Houston we have a problem...a lady astronaut is jinxing the space flight!

The superstition and jinx part is pretty much resolved by the end of Act I. No could blame her for being abducted by aliens!!! Humans used as guinea pigs in alien experiments is an old science fiction concept. Science fiction, aliens.

A sci-fi take with the oft-used plot device of the superior beings deciding that the primitive earthlings may have hope after all.

Officially, my favorite episode of this series so far. This is a really cool sci-fi romp in which a three-person crew of two men and the first woman in space are on their way to dock with Skylab when they are taken captive by an invisible alien force. They become guinea pigs and are subjected to various "experiments," which the woman astronaut had foreseen in her dreams. If you can find it, give it a whirl. Definitely a throwback to X-Minus One and Dimension X. Plus, this might be the first radio drama I've heard about space travel that was made after we had been to the moon. For that matter, before we had even been in space. It's really fun.

Stereotypical woman in space... for a doctor she comes off as a hopeless ditz at times.... I liked it but agree that that the theme is cliched.

This tale could have been based on the "Groung control to Major Tom" song by David Bowie. It's a futuristic story that hits a little close to home given the two space shuttle disasters.

Bad SF. Sometimes bad SF is still good fiction but not, I think, in this case. The dialog, particularly the technical stuff, is not bad. A few lines stuck with me for different reaons. The female astronaut describes her forebodings using this phrase "I was getting the strongest ESP waves." Uh huh. The alien states that he comes from another galaxy. "From Centauri 7... A quintillion light years away". - Now I usually figure in cases like this that the writer simply doesn't understand the scale of things but this writer seems to recognize the meaning of light years and the extraordinary distance described. I like the quintillion figure. May not be quite right but sounds ballpark in cosmic terms. I must remember the line the alien uses to describe the accomodations for the 3 earthlings. "Two bedrooms. One for the spouses and one for the drone." I like the alien's description of how his people had landed on our world and encountered humans but " - did not consider the the specimens quite satisfactory." Betty and barney Hill? Threw 'em back. Travis Walton? Probed his butt and threw 'im back. Whitley Strieber? Threw him back... He landed on his head. It explains a lot.

A space mission with the first woman in space (Sally Ride?) is tormented by aliens they cannot see. Fantastic story with a spooky premise. Loses half a point for the prevailing discussion of women vs men.

Women's Lib hits outer space, but the "lady astronaut" gets cold feet when she feels the mission is jinxed, and that she is the source of the jinx. Upon achieving orbit, the ship is sucked into a time warp and the three astronauts are studied by the local intelligences that brought them there.

Fun story, but yes, awfully illogical science. To WHERE are the three astronauts hoping to escape? If they are on an alien planet, it's likely that outside their prison, the atmosphere (and perhaps even gravity) are nothing like on earth. They'd most likely die if they did escape. Even if they survived, HOW did they plan to return to earth? And WHAT did the aliens expect to learn from observing the captured astronauts that they couldn't learn simply by observing billions of Earthlings back on Earth?

Women's Lib hits outer space, but the "lady astronaut" gets cold feet when she feels the mission is jinxed, and that she is the source of the jinx. Upon achieving orbit, the ship is sucked into a time warp and the three astronauts are studied by the local intelligences that brought them there. This is one of those episodes that today is a little goofy and predictable. At the time though, it was pushing the equity and equality issue. Reminds me of a commercial I heard in some of the episodes about the femals college graduate being offered a job in the typing pool because she's pretty enough, etc. The beilevability factor in this one (and I'm pretty good at suspending disbelief) was low - first woman in space, would have to be bright and sensible... but prone to superstition, then turns out to be the strong bond in the group... seemed to vacillate too much for me. Otherwise it was a fun episode.

This episode is sort of a time capsule of some of the attitudes about women that were in the air in the 70's. On one hand, you have the liberation issue with the first woman astronaut. Even so, the writer can't but help include sexist comments and attitudes about her character. Thankfully, we've come a long way in 30 years. I enjoyed the pure sci-fi set-up of this episode, a rarity for the mystery theater. The story was not unlike the shows that X-Minus One and Dimension X used to do back in the 40's and 50's.

I picked up on the "Women's Lib" angle when I heard it as an adult. But that was secondary to me as I liked the story itself. I liked the fact that they never saw their tormenters. I thought it was good sci-fi. It is schlock for sure, but as I stated earlier, I liked that stuff and still enjoy hearing it.

I must confess this episode wasn't my cup of tea... While I like science fiction... even some that would fall into the category of cheesey... or campy (much of the original series Star Trek) I had a hard time getting past some of the writing in this episode. For example that scene where everyone winds up with a knife... ??? :? Anyway thank you for the listen. I can't remember ever hearing this episode before.

