Captain Future


Captain Future is a science fiction hero—a space-traveling scientist and adventurer—originally published in a namesake pulp magazine from 1940 to 1944. The character was created by editor Mort Weisinger and principally authored by Edmond Hamilton. There have subsequently been a number of [|adaptations and derivative works]. Significant was a 1978-79 Japanese [|anime], which was dubbed into several languages and proved very popular, particularly in Spanish, French, German, Italian and Arabic.

Origins

Although sometimes mistakenly attributed to science fiction writer Edmond Hamilton, who indeed authored most of the Captain Future stories, the character was created by Better Publications editor Mort Weisinger during the 1st World Science Fiction Convention in 1939.
The original character was published by Ned Pines' Thrilling/Standard/Better publications company. A different Captain Future was published in Pine's Nedor Comics line.

Published stories and art

The stories were published in American pulp magazines from 1940 to 1951, featuring bright-colored cover illustrations by Earle K. Bergey and two fellow pulp artists. Captain Future's originating adventures appeared in his eponymous magazine, which ran from 1940 to 1944, coinciding with World War II. Bergey painted twelve of the seventeen Captain Future covers, and all ten subsequent Startling Stories covers under which additional Captain Future novels and novelettes were published. Of note, Bergey's art for Captain Future, beginning with the third issue, marks the start of his groundbreaking work in the fields of science fiction and fantasy illustration.
While the first four issues of the Captain Future pulp are subtitled, "Wizard of Science," the remaining thirteen issues bear the header, "Man of Science," shifting focus to the humanity of the titular hero, whose given name is Curtis Newton. A brilliant scientist and adventurer, Newton roams the solar system as Captain Future—solving problems, righting wrongs, and vanquishing futuristic supervillains. Published by Better Publications, an imprint of the expansive Thrilling Group of pulps, Captain Future gave readers the only explicitly science fiction and fantasy pulp hero in the history of American pulps.
The series contains a number of assumptions about the solar system which are outlandish by modern standards but which still seemed plausible, at least to the general public, in the time the stories were written. All of the planets of the solar system, and many of the moons and asteroids, are suitable for life, and most are already occupied by humanoid extraterrestrial races. The initial adventures take place in the planets of the solar system but later stories take the hero to other stars, other dimensions and even the distant past and almost to the end of the Universe. For example, they visit the star Deneb, which is the origin of Earth humans, as well as many other humanoid races across the Solar System and beyond.

Plot

The series was originally set in 1990; as the series progressed, Hamilton quickly stopped using exact dates, sticking with a series continuity. In later stories, if the date was asked or revealed, it was done so discreetly.
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The series begins when genius scientist Roger Newton, his wife Elaine, and his fellow scientist Simon Wright leave planet Earth to do research in an isolated laboratory on the moon, and to escape the predations of Victor Corvo, a criminal politician who wished to use Newton's inventions for his own gain. Simon's body is old and diseased and Roger enables him to continue doing research by transplanting his healthy brain into an artificial case. Working together, the two scientists create an intelligent robot called Grag, and an android with shape-shifting abilities called Otho. One day, Corvo arrives on the moon and murders the Newtons; but before he can reap the fruits of his atrocity, Corvo and his killers are in turn slain by Grag and Otho.
The deaths of the Newtons leave their son, Curtis, to be raised by the unlikely trio of Otho, Grag, and Simon Wright. Under their tutelage, Curtis grows up to be a brilliant scientist and as strong and fast as any champion athlete. He also grows up with a strong sense of responsibility and hopes to use his scientific skills to help people. With that goal in his mind, he calls himself Captain Future; Simon, Otho and Grag are referred to as the Futuremen in subsequent stories. Other recurring characters in the series are the old space marshal Ezra Gurney, the beautiful Planet Patrol agent Joan Randall, and James Carthew, President of the Solar System whose office is in New York City and who calls upon Future in extreme need.
Captain Future faces many enemies in his career but his archenemy is Ul Quorn, who is the only recurring villain in the series and appears in two different stories. He is part Martian—therefore called the Magician of Mars—but also the son of Victor Kaslan, who murdered the Newtons. Quorn is a scientist whose abilities rival those of Captain Future.

