''Atom Squad'' is an American

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

television series that was broadcast live five times a week by the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

network (out of their Philadelphia studios), Monday July 6, 1953, to January 22, 1954, running Monday through Friday, 5:00 to 5:15 pm EST. Each episode was only 15 minutes long, with a total of 142 black and white episodes.

Synopsis

The Atom Squad is a secret government agency that dealt with

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

threats to US security involving

radiation In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or a material medium. This includes: * ''electromagnetic radiation'' consisting of photons, such as radio waves, microwaves, infr ...

and

nuclear weapons A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either nuclear fission, fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and nuclear fusion, fusion reactions (thermonuclear weap ...

. The Atom Squad scientists, Steve Elliot and Dave Fielding, were respectively played by Robert Courtleigh and

Bob Hastings Robert Francis Hastings (April 18, 1925 – June 30, 2014) was an American actor. He was best known for his portrayal of Lt. Elroy Carpenter on ''McHale's Navy'' and voicing Jim Gordon (character), Commissioner James Gordon in the DC Animated Un ...

, their chief by Bram Nossem. The Atom Squad's secret New York City headquarters laboratory looked very much like Captain Video's secret mountain headquarters control room. The program's opening sequence showed a man in a "radiation suit" lumbering very slowly toward the camera.

Production notes

Storylines were usually completed in five, or sometimes 10 broadcasts.

Paul Monash Paul Monash (June 14, 1917 – January 14, 2003) was an American television and film producer and screenwriter. Life and career Paul Monash was born in Harlem, New York, in 1917, and grew up in The Bronx. His mother, Rhoda Melrose, acted in ...

was the chief writer for the series and possibly its creator. The foes of the Atom Squad were usually mad scientists and evil

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

spies and saboteurs. However, the Squad ran into aliens from outer space in at least three different storylines. ''Atom Squad'' originated from the studios of

WPTZ WPTZ (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Plattsburgh, New York, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for the Burlington, Vermont–Plattsburgh, New York market. It is owned by Hearst Television alongside Montpelier, Vermo ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. The director was Joe Behar, and producers were Larry White and later Adrian Samish. The theme music for the series was "Tumult and Commotion", an excerpt from Miklos Rozsa's orchestral work "Theme, Variations and Finale, Op. 13".classic themes.com, 50s TV Themes The opening theme music (man in "radiation suit") was taken from original music by

Serge Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''. , group=n ( – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who l ...

for the

Sergei Eisenstein Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein; (11 February 1948) was a Soviet film director, screenwriter, film editor and film theorist. Considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, he was a pioneer in the theory and practice of montage. He is no ...

film ''

Alexander Nevsky Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky (; ; monastic name: ''Aleksiy''; 13 May 1221 – 14 November 1263) was Prince of Novgorod (1236–1240; 1241–1256; 1258–1259), Grand Prince of Kiev (1249–1263), and Grand Prince of Vladimir (1252–1263). ...

''.

Episode status

While ''Atom Squad''

kinescopes Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program on motion picture film directly through a lens focused on the screen of a video monitor. The process was pioneered during the 1940s ...

were probably made for West Coast rebroadcast, none are known to survive today. The series did not appear to have a sponsor and no tie-in toys or premiums are known to exist.

References

External links

*
''Atom Squad'' Episode Guide''Atom Squad'' on Space Hero Files
{{Space opera serials 1930-1960 1953 American television series debuts 1954 American television series endings 1950s American science fiction television series American children's adventure television series NBC television dramas American live television series Space adventure television series Black-and-white American television shows American English-language television shows Lost television shows Television series about nuclear war and weapons