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The Early Days of TV Science Fiction
mcse_knowthyenemy writes: "The very first TV sci-fi shows are covered in detail here. The author, a professor of physics, approaches the topic with academic rigorousness. If you think the original Star Trek was low-budget, consider the $5 per episode these studios could spend."
I highly recommend checking out twistedmojo.com's Public Domain Theater redub of Radar Men from the Moon, a truely stinky bit of sci-fi cinema from the 50's (i presume).
The redub, however, is great (beware: its in RM format)
"I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
i think it's great how space exploration was and continues to be such a huge tennant of sci-fi.. i've heard from a number of people who grew up in the era in question that their love affair with sci-fi ended when they freaked out over the realization of how closely science-fact tails science fiction.
now, if you're one of those bone-headed types who believes everything they see on FOX, you may even think that the trips to the moon never actually happened.
in reality, the logistics of space travel have been a frequent oversight in science fiction since it's inception. in 'The Physics of Star Trek', when asked how the Heisenberg Compensator works, the engineering officer replies, "Very well, thank you!" for fear of sounding like a commercial for IBM i'm almost afraid to ask where my flying car is..
now, in the 21st century, technology that usually starts as military-grade is fed to the populace like an iv drip. if the governments of the world poured half the money into space travel and other future tech that they do into $900,000 bombs and stealth planes that are obsolete before they ever leave the tarmac we might actually be realizing a lot more sci-FACT than we have been..
wow, that was pretty incoherent..
-j0nah
I wasn't able to read the article. Ever since @Home went down I've had wonky DNS issues.
However, the description of the story reminded me of an episode of Quantum Leap called "Future Boy". Sam had lept into one of the actors for a show called "Time Patrol", a '$5 per episode' serial in the mid-50's.
What I found interesting about this episode, in relation to this article, was the argument between the show's Star and the show's Producer. The script originally called for the time travellers (Same co-starred as 'Future Boy') to overhear a conversation between two aliens (or twisted humans... my memory has faded) conspiring about the destruction of Earth. Moe, the star of the show, aborted filming and argued with the producer about people being evil in the future. He was very passionate about the show portraying a bright future where people were happy. He didn't want it ruined by having stories about people trying to destroy it.
I can't help but think this character was inspired by Gene Roddenberry. Gene also had a vision that the future would be bright and welcoming vs. dark and gloomy. It's possible, though, that this character reflected somebody even earlier in the time period.
I'm curious, has anybody seen this episode that thinks Moe was modeled after somebody influential in the sci-fi industry?
"Derp de derp."
Oh man... do I remember Rocky Jones. If any of you are curious about some of these old Scifi-shows, find an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 called "Crash of the Moons". This movie stars Rocky Jones and crew and is mentioned in the article.
You can watch the movie without Joel and the bots at MovieFlix.com for a small price. I warn you, though: the movie's a lot more fun with the MST3k crew.
"Derp de derp."
OK, so they built the Tardis, and occasionally invest in some styrofoam rocks or cardboard monster robots, but it's nice to have a show where they don't let special effects budget drive *too* much of the plot :-)
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Type "science fiction television" into GOOGLE and the Ultimate Science Fiction Web Guide comes in #5 in the world, this week. There a lot about Sci-Fi TV of the 1950s (including the Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein connections). Some of what it says about Sci-Fi TV of the 1940s:
1940s: Science Fiction TV 1940-1949
Captain Video and His Video Rangers, Dumont,
27 Jun 1949-1 Apr 1955
This was a historically significant show, despite the astonishingly stingy prop budget of $25 per week. Why? Because it was the first and most successful of three children's science fiction shows that seduced kids into the axioms of the Space Opera genre, the other two being "Space Patrol" and "Tom Corbett--Space Cadet." It can be argued that this created some of the popular support that allowed for a genuine space program only a few years later. A wonderful book about these shows is "The Great Television Heroes" by Donald F. Glut and Jim Harmon.
The government played no significant role in scientific genius Captain Video single-handedly saving the world out of a sense of civic duty. By so doing, he not only defeated evildoers such as Dr. Clysmok, Dahoumie, Heng Foo Seeng, Kul of Eos, Mook the Moon Man, and Nargola, but also had a chance to field-test his gadgets, including The Atomic Rifle, the Discatron, the Optical Scillometer, the Radio Scillograph, and the Cosmic Ray Vibrator (stop giggling, will you?).
His most fiendish adversary was Dr. Pauli, who had his own set of super-duper hardware, including the Barrier of Silence (later parodied on "Get Smart"), the Cloak of Invisibility, and the Trisonic Compensator. The Dumont Network (whose demise alone could end this popular show) sold to their viewers such premiums as Decoder Rings, Space Helmets, and plastic copies of Captain Video's weaponry, almost all of which are highly collectable today.
Late in its life, the show was retitled "The Secret Files of Captain Video" and they stopped editing in stock footage of Westerns through the money-saving "Remote Carrier Beam."
Captain Video's spaceship was called the "Galaxy" -- and every child wished to be Captain Video's sidekick "The Ranger" and ride the Galaxy to exotic destinations, whether or not the instruments on the control panel were obviously painted on.
Captain Video (1949-50) -- Richard Coogan
Captain Video (1950-55) -- Al Hodge (formerly the voice of "The Green Hornet" on radio)
The Ranger -- Don Hastings
Dr. Pauli (1949) -- Bran Mossen
Dr. Pauli (1949-55) -- Hal Conklin
Creator/Producer -- James Caddigan
Producer -- Larry Menkin
Writer -- Maurice C. Brockhauser, and later: Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Sheckley, and Jack Vance
Music -- Wagner's Overture to the Flying Dutchman
Lights Out, NBC, 19 July 1949-29 Sep 1952
Spun off from the hit radio show which began in 1934, there were four television specials produced by Fred Coe (Goodyear TV Playhouse,
Producer's Showcase, 1955 Emmy for Best Producer of a Live Series) in 1946, and then after three years of development hell, this fine suspense anthology. Each epsiode opened with an extreme close-up of a pair of eyes, cutting to a close-up of a bloody hand reaching for the light switch, and a voice-over of a chilling laugh and the catch-phrase "lights out, everybody!"
Each episode was shot live. Some were adaptations of classic short stories, others were developed specially for this series.
Narrator (1949-50) -- Jack LaRue
Narrator (1950-52) -- Frank Gallop
Musical Effects:
Theremin -- Paul Lipman (1949)
Organ (1949-52) -- Arlo Hults
Harp (1950-52) -- Doris Johnson
Began on radio (1934) and 4 specials
(produced by Fred Coe) on TV (1946)
Guest Stars: Boris Karloff, Eddie Albert, Billie Burke, Yvonne DeCarlo, Raymond Massey, Burgess Meredith, Leslie Nielsen, Basil Rathbone
The Secret Files of Captain Video -- see Captain Video and His Video Rangers (1940s)
Starring Boris Karloff, ABC, Sep 1949-Dec 1949
starting with 27 Oct 1949 episode name changed to "Mystery Playhouse Starring Boris Karloff."
Host -- Boris Karloff
The Ultimate Science Fiction Web Guide is in the last couple of months of its 6th year online. Go to http:/magicdragon.com and click on "Science Fiction", and then click on TV, or Movies, or Authors, or Genres, or Countries, or whatever. See why this labor-of-love free information domain gets over 1,200,000 visitors a year...
The co-webmaster, who posted this teaser, is in the Open Source Community, was once on the Board of Directors of Brave New Worlds, Inc., and still has 3,600 shares of VALinux, umm, I mean VA Software left from VA's acquisition of Brave New Worlds...