Stories

Captain Future, Startling Stories and Amazing Stories magazines
IssueStory TitleAuthorPublication TitlePublication DateNotes
1Captain Future and the Space EmperorEdmond HamiltonCaptain FutureWinter 1940reprinted with the same title
2Calling Captain FutureEdmond HamiltonCaptain FutureSpring 1940reprinted with the same title
3Captain Future's ChallengeEdmond HamiltonCaptain FutureSummer 1940reprinted with the same title
4The Triumph of Captain FutureEdmond HamiltonCaptain FutureFall 1940reprinted as "Galaxy Mission"
5Captain Future and the Seven Space StonesEdmond HamiltonCaptain FutureWinter 1941
6Star Trail to GloryEdmond HamiltonCaptain FutureSpring 1941
7The Magician of MarsEdmond HamiltonCaptain FutureSummer 1941reprinted with the same title
8The Lost World of TimeEdmond HamiltonCaptain FutureFall 1941
9Quest Beyond the StarsEdmond HamiltonCaptain FutureWinter 1942reprinted with the same title
10Outlaws of the MoonEdmond HamiltonCaptain FutureSpring 1942reprinted with the same title
11The Comet KingsEdmond HamiltonCaptain FutureSummer 1942reprinted with the same title
12Planets in PerilEdmond HamiltonCaptain FutureFall 1942reprinted with the same title
13The Face of the DeepEdmond HamiltonCaptain FutureWinter 1943
14Worlds to ComeJoseph Samachson as William MorrisonCaptain FutureSpring 1943
15Star of DreadEdmond HamiltonCaptain FutureSummer 1943
16Magic MoonEdmond HamiltonCaptain FutureWinter 1944
17Days of CreationJoseph Samachson as William MorrisonCaptain FutureSpring 1944reprinted as "The Tenth Planet"
18Red Sun of DangerEdmond HamiltonStartling StoriesSpring 1945reprinted as "Danger Planet"
19Outlaw WorldEdmond HamiltonStartling StoriesWinter 1946reprinted with the same title
20The Solar InvasionManly Wade WellmanStartling StoriesFall 1946reprinted with the same title
SS01The Return of Captain FutureEdmond HamiltonStartling StoriesJanuary 1950
SS02Children of the SunEdmond HamiltonStartling StoriesMay 1950
SS03The Harpers of TitanEdmond HamiltonStartling StoriesSeptember 1950reprinted as part of Doctor Cyclops
SS04Pardon My Iron NervesEdmond HamiltonStartling StoriesNovember 1950
SS05Moon of the UnforgottenEdmond HamiltonStartling StoriesJanuary 1951
SS06Earthmen No MoreEdmond HamiltonStartling StoriesMarch 1951
SS07Birthplace of CreationEdmond HamiltonStartling StoriesMay 1951-
Side StoryTreasure on Thunder MoonEdmond HamiltonAmazing StoriesApril 1942see explanation in notes below
Side StoryForgotten WorldEdmond HamiltonThrilling Wonder StoriesWinter 1946see explanation in notes below

;Notes
; Captain Future : A tall, athletic and handsome man with red hair, Captain Future was born on the moon as Curtis Newton. After the death of his parents, he was trained by Professor Simon, Otho and Grag in all scientific and athletic pursuits necessary to fight crime and injustice across the solar system.
; Prof. Simon Wright : A human brain living in a transparent, nuclear-powered life support case, with tentacle-mounted optics. He is Captain Future's mentor and chief consultant in scientific matters.
; Grag and Otho: Grag is a seven-foot-tall metallic robot; Otho is a white-skinned android. Both were created by Roger Newton with artificial intelligence and human emotions to be friends and helpers to mankind. Grag and Otho have a friendly rivalry in the stories. Grag is big and strong, but not very bright, while Otho is quick-witted, agile, and able to radically alter his physical appearance.
; Eek and Oog : Grag and Otho's pets, respectively. Eek is a moonpup, a canine-like creature which does not need air to survive and consumes soft metals for food. Oog is an amorphous creature called a mimic, an artificially created pet that can change its shape as Otho does. Both are telepathic, and are very attached to their respective master.
; Joan Randall : A beautiful female agent of the Planetary Police on Earth, with brunette hair. While she and Curtis share a mutual romantic attraction, their respective duties and Curtis' social awkwardness prevent them from taking their relationship to a significant depth.
; Marshall Ezra Gurney : A high-ranking veteran officer in the Planetary Police.
; Ul Quorn : Son of Victor Corvo, the man who murdered Captain Future's parents. While a scientific genius, he has chosen to use his intellect for evil purposes.
; Johnny Kirk : A young orphan boy and a dedicated fan of the Futuremen. During his debut appearance in "The Magician of Mars", he impresses Captain Future with his determination to become one of his crew, and is later entrusted to Joan and the Planetary Police to be trained as a future crewmember. He appears in the anime series in an expanded role and under the new name Ken Scott.

