Captain Video! Electronic wizard! Master of time and space! Guardian of the safety of the world!
March 21, 2011 1:12 PM Subscribe
Captain Video and his Video Rangers was a television series that was staple of the DuMont Television Network. The series first aired in the middle of Golden Age of Science Fiction, and with an initial air date in 1949, it was the first science fiction television series in the United States, complete with futuristic gadgets. The series was aimed at children, with public service announcements for kids, the a special ring (or three). Recorded and broadcast live five to six days a week, the series had a run of thousands of episodes, though most are now considered lost. 24 episodes are in the UCLA Film and Television archive, and a few episodes have made their way into public domain compilations, and online (three random episodes episodes on Internet Archive; and same three episodes on YouTube). Continue in for more on the good Captain, and the network he called home.
Captain Video had an estimated national audience of 3.5 million in the early 1950s, and was the first multi-media star, expanding from daily shows with a diverse cast of writers, to a 15-chapter movie serial and a (lackluster) six-issue comic mini-series in 1951 (trailer, alt. source), and Saturday Morning episodes in 1953. And then there was the "fusion of pop culture and religion" that was the second Captain Video's story for a Guidepost publication in 1954, but that might not be considered canonical. (The first Captain Video stepped down from the post as to focus back on his Broadway career.)
If you haven't heard of DuMont, don't be surprised. The head of the DuMont Network, Allen B. Du Mont (or DuMont), got his start not in radio or theater production, but in the electronics industry. While suffering from polio at age 10, DuMont built a radio transmitter and transmitter and receiver out of an oatmeal box, and in 1915 became the youngest American to obtain a first class commercial radio operator's license at age 14. From this budding interest, DuMont graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1924, when he went to work at Westinghouse Lamp Company in charge of radio tube production. There, he was able to increase radio tube production from 500 to 50,000 tubes per day. In 1928, DuMont went to work for the radio pioneer, Dr. Lee de Forest. de Forest turned down DuMont's request for funds to improve to improve television transmission and reception, so DuMont formed DuMont Laboratories, where he created the first commercial TVs. DuMont ventured into TV programming to boost sales of television sets, and after a few decades, DuMont Networks lost out against the FCC's attempt to improve television reception, in which the Big Three television networks were the big winners.
All this comes back to Captain Video, whose popularity waned after a few years of poorly written episodes and low-cost productions. Captain Video and His Video Rangers came to an end in 1955, along with most of DuMond's programs. DuMont's last broadcast, a boxing match, aired on August 6, 1956. Captain Video's side-kick, Video Ranger (Don Hastings), who was one of the first teen heart-throbs of television, transitioned into the world of soaps. He was Doctor Bob Huges for nearly 50 years on As the World Turns, lasting until the end of another landmark show.
Roaring Rockets has plenty more on Captain Video, as well as the entry in the Encyclopedia of Television (viewed in Google Books), and there is a whole chapter (Google Books) in The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television.
Captain Video had an estimated national audience of 3.5 million in the early 1950s, and was the first multi-media star, expanding from daily shows with a diverse cast of writers, to a 15-chapter movie serial and a (lackluster) six-issue comic mini-series in 1951 (trailer, alt. source), and Saturday Morning episodes in 1953. And then there was the "fusion of pop culture and religion" that was the second Captain Video's story for a Guidepost publication in 1954, but that might not be considered canonical. (The first Captain Video stepped down from the post as to focus back on his Broadway career.)
If you haven't heard of DuMont, don't be surprised. The head of the DuMont Network, Allen B. Du Mont (or DuMont), got his start not in radio or theater production, but in the electronics industry. While suffering from polio at age 10, DuMont built a radio transmitter and transmitter and receiver out of an oatmeal box, and in 1915 became the youngest American to obtain a first class commercial radio operator's license at age 14. From this budding interest, DuMont graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1924, when he went to work at Westinghouse Lamp Company in charge of radio tube production. There, he was able to increase radio tube production from 500 to 50,000 tubes per day. In 1928, DuMont went to work for the radio pioneer, Dr. Lee de Forest. de Forest turned down DuMont's request for funds to improve to improve television transmission and reception, so DuMont formed DuMont Laboratories, where he created the first commercial TVs. DuMont ventured into TV programming to boost sales of television sets, and after a few decades, DuMont Networks lost out against the FCC's attempt to improve television reception, in which the Big Three television networks were the big winners.
