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Jason of Star Command (1978–1981)

 
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2019 5:33 pm    Post subject: Jason of Star Command (1978–1981) Reply with quote



This was clearly aimed at Saturday morning kids, and it's hard to take seriously if your older than about 18, but I'm sure it had a devoted audience of the little space cadets who were the right age in the 1970.

The 30-minute documentary below states that each episode cost $200,000. The show occasionally featured stop motion monsters by Stephen Czerkas (shown below) and Jim Aupperle — the guys behind Planet of Dinosaurs — and they look very good.










The cast included James Doohan, doing a fine job as Commander Canarvin, and Miss Susan Pratt, whose tight uniform was probably wasted on the young audience. Very Happy

Hearing Scotty speak without his signature accent is plum weird. Shocked






There are numerous interviews with the producers and actors. The documentary states that this series is a sequel to Space Academy, using some of the same props and stars.

Jason's ship, the Starfire is extremely well designed, as were the Seeker shuttles.












The fine documentary might put you in the mood for the series, so I've included a "theatrical vesion" below the documentary.
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The Adventures of Jason of Star Command documentary


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____ Jason of Star Command - Feature Film Version


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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 07, 2021 12:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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IMDB has a funny trivia item for this production. Very Happy
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~The issue of Playboy featuring guest star Rosanne Katon as Playmate of the Month was published during the filming of the first season, in summer 1978.

Producer Lou Scheimer panicked, worried that CBS would raise hell about a nude centerfold appearing in a Saturday morning children's series (although CBS apparently did not care).

To goad Scheimer, stop-motion animators Stephen Czerkas and Jim Aupperle cut a small photo of the nude Katon out of Playboy and inserted this into a special effects monster shot. They got the expected panicked reaction from producer Scheimer.


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Note from me: I looked up the Playboy picture. I kinda like this one better! Cool

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Pow
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 19, 2021 7:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Although I was not a fan of JOSC, I always was impressed with the fact that they tackled doing stop-motion animation for the show. And they did it very well indeed.

Stop~motion animation is really suited for film schedules and not the breakneck speed required for weekly TV series.

Animators such as Willis O'Brien & Ray Harrhausen needed to have weeks and months to perform their wizardry for the silver screen.

TV shows have to start and finish a show in six or seven days. I can only imagine the pressure the animators & sculptors and designers had to be under in order to create these stop-motion for a TV show.

And I'm guessing their budget wasn't lavish by any means.

The only other sci~fi TV shows I remember using stop~motion regularly was "Land of the Lost" (1974-1977), "Land of the Lost" (1991-1993).

Other shows have used stop-motion for maybe an episode once in a great while.

"The Twilight Zone" (1959-1964) utilized it for their episode "The Odyssey Of Flight 33" from February 24, 1961).

A modern day passenger jet begins to fly through time. At one point the cockpit crew observes a brontosaurus.

The dinosaur was from the film "Dinosaurus." The animation for it on TTZ was new.

The most expensive piece of film ever shot for TTZ was that dino scenes.

"The Outer Limits" ((1963~1965) would employ stop~motion in two of their episodes. "The Zanti Misfits" (December 30, 1963) saw the hoard of alien insects being animated in some scenes.

"Counterweight" (December 26, 1964) had brief scenes of an alien plant strangling another plant, and then uproot itself and crawl on the floor. A scene I vividly recall seeing in '64 and creeping me out.

So yeah, given the time that is necessary to complete the animation, and the cost factors for such an effect, TV is usually not the medium that is the most hospitable to this wonderful process.

So my hat's off to anyone who attempts it for television.


Last edited by Pow on Sun Apr 11, 2021 12:31 pm; edited 2 times in total
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Krel
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 19, 2021 9:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A story I read a few years ago.

The show was filmed in a warehouse in the warehouse district. They tried to keep it a secret that they were filming a TV show, and so had a front office to handle any uninvited visitors. Well, there was this one persistent salesman that kept showing up wanting to see he owner. The receptionist kept putting him off, but one day he seated himself in the reception room, he was going to speak to the owner.

He was still waiting there when Sig Haig came out the back in full Dragos costume and makeup. He fixed himself a cup of coffee, chatted with the receptionist, then went back into the filming area.

The salesman was in shock and asked who that was. The receptionist, thinking quickly told him that was Mr. Smith, the owner.

The salesman thought for a minute, then excused himself and left the building. Never to return.

David.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 10:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Krel wrote:
The salesman thought for a minute, then excused himself and left the building. Never to return.

David.

