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A Thousand Maybe Worlds

Two non-experts work their way through the entire available run of the old time radio anthology X Minus One (X-1) with occasional guests.
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A Thousand Maybe Worlds
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Now displaying: 2015
Dec 30, 2015

We explore a goofy premise well executed in Isaac Asimov's "Nightfall"...usually I try and pick three things that happen, but mostly we just try and figure out how this story happens. And yet, we kind of liked it.

Richard parsed out a 7.75 and Ryan a flat 7.

 

Find us on Facebook, follow us on twitter @1000MaybeWorlds, email us at athousandmaybeworlds@gmail.com, rate us on iTunes and leave a written review why not?

Dec 25, 2015

This week we (eventually) tackle X Minus One's erstwhile Elon Musk taking on space travel. Richard gets what he wished for Monkey Paw style; we discuss the relative lack of merit in poorly formed internet debates about economics, and we wonder out loud if engineers move in herds. It's 4s all around as we decide that's the worst thing we can say about an episode.

Find us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter @1000MaybeWorlds, email us at athousandmaybeworlds@gmail.com, rate us on iTunes and while you're at it, try your hand at a written review. You might be the Mark Twain of iTunes reviews.

Dec 16, 2015

We take on a Bradbury two-fer that may not have actually happened and definitely contains both the X Minus One intro and part of the Dimension X intro. In the combining spirit we get the house death of "There Will Come Soft Rains" and the killer kid invasion story "Zero Hour" where we don't mention The Whispers once because we didn't know it was a show based on "Zero Hour" when we recorded the episode.

Topics include narrative GIFs, more neglectful parents, and Godzilla.

Combined ratings go to Richard with an 8 and Ryan with a 7.

Find us on facebook, follow us on Twitter @1000MaybeWorlds, email us at athousandmaybeworlds@gmail.com, rate us on iTunes and while you're there why not write a review? Maybe something awesome will happen. Who is to say it won't?

Dec 9, 2015

Today we learn that aliens have a bad grasp of the idea of 'quarantine' and 'warning' as we travel into the Outer Limit. On deck is people bad at science, weird alien morality, the Fantastic Four, and Richard all but invites you to sucker punch him.

Ryan suffered from fatigue giving it a 5, Richard liked the characters enough to give it a 6.

Find us on facebook, follow us on Twitter @1000MaybeWorlds, email us at athousandmaybeworlds@gmail.com, rate us on iTunes and while you're there, why not sucker punch us with a written review?

Dec 2, 2015

Since Ryan doesn't know why his files are too big, we need to make a mini episode to fill a five-Wednesday December. This month we play "Who Wore it Best," comparing stories adapted by other radio anthologies. Up first is Escape's version of "Mars is Heaven" from 1950. We discuss story efficiency, pointless town hall meetings, and who not to reveal your misgivings to.

Find us on facebook, follow us on Twitter @1000MaybeWorlds, email us at athousandmaybeworlds@gmail.com, rate us on iTunes and while you're there, leave us a review. You can say who reviews X Minus One episodes better...

Nov 25, 2015

Ted makes his triumphant return for another Bradbury where people return from Mars to find a strange family. The finer points of the robot revolution are discussed, Ryan still doesn't know how food works, and Richard announces something that's been happening for six months in his new segment People from the Future who Don't Know What Happened in the Past.

Richard gave it a 4.75

Ryan gave it a 4

Ted suggested disturbing things regarding antennae...

Find us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter @1000MaybeWorlds, email us at athousandmaybeworlds@gmail.com, rate us on iTunes and why not leave a written review? All the cool kids are doing it...

Nov 18, 2015

We go underground for the first of our bunker tales. We discuss people bad at their jobs, the old paper and pencil game Paranoia, and terrible last lines.

Richard gave it a 5.5 but Ryan needs to watch you experience that last line, giving it a 3.5 in an issue of how to rate the bottom episodes that will not be settled this episode.

Find us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter @1000MaybeWorlds, email us at athousandmaybeworlds@gmail.com, rate us on iTunes and while you're there, why not write us a review? What's the worse that could happen?

Nov 11, 2015

An old man enlisting carnies to go into space--what could go wrong? Ryan achieves the impossible, Richard contemplates libertarianism without the hatred of the poor, and we discuss how many cylinders are too many cylinders.

