Hill Library performing, we wanted to do X minus 1. It was the first time we had done any science fiction performances. And this was back in the day. Eric, if you remember that you were very concerned about doing anything satirical in nature because you were afraid that audiences would think we were making fun of old radio. And I wanted to do a particularly comic episode of X minus one that we have not featured in the podcast. And you were like, only if we can do just a classic spaceship science fiction. [00:26:11] Speaker A: Sure. [00:26:11] Speaker C: And so you went away, you listened to X minus 1, and you chose this episode to perform, in contrast to the comic episode, which was the Discovery of More Neal Math away. Yes. And we performed it on stage. [00:26:29] Speaker A: I remember. I remember all of that now. I remember none of that. Here's what's so sad. I picked this. [00:26:35] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:26:36] Speaker A: And we performed this. [00:26:37] Speaker C: And I was certain that you would not remember. [00:26:40] Speaker A: Do you hear that sound? [00:26:41] Speaker C: I'm a little disturbed that Tim can't. [00:26:43] Speaker B: I went through all of the patreon x minus 1 stuff. I went through the website, but it. [00:26:48] Speaker A: Was familiar to you, too. [00:26:49] Speaker B: Yes. [00:26:50] Speaker A: Do you hear that sound? That's the sound of Patreon's unsubscribing. This is just three old men. [00:26:59] Speaker C: Well, no. I think it's interesting that this is an episode that we have performed before but never discussed. I think that always changes a little. I mean, actually, it doesn't at all. Because you guys don't remember it. [00:27:11] Speaker A: I do now. Wow. That's fantastic. Well, I'm actually relieved Tim isn't, because it's not even nothing. [00:27:19] Speaker B: I don't know who you two are. [00:27:21] Speaker C: And it might be again, I remember it because I wrote the intro for it. So I remember doing the research about it. And I remember. And I think most important to this discussion is I remember not liking it. [00:27:34] Speaker A: I remember all of it now. But I'm shocked that I brought this as my science fiction counterpoint. You would think I would pick something more adventurous and more sci fi because this thing starts off great. It has every element that I want in a science fiction piece. And then turns into a couple of teenagers on the phone late at night talking about their feelings. [00:28:00] Speaker B: That's so funny. My impression was flipped. I don't necessarily enjoy old trope sci fi of immediately, we have to think military. Like, I'm a military man. I think military ways. Like, why did we send that guy? [00:28:17] Speaker A: Right. [00:28:19] Speaker B: But was much more interested in these two parallel figures on either side of this awkward phone call of I want to be reasonable. I know you want to be reasonable, but then again I know you could be lying. You know, I could be lying. And that well intentioned standoff was interesting for me. [00:28:37] Speaker A: Yeah. It's just makes for terrible radio. [00:28:40] Speaker C: I have a completely different take on it. As in, I think it's a great concept. Utterly wasted because they don't solve it. Yeah, just some hand wavy thing happens and both ships turn invisible instead of proposing a solution to it. [00:28:58] Speaker B: Interested in that? Like I try not to Monday morning quarterback scripts. But like that's really. I kind of wish that was the episode of there's these two ships that can hear each other but they can't see each other. [00:29:11] Speaker A: Right. [00:29:11] Speaker B: And trying to negotiate. What do we do now? Which takes away the tension. Like we just leave. [00:29:17] Speaker C: But isn't that the episode? Two ships that in tension and no one can leave and they have to negotiate the part at the end of. [00:29:25] Speaker B: Like, I can hear you talking. You don't know I can hear you. [00:29:29] Speaker C: You're talking about that portion at the end. Yes. Yeah. They conveniently left their space phone off the hook. Yes. [00:29:37] Speaker E: Which I. [00:29:38] Speaker C: They can listen in on the extension. [00:29:40] Speaker B: Working too hard on it. But I kind of figured like, hey, I know that my counterpart might be listening. I'm going to leave this channel open. [00:29:48] Speaker A: I am not. [00:29:54] Speaker C: Well, this has two great concepts it throws away, in my opinion. First, as we already discussed, the Hobbesian trap, that idea of two forces that meet one another and are uncertain of what action the other is going to take. That it encourages a cycle of aggressive behavior. Other science fiction stories I think have explored it better. But that's concept number one that I think has lots of potential. But concept number two, which is really strangely done in here, is the idea of humor and a misunderstanding of humor or some cultural barrier to understand whether you are making a joke or not. But it's very weirdly done because we aren't given any examples of it. We just have the