This week’s episode was based on a suggestion by Matt, who inspired us to listen to “The Long Night” from Suspense. Frank Lovejoy stars in this tense tale of an air traffic controller trying to guide a lost and inexperienced pilot to a safe landing. Can he steel his own nerves enough to not panic the man in the plane? When your engine is dying, could you trust your plane to fly itself? Do you recognize the reference to The Return of the Durutti Column even though Tim misidentified it as an album by the Sex Pistols? Listen for yourself and find out! Then vote and let us know what you think!
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Great episode
This had the feel of an episode of”Escape”… except for the obvious reason why it wouldn’t fit with that show’s formula.
This is the first radio drama that has made me want to punch a wall, and that very much speaks to just how well it was done. As the father of a boy who turns 9 next month, all I can say is… dammit. But also, I don’t think I’ve come across a better example of this medium’s ability to evoke powerful emotions. Easily a top 5 episode.
“Cold Equations” had logic and simple math behind it. There was no possibility of an outcome where nobody died. Also, there was a certain mental distance because it took place in the future and in space.
This was much more relatable and a good outcome was within reach. Alas…
I was totally thinking of “Cold Equations,” Marc — both that and this one really got me. This one though had me so anxious and on the edge of my seat…it took me a couple tries to finish. Every minute so perfect, albeit tragic. This would be a brutal double-bill with Dragnet’s A 22 rifle for Christmas…it would take me days to recover (really not exaggerating). Amazing that radio can have that kind of affect. And your commentary as always is so fantastic. Kudos fellas.
Wow.
I was once called in to clean up a hazard zone left by an amateur who had done something dumb enough to land himself in the ER. Similar feelings here- you desperately want him to be okay, but you’d also like to deck him for being a moron.
Beautifully done episode, thanks for sharing.
What a fantastic episode! It’s amazing to me what a great job they did of “painting” a visual scene with only sound.
This was really intense, and the background sounds in the control tower were great. For those who might be interested: In addition to Frank Lovejoy, others listed in the cast included Stacy Harris, whom we heard in “A Study in Wax”, and Jack Kruschen, who starred in everyone’s favorite episode, “The Day Sinatra Got Fat”. You may also remember Kruschen as the mad Albanian genius Eivol Ekdal on Batman (in the episodes “Zelda the Great”/”A Death Worse Than Fate”), and he had a memorable role as a pedophile in “The Big Crime”, a really grim episode of the 50s TV… Read more »
Thanks, I wish we could lock down the pilot, he was great, too.
Listened in my car – I lost all sense of time. I was totally wrapped up in it. This is, in my opinion, one of the very best episodes you’ve done.
Wow! I started with Ep. 1 a several weeks ago and I’ve been catching up to “today’s” podcasts by listening to 2-3 episodes most evenings and this one was the best so far! I started off with radio drams listening to Dimension X and The Shadow so I’ve always been drawn to the SF / horror / mystery dramas. This one left me with my heart racing and my thoughts spinning – empathy for the controller, horror for the son, and disgust mixed with sympathy & horror for the pilot. Just – wow!
Holy @#$% ! I did not expect that ending. I was listening to this while I was working. Work got put on hold from about 5 minutes in. There was no way I was going to miss a minute of this. I’m a first responder and I often think that stupid should hurt, but it shouldn’t be fatal and above all it shouldn’t hurt others. This was fatal stupid that hurt many others. This one brought back some crappy memories for me. I love OTR and I’ve listened to hundreds of hours of it but I’ve never had this kind… Read more »