Ernest Borgnine Had A Villainous Role On TV's First Sci-Fi Show

With over 200 film and television credits on his resume, the late Ernest Borgnine has had his fair share of memorable TV characters. But there's an obscure villain role from his early days that never reached the heights of characters such as Commander Quinton McHale from "McHale's Navy" or Mermaid Man from "SpongeBob SquarePants."

In 1951, the future Hollywood legend was busy terrorizing the cosmos on what's considered to be the very first science-fiction TV series: "Captain Video and His Video Rangers." Debuting on the DuMont Television Network in June 1949, the live, groundbreaking serial followed the titular Captain (initially played by Richard Coogan, and later Al Hodge) and his teenage sidekick (Don Hastings) as they defended mankind from interplanetary threats across the solar system. One of those threats was played by Borgnine, and it is his fourth acting credit.

The then-fledgling actor joined the show's rogues' gallery as Nargola, an outer-space tyrant who gave the Captain a run for his money. Nargola was described as a "power-mad dictator of the planet Heitok" (via IMDb). He was fond of using his evil gadgets against his opponents, such as mind-reading machines that allowed him to control his captures, even extracting vital secrets and intelligence.

Borgnine would fill the boots of Nargola for 12 episodes, but he wasn't the only noteworthy name involved with the series. There was also some well-known talent working behind the camera. Despite the laughably low production value, the show took its sci-fi seriously, eventually hiring legendary authors like Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke to write scripts. (Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" is now an Apple TV series.)

Because the series was an early live TV production operating on a shoestring budget — rumored to be a measly $25 a week for props — the set pieces were famously cheap, utilizing cardboard spaceships and gadgets constructed from car mufflers. To stretch their resources, early episodes even featured jarring cutaways to old Western films, which were explained away as the adventures of the Captain's "undercover agents" on Earth.

"Captain Video and His Video Rangers" was an absolute smash hit, captivating both kids and adults. It aired live five to six nights a week, commanding a massive primetime audience. Its cultural footprint was huge; 1952 Democratic presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson even delayed a political announcement because he knew he couldn't compete with the broadcast. Ultimately, the series enjoyed a six-year run, wrapping up its interstellar adventures in April 1955. Though very few episodes survive today, you can find some remnants on YouTube, Tubi, and the Internet Archive.