After Profs. Norman Wedgwood (Peter Williams) and Mary Meadows (Pamela Barney) depart for the moon, the unmanned supply rocket, which is essential for their survival, malfunctions. The only solution is for journalist Conway Henderson (Gerald Flood) and an emergency crew (Wedgwood's kids Geoff and Jimmy (and stowaway Valerie)) to manually fly the rocket. The characters had appeared in the earlier series 'Target Luna' (now lost) but some of the cast was changed (and Hamlet the hamster is now Hamlet the guinea pig). The series, which targeted young people, was intended to be both entertaining and educational and, for what it is, is reasonably watchable 60 years later. The premise is a bit simplistic (but the plot 'complicates' nicely as ancient relics are found on the Moon) and the inclusion of the children in the rescue mission, clearly added to appeal to the target audience, is a bit ridiculous (a study of kid's opinions of the follow-up series 'Pathfinders to Venus' shows that even young audiences didn't believe that children would ever be aboard early space expeditions). The special effects are rudimentary (notably the island space-base) but serve to illustrate the story. Worth viewing for genre fans (as long as context and provenance is considered). Watched on-line May 2022.
5 Reviews
Ambitious
keith-moyes-656-48149110 November 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Three years ago I posted a reminiscence about this serial, which I vaguely recalled from a single viewing in my childhood. At the time I assumed that it had been lost forever, but I was wrong.
The original broadcasts were recorded on film for sale in other countries and the recordings of Pathfinders in Space and its two sequels survived. They have now surfaced on DVD, courtesy of Studio Canal (it seems the French take our popular culture more seriously than we do) to provide a fascinating insight into early British children's TV.
In 1960, television producers were still agonising over whether TV drama should aim for the immediacy of theatre or the permanence of cinema. Pathfinders sat on the fence. It was structured and shot very much like a movie (with quick cross-cutting between short scenes running in parallel) but was recorded on videotape in real time, like a live stage play.
It appears that there were several days of rehearsal before each episode, but the actual recording was then done as a single, uninterrupted take. This meant that fluffed lines, intrusive microphones and other glitches were retained when they might easily have been edited out of a more 'cinematic' production. In fairness, this approach was largely dictated by the difficulty of editing videotape at that time, but I still feel Pathfinders would have been a much slicker show if there had been less time spent on rehearsal and more on the actual recording.
Pathfinders also illustrates just how much story-telling conventions have changed over the past 50 years. In 1960, TV executives could still count on children to follow a single story over a number of weeks, rather than demanding instant gratification every time they tuned in. This story is spread over 7 episodes and tries to retain its young audience by having a cliffhanger at each advertisement break as well as at the end of each episode. Personally, I have always liked the serial format and this is one of the attractions of Pathfinders for me today, but there is no denying the story-telling is a bit ponderous. Today's children would understandably expect a lot more to happen a lot more quickly than it does here. In truth, there is not much plot for its three hours running time.
Two space ships set off on the first trip to the Moon, one of them carrying three children (don't ask why or how). While in Moon orbit they encounter a third ship of unknown origin. The two ships then land many miles apart and one crew sets off in search of the other ship, while the second crew explores the Moon's surface. The youngest child falls down an air shaft into an artificial cave system. In the cave they find another long-abandoned space craft, dating back an improbable 400 million years. The two crews meet up and explore this cave and its wonders, learning about the tragic history of these ancient astronauts. Meanwhile, a meteor destroys one of their ships and they have to reactivate the alien craft in order to get everyone safely back to Earth.
This is a very ambitious story for such a studio-bound production. Most of the action takes place in space or on the Moon and includes rocket launches and landings, encounters in space, an attempt at weightlessness and even some EVA. The sets look somewhat rickety even in a low resolution (405 line) TV image but are reasonably spacious and not badly designed. The costumes are variable. The crew mostly wear casual clothes that were probably supplied by the actors, but the costume department chipped in with a few white coats and some silvery space suits that are OK in design but could have been better fitted. The space helmets look as if they might have been fabricated from American Football helmets.
