Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe

Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe
Commando Cody (Judd Holdren) and Joan Gilbert (Aline Towne)
Also known as	Commando Cody
Genre	Science fiction
Written by	Ronald Davidson Barry Shipman
Directed by	Harry Keller Franklin Adreon Fred C. Brannon
Starring	Judd Holdren Aline Towne Gregory Gaye Craig Kelly
Composer(s)	Stanley Wilson
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	12
Production
Editor(s)	Cliff Bell Sr.
Cinematography	Bud Thackery
Running time	25-30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Original run	July 16, 1955 – October 8, 1955
Chronology
Related shows	Radar Men from the Moon

Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe (or Commando Cody) is a science fiction television series or serial. It consists of twelve 25-minute episodes. The series was filmed and intended to be broadcast as a television limited series but, due to contract restrictions, it was originally released in theaters as a serial. It was released in theaters in 1953 and on television in 1955.

The character of Commando Cody was introduced in the film serial Radar Men from the Moon.

Cast

• Judd Holdren as Commando Cody
• Aline Towne as Joan Gilbert. Towne was the only performer from Radar Men from the Moon to reprise her role in this outing.
• Gregory Gaye as The Ruler
• Craig Kelly as Mr Henderson

Production

Commando Cody was originally filmed as a twelve-part television series,^[1][2] but union contract problems forced Republic to play it in theaters first. The episodes built on each other, and were intended to be shown in chronological order like the episodes of any other serial, but lacked the cliffhanger endings which had characterized serials for several decades.

This series is a prequel to Radar Men from the Moon. The first episode shows Joan and Ted, Cody's established sidekicks in Radar Men, applying for their jobs and meeting Cody for the first time.

There was a fairly long break between the filming of the first three and the last nine episodes, during which Republic set about filming Zombies of the Stratosphere, also starring Judd Holdren and Aline Towne. Intended to also be a Cody serial, and the direct sequel to Radar Men from the Moon, it was subject to last-minute revisions of principal character names, and Holdren's "Cody" character became "Larry Martin." Meanwhile, the third episode of "Commando Cody" was filmed to show the apparent death of the Ruler, suggesting that Republic may have considered not doing the remaining nine episodes and converting the three it had filmed into a feature film.

Once they finally resumed work on Commando Cody, Republic had also lost the services of William Schallert as Cody's male colleague, Ted Richards (played by William Bakewell in Radar Men). A replacement was found in Richard Crane, a year before his tour of duty as Rocky Jones, Space Ranger, as Dave Preston. The Ruler also gained a female sidekick, played by Gloria Pall, although she had almost no dialog.

Costume

Commando Cody reuses the Rocket Man costume from King of the Rocket Men.^[2] Some elements were also taken from other serials such as The Purple Monster Strikes.^[3] Commando Cody loosely recycles characters, sets and concepts from the first Cody serial Radar Men from the Moon. When not in the Rocket-man suit, Cody wears a black military tunic with many insignia and a black mask, instead of the business suit from the serial.

Two helmets were used with Commando Cody's Rocket Man costume. A lighter version was worn in the stunt scenes. The visors of the helmets would always get stuck. Commando Cody also wears a domino mask whenever he is not shown in the helmet. Holdren suspected this was due to the producers not wanting to take the chance that he might walk out after demanding more money, as Clayton Moore had done on The Lone Ranger. The mask would presumably serve to conceal the change of actor if the part had to be recast, although this had not worked in the case of the Lone Ranger.^[1]

Setting

The setting is the near future as seen from the 1950s. Earth is in radio contact with civilizations on other solar planets, as well as planets in other solar systems, and Commando Cody has just built the world's first space ship. The rest of the world still appears as in the early 1950s. The exterior of Commando Cody's headquarters building is really the Republic Pictures building.^[1]

In each episode, the Ruler tried to take over the earth with a new scheme, each one designed to make the maximum use of Republic Pictures stock footage of various disasters, and action longshots. However, a number of space-concept scenes were filmed that had not been seen before in Republic serials, including "space walks" for several repair missions; aerial raygun fights between "hero" and "enemy" spaceships; and a black, starry (rather than sunny and cloud-spotted) exterior background when Cody's or the villain's ship were shown outside the Earth's atmosphere.

Cody and his associates use special badges that conceal two-way radios to communicate with one another, seemingly prefiguring some similar badges on Star Trek. There were a number of futuristic props and sets, as well as many shots of the intricate model-rocket special effects work of Howard and Theodore Lydecker. The ships of Cody and The Ruler are the same model with different attachments added to it.^[1]

Release

The series was first released in theaters in 1953 as a serial of twelve approximately 30-minute chapters.

The series was first shown on television in syndication by Republic's TV arm, Hollywood Television Service, on NBC stations in 1955. These episodes were not only edited to 25 minutes,but featured different music scores and opening credits from the theatrical version.

Serial or television series

The release of Commando Cody as a serial, despite being filmed as a television series, has led to some controversy as to whether to count it as part of the Republic serial canon or as a short-subject series, among serial purists. The episodes were numbered on the theatrical release prints and titled as "Chapters", and also shown as such in the advertising

The twelve episodes are complete but with the same general plotline running through the series, as the Ruler tries to destroy the earth. Although there are no cliffhager endings, each episode only has a partial resolution at the end (the primary villain always escapes). This requires the episodes to be shown in the correct sequence, rather than being interchangeable.

Reference works on serials generally exclude this title, however, or mention it only as a TV series.^[4]

See also

• List of film serials by year
• List of film serials by studio

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Harmon, Jim; Donald F. Glut. "11. New Masks for New Heroes "Get That Masked Trouble Maker"". The Great Movie Serials: Their Sound and Fury. Routledge. pp. 288–290. ISBN 9780713000979. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Cline, William C.. "5. A Cheer for the Champions (The Heroes and Heroines)". In the Nick of Time. McFarland & Company, Inc.. p. 75. ISBN 078640471X. 
3. ^ Harmon, Jim; Donald F. Glut. "2. "We Come from 'Earth', Don't You Understand?"". The Great Movie Serials: Their Sound and Fury. Routledge. pp. 55–56. ISBN 9780713000979. 
4. ^ Commando Cody is excluded from Jack Mathis' Valley of the Cliffhanger Supplement, for example.

External links

• Commando Cody Episode Guide
• Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe at the Internet Movie Database
• Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe at TV.com
• A list of titles, casts and credits for several 1950s Republic space serials, taken from IMDb listings

Preceded by Jungle Drums of Africa (1953)

Republic Serial Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe (1953)

Succeeded by Canadian Mounties vs Atomic Invaders (1953)