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Journey Into Space - Operation Luna
Between 1953 and 1958, millions of people tuned into the radio adventures of Jet Morgan and his crew as they left Earth to investigate the universe. The success of the series reached amazing heights, retaining the record of being the last radio programme to surpass its television rival in the ratings. The series was translated into 17 langauges and broadcast worldwide. Chilton went on to write three bestselling novels based on the groundbreaking radio series.
Reprinted for the first time in forty years, Fantom Publishing presents Charles Chilton's tales of space expedition in limited edition hardback.
Reprinted for the first time in forty years, Fantom Publishing presents Charles Chilton's tales of space expedition in limited edition hardback.
210 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1954
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57 people want to read
About the author
Charles Chilton
50Ìýbooks4ÌýfollowersCharles Chilton MBE was a BBC radio presenter, a writer and a producer.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
March 6, 2014
Vintage sci-fi is fun more than persuasive - and that really is David Jacobs lol. Earlier than Dr Who, which started in 1963.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 22, 2017
Journey Into Space is a BBC Radio science fiction programme written by BBC producer Charles Chilton. It was the last UK radio programme to attract a bigger evening audience than television. Each half-hour episode ends with a dramatic cliffhanger. This was a ploy to increase the audience's incentive to tune into the next episode.
The series is set in 1965, the year in which Chilton believed humans would first walk on the Moon. It was first broadcast in 1953�1954 .
A great slice of nostalgia. Dramatic music and hammy acting. Recommended if you like old school pulp sci-fi, with moralistic overtones.
The series is set in 1965, the year in which Chilton believed humans would first walk on the Moon. It was first broadcast in 1953�1954 .
A great slice of nostalgia. Dramatic music and hammy acting. Recommended if you like old school pulp sci-fi, with moralistic overtones.
September 13, 2023
For what it is, I thought this was marvellous. A great production and very entertaining. Extremely imaginative. And just a little campy.
March 14, 2009
The novelization of a British radio serial, this is the story of four men, who, in 1965, undertake mankind's first trip to the Moon.
Jet Morgan is the ace pilot, Mitch is an Australian who single-handedly designed the rocketship, Lemmy is the Cockney radio operator, and Doc, an American, is keeper of the diary (and narrator of this novel). The ship is jointly built by all nations of the British Commonwealth, and is launched from the Australian Outback. A couple of days into the mission, the radio suddenly goes dead. Lemmy (who designed the radio and supervised the installation) spends the next two days going through the radio, circuit by circuit, and can find nothing wrong, while the others try not to panic. At one point, weird musical tones, almost music, come out of the speakers, then the radio comes on, like nothing was wrong. Mission Control reports that they heard everything that went on in the spaceship.
They land on the Moon, and spend one lunar day, or 14 Earth days, collecting Moon rocks and taking pictures. As they are ready to leave, all systems on the ship suddenly go down. There is no ignition, no lights, no airlock, nothing. Many diligent checks of all ship's systems show no possible cause. After another 14 days on the Moon, trapped in their spaceship, the power suddenly returns. Just before they lift off, an alien spaceship shows up just outside, and they are contacted by an alien voice (speaking perfect English). The humans are encouraged to leave, and, on the dark side of the Moon, twenty alien ships lift off, and follow them. The human crew is rendered unconscious, and their ship is kicked off course. When they awaken, Earth and the Moon are nowhere to be found. Could the aliens have dragged them somewhere else in space or time? Their fuel is running low, so they have to find an Earthlike planet to land on, or forevere wander the galaxy.
This is a pretty good novel about the early days of space travel. I can just hear a radio announcer saying, "Tune in next week for another thrilling chapter of..."
Jet Morgan is the ace pilot, Mitch is an Australian who single-handedly designed the rocketship, Lemmy is the Cockney radio operator, and Doc, an American, is keeper of the diary (and narrator of this novel). The ship is jointly built by all nations of the British Commonwealth, and is launched from the Australian Outback. A couple of days into the mission, the radio suddenly goes dead. Lemmy (who designed the radio and supervised the installation) spends the next two days going through the radio, circuit by circuit, and can find nothing wrong, while the others try not to panic. At one point, weird musical tones, almost music, come out of the speakers, then the radio comes on, like nothing was wrong. Mission Control reports that they heard everything that went on in the spaceship.
