Space Angel

Last updated
Space Angel
SpaceAngel.jpg
GenreScience fiction
Written by Clark Haas
Dick Darley
Directed byDick Darley
Alex Toth
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
Producers
  • Dick Brown
  • Dick Darley
  • Clark Haas
Cinematography Edwin Gillette
Running time30 minutes
Production company Cambria Productions

Space Angel is an animated science fiction television series produced in the United States from early 1962 through 1964. It used the same Synchro-Vox lip technique as Clutch Cargo , the first cartoon produced by the same studio, Cambria Productions. [1] The show was created by Dick Darley, who also created the 1950–1955 live-action series Space Patrol . [2]

Contents

The series chronicled the adventures of three astronauts who worked for the Earth Bureau of Investigation's Interplanetary Space Force on board the spaceship Starduster: Captain/Pilot Scott McCloud, also known as "the Space Angel" (voiced by Ned Lefebver), Electronics/Communications expert Crystal Mace (voiced by Margaret Kerry), and the immensely strong Scottish-born Gunner/Engineer Taurus (voiced by Hal Smith). [3]

Setting and themes

The character name the Space Angel was a secret identity. Scott McCloud had an eyepatch; when he appeared as Space Angel, he would lower the dark-tinted visor on his helmet to conceal his identity.

Apart from the use of Synchro-Vox, animation was very limited, but the static panel art by the renowned Alex Toth was often well-drawn. Story lines were serialized over five episodes which ran 5 minutes each, the idea being that stations could show one episode per weekday, with the climax coming on Friday. Cliffhangers were sometimes used, as in an episode with McCloud finding a derelict spacecraft beyond the light barrier, looking inside and exclaiming "Oh, my God!" Another memorable sequence occurred with the heroes involved in a best two-of-three gladiator battle, using future visions of Roman combat.

There were several episodes involving space combat between the Interplanetary Space Force and various enemies. After the Space Angel and his crew had discovered the villains' plans or forces, he would call in reinforcements made up of one or more squadrons of the ISF. Squadrons were organized by planetary patrol areas such as the Venusian Squadron, Mars Squadron, etc. The identifying squadron symbols on the ISF ships were the ones used in astronomy charts of the time to identify the planets, such as the female symbol for the Venusian Squadron, the male symbol for the Mars Squadron and a circle with an enclosed plus sign for the Earth Squadron.

The main antagonists in the show were the Anthenians, who were modelled on a combination of Ancient Rome and Sparta; their home planet is shown in the episode involving the gladiatorial games. The city looks like Rome, including a Colosseum. The civilians are dressed in togas and the soldiers are wearing a combination of Greek/Roman armor with Corinthian-style helmets. They are armed with blaster rifles.

Another antagonist is Zorra, the Evil Queen of Space, who resembled Nefertiti, and her henchmen, "the General" and "the Major", who all spoke with Central European accents. Predating the Star Trek episode "Balance of Terror", their claim to fame is an invisible spaceship they use to disrupt interstellar trade.

In the opening sequence of "Space Hijackers (Solar Mirror)" a delta-winged spacecraft, the Starduster, docks with a space station. The ship matches velocity and rotation with the station and is talked in with instrument assist. This sequence foreshadows the space dock sequence of the delta-winged Orion from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey , which would be made seven years later.

The Starduster contains a smaller vessel, a space fighter flown by the Space Angel, which looks like the XF-92 and is about the same size, though with a pointed nose. It is called the "Space Dart".

The first season theme music is credited to Geordie Hormel. The second season theme music was written by Walter Greene and was originally used in Roger Corman's film War of the Satellites (1958).

Episodes

There are 52 Space Angel stories, each in five parts, totaling 260 episodes. [4]

List of Space Angel stories
TitleEpisodes
Space Hijackers (Solar Mirror)1–5
The Little People6–10
The Wizard of Eden11–15
Incident of the Loud Planet16–20
Expedition to a New Moon21–25
Cosmic Combat26–30
The Gladiators31–35
The Light Barrier36–40
The Slave World41–45
The Exiles46–50
The Saucer Caper51–55
Death of a Galaxy56–60
There Goes Danny61–65
Visitors from Outer Space66–70
Rescue Mission71–75
Space War76–80
Dragon Fire81–85
Flight of Hotshots86–90
The Fugitives91–95
The Encoder96–100
Project Hero101–105
The Frozen Planet106–110
The Plagued Planet111–115
The Donavan Plan116–120
Cosmic Search121–125
The Plot126–130
Name, Rank, and Serial Number131–135
Crystal's Anti Boy Friend136–140
They Went Thatta' Way141–145
Power Failure146–150
Scratch One Chimp151–155
Red Alert156–160
The Day the Earth Went Dark161–165
The Queen of the Three Suns166–170
Once Upon a Rainbow171–175
Welcome, Neighbor176–180
Space Angel Meets a Devil181–185
Top Secret186–190
How To Win a Space Race Without Really Trying191–195
The Gold City Blues196–200
The Not So Mythical Beast201–205
Count Down206–210
The Abominable Moon Man211–215
Dr. Kinkaid, I Presume216–220
Crisis in Orbit221–225
The Great Plain Robbery226–230
Take Me to Your Leader231–235
The Ghost and Crystal Mace236–240
The National Bank Chase241–245
Big Bertha Makes Peace246–250
Gopher Broke251–255
Conflict Nola256–260

