Then-billed as Susan O'Hanlon, the attractive young actress portrayed a strong, intelligent Star Command officer, and - to the credit of Filmation's writers - was never shown as a helpless damsel-in-distress nor in any way inferior to her male colleagues.
Before Jason, Susan had bit parts on a number of television series, including Filmation's Shazam! Upon completing her tour of duty with Star Command, she moved into soap operas, with long runs on General Hospital, Guiding Light and All My Children.
I remember being terribly disappointed when season two of "Jason of Star Command" rolled around and learning that Nicole had been replaced. In hindsight, that was a terrible disservice to Tamara Dobson.
ReplyDeleteDAYUM!...lol Just found your blog through a tweet with Greg Rucka (awesome effin guy) and I'm BLOWN AWAY! I watched ALL of this stuff as a kid. Even "Jason of Star Command". Do you remember a truly bad space flick called "Message from Space" with the late great Vic Morrow? It's schlocky, poorly made, but HELLA fun to watch.
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking me up on my suggestion for Space Babes this month. The month is off to a good start with me.
ReplyDeleteAfter all these years, she still pwns me with her eyes.
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(hard to believe it's been 33 years)
Eric Bass: Welcome to Space: 1970. Not only do I remember Message From Space, but I think considerably more highly of it than you do. If you look over in the sidebar, you'll find that Message even has its own category here at Space: 1970.
ReplyDeleteAWESOME! And my apologies. I do have a great deal of affection for that films. In fact all of those films from that era (Battle beyond the Stars, comes to mind).
ReplyDeleteWow! What a hottie -- and she's proof that 70's hair-styles will make a comeback in the future! She'd give those typical Buck Roger's babes a run for their money on any given day (except for Erin and Pamela).
ReplyDeleteFunny, I don't remember Saturday morning being so...shapely.
ReplyDelete70's style haircuts will make a comeback? I think in some cases, they already have... at least the early 70's (carried over from the late 60's) straight long-haired look seems to be popular among girls in the Midwest US these days. (Haven't seen the feathered "Farrah" look yet, though.)
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What a HOTTIE! And how in the world did that outfit get past the censors---look at that top, the dividing line only draws attention to her breats! I liked her a lot back in the day (although I'm sure I paid more attention to the spaceships and robots than her chest...LOL) The only girl I liked more in Saturday morning television was Pamelyn Ferdin's character Laura Gentry on Space Academy.
ReplyDeleteNicole is definitely a forerunner to Babylon 5's Susan Ivanova as played by Claudia Christian and Tracy Scoggins as Elizabeth Lochley.
The seventies were a sensual time, even in family entertainment. As for the outfit, I can see the censors saying, "All right, we'll compromise. We'll let her have the form-fitting top, but she'll have to wear baggy trousers so the dads and older boys don't get too excited."
ReplyDeleteAfter seeing this photo I went straight to Amazon and bought Filmations Sci Fi Box set (It's worth every penny) What's amazing is that I had cloudy memories of a Han Solo-like character who starred in a saturday morning TV series, but for the life of me I could not remember what it was. Not only was it Jason Of Star Command, but it also starred Susan Pratt who is a 10+ in my book. Thanks for the info on this series. It's a mystery that has been bugging me for 30+ years!
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