If you were watching television in February of 1954, you would have had your choice of five different sci-fi adventures. You would already be watching Captain Video (although it was winding down), Space Patrol, Tom Corbett Space Cadet, Rod Brown of the Rocket Rangers (also winding down), and a new show called, Rocky Jones Space…

While similar in some ways to every other 1950s sci-fi space opera we’ve discussed in this series, Captain Z-ro came to us a bit differently. It was originally a 15-minute children’s show produced locally in California, airing only on KRON-TV in San Francisco and KTTV in Los Angeles. While its run lasted for two years,…

When have you ever heard Flash Gordon say, “I’ll be in my office taking care of some work?” I’m no expert on the character, but the statement seems odd to me coming from the famous space adventurer. Such is the case in an episode of the 1954-55 series, Flash Gordon, called, “Akim the Terrible.” Syndicated…

It’s a shame that no episodes exist for the series Rod Brown of the Rocket Rangers (1953-54), because it sounds like it had potential to be one of the best of the early 1950’s television space operas. It certainly had one of the best casts if future success is an indicator. Cliff Robertson played the…

An anomaly among the numerous television space adventures of the early 1950s was a short-lived series you may have expected to be the biggest. After all, by 1950, Buck Rogers was a familiar and popular character in a newspaper comic strip that had been running since 1929. (It continued its run until July, 1967.) He…

The descriptions of early sci-fi television series are getting repetitive. We’ll learn next week about a show that was cancelled due to copyright infringement, but there’s little difference in the ones we’ve discussed so far, so I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner. I suppose the thing to remember is that some of these shows began…

Any science-fiction fan is undoubtedly aware of author Robert A. Heinlein (The Puppet Masters, Starship Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land.) His third novel, Space Cadet, was published in 1948 and (depending on your source) inspired another author, Joseph Greene, to create a character named Tom Ranger. Other sources say that Greene was first with…

The knowledge we have about Captain Video & His Video Rangers (1949-1955) hasn’t come from watching its estimated 1,537 episodes; most of the original broadcasts have been destroyed. However, we have a surprising amount of knowledge about it. The low budget show first aired on June 27, 1949, and was televised live five to six…

For the foreseeable future, #TVTerrorGuide is becoming #SciFiSaturday. Every Saturday (beginning November 16) we’ll discuss some of the earliest science-fiction television shows, from Captain Video & His Video Rangers to Tales of Tomorrow… and beyond? (This could be a longer series than even the 1970s TV Movies series that ran for -gulp- over four years!)…