|
Journey into Space Space Force |
|
Journey
into Space was a science fiction
series broadcast on BBC radio in the 1950s. It began in 1953 and lasted for
three series by the end of which it had become a radio legend. The
cliff-hanging adventures of Jet Morgan enthralled millions of listeners in the age before television
dominated home entertainment. Besides Jet, the Captain, there was cockney
radio operator Lemmy Barnett, Doc
Matthews and engineer Steven
Mitchell. Their first trip was to
the moon in Operation Luna. They
later travelled to Mars in The Red Planet. The final serial told the tale of The World in
Peril and was virtual continuation
of the second series. The three stories were written by the man responsible
for creating and producing the series, Charles Chilton. Chilton had the unnerving method of writing each
half-hour episode only days before the recording and also made pioneering use
of tape and electronic effects. When transcription recordings of the show
were made, the trilogy was sold abroad to 22 different countries. Chilton
imbued his scripts with much authenticity - for example all the rockets took
off at the right speed. It this documentary feel coupled with the eerie music
of Van Phillips which made the
series so engaging. Only audio drama could convey the isolation of space and
create such a gripping atmosphere in the mind of the listener. The
effect that Journey into Space
had on the British public cannot be overstated. It was the last evening radio program to achieve higher
audience figures than the BBC's TV service. A
Special Note about Dates etc The
first series, simply entitled Journey into Space, began on 21 Sept, 1953, and ran for 18 episodes.
The second series, The Red Planet,
started on its 20 week run a year later on 6 Sept, 1954 and showed Chilton's
writing at its best. The Red Planet was an unqualified triumph, telling of
man's first attempt at planetary colonization. It finished on a rather downbeat cliff-hanger ending that
dovetailed seamlessly with it's sequel, The World in Peril. To
many, series 2 and 3 can be seen as one long 40 part story, so faithful is
the continuity and plot structure. The World in Peril began on 26 Sept, 1955 and was to be the final
radio journey for Morgan and his crew, at least for the 1950's. After
completion of the trilogy, it was realized that the quality of the original
recordings of the first series was inadequate for repeat broadcasts or
overseas sales. To this end, a
new version was mounted, this time a 13 episode serial, which began on March
26,1958. This new production was
christened Operation Luna,
omitting several plot strands which had led to initial unfavourable reviews.
The World in Peril cast (which varied a little from the original first series
cast) were reunited and it is this series which is now the only form of the
original series that is available. That
why the dates for the first series are in fact, after the dates for the second and third series After
novelisations and comic strip adaptations, Jet's adventures were rested in
1958 - but they were to return to the airways (albeit some 20 plus years
later) with The Return From Mars. It
was a 90 minute broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1981. The plot of The Return
From Mars can be considered as a
very approximate continuation from the end of The World in Peril in that after more than thirty years in space, and
missing presumed dead, the crew finally return to Earth. SPACE
FORCE There
was also a spin-off series in the 1980s: Space Force Space
Force and Space Force II are BBC science fiction radio series, each
presented in six 30-minute episodes.
Both are products of Charles Chilton, who produced the extremely successful Journey into
Space series for the BBC in the 1950's.
