Space Patrol: TV Comic Holiday Special 1965

Space Patrol in the TV Comic Holiday Special 1965

The TV Comic Holiday Special appeared in the spring of 1965. This 48 page publication was a treat for science fiction fans with the first appearance of Doctor Who (which started in TV Comic a few weeks after Space Patrol) and included a photo feature on the BBC series.

As TV Comic's other main telefantasy strip, Space Patrol was represented on the cover with Larry Dart joining in with other regular characters in the fun of a fairground joy ride while a Galasphere hovers behind some trees in the background. Space Patrol artist Bill Mevin was responsible for this cover and many other of the annuals and specials for TV Comic in the 1960s:

"I was very pleased with them," he recalls, "As I could simulate so many different styles. I think I'm unique in the fact I have drawn such a variety of styles so accurately."

Inside, fans of Space Patrol were treated to two stories - a three page text story illustrated by photos and a double page colour strip, again drawn by Bill Mevin.

The Monsters: (3 pages, pages 5-7)
Written by Roberta Leigh

Two Galaspheres, commanded by Captain Fowler and Lieutenant Roget, have been testing a new device called a Vitascope which scans for life on alien worlds and transmits images. Newly discovered planet M17, seen through the Vitascope, seems inhabited by terrifying monsters and Fowler gives the order not to land. However, in Galasphere 774, Lieutenant Fowler - jealous of Fowler's recent promotion over him - disobeys and lands...
On their return to Earth, Captain Fowler is court-martialed as Roget's report indicates M17 to be uninhabited. Colonel Raeburn sends Captain Larry Dart and the crew of Galasphere 347, along with Professor Haggarty, to the planet to verify who is telling the truth. From orbit, using the Vitascope, it seems as if Fowler was right. But on landing, the crew find a peaceful uninhabited landscape of green moss - just as Roget described!
Galasphere 347 returns to Earth, and Raeburn is bemused when Dart verifies both men's stories. But Haggarty has already solved the mystery. The Vitascope was designed to local and focus in on life, which it did accurately. Too accurately, as the life on M17 is microscopic bacteria and small creatures living in the moss. With no indication of size, the microbes of the alien world appeared as terrifying monsters!

out of 5

Notes:
• An effective little story, feeling very faithful to the series and predating the idea behind the UFO story 'Close Up' by a few years.
• This is the only Space Patrol story to mention other Galasphere crews by actual names.
• The Vitascope is described as 'a device that could be carried in almost any spaceship, and from an orbit within two hundred miles of a planet's surface, the instrument would detect any form of life on that world by a highly condensed bombardment of micro-waves, and focus selected scenes of the planet's life upon a video-screen inside the ship'.
• However, and not wanting to appear picky, wouldn't a 'bombardment of micro-waves' fry anything it hit?.

Strip Story: (Double page spread, pages 24 & 25)
Written by Roberta Leigh
Drawn by Bill Mevin

Galasphere 347 is on its way to Mars and Husky is looking forward spending a week's holiday on his home planet. But the Martian has talked so much about it that Professor Haggarty is already sick of it. Mischievously, the professor puts a pill in Husky's drink...
A short time later, Husky complains of feeling ill and spiral spots start to appear on his face - Martian Measles! Strict laws forbid anyone with the illness to mix with other people so Husky would have to remain on the Galasphere while on Mars. Haggarty cannot contain his mirth and confesses, giving Husky an antidote to the pill, which only gives the look of Martian Measles.
But as Galasphere 347 lands on Mars itself, spiral spots appear on Haggarty's face too. He really has Martian Measles, and for his pains he is the one who has to remain quarantined!

out of 5

Notes:
• A short and moral little tale, as one would expect from Roberta Leigh.
• The artwork seems to have an extra little 'polish' to it, with nicely rendered frames of the main characters and the Galasphere.
• The story also features a small dining area for the crew on the Galasphere, something you always suspected existed but which was never seen in the series.
• This would appear to be the only Space Patrol strip to featire a landing on a known planet other than Earth, in this case Mars, even though we see little if anything of the planet itself.
• The Space Patrol title flash is yellow, rather than blue, but around the same time the one in the regular weekly strip changed to match the one seen in the Special (in issue 695).