Space Patrol (1950)

Space Patrol was a live-action science fiction television series that began as a daily quarter-hour show in the Los Angeles area in March 1950, but which was also being performed as a weekly half-hour show on network television before the end of that year. A half-hour radio show was added to the mix in late 1952 (which lasted until 1955, when the TV shows were cancelled). The show was initially an adventure show for children, but the intelligence of the stories quickly built up an adult following, insuring that ABC quickly picked it up as a regular show.
Originally the series followed the adventures of Space Patrol Commander Kitt Corry and his assigned cadet Happy Osborn as they fought pirates and insurrectionists and general space-based criminals. Unfortunately, the actor playing Corry proved unable to maintain his role (generally forgetting his lines on-camera). He was released, and a new actor (who proved admirably up to the task) was brought in to play his younger brother, Buzz Corry.
There were three different 'origins' of the Buzz/Happy team up: the initial pairing on the quarter-hour shows, the origin given in the first half-hour episode, and the one given on one of the drama records released.
Other main characters were Space Patrol Security Chief Major Robbie Robertson, scientist Tonga (originally she was a criminal mastermind called The Lady of Diamonds reformed to being a good guy, but a later half-hour episode gave her a new 'origin' as a reformed swindler), Carol Carlisle, daughter of the Secretary General of the United Planets and placid love interest for Buzz, and recurring villains Mr. Proteus, Agent X (the actor playing whom eventually becoming the main script writer for the show) and (most especially) Prince Baccarratti (for whom there were at least three different backgrounds given).
Parenthetically, the production staff was doing--in LIVE ACTION--a half-hour show, five quarter-hour shows and a half-hour radio show EVERY WEEK. It's no wonder some of the character back stories got confused. :) On the other hand, while it may not have been the first TV show to do so, the series made heavy use of continuity: the quarter-hour shows were in serial format (a cliffhanger at the end of every episode), the half-hour shows frequently followed linked adventures in larger story arcs (with at least one big one they forgot to conclude), and even the radio show often had duos or trios of episodes following a larger story. Indeed, the Planet X storyline crossed over (more or less) between the half-hour and radio series. (Although as might be expected the details blurred between series. There were at least three different explanations given when the interplanetary series discovered superlight travel, for example.)
The show (all three venues) eventually had sponsors. Later episodes had the actors on the show performing commercial skits (sometimes panting and sweaty from a previous action scene) themselves.
96 of the radio episodes, over a hundred (out of 205) of the half-hour episodes, and only a handful (out of nearly 900) of the quarter-hour episodes survive, but all are watchable. A number of 'lost' episodes exist in script form still.
==Fandom==
The single most active fandom site for Space Patrol was the Solar Guard website, which not only had a Space Patrol section, but sections for other classic SF TV series like Tom Corbett and Rocky Jones. The site switched over to the Starlog site in 2006, where they maintained a presence until Starlog ceased publication and operations. The Solar Guard site hasn't been updated since 2006.
==Fanworks==
===Fiction===
Fandom in the 50s seldom got organized enough to share fan fiction (if indeed any Space Patrol fans ever wrote any); there are no known examples of fan fiction for this show (alas).
Jack McKirgan II 'researched' the history and technical specs from Jane's Spacecraft Vol. MLII for the Terra V. Not standard fan fiction, but certainly creative.
===Fanart===
A fan drawing of the Ralston Rocket that was the first prize in the legendary "Name Planet X" contest that ran on Space Patrol.
Carefully-researched floor plans of the Terra V, Commander Corry's final ship. Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, and Page 4.
===Meta===
==Archives & Resources==
* Space Patrol on the IMDb
* Wikipedia:Space Patrol (1950 TV series)
Category:Live-action Television