Ryan was charmed to an 8, Richard gives it a rounded up 7.

Find us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter @1000MaybeWorlds, email us at athousandmaybeworlds@gmail.com, rate us on iTunes...tell a friend about us...I mean, if you feel like it...

Nov 4, 2015

We get our first mis-delivery episode as a nervous man gets a kit to build a man and promptly makes a clone of himself that is brimming with confidence, including the confidence to do away with his nervous self. The word 'nebbish' gets used a lot, Richard asks for another impression recasting, we can't remember the names of things, and we wax on about a lost episode again.

We both give it a 7.

Find us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter @1000MaybeWorlds, email us at athousandmaybeworlds@gmail.com, rate us on iTunes and while you're there, why not leave a review? All the cool kids are doing it...

Oct 28, 2015

Earth has its first encounter with aliens in the vastness of space and then runs into a problem of what to do next. It's a first contact without Vulcans, Picard, or "Spirit in the Sky"...including Ryan's disappointment that it's not the version with the bombastic captain, a general admiration of the competent crew members, and a lengthy coda about things that need words. Did I leave it on because I'm lazy or because I couldn't find a clean cut? You decide...

Ryan lands another 7.5 and Richard goes for 8.5

Find us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter @1000MaybeWorlds, email us at athousandmaybeworlds@gmail.com, rate us on iTunes and why not leave us a review while you're at it. There might be cookies...

 

 

...there won't be cookies, but leave a review anyway.

Oct 23, 2015

I went to a wedding, then a birthday party, then at the last second decided to celebrate Back to the Future Day, but better late than never, right? Right?

 

Aaaaannyway...Ray Bradbury takes us back to Mars and reveals that Ryan doesn't know much about poetry, confuses Bradbury stories named from poems (despite his insistence, the house dying episode is a different poem...) and Richard proposes the idea of Wonder Fatigue.

Richard lands at an 8 and Ryan gave it a 7.5

Find us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter @1000MaybeWorlds, email us at athousandmaybeworlds@gmail.com, rate us on iTunes and maybe leave a review or two.

Oct 14, 2015

More stranded aliens and another contentious doctor/commander relationship while we contemplate an intergalactic Improv Everywhere, a brief thought on a CW version, and Richard makes the case for Coneheads.

Ryan gives it an 8

Richard landed on 7.5

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Oct 7, 2015

We slog through a western in space where the subtlety in allegory gives way to a giant hammer of obvious. Mistakes were made, Ryan comes dangerously close to achieving his goal, and we discuss the value of doing a bad job well.

Fives all around.

Find us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter @1000MaybeWorlds or email us at athousandmaybeworlds@gmail.com

Sep 30, 2015

Well, it's what's on the tin. We go spelunking to find a deeper meaning in a regular ol' story set in space. As usual, this means a visit to Richard's reading corner and an exploration of the non-existent "episode two" of this X-1 episode.

Ryan gave it a 5.5

Richard gave it a begrudging 4.02 (4...he really gives it a 4)

Find us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter @1000MaybeWorlds, email us at athousandmaybeworlds@gmail.com, rate us on iTunes, leave a review. It's what the cool kids would do.

Sep 23, 2015

We finally cover an episode we keep talking about and proceed to not talk much about the otr X-1 episode "Cold Equations." A rambling discussion about ethics and science fiction story telling, adult stories and a lot of gushing. Can we make a good episode out of a good episode, listen and find out.

10s all around.

Find us on facebook, follow us on Twitter @1000MaybeWorlds, email us at athousandmaybeworlds@gmail.com, rate us on iTunes and maybe write a review.

Sep 16, 2015

What if Wheaton's Law was enforced by a deadly disease? We explore that idea discussing the X-1 episode "Courtesy" by Clifford Simak. Topics range from plot convenient deaths, an entire culture overreacting as one, and perhaps one of the biggest jerk characters we've had so far. Plus Richard makes the case for Clifford Simak.

Ryan gave it a 6.5

Richard gave it a 7.5

Find us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter @1000MaybeWorlds, email us at athousandmaybeworlds@gmail.com rate us on iTunes...tell someone on the bus about us.

