Space Patrol had a less-focused "center". Whereas Tom Corbett's world was centered at the Academy. Space Patrol goes all over the United Planets of the Solar system with just about equal presence. This was also true of Captain Video and Rocky Jones. Captain Video was not seen in as wide an area as Space Patrol and Rocky Jones did not have as long a lifespan. Rocky had more recurring non-Space Ranger characters. like two Susaranes: Cleolanta and Juliandra, Pinto Vortando, a sort of "Mexican Bandit" who became a good guy, The bad guys Agar and Philip Di Marco and a city Adminstrator Lavoga. Had it lasted longer it might have become a major effort but it came in as the Spaceman phenomenon was peaking and there just wasn't any room for it to grow. Tom Corbett also had a spotty attendance record, disappearing from time to time to re-appear on a different network. The characters were fairly strong. Both Captain Video and Tom Corbett got more ink than Space Patrol but just barely significantly. why so little remains of CV is beyond me. Of the lot, time seems to have been kindest to Space Patrol, it's broadcast run lasting from 1950 into the middle 1980's. We do have all the Rocky Jones episodes but there were not that many compared to SP, TC and CV. The dark horse here is Flash Gordon. An entirely different take, Placing Flash and crew beyond the Thirty-Third Century. No doubt a bane to purists, but I prefer it to the movie serial. and it's 1000% better than the one on the Sci-Fi channel. While all the Space Shows had most of the pieces. Space Patrol had more of them and in the right mix. Which contributes to the reality of Space Patrol (don't turn your nose up at any of the others, however)

Of all of this, it is the principles and ideals of Space Patrol that do the most to make this real. The virutes of Space Patrol, honesty and fair play, which subsume a whole host of other virutes, have a value in real life. They validate one as a person. If one is dealt with dishonestly or unfairly, one feels "slighted", misused and de-personalized. If one dees that, one has to make excuses for so doing and therefore de-humanize the target of one's actions. AND, these virtues cut across all belief and philosophical systems. Even Osama Bin Laden believes he is acting in accordance with those ideals (which is why he has attracted a following that includes some well-educated persons). the problem is that they are caught up in literal interpretations and having had the fruits of the intellectual labor of Western Man given to them over the last two centuries, they did not have to make the psychological advances that we did in the Renaissance, Age of Reason and the Enlightenment (I fear that the only way that they can learn the inadequacy of that is by means of a severe beat-down at the hands of the Western powers to show that it flat out just donesn't work). To be sure, there is one system that is best for this and that was the one that was implicitl and tacitly followed in the middle Twentieth Century in the Western World. But that does not detract one little thing from the best aspects of any system nor does it justify the parts of that system that were wrong. It only means that this particular system was best suited for the development of the kind of world that would be the home of Space Patrol.

How come? Well, Honesty and fair play were, if not fully in force, to be aspired to. Truth (the product of factual premises and valid reasoning) was a value: in the form of Science, it gave us the material good things we have. In the form of philosophical thinking it led us to want justice, honor and integrity (of which both honesty and fair play are made). in the scinece of Economics, it engenders prosperity. And so forth. It is the pre-condition for all good things. Being an element of a scientific utopia, Space Patrol was a product or result of Truth so it carries in it that need and orientation.

There is yet another aspect of reality. as you go through here and experience the sights and sounds, and perhaps make your home here. DOING IS BEING: You will use things here. some are just fun for the moment, some are learning tools and some are problem-solving tools. You build in your mentality an image of that world. If you aspire to the things here, then that is rewarded by experiencing, to some degree, albeit not in the literal, physical totality, and as an active person, the aspects of that world which I am able to put here. That is what is meant by "Live the Continuing Adventure". In that sense, you go beyond the Space Shuttle astronauts and members of the space program, many of whom got their inspiration from these TV shows. Look at the secret behind the CAT scanner. Grab up the Terr V Rocket Cockpit. You go right into a spacefaring civilization: A place where one can visit Mars in a half day. So, don't just hang around the HQ or the Casino or any one part. Visit the Blast (from the Past) Range, go to the Civic Center. Go to the rest of Rocket City Space Port. This world is your oyster.

It is all these things that make up the reality of Space Patrol. As I said, not a literal, physical reality, but a psychological reality. the reality that Aristotle (just to show that these Greek philosophers were no stuffed-shirt, uncool guys), referred to as how the world "might and ought to be". and it is my wish that you use and enjoy that world, and in so doing, help to create it in real life by transmitting those ideals and principles that make it what it is. I have put the tools for a "whole life" here. Along with being a Space Patroller, you have access to thing slike a casino, gamres centers, museum. educational facilities and tools beyond belief and the things that make living in an advanced city just plain great.

Perhaps at som time, you may wish for my take on how I look at the world and what it takes to get us there in real life. At that time the other parts of the domain are for you. They address the world as it literally is and what it will take to get us to the world as it might aned ought to be.

Further, If you read Jean-Noel Bassir's Space Patrol book. There is a wonderful imnage of Ed Kemmer that almost gave me goosebumps since it totally validated the way I felt about Commander Corry when I was a kid. So striking was his performance as Buzz Corry that a California prosecutor though that this was a deliberate effort to "point" Space Patrol in a certain direction. Anyone who has a sense of psychology and met Ed Kemmer would know why. and if you read the chapter on Kemmer in the book, you get an image of a well-formed, very deliberate person who knew what he wanted to do. He loved Space Patrol as an actor and did a bang-up job projecting the principles of Space Patrol and giving them meaning. The effect was so strong that, occasionally TV Guide had "Buzz Corry" columns like "Buzz Corry talks about the Woman of the Future". Corry's hobby as an amateur archeologist, his relationship with Carol Carlysle and many scientists and businessmen show the depth of a real person. Also Kemmer knew how to keep a scene together if it started to fall apart due to things like forgotten lines or some extraneous occurrance like falling walls or being shot where it hurts most by a prop crossbow. Lyn Osborn's Cadet Happy was no pale shadow, either. He was more than a cadet, too. He went out on missions that would be beyond the performance of a cadet and one wonders when he had the time to do cadet things. He was Corry's right-hand man, more like a Luetenant than a cadet. This was even more so in the radio version. The best analogy would be to a cop's partner

All of these things, taken together, make for Space Patrol a kind of reality that is rarely attained anywhere.

In Real LIfe: Do get as many of the early TV space shows as you can on VHS and DVD. Also follow up with Captain Midnight/Jet Jackson, Steve Canyon, Men Into Space and The Man and the Challenge. Star Trek: the Original Series was, for the first season a brilliant projection of Space Patrol into a stellar civilization, but only for the first season, and Captain Kirk has since become a joke (pity; he deserved better. Of all the Star Trek captains. he was the most heroic).

Here's the kicker. Look back at the previous paragraph and see how it began. You'll see quite a bit of that. When you get to the Space Patrol Academy, use the "start page" or download the take-home equivalent, if you are sharp, you will notice something. 90% of the Academy and about 85% of the stuff in the Terra V Rocket Cockpit is for real: To quote the Owner's Manual; :...Whether the mission is for fun or for real Space Patrol has you covered". The calculators, coversion calculators, the math and science tools, the "Universal Translator", the instruments in the instruemtn panel mostly address real-world things. All but one of the "Reference Books" deal with real world material. The Academy and the Rocket Cockpit are two of the most awesome real-world resources that you will find anywhere short of a major university campus. If I create "the Portable Academy" in the Reference Book section of the Cockpit and you download it, don't even bother to look for something else to equal it, it will cover all but the geekiest levels of anything you want to research and what you don't have there, you'll be able to get with Full Bandwidth Search/Advanced Search.