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The fourteen essays featured here focus on series such as Space Patrol, Tom Corbett, and Captain Z-Ro, exploring their roles in the day-to-day lives of their fans through topics such as mentoring, promotion of the real-world space program, merchandising, gender issues, and ranger clubs - all the while promoting the fledgling medium of television.

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Foreword; H.Jenkins Introduction; A. Bowdoin Van Riper & C. J. Miller PROLOGUE: WHEN OUR STORY BEGINS Where It All Began: The Flash Gordon Serials; R. Kinnard PART I: LEARNING TO BE ROCKETMEN ´A Commotion in the Firmament´: Tom Corbett and the Lost Boys; J. C. Tibbetts Boys Wonder: Male Teenage Assistants in 1950s Sci-Fi Movie Serials and Cold War Masculinity; R. Jacobs Girls and ´Space Fever´; A. Foster PART II: REACHING FOR TOMORROW Space Fever: From Fantasy to Reality; H. E. McCurdy Shooting for the Stars: Captain Video, the Rocket Rangers, and America´s Conquest of Space; P. Luciano & G. Coville Space Opera TV: Seeing the World of Tomorrow; J. P. Telotte PART III: AS SEEN ON TV The Sky is the Limit: Advertising and Consumer Culture in Rocketman Television Shows of the 1950s; L. R. Samuel Creating a Sense of Wonder: The Glorious Legacy of Space Opera Toys of the 1950´s; S. M. Young Space Patrol : Missions of Daring in the Name of Early Television; J. Bassior PART IV: LOOKING AT THE EARTH Making the Universe Safe for Democracy: Rocky Jone s , Space Ranger ; W. W. Dixon "Justice through Strength and Courage": Captain Midnight and the Military-Industrial Complex; M. Broderick "To Learn from the Past. . .": Becoming Cold War Citizens with Captain Z-Ro; C. J. Miller & A. Bowdoin Van Riper EPILOGUE: THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY AND BEYOND Confessions of A Commando Cody Addict (Or, How The Flying Suit Changed My Life); G. Hughes

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"From nostalgic views of space adventure to the cultural importance of 1950s sf TV series, Miller and Van Riper´s anthology is an informative read and a much-needed work on an often-overlooked period in television history. Understanding the cultural impact of these series - and the symbols of heroism and Americana contained within them - is an important step in learning why we care at all about sf media and the affective relationship we share with the genre.´ - Science Fiction Studies

"A significant contribution to our understanding of sf in the 1950s." - Foundation

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Jean-Noel Bassoir - writer Mick Broderick - Murdoch University Gary Coville - media historian Wheeler Winston Dixon - University of Nebraska, Lincoln Amy Foster - University of Central Florida Gary A. Hughes - filmmaker Robert Jacobs - Hiroshima City University Henry Jenkins - University of Southern California Roy Kinnard - writer Patrick Lucanio - writer Howard McCurdy - American University Lawrence R. Samuel - Founder of Culture Planning LLC J. P. Telotte - Georgia Tech John C. Tibbetts - University of Kansas S. Mark Young - University of Southern California

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