Chris Welkin, Planeteer has kind of a weird history. I often question how much writing Russ Winterbotham actually did on the comic strip and how much came from Art Sansom. In the 1950s and 1960s many of the comic strips were chopped up to become printed in comic books in Australia and Canada. In 1966, a storyline from
Chris Welkin was published in
The Dalek Outer Space Book, a spin-off publication from
Doctor Who basically putting Chris Welkin into the Doctor Who-niverse.
Chris Welkin also got a two-part pilot for an animated television series. The show was, obviously, never released or even aired as the animation was very cheaply done and I highly doubt there was much of an audience for
Chris Welkin, Planeteer. Thanks to the magic of the Internet, both 12-minute pilots are available to view. You can watch Part 1
here and Part 2
here.
Amid lightening and thunder (in space?) we get a zoom in on Earth and an ominous, booming voice saying the name of the show. Honestly, it kind of sounds like when Tom from Tom & Jerry speaks in that haunting voice "Don't you believe it!"
This is Atom City, New Mexico. This is a pretty good looking science fiction city. And I appreciate that whoever animated it kept in mind that it does take place in New Mexico and kept plateaus, buttes, and deserts.
Chris Welkin takes place in 1979 which is about 25 years after when this episode was made. I love how optimistic people were about the future. I like and prefer how Futurama dealt with the future.
This is our introduction to Chris Welkin, apparently the most brilliant scientific mind ever known.
Chris sees a tiny triangle zipping around the radar screen and wonders what it is. He seems awfully calm about it considering it seems to be able to move pretty fast and make sharp, right-angle turns.
Chris' intern or whatever, Rocky Starr comes in. He's a student at Hiawatha University. I don't know why it's Hiawatha University. Your guess is as good as mine. Dr. Budd was late again, but more than that, he hasn't shown up in three days. Chris does not seem very concerned, focusing his attention on the little triangle on the radar.
Rocky utters his catchphrase (if you can call it that) for the first time and you are going to wish he were dead by the time he says it for the last time. If you already didn't want him dead because of his annoying Eddie Deezen-esque voice.
I want to talk a little about the animation. It's done very cheap as you can see. The only thing animated are their mouths and even then, it's very generic. It's reminiscent of the 1959-1960 TV series Clutch Cargo which used real mouths superimposed over the faces. These are at least animated mouths.
Chris Welkin has his own space plane. I love that they animated and recorded the six-second countdown before launching. In the air, Chris and Rocky discover the triangle is another spaceship, not from Earth! Suddenly, a piercing sound comes from the other and Chris and Rocky are knocked unconscious and beamed aboard the ship.
Chris and Rocky come to in the alien ship and announce that they are some 400 miles above Earth. Locked in a room, Chris comments on how everything is smaller and discovers that the door out easily opens with the push of a button. Before they can leave, someone enters. A small-ish, woman-like alien who speaks a different language (the voice track is played in reverse), but she does know English. Her name is Venna(?) and she is here to prevent the destruction of Earth. She even has help from Dr. Budd.
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| Why didn't they use Amaiza? |
Just then, another ship appears. It shoots a magnetic disruptor at the ship which knocks Venna unconscious and unable to fly the ship. Can Chris learn the mechanics of the ship to dodge the next blast?
Chris literally just presses a random button which dodges the next blast. Chris is finally able to wake Venna up and she explains the visitors are Icthusians but doesn't know where they came for or why they want to destroy Earth. Venna is apparently from Venus. The Icthusians have enslaved all of her people.
Suddenly, the Icthusians are on their tale and their leader, Oothon, orders the crew to be captured. Using the gravitron, Chris, Rocky, Dr. Budd, and Venna are pinned against the wall of the ship. Oothon demands to know what kind of defenses Earth has so he knows what he needs to conquer the planet. Rocky almost blurts out information before Chris stops him. Chris, Rocky, and Dr. Budd are tied up and Venna is tied up in her own chair. Why? So she can watch their ship crash directly into Venus.
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| Starring Walton Goggins as Oothon. |
Chris, Rocky, and Dr. Budd are taken aboard the Icthusian ship. Oothon gives Chris an ultimatum: Give him the details of Earth's defenses or watch Venna's ship crash into Venus.
To be continued...!
But not really. These are the only episodes made and very few people even saw them. There are only two people credited in the cast. Marvin Miller and Virginia Gregg. Miller (1913-1985) is best known as Michael Anthony from The Millionaire (1955-1960). The voice he uses for Chris Welkin sounds very similar to the narrator of the classic short Gerald McBoing-Boing. Gregg (1916-1986) is probably best known for...well, a lot of things. Name a show and she was probably in it or doing a voice for it. I'm assuming Miller did all the male voices and the announcer and Gregg did Venna. I could also see Gregg doing Rocky's voice. The animation was done by Sam Singer who is considered "the Ed Wood of animation". Singer is best known for Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse and the Hanna-Barbera-animated Sinbad Jr. and His Magic Belt. After Sinbad was canceled in 1966, Singer retired specifically because of the poor reviews of his cartoons.
Total "Great Curling Triangles": 13
