The Vidiot: The Camera That Could See Anywhere
Ib Melchior
Oct 2026 · Lost Sci-Fi · Narrated by Scott Miller
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23 min
Unabridged
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Don Hartley is an ambitious television technician with his sights set on something bigger than his place behind the cameras. Then an accident with a piece of studio equipment produces an impossible result. Don discovers that he can point a camera toward a location and see what is there even when walls and other obstacles stand in the way. Suddenly the young technician realizes he may be holding one of the most valuable inventions imaginable.
The possibilities seem limitless. A camera that can see into places no ordinary camera could reach might transform television, news gathering, scientific exploration, industry, and national defense. It could also make Don Hartley spectacularly rich. But the longer he considers what his invention can do, the harder it becomes to ignore another possibility. What happens when an invisible camera capable of looking anywhere falls into the hands of someone who intends to use it against everyone else? Don has the plans in his pocket, and nobody knows what he has discovered. What he does next is entirely up to him.
The Vidiot first appeared in the March 1956 issue of Fantastic Universe, where the magazine introduced it as Ib Melchior’s first fantasy story and noted that his television experience was reflected in the tale. Melchior knew the world he was writing about: before establishing himself in science fiction film, he worked extensively in television production and direction, including work on The Perry Como Show.
Born in Copenhagen in 1917, Ib Melchior later became closely associated with imaginative science fiction filmmaking. He wrote and directed The Angry Red Planet and The Time Travelers, co-wrote Robinson Crusoe on Mars, and worked on Reptilicus, Journey to the Seventh Planet, and Planet of the Vampires. His short story The Racer later became the basis for Death Race 2000.
The possibilities seem limitless. A camera that can see into places no ordinary camera could reach might transform television, news gathering, scientific exploration, industry, and national defense. It could also make Don Hartley spectacularly rich. But the longer he considers what his invention can do, the harder it becomes to ignore another possibility. What happens when an invisible camera capable of looking anywhere falls into the hands of someone who intends to use it against everyone else? Don has the plans in his pocket, and nobody knows what he has discovered. What he does next is entirely up to him.
The Vidiot first appeared in the March 1956 issue of Fantastic Universe, where the magazine introduced it as Ib Melchior’s first fantasy story and noted that his television experience was reflected in the tale. Melchior knew the world he was writing about: before establishing himself in science fiction film, he worked extensively in television production and direction, including work on The Perry Como Show.
Born in Copenhagen in 1917, Ib Melchior later became closely associated with imaginative science fiction filmmaking. He wrote and directed The Angry Red Planet and The Time Travelers, co-wrote Robinson Crusoe on Mars, and worked on Reptilicus, Journey to the Seventh Planet, and Planet of the Vampires. His short story The Racer later became the basis for Death Race 2000.
Don Hartley is an ambitious television technician with his sights set on something bigger than his place behind the cameras. Then an accident with a piece of studio equipment produces an impossible result. Don discovers that he can point a camera toward a location and see what is there even when ...
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