All this comes back to Captain Video, whose popularity waned after a few years of poorly written episodes and low-cost productions. Captain Video and His Video Rangers came to an end in 1955, along with most of DuMond's programs. DuMont's last broadcast, a boxing match, aired on August 6, 1956. Captain Video's side-kick, Video Ranger (Don Hastings), who was one of the first teen heart-throbs of television, transitioned into the world of soaps. He was Doctor Bob Huges for nearly 50 years on As the World Turns, lasting until the end of another landmark show.
Roaring Rockets has plenty more on Captain Video, as well as the entry in the Encyclopedia of Television (viewed in Google Books), and there is a whole chapter (Google Books) in The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television.
The first thing I thought of was Dave Barry's recollection of watching "Captain Video" as a child, and how explicitly shitty it was.
posted by Mayor Curley at 1:20 PM on March 21, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Mayor Curley at 1:20 PM on March 21, 2011 [1 favorite]
The first thing I thought of was Dave Barry's recollection
Yup, yup. Go back, Tobor, go back!
posted by Wolfdog at 1:24 PM on March 21, 2011
Yup, yup. Go back, Tobor, go back!
posted by Wolfdog at 1:24 PM on March 21, 2011
This is a great post, but the shows, due to their pacing, etc., are unwatchable.
posted by KokuRyu at 1:28 PM on March 21, 2011
posted by KokuRyu at 1:28 PM on March 21, 2011
I kind of miss when science fiction conceived of a future where everybody dressed like ancient Romans.
posted by Astro Zombie at 1:32 PM on March 21, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by Astro Zombie at 1:32 PM on March 21, 2011 [2 favorites]
DuMont's TV stations evolved into Metromedia, which evolved into the Fox network.
posted by Yakuman at 1:33 PM on March 21, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by Yakuman at 1:33 PM on March 21, 2011 [2 favorites]
DuMont's TV stations evolved into Metromedia, which evolved into the Fox network.
From Dave Barry's description:
"[It taught us that] The world was full of evil forces trying to destroy the earth."
Hm.
posted by Astro Zombie at 1:35 PM on March 21, 2011 [1 favorite]
From Dave Barry's description:
"[It taught us that] The world was full of evil forces trying to destroy the earth."
Hm.
posted by Astro Zombie at 1:35 PM on March 21, 2011 [1 favorite]
Oh so that's what Captain Video was. I thought it was like an even lower-rent Night Flight or Ghoulardi.
Hey, give me a break, I was born in 1979.
posted by infinitewindow at 2:07 PM on March 21, 2011 [1 favorite]
Hey, give me a break, I was born in 1979.
posted by infinitewindow at 2:07 PM on March 21, 2011 [1 favorite]
I used to watch this show. The clips here are from an earlier period, though. I assume the western segments were added in to make Dumont sampler reels or something. Even to a kid, Captain Video was obviously very low budget. It was televised from one of Dumont's stores in New York and used whatever was lying around as props. Mad (the comic) satirized that aspect of the show with the Captain using an adding machine and the studio fire hose as ship controls. When the actors were out on a planet somewhere, their plastic (?) helmets would fog up, so at some point the show came out with space helmets that were a single loop of metal that came up from the spacesuit and curved over the actors' heads. I don't know if it was supposed to generate a vacuum-defying field around the head or if it was purely symbolic but I thought the helmets were pretty lame. Tom Corbett and Rod Brown had real helmets. The show was sponsored by Post -- Corn-fetti was the cereal I used to see advertised. Despite its claims, the cereal would stick together and it was possible to peel the cardboard and paper away from a box-shaped slab of honeyed corn flakes. Yum!
posted by CCBC at 2:25 PM on March 21, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by CCBC at 2:25 PM on March 21, 2011 [3 favorites]
I used to have a tin robot I named 'Tobor Radar Robot'.
I only know this aesthetic second and third hand, but I'd love to see it reconstructed in a TV show or game. Rayguns!
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 2:28 PM on March 21, 2011
I only know this aesthetic second and third hand, but I'd love to see it reconstructed in a TV show or game. Rayguns!
