July Issue - Starfleet Command

July Issue
From the Bridge
Nationalism: “My country, right or wrong!”
Patriotism: The ability to enjoy the positive aspects of one’s country, while wishing to change its
Shortcomings.
Summer Movie Season
The Summer movie season is certainly upon us. As of this writing (July 9, 2012) the USS
Silver Fox crew and guests have seen: John Carter Battleship, Men In Black 3, The Avengers,
Prometheus, Snow White and the Huntsman, Brave, Madagascar 3, Spiderman, and other nonSF/F films like The Raven, That’s My Boy, and People Like Us. Whew! And my brother and my
nephews are working to get a group of us to see the new Batman film. All in all, a very active
season especially for us nerdy people who like stories that are outré in nature (and lots of special
effects don’t hurt either) (though I do have standards; Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter and
Ted are just too much off the deep end). And coming up is the new version of Total Recall and
the psychic suspense thriller Red Lights (July 13th – Sigourney Weaver and Robert De Niro).
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Look What I Found
Here’s a TV Guide
cover from March 4,
1967
http://www.retroist.com/2012/07/09/vintage-star-trek-magazinedice-game/
Vintage Star Trek Magazine Dice Game
Posted on July 9, 2012 by Drahken
While reading a holiday edition of an old UK comic from 1977, I came across this Star
Trek gameboard printed in it.
As one might expect from a gameboard printed in a children’s comic, it’s quite
simplistic. You roll a die, needing a 6 to get out of the starting place (similar to Pachisi),
then take turns rolling and moving. When you land on a red space, you do what it says,
but otherwise just roll & move.
Nonetheless, it doesn’t take long to set up nor to play, takes you back to playing such
games out of magazines & off cereal boxes when you were a kid, and best of all, it has
several Trek related pics on it, providing a healthy dose of Trek nostalgia
[The above came from : www.retroist.com/2012/07/09/vintage-star-trek-magazine-dice-game]
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The Early Television Influences On The Original
Star Trek Show
When Gene Roddenberry first created the original TV series of Star Trek he tapped into a
wide variety of science fiction material that came before. This was a given fact; on numerous
occasions Roddenberry has mentioned he brought into Star Trek ideas and concepts from authors
like Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, and others. Also, old time fans of the show will point towards
movie influences like the Forbidden Planet movie – all of these are true. But, did you know that
Roddenberry also took ideas for the show from early 1950s television series?
Back in the early 1950s the infant television industry was looking for whatever new material
they could latch onto to fill all their hours on air time. And among the new shows that popped up
were the science fiction space shows that were similar to the original Star Trek. You say you
haven’t heard of this before? There are two reasons for that – first, was the lack of quality material
that 1950s TV produced (you are familiar with this if you’ve ever seen any of these early efforts);
and secondly, it’s because the early space shows were designed for the juvenile market. That’s
right, these were kids shows!
Now you’re thinking that the Great Roddenberry wouldn’t do something like that. What
could he use from a set of kids programs that he would use in the original Star Trek, a TV series
designed for an older audience and with some great drama? Is that what you are thinking? Okay,
let’s play a game – I’ll name off a number of story elements from a television show and you tell me
what show those elements come from.
Ready?
Here is a science fiction TV show that’s set in the far future, is about the commander of a
spaceship and his crew, who are part of an interplanetary confederation, and who is a part of that
confederation’s exploration and paramilitary organization. What’s your answer?
If you said “Of course, it’s Star Trek!”, then you’d be correct. You’d also be correct if you
said it was a series called Space Patrol. Back in 1950, this TV series started as a local live program
at KECA – TV in Los Angeles, California. The show featured 15 minute chapters in a daily serial
that ran five days a week (day time serials and soap operas ran for 15 minutes in those days, much
as they did in the golden age programs for radio). With these was two radio shows per week and a
half hour Saturday show. The series lasted from March of 1950 to July of 1955. Also, it went from
a local TV series to national broadcast in June, 1952 (ABC Network).
The premise of Space Patrol was that it was set in the 30th century, where Commander
Buzz Corry and his crew -- Space Cadet Happy (believe it or not), Carol Carlisle ( blond daughter
of the Secretary-General of Earth and possible love interest, if the show ever took advantage of the
idea – it didn’t), Major Robbie Robertson (Security Chief), and Tonga (dark-haired female villain
that switched sides) – headed the Space Patrol, a paramilitary organization that policed and
explored for the United Planets (the Solar System’s version of the United Nations). Their usual
missions entailed fighting space pirates, interplanetary spies, and thieves (though one story had the
group transported back in time to ancient Egypt). Their usual transportation was provided by
Terra V, a rocket craft that was typical of the era -- cigar shaped with fins. One of the unique
features of the premise is that Space Patrol Head Quarters was stationed on the artificial planet
Terra.
