PATHFINDERS
Rockets From The Crypt
RELEASED OUT NOW!
1960-1961 | U | DVD
Director Guy Verney, Reginald Collin
Cast Gerald Flood, Peter Williams, Harold Goldblatt, Georg Coulouris
It’s tempting to assume that
Doctor Who emerged fully formed from the void in 1963, but this trilogy of ITV serials has a compelling claim to be the Gallifreyan equivalent of John the Baptist.
Itself a sequel to 1960’s Target Luna, Pathfinders In Space was produced by Sydney Newman, a key figure in Who’s creation, and co-written by Malcolm Hulke, who would script many of the Time Lord’s classic adventures. It shares the same original remit, balancing thrills with education, the same format – 25-minute instalments of videotaped, studio-bound adventure – and, just like Doctor Who, a core gang of travellers to connect the teatime planet-hopping.