character who says, I think they have an advanced sense of humor based on scenes that the listener hasn't heard. [00:30:52] Speaker A: Right. [00:30:52] Speaker C: But I will reference one. [00:30:54] Speaker B: I lightly got the impression that metaphorically I think they're just doing this is you. This is what you sound like when you talk to us. [00:31:04] Speaker C: Yes, and I understand that, but it's not very well explained. I understand what they were telling me they were doing. I just wanted them to show me they were doing it. [00:31:15] Speaker B: You just respond, you're not funny. [00:31:19] Speaker A: This is you, me, me, me, me. [00:31:21] Speaker D: Get off the stage. [00:31:24] Speaker C: Characters also feel just really generic and overly Earnest in a way that just does not stand the testament help all. [00:31:32] Speaker B: The sci fi things are named awkward things of locator device. [00:31:37] Speaker C: I think, Eric, you liked the potential for all the sounds in here. [00:31:42] Speaker A: So the sounds are great. And this point about this, you know, if you're a listener of this podcast, you know this. If you. If you're new, then you're going to learn this. I. The music in X minus one generally is terrible, in my opinion. I hate the music, the interstitial music, what they underscore within this show, this particular episode. The music is perfection. I like their choice of music in this episode. It's not distracting, it's supportive. And so there's that. And that's really as far as I'll go. [00:32:17] Speaker B: I suppose it may have been more relevant and new, a newer idea at the time, but that dilemma of I encounter something completely alien to me that I recognize as an intelligence. And in theory, I have seconds to decide how I'm going to react to it. [00:32:40] Speaker C: And what's interesting is even when you have more than seconds, this is a standoff that it actually gets worse. It comes out the other end. Like, the more time you have to think of every possible scenario. I mean, like I said, it's a fantastic setup. The tension and the fact that the captain decides we have no choice. We have fallen into the Hobbesian trap, we are going to kill them. And what I don't like is that there are no consequences for that decision. If they were going to do the obvious human thing and just say, we can't trust them, we have to kill them, that we would then find out what the consequences are. And we do, to a certain extent, we. [00:33:16] Speaker B: No cancer cure for you. [00:33:17] Speaker F: Bye. [00:33:21] Speaker C: And again. And then because they introduced the idea of a practical joke, they have to go, were they joking about cancer? Mean A B will never know. And so, I mean, there are some nice elements. But what I would like to do is a rare thing that I don't always do in this podcast. Read a synopsis that I read of the original story's ending, which is drastically different. I could not find the story, nor did I really have the burning desire to read it. But you guys may or may not remember. Of course you don't remember. [00:33:57] Speaker A: Where are we? Murray Leinster wrote To the hell's Murray Leinster. [00:34:07] Speaker C: He wrote a logic named Joe. [00:34:09] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, yeah. [00:34:10] Speaker C: Which I think is a. [00:34:11] Speaker A: We've done that. [00:34:12] Speaker C: Yeah, on stage, we performed it. And we've also done it as a bonus podcast. So go to patreon.com themorals and become a Patreon. But that story has a lot of humor in it. The characters seem really well drawn. And so it made me suspicious of this adaptation because it was so unlike the only other piece of work from this author that I knew. So I did go and look this up and I honestly, I know it's a little long and boring, but I think it's really worth it. I will try to condense it, but it's pretty similar to what we have on this episode. Up to the point that they try to find a solution. As the deadlock persists. The humans have the idea that what we're going to do is we're going to go over to their ship. I don't know exactly how they worked that out and threatened to blow up. Basically they're like terrorists have like bombs strapped to them or their atomic suits will blow up or something like that if you don't do what we say. And what they say is to disable the tracking equipment on both ships, swap ships and each go home so that they can't be tracked because the aliens themselves have to have disabled that in their own ship. And they. But they also get some sort of reward, as in we have this different technology and we both get to keep the fiction libraries so we can study each other's culture. That's the part of this story I like the most, that these spaceships have a library of fiction on them. And then the aliens fall over making some weird noises that they eventually figure out is laughter because they have just sent two aliens over to their ship proposing with bombs, proposing the exact same thing. And so they make this exchange and that's how they negotiate this successful escape. And I may not be doing the