Dimension X

[A beaker full of death]

I've been listening to these old radio shows, and an awful lot of early Trek - both in terms of specific sci fi ideas (e.g. interstellar faster-than-light flight, the galactic barrier into which ships are disappearing...) and specific dramatic themes and devices (e.g. the starship captain having hte ships surgeon as his confidante) seem to be derived directly from the show. Does anyone have any insight into this? Trends within a genre are one thing, but these seem to be very closely aligned.

 

[MacLeod]

Within Trek It is sometimes described as Spock represent the Logical argument whilst McCoy the emotional one. The Head vs Heart argumnet. Whilst Kirk is the balance bewtween the two.

 

[Redfern]

Are you speaking of a radio show titled "Dimension X"? And this radio series presented certain themes that Trek later "borrowed"?

Wouldn't shock me if that were the case. We've repeatedly had threads about "Forbidden Planet" influencing Trek (as well as "Lost in Space"), and some elements can be traced traced back to EA van Vogt's "Space Beagle" stories. Like George Lucas, I suspect Roddenberry "borrowed" a lot of concepts he liked from his childhood. So it's reasonable to assume he was influenced by this radio series you've mentioned.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Sir Rhosis]

As most of these shows were adapted from prose works, I see it as Trek simply apllying tried and true themes within the SF field. Sam Peeples, as I recall, was an avid reader of SF, and owned an enviable collection of SF magazines from the golden age of SF.

Plus I think the commander/surgeon relationship goes beyond SF to literature of all stripes.

Sir Rhosis

 

[A beaker full of death]

Thanks for the responses. This was indeed an old radio show, and it did adapt several works of Heinlein, Bradbury... even Hubbard!
They're public domain, and available for download at http://www.archive.org/details/OTRR_Certified_Dimension_X

well worth a listen.

 

[Redfern]

Oh, "Dimension X" was an anthology program rather than serialized episodes focusing upon a single group of characters. Thanks for the clarification.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[A beaker full of death]

^ Right. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[RandyS]

Dimension X was first remade as a radio series called X Minus One, which ran from 1955 to 1958, the entirerity of which can also be found on OTR.

I see those series as less a forerunner of Star Trek (although I DO think Beaker's point is valid in the case of some individual stories), and more a forerunner of The Twilight Zone.

 

[bbailey861]

X Minus One and Dimension X are still played on Sirius/XM. I have listened to many of the stories and yes, there are 'themes/ideas' that have also found their way into Trek. As Redfern mentioned, it wouldn't surprise me either if some ideas made their way into Trek. Radio was very, very popular back then, and some ideas would have stuck in the brain.

 

[Mysterion]

Dimension X was first remade as a radio series called X Minus One, which ran from 1955 to 1958, the entirerity of which can also be found on OTR.

The radio station I worked at ran X Minus One. They did some really good stuff on that program. I especially remember an excellent adaptation of Heinlein's The Green Hills of Earth.

 

[Harvey]

Does the OP (or anyone else) have any individual stories in mind that might have been forerunners of the Star Trek format?

 

[Kelso]

"The Lost Race" maybe? It was more similar to an ep. of The Twilight Zone than Star Trek, but it's the first one that comes to my mind.

Sir Rhosis nailed it. Star Trek was heavily inspired by prose science fiction and Dimension X episodes were typically adapted directly from existing stories.

 

[A beaker full of death]

Does the OP (or anyone else) have any individual stories in mind that might have been forerunners of the Star Trek format?

No Contact comes immediately to mind - it's the one where a starship is going to try to penetrate the galactic barrier that has already claimed 5 ships. Meanwhile, an old crewmate of the captain's has stowed away aboard ship. A young up and coming officer has something to prove, for his father (also an old friend of the captain's) was lost on one of the lost ships. Off-duty, the captain and his confidante, the curmudgeonly ship's doctor, philosophize over the human condition and what the galactic barrier really represents.

Here's a great example:

Doc: What makes you think we can get through it?

Cap: Because we're ready for it. The others weren't. The entire hull is completely shielded with lead. We can crack through any radioactive cloud ever detected. Besides, we're equipped with some new UHF radio devices that should enable us to maintain radio contact with Earth. Nothing can happen, absolutely nothing!

Doc: Who are you trying to convince, Lewis?

Cap: Myself, I suppose. Smitty, five ships are missing, and men like Prentiss and Margudson and young Collier's father. I'm tired of seeing good men fed into that meat chopper.

Doc: Then why are we going?

Cap: We haven't any choice, Smitty. We're in a race. The kind of race where men and ships are expendable.

Doc: Well... at least it won't be boring. I'll have to play physician/morale builder and mother substitute for 112 slightly nervous men.

Cap: Heh. YOUR morale doesn't sound too good, Doctor.

Doc: As morale officer, I can state without fear of contradiction: it's terrible.
​

Maybe part of it is the delivery, but the episode really evokes both Star Trek pilots to me.

I recommend the version of No Contact on the first cd -- interestingly, they occasionally re-used scripts.

 

[ToddPence]

The term "tractor beam" was lifted directly from E.E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman novels.

 

[Sir Rhosis]

"The Cave of Night" (from X Minus One), based on the story by James E. Gunn, even has the phrase "Where no man has been before," referring to an astronaut in orbit about the Earth.

Sir Rhosis