@RUTGERS.ARPA:wesm@mitre-bedford (02/11/85)
From: wesm@Mitre-Bedford Hey, out there in netland, do anyof you remember the 50's TV show Commander Cody. I don't remember much from it, but as I recall it was a show that was way ahead of its time. There was also a TV show, Flash Gordon, not the Buster Crab thing, that was a half hour weekly show that lasted a year or two. Anyone recall, or have any info on who starred, produced, etc. any of these?
hollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (Jerry Hollombe) (02/12/85)
>From: @RUTGERS.ARPA:wesm@mitre-bedford >Subject: Commander Cody and Flash Gordon >Message-ID: <582@topaz.ARPA> > > Hey, out there in netland, do anyof you remember the 50's TV show >Commander Cody. I don't remember much from it, but as I recall it was a show >that was way ahead of its time. There was also a TV show, Flash Gordon, not >the Buster Crab thing, that was a half hour weekly show that lasted a year or >two. Anyone recall, or have any info on who starred, produced, etc. any of >these? I remember Commando Cody and his rocket powered flight jacket (a brown leather jacket with a rocket pack attatched to its back, controlled by extending the arms above the head). Cody also showed up in theaters in serial format and once or twice on more recent TV as a film put together from a sequence of the old TV shows. I also remember Captain Zero and Captain Midnight and their respective decoder rings and secret message kits. The secret message kit worked by writing on a thin strip of paper with a clear wax crayon. To read the message you pulled the strip through the secret compartment of a ring containing a small ink pad. Wish I knew what became of mine -- probably worth a fortune by now. Capt. Midnight had a couple of sidekicks, one of whom was his resident scientist of the egghead-stereotype school. This guy actually did bring up some interesting concepts, though not always accurately presented. I remember one time he was playing with a 1" ball of neutronium on his workbench that Midnight said "... must weigh a hundred pounds!". A little off on the details, but the concept was there. -- ============================================================================== The Polymath (Jerry Hollombe) Citicorp TTI If thy CRT offend thee, pluck 3100 Ocean Park Blvd. it out and cast it from thee. Santa Monica, California 90405 (213) 450-9111, ext. 2483 {vortex,philabs}!ttidca!ttidcc!hollombe
leeper@ahuta.UUCP (m.leeper) (02/15/85)
REFERENCES: <582@topaz.ARPA> >Hey, out there in netland, do anyof you remember the 50's TV >show Commander Cody. I don't remember much from it, but as >I recall it was a show that was way ahead of its time. Do I remember Commando Cody, Sky Marshal of the Universe??? I was a little tyke in kindergarden and the week split neatly in two parts. There was the hour on Saturday morning when they showed Commando Cody and Captain Midnight. Then there was the dull part of the week that lasted 167 hours! Judd Holdren wore the Republic serials rocket suit and fought the minions of The Ruler from the planet Saturn. I just loved to see the spaceships that took off horizontally like planes and to watch Cody fly between them with his rocket suit. If you want to see the props again, watch for serials on TV. The suit is in KING OF THE ROCKET MEN, the suit and the spaceships were in RARAR MEN FROM THE MOON and ZOMBIES OF THE STRATOSPHERE. The TV series was not so much ahead of its time as it was the serials of a year or so earlier brought to the tv screen. Captain Midnight, incidently, was a scientist who had a secret super-scientific laboratory on top of a mountain. He was played by Richard Webb and his sidekick was Ichobod Mudd (Sid Melton, later of the Danny Thomas Show). He lab also had a sceintist at his beck and call, Tut -- short for Aristotle Jones, played by Olan Soule. His personal jet was the Silver Dart ("Fire up the Silver Dart, Ikky!"). He also had a secret army of kid helpers called the Secret Squadron. The code of the Secret Squadron was "Justice -- through strength and courage." In various episodes he dealt with a good scientist turned into a monster called "the electrified man" whose touch was deadly. Also there was a guided missile that looked like a cannister vacuum cleaner and rolled sinisterly along the ground guided to its victim. Both were pretty scary to my kindergardener mind. In syndication, the name was changed to Jet Jackson. >There was also a TV show, Flash Gordon, not the Buster Crab That's Crabbe. >thing, that was a half hour weekly show that lasted a year >or two. Anyone recall, or have any info on