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 2:28 PM on March 21, 2011
Phew... I thought this was going to be a filthy light thief post about Kidd Video. As a kid that looked pretty much exactly like the fat bespectacled one, I have no love for that show. This is way better than 20,000 lines of resolution.
posted by DigDoug at 2:33 PM on March 21, 2011
posted by DigDoug at 2:33 PM on March 21, 2011
Tom Corbett had NOTHING on Tom Swift!
there will never be another post when I can do that... I just know it.
posted by tomswift at 2:47 PM on March 21, 2011 [3 favorites]
there will never be another post when I can do that... I just know it.
posted by tomswift at 2:47 PM on March 21, 2011 [3 favorites]
PHINC: I love this- it's like looking at the caves at Lascaux.
I think of it the same way - I was also born in 1979, 24 years too late to ever see the show. The fact that some historic (if really low-quality) shows have almost disappeared make the "save-it-all" archivist in me sad.
CCBC: The show was sponsored by Post -- Corn-fetti was the cereal I used to see advertised. Despite its claims, the cereal would stick together and it was possible to peel the cardboard and paper away from a box-shaped slab of honeyed corn flakes. Yum!
Man, Corn-fetti does not sound appealing. Then again, Sugar Crisps were marketed as having a "candy coating," and packaged in three protective layers that was novel for it's time, as this was apparently the first cereal that would guarantee freshness.
posted by filthy light thief at 3:27 PM on March 21, 2011
I think of it the same way - I was also born in 1979, 24 years too late to ever see the show. The fact that some historic (if really low-quality) shows have almost disappeared make the "save-it-all" archivist in me sad.
CCBC: The show was sponsored by Post -- Corn-fetti was the cereal I used to see advertised. Despite its claims, the cereal would stick together and it was possible to peel the cardboard and paper away from a box-shaped slab of honeyed corn flakes. Yum!
Man, Corn-fetti does not sound appealing. Then again, Sugar Crisps were marketed as having a "candy coating," and packaged in three protective layers that was novel for it's time, as this was apparently the first cereal that would guarantee freshness.
posted by filthy light thief at 3:27 PM on March 21, 2011
Tom Corbett had NOTHING on Tom Swift!
i grew up with those books. love
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 3:56 PM on March 21, 2011
i grew up with those books. love
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 3:56 PM on March 21, 2011
I loved this show, and it's theme music from Der Fliegende Holländer.
And the villainous Dr Pauli. And working the latest stupid promotion toy into the plot ('blow your signal ring whistle, ranger!')
As I remember, all those shows were 15 minutes long; a nice length for kids stuff.
posted by hexatron at 4:02 PM on March 21, 2011
And the villainous Dr Pauli. And working the latest stupid promotion toy into the plot ('blow your signal ring whistle, ranger!')
As I remember, all those shows were 15 minutes long; a nice length for kids stuff.
posted by hexatron at 4:02 PM on March 21, 2011
hexatron: As I remember, all those shows were 15 minutes long; a nice length for kids stuff.
According to Wikipedia:
posted by filthy light thief at 4:39 PM on March 21, 2011
According to Wikipedia:
Until 1953, Captain Video's live adventures occupied 20 minutes of each day's 30-minute program time. About 10 minutes into each episode, a Video Ranger communications officer showed about 7 minutes of old cowboy movies. These were described by the communications officer, Ranger Rogers, as the adventures of Captain Video's "undercover agents" on Earth.The IMDb trivia page has more info, nothing that the cowboy clips phased out some time in 1952, and in 1953, the show was truncated to 15 minute episodes.
posted by filthy light thief at 4:39 PM on March 21, 2011
My family's first TV was a DuMont.
posted by Obscure Reference at 6:05 PM on March 21, 2011
posted by Obscure Reference at 6:05 PM on March 21, 2011
The cowboy clips are surreal. "Meanwhile, in another genre, straight through the fourth wall, we watch Captain Video's secret agents!"
...or it's the secret origin of Firefly...
posted by doctornemo at 10:34 AM on March 22, 2011
...or it's the secret origin of Firefly...
posted by doctornemo at 10:34 AM on March 22, 2011
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