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[paw broon]

While I don't think we had Captain Gallant on tv here - I'm sure someone from these parts will correct me if we had - your comments brought back lovely memories. I don't remember Tales of The Vikings either but Buccaneers; William Tell; Sir Lancelot; Robin Hood and the great Sword of Freedom were big tv treats in the
"The after school line up"  That's a new one on me and I'm sure that time was referred to as childrens tv.  But we also had at tea-time, some American shows, like Whirlybirds; Boots and Saddles - loved that one - Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans, although I think that one was Canadian. The Range Rider and the Lone Ranger were also on.
But we had some Australian shows too e.g. The Magic Boomerang.

[bowers]

 Paw, I can remember all the shows you mentioned, except "Magic Boomerang". Loved them all, especially "Sword of Freedom" with all those murderous Medicis.
In the 50's and early 60's U.S. local TV channels provided most of the daytime programming, except for some network sitcoms and soap operas. Lots of imports and locally produced cartoon shows kept us kiddies entertained. And Saturday mornings were exclusively kid's programming on all three networks! No sports, news, or "infomercials". Between 8 a.m. and noon, we owned the airwaves! Great shows like "Howdy Doody","Fury", "Sky King", "Mr. Wizard", and so many more. One channel kept it going in the afternoon, showing movies until the evening news. Mostly westerns, but sometimes adventures like "Gunga Din" and "Beau Geste". It was a great time to be a kid! Cheers, Bowers

[Captain Audio]

I just found out that Jerome Courtland, the star of Tales of the Vikings, was born near here in Knoxville Tennessee. That improves the chances of a stash of TOTV episodes being found there one day, probably more than one of his relatives has a collection of his work.

He was quite well known in his day in every aspect of film making. he dyed his hair and beard for the viking role, so spotting him in other film roles wouldn't be easy.

[crashryan]

Wow, these comments really opened memory's vaults. Never saw Sword of Freedom, but The Vikings, Captain Gallant, Robin Hood, Circus Boy, and Sir Lancelot all ran on local stations when I was a boy. I was also a fan of Sky King (of course), Whirlybirds, Highway Patrol, Tales of the Texas Rangers, and Soldiers of Fortune.

A number of Soldiers of Fortune episodes are on YouTube in good quality prints, albeit without titles and credits. I was surprised to see the hero was John Russell, who later was the stone-faced hero of The Lawman.

A few years ago I bought a boxed collection of public-domain shows on DVD which included episodes of The Adventures of Long John Silver with Robert Newton. Apparently it was produced in Australia. Kind of sad, for Newton was obviously in pretty bad shape and he died a couple of years later.

UHF stations couldn't afford the good stuff, so they often ran older or obscure series, some of which were pretty good. I remember a British series called Zero One, with Nigel Patrick as an aviation investigator; another called Four Just Men, with Richard Conte, Dan Dailey, Jack Hawkins, and Vittorio de Sica (!). According to IMDB Honor Blackman appeared in half the episodes, but I don't remember her.  Then there were a couple of old wheezes like Racket Squad and Boston Blackie.

Good times!

[The Australian Panther]

Magic Boomerang! Didn't know that was broadcast outside Australia, Paw. I remember the name, I remember listening to it, but I have no idea what it was about. No memory of any episode at all. Used to listen to the Radio after school, Australian produced versions of US Shows, - Superman, Tarzan, Life of Riley, several others that escape me now. That was kids radio before 6.00 pm. When TV came in, there were all the US Western Shows. Buccaneers; William Tell; Sir Lancelot; Robin Hood -Yep! Whirleybirds, lone ranger, Sea Hunt. We also had the Australian produced 'western' Whiplash! starring Peter Graves. The Four Just Men - have only a vague memory of that. Based on a series of books by Edgar Wallace ( as some of us will be aware. These last two series are both available on YouTube. There is a 'Just Men' episode there with a young Judi Dench, couldn't be any older than 20.
Cartoons? Crusader Rabbit, The Rocky and Bullwinkle show, Clutch Cargo, Captain Pugwash come immediately to mind. The classic Warner Brothers cartoons were anthologised and were must watch shows every weekday afternoon after school.   
I remember, even then it was obvious to me that some of the shows ( Some of the Westerns? ) were put together from old B Movies of regular characters, rather than produced specifically for TV. Can't at this point remember which, tho.
Cheers!
     

