Would the architect have really let such a model be used on a film set? Also it might not have been to the right scale. You do explain the apparently remarkable prescience, though. Thanks :)
Of course I'm just guessing about the source of the building model, but it's mot impossible that people producing TV programs might have architect friends. Since Space Patrol was supposed to portray the future, and the tower just getting under construction was after all, a broadcasting tower - and a symbol of the future, it might make sense that the architect would get a kick out of seeing it survive into the 22nd century.
I'm sure Eric Bedford would have! Sadly, we cannot ask him; he died in 2001. I am assuming that the image of the tower was a potent symbol even before it was built. I was only a baby at the time so cannot personally remark upon that! The minimal digging about that I have done just now does support this idea, though.
So the presence of the tower does suggest the set as being London, although nothing in the dialogue shows this, and a London in which nothing has survived from the fifties, therefore aggressively futuristic: I am not THAT familiar with the geography of demesnes southern but wouldn't St Paul's also have been in shot?
Consider that it would have been an important enough symbol for the set designers to have reconstructed to the scale in which they were required to build the set and in the style in which they were building. If the architects model had been available and in the right scale and in tune with their construction methods, I am sure they would have included that, as you suggest.
In the 60's models of the post office tower, together with models of other British engineering projects like Concord, where available in the form of a press-out printed card kit. They were sold in book form and were really difficult to build, which is probably why that building looks a bit wobbly.
This is one classic programme. This was in fact the 17th episode of Space Patrol - the first was The Swamps Of Jupiter. As Space Patrol was known as Planet Patrol in the US does this mean that there were alternative opening credits for viewers across the pond?
Possibly not. I'll quote you the example of "Top Cat", the cartoon series, which in the UK had to be renamed "The Boss Cat" due to a name clash with a brand of cat food. Only the Radio Times listing and the continuity announcements had to be changed; the opening sequence of the programme still (confusingly) read "Top Cat".
Actually, after a bit more thought, I think there might have been a slide, with the modified title, superimposed over the original, at least during sixties transmissions. Perhaps somebody with a better memory can help here?
OH, GROW UP!!! Actually, I think this is the very first episode of "Space Patrol" from the U.K. Also, Anderson's "Fireball XL-5" had a "TRIFFIDS" episode like this one the very same year. ( Evil Plants must have been all the rage in 1962,-'63!) Thanks for this, g8aso... I will never forget the immortal words of crewmember "Husky" to "Col. Larry Dart" at the beginning of the show as long as I live -- " Your Anus is INHABITED!"
So Gerry Andersen wasn't the only one on the block ? ?
SunnyDays951 3 months ago
Way ahead of its time! Even had a Vulcan F/O by the looks of it. The destroyed spacecraft looks a lot like a buggered Triumph Trident crankshaft.
schlusselmensch 5 months ago
used to watch this thursdays at 5 30
puddypuss 6 months ago
Man oh so good to remember............The Best.
SunnyDays951 6 months ago
Maybe the architect copied his building from this show!
melissacarl2002 1 year ago
Those robots used to freak me out! Watching this, they still do!
mguyvig 1 year ago
These are not puppets, they are marionettes.
itsmegp46 1 year ago
If Col. Rayburn ordered the robot to forget about the alien spacecraft, how could it tell Professor Haggarty and Captain Dart?
PS: I swear, when I watched this in the 1960s, I thought Slim was a woman.
jsl151850b 2 years ago
@jsl151850b
The robot had back up files that enabled it to overide any orders from Col Rayburn
twoslices 1 year ago
HA! Great Episode. Love the alien ship in flames while in the vacuum of space.
loveco13 2 years ago
What is the Post Office Tower (opened 1965) doing here at 00:35?!?!?!
OriTheEep 2 years ago
The tower construction began in 1961 so the model of the building may have simply been borrowed from the architect.
Newstetter 2 years ago
Would the architect have really let such a model be used on a film set? Also it might not have been to the right scale. You do explain the apparently remarkable prescience, though. Thanks :)
OriTheEep 2 years ago
Of course I'm just guessing about the source of the building model, but it's mot impossible that people producing TV programs might have architect friends. Since Space Patrol was supposed to portray the future, and the tower just getting under construction was after all, a broadcasting tower - and a symbol of the future, it might make sense that the architect would get a kick out of seeing it survive into the 22nd century.
Newstetter 2 years ago
I'm sure Eric Bedford would have! Sadly, we cannot ask him; he died in 2001. I am assuming that the image of the tower was a potent symbol even before it was built. I was only a baby at the time so cannot personally remark upon that! The minimal digging about that I have done just now does support this idea, though.
OriTheEep 2 years ago
So the presence of the tower does suggest the set as being London, although nothing in the dialogue shows this, and a London in which nothing has survived from the fifties, therefore aggressively futuristic: I am not THAT familiar with the geography of demesnes southern but wouldn't St Paul's also have been in shot?
OriTheEep 2 years ago
Consider that it would have been an important enough symbol for the set designers to have reconstructed to the scale in which they were required to build the set and in the style in which they were building. If the architects model had been available and in the right scale and in tune with their construction methods, I am sure they would have included that, as you suggest.
OriTheEep 2 years ago
In the 60's models of the post office tower, together with models of other British engineering projects like Concord, where available in the form of a press-out printed card kit. They were sold in book form and were really difficult to build, which is probably why that building looks a bit wobbly.
KnockoffNigeI 2 years ago
Space Patrol came out in 1961 or 1962
johntwentythree 2 years ago
When the alien decays into glop at 3:41 - that was a scary effect! How was it done?
robertwmartens 3 years ago
This is not pre Gerry Anderson as it first appeared in 1963. It came out about the same time as Fireball XL5.
bmmoS17 3 years ago
This is one classic programme. This was in fact the 17th episode of Space Patrol - the first was The Swamps Of Jupiter. As Space Patrol was known as Planet Patrol in the US does this mean that there were alternative opening credits for viewers across the pond?
bmmoS17 3 years ago
Possibly not. I'll quote you the example of "Top Cat", the cartoon series, which in the UK had to be renamed "The Boss Cat" due to a name clash with a brand of cat food. Only the Radio Times listing and the continuity announcements had to be changed; the opening sequence of the programme still (confusingly) read "Top Cat".
OriTheEep 2 years ago
Actually, after a bit more thought, I think there might have been a slide, with the modified title, superimposed over the original, at least during sixties transmissions. Perhaps somebody with a better memory can help here?
OriTheEep 2 years ago
OH, GROW UP!!! Actually, I think this is the very first episode of "Space Patrol" from the U.K. Also, Anderson's "Fireball XL-5" had a "TRIFFIDS" episode like this one the very same year. ( Evil Plants must have been all the rage in 1962,-'63!) Thanks for this, g8aso... I will never forget the immortal words of crewmember "Husky" to "Col. Larry Dart" at the beginning of the show as long as I live -- " Your Anus is INHABITED!"
jammings123 3 years ago