The Secret Files of Captain Video

By 1953 Captain Video and his cohorts had been doing a live 5-a-week 30 minute show for 4 years. This new Saturday morning 30 minute series offered a look at the "back-story" of the characters; it took place supposedly several years in the past of the earliest adventures of 1949. Since each of these 20-odd shows is self-contained and complete, it is a double tragedy that none of the "electronocam" 16-mm films of the broadcasts survive.

I recall the Captain, seated in a vacant theatre stage setting, talking directly to the audience about his past experiences and adventures in command of the spaceship Galaxy, and later the Galaxy II. He would speak of his first meetings with friends, colleagues and enemies ... and the scene would dissolve into the prequel sequences, and then we'd flash back to those earlier times, seeing those first-time interactions with already-familiar characters developing for ourselves.

It was a creative time for live television. Those involved strove for excellence. And this series, "The Secret Files of Captain Video", told its stories intelligently and most imaginatively, which explains the great appeal it held for fans of all ages, as had its parent program "Captain Video and His Video Rangers".

To mix the one-on-one reality of a stage setting with the fictional locales of high space adventure was daring, but the Captain made it happen with aplomb.

In this age of formulaic Saturday-morning pap, this early-television creativity takes on a lot of credit from those of us who saw it as it happened. Unfortunately, there are no known surviving kinescopes, so our numbers will dwindle away eventually. But perhaps some new-generation producer will catch the spark and carry it on. It could happen; it happened before.