CBS Mystery Theater

CBS Mystery Theater was a general radio drama series which ran for nearly 1400 episodes from 1974-1982 on the CBS network. It specialised, unsurprisingly, in the mystery genre, but did include a fair bit of fantasy, SF and the supernatural. The show was created by Hilman Brown and hosted by E. G. Marshall. Collected here are some of the SF and fantasy episodes, including those with only a slight inclination towards the genre, such as the supernatural. Some episodes are omitted due to poor audio quality.

​Please note that the episode numbers given below are merely the order in which the episodes are thought to have been broadcast — they are not the actual episode numbers.
Episode 121: Stranger From Nowhere

​An alien observer, on Earth for two years, begins to doubt his identity when a woman claiming to be his wife shows up and a science fiction author writes a book containing facts about his home planet.

​First broadcast: 22 August 1979.
Original Story by James Agate, Jr.
​Cast: Paul Hecht, Carol Teitel, Court Benson, Gordon Heath.
Episode 122: Strange New Tomorrow

​In a totalitarian future empire, a scientists builds a pair of androids to replace humans after the inevitable extinction of mankind due to war and radiation poisoning.

First broadcast: 26 November 1979.
Original Story by Ian Martin.
​Cast: John Beal, Ian Martin, Gordon Heath, Teri Keane.
Episode 123: Between These Worlds

An alien, sent on a reconnaissance mission prior to an invasion of Earth, has a change of heart after meeting an Earth woman.

First broadcast: 27 December 1979.
Original Story by Ian Martin.
​Cast: Tony Roberts, Carol Teitel, Robert Dryden.
Episode 124: Prisoner of The Machines

In a war between Earth and the Moon, a contingent of POWs are transported to an asteroid prison camp run by robots.
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​First broadcast: 16 January 1980.
Original Story by Henry Slesar.
​Cast: John Lithgow, Ian Martin, Earl Hammond, Ray Owens, Himan Brown.
Episode 125: The God Machine

In a highly controlled future society, a couple rebel against the computer which has first ordered them married and then divorced, due to an input error.

​First broadcast: 28 January 1980.
Original Story by Sam Dann.
​Cast: Lloyd Battista, Teri Keane, Robert Kaliban, Patricia Elliott.
Episode 126: The Intruder

​A being from another dimension takes a scientist's son hostage, in order to exchange him for the scientist's wife, who is needed to repopulate the other dimension.

​First broadcast: 27 February 1980.
Original Story by James Agate Jr. (based on a story by Jules Verne).
​Cast: Norman Rose, Grace Matthews, Russell Horton.
Episode 127: Life Blood

A scientist builds a robot femme-fatale and orders it to marry a colleague who wronged him in the past.

​First broadcast: 23 June 1980.
Original Story by Murray Burnett.
​Cast: John Beal, Ralph Bell, Gordon Gould, Marian Seldes.
Episode 128: The Power of Zeus

In the year 3000, Earth is facing starvation due to the destruction of the ozone layer. Two scientists are despatched to the colony planet of Zeus to search for a solution to the food supply problem, but one of them makes an explosive discovery.
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​First broadcast: 1 September 1980.
Original Story by James Agate Jr.
​Cast: Russell Horton, Earl Hammond, Court Benson, Tracy Ellis, Patricia Elliott.
Episode 129: Ocean of Emptiness

A couple on a near-lightspeed journey to Jupiter experience changes in the passage of time, and find a quite different Earth when they return.

​First broadcast: 10 September 1980.
Original Story by Arnold Moss.
​Cast: Paul Hecht, Teri Keane, Arnold Moss.
Episode 130: The Threshold

A ghost town, abandoned after a failed atomic experiment forty years previously, mysteriously gets rebuilt by invisible machinery and seems to be inhabited by ethereal, ghostly children.

​First broadcast: 17 September 1980.
Original Story by G. Frederick Lewis.
​Cast:  Fred Gwynne, Robert Dryden, Bryna Raeburn, Ian Martin.
Episode 131: The Ruby Lamp

An amateur photographer develops a process to record thoughts on photographic paper. He uses the process to help his friend's wife, who is suffering from depression following the death of her stillborn children.

​First broadcast: 29 September 1980.
Original Story by Elspeth Eric.
​Cast: Mandel Kramer, Teri Keane, John Beal.
Episode 132: The Eleventh Plague

A space patrol is sent to a distant planet to relocate a stage magician who was marooned there many years before. Unfortunately, he doesn't want to leave, and brings down the plagues of Egypt on the would-be rescuers.

​First broadcast: 17 November 1980.
Original Story by Henry Slesar.
​Cast: Russell Horton, Ian Martin, Lloyd Battista.
Episode 133: The Final Mind

In the 30th Century, the president of the United States, who is also the world's greatest scientist, transfers his consciousness into the 'Ray Universe'.

​First broadcast: 22 January 1981.
Original Story by G. Frederick Lewis.
​Cast: Norman Rose, Ann Williams, Paul Hecht, Robert Dryden.
Episode 134: The Man Who Saw Martians

A small-town newspaper reporter fakes an encounter with a UFO in order to impress his girlfriend. His plan soon goes awry however, when the real aliens show up to protest at being maligned.

​First broadcast: 2 February 1981.
Original Story by G. Frederick Lewis.
​Cast: Jack Grimes, Jada Rowland, Russell Horton, Earl Hammond.
Episode 135: Murder On The Space Shuttle

A crew-member on board an interplanetary space shuttle is found dead.

​First broadcast: 9 March 1981.
Original Story by G. Frederick Lewis (from a story by Jacques Futrell).
​Cast:  Paul Hecht, Gordon Heath, Velita Gray, Gilbert Mack.
Episode 136: The Headhunters

In a future society, crime and anti-social behaviour is controlled by completely changing a person's psyche, but the process is being abused by those at the top of government.

​First broadcast: 22 May 1981.
Original Story by Sam Dann.
​Cast: Len Cariou, Tracy Ellis, Earl Hammond, Paul Tripp.
Episode 137: Stranded

Two astronauts crash land on a planet and find the inhabitants look remarkably similar to themselves.

​First broadcast: 8 June 1981.
Original Story by Victoria Dann.
​Cast: Marian Seldes, Gordon Gould, Bernard Grant.
Episode 138: A.L.I.C.E.

A computer scientist is nagged and henpecked by his artificially intelligent computer.

​First broadcast: 15 July 1981.
Original Story by G. Frederick Lewis.
​Cast: Marian Haley, Paul Hecht, Court Benson, Joyce Gordon.
Episode 139: Pie In The Sky

A college professor has trouble with time when he smokes the wrong tobacco.

​First broadcast: 17 July 1981.
Original Story by Sam Dann.
​Cast: Robert Kaliban, Teri Keane, Bernard Grant.
Episode 140: The Land of Dreams

In a future society controlled by an all-powerful computer, a group of humans rebel and try to live a simpler life.

​First broadcast: 18 September 1981.
Original Story by Sam Dann.
​Cast: Kristoffer Tabori, Earl Hammond, Marian Haley.