Space Academy

Short lived space series starring Jonathan Harris. In childhood I felt that, in Space Academy, Jonathan Harris was just too unlike his Dr Smith character and I struggled to warm to 1970s Harris...I was a kid stuck in the 1960s! But it was not all bad news, in childhood, I remember being thrilled by some of the low budget alien planets seen in Space Academy. I discovered that the "special effects" guy in charge had no effects experience before Space Academy! Do you also remember Filmation's Ark 11 series? The bus-like vehicle in that series looks like a spacecraft in Space Academy. Space Academy deserves a DVD rental...mainly for the mild Lost In Space connection and the cool always used "Filmation music cues" that fill the series. There was a spin-off series - Jason of Star Command - which, after a bumpy first season, improved in year two.

Those of you who said that James Doohan (Scotty) was on Space Academy made a mistake. He was on the spin off series Jason of Star Command. Anyway Jonathan Harris was great on this show as Commander Gampu and how he would help the cadets on their various space missions. It was fun to see what missions the crew would go on every week and the things they would learn from their missions. Who could forget Peepo and his personality and wisecracks. This show would come on either before or after Fat Albert depending on the year it was on. I'm sure Space Academy will come out on DVD someday. R.I.P. Jonathan Harris (Gampu) and James Doohan (Scotty). You'll be missed but the memories of your shows will live on forever.

Space Academy could have surpassed expectations IF it had been allowed more air-time to develop the plots and characters. The potential for this show is astounding. With the ensemble cast and the 'name' value for Mr. Harris, this show could have taken many directions. As a soap opera, a thriller, focus on science/education or pure science fiction/Tom Corbett style galactic-good-guy-show, this series is now seen as 'campy'. Why? Financial backing was limited; vision was short sighted. Pity. This show made its mark in several areas with their special effects and live-action spin-off to name a few.

If this show had been suggested today, I do not think it would have been made. This is sad; special effects technology alone would make this series outstanding. Space Academy was cut short in its prime; the actors and writers relegated to public obscurity unless supporters, the viewers, keep it alive. Thankfully, the decision to re-run the first year and allowing it to air in England, gave the few who did see it a good show that was just not allowed to live up to it's potential.

If there was one show I wish I could see again, it's this one. This one, and maybe the time that dog took a crap in our back yard while hopping on one leg.

Synopsis: A group of high school kids run missions to save stalled freighters, starving aliens or to get groceries. All the while learning about readin', 'ritin, 'rithmatic, love, friendship, and why it's not a good idea to go in a dark cave on a distant planet without a sidearm.

The Space Academy shuttles were shaped like the Pink Pearl erasers we were issued at my school each September. I would usually spend my mornings flying the eraser between desks, landing on strange and exotic textbooks, and confronting hostile alien pencils.

The great Pam Ferdyn starred in this show, and seemingly everything else in those days (It seemed like Ike Eisenmann was in everything too). Unfortunately, the best actor on the show, 'Peepo' failed to find work after Space Academy. Whatever happened to 'Peepo?' Or, as I liked to call him, 'Peepoo.'

The Space Academy idea is not new to sci-fi and so many independent writers have developed their own "academy" or shared with a previously developed idea and created parallel stories. I find that this series was underdeveloped in character and plot. Boy, would I like to either see more of the same idea (parameters of what a Space Academy "should be")or resurrect this one. The old cast members could be instructors with a new Blue Team...since young and charismatic continues to be the theme of current producers. This series was important to me. Not as a Jr. Star Trek but as a never tried before live action sci-fi series-with child actors. It allowed viewers (like children)to get a taste of sci-fi (and the possible future-I like Ark II for the same reason)that readers have been experiencing for years. As an impressionable young adult at the time, this type of series cemented my love not only for tv but for reading at a time I thought that I did not want to put much time into opening a book. It gave me the world and outer space,too. Can't beat that!