Foward into the Past: 50s Sci-Fi Kids shows for restoration...and Beyond!!! (1 Viewer)

[Capt D McMars]

Growing up as a kid, you would see these on a Saturday morning along with various cartoons. Over time though, the desire to look back at these campy wonders comes back to haunt you. Wondering just where you can find a "decent" copy these wonderfuly innocent views of the future that never was.
I have tracked down mant of these classics, only to find them in poor, dilapidated condtion dvds...if at all!! granted there are exceptions, VCI did a great recovery of the Captain Video series in a double dvd set. However, 4 of these series not given the serious attention needed are: Space Patrol (live action series/1950-55), Tom Corbett: Space Cadet (1950-55), Flash Gordon (1953-54) and Captain Zer-o (1951-56). Although there are various DVD sets available, none of these releases seem to offer a restored/digitally remastered formated box set? All seem to be what you would see on Youtube, thier must be others out there that would love to see and own decent copies of thier old time favorites from long ago?

 

[Capt D McMars]

the first 3 series are showing up on the mighty Wade Williams Collection - Space Patrol, Tom Corbett and the Euro Flash Gordon. I'd be happy to see the Rocky Jones series done, and that too is in the WWC universe!! The only one free from WWC grasp is the Captain. Z-ro series.

 

[Capt D McMars]

Captain Z-ro seems to be PD, but it seems to me there was somone a few years back that claimed to have the original film elements...and I'm trying to track that down again...but for now some additional tracking info - I know that Alpha Video offers 5 volumes consisting of the 26 episodes mentioned below, but did vitually NOTHING to restore any of the episodes, which they shold have done...but they are not k now for doing the right thing, kjust the monetarilly beneifcile for them!!
Early episodes (1951-1953) were kinescope recordings (film shot off a TV monitor). Later shows for syndication (1955-1956) were shot directly to 16mm film at W.A. Palmer Film, as the show moved from a 15-minute kinescoped format on local stations KRON-TV in San Francisco & KTTV in Los Angeles to a 30-minute nationally syndicated film format distributed by the Atlas Television Corporation.
The kinescoped shows ended sometime in 1953. The 26 filmed episodes were aired from December 18, 1955, through June 10, 1956. There was a 2-year hiatus between the end of the 51-episode kinescope series and the 26 episodes later recorded on film and distributed by Atlas.

 

[The 1960's]

Todd there are some very decent episodes of all the series you mentioned above you just need to do a little digging. I've found so much high quality stuff on YouTube, DailyMotion and Vimeo that has never been and probably never will be released to physical media that I find myself using my disc players for less and less periods of time. I hate to say streaming is the way to go but the reality is that there are many film collectors out there who are utilizing / uploading a great deal of high quality stuff from their collections to these platforms. That's just the way it is. YouTube is no longer a land of horrible looking VHS dubs.

 

[Capt D McMars]

Todd there are some very decent episodes of all the series you mentioned above you just need to do a little digging. I've found so much high quality stuff on YouTube, DailyMotion and Vimeo that has never been and probably never will be released to physical media that I find myself using my disc players for less and less periods of time. I hate to say streaming is the way to go but the reality is that there are many film collectors out there who are utilizing / uploading a great deal of high quality stuff from their collections to these platforms. That's just the way it is. YouTube is no longer a land of horrible looking VHS dubs.

I hear you, and if any of these were worthy of dowloading I surly would do that, gladly. My issue is the lack of quality files that I see on the various platforms like Youtube, Vemo, and others. I would appeciate and links to examples they are an improvement to the lack luster examples that I've seen. I have the 5 vol collection of Captain Z-ro, for example, from Alpha Video...and they did vertually nothing to upgrade the film or audio elements for thier dvd releases. I reach out to all that may be able to connect me with files that offer a better resolution, I'm open to that. I've just never seen anytyhing...and I do search exstenivly, that even comes close to being acceptable, for me. With todays tech, there is no reason why these and other shows might not benefit from such tech and be better for it? Here is an example of what I'm talking about - fair, but with a little masssaging and love...it could be so much better!!!

 

[The 1960's]

I hear you, and if any of these were worthy of dowloading I surly would do that, gladly. My issue is the lack of quality files that I see on the various platforms like Youtube, Vemo, and others. I would appeciate and links to examples they are an improvement to the lack luster examples that I've seen. I have the 5 vol collection of Captain Z-ro, for example, from Alpha Video...and they did vertually nothing to upgrade the film or audio elements for thier dvd releases. I reach out to all that may be able to connect me with files that offer a better resolution, I'm open to that. I've just never seen anytyhing...and I do search exstenivly, that even comes close to being acceptable, for me. With todays tech, there is no reason why these and other shows might not benefit from such tech and be better for it? Here is an example of what I'm talking about - fair, but with a little masssaging and love...it could be so much better!!!

Oh yes the Classic [TV] Channel (or a derivative thereof Action & Adventure TV Shows) or StretchNet as I call ‘em. I see what you mean. Cannot watch anything from the YT stretch channels. I have no links for this particular show. I do have some links but I’m not giving them away here until I post ‘em you know where.

