Lido Spacemen: 90mm Futureman: Tobor The Robot

This post led me down a rabbit hole I wasn't prepared to follow. However, it did result in some interesting information regarding the old Captain Video and His Video Rangers television series. The most important thing to keep in mind is: this set of four Lido Futureman figures - having been posted over the past week or so - were made in 1953 as tie-ins to the DuMont Television Network's Captain Video and His Video Rangers TV series. The series itself was ground breaking in that it was the first episodic science fiction television series. However, finding information on the series, it's episodes, and characters is difficult because when DuMont folded in 1955 (BTW the Captain Video series was still airing when DuMont folded) they dumped a good many of their film archives and documents into the East River in New York! 

Enjoy! Opa Fritz

There has been some confusion in the toy collecting world as to what this robot figure was called. On the Toy Soldier HQ website, he is referred to as "Grag". ?????

Okay, type in "Grag" on any search engine and see what you come up with.

Right, I'll bet you came up with: Bupkis. Nothing. Nada, Nichts. Zilch. Why? Because that name is not associated anywhere with classic science fiction. Or modern science-fiction for that matter. Perhaps the name was coined in the absence of reliable information. While several websites covered the TV series robot or the Lido toy, the most comprehensive was Cybernetic Zoo. The link will take you to the text that follows here:

Posted on  November 24, 2015 by cyberne1

"From the "Captain Video" TV serial, the "I, Tobor" episodes starting the week of November 2, 1953.

 Tobor (played by 7' 6" Dave Ballard) was a prototype robot designed to be a tireless worker and indestructible soldier. It bore the inscription "I-TOBOR" (a reversed image of ROBOT-I) on its chest plate.

 Tobor's body featured a cylindrical manlike form, rockets mounted on its back; an antenna sprouting skywards from each shoulder; a triangular flap of metal on its chest containing a lens which shot a death ray; and activation by voice commands via a pocket-sized device attuned to the vocal frequency of its controller. Tobor also had giant claw pincers as hands.

 Tobor was originally designed as a force for good in the universe, until Atar, a villainous female reset the robot's voice circuits to obey only her commands. Now in control of the powerful robot, Atar set out to conquer the solar system.

 Tobor was finally rendered harmless when Captain Video, matching Atar's vocal frequency, sent conflicting commands to Tobor and disrupted its circuitry.

 Months later (due to popular demand) Tobor was reactivated but this time under the guidance of Captain Video's voice. A video monitor was built into his metallic naval for closed circuit communication.

 In a later episode, an evil scientist stole Tobor's blueprints and created a duplicate Tobor. A colossal battle of good vs. evil ensued with Tobor fighting his evil twin.

 Tobor the robot was prominently featured in serial episodes: "I, Tobor" (1953);  "The Return of Tobor the Robot (1954); and "Dr. Pauli's Planet" (1955).

 Sources: TVAcres and Danefield.com/alpha."

From LIFE magazine

Some ads featuring Tobor

The Merkin Marvel

Image source: Good Housekeeping, Oct, 1955.

Dave Ballard – the actor giant.

"Its been said that Tobor is the first robot to appear in a TV series, beginning the week of November 2, 1953. It should be noted that the earlier robots from Captain Video were from a film serial, not TV.   To my knowledge, the Superman TV serial had the first robot – Adventures of Superman: Season 1, Episode 17, The Runaway Robot (9 Jan. 1953).

Other forums suggest the reason why the robot is called Tobor is due to a stencil being cut on the wrong side, hence reversed in its application. As we haven't seen an image of Tobor with his name emblazoned on his chest, this cannot be confirmed yet.

A different looking robot appeared in the earlier 1951 film serial Captain Video Master of the Stratosphere and first appeared in Chapter 3 "Captain Video's Peril".

The 1954 movie "Tobor the Great" was a different robot as well.

Note: Mon Jan 18, 2016, Peter Milo contacted me:-

Hi. I ran across your article regarding Tobor from the Captain Video show. I remember the first episode quite vividly: The stencil was accidentally reversed when the name was painted. Hence: I TOBOR

 I also had the good fortune of meeting the entire cast in person and got to see the actual filming of an episode at the DuMont studio  (my dad was a mounted cop in that area and had many friends along his beat).   Al Hodges was really a friendly individual, as was the rest of the crew. I left the studio that evening with a bunch of Powerhouse candy bars. LOL

 Hi Peter,

Thanks for confirming the stencil story. Do you recall TOBOR as having large claws as hands? Cheers, Reuben Hoggett.

 Hello, Reuben. Thanks again for creating such an informative sight. Tobor had large pincer claws, which greatly added to his overall menace. A model robot, which really didn’t resemble Tobor, was used for his space travel scenes. I remember my friends debating this anomaly; they finally chalked it up to poor photography in outer space.    The episode with the rock monsters was being telecast on the evening I visited the studio. I remember being quite surprised by the special effects (a couple technicians were lying on the floor, pulling ropes). When I glanced up at the monitor, it seemed that the large rocks were moving on their own. Really cool stuff.  Best Regards, Peter Milo.

 Seeother early Humanoid Robots here.

 Seeother early Pseudo and Fake Robots here.

  Posted in Pseudo Automatons and Robots Tagged "Captain Video", 1953, 1954, 1955, American, Atar, Dave Ballard, Merkin Marvel, Merkin Paints, Pseudo Automaton, Texan, Tobor"

In addition, in the book "BLAST OFF: Rockets, Robots, Ray Guns, and Rarities from The Golden Age of Space Toys" by S. Mark Young, Steve Duin, and Mike Richardson (Dark Horse Comics, Inc. publisher. Copyright 2001), the toy is clearly referred to as "Tobor" (see the paragraph on the upper left of the left page and reference the large photo on the lower right of the right page).

Okay. I believe I clearly established Lido's robot as "TOBOR' NOT "Grag". Now on to the toy.

Captain Video faces off against Tobor

I understand that the toy robot doesn't look exactly like the Tobor seen in the TV series but it is after all a toy and among the first television tie-ins. The toy industry still had quite a learning curve.