1959’s Outpost in Space has been mostly forgotten, but it offers an interesting concept that could have turned into an important early sci fi TV entry.
What Is It?
This pilot focuses on an outpost located on a distant, hostile frontier planet. An old-style spaceship runs into trouble upon its approach and ends up crashlanding. The crew from the outpost must hurry to help the survivors before they succumb to the dangerous environment of the planet.
Aired: 1959
Created By: Antony Ellis (Writer)
Starring: Robert McQueeney, Theodore Marcuse, Robert Gist, Robert Fuller, Ron Hagerthy
Why Didn’t It Fly?
I just recently stumbled upon this pilot on YouTube, and I have not been able to find a lot of information about the production. It was never picked up to series, but it was aired as an episode of the syndicated anthology series Flight. The story from the pilot is mostly a rescue adventure as the team from the outpost attempts to help the crew of a crashed ship. But at the end of the episode, they briefly discuss where the series would go, and it sounds like this one had plenty of potential. The show would have focused on the frontier aspect of the planet and possibly would have turned into a sort of a western in space as colonists contend with the harsh conditions of this distant land. Westerns were very popular on television at that time, and the space race was just starting off, so perhaps it could have found an audience. The pilot also delivered a realistic portrayal of space travel and colonization for its time and veered away from the kid-friendly approach of space operas like Space Patrol, Tom Corbett Space Cadet, and Rocky Jones Space Ranger which were more common to the sci fi genre on television at that time. But it would have also been expensive to produce at the time, and network execs were likely rather leery about investing that much in a genre that had not proven itself in Prime Time yet (the space opera type shows typically ran in the late afternoon).
Allegedly, it borrowed several props from The Forbidden Planet, which was not uncommon for TV shows at that time. I’ve also seen a mention on an internet forum that this pilot influenced Gene Roddenberry’s “Wagon Train in Space” idea that eventually morphed into Star Trek, though I cannot find any corroboration on that. This was one of three space-based entries with a more adult bent that were proposed for series at that time. The other two were Destination Space (you can read more on that one at this link) and Men Into Space (you can read more on that one at this link). The latter did end up getting picked up by CBS and running for one season, and it certainly would have been interesting to see where Outpost in Space and Destination Space would have taken their concepts. But both ended up fading away to the Television Wasteland and have been mostly forgotten.
Should It Be Rebooted?
I would love to see this one rebooted, and I would also love it if they took a retro approach. A space western has some potential for good stories, and perhaps they could have extended the range to other nearby planets as well. Even a modern-day reworking of this one would be good as there is plenty they could do with the concept. It is highly unlikely that this particular pilot would get a reboot, but somebody could borrow some elements from this one, Destination Space, and/or Men Into Space and create a rather interesting show. Anybody interested in getting a crowdfunding campaign together to produce a pilot?
Where Can You Watch It?
This pilot has not been released on physical media that I am aware of unless it made it to one of thosee compilations with all sorts of forgotten and public-domain genre entries. And it does not appear that the Flight TV series ever got a DVD release either. But the one episode of Outpost in Space is available to watch on YouTube at this link, and it is worth checking out.
Read about more Sci Fi TV pilots that did not fly at this link.
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