Capitán Meteoro

Captain Midnight was based on a WWII era Radio Show of the same name (just updated for TV). The Radio show and the original TV Airing was sponsored by Ovaltine which marketed "Secret Decoder Ring" and Badge tie-ins during the Radio show (and I think the TV Show). There was also a fan club that allowed you to be a member of Captain Midnight's "Secret Squadron". They owned the character name. When the show went into syndication, they were no longer the sponsor so the syndicated versions had to have the name altered (to Jet Jackson). One of the changes that was made in the TV Show (from the Radio Version) was the alteration of the Secret Squadron serial numbers from SS-X (Captain Midnight was of course SS-1) to SQ-X due to the SS reference being in poor taste due to WWII Nazi associations.

We in Australia knew Richard Webb's series as 'Jet Jackson - Flying Commando' and wondered why the characters' lips moved strangely when 'Jet Jackson' was uttered! It would be years later before we realised that the character name had been changed (and thus dubbed) in syndication and obviously also for overseas sale. Maybe my favourite 'character' was the Bell 'Silver Dart' but this, along with 'Rocky Jones, Space Ranger' was my favourite after-school entertainment in the early 1960s.

I've picked up a few episodes of 'Captain Midnight' but it's just not the same as hearing.....'JET JACKSON.....FLY - ING COMMANDO' echo out from the TV speaker. For that I have to resort to a 40 year-old reel to reel tape. Ah, nostalgia.

Addendum: Four and a half years after my original comment, I'm still waiting for this series to appear on DVD. Here's hoping it happens before I pass on!

Further addendum: I've now acquired the 3 DVD set which includes about 30 episodes, a mixture of original 'Captain Midnight' and 'Jet Jackson' prints. The quality is variable although the soundtracks have been pretty much 'cleaned up'. Even the poorer prints are entertaining because, surprisingly, the stories are, for the time, entertaining and soundly constructed. Jim Albright, CM/JJ's alter-ego, never talks down to children which is probably why fans remember the show with affection. Our hero treated us with respect. Here's hoping that better quality prints, plus copies of the missing episodes, come to light in the future.

Like the previous commentator, I vividly remember Captain Midnight's mountaintop base, and his scientist assistant "Tut", as well as the great Sid Melton as his mechanic, Ikky (for Ichabod)Mudd "with two Ds". I never understood the reason for the name change to Jet Jackson before I read the trivia note above. It says the Jet Jackson name was used in Australia, but I know it was also used here in the US as well, so I'm still a bit puzzled. Anyway, I am glad of the opportunity to reminisce about one of my favorite childhood TV shows. I believe Sid Melton is still alive, and was still working as of 1999. Some may remember him as "Alf Monroe" on Green Acres.

Captain Midnight was a crime fighter, a jet pilot, a scientist and a super role model for kids. He gave me an early desire to become a jet pilot when I grew up. I never did though, become a jet pilot I mean. I was a fan from the beginning of the TV series and never missed an episode when we lived in Los Angeles. I had a secret squadron decoder ring too. If I remember it right, I sent in the paper seal on the inside of the cap of a bottle of Ovaltine plus 25 cents and I got the ring in the mail. Pretty cheesy little gadget that fell apart quickly but it was a symbol of the show and I liked having it. I believe he had a slick special car too to go along with the streamlined theme of the base and the jet. Yeah, really good entertainment for kids of the day IMHO.

-bm

CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT had been a popular kids' adventure program which started in 1938 and ran locally in Chicago, in Syndication and in varying times on the NBC, Blue, Mutual and ABC Radio Networks. It was long-lived and very popular; surviving the waning years of Great Depression Years as well as World War II. The series had undergone a continuous metamorphosis in scheduling, time slots, sponsor and ownership.

With the rights of the show being owned by Ovaltine, the series was adapted to Television in 1954. It was a production of Screen Gems, the Television Subsidiary of Columbia Pictures Corporation. By this time, the origin and identity was get just a little long in the tooth and the series underwent some cosmetic surgery, in order that he will seem a little more up to date.

For one thing, the name of "Captain Midnight" was hung on the hero following a desperate mission he completed in The World War (as the European Conflict of 1914-1918 was called prior to 1939.). In this engagement with the enemy, the hero left for his appointment with destiny at the very stoke of 12 Midnight. 12 Midnight, Captain Midnight; hmmmm, they're clever, these Americans! In "modernizing" a character, a lot must be jettisoned away from the character and the core elements of the story line. Hence, we had a mountain top secret headquarters and a newly updated Jet Aircraft, dubbed 'The Silver Dart. Supporting characters resident Scientist Aristotle "Tut" Jones and side-kick/airplane mechanic Ichabod "Ikky"Mudd were portrayed by Olan Soule and Sid Melton, respectively.

Tall and tan, young and lovely, with an excellent speaking voice and excellent acting credentials, athletic Richard Webb garnered the title role of the good Captain. I can well remember thinking that Mr. Webb would have made an excellent choice to portray the DC Super Hero, Green Lantern (Silver Age); but before we knew it, he was off and portraying Chief Don Jagger on BORDER PATROL TV Series.

Our "modernized" fighting team had gone through the same sort of revamping that is oh so common in the Comic Book business does all the time. Be it at DC or over at Marvel, they are all big on keeping their charges up to date. And after all, be it a Comic Book, Pulp Magazine Character or Radio/TV/Motion Pictures, they are all pretty much alike.

The TV series did not have any sightings of old nemesis of the Captain's, the evil Ivan Shark. Nor were there any continuities in story requiring continued story lines as we always saw in the Movie Serials.* Because of the rights to the Captain Name, likeness and all related material was in the hands of the Ovaltine people, Columbia/Screen Gems could do nothing to put the old series episodes into syndication. So we saw another case of celluloid, not plastic, surgery. All they did at Screen Gems was to change the name of the character and the show to "JET JACKSON and they were in business.

They got the series out in syndication, but it had the worst case of obvious dubbing in the history of sound film. It was so obvious and jerky when for example, Mr. Webb would sign off mouthing "This is Captain Midnight", but the dubbed sound said, "This is Jet Jackson" that is was laughable, even to us dumb kids.

NOTE * Yes there was a cliffhanger serial of CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT (Columbia, 1942)starring stuntman-actor Dave O'Brien in the title role.