There are many more special effects than I had any right to expect from a cheap children's TV show. As a hyper-critical twelve-year-old, I was contemptuous of these very obvious model shots, but I am much more tolerant today. For one thing, I always give Brownie points to any of these old SF productions that attempt their own special effects, rather than relying on stock shots of V2 rockets or footage pillaged from better movies.
None of the effects in Pathfinders could be described as good, but I have seen worse. The take off of the alien ship is probably the weakest of the model shots, but the biggest mistake is the shot of Buchan Island. This is a tiny table top model that is used as visual punctuation and so appears several times in each episode. In this case, a stock shot would probably have been preferable.
The adult acting is OK, with relatively few fluffs, and is mercifully free from condescension, but the children are all too typical of British child actors of that time. With their cut-glass, stage school accents (especially Gillian Ferguson), exaggerated reactions and stilted line delivery they can be somewhat trying.
Incidentally, whatever made producers think that children like to watch other children on TV? As I recall, my friends and I loathed all child actors on sight.
Overall, Pathfinders in Space is much better than my recollections of it led me to expect and it is good to have it back in circulation. It fills a gap in my memory and has enough intrinsic merit to make for an enjoyable three hours of viewing. In fact, with the benefit of nostalgia, it looks better today than it did in 1960.
I am also gratified that the one memory of the show that I carried with me over the past 50 years has turned out to be accurate.
What more can I ask?
The original broadcasts were recorded on film for sale in other countries and the recordings of Pathfinders in Space and its two sequels survived. They have now surfaced on DVD, courtesy of Studio Canal (it seems the French take our popular culture more seriously than we do) to provide a fascinating insight into early British children's TV.
In 1960, television producers were still agonising over whether TV drama should aim for the immediacy of theatre or the permanence of cinema. Pathfinders sat on the fence. It was structured and shot very much like a movie (with quick cross-cutting between short scenes running in parallel) but was recorded on videotape in real time, like a live stage play.
It appears that there were several days of rehearsal before each episode, but the actual recording was then done as a single, uninterrupted take. This meant that fluffed lines, intrusive microphones and other glitches were retained when they might easily have been edited out of a more 'cinematic' production. In fairness, this approach was largely dictated by the difficulty of editing videotape at that time, but I still feel Pathfinders would have been a much slicker show if there had been less time spent on rehearsal and more on the actual recording.
Pathfinders also illustrates just how much story-telling conventions have changed over the past 50 years. In 1960, TV executives could still count on children to follow a single story over a number of weeks, rather than demanding instant gratification every time they tuned in. This story is spread over 7 episodes and tries to retain its young audience by having a cliffhanger at each advertisement break as well as at the end of each episode. Personally, I have always liked the serial format and this is one of the attractions of Pathfinders for me today, but there is no denying the story-telling is a bit ponderous. Today's children would understandably expect a lot more to happen a lot more quickly than it does here. In truth, there is not much plot for its three hours running time.
Two space ships set off on the first trip to the Moon, one of them carrying three children (don't ask why or how). While in Moon orbit they encounter a third ship of unknown origin. The two ships then land many miles apart and one crew sets off in search of the other ship, while the second crew explores the Moon's surface. The youngest child falls down an air shaft into an artificial cave system. In the cave they find another long-abandoned space craft, dating back an improbable 400 million years. The two crews meet up and explore this cave and its wonders, learning about the tragic history of these ancient astronauts. Meanwhile, a meteor destroys one of their ships and they have to reactivate the alien craft in order to get everyone safely back to Earth.
This is a very ambitious story for such a studio-bound production. Most of the action takes place in space or on the Moon and includes rocket launches and landings, encounters in space, an attempt at weightlessness and even some EVA. The sets look somewhat rickety even in a low resolution (405 line) TV image but are reasonably spacious and not badly designed. The costumes are variable. The crew mostly wear casual clothes that were probably supplied by the actors, but the costume department chipped in with a few white coats and some silvery space suits that are OK in design but could have been better fitted. The space helmets look as if they might have been fabricated from American Football helmets.
