The Nova Blue Team is a group of young cadets assigned for training on the man-made planetoid Space Academy in the year 3732.
Under the guidance of 300-year-old Commander Isaac Gampu (played by Jonathan ‘Dr Smith’ Harris of Lost In Space fame), and assisted by Lieutenant Paul Jerome (Ty Henderson), the crew encountered new life forms, planets and civilisations as part of their mission.
One of the first things they encountered was Loki (Eric Greene), a young boy with the power of invisibility.
A playful prankster, Loki could also teleport and could see well beyond the visible spectrum normally accessible by Earth humans. His frequent catchphrase was “Camelopardus!”
The cadets were Chris Gentry (Ric Carrott), his sister Laura (Pamelyn Ferdin), Tee Gar Soom (Brian Tochi) and Adrian Pryce-Jones (Maggie Cooper). Aiding them in their mission was Peepo, a pint-sized robot with its own personality.
Each adventure provided a learning experience for the crew and almost all of the stories had a moral to them.
Space Academy was the highest-budgeted Saturday morning TV show up to that time, costing $150,000 per episode.
Designers created a four-foot-long plastic model for the space base and Christmas lights were used to represent stars, all of which looked fairly impressive for a Saturday morning show. Scientific accuracy, though, was another matter. For example, one show had the crew pass through a black hole with nary a problem.
After running one year of original shows and a second of repeats, some of the show’s footage and its mascot, Peepo the small robot, reappeared in its quasi-spin-off follow-up, Jason of Star Command
Commander Isaac Gampu
Jonathan Harris
Lieutenant Paul Jerome
Ty Henderson Captain Chris Gentry
Ric Carrott
Cadet Laura Gentry
Pamelyn Ferdin
Cadet Adrian Pryce-Jones
Maggie Cooper
Cadet Tee Gar Soom
Brian Tochi
Loki
Eric Greene
Episodes
The Survivors of Zalon | Castaways in Time and Space | Hide and Seek | Countdown | There’s No Place Like Home | The Rocks of Janus | Monkey Business | The Phantom Planet | Planet of Fire | Life Begins at 300 | The Cheat | My Favorite Marcia | Space Hooky | Star Legend | Johnny Sunseed
Big World of Little Adam, The 1 9 6 5 (USA) 110 x 5 minute episodes Back in the days of Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, nothing got a kid’s heart pumping…
Jason of Star Command 1 9 7 8 - 1 9 8 1 (USA) 16 x 15 minute episodes 12 x 30 minute episodes This…
Space Sentinels (The Young Sentinels) 1 9 7 7 (USA) 13 x 30 minute episodes “Many centuries ago, three athletes were transported from their native lands…
Squad, The 1 9 8 0 (UK) 12 x 25 minute episodes This early afternoon series from Thames Television was aimed at a…
Stranger from Space 1 9 5 1 - 1 9 5 2 (UK) 17 x 10 minute episodes A Martian boy called Bilaphodorous…
Space Ghost Coast to Coast 1 9 9 4 - 1 9 9 9 (USA) 76 x 15 minute/30 minute episodes 5 x specials Space…
The cadets were Chris Gentry (Ric Carrott), his sister Laura (Pamelyn Ferdin), Tee Gar Soom (Brian Tochi) and Adrian Pryce-Jones (Maggie Cooper). Aiding them in their mission was Peepo, a pint-sized robot with its own personality.
