Cult-TV Theme Watch: Old Glory

“Old Glory” is a commonly-held nickname for The Stars-and-Stripes, or the American flag. 

Old Glory can refer not only to the American flag in general, but a specific flag belonging to a 19^th century sea Captain, William Driver.

Although many cult-tv programs are set on different worlds, or even in different realities, Old Glory has nonetheless made a number of memorable appearances through-out history.

Every week, on the opener of Adventures of Superman (1951 – 1958) for instance, the Man of Steel was seen to be standing before a fluttering American flag.  This great hero from Krypton stands for “Truth, Justice, and the American way.” The presence of Old Glory puts a fine point on those values.

Another famous guest appearance by Old Glory involves Star Trek (1966 – 1969). A second season story called “The Omega Glory” finds Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and Dr. McCoy (De Forest Kelley) visiting a parallel Earth from some weird post-apocalyptic future. 

There, the Yangs (Yankees) and Kohms (Communists) have fought a devastating war for generations.  But the Yangs keep hope alive with some of their holy relics, which include a copy of the U.S. Constitution, and a slightly worse-for-wear example of Old Glory.

In Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987 – 1994), an episode called “The Royale” commences with Captain Picard’s (Patrick Stewart) Enterprise of the 24^th century recovering a unique piece of debris from a destroyed spaceship.  The debris is marked “NASA” and shows the American flag…

The premiere episode of the animated series Return to the Planet of the Apes (1975), “Flames of Doom,” features a shot reminiscent of the 1968 feature film’s memorable visualizations. Specifically, a team of astronauts lands on a far-future world run by intelligent, talking apes.  But first, the astronauts encounter the inhospitable Forbidden Zone and explore it in an inflatable life raft. 

Beside the raft, the astronauts plant the American flag.

Recently, the new version of Doctor Who (2005 - ) featured a two-part story, “Day of the Moon” set in 1969 America, on the eve of the Moon landing, and many sequences featured Old Glory in the background.