Aboard the Starlab space station orbiting Earth, research director Maura Cassidy finds herself in the midst of extraordinary events when all of the station’s instruments indicate that the sun is collapsing. The entire inner solar system fleet of the International Space Authority depends on solar energy, as does Earth itself, and preparations are made to send an expedition to take closer measuresments and perhaps find out the cause. Captain Graydon leads the mission, though Cassidy is less than thrilled to learn that his co-pilot will be Captain Griff, a man who she holds responsible for her father’s death on a past expedition. Though they are warned of the possibility by an excitable scientist named Tim, Graydon and Griff are still stunned to find a new planetoid inside the orbit of Venus, occupied by the insectoid Marcabs, who care nothing that their rapid “mining” of the sun will spell doom for humanity.
written by Mike Hodel and Lee Hansen
directed by Lee Hansen
music by Jim KirkCast: Roger Dressler (Narrator), Linda Gary (Maura Cassidy), Bruce Phillip Miller (Captain Jon Graydon), Corey Burton (Jerry Lyden), Chuck Olsen (Captain Buddy Griff), Jeff Allen (Tim), Stu Jacobs (Zarr Khonar), Tom Rounds (Gargon)
Notes: Starlab’s formal name is the Arthur C. Clarke Astronomical Observatory. Alien Worlds was syndicated to radio stations across America (and elsewhere in the English-speaking world) by Watermark, a radio syndication company that had already made its fame as the originators of America’s Top 40 with Casey Kasem. (Kasem himself would guest star in a later episode of Alien Worlds.) Though not as universally popular as Kasem’s pop music countdown show, Alien Worlds was popular enough to merit two full seasons; production was brought to a halt and the series was cancelled after four installments of a third season had been produced. Corey Burton’s voice acting career continues to this day, and he can be heard in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and dozens of video games.
LogBook entry by Earl Green