Tom Corbett, Space Cadet: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

Tom Corbett is the main character in a series of Tom Corbett, Space Cadet stories that were depicted in television, radio, books, comic books, comic strips, and other media in the 1950's. The stories followed the adventures of Corbett, Astro, originally Roger Manning and later T.J. Thistle, cadets at the Space Academy as they train to become members of the Solar Guard. The action takes place at the Academy in classrooms and bunkrooms, aboard their training ship the rocket cruiser Polaris, and on alien worlds, both within the solar system and in orbit around nearby stars.

Joseph Lawrence Greene of Grosset & Dunlap developed Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, inspired by the Robert A. Heinlein novel Space Cadet (1948) but based on his own prior work. Greene had submitted a radio script for "Tom Ranger" and the "Space Cadets" on January 16, 1946, but it remained unperformed when Heinlein's novel was published. Greene then reworked his radio script into a script for a daily newspaper adventure strip, which was never produced. Tom Corbett first appeared on television. The stories initially closely followed the scripts written for the unpublished newspaper comic strip Tom Ranger, Space Cadet, by Joseph Greene from 1949.

Tom Corbett is one of only six TV series to appear on all four networks of the time.

CBS from October 2 to December 1950 ABC from January 1951 to September 1952 NBC from July to September 1951 DuMont from August 1953 to May 1954 NBC again from December 1954 to June 1955, with the final broadcast on June 25, 1955.

Series details

• Title: Tom Corbett, Space Cadet
• Format: Scripted
• Language: English
• Genres: Action, Adventure, Science-Fiction
• Premiere date: 1950-10-02
• Final broadcast date listed: 1955-06-25
• Status in TVmaze: Ended
• Network listed by TVmaze: NBC
• Network country: United States
• Typical episode runtime: 23 minutes
• TVMaze ID: 10632

Cast and credited roles

• Frankie Thomas — Tom Corbett
• Al Markim — Astro
• Jan Merlin — Roger Manning
• Jack Grimes — T.J. Thistle
• Ed Bryce — Captain Steve Strong
• Carter Blake — Commander Arkwright
• Frank Sutton — Eric Raddison
• Margaret Garland — Dr. Joan Dale

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1: premiered 1950-10-02; final listed air date 1950-10-02.
• Season 4: premiered 1955-06-25; final listed air date 1955-06-25.

Source and licence

Adapted from Tom Corbett, Space Cadet on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.