ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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In addition to the The Man and the Challenge (1959 - 1960), George Nader starred in another TV series which began just one year later. This one wasn't science fiction in the strictest sense, but it was definitely hi-tech (for its time).

The series was called Shannon. Here's what Wikipedia has to say about it.
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Nader stars as Joe Shannon, an insurance investigator for the Transport Bonding and Surety Company. Regis Toomey portrayed Shannon's boss, Bill Cochran.

Shannon drove a modern 1961 Buick Special, equipped with cameras, a dictating machine, tape recorders, weapons, and notably, a mobile phone (decades before cell phones) when car phones were rare. The car required a long whip antenna required for the phone.
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I watched several of the 36 episodes that aired, and I was pretty damned impressed by that snazzy Buick.





Actually, the show didn't do the car justice because it was in black & white, and the car used in the series wasn't a convertible. Like so many late 1950s and early 1960s automobiles, the convertible versions had a special quality which the hardtop versions seemed to lack.

I swear to God, this is one of the most beautiful cars I've ever seen in my life!





This was three years before James Bond's Austin Martin DB 5 in Goldfinger, and frankly I was just as impressed by those less-lethal (and more-useful) devices which Shannon's Buick possessed.

After all, cruising around the city while investigating crimes gave Shannon plenty of opportunities to use his car phone, cameras, and recorders. But accessories like the Austin Martin's oil sprayers, ejection seat, and bulletproof rear shield just aren't needed on a daily basis by a clever guy who travels around in style and unravels mysteries.

In other words, Shannon was a "thinking man's hero", empowered by technology in his efforts to gather information and solve problems. Naturally he could fight when he had to, because his snazzy car had an arsenal of weapons!

He was, in fact, armed and dangerous when the need arose! But his primary mission was to uncover the truth and bring criminals to justice.

YouTube had six episodes of this show (with picture qualities which varied somewhat) when I first stared this thread, but now it's down to only three, so I've updated this post by fixing the three they still have and deleting the ones that no longer work.

Fortunately I downloaded all six when they were available, so I can still watch them. A word to the wise: don't assume that YouTube videos will be around when you finally want to watch them.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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I found another episode of Shannon today and watched it. Pretty cool.

That car of his is terrific. When Shannon flips the cover down on his car radio it reveals a microphone he takes out to dictate memos on the small reel-to-reel tape recorder which automatically extends from the glove box.

And the oversized search light between the driver's side window and the windshield has a hidden camera he can swivel around and take pictures he can later use as clues or evidence.

By they way, here's what I noticed in the closing credits!


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___ Shannon - "The Embezzler's Daughter" (1961)


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And wonder of wonders, here is colorized! (But it looks better in B&W.)

__ Shannon s1e2 The Embezzler's Daughter (colorized)


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