I always post a thank you when I enjoy one of these episodes - you have gone to considerable trouble to post these here on RUclips and I want you to know they are very much appreciated: Thank You MysteryTheaterRadio!
I was only 7 when these came out, but I remember it like it was yesterday. I love the original commercials and news also. The the whole WaterGate saga and listening to how cheap food was back then.
I wonder if this was based on the "Tramway" in Palm Springs, California? There have been several problems with the tramway over the years, not many but it is the steepest tramway in the world and anything could happen on a tramway in a very active earthquake area.
This is a weird episode from a geologic perspective. I'm only 14 minutes in, and the idea that anyone in the 1970's would position the terminus of a cable car line in unstable rock is pure fantasy. Geologists who specialize in determining the stability of rocks and areas where foundations are to be laid (geotechnical engineers) take their jobs and the lives that depend on the geotechnical engineer doing his job right, very seriously. Much of the Colorado Rockies main ranges are comprised of granitic and metamorphic rocks, which are quite tough and not prone to collapse unless they are undercut and rendered unstable by erosion or road-building activities. That changes dramatically, however, IF this tale is supposed to be located on the West Slope of the Colorado Rockies, or the Maroon Bells area, or the San Juan range, because THOSE areas contain much higher amounts of sedimentary rocks or poorly consolidated lightly metamorphosed rocks. The Maroon Bells are almost completely sedimentary, very poorly consolidated, and in fact many people have been killed attempting to climb them because of the dangerously unstable rocks of that area, The walls of Glenwood Canyon which is the route for westbound I70 once one gets past Dotsero (the location of the youngest volcanic eruption in Colorado) is also largely composed of similarly unstable sedimentary rocks, which is why that section of I70 has long been a headache to keep clear of the occasional rockfall and landslides. People have been killed by falling rocks while traveling that section in their automobiles. Then there are the San Juan mountains, composed largely of volcanic rocks, including a lot of remnants of ancient volcanic ash flows and other forms of poorly consolidated volcanic rock. However picturesque those less geologically stable areas are, the vast exposures of sedimentary rocks (some layers being rather close to horizontal) and volcanic deposits do NOT look like the Swiss Alps, which like the Colorado Rockies' Continental Divide areas are generally composed of the aforementioned granitic and well-consolidated metamorphic rocks I mentioned towards the beginning. So it is EXTREMELY unlikely for a NUMBER of reasons that any responsible construction company would position the beginning or end of an aerial tramway on unstable rock outcroppings.
**SPOILER ALERT** I think this would have been better if they hadn't opted for the sappy "everybody's ok" ending. I like when the writers take risks with the scripts and resist having the cavalry come in at the last possible moment. Personally it would have been WAY more memorable if the cable car had fallen with SOMEBODY in it. I prefer the episodes with shocking twists or gruesome endings. 😈
Oh, no... I just got to the part about "the mountain...Inside that mountain there's a fault...that mountain is slowly separating, it's coming apart...well, it could be something new, it could have been caused by an atomic explosion..." Are the blasted writers freaking insane? An "atomic explosion" certainly isn't going to happen in the highest areas of the Colorado Rockies!! Oh, but it gets better, in the worst way possible! "It doesn't matter; it could have been a thousand miles away." The ignorance of writers of this episode regarding geology is absolutely laughable! This is in the same general class of idiocy that had - has people claiming that a huge earthquake is going to split the west side of the San Andreas fault (the Pacific Plate side) away from the east side of the San Andreas fault (the North American Plate side) apart, causing California to "fall off" into the Pacific Ocean!!! Also, mine shafts DON'T "sink into the ground". They DO collapse, though, usually as the old timbers shoring up the tunnels rot and fail. While I'm on the subject, the explosive force needed to cause a fault to suddenly appear in a mountain would have to be of sufficient strength to generate a powerful earthquake - with significant aftershocks - and such a quake would have totally destroyed any man-made structures - the tramway, the resort, the roads leading up to the base of the area of the resort, AND massive landslides destroying and blocking the roads in the area for weeks to months. For comparison, the 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake in Yellowstone was equivalent to 1.3 x 10 to the 6th power tons of TNT, or the simultaneous explosions of 84 atomic bombs, but even THAT monster quake didn't cause a fault line to suddenly, magically appear in an area "a thousand miles away"... Face Palm!
![Digital Circus Episode 4 [TRAILER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/abZtsmMUbJo/mqdefault.jpg)
I like listening to these and I'm glad that you have the commercials on it.
I always post a thank you when I enjoy one of these episodes - you have gone to considerable trouble to post these here on RUclips and I want you to know they are very much appreciated: Thank You MysteryTheaterRadio!
Thank you for these great stories.
