The Man and the Challenge

I watched The Man And The Challenge when it was first on in 1960 and was intrigued. I was born destined to become an electrical engineer so this program presented a scientific challenge each episode that challenged my future knowledge of physics. Finally a show that wasn't complete fluff like a talking horse or a guy married to a witch. A thinking adult man who was drastically challenged each week and had to save himself or the situation using scientific principles. I wanted to learn so bad! And I wanted to solve the puzzles before the show revealed the solution. This show has never been publicized since, but I always remembered it all these years, and could stump most everybody else who had never ever heard of it. I'd love to see a show today to see how it matches my recollections.

My precocious cousin and I were avid watchers of this Friday (?) night show. The space programme was in its enthusiastic first blush, and was undoubtedly the inspiration for the series. I believe that my cousin turned to a lot of physical self-punishment under the inspiration of THE MAN AND THE CHALLENGE (younger and reckless at 12) to show that he too could "take it." It was from the series that I learned the term "human factors research." I was going to be a scientist, then.

Thinking back, however, I can see why the show was so short-lived. Some of the adventures were definitely contrived -- working from 40 years' memory -- and there were not enough interesting principals, even the hero. One could not delve TOO much into the science, and at bottom it had little mass appeal.

So glad to find others who loved this show, too. No one I ever asked remembered the show. I found it inspiring as well. I was all psyched by science and space, too, and at the time wanted to be "the first woman geologist on the moon." I understand that position has not been filled, but I probably won't make it now ;-) I was in a science club in Niagara Falls, where Bell Labs tested their rocket belt. We were scheduled to see one of those tests, although I think the day we went it was postponed and we missed it.

Kudos to all of you who went on to pursue your dreams. Mine changed to the field of psychology, and I now work with adults who have AD(H)D as a coach. Many people who have ADD are the very ones who have become the adventurers and entrepreneurs, etc., who make a difference in the world and inspire us. It is very gratifying work.

I was in my late teens when this program aired and I watched it every week with my older brother. To me it was an inspiring series that seemed to show that man could go beyond his previous limitations and do what had theretofore been considered impossible. One incident comes to mind to serve as an example: The George Nader character is in an elevator with several other people when the elevator begins to fall out of control. Somehow they have to find a way to survive. Because of Nader's quick thinking and resourcefulness, they are able to transcend their human limitations and survive the fall, although in retrospect it stretches one's credibility. Even at that, though, it inspired me to strive to go beyond my own limitations and to try for seemingly impossible goals.

I saw this show only a couple of times in its short run, but have the vivid memory of being excited by the ideas of physical and mental challenges posed by the pre- Mercury space race. I was disappointed to not see it more. I recall the intro to the show portrayed the star being propelled in a high-acceleration rocket sled along rails in the desert. This appealed in the same imagination stimulating and quasi-educational vein as Lloyd Bridges' Sea Hunt, and a few other shows of that period of the late 50's-early 60's.