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."

Comments

the frogs???

[Anonymous Coward]

So it's a fantasy in which Germans took over the world and are now fighting to wipe out the French???

Re:Two thoughts

[HornWumpus]

Have you ever seen Germans dance? They danced like that in 1966.

Germans do great science and engineering. But give us musical instruments and you get Polka or Techno.

English Subtitles

[wjcofkc]

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.