Space Force deals with
man's first encounter with beings from outside our solar system. Space Force II is an encounter with ancient Egyptian space
farers. The series are named
after the main space craft, "Space Force", used by its 4-man crew
in their adventures. Both
Space Force series are similar
to Journey into Space in many respects, even including the
character of Chipper, the
grandson of Lemmy from Journey
into Space series. Journey
Into Space Force Of
further and more recent interest is that both Space Force programs were re-edited and then broadcast again in
2006. Charles Chilton was
brought back to the microphone as he spoke to Jim Lee about both Space
Force and Journey Into Space. The interview tops a double length episode of
Space Force (cleverly melded together) and the segment runs a total of about
an hour. This was done three times over to yield an expansive 3 hour
production of Space Force I
(along with some very interesting back story of the genesis of Journey into
Space & Space Force). A
week later the entire process was repeated for Space Force II. In
many ways this is the best way to listen to Space Force - the double episodes are seamlessly combined and
the nice hour of listening sets one up for whats to follow É.. Journey Into Space - New Stories The
newly re-jigged production of Space Force (along with the intros by Charles Chilton)
re-ignited interest in Journey into Space and in 2008 Charles Chilton (by now in his 90s) wrote in collaboration with the
producer, Nick Russell-Pavier, a
whole new Journey into Space
adventure, Journey into Space: Frozen in Time. This
one hour story is an update of, and richly evokes, the original. Set on Mars
in 2013, it picks up where the last story, The World in Peril, finished. In this thrilling new episode, the
spaceship Ares has been heading back to Earth for 30 years, with most of the
crew in suspended animation. With the ship six months from home, Jet picks up
an SOS from Mars, and wakes the others to go on a rescue mission. But when
our heroes meet up with the stranded crew it becomes apparent that all is not
what it first appeared. Unwittingly caught up in seismic deception, it is not
only the lives of the Ares crew which are at stake - the entire future of
planet Earth could be in peril! Captain
Jet Morgan is played by David Jacobs, now 81, the sole surviving member of the original cast (he had
played many supporting roles in the original series, although - until now -
he never got to play Jet). The outstanding music which is composed by the
author's son, David Chilton has
an eerie, epic, filmic quality about it, even if it is all composed on
synthesizers rather than the full orchestra used by Van Phillips in the
1950s. Michael
Beckley is Mitch, Alan Marriott plays Doc and Chris Moran is Lemmy. This
production was hugely successful and sure enough Chilton was called back
again for another similar production in June 2009 called Journey into
Space: The Host. In another one
hour story, Jet Morgan and his crew must find a way to defeat the vastly
superior Host. If they fail, they will not only all perish, but mankind will
become a dispensable stepping stone to a new chapter in evolution. This time
Jet is payed by Toby Stephens
with the irrepressible David Jacobs
playing The Host! Want
to check out a few Journey Into Space / Space Force programs? Why
not download the first two episodes of Operation Luna? (each
is of 30 minutes duration with a file size of 22 Mb) Also
why not download the first episode of Journey Into Space Force I? (its
of 60 minutes duration with a file size of 42 Mb) They
can be freely downloaded to your computer - just right button click on any
link below and chose "Download Linked File" (or words to that
effect). JSOL_1958-03-26
Episode No. 1.mp3 JSOL_1958-04-02
Episode No. 2.mp3 JSF_2006-12-02
Journey into Space Force Part 1A.mp3 NOW
TO WHATS ON THE CDS: These
three MP3 Discs contain all 3 of the original series of Jet Morgan
adventures; the one-off 1981 special (The Return From Mars); a 30 minute 1999
documentary "Journey into Space Again", a 60 minute documentary
"Another Journey into Space",
both series of Charles Chilton's later sci-fi adventure, Space Force;
Journey into Space Force (which pairs the episodes of Space Force with a lead
in by Charles Chilton) and - excitingly - the all new Journey Into Space productions:
Frozen in Time and The Host Note
that for the sake of completedness, both Journey into Space Force (I &
II) and the original 6 part broadcasts of Space Force (I & II) are
included here on the 3rd and separate Space Force CD disc.
Although both are essentially the same, it is recommended that the former
productions are the most enjoyable listen (for reasons listed above) A. Journey into Space Operation Luna (Each of 30 minutes) 1.
JSOL_1958-03-26
Episode No. 1.mp3 2.
JSOL_1958-04-02
Episode No. 2.mp3 3.
JSOL_1958-04-09
Episode No. 3.mp3 4.
JSOL_1958-04-16
Episode No. 4.mp3 5.
JSOL_1958-04-23
Episode No. 5.mp3 6.
JSOL_1958-04-30
Episode No. 6.mp3 7.
JSOL_1958-05-07
Episode No. 7.mp3 8.
JSOL_1958-05-14
Episode No. 8.mp3 9.
JSOL_1958-05-21
Episode No. 9.mp3 10.
JSOL_1958-05-28
Episode No. 10.mp3 11.
JSOL_1958-06-04
Episode No. 11.mp3 12.
JSOL_1958-06-11
Episode No. 12.mp3 13.
JSOL_1958-06-18
Episode No. 13.mp3 The Red Planet (Each of 30 minutes) 1.
JSRP_1954-09-06
Episode No.1.mp3 2.
JSRP_1954-09-13
Episode No.2.mp3 3.
JSRP_1954-09-20
Episode No.3.mp3 4.
JSRP_1954-09-27
Episode No.4.mp3 5.
JSRP_1954-10-04
Episode No.5.mp3 6.
JSRP_1954-10-11
Episode No.6.mp3 7.
JSRP_1954-10-18
Episode No.7.mp3 8.
JSRP_1954-10-25
Episode No.8.mp3 9.
