Universal tries to capture the success of their Flash Gordon series with a go at Buck, but it did not have the same popularity at the box office. Preserved in a state of suspended animation for 500 years, Buck Rogers and young Buddy Wade are brought back to life by future Earth Scientists. They awaken in the year 2500 A.D. and planet Earth is in a state of emergency being ruled by Killer Kane and his super gangsters. Will the universe be saved from his sinister tyrant? Released as a feature under the titles DESTINATION SATURN and PLANET OUTLAWS. Directed by Ford Beebe & Saul A. Goodkind 
 

This crude video-tape adaptation of the popular comic strip was filmed live in New York. Following on the heels of Dumont's Captain Video and His Video Rangers (1949-55), this was the first attempt to bring the 1930s space hero to TV. Buck Rogers seemed ill at ease on live television, where his adventures were confined to a few small sets in a small studio. By comparison, his movie serials seemed like Hollywood extravaganzas. Buck's history was recounted verbally in the first episode -- an ordinary American who wakes up to find himself in the year 2430. Headquartered in a secret science lab in a cave behind Niagara Falls (the city of Niagara was now the capital of the world), Buck battles intergalactic troublemakers.

Ken Dibbs, who later appeared in the science fiction television series, Men Into Space (1959-60), played Buck with a suitable swashbuckling flair. He was later replaced by Robert Pastene. With no surviving kinescopes, Buck Rogers first television incarnation is almost totally forgotten about today. Directed by Babette Henry, Produced by Joe Cates and Babette Henry, Written by Gene Wyckoff
 

Originally planned as a series of 2-hour tele-films by Battlestar Galactica creator Glen Larsen, the pilot was released theatrically then broadcast on television as a special. Buck, an astronaut from the 20th Century finds himself unfrozen in the 25th Century where he aides Wilma Deering in the defense of the galaxy.
 

Following the 1979 theatrical film, the first season was moderately successful with lots of outer-space action. Gerard originally played Buck with a Burt Reynolds-type charm, (but was toned down as the series went on) who used his somewhat unorthodox abilities as an expert pilot with reflexes as quick as his sense of humor to defend the galaxy. With Wilma as commander of the Earth's defense squadron, she and Buck become a team. Often aided by Twiki the robot voiced by Blanc. A season highlight featured an episode with Buster Crabbe appearing as on old war hero brought out of retirement.

In an effort to grab more ratings, the format for the second season was revamped. It was hoped that by putting Buck aboard the starship Searcher and introducing the alien Hawk, the series could be transformed into another Star Trek. The season two-hour opening was well received but the follow-up episodes proved less than exciting and the rating took a nose dive. The series was canceled after 31 episodes.
 

Captain Midnight originated as a radio show in the 1940's, sponsored by Ovaltine. The sponsor carried over when the show moved to television, and the Captain pitched the chocolatey drink with a promotional tie-in. Kids who sent in Ovaltine proofs of purchase gained membership in the Secret Squadron and a decoder badge, with which they deciphered secret messages from the Captain.

Although Screen Gems produced the show, Ovaltine owned the name Captain Midnight, which made for an odd syndication deal. Screen Gems sold the show to non-network stations under a different name, Jet Jackson, Flying Commando, and all references to Captain Midnight were crudely dubbed. 
 

RETURN TO TOP

COMMANDO CODY / ROCKET MAN
The name Commando Cody has become synonymous with the hero of Rocketman. The character has seen many incarnations below are a few...
 

When production on Destination Moon began in 1949, everything about the project was state of the art. The great science fiction author Robert Heinlein co-wrote the script (based on his novel Rocketship Galileo) and served as technical advisor. The film's astronomical visions were realized by Chesley Bonestell, whose artwork virtually defined the look of space travel at the dawn of the rocket era. Destination Moon is even noted in NASA's official timeline of space-travel history, and almost inevitably won the Academy Award for Best Special Effects. It remains a milestone film, not so much as classic science fiction but--like 2001: A Space Odyssey 18 years later--as an attempt to visualize the reality of space exploration. (To educate the audience on this topic, Woody Woodpecker makes an animated guest appearance, hosting an instructional film on the basics of rocketeering.)

The spacesuits created for this film turned up in one form or another in just about every low-budget sci-fi flick through the 50's & 60's, including appearances in SPACE PATROL.
 