Space Angel in other media

Alex Toth drew a Space Angel six-page story for children's magazine Jack & Jill in 1963 to promote the Space Angel cartoon.

Transogram released a board game in 1965 simply entitled: Space Angel Game.

The episode "The Gladiators" was featured on Cinema Insomnia . [5]

On July 29, 2008, VCI Entertainment released a DVD that contained nine Space Angel stories. [6] [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mariner 5</span> NASA flyby mission to Venus (1967–1968)

Mariner 5 was a spacecraft of the Mariner program that carried a complement of experiments to probe Venus' atmosphere by radio occultation, measure the hydrogen Lyman-alpha spectrum, and sample the solar particles and magnetic field fluctuations above the planet. Its goals were to measure interplanetary and Venusian magnetic fields, charged particles, plasma, radio refractivity and UV emissions of the Venusian atmosphere.

<i>Exosquad</i> Television series

Exosquad is an American animated television series created by Universal Cartoon Studios for MCA TV's Universal Family Network syndicated programming block. The show is set in the beginning of the 22nd century and covers the interplanetary war between humanity and Neosapiens, a fictional race artificially created as workers/slaves for the Terrans. The narrative generally follows Able Squad, an elite Terran unit of exoframe pilots, on their missions all over the Solar System, although other storylines are also abundant. The series ran for two complete seasons in syndication from 1993 to 1994. Reruns later aired on USA Network.

<i>My Favorite Martian</i> Television series

My Favorite Martian is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from September 29, 1963, to May 1, 1966, for 107 episodes. The show stars Ray Walston as "Uncle Martin" and Bill Bixby as Tim O'Hara. The first two seasons, totaling 75 episodes, were in black and white, and the 32 episodes of the third and final season were filmed in color.

<i>Space Ghost Coast to Coast</i> American animated parody talk show

Space Ghost Coast to Coast is an American adult animated television series created by Mike Lazzo for Cartoon Network and first broadcast in 1994. It takes the form of a surreal parody of talk shows, hosted by a reimagined version of the Hanna-Barbera character Space Ghost. It incorporates surrealism and non-sequitur humor.

<i>Space Patrol</i> (1962 TV series) British science-fiction television series (1962–1963)

Space Patrol is a British science fiction television series featuring marionettes that was produced in 1962 and broadcast from the beginning of April 1963. It was written and produced by Roberta Leigh in association with ABC Weekend TV.

<i>Men into Space</i> 1959 American TV series or program

Men Into Space is an American black-and-white science fiction television series, produced by Ziv Television Programs, Inc., that was first broadcast by CBS from September 30, 1959, to September 7, 1960. The series depicts future efforts by the United States Air Force to explore and develop outer space. The series' star, William Lundigan, played Col. Edward McCauley.

<i>The Herculoids</i> Animated television series

The Herculoids is an American Saturday-morning animated television series, created and designed by Alex Toth, that was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The show debuted on September 9, 1967, on CBS. Hanna-Barbera produced one season for the original airing of the show, although the original 18 episodes were rerun during the 1968–69 television season, with The Herculoids ending its run on September 6, 1969. Eleven new episodes were produced in 1981 as part of the Space Stars show. The plotlines are rooted in science fiction and fantasy.

<i>Colonel Bleep</i> First color cartoon series on television

Colonel Bleep is a 1957 American animated TV series which was the first color cartoon series made for television. It was created and written by Robert D. Buchanan and Jack Schleh on June 8, 1956, and was animated by Soundac, Inc. of Miami. The show was originally syndicated on September 21, 1957, as a segment on Uncle Bill's TV Club. One hundred episodes, of varying length of between three and six minutes each, were produced. Of these episodes, 45 episodes are known to exist in some form, eight of which are only available in monochrome.

Syncro-Vox is a filming method that combines static images with moving images, the most common use of which is to superimpose talking lips on a photograph of a celebrity or a cartoon drawing. It is one of the most extreme examples of the cost-cutting strategy of limited animation. The method was developed by cameraman Edwin "Ted" Gillette in the 1950s in order to simulate talking animals in television commercials. Gillette filed the technique on February 4, 1952, and obtained patent #2,739,505 on March 27, 1956.

