Early television in the 1950s was a freewheeling frontier of both live and taped offerings mostly dominated by comedies, game shows, kids programs, and westerns like “I Love Lucy,” “The $64,000 Question,” “Leave it To Beaver,” “The Mickey Mouse Club,” “The Honeymooners,” and “Gunsmoke.”
But while post-war America’s interest in outer space and science fiction blossomed as the decade ran its course seeing the Soviet Union launch Sputnik, the world’s first satellite, in 1957 and igniting the Space Race, a wealth of science fiction offerings had already sprouted up on television to satisfy stargazers’ curiosity and imagination about future space travel, intergalactic villains, and exotic technologies.
As more shows aired, families would flock to their living rooms to eat meals on wobbly aluminum trays to watch their favorite science fiction shows on flickering 16-inch screens and for 30 minutes and be transported to another planet or galaxy, complete with cool ray guns, rocket ships, and bubble helmets.
In the first of our 10-show salutes to the best sci-fi TV series in each decade, and without further ado, here is our unranked list of the finest in space-based home entertainment from the 1950s. Pop up some Jiffy Pop popcorn and let’s begin!
10. Captain Video and His Video Rangers
Captain Video! Master of time and space! This ambitious live series starring Richard Coogan was the first-ever science fiction and space adventure program to hit the airwaves. Seen on the Dumont Network starting from June 27, 1949 and running to April 1, 1955, it spawned a host of imitators that were soon to follow.
This pioneering show was seen nightly except Sundays, where Captain Video and his posse of justice fighters in the year 2254 operated from a secret mountaintop base on a futuristic Earth. Using cheap sets and stock western clips from Dumont’s film library when attention turned to rangers around the globe it was highly popular, and by 1951 was viewed on 24 stations around the U.S. reaching a total of 3.5 million viewers.
9. “Space Patrol”
One of the first to copy “Captain Video” was ABC’s Saturday morning kids series “Space Patrol,” which ran from 1950 to 1955 and featured Commander Buzz Corry and his trusty Cadet Happy traversing the 30th-century universe aboard the spaceship “Terra,” clashing with villains Mr. Proteus and Prince Baccarratti.
This 30-minute interstellar adventure series starring Ed Kemmer and Lyn Osborn concentrated on interplanetary crime fighters, showcased better writing, and even offered a companion radio series that aired from 1952-1955 for a total of 129 episodes.
8. “Captain Z-Ro”
Emanating from the KRON TV station in San Francisco, “Captain Z-Ro” aired from 1955 to 1956 and depicted the adventures of Captain Z-Ro and his crusaders and their secret lab where they employed the advanced technology of a time machine to understand the past for a better tomorrow.
By studying human civilization via his Time Screen to discover historical anomalies, Z-Ro and his young sidekick, Jet, hopped in their time machine to go back in time to fix errors alongside Roger the Robot inside their starship, the ZX-99. Its temporal premise was likely most influential in future TV shows and movies like “Doctor Who” and “Quantum Leap.”
7. “Science Fiction Theatre”
This 1955 to 1957 science-fiction anthology series was hosted by Truman Bradley and delivered imaginative stories centered around real scientific data of the decade, touching on topics like human spaceflight, UFOs, time travel, paranormal powers, and a range of fictional pseudo-scientific ideas.
Many of these episodes expanded upon subjects written about in Scientific American magazine. It’s considered to be an early adopter of the format later used for “The Twilight Zone” and “Outer Limits.” “Star Trek’s” DeForest Kelley even appeared in three episodes! Its 78 syndicated chapters remain favorites of sci-fi buffs and fans of early visionary programs.
