Today’s offering is a surprise peek into the distant beginnings of science fiction on television. We present an episode of Out of this World from 1962, as introduced by Boris Korloff. The episode in question is a presentation of Isaac Asimov’s short story, Little Lost Robot. It shows an adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s short story by the same name, originally published in 1947. It studies what happens when the Three Laws of Robotics are tampered with.

Little Lost Robot is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the March 1947 issue of Astounding Science Fiction and reprinted in the collections I, Robot (1950), The Complete Robot (1982), Robot Dreams (1986), and Robot Visions (1990).

“Little Lost Robot” was adapted by Leo Lehman, and also marks the first appearance of Susan Calvin, played by Maxine Audley, in TV and movies. It is the only episode of this series that survives in the archives today. It is available on DVD in region 2 from the British Film Institute. Originally broadcast on British television channel ITV, and featured adaptations of works by such authors as Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, Terry Nation (of Doctor Who fame) and Clifford B. Simak.

This show proved that science fiction could be adapted to other media satisfactorily, though they were obviously still struggling with how to make it appealing and interesting. Still, that it exists at all is a delight. We can’t help but wonder what the other episodes might have been like.