Captain Z-Ro

Captain Z-Ro (pronounced "zero" Audio (US)ⓘ) is an American children's television show that ran locally on KRON-TV in San Francisco and KTTV in Los Angeles, from November 1951 through 1953, and was later nationally syndicated in the United States, beginning December 18, 1955, and ending its run of original episodes on June 10, 1956.

[2] 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).

Over the years, plots involved Z-Ro and Jet rescuing a wide range of historical figures, including Genghis Khan, Marco Polo, Magellan, William the Conqueror, Benedict Arnold, William Tell, Christopher Columbus, Blackbeard, Captain Cook, Leonardo da Vinci, Robin Hood, George Washington, Attila the Hun, Hernando Cortez and Daniel Boone.

Each week after the last commercial, the announcer would intone: "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."

The special effect to represent time travel was a simple dissolve shot, set among flashing lights, blinking oscilloscopes and numerous levers and knobs.