Space Patrol - Vol. 5 - Episodes 17-21 [1963]

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Product Details

Director : Frank Goulding
Actor : Ysanne Churchman, Murray Kash, Ronnie Stevens, Dick Vosburgh, Libby Morris
Format : Black & White, HiFi Sound, PAL
Binding : VHS Tape
EAN : 5027626111038
Number of Discs : 1
Product Group : Video
Release Date : 2001-07-16
Running Time : 125minutes
Studio : Network

ASIN : B00004R7DV

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Customer Reviews

Oh those Yobba Rays.... (2002-05-28)

Space Patrol stands utterly alone in the great canon of Gerry Anderson dominated puppet series of the 50's, 60's and 70's. Dark, humorous and far more thoughtful than its cousins from the Anderson stable, it touches your imagination in a way Fireball XL5 and Thunderbirds can't. I remember sitting spellbound as a child, watching the original series when it was transmitted in the early sixties. I was a little worried when I purchased the videos that nostalgia would be shattered, or at least deflated on re-viewing (as I found to my dismay with the recent re-runs on TV of Thunderbirds), but no such thing! Instead, as with the classic Adam West Bat Man series, I discovered whole new layers of adult-oriented thought and ideas (along with a number of non-PC jokes and one-liners that would be hard pressed to make it past the editor's scissors these days!). The characters are well-defined, and you find yourself warming to them - the eccentric Irish scientist, Haggerty, the sausage-loving Martian, Husky, the cranky Colonel Raeburn, and his blonde Venusian babe-style assistant ("on Venus, Colonel, there is no such thing as a dumb blonde," she reminds him as she second and third guesses him at every turn), Captain Larry Dart, our hero, and commander of the Galasphere 347 - one of the coolest ships in creation - a long haired, bearded decent sort of chap who breaks the lantern-jawed hunk mold and tosses it aside, as he confronts all threats and aliens with stoic calm and a minimum of fuss. And let's not forget Slim, the Venusian co-pilot, who plays foil to Husky's gruff, but lovable Neanderthal tendencies.

The special effects are startling when you consider the limitations of the time, and the Galasphere ranks as one of the best SF spacecraft, alongside the Enterprise and Fireball XL5. The stories are carefully thought out, with a strong basis in science; no whizzing to planets in a few minutes here - a trip to Pluto requires a couple of months in the "freezer" for the crew, and each adventure leans heavily on some sort of scientific theme. There are little touches that aid suspension of belief - references to leave owed for long tours of duty, characters actually leaving the office to head home, one scene where Colonel Raeburn tells Dart, when he bemoans having to make yet another round trip to Mars, that that's why he's so well paid, illustrates the type of attention to small detail that bring a gritty realism to Space Patrol.

The tapes themselves are copied from 35mm film re-discovered in Roberta Leigh's garage when it was thought the series was lost for ever - the sort of find that would bring salvation to many a fan desperate for those lost series of the 60's (the Dr Who fraternity spring easily to mind). The quality is quite good, but remember we're talking black and white here, no gaudy coloured uniforms or effects, and in a way, this works to Space Patrol's advantage, enhancing that darker feel to the series.

This volume contains five stories (darned good value!), dealing with an alien mind-control invasion from the denizens of Uranus (delightfully pronounced your-ay-nuss throughout the series), the discovery of a new planet beyond Pluto, occupied by giants, a rapidly evolving race of fish on Venus, a visit beyond the solar system to the planet Lumen, and the arrival on Earth of a bell-shaped creature from (again) a planet beyond the solar system (the simple response from the alien to Colonel Raeburn's comment that "we must be very backward", when yet another race capable of faster than light ravel drops by, of "Yes, you are" is a scream). The stories illustrate the wide varieties of alien, plot and science utilised by the series.

Don't just buy this video, get them all - I promise you'll enjoy them. And just maybe, you'll see the seeds of progammes like Star Trek in the adventures of Captain Larry Dart and his crew. As Michael Straczynski, creater of Babylon 5 says, "My favourite show as a kid, bar none."

Space Patrol - A Sci-Fi Primer of Ideas (2002-02-22)

The adventures of Captain Larry Dart of Galasphere 347, with his crew the Martian Husky and Venusian Slim. Often confused with Gerry Anderson's 'Fireball XL5', Roberta Leigh's 'Space Patrol' offers a quirky and light-hearted slant on the SF genre. Primarily a children's series, 'Space Patrol' mixes entertainment from offbeat characters and situations with moral stories and attempts at scientific realism (astronomer Colin Ronan acted as adviser).

This fifth volume, as well as featuring an extra bonus episode, shows the series at its peak with a fine selection of thought provoking and dramatic stories.

'The Invisible Invasion' is one of the show's best, probably the only example of a direct though subversive alien attempt to take control of Earth, and without the slick effects work of the Gerry Anderson productions manages to build up a tense atmosphere in the best tradition of British SF.

'The New Planet' is one you'll either love or hate - personally, I love it. A malfunction on Galasphere 347 throws it out of the solar system where they discover a tenth planet beyond the orbit of Pluto. Some nice scientific ideas about how this planet supports life give way to a somewhat fanciful occupant but in all it's a good romp.

'The Human Fish' is an early eco-friendly story about fish on Venus evolving in intelligent creatures. A good story that signposts the problems of pollution without getting on a soapbox about it, though one is left wondering what happens to the 'human fish' afterwards...

'The Planet Of Light' is the first of two stories about visitors from the stars. The living light Lumina creatures from Sirius invite Larry Dart and Slim to visit their world and while the ideas are again interesting, a somewhat melodramatic story ensues when Dart runs out of oxygen on a planet where the gas is considered lethal...

'The Talking Bell' is a similarly melodramatic story but in this instance 'Mr Bell', a strange mushroom like lifeform from another star, is the moral protagonist in a tale of self sacrifice. While a little heavy-handed in its dealing of this issue, as a children's story it is nice to see the subject being tackled. We should perhaps see a little more of these aspirations in modern television...

Standing alone from comparison's with the more action packed Gerry Anderson series, 'Space Patrol' is the kind of series that would have got the kiddies talking in the playground for days afterwards and would hopefully have raised issues they could ask parents and teachers about. It may seem oversimple now, a slice of nostalgia from a time just before the sixties became 'the sixties' but it can still raise a wry smile and will hopefully find some modern appreciation with its recent release on video.

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