Sep 9, 2015

This week we talk about the otr X-1 episode "Almost Human," gangsters and robots, the author of Psycho, Pinocchio and Frankenstein and what makes a good robot story, we invite our listeners to speculate on how different directors would approach the story, and halfway through demanding an Iron Giant musical we halfass our way through an Almost Human musical. All in one episode! We're back, baby!

We both gave it a 4.

Find us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter @1000MaybeWorlds, or email us at athousandmaybeworlds@gmail.com, see our blog posts related and otherwise a thesandwichmachine.blogspot.com.

Sep 2, 2015

So, every once in a while there are five Wednesdays in a month, and we're a small podcast that can only afford storage for four, especially when we get chatty. But we don't want to leave you hanging for the week, so here are some outtakes as Ryan tries his best to get the hosts talking to adjust their levels.

Subjects include the legitimacy of probiotics, Richard's culinary inventions and novel health product, some awful covers of various songs, and the science of butt wiping. You're warned...We'll be back in full force next week with the killer robot tale, "Almost Human."

Google would not reveal the Iron Man or Elmer Fudd comedian, so if you know, let us know!

Find us on facebook, follow us on twitter @1000MaybeWorlds, email us at athousandmaybeworlds@gmail.com, rate us on iTunes, tip your waitstaff.

Aug 26, 2015

Kids, right? We quibble on whether Bradbury's poetry in the text can overcome issues with the story, on who is the worst about 'kids these days,' and how your iPad is going to lead to your kids feeding you to a lion. Or something.

Richard gave it a 6.5

Ryan gave it a 3

Aug 19, 2015

In this episode we answer the question, "What if The Parade was kind of boring?" Richard spoils an unrelated Clifford Simak story and talks about Barney Miller, we lament the early demise of Iron Man Dugan, and we start to establish a "bell curve" to our ratings.

We both gave it a 4.

Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter @1000MaybeWorlds, email us at athousandmaybeworlds@gmail.com

Aug 12, 2015

So...funny story, I (Ryan) uploaded 9 and 10 out of order, so here's 9 in the 10 slot, "Doctor Grimshaw's Sanitorium." Ryan talks about which radio crime fighter should have been in the episode and Richard discusses how much he hates shrinky stories. And some other stuff...listen to find out!

We both hated it, I just don't remember how much.

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Aug 5, 2015

Before Terminator, before Maximum Overdrive, there was Nightmare. In which we discuss how exactly telephone wires act like tentacles, Ryan talks at length about Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar and The Lion's Eye, Richard talks about St. Elsewhere, both speculate wildly about the careers of two writers we know virtually nothing about based on ten episodes of a sci fi anthology, and occasionally we discuss this episode and whether or not it really happened.

Also, we start to hone our arbitrary scoring system

Richard's Rating 3

Ryan's Rating 4

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Jul 29, 2015

Episode 8 sees Richard and Ryan gushing about space-themed folk songs, Ryan tries to redeem himself from not liking "Universe," and Richard has a word or two about objectivists.

Richard's Rating 10

Ryan's Rating 10

Find us on facebook, follow us on Twitter @1000MaybeWorlds, email us at athousandmaybeworlds@gmail.com

Jul 22, 2015

Richard and Ryan slog through the OTR science fiction anthology X-1's killer doll from outer space story where they discuss odd voice acting choices, the worst plan yet, and the cruelest death so far. Other topics include a question Ryan has about Leave it to Beaver, hating the episode so much that they get a character's age wrong, cynical 18-year-olds, and Richard comes up with perhaps the most disturbing analogy.

Richard's Rating 2.5

Ryan's Rating 2

Find us on facebook, follow us on twitter @1000MaybeWorlds, email us at athousandmaybeworlds@gmail.com

Jul 15, 2015

Richard pitches a CW show that stretches out a half hour short story for several seasons in a time before we knew The Whispers already did that with a different X-1 episode. Richard and Ryan celebrate a pragmatic protagonist in the face of the spectacular and discuss the ins and outs of moon colonies with all deference to Dan Harmon.

Richard's Rating 6.5

Ryan's Rating 6.5

Find us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter @1000MaybeWorlds email us at athousandmaybeworlds@gmail.com

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