Dystopian SF drama (gets my attention starting off with a bit of Jerry Goldsmith's music from "The Invaders" episode of TZ) with enough idiosyncracy to be a bit more than just a pale imatation of Brave New World. Society is, of course, rigidly stratified and the elite are expected to be emotionally stunted and live a controlled, carefully monitored, life... The threat of interplanetary war, with one of the characters in the position of being able to start an apocalyptic war, is an interesting added element. Not bad.

A future version of Earth is concerned with balance and a class system that suppresses free thought and questions that seek real understanding. The son of a group one couple is asking such questions and risks reclassification to the lowest group. His father too remembers what that phase was like and encourages balance. Their notions of balance are challenged and they search for a truth they don't fully understand.

A fairly decent story about doing what is expected of you vs. what you want. I wondered if any of them were really "in balance".

I really enjoy these adaptions and new sound plays. The gentlemen who commented before me appears to be very "up" on the nature of the ways of the world. Since 1975, I have been listening to these productios. All in all, I have great pleasure turning in to the broadcasts. Rock on! Thanx.

Not as unrealistic as one might think. This could be the future if society keeps on evolving in the direction it is. Right now, if you're not "happy" you go to therapy to be "fixed" and they put a "psych" label on you. They are already talking about altering the brain to eliminate "disturbing" thoughts. Religions and societal structures have always sought to suppress human emotions that are considered "wrong" or "impure." So are we really so far off from a society like the one depicted in this episode? It is a bit frightening because this could be the future.

I just couldn't listen to this entire episode...it was very annoying especially the little girl in a grown woman's body voice of the actress who played leela...not nails on a chalkboard level but damn close...just want to tell her to stfu

Outstanding episode. Exceptional performance by Larry Haines. What an incredible medium is radio, that we can rediscover these programs like time capsules decades and decades later.

From the title,sounds like another version of The Twilight Zone episode entitled ' The Obsolete One' starring the late Burgess Meredith & Fritz Weaver.

The episode covers too many plot tropes in its post-religious dystopian future, i.e. 1. Search for meaning in post-religious world 2. Love is forbidden/Love between classes is forbidden 3. Arranged Marriages in Upper Classes (called franchise here) 4. Lower Classes are free-er and happier 5. Preferred disconnect between parents and children 6. Threat of annihilation 7. Upper Class having mistresses in Lower Class (not so unique to Sci-Fi!) There are a couple of other tropes, but those would start to go into spoiler territory. Also, there is somewhat of a non sequitur in the last act along w/some dropped plot elements, but, again, going into details would obviously go into spoiler territory.