There are many more special effects than I had any right to expect from a cheap children's TV show. As a hyper-critical twelve-year-old, I was contemptuous of these very obvious model shots, but I am much more tolerant today. For one thing, I always give Brownie points to any of these old SF productions that attempt their own special effects, rather than relying on stock shots of V2 rockets or footage pillaged from better movies.
None of the effects in Pathfinders could be described as good, but I have seen worse. The take off of the alien ship is probably the weakest of the model shots, but the biggest mistake is the shot of Buchan Island. This is a tiny table top model that is used as visual punctuation and so appears several times in each episode. In this case, a stock shot would probably have been preferable.
The adult acting is OK, with relatively few fluffs, and is mercifully free from condescension, but the children are all too typical of British child actors of that time. With their cut-glass, stage school accents (especially Gillian Ferguson), exaggerated reactions and stilted line delivery they can be somewhat trying.
Incidentally, whatever made producers think that children like to watch other children on TV? As I recall, my friends and I loathed all child actors on sight.
Overall, Pathfinders in Space is much better than my recollections of it led me to expect and it is good to have it back in circulation. It fills a gap in my memory and has enough intrinsic merit to make for an enjoyable three hours of viewing. In fact, with the benefit of nostalgia, it looks better today than it did in 1960.
I am also gratified that the one memory of the show that I carried with me over the past 50 years has turned out to be accurate.
What more can I ask?
Nobody likes a smartass
keith-moyes25 March 2008
Warning: Spoilers
I have only the vaguest recollection of this children's SF serial, which I saw only once, when it was first shown in 1960. It may well have been broadcast live, so will never be available for viewing again.
I was about twelve when I saw it and remember being quite sniffy about its poor production values and pathetic special effects. I would probably have forgotten all about it long ago except for one memory that still gives me a twinge of embarrassment.
In one episode the 'pathfinders' land on the Moon. One of the kids is surprised that he (or she) cannot leap about like a gazelle in the moon's one-sixth gravity. The adult leader explains that the weight of their spacesuits counteracts the low gravity.
I was outraged by this suggestion and calculated that if the adult weighed about 180lbs, then on the moon he would weigh only 30lbs. That meant that the spacesuit's moon weight would have to be 150lbs, so its Earth weight was 900lbs. I indignantly exclaimed: "What is that spacesuit made of - solid gold!!"
I have no doubt I pointed this out to anybody who would listen.
Aren't you glad you didn't know me when I was twelve?
PS: Since posting this reminiscence, it occurs to me that it probably relates to the earlier Target Luna, rather than to this follow-up serial.
I was about twelve when I saw it and remember being quite sniffy about its poor production values and pathetic special effects. I would probably have forgotten all about it long ago except for one memory that still gives me a twinge of embarrassment.
In one episode the 'pathfinders' land on the Moon. One of the kids is surprised that he (or she) cannot leap about like a gazelle in the moon's one-sixth gravity. The adult leader explains that the weight of their spacesuits counteracts the low gravity.
I was outraged by this suggestion and calculated that if the adult weighed about 180lbs, then on the moon he would weigh only 30lbs. That meant that the spacesuit's moon weight would have to be 150lbs, so its Earth weight was 900lbs. I indignantly exclaimed: "What is that spacesuit made of - solid gold!!"
I have no doubt I pointed this out to anybody who would listen.
Aren't you glad you didn't know me when I was twelve?
PS: Since posting this reminiscence, it occurs to me that it probably relates to the earlier Target Luna, rather than to this follow-up serial.
A Nice Trip Down Memory Lane
mwstone-702-79494015 January 2012
Warning: Spoilers
I saw two of the series at age 12/13 and came back to the dvds with some trepidation, but Pathfinders stands the test of time better than I expected.
Needless to say, for three children (and a pet guinea pig) to be taken on a deep space expedition requires some suspending of disbelief, but if you can swallow that it isn't at all bad. Stewart Guidotti takes a good part as Geoff, the 14/15 year old taking on grown up responsibilities as a member of the crew, while Richard Dean, as the mischievous little brother, is harder to take seriously but has his moment when, under apparent sentence of death because the rocket can only take two people back, he seeks a place on it for his guinea pig, determined to save his pet even if he cannot save himself. Sounds corny, I know, but I found it genuinely moving, and could imagine some children behaving in precisely that way. Their sister, Valerie, is more forgettable, but OK to keep the female half of the audience interested.
