X Minus 1X Minus 1

Old Time Radio Programs. X Minus 1.
Outstanding Sci fi series from the 50's.
A Must have for Otr Collectors.

X Minus 1 pages and links

PAGE 01.
PAGE 02
PAGE 03
Dimension X
X Minus 1 Nostalgia Pages Forum

This item is part of the collection: Old Time Radio

Author: X Minus 1
Keywords: Old Time Radio

Creative Commons license: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

Individual Files

Write a review Reviews

Downloaded 127,802 times Average Rating:

Reviewer: Beldapriest - - July 8, 2008
Subject: Yawn

Most of these are the beginnings of what would be some great stories. Very dated, actually kind of weak. The writers of some reputation are represented fairly well, yet most stories are just tired.

Reviewer: digitalzen - - June 7, 2008
Subject: Great Series for the Uninitiated

X minus 1 is a great sci-fi series with some really classic stories. They are not always Martian Ray Gun stories, but you will get a good dose of the retro sci-fi era, back in the good ole days when there was oxygen on Mars and Saturn was only a couple weeks travel away. The recording quality of almost all of these is excellent. If you are new to OTR, this is definitely one you want to check into.

Reviewer: robking - - May 1, 2008
Subject: Good stuff

I'm not normally a sci-fi fan. I listen mostly to Gunsmoke, Frontier Gentleman, and various horror series. I gave this one a shot, listening to Cold Equation first (after reading about it in the comments), and I think I'm hooked. Very well done series.

Reviewer: MDSys - - May 1, 2008
Subject: Great series

I live in Belgium and used to listen to "American forces network" radio when I was a kid (late 70's).They had a show called "midnight mysteries". Well it was a collection of old radio shows like "Johnny Dollar, The Whistler, ...
I recorded a few of these shows and listened to them for years until the taps were worn out.
Last year I accidentally discovered Archive.org and I love it.
X-Minus-1 has to be one of the best shows I've found here.
The stories are well written and acted. It doesn't matter that it's from the 50's.
Another great series is "Journey into Space".

Reviewer: someguy2 - - February 13, 2008
Subject: fav sci-fi OTR

I'm with you on Cold Equations for #1, TforThomas, that plot got to me. Absolute no-win scenario.

I'd put C-Chute #2 just cause I like that geeky guy's voice and how his hobby was handy sort of like Flight of the Phoenix.
He's good in Pictures don't lie too.
Reminds me of Les Nessman, WKRP. :)

Norman Rose is a killer narrator voice in Colony.
All of these are worth hearing. Don't bother picking, check 'em all out!
I've heard most about 6 times.

When will modern production pick up on what was great!?
When will sci-fi audio-shows make a comeback?

Reviewer: XMinusOne - - January 25, 2008
Subject: If you're going to rate the episodes......

While I appreciate the ratings, if I were a potential listener, I wouldn't know how to take the them. What is the criteria for the episode being three stars, or however many? The potential listener doesn't know if you liked (or disliked) the show because of the plot, it being a rehash of similar but better shows, good or bad writing (or action, or sound effects). I personally think X Minus 1 is a great series because it generally has above average story lines with well crafted scripts, they're mostly believeable, even when far-fetched, the acting is above average, and because I like science fiction; but even as a fan of the series and being familiar with the episodes, you would better get my attention to re-listen to episodes by (instead of saying it gets 2 stars out of 5 or 5 stars out of 5) giving a one-line sentence (or less) capsule summary and saying "2 stars out of 5 because it's an old story line" or "the plot's not realistic even for science fiction", or "poor acting, no sense of emotion", or "a a slow plot that drags until an unexpected closing sequence and an in-your-face surprise ending."
minute with an unexpected . To simply say 2 out of 5 is like would be like saying Nolan Ryan is a better baseball player than Ted Williams, or that Norman Mailer is a better writer than Madam Curie was a scientist.

Reviewer: TforThomas - - January 24, 2008
Subject: X Minus 1

Rating these for my own re-listening convenience, thought I'd post these as a guide to any first-time listeners looking for a place to start.. Just my opinions though.

550825_ColdEquations [5 stars]
550901_Shanghaied [4 of 5 stars]
551103_HelloTomorrow.mp3 [3 of 5 stars]
551130_TheVitalFactor.mp3 [4 of 5 stars]
551221_MarionettesInc.mp3 [3 of 5 stars]
551228_ALogicNamedJoe.mp3 [4 of 5 stars]
560104_TheRoadsMustRoll.mp3 [4 of 5 stars]
560208_C-Chute.mp3 [5 stars, Isaac Asimov]
560307_AGunForDinosaur.mp3 [5 stars]
560314_TunnelUnderTheWorld.mp3 [5 stars]

Reviewer: JonCorry - - December 18, 2007
Subject: Great Stuff

I found X Minus One when I was a child when it was played on saturday nights on a local radio program called Golden Age of Radio Theatre. I was thrilled to find these here and that they were all available. This show really is top notch, and the writing and acting is great. This is a classic and I'm glad that it is available here for all to fall in love with it, as I did.

Reviewer: naaier - - July 28, 2007
Subject: MP3 bit-rate note

Edit: Removed note about shows being in 32Kbps rather than 64Kbps--Looks like only the very first episode is encoded at 32Kbps.

Reviewer: tomwsmf - - August 2, 2006
Subject: Everything old is new again

We think of our situation in the world as a unique artifact of time and place, but here we can see this just is not so. The current state of media is 90% of it is pewp on ice and the remaining 10% ranges from watchable to jaw dropingly good.

It was the same for radio. Much of it was soap operas, rehashed crime drama (CSI:1950 anyone?) and various serialized branded shows that where commericials with cute characters.

In the 10% there was DimX and X-1. Just look at the talent that was being used as story crafters. It is a testiment to their great works that even having been rewritten for the radio the stories still shined.

Some of the incidental music in these series can sound corny as all get out to our ears, but even that cant diminish the shows.

The lasting mark these shows have had over the decades can be seen not only in the traditional SF world but also in homages such as Commander Hoek and Cadet Stimpy.

All in all these two series are Must Listen Radio (tm) for any and all OTR lovers.

-tomhiggins

Reviewer: Lonesome Cowboy Bill - - June 9, 2006
Subject: Woot!

I haven't heard many of these since the 1970's, when a CBC program, "As It Happens" broadcast many different examples of OTR...it's strange to hear 1987 considered to be the future....


Much thanks to the person who posted these!

Reviewer: Hythe - - February 24, 2006
Subject: Thank you X Minus 1 Fairy!

I'm not entirely clear who dumped these file here, but thank you! There can not ever be enough OTR on the net. God, I love anachronism!

I have almost the entire run of "Quiet, Please...," an OTR spook-fest far superior to X Minus 1 - if I hear from people, I'll try to dump it on the archive. sungreenleaves verizon net

Reviewer: macwizuk - - February 15, 2006
Subject: Real Sci-fi

It is more than a notch above your normal OTR sci-fi. Such stuff is often cops n robbers or cowboys n indians in space. But this is genuine thought provoking sci-fi. You'll find Clifford D Simak, Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinelein and others here. Don't fill your ipod with GBytes of songs from iTunes... this is much more interesting.
All I need now is some DimensionX.

Reviewer: biginjapan - - December 1, 2005
Subject: Thank you for making this available

This is such a great radio series, and the sound quality is top-notch. This is essential listening for any sci-fi fan and OTR fan alike. I hope that more high quality OTR is on the way (Pat Novak perhaps?)