JSRP_1954-11-01
Episode No.9.mp3 10.
JSRP_1954-11-08
Episode No.10.mp3 11.
JSRP_1954-11-15 Episode
No.11.mp3 12.
JSRP_1954-11-22
Episode No.12.mp3 13.
JSRP_1954-11-29
Episode No.13.mp3 14.
JSRP_1954-12-06
Episode No.14.mp3 15.
JSRP_1954-12-13
Episode No.15.mp3 16.
JSRP_1954-12-20
Episode No.16.mp3 17.
JSRP_1954-12-27
Episode No.17.mp3 18.
JSRP_1955-01-03
Episode No.18.mp3 19.
JSRP_1955-01-10
Episode No.19.mp3 20.
JSRP_1955-01-17
Episode No.20.mp3 The World in Peril (Each of 30 minutes) 1.
JSWP_1955-09-26
Episode No.1.mp3 2.
JSWP_1955-10-03
Episode No.2.mp3 3.
JSWP_1955-10-10
Episode No.3.mp3 4.
JSWP_1955-10-17
Episode No.4.mp3 5.
JSWP_1955-10-24 Episode
No.5.mp3 6.
JSWP_1955-10-31
Episode No.6.mp3 7.
JSWP_1955-11-07
Episode No.7.mp3 8.
JSWP_1955-11-14
Episode No.8.mp3 9.
JSWP_1955-11-21
Episode No.9.mp3 10.
JSWP_1955-11-28
Episode No.10.mp3 11.
JSWP_1955-12-05
Episode No.11.mp3 12.
JSWP_1955-12-12
Episode No.12.mp3 13.
JSWP_1955-12-19
Episode No.13.mp3 14.
JSWP_1955-12-26
Episode No.14.mp3 15.
JSWP_1956-01-02
Episode No.15.mp3 16.
JSWP_1956-01-09
Episode No.16.mp3 17.
JSWP_1956-01-16
Episode No.17.mp3 18.
JSWP_1956-01-23
Episode No.18.mp3 19.
JSWP_1956-01-30
Episode No.19.mp3 20.
JSWP_1956-02-06
Episode No.20.mp3 The Return From Mars (90 minutes) 1.
JSRM_1981-06-18 The
Return from Mars.mp3 DocumentarIES (30 minutes & 60 minutes respectively) 1.
JSD_1999-07-20 Journey
into Space Again.mp3 2.
JSD_2000-03-11 Another
Journey into Space.mp3 Journey Into Space - New Stories (Each of 60 minutes) 1.
JSFT_2008-04-12 Frozen in
Time.mp3 2.
JSTH_2009-06-27 The
Host.mp3 B. Space Force Journey Into Space Force I (Each of 60 minutes) 1.
JSF_2006-12-02 Journey
into Space Force 1A.mp3 2.
JSF_2006-12-02 Journey
into Space Force 1B.mp3 3.
JSF_2006-12-02 Journey
into Space Force 1C.mp3 Journey Into Space Force II (Each of 60 minutes) 1.
JSF_2006-12-09 Journey
into Space Force 2A.mp3 2.
JSF_2006-12-09 Journey
into Space Force 2B.mp3 3.
JSF_2006-12-09 Journey
into Space Force 2C.mp3 Space Force I (Each of 30 minutes) 1.
SF(I)_1984-04-04 Pt. 1
The Voice from Nowhere.mp3 2.
SF(I)_1984-04-11 Pt. 2
Towards the Unknown.mp3 3.
SF(I)_1984-04-18 Pt. 3
The Silver Strangers.mp3 4.
SF(I)_1984-04-25 Pt. 4
The Time Ship.mp3 5.
SF(I)_1984-05-02 Pt. 5
Threshold of the Stars.mp3 6.
SF(I)_1984-05-09 Pt. 6
Marooned in Space.mp3 Space Force I (Each of 30 minutes) 1.
SF(II)_1984-05-13 Pt.
1 The Return of the Sun God.mp3 2.
SF(II)_1984-05-20 Pt.
2 The Red Planet.mp3 3.
SF(II)_1984-05-27 Pt.
3 Great Martian Pyramids.mp3 4.
SF(II)_1984-06-03 Pt.
4 A Test of Endurance.mp3 5.
SF(II)_1984-06-10 Pt.
5 Living with Death.mp3 6.
SF(II)_1984-06-17 Pt.
6 Unto Death and Beyond.mp3 |