''Space Command'' was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

children's

science fiction television Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary ...

adventure series, broadcast on

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

in 1953 and 1954, the first time the network aired its own dramatic series. Created by Alfred Harris, the series focused on the activities of young space lieutenant Frank Anderson (Robert Barclay) aboard the space ship XSW1, along with his crewmate Phil Mitchell (

James Doohan James Montgomery Doohan (; March 3, 1920 – July 20, 2005) was a Canadian actor, best known for his role as Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the television and film series ''Star Trek''. Doohan's characterization of the Scottish chief engineer of t ...

, best known as Scotty on ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...

'') and XSW1 captain Steve Cassel (Harry Geldard). Their missions dealt with various space exploration and science subjects, including sunspots, space medicine, and the search for extraterrestrial life. The XSW1 was operated by the worldwide Space Command organization, which concerned itself with space exploration and colonization. Characters at Space Command Earth included Dr. Joseph Edmunds (Andrew Anthony), Ilene Morris (Aileen Taylor), and Dr. Fleming, (

Austin Willis Alexander Austin Willis, (30 September 1917 – 4 April 2004) was a Canadian actor and television host. Biography Austin was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia to parents Alexander Samuel and Emma Graham (Pushie) Willis. His older brother, J. Fran ...

). Other actors appearing on the series included Joe Austin,

Cec Linder Cecil Yekuthial Linder (March 10, 1921 – April 10, 1992) was a Polish-born Canadian film and television actor. He was Jewish and managed to escape Poland before the Holocaust. In the 1950s and 1960s, he worked extensively in the United Kingdom, ...

Barry Morse Herbert "Barry" Morse (10 June 19182 February 2008) was a British-Canadian actor, writer, and director. He was known for playing Lt. Philip Gerard, the principal antagonist of the American television series '' The Fugitive'' (1963–67), as ...

(later of the TV series '' The Fugitive'' and '' Space: 1999''), and

William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1966 debut as the captain of the starship USS Enterpri ...

(''Star Trek''). Although short-lived, ''Space Command'' proved to be a hit dramatic program for CBC's earliest years.

Production details

As stated over the end credits, ''Space Command'' originated at CBC Toronto. The show was aired

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but was

kinescope 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 ...

d to enable distribution to other stations in the CBC's fledgling television network. Accurate credits are difficult to assemble because only a single episode is known to survive and documentation of the program is scant. The existing episode's technical credits are: Producer

Murray Chercover Murray Howard Chercover (18 August 1929 – 3 July 2010) was a Canadian television producer and executive, particularly known as the president of the CTV Television Network from 1967 until 1990. Early life Chercover was born in Montreal, Queb ...

; Technical Producer Vic Ferry. Audio Orm Collier; Sound Effects Bill McCelland; Production Supervisor Robert Allen; Special Effects John D. Lowry and Peter Kirby, which included presentations of rockets and weightlessness. Other sources identify the Producer as Ross McLean and lists the Director as Murray Chercover. The only known Writer credit is Alfred Harris. Harold Wright was technical advisor to the series. Models were created at producer Murray Chercover's residence, and rocket propulsion material was obtained from T. W. Hand Fireworks.

Scheduling

The series was initially seen on Friday evenings at 19:30

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CBLT CBLT-DT (channel 5) is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, serving as the flagship station of the English-language service of CBC Television. It is part of a twinstick with Ici Radio-Canada Télé outlet CBLFT-DT (channel 25). The ...

channel 9 in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. The debut episode on 13 March 1953 featured the topic of

sunspot Sunspots are temporary spots on the Sun's surface that are darker than the surrounding area. They are one of the most recognizable Solar phenomena and despite the fact that they are mostly visible in the solar photosphere they usually aff ...

s. This first run continued until 17 July 1953. Other topics planned for the series included

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

space medicine Space Medicine is a subspecialty of Emergency Medicine (Fellowship Training Pathway) which evolved from the Aerospace Medicine specialty. Space Medicine is dedicated to the prevention and treatment of medical conditions that would limit success in ...

meteorite A meteorite is a rock (geology), rock that originated in outer space and has fallen to the surface of a planet or Natural satellite, moon. When the original object enters the atmosphere, various factors such as friction, pressure, and chemical ...

s, and

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

. Initially, the only other CBC Television station was

CBFT CBFT-DT (channel 2) is a television station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, serving as the flagship station of the French-language service of Ici Radio-Canada Télé. It is owned and operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (known in Fren ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, broadcasting in English and French until the launch of

CBMT CBMT-DT (channel 6) is a television station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, broadcasting the English-language service of CBC Television. It is owned and operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation alongside Ici Radio-Canada Télé flagship ...

. During ''Space Commands run CBOT went on the air in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

on 2 June 1953 and the three stations were networked via

microwave Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths shorter than other radio waves but longer than infrared waves. Its wavelength ranges from about one meter to one millimeter, corresponding to frequency, frequencies between 300&n ...

. Other CBC stations that signed on while the show was in production and which may have carried the programme for at least part of its run were CKSO

Sudbury, Ontario Sudbury, officially the City of Greater Sudbury, is the largest city in Northern Ontario by population, with a population of 166,004 at the 2021 Canadian Census. By land area, it is the largest in Ontario and the List of the largest cities and t ...

(25 October 1953), CFPL

London, Ontario London is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River (Ontario), Thames River and N ...

(28 November 1953),

CBUT CBUT-DT (channel 2) is a television station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, serving as the West Coast flagship of CBC Television. It is part of a twinstick with Ici Radio-Canada Télé station CBUFT-DT (channel 26). The two stations sh ...

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

(16 December 1953), CBMT in Montreal (10 January 1954), CKCO in

Kitchener, Ontario Kitchener is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario, about west of Toronto. It is one of three cities that make up the Regional Municipality of Waterloo and is the regional Administrative centre, seat. Kitchener was known as Berlin until a ...

(1 March 1954), CBAT in

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John () is a port#seaport, seaport city located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. It is Canada's oldest Municipal corporation, incorporated city, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign ...

(22 March 1954), and possibly

CBWT CBWT-DT (channel 6) is a CBC Television station in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It has common ownership with Ici Radio-Canada Télé station CBWFT-DT (channel 3). The two stations share studios on Portage Avenue and Young Street in Downtown Winni ...

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

(31 May 1954). From 17 October 1953, the series moved to Saturdays at 18:30, but came back to CBC's Friday schedule on 8 January 1954 for the 18:00 time slot. The final run of the series returned to Saturdays on 1 May 1954, again at the 18:00 time slot. The total number of episodes is undocumented, but the show aired for 51 weeks in total, and if it aired only once weekly the maximum number of episodes would be 51 and claims that report a series length of 150 episodes must be in error.

Preservation status

Nova Scotia media historian Ernest Dick lamented the loss of recordings of nearly all the series episodes, despite the production of

s for distribution to CBC stations across Canada. The only known extant recording is that of one November 1953 episode. That segment was uploaded to YouTube in March 2018, bearing a modern Canadian TV Classification System TV rating of PG, indicating it must have been rebroadcast no earlier than 1997.

References

External links

The single known surviving episode of ''Space Command'' on YouTube.
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Space Command (Tv Series) 1950s Canadian children's television series 1950s science fiction television series 1953 Canadian television series debuts 1954 Canadian television series endings Black-and-white Canadian television shows Canadian children's science fiction television series CBC Television original programming Space adventure television series Lost television shows