The character of Issac Gampu is almost a polar opposite to Jonathan Harris's earlier role in Lost in Space. Whereas Dr. Smith was a foolish ,selfish coward, who often caused whatever predicament the Robinsons had to solve that week, Cmdr. Isaac Gampu was wise, studious and brave. It is my opinion that the memory of this character was lingering in the back of the minds of the writers for Star trek, the Next generation, when they were writing for Capt. Picard. There are strong similarities in both characters. It could also be that the archetype of a wise, noble leader inspired both sets of writers. It is a testament to Harris' talent as an actor that he could play both characters so memorably.
Add a Review
-
nirgal2710 February 2007
-
Scarecrow-8813 April 2013Since I was born in '77, I didn't have the luxury of enjoying this series as kids of the decade were, but I was motivated by my uncle (who did grow up with the show) to take a look at the short-lived Saturday morning show. In December of 2010, I did take a week or two to watch the entire 15 episodes of the series, and the kid in me really embraced "Space Academy", talking with my uncle about it during visits shortly afterward. I look back fondly on 2010 because later in 2011, my uncle succumb to kidney cancer (it had spread to his spine and hip) and so the show was just one of many ways we enjoyed long conversations about sci-fi, childhood, and themes covered. Look, this is a cheesy show to the typical adult, but I recognize the whole point was to please a young audience by showing teenagers, and their older fatherly commander, engaged in space adventures, often performing tasks and duties on board a planetoid space station, or riding off on their ship, the Seeker. I think you can see the influence of Star Trek and perhaps even a little Lost in Space, as well. There's even a little robot companion to enjoy called Peepo. My son seemed to really enjoy it so I imagine there's still plenty of appeal in a show made for nickels and dimes at a small studio in California during the 70s. That's really all that matters, in the end, that the kids find something to enjoy that is harmless entertainment. And since I'm such an avid sci-fi fan, I couldn't be happier to allow my son to enjoy a show that offers the possibility of kids at an academy in space. It is fantasy but why not encourage children that anything's possible if you have the drive and intellect to pursue the stars?
-
This show was a different type of show compared to what was on at the time. This was a military school in space where kids of different parts of the universe would go for training. Jonathan Harris of Lost in Space fame played the Commandant of the school. It was great seeing him do something other than Dr.Smith. The cadets would end up on dangerous missions but would come out unscathed. This was a kids show so no one would get hurt. I read another review that said it was unrealistic that the cadets would go on missions. This was a kids show so they focused on the cadets and their exploits. On the 1966 Batman T.V. series, Robin usually solved the clues & not Batman. Also on the Super Friends, the focused on Wendy, Marvin, & Wonderdog and they were the ones that solved the clues to the crimes. The Super Friends were just the muscle to capture the villains. It was a kids' show about kids for kids. Is is a heck of a lot better than what is on Saturdays today. I can't even get my kids to watch those shows. I wish they would go back to stuff like this. It had Brian Tochi & Pamela Ferdin as two of the stars.
-
Those of you who said that James Doohan (Scotty) was on Space Academy made a mistake. He was on the spin off series Jason of Star Command. Anyway Jonathan Harris was great on this show as Commander Gampu and how he would help the cadets on their various space missions. It was fun to see what missions the crew would go on every week and the things they would learn from their missions. Who could forget Peepo and his personality and wisecracks. This show would come on either before or after Fat Albert depending on the year it was on. I'm sure Space Academy will come out on DVD someday. R.I.P. Jonathan Harris (Gampu) and James Doohan (Scotty). You'll be missed but the memories of your shows will live on forever.
-
lenpreston8 January 2007I recall the show "Star Legend" where a young lady named "Gina" was questioning the competence of Gampu, and actually managed to make the old guy doubt himself.
She also insisted that they could get "all the Zoleum we need" by ignoring Gampu's warnings and doing it her way. So, in violation of orders, Gina just opens that Zoleum collector wide open. After doing so, she lounges like a slinky cat on a lounge chair and takes a cat nap.(Sexy little thing, that Gina!) Anyway, she is overcome by Zoleum fumes and Gampu has to put on the old spacesuit and pull her out of there, saving her life. After she regains consciousness, she realizes how wrong she has been and apologizes.
