Pathfinders to Venus

While returning to Earth, the 'Pathfinders to Mars' team (commander Conway Henderson, Professor Meadows, hijacker Harcourt Brown, Geoff the radio man, young Margaret, and Hamlet the guinea pig), are diverted to Venus by an SOS from Wilson, a stranded American astronaut. Tricked into landing by Brown, whose obsessive search for extra-terrestrial intelligence takes precedence over the safety of the crew, they discover a world that seems to blend millions of years of Earth's prehistory. At 8 episodes, the series is a bit long but otherwise, for a fairly low-budget educational kid's show from the early 1960s, it is quite entertaining. Brown (George Coulouris) is an especially interesting character: he is so certain that he is right about intelligent life on Venus that he rationalises any contrary evidence and is so confident that he is right in all things that he repeatedly lies even if it puts his own life, and the lives of the others, at risk. Like Dr. Smith on 'Lost in Space', he is so unlikable that the others' willingness to tolerate him starts to stretch credibility. Other than some interesting dinosaur footage (courtesy of the 1955 Czech film 'Journey to the Beginning of Time') the special effects are rudimentary (but serviceable) as is the acting (other than Coulouris, who has all the best material). This was the third and IMO the best of the 'Pathfinders' series. Curiously, the seventh episode closes with a disclaimer that deliberate mistakes were included in the program as part of a Cambridge study into children's TV viewing. Some details of the study can be found on-line and it is entertaining to watch the episode and try to pick out the mistakes. Viewed on-line May 2022.

I hope you don't take this the wrong way ,but.................when I was 10, ! fell in love with your mother ! :0)

I remember watching this many many years ago when I still lived in London. At the time I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread, a great TV series. Man did I cry when it finished. I hope the bring it out on DVD one day. It was a great forerunner to Docter Who, my younger brother was scared, I think it was because they showed an eye at the beginning. I remember there was also a villain in the show, a bit like Dr Smith in Lost in Space. One particular scene I always remember, am not sure which show it was from, but they had gathered together some ice to melt for water. But an alien plant started to take over the bottle and then the ship leaving the villain trapped inside. Temendous show I wish they would show it again.

I think that this is the one where someone kisses someone because they were in love. They were broadcast live in those days so it hit the papers. I was on holiday as a very little girl and was cross to miss it. I used to love all the Pathfinder series. They were scarey, though I s'pose if I saw them again they would be laughable with unconvincing sets and creakier plots.

Firstly I ought to clarify that I've not seen this - so I apologise if I'm wasting valuable time to readers. My motivations for submitting this "comment", however, are rooted in the best intentions.

My mother made her one and only television appearance in the programme. I am currently following in her now faded footsteps, and for her nostalgia and my blindly proud curiosity, it would be great to know how to get a copy of it... If anyone has any starting points, then answers on a postcard please!

(Her fondest memory from filming was the pet guinea pig she carried peeing on her hand just before one of the live broadcasts.)