Rod Brown of the Rocket Rangers

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.