# Who Was "Captain Video"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 17, 2008, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-captain-video/445755 "2008-04-17T17:54:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-captain-video/445755/1 "2008-04-17T17:54:44Z")
I’m told this was a kid’s sci-fi TV show, from the early days of TV. Does it survive on DVD? Were the sets and props pretty cheesey? Finally, what did the name signify? ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-captain-video/445755/2 "2008-04-17T18:02:52Z")
[Here’s](http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/C/htmlC/captainvideo/captainvideo.htm) a summary. > [@The Museum of Broadcast Communications](#): > > Captain Video and His Video Rangers, which premiered 27 June 1949 on the DuMont Network, was the first science fiction, space adventure program on television and was to inspire a spate of similar offerings. Although it combined many of the early staples of children’s programming, such as the inclusion of inexpensive film clips and pointed moral lessons, Captain Video capitalized upon the public fascination with science and space and the technical elements of the new television medium to create the longest running science fiction show in early television. Cheesy by today’s standards? Sure. But for a 1949 children’s sci-fi program it was, by default, state of the art. The name “Video” reflects the new (to the masses) technology of broadcasting moving pictures, which was the method by which the show came into people’s home as well as a tool employed by the hero in exciting, futuristic ways. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-captain-video/445755/3 "2008-04-17T18:04:49Z")
[![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KTyWvyuoGk) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-captain-video/445755/4 "2008-04-17T19:49:09Z")
I quote from The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows > [@](#): > > Since DuMont (the network) was perpetually impoverished, the sets and props on \*Captain Video \* were constructed on the smallest possible budget. Most of the controls in the captain’s spaceship, the Galaxy, were painted on, and one suspected that a single swift kick at his master control board would destroy the entire headquarters. The unkindest limitations were on the network of Video Rangers, whom the captain would look in on, using his Remote Carrier Beam, once during each telecast. Most of them looked exactly like cowboys in the Old west – DuMont was running pieces of ancient Westerns to pad out the half hour! ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-captain-video/445755/5 "2008-04-17T19:50:14Z")
[Here’s](http://www.infinitematrix.net/columns/waldrop/waldrop14.html) a blog entry about it. (Go a bit down on the page.) Alfred Bester, Damon Knight and Jack Vance all wrote for it, and it had a famous effects budget of $25 an episode. We didn’t get a TV until it was dead and gone, so I never have actually seen it myself. For some reason, though “Captain Video” was the generic name for TV space adventures. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-captain-video/445755/6 "2008-04-17T20:27:33Z")
> **[Captain Video and His Video Rangers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Video)** > > Captain Video and His Video Rangers is an American science fiction television series that aired on the DuMont Television Network and was the first series of its genre on American television. > The series aired between June 27, 1949, and April 1, 1955, originally on Monday through Saturday at 7 p.m. ET, and then Monday through Friday at 7 p.m. ET. A separate 30-minute spinoff series called The Secret Files of Captain Video aired Saturday mornings, alternating with Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, from Sep... TV show “Captain Video and His Video Rangers” (1949) > **[Captain Video and His Video Rangers (TV Series 1949–1955) ⭐ 7.3 | Action,...](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041014/)** > > 30m | TV-Y7 Movie Captain Video, Master of the Stratosphere (1951) > **[Captain Video: Master of the Stratosphere (1951) ⭐ 5.5 | Adventure, Sci-Fi](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043380/)** > > 4h 47m | Approved Another TV series “The Secret Files of Captain Video” (1953) > **[The Secret Files of Captain Video (TV Series 1953–1955) ⭐ 6.5 | Action,...](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0222628/)** > > 30m Cartoon “Captain Video and His Cartoon Rangers” (1956) > **[Captain Video and His Cartoon Rangers (TV Series 1956– ) ⭐ 7.2 | Action,...](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0262154/)** > > 30m ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-captain-video/445755/7 "2008-04-17T20:35:42Z")
[QUOTE=ralph124c] Were the sets and props pretty cheesey? [/QUOTE] Ah, the cheesiness of the sets and props was part of the show’s charm. I loved “Captain Video” when I was a little kid, but I remember very little of it. One thing that I do remember is that the Captain had an “intergalactic signaling device” with which he sent Morse code to distant galaxies. It was an office stapler. It even said “Swingline” on it. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-captain-video/445755/8 "2008-04-17T22:54:50Z")
It was not state-of-the-art, even by 1949 terms. But since it was a show for children, they didn’t need to be state-of-the-art. Even at the time, adults commented on the cheapness of the sets and the use of everyday objects for futuristic devices. Several great pieces of trivia about the show: 1. **Captain Video** had more original episodes than any other American SF TV show. It ran five nights a week for over six years (six nights a week for one year, and four nights for a year before), with few reruns (the technology wasn’t there in the beginning, which one reason why it’shard to find examples of the show). 2. Don Hastings, the Video Ranger for the entire run of the show, is still a TV regular today, working on **As the World Turns** since 1960 (and working regularly even before that). Next year, he celebrate 60 years in television. I also think that, for better or for worse, **Captain Video** was the most influential show ever to appear on American TV, and you can see echoes of it in most SF shows today. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-captain-video/445755/9 "2008-04-18T01:09:26Z")
[QUOTE=TWDuke] The name “Video” reflects the new (to the masses) technology of broadcasting moving pictures [/QUOTE] My Dad one gave me his old Radio Flyer, and I was severely disappointed to discover it neither received radio signals nor flew. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-captain-video/445755/10 "2008-04-18T01:46:29Z")
