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3.0 out of 5 stars
Across the Space Frontier!, December 30, 2001
This review is from: Tom Corbett-Space Cadet - Vol. 2 [VHS] (VHS Tape)
TOM CORBETT, SPACE CADET was one of the classic live space adventures of the Golden Age of Television. This latest collection from Wade Williams gives us 3 30-minute programs, one from 1951, one from 1953 and one from 1955. If you are unfamiliar with this classic, I can say briefly that the characters are cadets and faculty at Space Academy in the mid-24th Century, "the age of the Conquest of Space!" Cadets Tom Corbett (Frankie Thomas), Roger Manning (Jan Merlin), Astro (Al Markim), T. J. Thistle (Jack Grimes) and Eric Rattison (Frank Sutton) are sent by Solar Guard officers Captain Steve Strong (Ed Bryce) and Doctor Joan Dale (Margaret Garland) on a variety of daring missions throughout the solar system as imagined in 1950 - 55.
The first adventure, "Asteroid of Death," requires some explanation. From 1950 to 1952, SPACE CADET was broadcast live as a 3-a-week 15 minute program, with a typical story line taking 9 broadcasts or 3 weeks to spin out. An ad agency executive got the following idea: take the roughly 90 minutes of kinescope (a 16 mm film made directly from a TV monitor during the broadcasts) expended on a complete story, edit it down to 20 minutes, and... show it again on another network! To fill in the gaps left by the editing, Frankie Thomas did a live narration, sitting in a futuristic office set, in character as Tom Corbett. He told me not long ago that, in a long career on Broadway, in films, on radio and in TV, this was by far his most difficult assignment, since his lines were all exposition, with no cues, no cue cards, no teleprompters, and only one chance to get it right! In this story, the Solar Guard's ace scientist, Dr. Dale, solves the mystery of a strange asteroid just in time to save the lives of Captain Strong and Roger Manning.
With about 2-dozen DuMont 30-minute shows to choose from, "Target: Danger" is an odd choice, involving a routine plot that the hard-pressed writers used over and over. Maybe it was chosen to show how Jan Merlin's sarcastic and hot-tempered Roger Manning, when an emergency occurs, instantly became a brave and bold team player.
Finally "Assignment: Mercury" is a 30-minute live NBC episode from the last season of the program (it ran on all four networks in one season or another), this one featuring Roger Manning's replacement, the very annoying T. J. Thistle (played by the very annoying Jack Grimes) literally having a hot time on Mercury.
If you have any curiosity about the great Space Heroes of the Golden Age of live television, this tape is an excellent introduction.
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