Captain Satellite

Captain Satellite was an afternoon TV program on KTVU-2 in Oakland, California. Like many kids' shows of this period, it took advantage of the interest engendered by science fiction and the early space program. The Captain was played by Bob March, a local TV personality. His signature outfit was a helmet and a dark uniform under a light-colored, triangular vest that had a thunderbolt passing through a globe. The set was a cutaway rocket ship called the Starfinder II that blasted off each day. Guest children would co-pilot under Captain Satellite's supervision. As the ship orbited on auto-pilot, the children would participate in games to win prizes, and in live promotions. Old Thirties cartoons like Scrappy and serials would be introduced between breaks, and occasionally there were special appearances, as when The Three Stooges came to visit the Starfinder II. There were changes in format, but the show ran for a decade, from the 1960s to the early 1970s. In or about early 1966, “Captain Satellite” announced that the Starfinder-II was being mothballed and the series would get a new “flying saucer” style spaceship. The show had a naming contest and they settled on the name “Laser-II,” rather than the Jupiter-II from “Lost In Space” lore. The latter Sci-Fi show on the CBS network seems to have changed the spaceship format to a flying-saucer type craft. The “Space Lock” had a new entry system – computer punch cards – instead of keys. Three of the five cards inserted into the lock would flash: “need more data” on the screen –– giving the contestant extra attempts to open up the “Space Lock.” The winning card would open the lock, while the losing card would give the answer: “does not compute!”.