Space Patrol

I don't remember this first time round but it's just started to be shown on Talking Pictures TV in the UK (As Space Patrol) so get over there quick!

Looks like a mid 1950s effort rather than ten years later but I love it. A few gadgets used so far, including "the plasticiser" and I can't wait to see lots more. A very nice model city but the cars don't half whizz along the roads a bit too quickly for the scale of it, but as it's set in 2100 they may be Tesla's Model 30, or nuclear powered is more probable.

Great fun which even the young may enjoy now but there is no colour which might spoil it a bit for them.

This was a quite different and quirky SF puppet production done on the cheap. I am really looking forward to the videos because it will be so evocative of my childhood. There was never anything like it before or after - I don't think it can even be compared with Fireball XL5. Fantastic.

I've just started watching the television series Space Patrol (known as Planet Patrol in the US), a wonderful kids program created by a protégé of Gerry Anderson from the early sixties that also used marionettes. What really strikes me about this all but forgotten program is how influential it seems to have been on later sci-fi. From the very first episode you can see how Gene Roddenberry must have been heavily influenced by Space Patrol. The aggressive and masculine Martians with their high foreheads are certainly forerunners of the Klingons while the elfin and logical Venusians must have been inspirational in the creation of the Vulcans. Even some aesthetics like room dividers are very similar to those on the Enterprise. The main plot revolves around a close knit trio of friends and their adventures visiting various planets. While obviously Roddenberry had more inspiration than this kid's show, in some ways Star Trek feels like a grown up version of Space Patrol.

Unfortunately the DVD is OOP and sells for around $500 but if you search around the net... (hint, hint), you can find some episodes. The show is really hilarious both intentionally and unintentionally such as in the first episode when the 'brakes' go out on their spaceship and they almost crash into Jupiter. Or anytime they leave the ship there is a cut-scene of a ridiculous looking robot pacing back and forth behind sliding doors. Notice how the Colonel looks like Larry Tate from Bewitched.

Although for children the content is quite watchable by any age. This series sticks in my mind as one of the best thought out scifi TV programs of the sixties. OK so we know Mars and Venus have no life as such but don't let this spoil your enjoyment. Exceptional animation at times and dialogue thats usually non PC. This is a true treasure that shows what can be done on a budget.

I think Gerry Anderson used some ideas for what followed. Fireball XL5 although had a bigger budget didn't come anywhere near Space Patrols story lines.

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Space Patrol is not something I would spend much time on these days, but it has the distinction of being the earliest TV programme I remember from the early 60s. For years I racked my brains trying to remember what it was called. Some elements were quite futuristic. One thing I recalled was the Galasphere - in space there is no reason apart from the aesthetic why a spaceship should have the more traditional rocket shape. Travel on earth is by a vehicle inside a tube, now recognisable as a hyperloop.

The most memorable aliens are the effeminate but ruthless Neptunians with their imperious demands for slaves. If Space Patrol is ever on TV again the Neptune related episodes would probably need to be accompanied by trigger warnings to avoid upsetting easily offended snowflakes. That's even supposing outright cancellation can be avoided.