story justice. I have not read it. I'm pulling it from a summary. [00:36:12] Speaker A: You did great justice. [00:36:13] Speaker C: But that seems more in line with a logic named Joe. It has some satire to it, but it also is dealing with the actual conflict as set up. And I find it strange from X minus 1 that they decided to change it so dramatically. [00:36:28] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a much better ending. [00:36:30] Speaker C: I mean, it's weird. It would have a completely different tone and it might have just been, well, hey, we did two lighter hearted episodes last week. Let's rewrite this and take it in a really deadly serious way. [00:36:42] Speaker A: Here's what I kept thinking. There is a very compelling 30 minute radio story to just the process of discovering for the first time that's an alien spaceship. Are we sure? How do I identify it? The guy floating out there Opening up the. The communicator box. [00:37:07] Speaker C: All of that that they think is. [00:37:08] Speaker A: Maybe a mine, but just the roller coaster of emotion and the discovery of this is. [00:37:17] Speaker B: Right. The genuine emotional impact of that. [00:37:20] Speaker A: And that could be the entire thing. Now, I know it's got to have an ending to it, but I think the ending would be, we confirm that is an alien ship. You see what I'm saying? Like, it's the whole process of, is this what we think it is? Whereas. And right. [00:37:38] Speaker B: They get to a point where I communicated a thing to them and they. [00:37:43] Speaker A: Got it and they responded and everybody goes, it is the end. [00:37:48] Speaker B: Most encounters with 30, yeah, maybe not. [00:37:49] Speaker A: As exciting, I don't know. But to me, that's the entire process. They so quickly go, this is an alien ship. Okay, shoot it. [00:37:58] Speaker C: I mean, shoot it. That would be one story. But I am really enthralled by the conflict as set out, just not the conflict as resolved. Right, yeah. And I also think there's something interesting in a parallel to real world with the lower rank officers getting to communicate. Like in real wars, the rank and file soldiers sent out to kill each other and die have more in common with each other than they do of the people sending them out to die. So I, I like that parallelism in. [00:38:28] Speaker A: All war, but In World War II, there's so many examples of prisoners of war and those that had been assigned to, you know, watch over them having conversations and that realization of we're both just a couple of schlubs that ended up here. And it was, we just want to. [00:38:44] Speaker C: Get home alive, back to my family or start a family. [00:38:48] Speaker E: Right. [00:38:48] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:38:48] Speaker A: Yeah, you're absolutely right. That's a very compelling story in itself. [00:38:52] Speaker C: Could have been drawn out more as well. This is the part from the original story I forgot and I have to share with you guys, is that at the very end of the original story, Dort expresses his positivity toward the idea that one day there will be peace and harmony between these two races. Because he reveals to the captain that he spent a lot of the time on the space phone with the alien swapping dirty jokes. The end. [00:39:22] Speaker A: Ha. [00:39:24] Speaker C: So your initial comparison to it being teenagers staying up late on the telegraph maybe wasn't far off from the original. [00:39:33] Speaker A: The cord to the wall is all tangled because it's the seventies in my head. [00:39:38] Speaker B: Part of me listening to this also game theory, brain kicked in of this is structured like a game of chess. Two identical, like you have exactly equal resources. Everything else, except for one person has to go first. And that is in a game of chess, that's the one difference you have. And in this one, the aliens went first and sent out this little communication pod. And to me, it is interesting. Like, that is what makes the two sides qualitatively different, is the aliens started with action of sending out a communication thing, and the human side never really acknowledged that that was the first gesture, and it was nonviolent, and it was an effort to communicate. [00:40:23] Speaker C: I think it says a lot that we are pulling out, like, six different amazing stories of this one that we wish it had been. And I know that's a terrible way to talk about a story is to do the armchair rewriting and saying what you wanted it to be, but that is a sign that it failed for you in some way. [00:40:42] Speaker A: If you're not doing that, then it's good. So that's how that works. [00:40:47] Speaker C: But I do want to thank Mark for one thing, and I have no idea why Mark presented this. It might be just because he was like, I don't. [00:40:53] Speaker B: I saw you guys do this at the same library. [00:40:56] Speaker A: It's so memorable. [00:40:58] Speaker C: So I apologize. Mark, you can take us to task on the next Zoom Happy Hour for our opinions, if you love this one. But what it helped me with, though, is to really