Captain Future

This article is about the pulp magazine character. For the American science fiction magazine this character's stories were originally published in, see Captain Future (magazine). For the comic superhero, see Captain Future (Nedor Comics). For the Canadian football player, see Curtis Newton (Canadian football).

Publication information
Publisher	Thrilling Publications
First appearance	Captain Future
Created by	Mort Weisinger, Leo Margulies
In-story information
Alter ego	Curtis Newton
Supporting character of	Simon Wright Grag Otho Prof. Simon Wright Joan Randall Marshall Ezra Gurney Ul Quorn

Captain Future is a pulp science fiction hero — a space-traveling scientist and adventurer —originally published in his namesake pulp magazine from 1940 to 1944. The character was created by editors Mort Weisinger and Leo Margulies. The majority of the stories were authored by Edmond Hamilton. A number of adaptations and derivative works. Significant was a 1978-79 Japanese anime (キャプテン・フューチャー), which was dubbed into several languages and proved popular, particularly in Spanish, French, German, Italian and Arabic. His francophone name is Capitaine Flam.

Origins

File:Captain Future 1940 Summmer.jpg

Third issue featuring Earle K. Bergey's debut art for the title.

File:Captain Future 1941 Winter.jpg

Famous close-up portrait cover by Bergey, 1941 Winter.

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 editors Mort Weisinger and Leo Margulies 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.

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 Tomorrow," 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 makes assumptions about the solar system which are outlandish by modern standards but which still seemed plausible, at least to most readers, when the stories were written. Every one of the planets of the solar system, and many of the moons and asteroids, are suitable for life; most are occupied by humanoid extraterrestrials. The initial adventures take place in the planets of the solar system. Later installments (after Captain Future invents the "vibration drive") take the hero to other stars, other dimensions and even the distant past and almost to the end of the Universe. As an example, they visit the star Deneb, who are the origin of Earth humans, as well as many other humanoids across the Solar System and beyond.

Story overview

Initially, the story was set in 1990. Hamilton quickly avoided exact dates except for past events such as the voyages of the astronauts who first landed on most of the other planets of the Solar System. In later stories, if the date was asked or revealed, it was done so discreetly.

File:Startling Stories 1950 Jan cover.jpg

Iconic Captain Future cover from Startling Stories January 1950, painted by Earle K. Bergey.

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 (originally: Victor Kaslan), 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 (originally immobile—carried around by Grag—later equipped with lifter units). 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 (who provides a love interest for Curtis), 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 Corvo, who murdered the Newtons. Quorn is a scientist whose abilities rival those of Captain Future.

Stories

Issue	Story Title	Author	Publication Title	Publication Date	Notes
1	Captain Future and the Space Emperor	Edmond Hamilton	Captain Future	Winter 1940	Reprinted under the same title
2	Calling Captain Future	Edmond Hamilton	Captain Future	Spring 1940	Reprinted under the same title
3	Captain Future's Challenge	Edmond Hamilton	Captain Future	Summer 1940	Reprinted under the same title
4	The Triumph of Captain Future	Edmond Hamilton	Captain Future	Fall 1940	Reprinted as "Galaxy Mission"
5	Captain Future and the Seven Space-Stones	Edmond Hamilton	Captain Future	Winter 1941
6	Star Trail to Glory	Edmond Hamilton	Captain Future	Spring 1941
7	The Magician of Mars	Edmond Hamilton	Captain Future	Summer 1941	Reprinted under the same title
8	The Lost World of Time	Edmond Hamilton	Captain Future	Fall 1941
9	Quest Beyond the Stars	Edmond Hamilton	Captain Future	Winter 1942	Reprinted under the same title
10	Outlaws of the Moon	Edmond Hamilton	Captain Future	Spring 1942	Reprinted under the same title
11	The Comet Kings	Edmond Hamilton	Captain Future	Summer 1942	Reprinted under the same title
12	Planets in Peril	Edmond Hamilton	Captain Future	Fall 1942	Reprinted under the same title
13	The Face of the Deep	Edmond Hamilton	Captain Future	Winter 1943
14	Worlds to Come	Joseph Samachson (as William Morrison)	Captain Future	Spring 1943
15	Star of Dread	Edmond Hamilton	Captain Future	Summer 1943
16	Magic Moon	Edmond Hamilton	Captain Future	Winter 1944
17	Days of Creation	Joseph Samachson (as William Morrison)	Captain Future	Spring 1944	Reprinted as "The Tenth Planet"
18	Red Sun of Danger	Edmond Hamilton	Startling Stories	Spring 1945	Reprinted as "Danger Planet"
19	Outlaw World	Edmond Hamilton	Startling Stories	Winter 1946	Reprinted under the same title
20	The Solar Invasion	Manly Wade Wellman	Startling Stories	Fall 1946	Reprinted under the same title
SS01	The Return of Captain Future	Edmond Hamilton	Startling Stories	January 1950
SS02	Children of the Sun	Edmond Hamilton	Startling Stories	May 1950
SS03	The Harpers of Titan	Edmond Hamilton	Startling Stories	September 1950	Reprinted as part of Doctor Cyclops
SS04	Pardon My Iron Nerves	Edmond Hamilton	Startling Stories	November 1950
SS05	Moon of the Unforgotten	Edmond Hamilton	Startling Stories	January 1951
SS06	Earthmen No More	Edmond Hamilton	Startling Stories	March 1951
SS07	Birthplace of Creation	Edmond Hamilton	Startling Stories	May 1951
Side Story	Treasure on Thunder Moon	Edmond Hamilton	Amazing Stories	April 1942	See explanation in notes below.
Side Story	Forgotten World	Edmond Hamilton	Thrilling Wonder Stories	Winter 1946	See explanation in notes below