That Gina filled this young kids head with some fetching fantasies, let me tell you. Now where do I order that sucker? -
paul5122 May 2004I remember watching this in my PJs around age 5 but for some odd reason I thought I remembered it running on Saturday late afternoons rather than Saturday mornings. A lot of things I only remember bits and pieces of from that period of time.
Of this show, I only remember a few things with any certainty. One is me thinking "hey, the mean guy from Lost In Space is on the show" and "hey, Scotty is on this show". I also remember thinking why the engine on their ship looked like a television set with an orange screen. And the kids all having some special powers---they'd all get in a circle holding hands and chanting "concentrate, concentrate".
I can remember being well entertained by this show. I'm sure it was cheesy as hell, but hey...what in the 1970s wasn't? -
robtseward25 April 2004I liked the show! It was fun with excitement in the scripts. For the longest time, I thought Meeno Peluce played Loki. It was one of those post Star Wars tv shows that was thrown together to address the Star Wars craze. Don't try and over analyze a show. The effects weren't great, but in retrospect, neither were Star Trek's but people are still fans. I remember this one episode that Loki stole a ship as a childish prank. I liked how Loki was disciplined. I remember another episode with a living asteroid. The telepathy of the twins was the first time I had been introduced to the concept of telepathy. They weren't goody goody. I loved Jason of Star Command. It was a fun serial for kids.
-
gazzo-227 November 2002Funny thing is, always thought it was 'My Favorite Martian' Ray Walston as the head here, not Jonathon Harris. Ah the things ya learn at IMDB! It was typical 70s TV Filmation fare-moralistic, hokey, low budget, had cutsie kids, robots, etc. Have not seen it since it's run.
And yes, Pam Ferdyn was in about everything there ala Ike Eisenmann, sure.
This was NOT a bad little show, by the way-those here who heap the criticsm of it, c'mon. It was okay for what it was.
**1/2 outta **** -
nccc10 March 2006I must agree with the first part of the last reviewer's comments, regarding the budget and props of the show. However, I believe that the reviewer missed the point entirely regarding sending the kid's on missions; this was a kid's show, directed at a younger audience, and the hero's of the show were other kids. The audience could imagine themselves having those adventures and saving the day. What would the point be if adults gave the orders and were the ones who set things right? Realistically speaking, it never made sense on Star Trek that the captain and first officer went on the landing parties/away teams, but they were the lead actors. That does not happen in our modern military. Space Academy was a TV show.
-
Poseidon-36 May 2009On the heels of "Ark II," Filmation Studios put together another science fiction-oriented, Saturday morning, live-action show. Here, Harris (playing a 300 year-old character who doesn't look a day over 70!) plays the instructor of the title school, a large facility built into an asteroid, which collects all the brightest young minds and trains them for duty in space. Though the school contains red teams and yellow teams, the show focuses almost exclusively on the blue team. Psychic siblings Carrott and Ferdin, somewhat flippant Henderson, martial arts trained Tochi and dedicated, pretty Cooper made up the main team, though they were soon joined by pint-sized Greene, an orphan who was rescued from a dying planet. Also scooting around was a robot, Peepo, voiced in a deliberately monotone way by the daughter of the producer Scheimer. Each episode pitted the team against some sort of outer space emergency or an alien presence or perhaps a fellow team member with an attitude problem (one of these was portrayed by Paula Wagner, future power player and business partner of Tom Cruise!) The kids were practically all earnest and sweet to death, though occasionally a difference of opinion or a bit of mischief, primarily by Greene, would provide some conflict. Everything was lorded over by Harris in his inimitable over-the-top acting style. Sporting near "Baby Jane Hudson" level makeup and a hair helmet made up of combed over, fuzzy S.O.S pad, he did occasionally come off as a bit preposterous, especially when a significant amount of derring do was required. Carrott, though fresh-scrubbed looking, was actually quite a bit older that the others and had even done a T&A movie or two before this! His thick northern accent came out frequently. Ferdin was by now a veteran child star. Her voice had developed into an almost cartoonish delivery, no doubt a side effect of the animated voice-over gigs she had landed previously. Her career only lasted a year or two beyond this. She and Tochi had appeared together in an original "Star Trek" episode. Here, he is more than a little "on," constantly shaking his hair and reacting in a very over-eager way to everything. Considering the time this was made and the budget available, the special effects are actually quite good! The seekers, small ships the team took to explore other planets or phenomenon, were partially based on and constructed from the main vehicle from "Ark II." There's a bouncy theme song to grab the attention. It must be said that, though the uniforms of the students are well made and inventive, they really display some seriously bad panty lines, especially on the guys for whatever reason. It's an undeniably cheesy and goofy spin on "Star Trek," sort of "Star Trek Jr.," but it's also a fun throwback to the simpler style of kiddie television. It also, like most every Filmation program, encourages good moral judgment and the importance of doing right.
