Captain Video was a television serial that aired on the DuPont Television Network from 1949 to 1955. Most episodes have been destroyed, but there are a few online.
One I watched had an exciting title: <i>Captain Video Prepares to Visit Regus</i>. Apparently, Captain Video had helped a coalition of planets defeat Terson, an evil planet. Captain Video convinced the planet leaders to be lenient with the defeated foe and was preparing to visit Terson with his sidekick, the Video Ranger, to let them know the terms. The leader of Terson determined to greet Captain Video causally but then spring a trap and kill him. The entire episode involved men in funny costumes standing in front of scenes painted on cardboard talking. At two times, the action was halted to show Captain Video’s other agents in action. These interludes consisted entirely of short clips from random cheap western movies. There were also two messages reminding viewers to fight for freedom and to end prejudice (by making friends). The acting, the props, and the script were all … terrible.
I watched a second episode, I think part of the 1951 serial <i>Master of the Stratosphere</i> Captain Video in his rocket car rush to the aid of the Video Ranger who is being chased by bad guys. The uniforms, lap equipment, and weapons are all space age (by 1950s standards) but the chase takes place in very mundane 1950s cars and trucks (except, of course, for the rocket car) in a western-movie setting of rocks and trees. And the bad guys are dressed like gangsters. Captain Video’s weapons include a “cosmic vibrator” and a “paralysis ray.” The episode then segues into a story of a scientist who is controlling the weather in cahoots with somebody from another planet. The episode ends with Captain Video and the Video Ranger in their spaceship about to be squished between two “reactivated comets” controlled by the bad guys.
Supposedly Captain Video was popular with kids and adults, proving that the past is a different planet.