Notes

• Stories #14–17 were credited to the newly-created house name "Brett Sterling"
• Stories SS1–7 were short stories taking place a few years later in 'continuity'.
• Not a Captain Future story per se, the short story "Treasure on Thunder Moon" features the 'final' adventure of the survivors of the crews of several early explorers prominently listed in the Future novels (Gorham Johnson, Mark Carew, Jan Wenzi and others) marking as a side story to the Future series. The Futuremen themselves visit the Thunder Moon during Captain Future's Challenge.
• NotCaptain Future story per se, the short novel Forgotten World takes place circa 2,000 years in the future of the Futurian universe. Mentions are made of the original explorers of solarian space (Carew, Wenzi and others) named in the Worlds of Tomorrow back feature in issues of CF.
• A number of issues were reprinted in paperback in the 1960s, as noted above. One had a Frank Frazetta cover, several had Jeff Jones art. Several, including one which also reprinted the text of Henry Kuttner's short novelization of the film Doctor Cyclops, used covers from Perry Rhodan (a long-lived serialized space opera).
• With Popular pulps, Winter was the first season/quarter of the year (Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall).
• All stories (excepting Treasure on Thunder Moon and Forgotten World) have been reprinted as ebooks in a number of formats.

Characters

Captain Future

Tall, athletic and handsome, 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. Grag is big and strong, but not very bright, while Otho is quick-witted, agile, and (with the aid of a special chemical) able to alter his physical appearance.

Eek and Oog

Grag and Otho's pets, respectively. Eek is a moonpup, a canine creature which does not need air to survive and consumes soft metals for food. Oog is an amorphous being called a mimic, an artificially created pet that can change its shape as Otho does. Both are telepathic, and are attached to their respective master.

Joan Randall

A beautiful female agent of the Planetary Police on Earth. She has brunette hair (or blonde hair in the anime adaptation). She shares a mutual romantic attraction with Curtis, but their respective duties and Curtis' social awkwardness prevent them from taking their relationship further.

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. A scientific genius, he has chosen to use his intellect for evil purposes.

Johnny Kirk

An 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 crew-member. He has an expanded role and different name (Ken Scott) in the anime.

Adaptations and other derivative works

Anime

Captain Future
Screenshot from the anime series
キャプテン・フューチャー (Kyaputen Fyūchā)
Genre	Adventure, science fiction
Anime television series
Directed by	Tomoharu Katsumata
Written by	Masaki Tsuji Takeo Kaneko Fumio Kannami
Music by	Yuji Ohno
Studio	Toei Animation
Licensed by	US ZIV International, Harmony Gold
Network	NHK General TV
Original run	November 7, 1978 – December 18, 1979
Episodes	53

In 1978, one year after Hamilton's death, Toei Animation of Japan produced a Captain Future (キャプテン・フューチャー, Kyaputen Fyūchā) 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 (different from those in Hamilton's stories - whether for licensing law or other reasons, remains a broad field for speculation). A Blu-ray Box in Japanese only was released in September, 2016 (Box 1) and November, 2016 (Box 2). A German "Limited Collectors Edition" Blu-ray Box was released in December 2016, featuring not only the remastered Japanese uncut version (with German subtitles) 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" ("Space Commando"). The Arabic-language version has the title of فارس الفضاء (Faris al-Fadha'a, or "The Knight of Space") 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 (a.k.a. "Capitán Memo").

For the German version, a completely new soundtrack was created by German composer 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 ("enemies attack") by German DJ Phil Fuldner, called "The Final", entered the top ten of the German and Austrian single charts in 1998. The German publisher Bastei-Verlag released a Captain Future comic series with original adventures.