If you're used to modern special effects, the 1960 ones take some getting used to, but for my money it's worth the effort. The dvds gave me a nice trip down memory lane.
Needless to say, for three children (and a pet guinea pig) to be taken on a deep space expedition requires some suspending of disbelief, but if you can swallow that it isn't at all bad. Stewart Guidotti takes a good part as Geoff, the 14/15 year old taking on grown up responsibilities as a member of the crew, while Richard Dean, as the mischievous little brother, is harder to take seriously but has his moment when, under apparent sentence of death because the rocket can only take two people back, he seeks a place on it for his guinea pig, determined to save his pet even if he cannot save himself. Sounds corny, I know, but I found it genuinely moving, and could imagine some children behaving in precisely that way. Their sister, Valerie, is more forgettable, but OK to keep the female half of the audience interested.
If you're used to modern special effects, the 1960 ones take some getting used to, but for my money it's worth the effort. The dvds gave me a nice trip down memory lane.
A Wonderful trip Down Memory Lane
mikestone19485 March 2022
Warning: Spoilers
I originally watched the last two "Pathfinders" series at ages twelve and thirteen. I hesitated a bit over buying the dvds - as others have noted, it's sometimes better not to try and go back - but in this case I have no regrets.
With fifty years hindsight, there is of course some disbelief to be suspended. Apart from the sheer unlikelihood of taking children (not to mention their pet hamsters) on such a voyage, the special effects, if they can be dignified by that name, are thoroughly 1950s, with the space rockets being all too obviously toys lifted up by a thread of cotton. However, being old enough to remember my family's first tv (a 14 inch black and white acquired when I was eight or nine) I was fully aware that they didn't have modern special effects in those days. I didn't let it bother me, and anyway it seemed to get better as the series' progressed.
The pleasantest surprise was the series I had not seen as a child - the first one, "Pathfinders in Space". As there was no element of "sentimental journey" attaching to that one, I did not expect to like it as an adult, and might not have bothered with it had the series' been marketed separately. That would have been a sad mistake, as I found it great. In particular, I was really gripped by the scene where the characters learn that the supply ship can return to earth - but only with one adult and one child. It was really well done. Having seen the later ones, I knew perfectly well that all the major characters, at least, must have survived, yet somehow it didn't matter. I was on the edge of my seat as I waited for the next episode to begin.
The series was of its time in other ways beside visual effcts. The news that all but two of them are, in effect, condemned to death, is received by adults and children alike with the stiffest of upper lips, and no one protests or argues when the names of those chosen to live are announced. Looking back, I get the strong feeling that attitudes to childhood and especially boyhood were rather different in those days. Well within living memory, a boy of sixteen had won a posthumous VC at Jutland, and there were many men (and women) still in their early thirties who had been in the French Resistance or similar at Geoff's age. Expectations were higher, or at least different.
Even so, though, it seems a bit much that no comment is ever made about the boys' conduct in the face of death. Apparently it was just expected that they would "naturally" (??) behave as their elders did. This despite the fact that Professor Wedgewood does not seem a hard or unfeeling parent. His children (even the mischievous Jimmy) are never punished beyond the mildest of rebukes. They seem to like and respect him, and to have absorbed his values willingly enough. Oh, I give up! PiS was made well within my own lifetime, but at times its human characters seem more alien to me than anything they could have found in outer space.
On a more human note, for me this scene is "stolen" by little Jimmy (Richard Dean) as he pleads for his hamster to be allowed to go back to earth, resolved to save his pet even if he himself is to die. I found it really moving, perhaps because it was so credible. I could all too easily imagine a child of Jimmy's age (11) behaving as he did.
I rather regret Jimmy's disappearance from the later series', though his place was in some ways well filled by Harcourt Brown, who rather anticipated Doctor Smith in "Lost In Space". Margaret was a good replacement for Valerie, and all the series' did well, especially for the amount of scientific, geographical and other knowledge which they managed to insert without ever holding up the plot.
