“Be sure to be standing by when we again transmit you to the remote location on planet Earth where Captain Z-Ro and his associates will conduct another experiment in time and space.”

Captain Z-Ro is a time-travelling scientist who operates from his remote laboratory where he repeatedly saves mankind and prevents history from being altered. Sound familiar? Well it was actually 12 years before Doctor Who!The show ran for 77 episodes between 1951 and 1956.

Z-ro’s time machine was called the ZX-99, and allowed him to both view history and to send someone back in time. Each week, he and his teenage assistant Jet would view an episode in time and inevitably see that some event was unfolding contrary to history (e.g., King John not signing the Magna Carta). Captain Z-Ro would then send Jet back in time to intervene and ensure that history played out as originally recorded.

Further plots involved Z-Ro and Jet rescuing a wide range of historical figures, including Genghis Khan, Marco Polo, Magellan, William the Conqueror, and Daniel Boone.