FLASH GORDON’S TRIP TO MARS
UNIVERSAL  1937 - Serial: 15 CHAPTERS  
Featuring: Buster Crabbe, Jean Rogers, Frank Shannon, Charles Middleton

RETURN TO TOP

The last of the Flash serials, we get a new Dale Arden in Carol Hughes. Interplanetary hero Flash Gordon, must defeat Ming the Merciless and his Purple Death. Re-edited into features titled: THE PERIL FROM PLANET MONGO, and THE PURPLE DEATH FROM OUTER SPACE. Directors: Ford Beebe and Ray Taylor
 

RETURN TO TOP

It's also about a theme song that more people remember than the actual show it came from. But back in the 60's, It's About Time was indeed a series. It featured Captain Glenn McDivitt (a.k.a. Mac) and Hector as two astronauts who broke through the time barrier and landed in a prehistoric world.

In this paleontologist’s paradise, the two spacemen met and befriended a Stone Age family: Shad, Gronk, and their children, Breer and Mlor, who welcomed the astronauts with open arms. But not everyone was as friendly. There was also Boss, the hostile leader of the cave people, as well as his wife, the aptly named Mrs. Boss, and his henchman Clon.

Halfway through the season, Mac and Hector brought the family back with them to modern day New York, and the focus of the show shifted to Shad and co. as they adjusted to 20th century urban life. That little switcheroo gimmick had been used in the movies many times before, but it was a novel approach to a weekly TV series. Another mid-season change was the addition of General Morley as Mac and Hector's commanding officer.

Despite the clever set-up, It’s About Time only lasted a single season on CBS’ prime time schedule. But even more than three decades later, there are still 60’s kids who can’t get that catchy theme tune out of their heads.

“It's about two astronauts, it's about their fate, It's about a woman and her prehistoric mate.”
 

Produced by Irwin Allen Productions for 20th Century Fox Television.  Movie producer Irwin Allen turned from motion pictures to television to do a space adventure show. With financial backing from CBS, Red Skelton, and 20th Century Fox, Allen prepared a $600,000 budget for the 1964 pilot film, written by Shimon Wincelberg.  The storyline concerned the $40 billion launch of the Gemini 12 on October 16, 1997. The world's first space family was selected to colonize a planet in the Alpha Centauri star system. The family was headed by Professor John Robinson (Williams), his wife Maureen (Lockhart) and their children, Judy, Penny and Will (played by Kristen, Cartwright and Mumy, respectively). Major Don West (Goddard) was the spaceship's pilot. They would all be frozen in suspended animation for a 98-year journey. 

When the pilot film was completed, Allen proclaimed it as his best work ever. He showed the film to CBS but when the high-brow executives began laughing at the film, Allen was horrified. Furious, he bolted from his chair to stop the screening. Story editor Anthony Wilson pulled Allen back down. "Irwin, they love it," Wilson whispered urgently to his irate friend. Laughter or not, the brass was enjoying the show. The show sold.  

However, the CBS executives' reaction to the pilot film had shaken Anthony Wilson as well. After analyzing the film, CBS decided that it was too hardware-driven, with too many special effects. Wilson thought that what the series needed was a recurring villain to create story conflict. Irwin Allen loved the idea. "Ming the Merciless!" he shouted, excited over introducing a Flash Gordon-like villain. Wilson pressed for a Long John Silver character instead. They compromised on a character named Dr. Zachary Smith, played devilishly by Jonathan Harris.

Smith was an agent for an unnamed foreign country who is busy sabotaging the Robinson's spaceship prior to launch when he gets trapped on board. His dastardly handiwork causes the ship to spiral off course and crash-land on a desert planet.  Later the Will-Robot-Dr. Smith trio would be the center for most of the series' stories.

Sagging rates and a ballooning budget not to mention the infamous episode: "Great Vegetable Rebellion", where the Robinson's battled environmentally outraged carrots, peas and lettuce. Guy Williams and June Lockhart giggled so hard during filming that an exasperated Irwin Allen wrote them out of the next two episodes.  The show was canceled in 1969 and has lived on in syndication ever since. A lackluster feature film was produced in 1997.
http://www.lostinspacetv.com/
 

Aimed at adults, and with the cooperation of the US Air Force, "technical advisor" Wernher von Braun, and space artist Chesley Bonestell, this series supposedly tried to give a "realistic" picture of space flight in the near future (say, 1970). Colonel Ed McCauley (William Lundigan) was virtually the only regular cast member, as he supervised the construction of a large manned space station and a small lunar base. Like most other ZIV/Ivan Tors productions, the series was painfully dull, and the story lines usually extremely unimaginative.
http://sparky.ls.luc.edu/~navejic/mis/mis-9n.html