Tales of Tomorrow

Tales of Tomorrow
Genre	Anthology Science Fiction
Starring	Thomas Mitchell Lon Chaney, Jr. Boris Karloff Rod Steiger Brian Keith Leslie Nielsen Franchot Tone Paul Newman
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	85
Production
Running time	25 minutes
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	August 3, 1951 – June 12, 1953

Tales of Tomorrow is an American anthology science fiction series that was performed and broadcast live on ABC from 1951 to 1953. The series covered such stories as Frankenstein, starring Lon Chaney, Jr., 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea starring Thomas Mitchell as Captain Nemo, and many others featuring such performers as Boris Karloff, Brian Keith, Rod Steiger, Bruce Cabot, Franchot Tone, Gene Lockhart, Walter Abel, Leslie Nielsen and Paul Newman. The series had many similarities to the later Twilight Zone which also covered one of the same stories, "What You Need". In total it ran for eighty-five 30-minute episodes.

Production

The idea for this science fiction television series began by Ted Sturgeon and Mort Abrahamson, together with the Science Fiction League of America. Its original name was going to be "Tomorrow is Yours". A deal was struck between them, Richard Gordon, and George Foley, this entitled the producers of the show to have first choice of any of the 2,000 short stories and 13 novels by the various author members of the 'Science Fiction League of America'. It was meant to be the first science fiction show for adults, as there were already many for children. It aimed to integrate mystery with science fiction, for a fast pace and suspense, it also gave authors such as Arthur C. Clarke their first televised adaption of their works.

Radio series

While Tales of Tomorrow the television series was still being produced in 1953, ABC also decided to try a radio series of the same name. The radio show ran from January 1–April 9th 1953. However, it was to be scripted from stories appearing in Galaxy Science Fiction, similar to what the Dimension X radio series had done, by collaborating with Astounding Science Fiction, magazine. The radio series however didn't do as well. After only a few episodes, on February 26 it was switched to a CBS radio production for the remainder of its 15 episode run. After the radio series was canceled the TV series soon followed. A few years after its cancellation the radio series X Minus One, the 1955 successor of Dimension X also began exclusively using stories from Galaxy Science Fiction in their broadcasts. Four of the fifteen 'Tales of Tomorrow' stories were later re-dramatized for 'X Minus One' scripts these being; "The Stars Are the Styx", "The Moon Is Green", "The Girls From Earth", and "The Old Die Rich".

Public Domain episodes

Many of the television episodes, and five of the surviving radio series episodes are now in the public domain in the United States, and available for free download at Internet Archive.

See also

• Captain Video and His Video Rangers, first science fiction adventure series in United States television, aimed at juvenile audiences.
• Out There, an 1951 athology series.
• The Outer Limits, an anthology series.
• Science fiction on television, a look at the history of Science fiction from various countries, and when they first appeared on television.
• Science Fiction Theatre an athology series, released about 3 years later.
• Space Patrol, another science fiction adventure series that was being produced at the same time, also for juvenile audiences.

External links

• Tales of Tomorrow at IMDb
• Episode 1 of the television series- Verdict from Space; 40 others is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive
• List of Tales of Tomorrow television episodes, and link to radio series collection on Internet Archive.
• Tales of Tomorrow: Radio collection, 5 episodes from the radio series available for free download at the Internet Archive.
• Tales of Tomorrow episode guide.
• Tales of Tomorrow - radio show plot summaries.