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MEN INTO SPACE, Part III |
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While this filmed series was aimed at adults (the sponsor was a cigarette, not a cereal!), and the scripts offered little that would hold the interest of a child, there were a few spin-off toys, mainly a space helmet and a space game (both shown below). Other spinoffs included a paperback book in which veteran science fiction author "Murray Leinster" (Will F. Jenkins) fought to breathe some life into the cardboard and cliches of Col. McCauley's "adventures," and one issue of a very unremarkable Dell comic book involving lunar hi-jinks. Some unintended tie-ins resulted from the super-low-budget need to use easily recognizable Revell and Lindburg plastic model kits for some of the less-important space vehicles seen in the episodes. |
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The Milton-Bradley MEN INTO SPACE game looks surprisingly primitive, even compared to the earlier CAPTAIN VIDEO space game from the same source. Where the CV game offered a playing board and two instrument panels with spinners and scanners, the MIS game had... one simplistic board, a spinner and some cards. |
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What a letdown! Typical, though, of the series that inspired the game. |
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A better value was the Men into Space helmet, which was one of the better 1950s helmets, far superior to those offered by TOM CORBETT SPACE CADET, or SPACE PATROL, or CAPTAIN VIDEO. It loses points, though, for looking more like the helmets worn by jet pilots rather than real spacemen. |
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A sharp-eyed moppet viewer would recognize that the "unamerican" spacecraft shown in various episodes were always a single plastic model, the Revell XSL01... a bad choice since this was a space shuttle, and yet was always used for deep space craft, such as British or Russian lunar or Mars expedition ships. |
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Yet here it is, in deep space, all boosters still attached! The very nice multistage shuttle rocket model used in the pilot episode (broadcast as episode 2) was never seen again in the series, and may have been the property of the special effects team that worked on that one episode, and no other. (Click on the photo to return to the index page.)
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And finally the one Dell issue of a MEN INTO SPACE comic. Not to sound like a scratched record, but "dull" was definitely the watchword of this issue, and there was never a followup issue. |
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