Captain Video On Video
Following on from our previous editorial and Al Hodge in Captain Video I have been asked to inform anyone who may be interested that there are a few Captain Video videos available. Dedicated RUSC member Greg Adams says,
I know because I have them. First, "Captain Video" was produced by the old Dumont Network, which was headquartered in New York. Its flagship station was WABD CHANEL 5, which subsequently became WNEW around 1956. I remember watching the show as a little kid. The show was a half-hour. Since it was live, they'd run an old B WESTERN MOVIE CLIP during costume and set changes, very confusing to a little kid.
The tapes Greg speaks of are available through the following link Shokus Video the TV Connection.
There is also a Captain Video video available on Amazon with the following amusing description:
...a captivating kid adventure with a production budget near zero. A partially assembled TV chassis becomes an interplanetary transmitter; a cardboard cut-out of a microphone falls over during one scene and is replaced by the Video Ranger without a second thought. With the help of Martians, inexplicably dressed as Roman Legionnaires, the Captain battles Dr. Pauli to be the first to reach "The Outer Limits" (this was years before Rod Serling)! In a second program, the Captain is in Shanghai trying to foil Dr. Paulis plan to rob the Imperial Bank. Both shows feature public service messages read while a test pattern fills the screen, and five - minute cutaways to a B-Western or an Arabian desert combat movie scene having nothing whatever to do with the story! Still...in the beginning, there was Captain Video!
I guess it gives one an idea of just how low-budget TV sci-fi was back in the early days. Like the indestructible Doctor Who, Space Patrol, and Space Cadet, Captain Video relied on the talents of the cast and the writers to sell the show, and not on expensive effects and what you got was a good story not just eye candy.
Happy listening my friends,