''Atom Squad'' was an American
science-fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel univers ...
TV series that was broadcast live five times a week by the
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
network (out of their Philadelphia studios), Monday July 6, 1953, to January 22, 1954, running Monday through Friday, 5:00 to 5:15 pm EST.
Each episode was only 15 minutes long, with a total of 142 black and white episodes.
Synopsis
The Atom Squad is a secret government agency that dealt with
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
threats to US security involving
radiation
In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or through a material medium. This includes:
* ''electromagnetic radiation'', such as radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visi ...
and
nuclear weapons
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...
.
The Atom Squad scientists, Steve Elliot and Dave Fielding, were respectively played by
Robert Courtleigh and
Bob Hastings
Robert Francis Hastings (April 18, 1925 – June 30, 2014) was an American actor. He was best known for his portrayal of Lt. Elroy Carpenter on ''McHale's Navy'' and voicing Commissioner James Gordon in the DC Animated Universe.
Early life
Hast ...
, their chief by
Bram Nossem.
The Atom Squad's secret New York City headquarters laboratory looked very much like Captain Video's secret mountain headquarters control room. The program's opening sequence showed a man in a "radiation suit" lumbering very slowly toward the camera.
Production notes
Storylines were usually completed in five, or sometimes 10 broadcasts.
Paul Monash
Paul Monash (June 14, 1917 – January 14, 2003) was an American television and film producer and screenwriter.
Life and career
Paul Monash was born in Harlem, New York, in 1917, and grew up in The Bronx. His mother, Rhoda Melrose, acted in si ...
was the chief writer for the series and possibly its creator. The foes of the Atom Squad were usually mad scientists and evil
Communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
spies and saboteurs. However, the Squad ran into aliens from outer space in at least three different storylines.
''Atom Squad'' originated from the studios of
WPTZ
WPTZ (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Plattsburgh, New York, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for the Burlington, Vermont–Plattsburgh, New York market. It is owned by Hearst Television alongside Montpelier, Vermont ...
in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
. The director was
Joe Behar, and producers were Larry White and later
Adrian Samish.
The theme music for the series was "Tumult and Commotion", an excerpt from
Miklos Rozsa's orchestral work "Theme, Variations and Finale, Op. 13".
[classic themes.com, 50s TV Themes] The opening theme music (man in "radiation suit") was taken from original music by
Serge Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, p ...
for the
Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (russian: Сергей Михайлович Эйзенштейн, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ ɪjzʲɪnˈʂtʲejn, 2=Sergey Mikhaylovich Eyzenshteyn; 11 February 1948) was a Soviet film director, screenw ...
film ''
Alexander Nevsky
Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky (russian: Александр Ярославич Невский; ; 13 May 1221 – 14 November 1263) served as Prince of Novgorod (1236–40, 1241–56 and 1258–1259), Grand Prince of Kiev (1236–52) and Grand P ...
''.
Episode status
While ''Atom Squad''
kinescopes
Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program on motion picture film, directly through a lens focused on the screen of a video monitor. The process was pioneered during the 1940s ...
were probably made for West Coast rebroadcast, none are known to survive today. The series did not appear to have a sponsor and no tie-in toys or premiums are known to exist.
References
External links
*
''Atom Squad'' Episode Guide''Atom Squad'' on Space Hero Files
{{Space opera serials 1930-1960
1953 American television series debuts
1954 American television series endings
1950s American science fiction television series
American children's adventure television series
NBC original programming
American live television series
Space adventure television series
Black-and-white American television shows
English-language television shows
Lost television shows
Television series about nuclear war and weapons