X Minus One

The Stars are the Styx (Dramatized)

By: Theodore Sturgeon

Length: 29 mins

Publisher's Summary

At a way-station for space colonists, a man whose job it is to match couples for the long journey instead finds himself falling in love. Based on a story by Theodore Sturgeon, this episode of X Minus One originally aired on July 24, 1956.

X Minus One premiered in April 1955 on NBC and ran until January 1958. Like its predecessor series, Dimension X, X Minus One featured stories by the greatest names in modern science fiction: Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, Clifford Simak, Robert Bloch, and many more.

Hear more science fiction dramatizations.

©2006 Radio Spirits Inc. (P)2006 Radio Spirits Inc.

Critic Reviews

"[X Minus One] brought current SF to radio, providing adaptations of many excellent new stories and thus allowing the public to appreciate the best science fiction available at the time." (Michael Ashley, The Time Machines: The Story of the Science-Fiction Pulp Magazines)

Way Station in the Stars

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This is a good story about commitment and friendship. I enjoyed it very much.

What did you like best about this story?

The story is about people out in the stars that no longer fit in at Earth. Before they can move on, they have to find a partner to go with them into the unknown. The overweight man named Chiron is in charge and he has a lovely assistant who is an albino. She is also looking for a partner. One man treats her like he is interested and then throws her aside for his original partner. Trouble is, the original partner doesn't want him anymore, so this man kills her new partner. Chiron protects his assistant but punishes the man in an unique way.

Have you listened to any of the narrator’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Don't recognize the actors in this production.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Chiron does the right thing and protects his assistant, who he loves deeply.

Space Western Love Triangle

The story starts promisingly with an intriguing setting, a way-station to the stars. But the setting is never explored or developed, just wasted on a silly love triangle story, with a "Western frontier" vibe. The ending takes a sudden melodramatic and needlessly violent twist to provide the action. Theodore Sturgeon usually does much better stories, so I was disappointed. This was probably a decent story before it got chopped up for radio.

No idea when this was made

But it’s old. It’s a 30 minute budget radio short story and I think, considering how old it is, is still worth a listen. I enjoyed it.