[QUOTE=pinkfreud] the Captain had an “intergalactic signaling device” with which he sent Morse code to distant galaxies. It was an office stapler. It even said “Swingline” on it. [/QUOTE] First thing after I make coffee at work in the morning, I’m making a label for the stapler that says [“ansible”.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansible)🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-captain-video/445755/11 "2008-04-18T02:12:13Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] It was not state-of-the-art, even by 1949 terms. [/quote] I stand by my assessment. > [@me](#): > > But for a 1949 children’s sci-fi program it was, by default, state of the art. By default. If another 1949 children’s sci-fi program had higher production values, I’d like to see it. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-captain-video/445755/12 "2008-04-18T07:34:05Z")
I’m not old enough to remember Captain Video, but I do recall [Ed Norton](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_or_Not_TV) was a huge fan. ---
**Author:** ![mylittleba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/49beb7/32.png) [@mylittleba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mylittleba)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-captain-video/445755/13 "2008-04-18T09:01:11Z")
I don’t know too much about Captain Video ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-captain-video/445755/14 "2008-04-18T09:19:45Z")
You can see a whole episode at [archive.org](http://www.archive.org/details/captainvideo) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-captain-video/445755/15 "2008-04-18T13:48:10Z")
[QUOTE=Tapioca Dextrin] You can see a whole episode at [archive.org](http://www.archive.org/details/captainvideo) [/QUOTE] The overture to Richard Wagner’s _Flying Dutchman._ Cool. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-captain-video/445755/16 "2008-04-18T14:24:00Z")
[QUOTE=TWDuke] By default. If another 1949 children’s sci-fi program had higher production values, I’d like to see it. [/QUOTE] There weren’t any, of course. But with a $25 budget for props, it’s hard to get state of the art (if you adjusted for inflation today, what would you get?). If you want state-of-the-art, see things like **It Came From Outer Space** or **Them!** , both of which were produced while Captain Video was on the air. TV would have forced some restrictions, but with a higher budget, Captain Video could have been much better. For instance: > [@](#): > > As near as we can tell from this and other photos, the rifle consists of the front half of a wind-up cap-firing machinegun, with the handgrip of a western-style cap gun sticking out of the open end to provide a forward grip for the rifle. One plastic pipe goes back to an oddly-shaped plastic box with a dial on the side. Two other plastic pipes run from the open rear of the cap-firing machinegun mechanism to what seems to be mainly the rear half of the same cap-firing machinegun, with a bit of extra detailing stuck on here and there. If the show had actually been able to design a gun and have a prototype made, it wouldn’t have looked like something out of a kid’s toybox. **Star Trek** (one of the Captains most obvious descendants) had a department design phasers that weren’t cobbled together from toy cap guns, and there’s no reason why that couldn’t have been done in 1949 other than budget. Or, as an even better example, the space ship had [cardboard steering wheels](http://www.slick-net.com/space/video/raster/index.phtml) (scroll to the next to last photo). A different type of control could have been designed, but even an old air force surplus airplane steering wheel (as shown in **Plan 9 from Outer Space** ) was hardly beyond the technology of the time. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-captain-video/445755/17 "2008-04-18T15:42:40Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] but even an old air force surplus airplane steering wheel (as shown in **Plan 9 from Outer Space** ) was hardly beyond the technology of the time. [/QUOTE] I thought the airliner pilots in _Plan 9_ were holding paper plates. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-captain-video/445755/18 "2008-04-18T16:17:12Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] There weren’t any, of course. [/QUOTE] Which is my point. It was the first attempt at producing a sci-fi TV show for kids, so it was _by default_ the best and worst of its kind. I’m not sure how that could even be a controversial statement. They could have done the first show in dungarees with a black sheet as a backdrop and it would have been, _by default_, state of the art. Of course they could have advanced the art by throwing more money at it, but that wasn’t the DuMont way of doing things. What movies of the time or later TV series did is irrelevant. The medium was in its infancy, the financial backers didn’t want to spend a lot of money because they didn’t know what the return might be (the budget was $25 a week, not per episode), sci-fi on TV was brand new, and it was a _kids_ program. [This](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTN8SF4MvmA) was its main competition. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-captain-video/445755/19 "2008-04-18T17:37:29Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] If the show had actually been able to design a gun and have a prototype made, it wouldn’t have looked like something out of a kid’s toybox. **Star Trek** (one of the Captains most obvious descendants) had a department design phasers that weren’t cobbled together from toy cap guns, and there’s no reason why that couldn’t have been done in 1949 other than budget. [/QUOTE] Not even Star Trek was above saving money. As is well-known, the prop department needed salt shakers for a scene in the Man Trap episode (the one about the salt vampire masquerading as Bones’s old girl friend) in which Rand brings Sulu lunch on a tray with a salt shaker on it and bought several futuristic looking ones. They realized viewers might not recognize the salt shaker unless it was conspicuously pointed out (SULU: Thanks for bringing me salt with my lunch, Janice). They bought some conventional looking salt shakers and recycled the futuristic ones into McCoy’s diagnostic instruments. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-captain-video/445755/20 "2008-04-18T22:21:10Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] My Dad one gave me his old Radio Flyer, and I was severely disappointed to discover it neither received radio signals nor flew. [/QUOTE] Did you jiggle the knobs?