THE LOST PLANET
15 CHAPTER SERIAL
1953

The Lost Planet is a 1953 Columbia Pictures 15-chapter serial which has the distinction of being the last interplanetary-themed sound serial ever made. It was directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet with a screenplay by George H. Plympton and Arthur Hoerl (who also wrote for Rocky Jones, Space Ranger). It appears to have been planned as a sequel to the earlier chapterplay Captain Video: Master of the Stratosphere and shares many plot-points, props and sets, as well as some of the same cast. However, the Video Rangers do not appear, and their uniforms are instead worn by "slaves" created electronically by Reckov, the dictator of the Lost Planet (Gene Roth) with the help of mad scientist Dr. Grood (Michael Fox) and enslaved "good" scientist Professor Dorn (Forrest Taylor). Unlike the Captain Video serial, The Lost Planet has a female character, Professor Dorn's daughter Ella (Vivian Mason) who strides about the Lost Planet (Bronson Canyon) in a fetching female version of the Video Ranger uniform. The hero is not Captain Video, but a newspaper reporter, Rex Barrow, played by Judd Holdren (who had previously played Captain Video and Commando Cody).

PLOT:
Dr. Grood (Michael Fox) has succeeded in winning control over the planet Ergro as the first step in his desired conquest of the Universe. Reporter Rex Barrow (Judd Holdren), his photographer Tim Johnson (Ted Thorpe), Professor Edmund Dorn (Forrest Taylor) and his daughter Ella (Vivian Mason) are all captured by Grood, who plans to make use of the professor's knowledge. With the help of the professor's inventions, Rex is able to free Ergro of Grood's domination, while Grood is sent on an endless voyage into space.

CAST:
Judd Holdren .... Rex Barrow
Vivian Mason .... Ella Dorn
Michael Fox .... Dr. Ernst Grood
Forrest Taylor .... Prof. Edmund Dorn
Gene Roth .... Reckov
Ted Thorpe .... Tim Johnson
Karl 'Killer' Davis .... Karlo, aka Robot R-4
Jack George .... Jarva
Frederic Berest .... Alden
John L. Cason .... Hopper
Lee Roberts .... Wesley Brenn, aka Robot R-9
Nick Stuart .... Darl
Leonard Penn .... Ken Wopler
I. Stanford Jolley .... Robot No. 9
Joseph Mell .... Lah

CHAPTERS:
1. Mystery of the Guided Missile
2. Trapped by the Axial Propeller
3. Blasted by the Thermic Disintegrator
4. The Mind Control Machine
5. The Atomic Plane
6. Disaster in the Stratosphere
7. Snared by the Prysmic Catapult
8. Astray in Space
9. The Hypnotic Ray Machine
10. To Free the Planet People
11. Dr. Grood Defies Gravity
12. Trapped in a Cosmo Jet
13. The Invisible Enemy
14. In the Grip of the De-Thermo Ray
15. Sentenced to Space

RUNNING TIME: 255 MIN