Captain Video
Saturday Morning
Episodes
Saturday
Programing
The Saturday morning show, ran from September 5,
1953 until May 29, 1954 and, for awhile, alternated with the Dumont
version of Tom Corbett. It was also known as THE
SECRET FILES OF CAPTAIN VIDEO.
September 5, 1953: THE BOX by James Blish
An adaptation of a prize winning story. Captain Video
and a foreign scientist race against time in a desperate
effort to save a city that is suffocating to death, totally
enclosed in a huge box made of an unknown substance.
Al Hodge, Werner Klemperer
Producer: Frank Telford; Directed by Pat Fay
September 15, 1953: REVOLT OF THE MACHINES
A madman tries to rule the world with machines.
October 3, 1953
No program information available at this time.
October 17, 1953: HIS FIRST COMMAND
The Video Ranger is given his first command, a space
tramp named "The Cormorant". The ships former captain
resents the Ranger and stirs up trouble.
October 31, 1953
No program information available at this time.
November 14, 1953: BLASTER MARTIN
The first attempt to reach Jupiter is made in 1990
during the early days of space pioneering.
November 28: 1953 ENVOY OF DEATH
A scientist and his four year old son find that they are
the only ones in a position to fight off the mysterious
galaxy that is threatening the earth.
December 12, 1953: THE GLOP
A strange metallic object appears on the floor of the
Captain's spaceship forcing it off its course; and drives it
toward the sun and sure destruction.
December 26, 1953: INTO THIN SPACE
Two scientist vanish while testing a new spaceship.
January 9, 1954
No information available at this time.
January 23, 1954: THE PLAGUE SHIP
The first expedition to land on Venus discovers that the
Venusian population has been wiped out by a plague. The
explorers contract the dreaded disease.
February 6, 1954
No information available at this time.
February 20, 1954
No information available at this time.
March 6, 1954
No information available at this time.
March 20, 1954
No information available at this time.
April 3, 1954: TOOTH AND CLAW
Captain Video is forced down in the jungle and has only
a piece of string and a flashlight with which to defend
himself against three villains.
April 17, 1954: WENDIGO
Captain Video and Dr. Cosgrove are off to Prince Ruperts
land in the arctic, a thousand miles from nowhere to seek
out a strange creature.
May 1, 1954: THE 'Q' EFFECT
Space tramp Blaster Martin and his pal Cassidy try to
avert the threat of war and establish a Solar Federation to
advance the cause of peace.
May 15, 1954: THE 'Q' EFFECT (?another episode?)
Space hero Blaster Martin and his pals visit Mars where
they meet the evil woman governor of Nemos. She and a
scientist named Dr. Muto want to conquer the universe.
May 29, 1954 (no title)
The Video Ranger recalls the many tests he had to pass
to reach his present rank.
This is the last show in the Saturday series.
The following is a review from the September
9th, 1953 issue of Variety!
SECRET FILES OF CAPTAIN VIDEO
"The Box"
with Al Hodge, Warner Klemperer, others
Producer: Frank Telford
Director: Pat Fay
Writer: James Blish (Telford, editor)
30 Mins.; Sat., 11:30 a.m. Sustaining DuMont, from New York
"The Secret
Files of Captain Video" is a sustainer that alternates Saturdays with
the International Shoe-sponsored "Tom Corbett, Space Cadet" to catch
the DuMont net's pre-lunch kid audience. It's a new show although
an offshoot of the weekday strip series with some characters from
the latter shifting over to the Saturday "Video" from time to time.
Opening script by James Blish, titled "The Box" was loaded
with simply wonderful scientifiction gobbledygook that must have kept
moppet eyes glued to their screens in awe at the electronic
shenanigans. Even their elders should derive some escapist joy
from the dipsy-doodle going-on in this Frank Telford production that's
directed by Pat Fay.
Initialer treated of a fog or "box" that overwhelmed a metropolis
and how Capt. Video, played by stalwart, muscular Al Hodge, and a
scientist, enacted by Werner Klemperer, cracked the "dome force" via a
combination of their helicopter flights over the city and heads-up
scientific analysis. It was a whopper of a yarn, done straight
and surefire for its juve appeal. The characterizations were, as
per usual in this type of a story, of weak dimensions, with large doses
of cliché stances and verbiage, but the youngsters don't figure to be
disturbed by any departure from logic or realism. This is their
meat, complete with integrated film sequences to give them the feeling
of being at the neighborhood theatre. Three spots at preem were
used for public service announcements.
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