Disclaimer: The following article was initially released on September 13, 2024, and has been transferred from GoDaddy to Mozello for preservation purposes.

Sometime in the middle of September 2018, professional cartoon researchers Jerry Beck and Mark Kausler discovered an old 1956 reel of what is possibly a test pilot of the Colonel Bleep quiz show. In one of my videos titled The Rise and Fall of Colonel Bleep, I mentioned how the cartoon was primarily designed as an “animated adventure quiz” in which the show pronounces quizzes and riddles worth solving live or on the telephone for the kids to win special prizes.

The reel was posted on YouTube on September 11, and an article discussing the pilot was posted just one day later. The video (along with the articles) was nicknamed The Colonel Bleep Show, as it would feature mostly the quiz show rather than the cartoon. Nearly six years later, the reel was released on YouTube again, but in much better quality by the film archivist Jeff Sabu (which is being displayed in this article).

The video starts with Bleep soaring through space with his unicycle as the show's title pops out. We are soon introduced to the show host, Captain Star (played by Bob Lawrence), who welcomes the audience into the show, sponsored by the Canadian supermarket chain Loblaws (as the show’s studio, Soundac, originated in Buffalo, New York and some stores in the United States helped promote the show). After the introduction sequence, the show proceeds to display one of the episodes of Colonel Bleep: Scratch and the Sea Serpent.

The video returns to Captain Star, who, along with the narrator, announces the first quiz question. This question is referred to in Col. Bleep’s Arrival on Earth, right at the scene where scientists working in the Hale Telescope discover the spaceman approaching our world. Bleep and his deputies, Squeak and Scratch, struggle to agree on which mountain the telescope was built. Bleep believes it's Mount Everest, Squeak thinks it's Mount Palomar, and Scratch predicts it's Mount Wilson. Sooner or later, Captain Star prepares his adorable device, the Futomic Memory Energizer, and calls the first participant, Tom Jones, who answers the correct answer, Mount Palomar, and wins a toy boat as his prize.

Just before the following quiz is announced, Captain Star tells all the kids that whoever wishes to be a part of the show can mail a label featuring Colonel Bleep from a bag of Loblaws own baked loaf of bread next time they go grocery shopping with their parents (as the show, again, is sponsored by Loblaws). They'll receive a special membership card from their local TV station when they send the label (along with their name, phone number, and house address).

The second quiz is referred from The Uncharted Island, in which Bleep and his pals find the perfect place they can call home, known as Zero-Zero Island, as it is marked on the center of Earth’s axis. This time, the trio cannot agree on the name of the center latitude line dividing half of the Earth equally. Bleep predicts the Tropic Belt, Squeak thinks it's called The Great Divide, and Scratch believes it's the Equator. The second participant in this quiz is Jim Carter, who correctly answers that it is the Equator and wins a baseball set as his prize.

After a test commercial break, the video proceeds to the riddle. Unlike the last two quizzes, the riddle does not relate to any episode of the series, rather than being based on a tricky poem that the child (with the help of their parents) needs to solve. The prize promoted in this riddle is an RCA portable radio-phonograph, “the world’s first and finest.” Before proceeding to the first riddle, Jack Mitchell, the third participant, is chosen to solve a riddle from the week before. The riddle from last week is never shown, but the answer is football, which Jack fails to solve. Soon, the show proceeded to the latest riddle, a famous historical event.

A militant cow of the opposite sex,

came running with the Sun.

Valleys rang from North to South,

before the day was won.

This riddle refers to the Battle of Bull Run (the first major battle of the American Civil War) since a bull is the opposite of a cow. The segment, which came running with the sun, refers to the fight starting at 5:30 in the morning, and the North and South may refer to the Union and the notorious Confederate states (who won that battle), respectively.

Just as the show is almost over, the narrator promotes the next exciting episode of Uncharted Island, where we can discover Bleep and his friends’ dream homes and their destination to Zero-Zero Island. Eventually, the show ends with Captain Star saying farewell to the audience, and we proceed to the ending credits.

The older test pilot is nothing like the modern test pilot I created, as they take entirely different paths: one that’s more product-driven and the other that’s more character-driven. Regardless, the studio (mostly Jack Schleh) developed innovative techniques by making Colonel Bleep one of the first to combine cartoons with a quiz show celebrating the Golden Space Age. The set design is beautifully done, and Lawrence and Noah Tyler (the narrator) did an excellent job hosting the show with their bold and exciting tones of voice. This demo reel was successful and became a hit in its original black-and-white air run from 1957 to 1960. After a five-year hiatus in most TV stations, the show was brought back around 1967, but this time, in glorious living color!

Tune in the next two weeks as I post another article regarding the show's pitch bible!