‘Commando Cody, Sky Marshal of the Universe’

Strap that rocket pack to your back, take a running start and whoosh! You’re off, flying through the air, ready to challenge the monsters of evil that would destroy our planet. For a kid in the 1950s, that was the stuff that dreams were made of. And it all came to life when youngsters gathered around the television set for 12 weeks to watch Commando Cody, Sky Marshal of the Universe! It was the pulp-inspired kind of action that had sold many an issue of Captain Future on the newsstands.

This was a 1952 production from Republic Studios, the same folks who brought you some of the best movie serials of all time. Serials like The Adventures of Captain Marvel. Drums of Fu-Manchu and Zorro’s Fighting Legion. Although technically a television series, not a serial, Commando Cody has close ties to the three Rocketman serials that Republic churned out: King of the Rocket Men (1949), Radar Men from the Moon (1952) and Zombies of the Stratosphere (1952). All of these shared a ton of stock footage showing our hero flying through the air, smoke spewing from his rocket pack.

I’ve seen comments made about how cheap the production was. But actually, compared with other sci-fi fare found on TV of the mid-1950s, it was above average. Just look at Captain Video and his Video Rangers, Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, Rocky Jones, Space Ranger or Space Patrol for example. Now, those are really cheap! But we loved them anyway.

The Commando Cody show was produced by Republic Studios, who had long experience in getting more bang for their production bucks. And it shows. The series has a higher quality look than its contemporaries. We get lots more special effects footage, courtesy of the extensive Republic stock footage department and the previous Rocketman serials. The final result is much more satisfying than the other kid-scifi shows of the mid-1950s.

As our story opens

The basic premise is that Commando Cody is hired by the government to protect Earth from The Ruler. Commando Cody, who wears a mask for vague reasons, has a rocket-propelled flying suit, an atomic-powered rocket ship, and two assistants. The Ruler of Outer Space, a sinister figure of unknown planetary origins, has fleets of rocket ships and hoards of evil minions. The Ruler wants to conquer Earth and use it as a staging area for further conquest. Seems like a lopsided battle, doesn’t it?

To prevent The Ruler’s invasion fleet of ships from landing on Earth, Commando Cody disperses a blanket of cosmic dust around the planet, which The Ruler’s ships cannot penetrate. But each week, for 12 weeks, The Ruler finds various other ways to attack Earth through that impenetrable cloud. Boo! Hiss! (Yeah, you’re allowed.)

Commando Cody and his crew can pass through the cosmic dust blanket in their sole rocket ship, using the special “dispersal ray.” That gives them an edge, because they not only can defend Earth from below, they can pass through the cosmic dust and take the battle to the enemy!

And just exactly what is this dispersal ray? Well, as far as I can tell, it’s a blinking light bulb on the nose of the rocket ship. But it sure seems to work well. It gets them through the cosmic cloud every week without fail. And it must be hard to create, because The Ruler can’t seem to duplicate it on his own no matter how hard he tries.

Each Saturday morning’s television episode featured a new battle against the sinister forces of The Ruler. And all nicely tied up in a half-hour broadcast. No cliffhangers, here.

Some have referred to this as the “outer space show that never goes into outer space.” But actually, that’s not true. They often go into outer space in this show.

In episode three, “Cosmic Vengeance,” they not only fly to Venus, but stop along the way for a little space walk. Commando Cody has a rope attached to his suit, to keep him safe. But we never actually get to see him float weightlessly in space. I guess there was no stock footage of a space walk that could be spliced in here. When it came to special effects, if they didn’t have stock footage of it, the scene was cut!

In episode five, “War of the Space Giants,” they fly to Saturn to destroy some “Saturnium” deposits that The Ruler is using in his ray guns. Henchmen of The Ruler walk around Saturn without any special equipment. The lack of helmets doesn’t seem to affect their ability to breath. Could it be that those dastardly minions lack lungs? No, apparently there is breathable air on Saturn, because then Commando Cody loses his helmet during a fist-fight, and he’s none the worse for it. Yes, there’s air on Saturn! Who knew?

They go into outer space in episode six, “Destroyers of the Sun,” when they travel out of our solar system to Planet M27, located in “the first planetary system west of ours.” What’s that now? West!?! Which way is “west” in outer space? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller…?

Anyway, Commando Cody snaps, “Get me one of those small atomic bombs, Dick.” So Dick Preston, faithful sidekick, hands him a small object the size of a loaf of bread. Yep, that there miniaturization sure is wonderful! The atomic blast obliterates a tower on the surface of M27, but miraculously leaves the cave beneath it untouched. Not even the ground trembles. Yet later, the cave withers beneath the power of the ray gun on Commando Cody’s ship. Wow, that must be some powerful ray gun, if it can accomplish what even an atomic bomb couldn’t! No wonder Commando Cody only needs a single rocket ship!

A little trivia note, here. In episodes three and six we hear the voice of Roy Barcroft over the radio as one of The Ruler’s henchmen. Barcroft was one of Republic’s favorite serial villains and also often appeared in cameo roles, in a background desk photograph, or as in this case, an unnamed voice over the radio.

