Classic Horrors Club

Writer | Mann Rubin
Director | Don Medford
Air Date | April 18, 1952

As “Time to Go” opens, Natalie (Sylvia Sidney, whom I’ve never seen in any movie or TV show when she was young… or younger) barricades the front door with furniture and frantically tries to reach her husband, Michael (Ed Peck) on the telephone. He packed his bags and left her earlier in the day and demands an explanation for her hysteria.

Via flashback, we learn that she made a bad investment in a new bank, not of money, but of time. Yes, in this non-defined era, you can actually take the time you save in your daily life and invest it in a bank with the promise you’ll get it back with interest. The transaction is similar to one you’d make at a more traditional institution, though: you should read the fine print on your contract.

Had she read it, she would have known that at any time the bank could “call the loan” and collect all the time left in Natalie’s life, leaving her… expired. That’s exactly what happens when the banker, Mr. Tickton (Robert H. Harris) explains that he’s sending the deposits to his home planet a million light years away so his race will have more time to rebuild it.

The science in this fiction is that the alien scientists have discovered how to use time like electricity. And when the pace at which his planet is deteriorating increases, Mr. Tickton needs all the time he can get and investors in his bank start dropping; hence, the barricades and Natlie’s attempts to reach her husband… not that it will ultimately help her. 

After last week’s episodes, here’s an original idea executed very well. The story includes all kinds of ironies. Natalie is Type A and never rests, much less allows her husband to rest. She’s all about saving time. She’s the perfect mark for a personalized invitation to invest in the bank. Then, I won’t spoil it, but the ending… the way Natalie meets her fate… may be heavy handed, but it’s also perfect.

Written by | Irving Elman
Original Play by | Theodore R. Cogswell
Director | Don Medford
Air Date | May 2, 1952

In “Red Dust,” a crew of astronauts heads home to Earth following a journey to Alpha Centauri. They had to leave a couple people behind, but such is the cost of science. They discovered big shining cities, but no life. However, the entire place was covered with a layer of red dust… dust which is tracked into their rocket ship and seems to be growing… a “weird sort of radioactive life.”

The dilemma is, knowing that the dust will likely continue to grow and “infect” the entire planet when the ship returns to Earth, do they continue forward, or do they destroy the ship to save the world? Predictably, but not in a bad way, there’s a disagreement among the four astronauts and some feel strongly about their vote… so strongly that they’d kill one of their team members to ensure it wins.

Dr. Davidson (Fred Stewart) is the most level-headed. He listens to both sides and even changes his opinion along the way. Kurt (Lex Barker) doesn’t believe in suicide, so wants the trip to continue. Neither does he want Earth to die, though. He tells Dr. Davidson that he’s a scientist; he and his peers can solve the problem. He then dangles in front of him the possibility of fame and fortune if he’s the one that does it.

Charlie (Skedge Miller) is so overwhelmed by the gravity of the decision that he throws himself out of the airlock. That leaves Duncan (Robert Patten) opposite Kurt with the glib observation, “Who wants to live longer than 50?” That’s now three people, two on opposing sides, and poor Dr. Davidson in the middle as a tie breaker. What if… and I’m not saying it does…

…something happened to Kurt and Duncan and Dr. Davidson is left to decide all on his own? This is the kind of drama that’s part of the best science fiction, when it’s about more than spaceships and aliens. There must be characters and issues to fight over. It’s something with which we human beings can relate. It gives us a stake in the decision, as well as makes us wonder… what would we do?