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SciFi TV Series 'Space Patrol Orion' Celebrates Its 50th Anniversary (wikipedia.org)
In Germany the phrase "Fallback to Earth!" is about as cult as "Engage warp drive," reports Long-time Slashdot reader Qbertino: One of the oldest science fiction TV serials, the famous German "Raumpatrouille Orion" (Space Patrol Orion) turned 50 today. Heise.de has a scoop on the anniversary in German [or roughly translated into English by Google]. The production of Space Patrol Orion predates Star Trek by roughly a year and was a huge hit in Germany, gaining the status of a "street sweeper" (Strabenfeger), referring to the effect it's airing had on public life.
The special effects are pretty good for 1966 -- you can watch episode one on YouTube. (And feel free to share other related videos in the comments.) "In the series, nations no longer exist and Earth is united," according to Wikipedia, which reports that Commander Cliff McLane and his loyal crew fight an alien race called the Frogs, and "He is notoriously defiant towards his superiors."
The special effects are pretty good for 1966 -- you can watch episode one on YouTube. (And feel free to share other related videos in the comments.) "In the series, nations no longer exist and Earth is united," according to Wikipedia, which reports that Commander Cliff McLane and his loyal crew fight an alien race called the Frogs, and "He is notoriously defiant towards his superiors."
So it's a fantasy in which Germans took over the world and are now fighting to wipe out the French???
Only seven episodes? Guess it was like "The Prisoner", where it establishes its premise and then wraps everything up.
I wonder if the series ended when the spaceship achieved a victory -- or peace -- with the Frogs. (See Star Trek VI...) Surely it's just a coincidence that "frogs" is also a derogatory slang word for French people...
Very good looking effects and brilliant set designs for the time! Pity the linked YouTube video isn't subtitled, though. I must research this more--this could well be a very overlooked gem. Certainly better than constantly hearing about that OTHER fifty-year-old series that people won't shut the hell up about.
Heh, I prefer Winnetou.
Looks a lot like another Lost in Space (which was a few years before this). There were plenty of shows of this sort at the time.
For every problem, there is at least one solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
There were no references to French people as such particularly since nation states apparently did not exist any more. There was one reference to "Frogs" being a kind of animal. In the series there were just blurry shapes with glitter. There actually was a French version of that series which seemingly got lost in the mists of time. Only one fragment exists.
The reason why there were only so few episodes was that it was _really_ expensive to make. Multiple German TV stations had to cooperate to finance it. Since it was filmed just before TV stations invested in colour, it didn't get sold abroad very much. There were plans to make a second series in colour but those were abandoned.
What really drew new generations of viewers to that series are the sets and the dancing. Both incredibly goofy even for a 1960s show.
Saw it in the firehose, no way to let them know that they were wrong :-(
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Men In Space started broadcasting on September 30, 1959.
And if you are in the US you can see episode airing on Comet TV
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n/t
"When I first heard Daydream Nation it quite frankly scared the living shit out of me." -- Matthew Stearns
Wrong about what?
I guess the German "sz" ligature does look a bit like a "b".
Should've seen that coming, sorry.
"ß" is the letter, a ligature for "sz" that is a common member of the german glyph alphabet.
But you can substitute it with two "s"es in a pinch.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
"Foreign race without galactic signature."
Not exactly french, but maybe close enough, depending on your point of view. :-)
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
Time!
Space!
Human!
Race!
Mostly time!
I started up the youtube of the first show and my wife walk by and said she remember it as a kid, and that was in Seattle. I wonder which station it was on, maybe 11?
Only the Germans who have a quite good knowledge of U.S. culture would be able to identify frogs with the French. First, the frog in German is called Frosch, not Frog, and second, the Germans don't call the French frogs, that's an U.S. term.
IIRC that nickname was chosen because it sounded "alien", yet familiar enough, and of course it had to sound cool and edgy. And in the 60s, anything "English" was absolutely edgy and cool.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Luckily this name is taken on Eve Online.
Guess by whom ...
Played by Charlotte Kerr, one of the most beautiful women who ever lived. RIP.
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
The production of Space Patrol Orion predates Star Trek by roughly a year
I guess production is the magic word.
Because we already celebrated Star Trek's 50th this year. And somehow this show – which also aired in 1966 if we're celebrating its 50th now – predates Star Trek.
nuff said.
.. nuff nuff ..
First the similarities:
Cliff Mclane / James T. Kirk
- good looking
- strong
- black sheep
Now the difference
General Lydia van Dyke (high ranking female) disciplining Cliff Mclane and not getting layed!
'Frog' was coined by the Brits.
Also: http://www.rsdb.org/
Missing a lot.
Dutch: missing 'Swamp German'
SF Bay area citizen: no entry, missing 'Bay Aryan'.
Disappointing Belgian entry. Half from Monty Python.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Take your damn meds and stay on topic.
The great thing about keeping up with English subtitles derived from German dialog is that you get the challenge of keeping up with 500 words per minute. You could make a brain game or some such thing out of it.
Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
Heh..I watched "Men into Space" when it was first run, when I was a preschooler.
So that must make you...
Orion: Original release 17 September – 10 December 1966
vs
TOS: Original release September 8, 1966 – June 3, 1969
That is not "about a year earlier"
.. problems with that?
At least it was the topic of the thread.
It was so expensive, they even used a clothes iron as a prop on the ship's bridge.