realize in a clearer way why I like a little bit of humor and satire in this era of science fiction. Because when you take that out, it weirdly lowers the stakes because everything is so earnest, and I don't believe it. Like, in comparison to an episode that we have featured on the podcast Junkyard, which is another, like, space faring crew that finds some weird alien artifact and weird stuff happens. But it uses a lot of humor, and that makes the characters feel like a real, genuine crew. [00:41:45] Speaker A: Sure. [00:41:46] Speaker C: And so I think, ironically, it feels less dated with humor. [00:41:50] Speaker A: To me, sci fi should be spaceships with blasters fighting each other until one blows up. [00:41:57] Speaker G: You. [00:42:00] Speaker C: You love classic Star Trek, but classic Star Trek, half of the story, tons of humor and, Oh, I know. Lots of interpersonal humor and character humor throughout the entire thing, which is why it's so beloved. [00:42:11] Speaker A: And I just waited for the pew. [00:42:13] Speaker B: Pew, pew, pew, pew, pew. [00:42:14] Speaker A: View scenes. Yeah. And anytime Kirk fell in love and had, I was like, ah, move on, move on. [00:42:25] Speaker C: You're gonna get green makeup on your costume. [00:42:31] Speaker A: Well, should we vote? [00:42:32] Speaker G: Sure. [00:42:32] Speaker A: Go, Tim. [00:42:33] Speaker B: I think I would not say this stands the test of time. It's got a lot good going on in it. But specifically, the things that I think work against it are dated elements. The sci fi ishness that was distinctive at the time that didn't have other elements to kind of update it or keep it fresh, as the kids say. [00:42:56] Speaker A: I no longer stand the test of time in 1992. It's dope da bomb. [00:43:07] Speaker B: And as we've been saying, there's a lot of fun elements in there that are interesting to think about and discuss, but as a story itself, I think it doesn't pull them all together in a. Like an authoritative this is the story way boy. [00:43:22] Speaker C: Second podcast episode in a row in which I'm gonna say I agree with Tim. Exactly. Yeah. Although I won't be as nice. It's a mess, but I should acknowledge that I think part of the reason I feel rancor toward this episode is that I have such an appreciation of X minus 1, and it's the opposite of the Whistler from a couple weeks ago. I go into x +1 myself, personally, with a really high expectation, so I'm harder on the ones that fall just a little below that. [00:43:54] Speaker A: I can wrap my vote up pretty quickly. Nope. [00:44:00] Speaker C: But you made us perform it on stage, you monster. [00:44:04] Speaker B: I don't know that we did. [00:44:05] Speaker C: Yeah, we did absolutely perform it. [00:44:07] Speaker A: We did. [00:44:08] Speaker C: Oh, wow. Now you're gaslighting me. [00:44:14] Speaker A: Tim, tell him stuff. [00:44:15] Speaker B: Please go visit ghoulishdelights.com it's the home of this podcast. You'll find a whole bunch of their episodes there. You can comment on them, vote and poll. [00:44:23] Speaker A: No, you can't. [00:44:24] Speaker B: What? [00:44:25] Speaker A: You can't. I'm gaslighting too. [00:44:28] Speaker B: Oh, no. [00:44:30] Speaker C: What podcast? What website? [00:44:35] Speaker B: Please go visit ghoulsdalets.com home of this podcast. See what you can do there. [00:44:40] Speaker A: I don't know. [00:44:41] Speaker B: I've never been there, but I know you can join Patreon from there. [00:44:47] Speaker C: Yes. Go to patreon.com themorals and the one thing we know is real money. You can support this podcast. You know, help us get Eric and Tim into some sort of memory therapy. They really need it. And in the meantime, you can enjoy all kinds of bonus material. We have the aforementioned Logic named Joe discussion, which I thought was a lot of fun. You can also, as a patron at the highest level, which Mark is. I don't know why we attacked this episode because he's super generous and gives us money. So thank you, Mark. But if you support us at that level, you too can suggest episodes that we might not like. Go to patreon.com themorals and support this. [00:45:42] Speaker A: Podcast if you'd like to see us performing live. We're going to be doing the same episode live on stage every month because we have no idea what we did the previous month. But you can find out. We do live recreations of classic old time radio shows and a lot of our own original work. And you can find out what we're performing, where and how to get tickets by going to ghoulishdelights.com if you can't come see us live, even though we encourage you to, because we'd love to have you come, don't worry about it. [00:46:11] Speaker C: We won't remember it. [00:46:12] Speaker A: We will not remember it. But we record audio versions of those and we make those available to our patreons and so you can listen to those live performances. What's coming up next. [00:46:26] Speaker B: Coming up next is my selection. We're doing an episode of yours truly, Johnny Dollar, entitled the Little man who Wasn't All There until then. [00:46:36] Speaker A: I'm an alien.