-
montanasings26 January 2003Space Academy could have surpassed expectations IF it had been allowed more air-time to develop the plots and characters. The potential for this show is astounding. With the ensemble cast and the 'name' value for Mr. Harris, this show could have taken many directions. As a soap opera, a thriller, focus on science/education or pure science fiction/Tom Corbett style galactic-good-guy-show, this series is now seen as 'campy'. Why? Financial backing was limited; vision was short sighted. Pity. This show made its mark in several areas with their special effects and live-action spin-off to name a few.
If this show had been suggested today, I do not think it would have been made. This is sad; special effects technology alone would make this series outstanding. Space Academy was cut short in its prime; the actors and writers relegated to public obscurity unless supporters, the viewers, keep it alive. Thankfully, the decision to re-run the first year and allowing it to air in England, gave the few who did see it a good show that was just not allowed to live up to it's potential. -
Short lived space series starring Jonathan Harris. In childhood I felt that, in Space Academy, Jonathan Harris was just too unlike his Dr Smith character and I struggled to warm to 1970s Harris...I was a kid stuck in the 1960s! But it was not all bad news, in childhood, I remember being thrilled by some of the low budget alien planets seen in Space Academy. I discovered that the "special effects" guy in charge had no effects experience before Space Academy! Do you also remember Filmation's Ark 11 series? The bus-like vehicle in that series looks like a spacecraft in Space Academy. Space Academy deserves a DVD rental...mainly for the mild Lost In Space connection and the cool always used "Filmation music cues" that fill the series. There was a spin-off series - Jason of Star Command - which, after a bumpy first season, improved in year two.
-
The Space Academy idea is not new to sci-fi and so many independent writers have developed their own "academy" or shared with a previously developed idea and created parallel stories. I find that this series was underdeveloped in character and plot. Boy, would I like to either see more of the same idea (parameters of what a Space Academy "should be")or resurrect this one. The old cast members could be instructors with a new Blue Team...since young and charismatic continues to be the theme of current producers. This series was important to me. Not as a Jr. Star Trek but as a never tried before live action sci-fi series-with child actors. It allowed viewers (like children)to get a taste of sci-fi (and the possible future-I like Ark II for the same reason)that readers have been experiencing for years. As an impressionable young adult at the time, this type of series cemented my love not only for tv but for reading at a time I thought that I did not want to put much time into opening a book. It gave me the world and outer space,too. Can't beat that!
-
Jason-17322 June 2000If there was one show I wish I could see again, it's this one. This one, and maybe the time that dog took a crap in our back yard while hopping on one leg.
Synopsis: A group of high school kids run missions to save stalled freighters, starving aliens or to get groceries. All the while learning about readin', 'ritin, 'rithmatic, love, friendship, and why it's not a good idea to go in a dark cave on a distant planet without a sidearm.
The Space Academy shuttles were shaped like the Pink Pearl erasers we were issued at my school each September. I would usually spend my mornings flying the eraser between desks, landing on strange and exotic textbooks, and confronting hostile alien pencils.
