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Well, Fartsy, our serial watching is restricted by the fact that we watch one episode of one serial on Friday nights, and therefore there's lots of competition for the prime spot. In addition, lesser serials that don't make the cut are watched at off-hours (late night, weekends, whatever). We make sure to see non-Republics from time to time, although their video quality (and often production quality) usually lags. Anyway, it helps us get a perspective of the entire history of sound serials, not just the Republics.

Here's what we've seen since 1993, when I first picked up HAUNTED HARBOR:

1993-94 CAPTAIN AMERICA, MANHUNT OF MYSTERY ISLAND, ATOM MAN VS. SUPERMAN (MYSTERY was excellent, AMERICA was worth seeing for Atwill, and, well, we had to see ATOM MAN sooner or later.)

1994-95 The FLASH GORDON trilogy (by popular demand of our film group).

1995-96 KING OF THE TEXAS RANGERS, DAREDEVILS OF THE RED CIRCLE, CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT (Clearly, RANGERS and DAREDEVILS are two of the top serials ever made; MIDNIGHT was fun and we spent 15 weeks sending secret messages to one another.)

1996-97 FEDERAL OPERATOR 99, BUCK ROGERS, TERRY & THE PIRATES (BUCK and TERRY were fun, the latter in the "so bad it's good" category; FED-OP was a bore.)

1997-98 JUNGLE GIRL, WINNERS OF THE WEST, THE SHADOW (Well, JUNGLE GIRL is answer to the question "Did Witney and English ever make a bad serial?" WINNERS is the worst we've ever seen, but the year was redeemed by THE SHADOW, one of the top serials ever with a great villain.)

1998-99 THE SPIDER'S WEB, JUNIOR G-MEN, GREEN ARCHER (A whole year of non-Republics! G-MEN was a lot of fun, augmented by Dead End Kid and Bowery Boys pictures, SPIDER was disappointing (neither as exciting as the best Republics nor as entertaining as the best Columbias -- love Blinky tho! -- and ARCHER was dreadful.)

1999-00 ZORRO'S FIGHTING LEGION and FLASH GORDON (DVD) -- Two terrific serials to introduce my new West Coast family to the genre. Coming next year, subject to additional DVD availability, we'll see TRIP TO MARS and perhaps CAPTAIN MARVEL and DR. SATAN.

My recent "off-hours" serials have included RADAR PATROL VS. SPY KING, THE GALLOPING GHOST (both very entertaining), HOLT OF THE SECRET SERVICE (which turned out to be good enough that it should've gotten a prime Friday night spot) and another (my third) attempt to get through RETURN OF CHANDU (I didn't make it this time, either).

Well, clearly JUNGLE GIRL isn't as awful as, say, THE LOST CITY, but it's pretty much a misfire all around (except for the lovely Ms. Gifford and some great stuntwork). The main complaint, "caucasian natives" aside, is that the entire plot is shoehorned into chapter one, meaning chapters 2-15 are an endless search for/tussle over the missing diamonds. Republic did great action serials (SECRET SERVICE IN DARKEST AFRICA) and plot serials (CAPTAIN MARVEL); this one doesn't seem to know which type it wanted to be. PERILS OF NYOKA is much, much better.

And judging by this list, I can only guess that few Squadronnaires have seen KING OF THE TEXAS RANGERS, which is better than all but a few of the Republics on the list....