Not convinced yet? After all, starship captains, interstellar confederations, and so on have
been around since the 1920s and probably earlier. Okay, fair enough – how about we try again.
Here’s a science fiction television show that features the above - stellar confederation with a
paramilitary exploration and security arm and the adventurous crew of a spaceship. Add to this
that each operation of the spaceship has a different colored insignias for their uniforms –
yellow/gold & black for Command section, blue for Science Section, and red for Engineering. Also
in this series, the lead character is the “All-American” hero type (probably doesn’t have any trouble
getting the girls either) who has to put up with the bickering between the quiet Science guy (who is
an alien from a planet named after a Greek/Roman god) and the more than excitable other lead
who likes to pick on him.
If you answered Star Trek, then you win again. However, you could’ve answered
Tom Corbett, Space Cadet and also have been right.
Tom Corbett, Space Cadet was a juvenile television show that appeared from 1950 (starting
6 months after Space Patrol’s first appearance) to June 1955. In its time, it appeared on all four of
the major networks of the time – CBS, ABC, NBC, and DuMont respectively. And stories
featured the adventures of three cadets at the Space Academy of the paramilitary Solar Guard.
Tom Corbett was the heroic lead, with the quiet alien Astro from the planet Venus, and the loudmouthed and argumentive Roger Manning. All three went to classes at the Academy and got onthe-job training on the spaceship Polaris, overseen by Captain Strong (there’s where the yellow and
black uniform comes in). Again, 15 minute episodes were shown on Mondays, Wednesdays, and
Fridays, with a 30 minute show for Saturday mornings.
The major comparisons of
this show with Star Trek was the use
of the three-colored divisions the
characters worked in and the
relationship between the main three
characters. Gene Roddenberry
might have picked up the three
colors for the uniforms (maybe yes,
maybe no) from Tom Corbett.
Roddenberry might also have picked
up the notion from the use of multicolored uniforms seen on navy
aircraft carriers (each color designed
for specific jobs/functions aboard the
aircraft carrier). Then again, both Star Trek and Tom Corbett, Space Cadet could’ve borrowed
from that navy practice. It’s just that both of these show not only used the same primary colors,
they also used them for about the same divisions of labor. Also, there’s the relationship between
the three characters. In the original Star Trek, Kirk was the heroic lead who had to referee the
bickering between the quiet alien Spock and the opinionated Doctor McCoy. In Tom Corbett ,
the heroic Tom had to referee between the quiet Venusian Astro and the loud-mouthed Roger
Manning. There is probably no mistake that this type of relationship was open for use when
Roddenberry created his sci fi series (though it didn’t show up until a number of episodes had
started in the original Star Trek).
Good. For fun, how about we try this game one more time. Okay, here is a science fiction
space show the featured the captain and intrepid crew a spacecraft, members of a paramilitary
organization, which was part of a stellar confederation. The show featured an Earthman captain, an
alien sidekick who came from a world named after a Greek/Roman god, a leggy blond who might
become the show’s live interest, and elderly doctor. Also featured is a machine to translate alien
language into the language of the viewing public (and the heroes of the series), a way to make
spacecraft invisible, and an electrical harp-like musical instrument used by the second-in-command
sidekick.
Star Trek, of course! But also, a television series called Rocky Jones, Space Ranger.
Rocky Jones was a syndicated TV series that went from 1954 to 1956. Most of the show
was filmed in a series of three 30 minute episodes that were later combined to form a hour and a
half TV movies. It featured the intrepid crew of the Orbit Jet (later called the Silver Moon) rocket
ship as they explored and kept the space lanes safe for all the good races in the United Worlds
organization. The heroic lead of the show was Captain Rocky Jones, who was the “square-jawed”
action hero who probably had no problem getting girlfriends. Rocky had a number of second-incommand sidekicks, most prominent being the comedy relief character of Winky; but later
picking up the alien space ranger Biffen (“Biff”) Cardoza from the planet Herculon. The leggy
blond was provided by the Venusian woman Vena Ray (played by actress Sally Mansfield, she was
attractive but had such a petite figure she looked more child-like than sexy; the male characters in
the show probably liked her but didn’t consider her woman enough to date). The elderly doctor
type was provided by Professor Newton, always ready to the science portion to the shows storyline
(provided by actor Maurice Cass, who played this same sort of character through most of the early
1950s). And the regular cast was rounded out with boy mascot Bobby, Secretary Drake (head of
the Space Rangers back on Earth), Cleolanthe (bad girl ruler on planet Ophiuchius), and Ranger
Clark (who was probably cloned, because he was the chief operator of every space station in the
series - or so it seemed).