I love listening to these. I used to listen to them as a kid
I was only 7 when these came out, but I remember it like it was yesterday. I love the original commercials and news also. The the whole WaterGate saga and listening to how cheap food was back then.
And how the population in the United States was so much more in "sync" than is the case today.
Great story. Thank you.
Same here! Awesome!
Thanks!
I wish that you still had the original CBS news on it as well.
I wonder if this was based on the "Tramway" in Palm Springs, California? There have been several problems with the tramway over the years, not many but it is the steepest tramway in the world and anything could happen on a tramway in a very active earthquake area.
First :) I love listening to these. I used to listen to them as a kid
Gotta love that OTR.
I love this show. Great stories!
I like the old radio sound
This is a weird episode from a geologic perspective. I'm only 14 minutes in, and the idea that anyone in the 1970's would position the terminus of a cable car line in unstable rock is pure fantasy. Geologists who specialize in determining the stability of rocks and areas where foundations are to be laid (geotechnical engineers) take their jobs and the lives that depend on the geotechnical engineer doing his job right, very seriously. Much of the Colorado Rockies main ranges are comprised of granitic and metamorphic rocks, which are quite tough and not prone to collapse unless they are undercut and rendered unstable by erosion or road-building activities.
That changes dramatically, however, IF this tale is supposed to be located on the West Slope of the Colorado Rockies, or the Maroon Bells area, or the San Juan range, because THOSE areas contain much higher amounts of sedimentary rocks or poorly consolidated lightly metamorphosed rocks.
The Maroon Bells are almost completely sedimentary, very poorly consolidated, and in fact many people have been killed attempting to climb them because of the dangerously unstable rocks of that area,
The walls of Glenwood Canyon which is the route for westbound I70 once one gets past Dotsero (the location of the youngest volcanic eruption in Colorado) is also largely composed of similarly unstable sedimentary rocks, which is why that section of I70 has long been a headache to keep clear of the occasional rockfall and landslides. People have been killed by falling rocks while traveling that section in their automobiles.
Then there are the San Juan mountains, composed largely of volcanic rocks, including a lot of remnants of ancient volcanic ash flows and other forms of poorly consolidated volcanic rock.
However picturesque those less geologically stable areas are, the vast exposures of sedimentary rocks (some layers being rather close to horizontal) and volcanic deposits do NOT look like the Swiss Alps, which like the Colorado Rockies' Continental Divide areas are generally composed of the aforementioned granitic and well-consolidated metamorphic rocks I mentioned towards the beginning. So it is EXTREMELY unlikely for a NUMBER of reasons that any responsible construction company would position the beginning or end of an aerial tramway on unstable rock outcroppings.
It goes without saying, I agree....
🚬😎👍
WOW! :-)
Sure would like a synopsis with date and cast.....
**SPOILER ALERT** I think this would have been better if they hadn't opted for the sappy "everybody's ok" ending. I like when the writers take risks with the scripts and resist having the cavalry come in at the last possible moment. Personally it would have been WAY more memorable if the cable car had fallen with SOMEBODY in it. I prefer the episodes with shocking twists or gruesome endings. 😈
Interesting, the truth is painful, sometimes.
Just one more
Oh, no... I just got to the part about "the mountain...Inside that mountain there's a fault...that mountain is slowly separating, it's coming apart...well, it could be something new, it could have been caused by an atomic explosion..."
Are the blasted writers freaking insane? An "atomic explosion" certainly isn't going to happen in the highest areas of the Colorado Rockies!!
Oh, but it gets better, in the worst way possible!
"It doesn't matter; it could have been a thousand miles away."
The ignorance of writers of this episode regarding geology is absolutely laughable! This is in the same general class of idiocy that had - has people claiming that a huge earthquake is going to split the west side of the San Andreas fault (the Pacific Plate side) away from the east side of the San Andreas fault (the North American Plate side) apart, causing California to "fall off" into the Pacific Ocean!!!
Also, mine shafts DON'T "sink into the ground". They DO collapse, though, usually as the old timbers shoring up the tunnels rot and fail.
While I'm on the subject, the explosive force needed to cause a fault to suddenly appear in a mountain would have to be of sufficient strength to generate a powerful earthquake - with significant aftershocks - and such a quake would have totally destroyed any man-made structures - the tramway, the resort, the roads leading up to the base of the area of the resort, AND massive landslides destroying and blocking the roads in the area for weeks to months.
For comparison, the 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake in Yellowstone was equivalent to 1.3 x 10 to the 6th power tons of TNT, or the simultaneous explosions of 84 atomic bombs, but even THAT monster quake didn't cause a fault line to suddenly, magically appear in an area "a thousand miles away"... Face Palm!