I'd love to know if the poor man tried to tell is therapist about the incident. If so, did the therapist think his patient was having a psychotic break or just drinking too much? Laughing
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Pow
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 5:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

"Jason of Star Command" Stuff.

Season One of Jason ran as a segment of the "Tarzan and the Super 7" show. Jason was done in the style of the old time movie serials where there was a single overall story. It ran for 16-chapters of approximately 15-minutes in length.

The second season would have stand-alone episodes, and run for half-an-hour.

Jason's spaceship was the Starfire, it had a star pod which could separate from the main ship.

Dragos Dragonship was constructed upon a large asteroid just like the Space Academy.

Jimmy Doohan (Commander Canarvin) left at the end of the first season due to his filming of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture."

John Russell (Commander Stone) replaced Doohan. John was best known for his role as Marshal Dan Troop on the ABC western "Lawman" which ran from (1958~1962).

Jonathan Harris was set to reprise his role as Gampu from "Space Academy" for Jason. He had a falling out with Filmation over merchandising royalties and refused to sign up. Jimmy Doohan was hired in his place.

Star Command was a secret section of of the Space Academy.

Matt Prentiss, the Seeker space ship, and Peepo were all carried over from "Space Academy" to "Jason of Star Command."
No other references were made on Jason about any of the characters or the events from "Space Academy."

The life support belts seen on Jason were inspired by the ones from "Star Trek: The Animated Series."

"Planet of the Lost" from October 14, 1978 is the episode which features the stop-motion animated insectoid creature.


Last edited by Pow on Wed Sep 22, 2021 9:15 am; edited 1 time in total
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 5:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

I should re-watch this series through the eyes of a child (or the eyes of a slightly inebriated adult) to appreciate its merits!

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Krel
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 5:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
The life support belts seen on Jason were inspired by the ones from "Star Trek: The Animated Series."

I remember reading at the time, that the reason they didn't have space suits, is that they couldn't afford them for the cast. In both shows it was a cost saving measure.

I know it's been decades since I have seen the show, but Pow didn't they have life support bracelets?

"Space Academy" popular enough that CBS was talking about doing a prime time movie.

David.
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Pow
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 14, 2021 12:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You are correct, David. On JOSC they wore Life-Support Bracelets and not belts as they did on Star Trek: The Animated Series. My mistake, although the idea of having some form of a life-support technology minus a spacesuit on Jason was inspired by ST: TAS as both productions were from Filmation.

It was clearly a cost saving measure so that both shows could avoid creating futuristic space suits.

While I do admire the myriad of spacesuit designs created for both film & television, the concept of being so technically advanced that life-support belts or bracelets replace spacesuits is rather cool.

Watching some of the episodes from Jason you can obviously see that the sets from Space Academy were reused, as well as the interior of the SA Seeker spaceship.

I also caught that in one of the labs the consoles on the wall were the ones from "Ark II."

The stop~motion insectoid creature returns on episode 13: "The Return of the Creature."

In season two we get treated to a different & friendlier alien beast on "Through the Stargate."


Last edited by Pow on Wed Sep 22, 2021 9:16 am; edited 1 time in total
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Krel
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 14, 2021 2:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow, the force field thing goes back at least as far as 1960. In the movie "12 To the Moon", they used surplus fighter g-suits and helmets as space suits. To avoid problems with getting air to the actors, they left the face plates off the helmets and said that the air was being contained by a force field.

I haven't seen the movie in over 50 years, and I don't remember much about the movie. But I remember the force field explanation. Laughing

David.
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Pow
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 14, 2021 11:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Interesting David, I have never seen that film and was not aware of what they did in it.

Watching those episodes of Jason with the stop-motion animation I am impressed in not only the fine & smooth animating of the models, but their design. The insectoid alien in particular is quite sharp looking to this day.

I remain darn impressed that the special effects team managed to do this all so well on a tight shooting schedule and limited budget.
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Pow
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 15, 2021 8:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The visual effects crew utilized the same models of the Space Academy & the Seeker spaceship from the "Space Academy" TV series.

The crew produced new shots for Jason with those models using more advanced photographic technology.

And it shows very nicely. Before I read that information from the DYK section on IMDB, I watched several episodes of Jason and immediately realized that the show was not simply using stock footage from SA. The scenes are indeed superior to the ones from SA.

The episode "Web of the Star Witch" from September 29, 1979 sees our fourth show of the series to display some fine stop-motion animation for an alien creature. The design of the creature is also well done.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 9:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
Interesting David, I have never seen that film and was not aware of what they did in it.

Mike, you'd enjoy the thread for 12 to the Moon. The space suits and helmets are discussed extensively.

And there's a link to the YouTube version of the movie.
Very Happy
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