The crew of a spaceship is given orders to travel to a distant planet and retrieve an old man marooned on the planet. The problem: the old man doesn't want them on "his" planet and threatens to reign down the biblical plagues of Egypt on them if they don't leave. This is an entertaining episode, somewhat reminiscent of Shakespeare's "The Tempest" and the 50's film "Forbidden Planet," which was a sci-fi adaptation of the Shakespeare play. My only gripe: one actor plays the voice of two of the crew members but his voice is too distinct to convince us they are separate characters. Genre: Science-Fiction

I originally taped it back in the day, '81 or so. I liked it a lot. Another religious theme and coupled with space/science fiction, but it worked. I wonder in today's society how many people would actually know about and understand the plagues? But it showed how teamwork and a common enemy bonded the crew, so there is that lesson too.

oh nice!

I was reminded of the EC "Weird Science" comic book as I listened to this story. I wish we had had a scene in which the magician had conceded his trickery. It is interesting that the crew members came to hate, and even kill, each other in less than 3 years. Won't a mission to Mars take that long or longer? I hope we don't have a repeat; that would be big waste of taxpayer dollars!

Five Star episode - Great Sci-Fi with many points of thought and debate.

With original commercials intact.

I rate this episode ★★★★☆ for GOOD. An interesting Sci-Fi concept, written by Henry Slesar, but it was predictable. Taking references from a Biblical story and put it into a futuristic tale. New sceneries, but same situations. Another way to title this story would be “Planet Loneliness” or “The Marooned Magician” or “Moses Of The 21st Century.” In our Host’s Prologue, E.G. Marshall jumps right into the location of where this story is going to take place: an alien planet named A-15. In ACT-1, the story begins at the U.S. Space Command in 2065 A.D. Once the characters have dealt with a plague, our Host compares it to Exodus 7:17. In ACT-2, the 4 men crew have to deal with one marooned magician. After many attempts, will be there be a captain left? In ACT-3, the Captain is compared to Ramses who refuses to show his fear. In the end, after coming back from the mission, our main character dealt with the 11th Plague: Loneliness. In his Epilogue, E.G. Marshall hopes that CBSRMT will still be around and these mystery stories will relate to new generations of listeners. E.G. Marshall’s narrations were both helpful and enlightening. Sound effects of background beeping noises of the spaceship, rocket blast off, helicopter, running footsteps, fighting grunts, clunk to the head, hard rain pouring, laser blasts, insects soaring, and doors were supportive. And the music was highly supportive. A collection of Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Supernatural tracks that brought tension to the story. The cast in this was overall good: Russell Horton (as Captain Joel Taylor and Sergeant William Bart), Ian Martin (as Colonel Deagan and Lieutenant Carlos Esquilla), and Lloyd Battista (as Lieutenant Garret Flack and Corsini the Magician). Don’t get me wrong, these 3 actors have done terrific episodes before. The problem, was that they switched to their other character roles too quickly and back, making it difficult to figure out which actor is playing which character. There were 6 characters in this tale and CBSRMT could’ve made it easier if they had more actors to fill the parts. Such as Fred Gwynne, John Lithgow, and even add Himan Brown to play a small role. The story and cast was satisfying. The music, sound effects, and narrations were the best. SPECIAL BONUS: This has commercials of Denture Cushions, the 38th Golden Globe Awards, Pat Collins for Learning Disabilities, Pat Summerall for True Value Hardware, Maxwell House Coffee, Andy Williams for American Association of Blood Banks, Anne Miller for March of Dimes, Contact Cold Medicine, and Preparation H. Until next time…pleasant dreams.

Why give characters accents if none of the actors can do them believably?