Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe

I have seen Commando Cody panned as crude, stiff, simplistic, etc but in my youth this was pretty exciting. Republic had the best special effects thanks to the Lydecker brothers while actors in B-movies and low budget productions get the raspberry simply for appearing on screen while performers in big budget productions have their failings overlooked. The scenes where Cody and crew pull up to their space ship, get in, then you see the rocket start to move with no obvious cuts-back in 1955, you thought you were seeing the Real Thing. Likewisethe flying sequences (using the same model they originally used for Captain Marvel (1941) here clad in the Rocketman costume also a very well done, well edited, I think they hold up even today. I also recall a scene where Cody in his rocket is pursuing the Bad Guys rocket, the latter had a dorsal turret with ray guns, for those of us growing up in the Afterglow of WWII, that was something familiar and realistic. For the budgets they had, they did a good job, the actors deserve more credit than they have gotten.

The rockets landing in this, and similar Republic productions, must have had really scratched and dented bottoms. No wheels, and there's no visual evidence those "skids" on either side did anything except maybe prevent them from rolling over. They always landed out in the "desert" somewhere, never at an actual airport. Having said that, rhe Lydecker Brothers' special effects were the best. All their models were set up outdoors, using natural light. The SFX thus matched the natural lighting if other outdoor scenes. The flying suit footage, like that of Captain Marvel flying, put Columbia Pictures to shame. A freakin' animated cartoon for Superman's flight scene? Crimanetlies...that annoyed e very kid in the theatre with me. Many actually laughed when Supes took off.

Cody and his spaceship protect the earth from outer space dangers.

This has now been remastered with a wonderfully clear print which makes it ten times better than it was before. Much the same sort of thing as Radar Men from the Moon but with longer episodes and no cliff-hangers at the end of them.

The key to watching this show: don't think about it.

Just look at the wonderful Howard Lydecker flying effects (of Cody and the spaceship), listen to the wonderfully corny closing lines heard at the end of some episodes...and that is it.

There is a pre-Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea TV series feel to this production. Lydecker also worked on the flying scenes of VTTBOTS's "flying sub" and the endless bang, bang explosions also happened in VTTBOTS season's three and four.

In the near future, Earth has some interaction with alien worlds, and so the government has named brilliant scientist Commando Cody (Judd Holdren) as the Sky Marshal of the Universe. He is charged with dealing with interplanetary menaces, particularly the machinations of the Ruler of the Galaxy (Gregory Gaye), who uses powerful alien weaponry to try and conquer the Earth. Cody, along with his two sidekicks, uses a fantastic rocket suit and spaceship to battle the Ruler and his minions

This fourth rocket man serial was originally intended to be a TV series. The first three episodes were filmed (with William Schallert as one of Cody's sidekicks), but then production was put on hold, and Republic filmed the 1952 serial Zombies of the Stratosphere. After that was finished, production resumed on this, with Richard Crane replacing Schallert. After its completion, Republic decided to release it theatrically as a serial instead of a TV series, partially due to pressure from technicians' unions which stated that crews were paid more for theatrical productions. Still, Republic did eventually release this as a syndicated TV series in 1955.

This is both sillier and more creative than the previous rocket man serials. Cody wears a domino mask and a jaunty little cap whenever he's not in his bulky helmet, ostensibly due to security reasons. The villains wear a variety of silly hats, as well. There are rocket flights in space and to other worlds, and the Republic robot shows up yet again. There is still the traditional re-use of footage from previous serials and movies, even back to The Purple Monster Strikes from 1945. Each chapter runs a solid 30 minutes, meaning the entire thing took 6 hours to watch. Since this was intended to be a TV show, the chapters are more like episodes, with self-contained dilemmas that are resolved without any cliffhanger endings. This wasn't the last serial released, as that would be 1956's Blazing the Overland Trail.

Being fully familiar with Republic's "Rocket Man" trilogy -- "King of the Rocket Men," "Radar Men from the Moon" and "Zombies of the Stratosphere," I ignored the Commando Cody TV series for years only because I mistakenly thought it was just a repackaging of what I already owned and enjoyed on VHS and DVD. Seeing a still from the show on Facebook, though, made me realize that it might be something different -- and it is! Not a cliffhanger, the series proceeds through 12 self-contained episodes and probably would fit best between the first two serials. There's plenty of plot, fewer fistfights than in the serials, and more imaginative use of Cody's rocket, which even travels against the star-studded blackness of space outside of Earth's atmosphere, unlike its lunar voyages in "Radar Men" or rocket dogfights in "Zombies." Yes, there may have been too much reliance on stock disaster footage, but there's also some decent model and miniature work in evidence. To really enjoy the Commando's adventures, just don't sit down expecting modern CGI-quality special effects or sparkling dialogue. Put yourself in a '50s frame of mind and go with it.