The opening sequence of "Space Cops" virtually guaranteed a great audience from the very beginning. Special effects that were extremely sophisticated for the time, exciting music and fast-paced action, and of course the handsome face of star and producer Henry Angel made for great television appeal, a very new concept at the time. As well, the series was true to the beliefs of the 1950's; while fear of nuclear destruction hung over the heads of millions of Americans, the family, strong values and mostly a bright future were what they wanted to see on their primitive picture tubes each week.
Witness this portion of the opening. Before credits roll, Captain Maxwell (played by Angel) and his sidekick Corporal Exeter (played by former child radio actor Spike Chapman) board their space car and launch from the asteroid they use as headquarters. Flames jet out from the exhaust, the car tumbles wildly, bucking and heaving until, through sheer physical might, Captain Maxwell rights it and flies into the camera, the dissolve moving from space car to Maxwell to space car to Maxwell almost seamlessly.
Is it any wonder that such a nation, influenced so mightily by one show, would become the single most dominant space-faring country right into the late twenty-first century?

--from "Space Cops": A Modern History, an AmeriNet 46 production

Captain Michael Davis of Sector Seven pulls himself along the rails, eschewing the artificial gravity available to him at the wave of a hand. There is an emergency in his sector, a civilian ship overrun by criminals and pirates, and he needs to get to his space car as quickly as possible. Red lights flash and alarms ring all around him.

"Davis, you there?"

Captain Davis taps his wrist, activates his comm. "Here, Slam." Slam Rankin is the dispatch officer for Sector Seven.

"There are three of them, rogues that spilled over from the Belt Wars. We managed to get good pictures before they downed the emergency activator. One of them is Marcus Heimdal."

"Thanks, Slam. Over." Heimdal! Davis picks up speed. Heimdal was the scourge of the force, but he'd gone missing four years before. Apparently to pull mercenary duty in the Belt. What was he doing back?

Private Eddie Stern is waiting in his seat in the space car when Davis arrives. They quickly check all the functions, then get clearance to launch. The roar is momentarily deafening, and they are punched back into their seats as they clear Sector Seven H.Q. The car bucks and rocks and rolls for a moment, but Davis pulls it back under control and they head off to intercept the civilian ship and the pirates aboard it.

Private Stern occupies himself with readying the weapons and checking his helmet. Nerves of steel, that boy.