Long before Buzz Lightyear found himself on the surface of a strange planet, which turned out to be a bed, Space Rangers were blasting through space to keep the galaxy safe! Just who were these space-ranging pioneers?

These original cadets weren’t members of Star Command, and they had never heard of the evil Emporer Zurg. But they were waging a battle against space-bound evildoers, and doing it all in amazing

Astroscope!

May I introduce to you:

R o c k y    J o n e s :   S p a c e    R a n g e r

Don’t worry, he only wore that helmet when his space ship, the Orbit Jet, ran out of air. But what made this man a true Space Ranger? Let’s look at him by the numbers:

1. Cool Name: You just know a man with a name like Rocky must be tough!
2. Agency: For Rocky, he is proud to report to the Office of Space Affairs.
3. Personal Space Ship: The Orbit Jet may have seemed like every other ship, but it wasn’t! It was the only one with a name.
4. Sidekicks: Winky. Yup. That was the name of his co-pilot. Oh, he also had a girl (a full-grown woman to you and me, named Vena Ray) onboard whom he didn’t want onboard and that he often told to go knit and get out of the way.
5. Missions: Rocky and Winky (yup, really Winky) cruised the galaxy to bring law and justice to outer space. A big job, but someone had to do it!

    

Rocky Jones, Space Ranger was an American science fiction television serial originally broadcast in syndication from February to November 1954. The show lasted for only two seasons and, though syndicated sporadically, dropped into obscurity. The show was based on the exploits of clean-cut, square-jawed Rocky Jones, the best known of the Space Rangers. These were Earth-based space policemen who patrolled the United Worlds of the Solar System in the not-too-distant future. Thirty-nine 30-minute episodes were filmed and shown over the period starting in February, 1954 into January, 1955.

Richard Crane played the lead character and so beats out Tim Allen as the world’s first Space Ranger! Thought you were the first Mr. Allen? “I don’t think so, Tim!”

Oh yes, we need to add a sixth point to prove that Rocky Jones is indeed a Space Ranger extraordinaire. But let’s also review the first five again:

1. Name.
2. Agency.
3. Space Ship.
4. Sidekicks.
5. Missions. And last but not least:
6. Catch Phrase!

Buzz Lightyear made going ‘To Infinity and Beyond’ a popular, if not impossible, destination. But only Rocky Jones can take us:

But remember, if you want to go along, you can’t be a girl. This was the 1950’s after all! The danger could only be handled by men with names like Rocky and Winky.

It actually makes sense if you think about it. No it doesn’t.

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