"Jason of Star Command!"

1978-1979
In this age of technological wonders (and dvd boxed sets), we can re-live childhood memories with a crystallized clarity never available to the thousands of human generations who have come before. We are the first humans who can literally "step into" our lost youth.
Memories are a curious thing. They exist not as they were, but as our ever-shifting mind perceives them.
Some childhood memories remain pristine and clear, corresponding fully and unchangingly to some photograph or event (whether or not it actually happened that way, is beside the point).
Other memories are lost. Sometimes a discovery or conversation will dislodge one, sending you swirling into a forgotten time and place. One such memory, the Saturday morning show ARK II, was recently jolted into my consciousness, through a dvd preview. It was about a group of scientists who travel a post-apocalyptic world in a white super-RV, bringing learning and law to a barren land (pretty heady stuff for kids, actually). They had an amazing jet pack, the memories of which rang in my head like a clarion bell, once released.
And there is a third group of memories which live in a hazy, nebulous world, remembered only in blurry fragments and scattered images. One such memory is JASON OF STAR COMMAND, a Saturday morning live action show which aired when i was ten and eleven years old. It never ran in syndication, but my memory of it never quite faded. From time to time, i'd recall incomplete visions of evil villains, spaceships and science, and good-hearted heroes. The show was a more action-oriented spin-off of SPACE ACADEMY, which i'd forgotten altogether. Uniforms, ships, and characters came along from the parent show. JASON was part of the flood of sci fi which tumbled forth in the wake of STAR WARS. In season one, it aired in fifteen-minute segments, then moved to a half-hour format for season two. I just finished watching the entire series. It's amazing to experience a piece of your youth through adult eyes. JASON is at once incredibly sophisticated (unprecedented children's TV special effects the result of a similarly unprecedented $100,000 per episode budget), yet also embarrassingly simplistic (dialogue and situations so hackneyed and contrived that it's faintly disconcerting to think that i accepted them, as a child). JASON was an oozing amalgam of influences. From GALACTICA, the starfires bear an eerie resemblance to the Rising Star with the engine exhaust ports of a battlestar. From STAR TREK, the music from the animated series is recycled, and more staggeringly, Commander Canarvin is played by none other than James Doohan. And from STAR WARS, the most preposterous "borrowing" of all: Jason (Craig Littler, later the Gorton's fisherman), is the most mirror-perfect copy of Han Solo that could ever be. Having him be a smuggler or mercenary was too unsavory, so Jason is a "soldier of fortune". But he's a tall brunette with feathered hair, a devil-may-care attitude, and most comedically, he wears a costume that simply could not be more evocative of Solo's. It's more funny, because as a child i DID NOT pick up on the so-obvious rip-off, less than a year after STAR WARS was in theaters. Aren't we kids trusting?
The casting of Doohan staggers me, because in my memory, i had no clue it was him. Without Scotty's accent, he was simply Commander Canarvin. He left after season one, to film STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE. He did an okay job, but his season two replacement, John Russell, had a more resonant character. In general, season two was superior. The longer format allowed for plotlines that were just a bit deeper than a puddle. There were even one or two moments of depth, like when Commander Stone talks to a child about racism. But sadly, i almost can't recommend the show to a child...it's just too simplistic and unrealistic. In one episode, Jason gets imprisoned by Dragos two or three times, and EACH TIME Dragos neglects to search him. I dunno, Dragos, you think you might wanna take away that laser-shooting robot before you lock the man up? Nope, not ol' Dragos. The spaceship shots were lovely, but the continuity would trouble a two year-old...they could never keep it straight when the starfires did or didn't have their minicat escape pods. And one of the stunts they were most proud of was Jason heroically crashing through a door. But please tell me how any human shatters a metal door into splinters?? Is it even advisable to teach children that such a feat is possible?
In terms of human motivation, it's also too simplistic. The division of people into "good" and "bad", is a crippling, pernicious, false hypothesis, one that is at the core of human suffering.
One difference between Jason and Han was that Jason didn't carry a blaster. Once in a while, they used a bizarre "laser rod", but because it was Saturday morning, death and instruments of death were downplayed. A fine idea, but perhaps not taken far enough...they're still using deadly force, but without showing the consequences.
The two other most memorable characters were Professor Parsafoot (Charles Dell), the nebbishy sidekick with eyebrows that had a life of their own, and Dragos (Sid Haig), the evil "master of the cosmos". He wore a bright red and black costume, was bald, and had a gold helmet with a red eye crystal which shot laser beams. He may hold the Hollywood record for the most maniacal laughs per screen minute ever. I don't know how he had time to rule a rowboat, laughing as he did after every utterance.
Jason's mini-computer sidekick was Wiki. Know those windup toys that have plastic feet which "walk" a tiny toy forward? That's what Wiki had! I swear! A state-of-the-art futuristic robot with the propulsion system of a seventy-five cent 1980 toy! And why did he even need feet, when he could fly!?
The stop-animation creatures were pretty awesome, but many of the villains and monsters are just men in party store costumes. Pretty comical, though effective enough for a kid. Dragos' henchmen were shortish wookiee-like creatures covered in seaweed, and it turns out they actually weren't shortish. Littler and Haig were both around 6'4", and to make Dragos more imposing, they gave him six-inch lifts.
Jason was occasionally more macho than bright. It's also interesting to key in on adult understandings of body language. In particular, you can tell that Jason (or Craig?) was more sexually attracted to his exotically statuesque season two leading lady, Tamara Dobson, than the adorable Susan O'Hanlon from season one.
Sadly, i offer no "best episodes" list. I'd recommend the show to adult lovers of sci fi, especially those with an eye for history and unintended humor. I'd like to hope that even as that innocent, eager ten-year old, i had some sense of the unrealism of the show (i'm still innocent, of course...we all are). But either way, i send my love and gratitude to all the people who brought this show to life.
You did good.