[5] It was created and written by Robert D. Buchanan and Jack Schleh on June 8, 1956,[1] and was animated by Soundac, Inc. of Miami.

In 1945, the first nuclear explosion on Earth has cosmic effects: Scratch, a hibernating Stone Age caveman, is awakened/transported to the present by the blast; and the denizens of the possible exoplanet Futura become alarmed.

[8] The Futurians, an alien race with heads shaped like Reuleaux triangles and small, slender bodies, send one of their own, Colonel Bleep, to investigate.

Together, the three establish a base at Zero Zero Island in the Atlantic Ocean to protect Earth's Solar System from extraterrestrial threats.

The antennae shot beams of "futomic energy" (a portmanteau of future and atomic), which could manifest itself in any number of ways, most commonly as a raygun.

Local newscaster Noah Tyler was the narrator for the show and provided virtually all of the vocal characterizations (most of the characters were mute).

Schleh and Buchanan also produced a series of syndicated physical fitness cartoons for children through Soundac called The Mighty Mister Titan.

[17] Unlike contemporary animated television shorts of the era, which were mostly preserved, practically no original material from the production of Colonel Bleep is known to exist today.

[19] Two videocassettes from the series were released by Streamline Pictures in 1991, containing most episodes still known to exist at the time (reportedly discovered in the film storage vault of a southwestern U.S. TV station which had formerly aired the show during a bankruptcy proceeding).

In September 2018, animation historian Jerry Beck located black-and-white wraparounds, including the show's original title sequence, in the archives of Mark Kausler, and posted the film on YouTube.

In October 2019, YouTube user D Fan (Los Angeles radio personality Jhani Kaye) uploaded a kinescope of an episode of the Local children's show Cartoon Express with Engineer Bill which included a title card for the lost episode Squeak and the Black Knight; Kaye had previously included the Colonel Bleep snippet in a 2017 video posted on a previous account, but noted in a comment that the lost episode had already been cut from the film by the time he received it.