Final oddity. Even when they make it back to earth, we never get a glimpse of the children's mother. I'd have expected to find her waiting at the base, probably with a few well chosen words for the Professor. It's small wonder that Jimmy and Valerie are absent from the later seasons. After what happened last time, Mrs Wedgewood probably (and quite understandably) wouldn't let either of them within a hundred miles of Buchan Island, and even Geoff may well have had to put up a fight to be allowed back.
I wonder also if this explains the Professor's own absence after Episode 1 of PtM. Was he just felt to be too unsympathetic a character to belong in a children's show?
All in all, PiS is remarkably "gritty" for something aimed at such a young audience, and it's possibly significant that nothing quite so stark ever happens in the sequels. Still, (and despite the ghastly 1960 visual effects) it is well worth a view. I have no regrets about getting the dvds, if only for the glimpse they give of us Brits as we were before, in Brian Aldiss' words "The Romans became Italians".
After this, the other two serials come as a bit of an anticlimax. But Pathfinders to Mars scores a few hits on the scientific front, guessing correctly that the Martian "canals" would turn out to be optical illusions, and that the atmosphere there would be thin enough to require the wearing of spacesuits, not just oxygen masks as then was commonly assumed. Those fast-growing lichens were also an interesting idea, and quite credible, as anyone who has heard of a "flash flood" will be aware.
The big change, though, is the introduction of a human villain (which PiS had done quite well without) in the shape of UFO-nutjob Harcourt Brown, who hijacks the fourth Moon rocket and takes it to Mars instead. Doubt if a Moon rocket could carry the food and oxygen for that, but never mind. He is an acquired taste, but interesting, and more than makes up for the absence of little Jimmy, whose inclusion in PiS must have strained the credulity of even a juvenile audience.
Pathfinders to Venus is the weakest of the three in scientific terms. It adopts the classic "jungle planet" concept which was dated even in 1961 and would be totally exploded by Mariner 2 the following year. It even makes cave men contemporary with the dinosaurs, Fred Flintstone style. However, it makes up for this for me by the further development of Harcourt Brown, who now emerges in a far more sympathetic light with his determination to protect the native Venusians from the conquest and colonial exploitation which he foresees. The "good guys" have also grown a bit. They started out by hating Brown, and with every justification, given his often outrageous behaviour; yet by the end they have learned to forgive, and they (and probably much of the audience) part from him in a spirit of understanding and even a degree of sympathy.
All in all, a great trip down memory lane, at least for this 64 year old kid. And a fascinating glimpse both into "the way the future was" and into the way a lot of Brits were well within living memory - and maybe one or two still are. If you're into a bit of nostalgia then these are for you.
With fifty years hindsight, there is of course some disbelief to be suspended. Apart from the sheer unlikelihood of taking children (not to mention their pet hamsters) on such a voyage, the special effects, if they can be dignified by that name, are thoroughly 1950s, with the space rockets being all too obviously toys lifted up by a thread of cotton. However, being old enough to remember my family's first tv (a 14 inch black and white acquired when I was eight or nine) I was fully aware that they didn't have modern special effects in those days. I didn't let it bother me, and anyway it seemed to get better as the series' progressed.
The pleasantest surprise was the series I had not seen as a child - the first one, "Pathfinders in Space". As there was no element of "sentimental journey" attaching to that one, I did not expect to like it as an adult, and might not have bothered with it had the series' been marketed separately. That would have been a sad mistake, as I found it great. In particular, I was really gripped by the scene where the characters learn that the supply ship can return to earth - but only with one adult and one child. It was really well done. Having seen the later ones, I knew perfectly well that all the major characters, at least, must have survived, yet somehow it didn't matter. I was on the edge of my seat as I waited for the next episode to begin.