In listening to this show I was reminded of The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, Dimension X, etc. I especially like RMT episodes that go into genres other than horror and mystery. It was hard not to anticipate the ending of this show, because the whole theme of testing the human race and finding them just far enough above total scum to be worthy of existing has been done in so many sci-fi stories. But I liked the show because it was sci-fi and because the characters were believable. Radio transmissions and strange voices from space are effective in radio drama.

I agree with Janice M. that these are like the outer limits or some show like that. The one major thing I got out of this was the references to skylab (1 or 2 they never mentioned). Thats something I recall watching a lot when I was a kid, all the skylab stories. Anyways back on track, I thought the story was not the best sci-fi story ever aired on CBSRMT yet it was good. In essence it reminded me of some old movies I would watch as a kid like Forbidden Planet or The Day The Earth Stood still, not so much for the stories being the same or similar, but more for the feeling you get while listening to it, the feeling that we are not alone.

Those old sci-fi movies were what this episode reminded of. It didn't seem to be that popular with listeners here. Schlock is an acquired taste, I guess. Thanks for listening

I listened to this on a very busy Friday (August) the 1st and I LIKED it. TOTALLY different from what I was expecting. - Of all the RMT regular actors, Jack Grimes (who in the RMT's "Graven Image" played a San Jose based country music singer named Jody Barnes, or as he pronounced it: "Jody BAHnes") was the one I'd have picked "Least likely to play an alien"...but he didn't do badly. - I liked the "Navy/Marine" banter. (Anyone remember the Jack Nicholson flick "The last detail"? Sailors and marines can have lots of fun together in social gathering at times.) It appeared Ian Martin did some serious research into what mission control or at least astronauts might say. - All the actors had an "old time" radio feel about them...for some reason their voices sounded as if they could have been heard on a play 40 years earlier. Can't put my finger on it but it was good. - This sort of reminded me of an original Star Trek episode called "Arena"...where Captain Kirk met the lizard man.

women's lib was all over the place back then. most writers used a sledge hammer just like they did in this one. the slang used in the show really date it. i was told in 9th grade good writers don't use slang. i understand they were showing how hip they were by using it. i always cringe and hope i didn't sound that foolish back then. the slang now-a-days has the same effect on me. bling bling. :roll: outer limits did a better job with this plot but the sky lab part made it more real. the ESP waves the woman speaks of were also all over the place. star trek and IN SEARCH OF... always acted like it really existed. that makes the shows seem a bit childish to me now. i'm sure i ate it up at the time.

LOL The woman was useful because she'd brought her NAIL FILE! HAHAHAHA Oh, man. This is like a time warp of a time warp, like it could have been written in the 50's or 40's. Cringe-worthy, but a good romp.

Not the best episode and it seems like several of the actors didn't do many (in her case any) other episodes. Although I didn't have any problems with the voices, the episode, as mentioned, was very clichéd. Not the worst by any means, but definitely not the best, either.

I rate this episode ★★★★☆ for GOOD. Ian Martin wrote a tasteful Fantasy-Mystery where people escape to the unknown in outer space. Good plot points, main characters were well defined, climax was surprising, but the resolution-not so much. I wonder if CBSRMT writer Victoria Dann was inspired by Ian Martin's story, because in 1977, she wrote Ep. #0644-FIRST WOMAN IN SPACE. Both of these stories are about the first females that traveled to outer pace, but with different outcomes. Parts of this particular episode, by Ian Martin, reminds me of 2 episodes of the TWILGHT ZONE: “People Are Alike All Over (Ep.25)” and “Valley Of The Shadow (Ep.105).” It seemed like the ending of this Sci-Fi story was a cautionary tale for the characters and for the human race. Other than that, E.G. Marshall was getting better as the Host in this 1st Season of the radio series. In his Prologue, he starts off by saying his classic line: “Welcome to the world of terrifying imagination. The fear…you can hear.” Then, he brings us into ACT-1 about the first American woman astronaut to aboard the DIANA ONE ship, but problems arise. Not just for the ground crew, but the paranoid emotions of our main character. At the end of that Act, he asks us if we could imagine being lost in outer space with no communication whatsoever (then the recording gets cut off). In ACT-2 the DIANA ONE ship has circled the Earth, but still no communication. At the end of that Act, suspense builds up when he asks what will our 3 astronauts find if they open the mysterious door. In ACT-3, this is where it gets deep when our Host asks, “Is there any threat worse to sanity than the Unknown?” Not only that, but he asks us fans what is there believe out there in outer space. Everything E.G. Marshall said was going great, except for his Epilogue where he makes a reference to the Book of Revelations and the Devil. How is that related to Aliens from outer space? Because the Spiritual & the Extraterrestrial don’t mix that well. But stories combining the Spiritual & the Supernatural (i.e. demons & vampires) do. Anyway, the sound effects of the car running, rotary phone ringing, the ship lifting off, the high oscillating hum, the time warp, air vents, footsteps moving around, opening the mysterious door, dragging the table, lighting the match, and the time warp again were outstanding. And so was the music. Themes of anxiety in ACT-1, intense fear in ACT-2, and tension built in ACT-3. What’s even more outstanding, was our cast: Julia Meade (as Dr. Theresa Webber), Sydney Walker (as Commissioner Gordon Webber), Ira Lewis (as Captain Luke Strong), and Jack Grimes (as Cap Com & Drakon the Alien). If you listen to the voice of the Ancient One in this story, I think he’s played by the voice of Himan Brown. It was interesting to hear Julia Meade saying “Good thinking, Charlie Brown” at the 24-minute 15-second mark; making a reference to a comic strip character in the 5th Dimension of outer space. Check this episode out, everyone. And check out those 2 TWILIGHT ZONE episodes and you’ll see what I mean. Until next time…pleasant dreams. =0]

