coker-2

CBS had Tom Corbett, Space Cadet for only a couple of months before it moved to ABC, then later DuMont, then later NBC. With space adventure shows at their peak of popularity in 1953, CBS hired Tom Corbett's original director and commissioned him to create a clone. He did so, and the result was Rod Brown (Cliff Robertson) of the Rocket Rangers. With the same director, same special effects gizmo, and many of the same writers, this was a somewhat livelier version of Space Cadet. Aliens were very rarely seen on Space Cadet, so Rod Brown gave us virtually a new alien every week. It was an interesting program and it is a shame that no kinescopes seem to be available these days.

We watched Atom Squad faithfully, and it always promised a lot, and sometimes even delivered. But usually it was saddled by all the production limitations of a live, daily 15-minute childrens' program from the Golden Age of TV--- little action, only two or three cramped sets, limited camera coverage, blown lines, and lots of talking heads. The concept was good--- special agents looking for menaces to society that involved radiation (and usually Commie sabotage or generic Mad Scientists). I'd love to see some episodes again, despite it all, and hope against hope some kinescopes survive somewhere.

If it were not for COMMANDO CODY, SKY MARSHAL OF THE UNIVERSE, we would consider ROCKY JONES, SPACE RANGER to be the low point of 1950s space adventure series. Unlike the other shows of the day it was filmed and syndicated; that meant far better sets, props and special effects. But the writers seemed never to have understood what science fiction, or space adventure, was all about. The actors are good and deserve better material. They also deserve better directors. The art direction is quite good, but there are very few "practical effects," far fewer than even on the live space adventure shows. (When a ray gun fired on CAPTAIN VIDEO, we saw flame and smoke... when a ray gun fires on ROCKY JONES we hear a kind of farting sound.)