William Mason stars in a Michael Healy story that is ultimately about abduction by alien life forms and their nefarious replacement of humans as they attempt to take over the world. It’s definitely not your typical Suspense story. It is low-level science fiction at a time when such topics were popular. There were attempts to mimic the success and style of television’s Twilight Zone, even on Suspense. Unfortunately, this production does not come close to measuring up to Suspense standards or that of TZ. If a classic radio enthusiast desires to spread their joy of the hobby to others, this episode should not be their first recommended listen.
The story begins with what we eventually learn is a ruse. Astronaut Thomas Manning believes he is sent on a space mission to investigate the disappearance of two previous astronauts. His wife, Mary, fears he will also disappear. When his vehicle gets to its desired distance he reports feeling a “blue rapture.” He sees something glowing and his spacecraft is heading toward it, and he loses control. Something must have happened, as he wakes up at the base hospital with a painful headache, exhausted. The reactions of his superiors to him, and especially by his wife, Mary, are strangely wooden, functional, essentially at arms-length. They don’t understand everyday little things about him that they should know because they’ve been with him for so long. He soon realizes something is seriously wrong. He escapes the hospital and heads home where he sees Mary again. She is very cold to seeing him; she treats him like almost like an acquaintance. She warns him to get away, and the military personnel arrive to take him away. He protests… and is carted away. But there is a different Major Manning already inside the house. The man they took away was the real Manning, but it seems everyone in the program has been replaced by aliens studying human life by taking the forms and appearance of individuals involved in the space effort. The replacements will clearly continue as they learn more and more about humans.
The program was recorded on Wednesday, September 5, 1962. The start and finish time of the session is not known.
This episode was originally planned to air on September 2.
Re-Entry was another Suspense episode about an astronaut who did not return. In that case, it was by choice because of the euphoria he felt on his mission and wanted to experience again. This is similar to the “blue rapture” described in this story.
Twilight Zone episodes that involve aliens infiltrating the population are the 1960 episodes The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street and People Are Alike All Over and the 1961’s Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up? The classic TZ about alien invasion is To Serve Man. The Suspense scripter most influenced by TZ was George Bamber.
This was author Michael Healy’s only Suspense script. He might be a “one-hit-wonder” for whom this was his only radio script and there are no indications of other writing in print or other media.
Maurice Tarplin of Mysterious Traveler fame plays a newscaster in this story named… Maurice Tarplin.
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https://archive.org/details/TSP620909
THE CAST
William Mason (Maj. Thomas Manning), Tony Darnay (Mary Manning), Reynold Osborn [Ted Osborn] (Col. Alvin Marks), Herbert Duncan (Lieutenant, Driver), Maurice Tarplin (Newsman Tarplin), Bill Lipton (Countdown Voice, Guard), Bill Smith (Doctor)
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