Adaptations and other derivative works

Anime

In 1978, one year after Hamilton's death, Toei Animation of Japan produced a Captain Future anime television series of 53 episodes, based on 13 stories. Despite the differences in cultural references and medium, the animated series was true to the original in many ways, from the didactic scientific explanations to the emphasis on the usefulness of brains as opposed to brawn.
The series was translated in several languages and distributed globally. The four episodes comprising the series' second story arc were dubbed into English and released on video by ZIV International in the early 1980s as The Adventures of Captain Future. In the late 1980s, Harmony Gold dubbed the series' initial four-part story as an edited "TV movie" simply entitled Captain Future, but with alterations regarding some character names. A Blu-ray Box in Japanese only was released in September, 2016 and November, 2016. A German "Limited Collectors Edition" Blu-ray Box was released in December 2016, featuring not only the remastered Japanese uncut version but also the heavily cut German version.
While only eight episodes in total were dubbed into English, the series met huge success particularly in France, where the title and lead character's name were changed to "Capitaine Flam", in Italy with the translated title of "Capitan Futuro", in Latin America and Spain with the title "Capitán Futuro", in Taiwan with the title "太空突擊隊". The Arabic-language version has the title of فارس الفضاء and was broadcast many times during the 1980s.
The series was also broadcast in Germany, where it appeared under its original title. However, this version was cut by about a quarter of the original length, which mainly affected violent scenes or those considered "expendable" for the storylines.

Score

The original incidental music was composed by Yuji Ohno, while the English-dubbed version had a new soundtrack composed by Mark Mercury. Mercury's work survived on the Latin American version, but a new opening was added for it, composed by Shuki Levy and sung by Chilean performer Juan Guillermo Aguirre.
For the German version, a completely new soundtrack was created by German composer :de:Christian Bruhn|Christian Bruhn. To this day, the futuristic synth disco funk soundtrack is considered cult for giving the series the right feeling. A soundtrack CD was released in 1995. A remix of the theme Feinde greifen an by German DJ Phil Fuldner, called "The Final", entered the top ten of the German and Austrian single charts in 1998. The German publisher :de:Bastei-Verlag|Bastei-Verlag released a Captain Future comic series with original adventures.

Episodes

"The Death of Captain Future"

The Death of Captain Future is a novella by Allen Steele about a man named Bo McKinnon who collects "ancient pulp magazines" and acts out an elaborate fantasy life based on the Captain Future stories. It won the 1996 Hugo Award for Best Novella. In the story, as in the real world, Captain Future is a fictional pulp character. The Exile of Evening Star continues and concludes the storyline; it includes many quotes from the original magazine novels.
Steele's novel Avengers of the Moon features Captain Future as its protagonist, and has all the main characters from the original pulp fiction stories.
He also wrote "Captain Future in Love" and "The Guns of Pluto". He has modernized the stories while remaining faithful to the spirit and world of Hamilton's characters.

Feature film

In March 2010, it was announced that German Director Christian Alvart secured the film rights for Captain Future and is working on a live-action adaptation in 3D.
In 2015, a short trailer of a CGI version of Captain Future by Prophecy FX was leaked. The trailer was said to be a study for a yet-undisclosed project. In March 2016, Chris Alvart confirmed in an interview on a RocketBeansTV podcast to have acquired the design rights from TOEI Animation so that the movie will have the look and feel of the animated series.

Other appearances

Calling Captain Future is notable for naming three moons of Pluto as Charon, Styx, and Cerberus after mythological characters associated with the Greek god Pluto; by chance, all three names were later used for moons of Pluto.