First aired on 8 February 1956 and adapted from Isaac Asimov's "C-Chute". This episode was written by George Lefferts and directed by Daniel Sutter. Bill Mc Cord is the Narrator, while the cast consists of Lyle Sudrow, Stan Early, Bob Hastings, Mercer Mc Leod, Danny Auchal, and John Gibson.
John Stuart narrates events as they happen. While aboard the Starfire, the ship comes under attack by the Kloros, aliens that breathe chlorine instead of oxygen. In a compartment with several other civilian passengers, they debate the possibility of overcoming their captors and the likelihood of dying.
"The C-Chute" provides examples of:
- Adaptation Distillation: The original story, "C-Chute", has a Switching P.O.V., whereas this Audio Adaptation simplifies it to make Stuart the only Character Narrator, describing previous events. Many smaller scenes are condensed/removed to fit within the half-hour format.
- Adaptation Name Change: In the original story, "C-Chute", everyone has personal and surnames, but in this adaptation, Leblanc's personal name is left out, as is the dead Polyorketes brother.
- Adapted Out:
- The original story, "C-Chute", included a sixth passenger, Ben Porter. Porter is a businessman who attempted to purchase alien vegetables, only a little older than Leblanc.
- The original story also included a map of Earth in the control room. It was part of the Central Theme, showing how homesick Mullen is. No mention of it is made in this adaptation, so Mullen and Stuart never talk about the cities they are from.
- Audio Adaptation: An adaptation of Isaac Asimov's "C-Chute", transcription by George Lefferts.
- Character Narrator: Stuart, one of the Supporting Protagonist characters, is the one narrating the events of this story.
- Dramatization: Music and sound effects were also added to take advantage of Radio's aural medium. The Red Alert at the start is especially dramatic, as such ship-wide alerts and combat noises were glossed over in the original medium.
- Genre Savvy: Stuart describes Mullen's plan as something that you might see in a "video" (that is, a film).
- Intro Dump: While waiting for the Kloros to finish killing the ship's crew, Stuart narrates the five remaining passengers on. In the original work, the narration introductions were done by Col Windham due to the Switching P.O.V..
- Named by the Adaptation: The ship wasn't named in the original tale, but is now named Starfire.
- Plot-Driven Breakdown: Mullen's suit radio breaks down as he enters the control room so that the other passengers don't know what happened to him and prepare themselves to attack the Kloros when the door to their cabin opens.
- Radio Voice: The suit radio used by Mullen is very mildly distorted in order to remind the listeners that he is speaking over radio instead of being in the cabin with the rest of the passengers.
- Red Alert: At the start of the episode, a klaxon rings over the intercom, preceding the announcement of the Kloran ship. With the ship on "Condition Red", all crew are supposed to go to their stations while the passengers are confined to one cabin.SFX "Now hear this, Condition Red, Condition Red. We are under attack from a Kloran battle cruiser. All hands forward to battle stations. Passengers will remain confined to the aftercabin. Condition Red, we are being attacked, Condition Red."
- Supporting Protagonist: The Character Narrator, Stuart, is not The Hero; Randolph Mullen is. Mullen is the one who comes up with the idea to use the C-Chute to sneak out of the cabin and into the control room, and then put on the space suit to enact the plan when nobody else wanted to try.
- Switching P.O.V.: Averted by simplifying the story into making Stuart the only Character Narrator.
- The "The" Title Confusion: The original story is called "C-Chute", but the show's announcer presents the episode as "The C-Chute". The namesake is singular for the room the protagonists are in, but is plural within the ship they're in, so not much is gained by emphasizing the singular.
- To Be Continued: At the end of this episode, the announcer says that next week's episode will be "Skulking Permit", where a man is ordered to commit murder.
- Only One Name: This adaptation leaves out the personal names of Leblanc and the dead Polyorketes brother. Everyone else has their personal names and surnames introduced by Stuart during the Intro Dump.
"Mr Stuart, haven't you ever been homesick?"