They land on the Moon, and spend one lunar day, or 14 Earth days, collecting Moon rocks and taking pictures. As they are ready to leave, all systems on the ship suddenly go down. There is no ignition, no lights, no airlock, nothing. Many diligent checks of all ship's systems show no possible cause. After another 14 days on the Moon, trapped in their spaceship, the power suddenly returns. Just before they lift off, an alien spaceship shows up just outside, and they are contacted by an alien voice (speaking perfect English). The humans are encouraged to leave, and, on the dark side of the Moon, twenty alien ships lift off, and follow them. The human crew is rendered unconscious, and their ship is kicked off course. When they awaken, Earth and the Moon are nowhere to be found. Could the aliens have dragged them somewhere else in space or time? Their fuel is running low, so they have to find an Earthlike planet to land on, or forevere wander the galaxy.
This is a pretty good novel about the early days of space travel. I can just hear a radio announcer saying, "Tune in next week for another thrilling chapter of..."
September 20, 2024
Excellent book, you get the feel it is real. Didn’t like bad language.
August 3, 2015
I very much enjoyed this as a child and on hearing it again now I found it had lost none of its fun.
August 28, 2015
I'm a sucker for retro sci-fi.
August 16, 2021
The story of how the British Commonwealth launched the first men to the moon from an Australian base, using their new atomic motor, after the Americans abandoned attempts at conventional rocketry...
This book predates Yuri Gagarin by a long way, never mind the Apollo missions; our heroes' predecessors are H.G.Wells' , a copy of which they take along with them, and the science is pure 1950s sci-fi with a very British flavour. Apparently this is a novelization of "the record-breaking radio serial" Journey Into Space; it starts off at the end of the adventure with the protagonists at a complete loss as to how they got there, and the rest of the book is an account of everything that happened in between. I don't know if this framing device was used in the original broadcast, but I imagine it probably wasn't.
For someone who knows nothing about the radio version, it's hard to imagine quite how much of this material could have worked in audio format; either a great deal of extra information was added for the benefit of the novel, or else a vast amount of explanatory dialogue must have been rewritten as straight narrative. If it hadn't advertised its radio orgins on its cover, I don't think I'd have had the faintest idea, as novelizations go, it has been pretty well done. The main thing that's obvious is that the four protagonists were evidently designed to be easily distinguishable by voice: one Cockney, one American, one Scot and one Australian!
As science-fiction of its era, it's nothing special - nothing like standard, for instance - but it's not bad either. The book rattles along at a tremendous pace, and I read the whole thing in a couple of hours.
This book predates Yuri Gagarin by a long way, never mind the Apollo missions; our heroes' predecessors are H.G.Wells' , a copy of which they take along with them, and the science is pure 1950s sci-fi with a very British flavour. Apparently this is a novelization of "the record-breaking radio serial" Journey Into Space; it starts off at the end of the adventure with the protagonists at a complete loss as to how they got there, and the rest of the book is an account of everything that happened in between. I don't know if this framing device was used in the original broadcast, but I imagine it probably wasn't.
For someone who knows nothing about the radio version, it's hard to imagine quite how much of this material could have worked in audio format; either a great deal of extra information was added for the benefit of the novel, or else a vast amount of explanatory dialogue must have been rewritten as straight narrative. If it hadn't advertised its radio orgins on its cover, I don't think I'd have had the faintest idea, as novelizations go, it has been pretty well done. The main thing that's obvious is that the four protagonists were evidently designed to be easily distinguishable by voice: one Cockney, one American, one Scot and one Australian!
As science-fiction of its era, it's nothing special - nothing like standard, for instance - but it's not bad either. The book rattles along at a tremendous pace, and I read the whole thing in a couple of hours.
March 22, 2022
Ever since hearing the radio series as a kid I've wanted to read the original books. This one didn't disappoint! It was great to see how much the two differed but it was almost on the nose! Of course I'm biased as a lifelong fan but this has only fuelled my impatience to move onto the 2nd book of the trilogy and my favourite, The Red Planet.
