This is an Open Thread and all topics of conversation are welcome. What is for dinner? How are you doing? What is on your mind. If you are new to Street Prophets please introduce yourself below in a comment. Today’s Coffee Hour is brought to by Captain Z-Ro.
Roy Steffens created the children’s television show Captain Z-Ro that ran on local San Francisco and Los Angeles stations from 1951 to 1953. It featured time and space travel.
From his “remote laboratory” he with his teenage assistant, Jet, would use his time machine fix problems with the past. This show predates Dr. Who by about 10 years. Jump the fold for a little more on Captain Z-Ro and some links to his videos.
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Below is the Captain inviting the kids in the audience to send a request to their local TV station so that they can sign up to become a commissioned officer in the Z-Ro explorers in time and space.
Scientist Captain Z-Ro, working in his remote laboratory, safeguarded mankind and history from impending harm. He had a time machine, the ZX-99, both to view history and to send someone back in time.
Wikipedia: Captain Z-Ro
Each week, he and his teenage assistant Jet would view an episode in time and inevitably see that some event was unfolding contrary to history (e.g., King John not signing the Magna Carta). Captain Z-Ro would then send Jet back in time to intervene and ensure that history played out as originally recorded. Over the years, plots involved Z-Ro and Jet rescuing a wide range of historical figures, including Genghis Khan, Marco Polo, Magellan, William the Conqueror, Benedict Arnold, William Tell, Christopher Columbus, Blackbeard, Captain Cook, Leonardo da Vinci, Robin Hood, George Washington, Attila the Hun, Hernando Cortez and Daniel Boone.
Wikipedia: Captain Z-Ro
Like early episodes of Doctor Who, which premiered in the UK more than a decade later, most episodes were melodramatic history lessons for children. No serious effort was made to explain how the time machine worked, and time travel conundra (such as the grandfather paradox) were likewise glossed over.
Wikipedia: Captain Z-Ro