During the Vietnam War, American soldiers who were taken as Prisoners of War by the North Vietnamese were often interrogated and asked whom the American military leaders were. Reportedly, several POWs would respond with "Captain Video." The North Vietnamese interrogators, being unaware of the TV show, accepted this answer. This allowed the POWs to escape possible torture and avoid giving the identities of the real military leaders.
This series inspired the first board game (The Captain Video Space Game, early 1950) to be based on a television program.
Al Hodge, who played Captain Video for most of the series' run, and Hal Conklin, who played his nemesis, Dr. Pauli, both died in March 1979 in New York City.
Set in the 22nd century, there were 51+ serialized stories in all, totaling 1,537 episodes. The show was 30 minutes in length, but for the first few years approximately half of the program consisted of serialized excerpts from old B-Westerns. Thes segments were supposed to depict Video's "agents". Eventually - likely by Summer, 1952 - these clips were phased out in favor of full length Captain Video adventures.
In mid-September, 1953, the program reverted to a 15 minutes running time.
Until late in 1950 there was no Wednesday episode, but it was seen on Saturday. (NOTE: This statement is questionable.)
By 1951, the series' level of sophistication had become much more finely-honed. Scripts came from top science-fiction writers and consultants, and many Broadway stage actors were cast. At its peak, over 125 stations carried the series, including many non-DuMont affiliates. The first TV-to-Hollywood spin-off, a 15-chapter serial from Columbia Pictures (Captain Video: Master of the Stratosphere (1951) with a different cast), came from this program in 1951, and a Saturday-morning TV series (The Secret Files of Captain Video (1953)) began in 1953. However, despite the program's immense popularity, the DuMont network's insurmountable problems caused it to cease operations by 1955. While other DuMont programs were continued on other networks, DuMont refused to sell "Captain Video" to NBC, and Al Hodge returned as the Captain to host a local cartoon/documentary film series over New York station WABD, the former DuMont flagship. DuMont's television archive was destroyed by a successor after it's collapse. The total number of stories is probably closer to 100, and the episodes may number higher than 1,537, but remaining information only accounts for 51 stories.
Arthur C. Clarke's short story "Arms Race" (written especially for his collection "Tales from the White Hart") is based on his experiences writing for the show.