Saturday Morning Sci-Fi

Captain Video (Al Hodge) and the Video
Ranger (Don Hastings.) The TV show
inspired comic magazines, like this one.

Captain Video

To the stirring strains of Wagner's Overture to "The Flying Dutchman," the announcer intoned: "POST--the cereals you like the most...take you to the secret mountain retreat of Captain Video! Master of Space! Hero of Science! Captain of the Video Rangers! Operating from his secret mountain headquarters on the planet Earth, Captain Video rallies men of good will and leads them against the forces of evil everywhere! As he rockets from planet to planet, let us follow the champion of justice, truth and freedom throughout the universe! Stand by for...Captain Video...and his Video Rangers!

But these words weren't first heard on Saturday morning. Most of Captain Video's best adventures were seen on weekday evenings, years before the height of Saturday morning sci-fi. In fact, Captain Video was one of the first television heroes, and the first that--true to his name--started in television.

And I was one of the first kids in America to see him. Captain Video went on the air in 1949, on the Dumont network, which never had more than a half dozen stations. But its flagship station was WDTV, Channel 3 in Pittsburgh ---for years, the only commercial station in the city capable of reaching much beyond it. So every night, Monday through Friday (and sometimes on Saturday) at 7 pm, I watched Captain Video. And so did just about everyone else.

I can't say for sure when I started watching it, although I remember when WDTV switched to Channel 2, and that was 1952, when I was 6. I can also remember a day in school--probably when I was in second grade--that a teacher we didn't know (probably a young nun working on her teaching certificate or advanced degree research) came to our class and told us she would play some music, and even though it didn't have any words, we were to draw whatever the music made us think of. She put a record on a phonograph--and as we heard the strains of "The Flying Dutchman," a titter went through the class. She just smiled at us, and didn't understand what was going on until she got a surprising number of drawings of space ships and robots.

Captain Video and the Ranger in
uniform, and as we saw them--in
glorious black and white.

Al Hodge played Captain Video for most of its run. He'd been a radio actor, giving voice to "Mr. District Attorney" and "Gangbusters," which eventually became TV shows. Many if not most TV shows and forms came directly from radio (and indirectly from theatre, Vaudeville, movies and comics.) But Captain Video started with and on TV--and its popularity there led to a couple of movie serials.

Captain Video was set in the year 2254. He piloted the sleek spaceship The Galaxy. The show was live and on a very small budget--if the Captain and Ranger slid in the grass, it was apt to wrinkle like the throw rug it was. But the filmed inserts of The Galaxy and other minatures were magical.

Captain Video's adventures were primarily fighting villains--often scientists, like himself. (Dr. Pauli was the best known, and most popular. ) Since these confrontations turn out to be one scientific invention against another, they mirrored the simultaneous admiration and suspicion of scientists in the 1950s, the age of atomic power and radiation fears. There were some real science and science fiction ideas in what was basically space adventure. Imaginative extrapolations of radio and television in particular made the show seem futuristic.

Even though he had his advanced devices--including a Cosmic Ray Vibrator that shook his enemies into submission--Captain Video was also an action hero (Hodge was also a former track star.) One reviewer called him a combination of Einstein and Flash Gordon.

Hodge also taught Sunday School, so he took to heart his moments on the program talking directly with the "Rangers at home." As the Museum of Broadcasting site comments: "While messages on other children's programs would focus on children's issues such as safely crossing the street, Ranger Messages dealt with more global issues such as freedom, the Golden Rule, and nondiscrimination." Showing the scientist and his shadow side (in the villain) also emphasized the potential for good and evil within everyone, and the importance of asserting and living up to these ideals. Hodge even told a congressional committee that Captain Video never used the word "kill."

Captain Video did wind up on Saturday morning in 1953 and 1954, as "The Secret Files of Captain Video," which sometimes alternated with the Dumont version of "Tom Corbett, Space Cadet." But the Saturday series only featured some actual Captain Video episodes. It was also a showcase for other science fiction stories, including one by James Blish. At some point the Saturday morning Captain was reduced to introducing other old movies and cartoons, shown on a screen in Tobor's midsection. By 1953, the week night Captain Video was down from thirty to fifteen minute episodes--I seem to recall that at least one other science fiction series shared that 7 to 7:30 slot. By 1955, the Captain was still making good stories, but the Dumont network was on its last legs. When it failed, Captain Video went off the air.

These are Captain Video toy robots that you either found
in boxes of Post Raisin Bran or sent for with boxtops and
cash. The most memorable figure in Captain Video history
was the robot named Tobor--robot spelled backward. His
reversed nameplate was a kind of symbol for a deranged and
dangerous machine. He was indestructible, and built for
good, but the beautiful but evil Atar stole him. I remember
that for the first several episodes he was entirely inert and
motionless--and huge, as Captain Video talked about his power.
I kept staring at him to see if I could see him "wake up."
His most conspicuous features were the lobster-like claws
he had for hands. He really was frightening. But also popular--
when he did wake up and became Captain Video's nemesis over
many episodes until a typical robot conflict of being unable to
serve two masters "destroyed"him, there was such a clamor
that the show brought him back, this time as Captain Video's ally
and a force for good.

Oath of the Rangers

We, as Official Video Rangers, hereby promise to abide by the Ranger Code, and to support forever the cause of Freedom, Truth and Justice throughout the universe.