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Space Patrol: The Complete Series DVD boxset
01/03/2006 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
DVD: Network 7952101. 6 DVDs 975 minutes 39 episodes plus extras. Price: £29.99 (UK). Buy Space Patrol in the USA - or Buy Space Patrol in the UK  check out website: www.networkvideos.co.uk
A few years ago just prior to DVDs came out, I reviewed the first video volume of 'Space Patrol' here. I actually did buy them all in that format, basically cos I doubted if a DVD version would ever be released which surprisingly happened last year.
Unlike the video version where the extras were various fan celebrities recalling what 'Space Patrol' meant to them as youngsters, this one is loaded with extras.
Back in 1962, after 'Twizzle', the team of Anderson-Provis split up. Gerry Anderson went off and created 'Supercar', 'Fireball XL-5' and some other obscure puppet shows you might have heard of. Arthur Provis continued to work with writer Roberta Leigh and created on a very tight budget the series 'Space Patrol'. This shouldn't be confused with an American 50s show of the same name. In fact, when this series was shown in the USA, it was re-named 'Planet Patrol' and was very popular over there.
As the name suggests, this follows the adventures of Captain Larry Dart and his crew of Slim the Venusian and Husky the Martian in the Galasphere 347 on their missions around the Solar System. In the early 60s, when so little was known about local space, speculation was still rife that any of the planets had life on them. Something Leigh exploited. Although Space Patrol had representatives from Earth, Venus and Mars, there were also sentient species on Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune as well and some were less than friendly. Lip service was given to gravity and they wore language translators to interpret languages. What was interesting about the Galasphere itself was the crew slept in suspended animation during their long flights. Looking at the series again, it's a shame that the characters back on Earth didn't age significantly but I don't think anyone thought about that at the time. One of the later episodes featured a hydrogen bomb made with hydrogen than nuclear fuel and I had to remind myself just how classified nukes actually were back then.
Obviously, this series targets children yet in black and white, the appeal is more likely to be adults who want to visit their past and its certainly a little more adult than, say, 'Torchy' or 'Twizzle'. There is also a lot of unintentional humour like having a 'hairy time on Uranus' (the planet being called the old fashioned way which rhymes with...do I have to tell you the word?). Watching them again, it struck just how much of a bully-boy their boss, Colonel Raeburn, actually was and how delightful his secretary, Marla, was. Roberta Leigh certainly gave all her characters their chance in the limelight rather than centre totally on Dart and his crew. She also wasn't beyond continuity with characters returning at different times in the storyline.
There were always comparisons to 'Fireball XL-5'. Looking at Space City, there's also a building that looked suspiciously like the tower Commander Zero hung out in but it was purely co-incidental. Both series were created around the same time and TV channels had the habit of showing them one after the other which confused a lot of us at the time. Not so much in terms of them belonging to the same company but a different stage in the time-line. Having watched both series after each other, XL-5 is more Buck Rogers than 'Space Patrol'. Each series has its merits even if the latter had been obscured in the passages of time. It's also interesting to point out that Roberta Leigh had kept the original tapes in the back of her garage so there is always hope that other rare shows might turn up the same way one day.
Now, as commented above, there are stacks of extras with this boxset. It also explains what happened after 'Space Patrol' because there are loads of extras mostly of pilot episodes for other series including one similar live-action one, 'The Solarnauts', which failed to live up to 'Space Patrol' with poorer effects and worse acting. Oddly enough, it featured actor Derek Fowlds (known at the time for being Basil Brush's companion and stooge) being rather lecherous towards Martine Beswick (remember her in 'Doctor Jekyll And Sister Hyde'?). The other pilots were definitely aimed at pre-teens probably to avoid the same market as the Anderson shows. What was rather odd is that in its own way and on lower budget, some of these pilots held up rather well. Producer Arthur Provis explains in his interview that they had a marvellous puppeteer called Joan Garrick who could make puppets walk which did look rather realistic. There is always going to be problems co-ordinating arm to leg movement but Garrick certainly made it look easier seen elsewhere.
Whether this boxset will be picked up for today's youngsters is always debatable. For us older ones and especially the TV historians, this should be a valuable part of your collection.
GF Willmetts
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