Science fiction television programs of the 1950s are still worth watching

By GFR | Published 23 seconds ago

The 1950s were the golden age of television. With the medium reaching more and more homes, it was when television programs began to have their mass impact on pop culture. Television production was a booming market and broadcasters sought to conquer that market with as much programming as possible.

As such, the programming variety meant that many genres series left their mark on a generation. Science fiction was no different. In fact, he won a lot of cultural impulse in postwar America as the advancement of technology marked the beginning of the new visions of the future.

There are important science fiction programs of that fundamental era that still deserve to find a modern audience, so the good human beings here in Giant Freakin Robot got into our time machine and brought back the science fiction television programs of the 1950s that are still worth watching.

Flash Gordon

The DNA for Star Wars goes back decades before the first opening drag.

George Lucas was inspired by the original episodes of Flash Gordon Serial of the 1930s. Those led to the development of the 1950 trend show of the same name.

Flash Gordon and his allies roam in the 33rd century in their elegant spacecraft trying to protect the galaxy, constantly threatened by the madness and machination of a villain who removed the mustache with the so threatening nickname, Paul Richards.

While we love this program as a precursor of Star for Star Trek, the best of Flash Gordon It is the performance of Irene Champlin as Dale Arden, whose intrepid scientific showed the spectators, not to mention the galaxy, which is not a damsel in trouble.

Flash Gordon It is an early science fiction icon whose influence still feels until today. He walked so that Captain Kirk could run … or deform.

The twilight zone

From 1959 and changing gender television forever, The twilight zone It is an anthology series created by Master Dreamweaver Plus Actor, Rod Serling. Each episode offers a new story and new terrors, exploring not only science fiction but fantasy, horror and delicious mixtures of those genres and others.

Narratively, the twilight zone is intended to be a different dimension, a reality that we recognize enough like ours until the nightmare begins.

There are numerous outstanding science fiction episodes, such as the mysterious history and the history of dark alien “to service man”, the apocalyptic personal tragedy of “sufficient time in the end”, the dystopian parable of “The obsolete man”, we could spend every day listing our favorite episodes, make us know if you want to see that video, but you should see this program. Episodes that speak.

When we talk about the most important television programs in the history of humanity, The twilight zone It will always be in the conversation. Almost seventy years later, he is still finding a way to attract new spectators. Open the door with the key to the imagination and enter the twilight area.

Tom Corbett, Space Cadet

Would you believe that someone beat Paramount to Stellar Fleet Academy Show almost 80 years ago?

Tom Corbett, Space Cadet It is a program on the futuristic training of adolescents to be members of the Solar Guard. They travel through the galaxy having lovely misadventures as part of their work training. Instead of the great common science diseases, these starless spacetime knights find natural disasters and must use a combination of their collective intellectual capacity and avant -garde technology to save the day.

What we like most about this series is its relentless optimism and its belief in the power of science, qualities that we find even more attractive now that even idealistic franchises such as Star Trek are becoming Schlocky Slop that seem more interested in stupidity than science.

Youth idealism meets without age in this portion of space life that represents the positivity of the Golden Age of science fiction at its best.

Science fiction theater

Years before tThe Twilight Zone helped define science fiction, the anthology series was already a popular form of programming, including Science fiction theater.

The hook for the program was to use science legitimately presented to tell stories about aliens, time trips, environmental disasters and why man should not be playing with Mother Nature. Pamela Isley would have something to say about it.

Debuting in 1955, the series also used pseudoscience and charlatanería. An example would be the “The Flicker” episode where an intermittent television forces a young man to commit a murder through hypnosis.

Most episodes were taken directly from the problems of American scientistSo it is a fascinating time capsule of how pop culture saw science during the atomic era.

With many episodes about the dangers of technology, including an episode about humans turned into working drones through an enzyme, this was the 1950s version of the 1950s Black mirror.

Captain’s video

The original science fiction series, Captain Video and Video Rangers 1500 amazing episodes were issued from 1949 to 1954, but there are only a handful of episodes that have survived until today.

Located in the distant future, Captain Video led a team of rangers dedicated to defending truth and justice both on Earth and in the galaxy.