who starred, >produced, etc. any of these? I liked it, but not as much as the above two. The series was produced in Germany. I remember Flash on Earth in a VW bug with a sun roof and I thought a sun roof was a science fiction idea. Flash was played by Steve Holland, Dale Arden by Irene Champlin, and Alexis Zarkov by Joe Nash. I liked the space ship a lot. This series was shown in 1957, the previous two in 1955. Portions of my memory on the above were aided by TOTAL TELEVISION by Alex McNeil. Now let me ask a really obscure one. I remember around 1955 or 1956 watching a show with someone having a machine with a window that could see the past (or future?) I think that they could also step through the window. I vaguely remember the show, but have never seen a reference to it anywhere. Mark Leeper ...ihnp4!ahuta!leeper
ethan@utastro.UUCP (Ethan Vishniac) (02/15/85)
> Captain Midnight, incidently, was a scientist who had a secret > super-scientific laboratory on top of a mountain. He was played by > Richard Webb and his sidekick was Ichobod Mudd (Sid Melton, later of > the Danny Thomas Show). He lab also had a sceintist at his beck and > call, Tut -- short for Aristotle Jones, played by Olan Soule. His > personal jet was the Silver Dart ("Fire up the Silver Dart, Ikky!"). > He also had a secret army of kid helpers called the Secret Squadron. > The code of the Secret Squadron was "Justice -- through strength and > courage." In various episodes he dealt with a good scientist turned > into a monster called "the electrified man" whose touch was deadly. > Also there was a guided missile that looked like a cannister vacuum > cleaner and rolled sinisterly along the ground guided to its victim. > Both were pretty scary to my kindergardener mind. In syndication, the > name was changed to Jet Jackson. > > Mark Leeper > ...ihnp4!ahuta!leeper Amazing what the mind can dredge up. I was born in '55 and didn't expect to remember anything having to do with this. After reading the above note I realized I have vivid memories of this show. The electrified man had me scared for weeks afterwards. "Don't argue with a fool. Ethan Vishniac Borrow his money." {charm,ut-sally,ut-ngp,noao}!utastro!ethan Department of Astronomy University of Texas Austin, Texas 78712 *Anyone who wants to claim these opinions is welcome to them*
friesen@psivax.UUCP (Stanley Friesen) (02/18/85)
In article <582@topaz.ARPA> @RUTGERS.ARPA:wesm@mitre-bedford writes: >From: wesm@Mitre-Bedford > > > Hey, out there in netland, do anyof you remember the 50's TV show >Commander Cody. I don't remember much from it, but as I recall it was a show >that was way ahead of its time. I watched one episode, my SF fan club shows such things from time to time. I thought it was rather silly, sort of like the old movie serials. It was about this guy(a sort of Flash Gordon type) who had this rocket suit who went about saving the Earth. Of course when it was produced this was not yet a cliche. -- Sarima (Stanley Friesen) {trwrb|allegra|cbosgd|hplabs|ihnp4|aero!uscvax!akgua}!sdcrdcf!psivax!friesen or quad1!psivax!friesen
@RUTGERS.ARPA:RP@SCRC-STONY-BROOK.ARPA (02/23/85)
From: Richard Pavelle <RP@SCRC-QUABBIN.ARPA>
Date: Monday, 11 Feb 1985 12:22-EST
From: wesm@Mitre-Bedford
Subject: Commander Cody and Flash Gordon
Hey, out there in netland, do any of you remember the 50's
TV show Commander Cody. I don't remember much from it, but as I
recall it was a show that was way ahead of its time. There was also
a TV show, Flash Gordon, not the Buster Crabbe thing, that was a half
hour weekly show that lasted a year or two. Anyone recall, or have
any info on who starred, produced, etc. any of these?
Who can forget Commando Cody. He was Sky Marshall of the Universe and then
some. I remember it well although it ran only a few months in 1955 on NBC.
We all know that Judd Holdran played Cody but what were the names of Cody's
sidekicks? Also, did Holdren appear in the cinema version too?
And how about Flash Gordon! In the summer of 1949, I believe, they first began
broadcasts of the 30 minute Buster Crabbe serial. At the end of episode 1,
Flash is confronted by a horned (horny? they all go after Dale) gorilla which
he kills. But the end of episode 2 may be the first example of TV censorship.
He fights a reptillian monster and it was considered too intense for children.
The station in New York terminated the broadcast at the start of the
confrontation. I was really disappointed and waited a long time before seeing
a full broadcast of that episode. Does anyone else recall this censorship
event or more details? I think it was Channel 13 in NYC.