Category: TV Terror Guide
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The Miraculous Serum/Appointment on Mars
Adapted by | Theodore SturgeonFrom a story by | Stnley G. WeinbaumDirector | Don MedfordAir Date | June 20, 1952 In Pittsburgh, a brilliant biochemist, Dr. Scott (Richard Derr) bursts in and says he needs a human subject for his test. He’s developed a serum that will cure almost anything. His boss. Dr. Bache (Louis…
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The Little Black Bag/All the Time in the World
Teleplay | Cyril M. KornbluthDirector | Charles S. DubinAir Date | May 30, 1952 Dr. Arthur Fulbright (Joseph Anthony) was responsible for the death of a patient and can never forgive himself. He’s led his wife, Angie (Vicki Cummings) into near-poverty and she won’t let him forget it. As a desperate means to make a…
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The Golden Ingot/World of Water
Teleplay | Max EhrlichStory | Fitz-James O’BrienAir Date | May 9, 1952 Prof. Vanya (Gene Lockhart) has been working for 15 years on an experiment to transform base metal into gold. His latest surefire tweak to the formula is a “secret catalyst” that he pours into the top of the oven after turning it on.…
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Time To Go/Red Dust
Writer | Mann RubinDirector | Don MedfordAir 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.…
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The Children’s Room/Flight Overdue
Writer | Mel GoldbergStory | Raymond F. JonesDirector | Don MedfordAir Date | Feb. 29, 1952 “The Children’s Room” is a variation on an earlier episode of Tales of Tomorrow, “A Child is Crying.” That is to say, in the context of the series, it doesn’t feel original. We’ve seen episodes with similar themes, but…
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What You Need/Age of Peril
Writer | Mel GoldbergStory | Henry KuttnerDirector | Charles S. DubinAir Date | Feb. 8, 1952 These days, if someone told me they had what I need, I’d think either I was being set up for a scam, they’d be peddling something I absolutely did not need, or they wouldn’t want to know what it…
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20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Writer | Max Ehrlich, Gail Ingram, Harry IngramBased on | the novel by Jules VerneDirector | Don MedfordAir Date | Jan. 25, 1952 and Feb. 1, 1952 The first episode of the one and only two-episode story on Tales of Tomorrow, an adaptation of the Jules Verne novel, Twenty Thousand Under the Sea, is missing.…
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Tales of Tomorrow: “Frankenstein” (1952)
Writer | Henry MyersBased on | the novel by Mary ShelleyDirector | Don MedfordAir Date | Jan. 18, 1952 For a 30-minute live television show from 1952 that now resides in the public domain, the “Frankenstein” episode of Tales of Tomorrow is not bad at all. In fact, it’s downright thrilling to see Lon Chaney,…
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The Invader/The Dune Roller
Writer | Robert Foshko and Mort ZarcoffDirector | Don MedfordAir Date | Dec. 12, 1951 Put an elder scientist, his son, and his assistant (who happens to be his daughter), together on a boat and it’s a recipe for drama, if not disaster. Dr. Burroughs (Edgar Stehli) disapproves of his son because instead of following…
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The Search for the Flying Saucer/Sneak Attack
Writer | Mel GoldbergDirector | Charles S. DubinAir Date | Nov. 9, 1951 Vic Russo (Jack Carter) arrives at Mother Walker’s Boarding House in Las Palmas, New Mexico (population 860), looking for a room. He’s followed newspaper headlines and other leads in search of proof that flying saucers exist. When he encounters the one man…