Space Academy

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.

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.'

I liked the show! It was fun with excitement in the scripts. For the longest time, I thought Meeno Peluce played Loki. It was one of those post Star Wars tv shows that was thrown together to address the Star Wars craze. Don't try and over analyze a show. The effects weren't great, but in retrospect, neither were Star Trek's but people are still fans. I remember this one episode that Loki stole a ship as a childish prank. I liked how Loki was disciplined. I remember another episode with a living asteroid. The telepathy of the twins was the first time I had been introduced to the concept of telepathy. They weren't goody goody. I loved Jason of Star Command. It was a fun serial for kids.

I remember watching this in my PJs around age 5 but for some odd reason I thought I remembered it running on Saturday late afternoons rather than Saturday mornings. A lot of things I only remember bits and pieces of from that period of time.

Of this show, I only remember a few things with any certainty. One is me thinking "hey, the mean guy from Lost In Space is on the show" and "hey, Scotty is on this show". I also remember thinking why the engine on their ship looked like a television set with an orange screen. And the kids all having some special powers---they'd all get in a circle holding hands and chanting "concentrate, concentrate".

I can remember being well entertained by this show. I'm sure it was cheesy as hell, but hey...what in the 1970s wasn't?

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!