Santos Ortega and Bob Readick star in a Robert Arthur script that is another “extraterrestrials are warning us to be good or else” stories (the intergalactic equivalent of “don’t you kids make me turn around while I’m driving”).
It has been believed that this is a re-use of a Robert Arthur script, but it does not seem to be. There is a Mysterious Traveler episode I Died Last Night, but it is a very different story. Yet, it has been assumed in some research that the Suspense script was the same as the MT one, just with a title change. A recording of the MT episode is not available. Arthur’s proven reputation for “recycling” in MT and Sealed Book and Strange Dr. Weird means you have to be careful before assuming use on other series like Suspense was an extra use. Detecting these was not always possible in previous research, but now there are many more resources, such as online newspaper archives. The I Died Last Night plotline in MT has some curious dialogue detailed in the episode publicity picked up by newspapers. A detective asks a suspect if they killed their brother. The suspect responds “Kill my brother? How could I? I died last night!” Spooky. Definitely not this Suspense episode.
The reason for this episode’s title becomes clear in the conclusion of the story. A lowly garage mechanic goes prospecting one day near Bakersfield, California. He discovers a promising vein of ore and decides to use dynamite to blow a hole in a ridge. As he lights the fuse, a large spaceship appears. He puts out the fuse, and the dynamite in unexploded (remember this; it’s the spoiler of the story). An alien emerges and starts talking to him telepathically. He’s from a planet fifteen light years away, and they became concerned because of the atom bomb explosions in Japan. They decide that since earthlings can’t behave, they need to be eliminated. The alien brings the mechanic along for a “tour of inspection” that will provide the information needed to decide the fate of the Earth people. They see an amusement park, a parade, people trying to escape over the Berlin Wall, and what is presumably a Russian atomic test. The alien was okay with it all as a display of happiness and vitality, until the atomic test. It is decided to take a drastic measure, starting with destroying major cities. Learning that the ship can travel in time, the mechanic has an idea. He asks to return to the place and time where he was when the ship arrived. When the ship arrives, the mechanic is still inside and… he has the dynamite he was going to use for his prospecting. The ship blows up, the alien is dead, and the mechanic is thrown free. He suffers a broken ankle and some bruises, but and warns listeners that they have 15 years (remember the 15 light years distance) before another ship arrives to find out what happened and evaluate Earth’s suitability to pass their evaluation. Had he not acted the way he did in the time travel, everyone would have died the night before. Hence, the title. The mechanic saved the world, but the clock is ticking.
The story is at best mediocre and another drifting off the traditional suspenseful path into science fiction, something that was much better done by NBC in Dimension X and X Minus One. Zirato may have believed there was greater interest in these kinds of stories in light of the current events and interest in the “space race.” It did not result in compelling radio.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP620401
THE CAST
Santos Ortega (“Tony” [the telepathic alien]), Robert Readick (Joe [the mechanic])
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