Tom Corbett, Space Cadet
Tom Corbett is the main character in a series of Tom Corbett—Space
Cadet stories that were depicted in television, radio, books, comic books,
comic strips, and other media in the 1950s. There were eight hardback books
published by Grosset and Dunlap from 1952 to 1956, fourteen comics published
by Dell & Prize comics from 1952 to 1955, a daily and Sunday newspaper
strip written by Paul S. Newman and drawn by Ray Bailey from September
1951 to September 1953, a six month run of radio shows in 1952 and the
TV series from Oct 1950 to 1956.
The stories followed the adventures of Corbett, Astro,
and Roger Manning cadets at the Space Academy as they train to become members
of the Solar Guard. The action takes place at the Academy in classrooms
and bunkrooms, aboard their training ship the rocket cruiser Polaris, and
on alien worlds, both within the Solar System and in orbit around nearby
stars. Willy Ley was the technical advisor for the series.
The character appeared in the TV-series Tom Corbett, Space
Cadet (1950–1955). Episodes were 15 minutes (weekdays) and 30 minutes (Saturdays).
The initial concept for the series followed the scripts by Joseph Greene
originally proposed as a comic strip in 1945, and then as a proposed radio
serial in 1946. Tom Corbett is one of only six TV series to appear on all
four networks of the time.
TOM CORBETT, SPACE CADET TV SERIES 1950-1955
RADIO SHOWS 1952
DAILY AND SUNDAY NEWSPAPER STRIPS: 1951-1953
Reference: www.solarguard.com/tcstrip1.htm
TOM CORBETT: 8 HARDBACK G&D BOOKS: 1952-1956
Joseph Greene of Grosset & Dunlap developed Tom Corbett,
Space Cadet, inspired by the Robert A. Heinlein novel Space Cadet (1948)
but based on his own prior work. G & D began the serialization of Tom
Corbett's adventures in 1952. The Tom Corbett books were a tie-in with
an established TV character with a copyright held by Rockhill RADIO. Many
of the plot lines in the G&D books have direct cross-over story lines
from the radio shows.
The Tom Corbett books have similar plots found in the
radio,TV and comic book series. The first three TC books have story elements
drawn from the radio & TV series while the fourth book's storyline
is similar to the Dell comic #421. The TC novels were written under the
house name of Carey Rockwell.
Stand By For Mars (1952) ~ Danger in Deep Space (1953)
On the Trail of the Space Pirates (1953) ~ The Space
Pioneers (1953)
The Revolt on Venus (1954) ~ Treachery in Outer Space
(1954)
Sabotage in Space (1955) ~ The Robot Rocket (1956)
1952-1955 :: TOM CORBETT, SPACE CADET :: 14 DELL &
PRIZE COMICS
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