A Planet in Peril: Space Patrol (November 20, 1954)

“A Planet in Peril” is an episode of Space Patrol, the old-time radio show, first broadcast November 20, 1954. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

Play Space Patrol free: the episodes out so far, or subscribe in any podcast app.

What happens

Buzz Corry and Happy are on a mission of exploration when they find a planet whose people are ruled by robots, enforced by a small group of human administrators. After freeing several hundred enslaved workers from a labor camp, Buzz and Happy are heading for another planet, Gormak. Meanwhile, the administrators learn that the escaped workers have seen a robot spaceship turned from its course, and they plan to round up the runaways. Buzz and Happy later examine a robot control station on the ruined city of Warmark, where they begin to puzzle out the symbols on the panel. The story is told in an old-time radio serial format.

A planet ruled by robots, the robot-controlled capital of Gobanik City, the ruined city of Warmark, and a forest hideout of anti-robot resistance fighters, in a solar system 50,000 light years from the sun.

Characters: Buzz Corry, Happy, Robinar, Deruga, Roknar, Marno, Mono, Commander Corry

Listen for: Listen for Buzz and Happy working out the robot control panel at Warmark, and for the administrators' plan to round up the escaped workers from the forest.

Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.