X Minus One was an American radio drama from the 1950s that transcribed short stories from various science fiction authors of the day. The show’s lineup of writers included such future legends of sci-fi as Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, and Ray Bradbury.
One of my favorites is an episode entitled “Junkyard”, where an expeditionary crew finds an alien spaceship graveyard on the surface of a remote planet. There is a mysterious stone tower in the middle of the junkyard, and it seems anyone who goes near it is struck with a crippling loss of memory, to the point where the crew find themselves trapped on the planet, unable to operate their own technology.
I’ve imagined the possibility of somehow adapting this story for years, but it’s always been a bit of a backburner project.
Anyways … SOMETHING NEW. This image captures the moment the Magellan lands on the mysterious planet and the crew begins to venture forth into the junkyard. My idea was that the entire story takes place over the course of a slowly deepening twilight (losing light = losing memories; once it is dark, they are trapped for good?)
[…] of identity still haunt me today. I’ve toyed with the thought of adapting the story for a very … very long time, and I recently dug the project up again and dusted it off. For a […]