In particular, the episode “I Tobor” presented the first robot character on television, and a young Ernest Borgnine played the recurring villain Nargola.

Live five days a week in a study on a department store, Captain’s video He had no budget, but the series became a success and has influenced more than 70 years of science fiction.

Rod Brown of the Rangers Rangers

In the 90s, fans would discuss whether Star Trek: Deep Space Nine I was starting Babylon 5 or vice versa. Well, history was repeated as a similar conflict in the 50s among fans of Tom Corbett, Space Cadet and a later series, Rod Brown of the Rangers Rangers.

Mud mud He stood out from his teammates thanks to his autonomous episodes and a cast of three main rangers, including the Ranger Rod Brown, the ranger Frank anxious and easily annoying, and the comic relief Chubby, Wilby “Wormsey” Wormser.

Made live every Saturday morning, Mud mud It was the precursor of the cartoons on Saturday morning in everything, from how the plot was developed in each episode, to the catchy thematic song and even the linked merchandise.

Rod Brown of the Rangers Rangers It may have been considered an imitation at that time, but it is also a live action cartoon and indirectly responsible for decades of happy Saturdays in the morning.

Tomorrow stories

Rod Sterling cites Tomorrow stories As a great inspiration to The twilight zone And it is not difficult to see why.

Tomorrow stories It is a unique combination of feather storytelling and paper played on live television with the type of raw energy that was only seen on stage.

Showing the talents of the first science fiction writers such as Arthur C. Clarke, Fredric Brown and CM Kornbluth, each independent episode presents stories about alien meetings, scientific experiments that went wrong and the dystopian future for an adult audience.

Tomorrow stories Magic comes from its unpredictability. The actors would forget the lines, Mishandle’s accessories and would simply have to roll with the blows because there were no second shots.

Don’t believe us? Just look at the “Frankenstein” episode, in which the famous actor of Legacy Lon Chaney Jr. was supposedly so drunk during the recording that he thought he was still in the clothing trial.

Proof of the limits of the first television broadcasts, Tomorrow stories It is a fascinating clock because even when improvisation sometimes became a need, talent and brilliant narration of stories involved raided the way for future anthology series. Without Tomorrow storiesThere may never have been The twilight zone.

Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe

Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe It is an essential visualization for anyone who longs for the days of science fiction series full of alien invasions, jet packages and interplanetary trips through toy aircraft accessories that are painted again to resemble spacecraft. Adorable.

Appointed by the United States government to investigate the catastrophic climatic problems that destroy the Earth planet, the Cody command is equipped with a rocket ship and its trusted jetpack to get to the bottom of what is really happening.

Having reasons to believe that a ruthless alien dictator is responsible for earth problems, Cody puts his sights to heaven and does not save expenses to keep his planet safe from some destruction.

Counting all its history in just 12 episodes, Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe It leaves you with constant Cliffhangers full of daring escapes, heavenly confrontations and a mystery that slowly fades through its short and serialized career. But the best part has to be the strong and difficult jetpack to handle Cody, which is not practical and far from being stealthy.

Reminding us why we fell in love with science fiction in the first place, Cody’s command The obvious limitations only add to its Campy charm, which makes it perfect for a quick weekend binge.

Men in space

Men in space Win some serious points for taking the space exploration seriously in favor of the fantastic show of alien invasions.

Colonel Ed McCauley leads several manned missions throughout the solar system, but there is no extraterrestrial antagonist in Men in space. Instead, our hero is dealing with real -life disaster scenarios, including things such as oxygen shortage and equipment failures. The series focuses on survival and problem solving while exploring the unknown territory.

Yes, the special effects on Men in space They are primitive for current standards, but their desire to try the most realistic fiction dangers meant that it reflected solid science most of the time. This included its representations of pressurized costumes, interception of asteroids and the construction of complex space telescopes before real life attempts to develop such technology.

Decades before his time, Men in space It is an absolute pleasure to see because not only showed the public that space exploration is possible, but predicted the next inevitable steps towards human progress.

Do you have a favorite science fiction program of the 1950s? What are your favorites? Twilight zone episodes and do you want to listen to ours? We want to know about you in the comments. Give the video at the top and subscribe to the channel to inform us that we should make more lists like this.