The series was of its time in other ways beside visual effcts. The news that all but two of them are, in effect, condemned to death, is received by adults and children alike with the stiffest of upper lips, and no one protests or argues when the names of those chosen to live are announced. Looking back, I get the strong feeling that attitudes to childhood and especially boyhood were rather different in those days. Well within living memory, a boy of sixteen had won a posthumous VC at Jutland, and there were many men (and women) still in their early thirties who had been in the French Resistance or similar at Geoff's age. Expectations were higher, or at least different.
Even so, though, it seems a bit much that no comment is ever made about the boys' conduct in the face of death. Apparently it was just expected that they would "naturally" (??) behave as their elders did. This despite the fact that Professor Wedgewood does not seem a hard or unfeeling parent. His children (even the mischievous Jimmy) are never punished beyond the mildest of rebukes. They seem to like and respect him, and to have absorbed his values willingly enough. Oh, I give up! PiS was made well within my own lifetime, but at times its human characters seem more alien to me than anything they could have found in outer space.
On a more human note, for me this scene is "stolen" by little Jimmy (Richard Dean) as he pleads for his hamster to be allowed to go back to earth, resolved to save his pet even if he himself is to die. I found it really moving, perhaps because it was so credible. I could all too easily imagine a child of Jimmy's age (11) behaving as he did.
I rather regret Jimmy's disappearance from the later series', though his place was in some ways well filled by Harcourt Brown, who rather anticipated Doctor Smith in "Lost In Space". Margaret was a good replacement for Valerie, and all the series' did well, especially for the amount of scientific, geographical and other knowledge which they managed to insert without ever holding up the plot.
Final oddity. Even when they make it back to earth, we never get a glimpse of the children's mother. I'd have expected to find her waiting at the base, probably with a few well chosen words for the Professor. It's small wonder that Jimmy and Valerie are absent from the later seasons. After what happened last time, Mrs Wedgewood probably (and quite understandably) wouldn't let either of them within a hundred miles of Buchan Island, and even Geoff may well have had to put up a fight to be allowed back.
I wonder also if this explains the Professor's own absence after Episode 1 of PtM. Was he just felt to be too unsympathetic a character to belong in a children's show?
All in all, PiS is remarkably "gritty" for something aimed at such a young audience, and it's possibly significant that nothing quite so stark ever happens in the sequels. Still, (and despite the ghastly 1960 visual effects) it is well worth a view. I have no regrets about getting the dvds, if only for the glimpse they give of us Brits as we were before, in Brian Aldiss' words "The Romans became Italians".
After this, the other two serials come as a bit of an anticlimax. But Pathfinders to Mars scores a few hits on the scientific front, guessing correctly that the Martian "canals" would turn out to be optical illusions, and that the atmosphere there would be thin enough to require the wearing of spacesuits, not just oxygen masks as then was commonly assumed. Those fast-growing lichens were also an interesting idea, and quite credible, as anyone who has heard of a "flash flood" will be aware.
The big change, though, is the introduction of a human villain (which PiS had done quite well without) in the shape of UFO-nutjob Harcourt Brown, who hijacks the fourth Moon rocket and takes it to Mars instead. Doubt if a Moon rocket could carry the food and oxygen for that, but never mind. He is an acquired taste, but interesting, and more than makes up for the absence of little Jimmy, whose inclusion in PiS must have strained the credulity of even a juvenile audience.
Pathfinders to Venus is the weakest of the three in scientific terms. It adopts the classic "jungle planet" concept which was dated even in 1961 and would be totally exploded by Mariner 2 the following year. It even makes cave men contemporary with the dinosaurs, Fred Flintstone style. However, it makes up for this for me by the further development of Harcourt Brown, who now emerges in a far more sympathetic light with his determination to protect the native Venusians from the conquest and colonial exploitation which he foresees. The "good guys" have also grown a bit. They started out by hating Brown, and with every justification, given his often outrageous behaviour; yet by the end they have learned to forgive, and they (and probably much of the audience) part from him in a spirit of understanding and even a degree of sympathy.
All in all, a great trip down memory lane, at least for this 64 year old kid. And a fascinating glimpse both into "the way the future was" and into the way a lot of Brits were well within living memory - and maybe one or two still are. If you're into a bit of nostalgia then these are for you.
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