CAPTAIN VIDEO'S FASHION PAGE!
A TV magazine in 1952 put it quite well: ``One of the remarkable features [of] all pseudoscientific, universe-of-the-future tales is the clothing the characters wear. Their outfits are a wild blend of the antique and modernistic, the functional and the decorative. It has been ever thus, in [pulp] magazines, novels, the movies and comic books. Now TV follows suit.'' The writer had in mind DuMont's CAPTAIN VIDEO, which drew its bewildering array of costumes from Broadway suppliers, who could come up with just about anything from cavemen to Spartans, from Roman legionnaires to medieval knights, from Greek philosophers to 1890 Prussian military cadets, in the way of outfits. You want proof? Here are some randomly selected villains and their get-ups, from the 1949-53 story lines of CAPTAIN VIDEO AND HIS VIDEO RANGERS!
"We'll cast a spell to convert Video and his Ranger into swine, see if we do not!" "We're decided then!  Captain Video must die!"
Two early villains, Neptune (attired like the Roman god, of course, complete with trident), and Hermes of Jupiter, who dresses like a sorceror of the
Graeco-Roman era.
The villainous Queen Ultima Aureans dresses like a medieval lady-in-waiting, while the evil Salarius is attired like a Roman soldier, complete with shield and short sword.
"If he gets past you, Pauli, my javeline will nail him!"
"He'll be blasted to atoms the instant I spot him."
The middle east is not forgotten; here is the villain
Dahoumie, attired like an Arab sharif, with raygun waiting to do in the good Captain and his Ranger.
Mook the Moon Man (Dr. Pauli in disguise!) dresses like a typical lunar native (see later), while
Nargola (Ernest Borgnine!) is attired like a Greek athlete.
"Once the dry ice stops fuming, the potion will be ready!"
"The instant Captain Video walks past here, this device will disintegrate him to atoms!"
A better shot of the moon inhabitants who often made trouble for Captain Video. The horned head-dresses they wear project a force field so that they can walk the airless surface of the moon without harm, or so we are told. Otherwise the costumes appear to consist of custom-made T-shirts, plus rental cloaks!
The witch Sybilcan of Heitok here prepares a potion to do in... who else?... Captain Video and his
Ranger. Her outfit? Ptolemaic Egypt? Roman Britain? Hittite? Your guess is as good as any!
"Let me know the instant he leaves the Space Projectile!"
"My tireless electronic sentries are now ready to destroy Captain Video on sight!"
If you love THE PHANTOM EMPIRE, you'll love these clearly recognizable characters from the CAPTAIN VIDEO serial... Vultura's ``electronic men." Interestingly, the TV series had a much better robot suit than this one, despite its supposedly low budget.
The CAPTAIN VIDEO serial (1951) followed the lines of the TV series, with extraterrestrials clad as Arabs, and as Saracen warriors. Here the evil Vultura of Atoma plots to exterminate Captain Video the instant he dares to set foot in Vultura's underground domain.
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