I enjoyed this episode very much. I could visualize the scenes as they were climbing and crawling through the vents and it being dark and then sliding back into the same room that they were fleeing from. There was a movie I am thinking in the 50's or60's where a group of people are trapped in a cave or bomb shelter from a war time explosion which sealed them in. They are able to survive inside but are desperately trying to get out. They didg a tunnel trying to escape and when they begin to see light for their efforts only to find out they had tunneled into another part of the same cave that kept them captive. This reminded me of that movie. The point of the epsideo has been doen a lot remember the movie The Abyss... you better straitghten up humanity and be nice to one another or the aliens will exterminate you message. Overall a very enjoyable episode... please check it out you all and tell us your thoughts on this thread!

What an absolute mess this episode is. Even by 1974 standards, this was pitifully sexist, especially in Act 1. Also, the "science" is all wonky. Nothing is a quintillion light years away. The entire universe is only 13.7 billion years old which means its entire theoretical diameter is only 26 billion years across. Furthermore, the astronaut confused light-years with time which it is not. Light-years are distance, something no real astronaut would mistake. And where did the astronauts think they were going to go if they successfully "escaped"? This script is a classic example of RMT's stable of veteran radio writers writing for 1944 instead of 1974. The whole thing comes off as a hormonal thirteen-year-old boiy's idea of gender and science fiction. A lot of the stuff on RMT is really, really good, but not this one. A case of trying to crank out too much too fast.

Sorry, the theoretical diameter of the universe is about 26 billion LIGHT-years across!

The story is somewhat silly, with a terribly trite ending, but this episode will always be special to me. It was the first one heard back in 1974, and I was hooked.

‘Out of Sight’ is a fun Sci-Fi episode about strange occurrences on the US’s Skylab space station for three astronauts including husband, wife, and the woman’s ex-suitor. What NASA psychologist signed off on that team dynamic?? I don’t think I remember a Mystery Theater with more physical ‘action’ as this one. Lots of crawling, grunting, floating, sliding, heavy breathing, and general announcing what the characters are doing – “give me your hand and I’ll pull you through” (grunt). Aside from some silly stereotyping of the woman as the non-decisive and weaker-willed crew member (though she IS given credit as the flight surgeon) Ian Martin’s story taps the heady days of NASA and makes the listener yearn for a stronger and less divisive America. The added prospect of astronauts as experimental guinea pigs or part of an alien ‘zoo’ cause the listener to consider moral implication of meeting an advanced race. ‘Sight’ was not at a wont for material or dialogue (as with some Mystery Theater stories) but the content was on the light side. Perhaps the casual acting style and nonchalance of the crew failed to exude sufficient gravitas of an actually dangerous situation of being lost in space and incommunicado. I DID find a bright spot in the detached and sterile creepiness of the aliens. For a fantastic space Sci-Fi story with more meat on the bones (and which I rank as one the top three Mystery Theater episodes ever) listen to Henry Slesars’ ‘Prisoner of the Machines’ starring a very young John Lithgow and longer than usual cameo by Himan Brown. I give ‘Out of Sight’ a spacey 3 out of 5 stars. JUROR #4.

A Sci-Fi episode of aliens testing the human race to see if we are worthy of existence. A good storyline and hopefully it makes us think about ourselves as people on earth and how we get along. Are we truly worthy?