ALL SCI-FI

[Gord Green]

Space Command was a Canadian children's science fiction television adventure series broadcast on CBC (Canadian Broadcast Company) Television in 1953 and 1954. It was the first time the network (CBC) aired its own dramatic series.

The series presented life on the fictional space ship XSW1 operated by Space Command, an international organization working to explore and colonize space.

Each episode featured the activities of Frank Anderson (Bob Barclay). Another character, Phil Mitchell, was portrayed by James Doohan, best known as Scotty on the 1960s television series Star Trek.

William Shatner, the leading actor on Star Trek, also appeared on episodes of Space Command.



Although short-lived, Space Command proved to be a hit dramatic program for CBC's earliest years. covering many subject areas such as sunspots, asteroids, space medicine, meteors, and evolution.

The series aired weekly from 13 March 1953 – 29 May 1954 Unfortunately, only a single episode from November 1953 is know to exist at this time.

On Youtube here :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3M3IgG3kpI&t=287s

It was the first time William Shatner and James Doohan acted together before appearing on Star Trek: The Original Series (1966).

Other series cast members included Andrew Anthony, Joe Austin, Harry Geldard, Cec Linder, Aileen Taylor, and Austin Willis.



Harold Wright was technical advisor to the series. Actors appearing in episodes included Barry Morse later of the TV series The Fugitive and Space: 1999.

Although short-lived, Space Command proved to be a hit dramatic program for CBC's earliest years.


Most info from Wiki
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[Bud Brewster]

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Gord, this is an amazing discovery! That single episode on YouTube is absolutely wonderful!

All the online references that call this a "children's show" are dead wrong. The science is incredibly accurate, and here's why. An article about the show on a site called Shatnerweb has this to say.
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The writer, Alf Harris, was a sci-fi fan who “took pride in projecting recognized scientific principles logically into the future…”
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But the Wikipedia article about the "lost series" contains this sad bit of info.
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Preservation status

Nova Scotia media historian Ernest Dick lamented the loss of recordings of nearly all the series episodes, despite the production of kinescopes for distribution to CBC stations across Canada. The only known extant recording is that of one November 1953 episode.
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This is a tragic loss, because I was amazed at all the admirable qualities of that episode on YouTube. I'm not sure I can do some of the visual aspects justice with screen shots, so please watch the video and take note of these impressive items.

~ Several brief segments of music from Destination Moon were used to heighten the drama.

~ The sets of the spaceship's control room are incredible! The layout of the bridge is on three separate levels.

~ The control panels (several of them) are fantastically complex.

~ The uniforms are very appealing, just about the best I've scene in any 1950s series or movie (with the exception of Forbidden Planet).

~ The shots of the rocket in space are well done, and the rocket's design is a beauty!

~ When the ship's engine is firing, the men who need to move around demonstrate the G-force by struggling to walk. It's very convincing.

~ The seats are large and impressive as hell. and they tilt back to become acceleration couches whenever thrust is applied.

~ Check the shot at the 24:00 mark. During that scene, one crewmen is having to manually control the engines from a circuit panel in the bowels of the ship, so when he activates full thrust, the G-force slams him to the floor and he struggles valiant to pull himself back up the circuit panel to shut the engine down!

It's dramatic as hell because the acting so convincing!

~ During a communication at the end of the episode, the captain mentions that their location is near the star Proxima Centauri. This ship is interstellar!

~ The story is about mankind's first contact with aliens — in this case a chance encounter with another spacecraft. When they view the alien craft on their view screen, the crewmen speculate that the alien ship's design indicates its propulsion system is "either a space warp drive or anti-gravity."

And since the rocket is investigating the Proxima Centauri system, it must have an FTL warp drive as well!

I'm amazed at how intelligent and imaginative the series must have been! I HATE the fact that only one episode has survived!

I'll offer this one screen shot to show you how well done this series was. In the video at the 14:30 mark, the twelve-second shot of the saucer shows it cruising slowly to the right, past the rocket, while the rocket is drifting to the left.



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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Maurice]

Wow. I've been looking for that episode for YEARS!
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"The absence of limitations is the enemy of art."
― Orson Welles

[Maurice]

[Gord Green]

There is so little information recorded re: SPACE COMMAND. Even the principle actors and production people have passed on without much comment on the program.

Someone somewhere has a moldy old box of deteriorating films of some if not all of the episodes.
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[Eadie]

Cast

Robert Barclay as Frank Anderson
James Doohan as Phil Mitchell
Harry Geldard as Captain Steve Cassel
Andrew Anthony as Dr. Joseph Edmunds
Aileen Taylor as Ilene Morris
Joe Austin as ?
John Howe as ?
Cec Linder as ? [Played Felix Leiter in Dr. No (1962]
William Shatner as ?
Austin Willis as Dr. Fleming

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Command_(TV_series)
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Art Should Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable.

[Bud Brewster]

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It just breaks my heart that only one episode survived.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[tmlindsey]

Now if someone could just find some previously hidden episodes of Rod Brown of the Rocket Rangers...
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"Have you never wondered what it would be like to walk between the ticks and tocks of Time?"