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Promotional image for the 2019 series re-airing.
In the 1950s, the US Patriot Broadcasting Company brought us Atomic Tales, a series of shocking Science Fiction stories, posing incredible What If scenarios and exploring their terrifying consequences. Some of the original archives have now been unearthed, so that the shows can be broadcast, in full, including introductions and advert breaks, to a more cynical 21st century audience.
The show was, of course, a Pastiche of Golden Age Sci Fi, Amateur radio plays, Unfortunate Implications, and a reminder of why Americans are funny. A 2006 BBC production, it lasted only six episodes. Fortunately, all six can be found here on Archive.org.
The episodes are:
- "Their Gaze was Green"
- "And Mother Makes Millions"
- "I've Got Your Number"
- "Land of Plenty"
- "Unstoppable"
- "Night of the Cicadas"
Tropes used in Atomic Tales include:
- Aesops, often Broken
- As You Know and similar formulations
- Bad Bad Acting
- Opening Narration
- Pastiche
- Reactionary Fantasy
- Science Is Bad
- Short Runners/Too Good to Last: Only six episodes were ever made.
- Values Dissonance and Unfortunate Implications
- Listeners are Morons
- We Will Not Use an Index In The Future
- Zeerust: Pretty much the basic premise of the series.