Rocky Jones, Space Ranger

Greetings, all you cadets who Travel Among Stars!

I just finished watching all the episodes of Rocky Jones, Space Ranger, conveniently located on YouTube, for anyone interested.  So, since it's fresh in my mind, I thought I'd talk about it today.

Rocky Jones is a TV show that aired back in 1954.  Technically, I think it was a kids show, but it was still pretty good.  Rocky Jones is--now get this--a Space Ranger (didn't see that one coming, did you?).  The Space Rangers are sort of space cops who patrol space to uphold the laws and treaties of the United Worlds.  

He patrols the spaceways in a V-2 type rocket ship.  First in one called the Orbit Jet, which is later replaced by the Silver Moon.  He has a co-pilot named Winky (replaced later when the actor was arrested for carrying a firearm), later replaced by Biffen Cardoza, an alien from Herculon.  His crew often included space navigator, Vena Ray, and Junior Space Cadet Bobby--the token kid all these shows require.  There was often a scientist on board too.  Earlier episodes featured Professor Newton, Bobby's ward (replaced when the actor died), and later replaced by Professor Mayberry.

Other characters made regular appearances, most notably Secretary Drake, the head of the Office of Space Affairs (and the Space Rangers), and Ranger Clark who was in charge of space station O.W.9.  

The show featured episodic stories that mostly formed short 3-chapter story arcs, with a few one-episode stories thrown into the mix.  During this run, we travel to various moons and planetoids, all conveniently coated with an oxygen-rich atmosphere.  We also meet a wide array of indigenous alien peoples...who all look human and either speak or learn English.

Some of the science is kinda wonky, but makes for interesting stuff.  Like a pair of moons connected by a chain of atmosphere, their gravity pulling one another across the galaxy on an unfixed course, until one inevitably crashes into a planet that is running on a fixed orbit.  There was some silly double-talk about how the heat in the desert makes you see mirages that are not there, so super-cold light can turn something that is there invisible.  

All the cheesy tropes and clichés that you think of with 50's sci-fi are here, but they were new at the time, and setting up the tropes and clichés we all think of. It's actually more sophisticated stuff than I was expecting.  And you can clearly see where it may have influenced later stuff.

The Space Ranger uniforms, for example, look as though they may have inspired the uniforms worn by the ship's crew in Forbidden Planet, and certain Star Trek uniforms.  Vena Ray was a female bridge officer on a star ship long before Lt. Uhura.  And Professor Newton's costume and hair reminded me (a lot) of William Harnell as the first incarnation of Dr. Who.

Apparently episodes got edited together to make a bunch of movies, and a couple of these were featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000.  Some of these are also available on various streaming platforms, and apparently it's also available on DVD.  But as I said earlier, you can watch the entire series on YouTube for free!

Well, I guess that's all I have to say about that (at least for now)!  So be sure to tune in next time when I talk about...uh...something else!

Until then, I wish you all...

Good Adventuring!
Timothy A. Sayell

Shared Worlds

Howdy you Terrific All-Stars!

I trust that you are all striving against calamity, overcoming odds, battling the hum-drummery  and ho-hummery of mundane life, and possibly even yanking defeat from the very jaws of victory!  ...Wait, that last one doesn't sound quite right.  *shrug*  Well, you know what I mean!

Today I'm going babble incoherently about my general appreciation for the concept of Shared Worlds in various forms of fiction.  So down your Tankards of Ale or Stout because here we go!

First of all, you know what a Shared Worlds is, right?  Of course you do!  That's when multiple books, movies, TV shows, etc all take place in the same world.  Comics is a great example of this, as both Marvel and DC do this.  And things that happen in one comic book series could have some effect on the others.  So, theoretically, if somebody knocked over the Statue of Liberty in a Spider-Man comic book, it would also be knocked over in Daredevil or Fantastic Four.  Or, when Gotham City gets quarantined and declared a massive disaster area/war zone, they hear about it in Metropolis, Star City, and Bludhaven.  This Shared World is what makes all those Infinite Crises and Secret Wars crossovers possible.

This happens on TV, too, though not always to such an esoteric extent.  I remember a night back in the 90's when all four sitcoms that took place in New York suffered from a blackout.  It started off in Mad About You, ran through Friends...and went into the other two shows, whatever they were.  Which suggests they all exist in the same version of New York.

Perhaps a better example would be the various Star Trek series.  Of course, they started off with The Next Generation, but then they started Deep Space Nine, and the two shows ran concurrently.  Various major and minor characters crossed over between the shows, and they shared a mythology that included encountering the (some of) the same alien races and mentioning events and worlds.  And then they started Voyager, but they were harder to connect to the other series, as they had inadvertently ended up in some unknown part of the galaxy, but connections were made anyway.

It feels somehow wrong to admit that my first discovery of the Shared World concept did not actually come from comic books.  I mean, I was vaguely aware that all the comics were connected to one another, but I wasn't really into comics until my mid-teens.  
In my early teens I had discovered Dungeons and Dragons, and the fantasy genre in general consumed me.  I'd read The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings and the Dragonlance Chronicles.  I'd seen the two Conan movies and Red Sonja.  But then, I had discovered Thieves' World...

The book was titled Santuary, it was the first three Thieves' World books gathered together into one convenient volume and it came from the Science Fiction Book Club.  Either the Foreword or the Afterword explained the concept:  What if Conan, Fafhrd and Mouser, Elric, and other fantasy heroes all lived in the same world, so they could meet and interact with one another?

Of course, they couldn't use such copyrighted characters, but they invited several writers to invent a bunch of great characters who did live in the same world, and could interact together.  Forming alliances and rivalries, and generally affecting one another's lives.

And although anthology books at the time were generally unsuccessful, Thieves' World enjoyed an unprecedented popularity that allowed the series to continue for several volumes, a spinoff, and an attempted reboot.

I think it was due to this success, that a similar series project was launched, this time a science fiction series known as The Fleet.  I must admit I only ever found one volume of this series, and I don't even remember if I ever read it.  But I understand there are six books in the series, so they must have enjoyed some success, too!

This is especially prevalent in IPs that have an "expanded universe".  Properties like Star Wars, every campaign world published for Dungeons and Dragons, World of Warcraft, and several others feature adventures of various characters who seem to be connected only by the fact that they live in the same world, and theoretically have some affect on the world they live in, and consequently on one another's lives.

Some more visual examples include the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where all the characters have their own individual adventures and become aware of one another as they meet up and become friends, enemies, or reluctant allies.  There is a lot of crossover on the the TV shows based on DC comics like Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow.  

Perhaps my own, personal favorite, Star Wars:  The Clone Wars.  Sure, there are a regular and recurring cast of characters, but they splinter off into different groups and have their own adventures.  I totally dig the way they handled their Shared World! 

Anyway, the short version is that works such as these have make some impact upon me, and some of the series I'm currently developing.  What Shared Worlds do you like?  Leave a comment and let me know!  And don't forget to tune in Saturday for the latest installment of Serial Saturdays!

Until then, I wish you all...

Good Adventuring!
Timothy A. Sayell