The great Pam Ferdyn starred in this show, and seemingly everything else in those days (It seemed like Ike Eisenmann was in everything too). Unfortunately, the best actor on the show, 'Peepo' failed to find work after Space Academy. Whatever happened to 'Peepo?' Or, as I liked to call him, 'Peepoo.' -
powersroc25 October 2004This was an ambitious Saturday morning science fiction series which had some pretty cool model work & fx for its time. Plus, we all know that the live action Sat a.m. shows have tight budgets which doesn't make it easy to attain quality productions.My problem with the premise was that the academy instructors had no difficulty sending students out on dangerous missions that should have been for adult senior officers. These kids didn't even have an adult supervisor with them as they flew off in their Seeker spacecraft into potentially life threatening assignments. Does that make sense to you? The cadets at West Point, Annapolis, and the Air Force Academy have to at least graduate before being placed in harms way, and even then they are junior officers with superior officers over them. The premise simply wasn't realistic or practical, and that is a major drawback in any genre, especially for sci fi. An audience must have a willing suspension of disbelief. But don't ask us to discard logic or common sense because it suits you.
-
I had just been introduced to 'Lost In Space' not to many years earlier {our Portland, Ore. ABC affiliate station aired the Lost in Space series around the mid 1970's. (I think it started showing the series around 1973 or '74)}
When Space Acadamy came along and was airied in the Saturday morning time slot along with other cartoon and kid shows. I think the ABC station in Portland had just stopped showing the 'Lost in Space' series a year or two earlier and I had given up hope of seeing it comeback when along came Space Acadamy. Although I thought the series was a little corny at times (It could've been a really good series if the writers/people in charge had spent a little more time with the stories and/or developed the (Acadamy) series and/or characters a little further). The potential was definately there. I was very grateful to see Jonathan Harris once again, and this time the show he was on wasn't an older TV series that was in reruns, but a current one that was still in production; when I first saw it. It would have been really great if maybe some, if not all, of the cast members from 'Lost in Space', could have made a few guest appearences, and maybe even one or more of them, join the series* to help Jonathan guide the cadets. I was so glad to see Jonathan Harris again and wish things had went much better for the 'Space Academy' series and Jonathan Harris. By John B{oy} -
SPACE ACADEMY was a franchise that was designed to capitalize off of STAR WARS and the late 1970's science fiction explosion. The program was about teens in space training for duty in space only to get caught up with JAMES DOOHAN and the evil Doctor smith from LOST IN SPACE in intergalactic adventures and hijinks. Some of the sets and vehicles would be reused later on JASON OF STAR COMMAND to save money. The show was harmless family adventure fluff and was popular during it's run. The show was live action and not animated spomething no longer done in childrens shows as much anymore. I watched it as a kid, I liked it.
-
Sargebri22 November 2003This was one of those shows that was produced by Filmation that tried to teach a weekly morals lesson in the guise of a science fiction show. The only memorable thing about this series was the fact that Jonathan Harris, who played the villainous Doctor Smith on a true classic in "Lost in Space", is cast as the 300 year old mentor to a group of teen-age cadets as they explore the universe and take time each episode to learn a valuable life lesson. Unfortunately, to me this show was just produced as a way to cash in on the monster success of the classic film Star Wars, which had come out earlier that year. The plots were dumb and the all the characters weren't memorable at all. Too bad Jonathan Harris had to waste his talents on this turkey.
-
raysond30 September 2002In case those who wanted to see this ill-forgotten show from the mid-70's again,let me inform you that some of the episodes are available somewhere on video(in which I got the opportunity to see one of them)and let me tell you that this was totally ill-fated crap of an array of children's television of bad junk.The show was mostly seen on Saturday Mornings when it originally ran for one season on CBS. This show focuses on a group of high school kids who were aboard a spaceship academy that was commanded by the school leader/or principal(played by Jonathan Harris,aka Dr. Zachery Smith of the Lost In Space TV series),and his assistant/science officer(played by James Doohan,aka Mister Scott,or 'Scotty' from the Star Trek TV show)somewhere going through unchartered worlds in the remote reaches of the galaxy.
I totally agree with the other comment about the special effects since some of the props look so store-brought,especially with the spaceship that looks like one of those big pink erasers that were picked up for the art supplies aisle at the nearby K-Mart. You can tell that the company that produced this show,Filmation Productions were responsible for this since during the 1970's they cranked out a lot of cheesy shows including "Shazam!","Isis","Ark One",and "Jason Of Star Command"--in which the same special effects were used again for other shows to save production costs.
Sorry piece of children's television at its complete worst.