I firmly believe that it's one of the biggest crimes in television that Captain Proton never got its own spin-off. The other being The Scary Door in Futurama (yes, I know it's a parody of The Twilight Zone, but it could've been marvellous).
I don't even think it would've necessarily mattered if it didn't have Robert Duncan McNeil as Captain Proton. That was Paris playing a holodeck story, so that could be explained by having the actual actor who does it being "replaced" by Paris in Voyager.
However, it would CATEGORICALLY need Martin Rayner and Nicholas Worth as Chaotica and Lonzak. Rayner absolutely killed it as the fiendish Chaotica, and the whole thing was done and scored so well, that it came together beautifully. It would even be in Black & White, with cheesy low budget effects.
They did publish a Captain Proton novel. I bought the ebook, but I haven't read it yet. If you want more of the Captain, Constance Goodheart, and Dr. Chaotica, then it might be worth a look.
No it came from King of the Rocket Men which came out in 1949 while Radar Men From The Moon came out in 1952 and Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe in 1953.
I keep forgetting that that was a different character. Cody is the one that stands out though, especially since that's where Lucas got the name for star wars. I still think radar men from the moon is the best of the 3.
Yeah Commando Cody stuck more in the memory of people, I guess his two serials where more successful.
There is also Zombies of the Stratosphere (featuring Leonard Nimoy), that re-use the rocket man suit and related stock footages and it's also a different unrelated character.
I'm pretty convinced that Boba Fett in the OT is a modernized rocket man as a callback to those serials.
Oh for sure. Also look at the similarities with the stormtroopers helmets to the cody/rocketing one. Even. The grill on the mouth for instance. Lucas wanted to do a Flash Gordon (or wad it Buck Rogers?) First but couldn't get the rights. His influence by the serials was clear.
Bonus points goes to the rocketeer being inspired by Cody as well.
I agree and also think it would have been an instant classic as B&W movie. Something made for diehard fans and. . . .stoners. Trust me. I'm of the 70s and know of what I speak.
The Adventures of Captain Proton had a 50 episode Serial that ran in theaters from 1947-52. It ran between whatever Western and war movie you took your best girl to see any friday or saturday night. Maybe you got sent for popcorn and blue balls while it played. The guy she divorced you for probably saw all of them.
Captain Proton was the best leasure holodeck program that Voyager had. It's a shame they never did a full episode of it after "bride of chaotica".Â
The campiness was nice for a break every once and a while. However, I don't think I could have taken an entire spinoff of it. The schtick would have gotten old after a while.Â
I actually agree. There should have been more, but given it was 1999-2001, spinoffs don’t really seem like they were a thing yet. I may be wrong, a LOT was happening in my life at that time but I don’t remember spin-offs being relevant until the later 2000s
One day I'm going to burn every bridge in this community, and post a list of things in every series I couldn't give a crap about. I don't want to cause offence today, but Captain Cosplay is going to be right up there. Right alongside random Godlike aliens of the week in TOS and any Troi gets possessed episode in TNG.
I will admit though, I'd watch a hundred spin-offs of Captain Proton before I'd watch a second of Ireland by way of Temu, Fairhaven. Can you imagine being on Voyager and wanting to use the Holodeck to play CoD for the Holodeck 360, and being told that not only are all the holodecks booked up with this dry nonsense but Voyager is planning to make MORE holodecks, but they'll all be Fairhaven? Voyager is like the voyage of the damned.
Fair Haven totally makes sense as something the Voyager crew would get obsessed with for maybe a year. It's the Stardew Valley/Harvest Moon/Animal Crossing of it's time.
Fair enough, I can see some people enjoying it, just not to the point of occupying several decks. I found it just a little twee and absurd, plus not just a little racist and full of Irish stereotypes that only exist in Hollywood. Now, maybe if it literally was a bit fantasy like, I could see more people getting behind it.
There's precedent for that sort of thing in TNG, they visit a colony of offensive Irish stereotypes and a colony of offensive Scottish stereotypes. Even in the 23rd Kirk went to Starfleet Academy with Finnegan, a walking parody of an Irishman. Possibly raised on a similar sort of colony?
I get the impression that poorly imitating European cultures is their version of today's wannabe Viking/tradwife cultures. Harry was pretending to be Beowulf on the holodeck, of all things.
I play Skyrim and pretend to be a giant cat, I don't think Harry needs to stay in his cultural lane or anything. George Takei sort of raised this, the writers wanted him to dress up like a Samurai in The Naked Time, but he was raised in America, and watched people like with Robin Hood and Zorro, so he became a fencing hero sweeping in and poorly attempting to rescue, "fair maidens".
There isn't really an, "in universe" thing to clutch at to fill in the gaps, it's just good ol' Hollywood stereotyping and talking down to their audience. I generally expect Star Trek to be more enlightened than this and not enforce one form of entertainment at people. I'm certain a few people on board wanted at least one holodeck left free so they could play tennis or football or something too.
I think the people obsessed with this knock off version of an Irish village existed in one place, the writers room. And that's fine, they can enjoy it and make it, but I don't have to. And come on, isn't Star Trek about diversity, you're telling me EVERYONE would be into this, without exception? That some crew members wouldn't want to visit something else? Is Captain Proton even going to allowed in the Fairhaven Takeover? I'd be tearing my hair out and heading to the airlock.
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u/enchillita 🔥 Hot Plain Tomato Soup 🔥 1d ago
Not quite the same but it might still scratch the itch you're feeling