Episodes

#	Chapters	Episodes
1	恐怖の宇宙帝王 （Captain Future and the Space Emperor）	宇宙帝王現わる
2		炎の海の牢獄
3		天翔ける砦の奇蹟
4		衛星ヌーンの決戦
5	時のロスト‧ワールド （The Lost World of Time）	SOS1億年前
6		聖なる星クウムの謎
7		太陽系創世記
8		遥かなり50億年の旅
Special episode	謎の宇宙船強奪団 （Star Trail to Glory）	華麗なる太陽系レース （The Super Solar System Race）
9	挑戦！嵐の海底都市 （Captain Future's Challenge）	破壊王の陰謀
10		海底の罠
11		戦慄の海悪魔
12		破壊王の謎
13	輝く星々の彼方へ！ （The Quest beyond the Stars）	惑星に空気がなくなるとき
14		悲劇の暗黒星
15		見張りのおきて
16		甦える惑星
17	透明惑星危機一髪！ （The Magician of Mars）	ウル・クォルンの挑戦
18		暗闇族のすむ地底
19		惑星ただ一人
20		透明惑星の幻人間
21	太陽系七つの秘宝 （Captain Future and the Seven Space Stones）	銀河に眠る神秘の石
22		銀河サーカスの死闘
23		キャプテンフューチャー死す！
24		未知のミクロ宇宙
25	暗黒星大接近！ （Calling Captain Future）	渦巻く墓標
26		吠える大氷流
27		怪獣狩人は語る
28		幻の星、幻の文明
29	宇宙囚人船の反乱 （The Face of the Deep）	囚人船ハイジャックさる！
30		銀河からの大脱走
31		ゼロからの出発
32		星くずのスペースマン
33	魔法の月の決闘 （The Magic Moon）	キャプテンフューチャー募集！
34		恐怖のスペース・ロケーション
35		幻影の惑星
36		放たれた最終兵器
37	彗星王の陰謀 （The Comet King）	消えた宇宙船
38		彗星の支配者
39		アルルスの正体
40		悪夢の世界・四次元
41	脅威！不死密売団 （The Triumph of Captain Future）	不死密売シンジケート
42		不死帝王の挑戦
43		生と死の幻影
44		永遠の都の決斗
45	惑星タラスト救出せよ！ （Planets in Peril）	よみがえれ伝説の英雄
46		グラッグ奪回作戦
47		ひとりぼっちの地獄刑
48		英雄カフールの謎
49	人工進化の秘密！ （The Star of Dread）	宇宙遺跡の謎
50		半獣人の謎
51		死都の対決
52		光と闇の彼方へ

Related works by Allen Steele

"The Death of Captain Future" (Asimov's Science Fiction, October 1995) is a novella by Allen Steele set in Steele's "Near Space" realistic near future setting of expansion into the solar system. Here, Steele contrasts the more gritty setting with the naïvety of the titular character. In story, a man named Bo McKinnon collects "ancient pulp magazines" and acts out a fantasy life based on the Captain Future stories. The novella won the 1996 Hugo Award for Best Novella. An audio drama version of the story appeared as a play produced by Seeing Ear Theater. "The Exile of Evening Star" (Asimov's Science Fiction, January 1999) continues and concludes the story. It includes many quotes from the original magazines.

Steele's Avengers of the Moon: A Captain Future Novel (Tor Books 2017) is a continuity reboot which gently updates the narrative (including the science) to fit with a more modern sensibility. It was authorized by Hamilton's estate. The novel features the main characters from the original stories and presents a new origin story for its protagonist. The Return of Ul Quorn, a quartet novella series published by the revived Amazing Stories magazine, followed as the sequel of Avengers of the Moon; the first entitled Captain Future in Love (2019), the second entitled The Guns of Pluto (2020), the third entitled 1,500 Light Years from Home (2021), and the fourth entitle The Horror at Saturn (to be published). The Guns of Pluto included a reprint of Hamilton's story "The Harpers of Titan" and 1,500 Light Years from Home included a long-lost musical parody.

Feature film

In March 2010, German Director Christian Alvart (Pandorum, Case 39) 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

• The Japanese TV series Captain Ultra, a placeholder series between two actual Ultraman series, was more or less a live-action adaptation of the Captain Future series (which has remained popular in Japan as well). The characters were all present, even if the names were changed.
• In the TV series The Big Bang Theory, a Captain Future magazine cover is featured as a wall poster beside the entrance door in Leonard's and Sheldon's apartment.
• In Cat Planet Cuties, Episode 9 features a well known song from the anime television series of Captain Future.
• In the Pre-Crisis DC Comics, a character named Edmond Hamilton was featured as a minor adversary of Superman. This character, as a result of his homonymy with the science fiction author and his most famous work, took up the identity of Colonel Future and ended up battling Superman despite having heroic intentions. This character is a homage to the real Edmond Hamilton and his work in DC Comics.

Moons of Pluto

Calling Captain Future is notable for naming three (then undiscovered) 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 (although Cerberus was given the Greek spelling).

See also

• Captain Comet

External links

• The Site of Captain Future (in French)
• Haffner Press, publisher of The Collected Captain Future hardcover books
• Edmond Hamilton on Captain Future
• Robert Weinberg's Captain Future page
• Futuremania, The Captain Future Fan Site (in German)
• Captain Future bibliography at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Captain Future (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Captain Future at IMDb
• Captain Future Convention 2010( 20th Birthday event of Curtis Newton Captain Future)