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New documentary sheds light on "Voyagees"
What are we to make of “Voyagees,” the hard-core fanatics of the long-running scientifiction serial Space Voyage? That’s the premise of a new radio documentary, “Voyagees.”
Hosted by a former Space Voyage: The New Fleet actress, “Voyagees” details the level of obsession that fanatics of the serial will go through to indulge in their passions.
For those not in the know, Space Voyage began life many decades ago, as a new radio serial from the producer of several western and police serials. It told the story of the crew of the SS Ingenuity, a space ship on a twenty-year mission to explore the vast diversity of species and cultures that exist in the uncharted frontier that lies between the Moon and Planet Mars.
Though low rated, the original Space Voyage lasted three years, before being unfortunately cancelled before it could finish its story in progress. (Many fanatics lamented the unresolved cliffhanger, in which Ingenuity Captain James Kirk was imprisoned in the Great Red Spot, an alien prison on the surface of Jupiter.)
For decades, though, fanatics of the original Voyage — now calling themselves “Voyagees” — kept hope alive. As detailed in the documentary, they circulated reel-to-reel tapes of the program, as well as writing and performing their own “fanatic serials,” in which the original program’s cliffhangers were resolved in various ways. In one, Cpt. Kirk was killed and replaced by his first officer, Professor Spock, who avenged his death by killing the entire species of Jupiterians. In another, Kirk’s imprisonment was imagined to be a mere ploy by a powerful creature made entirely of electricity. And in perhaps the most infamous variation, the Great Red Spot was revealed to be not a prison at all, but a resort in which the crew of the Ingenuity spent many years with romantic entanglements more akin to a soap-opera than a space-opera.
All the hubub about Space Voyage led, in time, to a renewal of the serial. Though fanatics rejoiced, Space Voyage II was a failure, due to both the impenetrable Moby-Dick-influenced storyline and the obvious aging of the voices of the main actors. After one season, it was replaced by the much more popular Space Voyage: The New Fleet. After seven years of the adventures of Capt. John Lucas and his crew — including an automatic-mannikin named Zero One — the serial was more popular than ever. In the intervening years, enthusiasts have also embraced Space Voyage: Mars Outpost Nine, Space Voyage: Voyage of the Doomed, and The First Space Voyage, though none of those serials could match the popularity of the original.
“Voyagees” is an entertaining look at the history of the serial and the culture of its devoted fans. But there is one question that the program does not address, which makes one wonder: If Space Voyage could engender such fanatic devotion, why did the similar Flash Gordon and its trail of failed sequels (most notably Flash Gordon Space Station Babylon) not do the same?
Only Ming the Merciless knows for sure.