Space Patrol is a British science fiction television series featuring marionettes that was produced in 1962 and first broadcast on ABC Weekend TV from 7 April 1963. Comprising 39 half-hour episodes, it was written and produced by Roberta Leigh in association with ABC. It features the voices of Dick Vosburgh, Ronnie Stevens, Libby Morris, Murray Kash and Ysanne Churchman. The marionettes used in the series incorporated some elements of Gerry Anderson's Supermarionation technique – specifically, their mouths would move in sync with dialogue. Leigh had worked with Anderson on the children's series The Adventures of Twizzle and Torchy the Battery Boy, but Anderson did not develop Supermarionation until after his association with Leigh ended. Although there are similarities between Space Patrol and Anderson's Fireball XL5, Space Patrol was made on a lower budget. The series is also known by its US title Planet Patrol to avoid confusion with the 1950s American series of the same name.
Premise In the year 2100, the indigenous and autonomous civilisations on Earth, Mars and Venus have banded together to form the United Galactic Organization (UGO). Space Patrol is the UGO's military wing, and the series follows the actions of this interplanetary force, focusing on the missions of a tiny unit led by the heroic, bearded Captain Larry Dart (voiced by Dick Vosburgh). The humanoids on his crew are two males: the elfin Slim from Venus, and the stocky, ravenously sausage-mad Husky from Mars (both voiced by Ronnie Stevens). Dart and his crew regularly use one of two interplanetary space vehicles, the Galasphere 347 and the Galasphere 024. Providing technical support from Earth is an Irish professor, Aloysius O'Brien O'Rourke Haggarty (voiced by Stevens) – to his constant dismay, called "Pop" by his daughter Cassiopeia (voiced by Libby Morris). Haggarty's garrulous pet "gabblerdictum" (a parrot-like Martian creature, also voiced by Morris) accompanies the crew on rare occasions. Keeping them all on a tight rein are Colonel Raeburn (voiced by Murray Kash) and his super-efficient female Venusian secretary, Marla (voiced by Morris), both also based on Earth. Male Venusians (such as Slim) have androgynous features, in contrast with the more rustic and virile male Martians. Although the series reflects gender roles characteristic of the culture and era that produced it, the blonde and brainy Marla often points out that "There are no dumb blondes on Venus." Indeed, the series was created and written by Roberta Leigh, the first woman producer in Britain to have her own film company.
Setting
The characters consistently and erroneously refer to the Solar System as a "galaxy" (except in the episode "The Talking Bell", when "Solar System" is used). Other star systems are referred to as "other galaxies". The planets of the Solar System are under the administration of Galactic Control. The Galasphere is constructed of plutonite (a material mined from Pluto) and can travel underwater. It runs on "meson power" and has a top speed of about 800,000 miles per hour (1,300,000 km/h). Meson power is dangerous to use in an atmosphere. In "The Talking Bell", the crew initiate "Boost Speed", which is dangerous but allows them to travel at almost one million miles per hour (1,600,000 km/h) for a sustained period. The Galasphere's engine also employs gamma rays and "yobba rays". The ship is equipped with a force field that protects it from enemy missiles or even mind control. Because of technological limitations, travel to other Solar System planets takes weeks or months. Therefore, the characters transfer control of the Galasphere to a robot and are placed in suspended animation for each journey. A faster-than-light zirgon ray can be fired from Earth to revive them early if needed. In "The Rings of Saturn" and some other episodes, the crew ride the Galasphere 024 rather than the Galasphere 347. References to Galasphere 024 are, for the most part, continuity errors introduced by the repeated re-use of stock footage from the first episode, "The Swamps of Jupiter". Although referred to as "024" during takeoff, the Galasphere's designation often reverts to "347" later in the same episode. Life support in hazardous atmospheres is provided by "mo-lungs" ("mobile lungs"): sealed, cylindrical, transparent helmets. However, characters are also shown on Pluto and other bodies without spacesuits or thermal gear. They ride on "Hover Jets" or, more rarely, an "Ion Gun", which resembles a giant sparkler. To communicate with aliens, they use dial-selector translators (for example, to address aliens from Pluto, they dial P). The translators do not pick up new languages instantly. Instead, they have to be programmed on Earth before they can be used, a lengthy process requiring recordings of alien languages.
Episodes
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