 

[Capt D McMars]

Oh yes the Classic [TV] Channel (or a derivative thereof Action & Adventure TV Shows) or StretchNet as I call ‘em. I see what you mean. Cannot watch anything from the YT stretch channels. I have no links for this particular show. I do have some links but I’m not giving them away here until I post ‘em you know where. View attachment 124831

Cool, feel free to “show me the money”, or the better alternative lol!!!

Oh yes the Classic [TV] Channel (or a derivative thereof Action & Adventure TV Shows) or StretchNet as I call ‘em. I see what you mean. Cannot watch anything from the YT stretch channels. I have no links for this particular show. I do have some links but I’m not giving them away here until I post ‘em you know where. View attachment 124831

ok, I give up?!!

 

[The 1960's]

Todd I have a mini sci-fi theme coming up soon. I will post those links here shortly after I post them there.

---

​

---

 

[Capt D McMars]

Todd I have a mini sci-fi theme coming up soon. I will post those links here shortly after I post them there.

---

​

---

Cool Thanks Neal!!!

 

[Capt D McMars]

Cool Thanks Neal!!!

these need some serious help!!

 

[arromdee]

Captain Z-ro seems to be PD, but it seems to me there was somone a few years back that claimed to have the original film elements...and I'm trying to track that down again...but for now some additional tracking info - I know that Alpha Video offers 5 volumes consisting of the 26 episodes mentioned below, but did vitually NOTHING to restore any of the episodes,

Unfortunately Alpha doesn't seem to have all 26 episodes. Mill Creek's 150 TV episode collection from 2009 contains 24 out of 26 episodes. There's a post on dvdtalk listing all the episode titles, and you can go to oldies.com and look at the episode titles on the back of the Alpha Video volumes. 6 volumes with 4 episodes each. Exactly the same episodes are missing as are missing from the Mill Creek set.

And VCI seems to have the Captain Video movie serial, not the TV series. Going to oldies.com gives you a description of "Not to be mistaken for a superhero wielding a VHS cassette, Captain Video was, in fact, a popular do-gooder who frequently saved the universe in his own TV show during the 1950s. This collection gathers together some of the episodes from the show, with Judd Holdren starring as the fearless Captain." Judd Holden starred in the serial, not the show, despite the reference to "episodes" and "TV show", and the image is from the serial.

I wonder if they're going to fix the tints compared to the 2005 release. Last time this was released I remember someone pointing out that only the outdoor scenes on the alien planets were supposed to be tinted.

 

[Sky King]

Neal,

Shatner did a Promise commercial in my hometown of New Canaan, Ct. back in the day.

John

 

[Capt D McMars]

Unfortunately Alpha doesn't seem to have all 26 episodes. Mill Creek's 150 TV episode collection from 2009 contains 24 out of 26 episodes. There's a post on dvdtalk listing all the episode titles, and you can go to oldies.com and look at the episode titles on the back of the Alpha Video volumes. 6 volumes with 4 episodes each. Exactly the same episodes are missing as are missing from the Mill Creek set.

And VCI seems to have the Captain Video movie serial, not the TV series. Going to oldies.com gives you a description of "Not to be mistaken for a superhero wielding a VHS cassette, Captain Video was, in fact, a popular do-gooder who frequently saved the universe in his own TV show during the 1950s. This collection gathers together some of the episodes from the show, with Judd Holdren starring as the fearless Captain." Judd Holden starred in the serial, not the show, despite the reference to "episodes" and "TV show", and the image is from the serial.

I wonder if they're going to fix the tints compared to the 2005 release. Last time this was released I remember someone pointing out that only the outdoor scenes on the alien planets were supposed to be tinted.

Your right, the 6 vol set from Alpha does only have 24 of the 26 episodes. My issue was not with the quantity but the Quality of the videos. While in their possesion, Alpha did nothing to restore or enhance the episodes in question prior to dropping them onto dvds. This is an example of pure laziness on their part, Granted, the tech of being able to clean and restore these epeoisods has changed, for the better, over the years...does not alture the fact of negligence on their part, by defering to a "pop and drop" mentailty.

And you are correct, this was the "movie-ized" version, not the episodic versions. Yet again, my comments were in respect to the comparisons between a compny like Alpha Video, that has no connection to the product other than for the money$$$ and a company like VCI that has the interest of the materials and the audience in mind, when releasing classic film materials.

I do appreciate your enthusiams and your love of the same series that we love so much!!
Perhaps someday there will be a company that will rescue these poor orphan series before it's too late, and than all we have are these sad, 3rd rate offerings of a once loved serial/TV shows from our childhoods. The most important thing is to keep searching and keeping the conversation going. Who knows, maybe sometime in the future there will be additional information or discoveries made that will inable the creation of a full restoratiion of these fun kids shows from our past. Hell even HD streamed downloads would be better then the smegma that is being offered today, right?
A perfect example is the TV Series was "Rod Brown of the Rocket Rangers" with a very young Cliff Robertson playing the lead role. Apparently of the 58 episodes, only 1 poorly reresented example known to exsist, sad...but more common than we would like. Especially in the Rotoscope formats. This is some of the issues with popular TV seies like Doctor Who.

