CBSRMT Episode Information Next Episode

Title

The Hole in the Sky

Plot

Forced to take on a job smuggling contraband, an ace pilot must take a short-cut through a dangerous wormhole to get to his destination on schedule.

Episode

0978

Air Dates

  • First Run - May 9, 1979
  • Repeat - October 5, 1979

Actors

Writer

Listen

Rating

112
91     21


9 Responses to Episode 0978

Really enjoyed this episode. Great premise. I enjoyed the references to the Bermuda Triangle as he tried to come up with an explanation for the "Hole". I also enjoyed the entire sequence as Joe diverted the patrol ships away from his destination. The "Passage" was extremely well executed, too. "Curly" was a great character. I could picture a completely bald, overweight, sweaty, slimey guy behind a space bar-- something just slightly less green than Jabba-the-Hutt. One of the fun things about listening to RMT-- is listening for and trying to identify all the "doubling--up" performed by the actors to cover all the roles. This one was completey symmetrical-- with Joan Shea, Earl Hammond and Russell Horton each preforming dual roles. The whole idea of Roger fulfilling an alien prophecy was a clever twist and the possibilty he was simply lost in his own mind was a nice open-ended way for the tale to conclude. It might also explain why his friends and associates seemed to "reappear" in this "other" world. Magda become "Dinara" a more thoughtful, responsible woman-- more concerned with the welfare of others than her own selfish desires. Joe became "Ardi"-- still a trusted and loyal friend-- sticking by him 'til the bitter end. And Curly, was still the bad guy, becoming the "Censor" threatening more than just his material existence, this time. Great Sci-Fi choice.......

Raffy

Like this episode..it has a real fantasy feel to it.

Brian

Roger Thorp, who makes a living flying illegal goods to distant planets, reluctantly agrees to take a cargo of women’s cosmetics (considered contraband) to the planet Bacchus. To reach Bacchus in the required six days means flying through the dreaded hole in the sky, something like the Bermuda Triangle. Thorp's been through it once before and is almost certain no one can make it twice

Adam

This has been one of my favorite audiodramas since childhood, as somehow we kept a copy on cassette. It's admittedly a little corny but I will always love it - what great imagery. So thrilled to find the ENTIRE SERIES here at CBSRMT!!! <3 <3 <3

CarrieW

A retread science fiction trope, but still fun to listen. An Earth spaceman is intercepted by a supposedly advanced civilization that uses radio, and a 'landing beam' to zap him out of space, but then they turn into a medieval Roman Empire type suppressed society ruled by an autocrat where the people are waiting for a prophesy to be fulfilled of a savior to drop out of the sky in a bird and give them government by the people Ala democracy. It was done by Star Trek, Doctor Who, and H.G. Wells The Time Machine, as well as numerous 1950's B-science fiction shows. In addition CBS Mystery Theater even makes glaring errors showing that they have poor knowledge of science. Roger in explaining the hole states that stars billions of light years apart like Polaris and Orion, Taurus and Ursa Major are right there in the hole. Although Polaris IS a star the other three are constellations consisting of about a dozen stars in a group. Also those 'stars' are much closer together than billions of light years, being rather a couple of hundred light years apart, roughly speaking. Ironically Polaris is even in the constellation Ursa Minor, which is a neighbour of Ursa Major, and Taurus is a neighbour of Orion since the hunter Orion is shooting his arrow at Taurus. And I have no idea why the writer called the Sun a red dwarf star, when even science class dropouts know the Sun is a medium yellow star. But enough of my rant.

D.C.

Well, actually the sun is a white dwarf, but it looks yellow through the atmosphere. Supposedly, the sun will become a red giant star in the future and swallow the earth. (Hopefully, people will have colonized other worlds by then.) So if this science fiction story takes place billions of years in the future, the sun would be red, but not a dwarf. :D

Amy

Correction: the sun is not a white dwarf. It's a yellow dwarf, but it's actually all the rainbow colors mixed together, which appear to our eyes as white (from space). But on earth, it appears yellow through he atmosphere.

Amy

Almost all sci-fi on CBSRMT is wonky and scientifically out of date since most of these stories weren't by contemporary writers but by folks whose writing heyday was the 1950s.

Joey

“Men shouldn’t really wear any”. Haha. I guess Roger Thorp wasn’t woke. Even thousands of years in the future.

Dave


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