Captain Video: Master of the Stratosphere

Lesser known Columbia cliff-hanger serial partly set in space.

Republic serials had better spaceship effects (see Radar Men From The Moon) and Universal space serials had better characters (see Buck Rogers) but Columbia made a reasonably entertaining serial with Captain Video, Master Of The Stratosphere.

It has an energetic feel (due partly to the music cues lifted from Columbia's Batman and Robin serial) and the two male leads do a fine job, even if their costumes could have been a bit better.

Granted, the very dated robots and animated spaceship effects do a bit of damage to the production as a whole, but I would rather watch this than most of the Star Wars films made in this century.

Columbia would go back into space in 1953 with - The Lost Planet - but stay clear of that serial.

Before Captain Video, Columbia had made two Batman serials, am I the only one who thinks this show has a "Batman and Robin 3" feel about it?