"In the beginning, there was Jordan, thinking his lonely thoughts. Out of the lone-ness came a longing. Out of the longing came a vision. Out of the dream came a planning, and out of the planning came a decision. Jordan's hand was lifted and the ship was born!"
First aired on 26 November 1950 and adapted from Robert A. Heinlein's "Universe". This episode was written by George Lefferts and directed by Edward King. Norman Rose is the Narrator, reading the story's Epigraph.
Alan Mahony and Hugh Hoyland (Mason Adams) speak to the Witness of Jordan. Hoyland has been having spiritual doubts, so he wants to hear reassurances from the leader of their religion. However, the "mutterings" of a "frightened old man" only anger him, and they have to escape to the Upper Levels, mutant territory.
Alan dies accidentally, but Hugh is taken to meet Gregory (Peter Capell), a mutant with a shocking revelation. The Ship is not the whole universe that Hugh has been raised to believe, but a spaceship that is supposed to be traveling to Centaurus. However, mutiny caused the ship to go off-course. Gregory plans to reset the Ship's navigation, but he needs help from the Lower Levels.
Hugh agrees to bring a squad of people back to help Gregory, but centuries of mistrust are hard to break...
"Universe" contains examples of:
- Audience Murmurs: While Hoyland is describing his heresy in the Control Room, the squadron of soldiers shout and grumble around him. The episode ends with them calling for his death.
- Audio Adaptation: An adaptation of Robert A. Heinlein's "Universe", transcribed by George Lefferts.
- City in a Bottle: It is generally believed that the Ship, which is a sphere, 25 kilometers wide and with 100 levels, is the sum total of the universe. Even asking what is beyond the Ship is considered heresy and typically leads to the culprit being fed into the converter.
- Creation Myth: The people of the Lower Levels believe that Jordan was a god who created the universe; a Ship 25 kilometers wide and 100 levels high. Knowing that humans would need order, he gave them the Regulations. The myth also include their fall from grace; people rebelled against the Regulations, and they are the progenitors of mutants on the Upper Levels.
- Epigraph: At the start of this episode, which was based on Robert A. Heinlein's "Universe", an in-universe holy book is quoted. The scripture is also cited about four minutes later in the story, a Creation Myth that describes how everyone's place in the world."In the beginning, there was Jordan, thinking his lonely thoughts. Out of the lone-ness came a longing. Out of the longing came a vision. Out of the dream came a planning, and out of the planning came a decision. Jordan's hand was lifted and the ship was born!"
- Fantastic Caste System: Those who are faithful to the teachings of Jordan and call themselves the superior race live in a very regimented manner, believing that "crew", "scientists", and "captain" are roles that the divine figure of Jordan created. The "mutants" on the upper levels are the result of divine punishment for breaking the regulations.
- Fantastic Slur: In episode thirty-one, an adaptation of Robert A. Heinlein's "Universe", the residents of the Lower Levels of the Ship refer to the Mutants who live on the Upper Levels as "Muties".
- Filling the Silence: Scene changes are always accompanied by music.
- Generation Ships: A generation ship was constructed in its own orbit beyond the Moon over the course of 60 years. It was launched on a mission to colonize Centaurus but a mutiny led by Huff resulted in the ship going off course. The successive generations have forgotten their original history.
- Legend Fades to Myth: A scientist named Jordan created a generation ship which was intended to colonize the distant planet Centaurus. Forty years after it was launched from the Solar System, a man named Huff led a mutiny aboard the Ship as he and his followers believed that they should return to Earth. In the fighting, the navigators were killed. All attempts to put the Ship back on its proper course failed and it began moving aimlessly through space. Over the course of many centuries, the inhabitants of the Ship came to believe that Jordan was a god who created both them and the Ship, which is the sum total of the universe. They regard Centaurus as the afterlife where they go once their bodies are fed into the converter.
- The Morlocks: The Mutants of the Upper Levels are assumed to be primitive creatures who are little more sophisticated than animals by the so-called superior race that resides on the Lower Levels of the Ship. As their leader Gregory informs Hugh Hoyland, most of them are every bit as intelligent as he is in spite of their physical deformities.
- Mutants: A race of Mutants lives on the Upper Levels of the Ship. Those on the Lower Levels fear and despise them because of their deformities. For instance, their leader Gregory has a malformed leg and Bobo has been mute since birth. The Mutants are believed to be descended from the followers of the mutineer Huff, the most hated name in their mythology as he opposed their god Jordan. It is unclear whether or not this is true.
- Oh, My Gods!: Characters tend to swear by the name of Jordan, such as "For Jordan's sake!" and "Ghost of Jordan!"
- Oral Tradition: John the Witness is the latest in a long line of "witnesses" who have been passing on the story of the creation of the Ship by the god Jordan for thousands of years. However, the story has become increasingly distorted over the millennia and bears only a slight resemblance to the actual events of their distant past.
- The Unintelligible: The mutant, Bobo, was born without the power of speech. He makes some noises so that the audience can tell he's present, but no words.
