“Contact has been established. We now transmit you direct to the laboratory of Captain Z-Ro! Please stand by.”
From his secret laboratory “somewhere in a remote uncharted region” of the Earth, Captain Z-Ro (Roy Steffens, who also created, wrote and directed the show) and his associates used their time machine – the ZX-99 – to visit historical events, sharing adventures and educating children in the process.
The satanic-looking Captain or his Young assistant Jet (originally played by 15-year-old Bobby Trumbull) would step into the Materialization Chamber and be sent to a past era where they would attempt to assist the likes of Christopher Columbus, Daniel Boone, George Washington, Leonardo Da Vinci, Marco Polo, Magellan, William Tell and Attila the Hun (!)
Together, the pair intervened in the Revolutionary War, the signing of the Magna Carta, and the Californian Gold Rush.
Captain Z-Ro originally aired in 1951 as a weekly 15-minute programme on KRON-TV in San Francisco and was a local favourite for three years before being picked up for national syndication, where it was expanded to a 30-minute format.
Roy Steffens passed away on 2 August 2012, aged 98.
Captain Z-Ro
Roy Steffens Jet
Bobby Trumbull
Jeff Silvers
Bruce Haynes
The satanic-looking Captain or his Young assistant Jet (originally played by 15-year-old Bobby Trumbull) would step into the Materialization Chamber and be sent to a past era where they would attempt to assist the likes of Christopher Columbus, Daniel Boone, George Washington, Leonardo Da Vinci, Marco Polo, Magellan, William Tell and Attila the Hun (!)
