''2000 Plus'' (aka ''Two Thousand Plus'' and ''2000+'') was an American
old-time radio
The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the early ...
series that ran on the
Mutual Broadcasting System
The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the Old-time radio, golden ...
from March 15, 1950, to January 2, 1952, in various 30-minute time slots. A Dryer Weenolsen production, it was the first adult
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
series on radio, airing one month prior to the better-known ''
Dimension X''.
''2000 Plus'' was an
anthology
In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors.
In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...
program, using all-new material rather than adapting published stories. The series was the creation of Sherman H. Dryer (1913–1989) who scripted and produced the series with Robert Weenolsen (1900–1979).
Cast
Dryer directed cast members
Lon Clark
Lon Clark (January 12, 1912 – October 2, 1998) was a New York City actor of Theatre, stage and Audio theatre, radio.
Clark was born in Frost, Minnesota. As a youth in Minnesota, Clark studied at the MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis. ...
, Joseph Julian, Henry Norell, Bill Keene, Bryna Raeburn and
Amzie Strickland
Amzie Ellen Strickland (January 10, 1919 – July 5, 2006) was an American character actress who began in radio, made some 650 television appearances, had roles in two dozen films, appeared in numerous television movies, and also worked in T ...
and others. Emerson Buckley conducted the music composed by Elliott Jacoby. Ken Marvin was the program's announcer, and the sound effects were by Adrian Penner.
The nature of the series is indicated in the titles of 1950 episodes: "The Brooklyn Brain", "The Flying Saucers", "The Robot Killer", "Rocket and the Skull", "A Veteran Comes Home", "Men from Mars", "When the Machines Went Wild", "When the Worlds Met", "The Insect", "Silent Noise", "The Green Thing", "The Giant Walks", and "Worlds Apart". There are 32 known episodes, and only some of these – up to 15 (or, perhaps, more) – have survived.
In ''Science Fiction Television'' (2004), M. Keith Booker wrote:
:It was not until the 1950s that science fiction radio really hit its stride, even as science fiction was beginning to appear on television as well. Radio programs such as Mutual's ''2000 Plus'' and NBC's ''Dimension X'' were anthology series that offered a variety of exciting tales of future technology, with a special focus on space exploration (including alien invasion), though both series also often reflected contemporary anxieties about the dangers of technology.
Booker, M. Keith. ''Science Fiction Television''. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers (imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group), 2004.
/ref>
See also
* List of ''2000 Plus'' episodes
* ''X Minus One
''X Minus One'' is an American half-hour science fiction radio drama series that was broadcast from April 24, 1955, to January 9, 1958, in various timeslots on NBC. Known for high production values in adapting stories from the leading American a ...
''
References
External links
OTR Plot Spot: ''2000 Plus''
– plot summaries and reviews.
Fifteen episodes of ''2000 Plus''
in the Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
’
“Old Time Radio” collection
{{Fantasy and science fiction radio programs
1950 radio programme debuts
1952 radio programme endings
American radio dramas
Anthology radio series
American science fiction radio programs
Fantasy radio programs
1950s American radio programs
Mutual Broadcasting System programs