October 3, 2020
Whilst enjoyable, this is the weakest of the three Journey into Space novels. Still, it's great to learn how Jet, Mitch, Doc and Lemmy all meet up for their first adventure to the moon. Yes it's dated, but it's very retro and still loots of fun. Very 1950's.
November 13, 2020
Love these old scifi radio dramas
December 13, 2024
Klassiek sf. Op naar de maan op een manier die in 1965 nog echt niet kon. En dan gebeuren er de rare dingen. Op de maan en later op de aarde.
Deels spannend om te lezen, maar soms ook langdradig.
Deels spannend om te lezen, maar soms ook langdradig.
July 12, 2015
I am of course far too young to have enjoyed the radio broadcasts of this pillar of British radio in its original form, but I cut my teeth first on the abridged cassettes and then on remastered radio productions as they became available. This novelisation has been around in an audiobook form for a few years I think probably because a lot of blind people enjoyed it in its initial run on the wireless.
I can't say there was much new to enjoy in the novel. In spots, I heard the voices of the actors instead of getting the words on the page, which was a nice experience and it was interesting to read a little more of the visualisation that Chilton pictured, which of course you lose on the radio. But it also served to bring home Chilton's tropes: circular ships and a reliance on aircraft, time travel and larger-than-life aliens, Humanities destruction - all these motifs reappear, perhaps to excess, in his latter works.
So a mixed bag really, I don't think someone unfamiliar with the work will get much out of it to be honest.
I can't say there was much new to enjoy in the novel. In spots, I heard the voices of the actors instead of getting the words on the page, which was a nice experience and it was interesting to read a little more of the visualisation that Chilton pictured, which of course you lose on the radio. But it also served to bring home Chilton's tropes: circular ships and a reliance on aircraft, time travel and larger-than-life aliens, Humanities destruction - all these motifs reappear, perhaps to excess, in his latter works.
So a mixed bag really, I don't think someone unfamiliar with the work will get much out of it to be honest.
September 3, 2011
I have been very fond of the radio series that this is based upon since I heard it all on the (now defunct radio station BBC7) and when I discovered that the books were being reprinted in a limited edition I was very pleased and immediately ordered them. The first volume arrived last week.
And it was a very enjoyable book. The radio series, which comprises of thirteen half hour episodes, is a lot of fun although in some episodes almost nothing happens. For the book version, a lot of the fat was trimmed and as such the book runs along at a cracking pace. It is told from the point of view of Doc Matthews, the American Doctor aboard the ship, which makes sense, because extracts of his diary are the narration on the Radio version.
So I would recommend this heartily. There are two more books in the series, one of which is published later this year, the other early next year. I can't wait.
And it was a very enjoyable book. The radio series, which comprises of thirteen half hour episodes, is a lot of fun although in some episodes almost nothing happens. For the book version, a lot of the fat was trimmed and as such the book runs along at a cracking pace. It is told from the point of view of Doc Matthews, the American Doctor aboard the ship, which makes sense, because extracts of his diary are the narration on the Radio version.
So I would recommend this heartily. There are two more books in the series, one of which is published later this year, the other early next year. I can't wait.
January 2, 2016
I feel a little weird putting a radiodrama on goodreads but i guess its no different than an audiobook. Also this is pretty awesome so i'll make an exception.
The audio version available is from a 1958 recording although the original is from '53. This version is a little cut down and you can tell towards the 3/4 mark where the edits are.
Still that doesn't effect the story much, this is far more advanced sci-fi than i was expecting from the 50's. Really solid intellectual sci-fi, gets a little bit expositional at the end but really enjoyable overall.
The audio version available is from a 1958 recording although the original is from '53. This version is a little cut down and you can tell towards the 3/4 mark where the edits are.
Still that doesn't effect the story much, this is far more advanced sci-fi than i was expecting from the 50's. Really solid intellectual sci-fi, gets a little bit expositional at the end but really enjoyable overall.
February 7, 2015
Old sci-fi radio programme, a bit dated being from the 1950s
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
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