Jason of Star Command

In the tradition of the old 1930's serials CBS hot on the heels of SPACE ACADEMY and ARK 2 and SHAZAM released this program which was similar to BUCK ROGERS and FLASH GORDON. The series featured special effects, daring do all on a tv budget. This show was different from BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and STAR WARS yet capitalized off the craze. The program was the last of a wave of live action shows for CBS that started with KOOKLA FRAN AND OLIE etc. The show ran in a half hour format and was constantly running re runs when fresh episodes were not available. A saturday moring staple for many years..escapist fun for kids. Don't call the JASON the "grey poupon guy" as a kid I liked him like many kids in the 1930's or 1970's reveared ADAM WEST or BUSTER CRABBE.

Perhaps the biggest budget 1970s Saturday morning series. And set in space.

Without Youtube, it is hard to find this series today, what was it like? Despite Star Trek's James Doohan being present in the first season, it is actually the second season (when he is gone) that the show really comes together.

The whole series is partly damaged by a constantly laughing villain - Sid Haig as "Dragos" - who acts like he is in a High School play. Thankfully, he seems to get less screen time in season two and we have newly introduced characters in the second year to focus on (blue faced John Russell as The Commander and "Samantha").

The second season also has the episodes expanded to 25 minutes but still in the serial format. You can totally follow year two without seeing year one, so if you don't wish to invest time into watching the whole series - I would just jump right into the second year.

I remember watching this Saturday morning kids show and being impressed with the special effects. Being a science fiction fan, any show about space, & stuff like, that I'd watch. This show had quite a large budget for being a Saturday morning "kids" show. I loved the asteroid that was "Star Command" and all the space ships. I was in my late 20's when this show aired, not really a kid, but I was when I watched. Wish I could find it again!!

This show was a great kids show. Sure it maybe wasn't the most original serial type show, but look at how well the classic movie 'Star Wars' did by copying the standard serial action adventure theme. Buck Rogers in the 25th Century continued the concept and even used names like 'Twiki' for a robot, where JOSC had already used the name WIKKI as a flying mini robot gadget. Like most posts this show was a fun show, Dragos was one of the greatest bad guys in any kids show.

I remember watching "Space Academy" as a kid, and not being overly impressed, but still interested enough to watch a few episodes. But I eventually gave up on it. It was a bit too sugary for this young sci-fi fans taste.

Then "Space Academy" gets yanked. And suddenly, in its place, comes a new iteration of the franchise, but with some tweaks. The "effeminate" John Harris is replaced with the more masculine Jimmy Doohan from "Star Trek" in the Commander role. The perky, knowledgeable and tough female characters played by Pamela Perdin and Maggie Cooper are replaced with Susan O'Hanlon, who played a less proactive sidekick. And instead of various imagined mysteries and wonders that might be found in space, the production ripped a page out of "Flash Gordon" and "Buck Rogers" serials (more likely reminded by way of Star Wars' Darth Vader, who played a version of "Ming" the merciless in the Star Wars films) and stuck in Dragos, an archfiend. The icing on the retool cake was of course Jason himself, sporting a Han Solo look and attitude. Other minor tweaks to props and set design smooth out the reworked Space Academy show to make "Jason of Star Command".

Well, Star Wars it ain't, but it served as a passable kiddy sci-fi entertainment back in the 70s. Looking at the series today through adult eyes I can still grin at it. The violence in the show is more abstract and non-threatening. Where ships exchange LASER fire, and where circuits are fried and ships are knocked about, no one actually gets hurt. And unlike Space Academy this show has no real apparent social message, but nor is it preachy. It is, in essence, just a show.

The DVD set is out, and should offer some good nostalgia for those who remember both Space Academy and Jason of Star Command. The "Making of..." documentary shown when the shows first aired is not on the DVD set, but it's not that much of a loss as the featurettes included cover most of the basics on the shows' productions.

Enjoy :-)