[paw broon]

The Magic Boomerang, along with Skippy, was shown here, whether only in Scotland or the whole of the UK I'm not sure.
But you can have a look on you tube:-
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+magic+boomerang
I also have a vague memory of Whiplash but I might have seen bits of the show on line. Just found the you tube listing and I see that Frank Ifield sang the theme tune.
Those first tv shows you mention, Buccaneers; William Tell; Sir Lancelot; Robin Hood, were all British shows and I seem to remember they were mixed in with the American western shows at teatime. Others such as Four Just Men, Dial 999, Fabian of The Yard, Mark Saber etc. were a bit later in the evening.
The only Sword of Freedom thing I can find is the intro:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8mTfo5iMlA
Sad to say, I know nothing and have never seen Howdy Doody; "Fury", "Sky King", "Mr. Wizard",
We did have Champion; Lassie, but Rin Tin Tin seems to have been on in England and Wales and I don't recall seeing it up here, but then, my memory leaks like a sieve.
As we had b&w tv till late '60's I saw cartoons in b&w and we had Popeye; Bugs Bunny; Tweety and Sylvester and others.  Captain Pugwash was an odd show but highly entertaining. The episodes on you tube are of a later series.  The original series was from the '50's and was adapted from the strip in Eagle.

[bowers]

Panther, you were right about some TV western shows originally being movies. Actor William Boyd, who played "Hopalong Cassidy", saw the possibilities and opportunities in the young medium of television. He mortgaged his ranch and used all his savings to buy his films back from the studios or distributors. His production company then edited the films, most under an hour, into TV episodes. They were wildly popular, so he began to sell merchandising rights, one of the first TV businessmen to do so. I believe the first character-oriented tin litho lunch box was Hoppy. Also lots of merchandising premiums. Boyd was a man who appreciated education (although not well-educated himself), hard work, and respect for others. This showed in the character he portrayed and inspired us to be better kids. It's great when a very good person's gamble pays off! Cheers, Bowers

[The Australian Panther]

Thanks to this thread, I spend several hours last night (my time) watching episodes of 'Four Just Men' on YouTube. This is an interesting show for several reasons.
Firstly this is the earliest show that I know of that featured known movie stars as leads.  Richard Conte, Dan Dailey, Jack Hawkins, and Vittorio De Sica may not have been A list but they were at least B+.
Secondly, It must have been an expensive show for the time. These guys must have cost a bit, and we have scenes actually shot in London, Rome and Paris. I haven't seen New York yet for Conti's character, so the show may have been Europe based.
Thirdly, there are some really fascinating street scenes of these places, there are a lot of car chases. I suspect this was done as a selling point to show off the real locations. To look back from 2018 to 1960 and see these streetscenes is priceless. I can't believe how bleak 60's London really was.
Forthly, spotting famous British actors well before they became famous in their own right is a joy.
Frank Thornton ( are you being served Mr Peacock?) plays a variety of shady characters in no less than 11 episodes. Honor Blackman was a regular character paired with Dan Dailey,
Charles Grey ( one of the more memorable Blofelds) in 3 episodes. Roger Delgado ( The Master) is in 2, As is Patrick Troughton (Dr Who) Alan Bates, Kenneth Connor, Geoffrey Keen , Paul Eddington and I have earlier mentioned Judi Dench - who was 26,although she doesn't look it. Some of you would recognize others.
Ok, the scripts are pretty melodramatic and predictable, but its a lot of fun. I'm still amused by things like Jack Hawkins shadowing a bad guy in a London Taxi (and the London taxis are the real thing) while at the wheel of his Rolls Royce!
I think the original books were a lot darker, I seem to remember the 4 men coming together mainly to decide if someone deserved to be executed.     
Four Just Men would have made a good comic strip. Paw, I think you posted something re Edgar Wallace somewhere? Was there ever a strip?

[crashryan]

I checked out a couple of episodes of The Magic Boomerang and enjoyed them. The music was rather overpowering, but the production values were solid and the stories were as good as any American kids' adventure series. I especially enjoyed the extensive location shooting. What little I know about how Australia looks I learned from reading Air Hawk, so it was great to see some of the real thing.

One little thing struck me as odd. It was common in radio shows for characters to call each other by name from time to time, to clarify for the listener who was speaking. That's seldom necessary on TV where one can tell the actors apart just by looking at them. But in The Magic Boomerang the characters name each other constantly. It's especially noticeable in the scene where the two boys are locked belowdecks in a boat discussing what to do.

