Captain Video: Master of the Stratosphere

Lesser known Columbia cliff-hanger serial partly set in space.

Republic serials had better spaceship effects (see Radar Men From The Moon) and Universal space serials had better characters (see Buck Rogers) but Columbia made a reasonably entertaining serial with Captain Video, Master Of The Stratosphere.

It has an energetic feel (due partly to the music cues lifted from Columbia's Batman and Robin serial) and the two male leads do a fine job, even if their costumes could have been a bit better.

Granted, the very dated robots and animated spaceship effects do a bit of damage to the production as a whole, but I would rather watch this than most of the Star Wars films made in this century.

Columbia would go back into space in 1953 with - The Lost Planet - but stay clear of that serial.

Before Captain Video, Columbia had made two Batman serials, am I the only one who thinks this show has a "Batman and Robin 3" feel about it?

This is one of the worst Columbia science fiction serials. That said, it does have a couple of interesting qualities. First, it has some very unusual cliff hangers, but there's no set up that allows you to guess 'How do they get out of it?' Almost every one is a cheat, with Captain Video pulling out a new secret gadget to neutralize the terror, or Gallagher (Don C. Harvey, usually a 'henchman' in other serials and movies) in the Control Room twirling dials and flipping switches to save our heroes. When a fire in a well fails to burn them, Captain Video explains that it's because human bodies from Earth react differently to the atmosphere of Theros. But there's only one 'jump out of the car before it explodes / goes over the cliff' cliff hanger! As usual, it's the stirring narration by Knox Manning at the end of each episode that teases you into wanting to watch the next chapter.

The real fun and the best part of the serial are the names of the gadgets! The 'hose-inator' sucks up poisonous gas; the 'degravitator' counteracts gravity by creating a 'sonic air cushion' which allows our heroes to fall slowly and safely to Earth from deep space; their 'inertializer' paralyzes the bad guys; bombs are defused by an 'anti-detonator'--- wow! The list goes on and on! There's 'the space platform,' the 'optican skillometer,' the 'thermograph,' the giant binoculars called 'scanning goggles,' the 'atmospheric locator,' the 'static beam,' 'platinite,' the 'stethapod,' the 'interference ray,' 'hyrogenic radiations,' the 'magnetic impulse detector,' the 'diathermic accelerator,' 'paralyzing vapor bombs,' the 'space radiophone,' the 'palm mike' (a kind of mini-walkee talkee), the 'cosmic vibrator,' and the 'cloak of invisibility.'

Remember, this was made in the days of when you could order your 'decoder ring' and other gadgets from the top SF TV shows of the time -- the best of which in all ways was 'Space Patrol' (1950) which offered home versions of gadgets used on the show. (And then again, you get one for free in a box of cereal!)

What makes this one really weak as a serial: too much walking or driving around outside (but it's in the great slanted rocks of the Iverson Ranch in Chatsworth); bland hero; costumes from the stock room; no physical contact between the hero and head villain, Vultura (Gene Roth, a left over from the Three Stooges shorts)-- in fact, as someone who wants to rule the universe, he spends virtually all his screen time talking into hand held microphones and showing his flabby stomach. There's too much time spent by all the characters twisting dials, flipping switches, using microphones, and staring into video screens ('the optical skillometer').

So this serial is on the same level as some of Republic's worst SF serials (hey, weren't all Republic's SF serials the worst?). I'll be generous and give this Columbia effort a 3, just for the names of the gadgets!

I missed Captain Video in the theatre in 1951. It played on an usual morning bill (for our town)for 15 weeks with cartoons and shorts. This was before most of the hinterlands had TV. We had heard about Captain Video, even seen the comic book, however this serial, even with the tinted sequences now available on DVD, bears absolutely no relationship to the TV series except for the name. I recently bought the DVD set and I must say even for Columbia and Sam Katzman this is just about, no make that the worst serial they even put out. Judd Holdren as the Captain comes across as very gay at times, not a lot of character development. Not much outer space goings on either. The villains on the red tinted sequences (especially poor Gene Roth)are dressed as Mongolian Tartars. The good guys on the green tinted sequences are all dressed as Arabs, everything else in outer space and on earth is in black and white. Special effects? Don't ask. The episodes and the cliff-hangers (where you can call them that) are just ridiculous by any standards. Knowing full well that this was directed towards 8 year old kids of 1951 and written by a veteran crew of serial writers, its an ungodly disaster! Approach it at your own risk.

I've yet to see a really great Columbia serial, they all seem to go on too long, and this didn't break the mould. It took me a long time to track down a copy (thank God for video) and it was black & white, missing the Cinecolor tinted sequences, but beggars can't be choosers. Planet Atoma looks dusty, and is ruled by despot Vultura, everyone is dressed in costumes left over from a "Buck Rogers" serial and he wants to rule the universe, starting with Earth! Captain Video and a young man who every one calls "Ranger" take him on. Between them they have a Gadget for every emergency and some left over, and space flight is as easy as catching the local bus.....but It's fun. By the way in all of the 15 episodes there's not one girl.