 

[The 1960's]

As promised Todd aka Captain Cheese Pro!

Flash Gordon (1954-1955)
Stars Steve Holland Irene Champlin Joseph Nash​

---

Space hero Flash Gordon and his crew of the Galaxy Bureau of Investigation patrol space, battling space monsters, power-mad alien dictators and other threats to the stability of the universe.

S01E23 The Water World Menace (Mar.25.1955)
Stars Steve Holland Irene Champlin Joseph Nash​

---

​

---

S01E24 Saboteurs From Space (Apr.01.1955)
Stars Steve Holland Irene Champlin Joseph Nash​

---

Paralysis ray stops machines on earth. Flash looks into it.​

---

​

---

S01E36 Deadline at Noon (Jun.24.1955)
Stars Steve Holland Irene Champlin Joseph Nash Henry Beckman​

---

After witnessing the destruction of five planets, Dr. Zarkov determines that the explosions were created by a nuclear bomb fueled by a material that takes hundreds of years to explode. Dale, Flash and the doctor journey back to 1950s Berlin to locate such a bomb planted on Earth.​

---

​

---

S01E39 The Subworld Revenge (Jul.15.1955)
Stars Steve Holland Irene Champlin Joseph Nash​

---

Flash, Dale and Dr. Zarkov travel 1500 miles beneath the Earth's surface to confront the ruler of a subterranean people who are intent on destroying those who live above ground.​

---

​

---

Intermittent problems at IMDb at time of posting.​

 

[Capt D McMars]

Woohoo!!! Thanks for the links…I wish these episodes come be assembled on a BRD set!!!

 

[Capt D McMars]

Unfortunately Alpha doesn't seem to have all 26 episodes. Mill Creek's 150 TV episode collection from 2009 contains 24 out of 26 episodes. There's a post on dvdtalk listing all the episode titles, and you can go to oldies.com and look at the episode titles on the back of the Alpha Video volumes. 6 volumes with 4 episodes each. Exactly the same episodes are missing as are missing from the Mill Creek set.

And VCI seems to have the Captain Video movie serial, not the TV series. Going to oldies.com gives you a description of "Not to be mistaken for a superhero wielding a VHS cassette, Captain Video was, in fact, a popular do-gooder who frequently saved the universe in his own TV show during the 1950s. This collection gathers together some of the episodes from the show, with Judd Holdren starring as the fearless Captain." Judd Holden starred in the serial, not the show, despite the reference to "episodes" and "TV show", and the image is from the serial.

I wonder if they're going to fix the tints compared to the 2005 release. Last time this was released I remember someone pointing out that only the outdoor scenes on the alien planets were supposed to be tinted.

It was me buying the DVDs from Alpha Video that started my quest. I had seen them on YT but unfortunitly these dvds are the same files being used as the YT files. Alpha Video does no restoration, for them it's a strainght "pop and drop" on to dvds and push threm out of the door!!

 

[Capt D McMars]

As promised Todd aka Captain Cheese Pro!

Flash Gordon (1954-1955)
Stars Steve Holland Irene Champlin Joseph Nash​

---

Space hero Flash Gordon and his crew of the Galaxy Bureau of Investigation patrol space, battling space monsters, power-mad alien dictators and other threats to the stability of the universe.

S01E23 The Water World Menace (Mar.25.1955)
Stars Steve Holland Irene Champlin Joseph Nash​

---

​

---

S01E24 Saboteurs From Space (Apr.01.1955)
Stars Steve Holland Irene Champlin Joseph Nash​

---

Paralysis ray stops machines on earth. Flash looks into it.​

---

​

---

S01E36 Deadline at Noon (Jun.24.1955)
Stars Steve Holland Irene Champlin Joseph Nash Henry Beckman​

---

After witnessing the destruction of five planets, Dr. Zarkov determines that the explosions were created by a nuclear bomb fueled by a material that takes hundreds of years to explode. Dale, Flash and the doctor journey back to 1950s Berlin to locate such a bomb planted on Earth.​

---

​

---

S01E39 The Subworld Revenge (Jul.15.1955)
Stars Steve Holland Irene Champlin Joseph Nash​

---

Flash, Dale and Dr. Zarkov travel 1500 miles beneath the Earth's surface to confront the ruler of a subterranean people who are intent on destroying those who live above ground.​

---

​

---

Intermittent problems at IMDb at time of posting.​

Much clearer, it could use some cleanup but much better than the files used for the Alpha Videos discs, thanks!! it's too bad all have the "not for broadcast" stamp and the editing clock doesn't help either, LOL!!!

 

[The 1960's]

Those four are exclusive to your thread. There’s another five episodes here in case you didn’t notice. Everything but one file at that wonderful YT channel has time codes. He is a huge source of programming for me.

 

[The 1960's]

Todd not sure if this ranks as in the too juvenile category but it was uploaded to YouTube this very morning.

---

​

---

It certainly creeps me out!

 

[Capt D McMars]

Todd not sure if this ranks as in the too juvenile category but it was uploaded to YouTube this very morning.

---

​

---

It certainly creeps me out!

not as much as Clutch Cargo!!!