Next I'm going to look at some Four Just Men episodes. The TV series is certainly different from the source novel! I found a BBC radio-play adaptation of that book. It opens with one of the "just" men rationalizing having murdered a clergyman who committed sexual assault on a young woman. Then he and two fellow vigilantes blackmail some guy into becoming their gang's fourth member. Maybe it's just the hideousness of the current cultural climate, but I'd had enough and stopped listening. Perhaps I'll try again on a day when someone hasn't murdered a dozen people for no reason (though those days are becoming less frequent). In the meantime I'll stick with Richard, Dan, Jack, and Vittorio.

[paw broon]

If you want a tiny insight to how "deep" Australia looks, try Mystery Road:-
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7298596/
Right now though, we're happily enjoying the return of The Brokenwood Mysteries, a great NZ series.  It's good entertainment:-
https://thebrokenwoodmysteries.com

[paw broon]

There's been some good tv and it's still going.  The newest series of Vera has just finished,  and is replaced by a brand new short run of Endeavour.  To top it all off, Shetland started it's new run last week. 
Just to lower the tone of the conversation, 2 Doors Down is on again. Hilarious and very rude at the same time but as it's done in classic Glaswegian, a lot of you might need subtitles. Don't go there if you're easily offended.

[narfstar]

Anyone watching Cloak and Dagger or Runaways? Could not get into CandD but Runaways seems OK

[paw broon]

I didn't mention "Death in Paradise", the current series of which is just drawing to a close, as I wanted to find out what the catastrophe was that was coming up - and I didn't want spoilers.  The series has been highly entertaining, apart from the intro. of Ruby to the team, but she's grown on me.  As for the shocking events, well, I recommend searching out this series and finding out.  The scenery is beautiful, the stories are humourous at times and there are some good "locked room" mysteries, even though a lot are outside.

[bowers]

Paw, we're just finishing up season 7 of "Death in Paradise" over here, so I'm really looking forward to season 8! Getting a new season of "Call the Midwife" in March. The wife and I both really like this one. New "Endeavor" in June- I like these more than the original "Morse". In July, more "Granchester", although I'm liking Sidney less each season. PBS Masterpiece is currently showing "Victoria", season 3. I couldn't finish season 1 as it was far too melodramatic and overacted for my taste! Also got to finish season two of "The Last Kingdom" (not as good as season 1) and am trying to find season three. Please let me know of any new series I should be on the lookout for! Cheers, Bowers

[paw broon]

Interesting how you feel about Grantchester.  Linda just doesn't take to Sidney and we haven't watched that many episodes.
I can't remember if I mentioned Unforgotten.  If not, it comes highly recommended. Nicola Walker and Sanjeev Bhaskar  turn in superb performances and class acts like Tom Courtney; Mark Bonnar; Trevor Eve are excellent "persons of interest"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unforgotten

[bowers]

Paw, PBS showed seasons 1 and 2 of "Unforgotten" and they were excellent! I remember Nicola Walker from "Last Tango in Halifax", Scott and Bailey" and "Touching Evil". Saw Olivia Colman get an Oscar last night for "The Favourite". If you didn't see it, she was absolutely stunned! She obviously didn't have a speech prepared but soldiered through like the trouper she is! A very talented actress, indeed. Cheers, Bowers

[Florian R. Guillon]

The calling of the pulps was way too strong these days, so I dug up my DVD collection of Capitaine Flam. You're telling me you don't know about this anime from the 1970s? What if I told you its true name is Captain Future? Now you see.

So in 1978, T

[paw broon]

I didn't know about that adaptation.  Thanks for the info.
As for the call of the pulps, I've bored about this before.  I love the old, movie serial adaptations of pulp characters, particularly the first Spider serial and the 2 Green Hornet adventures.  The Shadow serial, oddly doesn't work quite as well for me.  Still enjoyable, though.
There is another serial that has that real pulp look but was completely original, The Secret Code, which featured The Black Commando.  Well worth a look.

[The Australian Panther]

Florian R. Guillon and Paw Broon.  Interesting information from both you gentlemen. More good stuff to know about. YouTube has chapter 1 of Secret Code, but only one chapter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_uZQNZREAQ
Yes, Paw, it  looks excellent. 

