BACK IN THE day, the early days of Television, that is, the notion of space Travel, not new to Science Fiction, was a hot genre for exploitation in the ever growing network and local channel schedules. There was, of course, two ways to obtain their desired "Space Operas." They could be either be culled from old theatrical movies; or they could be produced brand new, just for TV.ALTHOUGH THERE WEREN'T exactly very many old, previously released movies that dealt with space travel; there were some-even dating back to the silents. Among the backlog of oldies, as big as life and with double dosed action, was the movie serial.*ALTHOUGH THERE WERE quite a few space oriented serials available for the TV*, there are four that were the most durable and popular. They were BUCK ROGERS (Universal, 1939) and the trilogy of FLASH GORDON (Universal,1936), FLASH GORDON'S TRIP TO MARS (Universal,1938) and FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE (Universal,1940). These four were playing for years on local stations.**THE SECOND AVENUE of acquiring the coveted programing was to produce it just for TV. Hence, we had live & in studio classics as CAPTAIN VIDEO, BUZZ TOM CORBETT, SPACE CADET and SPACE PATROL. The in studio, live production had many drawbacks and limitations. The next step surely would be filmed series; which was much more akin to the theatrical film. Well the filmed series did become a reality when ROCKY JONES, SPACE RANGER debuted in 1954.AS WE RECALL it featured diverse stories, impressive special effects and an energetic and talented cast. Richard Crane gave a credible and energetic performance in the lead; supported by Sally Mansfield, Scotty Beckett, Robert Lyden and veteran Maurice Cass. We know by way of our friends in the neighborhood that Rocky Jones was tops.IN RECENT YEARS, we've seen at least one "movie" that was constructed through a compilation of several ROCKY JONES Episodes. The acting, the special effects, costuming and stories were good enough for the big screens of the nation's movie houses. It begs the question; so why was it canceled after one season of 39 episodes? Go figure!NOTE: * There were many serials with space travel and rocket ships. some, like BRICK BRADFORD (Columbia, which never made it to the small screen in your living rooms. On the other hand, Republic Pictures opened the floodgates giving the TV Stations such titles as: KING OF THE ROCKET MEN, THE PURPLE MONSTER STRIKES, FLYING DISC MAN FROM MARS, ZOMBIES OF THE STRATOSPHERE and others. NOTE: ** Just what is the common thread that runs through these four chapter plays? Well, other than the studio's being Universal, it is the Star Male Lead. Can you say Buster Crabbe?

I give this a one out of ten but mostly just because it is bad now because it is so old. It was not an awful show at the time I'm sure. But even my Grampa laughed at it when we watched it because it was so dated and funny. The main character, Rocky Jones, was like a Buck Rogers type character who fearlessly goes into space leading his men. I only saw two grainy episodes on an old tape with my Grampa like I said but it was okay considering how really old the show was. The funny parts were the "futuristic" equipment and all the enemy space men they found because the effects were so lame, actually there were no effect really. Worth it for a laugh if you like out of date stuff with bad effects.

I first discovered the Rocky Jones series in mid 60's (thank you WJZ TV BAL) at the time it was a great excuse not to do my after school homework. Having seen pictures of Gemini capsules I recognized that the sets were "real primitive" and my grade school science knew something was wrong with a planet traveling through space without it's star, but with all shows a little bit of license is expected. The show really moved along quickly, (with a serialized TV show how could it not) It reminds me of the storytelling style of George Lucas. Lucas described his storytelling style as very fast you can almost see a young Lucas thinking keep the story moving. The show was entertaining, and after all, what else is a TV show supposed to do?

If it were not for COMMANDO CODY, SKY MARSHAL OF THE UNIVERSE, we would consider ROCKY JONES, SPACE RANGER to be the low point of 1950s space adventure series. Unlike the other shows of the day it was filmed and syndicated; that meant far better sets, props and special effects. But the writers seemed never to have understood what science fiction, or space adventure, was all about. The actors are good and deserve better material. They also deserve better directors. The art direction is quite good, but there are very few "practical effects," far fewer than even on the live space adventure shows. (When a ray gun fired on CAPTAIN VIDEO, we saw flame and smoke... when a ray gun fires on ROCKY JONES we hear a kind of farting sound.)