And the sci fi gadgets? In the Forbidden Moon TV movie, Rocky and Company use a
version of the universal translator idea to speak with the inhabitants of the Gypsy Moons. The
Manhunt in Space (originally titled Pirates of Prah), made use of a device Professor Newton
whipped up called Cold Light. Cold Light
made Rocky’s rocket ship invisible, and
helped him surprise the space pirates that
were the villains of the story. Plus, in the
same TV movie, sidekick Winky used a
harp-like musical instrument to sing junior
ranger Bobby to sleep (and the audience –
this show was deffently not up to Star
Trek’s level of quality).
All of the shows I described were popular
for their era. And they were not alone;
quick to pick up on the growing trend,
other TV producers jumped on the wave of space shows for kids. Along with the above examples
were TV versions of Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, Captain Video ( Space Patrol started as a
local TV show on Los Angeles, Captain Video held sway on local New York City TV), Rob
Brown of the Rocket Rangers, Atom Squad, and Captain Z’ Ro. All but Rocky Jones and the TV
version Flash Gordon were shot as live programs, seen afterwards as kinescopes (a filming process
where a movie camera is placed in front of a video screen and simply records the live broadcast).
The quality of these kinescopes was poor by today’s standards, thus these old episodes have less
reason to be seen than just their poor production valves. But examples of these series can be seen;
www.youtube.com and www.oldfutures.com have episodes of the major series I mentioned above
plus a few of the other obscure shows that were around (at oldfutures.com, go to the “Television”
section and click “1950s” in the dropdown list).
When Gene Roddenberry created the classic original version of Star Trek he had a lot of
source material to draw on. Some of it could’ve come from the above TV series. But just how
much is open for discussion, for these early shows picked up on the early literary sources science
fiction for creating their television shows.
Above is the cast of
Rob Brown,
Rocket Ranger
And to the right
Some of the cast
Of Captain Z Ro
Left is Captain Video
and his chief Video
Ranger (who of which
the east coast and
outer space safe)
And above the heroes
of the Atom Squad
Finally
Swimsuit Edition Oops
Last issue I presented our first swimsuit edition. What I didn’t do was give credit to the
picture sources that I took the pictures from – Oops! My bad! So to make up for it, here are some
of the credits that should have been given (some credits because I didn’t keep as tight a hold of the
credits as I should have).
 Cover: Princess Leia and Friends from Episode 4:Return of the Jedi (20th Century
Fox - 1983)
 Pages 2 & 3: unknown fashion photos (probably from Fashion TV Network)
 Page 4: Jane Fonda as Barabella (Paramount Pictures - 1968) plus some space girls
from a Mexican sci fi film.
 Page 5: Yvonne Craig in the original Star Trek (Paramount - 1969) and some Leias
from a Star Wars cosplay event.
 Page 6: Characters from the Gerry Anderson series UFO (21st Century Productions
1970)
 Page 7: Unknown fashion models and superhero girls from a cosplay convention.
 Page8: Paul (Universal – 2011) and Jake from Avatar (20th Century Fox – 2009)
 Page9: Taylor Kitsch as John Carter (Disney/Pixar – 2012) plus publicity stills of
Chris Hemsworth (Thor and Snow White and the Huntsman) and Ryan Reynolds
(Green Lantern)
 Page10: William Shatner from the classic Star Trek (Paramount Pictures – 1969)
“Don’t worry Captain, you can be a part of the Swimsuit Issue next year!”
Next Issue:
More fun and excitement! More news and views - I also have an article coming up on a
German TV series called Rampatrouille Orion (Space Patrol Orion), Germany’s first science
space show that also came out about the same time the original Star Trek show did. This will
feature details on the series, plus comparisons on the two shows. Also, I’m trying to come up with
alternate versions of the Star Trek uniform that would favor the budget-minded Trek fan. Plus
anything else that comes our way.
Enjoy the Summer!
Another Oops:
I forgot part of the 1950s article written above. And rather than disturb the photos I’ve
placed at the end of each section, I’ll place the missing paragraph here. *****
……..The viewer will notice differences between these early works and Star
Trek though. As said before, these space heroes were working with the
standard rocket ship of their era, complete with cigar shape and fins on the
back. This limited most of these early heroes to our own Solar System. As
a result, all of the planets of our solar system suddenly had human life
living on them, plus a number of moons, and the asteroids in the
Mars/Jupiter belt. In the case of both the Rocky Jones and Flash Gordon
series, the writers decided to add a few new planets. The planet Venus was
still thought to be a jungle planet with dinosaur-sized animals, while Mars
was thought to have a thin but breathable atmosphere (1953 SF novel Red
Sands of Mars by Arthur C. Clark had his people running around with just
an oxygen mask and no environmental suits; so I guess on Mars, we can’t
shot down the media SF of the time too much). Also, instead of an
interstellar confederation like the United Federation of Planets, most of the
early shows concentrated on a Venus, Earth, and Mars confederation with a
few other smaller powers rounding things out. And all of these people
spoke the same language, with a decided American accent (have you
noticed that about all these shows? And all the aliens in the British TV
series speak with Brit accents – astounding!!!).
……………..