Both of you will perhaps be more interested in this documentary on Captain Future/Capitaine Flam.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6aQBBlzWnA
Its in French, tho - but Paw, since I understand that you are currently upgrading your Frence language skills, it should be right up your alley![ And I hope that means a lot more French material on CB+ in future!]
Haven't had a good look at it yet, but its very thorough, and includes photographs of the major creative influences, including Mort Weisinger and Edmond Hamilton. Oh, and there is also a Computer Game apparently. Sounds like something I'd like to play.   
enjoy!

[paw broon]

Thanks for the link Panther.  The cartoon doesn't do it for me, I'm afraid.  I'm not keen on a lot of those wee, cute cartoony animals, even spacy ones that don't need to breathe or cute versions of Matter Eater Lad.  I've never really taken to the Japanese art style used here. However, reading the comments is quite interesting.
The photos and covers are good, and important, and I now remember seeing French comicbook versions.  As this was at a time when I was being a bit posy and high minded about comics, I was more interested in Pratt and Tardi.  Still am, but with a much less stuffy view.
Worth a listen to the music on the link posted in comments:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V48JVJl6Dok&feature=youtu.be
Albator is available on youtube and there are a couple of lovely still panels in the middle of the first cartoon.

[positronic1]

I loved the anime version of Captain Future. Very faithful to the pulp novels written by Edmond Hamilton, and the character designs were nicely updated to circa 1980. Unfortunately it's not something that's ever been available on DVD in English. I still have a couple of the old VHS tapes (I think they only did 3 of them) from back in the 1980s. The pulp stories as well as the anime episodes were phenomenally popular in Germany as well (perhaps not surprisingly, given the similarities to Perry Rhodan).

I have GOT to get a copy of The Secret Code. I know I've seen people selling these somewhere, and it's purportedly one of Columbia's best serials. It's said that it was Columbia's response to Republic's SPY SMASHER serial made earlier the same year. Unfortunately, most of the well-known Columbia serials are the later ones, adaptations of DC characters like Batman, Superman, Vigilante, Congo Bill, and Blackhawk ('tho not DC at the time!). The earlier ones (like The Secret Code) were much better directed and seemed to have better budgets, too. I'm thinking of THE SPIDER and CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT in particular.

[The Australian Panther]

Paw, I couldn't agree more about 'cute cartoony animals'. What immediately came to mind was the Robot Dog in the first Battlestar Galactica series. I actually believe that dog would give a real child nightmares. When you watch a show or read a book or comic the creators are supposed to help you suspend disbelief. 'Willing suspension of disbelief' is the SF term. I see one of these and my ability to take the story or series seriously is irrevocably damaged.The other tendency that irritates and has the same effect was the (almost universal) tendency at the end of the 'Golden Age' to pair superheroes with dopey sidekicks. The immediate image is Doiby Dickles the cab driver with Green Lantern. Someone who had that ring needed to hail a cab?
Thanks for the music link. Yuji Ohno's work is a revelation. Right down my alley. Or should that be, right up my alley?
I just found this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrC4fgHQIUU
Is this the soundtrack for the film? The Morricone-esque begining make my spine tingle.  Great Funk. I'd watch it just for the soundtrack. 
Cheers.         

[Florian R. Guillon]

Seems like this Captain Future soundtrack is from the German version of the series. Great stuff it is! Thanks for the discovery!

If you like localised specificities, enjoy the famous French theme song from Capitaine Flam: https://youtu.be/NtxZsN6Em3g

Well, of course it won't ring a bell to most of you here, but I guarantee this song is one of the theme songs that are renowned among the 30-plus population in France. You just can't have a compilation of cartoon songs from the 70s-80s without it.

And now, I'm still on memory lane with what I'm watching right now: the Fantastic Four cartoon from Moonscoop (2006-2007). Actually, it's a short trip because I was at the university when it was broadcasted, and I had linguistics class on Wesneday mornings, so I had to record the episode of the week on VHS.

Yeah, I am an avid cartoon/anime watcher.

[Captain Audio]

Been watching M R James Ghost stories. These and other great ghost stories apparently are shown in the UK at Christmas time. An unusual tradition, probably inspired by "A Christmas Carol".

Just watched "The Stone Tape" a sci fi horror film by Nigel Kneale, creator of the Quatermass series. Great idea with very well imagined characters.

Just downloaded "The Green Man" by Kingley Amis. The 70's version with Albert Finney.

[paw broon]

The Stone Tape is a stunner.  It's available on youtube:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtvJWKaDI9s
The Green Man is really creepy.  Hope you enjoy it.