X Minus One cover art

X Minus One

Surface Tension (Dramatized)

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X Minus One

By: James Blish
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About this listen

 As the Earth is about to be destroyed by an exploding star, a scientist creates a microscopic civilization in a drop of water. Based on a story by James Blish, this episode of X Minus One originally aired on August 28, 1956.

X Minus One premiered in April 1955 on NBC and ran until January 1958. Like its predecessor series, Dimension X, X Minus One featured stories by the greatest names in modern science fiction: Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Clifford Simak, Robert Bloch, and many more.

Future past: hear more classic science-fiction dramatizations.©2006 Radio Spirits Inc. (P)2006 Radio Spirits Inc. Fantasy Science Fiction

Critic reviews

"[ X Minus One] brought current SF to radio, providing adaptations of many excellent new stories and thus allowing the public to appreciate the best science fiction available at the time." (Michael Ashley, The Time Machines: The Story of the Science-Fiction Pulp Magazines)
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Nice idea, very short story but loses it for a modern reader. It's price means it's worth a punt but only just.

Average and a very old story with God as winner.

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This adaptation of a classic masterpiece by James Blish could hardly be worse. The plot of the original nearly disappears and we are left with an insipid parable, The performers do their best but with such an inferior adaptation they can do little.

A poor adaptation

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