Space Command was a Canadian

Television in Canada

Television in Canada officially began with the opening of the nation's first television stations in Montreal and Toronto in 1952. As with most media in Canada, the television industry, and the television programming available in that country, are strongly influenced by the American media, perhaps...

 children's science fiction television

Science fiction on television

Science fiction first appeared on a television program during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary world not limited by the constraints of reality; this makes television an excellent medium...

 adventure series, broadcast on CBC Television

CBC Television

CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...

 in 1953 and 1954, the first time the network aired its own dramatic series.

Each program presented life on the fictional space station XSW1 operated by the worldwide Space Command, featuring the activities of Frank Anderson (Bob Barclay). Another character, Phil Mitchell, was portrayed by James Doohan

James Doohan

James Montgomery "Jimmy" Doohan was a Canadian character and voice actor best known for his role as Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the television and film series Star Trek...

, who gained international attention as a regular on the 1960s television series Star Trek

Star Trek: The Original Series

Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...

. William Shatner

William Shatner

William Alan Shatner is a Canadian actor, musician, recording artist, and author. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of James T...

, the leading actor on Star Trek, also appeared on episodes of Space Command. Other series cast members included Andrew Anthony

Andrew Anthony

Andrew Anthony is a journalist who has written for The Guardian since 1990, and The Observer.He is also the author of On Penalties and The Fall-Out .-Published works:*On Penalties...

, Joe Austin, Harry Geldard, Cec Linder

Cec Linder

Cec Linder was a Polish-born Canadian film and television actor. In the 1950s and 1960s he worked extensively in the United Kingdom, often playing American characters in various films and television programmes.In film, he is probably best remembered for his role as James Bond's CIA counterpart...

, Aileen Taylor and Austin Willis

Austin Willis

Austin Willis, CM was a Canadian actor and television host.He was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In 2002, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada. He is best known internationally for his appearance as Simmons, the man whom Auric Goldfinger beats at cards in the opening scenes of the James Bond...

. Harold Wright was technical advisor to the series.

Production details

John Lowry provided special effects for the series, including presentations of rockets and weightlessness, although modern audiences would now reject the techniques used at that time. Models were created at producer Murray Chercover's residence, then rocket propulsion material was obtained from T. W. Hand Fireworks.

Scheduling

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

Eastern Time Zone

The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...

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

Sunspot

Sunspots are temporary phenomena on the photosphere of the Sun that appear visibly as dark spots compared to surrounding regions. They are caused by intense magnetic activity, which inhibits convection by an effect comparable to the eddy current brake, forming areas of reduced surface temperature....

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

Asteroid

Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...

s, space medicine

Space medicine

Space medicine is the practice of medicine on astronauts in outer space whereas astronautical hygiene is the application of science and technology to the prevention or control of exposure to the hazards that may cause astronaut ill health. Both these sciences work together to ensure that...

, meteorite

Meteorite

A meteorite is a natural object originating in outer space that survives impact with the Earth's surface. Meteorites can be big or small. Most meteorites derive from small astronomical objects called meteoroids, but they are also sometimes produced by impacts of asteroids...

s and evolution

Evolution

Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...

.

From 17 October 1954, 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.

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

Preservation status

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

Kinescope

Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program made by filming the picture from a video monitor...

s for distribution to CBC stations across Canada. The only known extant recording is that of one November 1953 episode.

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