<i>Samson & Goliath</i> American animated television series

Samson & Goliath, also known as Young Samson, is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions for NBC, where it debuted on September 9, 1967. Primarily sponsored by General Mills, who controlled the distribution rights through its agency Dancer Fitzgerald Sample, Samson & Goliath was retitled Young Samson in April 1968 to avoid confusion with the stop-motion Christian television series Davey and Goliath.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cosmic dust</span> Dust floating in space

Cosmic dust – also called extraterrestrial dust, space dust, or star dust – is dust that occurs in outer space or has fallen onto Earth. Most cosmic dust particles measure between a few molecules and 0.1 mm (100 μm), such as micrometeoroids and meteoroids. Cosmic dust can be further distinguished by its astronomical location: intergalactic dust, interstellar dust, interplanetary dust, and circumplanetary dust. There are several methods to obtain space dust measurement.

Super President is an American animated cartoon that aired Saturday mornings on NBC from September 16, 1967 to December 28, 1968. The series was produced by the DePatie–Freleng animation company.

<i>Space Sentinels</i> 1977 American TV series or program

Space Sentinels is a Saturday morning animated series produced by Filmation which debuted on the American NBC network on September 10, 1977, and ran for thirteen half-hour episodes. The science fiction action series follows a superhero team during missions to protect the Earth.

<i>Gilligans Planet</i> 1982 American TV series or program

Gilligan's Planet is an American Saturday morning animated series produced by Filmation and MGM/UA Television which aired during the 1982–1983 season on CBS. It was the second animated spin-off of the sitcom Gilligan's Island.

Captain Fathom is an animated television series produced in 1965 by Cambria Studios. Like Cambria's other productions, Clutch Cargo and Space Angel, it was produced in Synchro-Vox. At least 26 30-minute episodes, all in color, were filmed. The episodes could be broken down into five 5-minute segments in cliffhanger format. Renowned comic book artist Alex Toth was the director.

<i>Challenge of the Superfriends</i> American animated television series

Challenge of the Superfriends is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes which ran from September 9 to December 23, 1978, on ABC. The complete series was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and is based on the Justice League and associated comic book characters published by DC Comics and created by Julius Schwartz, Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky. It was the third series of Super Friends cartoons, following the original Super Friends in 1973 and The All-New Super Friends Hour in 1977.

Space Strikers is a 1995 animated television series based on the 1870 Jules Verne novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas. Episodes center around the crew of the spaceship Nautilus, led by Captain Nemo, in an attempt to liberate Earth and other planets from the control of Master Phantom. The series later premiered in France on M6 on March 8, 1995 and later aired in the United States on UPN from September 10 to December 3, 1995. Action sequences were shown in "Strikervision" 3-D.

<i>The Silent Star</i> 1960 film

Milcząca Gwiazda, literal English translation The Silent Star, is a 1960 East German/Polish color science fiction film based on the 1951 science fiction novel The Astronauts by Polish science fiction writer Stanisław Lem. It was directed by Kurt Maetzig, and stars Günther Simon, Julius Ongewe and Yoko Tani. The film was first released by Progress Film in East Germany, running 93 min. Variously dubbed and cut versions were also released in English under other titles: First Spaceship on Venus, Planet of the Dead, and Spaceship Venus Does Not Reply.

<i>Space Racers</i> Animated television series

Space Racers is an American animated preschool STEM-focused educational animated television series featuring the space travel cadets of the Stardust Space Academy. The series was produced by Stardust Animation for seasons 1 and 2, and co-produced by Maryland Public Television for season 1, and later WNET for seasons 2 and onward. The show began as a web series on March 22, 2011 entitled Space Race, then debuted as a television series on May 2, 2014 on select public television stations. The second season of the show debuted on October 31, 2016 on Sprout. Since the second season, the show's original production funding was provided by NASA, which involves science and space technology education, in partnerships with U.S. Space & Rocket Center and U.S. Space Camp.

References

  1. ↑ Woolery, George W. (1983). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946–1981, Part 1: Animated Cartoon Series . Scarecrow Press. pp.  262-263. ISBN   0-8108-1557-5 . Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  2. ↑ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 765–767. ISBN   978-1476665993.
  3. ↑ Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 568. ISBN   978-1538103739.
  4. ↑ Big Cartoon Database: Space Angel Episode Guide [ dead link ]
  5. ↑ "Cinema Insomnia: Prince of Space". Google Video . Retrieved 21 October 2010.
  6. ↑ Lambert, David. "VCI's Space Angel – Collection 1: Box Art, Details and Extras; Available in your galaxy on July 29th". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on 2008-06-20. Retrieved 2008-06-19.
  7. ↑ "Space Angel Collection 1 (Full Col Dol) (1962)" . Retrieved 2009-04-18.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.