In episode seven, “Robot Monster from Mars,” Dick is turned into a human robot and kidnapped to Planet L37, also outside our solar system. Commando Cody travels there in less than two minutes. No warp drive; just that sturdy rocket engine that spews steam out the back end. How does he do it? I guess the galaxy was a smaller place back in those days. Who knew?

Oh yeah, and there is nothing about Mars in this episode, other than the title. There is, however, the famous Republic robot; the one that appeared in the 1940 serial Mysterious Dr. Satan, among others. It gets used at the beginning and again at the end of the story. This, then, is the Robot Monster from Mars… er… Planet L37… but the title of the episode said Mars… but the story says Planet L37… but… er… awk… I’m getting confused.

In episode eight, “The Hydrogen Hurricane,” Commando Cody and his crew travel to the Moon to fight the evil minions of The Ruler. Hydrogen explosions are being set off in order to send the Moon hurtling toward a collision with the Earth. “Jumpin’ Neutrons!” Dick exclaims. As Commando Cody speedily repairs another of his amazing inventions, Dick asks in awe, “Say, isn’t there anything you can’t put back together?” To which Commando Cody replies with a straight face, “I had trouble with an egg, once.”

In episode 11, “Lost in Outer Space,” the crew travel to Mercury. There, The Ruler’s henchmen have stolen some sacred temple jewels. They are going to forsake their leader and live in luxury on Earth for the rest of their lives. Wait a minute. Let’s think this through, boys. Do you really want to live out your lives on the planet your boss has vowed to destroy? Really? Not that it matters, though; Commando Cody squashes their lofty plans in best heroic fashion.

Say, did you know there are trees on Mercury? Looks like pine trees to me. Must be a Mercurian variety of pine. When we see Commando Cody’s rocket ship after landing on Mercury, it’s sitting in among pine trees. No, wait a minute. In the next scene, the rocket ship lays in a rocky canyon. Wait… in a later scene, there’s the trees again. Whoa… now it’s the rocks. Hey, Mercury has disappearing pine trees! They seem to appear and disappear at random. Yeah, that must be the explanation. Talk about other-worldly! (Okay, maybe it’s just continuity problems with the stock footage, but I’m sure kids would prefer the disappearing pine trees explanation.)

Each week, The Ruler came up with a diabolical and inventive method to destroy Earth even through Commando Cody’s protective cosmic dust layer. Reflective force fields, colliding moons, germ warfare, blotting out the sun, multiplying the sun, throwing Earth off its axis… just to name a few. Why couldn’t he just have invented a giant vacuum cleaner to suck up that protective dust cloud? Or a giant fan to blow it the other way? That cosmic dust was the only thing safeguarding Earth from his invading hoards, or so we’re reminded in nearly every episode.

The final episode

But it all ends in the 12th and final episode, “Captives of the Zero Hour.” The Ruler is lured to Mercury by Commando Cody, with the help of the Queen of Mercury. Yes, you read that right… the Queen of Mercury. What, you didn’t know that Mercury had a queen? I guess you weren’t paying attention in school.

The Ruler of Outer Space is finally caught on Mercury and taken prisoner by our hero. Emissaries from the planets are negotiating final peace; planet Earth is safe. The solar system is safe; and so is the galaxy and the entire universe, for that matter. Thanks to Commando Cody, the war between the worlds has come to an end. And so did this short-lived television series.

There were only 12 episodes filmed in 1952. Three of the episodes were filmed before the serial Zombies of the Stratosphere, and the remaining nine were completed after filming the serial. The episodes were shown briefly in theaters in 1952, one per week. In 1955 they were broadcast on television from July to October via Republic’s television arm, Hollywood Television Service Inc.

This fond memory of childhood lives on in my heart… and on a set of DVDs I own. This isn’t an official studio-released set of DVDs. Unfortunately, this has never seen an official release. The DVDs I watched are a somewhat poor quality set passed around by fans. But that hasn’t stopped me from watching it and enjoying it all over again. It’s also available for viewing on YouTube, last time I checked.

Today, Commando Cody is but a vague memory to many people. But as I viewed these 12 pulpy, entrancing episodes, I did so through the eyes of an innocent 10-year-old boy, not a jaded adult. I ignored the poor picture quality, just as I ignored the weak television signal back in the 1950s. I was once again flying in that atomic-powered rocket ship with Commando Cody, Sky Marshal of the Universe!

Update: Good news, everyone!  Commando Cody has received an official DVD and Blu-ray release. Licensed from Paramount Home Entertainment, released by Olive Films.  I received my copy today, 9/12/16 and it looks great.  It seems to be restored from a 35mm print. No scratches or dirt… a few scenes are a bit light, but a  nice sharp print.  The audio is a tad low, but is very clear.

Get the Blu-ray version and show it on your 80″ TV… it’s like being in the theater back in 1952.  Oh, and these are the 30 minute theatrical versions, not the shorter TV versions.  At $18.99 for the DVD or  $21.99 for Blue-ray, you can’t go wrong! Order yours from www.olivefilms.com and fly again with Commando Cody, Sky Marshall of the Universe!